CBO Warns: Slow Recovery, Near-Record Deficit for U.S.
With the sluggish economy holding down revenues and the federal government still spending lavishly, the national deficit will hit $1.3 trillion this year — second only to last year’s record, Congress’s chief scorekeeper said Thursday.
Adding to the grim news, the Congressional Budget Office said the ongoing recovery from the recession has been “anemic.” The CBO projects that the economy will only grow at 2 percent over the next year, and unemployment will average 9 percent next year and won’t fall to 5 percent until 2014.
“Growth in the nation’s output since mid-2009 has been anemic in comparison with previous recoveries that followed a deep recession, and the unemployment rate has remained quite high,” the nonpartisan agency said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dallas-Fort Worth Real Estate Briefs
Dallas-Fort Worth commercial real estate projects with almost $750 million in debt are posted for foreclosure next month.
About 285 commercial properties, apartments and land are included in foreclosure filings for September, according to Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service. That’s up from 180 a year ago.
The latest commercial foreclosure filings include a default on a $47 million loan made by Wells Fargo Bank on the Village on the Parkway shopping center in Addison.
The Canal Place office building at 400 Las Colinas Blvd. is posted for foreclosure by lenders who provided $22.7 million in financing, according to information from Foreclosure Listing Service.
A residential building in the new Village at Fairview in Collin County is also facing a foreclosure auction. The filing lists $11.2 million in original loans made by Bank of America.
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
Despite Some Good News, Dallas Housing Outlook Gets Gloomier
So far in 2010, North Texas home sales are up and prices are rising. Foreclosures have been down three of the past four months.
In that case, why is the near-term view on the local housing market getting gloomier?
“The housing outlook has definitely become more cloudy,” said D’Ann Petersen, a business economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “I believe we will have to wait a few more months before we can really tell where things are headed.”
But that was before July’s North Texas pre-owned home sales plunged 29 percent.
At least prices remained fractionally higher — up 1 percent last month from a year ago. Much of that gain probably came from a larger share of higher-priced home sales.
And home starts are up more than 50 percent in 2010.
“We saw a pretty strong run-up in both sales and construction earlier in the year,” Petersen said. “While housing demand is likely to remain weak in the near term, there are still a few positive signs.
“Prices remain mostly stable and inventories aren’t too out of line,” she said. “Foreclosures continue to ease.”
But longtime housing market watchers aren’t expecting a strong revival in the North Texas market.
“Basically, we don’t see any great improvement,” said Dr. James Gaines of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The “Dallas area is beginning to have some job growth and that should continue, but the level is still low.
“It sure beats losing more jobs.”
Tax credit’s effect
The eye-popping drop in July home sales came after the federal homebuying tax credits expired.
“I expect the second half of the year to be weaker than the first half of the year because of the influence the homebuyer tax credit had on the market,” said David Brown of Metrostudy Inc. “The tax credit did not create new demand; it affected the timing of purchase decisions.
“Most of the people who bought a home because of the tax credit would likely have purchased a home within the next year anyway,” he said. “Since those buyers have already purchased, the volume of transactions will fall in the second half of the year compared to the first half.”
And the number of pre-owned homes for sale in the D-FW area is now going up again after more than a year of declines.
“The second impact of the tax credit was that sellers began to gain confidence due the increased sales figures,” Brown said. “Some sellers who were waiting until the market improves came off the sidelines in the second quarter.
“Consequently, in the second half of the year, inventory is likely to be higher.”
Now that sales are dropping, there are more houses to sell.
Home starts could also dip again now that the tax credits are gone, analysts warn. Big builder D.R. Horton reports that it’s already cutting back on construction.
“Any pent-up demand in the market this past spring was wrung out by the tax credit program, and there is a feeling that the market is recharging again,” said Ted Wilson of Dallas-based Residential Strategies Inc. “As a result, my sense is that it will be a challenge for the builders to surpass the start figures that they logged in third quarter 2009.”
Hope remains
If all this sounds like the housing market is heading for a double dip, local economists still see some reason to be hopeful.
“We continue to see positive job growth, which is a marked difference from last year at this time,” Petersen said.
Indeed, in June the D-FW area had the largest year-over-year employment gain of any metropolitan area in the country.
“With job growth kicking in like it has for the last six months and as builders gear up for the spring 2011 market, I wouldn’t be surprised” if home starts rebound at the end of the year, Wilson said.
Still, declining consumer confidence and weak hiring by companies could mean slow-going for the home market.
“By historical standards, the local economy remains relatively weak,” said Bernard Weinstein, an economist at Southern Methodist University. “And with the likelihood of a double-dip recession growing by the day, my short-term outlook for the metroplex and the housing market is guarded at best.”
He cautions against putting too much emphasis on recent small gains in local home prices.
“Ultimately, the outlook for the housing market in D-FW will be determined by job growth,” he said. “When the metroplex is once again creating 100,000 net new jobs per year, the housing market will recover in tandem.”
Low interest rates may also play a part.
“I think it’s possible that the 30-year mortgage could drop below 4 percent before this economic cycle runs its course,” said Dr. Mark Dotzour, chief economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M. “A rate this low would probably be unprecedented in the history of our country.
“It will create a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase a home for all Americans.”
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
Pension Fraud by New Jersey Cited by Sec
State accused of falsely claiming it had been properly funding public workers’ retirement
Federal regulators accused the State of New Jersey of securities fraud on Wednesday for claiming it had been properly funding public workers’ pensions when it was not.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the action was its first ever against a state, and only its second against any government over the handling of a public pension fund. The first was the city of San Diego. More may be in store; the agency announced in January that it had a special unit looking into public pension disclosures. The S.E.C. has been trying to assume more authority over municipal securities.
The commission settled its suit with New Jersey by issuing a cease-and-desist order, which the state accepted without admitting or denying the findings. No penalties were imposed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Some Government Workers Get Generous Raises Despite Dismal Economy
Despite crushing job losses and record unemployment, some local government workers in South Florida will receive generous raises of up to 8 percent in the next fiscal year.
At least 14 local governments are promising pay hikes beginning Oct. 1, with hefty boosts going to some Palm Beach County firefighters (8 percent); some unionized workers in Lighthouse Point (8 percent); and some Davie police officers (5 percent).
Some of the raises are required under employment contracts signed before the economic downturn.
The raises don’t come cheaply.
Tamarac commissioners will give 4 percent bumps to unionized workers, and will consider merit raises of up to 5 percent for non-union staffers. In turn, the city has shed 10 jobs, and may increase the property tax rate and close some parks and the community center one day a week.
North Lauderdale commissioners are mulling a 3 percent raise for themselves and city workers even as they cut six Broward Sheriff’s Office employees.
But many local governments are bowing to vexing financial realities that saw real estate values slide 11.7 percent last year — the third yearly decline in property tax revenues.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Employers Add 4,600 Jobs; Jobless Rate Steady
Texas employers added 4,600 jobs in July, the smallest monthly gain since February, while the state unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The small net job gain was the result of continued growth in private sector payrolls combined with a 23,300-job reduction in government payrolls.
“Private sector employers in Texas continued adding jobs in July, a trend we’ve seen since the first of the year,” said Tom Pauken, chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission. “Significant government job losses offset much of the gains in the private sector in July.”
The unemployment rate remained well below the national average of 9.5 percent in July.
Last month, employers in the manufacturing sector expanded payrolls by 4,300 jobs, the same net gain recorded in the construction industry. The mining and logging category, which includes oil and gas drilling, gained 4,600 jobs.
Employment in the professional and business services category rose by 12,600 jobs, its largest monthly gain in more than a decade, the Texas Workforce Commission said.
Changes in other employment categories included a 3,700-job gain in the financial sector, and a 2,200-job loss in education and health services.
Employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth area fell by 1,900 jobs, the first decline since March.
Nationwide, nonfarm payrolls increased in 37 states and the District of Columbia, while falling in 13 states. Michigan posted the largest increase, with a net gain of 27,800 jobs. The District of Columbia added 17,800 jobs, while Massachusetts added 13,200 jobs.
The largest net employment losses were recorded in North Carolina, down 29,800 jobs; New Jersey, down 21,200; and Illinois, down 20,200.
Nevada again reported the highest unemployment rate among the states, at 14.3 percent in July. Michigan had the second-highest jobless rate, at 13.1 percent, followed by California, at 12.3 percent.
North Dakota continued to have the lowest jobless rate, at 3.6 percent, followed by South Dakota, at 4.4 percent, and Nebraska, at 4.7 percent.
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
The Ecstasy of Empire
The only remaining financier is the Federal Reserve. When Treasury bonds brought to auction do not sell, the Federal Reserve must purchase them. The Federal Reserve purchases the bonds by creating new demand deposits, or checking accounts, for the Treasury. As the Treasury spends the proceeds of the new debt sales, the US money supply expands by the amount of the Federal Reserve’s purchase of Treasury debt.
Do goods and services expand by the same amount? Imports will increase as US jobs have been offshored and given to foreigners, thus worsening the trade deficit. When the Federal Reserve purchases the Treasury’s new debt issues, the money supply will increase by more than the supply of domestically produced goods and services. Prices are likely to rise.
How high will they rise? The longer money is created in order that government can pay its bills, the more likely hyperinflation will be the result.
The economy has not recovered. By the end of this year it will be obvious that the collapsing economy means a larger than $1.4 trillion budget deficit to finance. Will it be $2 trillion? Higher?
Whatever the size, the rest of the world will see that the dollar is being printed in such quantities that it cannot serve as reserve currency. At that point wholesale dumping of dollars will result as foreign central banks try to unload a worthless currency.
The collapse of the dollar will drive up the prices of imports and offshored goods on which Americans are dependent. Wal-Mart shoppers will think they have mistakenly gone into Neiman Marcus.
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Blackwater Reaches $42 Million Settlement With U.S. Over Export Violations
The private security company formerly called Blackwater Worldwide, long plagued by accusations of impropriety, has reached an agreement with the State Department for the company to pay $42 million in fines for hundreds of violations of United States export control regulations.
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Frank Gaffney: AP Gets Its ‘Facts’ Wrong on the Ground Zero Mosque
Stop the presses! This just in: The Associated Press “standards center” has issued a “staff advisory” on covering what is to be known from here on out as “the New York City mosque.” From now on, the AP “staff” — and, therefore, everybody who still actually reads newspapers that still actually use the wire service’s copy — is supposed to conform to what amounts to the Muslim Brotherhood narrative about the Islamic cultural center formerly known as the “Ground Zero mosque.”
AP’s Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, Tom Kent, sent this “guidance” out to his colleagues yesterday, with inputs from Chad Roedemeier in the New York bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington: “We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘Ground Zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at Ground Zero’ on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at Ground Zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” Ground Zero, or two blocks away.”…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Kuhner: Obama’s Islamic Agenda
He embraces the Muslim world and turns his back on us
President Obama has revealed his true nature. After 20 months in the Oval Office, he still remained a largely unknown figure. A picture is coming into focus now, and it should trouble all Americans. It is widely known that Mr. Obama is a post-national progressive. Yet he is also a cultural Muslim who is promoting an anti-American, pro-Islamic agenda. This is the real meaning of his warm — and completely needless — embrace of the Ground Zero Mosque.
At an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan at the White House, Mr. Obama told Muslim-Americans that he supports the building of an Islamic community center and mosque just two blocks away from where the Twin Towers were destroyed and nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered on Sept. 11, 2001. He later tried to back away from those comments. Mr. Obama said he was defending the right of religious freedom but not the “wisdom” of erecting the mosque.
Nonetheless, Mr. Obama has been clear: In his view, the Ground Zero Mosque should be built. There was no good practical reason even to comment on the issue. He had been silent for weeks as the controversy gathered steam. The overwhelming majority of the American people oppose the mosque — especially the families of the Sept. 11 victims. Politically, it is a loser — for him and his party. Yet he could not keep his mouth shut. Why?
Answer: For Mr. Obama, defending Islam has been a key priority of his presidency. In his famous speech in Cairo, Mr. Obama apologized to the Muslim world for the alleged “sins” and “mistakes” of America — even though no country has done more to liberate Islamic peoples than the United States, including campaigns in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. His aim was to engage the Islamic world on its terms and norms rather than defend America’s values and national interests.
Mr. Obama openly bragged about his “Muslim background” and that his family had “followers of Islam.” He spoke of his youth in Indonesia, his study of the Koran and the call to Islamic prayer. In short, he discovered his inner Muslim in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Arab street. The message was: I understand you, and I will usher in a new era of Islamic-American relations.
This Mr. Obama has done with a vengeance. He is the most Muslim-friendly president in the nation’s history. He wants the detention center at Guantanamo Bay closed. He demands that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, be tried in civilian court — with the full legal and constitutional protections given to U.S. citizens — several blocks from the World Trade Center site. He has ordered that the words “Muslim extremist,” “Islamic terrorist” and “jihad” be cleansed from national security documents. He is openly anti-Israel. And he is prematurely withdrawing combat troops from Iraq, threatening to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Israeli military and intelligence officials concede that the administration — through diplomatic back channels — has told Jerusalem that Washington will not bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Jews are on their own in confronting the Holocaust-denying dictator President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Obama’s tepid sanctions have failed to curb Iran’s relentless march toward acquiring the nuclear bomb. This weekend, the Iranian nuclear power plant at Bushehr will begin fueling with enriched uranium. Thus, theocratic Iran is on the cusp of becoming a nuclear power. It is only a matter of time before radical Islam also has the bomb.
Mr. Obama has done everything possible to appease the Muslim world — including, now, backing the Ground Zero Mosque. The debate about the mosque has little to do with religious freedom or tolerance. There are more than 1,200 mosques in America and dozens of them in New York City. The debate is about the meaning and memory of the Sept. 11 attacks. Those on the left — led by Mr. Obama — have been determined to alter the nature of that event. For them, it was simply a criminal act by several deranged individuals linked to a little tiny group called al Qaeda.
Instead, the Sept. 11 attacks were acts of war in which 19 Muslim hijackers in the name of radical Islam brought global jihad here on American soil. This is why the Ground Zero Mosque is so offensive: It will be a symbol of radical Islam’s conquest of America. If Islamists can erect a monument of victory that will permanently loom over our most hallowed ground, what can’t they do? It will signify the surrender of liberal multiculturalism to the forces of political Islam. That is why so many Americans are passionately opposed to the mosque. They realize what is at stake.
This, however, is too much for some politically correct conservatives to swallow. Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online, taking a break from writing on Hollywood, complained in a blog posting that one of my recent columns making this very point struck him as “nonsense.” For Mr. Goldberg, the mosque issue is not “as big a deal as some are making it.” Yes, it’s an “offensive and ill-advised mistake that might make things harder in a long, complicated struggle,” but really all of this heat and friction could have been avoided with a few phone calls by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. My advice to Mr. Goldberg: Stick to writing about Michael Douglas and Paris Hilton.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Had Facts Wrong About Visit Here
Finance director: Stimulus dollars didn’t aid project
A local project that President Barack Obama cited during a visit Wednesday to Columbus as an example of how the federal stimulus package has worked isn’t actually being funded with stimulus dollars.
The president spoke at the North Side home of architect Joe Weithman, and both Obama’s comments and information from the White House touted Weithman’s work on a project that the president said was being at least partially funded by the $787 billion stimulus bill passed last year.
“What we’ve been trying to do is to build infrastructure that puts people back to work but also improves the quality of life in communities like Columbus,” Obama said in his remarks. “So Joe is an architect, and he’s now working on a new police station that was funded in part with Recovery Act funds.”
But although federal money is being used for the project in question, there are no stimulus dollars involved, said Columbus Finance Director Paul Rakosky, a Democrat.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Results of Investigation of Proposed New York City Islamic Center Funding Plans to be Announced
The findings of a several-month investigation into the individuals, organizations and funding of the proposed New York City Islamic Center will be announced for the first time on The Roth Show, nationally syndicated on the IRN-USA Radio Network and Harris Broadcasting in a special show airing Friday, August 20, 2010 from 6-9 p.m. ET. (Listen Live) The project has been at the center of controversy since plans for its constructions were made public.
Douglas J. Hagmann, founder and director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, multi-state licensed veteran investigator in the private sector and senior investigative columnist for Canada Free Press spearheaded the investigation, which has taken months due to its complexity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stoning: A Nightmare
by Diana West
Stonings at Ground Zero — that’ll be the day, right? The concept has no manifestation beyond the cold sweat of a dark-hours nightmare. Still, there’s something worth gleaning from the not-so-free association process that inspired it.
It clicked when I read a riveting investigation by Christine Brim at BigPeace.com into scrubbed website material of the Cordoba Initiative, the Internet home of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, he of the Ground Zero Mosque. In this trove of information, curiously deleted from the current Cordoba Initiative website, lie key clues to Rauf’s long-term program, the Shariah Index Project, whose “goal,” as stated in the “hidden” material, is to “define, interpret and implement the concept of the Islamic state in modern times.”
What is Shariah? It is the body of sacred laws that regulates public and private life in Islam. How does the Shariah Index Project fit into the planned mosque complex? Very easily, argues Brim. After accounting for the 13-story building’s stated uses, from its mosque to its athletic and other facilities, Brim identified six undesignated stories. That’s a lot of empty office space. But with its global spread, the Shariah Index Project just might be the perfect tenant.
Since 2006, Rauf has coordinated a series of international meetings with Shariah experts ranging from Muslim Brotherhood associates to Iran’s Mohammad Javad Larijani, “who,” as Brim reports, “has justified torture of Iranian dissidents as legal punishments under Shariah law.”
That’s not all Larijani, who heads Iran’s Human Rights Council (for real), has justified. He has also justified Shariah-sanctioned stoning. As Anne Bayefsky recently reported, Rauf’s picture with Larijani (and former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Sada Cumber) disappeared from the Cordoba Initiative website, too.
So much to hide — but the Shariah is out of the bag.
What would expanding Shariah mean here? More halal-butchered livestock leading, as in Europe, to halal-only menus? More midnight football practice during Ramadan? More sex-segregated swimming pools? More incitement to jihad in “radical” mosques? More “apostates” living in fear? More self-censorship, I mean “respect,” when it comes to discussing Islam?
An excellent benchmark of Shariah’s remarkable and, think of it, post-9/11 progress is that none of the above manifestations of Islamic law — all designed to sync society with Islamic practice — are shocking to us. Indeed, marital rape, permissible in Shariah culture wherever it spreads, got a “religious” pass from a New Jersey judge last month (overturned by an appellate court). Death by stoning, however, still seems to take everybody’s breath away as those who read about last weekend’s Taliban stoning in Afghanistan, I hope, would agree…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Thomas Sowell: Dismantling America: Part II
“We the people” are the central concern of the Constitution, as well as its opening words, since it is a Constitution for a self-governing nation. But “we the people” are treated as an obstacle to circumvent by the current administration in Washington.
One way of circumventing the people is to rush legislation through Congress so fast that no one knows what is buried in it. Did you know that the so-called health care reform bill contained a provision creating a tax on people who buy and sell gold coins?
You might debate whether that tax is a good or a bad idea. But the whole point of burying it in legislation about medical insurance is to make sure “we the people” don’t even know about it, much less have a chance to debate it, before it becomes law.
Did you know that the huge financial reform bill that has been similarly rushed through Congress, too fast for anyone to read it, has a provision about “inclusion” of women and minorities? Pretty words like “inclusion” mean ugly realities like quotas. But that too is not something that “we the people” are to be allowed to debate, because it too was sneaked through.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
English Defence League March Banned by Government After Plea From Police Chiefs
Home Secretary Theresa May has issued a blanket ban on marches by the far-right English Defence League in Bradford, following a request from the local council and police chiefs.
Up to 10,000 EDL supporters had intended to descend on Bradford over the bank holiday weekend in what was claimed would be a rally against Islamic extremism.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Having carefully balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, the Home Secretary today gave her consent to a Bradford Council order banning any marches in the city over the bank holiday weekend.
‘West Yorkshire Police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and property are protected and we encourage all local people to work with the police to ensure community cohesion is not undermined by public disorder.’
The decision by Bradford Council to seek a marching ban followed a formal request by West Yorkshire chief constable Sir Norman Bettison.
Sir Norman said he was taking the action after considering the ‘understandable concerns of the community’.
The move follows a high-profile campaign in the city to stop the EDL march, with some commentators saying they feared it could provoke a violent reaction to rival the riots which shook the city nine years ago.
Despite the ban, groups could still hold static demonstrations in the city.
A 10,000-signature petition opposing the EDL march was handed in to the Home Office earlier this month.
In a letter to the council, crime prevention minister James Brokenshire said the Government ‘fully understands local concerns that such a demonstration has the potential to spark public disorder and to impact on community cohesion, particularly given the disturbances in Bradford in 2001.’
He wrote: ‘The application from the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police is clear that the activities of some who attend English Defence League protests — and indeed counter protests — has little to do with freedom of expression.
‘So while the Government has set out its commitment to restore rights to non-violent protest, we are equally clear that such rights do not extend to intimidation, harassment and criminality, and that rights to protest need to be balanced against the wider rights of local communities.
‘Demonstrations should not and cannot be cover for violent, intimidating or criminal acts.
‘The Government condemns those who seek to create distrust and divisions between communities and remains determined to stamp out racism and extremism.’
Mr Brokenshire said the police had the power to impose conditions on the size, location and duration of a static protest if they believe it will result in serious public disorder.
In a statement explaining his request, Sir Norman issued a public plea to locals to support the police and ‘avoid confrontation’.
But he also issued a stern warning that officers would not allow violent disorder.
The powers, granted under the 1986 Public Order Act, do not stop all protests — they are permitted as long as demonstrators do not attempt to march.
Sir Norman said: ‘We will continue to try to talk to all those who plan to demonstrate and advise anyone intent on causing trouble to stay away.’
It is only the second time in the past three years that a police force has requested the powers.
The EDL’s spokesman, Guramit Singh, yesterday denied the organisation intended violence. He said: ‘We don’t want ugly scenes at all.
We are coming for a peaceful demonstration.’
But critics have drawn comparisons between the rise of the EDL and that of 1930s fascism led by Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts.
The group was formed in Luton last year, in response to protests by Islamic radicals when troops returned home from Iraq.
Since then it has staged a number of rallies, many of which have ended in violence. Last month there were clashes between police and protesters at a demonstration in Dudley, the second in the West Midlands town this year.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Genital Mutilations: Bonino, We’lll Bring Resolution to UN
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 20 — “For over 10 years we have been conducting a campaign to make the UN General Assembly approve a resolution against female genital mutilations. I think that right now we are on the home stretch, and we are also counting on the support of the Italian government,” said Vice President of the Italian Senate Emma Bonino, speaking about the story of the girl who died in Egypt after a genital excision operation. The campaign has been promoted by the association “There is no peace without justice” together with the Inter-African Committee, an international group of NGOs and various groups, some of which are government related, explained the Italian Radical Party representative, and has had the support of all of the Italian governments. “Egypt,” said Emma Bonino, among the promoters of the Cairo Declaration of 2003 against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), “is one of the countries where the most campaigning is done against mutilations, with an excellent law, radio commercials and lots of work on the ground.” On the front lines is Minister of Family Mouchira Khattab, who has made the fight against FGM a priority. With Egypt, 19 countries out of the 28 involved passed a law against FGM, said the Senate Vice President.Among those that did not pass the law, she said, are Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Foreigners Increasingly Choose Train Travel
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 20 — Foreign tourists are increasingly visiting Italy by train, according to a statement by Italian state railway group Ferrovie. The group explained that “due to the distribution of Trenitalia promotions on the foreign market, 20,000 seats are sold every day,” railway tourism in Italy not only from Europe (+20%), but also from other continents is increasing, with average growth of 30% compared to last year.
With the completion of the Turin-Salerno high speed line and the resulting decrease in travel times, the routes connecting historical cities have become highly popular among foreign tourists, especially during this current holiday season. An increase in sales of 70% has been reported on the Rome-Naples line for travellers from Asia.
Requests for railway passes from North American passengers are also sharply increasing, with an 18% jump. The trend is the opposite of what has been taking place in the rest of Europe, where requests from abroad are in decline. Interrail passes for young travellers are also positive, with a 5% increase despite tough competition from low cost airlines.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Leaders Fear for Netherlands’ Image as Anti-Islam Populist Turns Kingmaker
Geert Wilders’s plans to joins New York protests against Ground Zero mosque prompt confidential memo to diplomats
The Dutch government has launched a damage-limitation campaign to try to counter what it fears is the disastrous international impact of the Islam-bashing populist Geert Wilders.
Wilders, whose success in June’s general election catapulted him into the role of kingmaker in attempts to form a new coalition government, is to travel to New York to take part in protests on 11 September against the proposed Muslim community centre near Ground Zero.
Maxime Verhagen, the acting foreign minister and Christian Democrats’ leader, has voiced fears that Wilders’s speech in New York will tarnish Dutch reputations. He has also taken the unusual step of circulating confidential orders to Dutch diplomats around the world on how to answer questions about Wilders’s influence in a new government and on the fallout for Muslims in the Netherlands.
With characteristic robustness, Wilders has told Verhagen to mind his own business. He clearly intends to grab attention with a tub-thumping exercise in Islamophobia in New York.
“Good feeling. Important speech. No one will stop me. No mosque at Ground Zero,” he tweeted after booking a flight to New York. “Stop Islam, defend freedom” is his rallying cry.
The tensions over 9/11 and New York come as Wilders savours his growing clout at home. His Freedom party is running at 31% in the most recent opinion poll, ahead of all other contenders, and he has spent most of this week at a secret location with Verhagen and Mark Rutte, the liberals’ leader, haggling over the terms for a new coalition government.
Wilders, whose party almost tripled its seats, from nine to 24, in the June election, is not joining the new cabinet. Instead, he will prop up a rightwing coalition of liberals and Christian Democrats in return for pledges of a tough new crackdown on immigration and other policy concessions. If the talks succeed, Wilders will be in the enviable position of wielding power while abjuring responsibility.
The negotiations have been going on for a fortnight and are supposed to be concluded next week. But they are said to be going badly.
A coalition backed by Wilders would command the slimmest of majorities — 76 seats in the 150-seat second chamber or lower house. The Trouw newspaper yesterday reported at least one dissident Christian Democrat MP would not support it, making it unviable.
Verhagen is in a difficult position. While negotiating with Wilders, he is also telling his diplomats how to undermine the rightwing maverick. Verhagen faces mounting resistance within his own party to collaborating, even if only tacitly, with Wilders.
Last week German Christian Democrats joined Dutch party dissidents in calling for a boycott of Wilders.
The latest opinion polls show Wilders soaring ahead of Rutte’s liberal VVD party. Rutte, who is expected to be the new prime minister, supports an immigration crackdown and other anti-EU and hardline policies demanded by Wilders. But the two rightwingers are split over the main issue — austerity and budget cuts. Rutte is committed to slashing public spending by €18bn to halve the budget deficit from almost 7%. He is demanding health service, education, welfare and social security cuts.
Wilders, who is being prosecuted in Amsterdam on charges of inciting hatred and discrimination, is portraying himself as the protector of Dutch welfare, while calling for a tax on Islamic headscarves, a ban on the Qur’an, closure of Islamic schools, deportation of immigrants and proscribing mosque-building.
Verhagen has told his ambassadors how to cope with foreigners’ questions such as “What will that mean for the treatment of Muslims?” if Wilders props up a new government.
| — Hat tip: ICLA | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Home Office Bans Bradford Marches
Home Secretary Theresa May has authorised a blanket ban on marches in Bradford on the day of a planned protest by a right-wing campaign group.
The English Defence League (EDL) had intended to demonstrate in Bradford on Saturday 28 August.
Unite Against Fascism had planned a protest in the city on the same day.
Despite the ban, groups can still hold static demonstrations. The move follows a high-profile campaign in Bradford to stop the planned EDL march.
A 10,000-signature petition opposing it was handed to the Home Office earlier this month.
The Home Secretary was asked to authorise the ban by Bradford Council which submitted a written application.
It came after West Yorkshire Police’s chief constable Sir Norman Bettison wrote to the council requesting an order to prohibit any public processions over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
‘Balanced rights’
Guramit Singh, spokesman for the EDL, said he was “upset” and “angry” about the ban.
He said the group had been working towards a peaceful demonstration with the police.
He said the EDL would still stage a static demonstration in Bradford instead.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Having carefully balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, the home secretary gave her consent to a Bradford Council order banning any marches in the city over the bank holiday weekend.
“West Yorkshire Police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and property are protected and we encourage all local people to work with the police to ensure community cohesion is not undermined by public disorder.”
The EDL says it opposes “militant Islam” and describes itself as a “grass roots social movement who represent every walk of life, every race, every creed and every colour; from the working class to middle England.”
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Beast of Bradford: Are Monster Rodents Stalking the Streets
It’s bad enough seeing a rat scuttling along your street.
But residents of one estate are living in fear of 30in rodents which have been spotted — and killed — near their homes.
One of those who has come across the beasts is Brandon Goddard, who hunts regularly with friends. He encountered a pack of the creatures when he was out with his air rifle.
The 31-year-old said: ‘The first went right past, but we got the second one, then three more got away. I’ve seen thousands of rats and go shooting a couple of times a week, but I’ve never seen any as big as this.
‘The one I shot was absolutely terrifying. I was shaking. Goodness knows where the others went. I’m glad I don’t live there,’ he said.
[…]
Giant rats were discovered in the Foja Mountains in Indonesia three years ago. The rats scientists came across weighed 3lb, about five times as much as a typical city rat. They were 2ft long — not including its tail — and showed no fear of humans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Montenegro: Citizenship in Exchange for Investments
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 20 — The government of Montenegro offers tax breaks and citizenship to entrepreneurs, to strengthen and develop investments and tourism in the country.
The news was reported by press agency Mena, which added that the Thai Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister and former owner of Manchester City, has obtained the Montenegrin citizenship for his investments in the tourist sector. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
3.3 Million Date Palms in Tunisia
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, AUGUST 20 — There are around 3.3 million date palms in Tunisia, totalling a production of 120,000 tonnes.
These data have been released by the Arab organisation for agricultural development (OADA), which has its headquarters in Khartoum.
Egypt is the Mediterranean country with the most palm trees: 12.1 million and a production of 1.32 million tonnes in 2008, followed by Algeria (11.9 million palms producing 552,000 tonnes of dates in 2008). Morocco has produced just 72,000 tonnes despite its 4.39 million palm trees. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Genital Mutiliations: Egypt; Girl Dies, Doctor Arrested
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 20 — Minister of Family Mouchira Khattab called for Egyptian Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud to carry out an investigation into the death of the young girl, Nermine El Haddad, who was 13-years-old. In the statement, Khattab asked for all legal steps to be taken against everyone responsible for this crime.
The doctor accused with the crime, Fatheya Mohamed Ahmed Eweida, has been taken into preventative custody. The victim died after a massive haemorrhage and her parents reportedly buried her, afraid of being caught. The news was reported by another doctor who learned about the incident. Mouchira Khattab — an ally in the battle together with First Lady Suzanne Mubarak — promoted childhood law number 126 of 2008, which for the first time banned female genital mutilation (FGM), making a crime. In 2007 the Health Minister issued a decree that banned the practice in hospitals by doctors and others.
Moderate Muslims have welcomed the measure, saying that FGM has nothing to do with Islam, and is a tradition of African origin. Nonetheless, the practice has grown particularly strong roots in the south part of the country, to the point that the minister is also personally involved in the FGM Free Village Model programme, which was launched in 2003 with the Cairo Declaration.
At the beginning of July over half of the 120 villages in Upper Egypt were part of the programme, which was extended to the south in 2005. It is financed by the Italian Cooperation through the Italy-Egypt programme for debt conversion.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lockerbie Bomber Could Live Until 2017, Say Doctors
A year ago, Ali Al Megrahi was released from prison by the Scottish government, after being given just three months to live.
But as Libyans prepare to celebrate the first anniversary of the 58-year-old’s release today, medical sources in Tripoli say he could still be alive in 2017.
Ashour Shamis, editor of the Akhbar Libya website, said yesterday: ‘I have been told by someone reliable that a medical source in Tripoli says Megrahi could live for up to seven years.
‘They are looking after him very well. He has 24-hour care in his home and wherever he goes he has doctors with him.’ Families of victims will be enraged by the claims.
Yesterday, police in the Libyan capital sealed off the house in which the terrorist is being treated for prostate cancer, after a warning from the British Government to avoid scenes of celebration similar to those that greeted his return home.
But sources in Libya say thousands are expected to flock to the streets of the capital where Megrahi, convicted of killing 270 in Britain’s worst terrorist atrocity, is a national hero.
Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif, who escorted Megrahi home, is expected to visit Megrahi for a banquet in his honour.
The British ambassador in Tripoli has warned the Libyan government scenes of celebration will be an insult to the families of those who died when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in 1988.
The Foreign Office said: ‘The celebrations that greeted Megrahi’s return to Libya a year ago were insensitive and deeply distressing to the victims’ families.
‘Any repetition of these celebrations this year would be completely unacceptable.
‘Megrahi remains a convicted terrorist responsible for the worst act of terrorism in British history.’
But Libyan officials have revealed that British wellwishers are among those who have sent letters of support to him.
Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell said he wrote a letter of congratulations to Megrahi. ‘I’m certain that Megrahi is an innocent man.he said. ‘I’m pleased he was released.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan: Tunisia Continues Anti-Hookah Campaign
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, AUGUST 20 — Each time a person smokes from a hookah (shisha), it is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes. But hookah smoking, especially during the current evenings of Ramadan, is one of the pleasures that many Tunisians have no intention of giving up.
Even though, according to reminders part of a campaign on the fight against smoking and cancer, hookahs are responsible for cancer of the lungs, throat, lips and mouth, as well as other serious cardiovascular illnesses.Also, underline experts, smoking hookahs can also cause impotence and sterility. This comes on top of risks of transmitting bacterial infections, since hookah smoking normally takes place in groups, using a single mouthpiece. This year officials have decided to launch a campaign to raise awareness among young people in cafes, tea rooms and all meeting places.Also because a ban is in effect on smoking in places open to the public, as well as on selling cigarettes to children and in front of schools. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Direct Talk About Direct (Israel-Palestinian) Talks
by Barry Rubin
The big story of the moment is the announcement that there will soon be direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Perhaps, but for the moment Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has merely issued of an invitation to come and talk. Generally, such an invitation would only be issued when both sides have accepted and all the details are nailed down. Nowadays, however, such cannot be assumed.
On the one hand, the U.S. government has not been so competent in recent times. On the other hand, the PA can well find new excuses for not coming or additional demands that would have to be satisfied first. Will the Fatah barons agree to let “President” Mahmoud Abbas talk?
The Quartet statement says, “Direct, bilateral negotiations that resolve all final status issues should lead to a settlement, negotiated between the parties, that ends the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”
We will see if this new round of negotiations actually happens or not…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
30 Months in Jail for Brining Falcon Eggs From GB to Dubai
(ANSAmed) — LONDON, AUGUST 20 — An attempt to smuggle peregrine falcon eggs from Great Britain to the United Arab Emirates was prevented by British officials and the man responsible will spend 30 months in jail. The incident, one of the most serious in recent years for crimes regarding protected species according to a Warwick Court, dates back to last May when 48-year-old Jeffrey Lendrum embarked a plane at the Birmingham Airport for Dubai with 14 hidden peregrine falcon eggs. The eggs were destined for the black market in Dubai, where they would have been worth 70,000 pounds to smugglers.
Lendrum had thought of everything in his attempt to smuggle the eggs. In his bag, officials found the necessary tools to allow the baby falcons to grow, including incubators. But he was caught due to his constant trips to the shower room reserved for business class ticket holders at the Birmingham Airport, which raised suspicions among personnel. Lendrum pled guilty in court and admitted to stealing the eggs from a nest in Rhondda in Wales. But the man is a repeat offender: he attempted a similar scheme in 1984 and again in 2002. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Banking: Kuveyt Turk Introduces New Islamic Security
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, AUGUST 20 — The sukuk, an Islamic financial certificate similar to a bond, has made its debut on the Turkish market with participation bank Kuveyt Turk raising funds through a USD 100 million three-year issue, which is expected to boost funds inflow to the country. The bank, as Today’s Zaman reports, has become the first financial institution in Turkey and Europe to issue sukuk securities, led by Citigroup and the Liquidity Management House (LMH).
The financing received one-and-a-half times more demand than anticipated. “This is a turning point,” Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said at a dinner hosted by Kuveyt Turk in Istanbul on Wednesday. “As an alternative financial tool, sukuk will make important contributions to the development of the country.” “Turkey is in need of serious financing and capital, and it is searching for ways to close the gap with the advanced economies rapidly.” The step Kuveyt Turk took will be needed to a greater extent.
The Gulf and other regional countries do not only export oil or natural gas to the world. Sukuk is a financial certificate similar to bonds that complies with Shariah, Islamic religious law. Because the interest-paying bond structure is not permissible, the issuer of a sukuk security sells an investor group the certificate, who then rents it back to the issuer for a predetermined rental fee.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Dusk in Iraq
A troubling milestone arrived on Thursday when the US withdrew its final combat brigade from Iraq. The remaining 50,000 US forces are charged with advising and training the Iraqi military. President Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw them as well by the end of next year.
When US-led allied forces invaded Iraq seven years ago, their action raised the hopes and incited the dreams of millions throughout the region and throughout the world.
Operation Iraqi Freedom promised to bring the light of liberty to a corner of the world that had known none. By doing so, it would inspire and enable men and women throughout the region to believe that they too could be free.
But as the last US combat brigade departed on Thursday, the Iraq they left behind was not an Arab shining city on an Iraqi hill. The Iraq they withdrew from has no government…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus to Lebanon: We Will Turn Back Gaza-Bound Aid Ship
Cyprus Lebanon envoy says ship will not be allowed to dock; crew, passengers will be deported to their country of origin.
A Lebanese ship carrying aid and women activists hoping to break Israel’s Gaza blockade will set sail Sunday from Lebanon despite warnings that they will not be allowed to make it past Cyprus, organizers said Thursday.
The ship cannot travel directly to Gaza from Lebanon because Beirut is still technically at war with Israel, forcing the vessel to pass through a third country — in this case, Cyprus — before heading for the blockaded Palestinian territory.
But on Thursday, the Cypriot ambassador to Lebanon told The Associated Press that the boat, the Mariam, will be turned back when it reaches Cyprus.
“We decided that such a ship will not be allowed to enter Cyprus and if such a Gaza-bound ship docks in a Cypriot port the crew and the passengers will be deported to their country of origin,” Kyriacos Kouros said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Prepares to Start Up First Nuclear Reactor
BUSHEHR, Iran — Iranian and Russian nuclear technicians made final preparations to start up Iran’s first reactor on Saturday after years of delays, an operation that will mark a milestone in what Tehran considers its right to produce nuclear energy.
Nationwide celebrations are planned for the fuel loading at the Bushehr facility in southern Iran, while Russia pledges to safeguard the plant and prevent spent nuclear fuel from being shifted to a possible weapons program.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia: Israel Need Not Fear Reactor
Teheran more pragmatic than you think, embassy officials tell ‘Post.’
Israelis should not be concerned about the uranium fueling of a Russian-built nuclear reactor in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr that is set to take place on Saturday, diplomatic officials at the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv told The Jerusalem Post.
The reactor’s fueling will be marked at a ceremony in Bushehr that will be attended by Sergei Kiriyenko, who heads Russia’s state nuclear agency, which has been building the power plant in Iran since the mid-1990s.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow on Security Alert After North Caucasus Bombs
MOSCOW, Aug 18 (Reuters) — Moscow police were on heightened alert on Wednesday after two bomb blasts hit Russia’s volatile North Caucasus, causing dozens of casualties and renewing fears of insurgent attacks in the heartland of Russia.
A decade after Russian forces defeated separatists who controlled Chechnya, the North Caucasus is plagued by an Islamist insurgency stoked by corruption, poverty and the ideology of global jihad.
The bomb attacks on Tuesday, in a city near a busy cafe and at a police border checkpoint, occurred in mainly Orthodox Christian provinces where violence linked to the insurgency is less frequent than in predominantly Muslim Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Taliban Hire Sniper to Hit Troops at 600yds
British soldier shot dead through 9in gap in glass shield
He is said to have picked off Sapper Darren Foster from a distance of up to 600 metres through a gap in a protected lookout post just nine inches wide.
It is thought the Taliban have hired the sniper to target the Nato forces’ most highly specialised soldiers, including bombdisposal expert and their own snipers.
SAS troops have been deployed to take out the gunman, who is operating in the insurgent hotbed of Sangin in northern Helmand Province.
U.S. marines highlighted the sniper threat after they moved into the town — considered the deadliest place in Afghanistan — to relieve UK forces.
In the seven days since they arrived in the town he has killed two men and wounded another.
The other man to die was a U.S. marine who was gunned down while throwing away a bag of rubbish less than 100 yards from a fortified patrol base near the town.
Sapper Foster, 20, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, was killed while supporting the 40 Commando Royal Marines battle group.
He had been manning a lookout post outside a patrol base when he was shot shortly before 7am last Friday, the Ministry of Defence said.
Reports in the Wall Street Journal said that the post was protected by bulletproof glass except for small gaps which allow soldiers to fire their weapons.
Sapper Foster’s family said: ‘He was a loving son, grandson and brother who will be sorely missed for his crazy flamboyant lifestyle. His only aim was to serve in the Army, for which he made us all proud.’ Lieutenant Colonel Bobby Walton- Knight, his commanding officer, described him as a ‘young soldier with a great deal of promise’ who was marked out by his ‘ motivation, professionalism and pride’.
The Ministry of Defence last night questioned the American claims, saying they still need to verify whether snipers had been employed by the Taliban.
UK military spokesman Major General Gordon Messenger said: ‘I view a sniper as someone who has an extremely high level of training, has specialist equipment and deals in significant distances at significant accuracy.
‘I don’t think there’s any evidence that we’re seeing anything like that.
‘We are definitely seeing the tactic whereby the single shot rather than the “spray and pray” type of thing is the initial point of engagement.’
Intelligence sources have told the Mail that at least three foreign snipers in Afghanistan, trained by either Iran or Al Qaeda in Pakistan, are being paid tens of thousands of pounds to help the insurgents.
Earlier this year, a senior UK Army source warned that a Taliban sniper had killed seven soldiers of the 3rd Battalion Rifles.
Details of the sniper attacks emerged as the bodies of Sapper Foster, who served with 21 Engineer Regiment, and Sapper Ishwor Gurung, 21, of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, were repatriated.
Sapper Gurung, whose body was brought home through Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, with his comrade, was shot dead helping to build a new sentry post in Nad-e Ali in Helmand.
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
Christians in Pakistan Missing Out on Flood Aid, Bishop Warns
The Bishop of Peshawar in Pakistan has warned that Christians there will receive “hardly anything” from the aid packages being distributed among victims of the country’s worst flooding in 80 years.
The warning from Bishop Humphrey Peters came one day after the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an alliance of aid agencies including World Vision and Christian Aid, launched a major appeal for donations to help victims of the floods.
At least 1,600 people have died in the floods, while millions more are in need of aid. Bishop Peters said many Christians had lost everything.
“Our Christians, who are already deprived and marginalised, are in pathetic conditions. They have lost almost everything in their houses; they could only save their lives,” he said.
“Soon after the emergency phase that might last for a couple of months, the most important will be the rehabilitation.
“We are sure that some countries will come forward with aid packages, but hardly anything will reach the minority Christians. Do keep us in your special prayers.”
Yunis Lal Din, leader of the Fellowship of Brethren Churches in Pakistan, told Barnabas Fund that many Christian families were facing a “desperate” situation after losing their homes and possessions.
“Many Christians were already in poor circumstances and are now doubly affected and do not know where to find help. It is great to know that brothers and sisters care so much in this time of national crisis. Thank you,” she said.
Christians make up less than 3 per cent of the population in majority-Muslim Pakistan and are often excluded from anything more than menial employment, meaning that the majority of them live in extreme poverty.
Barnabas Fund said islamisation was already gaining strength in Pakistan, where sharia law has been partially implemented, and that Christians were “likely to be neglected” where general aid is distributed.
Last year saw a sharp increase in the number of attacks on Christians in Pakistan, many under the pretext of blasphemy — a crime punishable by death. Rights groups are calling on Pakistan to repeal its controversial blasphemy laws, warning that they are being misused by extremists to settle personal vendettas with Christians.
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, said: “We greatly welcome the appeal by the DEC to help those affected by the devastating flooding in Pakistan but we would urge Christians to particularly bear in mind their marginalised brothers and sisters when considering their own giving.
“Barnabas Fund channels money exclusively from Christians through Christians to Christians who desperately need our help.
“They urgently need our assistance now and, looking to the future, will require long-term help to rebuild their homes and shattered lives.”
Pakistani Christians living in Britain have called on the British church to give financially to Christians in Pakistan working to bring relief to survivors.
Vice-Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, Wilson Chowdhry, said: “We are asking brothers and sisters up and down the country to pray for a speedy restoration of the homes and livelihoods of the affected local people.”
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
After Crawling Onto U.S. Radar, Somalia Extremists Pose Threat — But Will They Go Global?
One of the nation’s top intelligence officials was stunned by what he heard in that secret, underground facility.
Jack Tomarchio, the Department of Homeland Security’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the time, had flown from Washington to Ohio earlier that spring day for a briefing on the Buckeye State’s latest efforts against terrorism. Now, as heavy winds battered the streets above, two Ohio Homeland Security officials told him how the capitals of Ohio and Minnesota had become havens for refugees of war-torn Somalia.
“Get out of town!” Tomarchio remembers saying in surprise. “Why did they go to Minnesota? It’s freezing up there. Why don’t they go to Arizona, where it’s desert-like?”
Then the two briefers told Tomarchio they were becoming increasingly concerned about “radical mosques” in Columbus, Ohio, where imams “considered to be a little fiery” would come from Somalia and preach anti-Western messages to the growing Somali community, Tomarchio recalls about that day in 2006.
It marked one of the first times a U.S. counterterrorism official was warned that Islamic extremists in Somalia could pose a threat to the U.S. homeland — not just a threat to the Horn of Africa or U.S. interests there.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fight is on Over Another Arizona Immigration Law
State banishes teaching school students ‘overthrow of United States government’
The superintendent of the Arizona Department of Public Education says his agency will consider a refusal by the school district in Tucson to videotape its “Raza studies” classes as evidence the district is “deliberately” concealing its agenda.
The state had asked Tucson, in view of a new state law that takes effect at the end of this year that bans promoting to students “the overthrow of the United States government” and other issues, to record its “Raza” classes this fall to document what is being taught.
No, said Tucson officials.
So the state, which starting Jan. 1 can withhold 10 percent of the district’s state funding, confirmed it would cite that refusal when the dispute comes up for judicial review.
[…]
The additional law, Schlafly wrote, “bans classes that ‘promote the overthrow of the United States government’ or ‘promote resentment toward a race or class of people’ because schools should treat all pupils as individual Americans.”
She explained the issue arose because the Tucson School District offers courses in “Mexican-American studies (known locally as Raza Studies) that focus on that particular group and its influence.”
“The law doesn’t prohibit these classes so long as they are open to all students and don’t promote ethnic resentment or solidarity,” she explained. “However, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, says the basic theme of the Mexican-American studies program is that Latino students ‘were and continue to be victims of a racist American society driven by the interests of middle- and upper-class whites.‘“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: Right Divided on Sarkozy’s Immigration Policies
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — The expulsion by France of Roma who are staying illegally in the country, which started yesterday, has given scandal worldwide. However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy seems to disregard the criticism, both from France and abroad, on his energetic security policy carried out in this month of holidays. He seems unconcerned by the criticism from the side of the United Nations on the fact that he linked immigration to a lack of security, when announcing draconic measures against immigrants in his speech delivered on July 30 in Grenoble after an attack on several policemen, as if all France’s problems with crime have been caused by immigrants.
While his Ministers and spokesmen are taking pains to respond to the accusations, claiming that “everything is in line with European regulations”, Sarkozy continues on his path. The director of the European centre for the rights of Roma, Robert Kushen, has said that Sarkozy has started with the Roma to use them as scapegoats to show that he is serious about questions of law and order, while foreign newspapers do not hesitate to speak of a “Gestapo-style roundup”. Because the French President has understood that he must focus on the eternal issue of security in an attempt to unite the political right ahead of the presidential elections of 2012, facing scandals in the financial world, like l’Oreal, and disagreement within the right wing on the most scorching economic questions. That is his real and main goal.
Sarkozy has understood from the catastrophic results for the right in the regional elections in March this year that a new stage in security policies, traditionally an important issue in presidential elections, is needed to win the lost votes back. He therefore goes ahead, strengthened by the polls which show that most of the French agree with his hard line: 80% support the revocation of citizenship of foreigners who practice polygamy, or the sentence to 30 years in prison for people who kill a policeman, and 79% back the clearing out of illegal Roma camps.
This result is out of place in the country which is traditionally a sanctuary, the county of the Declaration of human rights. It is an expression of the people’s latent xenophobia, which seems unsuited for the integration needed by the immigrants, as the Algerian press and intellectuals underline while speaking of a wave of xenophobia to win back the electorate from the far-right National Front (which regularly calls for measures against immigrants), accusing Sarkozy of instigating to racial hate. The fiercest attack in France itself has been made by the leftwing weekly Marianne, under the headline “Sarkozy, le voyou de la Republique”, the Republic’s criminal.
The commotion of the speech of Grenoble was followed by the utmost diligence from the side of government members like Christian Estrosi (Industry), who proposed sanctions against mayors who fail to guarantee security in their cities. For heaven’s sake, both leftwing and rightwing mayors have flown off the handle. There is an explanation for this diligence though: there is talk of a government reshuffle this autumn, and pleasing the President has become vital. In order to ease tensions and turn the page, Sarko’, after his explosive speech on security, has recalled his government from their vacation for a meeting on the country’s real problems, the pension reform and the change of the tax system first of all. As it happens, the news was announced at the time of departure of the first airplane with Roma on board.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Unguarded Border Bridges Could be Route Into US
ACALA, Texas — On each side of a towering West Texas stretch of the $2.4 billion border fence designed to block people from illegally entering the country, there are two metal footbridges, clear paths into the United States from Mexico.
The footpaths that could easily guide illegal immigrants and smugglers across the Rio Grande without getting wet seem to be there because of what amounts to federal linguistics. While just about anyone would call them bridges, the U.S.-Mexico group that owns them calls them something else.
“Technically speaking it’s not a bridge, it’s a grade control structure,” said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission, which maintains the integrity of the 1,200-mile river border between the U.S. and Mexico. The structures under the spans help prevent the river — and therefore the international border — from shifting.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Embargo Pro-Abstinence Findings
The full results of a national study that favors abstinence education is being withheld from researchers and the public.
The taxpayer-supported survey from 2008 found that around 70 percent of parents and their teenagers believed that teens should wait until marriage to have sex. Despite release of the study’s summary and its highlight at two major public health conferences last year, the Department of Health and Human Services is withholding the full results according to Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Foundation. “When a researcher [Dr. Lisa Rue] asked the HHS for the full results, she [was told it] is not public information and it has not been released to the public and so you don’t have access to it,” relates Huber. “[I find that] a little incredulous since it was shared publicly at two different venues.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Launches Competition for Multicultural Writers as Its Sitcoms Are Branded ‘Too Middle Class’
The BBC has launched a competition to find multicultural sitcoms because the BBC is perceived to be ‘too white and middle class’.
In a new political correctness row, comedy executives have called on writers who feel their lives are under-represented to submit the first ten pages of a sitcom to the BBC.
The winner of the contest may get the chance to pen a series.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gay Vicar, 65, To ‘Marry’ Nigerian Male Model Half His Age
To former vicar Colin Coward, it is nothing short of a marriage made in heaven. But the 65-year-old is expected to raise a few traditional eyebrows when he walks down the aisle with the man in his life — a 25-year-old Nigerian model called Bobby.
Mr Coward and his African partner are due to hold a civil partnership later this year, followed by a service at the vicar’s church, St John the Baptist church in Devizes, Wiltshire.
The couple met at a Christian conference three years ago, and are planning to make their relationship official in a few weeks’ time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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