IMF Boss Proposes Globalist World Reserve Currency
The chief of the International Monetary Fund said Friday that the organization should reorient itself to better detect systemic risks to the global economy and quickly step in with emergency loans when financial crises emerge.
The I.M.F. leader, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also floated the idea of creating a global reserve currency that could serve as an alternative to the dollar.
After a speech at the I.M.F. headquarters, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said in response to a question about the fiscal crisis in Greece that the fund would be “happy to help if asked” but that the European Union appeared able to resolve the crisis on its own.
| [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Government Denies Cuts in Public Sector Salaries
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 25 — The Spanish Government has done a U-turn over its plan to cut the salaries of public sector executives in order to cut spending on personnel by 4% as part of its austerity plan. “The salaries of executives will not be touched, the salary agreement with the unions will be completely respected” said Minister and Deputy Premier for the Economy, Elena Salgado, quoted by the Europa Press agency, contradicting yesterday’s announcement by Secretary of State for Finance, Carlos Ocaa. Salgado’s clarification is intended to calm the 2.6 million public employees, whose union signed a three-year agreement with the Government in September, valid until 2012, which includes a salary increase of 0.3% for this year. In a press conference following the first meeting of the commission charged with finding an agreement on anti-crisis measures between all the political parties, Salgado promised that the savings in spending on personnel would be realised through a block in turnover. At the same time she announced that the rationalisation of the sector would include “a major reduction in the number of public enterprises”(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Brussels Warns, Increasing VAT Will Slow Recovery
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 26 — The Spanish economy will start to slowly come out of the crisis in spring, but it will return to negative figures in summer due to the effects of VAT increases, which the government will apply staring July 1 to reduce the public deficit. The European Commission warned the Spanish government in its forecasts, reported by the media, indicating that Spain will be the only large country in the EU in 2010 to have an economy in decline, -0.6%, two-tenths less than previous forecasts from the European Commission and double those foreseen by the executive branch in Madrid. According to the forecast presented yesterday by the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Olli Rehn, Spain’s GDP will increase a minimal +0.1% from April to June, showing an exit from recession; but will return to fall by -0.2% in the third quarter due to the effects of the VAT increase. According to Rehn, “Spain is the only large member nation for which another downturn for the economy has been forecast in 2010”. Spain’s recovery is made more difficult, according to the commissioner, by the high rate of unemployment and prolonged structural adjustments, above all in the construction sector. ù In July, the increase in VAT from 16% to 18% will have “an impact on the quarterly growth trend”. Regarding the Spanish dilemma between reducing the deficit while at the same time supporting growth, Rehn assured that the commission will comment in mid-March, after it has put the final touches on the stability pact presented by the Spanish government. But he also recognised that “there are no miraculous recipes for balancing the cycle”, if not “working on two fronts: economic recovery and consolidating public spending”. In response to the European Commission’s forecast, the deputy Premier Elena Salgado assured that the Spanish economy “will immediately show positive quarterly growth”, which will continue to be accompanied by “the great commitment” connected to recovering employment. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Poll: Majority Says Government a Threat to Citizens’ Rights
From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser
Fifty-six percent of Americans say the government poses an immediate threat to individual rights and freedoms.
Washington (CNN) — A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.
The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.
According to CNN poll numbers released Sunday, Americans overwhelmingly think that the U.S. government is broken — though the public overwhelmingly holds out hope that what’s broken can be fixed.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted February 12-15, with 1,023 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall survey.
| [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Ersatz Church: Launching Pad for a Catholic Bashing Presidential Appointee?
President Obama’s former church in Chicago reveals that no baptism is required and Muslims are accepted as full members.
| [Return to headlines] |
Sami Al-Arian Roils California Senate Race
A bespectacled former college professor who has pleaded guilty to aiding the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad helped tip the balance in a 2004 Senate contest in Florida. Now, six years later, Sami Al-Arian could be on the verge of doing it again, this time in California.
Republican Senate hopeful Tom Campbell, a former congressman, has come under sustained attack on conservative websites and from his rivals in recent days for taking a campaign donation from Al-Arian in 2000, for backing legislation Al-Arian was lobbying for at the time and for allegedly being a less-than-steadfast supporter of Israel.
After Al-Arian’s contribution and related issues were noted last week on the sites of Commentary and The American Spectator magazine, Campbell’s two rivals for the GOP nod, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, piled on.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Transparency? White House Still Keeps Visitors Secret
8 months of records, ‘particularly sensitive’ meetings remain hidden
The Obama administration boasts of an “unprecedented” transparency in releasing lists of White House visitors — except when the names are politically inconvenient, argues a Washington watchdog group, and except for nearly eight months worth of records, which remain locked away despite multiple legal attempts to pry them loose.
“Not literally, but in the mood of their approach, the administration has said, ‘We’ll release what we want, when we want,’“ claims Chris Farrell, director of research and investigation for Judicial Watch. “When it’s convenient, they laud themselves as masters of transparency — except when they don’t want to be.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: PM Worried About Politiken’s Apology
Denmark’s prime and foreign ministers have expressed their concern at Politiken’s decision to apologise for the use of the Mohammed cartoon.
Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Lene Espersen (Cons) has reacted to Politiken’s decision to apologise for the effect of its publication of the Mohammed cartoon by saying that Danes have to stick together.
“The best thing that we can do now is to keep together as a nation and that newspapers stick together when they are met with threats,” Espersen says adding that the population is united in its stance against threats, and that the Foreign Ministry is closely following the effects of the apology abroad.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Lib) also notes Politiken’s unilateral move in the context of threats of a lawsuit.
“Up to now I have been of the impression that the newspapers have stood shoulder to shoulder. If this is an expression of a change in that, I think it can be cause for concern,” the prime minister says.
“If this is a question of bowing to a threat in order to avoid a court case, I am also concerned,” the prime minister says continuing: “If this is an expression of breaking the unity that has existed among Danish newspapers and in Danish society, it is a matter of serious, serious concern.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Italy is Sick of Its Own Corruption
A corruption scandal involving a national hero has led to unprecedented public soul-searching in Italy.
Italy has been immersed in collective soul-searching for a week now. The central question newspapers, politicians and entrepreneurs are asking: is it just politics that is corrupt, or are we all?
A report by the national audit court, which oversees and inspects possible irregularities in public spending, has shown that corruption increased by 229 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, scandal after scandal has surfaced in the last weeks. On Tuesday, 56 people were accused of involvement in a money laundering operation. Regional governors, members of parliament, deputy ministers and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi are all entangled in corruption cases. And it appears that bribes, luxury cars and prostitutes have played a part in disaster control. Guido Bertolaso’s fall from his pedestal has fuelled self-doubt in the country…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
OIC Welcomes Apology by Danish Newspaper for Publication of Blasphemous Cartoons
A spokesman of the OIC Islamophobia Observatory on in Jeddah today in a statement welcomed the apology made by the Danish daily newspaper “Politiken” over the publication of the blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The spokesman said that the action taken by the daily “Politiken” should have been taken immediately after the first publication of insulting caricatures in 2005 as a demonstration of the Danish society’s respect for tolerance and respect for the sentiments of 1.5 billion world Muslims who felt humiliated, insulted and deeply hurt by the publication of the cartoons.
The spokesman said that the apology issued by the “Politiken” yesterday would be seen by Muslims as a development towards rectification with regard to the hurt and insult caused to them by the publications of the cartoons. The spokesman hoped that the action taken by “Politiken” newspaper would be replicated by other newspapers that had published the cartoons as well by the cartoonist himself. He added that OIC is strongly committed to freedom of expression but believes that it should be exercised responsibly so as not to create incitement and provocation leading to social unrest and disturb interfaith harmony.’
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Ryanair (Irish Budget Airline) Passenger Eats Winning Scratch Card!
An airline passenger ate his €10,000 winning scratch card after he was told he could not claim the money immediately, it emerged today.
The unnamed man was flying with Ryanair from Krakow in Poland to East Midlands Airport in Britain when he won €10,000 ($14,000) with the scratch card.
Crew on board the flight confirmed he had won the prize but told the passenger he would have to collect the jackpot directly from the company that runs the competition as it was such a large sum.
Ryanair said the man then became frustrated and started to eat his winning ticket, ruling out any chance he had of claiming the prize money which will now be donated to charity.
Stephen McNamara, a spokesman for Ryanair, said: “Passengers have always been delighted to claim their large cash prizes after returning home.
“Unfortunately our latest winner felt that we should have his €10,000 prize kicking around on the aircraft.”
The airline asking people to vote online to decide which charity should receive the money. Voting will take place until March 5th.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Telefonica Records Net 2009 Profits of 7,776 Mln
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 26 — Telefonica closed the 2009 financial year with net profits of 7,776 million euros (+2.4%) and a profit per share of 1.71 euros (+4.5%), in line with the financial objectives for the seventh consecutive year, reported sources from the group headed by Cesar Allierta in a note. 2009 turnover was 56,731 million euros. The results incorporate on one side, the positive impact of 2008’s Airwave and Sogecable sales, like that of Meditel in the fourth quarter of 2009; but also the negative impact derived from the rate of inflation reached in 2009 in Venezuela, equal to 548 million euros on the net profit of the company. The guide lines for 2010 announced by the company provide for an increase in earnings between 1 and 4% and operating margin between 1 and 3%. Among other objectives, Telefonica confirmed a profit per share of 2.1 euros per share for the current financial year and a dividend of 1.4 euros per share in 2010 and at least 1.75 euros in 2012. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Father Stopped From Taking Picture of His Son, 4, On Children’s Train Ride ‘In Case He Was a Paedophile’
A father was stopped from taking a photo of his son on a children’s train ride after an over-zealous security guard accused him of being a paedophile.
Kevin Geraghty-Shewan, 48, was approached by the guard after he took the picture of his four-year-old son Ben on the toy engine outside a shop.
He was then threatened with arrest after refusing to hand his mobile phone containing the picture after a row with a policeman.
Mr Geraghty-Shewan said: ‘Ben saw a children’s ride which had a train on it and wanted to have a go because he’s obsessed with trains.’
Moments later, he was apprehended by the security guard.
The father-of-one, who was in the North East visiting family, said: ‘He said “you can’t take pictures in here”. I asked why and he told me it was because for all he knew I could be a paedophile.
‘I told him Ben Was my son. But he said I couldn’t prove it.
‘I couldn’t believe it. I walked away and then I thought about making a complaint.’
A few minutes later a police officer arrived at the Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland and threatened to delete the photograph.
‘They said I matched the description of a man who had been taking pictures,’ Mr Geraghty-Shewan said.
‘They took my details and said they had the right to remove the picture from my phone.
‘I got annoyed and things got heated, then he threatened me with arrest for breach of the peace.
‘Ben thought I was in trouble because he had sat on the ride and we didn’t put the money in.’
Mr Geraghty-Shewan was so annoyed by the incident he posted a picture of the security guard on his blog.
A spokesman for the Bridges Shopping Centre said: ‘We take the safety at all our shopping centres very seriously.
‘We do ask our security guards across the estate to be diligent in implementing our security measures, which includes monitoring photography in our centres.
‘Unfortunately on this occasion what should have been a simple polite conversation led to a misunderstanding and we apologise for any offence caused.
‘It is always our aim to implement our security procedures with the minimum of fuss and disruption to our shoppers.’
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: ‘We received reports of a disagreement over a photo taken on the premises of a shopping centre. No offence took place.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Ukip’s Nigel Farage Faces Reprimand After Calling Herman Van Rompuy ‘Wet Rag’
Nigel Farage faces an official reprimand next week after he described Herman Van Rompuy as a “damp rag” during the European Union President’s maiden appearance before MEPs.
The comments by Ukip’s leading MEP on Wednesday afternoon have generated a furious reaction in the European Parliament and across Belgium.
During a debate on Europe’s economic prospects, Mr Farage astonished MEPs and the EU president by launching an “insulting” personal attack.
I don’t want to be rude,” he began.
“But you know, really, you have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk.”
To loud protests, Mr Farage continued: “The question that I want to ask and that we are all going to ask is: who are you? I had never heard of you; nobody in Europe had ever heard of you. I would like to ask you, Mr President: who voted for you? And what mechanism — I know democracy is not popular with you lot — what mechanism do the peoples of Europe have to remove you? Is this European democracy?”
“Sir, you have no legitimacy in this job at all, and I can say with confidence that I can speak on behalf of the majority of the British people in saying: we do not know you, we do not want you, and the sooner you are put out to grass, the better.”
Against a background of growing protests, Mr Farage accused a visibly shaken Mr Van Rompuy of being a “dangerous” Belgian European federalist.
“I have no doubt that it is your intention to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of the European nation states. You appear to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states; perhaps that is because you come from Belgium, which of course is pretty much a non-country,” he said.
Martin Schulz, the German leader of Socialist MEPs, called on Mr Farage to be reprimanded and demanded his resignation.
“It would be better, if Mr. Farage laid down his mandate, if the EU and the European parliament please him so badly,” he said.
Parliament sources have confirmed that Mr Farage has been summoned by Jerzy Buzek, the Parliament President, to receive an official reprimand, and possible disciplinary action, next Tuesday.
“He has been summoned to the headmaster’s office and expects a spanking,” said a Ukip spokesman.
Sources have told The Daily Telegraph that the controversy, widely reported by the BBC, was deliberately staged to promote Mr Farage’s appreance on the corporation’s Question Time programme on Thursday night.
Many Belgians are angered by Mr Farage’s description of Mr Van Rompuy, their former premier, as a wet rag.
“These English do not have any culture. When one visits museums it is Germans, Spanish, Italians, and French you see. The English ‘get more’ by asking for beer in low bars. You can recognise an Englishman by his football shirt on prominent paunch. His only reading is The Sun,” wrote one Libre Belgique reader on Thursday morning
“The English are cretins, whose arrogance is only equalled by their mediocrity of spirit.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
The Scandal of Serbian Government U.S. Lobbying Deals
by Srdja Trifkovic
Two articles published on this site recently have prompted inquiries from different quarters regarding the lobbying deal between the Government of Serbia and Mr. Milan Petrovic and his Chicago-based APS Inc. In view of the seriousness of the matter and its potential legal implications we feel obliged to acquaint the public with the known facts of this case, which has all the makings of a political scandal in Serbia itself.
Who Is Milan Petrovic? — As the Chicago Sun-Times reported on April 10, 2008, Petrovic was then-Governor Rod Blagojevich’s top fundraiser: over the years, Petrovic had raised over $1.9 million for the Governor, or half a million more than Tony Rezko, convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery in 2008. To be precise, during Rezko’s trial, FBI Special Agent William Willenborg testified that Petrovic raised $1,963,485 for Blagojevich, outpacing Rezko, who raised a mere $1,437,350
According to the Chicago Tribune, “By the time Blagojevich came to power in 2003, lobbying the hospital board had grown into a fertile business… the field was also saturated with lobbyists from Blagojevich’s orbit [including] Milan Petrovic, a friend and fundraiser of the governor.” Illinois Issues magazine, published by the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Springfield, noted that “Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s main re-election platform made the spotlight again when the Sun-Times reported the state’s new All Kids health insurance program awarded a major contract to McKesson Health Solutions. The company is reportedly represented by a Chicago lobbying firm, Advanced Practical Solutions, led by Blagojevich’s top political fund-raiser, Milan Petrovic.”
The Belgrade daily Borba reported on August 13, 2009, that Milan Petrovic was “involved in numerous affairs and in the state of Indiana he was even disbarred”:…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Focus on Transport, Engineering in 2010-2011
(ANSAmed) — ROME — Transport, engineering and electrical engineering: these are the sectors which Italian companies could focus on to win new slices of the markets of North Africa and the Middle East during the 2010-2011 two-year period. Italian exports have held up in these sectors over the last two years, despite a global crisis. This is the picture that emerges from data in the ICE-Prometheus report on the “evolution in foreign trade by areas and sectors” presented this morning at the ICE (Italian Trade Commission) in Rome. Despite an economic-financial crisis which led to a fall in the Euro exchange rate of 16.6%, and which caused Italy’s global manufacturing share to fall from 4.7% in 2008 to 4.5%, the ICE-Prometheus report forecasts an increase of 3% per year in Italian exports over the next two-year period. “We can allow ourselves to look at the coming months with reasoned, moderate confidence” said Minister for Economic Development, Claudio Scajola, in a message sent to the presentation of the report. “Our exports are beginning to show early signs of recovery in the main sectors both in the European and non-European markets”. It is not just the emerging nations, such as China, India, Brazil and Russia, which are driving Italian exports, but those of the southern shore of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Countries which, the report says, have not been spared from the crisis, but which showed better staying power in 2009 compared to geographical areas such as central-eastern Europe and the NAFTA countries, the epicentre of the recession. The reason, explain ICE and Prometheus, is the lower level of economic integration in the area with production processes on the worldwide scale. Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Algeria represent a somewhat heterogeneous group of economies, which have seen high rates of growth in recent years, but which are now seeing a scaling down, says the reeport. An opportunity for Italian companies is the creation of infrastructures in the countries of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, as the data for 2008-2009 demonstrate. During this period, the market share for Italian exporters — and for producers of intermediate goods — operating in the air, rail and sea transport sector went from 4% to 4.3% , the market share for companies operating in the electrical engineering sector rose from 10.7% to 11.5%, while the share of the steel industry went from 9.7% to 11.7%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Casa Mediterraneo, An Open Door for Dialogue
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 25 — A place for meeting, reflection and the diffusion of the many cultures of the Mediterranean, an open door for the creation of coastal towns, and a tool for smashing stereotypes. Director General of Casa Mediterraneo, Yolanda Parrado Marcos, was describing the organisation with offices in Alicante, Benidorm and Xabia, in the Alicante province, which was “set up as a tool for public diplomacy and to strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation, in an area of growing geo-strategic interest for Spain and the European Union”. A bridge “at the disposal of the Mediterranean public, to be developed under equal conditions between north and south”, said the 39-year-old sociologist from Madrid who specialises in marketing, speaks four languages, and came to the helm of Casa Mediterraneo from business communication and education. She stressed the importance of Spain’s six month presidency of the European Union, one of whose main objectives is the relaunch of the Mediterranean Union, coinciding with the coming into operation of Casa Mediterraneo, which was set up as a consortium by the Foreign Ministry and local organisations. At the turning point of the first year, Casa Mediterraneo is preparing to land in Italy, the Balkans, Turkey and Algeria. “The support of several offices of the Cervantes Institute will be fundamental for cooperating with the cultural players in these countries. On March 5 and 6 we will take part in the preparatory meetings in Naples for the project Cities of the Mediterranean, ahead of the cultural events taking place in 2011 in Naples and Sicily. I will use this opportunity to meet Mayor Iervolino to begin a collaboration in view of the Forum for cultures which the city will host in 2013. Joint work is the final aim of our body”, she said. Four areas have been identified for action: governance and cooperation; environment and sustainable tourism; culture, heritage and education; and society and economy. The objectives are, the promotion of research, the strengthening of governance, a deeper awareness of cooperation for development in the Mediterranean. The identification of the different networks of public institutions, the social and cultural players, to identify areas of common action. “We have promoted an international meeting on town planning in the Mediterranean” said Yolanda Parrado. Again, as part of the Spanish Presidency, Casa Mediterraneo will support the organisation of the Euromed Civil Forum, organised by the non-governmental platform Euromed, which takes place annually. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: OPEC Will Keep Output Level, Khelil Says
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 22 — The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will “decide to continue its current production level” in its next meeting in Vienna on March 17, said Algeria’s Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, quoted by APS. “I don’t think OPEC will decide to lower its output, but to maintain current production levels,” Khelil said. OPEC production was set at 24.84 million barrels per day in January 2009. The oil price, between 75 and 85 USD, is “very good”, the Algerian Minister added, mentioning that the weakness of the dollar has an impact price levels. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Gaddafi Against Bern, Holy War Over Minarets
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 26 — The diplomatic dispute between Libya and Switzerland has unexpectedly been rekindled after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi yesterday called for a “holy war” (jihad) against Switzerland due to the November referendum which resulted in a halt to the building of new minarets in the country. The tension between the two countries has been running high for the past two years, ever since Gaddafi’s son Hannibal was arrested in 2008 in Geneva after one of his maids reported maltreatment. The latter was only the first incident in a long-standing dispute, which was rekindled a few weeks ago by the Libyan decision to deny visas to citizens of Schengen-area countries in response to a ‘black list’ drawn up by Switzerland with the names of 188 Libyans (including Gaddafi himself) on it. The chancelleries of several Western countries have been working to resolve the dispute over the past few days, with undivided support from the European Union “Jihad must be declared against the infidel and apostate Switzerland, which is destroying the houses of Allah,” Colonel Gaddafi said yesterday, speaking at Benghazi for the commemoration of the birth of the prophet Muhammad. According to the Libyan leader, “the jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism and against foreign aggression is not terrorism.” “Every Muslim in the world who has anything to do with Switzerland is an infidel, is against Islam, against the prophet Muhammad, against the Koran,” added the Libyan leader before a thousand-strong crowd. Gaddafi then urged “the Muslim masses to go to airports in the Muslim world and prevent Swiss flights from landing, to go to the ports to prevent Swiss ships from docking, to inspect every shop and market to stop the sale of goods produced in Switzerland.” On November 29, the referendum proposed by the populist right which requested that the building of new minarets be banned in Switzerland gained 57.7% of votes, triggering protest in the Islamic world. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Frattini, Jihad on Swiss? Let’s Not Increase Tension
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 26 — “It is not in Europe’s interest or that of Italy to create conditions which embitter the tones and the situation”. This was the Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini’s response on Affaritaliani.it to the ‘Holy War’ declared by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Switzerland and its referendum against minarets. “There is not much to comment on. The only thing to say is”, maintained the Foreign Minister, “that we hope for an immediate solution to the controversy involving Libya and Switzerland. It is a bilateral controversy, which we hope will be rapidly resolved and obviously we are continuing with our very clear position: Europe is continuing to negotiate with Libya for an agreement on global security, for immigration and development”. “At the same time, evidently”, Frattini added, “we are asking Libya to respect all of the international commitments, referring to, for example, the treatment of prisoners”. “We hope that the Swiss citizen who is still held in Libya”, he concluded in reference to Max Goeldi, sentenced to 4 months for violating immigration laws and recently delivered to Libyan authorities, “is pardoned, as we are all hoping. And it seems to me that the leader Gaddafi’s son made this clear” to Goeldi’s legal representation.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Call for Jihad Against Switzerland, UN and EU Criticise
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 26 — Statements by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who yesterday invoked a jihad (“holy war”) against Switzerland for the referendum on minarets are “inappropriate”, according to a EU Commission spokesperson, who added “especially at this time, when diplomatic efforts are being made” to solve problems between Berne and Tripoli. The UN general director in Geneva, Serghei Ordzhonikidze, also added his voice, defining such appeals by a head of State as “inadmissible”. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UN Deplores Gaddafi Call for Anti-Swiss ‘Jihad’
A top UN official has condemned as “inadmissible” Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s call for a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland.
“Such declarations on the part of the head of state are inadmissible in international relations,” said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the UN chief in Geneva.
Col Gaddafi criticised a Swiss vote against the building of minarets and urged Muslims to boycott the country.
Libya and Switzerland are embroiled in a long-running diplomatic row.
The dispute dates back to 2008, when one of Mr Gaddafi’s sons was arrested in Geneva, accused of assaulting two servants.
A Swiss foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the jihad call.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus-Agreement in the Sector of Social Protection
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, FEBRUARY 22 — In the framework of the two day official visit to Cyprus of the Minister of Social Affairs and Services of Israel, Isaac Herzog, a Joint Declaration was signed today in the sector of social protection and social inclusion between the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance of Cyprus and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Services of Israel. The Declaration includes cooperation on issues of social protection and inclusion and focuses on the two countries’ sensitive population groups and primarily on people with handicaps. The cooperation provides for, inter alia, the establishment of official communication channels between the two Ministries, exchange of information and good practices through visits, seminars and other events, the exchange of experts, stuff education and the implementation of special programs, cooperation and the exchange of information on issues of social insurance. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fourth Day of Rioting in Hevron
(IsraelNN.com) Dozens of Muslim youths rioted and hurled rocks at security forces in the city of Hevron Thursday, in the fourth consecutive day of rioting there since the government decided to include the Cave of Machpelah and Rachel’s Tomb in its list of national heritage sites that the state intends to invest in.
The soldiers are using riot control gear to maintain order. There are no reports of casualties.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday that the administration viewed the inclusion of the two Judean sites in the heritage list as “provocative” and “unhelpful” to the goal of getting Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table.
Toner said US diplomats had conveyed American displeasure with the decision to senior Israeli officials.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Territories: Italy Offers Credit and SME Model
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 25 — The project to develop an industrial district in the city of Jenin, with the feasibility study set to conclude in spring, and a favourable credit line for Palestinian companies worth 25 million euros, in support of joint ventures with Italian companies. These are the two axes of the Italian commitment towards the development of the Palestinian Territories which Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Stefania Craxi spoke about at the Mediterranean Economic Forum, organised by Confindustria, the Italian Trade Commission, and the Abi (Italian Banking Association) in Rome. The commitment is part of the “Marshall Palestine” initiative, which aims to support economic development alongside international efforts to revive the peace process. And if the Jenin project is looking to logistical structures to get Palestinian products to the European markets through Haifa, the Italian Cooperation’s aim is for not only humanitarian aid but also support for development, Stefania Craxi said. “Palestine is not a blank sheet” she added outside the Forum, “it can already count on good industries, from marble to agricultural produce”. And it can count on resources “which the international community often makes available and does not manage to transform into concrete projects”. But “If we work on development in Palestine, Israel must support it as well, favouring the mobility of goods and people, and we are talking about this with the Israeli Government”. The obstacles represented by Israeli policies and the settlements, is what President of the Federation of Palestinian Industrialists, Mahdi Al Masri, points his finger at. “There is a problem of controls at checkpoints and the borders, where the length of time they take can compromise the quality of the produce. There is also the issue of the ‘dumping’ of poor quality Israeli products on the Palestinian market, and this happens with consumer goods and building materials”. He also stresses tax breaks and resorting to “illegal work” which the settlers benefit from and which distorts free competition on the Palestinian market, damaging local businesses. The picture in the Gaza Strip is even worse, which has no access to 90% of the production of the West Bank, he says, and which is also affected by dumping from Israel. Despite this though, “there are many success stories” among Palestinian businesses, which show that in more favourable conditions, “Palestine would be in a position to reach the highest standards”. In any case Masri recognises Italy’s commitment towards the Palestinian entrepreneurial system, even compared with France’s commitment towards the industrial area in Bethlehem. The 25 million euros in credit set aside in agreement with the Ramallah Government and Palestinian Federation of industries are being offered in extremely favourable terms, he says, and 65% is intended for joint ventures with Italian companies, with the remainder for projects with Italian suppliers. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai Says DNA of One Assassin Found
Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim announced Friday he possessed the DNA of at least one of the assassins of senior Hamas figure Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh.
“We’ve (identified) traces of DNA on the scene, belonging to the criminals,” he told Al-Arabiya satellite TV. “We have fingerprints and DNA traces and we know what they look like (thanks) to cameras that have revealed the whole operation.”
Tamim also said he plans to appoint an international investigation team to pursue the 26 people suspected of committing the murder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Environment: Turkey & Syria to Build a “Friendship Dam”
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 15 — Turkish Environment & Forestry Minister Veysel Eroglu said on Saturday that the “friendship dam” which would be built jointly by Turkey and Syria on Asi River would change the region’s destiny. As Anatolia news agency reported, Eroglu added that Turkey and Syria signed 51 memorandums of understanding during Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Syria last year, adding that one of those MoUs was on “friendship dam”. Eroglu said that Turkish and Syrian experts examined the location for the dam, and its foundation would be laid within 2010. The “friendship dam”, to be constructed on the part of River Asi in Turkey, will protect the agricultural fields and settlements in the two countries towards the sea from floods. The dam will irrigate some 10,000 hectares of agricultural fields and generate almost 16 million kw/hr energy p.a. Eroglu added that another dam — Reyhanli Dam — would also be started to be built on March 1, 2010 to meet the irrigation need of agricultural areas in Turkish southern province of Hatay. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Pastor Among Nine Christians Arrested
Tehran, 26 Feb. (AKI) — An evangelical priest was among nine Christians arrested in central Iran on Friday as authorities continued a crackdown against Christians in the Islamic country. The Christians’ evangelical church in the city of Isfahan was closed down last month, according to advocacy group International Christian Concern.
“Iranian Christians are under constant threat of discrimination, imprisonment, torture, and even execution by the Iranian government,” said Washington DC-based ICC president Jeff King, quoted by Christian news agency BosNewsLife.
“This severely restricts religious freedom,” King added.
Reverend Wilson Issavi was arrested by Iranian state security agents in Isfahan, some 340 kilometers south of the capital Tehran, King said.
“Reverend Issavi, his hosts and others were apprehended by the security agents and immediately taken to prison. Friends and family are deeply concerned as they are unable to contact Reverend Issavi,” King stated.
Christian and opposition groups say Christians are the target of oppression by the Iranian government. Iranian intelligence services arrested six Christians accused of proselytism on 15 January, according to the opposition website ‘Rah-e sabz’.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians have left Iraq since 2003 to escape the violence and the economic crisis caused by the war sparked by the American invasion. Many fled to neighbouring Iran.
There are at least 100,000 Christians in Iran currently, compared with less than 500 in 1979, according to Elam Ministries, an organisation supporting churches in Iran.
Elam Ministries believes Iran’s conservative clerical leadership is concerned about the spread of Christianity in the Islamic nation.
King said he could not reveal the names of eight people who had been arrested, citing security concerns.
Issavi was visiting a friend’s home in Isfahan’s Shahin Shahr area when state security raided the house unannounced, King said.
The location where the nine Christians are being held and their physical condition is unknown, he said.
King said before Issavi’s church, the Evangelical Church of Kermanshah, was closed down on 2 January, it was among the few remaining churches still open in Iran.
Iran’s hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come under international pressure to improve religious rights but he has denied wrongdoing.
The Vatican has urged the government of neighbouring Iraq to uphold the rights of religious minorities in the country amid a spate of attacks on Christians in the multi-ethnic northern city of Mosul that has caused hundreds of families to flee the area.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: 20 Thousand Saddam Era Officers Reinstated
They were discharged in 2003 by the Provisional Coalition Authority led invasion. Al-Maliki accused of wanting to ensure their votes. cleansing campaign against the former Baath party members (Sunni) continues, commissioned by Shiites. Suspected Iranian influence.
Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Ministry of Defence said yesterday that 20 thousand officers, who had served under Saddam Hussein, will be reintegrated into the army from tomorrow. They were removed from their posts in 2003, with a very controversial decision by the Coalition Provisional Authority led by the United States.
According to the ministry, the decision is now possible because they have the money to fund their salaries. But Iraqi politicians and observers point out that the announcement, just days before the election on March 7, seems a move to secure more votes for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Maysoun al-Damlouji, a candidate tied to Ayad Allawi’s secular party — very critical of al-Maliki — declares that “there is no doubt, this move is related to elections and the need to gain votes.”
With the fall of Saddam Hussein, hundreds of thousands of officers and Baath party members were removed from office. This led to the disintegration of the social structure of Iraq and the revolt of the Sunni world, creating many problems of insecurity, terrorism and poverty.
Now, little by little, many are being re-integrated and in many Iraqi cities (especially in Shiite majority cities) there have been demonstrations demanding convictions and dismissals of former members of Saddams Party. A few months ago about 500 former members of the Baath party were excluded from standing in elections. The purge was conducted by a committee chaired by two Shiite MPs, candidates who are also suspected of being at the service of Iran.
In protest against the purges, some Sunni groups have withdrawn from the elections rising fears of a new wave of clashes. But on Feb. 25, one of them, Saleh al-Mutlaq, announced that his party, the Front for National Dialogue would run in the elections.
But yesterday, “the purge” committee issued a complaint against al-Mutlal, suspected of violence and killings of Sunni insurgents in recent years. Al-Mutlal has long denied any involvement with the Sunni insurgents and says he left the Baath Party back in the ‘70s.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel’s Right to Self-Defense
The Dubai hit exposes the failure of international law to fight jihadi terror, forcing the Jewish state to act independently.
The headlines and video images allegedly showing Israeli spies in Dubai are titillating, but they mask the serious issues involved in the death of Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Along with predictable European hand-wringing over forged passports, this case is the latest example of the failure of the international legal system and the United Nations to provide a remedy to mass terror.
Al-Mabhouh was a cold-blooded murderer—in an interview just last year on Al Jazeera he boasted about kidnapping and then killing two Israeli soldiers. He was also a major figure in arranging arms shipments from Iran to Gaza. Al-Mabhouh shared responsibility for the thousands of rocket attacks fired at civilians in Sderot and other Israeli towns, which resulted in last year’s war in Gaza. In his travels, the Hamas terrorist was probably making arrangements for the next round of attacks.
But international law provides no means for stopping terrorists like Al-Mabhouh, or for his Hezbollah counterpart, Imad Moughniyeh, whose life ended with an explosion in Damascus in 2008. (In addition to numerous attacks against Israelis, Moughniyeh has been blamed for the 1983 Beirut bombings that killed hundreds of American and French peacekeepers and the murder of Lebanese President Rafik Hariri.) Cases involving Muslim terrorists, supported by Iran, would never be pursued by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, or raised in the framework of the United Nations. Al-Mabhouh violated the human rights of untold Israeli civilians, but the U.N.’s Human Rights Council—which is dominated by such moral stalwarts as Libya, Algeria, and Iran—has no interest in Israeli complaints.
It is equally hard to imagine Interpol issuing arrest warrants in response to Israeli requests. And if warrants were issued, history shows that German, French, Belgian, and other European governments would not risk the consequences of acting on them. Little effort was ever made to apprehend the perpetrators of the Munich Olympic massacre, or of the deadly bombing attacks against synagogues in Istanbul and Athens. It’s a widely known secret that European governments had ungentlemanly agreements with the PLO that allowed the Palestinians to operate from their territories, provided the terror attacks occurred elsewhere. Not until 2003 did the EU even put Hamas on its terror list. Hezbollah is currently free to operate in Europe.
The bitter reality is that for Israel, international legal frameworks provide no protection and no hope of justice. Instead, these frameworks are used to exploit the rhetoric of human rights and morality to attack Israel…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Nasrallah in Damascus Meets Ahmadinejad and Assad
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, FEBRUARY 26 — The leader of the anti-Israeli Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was in Damascus to meet with Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad, the official Syrian press agency, Sana, reported today. The agency, which published a photo of Nasrallah while conversing with Ahmadinejad and the Syrian president Bashar al Assad, specified that Nasrallah, at the head of a large party delegation, was invited yesterday evening to a state dinner organised by the same Assad for the occasion of Ahmadinejad’s official visit. Hezbollah’s television network, Manar, reported for its part that Nasrallah, in one of his rare public appearances, discussed “recent regional developments” and “Zionist threats to Lebanon and Syria” with Ahmadinejad. Since the beginning of the 1980’s, Hezbollah has kept very close political, economic and ideological binding links with the Islamic Republic. Functionally anti-Israeli, Syria supports the Shiite movement, like other radical Palestinian factions. According to foreign press sources, during his brief visit to Damascus, Ahmadinejad met with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in exile in the country.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: SMEs Are the Base of National Economy, Deputy Minister
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, FEBRUARY 22 — “Supporting the small and medium-sized companies is an economic duty that achieves national interest”, Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Abdullah al-Dardari, said at the Euro Arab conference to support SMEs in Damascus. “The small and medium companies are the base of the Syrian economy which paves the way for new job opportunities and decreases the number of the unemployed”, he added, underlining that the 11th 5-year plan will concentrate on the competitive economy and the active companies. The Damascus conference was co-organized by the Syrian Enterprise & Business Centre (SEBC), a business institution with roots stretching back to the first EU programme implemented in Syria after the Barcelona Declaration, namely the Syrian-European Business Centre (1996-2006). The SEBC is currently implementing various EU-funded Programmes such as: the Trade Enhancement Programme: a 15 million euros programme which has a strong component on customs facilitation and streamlining of trade-related legislation; the Business Environment Simplification Programme: a 5 million euros programme which aims to achieve a drastic simplification of the regulatory and administrative procedures for doing business; the Strengthening Quality Management, Capabilities and Infrastructures programme, which aims at assisting the Syrian government in building up a modern quality infrastructure, in order to protect consumers from unsafe products and increase international trade. Finally, the SME Support Programme, a 15 million euros EU-funded programme, focus assistance on six areas: efficiency and competitiveness; local consultancy business development services; access to and choice of medium and long-term finance; access to information on export market opportunities; strengthening SME support institution; policies to strengthen and support the private sector. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Berlin-Dubai-Tehran Axis
Dubai is in fact already the “gateway to the Iranian market”—and not only for German companies. The tiny emirate is considered to be the hub for much of the world’s illegal trade with Iran. Virtually nothing is produced in Dubai and yet, its activities have somehow catapulted the UAE to the top of the list of countries exporting to Iran in 2009. An astounding 80% of all Emirati imports are re-exported, one-quarter of which goes to Iran via Dubai.
Some 8,000 Iranian firms and 1,200 Iranian trading companies are registered in the emirate. Every week, about 300 flights shuttle between Dubai and Iran. Dubai has one of the world’s largest artificial harbors, Jebel Ali, a mere 100 miles away from the Iranian container port of Bandar Abbas. Between 2005 and 2009, the value of goods exported from Dubai to Iran tripled, reaching $12 billion. In 2008, total German exports to the UAE reached $11 billion, an increase of 40% over the previous year. In the vehicle construction and mechanical engineering sectors, exports rose by more than 60%. The desire of the German-Emirati Joint Council to open the “gateway to Iran” even wider is therefore rather worrisome.
| [Return to headlines] |
Trade: Syrian Premier Invites Turkish Companies to Syria
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, FEBRUARY 24 — Syrian Premier Muhammad Naji al-Utri invited Turkish companies to Syria, Anatolia news agency reports. Utri who met with Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan who is attending the Mersin Promotion events in Damascus, said his country was pleased with growing ties with Turkey. Itri said they wanted to cooperate with Turkey in the contracting and consultancy sector adding that Syrian and Turkish companies could cooperate in international projects. Caglayan later met with Syrian Deputy Premier for Economy Abdallah al-Dardari and Syrian Economy Minister Lamia Mari Assi. Speaking during the meeting Caglayan called for more cooperation between the banking sectors of the two countries. Caglayan said the current volume of trade between the two countries was USD 2 billion, adding that they aimed at increasing it to USD 10 billion by 2013. Assi said in his part that they would open a special office within their ministry to oversee relations with Turkey. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Is Russia Adopting Nuke 1st-Strike Policy?
Secret plan addresses ‘preventive’ action against ‘aggression’
Security experts believe Russia has adopted a secret policy for the possible use of first-strike nuclear weapons to deter “conventional aggression,” according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law a new Russian military doctrine, and while publicizing it, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn has made it known that the new doctrine has two parts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Agent Killed in Kabul
Pietro Colazzo among ‘14-18’ victims of Taliban attacks
(ANSA) — Rome, February 26 — An Italian intelligence agent was among at least 14 people killed in three Taliban suicide attacks in Kabul Friday.
Pietro Antonio Colazzo, 47, was cut down by gunfire outside the hotel he was staying at, the 22nd Italian to die in Afghanistan since 2004.
Friday’s death toll varied from 14 to 18, according to reports.
Eight Afghans including three police were killed along with one French documentary filmmaker and “up to nine” Indians, sources said.
At least 32 people were hurt in the blasts while three of the eight assailants were killed including the pair who blew themselves up.
The three blasts targeted a shopping centre, a nearby guesthouse used by Indians, and at least one hotel used by other foreigners.
Tension was reported to be “palpable” in the Afghan capital although streets were deserted because of Friday prayers which this year have coincided with celebrations for the birthday of the prophet Mohammed.
There have been several Taliban attacks in Kabul recently as US-led forces have pushed into the southern Helmand province, a stronghold of the militants.
The biggest before Friday’s was on January 18, shortly after US President Barack Obama unveiled his new ‘surge’ policy.
With some 2,800 troops, Italy has the fifth-largest contingent in the NATO-led ISAF mission and commands allied forces in the west.
Italy has suffered a string of recent attacks, the latest on February 3 when five soldiers were slightly wounded.
ITALY ‘WILL STAY THE COURSE’.
Italy will stay the course in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said after some opposition parties called for a new ‘exit strategy’.
“Italy and the other (US) allies will remain committed to Afghanistan,” Frattini told Sky.
Calls for a withdrawal last rose in September when six soldiers were killed in Kabul but Italy went on to commit to US President Obama’s surge and has been active in seeking political solutions to the conflict.
After Obama sent in 30,000 more US troops in December, Italy pitched in with 1,000 soldiers, the most from any US ally.
The troops, plus some 200 Carabinieri, will start to deploy in June.
Italian officials including Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa, and the two Speakers of parliament paid tribute to Colazzo and reaffirmed Italy’s commitment to Afghanistan.
Berlusconi called him “a faithful servant of the state” and said Italy was “working to protect the civilian population from the madness of violence and intolerance”. La Russa called Colazzo “a man who with courage and dedication was working in a dangerous land to improve the Afghan people’s living conditions”.
Senate Speaker Renato Schifani sent a message of support to Italian troops working in Afghanistan for “democracy, peace and international security” and said the government would report to the Senate as soon as possible.
Chamber of Deputies Speaker Gianfranco Fini praised Colazzo’s “spirit of sacrifice”.
The officials sent their condolences to Colazzo’s sister, his one remaining close family member, at Galatina near Lecce in Puglia.
Frattini said Colazzo was a diplomatic advisor at the Italian embassy, sent by the Italian premier’s office.
Previously, well-informed sources told ANSA he was a member of the external intelligence service, AISE, formerly known as SISMI. Another SISMI agent, Lorenzo D’Auria, died in September 2007 after British special forces raided a hide-out where he was being held by the Taliban.
Italy began deploying troops in 2001 but its forces only began to be targeted three years later.
Since October 2004, 21 soldiers have been lost, 16 in combat.
Three died of heart attacks and two others in road accidents.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Offered to Hide Bamiyan Statues, But Taliban Asked Japan to Convert to Islam Instead
WASHINGTON —
Japan offered to hide Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddha statues to prevent the Taliban from destroying them, but the hardline regime instead suggested the Japanese convert to Islam, a new memoir says.
Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s most public face as ambassador to Pakistan, wrote that Japan was the most active country in pressing the regime not to demolish the 1,500-year-old statues in 2001.
He said that an official delegation from Japan, along with a Buddhist group from Sri Lanka, offered to remove the statues piece by piece and reassemble them abroad.
“Another suggestion they had was that they cover the statues from head to toe in a way that no one would recognize they had ever been there, while preserving them underneath,” Zaeef wrote in “My Life With The Taliban,” just published in the United States.
He said that the Japanese told the Afghans that they were forefathers of their religion and should preserve its heritage, but Zaeef said Afghans considered Buddhism “a void religion.”
“Since they saw us as their forefathers and had followed us before, why had they not followed our example when we found the true religion, I asked them,” he wrote.
Defying the intense international appeals, the Taliban spent a month using first anti-aircraft guns and then dynamite to obliterate the Buddha statues, arguing that Islam forbade idolatry.
Zaeef said he believed that the destruction was within Islamic sharia law. But he wrote that the decision had “bad timing,” as it worsened the Taliban’s foreign relations.
The Taliban was ousted months later in a U.S.-led invasion after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaida, which found a haven in Afghanistan. Zaeef was imprisoned at the U.S. camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and now lives in Kabul.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Karachi, A Christian Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Blasphemy
Qamar David was in prison since 2006. In the weeks after his arrest police failed to find any concrete evidence against him. Muslim co-defendant acquitted, for lack of evidence. Christian activists: verdict result of “influences and prejudices” and motivated by “ external pressures “.
Karachi (AsiaNews) — Qamar David, a Christian in the dock on charges of blasphemy, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The basis of the ruling, issued on Feb. 25, the fact that the man “hurt the religious feelings” of Muslims; however, the co-defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence. The police had arrested the man in 2006, although there was no evidence against him.
Additional District and Sessions Judge found Qamar David guilty of using blasphemous remarks about the Islamic Prophet and Quran and pronounced the verdict after hearing final arguments from both sides, daily Dawn reported yesterday.
According to the verdict, a SIM phone card was found in possession of the convict and the data produced by the cellular company established that messages were sent from the seized phone card, which they claim belonged to the Christian.
A contact close to the accused is of the opinion that the facts, evidence and law were in his favour. The evidence against him is said to be based on hearsay, and an accused Muslim in a parallel case was fully acquitted on the same facts. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source described the final judgement as “biased and prejudiced,” and believes that external pressure on the court may have played a part in distorting the outcome, a news release issued by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) states.
CSW is deeply concerned over news that a Pakistani Christian from Lahore was sentenced to life imprisonment for blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, the communiqué. The Christian man was arrested in May 2006 for allegedly spreading blasphemous messages through his cellphone. During that time both Mr David and his lawyer, Parvez Choudhry, were regularly subjected to assassination attempts and threats of violence from abusive mobs.
CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said: “This alarming verdict is yet further illustration of the urgent need for the government of Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws. The legislation continues to be abused for the satisfaction of personal vendettas against Pakistanis of all faiths. It is a dangerous tool in the hands of those seeking to persecute or discriminate against religious minorities.”
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sri Lanka’s Dissenting Voices ‘Silenced’
When Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected president of Sri Lanka in January, media organisations and human rights groups said they hoped the suppression of dissenting voices would end.
But those hopes have not materialised.
The recent arrest of defeated presidential candidate, Gen Sarath Fonseka, is seen by some as the latest example of intimidation of Mr Rajapaksa’s opponents.
Analysts say the general has joined a growing list of people and organisations that have been targeted.
During the presidential campaign they noticed a dramatic increase in threats to journalists and activists — especially those deemed to have supported Gen Fonseka.
Demonstrations
Some media employees and rights groups have protested, and there are fears the situation could get worse ahead of parliamentary elections in April.
London-based human rights group Amnesty International has just compiled a list of journalists who are at risk.
“Many who are viewed as having been critical of President Rajapaksa have received threats,” says Sam Zarifi, Amnesty’s director for the Asia-Pacific region.
“We could document 56 journalists facing threats in Sri Lanka. The number could be more.”
He said those who had been threatened worked for state and private media.
Analysts say that shortly after the presidential election the police shut down the office of a pro-opposition newspaper, Lanka, in Colombo. The editor was detained for weeks before being released.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Abu Sayyaf Militants Raid Philippine Village
Islamist militants have attacked a village in the southern Philippines, killing at least 11 people, military officials have said.
About 70 members of Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to al-Qaeda, raided Tubigan village on the southern island of Basilan, an army spokeswoman said.
Lt Steffani Cacho said homes had been raked with gunfire and set ablaze in a pre-dawn attack.
Philippines army reinforcements have been sent to the area, she added.
The militants were believed to have been avenging the death of a senior leader on nearby Jolo island, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold, Lt Cacho said.
However, Basilan police chief Antonio Mendoza said the attack had been motivated by a personal grudge with the village chairman.
‘Victims asleep’
Seventeen people were wounded in the attack with nine in a critical condition, four of them children, said regional health chief Dr Kadil Jojo Sinolinding.
“Most of the victims were still asleep when they were strafed and then their houses were torched,” he said.
Abu Sayyaf is the smallest and most radical of the Islamic separatist groups in the southern Philippines.
Last weekend, Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad was killed in an attack by Philippines troops on a rebel camp on Jolo.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong — China: Drugs Present in Over 90% of Schools in Hong Kong
A questionnaire shows children under 13 also use drugs. The younger children start with cough medicine and paint thinner, but then switch to cannabis and other drugs, often given them by their classmates.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The alarm is sounding in Hong Kong, where drugs are circulating in more than 90% of primary and secondary schools, and where 3.7% of the students-one out of 27 — admits to having tried some form of drug. These are the alarming results of a questionnaire carried out in educational institutions, demonstrating the extent of the problem.
The survey reveals that children under the age of 13 are using drugs. The proportion is 1.6% in primary school, 4.3% in secondary and 2.9% among university students. The anonymous questionnaire, was completed during the last school year by 158,089 students, representing 19.3% of the total. It reveals that approximately 30,130 students in 3130 in primary schools, 20,640 in secondary education and 1540 University students have at some stage used drugs.
14% of students claim to have taken drugs at least once a day in the month preceding the survey. Of 94 primary schools, 89% of students have used drugs and only one secondary school out of 112 reports no drug cases. In all 17 post-diploma institutions, including universities, there are students who have taken drugs.
The substances most commonly used in primary schools are cough medicines (37.5%) and paint thinner (30.7%). In secondary schools the most widely used are ketamine (approximately 50%) and cannabis (35.6%). Cannabis is used by 70.8% of university students, who also take pure ecstasy (25%).
Carol Ng Suet-kam of the Lutheran Evergreen Center for Social Service in Hong Kong, agrees there is evidence that drugs are being tried at an increasingly early age and warns that more and more often the substance is supplied by friends, rather than by drug dealers.
The Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yan-kuen believes that drug use among the young is a serious problem but it can be eradicated and is committed to “fighting it with all our might.” The government this year has earmarked 3 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 284.6 million euros) for anti-drug initiatives, for detox treatment and the rehabilitation.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mali: Deadly Crush at Timbuktu Mosque
Twenty-six people, mostly women and children, have been killed in a crush at the famous Djinguereber mosque in Timbuktu, sources have told the BBC.
The stampede happened during the Mouloud festival to mark the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, when people walk around the mud mosque in northern Mali.
The worshippers had to use a different path than usual because of renovations to the 14th Century building.
Timbuktu, in the Sahara Desert, was once a centre of Islamic learning.
Initial reports said that 16 people had died but local officials have subsequently told the BBC that a further 10 bodies were recovered at the scene and buried by their families without going to hospital.
According to Muslim tradition, people should be buried with 24 hours of their death.
Local tour guide Halif Mohamed al-Hassan told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that up to 25,000 people converge on the mosque each year and walk around it three times to mark the prophet’s birthday.
He says the people were killed after an elderly woman fell down and others were trampled to death.
Some 40 people were injured, the police say, according to Reuters news agency.
“I lost my sister. She was 16 and had gone to pray,” said local resident, Ali Kounta, reports the AFP news agency.
The Djinguereber mosque is the largest in Timbuktu.
The once wealthy city helped spread Islam across West Africa.
Its fortunes declined after the 16th Century, as the region’s main trade routes switched to the Atlantic Ocean, instead of the Sahara Desert.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Chile Devastated by Major Earthquake
Chile’s second largest city suffered widespread devastation in a severe earthquake which has claimed scores of lives across the South American country.
The quake, which registered at magnitude 8.8 on the Richter scale, caused major structural damage to buildings in Concepcíon, which has a population of one million.
The shock wave also triggered a potentially deadly tsunami which has already hit land at the southern Juan Fernandez Islands, about 400 miles off the coast of Chile, where it was reported to have caused “serious damage”.
Across the country the confirmed death toll reached 82 but was expected to rise.
The first images broadcast from Concepcíon, located some 70 miles southwest of the epicentre of the earthquake, showed a building consumed by a massive blaze.
Streets were shown full of rubble and broken glass and patients were pictured being evacuated from the local hospital as emergency crisis centres were set up in the streets.
Others were pictured wandering dazed amongst the debris, wrapped in blankets, and covered in dirt.
Entire buildings in the historical centre of Concepcíon had collapsed, cars flattened and bridges stretching across the Biobio river which dissects the city, brought down.
Dramatic images broadcast on local television channels showed craters and fissures had opened up in the earth swallowing cars and parts of buildings.
Rescue teams were frantically trying to reach people reportedly trapped in buildings in Concepcion. Local media reported isolated incidents of looting from pharmacies and commercial centres in the city.
Several high-rise residential buildings in the city were pictured with the facades destroyed leaving interior rooms open to the elements.
Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean President, declared a “state of catastrophe” and said: “With the quake of this magnitude, we cannot rule out other casualties.
“People should remain calm. We’re doing everything we can with all the forces we have.”
In capital Santiago, masonry crashed into the streets from buildings and the city was plunged into darkness by power failures.
Thousands of people fled their homes when the earthquake struck at 3.34am local time, gathering in the streets with many still clothed in pyjamas. Images showed a road bridge that had collapsed trapping cars beneath it.
The major quake lasted one minute and was swiftly followed by a series of aftershocks ranging from 5.6 to 6.9 on the magnitude scale.
One man told local a television news channel in the city of Temuco: “Never in my life have I experienced a quake like this, it’s like the end of the world.”
The earthquake struck 60 miles north-west of the Chilean town of Chillan, a spokesman for the US Geological Survey said.
Vina del Mar, one of Chile’s most fashionable beach resorts was said to be badly hit in the quake and ensuing aftershocks.
Several revelers reportedly died after they were struck by falling rubble as they left a nightclub on the seafront in the early hours of Saturday.
The coastal city, 45 miles north-west of Santiago, was packed with weekenders visiting the resort for the final days of the summer holiday.
Authorities said they had still to make contact with many outlying areas. Communication had been made difficult after telephone lines were downed across the country, they said.
Chilean officials said the worst affected town appeared to be Parral, close to the epicentre.
Santiago, 200 miles from the epicentre, suffered severe damage, with buildings and bridges destroyed and power-black outs.The city’s international airport remained closed after sustaining damage.
Chilean television said there had been a fire involving chemicals in the town of Colina, north of Santiago, but that it was now under control.
Teams of firefighters and police marched through the streets of Santiago urging calm and issuing instructions through megaphones.
One Spanish visitor who was asleep in his room on the 17th floor of the Crown Palace hotel in Santiago told Spanish radio Cadena SER how he was woken by the earthquake.
“It was a pretty intense shaking,” said Victor Garcia de la Concha.
“The bedside lamp, which was quite a weight fell from the table and shattered. The drawers in the dresser in front of the bed were rattled open.”
He reported that the building had not been damaged but guests were evacuated from their rooms and told to gather in the hotel lobby.
Initial reports indicate that the quake could be felt across Chile and also sent tremors to several provinces in central Argentina including parts of the capital, Buenos Aires, 1,000 miles away from the epicentre.
In 1960, Chile was hit by the world’s biggest earthquake since records dating back to 1900.
In that disaster, a 9.5 magnitude quake devastated the south-central city of Valdivia, killing 1,655 people and sending a tsunami which battered Easter Island and continued as far as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
Today’s magnitude 8.8 quake is classified as a “great” earthquake that can cause “tremendous damage,” according to the US Geological Survey.
| [Return to headlines] |
Cuban Dissidents ‘Declare Hunger Strike’
Several Cuban dissidents say they will refuse food in protest at the death earlier this week of a jailed government opponent.
Opposition group the Cuban Commission for Human Rights said four jailed dissidents would reject solid food.
Another anti-government activist, who is not in jail, has said he is also giving up food and drink.
Orlando Zapata Tamayo died on Tuesday in a hospital in the capital Havana after a hunger strike of 85 days.
His death triggered international protests and Cuban President Raul Castro issued an expression of regret.
The four jailed dissidents planning to begin a hunger strike are Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero, Nelson Molinet Espino and Fidel Suarez Cruz, the commission said.
Guillermo Farinas, an activist and journalist who lives in the city of Santa Clara, has said he is already refusing food and is experiencing headaches as a result.
‘Tribute’
“The reason for my [hunger] strike is so that the government will not cause the murders of political prisoners as it happened with Zapata,” Mr Farinas told Spanish news agency Efe by telephone.
“It is also a tribute to him,” he added.
Mr Farinas has held more than 20 hunger strikes since 1995.
Zapata, who was 42, was arrested in 2003 in a crackdown on opposition activists and was initially jailed for three years.
However, this was increased to 25 years in subsequent trials after he was charged with disobedience and disorder in a penal establishment, London-based rights group Amnesty International said.
Amnesty, which considered Zapata a “prisoner of conscience”, said “a full investigation must be carried out to establish whether ill-treatment may have played a part” in his death.
President Castro said he “lamented” Zapata’s death but insisted no-one on the island had been tortured.
The US said it highlighted “the injustice of Cuba’s holding more than 200 political prisoners” and said they should be released “without delay”.
The Cuban government says it holds no political prisoners.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Immigration Dept is Racist: Fraser
Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has blamed the immigration department for some policies such as remote detention centres that he believes may have racist motivations.
He argues that white farmers fleeing Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe would not have been held in remote detention centres like more recent asylum seekers have been.
“The whole idea for establishing a detention centre in a remote, harsh place … that sort of idea came out of the department,” Mr Fraser told ABC Television on Tuesday.
Asked if there was a racist culture within the department, he replied: “Maybe.”
Mr Fraser added the Rudd government was “a little” better than the former coalition government when it came to the treatment of asylum seekers.
He also challenged the coalition argument that Labor had lost control of Australia’s borders.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Citizens and Immigrants Clash in Catalonia
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 26 — Tension grew between citizens and immigrants in Salt, a town in the province of Gerona, in Catalonia, in the wake of a wave of thefts that increased social alarm. Yesterday the police cleared a group of residents out of the council room. The residents were protesting against the local government for the lack of security and the inadequacy of police controls. The media reported that already on Monday the Town Council had been suspended because of citizens protesting for the same reasons. But once out of the room the group of protesters, together with approximately 100 residents who joined the protest, started to shout “Out, Out!” against a number of immigrants from the Maghreb, accused of being responsible for the growing number of criminal acts in the municipality. These resulted in clashes and altercations, which were finally quelled by the intervention of police forces. Al Hassani, a young Moroccan spokesperson for the immigrant community, complained that “They call us moors and they insult us. We feel offended, because we are citizens like all the others, who pay taxes and a mortgage”. He added that “It is not true that crimes have increased, they use us as a scapegoat”, and announced the summoning of a protest march for next week to reply to the “insults and racism”. According to Al Hassani, certain political parties, especially Convergencia i Union (CiU) and the People’s Party, are exploiting the protest by local citizens as a spearhead to win over the Town government, which is led by the socialists. Jaume Torremadé, spokesperson of CiU’s municipal group. Denied the accusations. But tension remains high in the municipality, which counts 31,000 inhabitants, 34% of which are immigrants. One out of every four residents is unemployed, as is 13% of the native population. Mayor Yolanda Pineda (Psc) admitted that the situation is difficulty and made an appeal for peace, while also rejecting any connection between crime and immigration. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour’s Hypocrisy Over Migrants: How the Party is Trying to Woo Voters With Tactics That Would Shame the BNP
Soothing words of comfort are combined with powerful pledges of action to ease the pressure on jobs, school places and council housing.
‘There is a great deal of worry about the pressure on schools, doctors’ surgeries and housing allocations,’ reads one of them. ‘I want you to help me keep the pressure up on the Government in relation to reforming and updating our immigration and citizenship rules and laws.’
Stirring stuff indeed. So which party do you think is promising to fight the Government on these policy failings? The Conservatives? UKIP, perhaps?
No, with astonishing hypocrisy, these pledges come from the Labour Party itself. For the authors are senior Labour MPs who fear losing their seats as a result of the political fall-out from the mass immigration policy that they gladly helped to implement.
Dozens of these letters from sitting Labour MPs have been passed to the Daily Mail — and the authors all have one thing in common. They are fighting for their political lives because of the threat posed by the odious, far-Right British National Party.
They include Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary and key ally of Gordon Brown, and Margaret Hodge, the Culture Minister who is fighting a seat in the East End of London.
Some of the leaflets sent out to constituents include dubious immigration questionnaires and promises that local people will be put first in the jobs queue.
Labour’s hypocrisy has come to light only days after the scale of Labour’s deliberate plan to create a multicultural Britain through mass immigration was revealed.
A draft Cabinet Office report, uncovered by a Freedom of Information request, showed how, in 2000, Labour ministers deliberately plotted to open the floodgates to new migrants to achieve the party’s ‘social objectives’. Traditionally, new immigrants vote for Left-wing parties.
The document also revealed how those who dared to question this policy would be branded ‘racists’.
Today, however, on the cusp of a General Election, many Labour MPs have realised that their secret plan has backfired spectacularly. As a result of mass immigration, many of their core white working-class voters complain that they feel like second-class citizens in their own communities, and believe that immigrants are given unfair precedence for jobs and public services.
As a result, Labour MPs in marginal seats or with a BNP threat are desperately scrambling to play the race card in a shameless attempt to be seen as acting tough on immigration after all.
One of the MPs at the heart of the new get-tough policy on immigration in constituency backyards is Mr Balls, who is the Prime Minister’s closest political friend.
Mr Balls has been at the centre of Cabinet decision-making over the past decade and will have been only too well aware of Labour’s encouragement of a multicultural Britain.
Mr Balls, a front-runner to succeed Mr Brown as Labour leader, has held two public meetings and produced direct mail and questionnaires on the immigration issue in his newly-created Morley and Outwood constituency.
Significantly, the Schools Secretary’s Yorkshire constituency is a fertile breeding ground for the BNP, which already has one BNP councillor and hundreds of members registered locally.
In his recent constituency newsletter, Mr Balls wrote: ‘I want to have a conversation with you about immigration. What we really need is proper discussion about the difficulties and benefits that immigration can bring to our country.’
He admitted that there were ‘concerns about jobs in our area’, and asked: ‘Do you support updating our immigration laws so that: migrants who want to settle here must speak English? A probationary period should be passed before they are able to claim state benefits?’
It is a similar story in Barking — the East London constituency where BNP leader Nick Griffin is fighting the Culture Minister Margaret Hodge.
With one of the highest rates of immigration in Britain, Barking has seen a massive social upheaval as a result of Labour’s policy, with many local families struggling to come to terms with the sheer number of new arrivals from abroad.
Yet in a two-page letter to constituents, Mrs Hodge paints herself as being tough on immigration, saying that it can be ‘very unsettling’ for ‘predominantly white’ and ‘traditional East End families’.
She adds: ‘I respect your concerns about the pace of change. It is wrong for others to dismiss these out of hand and rest assured that you do have my support on this.’
Earlier this month, Mrs Hodge even suggested that migrants should be forced to ‘earn’ the right to benefits and council housing over several years. She warned that British values of tolerance were under threat because of an increasing sense of ‘unfairness’ over immigration.
Yet at no time has she accepted responsibility for her part in creating these problems, through her own Government’s bitterly controversial ‘social objectives’. Only now that her seat is under threat has she seen fit to speak out.
In Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the Government whip Mary Creagh has produced similar leaflets and surveys on immigration.
‘One issue comes up time and time again,’ she writes, ‘immigration, and in particular its impact on local communities and the Wakefield job market.’
It is a desperate response to the fact that the BNP captured 13 per cent of the vote in her area at the European elections — and may build on that support at the General Election.
In an echo of Mr Brown’s doomed slogan ‘British jobs for British workers’, Ms Creagh asks her constituents whether: ‘Jobs should be advertised first to people in Wakefield before being opened up to overseas workers’ — a statement that would almost certainly fall foul of race relations legislation.
Such concerns have also preoccupied Gisela Stuart, the former junior health minister, who is defending a wafer-thin majority in Birmingham Edgbaston.
She carried out a recent survey which invited responses to the proposition: ‘Migrants should have to pay into a fund to support communities experiencing significant change as a result of immigration.’
Or how about Tom Watson, the West Bromwich East MP and another close ally of the Prime Minister, who has also been busy posing as being tough on immigration? (Nick Griffin and other leading BNP figures took part in a St George’s Day parade through West Bromwich which was attended by 20,000 people).
In a recent direct mail and survey about immigration, Watson declared: ‘Most people told me that they were concerned about the level of immigration. More surveys were returned than on any other subject I have asked you about in the past.
‘There is a great deal of worry about the pressure on schools, doctors’ surgeries and housing allocations.
Also unsurprisingly, a lot of people also mentioned the issue of protecting local jobs. I want you to help me keep the pressure up on the Government in relation to reforming and updating our immigration and citizenship rules and laws.’
In Burton, Labour MP Ruth Smeeth has gone even further, actively campaigning to portray the Tories as the party that is soft on immigration.
Defending a majority of just 1,421 — smaller than the number of BNP votes in her constituency at the 2005 election — Ms Smeeth has highlighted how London’s Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson is ‘campaigning for an amnesty for illegal immigrants’.
Such breathtaking hypocrisy from the party that has presided over the biggest influx of immigrants in British history has shocked even seasoned immigration campaigners.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch UK, says: ‘It would seem that some Labour MPs are singing to an entirely different hymn sheet from the rest of the Government.
‘We have been pressing the Government on these issues for years. It appears to be only the onset of a General Election that has caused some of them to respond — even if it is in a surreptitious manner.’
Shown the evidence of Labour’s new electioneering tactic, Lord Carlile, QC, the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, accused the MPs involved of willfully stirring up resentment and prejudice against immigrants.
He says: ‘I don’t think that any candidate should demean him or herself by grovelling on the ground occupied by Nick Griffin and the BNP.
‘We need a sensible debate, and a true analysis of the effect of immigration issues on the economy, benefits and the work place. But pandering to and encouraging prejudice is a very bad idea.’
Lord Ouseley, the former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, is similarly appalled by these 11th-hour demands for action from vulnerable MPs.
‘Where have they been for the past ten years while this is going on? It is only because it has become such a high-profile issue and they fear they are losing support that they are now raising it. No wonder people are so cynical.
‘They were too busy at Westminster to worry about the threat from the BNP. Yet their constituents have been worried about this issue for years. They are trying to shut the door now that the horse has well and truly bolted.
‘The voters these MPs are trying to reach out to will not fall for this. They feel alienated because they have seen a government that is more interested in wealth and celebrity and has allowed the financial sector to bring the whole edifice crashing down.’
One thing is certain: however offensive, it seems that Mr Balls and his fellow vulnerable MPs will stop at nothing to cling on to their jobs and perks.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Destroying America From Inside the Classroom
I have reported many times in the pages of the DeWeese Report about how public school classrooms are being used, not for the teaching of academic knowledge, but for behavior modification to change the student’s attitudes, values and beliefs. Barack Obama is now driving to control classroom curriculum based on United Nation’s Globalism. Many parents want to deny this is happening. “Not in my child’s school,” they tell me. If you still don’t believe it’s happening in EVERY school that takes public money, then read below, open your eyes, and know the truth about what happens to your child in the schools you send them to every day.
“My 14- year-old Daughter Pearl is a freshman at Ft. Myers High School and my 11-year-old daughter Lily is in 5th grade at Three Oaks Elementary. Here are some of the things they have relayed to me concerning what they have been learning in our public schools:
| 1. | Lily said, “I would rather just shoot myself in the head because it would be a less painful death that to suffer and die from global warming.” | |
| 2. | Pearl has been studying the Watergate scandal for three weeks. She had to memorize the name of everyone involved (people I’ve never heard of) for a test. | |
| 3. | Both girls have been taught to fear the extinction of the polar bears. | |
| 4. | Both girls have had numerous lessons about various aspects of the Native Americans and the brutal treatment thereof. | |
| 5. | Both girls have studied the Pueblo people and Mexican pottery. | |
| 6. | Neither girl has spent much time studying our American forefathers. |
— Letter to the Editor from a parent in Fort Myers, Fl.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Snubbed, Homosexuals Head to Mass En Masse
A priest’s refusal to grant communion to a gay man has led to uproar in the Catholic south of the Netherlands. A multitude of gay men now look set to descend on Sunday mass in the city of Den Bosch.
According to Catholic teaching, people who live in sin are excluded from holy communion. It is public knowledge in Reusel that Vermeulen lives together with his boyfriend. Therefore, father Luc Buyens of the local church told the prince before the ceremony he would receive “a cross on his forehead but no communion wafer”.
The incident has caused uproar. Gaykrant, a Dutch gay magazine, called upon its readers to go to Reusel and visit last Sunday’s mass. Confronted with a deluge of homosexuals, father Buyens called upon the bishop of Den Bosch for guidance, before deciding to send his entire flock, regulars and new arrivals alike, home without granting them the communion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Aides to Meet With Atheists on White House Grounds
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has burnished his Christian credentials, courted Jewish support and preached outreach toward Muslims. On Friday, his administration will host a group that fits none of the above: America’s nonbelievers.
The president isn’t expected to make an appearance at the meeting with the Secular Coalition for America or to unveil any new policy as a result of it.
Instead, several administration officials will sit down quietly for a morning meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus with about 60 workhorses from the coalition’s 10 member groups, including the American Atheists and the Council for Secular Humanism. Tina Tchen, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and representatives from the Justice and Health and Human Services departments will participate.
Coalition leaders are billing their visit as an important meeting between a presidential administration and the “nontheist” community. On the agenda are three policy areas: child medical neglect, military proselytizing and faith-based initiatives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Survey Asks Students When They Lost Virginity
Results in newspaper show classes counseled ‘why not’ be sexually active
A team of lawyers who advocate for parental rights is working with parents whose children attend Ventura High School in Southern California to raise a formal objection after teachers had students fill out a survey on sex with questions such as “Are you sexually active” and “If not, why not?”
Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, said the first step will be to file an administrative complaint.
“The parents have tried to reason with school officials about this, but so far administrators have failed to grasp that giving the students this survey without prior written notice and consent was illegal,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Long-Time Cannabis Use Linked to Psychosis: Study
WASHINGTON — The longer people use cannabis or marijuana, the more likely they are to experience hallucinations or delusions or to suffer psychosis, according to a study released Saturday.
The study found that people who first used cannabis when they were aged 15 or younger were twice as likely to develop a “non-affective psychosis” — which can include schizophrenia — than those who had never used the drug.
The research led by John McGrath from the University of Queensland in Australia was based on a survey of 3,801 people with an average age of 20.1 years, the US-based Archives of General Psychiatry reported.
“Among all the participants, a longer duration since the first time they used cannabis was associated with multiple psychosis-related outcomes,” the study said.
Of the group, 17.7 percent reported using cannabis for three or fewer years, 16.2 percent for four to five years and 14.3 percent for six or more years.
Sixty-five were diagnosed with “non-affective psychosis”, such as schizophrenia, and 233 had at least one hallucination, the study said.
“Individuals who had experienced hallucinations early in life were more likely to have used cannabis longer and to use it more frequently,” it said.
But the relationship between psychosis and cannabis use was complex, it said.
People who were vulnerable to psychosis, in other words had isolated psychotic symptoms, “were more likely to commence cannabis use, which could then subsequently contribute to an increased risk of conversion to a non-affective psychotic disorder,” the research said.
The article said previous studies had also identified an association between cannabis use and psychosis but there were concerns that research had not adequately accounted for confounding variables.
| [Return to headlines] |
One’s IQ is Related to His Smoking
Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill would have turned in his grave if he had heard this. So would many others who were chain smokers. It seems a research carried out in Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer on a group of 20,000 Israeli military recruits has shown that those who smoke have a lower IQ as compared to those who do not. Smokers who smoke a pack of cigarettes every day have at least 7.5 less IQ than others. The research found that on an average, non-smokers had IQ of 101 while it dropped to 94 for smokers and reached 90 for those who went for one pack a day.
| [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Re Globalist World Reserve Currency.
Fresh from their success with the Euro for most of the nations now subsumed within the EU, they want to go bigger and better yet! Of course it must be followed by World Government. This is what George Soros (he who is reputed to be about to give the Euro a good kicking!): " ... He believes that unless the European Commission is given sweeping powers over taxation and spending, the single currency will always be vulnerable to financial turbulence in individual states. 'If member countries cannot take the next steps forward, the euro may fall apart,' he added. ... " Source
"Denmark’s prime and foreign ministers have expressed their concern at Politiken’s decision to apologise for the use of the Mohammed cartoon."
I'm impressed. This is a very positive reaction. I cannot think of many Western countries where that could happen right now.
France is certainly not among them.
Post a Comment