“An Austrian court has recently fined a citizen for yodeling while mowing his lawn, according to a report in The Kronen Zeitung newspaper. The citizen, 63-year-old Helmut G., was told by the court that his yodeling offended his next-door Muslim neighbors, who accused him of trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin [person who calls Muslims to prayer].”

Last month, Iran’s Foreign Minister was dismissed and replaced by the head of its nuclear operations. At the same time, Iranian armed forces concluded a covert “war games” exercise on the Iraqi border. Such demonstrations of force receive broad press coverage and are not kept secret. Analysts suggest these moves are aimed at sending a message to Washington that Iran’s nuclear ambitions will not be deterred.

News sources report that Queensland, Australia, is experiencing the worst flooding in history and a disaster of “biblical proportions.”  Flood waters have inundated an area the size of Germany and France.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that “Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010—the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.”

Dr. Martin Gaskell has claimed that religious discrimination prevented him from being hired for a university position in 2007 for which he was uniquely qualified. Gaskell was considered by the University of Kentucky search committee as the top candidate for a director of a new student observatory. Court records note that one university search committee member commented that Gaskell was “breathtakingly above the other applicants.”