Greece: IMF Says No More Scope for Tax
Cuts in public spending are crucial
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, DECEMBER 14 — As Greek government officials continued talks on a second rescue package for Greece with visiting foreign auditors Tuesday, the top envoy to Athens from the International Monetary Fund said that cuts to public spending were crucial, noting that there was no more scope for taxation on an austerity-weary public. “One of the things we have seen in 2011 is that we have reached the limit of what can be achieved through increasing taxes,” IMF mission chief Poul Thomsen told journalists in a conference call as reported by daily Kathimerini. Referring to the Fund’s latest report on Greece, Thomsen said reform efforts had fallen “well short” of expectations but that it was too early to to confirm whether new austerity measures would have to be taken in 2012. He stressed however that any additional measures should “be on the expenditure side.” His comments came as government figures showed that the budget deficit in November was 20.5 billion euros, a high figure but just within the revised target of 21 billion euros set by foreign creditors. Thomsen added that a voluntary bond swap — dubbed “private sector involvement” (PSI) and currently being discussed between government officials and private holders of Greek debt — was also crucial for fiscal recovery.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Politicians Expected to Cut Their Own Pay
Rome, 13 Dec. (AKI) — The Italian Parliament must cut its own pay as an angry public eyes the the 950 lawmakers who many believe enrich themselves while doing little to improve an economy besieged by the world’s fourth-largest debt and almost non-existent growth..
According to the text of an amendment of austerity measures to cut Italy’s 1.9 trillion-euro debt and breath life into its struggling economy, Italy’s parliament must pass a decree to bring members’ pay in line with the median salary of their European counterparts.
Italian members of Parliament net between 5,487 euros and 5,613 euros a month, in addition to about 3,500 euros in monthly living expenses. By contrast, the average monthly gross pay for an Italian worker is 2,033 euros, Bloomberg News reported, citing national statistics agency Istat.
The basic salary of an Italian lawmarket is 149,215 euros annually, double the salaries of the Germans and the British, three times the salary of the Portuguese, and four times that of the Spanish, according to data collected by the BBC.
Italians are facing painful changes to their pensions and tax increases as part of a 30 billion euro package of measures to put the country’s finances back on track. Separate unions have joined forces to strike in protest of what many workers say are unfair changes that don’t equally affect the wealthy.
Angry citizens often point to their political class, calling them corrupt and ineffective and demanding they share the pain of cost cutting.
After meeting resistance, the new government of so-called technocrats led by former European Union commissioner Mario Monti backed away from a rule giving Parliament a 31 December deadline to cut their pay. No timeline has been given for the initiative.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Party of Bankers’ Prompts Warning of Political Violence
Rome, 14 Dec. (AKI/Bloomberg) — Letter bombs and bullets mailed to officials have prompted Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to warn of political violence returning to Italy.
An official with Equitalia, Italy’s tax-collection agency, was wounded in the hand and face by a letter bomb on Dec. 9, a day after Italian anarchists said they tried to target Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann with a similar device. Letters with bullets sent to Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno and Justice Minister Paola Severino were also found this week.
“Threats and intimidations represent strategies of other eras that can’t and mustn’t return,” Monti said in a Dec. 12 statement that recalled the terrorism in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, a period of bombs and bullets dubbed the “Years of Lead” that claimed hundreds of lives.
The tensions come as Monti, a former adviser for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., seeks to push through a 30 billion-euro austerity program by Christmas before taking steps next year to liberalize the labor market, a flashpoint issue that led Red Brigade terrorists to kill two officials about a decade ago.
Parliament’s Committee for Intelligence, Security Services and State Control will discuss the recent incidents at a meeting in Rome today, according to Giuseppe Esposito, the body’s deputy chairman. He said the panel will question Gianni De Gennaro, the head of Italy’s secret services.
‘Fraction’ of Threats
Monti leads a technocratic government that took over last month after former Premier Silvio Berlusconi resigned amid the deepening debt crisis. Monti’s Cabinet has been criticized by some groups, including Berlusconi’s former ally the Northern League, as the “party of bankers.”
Development Minister Corrado Passera is the former chief executive officer of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, Italy’s second-biggest bank. His deputy, Mario Ciaccia, was head of infrastructure at Intesa. Labor Minister Elsa Fornero sat on Intesa’s board.
While this week’s events “are in no way comparable to the terrorist groups of the 1970s,” the media have reported on only a “fraction” of the threats, Esposito said. “I’ve received a similar letter myself,” he said in an interview.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Italy suffered terrorism of all political stripes, from the 1980 bombing of Bologna’s railway station by neo-fascists that killed 85 people to the murder of former Premier Aldo Moro in 1978 by Marxist-inspired Red Brigade militants. That group’s most recent victims were Labor Ministry consultants Massimo D’Antona and Marco Biagi, both of whom were working on overhauling the job market when they were gunned down in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
‘Banker Thieves’
In recent days, anarchist groups have spray-painted Intesa branches in some parts of Rome with graffiti and slogans such as “Down with Banker Thieves!” On Oct. 15, protesters rallying in an “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration set fire to cars and shattered windows at banks and a supermarket in Rome. The flags of Italy and the European Union were also burned at a hotel.
Police arrested five members of far-right group Militia in Rome today. The five are accused of “actions” against Rome’s Jewish community as well as against Alemanno, Parliament Speakers Gianfranco Fini and Renato Schifani and former U.S. President George W. Bush.
Symbols of Finance
“I don’t expect a return of the Red Brigades, but there is the risk of more or less organized attacks against people or institutions that are seen as symbols of global finance,” said Federico Niglia, who teaches a course on terrorism at St. John’s University in Rome. “The technocratic government may be seen as a target in this sense, and so are the executives of banks and multinational companies.”
Monti, a former EU competition commissioner, is seeking to push through spending cuts and tax increases that bring to 80 billion euros — equal to about 5 percent of economic output — the total bill of austerity measures that Italians have been asked to swallow since June. Monti’s popularity fell four percentage points to 58 percent after presenting the measures, according to a public-opinion poll published yesterday by IPR marketing.
The latest austerity package comes as Italy’s economy, which has trailed euro-region growth for more than a decade, is forecast by the government to enter contract next year. Italy’s jobless rate of 8.5 percent rises to 29.2 percent among those between ages 15 and 24.
Labor Unions
“In the 1970s terrorists found support in labor unions, in factories, a thing that is now unconceivable,” said Giancarlo Niccolai, an official with the then-ruling Christian Democratic Party who survived a 1977 attack by terrorist group Prima Linea in Pistoia, Tuscany. “Economic crises always boost support for violent people, but I sense that union members today are much more responsible.”
The explosive device sent to Ackermann was claimed by FAI, an Italian anarchist group which has undertaken several attacks in recent years including a 2003 letter bomb to the European Central Bank, Frankfurt prosecutors and state police said in a joint statement on Dec. 8.
“The authors speak of three explosions against ‘banks, bankers, ticks and bloodsuckers,’“ the police said in the statement. “It has to be assumed that another two letter bombs may have been sent.”
The next day, Equitalia official Marco Cuccagna was injured in the letter bomb attack in Rome. Investigators are looking into possible links with the German case, Ansa newswire said, citing sources close to the probe.
Italian police investigating the letters with bullets don’t see ties with the letter-bomb cases, Corriere della Sera reported, citing law-enforcement sources. Alemanno said that because the letters sent to him and Severino were signed by different groups, he believed they were unrelated.
After the attack on Cuccagna, the Facebook page called “Stop the Extra Power of Equitalia,” which boasts 7,706 “friends,” was flooded with messages. “They’ve been far too kind,” one said. “They’ll blame the anarchists, but maybe it’s just some father forced to pay usury-level interest rates,” read another one.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bond Yields Up to 14-Year High
Monti says will rethink Tobin Tax in stormy Senate session
(ANSA) — Rome, December 14 — Italy on Wednesday successfully negotiated a keenly watched bond auction as Premier Mario Monti faced parliamentary protests against his ‘Save Italy’ austerity package aimed at recovering market confidence.
Three billion euros’ worth of five-year Treasury bonds were sold at the oversubscribed auction but the yield hit a new 14-year high of 6.47%.
Demand was 1.42 times the amount offered, compared to 1.47 at the last such auction in November.
The Monti government, which was appointed on a mandate to stop Italian financial problems feeding a eurozone crisis, has unveiled a 30-billion-euro austerity package aimed at persuading investors it can pay down the country’s huge national debt, 120% of GDP.
Illustrating amendments to the package in the Senate Wednesday, Monti was repeatedly interrupted by the populist Northern League, which waved placards saying Basta Taxes and It’s Not A Budget, It’s Robbery.
The Northern League, a former partner of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, is the only big party not supporting the Monti executive.
Monti has been criticised for allegedly not spreading the pain widely enough and unions have scheduled a number of strikes against the package.
They said Wednesday they would go ahead despite budget tweaking to protect the worse-off from some of the cuts.
Monti, who has said the package will be followed by a growth-boosting programme, claimed it was “tough but fair”.
He also told the Senate that Italy would rethink its opposition to a tax on international financial transactions, the so-called Tobin Tax.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Praises Italian Austerity
‘Important’ reforms and cuts, says German chancellor
(see related story) (ANSA) — Berlin, December 14 — German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Italy’s efforts to steer itself out of its debt crisis and do its bit to save the euro on Wednesday.
In a speech in the Bundestag, Merkel expressed satisfaction at the “important saving measures and structural reforms” in Premier Mario Monti’s austerity package, which is currently being pushed through parliament in Rome.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Banks’ Debt to ECB Close to 100 Bln Euros
+59.2% in one year
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 14 — The debt owed by Spanish banks to the European Central Bank (ECB) reached 97.970 billion euros in November, a 28.8% increase compared to October’s figure and 59.2% more than in November 2010, according to figures released today by Spain’s central bank. Debt is considered the live balance that Spanish financial bodies must repay to the ECB for financing already received. The Spanish bank’s debt last month reached its highest point since October 2010.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islam Will Protect America!
by Dr. Ashraf Ramelah
Will we ever know the extent to which President Obama’s most recent submission to the pressured demands of Islamists has endangered American national security? When the Obama administration yielded to the outcries of Muslim-American citizens and Islamic organizations recently with the removal of FBI training manuals containing certain anti-terror material deemed “offensive,” the President was either ignorant of the goals of Islam, complacent about what he knows, or notching up another win for appeasement and promotion of Islam — for now a mystery.
One persuasive player in that ongoing scenario was Salam al-Marayati, the director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and a member of the Executive Committee of the California Democratic Party and also a former Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention. He charged the FBI, which had documented facts about Islamic history and religious-political norms, with “ineptitude” in its use of erroneous and misguide d language leading to “biased and faulty policing.” Although former analysis of this event has been thorough, I wish to point out that this occurrence not only jeopardizes our safety but perpetuates the common theme that the Islam of our nation’s mosques and communities is somehow benign and different than the Islam of al-Qaeda. We must always be mindful of the motives and methods of Muslim-Americans who pressure the U.S. government for Sharia compliant revisions and what it means for our country. At the time of his op-ed article in The Los Angeles Times entitled The Wrong Way to Fight Terrorism (Oct. 20, 2011), Marayati, an Iraqi born Muslim, was on the verge of receiving very good news. Attorney General Holder would buckle under the pressure of Islamic pleas by withdrawing the FBI training manual. Contrary to Marayati’s assertion, the manuals were comprised of valuable information for American national security and served the performance of FBI officers free to do their duty under U.S. law, harming no one.
Using the method of furthering lies (Taquiyaa) and bolstering false assumptions already inserted into American culture, Marayati’s argument against the words used in the manual centered upon the absence of any link between the “cult” of al-Qaeda and the religion of Islam. Additionally he warned that facts about Islam and quotes from the Quran actually thwart the fight of terrorism because FBI use of them would lead to a breakdown of trust between Muslim-Americans and the FBI, made certain by him and those working with him.
Some argue that this would come on top of an already eroding trust between the non-Muslim and Muslim Americans because of Muslim resistance to assimilate: inching Islamic law into American courts, creating Sharia no-go zones, and adhering to Bedouin dress. But despite America’s reasons for suspicion, Marayati blames America for providing a tainted environment for Muslim immigrants asking, “How can we pe rsuade Muslim American communities to stay at the table when the food on the table is filled with poison?” — a wild accusation against Americans who have been open, friendly, polite and tolerant.
Marayati equated FBI teachings with al-Qaeda’s rhetoric of hate (law enforcement agents are on “opposite sides of the same coin of hate”), threatened that Muslims will stop cooperating with the U.S. government (“it will undermine the relationship between law enforcement and the Muslim-American community”) and distorted the facts (“baseless. .claims” contained in FBI manuals), in order to accomplish this dirty deed. The sinister point that Marayati makes is his insinuation that the harsh realities of Islam visible around the world today are based upon an Islamic religious jurisprudence which has no bearing on the workings of al-Qaeda, even as Jihad remains a pillar of all Muslim believers.
More outrageously Marayati suggested that “Muslim leaders, not FBI a gents, can more effectively battle al-Qaeda’s destructive ideas.” He justifies this by citing several incidents where Muslim-Americans have informed our government of the plots by fellow Muslims to help foil those attempts and lead to arrests. By this example alone, Marayati actually proves the legitimacy of the FBI training language he wants expunged. A man named Antonio Martinez, a convert to Islam (not to al-Qaeda) allegedly tries to blow up a military recruitment center and his whereabouts were given to law enforcement by the Maryland Muslim community. Martinez was not a Muslim fundamentalist or al-Qaeda member, proving the FBI does indeed need correct and accurate information about devout Muslims, their beliefs and their community.
After Marayati buried himself with his own argument, he brazenly concludes that America law enforcement must depend on Muslim leaders alone for their information. Marayati expects American national security at its highest level to b e placed in the hands of a “task force” of “experts” who worship and practice from the same book as al-Qaeda agents and have the same loyalties — all in the guise of promoting tolerance. He will get his way in this as well. The Muslim Public Affairs Council and CAIR have prevailed against the American people. As an American, Marayati should be considered a traitor to his country since he has propagated false impressions leading to the disarming and disabling of U.S. counter-terrorism. His efforts should have been dismissed by U.S. officials as paranoid at best, but instead were rewarded with a setback for national security — removing facts needed to fight terror (ironically as a bonus to him, facts in and of themselves now deemed a threat to national security), jeopardizing the safety of America, and demoralizing American self-defense.
Marayati and his cohorts have succeeded in expunging the “insults” about Islam from the training manuals because this is more impor tant than expunging dangerous elements from the country. Muslim supremacy, emanating from the victimhood complex inside America’s emergent Islamic community, impacts our courts, hijacks academia, and patrols free speech. So far Islamic leaders, out front and pro-active, encounter relatively little resistance from Americans just now beginning to detect the danger. Will Americans settle for a repressed society governed by political correctness waiting for Islam to build a stronghold inside our country? Immigrants living in America having once been subject to Islamic law are much more cautious than those who were born into freedom and have only known the freedom of the West. Take the word of the Copt living in America; the signs of Jihad are everywhere, seeking to dismantle our liberty and way of life. It is the Copt living in America who will speak the truth having lived it never allowing the falsehoods of Islam to dominate.
(The writer is the Founder and President the Vo ice of the Copts.)
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Land Buys a Big Tri-Faith Leap
Omaha Jewish, Muslim and Christian organizations have purchased land for neighboring houses of worship, and at least one, Temple Israel, plans to begin construction in the spring of 2012, leaders of the Tri-Faith Initiative said Tuesday. Construction also is expected to begin next year on a planned fourth building, called a Tri-Faith Center, with social, educational and conference facilities that all the groups could use. A synagogue for Temple Israel, a mosque and study center for the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture, a church for the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and the Tri-Faith Center would be built near 132nd and Pacific Streets, as part of a development on the site of the former Ironwood Country Club.
[…]
[JP note: A contender for a new category in the paraligiousympics — the Tri-Faith leap? Pray for soft landings.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Moderate Islam, Pop Culture, And the ‘All-American Muslim’ Boycott
by E.D. Kain
I think Jonah Goldberg is making excellent sense with his assessment of the ‘All-American Muslim’ controversy we discussed yesterday:
I’d bet that TLC’s All-American Muslim is a pretty dull show that borders on hagiography. But I still don’t get why anyone would get so mad about it. As I understand it, the show depicts Muslim families as more moderate, more American than some stereotypes. Is that really so horrible? I know that there’s a lot of investment in the idea that there’s no such thing as moderate Muslims. My own view is that’s not true. A better and more accurate criticism — by my lights — is that moderate Muslims are too quiet, too reluctant to become a force for reform within the larger Muslim community. If that’s the case, then shouldn’t we be relatively happy that there’s a show pointing to a better model for Muslims than extremism? Isn’t it a good thing that there’s a show celebrating the fact that you can love America and be a Muslim?
Pop culture is designed, basically, to create an impression of what is and isn’t mainstream. So we’ve seen gay culture more and more presented as basically normal in pop culture and that’s shifted the popular impression of what it means to be gay in America and pushed opinion polls in a generally positive direction. So when a show like ‘All-American Muslim’ hits television screens, the idea is basically to normalize and mainstream moderate Islam — a brand of Islam that the previous president talked about quite a bit, actually, when urging Americans to be tolerant of Muslim Americans and convincing us that the moderates in the Middle East would prevail if only we helped tipped the scales a bit. So yes, it’s weird to boycott a show that tries to push the mainstreaming of a moderate vision of Islam. But bigoted opinions are rarely, if ever, rooted in logic. Attempting to approach them from a position of reason is a bit like blowing against the wind. The only way I can imagine myself joining a boycott of ‘All-American Muslim’ is if it were tied to a larger boycott of reality television. Then again, I don’t watch reality television, so me boycotting it would be an exercise in false valor. False valor can make us feel better about ourselves, but it’s calorie-free and short on nutrients.
[JP note: The author assumes that there is a moderate Islam which can be mainstreamed — Islam is not moderate and attempts to mainstream it will have adverse consequences for the rest of the population.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Bulgarian Student Meters Away From Liege Deadly Shooting
[…]
The city is to hold a minute’s silence and a vigil at midday on Wednesday.
[JP note: Yes it’s that time again — roll out the teddybears but make sure no accurate news reports surface. Above all else do not mention Islam.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Silence and Vigil in Belgium for Liege Attack Victims
The Belgian city Liege will hold a minute’s silence at midday for the victims of the gun and grenade attack yesterday. Five people, including the gunman, are dead and it’s now known around 125 have been injured. Police are trying to work out what made 33-year-old Nordine Amrani attack shoppers in a busy square. He’d spent time in prison for previous offences but wasn’t thought to have mental problems.
[JP note: Teddybear time: from CBBC — the BBC’s children’s channel. The BBC might as well as post this on its main news channel as it treats the rest of the population as if it was composed of infants. A sidebar at this webpage advises that ‘it is ok to be upset by the news.’ Yes it is but not in the sense the BBC would have it.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Liege Killer Went on Gun and Grenade Rampage ‘Because He Feared Being Sent Back to Prison for a Sex Crime’
Liege killer Nordine Amrani murdered four people and wounded 125 others because he feared being sent to back to prison for a sex crime, his lawyer said today.
The 32-year-old convicted criminal, who was due to marry his long-term girlfriend, used grenades and a semi-automatic rifle to cause carnage in the Belgian city before turning a revolver on himself.
Among his victims was a 45-year-old cleaning lady whom he shot dead near his home on Tuesday morning, as well as a 17-month old baby boy who died in the early hours today.
Defence lawyer Jean-Francois Dister said Amrani, a Belgian from a Moroccan background, was on parole and due to be questioned by police over an ‘immoral act’ — something which would have shocked his fiancée’s Middle Class family.
With previous convictions for a range of offences, including keeping an arsenal of weapons and supplying drugs, Amrani thought another custodial sentence was likely.
This would have meant his girlfriend, a nurse called Perrin Balon, finding out about the sex allegations against him.
‘He feared being returned to prison,’said Mr Dister. ‘He called me twice on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning about it.
‘What worried him most was to be jailed again. According to my client it was a set-up by people who wanted to harm him. Mr Amrani had a grudge against the law.
‘He thought he had been wrongfully convicted.’
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Summons Dutch Ambassador Over MP’s Anti-Islamic Statements
[Note: The last sentence of the Al Ahram article is incorrect. It is not Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), who was recently banned by the Egyptian authorities from entering Egypt, but Raymond De Roon MP, one of the PVV’s foreign affairs spokesmen.]
The Egyptian foreign ministry airs its misgivings about the impending publication of a book promising to ‘examine the true nature of Islam’ by controversial MP Geert Wilders
Egypt’s foreign ministry Wednesday summoned Dutch Ambassador Susan Blankhart to protest against what it perceives to be a defamation of Islam by parliament member Geert Wilders.
According to Dutch reports, Wilders is set to release a book in April next year to “examine the true nature of Islam.”
The right-wing politician is no stranger to controversy, having released numerous statements that were deemed defamatory to Islam by the Arab and Muslim world.
His statements include accusing Islam of being violent by nature and saying that the Quran should be banned.
According to Egyptian diplomatic sources, the foreign ministry insisted it could not tolerate “such unacceptable acts that could affect the spirit of cooperation, which should prevail between countries.”
In June, a Dutch court cleared Wilders of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.
Egyptian authorities have recently banned him from entering the country during a visit of a European Parliament delegation.
| — Hat tip: The PVV | [Return to headlines] |
Fashion Model Tells Court How Mega-Rich Saudi Prince ‘Raped Her on Yacht in Ibiza’
A fashion model who claimed she was raped by a wealthy Saudi Prince has given a fresh testimony after prosecutors said some details needed to be clarified.
The 23-year-old woman, who arrived at court today in Ibiza wearing a black hat and dark sunglasses, repeated her accusation against the prince, despite what her lawyer called ‘tough questioning’.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 56 — one of the world’s richest men with an estimated fortune of £12.3billion — is accused of raping the model in Ibiza three years ago.
The alleged victim claims she was lured on to the 384ft yacht Turama after her drink was spiked in a nightclub on the island.
The prince is a leading investor in both Citigroup and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. media empire, and held 26th place on this year’s Forbes list of the world’s richest people.
He is the nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and bought London’s Savoy Hotel in 2005 for £250million.
CNN said a statement issued by the prince’s lawyer in Madrid reiterated the innocence of the billionaire.
The statement said the prince was with his family in France in August 2008, on a visit documented by his passport, mobile phone records, hotel receipts, photographs, video and eyewitness accounts.
The prince and his lawyers were not present at the hearing, but he insists he has not been in Ibiza in more than a decade, and that others have tried to impersonate him.
His lawyer Horacio Oliva said in a statement seen by CNN: ‘We strongly support the action of the Ibiza prosecutors and the judge to fully examine the false, unsubstantiated and constantly evolving story of the alleged victim, her mother and her lawyers.
‘The multiple inconsistent accounts lack even one corroborating witness nor do they present a single piece of evidence regarding [the prince].’
The two-hour, closed-door hearing included the woman, two of her lawyers, the prosecutor and the investigating magistrate who is in charge of the investigation, according to CNN.
The woman, a dual Spanish and German citizen, first made the allegation in Ibiza in August 2008, but a local judge shelved it last year on grounds of insufficient evidence.
However, after the model’s appeal to the Balearic Island Provisional Court, the lower court in Ibiza reopened the investigation last July.
It has made Prince Alwaleed a person ‘imputado’, or someone ‘under official investigation’, said CNN — which is a step short of an indictment. The prince has not yet been formally charged with any crime.
The magistrate is expected to ask the prosecutor to formulate questions that Spain will send to officials in Saudi Arabia to ask of the prince, according to CNN.
The woman’s lawyer, Max Turiel, said the prosecutor’s pointed questions treated her ‘as if she were the one under investigation and not the victim’, reported CNN.
According to an earlier court document, the woman believed her drink had been drugged and sent a text message to a friend stating as much.
She said she awoke on a yacht to find she was being sexually assaulted by a man she identified as Prince Alwaleed.
Mr Turiel told CNN last September that ‘there were remains of semen’ that should be examined against the prince’s DNA, as well as ‘remains of a tranquilizer that produced the symptoms she had’.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegians Bidding for Black Market Butter
As Norway’s butter shortage takes on ever more absurd proportions, one man in Lillehammer claims to have been offered 3,000 kroner ($515) for half a kilo of “almost unused” butter.
Lars Giæver, a local Green Party politician, placed an ad on buy-and-sell site finn.no on November 30th, just as Norwegians really began to fear the spectre of a butter-free Christmas, news website gd.no reports.
Seeking out the highest bidder, his ad promised a Yuletide status boost for the eventual recipient.
“Real Norwegian butter. Almost unused! Suits any occasion, whether you want to bake or have guests around for porridge. This is a unique product with special qualities. You won’t find it in stores. Be the envy of your friends. Get the smoothest Christmas accessory on your street!”
Giæver said he posted the ad as a joke, never actually intending to sell his treasured stash, but he has had his fair share of serious responses.
“One person was willing to pay 3,000 kroner; another wanted to pay it off in instalments,” he told gd.no.
Giæver said he found it ludicrous that the butter shortage was being viewed as a crisis situation considering the real drama facing several debt-ridden nations across Europe. Anybody responding to his advert has instead received instructions on how to make their own butter.
Unlike Giæver, however, many people really are keen to make some pre-holiday money by auctioning their butter online.
“I want 800 kronor, at least. Then I can give 400 kronor to each of my children’s sports teams,” one would-be butter vendor, Tove Li, told Norwegian paper Verdens Gang (VG).
But the black market butter isn’t just draining consumers of money, it might also be a health hazard, according to Atle Wold at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
“Food should be purchased from professional and safe vendors, not in a private environment,” Wold told VG.
For Norwegians living close to Sweden, the benefits of cross-border grocery shopping have rarely seemed so great. But Swedish exporters remain less than enamoured with what they view as unnecessary barriers to trade with their nearest neighbour.
“They (Norway) have, as we see it, very restrictive trading politics, borderline protectionist,” Jonas Carlberg at the Swedish Dairy Association (Svensk Mjölk), told daily Dagens Nyheter, adding that high tariffs were a way to protect domestic production in Norway.
On Friday, a Russian man was caught trying to bring 90 kilos of butter over the Swedish border to Norway. Having failed to pay duty on the goods, he was forced to hand over the precious consignment to customs officials.
The butter shortfall, expected to last into January, amounts to between 500 and 1,000 tonnes, said Tine, Norway’s main dairy company.
The dire shortage poses a serious challenge for Norwegians who are trying to finish their traditional Christmas baking — a task which usually requires them to make at least seven different kinds of biscuits.
The shortfall has been blamed on a rainy summer that cut into feed production and therefore dairy output, but also the ballooning popularity of a low-carbohydrate, fat-rich diet that has sent demand for butter soaring.
“Compared to 2010, demand has grown by as much as 30 percent,” Tine spokesman Lars Galtung told AFP.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Aid to Serbs Kosovo Delayed
A Russian truck convoy carrying humanitarian aid for Kosovo’s Serbian population is still stuck at the Kosovo border after daylong negotiations between Russia, EULEX and EU envoys to Kosovo proved fruitless.
The nearly five-month stand-off in the majority Serb-populated northern Kosovo has taken a new twist. A Russian humanitarian convoy was stopped by EULEX at one of the troubled border checkpoints. Moscow says it is a purely political move.
The Russian convoy, consisting of 25 trucks with humanitarian aid, including power-generators, blankets, food supplies, furniture and other necessities, had been heading for Mitrovica, the largest city in Kosovo’s Serb-dominated north. Two trucks were able to enter Kosovo through the Jarinje border checkpoint, but the rest were not allowed through by the EULEX police in charge of the post.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
What the Salafists Want: Egypt Faces a Hardline Islamic Future
By Daniel Steinvorth
The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood led the way in the first round of parliamentary voting in Egypt. Second place went to the even more hardline Salafist party al-Nour. The group would like to see the introduction of an ultra-conservative brand of Sharia — and a ban on bikinis.
It’s a good thing that the visitor is a man. The sheikh doesn’t speak with women. But then again, the reporter is a foreigner, which is also worrisome. There are so many prejudices about Islam in the West, says Sheikh Fawzi al-Sayeed. But perhaps, he adds, this conversation will help to spread the truth.
Sayeed, 70, a serious-looking man with a full gray beard, is wearing sandals, a crochet cap and the traditional Egyptian garment called the Jellabiya. He invites his guest into the Al-Tawheed Mosque. It is 6:30 a.m., and those gathered inside have just completed their morning prayers. Now they are forming a half circle around their sheikh, who has taken a seat on a wooden chair in the middle of the room. The Al-Tawheed Mosque in the northern part of Cairo is a plain-looking building with no ornate columns or other decoration; no unnecessary details to distract the faithful from their devotion to God.
As he does every morning, Sayeed asks his followers to reaffirm their devotion to the “true faith.” He also asks them to film the interview that will follow the sermon with their mobile phones. It’s purely a precaution, says the sheikh. Sayeed, an electrical engineer by trade, is one of Egypt’s best-known Salafist imams. These days, it is not always easy to recognize the friends and the foes of Islam.
Since the Salafist Al-Nour Party, or “Party of Light,” came in second place in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, just behind the Muslim Brotherhood, the world has been looking to Cairo with concern. The two groups captured about 60 percent of those seats assigned on the basis of candidate lists assembled by the parties. One third of the seats are reserved for individual candidates. It is the first phase ofthe 2011-2012 parliamentary elections, with the second round beginning on Wednesday.
The election result confirms a clear trend, namely that wherever free elections have taken place in the Islamic Middle East in recent years, the religious parties have won: in the Gaza Strip in 2006, in Iraq in 2010, and in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco in 2011.
Shocking Showing
But only in Egypt has such a radical group as the Salafists been able to establish itself as a party. This has serious implications, given that this is the most populous and culturally influential country in the Arab world; the revolutionary pulse that has been beating on Cairo’s Tahrir Square for the last 11 months can be felt as far away as Libya and Syria, Iran and the Gulf states…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Torching ‘Could Ignite Relgious War’
Residents of Jerusalem area where mosque was torched warn act threatens Jewish-Arab coexistence in city
Residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood where an abandoned mosque was torched in the early hours of Wednesday morning said the arson attack was “an act of ugly racists.”
Graffiti defaming Islam and Arabs on the building’s walls, as well as graffiti reading “price tag” were also found at the scene of the crime, less than a day after the right-wing extremist raid on the Ephraim Brigade IDF base in the West Bank. “These are crazy people who are set to ignite a religious war in the city. I hope the Arab population understands that this is a minority,” said one local. He added that vandals had already tried to torch the mosque in the past: “There are a lot of hooligans here.” The resident made it clear that “this is not our way.” Bafel, a resident of east Jerusalem who works nearby said: “Jews and Arabs can live together in this city, but not like this. We can’t have the people who did this walking the streets freely.”
MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta’al( arrived at the mosque on Wednesday And said: “Whoever carried out this act is a person with no God and no values. He is the enemy of Islam and Judaism. This is a criminal act and should be seen as an act of terror. “It is the government’s responsibility to protect the holy places. Whoever tried to burn this mosque wants to create war in this region and the government’s silence gives them a green light to do so.” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat strongly denounced the attempted arson: “We must show zero-tolerance for any kind of violence and maintain the coexistence in the city,” he said. Meanwhile, the IDF said that two Palestinian cars were set on fire in the West Bank overnight, one south of Nablus and the other near Qalqilya.
Reaching danger point
Political officials were quick to react to the recent violence, with the Head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz saying: “I call on the prime minister, the time for denouncements is over. Now it’s time for action. Put an end to this sub-criminal and terrorist activity.” In light of the recent violence, social organizations battling for Jewish-Arab cooperation and equality in Israel are demanding that the state declare a state of emergency: “It is inconceivable that we wake up nearly every morning to hear about these dangerous, unbridled rampages by right wing extremists who endanger the lives of Arabs and peace activists. “We are concerned, and hope the police shares our concerns, that the spray painting of ‘death to Arabs’ and the torching of mosques will not end with that but might actually get to the point where there are fatalities.” Dozens of Arab from Jerusalem arrived on Wednesday at the mosque and condemned the arson att acks; they expressed their anger against the Jerusalem municipality for using the abandoned mosque as a warehouse. The mosque has not been in use for a decade. Rabbi Yaakov Levy added that “These things should not be done and we as rabbis say — don’t set fire to any mosque, just like you mustn’t set fire to synagogues.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Settlers Raid IDF Base, Injure Commander
Two violent incidents recorded overnight as settlers protest expected outpost eviction: Near Ramat Gilad settlers pelt IDF commander’s vehicle with stones, causing him, his deputy light injuries; another incident sees 50 settlers raiding IDF base in West Bank. One suspect arrested
Violent night clashes: Some 300 settlers hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles on the main road near the settlement of Ramat Gilad fearing an eviction on Monday night. They also opened the door of the Ephraim Brigade commander’s jeep and pelted the vehicle with stones causing the officer and his deputy light wounds. In a separate incident, some 50 settlers and right-wing activists broke into the Ephraim Territorial Brigade’s base in the West Bank in protest of the possible eviction of several illegal outposts early on Tuesday. Once inside the base, they torched tires, hurled Molotov cocktails and stones, and caused damage to vehicles. A settler from Beit El was arrested. Police have launched an investigation.
The IDF said it expected rabbis and Yesha leaders to condemn the act. “The IDF regards acts directed against the army and its soldiers, which prevent it from focusing on its prime task of protecting Israeli civilians and residents, with great severity,” a statement said. “The IDF takes orders from the political level and will continue to uphold the law in Judea and Samaria together with the police and Civil Administration undaunted by violence directed at it.” Monday saw tensions running high among West Bank settlers, ahead of the possible eviction of outposts. Hundreds of police officers and IDF soldiers were deployed in the Kedumim area and the sector supervised by the Shomron Spatial Brigade, equipped with bulldozers. Sources told Ynet that the illegal West Bank outpost of Mitzpe Yitzhar is likely to be evacuated overnight. Hundreds of settlers and right-wing activists gathered on the premises, as well as at the nearby outpost of Ramat Gilad.
Heads of the settlement movement held intense talks on the issue with various government representatives throughout the day. Yesha Council head Danny Dayan was told that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had decided to cause negotiations held recently on the matter to break down and that forces are preparing to clear Mitzpe Yitzhar and Ramat Gilad.
MK Yaakov Katz (National Union) turned to two ministers and 20 MKs to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the matter. He claimed that Netanyahu had intervened by ordering to spare Ramart Gilad and evacuate only Mitzpe Yitzhar. Mitzpe Yitzhar is adjacent to the settlement of Yitzhar and is home to five families and 20 more singles. Some 150 members of the Hilltop Youth camped out in Ramat Gilad on Monday night intending to resist any eviction attempt.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Caught on Camera: Shocking Moment Turkish Police Beat Handcuffed Woman… And Now She Faces Jail for ‘Reckless Behaviour’
A group of Turkish policemen have sparked national outrage after they were caught on camera repeatedly slapping a woman in the face, throwing her to the ground and pulling her hair.
CCTV footage shows Fevziye Cengiz, who had been arrested after a nightclub raid for not having her ID, being beaten at the Izmir police station even after she had been handcuffed.
A high-ranking Turkish government minister is now calling for the speedy punishment of the officers — who are facing 18 months in prison for ‘causing injury through excessive force’.
Scroll down for video…
But, in a bizarre twist, Cengiz herself is facing six years in jail for ‘resisting arrest and reckless behaviour’.
Fatma Sahin, Turkey’s family and social policies minister, said: ‘The incident in Izmir is unacceptable and we definitely consider this incident as one for which the perpetrators should be punished.
‘There is political will and state authority to take the required action in a speedy way. Therefore, both legal and administrative investigations have been launched and those policemen are suspended.’
But Sahina also said the case was ‘an individual mistake’ and suggested it was not typical of all Turkish police.
Cengiz, who was dressed in shorts and a tank-top, is seen having a heated argument with two plain-clothed police officers.
Suddenly they start slapping her and yanking her hair. She is later wrestled to the ground. After being handcuffed, she is held against a wall and slapped in the face.
The incident took place in July but only provoked anger this week after the silent video was broadcast by Turkish television.
Cengiz’s lawyer Hanife Yildirim told CNN: ‘The violence against my client, which started when she was taken with the excuse that she did not have her ID, continued at the police station.
‘When I met my client almost a week later, she still had a black eye and there were other marks on her.’ Cengiz, on her release, filed a formal complaint against the police. But police pressed criminal charges against her for resisting arrest and ‘reckless behaviour’.
Yildirim added: ‘She is facing up to six years imprisonment. The charge against the policemen is ‘cause of injury through excessive force’ with up to 18 months punishment.’
The case sparked outrage throughout the media and among human rights groups in Turkey.
Coskun Usterci, of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, said complaints of police torture had actually risen in 2011.
He also argued that the exposure of Cengiz’s case was a rarity, because under usual circumstances the in-house police station video camera would have been tampered with.
The two police officers shown beating Cengiz are expected to appear in court in February 2012.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Gulf: Saudi Arabia Takes Over From UAE as Financial Hub
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, DECEMBER 14 — The United Arab Emirates have lost their place as the financial heart of region to Saudi Arabia, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.
The Saudi kingdom has come in 23rd in an international league table for financial development, ahead of the UAE and Bahrain, whose prime position in the Middle East has been uncontested until now.
Saudi Arabia has come out on top in terms of “financial stability” and, the report says, “the country’s strength is to be attributed to its banking and monetary systems as well as to the low risks associated with the sovereign debt crisis”. The stability is underwritten by the kingdom’s enormous available oil reserves.
Up to the beginning of the present century, Bahrain was the uncontested financial services hub of the regions. But over recent months the country has witnessed some of the most serious incidents of the Arab Spring, damaging its reputation for stability. For its part, the UAE had overtaken the leadership role from Bahrain from 2006 onwards thanks to dizzying growth rate. But Dubai’s upward course came to a sudden halt with the global economic crisis which has brought its real estate sector — a pivotal sector of its economy — to its knees.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Christian Couple Killed in Mosul
(AGI) Baghdad — Two Christians, a man and wife, have been killed in an armed attack in Mosul in north-west Iraq. Security forces reported the incident, saying that the killers blocked the couple’s car and gunned them down.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Hezbollah Reveals Names of Alleged CIA Agents
Washington, ‘only propaganda’
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, DECEMBER 14 — The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has started what it has defined as an “intelligence war” with the CIA. The movement has in fact revealed what it has presented as the identity of some secret agents of the American agency in Beirut, including station chief Daniel Patrick Mcfeely. But the CIA has responded from Washington that the move is nothing but “propaganda”.
Hezbollah revealed the names last week via television station Al Manar. The station mentioned the names of Mcfeely, as well as his predecessor until 2009, according to Al Manar, Louis Kahi.
“It should be pointed out” said CIA spokesperson Jennifer Youngblood, quoted by the Washington Post, “that Hezbollah is a dangerous organisation, and that Al Manar is its propaganda instrument. This fact alone should be enough to shed doubts on the credibility of these statements.” In the past days, a Hezbollah deputy, Nawwaf Mussawi, said that CIA agents were “openly having meetings in restaurants and night clubs” with their potential Lebanese informers. Mussawi has asked the government to end these activities.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar Names Its Largest Mosque After Muslim Scholar
The mosque was renamed in honour of Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahab
Manama: Qatar has named its largest mosque after Imam Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahab, the influential Muslim scholar who lived in the 18th century in today’s Saudi Arabia.
“The mosque naming directive by the Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani is in honour of the reformer’s position and a reflection of Qatar’s keenness on the revival of the nation’s symbols and civilization values,” Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Tuesday. Ibn Abdul Wahab (1703-1792) preached a return to “pure Islam” and called for purging Islam of what he considered “impurities and negative innovations.” In his teachings, he urged Muslims to uphold only “the original principles of Islam as typified by the Salaf” and to reject “corruptions introduced by bidah (negative innovations and heresy). The scholar emphasized that there could be no intercession between God and worshippers.
According to Ibn Abdul Wahab, the “Quran and the Prophet’s Sayings are the only fundamental and authoritative texts, while commentaries and examples from the early Muslims are used only to support these texts and cannot be considered independently authoritative.” Ibn Abdul Wahab’s teachings are dominant in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The new mosque in the Khuwair area in Doha can accommodate 10,000 worshippers at a time. It has a total area of about 19,550 square metres on three levels, with a land area of 175,000 square metres and incorporates traditional Islamic architectural elements. The striking feature of this domed beauty is more than two dozen big domes and as many small domes making up the upper portion of the structure.
[JP note: Not a good omen for the West and its allies.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck on Terror Show: Arab Spring Turns Islamist Winter
On this week’s edition of the Stakelbeck on Terror show, we analyze the Muslim Brotherhood’s recent success across the Middle East and North Africa, and show how the group
is making major inroads across Europe (featuring an on-the-ground report from Norway with exclusive info) and even in the United States government.
We also sits down with Israeli Defense Forces spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich to discuss the threats gathering against Israel.
And a leading Iran expert explains why the mad mullahs would not hesitate to use a nuclear weapon.
All that and much more. Click the link above to watch.
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Ambon: More Muslim-Christian Violence: 16 Injured, Houses Burnt
More unrest in the Moluccas, long-time site of sectarian clashes. Police seize weapons, including Molotov cocktails, arrows and machetes. On December 12, two wounded in an ambush. The central government condemns the incidents and calls for respect for the law. Army chief claims the situation is “under control”.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — 16 people were wounded, one from a gunshot wound to the chest, in sectarian violence in the city of Ambon, the capital of the Moluccas. At dawn yesterday two opposing factions, separated by a road, clashed in a bitter battle at the end of which some houses were set on fire. Local sources said that the violence began late in the evening of December 12, with an exchange of insults and the throwing of fire bombs between the two opposing camps. Overnight, the situation degenerated to the point of urban warfare, only quelled by police intervention. Officers seized several weapons including Molotov cocktails and “traditional” arrows, machetes and spears.
Yesterday’s clashes followed just 24 hours after a previous episode of violence: on December 12 two people were seriously injured, following a knife attack, so far the police are not able to identify the assailants. Ambon police chief, Soeharwiyono, said yesterday that the violence is linked to the events of 11 September, when street clashes broke out between the Muslim majority and Christian minority.
The clashes were triggered by the accidental death of a Muslim taxi driver. The rumor spread among the Islamic community that he had been attacked by Christians and, in street battles that ensued, nine people were killed and 60 others injured. In late September, however, the police found three pipe bombs inside the Maranatha Protestant church, near the local bus station. The intervention of bomb disposal units averted further bloodshed.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, the political controversy surrounding yesterday’s violence is mounting: Djoko Suyanto, ex army chief and Coordinating Minister for Legal, Political and Security Affairs strongly condemns the incident, at the same time, he has ordered the governor of the Moluccas and the chief of security in the region to “take appropriate measures” to contain further outbreaks of tension. In Jakarta Indonesian army chief Agus Suharto claims that the situation is now “under control”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Bogor: Offer to Move Church May be “A Fatal Trap”
The Council of Yasmin Church rejects the Interior Ministry offer to find three alternative sites for the construction of the church opposed by the Mayor of Bogor. After the Supreme Court ruling, in favor of Yasmins Church, “The Ministry of Interior must apply the law, not the contrary.”
Bogor (AsiaNews) — The Indonesian Ministry of Interior has put forward a way to end the controversy over the construction of the Yasmin Church: namely, to propose three alternative locations to the Church Council (GKI) compared to the initial site, which generated the dispute . But the Church of Yasmin Council says that changing the site is not the solution, but only adds a new chapter to a new problem.
Opposition to the church building stemmed originally from the Mayor of Bogor, Diani Budiarto, who opposes the construction and now this opposition is supported by the Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi, who said today to agree with Budiarto’s proposal: namely move the construction of the church to another place. According to Fauzi, the authorities in West Java have offered three sites that could be used for Yasmin Church, as an alternative to the place in dispute.
Yasmin Church spokesman, Bona Sigalingging however, tells AsiaNews that this option is not a solution to the problem, namely civil disobedience by Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto. Even if the authorities in West Java offered three different locations free of charge, as announced by the Minister of the Interior, the GKI would not accept the offer. “We will not accept any proposal of that type. In our opinion, any offer to move the site of the church is illegal. “ Bona complained about a series of “infringements of the law” committed by the Interior Ministry, which overlook the verdict issued by the Indonesian Supreme Court. “The state, of which the Interior Ministry is part, must apply the law, and not the opposite, offering alternative solutions to end the dispute,” he said.
The GKI’s strong opposition to the relocation project is based on two basic reasons, according to Sigalingging. The first is of a legal nature, neither the Ombudsman nor the Indonesian Supreme Court has ever issued an option to place the construction of the Church elsewhere. Then there is a historical reason. The faithful of Citeking to Bekasi in West Java, received the offer to relocate the permanent site of the church in a hall owned by the local authority from Bekasi authorities. But the continuity of Sunday services is becoming uncertain.
“We will never accept this offer, because it could be a fatal trap for a religious minority group. The faithful have received the promise of Citeking local authorities to have their church, but so far the promise has vanished in the wind. “ He also rejects claims by followers of Budiarto, that the Yasmin Church used false signatures for the permit and says this must be brought to the attention of the judges. “It is absolutely immoral and illegal that a charge based on false arguments become the basis of the government’s decision to move the site of construction,” says the spokesman of the Church Yasmin.
Here are some videos related to the issue:
youtube.com/krishidayat
youtu.be/P-yjATvkDqY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6OB35HPtM&feature=share
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtKDDyoLuwo&feature=share
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: This Won’t Make These Punks’ Day: Rock Fans Have Heads Shaved and Get ‘Cleansed’ In River in Islamic Law Crackdown
Dozens of young punk rock fans have had their heads shaved and body piercings confiscated after police in Indonesia said they were a threat to Islamic values.
The 59 male and six female music lovers were also stripped of dog-collar necklaces and chains and then thrown in pools of water for ‘spiritual’ cleansing, police chief Iskandar Hasan said.
After replacing their ‘disgusting’ clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked ‘use it’.
The 65 youths were then sent to a police school to receive mental and spiritual guidance for ten days. Only then are they are allowed to return home.
It was the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in the secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240million people to have imposed Islamic laws.
Adultery is punishable by stoning to death; homosexuals have been thrown in jail or lashed in public with canes; women are told that wearing headscarves is a must, but tight trousers are banned.
Punk rockers have complained for months about harassment, but Saturday’s round-up was by far the most dramatic treatment they have yet been subjected to.
Baton-wielding police broke up the concert, scattering young music lovers.
Dozens were loaded into vans and taken to a police detention centre in the hills, 30miles from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, for ‘re-education’.
They will be held there for at least ten days, after which they will be returned to their parents.
Fauzan, a 20-year-old punk, was mortified.
‘Why? Why my hair?!’ he said, pointing to his cleanly shaven head. ‘We didn’t hurt anyone.
‘This is how we’ve chosen to express ourselves. Why are they treating us like criminals?’
Chief Hasan insisted he had done nothing wrong.
He said: ‘We’re not torturing anyone. We’re not violating human rights. We’re just trying to put them back on the right moral path.’
Aceh was given semi-autonomy as part of a peace deal with Indonesia’s central government after the province agreed to end a separatist struggle in 2005.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Iran, Venezuela, And a Cyber Attack in the Making
From Venezuela’s El Nacional, Iran may be planning a cyber attack against the USA
The Venezuelan connection
The onslaught would be against the information technology systems of the White House, nuclear power plants and federal agencies, such as CIA, FBI, the Pentagon and the top-secret National Security Agency (NSA). Some of the meetings were held inside the Venezuelan mission in the Mexican capital city, according to the pseudo-pirate
According to Gómez, the embassies both of Iran and Venezuela were willing to retrieve the passwords to access to the nuclear power plants to “directly attack security systems.”…
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Authorities Probing Alleged Cyberattack Plot by Venezuela, Iran
U.S. officials are investigating reports that Iranian and Venezuelan diplomats in Mexico were involved in planned cyberattacks against U.S. targets, including nuclear power plants.
Allegations about the cyberplot were aired last week in a documentary on the Spanish-language TV network Univision, which included secretly recorded footage of Iranian and Venezuelan diplomats being briefed on the planned attacks and promising to pass information to their governments.
A former computer instructor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico told Univision that he was recruited by a professor there in 2006 to organize a group of student hackers to carry out cyberattacks against the United States, initially at the behest of the Cuban Embassy.
In an undercover sting, instructor Juan Carlos Munoz Ledo and several selected students infiltrated the hackers and secretly videotaped the Iranian and Venezuelan diplomats.
Reports about Iran’s involvement in the suspected plot come amid the Islamic republic’s refusal to return a sophisticated, unmanned U.S. spy plane that crashed inside its borders this month. Iranian officials have laid claim to the drone, vowing to research it for its technology.
Calling the reports “disturbing,” State Department spokesman William Ostick said federal authorities are examining the cyberplot allegations but added that U.S. officials “don’t have any information at this point to corroborate them.”
Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, called for hearings in the new year about Iranian activities in Latin America.
Some House lawmakers called for the expulsion of a Venezuelan diplomat in the U.S. who is implicated in the suspected plot.
The Univision documentary fanned fears among lawmakers that Iran’s recent diplomatic outreach in the region, particularly to Venezuela’s anti-American leftist President Hugo Chavez, might be a front for nefarious activities.
Earlier this year, U.S. prosecutors charged an Iranian official based in Tehran with trying to recruit a Mexican drug cartel to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States by bombing a Washington restaurant.
“If Iran is using regional actors to facilitate and direct activities against the United States, this would represent a substantial increase in the level of the Iranian threat and would necessitate an immediate response,” Mr. Menendez said.
An aide to Mr. Menendez told The Times that the Univision report, which also said that Iranian extremists were recruiting young Latin American Muslims, is “one of a variety of concerns we have about Iran’s efforts to engage with countries and other actors in the region.”
Next year’s hearing will examine Iran’s “political and commercial outreach, as well as more nefarious activities,” the aide said.
“We monitor Iran’s activities in the region closely,” Mr. Ostick said. “That vigilance led to the arrest of the individual responsible for the recent assassination plot” against the Saudi ambassador.
“We constantly monitor for possible connections between terrorists and transnational criminals.”…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘It’s Totally Bonkers’: Cambridge University Dons Warned Not to Shake Hands With Muslims or Disabled People in Case it Offends Them
Academics at Cambridge University have reacted with dismay after being ordered not to shake hands automatically with Muslims or disabled people in case it upsets them.
A directive sent to admissions tutors warns that some applicants are ‘culturally sensitive’ to traditional greetings and suggests that ‘suitable body language’ is just as welcoming.
A spokesman for the university said: ‘Dons should read the situation properly and bear in mind that not all people will want to shake hands.’
He said the warning related in particular to Muslim women and some people with disabilities.
Some tutors say they have been made to feel like ‘social misfits’ as a result.
One, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It seems to be totally bonkers. We know when to shake someone’s hand and when not to.’
‘All this seems to be stupid and pointless and could make interviews even more awkward.’
Sally Hunt, the University College Union general secretary, said: ‘While I am sure this advice is well-intentioned, academics are grown-ups and are intelligent enough to know when to shake a person’s hand or not.’
Cambridge University moved to integrate female Muslim students further in 2009 when it decided to allow them to wear burkas at graduation ceremonies.
By tradition, students are required to wear dark suits and white shirts under their graduation gowns.
The university had clamped down on breaches of the rules after officials complained students were increasingly wearing casual clothes to ceremonies.
But it clarified that clothing linked to religious observance, such as burkas, would still be allowed.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
3 comments:
People should abandon hand shaking altogether.
It's a useless habit that conveys germs, perfumes, and occasionally mashed knuckles via over-eager hand skakers (usually men).
Agreed. Fist bumping - "brohoofing" - is way more sanitary.
Jack of Shadows
I thought eggs were supposed to be brainfood...
a handshake is an offer of contract, and it's acceptance or refusal.
With or against
AS
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