China on Debt Derating, US to Face Its Problems
(AGI) Beijing- China “now has every right” to request that the US face its debt problems. This is the first official reaction by the Beijing government in response to Standard&Poor’s derating the US debt. The stinging comment was published by the Chinese official agency Xinhua.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EC Urges Italy to Speed Up Reforms
Govt must work with unions and employers for ‘courageous’ action
(ANSA) — Brussels, August 5 — Italy must accelerate reforms aimed at correcting its public finances in order to already feel their effects next year, according to the European Union’s executive commissioner for economic affairs, Olli Rehn.
Speaking at a press conference here Friday, called to address market turbulence which sent markets tumbling the day before, Rehn also said the government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi needed to work with unions and employers “in order to take courageous action without delay”.
The European commissioner’s remarks echoed those made Thursday by European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet who also said that Italy needed to focus more on cutting public spending than on raising taxes.
Italy last month passed a 70-billion-euro austerity budget adjustment which aims at achieving a balanced budget by 2014.
However, the brunt of the measure is set to go into effect in the last year, thus after scheduled general elections.
According to Rehn, it is “very important” that Italy move up welfare reform in order to make public finances more sustainable already in 2012” and that needed reforms to the labor market should include opening professional services to greater competition and thus lower prices.
Turning his attention to the sovereign debt crisis which began in Greece and now risks undermining the credibility of Italy, like Spain and Ireland, to meet debt payments, Rehn said the surge in the cost of these countries’ borrowing costs was “totally unjustified” and did not reflect the true health of their economies.
The commissioner admitted that markets did not react as hoped to the plan the EU adopted last month to deal with the sovereign debt crisis and said it was important that the plan be made operative by September in order to reassure investors.
He also said that EU government should be ready to boost the plan’s bailout fund “to meet needs as they arise”.
According to Rehn, there were no plans nor need to use this fund for either Italy or Spain.
Because the crisis is global, with markets plunging worldwide on Thursday, the commissioner said it was necessary to involve the Group of Seven (G7) most industrial nations and the G20 in finding a solution.
“The current crisis does not just involve Europe but is having repercussions on a global level and for this reason it is important to seek international coordination through the G7 and G20 to respond to it,” he said.
Confirming what Trichet said on Thursday, Rehn said the ECB will do everything it can to ensure stability in the euro area. Following sharp drops in Europe and on Wall Street Thursday and Asia on Friday, the Milan stock market opened on the downturn but then reversed its trend and, after a dip following the latest Italian GDP figures showing a 0.3% rise in the second quarter and 0.8% year-on-year, by the end of the morning’s trading was back in the black.
Milan then went on to lead the market recovery in Europe, where the trend was similar, except in London which continued to see losses.
Helping to push up leading bank and insurance shares, which suffered the most this past week, were positive mid-year balance sheet reports.
Wall Street also rallied, boosted by a better-than-expected report on job creations in July which lowered the unemployment rate.
On the government bond market, where a nation’s borrowing costs are reflected on the spread between its bond’s yield and Germany’s, Italy saw its spread set an all-time record of over 400 points, surpassing even Spain’s.
The situation later improved and Italy’s spread dropped under 400 points to level out at around 380 points.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blacks Attack Whites En Masse at Wisconsin State Fair
… around the closing time of 11 p.m., witnesses told the Journal Sentinel, dozens to hundreds of black youths attacked white people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking and pounding on their vehicles. …
Witnesses … told the Journal Sentinel that the attacks appeared to be unprovoked and racially motivated.
“You could just tell they were after white people. That was the main thing. If you were white, they were coming after you,” said Jon Stikl of Oak Creek.
He said he was stuck in traffic as a group of young people blocked cars near the fair gate on S. 84th St. near I-94 after he picked up family members attending the fair.
“We noticed a group of five to 10 young black males run up and jump a young white male for no other reason then him being white,” Stikl said.
They knocked him to the ground, and then a group of 15 black men kicked and stomped on him, Stikl said.
“My wife’s brother jumped out of the car — his natural reaction was to try to break it up. Before you knew it, five or 10 guys were on him and started punching at him. My wife was able to pull him back in the car. So now they surrounded my car and just started punching through the windows, kicking and shaking the car, screaming racial things.” …
The incidents Thursday night come as the State Fair Board has worked to increase diversity at the annual fair, expanding its entertainment lineup and attempting to appeal to a younger, more multicultural audience. Diversity was a priority for former State Fair Park Chairman Martin Greenberg, who spoke of making it a “place of inclusion, not exclusion.”
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Teenager Pleads Guilty to McDonald’s Beating
A teenager pleaded guilty Thursday in the beating of a transgender woman at a Rosedale McDonald’s, an incident that was caught on video and drew national attention after it went viral online.
Teonna Monae Brown, 19, pleaded guilty in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of first-degree assault and one hate crime count in the April attack on Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, which became a rallying point for transgender-rights advocates across the state and nationwide.
Prosecutors will seek a prison sentence for Brown of 10 years with five years suspended, said Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger. The combined maximum sentence for the crimes is 35 years.
A 14-year-old girl who was charged as a juvenile in the same attack admitted her responsibility to identical counts July 1 in juvenile court and was committed to a juvenile facility, Shellenberger said.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Witnesses Describe Mobs, Some People Claim Racially-Charged Attacks
WEST ALLIS — Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY’S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene.
Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair.
Witnesses’ accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night.
Authorities have not given official estimates of the number of people involved in the attacks.
“It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people,” said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West Allis.
“They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever.”
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Halla-Aho Claims Being Victim of “Witch-Hunt”
True Finns Party MP Jussi Halla-aho says that he feels that a witch-hunt has started against him and free speech after the Norway tragedy. In an interview with AFP, he said that things are completely out of control.
“We have people in political and civil circles who have attacked free speech for years and this has just given them a new stick,” Halla-aho told AFP.
Halla-aho, a prominent immigration critic, was approvingly mentioned by the self-confessed perpetrator of Norway attacks Anders Behring Breivik in his lengthy anti-Muslim manifesto.
Halla-aho specified that Breivik did not cite him directly, but copied a blogger called Fjordman. Nonetheless, he said his opinions had been interpreted accurately. Halla-aho emphasised that he could not control who quoted him and where.
Halla-aho has been convicted of violating the right of peaceful worship after anti-Muslim comments online.
According to a spokesman for the minorities ombudsman, Rainer Hiltunen, web forums with extremist leanings can create the impression that hate speech is acceptable on the internet. Such places gather like-minded people, Hiltunen told AFP, adding:
“It clouds their sense of reality.”
Halla-aho, however, does not feel that this gives grounds for cracking down on extremist forums.
“No doubt the World Trade Centre terrorists were inspired by the Koran and Islamist chat rooms, but no one is trying to ban the Koran or shut down Islamist websites,” he said to AFP.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Zingaretti Criticizes Plans to Move Ministries
(AGI) Rome — The President of the Province of Rome, Nicola Zingaretti, ha issued a statement saying that the idea of moving ministries to the north is ‘delirious and indicates the triumph of selfishness.’ “This dying government has promised to open new ministerial headquarters in Crotone, Naples, Bologna and a myriad of other locations. The idea of moving ministries all over the country is a phenomenon unknown to the rest of the world. Italians are wondering where the Bossi-Berlusconi is going and above all what the cost of this initiative will be since it is only addressed at satisfying local bosses”.
Zingaretti also said that he hopes the current government will bear in mind the comments made a few days ago by the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grape Harvest Off to an Early Start
Hopes high for quality and quantity
(ANSA) — Rome, August 5 — Italy’s grape harvest has begun early due to warmer seasonal temperatures with producers expecting a good season that should reinforce the country’s position as the world’s leading wine producer.
Picking has begun in the northern Franciacorta area near Brescia where the white grapes produce some of Italy’s best sparkling wine, made using the traditional or champenoise method used for French champagne in which the wine is fermented inside the bottle.
Should current weather conditions hold in the next few weeks, the Coldiretti farmers’ association expect the quantity of the grapes produced should allow Italy to make enough wine to remain the top producer.
Last year Italy produced 49.6 million hectolitres of wine, out of a total of 157.2 million for the European Union, compared to 46.2 million hectolitres made in France.
“If the present trend continues, Italy can for the first time expect to see a turnover from wine of eight billion euros, four of which from sales abroad,” Coldiretti said.
Although the harvest came early, “climatic conditions this year were very favorable with a warmer-than-average spring and summer temperatures which were hot in the day and cool at night,” the organisation said.
The wine grape harvest will employ some 1.2 million people in the vineyards, cellars and distribution as well as related services, Coldiretti said.
About 60% of this year’s harvest is expected to be used to make quality wines which should further boost wine exports.
Exports have already jumped 14% for the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2010. Although Italy beat France for the first time last year for the overall amount of wine produced, it had already surpassed France in the production of bulk unbottled wine, much of which was exported to France where it was blended with famous bottled wines like Beaujolais. Italy had also already overtaken France for the production of sparkling wine with 4.2 million hectolitres of prosecco and spumante compared to four million hectolitres of champagne.
The steady rise in Italian wine exports has more than offset a decline in domestic consumption which last year fell for the first time below 20 million hectolitres or 40 litres per capita, a drop of some 30% over 20 year ago.
Exports, on the other hand, rose 50% over the same period, increasing in value from 2.4 billion euros to 3.6 billion euros.
Sector sources said the jump in exports was particularly significant for wines from Italy’s southern regions and was in large part thanks to investment in promotion and marketing.
Wine is a very big business in Italy and is valued at some 13.5 billion euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sex in Car Ruled a Felony
Judge issues 3 month to 3 year sentence
(ANSA) — Rome, August 1 — The Italian supreme court ruled Monday that sex in a car parked in a public place is a felony.
The ruling came in a case involving a couple in the northern town of Biella, in Piedmont, who were surprised by a night patrol who found them “completely naked, one on top of the other,” inside their car parked in the town’s main piazza, according to the report.
The accused asked that the offense be considered a misdemeanor crime for public indecency, but the court was unmoved, confirming an earlier felony ruling.
The couple now awaits a sentence, which ranges from three months to three years in prison
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
London in Flames as Police Cars, Bus and Ships Burn 26 Years After Broadwater Farm… And This Time It’s Spread by Twitter
Police came under attack from petrol bombs hurled by rioting mobs in North London last night as hundreds took to the streets following the shooting of a man by Scotland Yard marksmen.
Patrol cars, a shop and a double-decker bus were set ablaze and there were reports of looting amid scenes reminiscent of the violent unrest in the same area 26 years ago when PC Keith Blakelock was hacked to death.
Last night the Tottenham area erupted once again as more than 100 officers and specialist riot police faced crowds of more than 500 people protesting about the death of Mark Duggan, who lived on the estate and was described last week by police sources as a ‘gangster’.
There was concern that the disturbances were fanned by Twitter, with some of those taking part posting inflammatory comments from the scene and calling for reinforcements.
One picture of a police car on fire in the area was re-tweeted more than 100 times on the social networking site within an hour.
Mr Duggan, 29, was shot by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s CO19 unit on Thursday evening after the minicab he was travelling in was stopped. There was an apparent ‘exchange’ of fire and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio.
Mr Duggan died at the scene and an officer was injured, but left hospital after treatment.
The violence last night started soon after a crowd of about 120 had begun to gather at the High Road, near Tottenham Hotspur’s football ground, from about 5.30pm. Their target was the police station which was being guarded late last night by lines of officers and police vans. As the disorder spread, and the numbers of demonstrators swelled, two police cars being used to block the road were set ablaze by masked youths.
Flames began to billow from a shop and then a double-decker bus was engulfed in flames and quickly reduced to a twisted shell. Witnesses also reported seeing a jewellery shop and a bookmakers being looted. Teenagers and younger children were seen carrying valuables through the shattered glass front of an electrical shop.
Windows were smashed at a Barclays Bank and pictures on Twitter appeared to show the building being looted. There were also reports that youths had stormed McDonald’s and had started frying their own burgers and chips.
Footage was posted on YouTube of local solicitor’s office Attridge on fire.
Resident David Akinsanya, 46, who was on the scene, said: ‘It’s really bad. There are two police cars on fire. I’m feeling unsafe. It looks like it’s going to get very tasty. I saw a guy getting attacked.’
A local woman, who declined to give her name, said: ‘There’s a theory going on that the man who was shot had dropped his gun, but they still shot him. I’m hearing that most of the shops in the High Road are being burgled and robbed.’
Several fire crews could only stand ready nearby as they were barred from the High Road where buildings and the bus were ablaze.
One fireman complained to The Mail on Sunday that earlier, three engines had been dispatched to the scene without being warned they were entering a riot zone. He said: ‘We were sent to a road accident but it was the police cars on fire.
‘We were then ordered to leave them burning and to drive off, probably for our own safety.
‘I cannot believe what we have just driven through. As we pulled out of the station, there was a car on fire on the High Road and there were people in the middle of the road — it was very scary. We didn’t give them a chance to try to stop us. I am still shaking.’
Meanwhile, two Mail on Sunday photographers were viciously beaten and robbed by masked youths armed with crowbars and other makeshift weapons and reporters on the scene were threatened by looters in balaclavas.
The photographers said there was ‘total lawlessness’ in the area with the contents of shops strewn across the streets and the police unable to gain access.
One said: ‘It is utter carnage out there. We have been beaten up quite badly and had about £8,000 of equipment stolen. We were quite discreet but as soon as we got a camera out we were set on by youths with masks who were armed with crowbars.’
In a separate incident, a Mail on Sunday reporter was chased down a side street and struck on the back of the head with a rock.
In a parallel with the 1985 riot, residents claimed the roots of last night’s violence lay in allegations of police harassment.
John Blake, who grew up with Mr Duggan on the Broadwater estate, claimed the dead man had been victimised by police in recent weeks.
He said: ‘I know the police were harassing him. The police were following him. If you’re from Broadwater Farm, police are on you every day, you’re not allowed to come off the estate. If you come off the estate they follow you.’
A family friend of Mr Duggan, who gave her name only as Nikki, 53, said the man’s friends and relatives had organised the protest because ‘something has to be done’ and the marchers wanted ‘justice for the family’.
Some of those involved lay in the road to make their point, she said.
‘They’re making their presence known because people are not happy,’ she added. ‘This guy was not violent. Yes, he was involved in things but he was not an aggressive person. He had never hurt anyone.’
As the rioting escalated, trouble-makers on Twitter seemed keen to orchestrate the violence, bringing scores more people into the area. One user calling himself ‘English Frank’ urged attacks on the police, saying: ‘Everyone up and roll to Tottenham f*** the 50 [police]. I hope 1 dead tonight.’
And in a clear incitement to looting, ‘Sonny Twag’ tweeted: ‘Want to roll Tottenham to loot. I do want a free TV. Who wudn’t.’
‘Mrs Lulu’ tweeted: ‘Brehs [men] asking who’s down to roll [go] Tottenham right now, to get justice. — RIP Mark x.’
A tweet apparently passed on by chart-topping rapper Chipmunk, who comes from Tottenham, paid tribute to the dead man: ‘R.I.P Mark Duggan a real straight up and down respected man. LOVE!!!!!!!!’
Joining in the Twitter frenzy, ‘Ashley AR’ tweeted: ‘I hear Tottenham’s going coco-bananas right now. Watch me roll.’
Officers from Trident, the police unit that deals with gun crime in the black community, had been attempting to arrest Mr Duggan when Thursday’s shooting took place.
‘Shots were fired and a 29-year-old man, who was a passenger in the cab, died at the scene,’ said a spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating. It is believed that two shots were fired by a firearms officer, equipped with a Heckler & Koch MP5 carbine.
Local MP David Lammy called for calm last night. On his website, he said: ‘We already have one grieving family in our community and further violence will not heal that pain.’
Last night, a Scotland Yard spokesman explained how the riot began.
‘Two police cars had parked up at Forster Road/High Road while their officers conducted traffic patrols on foot. At approximately 2020 hours a number of bottles were thrown at these two cars — one was set alight and the second was pushed into the middle of the High Road. It was subsequently set alight.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
One British Tourist Dies in Polar Bear Attack in Norway
(AGI) Oslo — A polar bear attacked a group of young British tourists, killing one 17-year-old and seriously injuring another four, who were camping on the Svalbard Islands in the Norwegian arctic archipelagos.There were fourteen youngsters in the group attacked, aged between 16 and 20. Their camp was near the Van Post glacier, about 40 kilometres from Longyearbyen, the capital of this archipleagos .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Violent Riots Break Out After Tottenham Shooting
Violent riots have broken out in north London following a protest over the fatal shooting of a young father by police.
A crowd of around 300 set fire to buildings, bins and vehicles, as well as throwing missiles and petrol bombs in Tottenham High Road late on Saturday night.
One police officer was taken to hospital, while seven others were injured.
Around 120 people had earlier staged a vigil for shot man Mark Duggan, marching from the local Broadwater Farm area to Tottenham police station.
The 29-year-old father-of-four died at the scene on Thursday.
Violence escalated shortly after dark, when protesters set fire to two police cars and then a double decker bus.
The cars, which were parked around 200 yards from the police station, were set upon shortly after dark.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Missiles were thrown at them. One was set alight and one was pushed into the middle of the High Road.”
A branch of Aldi supermarket was also set on fire, and reports indicated looters had targeted JJB Sports.
The Met have opened their Gold Command Control centre, in south London — normally only used for major incidents, such as the Royal wedding and the student protests.
Sky home affairs correspondent Mark White said: “This is a significant move for the police.
“This control centre is only ever activated for major public order events.
“It has to be a significant event for them to take the decision to move all their commanders down to this control room.
“There is a very real fear tonight that these localised disturbances do have the potential to spill out into other areas.”
Petrol bombs and missiles were also thrown at police, and there are reports of shops being burgled and looted.
Two vans were set alight near a block of residential flats just off the High Road, as the violence appeared to spread away from the initial disturbance.
Sky News were forced to withdraw camera crews from the area as the situation became increasingly volatile in the early hours of the morning.
Local MP David Lammy appealed for calm, saying in a statement on his website: “We already have one grieving family in our community and further violence will not heal that pain.
“True justice can only follow a thorough investigation of the facts.
“The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan’s family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm.”
Local resident David Akinsanya, 46, said several shop windows have been smashed and a second police car was also torched.
“It’s really bad,” he said. “There are two police cars on fire. I’m feeling unsafe. It looks like it’s going to get very nasty. I saw a guy getting attacked.”
A number of residents in the area evacuated their homes.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Spring Turns to ‘Bitter Winter’ For Turkish Contractors
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, AUGUST 1 — The “Arab Spring” has turned into a “bitter winter” for Turkish contractors operating in North Africa and the Middle East, as Anatolia news agency reports. The uprising in Arab countries, especially in Libya, has caused a threat to Turkish construction projects worth billions of U.S. dollars, a report of Turkish Contractors Association showed. Only in Libya, where the uprising turned into a civil war, the size of Turkish projects is estimated at around USD 18 billions. Libyan government owes USD 1.6 billions in progress payments to Turkish companies. The amount of Turkish companies’ cash in Libyan banks is around USD 100 millions. In addition to it, Turkish construction firms left behind a massive equipment pool worth nearly USD 1 billion. There were 139 Turkish construction companies operating in Libya and carrying out a total of 370 projects before the uprising which was sparked after peaceful protests against Muammar Gaddafi regime in February. The report highlighted the need for alternative markets for Turkish companies and also underscored that efforts should be exerted to meet the need for “political risk insurance” as soon as possible. The report said central Africa could be the priority for Turkish companies as an alternative market.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Frattini: Sad to See Mubarak Scorned
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 4 — Egypt has to “show its courage: don’t continue to commit State homicide,” said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini the day after the opening of the trial against former President Hosni Mubarak. Frattini underlined that he felt “great sadness seeing him brought into derision lying on a hospital bed.” The Italian FM pointed out that it is the same person who “has harmed others but who was previously recognised as the champion in the fight against terrorism.” Therefore “the new Egypt must show courage now” and “not impose the sanction Mubarak has imposed and ordered to impose, perpetrating the principle that State homicide is an answer.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunis Enforces Curfew After Clashes Between Sfax Villagers
(AGI) Tunis — The Tunisian government has imposed a night-time curfew in the south-eastern Sfax region in response to clashes.
The incidents refer to violent confrontation between the inhabitants of neighbouring villages Jebeniana and Mesratia.
The clashes are reported to have thus far caused close to forty injured. The flashpoint is reported to have been the Jebeniana bazaar, following an alleged car theft. Rivalling gangs faced each other brandishing knives, swords, clubs and stones; sources also report the presence of firearms.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan President: 31 Americans Killed in Crash
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A helicopter crash in Afghanistan’s eastern Wardak province killed 31 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country’s president said Saturday. It was the highest number of American casualties recorded in a single incident in the decade-long war.
President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to President Barack Obama, according to a statement issued by his office.
“A NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province,” Karzai said in the statement, adding that 31 American special operations troops were killed. “President Karzai expressed his deep condolences because of this incident and expressed his sympathy to Barack Obama.”
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Punjab: Christian Woman Forced to Convert and Marry Her Kidnapper
Mariam Gill was abducted on her way home from the market. Her father and brother filed a complaint with police, which failed to intervene however because her kidnapper is “a respectable Muslim businessman”. A Muslim religious leader says the action was in accordance with Islamic law. Islamabad bishop warns that cases of forced conversion are “rising at an alarming rate”.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — Another young Christian woman in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper. Despite a formal complaint, police did not intervene because the author of the crime is a “respectable businessman”. Local Muslim religious authorities also claim that the woman’s conversion was legal. However, her case however is similar to that of Farah Hatim (see Jibran Khan, “The drama of Farah Hatim, common to many women in Pakistan,” in AsiaNews 25 July 2011) and is indicative of a climate of impunity for people who abuse Christian women. The bishop of Islamabad warns that the “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate”.
Mariam is a young Christian woman from Kahota, a town some 20 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. She was abducted on Wednesday by one Muhammad Junaid, a local Muslim, who forcibly converted her to Islam and married her.
The young woman’s father, Munir Gill, said that Junaid is an “important businessman”. He had “his eyes on my daughter and asked her for marriage.” He complained to the man’s fathers “without results”.
“Mariam went to the market on Wednesday, but never returned,” said her brother Sohail Gill. “We searched for her everywhere. Some people in the market told us that they saw Muhammad Junaid forcefully taking Mariam from the market. We went to the police to register a case, but they delayed the application and showed no interest in the matter.”
Yesterday, a local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “converted Mariam to Islam and celebrated her marriage with Muhammad Junaid”.
“Muhammad Junaid is a respectable Muslim businessman,” said Amir Mirza, a police officer in Kahota. “The young woman converted and married him of ‘her own free will’.
For Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “Muhammad Junaid is a true follower of Prophet Muhammad. He has fulfilled Sharia. Converting a non-Muslim is a pious act. Only a true Muslim can do that.”
Yesterday, Mariam Gill was interrogated by local officials. She told them that she was abducted and forced to convert and that she has no intention of abandoning Christianity.
At the end of the meeting, they decided to return the young woman to her family, urging the two sides to reach an agreement. However, Muhammad Junaid issued threats, saying that if he did not get the young woman back, there would be “terrible consequences” to pay.
Contacted by AsiaNews, the bishop of Islamabad Rufin Anthony described the case as “a dreadful incident”. In his view, “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate. The matter needs to be checked, kidnapping of Christian girls is becoming a common practice in Punjab. Law enforcement agencies need to enforce the law.”
Young Christian women are not alone. Many young Hindu women have been forced to flee across the border into India in the face of government and police indifference.
“It is time to take concrete action to guarantee the safety of minorities in Pakistan,” the prelate said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Beijing “Warns” The Uyghurs It’s Ready to Kill Anyone Who Protests
The Chinese authorities the northern province of Xinjiang post pictures of the last two Uyghurs killed in cold blood a few days ago on its website and warns: “They could be taken alive.” Analysts explained: “A clear message: those who rebel will be shot.”
Urumqi (AsiaNews) — Chinese authorities “are sending a clear message to the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang: those who rebel against the domination of Beijing will be unceremoniously killed”, say a number of analysts the day after the disturbing announcement on the website of the government of the autonomous province of Xinjiang, where the authorities have posted a photograph of two Uyghurs (pictured) murdered in cold blood after a being pursued by police and who “could have been taken alive.”
On August 1, Chinese police gunned down the two Uyghurs, suspected of being involved in the July 31 attack that caused the death of six people in a bar in Kashgar, in cold blood. The two — Memtieli Tiliwaldi (29) and Turson Hasan (34) — were killed in a cornfield and left there. Kashgar’s government had put a bounty of 100 thousand yuan (about 10 thousand euros) for their capture.
Before this latest bloody episode there were other violent events in the city of Hotan and in the provincial capital, Urumqi. Since 1949, the ethnic Uyghur — Turkic speaking Muslims- have been under the heel of the Chinese government which has imposed a series of extreme religious and cultural restrictions on them. Several groups claim independence and call for the restoration of East Turkestan, but the majority of Uyghurs are simply seeking greater autonomy.
In 2009, the region was the scene of violent clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese immigrants. Clashes in the capital Urumqi at the time claimed the lives of more than 200 people. Today, two years later, tensions are soaring once again. According to the Chinese authorities, the Uyghurs carried out a “coordinated terrorist attack” against a police station and officers were forced to respond with force. Instead, for the World Uyghur Congress, the police have “beaten to death” 14 people who were demonstrating peacefully, and then shot 6 other people.
Ilyar Shemseddin, a Uyghur analyst with who live in the U.S., explains: “China, do not view Uyghurs as Chinese citizens and, instead, treat them like “foreign forces to be destroyed. If China really accepted these Uyghurs as Chinese citizens, they would not be killed like dogs in the streets, partly because even the most violent demonstrators were armed at most with knives, while the police have guns and are not afraid to use them. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Shabab Withdraws From Mogadishu
(AGI) Mogadishu — The ‘Shabab’, the extremist Islamic militia fighting to topple Somalia’s pro-West Government, are withdrawing. During the night, they abandoned many of their positions in Mogadishu while the troops of the transitional Government have taken over some of these areas. The news was reported by local sources. On being asked to explain these movements, Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamed Rage mentioned “a change in military tactics”: “We have abandoned Mogadishu, but we are staying in other cities”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
437 Migrants Land in Lampedusa
(AGI) Rome — More migrants arrive in Lampedusa as 437 persons were rescued by the Financial police, the Port Authorities and the Navy from a boat about 30 miles south of the island early this morning. A woman on board had a cut wound. The migrants were disembarked a short while ago.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Italy to Call on NATO to Come to Rescue of Boat People
Rome, 5 Aug. (AKI) — Italy will ask Nato to expand its mission in Libya to include aiding people fleeing the country because of the civil war, the Italian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The Italian coast guard late Thursday came to the aid of a stalled boat transporting around 300 migrants 90 miles from the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. According to reports, Nato ignored Italy’s request that the military alliance rescue the vessel.
Some migrants claims that “dozens and dozens” of people died aboard the boat. The coast guard says it found one body aboard none in the water.
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has asked his country ambassador to Nato to discuss the possibility expansion of the mandate to safeguard the Libyan people…to be also considered the rescue of those who for bellicose reasons are forced to flee in boats putting their personal safety at risk,” the statement said.
“We’re tired of seeing the suffering of thousands of people who continue to arrive here,” said Lampedusa mayor Bernardino De Rubeis on Friday. “But we’re also tired of seeing the deaths of hundreds of refugees.”
The Italian island of Lampedusa — located closer to Tunisia than Italy — has been the primary entry point in Europe for tens of thousands of people arriving aboard boats from Northern Africa since uprisings spread throughout much of the Arab world early this year.
The Italian coast guard on 31 July found the bodies of 25 sub-Saharan African men in the hold of a boat the left Libya with hundreds of migrants aboard. The men may have died of asphyxiation from gas coming from the boat’s motor but police say two bodies show signs of dying succumbing to wounds suffered from a beating.
Nato was the object of widespread criticism in May when the the organisation’s ships reportedly ignored SOS messages from a boat adrift in the Mediterranean with scores of African migrants on board, 61 of whom died of hunger and thirst, including babies.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
TSA Staff at LAX Undergoing Transgender Training
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Transportation Security Administration managers at Los Angeles International Airport are undergoing mandatory sensitivity training after a transgender employee alleged she was ordered to dress like a man, pat down male passengers and use the men’s restroom.
Ashley Yang, 29, who spent two years as a security checkpoint screener at LAX, was fired last summer after co-workers observed her using the women’s room, according to a copy of her termination letter obtained by The Associated Press. She contested the firing, resulting in a settlement that mandated the training.
“Ashley lives her life as a woman. Her co-workers recognized her as a woman. Passengers recognized her as a woman. But her employer didn’t,” said attorney Kristina Wertz of the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center, which helped her file a civil rights complaint. “She was asked to hide who she was just in order to earn a living.”
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
