Eurozone: ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel’ Claims Monti
Rome, 31 July (AKI) — Italian prime minister Mario Monti on Tuesday said the euro crisis was nearing “the end of the tunnel”. His comments came as hopes grow that European authorities will act to lower borrowing costs for debt-laden Spain and Italy — and figures showing record levels of unemployment in the eurozone.
“It is a tunnel but… some light is appearing at the end of the tunnel. We and the rest of Europe are approaching the end of the tunnel,” he told Italian radio ahead of a meeting with French president Francois Hollande on the eurozone debt crisis.
After their meeting, Hollande vowed “to do everything to defend, preserve and consolidate the eurozone” while Monti said “we cannot allow ourselves to take our eye off the ball, even for a moment.
Monti said Tuesday’s talks signified the will of both countries to “safely secure the euro and give a sharp push to European growth”.
Monti said he could sense “greater willingness on the part of European institutions and governments” to implement reforms agreed at an EU summit in June and to take action to help debt-ridden countries.
Plans to allow the eurozone’s bailout fund to buy government debt from Spain and Italy were one of the measures agreed at the EU’s June summit.
After Paris, Monti was due in Helsinki and Madrid as part of a tour he said would help “secure the euro and give a decisive boost to European growth.”
Monti’s optimism came as figures released by the EU on Tuesday, showed that the eurozone unemployment rate was at a record high of 11.2 percent in June and that some 17.8 million people were out of work across — two million more than a year earlier.
Italy’s jobless rate rate hit a 13-year high of 10.8 percent, with 2.8 million Italians out of work and 761,000 jobs lost over the past year.
The highest unemployment rate in the eurozone was in Spain, at 24.8 percent, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How Wall Street Hijacked TARP
TARP, according to the political rhetoric, was supposed to buy up the foreclosed mortgages that were strangling credit and bankrupting both small business entrepreneurs and working class stiffs who were impacted by the lack of financial liquidity in the United States that was caused, initially, by the collapse of Indonesia’s largest financial institution, Bank Century when it lost 6.7 trillion rupiah ($720 million). That bank failure came on the heels of the insolvency of Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia a decade earlier. The money Bank Century lost was owed to —you guessed it—America’s Wall Street banks who advanced them massive loans to modernize their infrastructure: roads and critical services to prepare them for the transnational princes of industry bringing the third world into the 21st century—with American factories and American jobs.
TARP would have repaired the economy had the funds allocated to get the damaged mortgage assets off the books of the lenders and into the hands of the Resolution Trust Corporation been solidified by legislation and not just rhetoric. TARP should have freed up credit with local banks and averted most of the financial crisis in the United States with small mortgage lenders—many of whom were declared insolvent by the Federal Reserve System. Once declared insolvent, those banks were swallowed up by the same major Wall Street Banks who caused the problem, and who needed the cash reserves of the “declared bankrupt” banks to buffer their own liquidity as the Fed funneled the TARP money to banks they viewed as “too big to fail.” Some of that money was used to buy “declared bankrupt” banks in the United States. Some of it was loaned to third world banks to keep them from going belly-up since, regardless of their size, no third world bank was viewed as “too big to fail.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Upper House of Parliament Passes €26bln of Spending Cuts
Rome, 31 July (AKI) — The Italian Senate upper house of parliament on Tuesday approved 26 billion euros of spending cut over the next three years.
In a confidence vote, Senators passed the hotly contested bill with 217 votes in favour, 40 against four abstentions.
The planned measures include a 10 reduction of staff and a cull of 20 percent of managers in Italy’s bloated public sectors, cuts to their fringe benefits and cars for public officials as well as cuts to health-care and defence spending.
The bill must now be approved by the lower house of parliament.
Labor unions are fiercely opposed to the cuts, calling then “a meat cleaver” and have promised to call a general strike on Wednesday, although prime minister Mario Monti claims the cuts are fair.
The spending cuts are part of the austerity measures rolled out by the Monti government aimed at reducing Italy’s massive public debt of over 1.9 trillion euros and slashing its unsustainable borrrowing costs.
The cuts aim to forestall a 2 percent increase in VAT that was scheduled for October.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Phoned Monti to Discuss Economic Crisis
(AGI) Rome — US president Barack Obama phoned Italian PM Mario Monti to know his assessment of the Eurozone’s situation. He also asked him about possible new developments. A cabinet press release informs so.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Second Critical Bill for Your State Legislature — 2013 Session
“Faber stated, “I think somewhere down the line we will have a massive wealth destruction. That usually happens either through very high inflation or through social unrest or through war or credit-market collapse.”
“I would say that well-to-do people may lose up to 50 percent of their total wealth.”
“Faber points out that this bleak outlook for the United States has been caused by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve’s continuous printing of new money.
“He says that the bailout and money printing will not create any long-lasting wealth or create healthy growth, and that the collapse will come on Bernanke’s watch.”
[…]
“Schiff, who famously warned investors about the housing and financial crisis in his 2007 book Crash Proof, says the Fed’s palliative efforts during the housing meltdown have made the next crisis inevitable.
“We’ve got a much bigger collapse coming, and not just of the markets but of the economy,” Schiff says in the attached clip. “It’s like what you’re seeing in Europe right now, only worse.”
“In this nightmare scenario detailed in The Real Crash: America’s Coming Bankruptcy, the current economic pause is actually the beginning of a material slowdown or recession into year end. At that point, the Federal Reserve will unleash a third round of Quantitative Easing — weakening the dollar without jump-starting the economy. As a result of dollar weakness, import prices rise, pressing the margins of corporate America. Lower margins lead to heavy layoffs, sending millions of workers into unemployment during a time when they can least afford it. Banks fail, housing collapses, and taxes are raised in a futile effort to give the tapped-out government the capital to try yet more futile stimulus.
“That’s when it really is going to get interesting, because that’s when we hit our real fiscal cliff, when we’re going to have to slash — and I mean slash — government spending,” says Schiff.
[…]
“Anyone who thinks the U.S. is in recovery should stop listening to the mainstream media and listen to John Williams. He heads up Shadowstats.com, and is one of the few economists who crunches the numbers to give unvarnished true statistics. Adjusted for real inflation of about 7%, Williams says, “GDP has plunged, and we have been bottom bouncing” ever since the financial crisis started. Williams says, “The next crash will be a lot worse (than 2008) because it will push us into the early stages of hyperinflation.” He predicts this will happen “by the end of 2014— at the latest.” Long before 2014, Shadowstats.com thinks there is a good chance of “panic selling of the U.S. dollar,” if the Federal Reserve starts another round of money printing (QE3) to save the system and the big banks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hearing on Proposed Mosque in Liberty Corner Set for Aug. 7
Plans call for new building at 124 Church Street.
Ali Chaudry, president of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, said the first public hearing on a proposed mosque at 124 Church St. in Liberty Corner is due to be held at the Planning Board meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday. On Tuesday evening, Chaudry said he would wait until the Aug. 7 meeting to discuss the details, and any changes or updates, made for plans for a newly constructed mosque to be located not far from the intersection with Somerville Road.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Islamophobia and Huma Abedin
by Amna Khalid
Islamophobia is mounting in the developed world, with a big contributing factor being ignorance. Without understanding the true religion, the West has wrongly formed an ignorant opinion of Islam, associated with terrorists who have no right to be called Muslims.
Recently, Huma Abedin, a Muslim woman, who is deputy chief of staff to Hilary Clinton was accused of having ties with radical Islam. Five prominent members of the Republican Party and congress sent a letter to the Deputy Inspector General of the State Department, accusing Hilary Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin of ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
[…]
There is an underlying fear that Islam poses a threat to the western style of life — a fear which refuses to rationalise the fact that Muslims have been living peacefully in the west for hundreds of years. This is due to ignorance and it is this ignorance about the true meaning of Islam which is in dire need of being addressed in order to avoid such fear and misunderstandings in the future.
[JP note: Long may the West refuse to rationalise Islamically and continue in its ignorant ways.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Opponents File Federal Motion to Stop Islamic Center of Murfreesboro
Opponents of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro filed a motion in federal court Monday claiming that U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell accepted “false allegations” in affirming that the controversial mosque can continue its opening process. Attorney Joe Brandon, who has represented mosque opponents in the past, said he was vexed that federal courts intervened in a local case.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Muslims Among Us
by Lily Qi
Former presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) recently took to the Senate floor to publicly denounce accusations by five of his Republican colleagues in Congress that Ms. Huma Abedine, a Muslim American and a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood that is trying to infiltrate the highest level of the U.S. government. In his powerful and moving statement, Senator McCain called the allegations against Ms. Abedine “unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated American, and a loyal public servant.” Such fear-invoked and ignorance-based attacks, as he eloquently put it, “defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it.”
Incidents like this remind us that fear of Muslims and Islam still persists and rears its ugly head all too often. This happens to be the holy month of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims worldwide, which started last July 20. Throughout the capital region, Muslim communities are hosting numerous Iftar events to celebrate the breaking of the fast, as well as to share their cultural heritage with the larger community and with fellow Muslims.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Where is Huma Abedin’s Security Clearance Form?
The head of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress (CAP) is defending controversial State Department official Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is suspected of playing a role in Obama Administration “engagement” with the anti-American Muslim Brotherhood.
Neera Tanden, president and CEO of CAP and Counselor for CAP’s Action Fund, has sent out an email defending Abedin and asking that Rep. Michele Bachmann be thrown off the House Intelligence Committee for asking questions about the vetting process that Abedin was supposed to go through.
[…]
Despite the claims of “witch hunt” and “McCarthyism” that are echoed in the liberal media, especially by Anderson Cooper of CNN, Bachmann and other members of Congress simply want to know whether Abedin’s Muslim Brotherhood connections were disclosed and/or examined when she gained access to national security information.
Their letter to the Inspector General of the State Department points out that Abedin “has three family members—her late father, her mother and her brother— connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations,” and that “Her position affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy-making.”
The matter can be resolved, if the media are truly interested in getting to the bottom of the controversy, by demanding access to Abedin’s Standard Form 86, which she was supposed to fill out before getting her State Department job. House Speaker Boehner could also demand a copy.
[…]
CAP, however, works openly with Al-Jazeera. When CAP released a report that purported to examine a conservative network of people and groups described as “Fear Inc.” and said to be guilty of “Islamophobia” toward Muslims, one of the authors, Wajahat Ali, went on Al-Jazeera to promote the claims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
30 Mosques in 30 Days: A Ramadan Project
Himy Syed has set himself some lofty goals this Ramadan: to break fast at 30 mosques in the GTA over 30 days and not gain any weight in the process. It helps that he gets to most of his destinations by bike. Already, over the course of the month in which Muslims abstain from drinking and eating from sunrise to sunset, he has made his way to 10 of the city’s mosques, or masjids in Arabic, and has been blogging about his experience so far at 30masjids.ca.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Clinton Warns: The World is Watching You
The US warned the world was sliding backwards on religious freedoms, criticising violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt and citing European laws banning Muslim veils.
As the State Department unveiled its first full report on religious freedoms since the start of the Arab Spring, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was a signal to the worst offenders that the world is watching. “New technologies have given repressive governments additional tools for cracking down on religious expression,” she told a US think-tank, adding that pressure was rising on some faith groups around the globe. “When it comes to this human right — this key feature of stable, secure, peaceful societies — the world is sliding backwards.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
French Summer Camp Workers Dismissed on First Day of Ramadan
Four Muslims have been sacked from a French children’s summer camp for fasting during Ramadan, it has emerged.
The dismissals have infuriated Islamic groups who believe that the new Socialist government has done nothing to reverse nationwide discrimination. All of the workers were employed by the local council in Gennevilliers, a Paris suburb, and were running a sports camp in Port d’Albret, in the Landes region of south west France. They were formally dismissed earlier this month however when Gennevilliers council officers decided that their ‘lack of nourishment’ between dawn and dusk was putting health and safety at risk. A Gennevilliers spokesman said: “They did not respect the terms of their contract in a manner that could have endangered the physical safety of the children they were responsible for. This lack of nourishment and hydration could have resulted in these employees not being in full possession of the means required to ensure activities at the camp were correctly and safely run, as well as the physical safety of the children in their charge.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
French Summer Camp Workers Sacked Over Ramadan Fast
Were told they were endangering children’s safety by not eating or drinking
Paris: France’s main Muslim body yesterday angrily condemned a town council’s decision to sack four summer camp workers for fasting during Ramadan as “arbitrary and discriminatory.” The four workers, who had been employed temporarily by the town of Genevilliers in the Paris suburbs to help run a sports camp in southwestern France, were dismissed on July 20, the first day of Ramadan, after being told they were endangering children’s safety by not eating or drinking between dawn and dusk.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Neglects Art Treasures
Uninventoried assets and murky spending. Court of Auditors bewails lack of any estimate of museum holdings
ROME — The code name was “Giacimenti culturali” [Cultural Resources] but even today the doubt remains. When they named the project to catalogue Italy’s artistic and built heritage, did they know they were talking about the Bel Paese’s equivalent of crude oil or was it because the whole affair would be a goldmine for privately owned IT firms? Any trace of the L.2,110 billion (€2.1 billion) allocated since 1986, when Bettino Craxi was prime minister, has long evaporated.
COURT — Twenty-six years later, all that is left is a wry comment from the Court of Auditors on page 310 of the memorandum by prosecutor general Salvatore Nottola. In the conclusion of his report on the national accounts, approved on 28 June, he notes: “Despite a number of attempts to secure a reliable listing of cultural assets, there is today no definitive catalogue, particularly for archaeological remains. Moreover, there is no estimate of how much works held by the great public museums are worth”. Many of those works are shut up in storerooms. Like an example? Let’s take Italy’s most visited museum, and one of the most popular in the world in terms of visitors to floor area ratio, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Auditor Francesco D’Amaro, author of the chapter on cultural assets in Nottola’s report, points out that the Uffizi puts 1,835 works on display while “keeping about 2,300 in storage, exhibiting only 44%” of the works it holds. Display space is one of the problems but not the only one. According to a study by The European House Ambrosetti, the Uffizi has four times as many visitors per square metre as the Louvre (45.8 against 11.8), although absolute visitor numbers are hardly comparable.
TICKETS — Last year, the Uffizi issued 1,369,300 paid entrance tickets, and gave away a further 397,392, for total takings of €8.6 million. In the same period, the Louvre issued more than eight million tickets, raking in more than €40 million. Some say that Italy has an overabundance of cultural assets. There are just too many buildings, archaeological sites and works of art to look after. The Court of Auditors reckons Italy has 3,430 museums, 409 of which are in Tuscany, 380 in Emilia-Romagna, 346 in Lombardy and 302 in Lazio. Then there are 216 archaeological sites, 10,000 churches, 1,500 monasteries, 40,000 assorted castles, towers and fortresses, 30,000 stately homes, 4,000 gardens, 1,000 major historic town centres and more besides. We should also add the 4,381 publicly owned historic buildings currently used as office space. At least in that case, we know their precise value for they are entered in the books as being worth €16,697,086.283. It goes without saying that managing this immense heritage is a challenge. It’s also a responsibility towards the rest of the world, considering that Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country: 45 out of 911.
MAINTENANCE — Yet the way Italy treats this immense treasure trove is distressing. Point one is “long-standing, widespread deficiencies in the maintenance conditions of archaeological sites, often managed by special commissioners with powers to waive ordinary administration, which engender a lack of transparency in spending procedures”, says the report. This is a clear reference to the special commissioner appointed for Pompeii, an episode the auditors have previously criticised in no uncertain terms. The report concedes that economy ministry-imposed cuts to staff and maintenance resources are contributory causes but finds fault with various heritage superintendencies, pointing out that “a certain inability to manage spending on the part of peripheral offices of the cultural heritage ministry has led to the build-up of substantial amounts of cash in hand, albeit due in part to the slowness of tender procedures and delays in the arrival of central government funds”. There’s a limit to how far a shoestring budget will stretch…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Massive Evacuation in Oslo After Bomb Scare
OSLO, July 31 (Xinhua) — Oslo police conducted a massive evacuation in the city center surrounding the U.S. embassy on Tuesday after a suspicious object, which later turned out to be a practice bomb, was found under a Ford car driven by a staff member of U.S. embassy. People from the U.S. embassy, the royal palace and its surrounding gardens, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the parliament and other buildings within a radius of 500 meters were ordered to leave immediately at 11:50 local time (0950 GMT) in what was believed to be the largest ever evacuation operation in the city since July 22, 2011 when a car bomb hit the government quarter in downtown Oslo.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Teachers Who Belong to Far-Right Groups Could be Kicked Out School
Scotland’s teaching regulator is facing calls to strike off members of the profession with links to far-right groups such as the British National Party and the Scottish Defence League.
Members of the country’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), have tabled a motion to their upcoming AGM calling on the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Government to “minimise the influence” of such groups in schools.
However, it is expected that delegates at this week’s meeting will go a step further and call for members of the profession with links to extremist groups to be removed from the teaching register.
Currently, teachers working in Scotland’s schools do not have to declare whether they are the member of a political party or other such group.
The General Teaching Council for England was axed after it failed to take action against a BNP activist who described immigrants as “savage animals” on an internet forum.
Michael Gove, the UK government’s education secretary, said the organisation had “failed to protect” children from extremism by allowing Adam Walker, a technology teacher from County Durham, to remain on the teaching register.
The motion going before this week’s EIS AGM calls on the union to condemn the activities of the BNP and SDL and approach the Scottish Government and GTCS “with a view to identifying means by which the influence of such organisations could be minimised within all educational establishments in Scotland”.
A GTCS spokesman said: “GTC Scotland recognises the democratic principles of freedom of expression and fairness, and the right of a teacher to have a private life. Consequently, the privately held political preferences of a teacher are not normally of interest for GTC Scotland.
“However, the GTC Scotland code of professionalism and conduct establishes very clear expectations of the professional behaviour of teachers; and any breach of the code can lead to a requirement for GTC Scotland to investigate the fitness to teach of an individual teacher.
“GTC Scotland would certainly be concerned if a teacher became involved in activities which are inconsistent with the code and/or if there were evidence that unsuitable or inappropriate material or attitudes had been shared with pupils. In particular, GTC Scotland would never condone the expression of racist or other inappropriate views in the classroom and would view seriously any attempt by a teacher to impose extreme views on pupils.”
Among the other motions set to be discussed by the union is one condemning the “abuse and harassment” faced by teachers through the internet and social networking sites.
It calls on internet service providers to take action against any sites found to be hosting such material.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Top Violinist Reunited With Lost Stradivarius
GENEVA — The absent-minded passenger who left a Stradivarius violin worth millions of euros on a train in Switzerland last week was identified as a top concert violinist by the BernerZeitung Wednesday.
Alexander Dubach, an acclaimed exponent of the works of Paganini, forgot the precious instrument on Friday when he got off the suburban train at Bern, near his home in Thun.
It was handed in at the station’s lost-property office on Sunday after a police appeal for help.
Pascal Tretola, the fellow passenger who returned the violin, told the paper that he had not been able to take it back any earlier because he had to work on Saturday.
“There were some drunks in the train, which is why I took the violin case to make sure nothing happened to it,” he said, adding that he had suspected it was valuable.
When he heard the police appeal, he was “very surprised”.
Dubach, who does not own the violin, was very relieved. “I would never have been able to repair the damage,” he said, vowing never to transport it by himself again.
“I will pick it up just before a concert and give it back straight away afterwards,” he said.
The violin’s owner, who wants to remain anonymous, told the paper and he and Dubach would reward Tretola amply even though he “had not asked for anything.”
Around 600 violins made by Italian master craftsman Antonio Stradivari are still in existence. One fetched about 11 million euros ($13.5 million) in a 2011 charity auction for victims of the Japanese tsunami.
In 2008, a US violinist left a $4-million (3.2-million-euro) Stradivarius in the back of a New York cab. The cabbie returned the violin to its owner.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Halal Games and Anti-Jihad War Apparatus in Islamized London
by Enza Ferreri
London is the most Islamic city to have hosted the Olympic Games ever. There are at least 1 million Muslims thought to live in London, although the figure is likely to be higher.
And these Olympics will be dominated by Islam in more than one way. London 2012 are the first Games to which every participating country has sent female athletes. Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar had never sent women to the Olympics before. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), under pressure from human rights groups, wanted female athletes from Muslim countries to participate, and threatened Saudi Arabia with a ban in order to achieve that result.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Londoners Have Abandoned Their City
by Janet Daley
So the Games have managed to achieve what even Hitler failed to accomplish with the Blitz: the total evacuation of London’s working population. Well, not quite total. There are plenty of poor devils who are still trying to scratch a living in the wasteland of empty restaurants, shops and streets. The trouble is that the the usual customers — the great mass of people who normally commute into central London every day — have been terrorised into staying away by a hugely successful Transport for London promotional campaign. (For months, the Underground has been covered in posters adorned with cute cartoons of eager youngsters cycling or hiking, captioned “You may find it easier to walk or cycle to your destination during the Games”. From where, Surrey?)
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mosques Bid to Help Nelson Needy Kids
SIX mosques in Nelson have joined together to launch a new campaign to help families who are struggling to feed their children. The Feeding Pendle and Beyond project has seen the mosques each allocate specific deposit days when non-perishable foodstuffs can be brought to the premises. In addition, four public deposit points have also been assigned at various addresses in the town. The food is then gathered together by volunteers from Inspiring Grace, a local, non-profit, community action group, and transported en-masse to already established food banks at St Phillips Church, Christ Church and the Salvation Army. Tahir Anwar, project leader, said: “When we at Inspiring Grace were made aware of the scope of the problem we did not hesitate to lend a hand.
[…]
[JP note: Poverty jihad.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Guard Sunderland Mosque Meeting as Controversial Plans Are Approved
A MOSQUE will be built on the site of a transport depot after controversial plans were approved last night. Police were on hand to ensure the planning meeting at the 
civic centre went ahead peacefully, amid fears of protests as tensions ran high over the Millfield proposals. Since they were announced last year, the plans to convert the transport depot in St Mark’s Road into an Islamic place of worship have attracted 671 letters of objection and a 1,462-signature-strong petition about potential parking and noise problems.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sunday Express Apologises to School for Islamic Fanatics Claim
The Sunday Express agrees to pay damages to the London school King Fahad Academy over the false claim it was teaching extreme Islam
The Sunday Express has apologised and paid damages to a London school it falsely claimed taught an extreme form of Islam. Northern & Shell’s Sunday title published a front-page story on 12 June 2011, headlined “Spies in schools to hunt fanatics”, in which it wrongly stated that the King Fahad Academy in Acton, west London, taught extreme Islam.
The article, which was also published on the paper’s website, falsely suggested that the academy school had been infiltrated by Islamic fanatics.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
120 Christian Families Flee Egyptian Village Following Death of a Muslim
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — The sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians which took place last week in the village of Dahshur has prompted over 120 Christian families to flee their homes today after news that a Muslim man who had suffered 3rd degree burns in the incident died this morning in a Cairo hospital. Before his death, the father and brother of Moaz Hassab-Allah told the media yesterday that should he die, “the whole village will avenge his death.”
Coptic villagers were terrorized today after a Muslim Brotherhood cleric roamed the village vowing that the village church of St. George will be burned down, its pastor and all the entire Christian inhabitants killed and their homes torched after the burial of Moaz tonight, reportd Coptic activist Maariam Ragy.
Coptic professional garments presser Sameh Samy accidentally burned the shirt of his Muslim client Ahmad Ramadan. “They agreed to meet after the Muslim breaks his fast and settle the damage,” said father Takla of St, George’s church to MidEast Christian News, “however, Ramadan came back before the appointment.” He added that after breaking their Ramadan fast nearly 2000-3000 Muslims congregated; Mr. Samy locked his launderette and his home.
Fighting broke out between the Muslims and Sameh’s family, during which Molotov’s cocktails, firearms and knives were used. The priest explained that Sameh faced this huge mob in “self-defense,” threw a Molotov’s cocktail which hit the passer-by Moaz.
“This made the villagers extremely angry and they torched his home and his launderette and his brother’s home after they looted the contents, a loss of nearly 400,000 Egyptian pounds. They prevented the fire brigade from reaching the fire,” said Takla. The mob wounded Sameh, his father, his cousin and another Copt. Father Takla said that over 500 moderate village Mulims stopped the Salafist mob from storming the church, until security forces arrived and secured it.
Prosecution ordered the arrest of five Muslims, while Sameh Samy, his father and brother were detained pending investigation on charges of attempted murder and possession of explosives. Today, prosecution renewed their detention for 15 days and changed the charged to contemplated murder. No Muslim has yet been arrested.
In another incident in Shubra el Khayma, Qaliubya province, On July 26, Dr Maher Ghaly looked out from his window at dawn and asked a group of Muslim Salafis who have a shop in the same building not to fire their weapons in the air in celebration of another day of the Ramadan fast. He explained to them that in his household there are sick persons and children who are greatly disturbed. “Their answer was to shoot at him. One of his eyes was blown away and there is no hope of replacing the cornea in his other eye,” said his brother Fayez. He said that the Muslims wanted to break the main building door and go to his flat but were unable. “Although the police issued a report, they have done nothing to arrest the culprits.”
Dr. Ghaly is hospitalized in the French hospital in Cairo.
Two days ago, a Muslim attacked a church in the area of Sheikh Zayed, Qaliubya. Prosection did not make any charged against him as he is “mentally unstable,” and was subsequently released.
“Simce Morsy became President of Egypt, there is systematic persecuion of the Copts, “ said Dr. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization. He said that in the last ten days of the Muslim Ramadam fast, twelve incidents took place against the Copts, including the arrest of the six Copts in Dahshur, while no Muslim was arrested.
“Displacement of Copts has become fashionable,” said Gabriel. “Now any small melee between a Muslim and a Copt is used by Islamists, turning it into a sectarian incident, pushing for Coptic arrests, torching of their homes or enforced displacement, while not a single action is taken against the Muslim culprits.”
By Mary Abdelmassih
| — Hat tip: Mary Abdelmassih | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Grand Sheikh — Azhar Keen on Following Up Causes of Muslim Minorities
Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmed El-Tayyeb said during a meeting with India’s Ambassador to Egypt R. Swaminathan that Al-Azhar is keen on following up the causes of Muslims, especially the problems which face minorities, topped with the problems which minorities face like in Myanmar. The Grand Sheikh affirmed that the cooperation between Al-Azhar and India dates back to more than 1,000 years and is a model of cooperation between the two countries. The best evidence for this is Al-Azhar’s dedication of a hall for the Indian citizens that was called “Indians Hall”.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Man Dies After Christians, Muslims Clash in Egypt
CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says a 25 year-old Muslim man wounded in sectarian clashes with Christian villagers has died. The clashes broke out Friday south of Cairo when villagers hurled fire bombs at each other in a quarrel that started when a Christian laundry worker burnt a Muslim’s shirt.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Makes Overture to Israel
Egypt’s new Muslim Brotherhood president has made a key overture to its neighbour Israel, writing its president a letter in the Islamist leader’s first official contact with the Jewish state.
The unexpected gesture was seen as a response to critics who predicted that the Muslim Brotherhood would abandon Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel in pursuit of a policy of Islamic radicalism. President Mohammed Morsi replied to a letter of congratulations on his election by the Israeli president, Shimon Peres. Mr Morsi, who was elected president at the end of June, pledged to work towards reviving the Middle East peace process.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: The Brotherhood’s Patient Jihad
How can Morsi commit to keeping his country’s treaty with Israel when his religious beliefs preclude it?
Mohamed Morsi’s recent election as president of Egypt has proved to be a matter of concern. A candidate from the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, many fear that Morsi’s victory, along with the Brotherhood’s parliamentary successes, will threaten Egyptian-Israeli peace. More generally, it is unclear whether the Brotherhood, now empowered in its native state, will prove a moderating or destabilizing force in the Arab world. And so observers listened carefully to Morsi’s inauguration speech, in which he seemed to be addressing these two concerns. Part of his speech, widely interpreted as a reference to future relations with Israel, emphasized “the state of Egypt’s commitment to international treaties and agreements.” More broadly, he declared that “we carry a message of peace to the world.” Encouraging as these statements may be, in fact they accord neatly with the Brotherhood’s sophisticated strategy for dealing with outsiders. That strategy is laid out comprehensively in Mustafa Mashhur’s Jihad is the Way.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: U.S. Supports Egypt’s Democratic Transition: Panetta
CAIRO, July 31 (Xinhua) — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reiterated here on Tuesday Washington supported legitimate peaceful transition to democratic rule in Egypt in his talks with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. “The U.S. supported strongly a democratic future in Egypt,” Panetta told reporters. He noted the United States will do what it has promised to help the Egyptians to find more jobs and improve its economy and expand the welfare with economic aids.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Seven Iranian Aid Workers Kidnapped in Libya: ICRC
TRIPOLI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Seven Iranian aid workers were kidnapped Tuesday in Libya’s Benghazi, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official has confirmed to Xinhua. The seven men, from the Red Crescent Society of Iran, were hauled away from their vehicle on the way back to their hotel by unknown kidnappers in the port city, said the Libya branch of the ICRC.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Jerusalem, Romney, And Obama
Americans who identify with Israel, and who are looking for another reason to vote against Barack Obama, can find it in Monday’s headlines. “The White House: Romney must explain why he said that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.” Palestinians responded even more forcefully. Not only did they object to Romney referring to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. They insisted it is Palestine’s capital. Palestinians also objected to Romney’s praise of Jewish culture, linking it to Israel’s economic development, and saying that he would move the US Embassy to Jerusalem if he were elected.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
West Bank to Host Conference for Non-Aligned Movement Summit
RAMALLAH, July 29 (Xinhua) — The Palestinian city of Ramallah is to host a Non-Aligned Movement conference preparing for the international summit that will be held in Iran next month, Palestinian official said on Sunday. The Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) , Riyad Al-Maliki, announced the meeting will be held on the August 5 and will be attended by the foreign ministers of most of the Non-Aligned Movement members.
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17 Killed in Clashes at Yemen’s Interior Ministry
SANAA, July 31 (Xinhua) — At least 17 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in clashes between the security forces and gunmen belonging to a group of army defectors at the Yemeni interior ministry on Tuesday morning, officials and medics said. “A total of 11 soldiers’ bodies have been brought to the police hospital and dozens of others were receiving treatment,” doctors at the hospital told Xinhua. “The security forces arrested 28 soldiers of the defected army who were dressed in security force uniforms and found six bodies of the defected soldiers inside the interior ministry building,” the interior ministry said. “The central security forces have taken control of the ministry building after dozens of defected soldiers fled the scene,” it said. Police officials said the clashes erupted after troops of the defected First Armored Division and gunmen loyal to opposition tribal leader Sadiq al-Ahmar entered the headquarters of the interior ministry late on Monday.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
23 Dead in Attacks Across Iraq
Bombings and clashes killed 23 people in Iraq on Tuesday, security and medical officials said, after al-Qaeda’s Iraq front group announced a new offensive in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The latest violence brings the number of people killed in attacks across the country in July to at least 280, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources. An interior ministry official said two car bombings in Baghdad’s central Karrada area, one of them a suicide attack, killed 12 people, among them seven police, and wounded 47, among them 10 police. A medical official put the toll at 19 killed, including five police, and 50 wounded, among them 10 police.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Forty Syrian Policemen Killed in Aleppo Attacks
(AGI) Beirut — Some forty Syrian policemen have been killed in an attack on two police stations in Aleppo. According to the Syrian Human Rights Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman “hundreds of rebels attacked the Salhin and Bab al-Nayrab police stations, killing at least 40 policemen. The fighting went on for hours.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Kill TV Presenter at Home in Northern Iraq
Mosul, 31 July (AKI) — Gunmen shot dead a young Iraqi television presenter at his house in northern Nineveh province’s capital Mosul, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.
Ghazwan Anas was killed and his wife and four-month baby were injured in the attack when the gunmen broke into the family’s home in an eastern district of Mosul on Monday, before fleeing.
Anas, 29, worked for the Sama- al-Mosul TV channel, owned by Nineveh’s provincial government. It was was launched in 2011.
The Iraqi Union of Journalists condemned Anas’s assassination and urged provincial security forces to bring his killers to justice.
More than 280 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the US-led war in March 2003, according to the union.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Fighting Breaks Out in Damascus Christian Suburbs
Fighting between soldiers and rebels has broken out for the first time near two Christian districts of Damascus, according to reports.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting began at dawn on the outskirts of the Bab Tuma and Bab Sharqi neighbourhoods. One soldier was reportedly killed. “This is fighting in areas where it has not happened before. These are areas where the rebels have so far not had access,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel rahman said. Bab Tuma and Bab Sharqi are traditional Christian quarters in the Old City of Damascus, previously popular with tourists and the location of several hotels. They have also been the scene of several pro-regime protests in the past.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Taliban Kept at Bay by South Yorkshire Soldiers
FIERCE fighting involving South Yorkshire soldiers has opened up a new front in the battle to drive Taliban insurgents from civilian areas of Afghanistan. Members of Third Battalion The Rifles, which recruits from Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, are stationed around Nad-e Ali district in Helmand. They have experienced prolonged battles, lasting up to 12 hours at a time, with close shaves including soldiers being shot in their helmets, armour and even GPS wristwatches.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Burma: Global Islamic Body Urges Aid to Myanmar Muslims
(Reuters) — The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a group of 57 member states, urged the Muslim community around the world to give political, humanitarian and financial aid to the victims of violence in northwest Myanmar.
“This is a large humanitarian crisis but unfortunately the international and Muslim communities are mostly unaware of the dimensions,” Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a news conference on Tuesday. “In this holy month I call upon all the Muslims…to extend aid for this issue.”
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India: Four Pune Blasts, One Injured, On a Night When Sushil Shinde Was Expected
Pune this evening saw four low-intensity blasts in a span of nearly 40 minutes on its busy Junglee Maharaj Road in the heart of the city. Two other bombs have been defused by the Anti-Terror Squad. All the bombs were placed within a kilometre. At least one person has been injured. He has been taken into custody.
Home Secretary RK Singh told NDTV that the injured person is being treated as suspect and questioned by the police. Mr Singh also said that a terror angle cannot be ruled out as it appears to be a planned attack.
Sushil Kumar Shinde, who took over today as India’s Home Minister, was scheduled to be in the city tonight to preside over a prize-giving ceremony. He cancelled his plans at the last minute. “The blasts were of low-intensity. I was supposed to be at the Tilak Theatre, very near to where one of the blasts took place. At this moment, I cannot say anything more. It is now a matter of inquiry, “ he told reporters in Delhi.
The explosions took place between 7.37 and 8.15 pm during rush hour in the heart of the city on Junglee Maharaj Road, crowded with restaurants, shops and the large Sambhaji Park, popular for family outings in the evening. The blasts took place outside the Balgandharva auditorium used to stage plays, at a statue near that theatre, opposite a McDonalds outlet and near a bank. One of the bombs, placed on a cycle, was hooked up to sophisticated circuitry, say sources.
In Mumbai, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan called a meeting with senior officials to step up security for the financial capital. “Two teams from the NIA will reach Pune. Bomb disposal experts also. All experts to come to Pune and find out what device it was and what was the motive. When we know anything more concrete, we will share… Request people not to panic,” he said.
After the blasts all cities across India are on high alert. A bomb disposal squad swept Jantar Mantar in New Delhi where Anna Hazare and his activists are on a hunger strike, supported by a large crowd…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Kepaon’s Muslims Hold ‘Megibung’ Feast
The Kepaon Islamic village in Denpasar hosted on Monday night a megibung, the ancient tradition of a communal feast prior to the Idul Fitri holiday, which has been performed for hundreds of years. Every 10th, 20th and 30th day during the fasting month of Ramadhan, hundreds of Muslim devotees in the village gather at Al Muhajirin Mosque to perform the megibung to congratulate members of the community who have completed the reading of the entire 30 juz (sections) of the Koran, also known as khataman.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Police Charge Indian Journalist With Conspiracy in Bomb Attack on Israelis
Police have filed charges in an Indian court accusing a journalist of conspiracy in a bomb attack that wounded an Israeli diplomat’s wife in New Delhi in February.
A magistrate will hear arguments soon by prosecutors and defence attorneys on whether to formally charge and try Syed Mohammad Kazmi. The 50-year-old freelancer who reportedly worked for Iranian news organisations is the only person arrested in the investigation.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Senior Taliban Leader Captured in S. Afghanistan: ISAF
KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — A senior Taliban leader was captured by a joint Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) security force in southern Zabul province Tuesday, the ISAF forces said Wednesday. “An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a senior Taliban leader in Tarnak wa Jaldak district, Zabul province, during an operation yesterday,” the ISAF said in a press release providing daily operational updates to the media. The senior Taliban leader organized a complex Improvised Explosive Device (IED) network responsible for multiple IED attacks in the region, the release said without disclosing the name of the leader.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mundine Blames Prejudice for Closure of Prayer Room
A MUSLIM prayer room in use in a house in South Hurstville for more than 20 years is facing closure because neighbours have complained about parking and noise. But Anthony Mundine, the former footballer and world boxing champion who used the prayer room, believes the problem is prejudice, not parking.
Mr Mundine’s mother, Lyn, lives next door to the home he considers his local mosque, which belongs to the El Maneh family. He stays at his mother’s when he is in training for fights and lives at nearby Blakehurst. He said the street was big and wide, and every house had off-street parking, so was “baffled” by the objections. “I think it is just an excuse to shut the mosque down”.
Mr Mundine said Muslims have “the worst rap on a Western scale than anybody. All that is shown is negativity; all that is shown is terrorism. I am sure if there was a church there, there would not be any petitions”.
Alex Psarras, one of those who complained to Kogarah Council about the prayer room, has lived next door for 35 years. He said the El Maneh family were “very, very good neighbours” and it was nothing personal, but he was concerned the number of people attending was growing.
Kogarah Council’s director of planning and environmental services, Rod Logan, said the council cautioned against further use of the site for public worship after temporary consent lapsed in March. A new development application has been lodged but will not be determined until after council elections in September, Mr Logan said.
The earlier consent restricted the number of attendees to 40. Prayer times were confined to 90 minutes at Friday lunchtimes and an hour each night during Ramadan.
Mr Logan said the council had received petitions with 16 households for and 23 against the application, but this was not reliable because many signatures appeared both for and against.
Amin Nasser of Hurstville, representing the El Maneh family, said he had never counted more than 46 people attending at a time, and all were local residents or employees. He said the family was content to accept the earlier restrictions permanently. He said they didn’t want any trouble.
Mr Mundine said the closure of the prayer room made it more difficult for him to practise his faith. But it was worse for the elderly who “relied on this mosque and can’t get to other mosques”. There were typically 50 to 80 people at the prayer sessions he had attended, Mr Mundine said.
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: a Comedian Well-Known for Poking Fun at Al-Qaeda Linked Shebab Insurgents Has Been Shot Dead in Somalia.
Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale, thought to have been 43, was killed in Mogadishu late last night.
He was targeted minutes after leaving Kulmiye radio station, where he worked as drama producer and performer.
‘Two men shot and seriously injured Marshale… the comedian was later pronounced dead,’ said police lieutenant Mohamed Gaal, adding that ‘unfortunately the assailants escaped’.
The shooting of Marshale, who also worked for the London-based Universal TV station and who reported having received death threats on several occasions, is the latest in a string of apparently targeted killings against media workers.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Immigrants Stage Protest Demonstrations Around Reggio
(AGI) Riace — A group of immigrant workers took to the streets in the city of Riace, in the province of Reggio Calabria, to urge for the allocation of the funds earmarked for them.
Protesters used garbage containers to block traffic on state road 106, causing major jams in the whole area.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Microsoft to Phase Out Hotmail, Focus on Outlook E-Mail
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s biggest software maker, will introduce a new, free Web-based e-mail portal under its Outlook brand and phase out Hotmail over time as it seeks to draw users from Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Gmail.
A preview of the new service went online today and Hotmail probably will be phased out in the next year, said Brian Hall, a general manager in Microsoft’s Windows group, in an interview.
By going with Outlook, Microsoft is trying to capitalize on the brand behind the most-used corporate e-mail service, sold as part of its Office suite. While Hotmail is the world’s most popular Web-based e-mail provider, it has lost ground in the U.S. to Google and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) as well as other, newer methods of communication, such as social media.
“E-mail is one of the only areas in technology that’s gone eight years without a significant change — the last big move was the release of Gmail — and for us it’s maybe been even longer than that since our last big change,” Hall said. “None of the social networks existed then, and the types of e-mail we get have changed.”
Hotmail was the only one of the top three Web-mail services to lose unique visitors globally in the year through June 2012, falling 4 percent, according to ComScore Inc. (SCOR) Yahoo Mail gained 2 percent and Gmail increased 17 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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