My favorite news story of the day — because I’m in desperate need of a break from Obama, Gordon Brown, and the imminent collapse of the banking system — is the article about the Saudi man who just earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by eating 22 live scorpions.Whatever you do, don’t miss the video of this important event! Unless you’re a girl, that is — girls may want to steer clear.
Thanks to Aeneas, C. Cantoni, Dan Riehl, Fausta, Insubria, Islam in Action, JD, KGS, RH, RRW, TB, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Bailout Solution? Soros-Promoted Bank Takeover
Plan calls for nationalization as end to TARP subsidies
The Obama administration, with the support of some top Republican senators, appears to be moving toward nationalizing U.S. banks, in a strategy known as the “Swedish Plan,” Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert reports. The strategy was heavily championed by George Soros at the Economic World Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year.
In the early 1990s, Sweden nationalized banks, but only after the banks had taken the losses writing down their own troubled losses.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ECB Faces Mutiny From National Bank Governors as Recession Deepens
The European Central Bank is capitulating.
For months the ECB held sternly to the high ground of orthodoxy as the US, Japanese, British, Canadian, Swiss and Swedish central banks slashed rates towards zero and embraced quantitative easing, but a confluence of fast-moving events is now forcing it to move.
The credit default swaps that measure bankruptcy risk on the debts of Ireland, Austria and a clutch of Latin Bloc states have vaulted to dangerous levels. In the case of Ireland, the slump is spilling on to the streets. Some 120,000 marched through Dublin over the weekend to protest austerity measures.
The slow fuse on Eastern Europe’s banking crisis has detonated, leaving Austrian, Belgian, Italian and other West European banks with $1.5 trillion (£1 trillion) in exposure.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
House Democrats Propose $410b Spending Bill
House bill to keep govt. running totals $410 billion, features thousands of pet projects
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats unveiled a $410 billion spending bill on Monday to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, setting up the second political struggle over federal funds in less than a month with Republicans.
The measure includes thousands of earmarks, the pet projects favored by lawmakers but often criticized by the public in opinion polls. There was no official total of the bill’s earmarks, which accounted for at least $3.8 billion.
The legislation, which includes an increase of roughly 8 percent over spending in the last fiscal year, is expected to clear the House later in the week.
Democrats defended the spending increases, saying they were needed to make up for cuts enacted in recent years or proposed a year ago by then-President George W. Bush in health, education, energy and other programs.
Republicans countered that the spending in the bill far outpaced inflation, and amounted to much higher increases when combined with spending in the stimulus legislation that President Barack Obama signed last week. In a letter to top Democratic leaders, the GOP leadership called for a spending freeze, a step they said would point toward a “new standard of fiscal discipline.”
Either way, the bill advanced less than one week after Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill that all Republicans in Congress opposed except for three moderate GOP senators.
Apart from spending, the legislation provides Democrats in Congress and Obama an opportunity to reverse Bush-era policy on selected issues.
It loosens restrictions on travel to Cuba, as well as the sale of food and medicine to the communist island-nation.
In another change, the legislation bans Mexican-licensed trucks from operating outside commercial zones along the border with the United States. The Teamsters Union, which supported Obama’s election last year, hailed the move.
The Bush administration backed a pilot program to permit up to 500 trucks from 100 Mexican motor carriers access to U.S. roads.
The legislation covers programs for numerous Cabinet-level and other agencies, and takes the place of regular annual spending bills that did not pass last year as a result of a deadlock between the Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Congressional expenses are included. The bill provides $500,000 for what is described as a Senate “pilot program” that will defray the cost of mass mail postcards to households notifying them of a nearby town meeting to be attended by any senator.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Sells US to China Inc.
The truth is starting to seep out. Because of the need for more money to finance the latest bailout—the Obama economic stimulus plan—America is going further in debt to the Chinese Communists. Our country is officially being sold to the highest bidder. And we have striking confirmation of this fact from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The good news is that a correspondent for the mainstream media—Wyatt Andrews of CBS News—has figured this out and has managed to get on the air with his terrifying findings. Andrews’ report on the Friday CBS Evening News with Katie Couric was direct and to the point. Clinton is in China to beg for a handout.
“The truth is the Administration needs China’s help. America’s stimulus is very expensive and the U.S. wants China to help finance it,” Andrews reported. This is what America has become—a country that sends its Secretary of State abroad to beg for money from foreigners. In this case, it’s a communist dictatorship that forces women to have abortions, tortures Christians, and threatens the freedom and democratic government of Taiwan.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Racist in a Taxpayer-Paid Suit
The third-ranking member of the congressional leadership, who is himself black, as noted in a press release by the conservative black think tank Project 21-The National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives, has taken the detestable behavior of race-baiting to new depths.
Speaking to reporters Feb. 19, Clyburn called opposition to the so-called stimulus bill “a slap in the face of African-Americans.” He specifically targeted any opposition to the bill by southern governors. His injecting race into concerns for fiscal responsibility and a desire to prevent the expansion of government programs is shameful.
… The bottom line is the stimulus bill isn’t about stimulating anything — it is about restructuring the corporate/business climate, rewriting the Constitution by fiat juxtaposed to amendment; it is about eliminating any inclusion of “the people” from legislative directives, and it is about extracting, i.e., taking, our money to fund wasteful spending on a gargantuan level. It is about government intrusion on a heretofore never witnessed scale. […]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Usurpers Are Winning
The usurpers probably want you to believe the “stimulus” bill was passed so quickly our legislators didn’t realize what was in it. That’s less damning than their willful passage of the indefensible mischief the bill contains. Have you seen just how specific it is in its allocations of money and who is benefiting? Please follow the money.
As our federal government marches ever closer to socialism and Marxism, we might remind ourselves that nearly every dictator in the world is an ardent proponent of those systems. Socialism and Marxism, by definition, cannot come about without major consolidations of power in the central government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Understanding the ‘Stimulus Bill’
Question: So where does the money come from?
Answer: Since there’s not enough money currently in the treasury to cover the handouts, the government borrows the money with the hopes of getting it back through future taxation. You will be paying more. Your children will be paying more. Your grandchildren will be paying more. In all likelihood, your great-grandchildren will be paying more — just for what was signed by the president last week. And that doesn’t even include future commitments to new entitlement programs that this bill has put into place.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why States Are Shunning AKA’s “Stimulus” Money
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has gone on record, stating his state will not be taking stimulus money that will force expansion of existing programs or the establishing of new programs. Joined by Governors Mark Sandford of South Carolina, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Butch Otter of Idaho, Mitch Daniels of Indiana, and Rick Perry of Texas, these governors are voicing concerns about the stimulus money being offered the states by the federal government under H.R. 1, better known as the Porkulus Package or the Piggy Package of Pork Barrel Spending.
In my last article, I stated that the total cost of the Porkulus Package would be $4.06 trillion broken down as follows: $789 billion for the Porkulus loan itself, money that would have to come from the already depressed economy; approximately $744 billion in debt service on that loan and $2.527 trillion in new programs and expansion of existing programs over the next decade.
It becomes apparent that the states are being offered stimulus money with strings attached; that the cost of getting that money is acceptance of federal regulation.
This phenomenon is nothing new; it has been going on, literally, for decades.
It is called federal discretionary grants.
This is how it works…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Brief for Whitey
The “white community,” said Barack, must start “acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination — and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past — are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds … .”
And what deeds must we perform to heal ourselves and our country?
The “white community” must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with “ladders of opportunity” that were “unavailable” to Barack’s and the Rev. Wright’s generations.
What is wrong with Barack’s prognosis and Barack’s cure?
Only this. It is the same old con, the same old shakedown that black hustlers have been running since the Kerner Commission blamed the riots in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities on, as Nixon put it, “everybody but the rioters themselves.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
AP Disconnect on Beheading Story
Although it’s clear that the founder of a US-based Muslim TV station who beheaded his wife raised at least some if not most of his money in the Middle-east and not America, the AP paints him as the very image of modernity. That’s expected. But this other disconnect in the story is mind-boggling.
“What you have is a cultural problem our communities have been silent about too long,” said Wajahat Ali, a journalist and playwright who helped drive the effort. “What people with an agenda are trying to do is say this is an example of a barbaric religion. This is an example of barbaric misogyny and domestic violence.”
How can one characterize critics of Islam as per above as having an “agenda” when in the very same article it suggests that maybe one day Imams will stop asking the Mrs. what she did wrong when she reports physical abuse? Doesn’t that mostly prove that the critics are correct?…
| — Hat tip: Dan Riehl | [Return to headlines] |
California’s Descent Into Mediocrity
Virtually throughout its history, and certainly in the 20th century, California has been known as the place to go for dynamism and growth. It did not become the richest, most populous and most productive state solely because of its weather and natural resources.
So it takes a lot to turn California around from growth to contraction, from people moving into the state to a net exodus from the state, from business moving into California to businesses leaving California.
It takes some doing.
And the left has done it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Defense of the White Man
While many believe that prejudice has diminished over time, it’s not really true. Prejudice is much like the wind: Its direction changes, and the sheltered and well-situated may not sense it, but it’s always blowing on some people somewhere. Put literally, every age has its fashionable biases — and unfashionable people.
This was obvious during the presidential inauguration benediction, given by the Reverend Joseph Lowery. While making a supplication to the Lord, he made the following anachronistic plea:
“. . . help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right [emphasis mine].”
Well, I wonder if the reverend has ever asked the Lord why He scourged the world with white people in the first place.
It isn’t surprising that caucaphobia is in fashion. You can demonize any person, group or place; all you need do is focus on the object’s failings to the exclusion of its/his accomplishments. It isn’t even hard to do. To bastardize one of Abraham Lincoln’s lines, if you look for the worst in a group, you’re sure to find it. It’s just as with a person. If I repeatedly disseminated your sins and mistakes among the town folk while downplaying your good points, how long would it be before they were chasing you with pitchforks?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Bill Lying in Wait to Ban Handguns?
Activists worry another Columbine will spark end of 2nd Amendment
Tucked away in committee on Capitol Hill is a firearm licensing bill that Second Amendment advocates worry may just be waiting for the right “Columbine moment” to emerge and effectively ban handguns in the U.S.
As WND reported, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., sponsored H.R. 45, an extensive licensure law that creates a national database of current firearm owners, requires psychiatric testing and fingerprinting to obtain a license and places new restrictions on gun use and storage.
Mike Hammond, legal advisor with Gun Owners of America, told WND that H.R. 45 gives the federal government so much power over gun ownership, that the wrong administration could use it to “bring gun ownership in America to an end.”
“It takes semi-automatic firearms and handguns — the guns people use for personal self-defense,” Hammond said, “and sets up a licensure system, that is, the government would have to give you permission to own a gun. The government can therefore also deny that permission, and it would mean an anti-gun administration could use it to effectively ban most guns from private ownership.
“Even if you are willing to undergo a psychiatric exam, be fingerprinted and do what the bill requires to obtain a license, the law still requires the guns be unloaded and locked up,” Hammond added. “It renders the gun practically unavailable for self-defense.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New U.S. Intel Chief: Support of Israel Not a U.S. Interest
A flurry of reports over the weekend said that the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, considered a sharp critic of Israel, is to be named to a top intelligence post in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Charles W. Freeman Jr., who was U.S. ambassador in Riyadh from 1989-1992, is set to be named chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which has a strong influence on the content of the intelligence briefings presented to the President (and puts together the National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, which in 2007 dissuaded the Bush regime from attacking Iran). The Council chairman is also often called on to give direct briefings to the President.
Typical of Freeman’s viewpoints is a statement he made in a speech before the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs in 2007, in which he more or less blames international terrorist acts on Israel: …
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and Hillary Funding Our Enemies
Earlier this month I posted about how President Obama had pledged to send approximately $20 million to the Hamas controlled Gaza strip. This was just days after it was discovered that Hamas had been stealing blankets and food allocated for the people of Gaza…
| — Hat tip: Islam in Action | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Schwarzenegger Considered Leaving GOP
California governor allegedly had discussions about party switch
[Comment from JD: A RINO considering switching…at least that’s more honest than staying in the GOP.]
How bad did things get between Der Governator and his fellow Republicans? Schwarzenegger’s biographer, Joe Mathews, reports that he recently considered dropping out of the party altogether. It’s the latest blast in a long-running war.
A few months ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a few close associates discussed whether he should leave the Republican Party, according to two people familiar with the conversation. His friend Mike Bloomberg, the New York mayor, had become an independent. Maybe Schwarzenegger should, too. But the governor and his people quickly concluded that Californians already saw him as independent of the Republican Party. So what would be the point of a switch? (A spokesman for the governor declined comment.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Soldier Doubts Eligibility, Defies President’s Orders
‘As an officer, my sworn oath to support and defend our Constitution requires this’
A U.S. soldier on active duty in Iraq has called President Obama an “impostor” in a statement in which he affirmed plans to join as plaintiff in a challenge to Obama’s eligibility to be commander in chief.
The statement was publicized by California attorney Orly Taitz who, along with her Defend Our Freedom Foundation, is working on a series of legal cases seeking to uncover Obama’s birth records and other documents that would reveal whether he meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.
“As an active-duty officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the office of president of the United States,” wrote Scott Easterling in a “to-whom-it-may-concern” letter.
Obama “has absolutely refused to provide to the American public his original birth certificate, as well as other documents which may prove or disprove his eligibility,” Easterling wrote. “In fact, he has fought every attempt made by concerned citizens in their effort to force him to do so.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Was New York Wife Alive During Beheading?
TV mogul accused of stabbing, decapitation won’t face 1st degree murder
Police revealed the decapitated wife of a Muslim TV network founder in New York was stabbed several times with hunting knives and may have been alive as her killer beheaded her — and, despite the brutal slaying, her husband will only face charges of second-degree murder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A False Analogy
By Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten newspaper Culture Editor News
When British Foreign Minister David Miliband was asked earlier this month to explain why Dutch MP Geert Wilders was barred from entering Britain in order to show his film ‘Fitna’, which criticises Islam, to a group of British MPs, he declared:
‘We have 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.’
Milibrand’s analogy is misplaced. If you apply it to other public figures, there are scores of current and former Danish MPs and public voices that would never be permitted to enter Great Britain. Such people have for years incited hatred against critics of immigration by comparing them with Nazis in Germany in the 1930s.
The analogy comes from a 1919 US Supreme Court ruling, but the argument behind the ruling differs from Miliband’s application of it on a crucial point. What’s more is that many would agree that the statement Oliver Wendel Holmes was trying to criminalise with his analogy is now completely legal. The case involved Charles Schenck, secretary of the US Socialist Party in Philadelphia. Schenck was being tried for circulating flyers that compared the US military draft during the First World War with slavery, and called on Americans to oppose the war using legal means.
Who today would prosecute an American who had protested against the recruitment of soldiers to fight in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan? Holmes argued that Schenck’s actions were made while the country was at war, and that they created a ‘clear and present danger’ that would undermine the US Army’s efforts to win the war. Hundreds of Americans were taken to court. Holmes asserted:
‘The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting “fire” in a theatre and causing a panic.’
Drawing an analogy with socialist Schenck handing out flyers falls short in the Wilders case. What’s more, Holmes later used an opposing argument to defend freedom of speech. But note that in defending the move to keep Wilders out, Miliband forgot that Holmes said you weren’t allowed to yell ‘fire’ unless there actually was a fire. If there is a fire, or if there is smoke, then you have an obligation to draw everyone’s attention to it.
Wilders’s film is made up of documentary pictures, which makes it hard to reject them as false. What’s more, the issue the film takes up — violence carried out in the name of religion — is a part of the European reality, which makes it a subject of heated discussion. You can argue that Wilders’s depiction is one-sided and that it is propaganda, but Michael Moore does the same thing, and he wins film awards.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has pointed out that a more precise analogy for the flyers would have been if someone were standing in front of a theatre, handing out flyers stating that the theatre was unsafe, and urging people to stay away. But that analogy would have made it impossible for Holmes to defend the decision, and it would have made it difficult for Miliband to use the analogy as an argument for keeping Wilders out.
Despite the obvious logical flaws, the false analogy continues to be invoked each time someone wants to forbid unpopular points of view from being expressed. Doing so is foolish, because it tells us nothing intelligent about where the limits of free speech are.
If there’s fire — or even just smoke — don’t we have an obligation to make others aware of it?
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Anti-Muslim Politician Geert Wilders to Screen Fitna Film in Washington
Republican Senator Jon Kyl is hosting a film screening at the Capitol building in Washington for a the controversial Right-wing Dutch politician who claims that Islam inspires terrorism.
Mr Kyl is sponsoring the Thursday event for Geert Wilders, who was denied entry to Britain earlier this month after British officials said he posed a threat to public order.
The Home Office refused him entry on the grounds he “would threaten community security and therefore public security”.
The elected Dutch MP had been invited to the House of Lords to show his 17-minute film, Fitna, which criticises the Koran as a “fascist book” and compares Islam to Nazism.
Mr Wilders’ 15-minute film, Fitna, juxtaposes verses from the Koran with images of violence and compares Islam to Nazism.
Mr Wilders has defended himself against accusations of “double standards” over his own demand for freedom of speech alongside his calls for the Koran to be banned.
“I want to ban the Koran,” he admitted.
“In the Netherlands we have banned Mein Kampf. I see a comparison between the two books. Not only are both books of totalitarian ideology but they both also incite violence.”
Mr Kyl agreed to facilitate the event because “all too often, people who have the courage to point out the dangers of militant Islamists find themselves vilified and endangered,” said Ryan Patmintra, his spokesman.
Thursday’s event was being sponsored by the International Free Press Society, headed by Lars Hedegaard, the Danish activist, and the Center for Security Policy, a think tank in Washington led by Republican Frank Gaffney.
The event is closed to the public and the media, but the film is being screened to members of Congress and their staff.
| [Return to headlines] |
Headscarf Award for Fighting Discrimination
Dutch supermarket chain Dirk van den Broek has been presented with the first Headscarf Award. According to the jury report the company has made the most effort to get the headscarf accepted in the workplace. Major Dutch companies like ABN Amro and Albert Heijn were among the nominees for the Award. It was presented on Saturday in the al-Kabir mosque in Amsterdam by the recently formed Polder Muslima Headscarf Brigade (Muslima is the Dutch term for a female Muslim) .
The brigade is an initiative of three Muslimas from the Ibnou Khaldoun Foundation in Amsterdam. The brigade intends to combat discrimination in the labour market. One of the three founders is Nora el-Jebil (pictured). She has worn a headscarf for five years now and has noticed that it made it more difficult for her to find work.
“My papers are in order. I am highly educated. I speak good Dutch but I still have a lot to prove. When I arrive for a job interview, it’s often clear that the people — who have talked to me on the phone or read my application and seen that the Dutch is correct — are not expecting someone with a headscarf. They regard it as a symbol of the oppression of women, as old-fashioned. When you walk in wearing a headscarf, they flinch. “Oh dear, this is not the kind of person we were expecting!”
Dialogue
Nora now works as an account manager for an American company, a job she obtained partly through her ability to convince others by means of dialogue. And dialogue is the strategy the Headscarf Brigade plans to employ. That’s the difference between the Polder Muslima Headscarf Brigade and organisations like the Equal Treatment Commission. Rather than going to court when they encounter a case of discrimination, the Headscarf Brigade will engage in dialogue with the employer in question.
In the future the Headscarf Brigade will also give courses for Muslimas, to make them less vulnerable during job interviews. Another plan is lessons for employers about taking the plunge and employing a Muslima. In this course the employer will learn how to look further than the headscarf alone.
Proving yourself
Fatima el-Atik (Labour), chair of Amsterdam’s Zeeburg district council is probably the most prominent Muslima with a headscarf. Despite everything she has achieved, she still has to prove herself. But, she says, it’s not because of the headscarf. She believes everyone should constantly have to prove themselves, to show their abilities and capacities and grow within society.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Nuclear Power Tops Agenda at Top-Level Talks
Rome, 24 Feb. (AKI) — Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and French president Nicolas Sarkozy were meeting in Rome on Tuesday to endorse an historic agreement that could reintroduce nuclear power in Italy for the first time in two decades.
The agreement to be endorsed by the leaders of the two nations, was expected to include all aspects of nuclear power, from cooperation to security, technological cooperation, training, and industrial cooperation.
The accord is likely to pave the way for the reintroduction of nuclear power plants in Italy. The country shut down its four nuclear power plants after a referendum held the year after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
According to media reports, the bilateral deal will lead to the creation of a consortium involving Italian energy utility ENEL and French power giant EdF.
ENEL is set to acquire a 12.5 per cent share in France’s second European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), in addition to the 12.5 per cent stake it already has in the country’s first modern EPR nuclear reactor being built at Flamanville in northwest France.
EdF would also work with ENEL if the construction of new nuclear power plants were approved in Italy.
At the weekend Enel agreed to buy a 25 percent stake in Endesa, Spain’s largest hydropower generator.
EDF is the world’s biggest operator of nuclear power plants. It may propose a joint venture to build a nuclear plant with Enel in Italy.
Italy has been paying heavily for its referendum decision with energy costs higher than most other European nations. Italy also imports a substantial part of its electricity from France where nuclear power is one of the main sources of energy.
But Berlusconi’s government has indicated the country aims to begin constructing nuclear power stations by 2013.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK to Imitate Saudi Terrorist Rehab Program
Britain’s High Court is looking into applying the Saudi rehabilitation program to give counseling to extremists, according to a press report Sunday.
The new program will be modeled after the munasaha (Arabic for “advice”) program in which the Saudi government enrolls repentant terrorists and returnees from Guantanamo or militant camps outside the kingdom, the London-based newspaper al-Hayat reported Sunday, said
The program would place an Islamic scholar or an imam in each prison to provide counseling to inmates with extremist ideologies According to High Court Judge Sir Christopher Pitchers, who headed a delegation that met with Saudi Minister of Justice Abdullah bin Mohammed Ibrahim Al Sheikh.
“ If a terrorist attack takes place in the U.K., we could benefit from the experience of Saudi Arabia in countering terrorism “
Christopher Pitchers”We will need the help of Saudi Arabia,” Pitchers was quoted as saying. “However, it is the British government that should decide, not the court.”
He referred to the positive results the Saudi program has yielded, especially with respect to terrorist operations..
“If a terrorist attack takes place in the U.K., we could benefit from the experience of Saudi Arabia in countering terrorism. We can also help them if we can. Mutual interest is the purpose of this visit to Riyadh,” he said.
The Saudi advisory program is supervised by the Saudi Ministry of Interior has garnered support and acclaim from the West, according to several reports in the Western media.
The advisory program is hailed by many countries as an extremely important step that precedes rehabilitation. Repentant extremists stay at hostels that have all the required medical, psychological, and cultural facilities to prepare them to re-integrate in society and switch to a moderate ideology.
Program officials continue to follow up with the prisoners after they are released, and Saudi officials have said their approach has been quote successful so far.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Why We Must Follow the Belgians
By Alkan Chaglar
Life goes on under a federation
BELGIUM IS often used as an argument by Cypriots opposed to the reunification of their island. It is hard to believe that the heart of the European Union and home to its Parliament, Commission, Presidency, NATO —and of course famous for its tranquillity and chocolates — can became ammunition for those hell-bent on ethnic segregation in Cyprus.
Yet, it is not the cheeky Manneken Pis that has offended them but Belgium’s internal affairs, which are frequently cited and exaggerated by those against a solution without looking at the whole picture.
Having lived in Belgium for a little over a year, I can say it is a country that I admire and that is excellent in many ways. As a student at the Centre for Federalism at Liege University and at the Law Faculty, I not only sat alongside Belgian students to learn about federalism but had many an opportunity to discuss and experience the advantages and disadvantages of their federation.
Belgium is not very often in the news but when it is, the British media often present it rather sensationally as a country about to be torn apart. The same scary headlines of Belgium’s discontented Flemish nationalists were echoed in 2001 when I was there warning of imminent separation. Yet Belgium still remains fully in tact.
What the media will not report is that the reality is not so sensational; the country is not on the verge of division and the internal problems actually require explanations that would long surpass their word-count limit.
While there have always been calls by Flemish nationalists for a separate state and a few calls by a very small minority of French speakers for reattachment to France, the vast majority of Belgians support parties committed to maintaining Belgium’s unity. The few separatist parties have never been able to find any coalition partners willing to work with them.
Belgium is home to a powerful federalist, many Belgians adore their Royal family, are fiercely proud of their little nation, are remorseful of its imperialist past and feel more Belgian than either Walloon/Francophone or Flemish.
You can hardly tell who is a Fleming or Walloon/Francophone, as it’s possible and quite normal to find a Fleming with the name Guy Le Bon or a French-speaking Belgian with the rather Germanic name, Zoe Heinesch. Like Cyprus, Belgium through centuries of co-existence and mixing is not that predictable.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Wilders Against Bulgaria and Romania
By Leigh Phillips
Geert Wilders, the Dutch leader of the xenophobic Freedom Party has announced his intention to stand for the European Parliament in the upcoming June elections.
He and his Freedom Party (Partij Voor de Vrijheid, or PVV) are to mount the EU hustings under the slogan “For the Netherlands.”
“You may not have noticed, but the campaign for the European parliamentary elections has begun. And you will not believe it, but it can even get exciting,” he said making the announcement on Monday (13 February).
Mr Wilders said the party would fight to reverse the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, calling the two countries “corrupt nations.”
The PVV also wants to head to Strasbourg to prevent Turkey from joining the bloc.
Turkey must not become a member “not now, not in a hundred years, not in a thousand years, entirely never,” the anti-Islam Mr Wilders said in a statement.
The party, arguing there must be “less Europe and more Netherlands” will also campaign to shrink the scope of EU governance to a minimum, restricting itself to nothing beyond economic co-operation — the European Union’s “original task.”
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Press Reports at Least 9 Victims in Attack
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 23 — According to Algerian newspaper El Watan, at least 9 security agents of the Spas company, employed by Sonelgaz (state run Algerian electricity and gas company), are dead and 2 were injured in an attack last night in Ziama Mansouriah, in eastern Algeria, 500 metres from a construction site of the Italian company Astaldi. The field where the security agents live, continued the newspaper in its online version, was first attacked with mortar fire and then assaulted by a group of terrorists. “No Astaldi worker, neither Italian nor Algerian, was involved in the attack”, said the head of the group in Algeria to ANSA. “The construction site was not damaged”, he added underlining that “the attack was not directed at the site and should have hit the Sonelgaz station”. “There are reportedly various Algerian victims”, he specified. “As a precaution, Astaldi workers were transferred to the nearby city of Jijel (360km east of Algiers)”. The attack has not yet been confirmed by the Algerian authorities. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Khan El Khalili the Day After the Attack in Cairo
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — There are very few people in the lanes of Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili today, the most famous souk of the Middle East, and most of those few are undercover police. This is the scene in front of the Al Hussein mosque and the market streets the day after the attack in which a 17-year-old French girl, who had been part of a group of students on a field trip, was killed and other 14 were injured. The news of 24 injured has been confirmed, including four Egyptians, a German and three Saudi citizens. The bomb, stuffed with nails and other metallic objects, most likely exploded after being left under a stone bench in front of a much-frequented and crowed cafe’, and must have been very powerful. ‘‘There is nothing left where the bench once was, it’s just an empty space,’’ commented Jacques Goditiabois, a Belgian journalist on the scene, ‘‘and there are very few tourists around. In half an hour I have not seen more than about a dozen.’’ ‘‘We hesitated at length to come to the scene,’’ said an elderly couple on holiday. ‘‘Then we thought that it was very unlikely that there would be two attacks in the same place, one after the other, and so we decided to take the risk.’’ There has been no official report released yet by the authorities, who are questioning hundreds as witnesses, and the police are still holding two women and a man who were arrested on the scene immediately after the attack. ‘‘They are also witnesses,’’ said a security source, ‘‘we have no evidence against them, even though it seems they were likely to have been close to those who carried out the attack.’’ Egyptian authorities continue to express their utter condemnation of the incident — with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Sayyed Mohamed Tantaui, having spoken of the matter with the President of the Italian deputies Chambers, Gianfranco Fini, who is in Cairo on a visit — as do foreign authorities. Especially Saudi Arabia, which counts three of its citizens among the victims, and Syria and Iran. Teheran has said that ‘‘Iran condemns the act of terrorism’’, calling it ‘‘a suspicious act, which only serves the interests of the Zionist regime.’’ (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Florence, Funds From Israeli and Islamic Communities
(ANSAmed) — FLORENCE, FEBRUARY 24 — The regional government in Tuscany has announced the launch of a fund-raising programme in aid of children in Gaza affected by conflict in the Middle East, in tandem with the Israeli and Islamic Palestinian communities in Florence. The money will be used for health equipment for the pediatric hospital in Al Dorra in Gaza. Those wishing to contribute will be able to make a donation through their bank to the Red Cross as opened at the ‘Cassa di risparmio di Firenze’ savings bank (Fiesole branch). As he announced the initiative, the regional councilor for cooperation, Massimo Toschi, said that ‘the conflict has disappeared from the font pages of newspapers, but those caught up in the war, and especially the children involved, still need support.’’ Daniela Misul, the representative of the Israeli community, and Izzedin Elzir, the representative of the Islamic community, said that “children must always be offered supported wherever they are in the world, and moreover they should never be involved in wars.” It is thought that around 400 children died during the war, whilst some 2,000 were injured. Around two weeks ago, as part of its ‘Saving Children’ scheme, the Tuscan regional council hosted around fifteen infants suffering from serious illnesses that could not be treated in their own country. “Six of these,” Toschi said, ‘are now better, and will soon be able to return home, whilst the others are still being treated in Tuscan hospitals.’’ (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Holland: Shoes Thrown at IDF Officer During Speech
Captain (Res.) Ron Edelheit asked to speak to members of Jewish community on situation in Israel and Gaza, gets four shoes hurled at him by three pro-Palestinian protestors before even opening his mouth. Suspects detained; Edelheit tells Ynet, ‘Slander is just words — here they crossed the line’
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators threw shoes at an Israeli reserves officer while giving a speech on the Israel Defense Forces’ operation in the Gaza Strip in an Amsterdam hotel Sunday.
“This was an actual physical assault — past the limits of good taste,” the officer, Captain (Res.) Ron Edelheit told Ynet on Monday.
According to reports in Dutch media, three demonstrators — two men and one woman in their 20s — managed to get into the room where the lecture was being held and threw shoes at Edelheit, hitting him in the head. The three were arrested under suspicion of assault.
Edelheit, an Israeli of Dutch origin, is a reserves officer in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit’s division, and is in constant contact with European media.
“I am also an Israeli citizen who loves his country. My mother lives in Holland, the Jewish organizations know me. WIZO-Holland heard I was coming, and asked me to tell the community about what’s going on in Israel, especially in light of the fact that I was in reserves during the operation in Gaza,” Edelheit told Ynet.
| — Hat tip: RH | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Propose West Bank Airport
Tourism boost in plan to be unveiled at G8 summit
(ANSA) — Rome, February 23 — The Palestinian economy can be boosted by building an international airport and hotels catering to religious tourists in the West Bank, Group of Eight (G8) president Italy believes.
The Italian plan, to be unveiled at a G8 summit in Italy in July, also envisages the construction of major new industrial plants, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said in an interview that will appear in French daily Le Figaro Tuesday.
‘‘The plan foresees the construction of an international airport able to attract the many Catholic tourists interested in visiting the holy sites of Christianity starting with Bethlehem’’.
It will also see ‘‘the construction of hotel infrastructure by the main groups in the sector and a plan for major international groups to build plants,’’ the Italian premier said. Berlusconi, who ruled out talking to the Islamist group Hamas which governs Gaza, said ‘‘this would be the only way to give an effective incentive to the Palestinians to sit down at the negotiating table and ensure peaceful co-existence (with Israel)’’.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank is administered by Hamas’s rival, the more moderate Fatah, which heads the Palestinian National Authority.
Fatah was pushed out of Gaza after Hamas won elections there two years ago but there are ongoing efforts to reconcile the factions. Italy will present its plan ‘‘to pull Palestinians out of their present state of poverty’’ at the G8 summit on the island of La Maddalena off the northern coast of Sardinia in July, Berlusconi said.
There are no civilian airports within the West Bank, and the nearest major airport is in Tel Aviv.
AS well as Bethlehem, the West Bank has other sites of religious and historical interest such as Jericho, Hebron, Qumran and the Dead Sea.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Music: Spain, Pro-Palestinians Against Noa Concerts
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 24 — A campaign to boycott two concerts by the singer Noa due to take place tomorrow and Thursday in San Sebastian, which has been planned on the internet and supported by radical political anti-Israeli groups, risks becoming a full-blown demonstration. The INUNA groups against the war launched an appeal for people to demonstrate on the internet, outside and inside the Vittoria Eugenia theatre in the Basque city, at the times when the singer is due to perform, so as “to make it clear to Noa that she is not welcome”, since she is a ‘representative of the Zionist State.’’ Meanwhile, the Guipuzkoa Platform against the war defined the singer as a “representative of the state of Israel, since she justified Israel’s most recent offensive.” Commenting on the planned demonstrations, the San Sebastian city councillor for Culture, Ramon Etxezarreta, spoke in favour of the singer, adding that Noa “was not signed up as an Israeli, but as a prestigious artist in great public demand”, as shown by the fact that tickets for the two concerts in the Basque city sold out in just a few days. Noa was the target of activists’ criticism against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. In April, during a concert in a theatre in Tolosa, a demonstrator went onto the stage raising a Palestinian flag. Tension did not diminish following Noa’s performance with Palestinian singer Mira Awad in Seville two days ago, as part of the Festival of the Atlantic Andalusians in Essaouira. Both Awad and Noa are internationally recognised for their activism in favour of intercultural dialogue towards peace in the Middle East. The Israeli artist received a very warm welcome from the public during her two recent performances in Galicia. But in showing an open letter that Noa sent to Palestinians on January 8 at the height of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, in which the singer expressed her hope that Israel would manage to free inhabitants of the Gaza Strip “from the cancer of fanaticism known as Hamas. Through the words of Etxezarreta, the city council in San Sebastian defends “the freedom of all artists to express themselves as they wish.” In any case, the council is committed to informing the singer “of the controversy that her presence has created” and to present a letter from the groups who are criticising her. In Madrid the secretaries for Equal opportunities policy and for the Socialist party’s social movements, alongside the Platform of Women Artists against all forms of violence and the UGT union, have set up a concert for Friday February 27 entitled “Gaza en el corazon” (Gaza in our hearts), with more than thirty Spanish artists, actors and bands taking part; the proceeds will be set aside for the purchase of sanitary materials for hospitals in the Gaza Strip. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Children Poisoned in Saudi Arabia
Two Danish children have died of poisoning in Saudi Arabia. Parents also ill.
A 10-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother have died in the Saudi city of Jeddah after apparently being poisoned by a neigbour’s use of an anti-cockroach insecticide. The mother of two children remains seriously ill, while the father — who works for the Danish Arla dairy company — is in a stable condition.
According to reports in local media, neighbours to the family of four had used a particularly strong insecticide to kill cockroaches. The insecticide is banned for in-house use in Saudi Arabia.
While the neighbours went on holiday, the insecticide is said to have spread to the neighbouring house. When the family of four woke on Sunday morning, both children were ill and taken to hospital where they died.
The Saudi Gazette claims the family’s neighbours were also Danish, with both families living in apartments in the Al-Masarrah district in Jeddah.
“Police found traces at the apartment of aluminum phosphate, a chemical used in insecticides, although no insecticide was found in the apartment itself,” the Saudi Gazette said.
Criminal Evidence Director Saleh Zowaid told the Gazette that there had been six similar deaths this month. “Aluminum phosphate is banned from use in homes,” Zowaid said. “It is classified as a dangerous insecticide of the first class, and is only permitted to be used on farms and in open areas,” he said.
The General Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, Sami Badawoud, said the insecticide had already been recalled from the market following reports of its dangers.
A friend of the family tells ekstrabladet.dk that the father’s condition is now improving, as is the mother’s, although she remains seriously ill.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Gulf Countries Approve a Reconstruction Plan
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI — Foreign and finance ministers from countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) met in Riyadh to approve a reconstruction plan for Gaza and discuss ways to promote the peace process following the formation of the new Israeli government put together by Likud leader Benyamin Netanyahu. Adhesion to the plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, devastated by 23 days of Israeli attacks in January, is open to all Arab League member countries and has already been signed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar for 1.25 billion dollars, reported Arab News. The oil block — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman — also approved the institution of an office with the task of supervising the granting of licences, the transfer of materials and the effective application of the programme. The financial operations will be carried out by the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: British Troops to Leave Basra at End of May
Basra, 24 Feb. (AKI) — British troops will begin withdrawing from the southern Iraqi city of Basra by the end of May, a senior British defence official said on Tuesday. According to the news agency Voices of Iraq, the unnamed official, an undersecretary of the British defense ministry, announced the plan on a visit to the region.
“The forces will start their withdrawal from Basra by the end of next May as a preliminary withdrawal before the complete withdrawal from Basra by the end of next July,” the British official said during a visit with Basra governor Mohamed El Waeli.
El Waeli said he also discussed investment and economic development with the official in Basra.
“The meeting also discussed the British withdrawal from the city,” he added. “The British officials vowed to continue their support for the city and the new local government.”
British troops are due to leave Iraq by the end of July. In December last year, prime minister Gordon Brown announced that British military operations would end by 31 May and all remaining 4,100 service personnel would leave within two months.
Brown announced the withdrawal timetable after concluding talks with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.
“ I am proud of the contribution British forces have made. They are the pride of Britain and the best in the world,” Brown said at the time.
At a joint media conference, Maliki confirmed that the agreement included a provision for the Iraqi government to request an extension of the British military presence.
However, both leaders indicated it was not expected to occur.
Basra is almost 600 km south of Baghdad close to the border of Iran.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Man to Receive 8, 000 Lashes for Daughter’s Rape
Riyadh, 18 Feb. (AKI) — A Saudi court has sentenced a man to ten years in prison and 8,000 lashes after he was found guilty of sexual violence against his daughter. According to a report in the Saudi newspaper, al-Shams, the 40-year-old man was arrested recently when he was allegedly found to be raping a young girl who later turned out to be his daughter.
The man was discovered during a routine police patrol on the streets of the city after they found a car parked in a hidden location close to where three children were playing with a balloon.
The police noticed there was something strange going on inside the vehicle and went towards it to check what was happening.
“I discovered the man while he was having sex with the girl,” a police officer said. “ Having realised what was going on, I arrested him and took him to the police station in the al-Azizia district.”
The man, who was reportedly separated from his wife, suffers from psychological problems and was immediately sent to a court in Mecca where he was sentenced.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Man Sets World Record With Deadly ‘Hobby’
Says he enjoys eating scorpions, snakes and lizards
A Saudi man set a new world record last month after he ate 22 live scorpions in 20 seconds at a show in Riyadh. The 39-year-old earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records but told AlArabiya.net that is not why he did it.
“It’s always been my hobby to eat scorpions,” Majid al-Maliki told AlArabiya.net, adding that he once ate 50 live scorpions in one meal.
“ I advise everyone to stay calm after being stung since it is fear that kills…Scorpion poison has many benefits and as long as there are no ulcers, it is ok if the poison reaches the stomach “
Majid al-Maliki When asked how he eats the scorpions, Maliki replied that he treats them like any other type of food, he chews and then swallows.
The Riyadh-based civil servant said he enjoys eating all types and sizes of scorpions, but especially relishes in the yellow species known as Palestinian.
Maliki said he has been eating scorpions for 22 years and said he also eats snakes, small crocodiles and lizards. “I can eat 10 snakes at a time,” he said.
Maliki says eating reptiles is a hobby of his
Maliki explained he has never been poisoned and said he cuts part of the scorpion’s spike so that the sting is mild.
“Even if it stings, the poison won’t affect me,” he said, adding that it is not the sting that kills but the person’s fear as people tend to panic causing the temperature to rapidly rise, which causes death.
“I advise everyone to stay calm after being stung since it is fear that kills,” he said. “Scorpion poison has many benefits and as long as there are no ulcers, it is ok if the poison reaches the stomach.”
The previous Guinness record holder was an American man, Dean Sheldon, who ate 21 deadly Chinese golden scorpions in 2004.
Maliki said he had a contract with an American program to perform his shows, but said he stopped after the September 11 attacks.
(To watch the video visit: http://evideo.alarabiya.net/ShowClip.aspx?ClipID=2009.02.24.08.31.33.002)
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Tehran and Damascus Censured in Atomic Energy Agency Report
The Iranians continue to enrich uranium, and have hidden 209 kilos of it. They now have a ton, enough to make a bomb. It seems increasingly probable that the Syrians were building a secret nuclear reactor.
Vienna (AsiaNews/Agencies) — In all likelihood, there was in fact a nuclear reactor on the Syrian site bombed by the Israelis in September of 2007, and Iran, in addition to having 209 kilos of uranium that it never declared, is continuing the process of enrichment. The concerns of those who are afraid of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East are being heightened by the report that the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will present early next month, but previews of which are already being released.
In spite of its traditional caution, the agency is highlighting the results of the investigations carried out over the course of the year. Starting with Iran, which “contrary to the decisions of the Security Council . . . has not suspended its enrichment related activities.” The IAEA also says it has been unable to achieve any “substantive” progress in the investigation intended to reveal whether Tehran’s nuclear program has military aspects. “Regrettably,” the report says, “as a result of the continued lack of cooperation by Iran in connection with the remaining isuses which give rise to concerns about the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear programme, the agency has not been able to make substantive progress on these issues.”
Experts interviewed by the New York Times say that with the 209 kilos of uranium mentioned in the report, Tehran now has more than a ton of low-enriched material. With further refinement — which, however, Iran does not seem capable of doing at the moment — this would be enough to make an atomic bomb.
As for Syria, the IAEA has rejected the country’s claims that the uranium found on the site of Dair Alzour (or al-Kibar) came from the Israeli missiles used to bomb it. “There is a low probability that the uranium was introduced by the use of missiles,” the report states. The most delicate points concern the discovery of particles of enriched uranium and graphite. The former is a material that is not found in nature, but was processed, and the particles “are of a type not included in Syria’s declared inventory of nuclear material.” The latter is a fundamental material for the construction of nuclear reactors. “Syria,” the report concludes, “therefore needs to provide additional information and supporting documentation about the past use and nature of the building and information about the procurement activities. Syria needs to be transparent by providing additional access to other locations alleged to be related to Dair Alzour.”
For Syria, and even more so for Iran, one possible solution seems to be related to the Obama presidency. Several days ago, Syrian president Assad called the presence of the United States in the Middle East “essential,” and yesterday Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that his country is considering “the offer” of dialogue made by the United States. But he added, “We need to wait to see differences in Barack Obama’s policy compared to that of George Bush. If the United States makes steps towards Iran, counter-steps will be made by Iran as well.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Court Opposes Religious Teaching in Schools
Ankara, 24 Feb. (AKI) — A Turkish court on Tuesday reaffirmed an earlier ruling that religious education was not compulsory in schools. According to the Anatolian news agency, a court in the southern province of Antalya ruled in favour of a minority Alevi Muslim family who demanded that their daughter be exempt from participating in religious education at her primary school.
The local administration had said that only Christian and Jewish students should be exempt from participating in religious lessons under the law.
Turkish courts have ruled to stop compulsory religious education. The European Court of Justice also ruled against Turkey in a similar case.
“The ruling sets a precedent. Those wanting to be exempt from participating in compulsory religious lessons should file a suit,” the student’s lawyer Nusret Gurgoz told the Anatolian agency.
The role of religion remains a sensitive issue in Turkey after the military questioned the government’s commitment to secularism in the run-up to the presidential elections in 2007.
In March 2008 the Constitutional court narrowly rejected a petition by the chief prosecutor to ban the governing Justice and Development Party and its senior officials, including president Abdullah Gul and prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for allegedly seeking to establish an Islamic state.
A survey of almost 6,500 people conducted by Konda, one of Turkey’s most respected polling organisations, found that almost half — 53 percent — of those polled wanted judges, teachers and other civil servants to wear the Islamic headscarf.
Minority Alevis describe themselves as ‘followers of Ali’, bridegroom of the Prophet Mohammed. They are neither Sunnis nor mainstream Shias. They observe different religious practices from Sunni Islam, such as during prayer, pilgrimage and fasting.
Some Alevis emphasise Alevism is a separate religion and some that it is a belief-system, while others assert it is the ‘true Islam’.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
United Arab Emirates: Dubai Exchange Rallies After a 20-Billion-Dollar Long-Term Bond Programme is Announced
The measure, first of its kind, will enable the emirate to raise the necessary liquidity to meet its financial obligations. Dubai has no oil and must rely on its real estate and financial sectors to develop; both have recently suffered huge losses.
Dubai (AsiaNews) — Dubai shares jumped 7.9 per cent yesterday after the emirate government launched a 20-billion-dollar long-term bond programme. The 5-year notes sold will pay annual interest of 4 per cent.
This “issuance will provide the Dubai government with the necessary liquidity to substitute the liquidity that has dried up globally in the last 12 months and accordingly meet all upcoming financial obligations” and also “continue its development programme,” a statement by the Dubai government said.
The first tranche of 10 billion dollars was fully subscribed by the central bank of the United Arab Emirates.
This is the first such step to help Dubai, part of the seven-member UAE, tackle a slowdown in its real estate sector. Unlike the other emirates Dubai has no oil and must rely on real estate and financial services for its development
A report issued earlier this month showed that US$ 582 billion worth of building projects in the United Arab Emirates, or 45 per cent of the total, had been put on hold due to the economic slowdown.
In order to pursue its own development in the past years the Dubai government went into debt to the tune of US$ 10 billion. For their part government-affiliated firms also accumulated US$ 70 billion in debt.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia: Vladimir Putin Faces Rising Anger From Within Russian Army
Vladimir Putin is facing an unprecedented military challenge to his authority as discontent over medieval conditions and personnel cuts mounts within the Russian armed forces.
A growing number of disgruntled servicemen, including senior officers, are making contact with Russian opposition groups for the first time since he came to power in 2000.
The prospect of losing the unwavering support of the 1.2 million-strong armed forces is causing alarm in the Kremlin at a time when the Russian prime minister is already looking vulnerable.
Simmering public anger over the government’s handling of Russia’s stalling economy has triggered the first ever protests demanding Mr Putin’s resignation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Porn Law ‘Endangers Country’S Pluralism’
Jakarta, 24 Feb. (AKI/The Jakarta Post) — In Indonesia, plaintiffs have demanded a judicial review of the 2008 pornography law by the Constitutional Court, saying the law had turned the country’s cultural diversity into uniformity.
During the first hearing of the review Monday, the plaintiffs, comprising 11 people from Christian-majority Minahasa in North Sulawesi, asked the court to scrap three articles in the controversial law for “ruining the country’s pluralism and harmony”.
“All along, Indonesia has protected this diversity, until the endorsement of the pornography law, which turned our diversity into uniformity,” the plaintiffs told the panel of judges presided over by justice Maria Farida Indrati.
The three contentious articles are Article 1(1), which defines the term “pornography”; Article 4(1d), which bans the production, distribution and other activities related to the dissemination of pornography that displays nudity; and Article 10, which bans people from performing porn-related acts in the public.
“What about the use of the koteka (a traditional penis sheath) in Papua? What about the jaipongan dance in West Java, and women wearing kemben (traditional strapless top) in Central Java and East Java?” the plaintiffs said.
“Nobody considers these pornographic; they are part of Indonesia’s beautiful and rich culture that have attracted people from other countries.”
They asked the court to declare the three contentious articles in violation of the Constitution and scrap them.
However, the judges questioned the legal standing of the plaintiffs, who said they spoke for the Minahasa tribal community. They asked the plaintiffs to provide proof confirming they were representatives of the Minahasa community.
The 11 plaintiffs each said they represented NGOs in Minahasa, including the Minahasa Bible (Masehi) Church, the North Sulawesi branch of the National Committee for Indonesian Youths, the Manado Catholic Youths, the Alliance of Southern Minahasa Students and Youths, and the Minahasa Cultural Assembly.
Should they fail to prove their status as representative of Minahasan people, the plaintiffs were told to present themselves as individuals instead.
The judges also criticized the plaintiffs’ wrong citation of the contentious articles, and told them to name detrimental effects of the articles specific to the Minahasa community.
The plaintiffs were given 14 days to comply with the judges’ requests before a second hearing is held.
The controversial pornography law was passed by Indonesia’s House of Representatives in October last year.
The text of the new law has been strongly influenced by radical Islamist parties. It appears to be based on a vague definition of ‘pornography’ and its critics fear that it could lead to various interpretations and criminalise the practices of cultural and religious minorities throughout the archipelago.
Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands and 240 million people from 45 ethnic groups who practise all of the world’s major religions.
However, more than 85 percent of the country’s inhabitants are Muslim.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pakistani Money Agent Denies Link to Mumbai Attacks
Rome, 24 Feb. (AKI) — A Pakistani money transfer agent in the northern Italian city of Brescia has denied any involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks which killed 173 people last November. Mohammed Yaqub Janjua is the owner of the Madina Trading telephone centre and Western Union branch which was allegedly used by a collaborator linked to the attacks.
“We, the Pakistani community are peace lovers, we have nothing to do with what happened. However, if someone is involved in something like the attacks in Mumbai, he should be punished,” said Mohammed Yaqub Janjua in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
Yaqub was referring to Javed Iqbal, a 46 year-old Pakistani national, who was recently arrested in Pakistan for allegedly being one of the main conspirators behind the Mumbai attacks.
According to media reports, Iqbal, a resident of the Spanish city of Barcelona, is alleged to have travelled to Brescia and transferred 238 dollars to a US address in the state of New Jersey, in the name of Nizar al-Sharif.
From there it was allegedly used to buy five telephones, three of which were used in the Mumbai bombings.
According to a report in The Times of India, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that the handlers used VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calling platforms registered in the US, as well as numbers with an Austrian prefix.
Reports also said the US number was used to route calls to terrorists in India.
The FBI said the US number was set up through a US telecom company called Callphonex, which facilitates Internet VOIP calls.
The account with Callphonex was allegedly set-up by a man called Kharak Singh, who claimed to be of Indian nationality. However, an individual named Mohammed Ashfaq is said to have activated the account after a moneygram was transferred under his name.
The payment was made from Yaqoub’s agency in Brescia.
When questioned about his security standards at his money transfer agency and how it was possible that Iqbal sent the money using a fake passport, Yaqub told AKI that the Pakistani suspect fulfilled the requirements to send money through his agency.
“At least 30 people come and go every day to send money, this is not a question of security,” Yaqub said.
“I don’t know how to tell the difference between a real or fake passport. I just saw a Pakistani passport, it was old because I know now they have new ones, and also, if the document is not valid, the system does not allow me to send the money.”
However, he also told AKI that in order to send money, the only thing that was required was an official document such as an Italian identity card, permit of stay, or foreign passport, and an address in Italy, which Iqbal provided.
“The man gave me an original passport as far as I’m concerned and provided me with an address here in Brescia, Via Milano 125. If an Englishman came to send money, and he gave me his passport and address of the hotel where he was staying, then he too could send money,” said Yaqub.
Yaqub, who has been running the agency for more than 10 years, said he would never have suspected that Iqbal was involved in the Mumbai bombings (Photo).
He also told AKI that his business was routinely checked by Italy’s finance police and they had never found any problems.
“There are so many Javid Iqbals in Pakistan and here in this country. If a person comes to send money, I only see this, but I don’t know his intentions, especially when he only sent such a small amount (229 dollars), we don’t ask him ‘What will you do with the money?” he said.
Yaqub also said the Pakistani community in Italy was peace-loving.
“If a person is involved in something like that, (Mumbai attacks), it is very,very bad, because Pakistanis came to this city because we had no life, no roof over our heads. We came to Italy to save our lives and to live as smoothly and easily as possible. I have all my family here,” he said.
Yaqub is a Pakistani citizen from a town outside the capital Islamabad. He is married with three children.
The Mumbai attacks targeted two luxury hotels and other city landmarks in November last year. A total of 173 people died and hundreds of others were injured.
One of the ten gunman survived the attacks and Islamabad later admitted he was a Pakistani citizen.
In January Pakistan bowed to international pressure and arrested 124 militants suspected of involvement in the deadly terrorist attacks.
The government said it had closed five training camps and 20 offices belonging to banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the outlawed Kashmiri separatist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pakistani Leader Says ‘No Surprise’ in Link to Terror Attacks
Rome, 24 Feb. (AKI) — A Pakistani community leader said on Tuesday he was not surprised to hear of a link between Pakistani immigrants in Italy and the deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks. Ejaz Ahmad, spoke to Adnkronos International (AKI), after media reports alleged that a man who collaborated with the Mumbai terrorists used a Western Union agent in the northern Italian city of Brescia to pay for telephone numbers used to make untraceable international calls via the Internet.
“I am not surprised that the telephone cards of the Mumbai terrorists were charged by a Brescia call centre,” said Ejaz Ahmad, director of the Urdu-language monthly, ‘Azad’.
“Italians do not know that here among the diverse immigrant communities, the Pakistanis are number one in the telecommunications sector.”
“I spoke about exactly this in the last issue of my magazine which is targeted at Pakistanis in Italy,” he said. “You have to understand that in Italy, like other European countries like Spain, the Pakistanis are the leaders of the telecommunications sector.”
“It all began years ago, when several Pakistanis were managing telephone networks for foreigners. It was because of this contact that Pakistanis became involved in the call centre business and all of them threw themselves into this work.
“Today there are around 4,000 Pakistanis that run call centres or shops in Italy from where you can send money abroad.”
Ahmad, who is also the Pakistani community representative on an Islamic consultation committee set up by the Italian interior ministry, said he was not surprised to learn that the Pakistani allegedly involved in the telephone registration scandal was a resident of the Spanish city of Barcelona.
“There is a strong rapport between Pakistanis in Italy and those in Spain, particularly in business,” he said.
Ahmad said many of the Pakistanis in Brescia had come from the Punjab region of Pakistan, and many had also migrated to Spain.
He also said several investigations carried out since 9/11 have spoken of the fund-raising inside the community for Laskar-e-Toiba, the Pakistani militant group linked to the November attacks in Mumbai.
In Italy there are several Islamic groups that control a large sector of the Pakistani community. The most important is the predominantly Sunni Minhaj al-Quran which controls 17 mosques in the northern regions of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. There are also Muhammadiya members and Shias who have a strong following in certain areas such as Brescia.
Relations between between India and Pakistan have been tense since the November attacks, after it was discovered all 10 gunmen were Pakistani nationals.
At least 170 people were killed when terrorists targeted two luxury hotels and other locations in the heart of the city.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe’s Secret Plan Against White Farmers
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party has drawn up a secret plan to accelerate seizures of land owned by white farmers in Zimbabwe.
The Commercial Farmers’ Union estimates that at least 100 farmers have been targeted for eviction and invasion in the last two weeks.
They appear to be the first victims of a secret plan drawn up by Mr Mugabe’s allies to ensure that “everything in their power” is done to remove the white farming community from their land.
Details of the plan, seen by the Telegraph, make clear that a co-ordinated campaign against the farmers is underway despite the new power-sharing government with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The land grab, which began in 2000, precipitated the country’s collapse, as it destroyed commercial agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, while Mr Mugabe used gifts of farms to shore up loyalty in his divided party.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clashes at Lampedusa Immigration Centre
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA, FEBRUARY 18 — A fire broke out today during scuffles between police and immigrants at an expulsion centre on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Police said the migrants used mattresses and waste paper to set the fire after failing to break down the centre’s gates. One of the buildings in the centre was destroyed, police said. Several migrants and police were wounded in the scuffles, police said. The riot broke out after around 300 Tunisians protested against the expulsion of some 100 compatriots. Most of the 863 migrants at the centre are Tunisians. The centre has repeatedly seen protests after going over its 850-bed capacity. It was recently transformed from a holding centre into an expulsion centre. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Praises Foreigners, Disses U.S.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on Monday praised the partnerships that the bureau has built with its overseas counterparts but said much more work remains in building the trust of ethnic communities in the U.S. whose help is needed to fight terrorism.
Mr. Mueller said during a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations that the bureau must “redouble our efforts” in building relationships with communities whose members may become radicalized.
“We understand the reluctance of some communities to sit down at the table with us. They come from countries where national police forces and security services engender fear and mistrust,” he said. “Oftentimes, the communities from which we need the most help are those who trust us the least.”
As an example, Mr. Mueller pointed to the case of Shirwa Ahmed, a 27-year-old Somali immigrant who returned to his home country and carried out a suicide bombing in October.
Ahmed, who lived in Minnesota, is thought to be the first American citizen to have carried out such an attack.
“I think it’s hard to say, but we certainly believe he was recruited here in the U.S. and we believe there may have been others that have been radicalized, as well,” Mr. Mueller said.
Mr. Mueller declined to offer any more specifics, citing an ongoing investigation. But about 20 young Somali men reportedly have left the U.S. to fight or train with Islamic extremists as part of Somalia’s ongoing civil war. Most of the young men were from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where there is fear that terrorists are recruiting young men for suicide missions in Somalia, The Washington Times reported in December.
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Riot in Lampedusa, Fire in Centre
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO) — A riot at Lampedusa’s identification and expulsion centre (CIE) today saw 24 immigrants and policemen get hurt. It all started around noon inside the CIE, where a group of Tunisians — who had started a hunger strike yesterday to protest against the transfer of 80 of them as a prelude to their expulsion — attacked some fellow countrymen who decided to have lunch. The police immediately intervened in an attempt to calm the situation, but the immigrants started throwing toilets, doors and pieces of sheet metal injuring several policemen. Police equipped with anti-riot gear responded using truncheons and tear gas. It was total chaos at the centre for several minutes. According to the reconstruction of the chief of police of Agrigento, Girolamo di Fazio, some immigrants tried to escape by forcing the entrance gate. Others reportedly started the fire which completely destroyed one of the three buildings, and caused breathing problems for fourteen persons including policemen, firefighters and migrants. Di Fazio said that the leaders of the rebellion (around 20 Tunisians) have already been arrested and that they will soon be transferred to the regional capital’s prison. Just before 3pm the situation returned to normal, though the police remained on the scene present. Italian politicians of the government and the opposition have commented on the incident. Isabella Bertolini (PdL — ‘People of Freedom’) has asked for zero-tolerance against those responsible for the incident. Angela Maraventano (Northern League) has asked for the dismissal of the mayor of Lampedusa, De Rubeis, who in turn had asked for the dismissal of Interior Minister Maroni. The Pd (Democratic Party) has asked the government to report to parliament, whilst Agnoletto and Russo Spena (Communist Refounding Party) have asked for the dismissal of Maroni. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Survey: Enough Foreign Residents in Finland
A survey by the news weekly Suomen Kuvalehti shows that a majority of Finns think there are already enough resident foreigners in the country, while nearly half would accept even fewer foreigners.
At less than 3% of the population, the number of foreign residents in Finland is among the lowest in Europe.
A majority of Finns polled by Suomen Kuvalehti expressed the view that this is a suitable number. One in ten would like to stop immigration for the purpose of seeking work.
Just over 40% responded that in general fewer immigrants should be accepted into the country. Around 10% were of the opinion that only increased numbers of asylum seekers and refugees should be accepted for settlement.
A policy of increasing the number of foreigners to fill jobs was backed by about one-fifth of those surveyed.
One in ten took the stand that there are too few resident foreigners in Finland, while one-fifth thinks there are already too many.
There were 1 006 people who responded to the poll, which was carried out for Suomen Kuvalehti by Taloustutkimus during the first week of February.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brown’s Total Failure on Immigration
One in nine people in Britain were born overseas
GORDON BROWN’S complete failure on immigration was revealed today as it emerged that one in nine people living in Britain were born oversees.
The Government’s open-door policy on migrants was plunged into the spotlight again as official figures showed that the number of people born abroad who are now living in the UK rocketed last year by 290,000.
There are now 6.5 million foreigners living in the UK according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Annual Population Survey showed 4.1m foreign nationals resident in the UK in the year to June 2008, compared with 3.8 million in the year to June 2007.
| — Hat tip: Aeneas | [Return to headlines] |
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