Serbia: 650,000 Below Poverty Threshold
(ANSA) — BELGRADE, MAY 20 — In Serbia, out of a population of some 7.5 million, 650,000 people live below the poverty threshold.
As reported by Beta news agency, the number of poor people is now 140,000 units higher than in 2008, at the beginning of the economic crisis.
There has also been a rise in unemployment, which has gone from 14% in 2008 to approximately 20% today, equivalent to some 600,000 people out of work.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ACORN’s Other White House ‘Insider’
Now heads DNC’s ‘Organizing for America’
President Obama isn’t the only longtime ACORN operative who has spent time in the White House, according to a newly published book.
Obama White House political director Patrick Gaspard, who held the same title as Karl Rove in President Bush’s White House, also helped to execute ACORN’s 40-year plan to transform America into a socialist country, according to a stunning new book, “Subversion Inc.,” by award-winning investigative journalist Matthew Vadum.
Vadum, senior editor at Capital Research Center, a think tank that studies left-wing advocacy groups and their funders, has assembled the information from nearly three years of research and hundreds of interviews.
Gaspard is now executive director of the Democratic National Committee. As day-to-day DNC boss, Gaspard is in charge of “Organizing for America,” a Saul Alinsky-inspired pressure group that helps Democrats “get in the face” of voters, to borrow President Obama’s memorable phrase from the 2008 campaign trail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cartels Using Ariz. Mountaintops to Spy on Cops
Hiking through rough Arizona desert terrain a few miles north of the Mexican border recently with a group of armed DEA agents, we were approached by a lone U.S. Border Patrol agent. He warned we should be careful up ahead, because two people believed to be spotters for a Mexican drug cartel had just been seen running down a ridge to elude U.S. authorities.
By now, agents told us, the men were probably hunkered down in a cave or crevice to wait out the patrol. But just to be safe, the DEA agents spread out to cover more ground as they moved forward again, watching closely for the suspected Mexican surveillance team likely sent by drug traffickers to spy on American law enforcement officials on their own soil.
Making our way slowly to the rugged hilltops about a mile away, we came across several caves carved out of the rock by wind and rain. On the floor of one of them, we saw clear evidence that a surveillance team had been camping out. Two blankets were spread out next to a pair of shoes. Nearby were boxes of food, tarps, water jugs, toothpaste and a portable stove, on top of which was a pan with fresh cooking oil still in it.
Agents also found radio chargers and car batteries used to power communications gear. They told NBC producer-photographer Al Henkel and me that Mexican surveillance teams will work in these mountains for 30 to 60 days at a time.
Federal drug agents say Mexican cartel surveillance teams have set up observation posts on most of the mountain-tops in the Arizona west desert area, from the Mexican border to Phoenix more than 100 miles north. Most of that land sits inside the vast Tohono O’odham Indian reservation, which is the size of Connecticut, but is sparsely populated by only about 20,000 residents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federally Funded NASA ‘Educates’ Children About Global Warming on ‘Climate Kids’ Web Site
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Web site network includes “Climate Kids: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth,” which use cartoons, games, and other activities to teach children about man-made global warming and climate change.
According to NASA’s budget request for fiscal year 2012, totaling $18.7 billion, the agency would dedicate $145.8 million to educational programs. The “Climate Kids” site is supported through NASA’s educational programs, according to a spokesman with the agency.
“Climate Kids” is part of a NASA-affiliated Web site operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a research and development and NASA field center that is managed by the California Institute of Technology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Developer Calls Controversy a ‘Blessing’
The developer of an Islamic center in lower Manhattan said that controversy over its proximity to the World Trade Center was an “incredible blessing,” giving him access to capital from around the world.
“The greatest advantage that I have is overnight I have turned into a public figure,” Sharif El-Gamal, chairman and chief executive officer of New York-based Soho Properties, said at a conference sponsored by brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services. “I literally have a whole P.R. team that fields my interview requests.”
Soho Properties invests in real estate in New York City. El-Gamal’s plans for an Islamic cultural center two blocks north of Ground Zero ignited a political controversy last year. Protesters said its placement near the site of deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history would be an insult to those who were killed there. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said denying Muslims the right to build the center would undermine America’s values and damage its image.
The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
El-Gamal’s newfound fame helped open doors to “different pockets of money” from investment groups around the world, he said, including sovereign wealth funds.
“That is an incredible advantage, to be able to bring in sovereign wealth money, and talk to the final decision-maker to deploy that capital,” he said.
The developer described himself as “extremely bullish on Manhattan” and said his company is continuing to pursue deals. Its most recent acquisition was an office building in the Chelsea/Flatiron district.
“Our bellies are not full,” El-Gamal said. “We’re really pounding and looking for something.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
How to Avoid Being Manipulated by Left-Wing Experts
Have you ever wondered what goes on in those left-wing, politically correct “leadership seminars” in which individuals learn how to become “leaders”? Who and what are they trying to lead? According to Beverly Eakman, America’s best writer on the subject of psychological warfare, these so-called leaders are professionally trained to manipulate you in going along with a group that promotes an idea, or a program, or a policy which you may at first not agree with, but in the end find yourself unable to resist. Ms. Eakman’s enlightening book, How to Counter Group Manipulation Tactics, is a must read for those who will be involved in such group meetings. When you become aware of the unethical techniques used by these consensus-building community leaders, you become immune to their methods and your individualism reasserts itself.
As an employee in a federal agency, Ms. Eakman was required to attend a sexual harassment-AIDS awareness workshop in order to adopt the politically correct mindset regarding such ideas as “homophobia” or “intolerance.” It was a not-so-subtle form of values clarification, a form of Psych-War.
She writes: “Today, be it the workplace, a community forum, airport security, or the PTA, team spirit (the old Marxists called it “collective spirit”) is valued above individual conscience and over unique ideas… Schoolchildren … can encounter similar problems in the classroom. It’s all Marxist tactics, just dressed differently.”
It’s all based on the psychologically known fact that “it’s easier to control a group than it is to control a single individual.” That is why leftists prefer to deal with groups than individuals. If a community organizer, like Barack Obama, “can generate a mob mentality, and get it to work for him, control of the agenda is usually assured.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Attorney’s Complaint Over Teen’s Defender Dropped
Florida lawyer worked to keep new Christian free from unwanted family influence
A bar association complaint filed by a Muslim attorney against a Florida lawyer after he defended a teen girl who fled her Muslim family fearing for her life because she adopted Christianity has been dismissed, according to a report.
The statement from John Stemberger, a leading conservative Christian advocate based in Orlando, Fla., said the Florida Bar has signed a dismissal of the grievance brought against him.
The final report of the referee in the case said, “I recommend the matter be dismissed.” But the case still is subject to approval by the Florida Supreme Court.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Gas Station in Columbia Raising Eyebrows
A gas station on Columbia’s North Main Street has been renamed and redecorated after President Obama. Two gas stations sit at the corner of Columbia’s North Main Street and Prescott Road, the El Cheapo and another station with a new name — Obama. “I see more people come in excited with the name,” said owner Sam Alhanik, who got the idea from a friend who created an Obama Gas Station in Michigan. Alhanik has only owned this station for two months. Although born in Yemen, he says he supports America’s president. “It’s the first president of black people,” he said. “It’s our president. We like him.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Virtual Reality
Op-ed: President’s idealistic vision ignores Arab tradition of tyranny, political violence
by Yoram Ettinger
On November 2, 2010, the US electorate decided that President Obama was detached from domestic reality, and therefore dealt the Democratic Party a devastating defeat in federal and state legislatures, as well as in gubernatorial elections. In his May 19, 2011 speech on the Middle East, the President proved himself detached from Mideast reality as well.
President Obama is determined to introduce democracy to Arab countries, in spite of their 1,400 year old systemic track record of tyranny, terror, political violence, uncertainty, volatility and treachery. He prefers the virtual reality of the “Arab Spring,” rather than contending with the Middle Eastern reality of the “Stormy Arab Winter.” Hence, he views the seismic events rocking the region as “a story of self-determination” and is convinced that “repression will not work anymore.”
Obama’s virtual reality leads him to compare the violent Arab Street to “the defiance of those patriots in Boston who refused to pay taxes to a king, or the dignity of Rosa Parks as she sat courageously in her seat.” Are the two million Egyptians who assembled at Cairo’s Tahrir Square, cheering Sheikh Kardawi, a top Muslim Brotherhood leader, following in the footsteps of Patrick Henry and Martin Luther King???
President Obama offers to relieve “a democratic Egypt” of up to $1billion in debt and to channel billions of dollars to Egypt and Tunisia, “the vanguard of this democratic wave…, (which) can set a strong example through free and fair elections, a vibrant civil society, accountable and effective democratic institutions and responsible regional leadership.” He expects the flow of aid to generate trade, entrepreneurship and a free market economy. However, he downplays the absence of an appropriate infrastructure of values and education in the Arab Middle East, which is a prerequisite for democracy and a free market economy.
Obama has chosen to ignore in his speech clear and present threats to US economic and national security interests — such as Iran’s nuclearization and Islamic terrorism — while the “Arab Roller Coaster” runs uncontrollable and Russia and China deepen their penetration of the Middle East. Furthermore, the US is about to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, which could be leveraged by rogue regimes, exacerbating regional violence, instability and uncertainty.
In February, 2010, President Obama appointed a new ambassador to Damascus — following four years of diplomatic absence — “because Assad could play a constructive role in the Middle East.” So much for Mideast realism…
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Votes to Boost FDA Police Powers With GOP Help
Republican senators joined Democrats last month in passing an under-the-radar measure, authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), to add more “teeth” to existing food law.
On April 14, as Congress prepared to adjourn for a two-week recess, the Senate quietly approved S. 216: The Food Safety Accountability Act of 2011, legislation that would expand the reach of the Food and Drug Administration over food shipped across state lines, by enabling federal prosecutors to seek steep fines and 10-year sentences for certain violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) that are currently simply misdemeanors.
Introduced Jan. 27, S. 216 is a replay from the previous congressional session, similar language having been included in the Food Safety Enhancement Act that the House passed in July 2009 but which failed to advance in the Senate.
Recognizing it as a threat to producers of natural foods and dietary supplements, health freedom advocates rallied public opposition and lobbied successfully to prevent its passage last year as a stand-alone bill (introduced by Leahy in September) and from being attached to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that Congress passed in December.
Now it is back.
As with the FSMA, passage was “by consent,” meaning there was no debate, no objections, no roll call, and the voice vote was recorded as unanimous. The following day the bill was referred to the House.
[…]
Constitutional attorney and NWV columnist Jonathan Emord has won seven major lawsuits against the FDA and written extensively about the agency’s on-going effort to put supplement manufacturers and food producers out of business.
Not one to mince words, Emord has slammed the FDA as “a rogue whose leaders view themselves as above the law and unaccountable to the courts and Congress, … a government unto itself, refusing to respect limits on its power contained in its enabling statute and in the Constitution.”
In talking with NWV Emord drew attention to the phrase “with conscious or reckless disregard” — which he said “invites mischief” and could be used by the FDA “to go after anybody they wanted.”
[…]
At the D.C.-based Heritage Foundation, attorney Brian Walsh, senior legal researcher, edits the website www.overcriminalized.com to publicize the trend in America — particularly in Congress — “to use the criminal law to ‘solve’ every problem, punish every mistake (instead of making proper use of civil penalties), and coerce Americans into conforming their behavior to satisfy social engineering objectives.”
Walsh recently posted details about S. 216 online.
In commenting on the bill to NWV, Walsh said that while “it may be appropriate to have civil penalties for extremely broad offenses that include all kinds of potential misconduct and just flat-out mistakes, it’s generally improper to have criminal penalties associated with those — especially this draconian 10-year criminal penalty that goes along with this.”
“Vague, overly broad criminal provisions such as these warrant far closer scrutiny and debate than this one was given by the Senate,” he said.
Walsh predicted that “Because there is already existing law that criminalizes any type of intentional poisoning of food, I think the net effect of this law will not be to protect the public but to expand government control over all kinds of food production.“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Soros Spends Over $48 Million Funding Media Organizations
Investigative journalism, industry associations, even ombudsmen group backed by left-wing donor.
It’s a scene journalists dream about — a group of coworkers toasting a Pulitzer Prize. For the team at investigative start-up ProPublica, it was the second time their fellow professionals recognized their work for journalism’s top honor.
For George Soros and ProPublica’s other liberal backers, it was again proof that a strategy of funding journalism was a powerful way to influence the American public.
It’s a strategy that Soros has been deploying extensively in media both in the United States and abroad. Since 2003, Soros has spent more than $48 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news — journalism schools, investigative journalism and even industry organizations.
And that number is an understatement. It is gleaned from tax forms, news stories and reporting. But Soros funds foundations that fund other foundations in turn, like the Tides Foundation, which then make their own donations. A complete accounting is almost impossible because a media component is part of so many Soros-funded operations.
This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Centers Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
It turns out that Soros’ influence doesn’t just include connections to top mainstream news organizations such as NBC, ABC, The New York Times and Washington Post. It’s bought him connections to the underpinnings of the news business. The Columbia Journalism Review, which bills itself as “a watchdog and a friend of the press in all its forms,” lists several investigative reporting projects funded by one of Soros foundations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tenn. Mosque Gets Permit to Start Building
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — After 16 months of rallies and court hearings, construction will soon begin on a Tennessee mosque that sparked a fierce debate over religious beliefs.
Leaders of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro obtained a building permit Friday to start the first construction phase and released renderings of the new building.
Imam Ossama Bahloul, the religious leader of the congregation, told The Daily News Journal the mosque will be a place for everyone, even those who opposed its construction.
Earlier in the week, a Rutherford County judge ruled that the mosque construction does not harm the residents who sued the county over it. But the judge allowed them to move forward on claims the county violated an open meetings law in approving it.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Takes Biggest Hit on Federal Anti-Terrorism Funding Cuts
Turns out things aren’t always bigger in Texas.
More than 30 smaller and mid-sized U.S. cities are losing about $170 million in federal anti-terrorism funding that began after the Sept. 11 attacks, perplexing some local officials at a time when information gleaned from Osama bin Laden’s hideout suggests al-Qaida is being encouraged to attack smaller targets.
With three cities dropped from the list, the Lone Star State is taking the greatest hit.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that narrowing the list of cities eligible for Urban Areas Security Initiative grants is part of larger budget cuts that eliminated more than $780 million in grant money from the last federal budget. New York, Washington and 29 other high-threat urban areas will still receive grants this year.
Austin, El Paso and San Antonio are being dropped after the cities received a combined $14.5 million in funding last year. Ten states were left with no cities receiving funds after New Orleans, Honolulu and Indianapolis were cut.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose city region will continue to receive around the same $151.5 million as years past, praised the decision to prioritize the most high-risk cities instead of thinly spreading the money around.
Texas officials were not as pleased.
“Any significant cuts to homeland security funding degrades our ability and capability to protect, respond and recover from terror attacks or natural disasters,” said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state’s top law enforcement agency.
In El Paso, just across the border from bloody Ciudud Juarez, Mexico, city officials have used about $5 million in grant funds annually to purchase equipment such as chemical detecting equipment, thermal imaging cameras and emergency response vehicles. Mayor John Cook said he hopes there will be more money to include El Paso again next year.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said cities no longer on the list will continue to receive federal homeland security dollars funneled down from grants given to each state. DHS officials said current intelligence reflects that terrorist groups remain focused on major U.S. cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington.
Rep. Peter King, chair of the Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement that the allocations “in this difficult fiscal climate” reflect his and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s “recognition that New York and Long Island remain the top target of al-Qaida and its affiliates and need continued federal funding.”
New York and Washington were targets of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and have traditionally received the most attention, and money, from the federal government.
In other cities and regions, including in upstate New York, the news that millions of dollars would be lost was met with vocal opposition.
“This is a glaring example of the real-world impact on western New York of the extreme cuts the new House majority is focused on,” said Rep. Brian Higgins, a New York Democrat who serves on the Border and Maritime Security and Counterterrorism and Intelligence subcommittees. “The budget is a statement of our national priorities. Keeping our border safe, protecting a region with a history of terrorist cell activities should top the list. Yet, we have people protecting big oil at the expense of national security and that is costing this community and could cost this nation dearly.”
The grant program was launched in 2003 in response to security threats in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Initially the money was available only to New York City, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston. But since 2008 more than 60 cities have been awarded the risk-based grants.
The cuts come at a worrisome time for law enforcement. After the killing of bin Laden, U.S. authorities have recovered evidence from his compound in Pakistan that the terror leader was encouraging his followers not to limit attacks to New York City, but consider other areas such as Los Angeles or smaller U.S. cities in future attacks.
In Fiscal Year 2010, 54 smaller cities were eligible to split almost $310 million in funding. Ten larger, higher-risk cities, like New York and Washington, vied for about $525 million. Thirty cities in 23 states and Washington will now share more than $662 million dollars. The lion’s share, about $540 million, will be split by the 10 largest cities.
Also included in the cities losing money are Providence, R.I., and Tucson, Ariz.
In Providence, city emergency management director Peter Gaynor said he was perplexed by the decision, especially given intelligence culled from the raid in Pakistan earlier this month. The state’s top emergency management official, meanwhile, called the wholesale loss of funding “a complete shock.”
“It was a surprise and to some extent a slap in the face,” said J. David Smith, executive director of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.
In Texas, the Dallas and Houston areas remain eligible to receive around a combined $66 million this fiscal year. Cook said the funds to El Paso have made the city much more prepared since 2006. Yet he was OK with being dropped from the list this year.
“It’s a little bump in the road, but we’ll be fine,” Cook said.
Tucson officials said the $4.5 million the region had been receiving was partly used for training and exercises. Tucson police Lt. David Azuelo said the Jan. 8 mass shooting that left six dead and 13 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is an example of how that training paid off.
“We’ve been told by our partners that participated that if it wasn’t for the collaborative training that we had done over the past four years that situation would have been much more difficult,” Azuelo said. “We believe lives were saved.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent and chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Connecticut stands to lose about half of the Homeland Security money its cities have received in recent years.
Bridgeport and Hartford, which received a combined $5.5 million last year, are among the cities being cut from the program.
“I understand that everyone must sacrifice to bring our federal deficit under control,” Lieberman said in a statement. “But I do not support cutting the budget on the back of our national security, particularly since foreign and homegrown terrorists will continue to strike us at home.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
TN Anti-Terrorist Bill Headed to Governor
A proposal that increases penalties for supporting a terrorist organization is headed to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam for his consideration.
The measure passed the Senate 26-3 on Saturday, a day after the House version was approved 76-16.
The proposal is a watered-down version of a bill that originally sought to make it a felony to follow some versions of the Islamic code known as Shariah. It was later stripped of references to specific religions.
The measure would also no longer authorize the governor or attorney general to decide whether a person or group is a terrorist organization, leaving that authority with the federal government.
Republican Senate Sponsor Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro said the proposal targets “home grown terrorist in our country.”
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Declines to Confirm Reported Tense Netanyahu Call
The U.S. State Department declined to confirm a report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke angrily with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday.
The New York Times reported that the telephone conversation was “furious.” It was also reported that Netanyahu “reacted angrily” in response to President Barack Obama’s proposal that Israel’s pre-1967 borders should serve as home to a new Palestinian state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Business Booms for Danish Sperm
“A lot of our clients typically want their donor to be at least 180cm tall and have blue eyes,” says Peter Bower, director of Nordic Cryobank, who is showing me his database of sperm donors. Customers narrow their computer search to eliminate men who are under or over a certain weight in kilos. They can click on a candidate’s profile and, for a fee, download an audio interview and a photograph of him as a baby.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Desalination Plants Will Cover Cyprus’ Needs by 2012
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, MAY 16 — The capacity of the production of water from desalination plants in Cyprus will reach 250,000 cubic metres on a daily basis by next year, Agriculture Minister Demetris Eliades has said. In a press conference to present the work of his ministry during the three years in office of President Demitris Christofias, Eliades — as CNA reported — said that this capacity would be enough to cover the water supply of the population and the tourism industry. Eliades added that in 2012, the construction of the Soleas Dam is expected to be completed, and is estimated to cost 18 million euro, with the capacity to hold 4.5 million cubic metres of water. During the last three years, he said, the total subsidy of farmers reached 497.87 million euro with the amount of 187.8 million covered by European funding while the remaining amount of 310.07 came from national resources.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Agrees to Protect Swiss Cheese
Switzerland and the European Union are set to sign an agreement which aims to protect the origins of local agricultural products.
Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann is in Brussels on Tuesday to sign the agreement alongside European commissioner Dacian Ciolos.
The accord aims to protect the geographical origins and local production of around 20 Swiss products such as raclette and gruyère cheeses, as well as around 800 EU agricultural products.
It is an addition to a first agriculture deal in 1999.
While in Brussels, Schneider-Ammann and Ciolos will also discuss the further development of the Swiss-EU agricultural policy, including a comprehensive bilateral treaty.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How France Hid the Sleazy Truth About the Rutting Chimpanzee, By Blonde Who Claimed Dominique Strauss-Khan Tried to Rape Her
The setting was one of those faux-intimate chat-shows that are the staple of late-night French TV, with minor celebrities and media types swapping small-talk over a candlelit dinner.
With the wine flowing, host Thierry Ardisson laconically invited guests at the cosy soiree to name the politician who harboured the guiltiest secret — and unwittingly unearthed a major sex scandal.
‘For me it was with Dominique Strauss-Kahn that things went super-wrong!’ exclaimed a pretty young blonde writer named Tristane Banon, and went on to claim that the then highly-respected former French finance minister had tried to rape her.
When the show was broadcast, Strauss-Kahn’s name was bleeped out, so the 500,000 viewers never knew who she was referring to.
If only Banon’s alleged assailant had been identified, however, he might never have been appointed as head of the International Monetary Fund — a post he took up a few months after the chat show.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds Hold Rival Rallies Over Mosque in Sweden
GOTEBORG: Hundreds of proponents and opponents held rallies in Sweden’s second-largest city Goteborg on Saturday to voice their opinions over the building of a mosque there.
Heavy police presence kept the two groups appart and a spokesman for the force said only one person had been arrested for violent behavior toward an officer.
It was the biggest police effort in the city since the EU Summit in 2001, when several thousand people gathered to protest against US President George W. Bush, the EU and globalization.
Mosque opponents claim the construction will ruin a nearby park and that the area is not suitable, while supporters say the opposition is racist.
The mosque, which will be the city’s second, is due to be completed in mid-June.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland’s Most Active Volcano Erupts
Iceland’s most active volcano erupts but experts predict low risk of air traffic disruption.
Iceland’s most active volcano has started erupting while experts say it is unlikely to disturb European air traffic.
The Grimsvotn volcano, located under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland’s southeast, began erupting with a series of small earthquakes on Saturday, sending as much as 15 kilometres of white smoke into the air, Iceland’s Meteorological Office said.
“It can be a big eruption, but it is unlikely to be like last year,” Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson, a geologist at the Meteorological Office, told Reuters news agency, referring to the April 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
Last year’s Eyjafjallajokul eruption kept some 10 million air travelers in limbo worldwide for five days, after winds pushed the volcanic ash cloud toward some of the world’s busiest airspace and led most northern European countries to ground all planes.
The Grimsvotn’s previous eruptions have lasted between a day and several weeks, it’s last being in 2004.
Scientists have been expecting a new eruption and have said that this volcano’s eruption will likely be small and should not lead to air travel chaos.
But whether widespread disruption occurs again will depend on how long the eruption lasts, how high the ash plume rises and which way the wind blows.
Isavia, the company that operates and develops all airport facilities and air navigation services in Iceland, enforced a no-fly zone for 120 nautical miles (220 kilometres) in all directions from the eruption.
An Isavia spokeswoman described this as standard procedure around eruptions.
“The plume of smoke has reached jet flying altitude and plans have been made for planes flying through Icelandic air control space to fly southwardly tonight,” Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, the spokeswoman, said.
A plane from the Icelandic Coast Guard carrying experts from the University of Iceland will fly over the volcano and evaluate the situation.
| [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 13 Charged for Environmental Crimes at Catania University
(AGI) Catania — A preliminary hearing will be held on July 8th for alleged environmental pollution caused by pouring dangerous chemicals used for experiment into sinks at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Catania University. Following an inquiry that was started in 2009, prosecutor Michelangelo Patane’ and assistant prosecutor Lucio Setola, charged thirteen people, including the Dean, Ferdinando Latteri, the Director of the Science Department and the university’s administrative director Antonino Domani as well as security staff.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Former Seminarist is Detained on Charges of Pedophilia
(AGI) Genoa — Investigators charged Emanuele Alfano with aiding child prostitution. Alfano, 40, is a former seminarist and a good friend of Don Seppia, the 51 year-old priest arrested in Genoa on counts of pedophilia and drug peddling. Alfano was about to board an MSC cruiser to work as a croupier .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grandson Commits Suicide on Fascist Grandfather’s Grave
(AGI) Milan — Pietro Ercole Mola, 65, grandson of Fascist Gerarca Roberto Farinacci, committed suicide this morning on his grandfather’s grave in the Cremona cemetery, shooting himself in the chest. The first phone call reporting the event to the Cremona Carabinieri station was made at about 10.30 a.m. and a pathologist was sent to the scene. Mola was very well known in the city as a doctor and the news astonished both friends and relatives.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Priest in Jail for Pedophilia Feels Threatened by Inmates
(AGI) Genoa- Don Riccardo Seppia, the parish priest from Genoa arrested for pedophilia, will soon be transferred to another jail. Internal prison sources from the Marassi jail, where the priest has been held since last Friday, confirm that he feels threatened by the other inmates and, despite being held in isolation and under surveillance, fears for his life. He requested a transfer.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Salmond Announces Plans for New Anti-Sectarian Law
New legislation to tackle sectarianism is to be put before the Scottish cabinet next week.
First Minister Alex Salmond said he wanted to pass the legislation before the football season began in July.
The plans could see the maximum jail term for sectarian hate crimes rise from six months to five years.
Online postings expressing religious hatred or death threats would also become an indictable offence.
The proposals would also include moves to outlaw sectarian displays during football matches.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Mr Salmond said: “We’ve got a particular problem attaching itself like a parasite to our great game of football and that is now going to be eradicated, it’s over, it’s finished.”
Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland will bring forward proposals for anti-sectarian legislation to the cabinet next week.
‘Football context’
The move comes after two men appeared in court after suspected bombs were sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two other high-profile supporters of the club in March.
Another man was charged with breach of the peace and assault, both aggravated by religious prejudice, after an alleged attack on Celtic manager Neil Lennon at a football game on 11 May.
The chief executive of the Scottish Football Association welcomed the plans.
Stewart Regan said: “The Scottish FA welcomes the first minister’s pledge to provide tougher legislation to tackle the problem of sectarianism.
“We look forward to the Scottish government taking the lead to offer clarity on the issue of sectarianism and other forms of discriminatory behaviour within Scottish football.
“This will require consultation through the Joint Action Group to establish clearly defined parameters for this necessary legislation to work practically in a football context.”
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Progress for Research on Hydrogen
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 17 — A team of Catalan researchers have succeeded in producing hydrogen as a source of energy starting from ethanol and sunlight, which represents major progress in order to use hydrogen as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels. The results of the study, a joint project conducted by scientists at the Polytechnic Institute of Catalonia, the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, were published in ‘Nature Chemistry’, cited by Europa Press. The discovery involves the development of a photocatalyst powder that makes the process of producing hydrogen cheaper and easier.
The quantity of hydrogen that can be produced and energy that can be generated depends on the quality of the catalyst that is used and on the surface exposed to solar radiation, thus the researchers obtained about 5 litres of hydrogen per kilogram of catalyst in one minute. For example, as the researchers from the Polytechnic University explained, if 9 kg of new catalyst is used in an ethanol system and is exposed to sunlight, the hydrogen generated can power a fuel cell with 3 kW of electric potential, similar to the size used for a household. Until now, obtaining hydrogen from sunlight was based on the use of water, which despite its abundance and its low costs, results in very low yields with high costs of materials. The authors of the study propose using ethanol, a cheap and renewable resource obtained from residual materials from the forests and from agriculture in order to create a more cost effective photocatalyst than the material used in the process with water.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: King Unaware of Friend’s Contact With Criminal
The royal court confirmed Friday that it was King Carl XVI Gustaf’s friend that can be heard on a tape negotiating with major criminals, reported news agency TT. But a press secretary for the royal court says the King was not informed that the contact took place.
The royal court’s press secretary, Bertil Ternert, told news agency TT that the King has heard the recording of his friend, Anders Lettström, chatting with Daniel Webb, a bodyguard of alleged Swedish gangster Milan Sevo. Ternert said there was no reason to question the authenticity of the recording.
But he says the King did not know about the contact. “This is a person who hasn’t informed or briefed the royal court or the King about this,” he told TT. “This was on his own initiative.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Police Out in Force for Mosque Protests
Police say they are ready for Saturday’s planned demonstrations for and against the nearly completed mosque on Hisingen in Gothenburg, reports news agency TT. The last time such a large police force was mobilized in Gothenburg was ten years ago during the EU protests.
Many are worried about violence and police are planning on implementing a low tolerance level. “The resources are in relation to the threat,” Martin Fredman, Police task force commander, told TT.
Three different groups have been given permission to gather and march towards the mosque. Two of the groups, Gothenburg against racism and the Left party, support the construction of the mosque. The third group, organized by the National Democrats and a group called the Swedish Defense League, are against its construction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First Week of Islamic Culture in Rome
The city of Rome will be hosting a Week of Islamic Culture in Italy between May 23 and 31 with congresses, exhibitions and a collection of films focusing on the Mediterranean area with Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia in the spotlight. The organisers, ‘Roma Capitale’ and the Islamic Cultural Centre of Italy and the Great Mosque of Rome are calling it “an opportunity to get to know the great civilisation of Islam, to deepen dialogue between peoples and between different religious traditions”.
“I invite all Italian citizens to learn about Islamic culture and to understand it because if we have faith in our own identity, we have the strength to respect the identities of others,” Rome’s Mayor, Gianni Alemanno, noted on presenting the project. “A future of peaceful co-existence is based on understanding other people; it is through exchange that points of contact may be found,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Obama’s Promises Are Not the Only Solution to Egypt’s Problems
For Fr. Boulad, an Egyptian Jesuit priest, the most serious problem is the religious conflict between Copts and Muslims, fomented by men of the old regime. Respect for human rights and a aid plan attentive to cultural differences, the key to change the country.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — “The financial support promised by Obama is concrete, but it can not be the only solution to the problems in Egypt”, Fr Henry Boulad, Jesuit priest and director of the Daher Holy Family College (Cairo) speaks to AsiaNews, in the aftermath of the speech of U.S. President Barack Obama on the Middle East. In it, he promised aid and investment to the region’s countries that embrace democracy.
According to the Fr. Boulad, the country has fallen into a terrible economic crisis after the fall of Mubarak. “Hundreds of factories have closed — he says — hotels and residences are empty due to the lack of tourists and in a few months the state will no longer have money to pay salaries”. Yesterday, Obama promised 2 billion U.S. dollars in debt relief and loan guarantees. But the economic aid, including the US plan, are not the only solution.
For the priest, the most serious problem is the inter-religious conflict between Muslims and Coptic Christians. Yesterday at Ain Shams (a district in the south east of Cairo), hundreds of Islamic extremists attacked a Coptic church recently reopened by the military Supreme Council. Today, the Coptic community has organized a new demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Egyptian TV, to demand greater security and respect for their rights.
“These attacks are not spontaneous — says Fr Boulad — but are fuelled by men of the Mubarak regime, who are trying to create tension in order to discredit the jasmine revolution”.
According to the Jesuit, the West must support a new culture of human rights among the population and develop an aid plan that analyzes the situation from a macro-economic point of view, taking into account all the social and cultural components of the country. (Sc)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Christians: We’re Under Siege
Witness describes ‘gang’ attack on believers as ‘ambush’
[WARNING: Disturbing descriptions.]
An Egyptian human rights activist says the Coptic Christian community in his country is under siege by the Muslim majority since Barack Obama abandoned President Hosni Mubarak, his regime collapsed and the Muslim Brotherhood’s integration into power began.
Reports document attacks by armed gangs on about 60 Coptic Christians during a protest at a national television headquarters and even suggest that the Egyptian army has been part of the aggression.
Christians have been demanding without success that the government prosecute the perpetrators of the attack and the burning of the Mar Mina church in the Cairo neighborhood of Imbabba on May 8.
A dozen people were killed and more than 200 were injured there.
Egyptian human rights activist and journalist Wagih Yacoub was an eyewitness to the violence and describes the assault on Christians as an ambush.
“The army left. They were not there and they did nothing after the attacks. Other criminals came and attacked the Christians. We asked for the rescue and the army came after a few hours,” Yacoub related.
[Comments see url for audio interview.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: UNICEF: 800,000 Refugees, 20 Bln Dollars Needed
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 19 — UNICEF has launched an appeal for 20 million dollars which are needed to deal with the needs of women and children in Libya, as well as those who have fled to the surrounding areas. “The longer the Libyan crisis protracts, the more the humanitarian situation for women and children will become more concerning,” said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Shahida Azfar. In the last three months, about 800,000 people have fled from Libya to Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Niger, Chad and Sudan. As of the middle of May, over one million people were affected by the conflict and are in need of humanitarian assistance. UNICEF, explained the statement, has responded to the needs of hundreds of families in camps set up near the borders, providing adequate drinking water and toilets, in addition to protection for children. Since the first days of the crisis, UNICEF has sent emergency first aid kits to Eastern Libya and three ships to Misrata carrying life-saving aid. Nonetheless, while the fighting continues in Libya, the needs of the people continue to grow. A significant part of UNICEF’s activity in Libya will involve education — with a programme that will require 3 million dollars — in order to try to guarantee children with their right to go to school The UN organisation will work with its partners in Libya to provide technical guidance and aid to reopen schools at a national level. Furthermore, UNICEF will also work to provide support to the national health and education system in Tunisia, satisfying the needs of the Libyan refugees. “The children,” continued Azfar, “have been deeply affected by this conflict. Their right to learn, play and express themselves has been compromised.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Thanks Italy for Contribution to Libya Mission
‘Aware of the historical dimension,’ Rasmussen says
(ANSA) — Rome, May 20 — NATO on Friday thanked Italy for its contribution to the international mission in Libya.
“We are grateful for its contribution to the NATO mission in Libya from the outset. All the more so because we are aware of the historical dimension,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told ANSA, referring to Italy’s colonial past in the North African country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Western Sahara: Sadr Condemns Morocco for Repression
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MAY 19 — The Council of Ministers of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), in a meeting chaired by Mohamed Abdelaziz, has condemned the “repression by the Moroccan authorities of Sahrawi human rights militants inside and outside prisons”. News agency SPS today reports “intimidation, harassment and even murder of innocent and harmless Sahrawi citizens”.
The Council of Ministers has asked the international community to “intervene and protect the Sahrawi citizens in the occupied territories by creating a United Nations system to monitor and denounce the human rights situation in the Western Sahara”. The cabinet also urged the international community to put pressure on the Moroccan government for the “immediate and unconditional” release of “all Sahrawi political prisoners” that are held in Moroccan prisons. The Council of Ministers has for information about “the fate of missing persons”, for an end to the “looting of natural resources in the Western Sahara and for the demolition of the “wall of shame”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s ‘Contiguous’ Palestinian State Could ‘Split Israel in Half, ‘ Says Middle East Expert
In calling for Israel to return to its pre-Six Day War 1967 borders, President Barack Obama also said the Palestinians have the right to a “sovereign and contiguous state,” a proposal that technically would divide Israel.
“We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states,” Obama said on Thursday. “The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state. … The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine.”
“Contiguous,” as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means : 1.) being in actual contact: touching along a boundary or at a point; 2.) of angles; adjacent; 3.) next or near in time or sequence; 4.) touching or connected throughout in an unbroken sequence.
Establishing a Palestinian state based on territory that Israel gained in the 1967 Six Day War would be one thing. But a “contiguous” state might be another, as the areas that Palestinians hope to claim are not adjacent. In order to get the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank into one contiguous nation, it would seemingly divide Israel on the map.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
82% of Professionals Want to Change Jobs
(ANSAmed) — DOHA, MAY 16 — A total of 82.4% of professionals in the Middle East want to change jobs. This is according to a survey carried out by Bayt.com, the leading recruitment website in the region. The dissatisfaction of Middle Eastern professionals comes from the nature of the work in 20.5% of cases, the company, business or firm for 20.1% and the superiors for 15.7% of cases. The “Reinvention of careers and jobs in the Middle East” survey shows that Middle Eastern professionals are not prepared to run the financial risk of changing careers. Only 17.6% of professionals are prepared to risk changing their line of work, especially now that the effects of the financial crisis are diminishing. For 25.8% of Middle Eastern professionals, the motivation to change work is an increased salary, while 18.3% focus on the quality of the work rather than the wage and on the opportunity to perform their ideal jobs. Meanwhile, 17.9% of people are looking for long-term stability. The sectors attracting the greatest loyalty from professionals are the oil sector (21.5%), telecommunications (16.5%) and tourism (14.6%).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Food: Turkey to Become Barilla’s Base for Middle East Exports
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, MAY 17 — Turkey will become Barilla’s production base for exports to the Middle East and North Africa.
This was announced, a statement issued by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Istanbul reads, by Gunes Karababa, regional director of Barilla Turkey. Karababa said that the Italian firm is planning to invest in its structures in Bolu, so that it will have another factory, allowing for the production of an extra 50,000 tonnes. The project should be completed by 2012. Barilla entered the Turkish pasta market through the acquisition of Filiz Makarna from Sahenk Group in 2003, and has announced plans to export the output from its Bolu plants to Saudi Arabia, South Africa and China as well.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Religion — The Overlooked Motive Behind Syria’s Uprising
The Assad clique’s Alawite faith is so heterodox that most in the Islamic world deny they’re Muslims at all; for Israel, this could be a good thing.
Throughout the Syrian uprising of the last two months, the dominant media narrative has followed the now-familiar arc of a freedom-seeking populace mustering the courage to finally confront an autocratic, anti-democratic regime responsible for decades of repression. Little mentioned is another element of the unrest, one readily apparent to most veteran Syria watchers: faith.
President Bashar Assad is an Alawite, a minority sect often described, in the convenient shorthand on which journalists rely, as an “offshoot of Shi’a Islam.” The Alawites’ creed, however, is so far removed from any mainstream Islamic orthodoxy that most Muslims worldwide — Sunni and Shi’ite alike — are apt to describe them either as heretics or as wholly outside the Islamic faith community, or ummah.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Woman Detained for Defying Driving Ban
Authorities detained a Saudi woman on Saturday after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women in the ultraconservative kingdom and posted a videotape of herself behind the wheel on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her.
Manal al-Sherif and a group of other women started a Facebook page called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,” which urges authorities to lift the driving ban. She went on a test drive in the eastern city of Khobar and later posted a video of the experience.
“This is a volunteer campaign to help the girls of this country” learn to drive, al-Sherif says in the video. “At least for times of emergency, God forbid. What if whoever is driving them gets a heart attack?”
Human rights activist Walid Abou el-Kheir said al-Sherif was detained by the country’s religious police, who are charged with ensuring the kingdom’s rigid interpretation of Islamic teachings are observed.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban women — both Saudi and foreign — from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.
Women are also barred from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years, and no woman can sit on the kingdom’s Cabinet. Women also cannot travel without permission from a male guardian and shouldn’t mingle with males who are not their husbands or brothers.
The campaigners have focused on the importance of women driving in times of emergencies and in the case of low-income families. Al-Sherif said unlike the traditional argument in Saudi Arabia that driving exposes women to sinful temptations by allowing them to mingle with policemen and mechanics, women who drive can avoid sexual harassment from their drivers and protect their “dignity.”
Through Facebook, the campaigners are calling for a mass drive on June 17. To encourage women to get behind the wheel, al-Sherif went for a drive on Friday as another activist filmed her. Posted on YouTube and Facebook, it has now garnered more than 11,000 supporters.
Dressed in a headscarf and the all-encompassing black abaya all women must wear in public, al-Sharif said not all Saudi women are “queens” who can afford to hire a driver. She extolled the virtues of driving for women, saying it can save lives, and time, as well as a woman’s dignity. Al-Sharif said she learned how to drive at the age 30 in New Hampshire.
“We are humiliated sometimes because we can’t find a taxi to take us to work,” she said.
On their Facebook page, the group says women joining the campaign should not challenge authorities if they were stopped and questioned, and should abide by the country’s strict dress code.
“We want to live as complete citizens, without the humiliation that we are subjected to everyday because we are tied to a driver,” the Facebook message reads. “We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities, we are here to claim one of our simplest rights.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Turkey: Press: Ankara Will Not Apply Sanctions
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MAY 20 — Turkey met the announcement of the United States’ unilateral sanctions against President Bashar Al Assad and other officials from his regime due to repression in Syria with concern, and considers said sanctions non-binding, according to Turkish newspaper ‘Haberturk’. According to a summary, the publication reports that Ankara will only comply with any potential sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council. Turkey, whose relations with Syria, with which it shares an almost 900 km border, as well as the Kurd separatist issue, have improved in the past years. Turkey has repeatedly urged Assad to implement immediate reforms and avoid massacres, but has already had to admit that it was not being listened to.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Setting Up Confrontation With Israel
Won’t stop expected attempt to have flotilla break Gaza blockade
Officials in Ankara are refusing Tel Aviv’s request to halt an impending flotilla of ships from Turkey on the anniversary of last year’s assault on Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
As with the flotilla last year, when nine people died in the confrontation, an attempt is expected to be made by the Turkey-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinians in the region.
Israel claims the flotilla organizers are part of group of Muslim charities called Union of Good, which was created by Hamas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Gul: Hamas Must Recognize Israel Right to Exist
ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul has urged the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
In an interview a day after U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a speech on the Middle East, Gul also hailed Obama’s reference to creating a Palestinian state based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders as “a very important step.”
Turkey has regarded Hamas as a key factor in the Middle East peace process since it won Palestinian elections in 2006.
Gul said President Obama “has a point” when he said in his speech that Israel could not be expected to negotiate with a body that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Asked if he was willing to press Hamas on that issue, Gul said, “I already advised them.”
In a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Ankara in 2006, Gul said he told Meshaal, “you have to be rational” about recognizing Israel’s right to exist.
Gul said he believed Hamas was ready to recognize Israel in its pre-1967 borders but wants that to happen simultaneously with Israel’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
Ankara’s ties with former close ally Israel broke down over its military operation in the Gaza strip in 2008 and hostility was fueled by a Israeli commando raid on aid flotilla which killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in May last year.
Turkey has demanded that Israel end its blockade of the Gaza strip and its aggressive stance on the Palestinian issue has created tensions between Ankara and Washington.
The paper said Obama’s speech was being interpreted by Turkish officials as a significant if nuanced change.
Gul also welcomed Obama’s pledge of debt relief and aid for Egypt and Tunisia as they struggle in the wake of popular revolutions. But he said a much larger scale “Marshall Plan” for the Middle East was needed.
Such a fund should be run by the World Bank and draw on contributions from countries in the region, as well as from traditional donors in the West, Gul said.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
UN: 4,000 Syrians Flee to Lebanon
(ANSAmed) — GENEVA, MAY 20- Approximately 4,000 people have fled Syria to escape violence and have gone to northern Lebanon in the past weeks, according to estimates published today in Geneva by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of these are women and children .
The UNHCR and its partners, according to a spokesperson, are working with the Lebanese government in the Wadi Khaled and Tall Biriborder areas in the northern part of the country to help those families which have left Syria. According to local Lebanese authorities, last week some 1,400 people reached Lebanon from the Syrian city of Tall Kalakh. When added to the arrivals recorded since the end of April, local authorities estimate a total of some 4,000 Syrians recently arrived in Lebanon. However, it is difficult to establish the exact number of people who fled from the violent repression of the anti-regime protests in Syria. Many refugees arrived empty-handed. Most found shelter with friends or family, while some are temporarily staying at a school.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Video of the ‘Nakba Day’ Protest in Lebanon
On Friday, a senior official who traveled to Washington with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told Yediot Aharonot, an Israeli newspaper, that it was important for the White House to understand the seriousness of last Sunday’s protests along Israel’s frontiers with Lebanon and Syria. “People are waging war along the fences,” the official said, “and it’s not an exaggeration.”
Earlier this week, when The Lede posted a series of YouTube videos showing some of the protests by Palestinians in those places, and in the West Bank and Gaza, it was hard to find much footage of the protest at the Lebanese border. But now we’ve come across an extended observational video that shows protesters charging to the border fence in Lebanon, and then being forced back by Lebanese troops.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Winemaker Finds Novel Way to Tap Middle East Market
Luxury wine ups the price and lowers the alcohol
(ANSA) — Treviso, May 13 — An Italian winemaker has found a unique way to tap into the luxury Middle East market by exporting alcoholic and non-alcoholic sparkling wine in handblown glass bottles finished with gold.
Iris Vineyards has reached an agreement with a leading Turkish distributor to sell the wines in 27 countries at a premium price of 10,000 euros a bottle.
Thousands of bottles of the wine, known as prosecco, are ready to be shipped in custom-made boxes lined with elegant snakeskin fabric designed by the French designer brand Hermes from the northeast regions of Friuli and Veneto.
The bottles are individually handblown by Treviso glassmaker Cristalli Varisco which preserves the ancient tradition well-known in Venice and elsewhere in northeast Italy.
“This has huge potential,” Isabella Spagnolo, from Iris, told ANSA. “Many of these countries are looking to drink a luxury product with bubbles but with no alcohol. This deal is really a miracle”.
Iris has signed an accord with the Turkish company M&N from the Backtas group which intends to do a simultaneaous launch in 27 countries including many Muslim countries where alcohol is banned.
Countries to be targeted by the wine exporting campaign include Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iran as well as Asian countries including Malaysia and Indonesia.
“This is a challenge that rewards hard work, commitment and seriousness,” said Spagnolo.
“To break into new markets with courage and planning every day we are convinced we have made the right choice : offering top quality beverages”. Alcoholic wines will be sold in countries where they are permitted while non-alcoholic sparkling wines will be sold in countries like Iran, Qatar, Syria and Bahrain.
The marketing campaign will begin officially in Istanbul on June 7 and in the meantime an advertising campaign has begun across Turkey with billboards depicting bottles of prosecco embedded in key national monuments.
Franco Manzato, agriculture councillor for the Veneto region, has welcomed the initiative.
“This is a proper recognition from new consumers of our prosecco, spearhead of the wine sector that accounts for half the food exports in the Veneto region,” he said.
Global sales of prosecco have grown considerably in recent years to more than 150 million bottles a year and 60 percent of the wine comes from the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene region north of Venice.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Hospital Assaulted Amid Fears of ‘High-Profile Attacks’
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — A suicide bombing ripped through a military hospital in Kabul on Saturday as a warning surfaced from the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan of increased “high-profile attacks” over the summer.
In a memorandum to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, Gen. David Petraeus said it likely that insurgents will pursue such operations over the coming months in an attempt to demonstrate their ability to strike.
He called on international forces to balance their tactical needs with those of the civilian population.
“These attacks may increase the risk of civilian casualties and put Afghan and ISAF forces in difficult situations,” Petraeus said in a memorandum made public Saturday.
“In the face of such enemy actions, we must continue our efforts to reduce civilian casualties to an absolute minimum.”
The Kabul attack underscores Petraeus’ warning.
Six people were killed and 26 others were injured in the bombing, according to Zahir Azimi, a ministry of defense spokesman.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility. Zabiullah Mojahed told CNN that 51 people had died and two of the group’s members carried out suicide attacks on the Charsd Bester military.
“One of them detonated inside the eating place, and the second one was shot to death, and now the operation is over,” he said.
“As a result, 51 people (have) been killed, including foreigners.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai deplored the action, and ISAF spokesman Rear Adm. Vic Beck, called the strike “abhorrent,” saying it “represents the lowest, most cowardly attack.”
The Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital, a 400 bed-hospital, is the largest medical military facility in the country and provides medical services to Afghan soldiers and their families, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said.
The strike occured when medical students where at lunch, and the United Nations emphasized that international humanitarian law bans attacks on medical workers and hospitals.
“All medical personnel and facilities must be respected and protected in all circumstances. Further, directing an attack against a zone established to shelter wounded and sick persons, and civilians from the effects of hostilities, is also illegal and prohibited. As parties to the conflict, all anti-government elements have clear responsibilities under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and to not attack them,” the U.N. Afghan mission said in a statement.
Petraeus’ memorandum, posted on the ISAF website, comes as the Taliban and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for an increased number of attacks against security forces in Afghanistan and U.S. targets in Pakistan.
Both groups have said many of the attacks were in retaliation after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden this month.
Petraeus ordered forces to review civilian casualty directives, saying troops must achieve “the proper balance between aggressiveness and patience.”
Anger in Afghanistan and Pakistan over civilian casualties has mounted in recent months following NATO air strikes that have killed dozens along their shared border.
In March, Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered a personal apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the killings of nine boys in a helicopter attack targeting insurgents.
The apology came after Karzai said one made earlier by Petraeus was insufficient.
Weeks later, the international force said civilians were accidentally killed during a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The target was two vehicles believed to be carrying a Taliban leader, ISAF said.
Petraeus’ warning also comes as he must decide on the number of troop reductions in Afghanistan to meet President Barack Obama’s self-imposed deadline to begin withdrawing U.S. forces by July.
The president has repeatedly said he is confident the United States can meet the self-imposed deadline without compromising Afghan security, though military commanders and government officials have raised concern about the readiness of Afghan security forces.
Petraeus testified earlier this year before Congress about the plans, saying he was likely to recommend that some combat troops be among the first to return to the United States.
He has said significant progress has been made against the Taliban over the past five years. But he also has warned the progress is “fragile and reversible.”
“We are at a pivotal moment in our work here, and I believe it would be valuable for every leader in ISAF to reread these documents and to internalize and employ the principles in them,” Petraeus said in memorandum dated May 15, 2011.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
India: Christian Girl Raped and Killed in Kandhamal. Hindu Radicals Suspected
The Global Council of Indian Christians appealed to the Chief Minister of the State of Orissa over Christians fears of an ongoing series of serial murders against Christians. The girl’s father name’s possible murderer, so far without success.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has appealed to the Chief Minister to take charge of the serious concerns of Christians, linked to the illegal situation in Kandhamal after the rape and murder of a Christian girl of 17 years Nirupama Pradhan.
Nirupama Pradhan, a student at a school in Phulbhani, was raped and murdered near G Udayagiri, Kandhamal district. The half-decomposed body of the girl who attended the final class of the Plus II institute of Kalinga Mahavidyala was found by police on May 12 at Dhangadarna Hill lake. She had disappeared from home in the village of Padikia R, near R Udayagiri four days earlier.
The girl’s father, Sitrian Pradhan, informed the Global Council of Indian Christians that he suspected his daughter had been killed by Hindu radicals after being raped, and named an alleged culprit. The inspector in charge at G Udayagiri police station would not release any statement. Sitrian Pradhan has filed a complaint with the police after some farmers found the body near the lake. The Global Council is concerned over ongoing serial killings of Christians in the area. Previously, another Christian, Saul Pradhan, was killed. And the police refused to hand over the post-mortem to the widow report.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Al-Qaeda Chief Pledges Major Attack on London to Avenge Bin Laden’s Death
Osama Bin Laden’s replacement as leader of Al-Qaeda is planning a major terrorist attack on London, ordering his followers to ‘crush’ the city.
Soon after being officially appointed caretaker chief of the terrorist group, Saif al-Adel vowed to avenge the death of his former boss.
‘Our new leader has asked for a big plan for London,’ Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said. ‘He believes the UK is the backbone of Europe and must be crushed.’
Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders met near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan to confirm the new role for al-Adel, 51, who was once Bin Laden’s security chief, The Sun reported.
In response to the heightened threat on London, British Transport Police (BTP) are to be given the power to carry weapons on the capital’s trains, stations and the underground for the first time.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond will next week announce the plan, which is aimed at deterring the threat of another terrorist attack.
The BTP, which protects the rail, tube and urban metro system, has 2,900 officers and the proposals involve giving around 100 of them firearms training.
Security officials are particularly concerned about the possibility of an attack like that in November 2008 in Mumbai when gunmen attacked hotels and the city’s main railway stations, killing nearly 200 people.
The news comes as the Manchester ‘Easter shopping’ bomb plot has been linked directly to Bin Laden for the first time.
Files seized by U.S. special forces from the al-Qaeda chief’s Pakistani compound reveal that Bin Laden himself masterminded the Manchester terrorist cell. The files have now been passed to MI5.
Twelve men — 11 Pakistanis and a Briton — were arrested over the alleged planned attack against Easter shoppers in April 2009.
But authorities were eventually forced to set the alleged plotters free because of lack of evidence against them.
Last year, an attempt to deport the group’s alleged ringleader failed on human rights grounds because it was argued he would be tortured in his native Pakistan.
Documents found at the hide-out also suggested that al-Qaeda planned to blow up oil tankers to spark an economic crisis in Western countries.
Terrorists planned to blow the huge ships up from the inside after researching plans of their construction.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Video Game ‘Glorious Mission’ Chooses US Army for Its Enemy
Video game violence never fails to garner more attention than it deserves, but a new title called Glorious Mission has become something of a controversy. The game comes from PLA, which is not an acronym for a development firm but instead the People’s Liberation Army of China. The PLA collaborated with Wuxi Giant Interactive Group to create the game which pits Chinese soldiers against their main opposition, the US military. Glorious Mission (also known as Mission of Honor) is being used a training tool for PLA recruits treads on some dangerous territory by piquing U.S. concerns of nationalism and anti-American sentiments.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sound of Sex Could Alert Internet Porn Filter
It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what a porn video sounds like. It’s more impressive, however, when it’s a computer that’s doing the guessing. Automatic image-analysis systems are already used to catch unwanted pornography before it reaches a computer monitor. But they often struggle to distinguish between indecent imagery and more innocuous pictures with large flesh-coloured regions, such as a person in swimwear or a close-up face. Analysing the audio for a “sexual scream or moan” could solve the problem, say electrical engineers MyungJong Kim and Hoirin Kim at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mental Illness Rampant in Somalia
The World Health Organization estimates that one in three Somalis have suffered from some kind of mental illness, a rate that is among the highest in the world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sahara-Sahel Countries Create Anti-Al Qaeda Force
(ANSAmed) — BAMAKO (MALI), MAY 20 — Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Algeria are to create a joint force numbering up to 85,000 troops to patrol the shared Sahara-Sahel regions and fight the presence there of Al Qaeda cells. The announcement has come from Mali’s Foreign Minister, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who specified that the force would become operative within the coming 18 months with the remit of patrolling the area and combating organised crime and terrorist organisations, especially Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (known by its French acronym, AQMI).
The foreign ministers of the four countries were meeting in Mali’s capital city, Bamako, to discusss “terrorism and trans-national crime”.
They paid especial attention to the Maghreb branch of Al Qaeda, but also addressed drug trafficking from South America destined for Europe.
AQMI has been responsible for numerous kidnappings — recently of the Italian tourist Maria Sandra Mariani — and the organisation is still holding four French hostages seized in September 2010 in northern Niger. The four countries are allies in the fight against banditry and against AQMI in the shared Sahel region. They meet periodically to discuss security in the area.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Boat of Migrants Lands Near Ragusa, 3 Traffickers Arrested
(AGI) Ragusa — 3 alleged smugglers have been arrested for a crime associated with the illegal arrival of 46 Egyptians yesterday. Police agents of the Ragusa-based Flying Squad Unit, the GdF agents based in Pozzallo and the Carabinieri of the Modica Company arrested Daouet Rachid Ali Mhammed, Muhammar Ahmed, and 25-year old Ateya Abu Zed, all Egyptian nationals.
They are accused of criminal conspiracy aimed at abetting illegl immigration.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Routes to the US: Mapping Human Smuggling Networks
As Mexico’s El Universal reported, in 2010 the country’s National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migracion — INM) detained almost 70,000 migrants. The vast majority of these, more than 67,000, were from the Americas.
However, a significant number were from Asian and African countries — some 2,300. The biggest source countries in this region were India, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Although these intercontinental migration patterns have existed for years, testimony from immigrant rights NGOs suggests that the trend is becoming increasingly common, according to the report.
In a journey that can take years, these individuals use a combination of shipping routes, flights and various methods of ground travel across several continents to reach gateway countries in Central or South America. From there, they make their way to the U.S. through complex networks, called “pipelines,” of human smuggling contacts. Generally, these networks are based in countries where lax border security, lenient immigration policies or easy access to false documents make it easier for migrants to cross the borders.
In Brazil, for instance, travelers from South Africa are not required to obtain entry visas. Because of this, the majority of African migrants heading to the U.S. through Latin America do so by obtaining fake South African passports and traveling to Brazil. As the Miami Herald reported in December 2009, this policy has also helped turn Brazil into the home of the largest population of Africans outside Africa.
For U.S. border officials, some of these human smuggling pipelines are a particular cause for concern. As InSight has reported, Indians are now the second most common ethnic group of immigrants, after Latinos, to be detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the whole of 2009, only 99 migrants from India were detained along the southwest border. In the last three months of 2010, the Border Patrol arrested more than 650 in southern Texas alone. Because of the proximity of India to Pakistan, the site of several anti-American armed organizations, the U.S. is concerned that the same smuggling networks could be used to carry out attacks on American soil. Although some fly into South American countries like Colombia and Venezuela, most of the Indian human smuggling networks base their operations in Guatemala, where American officials are pressuring the government to crack down on such activities.
Another country known for its relaxed attitude towards immigration is Ecuador. In 2008 the Ecuadorian government decided to waive visa requirements for foreigners, granting an automatic 90-day stay to all nationalities. As InSight has noted, this approach has made the country a prime midpoint for human trafficking pipelines to the United States. Although President Rafael Correa has since tightened immigration policy due to budgetary strains, his administration continues to facilitate illegal immigration, most recently through the establishment of a program that rewards undocumented migrants with citizenship in exchange for reporting police corruption.
As Ecuador’s case shows, facilitating migration can mean opening the door to criminal groups. The dynamic between the potential migrants and their traffickers can vary widely. Although sometimes the relationship resembles that of a client and service provider, it is often marked by abuse. Often, instead of assisting migrants, human smugglers kidnap them en masse, and have been known to kill one or two from a group as an intimidation tactic, frightening the rest into contacting relatives to meet ransom demands. According to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, nearly 10,000 migrants are kidnapped by gangs every year.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Truckloads of Migrants a Billion-Dollar Business
X-ray machines at checkpoints in southern Mexico are capturing the ghostly outlines of a clandestine business worth billions a year, people packed tighter than cattle and transported like consumer goods in tractor trailers to the United States.
The machines in place for less than two years at two state police checkpoints have led to the two largest hauls of migrants, who pay anywhere from $7,000 to $30,000 for passage, depending where they start.
The United Nations estimates that smuggling migrants across Mexico’s border with the U.S. alone is a $6.6 billion business annually, compared to an estimated the $10 billion to $29 billion in illegal drug running. The migrant smuggling estimate doesn’t include another $1 billion paid by thousands of non-Mexicans to cross from Guatemala and travel north, according to a 2010 U.N. report on transnational crime.
The 513 people apprehended Tuesday in two trailers in the state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, represented at least $3.5 million in cargo. Another trailer filled with 219 people was discovered in January.
“As far as I know, this is the first time we’ve seen such big numbers, but it does confirm what we already knew,” said Antonio Mazzitelli of the regional U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. “There are more and more people coming from all other regions of the world using the Central American and Mexican corridor to reach the North American market.”
While the majority of migrants found Tuesday were Guatemalan, there were also Indians, Nepalese and Chinese.
Smuggling in decades past was the business of small independent operators who helped migrants cross once they reached the U.S. border. But evading U.S. authorities has become much more difficult with increased border enforcement in recent years. At the same time, Mexico’s migrant routes have become much more dangerous, controlled by drug gangs that see new moneymaking opportunities in kidnapping and extorting those who cross their territory.
The harder the trip, the higher the price. Guatemalan officials, who estimate 300 to 500 undocumented nationals cross the border each day into Mexico, say those migrants are paying double what they did two years ago, as much as $10,000 for the hope of gaining work in the United States.
“According to the testimony given our staff, the cost of migration rises every day,” Fernando Batista Jimenez, an investigator for Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights, said in an email. “Not only because of the walls, policies and legislation against migrants, but because of the ever-expanding presence of organized crime, given the lack of coordination among three levels of government to fight it.”
Unlike those running drugs, guns or other contraband, people smugglers lose virtually no upfront costs when migrants are intercepted by authorities or escape.
By 2006, 95 percent of Mexicans crossing illegally into the U.S. were paying smugglers, according the U.N. report, which says that most migrants are now transported in trucks.
In the case of Mexico’s southern border, no one can say exactly who the organized smuggling groups are. Some say that large transport rings operate separately from Mexico’s brutal drug gangs, such as the Zetas or the Gulf Cartel, who stick to kidnapping and extortion.
Some say they are all in collusion, including authorities. Both local police and federal immigration agents have been arrested in recent raids on kidnapping operations in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.
“It’s clear that they’re immigration agents, federal police, Zetas, maras, the whole gamut, along with local crime groups,” said the Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest who runs a migrant shelter in Oaxaca. “Those who make money off migrants are all part of the same mafia.”
Immigration authorities in Chiapas said the migrants couldn’t say where they crossed from Guatemala and wouldn’t say how they contacted their smugglers, much less whether the smugglers were part of a larger organized group.
Some suffered from dehydration after traveling for hours clinging to cargo ropes strung inside the containers to keep them upright, allowing more migrants to be crammed in.
Air holes had been punched in the tops of the containers, but migrants interviewed at the state prosecutors’ office said they lacked air and water. The trucks were bound for the central city of Puebla, where the migrants said they had been told they would be loaded aboard a second set of vehicles for the trip to the U.S. border.
Loads of this size may have been crossing for some time. The difference now is that the blank white trucks passed through an X-ray machine and then took off, refusing to stop once authorities saw what was inside. They were chased about 10 miles (16 kilometers) until police cut them off.
Police arrested four people in the case.
“We don’t know how many immigration checkpoints there were before that,” said Hector Sipac, the Guatemalan consul in Mexico City, noting that any number of similar loads could have been waved through.
State authorities say they have had two checkpoints in Tuxtla Gutierrez with permanent X-ray machines for just under two years. A year ago, the federal government provided two more that are mobile and can be used around the state by the army, navy and immigration officers.
While the permanent stations have netted the largest groups of migrants, the mobile machines have caught loads of drugs and other contraband, plus smaller groups of migrants, said state government spokesman Jose Luis Coutino.
Still, nothing seems to stop people from seeking the American dream.
“We’re seeing a rise in recent months. The apprehensions are happening almost daily, though this is the second large one,” said Juan Jose Gonzalez, the head of the nonprofit group Southern Border Movement. “And each time the smugglers charge more to move people north.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gypsies’ Gaudy Mansions Built in Romania… With Your Money
In the week a gang of Romanian gypsies was jailed for an £800,000 benefits fraud, Sue Reid reveals the loophole in British law that allows taxpayers’ money to be funnelled into a gaudy mansion and BMWs back in the East.
On a windy street corner in Bradford, West Yorkshire, a woman wears a lacy black headscarf and touts copies of The Big Issue, the magazine sold by the homeless.
She has travelled 40 miles across the Pennines from Manchester, where she lives with her eight children, to sell as many copies as possible at £2 each.
But all is not as it seems. For 32-year-old Contessa Calinescu is a Romanian gypsy and is not homeless. In fact, she was driven to Bradford from Manchester, where the rent on her home is paid by taxpayers via welfare payments. She also claims nearly £500 a month in benefits for her large brood of children.
Like hundreds of other Roma women, she is exploiting a loophole in the law, in order to claim huge amounts of benefits.
Romanians who have migrated to Britain are restricted from claiming benefits — unlike other East European nations which joined the EU three years earlier.
But in a sophisticated scam, many Romanians have circumvented the system by claiming to be ‘self-employed’ Big Issue sellers — a status which entitles them to a National Insurance number and to claim the full panoply of welfare benefits, such as rent payments, council tax rebates and child benefits.
According to the Department of Work and Pensions’ website, Romanians working ‘in a self-employed capacity’ can claim housing and council tax benefit and child benefits.
As a result, Romanians are gleefully exploiting our generosity. A migrant advice organisation states: ‘The easiest way for Romanians to get access to the benefits system is to become self-employed.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Homophobia: Cyprus Still Bottom of the EU List on LGBT Rights
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, MAY 18 — Cyprus remains at the bottom of the list in Europe for its attitudes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, latest statistics showed yesterday, as daily Cyprus Mail reports. Yesterday marked International Day against Homophobia, during which the numbers were released, according to which almost half of LGBT individuals are psychologically abused, while a further 15% are victims of physical abuse including rape. The survey was carried out by the Cyprus association for LGBT individuals, ACCEPT and the Cyprus Family Planning Association.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Smallpox: What is it Good for?
It’s hard to believe the US and Russia are angering most of the world’s governments in Geneva this week just to allow some scientists to test a few drugs — the only convincing use for live smallpox virus. So why do they want these stocks really, and why does it get other countries so upset? Vaccination rendered smallpox virus extinct in the wild by 1980. All labs were then asked to destroy their stocks, to make it extinct for real. It being the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union kept a bit, officially, in hyper-secure freezers. In 1986, 1993 and again in 1999, the WHO asked them to destroy it. The US and Russia refused.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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