If black America were a country, it would have the highest murder rate in the world

Black Americans are still eight times more likely to be murdered than whites and seven times more likely to commit murder, according to the FBI. An incredible one-third of black men in their 30s have been in prison.

Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Syrian drug trafficker and a Saudi national convicted of murder, taking to 100 the number of executions in the kingdom in 2015

The number of executions has surged in 2015 compared with the 87 recorded for all of 2014. But it is still far below the record 192 which rights group Amnesty International said took place in 1995. Syrian Ismael al-Tawm smuggled "a large amount of banned amphetamine pills into the kingdom", said an interior ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. He was beheaded in the northern region of Jawf. A separate statement said that Rami al-Khaldi was convicted of stabbing another Saudi to death and was executed in the western province of Taef. Drug and murder convictions account for the bulk of executions in Saudi Arabia. According to London-based Amnesty, use of the death penalty for other than the "most serious crimes" - premeditated killings - violates international law. Saudi judicial proceedings "fall far short" of global norms of fairness, according to the rights watchdog. Under the Gulf state's strict Islamic sharia legal code, drug trafficking, rape, murder, armed robbery and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Obama's world: There are now more Puerto Ricans in Florida than in Puerto Rico

Between 1980 and 2000, the average annual migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States was 12,000 people. From 2010 to 2013 - when the economy started tanking - that figure jumped to 48,000 people per year.

Fake Buddhist monks are a new menace in New York

Bands of beggars dressed like Buddhist monks have invaded the High Line and other city parks, demanding upwards of $40 from tourists — and officials are fed up. One High Line visitor handed over $5 recently, but it wasn’t good enough. “He tried to get $20,” she said. Another monk’s zen demeanor dissolved after he got just a buck in exchange for the cheap plastic bracelet he proffered. “Five dollar, five dollar,” he demanded. He would not explain what the money was used for. The behavior of the phony ­Himalayan holy men has been anything but heavenly in Bryant Park. One was spotted recently stealing a plastic water bottle from a clueless sidewalk vendor. Other faux friars were spotted on smoking breaks, trying to hide the unchaste behavior near a subway entrance. Two napped on library ledges. The masquerading monks are largely Chinese nationals who return to Flushing flophouses with their day’s earnings, sometimes changing out of their robes on the subway, before gathering at a local restaurant for a meal that usually includes alcohol, according to one observer. Real Buddhist monks typically shun toxins including cigarettes and alcohol. “I’d be shocked if any of them are really Buddhist monks,” said Dan Biederman, the head of the Bryant Park Corporation. In fact, some use the park’s restrooms to change into their orange, brown or gray robes ­before heading out; khakis and Nike sneakers could be seen beneath the supposed religious garb. Mock monks have cropped up around the world and have become a recent fixture in Times Square. They invaded parks as the weather got warmer, appearing on the High Line around April 2015. “We recognize that this is an issue and we are in discussions with the NYC Parks Department to address the matter,” said Martin Nembhard, vice president of park operations for Friends of the High Line, the nonprofit that operates the park for the city. “In the meantime, we encourage anyone who is approached in this manner to immediately report it to a Parks Department ­officer on site.” The Parks Department would only say that “individuals who violate Parks rules, which prohibit aggressive panhandling, trespassing, and vandalism, may be subject to a summons from the Parks Enforcement Patrol.” The NYPD has made no recent arrests. While authentic monks traditionally carry a “beggar’s bowl” to receive gifts of food and money, they would not aggressively ask for cash, said the Rev. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, president of the Buddhist Council of New York, who said that the fakers are mocking the faith. “People trust the robe simply because those are monks who practice the teachings, share happiness to the people,” Nakagaki said. “If they shake hands and wear the robe, it really disrespects the Buddhists themselves.”

The prominent rabbi of a Bronx synagogue who has been the focus of attention for having taken boys and young men to the sauna naked is negotiating a buyout and expects to reach an agreement to step down “in the near future,” his lawyer has said

The rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center, anticipates a “very fair” settlement that recognizes his 30 years as the leader of the 700-member Modern Orthodox synagogue, his lawyer Benjamin Brafman said in a statement. The synagogue board told congregation members that it had voted to try to “achieve an amicable resolution with Rabbi Rosenblatt.” Rabbi Rosenblatt, 58, has three years left on his contract, Brafman said. He and synagogue officials declined to say how much the rabbi’s salary is. For at least 25 years, Rabbi Rosenblatt would take younger male members of his congregation, other young men and rabbinical interns to play squash and then to the shower and sauna where, often naked, he would engage them in long talks that he described as critical to his mentoring process. The scrutiny arose after a recent newspaper article that described how in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rabbi often took boys as young as 12 to the sauna, some of whom said that the rabbi made them uncomfortable by gawking at their naked bodies or touching a clothed leg during one-on-one nighttime chats. No one has accused Rabbi Rosenblatt of sexual touching. The synagogue’s leadership in the 1980s and 1990s knew of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s conduct but took no action at the time. Eventually, Yeshiva University elected to stop placing interns with him, and in 2011, the Rabbinical Council of America had Rabbi Rosenblatt agree to stop taking congregation members to the sauna. After the newspaper article was published, congregation members were divided in their reactions. Competing petitions circulated. One, signed by nearly 200 people, called on Rabbi Rosenblatt to remain as leader; another, signed by at least 44 people, urged him to step down. Rabbi Rosenblatt sent a letter to his congregation recently saying that he deeply regretted “the humiliation” that the new scrutiny caused to him and to the synagogue. “I also deeply regret,” he wrote, “if my conduct at any time inadvertently offended anyone during my many years of service.” The synagogue board’s vote to begin negotiating Rabbi Rosenblatt’s departure was 34 to 8. “Despite the board’s vote,” Brafman said in a statement, “the vast majority of the membership have expressed overwhelming support for the rabbi and have been openly critical of those few who elected to speak publicly about an issue the congregation has been aware of for more than 20 years.” One longtime synagogue member said that Rabbi Rosenblatt’s departure would allow the synagogue to move forward. “It is a sad moment,” said the member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions in the community, “but it’s also clear that with everything that has come out in the last few weeks, it’s almost impossible to see the rabbi continuing in his current role.”

The MERS outbreak that's spread into South Korea has killed at least 10, sickened more than 120, and forced about 2,600 schools to shut down there

The World Health Organization is offering up useful tips for those who wish to avoid contracting the disease. There's one nugget of advice, though, that stands out from the more banal ones, such as washing one's hands and not eating raw meat, and it's a tip that will likely be easy for most of us to follow: Don't drink camel urine. But that recommendation, which is accompanied by a warning to also not indulge in camel milk, isn't as outlandish as it might seem. The CDC, for example, has a category on its MERS information page dedicated solely to "People With Exposure to Camels," noting that while scientists don't yet know for sure how people contract MERS, there have been people in close contact with camels who've come down with the disease. And there is a long tradition in the Middle East dating back to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad of quaffing the excreted liquid for "allegedly palliative properties." Most people who've read one writer's review of drinking camel urine while in Yemen probably won't contract the disease this way, though, as the writer's warning will likely inspire a healthy level of wariness: "The taste of warm piss is, as you would expect, disgusting. But when it's mixed with camel milk, as it traditionally is, it's even worse." And an Indian Hindu group says that it has a cure for some "70 to 80 incurable diseases," but it might not appeal to everyone. The miracle medicine is cow urine — specifically, pee from a virgin female taken before sunrise.

Florida: Authorities say that a black woman who called 911 to report that she was getting stiffed in a drug deal ended up reporting on herself

The black woman now faces charges including drug possession. The Broward Sheriff's Office reports that 19-year-old Daneshia Heller told a 911 operator that she went to a Fort Lauderdale home to buy marijuana, but a man there took her $5 without giving her the drugs. Officials say that a deputy checked a white substance in Heller's pocket, which tested positive for alpha-PVP, a psychosis-inducing street drug known as flakka. Heller has been charged with drug possession and misusing the 911 system.

The ability to digest milk may have become common only relatively recently in Europe, a major study of ancient DNA shows

The analysis of genomes from 101 ancient adults suggests that the gene for breaking down the lactose sugar in milk was still rare in the Bronze Age. The results come as something of a surprise because the gene is widespread among modern Europeans. The findings illuminate a debate over migrations during the Bronze Age (3,000-5,000 years ago), which - according to the picture emerging from ancient DNA research - was a particularly dynamic period. "It seems like the Bronze Age is the period where the genetic diversity and distribution that we know today is basically formed," co-author Prof Eske Willerslev, from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, said. The study shows that people of European origin penetrated en masse into Central Asia where they became known as the Sintashta culture. And a population from Europe's eastern periphery called the Yamnaya, who carried ancestry also found in Native Americans, pushed far into northern and central Europe. The team was able to look at some of the genetic characteristics of these ancient individuals. One thing that stood out was the scarcity of a variant in the gene (called LCT) that codes for lactase, an enzyme that breaks down lactose. The ability in adulthood to break down lactose is rare or absent in most parts of the world. Those without the mutation can experience unpleasant side effects if they consume substantial amounts of milk. "The ability to drink milk is a very unique European feature - you also find it in a few African groups, but there it is due to different mutations," said Prof Willerslev. Researchers had previously linked the emergence of lactose tolerance to the Neolithic period, when domestic cattle were introduced to Europe by Anatolian farmers. But Neolithic genomes haven't turned up any evidence of an increase in the trait at this time. "At the end of the Bronze Age, this genetic ability is still extremely rare," said Eske Willerslev, describing the result as a surprise. "We see a slight increased frequency not in Europe but to the east, on the steppe. One possibility is that after the Bronze Age, this genetic ability was brought into Europe and is then selected for." Computer modelling work by Mark Thomas from University College London and his colleagues has placed the start of the selection process in the Middle Neolithic. But, Prof Thomas explained: "It could be that it's not becoming visible in Europe until later because it takes time to rise to frequency. Or maybe it did evolve later. Or... it initially evolves in a region that hasn't been looked at using ancient DNA, then spreads to other regions later." What has been really lacking is agreement over what's driving the gene frequency up - it's selective advantage. The classic explanation is that milk provides people with vitamin D, a particular advantage in northern Europe where humans are less able to make it through the action of sunlight on the skin. But that reasoning doesn't work for Southern Europe, the Middle East or Africa, where lactase persistence is also found. Prof Thomas said: "In my view there are a range of other explanations. One is that milk is just good for you - it's a 'superfood'. Another is that it is a good source of uncontaminated fluid. Yet another... is that populations have been dairying for a long time, but they've been fermenting the milk to make butter fat, yoghurt and cheese. Imagine you have a population with a mixed economy and their crops fail. They're going to become more dependent on fermented milk products and they're going to be somewhat malnourished. After that runs out, they're just going to be left with milk. If you are severely malnourished and you eat something that gives you diarrhoea, you're at serious risk of dying because of fluid loss and so on. So the times when people needed to consume unfermented milk were exactly those when you don't want diarrhoea. It might have generated really intense bursts of selection for those who were lactase persistent. I suspect that only more ancient DNA data will enable us to pin down why lactase persistence spread so quickly." Dr Abigail Bouwman, from the University of Zurich, echoed the view that the selective advantage of this trait was greater when unprocessed milk was required. She said: "I would posit that the reason the Bronze Age LCT frequency is quite low despite the long history of cattle domestication and even dairying, is due to a combination of unprocessed milk not being essential for survival and the fact that the mutation(s) that allow for lactase persistence are spontaneous. The European allele is only one mutation. It takes a while for one person's genetic heritage to spread to significant number of descendants." The discovery that the Yamnaya, or a population like them, left an important mark on the genetic landscape of Europe backs up previous findings by a team led by Prof David Reich of Harvard Medical School. Variation in the amount of Yamnaya ancestry seems to account for many of the genetic differences between people in southern and northern Europe. These nomadic, horse-riding pastoralists, with their ox-driven wagons, buried the dead in earthen mounds called kurgans. They may also have helped spread languages belonging to the Indo-European family. Today, most of the languages spoken in Europe belong to this group, with a few exceptions such as Basque. "Here we can see from the data that the spread of Indo-European languages fits very well with the spread of the Yamnaya culture," said Eske Willerslev. The study also shows that the Yamnaya spread east into Central Asia, only to be replaced around 2000BC by a warlike, chariot-riding group that archaeologists know as the Sintashta culture. Contrary to suggestions, these incomers had an Asian origin.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton says that it's hard to hire black cops because so many of them have spent time in jail

If blacks really want to become police officers then maybe they should try obeying the law.

Obama's America: The black unemployment rate rose to 10.2% in May 2015, up from 9.6% in April 2015

The Hispanic unemployment rate fell to 6.7% in May 2015 from 6.9% in April 2015. It seems that it is better to be Hispanic than black in Obama's America.

A federal judge has ruled that an exam for New York teaching candidates was racially discriminatory, the latest step in a court battle over teacher qualifications that has spanned nearly 20 years

The exam, the second incarnation of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test, called the LAST-2, was administered from 2004 through 2012 and was designed to test an applicant’s knowledge of liberal arts and science. But minority teaching candidates failed the test at a higher rate than white candidates. According to the decision, written by Judge Kimba M. Wood of Federal District Court in Manhattan, the pass rate for African-American and Latino candidates was between 54% and 75% of the pass rate for white candidates. Once it was established that minority applicants were failing at a disproportionately high rate, the burden shifted to education officials to prove that the skills being tested were necessary to do the job; otherwise, the test would be ruled discriminatory. With this ruling, the LAST-2 meets the same fate of the LAST-1, an earlier version of the test, given from 1993 to 2004, that was also ruled to be discriminatory. Neither version of the exams is still in use in New York. Instead the state administers a new test called the Academic Literacy Skills Test, or the ALST, along with a slate of other assessments. The fate of the ALST, however, was recently called into question as well. In Spring 2015, Judge Wood began questioning whether that test, too, was racially discriminatory. A hearing is scheduled on the issue for later in June 2015. According to the city’s Department of Education, while 25% of the city’s public school students are black and 41% are Hispanic, 60% of its teachers are white. Fifteen percent of the teachers are Hispanic and 18% are black.

HIV: While only about 4% of U.S. males have sex with other men, they represent about two-thirds of the country’s new infections, according to the CDC

In 2010, about 73% of new infections were in people 13 to 24 years old, the CDC says. In a recent study, researchers analyzed patterns of new HIV infections among 594 young men who have sex with men. Participants were recruited from the New York City area between 2009 and 2011 and were 18 or 19 when they entered the study. At that point they were all HIV-negative. Over the next three years, 43 participants became infected with HIV. About a third of black, Hispanic and mixed or other race participants became HIV-positive during the study, compared to about 7% of white participants. Also, the researchers found, young age at first sexual experience with another male was tied to an increased risk of becoming HIV-positive, compared to a first encounter at an older age.

Black-on-black crime: New York authorities say an assault that saw a transgender woman pushed onto subway tracks may have been a hate crime

The 28-year-old black "woman" wearing a blond wig was shoved as "she" waited at the southbound platform of Bleecker Street Station in Greenwich Village. According to police, the victim was approached by a black man who said: "What are you looking at?" They said that he then reached for a plastic bottle from a nearby garbage bin, threw it at her and pushed her on the tracks. He then fled from the scene. Another passenger helped get the victim back on the platform. The victim suffered minor abrasions and was taken to Bellevue Hospital after complaining of pain, but was later discharged. Officers have released images of the black suspect and are offering a reward for information. The case has been handed by New York City police to a hate crime task force.

Ahmad Saleem, a Muslim community activist, has been arrested during a sting targeting people who attempted to lure underaged girls online for sex

When the Muslim activist — who is also the founder of the Saleem Academy — arrived at a Clermont-area home, he thought that he was coming to meet a 12-year-old girl. Instead he was met by detectives. The website for Saleem Academy now says, “CLOSED. MAY GOD BLESS YOU, GUIDE YOU, AND ILLUMINATE THE RIGHT PATH FOR YOU, AND KEEP YOU FIRM ON IT. KEEP ME IN YOUR PRAYERS.” Saleem was just one of 101 people arrested in an undercover two-week, cyber-crime prostitution and child-sex sting in the Lake and Polk county area. “Central Florida is now a safer place today because of the efforts of our deputies,” Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders said. The girl that Saleem was coming to see was really one of the undercover detectives who helped to crack down on people looking for sex with minors ages 10 to 14.

Primitive Africa: Tanzanian politicians have been warned to steer clear of witchcraft ahead of elections later in 2015 after the nation's parliament heard that lawmakers could be involved in a wave of attacks on albinos whose body parts are prized in black magic

In the first admission of its kind in parliament, Pereira Silima, Tanzania's deputy home affairs minister, said that reports linking politicians to albino killings could be true since attacks rose during elections. The East African country imposed a ban on witchcraft earlier in 2015 to try to stop a trade in albino body parts used in spells and charms claiming to bring luck and wealth as the United Nations warned of a marked increase in attacks. Silima urged politicians to be wary of promises from witch doctors to help them secure victory in the October 2015 general election. "I want to assure my fellow politicians that there won't be any parliamentary seat that will be won as a result of using albino body parts," Silima told the national parliament recently. Albinos face attack in many parts of Africa, but kidnappings, attacks and killings are more common in Tanzania. At least 75 albinos, who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes, including children, have been killed in Tanzania since 2000, according to U.N. figures, many hacked to death. Witch doctors will pay as much as $75,000 for a full set of albino body parts, according to a Red Cross report. The United Nations warned in March that 2015 could be a dangerous year for albinos in Tanzania as politicians turn to witch doctors to widen their chances of winning the polls. Vicky Ntetema, executive director of Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit working to defend albinos, said that an investigative report eight years ago exposed politicians who sought magic potions from witch doctors to win elections but this was the first time that the link was made in parliament. "As sad and as disgusting as it is to hear a government minister admitting that politicians are involved in albino killings, I am glad that finally this is an official acknowledgment," she said. Ntetema said that the parliament had not seriously discussed the plight of albinos after the atrocities were first reported in 2006 and had failed to take strong enough action. It was not until 2015 that President Jakaya Kikwete vowed to stamp out the practice that he said had brought shame to his nation, imposing a ban on witchcraft and with police arresting over 30 witch doctors in recent months to stop the attacks. Albinism is a congenital disorder which affects about one in 20,000 people worldwide, according to medical authorities. It is, however, more common in sub-Saharan Africa, affecting an estimated one Tanzanian in 1,400.

Welcome to de Blasio's New York: A black man has been charged in connection with the slashing of a 29-year-old white woman visiting from Sweden, onboard a Brooklyn subway train

Don Carter, 32, of Brooklyn, has been charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing, police said. The incident occurred around 6:15 p.m. on an outbound A Train stopped at the Euclid Avenue-Pitkin Avenue subway station in East New York. The black suspect walked up to the victim and slashed her on the neck with a sharp object before fleeing the train and the station, police said. Police said that the black man did not say a word before he cut the white woman. The white victim was treated and released from Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

Police in Dallas have arrested four black people for beating a pregnant teenaged relative so that she would have a miscarriage

A fifth person was also arrested for the sexual assault of the minor. During an afternoon press conference Dallas Police Department Deputy Chief Gil Garza said, “We believe we arrested all the right people… identified them all.” The victim recently told authorities that she became pregnant in 2012, at only 13 years old, after being sexually assaulted. In addition to the four arrests for engaging in organized criminal activity, police also arrested Robert Joseph Cayald for aggravated sexual assault of a child. The 22-year-old black male is related to the victim. Two men and two women, all also related to the victim, are facing first-degree felony, organized criminal activity charges. They have been identified as Cedric Jones Junior, 27; Sharon Jones, 45; Lonnell McDonald, 27; and 25-year-old Cecilia McDonald. The girl told authorities that it wasn’t until 2013, when she was approximately eight months pregnant, when the family realized she was expecting. Given the girl was underage and assaulted by a relative, the family feared Child Protective Services (CPS) would be called. The family members accused of organized crime then, according to police, “took matters into their own hands” to try and end the pregnancy. Sexual assault suspect Robert Cayald is being held on $25,000 bond. Bail for the four adults accused of organized crime has been set at $150,000 each.

Indian barbarians: A 55-year-old man has been beheaded by an occultist group in Jharkhand for better harvest and rain

Thepa Kharia is believed to have been killed by Orkas who bury human heads in farms as a part of their worship for better rain and harvest. According to police, Kharia was alone at his home when a group of Orkas entered and beheaded him and sped away with his head. Not finding Thepa in the local market, villagers broke open his house' door and found his headless body lying in a pool of blood, police officer Ajay Kumar Thakur said. Orkas roam around the villages just before the monsoon and nobody in this area dares make a complaint against them. This incident shows that the age-old ritual of human sacrifice for better harvest and rain is still prevalent in the Indian state.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world: Of the estimated 500,000 rapes that take place every year, only one in nine are reported

For every 25 men brought to trial for rape, 24 will walk free - a poignant reminder of the aggressive masculinity that colors the social and political landscape of South Africa. Several studies have highlighted the problem of gender inequality that pervades South Africa. According to research by the anti-violence NGO, CIET, 20% of men said that the victim “asked for it”. In a related survey, a quarter of Soweto schoolboys described “jackrolling” – a local term for gang rape – as “fun”. Recent studies show that homophobia is also a major problem – a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center found that up to 61% of South Africans believe that society should not accept homosexuality. The majority of attacks on lesbian women go unreported, but many are exceptionally violent – proof that attitudes towards lesbians are yet to change. In August 2014, 18-year-old Gift Makau was gang-raped, strangled with wire and left with a hosepipe in her mouth. Another woman, Noxolo Nogwaza was raped and stabbed to death with a shard of glass in 2011. Nomawabo, from the northernmost province of Limpopo, has been sexually assaulted twice. At the age of 15, she was raped by a school friend and two years later, she was abducted by a group of men and sexually assaulted for three days. Despite these horrific attacks, she is one of the luckier victims: she survived. Yet despite reporting the crime to police, the case disappeared and her attackers were never caught. “At school I was betrayed by my best friend. He told me to come to his house for a school assignment but when I got to the house we fought until he hit me so hard I collapsed, and then he raped me because he said I needed to stop being a lesbian,” Nomawabo said. “Afterwards I got pregnant and had a baby. The second time, my soccer friends and I were kidnapped at gunpoint and they took us somewhere far away and did what they wanted with us for three days. We told the police but the case just disappeared. Nothing happened because they all thought I deserved it.” Up to 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime according to the South African Institute of Race Relations, but estimates very widely due to under-reporting. Further statistics from the South African Police Service state that between 2013 and 2014 there were a total of 46,253 rapes were reported to police countrywide. However, due to under-reporting, the figure is likely to be much higher per year. The Medical Research Council estimates that only one in nine rapes are reported to the police. Moreover, only 14% of perpetrators are convicted.

Black crime: Baltimore recorded 43 murders in May 2015, police said, the deadliest month in more than 40 years

The Baltimore homicides were the most in any month since August 1972, when the city recorded 45 murders, according to police data. The city of about 620,000 people has tallied 116 murders so far in 2015, up from 81 in the same period in 2014, police said. Black males made up most of the May 2015 murder victims and perpetrators in the majority African-American city. Along with the rise in homicides, the number of non-fatal shootings hit 219, versus 120 at the same time in 2014, police said. Police data going back to 1970 show that Baltimore recorded more killings in August 1972 and in December 1971, when there were 44 killings. But those murders took place when Baltimore had almost 300,000 more residents than it has now.