As I right this, the time has been reached for a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria.

This is not the same as a cease fire, because, well, they wont be ceasing fire.

Some groups such as ISIS and Al Nusra will still be targeted by Assad. Previously, Assad and Russia have in the name of bombing ISIS bombed anyone but ISIS, so it will be worth noting what happens this time.

Other smaller groups may join the cessation of hostilities, or they may not depending on many things including whether they themselves are bombed and targetted.

I don't think that anyone really expects much to be accomplished here, but even an unfair cessation of hostilities is better than nothing because atleast the people will have some peace - if it works out.

France Wants all Travelling EU Nationals Fingerprinted

https://www.no2id.net/newsblog/2015-10/france-wants-all-travelling-eu-na...

https://euobserver.com/justice/130622

French authorities are calling for EU-wide rules requiring travelling EU nationals to give their fingerprints and possibly also have their faces scanned.

The proposal, which is part of a much larger digital dragnet known as the ‘smart borders’ package, was discussed at an EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday (8 October)..

Is your Faith Strong enough to listen to other views on Religion?

I came across a U-Tube video with Stephen Fry being asked question on RTE about what will happen when he dies and does God exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-suvkwNYSQo

He raised some issues that made one think. The usually questions, Why does God allow bad things to happen? Also if God did exist and was so perfect he could have done a better job of it.

Next I came across a U-Tube video countering is, Stephen Fry’s argument, which is also a Humanist argument. But from a Muslim viewpoint, that I found interesting

FEAR NO MORE! 

Just select how you're feeling and a Duaa will make things easy for you. 

http://www.sujood.co/prayers

Pretty cool.

Recently, the Assad forces have managed to gain an upper hand in their fight to gain control of Aleppo which has now almost been encircled. This assault has been supported by russian air strikes that have often indicriminately targeted civilians and while purportedly targetted ISIS, they have notably stuck everyone but ISIS.

Encirclement will allow the Assad regime to carry out their time tested practice of starving the place into submission or death. A detailed map of the city and who controls what is available at this link

 There is an interesting story over at the BBC - Muslim women 'stopped from becoming Labour councillors'

In the article it states that Muslim Women's Network UK has written to Jeremy Corbyn demanding an enquiry.

The article also mentions some smear campaigns that have been used to discredit candidates.

As someone who is not involved in any political party so I can't really verify or comment on the types of claims mentioned and if it is normal business (with perhaps men also being trargetted with different types of smear campaigns?) but it is an interesting read.

">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAqgXhblr-w]

I would. But probably not up an escalator that is going down.

Do we need Political Parties?

All Parties very rarely give their MP's a free vote. The Cabinet makes and sets policy. Hence the need for a whips office to force through votes. Most sadly of all, 75%+ of all MP seats are that safe, always Tory or always Labour etc. Then they ask why electorate have stopped voting.

No, this isn't Sparta.

I think that people should sit down and ponder over this story for a bit.

There are a few remarkable statistics in there.

The first one is that the top 1% are now richer than the rest of the world combined.

Normally in a functioning economy, you would expect it to be closer to the top 20% owning 80% of the wealth, but the world economy has been turned on its head.

Secondly, the graph on that page shows that the global recession hasnt hurt the rich, only the poor. Remember that around the world, the money of the poor was used to bail out the rich. and now the poor are at each others throats not even realising how badly they have been swindled.

Christians hope to unify the date for easter within the next 5-10 years. The western churches have it often a week earlier than the orthodox church.

(Christmas is a less remembered one, where AFAIK the orthodox church ceebrate it on 6 January).

However, having different dates should not be an issue for disunity - there are accounts from the times of the sahabah of differing locations starting ramadan/eid on different days and this was allowed and not condemned.