Congressional Budget Office: Fiscal Policy ‘Unsustainable’
Problem ‘can’t be solved through minor changes’
Fundamental changes to the federal budget will be needed to rein in unsustainable deficits, Congress’s budget watchdog said Thursday.
“U.S. fiscal policy is unsustainable, and unsustainable to an extent that it can’t be solved through minor changes,” Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
Spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, plus defense programs and debt interest, will exceed the rest of the federal budget in 10 years if most of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are extended, as President Barack Obama has proposed, Elmendorf said.
“It’s a matter of arithmetic,” Elmendorf said of getting record deficits under control.
“Government would need to make changes in some set of the large programs, large parts of the tax code that we think of as the fundamental parts of the budget.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dallas Area Has a Flood of Hotel Foreclosure Filings
A perfect storm of overbuilding and a depressed economy is threatening a growing number of Dallas-Fort Worth hotels with foreclosure.In the first four months of 2010, more hotel foreclosure filings have been recorded in North Texas than in all of last year.
And the industry outlook is for defaults to increase.
“The hotel market here got overbuilt and overfinanced,” said George Roddy, whose Foreclosure Listing Service track property foreclosure filings in more than two dozen Texas counties. “There are just too many of them.”
So far this year, Foreclosure Listing Service has recorded 43 hotel and motel foreclosure filings in the four-county area. That’s up from 41 for all of 2009 and just 18 in 2008.
Hotels posted for forced sales by lenders range from the luxury Four Seasons Hotel & Resort in Las Colinas, with $183 million in original debt, to decrepit highway motels with less than $1 million in debt.
“What surprises us was that most of these foreclosure filings didn’t occur in 2009,” said Randy McCaslin with hotel analyst PKF Consulting.
Lenders may have been waiting to see how the economy was going to play out, McCaslin said.
“It seem like now is the time” lenders have decided to make their move, he said. “It’s happening to any real estate that’s overleveraged. It was the exceptional hotel that could make debt service last year.”
Worst since 1930s
Income from hotel properties has taken a big hit.
From late 2006 to late 2009, D-FW hotel occupancies fell 8.3 percentage points to 45.5 percent, according to the latest data from PKF Consulting.
Over the same three years, average hotel room rates fell 6.9 percent. Rates are down an even greater 12 percent from the peak in 2007.
PKF Consulting says that the U.S. hotel business in 2009 had the worst year since the 1930s.
And the industry now has the highest proportion of troubled properties of any real estate type, according to a recent report by Real Estate Research Corp. An estimated $38 billion in U.S. hotels are now considered distressed.
“The luxury hotels are getting hit the hardest because of the AIG effect,” said longtime Texas hotel industry expert John Keeling of Houston’s Valencia Group, a hotel investor and developer. “Many business travelers are avoiding the luxury hotels because they don’t want to be criticized for spending too much.”
Running out
Keeling anticipates that 2010 will be another tough year for Texas hotels and that 2011 won’t be much better with only the “beginnings” of room rate and occupancy recovery.
“Will we get there by 2012? That’s probably even optimistic,” he said.
Keeling said many of the state’s hotel operators have “held on by their fingernails” and are now running out of options to meet mortgage obligations.
So far, the lenders have been reluctant to take the properties back, “because they didn’t know what to do with them,” Keeling said.
In 2009, just $2.5 billion in U.S. hotel properties were sold to investors, according to Real Estate Research — a 77 percent decline in sales volume from 2008. The peak year was in 2007 when $78.5 billion in hotel property sales were recorded.
Hotel brokers say there are buyers for distressed hotels, but so far few good properties have come to the market.
“What we are seeing on the market now is a good bit of junk that needs a lot of renovation,” said David Young, a hospitality property broker with Henry S. Miller Commercial. “I’ve got a bunch of clients that want to buy hotels.”
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
Frattini: Relaunch European Governance With France
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 9 — The crisis that has hit Greece “forces us to strengthen European economic governance to avoid speculation.” Italian Foreign Minister Frattini was speaking in an interview with Le Figaro on the eve of the intergovernmental summit between Italy and France which is being held this morning in Paris, in which the Greek crisis will be one of the issues on the agenda. “In this field, France has a very important role to play. Next year it will chair the G8 and the G20 and it will be an excellent opportunity to set out this new governance. Italy,” added Frattini, “is ready to help it in this task.” As for Greece, Frattini underlined that it was a matter of a crisis “that involves the whole of Europe.” “We must declare that our support will be total, not only on a political level, but also on an economic one,” concluded Frattini. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greenspan Deflects Blame for Crisis
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday testified that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a critical role in fostering an explosion of growth in the subprime mortgage market that led to the global financial crisis.
Deflecting the blame from himself and the central bank, which had broad authority to regulate banks and the mortgage market, the former Fed chairman, in testimony before the congressional Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, gave the most prominent voice to date to Republican charges that congressional meddling with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a critical role in the run-up to the crisis that brought down the global economy in the fall of 2008.
Mr. Greenspan pointed to the mandates Fannie and Freddie received in 2000 from Congress and the Clinton-era Housing and Urban Development Department to make housing more affordable to minorities and disadvantaged people by using their vast resources to purchase more subprime mortgage securities.
As the mortgage giants started to scarf up the subprime securities, much of which had been engineered to earn AAA ratings from credit rating agencies, that caused rapid growth in the subprime market, he said, estimating that it burgeoned from less than 2.5 percent of the mortgage market in 2000 to encompass 40 percent of Fannie’s and Freddie’s mortgage portfolios by 2004.
The enormous appetite for subprime mortgages that Fannie and Freddie brought to the market is the reason that interest rates on mortgages fell so dramatically from 2003 onwards and many exotic instruments were created to satisfy the demand for the loans, including extremely low initial “teaser” rates, loans with no down payments and so-called liar loans where people didn’t have to document their incomes to get loans.
“A significant proportion of the increased demand for subprime mortgage-backed securities during the years 2003-2004 was effectively politically mandated,” Mr. Greenspan said. “The subprime market grew rapidly in response [to political mandates and] subprime loan standards deteriorated rapidly,” worsening an investment bubble that was already developing in the housing market, he said.
Mr. Greenspan spurned repeated assertions by members of the commission that the Fed’s own low interest rate policies in 2003 were what nurtured the housing bubble.
“The house price bubble was engendered by low interest rates, but not the [short-term] rates controlled by central banks,” he said. “It was the long-term rates” that are largely set in global financial markets which fostered the bubble, he said.
Mr. Greenspan frequently noted in 2003 and 2004 that global long-term rates were extraordinarily low and seemed to have become divorced from their traditional linkage to short-term rates, which the Fed started to raise in 2004.
Mr. Greenspan said the big drop in long-term rates likely was caused by the enormous cash surpluses being amassed by China and other east Asian countries from their earnings on foreign trade, much of which was invested in U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage securities, drawing down long-term rates.
The former Fed chairman, whose views still are closely followed by global markets though he left the Fed more than four years ago, also rejected charges that he personally played a critical role in the run-up to the crisis by urging Congress not to regulate the complex and burgeoning markets for derivative securities such as credit default swaps in the 1990s.
Mr. Greenspan said credit default swaps, which played a pivotal role in bringing down Lehman Brothers and American International Group in the September 2008 events that triggered the global crisis, were only a tiny share of the derivatives markets when he cautioned against regulation in the late 1990s and were not of much concern to regulators at the time…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Defense Industry Survives Global Crisis, Survey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 9 — Although the Turkish defense industry saw a decrease in revenue in 2009, the industry managed to increase exports amid the economic crisis, as daily Hurriyet reports quoting an organization that oversees defense spending. The Turkish defense industry’s 2008 revenue was nearly USD 2.32 billion, according to the Defense Industry Manufacturer’s Association, or SaSaD. A report from SaSaD on the Turkish defense industries 2009 performance figures is expected in the upcoming weeks. “Based on preliminary and incomplete data, the defense industry’s total revenue may have decreased slightly in 2009, but this certainly is less than the overall contraction in the Turkish economy last year,” SaSaD Secretary General Kaya Yazgan told the Hurriyet Daily News on Thursday. As the global economic crisis is over now, the Turkish defense industry is expected to grow this year,” he said. Overall, the Turkish economy contracted by 4.7% in 2009, though it grew by 6% in last year’s fourth quarter. This growth is continuing into the first quarter of this year, government officials and analysts said. “The defense industry is a robust sector in Turkey at this point in time. The 2008-2009 global financial crisis did not force Turkey to curb defense programs in a major way. So the Turkish defense industry’s possible losses were small compared to the rest of the economy,” said one Ankara-based defense analyst. “In other words, the local defense industry survived the global crisis.” Yazgan said Turkey’s defense industry exports continued to grow last year. According to SaSaD figures, the Turkish defense industry’s exports totaled USD 576 million in 2008, up from USD 420 million a year ago. “Again based on early and incomplete data, this trend of increase in exports continued in 2009. We expect this to continue also this year,” Yazgan said. SaSaD was established 20 years ago by 12 defense companies. Now it has 118 members and associate members.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Give to the RNC!
But there is something we should definitely not do in our euphoria for supporting Republicans congressional candidates in this year’s mid-term elections: We should not give any money to the Republican National Committee. Period. End of story.
If you want to see a real change in the next election, don’t give a dime to the RNC — which represents business-as-usual politics, not the electoral revolution we so desperately need.
I’m not just referring to the “bondage-gate” scandal in which RNC Chairman Michael Steele approved reimbursement of a staffer’s expenses for entertaining donors at the Voyeur sex club. That’s a symptom. It’s not the problem.
The problem is the RNC itself.
It’s an elite Washington bureaucracy that does its best to ensure Republican candidates won’t be rock-the-boat types. It doesn’t support candidates that will pose a real ideological challenge to the socialist Democrats. Instead, it promotes and funds candidates that reflect its own compromised views.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney in the American Legion Magazine: “The Real Reason They Hate Us”
For the first time in its history, the United States is trying to wage and win a war without accurately identifying the enemy or its motivations for seeking to destroy us. That oversight defies both common sense and past military experience, and it disarms us in what may be the most decisive theater of this conflict: the battle of ideas.
Such a breakdown may seem incredible to veterans of past military conflicts. Imagine fighting World War II without clarity about Nazism and fascism, or the Cold War without an appreciation of Soviet communism and the threat it posed.
Yet today, the civilian leaders of this country and their senior subordinates — responsible for the U.S. military, the intelligence community, homeland security and federal law enforcement — have systematically failed to fully realize that we once again face a totalitarian ideology bent on our destruction.
That failure is the more worrisome since the current ideological menace is arguably more dangerous than any we have faced in the past, for two reasons. First, its adherents believe their mission of global conquest is divinely inspired. Second, they are here in the United States in significant numbers, not just a threat elsewhere around the world.
What, then, is this ideology? It has been given many names in recent years, including political Islam, radical Islam, fundamentalist Islam, extremist Islam and Islamofascism. There is, however, a more accurate descriptor — the one its adherents use. They call it “Shariah.”…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
GOP Govs Bypass Dem AGs
Three Republican governors are going around their Democratic attorneys general to file lawsuits against the recently signed health care law.
Govs. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Jan Brewer of Arizona and Jim Gibbons of Nevada have all announced in recent days that they are bucking the opinion of their attorneys general.
At least 14 states have sued, and more are expected, challenging, in particular, the constitutionality of the law’s individual mandate for buying health insurance. Since the parade of lawsuits began after the bill was signed, joining it has become a political badge of bona fide opposition.
Ordinarily, elected state attorneys general represent their states in such disputes.
[…]
“I reached out to my attorney general, requesting him to look and see if he would look into the legalities of the bill that was being proposed in Congress, and he refused to look into it,” Brewer explained. “So we started moving forward. And then, certainly, after it was passed by Congress, I reached out to him again to ask him to represent the state of Arizona against this very overreaching mandate by Congress, and he refused to do so.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NPR Archive Describes Obama as ‘Kenyan-Born’
Description accompanies interview about ‘son of Africa’
Archives for the tax-supported organization reveal that a 2008 report described then-Sen. Barack Obama as “Kenyan-born” and a “son of Africa.”
NPR’s promotion for the story included a brief description of West African correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, who “describes the stories that have been exciting, including the U.S. presidential race of Kenyan-born Sen. Barack Obama.”
After discussing various issues developing in Africa at the time — such as Kenya’s violent elections, the attacks in Zimbabwe and the presidency of South Africa — the conversation on the program “Tell Me More” turned to Obama.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Once-Barred Muslim Scholar Arrives in NY for Forum
NEW YORK — A prominent Muslim scholar banned from the United States for six years returned Wednesday for visits to four cities, saying he wants the U.S. to know its greatest threat is that it will surrender its core values because it fears Muslim-dominated countries.
“In the name of your fear or mistrust of Muslim-majority countries, you may end up betraying your own values,” Tariq Ramadan said in a telephone interview.
Ramadan said he was happy to be in the U.S. as he made the 20-mile trip in a car from Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport to New York City, where he was to speak on a panel Thursday at The Cooper Union college.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
President Obama Needs to Prove His Constitutional Eligibility to be Commander-in-Chief
Last week, I entered Walter Reed Army Hospital to notify the Department of Defense that I would refuse to obey any orders from my commanding officers — including President Obama — until the president produces his original birth certificate. After nearly eighteen years of wearing the military uniform of the country I have proudly served, including overseas assignments in imminent danger/combat areas in Bosnia and Afghanistan, I felt compelled to take this step.
I made this decision from much deliberation, after lengthy consultations with many friends, family members, and colleagues, and I firmly believe that all servicemen and women, and the American public, have the right to know the truth about President Obama’s constitutional eligibility to serve as Commander-in-Chief.
As military officers, we all take a solemn oath upon commissioning into the Uniformed Services. In this oath, we swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Upholding the law is an essential part of our role as citizens; in the military, we are the ultimate protectors of that law. The Constitution is our social compact, which safeguards all of us and ensures the “equal rights” that we are entitled to as American citizens.
Since Nuremberg, My Lai, and even Abu Ghraib more recently, the military has been taught the hard lessons of following illegal orders. Any reasonable person looking critically at the information and evidence currently in the public domain about Obama’s birthplace would have questions about President Obama’s claim to be a natural born citizen. I made the decision to disobey all military orders, including my deployment order to Afghanistan, in pursuit of the truth of whether President Obama can legally occupy the high post that he holds today and which entitles him to send servicemembers into harm’s way.
[…]
Many do not understand that the online document was from 2007, generated by computer, laser-printed, and merely a certification that there is something on file which may or may not be sufficient proof of a birth in Hawaii. An original birth certificate could be the underlying document that presumably includes a hospital and attending physician’s or midwife’s name. Such a document should lay to rest the “natural born” dispute. This controversy was further escalated by media reports that gave two different hospital names for Obama’s birthplace — even today, the public does not know what doctor delivered the then-future president or which hospital was the site of his birth. No eyewitnesses have stepped forward to affirm that he was born in Hawaii in 1961. Under immigration laws in force at the time, if born in Kenya to a father who was not a U.S. citizen, Barack Obama had no right to American citizenship of any kind, and he could never qualify as “natural born.” This is why determining his actual birthplace is crucial.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan Speaks in US on Muslim Issues
Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Muslim professor barred from entering the United States under the Bush administration, has appeared publicly in New York for the first time since his ban was lifted earlier this year.
Speaking in a panel discussion on problems facing Muslims in Europe and the US, he said believers there were still not considered true citizens and that the West needed to re-examine the “forced integration” of Muslims.
“The danger, the threat for our societies in America and Europe is not the Muslim presence,” Ramadan said. It is the fear of this Muslim presence “that causes us to betray our own principles” he said.
He told the audience that after arriving in the US on Wednesday he was detained by customs authorities for one hour and questioned on what he was going to talk about in his speeches here.
“I know why I was banned from this country… I am not going to keep quiet when I think the American policy is wrong. When going to Iraq was wrong and was illegal and not to support the rights of Palestinians,” he said.
Ramadan’s visa was revoked six years ago after allegations surfaced that he had donated money to a Swiss charity that Washington said supported terrorism and gave funds to Hamas, a Palestinian militant group.
Ramadan had said that he had no links to terrorism, was against Islamic extremism and promoted peace.
Us versus them
“Just after September 11 in this country you had President Bush speaking about the Muslims in a way that was ‘us versus them’. ‘They don’t like our values.’“ Ramadan said. It was clear that Bush was talking about extremists but “ implicitly the message that we got is that there is a problem with Muslims,” Ramadan said.
Ramadan, who teaches contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University in Britain, said that in the US as well as in Europe, Muslims are still not considered to be true citizens. “They are still talking about ‘the other’ within, the outsider within,” he said.
The Swiss scholar said the facts prove that millions of Muslims are well integrated in Europe and North America. He characterised these Muslims as being law-abiding citizens, who learn the languages of the countries where they live, and are loyal to the values of those countries.
He believes western countries need to change their focus away from the issue of “forced integration” of Muslims to an examination of how they can better contribute to society. He said young people are paving the way in this regard and described Muslim women as a “driving force”.
“When you look at the way they [women] are dressed you may think they’re oppressed, but if you listen to what they think and how they are involved in the Muslim communities, you are getting a sense that there is a new leadership and empowerment,” he said.
Controversial issues
Ramadan also spoke about the debate in France on barring women from wearing the niqab and burqa.
“The only right position for me is not … to tell women how to dress or how not to dress. The only right feminist attitude is to say ‘you dress the way you want.’ Let the women be autonomous.”
Turning to the contentious issue of stoning adulterous women in Muslim majority countries, Ramadan said he had called for a moratorium on it.
In response to allegations in a new book by writer Paul Berman to be released later this month, Ramadan condemned anti-Semitism and defended his grandfather — who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928 — saying that “he never supported the Nazi or the Fascist system”.
In 2004, when Ramadan was about to take a tenured position at the University of Notre Dame, his visa was suddenly taken away. On his behalf, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision to bar Ramadan from the US.
He was permitted to return to the US after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed orders in January of this year enabling him to re-enter.
From New York, Ramadan will go on to speak with scholars in Chicago and Detroit and will meet members of the US Congress next week in Washington D.C.
Karin Kamp in New York, swissinfo.ch
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey-USA: Premier Erdogan to Meet Obama in Washington
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 9 — Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian during his visit to the United States, as Anatolia news agency reports. Prime Minister Erdogan is expected to arrive in Washington D.C on April 11 to attend the nuclear security summit on April 12-13. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Energy & Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz will accompany the prime minister. During his stay in the U.S. capital city, Prime Minister Erdogan will give a conference at the George Mason University on “the Alliance of Civilizations as a Vision of Global Peace”. Besides U.S. President Obama and Armenian President Sargsian, Prime Minister Erdogan will also hold bilateral talks with leaders of several countries including Brazil, Kazakhstan, China, Ukraine and Russia on the sidelines of the summit. Turkey-Armenia protocols and the resolution about Armenian allegations are expected to top agenda of the meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and President Obama. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Davutoglu is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Davutoglu will also hold a series of talks. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Controversial Mideast Book Stays in Toronto Schools
An award-winning book about a Palestinian girl whose family suffers at the hands of Israeli settlers will remain in Toronto schools after a review by board staff found it “does not cross the line into literature promoting hate or animosity towards others.”
B’Nai Brith Canada had complained The Shepherd’s Granddaughter is “vehemently anti-Israel” and had asked that the book — currently part of a province-wide reading program for Grades 7 and 8 students — be removed and was disappointed with the Toronto District School Board’s decision.
“We certainly acknowledge that the main story line in this novel is presented from a Palestinian-sympathetic point of view,” Lloyd McKell, executive officer of student and community equity for the school board, said in a letter to trustees on Wednesday.
“However, our professional staff assessment from our critical review of this novel is that Grade 7 and 8 readers are capable of deriving positive educational and social value from this book without developing destructive attitudes towards people … in the current Middle East conflict.”
Teachers are being encouraged to use the book to spark discussion on bias and to encourage critical thinking.
The controversy speaks to the difficulties boards run into as they try to serve a diverse population, many who come to Canada from opposing sides of international conflicts.
McKell said the books that often produce the best opportunities “are the ones that challenge readers into thinking about a particular point of view being expressed. It’s up to us as educators, as teachers, to ensure that different points of view are reflected in classroom discussion.
“I don’t think it serves us any useful purpose by shielding any of our students from controversy,” he added. “The world is full of controversial issues … and it does help to have students in our schools who reflect diversity, who bring different perspectives to issues based on their life experiences.”
Anita Bromberg, B’Nai Brith’s legal director, said the board’s decision “doesn’t hit the mark” and its solution relies on teachers who may have their own biases.
She also accused the board of on one hand deciding that Israel apartheid activities have no place in its schools, but “at the base of those activities are the very type of propaganda you see in this book.”
The Shepherd’s Granddaughter has been in 138 Toronto public school libraries since last fall, and the board says no one has launched a formal complaint.
However, parent Brian Henry sent a letter to the board, as well as the provincial education ministry, which prompted the informal review of the book by McKell and a team of experts.
McKell said they read the book “carefully and dispassionately” and felt the book was full of themes for teachers to explore, including multigenerational families, religion and gender stereotypes, and asks teachers to discuss issues of bias and prejudice.
And, taking a cue from York Region’s public school board, “we came up with the conclusion that under the appropriate guidance from teachers” the book should remain.
The Shepherd’s Granddaughter is not part of the curriculum, but is on the list for the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading program, which about 70 schools are taking part in.
It was named book of the year by the Canadian Library Association.
Publisher Patsy Aldana could not be reached for comment, but in a letter to the board said an Israeli publisher is looking into buying Israeli rights, “so incensed has he been by the attacks he has read.”
Editor’s
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
An 80 Percent Victory by the Far-Right in the Hungarian Elections
Lazlo F. Földenyi prepares for the shock of an 80 percent victory by the far-right and the populists in the Hungarian elections.
Die Welt 03.04.2010
The situation in Hungary looks very sinister indeed. Viktor Orban’s right-wing populist Fidesz Party is expected to win 60 percent in the general election on April 11th — with the far-right Jobbik party scooping a further 20. Hatred is constantly being stirred up against Jews, homosexuals, Roma and prominent intellectuals, the literary academic and writer Lazlo F. Földenyi tells Paul Jandl: “Not long ago a weekly paper published an article calling on the population to destroy the works of Imre Kertesz, Peter Esterhazy, Peter Nadas and György Konrad, to borrow their books from the libraries and destroy them. It was meant as some sort of book burning. This paper has close ties to Victor Orban. It is symptomatic of the mood in the country in general. Anyone who speaks critically about Hungary is branded a ‘nest fouler’. People know that these writers are held in high regard abroad and this makes them nervous. Even Orban recently made a speech in which he railed against the ‘star intellectuals’.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Army to Remove Replica Mosques on North Yorks Range
The Ministry of Defence has agreed to take down replica mosques which were being used by the British Army on a North Yorkshire firing range.
A Muslim group had demanded the removal of the structures at Catterick and accused the Army of reinforcing negative perceptions of Muslims.
An Army spokesperson apologised and said its was “in the process of removing the offending structures”.
There were seven of the green-domed buildings on the Bellerby range.
The Bradford Council for Mosques (BCM) said it was particularly angry as it had been assisting the army in its efforts to recruit more Muslims.
The Army spokesperson added: “It was never our intention for these generic structures to look like or replicate mosques, only to provide a setting similar to operational environments in which our personnel could train.
“We apologise for any offence that we may have caused. We are working with representatives from the Muslim community and are in the process of removing the offending structures.”
Ishtiaq Ahmed, of the BCM, said that the structures were undoubtedly meant to resemble mosques.
“The shape of the structures, the colour of the dome — the green dome — symbolises an Islamic place of worship,” he said. “Anyone looking at it will think about mosques and Muslims and think about them negatively.”
He accused the Army of reinforcing negative perceptions of Muslims.
“What angers me very much is that we are conditioning the young British to say that mosques are a place where you are going to find danger and a place to target,” Mr Ahmed said. “That is really disturbing.”
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
British Airways-Iberia, Merger to Create USD 8-Bld Giant
(ANSAmed) — ROME — British Airways and its Spanish partner Iberia have today announced the signing of a merger, expected to be implemented in November, which will lead to the creation of a giant with a market value of 8 billion dollars and a turnover of 15 billion euros (20.2 billion dollars). The International Airlines Group, in which BA shareholders will control 55% and those of Iberia 45%, will have a fleet of 408 aircraft that will fly from London or Madrid to 200 destinations, carrying 61.5 million passengers per year and providing jobs for 60,282. According to the outlook provided by British Airways, the new “giant of the skies” will lead to 400 million euros in savings in its fifth year of activity. “This is an important step towards the creation of a leading airline at the global level,” said Iberia managing director Antonio Vasquez. “We are aiming at finalising the final details by the end of the year.” His British Airlines counterpart Willie Walsh added that “with the merger of these two companies travellers will be able to make use of a wider-ranging network with new services and, being able to rely on the two hubs of London and Madrid, the new company will have large growth potential.” The merger, which will now be subject to the approval of the European Antitrust authority and the shareholders of the two companies, is expected to be completed in “late 2010”, noted British Airways in a statement. The two companies, noted Iberia, will be retaining their brand names.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Least Likely to Believe Aliens Are Among US
The Dutch, Belgians and Swedes are the least likely to believe aliens are already living among us on earth, according to a poll by Reuters Ipsos on Thursday.
Just 8% of the Dutch think aliens are already living on earth disguised as humans, compared with 20% of the global population as a whole, the survey shows.
The poll of 23,000 adults in 22 countries showed that more than 40% of people from India and China believe that aliens walk among us.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Italy Reaffirms Full Support for Serbian Integration
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 9 — Italy fully supports Serbia’s bid for European Union membership, a process in which young people play a very important role, Italian ambassador to Belgrade Armando Varricchio said in the Serbian capital during the awards ceremony for a group of young Serbians in charge of environmental, historical and cultural projects. The ambassador awarded the equivalent of 14,000 euros in dinars to the winners on behalf of the Italian Foreign Ministry to facilitate the realization of the projects they had drawn up. Italy, Varricchio remarked, wants to “invest in young Serbians’ future, in particular to strengthen their participation in the decisions about local developmental programmes that will affect them.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Maltese Minister, No Collective Decision
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 8 — Maltese Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg ruled out the possibility of a ‘collective entry’ of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union. As reported today by Montenegrin newspaper Pobjeda, Borg said the possibility was unthinkable since every single country of the region has its own internal situation with regard to reform and individual progress towards European integration, and reforms are the crucial factor for a country’s admission to the Union. The Maltese Minister, who had meetings with local administration in Podgorica, praised the “significant progress” made by Montenegro in view of its admission to the European Union. Among the Western Balkan countries, only Slovenia has entered the European Union so far, the next one is set to be Croatia, probably in 2012, while it will take longer for Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Turkey: Frattini; Sarkozy Wrong, Partnership Not Enough
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — Italy does not agree with the position taken by French President Nicolas Sarkozy who proposes a sort of “privileged partnership” to Turkey as an alternative to real membership of the EU. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was speaking in an interview with satellite TV channel France24 on the eve of the Italy-France intergovernmental summit today in Paris with PM Silvio Berlusconi and President Sarkozy. “I believe that after starting negotiations for membership with Turkey, you can’t tell them the next day that it’s all over, it’s all changed and that we have to make do with partnership,” explained Frattini. “France will make its own reflections,” he concluded, “but I believe that the right route is to keep promises.” In the interview Frattini mentioned the debate on full veil in France and Italy and said that “the idea of sending a woman to prison” for wearing a burka in public “is unacceptable.” “It is the Northern League that has lodged this bill and not my government but we do not accept the idea of sending these women to prison,” explained Frattini refering to the initiative by Northern League MP Paolo Grimoldi to ban the full veil in Italy. Frattini added that “whoever wears the full veil in Italy is someone who does not want to become integrated in society.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Frattini to N. League, Prison for Burka is Unacceptable
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 9 — “The idea of sending a woman to prison” for wearing a burka in public “is unacceptable,” Italian Foreign Minster Franco Frattini has said in an interview with satellite TV channel France24, commenting on the initiative by Northern League MP Paolo Grimoldi to ban the full veil in Italy, with a bill that provides for imprisonment. “It is the Northern League that has lodged this bill and not my government,” Frattini explained, “but we do not accept the idea of sending these women to prison.” Frattini then added that “whoever wears the full veil in Italy is someone who does not want to become integrated in society.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Party to Follow European Extremism’s Move Away From Fringes
Extremist anti-Roma group Jobbik on course for success at this Sunday’s elections in Hungary
Gabor Vona, chairman of Hungary’s far right party Jobbik delivers a speech in Budapest ahead of elections this weekend. Photograph: Laszlo Balogh/Reuters
It has been a good few weeks for racists, populists and rightwing radicals across Europe. A comeback for Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front in French regional elections. Big gains in Italy for the anti-immigrant Northern League. The Islam-baiting campaign of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands has taken his Freedom party to 25% and poll position ahead of June’s general election.
And this weekend, Hungary is facing its biggest political earthquake in 20 years of democracy. On Sunday, the mainstream right and the neofascists are expected to take over the Westminster lookalike parliament on the banks of the Danube. It will be a landslide victory.
The left and the liberals who have run the country for eight years, taking Hungary to the brink of bankruptcy and into the arms of the International Monetary Fund, will be reduced to a rump.
The next prime minister, Viktor Orban, a combative populist, is leading his centre-right Fidesz party to a huge majority, running at more than 60% in the opinion polls. He may even secure a two-thirds majority enabling him to rewrite Hungary’s constitution at will.
But the biggest breakthrough will be for Jobbik, the extremist antisemitic and antigypsy movement “for a better Hungary”, which will win seats in the parliament for the first time and may emerge as the second biggest party.
“It’s a flood that’s coming. Everyone knows it’s coming. We’re just waiting for it. Will we drown or will we swim,” said Pal Tamas, director of Budapest’s Institute of Sociology. “People are trying to use the antifascist argument against Jobbik. But it’s not working. It’s being very poorly received.”
During the past week a rabbi’s home in the capital has been attacked during Passover and a Holocaust memorial was defaced. Budapest Jews have taken to the streets to protest. The country’s large and marginalised Roma and gypsy communities are bracing themselves for a surge in racism and harassment…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Intellectuals Want Prince of Asturias Award for Moors
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 9 — A group of intellectuals has presented a proposal to Casa Sefarad, in Cordoba, to award the Prince of Asturias Award to the Moors. Portuguese Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, philosopher Sami Nair, writer Juan Goytisolo are some of the 1600 intellectuals who support the initiative, quoted today by El Pais. On April 9 1609, King Philip III signed the decree for the final expulsion from Spain of the Moors, Muslim minority in Andalusia, which had stayed under the peninsula under the sovereignty of the Christian monarchs. Three hundred thousand people, descendants of the Moors who had lived in Spain for around 900 years, were forced to leave Spain. Four centuries later, the proposal to give the Prince of Asturias Award to the Moors is meant to be a recognition of the wealth the Muslim world has brought to the history of Spain and Hispanicism. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Racism on the Rise Among Teenage Pupils
ALMOST half of teachers in some post-primary schools have recently reported a racist incident, new research reveals.
Rising unemployment has made racism a bigger problem among teenage students, according to the survey.
It is worse in Dublin, in schools with higher numbers of students from migrant backgrounds and in areas suffering high rates of joblessness.
There are more than 48,000 migrant students from over 160 different nationalities in Irish second-level schools/colleges, predominantly in urban areas.
Marketing company Behaviour and Attitudes conducted the research among members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) on the issue of interculturalism, racism and resources for minority ethnic students.
TUI represents about one-third of second-level teachers, employed in VEC and community and comprehensive schools, as well as lecturers in further-education colleges and institutes of technology.
The post-primary schools in which they teach have a higher proportion of minority ethnic students than those in the voluntary secondary sector, traditionally run by religious groups.
According to the survey, 46pc of teachers in community and comprehensive schools were aware of an incident of racism in the month prior to the survey last year, compared with 40pc of those in VEC schools.
It found the influx of pupils from migrant backgrounds has presented particular challenges for schools, including racist behaviour and intimidation.
African children were perceived to be subjected to more incidents. Racist incidents also occur between different nationalities, particularly in schools with large populations of minority ethnic pupils, with examples of eastern European children taunting African/Indian/Pakistani children.
Devastating
One-in-three teachers reported that their schools did not have a policy to deal with racism.
TUI deputy general secretary Annette Dolan warned of the impact of education cuts on schools. She said that key middle management posts played a vital role in promoting interculturalism and that the ongoing block on appointments to these positions would have devastating effects.
“While the various cutbacks inflicted on the education sector have had a severe impact on all students, minority ethnic students have been disproportionately hit by government cutbacks,” Ms Dolan said.
“In addition, specific supports for these students have been asset stripped in the Government’s slash-and-burn approach to education over the past 18 months.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Weddings Still in Crisis, Boom Second Marriages
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 8 — The number of first marriages is in decline in Italy (419 thousand in 1972, 246,613 in 2008), but second marriages (between people who have had a divorce or whose partner has died) more than doubled in that period: from 6.5% to 13.8% of the total number of weddings. This was announced by Italian Statistical Institute ISTAT, in its survey on matrimonies in Italy in 2008. “The number of couples that choose to form families without getting married is rising”, ISTAT reports. This is confirmed by statistics on births: 20% (more than 100,000 in 2008) of babies was born from unmarried parents. The number of civil wedding ceremonies also keeps rising (one in every three), as well as weddings in which one of the partners is not Italian (15%). Most couples choose for a separation of property (62.7%). — PEOPLE GET MARRIED LATER. In 1972 there were 7.7 matrimonies per thousand inhabitants, in 2008 just 4. The average bridegroom gets married at the age of 33, brides at the average age of 30 (around 6 years later than in the ‘70s). Weddings between celibates represent 86.2% of the total, against 93.5% in 1972. Weddings in the south of Italy and on the islands are more frequent (4.9 and 4.7 per thousand inhabitants) than in the north (3.6) and centre (4). The frequency is highest in Campania (5.5) and lowest in Friuli Venezia Giulia (3.3). High rates are also found in Apulia and Sicily (4.8), and in Calabria (4.6). — - RECORD SECOND MARRIAGES: In 2008 the number of second and successive weddings totalled 34,137 or 13.8%, due to the increase in divorces (50 thousand in 2007) and in the number of widows and widowers. Weddings between divorcees represent 92.1% of the total of second and successive marriages. They are most frequent in the north, particularly Liguria (24.2%), Friuli Venezia Giulia (22.7%), Piedmont (22.2%), less so in Basilicata (5.8%) and Calabria (6.5%). Divorced men get married again at the average age of 48, and widowers at the age of 61. For women these numbers are respectively 43 and 48. — ONE IN THREE IS CIVIL WEDDING CEREMONY. This choice also regards first weddings (a quarter of the total). 36.7% choose a civil wedding, 20% 15 years ago. This is also a consequence of the increase in second weddings. More than 48% of marriages are formed in civil ceremonies in the north of Italy, 44% in the centre, 20% in the south. — MIXED WEDDINGS SOARING, 15%. In 1995 their share was just 4.8%. They are most frequent in the north and centre of Italy with more than 20% of the total number of marriages (respectively 13.4% and 12.2% of mixed marriages). In the south and on the islands, weddings in which at least one of the partners is not Italian make up 8.1% and 6.2% of the total number of weddings (4% and 3.5% in the case of mixed marriages). In most cases the groom is Italian and the bride is not (7.4% of weddings in Italy, on a total of 18,240 weddings in 2008, with peaks of 9.9% in the north and 9.2% in the centre). Italian men who get married to a foreign woman choose a Romanian women in 13.7% of cases, an Ukrainian women in 10.6% of cases and 9.6% choose a Brazilian bride. Italian women are more likely to pick a North African partner: Moroccan (22.2%), Tunisian (7.6%), or Egyptian (6.1%). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Talk-Show Probe Sent to Special Court
PM accused of trying to have ‘hostile’ show pulled
(ANSA) — Rome, April 8 — Judicial papers were sent to a special court Thursday in a case of alleged pressure by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi to stop a talk show on state broadcaster RAI.
The 1,000-page dossier was sent by Rome prosecutors to a court that deals with allegations against ministers.
The court has up to 90 days to assess the case and send its recommendations back to the prosecutors, who are investigating the premier on suspicion of abuse of office and using threats to have purportedly hostile political talk show Annozero shut down.
Berlusconi’s lawyers had themselves asked prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Trani, where the probe, to send the relevant papers to the court.
Berlusconi is under investigation along with a member of Italy’s media watchdog Agcom, Giancarlo Innocenzi, for allegedly trying to find ways to pull Annozero off the air.
The Rome prosecutors asked the court to call as witnesses Agcom chief Corrado Calabro’ and RAI General Manager Mauro Masi, as well as Innocenzi.
Some 15 other people whose phone conversations were recorded during the Trani probe have also been requested to stand. The premier has described the probe as “laughable” and said his wiretapped remarks, leaked to the press, were only a reflection of what he had been saying openly for years.
He claimed it had been his “duty” to intervene.
Berlusconi has charged that Annozero host Michele Santoro, whom he previously blackballed for four years for alleged “criminal use of the airwaves” during the 2001 elections, was being allowed to “unacceptably” subject people to “trial by the media”.
The premier also alleged news of the probe was leaked to try to hurt his People of Freedom (PdL) party’s chances in elections in 13 of Italy’s 20 regions on March 28-29.
A member of the judiciary’s self-governing body, the Supreme Council of Magistrates, Cosimo Ferri, is also involved in the probe after allegedly receiving a request for legal advice on ways of stopping unfavourable coverage.
Also under investigation, for allegedly telling Berlusconi about the probe, is the head of RAI’s flagship news programme, Augusto Minzolini.
In some 15 cases stemming from his business activity, media magnate-turned-politician Berlusconi has consistently claimed a group of allegedly left-leaning magistrates and prosecutors are conspiring against him.
Berlusconi, who has never been definitively convicted of wrongdoing, is involved in two trials in Milan.
In one, he faces charges of alleged bribing British tax lawyer David Mills to hush up incriminating evidence in two previous trials.
In the other, he is accused of alleged tax fraud in the trading of film rights by his Mediaset media group.
Both trials are expected to run out of time, especially in the light of a new law giving ministers the right not to attend trials if they interfere with their duties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Albania: Cooperation, 3 TV Ads on Children Rights
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 8 — Three short stories, written and filmed by children, about children’s rights: family, playtime, study. This is the content of three TV ads that will be aired in May on the Albanian public TV station, as part of the Smile Project (Support of Minors in Albania by International Legislation) for the protection of Albanian children and teenagers, as part of an international cooperation project supporting initiatives for young people in Albania. The project’s aim was defined during three days of work in Tirana, when members of the Foreign Affairs Address and Control Committee, co-founder with Italian regions Emilia-Romagna (Leader Partner), Le Marche and Apulia’s Mediterranean department, and the City of Forlì (responsible for project implementation) gathered. Directly managed by the Mediterranean councillorship, the communication and information initiative about minors’ rights in Albania includes awareness campaigns intended for the institutions and public opinion about prevention and protection of Albanian minors at risk, in order to promote the standardisation of adoption procedures to European and international levels. During the three days, the activities carried out with children from Elbasan, Scutari and Valona, the three municipalities directly involved in the project, were illustrated in particular. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: New Law Puts Berlusconi Trials in Doubt
Rome, 8 April (AKI) — The future of two legal cases against Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi are now in doubt after president Giorgio Napolitano endorsed a controversial new law excusing the premier from attending them. Napolitano signed the “legitimate impediment” law covering the prime minister and other government ministers late on Wednesday and immediately provoked a fierce political debate.
Berlusconi has been hit by a series of sex and corruption scandals recently and is on trial for bribery and and tax fraud in two separate trials in Milan.
The trials resumed after Italy’s top court stripped him of immunity against prosecution last year.
Under the new law, approved by the Italian parliament in March, Berlusconi is excused from attending the hearings for up to 18 months, on the grounds that his duties amount to a “legitimate impediment”.
The law applies “to criminal trials in every phase, completed or on appeal”.
Paolo Moscarini, an expert in criminal procedure at Luiss University in Rome, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Berlusconi had gained a “temporary privilege”.
“The legal cases cannot continue if the accused does not appear,” Moscarini told AKI. “For the now and the next 18 months, the cases are automatically suspended.”
As the leader of the centre-left opposition Italy of Values party, Antonio Di Pietro, threatened to force a referendum over the issue, interior minister Roberto Maroni on Thursday said the government would work with the opposition parties on the implementation of the reforms.
While the cases against Berlusconi would now be suspended , Moscarini said it was too early to predict whether the trials would be shelved.
“After 18 months, who knows what will happen,” he said.
But despite bitter protests from magistrates, judges and the centre-left opposition, the two trials against Berlusconi may be “timed out” by Italy’s statute of limitations.
Berlusconi’s coalition was invigorated by recent gains in the country’s regional elections in late March.
He turned the vote in 13 of the country’s 20 regions into a sort of referendum for his centre-right government. With his conservative coalition partner, the Northern League, is keen to convert the election gains into more reforms.
In March Berlusconi’s trial for tax fraud involving his Mediaset media company was adjourned until 12 April after no witnesses appeared in court.
The court previously rejected Berlusconi’s request to excuse himself from the Mediaset trial.
It was the first time the court ruled the 73-year-old billionaire could not use his official commitments to avoid the trial.
The Mediaset trial first began in 2008, but was put on hold for 14 months after the government passed the immunity law.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Greece: 10-Year Bond Yield Up, Rises to 7.41%
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — There has been a new rise in the yield of the Greek ten-year bonds. On the market in London, there was an increase of four bases points to 7.41%. The yield of the two-year bond however fell with a drop of 17 base points to 7.64%, but it does remain higher than the 10-year bond for the second consecutive day. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-France: Scajola, Paris Must Open Energy and Rail Sectors
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — Italy “is at the cutting edge in the liberalisation” of the sectors of energy and rail and it expects European partners “to follow it” in opening up to competition, Italian Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola has said in an interview with daily paper Les Echos, whilst the bilateral summit between Italy and France is opening in Paris. In Scajola’s reasoning, “it is implicit,” explains the newspaper, “that France has margins for improvement.” With regard to the railway sector and the possibility that the Italian high speed rail could circulate in France, Scajola said that it was a matter “of a question to be addressed to the French Government. If the opportunity arises, I will talk about it with my French colleagues during the summit.” With regard to the Turin-Lyon high speed rail link, “after slowdowns in recent years, PM Berlusconi has put it back on the list of priorities.” The Minister, however, did not hide the fact that “its financing is still presenting problems” but he added that “I have good reason to believe that the works will be begin between now and 2013,” given that there is the “further guarantee” of the election of Roberto Cota as President of the Piedmont Region. With regard to energy, Scajola spoke about nine agreements on nuclear energy which are being signed today in Paris, with which “the bases of a real bilateral industrial nuclear system will be set down.” The Minister also announced that the nuclear agency will be set up in the “coming weeks”. And finally, with regard to the problems of Edison-EDF and Gdf Suez in ACEA, Scajola stated that “the French must take the post-crisis reality into account. Italian firms must develop synergies on the local market and look for other partners to start new ones.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Euro Markets Climb, Betting on Athens Bail-Out
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — Increasingly insistent rumours have it that a joint European Union and International Monetary Fund bail-out is on the way for Athens and the rumours have driven world markets upward, helping the euro to recover some ground against the dollar after conceding territory for four sessions in a row. A breath of fresh air has also arrived for Greek treasury bonds, which have reduced their spread on equivalent German Bund after two weeks of growth. In a note to investors, UBS stated that in the light of the rapid deterioration of the Greek crisis, Athens would be able to call on the International Monetary Fund for assistance in a few days’ time. For Goldman Sachs, too, Greece may announce a request for EU-IMF aid by the end of April, to guarantee low-interest loans of 20-25billion euros. Fitch today cut back its rating for Greece two notches down to BBB- from BBB+ with a negative outlook, bringing it down to the bottom rung of investment grade. Fitch has stated that the only option open to Athens by now is to have recourse to the package of aid launched by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, from Brussels, the EU has announced, through Spokeswoman Amelia Torres, that “it is ready to play its part, if necessary” and member states “will help Greece if necessary and if Greece requests that they do so” as foreseen by the agreement made. Europe’s main markets have therefore closed the last session of the week up by somewhere between one and a half percentage points and three percentage points. Athens even closed 3.4% up. As for exchange rates, the euro gained ground against the other main international currencies, bringing it up to above 1.34 dollars. Finally, yields on ten-year Greek bonds have fallen 18 basis points to 7.19% while the spread or yield difference with the German ten-year Bund — which reached record heights yesterday — has decreased by 29 basis points to 396 points. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Names 4 New Protected Marine Areas
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — Environment, Territory and Sea Protection Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo, in agreement with the Finance Minister, has established four new protected maritime areas: the Secche della Meloria off the coast of Livorno; the first protected maritime area in Abbruzzi, the Torre del Cerrano; the Infreschi and Masseta Coast; and Santa Maria di Castellabate, on the Cilento coast. Including these four new additions, Italian protected maritime areas now total 30: a number that consolidates Italy’s position as the leader in protected marine areas at both a European and a Mediterranean level. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Housing Sales Down, -10.5% in 3rd Quarter 2009
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — Sales of property units in Italy fell in the third quarter of 2009 by 10.5% compared to the same period in 2008. The news was announced by the Italian National Statistic Institute (ISTAT), specifying that the greatest drop was recorded in the sales of property for commercial and business uses (-15.9%), whilst sales of property for residential use fell by 10.1%. Sales of property units in the third quarter of 2009 totalled 174,800. Out of this total, 162,514 (93%) regarded property for residential use and appurtenances, 10,924 (6.2%) regarded property for economic use (for craftwork, commercial, industrial, offices and rural use). As in the first two quarters of 2009, the largest drop was recorded in sales of property for economic use and this, says ISTAT, can be explained by the fact that this sector has been worst hit by the economic situation. Geographically speaking, sales of property units fell most in the north west and in the north east (-13.7% and -12.4% respectively). The smallest drop was in the south and the islands (-5.7% and -4% respectively), whilst central Italy (-10.7%) remained substantially in line with the national data. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Indictment Sought
Second film-rights case also involves son Pier Silvio
(ANSA) — Rome, April 9 — Milan prosecutors on Friday filed an indictment request for Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on charges of tax fraud and embezzlement in a probe into alleged irregularities in the sale of film rights to create slush funds.
It is the second film-rights case involving the media-magnate-turned-politician.
Also involved in the case are the chairman of Berlusconi’s Mediaset media empire, Fedele Confalonieri, and its deputy chairman, Berlusconi’s son Pier Silvio, as well as another nine persons.
The premier is accused of tax fraud involving Mediaset’s Mediatrade unit to the tune of eight million dollars and the embezzlement of 34 million dollars.
The alleged tax-dodging occurred between 2005 and September 2009 and the embezzlement between February 2003 and November 2005.
The charges are not covered by Italy’s statute of limitations but the premier is expected to take advantage of a new ‘legitimate impediment’ law allowing him to ignore hearings if they interfere with his duties.
However, Milan prosecutors are expected to appeal to the Constitutional Court against the new law, which lasts 18 months.
Berlusconi is already involved in two Milan trials, in a related film-sale fraud case and for bribing British tax lawyer David Mills, but those are expected to run out of time this year.
Berlusconi’s lawyer Piero Longo reacted to the indictment request, which made front-page headlines Friday, by saying: “We were expecting this. It was inevitable, after the closure of the probe”.
Longo and Berlusconi’s top lawyer, Niccolo’ Ghedini, said the film rights in question were bought at market prices and Mediatrade’s balance sheets and tax records were clean.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Arab League Faces Fine Over Holocaust Cartoons
The Dutch branch of the European Arab League should be fined €1,000 for publishing a cartoon which implies that Jews invented the idea that six million people died in the World War II holocaust, the public prosecution department said on Thursday.
The Dutch representative of the League Abdlmoutalib Bouzerda should be fined an additional €500, the department said.
Bouzerda put the cartoon on the group’s website four years ago in answer to the Danish cartoons poking fun at Mohammed.
But the department decided to prosecute, saying the Danish cartoons ‘do not insult Muslims nor incite hatred’..
The AEL said it published the cartoon to draw attention to double standards in society. The league does not think any of the cartoons should be subject to prosecution, Bouzerda told the court.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: N.Y. Times Defends Judge Garzon, ‘an Injustice’
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 9 — ‘An injustice in Spain’ is the headline of an editorial printed today by The New York Times, in defence of the judge of the Audiencia Nacional, Baltazar Garzon. Garzon is prosecuted for opening an investigation into the Francoist crimes without having the jurisdiction to do so. “The real crimes in this case are the disappearances during the civil war, not Mr. Garzon’s investigation” writes the newspaper. “Spain needs an honest accounting of its troubled past, not prosecution of those who have the courage to demand it”, the article adds. According to the newspaper, the possible 20-year suspension of Garzon would “please his political enemies, but it would be a travesty of justice”. If convicted, he could be “barred from the bench for up to 20 years, effectively ending a career dedicated to holding terrorists and dictators accountable for their crimes”. Meanwhile, many citizens and the main trade unions, UGT and CCOO, have expressed their solidarity with the magistrate. The unions have organised a demonstration for next Tuesday in Madrid to support Garzon. Yesterday a few hundred people agreed on Facebook to come together before the Audiencia Nacional, to express their solidarity with the magistrate. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The New Neutralism: US and EU Abandon Swiss in Conflict With Libya
by Paul Belien
March was a good month for Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He received high-profile apologies from both the United States and the European Union. The apologies were at the expense of Switzerland, the country against which Gaddafi has officially declared “holy war.” Switzerland has a tradition of neutralism in international conflicts, but could not avoid a nasty conflict with Libya. Trying to remain “neutral” in the Swiss-Libyan conflict, the US and the EU grovel before the Libyan despot.
The conflict between the Alpine republic and Libya began in July 2008, when Hannibal Gaddafi, the then 31-year old son of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi, savagely beat up two of his servants in the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva. The Swiss police arrested Gaddafi jr.; he was released on bail after two nights in a cell. In retaliation, Libya took two Swiss businessmen as hostages, imprisoning them for “visa violations.”
Switzerland soon dropped the charges against Gaddafi’s son, but Libya kept the businessmen under house arrest. One year later, in August 2009, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz traveled to Tripoli. To secure the release of the hostages, he apologized to Gaddafi for the brief detention of his son. Gaddafi released one of the hostages, the Muslim Swiss citizen Rachid Hamdani, but refused to accept the Swiss apologies. Libya kept the other businessman, the ethnic Swiss Max Göldi, in prison.
The November 2009 referendum, in which 57.5% of the Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets in Switzerland, made Libya even angrier. Libya announced a boycott of Switzerland, and called for the dissolution of the country. On February 24, 2010, Gaddafi declared jihad against the “faithless” Swiss.
In an attempt to downplay the terrible implications of Gaddafi’s appeal for unlimited violence against Switzerland, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the call for jihad against Switzerland was “lots of words … and not necessarily a lot of sense.” Instead of defusing the situation with his “joke,” Crowley made matters even worse. Gaddafi took the comment as a personal insult and threatened that there would be “negative repercussions” for American oil companies in Libya. On March 10, both Crowley and the American government offered their apologies to the Libyan dictator. He accepted them, and said that Tripoli would resume relations with Washington “in a manner of mutual respect.”
The unfortunate Max Göldi, meanwhile, has been moved to a damp, smelly windowless cell in the wing of a Tripoli jail where he is imprisoned with 90 of the most dangerous criminals of Libya.
Last November, following Gaddafi’s call for the dissolution of Switzerland, Bern drew up a blacklist of 188 extremist Libyans, including Gaddafi and his son, who would “for reasons of public and national security” no longer be allowed to enter Switzerland. Since Switzerland is a member of the so-called Schengen zone — the borderless travel zone grouping the EU countries (minus Britain and Ireland), plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland — a Swiss ban also affects all the other Schengen zone countries. The terms of the Schengen agreement oblige all members to refuse visas to citizens of third countries blacklisted by fellow Schengen group nations.
In retaliation for the Swiss blacklist, Libya stopped issuing visa to citizens of all Schengen member states. Instead of backing the Swiss, as they are obliged to do under the Schengen treaty, the EU countries threatened to expel Switzerland from the Schengen zone unless it drop the blacklist against the 188 Libyans…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Just 25p in Every Pound Taken by London Marathon Organisers is Paid to Charity
Just 25p in every pound taken by the company that runs the London Marathon is paid to charity, an investigation has revealed.
Huge amounts is instead lavished on bumper salaries and ‘undisclosed’ running costs instead of being handed out to good causes.
The London Marathon charity is tasked with awarding money to other charities, or local projects, as well as staging the annual 26.2 mile race.
But an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches has found that three quarters of the £17.8m received last year by the company is eaten up in salaries and costs, many of which are not detailed, while little more than £4 million went on grants to good causes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Stalked Strictly Star Terrified He’d be Attacked Like Jill Dando
A Strictly Come Dancing contestant feared being attacked like Jill Dando after falling victim to an internet stalker.
Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding, 32, said he was bombarded with ‘vile and grotesque’ abuse over the internet by Muslim convert Toneeta Beckford.
She also sent him pictures of herself posing in a thong and messages containing extremist religious rants.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo-USA: Steinberg Repeats US Support
(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA, APRIL 9 — The US’s full support of Kosovo was today repeated by the US Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg, in talks in Pristina. After meeting Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, Foreign MinisterSkender Hyseni and the mayors of the three municipalities with Serbian majority, Steinberg said that the US had special links with the people of Kosovo and that it firmly supports the process of Kosovo’s integration into the EU and the liberalisation of visas for the small Balkan country. The fight against corruption and criminality, said Steinberg, is a key element also with regard to economic development. Steinberg, who visited the Gracanica Monastery, at the same time underlined the interest that the US administration has in collaborating to promote the resolving of difficulties that still exist in relations between Kosovo and Serbia. In Pristina, Steinberg concluded a tour of the western Balkan countries which saw him previously visit Ljubljana (Slovenia), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Belgrade (Serbia).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Gov’t Measures in Favour of Roma Integration
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 8 — Yesterday the Serbian government, on the eve of International Roma Day, announced that it was allocating funding and adopting a number of supplementary measures in favour of the social integration of the Roma minority in the country. The Deputy Premier and the Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic also announced that a thousand new apartments would be built for Roma and other residents with the greatest need, underscoring that the government’s goal was integration and not the assimilation of ethnic minorities. Today the Serbian Minister for Minority Rights Svetozar Ciplic will be distributing new laptop computers to 40 Roma students who achieved the best marks in their schools. The unyielding determination to foster the integration of minorities was also underscored by Serbian president Boris Tadic, who yesterday in Belgrade received a delegation from the Serbian Roma community. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-France: Together to Re-Launch Med Union
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 9 — “France and Italy reaffirm their commitment to the Union for the Mediterranean” and “together with the EU’s Spanish presidency they’ll do whatever needed for the success of the head of state and government meeting that will take place in Barcelona on June 7 2010, in order to allow a quick re-launch of the area projects of common interest”, says a joint statement released by Italian and French Foreign Ministers Franco Frattini and Bernard Kouchner during the intergovernment summit taking place today in Paris. The two countries are furthermore very satisfied with the institution of the Inframed fund, “a fund for environment-compatible infrastructures”, which “represents one of the first initiatives of the Union for the Mediterranean to bring the two sides of the Mediterranean together in order to mobilise innovative financing.” (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Forum: Talk of ‘Obama and the Mediterranean’
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 9 — The new directions of the American administration in the Mediterranean following the election of Barack Obama and their influence on the future of the region are at the centre of international talks entitled “Europe, the United States and the Mediterranean” organised by the Paris Forum, under the aegis of President Sarkozy, which is taking place today and tomorrow in Paris. A meeting in light of this American “new challenge”, the challenge for the people of the region to take their destiny into their own hands by strengthening their cooperation, and the challenge for the Union for the Mediterranean whose results, difficulties and promises will be examined during the meeting. The first day will attempt to assess the two aspects of Obama’s international policy, which, according to the organisers, presents itself as a “melange of idealism and pragmatism”. Speakers at the roundtables entitled “The Cairo speech a year on” and “Syria, Iran and the Shia arc” are scheduled by Jack Devine, President of the Arkin Group and ex director of CIA operations, Caroline Cornu, deputy head of mission of the UFM, Hubert Vedrine, former French Foreign Minister. Dominique Moisi, Senior Advisor at Ifri (French Institute for International Relations), Akiva Eldar, leader writer of Israeli daily newpaper Haaretz, and Joseph Maila, head of the Quai d’Orsay religious centre. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be discussed on Saturday and Robert Malley, former advisor to Bill Clinton and director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the International Crisis Group, and Shaul Mofaz, former chief of staff of the Israeli army and former Defence Minister, will talk about “What to do with Hamas”. They will be followed by Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spanish Foreign Minister, Marc Otte, EU special peace envoy to the Middle East and many other speakers who will also make an initial assessment of the UFM almost two years after its creation in July 2008, at the strong urging of Nicolas Sarkozy. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Elections; Cairo Accuses US of Interfering
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, APRIL 9 — Egypt has accused the US of interfering with its domestic affairs, regarding a document of the US State Department in which Egypt is asked to respect freedom of expression, the day after the clashes and the arrests on Tuesday in the Egyptian capital. “The US don’t consider the fact that all those who were arrested (around 70, editor’s note) have been released, and that many had committed acts of violence” said the spokesman of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. He spoke of “interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs”. On Tuesday, a protest was organised in Cairo by the opposition movement ‘6 April Youth’, which asks to lift the state of emergency which has been in force for 30 years, and amendments to the constitution articles regarding electoral procedures. On Wednesday, France Presse reports, the US expressed concerns about the arrests, and asked Cairo to respect freedom of expression. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
El Al Ordered to Compensate Humiliated Israeli Arab Passengers
Haifa District Court Wednesday ruled that El Al airlines must compensate two Arab Israelis some NIS 30,000, for humiliating them during security checks in a New York airport. The brothers were closely guarded throughout the checks, their movements were constrained by the airline’s security detail, without anything that would determine them as a security risk. One of the brothers was also told he would not be allowed to board the flight home unless he apologizes to one of the guards.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Fuel Supplies Stopped, Only Power Station Down
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, APRIL 9 — The situation on the Gaza Strip is worsening: from today on, the area’s only functioning electricty power station is down due to lack of fuel. The black-out has been confirmed by the Deputy Chair of the local electrical authority, Kanaan Ubeid, speaking to the Maan agency. He said there will be no resumption of power supplies before Sunday as the Strip’s passes have been closed for the weekend as usual by Israeli forces, even for humanitarian goods. Israel is denying that it is to blame for the closure of the power station, and is instead pointing its finger at inter- Palestinian divisions between Hamas and the PNA under moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, which rules in the West Bank, and which continues to hold many of the purse strings for financing the Strip. According to a military spokesperson, the Israeli authorities are allowing through fuel that is destined for the power station and if this has not been arriving in the past few days it is because the PNA has not been purchasing any due to debts accumulated by those running Gaza and their alleged wastefulness. The Gaza Strip (1.5 million inhabitants) normally has 70% of its power requirements covered by Israel, 5% by Egypt and the rest is produced in its single power station. Recently, Hamas has repeatedly stated that it has undertaken not to foment conflict on the borders with Israel in order to achieve a relaxation of the blockade for the benefit of its hard-hit population, but recent weeks have seen the de-facto truce has been violated repeatedly. Added to this, just yesterday a spokesperson for the fundamentalist organisation returned to using threatening language, with hopes of the kidnappings of further Israeli service personnel (following the pattern of Ghilad Shalit, who has been held in the Strip for approaching four years) as a weapon for imposing concessions from the Israeli state. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Spies Boost Monitoring of Jews
Protesting even home improvements to highest levels of Israeli government
JERUSALEM — The Obama administration in recent weeks has stepped up its monitoring of Jewish construction projects in eastern Jerusalem and is protesting to the highest levels of the Israeli government even small building or improvement projects, WND has learned.
Obama is calling for Israel to halt all Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem for four months as a confidence-building gesture to start talks with the Palestinian Authority.
Already, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placed a freeze on building projects in the strategic West Bank, purportedly as a confidence-building gesture as well.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Idea of the Obama Administration Supporting an “Imposed Solution” On the Israel-Palestinian Issue Takes a Big Step Forward
by Barry Rubin
Is the U.S. government going to present its own comprehensive peace plan on the Israel-Palestinian issue? There is growing evidence it is thinking of doing such a thing, though that is by no means certain. If the Obama Administration does move in this direction, however, I predict that it will be a major failure and humiliation for that government.
The latest development is an apparently well-informed New York Times article about a meeting chaired by National Security Advisor James Jones, known for being hostile to Israel, and including former national security advisors, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft-also known for being anti-Israel-and Samuel Berger. All three (it should be mentioned that none of this trio covered himself with glory when in office and are not exactly foreign policy geniuses) reportedly favor the idea. Former national security advisor Colin Powell disagreed, but he’s a Republican (though a pro-Obama one) and probably less influential. Oh, and President Obama dropped in to hear the discussion.
One might ask a lot of people who voted for Obama if they are happy having Brzezinski and Scowcroft as top advisors on Middle East policy. Again, though, it should be clear no decision has been made and such an initiative might never happen, assuming clearer heads triumph.
But, the reporter writes:
“Still, for all of that, a consensus appears to be growing, both within the administration and among outside advisers to the White House, that Mr. Obama will have to consider suggesting a solution to get the two sides moving.” This might happen also if indirect talks fail.
Let us pause a moment to consider that this whole approach is the opposite of being brilliant. First, the administration has just signaled to the Palestinians that they want to make the indirect talks fail, since then the U.S. government will make an “imposed” offer that will adopt almost all of their demands. After all, if it doesn’t, they can sabotage the proposal, knowing that the Obama administration will never punish or criticize them. Since the government desperately wants to succeed, it is giving the Palestinian Authority all the leverage.
Of course, Israel is going to reject this idea, which then lets them sit back and enjoy more U.S.-Israel conflict. Thus, the whole strategy in advance is doomed to fail.
In addition, the strategy is deeply against diplomatic norms…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Isfahan: Evangelical Pastor Released on Bail, Accused of “Converting Muslims”
Wilson Issavi was arrested in February. He was tortured in prison where he contracted an infection. Three Christians held in Evin have been released recently.
Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) — An Evangelical Assyrian clergyman was freed on bail last week. He had been arrested more than two months ago on charges of “converting Muslims” and is now awaiting trial. People who met him after his release say he was tortured in prison.
Rev Wilson Issavi, 65, was released from Dastgard Prison in Isfahan between March 28 and March 30. He had been arrested on 2 February after a house meeting held at a friend’s home in Isfahan.
Police had threatened him on several occasions and forced him to close his Evangelical Church in Kermanshah. Undaunted, he continued his activity.
According to a Christian woman quoted by the Compass news agency, Issavi was tortured whilst in custody. The facility where he was held was so filthy that he contracted a life-threatening infection.
At present, he is treating the ailment as he waits to go on trial. He has not been informed of his trial date.
For the past few years, Iranian authorities have persecuted Evangelical Christians. In July 2008, two Christians died as a result of injuries sustained during a police raid during a house meeting.
On 28 February of this year, Hamid Shafiee and his wife Reyhaneh Aghajary, both converts from Islam, were arrested at their home in Isfahan.
Maryam Jalili, Mitra Zahmati, and Farzan Matin were instead released on 17 March. They had been arrested along with 12 other Christians at a home in Varamin on 24 December. Although the other 12 prisoners were conditionally released on 4 January, Jalili, Zahmati and Matin were moved to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. The terms of their release remain unknown.
Iran is an Islamic republic. Shia Islam is the state religion. Other religious groups are allowed but proselytising is banned and religious activities are kept under tight control.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel the Strong Horse
What does Jordan’s King Abdullah want from Israel? This week Abdullah gave a long and much cited interview to the Wall Street Journal. There he appeared to be begging US President Barack Obama to turn up the heat still further on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. As he has on a number of occasions, Abdullah argued that the Palestinian conflict with Israel is the cause or the justification of all the violence and emerging threats in the region. By his telling, all of these threats, including Iran’s nuclear threat, will all but disappear if Israel accepts all of the Palestinian, (and Syrian), demands for land.
Abdullah’s criticism of Netanyahu dominated the news in Israel for much of the week. Commentators and reporters piled on, attacking Netanyahu for destroying whatever remains of Israel’s good name. In their rush to attack the premier, none of them stopped to consider that perhaps they were missing something fundamental about Abdullah’s interview.
But they were missing something. For there is another way to interpret Abdullah’s complaints. To understand it however, it is necessary to consider the strategic constraints under which Abdullah operates. And the Israeli media, like the Western media as a whole, are incapable of recognizing that Abdullah has constraints that make it impossible for him to say what he means directly.
Abdullah is a Hashemite who leads a predominantly Palestinian country. His country was carved out by the British as a consolation prize for his great-grandfather after the Hashemites lost Syria to the French. As a demographic minority and ethnic transplant, the Hashemites have never been in a position to defend themselves or their kingdom against either their domestic or foreign foes. Consequently they have always been dependent out outside powers — first Britain, and then Israel, and to a lesser degree the US — for their survival…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Honorary Citizenship of Marakah for Italian Regiment
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, APRIL 9 — The entire 66th Trieste Air Assault Infantry Regiment, assigned to the UN forces stationed in southern Lebanon (Unifil) since October, has been awarded honorary citizenship of the southern Lebanese town of Marakah, which is added to that of Herat, awarded to the same regiment in 2008, during the ISAF operation in Afghanistan. During the official ceremony, which took place in the presence of the regiment’s commander, Colonel Franco Galletti and a group of officers, non-commissioned officers and volunteers of the unit, the mayor of Marakah, Hassan Assad, said that the awarding of the citizenship was meant as a “sign of esteem and appreciation for the constant but discreet presence amongst the people,” and that it was “for the commitment undertaken to maintain peace to enable culture and economy to be revived and for the efforts to promote the recovery of health assistance.” On October 30, 2009, the 66th Trieste Air Assault Infantry Regiment took over the operations in the province of Tyre, forming the Italbatt 1 task force in the western section of Unifil, on the Friuli Air Assault Brigade base. Since then the servicemen, as underlined by the spokesman of the Italian contingent of Unifil, Colonel Carmelo Abisso, have been carrying out intense patrolling in close cooperation with the Lebanese armed forces and in collaboration with the Lebanese authorities, to stabilise the area and to allow local institutions to resume control of the territory, in line with the provisions of UN Resolution 1701. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nuclear: Israel, Netanyahu Pulls Out of Washington Summit
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, APRIL 9 — Contrary to what was announced yesterday, Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu will not take part in the summit on nuclear security that US President Obama has called for April 12 and 13 in Washington. Israel will be represented by Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor. Government sources in Jerusalem said that Netanyahu had decided to remain in Israel after learning that at the summit Egypt and Turkey intend to raise the issue of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and to ask for it to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Even though it is considered to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East with an arsenal of 100-200 latest-generation devices, Israel has never confirmed or denied that it has nuclear arms and has never signed the NPT. Leaders of the world’s principal countries are expected at the summit. President Obama hopes that they will be able to reach an agreement that will prevent nuclear devices ending up in the hands of terrorist organisations. During the summit, the issue of the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea (the two countries excluded from the conference) is set to be discussed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Shias Arrested Over Worship
RIYADH: Authorities in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia have arrested several Shia community leaders in the Eastern Province for hosting Shias worship services in their homes, an activist said Tuesday.
According to Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), a 30-year old school teacher was detained on Monday in Al-Khobar, where three other Shias were arrested a week earlier for private services on the Ashura holiday last December, said Ibrahim Mugaiteeb of the Human Rights First Society.
The arrests follow more than a year of tensions in the Eastern Province over permits for new Shia mosques in the region.
Authorities have shut down several makeshift Shia mosques and refused a mosque permit for the 20,000-strong Al-Khobar Shia community, according to Mugaiteeb.
“They cannot have their own mosques, and they can’t pray in a Sunni mosque,” he told AFP. “They are not allowed to have prayers in the streets.”
He said that three of those arrested were from the same al-Maki family: Hassan Ali al-Maki, the teacher arrested Monday, Abdullah Fahad al-Maki, 73, and Hassan Ali al-Maki, 45.
The fourth man was Mahdi Ahmad al-Khodhair, 64, and all were arrested March 29, Mugaiteeb said.
Mainly concentrated in the Eastern Province, Shia’s constitute around 10 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Anonymous Expat Brings 3.5bln Euro in Wealth Amnesty
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 8 — Turkish markets were buoyed following a cash inflow of TL 7.1 billion (3.5 billion euro) as part of a wealth amnesty program which allowed Turkish citizens to bring their money held in Turkey but outside the banking system or in foreign banks back to Turkish banks without penalties, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek announced on Tuesday in Istanbul. The Haberturk daily reported that an anonymous source had brought TL 7.1 billion (3.5 billion euro) as part of the second leg of the wealth amnesty program. The wealth amnesty program was first introduced in 2008 in a bid to attract more foreign capital to the country and add much-needed liquidity to the banking industry. The first term of the program, which was in effect between November 22, 2008 and March 2, 2009, brought TL 14.83 billion (7.32 billion euro) into the country. The success of the program encouraged the government to extend the program for a second term on June 10 until the end of the year. During this time the program brought in TL 32.47 billion (16 billion euro) in funds, of which TL 16.2 billion (8 billion euro) came from abroad. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Dubai Hotels to Step Up With Security After Hamas Murder
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, APRIL 9 — Dubai hotels have been ordered by police to install thousands more security cameras after Mahmoud al Mabhouh’s assassination at the Al Bustan Rotana, as daily The National reports. The hit squad that killed the senior Hamas leader — believed to be members of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad — were caught on closed circuit television in a number of hotels in the hours lading up to the murder in January. Michael Weyland, the general manager of the hotel division of the Landmark Group, which opens its first Citymax hotel in Al Barsha next month, said: “There’s a new police requirement due to the incident in January. With this hotel, as we speak, we are installing another extra 22 cameras”. The extra security cost Dh200,000 (US$54,000). Mr Weyland added that the company would have to install 100 cameras in another hotel it planned to open in Bur Dubai later this year, at a cost of almost Dh500,000. Shahzad Butt, the director of business development at the Chelsea Group of hotels and hotel apartments, said: “We are opening a 49-storey tower property so we have to have close to 200 cameras. Before that incident, we had about 112 cameras covering the whole area, but we had to add another 85 to meet the new guidelines. “By law, we are supposed to cover all public areas including corridors and all exit and entry points. But there has been a reminder to improve security”, he stressed. The Dubai-based security company Citytec is involved in the installation of the new security systems. Nabeel Ahmad, its general manager, said since the al Mabhouh assassination the amount of business from hotels had increased by between 30 and 40 per cent. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Child Bride ‘Dies After Wedding’
Hajjah, 8 April (AKI) — A 12-year-old Yemeni child bride died of severe internal bleeding just three days after her wedding, according to a report in the pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi on Thursday.
Ilham Mahdi Shui al-Asi died in hospital last Friday from a ruptured womb which caused a fatal haemorrage, according to doctors quoted by al-Quds al-Arabi.
The girl reportedly died in al-Thawra hospital in Yemen’s northern Hajja province, on Friday just three days after her arranged marriage to a man in his 20s in what is known as a ‘swap’ marriage.
Her husband’s family did not pay a dowry, but instead married a female relative of the same age to al-Asi’s brother, according to Yemen’s Forum al-Shaqaiq rights group.
“This girl was a martyr to the arranged marriages of minors which are still taking place in this country,” the group said in a statement.
The girl’s death is likely to rekindle moves to impose a legal age for marriage.
Attempts to set a minimum marriage age of 18 have failed in recent years due to opposition from Islamist groups and tribal leaders.
Last September, a 12-year-old girl died in childbirth in Yemen.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Diana West: You Don’t Win Hearts & Minds by Losing Your Own
A reader e-mailed me to comment on a column by David Ignatius, who recently accompanied the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, to a shura, or local council meeting, in Marja, Afghanistan.
Ignatius wrote: “Given the weakness of the central government in Kabul, U.S. commanders are working to align American power with the most basic political structures, the tribal shuras. ‘Culturally, this country works,’ says Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, the chief military spokesman (in Afghanistan). ‘People sitting down together can solve almost anything.’”
Slap a happy-face sticker on the man’s briefing book to commemorate the dopiest spin ever on the primitivism, violence and misogyny of Afghan culture. My reader, naturally, had a different take from the admiral’s: “So that’s why we’re there, bleeding and dying and spending, to facilitate Sharia law. Great, just great.”
I can relate. Of course, there’s nothing new here, given that the U.S.-drafted Afghan constitution (like Iraq’s) has recognized Sharia law as supreme since ratification in 2004. What seems different now, or maybe just more noticeable, is an unseemly American pandering before such law — Sharia law, tribal law, any law but our own — increasingly manifested by official U.S. military policy.
I don’t know how else to describe Mullen’s decision to plop down, cross-legged, on a rug in a tent in Marja, where, dhimmi-like, he proceeded to take orders for public works projects from a line of Afghan “elders.” As Reuters puts it, “From the litany of requests … from asphalt for roads to fertilizer for fields — one might think he was a visiting aid worker, not the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
‘We want educational centres … There is no good hospital … We want all these roads to be paved,’ a man with a long black beard told Mullen.”
And what did the highest military officer in the USA, as Time magazine reported, tell the turbaned locals? “Inshallah, we will provide the services as soon as possible.”…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Kyrgyzstan’s Unfinished Revolution
Former foreign minister claims to be control. Whereabouts of ousted president is still a mystery. Some say he fled abroad; others suggest he is in the south to reorganise his forces. The Kyrgyz continue to be a people abused by their leaders.
Bishkek (AsiaNews) — The Tulip revolution of 2005 that brought Kurmanbek Bakiyev to power “remains unfinished business” according to one of the many comments found on Kyrgyz websites as two days of riots in the former Soviet republic force President Bakiyev out of power, leaving at least 40 people dead. Roza Otunbayeva, who led the uprising five years ago, has been name the head of the provisional government. A former foreign minister who went over to the opposition, she said the caretaker government would remain in power for six months before new elections are held. However, chaos still reigns in the streets.
The whereabouts of the ousted president remains unknown. Some claim that he fled abroad; others say he is in southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional stronghold, to organise a countermove.
Whatever the case, Kyrgyzstan remains one of the poorest nations of Central Asia, and is now facing a period of great instability, under the worried scrutiny of big powers like the United States (which has a military base in the country), Russia and China, both of which have important economic and strategic interests in the country.
An unfinished revolution . . ..
Kyrgyz have come to realise that they have replaced one corrupt president (Akaev) with another (Bakiyev). “Tulip Revolution leader did not fight for democratic reforms, but for a share of power,” said activist Duishonkul Chotonov. As soon as he got into power, Bakiyev placed his relatives in important positions. The creation of a Central Agency under his 32-year-old son Maksim is a case in point. As head of the agency, Maksim Bakiyev was in charge of the whole economy, leaving the cabinet and the prime minister powerless. Promised reforms quickly gave way to political persecution, repression and the loss of civil liberties. Another dictatorship was set up.
Economic crisis
The economic situation has deteriorated in the past five years. Poverty and unemployment have risen. Hikes in water, power and phone fees (also controlled by the presidential family) were enough to turn widespread dissatisfaction into outright hostility to the Bakiyev regime, which hitherto resisted all peaceful demands for change.
Regionalism
The provisional government, whose members have not yet been designated, now has major challenges ahead. A north-south regional divide has split the country. Some observers fear Bakiyev might turn to his southern stronghold to regain power. As long as he is on Kyrgyz soil, he remains a threat to the provisional government and the country’s stability.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Punjab Muslim Fundamentalists Against the Ahmadis, Three Traders Killed
Muslim leaders denounce sect a “targeted execution”, in the silence of government officials and police. Recently, the three men had been seized “because of their faith” and released after paying a large sum of money. 108 ahmadi faithful killed since 1984.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — The persecution of the Ahmadi Muslims continues in Pakistan, considered heretical because they do not recognize Muhammad as the last prophet. On April last three traders were killed in Faisalabad — the third largest city of Punjab. The murder was reported by the leaders of the Ahmadiyya community, who speak of a “targeted execution” by an armed commando who immediately fled the scene.
Ashraf Pervez, 60, Masood Javed, 57, and Asif Masood, 24, were returning home after the closure of the shops. Suddenly, attackers riddled them with bullets. The three died on their way to hospital. Pervez and Javed were brothers, while Masood was the son of the latter. Two weeks before their death, reports the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the victims had complained of threats to police. The officers had recommended them to “restrict their movement and recruit bodyguards” to protect their safety.
According to leaders of the Ahmadiyya community, most recently the men had been kidnapped and released after paying a high ransom. Criminals have reported that their faith was the cause of the abduction. “It is reasonable to assume that the criminals — reads a statement — or at least their accomplices are known to the authorities, because the groups against the Ahmadis do not bother to hide their hatred.”
Faisalabad has long been the scene of targeted attacks against the Ahmadiyya community. In recent years, nine people were killed without the police or government authorities — who know the perpetrators — intervening. The group’s leaders points the finger at the movement of Khatme Nabuwwat, Islamic followers according to whom the prophecy reaches its full completion with Mohammed, in charge of persecution against Muslims considered “heretics”.
Punjab Law experts can foment violence against the Ahmadis with impunity, claiming that they “be killed” (Wajib ul Qatl). The leaders of the movement denounce the immobility of the authorities, in addition to not punishing the perpetrators of the killings, not even taking a stand against verbal violence.
Since the enactment of the Anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance in 1984 which allows for persecution of the alleged “heretics” 108 people were killed because of their faith. In a few cases the killers were arrested and the few times have appeared before the judges, they were acquitted or freed after a short prison sentence. So far this year, five Ahmadis have been killed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Islamic Chief: ‘One Mumbai Not Enough’
Warning suggests more violence, death being planned
The head of a Pakistani-based militant Islamist group has issued a new warning to India that “one Mumbai is not enough,” according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, or LeT, and head of its charity arm, Jamaatud Dawa, said his group would go a long way to liberate Kashmir. He added that “jihad is the only option left, as India will never let go of Kashmir.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Islamist Threat to Australian Security
by Des Moore
In a seventy-seven-page judgment on February 15, New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Anthony Whealy sentenced five men to maximum prison terms of between seventeen and twenty-eight years for conspiring to prepare for a terrorist attack (Regina v Elomar & Ors). Justice Whealy opined that those convicted showed no remorse, would wear their prison terms as “a badge of honour” and there was no indication the leader would ever renounce his extremist views. These convictions were imposed even though there was no evidence that specific targets had been identified, no actual acts of terrorism had been committed and no weapons could be found. The prosecution claimed that the terror cell had a weapons stock equivalent to that used in November 2008 by the Mumbai terrorists when they killed 173 and wounded over 300. The police, however, have been unable to find the weapons obtained by the Australian terror cell.
It is encouraging that heavy sentencing such as this has occurred based only on evidence of conspiring but it also confirms the highly dangerous threat to Australia’s domestic security. This threat was heightened by the response from the Muslim community. The sister of one of those convicted featured briefly on ABC television as she protested outside the court; the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, Keysar Trad, claimed to detest terrorism but argued the five had been victimised; and the well-known imam and critic of Australian mores, Sheikh Hilali, hosted a large meeting at the nation’s largest mosque in Lakemba where ten imams and twenty community leaders issued a statement describing the sentencing as a “travesty of justice” while a group of young men outside the mosque shouted that ASIO are “dogs”.
As far as I am aware there has been no substantive comment on the convictions by any Australian political leader. My perspective is that, despite terrorist convictions now amounting to twenty-five, the thwarting of numerous terrorist attacks and the active pursuit of Islamist objectives by a significant section of the Muslim community, the response by political, religious and business leaders has fallen well short of what is needed—indeed in some respects it hardly exists. This is particularly true of the apparent inability of our leaders to proclaim the virtues of Western culture and the problems with Muslim culture…
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Fossil Skeletons May be Human Ancestor
by Charles Q. Choi, Livescience Contributor
A newfound ancient relative of humanity discovered in a cave in Africa is a strong candidate for the immediate ancestor to the human lineage, an international team of scientists said today.
The remarkably well-preserved skeletons — a juvenile male and an adult female that lived nearly 2 million years ago — were found near the surface in the remains of a deeply eroded limestone cave system.
Scientists don’t know how they died, but it’s possible they fell into the cave.
The hominids had longer arms than we do, and smaller brains. But their faces were human-like, and scientists say the discovery represents an important look into our pre-human past. Researchers stopped short of calling the new species, dubbed Australopithecus sediba, a missing link.
Australopithecus means ‘southern ape.’ Sediba means “natural spring, fountain or wellspring in Sotho, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa,” said researcher Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. This was “deemed an appropriate name for a species that might be the point from which the genus Homo arises,” Berger said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia Islamists Al-Shabab Ban BBC Transmissions
The Somali Islamist movement al-Shabab has banned the BBC and closed down transmitters broadcasting the Somali language service inside the country.
Al-Shabab accused the BBC of fighting against Islam and supporting the transitional federal government, which the rebels are fighting to overthrow.
The group said the BBC had been broadcasting the agenda of crusaders and colonialists against Muslims.
The BBC said it was strictly impartial and spoke to all sides in the conflict.
The BBC has been broadcasting its services in Somali, Arabic and English across the country on a series of FM frequencies for at least a decade, and surveys suggest it is one of the most widely listened-to news services in Somalia.
‘Strict standards’
Al-Shabab ordered all of the BBC’s transmitters to be shut down.
A statement by al-Shabab demanded that any organisation transmitting the BBC, or the Washington-based Voice of America, should cancel their contracts.
Al-Shabab and its allies control most of southern and central Somalia and all but a few districts of the capital, Mogadishu.
They have been fighting to establish an Islamist administration of their own in place of the current government.
The BBC’s broadcasts have been taken off the FM bandwidth, but are still available on shortwave and the internet.
In response to the statement, the head of BBC Africa, Jerry Timmins, said the organisation spoke to all sides in the conflict, including al-Shabab, adhered to strict standards of impartiality and editorial independence and rejected any suggestion otherwise.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
War on White South Africa
[Comments from JD: Warning: Graphic Content]
Eugene Terre’Blanche, leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) that seeks the establishment of a homeland for the Afrikaners of South Africa, was alone at his homestead over the Easter period, when two farmhands bludgeoned the 69-year-old separatist to a pulp with pangas and pipes. Based on hearsay — and their abiding sympathy for savages — news media across the West are insisting that the motive for the murder was a “labor dispute.”
This the oleaginous officials of the African National Congress (Mandela’s gang) must just love; they share with their admirers in the West a determination to ignore (and perhaps to encourage) the black onslaught against white South African farmers, or Boers (who happen to feed the continent).
Those of us who’ve been studying the systematic, race-based extermination of farming South Africa know too well the telltale signs of a farm murder. Without exception, Mr. Terre’Blanche and all 3,149 farmers murdered since “freedom” were slaughtered in ways that would do Shaka Zulu proud.
The brutality of the racially motivated murders of white farmers in South Africa, and, increasingly, of whites in general, is one aspect of these crimes. Mr. Terre’Blanche was unrecognizable. Two weeks before he was slaughtered, 17-year-old Anika Smit was raped, her throat slashed 16 times and her hands hacked off and removed from the scene.
Both acts of butchery were unremarkable in Mandela’s South Africa.
The dehumanization of the victim — Crimen injuria in South African law — is another feature of these feral acts. When they were finished with him, Terre’Blanche’s killers pulled down the old man’s pants, exposing his privates. Slain white farmers are often displayed like trophies by their black killers.
Mr. Terre’Blanche was a victim of a farm murder, plain and simple.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Victims of Francoist Crimes Turn to Argentinean Courts
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 9 — Spanish associations for the victims of Francoist crimes will present a report to the Argentinean federal courts on Wednesday, to denounce “the genocide committed by General Francisco Franco in Spain between 1936 and 1977”, between the start of the Civil war (1936-1939) and the end of the dictatorship. The report, quoted today by the Spanish press, appeals to the Argentinean constitution which recognises the principle of universal jurisdiction to judge those responsible for crimes against humanity. “If Spain refuses to investigates those crimes, a foreign judge will do so” the associations warned when the magistrate of the Audienca Nacional, Baltazar Garzon, was taken away from investigating the disappearances during the Civil War and the Francoist period. “The goal is to avoid letting these crime remain unpunished” explained Carlos Slepoy, the Argentinean lawyer of the associations of the victims of the 113,000 “desaparecidos” registered in Spain, quoted today by newspaper Publico. The accusation will start with the concrete case of Severino Rivas, the socialist mayor who was shot in 1936 in Lugo, to support the thesis that Francoism carried out a systematic plan that can be defined as “political, social and cultural genocide”. Slepoy will ask the Argentinean court to demand evidence of these crimes from the Spanish government, including “the list of Ministers, officials of the armed forces and of the Guardia Civil who participated in these facts, who are still alive, because they will be called to make statements in court”. If the case is prepared for trial, some former Ministers under Franco, like the president of honour of the People’s Party, Manuel Fraga, could be summoned in court. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus’ Minister of Interior to Visit Syria
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, APRIL 9 — Cyprus’ Minister of Interior, Neoklis Sylikiotis, will visit Syria today, responding to an official invitation by his Syrian counterpart, Said Sammour. According to an official announcement issued here, they will discuss issues of immigration and common interest. Sylikiotis will return in Cyprus next Monday. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France-Turkey: Integration Association Closes in France
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 9 — The Elele (hand in hand in Turkish) association — which had been offering social, legal, economic and educational assistance to Turkish immigrants to ease them into integration with French society since 1984 — has shut down due to lack of funding, its founder Gaye Petek announced in speaking out against the French government’s “wretched vision” as concerns immigration and the suppression of a financing programme promised in December 2009 by the Immigration Ministry. “For 25 years wéve been defending a global vision of integration, a culture of mutual respect and exchange. It is a vision that has been destroyed today by the negative and wretched view on immigration, which is now seen as a problem needing to be dealt with by the government. It is a vision that encourages xenophobia”, Petek said. While the Immigration Ministry generically stated that a new funded programme would be agreed, the Paris city council under Socialist Bertrand Delanoe, by way of a statement through two councillors, Fatima Lalem and Gisele Stievenand, said that it “regretted” the closing down of Elele and noted the importance and the high quality of the association’s work. According to official estimates, Turkish immigrants in France total between 200,000 and 250,000, and every year between 8,000 and 10,000 are thought to arrive in the country to stay on either a temporary or permanent basis. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Holy See: Italy-Libya Deal Violates Rights
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, APRIL 9 — “No-one can be transferred, expelled or extradited to a stat where there is a serious risk that the person will be sentenced to death, tortured or undergo any form of punishment that is degrading and inhumane.” Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, is referring particularly to the agreement signed between Rome and Tripoli and the recent episodes of forced returns of illegal immigrants. In a speech for the second European conference on the issue of human rights in the training of European lawyers, which will take place in Rome tomorrow, Archbishop Marchetto talks about a report by the Human Rights Watch which, last September, denounced the interception by Italian coastguards of African migrants and asylum seekers who were crossing the Mediterranean in boats, forcing them to return to Libya, as provided for by the “bilateral agreement with that country” stipulated by Italy, without assessing the possibility that there were refugees and vulnerable people amongst them. Mons. Marchetto highlights that in Libya “there are centres for detention and repatriation where conditions vary from acceptable to inhumane and degrading.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nomads: European Summit in Spain on Integration Policies
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 8 — The goal of the second European Summit on Roma in Cordoba is to end the situation of social risk in which the 12 million gipsies living in Europe find themselves, a number that equals the population of Greece or Belgium. Four hundred members of this minority group participate in the summit that is held today and tomorrow, to take stock of the integration policies that have been developed in the past years. In Spain alone, according to official estimates, the Roma community counts more than 700,000 people, half of them living in Andalusia. Isidro Rodriquez, chairman of the gipsy secretariat foundation, explained to the press that the meeting in Cordoba will also discuss the proposal made by the European Commission to mobilise the European social fund for the integration of this minority group, to “deal with the segregation and discrimination of gipsies”. “Gipsies don’t need a separate labour market or schools that prolong their segregation,” said European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Lazlo Andor. Amnesty International has asked the EU to end “the cycle of discrimination, poverty and exclusion” of the Roma people. In a statement, the Association for the Defence of Human Rights has asked the EU for a strategy to guarantee equality to the gipsy community, and to adopt a plan of action against the abuse of gipsies. According to Amnesty International, the EU fails to hold national authorities responsible for not doing what they have to do for integration and for not denouncing racist attacks against Roma in member States. A report drafted by Amnesty in collaboration with gipsy associations and other NGOs shows that in many countries, like Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania or Serbia, Roma fall victim to forced evacuation and migration, “without any right to housing or basic services”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nomads: Spain: Government to Invest 107 Mln for Integration
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 8 — An action plan for the integration of the gipsy population, financed with 107 million euros in the two-year period 2010-2012, will be approved on Friday by the Spanish Government. This is what has been announced by the Health Minister, Trinidad Jimenez, speaking at the Second European Summit on Actions and Policies in Favour of the Roma Population being held in Cordoba, on the occasion of International Roma Day. Quoted by the press, Jimenez said that the programme will serve to boost the social development of this minority and to improve their living conditions, involving education and work, health, housing and women’s issues. Based on the principles of equality, citizenship, participation, social inclusion and institutional cooperation, the action plan aims to stop the evasion of compulsory education and “to normalise the university education” of Roma people. As regards employment, it will promote measures to facilitate gipsy’s access to the world of work, both as employees and self-employed. And to incentivise female work, given that over 70% of women of the gipsy community that lives in Spain, made up of 700,000 people, are inactive. As regards housing policies, 88% of gipsies present in Spain already have access to a house, but the Government’s plan aims to remove the differences that continue to persist with the rest of the population. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Save Children: Minors Probably Stopped in Libya
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — The number of immigrant minors that arrive on the Sicilian coasts has dropped sharply: from March 2009 to February 2010 a total of 278 unaccompanied minors arrived in Sicily (only 4 were identified in Lampedusa), against around 260 minors and 1,994 unaccompanied minors in the previous year. This emerged from the second Save the Children report on the immigration of minors over sea. These figures, the organisation states, are “worrying due to the likely presence in Libya of hundreds of minors and the lack of structural interventions in the acceptance of minors in Italy. The drastic change in the flow of immigrants was mainly caused by the measures taken by the Italian government against illegal immigration and the agreements it has signed with the Libyan authorities”. The average age (16-17) and gender (93% boys, 7% girls) of arriving children has not changed significantly while their nationality has changed: most come from Egypt (27%), followed by Eritrea (16%), Tunisia (14%), Ghana (9%) and Somalia (7.2%). But taking the arrivals since June 2009 into account, less than a month before the start of repatriations to Libya, almost half the arriving minors are Eritreans (48% against 10% in the previous year); the figure of arriving Egyptian minors falls to 6% in that case (against 27.9%); the number of minors arriving from the Maghreb area, from where previously most of them arrived, is very low. Valerio Neri, general director of Save the Children Italy, comments that “Immigrants who arrive over sea should no longer be sent back. National and international legislation regarding the ban on sending people back, respect for human rights and the protection of vulnerable groups must be respected. These minors who fail to arrive in Italy shouldn’t be seen as a number. They are children who run away from poverty or conflict and are stopped during their flight. We are denying these children a possibility, a future”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Fundamentalist Christian Party Must Let Women Become MPs
The fundamentalist Christian party SGP must stop refusing to allow women to stand for parliament as MPs, the high court ruled on Friday.
Women have the right to be included on the party’s official list of candidates and the state has a duty to ensure they have this right in prnactice, the court said in its ruling.
The state must now impose ‘effective measures’ on the party, the court said, without making recommendations.
However, the court said it was not in a position to order the government to stop giving subsidies to the party — some €800,000 a year — until it had been found guilty of discrimination in a criminal court.
The high court’s decision upholds a lower court ruling which found that the state can not turn a blind eye to the SGP’s ban on female activism.
Equal opportunties
The state itself had appealed against that decision, arguing that the court had placed equal rights legislation above that of freedom of religion.
The SGP operates according to a strict interpretation of the Bible and believes that the country should be governed ‘entirely on the basis of the ordinances of God’.
The SGP said in an initial reaction it found the court’s ruling that the party cannot treat men and women differently as ‘incomprehensible’.
Later, at a press conference, SGP chairman Wim Kolijn said the party would wait and see what steps the government would take against it. In addition, the party is considering an appeal to the European court of human rights, he said.
Earlier, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin had said the government would wait with its reaction until the SGP responded.
Voting
While women are now allowed to join the party, they are still banned from voting, taking office or becoming MPs. The party has two seats in the 150-seat Dutch parliament.
Arie Slob, of the orthodox Christian party ChristenUnie, which does allow women to be active in politics, said the state cannot force a political party to follow its instructions.
‘Every Christian woman who wants to get involved in politics can do that in this country,’ he was quoted as saying. ‘Which woman is the state going to force to join the SGP list’
Should the SGP be forced to allow women to become MPs? Take part in our poll
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Constitutional Court Approves Gay Weddings
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 9 — The Portuguese Constitutional Court has given green light to the law that authorises same-sex marriage. The measure was passed in February by the parliament, after its proposal by the government of socialist Premier Jose Socrates, the Portuguese press reports. This fact makes Portugal the sixth European country that allows gay weddings. Unlike the country’s neighbor Spain however, Portugal’s law forbids homosexual couples to adopt children. Only 2 of the 13 members of the Court voted against the law. President Anibal Cavaco Silva, a practising Catholic and member of the main opposition party, had send the proposal to the Constitutional Court because he doubted its constitutionality. Now Silva has 20 days to ratify the law or to veto it, Publico reports today. A veto would force the parliament to put the law to the vote again. In this case a simple majority would be enough to pass it, and its implementation, scheduled this summer, would not be delayed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty International Head Supports “Defensive Jihad”
(IsraelNN.com) The head of the human rights group Amnesty International, Claudio Cordon, issued a letter supporting “defensive jihad” — a term which is used to support ideological terrorism around the world.
Three weeks ago senior Amnesty worker, Gita Chagall, expressed opposition to the fact that the organization was holding contacts with Muazam Bag, who is identified ideologically with the Taliban. The same day Chagall was suspended from her job, after 30 years of work for Amnesty.
While other human rights activists protested Chagall’s dismissal, Amnesty’s Secretary-General himself, defended the relationship between Amnesty and the Taliban follower, claiming that “defensive jihad isn’t against human rights.”
Amnesty International has frequently accused Israel of human rights abuses.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
New Light on Near-Death Flashes
Near-death experiences during cardiac arrest — from flashing lights to life flashing before one’s eyes — may be down to carbon dioxide, a study finds.
Examination of 52 patients found levels of the body’s waste gas were higher in the 11 who reported such experiences, the journal Critical Care reports.
The Slovenian researchers hope to move on the debate over why so many cardiac arrest patients report the experiences.
Reasons previously suggested for the phenomenon include religion and drugs.
Those who have had near-death experiences report various encounters, including seeing a tunnel or bright light, a mystical entity, or looking down from the ceiling at the scene below in an “out of body” experience.
Others describe a simple but overwhelming feeling of peace and tranquillity.
It is thought between one in ten and nearly a quarter of cardiac arrest patients have experienced one of these sensations.
No religion
In this latest study, published in the journal Critical Care, a team looked at 52 cardiac arrest patients. Eleven of these reported a near-death experience.
There appeared to be no pattern in regards to sex, religious belief, fear of death, time to recover or drugs given during resuscitation.
And while anoxia — in which brain cells die through lack of oxygen — is one of the principal theories as to why near-death experiences may occur, this was not found to be statistically significant among this small group of patients.
Instead, the researchers from the University of Maribor found blood carbon dioxide levels were significantly higher in the near-death group than among those who had no experience.
Previous research has shown that inhalation of carbon dioxide can induce hallucinatory experiences similar to those reported in near-death experiences.
Whether the higher levels of carbon dioxide among this group of patients were down to the cardiac arrest itself or pre-existing is unclear.
“It is potentially another piece of the puzzle, although much more work is needed,” said the report author, Zalika Klemenc-Ketis. “Near death experiences make us address our understanding of human consciousness so the more we know the better.”
Cardiologist Dr Pim van Lommel, who has studied near death experiences extensively, described the findings as “interesting”.
“But they have not found a cause — merely an association. I think this is something that will remain one of the great mysteries of mankind. The tools scientists have are simply not sufficient to explain it.”
In the UK, a large study is ongoing into whether cardiac arrest patients genuinely do have out-of-body experiences. The research includes placing images on shelves that can only be seen from above. The brain activity of 1,500 patients will be analysed afterwards to see if they can recognise the images.
Dr Sam Parnia, who is leading the project at Southampton University, says he hopes to establish whether consciousness can in fact exist as a separate entity to the body.
| — Hat tip: LN | [Return to headlines] |
On the Nature of Evil
The New Statesman 01.04.2010 (UK)
And Terry Eagleton dwells on the nature of evil which went out of fashion with Freud: “On the whole, postmodern cultures, despite their fascination with ghouls and vampires, have had little to say of evil. Perhaps this is because the postmodern man or woman — cool, provisional, laid-back and decentred — lacks the depth that true destructiveness requires. For postmodernism, there is nothing really to be redeemed. For high modernists such as Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, or the early T S Eliot, there is indeed something to be redeemed, but it has become impossible to say quite what. The desolate, devastated landscapes of Beckett have the look of a world crying out for salvation. But salvation presupposes sinfulness, and Beckett’s wasted, eviscerated human figures are too sunk in apathy and inertia even to be mildly immoral. They cannot muster the strength to hang themselves, let alone set fire to a village of innocent civilians.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Decline of the UN Human Rights Council
Commentary 05.04.2010 (USA)
Anne Bayefsky of the Hudson Institute is unimpressed by the Obama administration’s record on human rights so far, manifested in its refusal to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council. She then traces the decline of this institution which, she says, is dominated by the Organization of the Islamic Conference and which, for years, has focussed almost exclusively on Israel: “The other 187 states on the planet got a free pass from the Council, notwithstanding the pressing reality of Nigeria’s butchered Christians, Saudi Arabia’s gender apartheid, Egypt’s systematic torture, China’s iron fist, Sudan’s genocide, and Russia’s slain human-rights defenders. In fact, over the entire four-year history of the Council, more than half of all resolutions and decisions condemning any state have been directed at Israel alone.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
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