Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Holger Danske, Insubria, JD, LN, RRW, TB, Tuan Jim, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Chicago Schools Paying for Good Grades
CHICAGO (AP) — Some might call it bribery. But Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan says the time has come to pay students for getting good grades.
Under a program debuting this year in 20 Chicago public high schools, straight A’s can translate into earnings of $4,000 and straight Cs can yield kids $1,600. The money can be earned in increments of $50 for each A, $35 for each B and $20 for each C in English, math, science, social science and physical education. The money would be paid in five-week reporting periods.
Qualifying students will get only half their earnings up front. They have to graduate to get the other half.
Duncan says the program is an incentive, not bribery as some have called it. He said the program, funded through private donations, is intended to discourage failure and to encourage kids to graduate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago: Thousands Attend Villa Park Service to Honor ‘Bridge’ of Islam
Thousands of Muslims from around the nation came to Villa Park Thursday to pay respect to the life of a man they saw as a “bridge” between mainstream Islam and one of the most important outgrowths of the religion in the 20th century.
Religious leaders like Chicago’s Louis Farrakhan and Brooklyn’s Siraj Wahhaj were among an estimated 4,000 mourners who joined family, friends and supporters in a celebration of the life of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Mohammed, 74, passed away Tuesday during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.
Mohammed, a son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, emerged from the Nation of Islam but followed Malcolm X, who was moving toward traditional Islam when he was assassinated in 1965. When Mohammed’s father died, he became the leader, broke off from his father’s teachings and led hundreds of thousands of followers toward mainstream Islam.
Wahhaj was a follower of Elijah Mohammed when the Nation of Islam leader died. Soon after, Imam W. Deen Mohammed came to Wahhaj personally and led him toward the traditional interpretation of the faith.
“I became a true Muslim in 1975 when Imam Deen Mohammed became the leader,” Wahhaj said.”He had an unbelievable impact on me, and he is the bridge from the Nation of Islam to Orthodox Islam.”
Muslims formed endless rows and came together in the mosque’s lawn for Thursday’s service.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
ENMU Student Discusses Islam
Eastern New Mexico University sophomore Rabiah Memon held a presentation Thursday at the school that focused on debunking the myths and misunderstanding of Islam.
Memon told the crowd of about 60 students and residents that as a Muslim she is often asked how she felt about the terrorism attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon seven years ago.
“I think what happened that day was wrong,” said Memon, who is originally from Pakistan. “Islam prohibits any act of war or terrorism.
“The scripture of the Koran is righteous teachings that does not approve the killing of innocents,” Memon said.
She said she chose Sept. 11 because it is when a lot of people begin to question Muslims and their thoughts on terrorism.
After the presentation, Memon held an open discussion and answered questions about Islam and Muslims from the audience.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Greeley: Non-Muslim Workers Allege Threatening Fliers
About 100 Muslim workers fired Wednesday by JBS Swift & Co. in Greeley stayed “low-profile” Thursday in recognition of the victims of the 9-11 massacre seven years ago, according to one of the workers’ leaders.
The day was not without controversy, however, as some non-Muslim Swift workers alleged threatening fliers were left in the company’s cafeteria Wednesday night.
Kaise Egal, a leader of the local Muslim workers, said the fired workers were staying low-key “in respect to the 9-11 victims.”
“We told the people to be low-profile and not to demonstrate,” Egal said in a phone interview.
The weeklong dispute between the Muslim workers at JBS Swift flared Wednesday with about 100 workers receiving termination notices when they reported to the plant in mid-afternoon for the late shift. The dispute took another nasty turn on Thursday as someone left threatening pictures on the tables in the Swift cafeteria. The pictures appeared to be from a protest and feature people holding signs that say things like “Behead those who insult Islam.”
Tamara Smid, a JBS Swift spokeswoman, told Tribune media partner FOX 31 that inappropriate materials were found at the plant and Swift was investigating to see where they came from. The official would not say exactly what the inappropriate materials were.
La Salle resident George Pruner, 23, has worked at Swift for 11 months. He said a coworker gave him the fliers. According to Pruner, a second-shift worker, there were about five fliers on each of the 50 tables in the cafeteria breakroom. Pruner He didn’t personally find the fliers, a co-worker gave them to him, he said.
“This is the stuff that really bugs me,” he told the Tribune. He said he plans to quit his job because of the situation at Swift.
Graen Isse, a spokesman for the Muslim workers, said he did not think the Muslim workers were behind the fliers. The fliers come a day after about 100 Muslim workers were fired. Isse the workers who lost their jobs could not have been behind the fliers.
“The people that got fired, they can not get in the building,” he said.
There are still some Muslim workers at the swift plant who were not fired.
JBS Swift management said the firings were due to the employees violating the union contract by walking off the job without authorization Friday evening.
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
‘In China, the Trains Run on Time’
What kind of government might we expect under a President Barack Obama administration?
If the candidate’s rhetoric is any indication, his priorities might be in line with those of the totalitarians in Beijing.
For weeks now, right up to and including his recent interview with Bill O’Reilly, Obama has been singing the praises of China and its achievements in building a world-class infrastructure.
In Ohio, a few days ago, Obama noted the impressive show China put on for the world during the Olympics — including new ports and trains used by international visitors.
“Why aren’t we putting people back to work rebuilding our infrastructure?” he asked.
During the Games, Obama observed: “Everybody’s watching what’s going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics. Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly superior to us now, which means if you are a corporation deciding where to do business, you’re starting to think, ‘Beijing looks like a pretty good option.’“…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Public School Run by Imam Takes ‘Confrontational’ Stance
State trying to ensure facility follows all state, federal laws
A publicly funded school in Minnesota that is located in the same building as a Muslim mosque and is run by a Muslim imam has refused state requests to move its regular Islamic prayers for students on Fridays off-campus, according to a report by a columnist in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., which also shares space in a building with the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society, came under state investigation after multiple reports by columnist Katherine Kersten on the situation there.
The institution has drawn criticism from a number of other observers, too, including Robert Spencer, who monitors such developments at Jihad Watch.
“Can you imagine a public school founded by two Christian ministers, and housed in the same building as a church? Add to that — in the same building — a prominent chapel. And let’s say the students are required to fast during Lent, and attend Bible studies right after school. All with your tax dollars,” he wrote. “Inconceivable? Sure.”
If such a place existed, Spencer said, “the ACLU lawyers would descend on it like locusts. It would be shut down before you could say ‘separation of church and state,’ to the accompaniment of New York Times and Washington Post editorials full of indignant foreboding, warning darkly about the growing influence of the Religious Right in America.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Return of ‘Hate Crimes’ Plan Looms in Congress
Legal crackdown on biblical condemnation of homosexuality feared
A federal “hate crimes” plan to criminalize speech or thoughts critical of homosexuality — dropped from Congress’ agenda earlier because of a veto threat from President Bush — may be resurrected before the election, according to an opponent of such advocacy laws.
“Here’s ultimately what we expect,” Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law, told WND today. “The hate crimes plan is to be offered as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2009 Department of Defense reauthorization bill. That’s what the word is, that it’s going to be offered as an amendment.”
Pro-homosexual advocates long have sought such a law but opponents fear it would be used to crack down on those who maintain a biblical perspective that condemns homosexuality as sin. Observers note that it would criminalize speech and thought, since other criminal actions already are addressed with current statutes.
Canada already has an aggressive “hate crimes” law, and there authorities there have gone so far as to tell a Christian pastor he must recant his faith because of the legislation that bans statements that can be “perceived” as condemning another person.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Jews Irate as Court Unfreezes $10m Account of Number 1 Terrorist of the 80s
Austria’s justice ministry, security services and Jewish community are furious over a Vienna Court decision to unfreeze a bank account of the Palestinian Abu Nidal terrorist group.
At the end of the 1990s the Austria Bank froze the $10 million account of Iraqi citizen Halima al-Mughrabi, on the order of Austria’s intelligence services, as part of the international campaign to intensify the sanctions on Saddam Hussein’s regime.
On January 13, 2000, al-Mughrabi went to her bank branch in Vienna and asked to transfer some $2 million from her account to her account in the Arab Bank in Jordan. The bank clerks held her up and called the police. She was charged with being active in the Abu Nidal organization (ANO) and managing its bank account. She was also said to be the wife of ANO’s treasurer.
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The judge remanded her to custody, but some time later her attorney convinced the court to release her on a $40,000 bail. The attorney, Farid Rifat, promised that al-Mughrabi would attend her trial and the court consented to return her passport to her. Al-Mugrabi fled from Austria. Rifat said she lives in Libya, and since her passport had been confiscated by the Libyan authorities she could not attend the trial.
From Libya, al-Mughrabi demanded that Austria Bank unfreeze her account and release the money. Jewish organizations and families of victims killed by ANO terrorists asked the court to have the money used to compensate terror victims. The PLO also approached Austria unofficially, claiming that the money belonged to it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Britain: Muslim Policewoman May Sue Police
London, 12 Sept. (AKI/Asian Age) — Britain’s Metropolitan police are facing an unprecedented number of racial discrimination cases by officers within the force.
Sources close to one of the most senior Muslim women in the force, Yasmin Rehman, said on Thursday she would sue the police for racial bullying and discrimination.
Rehman, director of partnerships and diversity within territorial policing, was said to be planning a case before the employment tribunal.
Rehman has been on leave for more than a year, after allegedly facing bullying in the workplace.
“If she is contemplating an employment tribunal, this would be a matter of regret but we would want to work with her to resolve whatever grievances she may have without recourse to the courts,” the Metropolitan police said in a statement.
The National Black Police Association, which represents ethnic minorities working for the British police forces, has warned it may march to Scotland Yard in protest.
It has also threatened a boycott over the the recent suspension of Britain’s most senior Muslim police officer, Tarique Ghaffur.
Tarique was forced to go on “authorised leave” by the Metropolitan police after filing a racial discrimination case against it last month.
Just days later, another top Asian police officer commander , Shabir Hussain, 45, lost a racial discrimination claim against the Metropolitan police’s controversial chief, Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Authority and its chairman Len Duvall.
The National Black Police Association reportedly wants an urgent meeting with Britain’s Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, and wants her to appoint an independent figure to mediate between the two sides.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Diana West on the Brussels Demo
As I mentioned in yesterday’s 9/11 column (sharply titled by my excellent syndicate editor “A Day That Will Live in … Islamic Accomodation”), the demonstration in downtown Brussels held by the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang both to mark 9/11/08 and to protest the Islamization of Europe was broken up by Belgian police—and, according to one participant who emailed me yesterday, it was broken up before the group could finish laying flowers at the base of the World Trade Center there.
How’s that for efficient police work?
The mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielsman, had denied Vlaams Belang a permit for the demonstration for several reasons as reported in the Belgian press: the event would be too “sensitive”; the event would be taking place too close to “sensitive” neighborhoods; and it would be taking place during the presumably sensitive span of Ramadan.
“Sensitive”? Let’s snip away the euphemistic grape leaf. The mayor was referring to a potential Muslim reaction in Brussels, which, I take it, he was expecting to be anything but “sensitive,” and rather potentially violent. Hence the official ban on the 9/11-Islamization protest. And hence the response by Filip Dewinter—one of the leaders of Vlaams Belang—who said Mayor Thielsman’s reaction proved that the Islamization of Brussels, and the Islamization of European cities generally, is in full swing.
How do you say, “You can say that again” in Flemish?
But back to the crack work of that Brussels police force. Make no mistake about it: No one is going to get away with laying a wreath to murdered Americans in that town. And you can bet your bottom Euro on that…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
EU Officals Expect Ireland to Hold Second Lisbon Treaty Referendum
European Union officials expect Ireland to cave in and hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in Autumn 2009.
An internal EU briefing paper, entitled The Solution to the Irish Problem, predicts that Dublin will accede to the re-run at a meeting of Europe’s leaders on October 15.
Ireland has been under French and German pressure to hold a second vote and Autumn 2009 has emerged as the favoured date among officials and diplomats ahead of the European Union summit on the future of the Lisbon Treaty next month.
Ireland has refused to deny that a second referendum could occur, following the ‘No’ vote in June.
The document has been written by an influential group of French officials, called Le Amis du Traite de Lisbonne or Friends of the Lisbon Treaty.
According to the briefing, a second Irish vote will follow a guarantee that Ireland will not lose its European Commissioner and “declarations” on neutrality, abortion and taxation — all issues that dominated the Irish campaign.
“The second Irish referendum could take place, on this new basis, during Autumn 2009, pushing back the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon until 2010,” says the document.
The text, by a senior European official called Jean-Guy Giraud, who is based in Paris, is widely regarded as reflecting the view in France, current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Female Karate Champion Defeats Mugger
A mugger in Italy got more than he bargained for when the woman he tried to rob turned out to be a national karate champion.
Four times Italian women’s champion Lara Liotta, 29, was on a street in broad daylight in central Rome when the man, a Romanian immigrant of no fixed abode, approached her and asked her for a cigarette.
When she told him she did not smoke he allegedly lunged for her and grabbed her around the neck.
Miss Liotta, who works as prison officer, immediately put her black belt training to good use, delivering two swift jabs to the man’s face which sent him crashing to the ground.
The karate champion was fortunate she could rely on her skills to fight off her attacker because there was no assistance from passersby, despite the attack happening shortly after rush hour on Monday.
“No one helped me or stopped, even though there are lots of people around at that time of the day,” she told an Italian newspaper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: 1,500 Anti-Mosque Protesters Expected at Cologne Demo
Cologne, 12 Sept. (AKI) — At least 1,500 rightists from around Europe are expected to attend a protest next weekend over the start of building work on Cologne’s grand mosque, triggering fears of violent clashes, Germany’s news agency DPA reported.
Riot police throughout North Rhine-Westphalia state are being readied to separate the rightist anti-mosque protesters from up to 40,000 opponents expected to show up at the rally, being held in Cologne’s central Heumarkt square.
The founder of France’s anti-immigration National Front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is expected to show up.
The right-wing Pro Cologne group rejects the house of worship for the city’s large Muslim community as alien, while trade unions have organised a peaceful mass counter-demonstration in support of the mosque.
The far-right The Vlaams Belang party in neighbouring Belgium plans to send hundreds of supporters and Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria will also address the rally.
Pro Cologne which is organising the protest, will also have a bus-tour for anti-mosque protesters that will take in the site of the planned mosque and the city’s Muslim quarters, as well as the Ditib organisation which builds mosques for Turkish-speaking Muslims all over Germany, DPA reported.
The city gave planning permission this month for the mosque, which will have a dome and two minarets.
Pro Cologne is separate from Germany’s far-right parties, but state police have put it under surveillance.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Remains Terrorist Organisation for Us, Frattini
(ANSAmed) — GUBBIO (PERUGIA), SEPTEMBER 11 — “It is clear that we continue to consider Hamas a terrorist organisation and obviously there is no possibility of discussion on this,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters. Frattini was speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of a seminar of FI in Gubbio on the phrases pronounced by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem during a news conference at the Italian Foreign Ministry. “There was no discussion between me and minister Moualem on the role of Hamas,” Frattini pointed out. “But it is clear that we continue to consider Hamas a terrorist organisation and on this, obviously, there is no possibility of discussion because we are absolutely convinced that the EU line of the list of terrorist organisations is right and we consider that Israel’s security is not subject to conditions,” he added. “We want the direct dialogue between Syria and Israel, but the fact is that the role of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and towards Israel is that of a terrorist organisation,” Frattini concluded. At the news conference in Rome this morning Syrian Foreign Minister Moualem had said that “Hezbollah and Hamas are not terrorist groups, but movements of national resistance against the occupation”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Local Council Offered Illegal Street Racers a Career as Stuntmen
UTRECHT, 13/09/08 — What to do with youngsters who create unsafe situations by repeatedly racing through the streets with scooters at high speed or on one wheel? Offer them training as stuntmen, the Utrecht city council decided.
Algemeen Dagblad newspaper discovered that the council decided three years ago to ‘tackle’ a group of illegal street racers by offering them to become stuntmen. Between 2005 and 2007 they participated in a project named ‘Utrecht Hero’. Subsidies were used to teach them about the job of stuntman, actor and filmmaker. This included training in making rap video clips.
The subsidised ‘Utrecht Heroes’ gave stunt shows in parks and theme parks. The idea for the project came from Didier Chabi, who says he is a stuntman himself. “We made perfect use of the talents of these boys. They were able to get rid of their aggression in a controlled way. They imitated fights instead of actually engaging in violence,” Chabi claimed.
The two-year Utrecht Hero project has meanwhile been stopped. “The local council considered it created too much environmental pollution,” Chabi explained.
On Thursday, a motor cyclist died in Utrecht while carrying out stunts for a film shoot. It is not known whether the 19-year-old was one of the ‘Utrecht Heroes’.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Ends Automatic Permits for Iraqi Asylum Seekers
THE HAGUE, 13/09/08 — Asylum-seekers from Iraq will no longer automatically receive provisional residence status in the Netherlands. The cabinet decided Friday to drop the group category protection of Iraqi asylum-seekers.
The special protection policy was introduced for asylum-seekers from Central and Southern Iraq in March 2007. It is being dropped now that the situation in that country is improving, says Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak. Iraqi refugees will now be assessed individually again and not automatically admitted as a group.
Whether Iraqis who already have a temporary residence permit can still stay or must go back will be looked into. If they belong to vulnerable minorities, such as Christians, homosexuals or Palestinians, they will be able to stay in any case. This is also the case for Iranians.
Albayrak already let slip in recent weeks that she might want to stop the group protection of Iraqis. The Lower House had drawn her attention to the sharply increased flow of asylum-seekers from Iraq. The fact that Sweden among other countries has tightened up its admission requirements also played a role, according to Albayrak.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Next 9/11 Will be in Britain, Warn Banned Muslim Extremists at Meeting With Exiled Cleric
The next 9/11 will take place in Britain, members of a banned Muslim extremist group warned on the anniversary of the terror attacks.
The claim was made at a hate-filled meeting addressed via video link by exiled cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed.
Leaders of the Al Muhajiroun sect said Osama bin Laden had taught the Americans a ‘lesson’ seven years ago, but the ‘crusaders’ had not learned and the next ‘9/11 will take place in Britain, the next 7/7 [London bombings] could take place locally’.
Radical preacher Bakri told a 100-strong audience of supporters in Walthamstow, east London, last night that he believed the British government was trying to assassinate him and claimed to have foiled a bomb plot.
Technical difficulties meant much of his speech was inaudible, but his appearance was greeted by cheers of ‘faith’ and ‘god is great’ at the community centre.
Bakri’s right-hand man, Anjem Choudary, led the proceedings in person, under the auspices of a group called Association for Islamic Research.
The most incendiary speech was delivered by Saiful Islam, who lauded Bin Laden and al Qaeda for their ‘courage’ in retaliating against the ‘dictatorship and oppression’ of the West.
He said: ‘The blame of 9/11 belongs to no one but the American government. They are the terrorists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Odense Wants Pupils Not to Fast in Ramadan
The Child and Youth Committee of Odense Council says it is wrong for children to fast during Ramadan.
The Child and Youth Committee in Odense wants to stop the practice of Muslim children fasting during the month of Ramadan and is to urge council schools to act if they detect children keeping the Muslim fast.
Hungry children don’t learn
The committee has asked the head of the School Directorate to inform heads of schools that city politicians do not support the fast.
“This is not just school policy but also health policy and about children who are growing and who have to be able to learn. However you look at it, children cannot learn if they don’t eat,” says Councillor Jane Jegind (Lib.) in an interview with DR Funen.
School Directorate Head Jørgen Schaldemose is to inform school heads of the committee’s point of view at a meeting on September 18.
Children exempt
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and a time when Muslims across the world fast during the hours of daylight. Two meals are normally eaten during the dark hours — Suhoor prior to sunrise and Iftar after sunset.
Children up to puberty, the sick, the elderly, the mentally handicapped, and anyone who would be putting their health at serious risk by fasting are not obliged to do so during Ramadan.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Soup Kitchen Offers Ramadan Iftar
For the holy month of Ramadan, a soup kitchen has opened outside Cite Edmond Michelet, a tough public housing project in Paris’ notorious 19th arrondissement. On the menu is a traditional iftar (The meal eaten by Muslims to break their day-long fast), starting with yoghurt and dates.
“A lot of people can’t make ends meet nowadays, but they’d never tell you,” said Ali Hasni, 45, a volunteer for the non-profit group “Une Chorba Pour Tous” (Soup for Everyone).
It’s sunset in the French capital, and hundreds of hungry people are poised to begin their meals at the sounding of the Muslim call to prayer.
Elsewhere in the world, the call rings forth from the minarets of mosques, but inside a tent in a gritty part of north Paris, it comes from a tinny radio speaker.
France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority and debate about the integration of these 5 million people into an avowedly secular society is a recurring theme in a political arena where only a handful of Muslims hold government posts.
The tower blocks surrounding the tent are a common sight in the French urban landscape.
Often run down, the forbidding high-rises are home to many Muslim immigrants who came here to work in the construction boom of the 1960s and 70s, as well as immigrants from other faiths.
Many tower blocks were on the frontline in 2005 when mainly immigrant youths rioted across France after two teenagers were accidentally electrocuted in a power sub-station after a run-in with police. Violence has flared sporadically in many such neighborhoods since then.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Arrives in Paris on Politicised Visit
On his maiden visit to France as pope, Benedict XVI was greeted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Speakingly fluently in French, he pronounced Sarkozy’s concept “positive secularism” a “beautiful expression”.
| — Hat tip: LN | [Return to headlines] |
Pope in France: Sarkozy Claims France’s Christian Roots
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 12 — Welcomed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni at the Paris Orly airport, Pope Benedict XVI started today his four-day apostolic trip in France which will take him tomorrow afternoon in Lourdes for the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin May to young Bernadette Soubirous. At the Elysee Palace, answering Sarkozy’s address, the Pope reminded the distinction between politics and religion, but pointed out “the irreplaceable function of religion in the formation of consciences”. The French president said in turn that “it would be a madness” to give up religions, “an error towards culture and thought”. The Pope spoke of the “Christian roots” of France and Europe, a thing that also Sarkozy “claimed” for his country. “We do not want a repetition of the religious wars, we work for peace,” Sarkozy said, illustrating his concept of “positive secularity”: “I have often had the opportunity to speak of Francés Christian roots,” the French head of state explained. “This does not impede us to make everything so that our Muslim compatriots could practice their religion on the same level as the others.” Claiming “a diversity” of his population which France “claims as a wealth”, Sarkozy added that “the practice of positive secularity is the search of meaning, the respect of beliefs. We do not put anyone ahead of the other, but we claim our Christian roots.” The words Sarkozy addressed to Pope Benedict XVI caused the reaction of the secular part of the French political world. The government should remain ¿custodian¿ of secularity: this was today’s appeal of the Socialist Party to the government and the president of the Republic. “Secularity involves that religion remain a personal question, in a state respectful of the freedom of religion,” underlined Socialist spokesman Julien Dray, adding that “those who have the responsibility to govern the Republic, first of all the president, should be custodians of those principles”. According to Dray, “the immediate priority of the government should be uniting the French people: France already has enough problems to open new polemics”. According to the Greens Sarkozy “acted once again in contradiction with the principle of secularity of our institutions”. The Pontiff held a meeting in the afternoon at the Colleges des Bernardins in front of 700 intellectuals on the relations between faith and religion. He will greet the youth from the Notre Dame Cathedral in the evening. The Pope will celebrate a mass at the Esplanade des Invalides tomorrow morning. A total 200,000 people are expected. He will depart for Lourdes in the afternoon. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Government, Chemical Castration for Repeat Rapists
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 11 — Also chemical castration for repeat sex offenders is among the measures of the Spanish government under consideration for the reform of the penal code, announced yesterday by Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba and Justice Minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo and reported by the media today. The other measures include probation up to 20 years after the end of the sentence for terrorists, perpetrators of sex crimes and for the registered in a future “register” of paedophiles. Terrorism, sex crimes, organized crime and illegal immigration are the four priorities dealt with in the legislative reform, contained in a bill to be presented in the autumn to the chambers for approval, so as to enter into force at the beginning of 2009. The reform envisages scrapping statues of limitations for serious terrorist crimes and voluntary chemical castration for repeat sex offenders. The hardening of the penalties will concern paedophilia and child pornography crimes as well as the introduction, among the additional penalties, of a maximum of twenty years of probation, upon the end of sentence, for perpetrators of serious terrorist crimes and acts of sexual violence, when they have not given signs of social reintegration. The justice minister announced also the establishment of a register of paedophiles, a database for the “immediate” identification of perpetrators of abuse, to hamper them from working or entering into contact with minors once they are out of prison. The goal is to avoid repetition of cases such as the killing of young Mari Luz Cortes, of which was accused a previous paedophilia offender who had been at large for two years, despite the pending sentences. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Plot: Poison Water Supply
A new report from the Jamestown Foundation details a plot by terrorists to poison some water supplies in Europe.
In “Jihadis Discuss Means of Poisoning the Water Supply of Denmark and Great Britain,” intelligence expert Hameed Bakier writes that “A major jihadi internet forum has posted a terrorist plot to use chemical and biological agents to contaminate water resources in Europe in general and Great Britain and Denmark in particular, the latter in retaliation for insulting the Prophet Muhammad through publication of the infamous ‘Muhammad cartoons.’“
According to the report, the internet forum posting featured discussions among forum participants about how to produce mass casualties through the poisoning of water resources and reservoirs. And while the report said that there was acceptance of the plan by some, others posted their dissent.
Bakier says, “…some forum members disagree with the terror plan, arguing that mass killing has neither religious justification nor a fatwa (religious ruling) to authorize it.”
The report outlined the stages of the plot in this way: 1) collect intelligence on the target and determine the right timing for execution; 2) distract and avoid security forces at the target; 3) use one fair-skinned blonde jihadi to execute the attack and leave the country immediately after perpetration; and, 4) use a highly poisonous chemical substance to contaminate the water supply.
Bakier says some forum members asked for plans to execute the attack, as well as travel methods and information on the production of chemicals. The fact that some were asking for such information likely indicates that there are willing actors ready to conduct such a terrorist attack. Of course, asking for information and actually conducting an attack are entirely different matters.
A forum member nicknamed Al-Bara Bin Malik suggested a number of poisonous gases that could be used in an attack, such as chlorine gas, mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide and nerve gas. Although Malik did not explain methods of launching the poisonous gases, he claimed they are easy to prepare and asked the other chatters to speculate on ways of developing aerosol distribution systems. Other chatters posted photos of water pipelines, water towers, and diagrams illustrating ways to inject the chemical substances into the water system. One participant, a mechanical engineer nicknamed Athab al-Qabir, suggested attacks are possible through valves or ventilation openings.
Many Europeans are becoming increasingly worried about the potential for another terrorist attack on European soil, given a series of thwarted plots over the past few years and the increasing radicalization of some European Muslim communities.
And while Bariek says extremists dominate “jihadi” Internet forums, he notes that “Moderate Salafis nonetheless often succeed in dissuading indecisive Islamists in the forums from carrying out extremist violence by challenging the militants with strong arguments they cannot refute.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
X-Ray of a Country Risking Fragmentation
An article by Matteo Tacconi
The country is imploding. Ethnic divisions, with continuous crossed-vetoes between ethnic groups and slow-moving reforms that risk condemning the country to eternal inaction. Bosnia, with an institutional structure that is the result of the Dayton agreements dated December 1995, marking the end of the conflict, is a federal state, with a central government (situated in Sarajevo) with not very incisive power, and two ethnic groups — the Srpska Republic (SR, Serbian) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH, Croatian and Muslim) — boasting rather significant functions and competences. At this point much also depends on whether Europe will act and try and draft a “Plan B” for Bosnia. This before the singular (Bosnia) is definitively replaced by the plural (Bosnias). Before disaster hits, with the disappearance of Bosnia…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. to ‘Guarantee’ Palestinian State
Letter meant to bind Israel, PA, next administration in Washington
JERUSALEM — The U.S. is planning to issue a letter guaranteeing the country will back agreements reached during current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state before President Bush leaves office in January, WND has learned.
The move is intended to ensure any agreements reached by the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, and spelled out in a joint document, will be recognized by the next U.S. administration and binding for Israel and the PA.
The information comes as Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul-general, stated in an interview with a major Palestinian newspaper yesterday that Israel and the PA agreed to negotiate Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley area leading to the Dead Sea.
In response to the report, the State Department issued a statement claiming the U.S. government has not taken a position on the borders of a future Palestinian state and denying Jerusalem is being discussed.
But Israeli and Palestinian sources intimately familiar with the current talks tell WND Jerusalem is being negotiated, with Palestinian officials claiming the talks are in advance stages.
The sources also said the U.S. recently floated a plan to divide Jerusalem.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bahrain Charges US Teacher With Insulting Prophet
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — An American teacher has been charged in Bahrain with insulting the Prophet Muhammad for displaying pictures of Islam’s founder to university students, a spokesman for the tiny Gulf nation’s general prosecutor said Friday.
The spokesman, Nawaf al-Maawdah, said the pictures showed the prophet in ragged clothing.
Most interpretations of Islam forbid any depiction of Muhammad because it is seen as encouraging idolatry — one of the biggest sins in the religion.
Al-Maawdah’s reference to “ragged clothing” suggests the picture showed the prophet in an insulting way, which would make it particularly offensive to many Muslims. The spokesman did not elaborate on what the picture looked like.
He said the teacher also insulted a student for wearing a head scarf, which she described as “a barrier to knowledge.” He declined to reveal the name of the teacher or the university.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said she could not release any information about the case or confirm that an American was involved.
According to al-Maawdah, the case has been referred to court, but no trial date has been set. A Bahraini newspaper reported that the teacher in question has left the country.
In 2006, the publishing in Denmark of cartoons depicting the prophet sparked riots across the Muslim world. And last year, a British schoolteacher was prosecuted and sentenced in Sudan for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad. The British teacher was later pardoned and allowed to leave Sudan.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas-Hezbollah Not Terrorists But Resistance Groups, Syria
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 11 — “Hezbollah and Hamas are not terrorist groups, but movements of national resistance against the occupation,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem highlighted during a news conference at the Italian Foreign Ministry with Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, followed by talks between the two ministers. Moualem added that “as long as there is occupation there will be national resistance,” and he wanted to make a clear distinction “between terrorism and legitimate fight against occupation”. Answering the questions of reporters, Moualem harshly criticised the formulation given by the United States to the fight against international terrorism. According to Syria, Damascus’s Foreign Minister explained in fact that “the fight against terrorism must start from the fight against the roots of the causes of terrorism, while the use of force should be the last remedy”. Unfortunately, he noted, Washington identified exactly in the military means “the beginning and end of the fight against terrorism,” with the result that today, unfortunately, terrorism itself “is more widespread than before”. Damascus however is willing to fight “poverty, ignorance, the injustices to the detriment of Palestinians, discrimination and encourage pacification instead. This is our vision,” the minister concluded. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Human Rights Organisations Slam Christians’ Arrest in Sana’a
Middle East Concern launches campaign to get Yemeni authorities to respect prisoners’ human rights. The family of the one known prisoner fears he might be tortured in prison.
Sana’a (AsiaNews/MEC) — The arrests of Christians in Yemen have been condemned. Notwithstanding the authorities’ silence one name among those arrested is known; he is Hani el-Dahayni, arrested shortly before 20 May of this year. Seven more people were detained in August. There are fears that in prison all may be tortured and sentenced to death for apostasy, a punishment inflicted on Muslims who leave Islam for another religion.
The information comes from Middle East Concern, an organisation dedicated to religious freedom in the Middle East that has launched an international letter-writing campaign to Yemen’s embassies and top government officials like President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Human Rights Minister Houda Ali Abdullatif al-Baan and Justice Minister Ghazi Shaif Al-Aghbari, asking them to respect the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Yemen is a party, which clearly states that everyone should be allowed to adopt a religion of their choice in their own country.
From what is known the family of el-Dahayni, 30, confirmed that the young man was arrested following a police raid on his office in which computers and discs were confiscated.
Now the family is concerned that in prison he could face torture, a practice said to be widely used by Yemeni authorities.
A report by Yemen’s Ministry for Human Rights has in fact confirmed that detainees routinely faced harsh conditions and treatment in prison.
According to the news service Sahwa Net, security sources arrested seven people in the western Hudayda region on 18 August on charges of Christian propaganda. The arrests were confirmed but the names of the people involved were not released.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Renews Nuclear Weapons Development
Fresh evidence has emerged that suggests Iran has renewed work on developing nuclear weapons, according to Western security sources.
Nuclear experts responsible for monitoring Iran’s nuclear programme have discovered that enough enriched uranium, which if processed to weapons grade level could be used to make up to six atom bombs, has disappeared from the main production facility at Isfahan.
American spy satellites have identified a number of suspicious sites, which the Iranians have not declared to nuclear inspectors, that intelligence officials believe are being used for covert research.
The new discoveries emerged as it was revealed that Israel had asked America for military supplies, including “bunker buster” bombs and re-fuelling planes, suitable for an attack on Iranian nuclear installations.
The Israeli paper Haaretz reported yesterday that Israel has also asked for permission to use an air corridor through Iraqi airspace, currently controlled by America, to Iran.
So far the requests have been turned down by Washington, which is currently not as keen as Israel to consider a military strike against Iran.
But concern that Iran has resumed work on building atom bombs has deepened following the revelation that large quantities of uranium has gone missing from Iran’s conversion facility at Isfahan.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi: OK to Kill Owners of ‘Immoral’ TV Networks
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.
The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the “deviance of thousands of people.”
Many of the most popular Arab satellite networks — which include channels showing music videos often denounced as obscene by Muslim conservatives — are owned by Saudi princes and well-connected Saudi businessmen. Al-Lihedan did not specify any particular channels.
Al-Lihedan is chief of the kingdom’s highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council. Saudi Arabia’s judiciary is made up of Islamic clerics whose decrees, or fatwas, on everyday issues are widely respected. Their fatwas do not have the weight of law. In the courts, cleric-judges rule according to Islamic law, but interpretations can vary.
Al-Lihedan was answering listeners’ questions during the daily “Light in the Path” radio program in which he and others make rulings on what is permissible under Islamic law.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia: to End a War
Russian troops pull back under another ceasefire deal, but new ambiguities arise over deploying European monitors
THE French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, smiled happily. His Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, looked an unhealthy shade of grey. Yet his troops were routed in the August war with Russia, so he was in no position to bargain for better terms than Mr Sarkozy had brought from Moscow. At a joint press conference in the early hours of September 9th he thanked Mr Sarkozy fulsomely. Under the circumstances, with Russian forces soon to pull out of parts of Georgia where they had earlier dug in, the deal was not a bad one.
Soon after the conflict moved from tit-for-tat firing into full-blown war on August 7th, and Russian troops crushed the Georgians in the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia and appeared to menace Tbilisi itself, Mr Sarkozy flew to Moscow and secured a ceasefire. It was full of ambiguities that Russia exploited to allow its forces to create a buffer zone around South Ossetia and to remain in Senaki and the port of Poti. Under the new deal, these troops will all go.
“They should get the hell out,” declared Mr Saakashvili. Mr Sarkozy said everything had to be done “step by step”. In truth the new deal is ambiguous and tension remains high (a Georgian policeman was shot dead on September 10th). The deal says that some 200 EU monitors will replace Russians in the buffer zone, and also talks of a separate EU mission whose observers will, says Mr Sarkozy, be able to go wherever they want, including in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia, the other breakaway enclave. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, angrily disputes this, saying that the observers cannot enter the enclaves. The agreement adds that Russian troops should withdraw to positions they held before the war, and Georgian troops should return to barracks.
This is where what seem like holes might be construed instead as constructive ambiguities. One-third of South Ossetia and the Kodori gorge in Abkhazia were held by Georgian forces before the war. It is inconceivable that the 500 Georgian soldiers who were in South Ossetia, not to mention policemen and refugees, will go back—for now. But so long as Mr Lavrov’s interpretation is rejected, Georgia may in future insist on a right to return. In the meantime, despite the terms of the deal, Russia is sending 7,600 more soldiers to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and plans to keep military bases in both…
| — Hat tip: LN | [Return to headlines] |
Firing Squad Not Torture, Bali Bombers’ Hearing Told
Execution by firing squad is not torture, the Indonesian government argued on Thursday at a Constitutional Court hearing launched by three Bali bombers on death row.
“It is not torture. If they feel pain, it’s just a natural process and it doesn’t contradict our constitution,” Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Matalatta told the court.
“The pain and torture are two different things,” he said.
The three members of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant Islamic network have been sentenced to die for the 2002 bombings which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, on the Indonesian holiday island.
A panel of Constitutional Court judges opened hearings last month after the bombers, who have exhausted all other appeals, sought a ruling on the legality of firing squads.
Lawyers for the condemned men — Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron — have argued that firing squads amount to torture.
The bombers have asked to be beheaded.
They have shown no regret for the attacks and say they are looking forward to dying as “martyrs”. They are in custody at an island prison off Java island.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Legal Groups Express Concern About Religious Violence
Beirut, 11 Sept. (AKI/The Jakarta Post) — Indonesia’s Legal Aid Institute Foundation and its 14 subsidiaries have expressed concern that rampant violence by hard-liner groups is threatening freedom of religion in the country.
The legal aid group said the state had not done enough to uphold the law and protect the rights and freedom of its citizens.
Many groups in society have resorted to violence in the name of religion to force their beliefs on other groups, particularly minority groups, the group said at the end of its three-day executive meeting on Wednesday.
“We are facing a situation that is clearly endangering our existence as a nation: growing intolerance and discrimination against minority groups.
“We believe the acts of violence have not only spread fear and directly attacked freedom and civil rights, but have also become a serious threat to democracy and cultural dialogue,” chairman Patra M. Zen said.
The legal aid institutes have recently advocated victims of violence, including followers of Jamaah Ahmadiyah, which was declared deviant by the Indonesian Ulema Council.
Thousands of Ahmadiyah followers in the country have suffered involuntary displacement and attacks by hard-line Muslim groups.
To ease anger among hard-liners, the government has issued a joint ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah from propagating its beliefs.
However, the decree has sparked protests from rights groups, who say the law denies followers of the sect their constitutional right to freedom of religion and also from Muslim hardliners who want Ahmadiyah be dissolved.
The decree has also been accused of justifying violence against Ahmadiyah. Ahmadiyya is a movement that arose out of mainstream Islam towards the end of the 19th century and there is widespread debate about its interpretation of the religion.
“We observe that despite many cases of violence, the government, as the representation of the state, has failed to protect and guarantee human rights.
“The government has occasionally let violence occur, or in some cases, has been involved in the violence itself,” the groups said.
Human rights and freedom of religion are enshrined in the Constitution.
Dubbed the world’s third-largest democracy, Indonesia has also ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Culture Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nation’s Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief.
The groups pledged to continue to defend human rights and put pressure on the government to uphold the law.
“We will take any possible legal measures against any legislation that threatens and violates the freedom of religion,” Patra said.
The groups also warned regional governments against enforcing ordinances that contradicted freedom of religion or discriminated against minority groups.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Osama Hears Boots
For the first time, President Bush has given ground forces authority to pursue terrorists across the Afghan border into Pakistan. No longer must they seek Islamabad’s permission to conduct raids against our enemy holed up inside Pakistan.
Last month’s secret order led to the unprecedented special forces assault on a Pakistani tribal compound suspected of harboring Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. The Sept. 4 raid, led by attack choppers, left 15 dead.
In another welcome sign that the U.S. has shifted to more aggressive tactics in Pakistan, the Air Force has intensified the use of lethal Predator drones in the mountains of the northwest. The number of Hellfire missile attacks by Predators there has more than tripled so far this year to 11, from just three in all of 2007.
Such American incursions into Pakistani territory were supposed to trigger mass unrest among the country’s Muslim population. We were told by now-deposed President Pervez Musharraf (and his U.S. apologists) that Islamic extremists would rise up and destabilize his government, possibly even throwing the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons into risk.
None of this has come to pass. And if the U.S. minimizes collateral damage in its strikes, we doubt it will…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Order to Kill US Invaders
KEY corps commanders of Pakistan’s 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against “invading” US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.
The move has plunged relations between Islamabad and Washington into deep crisis over how to deal with al-Qa’ida and the Taliban
What amounts to a dramatic order to “kill the invaders”, as one senior officer put it last night, was disclosed after the commanders — who control the army’s deployments at divisional level — met at their headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi under the chairmanship of army chief and former ISI spy agency boss Ashfaq Kayani.
Leading English-language newspaper The News warned in an editorial that the US determination to attack targets inside Pakistan was likely to be “the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had”, with even “moderates” outraged by it.
The “retaliate and kill” order came amid reports of unprecedentedly fierce fighting in the Bajaur Agency of Pakistan’s tribal areas, an al-Qa’ida stronghold frequently mentioned as the most likely lair of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
At the same time, a series of brutal killings by the militants were reported.
The beheaded bodies of two of nearly 40 police recruits abducted a week ago were found near the town of Hangu. Their discovery follows warnings that the recruits would be put to death, one by one, unless Pakistan stopped its big offensive in Bajaur.
The bodies of three local Bajaur men who had been shot in the neck were also found yesterday. Notes were attached declaring the men to have been spies.
In a day of what appears to have been unrelenting combat in Bajaur, helicopter gunships, heavy artillery and tanks were used to strike al-Qa’ida targets.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
No Beards, Veils for China’s Muslims in Ramadan
Local Chinese authorities in Xinjiang province said that Chinese authorities have imposed new restrictions on Muslim practices during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The restrictions include banning men from growing beards and women from wearing face veils as well as prohibiting local officials from fasting during the holy month, according to a report in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat.
The article said that local authorities visit mosques twice a week to make sure the new rules are being followed.
According to local websites in China, other laws have been imposed ostensibly to maintain security and stability during the month of Ramadan. These include forbidding students and teachers from fasting, preventing retired civil servants from entering mosques, and banning restaurant closures during typical fasting hours.
“ We have to prevent religious people from communal rituals [like the daily taraweeh prayers] and religious gatherings that could destabilize the region “
Xinjiang official website
A statement posted on Xinjiang’s official website defended these measures as a way to combat terrorism and the prevalence of religious education that they say incites violence.
“We have to prevent religious people from communal rituals [like the daily taraweeh prayers] and religious gatherings that could destabilize the region,” said the statement.
The government also warned against trying to force anyone to fast, in reference to preachers who discuss the Muslim obligation of fasting and the benefits it entails.
The restrictive measures came in the wake of recent violent attacks in the province that left 20 policemen dead. The authorities blamed fundamentalist groups who fight for the independence of the province and the declaration of an Islamic state.
One such group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, is considered a terrorist organization by the government of China, the United States, and the United Nations.
China accuses Islamists of trying to restore the 19th century Islamic nation of East Turkestan, which China annexed in the 1880s, in Xinjiang province. After the Communists came to power in 1949, the Chinese government tightened its grip on the province and changed it name to Xinjiang, which means “the new city,” in reference to turning it away from Islam towards atheist Communism.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Immigrants Come From Libya, Malta Army Chief
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, SEPTEMBER 11 — “We need more commitment and aid from Europe to face the emergency of the illegal immigration in the Mediterranean,” Commander of the Maltese armed forces, Colonel Carmel Vassallo, said, claiming in an interview to be broadcast this evening on state TV PBS that over half of the resources of the Maltese army are now absorbed by the emergency due to the illegal immigration. According to the colonel, all the immigrants who arrive in Sicily or in Malta depart from the Libyan coasts. “We are forced to divert funds allocated for different projects useful and important for us to the emergency management,” he added, explaining that “the aid through Frontex by other EU member states is occasional, and only Maltese patrol boats are patrolling the south Mediterranean; German, French and Luxembourgian helicopters come and go but we remain alone”. Over 2,500 illegal immigrants reached the Maltese coasts this summer. In Valletta the possibility of a summit on the immigration issue between the Foreign Ministers of Italy, Malta and Libya is weighed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigrants Land in Siracusa, Departed From Libya
(ANSAmed) — SIRACUSA, SEPTEMBER 11 — Motorboats of the air-naval unit of the Financial Guard and the Coast Guard have intercepted 59 illegal immigrants sailing onboard of a rubber boat some 12 miles southeast of Portopalo di Capo Passero. The group includes 43 men, 14 women (three of them pregnant) and two children aged four and five. Most of the people come from Nigeria but there are also Sudanese, Ghanaians and Sierra Leone nationals. The three pregnant women have been taken to the hospital of Noto, together with one of the children which the Police decided not to separate from the mother (one of the three pregnant women). According to the initial accounts, the group of illegal immigrants apparently left from Libya some ten days ago onboard of a rubber boat some ten metres long, pushed by a 55 hp outboard motor. Yet, investigators have expressed doubts about the date of departure from the African coast. The illegal immigrants will be transferred to the centre of Cassibile. Meanwhile, again this morning, 76 illegal immigrants were arrested in Lampedusa. They had already landed at the coast, in the locality of Cala Madonna when they were discovered by the Financial Guard at around 0300 local time. More than 500 illegal immigrants reached Lampedusa on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last arrival was registered yesterday afternoon: the Coast Guard rescued 322 people onboard of a boat 30 miles off the southern coast of the island. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Immigrants Hired According to Needs, Deputy Premier
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 5 — The Spanish government continues to stake on the arrival “of regular immigration as a function of the labour market”, and the contracting of foreign workers in their countries of origin “will be carried out according to the necessity” of the labour market, as it has been in the last four years. This was stated today by Spain’s First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, at the usual news conference at the end of the council of the ministers, substantially correcting the announcement made yesterday by Spanish Labour and Immigration Minister Celestino Corbacho. According to Corbacho, the rise in unemployment, which increased by 24% on an annual basis and reached 10.5% of the active population, would limit immigrants’ access to the Spanish labour market. “It will come close to zero,” the minister had stated, triggering a wave of criticism by unions, political parties, entrepreneurial organisations and immigrants’ associations. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Criminalizing Criticism of Islam
By ELIZABETH SAMSON
There are strange happenings in the world of international jurisprudence that do not bode well for the future of free speech. In an unprecedented case, a Jordanian court is prosecuting 12 Europeans in an extraterritorial attempt to silence the debate on radical Islam.
The prosecutor general in Amman charged the 12 with blasphemy, demeaning Islam and Muslim feelings, and slandering and insulting the prophet Muhammad in violation of the Jordanian Penal Code. The charges are especially unusual because the alleged violations were not committed on Jordanian soil.
Among the defendants is the Danish cartoonist whose alleged crime was to draw in 2005 one of the Muhammad illustrations that instigators then used to spark Muslim riots around the world. His co-defendants include 10 editors of Danish newspapers that published the images. The 12th accused man is Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who supposedly broke Jordanian law by releasing on the Web his recent film, “Fitna,” which tries to examine how the Quran inspires Islamic terrorism.
Jordan’s attempt at criminalizing free speech beyond its own borders wouldn’t be so serious if it were an isolated case. Unfortunately, it is part of a larger campaign to use the law and international forums to intimidate critics of militant Islam. For instance, in December the United Nations General Assembly passed the Resolution on Combating Defamation of Religions; the only religion mentioned by name was Islam. While such resolutions aren’t legally binding, national governments sometimes cite them as justification for legislation or other actions…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Stop Al Jazeera English
The purpose of this section of the website is to alert the people of Burlington of our efforts to give them a voice on the question of Burlington Telecom’s carriage of Al Jazeera English.
The Mayor indicated that the people should be heard from. We have come to realize that the hearing process utilized by BTAC was faulty and that the people have not been heard from. Therefore, we have launched a citizens initiative to petition for a referendum on the ballot in the next general election, asking the voters of Burlington:
‘Should Burlington Telecom enter into a contract with Al Jazeera English?’
With over 600 cable TV networks in the United States, why is Burlington, Vermont the only one where the MAYOR makes the content decisions?
Instead, we believe that in the case of Al Jazeera — English, where there is no clear cable TV channel selection carriage policy, the people should decide.
| [Return to headlines] |
The Dutchman Who Taught Al-Qaeda How to Fly
Rudi Dekkers lost three businesses. His marriage failed and someone tried to kill him. All of this after it became known that he gave flying lessons to two of the perpetrators in the 9/11 attacks. He wrote a book about it, because “I’m still a real Dutchman. I keep going, I’m alive!”
Rudi Dekkers emigrated to the US, “the big, promised country”, in 1993. He still lives there, but his passion has long since cooled. Not because of how he was treated, he says, but rather because of the blunders of former president Bill Clinton and President George W Bush in the fight against terrorism.Rudi DekkersNew careerRudi Dekkers makes it abundantly clear that he still considers himself a Dutchman rather than an American. His book is full of details about his difficult childhood in Amsterdam and his successes in numerous fields, including real estate and computers. One of his American friends later calls him a ‘monkey’: someone who only has to see something once to be able to copy it.The emphasis on his past also has a different reason. The book is intended to eventually secure him a career as a motivational speaker at meetings, which would definitely beat his current job of selling pools, because flying is a closed chapter. Rudi Dekkers explains:
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
1 comment:
Re: The Karate Champion. I once trained with a Russian martial artist--huge guy, looked lie he bench-press a small car if he wanted--who told me a similar story as the karate champion: while he was in Moscow on a business trip, he was mugged while waiting for the train. He beat the crap out of the guy--and then had to take him to the hospital, because no one would stop to help the poor bastard as he lay bleeding on the platform.
Times are tough, and they are just getting tougher.
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