Central Bank of Tunisia Raises Alarm
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 02 — The risk of the domestic economy worsening, considering that “the room for manoeuvring with the country’s monetary policy has become very limited”, was underlined by the Executive Board of the Tunisian Central Bank, which held an extraordinary meeting. In the midst of “a difficult economic situation, mainly for our main European partners, with negative repercussions on production and exports for the main sectors of the national economy” and pending greater visibility regarding the economic policy plans, it has been confirmed that “ local and foreign investors are still uncertain and hesitant, while numerous economic and financial indicators are worsening”. Therefore it is indispensible “to act wisely and with diligence to assure that government actions and the normal operations of the state and public services begin within the shortest possible timeframe. The goal is to work to re-establish confidence and to stimulate economic activity and employment”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
China: Shanghai: Strike Hits Apple, Motorola and HP Supplier
More than a thousand workers go out on strike for two days to protest layoffs and police violence. They demand respect for workers’ rights and oppose the shift of production to another plant.
Shanghai (AsiaNews) — More than a thousand workers in a Shanghai plant took part in a two-day strike to protest layoffs and police violence against workers that left a number of strikers injured. The plant is owned by a Singaporean company, Hi-P International, which supplies major consumer electronics companies such as Apple and Hewlett-Packard
A drop in demand in Europe and the United States, due to the global crisis, has hit China especially hard. In the “=‘world’s factory’, industrial action is on the rise as workers demonstrate against employers and the government because of corruption, the lack of workers’ rights, downward pressure on wages and rising unemployment.
In Shanghai, workers began their strike on Wednesday. They laid down their tools to protest the company’s decision to move production to another city and lay off about 1,000 workers.
After two days on the picket lines, most workers stopped their labour action because of a violent police crackdown, which included direct charges against the workers.
About 50 diehards remain however. They continue to demand the company provide workers with information about its business plans for the plant and insist on better economic treatment.
“Sometimes, they ask us to work 18 or 19 hours in a day. Sometimes the overtime is even longer than a normal 8-hour work day,” said Tao Yong, a worker in his mid-30s.
China has seen an upsurge in protests in the recent past.
Last month alone, more than 7,000 workers went on strike to protest layoffs and wage cuts in the southern province of Guangdong.
Hundreds more protested in Shenzhen to demand the payment of overtime.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Cannot Rescue Europe With Foreign Reserves: Senior Diplomat
BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) — China cannot use its 3.2 trillion U.S. dollars in foreign exchange reserves to rescue other countries, a senior diplomat said on Friday.
“The argument that China should rescue Europe does not stand, as reserves are not managed that way,” Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying said at the Lanting forum, a gathering of Chinese officials, scholars and social groups held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss international issues and foreign policy.
“China is not absent from international efforts to rescue Europe; it has been a positive and healthy participant,” Fu said.
Since the outbreak of the European financial crisis, China has dispatched more than 30 procurement delegations to Europe, helping to boost imports from the continent, Fu said.
Fu added that there are many misunderstandings about the use of China’s foreign reserves. “Foreign reserves are not domestic income or money that can be disposed of by the premier or finance minister,” she said.
“Foreign reserves are akin to savings, and their liquidity should be ensured,” Fu said.
“Foreign reserves are not revenue and cannot be relocated randomly. Under this circumstance, China should take the prospect of yields into consideration if it invests its foreign reserves,” said Tian Dewen, an analyst at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
However, the outlook for the economic situation in the eurozone is currently uncertain, Tian said.
Fu said China learned a lesson about the importance of foreign reserves during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. ‘ “Reserves cannot be used domestically to alleviate poverty or taken abroad for development support,” she said.
She said that the way in which foreign reserves are managed should be in line with the principles of “safety, liquidity and proper profitability.”…
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Italians ‘Ready to Make Sacrifices for Country’
Family viewed as most important social unit says Censis
(ANSA) — Rome, December 2 — The majority of Italians are ready to make sacrifices for the good of the nation but many say the would do so only under exceptional circumstances, according to a new study from the socio-economic research group Censis.
In its annual social outlook for 2011, Censis found a strong sense of collective responsibility among Italians with 57.3% willing to make further sacrifices in the country’s general interest, although 46% said this would depend on exceptional circumstances.
The study also found that the sense of family was the most common element which united Italians and that the family remained a model of social development and a safety net for society’s shortfalls, although this was beginning to undermine household wealth.
In regard to the country’s GDP, Censis said, household wealth in Italy continues to be among the highest in Europe even though it has fallen in value from 3,042 billion euros in 2006 to 2,722 billion euros in 2009.
According to Censis, one of the greatest challenges facing Italian families in the future will be their ability to care for those members who are no longer self-sufficient. This is because while in 2010 there were some 18.5 family members who were self-sufficient for every one who was not, this ratio is expected to drop to 9.2 potential ‘caregivers’ for every family member over the age of 80.
Another element which united Italians was their strong condemnation of tax evasion. Censis said it was condemned by 81% of the population with 43% believing it was morally unacceptable, because everyone should pay what they owe in full, while another 38% said tax evasion hurt honest citizens.
In its latest outlook on society, Censis found that 46% of citizens identified themselves as ‘Italians’, while 31.3% were more locally orientated, 15.4% considered themselves ‘citizens of the world’ or as ‘Europeans’ and 7.3% felt allegiance only to themselves.
Other values shared by the majority of Italians were morality and honesty, for 55.5%, and respect for others, 53.5%, while 25% of Italians said they shared with their co-citizens the importance of enjoying the good things in life and 21.5% saw religion as a unifying factor.
Censis’ 45th annual report also found that close to 80% of Italians appear unwilling to buy into an additional, private pension plan, either because they could not afford them or knew too little about them or, especially among those under the age of 40, they felt they did not need them.
Almost one out of three Italians believe the national health service as gotten worse over the past two years with 35% of the population blaming political interference for this.
A majority of Italians and small businesses agree that budget-related spending cuts have led to an overall decline in the quality of public services, especially local public transportation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Young People Hit Hard by Crisis
Over one million have lost their jobs since 2007
(ANSA) — Rome, December 2 — Young people in Italy have been among the hardest hit by the recent economic crisis with 980,000 losing their jobs between 2007 and 2010 out of a total of just over 1.16 million job losses for the period, according to a new study.
In its 45th annual report on Italian society, the socio-economic research group Censis added, however, that the generation of people under the age of 30 was in part to blame for their condition because they appeared to be incapable or unwilling to adapt or react.
According to Censis, the percentage of young people who choose to stay out of the work force or not seek further training or education is significantly higher than that of the European Union. An average of 11.2% of young Italians between the ages of 15 and 24 are not interested in seeking work or studying, a percentage which jumps to 16.7% for those between 25 and 29.
In the EU the percentage of young people between 15 and 24 who neither work nor study is 3.4%, while for those in the second age group it is 8.5%.
Censis also found that the percentage of young people who work in Italy is particularly low, 20.5% for Italians between 15 and 24, compared to an EU average of 34.1% , and 58.8% for those between 25 and 29, as opposed to the EU average of 72.2%.
Not only are young Italians less inclined to work or study than their EU counterparts, but they are also less willing to go and try another EU country, an option considered by only 40.9% of the Italians interviewed by Censis.
Elsewhere in its annual outlook, Censis found that while official employment in Italy appears stalled, a growing number of Italians were ready to work off the books. Since 2008, Censis found, employment in Italy has declined by 4.1%, while the undeclared labor force has risen by 0.6% and in 2010 represented 12.3% of the working population.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Property Market Down 3.2%, Mortgages Off 8.1%
Inversion of trend sign of slowing economy
(ANSA) — Rome, December 2 — The Italian property market contracted by 3.2% in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010, Istat said Friday.
The number of mortgages plunged 8.1%, the statistics agency said, bucking a growth trend that had lasted up to the first quarter of this year.
The turnaround was the latest sign that the Italian economy is slumping, experts said.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says Italy will go into recession next year, dipping by 0.5%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Monti Government Wants to Introduce ‘Minimum Income’
Move would be big change for Italian social security system
(see related story on government reforms) (ANSA) — Rome, December 1 — New Premier Mario Monti’s emergency government wants to introduce a “minimum income” to help Italy’s poorest families, Welfare Minister Elsa Fornero said Thursday.
If it comes to fruition, the move would be a big change for Italy’s social security system. At the moment people without jobs who have never worked have no right to income support benefits in Italy and neither do people whose salaries are very low.
“A guaranteed minimum income is one of the directions the government is working towards,” Fornero said.
Former European commissioner Monti took over the helm of government as the head of a team of non-political technocrat ministers after Silvio Berlusconi resigned as premier last month, with Italy’s debt crisis threatening to spiral out of control.
Monti has said his administration’s measures to restore investor confidence by slashing Italy’s huge debt and boosting economic growth will be guided by “social fairness”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Blue Chip CEOs Say it is One Minute to Midnight for the Euro
Chief executives from five of the Netherlands biggest firms have written an open letter in the Financieele Dagblad urging immediate action to solve the euro crisis.
‘It is one minute to midnight and therefore of greatest importance that there is a decisive approach to the euro crisis in the short term,’ the letter signed by Frans van Houten (Philips), Paul Polman (Unilever), Peter Voser (Shell), Hans Wijers (AkzoNobel) and Feike Sijbesma (DSM), said.
‘This is the best way to restore trust in a strong and united Europe. We have to focus on measures to make the Netherlands and Europe more competitive on the world market,’ the letter says. ‘This does not mean retreating behind the dykes. Looking further beyond borders is the only solution.’
International
The letter says this last point is crucial given the enormous shift in economic power that is taking place in terms of developing economies. ‘These newcomers are often cheaper, faster and sometimes more innovative,’ the letter states.
The business leaders point out that the Netherlands is traditionally an internationally-orientated country with a healthy economy.
‘As part of Europe, we are part of one of the most important power blocks in the global economy, and we and our European partners have influence,’ the letter said.
The answer is lies not in protectionism and nationalism ‘because that will not make our country better or more prosperous, rather the opposite’, the business leaders said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Time of Reckoning for the Euro Zone
(Reuters) — Failure by European leaders at their summit this week to fix the fatal flaw in the euro zone, its lack of political union, would risk tremendous market upheaval, a rupture of the common currency and global economic fallout.
The world economy already is slowing, leaving it increasingly vulnerable to shocks reverberating from Europe. China cut reserve requirements for banks last week for the first time in three years and its factory sector shrank to levels not seen since February 2009. Brazil also lowered rates for the third time since August.
Only the United States has enjoyed a steady stream of improving data. The unemployment level dropped to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest level in 2-1/2 years, factories expanded and retail spending accelerated, pointing to a slow and gradual pick-up in growth.
But Europe casts a pall over everything. So serious are the risks that it could disrupt three years of painful global economic recovery that politicians, central bankers and market strategists are starting to compare the danger of European leaders deadlocking to the collapse of Lehman Bros in September 2008.
That shock plunged the world into its deepest recession since the 1930s.
“Let us not hide it: Europe may be swept away by the crisis if it doesn’t get a grip, if it doesn’t change,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warned of a “systemic crisis,” adding that “none of us really know” how the euro zone would survive if the crisis explodes into sovereign default.
“This is Lehmans, Take Two. Cubed,” said Kathleen Gaffney of Loomis Sayles, a part of Natixis Asset Management.
Leaders got a peak into the abyss when credit lines froze over the last 10 days after Germany failed in late November to sell all its bonds and yields jumped, not only for heavily indebted Italy and Spain, but also for countries at the very heart of the euro project — France and Germany.
It took five major central banks cutting interest rates on currency lines last Wednesday and extending those lines to restore a measure of calm to financial markets.
But the uneasy peace will not last unless Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who meet on Monday to discuss changes to the EU Treaty, can finalize a fiscal deal that imposes tough budgetary rules on the 17 euro-zone members and then convince all 27 EU leaders on Friday to back the plan.
Their summits are littered with a history of half-baked solutions and broken promises. Few have illusions that this one will produce a definitive solution to the euro crisis…
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Protesters Arrested After Building Erected in DC
WASHINGTON—U.S. Park Police are arresting Occupy D.C. protesters who are refusing to dismantle an unfinished wooden structure erected in a D.C. park overnight.
Protesters began constructing the wooden building Saturday, but on Sunday police told them they’d need a permit for such a structure and gave them an hour to disassemble it.
When the protesters failed to comply, officers on horseback moved in. Officers removed several protesters from the structure and arrested them, then started breaking down the structure.
Legba Carrefour, a participant in the Occupy D.C. protest, says 12 to 20 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon and several protesters remained on the structure in a standoff with officers. Police could not be reached for an official arrest count.
Police have closed off some of the surrounding streets.
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Questions Swirl Around $6 Billion Nuclear Lab
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — At Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists and engineers refer to their planned new $6 billion nuclear lab by its clunky acronym, CMRR, short for Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility. But as a work in progress for three decades and with hundreds of millions of dollars already spent, nomenclature is among the minor issues.
Questions continue to swirl about exactly what kind of nuclear and plutonium research will be done there, whether the lab is really necessary, and — perhaps most important — will it be safe, or could it become New Mexico’s equivalent of Japan’s Fukushima?
As federal officials prepare the final design plans for the controversial and very expensive lab, increased scrutiny is being placed on what in recent years has been discovered to be a greater potential for a major earthquake along the fault lines that have carved out the stunning gorges, canyons and valleys that surround the nation’s premier nuclear weapons facility in northern New Mexico.
Final preparations for the lab — whose the high-end price tag estimate of $5.8 billion is almost $1 billion more than New Mexico’s annual state budget and more than double the lab’s annual budget — also comes as a cash-strapped Congress looks to trim defense spending and cut cleanup budgets at contaminated facilities like Los Alamos. It also comes as the inspector general recommends that the federal government consider consolidating its far-flung network of research labs.
Despite the uncertainty, the National Nuclear Safety Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy that oversees the nation’s nuclear labs, is moving forward on final designs for the lab. Project director Herman Le-Doux says it has been redesigned with input from the nation’s leading seismic experts, and the NNSA has “gone to great extremes” to ensure the planned building could withstand an earthquake of up to 7.3 magnitude.
Most seismic experts agree that would be a worst-case scenario for the area. But many people who live near the lab — and have seen it twice threatened by massive wildfires in 10 years — see no reason for taking the chance.
“The Department of Energy has learned nothing from the Fukushima disaster,” said David McCoy, director of the environmental and nuclear watchdog group Citizens Action New Mexico, at a recent oversight hearing. That’s become a common refrain since last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a meltdown at one of its nuclear plants. “The major lesson of Fukushima is ignored by NNSA: Don’t build dangerous facilities in unsafe natural settings.”
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Secretary of Defense Panetta Shows How the Obama Administration is Selling Out Israel and US Interests
By Barry Rubin
In a major address on U S. Middle East policy to the Brookings Institution U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave us a clear picture of the Obama Administration’s view of the region. When taken along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent speech on the same subject, we now know the following regarding Obama’s policy:
It is dangerously and absurdly wrong. This administration totally and completely, dangerously and disastrously for U..S. interests misunderstand the Middle East. They are 180 degrees off course, that is heading in the opposite direction of safety.
Despite the satisfactory state of relations on a purely military level, the Obama Administration is not a friend of Israel, even to the extent that it was arguably so in the first two years of this presidency.
It is now an enemy; it is on the other side. Again, the issue is not mainly bilateral relations but the administration’s help and encouragement to those forces that are Israel’s biggest enemies, that want to rekindle war, and that are 100 percent against a two-state solution. And I don’t mean the Palestinian Authority, I mean the Islamists.
And the Obama Administration is also a strategic enemy of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, and Jordan. It is also a strategic enemy to the democratic opposition forces in Iran, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt.
Having analyzed and studied the Middle East for almost four decades I say none of this lightly. And these conclusions arise simply from watching what the administration says and does.
In his speech, Panetta has bashed Israel based on a ridiculously false premise. Here it is:…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Attack on Jewish Teen at Winnipeg High School ‘Shocking’
WINNIPEG — A police probe is underway into an incident at a Winnipeg high school involving a student with Nazi links who reportedly used a lighter to burn the hair of a Jewish student. The altercation in a hallway at Oak Park High School last month apparently also saw the 15-year-old boy make anti-Semitic slurs toward the 15-year-old girl.
“There was definitely some racial comments made and some physical aggression occurred,” said Lawrence Lussier, superintendent of Pembina Trails School Division.
Lussier said the “ends of (the girl’s) hair were singed” by a lighter.
The school became aware of the incident when the girl told a counsellor what happened three days later, said Lussier.
A spokesman for the Winnipeg Police Service said Friday officers were in the midst of an investigation and had no comment.
Lussier said the male student involved in the incident was immediately suspended and has withdrawn from the school while the girl continues to attend the high school.
“It’s pretty shocking for us that this particular event and the nature of this event happened,” said Lussier.
“We are still working with the school principal on educational efforts that will promote respect and acceptance and hopefully prevent any future action like this. This is not something that happens regularly.
“It happened and we can’t deny that, of course, but it is something that we actively work against and we will continue to make every educational effort we can to diminish or eliminate any future activity like that.”
A justice source said no charges have been laid, but the Crown is also looking at what kind of charge might be most appropriate. The source told the Winnipeg Free Press the file is being reviewed by senior members of the Crown attorney’s office because of the rarity of the allegations. The source described the accused as having alleged Nazi and skinhead links, but said authorizing a specific hate-crime charge may be difficult.
“That would likely be used as an aggravating factor at sentencing, however,” the source said.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Charleswood High School Student Accused of Racial Attack
People in the quiet community of Charleswood say they are disturbed by an alleged racially-driven attack at a local high school.
A student is facing charges after he used anti-Semitic slurs against a Jewish girl and then lit her hair on fire.
“When you add that there were racist overtones in the confrontation, it’s got to be a very significant incident,” explained Winnipeg police Constable Rob Carver.
Students attending Oak Park High School are shocked by the incident, “It’s crazy, Oak Park is supposed to be a nice school,” said Justin Thompson.
Officials say a 15-year-old boy singed the girl’s hair using a lighter in a hallway after school on Nov. 18. They say the victim told a school counselor about the incident three days later. And they say other students may have been involved.
“There’s an ongoing investigation to determine if any other students should be disciplined,” said Lawrence Lussier the Superintendant for Pembina Trails School Division.
Police say a charge of assault with a weapon will be laid against the 15-year-old suspect. Police say he was arrested and released on a promise to appear in court at a later date and further charges could be pending.
Lussier says the boy was suspended immediately. “Shortly thereafter, his legal guardian decided to withdraw him from the school,” he said.
Police and school officials say the victim was not hurt in the attack and she has returned to school.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
EU Extends Deadline to Resolve Naples Trash Fiasco
‘Colossal fine to pay if we don’t intervene’ says Clini
(ANSA) — Rome, December 2 — The European Union on Friday granted Italy’s request for a deadline extension to resolve the Naples trash crisis or face possible sanctions at the European Court of Justice. “They gave Naples a two-month extension,” said Minister for the Environment Corrado Clini. “The time we have to convincingly intervene is very tight. Otherwise there will be a colossal fine that we will all have to pay”. The original deadline, which expired Wednesday, was issued late September when firefighters were called to put out 13 rubbish fires in and around Naples.
Last year the European Court of Justice condemned Italy for its failure to adopt adequate measures to deal with the recurring trash disaster in the southern region of Campania, of which Naples is the capital.
If Italy is condemned for a second time, penalties would be applied to past and future infractions, at a “very high cost” compared to Italy’s GDP, said Joe Hennon, spokesman for European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik.
“But we have not yet reached that point”, he added.
The Naples trash problem is prone to constant flareups.
This summer thousands of tonnes of trash covered the city’s streets and the surrounding provinces, leading to routine waste fires and street protests from citizens.
There was a previous outcry last November when weeks of clashes and rising piles of rubbish brought then Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi to the city.
The ex-premier won plaudits by sorting out a similar emergency in 2008 and made a vow to clear the streets in three days.
But the problems have continued because of technical failures in local incinerators and the lack of investment in other landfill sites.
The issue is further complicated by the role of the local mafia, or Camorra, and claims that they have infiltrated waste management in Naples and dumped toxic waste on sites near residential areas.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Investigator Calls Ruby ‘Professional’ Prostitute
‘Two other escorts attended Berlusconi’s parties’
(ANSA) — Milan, December 2 — A police investigator testified Friday that the woman suspected of soliciting underage sex to former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi was a known prostitute at the time of the accusations. Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan runaway and belly dancer also known as Ruby, was “professionally” active in prostitution, according to Investigator Marco Ciacci. Among the 33 young women who attended the parties, he also said two others were professional prostitutes, yet neither of them were under the legal age of consent at the time.
At the same trial prosecutors revealed racy photographs of Mahroug donning leather bondage outfits during a performance at a gentleman’s club in Genoa, images they argued showed “behavioral practices” that were compatible with “prostitution contexts”.
If found guilty, Berlusconi faces a total of 15 years in prison: 3 for paying for underage sex and 12 for abuse of power when he phoned a Milan police station where Ruby had been detained on an unrelated theft allegation. The ex-premier says he believed Ruby, then 17, was the niece of then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and he was hoping to avoid a diplomatic incident with Egypt.
In three ongoing trials and many previous cases, Berlusconi has always denied wrongdoing, claiming he is the victim of a minority group of allegedly left-wing prosecutors and judges who he says are persecuting him for political reasons.
In more than a dozen cases, the ex-premier has never received a definitive conviction, sometimes because of law changes passed by his governments, while some other charges were timed out by the statute of limitations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Electoral-Law Referendum Gets First Green Light
Petition ratified to change ‘crap’ law
(ANSA) — Rome, December 2 — A referendum aimed at changing Italy’s contentious electoral law got the green light from a top court Friday.
The supreme Court of Cassation, which regulates such issues, verified that the required half a million signatures had been collected to abrogate parts of the existing law.
The current law has been widely criticised for its potential to set up different majorities in the House and the Senate.
It has also been seen as distancing politicians from voters, who effectively cannot pick their representatives.
The law gives the leaders of each faction the power to name candidates on so-called ‘blocked lists’, which are then voted on.
Candidates do not campaign to really represent constituencies but only to get high enough on the lists to be elected.
The law has earned derision from many experts and even its author, Northern League heavyweight Roberto Calderoli, famously admitted soon after he conceived it in late 2005 that it was “a piece of crap”. The law was pushed through parliament by Silvio Berlusconi’s government just in time for the April 2006 elections.
Berlusconi made a late surge in the campaign and his centre-left opponent Romano Prodi won by a much narrower margin than had been expected.
Because of the mechanisms in the law, he benefited from a ‘majority prize’ of extra seats in the House but just squeezed home in the Senate, where his tiny edge crumbled less than two years later.
Italy’s new government, under former European Union commissioner Mario Monti, has indicated that electoral reform, though high on the agenda of many parties, must be put on the back-burner because of the eurozone debt crisis.
The centre left wants to frame a new law before the next scheduled elections in 2013 to make politicians more accountable and try to ensure a fair fight in both houses.
Legislative changes, if accomplished, would pre-empt the referendum, which still has to be given the final go-ahead by the Constitutional Court. A previous referendum to reform the law failed to gain a quorum in 2009, although it would have been successful if more than 50% of eligible voters had taken part in the ballot.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Appeal for Calm as Vigil for One-Month-Old Baby With Every Rib Broken Turns Ugly
Police were last night forced to subdue a 100-strong angry mob who had gathered on a street where a one-month-old baby boy was allegedly raped and battered so badly his heart stopped.
The infant remained in a serious condition today after allegedly suffering multiple horrific injuries in Gravesend, Kent, in one of Britain’s worst cases of child abuse.
The boy’s horrendous injuries are said to include a broken arm, broken collarbone, punctured lungs and severe bruising, as well as having all his ribs fractured.
He also reportedly suffered sexual injury and internal wounds, suggesting rape.
A group which initially gathered outside the house where the attack allegedly took place started a candlelit vigil, which soon led to damage as emotions ran high.
A man aged 35 and a woman aged 33 were arrested and released on police bail.
One of those involved in the vigil said they had gone to a house where they believed a man arrested in connection with the incident was staying with his family after he was released on police bail.
Those taking part said the group marched round to the house where it is thought the man arrested lived, before objects were thrown at the property and a car on the driveway damaged.
The little boy is currently on life support in hospital after suffering a heart attack.
He was last night said to be ‘showing signs of improvement’ after being transfered to a London hospital, but is not being named.
One woman who took part in the vigil said: ‘We lit candles and were saying prayers but then someone shouted ‘let’s go and find the b******s who did this.
‘They then stormed round to this other house in a nearby street and started throwing things at the house and damaging a car parked in the driveway.
‘The police have been there trying to bring it under control but people are very angry and feelings are running high.
Kent Police today appealed for calm after the group of over 100 gathered for the vigil.
Superintendent Stuart Kehily said it had been a ‘highly-charged situation’ and community tension was running high.
He appealed for people not to seek retribution while police enquiries continued.
He said: ‘Kent Police takes all reports involving injuries to children extremely seriously, and specially trained officers are currently carrying out a number of enquires to establish the circumstances in this case.
‘I can understand the anger incidents like this can cause in the community, but I strongly warn people against jumping to early conclusions and seeking some form of retribution.
‘Once again I would urge people to remain calm and to let my officers carry out their investigation.’
| — Hat tip: PS | [Return to headlines] |
WWII Bomb Prompts Mass Evacuation of German City
TONY EASTLEY: Seventy years ago allied bombers swarmed over industrial targets along the Rhine Valley; now a little bit of the war has returned to one German city, forcing nearly 50,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
Two large unexploded bombs were found in the river in the city of Koblenz in western Germany.
Europe correspondent Emma Alberici reports.
EMMA ALBERICI: Around one in 10 bombs dropped in Germany during World War II didn’t detonate.
Drought conditions in Germany’s western city of Koblenz saw water levels drop and reveal the biggest bombs found since 1945.
One of them — a British device weighing 1.8 tonnes, the other was a 125 kilogram American bomb.
Three bomb disposal experts led by Marco Ofenstein were brought in to make the area safe.
MARCO OFENSTEIN (translated): We have a British detonator, which was surrounded by water for a long time and the explosives within the detonator react with water over the time, which causes a high risk when the detonator is being removed.
EMMA ALBERICI: About 50,000 people were evacuated — everyone within a two kilometre radius of the site forced to leave their homes, two hospitals and seven nursing homes. Two hundred inmates from the local prison were also taken away…
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Tunisia: Medenine: Libyans Attacks and Cars Burned
( ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 02 — The tensions felt these days along the border between Tunisia and Libya, where the Ras Jedir border crossing was closed, last night resulted in violence against Libyan citizens at Me’denine and two cars burned. Local sources report that the violence was triggered by rumours, which later turned out to be untrue, that a Tunisian boy had been hit by one of the cars that were later burned. The police have ended the violence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
First Guide to ‘Palestine on Both Sides of the Wall’
Released in UK/USA, for people wanting to see beyond stereotypes
By Elisa Pinna
(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 2 — One of the ‘must-dos’ for tourists wanting to travel in the Palestinian State is to sip a coffee while chewing on a kanafeh (an Arab cake) at a table of the Al Aqsa Bakery in the old town of Nablus, as a part of a wander around all those dark little streets with their little niche shrines and hammamat. The tips and itineraries are part of the first guide book dedicated entirely to a country still seeking international recognition. Few people know it, but there are a number of five-star hotels in the Palestinian Territories, and even an Oktoberfest (beer festival) in the village of Taybeh.
“Palestine on both sides of the wall” is hitting bookshops in the UK and the United States, published by Bradt and Globe Pequot respectively, and is dedicated to “independent travelers who want to see beyond the the conflict-focused reporting of the area and religious and ethnic stereotypes”.
The book’s author, Sarah Irving, was keen write about the Palestinian communities living in Israel because “it is important to highlight their continued presence and their cultural resilience within the State of Israel,” she said in an interview with the Palestinian news agency Ma’an. In Irving’s view, “these communities and their culture are often side-lined or represented as marginal, dangerous and unattractive by many conventional guidebooks to Israel”…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bahrain: Blast on Parked Bus Near British Embassy
No reports of serious damage or injuries
Bahrain’s interior ministry says a blast occurred inside a minibus parked near the British Embassy, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries.
A brief statement posted by the ministry says the explosion occurred in a public parking area near the British diplomatic compound in the capital Manama. Investigators sealed off the area.
Security has been boosted sharply across Bahrain during annual Shiite religious ceremonies.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Amnesty Denounces Repression of Dissent
(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 1 — Saudi Arabia “represses protests in the name of security”, according to an Amnesty International report which stigmatises Riyadh for the “arbitrary detentions” and “torture” suffered by some protestors since March. Amnesty says that the new anti-terrorism law “will threaten freedom of expression”.
“Dissenters,” reads the report, “are arrested and imprisoned, and women suffer severe discrimination.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Start of Year to See Test Run for ‘Muslim Facebook’
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 2 — The start of next year will see the first test runs of SalamWorld.com, the so-called “Muslim Facebook”, which is being set up in Istanbul and aims to draw in 50 million users over three years.
The target is a revised one and emerged during a presentation held today in Istanbul, where a previous figure of 100 million users — leaked two weeks ago — was halved. There was, however, confirmation that the social network dedicated to Muslims, “SalamWorld” (could be translated as “Hi, World”) will aim to spread Islamic values among the young and will aim to avoid deviant input thanks to an “ample team” of “moderators”.
Alongside these and added filters, it is hoped that users will also exercise self-discipline. According to the deputy chair of the promoting company, Dagestan-born Russian Akhmed Azimov, the main aim will be to promote awareness of the values sacred to Islam.
It was revealed last month that the platform’s motto will be “no politics, no bans, no limits” and that apart from young Muslims, the network will be aiming to involve leading intellectuals and non-Muslims who are curious to learn more about the faith.
In practical terms, Salamworld will offer consultation about various Islam-related issues such as theology and the family.
Also planned is online teaching and applications enabling you to find a mosque or your nearest Halal shop.
As was stressed during today’s presentation, the developers are attempting to create “an online encyclopaedia, a kind of Moslem Wikipedia”. Presently, they are busy gathering “vast resources” of Islamic texts and documents to put online so that they can be accessed from the site.
The amount of the investment made by the group of Muslim businesspersons behind the project has not been revealed, but it would appear to be a huge amount as the entrepreneurs concerned are defined as “important”, and from the fact that their deputy chair, Mr Azimov, today declared that: “we have the money: there are no problems from that point of view”. Today’s presentation indeed took place in the company’s Istanbul headquarters amid what could be described as sumptuous surroundings.
As well as the central offices in Istanbul, the social network will also have ‘antennae’ in Moscow and Cairo, with “coordinators” in 30 countries. There would appear to be further offices in Dubai, London and New York, at least, this was revealed last month when it was also revealed that one hundred thousand people are already waiting for their chance to enrol on the network, which will be available in 15 languages.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Iran’s Khamenei Issues Fatwa to Buy Syrian Goods
Tehran, 2 Dec. (AKI) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslims to purchase Syrian products as a way to lend support amid an embargo imposed by members of the Arab League, and other countries, according to former Iranian ambassador to Turkey Nidal Qabalan.
“After his fatwa Iran is buying all Syrian productions without exception,” he says in a message posted on his Facebook page.
The United Nations on Thursday says the uprising in Syria has become a civil war and has caused 4,000 deaths since anti-government protests started in March.
A news report on Thursday by Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah said dozens of officials from North Korea and Iran have conducted meetings with representatives of the Syrian government in Damascus to help president Bashar al-Assad obtain weapons following the implementation of sanctions by members of the Arab League and other countries.
The meetings have been taking place in recent days, and were attended by experts in the production of rockets, according to Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah, citing unnamed intelligence sources.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Citizenship to Children of Women Married to Foreigners
Gender equality progress sparks debate in Qatar
(ANSAmed) — DOHA — Progress has been made in the field of equal rights for men and women in the United Arab Emirates. From now on, the children of female citizens of the UAE married to foreigners will be able to acquire their mothers’ nationality, due to a law recently approved by the federation.
According to the new law, at age 18 the children of an UAE mother and a foreign father can request their mother’s nationality as well as enjoy the same rights of UAE citizens even before reaching the required age for the official request.
So reports The Peninsula, a daily paper in Qatar, where this equal right has not yet been recognised but on which a wide-ranging debate has begun. “I would like all Gulf countries, including Qatar, to establish a law like that of the UAE,” said Moza Al Malki, Qatari psychologist cited by the newspaper. The extension to mothers of the right to hand down their nationality to their children, as well as giving more rights to women, makes it possible to increase the number of citizens of the countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), who are still a minority compared with the foreign community. In Qatar, for example, Qatar nationals total only 20% of the overall population, compared with 80% of foreigners without the chance for naturalisation. According to Sheikha Al Jefairi, the sole female member of Qatar’s Central Municipal Council, the country has a law which recognises the same rights to the children of Qatari women married to foreigners, but not the right to hold a Qatari passport. But however close the Qatari law comes to that of the UAE, it is not applied. “I urge the authorities appointed by the Emit to take measures on the issue, ensuring that this law is enforced and that it has immediate binding effects,” said Al Jefairi. Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee has also taken a position on the issue and is putting pressure on the government.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Communists Win Support as Putin Party Fades
(Reuters) — Just 20 years ago, they seemed consigned to the dustbin of history. At Sunday’s parliamentary polls, Russia’s communists drew students, intellectuals, even some businessmen in forging an opposition to Vladimir Putin’s wounded United Russia party.
The Communist Party (CPRF) for most Russians evokes images of bemedaled war veterans and the elderly poor deprived of pensions and left behind in a “New Russia” of glitzy indulgence. Large swathes of society have appeared beyond the reach of the red flag and hammer and sickle.
Until Sunday.
Not that the Communist Party’s doubling of its vote to about 20 percent presages any imminent assault on power. The memories of repression in the old communist Soviet Union, the labor camps and the “Red Terror” are still too fresh for many. But vote they did, if perhaps with gritted teeth.
“With sadness I remember how I passionately vowed to my grandfather I would never vote for the Communists,” Yulia Serpikova, 27, a freelance location manager in the film industry, told Reuters. “It’s sad that with the ballot in hand I had to tick the box for them to vote against it all.”
For many Russians disillusioned by rampant corruption and a widening gap between rich and poor, the communists represented the only credible opposition to Putin’s United Russia.
Through all the turmoil of the early 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed, the party retained a strong national organization based on regions and workplace.
With access to official media limited for the opposition, this has been a huge advantage.
“The Communists are the only real party out there,” said one Western banker in Moscow. “United Russia is a joke, Just Russia is a joke and the LDPR is a joke and many people know it. So they vote communist because they realize it is a real vote for the opposition and against United Russia.
“This is as ironic as you get.”
ANGER AT THE RULING PARTY
United Russia was founded largely as a vehicle for Putin, whose authority suffered a blow with the party’s fall in support from 64 percent in 2007 around 50 percent, according to exit polls and early official results.
The nationalist LDPR is built around one man, the colorful and somewhat eccentric Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Other parties lack national structure.
“United Russia has angered everybody, so people are looking for an alternative,” said Alexander Kurov, 19, one of a long line of students in slippers and T-shirts queuing to vote inside the marble halls of Moscow’s mammoth Soviet-built state university dormitory.
“I don’t particularly like the communists but there is no one else (to vote for) and I don’t want my vote to be stolen,” Kurov, a student of physics, told Reuters…
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Pakistan: Islamabad: A Pre-Christmas Party for Children of the “Christian Ghetto”
The Masihi Foundation has organized a day of prayer and fun, with games and candy. There is also a Muslim human rights activist, who calls for greater “integration” of minorities in the Pakistani community. Catholic priest emphasizes the importance of education as a means of social redemption.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — The Christian children of the “French colony” in Islamabad — a kind of ghetto where religious minorities live in conditions of marginalization and poverty — were treated to a small taste of Christmas. Yesterday, the Masihi Foundation organized a party for delivery of gifts to students who attend the local school, along with moments of fun and games, which was also attended by a Muslim human rights activist, who distributed sweets to those present . The educational institution run by the Pakistani Foundation that is fighting for the rights of minorities, which opened earlier this year by the bishop of the capital, is home to many children of the ghetto and is an element of hope and of social redemption for many Christian families who want a better future for children.
Late yesterday afternoon the children of the community, dressed to the nines and accompanied by their parents, gathered at the school at the centre of the “French colony” to participate in this special celebration of “Christmas.” Fr. Anwar Patras led the opening prayer and, referring to the school opened in the “ghetto”, spoke of the fundamental importance of education for social redemption. “No human being — said the priest — can survive without education”, which is a “primary good” such as food, clothing and shelter. Because the school is not only a place where for study and learning, but it is also a place to “meet and interact with friends and teachers.” He concluded: “Education will prepare you for a wise leadership”, hoping for a better future for new generations of Christians in Pakistan.
The inhabitants of the “French colony” work in menial and poorly paid positions, at least those who have a job. Among these, the majority are employed by the municipal district of the capital, Islamabad, for low grade jobs. Such as Gulfam Masih, employed to clean the streets, who confides to AsiaNews, he does not want his children to have to put up with a job like his and thanks God “for the opportunities they have to study.” The father is happy to participate with his son in the “pre-Christmas” celebration and confirms that the children “can not wait” for the holiday. Alishba John, a child who is studying in a Christian school, adds that “the best things are the gifts, new clothes, meeting friends and playing together.”
Muslim leader and human rights activist in Islamabad, Naveen Khan, also attended the celebration distributing Christmas sweets to the children along with Father Patras. “I follow closely the persecution of minorities in Pakistan — the Muslim activist tells AsiaNews — and I’m delighted to be here among children that are treated as untouchables.” These people, he adds, are human beings even though they are persecuted or marginalized from the rest of the community. “I will spend Christmas with these children — he concludes — and tell the world that they are people of peace, who want to be an integral part of society.”
With 1.6 per cent of the population and some 3 million believers, Pakistan’s Christian minority is the country’s second largest religious minority after Hindus. For a long time, it has been the victim of marginalisation and violence, made worse by the progressive Islamisation of the country launched by General Zia-ul-Haq in the mid-1980s.Most Christians are rural migrants. When they arrive in the cities, they are forced to live in so-called colonies, virtual ghettoes, and take humble jobs as cleaners and sanitation workers with a status comparable to that of India’s untouchables.
The France Colony (pictured) is in the heart of Pakistan’s Federal Capital of Islamabad. It gets its name from the fact that the old French Embassy was located in the area. It has 600 dwellings, surrounded by a wall. Access is provided by one main entrance, plus three or four rarely used openings, on the other side of the compound. Muhammad Saddique, a local Muslim, said that the wall was built after local “rich and noble Muslim families” called on city officials to protect them from the eyesore of the ‘Christian ghetto’.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Faisalabad: 18 Year Old Christian Woman Killed During an Attempted Rape
Amariah Masih was murdered, shot to death because she resisted her attacker. The author a 28 year old Muslim named Arif Gujjar, drug addict and son of a wealthy landowner. Police arrests the man and collaborates with the family. The solidarity of the Muslim community that seeks “reconciliation”.
Faisalabad (AsiaNews) — 28 year old Muslim Arif Gujjar is under police custody for questioning for the murder of 18 year old Christian Amariah Masih shot to death Nov. 27. The girl was originally from the village of Tehsil Samundari, about 40 km from Faisalabad (Punjab), and was murdered because she resisted an attempted rape. Arif Gujjar is a “young drifter and drug addict,” the son of a wealthy landowner in the area named Shafi Gujjar. The girl’s father calls for justice, while the Muslim community gathers around the family overwhelmed by grief.
Razia Bibi, 50, mother of Amariah, tells AsiaNews that she and her daughter were on their way to the channel to collect drinking water, which is not available in the village. At first Arif Gujjar, in the company of a friend whose identity is still unknown, took possession the motorbike on which they were travelling, then grabbed the girl and, under the threat of a gun, trying to drag her away. The young Christian resisted, trying to escape the clutches of her attacker. The man opened fire and killed her instantly, and later tried to conceal the corpse.
The body was found by her father, Mansha Masih, 53, a father of five daughters and two sons. He denounced the suspect, who was near the area where he had tried to hides the corpse and erase the traces of the murder. The police was immediately put on the trail of Arif, stopping him shortly after. The girl’s father thanked the police, who “have worked hard” to arrest the culprit.
At the end of the 18 year old Christian’s funeral, added her father (pictured), a Muslim delegation met with the family, to express solidarity and bring harmony and peace within the community. Mansha Masih, however, urged that justice is done and ensures that he “will fight to get it” because “they are the victim of a cruel act.” Her funeral was celebrated by Father Zafal Iqbal, a native of Khushpur, who explains to AsiaNews: “wealthy and influential landowners often take aim at those who are marginalized and vulnerable, for their dirty interests.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Montenegro: Gay/Lesbian Centre Opened
For members of gay & lesbian community rejected by families
(ANSAmed) — PODGORICA, DECEMBER 1 — In Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, a home opened today for members of the gay and lesbian community who are having conflicts with their families due to their sexual orientation. The home is the first of its kind in the country. Supported and sponsored by the Dutch Embassy, the centre will offer moral and psychological support to members of the gay and lesbian community who have been rejected by their families, helping them to stop being victims, to fight against their suffering and their feelings of insecurity. The first person to be taken in by the house/refuge was a 19-year-old lesbian who was thrown out of her house by her parents, who lost their temper when they learned about her relationship with another woman. Forum Progress LGBT, a local organisation that defends the gay and lesbian rights in Montenegro, hopes that next year the refuge/home will have the support of the Ministry for Human Rights and Minorities. In Montenegro, like in other countries in the Balkans, members of the homosexual community are looked down upon and people are very hostile towards them. In many cases they are seen as sick and outcasts, needing treatment and assistance.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Cuts May Force Health Services to Scrap Sex Education in Schools
Local authority health services (GGD) in central parts of the country may stop providing sex education services in schools from next year because of government cut-backs, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.
The measure is one of several under discussion to help councils balance their books. If councils vote in favour, sex education will end in some 500 primary and secondary schools in an area around Utrecht, including Amersfoort, Soest and Baarn.
In addition, health boards will no longer pay for the tracing of partners of people found to have sexually transmitted diseases. Cuts will also be made in tuberculosis and other infectious disease services, the Volkskrant says.
Serious
The local health boards have to find savings totalling €1bn. ‘Councils are struggling financially,’ said Henk Kruisselbank, head of GGD services in the Midden-Nederland region. ‘But this will be very serious for health boards. The easy choice is to go for the softer side, such as information services, which is difficult to quantify.’
Ton Coenen, director of the Dutch sexually transmitted disease group Soa Aids Nederland, said teenage pregnancy, disease and sexual pressure on girls will increase if the cuts go through.
‘Every year, some 200,000 youngsters become sexually active. They need information and lots of them don’t want to hear it from their parents,’ he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
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