Barack Hussein Obama has received the most important endorsement of his campaign thus far. With this one he is all but guaranteed to win the election.Make sure you read “Tariq Ramadan: a Hope Named Obama”.
If Taqiyya Ramadan says the O-Man is OK, it’s good enough for me!
Thanks to Abu Elvis, C. Cantoni, ESW, Insubria, JD, RRW, Srdja Trifkovic, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Obama’s Auntie is in US Illegally!
You probably guessed it from the story at the Times that Judy reported the other day, but AP (yes AP!) is now reporting that Obama’s Auntie Zeituni entered the US illegally, sought asylum and was denied. Four years ago she was ordered deported!
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Courts Illegal Aliens
Sen. Barack Obama is competing for the Latino votes by offering a wide range of government benefits — even to admitted illegal aliens….
Obama’s position completely ignores the use illegal aliens make of driver’s licenses as a key piece of government-issued identification needed to obtain a wide range of other valuable government documents, including Social Security cards and even U.S. passports….
As U.S. senator, Obama has voted “yes” to allowing illegals to be granted Social Security benefits, voting against an amendment aimed at reducing document fraud and preserving the integrity of the Social Security system.
Obama has also sponsored a bill to provide in-state tuition rates at state and community colleges to illegals at reduced rates, and he has proposed to provide a health care plan for illegal aliens.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Purge: Skeptical Reporters Tossed Off Obama Plane
New York Post, Dallas Morning News, Washington Times endorsed McCain
The Obama campaign has decided to heave out three newspapers from its plane for the final days of its blitz across battleground states — and all three endorsed Sen. John McCain for president!
The NY POST, WASHINGTON TIMES and DALLAS MORNING NEWS have all been told to move out by Sunday to make room for network bigwigs — and possibly for the inclusion of reporters from two black magazines, ESSENCE and JET, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Victor Davis Hanson: the End of Journalism
There have always been media biases and prejudices. Everyone knew that Walter Cronkite, from his gilded throne at CBS news, helped to alter the course of the Vietnam War, when, in the post-Tet depression, he prematurely declared the war unwinnible. Dan Rather’s career imploded when he knowingly promulgated a forged document that impugned the service record of George W. Bush. We’ve known for a long time — from various polling, and records of political donations of journalists themselves, as well as surveys of public perceptions — that the vast majority of journalists identify themselves as Democratic, and liberal in particular.
Yet we have never quite seen anything like the current media infatuation with Barack Obama, and its collective desire not to raise key issues of concern to the American people. Here were four areas of national interest that were largely ignored…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Mortgage Crisis Happened
On the eve of what may be the most important election of our time, the financial catastrophe that many believe will most influence Tuesday’s vote remains only partially covered by the major media. Though IBD has run many articles and editorials on the so-called mortgage meltdown, one of the most complete timelines of the debacle was written by an independent scholar and published this week by the Web magazine American Thinker. Because the issue is so important, we are running this 7,300-word history in its entirety.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama has put free-market capitalism at the root of the current mortgage industry debacle, denying the real history of government interference in that market…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barclays in $11.3 Billion Deal With Arab Investors
‘Scandal of mammoth proportions’: 1/3 of bank’s value surrendered in agreement
Barclays came under fierce attack yesterday over a deal that will give Arab investors around a third of the company.
The deal will inject more than £7billion to bolster the bank’s finances.
But the money is being raised on onerous terms, said investment analysts.
And Barclays faced accusations that it agreed the deal to avoid having to accept the government cash that comes with limits on executive bonuses and dividend payments.
Barclays lost nearly 20 per cent of its value yesterday as £3.3billion was wiped off its stock market worth.
The bank is raising money from Qatar and the state’s royal family and from multibillionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan.
The investors could end up holding more than 30 per cent of Barclays. Sheikh Mansour, part of the Abu Dhabi royal family, could own 16.3 per cent of the bank. Qatar already has a holding in Barclays.
Yesterday’s agreement means Arab investors will be Barclays’ biggest shareholders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dead From Brain Haemorrhage After NHS Sent Her Home With Headache Pills
A mother died from a brain haemorrhage just days after being sent home from hospital with headache pills, it has emerged.
Lorraine King, 44, was told twice she had whiplash from a recent minor road accident in which her car was rammed by a scrap metal lorry.
Miss King walked away from the crash without a scratch, wrongly believing she had not been hurt.
But she developed persistent headaches and within days she saw her GP, who apparently told her to take paracetamol and get some rest.
By September 3, nearly three weeks after the crash, she grew so drowsy that she could barely move, and her eldest daughter Hannah called 999.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Geneva Border Guards Have Got the Blues
Despite receiving new uniforms and vehicles, Geneva border guards are unhappy, claiming to be overworked, underpaid and misunderstood.
swissinfo went to discover why the force is struggling with burnout and can’t hold onto new recruits and what the possible consequences might be for them as Switzerland stands poised to join the Schengen zone…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Didn’t Have Time to be Scared,’ Says Britain’s Bravest OAP…
…who unmasked sledgehammer jewellery robber
The 84-year-old man who foiled a jewellery raid by whipping off the mask of a sledgehammer-wielding hoodie has told how he thought the incident was a prank.
Have-a-go-hero William Grove stood up to the attackers while a crowd of shoppers stood by and watched.
As the two robbers smashed the jeweller’s window with sledgehammers, Mr Grove stepped out from the crowd and, proudly wearing a poppy on his lapel, walked up to the robbers as they pounded the reinforced windows.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Shia Muslims to Honour Italian Heir
Rome, 31 Oct. (AKI) — Italy’s Shia Muslim community will remember Edoardo Agnelli, the late heir to the Fiat car empire, in a special ceremony to be held in Rome in November.
The Imam Mahdi Association will honour Agnelli, who was reputedly a Muslim convert, during an event to be held on 15 and 16 November. Hojjatulislam Reza Ramezani, director of the Islamic Centre of Vienna, will attend.
Forty-six year old Agnelli died on 15 November 2000. Despite his wealth and social status, he was said to have had a troubled life.
The Italian courts found Agnelli committed suicide, after his body was found at the foot of a viaduct near the Agnelli family’s home city of Turin in northern Italy. His car was parked nearby on the roadside above the viaduct.
Many Shias close to the Iranian government question the circumstances surrounding Agnelli’s death and consider him to be a Muslim martyr because they claim he converted to Islam before his death.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: March of the Dustbin Stasi
More than half of town halls admit using anti-terror laws to spy on families suspected of putting their rubbish out on the wrong day.
Their tactics include putting secret cameras in tin cans, on lamp posts and even in the homes of ‘friendly’ residents.
The local authorities admitted that one of their main aims was to catch householders who put their bins out early.
The shocking way in which the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act — an anti-terror law — is being used was revealed through freedom of information requests made by the Daily Mail.
MPs and civil liberties groups last night accused councils of using the draconian powers for trivial reasons.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Business: Ikea to Invest Billion Dollars in Serbia
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, OCTOBER 23 — Swedish furnishing giant IKEA is ready to invest 1 billion euro to open five stores and a factory in Serbia by 2015, said website Informest. IKEA is focussing on the biggest cities in Serbia, like the capital Belgrade, where it plans to open two stores, Novi Sad, Nis and Cacak. The investment follows government decisions to grant tax concessions. IKEA will invest 650-800 million euro in furniture production in Serbia, creating 7,500 new jobs. The company plans to invest 225-250 million in the five retail stores. The first store will open in Belgrade in 2011. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Defamation on B92 TV
by Srdja Trifkovic
On the last day of October I was crudely libeled on B92, a leading “pro-Western” TV network in Serbia, in a live program in which I appeared as an invited guest. The facts of the case follow herewith; its finale may yet come in a courtroom.
Last Thursday, October 30, I received a call on my cell phone in Belgrade — which I am currently visiting — from a producer with B92 Television, a national conglomerate regarded as the most USG/EU/NATO-friendly media corporation in the country. I was invited to take part in “The State of The Nation” (Stanje nacije), a 30-minute current affairs program that was going to be broadcast live at 6 p.m. the following day, Friday, October 31. The topic was to be the forthcoming presidential election in the United States.
I accepted this invitation although I disagree with many positions taken by the B92, because appearing on a network does not imply endorsement of its editorial policy. I have appeared on B92 before, notably on a popular Sunday panel-style program “The Week’s Impression” (Utisak nedelje). Likewise over the years I have accepted invitations from the BBC, CBC, Sky News, ITN, MSNBC, etc. on more than one hundred occasions — although I disagree with many aspects of their corporate philosophy, reportage, or editorial commentary.
While introducing the guests, former government minister Professor Zarko Korac and myself, the presenter said that I had described John McCain as a “neurotic cockroach.” I have never said or written anything of the kind, but I did not correct him right away because I was initially uncertain whether he was giving a personal, somewhat colorful interpretative summary of my views of Sen. McCain, or providing a purported verbatim quote.
Having reviewed the recording of the program I can confirm that the latter was the case: the presenter alleged that I called John McCain “a neurotic cockroach.” This was an untruthful statement about me. It was presented to a wide audience through broadcast media. It was invented out of whole cloth, and therefore malicious in intent. By asserting that I stoop to the language of the gutter, B92 undermined my credibility as a journalist and analyst, thus injuring my professional and personal reputation and standing. In other words, it is a classic case of libel.
I will give B92 an opportunity to apologize, to issue a correction worded to my satisfaction to be broadcast in the same program, and to settle my damages out of court. It is to be hoped that they will see the error of their ways and act responsibly and reasonably.
On the other hand they may decide to remain true to the principles of journalism as practiced by the paragons of media integrity and independence in the Western world, such as the Murdoch empire, CNN’s Ms. Amanpour, or the Gray Lady, in which case I’ll be pleased to lighten their coffers. Watch this space!
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Five Serbs Injured in Clashes With Ethnic Albanians
Kosovska Mitrovica, 30 Oct. (AKI) — Five Serbs were injured on Thursday in clashes with ethnic Albanians in the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica, local officials said. Deputy police chief Predrag Vasovic told media that the incident occurred when a group of ethnic Albanians crossed into the Serb-controlled northern part of the city to repair their houses, which were damaged during ethnic fighting in 1999.
“The Serbs gathered to prevent them, and the clashes broke out,” Vasovic said. He said that wooden and metal sticks were used in the fighting, but eyewitnesses said that fire from automatic weapons was heard in the area.
Doctors in Mitrovica hospital said that five Serbs were treated for light injuries, but were later discharged.
Mitrovica has been a divided city ever since the withdrawal in 1999 of Serbian forces from the province, whose majority ethnic Albanians declared independence last February.
The southern part of the city is controlled by ethnic Albanians and the northern part by Serbs.
The majority of some 100,000 Serbs that remained in Kosovo live north of Mitrovica, close to Serbia. Kosovo’s authorities have little control over the Serb-populated north.
Thursday’s clashes were broken up by United Nations police and international forces stationed in Kosovo (KFOR), officials said.
Former Kosovo prime minister, Agim Ceku, said recently that Kosovo’s authorities should establish control over northern Kosovo by force, despite an international presence in the province.
Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic said Thursday’s incident was “premeditated provocation”.
“Ethnic Albanians have done this according to an organised and synchronised plan to establish the so called independent state of Kosovo on the entire territory,” Ivanovic said.
Serbia opposes Kosovo’s independence and is waging a diplomatic battle to retain the province under its control. But most European countries and the United States are among some 50 states that have recognised Kosovo’s independence so far.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Israelis to Invest 70 Million Euro in Novi Sad
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, OCTOBER 28 — The Israeli Big Central European Estates Group will build a shopping mall in Novi Sad by the beginning of 2010 in which they will invest 70 million euro, announced the company’s president, Robert Jahav, reports BETA news agency. The sales contract for the building site was signed by Jahav and the mayor of Novi Sad, Igor Pavlicic, and a contract was also signed with the main construction company based in Novi Sad, Neimar. Jahav said the site is 90,000 square meters in area, that the retail center will be comprised of 30,000 square meters and that around 1,000 workers will be employed in the building of the shopping mall. Big Central European Estates Group plans to build an additional 20 such retail centers in Serbia, Jahav emphasized. The retail center will be located in the industrial zone. Jahav said that the stores within the shopping mall will offer “the largest global brands.”(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Italian Chief of Financial Police Offers Help to Fight Crime
Belgrade, 31 Oct. (AKI) — Italy’s financial police chief Cosimo D’Arigo on Friday offered help to Serbian colleagues in fighting white collar and organised crime. He ended a two-day visit to Belgrade, where in cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), where he organised a seminar for 40 members of the Serbian financial police, customs workers and experts in the prevention of money laundering.
After meeting with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, D’Arigo (photo) said that cooperation between Italy and Serbia in the area of prevention of financial crime was excellent.
He said the two countries would continue to exchange crime-fighting information and expertise.
Cvetkovic said that Italy’s financial police, which employs 65,000 people, could significantly contribute to strengthening Serbia’s police, judiciary and security forces.
“We have exceptionally good cooperation and all the meetings with officials in Belgrade yielded very positive results,” D’Arigo told media.
Apart from Cvetkovic, D’Arigo met with Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, police director Milorad Veljovic and State Secretary for Finance Miodrag Djidic.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Med Union: Dastoli, EU to Reach Goals Without Divisions
(ANSAmed) — RENDE (COSENZA), OCTOBER 24 — After the European Union for years privileged the integration of countries of the former Soviet Union, “now it must aim at collaboration with the Mediterranean countries”, and do so from a “united and coherent” position. Pier Virgilio Dastoli, director of the Italian Representation of the European Commission, said this, underlining that, after not reaching the objectives of the ‘Barcelona process’, it has been decided to “restart today with the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM), launched in July in the summit of Paris”. Dastoli reminded that in early November, in Marseille, the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean will deal with the institutional and operational aspects. “An agreement will not be easy” he observed “but the possibility to get the projects going depends on it”. In the relations between Europe and the southern Mediterranean countries, Dastoli sees problems like “integration of immigrants, inter-religious dialogue, the need to guarantee rights like information, freedom of expression and association, rights related to a democratic community”. He hopes that on all these aspects Europe will play “a more important role than in the past”, and that most of all — as is hoped for other fields like economic and environmental emergencies as well — “it will act from a united and coherent position”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Books: Saadawi, Holy Texts in Museums for Female Equality
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 23 — “The worst enemy of Egyptian women, and all women in general, is the oppression of knowledge. The lack of access to education, the impossibility of freely expressing your own opinion turns you into a slave”. These were the words of Nawal El Saadawi, the writer and Egyptian dissident, who has spent over fifty years fighting for women’s rights in the Arab world and against religious fanaticism. El Saadawi was in Rome to present her latest book, “Dissidence and Writing. Conversation on my Intellectual Itinerary” (Spirali, pp. 141, 20 euro). A clinical psychiatrist, threatened many times by fundamentalist groups and condemned to prison, Nawaal El Saadawi was even condemned to death for the crime of heresy in 2003. In this, her newest work, the story of El Saadawìs life is recounted through conversations with her editor, Armando Verdiglione: from the first years of schooling in the village of Menouf, in the Delta region, to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cairo, to her time as a medical professional, one women amongst many poor people. Her first doubts about religion, she claims, resurfaced when she was at a British primary school, where two friends (one Jewish, the other Coptic) started to compare the holy texts. “Even though we were very young, we didn’t like these books, we felt that women were looked down on in them”. Such perplexities became certainties in her adult life: “there is no future for religion”, she says, “because the human mind cannot go backwards, knowledge is irreversible. If we want to have true equality in all countries then the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran should be put in a museum and regarded as a part of history. They should have no influence on politics, economics, morality or sexuality”. The author of “Women and Sex” (1972) who denounces female infibulation (a kind of circumcision that prevents intercourse), often talks about the connection between religion, genital mutilation and male circumcision. “What kind of God asks His followers to cut off a part of their own body? It makes no sense”. ‘Dissidence and writing’ opens a window to Egyptian society and history. Despite being against US-style capitalism, because it is “patriarchal” and because of its “Middle Eastern neo-colonialism”, Nawal El Saadawi lives in exile in the USA, but, she says: “I have won the case against the Egyptian State and soon I will go back home”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Orgies in Egypt: ‘Police Snooping on Couples’
Cairo: Egyptians have reacted with shock at the country’s first known case of wife-swap involving married couples.
Earlier this week, police arrested the couple, using the pseudonyms Magdy and Samira, who had allegedly set up a wife-swapping club via the internet. A total of 44 married couples were alleged to be members of the club, according to security sources.
A human rights group in Egypt slammed the police for snooping on couples accused of wife-swapping in the conservative country.
“The case raises serious concerns about due process and the privacy rights of those arrested, especially in light of press reports about police interception of defendants’ electronic correspondence,” Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said.
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The two main suspects, confessed in questioning to having organised orgies in their apartment in Giza, south of Cairo, the sources added.
Magdy, 48, told investigators he had suffered sexual impotence after he retired from work six years ago and had to see pornographic films and websites, the semi-official Al Jumhuria newspaper reported yesterday.
“I stumbled on a website on wife swap run by a Jewish Kurd in northern Iraq, who explained the idea to me and encouraged me to promote it in Egypt through my own website. I suggested the idea to my wife, who liked it,” he added. They have two children.
The husband told prosecutors he had convinced his wife, a 37-year-old Arabic teacher, of the idea of “a swinger lifestyle as a form of physical recreating between consenting married couples”.
The couple said they had insisted that partners involved in the alleged orgies be legally married and show their officially registered marriage contracts, the security sources said.
“My wife and I began telling our close married friends and acquaintances about it and many of them willingly attended at least five swinging parties we held in our home, as well as three orgies at other addresses,” Magdy, the main defendant, was quoted as saying in investigations.
The couple and their accomplices could be charged with facilitating prostitution, which carries a sentence of up to three years in jail, under the Egyptian law.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Mid East: Prisoners Freed, Hamas-Al Fatah Dialogue Attempt
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/RAMALLAH (West Bank), OCTOBER 30 — In Gaza a chance to celebrate does not come often. Today at least for a part of the population, there was one: Hamas, the Islamic party which since June of last year has assumed political and military control, liberated 17 prisoners belonging to Al-Fatah, the rival ‘lay’ party that is part of the PLO. Hamas premier, Ismail Haniyah, said that the release of “all political prisoners” is a “gesture of good will” in view of an encounter in Cairo between all of the Palestinian components. On November 9th, in the Egyptian capital, a national reconciliation conference between 15 Palestinian groups of the West Bank and Gaza: the 13 ‘lay’ groups that lead OLP, in which Al-Fatah is the main group, and the two Islamic parties, Hamas and rival Jihad. There are encouraging signs, in a moment in which the chaos between the Palestinians is such that not even proverbs work at this point. “I and my brother against my cousin, I and my cousin against the outsiders”, an old Arab adage in the West Bank and Gaza, which is recanted in the fight of everyone against everyone, easy alliances and awkward but necessary favours, like Egypt and the United States who are behind the conference as well as the European Union. In Ramallah, the capital of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) the true battle today of president Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is not lead against Israel, with whom he has set a military agreement not against anti-fundamentalists, but against Hamas, the hated ‘nude and pure’ who in the past years have had enjoyed wild popularity using mainly their unassailable dignity against the depravity that according to many is the never washed away original sin of the PLO. The Cairo conference — according to the few optimistic voices that are heard among Palestinians — could have two positive results: the overcoming at least in part of the bitter internal divisions and a ‘political’ opening towards Israel which should extend itself also to Hamas, until now reluctant to any hypothesis of the recognition of a Jewish state and negotiations for one. On the field, however, there are contradictions that break up any schematisations. In the territories, in the past few months, there has been an upswing in anti-Israeli activity, to the point in which a third phase of intifada has been discussed, on the model of the first one, 20 years ago, essentially with rocks, knives, and hand made explosives. Today in Hebron, Israeli soldiers entered into the University campus, arresting several young people for subversive activities. In Gaza, aside from the daily closure of entrances due to a Kassam rocket launched towards Sderot, there seems to be as much calm as possible under the circumstances. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Middle East: Palestinians, When Game is Arresting Each Other
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/WEST BANK, OCTOBER 30 — Hazem Abu Shanab, the journalist-turned-politician met his counterpart just before today’s announcement by President of Hamas, Ismail Haniyah, that he wishes to release all those held by the PLO in the Strip. “Two months of prison burn like ten years if those who put you in there, without a shred of evidence or trial, belong to the same people as you, maybe even your neighbour. In cases like mine, it is right to speak of kidnapping rather than detention”, he said. 50 year-old Shanab, his face open and joking, is a member of Al-Fatah and is not a minister. He lives in a middle class area of Gaza inhabited by professionals, technicians and university teachers, and NGO workers. “No, I do not hide the fact that I am a director of Al-Fatah” he said to ANSA. “I go there proudly. Many of us here in Gaza are optimistic, despite everything. In fact I’ll give you a scoop: in ten days’ time the reconciliation between the Palestinians in Cairo will definitely take place”. Then, under the watchful but rather sceptical eye of Safwat Al-Kahlout, another local journalist, he rattles off the figures: “Of about a million and a half Palestinians in the Strip, there are 350,000 real militants from Hamas. Add to this some from the Islamic Jihad and secular groups from the PLO. The rest are Al-Fatah supporters.Peace with Israel is not a choice but a necessity for everyone. Unfortunately many Israelis from the old guard are still not ready, like certain sections of the Palestinians. Minorities from both sides believe that the use of force pays, but it isn’t true. The two peoples must build a peacful future”. Moving 100km north west, in the Left Bank, another Palestinian has just left detention after two years. In this case too, it was not the occupying Israelis who locked him up but, officially, his countrymen. This time from Al-Fatah. In Ramallah Abdel Jaber Foqaha describes himself as “deputy close to Hamas. My party had 45 MPs in the PNA parliament out of a total of 132, and 41 of us were arrested. Israel is behind everything, they need goods exchange to try to free Gilad Shalit, the soldier whom we imprisoned two years ago”. 42 year-old Foqaha, dressed with a sombre European elegance and the hint of a beard, speaks with a calm voice. He denies that the Islamic party refuses to recognise the existence of Israel, but demands a mutual and simultaneous recognition by both Israel and Palestine. He does not deny the Holocaust and he admits with a smile that Iran is often “more pro-Palestine than we are. Hamas is the only party which does not have factions, apart from the military wing, which everyone else has.No, I cannot be at all optimistic”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Beautiful Goat’ Pageant Fetches Thousands for Saudi Breeders
First it was camels. Now Saudi Arabia has held its first “beautiful goat” pageant.
Owners of pedigree “Najdi” goats from around the Gulf region converged on Riyadh this week, hoping to win the prize for top male and female goat, following in the footsteps of lucrative camel competitions which have taken off in recent years.
“The Najdi goat is a pure national product like nothing else in the world,” said Sheikh Faisal al-Saadoun, a leading Saudi breeder who organized the show. “They are different in terms of beauty, shape and how eye-catching they are.”
The goats are named after the central Najd region of Saudi Arabia, where the goats have a distinctive high nose bridge and shaggy hair with a fine, silky quality. They were given a thorough shampoo for the show, according to the official website (wwwl.al-nawader.com) which displayed the winners…
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Emir, Laws Against Financial Crisis, No to Sectarianism
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, OCTOBER 21 — Incitement for national unity with the elimination of sectarian friction and the adoption of economic measures that protect the country from the repercussions of the world financial crisis: these are the invitations to the National Assembly of the Emir of Kuwait in the inaugural discourse in the resuming of Parliament. Despite its solid position and the ability to sustain the repercussions of the economic crisis, Kuwait is not immune from risks”, warned Emir Sabah Al Jaber Al Sabah, suggesting to Majils Al-Umma to “consider the adoption of new laws that will safeguard the economy in the future”. Kuwait, which sits on the 10th largest oil reserve, can count on a large surplus to soften the blow from the crisis. Nevertheless, like other monarchies in the Gulf, it saw shares in its stock market suffer alongside world stock markets, plummeting with losses of over 10 points. A strenuous fight against inflation has already brought the country — the only in the Cooperation Council of the Gulf — to free itself from the dollar in 2006 and to carry out economic reform, one of the main points in the last electoral campaign. The Emir was also clear that he will not accept “for any reason a breech of national unity, through sectarian or tribal rivalries”. Following the assassination in Syria of Imad Mughniyhe, one of the military leaders of Hezbollah, considered a terrorist in Kuwait, some Parliamentarians had participated in a commemoration ceremony, creating bitter protests ending with the denouncing and suspension of the deputies involved and the arrest of Shiite activists. The episode had also brought back suspicions about the presence of a clandestine organization “Kuwait Hezbollah”, with the objective of destabilizing the monarchy of the oil rich nation, governed by Sunnis. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: 12 ‘Damascus Declaration’ Dissidents Sentenced
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 29 — The penal court of Damascus today sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment twelve dissidents, signatories of a document which demanded “democratic and radical change” in the country, reported the Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (ONDUS). ONDUS stated that the court had originally sentenced the twelve to six years’ detention, but later decided to reduce the sentence to two and a half years. The defendants can now appeal. This was how the first trial ended, lasting less than three months, of the most well-known members of the Declaration of Damascus, a document published in 2005 by representatives of the population, by members of the Lay Opposition and others belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood in Exile in London. The platform had been active and tolerated by the Syrian authorities until last January, when the leaders were arrested, following the election of the Declaration’s directive. They include human rights lawyers, writers and professionals. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Asma Al Assad, I Listen to the People in Syria
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 27 — “I left London to follow the man of my dreams. Now in Syria I am doing important work in the field: I listen to people, I try to understand their problems. I go to their houses, their schools, their communities. My job? To bring their problems to the attention of the politicians. I am a bridge between the Syrian people and their Government. Much more useful than shutting myself in an office and reading reports”, said Asma, wife of the Syrian President Bashar al Assad, speaking to Grazia the weekly magazine on sale tomorrow. The Syrian First Lady, born in London 33 years ago, is an important figure in Syrian diplomacy, as she has a European outlook, in upbringing and education. After travelling around Syria for three months incognito before marrying Bashar (“I visited 300 villages it was a good start for understanding how to continue my work”) Asma chose to concentrate on women “They are the keystone of society, here they represent 13 pct of MPs, we have a woman Vice President and they also form part of my husband’s bodyguard. But we want them to be more involved in local politics, and all to be economically independent”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Food: Syria; 500,000 Tonnes Soft Wheat From Russia
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 22 — Syria has finalised the acquisition of 500,000 tonnes of soft wheat from Russia according to the Syrian state agency Hoboob. The ICE office (Italian Trade Commission) in Damascus reports that the two companies bidding on the contracts are Holland’s Dutch Rotterdam Company and the Egyptian Traders Company. The latter has already won a contract for an initial supply of 120,000 tonnes of Russian soft wheat at the beginning of 2008. Syria has a shortage in soft wheat production used for making bread. Annual consumption of bread is around 2-2.2 million tonnes, while current production is about 650,000 tonnes. Total consumption, on the other hand, of hard and soft wheat in Syria is about 3.8 million tonnes. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Press, Tripoli Ready to Accept Russian Military Base
(ANSAmed) — MOSCOW, OCTOBER 31 — Libyan Muammar Ghadafi, expected today in Moscow for his first visit in 23 years, will demonstrate his willingness to Russia to accept a Russian military base in Libya. This was stated by the Russian newspaper Kommersant today. “Libya is ready to host a Russian naval base”, wrote the newspaper citing in the staff who prepared for the Libyan leader’s visit. Such a base, according to the source, could be installed at the Libyan port of Bengasi. “The presence of the Russian military — explained Kommersant — will be a guarantee of non aggression against Libya by the United States, who is in no hurry to embrace Colonel Ghadafi, despite various gestures of reconciliation”. The newspaper reminded that Russian war ships in route to Venezuela to participate in a manoeuvre this November made a refuelling stop in Tripoli on October 11th. According to Kommersant, Ghadafìs proposal aims to “ease tensions with the Kremlin” caused by “the lack of respect” by Libya of agreements with Russia. Tripoli obtained a cancellation of its debt with the ex-Ussr, of about 4.5 billion dollars, in exchange for contracts with Russian businesses last April. Furthermore, according to the journal, it has committed to acquiring Russian weapons, “showing interest” in T-90 combat tanks, Su-30 fighter planes, and Tor-M1 land-air missile systems. Furthermore, said the newspaper, “despite his promises, Muammar Ghadafi has not bought any Russian tanks or airplanes”. Furthermore, “Russian hopes of Libyàs participation in the creation of an Opec for gas have not materialised”, because, underlined Kommersant, “Tripoli refused to participate in the organisation, risking the entire project”. (ANSAmed)
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Confirmed: Al-Qaida Leader Planning U.S. Attacks Killed
‘This was a really big deal that has not received much attention’
The al Qaeda figure believed to be organizing a new terror attack against the United States is dead, a senior U.S. official tells ABCNews.com.
The official says the U.S. now has evidence that Khalid Habib was killed in an unmanned air strike two weeks ago in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan. Until now, there had been no official confirmation of reports of Habib’s death from local militants in the area.
“He was the person responsible for planning and organizing attacks in the Pakistan and overseas, including the U.S.,” the senior official said. “This was a really big deal that has not received much attention.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Anti-Porn Law Must be Stopped, Say Experts
Jakarta, 31 Oct. (AKI) — Indonesia’s new anti-pornography law clears the way for Islamic vigilantes and threatens the unity of the country, local analysts told AdnKronos International (AKI). They called for a campaign of civil disobedience and greater efforts to have the law overturned.
The law, passed by the Parliament on Thursday, is based on a vague definition of pornography, which critics say is open to multiple interpretations.
It is also perceived as too “Islamic” and something that will undermine Indonesia’s secular credentials and its people’s cultural differences.
Syafiq Hasyim, vice director of the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism, said that radical Islamic groups will take advantage of it and increase their vigilante activity.
“The government has allowed a very dangerous door to be opened. It will be difficult to control both the implementation of this law and the ripple effects it may lead to,” he told AKI.
Syafiq Hasyim then called for widespread opposition to the law to continue.
“The opposition groups must unite and propose a judicial review through the Constitution Court. This can be done either for the whole law or only for the articles that are considered harmful,” he said.
“North Sulawesi, Bali, Yogyakarta and the other regions that are against this law should still stage protests. Civic disobedience is also an option.”
Experts argue that the law is against the Constitution, which protects plurality. The regions of North Sulawesi, Bali and Yogyakarta, inhabited mainly by non-Muslims, have opposed the law vigorously.
Indah Pangestu Amaritasari, lecturer in human rights at the National University, warned that the government must be vigilant against the proliferation of regional sharia-based by-laws based on this new bill.
“This law can really make it possible for weird by-laws to appear. We could soon witness the rise of by-laws discriminative against women and human rights. The government must be very careful,” she told AKI.
Since regional autonomy was first enacted in 1998, many local administrations have enacted their own by-laws, many of which were sharia-inspired. Among these are by-aws that require Koran literacy for students and brides and a Muslim dress code for women.
The anti-pornography bill was passed late on Thursday by the House of Representatives, despite a walk-out by the secular Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Christian-backed Prosperous Peace Party, who did not agree with its content.
Two Balinese legislators from the Golkar Party, Lisnawati Karna and Gede Sumarjaya Linggih, also boycotted the session.
The Islamic parties that championed it have argued that it was essential “to stop the moral decay of the country” and “to protect the young.”
They have rejected criticisms and said it would not be discriminatory.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines: Bishop Rejects Clerics’ Request to Bear Arms
Manila, 31 Oct. (AKI) — The bishop of Basilan, the restive island in the Philippines’ southern archipelago of Sulu, has rejected a controversial request for priests to carry weapons to protect themselves from Islamist terrorists.
The request came after a local priest Felimon Libot and his six security escorts were ambushed on 18 October. The priest escaped unharmed but four people were injured in the attack.
However, Bishop Martin Jumoad said that the request was out of the question.
“I would state categorically that priests in the Prelature of Isabela de Basilan are not allowed to arm themselves,” he said in a letter posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Friday.
Jumoad added that a priest with a gun “sends a bad signal”.
“Many parishioners will be turned off and will be scandalised because it is not consistent with the kind of life you have chosen,” he said.
Instead, the bishop proposed that they should “challenge the police and military to do their work in securing peace and order” in the island province.
Several priests have been targets of kidnapping attempts or violence in the archipelago.
Local priest Rey Roda was killed in a bungled kidnapping attempt near his convent in Tabawan in 2007. Sulu Bishop Benjamin de Jesus and Father Ben Inocencio were both killed.
Sulu is staunchly Muslim and home to the Abu Sayaff, an Islamic jihadist group, branded a terrorist organisation by the international community and the Filipino government.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty: Rape Girl, 13, Killed for Adultery
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.
Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.
Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.
Calls to Somali government officials and the local administration in Kismayo rang unanswered Saturday.
“This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo,” David Copeman, Amnesty International’s Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.
Somalia is among the world’s most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.
A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.
Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.
In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia’s third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Vendola, Mediterranean is Twin Towers of Poor
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 30 — “The Mediterranean Sea is the Twin Towers of the poor, with thousands of people killed by globalization”. So stated the president of the Apulia region, Nichi Vendola, who was responding to a question about the regions’ initiatives in favour of immigrants during a forum at ANSA. “We must not forget that part of the GDP in our region is created by the sweat and blood of immigrants who work in conditions that are practically slavery”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy, Immigrants: Operation “Adib”, Sentences Confirmed
(AGI) — Catanzaro, Oct. 30 — The Catanzaro Court of Appeals has confirmed the severe sentences given to the seven presumed “slave merchants” involved in the operation by the Prosecutor of the Republic in the provincial capital code named “Adib”.
The defendants, accused of associating to commit the crime of trafficking human beings, slavery, kidnapping for extortion, illegal immigration, and sexual violence against minors (only some of the accused). This afternoon, the second appeals court of Judge Talerico (with Council Petrini and Ferraro), upheld the request of the deputy prosecutor general Giovanni Grisolia and left unchanged the judgment found by the preliminary district hearing judge Antonio Battaglia whom on June 28, 2007 after a fast track trail (with a plea bargain for one third of the sentence) called for a total of 70 years and 8 months of jail, starting with 11 years 4 months each for Yasir Ahmed, known as Yasser, a 28 year old from Sudan, Suliman Ebrahim, a 25 year old from Sudan, Mohammed Ed Dakkak, known as Mustafa’, a 29 year old from Morocco, Imad Rtaoua, a 25 year old from Morocco, Miloud Rtaoua, alias Miloud Artaou, a 26 year old from Morocco, Mohamed Sadag, and two years and eight months for Gezahegn Kebede, a 38 year old from Ethiopia. The judge granted almost all the requests of the deputy investigating prosecutor, Luigi De Magistris, who asked for 14 years for each of the seven defendants, at the same time absolved of individual charges. (AGI)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Britain at War: the War in Denmark
I thought you might like to know how the war affected me although I am Danish.
I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 1918. At the age of 21 I began my nursing career in Copenhagen in September 1939.
On the 9th of April, 1939, we woke to a country occupied by the Germans. Every important building in Copenhagen was heavily guarded by German soldiers. From that day until five years later, our lives were changed dramatically. No dance halls. No theatre. Curfew every night.
When I had to go from the hospital to my home in the evening it was by bicycle, the streets were always dark, quiet and empty. The only light I had was the small blue one, which sat above the front wheel of my bicycle. These evenings I would hear the noise of nailed boots on the pavement made by two pursuing German soldiers who would shout “Halt!” Then, with my heart thumping, I was required to step off my bicycle and then provide the soldiers my papers, which permitted me to be out past curfew.
During the daytime the trams were often stopped by the German soldiers. They would step on board to interrogate and search each of the passengers for weapons and illegal papers.
In the basement of my hospital there was an ‘illegal press’ being published which spread news of what the Germans were doing throughout Europe. I would occasionally smuggle this home to my family by folding it up and placing it in my shoe.
After five long years we heard via a radio broadcast that Denmark had been liberated by the British. The streets of Copenhagen would have never been filled with so much joy than they were that evening.
After this time I joined the UNRRA and went to Germany to help with the refugees in Lubeck and Hamburg. It was here I met a British Naval Officer who had been in the war for seven years. We later married and settled in England, had four children and eight grandchildren whom we shared our war experiences. My husband passed away two years ago.
Grethe Clark, Chiselhurst
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Driver’s Lucky Escape as Liquid Gas Car Explodes
Working in the field of energy-saving, it seemed logical for Peter Tidbury to buy a ‘green’ car powered by liquid petroleum gas.
He had the second-hand Peugeot 607 checked over twice by garage mechanics before he got behind the wheel.
But on his first trip, the LPG car exploded in a powerful fireball when he lit a cigarette shortly after refuelling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oldest Hebrew Text Discovered
Found at site archaeologists believe was King David’s front line fortress
(IsraelNN.com) Archaeologists have discovered what they say is the oldest Hebrew text ever found, at a site they believe was King David’s front line fortress in the war against the people of Pleshet, also known as the Philistines. The site overlooks the Elah Valley, where the young David slew Goliath, the Philistine giant, with a well-aimed shot from a sling.
The text is written in ink on a pottery shard. It is made up of five lines of text in Proto-Canaanite characters separated by lines. The discovery, by archaeologists Prof. Yossi Garfinkel and Sa’ar Ganor of Hebrew University, is being hailed as one of the most important finds in Israel since the Dead Sea Scrolls.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tariq Ramadan: a Hope Named Obama
The new president must begin with symbolic actions to demonstrate that the life of an Afghan, an Iraqi or a Muslim is worth no less than that of an American
[B]Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, has been named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world’s top 100 intellectuals. His most recent book is In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons From the Life of Muhammad. Ramadan teaches at Oxford University.
The eight years of George W Bush’s presidency have accustomed us to so many errors, lies, wilful distortions and political manipulation that a page is about to be turned in the history of the United States.
Since September 2001, the Bush regime has been obsessed by the ‘‘global war on terror’’ and the conflict with the “axis of evil.” But over time, Americans have awakened to the emptiness of these bellicose and arrogant slogans.
Barack Obama’s election would be an event to be welcomed for several reasons; yet we must not be lulled into complacency by naive estimates of what lies ahead.
Barak Obama’s roots, his past and his multiple cultural identities stand in stark contrast to the profiles of George W Bush or John McCain. His understanding of, and relations with, the countries of the world _ particularly of the global South _ and with American society itself point to a different outcome. Taken together, his life and experience make hope for a new understanding of domestic and international issues possible.
On the most fundamental level, Colin Powell has laid out the terms of reference: Barack Obama is not a Muslim; he is black and Christian. But, in the final analysis, what if he were a Muslim? What is wrong with being ‘‘African-American’’ or ‘‘Muslim’’ in today’s America?
While it now appears that the US can live with the election of a black American, indica tions are that a new, virulent anti-Muslim racism has arisen in the wake of the events of September 2001…
| — Hat tip: ESW | [Return to headlines] |
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