German Newspaper: Merkel and Sarkozy Should Learn From Monti
(AGI) Berlin — If Eu leaders wish to lead their countries out of the crisis they should learn from Mario Monti, wrote German liberal newspaper ‘Sueddeutsche Zeitung’ (SZ). The German daily commended the new Italian premier on the his speedy and effective measures. Its headline, “Operation Confidence”, was commented: “Italy saves while Germany and France negotiate”.
The SZ said that for the financial markets, Italy’s PM is “accurate to a T, reliable and unassuming, “ and added that he “put on the table an impressive reform package”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: One Year After Bailout, A Bitter Budget
The Irish Times, 6 December 2011
“Health, social welfare and education face bulk of cuts,” headlines the Irish Times, as the government unveils another austerity budget, the fourth since the Irish economy collapsed in 2008. “The Department of Health is taking the biggest cut of €543 million, followed by social protection with an adjustment of €475 million and education with €132 million,” the Dublin daily writes. In addition to an anticipated 6,000 jobs lost in the public sector, the government has “slashed child benefits, winter fuel, disability and back-to-school allowances,” notes the Irish Independent.
The announcements come a little over a fortnight after it emerged that the Irish budget was subject to an initial review in the German Bundestag, an indicator of Ireland’s loss of economic sovereignty after it accepted an €85 billion bailout from the EU/EC/ECB troika in November 2010.
On December 4, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny in a televised address announced that “Difficult choices are never easy.” His address has drawn a bitter attack from veteran columnist Fintan O’Toole —
“Difficult choices are never easy.” Savour the phrase. Hold it to the light. Swirl it round the glass. Stick your nose in deep and inhale the rich aromas of full-bodied absurdity. Get the pungent whiff of carmelised cliche and curdled smugness.
[…] The truly difficult decisions are not being made. […] If the pain was being shared fairly, this State would be a more equal society than it was before the crash, because the well-off would be bearing more of the burden. […] Inequality is rising rapidly. In 2009, the top 20 per cent had 4.3 times the income of the bottom 20 per cent. In 2010, the ratio was 5.5.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tax on First Homes, Higher Property Valuations and Pension Reform But No Income Tax Hike
ROME — Italy’s IRPEF income tax stays unchanged, even for top earners. But wealthy Italians will face at least €12 billion in new taxes. The “Save Italy” decree, as the prime minister, Mario Monti, has called it, will extract a total of €18 million from Italian pockets to make the public accounts add up, balance the budget and promote growth with measures to kick-start the economy. The total impact of the budget is €30 billion, with €12-13 billion in cuts to public-sector spending involving welfare, regional, provincial and municipal authorities, and €17-18 billion in new taxes. Two thirds of the new levies will be on real property, in other words homes, and financial wealth, including sums repatriated under the “tax shield”, as well as luxury cars, boats and private planes. Twenty billion euros of the €30 billion (€20 billion net) generated will go to reducing the public deficit and €10 billion will finance measures to stimulate economic growth, such as removing the IRAP regional business tax on the cost of labour and introducing tax incentives for company capitalisation.
Ring-fenced public accounts
The government decree takes further steps to ring-fence €4 billion in savings already budgeted for 2012, €12 billion for 2013 and a further €4 billion in 2014. The money is expected to come from reforms to welfare and invalidity payments. If no alternative measures are forthcoming, the potential hole in the budget will be plugged with a 2% increase in the 10% and 21% VAT rates from June 2012, and a further hike of half a percent will follow in June 2014. Still on the subject of taxes, the government has announced a new increase in petrol duty from 1 January, part of which will finance public transport, and an increase in supplementary regional income tax (from 0.9% to 1.23%) to avoid cuts to the healthcare fund.
All this will underwrite a balanced budget in 2013, an objective that was fading from view with lower-than-expected growth in the economy. The government has now taken this into account in its review of forecasts. According to the new figures, the 2012 gross domestic product will shrink by 0.4%-0.5% and the new forecast for 2013 is for zero growth. This means further effort is required to achieve the government’s objective of a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 1.6% in 2012 and parity the following year.
IMU on property from January
The bulk of the budget’s impact will be in new taxes on homes, which should bring in €7-8 billion. The unified municipal tax (IMU), which local authorities can levy under fiscal federalism, will be brought forward to January 2012. First homes will be affected by the tax. The basic rate for IMU has been set at 0.76% but for first homes it will be reduced to 0.4%. Mayors will have the option of raising or lowering the basic rate by 0.3%, and the lower rate on first homes by 0.2%, depending on municipal budget requirements.
IMU will be applied on the assessable value of the property, calculated on the basis of new coefficients. The assessable value of a residential property will no longer be calculated by multiplying the land registry value by 115.5, or 126 for second homes. The new coefficient is 160. Similarly, coefficients for commercial properties, land and development sites will also rise. Deputy economy minister Vittorio Grilli pointed out that it was tantamount to reassessing land registry values by 60%.
The return of the wealth tax on first homes only will bring in almost €5 billion in new revenue. However, IMU on second homes might even be less onerous than the current ICI with its effective average rate of 0.64% because the municipal tax absorbs IRPEF tax on income from property. IMU is due to be accompanied by a new tax on refuse disposal and services (RES) at a rate of 0.2‰, replacing the TARSU and TIA levies…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Napolitano Signs Monti Austerity Decree
Bonus for firms that employ women and young people
(ANSA) — Rome, December 6 — President Giorgio Napolitano has approved a decree authorising Premier Mario Monti’s 30-billion euro austerity package.
The measures include a 10,600 euro tax incentive for firms that give women and young people under the age of 35 permanent jobs and a new tax on capital brought back to Italy after being held illegally abroad.
The Italian Parliament passed a controversial tax amnesty on undeclared funds held overseas in October 2009.
At the time former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the repatriation of an estimated 300 billion euros would boost state revenues. Monti told parliament on Monday that the austerity measures approved by cabinet on Sunday contained “painful” sacrifices for all social groups.
He said if the measures were not adopted, Italy risked “falling into the abyss” and faced the economic collapse seen in Greece.
Other measures include raising the pension age and the reintroduction of a property tax abolished by Berlusconi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Spread Steady After S&P Announces Possible EU Downgrades
Yield up slightly as markets react poorly
(ANSA) — Milan, December 6 — The spread with the German bund remained steady and Italian bond yields were up slightly in early trading Tuesday as markets across Europe responded poorly to the news that ratings agency Standard and Poor’s might downgrade 15 eurozone countries.
The spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalents held steady at 375 points while the yield grew to 6% a day after falling below that mark for the first time in a month.
Both measures, which fell sharply on Monday after Italian Premier Mario Monti’s cabinet approved a 30-billion-euro austerity package, are bellwethers of market confidence in Italy’s ability to pay down its huge 1.8-trillion-euro debt, 120% of GDP. The Milan bourse was down 0.7%, in line with European markets, ending a week-long rally after Standard & Poor’s announced it might downgrade 15 EU countries, including top-rated Germany, if leaders fail to deliver convincing results at a Friday summit on the debt crisis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bond Spreads Fall as Napolitano Calls for Sacrifices
‘We are facing a tough time’, says president
(ANSA) — Rome, December 6 — Long-term bond spreads continued to drop on Tuesday as President Giorgio Napolitano warned of a tough road to economic recovery and urged Italians to make sacrifices.
The spread between the 10-year Treasury bond and the benchmark German bond fell to 363.4 basis points, with a yield of 5.87% Earlier in the day Napolitano signed a decree endorsing Premier Mario Monti’s 30-billion euro austerity package which was presented to parliament on Monday.
“We are facing a tough job ahead,” Napolitano said on a visit to the northern city of Mantova. “I think it is a very difficult time, a moment of transition. And I believe we must make a choice, within the limits of the Constitution, and seize the opportunity to improve the country and trust Monti in his task of forming a government”. “We must make sacrifices because we have to do all we can for the future of our children and our role in the greater European community and we must regain that with renewed confidence”.
Milan stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday — falling 0.49% to end the day at 15,848 points.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Monti Presents the Bill
La Repubblica, 5 December 2011
“This is the decree that will save Italy”: La Repubblica reports the words with which Prime Minister Mario Monti presented his austerity plan on December 4, meant to restore balanced budgets and market confidence in Italian debt securities.
The plan, which must be approved by Parliament on December 5, is a 30 billion euro package that includes 20 billion in austerity measures and ten billion in stimulus boosts. The main measures include bringing back the property tax on first homes, increasing VAT to 23 percent and raising the retirement age to 66 years, as well as cutting public spending.
For the Rome daily, the budget plan is —
… a burden on taxpayers, yet essential if Italy is to avoid a payment default, which would trigger the demise of the euro and the end of Europe’s political ambitions.
Contrary to what he might have feared, Monti may have benefited from a “degree of political and national autonomy” vis-à-vis Brussels and Frankfurt, La Repubblica believes. The paper, however, criticises “the usual batch of taxes on taxpayers and the habitual scarcity of resources for local organisations.”
It’s a view shared by the Corriere della Sera, which contends that Monti has given Italians-
… a bitter medicine […] The middle class will still feel it’s considered by the governments of the moment — technocratic or political, whatever — as a kind of ATM, as healthy carriers of cash that can be easily siphoned off.
Lastly, Il Sole 24 Ore comments:
We accept having to pay more (much more), but not to write a blank cheque […] We are ready to do it, and we will be watching very vigilantly for any unfairness in the sacrifices demanded. In exchange, however, Monti’s plan must significantly encourage the bursting of the bubble of the rates on Italian securities.
It’s a demand the markets seem to have heard: the day after the plan was announced, the spread between German and Italian rates returned to under 400 points, while the Milan Stock Exchange recorded a jump of two percent, reports Corriere della Sera.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Neither Paris Nor Berlin, But Frankfurt…
Les Echos, Paris
German proposals for greater discipline in the Eurozone have not been enthusiastically welcomed in France, where several Germanophobic comments have highlighted one incontrovertible reality: the French are very well disposed towards Europe, but on condition that it is a French Europe, remarks a Les Echos columnist.
Dominique Seux
In a week that is set to end with the 9 December European summit, the Franco-German relationship will once again be the key to a possible exit to the crisis. But with this in mind, we should acknowledge and correct one mistake, and avoid another that derives from an error of perspective.
The mistake, a major one, is that of all the Germanophobic voices heard before the weekend. “Europe under a jackboot,” (Marine Le Pen — president of the far-right Front National) “Mrs Merkel’s Bismarckian politics,”(Arnaud Montebourg — Socialist MP who was ranked third in the Socialist party primaries]; Nicolas Sarkozy is “Daladier in Munich” (Jean-Marie Le Guen — Socialist MP] implicitly implying a comparison between the Chancellor and Hitler; “Surrender” (Martine Aubry — First Secretary of the Socialist Party]. These words run the risk of “reviving old demons” to cite the title of the excellent recent work by economist Jean-Pisani Ferry.
A refusal to resort to scapegoating tactics that are an insult to history does not mean that we cannot criticise our major partner: in a time of recession, its sluggish response to two years of developments in the Eurozone crisis, and its insistence on a focus that is restricted to budgetary issues are certainly not beyond reproach.
But words chosen are never innocent and the remark made by François Hollande [Socialist candidate for the 2012 French presidential election] in yesterday’s Journal du dimanche (“Let’s avoid hurtful language”) falls well short of what should be said.
All roads lead to Frankfurt
In passing, we should also point out that the strength of Berlin is the weakness of a France whose credibility in terms of its public finances has long been in doubt and remains so today. Lastly, we ought to note, and this time with a smile, that the French do want Europe, just as long as it is French!
The error of perspective concerns the means by which the current crisis is to be resolved. Discussions between France and Germany on the automatic nature of sanctions against countries that behave like the spendthrift grasshopper in La Fontaine’s fable, and on the reform of treaties (how, when, and with whom — 27 states or 17?) as well as the role of the European Court of Justice, may well be real issues as to the nature of the Union. But the reality is that if a deal is struck on these matters only, then it will not be enough…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Standard & Poor’s, European Banks Against the Euro
The rating agency warns of possible downgrade for euro zone members, including Germany and France. Yet, Europe’s economy has grown in the past three months. Standard & Poor’s appears less interested in the US and Japan as European banks bet against the euro.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — Asian stocks closed lower on Tuesday after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warned almost all euro zone members that they face possible credit downgrades. At the same time, the US and Japanese currencies could stoke inflation.
Standard & Poor’s announced it was placing most euro zone members, including zone stalwarts Germany and France, and that there was a 50 per cent chance that their credit rating would be lowered.
Standard & Poor’s wants EU leaders to find a solution to their debt crisis in next week’s meeting. Otherwise, it might drop the rating of countries like Germany, France, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxemburg (who enjoy a triple-A rating) by one level and the others by two.
The agency’s warning had a negative impact on Asian shares, which ended trading with losses. Tokyo stocks ended down 1.39 per cent today, Hong Kong shares fell 1.24 per cent, and Shanghai closed down 0.31 per cent.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Asian market analysts noted discrepancies in Standard & Poor’s actions. “It is unclear why Standard & Poor’s is targeting the euro and the euro zone and doing nothing about the United States and Japan,” said GT in Hong Kong.
“The United States is worse off than Europe, but no one is talking about it. The US public debt is huge. What is worse, Congress has not yet reached an agreement on debt reduction. I am afraid that we shall see the dollar fall heavily in a few months time, not to mention the Japanese currency. In fact, Japan has been printing waste paper for years.”
In the last three months, the European economy grew at the same pace as previous three months, but this has not changed the gloomy view about Europe and the euro. Some investors note that European banks appear to have lost faith in the euro, and Asian markets discretely took that into account.
When trading opened today in Europe, the euro lost 30-40 points. Ordinary people may believe that the euro’s movements are at a whim, that they are caused by the market. In fact, the market is made up of buyers and sellers, mainly banks trading according to their perceived interest. Today, European banks caused the drop in the euro.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cuomo and Legislative Leaders Agree on Tax Deal
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders on Tuesday announced that they had reached an agreement to raise taxes on New York state’s wealthiest residents as part of a deal to overhaul the state’s tax rates.
The leaders, seeking simultaneously to make the state’s income tax system more progressive and to boost tax collections during a down economy, announced their agreement as lawmakers began to arrive at the Capitol for an expected special session of the Legislature later this week.
The tentative agreement would not only raise taxes for the wealthy, but would also cut taxes for the middle class, by creating multiple new tax brackets and tax rates.
| [Return to headlines] |
Former Miss USA Busted for Drunk Driving
A former Miss USA from Dearborn has traded in her crown for a pair of handcuffs. Police said Rima Fakih was arrested early Saturday morning for suspected drunk driving. Officials pulled her over near Woodward Avenue and Glendale Street in Highland Park. She was held by police until about 4 p.m. before being released. In May of 2010, Fakih won the Miss USA Pageant and was the first Miss Michigan to win the title since 1993. Fakih also competed for Miss Universe, but lost to Miss Mexico later that year.
| — Hat tip: RE | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: A Government: It’s a Start
De Standaard, 6 December 2011
“At last,” exclaims the front page of De Standaard: the Di Rupo I government is to be sworn in on 6 December, in the wake of 540 long days of crisis and negotiations. In a comment piece, the Flemish daily deplores the fact that the team that will take office along with the Prime Minister, Francophone socialist Elio Di Rupo, “is barely different from the one that preceded it (…) There is only one new appointment among the nine Francophone members: the Prime Minister himself.” But the advantage “of all these veterans,” is their “extensive experience,” points out the newspaper.
Rival daily De Morgen enthusiastically remarks that Belgians will no longer “have to explain an incomprehensible situation to non-Belgians: why, in the heart of Europe, so much energy has been wasted on an ‘excessively charged’ linguistic conflict.” As for the Prime Minister, “the least that can be said is that hopes in Di Rupo are not riding high,” because the new government leader “will do more than any other to put the brakes on socio-economic reforms.”
In the Francophone press, La Libre Belgique shares the point of view voiced by De Standaard, while Le Soir welcomes with “hope but also with realism” the new government made up of 12 ministers (6 Flemings and 6 Francophones) and nine secretaries of state, which is mainly composed of liberals:
The initial reaction is an immense sigh of relief, now that Belgium has found a way out of the most profound crisis in its history. However, this is followed by a touch of annoyance: how did it take them 20 hours to share out 18 ministerial portfolios? [the final count is: one Prime Minister, six Francophone ministers, six Flemish Ministers and six secretaries of state] […]
Do we have to remind these 13 men and six women who are going to reform the country that time is running out. Two and half years is a very short period in which to clean up public finances, adapt our socio-economic model to the realities of the 21st century and implement the reform of the state. Suffice it to say that if each decision results in a one or more sleepless nights for the Di Rupo government, failure will be inevitable.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Projecting Schadenfreude and Cultural Aids: Norway Tries to Deal With a Wave of Muslims Raping Norwegian Infidels
It’s sometimes hard to believe that people can be so petty and self-destructive, but every once in a while an incident occurs that sheds remarkable light on the venal realities of Scandinavian anti-Zionism. There has been a wave of rapes in Norway, almost entirely done by immigrant Muslim men against Norwegian women. For politically correct reasons, the issue was kept off the front pages for a while, but eventually came out. When it did, somehow Israel got involved. How? Read below and weep. Few things illustrate the pitiful honor-shame preoccupations of the Norwegians when it comes to moral preening, and the way that that folly renders the Norwegians vulnerable to assault. From Tundra Tabloids:
Muslim ‘Rape Wave’ Reported in Oslo, Ministers Blame Israel
Report: 45 of 48 rapes in Norway’s capital recently were by Muslims, but Norwegian ministers think this is just pro-Israel propaganda.
By Gil Ronen
First Publish: 12/4/2011, 6:58 PM
INN: Norway is suffering from an unprecedented wave of rapes that are largely being perpetrated by Muslim immigrants against local women, according to Yehuda Bello, an acclaimed Israeli blogger whose special interests include Norway. Bello, who understands Norwegian and has Norwegian contacts, reported that from January to late October, 48 rapes were confirmed to have been carried out in Oslo alone, 45 of them by Muslims. In the first six months of 2011, 208 Norwegian women complained of rape and attempted rape in Oslo alone. In all of Norway, 929 rapes and attempted aggravated rapes were reported since the beginning of the year, he added. Bello notes that Norway is “the most advanced country in the world in granting rights to women.” However, he adds, the “politically correct rot” prevents the rape wave by Muslims from being reported. “They are called ‘non-western,’ ‘dark skinned,’ ‘Middle Eastern’ et cetera. After a police report in Oslo said that Muslims were raping Norwegian women out of a religious conviction that this was the proper thing to do, a stormy public debate erupted, reports Bello, and “the government ministers, most of them avowed anti-Semites, claimed that the report and its publication serve Israel and its policy of occupation.”
Here’s where it gets interesting. I’ve long contended that European anti-Zionism operates as a form of cultural AIDS, in which the hostile forces cannot be identified, lest it get in the way of blaming Israel. Here we have a curious remark. How does acknowledging the religious origins of Muslim aggression against Norwegian women “serve Israel and its policy of occupation?” Is it because if Norwegians realized how barbaric and aggressive the strains of Islam that they are dealing with, they might be less inclined to blame Israel for their attitude towards Palestinians, more likely to understand that behavior as defensive rather than “imperialist occupation”?
In any case, the idea that because it might help Israel’s public image, Norwegians should not be addressing a problem that victimizes its own women is somewhat staggering.
Norway’s justice minister defended the police report but also said that “Israel must be glad to hear about it.”
This is my favorite line. Even if he will admit the problem, it just kills him to think that the Israelis will be schepping Schadenfreude over this event. That this thought would even enter his head, much less that he would express it openly, suggests a pathetically immature person. And why might Israelis respond this way? Because Norway has behaved so despicably towards Israel, preening as a moral giant looking down in contempt at Israel’s moral squalor (in other words wallowing in the stye of moral Schadenfreude), so that, when the worm turns, the thought of Israelis feeling that way about Norway really rankles? The irony is that, for every Israeli who has been paying attention and knows about Norway’s despicable behavior, and feels a brief wave of “serves them right,” there are twenty who worry about and empathize with the poor Norwegian women, abandoned by their own should-be protectors.
Bello says women do not dare venture out of their homes after dark in many parts of Norway and that many have even dyed their hair black, out of the conviction that blond hair is more alluring to the rapists. Some carry tear gas, although this is against the law.
Apparently, the last item on the government’s agenda is taking care of their own women. Now that’s the opposite of an honor-shame society. No wonder the Muslims have so much contempt for these people. They can be bullied by “human rights” speech to tacitly grant Muslims the right to rape Norwegian infidels as an act of multi-cultural understanding.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia: Elections: Surprise Win for Jankovic’s Left
‘Slovenian Berlusconi’ triumphs against expectations
(ANSAmed) — LJUBLJANA — Contrary to all pre-election forecasts, lifelong executive and entrepreneur — as well as Ljubljana’s mayor since 2006 — Zoran Jankovic has unexpectedly won the parliamentary elections in Slovenia with 28.6% of votes, just four weeks after founding his party. It is a win which in some ways recalls that of Silvio Berlusconi in 1994. However, unlike Berlusconi, Jankovic’s Positive Slovenia (PS) party is on the left and has won out over a right which was seen in the lead up until yesterday morning. “We had a government led by Janez Jansa, then that of Borut Pahor, and today voters have decided that the time has come for an efficient state,” said Jankovic in speaking immediately after the results were announced for the elections which saw him receive 28 seats of the 90 making up Ljubljana’s Parliament. In reality there are two losers in this election: Pahor and Jansa.
The fall of the government under Borut Pahor, the outgoing prime minister who lost a confidence vote in September after losing a referendum on pension reform with a drastic increase in retirement age, had been widely expected. His Social Democrats (DS, centre-left) saw a decline to 10.5%, compared with the 31% three years ago. Voters have punished another eurozone government which has shown itself unable to deal with the crisis and contain public debt, which rose from 26% in 2007 to the current 45%. GDP is almost at a standstill and unemployment is at 11%, double what it had been four years ago, concern international markets, and after rating agencies downgraded Slovenian debt in September interest rates on state bonds soared to over 7%. Jansa, instead, seemed almost sure he would be winning and going back to power after three years in the opposition, at least judging from all the polls. However, the corruption scandal which sees him charged with taking bribes along with some of his collaborators in 2006 (when he was prime minister) and suspicions of more recent misuse of public funds made known on the last day of the election campaign seen to have weighed down Slovenians in their choice at the ballot box.
Perhaps also his announcement of swift privatisations, public administration cuts and savings in the social sector also played a part in it, as all of the latter have long been seen negatively by Slovenian voters. Jankovic, a millionaire and Slovenia’s richest man, instead promised 4% growth without swift privatisations, and the management style of a manager and entrepreneur, effective and determined. The ballot boxes did not, however, produce what international markets had been hoping for: a strong government able to make structural reforms. Before being sworn in as prime minister, Ljubljana’s mayor will have to form a government coalition, his first real test as politician since the Parliament elected yesterday is more fragmented than ever before. Pahor has already announced that he is willing, but in order to get 46 deputies (the minimum majority) there will be the need also for the votes of centrist Gregor Virant, who came in fourth with 8 deputies, and perhaps also those of the Pensioners Party, which is strongly against any pension reform.
In congratulating the winner yesterday evening, Jansa immediately pre-announced that Jankovic’s task would be very difficult, and did not rule out another round of early elections. Turnout was at 64.5% for 1.7 million voters, 1.5% more than 3 years ago
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Widespread Anti-Semitism, With 0.2% Jewish Population
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 2 — Spain is one of the EU’s five most anti-Semitic countries. The Jewish population in the country represents less than 0.2%, and the phenomenon is ignored by the media, according to the chairman of the Jewish Community in Spain, Isaac Querub. Querub made his remarks during the fourth international congress on anti-Semitism, held yesterday and today in Madrid at the Caja Navarra Foundation, where anti-Semitic texts were found on the walls yesterday morning. Experts have studied the rise of new anti-Jewish sentiments based on stereotypes. These feelings question the legitimacy of the State of Israel and have become stronger during the crisis, according to Israel’s ambassador to Spain, Alon Bar, and the director of the Foundation for Pluralism and Cohabitation, José Manuel Lopez. “Insults and slogans against Jews are considered to be normal in Spain, when they reflect an underlying and invisible anti-Semitism,” said sociology professor at the University of Monaco, Alejandro Baer. Baer added that “negative stereotypes are widespread and they are a symptom of a social pathology.” According to polls quoted by writer and historian Jon Juaristi, former general director of the Cervantes Institute, 58% of adults in Spain think that Jews have too much power, and that they are all rich. On the other hand, 52% of students would not like to have a Jewish boy as schoolmate. Juaristi pointed out that during the 40 years of the Francoist period, Jews were indicated at the people that killed the Christian founder of the Church, Jesus. During every Catholic mass, prayers were held for the conversion or punishment of the “wicked Jews”, until the Vatican Council ended this tradition in 1965. Franco himself, the historian underlined, “died in 1975 against the background of a ‘Jewish-Masonic conspiracy’ as the main national enemy, as he used to say in every speech.” The event, organised by the FCJE, joins European efforts to eliminate this worrying phenomenon. “The goal is to expose the invisibility and denial of the problem in Spain, focusing on cultural, legal and educational aspects,” Querub concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Gibraltar Voting to Renew Parliament
Social democrat Caruana is favourite to become Chief Minister
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 6 — The citizens of Gibraltar will go to the polls on Thursday to elect the 17 members of Parliament and the territory’s Chief Minister for the next four years. The favourite in the polls is the leader of the Social Democrat party, Peter Caruana, who has been at the helm for the last 15 years. The other two parties contesting the election are the Socialist Labour party coalition GSL-LP, led by Fabian Picardo, and the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), headed by Keith Azzopardi, which has failed to obtain parliamentary representation in previous elections. Caruana has won four consecutive elections, though his party obtained 49% of votes in 2007, only 600 more than the GSL-LP coalition-.
Spanish media say that the election campaign has paid little attention to relations with Spain, the former colonial power in Gibraltar, and has focussed mainly on issues within the seven square kilometre territory, which has an unemployment rate of 2% and where public debt is estimated to be 449 million euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Telecom Italia Wants to Overcome Italian Cloud ‘Illiteracy’
Milan, 6 Dec. (AKI/Bloomberg) — Telecom Italia home country risks falling behind in the $68.3 billion market for computer- cloud services that allow clients to cut costs because of Italy’s information technology “illiteracy.”
“It usually takes more time for a new technology to be accepted in Italy,” Simone Battiferri, who’s responsible at the country’s biggest phone company for cloud technology, said in an interview. “The level of IT literacy in the country is among the lowest in Europe.”
Battiferri predicts Telecom Italia’s sales from cloud computing, which lets clients rent software delivered over the Web rather than install it on their own machines, will grow by a double-digit percentage next year.
Italy, pushing through austerity and growth measures to trim the euro-region’s second-biggest debt, ranked 51st in the World Economic Forum’s 2011 ranking of countries’ ability to use and benefit from new technologies. The adoption of remote computing services via the Web reduces the need to maintain hardware and can cut companies’ information technology costs by as much as 60 percent, Battiferri said.
Telecom Italia, based in Milan, and other former phone monopolies in Europe, such as Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, are trying to expand services such as cloud offerings to make up for declining revenue from traditional voice services.
As researcher Gartner Inc. estimates the global market for cloud services will surge to $148.8 billion in 2014 from $68.3 billion in 2010, Italy risks falling behind in an industry that is one of the fastest-growing technology segments.
Cloud Deals
SAP, the largest maker of business-management software, last week agreed to buy SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion in cash, six weeks after archrival Oracle agreed to buy another cloud competitor, RightNow Technologies, for $1.5 billion.
Apple, aiming to capitalize on a shift away from personal computers, this year introduced the iCloud service that stores music and other files online and keeps devices synchronized wirelessly.
Large companies have been especially slow to adopt new technologies, Battiferri said.
“Small and medium-sized companies have been taking up the service more rapidly as it’s easier for them to move to the cloud than bigger corporations,” said Battiferri, who also heads Telecom Italia’s top-client division. At some companies, a lack of IT expertise has “slowed the adoption of these new services,” he said.
Radical Change
Telecom Italia started its cloud-computing service, called Nuvola Italiana, in September 2010. chief executive officer Franco Bernabe said at the time the company had to “change its skin in a radical way” and sell integrated services and not just connectivity.
Telecom Italia on Nov. 11 said domestic sales fell 6.2 percent to 14.1 billion euros in the first nine months, hurt by a 9.2 percent decline in wireless revenue. At the same time, the company reported a 33 percent increase in third-quarter profit on growth in Latin America.
The stock has declined 11 percent this year, valuing the company at 16 billion euros.
The Italian operator has about 1,500 cloud customers, Battiferri said, declining to say how much revenue it receives from them. Sales from this service are included under information and communication technology, which rose 8.5 percent to 585 million euros in the first nine months of this year.
‘Wait and See’
The value of the cloud-computing and infrastructure market is expected to reach about 2 billion euros in Italy at the end of 2014, Battiferri said.
“In the current macroeconomic environment companies will increasingly seek to cut costs and this could help boost cloud services but at the moment a wait-and-see approach is prevailing,” Battiferri said.
Italy’s prime minister Mario Monti is working on a 30 billion-euro package of austerity and growth measures to prevent Italy from sparking the euro’s breakup.
Battiferri said concerns about the security of cloud systems shouldn’t deter companies from adopting the technology. “Our cloud platform is completely safe and we’re compliant with the stringent Italian regulation on privacy,” he said, adding that all the company’s data centers are in Italy.
Cloud Certificate
In May, SAP’s head of global solutions, Sanjay Poonen, said an outage on Amazon’s cloud-computing services this year, and a controversy around Google Inc.’s delays in providing e-mail services to 30,000 city employees in Los Angeles could make it harder for the software industry to convince clients to use cloud computing.
Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems information technology unit said this year it is pushing regulators to introduce a certificate for German or European cloud operators to help companies guard data from the U.S. government.
Globalization, mobility, the “exponential” volume increase of data and the need to be flexible and faster will drive cloud computing adoption, said Piero Masera, managing director for Italy at consulting firm AlixPartners. While there are concerns about security, regulation and reliability, “cloud computing is a trend that cannot be stopped,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Don’t Treat us as “Congenital Idiots”, Mr Cameron. Mail, Telegraph and Sun Warn PM Over Europe.
I recently blogged that David Cameron’s relations with the centre right press are very poor for this stage of the Parliament. They might be about to get worse…
“Downing Street said yesterday that a referendum is unnecessary. It is, at the very least, an odd negotiating strategy for Mr Cameron to throw away the strongest card in his hand before the game has even started.” — Telegraph leader
“Slapping down Iain Duncan Smith, who pledged on Sunday that ‘the British public will have a say’, Downing Street’s official spokesman says there is no need for a popular vote, since the plans involve no significant shift of powers from Westminster to Brussels. How much longer can politicians go on treating the British people like congenital idiots? Yes, it may be true that the proposals for a single economic government of the eurozone will make no specific mention of further diluting Britain’s sovereignty. But this is sheer, legalistic nit-picking. The inescapable fact is that the plans being drawn up by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy would create an entirely new-look EU, with an inner power bloc whose interests will often be diametrically opposed to those of the UK. Inevitably, the implications for the City of London, whose pre-eminence Frankfurt and Paris have been eyeing enviously for decades, will be enormous. So how can the Coalition pretend this is merely a concern for the eurozone, too insignificant to justify a referendum?” — Daily Mail leader
“We know David Cameron doesn’t like confronting Brussels, but this time he must not surrender.” — The Sun Says
This issue is about more than Europe. It’s about trust in politicians and in David Cameron, in particular.
[JP note: We are all congenital idiots to the various elites making a holy mess of things. Perhaps it’s called projection.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Girl Gang Who Kicked Woman in the Head While Yelling ‘Kill the White Slag’ Freed After Judge Hears ‘They Weren’t Used to Drinking Because They’re Muslims’
A gang of Muslim girls who repeatedly kicked a young woman in the head walked free from court after a judge heard they were ‘not used to being drunk’ because of their religion.
The group screamed ‘kill the white slag’ while kicks raining in on 22-year-old Rhea Page as she lay motionless on the ground, the court heard.
The attackers — three sisters and their cousin — were told by a judge that normally they would have been sent to jail.
However, he handed the girls — all Somalian Muslims — suspended sentences after hearing that they were not used to alcohol because their religion does not allow it.
Their victim was left with a bald patch after they pulled a chunk out of her hair during the attack on the High Street, Leicester.
Ambaro and Hibo Maxamed, both 24, their sister Ayan, 28, and cousin Ifrah Nur, 28, attacked Rhea, a care worker, as she walked to a taxi rank with her boyfriend after a night out.
The victim, a support worker, was left so traumatised that she lost her job following repeated absences with stress and flashbacks, Leciester Crown Court was told.
The charge — assault occasioning actual bodily harm — carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said Ambaro Maxamed, who started the violence, had called Miss Page a ‘white bitch’ during the incident.
The women, who are all Somalian Muslims, were not charged with racial aggravation.
Victim Miss Page said: ‘I had gone for a drink after work and then I met my boyfriend for a couple more before heading home.
‘We didn’t want to stay out too late so we went to get a taxi and all of a sudden I heard these women shouting abuse at me.
‘We were just minding our own business but they kept shouting “white bitch” and “white slag” at me.
‘When I turned around one of them grabbed my hair — she literally wrapped her fingers in my hair — then threw me on the ground. That’s when they started kicking me.
‘They were taking turns to kick me in the head and back over and over. I was lying on the ground the whole time, crying and screaming. It was terrifying. I thought they were going to kill me.
‘Eventually the police came but it felt like ages. Afterwards I was covered in blood and hair.
‘I had a bald patch on my head where they had yanked my hair out and I was black and blue all over.
‘I honestly think they attacked me just because I was white. I can’t think of any other reason.’
She suffered bruises and grazes to her head, back, legs and arms, and had clumps of hair pulled out.
Gary Short, mitigating for Ambaro Maxamed, said the attack was down to alcohol.
He said: ‘Although Miss Page’s partner used violence, it doesn’t justify their behaviour. They’re Somalian Muslims and alcohol or drugs isn’t something they’re used to.’
Seventeen months on from the attack, she is still undergoing counselling and suffers from panic attacks and flashbacks.
The group all admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and received six month suspended sentences.
Judge Robert Brown told them: ‘This was ugly and reflects very badly on all four of you.
‘Those who knock someone to the floor and kick them in the head can expect to go inside, but I’m going to suspend the sentence.’
He said he accepted the women may have felt they were the victims of unreasonable force from Rhea’s partner Lewis Moore, 23, who tried to defend her from the attack.
| — Hat tip: Paul Weston | [Return to headlines] |
Andrew Bostom: The “Arab Spring” And the Treason of the Intellectuals
Qaradawi’s Odious Vision
Feb. 18, 2011, marked the triumphal return to Cairo of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “spiritual guide,” Yusuf al-Qaradawi, after years of exile. His public reemergence in Egypt was sanctioned by the nation’s provisional military rulers. Qaradawi’s own words, as well as the images and actions that accompanied him during his return, should have shattered the myth that the turmoil leading to President Mubarak’s resignation augured the emergence of a modern, democratic Egyptian society devoted to Western conceptions of individual liberty and equality before the law.
But unlike the Middle East Media Research Institute, and my colleague al-Mutarjim (whose translation follows), mainstream-media outlets failed to report that Qaradawi issued a clarion call for the jihad reconquest of Jerusalem. Likewise, they failed to predict the events of the subsequent ten months, including the open ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates across North Africa and the entire Middle East. Instead, as late as August 2011, Hoover Institution fellow Fouad Ajami was writing in the Wall Street Journal that the uprisings were “the Arabs’ 1989, their supreme moment of historical agency,” and that “for once the ‘Arab Street’ was not gripped by anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism, for once it wasn’t looking beyond its geography for alien demons.”
Qaradawi’s pronouncement, made during his Tahrir Square Friday khutbah (sermon), was met with thunderous applause. This is what he said:
A message to our brothers in Palestine: I have hope that Almighty Allah, as I have been pleased with the victory in Egypt, that He will also please me with the conquest of the al-Aqsa Mosque [i.e., Jerusalem], to prepare the way for me to preach in the al-Aqsa Mosque. May Allah prepare the way for us to [preach] in the al-Aqsa Mosque in safety — not in fear, not in haste. May Allah achieve this clear conquest for us. O sons of Palestine, I am confident that you will be victorious.
The Media vs. Reality
It’s not that the media didn’t hear this portion of the sermon. The statement Qaradawi made immediately following this rallying cry — about having the Egyptian army open the Rafah border crossing into Gaza to facilitate “delivering aid to our brethren” — was widely reported. The deliberate omission of Qaradawi’s bellicose incitement to recapture Jerusalem reflects a larger, sustained campaign — by both the mainstream media and the academics whom they choose to provide their background information — to characterize Qaradawi’s beliefs as “pluralist, reform Islam.” In fact, Qaradawi advances an obscurantist, albeit mainstream, brand of sharia-based, aggressive jihadism — as well as its corollary: virulent hatred of Jews and other infidels.
John Esposito, who heads the lavishly Saudi-funded Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, is the doyen of American academic apologists for jihadism. Esposito opined in a Fall 2003 Boston Review essay that Qaradawi embodied a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism, and human rights.”
Nearly a decade later, Esposito’s assessment of Qaradawi has been regurgitated by both the mainstream media and the new generation of academics these journalists seek out for comment…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: An Ally No More
With vote tallies in for Egypt’s first round of parliamentary elections in it is abundantly clear that Egypt is on the fast track to becoming a totalitarian Islamic state. The first round of voting took place in Egypt’s most liberal, cosmopolitan cities. And still the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists received more than 60 percent of the vote. Run-off elections for 52 seats will by all estimates increase their representation.
And then in the months to come, Egyptian voters in the far more Islamist Nile Delta and Sinai will undoubtedly provide the forces of jihadist Islam with an even greater margin of victory…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Food and Agriculture: Egypt Aiming for International Aid
Bill awaiting new government, exporters say
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 6 — Egyptian agricultural exporters are anxiously awaiting the approval of a bill on the quality and safety of fresh Egyptian products. The measure has already been drafted and circulated by the Minister of Industry, and would pave the way for major technical and financial assistance from foreign countries, especially those in Europe. The development emerged during a conference in Cairo promoted by the Italian Foreign Trade Commisison (ICE) and the trade office of the Italian embassy. The conference was opened by representatives of the two bodies: Giuseppe Federico, the director of the ICE, and the trade consultant, Massimiliano Iachini. Also speaking at the event were the director of the Cooperazione Italiana organisation in Cairo, Ginevra Letizia, and the deputy president of the Council of Agricultural Exporters, Mostafa el-Naggari.
Al-Naggari underlined the importance of the appointment of a new Agriculture Minister, with the Prime Minister, Kamal Ganzouri due to formalise the appointment of his cabinet in the coming hours. “We have worked for some time on this bill, which would be a panacea for Egyptian agriculture, laying the foundations for it to become competitive and to allow products meeting international standards to reach European markets,” Naggari said. In the last few months and years, Egyptian produce has met obstacles including accusations from Europe of being at the root of the E.coli outbreak, a charge later proved to be unfounded after checks made by EU experts during a visit to the country. “Italy and Europe can play a major role, given the serious collaboration that has been ongoing for years in the food safety sector and the gradual positive results in the quality of our products, which should be increased and boosted as part of the “from field to table” principle,” Naggari added.
Ginevra Letizia then recalled some of the initiatives launched by Cooperazione Italiana in the food and agriculture sector. The food safety area is dominated by the Italy-Egypt Integrated Production Systems scheme, the result of work by eight Italian regions, with financing from the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for Economic Development, through development agencies coordinated by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute (IAM) of Bari. Another significant scheme, which led to the creation of a developed system of traceability for fruit and vegetable products, was the “Etrace” initiative, developed with Unido, which led to the creation of a centre of excellence managed by the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry. “For the quality of food and agriculture production, Cooperazione Italiana has provided technical assistance to producers in the past through the IAM, such as the Green Corridor programme or training courses, as well as support for the forming of associations between producers,” Letizia said. The last to be cited was the Green Trade Initiative, coordinated by Unido after an agreement between the governments of Rome and Cairo as part of an Egyptian debt swap programme.
During the conference, the Italian expert, Caterina Melilli illustrated the integrated approach necessary for the management of product quality and the characteristics of the process of transferring technology within the sector.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Slogans Are Not Enough, Elbaradei Warns Islamists
(AGI) Cairo — “Let’s them govern. The people will soon see that slogans are not enough”, Mohammed ElBaradei, one of the leaders of the Egyptian non-clerical opposition and a candidate to the next presidential elections, commented the victory of Muslim Brotherhood and Salaphite in the first round of the legislative elections. In an interview to the daily al Shouruk, ElBaradei did not miss his chance to critisize the military junta governing the country. “We live in a fascist system, with military courts and emergency law. If there is another revolutionary wave, it will be full of rage and violence”, the Nobel for Peace warned. “The situation is increasingly worsening, following the military’s failure to run the transition”, he added, underlining that young people in Egypt are “disappointed because nothing has chamged” (AGI) .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq’s Ex-Foreign Minister Aziz to be Executed in 2012
(AGI) Baghdad — Saddam Hussein’s former deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, will be executed in 2012, after the US pulls out of the country, an adviser to Iraq’s prime minister told CNN. The adviser, Saad Yousef al-Muttalibi, said the execution “will take place after the Americans leave Iraq”. One of Aziz’s lawyers said he was surprised. “I did not think the government would be that stupid. By doing this they will drag the country to the edge of the abyss,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck: What if Iran Gets the Bomb?
Sanctions and sabotage have not stopped them. Neither have threats nor United Nations resolutions. Iran’s leaders say they’ll never give up their nuclear program—and evidence shows the Iranians are closer than ever before to acquiring the Bomb.
So the question must be asked: how would a nuclear-armed Iran change not just the Middle East but the world?
I explore the nightmare repercussions for America and the West in my latest report.
Click the link above to watch.
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Dozens Killed in Suicide Blast Targeting Shias
Kabul, 6 Dec. (AKI) — Almost 50 people were killed in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday when a suicide bomb targeted minority Shia worshippers gathered outside the Abul Fazl shrine to mark the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein in 680 AD.
“This is the first time on such an important religious day in Afghanistan that terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai told reporters in Germany, where he attended a conference on Afghanistan’s future.
Karzai at the Bonn speaking at the Bonn conference on Monday said Afghanistan would need aid for 10 years after foreign military pull out of his country in 2014.
Afghanistan has largely escaped the sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni branches of Islam.
The festival of Ashura marks the martyrdom of the Muhammad’s grandson Hussein in the battle of Karbala in Iraq.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hunt for Geckos: Malaysians Believe — Wrongly — They Treat Impotence and Aids
This belief, contradicted by official and medical sources, feed a flourishing trade in reptiles in Southeast Asia, and up in Japan. It endangers the survival of the species.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Tokay Geckos are in danger of extinction, because of a hunt unleashed by the conviction that they can have aphrodisiac effects, and above all, that they may be helpful in treating a number of diseases: asthma, cancer and even HIV. Customers in this market are Chinese, Japanese and Malaysians. The raw material is sought everywhere: roofs, cracks in the walls, bushes. And since the price for a gecko has jumped to 1.000 Rm (240 euros) increasing numbers of people are venturing into dangerous territory to capture them. A Malaysian Mohammad Nasaruddin Bensaidin, recently went on the hunt for the geckos of the Philippines, and was kidnapped by a dozen armed men.
The Tokay, also called Tuko or Tekek are traded at spiralling prices. A rumour, which proved unfounded, said that the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued letters of authorization allowing merchants to capture geckos for the healing qualities of the reptile. And there is also an industrial aspect: in the villages of Malaysia enterprising people have started breeding geckos. But since they are becoming scarce in Malaysia, the hunt is now on in Thailand and the Philippines. But the direction of the National parks, which also protects the wild animals, said that under the new law of 2010, raising, trading and owning geckos require a license.
According to blogs and rumours — all since proved unfounded — the geckos’ tongue and internal organs have miraculous healing potential, curing impotence and HIV. But medical sources say that these statements “are indicative of a sophisticated scam”, and the Philippine government has warned geckos cannot be used to treat AIDS, or impotence and may put patients at risk. And in Malaysia alone there are dozens of websites that cover this trade. The carcasses of reptiles are dried, pulverized and dissolved in the liquid, Tokay added to wine or whiskey for an increase in energy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Central Java: Islamic Extremists Against Christians: Five Churches at Risk Demolition
A fundamentalist group is appealing to local government, to obtain the closure of places of worship. They allege the faithful do not have a building permits (IMB). In reality, the local government refuses to release the documents, despite the clearance from provincial authorities. Threats also affect nine churches in West Java.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — An Islamic extremist group in Pracimantoro, a town in the district of Wonogiri, in central Java, has appealed to local government for the demolition of five Protestant churches in the area. The alarm is launched by Theophilus Bela, human rights activist and promoter of interfaith dialogue, according to whom that the fundamentalists complaint claims the Christian communities lack the building permits (IMB) for places of worship. The tension in the area is steadily increasing, and rumors of threats of demolition, circulating since yesterday evening in a series of documents, is not contributing to calming tempers. Previously, adds the Christian activist, extremist threats have focused on nine other churches in Bekasi regency, West Java.
The procedure for the construction of a church in Indonesia — Catholic or Protestant — is complicated and it can take five to ten years to obtain all required permits. The procedure is governed by the Izin Mendirikan Bangunan (IMB), a written resolution that allows the opening of a building site and is issued by local authorities. The story gets more complicated when it comes to a place of Christian worship: it has to be cleared by a quorum of residents in the area where the building is to be constructed and the local Interreligious Dialogue committee. And “unspecified reasons” that lead officials to block the projects, under pressure from radical Islamic movements often take over.
A document released at the weekend explains the Christian community’s reasons for concern. The Pracimantoro Islamist group is led by a religious who “ also holds the post of Head of the local Government Department for Religious Affairs.” On December 1, during a committee meeting, it emerged that the Islamic extremist group submitted a demolition request. The five churches, local sources tell, have received authorization to operate from the office for religious affairs of Semarang, the provincial capital, but have not yet been handed over the IMB.
Christians have submitted documentation to the local department of Pracimantoro, but so far officials have purposely avoided evaluating their case or granting the appropriate permissions. Churches waiting to receive permission are: the Pentecostal church in the village of Ngalu Wetana, the All Nations Church in Gebangharjo, the Protestant Church in Javanese Godang, the Bethel Tabernacle Church, also in Gebangharjo and finally, the Christian Nazareth Church in Lebak.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Lahore: False Accusation of Blasphemy Against a Christian. Fears for His Life
A builder of 25 has been falsely accused of having ripped and burned pages of the Koran by a Muslim known for his hatred toward non-Muslims. The police registered the complaint despite the intervention of religious leaders. Fanatic groups threaten to kill him.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — A Christian of 25 was yesterday accused of blasphemy in the district of Qazi, Shahdra, Lahore. Construction worker Khurram Masih, married for two months, was working at the residence of Abdul Majeed. After completing the installation of marble tile he collected some pieces of paper, newspapers and wooden boards to burn. Abdul Majeed once he saw the burnt leftovers started screaming that Khurram Masih had ripped and burned parts of the Koran. Other workers gathered, attacking Masih and dragging him to the police station.
Abdul Majeed made the request to file a complaint against Khurram Masih for blasphemy. Religious leaders, along with human rights activists gathered at the police station and tried to resolve the issue, but the officers and local residents did not want to let Masih go, and continued to insist that the complaint be upheld. And this morning a FIR (First Information Report) for blasphemy under the Pakistan Penal Code was registered against Khurram Masih.
Human rights activists, including Khalid Shahzad and Khalid Gill, were present at the police station, they asked for protection for the accused and have protested that the charge was false. Extremist groups have announced through loud speakers that a Christian had desecrated the Koran and had to be punished. The human rights activists are concerned about the safety of Khurram Masih, who is not safe in the Shahdra police station. Father Francis Xavier, of the diocese of Lahore, told AsiaNews: “It is a very sad incident, the young man was falsely accused of blasphemy. The person who made the complaint is linked to religious groups, and is known for his hatred toward non-Muslims. There have been ads in the area inciting hatred towards Christians. We fear for the life of Khurram Masih, he must be assured protection from those who want to kill him. “
The introduction of the notorious blasphemy laws in 1986, during the dictatorship of General Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan, led to an exponential increase in complaints for “desecration of the Koran” or “defamation of the Prophet Muhammad.” Between 1927 and 1986, when the “Black Law” was passed, there were only seven cases of blasphemy. Instead, the victims since 1986 have risen to over 4 thousand and the figure is increasing: in fact, from 1988 to 2005, the Pakistani authorities have indicted 647 people for crimes related to blasphemy, but in recent years, there have been thousands of cases of innocent Christians, Muslims, Ahmadis, and members of other religions who have been accused on the words of others, without the slightest hint of proof.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Accuses Iran of Introducing Terrorism in Latin America With Chávez’s Support
My translation of this article: Please link to this post and credit me if you use it.
Thank you.
EFE, translated by Fausta Rodríguez Wertz
Montevideo, December 6, 2011 (EFE) — Israel’s Vice-Prime Minister, Moshe Yaalon, stated today in an interview with Efe that Iran is creating, with Venezuela’s connivance, a “terrorist infrastructure” in Latin America for attempts against the United States, Israel and their allies.
“They mean to arm a terrorist infrastructure which will remain dormant, and at the right moment could attack American interests or targets in the USA,” and “Israelis, Jews, or any other country opposed to Iran’s political structure”, he stated. Yaalon, in Montevideo where he met Danilo Astori, Uruguay’s vice-president and other officials, used as an example of that hypothetical strategy the recently revealed plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the US.
He pointed out that that case, of which the US accused Iran, and which was denounced on November 18 at the UN General Assembly, is not the only one, as other past incidents show. “This type of terrorist infrastructure already acted in 1992 against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the AMIA Jewish organization in 1994,” also in the Argentina’s capital.
According to Yaalon, the strategy is framed by Tehran’s plans to “export the Iranian revolution, first to neighboring states”, like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, or the Palestinian territories, and “later to the West.”…
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
Malta Rescues Migrants From Dinghy After SOS
Libyan authorities intercept boat with 400 refugees
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA (MALTA) — Last night the Maltese navy rescued 40 Somalis from a rubber dinghy that was taking on water. The migrants had sent an SOS from a satellite phone. They said that they had left on Saturday from a port near Tripoli. The Libyan authorities have confirmed that they have intercepted a boat with 400 refugees from several sub-Saharan countries on board: refugees from Somalia, Ghana, Eritrea and Nigeria. The barge was intercepted by three patrol boats in Libyan waters.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
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