Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/9/2008

Thanks to Insubria, C. Cantoni, Steen, Paul Green, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

The GoV newsboy

India: Muslim bodies condemn nuclear deal with US

New Delhi, 9 July (AKI/Asian Age) — A group of five Muslim organisations came together to roundly condemn the India-US civilian nuclear deal.

The condemnation from the group came at a symposium on “Indo-US nuclear deal and national interest” held in New Delhi, after the Left Front withdrew its crucial support to the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following differences over the proposed nuclear deal.

Among those who condemned the nuke deal were the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, the Indian National League, the All-India Majlis-e-Mushawarat and the Markazi Jamiat Ulama e-Hind.


TRANSPORT: UAE; BUS SERVICE EXCLUSIVELY FOR WOMEN PLANNED

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, JULY 8 — The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in UAE plans to introduce a bus service exclusively for women by the end of this year, according to a senior RTA official. The CEO of Public Transport Agency at the RTA, Essa Al Dossari, said: “We are in the process of planning better public transport services. The number of women travelling by buses is very high. Our future plans include a fleet of buses which would be only for women.” Women commuters have been demanding more seats in the buses, he said. There are also complaints that bus drivers often do not stop to pick up women passengers because of non-availability of seats for them as the seats are few. Presently, there are only 12 seats in each bus for women. Dossari had told Khaleej Times earlier that RTA was studying the bus routes on which the number of seats for women could be increased. He said that during peak hours, the bus drivers needed to stop at the bus stops which had women waiting. “Logically, if all the seats are occupied the driver can normally carry on the trip flow. During peak hours, however, the drivers must stop and take all the women on board.” (ANSAmed).


BANKS: UBS OPENS IN SAUDI ARABIA, PLANS TO EXPAND IN QATAR

(ANSAmed — ZURICH, JULY 8 — Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS announced on Tuesday that it was stepping up its expansion in the Middle East with a new licence to operate in Saudi Arabia. The bank has also applied to operate in Qatar and would expand its investment banking division and equity research in the region, Middle East online reports.


LEBANON: VIOLENT SECTARIAN CLASHES LEAVE ONE DEAD IN TRIPOLI


Iran: Missiles tested as tensions rise with Israel and US
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Tehran, 9 July (AKI) — Iran has tested nine long and medium range missiles, including one that could reach US bases in the region or Israel, said Iranian state media on Wednesday.

The Shahab-3 missile, was test-fired during a naval wargame in the Persian Gulf waters on Wednesday by navy forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported Iranian state television Press TV.


MIDEAST: FRATTINI IN RAMALLAH, ITALY GIVES 20 MLN TO PNA

(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH (WEST BANK), JULY 9 — Italy allocated another 20 million euro in aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Italian Foreign Minister France Frattini said at the end of his meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah today. This new package of aid, which is added to the funding recently announced at the Berlin Conference, is part of the Pegasus project for helping the PNA budget for the payment of salaries and administrative duties. “If we invest in the development of the Palestinian Territories, we invest in the security of the entire region,” Frattini said. (ANSAmed).


MIDEAST: MARSHALL PLAN FOR PALESTINIAN ECONOMY, FRATTINI

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 2 — It is necessary to bring forward “a plan to relaunch the Palestinian economy. When Berlusconi spoke in 2001 of a Marshall plan” for the Palestinian Territories, the concept “was not taken up much then. Now we must take it up again”, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a Forum at ANSA. (ANSAmed).


Iran: Jailed women activists begin hunger strike

Tehran, 9 July (AKI) — Ten Iranian women activists imprisoned in the notorious Evin Prison have begun a hunger strike to protest against what they consider harsh treatment.

The women are aged from 17 to 70 and were arrested in the Iranian capital, Tehran, only a fortnight ago.


Turkey: Six die in attack on US Consulate in Istanbul

Istanbul, 9 July (AKI) — At least six people, including three police officers, were killed in an armed attack outside the US Consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday.

Gunmen reportedly opened fire from a car outside the building. Early media reports said three of the gunmen were killed by police and one managed to escape in a white car.


A league of its own

Calls for a separate Flemish football team to enter World Cup and European Cup qualifiers are growing

Leander Schaerlaeckens reports

The Rode Duivels/Diables Rouges is an anachronism of an artificial country, argue some Flemish people, who advocate separating the national squad along regional lines. As far as they’re concerned, the affectionate nickname of the national football team will officially become a thing of the past and be replaced by the “Vlaamse Leeuwen”, an all-Flemish team.


Asmaa Abdol-Hamid’s brother goes to jail…

…for violence against a Danish woman: Pushed her to the floor, threatened to kill her etc. etc…

Why? Because she did not want to have sex with him!

(Summary by TB; Source is in Danish)


Pundita: Democrat Politicians Move to Control Congressional Internet Content

Dear Baron and Dymphna:

Well, we can always move to Canada to blog, if the FreeSpeechers are victorious.

Here’s my response to Mark Safranski’s plea for help. Hope you can forward Mark’s request to your circle of bloggers.

“If you feel you must be in the middle of a bad dream — wake up. There will be no more need for America’s anti-democratic politicians to wear a liberal mask once Barack Obama is in the White House; emboldened by this fact, Pelosi, Feinstein and their fellow travelers in Congress are setting about to quash dissent from congressional Republicans and any Democrat stupid enough to oppose Obama’s march.”


Denmark drops cartoon murder plot charges

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) — Danish prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against a Moroccan-born man accused of plotting to murder one of 12 cartoonists whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammad caused worldwide uproar in 2006.

“Even though there is information of a connection between the 40-year-old and the planners of the plot to murder Kurt Westergaard, it is not possible to submit sufficient evidence in court that he took part in the planning,” prosecutor Elsemette Casoe said, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.


American Children Indoctrinated Against Their Will in Taliban-Backed Madrassa in Pakistan

Up to 80 Americans Instructed by Taliban

“Karachi Kids” Documentary Highlights Their Plight

(Atlanta, GA — July 9, 2008) — A Muslim father, a taxi driver in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States on a green card, flew his American born-boys against their will to Saudi Arabia, and then to the a radical, Taliban-backed Jamia Binoria madrassa in Karachi, Pakistan with instructions to the head master for his sons to memorize the entire Koran before returning to America. This is their story.

Children in the documentary film “The Karachi Kids” describe beatings and human rights violations for those who reject the radical teachings of their Taliban masters. Children from California and Georgia are interviewed in the film from inside the madrassa and discuss coming back to the United States to spread extremism within our borders.

The trailer of the documentary can be seen at www.KarachiKids.com.


Islamists have the West just where they want us

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

Try a little thought experiment. What would have happened in this country during the Cold War if the Soviet Union successfully neutralized anti-communists opposed to the Kremlin’s plans for world domination?

Of course, Moscow strove to discredit those in America and elsewhere who opposed its totalitarian agenda — especially after Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s excesses made it fashionable to vilify patriots by accusing them of believing communists were “under every bed.”

But what if the USSR and its ideological soul-mates in places like China, North Korea, Cuba, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa had been able to criminalize efforts to oppose their quest for the triumph of world communism? What if it had been an internationally prosecutable offense even to talk about the dangers inherent in communist rule and the need to resist it?


SPAIN: KING PRAISES CULTURAL BONDS WITH ARAB WORLD

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 8 — The “close historical and cultural bonds between Spain and the Arab world”, as “an important instrument of transcultural communication” were underlined by King Juan Carlos during the official opening yesterday in Madrid of the Arab House, of which the monarch is honorary president. The king said that the institution is “an important instrument which contributes to the Spanish foreign policy”, “an ambitious project which has multiple dimensions”, from the social one to the cultural, political and economic ones, “to research and analysis” of the Arab studies and the Muslim world.


WOMEN: ITALY; ISLAMIC VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE TOLL FREE NUMBER

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 9 — Data from the only toll free number in Italy for Islamic women victims of domestic violence will be presented for the first time. The first results of the initiative and the data from the anti violence toll free number ‘Never Alone Again!’ will be published on Monday, July 14, at 1630 local time in the Sala delle Colonne of the historical Palazzo Marini, in the premises of the Italian Parliament. The service, launched in November 2007, is the first in Italy to answer in Arabic language, besides in Italian, French, English and in the Arabic dialects.


Terrorism: Car bombing manual surfaces on al-Qaeda websites

Dubai, 9 July (AKI) — A manual teaching would-be ‘holy warriors’ how to carry out a remote-controlled car bomb attack has appeared on al-Qaeda linked websites.

The 13-page manual’s apparent author, Abu Abdullah al-Qureishi, says: “This work of mine is a gift that I am offering to the Islamic nation, especially to Sheikh Bin Laden.”


SPAIN: COMPANIES FLEEING, FOREIGN FIRMS RELOCATE

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 9 — Spain is going through a mass exodus of companies, a ‘‘second wave of relocation’’ after the one in the early 1990s, according to the results of a study commissioned by the Foundation of the Savings Banks (Funcas), published by the ‘‘Papeles de economia espanola’’ magazine. The figures show that since 2000 a total 450 companies have transferred their production in countries which have lower labour costs. The company drain caused the loss of 85,000 jobs in Spain in this period. The study, carried out by researchers Rafael Myro and Carlos Manuel Fernandez of the Computense University of Madrid, underlines that the second wave of relocation is mainly due to the enlargement of the European Union and to China’s rise as a global power.


Voters to decide on controversial minaret ban

Supporters of a ban on the construction of minarets in Switzerland have handed in the necessary signatures to force a nationwide ballot.

The cabinet has come out against the controversial people’s initiative which was launched by members of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party and an ultra conservative party, the Federal Democratic Union, last year.


“Jihadism” is biggest threat to Swiss security

Terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists pose the greatest threat to Switzerland’s internal security.

The Federal Police said on Friday that the threat was real even though it had no evidence of any attacks being planned in recent years.


SYRIA-ISRAEL: GOLAN BORDER OPENS FOR DRUZE STUDENTS

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JULY 3 — The border between Israel and Syria, sealed for 60 years, has been opened exceptionally to allow the passing of some 80 Syrian students from the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967, who are preparing to start their university studies in Damascus, Syrian state-controlled daily al-Thawra reported today.


MIDEAST: MORE PALESTINIANS IN ISRAELI SOFTWARE COMPANIES

(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JULY 8 — The better cooperation between Israeli software companies and Palestinian technical staff could soon provide more solid basis to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. According to the website Israel 21C, it happens ever more that the software companies and the Israeli subsidiaries of some multinational companies offer work opportunities to Palestinian technicians and developers. “We need to work together and not to fight anymore,” Jonathan Levy, director general of the Israeli seat of Winbond Electronics Corporation, said.


Optimism Grows in Iraq as Daily Life Improves

By Bernhard Zand

There is an unexpected air of normalcy prevailing in Baghdad these days, with consumption flourishing and confidence in the government growing. The progress is astonishing, but can it last?

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