Everyone in Utah is Now Unemployed
The unemployment rate is officially at 9 percent.
In addition, a broad measure of unemployment — including workers who want a job but have stopped looking and those working part time for economic reasons — rose to 19.3 percent.
This is very grim. Let’s put this into its proper perspective because a 9 percent unemployment rate doesn’t really sink in.
What if there were a breaking newsflash on TV while you were watching “American Idol,” and the headline was “Everyone in Utah is now unemployed!”
You would look at your spouse and say, “Oh wow! This is bad. Those poor people in Utah. I had no idea the unemployment situation was this awful! I thought we were in a recovery!”
Sadly, that would be horrible, but the reality is much more grim than that. The true unemployment picture is absolutely abysmal.
Let’s dig a little deeper.
The unemployment number that we all see in the news (U3) represents the total number of people unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (the official unemployment rate). This number is 9 percent. A broader and more accurate measure of unemployment is U6, which includes marginally attached workers, or those who are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past.
Are these people still unemployed? Of course they are! Therefore, let’s count them in the unemployment numbers. Just because they are so discouraged that they stopped looking doesn’t mean they should not be counted as unemployed. So, when discouraged job searchers are included, the broader (U6) unemployment number is 19.3 percent!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Interview With Euro Group President Juncker: ‘Athens is Not Broke’
In a SPIEGEL interview, Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg and president of the Euro Group, argues that Athens isn’t bankrupt and that is is still possible for Greece to emerge from the crisis. He also states that the “nervousness” of financial markets makes it difficult to adequately and correctly inform the public.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Goldsmiths Suspected in €500 Million Tax Scam
Vicenza, 19 May (AKI) — An alleged tax fraud in Italy worth tens of millions of euros perpetrated by goldsmiths in northern Italy was uncovered by police in the the wealthy northeastern Veneto region.
Police on Thursday announced that nine people directly involved in the goldsmith industry and three others may face charges of falsifying 500 million euros in receipts enabling them to dodge 40 million euros in tax payments.
Suspects in the city of Vicenza doctored inventory records with the aim of not declaring the existence of around one tonne of high-quality gold, police said on Thursday.
During the probe, investigators say they also uncovered a 5 million-euro tax evasion scam linked to the sale of a luxury villa belonging to Russians in Porto Rotondo on the island of Sardinia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Job Situation Bleaker for Foreigners, Report Says
Rome, 23 May (AKI) — The employment situation for foreigners in Italy was bleaker than for Italians last year as the ill effects of the struggling economy was more pronounced for people coming from countries with developing and emerging market economies than for their counterparts from Italy, according to a new report.
Foreign workers lost their jobs at twice the rate of Italians, with employment falling to 63.1 percent in 2010, a 1.4 percent drop from the year before, national statistics agency Istat said in its annual report released on Monday.
The Italian economy grew only 0.1 percent during the first three months of the year as the economic crisis hurts the country’s exports. That followed the recession in 2009 which saw the value of its economic output shrink 5.1 percent, the most in more than six decades.
As the Italy’s economy fails to pick up steam, worries mount that it will have difficulty coming up with the money to run the country while paying off interest on its debt that totals 120 percent of gross domestic product. That concern prompted Standard & Poor’s on 20 May to issue a warning by downgrading Italy’s credit-rating outlook to negative from stable.
Such an outlook is unlikely to bode well for many foreigners who come to Europe from countries where economic prospects for individuals can be far worse than in Italy.
According to Istat, one-fifth of the people who lost their jobs in 2010 were non-Italians. Among women that rose to one-third. Pay was also on average 24 percent lower than for Italians. A foreign worker in 2010 could hope to earn 973 euros a month, compared with 1,286 euros for an Italian.
Among those who were employed, foreigners were much more likely to be over qualified then their Italian counterparts.
Last year, more than 42 percent of foreigners working in Italy were twice as likely as Italian workers to have a level of education that over-qualified them for their jobs, Istat said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: S&P Warning May Fan European Contagion
Rome, 23 May (AKI/Bloomberg) — Standard & Poor’s threat that it may cut Italy’s credit rating risks fanning contagion among debt- laden European countries as Greece fends off speculation that it’s headed to a restructuring.
Italy’s Treasury said two days ago that it will “intensify” structural changes and push ahead with measures to balance the budget by 2014 after S&P said its A+ debt rating was at risk of a downgrade. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is set to brief his Cabinet today on added budget cuts and asset sales to keep the aid flowing. The yield on Italy’s 10-year bond rose 9 basis points to a three-week high of 4.87 percent.
More than a year after European policy makers approved a 750 billion-euro bailout blueprint to stem the sovereign crisis, bond yields in debt-laden peripheral countries are at record highs and officials are floating plans to extend Greek repayments. Hours before the S&P warning about Italy, Fitch Ratings cut Greece three grades and said it would consider an extension of maturities as a default.
“In isolation this is not a major event and under normal circumstances I would not expect it to have a significant impact upon the market,” said Gary Jenkins, head of fixed-income at Evolution Securities Ltd. in London. “However, these are not normal times.”
The euro touched a record low against the Swiss franc today and fell to the lowest in a week against the dollar as concern over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis deepened. The euro slipped to an all-time low of 1.2349 francs before trading at 1.2394 as of 7:45 a.m. in London from 1.2425 last week. Europe’s shared currency dropped to $1.4050 from $1.4161 on May 20.
Italy had its credit-rating outlook lowered to negative from stable by Standard & Poor’s, which cited the nation’s slowing economic growth and “diminished” prospects for a reduction of government debt, according to an S&P statement on May 20. S&P affirmed Italy’s A+ long-term rating, the fifth- highest, and its top-ranked A-1+ short-term rating. The rating company last cut the nation’s credit rating in 2006.
“With regard to the economy, the government has initiated and will intensify its reforms; in regard to the budget, a phase of measures are in advanced preparation in order to balance the budget by 2014,” the Treasury said May 21 in an e-mailed statement from Rome. It also said the measures will be submitted to the Parliament for approval by July.
Italy’s budget deficit was 4.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, lower than that of France and less than half of Greece’s shortfall. Its debt, though, reached almost 120 percent of GDP, twice the European Union limit, and fallout from the region’s sovereign crisis is making it more costly to finance new borrowing. The extra yield that investors demand to hold Italian 10-year bonds over German bunds rose 13 basis points to 185, the highest in more than four months.
Italian economic growth was 0.1 percent in the first quarter, less than economists had forecast, as gains in exports failed to offset weak domestic demand. GDP in the euro region’s third-biggest economy won’t return to its pre-recession level for at least another two years, and it needs to raise productivity, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said this month in a report.
“Rating agencies don’t just look at what’s going on today, they also look at possible future developments, that’s the issue here,” said Nicola Borri, who teaches economics at Rome’s Luiss University. “How will Italy keep its commitments with no growth? Structural reforms are needed but no government Left or Right in the past 10 years has managed to undertake them. This is what S&P is worried about.”
S&P also warned that the “increased fragility” of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling coalition could undermine implementation of fiscal measures needed to trim the debt. Berlusconi has been weakened by defections of key allies and corruption allegations, and a setback in regional elections this month is further straining the unity of his government.
The Italian Treasury ruled out “absolutely” the risk of political gridlock and said Italy will keep all its economic commitments. It also pointed out in an e-mailed statement that S&P’s views are very different from those expressed by the International Monetary Fund, OECD and the European Commission.
In Italy, “diminished growth prospects stem from what we consider to be a lack of political commitment to deregulating the labor market and introducing reforms to boost productivity,” S&P said. “We believe measures to reduce the bottlenecks and rigidities in Italy’s economy are especially important in light of Italy’s limited monetary flexibility.”
The negative outlook implies a one-in-three chance that Italy’s ratings could be lowered within the next 24 months.
Fitch on 20 May cut Greece’s long-term debt rating to B+, four notches below investment grade, and placed it on rating watch negative. Even a voluntary extension of the country’s bond maturities would be considered “a default event,” the rating company said in a statement. Greek 10-year bond yields surged to a euro-era record 16.6 percent.
In Athens, Papandreou will chair a cabinet meeting today to discuss his fifth austerity package since getting a 110 billion- euro rescue from the EU and IMF. The government is looking for ways to speed up plans to sell 50 billion euros of assets, the equivalent of about almost 25 percent of GDP. The meeting comes as a team of IMF and EU inspectors prepare to return to Athens this week to complete their review of Greece’s progress in meeting the bailout conditions.
Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers, endorsed an independent privatization agency to help sell off some of the government’s assets, Spiegel said, citing an interview with Juncker.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Spread Jumps to 260 Points
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 23 — The day after the local and regional elections in which the PSOE party of Premier Jose’ Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was voted down, the spread between Spanish 10-year bonds and the German bunds jumped to more than 260 points to its highest level since January 10. The Spanish 10-year bond this morning reached an interest rate of 5.614% to a spread of 263 points with the German 10-year bund. In the past week, also due to market uncertainties caused by the situation in Greece and the need indicated by the IMF to expand the Irish bailout, the spread of the Spanish debt soared by 18.5%, from 222 points on Monday to the current 263.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Youth Protests Spread to Other European Capitals
(AGI) Madrid — Spanish youth protests have spread to other European capitals thanks to Facebook. Demonstrations were reported in Jerusalem and Budapest, and others are scheduled to take place in Prague, Vienna and Brussels. In Budapest, dozens of Erasmus students gathered outside the Spanish embassy claiming they are “fed up” and “can’t take it anymore”. The protest of the so-called “indignados” (the indignant) started last Sunday when thousands of youths and older citizens camped in Puerta del Sol, in central Madrid, to protest against unemployment, the stagnant economy, the austerity measures introduced by the government and Spain’s political system.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Thousands Robbed of Pensions Nest-Egg: Workers Misled Into Giving Up Gold-Plated Schemes
Britain is on the brink of a pensions mis-selling scandal, with thousands of workers robbed of their nest-egg, experts warned yesterday.
Pensions Minister Steve Webb said workers were being bribed into leaving their generous pension schemes for a cheaper alternative.
He fears many workers are being cruelly misled into switching out of their gold-plated pension with the lure of cash bribes.
One pensions expert told the Mail that workers were being ‘shafted’.
Mr Webb has uncovered evidence that bosses are offering ‘cash incentives’ to move pensions into drastically inferior alternatives.
For example, they are offered a lump sum of £10,000, but do not realise that they are losing £100,000 of pension benefits.
In a cynical attempt to persuade workers to leave the pension scheme, many bosses make the cash offer just before or after Christmas, when many people are feeling the pinch.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Did Obama Quote Alinsky in Mideast Policy Address?
Speech reflects main theme of ‘Rules for Radicals’ book dedicated to Lucifer
In his major address on the Middle East last week, did President Obama quote from the centerpiece of radical community organizer Saul Alinsky’s defining work?
While hailing the Arab uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, Obama laid out his foreign policy using terminology strikingly similar to Alinsky’s mantra.
“There must be no doubt that the United States of America welcomes change that advances self-determination and opportunity,” Obama stated. “Yes, there will be perils that accompany this moment of promise. But after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.”
One of Alinsky’s major themes was contrasting how the world “is” and how “it should be.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FEMA to Confiscate Food From Local Farms in Emergencies?
Since our nation’s founding the federal government has, in times of emergency, claimed extra-constitutional powers and authority. Under the guise of acting in the public’s best interests, Washington has taken away privacy rights, free speech, and habeas corpus, among others. There’s no reason to think it wouldn’t happen again.
With that in mind, would it surprise you to find out that if disaster strikes in your part of the country, the federal government is prepared to take over local food supplies, in part by confiscating farms?
It shouldn’t, says “Farmer Brad,” a Texas-based farmer who said in an interview about food security with Mike Adams for Natural News TV that during Hurricane Katrina, an inventory of local farms and what they produced was conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“FEMA was doing an inventory of all the farms around … metroplexes,” he said, which included nearby Houston and other large cities. “They started calling up farms and wanted to know where farms were, and they were being prepared to maybe take food if they need to, from farms, you know, for a crisis like that.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian PM Fayyad Hospitalised in US: Office
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad was hospitalised after suffering heart trouble during a private visit to the United States, his office said Monday.
Fayyad was taken to the Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas on Sunday after complaining of “severe pains in the chest,” the premier’s office in Ramallah said in a statement.
He underwent a cardiac catheterisation on Monday, which revealed that the “coronary artery was blocked,” the statement said, adding a procedure was performed with a stent to unblock it.
Fayyad “is doing well and should leave the hospital in the next two days”, his office said.
The Seton Medical Center added: “Mr Fayyad is in good condition.”
Fayyad, a 59-year-old heavy smoker, was in the United States to attend a university graduation ceremony for his son in Austin.
“He had been in the US since Friday for his son’s graduation. It happened suddenly. But his condition is not serious, he’s not in critical condition and should get better soon,” Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for the Palestinian government in Ramallah, told AFP.
A former International Monetary Fund employee, Fayyad has been prime minister since June 2007, after Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip.
His position has looked uncertain since the signing last month of a reconciliation pact between the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas, which entails the creation of a transitional government with presidential and parliamentary elections within a year.
But Fayyad welcomed the accord as a “very happy moment,” saying: “It is a first step. We’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen because the unity of the nation is one of the basic issues” to prepare for a Palestinian state.”
Fayyad is an economist who has been unanimously praised in the West, and to a lesser degree in Israel, for cleaning up Palestinian finances and bringing a spectacular improvement to security in the West Bank.
Recently he scored a success by getting western leaders to stop Israel blocking funds intended for the Palestinian Authority and frozen in retaliation for the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.
His priority is to give birth to a viable Palestinian state “de facto and on the ground” in 2011.
“There is no other alternative than the path of freedom and the end of the occupation,” he said in an interview with AFP.
“It’s a programme of construction and not of destruction. Build positively on the ground. Compare that with what Israel is doing,” he said.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Stow Family: ‘We Never Gave Up Hope’
Wearing a blue “LAPD” baseball cap, the sister of Bryan Stow thanked Los Angeles police Monday for arresting the prime suspect in the March 31 beating of the Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium and expressed optimism that two other suspects would be apprehended.
“We never gave up hope that this day would come,” said Erin Collins, standing outside San Francisco General Hospital with her mother, father and sister, who wore a “Los Angeles Police Department” T-shirt.
Inside the hospital, Stow, a 42-year-old paramedic from Santa Cruz, remained unconscious and in critical condition with a traumatic brain injury. His future is uncertain.
“Bryan has a long road ahead of him,” Collins said, “but we are thankful that the suspect is in custody and is unable to do this to another family.”
Felony record
The family spoke a day after a SWAT team conducted an early-morning raid on an apartment in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, arresting 31-year-old Giovanni Ramirez on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon — in this case, the assailant’s fists and feet, police said.
Ramirez, an alleged gang member with two felony convictions on his record, is being held without bail because he is also accused of violating his parole conditions.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office may charge Ramirez as soon as Tuesday, spokeswoman Jane Robison said.
Ramirez’s mother, Soledad Gonzalez, told reporters outside her home Monday that police had arrested the wrong man. She said her son did not attend the baseball game on March 31 and accused his parole agent — whose tip led to Ramirez’s arrest — of trying to claim a $250,000 reward in the case.
“I’m sorry to the family, but he’s not the one,” she said, crying. “He’s not the one you guys are looking for.”
20 detectives on case
Police believe that as Stow left the game between the Giants and Dodgers, Ramirez and a second man — both in Dodgers attire — began taunting him and his friends over their devotion to the Giants, then kicked and punched him.
The senselessness of the crime and its backdrop — an opening-day game between rival teams — led to an outpouring of support for Stow’s family and prompted Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck to put 20 detectives on the case.
Stow’s mother, Ann Stow, said Monday that she had been amazed by the response over the past seven weeks.
“I think it’s because he was only 42, and a father of two, and a paramedic, who spent the past 6 1/2 years dedicating his life to helping so many people,” she said. “We were actually blown away by the scope of the attention he had gotten. We’ve gotten responses from people worldwide.”
Beck said at a news conference Sunday near Dodger Stadium that Ramirez had been the “primary aggressor” in the beating. He said police are still looking for a second man in the attack as well as a woman seen driving the suspects away from the scene.
The tip that led to the arrest of Ramirez came from a parole agent, who noticed that a man he was supervising had added fresh tattoos on his neck — an apparent effort to obscure an older tattoo that witnesses to the attack on Stow described, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Pair of raids
Armed with a search warrant, police raided two locations Sunday morning: the apartment on North Mariposa Avenue where Ramirez was arrested as well his mother’s apartment on Clinton Street, about a half mile away.
According to court records, Ramirez lived at the Clinton Street apartment after his release from prison on parole. He was convicted in 2005 of being a felon in possession of a firearm during an incident the previous New Year’s Eve in which he and another man allegedly fired celebratory gunshots outside a home.
Officer Michael Berretta testified that the house was a hangout for the Pacoima Trece gang. Berretta said Ramirez had a tattoo of kissing lips on his neck, a “1” on the back of his upper left arm, and a “3” on his upper right arm. The number “13” is claimed by Sureño street gangs.
Two strikes
Ramirez was sentenced to two years and eight months for the conviction, which represented his second strike. Ramirez was also convicted of attempted robbery in 1999.
Liz Chen, who lives above Gonzalez’s apartment, said she often noticed men hanging out in front of the building and the adjoining parking area. She did not know Ramirez, but was not surprised by the events.
“This neighborhood is a little sketchy,” she said from behind a closed iron screen door. “Those guys were around a lot, and the apartment was always full of people coming and going.”
| [Return to headlines] |
Strauss-Kahn Tried Accosting Two Other Women Prior to Rape
(AGI) New York — Quoting trial sources CNN claim Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to accost two other Sofitel employees prior to rape. The former IMF Director is said to have asked the hostess accompanying him to his room to stay for a glass of champagne; an offer she declined. Strauss-Kahn then proceeded to make similar offers to a reception employee (who also refused).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Strict Muslim Man Accused of Killing Stepdaughter Over Her American Ways
Twenty-year-old Jessica Mokdad just wanted to live a normal American life.
But her stepfather, Rahim Alfetlawi, wanted to control her every move in an effort to force her to live his idea of a very conservative Muslim lifestyle, her family and police said.
Now Alfetlawi is in jail, awaiting trial on charges that he killed his stepdaughter. With his hands and feet in shackles, the Iraqi refuge who said he was a victim of Saddam Hussein’s regime listened in court May 12 as his attorney, Richard Glanda, asked to have him examined to see whether he’s mentally competent to stand trial.
The proceedings were translated into Arabic.
“He thought she was becoming too Westernized,” said Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Contaldo. “I think this was a very nice young lady wanting to experiment with Western culture without control and without abuse.”
Mokdad was born in Dearborn and spent her early years as a typical American child. She was a “girly girl” who enjoyed experimenting with clothes, hair and makeup, said her stepmother, Cassandra Mokdad.
“When she was around friends, she was always laughing,” she said.
Jessica Mokdad’s parents were divorced; Alfetlawi became her stepfather shortly before her ninth birthday. The family moved to Minnesota, where Alfetlawi forced his stepdaughter to wear a hijab and made her almost a prisoner in their home, said her father, Mohamad Mokdad.
Her mother told police Alfetlawi felt shamed by his stepdaughter’s Western ways: She wore shorts and sleeveless tops. She didn’t want to wear the hijab.
Jessica Mokdad also had a boyfriend. When Alfetlawi found out the relationship had been physical, he forced them to marry in 2009 in a religious — but not legally binding — ceremony in a mosque, Mohamad Mokdad said.
The couple lived in the Alfetlawi house, but Alfetlawi wouldn’t allow them to sit next to each other on the couch, Mokdad said.
“The poor kid. I don’t know how she just didn’t go insane,” he said.
She tried to escape Alfetlawi as soon as she turned 18.
In July, she moved to Grand Blanc with her father. Her husband joined her in August. She started Mott Community College and dreamed of becoming a social worker.
Then in March, Alfetlawi convinced her to return to Minnesota. She stayed about three weeks, then boarded a train and returned to Michigan.
On April 30, Alfetlawi told police he’d shot and killed her accidentally.
She was in Warren, helping her grandmother Diane Fauer clean out her recently deceased great-grandmother’s house. Alfetlawi showed up and helped them pack. Then the trio headed to Fauer’s house to unload.
Jessica Mokdad and Alfetlawi arrived first; Fauer was about five minutes behind. By the time Fauer arrived, Alfetlawi had already left for a police station to report that he accidentally shot his stepdaughter.
He told police she had felt the gun he carried for self-defense when she was hugging him. She tried to grab it, and when he tried to stop her, the gun accidentally discharged, he said.
The police and Macomb County prosecutors say Alfetlawi shot her execution-style.
Mokdad’s mother told police that Alfetlawi felt so shamed by her daughter’s Western ways, he killed her in an honor killing, Warren Police Sgt. Stephen Mills said.
The Muslim religion recognizes no such thing, said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
“If anything, it should be called a ‘dishonor killing,’ “ Walid said.
In any case, those who loved Mokdad can’t believe she’s gone.
“I thought it was a sick joke,” her father said when he heard of her death. “Then I found out it was for real.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Supremes Order California to Release Up to 46,000 Inmates
Supreme Court orders California to release tens of thousands of prison inmates
The 5-4 decision represents one of the largest prison release orders in U.S. history. The court majority says overcrowding has caused ‘suffering and death.’ In a sharp dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia warns ‘terrible things are sure to happen.’
The Supreme Court ordered California on Monday to release tens of thousands of its prisoners to relieve overcrowding, saying that “needless suffering and death” had resulted from putting too many inmates into facilities that cannot hold them in decent conditions.
It is one of the largest prison release orders in the nation’s history, and it sharply split the high court.
Justices upheld an order from a three-judge panel in California that called for releasing 38,000 to 46,000 prisoners. Since then, the state has transferred about 9,000 state inmates to county jails. As a result, the total prison population is now about 32,000 more than the capacity limit set by the panel.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, speaking for the majority, said California’s prisons had “fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements” because of overcrowding. As many as 200 prisoners may live in gymnasium, he said, and as many as 54 prisoners share a single toilet.
Kennedy insisted that the state had no choice but to release more prisoners. The justices, however, agreed that California officials should be given more time to make the needed reductions.
In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia called the ruling “staggering” and “absurd.”
He said the high court had repeatedly overruled the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for ordering the release of individual prisoners. Now, he said, the majority were ordering the release of “46,000 happy-go-lucky felons.” He added that “terrible things are sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order.” Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Husband, Wife Admit Trying to Fund Hezbollah
WASHINGTON — An Ohio husband and wife pleaded guilty Monday to charges of conspiring to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah, US prosecutors said.
Hor Akl and his wife, Amera Akl, both 38, entered their guilty pleas in a US federal court in Ohio, as part of an agreement with prosecutors to seek reduced sentences.
US authorities said the couple had agreed to pack a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer with more than $200,000 cash intended for Hezbollah, which the United States has classified as a foreign terrorist organization.
Prosecutors said the Akls conspired with an FBI undercover operative between August 2009 and June 2010.
Hor Akl “understood the funds would be sent to a designated terrorist organization and used to target Israel,” prosecutors said in a statement announcing the pleas.
They agreed to hide the money in the vehicle, which was to be shipped to Lebanon.
The FBI operative delivered $200,000 to the Akls on June 3, 2010 and told them he would return later with more money.
Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
Hor Akl also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate money laundering laws, perjury and two counts of bankruptcy fraud.
Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for later this year.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Video of Rock Star Gene Simmons: Obama Doesn’t Have a Clue
KISS rock star, Israeli-born Gene Simmons, tells the CNBC Christian network that U.S. President Barack Obama “has no idea of what the world is like.” He also calls the United Nations “the most pathetic body on the face of the earth.”
Jane Wells interviewed Simmons on CNBC and asked him what he thinks of President Obama, for whom Simmons voted and now regrets it. He answered, “If you have never been to the moon, you can’t issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, ‘Go back to your ‘67 borders in Israel’ — how abut you live there and try to defend an indefensible border — nine miles wide?”
“On one side, you got hundreds of millions of people who hate your guts. On the other side you got the Mediterranean. Unless you control the Golan Heights, it is an indefensible position. it is a nice idea, [but] when you grow up, you find out that life is not the way you imagine it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Arab Spring’ Camp Set Up in Calais as Thousands of North Africans Vie to Get to Britain
Migrants from the Arab Spring are setting up camps in Calais to use as spring boards to get them into Britain.
It came as Foreign Secretary William Hague said ‘tough’ action and ‘proper controls’ were needed to keep them out.
At the moment most are living in ramshackle squats dotted around the port in Northern France, but the authorities fear they will grow far larger over the summer.
Arab Migrants are setting up camps in Calais to use as spring boards to get them into Britain
One, a derelict house situated less than two miles from the Channel Tunnel, has already been dubbed ‘Africa House’ because of the large number of people, including women and children, who have taken up residence.
All have escaped turmoil in countries like Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, where fighting caused by pro-democracy revolutions continues to rage.
‘Britain is a country which will look after us — it welcomes foreign people who need help,’ said Saf Hussein, who claimed to be an 18-year-old originally from Tunis.
‘Many of my brothers are coming this way because we have no future at home. We travel with hope that we can enjoy great opportunities in Britain.’
Representatives from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which is partly funded by Britain and aims to reduce migration, visited Africa House over the weekend.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that he will do everything in his power to stop migrants coming into Britain from Calais
They distributed leaflets in numerous languages warning: ‘There is a risk of severe injury or even death when trying to cross to the United Kingdom illegally by hiding in a truck.
‘Do not attempt to enter refrigerated trucks or tanker lorries. You risk being locked in, being exposed to chemicals or being frozen to death.’
Despite such stark warnings, the ultimate aim of those living in Africa House is to get on a Dover-bound train or ferry.
Once there, they will claim political asylum or else disappear into the black economy.
At least 40,000 have fled to Europe since the start of the Arab Spring, fearing that fledgling regimes will punish them for their ties with dictators who are deposed or under threat.
Most come through Italy, and especially the tiny island of Lampedusa, where the government has offered many temporary EU travel documents to get them out of the country.
From there they board trains to Paris, where camps are also springing up around the Gare du Nord Eurostar station.
‘We will catch a train to Calais and then go to England,’ said Mohammed, a 22-year-old Tunisian migrant who was today still in the French capital.
‘Most of us speak French, but we also have good English and know we will be far better treated by the English.
They are interested in our human rights, while the French are not.’
Police raids on the squats in Paris and Calais are a daily occurrence, with both migrants and charity workers complaining that beatings are common, and that water is poured over blankets and food.
The authorities in Calais admit that they fear a repeat of ‘The Jungle’, a vast illegal encampment which grew up next to an industrial estate before being forcibly shut down in 2009.
‘We are very concerned by the smaller camps which are starting to appear,’ said a police spokesman.
‘They will certainly grow as the weather gets warmer and more migrants start to appear. The migrants aim is to get to Britain at all costs.’
Responding to the influx of Arab Spring migrants on Sky New today, Foreign Secretary Mr Hague said: ‘It also means we need proper controls and we have to be tough about this.
‘We can’t just accept a flow of hundreds of thousands or millions of people into southern Europe and then coming beyond that.
“Clearly, European nations are not able to accommodate those numbers, and so we do have to respond imaginatively for the future, for the economic wellbeing of north Africa so that people can have livelihoods where they are.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Patient Police Evict Squatters
After watching on as some 800 activists stormed a deserted building in the Christianshavn district on Saturday, Copenhagen police retook control of the property this morning by removing the 11 people that had remained there overnight.
Politicians from the Danish People’s Party and the Conservative Party criticised the police for watching on as the building was occupied, but deputy assistant commissioner Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen Police said they had “weighed their options” and decided to wait before taking action. “If we had wanted to keep them out, we probably would have had to use a lot of force,” Jespersen said. “And we needed to decide whether that was worth it to protect an empty building.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Capitals Back French Minister for IMF Post
Britain, Germany and a handful of other countries over the weekend backed French finance minister Christine Lagarde to become the next chief of the International Monetary Fund despite growing appeals from emerging economies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European Diplomacy
Lady Ashton due for a barracking
Just after returning from the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi, having opened the EU delegation there, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton is to face a “grilling over ‘incompetent’ EU policy,” reports the Daily Telegraph. Accused of being surrounded by “yes” men and of having “adopted a bunker mentality rather than deal with problems”, Baroness Ashton will be charged at a “stocktaking” lunch of EU foreign ministers of pursuing an “incoherent” foreign policy. “France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands will be among countries suggesting that she has failed to stamp her authority on the EEAS, a diplomatic service created by the Lisbon Treaty to make EU foreign policy more unified,” the London daily explains. It adds that, “Diplomats and officials accuse Lady Ashton of being too slow to respond to events, such as the Arab Spring.” Some countries even suspect that “Lady Ashton remains in the job only because the Tories [Britain’s ruling party], who tried to block the Lisbon Treaty, are happy to have an “incompetent” as foreign minister.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Irish Jab at Obama?
[scroll down page to read:]
President Obama arrived in this blustery Irish capital Monday to begin a six-day trip through Europe, where national security matters have overtaken the global economy as the most pressing issue in the transatlantic relationship.
[…]
As a gift, Kenny, the prime minister, presented Obama with a three-volume set of myths and legends of Hawaii, emphasizing that the books were for his daughters Sasha and Malia, who did not make the trip.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Genoa Pedophile Priest Investigation Takes New Turn
(AGI) Genoa — There is another twist in the case of the Genoese parish priest, Don Riccardo Seppia, who was arrested for sexual violence against minors and drug dealing. An 18-year-old foreign man has been arrested for prostitution and, during questioning by the public prosecutor, Stefano Puppo, said he was one of Seppia’s “special” friends. The story was corroborated by the former seminarian Emanuele Alfano, who was Seppia’s confidant and accomplice. The 18-year-old said was one of Alfano’s “friends” and, in his turn, procured other young men, including minors, with whom Alfano had sexual relations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: French Lactalis Launches Offer to Acquire Dairy Rival Parmalat
Milan, 23 May (AKI) — Parmalat’s French rival Groupe Lactalis on Monday opened its 2.60 euros a share tender for the Italian dairy giant’s stock it doesn’t already own. Parmalat’s board said last week that Lactalis’ valuation is too low and the company may be worth as much as 3.17 euros per share, according to an opinion by US bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Parmalat shares rose 0.31 percent Monday in early trading in Milan to 2.61 euros.
Parmalat investors want least 8 percent more from Lactalis which would value Italy’s biggest dairy at 3.65 billion euros.
The tender period will run from 23 May until 8 July, Lactalis said.
Anti-trust regulators in Italy and Europe must also approve Lactalis’ offer.
Lactalis in March paid a group of activist investors 2.80 euros-a-share for a 15 percent stake in Collecchio, Italy-based Parmalat, raising its holding to 29 percent.
On 26 April, the Laval, France-based Lactalis announced a bid for the rest.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Arrest of Ex Seminarian Alfano Confirmed in Child Sex Case
(AGI) Genoa — Emanuele Alfano, friend, accomplice and ‘getter’ of kids for Don Riccardo Sepia, is to stay in prison. The 24 year-old former seminarian is accused of complicity with the Genoese priest arrested for sexually abusing a minor and sale of drugs. The investigating judge of the Court of Genoa, Anna Giacalone, validated the arrested this morning, ordering his detention in prison. Alfano is charged with abetment and induction into child prostitution.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Figures Show 800k Women Out of Work Due to Pregnancy
(AGI) Rome — ISTAT 2008-09 surveys have close to 800k Italian mothers reporting job loss as a result of pregnancy or maternity. The figure, published as part of the Italian statistics office’s 2010 report, includes women who were either fired or forced into leaving their jobs. The figure essentially accounts for 8.7pc of previously and currently employed women.
Pressure for women to leave work is, according to the report, “highest among younger women (with 13.1pc of cases involving women born after 1973), in southern Italy (10.5pc) and among women with lower study qualifications (10.4).”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Milan Will be ‘Islamised’ If Leftist Mayor Elected, Warns Berlusconi
Milan, 23 May (AKI) — Days ahead of a key run-off vote for mayor of Milan, Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi warned the opposition centre-left would turn his hometown into an “Islamic” city overrun by Roma Gypsies and other immigrants.
“Milan can’t become, on the eve of the Expo 2015, an Islamic city, a city of Gypsies, full of Roma camps and swamped by foreigners, a city that gives voting rights to immigrants in municipal elections,” Berlusconi said on Monday.
“I don’t think that we Milanese consider it a priority to build a beautiful mosque,” Berlusconi said in a message posted to the website of his ruling conservative People of Freedom (PdL) party.
The leader of Italy’s largest centre-left opposition Democratic Party Pierluigi Bersani met Berlusconi’s inflammatory remarks with an ironic putdown.
“Your words are laughable..you’re going to need to wear a burqa to avoid people recognising you in the street,” he jibed.
This month’s local elections taking place in Milan, Naples and other Italian cities are being seen as key test of the Berlusconi coalition government’s popularity, two years before its mandate ends in 2013.
In a bitterly contested first round of voting in the northern business capital last week, the centre-left’s candidate, former Communist Giuliano Pisapia bested incumbent conservative mayor, Letizia Moratti, taking some 48 percent of votes compared to her 42 percent.
Pisapia, branded a leftist extremist by Berlusconi has announced he is suing Moratti for claiming he associated in the past with far-left terrorists. The pair are due to face-off again in run-offs scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
The issue of an official mosque is a politically charged one in Milan which has been a conservative stronghold for almost two decades. Moratti, a former national education minister from the PdL, says she opposes the construction of the mosque requested by Muslims.
A mosque in Italy’s business capital woud create “a centre of attraction for Islamic groups from all over Italy who then would not be controllable,” Moratti has stated.
Pisapia has criticised Moratti’s position saying Milan should allow a proper place of worship for its Muslim community, who have been forced to hold prayers in makeshift venues such as garages and a disused cycle stadium.
Both candidates say several encampments on the outskirts of Milan mostly occupied by Roma Gypsies, which Milanese associate with crime, should be closed down.
Pisapia has blamed the squatter camps on negligence by the conservative city administration.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Catholic Priest Was Member of Paedophile Promotion Group
The Dutch Catholic Church is investigating claims that a former priest and member of the Salesian order was also a member of a group which seeks to end the ban on paedophilia, and had two convictions for exposing himself to children.
The priest, identified only as Father Van B, is 73 and is said to have been been a member of the Martijn foundation, a legal lobby group which promotes adult child sex, for years. He also served on its board between 2008 and 2010.
According to a reconstruction of events by RTL news, Van B’s behaviour was well-known to the church authorities, who failed to take action against him and allowed him to move to new parishes after complaints.
Volunteer
He was still able to work as a volunteer for various church organisations, including helping children prepare for their first communion.
‘Society finds these sort of relationships damaging. I do not agree. A child only suffers in a few cases,’ Van B is quoted as saying by RTL news. During the priest’s time on the board of Martijn, its chairman was arrested for possessing child pornography. That investigation is still ongoing.
The priest himself has two convictions for exposing himself to children, RTL said.
Boarding schools
Thousands of past cases of alleged sexual abuse by Dutch priests are currently under investigation. The scandal broke last year after an investigation into claims of abuse in the 1950s and 60s at boarding schools run by Salesian priests.
RTL says the current head of the Salesian order in Holland, Herman Spronck, knew the priest was a member of Martijn and had convictions for exposing himself but that Spronck saw no reason why Van B should not be allowed to work with children.
Not damaging
During the interview, Spronck also said that relationships between children and adults did not have to be damaging. ‘Personally I do not condemn relationships between adults and children… Sexual contact is also possible.’
Only a few of the children who claim to have suffered abuse at the hands of priests have actually suffered, Spronck is quoted as saying.
Spronck later told RTL news he did not agree with the text of the interview and refered to the official church statement, distancing the Salesian order from the Martijn foundation.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Anti-Greece Stand Boosts PVV in the Polls
Geert Wilder’s tough position on the Greek financial situation has boosted his anti-Islam party’s standing in the latest Maurice de Hond opinion poll.
The poll, based on internet responses, gives Wilders’ PVV 26 seats if there was a general election tomorrow, three up on the previous poll. The ruling VVD fell by two seats to 32.
Support for the Christian Democrats, the second party in the minority government, has fallen further to 13 seats, De Hond says.
The results give the ruling alliance of VVD, CDA and PVV 71 seats in parliament, five down on its share in the general election almost a year ago.
Divided
The poll also shows the Dutch population is fairly evenly divided about support for further intervention in Greece. Some 31% are for, 37% are against and 31% don’t know.
Wilders says the government should refuse to give any more support to Greece and that the country should leave the euro.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Kicks Off Europe Trip With Ancestral Visit to Ireland
US president Barack Obama is kicking off a visit to Europe this week with a stopover in Ireland to discover his ancestral roots, a 24-hour visit that has the country — mired in economic problems — buzzing with excitement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Elections: Zapatero’s PSOE Collapses, PP Wins
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 23 — José Luis Zapatero has lost his last elections as government leader: Spain has seriously punished his PSOE party, giving a clear victory to the Popular Party of opposition leader Mariano Rajoy in yesterday’s local and regional elections. According to the figures announced last night by Vice Premier and Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba based on 80% of counted votes, the PP has conquered 37.34% of votes in the local elections, against the socialists’ 27.84%. The result is the worst ever in local elections for the PSOE.
The party loses historic strongholds like Barcelona, where it was in control since 32 years, Seville, Saragossa, but also Cordoba and Jaen, the last Andalusia city it controlled. The partial results indicate the Zapatero’s party may also lose Castile La Mancha and Estremadura, two other socialist strongholds. The Popular Party keeps its absolute majority in the capital Madrid and its region, with mayor Alberto Gallardon and governor Esperanza Aguirre.
The country’s second city, Barcelona, goes to the Catalan nationalist party CIU and candidate mayor Xavier Trias, who will need the PP’s backing to be able to govern however. The Popular Party maintain their lead in the country’s third-largest city, Valencia, and its region, with governor Francisco Camps who is under investigation for alleged corruption. The socialist party of Zapatero has reached an all-time low due its wavering management of the crisis and due to soaring unemployment, now at 21% (44% among people under the age of 25).
Andalusia is one of the four Spanish regions, on a total of 17, where no elections have been held. It could become the only region, together with the Basque Country, under a socialist presidency. “The Popular Party has obtained a great victory” said secretary of PP organisation Ana Mato, who announced “the start of a new political stage for the country”. Rubalcaba has congratulated his opponents with their “clear victory”. PP leader Mariano Rajoy sees these elections as the last test before the general elections in March 2012. The PP wants to win these elections, and counts on the discontent in the country with Zapatero. The party will start asking for early elections in a louder voice. In the next general elections the leader of the PP party will face a new opponent. Zapatero has already announced that he will resign after this term. His successor — Alfredo Rubalcaba or Carme Chacon — will be elected this summer.
The impact of the uprising of young ‘indignados’ on the election result is yet unclear. Yesterday they announced that they will continue their occupation of Puerta del Sol in Madrid for at least another week. The protest seems to have favoured Izquierda Unida, the only party that has openly backed the movement. According to the figures released by Rubalcaba, Izquierda Unida reaches third place based on the number of votes in the local elections with 6.30%, beating Ciu (3.85%), the Basque nationalist Pnv (1.72%) and the surprise in the Basque Country, the left-wing separatist coalition Bildu, with 1.65%.
Zapatero’s final 10 months as leader of Spain could be a difficult period.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Socialists Suffer Crushing Defeat Amid Protests
Spain’s ruling Socialist party has suffered a crushing defeat in local and regional elections, as youth movements across the country continue their protests against the political establishment and high unemployment. Street protests also took place in Brussels.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boo Me if You Like, But It’s Time to Ignore the Bleeding Hearts and Shut Down the Ministry of Foreign Aid
Sometimes, public opinion erupts in ways you least expect. Last Thursday, I took part in BBC TV’s Question Time programme, which was conducted in an atmosphere of keen anticipation.
On the panel was the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke. Since he was in hot water over his injudicious remarks about rape a couple of days earlier, it was expected there would be fireworks over this issue. In the event, the discussion about penal policy was rather muted.
It was a quite different topic that touched a nerve that evening — overseas aid, and whether its budget should be ring-fenced.
I remared that not only did I think it was wrong to increase this budget when other public spending was being cut back, but that most overseas aid was harmful; that it perpetuated Third World poverty and oppression by propping up tyrants, who as a result were able to murder and enslave even more of their suffering populations.
So bad was this problem, I added, that I thought the Department for International Development should be shut down altogether.
[…]
This is why Mr Clarke said on the show — to a burst of applause — that Britain’s overseas aid commitment showed it was a civilised country.
Talk about totally missing the point!
Of course, wealthy nations should help others. And in cases of natural disaster — tsunami or earthquake, for example — the Government should certainly provide instant financial and other relief.
But the point about overseas aid in general is that very little of it goes to help the poor and oppressed at all — quite the reverse.
The chief recipient of British aid is India. Yet India is rich enough to afford a space programme, nuclear programme and even its own foreign aid programme. How ridiculous is this?
[…]
Instead, such programmes foster yet more destitution and corruption. Indeed, such need is often manipulated or even created by tyrants or warlords in order to obtain the aid that then enables them to kill and enslave even more people and prop up their corrupt, brutal regimes.
For example, in Rwanda, where the Hutu tribe massacred millions of Tutsis in the Nineties, the Hutus stole as much as 60 per cent of the Western aid and then levied a tax on food rations to pay their militias and thus continue murdering the Tutsis.
Similarly, in Sudan, where two million were slaughtered in the Eighties and Nineties, the army that committed these atrocities fed itself on food aid that it stole, and which thus kept the genocide going.
Absurdly, the Prime Minister claims overseas aid is a good investment because it reduces terrorism. But refugee camps all over the world have turned into paramilitary or terrorist strongholds.
One of the biggest recipients of British aid is Pakistan, which in return has played host to the training camps that have processed countless British Islamist terrorists.
Palestinian refugee camps are the major breeding ground for Palestinian terrorism.
And in Afghanistan, a secret U.S. government report has revealed that nearly £1billion of international aid has gone missing through institutionalised corruption.
The Department for International Development has blocked further British aid there — but not before millions of pounds apparently vanished into a corrupt Afghan black hole.
And now we learn, to our further stupefaction, that the BBC is also in the aid business.
A little-known charity run by the BBC is spending more than £15million a year on aid projects, including educating Africa on climate change and a romantic soap opera for Indian radio.
The charity, the BBC World Service Trust, employs nearly 600 staff. Last year, it reportedly spent more than £28million on ‘changing lives through media and communication’.
Rub your eyes. This is the same BBC that is decimating its World Service output on the grounds that it has no money!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Gang Launched Horrific Attack on Religious Studies Teacher They Did Not Want Teaching Girls
A gang of four Muslim men launched an horrific attack on an RE teacher because they did not approve of him teaching religious studies to Muslim girls.
Gary Smith, 28, was left with facial scarring, memory loss and became depressed after his face was slashed and he suffered a brain hemorrhage following the attack.
The vicious gang lay in wait for him several times before ambushing him as he made his way to work on July 12 last year.
They were taped planning the attack saying they wanted to hit or kill him just because he was the head of religious studies at the Central Foundation School for Girls in Bow, East London.
Mr Smith was set upon with an iron rod and a brick leaving him unconscious on the pavement in Burdett Road, Tower Hamlets.
The gang, made up of Simon Alam, 19, Azad Hussein, 27, of Bethnal Green, Sheikh Rashid, 27, of Shadwell and Akmol Hussain, 26, of Wapping, fled the scene in a car and went on to boast about their role in the assault.
Alam said he hit Mr Smith over the head with a metal bar saying: ‘I turned and hit him on his face with the rod and he went flying and fell on his stomach.’
Prosecutor Sara Whitehouse said: ‘He was subjected to a violent attack while he was on his way to work.
‘His injuries included bleeding in the brain and a broken upper jaw. He has been left with permanent scarring to his face. The attack was pre-meditated and was vicious and sustained.
‘It was also a cowardly attack, carried out by a group of at least four men, using weapons, on the single victim who would have had limited opportunity to defend himself.’
The teacher had been at the school for eight years teaching faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
Ms Whitehouse added: ‘He was targeted as the victim of this attack quite simply because of his position as head of religious studies at the school.
‘The defendants held strong religious beliefs and they chose him because they did not approve of his teaching.’
Hussain’s car had been bugged on an ‘unrelated matter’ and it was during that surveillance operation that some of the gang members were recorded discussing the attack.
He spoke about a pupil at the school, calling her teacher a dog — an offensive name in Islam. He is then heard saying ‘this is the dog we want to’ and then a word is said in Sylheti — a language from Bangladesh — that means to hit, strike or kill.
In the recording Hussain is heard saying: ‘He’s mocking Islam and he’s putting doubts in people’s minds…how can somebody take a job to teach Islam when they’re not even a Muslim themselves?’.
Two other attempts, on on July 8 and one on July 9 last year failed when Mr Smith did not take his usual route to work.
The thugs will be sentenced by Judge John Hand QC later today.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Primary School Mosque Trip Cancelled Over ‘Ridiculous’ Bin Laden Revenge Fear by Headmistress
A primary school trip to a mosque was cancelled because of ‘ridiculous’ concerns over terrorist attacks in revenge for the death of Osama bin Laden.
A group of five and six-year-old pupils from Orleans Infant School in Twickenham, south-west London, was due to visit nearby Hounslow Mosque tomorrow.
But the trip was ditched after the headmistress said she was concerned about the ‘safety’ of pupils.
Furious parents said the decision to scrap the outing sent the ‘wrong message’ to children about Muslims.
One parent said: ‘This is the most bizarre and ridiculous decision. It seems to be based on ignorance and bigotry, the opposite of what education should be about. How am I supposed to explain it to my kids?’
[…]
The trip was organised as part of a programme to teach pupils about ‘Faith and Other Cultures’.
It was due to include a tour of the mosque, watching Islamic prayer and meeting Muslim pupils from a nearby school.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Make Bizarre Legal Battle to Keep Jack the Ripper Files Secret So Victorian Sources Keep Their ‘Confidentiality’
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
The Met Police is fighting a legal battle to keep files detailing the investigation into the notorious Jack the Ripper case secret — to maintain confidentiality for Victorian ‘supergrasses’.
The documents are said to include four new suspects for the serial killings which terrorised Whitechapel in 1888 and have become one of the world’s most infamous unsolved cases.
The historic ledgers have 36,000 entries detailing police interaction with informants between 1888 to 1912.
However, Scotland Yard reportedly believes disclosing the names could hinder recruiting and gathering information from modern informants, affecting terrorism investigations — and even lead to the Victorians’ relatives being attacked.
Author and former police officer, Trevor Marriott, has tried for three years to see uncensored versions of the documents.
He has previously applied under the Freedom of Information Act and, when that was refused, he appealed to the Information Commissioner, which also rejected his attempt.
He has now appealed to the Information Tribunal, which is expected to release its decision later this year. Legal: Former murder squad detective Trevor Marriot has been fighting a battle to see the documents
Mr Marriott, who has written two previous books on the case, told the Sunday Mirror: ‘These files should be made public at once. They are some of the most interesting records on the case I’ve come across.
‘Some of the informants died more than 100 years ago, so to censor the documents is absurd.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Schoolgirl Wins Right to Use Her iPod in Exams as She Can’t Concentrate Unless She’s Listening to Music
A schoolgirl has won the right to use an iPod while sitting her exams — after claiming she can only concentrate while listening to her favourite music.
The girl won the unprecedented concession after threatening legal action against her school and examination authorities.
The Mary Erskine School for girls in Edinburgh, where boarders pay nearly £18,000 a year, has been forced to buy a new iPod that is loaded with the girl’s choice of music by a teacher — to ensure no exam answers are hidden among the tracks.
Staff had initially refused the request, fearing it would open the door to the possibility of cheating.
The girl’s parents then took her case to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) examination board, which also ruled it out.
However, it was forced to back down after reportedly being threatened with legal action under the Equalities Act because the girl, a year six pupil, (equivalent to year 13 in England) often struggles to pay attention in class.
SQA bosses have allowed the pupil, who is in the middle of her Higher exams, to listen to the iPod as long as it can be ‘proved not to contain any prompts’.
School staff are understood to be unhappy with the decision but were forced to comply as the SQA is the governing body for Higher examinations.
The pupil has to sit in a separate area to prevent the noise from her headphones distracting other students.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Ran ‘Secret Terror Hunt’ In Sweden: Report
US intelligence agents have staked out suspected “terrorists” in Sweden, without the authorisation of the government there, the online edition of a Swedish daily reported Sunday.
Sweden’s intelligence service Säpo discovered in 2009 that two Americans were conducting illegal, under-cover investigations in Sweden, the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) daily reported.
The two men were discovered when Säpo noticed them tracking people who it was also investigating for suspected ties to terrorist groups, the paper said, quoting several unnamed sources close to Säpo.
Washington had not informed Swedish authorities of the agents’ activities in the country, and soon after their activities were discovered, the two US citizens left the country, the paper added.
Referring to Washington’s failure to inform Pakistan before it tracked and killed Osama bin Laden three weeks ago, Svenska Dagladet insisted “the US has also carried out intelligence against terrorists on Swedish territory.
“Sweden has thus become the scene of a foreign power’s terror hunt without the knowledge of the Swedish government,” it said.
Säpo could not be reached late Sunday. Head of the agency Anders Danielsson refused to comment when confronted by the paper.
Following the report, US embassy spokesperson Christopher Dunnett stressed the importance of cooperation between the United States and Sweden.
“We have excellent cooperation with Swedish authorities in a several areas, including anti-terror activities,” he told the TT news agency on Monday morning.
He refused to elaborate, however, on the allegations of unauthorised spying.
“We don’t comment on security issues in detail,” he said.
Neither justice minister Beatrice Ask nor foreign minister Carl Bildt were willing to comment on the matter Sunday night.
If the report about the unauthorised US spying is true, it amounts to a serious allegation, according intelligence expert professor Wilhelm Agrell.
“There’s no support for this in international law. What’s problematic is running an operation like this without going through the Swedish authorities,” he told the TT news agency.
According to Agrell, it’s more common for “less friendly states” to carry out unauthorised intelligence activities against exile groups, for example.
At the same time, he’s not surprised that the United States would do the same thing.
“It’s been common practice for the Americans since September 11th, 2001 to carry out operations both with and without consent from the country where the operation takes place,” he said.
The new revelations cover operations different from the US embassy’s Surveillance Detection Unit (SDU) which was the focus of an investigation by Sweden’s top prosecutor after reports surfaced in the media suggesting that the unit may have engaged in unlawful intelligence gathering.
However, prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand dropped the probe in early April because he was unable to gather sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations.
| — Hat tip: Freedom Fighter | [Return to headlines] |
Voters Punish Zapatero: Spain’s ‘Lost Generation’ Vows to Fight on
Mass demonstrations and a historic defeat for the ruling Socialists in regional and local elections this Sunday have put unprecedented pressure on Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. He has refused to bring forward national elections, but members of the young protest movement vow they won’t give up until they’re heard.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Will Ash Hit Europe Air Traffic? Iceland’s Grímsvötn Volcano Sparks Travel Jitters
A year after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano caused European air travel chaos, another Icelandic volcano has blown its top. This time, Grimsvötn is the name on traveler’s lips as they worry about the impact the volcanic ash cloud could have on flight schedules. Officials at the EU and in Germany say there is no reason for serious concern at the moment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Clinton Gaffe Mixes Up Montenegro and Macedonia
Podgorica, 23 May (AKI) — Former US president Bill Clinton became a laughing stock in the Balkans this weekend after he confused Montenegro — his host — with Macedonia.
Clinton made the gaffe during a speech in the Montenegro tourist resort of Budva by saying he was glad to be in Macedonia — another small Balkan country.
“If its problems are confronted in the right way, the future of the region will be bright, “including the future of Macedonia whose beauties are breathtaking,” Clinton said. “Don’t blow it and God bless you,” he said, triggering guffaws of laughter among his audience.
His gaffe sparked a wave of comments on media forums in Serbia and Montenegro, ridiculing him.
“Poor man, he doesn’t even know where he was,” said one commentator.
“He must be in love again,” said another commentator, referring to Clinton’s love affair with White House staffer Monica Lewinski. “Too bad he didn’t bring Monica.”
“It’s shocking and sad to see what kind of people are ruling this world,” several commentators said.
Clinton was honorary guest at the weekend at a meeting in Budva on Balkans problems and perspectives, organised by the government of Montenegro and a private business company the “Atlas group”.
The meeting marked the fifth anniversary of Montenegro’s independence from state union with Serbia and participants paid up to one thousand euros to attend.
Clinton received an honorary doctor’s degree from a private university in Montenegro.
Clinton was the main driving force in 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia and Montenegro and animosities against him are still running high.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: 25% of the Population Are Computer-Owners
(ANSAmed)- ALGIERS, MAY 18 — Eight million Algerians, about 25% of the population, own a personal computer, according to Post, Information Technology and Communications Minister Moussa Benhamadi, announcing further public initiatives to encourage an improved use of technology. Of the 8 million Algerians who own a PC, 900,000 have an ADSL connection and increasing this number is among the objectives of the ministry’s programmes. Benhamadi admitted, however, that there is a gap regarding phone and internet access. But this, explained the minister, is simply due to the fact that demand is not greater than supply. There are, said Benhamadi, new communities that do not have a phone network and therefore Internet, and this is a gap that needs to be eliminated.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Qatar Financing and Hosting New Rebel TV Network
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 17 — The new TV network of the Libyan rebels has momentarily chosen the rich and calm city of Doha as its home, the capital of Qatar where Al Jazeera already operates, over Benghazi, thousands of kilometres away from the stronghold of the anti-Gaddafi uprising. The satellite network, “Libya of the Free”, where dozens of journalists and technicians are already at work, is being hosted and largely financed by the government of Qatar and is headed by Mohammed al Hakari (in the picture). According to Middle East Online, the heads of the new television network are hoping that Tripoli will be liberated soon so that they can broadcast on Libyan soil and transform the network of the resistance into the state-run TV channel. “We are not a satellite network of the revolution,” said Mahmoud Shammam, who oversees information for the National Transitional Council (in the picture), “we are a television network at the service of the demands of the Libyan people and their right to freedom and dignity.” With the help of several Libyan journalists and activists, broadcasting by the new network began at a building located in the historic centre of Doha which previously housed the studios and offices of Qatar’s Rayyan TV. The objective of ‘Libya of the Free’ aims, in Shammam’s view, to offer Libyan citizens, long deprived of any channels of professional or political value, a quality service intending to make up for the lack of an opposition voice. Informational programmes will mainly be broadcast on the Libyan satellite network, which due to numerous threats, has an exceptional security service. In addition to live talk shows from Benghazi and other eastern parts of Libya, the new TV network broadcasts news on the progress of the revolution, the situation in the different battles and especially the areas controlled by the rebels, with stories and videos done by the combatants themselves. The Libyan citizens did not have anything other “than Goebbels-style propaganda”, said Shammam, “and this is why we decided to break the regime’s monopoly over information with objective information”. According to the network director Mohammed Al Akari, “one hundred people, including Libyan journalists, technicians and employees work at the “Libya of the Free” network. The number of hours of broadcasting has increased from 6 hours at the end of March to 12 hours currently”. Al Akari added: “We have offices in Benghazi and we will have others working in the cities liberated from the Gaddafi regime.” The satellite network was not established, underlined the director, “to create a network for the revolution, but rather, it is meant to be the television network of the next Libyan state”. “We signed a professional training agreement with the BBC,” explained Mahmoud Shammam, who added that “we are hoping to transfer the entire network to Tripoli after it is liberated”. In addition to many businesspeople and donors, the network has mainly been financed by the government of Qatar, the first Arab country to recognise the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Economic Crisis and a Thirst for Money, The True Reasons for the War in Libya
For Jean Paul Pougala, a Cameroonian sociologist and Africa expert, the war against Gaddafi is too costly and could last years. Based on unsubstantiated claims, NATO’s No Fly Zone hides the economic interests and frustrations of Europe and the Arab League. The Church offers a lesson to the world’s silent pacifists.
Rome (AsiaNews) — “Europe is making a fool of itself in front of countries like Russia and China, by conducting an expensive war, that will not solve anything and could last years,” Jean-Paul Pougala, a Cameroonian writer, told AsiaNews as he spoke about NATO’s action against Gaddafi. An expert on Africa, he teaches sociology at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations in Geneva. In an interview with AsiaNews, he said he was “scandalised by this war, which began under the pretext of protecting civilians,” but is in fact due to hidden economic and strategic interests in Africa and the Middle East. Pougala notes, “only the Church has given voice to anti-war positions, giving a lesson to all these self-righteous people”. In fact, he wonders, “Where are the crowds that in 2003 protested around the world against the Iraq war?
Meanwhile, airstrikes continue against the Libyan capital. Planes hit overnight the harbour and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s residence. Baroness Catherine Ashton, EU Foreign Affairs Representative, visited Benghazi yesterday where she opened an EU office that will start working with the Transitional National Council on “security reform, the economy, health, education, and in building civil society.”
The world economic crisis and the failure of the NATO campaign in Libya
“France, Great Britain and Italy have underestimated this war,” Jean Paul Pougala said. “They started, not realising the real size of Gaddafi’s weapons and military forces, especially ground forces. They could lose and look like fools.”
NATO propaganda on TV, newspapers and news agencies showing the world the mission’s success is hiding, according to the scholar, the current deadlock, due to the economic crisis of European nations. The first week of the war cost NATO countries more than 600 million Euros and the conflict could last months or years.
“In recent days, Italy dropped flyers over Tripoli, calling on the population to boycott Gaddafi, who is on the verge of defeat. On 17 May, media began their coverage claiming that Gaddafi’s second wife, Safiyah, and her daughter Aisha had fled to Tunisia, which was later denied by Tunisian authorities but ignored by news agencies that reported it without too much prominence.”
According to the sociologist, if the air conflict continues, France, Great Britain and Italy will run out of resources. In order to win, they will have to begin a ground operation, which is not allowed under UN Resolution 1973.
“In the past three weeks, French fighter planes have had to land in Malta several times to refuel. The missiles that sank eight Libyan ships cost 300,000 euro each. Each day, hundreds are launched.” Libya’s National Transitional Council has been without resources for months, and has asked for 3 billion Euros in aid, which European nations cannot provide since they are faced with large debts.
“Under the pretext of financially helping the rebels and fund the war, France, Great Britain and the United States want access to Libya’s US$ 200 billion sovereign funds, frozen by banks because they are tied to Gaddafi and his family, but which actually belong to Libya”.
Those who want to take that money must violate international rules. The United Nations and the international community recognise Gaddafi as the president of Libya, whilst the Transitional National Council is officially recognised only by Italy, France, Qatar, Kuwait, Gambia and the Maldives.
Gaddafi, an unwelcome figure for the West and the Arab world. Absent pacifists
According to Pougala, the war that started under the false pretext of defending civilians became a licence to kill Gaddafi, violating United Nations resolutions and demonising a leader and his action without concrete evidence. “I have not yet seen pacifists criticise the NATO mission,” the sociologist said. “Where are the crowds that in 2003 protested around the world against the Iraq war? Only the Church has given voice to anti-war positions, giving a lesson to all these self-righteous people.”
“No one has provided the evidence that the Gaddafi regime killed 10,000 demonstrators, on the basis of which UN Resolution 1973 was adopted, the No Fly Zone was established, and an application was filed for Gaddafi to be tried before the court in The Hague for crimes against humanity. The information came from two Arab news sources, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera and Saudi-based Al-Arabya”. For the sociologist, both countries have an interest in destroying Gaddafi and Libya. Qatar, together with other Gulf States, has a grudge against the Libyan regime, and is the only Arab state that has joined in the airstrikes against Libya. Saudi Arabia has never been a fan of the Libyan leader. In 2003, during a meeting of the Arab league, Gaddafi accused Saudi King Abdullah of having allowed the “sacred ground of Makkah” to be violated by “Christian soldiers during the 1991 Gulf War”.
“Gaddafi has committed crimes,” Pougala said, “but he is different from an Arab sheikh. He had plans for the African continent and his people, namely the establishment of the United States of Africa and the creation of a single currency, the ‘golden dinar’, which has always been opposed by Western nations.”
In fact, the rules imposed by the former colonisers prevent many states from setting up their own independent central banks[1]. For Pougala, Gaddafi’s goal was to end this type of dependency by creating local central banks under the guidance of a supranational agency modelled on the European Central Bank (ECB). His huge petrodollar investments in sub-Saharan Africa were another factor that made the Libyan leader internationally unpopular, especially in the Arab world.
“Arab states have exploited Black Africa long before Europeans did. So far, Gaddafi is the only Muslim leader to apologise to Africans for Arab slavery and paid them back, not only through one-way business relations, but also by stimulating local economies and countering the interests of China, the only country other than Libya that has focused on the resources of the African continent.”
For the scholar, the future of Libya and African countries remains uncertain. The prospect of real independence is ever more distance. However, “if the project of the United States of Africa is sound, nothing can stop this principle from future realisation.”
[1] One example is the CFA (African Financial Community) franc, which has legal tender in 14 former French colonies. The currency has a fixed exchange rate with the euro and is guaranteed by the French treasury. A joint foreign currency reserve is funded by member countries (covering at least 65 per cent of reserves deposited with the French treasury, which acts as guarantor for monetary exchange). French authorities participate in defining the monetary policy of the CFA zone.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Rebels Ask for EU Money to Keep the Lights on
Rebel leaders in Benghazi, Libya have asked EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton to help them pay for staff and basic services.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Appeals for End to Violence in Libya
(AGI) Holy See — Pope Benedict has renewed his “urgent appeal” for an end to violence in Libya. He has called for “negotiation and dialogue to prevail over violence, with the help of the international bodies who are working to find a solution to the crisis.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Housing: Legal Recourse Against Squatters
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MAY 20 — Squatting of residential property is a familiar problem across the world, but in ‘revolution-torn’ Tunisia it has become an issue closely tied to questions of law and order during the ongoing aftermath of social and economic turmoil left by the political crisis. The phenomenon has indeed unleashed a domino-effect in Tunisia: this is because squatters have been preferentially targeting council housing, thus treading on the toes of low-income households who are now being forced to seek out an alternative form of low-cost accommodation.
This has led the owners of the buildings due to be assigned to low-income households, the Société Nationale Immobilière de Tunisie (or SNIT) to launch a legal action against the squatters with the charge having “stolen property belonging to others”. This use of the courts on the part of SNIT is, however, is just one of the attempts it has been making to gain access once more to a stock of 795 illegally occupied houses in the Governorates of Ariana and Ben Arous, as well as in the Tunis area.
As the TAP agency has pointed out today, the assignees of such properties are breadwinners having a proven minimum guaranteed monthly wage of 350 dinaris, (around 130 euros). The squatted properties at the centre of this dispute are to be found in Raoued (Governorate of Ariana), Fouchana (Governorate of Ben Arous) and Sidi Hassine Sijoumi (Governorate of Tunis).
They are already subject to valid leasehold contracts between SNIT and their destined future tenants.
A further factor to be brought into the legal definition of the dispute is that as well as being occupied illegally by their present residents, the houses in question have been subject to looting and vandalism and that some of them, once they have been abandoned by the squatters, have also been set on fire — resulting in damage put at tens of thousands of dinaris — the repair of which somebody has to pay for, before the state of the properties deteriorates even further. Take the case of the occupied houses in Raoued, which make up the majority of the total of 406 homes on the Nur Jaafar estate.
Here there the problem is exacerbated by the fact that the original project foresaw a total of 1,800 homes, but given today’s state of affairs, nobody is sure whether this will ever be realised.
So, having exhausted all the softer approaches to persuading the illegal occupiers to vacate these premises, the decision to have recourse to the courts is the last available weapon in the hands of the Société Nationale Immobilière de Tunisie and represents the last hope for the legitimate occupiers to take possession of the promised properties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinians? What Palestinians!
What must be understood is that the Israelites absorbed the indigenous peoples through the centuries, and what we call Jews are the admixture of the original Hebrew tribe with the inhabitants of the land. They are the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Philistines, Egyptians, Romans, etc. Their relationship to Abraham was spiritual more than physical (although through intermarriage they would wind up with common ancestry.)
They would remain in this land until 70 a.d. when the Romans would send some of them into exile.
Now, it must be understood; the Romans did not take all the Jews, and there remained Jews in the land who maintained an unbroken succession. There simply were other settlers who lived alongside them.
In 637 Jerusalem fell to Muslim Caliph Umar the Great. It remained in Muslim hands (sometimes benevolently, sometimes not — in 1077 Emir Atsiz ibd Uvaq slaughtered the inhabitants for rebelling against his rule, for example) until 1099 when the First Crusade attempted to reopen the pilgrimage roads to Jerusalem and the Latin Kingdoms were established. They lasted 70 years.
It must be understood that Islamic kings of various sorts ruled over the land, but it was still the same indigenous peoples living there — Jews, Christians, and some Muslims. The Jews never left. This is important to understanding their claim to the land; they never relinquished it.
There is no mention of a “Palestinian Peoples” by ancient historians.
And this land did not flourish under Islamic rule; Mark Twain, upon visiting the region in 1867, described it as:
“… A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse… a desolation… we never saw a human being on the whole route… hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
And the Jews outnumbered the non-Jews the entire time. See this graph [url].
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
There is No Palestine
Despite a very forthright speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Sunday in which the President stated his “unshakeable” support for Israel and cited evidence of it, the greatest obstacle he must overcome with American Jews in particular and the public in general is a growing distrust of anything he says.
When it comes to the Middle East, Palestine, and the long history of Israel as a nation, past and present, President Obama doesn’t seem to “get it.”
Simply stated, there is no Palestine. In an effort to obliterate the nation of Israel, the Roman emperor Hadrian ordered that its name be changed to Palestine, a Greek word for Philistine, but other than this there never was a Palestine nation, nor is there one now.
To be a nation, it has to have been founded and it has to have specific borders. It has to have a capitol, major cities, an economy and currency of its own, and a stable government. It has to be recognized as a nation by other nations. None of these factors exists for the so-called West Bank and Gaza.
If the so-called Palestinians deserve their own state, why not the Kurds of Iraq and Turkey, and many other groups that could be deemed equally deserving?
What is referred to as Palestine is the wholly-owned creation of the United Nations through its UN Relief Works Agency, a strange invention that has existed solely to maintain the Arabs in the two areas mentioned as permanent refugees for generations. Sustained by millions in “relief” after the areas in question were lost in wars perpetrated against and lost to Israel in 1948 and 1967
There is never any mention of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who, over the course of the wars against Israel, became real refugees, forced to flee to Israel from Arab nations. In 1948, 140,000 fled Algeria, 75,000 fled Egypt, 135,000 fled Iraq, and 265,000 fled Morocco, along with others from Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. They were absorbed by Israel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Three Cheers for Terroristine
We need a terrorist state. Where the politicians are terrorists, the police are terrorists and even the men sitting at the desk when you come in to drop off a form are terrorists. There are states that support terrorists, and give safe harbor to them, but that’s not good enough. We don’t want another Pakistan or Iran. We’re not half-assing it this time. What we want is the genuine article. Terrorists from the top down. Terrorists everywhere. A state where every branch of government and the entire country is nothing but terrorists.
Terroristine has been an ancient dream since 1973 or was it 1967. A generation of keffiyah draped thugs, KGB operatives and human rights activists have looked out into the darkness and called it into being. It is a vision of a country where everyone is a murderer and children are taught from a very young age that their purpose in life is to die killing people who don’t share their religion and way of life.
And now after 20 years of negotiations, treaties, suicide bombings, mutilations, billions of dollars in vanishing into Swiss bank accounts and the death of its Egyptian born leader of AIDS—Terroristine is closer than ever to coming into being. Only one thing stands in its way. The people whose country is in the way. Who have to be thrown out of their homes so that Terroristinians can plant their rockets on the rubble of their houses, the charred remains of their fields, and point them at their cities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Granddaughter Recalls the Polish Jew Who Designed Atatürk’s Hats
Polish Jew Adolf Loker was the designer of the revolutionary hats of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic. Documents and photos about Atatürk that Loker was keeping in his safe were destroyed during the Sept 6-7, 1955 events. Loker’s granddaughter Mari Loker-Gormezano, a deputy candidate from the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, says: ‘I grew up as an admirer of Atatürk; this is not a thing that was imposed’
The switch from the fez to Western-style hats was one of the most visible changes brought by the foundation of the Turkish Republic after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. As for the architect of this “dress code revolution,” Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he had his hats designed by Adolf Loker, a Polish Jew from a long line of hat makers.
The best known of these hats was the one Atatürk wore during his visit to the Black Sea city of Kastamonu in 1925 — a hat that today is on display at the former assembly building in Ankara, according to Loker’s granddaughter, Mari Loker-Gormezano.
A deputy candidate for the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, in the upcoming elections, Loker-Gormezano spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about her grandfather’s relation with Atatürk, the story of her family and her own political adventure.
In addition to Adolf Loker, all the family members admired Atatürk, Loker-Gormezano said, adding that her grandfather was very sad when the founder of the Turkish Republic died. “He [Adolf] was keeping all documents and photos about Atatürk. But the safe in his hat store in Istanbul’s Karaköy district was destroyed during the Sept. 6-7, 1955, [events] with all the materials in the store,” she said. “Newspaper clippings and the hat at the former assembly building are the only things that remain from the friendship between Atatürk and Loker.”
The events of September 1955, among the painful in Turkey’s recent history, occurred when daily Istanbul Express published news that the house where Atatürk was born in Thessalonica had been bombed. The response to this saw the houses and business places of many Greeks, Armenians and Jews destroyed.
Loker-Gormezano defined these unhappy events as temporary. “It is necessary to understand the sincerity and feeling of the Anatolian people. They react against anything rapidly but calm down,” she said. “Those who know about this feature of Anatolian people make use of it. The future concerns me, not the past.”
The closeness of the Loker family, which moved to Istanbul 600 years ago, to Atatürk is not only limited to his relationship with the hat maker. According to Loker-Gormezano, her older aunt Ilda Berkoviç was the future Turkish leader’s French teacher. “I grew up with admiration for Atatürk, it was not a thing imposed later,” she said, adding that she has now become a candidate for the CHP, a party founded by Atatürk.
“I follow in the footsteps of my grandfather,” she said.
Rejected as TRT presenter
Loker-Gormezano said she had applied to the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, or TRT, to become a presenter, but this dream of hers did not come true, something she claimed was because of her Jewish background. “Yes, I could not become a presenter but I did not give up. Now I am a deputy candidate [for Parliament]. If I am wanted, I will become successful,” she said.
If she is successful in entering Parliament after the June 12 general elections, Loker-Gormezano will become the second Jewish deputy in Turkey’s recent history after Cefi Kamhi, an Istanbul deputy from the True Path Party, or DYP, in 1995.
“I believe that people are born and live equally. My views will not change if I enter Parliament or not,” she said. “People should not be discriminated against because of ethnic identities. Unfortunately, the word ‘minority’ is highlighted all the time but we are all citizens of the Turkish Republic. That’s why all citizens should have the same rights. I am for human rights and equality.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Turkey: New US Sanctions to Friendly Country
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — Turkey, led by moderate Islamic premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reacted with silence, and concerned discomfort, to the announced US sanctions against Syria imposed because of the repression of protest movements. The country is thus back in a situation similar to the one experienced in the case of another ‘neighbour’ country but in conflict with the US: Iran and its nuclear programme that may have military purposes.
In the absence of high level official comments on president Barack Obama’s speech on the Middle East, a Turkish newspaper and a TV station reported that the government in Ankara viewed with concern, and deemed as not binding for Turkey, the announcement of unilateral US sanctions against president Bashar Al Assad and other members of the regime. As in the case of Iran, Turkey would only conform to potential sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. As for the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Turkey expected that Obama would have made “a stronger appeal for compromises on Palestine”.
Ankara’s foreign policy, which led to the return of friction with Israel for example in terms of flotillas delivering help to Gaza, hopes to influence inter alia the crisis on Iran’s nuclear plans, the war in Libya and repressions in Syria. The only Muslim country part of Nato, Turkey maintains excellent relations with Iran since Erdogan’s rise to power in 2002 and according to Teheran relations are at a level without precedent in the last 100 years. And this also thanks to the opposition shown last year by Turkey to the adoption of new UN sanctions against Teheran and the mediation, attempted in vain with the help of Brazil, in the confrontation between Iran and the international community: in January talks were held in Istanbul with the 5+1 group (USA, Russia, China, France, Great Britain and Germany), which however failed to deliver any results. Only some ten days ago Turkey had offered to Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad a rostrum to announce new talks with the 5+1 group in Istanbul but, given the EU’s icy reaction, they will probably be postponed. Despite the international sanctions, Teheran and Ankara hope to treble their trade levels by 2015 and are still announcing even “political” forms of collaboration.
However the US only recently managed to break down the relations that Turkish banks were holding with Iran’s Mellat Bank avoiding to date any American sanctions and now the issue of US pressure on a friendly country has emerged once again. The situation in Syria, as stated by Erdogan, “is like a domestic matter” for Turkey: aside from the personal relations between the Turkish premier and president Assad, they also share almost 900 kilometres of borderline and the problem of Kurd independency. The Syrian refugees that crossed the border have grown to approximately 500 but concerns over more massive flows (perhaps instigated by Pkk Kurd terrorists) and even over the country breaking apart are hinted in intelligence indiscretions and comments at higher levels. In the approximately 10 years of regained agreement between the two countries trade has trebled and Turkey’s public opinion goes against interference in Syrian matters. Erdogan repeatedly exhorted Assad to implement immediate reforms and to avoid massacres but has already had to admit that he has not been heard: making Ankara find itself once again with a neighbour targeted by American sanctions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Revitalizes Science
Researchers drawn by ‘mega-grants’ find rewards and frustrations in equal measure.
The ambitious plan is clear evidence that research money is now flowing generously in Russia, where a once-vast scientific workforce shrank dramatically in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The will to revitalize science is real, says Schulze. Alas, Kafkaesque bureaucracy and a thicket of often-opaque regulations have survived the changes. The Russian government is trying to smooth the way. This week, following a letter of complaint from scientists at Moscow State University, President Dmitry Medvedev met grant recipients to discuss the problems they have experienced, and promised to address them. But doing science in Russia remains a challenging, and often frustrating, mission for anyone unfamiliar with the country’s idiosyncrasies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Agrees Joint Statement With Hamas, Fatah
Representatives of the Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas on Monday agreed a joint statement with Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
The leaders of Fatah and Hamas, as well as of the People’s and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian People’s Party, Al-Shaabare, met with Lavrov earlier in the day in Moscow.
The statement will help “implement the Cairo accords,” Lavrov said, adding that PNA President Mahmoud Abbas had already expressed his satisfaction.
“All Palestinian movements should participate in the formation of a Palestinian government,” Lavrov said, adding that the agreements could help establish a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians want the borders of their future state to be formed within the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Fatah and Hamas signed a peace deal in Egypt’s capital Cairo on May 4 to end their four-year rift.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the accord was a “tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism,” urging Abbas to choose peace with Israel rather than reconciliation with Hamas.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Top Russian Politician Warns: Secret Weather Weapons Can Kill Millions
A top Duma political leader caused shock waves in a recent television interview when he warned that Russia could deploy an arsenal of new technology to “destroy any part of the planet” and kill over a hundred million people using secret weather weapons if the United States, the UN or Georgia tried to stop Russia’s entry into the WTO.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky is Vice-Chairman of the Russian State Duma and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the first officially sanctioned opposition party after the fall of communism. The LDPR has deep links with the former KGB and Communist Party and has become a significant force in Russian politics, despite Zhirinovsky himself being branded as a militant neo-fascist.
According to a translation provided by a Russian speaker, during the interview Zhirinovsky went off on a bizarre tangent after he was asked how Russia should treat countries like Georgia and the United States who try and block Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization. Saying that the American government in Washington DC had “no future” and would “collapse,” Zhirinovsky cited Russia’s supremacy in space and stated that the country had, “Lots of money, resources, and new weapons that no one knows about.”
“With them we will destroy any part of the planet within 15 minutes,” he sensationally warned. “Not an explosion, not a ray burst, not some kind of laser, not lightning, but a quiet and peaceful weapon,” added Zhirinovsky, warning that “whole continents will be put to sleep forever” and that “120 million will die” if anyone interfered with Russia’s claim on the Kuril Islands, which are the subject of a territorial dispute with Japan.
The female presenter of the news program smirked as he made the comments, but Zhirinovsky’s manner was far from jovial.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Karachi: Pakistani Taliban Attack Military Base, Killing 11
The assault began last night and lasted over 12 hours. The militiamen had food and ammunition to fight for at least three days. Among the hostages there were also Chinese army officers. It is the third attack against a military target in Pakistan in less than a month. Taliban spokesman: we are “united and powerful.”
Karachi (AsiaNews) — At least 11 dead is the toll from a Taliban attack against a Pakistani army base in Karachi. The assault began at 23:00 yesterday local time (18.30 in Italy) and only just ended. Local sources said that militants were well equipped, they had enough food and ammunition to “fight and survive at least three days.” Today’s violence is the latest response from the extremists to the killing of Osama Bin Laden following the double bombing on May 13 last against a military barracks in Charsadda, which caused 90 deaths.
A group of 10-15 militants raided the air base in the Mehran complex in Karachi, southern Pakistan. Witnesses say there were at least a dozen explosions. The battle, which lasted more than 12 hours, destroyed at least two surveillance aircraft, worth millions of dollars recently donated by the U.S. Army to Islamabad.
The most recent death toll is of 11 dead and several wounded. The fundamentalists had also taken hostage a group of people, including officials of the Chinese army in the military base at the time of the assault.
Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, said that the attack was by militias of the extremist Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Again this is a joint operation of Al Qaeda militants and Taliban TTP in Pakistan, to avenge the death of Osamna Bin Laden, who was killed in a raid by U.S. special forces on May 2 last. The Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that extremist movements are still “united and powerful.”
Today was the third attack in less than a month at a military target in Pakistan. On 13 May the Taliban struck an army barracks in the northwest of the country. In the double attack on a group of recruits, who had just received leave, at least 90 people died, including civilians (see AsiaNews 13/05/2011, Twin bombing in Pakistan, 90 dead. Al Qaeda’s response to killing of Bin Laden).
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani have strongly condemned the attack, they have asked the provincial government of Sindh for a detailed report.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Senator: Pakistanis Hoodwinked US on Bin Laden
‘No doubt in my mind they knew he was in that compound’
In a radio interview today, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said that despite the Pakistan government’s claimed ignorance of Osama bin Laden’s former hideout not far from its capital city, there is “no doubt” the Pakistanis are lying.
“The obvious question with an obvious answer is, did the top officials know that he was there?” Inhofe asked. “I have no doubt in my mind that the Paks knew that Osama bin Laden was in that compound.”
[Comments: audio of interview at url.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sudanese Oil City of Abyei in Flames
(AGI) Juba — UN observers report that the Sudanese oil city of Abyei occupied by Khartoum is in flames. On Saturday the city, which straddles the north and south of the African country, was occupied by the northern army.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Llama Muck and Maize Revolution Drove Inca Success
How could the inhospitable Andean highlands of Peru nurture the great Inca civilisation that dominated South America for hundreds of years? The answer, unearthed in lake sediments high up in the Peruvian Andes, seems to be llama muck. South America’s most important crop is maize. Its cultivation is what allowed people to stop being hunter-gatherers and settle as farmers instead. If crops were good and grain silos bulged, they had time for mining metals, developing culture and fighting wars with their neighbours. The switch to agriculture happened at different times in different places. Analysis of mud cores from the bed of a small lake close to the mountain fortress city of Ollantaytambo, Peru, reveals that, there at least, it happened very fast, some 2700 years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Minister: All Immigrants Are Not Created Equal
The time for rigidly even-handed immigration policies that put people from developed countries on the same footing as people from undeveloped countries is over, immigration minister Søren Pind said over the weekend. Speaking with Politiken newspaper this week, he announced plans to give immigrants from wealthy countries exemptions from some of the strictest requirements under family-reunification law.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Willing to Pay Up to $30,000 to Reach US
MEXICO CITY — 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 on 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 with an estimated $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.
“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.”…
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Migration Board Accused of Human Rights Violations
Sweden’s top watchdog has slammed the Migration Board (Migrationsverket) for human rights violations stemming from the agency’s detention practices for people awaiting deportation. The Ombudsmen for Justice (Justitieombudsmannen — JO) is especially critical of the Migration Board’s practice of placing deportees with mental problems in local jails, calling the practice especially inappropriate and oppressive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Give Us the Young… And We Will Create a New Mind” — Kidd and Social Engineering
Right now I’m working on a major project that explores the historical, contemporary, and near-future of social engineering, particularly as it relates to the formation of a global society. [Each month I edit an online journal that documents the rise and influence of various social change/global governance themes — check it out: Forcing Change].
With that in mind, here are a number of interesting quotes from Benjamin Kidd, a British social philosopher who espoused the idea of social heredity. I’ve read Kidd over the years, and his book, The Science of Power, is one I’ve turned to over and over again. Reading it always sends chills down my spine, as Kidd’s theories and concepts are visible today in the engineering of a global “new civilization.” Although Kidd is virtually unknown today outside of certain academic circles, his work impacted social theorists throughout the early part of the twentieth century, and thus played a role in laying the foundation for our modern push toward social universalism.
What strikes me with Kidd is his realization that collectivizing/integrating society first requires that humanity must become emotionally charged with the ideal — a task he sees as particularly suited to the “mind of woman” and youth. Then, as the emotion of the ideal builds, political and other cultural institutions will inevitably follow suit. This is the path of integration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: 80% of Young People Accept Gays and Gay Marriage
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 16 — 80% of Spain’s young people accept homosexuality, same sex marriages and sex change operations for adults, according to the results of a survey carried out by the Sociological research centre that were published today. The survey interviewed 1,411 between 15 and 19 years of age, and outlined a tolerant society that accepts and positively lives together with sexual diversity, but that has witnessed various forms of discrimination, up to insults, of homosexual people. 86% of the interviewed people claimed that sexual diversity should be talked about more naturally, while 81% accepts relations between men and 84% between women. Then again, 76% of young people approves same sex marriage and 75% approve adult sex change operations. 54% of the interviewed people admitted to having gay friends. However the majority of the interviewed people (67%) admitted that they would find it hard to confess their homosexuality to their father, 52% to their mother, and 62% would have problems telling their best friend. Half of the interviewees believe that this would change family relations and 15% believe that it would lead to a break with their parents. As for the social perception of homosexuality, 77% of the young people stated that they heard insults against gay people and 18% claimed that they witnessed mistreatment such as being hit or shoved.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Teacher: I’m Devout & Kicked Out
A veteran city educator and devout Christian who prayed in her empty Brooklyn classroom claims her principal not only mocked her for her beliefs, but eventually fired her for them, too.
PS 224 assistant special-education teacher Anita Wooten-Francis, 52, claims she never hid her faith but took care not to influence kids. She worshiped in her classroom before or after students left, read the Bible on her lunch break, led other teachers in a prayer group, and played gospel music during non-instruction hours.
For 16 years she had no problem, until Principal George Andrews arrived at the Canarsie school in 2004.
“He said, ‘You can’t be praying in my school,’ “ Wooten-Francis recalled. “He said I was the ringleader in praying.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Christian Doctors Back GP Over ‘Jesus’ Remarks
The medical standards watchdog is facing a backlash from doctors after censuring a Christian GP who raised his personal beliefs with a patient of a different faith.
Dr Richard Scott, a family GP with 28 years’ experience, is facing disciplinary action and fears he could lose his job after he discussed his faith in Jesus with a patient last year.
The 50-year-old is being investigated by the General Medical Council but Christian doctors rallied to his defence and criticised the way that the professional standards regulator had handled the case.
In 2010, Dr Scott, who works at Bethesda Medical Centre in Margate, Kent, a practice known for its Christian partners, saw a patient at the request of the patient’s mother. He maintains that he only discussed how his faith in Jesus had helped him at the end of the consultation, and with the patient’s consent.
But the GMC wrote to Dr Scott, warning him that he had distressed the patient and risked bringing the profession into disrepute. He has appointed a human rights lawyer to fight the reprimand.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said doctors should not normally discuss their personal beliefs with patients “unless those beliefs are directly relevant to the patient’s care”.
“They also must not impose their beliefs on patients, or cause distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of religious, political or other beliefs or views,” he said.
Dr Evan Harris, a secular campaigner and member of the British Medical Association’s ethics committee, said the rules for doctors were “very clear”.
“Doctors are frequently in a power relationship over their patients and while plenty of doctors have religious or atheistic views, the consultation room is not the place for the discussion of either,” he said.
However, Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, which has 4,000 members including about 2,000 GPs, criticised the GMC.
He said the “clear implication” of the GMC guidelines was that a doctor should be allowed to express his personal beliefs in a way that is “appropriate and sensitive”.
“It does seem to me that the GMC have overreacted by censuring him,” he said.
“All good doctors try to treat their patients as whole persons, not just biochemical machines. That does sometimes include spiritual matters, dealing with questions of meaning and purpose.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Alien Solar Systems Are Much Different Than Our Own
Alien solar systems with multiple planets appear to be common in our galaxy, but most of them are quite different than our own, a new study finds. NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope detected 1,235 alien planet candidates in its first four months of operation. Of those, 408 reside in multiple-planet systems, suggesting that our own configuration of multiple worlds orbiting a single star isn’t so special. What may be special, however, is the orientation of our solar system’s planets. Some of them are tilted significantly off the solar system’s plane, while most of the Kepler systems are nearly as flat as a tabletop, researchers said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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