Auf Wiedersehen, Spain: Learning German to Escape the Crisis
Amid record unemployment, young people in Spain are desperately looking for a way out. One village believes it has found the answer: German courses for residents, to prepare them for a life in Europe’s largest economy. But their teacher is trying to warn them that not everything is perfect in the land of beer and sausages.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Industrialists Criticise Govt Again
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JULY 6 — Despite the recent, double approval of fresh austerity measures by the Greek parliament, Greek industrialists have once again criticised the government for the controversial and painful economic measures. “Once more the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) urges the government to change its policy since — as has been seen — the measures brought in do not achieve the desired results. To the contrary, they lead the country towards a deeper recession, the market to stagnation and society to desperation,” said EBEA chairman Constantinos Michalos in the presentation of the bi-monthly survey carried out by the Alco company on EBEA’s behalf.
The survey on May-June 2011 shows that the percentage of Greeks who feel that the economic policy followed by the government is wrong has reached 81% from 77% in the two previous months, while 7 out of every 10 citizens say they are pessimistic over the economic trend in the country as well as over their own personal economic situation. Moreover, 66% of respondents said that the Medium-Term Economic Programme will lead the country to a deeper recession, while the same percentage said that the recent government reshuffle would not improve the government’s actions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: MP Calls for Re-Examination of Wartime Pensions
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JULY 7 — Democratic Alliance party president MP Dora Bakoyannis suggested the immediate re-examination of pensions paid to WWII-era national resistance fighters (around 300 euros per month), as Athens News Agency reports. In a tabled question addressed to Labour & Social Insurance Minister Giorgos Koutroumanis, she referred to “unreasonable expenditures” and “pension approvals based on political criteria and clientele relations”. She also called for all relevant documents be submitted to Parliament. “In many instances individuals who were not eligible presented false documents to receive the national resistance pension,” according to Bakoyannis. She also asked the government if it “intends to order an investigation into pensions received by alleged resistance fighters born in the 1930s who, during WWII, were either infants or under the age of 10,” as she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Bailout is Good Business for IMF and EU
Irish Independent, 6 July 2011
“IMF and EU to make €9bn profit on bailout,” headlines the Irish Independent. Such is the lucrative figure the international organisations stand to earn in interest if the €85bn in loans extended to the economically stricken member state are drawn down in total. Furthermore, former colonial power Britain “is also entitled to send auditors and accountants here to check the books as part of its bilateral deal to Ireland,” the Dublin daily reveals. The revelations, made by Finance minister Michael Noonan, come as the IMF-EU bailout team fly into Dublin to rule on whether the Government is meeting the terms of the bailout. On the agenda will be more cuts to the public sector and to wage-setting systems for low earners. “Mr Noonan said yesterday that he may have to slash €4bn from Government spending next year to meet the IMF-EU budget deficit target, rather than the €3.6bn previously flagged,” the Irish Independent adds.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel’s Migraine: The Man Who Wants Greece to Give Up Euro
A member of Angela Merkel’s junior coalition party is becoming a liability for the chancellor. As she tries to push through Greek bailout measures, Free Democrat Frank Schäffler is working to foment resistance. All he needs is 20 votes in parliament to block the next aid measures for Athens and the euro.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Casey Anthony Sentenced to 4 Years
Casey Anthony, who earlier this week was found not guilty of killing her daughter, was sentenced on Thursday to four years in jail, minus the time she has served, for lying to investigators.
Judge Belvin Perry said that he would have to meet with lawyers for at least an hour to decide how much time Ms. Anthony should be credited with serving. A decision is to be reached sometime Thursday. She was also fined $1,000 for each of the four counts of lying.
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Oops: Janice Hahn Gets Double Slammed on Her ‘Gang Intervention’ Debacle
So the story goes like this: There’s a special House election next Tuesday in CA-36. Janice Hahn, the Democrat, tried to kill a negative story about herself on the local Fox affiliate, concerning her ridiculous and wasteful “gang intervention program,” which more or less put gang members on the city payroll when she was a Los Angeles city council member. Fox 11 investigated the program and found that it was one massive debacle. Hahn fired off a cease and desist to get Fox’s story killed. That backfired as you’ll see in the video below, in which Fox 11 spends 8 full minutes of its newscast going over all the story’s details. Do yourself a favor and watch the story to get a very detailed look at just how wonderful Hahn’s gang program really was. The comparison between Hahn and Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu is particularly entertaining. But the bottom line is that Hahn wasted public money on a project centered on unrepentant gangbangers. One of the gangsters sucked up over $1 million being an “intervention” type, but is in jail now for selling illegal machine guns. Nice work, Janice! Way to turn ‘em around!
| — Hat tip: Van Grungy | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Di Rupo’s Guide to Saving a Country
Cecile Bertrand (La Libre Belgique)
Thirteen months after the last elections, the francophone Elio Di Rupo has put forward his proposals to unblock the political stalemate. It’s one step forward, says the Belgian press, but the country’s future is still not guaranteed.
“Elio Di Rupo breaks all the taboos”, writes a pleased La Libre Belgique. In a one-hundred page policy document presented to King Albert II on July 4, the formateur laid out the steps to resolve the crisis that has torn Belgium for over a year: consolidation of public finances, reform of the Finance Act, splitting the BHV (Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral arrondissement), delegating more responsibilities to the regions, and certain socio-economic reforms.
Di Rupo “proposes a thorough reorganisation of public finances in the order of 22 billion euros” by 2015, notes L’Echo. The goal: to balance the budget and get the country out of the sights of the rating agencies.
On the institutional side, Di Rupo proposes splitting up the Bruxelles Halle-Vilvoorde district, which straddles the Brussels-Capital Region and the Flemish region. The 150,000 francophones living in Flemish municipalities is one cause of tension between the two communities…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: Marine Le Pen’s Populism for the Masses
French politician Marine Le Pen is attracting new voters to the National Front, the right-wing populist party founded by her father, by railing against immigration and globalization. With France’s elections a year away, Le Pen is already polling ahead of President Nicolas Sarkozy. When Marine Le Pen walks into a room, she dominates it physically. She is slim, wears tight jeans and blazers and has dyed blonde hair, and yet she seems as if she were walking into a ring, tense and ready to lash out. The 42-year-old French politician has inherited her father’s broad shoulders and wide face. She is unmistakably the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, but she is also very much her own person. She fascinates people because she both resembles and contrasts with the man who was the bête noire of French politics for decades. She also has her father to thank for a powerful voice that booms even when she is speaking normally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Islamist Charged for US Airmen Killings
German federal prosecutors said Thursday they had indicted a 21-year-old Islamic extremist from Kosovo over an attack on US troops at Frankfurt Airport in March that killed two airmen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Will Use Fossil Fuels to Plug Nuclear Gap
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government claimed to be “ushering in the age of renewables” as German MPs passed legislation this week to phase out nuclear power by 2022 — but the basic arithmetic of the energy-switch policy suggests the country will struggle to fill the hole left by nuclear power — and emissions may rise in the interim. The vote means that by early next decade Germany will lose 20 gigawatts of nuclear power, which supplied the country with 23 per cent of its electricity last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Brings Charges Against Frankfurt Airport Shooter
German authorities have indicted a man accused of shooting two US airmen at Frankfurt International Airport in March. Arid U., who is of Kosovar background, was accused of killing US servicemen Nicholas Alden and Zachary Cuddeback. The 21-year old was also charged with three counts of attempted murder, for trying to kill three others before his gun jammed. He faces life imprisonment. Prosecutors declined to charge Arid U. with terrorism, saying he was a loner with no connections to terrorist groups. The man is suspected to have carried out the attacks on the soldiers to avenge US actions in Afghanistan.
Federal prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum told reporters the suspect shot the first airman in the back of the head at point-blank range after asking him for a cigarette outside the bus. He then entered the bus, yelling “Allahu Akhbar” (“God is Great”) and shot the driver dead. He then shot two others before putting the gun to the head of another serviceman and pulling the trigger twice, according to Griesbaum. However, the gun jammed and the man subsequently fled into the terminal. He was chased by the man he had attempted to kill, who apprehended shortly thereafter. Prosecutors in Karlsruhe said Arid U., a Muslim, was radicalized by reading Islamist propaganda on the Internet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Cabinet Approves 700 Mln Euros for Foreign Missions
Libya funding to be cut by ‘a third’
(ANSA) — Rome, July 7 — The Italian cabinet on Thursday approved a decree authorising an extra 700 million euros for military missions abroad including Libya.
“We have just voted unanimously on the decree that refinances all the international missions,” Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa told a media conference in Rome.
The move was endorsed by the cabinet after threats from Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s main coalition partner, the Northern League, to withhold its support and block the decree.
Italy’s involvement in Libya was discussed at a top-level meeting between Berlusconi and senior ministers including La Russa and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and Northern League ministers Roberto Maroni and Roberto Calderoli.
In a concession to the League the cabinet authorised 200 million euros less than was previously earmarked for foreign missions.
Italy is currently involved in military operations in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Libya.
Of the 9,950 Italian military personel involved in missions abroad, Calderoli predicted 2,078 would return to Italy by the end of the year. “Of the 2,078 personnel that will return home, I have noted that 100 are expected to return from Libya in a one-third reduction of the cost of that mission, from 142 million euros in the first quarter to 58 million euros,” said Calderoli.
“For Libya the refinancing is until September 2011, so our demand has been met”.
Sources said Interior Minister Roberto Maroni also obtained approval for an extra 440 million euros to handle the immigration crisis.
More than 30,000 immigrants — mostly from Tunisia and Sub-Saharan Africa — have arrived on the southern island of Lampedusa off the coast of Sicily since January.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Government Passed Decree for Missions Abroad
(AGI) Rome — The Italian Government passed with one accord a decree concerning the funding of Italian military missions abroad. It was communicated by Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa. Costs for the mission in Lybia were cut by 50% and the funding extended only until September 30 2011. Less than 600 soldiers will remain in Lebanon, while the mission in Congo was discontinued .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Catholic Priest Jailed for Repeatedly Raping a Nun
Cosenza, 6 July (AKI) — A court in southern Italy Wednesday jailed Catholic priest Fedele Bisceglie for nine years and three months for drugging and repeatedly raping an African nun. His secretary received a six year and three month prison term for the crime.
After the sentences were read out, Bisceglie, a flamboyant figure in the Calabrian city of Cosenza, yelled out in court that the verdict was “shameful”.
“You have sullied the reputation of an honest priest. This is the most painful chapter even written by magistrates in Cosenza,” Bisceglie shouted.
He has been in prison since January 2006 for gang-raping the nun five times after drugging her, according to the prosecution.
Bisceglie’s lawyer Franz Caruso said he would wait for the court to issue its reasoning behind Wednesday’s sentences before commenting on the verdict.
“We need to see how the court overcame the many contradictions in the evidence it was presented with during the trial,” he said.
Bisceglie founded a centre to the help the poor in Cosenza, was an avid fan of the city’s football team and was famous locally for having helped a porn star find religion.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: More Garbage in Naples, Fires and Protests
(AGI) Naples — Garbage on the streets of Naples continues to heap reaching 1.400 tons. Waste disposal plants of Giugliano and Tufino can dispose of about 1077 tons, about 150 tons less than what is daily produced. Street protests continue with garbage scattered in Piazzetta Cariati, in the heart of the Spanish quarter.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Polar Excess: Remote Music Festival Lures Fans to Arctic Circle
Those prone to seasickness should steer clear of the Traena Music Festival. A five-hour boat ride is just one leg of the multi-day odyssey required to reach the remote Norwegian island the event calls home. For three days, music fans from around the world take over a part of the Arctic Circle that normally sees more seagulls on rocks than rock’n’roll.
Music lovers hoping to catch this year’s show at the Kirkeheleren will need a boat, hiking boots and lots of energy. Kirkeheleren, which translates to “cathedral cave,” is one of the venues of the Traena Music Festival. It’s no posh Oslo club, but a remote cavern on Sanaa, a northern Norwegian island set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Arctic Sea. To get here, festival-goers must make an arduous journey that includes airplanes, boats and lots of walking.
Since 2003, the Traena Music Festival has managed to lure music lovers from around the world to the far reaches of arctic Norway. Guests come from as far away as Germany, France, the United States and even Japan. Most of the time, these remote islands in the Arctic Circle hear only the calls of seagulls and waves crashing on the rocky shore. But for three days a year, some 2,000 fans add their voices to the screeching of the gulls as they enjoy musical performances surrounded by cliffs and caves in an eerie far-north atmosphere.
“The trip from Oslo to Traena takes as long as the trip from Oslo to Bangkok,” the festival’s founder Erlend Mogard-Larsen told SPIEGEL of the 1,000-kilometer journey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Leader Confronts ‘Nationalist’ Denmark
Polish leader Donald Tusk has criticised Denmark’s “nationalist” border checks in his maiden speech to the European Parliament under the Polish EU presidency. “I am against any barriers to internal free movement under the pretext of dealing with migration problems. What Denmark is doing is a concern for anybody who thinks that free movement is going to be restricted even further,” he told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday (5 July).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Digital Download Tax Aborted
La Vanguardia, 5 July 2011
“The government has backed down and decided to scrap the digital tax,” reveals La Vanguardia. Brought in in 2008, this tax on cultural products stored on digital media was intended to compensate authors affected by the increase in illegal downloads. According to La Vanguardia, the government is awaiting “the outcome of the SGAE case [the General Society of Authors and Publishers],” to officially announce the abolition. On July 4, Teddy Bautista, president of this powerful institution, which represents “a true lobby of cultural creatives faced with (largely illegal) digital downloads” and two other officers were placed on probation. They are accused of embezzlement. La Vanguardia reports that the EU Court of Justice had declared the tax illegal in 2010, ruling that it could be applied only to digital copies for private use.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Högsby Retrial Brings ‘Honour’ Killings Back Into Focus
With the topic of ‘honour’ killings back in the headlines in conjunction with the new trial for the 2005 murder of Abbas Rezai in Högsby, contributor Lina Sennevall takes a look at the phenomenon in Sweden.
‘I feared for my own life’: father of convicted son (15 Jun 11)
‘Dad told me to grab the knife’: convicted son (14 Jun 11)
The retrial to determine who really was behind the murder of 20-year-old Abbas Rezai has brought the issue of honour killings in Sweden back into focus.
“This re-trial sends out a message that Sweden won’t accept honour-related crimes,” Martin Permen, a police officer specialising in dealing with ‘honour’ killings, tells The Local.
In 2005 Rezai was found scalded, beaten, and repeatedly stabbed in the back and chest in his apartment.
Prior to the killing, his girlfriend’s family, which hailed from Afghanistan, had expressed their displeasure with the relationship.
The under-aged brother of Rezai’s girlfriend was convicted for the murder in 2006, but has recently changed his story and is now claiming that his parents, who were also suspects at the time, were responsible for Rezai’s death.
The ensuing retrial has pitted family members against one another and once again put the issue of ‘honour’ killings back into the headlines.
Rezai’s case is unique, not only because of the circumstances of his retrial, but also because he is the first known man to be killed in the name of honour in Sweden.
“It’s very unusual that the victim is a man but it only confirms that it’s not only women who are subjected to these crimes,” says Permen.
The issue of ‘honour’ killings was fairly unknown to Swedes until the late 1990s, when the term started to enter the public lexicon, especially following the 1999 murder of Pela Atroshi.
Pela, an Iraqi Kurd, was murdered by her uncles while visiting her hometown in Iraq because she wanted to go back to Sweden instead of being married off to a man she didn’t know.
Her uncles were subsequently sentenced to life in prison in Sweden.
While Pela’s murder may have awakened Swedes to the phenomenon of ‘honour’ killings, it was the 2002 murder of Fadime Sahindal that really kicked off a national conversation about the issue.
Fadime, a Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, was killed by two shots to the head from her father after living under threat with her Swedish boyfriend of four years.
Before her murder, Fadime had spoken at schools around the country and also to the Riksdag about the problems that young foreign girls face in Sweden.
“The men in the family began to call and threaten me by phone. They told me that I would never get away with this,” she said in a speech to the Riksdag in November 2001.
“My little brother was assigned to kill me. Why he was chosen was natural, he was under-aged and didn’t risk incurring any greater punishment. In addition, it was his task, as the only son of the family, to ensure that his sisters were within the cultural frameworks.”
According to Sara Mohammad, who works to educate at-risk and immigrant women about honour-related violence, ‘honour’ killings are comparable to a pure execution in their preparation and planning and are meant to help restore the reputation of a family that considers itself shamed by an unwelcome relationship or act.
“The shame you’ve carried around is washed away and your honour is restored. The person committing the crime becomes a hero,” she tells The Local.
Mohammad is founder and chairwoman of Never Forget Pela and Fadime (Glöm aldrig Pela och Fadime — GAPF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to informing immigrant women about their rights in Sweden.
She explains that honour-related violence often occurs in families where it is the mother’s responsibility to raise a girl and teach her how to behave, while the men in the family consider it their job to control the other family members.
“If you don’t control your immediate family you’ll be alienated from the extended family. It’s when a man loses control of the woman that an honour killing could be justified,” she says.
In Sweden, families where honour-related violence occurs often believe girls have become too westernized.
By dressing unacceptably, refusing an arranged marriage, or having sex out of wedlock, women and young girls can dishonour their families and thus give their families a reason to carry out honour-related violence, according to Mohammad.
‘Honour’ killings are also strongly connected to a woman’s virginity, as the father is supposed to guard it till the daughter’s wedding day.
“The honour lies between a woman’s legs,” she explains.
“Sexuality is what controls everything. A woman’s genitals are the most important, most dangerous and also the dirtiest part of a woman. A woman can lose her life if she loses her virginity before her wedding day.”
Permen says that the police haven’t seen either a rise or a decline in honour-related crimes in recent years.
Nevertheless, they remain far from common, despite concerns about there being many unreported cases.
“I would like to say that the police have become better at detecting the honour-related crimes. It’s not always murder either. We see girls who commit suicide on the influence of their family,” he says.
Mohammad says that an increasing number of girls and women are contacting her organisation today compared to when it was founded in 2001, but says that this is likely to do with increased media attention and a rise in honour-related violence.
“There’s an increased awareness today,” she explains.
Permen says that the Swedish police work extensively with honour related crimes and especially in trying to educate their staff on the differences between a “normal” murder and an honour-related one.
“They are normally very organized and well planned. There are also often a lot of people involved and it’s very difficult to get witnesses to step forward,” he says.
As prosecutors, Rezai’s relatives, and the family accused of killing him await the verdict following the conclusion of the retrial on Tuesday, Permen believes the case serves as a warning.
“I don’t think the whole truth was revealed at the last trial,” he explains.
Mohammad also believes that educating the public and the government about these questions could stop such crimes from occurring.
“We’re working on a daily basis to make the people of Sweden and also other countries in the world, aware of honour killings,” she says.
Mohammad’s message echoes that which was put forward by Fadime in her Riksdag speech from 2001.
“If society had taken responsibility and helped my parents to become more involved in the Swedish community this could perhaps have been avoided,” she said at the time.
“What has happened to me is not something one can do anything about but I think it is important that you learn something from it and do something in the future, so that these kinds of cases are not repeated.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Björn Borg Shares His Underwear With McEnroe
Swedish tennis-legend-turned-designer Björn Borg will be sharing his underwear with former rival John McEnroe. The sports duo will be joining forces, through the launch of a limited edition underwear collection, and have chosen to market it with a Facebook campaign, asking users to find their ultimate opposite, among the 700 million other Facebook users worldwide. “This campaign is a way for us to celebrate the unlikely friendship that Björn and John share,” said Erik Jarnsjö, marketing director at Björn Borg, in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Decade After the Riots, Bradford is Still Uneasy About Race Relations
There has been progress, not least the stand residents took against the EDL last year, but threats from the far right remain
Ten years ago today Bradford witnessed race riots that lasted three days and brought the issue of race relations in the city to the country’s attention. Bradford became known as a “racial tinderbox” where the city’s large Asian community was estranged and at odds with the white working class.
You could see the troubles coming as rioting spread across the north from towns on the other side of the Pennines such as Burnley and Oldham. There were the largely forgotten riots of 1995, which should have acted as a warning signal. After those disturbances, Asian residents complained about a lack of opportunities and growing unease about relationships with the police and the white working class. Those calls were mostly ignored, the National Front took advantage and six years later tensions boiled over again.
I was a 17-year-old student at the time, and like many people in the city was shocked to see Manningham turned into a battleground. I remember picking up the Telegraph and Argus and seeing the faces of young men I’d played against in a football semi-final a few months earlier on the front page as wanted troublemakers. Harsh sentences followed for the Asian offenders and the city woke up to the fact that it had been sleepwalking into segregation for more than 30 years.
There was a definite change in the city as the initial shock of the riots turned to disgust and even hatred as people surveyed what “they” had done to “our” city. The fallout continued with the BNP gaining council seats in predominantly white areas like Queensbury and Keighley as far-right groups took advantage of the troubles to reinforce the “them and us” attitude. Lord Ouseley’s report and the Cantle report followed and laid out the drastic action that needed to be taken to counteract the effects of segregation in the city and others like it.
But the anniversary of the riots isn’t the best indicator of how far the city has come when dealing with race relations. That date came on 28 August 2010 when the English Defence League (EDL) brought 700 supporters to the city. The event had been talked about for months and when the static protest started the group faced opposition from a wide range of residents. It was a display of unity which largely went unreported, the focus instead being on the EDL’s clashes with the police. It was the toughest test Bradford’s communities had faced since 2001 and people from all over the city made sure no one group was left to stand up to the far right alone.
The BNP is no longer represented on the council and now Bradfordians are focused on new challenges such as the lack of development in the city centre, which literally left a hole in the heart of the city, and fewer job opportunities after the area’s financial services industry was hit by the economic downturn. When Chris Morris chose the city’s 16th International Film Festival as the place to premier his controversial film Four Lions, which was about a British group of suicide bombers, I was delighted to see someone like Morris in the city. But even more delighted that there wasn’t trouble after the premier, especially considering one of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, was born in Bradford. It showed me that perhaps now Bradfordians of all races are able to examine even the most uncomfortable aspects of life in the city.
Bradford still faces challenges when it comes to relations between different communities. The white flight that occurred in areas like Manningham is being repeated, this time with Asian middle-class families moving out to areas like Heaton and eastern European migrants taking their place. The school system is still a source of segregation, with many containing a majority of pupils from either white or Asian backgrounds. But progress is being made with exchange programmes and a greater awareness of how without early integration a “them and us” attitude can develop.
Many in the city are happy about the progress that has been made but as the far right regroup again in the form of the EDL, Bradfordians are well aware that their unity will be tested again and so will the city’s race relations.
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UK: Murdoch to Close Tabloid Amid Fury Over Hacking
The tabloid at the center of the British phone hacking is to be closed after a final, ad-free Sunday edition this weekend, according to a top official at News Corp., James Murdoch, in a sudden statement that underscored the devastating effect of allegations that targets included not only a 13-year-old murder victim but also relatives of fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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UK: Suicidal Diplomat on Roof of London Embassy Changed Mind About Killing Himself — But Slipped and Fell to His Death
Ayman Mohammed Fayed, 41, suffered catastrophic injuries when he landed head first at the entrance of the embassy in central London.
The father of three had left a signed note, written in Arabic, simply saying ‘Look after the children’ and climbed from his ‘immaculate’ office and on to the roof in an apparent suicide bid.
The administrator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had even taken off his shoes and watch and locked his office door before climbing on a chair and out the window.
But it is believed he may have ‘changed his mind’, as the only witness saw him trying to get back in the third floor window.
Embassy workers found the Egyptian national lying in a pool of blood three metres from the front entrance, all his limbs were deformed, and ‘obviously fractured’ and he had a gaping head injury.
They carried their co-worker inside, where ambulance crews tried to resuscitate him, but Mr Fayed was pronounced dead at the scene at 4.10pm on January 14 this year.
Kamla Badawi, who works for a commercial arm of the Egyptian embassy in the building opposite, saw Mr Fayed trying to get back in the window.
She said she thought he was a burglar, but as she called the embassy to warn them she heard a ‘loud bang’ and when she went back to her office window, saw him lying in a pool of blood on the pavement.
In a statement read to Westminster Coroner’s Court, she said: ‘The man was on the top floor of the embassy. He was on the grey sloping roof.
‘He had one arm through the window reaching in the embassy. He appeared to be holding on to something that was by the window.
‘He appeared to be trying to get in to the building, that’s why I though he was breaking in.’
The women went to phone the embassy, when the man fell.
She added: ‘I left a message, I was on my way back to the window to see what he the man was doing and I heard a loud bang.
‘There was no longer anyone on the roof. My feeling was that he had lost control and fell.
‘I saw a man on the floor. It was so upsetting seeing a man on the ground. He seemed to be facing down.’
Mr Fayed lived with his wife, Merfet Mohamed Hussein Elsaey, and their three children in Maida Vale, west London.
Detective Inspector Andrew Fleming said he thought Mr Fayed had changed his mind.
He said: ‘We established it was a diplomat who had actually fallen from the window.
‘He landed approximately three metres from the entrance directly below the window. There had clearly been quite a heavy impact to the front of his forehead.
‘Embassy staff had taken him in to the reception area and called the ambulance.
‘The room [his office] was immaculately tidy. The note was there, his watch was left on the table. A chair was up against the window and the window was wide open. I also found his shoes.
‘It was a non-suspicious death. I suspected from what was laid out inside the room that this was a straight forward suicide.
‘But sat on a cold roof, outside in the wet, staring down at the concrete below, I suspect he’s changed his mind, that would fit with what the witness said — he was reaching down trying to get back in through the window.
‘An intent to commit suicide may have turned in to a tragic accident.’
The incident occurred just before violence broke out in Egypt, leading to the resignation of president Hosni Mubarak.
But there was no evidence connecting Mr Fayed to the uprising, and colleagues told police they didn’t know of any reason he would want to kill himself.
Recording an open verdict, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said she was ‘completely satisfied’ that there were no suspicious circumstances involved in Mr Fayed’s tragic death.
But she said as there were no witness to the actual event, she couldn’t be sure whether he fell or jumped.
She said: ‘There is simply no evidence to as to whether this is a jump or fall. I am left with no option but to record an open verdict.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Girl ‘Lured Two 16-Year-Olds Into Rape Ordeal With Three Asian Men in Their Thirties’17-Year-Old Described Alleged Attackers as ‘My Boys’
A teenage girl lured two other youngsters into a terrifying rape ordeal after providing them for sex to three Asian men she referred to as ‘my boys,’ a court heard.
Stephanie Knight, then 17, invited the two 16-year-old girls for a night out clubbing during which they were plied with vodka and drugs and introduced to the group, it was claimed.
Later the girls were taken by Shahid Hussain, 37, his brother, Amjad Hussain, 34, and their cousin, Tanveer Butt, 39, to a dark and empty house without electricity in Accrington, Lancashire, where they were sexually abused, a jury was told.
The three men were said to have taken it in turns to abuse one of the teenagers who was repeatedly raped in different rooms of the house which one of the men used to live in, Burnley Crown Court was told.
Knight, who was to tell police she was Amjad Hussain’s girlfriend, was said to have stopped one of the teenagers from going to her friend’s help as she was raped three times by Shahid Hussain.
Knight was also alleged to have threatened the frightened second girl when she refused to perform sex acts on the men, the hearing was told.
Shahid Hussain, of Drake Street, Butt, of St Albans Street, both Rochdale, Amjad Hussain, of Sharples Street, Accrington, and Knight, now 19, of Preston New Road, Blackburn, all deny two counts of conspiracy to rape, between December 4 and 7, 2009.
Butt also pleads not guilty to three charges of rape against one of the girls and aiding and abetting Shahid Hussain to rape her, Knight also denies aiding and abetting rape, Shahid Hussain also pleads not guilty to three counts of rape against the girl and Amjad Hussain also denies two allegations of raping the girl and rape and assault by penetration against the second girl.
Nick Courtney, prosecuting, told the court the girls were provided with alcohol and drugs before they became the victims of a number of sexual offences.
The first girl was allegedly raped orally, vaginally and anally and the second girl was subjected to a sex act and oral rape by Amjad Hussain in a car.
Mr Courtney said Knight, who had known the girls for about a week, invited them out for the evening, on December 5. During the evening out she was heard to say ‘Got them’ in a mobile phone conversation and named the girls.
At about 10pm, they were picked up by Amjad Hussain, driven from Blackburn to Accrington, and then all got into a large 4x4 vehicle, with Butt at the wheel.
Drink was bought in Accrington and the car was parked at Asda, Burnley and was captured on CCTV. Amjad Hussain added vodka to some bottles of coca cola before giving them to the girls, who were also given drugs to smoke.
Both girls made the men aware they were 16 but both had a lot to drink.
Mr Courtney said: ‘They all had a drink but both girls felt they had a great deal of alcohol to drink. One recalled she was ‘feeling smashed’ and the other said that on a scale of one to 10 of drunkenness she rated a 10.’
They were then driven to Amjad Hussein’s former home where Shahid Hussain was waiting upstairs.
‘When they went into the house all of the lights were off,’ said Mr Courtney. ‘There was some carpet but no furniture downstairs. It looked empty and Stephanie Knight told them there was no electricity.’
The prosecutor said the first girl went upstairs to use the bathroom. Butt went in, refused to leave and forced her to give him oral sex.
When she came out of the room, the Hussain brothers were on the landing, she was pulled in different directions and dragged into a bedroom by Shahid Hussain, who slid a wardrobe against the door and raped her.
The other girl then argued with Knight as she heard screams from her friend, the court was told. ‘Knight told her if she did not give “her boys” a blowjob she would bang her in the back alley,’ said Mr Courtney.
‘Knight went on to tell her “she is chilling with my boys” when she continued to show concern.’
Amjad Hussain allegedly took the first girl into the attic, gave her another cannabis joint and forced her, whilst she was crying, to perform a sex act. Butt was then also said to have raped her again.
Mr Courtney told the jury the two girls were taken home in the early hours by Amjad Hussain, who had locked the car doors.
On the way, he allegedly orally raped them both and committed a sex act on the second girl, after pulling a knife on her. She had put the blade up her sleeve, refused to perform a sex act on him, but he had got mad, grabbed her and forced her.
The prosecutor said the alleged victims made complaints to the police that day. The first girl was found to be cut and bruised when she was medically examined. The defendants were arrested. None of them accepted they were guilty of the allegations.
Amjad Hussain claimed he had been with the girls on that night and had consensual sexual encounters with each of them.
Knight initially told a police constable that she was ‘trying to arrange blowjobs and sex for friends I have just met in Accrington’.
But when interviewed by detectives she later denied she had made the comment and added that the girls knew they were going to a house with her friends, including her boyfriend, Amjad Hussain.
Mr Courtney said: ‘The other two defendants’ case is that they were not with Amjad Hussain, Stephanie Knight and the complainants that night and that they had never met either of the complainants, let alone been involved in any sex of any kind with them.’
The prosecutor alleged: ‘The defendants’ accounts in interview are untrue. The agreement was that Stephanie Knight would provide girls for the defendants to have non-consensual sex with that night.’
One of the girls told police in a video link interview how she had only known Knight for a week and added: ‘She hangs around with a load of Asian lads.’
The trial continues.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Exhibitions: Serbia, Land of Frescoes, Spirituality
Serbia as a land of frescoes and of spirituality: the exhibition inaugurated yesterday evening in Rome in the SS. Apostoli Convent is a trip back in time to get to know the Byzantine art and culture which developed between the XI and the XVI centuries encapsulated within the medieval monasteries of the Balkan country. Thirty-two reproductions of frescoes and sculptures from Belgrade’s national museum, which boasts almost 1,200 copies of the most important works completed between the XI and the XV century. They are, of course, reproductions, but the message conveyed through this exhibition goes beyond the material itself: Serbia is, above all, a land of culture, encounters and religiosity — a concept too often left in the background by inter-ethnic conflict. “There are 6,000 frescoes in Serbia, many of which are unfortunately in Kosovo,” noted the Serbian ambassador to the Holy See Vladeta Jankovic — such as those in the monasteries of Decani (held by scholars to be the “encyclopedia of Serbian painting” due to the multiple nature of the themes covered), Pec, Gracanica and the Church of the Virgin in Ljevisa. “These four monuments have been listed by UNESCO as cultural heritage in danger,” added Jankovic with regret. Among the works on show in Rome are the “Archangel Gariel” (Decani monastery, 1342-1347), “the Annunciation of the Virgin” (Mileseva monastery, 1222) and the “Death of Anna Dandolo (Sopocani monastery, 1272-1274, daughter of a Venetian doge and mother of the queen Elena D’Angio’, who married King Uros I).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Prostitutes Targeted by Extremists
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JULY 7 — In addition to being called the oldest profession in the world, in Algeria prostitution may also become the most dangerous, or at least in the city of M’sila, where over the past few weeks Islamic extremism has fostered an anti-prostitution crusade steadily taking on the semblances of a ruthless “hunt”. A few days ago, the Chebilia district saw fresh violence break out with an “expedition” which only by pure chance did not result in mass casualties. About 400 young men attacked and set fire to a building in which two female prostitutes worked, with the attackers’ rage not even taking into consideration that many families also lived in the building and had absolutely nothing to do with prostitution. The attack, carried out by hundreds of young men, ended with a fire set to a first floor flat which quickly spread to the upper floors, leading to scenes of terrorised people trying to escape the flames. While the fire consumed everything in its path, the smoke reached many other buildings nearby and forced hundreds to flee. In reporting the incident, El Watan placed the blame on police who — instead of going into the streets and arresting the young extremists — simply stayed in the police station, leaving de facto control of the district to them. Their behaviour was called a “bona fide mess” by El Watan, which published a vignette alongside the story in which an old man dressed as an Islamic priest harangues a mass of young people looking lost and almost as if they were unwitting automatons in the hands of their manipulator. Unfortunately, Chebilia is by no means no to this sort of punitive expedition. A few weeks ago another anti-prostitution raid ended with the death of a man and almost the lynching of some women who barely managed to survive but were forced to leave the city. The concern expressed by many is that the Islamic fundamentalist fostering these incidents may turn into a “prostitute hunt”, like the one seen in the 1990s in the city of Ouargla, where many women were burnt alive amid enthusiastic yelling of those killing them.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
House of Representatives Stops U. S. Aid to Libya Rebels
(AGI) Washington — The House of Representatives has voted 225 to 201 prohibiting the Defense Department from aiding the Libyan rebels in their fight against Muammar Gaddafi. The amendment was included in the defense budget forbidding the DoD from giving “supplies or military training to a group or individuals, that do not constitute the armed forces of the country, with the objective of sustaining military initiatives that are in, for or against Libya.” The proposal was put forward by Tom Cole (R-OK), who is part of a group of representatives who are against President Obama’s Libyan policies. There promises to be a bitter fight in the Senate on the defense budget, which will take place tomorrow or a the beginning of next week, before it goes to the president for his signature.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Press: Sarkozy Wants to Win Gaddafi War on July 14
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 6 — French President Nicolas Sarkozy “demands” a victory in the war in Libya on July 14, a day of national celebration in France: this is written today by the satirical weekly ‘Le Canard Enchaine’, which is always well-informed on behind-the-scene activities at the Élysée Palace.
Generals and officials of the general army staff are dismayed, the Canard continues. This presidential order, they claim, “is unprecedented”. Their military discipline forces them to obey orders without discussion, but some have said that they were “astonished” by the directive from the Élysée, which dreams of proclaiming victory and of the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on July 14, the newspaper continues.
It would be “his victory”, a diplomat who said he was not surprised by the President’s initiative remarked ironically.
“Now we need to win the war in just over a week”, a general complained.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Protests in Tunis & Sousse Against Fundamentalism
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JULY 7 — This evening in Tunis and Sousse there will be protests against the recent episodes of violence perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists. The demonstrations, which will be held almost at the same time in the streets of the two city centres, have been called by human rights activists who are trying to mobilise as many people as possible through Facebook “to defend freedom and oppose violence”.
In recent days episodes of violence and protests by Islamists linked to Salafist groups have been on the rise.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Churches Against Israel
Christian blood libels revived, with Israel being painted as evil, having no right to exist
A few days ago UK researchers announced that 17 skeletons belonged to Jews were found at the bottom of a medieval well in Norwich, England. The Jews were murdered in a pogrom or had been forced to commit suicide rather than submit to demands for conversion to Christianity.
The bodies date back to the 12th or 13th Centuries, at a time when Jewish people faced killings, banishment and persecution throughout all Europe. Those 17 Jews were killed because of “replacement theology,” the most ancient Christian calumny arguing that because of their denial of the divinity of Christ, the Jews have forfeited God’s promises to them which have been transferred to the Church.
Some 10 centuries later, global Christian forums are reviving this theological demonology against the heirs of those 17 Jews: the Jews of the State of Israel. The World Council of Churches, an ecumenical Christian body based in Genève and boasting 590 million worshippers, just ended a four-day conference in the Greek city of Volos. Not a single word of criticism was uttered there against the Islamists who are persecuting Arabs who believe Jesus.
Lutherans arrived to Volos from the United States, Catholics and Protestants from Bethlehem and Nazareth, Orthodox Christians from Greece and Russia, lecturers from Beirut and Copts from Egypt. The conference declared the Jewish State “a sin” and “occupying power,” accused Israelis of “dehumanizing” the Palestinians, theologically dismantled the “choseness” of the Jewish people and called for “resistance” as a Christian duty.
The conference denied 3,000 years of Jewish life in the land stretching between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, took sides against the very presence of Israel, likened the defensive barrier that has blocked terrorism to “apartheid,” attacked Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria invoking the name of God and conceptually dismissed the Jewish state, imagining it to be a mixture — Islamic, Christian and perhaps a bit Jewish. It even legitimized terrorism when it talked about the “thousands of prisoners who languish in Israeli jails,” proclaiming that “resistance to the evil of occupation is a Christian’s right and duty.”
Copying Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric
In the last few months we have seen a radical and dangerous increase of attacks on Israel by the Protestant and Catholic churches. While the US is home to many Christian supporters of Israel, the groups more closely linked to global public opinion, European bureaucracy, the media industry, the United Nations and various legal forums are all violently anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. They are paving the way for a new Jewish bloodbath by the theological exclusion of Israel’s Jews from the family of nations.
The patriarch of the Antioch Church, the Catholic Melkite Gregory III Laham, proclaimed that there is a “Zionist conspiracy against Islam,” reviving old conspiracy theories that led to infamous pogroms. In Antwerp, once called “the Belgian Jerusalem,” a highly respected and government-funded Catholic school, the College of the Sacred Heart, just hosted a “Palestine Day” replete with anti-Semitic references and activities for youngsters. One stall at the event was titled “Throw the soldiers into the sea,” allowing children to throw replicas of Jewish and Israeli soldiers into two large tanks.
The most influential international Catholic peace movement, Pax Christi, just promoted a boycott of Israel’s goods “in the name of love.” The most hated Israeli product includes Ahava, the famous Israeli cosmetics company, whose shop in Covent Garden, London, has just been closed by the company after years of demonstrations. Strangely, Ahava body lotion tubes have been chosen as a satanic symbol of Jewish colonialism.
Today, most of the divestment campaign against Israel is driven by Christian groups such as the Dutch Interchurch Organization and the Irish Catholic group Troicaré, both funded by the EU. The United Church of Canada, a very popular and mainstream Christian denomination, just voted to boycott six companies (Caterpillar, Motorola, Ahava, Veolia, Elbit Systems and Chapters/Indigo) and South African bishop Desmond Tutu convinced the University of Johannesburg to severe all its links with Israeli fellows.
Last year the Methodist Church of Britain voted to boycott Israeli-produced goods and services from Judea and Samaria. The catholic Pax Christi is also leading the campaign glorifying Mordechai Vanunu, Israel’s nuclear whistleblower who had converted to Christianity.
La Civiltà Cattolica, the Vatican magazine reviewed by the Holy See secretary of state before publication, in January opened with a shocking editorial on Palestinian refugees. Adopting the Islamist propagandist word “Nakba,” just recently invoked by Arab mobs to breach Israel’s borders, the paper declared that the refugees are a consequence of “ethnic cleansing” by Israel and that “the Zionists were cleverly able to exploit the Western sense of guilt for the Shoah to lay the foundations of their own state.” Indeed, Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric is alarmingly similar…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
A Syriac Church Reopens in Eastern Turkey After 90 Years
In the Adiyaman region, the local Christian community has been able to use a church shut down in Ottoman times. After a legal battle that began nine years ago, they were able to open a metropolitan centre with religious and cultural functions.
Istanbul (AsiaNews/Agencies) — For the first time since the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Christian Syriac community of Turkey was able to reopen a church, unused in decades, and celebrate the start of activities of a cultural and religious centre belonging to the minority, victim in the past of persecution and genocide like the Greeks and Armenians.
The ceremony was held last Sunday and saw hundreds of Syriacs come from Turkey and abroad. The church named after Saints Peter and Paul (Mor Petrus and Mor Paulus) and the metropolitan centre are located in the eastern province of Adiyaman.
The place of worship was reopened after a long legal battle and much needed repair given the many decades during which it was closed.
“Lots of Christians live in Turkey’s eastern provinces. This metropolitan building will serve their needs first. Moreover, [the building] will also act as a cultural bridge,” said Laki Vingas, a Greek member of the Foundations General Directorate Council.
A consecration ritual was also held prior to the liturgy on Saturday for the Mor Petrus and Mor Paulus Church in accordance with the laws of the ancient Syriac church.
The previous Adiyaman Metropolitan building, with 800 years of history, was abandoned during the First World War and the Christian genocide.
“There are also Armenians besides Syriacs who are members of our metropolitan church. It was quite difficult for us to provide services to locations many kilometres away from the Mardin metropolitan centre,” Melki Ürek said.
The Syriac community appealed to authorities nine years ago for the metropolitan building to be opened, but they were only able to achieve results after fighting a long and uphill legal battle about one and half years ago.
The Syriac community has four autonomous metropolitan centres across Turkey: the Mardin Deyrulumur (Mor Gabriel Monastery) and the Deyr-ul Zafaran in the southeastern province of Mardin, with two more centres in Adiyaman and Istanbul.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Threatens ‘Serious Action’ Over BBC Plans to Screen Documentary Series on Muslim Prophet Muhammad
The BBC is courting controversy with its plans to broadcast a documentary series about Muslim prophet Muhammad.
Three-part series The Life of Muhammad has already been blasted by officials in Iran, who claim the country will take ‘serious action’ if it is screened.
The Iranian minister of cultural and Islamic guidance, Mohammad Hosseini, who has yet to watch any of the series, has branded the film an attempt by the ‘enemy’ to ‘ruin Muslims’ sanctity’.
‘The BBC’s decision to make a documentary on the life of [the] prophet Muhammad seems dubious and if our suspicions are proved to be correct, we will certainly take serious action,’ he told Iran’s Fars news agency.
The documentary, to be broadcast in mid-July, just ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in August, will see journalist and TV presenter Rageh Omaar travel to the place of Muhammad’s birth, Mecca, to re-trace the footsteps of the prophet.
However, the series will feature no visual images of Muhammad in a bid not to offend Muslims, whose religion forbids depiction of the prophet.
Instead, a spoken description of Muhammad will be given, making this the first biographical documentary not to feature visual images of the subject.
The documentary will include three episodes, an hour each, on BBC 2.
The film tells the ‘extraordinary story of a man who, in little more than 20 years, changed the world forever’, according to the blurb.
The first episode looks at the circumstances and society that Muhammad was born into, according to Riazat Butt from the Guardian.
She said that the film follows Muhammad’s childhood and early years when he is orphaned and looked after by his uncle…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Cosmonaut: Soviet Space Shuttle Was Safer Than Nasa’s
On 15 November 1988, the Soviet Union stunned western observers by launching Buran, its clone of the NASA space shuttle, into low Earth orbit. After circling the globe twice, the uncrewed spacecraft — its name means “blizzard” — flew to an impressive precision runway landing in Baikonur, Kazahkstan. Much was expected of the spacecraft but it never flew again. Despite pressure from the cosmonaut corps itself the craft was not developed into a human-carrying craft and was scrapped.
The idea was to drop weapons from orbit?
Yes, absolutely. A shuttle is particularly useful for this because it can change its orbit and trajectory — so an attack from it is almost impossible to protect against. But the need for such military applications ended.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Father of Pakistan’s Atomic Bomb Says North Korea Bribed for Info
According to a report in the Washington Post, nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan transferred over three million dollars from N Korea to Pakistani officials before sharing sensitive information about nuclear technology. Abdul Qadeer Khan is considered the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. He has been criticized for allegedly profiting from nuclear deals with North Korea, Libya and Iran and has been under investigation in Pakistan. In 2004, he was detained and questioned before eventually confessing to running a proliferation ring. He received a pardon from General Pervez Musharraf who was president at the time. He is no longer under house arrest but remains under close surveillance. Until now, many Pakistani officials have claimed that Qadeer acted alone. However, if a letter that he has released is found to be authentic, it could be evidence that other higher-level officials were also involved. The letter is dated 1998 and was signed by a North Korean official.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Produces the Worst Milk in the World
Chinese milk has a low protein level and high levels of bacteria. “What is produced from garbage is garbage,” one critic says. Ordinary people are concerned in the wake of the melamine-tainted milk scandal. The government lowers safety levels because producers cannot meet stricter standards. Some 70 per cent of milk producers would go out of business if forced to meet them.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Chinese authorities have some of the lowest quality standards in the world when it comes to raw milk production. In mainland China, this leads to the production of milk with the lowest protein content but also with some of the highest levels of bacteria, Bright Dairy president Guo Benheng said.
“Our raw milk standards are almost the world’s lowest,” Guo told a forum on Sunday. The mainland’s standard for the protein content of raw milk is much lower than in the United States and European Union.
“International standards for the dairy industry also require checks for antibiotics and nitrites in raw milk, but China does not even make such requirements,” Guo added. “Can we make a very high-end product with a relatively lower standard? In fact, we cannot. What is produced from garbage is garbage.”
Guo’s comments could raise more concerns and lead to a loss of confidence among Chinese consumers, already tried by the melamine-tainted milk scandal that killed six newborn children and caused kidney-related damage to an additional 300,000.
In January, the authorities imposed new standards, ordering dairy product manufacturers to obtain new production certificates this year, and said those unable to guarantee product quality would be shut down.
The new national safety standard for dairy products lowered the minimum protein level required for raw milk from 2.95 per cent to 2.8 per cent.
The new standard also set the maximum limit for bacteria in raw milk at two million cells per millilitre.
In comparison, Western nations’ dairy standards call for a bacterial count of roughly 100,000 per millilitre of raw milk, and a protein content of roughly 3 per cent.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that the threshold protein count was lowered because most milk producers could not meet the standard.
Nadamude, secretary general of the Dairy Association of Inner Mongolia, told the People’s Daily that 70 per cent of China’s dairy farmers would be forced to throw out their milk or even sell some of their cows if stricter standards were imposed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
89 Abandoned in Ionian Sea, 3 Pilots Stopped
(AGI) Lecce — After a very long naval-aviation operation in the Ionian Sea, in the south of Santa Maria di Leuca, naval units of the Financial Police Corps have stopped 3 motorboat pilots, probably Ukraine nationals, who were trying to escape on board a small rubber dinghy. They had abandoned 89 immigrants on a sailboat adrift at the limit of territorial waters.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dear Germany: What Can You Offer Your Immigrants?
By Hasnain Kazim
Germany is discussing its shortage of skilled professionals, and it hopes to solve the problem by attracting doctors and engineers from abroad. The government acts as if it can just stand there and start calling out for qualified workers from the around the world. But why should they come to Germany?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Is This the Death of Schengen?
Since July 5, 50 customs officers have been monitoring the borders of Denmark with Germany and Sweden. The controls were put in place under pressure from the People’s Party, the far-right party that ensures a parliamentary majority for the Liberal-Conservative coalition in power. “Should we laugh or cry?” asks Jyllands-Posten. “The Kingdom of Denmark has been the hit of the summer in the European media. It would be nice if it was voluntary.” The problem, says the Danish daily, is that the government wanted to keep the People’s Party happy without jeopardising the Schengen agreements. That is why it speaks of ‘customs controls’, to show that it is not about personal checks.
But this changes nothing, writes Jyllands-Posten, which believes that the Danish government must have understood by now that it “will not succeed in deceiving European governments” by speaking of the controls in this way.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen finds himself confronted with a growing problem, the paper notes, and it’s time “for him to choose whether it’s Europe or the People’s Party he wants to put in its place. We propose, with respect, that it be the latter.”
In Germany, the Süddeutsche Zeitung regrets what it describes as “European sequestration.” “It’s bad enough that Denmark unscrupulously restricts one of the main freedoms the Europeans have fought for: the abolition of border controls,” writes the Munich daily. “But it is worse yet that other European countries are probably going to tolerate this attack against one of the pillars of the unification of Europe. The Commission has known of the intentions of the Danes for almost two months. But since then it has merely ‘examined’ the situation.” However, the SZ remarks, “one cannot put forward the excuse that political power is occupied with the debt crisis. Freedoms are just as vital for the EU as its currency.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: 54 Percent Want No More Immigrants
A majority of Norwegians wants to close the borders to immigrants:
Of the respondents, 53.7 percent stated that the sentence “We should not let more immigrants into Norway” fits very or fairly well with their own opinion. In 2005, when the survey was conducted for the first time, 45.8 percent said the same thing. At the same time, 48.7 percent said that immigrants integration is poor or very poor, an increase of 12 percentage points since 2005. Eight out of ten respondents believe that immigrants should prove their Norwegian language skills through a language test before they are allowed to become Norwegian citizens. The survey also shows that opposition to the wearing of the hijab among women in police uniform is massive in Norway. Over 80 percent of respondents said no to this, and 3.3 percent are “very negative” to the hijab on the police.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Stand Up for Britain’s Silent Majority, Patten Tells BBC as Director-General Admits: We Failed to Address Immigration
The BBC should avoid pandering to ‘metropolitan prejudices’ or a ‘tasteless common denominator’ by standing up for the silent majority, its new chairman has declared.
Lord Patten said the corporation should listen to accusations that it is ‘drowning’ viewers and listeners with ‘prejudices’ and ‘stereotypes’ from the urban elite.
In a plea for the broadcaster to become more representative of the licence fee payer, he said the ideas of the wider public ‘deserve to be considered and reflected’.
His comments will be seen as an attempt to address the long-standing claim that the BBC is guilty of a London-centric, Left-leaning bias which alienates large sections of the public.
On the issue of standards, Lord Patten added it would be an ‘act of treason’ if the BBC reduced quality to chase ratings.
Last night, giving the Royal Television Society’s Fleming Memorial Lecture 2011 — his maiden speech as chairman — Lord Patten also said criticism that the corporation was ‘not impartial’ should ‘keep us on our toes’…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Court: Municipality Failed to Protect Gay Couple
THE HAGUE, 07/07/11 — Utrecht city council did not do enough to track down the perpetrators of systematic violence and intimidation against a gay couple, an appeal court in Arnhem has ruled. The couple will now demand damages. The two men, Hans en Ton, made reports at the police eight times on violence and intimidation by Moroccan youths. They took the city council to court. The appeal court has now ruled that the police under the guidance of Mayor Wolfsen indeed gave too little priority to the reports. The court gives as an example of lax behaviour an incident in which Moroccan youngsters apparently deliberately drove into the men’s car. “They neglected to hear the driver and passenger of the car as suspect or as witness.” Nor was any technical investigation of the vehicles carried out.
Hans and Ton have meanwhile indicated that they will hold the authorities liable for the damages caused to them. The damages consist among other things of the loss they had to accept in the sale of their home. They say they sold this below the market value because they felt forced to move to a safer neighbourhood.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Parliament Backs Female Quotas for Top Corporate Jobs
The European Parliament on Wednesday (6 July) advised EU businesses to hire women in their executive boards by next year or face a mandatory quota of 40 percent modelled on the Norwegian experience. Women should make up 30 percent of top management in the largest listed EU companies by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020, MEPs said in Strasbourg in a non-binding recommendation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Article on Muslim Brotherhood Website: Implement Shari’a in Phases
In a June 11, 2011 article on the website of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, veteran movement member Sheikh Ahmad Gad argued that the implementation of shari’a in Egypt must be achieved gradually, by preparing the peoples’ hearts and minds for it and introducing it in stages. He proposed learning from the methods of the early Muslim Brotherhood, which worked in a step-by-step fashion, and called on Al-Azhar to focus on promoting the implementation of shari’a.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hydrogen Peroxide in Space Suggests Water and Oxygen, Scientists Hope
An international team of scientists, including astronomers from the Max Planck Insitute, have discovered molecules in space that are critical to the creation and sustenance of life on Earth. European scientists have found evidence of molecules of hydrogen peroxide within frozen clouds of gas and cosmic dust 400 light years away. Their results, published in the July issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, highlighted the discovery in a region of our galaxy close to the star called Rho Ophiuchi. The team recorded the characteristic signature of light emitted by hydrogen peroxide coming from part of the extremely cold (-250 degrees Celsius), dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust in which new stars are being born.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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