Thanks to Abu Elvis, Bela, C. Cantoni, Dan Riehl, DC, DJ, Fausta, Insubria, JD, JEH, KGS, Paul Green, Queen, RRW, Srdja Trifkovic, TB, Tuan Jim, TV, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Accused September 11 Plotter a No-Show at Guantanamo
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) — Accused September 11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh failed to appear at a Guantanamo war crimes court hearing and a U.S. military judge ordered that he be brought in by force if necessary on Tuesday.
However, the judge on Monday also allowed four accused co-conspirators of the suspect, whose mental competency is in question, to write notes urging him to show up voluntarily and avoid the trauma of a “forced cell extraction.”
A military prosecutor said he hoped to avert any attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the Guantanamo trials by absent defendants forcing an “empty chair” trial.
Suspects in future cases should not have a choice, said Col. Lawrence Morris, lead prosecutor for the military commissions trying terrorism cases at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval base.
“Our position is, you don’t get to opt out,” Morris told reporters. “The people, the system, the interest of justice have an interest in the accused being present.”
Binalshibh, who is charged with being a go-between for senior al Qaeda leaders and the September 11 hijackers, was absent for the hearing on pretrial motions. His military lawyer, Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, said she was told he had refused to come.
Prosecutors said officers in charge of the detention center were reluctant to remove him without a court order and tribunal judge Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann eventually ruled that Binalshibh be brought to court on Tuesday.
He rejected a request by accused September 11 organizer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and fellow suspect Walid bin Attash to meet with Binalshibh. But he said all four accused plotters could meet in the courtroom and write Binalshibh.
| — Hat tip: JEH | [Return to headlines] |
CAIR Files FEC Complaint
Not content that a growing number of newspapers are refusing to circulate an advert for the movie Obsession, the latest report indicates CAIR has filed an FEC complaint — link below. Evidently the saying of the word jihad prior to an election being politically incorrect isn’t enough. CAIR wants to make it illegal, as well.
Despite the perilous state of American newspapers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch advertising department took an ethical stand and refused to distribute the DVD of a film that for two years has troubled American Muslims.
The film, called “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” was distributed to an estimated 28 million people via 70 American newspapers, primarily in states crucial to the coming presidential election. The only other newspaper reported to have refused the DVD was the News & Record in Greensboro, NC.
This latest via MarketWatch. More at link.
WASHINGTON, DC, Sep 23, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over the distribution of an anti-Muslim film to 28 million homes in presidential election swing states.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is urging the FEC to investigate whether the Clarion Fund, a non-profit organization that distributed DVDs containing “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” is really a front for an Israel-based group seeking to help Sen. John McCain win the U.S. presidential election. (No information about a board of directors, staff or even a physical address is offered on the fund’s website.)
| — Hat tip: Dan Riehl | [Return to headlines] |
Court Ordered to Reconsider Asylum Case
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey rebuked a mid-level federal court yesterday, ruling that the court must reconsider the asylum case of a Mali woman who fears genital mutilation if sent home.
It is rare for the nation’s top law enforcement officer to reject rulings issued by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. In the past three years, the attorney general has weighed in on three immigration cases; U.S. immigration courts rule on about 40,000 cases each year.
The panel had spurned the Malian woman’s request for asylum, in part because her genitals already have been mutilated.
“The board based its analysis on a false premise: that female genital mutilation is a onetime act that cannot be repeated on the same woman,” Mukasey wrote in his order. “As several courts have recognized, female genital mutilation is indeed capable of repetition.”
The 28-year-old woman said she could be forced to marry a cousin if she returned to Mali, and would be powerless to prevent tribal officials from mutilating the genitals of any daughters she might have in the future. The immigration appeals panel previously has ruled that fear of female genital mutilation is solid basis for granting asylum.
Mukasey’s order does not automatically grant U.S. residency to the woman.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Probing Fannie, Freddie, Lehman, AIG — CNN
WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) — The FBI is investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and insurer American International Group Inc, and their senior executives for potential mortgage fraud, CNN reported on Tuesday.
The FBI did not provide specifics but said the inquiries were part of a broader probe, CNN said.
The bureau is trying to determine whether anyone in those financial institutions, including their senior executives, had any responsibility for providing “misinformation,” CNN reported.
“As part of our investigative responsibility, the FBI conducts corporate fraud investigations. The number of cases fluctuates over time, however we do not discuss which companies may or may not be the subject of an investigation,” said Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
A federal law enforcement official confirmed the FBI is now looking at 26 cases of potential corporate fraud related to the collapse of the U.S. mortgage lending industry.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told the U.S. Congress a week ago that 24 cases of potential corporate fraud were under investigation, up from 21 disclosed by the bureau in July.
In testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, the FBI chief also vowed to pursue corporate executives if necessary in mortgage fraud cases.
Mueller said the FBI was looking at all levels of the mortgage systems. With respect to the corporate probes, which could result in federal charges, “the allegations would be there were misstatements of assets,” he said. (Writing by Joanne Allen; Editing by Eric Walsh)
| — Hat tip: DJ | [Return to headlines] |
Our World: Your Abortions or Your Lives!
By CAROLINE GLICK
American Jews have good reason to be ashamed and angry today. As Iran moves into the final stages of its nuclear weapons development program — nuclear weapons which it will use to destroy the State of Israel, endanger Jews around the world and cow the United States of America — Democratic American Jewish leaders decided that putting Sen. Barack Obama in the White House is more important than protecting the lives of the Jewish people in Israel and around the world.
On Monday, the New York Sun published the speech that Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would have delivered at that day’s rally outside UN headquarters in New York against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and against Iran’s plan to destroy Israel. She would have delivered it, if she hadn’t been disinvited.
The rally was co-sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now, The Israel Project, United Jewish Communities, the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Its purpose was to present a united American Jewish front against Iran’s genocidal leader and against its genocidal regime which is developing nuclear weapons with the stated intention of committing the second Holocaust in 80 years.
Palin’s speech is an extraordinary document. In its opening paragraph she made clear that Iran presents a danger not just to Israel, but to the US. And not just to some Americans, but to all Americans. Her speech was a warning to Iran — and anyone else who was listening — that Americans are not indifferent to its behavior, its genocidal ideology and the barbarity of its regime. Rather, they are outraged.
After that opening, Palin’s speech set out clearly how Iran is advancing its nuclear project, why it must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons and why and how the regime itself must be opposed by all right thinking people — not just Israelis and Americans — but by all people who value human freedom.
| — Hat tip: Bela | [Return to headlines] |
Violence Increases in Grand Island Between Somali and Sudanese Refugees
Now, before you read this post, please go back and first read about what is happening in Greece (here) where these two longtime African enemies are slaughtering each other with machetes on the streets of Athens. And, just think about what we have imported.
Apparently the mostly Christian (according to news accounts) Sudanese are in an apartment complex just across a parking lot from the building housing the Muslim Somalis and violence has been on the rise ever since the tensions escalated at the Swift & Co plant in that town.
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Schools Closing for Islamic Festival
AMSTERDAM, 23/09/08 — At least two Amsterdam secondary schools with a Christian basis are to close during the Sugar Feast to accede to their Muslim pupils. Various other schools are also doing so, Reformatorisch Dagblad newspaper reported yesterday.
The Calvijn met Junior College in Amsterdam and the Huygens College, also in the capital, are both closing for the Sugar Feast. The Islamic festival marks the end of the Ramadan month of fasting and falls on or around 1 October this year.
The Calvijn met Junior College is closing for two days, and the Huygens College for one. Both are VMBO schools — the lowest level of secondary education — and although they are Christian, their pupils are virtually all immigrants.
The Party for Freedom (PVV) wants clarification from Education Minister Ronald Plasterk in the Lower House today. “This really cannot be allowed,” in the view of PVV MP Martin Bosma. “The Netherlands is no Muslim country and will never become one either. We must never give in to the pressure of this ideology, which wants to take over the Netherlands bit by bit.”
According to a spokesman for the Amarantis Education Group, under which both schools fall, the free day does not clash with its Christian principles. Various other schools throughout the Netherlands also ensure that their pupils are free on Sugar Feast day, according to Reformatorisch Dagblad.
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Tops Anti-Corruption Table
Denmark is ranked as one of the countries with the lowest levels of public sector corruption
Denmark has topped the latest global corruption index list produced by the Transparency International organisation.
The index ranks countries based on public perception of corruption in the public sector from a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean).
New Zealand and Sweden join Denmark at the top with a score of 9.3.
Of the 180 countries surveyed, Iraq, Burma and Somalia brought up the rear with scores of 1.3 and 1.0.
Transparency International launched the index on Tuesday with the Danish NGO Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke in Copenhagen.
The wide-spread corruption in many low-income and developing countries poses a serious threat to the UN’s Millennium Development Goal aimed at halving extreme poverty by 2015.
‘The continuing high levels of corruption and poverty plaguing many of the world’s societies amount to an ongoing humanitarian disaster and cannot be tolerated. But even in more privileged countries, with enforcement disturbingly uneven, a tougher approach to tackling corruption is needed,’ said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Euro MPs to Vote on Anonymous Blog Ban
Euro MPs are preparing to vote on proposals for European Union regulation of blogs with the aim of countering a “dangerous” and unregulated blogosphere.
Marianne Mikko, an Estonian centre-left MEP, is concerned that growing numbers of blogs are being used by individuals with “malicious intentions or hidden agendas”.
“The blogosphere has so far been a haven of good intentions and relatively honest dealing. However, with blogs becoming commonplace, less principled people will want to use them,” she said.
Mrs Mikko has proposed that bloggers should be required to identify themselves and that some popular blogs should come with a declaration of interests.
“We do not need to know the exact identity of bloggers. We need some credentials, a quality mark, a certain disclosure of who is writing and why. We need this to be able to trust and rely on the source,” she said.
Chris Heaton Harris, a British Conservative Euro MP, has rejected any moves to “regulate and restrict independent media sources”.
“Mrs Mikko obviously does not understand that blogs have become the life blood of a vibrant democracy,” he said.
“I hope these proposals are kicked out.”
Thursday’s vote in the European Parliament is not legally binding but is an indicator of growing EU concern over the influence of blogs on the internet.
A recent internal European Commission report, leaked three weeks ago, found that the EU was losing the battle for hearts and minds online.
“Blog activity remains overwhelmingly negative,” it said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Defence Chief Warns of Cluster Bomb Treaty Fallout
The Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, says that signing an international treaty banning cluster bombs would significantly weaken the nation’s defence and be extremely expensive.
Kaskeala said that signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) could cost Finland more than a billion euros in replacement weapons to defend its 1300-kilometre long border with Russia — and he called that a conservative estimate.
The treaty is to be signed at a summit conference in Oslo, Norway in early December. That follows a conference in Dublin last May when 107 states decided to prohibit the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.
Addressing the opening of a defence seminar in Helsinki on Monday, Kaskeala said there is broad international understanding of Finland’s position.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: at Least 11 Dead After Kauhajoki School Shooting
Police confirm that at least 11 students are dead and three wounded after a student opened fire at the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality, a vocational school in western Finland. The attacker shot himself, dying in the early evening at Tampere University Hospital.
One seriously injured victim is being treated in Seinäjoki. Several others, who were lightly wounded, were treated at the local health clinic.
School headmaster Tapio Varmola says the perpetrator opened fire on a group of students that were taking a test in a basement classroom around 11 a.m. The gunman may also have been carrying explosives. A fire broke out, which took several hours to extinguish.
Some 150 students were on the school premises at the time. The Kauhajoki School of Hospitality is one of 11 campuses of the Seinäjoki Vocational Education Centre (SEDU).
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
France: Gangs Are Heavily Immigrant
[in French, summary:] Juvenile gangs in France: only 9% are native French and their crimes are of a less violent nature.
| — Hat tip: DC | [Return to headlines] |
Hamza’s Gay Hate
Cleric bans homosexual nurse from washing and dressing him in jail
HATE preacher Abu Hamza has refused any more treatment from his prison nurse after finding out the man is gay.
The nurse, nickname Queenie, has been helping to wash and dress the convicted terrorist for more than two years.
A prison source told the Mirror the full-time staffer is openly gay and has a camp voice.
Officers at Belmarsh jail are said to be surprised Hamza, 48, has not noticed before.
Now the cleric is claiming it is against his religion and human rights to be treated by a homosexual. The source said Hamza’s solicitor wrote to the governor demanding his client is given a new regular nurse.
The prison service refused saying it does not discriminate on grounds of sexuality.
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The source said: “The nurse is upset about it. He has spent the last couple of years doing everything for Hamza, even wiping his bottom.
“It shows how little respect Hamza has for others. The nurse dresses him, washes him, cleans his teeth, cuts his toenails, trims his beard and applies ointment for his skin disorder.”
Egyptian-born Hamza, serving seven years for inciting murder and racial hatred, requires care because he is limited by his hook hands.
The source said: “His nurse is open about being gay. He even speaks with a camp voice. His nickname is Queenie.
“Hamza has been refusing treatment while he is on duty but he won’t be able to keep that up because it is causing him a great deal of discomfort.”
The prison service said: “We do not comment on individual prisoners.”
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
London Muslims Commemorate 9/11
[MEMRI VIDEO]
Islamic activists in the British capital have chosen to mark the seventh anniversary of 9/11 in their own way. Once again, they called the attacks, which caused thousands of casualties, the “New York Raid.” They warned that new attacks would occur in the future, unless the U.S. reexamines its policy and attitude toward Islam and the Muslims.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Petition to Stop Sharia in the UK
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop Islamic Sharia Law being used in Great Britain. More details
Submitted by d brown — Deadline to sign up by: 04 October 2008 — Signatures: 502
You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Policeman Knifed, Municiality Still Insists Gouda is Quiet
THE HAGUE, 23/09/08 — A police officer was knifed this weekend in Gouda. As well, journalists continue to be attacked. But the municipality continues to claim that all is quiet.
Gouda hit the national news when drivers of bus company Connexxion went on strike last week. They refused to drive through the Oosterwei district any more because they say they are continually threatened and robbed there by Moroccan youths.
After the mayor announced the equipping of the buses with cameras, the drivers resumed their service reluctantly. On the very same evening, a TV crew was robbed and assaulted. The municipality then decided to ask the media not to come to Gouda any more.
Last Friday, Labour (PvdA) Mayor Wim Cornelis announced that calm had returned to his town. But last weekend, a 19 year old police officer in training was knifed. The knifing took place in Achterwillens district, near Oosterwei.
The officer was off-duty and in civilian clothes. He was slightly wounded in the knifing but has since returned home. Police arrested a suspect on Sunday evening. But in consultation with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he has already been released. The authorities are refusing to say whether the suspect is a Moroccan.
Raja Felgata, presenter of TV programme Goedemorgen Nederland was robbed in Oosterwei when she wanted to see with her own eyes how things were going in the district, De Telegraaf newspaper reported yesterday. Felgata is in fact herself Moroccan.
In Korte Akkeren, another district in Gouda, a graffiti text was sprayed declaring ‘Geert Wilders will die: 1 December.’ Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), recently proposed withdrawing Dutch soldiers from Afghanistan and deploying them in Gouda.
Gouda council continues to claim that it is all a matter of small incidents. “It is very unpleasant of course, but a knifing is too big a word,” said a spokesman for the police on the knifing of his colleague. “The knife only caught his buttock.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Court Allows Boy to be Named November
The parents of a boy in Västerbotten in northern Sweden are rejoicing after the country administrative court found there was nothing wrong with them naming their child November.
Previously, the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) had not approved the name for the boy.
“We feel good now,” said mother Janna-Li Lanke to the Västerbottens-Kuriren newspaper.
Her son, who is now ten months old, has finally earned the right to carry the name that Lanke and her husband wanted him to have: Kaj Taran November.
The parents appealed the tax authorities’ ruling after they discovered that several Swedes have November as a part of their name.
According to Statistics Sweden, the only month of the year not currently used for someone’s name is January.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: People Living in Affluent Areas to Get Lower Pensions in New ‘Postcode Lottery’ Scheme
The middle classes face lower annual payouts under a new ‘pensions by postcode’ scheme. It will assess life expectancy by area to determine how much income retired customers will receive each year. Those living in leafier postcodes will receive a smaller annual pension as they would be expected to live longer.
In contrast, pensioners in more deprived postcodes, who would typically have a shorter life expectancy, will receive a larger annual income. The overall pension pot should, in theory, stay the same as those living in prosperous areas would be expected to receive more annual payouts.
But critics argue the Norwich Union scheme discriminates against the middle class as an affluent postcode does not rule out death from disease or accident. The company said it will use customers’ full postcodes to decide their annuity — the annual retirement income received for the rest of their lives.
The firm, part of the Aviva group, said it also planned to factor in people’s marital status and lifestyle factors such as smoking. Clive Bolton, Norwich Union’s director of annuities, said: ‘Many customers will benefit from these changes as we tailor quotes to better reflect their individual circumstances and lifestyle.’
Under Norwich Union’s previous calculation system, a 65-year-old man with a £100,000 pension pot would receive an annual income of £7,668 if he converted it into an annuity. But under the new scheme his annual income would vary from £7,590 if he lived in a top-ranking postcode to £7,818 in the lowest band — a potential difference of almost three per cent, or £228 a year. […]
Middle-income earners have already been hit by the pensions downturn that followed Gordon Brown’s 1997 decision to take £5billion-a-year in taxes out of pension funds. […]
Annuity pay-outs could be up to two per cent higher for those with lifestyles considered likely to shorten their lives, and up to 60 per cent higher for customers thought certain to die early.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Witnessing at the Hague
by Srdja Trifkovic
All history is to some extent contemporary, but none more so than that analyzed, interpreted and sometimes constructed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague. I had my second appearance before that institution earlier this month, on September 4, no longer as an expert witness (like in the Stakic case in March 2003), but as a material witness in the defense of Col. Beara, a Bosnian-Serb officer accused of war crimes in Srebrenica. I offer the transcript of my testimony to our readers, insignificantly abbreviated, for three reasons. First of all, it is a genuinely interesting, real-life courtroom drama, a good read quite apart from the political context. Secondly, it throws some long-overdue light on the intra-Serbian tensions that were exploited by Slobodan Milosevic and the Clinton Administration alike, and proved decisive to the outcome of the Bosnian war. And finally, the final third of the transcript illustrates the apparent inability of the Western elite class — embodied in this instance by the cross-examinor for the Prosecution, Mr. Vanderpuye — to grasp the significance of the Jihadist threat to our civilization and our way of life…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: 48 Accused of Terrorism Claim Damages From Madrid
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, SEPTEMBER 22 — Forty-eight Algerians suspected in terrorism after the attacks in Madrid and kept in prison for four years before they were released will claim damages from Spain as a compensation for “the years spent unfairly in prison”, Noureddine Belmeddah, the president of the Federation of Algerian Associations in Europe was quoted by El Watan as saying. “They have lost four years of their lives,” Belmeddah said, adding that “they deserve compensation.” “After four years of preventive imprisonment they were acquitted,” he explained, adding that some 70 Algerians are currently arrested on Spanish territory under accusations of terrorism. “It is enough for the police to have one suspect and the judge orders a preventive detention,” the representative of the association which fights for the improvement of the living conditions of Algerian prisoners in Europe said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Election of ‘Next Israeli Leader’ a Fraud?
JERUSALEM — There were multiple irregularities in Israel’s Kadima party primary elections last week in which Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was said to have been victorious by a slim margin, according to an internal Kadima investigation obtained by WND.
“We cannot know who won this election. We need a new election,” Kadima Knesset Member Ze’ev Elkin told WND.
Following Livni’s purported victory — by just 431 votes — ceremonial Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected to formally ask Livni to form a stable governing coalition. That means that if she can recruit enough political parties to maintain a plurality of the Knesset’s 120 seats, she would finish out Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s term in office, becoming prime minister in his place until new elections are held as scheduled late next year.
But a Kadima probe has found a number of problems, including possible illegalities, with last week’s election, prompting Elkin to petition Kadima’s internal court to hold off appointing Livni as head of the party until a new election can be held.
According to the final tally, Livni won the Kadima primary election with 43.1 percent of the vote, or 16,936 registered Kadima members. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz came in a very close second with 42 percent, or 16,505 votes.
| [Return to headlines] |
Hamas TV Sends a Message of Liberation and Peace in a Music Video in English
How to justify, how to say
No place for love, peace and pray
Whole occupation must be away
Kids are waiting for the happy day
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
TV: Palestinian ‘Soap’ Made in EU Broadcast in Ramallah
(by Chiara De Felice) (ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 23 — Set in the streets of Ramallah, designed to entertain and induce reflections during the month of Ramadan and produced with European funds, the first Palestinian soap opera has just been born and it is already very much contested: Matabb (Strong Blow) describes the life in occupied territories, a delicate subject which cost it the temporary ban from the state-owned TV and forced the production to transfer the broadcast to a small private channel. Just one camera, 14 actors and an extremely small budget (ten episodes cost less than one episode of a western TV series), generated one of the rare examples of Palestinian ‘‘soap’’, which deals openly with issues such as corruption and Israeli occupation. ‘‘We are trying to present the Palestinian society as a real society which is trying to build up its foundations, not only as a group of people struggling to survive’’, the director and scriptwriter of Matabb, George Khleifi, said. The soap tells the story of the employees of a small non-governmental organisation: there is a European who hardly speaks Arabic and does not understand very well what is going on around him, the youngest member of the office who dates a criminal and risks to be killed by her father and brother, who want to protect the honour of the family, and there is the son of the cleaning lady who is arrested by the Israeli army during a raid in Ramallah and launches a debate on whether or not to hire an Israeli lawyer to get him out of prison. According to the executive producer, Farid Majari, we are dealing with ¿hot social issues, typical for a soap opera, an opportunity to discuss without prejudices and interpretations what is happening¿. But the Palestinian state-owned TV (PBC) appears not to have liked the focus on current events and at the last minute cancelled the broadcast of Matabb, scheduled for September 1, without giving explanations. The reaction of the European authorities which financed the ten episodes of the first series was immediate, along with the one of Israeli daily Hareetz: they all asked explanations to PBC, which assured that this is just a postponement, at least until some scenes are modified. It is not censorship, the network director Yehya Barakat explained, but an attempt to prevent offensive images for Palestinians and Israeli from being broadcast by a state-owned TV. Among the most controversial scenes, the TV channel informed, there is the improbable one where a Palestinian gives a flower to an Israeli soldier at a check point in the West Bank: according to some rumours, such images are the result of the influence of European financing, which encourages stories of peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. While waiting for the green light by PBC, Matabb is broadcast by a small private channel, Maan, visible in the entire West Bank and on Internet, also with subtitles in English, where it has already a small but loyal audience.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Christian Convert Risks Death Penalty
Tehran, 23 Sept. (AKI) — Iranian Christian convert Ramtin Soudmand faces the death penalty after being jailed for the crime of ‘ertedad’ or abandoning the Muslim faith.
Ramtin’s father Hossein Soudmand, a Protestant pastor, was executed almost 20 years ago for converting to Christianity and refusing to deny his new faith.
Married with two children, Soudmand was detained by security officials in Mashad about a month ago.
“The authorities have not yet charged my brother with any crime, but we fear that his charges will be formalised after the execution of the sentence, like what happened with my father,” said Ramtin’s sister, Rashin in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
The Iranian Parliament is currently considering a law to make apostasy or the renunciation of the Muslim faith a crime. It is expected to be passed soon.
“The thing that bothers us the most is the silence by political and religious authorities of Christian countries, and not the attitude of the Islamic Republic that does not recognise the freedom of its citizens to choose their own faith,” Rashin said.
Rashin said her brother had been allowed limited contact with his family since his arrest.
“Since Ramtin was taken by some undercover police, he was allowed to talk to his wife and our mother on only two occasions, but never for more than a couple of minutes,” Ramtin’s sister, Rashin, told AKI.
Hussein Soudmand, an Assemblies of God pastor and a Muslim convert to Christianity, was executed in December 1990.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Death Penalty for Man Accused of Homosexuality
Tehran, 23 Sept. (AKI) — Nemat Safavi, arrested almost three years ago at the age of 16, has been condemned to death by a court in Ardebil, in the northwest Iranian Azerbaijan region.
Nemat has not killed anyone, stolen anything or even carried out any political activism.
Nemat has been accused of having homosexual relations.While that was not stated during the court case, he was accused of “sexual relations that were not admitted”.
A year ago, on a visit to Colombia University in New York, Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said “there were no homosexuals” in Iran in response to a question from a student.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Work for True Islam, Minister Tells Scholars
(ANSAmed)- MADINAH, 22 SEPTEMBER — Interior Minister Prince Naif attributed the backwardness, moral decay and extremism among Muslims to their nonadherence to true Islamic principles, Arab News website reports today. Addressing a prize-distribution function held to honor the winners of Prince Naif International Prize for Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies, in Madinah on Saturday night, Prince Naif said: “The aim of honoring the best researchers in Sunnah and contemporary Islamic studies is to encourage research in the studies of Sunnah, the second source of Islamic law, and highlight its values such as tolerance and humanitarian character.” Prince Naif, who is also chairman of the Higher Commission for Prince Naif International Prize for Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies, warned scholars against making incorrect interpretations of the verses of the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah, which are the sources of Islamic law. The Muslims of the early years could lead the world because they were sincere in their faith and keen to follow the true religion, the prince said. The prince also announced the establishment of an endowment involving a hotel and commercial complexes at the central zone surrounding the Prophet’s Mosque. Its proceeds would be utilized for financing another annual prize for those who work for the revival of the Sunnah. Moroccan writer Abdul Razaq Harmas and Egyptian scholar Yasser Noor jointly received the first prize in Sunnah studies. Muhammad Hasanain of Egypt won the first prize for his work entitled “The Revival of Religion in the area of Contemporary Islamic studies.” Saudi scholar Abdul Rahman Al-Dukhayyel and Egyptian writer Muhammad Yusri Ibrahim shared prizes for their papers on the role of religious edicts in Islam. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Religious Leader Proclaims Fatwa Against Mickey Mouse, “an Agent of Satan”
The condemnation stems from the principle expressed in Islamic law according to which “mice are to be exterminated”. In August, the author described the Beijing Games as “the Bikini Olympics” because of the way the female athletes dressed, and condemned them.
Washington (AsiaNews) — “Is Mickey Mouse an agent of Satan?”. This is the question being asked today in an editorial in the Middle East Times, commenting on the fatwa issued by a Saudi religious leader, Sheikh Mohammed al-Munajid, according to whom “sharia, or Islamic law, calls for the extermination of all mice. That includes the common house mouse as well as the famous cartoon mouse”. “The mouse”, the sheikh explained in a television interview reported by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, “is one of Satan’s soldiers and is steered by him”.
The newspaper uses these comments as an occasion to ask King Abdullah, who is making efforts to bring greater moderation to Islam and foster interreligious dialogue, to find a way to rein in these “experts”, who are often interviewed on television, and give religion a bad name with this “saga of outrageous fatwas”.
The editorial recalls that Al-Munajid was a member of the department of Islamic affairs for the Saudi embassy in Washington, before being “cashiered and sent back to Saudi Arabia”. “The problem is that he — and others like him — continues to make harebrained statements such as this one, or yet his earlier rant of Aug. 10 when he took on the Beijing Summer Olympics. The sheikh decried the world’s major sporting event as the ‘Bikini Olympics’ and lashed out at the ‘immodest dress’ worn by female athletes. He is reported to have issued a fatwa banning women competing in the Olympics; an event he also labeled ‘satanic’“.
Three years ago the same sheikh, according to Religious Intelligence, an English organization that specializes in religious news, had called for a ban on football, because the shorts worn by the players “reveal nakedness”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Damascus Deploys 10,000 Troops, Claims Lebanese Army
Beirut, 22 Sept. (AKI) — The Lebanese army claims 10,000 Syrian troops have been deployed on the border of Lebanon to prevent cross-border smuggling.
The troops are part of a special unit trained to stop smuggling across the border between both countries.
“We asked the Syrians for clarification and they told us it’s an internal situation, inside Syrian territory and not directed against Lebanon,” a Lebanese army spokesperson told local network LBC.
Syrian troops were stationed in Lebanon for over 30 years and withdrew in 2005 following the murder of former premier Rafik Hariri.
His death was widely believed to be the work of the Syrian government and currently the subject of a United Nations inquiry.
Since then the country has been deeply divided along sectarian and political lines.
Recent clashes in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli have raised fears among politicians and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asked Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to send more troops to Tripoli.
Some politicians considered the request foreign interference in Lebanese affairs and believed that the clashes could be used as a possible excuse by Syria to return its troops to Lebanon.
Tripoli is dominated by supporters of the anti-Syrian Sunni ruling coalition. Alawites — members of a small offshoot of Shia Islam allied to Syria — are allied to the Lebanese Shia opposition.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Troops Deployed Along Border With Lebanon, Threat or Sign of Good Will?
Some view the deployment of 10,000 troops as a warning to Lebanese President Suleiman who is currently in the United States. Others see it as a response to European demand for a stop to weapons trafficking and thus represents a shift in Syria’s policies.
Beirut (AsiaNews) — Some 10,000 Syrian Special Forces (see photo) have been deployed along the northern border with Lebanon, said a Lebanese army spokesman, leading to speculation about its meaning. Syrian authorities told their Lebanese counterpart that the build-up was aimed at cracking down on smuggling and other crimes along the border; “the measures were strictly internal and on Syrian territory, and [. . .] were in no way directed against Lebanon,” the army spokesman added.
Despite the reassuring words from Damascus the deployment of Syrian Special Forces has left many asking questions.
Some observers have linked the move to the visit by Lebanese Michel Suleiman to the United States where he met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and is scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush.
According to As Safir, a paper close to the pro-Syrian opposition, Secretary Rice questioned President Suleiman about Hezbollah’s weapons and the national dialogue.
A contrary interpretation comes from a “Western diplomat” quoted by NOW Lebanon who said that the troop deployment indicates a change in Syrian policy, partly because of progress in negotiations with Israel.
Following the quadripartite talks that took place in Damascus last month between Syria, Qatar, France and Turkey, greater Syrian surveillance of its borders is meant to increase control over smuggling, including weapons smuggling. The issue had been raised by the European Union.
In that sense the message to Suleiman is meant to be reassuring to the Americans as well, showing Damascus’ good will.
Indeed others point out that Syrian President Assad had asked his Lebanese counterpart, Suleiman, to send troops to the north in the wake of confessional clashes in Tripoli.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, which is close to Saad Hariri’s majority, suggested instead that the Syrian troop deployment is actually an attempt to cover an operation to dig tunnels to siphon “100 inches of water from the Lebanese side.” (PD)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Mosques to Become Social and Cultural Centers
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 22 — Mosques will become cultural and social centers in addition to religious ones as part of an initiative to be launched by the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), Anatolia news agency writes. The Directorate prepared a development plan including a pilot project to equip 200 mosques with libraries, tearooms, classrooms and multipurpose halls by 2010 to allow the congregation to spend time after prayers with special initiatives to be taken for disabled and women. The plan also outlines that female religious officials will be encouraged to take up overseas postings with special preparation courses for employees to be appointed to foreign countries. Officials will attend foreign language classes and 100 of them will be sent to Arab counties to learn Arabic. By 2011 the Directorate aims to ensure that 50% of the personnel recruited have university degrees and polls will be prepared to learn about the satisfaction of congregations with the service provided and the results will be published.In addition the Directorate is planning to reschedule the Friday prayer time in line with office working hours. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Parliament Moves to Extend Cross-Border Raids
Ankara, 22 Sept. (AKI) — The Turkish government on Monday submitted a parliamentary motion to extend its authorisation for cross-border operations in northern Iraq.
The motion, cited by Turkish media reports, said that separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) took shelter in the north of Iraq and called for a one-year extension of its authorisation.
It said the PKK continued to threaten the peace, security, national unity and territorial integrity of Turkey.
The motion said Turkey also attached importance to the protection of territorial integrity, national unity and the stability of Iraq. The current motion is due to expire on 17 October.
According to the Turkish website Hurriyet, officials from both Turkey’s opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), supported the motion, while the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) officials declared their opposition.
Turkey, backed by US intelligence by the United States, has stepped up military action against the outlawed PKK since December. Turkey carried out several air strikes and conducted a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq in February.
The PKK is committed to creating an independent, socialist Kurdish state in a region that comprises parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. It is branded a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
More than 37,000 people are estimated to have died since the beginning of the PKK’s armed struggle in 1984.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Store Owner Attacked for Selling Alcohol [During Ramadan]
A store owner in a wealthy district of the capital of Ankara said he was beaten by three people over the weekend for selling alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan, weeks after municipality-led violence against vendors in Ankara’s conservative Kecioren district.
“I have been living in Cankaya for 35 years and have run this market for nearly eight years. It is the first time that I have come across such an incident,” the store owner Muslum Goksu told reporters on Monday.
The three attackers smashed bottles of alcoholic beverages about the store and beat Goksu breaking his nose, for selling alcohol during Ramadan, in the assault that took place just 300 meters from a local police station, the Turkish Daily News (TDN) reported.
In August, the owner of a street buffet was beaten by municipal police in the Kecioren district of Ankara for refusing to discontinue the sale of alcohol despite threats from officials.
Goksu filed a complaint against the attackers, identifying one as a regular customer.
Security footage of the assault, which runs for one minute and 46 seconds, shows the three attacking Goksu and his assistant, with one threatening the shop owner with a knife and others throwing bottles of alcohol at them, the newspaper added.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: UN Welcomes Decision to Accept ‘Stateless’ People
New York/Geneva, 23 Sept. (AKI) — The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed a decision by the United Arab Emirates to resolve the situation of thousands of stateless people living there and voiced the hope that its neighbours do the same.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there are thousands of stateless people living in different parts of the Middle East.
When state boundaries were established and the Gulf States were formed, some countries used tribal affiliations rather than borders to determine citizenship.
As a result, thousands of people were left out and ended up without the nationality of any state.
Without any nationality, stateless people are often unable to travel or gain access to a full range of public services, including education. Children of stateless people are also born stateless.
“UNHCR is keen to see a positive outcome for this process,” the agency’s spokesperson, William Spindler, told reporters in Geneva.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Interior announced the launch of a two-month campaign for the registration of the country’s stateless population, who are referred to as the Bidoon.
The ministry has also established four registration centres in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, where applicants fill out forms explaining why they should be granted UAE nationality.
These centres will continue to accept applications for registration until the end of October.
“We are encouraged to see the high level of interest among the stateless population as shown by the number of application forms distributed in the first day of registration,” said Spindler.
Two years ago, efforts by the government to tackle the issue resulted in the naturalisation of close to 1,300 stateless people.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Call to Improve Women’s Status
SANAA, 22 September 2008 (IRIN) — Much more needs to be done to improve the status of women in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, in line with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), officials said.
The call came during a roundtable in Sanaa, the capital, on 21 September. CEDAW presented 60 recommendations in July after reviewing Yemen’s sixth periodic report for 2006 on the extent of implementation, which was prepared by the National Women’s Committee (NWC), a government body.
Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen, said the 2007 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, which measures women’s economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment vis-à-vis men, ranked Yemen last out of 128 countries.
“Women constitute only 30 percent of the workforce and 70 percent of women in Yemen are illiterate,” Mehta said.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
Burma: U Win Tin Released by Junta After 19 Yrs
Myanmar’s junta on Tuesday freed 78-year-old journalist and activist Win Tin, the longest-serving political prisoner in the military-ruled nation, an AFP correspondent witnessed. ‘I will continue with politics as I am a politician,’ Mr Win Tin told people gathered at his friend’s house near Yangon’s notorious Insein prison.
Mr Win Tin [of the National League for Democracy, NLD] had been detained by the junta since 1989 [on charges including anti-government propaganda]
His release was part of an amnesty announced in state media on Tuesday for 9,002 prisoners ahead of elections promised for 2010, although only a few of those freed are believed to be political prisoners.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
India: “Protests Crucial to Protect Communal Harmony”
Bangalore: Teesta Setalvad, social activist, who visited St. James Church at Mariyannapalya which was desecrated, saw disheartening scenes of all symbols held sacred by the Christians lying in disarray. The heartening thing, however, was that people were not cowering in fear, but were angry and protesting against the outrageous act.
“This is an indication that if resistance is channelised in the right direction, the designs of those who are out to create communal disharmony will not go unchallenged,” says Ms. Setalvad. This is in contrast to States like Gujarat where “resistance has been almost non-existent” to communalisation of the entire social fabric. Ms. Setalvad earlier visited Mangalore and Orissa.
“Protests are critical to countering this trend which is fast spreading to new areas,” says Ms. Setalvad. She notes that Sangh Parivar’s belligerent attacks on minorities are spreading to places in Karnataka that were not very long ago regarded to have a strong secular fabric. Stressing the need to “turn the tide now”, she adds that “perhaps only the South can do it.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Kidneys Surgically Stolen From India’s Poor in Kidney Transplant Racket
In addition, the medical professionals employed a team of kidney scouts to recruit donors from labor markets. In many cases, poor Indians were offered $1,000 to $2,000 for a kidney, and tested on location by a specially equipped car to see if their kidneys were a match for any prospective clients.
Other donors were promised work, then driven to remote locations where they were held at gunpoint, drugged, and operated on.
Forced donor Naseem Mohammed said he was confined in a room with a number of other people. “When I asked why I had been locked inside, the guards slapped me and said they would shoot me if I asked any more questions. They told us not to speak to each other or we would pay with our lives,” he said. Shakeel Ahmed, another forced donor, said the guards told him he would be shot if he ever told anyone what had happened to him.
Forced donors were not given any postoperative care or financial reimbursement.
The doctor in charge of the conspiracy has still not been captured. Known as Amit Kumar, this doctor was arrested in 1994 on suspicion of running a kidney transplant ring, but jumped bail and relocated. Apparently tipped off ahead of time, he also fled ahead of the recent raid.
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Malaysia: Raja Petra Kamarudin Begins Two-Year Detention Under Isa at Kamunting
Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin was sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping at 11am this morning to begin his two-year detention under the Internal Security Act.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar confirmed he signed the detention order based on investigations and recommendations by the police.
Syed Hamid said Raja Petra was sent to Kamunting before his 60-day remand ended as police had found concrete evidence that his postings in the Malaysia Today blogsite, was prejudicial to the security of the country.
Raja Petra’s wife Marina Lee Abdullah said she was informed of the detention order by an officer from the Federal police headquarters through a phone call at 9am.
She added that no decision was made on her husband’s submission of habeas corpus today as judge Suraya Othman had ordered that Raja Petra submit a written submission to be heard on Oct 28.
Raja Petra, 58, was picked up at his house in Sungai Buloh at 1.10 pm on Sept 12.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Husband Tortured 12-Year-Old Wife
Larkana, 22 Sept. (AKI/DAWN) — Pakistani police took custody of a 12-year-old girl allegedly tortured by her husband and sent her to a women’s police station.
“We picked Shahnaz after receiving information that her husband was torturing her,” Sartaj Jagirani of the Waleed police station told Pakistani daily Dawn. She would be sent to hospital for a medical check-up, he added.
Her husband Abdul Latif Brohi and brother Aijaz Siyal have been arrested.
Shahnaz told Dawn that her brother Ismail had sold her in Hyderabad for 80,000 Pakistani Rupees (700 Euro) when she was only five years old.
She was rescued about three months ago on high court’s orders on a petition filed by her brother Ajiaz who later sold her to Latif Brohi for 125,000 Pakistani Rupees (1000 Euro) and a marriage was solemnised three months ago.
She alleged that her husband was a drug addict who used to beat her and keep her in locked room. She also said that her in-laws used to threaten to kill her.
She said she had no mother and would prefer to live with her father after her divorce.
Shahnaz said she had five married sisters.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: Secret Talks Aimed at Isolating Insurgents
Secret negotiations in Indonesia with separatist sympathisers at the weekend were aimed at isolating the insurgents operating in the deep South, not at striking a deal with them, a Defence Ministry source insisted yesterday. The talks followed a strategy proposed by former prime minister Samak Sundaravej to handle external factors affecting the violent situation in the deep South.
‘‘This [dialogue] is to cut the lifeline and support given to the militants in the South,’’ said the source.
The talks, mediated by Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the presidential palace in Bogor, involved five representatives from the deep South and negotiators from Bangkok.
Indonesia’s Secretary of State Hatta Radjasa said the five members of the separatist Pattani Malay Consultative Congress were led by Wahyuddin Mohammad, Antara news agency reported yesterday. The talks were inconclusive and will resume in November.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met the Thai Muslim delegates at the presidential palace yesterday. He had met the Thai team led by Gen Kwanchart Klaharn on Saturday.
‘‘Do not say it was our initiative to play a role. This is the wish of the two parties as part of their efforts to end their conflict,’’ Mr Radjasa said.
‘‘Indonesia is considered an experienced mediator and is the largest country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.’’
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Baby Boom Caused by Economic Mess?
AUSTRALIA could be heading for an unprecedented baby boom as the credit crunch forces young couples to give up their social lives and entertain themselves at home.
The trend is already becoming apparent in the UK, where millions of couples have been forced to cut back on spending in pubs and restaurants.
Sales of maternity clothes rose by nearly half as a result, The Sun newspaper reported.
| — Hat tip: Queen | [Return to headlines] |
Navy Deciding Over Pirates’ Fate
Captured pirates still on board Danish warship
The Navy was jubilant when it announced the capture of 10 pirates off the coast of Somalia, but a week later there is still confusion about what to do with them.
The Foreign Ministry will not comment on its plans for the pirates, but an expert said the authorities have two options.
The pirates, whose nationality is not yet known, could be sent to a neighbouring country such as Yemen or Kenya for trial. However, both African nations permit capital punishment and Danish authorities are not permitted to hand the men over if they risk the death penalty.
An expert in piracy cases said it is most likely they will be sent to Denmark for trial and possible sentencing.
‘After a certain number of months or years, they could then be sent back to the nearest country we co-operate with, for example, Kenya,’ said Lars Bangert Struwe of the Danish Institute for Military Studies.
The pirates were taken captive by the crew of Danish naval vessel ‘Absalon’, which is part of the anti-piracy Task Force 150 working off the coast of Cape Horn in Africa.
The Danes found machine guns, anti-tank grenades and ladders adapted for boarding other ships on the captured pirate vessels, reports TV2 News.
The French navy is also part of the task force and has previously transported captured pirates to prison in France.
In response, Somali pirates told international broadcaster Voice of America that they will begin beheading hostages if their comrades are not released by the French.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Deal Secures Strict Immigration Regulations for Couples
Immigrants will face tougher requirements, greater scrutiny after government strikes deal with anti-immigration ally
The Liberal-Conservative government moved to shore up Denmark’s immigration regulations on Monday by entering into an agreement with the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party (DF) that will make it tougher to become a citizen and make it easier to deport criminals.
The changes come after a series of EU court rulings stated that non-EU residents could easily make use of the union’s freedom of movement regulations to avoid the strict immigration laws passed by the government in 2001.
The agreement to uphold the EU ruling until future changes are made to it came at the expense of tightening immigration regulations to suit the needs of DF.
DF is a key ally of the government and had threatened to stay away from budget negotiations if immigration laws were not secured.
The new agreement means that Danes to bring their foreign born spouses to Denmark must prove they lived in another EU country legally.
However, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that this did not mean an easy by-pass of current immigration regulations.
‘You can’t just go to Malmö (Sweden) for a couple of days, get married and then move back,’ he said.
The Immigration Service also plans to tighten its controls and will carry out spot checks on every fourth couple applying for residence. They will come down hard on marriages of convenience and will continue to require proof of the authenticity of the relationship.
Those wanting to become Danish citizens also face a stricter Danish test, with more correct answers required to pass. The time allowed for the test will also be reduced.
The government still plans to pursue its case to change the EU residence directive and Hornbech will present the Danish proposal at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Authorities Suspect Abuse of Student Visas
The number of illegal immigrants from Africa is on the rise. The Border Guard is investigating a number of criminal cases involving suspected illegal entry into Finland by Nigerians.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Finnish colleges and universities send thousands of invitations annually to young Nigerians, inviting them to come to Finland to take entry examinations. Most are provincial polytechnics trying to attract foreign students to shore up declining attendance.
So far this year, hundreds of Nigerians have been granted student permits. Authorities say that recipients of these permits have committed dozens of violations of immigration laws. These include attempts by visa recipients to bring other people into the country.
The Finnish Embassy in Abuja, which is responsible for most of West Africa, says it cannot keep up with the flood of visa applications by students saying they want to go to Finland to take entrance exams.
In 2006, the Directorate of Immigration issued 200 student visas to West Africans — mostly Nigerians. Last year there were 400, and so far there have been 600 applications.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: New Immigrant Centres Approved by Cabinet
Rome, 23 Sept. (AKI) — Italy will build another 10 identification and holding centres to handle a recent surge in illegal immigrants, Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, announced on Tuesday.
“We have already identified the areas to build the identification and holding centres in the ten Italian regions that do not yet have such centres,” Maroni said.
He said construction of the new centres would begin immediately.
The 10 new centres will be funded between 2008 and 2010 and will absorb a 60 percent increase in illegal immigrants arriving in Italy over the past twenty months, he stated.
A total 23,600 illegal immigrants entered Italy between January and September this year, compared with 14,200 illegal immigrants over the same period last year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Magazine Promotes Sterilization for Women in Their 20’s
A popular women’s magazine in the UK recently featured an article entitled, Young, Single and Sterilized, in which women in their 20’s discussed why they had undergone an operation to prevent them from ever having children. The article is little more than PR for a “women’s charity” called Marie Stopes International, an organization that carries out abortions and sterilizations and was founded by a Nazi eugenicist who advocated compulsory sterilization of non-whites and “those of bad character”.
The story appears in a weekly magazine called Love It (click for PDF enlargement). One of the women featured in the article, Chloe, explains why she decided to have herself sterilized at the age of just 20.
“By the time I was 18, I knew I was never going to change. I couldn’t imagine letting something take over my body and then my whole life.”
“I couldn’t even look at a baby without feeling uncomfortable.”
Following the sterilization procedure, Chloe celebrates the fact that “I’ve got a lifetime of going out ahead of me now,” presumably meaning going out, getting mindlessly drunk and having sex with random strangers, as is British culture, while not having to worry about the risk of pregnancy or the responsibility of looking after a child.
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Doudou Diène Leaves His Post
Doudou done
On August 1, Doudou Diène was replaced by Githu Muigai of Kenya (shown at right) as UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Muigai, a Nairobi attorney and a graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, appears at first glance to be carrying forward Diene’s campaign against “defamation of religion,” which, as I have noted, is a threat to the rights of those of us with the temerity to analyze, criticize, expose and make mock of the inimical aspects of Islam’s scripture, traditions, history, and contemporary practice. However, this report describes a setback for the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the UN Human Rights Council in which he appears to have had a hand.
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Mohammad Cartoon Editor: American Publishers Frightened to Publish My Book
When I visited Flemming Rose, the culture editor from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and publisher of the now-infamous Mohammad cartoons, at his Copenhagen office last year, he was still reeling from a recent spasm of anti-Danish violence that had engulfed the Muslim world, the threats on his and the Jyllands-Posten cartoonists’ lives, and the attendant controversy of free speech versus “responsible speech.” There remained much to say, he told me, about the spinelessness of certain European heads of state, about members of the intelligentsia who admonished his newspaper for offending “a billion Muslims.” Indeed, he was in the early stages of writing a book about what he calls the “cartoon crisis,” and the resultant outpouring of sympathy for those religious extremists who felt slighted.
But in a recent interview with the Danish wire service Ritzau, Rose now says that while American publishers have expressed interest in the book, none have offered to publish it—for fear of reigniting the controversy. “They are enthusiastic about the project, but concerned about the consequences it would have if they published it,” Rose said. In an article headlined “The US Doesn’t Dare Publish Book on Muhammad Crisis,” the left-leaning Copenhagen daily Politiken says that Rose “has had contacts with several major publishers in the United States, but they have all said no (takket nej) to publishing the book.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
OIC Sec-Gen: Peace Builds a Better World
Peace-building is the means and the end for a better world, says OIC Secretary General on the occasion of the International Day of Peace
As the global community celebrates the International Day of Peace on 21 September 2008, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) joins the International Community in commemorating this significant world occasion.
Marking this Day, the Secretary General, Professor Ekmeleddine Ihsanoglu, declared that: “As the world celebrates the International Day of Peace, as it has done since its establishment in 1981, I believe that we need, more than ever before, to work together, to move beyond our apparent differences and set our hearts and minds on what pulls us closer together. We should promote the ideals of peace, understanding and tolerance. We should strive to put an end to human suffering due to blood-shedding conflicts and violence”.
Prof. Ihsanoglu went on by saying: “Observing this Day is a good opportunity to reiterate our long-held position that people, regardless of their religion, national or ethnic affiliations, who suffer in their homes and homelands because of the scourge of conflicts, wars and violence, deserve to have their human rights and their dignity respected and protected.”
“The essence of Islam is animated by the values of peace, compassion, tolerance and justice. Islam calls for harmony and understanding among people of all faiths,” the Secretary General pointed out.
Guided by the noble Islamic values, the OIC has always placed special emphasis on the preservation and promotion of peace and actively contributes to conflict resolution and prevention in various parts of the world.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Islam, a Religion of “Peace in Our Time”
“Peace” is apparently the word on the lips of British politicians whenever the omens point, in stiff armed salute, to catastrophe. In 1938, Neville Chamberlain gave his now infamous speech, ‘Peace in our Time,’ in which he announced that Germany would be allowed to annex Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. This, the so-called Munich agreement, was meant of course to placate the Third Reich, but instead it is now seen as the first step to the occupation of Poland and to the onset of the Second World War. With utter lack of foresight Chamberlain had announced, “They [the various governments in the dispute] rejoiced with us that peace was preserved, and with us they look forward to further efforts to consolidate what has been done.” The British people, “were at one with those of Germany, of France and of Italy […] their intense desire for peace.”
There was a certain unintended dimension to junior Labour minister David Cairns’ recent statement, that Gordon Brown is the most unpopular British prime minister, “since Neville Chamberlain after Hitler invaded Norway,” as the same sort of language and mentality of appeasement that facilitated the rise of Nazi Germany is routinely employed by Brown and his government in regard to radical Islam. Its most literal outpouring came in July, when Brown spoke to the Knesset, and urged that Israel should share Jerusalem with the Palestinians. Like Chamberlain, Brown spoke of his belief that, “[…] this historic, hard-won and lasting peace is within your [Israel’s] reach, I urge you to take it by the hand.”
Neither Brown, nor Blair, nor the Labour Party, has acted mindful of the lessons that history has furnished us with. Indeed, the Party as a whole — and even British politicians more broadly — seems intent on repeating the most egregious mistakes of some other regimes now disappeared. Though perhaps the best known, the signing of the Munich agreement was far from the last time that government appeasement facilitated the rise of tyrannical organizations and regimes. In Algeria, as Walter Laquer has observed, “[…] the Islamists turned against the authorities who had done so much to support their activities. (Fascism: Past, Present, Future, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 164), and there is every reason to believe that the same will occur in Britain.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Intelligence Warns of Al Qaeda Terror Attack
MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: U.S. intelligence officials are warning of an Al Qaeda October surprise attack — an attempt they say to possibly influenced our upcoming election.
This comes after two major terrorist attacks back-to-back in Pakistan and Yemen and after intercepting a series of messages from Al Qaeda’s leaders telling its followers to prepare for more instructions. Authorities say U.S. bases and our allies overseas could be possible targets.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
Women’s Rights on Downward Turn: Anti-Globalization Activists
Anti-globalization activists have warned of a downward turn for women’s rights across Europe, citing growing religious extremism and neo-liberalism as contributory factors.
The trend has been observed across the continent and even in Sweden, a country normally seen as a pioneer in gender equality issues, Maria Hagberg, a Swedish member of the European Feminist Initiative (EFI) network, told AFP.
“We have seen a backlash in recent years in Europe and also in Sweden, which is known as the most egalitarian country in the world, but that is only on the surface,” Hagberg said late Thursday on the sidelines of the European Social Forum being held in the southern Swedish city of Malmö.
The decline of women’s rights is a phenomenon taking place across Europe, said Soad Bekkouche, a representative of the French group Laicite (Secularity).
“We see it clearly in everyday life,” Bekkouche commented.
Hagberg said that in Sweden earlier strides were now being threatened due to politics and legislation, and pointed to a rise in violence against women.
Five years ago, 20,000 acts of violence against women were reported, a number that has since grown to 30,000, she said.
The growing inequality affects immigrant women in particular, said Soleyman Ghasemiani, a social worker originally from Iran and now living in Sweden’s second biggest city Gothenburg.
Paradoxically, authorities’ desire to display tolerance and respect of immigrants’ religions and culture could be accentuating the phenomenon.
“The Swedish authorities and politicians have a lot of respect for religions and traditions and they think it’s not possible to criticize Islam,” he told AFP, adding that in so doing they were playing into the hands of religious fundamentalists who want to suppress women’s rights.
He linked the decline in women’s rights in Sweden in part to the centre-right government’s arrival in power in 2006.
“The conservatives have more power now. There are more religious schools than five or 10 years ago (and) they get (state) subsidies. I am worried because I see a backlash on the ground,” said Ghasemiani, who has lived in Sweden for 24 years.
“You have people who are teaching their daughters that to be a good daughter is to stay at home,” he said.
Bekkouche said that across Europe, both “immigrant women and local women face the same problems amid the rise of religious extremism and neo-liberalism.”
She cited the case of Polish women who could previously get legal abortions in their country, which is no longer the case. In the former eastern bloc country, contraception was now “virtually inexistent”, she lamented.
“When we see the criminalization (of abortion) in Ireland and Malta, the battle is not won,” she said, adding that there was “a need to be vigilant all the time.”
She also expressed concern over growing poverty among women, in particular single mothers.
Bekkouche stressed that legislation aimed at creating parity between the sexes did not automatically improve women’s rights.
“Legislators want us to believe that women are making strides in European countries by adopting laws on parity. … These are minor laws,” she insisted.
Some 20,000 activists and 850 associations, non-governmental organizations, unions and other networks are taking part in 250 seminars and hundreds of cultural events being held in Malmö through Sunday, based on the theme “Making another Europe possible.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
I love the Balkan article by Trifkovic.
France: Gangs Are Heavily Immigrant
No, really? After all, I don't think many native Frenchmen were declaring "Allahu Akbar" while setting fire to
cars and shops.
Finland: Authorities Suspect Abuse of Student Visas
At least they're cracking down on it.
U.S. intelligence officials are warning of an Al Qaeda October surprise attack — an attempt they say to possibly influenced our upcoming election.
It worked for them in Spain, didn't it?
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