Cameron: We Won’t Bail Out Greece
David Cameron has promised to fight “very hard” in Brussels to ensure the British taxpayer does not shoulder any of the cost of a European bailout of Greece.
The Prime Minister said he “absolutely” did not think the UK should contribute towards a possible 12 billion euro (£10.6bn) package for the ailing eurozone country.
He would be taking that message to fellow European Union leaders when they gather in Brussels later this week, he added. Mr Cameron was speaking at a conference for chief executives organised by The Times newspaper.
Asked whether Britain could afford to help the bailout, Mr Cameron said: “I absolutely don’t believe we should. I don’t believe that we will and I shall be fighting very hard to achieve that at the European Council this week.”
EU finance ministers are refusing to hand the Greek government a second bailout package of 12 billion euro unless it agrees to implement a 28-billion euro (£24.8bn) set of austerity measures which include tax increases and massive spending cuts.
Finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg put off until July 3 a final decision on the loan instalment, without which Athens would be forced to default on its debts.
Downing Street has said Britain has not been asked to contribute towards the latest bailout, which is expected to involve only the 17 members of the eurozone.
However Treasury Financial Secretary Mark Hoban told MPs that the burden of supporting Greece may have to be shared by the International Monetary Fund, of which the UK is a major shareholder with a total subscription of £19.7 billion.
The crisis in Greece has prompted forecasts of the European single currency’s demise, with former foreign secretary Jack Straw warning that the euro “cannot last”. He urged ministers to prepare Britain for “alternatives” to the European single currency.
Mr Straw told the Commons that the UK’s potential exposure to Greek debt, including of private banks, totalled £8 billion. The Government needed to recognise the “mood change” in Europe, with former europhiles “contemplating the end of the euro as we know it”, he said.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
EU Set to Release More Loans to Keep Greece Afloat
Eurozone finance ministers, gathering in Luxembourg Sunday, were set to release more loans to keep Athens from default in the summer and mull the shape of a second major bailout to appease nervous markets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Greece: New Austerity Package or No Cash
EU finance minsters warned Greece on Tuesday that it must achieve “national unity” on its new austerity package and push through the measures or the latest tranche of bail-out cash would not be handed over. The economy chiefs said that the sum ,€12 billion, will be disbursed mid-July pending the latest EU-IMF-ECB assessment of the country’s compliance with already agreed austerity and structural adjustment and “the passing of key laws on the fiscal strategy and privatisation by the Greek parliament.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Eurogroup Chief: ‘I Understand Greek Rebellion, But There is No Choice’
The president of the group of EU states that use the euro currency announced on Monday (20 June) that yet another emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers will be needed before the latest, €12 billion tranche of Greek bail-out cash can be dispersed. “I have decided to call an extraordinary meeting of the eurogroup on Sunday 3 July,” Luxembourg Prime Minister and eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in the Grand Duchy during a meeting of EU finance ministers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Giant Says US Workers Lack Skills
A mismatch in the US labour market between the skills of unemployed people and the jobs available is making it hard for some companies to find the right staff despite an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent, one of the country’s largest manufacturing employers has warned. Eric Spiegel, chief executive in the US for Siemens, the German engineering group, said the problem exposed weaknesses in education and training in the US. Siemens had been forced to use more than 30 recruiters and hire staff from other companies to find the workers it needed for its expansion plans, even amid an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Heart of the Euro Problem is Europe’s Indecision’
With Greece on the precipice of default, euro-zone leaders have delayed the release of a critical tranche of aid. But the failure to agree on how to tackle the Greece crisis threatens both EU credibility and the monetary union, German dailies warn on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Tells EU: Stop ‘Unproductive Debate’ And Integrate ‘Now’
The International Monetary Fund has bluntly warned the European Union it must put an end to its “unproductive debate” over debt restructuring and, in an unprecedented outside intervention in the construction of the European Union, told the bloc it must integrate faster and more deeply in order to stop a global disaster. Using much of the same censorious language about the EU that the EU has used about Greece, the international lender told the bloc to act “now” and that its handling of the situation “needs attention”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland ‘Impatient’ At Being Treated Like Greece
The Irish deputy prime minister has hit out at the rest of the eurozone, saying his country is getting “impatient” that although Dublin is imposing austerity measures, it still has not been offered a reduction in the interest rate it pays on its bail-out. “It seems strange that the one country that is actually implementing [the EU-IMF-imposed] programme, that has the best prospect of recovering, is the one that is being denied a lower rate of interest,” Eamon Gilmore told reporters in Luxembourg on the sidelines of a pair of meetings of EU finance and foreign ministers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Stocks Plunge After Moody’s Credit Warning
The main Milan stock exchange index fell by more than two per cent at the start of trading on Monday after Moody’s warned it may cut Italy’s credit rating in view of strains in the economy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 100,000 in Spain Anti-Crisis Protests
More than 100,000 protesters took to the streets in Spain on Sunday blaming bankers and politicians for causing a financial crisis that forced the country to adopt painful spending cuts. Demonstrators of all ages linked to a movement called the “indignants” also protested against crippling unemployment and a failure to take on government corruption. The El Mundo newspaper, quoting police sources, said as many 40,000 protesters flooded streets in Madrid. In Barcelona, the nation’s second-largest city, police said 50,000 people turned out, while groups of several thousand demonstrators rallied in other cities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ramping Up Pressure on Athens: Euro Group Postpones Decision on Greek Aid
The euro-zone finance ministers have decided not to approve the next tranche of aid to Athens until the Greek parliament passes new austerity measures. The move increases pressure on the Greek government, but it is unlikely to reassure the financial markets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Schäuble Warns Greece to Reform for Bailout
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stepped up pressure on Greece on Monday, insisting the debt-laden country won’t get its next €12 billion bailout instalment without decisive economic reform.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Time for Plan B: How the Euro Became Europe’s Greatest Threat
The euro is becoming an ever greater threat to Europe’s common future. The currency union chains together economies that are simply incompatible. Politicians approve one bailout package after the other and, in doing so, have set down a dangerous path that could burden Europeans for generations to come and set the EU back by decades.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaida Publishes Hit-List of Influential Americans
Al-Qaida affiliated website lists names of specific Americans; calls on jihadists world-wide to target and kill them. An al-Qaida website has posted a hit-list of American businessmen, diplomats, thinktank executives and military officials, according to a report by NBC New York. Along with the hit-list is an invitation for jihadists worldwide to take matters into their own hands and target the named individuals. The FBI has notified those individuals listed, as well as law-enforcement agencies nationwide.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Genetic Basis for Crime: A New Look
It was less than 20 years ago that the National Institutes of Health abruptly withdrew funds for a conference on genetics and crime after outraged complaints that the idea smacked of eugenics. The president of the Association of Black Psychologists at the time declared that such research was in itself “a blatant form of stereotyping and racism.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Controversial Chapters: Can a Jointly Written History Erase Centuries of German-Polish Strife?
The history of German-Polish relations is full of suffering and mutual recriminations. Experts from both countries have been developing a history textbook meant to teach high-school students on both sides of the border a common narrative. But critics view the effort as destined to fail.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EADS Unveils Rocket Plane to Fly Paris-Tokyo in 2.5 Hours
European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its “Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation” (Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours by around 2050. “I imagine the plane of the future to look like Zehst,” EADS’ chief technical officer Jean Botti said as the project was announced at Le Bourget airport the day before the start of the Paris International Air Show.
The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will take off using normal engines powered by biofuel made from seaweed before switching on its rocket engines at altitude. The rocket engines, powered by hydrogen and oxygen whose only exhaust is water vapour, propel the plane to a cruising altitude of 32 kilometres (20 miles), compared to today’s passenger jets which fly at around 10,000 metres. “You don’t pollute, you’re in the stratosphere,” Botti said. To land, the pilot cuts the engines and glides down to Earth before reigniting the regular engines before landing. EADS hopes to have a prototype built by 2020 and for the plane to eventually enter service around 2050.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Expert Hushed Over Border Debate
After heated criticism from politicians, professor withdraws as media expert on EU issues
Controversy over permanent border control turned into a debate about freedom of speech yesterday, when University of Copenhagen professor Marlene Wind withdrew as an expert media source following attacks from the government. Wind, who is often quoted in the Danish media on matters that concern EU policy, her research specialty, was interviewed for several articles last week about whether the government’s new border control plan violates the Schengen Agreement and co-operation agreements that ensure free movement of people and goods across national borders within the EU.
Wind’s assessment was that it does violate Schengen on a number of points that she clarified in detail. She also stated that the agreement — which claims to address “criminality by foreign gangs” by making it more difficult for “suspicious people” to slip into Denmark — was a case of “electioneering” that pandered to “the inner brute”. The immigration and development minister, Søren Pind, and the leader of the Danish People’s Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, who is behind the border control agreement, came out swinging in reaction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Ties Kyoto Extension to Greater Efforts All-Round
The European Union has said major polluters must make greater progress in curbing carbon emissions before the 27-member bloc signs up to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Dog Bites Sausage-Seller After Vegan Assault
Man sells sausage. Vegan pushes man. Dog bites man. A bizarre scuffle between animal rights activists and a Berlin bratwurst seller on Saturday was settled abruptly by the intervention of a German shepherd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Terror Suspect Extradited From Austria
A German man arrested on suspicion of recruiting for a terror group mounting attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan was extradited from Austria Monday, federal prosecutors said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hypersonic: Airbus Dreams of Faster, Greener Space Concorde
Airbus had a few setbacks over the weekend, but it whipped up much excitement with talk of a supersonic “commercial rocket plane” ahead of the Paris Air Show, which opened on Monday. The aircraft is meant to be a greener replacement for the retired Concorde.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Childhood Autism Spikes in Geek Heartlands
Dutch study supports idea that hi-tech hubs attract geekier employees, who are more likely to have children with autism
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Tax Agency Rejects ‘His Majesty’ Name Change Request
A Swedish man’s bid to have ‘His Majesty’ officially added to his name has been rejected because it could lead to “misunderstandings”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Film of Slain Teacher’s Beating: ‘Good, He’s Dead’
One of the three suspects accused of beating a 54-year-old Swedish school teacher to death in April filmed the assault with a mobile phone camera, giving prosecutors key evidence as the trio’s murder trial opened on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Rise in Racist Abuse Reported
Incidents mainly happened in public areas, at work and in contact with the police, according to the 2010 report by the Federal Commission against Racism and the non-governmental humanrights.ch. It mainly took the form of verbal abuse.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Plot or Homesickness? Austria Detains Alleged Islamic Extremist
Austrian authorities have detained an alleged Islamist extremist from Berlin as he was traveling back from Afghanistan, where he had undergone terror training. The 26-year-old had boasted about attacking “infidels,” but it is unclear whether he was embarking on a terror plot or simply heading home after becoming disillusioned with his cause.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Blairs Charge Children £10 to Attend Son’s End-of-Term Party at Their £6million Country Mansion by Arthur Martin and Lucy Collins
Their fortune has soared to an estimated £60million.
But despite their vast riches, Tony and Cherie Blair have taken a rather miserly approach to an end-of-term party they are hosting at their £6million country pile.
The couple initially delighted parents at their 11-year-old son Leo’s school by agreeing to host the get-together at their seven-bedroom mansion near Chequers.
However, the mood of some parents darkened when they discovered that the Blairs were charging each person £10 for a seat on a coach from the school in Central London to the mansion in Buckinghamshire.
When the Mail called a London coach hire company for a quote on a vehicle and driver to make that return trip on a weekday at the end of term, the cost was between £375 and £500, depending on the size of the vehicle required.
The Blairs have banned parents from driving directly to the estate for security reasons, asking parents to board the bus instead.
One mother of a child who is in Leo’s year said: ‘I’m livid. The Blairs are rich and can afford it, but lots of families in the area are poor.’
Kevin Norbury, a dustman whose children attended the school, said: ‘I think he’s tight charging these people, given the amount of money he’s got. He has made millions out of his book about himself.
‘The school has a mixture of children from working-class and middle-class backgrounds whose parents have different incomes and different priorities.
‘But I’ll give credit to Mr Blair for his efforts at the Christmas nativity. He was into it and he was enjoying himself.’
The Blairs spent £5.75million in 2006 on the Grade I listed mansion in Wotton Underwood, near Aylesbury, which was once owned by Sir John Gielgud.
Another parent added: ‘If the Blairs are holding the party, it’s up to them to make the transport arrangements.
‘I’ve taken a group of pupils, parents and teachers on a day out and hired a minibus, and didn’t charge anyone anything.’
This is not the first time that the Blairs have angered parents at their 11-year-old son’s school.
In the run-up to the 2005 election, Mrs Blair said the dinners served at the school were not fit to be eaten by Leo, who was four at the time.
In an candid admission which eclipsed Labour’s announcement of an extra £220million for school meals, she said she was considering giving Leo a packed lunch.
She said of the meals on offer to Leo: ‘They are not terrific, to be honest. I am seriously thinking about sending him in with a packed lunch.’
Although one parent agreed with her, others called Mrs Blair ‘a pain’ and said their children enjoyed the food at the school.
A spokesman for the Blairs said: ‘The Blairs have agreed with the headmaster that if any family can’t afford the cost of the coach, then they won’t have to pay.’
In January 2006, details of a potential plot to kidnap Leo by members of Fathers 4 Justice to highlight their cause emerged.
However, no kidnapping took place, and police sources said the plot only got as far as the ‘chattering stage’.
Fathers 4 Justice disbanded as a result of the negative publicity surrounding this revelation.
Since then the Blairs have been keen to protect Leo’s privacy and have decided to keep the identity of their youngest son’s secondary school a secret.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fears Over Reaction to Damning Report Into Child Grooming Which Shows One in Five of Those Accused is Asian
One in five men accused of grooming underage girls for sex is Asian, according to a damning report.
It found that many more British children ‘than thought’ are falling into the clutches of sexual predators because they are not being adequately protected by the authorities.
The thousands of known victims who were groomed for sex by adults in the past three years are believed to be the ‘tip of an iceberg’, experts have warned.
Authorities are failing properly to investigate the problem, which the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) has described as a ‘hidden issue’ in British society.
The information on child grooming is so inaccurate that in almost 40 per cent of cases the ethnicity of the perpetrator is not known.
However there are fears the report could provoke a row about ethnicity despite it being expected to say that the problem cannot be associated with a particular ethnic group. There was anxiety within the civil service about how to ‘present’ the publication, due to be released next week.
Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said that much more work needed to be carried out to find out the scale of grooming across the country.
‘The findings are a cause for enormous concern because it appears to be a much larger issue than originally imagined,’ he said.
He warned against stigmatising particular communities but said: ‘If indeed it requires upsetting groups or individuals, it just has to be done.’
More than 2,000 young victims of grooming have been identified since January 2008 — but they are likely to form just a fraction of the total number affected, the report is expected to reveal.
The report comes after the ringleaders of a gang which subjected a string of vulnerable girls to rapes and sexual assaults were jailed indefinitely earlier this year.
Abid Saddique and Mohammed Liaqat, who were each married with a child, cruised the streets of Derby in a car for victims while their unsuspecting families waited at home for them.
The vulnerable children were plied with vodka stored under the seats and taken to parks, hotel rooms or houses, where they were sometimes offered cocaine before being pressured into sex.
Some of the victims were runaways, and Ceop has found that missing children or those who run away from home are the most susceptible to grooming.
Peter Davies, Ceop’s chief executive, launched the investigation into grooming within local communities after former home secretary Jack Straw accused some Pakistani men in Britain of seeing white girls as ‘easy meat’ for sexual abuse.
In January, Mr Straw said child sex grooming was a ‘specific problem’ in the Pakistani community which needed to be ‘more open’ about the reasons behind it.
Speaking at the time, Mr Davies said: ‘Child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion — it cuts across all communities.
‘Neither can it be simplified along ethnic lines where the victims constitute one ethnicity and offenders another.
‘We need to continue to build our understanding about the different types of threats faced by children across a range of environments.’
Children’s charity Barnardo’s, Muslim youth group The Ramadhan Foundation and retired detective chief superintendent Max McLean, who led a previous investigation into sexual exploitation involving young girls in Leeds, all said Mr Straw was wrong to highlight one community.
New figures show that 842 of the 2,083 victims since 2008 ran away from home or a council-run children’s home, for example.
Ann Coffey, the Labour chairman of the all-part parliamentary committee on runaway and missing children said: ‘What is clear is that children are being trafficked across local police force borders, from flat to flat, for sex. Sometimes it is only for a short period but it is happening.
‘Some of these children are from care homes and that is particularly disappointing as they are people we, the state, have taken into care because they are at risk and then they suffer this.’
Tomorrow she will start a debate in the Commons about the link between runaways and sexual exploitation of children.
In particular she will highlight how numbers of missing children are not recorded well enough, with councils not having to report children missing until after 24 hours and others failing to do so at all.
The Government’s Children’s Minister Tim Loughton and Crime Minister James Brokenshire are preparing an action plan because of increasing concerns about the sexual grooming and trafficking of British children.
Key to this will be the improved recording of these crimes and keeping better track of missing children.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Girl, 15, Tells How She Was Sold to Asian Men for Sex After Being Enticed With Drugs and Alcohol
A teenage girl told a courtroom that she had been ‘sold’ to Asian men for sex and made to feel ‘dirty’ after the men slept with her.
The alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told how two men — one aged about 50 — had sex with her while she was ‘paralytic’.
The girl is the principal witness in a trial of seven men accused of a sickening string of child prostitution offences, including rape, trafficking and sexual activity with a child.
Stafford Crown Court heard that the Asian men, many of them married, groomed their young and vulnerable victims, some as young as 13, before selling them to other men for sex.
The girls were ‘enticed’ and ‘ensnared’ with drugs and alcohol and believed themselves to be loved by the men who would then sell them for sex, the court heard.
But the defendants, who face a total of 52 separate charges between 2007 and 2009, all related to child prostitution, would refer to their victims as ‘s****’ behind their backs.
Many of the girls were exploited by Ahdel Ali, 23, who was known by the Western nickname Eddie, and his brother Mubarek Ali, 28, known as Max, who were the main players in the gang of men.
Yesterday, police interviews with the young girl, who was 16 at the time, were played to the courtroom.
Asked how she realised she was being sold for money, she said of Mubarek Ali: ‘It was, like, he, he, he went out and then, like, he found them and they’d ring Max [Mubarek Ali] and then he’d take them there.’
They would ask ‘if you got a girl’, she said, and then Mubarek Ali would arrange for her to be driven to establishments including fish and chip shops, restaurants and other places in Telford, Shropshire, where she would have sex with sometimes five men in a row, the court heard.
The Ali brothers would ask her to ‘sort these guys out’, which meant to sleep with them for money, the court heard.
The men would pay £30-40 a time, she told the court, and then she would hand the money over to whoever had sold her from which a driver would be given petrol money.
In return, she would sometimes be given weed and alcohol and even mobile phones and phone top-ups.
Asked by the police officer why she met up with Mubarek Ali, she said: ‘Sometimes to chill, sometimes just sex, b*** jobs, erm, and to give money or there was a couple of times where he actually sold me to some Asians.’
She described how she was once taken to a flat where she was given alcohol and cannabis and became ‘paralytic’.
Two men then had sex with her, the court heard. She said: ‘And, like, you know what’s going on but you can’t move, I was like that. And Terry had sex with me and I think T [Tanveer Ahmed] did that night as well and, and that was it.’
One of the defendants — Mohammed Islam Choudhry, 52, who was known as Terry — would give her weed and alcohol in exchange for sexual acts, the court heard.
She said: ‘I used to give him a blow job for money and alcohol, drugs and phones.’
The seven defendants also include Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24, Tanveer Ahmed, Mahroof Khan, 33, Noshad Hussain, 21.
They deny all charges. The trial continues.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
EU Takes King’s Side in Moroccan Protests
The EU has endorsed reform proposals by the King of Morocco despite complaints that they will not lead to real change.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia’s Dreams of Change Fade by the Day
The trial against former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the first overturned leader of the Arab uprisings, is underway in Tunis marked by his absence and the growing discontent of the local Tunisians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Flotilla Planned to Break Gaza Blockade
New flotilla of 20 boats and 1,000 activists hopes to deliver essential goods
Activists from Denmark are joining a new flotilla of boats to the Palestinian Gaza Strip with the intention of breaking the Israeli blockade of the territory. The flotilla is planned just over a year after nine civilians died onboard a boat from Turkey when it was raided by the Israeli military in a previous attempt to break the blockade. The Danish organisation Free Gaza has together with activists from Australia, Belgium and Canada bought a boat and named it ‘Tahrir’, which means ‘freedom’ in Arabic.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Assad Addresses Syrian ‘Chaos’ As EU Considers New Sanctions
Syrian President Bashir al-Assad delivered his first speech for two months Monday in which he stated that that there would be no reform in Syria until the “sabotage and chaos” which has rocked the country was over.
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Berlin Rules Out Intervention in Syria
Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière has ruled out participation by Germany in any NATO operation in Syria to stop a bloody crackdown on protesters.
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‘EU Has Lost Its Leverage on Turkey’, Ambassador Says
Flush with post-election self-confidence, the Turkish administration has said it will no longer take EU recommendations into account in its internal reforms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spiegel Interview With Defense Minister De Maizière: ‘We Will Not Get Involved’ In Syria
The US has been critical of Germany for not supporting NATO in the mission in Libya. SPIEGEL spoke to German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière about Berlin’s skepticism of getting involved in Libya and Syria, and about the future of the NATO alliance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Development Minister Visits Afghanistan to Discuss Aid Package
The German development minister is in Afghanistan with his EU counterpart in order to discuss Berlin’s “development offensive” in the war-torn country. Security, however, remains precarious for German troops.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lowest of the Low: Terror of 9-Year-Old Pakistani Girl as She is Kidnapped by Militants and Forced to Wear Suicide Vest
Sohana Jawed, nine, was on her way to school when she was kidnapped by militants in Peshawar, Pakistan.
They forced her to wear an explosives-laden suicide bomb vest and made her approach a paramilitary checkpoint.
Jawed, who is in third grade, was on her way to school when she was grabbed by two women and forced into a car carrying two men, she said during a news conference.
One of the kidnappers put a handkerchief on her mouth that knocked her unconscious, Jawed said in an interview with a local TV station.
When she woke up and started crying, one of the women gave her cookies laced with something that again knocked her out, the child said.
The next time she woke up she found herself in a strange home.
‘This morning, the women and men forced me to put on the heavy jacket and put me in the car again,’ said Jawed.
The suicide vest contained nearly 20 pounds of explosives and seemed to be designed to be set off remotely, Lower Dir police chief Salim Marwat said.
‘Most likely it had to be detonated through a remote control since a minor was wearing it,’ he said.
The kidnappers brought her to a checkpoint run by the paramilitary Frontier Corps located about 6 miles outside Timergarah, the main town in Lower Dir district.
When they got out of the car, she sprinted toward the paramilitary soldiers to show them what she was wearing, said Marwat.
‘I got the chance to release my hand from the woman and run,’ said Jawed.
By the time the paramilitary soldiers realised what was happening, the kidnappers had escaped, said Marwat.
Police have launched a search operation to find them, he said.
It is unclear why the kidnappers didn’t detonate the suicide bomb vest after Jawed ran away. Marwat suggested they may have simply panicked and fled.
Asif Khan, the police chief in the area of Peshawar where Jawed said she lived and was kidnapped, Hashtnagri, said they haven’t received a complaint of a missing girl and haven’t identified a resident with her name.
Police in Lower Dir plan to ask Jawed additional questions after she is examined by a psychiatrist, who is helping her cope with the trauma of her ordeal.
‘Police will try to get more information from her once she gets normalised,’ said Marwat.
It was the latest example of the inhumanity of Pakistani terrorists who today were responsible for the vehicle bombing of a street near a women’s college.
At least one person was killed and 12 others hurt in the bombing in the south-western Baluchistan province.
In a separate development 12 people were killed in a suspected missile attack by a U.S. drone in a remote house in the Kurram tribal area, north-western Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Loyal to the King: Exiled Thai Prime Minister Awaits Chance to Return
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been living in exile in Dubai since 2008. His sister stands a good change of becoming the country’s new prime minister after upcoming elections. SPIEGEL ONLINE visited Thaksin in his new home and spoke to him about his relationship to Thailand and the king.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Police: Pakistani Girl Forced to Wear Suicide Vest
TIMERGARAH, Pakistan — Police said Monday that militants kidnapped a 9-year-old girl on her way to school and forced her to wear a suicide bomb vest. The girl and police said she managed to escape her captors as they directed her to attack a paramilitary checkpoint in northwest Pakistan.
Sohana Jawed, who is in third grade, said she was abducted near her home in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday and taken to Lower Dir district, a four hours’ drive away, where she was found Monday.
[…]
Militants in the country have often used young boys to carry out attacks, but the use of young girls is rare.
Jawed said during the news conference that she was grabbed by two women while on her way to school and forced into a car carrying two men.
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
UN Proposes Removing Taliban From Terror List to Promote Dialogue
The UN, supported by the US and Afghan governments, hopes to promote dialogue with the Taliban by removing around 50 senior figures from its terror lists and separating the group from al Qaeda.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japanese Workers Encouraged to Adopt Spanish-Style Siestas
CIVIL servants in Japan are being ‘taught’ how to take a siesta, in a bid to cut down on electricity consumption following the nuclear disaster in March.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Western Governments Are Blamed for Asia’s Shortage of Women
In her new book “Unnatural Selection,” Science writer Mara Hvistendahl examines how the trend toward choosing boys over girls through sex-selective abortions has spread through the developing world, particularly in Asia. Coining the term “Generation XY,” Hvistendahl provides the grim results of sex selection: while the natural sex ratio at birth is 105 boys born for every 100 girls, in India the figure has risen to 112 boys and in China, 121. The Chinese city of Lianyungang actually recorded 163 boys per 100 girls in 2007.
The shortage of women is already giving rise to deep societal problems. New markets have been created for women in Asia, including wedding agencies that arrange marriages between South Korean men and women often from poorer nearby countries like Vietnam, that now account for 11% of all marriages in South Korea. There is also a growing practice of child marriage in China, where wealthier families buy young girls to secure wives for their sons early. And with so many surplus men (e.g., up to a fifth of men will be single in northwestern India by 2020), she suggests that the excess testosterone could lead to raised levels of crime and violence.
But what distinguishes Hvistendahl’s book from other similar reports is that, as the Guardian notes in a profile today, she “lays the blame squarely on western governments and businesses that have exported technology and pro-abortion practices without considering the consequences,” unlike other accounts, that solely basing sex selection on cultural practices.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar: Buys Land and Farms in Western Australia
Many Australian politicians have shown their anger against the foreign investments that, in their eyes, are taking possession of the country’s wealth. Senator Nick Zenfone, who is very close to the Green movement, and other MPs have organised a protest campaign against the agricultural investments made by Qatar, the website Middle East Online reports. They ask their government for laws that restrict foreign investments. The members of Parliament want investments higher than 5 million USD to be subjected to approval by local financial and legal authorities. The Hasad company, considered to be the agricultural branch of the Qatar government, has invested more than 35 million USD in the western part of Australia, which is famous for its cereal production and sheep farming. Australian economic analysts believe that Qatar’s investments will rise higher, because Qatar wants to buy property, land and farms currently owned by the American firm Westchester.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Deportation Immigrant Cuts Throat
An illegal immigrant has slashed his throat while he was being deported on a plane.
The man is receiving treatment in hospital after the Virgin Atlantic flight from London Gatwick to Kingston, Jamaica, was postponed.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said an investigation was being launched into how the man was able to inflict the “superficial injuries” on himself.
Passengers, who watched in in horror as the incident took place, have been offered counselling by the airline. The Boeing 747-400 aircraft was carrying 449 passengers and 17 crew.
Emergency services prevented more serious injury by “gluing” his throat together, a source said.
A spokeswoman for the airline said: “Virgin Atlantic confirms that flight VS69 from London Gatwick to Kingston has been delayed until 12.45 on June 21 following a passenger incident.
“The aircraft which was due to depart at 12.45 on June 20 was met by the relevant authorities and the passenger was taken to hospital for treatment.
“The safety and welfare of our crew and passengers is Virgin Atlantic’s top priority. Virgin Atlantic is co-operating with the authorities in their investigation of the incident and is offering counselling support to passengers and crew.
“All passengers on board the plane have been provided with hotel accommodation, refreshments and meals until the flight departs tomorrow. Any passengers who wish to change their flights will be able to do so.”
A UKBA spokesman added: “There has been an incident today involving a Jamaican individual being removed from the UK on a flight from Gatwick airport. The individual was taken to hospital with superficial injuries. An investigation is under way.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
On World Refugee Day, UN Warns That Poor Countries Bear Greater Refugee Burdens
The UN’s World Refugee Day report shows that 80 percent of refugees are hosted by developing countries, not the richer nations that have the economic capacity to absorb and host refugees.
According to a report by the UN’s refugee agency, released today to coincide with World Refugee Day, more than 80 percent of the world’s 10.5 million refugees are taken in by developing countries, which already have their own challenges to deal with: hunger, poverty, underemployment, and illiteracy.
All told, 43.7 million people have been displaced from their homes because of conflict or political oppression. More than half of them, 27.5 million, never even leave their own countries, remaining internally displaced instead.
“In today’s world there are worrying misperceptions about refugee movements and the international protection paradigm,” said António Guterres, head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a statement. “Fears about supposed floods of refugees in industrialized countries are being vastly overblown or mistakenly conflated with issues of migration. Meanwhile it’s poorer countries that are left having to pick up the burden.”
Richer Western nations do take in a fair number of refugees, as their daily newspapers are quick to point out with front-page photos of boatloads of Africans crossing the Mediterranean. But the economic burden these richer nations bear is far lower per capita than is the burden that developing nations that host refugees.
In Germany, the industrial nation with the largest refugee population (594,000 people), there are 17 refugees for every $1 of gross domestic product. In Pakistan, the nation with the largest number of refugees overall (1.9 million), there are 710 refugees per $1 of GDP. Countries with larger and stronger economies, measured in GDP, are better able to absorb refugees than those with smaller GDPs.
Today’s refugee population, at 15 million worldwide, is more than seven times the number of European refugees in the UNHCR’s caseload when the agency was created 60 years ago, following World War II. The three countries bearing the largest number of refugees all border warzones: Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, at 1.9 million, and Iran and Syria, both bordering Iraq, at 1.1 million and 1 million respectively.
Refugees, displaced persons, immigrants
If there is confusion over refugees, it may have something to do with the fact that there are so many definitions and acronyms to contend with.
- A refugee is someone who flees conflict or instability and seeks refuge in another country. There are some 15 million refugees globally.
- An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who flees his home because of conflict, instability, or natural causes such as drought, but remains in his own country. There are 27.5 million internally displaced persons worldwide, cut off from their farmlands and livelihoods, and many of them are dependent on international assistance to survive.
- An asylum seeker is someone who flees his country because of political reasons and seeks a protected legal status in another country. There are 850,000 asylum seekers in the world; one fifth of them now live in South Africa.
- An immigrant is someone who leaves his country for any and all of these reasons, or simply to seek better economic opportunities.
Conflating these different categories of people is an unfortunately common practice, whether intentional or otherwise, and can create xenophobia and put pressure on host nations to close up their doors. But closing a door does little to resolve the initial cause of mass displacement, and it can have disastrous effects on some of the world’s most vulnerable citizens.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia Shelters Most Refugees Europe (275,000)
Serbia is first in Europe and takes 13th place worldwide with 275 thousand refugees. The local commissioner’s office for refugees reported from Belgrade on World Refugee Day that more than 700 thousand people have been received by Serbia, coming from former Yugoslavia during the armed conflicts in the ‘90s. This number equals almost 10% of Serbia’s entire population.
Of this group, almost 210 thousand came from Kosovo, which Belgrade does not see as ‘refugees’ but as ‘evacuees’ from a country that Serbia does not recognise as an independent state, but still considers part of Serbian territory. Nearly 65 thousand still have the refugee status, the rest have obtained Serbia citizenship. According to Eduardo Arboleda, head of the UNHCR office in Serbia, 15 years after the end of the Balkan wars more than 73 thousand refugees are living below the poverty threshold. Between 500 and 600 million euros are needed according to the official to improve their situation. The Serbian government, Arboleda said quoted by Tanjug, has identified 45 thousand refugees that need urgent assistance, against 14 thousand in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 8.500 in Croatia and 6 thousand in Montenegro.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘I Would Have Been Tougher on Immigrants and the Workshy if it Wasn’t for the Lib Dems, ‘ Says Cameron
The Liberal Democrats are preventing David Cameron from taking tougher action on immigration and stripping the workshy of benefits, the Prime Minister said.
Mr Cameron firmly rejected claims that only Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was being forced to compromise in the coalition.
‘We’ve all had to make compromises,’ he told BBC Radio 2’s Steve Wright in the Afternoon.
‘If I was running a Conservative-only Government I think we would be making further steps on things like immigration control or making sure that our welfare reforms were absolutely making sure that if you’re not prepared to work you can’t go on welfare.
‘I think we’d be tougher than that,’ he said.
‘We make compromises, we make agreements, but as a Government I think we’re delivering a lot of good things for the country.’
Mr Cameron conceded that the coalition ‘has its problems’ but that it was generally working well.
He denied that major policy issues were decided between himself and the Deputy Prime Minister in their regular Sunday evening telephone calls.
‘We often have a conversation on the phone on a Sunday night to scope the issues that we need to settle, the problems that the Government faces and some of the issues that are under discussion in the following week, but we also have very ordered meetings, as we did this morning,’ he said.
‘I think the coalition works well. We haven’t had one for 65 years, it’s very different.
‘But the idea of two parties coming together, burying some of their differences and acting in the national interest, for the national good, I think is working. It has it’s problems but…’
Mr Cameron defended the Government’s tough deficit-reduction package and attacked Labour’s calls for a slowdown and tax cuts.
‘The programme of cuts is absolutely necessary to keep us out of the danger zone. My worry is that plan B as suggested by Labour, plan B stands for bankruptcy.
‘It stands for not living within your means, not paying down your debts. And eventually you can end up in a situation which we see on our television screens, like Greece, where people lose all confidence you’re going to be able to pay down your debts.
‘I would say the greatest stimulus we can give is to keep those interest rates low, so businesses can borrow money, so people can get on the housing ladder, so investment and the economy can grow.
‘Of course it’s choppy, it’s difficult. I know that households are suffering because inflation is high and petrol prices have gone up, and food prices are up, and people’s budgets are very tight.
‘But interest rates are low, the economy is growing and the last unemployment figures were pretty encouraging — the biggest monthly fall I think for 10 years.’
The Prime Minister said he was going to practise his table tennis so he would be able to ‘thrash’ US President Barack Obama when they next meet.
‘I used to play table tennis a bit, I’m going to have to restart so next time he comes I’ll thrash him,’ he said after being shown up by the president’s skills during a visit to a school.
Asked to choose his ideal dinner guests, dead or alive, Mr Cameron plumped for Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth I, to hear her first-hand account of dealing with the Spanish Armada, and celebrity cook Nigella Lawson to prepare the spread because he is ‘very greedy’ and loves food.
Forced to choose one style of food, he said it would be Italian.
He also said that he ‘admired’ some of what Tony Blair did in reforming public services but that the former Labour premier had made many mistakes.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Blocks Sex Discrimination Class-Action Suit Against Wal-Mart
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that a huge class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores alleging sex discrimination cannot proceed, reversing a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The lawsuit could have involved up to 1.6 million current and former Wal-Mart employees and billions of dollars in damages. The plaintiffs can still pursue their suit on their own, but not as a class action, the court ruled, meaning that much less money would be at stake. The court said the proposed class would be too unwieldy and diverse and that there were other problems with the way the case was filed.
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Swiss Conservatives Slam School Sex Ed Plan
Plans from the federal government to introduce mandatory sex education classes in schools and kindergartens throughout the country is stirring a controversy among conservative politicians, who are now planning to file a petition. Members of the SVP, CVP and EDU political parties are dubbing the initiative “a catastrophe,” according to a report in the daily 20 Minuten. They argue that sex education should remain primarily in the hands of the children’s parents and that making “sex classes” mandatory is going too far.
Pius Segmüller (CVP), Ulrich Schlüer (SVP), Walter Messmer (FDP) und Andreas Brönnimann (EDU) are preparing a petition against the “sexualisation” of Swiss schools, the paper said. “We are against the planned obligation and argue that the kids should be excused from sexual education classes any time,” Schlüer was quoted as saying. The controversy stems from a recent sex education program that includes wooden penises and fabric vaginas introduced in Basel schools. The boxes, which are being distributed to 30 primary schools and kindergartens, contain dolls, puzzles, books and other educational material for 4 to 10-year-olds, and a box with the more explicit materials for older kids.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
13 Exotic Elements We Can’t Live Without
From indium touchscreens to hafnium-equipped moonships, the nether regions of the periodic table underpin modern technology — but supplies are getting scarce
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Early Farmers Were Sicker and Shorter Than Their Forager Ancestors
As human societies adopted agriculture, their people became shorter and less healthy, according to a new review of studies focused on the health impacts of early farming. Societies around the world—in Britain and Bahrain, Thailand and Tennessee—experienced this trend regardless of when they started farming or what stapled crops they farmed, the researchers found. This finding runs contrary to the idea that a stable source of food makes people grow bigger and healthier. The data suggest, in fact, that poor nutrition, increased disease, and other problems that plagued early farming peoples more than their hunter-gatherer predecessors outweighed any benefits from stability.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Isa: The Muslim Jesus
There are two main sources for ‘Isa, the Muslim Jesus. The Qur’an gives a history of his life, whilst the Hadith collections — recollections of Muhammad’s words and deeds — establish his place in the Muslim understanding of the future.
The Qur’an
‘Isa, was a prophet of Islam
Jesus’ true name, according to the Qur’an, was ‘Isa. His message was pure Islam, surrender to Allah. (Âl ‘Imran 3:84) Like all the Muslim prophets before him, and like Muhammad after him, ‘Isa was a lawgiver, and Christians should submit to his law. (Âl ‘Imran 3:50; Al-Ma’idah 5:48) ‘Isa’s original disciples were also true Muslims, for they said ‘We believe. Bear witness that we have surrendered. We are Muslims.’ (Al-Ma’idah 5:111)
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