Euro-Architect Hints at Greek Exit
Former European Central Bank (ECB) chief economist and German central banker Otmar Issing has warned that the eurozone may split up — another voice in the chorus talking about a Greek exit from the common currency.
“Everything speaks in favour of saving the euro area. How many countries will be able to be part of it in the long term remains to be seen,” Issing wrote in his latest book, entitled: “How we save the euro and strengthen Europe.”
Seen as one of the founding fathers of the euro, as he was at the ECB when the euro was launched in 1999, Issing contradicted the current ECB chief who last week insisted that the euro was irreversible.
“We are still a long way off saying ‘that’s it, now we are sure to make progress’. Substantial reforms in almost all countries are still pending,” he wrote.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Opposition Calls for Wealth Tax
In Germany, the opposition center-left Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens want to copy France and apply new taxes to the wealthy to help reduce the national deficit. So far, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government says it isn’t interested. But proponents say it could bring an additional 11.5 billion euros into the public coffers each year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Adam Hasner: Islamophobe for Congress
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Congress’s anti-Islam caucus will likely grow in November, and Florida’s Adam Hasner may be its worst new member
Rep. Michele Bachmann has gotten a lot of attention lately for her witch hunt against Muslims in the U.S. government, but she’s not alone. In addition to the four lawmakers who signed on to her letters, there are a handful of others who together might be called the Islamophobia Caucus — and their ranks are likely to swell after November, thanks in part to one of the caucus’ most outspoken members, Rep. Allen West.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Area Muslims Mindful of Safety at Ramadan Event
The Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is making efforts to remind Muslim communities about how they can stay safe in the wake of a fire that destroyed an Islamic mosque in Joplin, Mo., on Monday and a shooting rampage that killed seven people at a Wisconsin Sikh temple on Sunday. Muslim communities can protect themselves by working together like any neighborhood watch would, chapter Executive Director Adam Soltani said during his organization’s inaugural Sharing Ramadan dinner, an event focused on teaching people about Islam and its holy month of Ramadan. “The biggest misconception is that Muslims and terrorists are one and the same, when they couldn’t be further apart,” Soltani said.
[…]
[JP note: Indeed.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Blitzer Gets Personal on Abedin Charges
Three weeks ago CNN’s Wolf Blitzer made an uncharacteristic display of emotion when he defended his friend Huma Abedin, a State Department aide, against charges that she was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. “It’s an outrageous, McCarthy-like charge, to be sure, and she does owe Huma — who I know well — an apology,” he said at the time.
Blitzer once again exhibited his human side in an interview tonight with former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who seconded the charges that Rep. Michele Bachmann and others have made against Abedin. “Huma Abedin is a wonderful, wonderful person, and this… smacks of McCarthyism,” Blitzer said. Gingrich called Blitzer’s suggestion of McCarthyism “baloney.” Blitzer went on to state unequivocally that Abedin was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and that it was “ridiculous” to allege that she was.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Christian College Student’s Idea Leads to Rally for Burned Mosque
(CNN) - When 20-year-old Ashley Carter heard about a mosque burned to the ground in her town this week, she was shocked. “I was very saddened,” she told CNN on Wednesday. “I thought it was very evil.” So Carter, a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, texted a friend, suggesting they organize an event “promoting acts of love.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Largest Map of Universe Yet Captures 1 Million Galaxies
The largest 3D map yet of the universe’s huge galaxies and bright black holes may serve as a springboard toward solving some of astronomy’s greatest mysteries, its creators say.
The map, which was released Wednesday (Aug. 8), uses new data to reveal the locations of more than a million galaxies over a total volume of 70 billion cubic light-years. (A light-year is the distance light travels in one year — about 6 trillion miles, or 10 trillion kilometers.)
David Schlegel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California said this kind of atlas could help scientists get to the bottom of perplexing mysteries such as the invisible, untouchable dark matter and dark energy that seem to be rampant in space.
“Dark matter and dark energy are two of the greatest mysteries of our time,” Schlegel said in a statement issued with the map’s release. “We hope that our new map of the universe can help someone solve the mystery.”
The new data come from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), and they include measurements from the ongoing SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which calculates the distances to galaxies as far as 6 billion light-years away and humongous black holes that lie up to 12 billion light-years from Earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Modern-Day McCarthyism Regarding Hillary Clinton Aide Huma Abedin
by Dana Milbank
There are frequent bouts of McCarthyism in the capital, but the latest version has the special touch of being delivered by a guy named McCarthy. This McCarthy isn’t your average Joe: Andrew McCarthy’s work is providing the intellectual underpinnings — such as they are — for Rep. Michele Bachmann’s outrageous suggestion that Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Vote Will Test Attendance for Kane County Officials
A rare, formal legal protest of a proposed mosque just west of Carpentersville will trigger an attendance test for Kane County Board members. An attorney for the owners of L&H Farm filed a formal protest about the pending conversion of a residential home near Huntley and Boyer roads into a mosque. The American Muslim Community Organization plans to build a 750-foot addition to accommodate up to 80 people for worship gatherings.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Police: Teens Arrested for Lobbing Lemons at Hayward Mosque During Prayer Time
HAYWARD — Four teenagers who police say threw lemons at a local mosque and struck at least one person inside have been arrested on suspicion of vandalism that interferes with civil rights. It was the fourth time vandals targeted the Hayward mosque during the last eight months, police said. At about 10 a.m. Friday about 40 congregants had gathered inside the American Muslim Association, at 26320 Gading Road when four male teenagers threw lemons at the building and then ran, said Hayward Police Lt. Roger Keener. At least one person was hit in the arm. Officers determined four Hayward males, ages 13 to 16 were responsible for the attack, Keener said. The teens were arrested on suspicion of defacing property “interfering with the civil rights of those attending the mosque.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rebuffed Muslims Invite St. Anthony Residents to Meal
Leaders whose plans for an Islamic center were rejected want to increase understanding of their faith in St. Anthony.
Muslim supporters of a proposed Islamic center rejected by St. Anthony elected leaders plan to host a Ramadan meal Thursday in an effort to share their faith with non-Muslims, organizers say. Dozens of people are expected to participate in the traditional meal known as an iftar, which ends the daily fast, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the St. Anthony Community Center at city hall. Advocates for the Abu Huraira Islamic Center decided to hold the iftar to “develop understanding” after anti-Islamic comments were made by St. Anthony residents at a City Council meeting where members voted down the proposed center. The center had been planned for the basement of the former Medtronic headquarters.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Swarm of 10,000 Bees Delays Delta Flight From Pittsburgh
A Delta Air Lines flight from Pittsburgh to New York LaGuardia was delayed by about 40 minutes last week after an estimated 10,000 honey bees swarmed onto the wing of the aircraft.
The bees were discovered as ground crews were preparing to fuel the aircraft, which was operated by one of Delta’s regional affiliates. Airport officials then called master beekeeper Stephen Repasky to come handle the honey bees, which are a protected species and should not be killed, according to WTAE TV of Pittsburgh.
“Normally these days, people just take a can of Raid to any stinging insect. In this case, the plane could have taken off and the colony probably would have been lost,” Repasky adds to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The Tribune-Review says an airport effort to educate workers about what to do if they encounter swarms appears to have paid off.
“The airport gets big kudos from me,” Repasky adds to the Tribune-Review. “They have taken great steps to make sure that whenever someone sees a swarm of honey bees on airport property, they contact the local beekeeper — me.”
As for Delta, spokesman Anthony Black acknowledged that the delay was an unusual one.
“It’s certainly not something that’s common — bees or anything else infesting a portion of an aircraft,” he says to the newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Threatened Shark Species Found in U.S. Restaurants
Threatened shark species are being used to make shark fin soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine, in several U.S. cities, according to an unprecedented study based on DNA testing.
Thirty-three different species of sharks turned up in samples collected in 14 cities and analyzed at Stony Brook University’s Institute for Ocean Conservation Science in New York.
“U.S. consumers of shark fin soup cannot be certain of what’s in their soup,” said Demian Chapman, who co-led the DNA testing, in a statement Wednesday. “They could be eating a species that is in serious trouble.”
Scalloped hammerhead sharks, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was among the species found on the menus of U.S. restaurants where shark fin soup can sell for as much as $100 per bowl.
Others included smooth hammerheads, school sharks and spiny dogfish, all listed as vulnerable to extinction, as well as a variety of near-threatened species such as bull and copper sharks.
“This is further proof that shark fin soup here in the United States, not just in Asia, is contributing to the global decline in sharks,” said Liz Karan, of the Pew Environment Group, a foundation that supported the study.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ashton Eaton of the U.S. Wins Gold in Decathlon
Ashton Eaton of the United States ran comfortably in the 1,500 meters to defend his lead in the decathlon and grab the gold on Thursday. His fellow American Trey Hardee finished second to snag the silver. Hardee got closest after seven events, when he shaved Eaton’s lead to double digits after the hurdles, but Eaton pulled away again in the pole vault.
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Austria: Schwarzenegger’s Mum Worried He Might be Gay
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the Austrian village where he was born this week to film parts of an upcoming US television documentary on his life.
“People need to understand where I grew up and what was important in my upbringing and my life,” the 65-year-old Hollywood film actor and former Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia bodybuilding champion said.
The actor turned politician revealed that one of the most awkward obstacles to his teenage dream of becoming a bodybuilder was his mother’s concern about the bodybuilding posters on his wall.
“My mother was always worried because she saw the pictures on my bedroom wall of naked men oiled up.
“So she called the local GP and said, ‘Is there something wrong? Is my son turning south here? All his friends have girls on the wall and he has only men oiled up with little briefs on.’“
Schwarzenegger showed the crew from US network CBS around his two-storey childhood home in Thal in the southern state of Styria that last July opened as a museum with around 1,000 exhibits including his very first weights and movie memorabilia.
The documentary is to accompany the release in October of his autobiography “Total Recall,” named after one of his many action films. He left office in California last year after two terms in office.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bears in Beer-Fuelled Norway Cabin Break in
A family of bears is suspected of having broken into a cabin in northern Norway and polished off over a hundred cans of beer. “They had a hell of a party in there,” cabin owner Even Borthen Nilsen told NRK. “The cabin has the stench of a right old piss up, trash, and bears.”
The bear, and three cubs, are reported to have forced their way into the cabin by ripping a wall off. “The entire cabin was destroyed,” Nilsen told the local Finnmarken.no daily.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Blair ‘Deeply Worried’ U.K. May Leave European Union
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a German newspaper he was “deeply worried” Britain might opt to leave the European Union in a referendum, particularly if too many powers were transferred to Brussels without democratic legitimacy.
Talk of Britain leaving the EU was once farfetched, but the euro zone debt crisis and the prospect of the currency bloc forging a closer political union have convinced some senior UK politicians it is time to demand a new relationship with Brussels.
Current Prime Minister David Cameron said last month it was a “perfectly honorable position” to call for an immediate referendum on Britain’s EU membership — something polls show a majority of British people would vote to reject — but that he would never campaign for an “out” vote because leaving the EU would not serve British interests.
Blair told Die Zeit it was clear that the euro zone crisis would lead to a “powerful political change of the EU”, adding: “And on this point, I am deeply worried that Britain could decide by referendum to leave the whole process.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bolt is First to Repeat as Winner of 100 and 200 Meters
Usain Bolt ran into history Thursday night, becoming the first sprinter to win the 100 and 200 meters in consecutive Olympics.
With so much ease that he seemed to coast over the final 20 meters, Bolt won the 200 ahead of his main rival and Jamaican countryman, Yohan Blake. Bolt finished in 19.32 seconds to Blake’s 19.44. Warren Weir made it a sweep for Jamaica, winning bronze in 19.84.
After crossing the finish line first, Bolt dropped to the track and did five push-ups.
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Brussels to Introduce Fines for Sexual Intimidation
The city of Brussels is to introduce fines for sexual intimidation from September, while Interior Minister Joëlle Milquet is preparing legislation to tackle the problem.
The measures come after a documentary composed by the young film maker Sofie Peeters, which shows how the young woman is constantly being harassed by male chauvinists in the streets of Brussels.
The documentary was shown in the VRT’s current affairs programme Terzake on Thursday. Sofie Peeters is walking around in Brussels, but is being stopped by young men on various occasions. They ask for her telephone number, and when she refuses to give it, they get angry shouting things like “whore” or “tart”.
Sofie Peeters collected the footage by using a hidden camera. She got the idea when she was being confronted with male chauvinism in Brussels. Young men are constantly intimidating her. The documentary did not miss its aim: Interior Minister Milquet was quite impressed and promised action.
New legislation will be introduced to outline in which cases we are talking about sexual intimidation. This should make it easier for victims to go to the police.
The city of Brussels is also taking measures, with fines of up to 250 euros being introduced as from September. The aim is to get a real change of mentality, but critics doubt whether fines are the right instrument to tackle the problem.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Disgraced Austrian MEP Strasser Charged With Corruption
(VIENNA) — Former Austrian interior minister Ernst Strasser has been charged with corruption in an EU lobbying scandal that forced him to step down as European deputy, special prosecutors in Vienna said Thursday.
Strasser, an MEP for the conservative People’s Party (OeVP), one of the country’s ruling parties, resigned in March 2011 after Britain’s Sunday Times revealed he had accepted offers of 100,000 euros ($123,000) per year in exchange for proposing amendments in the European Parliament.
After a 15-month investigation, Strasser has now been charged with corruption and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors in Vienna said.
Strasser continues to maintain his innocence.
The investigation, which was conducted in five states, included searches at the European Parliament in collaboration with the EU agency Eurojust, the prosecutors said.
They added that they were also able to access bank accounts, and conducted dozens of interrogations as well as further house searches during which large quantities of files and computer data were seized.
Two reporters from the Sunday Times posing as lobbyists revealed the bribery allegations in March last year against Strasser and two other MEPs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Drunk Norwegian Falls Asleep on Luggage Belt
An inebriated Norwegian tourist managed to fall asleep and travel over a hundred metres on a baggage belt at Rome airport before being spotted on an x-ray.
The 36-year-old Norwegian, who has not been named, lay down with his baggage on the belt at the airline check in in late July and promptly fell asleep, according to a report in the UK Daily Telegraph.
The belt however began to move and the man was taken on a 15 minute tour of the airport’s hidden areas before officials spotted his curled up shape on an x-ray machine.
When Fiumicino Airport police arrived they are reported to have had trouble rousing the sozzled Scandinavian.
Despite the man’s impromptu 100 metre trip behind the scenes of Italy’s busiest international airport, airport police claimed that security is tight. One senior officer furthermore pointed out that this is not the first time an incident of this kind has occurred.
“There’s usually an episode like this once a year and we are alert,” he said, according to the Daily Telegraph.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Anarchists Convene for Mass Meeting in Jura
Some 3,000 anarchists are attending a conference in Saint-Immers, a small town in the Jura, which is credited with being the birthplace of the anarchist movement.
A programme of anarchistic panel discussions, films and concerts has been organised across five days, attracting people from around the world, newspaper Tribune de Genève reported.
The town in Switzerland was chosen as a location because of its anarchistic past. A meeting held in 1872 in the town, credited by many as marking the founding of the anarchism movement, marked a formal break with Karl Marx and his ideas, who was accused at the time of authoritarianism.
Mikhail Baukunin, a Russian philosopher and renowned anarchist, also once lived in these mountains, and is now buried elsewhere in Switzerland.
People attending the meetings have come from around the globe to “share and socialize with people who share the same values,” one girl from Mexico told the paper. A crèche with helpers that speak five languages has also been established for the event, news agency SDA reported.
One young Frenchman, Milan, described how he had realized during a religious service that anarchy was his way.
“(The service) was a concentration of all the hierarchy and power that I fight against,” he said.
Despite his views, Milan admitted he could see himself working for the state, perhaps as a teacher.
“But if I had no choice, I would even work in a private company. You’ve got to eat,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Dismantles Roma Camps in Fresh Crackdown
French authorities on Thursday dismantled two makeshift Roma camps housing 200 people, provoking claims the Socialist government is pursuing the disputed policies of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy.
The clearance of the two camps near the northern city of Lille came on the same day that around 240 Roma gypsies were flown from Lyon to Romania in the biggest repatriation of its kind since Francois Hollande succeeded Sarkozy as president in May.
France drew a chorus of criticism in 2010 for rounding up hundreds of Roma gypsies from illegal camps and sending them back to Romania and Bulgaria in a crackdown ordered by Sarkozy.
Roma rights groups had hoped for a change of policy under Hollande’s Socialists but new Interior Minister Manuel Valls has promised to take a “firm” line on the issue, insisting that “unsanitary” camps will continue to be dismantled.
Two Roma encampments on state land near the northern city of Lille were cleared on Thursday, with around 150 people expelled from one camp and about 50 from another following complaints from residents.
“The tensions with (local residents) had become untenable,” said Maryvonne Girard, deputy mayor of the town of Villeneuve d’Ascq, near where one of the camps had been located.
Girard said residents had endured “two-and-a-half years of nuisance,” but rights groups blasted the move.
“What’s inconceivable for us is that people are thrown out without being told where they can go. We expected better after President Hollande’s words,” said Roseline Tiset of the Human Rights League.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Robin Hood’ Supermarket Looters Arrested in Spain
Spanish police have arrested two left-wing activists who looted two supermarkets and filled trolleys with food to give to the needy, a union official said Thursday.
The interior ministry issued arrest warrants Wednesday for the group that carried out the raids, including its leader Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, a member of the regional parliament for the United Left party in Andalucia and mayor of the village of Marinaleda in southern Spain.
Sanchez Gordillo and the other activists burst into two supermarkets in Ecija and Arcos de la Frontera on Wednesday and filled trolleys with packets of food such as pasta, oil and biscuits to give out to the poor, who they say do not have enough money to feed themselves in the economic crisis.
Police detained two of the activists Wednesday and they spent the night at a police station in Seville, said Jose Caballero of the Andalucia Workers Union.
They are scheduled to appear before a judge later on Thursday, he added.
Sanchez Gordillo, who has not been arrested, spent the night with a group of left-wing activists at a protest camp made up of tents and mattresses on a farm near the town of Osuna.
“We know that the authorities are going to demand that Sanchez Gordillo and possibly other comrades appear before a judge but they have not yet received their notifications,” Caballero said.
The activists have for the past fortnight occupied a 1,200-hectare (2,965-acre) farm that belongs to the defence ministry to demand a more equal distribution of land in Andalucia, which has a tradition of large landholdings.
Andalucia has been hit particularly hard by a recession brought on by the collapse of Spain’s construction industry. The region, which had a major construction industry, currently has an unemployment rate of nearly 34 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck One-on-One With UK Islamist Anjem Choudary
He’s been called Great Britain’s most hated man and the face of radical Islam in the United Kingdom.
Anjem Choudary makes no bones about it—he wants to see Britain become an Islamic state ruled by sharia law. In his vision, Britain would be part of a global Islamic caliphate—or super state.
But what sets Choudary apart from the Muslim Brotherhood and other silver-tongued Islamists here in the West is that he tells you up front, with no mincing of words, exactly what he wants: jihad, sharia, caliphate.
Click on the viewer below to watch my latest in-depth interview with one of the most controversial Islamists in the West. It’s Stakelbeck and Choudary, one-on-one, for an entire 30 minute episode of the Stakelbeck on Terror show.
To see the entire 30 minute show, click the above link.
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Forced Marriage Affects Hundreds
In the past two years, around 1,400 young women in Switzerland have been forced to marry, end a relationship or have been told not to seek a divorce, according to a study by Neuchâtel University for the Federal Migration Office.
Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga presented the results of the study in Bern on Thursday.
Researchers found 348 cases of forced marriage in which a woman was put under pressure to marry against her will, largely for reasons having to do with cultural expectations and family pressures.
In 384 cases a young woman was found to have been forced to break off a relationship with someone she had chosen to be with.
In 659 cases a young woman who wanted a divorce was told that wasn’t going to happen.
Cases of forced marriage and forced dumping mostly involved woman aged 18-25 from the Balkans, Turkey and Sri Lanka, according to the researchers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Wins Gold in Women’s Soccer, Beating Japan, 2-1
The United States won its fourth gold medal in women’s soccer, and its third in a row, with a victory over Japan on Thursday. Carli Lloyd scored both of the Americans’ goals. The United States has won four of the five Olympic tournaments; Japan’s silver was the first the team has won in the sport.
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UK: Blackburn Mosque Teacher Guilty of Assaults on Boys
A man who taught children to read the Quran at a mosque in Blackburn has been found guilty of beating two of them.
Kurram Hussain, 26, of Granville Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, had denied two charges of assault by beating, relating to two boys aged 10 and 11. He was accused of three charges of assault but one was dropped when a witness failed to turn up at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court. Hussain is due to be sentenced at the same court on 17 August.The court heard Hussain taught schoolchildren aged between five and 12 years old how to read the Quran every weekday evening.
‘Slapped around head’
But when they talked amongst themselves or misbehaved, he used physical violence. The first boy to give evidence against him said he had been assaulted by Hussain since 2008.
He said he had been slapped around the head, hit on the hands with a pencil and called names.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boy, 15, Appears in Court Charged With Sexually Assaulting Six Women in Moss Side
A teenager has been charged with sexually assaulting six women. The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was due at Manchester Youth Court this morning.
He faces six counts of sexual assault following attacks carried out in the Moss Side area. Two 19-year-old women were attacked on Barnhill Street, Moss Side at 4.50am on Saturday.
A 20-year-old woman was assaulted on Fairbank Avenue on August 5 and a 24-year-old woman was targeted on Playfair Street on August 1. On July 31 a 17-year-old girl was assaulted on Princess Street and a 24-year-old girl attacked on Dorset Avenue.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Chelmsford TUC Says No to EDL
Chelmsford TUC along with other local organisations and faith groups will register their opposition to the EDL’s proposed march in the City on 18th August. We will assemble at 11.30am at Tindal Square CM1 1LX and march through the town at 1pm, returning to Tindal Square for speeches. We urge you to join us in rejecting racism and islamophobia in our community.When the English Defence League announced they were to march in Chelmsford on 18 August 2012 we responded by relaunching our Statement Against Racism and Fascism. 151 people signed it immediately. If you would like to add your name to the total, do let us know. If you would like to add your Chelmsford organisation to the above, please contact us through the Secretary. For anti-racist links and information on the Race Relations Act please go to Trade Unionists Say No To Racism.
We Declare Our Opposition to Racism and Fascism
We, the people of Chelmsford, are totally opposed to all those who seek to promote racism in our society. We strongly believe that the lessons of history show that racism and fascism, if unchallenged, will provoke fear and intimidation among many within our City. We believe that diversity is a strength and a cause for celebration, and that those who promote racism divide our community. All signatories to this statement have a shared belief in justice, fairness and equality. We oppose racism wherever it takes place. We declare our willingness to co-operate with political parties, faith groups and others that take a stand against those that promote racist and fascist political views.
Agreed by:
POLITICAL:
Alliance for Green Socialism,
Co-operative Party,
Chelmsford Borough Council,
Chelmsford Conservatives,
Green Party,
John Whittingdale OBE MP,
Labour Party,
Liberal Democrats,
UK Independence Party,
Respect,
Simon Burns MP,
Socialist Workers’ Party.
LOCAL COMMUNITY GROUPS:
Amnesty International Chelmsford Group,
Soroptimist International of Chelmsford,
United Nations Association.
FAITH:
Central Baptist Church,
Chelmsford Jamia Masjid (Mosque),
Chelmsford YMCA,
Father Ivor Morris Church of the Ascension,
Jennifer A. Hodgkin, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers),
Major Michael Highton, Divisional Commander of the Salvation Army, London North-East Division,
Rt. Revd. John Gladwin, Bishop of Chelmsford,
Rev. Dr. Paul Beasley-Murray, Senior Minister, Central Baptist Church,
Rev. Elizabeth Caswell, Moderator of the Eastern Synod of the United Reformed Church,
Rev. John Alan Cox, Christ Church URC,
Rev. Anne Brown Chair of Essex, Beds, & Herts Methodist District,
Rev. Sheila Martin, Regional Minister, Eastern Baptist Association,
The Essex Churches Council for Industry and Commerce,
Thomas McMahon, Bishop of Brentwood Diocese.
EMPLOYERS AND UNIONS:
Frankie Whiffen, President Anglia Ruskin University Student Union,
Chelmsford TUC,
Communication Workers’ Union (Essex Amal),
National Association of Schoolmasters and Women Teachers (Essex Federation),
Royal College of Nursing (Essex),
Thompsons Solicitors,
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (Anglia 1 & 2 branches),
Unison (Mid Essex Hospitals, Chelmsford Borough Council & Essex County branches).
[JP note: A list of highly unpleasant individuals and organisations marching together in totalitarian thought-step.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: East End’s First Muslim Mayor Unfazed by Racist Press Attacks
by Anton Wahlberg
LONDON, Aug 7 2012 (IPS) — The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the “East End”, is the historic core of England, the home of the Tower of London, and now it is a Gateway borough to the Olympics.
It is also the site of St Mary Le Bow church — real Cockneys should be born within the sound of its bells — but nowadays, there are probably more mosques than churches, which helps explain why Lutfur Rahman, the first directly elected mayor of the borough, is also the country’s first, and so far only, Muslim to hold the office. He explains “I happen to be Muslim and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of my faith; I’m proud of my upbringing; I’m proud of my roots. I’m a British Bengali, but I’m also a resident of Tower Hamlets and a citizen of this country and I share its values.” It is difficult to recognise in the formal besuited mayor the demonised hate figure of the British conservative press who have been portraying him as a crypto-fundamentalist.
[…]
[JP note: Difficult for useful idiots, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fury as Tower Hamlets Mayor Bars Town Hall Reception for Commonwealth Minister
The Mayor of Olympics ‘host’ borough Tower Hamlets is sticking to his decision not to allow the Town Hall’s council chamber to be used for a reception welcoming a visiting Commonwealth government minister to east London.
Independent Mayor Lutfur Rahman cancelled use of the chamber with just 48 hours notice before the Bangladesh Local Government Minister Syed Ashraful Islam was due at the Town Hall at 2.30pm tomorrow (Thurs). “This is not an official council event,” said a Council spokesperson. “It’s a private meeting. It has not been cancelled-but will take place in a venue appropriate for a private meeting.” That has infuriated both Tory and Labour opposition councillors who say the Minister has been insulted by the mayor’s action. Conservative group leader Peter Golds told the Advertiser: “This is outrageous. To insult a Commonwealth parliamentarian in such fashion while visiting this Olympics ‘host’ borough clearly brings this council into disrepute.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Racist Ex-Soldier Admits Tying Pig’s Head to Mosque Gates and Daubing Offensive Graffiti in Attack on Muslims
A former soldier has admitted tying a pig’s head to the gates of a mosque and spraying racist graffiti.
Simon Parkes, 45, strapped the severed head to the front of Cheltenham Mosque, in Gloucestershire, and daubed offensive messages nearby.
His act was particularly offensive to Muslims, who consider pigs and the eating of pork to be unclean.
He evaded justice for almost two years until police finally arrested him for the sick acts and an unrelated offence in July this year.
Parkes, of Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, today appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court and admitted a charge of racially aggravated criminal damage and a public order offence.
He is due to be sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court later this month.
The head was left tied to the mosque on November 13, 2010.
A spokesman for Cheltenham Mosque said: ‘This was a very shocking incident, not just for those who attend the mosque but the wider community as well.
‘We would like to thank the police, the council and local neighbours for their tremendous amount of support.
‘We are very grateful that the damage was dealt with quickly so everyone was able to move back to normality as soon as possible.’
Gloucestershire Police said Parkes had been brought to justice following a ‘painstaking and difficult’ investigation.
Inspector Tim Waterhouse said: ‘Although this disturbing incident happened nearly two years ago a painstaking and difficult enquiry has led to the conviction of Parkes.
‘The message is clear — commit crime at your peril in Cheltenham as we will not stop in our determination to target criminals and keep people and our communities safe from harm.’
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Seven Arrested After Attack in Keighley Street
Seven men have been arrested and one is in hospital after a vicious attack in a street.
A group of Asian men got out of a red Toyota Corolla and set upon the occupants of a silver vehicle with sticks. Police were called to the incident, in Redcliffe Street, Keighley, shortly after 5pm on Tuesday.
Minutes later officers attended a crash involving the same Toyota and a blue Ford Focus in Green Head Lane, Utley. Four Asian men from the Toyota were seen running away. Two occupants of the Focus were still at the scene when officers arrived.
Seven local men —- two aged 18, two 19, one 20-year-old and the others 35 and 37 — were later arrested on suspicion of affray.
The 35-year-old is in Bradford Royal Infirmary with laceration wounds.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Why Are Sikhs Targeted by Anti-Muslim Extremists?
The shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin is just the most recent example of members of the religion being singled out for violence and abuse
“It’s a common thing,” says Balvinder Kaur Saund, a Labour councillor for the London Borough of Redbridge and chair of the Sikh Women’s Alliance, “to walk through an estate in [some parts of east London] and young boys throw stones and shout ‘Taliban’ at you. I have seen that myself.” She was once with a man — a Sikh who wore a turban — when some youths shouted “Osama” at him. “I wanted to retaliate but he said ‘Just ignore it and carry on walking’.” She thinks many more incidents go unreported.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: ‘Sinai Terrorists Supported From Afghanistan, Iraq’
Global Jihad in Egyptian peninsula receiving support from Salafi-linked terrorists abroad, senior Israeli official reveals.
Global jihad terrorists in Sinai receive financial and logistical support from other Salafi terror cells in Afghanistan and Iraq, a senior Israeli official revealed on Wednesday. The groups are usually not connected to Iran, which is working to establish its own terrorist infrastructure in Sinai via Hezbollah, according to the official.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya’s General National Congress Comes to Power
Libya’s National Transitional Council has handed over power nearly a year after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi’s 40-year dictatorship. A new government, constitution and parliament are next for the fledgling democracy.
In a late-night ceremony Wednesday — in observance of Ramadan, when believers fast until dusk — the NTC’s Mustafa Abdel Jalil passed control of the country to the oldest member of the country’s new 200-seat legislative body, elected on July 7. Representatives of civil society groups and diplomatic missions in Libya, as well as NTC and government officials, attended the ceremony. The transitional council had run the country since Gadhafi was ousted last year.
“I hand over the constitutional prerogatives to the General National Congress (GNC), which from now on is the legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said. “We are folding a page of dictatorship and opening a new page in building the state of Libya,” he told the assembly.
Shortly after the ceremony, fireworks lit the skies of Tripoli and the streets were packed with people and cars celebrating and chanting “Libya will always be a free and democratic country.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sahel: Concern Over Region’s Instability
Terror could spread until Mediterranean coast
(ANSAmed) — RABAT — The collusion of separatist movements, terrorists and religious extremists is throwing the Sahelo-Saharan region in an unprecedented anarchy, raising fears that instability could expand to reach the Mediterranean coast.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has alerted over the risk of a ‘Sahelistan’, an area mostly covering northern Mali, where government weakness does not allow for the control of the immense territory, a haven for extremist groups such as Aqmi and Mujao. Due to its proximity to Maghreb and Europe, the volatile area could become the theatre of a worse crisis than Afghanistan.
Spanish authorities have also sent off a message to the international community by repatriating their citizens and other Europeans living in the Tindouf region in northern Mali due to the terrorist threat for foreigners.
According to Spain’s diplomacy, Morocco’s Map news agency reports, political instability in Mali has led to the control of the North by radical groups led by Mujao, an extremist group calling for jihad in northern Africa, which has become a terror platform in the area.
Increasingly evident are also the connections between separatists with the Polisario Front and Aqmi, Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, who have become stronger following the prolonged civil war in Libya. Libya’s weapons arsenal is today a great opportunity for militant groups seeking to control arms, drugs and human trafficking in the area.
Refugee camps in Tindouf , where Italian aid worker Rossella Urru was kidnapped with two Spanish colleagues, in northern Mali and in Libya are viewed by extremists as lawless areas to control, much like tribal regions on the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In such a context, at least seven countries are threatened by such instability: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, Niger and Mauritania.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Abu Dhabi to Get New Women-Only Beaches
Women have been demanding an exclusive public swimming area since the popular ladies-only beach at Ras Al Akhdar closed more than five years ago.
Nahla Fahad Al Maheiri, head of the municipality’s events and beaches section, said the municipality had “been receiving many calls from women in Abu Dhabi who wished to have a private beach for them”.
“There has been a long-time demand from ladies of the emirate for a ladies-only private beach and this is going to come up” in Al Bateen by the end of the year or early next year, Ms Al Maheiri said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How UK Became Mediator Between Israel and Turkey
Britain has joined a US initiative to mediate between Israel and Turkey in an effort to repair relations between the two countries. Restoring complete diplomatic ties and a strategic partnership between Israel and Turkey — which only a few years ago were strategic allies — has long been an objective for the Americans. The issue was raised last week in Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s talks in Israel and will come up again this weekend as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Ankara. The relationship soured in recent years as the Islamist government of Prime Minister Reçep Tayyep Erdogan sought closer ties with Turkey’s Muslim neighbours including Syria and Iran.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Hezbollah Ally Camps Out in Mosque After Tripoli Clashes
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A standoff continued Wednesday night in Tripoli as Sheikh Hashem Minqara, an ally of Hezbollah, refused to leave a mosque which was surrounded by the Army following a clash between his supporters and rival Salafists. Seven people were wounded Tuesday night during the clash, which erupted in front of the Issa Ibn Maryam Mosque in Tripoli’s Al-Mina district. The injured were a child from the Beddawi family, Bilal Khodr, Ibrahim Marqi, Obeida Fathallah, Ibrahim al-Shalbi, Morad Harb and a man from the Masri family. The victims were all taken to the city’s Islamic Hospital.
A fight inside the mosque among men from the Hosh al-Abeed neighborhood and Minqara’s bodyguards escalated into an hourlong armed clash, sources said. The Army intervened after residents and Salafists trapped Minqara’s supporters inside the mosque. Minqara remained inside the mosque through Wednesday while the Army took up posts surrounding it, preventing anyone from approaching the scene. Sheikh Salem Rifaii, a prominent Salafist leader in the area, stressed the need for Minqara to vacate the mosque to prevent further bloodshed.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Asserts Its Influence
Saudi Arabia has become one of the most influential Arab states. The billions it earns from oil production help it assert its interests, but there are growing tensions with its neighbors — including Syria.
The Saudi royal family can always rely on its financial reserves to help assert its interests. These reserves are not, of course, unlimited. But the country’s massive income from oil production means Saudi Arabia’s rulers can afford to dig deep into their pockets on a regular basis. They certainly still have enough money at their disposal to guarantee Saudi citizens a comparably high standard of living — while at the same time giving generous support to their allies abroad.
“The Saudis have traditionally exerted their influence by paying money, or by promising to pay money,” says Guido Steinberg, a Saudi Arabia expert with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). In Egypt, for instance, the Saudis are funding the High Military Council, which represents the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
For decades, Mubarak was Saudi Arabia’s closest ally in the Middle East. Many Egyptians migrated to the Gulf in search of employment, while Saudis enjoyed spending their vacations in the land of the Pharaohs. Riyadh also invested billons in the Egyptian economy, and it doesn’t want to give up its influence in the most populous Arab state now — even if the Arab Spring has reshuffled the political cards.
“Saudi Arabia is trying to support the stability of authoritarian regimes,” says Steinberg. “They have a common goal: staying in power.” He adds that, because their rule has limited legitimacy, they are constantly afraid of losing this power. The Saudis are also suspicious of the Shiite minority in the east of the country. Shiites constitute around 10 percent of the Saudi population. The Sunni majority accuse them of having ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch-enemy and a country that is predominantly Shiite.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: ‘Silent Workers for Islam Deserve the Honour’
Thousands of Muslim men and women remain unnoticed despite the much sincere work they do in the service of Islam, and those are the people who are more worthy of being honoured.
This was stated by Dr Sheikh Yusuf Estes, who has been named the Islamic Personality of the Year in the 16th session of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA), while talking to the media at the DIHQA head office in Al Twar on Wednesday. The Dh1 million award is granted every year to a different Islamic personality or institution in appreciation to their work in the service of Islam and Quran.
“I am surprised of the honour and I am also worried about myself. It is so dangerous to think well of yourself. I do not want to be at a loss in my life here and in the life hereafter,” he said, adding, “I do believe the real honouring is not in the award itself but in the chance I am given to speak to the people about Islam.”
Dr Estes has travelled extensively around the world to preach Islam. He especially spoke about the good treatment he receives from Muslims and non-Muslims. “After embracing Islam I am spending my entire life in preaching this great religion, from Norway in the north to New Zealand in the south,” he said. In reply to a question about official statistics that around 20,000 people from 75 nationalities, of whom 65 per cent are women, have embraced Islam in Dubai from 2001 to 2006, Dr Estes said what attracts him more to the UAE in general and Dubai in particular are the many people hailing from various nationalities who preach and embraced.
“We need to focus not only on the number of new Muslims, but also on the nationalities and gender,” he said, noting that women are embracing Islam faster than men and in bigger numbers. “We also need to focus more on what we do after. It is not a matter of just embracing Islam; we should concentrate on the future, and exert our utmost for the service of Islam.” Indicating that most Americans get their information about Islam from the Internet, Dr Estes said that he has purchased, created and built 2,200 websites in English to guide people to Islam. “I am paying around $83,500 every month on these websites. I am the first to post a clip on Islam on YouTube, let alone the www.tubeislam.com which I owned.”
The renowned American scholar, born in 1944, is often featured as guest presenter and keynote speaker at various Islamic events. He frequently appears on various Islamic satellite TV channels, in addition to his personal websites yusufestes.com and islamtomorrow.com.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Mosques to Open 24 Hours for Itikaf or Seclusion for Prayer
Official urges mosque goers to follow basic guidelines
Sharjah: Starting Wednesday night, doors of 4750 mosques around the UAE will remain open round the clock to welcome people who wish to practise itikaf (seclusion), which means dedicating all their time to perform prayers and read Quran, an official at the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, Sharjah Branch, said. Iktiaf is what Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) used to do in the last 10 days of Ramadan. Ahmad Ali Al Ali, Director of Corporate Communications at the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, said that Sharjah’s 650 mosques would open their doors round the clock during the last 10 days of Ramadan for both men and women, each in their designated sections.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist Sect Found Living Underground Near Russian City for Nearly 10 Years
Fayzarahmanist sect with 70 members — including 20 children — discovered in bunker near Kazan without heat or light
Seventy members of an Islamist sect in Russia have been found living in an underground bunker without heat or sunlight on the outskirts of the city of Kazan, according to Russian media. The sect members — including 20 children, the youngest of whom was 18 months old — are thought to have been underground for nearly a decade. Many of the children were born underground and had never seen daylight until the prosecutors discovered them on 1 August. After health checks, a 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant. The group, known as the Fayzarahmanist sect, was named after its 83-year-old organiser Fayzrahman Satarov, who declared himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state, according to a report by state TV channel Vesti.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Islam Raises Tension in Russia’s Tatarstan
There are signs that radical Islam has taken root in Russia’s prosperous republic of Tatarstan, east of Moscow, after attacks which left one Muslim leader dead and another severely injured last month.
Russian police have detained seven suspects, officials say. But local security sources told the BBC that more than 100 people had been questioned and according to some Tatar Muslim groups, the number of detainees is as high as 500. A former pro-Kremlin Muslim leader, Valiulla Yakupov, was shot dead in the republican capital Kazan on 19 July. Later that day the Mufti of Tatarstan, Ildus Fayzov, was seriously wounded when his car was blown up in the city. One of those arrested ran a body called Idel-Khadzh, organising Hajj pilgrimages to Mecca. He was allegedly in dispute with the mufti. “The explosions and the gunfire that just rang out are only the beginning,” a well-known theologian, Mufti Farid Salman, told the BBC. He thinks there are already more than 3,000 radical Islamists in Tatarstan, many of them opposed to peaceful dialogue.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Sect ‘Kept Children Underground for Years’
Russian media are reporting the discovery of an Islamic sect that has lived underground without daylight for years. Its members include young children.
The underground compound belonging to the Muslim sect was discovered on the outskirts of the city of Kazan in central Russia, some 800 kilometers (497 miles) east of Moscow.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported, quoting doctors, that some 70 sect members, including more than 20 children, had been living in an eight-story underground bunker without heat or sunlight for almost a decade.
Police said the children were found to be dirty and in poor condition. Some of them had not been outside for 10 years. The youngest is said to be just 18 months old.
The children have been taken into the hands of authorities. One 17-year-old girl was reportedly pregnant.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Burma: Rohingya Muslim Massacre
by Dr Raja Muhammad Khan
There live approximately 800,000 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, forming 4% of the Burma’s total population. Contrary to this official data of Myanmar Government, neutral sources claims that, the total Muslim population is more than double the government estimates. It is worth noting that, Burmese Muslims, commonly known as Rohingya Muslims, settled in this part of the world in 7th and 8th century from Arab. Nevertheless, they had the legal status of Burmese minority until 1970s. In 1982, through constitutional amendment, the Military Junta of the country declared them as non-Burmese. Thereafter, Military Junta, started gradual exploitation of this Muslim population to include; denial of their personal and religious freedom and fundamental human rights. Owing to these inhuman acts, thousands of Rohingya Muslims to fled to the neighbouring countries too. After 9/11, the persecution of Rohingya Muslims has increased many folds.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
NATO: Afghan Soldier is Killed as He Tries to Attack International Forces in Country’s East
KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO says an Afghan soldier tried to gun down a group of international troops in the country’s east but was killed as NATO forces fired back. A NATO spokesman says Thursday’s attack happened outside a “coordination center” for Afghan and international forces in Laghman province. German Lt. Col. Hagen Messer says no one was killed in the incident.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pizza Hut in Pakistan Ditches All-You-Can-Eat Ramadan Offer to Curb ‘Unrestrained Gluttony’
Pizza Hut has withdrawn its all-you-can eat Ramadan offer in Pakistan prompting howls of fury from thousands of hungry Muslim families used to breaking their fast with plate after plate of deep pan or thin crust.
Instead the chain said it wants to reduce “gluttony” by limiting customers to a single regular pizza in its Ramadan Fiesta offer.
In previous years Pizza Hut restaurants would be packed for the evening meal of Iftar, as diners starving from a day of fasting would fill their bellies with pizza after pizza for as little as £7 — a figure industry analysts said was unsustainable.
Furious fast food fans have taken to social media to complain at the new, cheaper deal, which is still advertised as an “all-you-can” offer.
“Pathetic and a misleading deal. It’s only one regular pizza with bottomless Pepsi, not all you can eat,” said one post on Pizza Hut Pakistan’s Facebook page.
Imran Khan, a student and regular customer at a branch in Karachi, said: “The place was always packed in the evening. For a lot of people it had become a Ramadan tradition so this change is very sad.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Soldier Shot During Afghanistan Mission
An Australian soldier could soon be on his way home after being shot in the leg in Afghanistan during a gunfight with insurgents.
Acting Chief of Operations Rear Admiral Steve Gilmore said the wound was not life-threatening. The soldier, who was taking part in a joint Afghan National Security Forces and special forces operation in Uruzgan province, was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Tarin Kowt.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China Politician’s Wife Doesn’t Deny Killing Brit
The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai lured a British businessman to a hotel in the southwestern mega-city of Chongqing, where she got him drunk and poisoned him, testimony revealed Thursday in one of China’s highest-profile murder trials.
The secretive trial of Gu Kailai and a household aide, who are accused of murdering Bo family associate Neil Heywood, ended in less than a day at the Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei. The defendants did not contest the murder charges; a guilty verdict is all but assured and could carry a death sentence.
The tightly orchestrated court proceeding marks a step toward resolving the messiest scandal the Communist leadership has faced in two decades.
Bo was one of China’s most powerful and charismatic politicians until he was ousted in the spring as the scandal surrounding Heywood’s death unfolded. Observers say the party’s main objective is to keep the focus tightly on the murder case and not on larger allegations of corruption that could further taint the regime.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines: Sulu Solon Calls for Sobriety
JOLO, Sulu — A former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader turned legislator in this province has appealed to the breakaway Moro group that attacked at least five towns in Maguindanao on Monday to respect the Ramadan. Rep. Habib Tupay Loong (1st District, Sulu) said leaders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and their followers should adopt sobriety during Ramadan. Loong also reminded the BIFF that their attack on military detachments in Maguindanao during Ramadan was unIslamic.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US, Vietnam Cooperate to Clean Up Toxic Agent Orange
The US sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange on the jungles of Vietnam during its war there, creating long-term adverse health effects. Decades later, the former enemies are cooperating to clean up the chemical.
The United States began helping Vietnam clean up the toxic chemical defoliant Agent Orange for the first time on Thursday, nearly 40 years after the end of Washington’s bloody war with the Southeast Asian communist nation.
The US and Vietnam plan to decontaminate some 73,000 cubic meters (2.5 million cubic feet) of soil surrounding the Da Nang airport in the central part of the country. American forces stored and loaded Agent Orange onto planes at Da Nang during the war, which ended in 1975. Between 1,000,000 and 2,500,000 Vietnamese died in the war and over 58,000 Americans.
“We are both moving earth and taking the first steps to bury the legacies of our past,” US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear said at a ceremony at Da Nang airport on Thursday. “I look forward to even more successes to follow.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Crisis in Aboriginal Children’s Literacy
About half of all Aboriginal children in New South Wales are at or below minimum standards for reading by the time they reach late primary school, according to a new report.
And there is no evidence attempts to improve literacy among Aboriginal children are actually working, it states.
Aboriginal students’ ability to read and write continues to lag behind non-Aboriginal students despite an extensive range of programs to improve outcomes, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General.
The report also states there “no evidence” of achieving state and national targets to close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students unless a range of changes are made to try to turn results around.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Parents’ Shock at Move to Wind Up Islamic School
A clothing company that supplies school uniforms has applied to wind up Malek Fahd Islamic School in Sydney because of its alleged failure to pay debts of $286,303. Duboke, trading as Oz Fashions, made the application, which will be heard by the Federal Court on August 17. Documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show that Duboke and Malek Fahd’s parent company, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, share the same business address at 932 Bourke Street, Waterloo. Court documents allege that Malek Fahd has failed to pay 11 invoices dating from January 18 to February 14 this year.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Africa Losing the Battle Against Rhino Poachers
As a growing number of endangered African rhinos are poached for their horns, officials and activists are scrambling for ways to halt the slaughter. Suggestions have included pre-emptively cutting off or poisoning their horns, or even deregulating their trade. But nothing promises to quell the insatiable demand for their powder in Asia.
In South Africa alone, 281 rhinos were killed in just the first half of 2012. The killers are always after one thing: the rhinoceroses’ horns, which can be sold to markets in Asia for up to $133 (€109) per gram.
That sort of profit margin is generally only possible in drug- or sex-trafficking, so it’s hardly surprising that international mobs control this trade, as well. While rhinoceros horns are stolen from natural history museums in Germany, in Kenya and South Africa, poachers hunt rhinoceroses and then transport their loot to Vietnam, Laos and China, where some believe that rhinoceros-horn powder can cure illnesses from cancer to malaria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Human Species Identified From Kenya Fossils
Researchers studying fossils from northern Kenya have identified a new species of human that lived two million years ago.
The discoveries suggests that at least three distinct species of humans co-existed in Africa.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence that runs counter to the popular perception that there was a linear evolution from early primates to modern humans.
The research has been published in the journal Nature.
Anthropologists have discovered three human fossils that are between 1.78 and 1.95 million years old. The specimens are of a face and two jawbones with teeth.
The finds back the view that a skull found in 1972 is of a separate species of human, known as Homo rudolfensis. The skull was markedly different to any others from that time. It had a relatively large brain and long flat face.
But for 40 years the skull was the only example of the creature and so it was impossible to say for sure whether the individual was an unusual specimen or a member of a new species.
With the discovery of the three new fossils researchers can say with more certainty that H.rudolfensis really was a separate type of human that existed around two million years ago alongside other species of humans.
For a long time the oldest known human ancestor was thought to be a primitive species, dating back 1.8 million years ago called Homo erectus. They had small heads, prominent brows and stood upright.
But 50 years ago, researchers discovered an even older and more primitive species of human called Homo habilis that may have coexisted with H. erectus. Now it seems H. rudolfensis was around too and raises the distinct possibility that many other species of human also existed at the time.
This find is the latest in a growing body of evidence that challenges the view that our species evolved in a smooth linear progression from our primate ancestors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Zambian Miners Crush a Chinese Manager to Death. Remember That When Beijing Boasts About Its ‘Win-Win’ African Parternships
Suppose a manager of a British mining company picked up a gun and opened fire on his African workforce? What if the company concerned paid its Zambian miners less than the legal minimum wage? Suppose relations on the shop floor became so poisonous that furious workers chose to crush a manager to death?
If a British-based mining house like Anglo American or Rio Tinto had experienced any of this, I strongly suspect that popular protest would have overwhelmed the company concerned, sending its share price into free-fall and casting its very future into doubt.
Yet all of the above has happened at a Chinese-owned mine in Zambia. When workers at Collum coal mine protested about poor wages and working conditions in 2010, their Chinese managers responded by opening fire with live rounds. In fairness, they were not shooting to kill: no one actually died, but 11 of the miners suffered bullet wounds.
While opposition leader in 2007, Sata said: “We want the Chinese to leave and the old colonial rulers to return. They exploited our natural resources too, but at least they took good care of us. They built schools, taught us their language and brought us the British civilisation. At least Western capitalism has a human face; the Chinese are only out to exploit us.”
In Zambia, at least, that seems to be the popular view.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ancient Mayans May Have Sacrificed Earliest Domestic Turkeys
The bones of Mexican turkeys discovered at a Mayan archaeological site in Guatemala may push back the domestication of this gobbler by 1,000 years, researchers say.
The find is also the oldest evidence for a Mexican turkey (Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo) in the Mayan world, with signs that the bones are the remains of an elite sacrifice or a feast, said lead researcher Erin Thornton, of the Florida Museum of Natural History and Trent University Archaeological Research Centre in Ontario.
“I did not expect to find Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo at the site as the species is not local to the Maya area,” Thornton said. “The birds were likely traded in.”
Turkeys served important roles for the Maya, including for food and sacrificial offerings. Their feathers, bones and other byproducts were often used to make medicines, musical instruments, personal adornments and tools. However, until this discovery, scientists assumed the Maya only used the native, wild ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) throughout the Preclassic to Classic period that ended in A.D. 1000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Houston Asylum-Seeker Report Due on Monday
Former defence force chief Angus Houston will release his report on tackling people smuggling and dealing with asylum seekers on Monday.
The Houston review, which received more than 550 submissions, will be handed to Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra a day before federal parliament resumes for the spring sittings on Tuesday.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rebel Spanish Doctors to Keep Treating Illegal Immigrants
Hundreds of doctors in Spain vowed Tuesday to ignore a new law that requires them to deny treatment to illegal immigrants from September 1 as part of government deficit-reduction measures.
Under the controversial measure foreigners living in the country without residency permits will be denied treatment at public hospitals and health centres unless they are under 18, pregnant, or in case of an accident or other medical emergency.
Anger over the measure increased Tuesday after the government said it was working on a system that would allow illegal migrants who pay an annual fee to continue to receive care from the public health system.
“My loyalty to patients does not allow me to ignore my ethical and professional duty and abandon them,” said a manifesto signed by 870 doctors and posted online.
By signing the manifesto the doctors also registered as “conscientious objectors” against the law in a database launched in July by the Society of Family and Community Medicine, which represents 19,500 doctors.
The new law “puts us in a situation where we have to stop treating people who were out patients, and that violates our deontological code,” the association said.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government wants to cut Spain’s public deficit to less than three percent of gross domestic product in 2014 from 8.9 percent last year, the third-largest deficit in the eurozone that year.
It argues that restricting free health care to illegal immigrants and steps to curb “health tourism” by Europeans will save around one billion euros ($1.2 billion) per year.
The health ministry said Tuesday it was working to create a system whereby non-Europeans in Spain could pay a fee to use the country’s public health system.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Demand for Water Outstrips Supply
Groundwater use is unsustainable in many of the world’s major agricultural zones.
Almost one-quarter of the world’s population lives in regions where groundwater is being used up faster than it can be replenished, concludes a comprehensive global analysis of groundwater depletion, published this week in Nature.
Across the world, human civilizations depend largely on tapping vast reservoirs of water that have been stored for up to thousands of years in sand, clay and rock deep underground. These massive aquifers — which in some cases stretch across multiple states and country borders — provide water for drinking and crop irrigation, as well as to support ecosystems such as forests and fisheries.
Yet in most of the world’s major agricultural regions, including the Central Valley in California, the Nile delta region of Egypt, and the Upper Ganges in India and Pakistan, demand exceeds these reservoirs’ capacity for renewal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Golden Days to be Closer to Allah
by Ahmed Shaaban
Though all the days and nights in the month of Ramadan are blessed, the last ten days are said to be special as stressed in the recommendations and practices of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Scholars here are urging Muslims to take this golden chance and maximise their effort to be eligible for forgiveness and be closer to Almighty Allah.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Oneness of God
by Khwaja Mohammad Zubair (Reflections)
Every living thing in this world has some basic characteristics, which distinguish it from others. This is as true of individuals as of groups of people and their religions and philosophers. It is, therefore, appropriate that we try to find out the distinctive characteristics of Islam and acquire correct knowledge about it. Firstly, it must be clearly understood that the religion of Islam was not given to us by any philosopher, legal expert, moralist, psychologist, conqueror, founder of a kingdom, politician or national leader. It has come down to mankind from Almighty Allah, the Creator and Master of the universe, through His prophets or messengers. They were specially chosen by Him to receive His guidance in the form of Wahee (revelation) and pass it on to the mankind without adding to, or suppressing from it, any word according to their own wish. All of them taught only one religion which Allah calls Islam (meaning submission to Him).
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UN Agency Sees Sharp Rise in International Food Prices After 3 Months of Decline
International food prices rose sharply in July after three months of decline, driven by a spike in grain and sugar prices, a United Nations report said Thursday. Severe drought gripping the U.S. Midwest has sent corn prices soaring by almost 23 percent and expectations of worsened crop prospects in Russia because of dry weather sent world wheat prices up 19 percent.
The United States is the world’s No. 1 exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat and the price hikes are expected to be felt across the international marketplace, hurting poor food-importing countries, said a study by British charity Oxfam issued on the eve of the U.N. report.
The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in its monthly price report on Thursday that its index climbed 6 percent in July although it was well below its peak reached in February 2011.
The agency keeps a close watch on volatile global prices because spikes in the prices of staple foods have led to riots in some countries in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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