Italy: Market: Europe: Milan Leads Recovery, After Tense Start
(ANSAmed) — ROME — Milan positive, Paris just stable, London and Frankfurt down. This is the scenario at the major European markets at their initial trading, after Tokyo’s heavily negative closure,- 2,45%, terminating its session under the psychological quota of 10,000 points. Milan, after a tense opening, turned to positive and settled at + 0.94%, driven by Fiat, Pirelli and Telecom. Paris is positive with 0.2%, whilst London and Frankfurt drop (respectively to -0.38% and -0.56%). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Attacks Berlin, Questionable Choices
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MAY 21 — Tension on the eve of the EU task force meeting today in Brussels, which will have to initiate the confrontation on reforming the European Pact for stability and growth. Germany’s leap ahead on the fight against financial speculation and the alarm over the Euro launched by German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in fact, were not appreciated by Paris. — EXCHANGING RETORTS WITH THE CHANCELLOR. “The single currency does not run any risk at all”, retorted French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, to Merkel’s statement yesterday to the Bundestag. Lagarde also defined as “questionable” the clampdown on short sales Decided by the German authorities. A clampdown decided unilaterally, without the invoked coordination at European level. — EURO-RESCUE FUND ISSUES. Juncker therefore assured that the issue regarding short sales will be discussed at tomorrow’s summit meeting of the task force guided by EU President, Herman van Rompuy, and including the 27 ECOFIN Ministers and ECB executives. An appointment initially set up to discuss the future of the Stability Pact, but whose agenda inevitably runs the risk of becoming packed, given that there could also be the workings of the 440 billion Euro-rescue Fund on the table, over which the Ministers have yet to stipulate an agreement. — THE GERMAN APPROACH. As for the reform of the Pact, with a debate that may be jeopardised by other issues, on the table will be, first of all, the proposal put forward last week by the EU Commission, whose pillars are: a strengthening of preventive supervision of Member States economic and budget policies; a tightening of infraction procedures for excess deficit, also concentrating on public debt levels; a boosting of the system of sanctions for non-conforming countries: the creation of a permanent anti-crisis mechanism. However, there is also expectation for an alternative anti-deficit and more severe plan prepared by Germany. — CRITICISM TO BERLIN MODEL. The German approach, however, again is not appreciated by Paris, neither is it by Brussels. It is seen as being too focused on a drastic cut in public finances, ignoring the need for continued support to recovery and a greater focus on factors such as competitiveness and the imbalances that exist within the Euro zone. Moreover, the German proposal would entail some changes to the treaties that almost everyone in the EU does not want. Also due to the lengthy process that this would involve. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Correction is Coming and it Will be a Bloodbath
The correction, soon to be crash, is here: the market had a bigger relative open to close move today than it did on May 6. We closed at the day’s lows on massive volume, despite definitive central bank intervention, regardless whether it was the SNB, the ECB, or the Fed. The central planners have lost control of the market, and all thanks to the inevitable collapse of hyper capitalist Keynesianism coming out of the formerly most communist country in the world. A day of ironies. And it’s not over. Futures are already down another 4 handles. The correction is coming, and it will be a bloodbath. The Fed can not push rates lower. It will print. It is inevitable. It is our destiny.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
$200m ‘Behaviour Detection’ Officers Fail to Spot a Single Terrorist at Airports
A team of more than 3,000 “behaviour detection” officers hired to spot terrorists at US airports have failed to catch a single person despite costing the taxpayer $200 million (£140 million) last year.
The specially-trained officers patrol terminals monitoring passengers for suspicious body language and facial expressions.
Since 2006, the officers have been stationed at more than 160 airports across the US in order to provide a hidden measure of security.
But 16 people accused of being part of terrorist plots have passed through US airports undetected a total of 23 times since 2004 — a number of them since the scheme was started — according to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office.
Earlier this year, officials at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which runs the behaviour detection programme, asked US Congress to expand the scheme, which is known as Spot — Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques.
John Mica, a Republican congressman from Florida who was involved in setting up the TSA in response to the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, said it had become too bureaucratic.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Instantaneous Velocity in Brownian Particles Observed, A Century After Einstein Said it Would be Impossible
A century after Albert Einstein said we would never be able to observe the instantaneous velocity of tiny particles as they randomly shake and shimmy (in so-called Brownian motion), physicist Mark Raizen and his group have done so.
“This is the first observation of the instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle,” says Raizen, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair and professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin. “It’s a prediction of Einstein’s that has been standing untested for 100 years. He proposed a test to observe the velocity in 1907, but said that the experiment could not be done.”
In 1907, Einstein likely did not foresee a time when dust-sized particles of glass could be trapped and suspended in air by dual laser beam “optical tweezers.” Nor would he have known that ultrasonic vibrations from a plate-like transducer would shake those glass beads into the air to be tweezed and measured as they moved in suspension.
Raizen’s research, published in Science, is the first direct test of the equipartition theorem for Brownian particles, one of the basic tenets of statistical mechanics. It is also a step toward cooling glass beads to a state in which they could be used as oscillators or sensors.
The equipartition theorem states that a particles’ kinetic energy — the energy it possesses due to motion — is determined only by its temperature, not its size or mass.
Raizen’s study now proves that the equipartition theorem is true for Brownian particles; in this case, glass beads that were three micrometers across.
Raizen says he and his colleagues can now push the limits, moving the particles closer to a quantum state for observation.
“We’ve now observed the instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle,” says Raizen. “In some sense, we’re closing a door on this problem in physics. But we are actually opening a much larger door for future tests of the equipartition theorem at the quantum level.”
There, he expects that equipartition theory will break down, leading to new problems and solutions surrounding the quantum mechanics of small particles composed of many atoms.
Raizen’s coauthors are Tongcang Li, Simon Kheifets and David Medellin of the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics and Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin.
[NOTE: “Optical tweezers” more commonly take the form of counter-opposing laser beams and are used for studying the energistic states of individual atoms and molecules. Exceptionally fine regulation of the laser beams’ overall power allows for introduction of extra energy in highly controlled increments so as to obtain exact measurements of quantum state changes that cannot be deduced from the behavior exhibited by larger populations of these same atomic particles. Optical tweezers also provide researchers with a non-contact method for manipulating exotic forms of matter such as Bose-Einstein condensates whose properties are affected by interactions with other conventional materials — Z]
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Judges Rule That Detainees at Base in Afghanistan Cannot Petition U.S. Courts for Release
A federal appeals court said on Friday that the civilian courts do not have authority to hear the cases of three detainees imprisoned at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.
The detainees had petitioned the courts seeking to be freed.
The jurisdiction of the U.S. courts does not extend to foreigners held in the Bagram facility in the Afghan theater of war, three appeals court judges said in a unanimous decision. The appeals judges said a U.S. district judge should have thrown out the detainees’ petitions.
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Man Gets 3 Months in Prison for Disrupting Flight
DENVER — A Virginia man who disrupted a cross-country flight that led to the plane being diverted to Colorado has been sentenced to three months in prison.
A federal judge in Denver on Friday also ordered Muhammad Abu Tahir, 47, of Glen Allen, Va., to pay $14,584 in restitution to AirTran Airways and be on supervised release for three years.
Tahir, originally from Pakistan and now a permanent U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty in March to interfering with a flight crew. He faced up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he had been convicted at trial.
Tahir was arrested Jan. 8 after the plane flying from Atlanta to San Francisco was diverted to Colorado Springs. He drank five mini-bottles of wine, locked himself in a lavatory to shave and then became unruly when he was asked to return to his seat, authorities said.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
‘Marxist’ Dalai Lama Criticises Capitalism
The Dalai Lama has criticised capitalism calling himself a Marxist, on a four day trip to New York
The Tibetan spiritual leader said Marxism has “moral ethics, whereas capitalism is only how to make profits.”
However, he credited China’s embrace of market economics for breaking communism’s grip over the world’s most populous country and forcing the ruling Communist Party to “represent all sorts of classes.”
Capitalism “brought a lot of positive to China. Millions of people’s living standards improved,” he said.
The Dalai Lama, 74, giving a series of lectures at the Radio City Music Hall in central Manhattan until Sunday, struck a strikingly optimistic note in general, saying that he believed the world is becoming a kinder, more unified place.
Anti-war movements, huge international aid efforts after Haiti’s earthquake this year, and the election of Barack Obama as the first black president in a once deeply racist United States are “clear signs of human beings being more mature,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rape Suspect Deported 4 Times
EDMONDS, Wash. — The man accused of raping a woman behind an Edmonds grocery store has been deported at least four times in the past 15 years, reports KIRO Radio.
An officer responding to a woman’s cry for help Sunday night found 46-year-old Jose Madrigal on top of the woman and arrested him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists Create Synthetic Organism
Heralding a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions, researchers at the private J. Craig Venter Institute announced Thursday.
“We call it the first synthetic cell,” said genomics pioneer Craig Venter, who oversaw the project. “These are very much real cells.”
Created at a cost of $40 million, this experimental one-cell organism, which can reproduce, opens the way to the manipulation of life on a previously unattainable scale, several researchers and ethics experts said. Scientists have been altering DNA piecemeal for a generation, producing a menagerie of genetically engineered plants and animals. But the ability to craft an entire organism offers a new power over life, they said.
The development, documented in the peer-reviewed journal Science, may stir anew nagging questions of ethics, law and public safety about artificial life that biomedical experts have been debating for more than a decade.
“This is literally a turning point in the relationship between man and nature,” said molecular biologist Richard Ebright at Rutgers University, who wasn’t involved in the project. “For the first time, someone has generated an entire artificial cell with predetermined properties.”
David Magnus, director of the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, said, “It has the potential to transform genetic engineering. The research is going to explode.”
Leery of previous moral and ethical debates about whether it is right to manipulate life forms—which arose with the advent of cloning, stem-cell technology and genetic engineering—some researchers chose neutral terms to describe the experimental cell. Some played down the development.
“I don’t think it represents the creation of an artificial life form,” said biomedical engineer James Collins at Boston University. “I view this as an organism with a synthetic genome, not as a synthetic organism. It is tough to draw where the line is.”
The new cell, a bacterium, was conceived solely as a demonstration project. But several biologists said they believed that the laboratory technique used to birth it would soon be applied to other strains of bacteria with commercial potential.
“I think this quickly will be applied to all the most important industrial bacteria,” said biologist Christopher Voigt at the University of California, San Francisco, who is developing microbes that help make gasoline.
Several companies are already seeking to take advantage of the new field, called synthetic biology, which combines chemistry, computer science, molecular biology, genetics and cell biology to breed industrial life forms that can secrete fuels, vaccines or other commercial products.
Synthetic Genomics Inc., a company founded by Dr. Venter, provided $30 million to fund the experiments and owns the intellectual-property rights to the cell-creation techniques. The company has a $600 million contract with Exxon Mobil Corp. to design algae that can capture carbon dioxide and make fuel.
At least three other companies—Amyris Biotechnologies in Emeryville, Calif.; LS9 Inc. in San Francisco; and Joule Unlimited in Cambridge, Mass.—are working on synthetic cells to produce renewable fuels. [emphasis added]
Although patents on single genes now face legal challenges, Dr. Venter said he intends to patent his experimental cells. “They are pretty clearly human inventions,” he said.
Before making their work public, the researchers said, they briefed White House officials, members of Congress and officials from several government agencies. Within minutes of Thursday’s announcement, the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced it would hold a public hearing on the new technology next week.
Environmental groups also reacted quickly. Friends of the Earth issued a statement asking the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration “to fully regulate all synthetic biology experiments and products,” while ETC Group, a group based in Canada, called for a global moratorium on synthetic biology.
There was no immediate reaction from Roman Catholic and Protestant groups that have questioned such developments in the past. There was some support. “It is very much within divine mandate that we do these things,” said theologian Nancey Murphy, who studies Christianity and science at the Fuller Theological Seminary, a multidenominational Christian seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
The announcement Thursday was the culmination of a project Dr. Venter and his colleagues have pursued since 1995. In a series of peer-reviewed papers, the group has published the interim technical steps. So far, that research has withstood scrutiny.
The latest research was reviewed by a panel of independent scientists, but no one has duplicated the team’s experiment. Other researchers working on different approaches in the field found the report credible and said it combined a series of prior advances.
“They are pulling all the pieces together,” said Drew Endy, a biologist at Stanford University who is president of the BioBricks Foundation, a nonprofit consortium organized by researchers from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California to make the DNA tools of synthetic biology freely available.
To make the synthetic cell, a team of 25 researchers at labs in Rockville, Md., and San Diego, led by bioengineer Daniel Gibson and Mr. Venter, essentially turned computer code into a new life form. They started with a species of bacteria called Mycoplasma capricolum and, by replacing its genome with one they wrote themselves, turned it into a customized variant of a second existing species, called Mycoplasma mycoides, they reported.
To begin, they wrote out the creature’s entire genetic code as a digital computer file, documenting more than one million base pairs of DNA in a biochemical alphabet of adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. They edited that file, adding new code, and then sent that electronic data to a DNA sequencing company called Blue Heron Bio in Bothell, Wash., where it was transformed into hundreds of small pieces of chemical DNA, they reported.
To assemble the strips of DNA, the researchers said they took advantage of the natural capacities of yeast and other bacteria to meld genes and chromosomes in order to stitch those short sequences into ever-longer fragments until they had assembled the complete genome, as the entire set of an organism’s genetic instructions is called.
They transplanted that master set of genes into an emptied cell, where it converted the cell into a different species.
“We make a genome from four bottles of chemicals; we put that synthetic genome into a cell; that synthetic genome takes over the cell,” said Dr. Gibson. “The cell is entirely controlled by that new genome.”
The scientists didn’t give the new organism its own species name, but they did give its synthetic genome an official version number, Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0.
To set this novel bacterium—and all its descendants—apart from any natural creation, Dr. Venter and his colleagues wrote their names into its chemical DNA code, along with three apt quotations from James Joyce and others. These genetic watermarks will, eventually, allow the researchers to assert ownership of the cells. “You have to have a way of tracking it,” said Stanford ethicist Mildred Cho, who has studied the issues posed by the creation of such organisms.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Probes Ft. Hood-Linked Imam’s Escape
Lieberman panel seeks info on Awlaki’s ‘02 catch-n-release
Stonewalled by the Justice Department in its efforts to get to the bottom of intelligence lapses that led to the Fort Hood massacre, the Senate Homeland Security Committee has broadened its probe to look into why Justice a year after 9/11 withdrew an arrest warrant for the radical American-born imam who corresponded with the Fort Hood terrorist.
WND has learned that the chief counsel for the Senate panel, led by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., has requested an interview with a federal agent who shortly after the 9/11 attacks worked with the Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego investigating Anwar al-Awlaki’s ties there to two of the 9/11 hijackers.
The agent says prosecutors got cold feet and withdrew a felony arrest warrant for Awlaki even after a federal magistrate judge signed it. He and other investigators say his arrest and interrogation at the time may have stopped him from recruiting and radicalizing dozens of other terrorists, including the Fort Hood shooter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
WWII Vet Ordered to Remove American Flag From Outside New Hampshire Home
A Navy veteran, who was banned from displaying the American flag in front of his home, is forging a battle against his housing complex . . . and winning.
Joe LeVangie, 88, is a World War II veteran who didn’t think twice about flying an American flag outside his New Hampshire home.
At least until last week, when the Hillsborough housing complex where he lives told LeVangie and his neighbors that flying the flag was forbidden.
EJL Management, which runs the Maple Leaf complex, issued a notice to residents ordering them to remove all flags from the front of their homes immediately, citing the complex’s ban on outdoor decorations.
“The maintenance man took the bracket off the house so I couldn’t hang it up anymore,” LeVangie told FoxNews.com.
LeVangie, a Navy veteran, had been flying the American flag outside the home for nine years to honor “troops serving overseas and those who never came back.”
Now, EJL seems to be doing an about-face. LeVangie thought a flag should be an exception to the outdoor banner rule — and he and other residents, with the help of various community groups, are close to victory. A police association said the management company is committing to allowing the flags, based on an agreement with the association to replace those that have deteriorated.
LeVangie expressed confusion at why the management company allowed residents to display the American flag for so long if it was a true violation.
“It’s been in the contract, I guess, but they didn’t enforce it to much, cause I had mine up off and on for nine years,” he said.
Under the preliminary agreement with EJL, the police association volunteered to cover the cost of replacing any flag that could not be replaced by its owner.
“An agreement was reached with the Police Association and the American Legion in the town of Hillsborough that if any of the flags became weathered or torn that they would basically look after the flags for the retirement community,” Hillsborough Dispatcher Roarick told FoxNews.com.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
British Family Killed in Pakistan Over Arranged Marriage
Three members of a British family visiting Pakistan were shot dead by their relatives yesterday in a dispute over an arranged marriage between cousins.
Mohammad Yousaf, 51, his wife Parviaz, 49, and their daughter, Tania, 23, from Nelson, in Lancashire, were killed in the eastern city of Gujrat when tensions over the breakdown of the marriage between their eldest son and their niece ended in tragedy.
Four gunmen, believed to include Mr Yousaf’s nephews who were angry that their sister was being divorced, opened fire at the end of a funeral that they were attending.
The family had been in the country to celebrate the wedding of another of their three sons. The estranged wife of the family’s eldest son is believed to be living in Britain, according to family members.
Two of the gunmen were arrested in connection with the attack, which also left a female member of the extended family dead.
The Yousafs had lived in Nelson for 30 years with their six children and were expected to return to Britain on Monday. Up to 70 members of the family flew to Pakistan after receiving news of the deaths last night.
The funerals of the couple and their daughter took place in Pakistan today.
Andrew Stephenson, the family’s local MP, made a statement on behalf of their relatives today.
“The family are devastated by what has happened and ask for people to respect their mourning whilst they come to terms with these tragic events,” he said.
“I have been in context with Alistair Burt MP, the Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to ensure everything is being done to assist the family at this difficult time. We are also working closely with the Pakistani High Commission in London.”
Mohammed Iqbal, a friend of the family, said: “They were leaving the graveyard of someone that had passed away. It was a family dispute that obviously went horribly wrong.”
Eileen Ansar, who is married to Mr Yousaf’s cousin, Mohammed, said: “There have been tensions since the son and girl separated but the father treated her like his own daughter. Most of the family went out to Pakistan for the wedding of his eldest son, Asad, but [Mr Yousaf] and his wife stayed on for a few days after. They had gone to a cemetery to pay their respects to those who had passed away since they had last visited the country. Four men approached them and started firing.
“It is an absolute tragedy. You could not meet nicer people, they never did harm to anyone. It has destroyed the family.” They were a credit to the local community. They were well respected and well liked.”
The daughter, Tania, was a married mother of two who worked at Pendle Borough Council. “She was a bundle of fun. Her friends are ringing up and everyone is hurting,” Mrs Ansar told The Times.
A spokesman at the British High Commission in Islamabad said that the police were investigating the case.
Lancashire Police said that officers were providing support to family members in Nelson and were working with Pakistani authorities. Tributes were paid to Tania on the social networking site Facebook after her friends set up a page in her memory.
One of them, Steph Roden, wrote: “It’s awful that could happen to anyone. She was so innocent and quiet at school. God bless to all the family xxx.” Another, Lisa Dickens, said: “My thoughts are with the family at this awful time!!”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Holds First Meeting on Joint Economic Governance
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — EU finance ministers and treasury officials are gathering in Brussels on Friday (21 May) to debate tighter co-ordination of fiscal policy in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.
EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy is to chair the meeting of the special “task force,” which will present a preliminary report in time for the regular EU summit on 17 June in a paper that may suggest changes to the EU treaty.
Germany on Thursday floated a nine-point plan for the reforms, with finance minister Wolfgang Schauble saying in the preamble to his text that Berlin wants to go beyond previous ideas tabled by the European Commission on 12 May.
“In our view, the vast majority of these suggestions go along the right lines. However, we believe that some of the measures need to be taken further,” he said.
The German plan envisages a new body to “rigorously” examine national stability programmes, a job previously done by the European Commission. “The examiner could be the European Central Bank, or a specially appointed group of independent research institutions,” Berlin said.
It added that national parliaments should play a key role in fiscal planning, after Austria, Sweden and the UK objected to the commission’s 12 May proposal that EU governments should peer-review budgets before MPs get their say.
Countries which flout EU stability rules should “in extreme cases” lose EU structural fund payments and “have their voting rights in the Council suspended for at least one year” — a measure last imposed against Austria in 2000 when it elected an out-and-out far-right politician, the late Jorg Haider, to government.
Mr Schauble’s plan does not speak of Germany’s previous ideas on creating a European Monetary Fund to save countries at risk of bankruptcy or of measures for insolvent states to exit the eurozone. It says instead that “a procedure for orderly state insolvencies will have to be an integral part of any fixed crisis-resolution framework for the euro area.”
“It is a very difficult question how to define insolvency for a member state of the eurozone. So far, I haven’t seen any convincing model, but we need one. That is why we put it on the agenda of the task force,” Mr Schauble told reporters in Berlin on Thursday.
In a sign that France is happy for Germany to take the lead, President Nicolas Sarkozy buried the hatchet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the run-up to the task force debate.
“There could not be a disagreement between Germany and France on subjects of such importance,” he told press after a meeting with the new British leader, David Cameron, in Paris on Thursday. “I myself proposed a suspension of voting rights [for EU fiscal miscreants],” he added, recounting a phone conversation with Ms Merkel.
His remarks came after French finance minister Christine Lagarde had earlier attacked Germany over its surprise decision to ban “naked short-selling” — a form of speculative trading.
The EU last week already agreed to set up an “ad hoc” €750 billion bail-out fund for embattled eurozone economies covering the next three years, with the Bundestag set to vote on Germany’s contribution to the mechanism on Friday. The task force measures are designed to put EU finances on a more stable footing for the long-term, amid fears that major economies such as Spain and Italy are also heading for a Greek-type catastrophe.
The financial markets will be closely following what comes out of Friday’s discussion, with Mr Van Rompuy set to announce results at 5pm Brussels time.
The euro on Thursday continued to trade near a four year low against the dollar, as markets digested Ms Merkel’s comment on Wednesday that the single currency is facing an “existential crisis.”
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
Former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, Denies That Anti-Semitism is on the Rise
Frankfurter Rundschau 20.05.2010
In an interview with Christian Thomas, Avi Primor, the former Israeli ambassador to Germany, talks about the Call For Reason initiative which he launched with a number of European intellectuals, about European forces on the Westbank, and anti-Semitism, which he says is not growing per se, but is growing more complicated. “As I see it, anti-Semitism is not only not increasing, it is actually subsiding. On the one hand, there is a high level of sensitivity to such developments. On the other, there is much criticism of Israel and it is here, I believe, now that anti-Semitism is no longer socially unacceptable, that anti-Semites hide behind supposedly objective arguments. A third aspect is the anti-Semitism among members of the Muslim community in Europe, less so in Germany than in Belgium and France.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Journalists to Appeal Against Reporting ‘Gag’
Govt defends ‘wiretap bill’
(ANSA) — Rome, May 21 — The Italian journalists’ guild said Friday it would appeal “to all institutions including the European Commission” against a planned government restriction of crime reporting and especially the publication of wiretaps.
The move came a day after a similar move by satellite TV company Sky Italia, which said it would “appeal to all competent authorities, including the European Court of Human Rights”, against what it called “a grave attack on freedom of information”.
A government bill moving through the Senate would ban reporting cases before they reach the trial stage, including judicial papers which are available to both sides and thus currently open to publication.
It is contained in a wider bill aimed at reducing the use of wiretaps by the police and their publication in the press.
Critics of the bill say it is against the public interest for police and the press to be hampered by what they call a ‘gag’ order.
They claim the fight against the Mafia and other serious crimes would be hampered. Details of cases such as a current widening public works graft scandal which led to the resignation of Industry Minister Claudio Scajola, for instance, would never have become public, they argue.
On Friday the National Journalists’ Guild (ONG) made it clear it was still deeply unhappy with the bill despite a Senate vote to halve new fines and jail time a journalist would have to serve for “arbitrary” reporting on probes before they go to trial.
“It is absurd to think that a month in jail is a picnic,” a statement from the ONG said. “It is incredible to think that fines of five-ten million euros aren’t much”.
“Those who speak of jail fines so lightly do not realise that a month behind bars isn’t much for criminals but is a lot for decent, honest persons”.
“Sums of that size can only appear negligible for people who earn thousands and thousands of euros a month,” the ONG said, referring to MPs and ministers.
The ONG went on to say there were many journalist who earn the equivalent of just two euros per article.
It said they would have to write 5,000 articles “to put together the fine they would have to pay to honour their duty of informing citizens”.
The ONG statement came amid other protests against the so-called gag on pretrial reporting.
A protest against the bill will take place Friday in front of parliament, organised by a grass-roots protest movement against Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government. Italian publishing firms have also signed a petition against the bill, while there have been thousands of signatures on Facebook against the measure.
The government says the bill is aimed at stopping the publication of wiretaps in which people who are not involved in probes have seen their privacy violated.
It also says the measures would bring Italy into line with other European countries such as Britain where pretrial reporting is more strictly regulated.
FRATTINI DEFENDS BILL.
On Friday Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said “too many Italians have suffered the barbaric appearance of details of their private lives on the front pages of newspapers”.
“This barbaric practice has to be stopped”. The opposition says a much less drastic bill could be used to stop the invasion of privacy of people not implicated in probes, arguing that the current measure is against freedom of information.
However, the largest opposition force, the Democratic Party (PD), supports the idea of fining publishing firms if titillating wiretaps of no relevance to probes are published. But the opposition claims that the fight against mafia and corruption would be hindered by the law.
On Friday opposition party Italy of Values claimed “this disgraceful bill would let mafiosi, paedophiles and rapists off the hook”.
But Frattini countered: “Nothing needed to fight the Mafia will be touched”.
However, several legal experts claim the bill would make it too hard to obtain authorisation for wiretaps by requiring “clear evidence” of wrongdoing instead of just well-grounded suspicion.
The PD has argued that the standard of evidence needed to get a wiretap is almost identical to that which would warrant a trial. On Thursday a top anti-Mafia prosecutor, Antonio Ingroia, said “I’m only alive thanks to wiretaps” and pointed out that the last two heads of Cosa Nostra, Toto’ Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, had been captured thanks to wiretaps that would allegedly now be too hard to get. The Italian journalists’ union, FNSI, on Friday announced a public debate at FNSI’s Rome headquarters on Monday in which the editors of Italy’s major dailies will take part.
The debate is part of a FNSI campaign called News Comes First, Let’s Stop The Gag Law.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Police Seize Yacht of Disgraced F1 Boss
La Spezia, 21 May (AKI) — Italian police have seized the yacht of disgraced businessman Flavio Briatore after following the 60-metre vessel until it anchored near the port of La Spezia near the northern city of Genoa. Elisabetta Gregoraci,Briatore’s former television starlet wife and two-month-old son Falcon Nathan were on the boat when police boarded it on Thursday.
Local prosecutor Walter Cotugno ordered the boat to be impounded as part of an investigation over its questionable registration as a charter yacht.
Investigators suspect that Briatore has falsely registered the yacht as a charter vessel to get around laws requiring owners of non-European Union vessels to pay sales tax when anchoring in a European harbour.
Briatore claims that the yacht is available for hire at 275,000 euros a week and as result is registered outside the European Union, in the Cayman Islands, entitling him to a favourable tax break, according to Genoa prosecutors.
But Cotugno is investigating claims that there is no evidence of it being chartered and that the yacht is used primarily by Briatore and his wife.
Briatore last year was forced to resign from the ING Renault Formula One team after being guilty of race fixing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when he ordered his driver to crash the his car.
In the incident dubbed “Crash Gate,” Briatore was given a life-long ban from participating in Formula One races. That ban was later amended and he is now banned until 2013.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sri Lankan Arrested for Vandalising Church Statue
Milan, 21 May (AKI) — Police arrested a Sri Lankan illegal immigrant in a suburb of the northern Italian city of Milan after he allegedly vandalised a statue of the Madonna and child in one of the city’s churches, causing an estimated 20,000 euros of damage.
The priest at the Santisssima Trinita’ church called police after the man, who had been reportedly been drinking, allegedly seized a candlestick and repeatedly smashed the statue.
The unnamed 51-year-old immigrant, who has no fixed abode or permit of stay in Italy, was detained in Milan’s San Vittore jail.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Polish-Jewish Relations Are Relaxing
Neue Zürcher Zeitung 18.05.2010
Marta Kijowska sees signs that Polish-Jewish relations are relaxing. “Younger Poles have no experience of living with Jews, but in the twenty years since 1989 and the end of censorship and travel restrictions, they have learned a lot. And as a result, they are increasingly lamenting the absence of the Jews. The most spectacular example of this is a recent project by the artist Rafal Betlejewski. Since the end of January he has been writing the provocative words: “I long for you, Jew” on walls and building facades throughout Poland.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Glass: Brother of First Cloned Fighting Bull, Stillborn
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 21 — Got, the first cloned fighting bull, will not have a brother. Glass, the second clone obtained from the genetic extraction of Vasito, the champion of the arenas, was stillborn. The announcement was made today by Javier Azpeleta, owner of the Melgar de Yuso farm near Palencia (Castilla), where Got was born on Tuesday. “We knew that it could happen, and tragically, that is how it turned out. The calf was stillborn yesterday afternoon after a long birth”. The bullock’s “rental mother” was assisted by a group of researchers led by Vicente Torrent, from the Valencia Veterinary Research Foundation, which carried out the cloning. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: First Cloned Fighting Bull Born
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 18 — The first fighting bull cloned in Spain was born today at a ranch in Fromisa in the province of Palencia in Castile and Leon. The bull’s name is ‘Got’, it weighs 25 kilograms and it is the first cloned ‘toro bravo’ ever to be born in Spain, according to researchers at the Valencian Foundation of Veterinary Research, which performed the experiment and announced the results. Got is the result of cloning using the DNA of a ‘Vasito’ bull, considered to be the top breed for reproductive purposes at the prestigious livestock ranch in Cadice (Andalusia), while the mother is a Friesian cow from Melgar de Yuso (Palencia). This is not the only cloned bull that will be born, since tomorrow Got’s cloned ‘brother’, which will be named ‘Glass’, is expected to be born. The result were obtained by a group of researchers led by Vicente Torrent, the president of the Valencian Foundation of Veterinary Research, and Rita Cervera, a researcher from the Principe Felipe research centre of Valencia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The “March of Life” Of Hungary
Magyar Narancs 06.05.2010 (Hungary)
For many years now the “March of Life” has taken place in Budapest to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. It runs parallel to the memorial ceremony in front of the “House of Terror” museum, which remembers victims of the fascist and communist regimes. To make the march “more appealing” to the attendees of the museum ceremony, the Holocaust march is focussing on the life of the nun Margit Schlachta, who saved the lives of Jews and later fell victim to communism. The historian Attila Novak rejects this form of political deference: “Both the left’s stance against far-right anti-Semitic movements and the right-wing remembrance of conservative anti-communists in Hungarian history who saved Jewish lives are absolutely justified, but they should steer clear of direct internal political references. Political parties should take a step back and let the civic initiatives play a larger role in these ceremonies which are organised top down. Only then can the lessons of the Holocaust become tangible to society as a whole, and a key component in society’s consciousness.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish-Italian Firms to Construct Warsaw Subway
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MAY 21 — Luigi Realini, the representative of Italian Astaldi company, said their company would start constructing a subway in the Polish capital of Warsaw with Gulermak Insaat, a Turkish construction company with which Astaldi was a partner. “The budget of the project is worth 850 million Euro,” Realini said during a meeting in Istanbul, as reported by Anatolia news agency. Realini said their company was also following highway projects in Serbia and Oman together with Turkish partners including Makyol and Ozkar Insaat. The Astaldi company has constructed the Anadolu Motorway, and the Bolu Tunnel on this motorway. “We have also undertaken a project worth 700 million Euro in the Asian part of Istanbul, a 16-station railway project,” Realini said. Realini said Astaldi was also building Halic (Golden Horn) Bridge in Istanbul, and started to construct a highway in the western province of Izmir with five Turkish firms last year. One of the most important construction companies in the world and a leader general contracting and project finance initiatives in Italy, the Astaldi Group is listed on the Stock Exchange since July 2002, has over 11,000 employees at over 100 sites in 21 countries including Italy, Algeria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Venezuela. Astaldi Group has been active in Turkey for over 20 years in the water and transport sectors. Its most important work is undoubtedly the Anadolu (Anatolian) motorway (1987-2007), a project characterised by considerable design and performance difficulties which reflect the Group abilities in this sector. The hydroelectric plants built by Astaldi or its subsidiaries in Turkey are also of great importance such as the Karakaya (1976-1987), Ceyhan (1987-1991) and Berke dams (1992-1996). Specifically, the Karakaya project stands out for its high technical values and benefits generated at an economic and social level which won it the Ingersoll-Rand Italy Award in 1989.Activities in Turkey are still going ahead thanks to recent awarding of the contract to build the Istanbul underground, one of the most important projects planned for development of the Turkish city, as well as the Halic Bridge, also known as the Bridge over the Golden Horn. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Girl, 15, Tells of Terror After Being Stalked Through Forest by a Big Cat She Claims Was a Panther
A 15-year-old schoolgirl has told of her terror after being chased by a big cat she claims was a ‘black panther’ in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
Kim Howells was enjoying a walk through the woodland on her 15th birthday with her cousin Sophie Gwynne, eight, when they came across the animal lying beneath a tree.
Ms Howells, who described the ‘panther’ as about the size of a Great Dane dog, with big eyes, paws and a long tail, said the creature began following them after they spotted it at around 8.30pm on Monday night.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Johann Hari: Islamists, Their Victims, And Hypocrisy
On the day we allowed two al-Qa’ida members to remain, two other young people waited for the police to see them, and hand them over to men who will kill them
Should Britain be giving refuge to Islamic fundamentalists, while sending the men and women who have been brave enough to challenge Islamism back to their deaths? This sounds at first like a straw man question. Who would ever suggest such a policy? Who would defend it? But the facts suggest we are doing it, every day.
On the day when the Special Immigration Appeals Commission decided to allow two Pakistani men they say are al-Qa’ida members to remain in London this week, two other young people were waiting for the British police to seize them and hand them over to men who will kill them. Their “crime” is to resist Islamic fundamentalism, in the name of human rights…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pakistani Who ‘Killed Husband’ In 20ft Kashmir Fireball Gets £1,300-a-Month Benefits in Britain
A Pakistani woman living on benefits in the UK despite facing a murder charge in her home country was yesterday facing demands from MPs to return there to stand trial.
Bushra Ferozdin Butt, 35, spent ten months in custody after she was accused of pouring kerosene over her husband Amjad Hussain, 36, and setting him alight.
She was eventually bailed by a judge and travelled to Luton, where she had lived with Mr Hussain for nine years.
Although not a British citizen, she had previously been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK, which entitles her to £330.70 a week in council tax and housing benefit — equivalent to an annual salary of £22,000 before tax and National Insurance.
She arrived back in the UK in September last year, which means she has already received £11,243.
Butt, who denies murder and insists her husband’s clothes accidentally caught fire, claims she was given permission to leave Pakistan.
However the lawyer representing her husband’s family said she fled to the UK and would forfeit her bail bond.
[…]
Prosecutors accuse Butt of severing her husband’s Achilles tendon before setting him on fire.
Witnesses, who saw him staggering out of his home engulfed in 20ft flames, claim she ‘giggled’ while telling her mother-in-law: ‘Don’t worry. He won’t die.’
Mr Hussain suffered 90 per cent burns and died in hospital 13 days later after telling police his wife — who has used the name Bushra Din since his death — had attacked him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: AWO’s Workshop on Protecting Women Against Violence
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, MAY 21 — The Cairo-based Arab Women Organization (AWO) will host on Monday a workshop to discuss the first draft of a regional strategy on the protection of women against violence. The workshop comes in light of a preliminary one held in Tunisia in December to prepare for the strategy. AWO Director-General Waduda Badran said a circle of experts representing AWO member states will participate in the two-day workshop. The AWO is an intergovernmental organization established under the umbrella of the Arab League. It emerged from the Cairo Declaration issued by the First Arab Women Summit which convened in Cairo in November 2000 in response to a call by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt’s First Lady, and which was co-organized by the National Council for Women in Egypt, the Hariri Foundation in Lebanon and the Arab League.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Islands at Risk Due to Climate Change
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MAY 19 — The shores of Tunisia and, especially, its islands, are exposed to risks from global warming, such as erosion, growing saline levels and submersion. The island of Djerba is at risk of erosion, above all as regards its reaches of sandy coastline, where big hotel complexes have been built. The archipelago of the island of Kerkennah, instead, runs the risk of being submerged; a 50 centimetre rise in the sea-level would contribute to a loss of 4,500 hectares, equivalent to 30% of its overall land surface (which is 15,200 hectares). The same problems are being faced by the island of Kuriat and Kneiss and of El Blessila which, with a surface of under 400 hectares, would be totally submerged. These issues were debated in Tunis during a conference on the vulnerability of the Great Tunis in view of climate change and natural disasters, organised by the International Centre for Environmental Technologies. The studies which were presented, among other items, underlined that cyclogenesis in the Mediterranean basin has seasonal variations: storms reach their maximum intensity toward the end of the afternoon and abate in the morning: those that arise or cross the basin are more numerous in summer than in winter, concern North Africa and, especially, Tunisia in summer. In order to deal with the related risks, Tunisia has, for some time now, been carrying out prevention work aimed at guaranteeing a durable development of its eco-systems and has proceeded to carry out a study which has enabled the realisation, with all interested parties, of an action plan and the strengthening of adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of coastal eco-systems to climate change. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Army: 2 Militiamen Infiltrated to Israel Killed
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, MAY 21 — Two Palestinian militiamen, who infiltrated Israel from Gaza, have been killed by the army on the Kissufim kibbutz. The news was announced by military radio. Searches are continuing in the area, to check for further infiltrations or devices. Israeli forces registered no losses, the broadcaster said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Three Israeli Raids, No Casualties
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, MAY 21 -Israeli armed forces have carried out three night air raids on the Gaza Strip, however without causing any casualties, say witness accounts and Palestinian security sources. The raids, referred the sources, struck objectives located in uninhabited areas to the north and south of the Strip, a territory controller by Hamas since 2007. An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed the raids: “Our planes attacked terrorist installations to the north of the region and two tunnels situated in the south, which were aimed at launching attacks against Israel”. The Israeli spokesperson also said that a rocket launched from the north of the Gaza Strip fell without causing victims in the Ashkelon area. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
India: Christian Schools Are Patriotic and Models of Integration, Says Cardinal Gracias
The cardinal rejects criticism from a splinter group in Mumbai municipality, members of the nationalist Sena-BJP alliance. Nationalists accuse the schools of not to singing the anthem and of preventing the celebration of Hindu festivals and customs. Archbishop of Mumbai: we nurture “diversity and pluralism” to build the nation.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — “All our Christian institutions are patriotic and no one can lecture us about patriotism. All our Christian Schools inculcate the values of patriotism and religious harmony. […] and through the apostolate of education, we are serving the country”. Thus responds Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Episcopal conference, to the municipality’s criticisms of the methods of teaching in Christian schools of the metropolis led by an alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena.
The “saffron” alliance formed by the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — both branded Hindu nationalist — who lead the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is targeting Christian schools in Mumbai. The Archdiocese Department for Education (ADE) groups together 150 schools founded and led by missionaries, some of which are subsidized by the state. In an attempt to promote “Hindu ideology,” the Sena-BJP alliance has launched a campaign against Christian institutions which benefit from public funds, because they “preach the Christian faith and prevent some typical practices of Hinduism”. These would include a ban on wearing decorations on the forehead, bracelets and temporary tattoos (mehendi), the failure to celebrate some Hindu festivals and the obligation to sing the national anthem.
Interviewed by AsiaNews, Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai, rejects the allegations “coming from a handful of officials in the municipality” and underlined “the values of patriotism and religious harmony” that are inculcated in the students of the Christian Schools. “Our Christian institutions — says the president of the Episcopal conference — are run according to the Indian Constitution and have a Christian ethos and we absolutely cannot water down the fact that we are a Christian institution”. Through our Apostolate of Education, resumed the cardinal, we are “serving the country. It “is inclusive, respectful of all religions and importantly we have a code which respects all religions and students of every religious belief. All are schools are Models of Integration”.
Cardinal Gracias points out that some groups are fed by fundamentalist ideologies of “creating a climate which” threatens peace and peaceful coexistence. “The cardinal also confirmed that Christian schools are committed to promoting “diversity and pluralism” as elements that can enrich India, to contribute to “nation building” and “the welfare of society”. Among the many activities, Cardinal Gracias recalls the seminars organized in 2009, “Year of peace and harmony”, during which he revealed measures to “combat extremism and fundamentalism”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: British Couple and Daughter Shot Dead in ‘Arranged Marriage Dispute’ In Pakistan Graveyard
A British couple and their daughter were gunned down in a graveyard in Pakistan after their son’s arranged marriage with a local woman went wrong and sparked a ‘family dispute’.
Mohammad and Pervaze Yousaf and their 22-year-old daughter Tania, from Nelson in Lancashire, were visiting the country for a wedding when they were attacked, according to police.
An unidentified woman also died in the shooting.
They were killed in a village in the district of Gujrat in north-east Pakistan in the early hours of yesterday after a row over the relationship between a son of Mr and Mrs Yousaf and a local woman, according to a family friend.
Two of the alleged gunmen were arrested and police were hunting another two suspects in connection with the attack.
The gunmen were believed to be nephews of the murdered couple.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Karachi at the Centre of Ethnic Violence
Karachi, 21 May (AKI) — By Syed Saleem Shahzad — Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city, its industrial hub and its financial lifeline. A major port, it is also where most multinational corporations and banks have their headquarters, home to Pakistan’s central bank and the country’s largest stock exchange.
Karachi is also crucial in the US-led war in Afghanistan since 85 percent of NATO supplies are shipped to Karachi ports and tranported overland to the landlocked country in the grip of a Taliban resurgence.
But the city has been under siege for the past four days by several militant groups, backed by key political parties, both in the central as well as in the provincial government.
Pakistani security forces detained more than 200 suspects after at least 37 people were killed in politically and ethnically related killings this week. Many people were injured and businesses were closed as cars were set alight in street clashes.
Pervaiz Mehmood, a former city mayor in Karachi told Adnkronos International (AKI) he was concerned about the outlook for the future of the city.
“The signs of the conflicts surfaced last week when the city walls were marked by graffiti in the Urdu language saying ‘the city belongs to us’ by a particular group of people,” he said.
“It is very much evident that a fight is about to begin for ownership of the city.”
The graffiti made people uneasy but it was a political incident on Tuesday that unleashed the violence, much of which pitched members of the Pushtun Awami National Party and the Muttahida Quami Movement against each other.
“A few motorbike riders came and they targeted a worker of the Awami National Party at his shop in the district east of the city,” Shahi Syed, president of ANP in Sindh, told AKI.
Immediately after the killing riots erupted in the city and ANP workers responded to attacks in their neighbourhoods and established picketlines to block people from entering.
In the Rabia City complex, buildings were completely controlled by militants armed with heavy and light weapons and they continue to roam the streets looking for any non-Pushtun to revenge the killing of their party worker.
While the Urdu-speaking population of Karachi has its own areas and controls the cosmopolitan centre of the city, the Pushtun population lives in slums and many people work as labourers in areas which belong to ethnic Urdus.
“Out of 37 people killed in the four days, 24 were Pusthuns,” Karachi’s chief police officer Waseem Ahmad told AKI.
Both the ANP and the MQM, which represents Urdu speaking people, are secular and liberal political parties and openly pledge their commitment to support the US-led war against religious extremisim, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Waseem Ahmed said that the dead included at least one member of the MQM and four members of the ANP.
The MQM is supported by Karachi’s majority Urdu-speaking population whose ancestors migrated from India at the time of Indian partition in 1947. They mostly live in the central parts of the city.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Blow Up ‘Spies’ In Pakistan
Taliban militants strapped bombs to two men they accused of spying for the United States, blowing them up at a public execution, security officials said on Friday.
The Taliban frequently kidnap and kill tribesmen in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt shadowing the Afghan border, but traditionally slit their throats or shoot them. Locals said it was the first such killing with bombs.
The incident took place in the Degan area of North Waziristan, a district that has attracted increasing US attention as a nexus of al-Qaeda-linked and Taliban militants, following a failed bomb plot in New York.
“Masked Taliban strapped improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the bodies of two alleged spies and blew them up in public,” local police official Khalil Khan told AFP.
The Taliban threatened anyone “spying” for the United States with the same fate and called on locals to witness the public execution late on Thursday in an announcement made through a local mosque.
A local intelligence official confirmed the executions.
The Taliban recently captured the tribesmen and accused them of passing on information to the Americans, which led to US missile strikes around Inzarkas, the intelligence official said.
A barrage of US missile attacks in the area killed up to 24 militants this month, only days after US officials arrested Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad on charges of trying to plant a car bomb in New York’s Times Square.
Shahzad allegedly told interrogators that he went to Waziristan for bomb training and US officials would like Pakistan to start a major offensive in the district to stamp out militant havens.
Washington considers the Afghan-Pakistani border areas a global headquarters of al-Qaeda, where success in rooting out Islamist militants is vital if the US military is to reverse a nearly nine-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
How Chinese Censorship is Creeping Into the Heads of Western Journalists and Academics
The New York Times 18.05.2010 (USA)
Further articles: In the Book Review Emily Parker describes how Chinese censorship is creeping into the heads of western journalists and academics: “The idea that scholars ‘collectively are compromising our academic ideals in order to gain access to China offends people intellectually, but we all do it,’ a professor at a prestigious American university told me in a telephone interview.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea Threatens ‘All-Out War’ As Torpedo Row Grows
North Korea threatened ‘all-out war’ if Seoul retaliates for the torpedo attack which sank a South Korean warship.
Pyongyang made the threat yesterday as it dismissed a report by an international team of specialists that found a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine sank the 1,200-tonne Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors.
Investigators said they had discovered part of the torpedo used in the attack on the sea floor and it carried lettering that matched a North Korean design.
The sinking is one of South Korea’s worst naval tragedies and the country’s outraged president Lee Myung Bak promised ‘stern action’ against the North, calling an emergency meeting of his security staff for today.
The North responded by saying any provocative acts would be met with a ‘merciless strong physical blow’.
As China urged both countries to show restraint, the White House warned the sinking was an ‘act of aggression’ that challenged peace.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea, South Korea, Israel and Iran
Caroline Glick
On Thursday the South Korean government did something important. It told the truth about North Korean aggression. On March 26, a North Korean submarine attacked a South Korean naval corvette with a torpedo. Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the unprovoked attack. And on May 20, the South Koreans ended all ambiguity about the nature of the attack and placed the blame where it belongs.
In its write-up of South Korea’s statement, The Los Angeles Times assessed that South Korea’s acknowledgment of North Korea’s murderous aggression will return the region to the days of the Cold War. The paper quoted Prof. Kim Keun-sik from Kyungnam University outside Seoul claiming that in the period to come, North Korea and China will face off against South Korea and the US.
Sadly for South Korea, while China can be depended upon to block the passage of effective sanctions against North Korea in the UN Security Council and to take any other necessary action to protect the North Korean regime, South Korea cannot expect the US to take action to rein in North Korean aggression. For while the South Korean government acknowledged reality on Thursday morning, the US under President Barack Obama remains in reality denial mode…
| [Return to headlines] |
Foreign ‘Terrorists’ Breach U.S. Border
Illegals coming from Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen
Almost nine years after terrorists murdered 2,751 people on Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. is still facing a major threat as hundreds of illegal aliens from countries known to support and sponsor terrorism sneak across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Thousands of illegal aliens apprehended along the 2,000 mile border stretching through California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas aren’t even from Mexico. The U.S. Border Patrol calls them “Other Than Mexicans,” or OTMs, and many are citizens of countries that are sponsors of terrorism.
A 2006 congressional report on border threats, titled “A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border” and prepared by the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, indicated that 1.2 million illegal aliens were apprehended in 2005 alone, and 165,000 of those were from countries other than Mexico. Approximately 650 were from “special interest countries,” or nations the Border Patrol defines as “designated by the intelligence community as countries that could export individuals that could bring harm to our country in the way of terrorism.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
LTC Allen West on Illegal Immigration
[via YouTube video posted by Channel1Images]
Congressional candidate LTC Allen West speaking about illegal immigration before a gathering in Jupiter Florida.
May 18th, 2010 — rough transcript by HRW:
We can no longer trust the people that we have sent to Washington DC because they have continued to let us down.
When you think about this one issue of illegal immigration, it’s very much like an octopus with many different tentacles that reach in the basic fabric of the United States of America, while we talk about how it affects our job situation.
Here, in the state of Florida, we have got an unemployment rate of 9.4%.. Why do we have that? Why are we allowing people to come across into our country and take jobs away from good Americans that want to get out there and work very hard?
We’ve got to change that around. We cannot allow them to come here and depress our wages so that Americans cannot get proper wages. It has an effect upon our economy. You just heard Mr. (?) talk about how your tax payer dollars are paying for people who are here illegally, breaking our laws.
And the last time I checked it out, the United States is a republic and that means we respect laws in this country . The number one law should be protecting American citizens and holding this thing called citizenship very near and dear to our hearts. One
of the things that caused the Roman Empire to collapse was the fact that they devalued being a citizen of the Republic of Rome. They just handed it out to any body. And then on top of that, they stopped paying attention to their border to the north. The next thing you know, they were conquered from within. We cannot allow that to happen here in the United States of America.
We’ve got to send a very clear message to the people in Washington DC. We don’t care that you want to change the voting electorate so that you can stay in charge. We don’t care that you want to kowtow to the corporations and the businessmen so that you can have cheap labor. This is about putting Americans first, not special interests, not Mexican special interests, but what is
proper by the Constitution of the United States of America and it’s citizens.
Everyone talks about health care and the effects of health care and the high costs of health care. There are hospitals and there are emergency rooms right here in our state that are going under because they cannot refuse care to people who are going there that are illegals. We’ve got to change that. And this is not about me being an uncompassionate person. I am very compassionate, but my compassion starts with people who are Americans. Because I believe in one thing. There are three types of people that should be here in this country: Americans, those people that want to be Americans and those people we invite here as our guests..
Other than that, you don’t deserve to be here.
This is without a doubt a premier National Security issue. The number one foreign language being learned by Hezbollah Islamic terrorists right now is Spanish. See they’re always telling you about if you go along to some of these base camps they use along our border, you’re finding Arabic translation into Spanish translated into English. They’re coming across our border. This time, regardless of what the president says, we are at war with a very violent enemy. That enemy is radical Islamic terrorism.
They are here in our country. There are 36 training camps. There’s one in northern of Florida. There’s two in my home state of Georgia. There’s even two right outside of Washington DC. And for those of you that spend your summer vacations in New York, upstate in New York there’s a place called Islamburg.
If we don’t get serious about securing our border, we’re going to loose this country. And what should we be doing?
The United States border patrol is being out manned, and out gunned on that border. Why don’t we take that border patrol and put it under the Dept. of Defense so that they can get the proper training, so that they can get the proper equipment…so that they’re not down there with a 9mm going up against the drug cartels who have AK47’s, RPG’s, heavy machine guns, mortars. . .AND NOW THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE BLACKHAWK HELICOPTERS because our Secretary of State said we’d give them over to the Mexican Army. I guarantee you, they are going to end up in the wrong hands.
See, our government wants to castigate us as the enemy. Our President went down and said that the problem is right here in the United States of America.
Well, you know, let’s face it. Wherever he goes, he’s going to apologise for this country. I can’t stand the guy.. I absolutely can’t stand him. It is not our fault what’s going on in Mexico. There’s drugs going on. And no. 90% of those weapons are not coming from the United States of America. They won’t even tell our DEA agents where those weapons are or the serial numbers.
You see, this is once again a ploy by this government to open up the amnesty — to close down our second amendment rights.
And never forget this, my fellow Americans: In 1930 there was a gentleman in Germany who took away private gun ownership, and you know what happened to that population. You must be well informed and well armed because this government that we have right now is a tyranical government, and it starts with this issue right here, with illegal immigration.
We cannot allow them to do what Ronald Reagan unfortunately did in 1986.. There cannot be another amnesty program. Two to three million in 1986 has now morphed into 12 to 15 million — if we even know. We do better tracking UPS packages than we do illegal immigrants in this country.
Now is the time, because we are standing on a precipice and in front of us is the abyss. I see a lot of young people here. What would history say about us, at this time, right now 2009? Did we take a stand? Will we allow this republic to go away?
And will we sit around and have to tell our children and grandchildren there once was a place where you could be free, where there was liberty, and there was justice for all? And will we capitalize on what you started Wednesday?
And now we take it to the next phase. Take it to Lexington and Concord. Now is the time to take action. Now is the time for us to rally and stand against this government and stand against the people that would take this country away. You cannot go away. You
cannot go into your homes. You cannot put down your signs. You cannot put down your flags. Do not put down your enthusiasm, your emotion, your love for this country.
Thomas Payne in 1775 talked about “these are times that try men’s souls, when the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot would fade away.” Do not fade away. Do not let the people on the far left, these people with the socialist agenda believe that you are going to fade away.
By 2010, through the ballot box, we’ve got to take this country back. Thank you.
But before 2010, you’ve got to keep the pressue up on them. Because let me tell you something: they’re scared of you. The reason why they are calling you names, cause they’re scared of you. One thing they teach in the military is how to smell fear. They are absolutely terrified right now. You have got to keep the pressure on them because they are going to crack. And come 2010, when I go up to Washington DC, I’m going to look Nancy Pelosi in the eye. I’m going to look Barney Frank in the eye and I’m going to tell them one thing, pack your crap and get out.
Stay vigilant. Stay focused. This is our country. Let me read you one quote as I close out- from a great American.
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us he shall be treated with exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace of origin. But this is predicated upon the person becoming in every facet, an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, that is the English language. We have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
— Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
God bless you all. God bless America. Stay in this fight.
Thank you so much.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican President Wants to Disarm Americans
Felipe Calderón Pressures U.S. Leadership to Re-Enact Unconstitutional Assault-Weapons Ban from House Floor
Mexican President Felipe Calderón called upon the United States Congress to re-enact the assault weapons ban in a bid to disarm the American people as they are integrated into the North American Union system. Further, he placed blame for fueling drug cartels and gang violence squarely on the United States and their supply of firearms.
Calderón made these outrageous and anti-American remarks from the floor of the U.S. Congress during an official visit, and also renewed attacks on the immigration legislation passed by Arizona.
President Obama joined in his cause, making the startling declaration that “We are not defined by our borders” during a press conference welcoming Calderón on the White House lawn. Such a statement with immigration AND “weapons” problems on the border? Whatever happened to the Robert Frost adage ‘Good fences make good neighbors’?
Alex Jones responds to these radical statements in a video address, questioning Calderón’s wherewithal to scold the United States or meddle with its internal affairs, particularly when Mexico has become such an unmanageable, nightmarish police state— where, by the way, there is a total gun ban for ordinary citizens.
Calderón told the United States that it must “regulate the sale of these weapons in the right way.” He continued:
“Many of these guns are not going to honest American hands. Instead, thousands are ending up in the hands of criminals.”
Calderón’s Call to Disarmament is particularly inappropriate before Congress, who are Constitutionally barred from making any law which would violate any part of the Bill of Rights— secured to the people and several states in balance against the power given to the Federal Government. Further, Calderón’s plan holds the same fallacy as other attempts at gun control. If carried out, banning “assault” weapons would empower— rather than restrict— narcotrafficking gangs and leave “good” people helpless. It would not, as he naively intends, curb cartel violence or dry out the tools of their intimidation.
Yet his proposals have long been advanced and supported by the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, among others. President Obama voiced general support for a renewed ban last year, but acknowledged that it would be difficult to achieve politically. Moreover, Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder has also expressed support for re-enacting a gun ban, but has shied away from it while the White House has kept it quiet purposely to avoid political damage to other parts of President Obama’s already wildly-radical agenda. Last year, Newsweek scolded Eric Holder for “backing away” from the ban issue and failing to support an issue ‘important to Mexican officials.’
| [Return to headlines] |
Mike Waller & Frank Gaffney: Shattering Mexico’s Glass House
With the over-the-top criticisms of the new Arizona immigration law coming from the Mexican president and the Obama Administration (who admit they haven’t yet read it), commentators in print, online and on talk radio have used as source material a Center for Security Policy research paper called, “Mexico’s Glass House” by Dr. J. Michael Waller. In 2006, Professor Waller did a study of both the Mexican Constitution and its law in regards to its immigration policy, La Ley General de Poblacion. He found that Mexican law was far tougher— in every respect— than anything being proposed in the United States. The conclusion, of course, is that, to La Raza, the Mexican government and the American left, it is only American sovereignty that’s the problem.
Today on Secure Freedom Radio, Dr. Waller suggests a common immigration law, based on Mexico’s, that would apply to the US, Mexico and Canada in much the same way as NAFTA’s trade rules apply. Possibly the threat of such legislation would be enough to change Mexico’s national interest in seeing as many of its poorer and less-skilled citizens deport themselves across their northern border…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Statins: The Side Effects ‘Are Worse Than Feared’
The side effects of statins can be far worse than previously thought, a study suggests.
For the first time, the level of harm posed by the cholesterol-lowering drugs has been quantified by researchers.
They found some users are much more likely to suffer liver dysfunction, acute kidney failure, cataracts and muscle damage known as myopathy.
For some patients, the risk is eight times higher than among those not taking statins. Overall, the risk of myopathy — which may be irreversible — is six times higher for men on statins and three times higher for women.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why: In the Future, You Will be Arrested for Over-Frequent Visits to the Toilet When Flying
Prospect 01.05.2010 (UK)
Now that Britain has one video camera for every twelve people, Philip Hunt describes the latest developments in “intelligent” surveillance technology. While generating images of people from DNA samples is still the stuff of promises, big brother is certainly getting bigger: “New technology has made it possible to detect incidents as they occur or even before. Researchers at Reading University have developed CCTV monitoring software capable of identifying, say, an abandoned package, and following the person who left it while they are still within range of a camera. Using technology first developed 20 years ago for burglar alarms, these systems are programmed to distinguish between different types of movement, and identify those defined as unusual — like depositing an object which remains unmoved for a given period, or movements such as frequent bathroom visits on an aeroplane. The latter might have detected the Detroit bomber last December before he tried to explode his device.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
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