My favorite story tonight is the one about the Bedouin tribe in north Israel who claim Barack Hussein Obama as a long-lost member.Should be an interesting family reunion…
Thanks to Abu Elvis, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Insubria, JD, Kahane loyalist, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Activist: ‘Pastor to Presidents’ Replaced by Gay Bishop
A conservative Christian activist says it’s a sad omen for the Obama administration and the United States that Barack Obama has been seeking guidance from the Episcopal Church’s first openly homosexual bishop.
The Times of London reports that the president-elect sought out New Hampshire homosexual bishop Vicki Gene Robinson for advice three times during his presidential campaign. Robinson, whose ordination in the Episcopal Church has caused a deep rift within the Anglican Communion, was reportedly sought out by Obama to discuss what it feels like to be “first.” Robinson notes in their three private conversations, Obama voiced his support for “equal civil rights” for homosexuals and described the election as a “religious experience.” Peter Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, believes Obama’s consultations with Robinson show the true tenor of his upcoming administration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Hitler Youth’s Warning to America
‘Every day brings this nation closer to Nazi-style totalitarian abyss’
WASHINGTON — Because it has abandoned moral absolutes and its historic Christian faith, the U.S. is moving closer to a Nazi-style totalitarianism, warns a former German member of the Hitler Youth in a new book.
“Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss,” writes Hilmar von Campe, now a U.S. citizen, and author of “Defeating the Totalitarian Lie: A Former Hitler Youth Warns America.”
[..]
“Democratic procedures can be subverted and dishonest politicians are like sand in the gearbox, abundant, everywhere and destructive,” he writes. “What I see in America today is people painting their cabins while the ship goes down. Today in America we are witnessing a repeat performance of the tragedy of 1933 when an entire nation let itself be led like a lamb to the Socialist slaughterhouse. This time, the end of freedom is inevitable unless America rises to her mission and destiny.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Transition Team Examines Congestion Tax
British newspapers report that President-elect Barack Obama (D) may import congestion charging programs from the UK. Jack Opiola, a transportation principal for the firm Booz, Allen and Hamilton, was hired to design a program to tax drivers at least £5 (US $8) when entering the city of Manchester during peak hours. Opiola told the Manchester Evening News yesterday that the president-elect’s transition team approached him for additional details on the plan.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
RINO Season is Now Open
Ted Nugent: ‘Consensus building is for wimps and soulless people’
Like any entity that abandons basic quality control, political parties rot from within. It happened to the Democrats long ago, and now has become the case with the Republican Party, which has strayed from its conservative underpinnings.
There are really only four things I have a strong aversion to: unloaded guns, dull knives, banjos, and Republicans in Name Only (RINOs).
The Nugent family simply doesn’t allow any of those things in our lives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Stage is Being Set
by Diana West
Conservatism isn’t simply in political retreat, it is fast travelling beyond the pale, fast becoming anathema in America. And not just “conservatism”—any bumper sticker sentiment that denies due reverence for the precepts of progressivesm as exemplified by the leftward evolving sensibility of the media and cultural mainstream. We had support for McCain-Palin support garner a concussion for a college freshman here; an arrest for a passer-by here; and now general opprobrium and even curses here—and toward a middle schooler!
It is anything that smacks of the traditional that is under assault now in the public sphere, in the cultural mainstream, and sometimes literally.
Look at the reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which amends the California Constitution to limit marriage to one man and one woman. Having seen homosexual marriage fail at the polls by a margin of 52 to 47 percent, Prop 8 opponents are already busy filing lawsuits, hoping to overturn the poll results in the courts, staging protests, and singling out for ridicule and attack at least the weaker elements of the coalition that brought the proposition to victory: namely, the Mormons, who heavily supported the measure. Opponents of the measure are not, notably enough, targeting black voters, who also heavily supported the man-woman marriage measure.
The Los Angeles Times reports generally about what it describes as “an outpouring of demonstrations ranging from quiet vigils to noisy street protests against Proposition 8, including rallies outside churches and the Mormon temple in Westwood as well as boycotts of some businesses that contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign.”
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
16-Year-Old Boys Admit Killing Teenager in Yorkshire Park
TWO 16-year-old boys yesterday admitted killing a teenager who was found dead in a park. Ibrar Hussain and Hassan Ali Rehman pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to the manslaughter of 17-year-old Amar Aslam, who died from head injuries in Crow Nest Park, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on May 25.
Amin Hussain Ali, 20, and Asif Khan, 16, yesterday admitted murdering Amar and robbing him of a sum of money, a mobile phone, a chain and a quantity of cannabis. A fifth defendant, a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, was discharged from the court after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.
All five defendants were due to go on trial on Tuesday charged with the murder and robbery of Amar.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Abu Qatada in Court Over Attempt to Flee Britain
Controversial Muslim preacher Abu Qatada, who was arrested in Britain last week, appeared in court as a probe into an apparent leak of claims that he was planning to flee to Lebanon got under way.
Qatada, 48, father of five and once described as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe, has been convicted of terrorism charges in his homeland of Jordan. But Britain cannot deport him there due to a court ruling in May which found that if it did, he could face mistreatment.
Abu Qatada was taken into custody over the weekend for allegedly violating his bail conditions, according to British newspaper reports.
He appeared before a Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) hearing in London after being arrested Saturday.
Andrew O’Connor, the lawyer for the Home Office which wants his bail revoked, said that “inquiries were being made” into a report in The Sun newspaper that Qatada planned to flee Britain to Lebanon.
“If as it appears much of the report in Monday’s edition of The Sun was based on a briefing from within the government, that briefing was unauthorized,” he said.
“That report is of real concern and inquiries are being made.”
Qatada’s London home was searched a month ago and among the items found was a video showing him preaching about Islam in defiance of his bail conditions, the court was told.
But his lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said this actually showed him talking to his children about Eid and argued the evidence presented in public was “manifestly insufficient” to justify revoking bail.
Judge John Mitting agreed, although the hearing will also hear other evidence in private, when more sensitive intelligence material is likely to be discussed.
Born Omar Mahmud Mohammed Otman in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Abu Qatada arrived in Britain in 1993 on a forged United Arab Emirates passport and claimed asylum, gaining refugee status in 1994.
He was arrested in 2002 and spent three years in a high-security prison in London.
At the end of the prison term he was released, although made subject to a control order — a loose form of house arrest — but returned to jail in August 2005 as part of a crackdown against Islamist extremism after the London bombings the previous month.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Birth Rate in Italy Creeps Up
Population remains the oldest in Europe
(ANSA) — Rome, November 12 — Italy’s birth rate hit its highest level in years in 2007 although it still remains below the European Union average, national statistics bureau Istat said Wednesday.
In its annual population report, the bureau said the average number of births per female rose to 1.37 last year, up from 1.35 in 2006.
But only Germany (1.34) and eastern European countries such as Slovakia (1.24) and Poland (1.27) had lower birth rates. The EU average is 1.5.
In recent years the increase in the birth rate has been helped by immigrant women, who produce almost twice as many babies as Italians.
For much of the last century, Italy had the highest birth rate in Western Europe and in 1970 Italian women had an average 2.5 children each.
It then reached an all-time low of 1.19 in 1995, although it has gradually been recovering. The increase in the number of babies being born has nevertheless failed to offset the progressive ageing of the Italian population: in 2007, one Italian in five was over 65, while over 5% of the population was over 80, according to the report.
The ageing index registered a further increase in January 2008, months after Istat reported that Italy has the oldest population in Europe and the second oldest in the world after Japan.
When judging how ‘old’ a population is, demographers compare the numbers of people in the top age group, the over 65s, with those in the bottom one, the under 15s.
Italy’s population meanwhile swelled towards the 60 million mark last year, increasing by around 488,000 people.
This was largely due to the continued influx of immigrants into the country, some 494,000 of whom arrived in 2007, neutralising what would otherwise have been a drop of 7,000.
There are now 3,433,000 foreigners living in Italy, according to the report.
After suffering a drop in 2006, marriage was on the increase in 2007 with 260,000 couples tying the knot — up 4,000 compared to 2006.
But according to the last figures available (2006), divorces crept up by 5.3%, with 49,500 couples choosing to split up.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Business:France; 2007 Exceptional for Executives, 20pct Bonus
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 4 — 2007 was an excellent year for top managers and share holders in France. This was stated in ‘Capital’ a monthly magazine which underlined that the average salary of the top 50 executives in the country jumped 20pct to 4.6 million euro, or 383,000 euro a month which is equal to 310 times the minimum wage and 205 times greater than that of a worker. The year was particularly favourable for Bernard Arnault, the executive president of LVMH, who made 376 million only in dividends, as the main share holder of the world leader in the luxury sector. His salary, which is 4.1 million euro “is a drop of water compared to what he makes in dividends. He was followed by, at a certain distance, his rival Francois Pinault, who pocketed 259 million in dividends, thanks to his empire (which includes Gucci, Fnac, Saint Laurent) as well as his participating stakes in Vinci and Bouygues. In third place was Liliane Bettencourt, Oreal share holder, with 256 million in dividends. In seventh place, still for dividends, was former first place holder with Serge Dassault, financier Roman Zaleski, with 70 million euro. As for total income (fixed salary and variable, as well as capital gains on stock options) is managing director of AGF Jean Philippe Thierry leading the standings with 23.32 million euro, followed by Pierre Verluca of Vallourec with 12.4 million and Gerard Mestrallet (GDF-Suez) with 12.2 million. Vincent Bolloré came in 26th place with 3.5 million euro which is added to 17 million in dividends. Baudouin Prot, BNP Paribas executive, placed at 29th with 3.3 million euro (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cowboy Driver: Law ‘Blocks’ Arrest Rumanian
(AGI) — Rome, 5 Nov. — The young Rumanian man who this morning ran down 11 people waiting at a bus stop is under detention.
The nomad was driving under the influence, but this is not enough to turn his detention into arrest and prosecute him. The documents of the BMW the man was driving were in order. He lives in a camp close to Via dei Romagnoli, where the accident took place.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Swedish Bank Network ‘Tied to Terror’
The European Commission has ordered that the Stockholm-based al Barakaat banking network remain on the United Nation’s list of terrorist organizations, Sveriges Radio reports.
Abdirisak Aden has been a board member in al Barakaat and found himself on the UN’s sanctions list in 2001 due to suspected terrorist ties.
Although Aden’s name was later removed from the list, he expressed his frustration that the EU still believes al Barakaat has ties to terrorism.
“It’s unacceptable and a legal violation which has gone on for a long time,” he told the TT news agency.
In September, the European Court of Justice nullified a 2005 order to freeze the assets of al Barakaat, an informal hawala banking network used by members of the Somali diaspora in Sweden to send money to relatives back home.
According to EU law, the Commission doesn’t have the right to circumvent decisions by court, but must instead adjust policy according to the court’s rulings.
But the Commission said it wants to keep al Barakaat on the terror list for reasons similar to those used by the UN, namely that the banking network’s founder worked directly with al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden.
The Commission believes that views of the UN, rather than those of the European Court of Justice, should be the deciding factor in the matter.
In a letter reviewed by Sveriges Radio, the Commission writes that it “intends to adopt a legal document” which will result in al Barakaat remaining on the list of terrorist organizations.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, three Swedish citizens of Somali origin, Aden, Abdi Abdulaziz Ali, and Ahmed Ali Yusuf, were put on the UN’s sanctions list due to suspected terrorist ties.
Without due process, any presentation of evidence, or a chance for the three to launch an appeal, their assets were frozen, as were the assets of al Barakaat, with which all three were involved.
In September 2008, the European Court of Justice ruled that the EU’s anti-terror sanctions violated the suspects’ fundamental rights in a case related to al Barakaat.
In annulling the 2005 ruling, the court concluded that “the rights of the defence, in particular the right to be heard, and the right to effective judicial review of those rights, were patently not respected”.
The court gave the EU Commission until December of this year to alter its sanctions against al Barakaat, although exactly how the sanctions should be changed remains unclear.
The al Barakaat International Foundation, as it is formally known, has about 1 million kronor ($124,000) in an account with the SEB bank, money which today remains frozen due to the EU’s sanctions.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: More Than 1.6 Million Muslims in Italy
(ANSAmed) — NAPLES, NOVEMBER 12 — Between residents, regular non-residents and illegal non-residents there are a handful more than 1.6 million Muslims in Italy. This figure was published by Ismu, an autonomous and independent scientific body which promotes studies, research and initiatives on multiethnic and multicultural societies, with particular regard to the phenomenon of international migrations. The estimates made on 1 January 2008 highlight that to the one million Muslims resident in Italy can be added almost 289 thousand regular non-residents and 273 thousand irregular residents. Three quarters of the Muslims in Italy are male and most are married, 35% of them are from Morocco, 16% from Albania and 9% from Tunisia. The monthly wage of the main national Islamic groups is higher than that of the average of non-Muslims and are between the 1,156 euros earned by Egyptians and 916 euros earned by Moroccans. On the first of July 2007, there were 346 thousand foreign Muslims in Lombardy, of which 274 thousand were resident, 21 thousand regular non-residents and 51 thousand irregular residents. The region’s Muslims are mostly from Morocco (30%), Egypt (17%) and Albania (12%). During the school year 2007-2008 the number of foreign alumni of Islamic faith was almost 197 thousand, 34% of all foreign students. In Lombardy during 2006-2007 foreign Muslims in school ammounted to almost 44 thousand, 36% of the non-Italian number. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Thousands Camp Out for Days to Buy House
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — Madrid, NOVEMBER 12 — Since Monday thousands of people have been camped out in the parks of Fuenlabrada, an area on the edge of Madrid, after the construction mogul José Moreno announced that on Saturday he would sell 2,000 apartments at the price of 120,000 euros each on a first come first served basis. The rush unleashed by Moreno, which is causing serious public order problems for the local mayor, gives an idea of the hunger for affordable housing which afflicts young couples in Spain in particular. However, there are more than half a million new unsold accommodation units on the market. According to a report from the Housing Ministry cited today by El Pais, a newspaper, there were exactly 502,983 accommodation units for sale on 31 July this year. That is to say 21.6% more than the new-builds that failed to sell by the end of 2007. This housing stock, according to declarations made to Congress in the last few days by Beatriz Corredor, Minister of Housing, will rise to 650,000 by the end of the year. Experts on the sector estimate that the number will surpass 920,000. This, in effect, is the other side of the coin: the housing ‘bubble’ which burst in Summer 2007 has had the double effect of paralysing both the construction and real estate markets. Despite the large stock of unsold houses, prices have dropped minimally and insufficiently to allow demand to meet supply. In the last 12 months, prices of new homes have fallen by just 0.3%, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. In fact they have risen by 0.7% according to Housing Ministry figures. A tax company, Tinsa, however says that the prices have dropped by a (rather substantial) 6.5%. The greatest depreciation, according to Tinsa has been seen in Mediterranean coast housing (-8.9%), followed by metropolitan areas (-7,6%) and in the capital and big cities (-6.7%). In any case, the drop in prices for housing will need to reach 23% for the market to reactivate: a figure based on the difference between the average cost of rent compared to mortgage payments. Thus, while in Fuenlabrada hundreds of young people are fighting it out for a well-priced house, the Spanish countryside is teaming with ghost towns. Take Sesenna, for example, 40 kilometres from Madrid, in the middle of the Castile, where in the golden days of construction speculation the well-known constructor Francisco Hernando promised to build “the biggest residential area in Spain”: 13,500 apartments for 40,000 inhabitants, in a development with football pitches, swimming pools, a park and several shopping centres. Since then only 3,500 dwellings have been built in three years, and of these only 1,000 have been sold, for a population of three thousand people. Due to the financial and real estate crisis the project has been paralysed but many of the buyers, who bought the accommodation for speculative purposes, are not complaining. The few people that bought for their own use, seduced by the price of 180,000 euros for a 90 square metres apartment, compared to the 400,000 euros that it would cost on average in Madrid, today live in a desert without urban services, lost in the plains of Castile. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Lidl Issues Scavenger Poisoned Food Apology
Discount German supermarket chain Lidl has issued an apology after workers at one of its Swedish stores deliberately poisoned discarded food in a bid to keep homeless people at bay.
“Lidl Sweden has been informed that cleaning liquids have been poured into the trash to stop trespassers from stealing garbage at one of our stores during a short time period,” Mathias Kivikoski, Lidl’s chief executive in Sweden, said in a statement.
“We deeply regret what has happened and this is not something the company recommends or permits,” it added.
A newspaper in the Stockholm suburb of Solna revealed that Lidl employees at a local store had become tired of homeless people searching trash bins had last week begun pouring toxic cleaning products on discarded food.
They put up a sign near the bins warning that the goods had been poisoned, but it remained unclear if anyone had eaten the food, the Mitt i Solna paper reported.
Food had disappeared from the bins after the staff began poisoning it, it said.
Rolf Nilsson, who heads a Stockholm homeless organization, described the employees’ actions as “crazy.”
“This is just so upsetting and distressing. We’re talking about people who have to dig in garbage containers to find food to eat,” Nilsson told the Aftonbladet daily.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Libya: Cooperation Negotiations Begin Tomorrow
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 12 — EU-Libyan negotiations start tomorrow for an agreement over cooperation over immigration, security, commerce, energy and transport. Commissioner for Foreign Relations, Benita Ferrero Waldner, and Libyan Ministers Abdulati Elobeidi (European Affairs) and Mohamed Tahar Siala (International Cooperation) will give the official go-ahead for the negotiations. “This is a moment that we have been waiting for since 2004, when the EU revoked sanctions against Libya and began its policy of peace” said Ferrero Waldner. Libya is the only country in the southern Mediterranean which has never had official relations with the EU. The Commission, under mandate from the Member states, has been charged with establishing a framework for developing cooperation between the member states and Tripoli. The agreement, which Brussels wants to be as full as possible so as not to exclude any dossier, is conditional on human rights, democracy and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Libya: Dini: No Idling Over Ratification Debate
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA, NOVEMBER 10 — The Government should waste no more time over initiating parliamentary discussion of the partnership agreement reached with Libya, said the head of Italy’s Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, Lamberto Dini, addressing Maltàs parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission. “The Government has dragged its feet up to now” in broaching discussion of the Treaty signed between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Libyan leader, Muammar Gheddafi”, Dini noted, adding that Libya was pressing for a “joint ratification” of the accord. According to Dini, “Tripoli wishes to obtain ratification by both Italy’s House and Senate on the same day that the Congress of the Libyan People ratifies the accord”. Furthermore, Italy is awaiting Libyàs enactment of last December’s agreement aimed at countering the tide of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean — as Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has been urging. The Chair of Italy’s Senate Foreign Affairs Commission added that no-one should expect miracles from Libya, which for its own part faces enormous problems in tackling the thousands of southern African immigrants flooding in across desert frontiers. “We know that Libya is a difficult country with a difficult government, but patience is called for. We are also aware that the Libyans have shown willing in collaborating with us”, he said. In the company of Italy’s Ambassador to Malta, Paolo Trabalza, Dini had talks with the President of the Maltese Republic, Edward Fenech Adami, with Prime Minister, Lawrence Gonzi, and Foreign Minister, Tonio Borg. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Moroccan Minister Visits Local Communities
Roma, 10 Nov. (AKI) — Morocco’s minister for Moroccans overseas, Mohammed Amer, on Monday visited Rome’s Averroe cultural centre. He is on the Italian leg of a European tour aimed at bringing second generation Moroccan immigrants closer to their roots.
“I came here to strengthen ties with Moroccan communities overseas through cultural and religious orientation,” Amer told a group of Moroccan women.
The Moroccan government is planning to open cultural centres in various European countries, including France, Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium, as a part of a major push to renew interest in religion among Moroccans abroad, Amer told the women.
During his visit to Italy, Amer will visit several cities and meet members of the Moroccan community here, which numbers close to 400,000 people.
“We are investigating agreements with Italy on social security contributions for immigrants who wish to return to Morocco in the future,” said Amer.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Limits to Presidential Terms to be Abolished
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 4 — The Algerian cabinet this afternoon adopted a plan to revise the Constitution, which provides, amongst other things, for the abolition of the limit of two presidential terms. This would therefore allow the president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to stand at the next elections scheduled for April 2009. This was reported in a statement from the cabinet sent to the APS agency. The revision, which now has to go to the Senate for scrutiny, was announced on Wednesday by the same Bouteflika during his speech for the opening judicial year. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Wounded Colonel and 10 Policemen Released
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 12 — Injured Egyptian police Colonel, Mohamed Sharawi, 55 years old, and ten non-commissioned officers that were being held hostage by Bedouins, first at the Madfuna station and then in their stronghold in Uadi al Omrun, were released yesterday evening in an unspecified location. News of the events came from sources from Rafah, who were not able to specify if the colonel was brought to the hospital, and the place of their release. It has not been excluded that the mediation of the authorities and tribal leaders brought about the freeing of the hostages. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Tension in Sinai, Another 50 Police Officers Kidnapped
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 12 — Tension in Sinai continued today where yesterday the killing of three Bedouins, in different circumstances, caused protests and the kidnapping of dozens of policemen, which were later released. This morning another 50 police officers and a colonel were kidnapped at their headquarters and then brought to the stronghold of the Al Tarrabin tribe, the most involved in the matter, located in the inaccessible Uadi el Omar area, in the heart of the peninsula. It was reported that the police station in the Al Hassana zone was surrounded while officials and agents were inside. In the meantime, another thousand Bedouins were taking part in a sit in near the Israeli border, not far from the Karm Salem passage. At noon, a meeting in the Sheikh Zuwayed village is expected — 15 kilometres from the border — to attempt a mediation with the al Tarrabin tribes, which this morning also organised ceremonies for the burial of three Bedouins killed yesterday. It was learned that last night, the liberation of 10 non-commissioned officers and Colonel Sharawi (wounded according to some sources, not wounded according to police) was obtained through the mediation of officials from the Egyptian army. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
German Artist Stirs Cairo Crowd
Several fire trucks and rescue workers rushed to a German cultural centre in central Cairo on Thursday after hearing a man was hanging from a wall, only to find an arts installation by a German artist.
By the time emergency services arrived at the Goethe Cultural Centre, artist Johan Lorbeer had climbed down from a ladder, one of the props in the exhibit, and left behind a plastic replica of a human hand attached to the wall.
“We heard a man was hanging from the wall,” said one police officer at the scene.
Dozens of Egyptians crowded outside the gates of the institute, craning for a glimpse at the hand. “What happened?” asked one man, before snorting derisively when told it was a plastic hand.
“The Germans are laughing at us,” he said before walking away.
Beate Kohler, director of the institute’s language department, seemed unfazed by the blaring sirens and crowd of onlookers, enthusiastically telling AFP the institute had been trying to invite Lorbeer for more than two years.
The exhibit was meant to “give the illusion (Lorbeer) was hanging to the wall only with his hand,” she said.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: No Let-Up to Tensions in Kufra, Extra Troops Sent
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 10 — There has been continuing tension in Libyàs Kufra oasis, 1,500 kilometres south of Tripoli, where there is a scarcity of drinking water, electricity and fuel. The army is despatching fresh troops after clashes three days ago between security forces and the local Tebu tribe left four civilians dead and 29 injured. The news comes in pan-Arab daily Asharq al Awsat, which adds that Puma strike helicopters have arrived at Kufra Airport — a vestige of the colonial era, built by Italy during the colonial war of the 1930s. The paper also reports clashes in Bengasi between security forces and unemployed youths who were demonstrating in sympathy with the Kufra populace. According to the website of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, clashes with a formation opposing Gheddafìs regime occurred in the areas of Al Salmani, and Al Magouri, as well as in other regions. Without being able to provide confirmation of these reports from independent sources, Asharq al Awsat went on to point out that they have been neither confirmed nor denied by the Libyan authorities. Of the past few days, the Tebu Front has denounced mass arrests by Libyan forces. “They arrest women, children and the elderly, even if they are only in Kufra on visits from other centres”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
8,000 Bedouins: We’re Lost Tribe of Barack
Galilee sheikh claims evidence he, his family linked by blood to president-elect
He has a host of relatives in exotic locations from Hawaii to Kenya, and during his run for the American presidency he discovered that he had an aunt living in Boston.
Now Barack Obama is being claimed by not one but as many as 8,000 Beduin tribesmen in northern Israel.
Although the spokesman for the lost tribe of Obama has yet to reveal the documentary evidence that he says he possesses to support his claim, people are flocking from across the region to pay their respects to the ?Beduin Obama?, whose social standing has gone through the roof.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
I Reject Islam and Love Israel, by “X-Muslim”
A great burden has been lifted from my heart.
Shalom. As an Arab Muslim I once asked myself: Why do I hate Israel? I really thought about this question. After only a little deliberation, the answer was clear: because I am a Muslim and Islam is extremely intolerant.
It’s intolerance to everything non-Muslim that is the problem. But today I have rejected the teachings of Islam for this very reason. I have left Islam.
As an Arab “Palestinian”, living in an Arab country, coming from a Muslim family, I was brought up with hatred of
Why does Islamic intolerance forbid other nations their right to exist in their own land?
Jews, Christians and all non-Muslims. Now I’m older, I have matured enough to view the world from a different perspective. I reviewed real history and studied the sequence of events before and since the restoration of the State of Israel. I decided to step outside the mindset of a typical Muslim. It didn’t take long to realize that I was on the wrong track and I moved quickly to the other side. In order to be at peace with myself, I have come to reject the hatred of Israel and now love my former enemy. I have not embraced another religion, but I am seeking a new spiritual path.
Why do the Arabs and Muslims have to reject the presence of a Jewish state in a tiny percentage of the land of the Middle East? Why does Islamic intolerance forbid other nations their right to exist in their own land? The whole world should realize that Islam is at war with all nations on the planet. In our Muslim societies it is not “the extremists”, but the whole society infected with this hatred. It is in the mosques, the schools, in the media and in the homes of nearly every Muslim family. It isn’t just Israel they hate, but America and Christians as well. Islam hates all other religions.
In the case of Israel, its only fault is that it’s a Jewish state that wants to live in peace within its borders. It’s not a struggle of so-called “Palestinians” to establish a country and retain some land, which was never theirs — I know, because I studied the real history. The real problem is racism and the intolerance of Muslims, the blind hatred and jealousy when seeing a flourishing, strong and modern country where people from other faiths can live peacefully.
| — Hat tip: Kahane loyalist | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Gaza, Israel Resumes Diesel Supply
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 11 — Israel today resumed diesel supplies to the Gaza Strip after an interruption of around one week due to a series of border incidents among which the repeated launch of Palestinian rockets on the city of Neghev. Yesterday the situation in the Gaza Strip, with around 1.5 million inhabitants, suddenly deteriorated when the main power plant stopped working due to a lack of fuel. In Gaza City many district blacked out. But in Israel leaders of the Defence Ministry accused Hamas of stopping the plant “for propaganda purposes”. Today, authorised by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the border post of Nahal Oz between Israel and Gaza was reopened and immediately after the supply of diesel oil to the Palestinian power plant was resumed. Israeli sources specified that this measure too could be cancelled in case of new attacks from Gaza on Israeli forces or Jewish settlements in West Neghev. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Asir Parents in a Quandary Over ‘Full Abaya’ for Schoolchildren
KHAMIS MUSHAYT: When an eight- or ten-year-old girl is told that she should cover her entire body from head to toe — as an adult woman is supposed to do — then immediately the child’s mother asks why.
This is exactly what is happening in the southern province of Asir where school regulations stipulate that pre-pubescent girls should dress in such a way that no part of their body, including head and face, is visible.
A child who dares to violate the new dress code faces severe punishment, including a public scolding and deductions from her marks.
This has put parents in a real dilemma. On the one hand, this new dress code is being imposed; on the other, they find it difficult to convince their young daughters that it is necessary for them to be completely veiled.
In addition, the parents have not been able to convince school authorities that little girls are not required to dress as adult women. Though Islam has strict dress regulations for women, they are only applied after girls reach puberty.
Umm Abrar, whose daughter is in Grade 4 at a primary school, went out shopping for a small abaya that would meet the school specifications. The scarf in her school should be worn in such a way that neither her face nor her hair is visible, allowing only her eyes to be seen.
“Until last year, the head scarf for little girls did not mean covering heads and faces. Only girls who had reached puberty needed to cover their faces. But this year the school ordered all girls to cover both heads and faces,” Umm Abrar said. “Contrary to social customs and religious regulations, school authorities demand that little girls be completely covered. Girls submit to the regulations only under threat of punishment and therefore when they are outside school grounds they remove the covering,” she added.
Umm Abrar finally bought an abaya matching the specifications set out in the school regulations so that her daughter would be spared punishment in school.
Another girl in Grade 6 of a primary school said: “The school regulations make me use two kinds of abayas: One that covers me entirely is for school and the other that shows my face is for family and social occasions.”
Umm Abrar also feared that coercing girls to conceal their childhood behind black abayas and live like adults would be damaging to young minds. “Children are children and they should be treated so and not as adults,” she said.
The teachers, she added, preached what they did not practice; they demanded that the girls not wear brocaded abayas or abayas made with glitter or sequins when they themselves often wore exactly that.
The mothers in Asir also wonder why school authorities order girls to dress in ways that go far beyond the demands of Islam; on the other hand, schools in the Makkah province allow pre-pubescent girls to dress according to a more relaxed Islamic code. The school authorities in Asir, however, justified their stand by saying that the practice would help develop the culture of Islamic dress at a very early age in girls. A school principal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said young girls who wear full abaya and veil throughout the year are awarded prizes as encouragement to other girls.
The principal also admitted that most girls obeyed the order because they were afraid of punishment, which included the deduction of 10 marks from a total of 100 marks given for good conduct.
Another school official agreed that the practice was not an obligation from a religious perspective. Her view was that the new dress code was an effort to make girls get accustomed to the idea of wearing the complete veil in advance of the time it was actually required.
The school official added that this would prevent the more attractive girls from being harassed by men.
Khayriyah, principal of Al-Manara private school in Asir, said she has not exempted any girl from being completely veiled in the school though she knew that several parents did not approve.
According to a woman supervisor at the Education Department in Asir, the full veil is being imposed to curb girls from showing off hair cut above the ear or hair that has been highlighted with brilliant colors. She said the ministry’s guidelines do not in fact specify that the abaya should be black or that it should completely cover the head. The guidelines, however, state that it should not show the body of an adult woman.
Dr. Rajab Barsali, a leading psychologist in the western region, said that the constant conflict between the social dress system and school dress code would have a negative impact on the minds of young girls. “Modern research has confirmed that receiving contradictory messages at the same time will lead to personality imbalances in a growing child,” the doctor said. He added that such conflicts might also lead to mental disturbances, such as depression, a tendency to break away from social customs and norms, and harming oneself.
Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, adviser at the Ministry of Justice, said a girl should cover her face and stop displaying her face at 10 because that is the age when her body begins to become attractive.
“There is no reason why girls should feel any conflict between school and home just because they put on the veil to go to school. On the other hand, they should start identifying with their mothers and older sisters. In other words, it is a preparation for their correct dressing in the future.”
Abdul Rahman Al-Asiri, a notary public in Khamis Mushayt, said that the Shariah makes it mandatory that women cover when they reach the age of puberty. But religious scholars view that the spirit of the same rule justifies compelling girls to adopt the veil at the age of 10. He said, however, that religion did not demand that women wear black abayas but that was related to local traditions.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
India: PM Vows to Defend Tiny Qatar ‘If Needed’
New Delhi, 12 Nov. (AKI/Asian Age) — In a clear indication that India’s strategic sphere of influence is rapidly expanding beyond its immediate neighbourhood, the Indian government has agreed “to go to the rescue of Qatar, if Qatar requires it.”
In marked contrast to the previous government, blocking US-backed moves by his deputy L.K. Advani to station Indian troops in Afghanistan, persistent efforts since 2005 by the tiny, energy-rich Gulf nation of Qatar to get a security deal bore fruit when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to protect Qatar’s considerable assets — petroleum and gas fields and sea lanes — if they were in peril.
“We will go to the rescue of Qatar if Qatar requires it, in whatever form it takes,” an official said as Singh concluded a visit to the energy rich Gulf state, even as an Indian naval vessel thwarted attempts by pirates to hijack a vessel off the pirate infested waters off the coast of Somalia.
The Indian Navy has been deployed off the Gulf of Aden for a little over a month.
Qatar has been most persistent, and being a tiny country, the energy rich nation was concerned about its own security, despite a large US base, strategically placed at the narrow mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, from where Washington monitors nuclear Iran, an unstable Iraq and China’s growing footprint in the region, especially in developing the Pakistani port city of Gwadar.
Officials downplayed the agreement’s significance, saying it would not be a precursor to similar agreements with other friendly Gulf countries like Oman, saying: “India will not station troops in any foreign country. We don’t want to fight other people’s wars in foreign countries. This agreement is Qatar-specific.”
The landmark security pact is however part of a larger area of cooperation where India and Qatar will work together to fight terrorism and cooperate on tackling transnational crime. A greater Indian naval presence could be seen in the Gulf as US troops shift their focus to Afghanistan-Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Al-Qaeda’s Beheading ‘Emir’ Captured, Say Reports
Khales, 12 Nov. (AKI) — The Iraqi army arrested on Wednesday in volatile Diyala Province a militant who is allegedly responsible for many of the brutal beheadings carried out by Al-Qaeda, Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya reported on Wednesday. Ahmad Hasan al-Azzawi, known as ‘the beheading emir’ was arrested in a raid outside the provincial capital, Baquba, Al-Arabiya said.
The raid reportedly took place early on Tuesday in the mountains north of the village of Khales, 15 kilometres from Baquba — an Al-Qaeda stronghold.
Sunni tribesmen from the local United States-backed Awakening Council helped carry out the raid on a suspected militant hideout, according to Al-Arabiya.
Also on Tuesday, a 13-year-old female suicide bomber killed five security officials and wounded 11 others, the US military said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mortgage Crisis: Emirates Realize Economic Crisis
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — Dubai, NOVEMBER 12 — Following figures emerging from analysts and evidence of measures adopted by the authorities, a far more opaque economic profile of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is beginning to emerge than that portrayed by the reassuring comments made up to now about the current and future situation to businessmen, purchasers and investors. The Stock Exchanges of the seven Emirates registered another bad week, with housing shares in free fall by an average of -9.82%. The housing sector, one of the pillars of the financial fabric of the country, signalled a sharp braking: despite “sufficient liquidity in the housing sector to cover work for the next 21 months” as Mohammad Ali Alabbar, a member of the executive committee for the city of Dubai and President of Emaar Properties said, the housing market could slow down by 13%. The slowdown is already under way: estate agencies contacted by ANSAmed revealed confidentially a sudden rise in bargain prices for properties still being built, and the almost total absence of buyers. Requests for mortgages from Tamweel, the largest credit institution in the country, have visibly fallen, confirmed an employee who preferred to remain anonymous. The Dubai Government has set up a committee which includes the main building groups “to allow the synchronisation of projects by several companies” according to Director General of the Financial Assessor Nasser Al Sheikh, who said that the committee “will only evaluate future projects, not those already under way”. Infrastructure projects will proceed as originally planned, and will not be revised. Future projects are not the only victims announced. Damac, one of the most prestigious housing investment companies, announced the laying off of 200 employees, appealing to the Goverment to “adopt measures to restore confidence in the sector”. At the same time the Minister for the Economy announced new regulations, including a law on bank loans, which is still being drawn up. While the Emirates acts on a crisis which is causing its economy to unravel, the press is echoing analysts who predict an upswing in the housing market in the short-medium term. Despite the lull in house-buying, they say, new projects will keep the market alive and create a second wave of demand in a few years, when the housing shortage will redress the balance. “Housing is not the backbone of the UAE economy” said Alabbar: “our country relies on imports and re-exports, tourism, trade and financial and communications services”. (ANSAMed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Queen Rania of Jordan Gets Youtube Award
Jordan’s Queen Rania will accept an award from Internet video-sharing website YouTube for her efforts to help prevent Muslims and Arabs from being stereotyped, her office said on Thursday.
“YouTube encourages us to be active participants in a global conversation, making our voices heard, giving us the power to broadcast ourselves, increasing knowledge of each other, breaking down the barriers between us clip by clip.”
“It is a pleasure to accept the first YouTube Visionary Award in this spirit,” the queen was quoted as saying in a statement.
In April, Rania, the wife of King Abdullah II, launched her own Internet channel on YouTube in a bid to encourage young people to help address the issue of stereotyping.
“To date, the channel has generated nearly three million video views and received more than 43,000 messages from users around the world,” the queen’s office said, adding that’ she will “accept this honor in recognition of her efforts to rid the world of the stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arab and Muslim communities.”
Queen Rania sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes and her YouTube videos are nothing short of inspirational,” said YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. “It is both a pleasure and an honor to present her with this much-deserved tribute.”
Last year, the queen told an annual economic forum in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah that Muslims should reject extremism if they want to be taken seriously by the West.
“We are right to question Western governments when their actions only make it easier for radicals to recruit new followers. But our moral authority depends on our willingness to reject the voices of extremism and violence in our midst,” she said.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Rai: Mediterraneo; Voyage Through Turkey Begins With Kurds
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, NOVEMBER 13 — The current war between Turkey and the PKK, the Kurdish Workers’ Party, has reopened problems linked to ‘Kurdistan’, the land shared by Turkey and Iraq. Diyarbakir, with its infinite city walls, is the most ‘Kurdish’ of Turkey’s cities: over one million inhabitants, most of whom have fled villages caught up in military action between independence fighters and the regular army over the past decades. It is in Diyarbakir that a four-stage journey across deepest Turkey begins for Italian state broadcaster RAI TV. The weekly programme, “Mediterraneo”, a journalistic regional magazine produced in Palermo by RAI in collaboration with France 3 — Rtve Spain and Algiers’ Entv, broadcast on Saturdays at 13.20 on Rai Tre and at 21.00 on Rai Med. The second reportage looks at relations between two geographically close but politically distant cultures: Mitilene, the main city on Greek’s Island of Lesbos, and Turkey’s Aivale. They are little more than 10 nautical miles apart but one is located in Europe while the other is still knocking on its door. The mayors of the two adjacent populaces have come up with a way of sharing their different experiences. Then comes an interview with Iranian writer, Marina Nemat, who tells her dramatic story to “Mediterraneo”, tracing a sketch of today’s Iran. In lastly it’s to Italy’s Liguria to show practitioners of a dying trade, that of “avvisatore marittimo” or coastal warning pilot. The name of the profession is also that of a traditional newspaper published by the group during the 17th Century. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Doctor Accused of Anti-Islam Blasphemy Freed (But in Hiding)
In another case Pakistan’s blasphemy law is used in a personal vendetta. A Muslim employee sacked by his Christian employer turns against him with the result that the alleged offender spends five months in prison. However, during that time he received “courage and hope” from reading the Bible. Shahbaz Bhatti, minister of Minorities, is hopeful that this might lead to the release of more people unjustly accused of blasphemy.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — A Christian man acquitted on blasphemy charges was recently released but is in hiding for fear of retaliation from Muslim extremists. In Hafizabin Additional Session Judge Sardar Ahmad Makan on 4 November ruled in favour of Dr Robin Sardar, 55, after he had already spent five months in Gujranwala Central Jail. Had he been found guilty he could have received a life sentence or the death penalty.
Speaking to AsiaNews on the phone Sardar said: “Jesus has saved me and I thank God that I am still alive and in good health. Unfortunately, I have to live in hiding, changing places from time to time.”
The father of six said he was grateful to all the organisations and people who prayed and helped him during his trial.
“I was not tortured in prison. I spent my time in silence, reading the Bible, praying God,” Sardar said. “The Bible was my only strength in that time. Jesus said: ‘Don’t be afraid when people persecute you for My name.’ These words gave courage and hope.”
Robin Sardar was arrested in Hafizabad on 5 May after a Muslim man accused him of breaking the infamous blasphemy law which criminalises anyone who insults the Qur’an or the prophet Muhammad.
Once the accusation was made public Muslims extremist groups demanded that the accused be hanged. Eventually Dr Sandar’s family was forced into hiding for fear of retaliation.
The doctor’s accuser, Muhammad Bashir, was an employee in his clinic and had been fired for stirring animosity among other employees and spending much of his time talking about religion. A second witness against the doctor, Muhammad Rafic, who never met him, gave false testimony out of friendship for Bashir.
When the incident first occurred radical Muslims launched a campaign against Dr Sardar, inciting people against him through loudspeakers and speeches in mosques, demanding that he and his family be hanged, surrounding their home and threatening to torch it if he did not surrender to police. Fortunately he was saved by police, which intervened before he could be lynched, and was taken into prison.
As a free man Dr Sardar thanked Shahbaz Bhatti, minister of Minorities and chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), for the financial and legal aid he provided all through this period.
From Islamabad, Minister Batti told AsiaNews that Sardar’s release “is good news for all minorities and especially for Christians.”
The Catholic minister is optimistic that Dr Sandar’s acquittal might lead to the release of other people accused of blasphemy.
Since the law was introduced in 1986, 25 people have been killed because of it, not as a result of any legally mandated execution order but at the hands of religious extremists, sometimes even when the alleged offender was in police custody.
According to some sources, 892 people are presently charged with blasphemy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Evangelical Church Goes to Court Against Ban on Using the Word “Allah”
The Evangelical Church of Malaysia has appealed to the supreme court following the recall of some of its magazines, in which the word “Allah” was used. The domestic security minister claims that “the publications can raise confusion and controversy in Malaysian society.” Already at the beginning of the year, Catholics and Evangelicals had suffered the confiscation of newspapers and magazines for the same reason.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) — The Evangelical Church of Borneo has filed a motion against the ban on using the word “Allah” in its publications. Today, pastor Jerry Dusing, president of the Church, also known in Malaysia as the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), is scheduled to testify at the supreme court.
The affair that is moving to Jalan Duta today began at the start of last summer. On August 15, three boxes containing publications produced in Indonesia by the SIB were sent to Malaysia to be distributed in Sunday schools organized by the Evangelical Church. Once they arrived in Sepang, the boxes were confiscated by employees of the Malaysia’s interior security ministry (ISM). One month later, pastor Jerry Dusing received a letter from the ISM, in which the minister told him that Christian publications containing the word “Allah” could not be distributed in the country. Among the reasons given for the ban, the letter said that “the publications can raise confusion and controversy in Malaysian society.”
In response, the SIB wrote to the minister on September 24, reminding him that the prime minister of the previous government, Mahathir bin Mohamad, had granted the use of the word in Christian publications as well. This exchange of letters gave rise to a controversy that has also brought a statement from the head of the ISM, according to which the ban of the use of the word “Allah” in Christian publications has been reinstated. The only exception is for the Bible, and for the use of the term during religious celebrations.
The confiscation of magazines published by the SIB is not the first case. In December of 2007, the ISM had blocked magazines for the same reason, but released them again at the end of January. A similar incident took place with the Catholic community, again in December, with a ban on the use of the word “Allah” in the pages of the weekly newspaper of the archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. For “reasons of security,” the Herald had to stop using the word, or face being shut down. Following the government’s order, various shipments of Christian books were confiscated, and the archdiocese decided to take the government to court. The Catholic Church defended its position by appealing to articles 10 and 11 of the constitution, which guarantee freedom of expression and religious practice.
In Malaysia, almost 50% of the population is Muslim, the Christians are about 8%, but there are also Hindu and Buddhist communities, and it is estimated that more than 20% of the inhabitants practice popular religions of Chinese tradition. There are two parallel judicial systems in the country: one federal-civil, regulated by the constitution, and one religious-juridical, which applies only to Muslims and is regulated by Koranic law. In the confusion generated by this parallelism, there is plenty of room for discrimination toward the faithful of religions different from Islam. There are frequent cases of banned conversions or forced conversions, and prohibitions like the ones applied to the SIB and the Catholics of Kuala Lumpur.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Retro Piracy — Should the Royal Navy Kick Arse?
(Lewis Page served for eleven years as a Royal Navy officer, variously as navigator, mine clearance diver, bomb-disposal operator ashore and first lieutenant (among other things) at sea. After a lengthy period of vicious bullying, the Royal Marines awarded him the green beret of the commando forces.)
Just this Tuesday, in fact, Royal Marine Commandos* in seaboats got into a gunfight with the crew of a small pirate dhow which had previously attempted to seize a Danish merchantman not far away. Having been fired on by the foolhardy freebooters as they approached, the Marines killed two of the pirates and the rest surrendered smartly — but this doesn’t signal the end of piracy in the area. Indeed, the following day, even as the news of the success broke, a Turkish tanker was seized in the very same waters.
Somali and Yemeni buccaneers are a particular problem for international trade as they are ideally situated to prey on traffic passing through the Bab el Mandeb (“the Gate of Tears”) — the narrow strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, which carries all the traffic between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. Wherever there’s a maritime chokepoint like that, and a poor or lawless region nearby to act as a safe haven, you get piracy. Another well-known hotspot, for instance, is the Singapore Strait.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Royal Navy in Firefight With Somali Pirates
Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.
In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.
By the time the Royal Marines boarded the pirates’ vessel, the enemy had lost the will to fight and surrendered quietly. The Royal Navy described the boarding as “compliant”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Libya: Maltese Eurodeputy, Confront Immigration Issue
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA (MALTA), NOVEMBER 12 — EU-Libyan dialogue which opened today in Tripoli must include the “dramatic issue” of illegal immigration. This was said by Maltese European Parliament member and Vice-President of the EU Commission for Maghreb Relations, Simon Busuttil. “Until today, Libya is the only state in the Mediterranean with no official relation with the EU”, said Busuttil, adding that “no agreement can be reached with Tripoli if immigration is not a topic of discussion”. For Busuttil, the fact that the EU and Libya have opened a dialogue to strengthen reciprocal cooperation. “Libya can be a very important partner with Europe, but illegal immigration is a crucial issue and we are all waiting for the first positive signs from Tripoli on this issue”, he said. According to Busuttil, cooperation with Libya is necessary in order for Europe to find a way to combat illegal immigration and “to close criminal traffic networks, once and for all”. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Tunisia, 66 Immigrants Aided at Sea
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 12 — Sixty-six Tunisians on board a fishing boat drifting after motor problems were aided at sea off the coast of the Kerkennah Islands. The illegal immigrants, between 22 and 40 years old, set sail from Sidi Mansour (governorate of Sfax); the intention was to reach the island of Lampedusa. Led back to land by the Tunisian Coast Guard, they will not be tried from clandestine emigration. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Malta, Patrols Extended Three Months
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA (MALTA), NOVEMBER 12 — Joint patrols in the Mediterranean to oppose illegal immigration will be extended into next year. This was announced by Maltese sources, specifying that patrols will last three months longer than in the past. According to the Maltese government, Frontex patrols, the UN border agency, off the coast of Malta and Lampedusa will begin in March and will continue until the end of November. In the past three years, patrols have been carried out only in the summer months. According to experts from the Frontex agency, there is no need to commit resources from November -March due to the impassibility of the Libya-Malta-Sicily route due to strong winds, and bad weather that tends to discourage travel. Sources close to the Maltese government have also revealed that negotiations are ongoing with all EU member states to combine resources necessary to make patrolling more effective, which this year was only carried out in Maltese and Italian forces, besides the use of German police and helicopters. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Population Towards 60 Million With Immigrants
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 12 — The population in Italy is quickly moving towards 60 million, but the increase (almost half a million in 2007) is due in large part to an increase in immigration, pointed out the Italian Statistical Yearbook 2008 from Istat (National Statistical Institute). At the end of 2007, residents in Italy were 59,619,290, about 488,000 more compared to the previous year. This increase was due to the amount of migratory movement (+494,871) which neutralised the negative effect of the natural balance (-6,868) which was influenced by an increased rate of mortality in the south. At the beginning of 2008, foreign residents numbered 3,432,651 with an increase of 493,729 compared to the previous year; currently foreigners enrolled at the local registrar’s offices represent 5.8pct of the total population, a value that confirms growth trends observed over the previous years. Looking at the citizenship of the foreign population, inflow coming from the European Union (27.2pct) surpassed central-Europe (24.4pct), following Poland and Romanian entrance into the European Union, the countries with the highest numbers of migrants. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: French-Algerian Writer Opposes Separate Classes for Immigrants
Otranto, 11 Nov. (AKI) — Separate classrooms for the children of immigrants immediately ghettoise them, Prize-winning French-Algerian writer Malika Mokeddem has told Adnkronos International (AKI). Commenting on the Italian government’s move to introduce such classes, she said:”This gives the children a bad self-image and sends out a very bad image of Italy.”
Mokeddem (photo) was in the southern Italian coastal town of Otranto to receive the prestigious 2008 Grinzane Terra D’Otranto prize for literature.
The children of immigrants need to go to school and learn the local language to integrate, argued Mokeddem.
“But they they need to do so by jumping in the deep end and socialising. Separate classes means putting them into a ghetto immediately, and all that goes with it,” she said.
Doing well at school will also help immigrant pupils, she added, stressing the key role that supportive teachers can play in this respect.
Mokeddem described the kindness of her first teacher at primary school, who led the bewildered Malika by the hand past a gauntlet of French children she had never met and sat her at a desk in the front of the class.
“Beneath the protective gaze of my teacher, I made enormous efforts to learn French just to please her,” she said. “We need to look just as kindly on the children of immigrants and help them to integrate.”
“Europe needs to reflect profoundly on how it welcomes immigrant school children,” she said during a debate that followed the prize ceremony.
Mokeddem, who was born in small mining town of Kendasa on the edge of the desert, descended from illiterate nomads. She grew up during Algeria’s bloody war of independence, and was one of only a handful of Arab girls in her French school class.
With the unconditional support of her teacher, she sought refuge in books from the injustices she observed in Algeria, including racism and sexism, and excelled academically.
Mokeddem’s teacher promised her that Algeria would gain independence from France, but warned her prophetically: “You will have to fight a war with Algerian society.”
“Even as a child, I refused to act as a maid to the male members of my family,” she said. Mokeddem clashed continuously with her mother over this and other issues, she noted.
When she received top marks in her schoolwork, Mokeddem’s father, who could only read numbers, would put her down, saying: “You are only a girl.”
“He would have preferred me to have been a boy,” she said, adding that Arab families preferred to send their sons, rather than their daughters, to French schools.
“I was also insulted by backward French women in the street, who could not accept that I was at the top of my class,” she said.
“Besides the segregation of the sexes which I consider a form of racism, there was also appalling racism towards ‘blacks’,” Mokeddem said.
She said they used a special word in Arabic that meant ‘slave’ adding that there was also a special insult used for the children of mixed couples — ‘hartani’ or ‘shame’.
Mokeddem’s autobiographical novel ‘The Men Who Walk’ descibes her childhood in Algeria. After studying medicine in the Algerian coastal city of Oran, she moved to France where she specialised in nephrology.
“As an emancipated women, I could no longer live in Algeria,” said Mokaddem.
In 1995, she received death threats when she opened a doctor’s surgery in France for immigrants She was forced to close her office and return to work in a French hospital.
Mokeddem’s novel ‘Of Dreams and Assassins’ was written at that time, when Islamic radicals waged a campaign of violence after the Algerian government annulled elections that hardline Islamists were poised to win in 1992.
The condition of women, the weight of local traditions and struggles for liberation form the themes of most of her books.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy ‘to Curb Immigrant Influx’
Napolitano says foreigners make the nation stronger
(ANSA) — Rome, November 13 — The Italian government is ‘‘determined’’ to reduce the number of immigrants arriving in Italy, Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said Thursday. Speaking a day after the Northern League reignited debate on the issue by proposing a two-year moratorium on immigrant entrants while Italy recovers from the economic crisis, Sacconi said the government was ‘‘working together’’ to come up with an acceptable plan. ‘‘We must certainly take into account the fact that the economic crisis could result in unemployment for many immigrants already resident in our country, who could be required to leave if they don’t find a new job within six months. For that reason we need to be cautious with new arrivals,’’ he said. ‘‘We are determined to contain new entrants, limiting them substantially to professionals, nurses and carers’’. While the government planned to lower annual immigrant quotas, it would take ‘‘a much more flexible line’’ with highly trained professionals, he added.
But Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday urged the country to ‘‘continue decisively in the direction’’ of opening its doors to immigrants, following the examples of the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Praising the ‘‘new energies from every part of the world’’ that the influx of immigrants has brought, he said Italy should drop its ‘‘old prejudices’’ and create a ‘‘climate of openness and appreciation towards foreigners who make themselves Italian,’’ he said. Meeting representatives of 38,500 immigrants who were granted Italian citizenship in 2007, Napolitano said the number of foreigners living in Italy has tripled in the last decade and that this was ‘‘a factor of freshness and strength for the Italian nation’’. He added that while it was necessary to make the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, there should ‘‘be no barriers for basic human rights’’. The issue of integration must meanwhile be dealt with ‘‘seriously, avoiding hurried stopgaps that would show themselves to be artificial and fragile’’. National statistics bureau Istat said Wednesday that there are now 3,433,000 foreigners living in Italy, around half a million of whom arrived in 2007.
MORE FOREIGNERS BECOMING ITALIAN CITIZENS.
More and more foreigners are meanwhile applying to become Italian citizens.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Thursday that the number of successful citizenship applications doubled from 2005 to 2006, has risen slightly since, and is destined to rise at a faster rate. From 19,226 in 2005, they rose to 35,766 in 2006, 38,466 in 2007 and stood at 32,238 at the end of last month. ‘‘These numbers, destined to progressively increase, require a commitment from institutions so that the integration of immigrants is effective — a goal that an indiscriminate opening of frontiers cannot ensure,’’ the interior chief said. ‘‘This is not exclusively a question of public order but of creating the greatest integration possible in conditions that are sustainable for the country’’. Maroni stressed the need for aspiring citizens to have a working knowledge of the Italian language and share values with Italians in order to qualify for citizenship. But House Speaker Gianfranco Fini said ‘‘the time was ripe’’ to loosen citizenship requirements. Fini, who has campaigned in the past to give immigrants the vote, said ‘‘Italian society has changed profoundly’’ and it was time to ‘‘discuss a new law’’. Non-EU immigrants who have lived in Italy for ten years can apply for citizenship, while EU immigrants are eligible after four years and political refugees after five years.
There have been calls to halve the ten-year residence requirement for non-EU foreigners.
Children born in Italy automatically become citizens.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blogger Again Finds Error in NASA Climate Data
An alert reader on McKintyre’s blog revealed that there was a very large problem. Looking at the actual readings from individual stations in Russia showed a curious anomaly. The locations had all been assigned the exact temperatures from a month earlier— the much warmer month of September. Russia cools very rapidly in the fall months, so recycling the data from the earlier month had led to a massive temperature increase.
A few locations in Ireland were also found to be using September data.
Steve McKintyre informed GISS of the error by email. According to McKintyre, there was no response, but within “about an hour”, GISS pulled down the erroneous data, citing a “mishap” and pointing the finger of blame upstream to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UN: Religion Summit, Hezbollah Against Israeli Presence
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 12 — The leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement, Hezbollah, has exhorted Arab and Islamic leaders to fight against the presence of the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, at the UN inter-religious summit, organised to promote a “culture of peace” and dialogue between faiths and civilisations. The summit is scheduled for today and tomorrow. “With regard to the presence of Shimon Peres or Livni, I ask all the Arab or Muslim nations that are taking part in this conference to fight against the presence of these racist assassins and terrorists”, said Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, as quoted today in the Beirut press. “There are Jewish intellectuals and religious leaders that are not Israeli or Zionists which represent the Jewish community”, continued Nasrallah, recalling the military offensive which Israel, under Peres’ instructions, waged against Lebanon in 1996 and the full-scale war of 2006, when Livni was foreign minister. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UN: Religious Summit, Peres and Arabs at Dinner Together
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 12 — An unprecedented dinner last evening at the UN building in New York: Israeli President Shimon Peres and the major leaders from the Arab world — from Saudi Arabia to Palestine, from Lebanon to Egypt — were invited at a UN summit to sit around the same table. The convivial appointment, proposed by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, opened a religious summit of the United Nations, organised to promote ‘‘a culture of peace’’ and dialogue between different religions and civilisations, taking place today and tomorrow. ‘‘It is a unique chance — said the secretary general in a press conference — and I sincerely hope that it can promote reciprocal understanding’’. Besides Peres, Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, United States President, George W. Bush, and British Premier, Gordon Brown will all speak. Particularly substantial will be the heads of state present from the Middle East, like Jordanian King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, and his Egyptian colleague Hosni Mubarak. The Holy See has sent Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the inter-religious dialogue Council to the UN. During the summit, a meeting between the Israeli president and his colleague from the Palestinian National Authority, Abu Mazen (Mahmud Abbas) has not been excluded. The last time that the two leaders saw each other was in September in Italy at an Ambrosetti Workshop in Cernobbio. The religious encounter was strongly supported by the President of the General Assembly of the UN, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, an a divinis suspended priest and ex-Foreign Minister of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The encounter ‘‘will be very similar to the general debate (that takes place in September with all world leaders) — explained Enrique Yevez, spokesperson for the president of the General Assembly — There will be two days of speeches and bilateral meetings between representatives from various countries’’. One of these is a meeting that is scheduled for tomorrow in a hotel in New York between the United States president and the Saudi Arabian king. Negative reports are indicating that there will be little talk of peace in the Middle East, and they will discuss energy and oil, since on January 20th 2009, Bush will return to being a Texas oil magnate. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Some good news:
1) Uzbekistan quits the Russian led Euroasian economic organisation (started 2000, member 2006-8), shifts towards the West
building a pipeline "South Stream" through Turkey, Bulgaria...
2) The Czech president V.Klaus creates diplomatic uneasiness within his 3 days official visit of Ireland:
He met also anti-EU Declan Ganley who founded "Libertas" with decisive influence on the Irish no to Lisbon.
He called himself and Ganley dissidents which outraged the Irish gov. and some EU MPs (Leinen, Swoboda) comparing it with communist time dissidents getting visitors from the West (for ex. Mitterand in Prague 1988). I would like to read the exact wording, since we like irony and sense of humor, which was probably translated on purpose into outrage.
And EU Irishmen are payed not to exhibit or accept any sense of humor, let it be Czech or Irish.
3)The Czech republic (coming EU presidency feared by Sarkozy for our anti EU reputation)
promotes opening markets, services within EU to Israel, avoiding any previous preconditions linked to "Palestinians", peace process and other vanity projects.
This proIsraeli straightening of traditional proPal EU policies and money squandering is still opposed by:
Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Ireland and of course Sweden.
But gets over the necessary 1/2 EU members most probably, reinforced by our EU presidency.
This is interesting: In 1947 Czechoslovakia provided weapons and planes to the future Israelis during the strictest embargo. Every Israeli kid knows that from the school. In communist times it was however impossible to send/receive a letter to/from Israel. The Israeli Embassy was abolished after 1968 - the only Western embassy resisting ubiquitous local KGB.
Israelis and Czech EU representatives work also jointly on removing extremist texts from Palestinian textbooks payed by notoriously indifferent EU through subsidies.
The Czechs having an anti EU reputaton won't matter if they ratify the treaty. If they do then Ireland will be isolated and under enormous pressure next year when we vote again. Our economy is expected to shrink by 2% this year and by 4% next year. This will be a disaster and the politicans will tell us we cannot afford to have the EU hostile to us at this time. Irish politicans are basically cyborgs with EU wiring and they were furious with MR Klaus. Their tactic for now is to attack Ganly and the unknown sources of his funding ( while they ignore the monsterous financial corruption of the EU ). Its not working but next year they will have more leverage with the people if another EU country does not reject the treaty in the meantime. The vast majority of the no voters voted against the treaty over concerns of sovereignty, not against the EU. Eurabia doesn't even have conspiracy theory status here. Its unknown.
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