Look through this batch of news articles and check out all the accolades for Obama: Italy, Spain, Hamas, Israel, Indonesia, the Balkans (including Serbia) — the list goes on and on.Also check out the story about the Hepatitis B emergency in Italy.
Thanks to Abu Elvis, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Insubria, JD, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Diana West: Started Alreadies
[see link for photo]
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Back to global joy— which extends even to the Marxist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) party members caught by the AP last night (above) celebrating the Obama victory in El Salvador.
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Indoctrinating Our Kids in ‘Social Justice’
“Social-justice” lessons highlight past mistakes in U.S. history rather than our accomplishments and opportunities. Emphasizing problems and injustices rather than achievements is given the highfalutin label “critical pedagogy.”
David Horowitz of the California-based David Horowitz Freedom Center says that social-justice teaching is “shorthand for opposition to American traditions of individual justice and free-market economics.” He says it teaches students that “American society is an inherently ‘oppressive’ society that is ‘systemically’ racist, ‘sexist’ and ‘classist’ and thus discriminates institutionally against women, nonwhites, working Americans and the poor.”
Sol Stern of the Manhattan Institute describes Ayers as one of the leaders in “bringing radical social-justice teaching into our public school classrooms.” Ayers argues in his books and articles that “social-justice teaching” should be injected into various curriculum subjects.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
John Ripley, U.S. Marine Hero, Dies at 69 Ordered to ‘Hold and Die’ — Stopped Advance of 20,000 North Vietnamese With 600 Men
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Retired Marine Col. John Ripley, who was credited with stopping a column of North Vietnamese tanks by blowing up a pair of bridges during the 1972 Easter Offensive of the Vietnam War, died at home at age 69, friends and relatives said Sunday.
Ripley’s son, Stephen Ripley, said his father was found at his Annapolis home Saturday after missing a speaking engagement on Friday. The son said the cause of death had not been determined but it appeared his father died in his sleep.
In a videotaped interview with the U.S. Naval Institute for its Americans at War program, Ripley said he and about 600 South Vietnamese were ordered to “hold and die” against 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers with about 200 tanks.
“I’ll never forget that order, ‘hold and die’,” Ripley said. The only way to stop the enormous force with their tiny force was to destroy the bridge, he said.
“The idea that I would be able to even finish the job before the enemy got me was ludicrous,” Ripley said. “When you know you’re not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens: You stop being cluttered by the feeling that you’re going to save your butt.”
Ripley crawled under the bridge under heavy gunfire, rigging 500 pounds of explosives that brought the twins spans down, said John Miller, a former Marine adviser in Vietnam and the author of “The Bridge at Dong Ha,” which details the battle.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Threatens Boycott of Durban II
Critics of the Durban II review conference may have found an ally in Europe.
The foreign minister of Denmark warned last week that unless the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) removes a proposal to equate criticism of religion with racism, Denmark — and perhaps other European countries — will not attend the conference, the followup to the 2001 UN anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, that is slated to take place in April 2009 in Geneva.
“If the OIC pushes through the draft resolution, they shall not expect European or western countries to be present at the table,” Foreign Minister Per Stig Meller said during a visit to Jerusalem.
EuropeNews, citing Jyllands-Posten, reported the Meller made the same statement to Syrian and Egyptian foreign ministers during a recent swing through the Middle East.
His remarks came shortly after the “Draft Outcome Document” was published at the second preparatory session as a proposal for the Durban II conference. Participants at the session include Libya, Iran and Cuba.
Discussions at preparatory meetings have raised concerns that Durban II will reprise the anti-Israel agenda of Durban I, an international anti-racism conference that became notorious for singling out Israel as a racist state.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Cabinet Gives in: Wilders is No Hitler Anymore
By Martin Bosma [PVV]
Two thousand Dutch schools will receive mail from the state-subsidized Day of Respect Foundation this week. The Foundation is forced by the Dutch cabinet to correct its class material that states that Geert Wilders is to be compared to Adolf Hitler. Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) fought bitterly over the last days to have the text withdrawn.
The class material is already distributed to schools on a national scale. Many of these schools already have used the booklet, and many 10-to-12 year olds now know that Geert Wilders can be compared to Adolf Hitler, and that Geert Wilders has a problem with people “that look different”, a clear statement
PVV education spokesperson Martin Bosma: “The comparison was the gravest of insults. It cannot be tolerated that Geert Wilders is compared to a mass murderer. We also view it as a way to marginalize the holocaust, to trivialize the murder on the six million. We are deeply hurt that taxpayers money is spend to indoctrinate children, and to warn them against the Freedom Party.”
Initially the Day of Respect Foundation refused to change its booklet. An international avalanche of publicity, including on many American websites, put tremendous pressure on the Dutch cabinet. Ms Sharon Dijksma, the under-minister of Education, recognized this issue was a no-win situation for her, and put pressure on the Foundation. Therefore, the Day of Respect Foundation will come with a new page that will be send to the schools, asking to use this page instead of the page that states that Wilders is Hitler, and that Wilders has no respect for people that look different. In the debate in Parliament today, Mr Bosma branded the Day of Respect Foundation as a leftist multiculturalist organization that is set up to re-educate the Dutch people.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Fisheries: Zaia Should Follow the French Choices, Federpesca
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 27 — “Following Brussel’s go-ahead to France dialogue over an extraordinary intervention in favour of Italy’s fishing sector is overdue”. This is the appeal launched to the Agriculture Minister, Luca Zaia, by the General Director of Italy’s fishing federation, Federpesca, Luigi Giannini, who spoke to ANSA of the EU’s sanctioning support for the French fishing industry organised by the country’s government along with professional organisations. “Our competitiveness is at risk. If French ship-owners can refill their tanks with diesel at 27 cents per litre, it’s obvious that their produce will sell at unbeatable prices on our market”. Minister Michel Barnier has indeed attained legal approval for the 15 measures in his ‘save the fisheries’ package, presented before the summer to tackle the crisis which was affecting all of Europés fishing ports. These include aid from the French government to the tune of 310 million euro available for the 2008-2010 period; the main obstacle is point 9, according to which 230 million euro will go to stabilising the price of diesel. Underlining the seriousness of the crisis facing the sector, which has been accentuated over the past five months by the international situation, Giannini is urging a meeting with Zaia, to take stock of the situation, acknowledging the openness he has already demonstrated towards the sector. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hepatitis: Emergency in Italy, 100,000 Carriers
(AGI) — San Francisco, Nov. 3 — Emergency in Italy for the “Big Killer” for the liver, hepatitis B. In Italy there are 100,000 active carriers of the B virus of which 40pct are immigrants and many are new infections due to blood transfusions and sexual contact, injected drugs, medical processes, but also piercing, tattoos, so much so that experts are advising that anyone who is to get a tattoo or piercing and is not vaccinated undergo testing. The data was released by Pietro Lampertico, a gastroenterologist at the University of Milan during a press conference at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver disease, which is taking place in San Francisco. “In Italy about 700,00 people have chronic hepatitis B — explained Lampertico — of these 300,000 are immigrants coming from Africa, Asia, and the Far East and it is necessary to understand that these populations have a high incidence of hepatitis B, one in ten. The B virus is 100 times more infective than the Aids virus. This disease does not give symptoms when it is not serious and many people have the virus and do not know it. We can therefore, imagine that between unidentified patients and those that are convinced of not transmitting the disease, there are 100,000 active carriers of the virus that contribute to new infections, which in Europe are one million per year. For Italy, almost all new acute infections are due to immigrants. If left untreated, hepatitis B can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer, representing the 10th most common cause of death in the world with 400 million people with chronic infections. In Italy it is estimated that every day 57 people die due to hepatitis B”. “It is also estimated that each year up to 3,000 people die per year in Italy due to the consequences of a hepatitis B infection. Luckily -stressed Lampertico — a 1991 law has made it obligatory to vaccinate infants and children 12 years of age and under against hepatitis B, and today, all people under 27 years of age are protected. Therefore, it is the part of the population that is over 28 years of age for which an early diagnosis of hidden cases, of risky behaviour, and the awareness of contacts and family members are necessary. An important role is carried out by family doctors. Another problem is treatment — said the gastroenterologist — for which only 20,000 Italians undergo therapy, but many more could benefit from efficient treatment to stop the evolution of the disease, when today, a pill a day without side effects and with excellent long term results is enough”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Politicians Hail Obama Win
But govt whip causes row with al Qaeda remark
(ANSA) — Rome, November 5 — Italian politicians joined the rest of the world in hailing the victory of Democrat Barack Obama in the United States presidential elections on Wednesday, describing it as a great show of American democracy in action.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi congratulated Obama on his success “after a difficult election campaign against a top-level rival”. “I am absolutely convinced that the friendship and collaboration between our two countries will continue to expand and grow stronger,” the premier said in his message. He added that Italy remained “a faithful, sincere and grateful ally of the US which has never forgotten the sacrifice of so many young American lives to give back freedom and dignity to Italy and Europe”. Berlusconi, one of outgoing President George W. Bush’s strongest allies in Europe and a close personal friend, later told the press that when he meets with Obama “I can certainly give him some advice given my age and experience”…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mortgage Crisis: France; Woerth, Serious Slowdown
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, OCTOBER 30 — Francés Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, has today admitted on radio that the country is facing an “extremely serious slowdown”. “The truth is that we are facing an extremely serious economic slowdown and that we must absolutely fight against it”, he told the station. “We are trying to react decisively to weaken the shock of the crisis as much as possible for French people, and at the same time responding on a global level”, added the minister. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mortgage Crisis: Spain, Loans Up to 100 Bln Euro Guaranteed
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 13 — The Spanish government will guarantee loans from banks up to a maximum of 100 billion euro in 2008 and will do the same in 2009, for an amount to be defined, while it will be able to acquire shares from financial groups per their recapitalisation, if necessary. These were the measures included in an emergency decree approved today by an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers at the end of which José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero confirmed in statements to the media that the prospective recapitalization is a “preventative” measure and “of exceptional character”, of which at the moment the Spanish financial system does not need. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama: Zapatero, More Promising Future for USA-EU Relations
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 5 — The Spanish premier, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said that the new president of the USA, Barack Obama, will find in Spain “a friend and a loyal ally” and that his victory “makes for a more promising future” in US relations with the European Union. Zapatero defined the election of Obama as “a democratic event of historic proportions”. Zapatero emphasised that Spain intends to work with the next US administration on “areas and issues of common interest such as Latin America, the Middle East, the Arab world, Africa, and in general on the integrating message of Obamàs campaign”. The premier assured that next time Spain takes the presidency of the EU, in 2010, “the strengthening of transatlantic ties will be among its priorities”. According to Zapatero, the election of Obama “will have a positive effect on bilateral relations with Spain, but above all that it makes for “a more promising horizon for a more equal and just world, working for peace”. The premier underlined, in conclusion, that the United States and the EU will have to “work together for solutions to international crises”. Whilst making a brief speech on the steps of the Moncloa Palace, the socialist leader highlighted that yesterday’s election in the United States “implies a strengthening of politics and popular participation” and defined the behaviour of the Republican senator, John McCain, as “exemplary” as he conceded defeat. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama: Berlusconi, Left Claims Victory But in Italy They Lost
(AGI) — Rho (Milan), 5 Nov — “The Italian left seems to think that Obama is one of their own. Obama has won the US elections and will govern. They lost theirs and now they should let us govern,” said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in his speech at the Rho Exhibition.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Petrella: Frattini Calls it an Isolated Case
(AGI) — Rome, 23 Oct — The non-extradition to Italy of the former Red Brigades member Marina Petrella “is an entirely exceptional and isolated case which will not be repeated,” said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini outside an Italy-Israel negotiating table at the Foreign Ministry. “For us,” said the minister, “it is important that the so-called Mitterrand doctrine be buried once and for all.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Size Matters: Man Reports After Eights to Consumer Agency
A dissatisfied lover of wafer thin mint chocolate treats has reported the makers of After Eights to the Swedish Consumer Agency on the grounds that the product has become smaller and slimmer over the years.
The man, from Skurup in southern Sweden, says he has observed over a number of years the gradual reduction in size of the tasty after-dinner mints, Svenska Dagbladet reports.
According to the irate customer’s trusty ruler, the individually wrapped mint chocolate squares now measure just 43 x 43 millimetres, where once they came in at a very palatable 60 x 60 millimetres.
“This means the chocolate only makes up 50 percent of what the package suggests. What’s more, today’s After Eights are only half as thick as they originally were,” he wrote in his official complaint.
But manufacturer Nestlé rejected any suggestions that it was cutting corners on the “mint enrobed in dark chocolate”.
Customer support suggested that the customer may have got his hands on a rogue German batch. The thin mints made in England are greater in area but smaller in girth than their German cousins, Nestlé explained.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Student Injured in College Bomb Blast
A 17-year-old student has been injured after a bomb exploded at a hotel near Västerås Airport in central Sweden on Tuesday evening.
The student, from the Aviation College of Sweden (ACS), was wounded while experimenting with a home made bomb in the kitchen of a hotel inhabited by students from the school.
The student has been taken to hospital with serious burns to both his arms. His hearing was also damaged in the blast.
Earlier reports that three other people had also suffered injuries when the black powder bomb exploded later proved incorrect.
Aviation College of Sweden is an upper level high school focusing on the training of aircraft mechanics, technicians and airline pilots.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Doling Out Our Money
How jobless foreigners who go home can still claim benefits here
Jobless Eastern Europeans who return home are being paid dole money by the British taxpayer, it emerged last night.
Thousands who leave because they have lost their jobs in the economic downturn could benefit from the £60-a-week handouts.
They stem from a little-known EU directive which says that provided an unemployed worker is seeking a job in their homeland, they can continue to be paid benefits by the country where they were laid off.
Job centre managers in Poland are even holding workshops and seminars on how claimants can keep using the UK for unemployment handouts.
The criteria is that a person must have been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance here before they go home.
Around half of the one million citizens of other former Eastern Bloc countries who flocked to Britain after joining the EU in 2004 are believed to have now left.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cooperation: Veneto — Rep. Srpska Deal Signed Tomorrow
(ANSAmed) — VENICE, NOVEMBER 3 — The president of the Veneto region, Giancarlo Galan, will sign an agreement tomorrow morning at the Balbi Palace with Milorad Dodik, president of the government of the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The primary objective of the initiative is to promote development and begin close collaboration in the areas of commercial economy, scientific technology and in the sector of professional training, as well as that of culture and sport. The will to solidify cooperative relations and friendship between the Veneto and Bosnia and Herzegovina — a statement informs — was already demonstrated last year, during a preliminary technical meeting at the Consulate in Milan. On the same occasion, the protocol of the agreement will also be signed for the correct use of the solidarity fund instituted by Veneto to the benefit of the family of Dragan Cigan: the Bosnian citizen, resident in the province of Padova, who died in July 2007, after having heroically saved two children from Treviso from drowning in Jesolo, and who was awarded the gold medal for civil value from the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. The mayors of the cities of Jesolo and San Martino di Lupari, the councillor for education for the city of Roncade, as well as the manager of the association Unilavoro and the vice president of the Bank of Monastier and the Credit Cooperative of Sile will be present at the meeting. There will also be present the Public Tutor of Minors and the director of the Treviso Courts, who participated in the fundraising. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Slovenia, Sharp Drop in Fuel Demand
(ANSAmed) — LJUBLJANA, OCTOBER 27 — Slovenian Petrol, the largest distributors of petrol products in Slovenia is predicting a sharp drop in sales due to the financial crisis, of between 10 and 15 per cent. President of the Board of Directors Marko Kryzanovski made the announcement in daily newspaper Delo. The largest consumers of oil derivatives, especially in the industry sector, have already announced a steep fall in fuel requirements to the company, which is one of the five largest in Slovenia. “In this situation” explained Kryzanski “when the financial crisis is now spreading to the ‘real’ sector, let us not react by reducing reserves and with less investment in development”. Petrol sells on average 2.4 million tonnes of fuel of various types per year. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Polls: Balkan Leaders Hail Obama’s Victory
Belgrade, 5 Nov.(AKI) — The leaders of Balkan countries from the former Yugoslavia on Wednesday hailed the victory of Barack Obama in the United States presidential election, saying it marked a new era for countries around the whole world.
“I am sure that your arrival to the post of the president of the United States will mark the beginning of a new chapter not only in the lives of your citizens, but also in the relations of the US towards the world and the world towards the US,” said Croatia’s President Stipe Mesic in a congratulatory telegram to Obama.
Mesic expressed the hope that friendly relations between the US and Croatia would be further strengthened and that Obama would pay due attention to the region of southeast Europe and the Balkans “which are still burdened by consequences of the wars triggered by the dissolution of the Yugoslav federation”.
Muslim member of Bosnia’s collective state presidency, Haris Silajdzic, said that “the world is in great crisis and America’s progressive leadership could help to find a way out”.
Sulejman Tihic, the leader of the main Muslim party, the Party of Democratic Action, said that the US under Obama’s leadership could play a more active role in solving the problems Bosnia is still grappling with thirteen years after the war.
“I welcome this great historic process in the United States and deeply appreciate America’s role in Kosovo,” said Kosovar President Fatmir Seidiu.
Seidiu said the US had “helped the freedom of the people of Kosovo” and expressed the hope that Obama would continue in the same direction.
The US and 22 European Union countries were among the first to recognise Kosovo’s independence.
American diplomats in Belgrade, Sarajevo and Podgorica have organised an “election vigil” with local politicians and public figures and were unanimous in saying there would be no change in American policy towards the Balkans.
“As far as the Balkans are concerned, we expect the continuation of the same policy which we had earlier,” said American ambassador to Belgrade Cameron Munter.
He pledged to continue friendly relations with Serbia, but vowed there would be no change of policy towards Kosovo.
Early on Wednesday, there was no reaction from Serbian pro-European President Boris Tadic. But Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said he hoped for “more understanding” from Washington and “more room for cooperation”.
“It shouldn’t be difficult, bearing in mind what kind of relations we had with the Bush administration,” Jeremic said.
“The world had desired changes and that is what happened.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Med Union: ME; Arab League, No Normalization With Israel
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 4 — The so-called ‘normalization’ of the relations between Arab countries and Israel is not expected within the Arab Leagués participation in the Mediterranean Union (MU), as ratified by an agreement in Marseilles this morning between the 43 participants at a meeting to define the structure of the new organization. This was stated by Hisham Yussef, spokesperson for the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, in a press conference in Cairo. “Israel’s veto on the Pan-Arab organisation participating in the MU”, stated Yussef, “demonstrates that this has nothing to do with the normalization process between the Arab states and the Jewish one”. “This normalization”, continued the spokesperson, “will not be started because an Arab resolution on the subject exists and because of the general position of the Arabs who refuse any normalization while Israel continues its policy of aggression against the Palestinian people”. The Arab Leagués desire to participate in MU activities, concluded Amr Mussàs spokesperson, is part of the framework of European-Arab cooperation and the Barcelona process, which goes back to 1995, to contribute to an ever greater strengthening of European-Arab relations”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mediterranean Union: Accord on Arab League, Israel Concedes (2)
(ANSAmed) — MARSEILLE, NOVEMBER 4 — Sources explain that Arab countries have maintained their position by threatening to leave the talks and in the end they said that the Arab League will be an “active observer” in the meetings at all levels of the Mediterranean Union (MU). Israel, from what can be learned, has certainly not yielded to the threat to block the talks, but behind this there is compensation which is obvious to the eyes of all the analysts: one of Israel’s officials will be part of the secretariat ‘bureau’, which is formed of four experts who will work side by side with the secretary general. In this way, not only can the conduct of the Arabs be supervised but it will also have access to the decision-making centre of the MU machine, the place where plans will be chosen, funds will be found and decisions will be made about where they are to be spent. As well as the Israeli member, there will also be members from Malta, Palestine and Greece. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Middle East: Italian Foreign Minister Eyes Closer Ties With Egypt
Rome, 31 Oct. (AKI) — Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has called for closer ties between Egypt and the G8 group of the world’s most industrialised nations plus Russia. “Italy will take the initiative and invite Egypt to take part in the workings of the G8,” Frattini said. He was speaking during an interview with Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera on Italy’s relations with the rest of the world.
“We have decided this because Egypt is a very important country in the Middle East and is playing a crucial role in the peace process.
“It is also an African country, and the Arab League’s Secretary General Amr Moussa, an Egyptian, is also very important figure,” Frattini said.
He praised the creation of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Dialogue between Religions and Cultures.
“It is wrong and also a political error to claim that Islam is the source of terrorism in the world.
“There there are millions of Muslims in Italy and elsewhere in Europe who consider themselves citizens of these countries,” he said.
“There are also Christians who live in Arab countries without any difficulty. We must lead by example in the fight against extremism,” he added.
Muslims in Europe want their rights upheld, including freedom of worship and the right to build mosques, Frattini noted.
While there are both Christian and Muslim extremists who stoke tensions between Islam and the West for their own ends, politicians must work for dialogue, Frattini stressed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: New Mediterranean Union to be Based in Barcelona
Barcelona, 4 Nov. (AKI) — The Spanish city of Barcelona will host the new Union for the Mediterranean announced by European leaders on Monday. Foreign ministers from across Europe reached agreement in the French city of Marseille after two days of talks at a conference to finalise the ‘Barcelona Process’.
Tunisia and Malta were vying with Barcelona to be the new headquarters of the organisation. As a compromise for Barcelona’s designation as the host city, the secretary-general of the organisation will be chosen from the southern Mediterranean.
The organisation will also have five deputy secretary-generals, one of whom will be Israeli and another Palestinian.
The group consists of 43 members states, among them all 27 European Union member states, and the countries on the Mediterranean rim, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon and Turkey among others.
The aim of the group is to create a dialogue between North Africa, the Middle East and Europe on issues such as immigration, trade, counter-terrorism, energy and security.
The community was created in July 2008 by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and replaces the EU’s ‘Barcelona Process’ or the Euromediterranean partnership. The process began 13 years ago but has so far failed largely due to infighting between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Raids and Bombings, Truce at Risk
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 5 — After five months of relative calm, the ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel now hangs in the balance after several hours of bitter fighting in which six Islamic militiamen were killed and dozens of Palestinian rockets exploded in numerous Israeli towns, including Ashqelon and Sderot. In western Neghev the Israeli authorities have proclaimed a state of emergency, but there have also been encouraging signs from both Tel Aviv and Gaza. Israel, said the Defence vice minister, Matan Vilnay, is only interested in restoring calm. Hamas, for its part, has asked for an urgent diplomatic intervention from Egypt in order to “save the ceasefire”. The episode which destabilised the situation began yesterday evening when, at the top of the Kissufim passage, Israeli forces invaded 250 metres of Palestinian territory to destroy a tunnel that had been created by Islamic militants. Military sources in Tel Aviv have told ANSA that, using the tunnel, Hamas militia were intending to invade Israel in the immediate future to capture soldiers or civilians.”It was a small-scale operation which was finished by early morning”, clarified the sources. During the operation a building, which was situated at one entrance to the tunnel was blown up and a local Hamas commander was killed. Next, the Israeli air force went into action, repeatedly hitting Hamas divisions who were busy launching rockets. A further five Hamas militiamen were killed in the border area between al-Qarara and Juhr a-Dik. For the whole morning Hamas artillery Israeli civil bases along a length of the frontier tens of kilometres long. Two rockets exploded in the centre of Ashqelon, 10 kilometres to the north of the Gaza Strip. Overall, six Israeli soldiers were wounded and a further six Israeli civilians were in a state of shock. Over the last few days, the tension in the area had been increasing gradually following sporadic rocket attacks from Gaza towards the city of Sderot, claimed by the even more mysterious ‘Hezbollah-Palestine’ group. Two days ago, at Khan Yunes, there was a skirmish between an Israeli patrol (on a mission to neutralise a powerful explosive device) and Hamas militia. In that particular incident there were no casualties. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Hamas Armed Wing Threatens ‘Major Attacks’
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, NOVEMBER 4 — In a recorded message published on the internet, the head of the military wing of Hamas, Muhammad Deif, threatened “major attacks” against Israel. Deif (who lives in hiding after surviving Israeli attacks) let it be known that the ceasefire in place since June in Gaza is tactical. “We are a people who believe that true rest can only be gained in Paradise. In this world we must fight: to a martyr’s death, or to victory”. The unusual outing of Deif — commander in chief of the Ezzedin al-Qassam brigade of Hamas — was the anniversary of the death of one of the leaders of the armed wing, Fawzi Abu al-Qari. They were the ones who, years ago, sent a mother of two children on a suicide mission to Gaza. Deif believes that their example should be followed and launch “high quality operations” again Israel. In the last few days the Israeli press has warned that an unexpected attack by Hamas from Gaza should be expected. In particular it is feared that Hamas will try to bring down the border walls in order to seize Israeli soldiers and civilians. According to the press the Ezzedin al-Qassam brigades have prepared tens of suicide bombers and have trained their militia to use motorbikes to carry out lightning incursions “in the style of Hezbollah”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Weather; More Than Ten Egypt-Gaza Tunnels Collapse
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 3 — Torrential rainfall has caused the collapse of more than ten tunnels running between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, under the border between the two countries. The tunnels were primarily being used for the movement of contraband which cannot be imported into Palestinian territory including food, electronic goods and various tools. According to Israeli secret services, which control the border between the two territories, the tunnels were also used for the movement of illegal weapons and explosives. Egyptian security forces have reported that, after the bad weather, many people have begun repairs on the tunnels to restart the traffic of goods as soon as possible. The issue of the tunnels’ existence is one of the greatest causes of friction between Egypt and Israel, even if it has recently been made known that American military advisors would also work, in Egyptian territory, towards bringing down the tunnels using special electronic devices. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: West Bank, Illegal Settlements Outpost Destroyed
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, NOVEMBER 3 — The Israeli army has destroyed four illegal settlements near Ramallah in the West Bank today. A spokesman for the military did not state whether the operation went without problems. In recent weeks fierce clashes between the forces of order and the settlers broke out following the destruction of another illegal settlement close to Hebron. The Government announced yesterday that it would block all state funding, direct and indirect, meant for the illegal settlements. Vice Premier Haim Ramon openly welcomed the adoption of stricter measures against settlers responsible for violence, such as a much more frequent use of administrative arrests (that is, arrests not ordered by a judge), which is already widely-used on the Palestinian community. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Rockets From Gaza, State of Emergency in Neghev
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 5 — A state of emergency was declared in the Israeli settlements of western Neghev, according to Israeli military radio. This was imposed after a 30 rockets and mortars were shot from the Gaza strip into the area last night by the armed branch of Hamas as a reaction to a raid by the Israeli army to destroy an underground tunnel which according to a military spokesperson, was used to kidnap Israeli soldiers and bring them to Gaza. In the raid, 6 armed members of Hamas were killed. Five Hamas militiamen were killed in two clashes occurring in al-Qarara-Khan Yunes (in southern Gaza) and in Juhr a-Dik, in the central Gaza area. In this second town, 4 militiamen were killed by an explosion caused by a rocket launched from an aircraft. A Hamas militant was then killed in a fire fight in which four activist were injured. Local Palestinian sources reported the amassing of tanks near the Gaza Strip near the Erez crossing. Growing Israeli combat helicopter activity was also noted in the area. This is one of the most serious clashes that has occurred in the area since June when a truce between Israel and Hamas was enacted, mediated by Egypt. The raid was a rare breaking of the truce with Hamas signed on June 19. A Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri said that “Israeli aggression is a serious violation of the treaty and if these raids continue, fighting will not be limited to the area east of the central part of Gaza”. The military spokesperson said that “it is not Israel’s intention to end the truce, and that last night’s operation was focused and carried out with the intent of avoiding an immediate threat”. (ANSAmed).
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Obama: Hamas, Chance for Change
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, NOVEMBER 5 — The election of Barack Obama offers the United States a “chance for a change, after his predecessor, Geroge W. Bush destroyed relations with the external world”: this was stated by Hamas’ al-Aqsa television by an executive from the movement, Ahmed Yussef. Yussef complained that during the electoral campaign, neither Obama nor his rival john McCain dedicated particular attention to the Palestinian issue. We hope, however — he said — that now Obama will understand the suffering of the Palestinian people and that he changes in United States strategy not only in Palestine, but also in Iraq and Afghanistan”. (ANSAmed).
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Obama: Israel, the Unknown of the New American President
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, NOVEMBER 5 — Aside from official obligatory congratulations for the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential elections, for the political representatives of the Jewish state the next resident in the White House is still substantially an enigma. Israel, according to informed sources, was taken relatively unprepared by Obamàs victory, a personality until not long ago hardly known, and therefore who escaped the attention of the Israeli Embassy in Washington which is usually always careful to cultivate relationships with anyone in American politics that sooner or later could be in a position of power. So from many points of view Obama remains an unknown to the leaders of the Jewish state. “We are not expecting a revolution but an evolution” in American policy in the Middle East, maintain these sources that declare themselves certain that Obama will remain a good friend of Israel and that in any case, relations between Israel and the United States are based on such strong common interests and values that no president could ignore them. Additionally, says the sources, Obamàs priorities will at least initially be questions of domestic politics like the economy and social problems. Israel is not expecting a 180 degree change in Washington’s policies for the Iranian nuclear programme, considered by the Jewish state as threat to its existence. It is pointed out that even Obama is committed to preventing Teheran from having nuclear weapons, first with dialogue, and if necessary by force. Some in the Israeli media have revealed worryingly that some of Obamàs collaborators represent positions that appear prejudicially hostile to the Jewish state and pro-Palestine. But other analysts have note that among Obamàs closest advisors there are also former members of the Clinton administration that was one of the greatest enemies of Israel in the White House. All indicate as well that Obama will be an easier interlocutor for the Palestinian that outgoing president, George W. Bush. (ANSAmed).
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Afghanistan: Thousands of Refugees Return to Homeland in 2008
Kabul, 3 Nov. (AKI) — The United Nations refugee agency said on Monday that some 276,700 Afghans returned to their homeland in 2008 through its voluntary repatriation programme, 99 percent of them coming from neighbouring Pakistan.
The remaining 1 percent of returnees came from Iran and other countries, Ewen MacLeod, Acting Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Afghanistan, told a media conference in Afghan capital of Kabul.
MacLeod attributed this year’s numbers to three main factors: the high prices of food and fuel which have strongly impacted Pakistan’s economy, the closure of the large Jalozai refugee camp in the Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, and the “changing” security situation in Pakistan, particularly in NWFP, where the majority of Afghan refugees live.
MacLeod noted that over 5 million people have returned to Afghanistan since 2002, representing a 20 percent increase in the country’s overall population.
Some 4.3 million of them were assisted through UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation programme for Afghan refugees, the world’s largest for the past six years.
“I think it is very clear to everybody that an increase in a population with a refugee return programme of that dimension would represent a very sharp challenge for even a Western industrialised country,” said Macleod.
“We are certainly not aware, in recent history, of any country that has absorbed so many people in such a short time. The solidarity demonstrated by the Afghan population in reabsorbing these huge figures is remarkable and without precedent anywhere else.”
UNHCR’s Afghan repatriation programme has now been suspended for the winter and will resume next March. The agency estimates there are still 2.8 million registered Afghans living in Pakistan and Iran.
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Lebanon: Fearing Murder, Nasrallah and Hariri Meet Secretly
(by Ziad Talhouk) (ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 27 — Lebanon’s rival Moslem Shiite and Sunni leaders, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Saad Hariri, secretly met Sunday for the first time since the 2006 war with Israel. The announcement of the meeting almost a day after it happened and keeping the venue undisclosed reflected the draconian security measures Hezbollah chief Nasrallah has been taking since Israel threatened to liquidate him physically. Nasrallah, whose guerrilla group survived the 34-day Israeli onslaught, has appeared only once in public and that immediately after the offensive to announce the “divine victory” over the Jewish state. Otherwise, his speeches and interviews have been either pre-recorded or transmitted through screens from a secret hiding. Nasrallah’s self-proclaimed “victory”, however, was not shared by large sectors of Lebanon’s Sunni, Druze and Christian communities who blamed the Shiite group for the devastating Israeli military campaign. The two camps were locked in a war of words and an 18-month institutional crisis that degenerated into street fighting, culminating in a Hezbollah blitz in the Sunni part of Beirut last May. Fears that the country might been reproducing the 1975-90 civil war pushed rival political leaders to sign a Qatari-mediated accord and prompted rival leaders to reach a “modus vivendi”. Reports about an imminent meeting between Hariri and Nasrallah popped up last September, but several postponements were attributed to “security reasons”. As Nasrallah had been in hiding, Harirìs movements were also limited. His father, ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in 2005. A number of anti-Syrian Lebanese figures were killed in the following years as well. The Nasrallah-Hariri meeting could cool tensions before the parliamentary elections in the spring of 2009. “Both parties stressed on national unity and civil peace and the need to take all measures to prevent tension, reinforce dialogue and avoid strife regardless of political differences,” said a statement issued by Hezbollah’s al-Nour radio said. (ANSAmed).
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Lebanon: Meshaal in Beirut to Deal With Refugee Camp Issues
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 3 — The leader-in-exile of the radical Palestinian movement, Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has today invited the Lebanese authorities to Beirut in order to “open Lebanese-Palestinian talks” to discuss the issue of the 12 refugee camps in the country. The news was reported by the official Lebanese press agency, NNA. The agency clarified that Meshaal — who is on an official trip to Beirut and this morning met with the president, Michel Suleiman, and the premier, Fuad Siniora — said that amongst the most urgent issues to be dealt with were “weapons and those people being searched for” by the Lebanese justice system who have found shelter in the Palestinian refuge camps, which are traditionally out of the control of the Beirut authorities. Meshaal, who is the political leader of Hamas and resident in Damascus, will also meet the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, and the leader of the Shiite ‘Hezbollah’ movement, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, in Beirut. The only high level accredited Palestinian in Lebanon is Abbas Zaki, the representative of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) led by its president, Mahmud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen). (ANSAmed).
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Obama: Syria Hopes for a Change in American Politics
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, NOVEMBER 5 — The Syrian Minister for Information, Mohsen Bilal, whose country has very cold relations with the United States, expressed the hope that the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency will contribute to a “change in foreign policy” in Washington. Bilal, cited by the official news agency Sana, “expressed the hope that the victory of Barack Obama will contribute to a change in foreign policy of the United States and will allow the move from a politics of war and embargo to a policy of diplomacy and dialogue”. The Syrian minister then invited the new American president to “not ignore problems that afflict the people and support the creation of peace as (Obama) promised during his election campaign”. Bilal, speaking during a meeting with a Cuban delegation on a visit to Damascus at the same time expressed the hope that the United States “remove the embargo against Cuba as rapidly as possible”. (ANSAmed).
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Jakarta: President, Government and Moderate Muslims, Threatened by Fundamentalists
A fundamentalist website has posted death threats for the president, vice president and other members of the governing executive. Tensions are high across the country with fears of fresh attacks on the eve of the Bali bombers’ execution. The president of the most important moderate Muslim organisation is also threatened.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) —President Yudhoyono, vice president Jusuf Kalla, members of the governing executive and the leader of the country’s most important moderate Muslim organisation have received threats from Muslim fundamentalists, ready to launch attacks against Indonesia’s political and religious leaders and drag the nation into total chaos.
The alarm was sounded by anonymous security sources; the threats are being carried by some web-sites which blame the government for the sentencing to death of Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufrom, better known as Mukhlas, the authors of the 2002 Bali bombings, who are set to be executed within the next few days.
The death sentence passed down for the three terrorists have brought tensions across the nation to boiling point. Over the past few weeks massive security measures have been put in place; possible targets now not only include the American embassy and other western owned buildings but also petrol reserves and refineries.
Top government security officials have held a closed door meeting to discuss contingency plans for possible attacks. Maximum reserve surrounds all measures: “We cannot give further details about this issue” was all State Intelligence Bureau Chief Gen. Syamsir Siregar would disclose.
The threats were contained in the website www.foznawarabbilkakbah.com: posted anonymously the messages are cleared in three different languages: Indonesian Arab and English: “shooting the trio Islamic mujahids will provoke violence from any other mujahid”. This is followed by a warning addressed to President Youdhoyono, vice president Kalla, the Indonesian Minister for Human Rights Andi Mattalatta SH and Kiai Hajj Hasyim Muzadi, president of the nation’s largest moderate Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama (Nu).
The statement goes on to inform that anyone who has an “active part in the capital punishment of the three fighters” will be targeted; it is signed by the trio. Two days ago Imam Samudra — also sentenced to 8 years in prison for his role in the Bali massacre — had launched a personal threat. In a message written with his own hand, he once again voiced that “there is no freedom for any Muslim blood shed by firing shots.” The Indonesian Minister for Defence has invited the public not to be overly influenced by this campaign of terror promoted by fundamentalists.
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US Polls: Indonesian Islamic Fundamentalists Cheer Obama Win
Jakarta, 5 Nov. (AKI) — Representatives of some of Indonesia’s fundamentalist Islamic groups on Wednesday celebrated United States President-elect Barack Obama’s sweeping victory in Tuesday’s presidential polls, claiming the win will be good for interracial relations and world peace.
Obama, the Democratic Party candidate, took 51.9 percent of votes, earning him 349 seats in the Electoral College, compared with 46.8 percent for Republican Party candidate John McCain (who won 162 seats in the Electoral College).
Many parts of the US recorded a record turnout in what observers have termed an historic election. Obama will be the first African American president of the United States.
The Democrats also registered a clear victory over their Republican opponents in voting for both houses of the US Congress. The party captured at least five Senate seats from their rivals, increasing their majority in the 100-seat chamber. With results still due from some states, the Democrats have already won the 218 seats needed for a majority in the 435-seat legislature, the House of Representatives.
Muhammad Nidzom Hidayatullah, general secretary of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) East Java branch, told Adnkronos International that Obama’s election was the result of democracy and this showed that the US has begun to open up to different races.
“Everyone should cherish this because it is likely that it will lead to improvements to race relations all over the world,” he said.
The MUI is the country’s top state-endorsed Muslim organisation. It is considered rather conservative and out of sync with most of the country’s 200 million Muslims, who profess a liberal and moderate version of Islam.
Achmad Sobry Lubis, secretary general of the militant, anti-American Front Pambela Islam (FPI) said that he “praised Allah for Obama’s win.”
“This is what we all wanted and we are now very hopeful that he can restore peace in the world,” he told AKI.
He also said that Obama’s multicultural upbringing should give him the tools to better understand the Muslim world.
“Hopefully this will go somewhere to change the image of Muslims in America where they are often equated with terrorists, anarchists and more.”
Founded in 1998, the FPI has gained notoriety for violent raids on bars and nightclubs during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The FPI has also stated it intends to send ‘mujahadeen’ to fight the US and Israel. Its two leaders, Rizieq Shihab and Munarman, were last week sentenced to 18 months in jail for organising an attack against a pro-freedom of religion rally held in Jakarta on June 1.
Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, where he attended a local elementary school.
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China Acts to Stem the Tide of Officials Fleeing With Cash
As many as 10,000 corrupt government officials have fled China with $100 billion.
Beijing — When Yang Xianghong, a middle-ranking Chinese Communist Party official, slipped away from a government delegation trip to Paris three weeks ago, he said he was visiting his daughter.
When he didn’t come back, though, his disappearance sparked much speculation on state-run media that Mr. Yang was the latest escapee in a growing exodus of officials fleeing corruption probes.
If true, he joins as many as 10,000 corrupt Chinese officials who have fled the country over the past decade, taking as much as $100 billion of public funds with them, according to an estimate by Li Chengyan, head of Peking University’s Anticorruption Research Institute.
More unexpected, however, was the heavy press coverage that Yang’s walkabout attracted in a country where the government is generally reluctant to wash its dirty linens in public.
That suggests that “the government is sending a signal” that it regards “the number of officials fleeing as a very important problem which needs to be solved,” says Mao Zhaohui, director of anticorruption studies at Beijing’s Renmin University…
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Assassination Fears as Mexico’s Drug-Busting Interior Minister is Killed
After government plane crashes into rush hour traffic
One of Mexico’s key figures in the war against drug trafficking has been killed when a government jet crashed into a Mexico City street, setting fire to dozens of vehicles and dealing crusading President Felipe Calderon a serious blow.
The death of the nation’s powerful interior minister and at least seven others will raise fears of foul play by drugs barons.
Juan Camilo Mourino, 37, was one of the President’s closest advisers and was in charge of the country’s security.
Also on board was former assistant attorney general Jose Luis Santiago, who was previously in charge of pursuing extraditions against drug traffickers, and who had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt in the past.
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Green Light for 170,000 More Immigrants
Priority for Home Helps and Carers
Interior minister Maroni and welfare minister lay down restrictions on hirings by non-Italian employers.
ROME — The new immigration decree will have a fast track for home helps and carers. Agreement has been reached. Now, quotas have to be calculated because in the next two weeks, the government will approve legalisation of another 170,000 immigrants. The starting point will be the rankings from Click Day, with precedence going to domestic workers. This is the most popular sector, judging by the roughly 380,000 Click Day applications filed with the interior ministry computer on 18 December 2007, but severe restrictions will be imposed on non-Italian employers to prevent unauthorised family reunifications.
Some 170,000 applications have already been processed and 102,900 permits issued. The requirement for a permit to enter Italy is well known: applicants must demonstrate they have a work permit and accommodation. In practice, most applicants have already entered the country illegally and found undeclared employment. All they are waiting for is legalisation. If they have negotiated the first two hurdles at the police station — a clean record and no expulsion orders — and the provincial employment office, applicants can start hoping. Priority is established on the basis of the time at which the application was filed, and with a total of 340,000 places for 2008, it is likely that almost all the applicants who qualify will be successful. But there are severe limitations on applicants offered work in Italy by non-Italian employers. Ministers Roberto Maroni and Maurizio Sacconi agreed on this point last Friday during the meeting at the prime minister’s office to draft the decree’s guidelines. It now falls to the prefect Mario Morcone and the director general of the welfare ministry, Maurizio Silveri, to fine-tune the details.
If immigrants want to hire a foreign worker, they will have to show that they have been legally resident in Italy for at least three years, or even five. In other words, they will have to have a residence permit. About 48% of applications relating to domestic work were presented by non-EU citizens and, as Mr Sacconi has always emphasised, “this arouses legitimate suspicions about the authenticity of these applications”, which might be a way of sidestepping the much stricter requirements of the law on family reunifications. As was the case with the previous decree for the current year, 47,100 places have been set aside for citizens of countries that have signed cooperation agreements with Italy: 4,500 Albanians, 1,000 Algerians, 3,000 Bangladeshis, 8,000 Egyptians, 5,000 Filipinos, 1,000 Ghanaians, 4,500 Moroccans, 6,500 Moldavians, 1,500 Nigerians, 1,000 Pakistanis, 1,000 Senegalese, 100 Somalis, 3,500 Sri Lankans, 4,000 Tunisians and 2,500 citizens of other countries…
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Immigration: Boat Rescued South of Lampedusa
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (ITALY), NOVEMBER 4 — Patron ship Vega of Italy’s military marine has come to the rescue of a boat carrying dozens of migrants 40 miles south of the island of Lampedusa. Operations are being hindered by sea conditions. (ANSAmed).
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Immigration: Med Landings, Already Above 2007 Total
(by Fausto Gasparroni) (ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 4 — According to estimates by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), based on official and unofficial sources, in the first ten months of 2008 the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Aden by sea is already higher than the total of last year in many areas. Almost 20,000 migrants arrived on the coast of Italy up to the end of October this year, while in the whole of 2007 the number was 19,900. At the same time the number of dead and missing in the sea on their way to Italy or Malta in the first 10 months of 2008 (509), are more than the total for 2007 (471). This is happening, stressed the UNHCR, “despite the laudable efforts of the Italian navy and the Coastguard in their search and rescue operations”. Almost 2,600 people arrived in Malta from North Africa in the first nine months of the year, while in the whole of 2007 the number was 1,800. Available estimates for Greece are only for the first seven months of 2008, but the trend is the same as Italy and Malta. It is estimated that around 15,000 people reached the peninsula and the Greek islands of the Aegean between January and July this year, while the figure was 19,900 in 2007. The number of refugees in this movement of migrants, including economic migrants, varies greatly from country to country and depending on the time of year. In Italy’s case a third of the migrants arriving by sea last year asked for asylum (around 7,000 people). On average half of asylum requests in Italy are accepted or allowed some other form of international protection. In Malta around 80% of people arriving by sea asked for asylum and almost 60% of them were granted international protection. Only 3% of migrants arriving in Spain by sea requested asylum, despite being given the relevant information on arrival. UNHCR has been watching the humanitarian crisis in the Gulf of Aden for some time, which is crossed each year by tens of thousands of people fleeing the Horn of Africa, a region devastated by civil war, political instability, hunger and poverty — looking for protection in the Yemen or further afield. In the first ten months of 2008 more than 38,000 people made the dangerous crossing by boat from Somalia to Yemen, considerably more than the 29,500 who made the same journey in the whole of last year. More than 600 people were declared dead or missing this year in the Gulf of Aden. Last year the number of dead reached 1,400. One of the many tragedies is that of last Sunday, November 2 when almost 40 people had to throw themselves overboard in the sea off the coast of Yemen from a boat carrying 115 desperate people from Somalia via the Gulf of Aden. Some 12 bodies have so far been brought out of the sea onto the beach of Alam, and 28 people are still missing. (ANSAmed).
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A Reevaluation of the Balfour Declaration
by Ashley Perry
On November 2, the Balfour Declaration was 91 years old. Although seemingly irrelevant in today’s political scenery, it was the crucial first official recognition of Jewish national aspirations, much disparaged even unto this day.
Although the declaration itself had little legal status, it was later incorporated into the S?vres peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine, adopted unanimously by the League of Nations in the San Remo Resolution of 1920. This lent Zionism an international legitimacy enjoyed by few national movements before or since.
Perhaps most astonishing today, the leader of the Arab movement, King Faisal, supported the declaration when it was referred to in the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement of 1919. Although many have since attempted to deny the central nature of the document and its relationship to the Mandate, that’s not how its British drafters saw things.
In fact, as stated in the 1937 Royal Commission Report, “the primary purpose of the Mandate, as expressed in its preamble and its articles, is to promote the establishment of the Jewish National Home.” The initial drafts of the Balfour Declaration spoke of the desire “that Palestine should be reconstituted as the National Home of the Jewish people.” Clearly, Palestine as a whole was intended to become this Jewish national home…
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American Ports Scanning Equipment Made in China
Critics of the transaction, who requested anonymity, raised the specter of sensitive X-ray images and cargo manifests being archived on the X-ray scanning system and, perhaps, transmitted via the Internet back to Nuctech in China, or to the Chinese government. Indeed, the mobile system was required to offer that technical capability.
“Automatic digital image archiving with image review of 25,000 images or greater with a flatbed scanner to record, save and associate related documents and notes including system operators, recipient, date and time,” was listed as one required capability in the port’s official specification document.
“Nuctech will supply the wireless devices for transmission of images to remote inspection location, and for uploading data via internet,” promised Nuctech, in its formal proposal to the port.
Cummings acknowledged that the system theoretically could capture, store and transmit such X-ray images — and transmit them to China or elsewhere…”
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Culture: Arab Countries, One Book to Every 12,000 Citizens
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 4 — The book-citizen ratio in the Arab world is one to 12,000, a surprising figure compared to Britain (one book for every 500 people) or Germany (on book for every 900), with a percentage of reading lower by 4%. So reveals the “first Arab report on cultural development” to be published soon in Cairo by the Foundation on Arab Thought, led by Saudi prince Khaled Al Faisal. The report, which is published in part in the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, is 700 pages long, divided into 5 topics: secondary teaching in Arab countries, the Arab media (press, tv, internet), writing and publishing in 18 Arab countries, Arab creativity in 2007, the balance of cultural life in the Arab world in the same year. The access rate to university education in Arab countries, according to the report, is not above 21.8%, compared to 91% in South Korea, 72% in Australia, 58% in Israel. The highest is the United Arab Emirates, with 76%, Bahrain, 68%, Lebanon 62%, Saudi Arabia 49% and Egypt, 45%. On average in universities there is one professor to 24 students, compared with 8 students in Japan and 13 in the USA. Egypt is the top Arab country in the study of social sciences and the humanities, with less than 80% of university students. With regard to blogs, Arabs have 490,000, 0.7% of the total worldwide, Egypt 162,000 (31% of Arab blogs). There are 482 satellite TV channels. Of these 19% are religious, 18 music, and 4.8 are dedicated to cultural programmes. (ANSAmed).
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US Vote: ‘Huge’ Expectation, Vatican
Iraq, Middle East, poverty and family values cited
(ANSA) — Vatican City, November 5 — The Vatican on Thursday stressed the “huge responsibility” facing United States President-elect Barack Obama and the equally large expectations he has raised on world issues ranging from the Middle East to poverty and “respect for spiritual values”.
After a presidency that shared Pope Benedict’s views on family values, the Vatican is awaiting Obama’s moves on the same terrain, spokesman Federico Lombardi told ANSA.
The new president has “huge responsibility” not only for America but also the world, Lombardi said.
“We all hope new president Obama will be able to match the expectations and the hopes directed towards him, effectively serving justice and rights, finding the best ways to promote peace in the world, favouring the growth and dignity of persons with respect for essential human and spiritual values,” Father Lombardi said.
He cited Iraq, the Holy Land, the protection of Christian minorities in the Middle East and Asia, and the fight against poverty and social inequality as the main areas the Holy See hopes to cooperate with Obama on.
God could help Obama in his job, the Vatican said.
“May God illuminate (Barack Obama) in his very great responsibility,” it said.
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USA: Vote; Hamas, Let New President Learn From Bush Mistakes
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, NOVEMBER 4 — Hamas is hoping that whoever is elected President of the United States “will show that he has learned from the errors of George Bush and that he not commit similar catastrophes” said Fawzi Barhum, a director of Hamas in Gaza, speaking to ANSA. In particular, the new US President should realise that “democracy cannot be imposed by force”. Barhum said that Hamas has no preference between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. “It is not just the person, but the political platform that counts”. During the electoral campaign both Obama and McCain have been disappointing for Palestinians because “they have shown that they have Israel’s interests at heart, and have forgotten the need for an end to the occupation of the Territories and have ignored the suffering of the Palestinian people”. (ANSAmed).
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4 comments:
There was a truce in Gaza? Who knew?
"The tunnels were primarily being used for the movement of contraband which cannot be imported into Palestinian territory including food, electronic goods and various tools. According to Israeli secret services, which control the border between the two territories, the tunnels were also used for the movement of illegal weapons and explosives.
I have never been able to understand why Israel controls the border between Gaza and Egypt. Also, why is the free movement of food, electronics and tools prohibited? Why must one send food through an illegal tunnel from Egypt to Gaza?
I know this comment is pretty late, but I forgot about posting last night after I read it - since I couldn't post from work.
I don't get the article about the book ratio at all. It makes no sense to me. I have probably over a hundred books in my apt (most of my library is in storage) - and just about everyone I know owns at least a handful. What's up with this - one book to 500 folks in the UK or 900 in Germany? I looked at the link but there's no extra data.
Can someone explain what they're actually trying to say there?
Tuan Jim, I believe what they're measuring is the title count relative to population. Assuming it's 1 to 500 here in Denmark as well, that would make for some 10,000 titles published a year. Counting all kinds of small titles (I'm in a small society that publishes 5 titles a year), it just might make sense. In my circles, certainly much more than 1 in 500 individuals have published books. Heck, a lot more, but that's atypical.
Looking around in my room, I probably have some 400 books on my shelves. That's atypical too, but I don't think uncommon. And judging from the rush in bookstores around Christmas, where people stand in line to purchase the latest titles, one can safely say that the idea that most people don't own books is obviously wrong.
At the bottom of the article, book numbers are compared to blog counts, TV channels etc. It makes sense also in this context that what is counted is titles, not copies.
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