The most important news of the day obviously comes from Mumbai. There are eight or ten articles about the terrorist attacks here; go to the South Asia section and keep scrolling.It’s still early days in this story, and information keeps flooding in. I’ve collected a lot of it, and hope to take a closer look at the big picture when I have time.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Frontinus, Insubria, JC, JD, Paul Green, Rolf Krake, Steen, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Cops Force U.S. Soldiers to Lick ‘Urine’ Off Ground
Police threaten to file burglary charges against Iraq war veterans if they complain
Two Iraq war veterans who claim police forced them to lick what was believed to be human urine off the ground have filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the officers.
Wisconsin National Guardsmen Sgt. Anthony R. Anderson and Specialist Robert C. Schiman were in the town of Wisconsin Dells on June 1 for weekend training when two police officers accused them of urinating in an alley, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
The soldiers denied relieving themselves in public.
Officers Wayne W. Thomas, 19, and Collin H. Jacobson, 20, instructed the two-time war veterans to lick the ground and scrape up mud and lick it to prove the substance was not urine — or they would receive citations.
According to the lawsuit, the officers also made Schiman eat a plant soaked in the liquid.
When both men had licked the ground, one of the officers said he hadn’t seen it. He instructed Anderson to do it once more, according to the lawsuit.
“That’s not good enough,” the officer said. “Do you want a ticket?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NY Warns of Possible Al Qaeda Attack
U.S. authorities have warned of a possible al Qaeda threat to transit systems in and around New York City, a Homeland Security official said on Wednesday.
New York police said they were increasing security in response to the warning but said this was “in an abundance of caution.” The warning comes at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, one of the busiest U.S. travel periods of the year.
“The New York City Police Department is aware of an unsubstantiated report indicating that al Qaeda terrorists discussed targeting mass transit in New York City and the vicinity,” Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne told Reuters.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said the warning was issued on the basis of “plausible but uncorroborated information” and that al Qaeda may have discussed such attacks in late September. Knocke said Homeland Security and the FBI had passed on the warning to state and local officials on Tuesday but there was no specific information to confirm that the plot had developed “beyond aspirational planning.”
The warning was issued as a routine matter and no adjustments were being made to the nation’s threat level. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it was aware of “threats against transit properties during the holiday season” and was working closely with officials to increase police presence throughout the sprawling bus and rail system. Browne said: “In an abundance of caution the NYPD has deployed additional resources in the mass transit system.” […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
The Socialist State: A Hotbed of Capitalism
Gerald Celente has chalked up a formidable list of correct forecasts, having predicted all the major market downs for years. He is now predicting an unprecedented economic collapse within the first Obama term.
He is also predicting an imminent tax revolt.
Now perhaps we need to step back and look at the positive side of a down economy:
Nothing less than total collapse will stop people like Rep. Barney Frank, one of the chief culprits in the bank crisis, who accused the critics of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Democratic policies of alarmism. But now that these GSEs have collapsed and gone into receivership, he and his cohorts, like Sen. Chris Dodd, still sound morally superior to those who favor the free market. Clearly, those who brought us the crash, as well as voters who bought the myth that conservative policies caused it, need an overdose of reality to back them up against the wall. Democrats and RINOs can lie all they want, but who will restore their portfolios? About $6 trillion has been lost so far.
Celente says the reality overdose is on the way, and here is why I believe him.
We now face a Soviet-style state that is taking over ownership of business.
To see how this will end, we need only look backward — at the Soviet Union.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
USA-Libya: Senate Confirms Nomination of Tripoli Ambassador
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 21 — The United States will soon send their first ambassador to Tripoli in 36 years, announced State Department Spokesperson, Sean McCormack, today. The nomination of Gene Cretz to head the diplomatic mission, kept in check by Congress over concerns that Libya had not yet paid compensation to the families of all the victims of the Lockerbie massacre, was ratified in the Senate today. Cretz is a career diplomat. “We are very satisfied”, McCormack said. The last US ambassador to Libya was recalled to Washington in 1972. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Students Drop Shinerama Fundraiser for Illness Targeting Caucasians
Students at an Ottawa university are pulling out of a Canada-wide fundraiser that provides close to $1 million a year for cystic fibrosis research and treatment, arguing that the disease “has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men” — something experts say is untrue.
The Carleton University Students Association voted Monday night overwhelmingly in favour of choosing a new charity to support during its orientation week in September, in lieu of Shinerama, which raises money for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The foundation funds research into cystic fibrosis, a fatal, genetic disease that affects both sexes with a similar frequency and is most common among Caucasians. The foundation also helps fund services for people with the disease. It affects mainly the lungs and digestive system, causing a build-up of thick mucus that leads to infection and inflammation.
The student council motion stated that orientation week “strives to be inclusive” and “all orientees and volunteers should feel like their fundraising efforts will serve their diverse communities.”
Nick Bergamini was the only student councillor to vote against the motion.
“I think that it’s political correctness gone horribly, horribly wrong,” he said. “They’re playing not just politics with this, but they’re playing racial politics, and I think it’s entirely inappropriate.”
The Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation called the student council’s decision “crushing.”
| — Hat tip: Rolf Krake | [Return to headlines] |
Bio-Ethics: France, Parliament Divides Over Uterus for Hire
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 20 — France’s Parliamentary Office for the Assessment of Scientific and Technological Choices (Opecst) has come down in favour of maintaining its 2004 bioethics law with regard to its ban on the use of “uterus for hire”, which a working group of the French Senate had recently recommended for legalisation. A review of the law has been scheduled for 2010, following the holding of the “General State of Bioethics” in the first semester of 2009. “The wish to have a baby cannot extend to making use of a ‘bearing mother’“, stated Socialist deputy, Alain Claeys, a member of Opecst, thereby stressing that the interests of the future baby and those of the “mother for hire” are often not considered sufficiently. A stance in opposition to that of the group of senators under Socialist Michele Abdré, which in June proposed legalising a closely-defined form of the norm in June, as a practice which is already permitted in Greece and in the UK. Around 400 French couples would make use of it each year, especially women without a womb of their own. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Integration is on Right Track
“People have had enough!”
“We can’t pamper them anymore; we have to put our foot down.”
“We’re plagued by an epidemic of Moroccan violence.”
Just a few comments made by politicians from across the political spectrum during a recent debate about integration in the Dutch parliament. It sounds pretty bad. Just how did Dutch integration fail so badly?
The answer: it didn’t.
Despite heated debates in Dutch politics, integration in the Netherlands is going well. That’s one of the conclusions of the annual report on Dutch society published by the Dutch national statistics organisation Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
The CBS report shows that non-western immigrants, and their children, are closing gaps with native Dutch citizens in various areas. More immigrants are enrolled in higher education and more are graduating from secondary school. There’s also been a sharp rise in the number of immigrants in the workforce.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Faces “Disappointment” Over Obama
Europe’s euphoria at the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States may be dampened when he assumes power, a political expert warns.
Obama attracted 200,000 people to a speech in Berlin and his victory sparked the unusual spectacle of Parisians dancing in the streets. “The whole world is counting on Obama,” said Swiss newspaper Blick.
Many Europeans view Obama as the antithesis of George W. Bush: liberal, tolerant and with a sympathetic international outlook.
But Professor Stephen Monsma of the Henry Institute in Michigan warns Europeans against having unrealistic expectations: Obama might be more liberal than Bush but he would continue to put Americans first when he takes office, Monsma told swissinfo.
“My impression is that many Europeans see Obama as such an internationalist that they may even doubt whether he would ever put American self-interest first,” he said.
“He will be a very tough negotiator. There is so much enthusiasm for Obama in Europe, even among the French. I’m sure that America’s Nato allies are soon going to feel some pressure from the Obama government to send more troops to Afghanistan and we will see how excited the French are about that.”
Easing unemployment pain
Monsma, a scholar in residence at Swiss bank UBS’s Wolfsberg think tank, gave his views at a briefing in Thun, canton Bern, on Thursday.
He believes Obama’s experience as a community worker in deprived areas of Chicago may have toughened his resolve to safeguard American jobs.
“Many of the problems people were facing were due to closures of steel mills and much of the blame was levelled at foreign competition. I am sure even today he could cite the names of people who lost their jobs as a result, allegedly, of foreign steel imports,” Monsma said.
The current global economic downturn has led to huge numbers of job losses in the US. Obama hinted in his election campaign that he was prepared to act to ease the pain, according to Monsma.
“He is willing to come to the defence of the American automobile industry by putting billions of dollars of subsidy into the industry. He will be taking a close look at international treaties and asking what impact they could have on unemployment rates in the US,” Monsma said.
“There may be some disappointment on the international scene as he works to protect American workers.”
Against torture
But Monsma predicts better news for Europe regarding Obama’s foreign policy. He believes the new president will demonstrate a real understanding of America’s impact on the world and will not walk away from the negotiating table as quickly as Bush.
“I expect a quick change on issues such as the use of torture against suspected terrorists, Guantanamo Bay and holding suspects indefinitely,” said Monsma.
He believes however that Obama has signalled his intent to concentrate on domestic matters first and foremost before looking to the outside world.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ombudsmen Critical of Racist School Book
Two Swedish ombudsman offices have added their voices to the chorus of criticism about a school book accused of having racist and sexist contents, but are powerless to do anything about it.
Earlier this year, both offices received letters from a group of parents from Mölndal in western Sweden who wrote in an attempt to get a hearing for their view that the book was insulting and prejudiced.
“I think you are justified in your reaction to the current book,” wrote the DO in its response.
The DO added, however, that it had no ability to affect legislation on the issue and that the most it could do was “recommend schools undertake a review of the literature. Hopefully the school will accept your point of view and change books.”
The book in question is part of the Förstagluttarna series of books, named for a common Swedish nickname for first graders.
In one passage explains that a little boy with glasses is sitting alone because he is Jewish. Other parts of the book portray girls as being less skilled at mathematics than boys.
Earlier this week another group of parents from Karlskrona in central Sweden urged school officials to take action.
Despite the protests about the book’s lack of gender equality, however, the JämO also said that current law doesn’t allow for the book to be banned from the classroom.
“On the other hand it will be interesting to see how school manages teaching material like this, where it could possibly be a question of some form of harassment,” said JämO’s Johan Gyberg to SvD.
In a statement, the book’s publisher, Natur & Kultur, said it welcomes discussion about the best way to educate young children.
“It’s always useful for us to hear the views of teachers, students, and parents. When it comes to teaching material we believe that teachers have the competence to decide which materials are most appropriate for their students and lessons,” writes Natur & Kultur.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
On Vlaams Belang
by Diana West
Editor’s note: In the global arena, where Israel’s friends can be counted on one hand, it is important to know why Israel, which considers a terrorist enabler like Abbas a partner in negotiations, would eschew the participation of a political party like Belgium’s Vlaams Belang in a conference on jihad that was scheduled to take place in the Knesset. So we asked the prominent journalist Diana West who has written extensively about Vlaams Belang and the Islamization of Europe to clarify for us who is involved in the party and what are its goals.
Outpost: The “Facing Jihad Conference” organized by Geert Wilders and Arieh Eldad and scheduled to take place in Israel has been postponed by Eldad ostensibly due to the unexpected advent of Israeli elections. One of the obvious participants in a conference of political actors who oppose jihad and Islamization is the Belgian/Flemish party Vlaams Belang. However, according to media reports, it was disinvited on the grounds it is a racist, anti-Semitic organization.
Could you explain what Vlaams Belang is and given that their statements have been so pro-Israel, why their invitation should be controversial, particularly in Israel?
Diana West: The routinely, reflexively lodged charges against Vlaams Belang turn on two cartoonishly false charges: one, that the party is anti-Semitic, and two, that it is neo-Nazi. Having interviewed many prominent members of the party at length and on several occasions both in the US and in Belgium, I can categorically dismiss both charges as being false even if they have also been effective in caricaturing the party in the mind (and I use the term loosely) of the mainstream.
Vlaams Belang, which means “Flemish Interest” in Dutch, is a party organized around two main principles. The first is independence for Flanders from the Belgian state, which is an ill-matched alliance of French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemish. The second principle is Vlaams Belang’s staunch and courageously outspoken—i.e., hyper-politically incorrect—opposition to the Islamization of Belgium, and by extension, of all Europe. These two principles make Vlaams Belang doubly, if not triply revolutionary in its relationship to the ruling establishment in Belgium, which includes the government and media (which without exception may be described as Left-wing).
Not only does Vlaams Belang, as a secessionist party, oppose the Belgian government, it also opposes the Belgian government’s politically correct and expedient alliance with and orientation toward Islamic interests, which has created a kind of dominant political atmosphere best described as Islamosocialist. Given the additional fact that Brussels is also the “capital of Europe,” Vlaams Belang’s nationalist political drive to break up Belgium also carries an implicit threat against the continued unity of the softly but increasingly totalitarian European suprastate known as the European Union.
So where do the anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi charges comes from? Let’s start by acknowledging that Dutch is a Germanic language, and, in our age and culture, any Germanic-accented politicians decribed as “right-wing” may trigger an almost atavistic prejudice…
Before I met Vlaams Belang’s Frank Vanhecke and Filip Dewinter in Washington, I believed Europe’s rush to Islamize itself was a stampede, its transformation all but inevitable. Now, I think these men have at least earned Europe the benefit of the doubt. Studying their various statements and interviews, I found no evidence to support the crude slanders to which they are continually subjected in the media for being a right-wing party opposed to the massive Islamic immigration now transforming traditional European culture. Indeed, their statements on Israel are more supportive than any European party I know of. As Vanhecke put it in a recent speech, “They call us ‘intolerant’ because we oppose intolerance. They call us ‘fascists’ because we oppose Islamo-fascism. They call us ‘the children of holocaust perpetrators,’ because we oppose Islamists who are preparing a new holocaust against the Jews.’“
America must start paying attention to Europe. And to Vlaams Belang.
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Prince Charles Honors Talented Muslims
LONDON — Britain’s heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles honored late on Wednesday, November 26, a number of talented Muslims in recognition of their valuable contributions to British society.
“I have to say that it is this acceptance — indeed, this welcome — of diversity which makes me rather proud to be British,” Prince Charles told the Mosaic Talent Awards ceremony.
The Prince of Wales said the Muslim community has “enriched Britain in every sense,” reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“I was fascinated to hear the views of the imam of the Leeds Makkah Mosque on how, through a wide range of initiatives including Mosaic, Britain seeks to integrate rather than isolate its minority communities and offers real freedom of choice and of expression.”…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Senior Tory Arrested Over Leaks
Conservative immigration spokesman Damian Green has been arrested and released on bail in connection with a series of leaks from the Home Office.
Police say Mr Green was held on suspicion of “conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office”.
The MP denied any wrongdoing and said “opposition politicians have a duty to hold the government to account” and that he would “continue to do so”.
He was questioned, but has not been charged and was bailed until February.
Mr Green’s arrest is believed to be connected to the arrest of a man suspected of being a Home Office whistleblower.
Speaking outside the House of Commons, Mr Green said: “I was astonished to have spent more than nine hours today under arrest for doing my job.
‘Right to know’
“I emphatically deny I have done anything wrong. I have many times made public information that the government wanted to keep secret — information that the public has a right to know.
“In a democracy, opposition politicians have a duty to hold the government to account.
“I was elected to the House of Commons precisely to do that and I certainly intend to continue doing so.”
The BBC understands that a junior Home Office official was suspended from duty 10 days ago over a number of leaks and the matter was referred to police. He was arrested but not charged.
It follows a series of leaks, including:
- The November 2007 revelation that the home secretary knew the Security Industry Authority had granted licences to 5,000 illegal workers, but decided not to publicise it.
- The February 2008 news that an illegal immigrant had been employed as a cleaner in the House of Commons.
- A whips’ list of potential Labour rebels in the vote on plans to increase the pre-charge terror detention limit to 42 days.
- A letter from the home secretary warning that a recession could lead to a rise in crime.
The BBC understands Tory leader David Cameron is angry about what has happened and stands by Mr Green.
| — Hat tip: Frontinus | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Francoism; Zapatero Asks Church to Respect Memory
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 26 — The incitement of the President of the Spanish Episcopal Council, Antonio Maria Rouco Varelàs, “to oblivion” regarding the spirit of national reconciliation in relation to the historical memory law, continues to create reactions. In defence of the law, Spanish Premier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has weighed in on the issue, in statements reported by El Pais, reminding that the church canonised 977 Catholic victims of the civil war and opened up another 500 canonization processes. “If all citizens respected that the Catholic church made a large number of canonisations of martyrs, why don’t we respect — asked the socialist leader — in the spirit of reconciliation, that the facility members of the victims of the civil war be able to know where their loved ones are buried and that they obtain the satisfaction of this recognition?”. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: New Demands for Immigrant Families
Before bringing their families to Sweden, newly arrived immigrants must first demonstrate they have housing and disposable income, according to a new proposal.
A government commission looking into the requirement immigrants must fulfill before sending for their families suggests they must have secure housing and at least 5,000 kronor ($620) a month left over after making their rent.
The commission was launched in February and according to prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, the new rules are a way of strengthening Sweden’s employment policies.
At the same time, the government wants to show that “those who point to the downside of multiculturalism aren’t answered by an attempt to cover up problems but rather with measures for making improvements,” Reinfeldt said in Feburary at a press conference in Landskrona announcing the plan.
But critics from the opposition as well as immigrants’ and refugees’ rights groups immediately condemned the proposal.
Relatives of immigrants make up more than half of those who receive Swedish residence permits through Sweden’s asylum system, and officials from particularly popular towns like Malmö, Gothenburg, and Södertälje, have complained for years about the extremely cramped housing conditions for new immigrants.
Today, Sweden and Belgium are the only EU countries which don’t place self-sufficiency requirements on immigrants before allowing them to seek residency for their families.
Uppsala judge Erik Lempert, who led the inquiry, plans to present the commission’s suggestions on December 1st.
According to TT, he has concluded that the person who receives a Swedish residency permit would only be required to demonstrate a capacity to support him — or herself, but not an entire family.
The proposal also includes several exceptions.
Minors granted residency permits would not be bound by the requirements, for example, nor would those who have been granted asylum and have met the legal definition of being a refugee.
Also excepted from the requirements are those who are granted residency in Sweden for protective reasons, specifically those who are seen to have “well-grounded fears” for being subject to torture or suffering in a war in their home country.
However, those who are allowed to stay as a result of a natural disaster, as well as those with “special unnamed circumstances” must abide by the income and housing demands before being allowed to bring their families to Sweden, according to the commission’s proposal.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sharia Law Should be Introduced Into Legal System, Says Leading Barrister
A leading barrister has said that Sharia law should be incorporated into the English legal system, it has been reported.
Stephen Hockman QC, a former chairman of the Bar Council, reportedly suggested that a group of MPs and legal figures should be convened to plan how elements of the Muslim religious-legal code could be introduced.
After speaking at an event organised by the website Islam4UK at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall, Mr Hockman reportedly told The Daily Express: “Given our substantial Muslim population, it is vital that we look at ways to integrate Muslim culture into our traditions. Otherwise we will find that there is a significant section of our society which is increasingly alienated, with very dangerous results.
“There should perhaps be a standing committee comprising Parliamentarians, lawyers and religious leaders to consider how this could be achieved and what legal changes might be framed.”
Sharia law has been criticised for its prevention of some rights for women. Mr Hockman reportedly conceded: “The position of women is one area where the emphasis is, to the say the least, rather different.”
He reportedly added that the incorporation of Sharia could improve relations between faith groups and boost the country’s security.
He said: “I am also sometimes confronted by those who point out that there are elements within the Muslim community who pose a threat to our very security. My answer is not to dispute them but to suggest that it is for those of us forming part of the majority community to address such problems.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Violence Against Women: Spain, 400,000 Victims Every Year
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 25 — Around 400,000 women in Spain have been victims of abuses and domestic violence in the last year, according to figures published today by the Ministry for Equality. The figure is based on projections from statistics published in 2006 by the Institute for the Woman, which includes non-reported abuses, which is not perceived as such, which makes up 14% of the total. The number is much higher than the 80,000 statements which go before the courts every year, and has increased significantly in the last 4 years, after laws came into force on the subject. Some 83 courts deal specifically with violent gender crimes. Minister for gender violence, Miguel Lorente, says that it appears from the statistics that more than 1.5 million women in Spain have been abused at least once in their life. There have been 57 murders by a partner since the start of the year. Commenting on the figure for domestic killings, on the International day against violence against women, the Minister for Equality, Bibiana Aido, stressed that “the fight against this social evil coincides with the whole of society and all institutions”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Israeli-PNA Cooperation Under EU Aegis Goes Ahead
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 25 — Everything is ready for the relaunch of energy cooperation between the EU, Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. The Project for integration of the Euro-Mediterranean energy market (Med-Emip), financed by the EU, to whom the European Commission entrusted the job of managing the ‘Solar for Peace’ initiative which aims to favour energy cooperation in the Middle East. ‘Solar for peace’ got the go-ahead from Euromediterranean ministers during the ministerial conference in Limassol, Cyprus, on December 17. Israel and the PNA agreed to the collaboration last June. According to the initial study by Med-Emip, the first steps by Solar for Peace will be: to extend the use of solar-powered water heating systems in the Palestinian Territories, the installation of highly innovative photovoltaic plants and the construction of a power plant of between 20 and 50 MW which will supply energy to both sides. In the last working meeting of the Med-Emip project, EU Commission representatives, Israel and the PNA evaluated a common office for energy and cooperation in complementary areas such as management of the electricity network.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Med: Interreligious Dialogue Helps Bring Shores Closer
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 20 — Bringing the two shores of the Mediterranean closer is possible also thanks to interreligious dialogue. However, is a true dialogue possible between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? And mainly, under what conditions, and in what form? These are the questions that the encounter organised yesterday in Rome by the French Embassy at the Holy See and the Saint Louis of France Cultural Centre tried to give responses to. Two countries with emblematic cases in which Islam and Christianity coexist, despite an embittering of relations and growing tension due to extremist groups are Algeria and Lebanon. “In Algeria there are difficulties in the coexistence between Christians and Muslims, but there are also many opportunities to live together”, said Monsignor Henri Tessier, Archbishop Emeritus of Algiers, who has been living in the Maghreb country for forty years. “Since 2006, the situation for Christians has become more difficult, but thanks to the help of moderate Muslims and intellectuals, we have managed to move forward”, continued the bishop, underlining how “dialogue and collaboration between the two religions are possible on social, economic, educational, and spiritual ground”. For Professor Joseph Maila, long time teacher at the University of Beirut and rector of the Catholic Institute in Paris, “dialogue between these two monotheistic religions goes back to the time when Islam was born”. “The Koran — he reminded — is full of invitations for theological comparisons and appeals. But it is necessary to wait for the appearance of modern states so that there are real forums for dialogue able to reduce religious tensions, as occurred, for example, in Lebanon”. Despite efforts — warned Maila — it is not possible to forget situations like in Iraq, which has seen in the last 5 years, 400 thousand Assyrian Chaldeans to flee, or clashes between Coptics and Muslims in Egypt, or even various murders of Christians in Algeria and Turkey, because they were suspected of proselytism”. How can religions contribute to peace between people from different communities? In order to respond to this question, Professor Roberto Papini, secretary general of the Jacques Maritain International Institute, reminded words spoken by Syrian poet Adonis last October at the Biennial of Theatre in Venice: “Dialogue can no longer be considered only as adherence to other’s thoughts, and accusing those who do not think like you of not wanting to participate in dialogue. But if dialogue is respect, comparisons between creativity, then from diversity, only enrichment can be born. And in the final analysis, peace”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: New Trade Surplus of Almost 40 Bln Dollars
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 19 — Algeriàs trade balance for the first 10 months of 2008 has recorded a 39.7 billion dollar surplus compared to 26.07 billion dollars in the same period in 2007. This was reported by the Centre for National Statistical Information (Cnis)of Algerian Customs, cited by press agency Aps. Exports between January and October reached 70.55 billion dollars, increasing 44.96% compared to last year while imports reached 30.77 billion dollars (+36.23%). Hydrocarbons, mainly gas and oil, continue to represent about 98% of exports. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Medicine: Algeria, First Birth From Frozen Embryo
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 18 — Nour Iman was born yesterday. She is the first baby in Algeria to be born following the implantation of a frozen embryo. This was reported today in the Algerian press. “This is the first experience which shows how the problem of infertility can also be fought in Algerian hospitals”, said professor Derguini, a consultant in the obstetrics department in the Kouba hospital in Algiers. The mother, who comes from a family with a modest financial situation from Lakdaria, had her first-born baby girl four years ago with assisted insemination and on that occasion two embryos were frozen. “A few months ago we received a call from the hospital saying that the embryos must either be used or eliminated”, said the woman. “My husband and I decided to try. It is a miracle”. According to Derguini, a further three Algerian women are pregnant with frozen embryos. “The demand is high in Algeria, but we still need to improve the technical standard”. In the North African country this type of operation costs around 100,000 dinars (1000 euro). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Women MPs Want Quotas in Local Councils Too
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, NOVEMBER 17 — ‘Women’s quotas’ in the city councils with an amendment to the electoral law: this was the request put forward by a group of Moroccan women MPs during a session at the House of Representatives for the Interior, Decentralisation and Infrastructure. After the positive results at a parliamentary level following the introduction of an electoral law to provide quotas of women with ‘unambiguous provision’’ the MPs requested a provision which obliges the councils concerned to set aside at least 33% of the posts in the list for women. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
PNA: Projects for 510 Million Dollars From Nablus Conference
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 25 — The “Palestine Investment Conference-Forum del nord” has ended with an investment package of 510 million dollars, the international conference for investment in the Palestinian territories at Nablus in the West Bank, said the online edition of the Middle East Times. Palestinian businessmen, also resident abroad, and Arab Israeli investors (that is, Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship) took part in the conference. Five of the seven projects relate to the infrastructure, one of them industrial and the last relates to the financial sector. A statement of intent was also signed for the creation of an industrial area in Nablus at an estimated cost of 85 million dollars. Apart from representatives of the Middle East Quartet (USA, Russia, UN and EU) and the World Bank, the President of the Palestine Authority Abu Mazen and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad spoke: they both expressed a hope that in future a meeting like Nablus could take place in Jerusalem. There were four working session, where infrastructure, industry, agriculture and tourism were discussed. Despite businessmen and other participants having no problems getting to Nablus during the two days of the conference (thanks also to coordination with the Israelis), President Abbas stressed that the biggest obstacle to economic growth was the network of around 600 Israeli road blocks in the West Bank. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Arab MPs Attend Workshop on Discrimination, Abuse of Women
Arab lawmakers on Wednesday attended the opening day of the second regional workshop on the “Roles of Parliamentarians in the Implementation of CEDAW,” referring to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The two-day workshop, held to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, was organized by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW), and held at ESCWA’s premises in Beirut.
Parliamentarians from ESCWA member states Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen attended the meeting, which was inaugurated by UN Undersecretary General and ESCWA Executive Secretary Bader Omar al-Dafa. CEDAW Committee member and Romanian Ambassador to Sweden Victoria Popescu also attended.
“The issue of combating violence and discrimination against women requires extensive efforts from Arab countries,” Dafa said at the opening of the workshop. “It is not only a matter of signing international treaties or amending national legislation, but something that requires hard work and close scrutiny so as to put laws into practice and enable women to participate in public life and be decision makers.” […]
CEDAW, which is often viewed as the major international bill of rights for women, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 and clearly defines what constitutes discrimination against women and how it can be ended. Although 16 Arab countries have ratified CEDAW, most cite reservations on its articles regarding abortion, inheritance and reproductive health rights. […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
IAEA to Assist Syria in Nuclear Project
The 35 member states of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed to assist Syria in the construction of a nuclear power plant. The US and other Western states eventually agreed even though they have serious objections to the project.
They point to an IAEA report which says Syria may be secretly working on a nuclear weapon. The main evidence for the allegation is an Israeli air strike which took place last year. It would appear a nuclear facility in a remote desert location was destroyed in the attack.
Under these circumstances, the Western member states felt it would be inappropriate to offer nuclear assistance to Syria, but China and Russia disagreed. The IAEA will investigate the viability of a Syrian nuclear power plant and where it would be best located.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Man Sentenced by Court to be Blinded by Acid
Iranian newspapers say a court has sentenced a man who blinded a woman with acid also to be blinded with acid under the country’s Islamic law.
Thursday’s reports in several newspapers, including the Kargozaran, say 27-year-old Majid, who was only identified by his first name, confessed to attacking Ameneh Bahrami in 2004 to dissuade anyone from marrying the woman he loved.
Wednesday’s ruling was issued based on the Islamic law system of “qisas,” or eye for an eye retribution. The reports say Ameneh asked the court to sentence Majid to be blinded by acid to prevent similar attacks on other women. Majid is allowed to appeal the verdict.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: USA Will Supply Army With Dozens of Tanks, Press
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 21 — The United States have decided to supply the Lebanese Army with “some dozens” of heavy M-60 tanks in order to improve its ability to fight against “terrorist groups”. This is what the newspaper an Nahar in Beirut reported quoting the US’s assistant secretary of state for Near-East affairs, David Welch, according to whom the discussion on the supply is currently in progress in Congress and is strongly supported by the White House and the Defence Department. According to an Nahar, the first group of tanks should be delivered at the beginning of 2009, over two years after the Lebanese Army defeated the fundamentalist group Fatah al Islam, an al-Qaeda aspirer, in the Palestinian refugee camps in Nahr and Bared in the northern part of Lebanon. A result for which was necessary a battle that raged for about three months, costing the lives of about 170 soldiers, above all due to the Army’s lack of adequate equipment. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Questions Interfaith Dialogue
In comments on Sunday that could have broad implications in a period of intense religious conflict, Pope Benedict XVI cast doubt on the possibility of interfaith dialogue but called for more discussion of the practical consequences of religious differences.
The pope’s comments came in a letter he wrote to Marcello Pera, an Italian center-right politician and scholar whose forthcoming book, “Why We Must Call Ourselves Christian,” argues that Europe should stay true to its Christian roots. A central theme of Benedict’s papacy has been to focus attention on the Christian roots of an increasingly secular Europe.
In quotations from the letter [“A dialogue between religions is not possible. Faith can not be put in brackets”] that appeared on Sunday in Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading daily newspaper, the pope said the book “explained with great clarity” that “an interreligious dialogue in the strict sense of the word is not possible.” In theological terms, added the pope, “a true dialogue is not possible without putting one’s faith in parentheses.”
But Benedict added that “intercultural dialogue which deepens the cultural consequences of basic religious ideas” was important. He called for confronting “in a public forum the cultural consequences of basic religious decisions.”
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope’s comments seemed intended to draw interest to Mr. Pera’s book, not to cast doubt on the Vatican’s many continuing interreligious dialogues. “He has a papacy known for religious dialogue; he went to a mosque, he’s been to synagogues,” Father Lombardi said. “This means that he thinks we can meet and talk to the others and have a positive relationship.”
To some scholars, the pope’s remarks seemed aimed at pushing more theoretical interreligious conversations into the practical realm. “He’s trying to get the Catholic-Islamic dialogue out of the clouds of theory and down to brass tacks: how can we know the truth about how we ought to live together justly, despite basic creedal differences?” said George Weigel, a Catholic scholar and biographer of Pope John Paul II.
This month, the Vatican held a conference with Muslim religious leaders and scholars aimed at improving ties. The conference participants agreed to condemn terrorism and protect religious freedom, but they did not address issues of conversion and of the rights of Christians in majority Muslim countries to worship.
The church is also engaged in dialogue with Muslims organized by the king of Saudi Arabia, a country where non-Muslims are forbidden from worshiping in public.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
The Accolade, Saudi Arabia’s First All-Girl Rock Band
To evade their country’s rigid Islamic rules a group of young women jam in secret locations putting their music on the web. For the group’s leader, playing “is a challenge,” but their dream is to play before a live audience in Dubai to show “what we’re capable of”.
Jeddah (AsiaNews/Agencies) — They cannot perform in public. They cannot pose for album cover photographs. Even their jam sessions are secret, for fear of offending the religious authorities in this ultraconservative kingdom. But the members of Saudi Arabia’s first all-girl rock band, The Accolade, are clearly not afraid of taboos.
The band’s first single, ‘Pinocchio,’ has become an underground hit here, with hundreds of young Saudis downloading the song from the group’s page on MySpace (pictured).
Now, the pioneering young foursome wants to record an album in secret places far from censorship.
All four members of The Accolade are women: Dina, the group’s guitarist and founder and her sister Dareen, bass player; Lamia, the group’s singer, and Amjad, the keyboardist.
The group’s name was inspired by one of Dina’s favourite paintings, ‘The Accolade,’ by the English pre-Raphaelite painter Edmund Blair Leighton. She studies art at King Abdulaziz University.
Playing “in Saudi [Arabia]”? “Yes, it’s a challenge,” said Lamia. “Maybe we’re crazy. But we wanted to do something different.”
In a country ruled by Sharia, Islamic Law, where rock music is seen as the devil’s music and women are not allowed to drive, it is hard to believe that the band has a future or could one day come out into the open.
Still with more than 60 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population under 25, many younger people are pressing for greater freedoms.
The four young women’s challenge is not meant as a provocation; they want to avoid the ire of Saudi police. For this reason their jam sessions are held in secret for fear of fundamentalists.
The band’s songs and their titles reflect their own self-censorship. Dina had thought for example of writing a song based on Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ but decided that doing so would be taking controversy too far in a country where churches are not allowed, and where Muslims who convert to Christianity can be executed in accordance with the apostasy law.
All four band members want to continue playing but shy away from smoking, drinking and drugs, the music scene’s traditional vices.
The young women’s dream is to play real concerts, perhaps in Dubai; get on a stage and pass on their emotions to the audience.
“It’s important for them to see what we’re capable of,” Dina said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Report Reveals Horrors of Violence Against Women
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 26 — A shocking one out of every three women in Turkey are subject to physical violence. This alarming data comes from the report ‘Violence against Women in Turkey’ prepared this year by academics Ayse Gul Altinay and Yesim Arat, as Turkish dailies report today. “Excuses for Domestic Violence in Turkey and Recommendations from Women Victims on How to Avoid Violence” is the title of another report issued by the Turkey’s Compassion Association of Konya to reveal the horrors of domestic violence against women. According to daily Today’s Zaman the report is the result of the association’s findings after speaking with the 9,000 women and girls who have fallen victim to domestic violence and sought shelter with the Compassion Association, which runs women’s and refugees’ shelters and works on behalf of oppressed peoples, since 1995. The report details the excuses Turkish men use for beating their wives: “The woman’s not wanting to engage in sexual activity; the woman’s gaining weight; her inability to bear children or not bearing a male child; the food shés cooked being too salty, burnt, cold or not according to the man’s tastes; not doing a good job ironing his clothing; being late in answering the door when hés come home and knocked; the woman’s getting ill or not getting better after getting ill and leaving the home without permission”. The report also lists some of the disturbing forms of domestic violence including the “striking of the face, eyes, head, chest, back and knees by punching, kicking, caning or using a belt”. Some further extremes include slinging caustic liquids such as acid at women’s faces, pouring boiling-hot water, tea or coffee on her, extinguishing cigarettes directly on women’s exposed skin and wounding women using knives. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Alarm Over Rape Cases Against Minors
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 21 — There are over 120 every week, a little under 20 each day — minors of both sexes who undergo examination by court-appointed doctors to ascertain whether they have been subjected to sexual violence. The alarm raised today by daily paper Milliyet refers to statements made by a Doctor Coskun Yorulmaz of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine of the University of Istanbul, according to whom: “these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a phenomenon of vaster proportions because the real numbers of minors subjected to sexual violence are much higher and even newly-borns are found to bear the marks of violence”. According to Yorulmaz, “70% of infant victims suffer, apart from physically, profound psychological stress due to the pressure under which they are often place by their families, out of a mistaken sense of pride or shame they force the children to keep the violence they have suffered secret”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Istanbul Hosts 30,000 Street Children, Survey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 25 — Turkey hosts 30,891 homeless street children while 30,109 of them live in Istanbul, daily Today’s Zaman wrote, quoting a research by the Prime Ministry’s Human Rights Presidency (Bihb). The Bihb developped a map identifying street children and those forced to beg on the streets across Turkey. According to a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) in 2006, 50,000 street children were estimated to be living in Turkey, but more recent research on the topic puts this number below 50,000. Rehabilitation facilities for street children were also surveyed by the researchers. In addition to 94 orphanages, 92 rehabilitation centers serve 1,303 street children. “Research will be carried out every year until we find solutions for problems faced by street children”, Hasan Tahsin, Bihb president, said, stressing that “children’s rights have a crucial place in human rights and both the State and Ngòs should work more systematically on the issue”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Clashes With Al Qaida Suspects, 7 Dead
(ANSAmed) — SANAA, NOVEMBER 20 — Seven people died in clashes yesterday between police and suspected mambers of Al Qaida in an area south of Yemen, said a source from the security services today. “Four police, two armed men and a civilian were killed in clashes yesterday morning between police and a group of Al Qaida supporters” said an anonymous source. The clashes occurred around a house in Joaar in the south of Yemen, where two armed men, followed by police, were barricaded. The security forces were looking for Sami Dyan, thought to be one of the most active men in Al Qaidàs terrorist network in Yemen. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Ethos” of the Mumbai Jihad on Chabad?
“Whenever a Jew is Killed it is for the Benefit of Islam.”
by Andrew Bostom
Hat tips to [2] Pamela Geller and [3] Bob Spencer regarding this [4] story about an apparently targeted attack on a Chabad House in Mumbai by the jihad terrorists wreaking carnage in that great Indian city.
This tragedy within a much larger tragedy reminded me of the Indian Sufi “inspiration” for The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism, Ahmad Sirhindi. Nearing completion of my first book compendium, The Legacy of Jihad, in early 2005, specifically the section about jihad on the Indian subcontinent, I came across a remarkable comment by the Indian Sufi theologian Sirhindi (d. 1624). Typical of the mainstream Muslim clerics of his era, Sirhindi was viscerally opposed to the reforms which characterized the latter ecumenical phase of Akbar’s 16th century reign (when Akbar became almost a Muslim-Hindu syncretist), particularly the abolition of the humiliating jizya (Koranic poll tax, as per Koran 9:29) upon the subjugated infidel Hindus. In the midst of an anti-Hindu tract Sirhindi wrote, motivated by Akbar’s pro-Hindu reforms, Sirhindi observes, “Whenever a Jew is killed, it is for the benefit of Islam.”
The biographical information I could glean about Sirhindi provided, among other things, no evidence he was ever in direct contact with Jews, so his very hateful remark suggested to me that the attitudes it reflected must have a theological basis in Islam—contra the prevailing, widely accepted “wisdom” that Islam, unlike Christianity was devoid of such theological Antisemitism…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Fight Against Terrorists “Almost Coming to End”: Police Commissioner
MUMBAI: The NSG’s fight against terrorists is “almost coming to an end” and the commandos were tonight locked in battle with the last batch of the ultras.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor said all hostages inside the Taj hotel have been evacuated but refused to comment on whether the terrorists inside the hotel have been killed.
Regarding terrorists holed up in the Oberoi hotel and Nariman House, Gafoor said NSG commandos are leading the operation and the situation will be brought under control soon.
Gafoor said least 12 terrorists had come to Mumbai from Gujarat.
One NSG commando seriously injured in Taj Hotel, says Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor.
At Oberoi, no gun shots or explosions were heard since late last night as the security forces launched room-to-room searches.
One NSG commando was seriously injured in Taj’s eighth floor during the operations, Commissioner of Police Hassan Gafoor told PTI.
“The operations at Taj and Oberoi are in the final stages,” he said.
Three terrorists, including a Pakistani national, were arrested by the security forces from the Taj hotel last night. The Pakistani national was identified as Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot in Multan, officials said.
The suspected militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, they said.
| [Return to headlines] |
Government to Pay for Attacks, PIME Missionary in Mumbai Says
With groups of terrorists holed up in two hotels TV stations are broadcasting non-stop news about the attack. For Fr Carlo Torriani “it appears that the attack came from outside the country,” adding that “people feel a great lack of security and these attacks will certainly play against the government.”
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — “Who orchestrated the attacks? What is their aim? A lot of guessing but it is still hard to understand .. . .,” said Fr Carlo Torriani, a PIME missionary in Mumbai. Speaking to AsiaNews, he said he heard about the attack at dawn, as the first lights appeared.
“I was going to church to say Mass when some of my parishioners came to tell what had happened over night. So we devoted the Mass to asking for harmony in the population,’ he said.
“In any case we are hounded in Orissa. There is Hindu terrorism and Islamic terrorism. The situation is tense. Just to give you an idea: the Shiv Sena, a local party, had called for a general strike to protest against the government of Maharasthtra for the torture inflicted on Hindus in prison.”
“As far as we know it appears that the attack came from outside the country,” the missionary explained. “The hospital, the central station, a Jewish centre, the Oberoi, the Taj Mahal . . . were hit.”
Newspapers and the government have mentioned seven locations hit during the night, but eyewitnesses have said that they saw gunfire and explosions in other places of the city.
The fact that the attacks were claimed by a hitherto unknown group, the Deccan Mujaheddin, leaves it open to interpretation as to motives and inspirers.
Some commentators see the terrorist actions as an attack against the ruling Congress Party.
“If as they say they [the attackers] are mujahideen; I don’t understand why they would undermine the authority of the Congress Party and favour the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party that supports extremist Hindu nationalism,” Father Torriani said.
“It is true that people feel a great lack of security and these attacks will certainly play against the government, because Congress will be accused of weakness and incapable of countering terrorism.”
With some groups of terrorists holed up in the two hotels, TV stations are broadcasting news non-stop.
“All other programmes have been cancelled. Schools are closed. A cricket match between India and England has been cancelled and the English team has gone home,” Father Torriani said.
There is talk that the number of wounded is close to 300 with about 100 dead, including six foreigners and 15 police officers, including the commander of the anti-terrorism unit and three members of an elite unit.
We must wait and see if we want to understand the situation.
“This morning they were saying that the terrorists came by sea, but an admiral said it is not certain that is the case,” the PIME missionary said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Actress Hid in a Cupboard to Escape Mumbai Attack
Mumbai, 27 Nov. (AKI) — Australian actress Brooke Satchwell was forced to hide in a small storage cupboard as she and her boyfriend were caught in the lobby of a hotel during the violent attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.
She told the Australian media that her boyfriend, David Gross, had cut his leg while escaping from Cafe Leopold as terrorists attacked. They were among a group of Australians, Americans and British trapped in the hotel in fear of their lives.
Satchwell said she hid inside a cupboard, about two metres by 1.5 metres.
“It was really terrifying,’’ she said.
“There were people getting shot in the corridor. There was someone dead outside the bathroom.’’
Hotel staff led people from the bathrooms, but Satchwell said they did not seem to know what to do.
“It was chaos, nobody really knew what was going on, I don’t think they knew where anybody was or what the plan was.’’
Gross said he could not get any assistance for his wound.
“I can’t even get my leg dressed, we can’t to the airport, that’s been bombed, we can’t go to the police centres, they’ve been bombed,’’ Gross said from a hotel room — which he asked not to be identified.
Gross, the son of prominent Sydney lawyer, Bernard Gross, was concerned information would alert the gunmen to their location.
“Neither the consulate in Mumbai or the Embassy in Delhi are answering their phones,’’ he said.
“Our local driver has said it’s too dangerous to drive on the roads, and if we do we’ll be sitting ducks, with nine of us in two small taxis trying to leave.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: British Hostages Unconfirmed Says Foreign Office
London and Mumbai, 27 Nov. (AKI) — The British government has failed to confirm whether any Britons were being held hostage by militants in two luxury hotels in India’s financial capital, Mumbai. Over 90 Indians and six foreigners were among the victims killed in a series of coordinated attacks across the city which injured 287 people, including seven British citizens.
“We have no confirmation of any British nationals being held hostage at this time. Mumbai has been reinforced with extra staff from the High Commission in Delhi,” British Foreign Office spokeswoman Lucy Torrington told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Two International Red Cross staff members are among a team due to arrive in Mumbai to give emotional support to those caught up in the violence, she said.
Police say several suspected terrorists have been killed and nine arrested over the deadly machine-gun and grenade attacks that mainly targeted Mumbai’s tourist and business districts.
Eyewitness reports suggested the attackers were singling out British and American passport holders at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi hotels.
Police said a number of hotels guests taken hostage at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel had been released. However, a siege was believed to be continuing on Thursday at the Oberoi Hotel, where at least one large explosion was reported to have been heard by witnesses.
A previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahadeen has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but observers said it could be a hoax of an assumed name for another group.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Jewish Centre Under Siege in Mumbai
New York, 27 Nov. (AKI) — A Jewish centre in the Indian city of Mumbai remained under siege on Thursday after devastating terrorist attacks rocked the Indian city.The Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish group, Chabad Lubavitch, was one of several sites — including two luxury hotels — targeted by militants in coordinated attacks late Wednesday.
In a statement released on the New York-based organisation’s website, the organisation said that three people, including the small son of Rabbi Gavriel and his wife, were released from Nariman House, the headquarters of Chabad Lubavitch.
But the fate of his parents was still unknown. They are believed to be still inside the building.
Israeli media reports said that three people were killed inside the building, including a couple and a 16-year-old youth.
Gavriel and his wife run the Jewish centre.
Armed men carried out co-ordinated attacks across the city, killing at least 101 people and injuring up to 300 others.
Chabad Lubavitch is one of the largest Hasidic movements in Orthodox Judaism. It promotes Judaism and provides daily Torah lectures and Jewish insights at centres around the world.
The Mumbai centre offers daily prayer services and Torah classes and is a popular meeting point for Israeli tourists in India.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Bomb Blasts Heard in Hotel by Trapped Australian
Mumbai, 27 Nov. (AKI) — An Australian man trapped inside the Oberoi Hotel in the Indian city of Mumbai said he had heard several bomb blasts from his hotel room. Garrick Harvison, export manager with wine producer Yarraman Estate, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday he was lying on the floor of his room and had barricaded his door in a bid to protect himself.
“There’s been quite a few bomb blasts, probably about five or six bomb blasts, which could mean anything,” he told the ABC.
Harvison told his colleagues in Australia he believed Indian security forces were storming the upper floors of the hotel in a bid to free trapped guests, but it was difficult to confirm what was happening there.
“Being locked in a room it’s hard to actually see anything so we’re really just sitting tight until we get further information,” he said.
Media reports said Indian commandos had freed ten guests from the hotel but up to 200 others remained trapped inside the Oberoi.
Speaking to Adnkronos International from Sydney, director of Yarraman Estate, Gary Blom, said Harvison had been trapped in his room for 15 hours with no food or water, but some soft drinks.
Thirty-three year-old Harvison, who is married with two children, was part of an Australian government-sponsored trade delegation visiting India in a bid to boost wine exports.
Blom, who had been in constant telephone contact with Harvison in his Mumbai hotel room, said his colleague had barricaded the door with his hotel bed after hearing a huge gun battle outside his room.
“He is distraught,” Blom told AKI. “There is a massive gun battle going on in the hotel.
“The trouble is not knowing what is going on.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Aceh Jobless Rate Climbs as Relief Projects Slow
Jakarta, 24 Nov. (AKI/Jakarta Post) — Unemployment in Indonesia’s Muslim-devout province of Aceh has risen this year as rebuilding efforts following the deadly tsunami that hit Aceh in late 2004 have slowed. A report commissioned by the World Bank and Bank Indonesia (BI) under the Multi-Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias scheme put the unemployment rate as of the second half of this year at over 9 percent, or close to the national rate.
Many jobs were created in the immediate aftermath of the disaster to serve the reconstruction effort, temporarily boosting employment, according to the deputy manager of the Multi-Donor Fund, Safriza Sofyan.
“With a gradual exit of reconstruction players, there might be upward pressure on unemployment as the reconstruction comes to an end,” said Sofyan in a recent statement.
“Significant investment in the private sector, especially in agriculture and manufacturing related to agriculture is necessary to reverse this trend,” Sofyan stated.
Aceh’s population stood at 3.97 million as of 2005, 2.06 million of whom were employed, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
Agriculture continues to be the largest employer in Aceh, absorbing more than 50 percent of the work force, the report said. Fishing (photo) is also an important sector, which like agriculture was badly damaged by the tsunami.
Nevertheless, the sector had been shedding workers since before the tsunami and the trend is likely to continue so as productivity increases and more people find employment in other sectors.
At the national level, 41 percent of workers are employed in the agriculture sector; well below Aceh’s percentage.
The report shows a significant increase in employment in the services and small industrial sectors, partly as a result of outside assistance for small and medium enterprises as part of the reconstruction effort.
The report says the high wages in the formal sector have constrained Aceh’s competitiveness and its ability to attract investment — an issue that has been frequently bemoaned by potential investors.
Analysts believe a high unemployment rate will threaten Aceh’s political stability. Former separatist rebels from the now disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will use the issue as ammunition to challenge the effectiveness of the landmark peace accord signed with the government in 2005, according to analysts.
This is because most of the former GAM fighters are not only unemployed but also live in worse conditions than their former leaders. The discord has been underlined by a recent string of armed robberies linked to the former militants.
The jobless rate is expected to continue to rise as economic growth in the region slows.
According to the report, Aceh’s preliminary gross domestic product for 2008 stood at 3.1 percent, far below the national growth rate of 6.9 percent.
The World Bank believes sectors linked to the reconstruction effort were showing low or negative growth rates, while other sectors, including agriculture and manufacturing, would need to compensate, although their current rate of expansion is insufficient to boost the economy.
Over the past few years, growth has mainly been fueled by the reconstruction effort and the availability of reconstruction funds.
Despite low growth, according to the World Bank, private consumption has been relatively unaffected as reflected by a large amount of funds being transferred to the province, as well as healthy vehicle sales and electricity consumption.
The agency also revealed inflation in Aceh had declined to below the national level for the first time since the tsunami.
The province’s inflation rate has been easing since peaking in December 2005. As of August, 2008, the year-on-year rate had reached 8.2 percent, below the national level of 11.9 percent.
“A reduction in inflation was expected, as demand from the reconstruction effort is slowing down and supply chains are being restored in the province”, said World Bank economist for Jakarta Enrique Blanco Armas.
The World Bank and BI forecast economic growth this year is likely to be lower than the 7.4 percent level recorded last year and 7.7 percent in 2006, while reconstruction projects will continue to help fuel the economy into next year
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mumbai Attack: Pak Role Under Scrutiny
[…]
Other intelligence experts and websites also zeroed in on Pakistan’s role in the region. “There have been reports from credible sources for years that Pakistani intelligence has used terrorist groups to conduct war-by-proxy against traditional rival India. With the latest horrific attacks throughout Mumbai, evidence continues to accumulate that may add new substance to such reports,” the website Washington Examiner noted.
US officials and lawmakers refrained from naming Pakistan, but their condemnation of “Islamist terrorism” left little doubt where their anxieties lay. “It is often said that India and America have a natural bond as the two largest democracies. Today, we share a bond of a common enemy: what the 9/11 Commission identified as Islamist terrorism. Islamist ideology is spreading across South Asia, and must be stamped out,” California Congressman Ed Royce said.
What has added potency to the latest charges against Islamabad is the Bush administration’s own assessment — leaked to the US media — that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI was linked to the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul some weeks back that killed nearly 60 people including a much-admired Indian diplomat and a respected senior defense official.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorists Did Recce, Set Up Control Rooms in Luxury Hotels
MUMBAI: Terrorists who struck Mumbai had set up advance “Control Rooms” in the luxury Taj and Trident Oberoi hotels which was also targeted and did
prior reconnaisance executing plans worked “over months”, Union Cabinet minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday night.
Sibal said the unprecedented terror attack in the country’s financial capital was planned “over months” and the terrorists were not carrying AK-47 rifles but sophisticated weapons like MP-6.
“The terrorists have identified the targets earlier. Somebody had told them earlier. Enormous planning went into the incident. The terrorists were dropped by a mother ship and travelled in rubber boats which they docked (at Mumbai),” Sibal said.
Terrorists were not attacking people at random. It was a well though out plan, Sibal said.
They had targeted certain key police officers even when they were wearing vests and protective head gears, he said, adding the terrorists shot them dead within minutes of their arrival.
As security agencies pieced together various leads in the probe on India’s worst ever terror strike, there were reports that a likely marine arm of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba may have been involved in the well-planned attacks that left 125 people dead.
The Union Home Ministry said the terrorists chose the sea route and came to the city in boats before spreading out in the metropolis to carry out the sinister strike.
The assessment by the Centre as Mumbai continued to be under siege for the second day came amid reports that the leader of the armed terrorists involved in the attack was killed by his own men.
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorists’ Restless Leg Syndrome
After being captured fighting with Taliban forces against Americans in 2001, Abdullah Massoud was sent to Guantanamo, where the one-legged terrorist was fitted with a special prosthetic leg, at a cost of $50,000-$75,000 to the U.S. taxpayer. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, Massoud would now be able to park his car bomb in a handicapped parking space!
No, you didn’t read that wrong, because the VA won’t pay for your new glasses. I said $75,000. I would have gone with hanging at sunrise, but what do I know?
Upon his release in March 2004, Massoud hippity-hopped back to Afghanistan and quickly resumed his war against the U.S. Aided by his new artificial leg, just months later, in October 2004, Massoud masterminded the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Pakistan working on the Gomal Zam Dam project.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines: President Linked to Corruption Scandal
Manila, 24 Nov. (AKI) — The President of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo, has been linked to a corruption scandal related to a multimillion dollar broadband deal with a Chinese corporation. The country’s former House Speaker and once close ally of President Arroyo, Jose De Venecia, has linked the head of state to the corruption scandal which is at the core of an ongoing impeachment complaint aimed at ousting her.
De Venecia said that although he was not present during the distribution of the money, he was later offered a bribe. The alleged bribe is linked to a controversial 329 million dollar national broadband network deal the government entered with China’s ZTE Corp.
Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo was allegedly involved in the deal. The bribery allegations were made by Jose de Venecia III, the Speaker’s son, who had also bid for the project.
Analysts said that the competing interests of Arroyo’s husband and the Speaker’s son led to clashes between the two most powerful political dynasties in the country.
The deal was later cancelled by Arroyo, but De Venecia was ousted as speaker of the House last February.
He has since supported the impeachment complaint filed by his son and centred on the corruption allegations.
Last week, the House Committee on Justice deemed it ‘sufficient in form’. The current discussions are part of the process to assess if the complaint is also sufficient in ‘substance’, a prerequisite to move it forward to the plenary for voting.
The discussion is schedule to restart on Tuesday.
During Monday’s hearing, the former Speaker said that Arroyo asked him to support a weaker impeachment complaint, one that could be easily defeated in the House.
One third of the 238 members in the House of Representatives are required to approve impeachment proceedings against the president.
Arroyo has faced impeachment cases every year for the last four years. She has always emerged unscathed due to an overwhelming majority in the lower house of the Parliament.
De Venecia said Arroyo was behind the purported bribery of congressmen and governors that allegedly took place in October 2007.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Blames Israel for Somali Pirates
Columnists fear plan underway for ‘internationalization’ of security in Red Sea
Not only do columnists and analysts openly accuse Israel of sponsoring acts of piracy that multiply off Somali waters, but they also do not hide their fears of an internationalization of security in the Red Sea, where Israel plays a decisive role.
“What is happening in the Horn of Africa is not a simple case of piracy. These acts of piracy raise various questions about the capabilities and equipment of simple outlaws who are seeking ransoms,” wrote Tuesday (November 25) Nawaf Al-Meshal Sabhan in the Saudi daily Al-Iqtissadia.
“These acts triggered statements on the internationalization of the Red Sea, in which the enemy state of Israel would be a crucial element,” he adds…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa President’s Name on Anti-Israel Petition
The Presidency and the Jewish Board of Deputies have expressed dismay at the appearance of President Kgalema Motlanthe’s name on an advertisement decrying alleged “apartheid-style” brutality meted out by the Israeli government.
The advertisement, presented in the form of a petition, was first published in advance of the state of Israel’s 60th birthday in May. It was also signed by dozens of prominent South Africans in protest against Israel’s alleged “colonial oppression” of Palestinians and the incarceration, banishment, massacre and torture of political dissidents.
But the advertisement appeared in the South African press again this week — this time including Motlanthe’s name, in his capacity as “the President of the RSA”, raising immediate concerns about South Africa’s relations with Israel.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Russia and Venezuela Sign Nuclear Accord
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez. Russia will help Venezuela with the construction of a nuclear power plant.
During the next few days, the two leaders will visit Russian war ships which are holding joint military exercises with the Venezuelan navy. The Russian president is on a tour of Latin America. He also discussed military cooperation with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The two also agreed to host a summit in Russia next year of four emerging nations: Brazil, Russia, India and China.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Foreigners, Go Home
Where hostility to migrants is most intense
ATTITUDES to immigration vary widely in Europe and America. According to a study of seven countries published by the German Marshall Fund, Italians are the most suspicious of migrants, with almost 70% of respondents to an opinion poll saying that the majority of those in their country are there illegally. At the other end of the scale, most Germans and Dutch thought that immigrants were there legally. However, when asked if immigration was a problem or an opportunity, more Germans saw as it as a problem (as did a big majority of Americans and Britons). In troubled economic times hostility to migrants may grow.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Spain Repatriates 62 Malian Illegals
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 26 — 62 Malian citizens who gained illegal entrance to Spain were repatriated last night by plane. According to the AFP news agency, the illegal immigrants were delivered into the hands of civil protection services in Bamako. In October the Spanish authorities also expelled a group of 58 Malians from the country. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Australia’ Movie Serves Up Typical PC Myths
For several decades now, the mass media has promoted the politically correct myth conception of the “noble savage.” This is the false idea that the non-European, pagan cultures and indigenous people in North and South America, Africa and Australia had an innate virtue and natural, peaceful simplicity prior to the arrival of hordes of Europeans who came and despoiled the land while killing thousands if not millions of people, including innocent women and children.
Of course, in promoting this heinous notion of history, the mass media usually cast white society, especially white Christian missionaries and political leaders, as the ultimate bad guys, who (the story goes) killed and plundered their way across the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Peru, Australia, etc.
That’s exactly what happens in the new Hollywood epic “Australia,” which opened yesterday in many theaters around the world, not just in the United States and Canada…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Outrage Over Planned Parenthood Christmas ‘Gift’ Cards
Planned Parenthood, which in past years has promoted a “Choice on Earth” abortion campaigns during the Christmas season, has a new outreach, offering Christmas gift certificates to be used for abortions.
“It is difficult to think of a more tasteless, ghoulish thing to give anyone. I refuse to refer to these financial instruments as gifts as they are nothing more than a legal way to put a hit out on someone,” said a participant in a forum at the online Lone Star Times, where the plan was reported.
“Planned Parenthood, this generation’s King Herod, you know, the guy who ordered the mass slaughter of babies when Jesus was born,” added WND columnist Jill Stanek, who also documented the plan on her blog.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Freedom From Speech
The United Nations saw another shred of its tattered dignity stripped away November 24, when a committee of the General Assembly approved what amounts to a direct assault on Western liberal democracy. In an 85-50 vote, with 42 abstaining, the so-called Third Committee adopted a resolution, submitted by a caucus of Islamic nations, to criminalize expressions deemed to be “defamation of religion,” with special concern for Islam. All U.N. member states would be called on to amend their criminal codes accordingly. The measure’s next stop is the General Assembly, where it is expected to win handily, probably in December.
The U.N. is no stranger to assaults on decency and common sense. Indeed, the new ban on religious defamation is essentially a restatement of a measure approved by the General Assembly last year but barely noticed at the time.
What makes this year’s resolution different, and more dangerous, is that it is supposed to move on from the General Assembly to another forum, where it might acquire real teeth: the second World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, scheduled to convene next April in Geneva.
Many legal scholars believe that the decisions of international conferences of this sort can be incorporated into international law, putting them under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Individual nations could not be forced to amend their laws, but they might find Interpol knocking at their doors, serving them extradition requests to hand over their cartoonists and novelists. Stand-up comics and philosophers might find they’re unable to cross international borders for fear of being arrested and remanded for trial in Jordan or Malaysia.
The Geneva conference is planned as a follow-up to the first world conference against racism, which took place in early September 2001 in Durban, South Africa. That meeting did some serious work, but it was memorably upstaged by a parallel gathering of nongovernmental activists, who staged a noisy show of anti-Israel and antisemitic speech-making, rallies and parades, all under U.N. auspices. And, of course, a week later, on September 11, 2001, all hell broke loose.
The years since then have not been kind to the spirit of reconciliation supposedly invoked at Durban…
| — Hat tip: JC | [Return to headlines] |
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