Notice all the news stories tonight about the flood of immigrants crossing the Mediterranean to land on Lampedusa or in Spain. It’s like launching a Mariel boatlift every day.Thanks to Abu Elvis, Amil Imani, C. Cantoni, Diana West, DS, Insubria, JD, Nilk, TB, Zenster, ZZMike, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Communist Party Ecstatic Over ‘08 Election Results
“We are partisan to the working class, racially and nationally oppressed peoples, women, youth, seniors, international solidarity, Marxism and socialism. We enjoy a special relationship with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, and publish its news and views,” the publication states.
The paper said Obama’s victory is “important — not only for people here in the U.S., but also for our sisters and brothers around the world.”
“The election outcome represents a clear mandate for pro-people change on taxes, health care, the war in Iraq, job creation and economic relief, union organizing and the Employee Free Choice Act. Reform and relief are in the air. Their scope and depth will be the arena of struggle. The best thing the coalition that won this victory can do is to stick together and help the new administration carry through on its promises,” the editorial said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Republican Compares Obama to Hitler
A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.
“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”…
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
The Obamagate?
by Amil Imani
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” George Washington
I am not going to talk about how Mr. Obama stole the nomination from Hillary Clinton. I am not going to talk about widespread voter fraud involving Acorn in the Obama camp, both in the primaries and general election. I am not going to talk about how all the Obama’s men either had influence in his life or helped him to his meteoric rise to power. I am not going to talk about Obama’s pre-paid Credit Card Fraud problem. I am not going to talk about how Radical Muslims paid Obama’s way through college. I am not going to talk about Obama’s Middle East Studies Mentors. I am not going to talk about Obama’s Voodoo Economics. I am not going to talk about the Logan Act when Mr. Obama went to Europe, Iraq and spoke ungratefully about the United States and also in 2006 when he went to Kenya to meet with Odinga.
No, I am not going to talk about any of them, since none of those issues apparently mattered to those who voted for him. They elected him despite knowing those facts. So, I concede, he won the election by receiving more votes than Senator McCain who seemed he desperately wanted to wrap things up and throw in the towel.
However, I am truly disturbed. I do want to talk about the fears that are rampantly mounting, concerning the question of Mr. Obama being a natural born U.S. citizen, as required by the Constitution, to run for the office of the presidency of the United States. These fears are based on three elements:
* The failure of the RNC to execute a thorough vetting process,
ensuring Mr. Obama is a Natural Born U.S Citizen.
* The failure of Mr. Obama to provide a legitimate Certificate of
Live Birth (COLB).
* The failure of big media to perform its function as the
watchdog “Fourth Branch” of the government…
| — Hat tip: Amil Imani | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Schwarzenegger on Proposition 8: ‘We Will Undo That’
Governor encourages same-sex marriage advocates not to give up
In a CNN interview, Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger encouraged opponents of the passed Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, not to give up until the measure is overturned.
“It is unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end,” vowed the governor in yesterday’s interview, referring to Proposition 8’s passage, “because this will go back to the courts.”
He later said of the voter-approved state constitutional amendment defining marriage between one man and one woman, “We will undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: South African Musical Legend Dies After Anti-Mafia Concert
Caserta, 10 Nov. (AKI) — South African pop legend Miriam Makeba died overnight in the southern Italian town of Castel Volturno outside Naples, after giving a concert against organised crime.
Makeba felt unwell at the end of the concert and died of a heart attack early on Monday at a clinic in Castel Volturno, medics said.
The concert was also held in solidarity with Italian author and investigative journalist Roberto Saviano, whose best-seller ‘Gomorrah’ exposed the activities of Naples’ ruthless local Mafia, the Camorra crime syndicate.
The South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice was banned from her own country for more than 30 years under apartheid.
The first African woman to win a Grammy award, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world — jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon. She sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.
The Camorra has been blamed for the September slaying of six West African immigrants in Castel Volturno in a drive-by shooting outside a tailor’s shop.
Immigrants have denied the massacre was part of a drugs ‘turf war’ with members of the local Mafia or Camorra. Several Camorra suspects have been arrested over the killings.
Social tensions are running high in Castel Volturno, a small town of 20,000 inhabitants 50 kilometres north of Naples.
The town is home to 2,000 legal immigrants and up to 11,000 illegals who work without residency permits, many of them in the garment industry.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mohammed Cartoonist Ready With New Drawings
Kurt Westergaard has illustrated a new book and includes a picture reminiscent of his contribution to the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoon series
The man who was nearly killed for drawing a picture of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban plans to release another set of provocative cartoons as part of a new book from historian Lars Hedegaard.
Kurt Westergaard will contribute 26 illustrations to the new book, ‘Groft Sagt’ (Roughly Speaking), a collection of Hedegaard’s sardonic contributions to the Berlingkse Tidende newspaper column of the same name.
One of the cartoons features former Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, who took a stance against the original Mohammed cartoons, calling them a caricature of Denmark’s ‘cherished freedom of expression’.
In the new drawing, Ellemann-Jensen is pictured kneeling with an inkwell that reads ‘freedom of expression’. A black-bearded man with a bomb in his turban is peeking out from the inkwell.
Hedegaard told The Copenhagen Post that there was ‘no intention to depict the so-called prophet’, but that it is always possible for someone to interpret drawings in different ways. He was pleased with the Westergaard’s input and is not expecting any backlash.
Westergaard said that he has never been against Islam as a religion, but he takes issue with terrorists using a variation of Islam as their own ‘religious dynamite’. The 73-year-old remains unbothered by the potential furore his new drawings could cause, despite the need for him to remain under the protection of domestic security and intelligence agency PET.
Westergaard, who was given free reign to illustrate the writings he thought appropriate in the new book, returned home this summer after nine months in hiding. He had been living in police safe-houses after a plot to murder him for drawing one of the Mohammed cartoons in 2005 was uncovered.
The Supreme Court is currently handling the case of the two Tunisian men charged with the plot. One has left the country voluntarily and the other is facing an administrative deportation.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: ‘National Head-Scarf’ Wins Government Prize for Integration
THE HAGUE — A foundation is to distribute orange head-scarves in Haarlem on the Queen’s Birthday (Koninginnedag) 2009. The initiative will receive 3,000 euros from the municipality.
From this year, the municipality is awarding the SAMS Prize, an award for the project that most encourages an open and tolerant society. The first winner of the new price is Orange Society Foundation with its Louka! project, in which head-scarves will be distributed in the national colour of orange.
Orange Society will use the 3,000-euro prize money to distribute the head-scarves in the centre of Haarlem on Koninginnedag 2009. They can also be worn as a shawl for non-Muslims.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Nuclear Bomb Still Under Greenland
Secret documents show that one of four nuclear devices that fell off a U.S. aircraft 40 years ago, is still under the ice.
Denmark has been deceived by the United States according to U.S. government documents seen by the BBC.
A U.S. B-52 bomber crashed in 1968 a few kilometres from the Thule base, which had only been approved by Greenland and Denmark as a surveillance base. As a result of the crash, four nuclear devices fell off the aircraft, according to the plane’s two pilots John Haug and Joe D’Amario.
The devices were not armed, but since explosives in their casings went off, the devices quickly melted down into the ice.
Last bomb never found
Both Greenlandic and Danish workers helped to clear the area and collect wreckage from the ice. Shortly afterwards, the United States announced that all of the bombs had been destroyed.
But what Denmark was never told, was that the fourth and final nuclear device was never found.
Three months after the crash, the United States sent a Star III submarine to the area to search for the device, but never found it. It is still off the Thule base, but has probably melted deep into the ice.
Keeping the USSR at bay
The real reason to send the Star III submarine was kept secret from the rest of the world.
A document from April 1968 states:
“Fact that this operation includes search for object or missing weapon part is to be treated as confidential NOFORN” meaning it should not be discussed with any foreign power.
“For discussion with Danes, this operation should be referred to as a survey repeat survey of bottom under impact point.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Postcard From Europe (Almost Literally)
[…]
Having interviewed Dewinter on several separate occasions—a couple of times in Antwerp last summer, once in Washington last year—I only wish the US had candidates of his strength, purpose and calibre. I know of no American politician who understands the historic sweep of the jihad as Dewinter does, and who is so forthright, outspoken and active in his stand against it. As far as the completely spurious and thoroughly deranged charges against him of anti-Semitism and crypto-Nazism go, they are, well, spurious and thoroughly deranged. Last summer I asked him to explain his stand against Islamization. He replied:
“It’s a global struggle for our values, for our European way of life life, for our civilization. That’s why I think it is also a European struggle; that is, It’s not only about a mosque two blocks away—no! It’s about our survival as a European nation and as a civilization. And I recognize those values, that civilization, also over there in Israel. It’s the only country in occupied territory, the vanguard of Europe in occupied territory, that is sharing those same values. And that’s why it’s so important to support Israel.”
I asked him to expland on the term “occupied territory.” What he meant, he told me, was not at all the conventionally Leftist and loaded meaning—territory occupied by Israel since Israel’s 1967 war of survival against her Arab jihadist neighbors. No, what he meant was territory occupied by Islam since the Muslim wars of conquest and expansion began more than 1,000 years ago. Such lands include Northern Africa, Asia Minor, and the Middle East—all of which used to be mainly Christian and other faiths, including, where Israel is concerned, of course, Jewish.
Pretty terrific, if you ask me.
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Bestiality Ring Exposed
A Swedish newspaper has exposed a network of self-proclaimed zoophiles who meet regularly in locations around the country to have sex with animals.
The group, consisting of an estimated thirty people, is headed by a 45-year-old father of two, Expressen reports.
The unmarried former managing director is also moderator of a large internet animal sex forum and has a number of dogs and horses on his farm in southern Sweden.
Having infiltrated the network over a period of several months, Expressen eventually confronted the 45-year-old over his alleged mistreatment of animals.
But the man was quick to defend his relations with a bitch he bought online from a city-dwelling family who said they wanted the dog to have a better life in the countryside.
“Any of the times I did anything with her she was the one who backed into me and provoked it. She was in heat and made herself available. There were also times later when she didn’t want to and then I backed out immediately,” he told Expressen.
During the time spent with members of the network, Expressen learned that the group regularly brought along a range of different animals to “sex meetings” at rented premises.
There, members of the group filmed their sexual encounters and distributed them to other animal sex enthusiasts.
At one meeting in a small village in Småland, five men waited for a woman who had promised to bring along two dogs. But when she was unable to make it to the meeting, the men spoke instead of their experiences, including a previous visit to a colleague they referred to as “donkey man”.
“He has a goat and a couple of donkeys. We tried with a donkey but it didn’t work. But we did have sex with the goat,” one of the men told Expressen.
Previous calls for a law banning sex with animals have fallen on deaf ears. Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson outraged many observers earlier this year with a graphic defence of existing animal abuse laws, in which he presented examples of the difficulties faced by courts when trying to differentiate affection from abuse.
“Is it, and should it be, legal to spread something on the genitalia that might smell or taste nice to a dog, in order to allow the dog to lick off whatever is spread on the genitalia?
“Should it be permitted to stroke a bitch’s teats with love, or should it be classified as animal sexual abuse?” the minister wondered.
According to the Swedish Animal Welfare Agency, 115 cases of bestiality were reported in the years 2000 to 2005.
Despite indications that many of the animals had sustained injuries, none of the reports led to criminal charges.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: International Officials Welcome Accord on Key Reforms
Sarajevo, 10 Nov. (AKI) — Two top international officials on Monday hailed an agreement on key reforms reached over the weekend by leaders of the three main parties, representing Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats.
The leader of the Muslim Party of Democratic Action, Sulejman Tihic, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Dragan Covic and Serb leader Milorad Dodik of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats agreed on amendments to the constitution, on a definition of who owns state property and on holding a census in 2011.
Tihic, Covic and Dodik agreed to retain the country’s Serb and Muslim-Croat entities. They also decided that a part of real estate, needed for the functioning of the federal state, be assigned to the federal government, while the rest would belong to the entities and municipalities.
“The agreement reached on Saturday on key issues pertaining to the European future of Bosnia-Herzegovina is a step in the right direction, said European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
“We expect the agreement now to be transformed into concrete deeds through Bosnia’s institutions so that the country may move forward,” Solana told Bosnian daily Glas Srpske.
Bosnia recently signed a pact on closer ties with the EU but the country’s progress towards full membership has been hampered by disagreements between local Muslims, Serb and Croat leaders on key reforms required by Brussels.
Th international community’s top representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajcak, said the international community expected a “constructive approach from the leaders of its main political parties on reforms.”
“This is a proof that compromise is possible when there is readiness for an open dialogue,” Lajcak, a Slovak diplomat, added.
Under the Dayton peace accord that ended the 1992-1995 civil war, Bosnia was divided into two entities with most state prerogatives, a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb entity.
Majority Muslims have been pushing for a new constitution and abolition of the two entities. But the move has been resisted by Serbs, the second biggest ethnic group, whose leaders said it would lead to Muslim domination.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: The Two Faces of the Moon
It is the 17th of February, 2008, and Kosovo unilaterally claims its own independence. An historic event which the author tells as a sort of running commentary, suggesting lights and shades between past, ‘present and future’ of that part of Europe where, it appears, that stability has not yet been reached. .
To interpret the facts through what one sees on the field should be the rule of many professions. Since I practice television journalism, it is my rule.
Occupied with my work in Kosovo and following the international politics, I have the impression, however, to have often looked at the wrong face of the Kosovo moon. The faces of the protagonists which are stamped on my memory — the joy of those who determined the pain of the others, like the different faces of the facts that, whichever way you want to look at them, you can even reverse them.
I saw a face of the Kosovan moon and heard the chancellors of half the world telling of another moon, or of the opposite face to my moon. At Pristine, on the 17th of February, 2008, I saw the heated, excited faces on that freezing day when they wanted to write history — that history with the capital ‘H’ of their independence. A probationary or protected Independence, which is exactly how one must feel who leaves prison on probation. The fluttering flags everywhere indicated so much joy. The ethnic one of the Albanian eagle on a red background and the ideal one of stars and stripes, which to the jubilant in Skanderbeg Square, seemed like streamers of a Lent carnival and of short duration.
Like any probationary liberty, for them it was soon realized that the problems of the real liberty are not simply staying out prison. The impact of such an epochal turning point, with the disorder at Mitrovica, the resignation of Kostunica, the stands taken between the European Union, Russia and the United States, has already shown the complexity of the situation.
During the days of the declaration of independence, a shrewd Albanian-Kosovar friend confided his fears to me. “Up till now, we have had only one problem: to obtain independence. From now on the problems will be thousands, without anyone capable of solving them”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Real Estate: Interest Grows in Kosovan Market
(ANSAmed) — SKOPJE, OCTOBER 30 — The property market in Kosovo has shown growth in investments over recent months. According to government property agencies, quoted by the trade commission, house, land, and apartment prices continue to rise. Kosovo property agencies state that, since the 1999 war, house prices have risen by 100% and land prices by 300%. The increase in prices is more evident in the centre of Pristina where new apartments cost around 800-1000 euro per metre square. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Police Operation Ends Without Mladic Arrest
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, NOVEMBER 10 — The operation by Serb police at the ‘Vujic’ factory in Valjevo ended after five hours without the arrest of Ratko Mladic, reported radio station B92, quoting journalists at the scene. The factory owner, Vladislav Vujic, told journalists that police entered his factory and his home this morning. They took several photos of him with soldiers and Serb politicians, currently on trial at the Hague for various crimes. Vujic said that the photos were private and that the police also took his mobile phone. In his opinion the police operation followed the fact that his company had assigned a major job to Darko, Ratko Mladic’s son. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cooperation: Doctors Training, Pescara-Palestine Project
(ANSAmed) — PESCARA, NOVEMBER 10 — The improving of cultural exchange and solidarity between Pescara and the Palestinian world is the aim of a project that was outlined today in Pescara’s town hall during a meeting between local authorities and the Palestinian ambassador to Italy, Sabri Ateyeh. The basis for a delegation from the city of Pescara to visit Palestine has been put in place for next January. The people behind the project will promote a convention — to involve Asl and the “G. d’Annunzio” University in Chieti-Pescara, for the postgraduate training of Palestinian doctors. With regard to the “Pescara-Palestina” project, a documentary on the living conditions of young Palestinians will be circulated from 29 November to 21 December. The video, produced with the contribution of Fillea Cgil and the under the aegis of the local authority, will be finished in February 2009 and immediately shown at an event with the Palestinian Minister of Culture, and will then be distributed nationally. In view of the 2009 Mediterranean Games — scheduled to take place in Pescara — the local authority is thinking of putting on a show and an international conference to which the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Abu Mazen, will be invited. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: Morocco Summons Imams; Not Interference, Minister
(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 10 — “We are defending a tolerant Islam that is open and sympathetic and Italy too has interests in supporting us if it wants to avoid falling into the trap of integralism”. In Rome for the first leg of a trip to visit Moroccan communities in Italy, the Moroccan minister with authority for his fellow-countrymen abroad, Mohammed Amer, speaks thus of his government’s initiatives to guarantee that Moroccans in Europe are not influenced by the supporters of radicalism. These initiatives also saw the Rabat executive call imams and representatives of the community abroad back to the homeland, just last weekend, mainly from Spain and Italy, to make this point with them on this subject. But the action by Rabat has also sparked off criticism in Spain, as it did previously in Holland, where the subject was discussed in parliament, from people in those same communities who thought it was unwarranted interference by Morocco in the internal affairs of European receiving countries. “It is not interference”, said Amer to ANSAmed on this subject, “but rather these are initiatives which respond to the legitimate expectations of these same Moroccan communities abroad and they are agreed upon with Italy”. This agreement is part of the treaties, he added, between Morocco and the Foreign Affairs ministry. As far as the imams and the representatives of Moroccan communities are concerned who went to Marrakech recently (also including, for Italy, the secretary general of the Grand Mosque of Rome centre Abdellah Redouane), they were just “invited to a conference”, he clarified. The immigrant communities in Europe “need to be accompanied to avoid risks”, Amer went on to emphasize, alluding to the danger of fundamentalist influences in their religious activities. If we do not do it, others will and they will do it harm”. But Rabat’s action abroad, which also sent imams and ‘mourchidat’ (female preachers) from Morocco for Ramadan, also plans cultural and social interventions. “Our fellow countrymen”, Amer goes on to explain, “need cultural spaces to talk amongst themselves, certainly not from a separatist perspective, about their integration in the country they live in. Then there is the social aspect which needs attention, starting with woman, young people and children”. The minister also spoke of this in his first meeting today, which was at the Averroé Centre, also the headquarters for Moroccan women in Italy, directed by the PDL Member of Parliament Souad Sbai. “In the past I always criticized external initiatives”, Sbai said responding to the risk of interference on a subject which should be the jurisdiction of European governments, “but when we saw the situation degenerate it was us, the people from the Moroccan community, who asked for intervention from Morocco, a country which has defeated the fundamentalists, as well as greater attention from the Italian government. No country in Europe can deal with the problem by itself, bilateral agreements are needed, as it is also part of EU policy”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Cabinet Enshrines Stepped-Up Cooperation With Morocco in Protocol
THE HAGUE, 11/11/08 — The Netherlands and Morocco are to step up their partnership. The cabinet has adopted a special protocol to this effect, drawn up by Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen.
It is pretty rare for bilateral partnerships to be enshrined in a separate cabinet memorandum. The cabinet has however in the case of Morocco chosen to set up one (Netherlands-Morocco Common Action Programme), which will “form the framework in the coming years for the cooperation between the two countries,” according to a government statement.
“The aim of the Action Programme is to broaden and deepen the contacts between the Netherlands and Morocco in a large number of areas, both at government level and at the level of social organisations. The partnership will be expanded in a large number of areas including the economy, trade and finance, social affairs, justice, police and public order, defence, security and education.”
The two countries’ foreign ministers will meet regularly. “Among other things, the political dialogue will be bolstered. As well, mutual contacts between journalists, scientists and the business world will be encouraged. The two countries will also work together to combat illegal migration, drugs trading and international terrorism.”
Stepping up criminal law cooperation and a return and takeover agreement between the Netherlands and Morocco will also be looked into. Additionally, speedy completion of negotiations on an investment protection agreement will be targeted.
In September, a diplomatic incident between the Netherlands and Morocco arose when it became known that a Rotterdam police officer was suspected of spying for Morocco. Following a protest by the Netherlands, Morocco recalled two diplomats.
A portion of the Lower House also has strong objections to the Moroccan state’s refusal to allow Moroccans in the Netherlands to give up their Moroccan nationality. Morocco also specifies what names Moroccans in the Netherlands can and cannot give their children.
Verhagen is making a visit to Morocco at the end of this month. He will be accompanied by Moroccan- Dutch youngsters.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Bedouin Killed, Police Seized in Sinai
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 11 — A group of 20 police and an official were seized by a tribe of Bedouins one of whom was killed by police yesterday evening and another injured because they failed to stop when asked, while driving a jeep in the centre of the Sinai. At the same time a sit-in by other members of the same tribe took place near the border with Israel. When the police ordered the jeep to stop, and the driver continued, the police shot at it, believing the men to be wrongdoers. The dead man was identified as Said Uda Soleiman, 30, and the injured man Mohamed Soleiman Eid, 25. Police did not find any stolen items or weapons inside the jeep. In the hours that followed the bedouins began surrounding the area with their cars and shot at an empty police truck, which was set on fire. They also set fire to tyres. Then, when six squads of security police lined up along the border, the bedouins seized the twenty agents and the official saying that they would not release them until the police were sent away, those responsible for the death of Soleiman were punished and Bedouins freed who had been arrested years ago for old attacks and never brought to trial. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Copts the Victims of Islamisation Says Prize-Winning Egyptian Author
Otranto, 10 Nov. (AKI) — Coptic Christians, women and other minorities are paying the price of increasing Islamisation in Egyptian society, leading author and intellectual, Tarek Heggy, has told Adnkronos International (AKI). The fundamentalist opposition Muslim Brotherhood was one of the groups responsible and was indoctrinating young people through its welfare work, Heggy said.
“I believe the major problem for the Copts in Egypt is related to the overall cultural environment. The more radical society becomes, the worse the situation gets. This is also true for Bahaiis,” Heggy said, referring to a smaller religious minority in Egypt which now numbers only a few hundred people.
Heggy was speaking in the southern Italian coastal town of Otranto where he was awarded the prestigious 2008 Grinzane Terra D’Otranto prize for dialogue, tolerance, solidarity and integration.
Copts — who form some 10 percent of Egypt’s population and the largest Christian community in the Middle East — have been the target of periodic attacks by Muslim hardliners in recent years.
The Islamisation of education in recent decades is a major cause of an intolerant mindset that has developed in Egypt, which the Muslim Brotherhood has helped create under the guise of aid to local communities, Heggy argued.
“The Muslim Brotherhood is well regarded by the average Egyptian, who equates the government with autocracy, corruption and repression,” Heggy said.
“The group is seen as less corrupt and more supportive of people, and serving them in the real arena of need — health and education. “
The Muslim Brotherhood gives extensive aid to local communities, including medical assistance and private lessons for school children for a symbolic fee — a major draw for poor Egyptians, many of whom view the group positively.
A trip to a regular dentist costs 12 euros — half a teacher’s monthly wage — while there are 80 children in an average class in state schools, Heggy said.
“The Egyptian government is handling the Muslim Brotherhood as a security issue alone,” he said.
“But it is a cultural, social, political, educational, religious and economic problem.”
A leading oil industry strategist and former CEO of petroleum giant Shell, Heggy has written more than 20 books including five in English. Democracy, tolerance, and women’s rights feature in his works on Egypt and the Middle East .
He advocates self-criticism and sweeping reforms in the region, including the reform of school curricula.
The fundamentalist Wahabi influence has penetrated education in Egypt, where Arab literature, poetry and plays have been replaced with sacred Islamic texts in schools, Heggy said.
Up until the 1960s, Egypt was a truly Mediterranean society, but this has been gradually replaced by an Arab/Bedouin culture.
Besides schools, mosques and the country’s media — radio and TV — have also been Islamised, he said.
“The four entities that have most influence on people have also been influenced by anti-secular cultures,” Heggy stated.
Egypt’s 1971 Constitution defines Islam as the state religion and Islam as the main source of law.
“The Coptic problem is that of pressure on a minority, intolerance towards others and a lack of acceptance of pluralism. The more Egypt is influenced by the Wahabi interpretation of Islam, the worse it is for the Copts, “ said Heggy.
Heggy last year published a controversial essay ‘If I were a Copt’ which highlighted the injustices Copts face in Egypt.
Copts have for over 50 years been barred from holding key administrative and political posts in Egypt. The Al-Azhar University in Cairo does not admit Copts to any of its faculties.
Apart from a donation made by Egypt’s former president Gamal Abdel Nasser to the Cathedral of San Marco in Abbaseya, the Egyptian state has not financed any church since 1952. Copts also have difficulty in obtaining licences to build churches.
“There can be no solution to the problem in isolation from Egyptian society. When there is a reasonable degree of freedom in Egyptian society, there will be a reasonable degree of freedom for Copts.”
President Hosni Mubarak’s successor will be the key to Egypt’s future, according to Heggy. “It needs a competent leader who can bring about economic and social progress and improve the living conditions of women and men. “
He said the country’s gross domestic product per capita is 1,200 dollars and 25 percent of the population is unemployed with joblessness concentrated in the 20-40 age group.
The high unemployment and low living standards of ordinary Egyptians is in stark contrast to the wealth of Egypt’s cabinet ministers, seven of whom are on the Forbes rich list, Heggy said. “There is a conflict of interest between these people and the long-term interests of Egypt,” he stressed.
Heggy has lectured at many universities and research centres including University of California in Berkley and The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is also a board member or trustee of numerous institutions including the Egypt Bar Association, Egypt Writers Association, the MSA University and Girls College Ain Shams University in Cairo, and the Council for Supreme Education in Abu Dhabi.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Algeria; Civilians Killed at Checkpoints, Press
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 10 — After the killing, last Wednesday, of Fateh Bouchibane, mayor of the Cabilia village of Timezrit, a further two civilians have been murdered in the same way, at two checkpoints set up by presumed terrorists. According to reports from the Algerian press, Ali T., 34 years old, was stopped by a group of terrorists dressed in military fatigues on Saturday morning in Naciria (in the Berber region near to Boumerdes, 50 km east of Algiers). The man was delivering bread to an army barracks — as he did every morning — when he was killed by numerous gunshots. His body was then decapitated. In the night between Saturday and Sunday, Abdelhafid Boudile, 52 years old, was murdered near Jijel (350 km to the east of Algiers), by “a group of uniformed men armed with Kalashnikovs”. In the same region, at least three other members of armed groups with Islamic origin were killed in aerial bombardments by the army in the last 48 hours. The Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC, today the Al Qaeda for the Islamic Magreb) has always used checkpoints to control the territory and collect money: usually civilians are robbed but then released, while soldiers (if identified) are killed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Opinion: Netanyahu Favored by Moderates
With elections looming in problematic Israel, the race seems to be down to right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu and center party candidate Zipi Livni. Surprisingly, many Arabs favor a win by the seemingly more hawkish Netanyahu.
The considered opinion of political and business leaders in the region is that Netanyahu offers stability and the possibility of peace, while the inexperienced Livni brings a likelihood of volatility and crisis.
An Egyptian-trained economist pointed out the differences between the two Israeli candidates: “Netanyahu is an experienced politician who has the highest likelihood of bringing a stable government to Israel. A stable Israel means a stable region, and right now this is very important; the coming years are a crucial time for many Arab countries to develop their economies, and an unstable Israel makes that unlikely. Netanyahu’s agenda is centered on economic growth as his top priority, so he needs quiet and stability as much as everyone else, and maybe more.”
“Livni, the centrist Kadima party candidate, has an unclear agenda at this stage. Although her outlook is assumed to be less hawkish then Netanyahu, there is a strong feeling that her inexperience will lead to increased risk of conflict. She is unlikely to enjoy a firm power base in Israel, and this, combined with her inexperience in foreign and security affairs, means that her handling of crisis will likely escalate situations. Moreover, such a weak leader is too much of an opportunity for groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah to ignore, so crisis situations seem sure to turn up.”
Surprisingly, Netanyahu’s appeal to the Arab moderates is also based on a higher possibility for peace, the Egyptian scholar explained…
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Middle East: Shaath, Interpalestinian Talks Within 2 Weeks
(ANSAmed) — IL CAIRO, NOVEMBER 10 — The talks for reconciliation between the 13 Palestinian factions in Cairo scheduled for today and boycotted by Hamas could take place within two weeks, stated the Presidential representative for the PNA in Cairo, Nabil Shaath, based on information from the Egyptian authorities. Egypt does not intend to waste the initiative, said Shaath, but will continue efforts to bring the factions around a table because a delay in the meeting would weaken the credibility of those participating. Hamas’ reasons for non-participation (President of the PNA Mahmud Abbas is not really interested in reconciliation, as he allowed Hamas arrests in the West Bank and then denied that they were political prisoners) according to Shaath are inconsistent, considering that the integralist faction continues to maintain the ceasefire with Israel without asking for the release of the Hamas men held in Israeli prisons. The fact that the meeting still has not taken place plays into the hands of the most extremist parts of Hamas as well as Al Fatah. So it is vital to turn to Palestinian unity and develop an internal dialogue, said Shaath. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Middle East: Hamas: Have Had Contacts With Obama’s Envoys
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, NOVEMBER 11 — Secret contacts were held in Gaza ahead of the US elections between Hamas leaders and “advisors of Barack Obama”, said Ahmed Yussef, a political advisor to Hamas’ Gaza leader, Ismail Haniyeh, speaking today. Yusef did not give any details as to the envoys’ identities (“with whom contacts continue”) but leaked that Haniyeh will soon send a message of congratulation to Obama on his election as President of the United States. According to Yusef, it is to be expected that “Obama will change the US approach to Middle East issues”. But the Palestinian dossier — he predicts — will not receive top priority as the US president will have to pay attention to issues around Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Gaza, Qassam Rocket Hits Sderot
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 10 — A Qassam missile, fired from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militant, exploded near the Israeli city of Sderot (Neghev) without causing injuries. The news was announced on military radio. During the morning in Gaza another rocket was fired (which was defective and exploded inside Gaza), as well as some mortars. Following the repeated attacks, Israeli Defence minister Ehud Barak decided that all the border crossings with Gaza will be closed until further notice. Barak also announced the suspension of fuel deliveries from Israel to Gaza. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Haniyeh, Truce in Exchange for Withdrawals
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 10 — Hamas is ready to sign up to a long term truce with Israel if the latter will withdraw from all the territories that have been occupied since 1967 and “recognise the rights of the Palestinian people”. These were the words of the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, as reported by the ‘Haaretz’ newspaper. Haniyeh was speaking just after meeting several members of the European Parliament in the last few days in Gaza on a boat (the Dignity) at the end of a protest against the isolation of the Strip by Israel. A Hareetz journalist, Amira Haas, also took part in the meeting, having arrived at Gaza on the same boat. In response to a question from Claire Short, a former member of Tony Blair’s government, about whether Hamas will recognise Israel, Haniyeh responded that his party is ready to create an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, along the lines of demarcation in force since 1967. Once Israel has recognised the “rights of the Palestinian people” it would be possible to talk about a long term ‘hudna’ (suspension of hostilities). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Average Arab Reads 4 Pages a Year — UN Survey
DAMASCUS, November 11 (RIA Novosti) — The average person in the Arab world reads no more than four pages a year, the Syrian newspaper Tishreen said on Tuesday, referring to a UN survey.
The survey said Americans read an average of 11 books a year, while the average Briton gets through eight books.
Conclusions made by the Arab Thought Foundation, which reports on cultural development in Arab countries, are also far from inspiring.
Calculations showed that the number of readers in the Arab world was no higher than 4% of readers in Britain.
Khalid Al Faisal, the president of the foundation, said just above 8% of people in Arab countries aspired to get an education, against 91% in South Korea and 72% in Australia.
The survey testifies to the scarcity of book printing in Arab countries, with one new title published each year for every 12,000 people, against one per 500 in Britain and one per 900 in Germany.
| — Hat tip: ZZMike | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Turkey: Commission Criticises Ankara, Few Reforms 2008
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 5 — Turkey has not made enough effort with reforms in the last year, according to the EU Commission, which has invited the Ankara Government to “renew its efforts” to come in line with the European Union. “Despite a strong political mandate, the Government has not carried out a coherent and complete programme of reforms” says the Brussels report on Turkey’s progress towards membership. The lack of progress is in part tied to paralysis in the Government which has been blocked for several months by the trial which risks shutting down the majority AKP party. In general, says the report “the lack of dialogue and spirit of compromise between the main political parties has had a negative impact on the functioning of its institutions”. Criticisms by Brussels were also made over human rights. Freedom of expression is still a cause for concern, particularly over Article 301 of the penal code (which condemned Nobel prize winning author Orhan Pamuk), which “is still practically the same even after last May’s reforms”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Human Rights: European Court Fines Turkey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 10 — The European Court of Human Rights (Echr) fined Turkey 11,000 euro in reparations to a judge given a disciplinary penalty for reading and watching pro-Kurdish media, daily Milliyet reported. The Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors (Hsyk) started an investigation against judge Mehmet Emin Albayrak in 1995 alleging that he was watching pro-Kurdish Med Tv and reading the Ozgur Ulke newspaper which has been frequently shut down due to allegations of being pro-Kurdistan Worker’s Party (Pkk). In 1997 Hsyk revealed the conclusion of the investigation: “Watching a Tv channel and reading a newspaper which has been banned because of being pro-Pkk may lead the judge to lose his objectivity displaying sympathy towards the terror organization”, the board stated. The board decided to relocate the judge, the second harshest penalty after dismissal. Albayrak resigned in 2001 and applied to the Echr arguing that he was discriminated for being a Kurd and demanded 650,000 euro in reparations. The court ruled on 31 January 2008 deciding that the judge had to be paid 5,000 euro pecuniary compensation and 6,000 euro for general damages. However the Echr rejected the Albayrak’s claim he was discriminated for being a Kurd saying that there was no evidence proving this claim. Instead the court decided there was no concrete evidence that Albayrak lost his objectivity as a judge. Albayrak prepares to return to office after the court’s decision. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: D’alema, Peace Written, Only Will Needed
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 6 — After the “failure” of the Bush policy in the Middle East for achieving peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only “political will” is needed for the terms of a peace “have already been written”, said Massimo D’Alema, on Youdem TV. “At Annapolis, Bush promised a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. This did not happen and will not happen, in fact, the situation has worsened. This is the failure of the Bush policy, even with the best intentions”. D’Alema hoped for a “turnaround” in American policy in the Middle East, which represents “a vital necessity” for Italy “seeing as instability is a danger for our country. The main question is the Israeli-Palestinian one, because historically that is what has fuelled the anger of Muslim countries against the West, and because it has become a religious battle. Peace would have an extraordinarily symbolic value because it would remove one of the reasons, one of their banners, for fundamentalism and terrorism. The solution is ready, peace has already been written: let the UN resolutions be respected, meaning that the Palestinian state should have the borders drawn up in 1967, apart from the territorial concessions which the parties are able to make: that Jerusalem should be the capital of both States; that Palestinian refugees cannot return en masse. Peace must be guaranteed by the international community with peace forces and economic help. The solution is already written — we need only the political will. The problem is not in the solutions but in maturing political will”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Religion: Turkey, Alevis Rally in Ankara for Basic Rights
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 10 — Thousands of Alevis rallied yesterday in the Turkish capital of Ankara to demand equal religious rights from the government, the local media reported. About 50,000 people, arriving from all parts of the country, gathered in downtown Ankara, chanting slogans against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and dancing traditional Alevi dances. The demonstrators call on the government to abolish the Religious Affairs Directorate, remove compulsory religious courses at schools and legalize the community’s “cemevi” prayer houses. Protestors carried Turkish flags and portraits of Turkey’s secularist founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and placards with slogans such as: “End discrimination” and “Turkey is secular, it will remain secular.” The Islamist-rooted AKP came under fire for not listening to Alevi problems. They say that despite its advocacy of broader religious freedoms, the AKP government has done little on promises for reconciliation with the Alevis. The Alevis are the second largest religious community in Turkey, although no official statistics exist. Their interpretation of Islam differs from Sunnis, such as they pray in “cemevi” (prayers houses), not in mosques. Yesterday’s gathering is the biggest rally ever by the Alevis. Some political parties, including the main opposition Republican Peoplés Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society (DTP), are also backing the Alevi demonstration. In Turkey, the majority of the Alevi community traditionally votes for social democrat and leftist parties. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Businesses See EU Membership Not Before 2015
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 5 — A majority of Turkish companies do not expect the country’s EU membership to happen before 2015, according to a survey presented two days ahead of the European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkey. A total of 70% of Turkish businesses support their country’s EU accession, but most believe this will not come soon, the new study shows, according to the figures of the survey conducted jointly by Eurochambres, the association of European chambers of commerce and industry and the Turkish Union of Chambers (TOBB). Only 10% of the attendees said they expected Turkish accession before 2015, while two-thirds expect negotiations to last for at least 10-15 years, the figures of the survey conducted among 2,878 Turkish businesses, 97% of which were SMEs as reported by daily Hurriyet website. “The journey is long,” the EurActiv reported Pierre Simon, president of Eurochambres as saying. According to the survey, with EU membership a distant perspective, only 5% of Turkish companies described themselves as well-prepared for such a scenario, while 72% said they had not started preparations for accession yet, mainly citing expected high financial costs, although 95%had not yet made a cost estimate. Twenty-four percent of businesses surveyed believe the country will actually never join the Union. This runs contrary to the feelings among Turkish citizens, with only 26% expecting the country to join the bloc at one point, according to a 2007 survey by the German Marshall Fund. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Bali Bombers Asked Islamists to Join Them, Claims Group
Jakarta, 10 Nov. (AKI) — A radical Islamic group, Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia has claimed that one of the Bali bombers executed at the weekend had asked the group to be collaborate on the 2002 bomb attacks. “Amrozi had asked us to collaborate on the Bali bomb attacks,” said Muhammad Bachroni, a spokesman for MMI, in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
He was referring to Amrozi Nurhasyim, one of the three Bali bombers executed on Sunday.
“We said no, because our way of fighting for (Islamic) Sharia law does not include violence,” said Bachroni.
Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) were executed by firing squad at the island prison of Nusakambangan off southern Java on Sunday, government officials said.
The three, who belonged to Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, were found guilty of planning the twin attacks on nightclubs at the resort of Kuta on the island of Bali in October 2002. A total of 202 people died in the attacks, most of them foreigners.
Responding to the executions on Sunday, Bachroni said they were rushed and unfair.
“The attack in Bali was carried out with a small nuclear bomb made in Israel. Amrozi and the others were co-opted in participating in the attack organised by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency),” Bachroni told AKI.
“There needed to be more time to discover the other perpetrators,” told Bachroni to AKI.
MMI is an Islamist organisation considered close to JI which aims at turning Indonesia into an Islamic state. Until last July, MMI was led by Abu Bakar Bashir, a radical cleric considered the spiritual leader of JI.
Bashir has since formed another group called Jemaah Anshori Tauhid or defender of believing in one and only God teaching.
JI is widely considered south-east Asia’s most dangerous terrorist organisation and was believed to be behind the bloodiest attacks in Indonesia.
Intelligence agencies claim Bashir is the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah and has links with Al-Qaeda.
In March 2005, Bashir was found guilty of conspiracy over the 2002 attacks. He was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. In December 2006, Bashir’s conviction was overturned by Indonesia’s Supreme Court.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Asks Obama for “Respect”
In its first telephone conversion with the new US leader, Chinese President Hu Jintao praises mutual ties but already lays down “conditions” for their further development. In the meantime he is getting ready to take part in the G20 Summit scheduled for the US capital and expresses his country’s willingness to intervene in global financial markets.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China and the United States must “respect each other and accommodate each other’s concerns, and appropriately settle sensitive issues between the two [. . .], particularly the Taiwan issue” if the two nations are to develop their relations, Chinese President Hu Jintao told US President-elect Barack Obama in a phone conversation on Saturday. The Chinese is set to travel to Washington in the next few days for the G20 Summit.
The Xinhua news agency reported that during the first talks since the US election the two leaders discussed other major international issues of common concern, including security and climate change, both acknowledging that their bilateral relationship profits the whole world.
Mr Hu reiterated his country’s willingness to “discuss with other participants in the summit (which will bring together on 15 November leaders from the 20 most industrialised nations) how to adopt powerful measures to re-establish market confidence as early as possible, how to prevent the global financial crisis from proliferation and spreading, and how to diminish its impact on real economies in a bid avert a possible global economic recession.”
For Experts the ongoing financial crisis has only dampened, not stopped the growth of emerging markets, especially in Asia.
For the developing world, which represents at least one-third of the world economy, South-South trade has been expanding faster than North-South trade, increasing domestic services and consumption. For this reason they have been less impacted by the global slowdown and credit crunch.
Countries like China have huge foreign exchange reserves which many in Europe see as a potential source of capital for markets in need of liquidty.
Emerging states want however international financial institutions to change to reflect their greater weight.
However many are wondering whether China’s demand for greater “respect” will include a more receptive perspective on domestic issues, in particular Tibet, human rights and Taiwan.
Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, on Monday repeated China’s position to envoys of the Dalai Lama, namely that it would never allow greater autonomy for Tibet.
In recent months China had been greatly criticised for its violent repression in Tibet back in March when international pressure led it for the first time in decades to sit down for talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, an event greeted around the world as a sign of hope.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Muslims Accused of Planning “Violent Jihad”
Sydney, 11 Nov. (AKI) — Five men described as devout Muslims possessed extremist material advocating violent jihad and showing images of ritual beheadings, an Australian court was told on Tuesday.
The men are accused of conspiring with others to prepare a terrorist act. Crown prosecutor Richard Maidment, said they had allegedly obtained explosives and firearms.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald daily Maidment said the men possessed material “which supported indiscriminate killing, mass murder and martyrdom in the pursuit of violent jihad.”
But the jury members have been told they must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that all five agreed to the preparation of a violent act motivated by religion, politics or ideology and aimed to intimidate or coerce governments or the public.
“This is a circumstantial case,” Supreme Court Justice Anthony Whealy told the jury.
The government’s prosecutor alleged the material found in the homes of the accused — Mohamed Elomar, Abdul Rhakib Hassan, Khaled Cheikho, Mostafa Cheikho and Mohammed Omar Jamal — showed they believed Islam was under attack and violent jihad was their religious obligation.
The men, all Muslims, have pleaded not guilty.
The trial started in Sydney on Tuesday and is expected to run for nine months.
“The Muslim religion is not on trial here,” stressed Justice Whealy. “We Australians are very fortunate because we live in a very tolerant and open-minded society.”
He instructed the jury to judge the case impartially and only on the evidence presented.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Teacher Told Student to Abuse Her During Affair, Court Hears
A SCHOOLTEACHER accused of ordering a student to abuse her and treat her as his sex slave has been sent for trial.
Melbourne Magistrate’s Court yesterday heard claims Nazira Rafei, 26, did the 15-year-old boy’s maths test for him and threatened his grades if he called the relationship off.
“Disrespect me. Say shut the f—- up to me and stuff like that,” the boy claims Ms Rafei told him during a tryst in her car.
“Say I’m your sex slave.”
Ms Rafei, a married science and maths teacher, pleaded not guilty to sexual penetration of a child under 16 under her supervision or authority and four counts of committing indecent acts.
A charge of blackmail was dropped by the prosecution.
According to documents tendered to the court, the boy told police the relationship began when the pair started swapping music earlier this year.
Ms Rafei, 26, had been teaching since January 2007 but was not taking any of the boy’s classes.
The boy told police the song choices his teacher sent him were romantic and suggestive, and they began calling each other, with Ms Rafei giving herself the code name “Simone”.
The pair kissed and hugged during secret meetings in her car and later had sex in the teen’s bedroom, the boy said.
He told police Ms Rafei blindfolded him during sex and told him she didn’t want a “lovey-dovey” affair but just a physical one.
A love letter allegedly written by Ms Rafei talks of how the boy had captured her heart but broke it into a million pieces.
In May, the boy says, she gave him the answers to a trigonometry test but when he said he couldn’t memorise them all, she completed the test for him.
She allegedly told him to rub out her handwriting and copy it in his own, saying in a note, “Anything to see you smile”.
A friend of the boy told the court he believed Ms Rafei had threatened to “stuff up his grades” if the boy ended their relationship.
“I’ll show you harassment, I’ll f—- your life up if you tell anyone,” she allegedly told the student when he informed her it was over.
Ms Rafei, who appeared in court wearing a Muslim hijab and long black skirt, wept as her former principal told the court she had been a dedicated and well-liked teacher.
He told the court Ms Rafei had not worn traditional head coverings or dress while she was teaching.
Ms Rafei told police she had never been to the boy’s house and denied having sex or being intimate with him.
She was released on bail to face the County Court later this month.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
No Contact From Kidnappers of Nuns
Pope praying for safe release
(ANSA) — Turin, November 10 — A suspected Somali kidnap gang that snatched two Italian Roman Catholic nuns from a Kenyan village in the early hours of Monday morning has yet to make contact with authorities, local sources said.
Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61, were seized along with several Kenyans when an armed gang stormed the village of El Wak, near the border with Somalia.
A fellow aid worker left behind in the village told missionary news agency Misna that around 200 men had entered the village and fired weapons for half and hour before driving the captives across the Somali border. The head of the northern Italian missionary order to which the nuns belonged, Don Pino Isoardi, told Vatican Radio that it seemed the armed band had intentionally targeted the nuns.
‘‘We know that they were not there to look for money or anything else, but they went there specifically to take these people. We don’t know if there are political motivations or other reasons,’’ he said.
Sources initially said that the armed bandits were Somali fundamentalist guerillas, but other reports suggested they could be connected to feuding local communities among whom violence has escalated in recent weeks.
The apostolic nunzio to Kenya, Mons. Paul Lebeaupin, told ANSA there were ‘‘no indications that could lead to the hypothesis of a religious origin’’ behind the kidnapping of the nuns, adding that the zone on both sides of the border was largely Muslim.
‘‘The nuns were seized in a border area that is marked by ancient conflicts determined more than ethnic, rather than religious, hatred,’’ Lebeaupin added, stressing that the nuns belonged to a contemplative order and were not involved in seeking converts.
Isoardi said the two nuns, who were from the Padre de Foucauld Missionary Contemplative Movement, had lived in Kenya for 35 years including 25 years in El Wak, where they worked at a small medical centre to help the disabled and those suffering from epilepsy and tuberculosis.
Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi said Pope Benedict XVI was ‘‘up to date’’ with events and ‘‘hoped that the situation can resolve itself as soon as possible and without harm’’.
Italian Foreign Undersecretary Michelino Davico said the foreign ministry was working hard on the situation and that he hoped for ‘‘a rapid solution’’.
Kidnappings of humanitarian aid workers are increasingly frequent in the war-torn East African nation of Somalia, but this would be the first time gangs are believed to have operated across the border.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Europe: Hundreds of Immigrants Arrive Off the Coast
Islas Canarias/Lampedusa, 10 Nov. (AKI) — More than 370 illegal immigrants arrived off the coast of Italy and Spain on Monday by boat from North Africa. In Spain’s Canary Islands, 123 illegal immigrants arrived at the port of La Restinga on the island of El Hierro. Two illegal immigrants died aboard the wooden boat before they could be rescued by Spanish port authorities.
At least 12 other immigrants on board the vessel are reported to be seriously ill with hypothermia and dehydration.
In Italy, 247 illegal immigrants arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa after being spotted only 500 metres from the port. They were later rescued by Italy’s Coast Guard police.
Lampedusa is a tiny island that is closer to Africa than the European continent and a favourite drop off point for the people smugglers.
In a separate incident, at least 150 immigrants tried to storm the border between Morocco and Spain’s North African outpost of Melilla early on Monday.
The African migrants tried to break down a fence separating the enclave from Morocco and Spanish border guards responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas at them.
Meanwhile in the southern port city of Brindisi, seven illegal immigrants were found hiding inside a truck that came from Greece.
Thousands of immigrants try to reach the Canary Islands or the Spanish mainland after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in search of a better life. During the first nine months of 2008, over 7,000 would-be migrants arrived .
Italy has the European Union’s longest coastline — 4,500 kilometres — making it difficult to police and thus a preferred destination for migrants.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Algeria, 65 Stopped in Annaba Bay
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 10 — On Sunday night, 65 illegal migrants were stopped in the bay of Annaba on the eastern coast of Algeria (600 km east of Algiers) as they attemptted to reach the northern coast of the Mediterranean, in particular Italy. The Algerian Coast Guard said that “Algerian migrants were intercepted on board three make-shift boats. The first group of 20 young men was stopped 2 miles from the coast, and the other two, with 24 and 21 people on board, were found during the night 6 and 15 miles off the bays of Sidi Salem and Ras El Hamra, in the Annaba region. A further 18 people were stopped in the area during October, which is a departure point for immigrants heading for Italy. Journeys from the west of the country however are usually heading for Spain. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Mediterranean, More Landings, More Dead
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 10 — The last victim died this morning, a boy who left the African coast with 122 immigrants and sailed towards the Canary Islands archipelago. The last in a long list of bodies recovered from the waters and bodies reported missing at sea. From the Sub-Sahara, he had almost made it, in the port of La Restinga, on the island of El Hierro, the boy died while the Red Cross and the Canary Island health services were boarding the craft where another body was also discovered. At the same time, in Lampedusa one boat with 247 immigrants arrived in port and a second, with 273 on board was intercepted by the Coast Guard a mile off shore. Again during the night three different homemade crafts were stopped with 65 Algerian immigrants on board. The boats were intercepted off Annaba along the western coast of the North African country as they set their course for Italy. Also last night in Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the eastern coast of Morocco, according to a report from the local police station, about 200 immigrants tried to force their way through the Beni-Enzar border crossing between Morocco and Spain. In a second attempt, carried out by about sixty immigrants it is reported that stones and sharp instruments were thrown at the security services. The flow of people from the southern shores of the Mediterranean leaving their homes and families to travel north is increasing and the first pieces of |northern’ land are full to exploding. In Lampadusa’s the first centre for meeting the immigrants in the Imbriacola district, after this morning’s arrivals, there are a total of 1,560 immigrants in a facility with a capacity for about 700. And arriving on the coast of the small Sicilian island in the first months of 2008 there were close to 25,000 immigrants according to estimates for MSF (Doctors without Borders), which until last October guaranteed free emergency medical service at the wharf in Lampedusa) MSF then was ‘forced’ to close the project, according to a press release, ‘‘after the Italian Interior Ministry decided not to sign the new agreement of understanding and not grant the necessary permits for MSF to continue to operate’’). Since 2005 until ten days ago MSF visited 4,550 immigrants, including 1,420 between January and October 2008. The estimates from the UNHCR (the UN High Commission on Refugees) are even higher; a few days ago in Geneva, spokesperson Ron Redmond reported that ‘‘at the end of the month of October 2008 approximately 30,000 ‘boat people’ arrived on the Italian coast compared to the 19,900 that arrived during the whole year of 2007’’. The UNHCR also reports that the number of dead or missing at sea during voyages to Italy or Malta in the first ten months of this year were 509, a number already much higher than the total for 2007 which stopped at 471. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Spain, Two Dead on Boat With 123 Immigrants
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 10 — Two bodies, one a minor, were recovered from a boat loaded with 123 sub-Saharan immigrants that arrived this morning at the port of La Restinga, on the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. Of the 123 occupants of the boat, according to the Europa Press agency citing sources with the Central Government Delegation of the Canaries, at least 28 were children or under 18 years old. One adult, say the sources, was already dead when the craft reached port and the boy died while the Red Cross and the Canary Island health services were boarding to assist the immigrants. Many of the immigrants displayed symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia, some severe enough to warrant hospitalization. The boat was intercepted by the Coast Guard at 8:20 in the morning in the waters to the south of the Meridiano Island. The ‘Adhara’ cruiser with the maritime security services reached the boat and escorted into port. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: 1,560 at Lampedusa Reception Centre
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), NOVEMBER 10 — A total of 1,560 illegal immigrants are currently at the Imbriacola reception centre on Lampedusa, following the arrival of a further 500 migrants who landed in the last few hours on the island. The building has a capacity of 700 beds, and is once again in crisis. In the morning only 100 immigrants were transferred on the Siremar ferry which is due to arrive at the Empedocle Port at 6pm. They will then be transferred to the Pian del Lago reception centre in Caltanisetta. For today, reported the Agrigento prefecture, no air services are planned. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spreading Islam Through Christian and Public Schools
Our friend Tom enrolled his seventh grade son in a local Christian school this year. But he felt a bit uneasy when he saw the new history text. And as he leafed through the pages of World History: Medieval and Early Modern Times (a standard nationwide textbook), his concern grew.
[…]
The second unit covered “The Growth of Islam.” It began with an inspirational story that built a positive context for the rest of the chapter: Thirteen-year-old Ayesha and her family went on a hajj [pilgrimage] with “nearly 100,000” fellow Muslims (“a gross exaggeration”[2,p.19]) to Mecca back in 632 A.D. After the long, hot journey, “Ayesha tells [her brother] Yazid that the trip has been very hard, but it was also satisfying. They agree with their parents that being near Muhammad was especially meaningful.”[4,p.83]
This warm introduction to Muhammad was followed by stirring descriptions of Islam’s miraculous beginnings, noble beliefs, vast conquests, amazing scientific discoveries, and exceptional tolerance toward unbelievers. But were they true?
The facts are far less flattering. Back in the 7th century, large Muslim armies fanned out in different directions, forcing their way through the Middle East, Central Asia, northern Africa and southern Europe. Resisters were massacred or enslaved, while the vast “unbelieving” masses became taxpaying subjects at the mercy of Muslim rulers. Jews and Christians [dhimmis] were held captive to the demeaning rules of dhimmitude [“protection’]. Here’s a brief explanation from “The Myth of Islamic Tolerance,”
“Jews and Christians are termed ‘People of the Book’ in the Qur’n — that is, communities that have received a genuine revelation from Allah. That’s why they’re offered this ‘protection’ in an Islamic state. However, the Qur’an also teaches that both Jews and Christians have incurred the curse of Allah (Sura 5:60 and others) for their refusal to receive Muhammad as a legitimate prophet and his Qur’an as a book from Allah…. In fact, the Sharia dictates that such a ‘protection’ agreement… ‘is only valid when the subject peoples follow the rules of Islam…”[5]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Too Many Interfaith Dialogues: Vatican
There are now so many efforts to improve relations between Christians and Muslims that they risk overlapping and creating confusion, the Vatican’s top official for interfaith contacts said just days before a United Nations interfaith conference organized by the Saudi king was to start in New York.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said a conference between Catholics and Muslims last week was a fresh bid for mutual understanding that could become a “favored channel” for the Vatican.
But there is now so much interest in Christian-Muslim dialogue that it is getting hard to see where it is going, said Tauran, who was preparing to fly to New York for United Nations talks linked to another drive led by Saudi King Abdullah.
“ The broader impact of interfaith dialogue remains to be evaluated “
Gurharpal Singh, University of Birmingham
The Saudi king and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are organizing a special session of the U.N. general assembly on Wednesday and Thursday for talks on “interfaith” issues and the “Culture of Peace.”
“In my opinion, there are too many Christian-Muslim initiatives. Everybody’s doing it,” he told Reuters in an interview. “One doesn’t know where this will go. That proves there is a great interest, but it shows a bit of confusion.
“There’s a risk of overlapping… It may be the price to pay for all this interest that interreligious dialogue incites.”
But Saudi liberals say such high-profile events pressure the conservatives at home who created the ideological environment that feeds Islamist militancy.
“This hits at the extremists, who we say are wrong in terms of Islam,” said Mohammed al-Zulfa, a liberal member of the consultative Shura Assembly. “There is opposition (to reform) from conservatives who have spent three decades controlling education, media, mosques and the street.”
Dialogue between Christians and Muslims is nothing new, but the Sept. 11 attacks and sharpened tensions between western and Muslim states have given it a new urgency and sparked concern about a growing gap between the world’s two largest religions.
A Common Word, an informal group of religious leaders and scholars across the Muslim world, gave interfaith dialogue a new impetus last year by inviting Christians to examine how both faiths have shared core principles of loving God and neighbor.
On Nov 4-6, a Common Word delegation held an unprecedented meeting at the Vatican called the Catholic-Muslim Forum, a bilateral exchange due to be held every two years.
But whether such interfaith dialogues will result in tangible results remains unclear, according to sime, since there are few ways to measure their impact.
“As an ideal, an objective it’s a wonderful thing (interfaith dialogue), it’s absolutely imperative,” Gurharpal Singh, a political scientist working on issues of management of religious diversity at the University of Birmingham, told AlArabiya.net. “But at the point of impact it may not have policy objective in terms of changing attitudes and behavior at ground level.”
He noted that after Sept. 11, 2001 Western countries adopted policies of engagement with faith leaders to put forth collective responses, which may have been more useful for reducing tensions but less so in the policy arena. “The broader impact of interfaith dialogue remains to be evaluated,” he said.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Wiltshire Council Bans ‘Offensive’ Phrase
A Wiltshire council has banned the phrase “singing from the same hymn sheet” because the age-old saying might offend atheists.
Workers at Salisbury Town Hall can no longer utter the ancient cliché because its religious connotations could hurt the feelings of unbelievers.
The directive, found in Salisbury District Council’s Editorial Style Guide and published on its website reads: “Avoid office and council jargon wherever possible, including phrases such as ‘moving forward’ or ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’.
“Say what you mean; so instead of ‘moving forward’, try ‘in the future’. Not everyone understands these phrases — some can actually cause offence (what would an atheist want with your hymn sheet?).”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Government Strikes Budget Deal
Healthcare, law enforcement and school renovations top the list of focus areas in next year’s budget
The Danish People’s Party (DF) was like the cat that got the cream last night as almost all of the budget allocations represented the party’s wish list.
The minority Liberal-Conservative government, together with DF and Liberal Alliance, finalised a 2009 budget that focused on healthcare (1.6 billion kroner allocated), police reform (850 million kroner) and capping the food budget at municipal nursing homes.
One of the last items to be agreed on was a public safety pacakge that will allocate 160 million kroner to local councils to help crackdown on young offenders. If the councils don’t implement proactive preventative measures to help keep young teenagers out of trouble, Finance Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said they will foot their share of the bill.
‘The councils must now work in a more goal-orientated manner to avoid young people becoming criminals,’ Rasmussen said.
A line in the budget, proposed by former Culture and Sport Minster Brian Mikkelsen, that would have exempted Olympic athletes from paying taxes on their winnings was written out after DF stated its opposition to it.
The opposition Social Democrats criticised the final budget for not taking into account the increased unemployment that faces Danes in the coming years.
‘The budget presents an image of a government that does not take the bleak outlook for the Danish economy seriously,’ said Social Democrat MP Morten Bødskov. (kr)
Fact file | Budget 2009
Key items in next year’s budget
- Police reform: 850 million kroner
- Globalisation pool (including research and education): 4 billion kroner
- Social pool (for the vulnerable in society): 700 million kroner
- Public works (including financially strapped councils and school renovations): 300 million kroner
- Health (including shorter waiting lists, focus on serious illnesses and emergency clinics): 1.6 billion kroner
- Law enforcement (including CCTV, preventative measures for youth crime and an immediate proposal to place criminal immigrants in secure facilities): 160 million kroner
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turk Minister: Deportation Comments Misunderstood
Turkish media quoted Gonul on Tuesday as saying he had been misunderstood.
Turkey’s defence minister said on Tuesday he was misunderstood when he apparently praised the deportation of Greeks and Armenians after the fall of the Ottoman Empire as an important step in creating modern Turkey.
Vecdi Gonul’s statement during a ceremony to mark the death of the republic’s revered founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Monday may reignite decades-old issues that have left deep scars in Turkey and in neighbouring Greece and Armenia.
“Would Turkey be a nation state if the Greeks had stayed in the Aegean region and Armenians had stayed in several parts of Turkey?,” Gonul was quoted by state Anatolian news agency as saying at the Turkish embassy in Brussels on Monday.
“I do not know which words to use to explain the importance of this population exchange but if you look at the old (population) balances, its importance will be seen very clearly,” he said, adding Ankara was made up of Jews, Muslims, Armenians and Greeks before the republic was founded.
Turkish media quoted Gonul on Tuesday as saying he had been misunderstood. The defence ministry declined to comment.
Hundreds of thousands of Greek Orthodox Christians were expelled from Turkey as smaller numbers of Muslims were forced out of Greece in the 1920s, under an agreement that established the Greek and Turkish borders. More Greeks were forced out of Turkey during the 1950s.
Armenians were deported by Ottoman Turks during World War One. Armenians say some 1.5 million died either in massacres or from starvation or deprivation as they were marched through the desert.
Turkey has always insisted that the deaths of Armenians, most of them in 1915, were part of a war in which a beleaguered Ottoman Empire was facing Armenian rebels allied with its enemies.
After Turkey’s defeat in World War One and its subsequent war with Greece, Ataturk founded modern Turkey in 1923 and established a secular republic.
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
The Obamagate?
Sweet merciful crap, Imani's actual artile is larded with hotlinks that rip the mask off of Obama and his comprehensive deception of the American people.
Here's a sample from the "Obama’s pre-paid Credit Card Fraud problem" link.
Bill Dyer goes on to say that Obama’s “back-end screening” farce is an insult to “anyone with a second-grade education.” Dyer wants to know who in the Obama campaign ordered the anti-fraud protections turned off?
If true, this means that Obama opened the sluice gates for zakat based contributions from overseas entities. How many foreign Islamic contributions flowed into Obama's election coffers?
Imani's article is a veritable catalogue of Obama's closet-full of skeletons. And there are enough of them to fill a cemetary.
Here's another snippet from the link about, "how Radical Muslims paid Obama’s way through college.":
The allegations first surfaced in late March, when former Manhattan Borough president Percy Sutton told a New York cable channel that a former business partner who was “raising money” for Obama had approached him in 1988 to help Obama get into Harvard Law School.
In the interview, Sutton says he first heard of Obama about twenty years ago from Khalid Al-Mansour, a Black Muslim and Black Nationalist who was a “mentor” to the founders of the Black Panther party at the time the party was founded in the early 1960s.
Sutton described al-Mansour as advisor to “one of the world’s richest men,” Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Prince Alwaleed catapulted to fame in the United States after the September 11 attacks, when New York mayor Rudy Guiliani refused his $10 million check to help rebuild Manhattan, because the Saudi prince hinted publicly that America’s pro-Israel policies were to blame for the attacks.
Even as Imani dismisses all of these incrediblby damaging aspects of Obama's personal history, he retains laser sharp focus on the overwhelmingly important issue that has yet to be resolved. Namely, that of Obama's highly dubious American citizenship.
Berg argued, "We the people have no right to police the eligibility requirements under the U.S. Constitution? What happened to …Government of the people, by the people, for the people…?” Apparently Mr. Obama’s credential at Columbia University is SEALED. His year at Harvard is SEALED. His Certificate of Live Birth, or COLB (a COLB is a completely different document, one that can be registered much later than at the time of birth) is in the possession of the Hawaii Department of Public Health and is also SEALED. [emphasis added]
I was unaware that a COLB isn't the equivalent of a birth certificate. The latency of how this document can be created post facto only serves to cast further doubt upon Obama's putative citizenship.
Obama has made strenuous efforts to close almost every door that can shed any light upon his origins. Taken together, they constitute a pattern of evasiveness and intentional obfuscation that beggar all credibility. Rarely does anyone make such conspicuous efforts to conceal their past when they have nothing to hide.
As an ostensibly elected candidate to America's highest office, such conduct is not just unbecoming or unseemly, it is unworthy of such position or rank within our government. Moreover, it begins to limn out the profile of someone who is willing to ignite a national crisis—complete with race riots and civil unrest—rather than comply with the most basic tenets of America's constitutional law.
This is a degree of hypocrisy that would be stunning were it not so deeply offensive to everything America stands for. It also leads me to conclude that Obama has a hidden agenda. Be it Muslim Trojan Horse or communist subversive, I no longer care save to see that this imposter never sits in the Oval Office for a single day.
zenster - where is the outcry from the American people - where have all the good men gone? Far, far away.
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