Bangladesh: ‘Our Savings Have Vanished — We’ve Lost Everything’
Angry investors take to streets as Dhaka’s stock exchange crashes. Andrew Buncombe reports.
Police in Bangladesh used tear gas and water canons to disperse angry protests by crowds of small investors after a dramatic free-fall plunge on the country’s stock market caused the authorities to suspend trading.
Hundreds of outraged investors took to the streets outside the stock exchange in the Motijheel neighbourhood of the nation’s capital after the worst plunge in the country’s history saw the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fall by 660 points, or 9.25 per cent, in less than an hour.
Chanting slogans that accused brokers and traders of manipulating stock prices and of the government of failing to properly regulate the situation, the small-scale investors smashed up cars, burned tyres and ran loose until police stepped in to break them up. There were other protests in smaller cities and towns. Four journalists were reportedly beaten by police.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Press: Bank Consortium for Spanish Bonds
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 11 — The Spanish Treasury is said to have contacted a group of banks that are prepared to purchase up to 6 billion euros of ten-year bonds, thus preventing them from having to go on the market. So reported El Mundo whereas on the markets fears are spreading over heavy placements in the Eurozone: if unsuccessful at auction, the market could hit new records for yield premiums for “outlying” countries like Spain. The leaks come two days before Thursday’s auction, in which Madrid should place up to 3 billion euros of 15-year bonds. According to the Spanish daily paper, which quotes several bank sources, the syndicate of credit institutions should be ready to go ahead with the underwriting in the next two weeks, imposing in Madrid an interest rate no lower than 5.7%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tension High on EU Spread, Italy Over 200, Spain 277
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 11 — Tension is running high again today on the yield premiums of the Eurozone with Spain at 277 basis points (near the record of 283 points of November 30) and Italy also at high levels at 204 basis points above the German ten-year bund.
Spreads are high also for Portugal (at 4123 points) and Ireland (at 629), whilst Greece is at 943 points above the German ten-year bund.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Yuan to Rise by 5 Percent Within the Year
The appreciation seems to be a gift to the United States from Hu Jintao ahead of his state visit scheduled for January 19. But the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing restrains enthusiasm: the deficit in the US-China trade balance remains high.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) — China will allow an up to 5% appreciation of the renminbi yuan reported the newspaper China Securities Journal today. The paper is not an official publication, but it is well versed in national economic policy.
The appreciation of the yuan is a major U.S. demand on China, which accuses Beijing of manipulating the value its currency to facilitate exports. For its part, Beijing has resisted raising the value to avoi higher labour costs that would lead to unemployment and social unrest. The “currency war of” has created tensions between the two superpowers.
Many analysts see China’s move as a “gift” by Hu Jintao to Barack Obama ahead of his state visit to the U.S., scheduled for January 19 next.
However, Jiang Yaoping, Chinese vice-minister of Commerce, has warned against hoping that the appreciating the yuan will act as a panacea for the U.S. economy, and says it will have very mild impact on the trade imbalance between China and the U.S.
The U.S. trade deficit with China rose by 20% in the first 10 months of last year and could reach 270 billion dollars for 2010.
According to several experts and the World Bank itself, it should be appreciated the yuan by 33% (see 07/07/2009 G8, toxic securities, US and Chinese addictions).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Rich Are Getting Richer
Increasing inequality in the United States has long been attributed to unstoppable market forces. In fact, as Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson show, it is the direct result of congressional policies that have consciously — and sometimes inadvertently — skewed the playing field toward the rich.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Peace Despite Weakness?
Two recent episodes offer an insight into a world in which the United States deliberately adopts a policy of pursuing international peace despite weakness, rather than practice what Ronald Reagan called “peace through strength.”
First, prior to and during Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ present trip to Communist China, his hosts lifted the veil of secrecy on a brand new, “fifth-generation” stealth fighter aircraft. This “J-20” is clearly intended to compete with, and perhaps defeat, America’s inventory of such planes — the F-22, whose production Mr. Gates insisted on terminating prematurely, and the F-35, whose production he is now slowing.
U.S. intelligence evidently was taken by surprise that the Chinese have made such progress in so sophisticated an area of military design and manufacturing. In part, faulty estimates about the likelihood of “peer competitors” fielding stealthy air superiority fighters and the like have been used to justify — or at least rationalize — the sorts of unilateral-disarmament-measures-via-budget-cuts that Bob Gates is affording President Obama the political cover to make…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Republicans to Temper Health-Law Repeal Rhetoric After Giffords Shooting
Republicans in Congress eager to vote to repeal President Barack Obama’s health-care law face a delicate task in tempering their rhetoric after the Arizona shooting rampage that killed six people and critically injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
House Republicans delayed a vote planned for tomorrow on rolling back the health-care overhaul while Giffords, a 40-year- old Democrat, is being treated in a Tucson hospital. When they turn back to the health law Republicans will focus on moderating their tone, strategists said, in contrast with some lawmakers’ stronger language from last year’s campaign.
“There’s going to be a natural cautiousness,” said pollster David Winston, who advises House Republican leaders. “Members are thinking through how they can have an effective debate without it being disagreeable.”
House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman said yesterday the Ohio Republican’s priority is to keep the discourse steady and civil.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama Declares France Biggest Ally in Blow to Special Relationship With Britain
Barack Obama has declared that France is America’s greatest ally, undermining Britain’s Special Relationship with the U.S.
The President risked offending British troops in Afghanistan by saying that French president Nicolas Sarkozy is a ‘stronger friend’ than David Cameron.
The remarks, during a White House appearance with Mr Sarkozy, will reinforce the widely-held view in British diplomatic circles that Mr Obama has less interest in the Special Relationship than any other recent American leader.
Mr Obama said: ‘We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people.’…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Copts Demonstrate in Rome, We Want Justice
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 10 — Eleven coffins placed on the ground, flowers and red grave lights, singing and praying. More than a thousand orthodox Copts, according to police estimates, demonstrated yesterday afternoon in Rome to ask for justice and express their grief. The demonstration took place in front of the ‘Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri’ Church, in memory of the victims who fell one year ago at Naga Hammadi and the victims of this New Year’s Day in Alexandria, Egypt. Banners written in Arabic and Italian and slogans asked for the intervention of the international community, of the Italian government and showed the people’s anger. Many wondered “where is the world’s conscience when faced with the events in Egypt?”. Adults, children and entire families shouted together “we are no cannon fodder”, holding up photos of the faces and the mangled bodies of the victims of the attack that took place on December 31, in which 23 people were killed and around 80 injured. “We are here”, said the bishop of the Coptic diocese of Rome and Turin, Mons. Barnaba El Soryany, “to ask for help for a second time. One year after Naga Hammadi we are again demonstrating to show our pain”. Many faithful from Turin, Florence, Genoa and Reggio Emilia joined the Copts in Rome in their suffering and anger, as well as members of the Ethiopian Church in the capital who prayed together with the Copts for the repose of the dead. “We don’t want to be afraid any more”, explained the 21-year-old student Camelia from Turin, “we ask the Egyptian government, the Italian government, the associations and the international community to wake up. We want justice to be equal for all Egyptian citizens”. This concept was expressed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, who yesterday pointed out in a speech to the magistrate for the “Day of Justice” that “the Egyptian magistrates have never made a distinction” between Copts and Muslims.
Yesterday some members of the Roman Islamic community were present at Piazza della Repubblica, despite the fact that bishop El Soryany had refused the presence of other religious communities in the demonstrations, Muslims in particular. “We respect the pain of Egypt’s Christian community and we understand that this is a crucial moment”, said Omar Camilletti, of the Grand Mosque in Rome, “but we are here to demonstrate our closeness and the closeness, we believe, of the entire Muslim community in Italy”. The Muslims stayed apart from the main demonstration for reasons of public order. “They have asked us to stay outside the security cordon”, added Khalid Chaouki, a representative of the Young Muslims of Italy who sent an open letter to bishop El Soryany in the past days with the title “Hand in hand against extremism”. In answer to this initiative, the leader of the diocese of Rome and Turin said, surrounded by his faithful, that if the Muslims want to organise a demonstration of solidarity with the Copts, “we will go out into the streets on their sides”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat Ups Chrysler Stake to 25%, Eyes Reaching 51%
Tension in Turin ahead of Mirafiori vote
(ANSA) — Detroit, January 10 — Fiat has increased its shareholding in Chrysler to 25% and may take a majority stake in the American carmaker by the end of the year, CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday.
Fiat acquired 20% and management control of Chrysler when it was threatened with bankruptcy in 2009 in exchange for sharing its cutting-edge green and small-car technology, as well as access to Fiat’s sales and service networks in Europe and Latin America.
“There is a possibility we will go up to 51% by the end of the year,” Marchionne told reporters at the Detroit Motor Show.
Earlier this month Marchionne said it was “possible, not probable” that the stake would climb to 51%, while stressing there was no plan for a merger between Fiat and Chrysler.
Analysts say Fiat may have to pay back some of the state aid Chrysler received when it was threatened with collapse in 2009 before they can take their investment beyond the 50% threshold.
Chrysler is expected to show an operating profit for 2010 and return a net profit in 2011.
Chairman John Elkann also spoke about Fiat’s future in Detroit, saying the group had no intention of selling any of its prize assets, amid reports Volkswagen are interested in buying Ferrari or Alfa Romeo.
“We’re keeping a tight grip on everything,” the Agnelli family heir said.
“We won’t sell even if they offer us piles of money”.
Back in Italy, meanwhile, tension is growing ahead of Friday’s workers’ vote on Fiat’s contested production deal for its historic Mirafiori plant in Turin, where intimidating graffiti targeting Marchionne has appeared.
A red five-pointed star associated with Italy’s Red Brigade terrorist group was found daubed on an advertising hoarding Monday after others appearing at the weekend, including one telling Marchionne to “screw yourself”.
The Mirafiori deal is the second separate, factory accord outside Italy’s long-established system of nationally negotiated collective contracts that the carmaker has struck with most unions after one for its Pomigliano d’Arco plant, near Naples.
Fiat says it needs such deals to reduce strikes and absenteeism and boost productivity and efficiency at its Italian plants in order to press ahead with plans to invest some 20 billion euros in Italy over the next five.
But the hard-line FIOM union is staunchly opposed, arguing these agreements violate Italian labour laws, describing them as “an unprecedented attack on democracy and on people’s rights”.
FIOM, which is part of Italy’s biggest and most left-wing union confederation CGIL, has called an eight-hour strike on January 28 against the deals.
Similar to the Pomigliano deal, the Mirafiori accord signed with moderate unions will enable Fiat to increase the number of shifts and cut benefits, while limiting workers’ right to strike.
Marchionne has said Fiat will drop its plans to invest in Mirafiori if workers fail to back the deal and on Monday he warned them he had “very many alternatives” to the Turin factory.
“Last Friday I was in Brampton, Canada, to launch the Chrysler Charger and they invited me to invest there and increase capacity. There’s great appreciation for the investments we have made there,” he said.
“They are waiting to start a third shift. It’s incredible that people are willing to work six days a week (there).
“In Europe this is a problem. Brampton is one option, but there are lots of others all over, such as Sterling Heights (in the United States)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat: Italy’s Biggest Union Clash Before Mirafiori Vote
CGIL chief accuses carmaker of ‘insulting’ the nation
(ANSA) — Rome, January 11 — Fiat and Italy’s biggest trade union confederation CGIL crossed swords Tuesday as tension continued to rise ahead of Friday’s workers’ vote on a contested production deal for its historic Mirafiori plant in Turin.
The deal is the second factory-specific accord the carmaker has agreed with moderate unions to enable it to increase shifts, cut benefits and limit workers’ right to strike, among other things.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says such deals are needed to boost productivity and efficiency at Italian plants in order to press ahead with plans to invest some 20 billion euros in Italy over the next five years.
But the left-wing CGIL and its engineering workers’ arm FIOM are staunchly opposed to these agreements, made outside Italy’s long-established system of nationally negotiated collective contracts, branding them an attack on labour rights. CGIL chief Susanna Camusso said Tuesday that Marchionne “insults the country every day” with his justifications for Fiat’s new approach to industrial relations. “Fiat has got its timing wrong and its answers wrong. It reduces workers rights and their faith in their prospects,” she said.
Camusso added that the centre-right government’s failure to intervene made it a Fiat “supporter and promoter of the reduction of rights”. Marchionne hit back soon after, saying Fiat was trying to usher in necessary changes out of “affection” for its native land. “We are absolutely convinced that the way industry is run in Italy must be renewed on the basis of our international experience,” Marchionne told reporters at the Detroit motor show.
“We are trying to change a series of long-standing relations that have guided the Italian system. In this sense, we are guilty, as we are trying to change this system, update it and make it competitive.
“You can’t mistake that for an insult to Italy. We love Italy and that’s why we are trying to change it. It’s a superhuman effort that no one else would make”. Marchionne has said Fiat will drop its plans to invest in Mirafiori if workers fail to back the deal and warned there are “very many alternatives” to the Turin factory outside Italy.
FIOM has called an eight-hour strike on January 28 against the Mirafiori deal, which follows a similar one for Fiat’s Pomigliano d’Arco plant, near Naples.
Several red five-pointed stars associated with Italy’s Red Brigade terrorist group have been found daubed on advertising hoardings in Turin over the last few days, including one telling Marchionne to “screw yourself”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Left Remembers Luxemburg and Liebknecht Amid Communism Row
Leaders of The Left party met in Berlin on Sunday for the traditional laying of a wreath in memory of the murdered socialists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht amid in-fighting over whether communism was still their aim.
Joint heads of The Left Gesine Lötzsch and Klaus Ernst were present, as were head of the party’s parliamentary party Gregor Gysi, former party chairman Oskar Lafontaine and Berlin party chairman Klaus Lederer as well as parliamentary deputy president Petra Pau.
The wreath laying, to commemorate Luxemburg and Liebknecht, was overshadowed by the row over comments made by Lötzsch last week suggesting she wanted to take the party and eventually the country towards communism.
“We can only find the route to communism if we make a start and try it out, whether in opposition or in government,” she wrote in an article headed “Ways to Communism” in the Junge Welt newspaper.
This had attracted the ire of Gysi who distanced himself from the comments over the weekend, telling party comrades in Hamburg on Saturday, “We have very consciously decided not to be a communist party, and will work not towards communism but towards democratic socialism.”
By Sunday Lötzsch was back in line, saying the communism comment was a question of interpretation, and stressing that the party was working towards democratic socialism.
She rejected criticism from conservatives who pounced upon her article as evidence that The Left party was anti-constitutional, saying such allegations were absurd.
Lafontaine also criticised the attacks on the party, describing them as a malicious campaign.
Gysi simply said it was time to concentrate on other, more important topics. Lötzsch had cancelled a podium discussion planned for Saturday evening during which she was due to talk with former leftist RAF terrorist Inge Viett and German Communist Party chairwoman Bettina Jürgensen.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Condemns Orthodox Bishop’s Anti-Muslim Remarks
The Greek government is condemning anti-Islamic comments by a senior Orthodox Church official, following protests from the country’s Muslim community.
Government spokesman George Petalotis says the remarks by Serapheim, bishop of Piraeus, “foment racial and religious hatred.”
Commenting on the New Year’s Day bombing of a congregation in Alexandria, Egypt, the bishop described Islam as “a catastrophic worship” that’s incompatible with Greece’s constitution.
Serapheim urged the government to scrap the planned construction of a mosque in Athens for the city’s growing Muslim population…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 4,600 Hirings at Pomigliano From January — Wage Rises Take Effect
ROME — As observers wait for the referendum at the Mirafiori plant, agreement has been reached over the new contract for Fiat’s Pomigliano d’Arco factory, where the new Panda will be produced. Under the contract, signed by Fiat and all the unions with the exception of FIOM, the new company at Pomigliano will take on 4,600 employees and raise wages. The rift separating CGIL engineering workers from the other unions is growing. Yesterday, there were harsh exchanges as the confrontation continued to impact on left-of-centre parties, generating new splits. The Democratic Party (PD) is in favour of the agreement while more radical groups support FIOM.
According to Maurizio Sacconi, the employment minister, the contract “is driven by practical needs, not ideological projects”. Mr Sacconi thinks “a discontinuity in the system of industrial relations is useful, especially where the old political and cultural structure based on relentless social conflict has produced low salaries and low productivity”. CISL union secretary Raffaele Bonanni said: “While one minority union is only thinking about conflict and organising strikes, all the other unions are thinking about how to rescue the workers and their families from uncertainty”…
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi: Communists Use Magistrates to Eliminate Me
(AGI) Cologno Monzese — Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that the communists, “use the magistrates to eliminate me.” Speaking over the telephone for Signorini’s program which will air on Channel 5 this evening, Berlusconi said, “the communists haven’t changed and used the magistrates close to them because they consider me an obstacle to eliminate in order to come to power.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Knox Film to be Screened in U.S. Next Month
American student appealing conviction for Kercher murder
(ANSA) — Rome, January 10 — A controversial film on American student Amanda Knox and her trial for Meredith Kercher’s murder will be screened on television in the United States next month.
Both Knox, one of three people convicted for the murder of her former flatmate, and Kercher’s family are against the movie and another British production that is in the pipeline. The US film, Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy, will be broadcast by the Lifetime network on Feb 21 with rising star Hayden Panettiere playing Knox, whose good looks led to her frequently being called ‘foxy Knoxy’.
It was shot in the autumn in Seattle, Knox’s home town, Rome and Perugia, the central Italian city where British exchange student Kercher was found with her throat cut on November 2, 2007, allegedly after a drunken sex game went wrong.
Meredith’s father John Kercher described a film based on his daughter’s death as “ a horrible thought” while one of Knox’s lawyers, Carlo Della Vedova, said it was “very inopportune”.
Knox, who has many supporters in her American homeland who say she is the innocent victim of a miscarriage of justice, refused to meet Panettiere to help her with the part.
Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are currently appealing respective 26-year and 25-year sentences, with the next hearing due to take place on January 22.
Legal experts say that, even if Knox and Sollecito are acquitted in the first of two appeals granted by the Italian judicial system, the prosecution will then take the case to the supreme court.
The third person convicted of the murder, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, has exhausted the appeals process, ending with a 16-year term.
Panettiere said she was still unsure about the truth of the tale she put to film.
“I can’t say I have an opinion. That’s why the story is so interesting,” she said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever know”. British director Michael Winterbottom also plans to make a film on the murder, reportedly with Colin Firth playing an investigative reporter.
“When you read about the case, there seems to be no convincing explanation for what happened,” Winterbottom said recently.
“We are certainly not going to be saying this person is innocent, or that person is guilty. But we will be asking: Is this system of justice fair?”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope States Western Tolerance Hides Loss of Identity
(AGI) Vatican City — Speaking to the Diplomatic Corps, the Pope said that in the West “we are facing threats against full religious freedom” referring to “those countries in which pluralism and tolerance are considered more important, while religion suffers increasing alienation.” According to Benedict XVI, one should condemn permissive legislation in Family Law, abortion and end of life issues, that today the Pope referred to as “attempts to oppose the right to religious freedom, in the name of new rights that are really the expression of selfish desires and have no foundation in human nature.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Serious Concerns on Turkish-Dutch Youth
The position of Turkish-Dutch youngsters is “extremely worrying.” Their bonds with Dutch society are deteriorating at a rapid rate, as a result of which they threaten to land up in social isolation, says a group of successful Turks. The group consists of 10 Dutch Turks working in business and social organisations. They have so far approached the government anonymously to discuss the problem, but say it is not listening to them. For this reason, they are now seeking publicity via publication of an open letter to De Volkskrant. A growing group of Turkish-Dutch youngsters is suffering from psychological problems, relapsing into apathy, is vulnerable to Islamic radicalisation and slipping into the criminal world, says the group. “Our concerns are not being taken seriously,” says Kadir Tas, one of those involved. Aydin Daldal, one of the other signatories, says the Turkish community is very much inwards-oriented. In the letter, the group makes a strong call to “government, teachers, the business community and Turkish organisations” to concern themselves with the youngsters. “They must be given the feeling that their future lies in the Netherlands.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Muslim Council Renews Support for Leader
Vice President Moustafa Kharraki told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) on the web on Monday that the decision was preceded by a discussion of what has happened recently, but that there has been no internal criticism of Benaouda.
“Neither the board nor the member organisations have called for her resignation. There is no reason for us to question her credibility,” he told SvD.
The board has concluded that Benaouda cannot be blamed for what someone else has done.
“We feel that she has done nothing, even if it happens to be a person she is related to,” said Kharraki.
At the end of December, five people were arrested on suspicion of planning an attack against Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten’s editorial office in Copenhagen.
One of those arrested was Munir Awad, 29, who has two children with the Benaouda’s daughter.
Benaouda told newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) that she first learned of the arrest when a journalist called her.
“I asked my daughter and when we looked for him, he was not there,” she recalled.
Benaouda said that if the allegations against Awad are true, it would be surprising that her daughter did not know anything and that she should have known.
At the same time, she said that the relatives of the extremists were often kept out of such plans.
Awad has previously been imprisoned abroad on two occasions, once in Ethiopia and once in Pakistan.
Awad has a debt with the Swedish debt office after the country’s foreign affairs ministry paid for his repatriation from Ethiopia. It remains unclear how he could have afforded the trip to Pakistan…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
The Danish Witch-Hunt Against the Truth-Tellers
Over the past week or so, Britain’s media have finally been forced to confront the fact that Muslim pimping gangs in the UK have been abducting, drugging, raping and abusing mainly white girls, along with Hindus and Sikhs, and further ‘grooming’ them for sex in a clear display of hostility towards ‘unbelievers’. Hitherto this phenomenon was not only kept from the public by a paralysed media class which refuses to confront Islamic outrages, but it appears that the police have often dragged their feet in pursuing such gangs as a result of the same politically correct paralysis. I wrote about this in the Mail yesterday.
In Denmark, however, a campaigner for freedom of speech is actually to go on trial later this month for daring to bring this kind of thing to light. Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society and The International Free Press Society. A while back the DFPS kindly presented me with an award for my work. When I met Hedegaard I observed that, in campaigning against hate speech laws which censored and suppressed necessary discussion of the Islamic threat to free speech and other human rights in the west, he was himself running the risk of being silenced by Denmark’s thought police.
This has now duly come about. The Danish public prosecutor is clearly determined to stamp out this elementary human right by silencing all such discussion. First, a Danish MP, Jesper Langballe, was convicted of hate speech last month for endorsing Hedegaard’s comments about ‘honour’ violence and sexual abuse within Muslim families. In his statement in court, published here on the website of Sappho, the DFPS magazine, Langballe wrote about the Orwellian Danish legal rules which effectively convicted him in advance of his trial, causing him to choose to ‘confess’ rather than participate in such a totalitarian ‘circus’.
Now Lars Hedegaard faces a similar circus. Later this month, he is to stand trial for ‘racism’ after he stated about Muslim ‘honour’ violence within families:
They rape their own children.
In vain did Hedegaard explain the following day that obviously he had not meant by this that all Muslims engage in such practices, any more than saying ‘Americans make good films’ means that all Americans make good films; in vain did he adduce copious evidence of concern — including from Muslim victims themselves — about the amount of sexual and ‘honour’ violence, including rape and incest, within Muslim families. None of this made any difference. Hedegaard is about to be burned at the Danish legal stake for his heresy. And both he and Langballe also face further libel suits about such remarks.
As far as I can see, these developments in Denmark have been totally ignored in the English-speaking media. So much for the liberals’ fetish of free speech — so noisily defended whenever Christianity, America, Israel or the west are being demonised and libelled; so much for the feminists’ professed concern for the rights of women and the obscenity of rape and sexual abuse. Two men who actually stand up for these principles are being persecuted for doing so, while the so-called progressive world is either helping pile up the faggots for their fire or looking the other way…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: EU Condemns Violence and Dissident Arrests
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JANUARY10 — The European Union “strongly condemns” the violence that is raging in Tunisia these days, and asks for the immediate release of the dissidents that are being held. The statement was made today by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.
Ahead of a statement that Ashton will make in the coming hours, a spokesman of the foreign policy chief underlined the EU’s “concern” about the situation in Tunisia and offered his heartfelt condolences with the victims of the clashes. Brussels also asks to end the violence and to resume the dialogue with employer and worker representatives. Ashton points out that the relationship between Tunisia and the EU requires a strong commitment to human and fundamental rights.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Al-Qaeda to Target Royal Wedding? — Israel News, Ynetnews
Al-Qaeda intends to carry out a massive terrorist attack during Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, a senior official in British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office told Yedioth Ahronoth Monday.
According to the source, the British intelligence service has collected evidence showing that the terror organization plans to sabotage the royal wedding, perhaps staging the attack along the route the couple plans to take on their wedding day. Local police is set to close the route three days prior to the event in order to prevent such a disruption.
According to the intelligence information, the attack would be carried out by al-Qaeda operatives already located in the UK…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gang of Nine Asian Men Arrested for ‘Grooming White Teenage Girls for Sex’
A gang of Asian men has been arrested over claims they plied more than a dozen underage white girls with drink and drugs before turning them into sex slaves.
The vulnerable girls — some as young as 13 — say they were forced to work the streets as prostitutes and hand over money to the men.
The nine men — eight of them Asian — were questioned by detectives after officers swooped on a number of addresses.
The arrests in Rochdale, Greater Manchester took place shortly before Christmas and are the result of a major inquiry into the sexual exploitation of teenage girls by men since 2008.
They come just days after a nationwide investigation was launched following a string of disturbing cases across the Midlands and the north involving men of Pakistani heritage grooming mainly white girls.
Last week Abid Saddique, 27, and Mohammed Liaqat, 28, were jailed for a total of 19 years after targeting underage girls.
The sexual predators — both British-born fathers of Pakistani origin who had arranged marriages in that country — cruised the streets of Derby in either a Range Rover or a BMW looking for vulnerable young girls to prey on.
The girls were ‘chatted up’ by the men at the roadside and invited to go for drives in the car — one of which was dubbed the ‘Rape Rover’ — where they were plied with vodka or cocaine before being taken to hotel rooms, parks or houses to be sexually abused.
The case prompted controversy after former Home Secretary Jack Straw described some of the white girl victims as ‘easy meat’ for gangs who trawl the streets looking for sex.
Research shows there have been 17 sex gang prosecutions since 1997 — 14 in the last three years — involving girls aged 11-16.
Last year a middle-class, privately-educated schoolgirl — also from Rochdale — was rescued after being forced to act as a sex slave to a gang of Asian men.
The troubled 14-year-old was targeted with vodka and cigarettes after being spotted by the gang wandering the streets.
She was made to have sex with a string of men before being pimped out as a white under age prostitute in Manchester city centre.
The girl was eventually saved when she flagged down a passing car whilst being chased down the street by one of the men.
Nine men — all Asian — were later jailed after admitting a series of serious sexual offences against the teenage girl including facilitating child prostitution.
The girl, who was forced to testify in a series of separate trials, is now working to put her life back together in a rehabilitation unit.
Retired police chief Mick Gradwell claimed pressure not to appear ‘institutionally racist’ led to a culture of silence over Asian sex gangs.
Mr Gradwell, a former detective superintendent in Lancashire, said: ‘You have girls being abused and raped and yet the most senior officers are refusing to comment on it. On what other subject would you get that?
‘How many young girls have been abused and raped because of the reluctance of the authorities to say exactly what is happening?
‘I worked on operations which had been set up to tackle, amongst other things, an element of Asian men who saw white girls as easy meat, as Jack Straw rightly put it. It was a persistent issue.’
He said: ‘Some white girls are attracted to groups of Asian men because some are quite wealthy, shower them with gifts and drive round in fancy cars,
‘The main pressure police have is being called institutionally racist if they highlight a crime trend like this. There’s a fantastic reluctance to be absolutely straight because some people may take such offence.
‘Rather than concentrating to solve and prevent it the bigger issue becomes ‘Can we point out a crime trend in an ethnic minority’?’
In the latest inquiry detectives have arrested the men aged between 20-40 after 14 underage white girls claimed to have been targeted for sex.
The girls — several of whom are missing from home — said they had been plied with drink and drugs then taken to flats and houses for sex.
Some of the girls were also said to have been forced into prostitution and passed amongst various other men.
The suspects — who were all bailed until March — were arrested on suspicion of child sex and prostitution offences.
In the latest inquiry senior officers at Greater Manchester Police have held a high level ‘Gold’ meeting to discuss the welfare of the 14 young girls.
Chief Superintendent John O’Hare said: ‘This is an extremely complex investigation and the welfare of the victims is absolutely paramount.
‘Both GMP and Rochdale Council have working strategies in place to combat child exploitation and will work together to prosecute people who target vulnerable children and young people.’
Cheryl Eastwood, director for Children’s Services at Rochdale Council said: ‘The service has taken necessary steps to ensure appropriate support is in place for any young person who may be affected as a result of these arrests.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: More Than One Million Crimes Not on Police Database
More than one million crimes, including murders and rapes, are not on the Police National Computer because forces are refusing to pay a fee to obtain the criminal history of offenders, a watchdog warned today.
A fifth of all crimes committed before 1995 are not on the national database because police must pay £100 to access each one from microfiche.
It means suspects could have slipped through the net or offenders have been handed softer sentences because the police and courts were unaware of their full criminal past.
The revelation has “profound implications” for public safety and puts police operations at risk, the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary warned.
And yet employers may be handed the details because bodies doing criminal record checks for employees are not charged.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nine Arrested in Teenager Sex Exploitation Inquiry
Nine men have been arrested as part of a police investigation into sexual exploitation of teenage girls in Greater Manchester.
They were held on suspicion of rape, inciting child prostitution, allowing a premises to be used for prostitution and sexual activity with a child.
The Asian men, aged between 20 and 40 from Rochdale and Heywood, were arrested on 21 December.
They have been released on police bail pending further inquiries.
The arrests were the result of an inquiry launched in 2008 into the sexual exploitation of teenage girls.
A Greater Manchester Police (GMP) statement read: “It is our policy not to confirm the ethnicity of people arrested unless it is relevant to the crime — in this case it isn’t.”
‘Vulnerable children’
Ch Sup John O’Hare, from GMP, said: “I hope this action shows the communities of Rochdale that we take the issue of sexual exploitation of children extremely seriously.
“This is an extremely complex investigation and the welfare of the victims is absolutely paramount.
“Both GMP and Rochdale Council have working strategies in place to combat child exploitation and will work together to prosecute people who target vulnerable children and young people.
“Child sex exploitation is something that parents and carers everywhere should be aware of…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Negotiations With Kuwait on Some Large Projects
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, JANUARY 10 — Serbia’s Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac said there are ongoing negotiations with Kuwait to overhaul their Yugoslav-made M-84 tanks and for the construction industry to work on some large projects, like the military hospital in Libya, reports Tanjug news agency.
“This year is extremely important for the defence and the related industry because we wish to close more deals,” he stated, adding that the 2010 defence industry contracts totalled about USD1.2 billion.
The 2011 plans mostly refer to “the overhaul and modernization of the tanks in Kuwait, but we also wish to provide work for our construction industry and do large projects, like the construction of the military hospital in Libya,” he remarked.
The overhaul job is being negotiated, but the Serbian defence industry has definitely proven its potential, he stated, adding that it would serve to integrate the eastern and western defence industries.
“I believe we can get that contract, and it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the deadlines,” Sutanovac argued, adding that the job puts Serbia back on the map as a small but very strong country when it comes to the defence industry.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Nuncio: Pope Not Interfering, He Defends All Believers
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, JANUARY 7 — With his recent declarations regarding the tragic attack on the Church of the Two Saints in Alexandria, Benedict XVI “clearly” does not encourage “interference in the domestic matters of any State but appeals to everyone, individuals and governments, to respect the religious faiths and practices of the different communities and to thus promote harmonious and peaceful societies.” This is what the Papal Nuncio in Egypt, Monsignor Michael L.
Fitzgerald, has repeated in a note reported today by the religious information service.
In the text, the Holy See representative runs through the main passages of the speeches by the Pope at the January 1 mass, from the Angelus on January 2 and the World Day of Peace Message, which caused reaction from the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, who spoke of “an unacceptable interference in the affairs of Egypt.” According to Monsignor Fitzgerald, “two things” emerge from the Pope’s words: “the first is the acknowledgement that the attack against the Christians has repercussions for the whole population and the second is the appeal to respond to the attack in a non-violent way.” At the same time, the note reads, Benedict XVI “has urged people not to give in to dejection and resignation when faced with the negative forces of selfishness and of violence, underlining how words are not enough, but that there is a need for concrete and constant action by the heads of nations, adding also that every person must be filled with the spirit of peace.” In his World Day of Peace Message, explains the Nuncio, in addition to calling attention to the fact that Christians are the religious group that is most persecuted because of their faith, the Pope defends “religion and all followers” with words “that do not regard just Christians but all religions.” The note from the Nunciature in Egypt was welcomed favourably by the spokesman of Al-Azhar, Mohamed al-Refaa Tahtawy, whose statements were reported by Egyptian sites: “if the Pope says that he is not interfering in the affairs of Egypt and supports the Egyptian government’s position, we welcome his statement.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Church Massacre; Imam Al Azhar: No External Meddling
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JANUARY 11 — No to any interference from the outside in the internal affairs of the Muslim countries “under any pretext”. So said the Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, according to the spokesperson for one of the largest centres of Sunni theology, Mohammed Refaa al-Tahtawi. The comments follow the speech made by Pope Benedict XVI to the accredited diplomatic corps within Vatican City, in which he urged Middle Eastern governments to protect their Christian minorities. “Every country has the right to approve laws to protect national and civil security” the Imam stated. “With all due respect for the statements made by Benedict XVI, we affirm that the protection of Christians is in internal matter to be guaranteed by the state as each citizen has the same rights as any other”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Govt ‘Recalls Ambassador to Holy See’ Amid Row
Cairo, 11 Jan. (AKI) — Egypt is recalling its Vatican envoy for consultations, the foreign ministry (photo) said on Tuesday, cited by Arabic satellite TV network Al-Arabiya.
The the government views as “interference” in its affairs remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI voicing support for the Copts since the deadly New Year’s Eve attack on a Coptic Christian church in northern Egypt.
“Egypt asked its ambassador in the Vatican to come to Cairo for consultations after the Vatican’s new statements that touch on Egyptian affairs and which Egypt considers an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki was quoted as saying in a statement.
“Cairo is keen to communicate with the Vatican after its statements following the terrorist incident in Alexandria that took place earlier this month,” the statement added.
Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly expressed solidarity with the Copts and called on world leaders to protect them in the aftermath of the church bombing that killed 23 people and injured nearly 80 others as worshippers emerged from midnight mass in Alexandria.
The pontiff in an address in Rome on 2 January deplored the Alexandria attack as a “vile gesture”. He issued fresh condemnation of the attack and the insecurity faced by minorities in Egypt and elsewhere in a speech on religious freedom which he gave Monday to diplomats in Rome.
“In Alexandria, terrorism brutally struck Christians as they prayed in church. This succession of attacks is yet another sign of the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities,” Benedict said in the speech.
Copts have been previously been targeted in Egypt and the Alexandria attack followed an October bombing of a cathedral in the Iraqi capital Baghdad that killed 58 people including two priests and injured scores.
The Baghdad blast was claimed by an Al-Qaeda linked group and the Egyptian government has said it suspects the Alexandria blast was the work of an foreign extremist plot.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Christian Shot Dead and Several Others Injured in Train Attack
Salamalout, 11 Jan. (AKI) — An elderly Coptic Christian man was shot dead and five other people were injured when an unidentified gunman on Tuesday boarded a northbound train in Upper Egypt and opened fire on passengers, security and medical officials said, cited by daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.
An unnamed security source was cited as telling Al-Masry Al-Youm that police had identified the victim as Fathy Ghattas, 71, from Cairo’s middle-class Zeitoun neighborhood.
The paper cited the same source as saying investigators were probing reports that the gunman may have been a policeman.
Police arrested the man as he attempted to flee the scene, according to security officials.
Officials cited by the paper said the gunman had boarded the Cairo-bound train at the town of Samalout in Egypt’s Minya province, roughly 260 kilometres south of Cairo.
The gunman allegedly checked passengers for the green cross traditionally tattooed on the wrists of Coptic Christians in Egypt. After identifying several Copts, he killed one of them and injured five others, several of them Christians, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
Other local media reports differed on the dynamics of the shootings, with some suggesting they were random and others that they followed a disagreement between Muslim and Christian passengers on the train.
Al-Masry Al-Youm said Egypt’s state news agency Mena had confirmed the incident and reported that police were currently questioning the alleged gunman.
The motive for the gun attack was not immediately known, although the incident came less than two weeks after a suicide bomber killed 23 Christians and wounded nearly 80 others outside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, some 250 km north of the capital Cairo.
Egypt announced earlier on Tuesday that it was recalling its ambassador to the Vatican over Pope Benedict XVI’s comments urging the country to protect its Christian minority in the wake of the bombing.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
One Egyptian Christian Shot Dead on Train
Violence comes less than two weeks after a church was bombed
CAIRO — One Egyptian Christian was shot dead on a train on Tuesday and at least three others were injured, medical and security sources said, less than two weeks after a church was bombed in Egypt’s deadliest sectarian attack in years.
It was not immediately clear if the shooting incident was religiously motivated.
Mariam Salah, a doctor at a hospital in southern Egypt, said the institute was treating five injured Christians. She said one of them told her a sixth Christian was shot dead.
A security source confirmed one had been shot dead but said three were wounded.
The latest violence comes as Egypt dismissed Pope Benedict’s call for more protection of Christian minorities as “unacceptable interference” on Tuesday. In response, Egypt summoned its Vatican ambassador back to Cairo for consultation…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Opinion: Tunisia’s Youth Have No Prospects
Youth protests in Tunisia and Algeria have led to a number of deaths in recent days. According to Rainer Sollich, rising prices are only partly to blame: neither country is offering their citizens realistic prospects.
Many Europeans still associate Algeria with violence and instability — and Tunisia with cheap package holidays under the palm trees.
But this distinction is highly misleading and hides a decisive similarity: in both of these North African countries the stability of the regimes is being fundamentally challenged by angry protests by its citizens.
Lacking hope
The situation is explosive in the truest sense of the word. It’s not just a few crazed fundamentalists who are taking to the streets — but angry members of the population, mainly young people under 35 years of age. In both countries people have died in the protests, and in both countries the security forces appear to be out of their depth — the situation could escalate.
The issue isn’t just about the sharply rising cost of food. It’s about the lack of jobs, even for well-qualified academics; it’s about corruption, a failed economic policy — indeed, it’s about the lack of hope for a whole generation. And therefore it’s a protest against two systems that can no longer deliver any realistic life prospects to their citizens.
In Algeria there is understandable anger that the rich resources in the country still have not filtered down to the rest of the population. Tunisia has imposed huge restrictions on the freedom of its citizens for decades, as well as attempting to censor the media.
Regimes with no ideas
Despite that the protests have found a platform in online social networks. They appear to have taken hold in both countries, and could incite protest movements in other countries in the region.
The regimes of the two aging presidents, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, are totally clueless as to how to handle this situation. They are relying simply on hackneyed appeals, and on their security apparatus.
As its much richer neighbor, Europe is more than indirectly affected by the pressing social problems in the Maghreb. Therefore it is surprising that Europe has hardly commented on the situation.
It’s no secret that many of the dissatisfied young people in Algeria and Tunisia would rather emigrate to France or Germany given half the chance. The pressure is increasing, both within the Maghreb and in the direction of Europe. However, the European Union can’t just deal with the problem by erecting taller and taller fences.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: ‘V for Vendetta’ Masks in Capital’s High School
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 10 — On January 8, students at Tunis’s Bourguiba high school expressed their solidarity with the protests underway by wearing the masks of Anonymous, the hacker network which launched “Operation Tunisia” last week against “government censorship” on news of street protests.
Photos of the event, published on the Facebook page of the high school, show dozens of teenagers seated in the school courtyard wearing Anonymous masks (inspired by the protagonist of “V for Vendetta”) and waving Tunisian flags. (
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Closes Schools, Universities as UN Calls for Dialog
The death toll in civil unrest in Tunisia has risen to 21, as several more people died in clashes with the police. Human rights organisations say the death toll could be far higher.
Tunisian authorities have reported more people have been killed in the worst civil unrest for decades, bringing the official total since last week to 21.
Protests have centered on the town of Kasserine, where the Tunisian interior ministry said there was “violence, arson, people attacking police stations armed with Molotov cocktails and iron bars.”
The protests have been sparked by high unemployment and have continued despite a pledge by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to create 300,000 jobs before the end of 2012.
Human rights groups say more people have been killed in the clashes, with some claiming the figure is double that of the official toll.
However Tunisian Communications Minister Samir Labidi said “figures given by television and agencies which talk about 40 or 50 are totally false.”
International concern
The European Union and United Nations have expressed concern about the growing unrest, as President Ben Ali comes under increased pressure to control the violence.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for restraint and full respect for free expression.
“The secretary-general is concerned about the escalation of violent clashes between security forces and protesters in Tunisia and the resulting deaths and injuries,” Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York Monday.
“[Ban] calls for restraint and urges all parties to seek to resolve differences through dialogue,” Nesirky added.
The European Union also called for calm and the respect of “fundamental freedoms.”
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called for the “immediate release from detention of bloggers, journalists, lawyers and other people who were detained, who were peacefully demonstrating in Tunisia.”
Former colonial power France has also called for restraint.
“We deplore the violence, which caused casualties, and call for calm,” said Bernard Valero, spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.
Trying to regain control
Students have been among those taking part in the riots. The Tunisian government ordered the indefinite closure of all schools and universities on Monday.
Riot police on Monday reportedly surrounded a university campus in Tunis to stop hundreds of students from protesting in the street outside.
Ben Ali blamed the riots on “gangs of thugs” taking orders from “foreign parties.” He said violence would absolutely not be tolerated.
Facing widespread unrest primarily in the provinces, the government deployed military forces on the streets in the worst-hit areas late on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel-European Diplomats Write: East Jerusalem the Capital of Palestine
A confidential report signed by 25 European diplomats based in East Jerusalem and Ramallah suggests on banning “violent settlers” entry into Europe, and the boycott of Israeli products that come from East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) — A confidential report written by European Union diplomatic representatives in East Jerusalem and Ramallah suggests that European countries should consider East Jerusalem as of now as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The news was published on the front page of the Israeli daily Haaretz.
The report is signed by 25 consuls and other diplomatic staff, and was sent last month to the EU Commission for Foreign policy and Security. Apparently it has not been made public because of its delicacy.
The petitioners also recommend to the Commission other measures relating to the eastern part of the city. Among suggestions, the refusal of European Union government personalities and politicians to visit the offices of the Israeli government that are beyond the “Green Line” that separates the western part of Jerusalem from the east, and the refusal to make use of Israeli “security” in the Old City and East Jerusalem.
The diplomats report also discusses the possibility of banning “violent settlers in East Jerusalem” from entering European Union countries. They also encourage a boycott of Israeli products that come from East Jerusalem.
The first part of the report examines in detail the construction and expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem, the violations of human rights of Palestinian residents, inequalities in health and education services for Palestinians. The report concludes that beyond the humanitarian significance, these elements undermine the Palestinian presence in the Old City.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Claims to Have Smashed ‘Mossad Spy Ring’
Officials and the state media originally blamed Britain, the United States and Israel for the bombing in north Tehran which killed Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a university researcher, in January last year.
Some dissidents living abroad speculated that he was in fact killed by regime elements for expressing sympathy for the opposition Green movement after the June 2009 elections and subsequent protests.
But state news outlets reported an official statement reading: “The intelligence ministry has identified and arrested members of a spy and terrorist network linked to the Zionist regime.
“The network of spies and terrorists linked to Mossad was destroyed. The network was behind the assassination of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: Women Working in Night Clubs, Minister Asked to Resign
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, JANUARY 10 — The powerful Islamist movement on Monday called on labour minister to step down after he issued permit to allow Jordanian women to work in nightclubs in contradiction with what the group says conservative values, according to a party statement.
The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and the most influential party in the kingdom, said the government must sack the minister and apologize to Jordanians for this action.
“The government is making numerous misstates regarding our social and religious values,” saying this action “defies social structure of the society and its conservative nature.” The group also said the move comes as an “insult to Jordanian women’s rights” and called for closure of such places.
The pro-west Jordan is considered an attraction for tourists from the oil rich countries and continues to attract holiday makers from around the Middle East.
Unlike other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kwait, Dubai, the kingdom allows sale of alcohol in retail shops and has produced legislation deemed liberal compared to neighbouring countries.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: 84% Wants Stronger EU Role in Economy, Study
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JANUARY 10 — The 84% of the general public and 79% of opinion leaders, in Lebanon, expressed a strong desire for the EU to play a greater role, especially in the economic sphere. Other top priorities include democracy, trade and regional cooperation. This is one of the results of a study, promoted by the EU-funded Opinion Polling and Research (OPPOL) project, under the 2007-2010 ENPI regional information and communication programme. It is carried out across the countries benefiting from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). According to the Enpi website (www.enpi-info.eu), the survey involved 84 opinion leaders, followed up by an opinion poll questioning 400 members of the general public.
The overwhelming majority of opinion leaders have a positive assessment of the EU and its relations with Lebanon. An impressive 96% of the respondents say Lebanon has good or fairly good relations with the EU (vs. 91% in average across the southern Mediterranean partners). More than in other countries in the region, Lebanese opinion leaders are positive on the role of the EU in the promotion of democracy and the level of “disinterest” of the EU in its support to the country. The majority of the general public (78%) agrees relations are very good or fairly good, against just 11% who found them bad.
Furthermore, 78% of the general public and 66% of opinion leaders believe the EU can help bring peace and stability to the country, while 78% of the general public and 67% of opinion leaders believe it can help bring peace and stability in the surrounding region.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Protect Religious Minorities in Middle East, Pope Says
Fresh appeal for Christian communities in Muslim countries
(ANSA) — Vatican City, January 10 — After repeated assaults targeting Christian communities in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI made a fresh plea on Monday for Muslim leaders to do their utmost to protect Christians and other religious minorities in their countries. The pontiff said he was “deeply troubled” by recent attacks in Iraq that forced Christians to flee the country and asked Iraqi leaders for support and protection. “To the authorities of that country and to the Muslim religious leaders I renew my heartfelt appeal that their Christian fellow citizens be able to live in security, continuing to contribute to the society in which they are fully members”, Benedict said in his ‘state of the world’ message delivered to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. The pope’s plea for the right to religious freedom comes 10 days after a church bombing in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on New Year’s Day which killed 23 Coptic Christians. Speaking of the blast, the pope pointed out how the attack was “yet another sign of the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities”. The Catholic Church did not seek privileges but demanded the freedom to exercise its mission, the pontiff said.
In his message, Benedict praised several European Union governments for urging the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to take up the issue of recent attacks against Christians in the Middle East. Worshippers needed to be free to express their beliefs and could not be torn between fidelity to God and loyalty to their country, the pope said. “I ask in particular that Catholic communities be everywhere guaranteed full autonomy of organization and the freedom to carry out their mission, in conformity with international norms and standards in this sphere”. Benedict then issued an umpteenth appeal for the Catholic community of mainland China, who was “experiencing a time of difficulty and trial”. The country’s communist authorities recently caused a stir by appointing a bishop without papal approval, putting further strain on relations between Beijing and the Holy See. The pope also remembered recent attacks on religious freedom in Asia and Africa, and called on Pakistan’s leaders to abrogate its law against blasphemy, “all the more so because it is clear that is serves as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Fighter Jets, Turkish Astronauts… Turkish Avatars Coming Soon?
By Burak BekdIl
It is practically impossible to predict whether any future wave of WikiLeaks cables will reveal Turkish pressure on Hollywood to produce a film portraying the antics of a Turk Superman who does not eat pork or drink alcohol and is disguised as a journalist writing for a government-friendly newspaper. It is similarly impossible to predict whether cables will reveal a Turkish request for match-fixing at the 2010 World Basketball Championship’s final game, a threat to bomb Israel with future “made-in-Turkey” fighter jets, or an invitation to a U.S. ambassador in Turkey to convert to Islam. But surely, the cables are fun!
The latest leaks have unveiled that the king of Saudi Arabia wanted the United States president to outfit his personal jet with the same high-tech devices as Air Force One — in return for choosing Boeing’s passenger jets over those of Airbus. The Bangladeshi prime minister reportedly pressed the State Department to re-establish landing rights at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York — also in exchange for choosing Boeing over Airbus.
And President Abdullah Gül, according to the cables, wanted the Obama administration to let a Turkish astronaut sit on a NASA space flight — not too difficult to guess…for Boeing planes! After Transport Minister Binali Yildirim conveyed the request in January 2010, then U.S. ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey called the effort to link the Boeing deal to political requests an “unwelcome, but unsurprising degree of political influence in this transaction.”
About a month after Ambassador Jeffrey cabled to Washington that “we probably cannot put a Turkish astronaut in orbit,” Turkish Airlines, or THY, placed an order for 20 Boeing planes — the Airbus chaps must have learned their lesson: in the next competition, they should propose a team of Turkish astronauts in orbit, not just one!
But I suspect President Gül could have withdrawn his request after Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu revealed to him that Turkey’s influence in world politics had reached heights unseen in history and that Muslim Turkish engineers would soon be able to launch their own spaceship and “we won’t need the Americans even for that.” Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül’s announcement last month that “Turkey has decided to design, develop and produce its own, indigenous, made-in-Turkey fighter jet” must have been the first steps toward the soon-to-be-launched indigenous, made-in-Turkey spaceship.
But why did President Gül, who has no executive authority and must be constitutionally apolitical, press the U.S. for a grand Turkish success — the astronaut! — that would appeal to the voters — probably ahead of elections this year? Because he has no executive authority? Because he is apolitical?
It is understandable that European and U.S. governments often tend to ignore the trade agreement they signed three decades ago to remove international politics from trade deals. They often do so to curb unemployment in their economies, since foreign contracts for local companies mean new jobs. But a proposed employment opportunity for one astronaut would have hardly reduced Turkey’s unemployment rate.
One tricky thing here is the fact that THY, doubtlessly one of Turkey’s most successful enterprises, is a public company listed on the stock exchange — with the government owning fewer than half the shares in the airline. Legally speaking, the THY’s board is obliged to make all managerial decisions, including new fleet acquisitions, based on the company’s — and therefore its shareholders’ — financial interests, not in view of producing government propaganda through eccentric ideas like putting a Turkish astronaut into orbit.
But that should be the concern of THY’s shareholders. All the same, the “prospective/investigative” question we journalists should ask here concerns neither the national carrier nor President Gül’s politicking. If, in the words of Ambassador Jeffrey, “that” was “the degree of political influence” in a commercial transaction involving a Turkish company listed on the bourse, what other degrees of political influence must other decisions be resonating behind closed doors, especially those involving government-to-government contracts and, more specifically, defense deals whose terms and conditions are often “secret”?
In fact, what in the world of defense business could be viewed as a kind of Boeing-Airbus rivalry concerns Turkey — and imminently! In two tenders worth several billions of dollars, U.S. and European rivals are thriving to beat each other and the Turks will choose the victors this year. What will the very important Turks request in these classified deals? Is the sky the limit? A mega-sized mosque in Rome? Frozen diplomatic ties with Israel? The first Turkish nuclear bomb? It’s too hard and boring to guess.
Instead, I have made a list of 10 Turks whom I would send into the orbit — hoping they would never come back — if the Americans (or Europeans) agreed to a future Turkish request. I appreciate that you understand I cannot reveal my list because of the serious possibility of prosecution. But go ahead and make your own list — it will be fun!
(Readers are welcome to put this columnist’s name on their lists — no prosecution will follow)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: In Karachi, 50,000 Rally Behind Blasphemy Law
Fundamentalist leaders organise rally and praise Salman Taseer’s murderer as a “hero of Islam”. The Pope appeals to the Pakistani government to repeal the law because it is a “pretext” for violence and injustice. Pakistani Christians pray for the governor of Punjab, a “martyr” according to Saudi newspaper Arab News.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Shouting anti-government slogans, thousands of people on Sunday marched in Pakistan’s financial capital to oppose any amendments to the controversial blasphemy law. Radical Muslim leaders who led the rally praised Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the man charged with killing Punjab governor Salman Taseer, as a hero of Islam. In Islamabad and Lahore, hundreds of Christians took part in Sunday Mass, paying tribute to the slain governor. Benedict XVI today also referred to the blasphemy law in a speech to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican. In it, he said that the law violates the “right to religious freedom” and urged the Pakistani government to take the necessary steps to repeal it. Saudi newspaper Arab News published a long editorial article on the assassination of the Punjab governor, whose fight against violence and fanaticism “turned him into a martyr”.
Yesterday, 50,000 people invaded downtown Karachi to hail Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the murderer of Salman Taseer, the governor targeted by fundamentalists because he had dubbed the blasphemy law as a “black law”. Organised by Islamic extremist groups, the rally saw the participation of outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed. Wearing green headbands and holding flags with Qur’anic verses inscribed on them, hundreds of young people, some of them wielding sticks, shouted slogans against the Pakistani government and the United States.
Fazlur Rehman, head of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema Islam and speaker at Sunday’s demonstration, said that Taseer “was responsible for his own murder” because he had criticised the law.
Other speakers told the crowd that the law “is divine” and that “nobody can change it.” They also called for a “long march to Islamabad” and other demonstrations “across the country.”
Benedict XVI spoke today about the blasphemy law in his address to the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See. The Pope said that “particular mention must be made of the law against blasphemy in Pakistan” because it violates religious freedom. He urged government authorities in Pakistan “to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law [. . .] because it is clear that it serves as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities. The tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction”.
Christians gathered yesterday across the country for Sunday Mass to remember Salman Taseer. In Islamabad, they gathered at Our Lady of Fatima Church. “We are here to pray for him because he was murdered because of our cause, and because he was campaigning for justice for Christians in Pakistan and peace for the world,” Father Anwar Patras Gill said.
In Lahore, prayers were said for the governor. “We dedicate this day to him,” Fr Daniel Habib said in the cathedral ahead of Mass before a gathering of 250 worshippers.
In the meantime, the authorities have increased security around the residence of Sherry Rehman, in Karachi, fearing possible attacks. A former Information minister and a member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), she is among the promoters of changes to the blasphemy law.
“They can’t silence me,” she told AsiaNews, and “They can’t decide what we think or speak, these are man-made laws.”
The assassination of the governor of Punjab has been front-page news around the world. Saudi newspaper Arab News published a lengthy editorial on the matter. In it, the newspaper praised the courage of Salman Taseer whose bitter opposition to “extremism and violence cost him his life” and “turned him into a martyr”.
The paper called his killer “a heartless, grinning murderer and an ignorant instrument of evil”, ending its editorial with an appeal to the country’s leaders to stand up and rally against the deviant forces that threatened to bring darkness to Pakistan and Islam.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Islamists Criticise Pope’s Anti-Blasphemy Law Comments
Islamabad, 11 Jan. (AKI) — An alliance of Pakistani Islamist organisations said they would hold rallies to protest Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks that called on the country to scrap an anti-blasphemy law which allows for the death penalty for insulting Islam.
“The Pope’s statement is part of a conspiracy to pit the world’s religions against each other,’ said Sahibzada Fazal Karim, a member of Pakistan’s parliament and the leader of Sunni Ittehad, an alliance of eight Sunni Muslim groups, according to Pakistani newspaper Dawn News.
Speaking on Monday during an address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, Benedict called on governments to do more to protect Christians who have recently been the victims of violence in Egypt, Nigeria and Iraq.
He also called for the abolition of a law in Pakistan which cited last week’s assassination of the Punjab governor Salman Taseer who called supported a Christian woman on awaiting execution for under the blasphemy law.
“I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law, all the more so because it is clear that it serves as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities,” Benedict said.
Karim called the pope’s comments a “violation of the UN’s charter of peace,” saying they meddled in a sovereign country’s internal affairs.
Taseer’s security guard Malik Mumtaz Qadr has admitted to the assassination.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Confirms Stealth Fighter Jet Tests
Speaking during visit to Beijing, US defence secretary Robert Gates says Chinese president Hu Jintao confirmed plane’s first test flight
Hu Jintao today confirmed that China had carried out its first test flight of a stealth fighter jet, the US defence secretary has said.
Robert Gates, who is in Beijing for talks intended to improve military ties between the countries, said the Chinese president had told him the jet’s trial had not been arranged to coincide with his visit.
“I asked President Hu about it directly, and he said that the test had absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had been a pre-planned test,” Gates told reporters.
Asked whether he believed that, he added: “I take President Hu at his word that the test had nothing to do with my visit.”
[…]
Both sides said stronger ties were needed, and Liang made a point of warning the US against selling further arms to Taiwan. Beijing suspended military exchanges last year in protest at such a deal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China: Who is Li Keqiang?
This time next year, Li Keqiang — who held talks with David Cameron yesterday — will almost certainly be preparing to become China’s prime minister. As my colleague Ben Brogan notes, he is the coming man of the Politburo.
But who is he?
Like all senior Chinese leaders, much of Mr Li’s past history has been carefully wiped from the record.
However, a set of internal Communist party files that were leaked abroad and then collected into a book called China’s New Rulers paint an interesting portrait.
[…]
After the turmoil ended, he studied law at Beijing University and then obtained a PhD in economics. During his time there, he became a student leader and was praised as a “morally and intellectually superior student”. After graduation, he joined the Communist Youth League, the same organisation which fostered Mr Hu and several other senior Chinese leaders.
And there he stayed until 1998, entrenched in Beijing’s party politics and organising ideological campaigns for the CYL, which he eventually headed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China: A Force Fit for a Superpower
The technology and firepower of the People’s Liberation Army are growing so fast that observers are no longer curious but concerned, says Malcolm Moore.
It has been a month to remember for the top brass of China’s People’s Liberation Army. While other armies fret about their funding, China’s generals have unveiled three major new weapons that could challenge the military supremacy of the United States and provide the firepower to underline China’s superpower status.
In a dry dock in the northern city of Dalian, smoke has begun to billow from the chimneys of the Shi Lang, a hulking Soviet-era ship that China bought from Russia and has refitted to become its first aircraft carrier. Named after a Qing dynasty admiral, the carrier is slated to make its maiden voyage later this year, four years ahead of schedule. Five more aircraft carriers could bolster the Chinese fleet further over the next decade.
Meanwhile, at an air base in the central city of Chengdu, China’s first stealth fighter jet has been spotted taxiing along a runway. It has yet to take off, but American plane-spotters have already begun speculating that it might be able to beat an F-22 in a dogfight. Finally, at a command bunker in the north of Beijing, the Chinese Second Artillery Corps controls the jewel in the crown — a new missile that could sink a US aircraft carrier, the first such weapon in the world. The Dong Feng (or East Wind) 21D missile is now “operational”, according to Admiral Robert Willard of the US Pacific Command, which will now have to think twice before committing a $20 billion (£12.8 billion) aircraft carrier and its 6,000 crew anywhere within 900 miles of the Chinese coast.
[…]
China’s economic miracle has paid for the munitions, with the PLA’s official budget increasing more than fivefold from $14.6 billion in 2000 to $78.6 billion this year. Unofficially, the spending is thought to be far higher, at $150 billion, with China’s leaders keeping many of the PLA’s deals off the books in order to avoid alarming the rest of the world. And while the sum is still just a fraction of the US budget — Mr Gates has allocated $588 billion for “non-war” military spending this year, after trimming $78 billion of cuts — China has spent the money prudently, focusing on areas of US weakness.
China’s submarine fleet now boasts 65 vessels, and by 2030, according to the Kokoda Foundation, an Australian think tank, the total could rise to between 85 and 100, more than the US and enough to establish an edge in the Pacific. China has also integrated the skills of its military and civilian computer hackers, launched several reconnaissance and guidance satellites, and installed arrays of new radars and underwater sensors to ring its territory.
[…]
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “A gap as wide as what seems to be forming between China’s stated intent and its military programmes leaves me more than curious about the end result. Indeed, I have moved from being curious to being genuinely concerned.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Sudanese Crossroads
On Sunday, the southern Sudanese began voting on a referendum to secede from the Republic of Sudan and establish their own sovereign nation. By all accounts, they will soon secede from the Arab, Islamic country and form an independent African, Christian and animist state.
The consequences of their actions will reverberate around the world.
This week’s referendum takes place in accordance with the US-brokered Comprehensive Peace Treaty between the Khartoum government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed on January 9, 2005.
The CPT officially ended the second Sudanese Civil War that began in 1983.
The South Sudanese referendum will not settle the issue of control over all of southern Sudan. Numerous flashpoints remain. Most importantly, the disposition of the town of Abyei remains undetermined. Abyei is where most of Sudan’s oil deposits are located.
Unlike the rest of the south, its population is a mix of Arabs and Africans and its residents are split over the issue of separation from Khartoum. If there is war after independence, Abyei will likely be its cause…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Churches in Sudan’s North Fear Repression After Split
Churches in Sudan’s mainly Muslim north are trying to reassure their dwindling congregations that they will be safe after the south splits, but Christians fearing repression are still leaving in their droves.
The main churches in the north are resolute they will remain open despite the expected secession of the south in a plebiscite expected to split Africa’s largest country.
Southerners are mostly Christian or follow traditional religions. The north has been under Islamic law since 1983.
“Even if there is just one Christian left in the north we will be here because the shepherd cannot leave his flock,” said Catholic Quintino Okeny Joseph, Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Khartoum.
The week-long referendum is the culmination of a 2005 north- south peace deal which ended Africa’s longest civil war, fought between Sudan’s mainly Muslim and Arab north, and the south.
Joseph said Sudan’s Catholic Church has had a hard time.
He said the government did not recognise their marriage certificates and had confiscated the Catholic Club — a massive compound greeting visitors entering Khartoum from the airport…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Battisti Decision ‘Bad End’ To Lula Term
‘Moral duty’ to get ex-terrorist back says Frattini
(ANSA) — Rome, January 10 — Brazilian ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s eleventh-hour rejection of Italy’s extradition request for ex-terrorist Cesare Battisti was “a very bad end to the term of a great president of Brazil,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday.
Speaking on Italian TV, Frattini said bringing Battisti back to serve his life term for four murders committed in the 1970s was “a moral duty”.
“We can’t stop, it’s a question of basic justice for innocent victims,” the foreign minister said.
“We want Battisti back inside an Italian prison. I’ve said I will go to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if necessary”.
The foreign minister reminded viewers that “when Battisti felt free to write he wrote a book in Paris in which he claimed responsibility for all the murders he had committed and explained the reasons why he had killed”.
Speaking on the same show, the son of one of Battisti’s victims, Alberto Torregiani, called Lula’s decision “absurd, hypocritical and ignoble”.
Torregiani, who was paralysed from the waist down in the 1979 attack that killed his jeweler father Pierluigi, has been spearheading protests against the ruling.
Frattini went on to praise the Brazilian supreme court’s recent decision to reject Battisti’s request for immediate release and voiced the hope that Italy would get the court to rule in favour of extradition as it did in 2009, before leaving the final say to Lula. “I trust (the court) will not go back on the decision we obtained,” he said.
Last week’s ruling means Battisti will stay in jail at least until February as Italy continues to fight for his extradition.
Chief Justice Cezar Peluso sent the dossier on the case to a predecessor as head of the court, Gilmar Mendes.
Both men voted in favour of extradition just over a year ago.
In rejecting Battisti’s appeal to be released, Chief Justice Peluso said there was no evidence to support Battisti’s controversial claim that he would be in physical danger if returned to Italy.
According to the Brazilian media, the row with Italy has triggered a domestic institutional crisis in Brazil between the executive and the judicial branches.
Brazil’s main opposition party has called for a reversal of the extradition denial, which was issued by Lula on his last day of office on December 31.
Last week the relatives of Battisti’s victims staged street protests outside the Brazilian embassy in Rome and consulates and offices elsewhere in Italy, while militants from Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s key government ally the Northern League called for a boycott of Brazilian goods.
Berlusconi has stressed the affair is purely judicial and will not prejudice ties with Brazil while Frattini has clarified that the ratification of an important military accord will merely be held up, partly because of current difficulties in getting business through parliament.
Battisti was arrested in Brazil in April 2007, some five years after he had fled to that country to avoid extradition to Italy from France following the end of the Mitterrand doctrine which gave sanctuary to fugitive leftist guerrillas.
He had lived in France for 15 years and become a successful writer of crime novels.
In January 2009 the Brazilian justice ministry granted Battisti political asylum on the grounds that he would face “political persecution” in Italy.
The ruling outraged the Italian government who demanded that it be taken to the Brazilian supreme court, which in November 2009 reversed the earlier decision and turned down Battisti’s request for asylum.
However, the court added that the Brazilian constitution gave the president personal powers to deny the extradition if he chose to.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Villagers Endorse Greek Border Wall Plans
Illegal immigrants trying to cross over into Greece through Turkey create thousands of Turkish Liras in damage to crops, Turkish farmers in the border region say, expressing support for Athens’ plans to build a barrier along a key part of the border. Residents also hope tighter security will relieve them of the burden of undergoing frequent police searches
Farmers and other Turkish residents of the northwestern region near Greece have expressed approval of Athens’ plan to build a border barrier, saying the flow of illegal migrants harms their crops and their neighborhoods’ reputations.
“The border barrier is very good news, as it will discourage illegal migrants who step on our crops and vegetables while trying to cross the border,” Ahmet Sari, a 45-year-old farmer living in the border province of Edirne’s Karaagaç neighborhood, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in a local coffeehouse Thursday.
According to Sari, groups of 20 to 30 people had tried to cross the border through Karaagaç almost every night over the past year, trampling crops and harming farmers’ livelihoods.
The United Nations’ refugee agency has criticized plans in Greece to build a fence along part of its border with Turkey, warning that asylum seekers could face greater difficulty escaping persecution and conflict.
A UNHCR statement said “building walls seldom resolves the problem of immigration pressure.” It urged Greece to speed up efforts to overhaul its asylum screening procedures.
Greek lawmakers on Friday began debating a new draft immigration law that includes asylum-system reforms and plans to use old army bases as prisons for detained immigrants.
“Our neighborhood has also started to unjustly gain a bad reputation as a smugglers’ place, which is not true,” said Ali Kaplan, 56, a retired cherry farmer. He added that although there might be people in the area dealing in the “smuggling business,” most smugglers are not from the region. “[The situation] is such a pity for these people who try to cross the border as well,” he said.
Greek Citizen Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis on Saturday announced plans to build a barrier on the land border between Turkey and Greece in a bid to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the European Union. “The Greek public has gone beyond its limits in terms of its capacity to welcome illegal migrants. Greece cannot take it any more,” Papoutsis told the Greek news agency Ana.
Greece’s 150-kilometer land border with Turkey has become the main route for illegal migrants to enter the European Union, with most entering over a 12.5-kilometer segment that ends near Karaagaç. According to a recent YaleGlobal report, an estimated 10,000 men and women, most from North Africa and South Asia, cross the border illegally every month.
The number of people trying to cross the border illegally through the Karaagaç region has increased radically since last summer, Sari said, adding that almost every farmer in the region had seen crop losses amounting to 4,000 to 5,000 Turkish Liras as a result. According to Sari, the belongings of both adults and young people, as well as the disabled, have been found in the area’s fields. “We have even seen very small footprints [of children],” he said.
With Karaagaç located just three kilometers from the Greek border, outside the Turkish city of Edirne, residents have to be prepared to undergo police searches when they enter the neighborhood after crossing the bridge over the Meriç River. Establishing a fence at the border might bring an end to the police searches, some residents told the Daily News. “We are constantly searched by the police, as if we were smugglers or illegal immigrants,” retired farmer Kaplan said.
“We will hopefully not have to hold a ‘Prohibited Zone Permission’ card once the border barrier is built,” said 63-year-old Mesut Kerez, adding that the military requires each neighborhood’s inhabitants to carry this card, which costs 10 liras and has to be renewed each year. “They even ask [seasonal] workers to hold cards, which increases our [employment] costs even more,” he said.
Residents of Bosnaköy, a village of Edirne located next to Karaagaç, also expressed support for the border fence, though they said their farms had not been as seriously affected by illegal crossings. “The fence will keep animals from crossing the border,” Mehmet Irgas, a 49-year-old villager, told the Daily News, adding that the barrier would also discourage smugglers from bringing people through the area.
“[Illegal migrants] have hardly caused any harm to our crops, but I support the fence, as I feel sorry for the people [trying to cross the border illegally], who go through many difficulties,” said Ilhan Çalik, another villager.
People living in the border region said they had very good relations with their neighbors. “Many Greek and Bulgarian citizens come here frequently, especially to the big bazaar on Fridays. They come here mainly for shopping,” Kaplan said, adding that the Turkish villagers get along very well with these frequent “guests,” who often come to buy 100 percent organic vegetables at Edirne’s bazaar.
Border fence ‘injustice’ to Turkey
Although most farmers living in the border region support the idea of a barrier, others expressed discontent with the situation. “Building the border barrier is a decision made by Greece unilaterally, and it is an injustice to Turkish people,” Murat Özdabaç, a mathematics teacher at a private school in Karaagaç, told the Daily News on Thursday. He said taking alternative measures, such as strengthening cooperation between the two countries’ police and military forces, would be a better way to find a solution to the issue.
Frontex, the European Union’s agency for external border security, sent Rapid Border Intervention Teams to the Turkish-Greek border in November on Greece’s request. The teams, which aim to strengthen border security in the region, were initially deployed for a period of two months, but their mission was extended until March this year.
“Such a decision implies Turkey has been unable to keep its border secure, but what about the other side?” Özdabaç said, adding that he believed both Greece and the Frontex mission had also been unsuccessful in guaranteeing border security.
Frontex reported on its website in December that detections of illegal entries at the Greek land border with Turkey had fallen 44 percent during November. The agency stressed, however, that other long-term solutions also have to be brought to bear on the illegal immigration issue in the European Union.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Asylum Fiasco: Files Closed on 61,000 Missing Cases
Officials are to close the cases of 61,000 asylum seekers who cannot be tracked down.
The files will be marked ‘concluded’ at the end of a five-year effort to clear a backlog of 450,000 claims. The ‘legacy’ cases were uncovered in 2006, a scandal that led to the Home Office being branded unfit for purpose.
The latest figures, revealed in a Commons home affairs select committee report, show that 334,500 individuals have now been dealt with.
However, barely one in ten of these have been removed from the country. More than half — 139,000 — have been granted the right to stay.
Where an asylum seeker cannot be found the file is moved to a ‘controlled archive’. Names are checked against watch lists but, if no match is found within six months, the case is considered concluded. At least 18,000 cases have been concluded in this way, and another 43,000 are currently in the archive.
The rules were changed last year to allow case workers to grant permission for applicants to remain if they had been in the UK for six to eight years. Previously ten to 12 years were needed.
The proportion of cases that result in deportation has plummeted, and accounted for just two per cent of the total dealt with over the past three months, the report said.
Labour MP Keith Vaz, who heads the committee, said: ‘While we agree that the UK Border Agency should not spend unlimited time trying to track down missing applicants, we are concerned about the high proportion of cases which will be left, in effect, in limbo.
‘We are concerned that in the rush to clear the backlog — not least as the clear-up rate initially was fairly slow — principle may be being sacrificed to the timetable, and grants of settlement may be made that would not be allowed in other circumstances.’
The report said the poor performance of the agency should mean no senior managers get bonuses this year.
Immigration minister Damian Green said: ‘This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring asylum cases are concluded faster and at lower cost.
‘Every day there are enforcement operations going on. It is harder than ever to work or live illegally in the UK illegally and if you try to play the system we will catch you.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sham Wedding Organiser Married Off His Own Girlfriend for Money
Smiling for the camera, this photo shows Britain’s biggest sham wedding organiser moments after he had married off his own pregnant girlfriend for money.
Vladymyr Buchak, from the Ukraine, recruited hundreds of paid brides-to-be from Eastern Europe who were married to African men at a church in St Leonard’s, East Sussex.
As these pictures show, he was even willing for the mother of his unborn child to tie the knot with the illegal immigrant Mikael Prince. The 27-year-old Liberian paid up to £15,000 to marry Latvian Larisa Kuznecova in 2006, believing it to be a passport to EU citizenship and its lifelong benefits.
The bride dressed in red to match her hair, received a fraction of that sum to supplement her meagre earnings as a part-time hairdresser in St Leonard’s.
Mr Buchak posed as one of the wedding guests for the photo, which was later used to support Prince’s application to the Home Office for UK residency.
He was jailed in September for helping to organise the fake ceremonies of hundreds of couples in the biggest church wedding immigration scam in UK history.
Between 2005 and 2009, 360 couples were falsely married at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in St Leonard’s, East Sussex. The conveyor belt of weddings roused suspicions of the parishioners, who said they felt locked out of their own church, but the diocese took no action.
Mr Buchak, 34, a sausage factory worker, found the brides while Michael Adelasoye, 50, a Nigerian pastor and lawyer, found the paying African ‘grooms’.
Disgraced Anglican vicar Alex Brown, 62, sneakily married up to eight fake couples a day until the con was rumbled by the sheer volume of weddings.
The three men were all jailed for four years after a Lewes Crown Court trial in September.
However, Mr Prince absconded from bail last week and is still on the run. He was convicted in his absence of avoiding removal from the UK and perjury offences at Hove Crown Court.
He was sentenced to 13 months in prison and a warrant has now been issued for his arrest…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Schoolgirl, 15, Dies From TB After Government Warns Immigration Has Caused Rates to Soar in City
A 15-year-old schoolgirl has died from tuberculosis in Birmingham, a month after the Government blamed immigration for soaring infection rates in the city.
Alina Sarag died at the city’s Children’s Hospital last Thursday after catching the bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs.
It was not clear how the teenager contracted the illness but recent TB figures have revealed a big increase in cases in parts of the city.
A source close to Golden Hillock School where Alina studied, claimed school staff had been checked for TB because so many pupils had been infected. They did not wish to be named.
The source said: ‘I think it’s disgusting. I know the school and the authorities cannot stop this but they should be more open. Pupils have been off with this illness in the last few years but this is the first death.
‘Staff have even been screened for the illness because of the number of cases of pupils contracting TB.’
The Health Protection Agency said officials would consider whether to screen for TB those who had prolonged contact with Alina.
Last month, it was revealed the Government had blamed immigration for soaring TB rates in Birmingham.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the 30-year high was due to a major influx of infected people from countries where TB was rife.
The inner city area has the same rate of tuberculosis outbreaks as many developing countries. In Handsworth and Aston, TB rates are running at more than 140 cases per 100,000, with anything above 40 per 100,000 viewed as a dangerous level.
The level has led to calls for the reintroduction of the mass vaccination of schoolchildren, a policy abandoned in 2005…
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
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