Could China’s Massive Economic Growth be Coming to an End?
Could China be in crisis? It seems unbelievable but the figures suggest it could be true. Growth was “just” 7.6% in the second trimester of the year — anough to make any economist’s mouth water — but that is the lowest level recorded in the last three years. Production is slowing down and exports to Europe have been hit hard by the financial crisis in the West.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Eurozone Seeks to Quadruple Rescue Fund Firepower
The eurozone is looking to increase its permanent rescue fund to about 2 trillion euros ($2.58 trillion), according to German media reports. European ministers want to use private capital to reach the formidable target.
The member states of the single currency are making preparations to allow the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to leverage its capital in the same way as its European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) predecessor, German newsmagazine “Spiegel” wrote Monday.
Spiegel said eurozone finance ministers had reiterated at their meeting in Cyprus earlier this month that the ESM should be allowed to use this method to increase the rescue fund’s planned lending power of 500 billion euros ($647 billion) to about 2 trillion euros with the help of private investors.
While German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was supporting the plan, Finland had voiced their opposition to it, Spiegel wrote. Germany’s liability under the ESM would remain capped at 190 billion euros, the news magazine added.
German opposition parties on Monday demanded that the leverage mechanism should be subject to a new vote in parliament, as it would pose higher risks for the German taxpayer.
In a ruling earlier this month, Germany’s Constitutional Court made consulting the parliament on any changes to the ESM a condition for giving its approval to the rescue fund’s ratification.
The ESM is expected to come into force on October 8, and will succeed the EFSF as the eurozone’s permanent financial rescue fund. It is intended that the fund will be able to bail out Europe’s larger economies, such as Spain and Italy, should that become necessary.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece to Abolish Special Trade Union Pensions
In place since 1937, cuts will save the state money
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 18 — Greek Labor Minister Giannis Vroutsis will propose the abolition of a special pension that’s been paid to trade union leaders with 12 years of service, since 1937.
The cost-cutting measure, effective November 1, “is just and fair, and contributes to the strength and credibility of trade unions”, the minister said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: New Homes to Lose Up to 40% of Their Value
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 13 — House prices in Greece are set to drop to levels unseen since the turn of the millennium within the next couple of years, as properties are expected to lose up to 40% of their market value compared with the third quarter of 2008, their peak period, according to a recent analysis by Fitch. The study by the international financial services firm — as daily Kathimerini reports — showed that prices will drop another 17% by the end of 2014 on top of the 20% decline seen in the last four years. The latest Bank of Greece data available, for the second quarter of the year, indicate that the prices of newly built homes have posted a 10.8% decrease from the same period in 2011, while older dwellings saw their prices shrink 9.7% year-on-year. This means that builders and construction firms, the main sellers of newly built apartments, have begun to realize they have to lower their asking prices in order to find buyers. Estate agents say that depending on the cost of the house, the area and the financial state of the seller, reductions could reach up to 50% of the original price, which translates into an amount of 50,000 to 90,000 euros on average. This reflects the desperate situation many builders now find themselves in.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Gears Up for a Week of Strikes Against Cuts
All sectors, public and private, suffering under austerity
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — Greece gears up for a week of strikes against new austerity measures, enacted to appease the country’s international creditors in exchange for a first tranche of 31.5 billion euros in aid.
Journalists led off with a 24-hour strike, which began at 6am on Monday. This comes ahead of a general strike on Wednesday called by the three major unions: the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) representing private sector workers, the Civil Servants’ Confederation (ADEDY), and the Communist Party-affiliated All-Workers Militant Front (PAME).
The National Federation of Maritime Workers has also adhered to the strike, which “is a cry of outrage and despair at everything that is going on”, said GSEE leader Yannis Panagopoulos.
Public sector and state-participated company employees, tax collectors, health and education workers, banks and local autonomous administrations are all participating, as will the nation’s judges, who will stop court hearings for five hours.
Greek ships and ferries will remain docked, while railway unions have yet to decide what form their work stoppage will take. Athens subway workers will keep the trains running, however, so that people can get to the demonstrations. The two major ones, both starting at 11am, are in Pedio tu Areos Square (GSEE and ADEDY), and in Omonia Square (PAME).
On the health care front, hardships are ongoing for people who are covered by state-owned health insurer National Organization for Healthcare Provision (EOPYY). Tired of waiting for reimbursements that never come, the pharmacists’ union has refused to dispense any more medicine until the state pays up.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Leaders Yet to Agree on 11.5 Bln Austerity
Meeting adjourned to next week, 2-2.5 bln still up for grabs
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 20 — Greece’s coalition leaders on Thursday failed to come to an agreement on the 11.5 billion euro austerity measures requested by the country’s international creditors.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos, Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Labor Minister Yannis Vroutsis to discuss the measures. “Nothing has yet been decided”, and leaders have adjourned the meeting to next week, Kouvelis told reporters. The international creditors’ troika (EU-ECB-IMF) “must stop attacking Greek society”, he said.
“Negotiations will go on for a few more days”, Stournaras told reporters, adding that “right now, some 2-2.5 billion euros” in cuts still remain to be discussed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande-Merkel Axis: “We’re the Driving Force of Europe”
(AGI) Ludwigsburg-France and Germany have “special responsibility” in the Eurozone crisis as they are “the driving force of Europe”. In Ludwigsburg, in front of the same baroque palace where 50 years ago Charles De Gaulle launched the grounds for the Franco-German friendship and reconciliation that led to the Elysee Treaty of 23 January 1963, today Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel reasserted the Franco-German axis. “The only response to the crisis is Europe, it is Europe that will beat the crisis” Hollande said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Parmalat to Close Three Italian Plants
Genoa, Como factories on chopping block
(ANSA) Milan, September 21; Italian dairy company Parmalat on Friday announced plans to close three plants in Italy including one in the northwestern port town of Genoa.
The company said it will also close the Villaguardia plant located in the province of Como, as well as a third factory in Cilavegna in the province of Pavia, according to a statement.
Parmalat said it is working with trade unions to draw up a “social plan” aimed at “limiting the impact on employment” from the closures. The company has already made contact with Italy’s industry ministry to work to draw up the necessary social instruments aimed at buffering the impact on employees. Parmalat was at the center of a 2003-2004 financial scandal which saw the company collapsing after it defaulted on $16 billion of debt. It was forced to declare bankruptcy in December after disclosing that a $4.7-billion account with Bank of America did not exist. Many criminal trials ensued and it was subsequently purchased by French dairy company Lactalis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Van Rompuy Warns Against Half-Hearted Crisis Fighting
Ahead of a crucial meeting of European leaders next month, EU President Herman Van Rompuy has urged governments not to slow down the pace of reforms. He said there was too much at stake to just sit back and relax.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy told governments across the 27-nation bloc that they must not relax their economic reform programs even as the European Union was making progress in protecting itself from financial shocks.
“I see a tendency of losing the sense of urgency both on short term and long-term policies, but this must not happen,” Van Rompuy said a in video message on his homepage on Monday.
He acknowledged that markets had calmed down on the back of the European Central Bank’s decision to relaunch a conditional bond-buying program. But he added the eurozone was still slipping into recession, with analysts worried about the pace of reforms in Italy, France, Spain and Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Muslim Film Protest Held in Chicago, Ignored by Media
Lead Story: On Sunday, protests surrounding the controversial film Innocence of Muslims reached Chicago. Rather than the violent outbursts we’ve seen overseas, this protest was a relatively small, peaceful demonstration. But don’t look for any mention of it in the local media. The closest thing I’ve seen is a paltry 58-word post on ABC 7’s website that completely left out the “who” and “where.” Instead, we get this and this. There has been some coverage of local reaction to the film, so it’s not as if the story been completely ignored here. But the poor reporting on yesterday’s protest is a huge missed opportunity. If you want to inform readers about the world around us, inform readers about the local angles of stories of international import instead of ignoring it like a problem that doesn’t bother us because it’s all happens too far away.
[…]
[JP note: This article contains a photo-clip from the film — a pensive Mohammed somewhere in a desert, perhaps already worried that some centuries down the line he would end up in photo-caption contest.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bring the Troops Home. The U.S. Military Betrayed
The troops are not being sent to war to win. Take off your ideological glasses and look at the facts.
As the Middle East rages in violent anti-American protests, the dirty little secret that few in Washington want to discuss is how military families have worried for years about whether or not their loved ones serving in Afghanistan and previously in Iraq would be killed by insurgents or by the bureaucracy and policies of their own government.
Intrepid journalist and author Diana West reports from an alarming letter written in June by Army Staff Sgt. Matthew S. Sitton that was sent to U.S. Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young asking for help after his commanders in Afghanistan told him to “quit whining” about orders to lead patrols twice daily without objective, “or purpose” through basically “a mine field.”
As SSG Sitton wrote, “As a Brigade, we are averaging at a minimum an amputee a day from our soldiers because we are walking around aimlessly through grape rows and compounds that are littered with explosives. Not to mention that the operation tempo that every solider is on leaves little to no time for rest and refit. The moral and alertness levels on our patrol are low and it is causing casualties left and right.”
[…]
Under both Bush and Obama, U.S. soldiers serve war-crime related sentences in Leavenworth prison, Kansas. Meanwhile Taliban prisoners are set free on a “pledge” declaring that they will “never support the Taliban or fight for the Taliban ever again.” A double-standard policy that shows mercy to the Taliban and no mercy for America’s military.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Daniel Pipes: MPAC Calls Me an “Expert on Islam”
Why thank you, Muslim Public Affairs Council, for this endorsement. It’s much appreciated, even if came in a 65-page pamphlet, Not Qualified: Exposing the Deception Behind America’s 25 Top Pseudo-Experts on Islam.
According to MPAC, a leading Islamist group based in Los Angeles, those 25 would be Andrew Bostom, William Boykin, Stephen Coughlin, Nonie Darwish, Steven Emerson, Brigitte Gabriel, Frank Gaffney, David Gaubatz, William Gawthrop, Pamela Geller, John Giduck, Sebastian Gorka, John Guandolo, Tawfik Hamid, David Horowitz, Raymond Ibrahim, Zuhdi Jasser, Andrew McCarthy, Walid Phares, Patrick Poole, Walid Shoebat, Robert Spencer, Erick Stakelback, David Yerushalmi … and me.
The gravamen of MPAC’s analysis is that members of this group overwhelmingly are not what it calls experts on Islam, where this term is defined as:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Diamond District finds 10 tungsten-filled bars
Federal agents are investigating the peddling of bogus gold bars in Midtown.
The Post has learned as many as 10 fake gold bars — made up mostly of relatively worthless tungsten — were sold recently to unsuspecting dealers in Manhattan’s Midtown Diamond District.
The price of gold has risen more than 600 percent since January 2000, while the S&P 500 index is down 0.6 percent over the same period.
The 10-oz. gold bars are hugely popular with Main Street investors, and it is not known how many of the fake gold bars were sold to dealers — or if any fake bars were purchased by the public.
Helayne SeidmanGold refiner Ibrahim Fadl claims he was sold four bogus bars, which were covered with a thin layer of gold, and filled with a tungsten slug.One gold dealer discovered that four of the 3-inch-by-1-inch gold bars he bought — worth about $72,000 retail — were counterfeit.
“It has the entire street on edge,” said Ibrahim Fadl, 62, who has been the owner of Express Metal Refining, a Midtown gold-refinery business, for the last 11 years. “I and the others on the street work off of trust; now that trust is strained.”
Fadl, a Columbia University graduate with a master’s degree in chemical engineering, and who has more than 40 years in the industry, purchased the four fake bars from a well-known Russian salesman with whom he has done business.
A second 47th Street refiner, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was burned recently when he bought six gold bars that turned out to be mostly tungsten, with just a gold veneer. He would not comment, though, on who sold him the bogus bars.
Fadl became suspicious when he offered the salesman a deep discount for the investment-grade gold bars and he quickly accepted it, a source tells The Post.
Fadl said he did his due diligence “by X-raying the bars to ascertain the purity of the gold and weighing the bars, and the Swiss markings were perfect.”
Tungsten is an industrial metal that weighs nearly the same as gold but costs a little over $1 an ounce. Gold closed Friday at $1,774.80 an ounce.
To quell his suspicion, Fadl then drilled into the bar and discovered the tungsten — whose silver color is distinctive from gold’s bright yellow hue.
Raymond Nassim, CEO of Manfra, Tordell & Brookes, the American arm of the Swiss firm that created the original gold bars — with their serial number and purity rating stamped clearly into them — said he reported the situation to the US Secret Service, whose jurisdiction covers the counterfeiting of gold bars.
He said his company “is supporting and cooperating with authorities any way we can.”
Nassim thought the culprit must be a professionally trained jeweler to have pulled off the caper.
“The forger had to slice the original bar along the side, hollow out the gold and insert the tungsten ingot, and then reseal and polish the bar, Nassim said.
At an industry dinner Thursday night hosted by Comex, the New York-based metals exchange, the room was abuzz with talk about the bogus gold bars, according to Fadl.
Numerous calls to the Secret Service were not returned.
| — Hat tip: Ann Barnhardt | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Team Obama’s Mendacity
For the last two weeks, the American people have been encouraged by Team Obama — both official spokesmen for the administration, its champions in the press and other partisans — to believe a number of national security calumnies that can only be described as surrealistically epic lies and dangerous deceptions. Far more than the usual political slight-of-hand that can be expected in the run-up to an election, the mendacity of Team Obama is truly audacious, and the consequences of the public accepting it at face value are very grave.
Take, for example, Obama’s insistence that the surging violence in dozens of countries is a “natural” response by Muslims to a video produced in America that trashes Islam’s prophet, Mohamed. One can scarcely find an official or press account of these events that does not start with something to the effect that the attacks were precipitated by that (almost-entirely-unviewed) short film…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
If Obama wins re-election and Democrats retain control of the Senate but do not gain control of the House, Obama will depend on an aggressive expansion of the federal government through the regulatory agencies and through the abusive use of executive orders. The agencies may adopt all manner of regulations having the force of law without having to obtain congressional consent. They are already possessed of combined legislative, executive, and judicial powers and operate as an oligarchy outside the constitutional branches. Consequently, circumventing Congress to achieve his true aims is a facile move for a re-elected Obama.
We can therefore expect a substantial increase in regulatory strictures that block market entry and direct market incumbents to take courses of action preferred by the Obama Administration. That will continue to create financial insecurity and impose substantial costs on politically disfavored markets and entrants. The effect will be to block GDP growth, keeping the economy from expanding as it must to reduce unemployment and the national debt. The government planning approach preferred by President Obama has the look and feel of national socialism, akin to Mussolini’s Italy. During an Obama redux, government planning will rule the day by relying on a combination of coercion and intimidation to alter the course of free enterprise.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Planning Commissions, Smart Growth and Land Use, Part 2
While most Americans go about their busy lives and focus on being entertained by an endless stream of college football games and new fall programs on TV, our freedoms and rights are disappearing at an exponential rate. As I described in Part 1 of this article, we have a two-pronged attack on our property rights.
Rosa Koire, author of Behind the Green Mask describes one prong, “What Smart Growth is and what United Nations Agenda 21 Sustainable Development does is instates Communitarian Law, which says that the individual’s rights are subsumed by or balanced with the rights of the “community.” Those rights are not delineated, they’re not written, and they can change at any time, or even be taken away. What we’re being told is that this is for our own good, and for the good of the community. It’s a stealth plan, people don’t know about it. In fact, when you’re invited to come down and give your opinion on what that new plan is (like our Plan ET) for the remaking of your city center, it’s a Delphi Technique meeting where you’re being tricked, or manipulated into thinking your point of view is actually desired by your city or county. In fact, the plan has a pre-determined outcome. The plan was already completed before you even came in the room. All that’s needed is so-called community buy in, because they want to be able to say the community vetted it, looked at it, approved it, and this is your plan.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Robot Tuna Joins Homeland Security Arsenal
Speedy tuna capable of swimming tirelessly in the Earth’s oceans have inspired the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fund a lookalike robot for underwater patrols.
The “BIOSwimmer” robot features faithfully replicated fins and a flexible tail to pull off quick maneuvers like the real-life fish. Homeland Security made the choice to fund the robot made by the Boston Engineering Corporation in Waltham, Mass., with an eye toward missions such as exploring the flooded areas of ships, inspecting oil tankers or patrolling U.S. harbors to watch out for suspicious activity.
“It’s called ‘biomimetics,’“ said David Taylor, program manager for the BIOSwimmer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “We’re using nature as a basis for design and engineering a system that works exceedingly well.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Billionaire Did Help Obama Into Harvard
Exclusive: Jack Cashill shares shocking secret president tried to keep under wraps
Given the game-changing nature of this revelation when it surfaced in late August 2008, the Obama camp and its allies in the media, particularly Politico and Media Matters, shifted into overdrive to kill the story. Through a series of denials, lies and slanders about Sutton’s mental health, they succeeded.
The story, however, has come back to life. The elusive al-Mansour was a guest Sept. 19 on the BlogTalkRadio show “The National and International Roundtable.”
In his introduction, the host openly acknowledged that al-Mansour “made news in 2008 when it was revealed that he had been a patron of President Barack Obama and had recommended him for admission to Harvard Law School.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Billionaire hedge fund operator George Soros said that, if Mitt Romney wins the presidency, there will be “little difference” between him and Barack Obama in the White House. As if to prove the point, Romney on Tuesday will speak to the Clinton Global Initiative sponsored by the disgraced and impeached former president.
You may recall that Clinton is married to Obama’s Secretary of State and that he nominated Obama for a second term at the Democratic Party convention.
Check the list of speakers yourself. It is no surprise that Obama is going to speak there. But Romney? What is he thinking?
[…]
Did you know that senior Romney adviser Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican Party, is a partner in a lobbying firm with Democratic Party operative Jack Quinn? Their firm “Quinn Gillespie & Associates” was founded in 2000 by Democratic White House veteran Jack Quinn and Republican strategist Ed Gillespie.
These operatives make tons of money no matter who is in power. They don’t care if Romney wins or loses. Gillespie is a hired gun who will make millions of dollars under Obama or Romney. Why does Romney hire people like this?
In addition to hosting Romney, we also have learned that Clinton is hosting Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi at his Clinton Global Initiative.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Back the EU or Risk Isolation, Polish Minister Warns Britain
Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski has called on Britain to abandon its “false consciousness” of euroscepticism and take the lead in EU decision-making.
Speaking at the Global Horizons conference at Blenheim palace near Oxford on Friday (21 September), the Oxford-educated Sikorski said Britain’s hostility towards the EU is based on “myths.”
“(The UK) is living with (a) false consciousness … your interests are in Europe. It’s high time for your sentiments to follow,” he told the meeting.
Calling for Britain to take a stronger position on shaping EU policy, Sikroski noted that the EU: “is an English-speaking power. The Single Market was a British idea. A British commissioner runs our diplomatic service. (And) you could, if only you wished, lead Europe’s defence policy.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Czech President: The Destruction of Europe’s Democracy is in Its Final Phase
‘Two-faced’ politicians have opened the door to an EU superstate by giving up on democracy, Václav Klaus, the veteran Czech statesman, tells Bruno Waterfield.
The new push for a European Union federation, complete with its own head of state and army, is the “final phase” of the destruction of democracy and the nation state, the president of the Czech Republic has warned.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Václav Klaus warns that “two-faced” politicians, including the Conservatives, have opened the door to an EU superstate by giving up on democracy, in a flight from accountability and responsibility to their voters.
“We need to think about how to restore our statehood and our sovereignty. That is impossible in a federation. The EU should move in an opposite direction,” he said.
Last week, Germany, France and nine other of Europe’s largest countries called for an end to national vetoes over defence policy as Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, urged the creation of a directly elected EU president “who personally appoints the members of his European government”.
Mr Westerwelle, in a reference to British opposition, called for nation states to be stripped of vetoes on defence to “prevent one single member state from being able to obstruct initiatives” which “could eventually involve a European army”.
The new offensive followed the unprecedented declaration by the Commission’s president, José Manuel Barroso, during his “state of union” address to the European Parliament on 12 September, that he would make proposals for a fully-fledged EU “federation” in 2014. “Let’s not be afraid of the word,” he said.
Speaking in Hradcany Castle, a complex of majestic buildings that soars above Prague, and is a symbol of Czech national identity, Mr Klaus described Mr Barroso’s call for a federation, quickly followed by the German-led intervention, as an important turning point.
“This is the first time he has acknowledged the real ambitions of today’s protagonists of a further deepening of European integration. Until today, people, like Mr Barroso, held these ambitions in secret from the European public,” he said. “I’m afraid that Barroso has the feeling that the time is right to announce such an absolutely wrong development.
“They think they are finalising the concept of Europe, but in my understanding they are destroying it.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Strauss-Kahn off the Hook on Lille Rape Charges
(AGI) — Paris, 22 Sep — French daily Le Figaro’ claims enquiries into Strauss-Kahn’s alleged rape in Lille have come to a dead end. With the former IMF chief accused of rape during group sex at the Lille Carlton hotel, his prime accuser — a Belgian prostitute — is said to have withdrawn her claims, suggesting Dominique Strauss-Kahn merely partook in “sex games” in the role of “dominator.” ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Hamburg Mosque May Have Violated Anti-Hate Contract
House of prayer operators participate in march calling for Israel’s destruction.
BERLIN — The Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg, widely considered by experts in Germany and abroad the long arm of Iran’s regime in the Federal Republic, appears to have violated the spirit — and perhaps the terms — of its contractual partnership with the city of Hamburg. The mosque and its parent organization are said to have mobilized anti-Israel activists to call for the destruction of the Jewish state…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: CIA Imam Snatch Convictions Upheld, Extraditions Sought
Cassation Court upholds 23 sentences
(ANSA) — Rome, September 19 — Italy’s top court of appeals on Thursday upheld the convictions of 22 CIA agents and a retired US air force officer found guilty of abducting Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Omar Nasr from Milan in 2003. The Court of Cassation confirmed the seven-year sentences for 22 of them and a nine-year term for former Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady.
The justice ministry said Italy will ask for extraditions.
Italy’s top two former military intelligence officers, former SISMI (now AISE) chief Nicolo’ Pollari and his ex-No.2 Marco Mancini, must be retried in the Milan Court of Appeals, the supreme court ordered.
The two have repeatedly been acquitted on appeal in the past because of the state-secrecy injunction.
Lower-ranking ex-Sismi officers Pio Pompa and Luciano Seno, had their sentences of two years and eight months confirmed. Nasr, an Islamist wanted in Italy on suspicion of recruiting jihadi fighters, disappeared from a Milan street on February 17, 2003 and emerged from an Egyptian prison four years later claiming he had been tortured.
The cleric, who is also known as Abu Omar, did not attend the trial.
Prosecutors said he was snatched by a team of CIA operatives with SISMI’s help and taken to a NATO base in Ramstein, Germany, en route to Cairo.
In the closely watched case, the world’s first judicial examination of the controversial United States practice of extraordinary rendition, the agents’ terms were lengthened from 5-8 years to 7-9 years in December 2010. The prosecution had sought convictions ranging from eight to 12 years for the 23.
But the CIA’s former Italy chief, Jeff Castelli, was excluded from the proceedings at the last minute on a technicality along with two other operatives, Betnie Medero and Ralph Russomando.
For the three, acquitted at the first trial in November 2009 on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, the appeals process started from scratch.
The prosecutor in the trial had requested a 12-year sentence for Castelli and eight years for the other two.
The court also ordered the 22 CIA officers and the retired colonel to pay one million euros in damages to Nasr and 500,000 euros to his wife.
The prosecutor had sought 12 years for Pollari and 10 for Mancini. None of the CIA operatives have ever appeared in court here.
US-ITALIAN FRICTION.
The case had caused friction between Italy and the United States, which voiced its “disappointment” with the 2010 verdict.
Former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he sympathised with US concerns, noting that the judiciary in Italy was independent but despite this, the Italian government had obtained the secrecy injunction.
Some of the agents had said they were worried they would become international fugitives but Frattini said he “didn’t think they would go to jail”.
Extraordinary rendition was first authorised by former American president Bill Clinton in the 1990s and stepped up when his successor George W. Bush declared war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda.
Successive Italian governments denied all knowledge of the case and consistently ruled out the possibility of extradition.
During the trials the CIA had refused to comment and its officers were silent until Lady, the ex-Milan chief, told an Italian daily in August 2009 that he was only following orders.
Lady, who has now retired, said from an undisclosed location that he was “a soldier…in a war against terrorism”.
The trial of Nasr claimed headlines worldwide and stoked discussion of rendition, which was extended by President Barack Obama in 2008 under the proviso that detainees’ rights should be respected.
The Council of Europe, a 47-nation human rights body, called Nasr’s case a “perfect example of rendition”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Prepares 1-Mln-Euro Teacher Selection Process for 2013
11,500 posts up for grabs in 2013-2015
(ANSA) — Rome, September 20 — Italy is gearing up to launch a 1-million-euro selection process for 11,542 public school teaching positions for the 2013-2015 academic years as 160,000 contenders sharpen their skills to vie for the first jobs picked by competition in more than a decade. The participants in the selection process are applying for a variety of public schools and for all levels of teaching positions.
Interested candidates will need to apply via an online application process. The government has also established a so-called preselection process given the large volume of interested parties. This will take place in December via an online multiple choice test made up of 50 questions that will need to be answered in 50 minutes. The preliminary test will include seven information technology queries, seven linguistics questions, and 36 tests aimed at assessing the candidates’ logical deduction skills. Each candidate will have a completely different set of questions selected randomly from an overall total of 3,500 queries.
The selection process will be completed by the summer of 2013, when some 7,351 teachers will be selected for the 2013-2014 academic year as well as 4,191 for the 2014-2015 period.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Scandal-Hit Lazio Regional Government Unveils Cuts
Rome, 21 Sept. (AKI) — Lazio’s embattled regional governor Renata Polverini on Friday announced cuts to the region’s bloated bureacracy as it moved to limit the damage from a multi-million euro embezzlement scandal.
The cuts include halving the number of standing commissions from 16 to 8, and will free up as much as 20 million euros to be spent on health and other services in the region, said Polverini.
She is fighting for her political survival after the scandal erupted earlier this month when the ruling People of Freedom party (PdL)’s then-regional chief, Franco Fiorito, was placed under investigation for suspected misappropriation of party funds.
The Lazio regional government has launched its own investigation into the use of party funds by members of the Regional Council after six million euros of party funds disappeared over the past two years.
“Chaotic” money management allowed Lazio regional officials easy access to PdL funds, just by making a single phone-call, investigators said Thursday.
Fiorito reportedly told prosecutors there was no way that Polverini could not have been aware of how the funds were being disbursed and has implicated a number of other regional councillors in the deepening scandal.
The head of the PdL in the Lazio region, Francesco Battistoni, resigned on Thursday over the scandal, a move welcomed by the party’s secretary Angelino Alfano.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mayor Makes Girlfriend His Deputy, Council Falls After Rows
(AGI) Bergamo — A ‘relative-gate’ scandal involving the Lega Nord has brought down a local council in Bergamo. Just four months after its election the municipal administration of Capriate San Gervasio has collapsed. The alliance between the Lega Nord (to which the now former mayor Simone Doric belonged) and a civic list, defeated an unusual alliance between the PD and PDL in last May’s election. The resentment against the mayor began just three weeks after the vote, when at the first council meeting on 24 May he announced the appointment of his girlfriend Valeria Cavenaghi as his deputy. Cavenaghi had served on the council for nine years and had just won 140 votes. She was given responsibility for social services, the family, community, education, cultural promotion, and the protection and improvement of Crespi Village. The mayor himself decided to oversee sustainable development, urban quality, the budget and sport, leaving only crumbs to the other two councillors. All these decisions created much discontent among the ranks of the minority and majority groups on the council.
The mayor defended his decision and protested against what he saw as an abuse of his privacy. However the bad feelings did not subside, despite the negotiations of recent weeks. So this morning, councillors belonging to the governing coalition, Cristiano Esposito (former Lega Nord mayor), Patrizio Massola and Donatella Pirola, submitted their resignation to the council’s protocol office together with those of minority party councillors, Mino Maggioni, Enzo Galbiati and Tullio Gambirasio. The council will now be put under the authority of a commissioner. (AGI) .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Court Upholds Acquittals in Vilks Murder Plot Case
A court of appeal in Gothenburg has upheld the acquittal of three men charged with having plotted to murder Swedish artist Lars Vilks.
Following the same line of reasoning applied by the lower court, the appeals court found that there were a number of circumstances that raised suspicions that the three men had been planning an attack on Vilks, who has been the target of numerous death threats since his drawing of the Prophet Mohammed as a dog was first published by a Swedish regional newspaper in 2007.
For example, the suspects were looking for Vilks at an art exhibition at the Röda Sten gallery in Gothenburg on the night of September 11th, 2011 — the night they were arrested.
All three were also carrying knives at the time of their arrests, and had given police faulty information about what they had been doing in the days prior to the arrests.
But according to the court of appeal, there is no concrete evidence linking the suspects to claims by the prosecutor that they intended to murder Vilks, even if the men were no strangers to violence.
The prosecutor appealed the district court’s acquittal of the men to the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden because she believed there was sufficient evidence for a conviction.
The three men were arrested along with a fourth man, no longer considered a suspect, by an elite counter-terrorism unit in Gothenburg.
The unit had evacuated hundreds of people from the Röda Sten gallery as it hosted a September art fair “after concluding that there was a threat that could endanger lives or health or cause serious damage”.
Vilks had initially said on his blog that he would attend the art fair although he did not in the end.
The three suspects — one Somali citizen and two Swedes in their mid-20s — were all carrying knives when they were arrested and were, according to the prosecution, planning to stab Vilks to death.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Hospitals on the Verge of Collapse as Socialized Medicine Fails
(NaturalNews) If you want to get a good look at the future of healthcare in America, compliments of the “Affordable Care Act,” the monstrosity reform law known not-so-affectionately known as Obamacare, look across the Atlantic to Great Britain. Because of that law, our system is set to become nearly as socialized a system of medicine as is the system in England, where top doctors are now predicting that a number of hospitals there are “on the brink of crisis,” the BBC is reporting.
That’s not politics, that’s reality.
According to the Royal College of Physicians, a trio of issues — rising demand, increasingly complex cases and falling numbers of hospital beds — is contributing to the destruction of the healthcare system there.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Decades’ Worth of Sexual Exploitation “Ignored” In South Yorkshire
A dossier of internal police, social services and intelligence reports shows agencies in South Yorkshire were aware vulnerable girls were being abused, but a catalogue of alleged crimes were not prosecuted. In one case, a white girl who was sexually abused by an Asian gang from the age of 12 was offered lessons in Urdu and Punjabi by her local council after her ordeal, to “try to engage her in education”. The papers revealed fifty-four children from Rotherham were linked to sexual exploitation by three brothers from a British Pakistani family.
An intelligence report for police identified 61 girls who were linked to sexual exploitation by three brothers from another British Pakistani family. It named 41 of the brothers’ associates, who allegedly used girls for sex. They also document an incident when neighbours heard screaming, and a 13-year-old girl was found at 3am in a house with a large group of men who had given her vodka. Police arrested the child for being drunk and disorderly but did not question the men. The report, seen by The Times, states that such groups are believed to have trafficked victims to other cities and towns, including Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford and Dover. Another confidential 2010 report, for the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board, warns against drawing too much attention to the ethnic origin of the alleged abusers. Neither South Yorkshire Police nor Rotherham Council have yet commented.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Asian sex gangs were able to groom, pimp and traffic girls across the UK for more than a decade while authorities failed to publicly acknowledge the problem was happening, confidential documents reveal today. A dossier of internal police, social services and intelligence reports shows that agencies in South Yorkshire were aware that vulnerable girls were being abused, but a catalogue of alleged crimes were not prosecuted. In one case, a white girl who was sexually abused by an Asian gang from the age of 12 was offered lessons in Urdu and Punjabi by her local council after her ordeal…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Council Chiefs Vow to Bring Child Grooming Offenders to ‘Justice’
COUNCIL chiefs in Rotherham today vowed to bring sexual predators to justice for targeting young children in the town. The vow came after the disclosure of confidential police and council documents and intelligence files on the sexual exploitation of children in South Yorkshire. They revealed that for more than a decade South Yorkshire authorities have been aware of a growing culture of men targeting vulnerable young English girls to groom for sex, but give a series of shocking examples of where offenders have never been prosecuted.
They also reveal instances where young children have been pimped and trafficked to other parts of the country for the sexual gratification of men.
One of the reports made public today came from the South Yorkshire Police intelligence bureau in 2010, which admitted that at that time there was ‘evidence of a substantial and organised offender network that groom and exploit victims on a worrying scale’. It referred to ‘a significant problem with networks of Asian males exploiting young white females’ in the county. One of the intelligence bureau reports made public today, laid bare the problem South Yorkshire Police had with investigating the issue. It revealed that by 2010 up to 300 children were being sexually exploited in the county but there were only three officers dedicated to tackling the issue. One was part time and the other two had other areas of work which took up at least half their time, the report said. It added: “Force provision for the policing of child exploitation is not equivalent to the scale and seriousness of the problem.”
Joyce Thacker, Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services for Rotherham Council, said: “Rotherham Council, working with local partner agencies and the community, is fully committed to tackling sexual exploitation — a commitment which has led to the conviction of men involved in this despicable crime as well as support for victims and potential victims and the education of hundreds of young people about the dangers of sexual exploitation. There will always be those people who will attempt to harm our young people and carry out these horrendous crimes but we, along with our partners and communities, will do whatever we can to bring them to justice. It has been well documented before that the council along with partner agencies have been aware of the issue and been working with young people for some years now. Rotherham was one of the first areas in the region to have a dedicated team, originally set up in 1997, to work with the victims, or potential victims, of sexual exploitation and help support criminal investigations. The service also worked with local schools and community groups to educate young people about the issue. Multi-agency work in Rotherham over a number of years has led to successful convictions and support for the victims. These are highly complex cases and situations and some work with individuals did not lead to court cases for a variety of reasons, but those young people have been supported to understand the situation they have found themselves in and assisted by many services.”
Councillor Paul Lakin, Cabinet Member for Services for Children, Young People and Families, added: “There is no question that we will do whatever we can to protect our young people from harm in whatever form that threat takes. The council has already acknowledged publicly that there have been lessons learnt from previous work, cases and investigations and that the support offered to a small number of vulnerable young people has not always reached the high standards we always look to provide. From that learning, improvements have been made and new services introduced and those developments will continue. Sexual predators do come from different sections of the community and are criminals who need to be brought to justice regardless of their background. We have worked closely with communities and community leaders across Rotherham in recent years to enlist their support in helping to tackle some of these issues and to educate people about sexual exploitation. The response has been very positive and our commitment to continue to tackle this issue is shared by local agencies and our communities.”
Rotherham MP Denis MacShane, said he was disappointed that despite regular meetings with police chiefs in his town the seriousness of the problem with child exploitation had not been revealed before. He said: “We need clear leadership from Government to eradicate this evil. Firstly, we need to shame and name all those who pay for sex with girls. In 2009, Parliament passed a law making it an offence to pay for sex with a young or coerced woman. But few if any prosecutions have followed. The police should be more vigorous in naming and shaming men who pay for sex. Instead of waiting for a terrified girl to be willing to give evidence the police should be arresting any man suspected of offering young girls a ride in his car or taxi or buying them presents.
Secondly, we need to bring a system of guardianship so that there is individual supervision of the most vulnerable of these girls. Many of the abused young girls came from care homes or from dysfunctional poor families. I have repeatedly called for a system of guardianship — naming legally empowered guardians for any child in care or who has been internally or externally trafficked. Such guardians would have a legal responsibility for these girls and the power to ask the local authority, police, doctors, social workers and teachers what they are doing to protect the child. So far the Government has refused to countenance this reform which many MPs who campaign on trafficking and exploitation of young girls believe would make a real difference. We need to tackle the alienation of so many young Asian men from modern society. Sadly the endemic poverty and growing joblessness especially amongst young British men in South Yorkshire with Asian parents who often face prejudice in getting jobs creates a no-work, no-hope, no-future. The culture of waiting to be married with someone from overseas instead of normal healthy boy-girl relationships, including responsible caring sexual relationships at the right time and age, leaves some Asian men confused as they see the rampant sexual availability promoted by the media. There are thousands of Muslim families in Rotherham and Yorkshire who lead normal decent lives and know no more about these crimes than east Manchester families knew about the killers of the two policewomen last week. The racist BNP, EDL and other xenophobic and anti-Muslim political outfits seek to exploit community divisions and turn an evil crime into an excuse for racial tension and inter-community violence. It is highly misleading to categorise these sexual abusers as ‘Asians’ or ‘Muslims’.the men are wholly unrepresentative of British Asians and of British Muslims.”
[JP note: One law for Muslims, crumbs for the rest.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: English Defence League and Opposition Groups Plan Demonstrations in Walsall Town Centre
FEARS are growing of trouble in Walsall next weekend after it was revealed that the English Defence League are to mount a demonstration in the town centre — while groups opposing the far-right group are also planning an event in the town. West Midlands Police said they were aware of the planned protest due to take place in the town centre on Saturday, 29 September, 2012. A spokesman said: “As on previous occasions, the police have no power to ban a static protest — in fact the right to protest peacefully is a sign of a healthy democracy and West Midlands Police has a positive duty to facilitate that right.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Leader of ‘Con Air’ Gypsy Family Gang Ordered to Pay Back Less Than a Tenth of the Cash Swindled
The notorious ‘Con Air’ gypsy family who jetted in and out of Britain on budget airlines to fraudulently claim £800,000 in benefits were today ordered to pay back less than a tenth of the swindled cash.
Ringleader Telus Dumitru, 38, and his fellow gang members cheated taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of pounds in a ‘flagrant’ attack on the benefits system.
Dumitru was jailed along with eight others for the ‘sophisticated and professional’ fraud against various Government departments.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Were Aware of Rotherham Child Sex Grooming for Years
Today’s Times reveals that South Yorkshire Police had detailed knowledge of how young girls were being groomed, pimped and sexually abused for more than a decade — yet nobody was prosecuted using this information. In the past two years the Times has broken a string of child sexual abuse stories, highlighting how networks of men, usually of south Asian origin, were exploiting underage girls for sex in South Yorkshire and the Midlands. Hundreds of children are believed to have been exploited.
Young teenagers, many from troubled backgrounds or in care, were singled out for attention by local men, who would often act as a boyfriend. Over time, using drugs, alcohol, violence and the threat of abandonment, the girls would be coerced into having sex with their friends. In some cases girls were driven all over the country to be used for sex. Now a cache of over 200 classified documents has been passed to the paper, revealing just how much police and child protection services knew about the abuse. They also reveal shocking incidents in which potential child exploitation was ignored by officers — and in many cases the victims were treated as the criminals.
In one such case, a 13-year-old was found by police with clothing in disarray, at 3am in a house with several men. She had been fed vodka by them. None of the men were questioned; she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. The files reveal multiple further cases where whole networks of abusers were identified by name, yet nobody was prosecuted. The documents, which include research papers, case files, intelligence reports and correspondence between the police and social services, reveal that social services were concerned girls in care were being targeted for sexual abuse in Rotherham as long ago as 1996.
A report written a decade ago revealed there was ‘a great deal of data concerning the activities of these men’, including where girls were targeted and how they were ferried around to be used for sex. Yet, a later report noted, the feeling among the police was that if the girls would ‘help themselves’ by coming forward to give evidence against their abusers there was little the police could do. No successful investigation into groups of sexual offenders in Rotherham was launched until 2009 — and several investigations since have failed.
All in all the Times’ work — led by their chief investigative reporter — is a fine example of dogged and unflinching journalism. It’s a disturbing tale that touches on a difficult issue — the treatment of young, vulnerable white girls by ethnic minority men. In less delicate hands it could have been prurient or inflammatory. As it stands, the Times has, unlike the police or social services, done the story justice. And there are signs that what has been revealed so far may be the tip of the iceberg — the children’s commissioner is currently studying the issue and said in a preliminary report that a cautious estimate indicates that ‘several thousand children nationally’ may be showing the signs of sexual exploitation, with abuse taking place across the country. Detailed findings will be released in November, offering the first nationwide snapshot into how widespread the horrific abuse revealed by the Times may be.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pregnant Wife of 21 Murdered by Family to Rid Her of Evil Spirits
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
Jailed for life, husband and the in-laws who held bride down and suffocated her.
A man and three members of his family were jailed for a total of 58 years yesterday after being convicted of murdering his pregnant wife claiming she was possessed by evil spirits.
One of the four smothered 21-year-old Nalia Mumtaz while the others held her down, apparently in an attempt to drive out the ‘jinn’ spirit from her body.
The killers included her husband, Mohammed Tauseef Mumtaz — who later claimed she suffocated herself — his parents, Zia Ul-Haq and Salma Aslam, both 51, and his brother in law Hammad Hassan.
The murder of the isolated young woman was said to have been instigated by Mumtaz’s parents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eshan Ahmed, now four, had to be put into a coma after suffering a fractured skull when he fell headfirst through a gap in the railings of the staircase at the first-floor nursery in Birmingham.
A court heard the steep staircase was used as an entrance and exit to Little Hippos Multicultural Nursery and Day Care Centre even though the owner knew the fire escape was unsafe, as small children could easily slip through large gaps on either side of the steps.
Birmingham Crown Court was told that Irshad Ahmed had lied to Eshan’s family and to Ofsted about the fall and created a ‘fiction’ surrounding it, claiming that the three-year-old was pushed off the steps during a fire drill at the nursery in Summer Lane.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Times: After 2 Yrs of Cameron, Labour Ahead 15 Points
(AGI) London — The economic crisis has not spared the UK and the pound and in 2 years the voters are tired of Mr. Cameron.
According to a survey run by conservative, Rupert Murdoch’s “The Times”, if the polls were open today, Ed Milliband’s Labour party would be the main UK party with a 45% approval (it was 35,2% at the 6 May 2010 legislative elections), some 15 points ahead of the Tories lead by the prime minister. The vice-premier Nick Clegg’s Lib-Dems are a 10% minority (2 years ago they received 22,2% of the votes).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tory Chief Whip Insults Downing Street Police Officers
(AGI) London -Tory chief whip Mitchell confronted police officers who didn’t let him ride his bike through Downing Street’s gates. Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell called the Downing Street police officers “plebs” and threatened them saying “I’ll have your ****ing job for this”, after they refused to let him ride his bicycle through the main gates of the British prime minister’s office. The incident was promptly criticized not only by the Labour opposition, but also by the Tories’ increasingly reluctant coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Radical Islam ‘Latent Threat’ In Muslim-Majority Region
Belgrade/Sarajevo, September 24 (Aki) — Serbia’s Muslim-majority Sandzak could see a dangerous upsurge in fundamentalism, which is simmering in the southern region, an Islamology expert has warned.
“The symptoms are not serious threats at the moment but could trigger a chain of events in the future,” Belgrade-based Islamology expert Darko Tanaskovicas aid on on Monday, cited by Pres daily.
His comments followed rallies held on Saturday by ultraconservative Wahabis in Sandzak’s main town Novi Pazar and in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo calling for Muslim unity and a state governed by Sharia or Islamic law.
A group of about 100 Wahhabis got together in Novi Pazarì’s central square but a Wahabi activist from Bosnia, Bilal Bosnic was not allowed to cross the border into Serbia to address the rally, according to rights activists cited by Serbia’s Tanjug news agency.
Last Friday by thousands of fans from a local soccer club in Novi Pazar marched against a US-made film deemed insulting to Islam that has sparked deadly protests across the Muslim world, ‘Innocence of Muslims’.
BH televison station RTRS quoted Bosnia’s self-styled Wahhabi leader Nusret Imamovic as explaining the importance of Sharia law and “the indissoluble link between politics and Islam” in an address at Sarajevo’s Muslim cultural centre.
Imamovic was earlier detained and than released by Bosnia police during an investigation into the sniper attack on the US Embassy in Sarajevo in October 2011 in which a policeman was wounded.
The attack on the American embassy was allegedly carried out by Wahabi member Mevlid Jasarevic, who was reportedly trained in mountains in northeastern Bosnia.
The Wahabi ideology is a fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam attributed to 18th century Saudi scholar Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab.
It was brought to the Balkans by thousands of mujahadeen fighters who came to fight on the side of Bosnian Muslims during the country’s bloody 1992-1995 civil war
According to intelligence reports, many Wahabis remained in the country after the war, indoctrinating local youths with radical Islam and operating terrorist training camps in several locations in Bosnia
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Top Officials Deplore Croatian MP’s Comments on Serbs
Belgrade and Zagreb, September 20 (AKI) — Croatia’s president and Serbia’s prime minister on Thursday moved to condemn inflammatory remarks by Croatian member of parliament Zeljko Kerum that Serbs were “the source of all problems” in his country.
Croatian president Ivo Josipovic condemned Kerum’s comments made on state broadcaster HTV as hate speech — a social ill that was increasingly targeting the various minorities.
“I condemn every attempt at discrimination,” he said.
Serbian premier Ivica Dacic said the UN Security Council “would probably intervene immediately” if Serbs were to make similar remarks about Croats.
Local reports said police and the public prosecutors in Croatia “are considering” launching procedures against Kerum, a businessman is also the mayor of the Adriatic city of Split .
In his televised remarks made on Sunday, Kerum claimed that the Serb ethnic minority “controls the media and the money” in Croatia.
“The statement of the mayor of Split is a classic example of the abuse of national issues and emotions. We tend to have good relations with Croatia and this certainly cannot violate that fact”, Dacic told Belgrade’s daily Pres.
Asked if hostility between the citizens of the two Balkan neighbours could increase as a result of the statement, Dacic reminded that “Kerum has already said a lot of things about Serbs”.
Kerum has previously said that he would not like to have “a Serb for a son-in-law” and that “Serbs must know their place”.
Zagreb’s Jutarnji List daily is reported Wednesday that “the state apparatus” had taken interest in Kerum’s televised remarks and police and prosecutors had analysed the footage in detail in order to ascertain whether they constitute “hate speech” — a criminal offence.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Arab Spring’ Cost 12 Billion Dollars
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, SEPTEMBER 21 — The ‘Arab Spring’ with the security concerns raised by the fight for democracy had a negative impact on tourism which led Arab countries to lose 12 billion dollars and seven million tourists, said participants in Tunis of the fifth Arab conference on tourism security.
The conference called for a plan to fight terrorism in the region and provide protection for tourists. Participants also stressed the importance of the cooperation in this sector of security services of the countries involved.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Mohammed Morsi Warns US it Needs to Change Middle East Policy
Mohammed Morsi has warned the United States that its Middle East policies must change after the Arab Spring, and the onus is on Washington to heal its fraught relationship with the region.
In interviews on the eve of his departure for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Egyptian president gave an uncompromising critique of US policies in the Middle East, underscoring his growing reputation as figurehead of a new, democratic, defiant, and often Islamist Arab world. He warned the US that its promotion of Israeli interests ahead of Palestinian independent has fostered deep anti-American sentiment across the Arab World. He also said it was important to have a “strong relationship” with Iran, with which Egypt has had no diplomatic relations for more than 30 years. Speaking a little over a week after four Americans were killed and others injured in mob attacks on US embassies in Libya, Yemen and Egypt, Mr Morsi told the New York Times: “Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Body of Lies From Benghazi to Barack
By now, it is well known that something is very wrong with the official narrative pertaining to the controversial video known to everyone as Innocence of Muslims. The official government script we are asked to believe is that this video supposedly caused the September 11, 2012 attack on the consulate in Libya and ignited the ensuing violence and death across the Muslim world that continues without abatement today. Officially, the video was cited as the primary motive in the murder of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. There are more than a few problems with this narrative. First, aside from the trailer, the video does not exist anywhere in any public forum. Not now, not ever.
Based on my findings from a lengthy and extensive investigation that is ongoing, the trailer (which will be referenced interchangeably in this report as “the video”) was not a motive, but a means to an end not yet seen. In fact, I believe that the entire story is even deeper and more sinister than that.
[…]
If my investigative findings are correct, there appear to be some very disconcerting ties between this video and individuals and entities associated with our own government. The official narrative of everyone from Obama to Rice to Obama presidential campaign advisor Robert Gibbs is that this specific video is to blame for the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Libya.
Clearly, their continued assertions in the face of contrary evidence suggests something much larger. The video appears to be serving multiple purposes. It appears to be a multi-faceted catalyst by seemingly opposing parties to advance different agendas. One might be to suppress any criticism of Islam and ultimately restrict our freedom of speech — both religious and political dissent, while the other is to foment chaos in Islamic countries as a means to an end.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Shashank Joshi
[…]
[Reader comment by joebooker on 25 September 2012 at 00:24 am.]
I guess it’s natural to pounce on a piece like this, one incident of Libyans opposing — actively — extremists, and overplay its significance in the overall scheme of things. Sure, anything’s welcome, but it’s far from any standard and it’s not a flea-bite on an elephant’s *** in terms of profound influence or change. No-one wanted to hate islam, Shashank Joshi. They were simply given no choice. There isn’t a person here who wouldn’t back a genuine muslim majority-led push for reformation in islam, as happened in Christianity. You can only support something if it appears, which it hasn’t. When you see the likes of Theo Van Gogh (to choose just one of a plethora of possible examples) getting shot in the street for expressing an opinion via film and little but ‘well, he shouldn’t have been so offensive about people’s religions’ being the main reaction from the muslim majority — then Houston, you have a damn great problem. The East End of London alone is full of nasty jihadi creeps just gagging to jump into that ‘lazy stereotype’ you speak of. It’s all gone too far for an inconsequential and isolated event to be taken as anything other than just that. People aren’t stupid, you know. (Edited by author 15 hours ago)
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ahmadinejad Calls Sanctions “Sacrilege Against Islam”
(AGI) New York — Iranian President Ahmadinejad has described sanctions inflicted on his country by the USA, the UK and France as a “sacrilege against Islam”. Speaking in New York where he is attending the United Nations Assembly, and where he spoke at a U.N. debate on the role played by legislation, Ahmadinejad said that sanctions against Islam “violate the rights and the freedom of nations.” . ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
British Soldier to be Questioned by Iraq War Crime Investigators
A British soldier is facing a murder investigation seven years after shooting dead an Iraqi gunman during an insurgent ambush.
When his unit came under attack at the height of the insurgency in Iraq, the British infantryman had no hesitation in shooting back. He knew the rules of engagement allowed him to return fire on what he could see was a gunman shooting at British troops. Praised for his actions by his company commander in the immediate aftermath of the firefight in 2005, the soldier was surprised to learn days later that he was being accused of murder, following a claim by an Iraqi family that their unarmed son had been killed. After years of investigation, he thought he had put the affair behind him in 2008 when he was told that no charges would be brought against him. Now, however, the 28-year-old has been informed that he is likely to be one of several hundred troops to be quizzed for a new investigation into alleged war crimes being carried out by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT).
[…]
[JP note: Surrender to Pax Islamica cannot be far off.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Plans by the Iranian government to switch its citizens’ internet to a domestic network to ‘improve security’ have been described as a deliberate attempt to control their access to the web.
Officials said the move will improve the country’s protection against cyber attacks, but many Iranians believe it is the latest tactic to restrict and filter information online.
The announcement was made by a government deputy minister on Sunday and came as state television announced Google Inc’s search engine and its email service would be blocked ‘within a few hours’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Kirkuk: Young Christians Hold Day of Fasting for Peace After a Bomb Attack on Cathedral
The bomb exploded causing damage to the building. Yesterday the International Day of Peace marked worldwide. For Msgr. Sako, the Church in Iraq is “troubled, but not crushed.”
Kirkuk (AsiaNews) — At least 150 young people, joined by other faithful, spent today in prayer and fasting to overcome violence, after a bomb exploded in front of the Chaldean cathedral.
On Sunday, September 16 (see photo), a bomb hidden in a bag exploded at 20.45 at the door of the Cathedral of Kirkuk, while Benedict XVI concluded his visit to Lebanon. The Chaldean archbishop, Msgr. Louis Sako, was in Beirut to receive from the pope’s hands the apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente. The Pope’s visit to Lebanon coincided with widespread tension in the Islamic world, resulting from an anti-Islam film, deemed blasphemous against Muhammad.
The explosion in front of the Chaldean cathedral caused only material damage. Since September 21 was appointed an International Day of Peace, a group of young people launched day of fasting on Saturday, a holiday in Iraq, asking for peace in the city of Kirkuk and across the country. The day also had moments of prayer. Speaking to young people, the archbishop said the Church in Iraq, is according to the word’s of St Paul: “… afflicted, but not crushed” (2 Cor 4:8). And he praised the idea of combining prayer and fasting, according to the teaching of the Gospel, in which Jesus says that some demons “can not be driven out except by prayer and fasting” (cf. Matthew 17:20). The 150 young people, together with other believers ended the day by participating in the Eucharist together.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Incites Middle East Toward Chaos and Murder
Obama has only the destruction of a country and abject disaster in his background.
If you plan to vote for Obama in the 2012 elections, you have identified yourself as being in favor of ending the United States of America and of willingly accepting your position as one of Obama’s slaves.
You will, also, be voting for the Obama syndicate’s dictatorship over you, your family’s and all of your yet-to-be-born (if you will even be allowed to procreate at all) progeny. For Seniors, your fate is already sealed if Obama retains the Office of the Presidency of the US. He has already stolen $716 Billions from Medicare in order to finance his ObamaCare…which is designed to build his empire out of his newly-formed population of financial and religious (soon-to-be Islam only) slaves.
You didn’t think Team Obama was really planning to provide you with healthcare…did you? Heck, he has a 15-member non-healthcare/non-financially savvy Death Panel which is now poised to say who may live and who must die. Not an exaggeration, folks. Have you actually read the passed-by-the-Democrat-Congress-against-our-will ObamaCare?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Defence Minister Visits Italian Contingent in Afghanistan
(AGI) Herat — Italy’s Defence Minister Di Paola visited the Italian troops who are part of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
Minister Giampaolo Di Paola was accompanied by the head of Italy’s Interforce Operating Command (COI), Corps General Marco Bertolini. Upon their arrival at the Camp Arena base in Herat, the minister was welcomed by Italian ambassador to Afghanistan Luciano Pezzotti and Brigadier General Dario Ranieri, who, since September 14, has been in charge of the Regional Command West (RC-West), the NATO formation led by Italy’s ‘Taurinense’ Alpine Brigade tasked with controlling the western part of the country. Brigadier General Ranieri informed the minister about the ongoing operations carried out in partnership with the Afghan security forces and the assistance projects developed by the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT), the units that are working to promote civil and military cooperation in the provinces of Herat, Badghis, Farah and Ghor.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: 50 Million People on Strike Against the Opening to Foreign Supermarkets
The lockout is called by opposition parties and trade unions. Schools, offices and stores in different states of the country closed. Transport suspended for the whole day. With the entry of international chains in Indian market retail, small shopkeepers fear losing livelihoods.
Mumbai (AsiaNews / Agencies) — At least 50 million people in India have joined the nationwide strike today, organized by opposition parties and trade unions to protest against the opening of the retail market to foreign superstore chains. Schools, shops and offices were closed in several parts of the country, and public transport services have been suspended or blocked by the population. The protest has garnered most support in states led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, ultra-nationalist Hindu party in opposition) in Bangalore (Karnataka), the headquarters of large foreign multinationals like IBM have decided to remain closed for ‘ whole day. Beyond the inconvenience caused by the various shutdowns, so far the protest has been largely peaceful.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the contested reform on September 14 last. The plan allows for up to 51% of foreign direct investment from large international chains (Carrefour, Walmart), and 100% for brands (Nokia, Reebok). For the prime minister, the measure will give new impetus to the economy, which last year registered a decline in growth.
According to the opposition, the reform will directly affect the small retailers in the country, forced to close with the entry of large foreign chains. A shopkeeper in New Delhi said: “These supermarkets can sell products at cost price. This means that many people will lose their customers”. In India, the retail market provides employment to more than 40 million people. More than 90% of internal trade is through small local retailers.
In addition to the opposition, even some allies of the UPA government (United Progressive Alliance) are opposed to the reform of the retail market. First in line, the Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee (also chief minister of West Bengal): if the measure goes through, the political leader says he will withdraw his party from the government with the resignation of its six ministers. However, even if Banjeree carries out his threat, the Singh executive would not be in crisis (yet).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Muslims Ready to Sacrifice Lives for the Prophet’s Sanctity: Munawar
LAHORE, (SANA): Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hasan has cautioned the US and the Western rulers that the Muslims would be found ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the sanctity of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). He has also warned the rulers in Islamabad that mere summoning the US envoy in the Foreign Office was not enough as the nation wanted to know the outcome of the government protest on the issue. He was addressing a huge public meeting in Dir on Sunday. JI deputy chief, Sirajul Haq, and other leaders were also present.
Disapproving violence in principle, the JI Ameer slated Federal Information Minister Kaira’s remarks about Friday’s protests. He said the nation still remembered how the PPP workers had gone berserk on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination setting ablaze railway stations, petrol pumps, banks, hundreds of vehicles and political parties offices resulting in losses in billions.
He said the protection of the Holy Prophet’s sanctity was an undisputed issue for the Muslim Ummah and the US film based on blasphemy had hurt the sentiments of one a half billion Muslims. Syed Munawar Hasan lamented that the Muslims rulers at present stood as defenders of the US who had been repeatedly indulging in sacrilege of the Quran and blasphemy of the Holy Prophet. He asked the Muslim rulers to think how would they justify their conduct on the dooms day…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Massive Protests Over Muhammad Cartoons
Bloody clashes and violence flared Friday as Pakistan shut down for mass protests against a US-made anti-Islam film that has fanned global Muslim anger, inflamed further by French cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Angry demonstrators armed with clubs and sticks set fire to and ransacked two cinemas in the conservative, northwestern city of Peshawar, where at least 15 people were wounded by gun shots, tear gas and stone throwers, said the Lady Reading Hospital.
A driver working for a private TV station was critically wounded and on a ventilator, said the hospital chief, Doctor Mukhtar Khan. His employer had earlier announced his death.
The violence came as Western missions across the Islamic world went on high alert, fearing further escalation of a 10-day violent backlash over the low-budget film “Innocence of Muslims” that has spread to at least 20 countries and left more than 30 people dead.
France, where a magazine this week published a series of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, has shut embassies, consulates, cultural centres and schools in 20 Muslim countries, fearing that the backlash will spread from US targets.
In Rawalpindi, the headquarters of Pakistan’s powerful military, clashes broke out when scores of demonstrators pelted cars and police with stones, and burnt down a booth at a toll plaza, police official Mohammad Munir said.
An AFP reporter said police fired tear gas and live rounds into the air in a bid to disperse stone throwers and hundreds of protesters at the entry point to the capital Islamabad, which was blocked off by shipping containers.
But in the capital itself, protests were peaceful as hundreds demonstrated outside the five-star Serena Hotel, where the road to the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave was sealed off, shouting “Americans are dogs” and “Friends of America are traitors”.
The government had declared Friday a holiday and “day of love for the prophet”, calling for only peaceful protests and shutting down mobile telephone networks in an apparent bid to prevent Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists from carrying out bomb attacks.
Shops, markets and petrol stations shut down en masse, shuttering windows and erecting barriers in an unprecedented closure.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU/China: Premier Wen Demands Ends of Arms Embargo
(AGI) — Brussels, 20 September — Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has urged the European Union to make a greater effort to lift the more than two-decade arms embargo that started after the Tiananmen square massacre, and recognize China’s full economic market status. “We have worked hard for 10 years,” Wen said in his keynote speech at the summit with the EU in Brussels, “ but the solution has been elusive. I deeply regret this.” “We have to tackle the global challenges together to ensure a better future for our people and for the world,” said the president of the EU Council Herman Van Rompuy. Van Rompuy also said there is “growing interdependence” between China and Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Muslims Protest Anti-Islam Film, Cartoons
Thousands of Muslims in Hong Kong protested against an anti-Islam film and French cartoons Sunday, briefly scuffling with police as they tried to deliver a letter to the US consulate.
The protesters, who numbered more than 3,000 according to police and organisers, held up banners to denounce the film and cartoons as they marched through the city chanting “Allahu akbar” or “God is greater”.
The group, including women in headscarf and children, briefly clashed with police as they tried to break through a cordon outside the US consulate to deliver a petition letter, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
“Freedom of speech should not be used against any religion,” Saeed Uddin of the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong, a group that claims it represents some 300,000 Muslims in the city, said before the march.
“This is not the first time that our Holy Prophet has been insulted and attacked,” he said, branding the cartoons and the film as “malicious, disrespectful and derogatory”.
Uddin, a Pakistani who has lived in the southern Chinese city for 35 years, urged the American and French governments to take action against the filmmaker and cartoonist who are behind the controversial works.
The “Innocence of Muslims” film, an amateur production that went virtually unnoticed for months, has sparked violent protests across the Muslim world and left more than 50 people dead since September 11.
A Pakistani minister on Saturday placed a $100,000 bounty on the head of the filmmaker and called on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to join the hunt.
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published cartoons portraying Prophet Mohammed naked, further fuelling Muslim anger.
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Japan Accuses China of Encroaching in Its Waters After Three Ships Closed-in on Disputed Islands
Tensions between Japan and China deepened this week as a territorial row over a group of disputed island intensified.
Japan lodged an official protest after three Chinese ships entered, what it considers to be, their territorial waters in the East China Sea.
The move has prompted renewed efforts to cool tensions between the rivals in a long-running feud over ownership of the islands.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An Ahmaddiya Mosque in Marshall Islands
In the Marshall Islands, a small community of muslims is celebrating the official opening of a new mosque.
They belong to the Ahmaddiya community, founded in India near the end of the 19th century. They are persecuted in several Islamic countries and this has led many Ahmadis to emigrate and settle elsewhere. To find out more about the opening of the new Marshall islands mosque, Clement Paligaru spoke to Imam Mati-ullah Joyia. Photographs of the mosque are on our Facebook page Radio Australia Pacific.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Church Reveals Over 620 Cases of Paedophilia in Australia
(AGI) Sydney, 22 Sept — Since the 1930s there have been at least 620 cases of paedophilia perpetrated by clergy in the Australian state of Victoria, the Catholic Church of the same state admitted. The news was revealed during a parliamentary inquiry. The number of cases has reduced dramatically since the “appalling” quantities in the 70s and 80s, the Church in Victoria stated. The archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, said “It is shameful and shocking that this abuse, with its dramatic impact on those who were abused and their families, was committed by Catholic priests, religious and church workers.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Far Right and Atheists Hold Small Anti-Islam Protest in Melbourne
The cancellation of Saturday’s planned rally in Melbourne against Islamophobia didn’t prevent people turning up to denounce Islam. The small anti-Islam protest brought together atheists brandishing signs reading “(Like all religions) Islam is false” and fascist thugs wearing SS insignia. The latter included Nationalist Alternative, a neo-Nazi group who reject opportunist attempts to win popular support by targeting Islam alone and uphold the right of white Australians to abuse and insult Muslims and Jews equally.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Marshall Islands: Islam Group Opens First Mosque in the Marshalls
MAJURO — History was made in Majuro Friday with the official opening of a newly built mosque for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Located in the downtown section of the capital, directly across the street from the courthouse, the new mosque was blessed and then people enjoyed food as part of the celebration.
The opening included reading from the Holy Quran and translations into Marshallese language. Falah Shams, the national president of the Ahmadiyya, spoke and also led the group in prayer, and recently arrived Imam Matiullah Joyia read from the Quran. The recitation of the Quran and Shams’ speech were translated to Marshallese by Billa Typhoon and Sannia Nena.
Both Shams and Joyia emphasized the message that the Ahmadiyya, from its founding in 1889, has explicitly rejected “jihad by the sword.” Instead, said Shams, the Ahmadiyya have promoted an “intellectual jihad of the pen to defend Islam. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the leading Islamic organization to categorically reject terrorism in any form,” Shams said.
Rongelap Mayor James Matayoshi also spoke, recognizing the religious group as one that “rejects violence.” He offered a “warm welcome” and thanked both the Ahmadiyya and its sister organization Humanity First that has worked with both Rongelap and Enewetak local governments to establish computer centers and operate computer trainings for local residents.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
We Must Reject the Anti-Muslim Hysteria
by Tim Dobson
As soon as news filtered through that a “Muslim riot” was taking place in Sydney on September 15, it was clear a racist backlash was going to occur. It was also clear on what grounds the backlash would take place. Shock jocks would immediately declare that “they all should be sent back” — meaning all Muslims. We didn’t have to wait long for the first example — Andrew Bolt wrote a response almost straight away on his Herald Sun blog under the title “We let them in. Now they threaten”. It was clear conservative intellectuals were going to call multiculturalism a failure, inferior to an Anglo monoculture. Gerard Henderson dutifully followed this up in an article titled “Multiculturalism still has a long road to travel to reach all” in the September 18 Sydney Morning Herald. It was clear evangelical Christians and Dawkinsite atheists would unite to declare: “See what we’ve been saying about Islam.” In response to the Muslim protests around the world over the past week, celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins has tweeted “jokes” such as: “Breaking news. Taliban attacks Fiji in revenge for Croatian film.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa: ANC’s Ethnic-Cleansing of Poor Afrikaners
This time, seven empoverished Afrikaners living in the backyard of their father and grandfather in Pretoria-North will find themselves homeless and destitute after the Metro Council served them with a notice to demolish their shack-dwelling within three weeks… Countrywide, hundreds of thousands of the country’s 3million Afrikaners now live in wooden structures like these above, or hide themselves away in tents in the countryside. They have to hide or cluster together in settlements like these because even the poorest Afrikaner families get attacked & their children kidnapped . By 2009, the Solidarity trade union counted at least 800,000 impoverished Afrikaners living in little squatter camps like these. Many cannot afford anything else: they are growing increasingly poor because the ANC-regime denies ‘whites’ access to the labour market. All these Afrikaners are well-educated and could contribute a great deal to the growth of the SA economy”
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Third Day of Muslim Protests in Nigeria
(AGI) Abuja — Today was the third day of protests in northern Nigeria against the ‘blasphemous’ film and cartoons depicting the prophet Mohamed and believed to offend his sacredness. A peaceful march was held in the northern city of Kaduna, where thousands of Muslims marched shouting “death to the United States, death to Israel.” On Sunday instead, hundreds of people had marched through the dusty streets of Katsina and on Saturday thousands of Muslims protested in Kano, the main metropolis in Northern Nigeria. In recent days there had been similar protests, always in the north of the country, held in Sokoto, Zaria, and Gusau. These protests were all peaceful with the exception of the burning of a few American and Israeli flags. The only tense moment was experienced on September 14 in Jos, a city that is the symbol of inter-religious conflict in Nigeria. On that day the Nigerian army took action shooting high to disperse a non-authorised anti-western protest. In 2002 things went very differently following the publication of an article considered offensive to Mohamed’s dignity, and a wave of violence spread through northern Nigeria and more than 3,000 people were killed. (AGI)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat Applauds Brazil Incentives, Heats Up Italy Govt Spat
‘Brazil offers incentives for automakers’
(ANSA) — Rome, September 21; Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne on Friday said Italy’s largest carmaker found investing in Brazil attractive because of the incentives offered by local authorities, heating up a spat with the Italian government that began last week when the industrial group said it was backing down from previously announced local investment plans. Marchionne was responding to comments made by Italian Industry Minister Corrado Passera who on Thursday asked for clarity on the company’s intentions in terms of investments in Italy.
Passera “will surely have noticed the Brazilian government is particularly sensitive to issues in the car industry,” Marchionne said.
“I am sure the minister knows that automakers that go and produce in Brazil are offered financing and fiscal incentives”. His remarks came a day before a clutch meeting with the Italian government to discuss the company’s future in Italy. Saturday’s meeting was scheduled after Fiat last week said its expansion plans in Italy had been superseded by negative economic circumstances and a collapse in car sales that brought the local market to 1970s levels. Fiat went on to say it was not in a position to enact investments drawn up more than two years ago, in a different economic climate.
When Fiat’s Fabbrica Italia business plan was first introduced as a concept in 2010 it involved planned investments of some 20 billion euros. The company said it would announce its new business plan in October this year. Fiat has since announced temporary layoffs at its Melfi, Cassino and Sevel di Val di Sangro factories.
The last one, which produces the Fiorino commercial van, is the only one to date not to have been involved in production limitations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Luis Fleischmann: The Consequences of Colombia’s Negotiations With FARC
Early in October, peace negotiations will take place between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Oslo, Norway. If successful, the talks will continue in Havana, Cuba.
These talks are taking place against the backdrop of major military victories by the Colombian army against the FARC, the elimination of key FARC leaders in the last four years, and, confirmed connections between the FARC and the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador.
The upcoming talks were made possible through the mediation of Chile, Venezuela and Cuba. Venezuela and Cuba are two key players in the revolutionary, anti-American Bolivarian alliance. The Government of Venezuela has been one of the staunchest enemies of Colombia whom it views as an American puppet. Venezuela has also objected to the war on drugs and to Plan Colombia.. Many of Hugo Chavez’s international political attacks have been directed towards Colombia. Chavez even started an arms race with the help of the Russians and made a number of threats against his Colombian neighbor…
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The vast majority of foreign students who come to the UK attend ‘lower level’ universities and colleges, a study has revealed.
Just five per cent of the students who enter Britain each year go to a university rated in the top ten. Around one in eight goes to one of the top 24 Russell group universities.
Think tank MigrationWatch, which carried out the study, said the figures exploded the myth that the non-EU students coming to the UK were the ‘brightest and the best’.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
France Set to Ban the Words ‘Mother’ And ‘Father’ From Official Documents
France is set to ban the words “mother” and “father” from all official documents under controversial plans to legalise gay marriage.
The move, which has outraged Catholics, means only the word “parents” would be used in identical marriage ceremonies for all heterosexual and same-sex couples.
The draft law states that “marriage is a union of two people, of different or the same gender”.
It says all references to “mothers and fathers” in the civil code — which enshrines French law — will be swapped for simply “parents”.
The law would also give equal adoption rights to homosexual and heterosexual couples.
Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told France’s Catholic newspaper La Croix: “Who is to say that a heterosexual couple will bring a child up better than a homosexual couple, that they will guarantee the best conditions for the child’s development?”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islam and Mohammed Should Not be Protected From Mockery
by Andrew Lilico
If you produce a Bible pickled in urine, you might be a candidate for the Turner Prize. If you used to be a Catholic but left the church claiming to have been maltreated, and publicly burn a Bible whilst yelling “I hate Jesus”, you might get on the local TV. If you make a movie depicting Jesus having an affair with Mary Magdalene, in full frontal nudity, you might have a hit movie. But if you burn a Koran, you’ll be arrested. If you depict Mohammed having an affair or naked, you might be arrested, and you’ll certainly be condemned by politicians. No-one will say you are bravely standing up against bullies and oppressors — as they might well say about the ex-Catholic.
If you mock the beliefs of Young Earth Creationists or Chakra healers, you might get your own newspaper column. But if you mock the beliefs of Muslims, politicians will say how strongly they disapprove of you, and though they will declare their support for the principle of freedom of speech, behind the scenes they will put pressure on your newspaper or web-page hoster to take down the offending item.
Why do they do that? Why, when there are riots and murders in response to people’s expression of their constitutional free speech liberties, do politicians always say how much they disapprove of the person’s actions? They do it, of course, because they are afraid of inciting more violence and because they are personally afraid of becoming targets. But every time a politician kow-tows in response to murder and mayhem, she reinforces the notion that there is something special about Islam that means the same rules (quite properly) applied to other religions do not apply to it. Mainstream Muslims (not all Muslims, of course — there are a few that prefer free speech — but the mainstream Muslim line offered publicly is as follows) tell us that the image of Mohammed is special to Muslims (they don’t mean Shi’ites, but let’s set that point aside), that the Koran is holy. But do people think Christians are less insulted by the denigration of their God than Muslims of their prophet?
No politician ever thinks of saying “I protect such-and-such an artist’s right to free speech, but disapprove of the anti-Christian / anti-Sikh / anti-Buddhist nature of his work.” Why? We all know the reason. It’s because Christians and Sikhs and Buddhists around the world don’t engage in murder and mayhem in response to such things. So politicians imagine their inconsistency is about law and order — akin to disapproving of someone provoking a crowd into a riot. But the message offered is that Christians and Sikhs and Buddhists want religious protection, they should murder more people and destroy more property. That’s not a healthy message.
Muslims around the world need to get it: for those of us that aren’t Muslims, the Koran is not a holy book, so if someone wants to smear pig-fat on it and burn it, that’s up to him. That’s not how I happen to get my kicks, but I see no more reason to ritually declare I disapprove of someone doing that than I would of someone smearing pig-fat on a copy of the Lord of the Rings and burning that — indeed, probably rather less reason. And those of us that do not believe in Islam believe that Mohammed is not a prophet of God. So if someone wants to depict Mohammed naked, or claim he had affairs, or say he didn’t get on with his parents, that’s up to them. That’s how things work in Western countries. If Muslims in non-Western countries don’t like it, tough!
Western politicians need to man up on these issues. The people abusing the Koran or Mohammed are really declaring “I am not afraid”, when by doing so they are at some genuine personal risk from wicked people who seek to oppress and murder. As politicians and commentators we don’t have to praise these people standing up for freedom of thought and expression against the bullies. But their ritual condemnation is weak, weak, weak.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Two-Year Study Reveals Gay People Seven Times Likely to Use Illegal Drugs Than General Population
Gay people are seven times more likely to take illegal drugs than the general population, a new study conducted over two years has found.
And one in five show signs of dependency on drugs or alcohol.
The report, conducted by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF) and the University of Central Lancashire, sampled more than 4,000 people over two years.
More than a third of gay, lesbian and bisexual people took at least one illegal drug in the last month, according to the study — the largest of its kind to date.
This compares to 5 per cent of the wider population who admitted using a drug in the last month in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
According to the researchers the most widely used substances among those surveyed were party drugs such as cannabis and ‘poppers’ — a liquid nitrite sold in a small bottle and inhaled.
These were followed by powder cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and amphetamines.
The study, reported in the Independent on Sunday, found they were 10 times more likely to have used cocaine in the last month than the wider population, and 13 times more likely to have used ketamine.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
From Nigeria to Athens, Muslim Protests Rumble on
Muslims protested in Nigeria, Iran, Greece and Turkey on Sunday to show anti-Western anger against a film and cartoons insulting Islam had not dissipated. As delegates from around the world gathered in New York for a UN General Assembly where the clash between free speech and blasphemy is bound to be raised, US flags were once again burnt in parts of the Muslim world. Iranian students chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” outside the French embassy in Tehran in protest at the decision by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, days after widespread protests — some deadly — against a film made in the United States.
Shi’ite Muslims in the Nigerian town of Katsina burned US, French and Israeli flags and a religious leader called for protests to continue until the makers of the film and cartoons are punished. In Pakistan, where fifteen people were killed in protests on Friday, a government minister has offered $100,000 to anyone who kills the maker of the short, amateurish video The Innocence of Muslims. Calls have increased for a UN measure outlawing insults to Islam and blasphemy in general.
In Athens, some protesters hurled bottles of water, stones and shoes at police who responded with teargas. Calm returned when demonstrators interrupted the protest to pray. Hours later, dozens of Muslim inmates in Athens’ main prison set mattresses and bed sheets on fire in protest. Firemen with four engines battled the flames in some cells but police and government officials said late at night the situation was under control…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Killed in broad daylight while women in Egypt suffer from post-Mubarak insanity and with Sharia Housewife killed in Hariri’s manor in eastern province while the crowds stand by and watch. A cellphone was available to film the gory details.
Notice how the killer is stabbing the woman while she is turtled on the floor with a small blade. Honor killings are becoming more and more common in Egypt, since the toppling of Mubarak.
On April of this year it was reported by Emirates24 that an Egyptian man murdered his three daughters with two cobras. These killings will be becoming more and more common as the days go by, and as Jihad more followed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8sLYB9KP8&feature=player_embedded
http://tedshoebat.com/2012/09/23/honor-killing-caught-on-film/
Two points. Firstly, I have posted above that the Left have turned the West into a battered wife. No finer example than the reception that the White House is about to afford to Mr Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. He has just launched a vitriolic attack on the USA in the UN and yet Barack and Hillary will still grovel, kiss his feet and tell them they love him however much he batters them.
Secondly, well done to Mr Klaus of the Czech Republic for telling the truth and launching another velvet revolution. He has just said what we all know that Czechoslovakia and has now switched eastern bloc communism for soft communism/Marxism in the form of the EU. The eastward march has finally succeeded and the whole of Europe is now living in an EU Union of Marxist Totalitarianism.
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