Check out the story about Islamic proselytizing and Muslim conversions within the prison system of Washington State. The article doesn’t mention the Muslims of America (nor Jamaat ul-Fuqra, naturally), but I would be very surprised if none of the imams doing the missionary work were from MOA.Thanks to Amil Imani, C. Cantoni, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Holger Danske, Insubria, RRW, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Brown to Meet IMF and World Bank Heads to Prepare G20
LONDON (Reuters) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet the heads of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank this week in preparation for an April summit on the global economic crisis, the government said on Monday.
Brown will hold talks with IMF Managing-Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and World Bank President Robert Zoellick in London on Wednesday as he kicks off a week of intense diplomacy in preparation for the G20 meeting of leading advanced and emerging economies which Brown hosts on April 2.
“We will be setting out further detail of our proposals for the issues that should be discussed and considered at the G20 and the prime minister is likely to be doing that later this week,” Brown’s spokesman said.
Brown will also meet Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in London on Wednesday before travelling to Rome on Thursday for talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
California Polygamist Sentenced to 7 Life Terms for Abusing Children, Wives
Riverside, CA (AHN) — A California court on Friday sentenced a 55-year-old polygamist man to seven life terms and more than 16 years in prison for torturing and abusing his children and imprisoning and hurting his wives.
Mansa Musa Muhummed, a Muslim convert, received the verdict from Riverside County Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson III ending a trial that spanned 10 years since his arrest.
Muhummed of Aguanga has 19 children and three wives. Seven tortured children testified against him saying their father beat and starved them. They were also hanged by their feet and forced to eat vomit and feces.
Two of his wives testified they were forced to live in a garage with no heater, air conditioner and running water.
Muhummed denied the charges and implicated one of his wives to the abuse.
Muhummed was convicted in June for several charges, including child endangerment. One of his wives detailed the abuses in a letter she secretly passed to a mailman leading to his arrest in 1999.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Prisoners Find Direction in Muslim Faith
MONROE, Wash. — The announcement rang out across the open courtyards of the Monroe Correctional Complex.
“Movement is now open.”
Men wearing baggy navy-blue sweatshirts and loose-fitting pants or jeans drifted from one building to the next. They ambled along, laughing with one another and gulping in fresh air. It’s free time, when prisoners who are being held for rape, burglary, murder and other crimes can attend classes or read in the library.
A small group of men, many wearing crocheted skullcaps, filed into a windowless room. They tug off their shoes and ease down cross-legged on thin rugs that have been spread on the floor for the service.
Prison is a tomb or a womb, they say. Either a man wastes his years on the inside and allows bitterness to rot his soul, or he uses the time to quiet the rage or fear or desperation that landed him in prison. Anthony Waller, like many Muslims at Twin Rivers, converted to the faith while behind bars. That changed everything, he said.
“If I wasn’t a Muslim I’d still be in closed custody,” Waller, 31, said, referring to prison facilities that strictly control prisoners with violent pasts.
“Or, I’d be dead,” he said.
Waller, who doesn’t expect to see freedom until 2033, attends a Muslim prison service every week with dozens of other men who have converted to the faith since being locked away. These “prison Muslims” are among the fastest-growing religious groups in U.S. correctional facilities.
A movement that began in the 1970s under Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to evangelize inmates has evolved into one of the most effective religious rehabilitation agendas in the U.S. Imams under the Nation of Islam continue to draw converts, but most Muslims in prison today are Sunnis, said Lawrence Mamiya, a professor at Vassar College who has studied Muslim prison ministries.
Mamiya estimates that about 10 percent of all prison inmates have converted to Islam. Using his estimate, about 1,800 of the state’s 18,000 inmates would be Muslim.
About 1 percent of Washington residents claim to be Muslim, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. That’s the same as the national average.
For most men behind bars, their conversion is temporary. Just one in five who convert to Islam while in prison continue on in that faith once they are released, Mamiya said.
That makes experts wonder whether “Prison Islam” isn’t a religious movement but a convenient infrastructure for a prison gang that affords members special privileges, including rugs and sticks of incense for their cells…
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Scenes From the Third Jihad: CAIR
[Video]
The United American Committee gives us a good roundup of CAIR’s pro-jihadist activities in this new video.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Shi’ite Muslims March in Dearborn
Thousands of Shi’ite Muslims trudged through snow-covered sidewalks in Dearborn Sunday afternoon in a procession to remember the death of a Muslim leader killed in 7th century Iraq.
The 2-mile procession featured colorful flags in honor of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Islam’s prophet, religious songs, and cries of “We support you, Oh Hussain.”
The worshippers started at the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center on Warren Ave., the main commercial strip of Dearborn, and then walked to nearby Hemlock Park. There, they recited poetry and tapped their chests in mourning rituals known as latmiya.
Dearborn Police Lt. Wayne Seccombe estimated the crowd was between 2,000 and 5,000.
“We are here as lovers of Imam Hussain, lovers of freedom, of justice, of democracy,” said Imam Husham Al-Husainy, the head of the Karbalaa center and the parade’s organizer. “Imam Hussain is still alive with us, even though he was martyred 1400 years ago. His spirit is still alive.”
The parade was held close to the 40th day after the death anniversary of Imam Hussain, who was killed in battle. Shi’ite Muslims, a minority among the broader Muslim community, remember Hussain every year during a holiday known as Ashura.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Barcelona Exalts Graffiti Artists, Malaga Arrests Them
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID — Graffiti: in Spain the street artists are either in museums or in jail. Whilst artists in Barcelona are the stars of a festival, in Malaga five have been sent to prison, and in Madrid the municipality has declared war on them. Eight graffiti artists have arrived at the ‘‘The Influences’’ Festival in Barcelona, which dedicated to unconventional art projects and runs until tomorrow at the Centre of Contemporary Culture in Barcelona. Among the independent and invited groups and artists are some famous ones, like Swoon and Italy’s ‘Blu’. Dino Brusatin, director of the event, underlines that Blu is the star of the Festival. Blu is responsible for the amazing graffiti on the wall between Israel and the Gaza Strip and the enormous works ordered by the Tate Modern of London for its facade. Blu, whose videos on YouTube have been seen by 5 million persons, is working on a secret location in Barcelona on a work of art he will leave to the city at the end of the festival. ‘‘They’re called street warriors because they leave messages that break through local cliche’s’’ said Brusatin, ‘‘they work with limited resources and have one priority: launching an idea that may come in conflict with institutions and the media’’. In Spain, graffiti artists are usually self-taught, while the rest of Europe has been influenced by the USA. In the ‘80s the works of Muelle, alias Juan Carlos Arguello, of Bleck and Glub started to appear on the walls of Madrid, followed by artists of the QSC group. Since then, street art has invaded trains, stations, and public spaces. In the ‘90s the art became more popular when Montana started selling a good quality paint for a low price. The Montana shop & gallery in Valencia is the symbol of this art form with specialised magazines, platforms like the Urban Art Festival and many other events. But on the other side of the coin there is the battle against graffiti announced by Environment Assessor of Madrid, Ana Botella. ‘‘We want graffiti to disappear step by step, because it’s not art but a social plaque’’ said the wife of the former premier, Maria Jose’ Aznar, asking the inhabitants of Madrid to call the police if they see street artists at work During a visit to Vallecas, in the south of the capital, Ana Botella said the ‘‘plague’’ has cost the municipality ‘‘six million euros in 2008, to clear 380,465 square metres of painting, 2.4 times the surface of the windows of the four new skyscrapers of Madrid’’. Fines for artists who are caught are as high as 6,000 euros. ‘‘The freedom of graffiti artists ends where ownership of the surface begins’’, warned Botella. The battle will be hard, though many remember the Asier case: the municipality, after removing one of his works, rewarded him the Prize for Young Creators, though not knowing his identity. The art form is especially costly for graffitists in Malaga, where nine days ago five of them were arrested after the report of some twenty owners of shops, buildings and plants. In the past week another 6 ‘‘writings artist’’ in Malaga were arrested, caught red-handed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cost of Politics Soars by 100 Million Euros
Politicians have increased outgoings. Waste and privilege from diaries to severance payments.
The stylish 2009 desk and pocket diaries, specially designed for the Senate by the Nazareno Gabrielli fashion house, elegantly list 365 days but one is missing. The day with a reminder to cut the cost of politics. A start could be made with the diaries, which cost 260,000 euros or half a billion lire. A few personalised notebooks cost more than the gross annual salary of twelve police officers to send to high-risk areas. It is twice, three times or even four times as much as the budget for each leukaemia research project at Padua’s Città della Speranza, the facility that survives on private donations, without public funding, and maintains Italy’s database of children suffering from tumours.
We can already hear the objection. Another attack on democratic institutions! But if the comparison with funding for not-for-profit institutions is embarrassing, let’s try another one. According to a study by Professor Antonio Merlo of the University of Pennsylvania, who keeps tabs on the salaries of American politicians, the diaries alone cost exactly (well, just over) 28,000 euros more than the annual salary of the governors of Colorado, Tennessee, Arkansas and Maine put together. True, those are the four lowest-paid governors. But even Arnold Schwarzenegger gets (and gives back: “I’m rich already”) 162,598 euros gross of tax, less than an Abruzzo regional councillor…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
DPP: OK to Change PM Without Election
The Danish People’s Party leader says there is no reason to call new elections if there is to be a change in prime ministers in Denmark.
Finance Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Lib) can expect clear sailing into the prime minister’s office if the current Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Lib) is given the post of Secretary-General of NATO.
Although DPP Leader Pia Kjærsgard is encouraging Fogh Rasmussen to clarify his political future, she makes it clear that if the prime minister left his post, a new election would not be necessary.
Finance Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is generally seen as the crown prince of Fogh Rasmussen’s Liberal Party.
“That would be going too far. Let’s wait and see. There’ll be plenty to talk about afterwards. We can easily change prime ministers without new elections. That’s not on the cards. Why on earth should we have new elections,” says DPP Leader Pia Kjærsgaard…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Economy: Italy, GDP Decreases by 0.9% in 2008
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 13- According to Istat (National Statistics Institute) Italy ended 2008 with a 0.9% decrease in the GDP, the same decrease recorded 15 years ago in 1993. The government estimated a 0.6% decline for 2008 in the Stability Pact Update. The carryover effect of this data on growth for 2008-2009 was 1.8%, meaning that if there was no variation in growth for the entire year, the year would end with a 1.8% decrease. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fr. Samir: Gagging Fitna and Wilders Does Not Promote Dialogue Among Civilizations
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj
The British government has blocked the Dutch member of parliament from entering the country, because of his controversial opinions about Islam. For some, human rights are being set aside in the West in order to avoid displeasing Muslims; for others, silence is better than provocation. But the problem of the connection between Islam and violence remains a question that no one wants to address. A commentary by the Islamologist Fr. Samir Khalil Samir.
Beirut (AsiaNews) — The British government has denied the Dutch member of parliament Geert Wilders permission to enter to the country. Wilders had been invited to present his film “Fitna” to the House of Lords. The film, produced about a year ago, is intended to demonstrate the strong connection between the Qur’an and international terrorism, with images of the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York (2001) and the attacks in London (2004) and Madrid (2005).
Wilders, who was stopped at the Heathrow airport, said that for him the ban on entering the country marked “a very sad day” for democracy.
Last year, the movie “Fitna” was released via the internet and provoked many reactions in the Muslim world. The decision to block Wilders was justified by reason of “public order,” to dampen “extremism.”
Foreign Minister David Miliband said that Great Britain has a “profound commitment to freedom of speech but there is no freedom to cry ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre and there is no freedom to stir up hate, religious and racial hatred, according to the laws of the land.” But other observers view the attitude of the British government as too fearful, and too much inclined to not spoiling relations with Middle Eastern countries and their investments in Great Britain. AsiaNews has obtained a commentary on this situation from the Islamologist Fr. Samir Khalil Samir.
One thing is clear: the decision of the British foreign office to block the visit of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders is a political reaction, dictated by political motives. The question that can be asked is whether this is a good policy. It could be that this expedient on the part of Great Britain is the only way to avoid religious conflict, but it seems worthwhile to me to make an observation.
I saw the film “Fitna” a year ago, and recently I have viewed a few clips from it again. The film is rather violent and crude, on purpose: its intention is to demonstrate that Islam is a violent religion in itself.
I don’t like the film. For one thing, it depicts a reality with many citations from the Qur’an, to demonstrate the violence of this religion. Without a doubt, the reality presented in “Fitna” is partial, and in no way an accurate depiction of Islam as a whole.
The film is certainly provocative, because it intends to assert that Islam is a religion of violence. But in effect, there is violence both in the Qur’an, and in the life of Mohammed. Still today, there are Muslims who carry out violence in the name of the Qur’an and of the prophet of Islam.
But it must be said that the response to a violent, partial film cannot be violence, and not even the decision to prevent someone from speaking. The minister’s decision to block Wilders, and the threats against him, fall into this category.
I have seen that the European Arab League has responded to this film with another film, a sort of “anti-Fitna”; other Muslim filmmakers have done the same thing. Such a reaction is more admirable than the one displayed by the Foreign Office. Although I do not like “Fitna,” I am against the decision of the British government. All the more so in that Wilders was supposed to present the film to the House of Lords, and not to a political group.
Wilders’s speech is, without a doubt, violent and fanatical. This is clear from reading just a few of his statements. But in the West, freedom of speech is a right that cannot be denied without creating other problems.
I have read at least 60 reactions from Muslims to the film “Fitna,” although few of them had seen it. Their reactions are mainly of rejection, a violent response. Only one commentary states: “It is true, this film is violent, it is not helpful, and it increases our perception of being besieged on every side; we see Islamophobia everywhere. But it is also true that our reactions make a great deal of room for this Islamophobia.”
I wonder: how is it that the Muslim world — and also part of the West — is so sensitive that it must gag every critic and even raise so much (physical) violence against (verbal) violence?
The Muslim world has not yet assimilated certain values, like the right to speech and to criticism, even though this can sometimes be unjust, or partially unjust.
There is a beautiful verse in the Qur’an that says: “In debate, dispute with them in a superior manner, and not on their level.” This verse should exclude this kind of violent reaction. And yet it must be said: there is violence in the name of Islam.
In some of the “anti-Fitna” films, there are images of Israelis fighting against the Palestinians; then there are images of crusaders, with cross and swords; then images of Americans in Vietnam. One film has been produced by the Islamic society al Furkan. In these “anti-Fitna” films as well, violence connected to religion is denounced. But the difference is that the Muslims who carry out violence do so in the name of their faith, constantly citing passages from the sacred book and the hadiths. The Israelis and Americans wage war not in the name of the Bible or the Gospel, but in the name of their politics. This is not a question of crusades, because it is foolish to compare contemporary events with those of a long gone past.
If the West goes to war, it does so for political purposes, economic, etc. Unfortunately, in Islam there are many imams who preach a religious war against nonbelievers, not a moral war, but a physical war, always quoting the Qur’an. Violence in the name of God is to be rejected in every religion. John Paul II spoke out against it many times, and Benedict XVI is doing so today. It is therefore worthwhile not to block discussions, but to become engaged and demonstrate falsehood, the connections between religion and politics, correcting one another.
In conclusion, I do not believe that the film “Fitna”is helpful: it serves only to provoke Muslims to make a break with violence, and non-Muslims to react, and not remain silent. On the other hand, the British reaction is not valid either, it does not help Muslims to criticize themselves, nor to stop violence in the name of Islam.
It is increasingly urgent that there be a group of Muslims and non-Muslims fighting together for freedom of speech and conscience, and capable of dialogue; to advance self-criticism of persons and civilization; distinguishing precisely between religion and politics.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Role in Holocaust Legally Recognized
PARIS (AP) — France’s top judicial body on Monday formally recognized the nation’s role in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps during the Holocaust — but effectively ruled out any more reparations for the deportees or their families.
Jewish groups welcomed the ruling by the Council of State, the clearest legal acknowledgment to date of France’s role in the Holocaust.
Nearly 70 years ago, the Vichy government helped deport some 76,000 people — including 11,000 children — from Nazi-occupied France to concentration camps during the war. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive.
The council said that the French government of the time “allowed or facilitated the deportation from France of victims of anti-Semitic persecution.”
“In an absolute rupture with the values and principles notably of the dignity of the human person … these anti-Semitic persecutions provoked exceptional damage of extreme gravity,” it said.
The statement legally formalized a historic gesture by then-President Jacques Chirac in 1995, when he became the first French leader to say the nation bore responsibility for the deportation of Jews in wartime France. Chirac broke with the official position that France’s Vichy regime was not synonymous with the French state.
“For us, it was France. The uniforms were French. The Germans did not always ask the Vichy government to do what it did,” said Serge Klarsfeld, a renowned French Nazi hunter and Holocaust historian.
Since Chirac’s speech, deportees and their families have won special state pensions and other compensation for their suffering. Some euro500 million has been paid out by a state commission established in 2000, according to Klarsfeld.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
French Nuclear Sub ‘Unaware’ of Crash
The Royal Navy had to inform French that one of its nuclear submarines had rammed British vessel in mid-Atlantic
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Health: Cyprus Medical Tourism Conference in February
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JANUARY 30 — The Second Cyprus Medical Tourism Conference will take place in London in February. The conference, as CNA reports, will put medical professionals, travel companies and insurance providers from the UK in touch with professionals based in Cyprus working in fertility, obesity, orthopaedics, reconstruction, dentistry, cardiology and optometry. It is organised by the Cyprus Health Service Promotion Board, in co-operation with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation. In a recent survey undertaken by www.TreatmentAbroad.com, Cyprus was voted amongst the top three destinations for both cosmetic surgery and fertility treatment. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Incredible News! The British Have Somali Terrorists Returning to the UK
It’s been happening in Great Britain too! Somalis, former asylees, have gone to Somalia for terrorist training and British intelligence thinks they are now returning to the UK. Regular readers of RRW know that we have been on the story of American Somalis leaving for Africa since the story first broke in the media in November (here). The great fear among our intelligence people is that they will in fact return to the US with their newfound skills.
Britain also has its first suicide bomber as do we, both thought to be members of al Shabab (we are coming to get you). Hat tip to an annonymous commenter.
From the Times today…
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pelosi Gets Surprise Present
House speaker ‘thrilled’ by grandparents’ birth certificates
(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a surprise gift from Chamber of Deputies Speaker Gianfranco Fini on her visit to the Italian lower house: the birth certificates of her grandparents.
‘‘We know how proud you are of your Italian roots,’’ said Fini as he handed over the certificates of Pelosi’s Abruzzo-born grandfather and her Liguria-born grandmother. ‘‘Oh, Mamma Mia, I wasn’t expecting this, it’s such a great thrill,’’ replied a teary-eyed Pelosi. Pelosi paternal grandfather, Tommaso Fedele D’Alessandro, was born on 11 September 1868 in Montenerodomo near Chieti, Abruzzo.
Her grandmother, Maria Petronilla Foppiani, was born in Rovegno near Genovese in 1894. Fini also gave Pelosi a photo of Montenerodomo in her grandfather’s time and a letter from the mayor of Rovegno inviting her to visit her grandmother’s birthplace.
Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the US lower house, arrived in Italy Saturday for a six-day visit.
On Sunday she visited museums in Florence and laid a wreath at an Anglo-American war cemetery outside the city.
On Monday, before seeing Fini, she met President Giorgio Napolitano.
She will hold a conference Monday afternoon at the Chamber of Deputies entitled Strong Allies for A Secure Future.
On Tuesday Pelosi will have lunch with Premier Silvio Berlusconi and later meet Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa.
The global financial crisis, international security, collaboration between Rome and Washington and the priorities of Italy’s presidency of the Group of Eight will top the agenda.
On Wednesday Pelosi is expected to have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, before travelling to Naples where on Thursday she will meet US servicemen stationed in the area.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Katrina’ Bishop Row Continues
Vatican says controversial priest has not refused promotion
(ANSA) — Vatican City, February 16 — An Austrian priest who said Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for immorality has not officially refused a promotion, the Vatican said on Monday.
Gerhard Maria Wagner on Sunday told the Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress he had decided not to accept his appointment as auxiliary bishop of Linz ‘‘in the light of heavy criticism’’ from Austrian bishops.
The ultra-conservative priest said that Pope Benedict XVI, who nominated Wagner for the new position on January 31, had already accepted his decision to quit.
But the Vatican said Monday that it had not yet received an official request.
Wagner, 54, has said he wishes to remain parish priest of the Austrian town of Windischgarsten, where he has served since 1988.
His nomination as bishop was criticised by the Austrian bishops’ conference, which called an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.
In the past Wagner said in a parish newsletter that Katrina was divine retribution for New Orleans’ sexual permissiveness and toleration of homosexuals.
He pointed out that nightclubs and abortion clinics were among buildings destroyed by the hurricane, which killed around 1,000 in the city.
Wagner also won headlines for warning children not to read J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels on the grounds that they ‘‘spread satanism’’. The Bishop of Linz, Ludwig Schwarz, said Sunday he felt ‘‘rather relieved’’ by Wagner’s announcement that he would step down as auxiliary bishop.
The row comes on the heels of a controversy over the pope’s decision to lift the excommunication of a British bishop who denied the Holocaust, creating tension with Jews and within the Church.
Richard Williamson, of the breakaway Society of Saint Pius X, recently reiterated his views that there were no gas chambers and that only 300,000 Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, not six million.
The Vatican later said the pope had been unaware of Williamson’s comments at the time of his rehabilitation.
The bishop was removed from his position as head of a seminary in Argentina last week after he refused to retract his denial despite a request from the Vatican.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Religion: Spain; 500,000 More Donors to Catholic Church
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 13 — The new system of financing gratifying the Spanish Catholic Church, which in its last fiscal year obtained 241.3 million euros of the 0.7% of declared income from 8.5% (some 500,000 more than the year before) of tax payers, is voluntary donations. The donations, according to what was reported today by the Spanish Episcopal Council, are 67.5 million euros more than the 173.8 million euros the Catholic Church received for the previous fiscal year (+38.8%). In the new agreements for the financing of the Catholic Church, signed by the Zapatero government in 2006, the percentage that the bishops will receive through income declaring went from 0.52% to 0.7%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swedes Approved Secret Nazi Loan: Report
New documents have emerged that Swedish finance minister, Ernst Wigforss, approved secret Swedish bank credits to Nazi Germany in 1941. The documents were recently uncovered in a filing cabinet at the finance ministry.
Historian and ambassador Krister Wahlbäck and cabinet office archivist Bo Hammarlund reveal the existence of the documents, which indicate Wigforss’ approval of loans to Hitler’s Germany, in a full page debate article in Dagens Nyheter on Sunday.
The loans served to increase Swedish exports to Nazi Germany, of far greater importance, the pair argue, than opening the country’s borders and train lines for the use of German troop movements — against which Wigforss was a renowned opponent.
Ernst Wigforss, who died 30 years ago, retains a revered place in the hearts of many in the Social Democratic party and is argued by Wahlbäck and Hammarlund to fulfil the role of the party’s “socialist conscience”.
Wigforss was vocal in his criticism of the prime minister and Social Democrat party leader, Per Albin Hansson, for allowing the German Division Engelbrecht transit through Sweden, assisting the Nazi invasion of Norway.
The new document is a letter received by Wigforss in April 1941 and undersigned by the director of Skandinaviska Banken, Ernst Herslow. The document was never entered into the official record.
The letter summarized a conversation between Wigforss and Jacob Wallenberg earlier in the day. The conversation concerned the approval of bank credits to Germany to enable them to pay Swedish shipbuilders for services rendered. For this the bank required state approval.
“The minister expressed his understanding, that it would be desirable for the credits to be provided,” Herslow wrote.
Wahlbäck and Hammarlund write that such a decision would most likely have been shared with the cabinet but, they point out, no note has been made of the issue by any other minister.
The diary of the then head of the Riskbank, Ivar Rooth, however indicates that the both he and the Swedish foreign office (UD) held strong reservations over the bank credits which would enable Germany to supply less goods in return to Sweden for iron ore and other materials crucial to the war effort.
The loans amounted to around 40 million kronor, a large sum of money in those days, Wahlbäck and Hammarlund write.
They continue to argue that the credits provided in April 1941 were the first breach in Swedish resistance to Nazi Germany’s demands. The credits, it is noted, appear to have been given in the face of the minimum of coercion.
The result of the approval of the bank credits meant that Sweden avoided demands from Germany for direct Swedish state aid and that Swedish boat yards could continue to build vessels for Nazi Germany’s navy.
Instead of state credits, of the like that the Swedish state offered (but never provided) to Soviet Russia in the “Russian precedent” of 1940, the pair argue that Sweden instead provided something akin to state-sanctioned “export credit guarantees”.
Wahlbäck and Hammarlund conclude from the document find that there is more to be learned from Sweden’s actions during the war and the involvement of certain individuals in regard to dealings with Nazi Germany, the source of much irritation among the allied powers.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Subway Store Converts to Halal Only
Just days ago I posted about a Domino’s Pizzeria in the UK which hadbanned all pork products.
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| [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: High Commissioner Candidates From UK and Italy
(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, FEBRUARY 13 — The British former ambassador to the UN and Nato, Emyr Jones Perry, could be the new High Representative for Bosnia, but there is also a chance for Italian candidate Michael Giffoni, who is the current Italian ambassador to Pristina and former advisor for the Balkans to the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy to the EU, Jose Solana. According to Bosnian press reports, consultations are underway between EU countries to nominate a substitute for Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia, leaving the post of High Representative for Bosnia to become Foreign Minister for Bratislava. Three other countries are interested in the Sarajevo posting, Greece, Austria and Estonia, but their candidates, say reports in Bosnian newspapers, have less likelihood of success. Because it is a double assignment — Special Representative to the EU and the High Representative for the international community, as set up in the Dayton Peace Treaty that ended the Bosnian war (1992-95) — the candidate nominated by Brussels must also be confirmed by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), the council for the implementation of the peace accords in Bosnia made up of 55 countries and international agencies including the United States and Russia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Autonomy Demand Sparks Separatism Fears
Belgrade, 13 Feb. (AKI) — Serbia’s northern Vojvodina province has triggered a heated national debate by demanding more regional autonomy, which opposition and some members of the ruling coalition fear is a bid for future separatism.
Of Serbia’s 7.5 million population, some two million live in the province of Vojvodina, which already enjoys a degree of autonomy, including local government and a parliament with limited competences.
But local parliament recently adopted a new statute for the province, which provides for more legislative powers, financial independence, the right to conclude international agreements and to have its own diplomatic missions abroad.
About one half of Vojvodina’s population are Serbs, while the rest is made up of more than 20 other ethnic groups, including 150,000 Hungarians. Minorities have their own media, schools and even a university in the Hungarian language.
However, local politicians, including some Serbs, have been calling for more political and financial independence from Belgrade and their demands have been defined in the new statute which still has to be approved by the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.
The sensitive issue has triggered a stormy debate, because Serbia is still fighting a diplomatic battle to retain control over their former southern province of Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians declared independence a year ago.
The new statute enjoys the support of pro-European president Boris Tadic and his Democratic Party, which has a strong electoral base in Vojvodina.
However, opposition politicians, including former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, have warned that the new statute was a first step towards separatism and further disintegration of the country.
Kostunica said the statute was “anti constitutional” and called on MPs to “pass the test of patriotism” and reject the statute in the parliament.
He further accused Tadic’s ruling coalition of “deliberately undermining the country’s constitutional order and Serbia itself”.
But Ivica Dacic, whose Socialist Party of Serbia is a member of the ruling coalition, said his deputies would vote against the statute. “The SPS is not against Vojvodina’s autonomy, but is against the creation of another state in Serbia,” he said.
On the other hand, Balint Pastor the leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, said his party would quit the ruling coalition if the statute was killed in parliament.
A similar position was taken by Nenad Canak, a Serb, whose League of Vojvodina Social Democrats has spearheaded the drive for more autonomy.
The situation was further complicated by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who wrote to Tadic in order to kill the statute in parliament because it was “destructive for Serbia”.
The call provoked a wave of criticism from the statute supporters and non-governmental organisations, pointing out that the Church was separated from the state and should not interfere in political affairs.
As the debate has become more heated, Tadic has said that same parts of the statute might be revaluated, but its supporters vowed not to consent to any changes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Official Investigated for Alleged Rape of Two Algerian Muslims
A CIA official is under investigation by the US justice department for allegedly raping two Muslim women during his posting in Algeria.
The suspect in the case, Andrew Warren, is accused of lacing their drinks with a knockout drug before raping the women and authorities have also alleged that the 41-year-old filmed the attacks and stored images on his computer.
Warren, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the US ambassador David Pearce in October last year, after the two women allegedly came forward with their rape allegations in September. On his return, he allegedly admitted having sex with the women but insisted it was consensual.
The alleged assaults, if proved, are viewed as particularly serious by the US government as they could potentially damage diplomatic relations with Algeria, a US ally, where they are working hard with local officials to combat militants.
Furthermore, the case could undermine US efforts to improve its image in the Muslim world. “This will be seen as the typical ugly American,” former CIA officer Bob Baer claimed on ABC news.
According to an affidavit, the two women “reported the allegations in this affidavit independently of each other”. The first victim has claimed the alleged raped occurred in September 2007 after being invited to a party at his home in Hydra by US embassy employees.
The alleged victim, known as V1 in the report, told a state department investigator that after Warren allegedly prepared a mixed drink of cola and whisky and gave it to her, she felt a “violent onset of nausea” and Warren allegedly said she should spend the night. When she woke up the next morning, she realised she was lying naked on a bed and noticed a used condom in the bin, she claimed.
According to the affidavit, the second alleged victim told a similar story saying that Warren met her at the US embassy and invited her for a “tour of his home” where she said he prepared an apple martini for her “out of sight”.
V2 claimed that she remembers being in Warren’s bed but that allegedly “Warren made a statement to the effect of ‘nobody stays in my expensive sheets with clothes on’.” She told investigators that she “slipped in and out of consciousness” as Warren allegedly raped her.
Warren, an African-American schooled in martial arts, who speaks six Arabic dialects, is also being investigated for a number of other incidents, which allegedly occurred on an earlier posting in Egypt after authorities discovered a number of sex tapes. The affidavit also claims a search of Warren’s residence in Algiers turned up Valium and Xanax and a handbook on the investigation of sexual assaults.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Historian Tom Segev Shocked at the Election Successes of Right-Wing Populist Avigdor Lieberman
Israeli historian and journalist Tom Segev expresses his shock at the election success of right-wing populist Avigdor Lieberman. “For years we flattered ourselves that as Jews, we were immune to racist sentiments. For years we even wanted to believe that the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians in the West Bank would not encroach on our own democratic system. We told ourselves proudly that we did not hate; it was the enemy that hated us. Now hate has become legitimate for us, too.”
Israeli historian and journalist Tom Segev expresses his shock at the election success of right-wing populist Avigdor Lieberman. “For years we flattered ourselves that as Jews, we were immune to racist sentiments. For years we even wanted to believe that the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians in the West Bank would not encroach on our own democratic system. We told ourselves proudly that we did not hate; it was the enemy that hated us. Now hate has become legitimate for us, too.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Agriculture: Syria; 1.5 Mln Tonnes of Grain Imported in Æ09
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, FEBRUARY 9- According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2009 grain imported by Syria will reach a record of 1.5 million metric tones due to declining reserves. In 2007 Syria imported 100 thousand metric tonnes of grain, and in 2008 imports totaled 1.2 million metric tones. According to the ICE (Italian Foreign Trade Institute) office in Damascus, due to climatic conditions including a two years of lower than average precipitation, in 2008 grain production in Syria totaled 2.1 million metric tonnes. However, if precipitation increases in 2009-2010, grain production is expected to increase between 3-4 million metric tonnes. According to USDA experts, the Syrian government should reduce measures imposed on Syrian produced grain, lowering government subsidies. Last year the United States was the top supplier of corn to Syria with 1.3 million metric tones. Syria buys mainly from Russia, the Ukraine, and Turkey. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
British American Tobacco Rises Market Share in Turkey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 13 — British American Tobacco (BAT), the world’s second largest cigarette group, increased above 10% the market share in Turkey and will continue to invest in the country, a company’s statement said. “BAT started its operations in Turkey in 2002 and increased its market share from zero to above 10% with its own products”, Johan Vandermeulen, the general director of BAT Turkey, declared. BAT had won the auction for state-run Turkish cigarette maker Tekel in 2008, with the highest bid of $1.72 billion. “Turkey is among the eight biggest markets for cigarette consumption”, Vandermulen said, adding that they “had increased the number of their employees to more than 2,000, almost reaching two folds, after privatization”. The company invested around USD 60 million during the seven-months lasted privatization period and this would increase to USD 100 million in the coming term, the statement also said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Chaos, Crisis & Terror Serves the Islamic Republic
by Amil Imani
As the Islamic Revolution completed its third decade, it would not be too difficult to realize the reality and the fruits of its mismanagement during its imperial and revolutionary eras. Throughout the three decades of its existence, the Islamic Republic has managed, notably, to produce more hunger, extreme frustration and anger, prostitution at a record pace, drug addiction beyond control, child execution without any regard to the international human rights bylaws. There are many reports regarding cases of child sexual abuse and molestation reaching epidemic proportions. Prosecution and imprisonment of the innocent people and systematic and illegal abuse of detainees and hundreds of gruesome acts have also been reported…
| — Hat tip: Amil Imani | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Turkey; Istanbul Hosts Summit for Iraqi Oil and Gas
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 12 — A two-day summit organized by the Iraqi Oil Ministry starts today in Istanbul where tenders for Iraqi oil and natural gas fields will be put forward. The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (Tpao) agreed with international investors and is ready to participate in tenders with three international consortiums, daily Referans reported. Last year, Iraq first called for a tender for oil and natural gas fields situated in the South of the country and 35 international companies received a preliminary qualification. Although Tpao and its sub-company, Tpic, could not initially enter the list, Turkey was included in the list following diplomatic initiatives. The Iraqi Oil Ministry called for a second tender at the beginning of January 2009. TPAO is also preparing to participate in the second tender which covers 11 fields such Mecnun, West Qurna, Halfaya, East Baghdad, Garrafa, Kayara, Necme, Badrah, Kifil, West Kifil, Mirjan and Diyala. Siba natural gas field in Basra province will also be opened for tender. Through new fields, oil production in Iraq is expected to rise 2.5 million barrels per day within three to four years. To become the third greatest reserve of the world, Iraqi oil reserves need investments of billions of dollars. TPAO formed consortiums with Turkish Oil Pipelines Corporation, or BOTAS, and Shell in the first phase, then signed a memorandum of understanding for Iraq-Turkey Gas Exports Project last year. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Gather to Commemorate Hariri Assassination
The commemoration comes two weeks before the beginning of trials against the alleged assassins. Saad Hariri expresses his thanks “in the name of my father,” and issues an appeal in view of the elections in June, which he calls “the opportunity for a free decision.”
Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) — This morning, hundreds of thousands of people filled Martyr’s Square in downtown Beirut, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister killed along with 22 other people on February 14, 2005.
The demonstration comes a few days before the beginning of work by the international tribunal — the first hearing is scheduled for March 1 — convened to try the organizers and agents of the killing. It is also supposed to identify the authors of a series of attacks on political and media figures, which has characterized the recent history of the country. So far, seven people have been arrested, suspected of having an active role in Hariri’s death. These include four generals of the army and members of the secret service, including the former Lebanese security chiefs. The Syrian government has been accused of ordering the killing, but has always rejected any responsibility.
Speaking at today’s demonstration was Saad Hariri, the son and political heir of the assassinated prime minister. He has accused the Syrian government of his father’s killing from the beginning, and demanded the country’s independence from the influence of Damascus. In his speech, Saad celebrated the elections on June 7 “as an opportunity for a free decision” on the country’s future, and expressed his hope that the “language of national dialogue” may outweigh “all other discussions,” and called for “patience and acceptance of responsibility” for the good of the country. Finally, Saad thanked all those present “in my father’s name,” recalling that their witness is preparing the way “for the trial against his assassins.”
Today is seen also as a test in view of the elections in June of 2009, which will pit the coalition led by Hezbollah — supported by Syria and Iran — against the Sunni front supported by Western governments. In recent days, Hezbollah has accused the parliamentary majority of exploiting the commemoration of Hariri’s killing in view of the election. This week, Christian leader Michel Aoun also pointed out the exploitation of the celebrations on the part of the majority.
On the eve of the commemorations, Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora published an open letter in Lebanese newspapers entitled “The martyr Rafiq Hariri: the power of presence in the memory of absence.” The prime minister wanted to pay homage to his predecessor, who in his political activity was guided “by the general sense of his country’s interests, a spirit of initiative, and profound conviction.” Siniora stressed that “the values for which Hariri fought will continue to inspire the Lebanese and Arabs.”
Lebanese information minister Tarek Mitri recalled Hariri’s clarity on the matter of “Lebanon’s independence” and his fight to build a “modern and unified state.” In recent days, various religious and political figures of the country have gathered in prayer in Martyr’s Square. Grand Mufti Mohammad Rachid Kabbani led a delegation of Sunni Arabs, and, in front of Hariri’s tomb, celebrated the memory of the “architect” who “played a leading role in the rebuilding of Lebanon and the peace process.” He also called upon the people to turn out for today’s commemorations. Palestinian ambassador Abbas Zaki visited Hariri’s tomb in the name of President Abu Mazen: “Rafiq Hariri was a man of state,” the diplomat said, “and his support for the Palestinian cause makes his memory immortal.” He issued an appeal “for clarity” on his assassination, and urged the citizens to “honor the patriotic and human values for which he worked.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Religious Affiliation to Disappear From Lebanese Documents
The change has been ordered in a memo from the Interior Ministry, which makes reference to religious freedom and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. During the civil war, thousands of people were killed because of the religion shown on their documents.
Beirut (AsiaNews) — Lebanese citizens will be able to remove their religious affiliation from their personal documents and from the civil registry. The decision of interior minister Ziad Baroud is contained in a memorandum published yesterday, which refers to the Constitution and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The idea of eliminating religious identification from documents had been advanced by human rights groups since the time of the civil war (1975-1990), when many people were killed at the checkpoints of the various factions, because of the religious affiliation shown on their identification documents.
The memorandum establishes that in the future, anyone will be able to remove the identification of his faith from all of his documents. It will be replaced with a slash (/). In reality, religious affiliation has not been shown on personal documents issued since the end of the civil war, but it remains obligatory for the civil registries. Now, it can be removed from these.
In the memo, the Interior Ministry refers to article 9 of the Constitution, which establishes freedom of religion. Article B of the introduction to the Constitution confirms adherence to the UN charters and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Transport: Syria, Concession Lattakia Terminal to Cma Cgm
(ANSAmed) — MARSEILLE, FEBRUARY 10 — French ship owner Cma Cgm has obtained the concession for at least ten years of the container terminal in the Syrian port of Lattakia, announced the group in a note. The group specified that it signed an agreement last Saturday with the Syrian public company Lattakia Port General Company on the management of terminal operations. From July 2009, the note specifies, the terminal will be managed by a consortium of Cma Cgm/Terminal Link (51%) and the Syrian company Souria Holding (49%). The port of Lattakia, situated in the west of Syria, is the main port of the Mediterranean country. The goal of Cma Cgm, according to general director Farid Salem, is to double the capacity of the container terminal by 2012, “linking Lattakia to ports worldwide”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Foreign Trade Minister Tuzmen to Visit Syria
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 13 — Turkey’s Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen and a delegation of Turkish businessmen will pay a visit to Syria, authorities said yesterday. The visit to the Syrian capital of Damascus, organized jointly by the Southeastern Anatolia Exporters Union (GAIB) and the Central Anatolia Exporters Union (OAIB), is due to take place February 16-18. Turkish businessmen, seeking ways to increase exports and fight the global economic crisis effectively, aim to boost cooperation with Syria, an important trade partner for Turkey. Turkish exports to Syria totaled USD 1.1 billion in 2008, and Turkey is aiming for a trade volume of USD 2.5 billion with Syria in 2009. According to figures from the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, Syria was 24th among the top 40 countries to which Turkey exported in 2008. In this time of financial crisis, trade relations with neighboring countries have taken on special importance for Turkey as Turkish exporters seek ways to expand their market share in global exports. Meetings between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have borne fruit, and Turkey’s exports to this country increased 39.5% in 2008 over the previous year, reaching $1.1 billion. Turkey-Syria Business Council President Ruhsar Pekcan told the Anatolia news agency that the trade volume between Turkey and Syria was around USD 300 million prior to 2000 and that this number had jumped to USD 800 million thanks to the efforts of his business council. Following a free trade zone agreement in 2007, volume grew to USD 1 billion, Pekcan added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Tops Afghan Per Capita KIA Figures
The number of Danes killed in action in Afghanistan puts Denmark at the top of the list of per capita losses.
Denmark, whose soldiers are currently operating in Helmand Province in Afghanistan, has lost the most ISAF soldiers per capita of population, according to figures compiled by 21 Søndag.
The programme, which compared overall losses with domestic population size, showed Denmark with 3.8 soldiers killed in action per million population. Canada’s losses were at 3.2 losses per million and the United Kingdom was at 2.3 per million. American losses were 2.1 per million population…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
India: No School for Christian Children in Orissa
Driven far from home, school-age children have practically lost an entire school year as the current one comes to end shortly. Orissa authorities are moving refugees to temporary camps near their home villages, but moving back home is still not yet in the cards. Discrimination and other intimidatory acts continue. As the April elections come closer, tensions is rising.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — Christian children in Kandhamal district are going to lose an entire year of school because of last August’s pogrom. Sajan K George, national chairman of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said that hundreds of children are in this situation. After fleeing their homes with their families, forced to languish in refugee camps, Christian children from Orissa have not been able to attend school this year and soon the current school year will be over.
For the Church in Orissa education is priority as a tool for development and emancipation of the population.
“Many victims of the [last August’s] violence have said that when they were being attacked their assailants deliberately targeted their certificates and diplomas, ripped them up and burnt the pieces,” Mr George.
“The missionaries’ work with Dalits was one of the reasons for fundamentalists’ loathing and jealousy. Stifling our children’s education in Kandhamal is one of their goals,” he added.
Anti-Christian discrimination takes many forms, and not always does it come with violence. In any event tensions in Kandhamal remain high and the potential for attacks remains the same.
“With elections just around the corner, the situation is getting even tenser,” Mr George told AsiaNews. “Christians in Kandhamal are still discriminated against and could become second-class citizens because they have no identity papers and so cannot exercise their fundamental right to vote.”
On Thursday, Krishan Kumar, who is in charge of government refugee camps in Kandhamal, said that “out of the initial 25,000 refugees, 4,000 are still left. Of these, 2,500 have been moved to temporary camps close to their villages of origin. Right now only 1,500 people are left in the Tikabali, K Nuagaon and Raikia relief camps.”
But for John Dayal, director of the All Indian Christian Council (AICC), this statement by the government official “in addition to being disingenuous, clearly point out to the fact that no housing ha yet been planned for these unfortunate people. What is more the government is not taking into account refugees in non-governmental relief camps, others refugees who are in Srikakulam in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh as well as thousands more who have been taken in by relatives in other towns and cities or who have ended in New Delhi and other places eking out a living doing odd jobs.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesian Muslim Group Says Clinton Not Welcome
Jakarta — About 100 Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the US embassy in Jakarta Monday to protest a planned visit this week by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The protestors from the conservative Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia waved placards denouncing Clinton as a “Zionist agent” in reference to Israel.
“Hillary, you are not welcome here,” read a poster held by a woman wearing a white headscarf.
“Hillary is not interested in respectful dialogue with the Muslim world,” one protestor said. “She’s only interested in defending Israel.”
Clinton is scheduled to be in Jakarta Wednesday and Thursday as part of her Asian tour that is to also take her to Japan, China and South Korea.
Clinton’s stop in Indonesia would place her in the Muslim world’s most populous country on a trip that could foreshadow a visit later this year by US President Barack Obama, who as a child attended school in Jakarta while living with his mother and Indonesian stepfather
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Zionist Danish TV Station Opens Propaganda Office in Kabul
TV2, one of two nationwide TV stations in Denmark, has recently opened a so-called “correspondent office” in the Afghan capital of Kabul. According to the strongly Zionist TV station with very close ties to the governing Liberal Party, the objective of the office is to describe the life of the Afghans in a better way than done hitherto.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Police Shut Down Protestant Community in Shanghai
The group of 1200 faithful belong to the underground domestic churches. The State Administration of Religious Affairs has revoked the rental contract that allowed the community the use of a hall. One more step toward the “normalization” of the Protestant communities.
Shanghai (AsiaNews/ANS) — The missionary church of Wanbang, located in Shanghai, will be forced to close. The community of 1200 people is an unauthorized domestic church, and had rented a a hall in the city for its gatherings. The police have forced the property owner to cancel the rental agreement within 30 days.
The missionary church of Wanbang has been under surveillance for some time. On February 10, the police and members of the State Administration of Religious Affairs ordered pastor Cui Quan to cancel a meeting among evangelization leaders, which was to be held in Shanghai. The annual meeting gathers only a small number of pastors to study ways to live evangelization in the cities.
Pastor Liu Tongsu, a witness to all of these events, says that “terminating a civil agreement that is completely in line with the legal process, through the use of a state compulsory organ (the police) is already a violation of more than one law.”
Shanghai, a cosmopolitan city, has always been more tolerant toward Christian communities, including the underground ones. In other regions and cities, the policies toward unauthorized Protestants are much more harsh, with arrest and the demolition of churches. It is likely that the fear of social revolts is prompting the authorities to exercise much tighter control of every kind of gathering. In any case, since 2007 a campaign has been underway in China against the underground Protestant communities, which, according to the most modest estimates, number more than 50 million faithful. The campaign is aimed at the absorption of the communities within the Movement of the Three Autonomies, the group of Protestant communities that are recognized and controlled by the government, or their suppression (see Secret party document wants to “normalise” Chinese Protestants).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Minister Calls for Rapists to be Castrated
An Italian Cabinet minister called today for rapists to be chemically castrated, amid a growing row over vigilante attacks on immigrants that have followed a series of rapes blamed on foreigners.
Roberto Maroni, the Interior Minister, urged Italians not to take the law into their own hands after masked youths armed with wooden clubs smashed up a kebab bar near the scene of a rape at Caffarella Park on the Appian Way in Rome at the weekend.
Five Romanians were beaten savagely in the raid, and two are in a serious condition.
The attack followed an incident on St Valentine’s Day in which a 14-year-old girl was raped and her 16-year-old boyfriend beaten up in the park, which is used by courting couples.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus and US Cooperate on Science and Technology
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, FEBRUARY 9 — The Republic of Cyprus and the United States have signed an agreement of cooperation in the fields of science and technology. The agreement, as reported by CNA, aims at enhancing scientific and technological cooperation between the two parties, boosting relations between the academic and scientific communities and promoting cooperation in various scientific and technological fields for mutual benefit. The areas of cooperation include among others the fields of archaeology, science, research, nanotechnology, super computing, and water supply purification. The agreement was signed on Thursday in Nicosia by Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus and US Ambassador in Nicosia, Frank Urbancic, on behalf of the US. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
1 comment:
the mudjahed in paradise
I have just translated the text of my newest cartoon
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