The news feed is abbreviated tonight because I had to gather everything before I left for DC, which means late news is not included.The most alarming stories concern Iran as a regional partner invited to discussions about “stabilizing” Afghanistan.
Thanks to Abu Elvis, C. Cantoni, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, Zenster, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Crisis: Israel Sees Downturn, Concerns Over USA Aid
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 18 — The Israeli economy is looking increasingly bleak in the global recession, and saw tax revenues drop and 20,000 jobs lost in January alone, with the two main banks in the country hemorrhaging 250 million euro in the last 4 months of 2008 and a deficit that risks becoming unmanageable in 2010. The situation is becoming serious with the U.S considering cuts in aid to Israel in response to new Israeli investment projects beyond the ‘green line’ in the Palestinian territories and increasing worries in the business world about the political world’s ability to quickly come to an agreement on a stable, widely supported government after the tangled results of the election on February 10. The latest data released by the media today have not contributed to optimism, with increasing unemployment (19,719 jobs lost in January 2009), and a disturbing announcement made a few hours ago by Bank Laumi, one of the foundations of the Israeli financial sector, of losses of 700-800 million shekel (about 250 million euros) accumulated in the last 4 months of 2008. A report from the central bank has confirmed the recession, with losses in almost all productive sectors and predictions also for lost tax revenue in 2009 up to 40 billion shekel (about 8 billion euro) less than what the government had expected. Analysts are also worried about the public deficit, which at the end of 2009 is estimated to be 5% of the GDP instead of the 1% target. A mountain of debt, which the expenses of Operation ‘Cast Lead’ conducted over the past weeks against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, seems to have had a limited influence, could become unmanageable in 2010 warned Haaretz commentator Moti Bassok, if the Obama administration confirms their intention, already circulating in the U.S., in response to the extension of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Territories (in violation of international agreements) of a one-billion-dollar cut in financing to Israel. One more reason, continued Haaretz, to try to create a moderate, widely supported government as hoped for by Washington. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Civil Servants Ready to Pay £2, 000 Each (of Your Cash) to Hear Islamic Extremist Preach
Government officials will spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to attend a lecture by an Islamic extremist whom Jacqui Smith is under pressure to ban from Britain.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Freed Detainee Moans: Britain is Just Too Cold
FREED Guantanamo Bay prisoner Binyam Mohamed had a new complaint about Britain yesterday — it’s too cold. Mohamed, 30, once accused of plotting a “dirty bomb” attack in the US, has been shivering ever since being returned to the UK on a private jet on Monday.
The former Al Qaeda suspect has told supporters he is finding it difficult to adjust to the British climate after four years at the US naval facility in Cuba, where temperatures at this time of year are about 26C, compared with 10C in London.
Fellow former Guantanamo detainee Moazzem Begg revealed Mohamed was in “good spirits” but was struggling to cope with the weather. “He’s been wearing a jacket most of the time,” he said.
Ethiopian-born Mohamed arrived in Britain on Monday on board a luxury Gulfstream jet, with the estimated £120,000 bill to be paid by the taxpayer.
His lawyers will now apply for him to be given indefinite leave to remain in the country while they prepare a series of lawsuits claiming he was tortured with the knowledge of British intelligence.
Mohamed will also be offered counselling to help him adjust to his move to a “nice and quiet” house in the English countryside.
US lawyer Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Bradley said: “He’ll spend this week just clearing his head. After that, counsellors will be lined up to help him and he’ll consider speaking to the media. I don’t think a lot of this has hit him yet.”
His British lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, of the legal charity Reprieve, will pay for his living expenses until his immigration status is sorted out.Mohamed first came to Britain in 1994 and was given temporary resident status in 2000 after his asylum claim was turned down.
In June 2001 he travelled to Afghanistan via Pakistan and was accused of fighting for the Taliban against the Western-backed Northern Alliance.
Following trips to the US and Britain, he was arrested at Pakistan’s Karachi airport in April 2002.
Mohamed claims he was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco with the knowledge of British intelligence before being taken to Guantanamo Bay in September, 2004, where he claims he was abused.
His allegations about British collusion are denied by the Government.
At one point during his long campaign to be released, Mohamed went on a month-long hunger strike.
But on Tuesday he tucked into custard-filled doughnuts, cheese, hummus, and bread with chocolate spread after a shopping trip with his sister Zuhra and friend Begg.
“We talked a lot, mostly about the people still being held in Guantanamo, and we ate a lot of biscuits,” said Begg. “He’s extremely emaciated.”
The two men’s plans for a Guantanamo reunion party were dealt a blow yesterday after immigration officials detained another former prisoner.
Jarullah Al Mari, 35, was detained at London’s Heathrow airport on Tuesday and taken to an immigration centre prior to deportation.
It is understood he failed to notify the authorities of his seven-year spell at Guantanamo Bay.
Although held on suspicion of links to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, no charges were ever brought against him. Qatar national Al Mari was released last year and spent time in the UK in January on a speaking tour.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
HST: Berlusconi, Turin-Lyon Will be Built
(AGI) — Rome, 23 Feb. — The line Turin- Lyon will be built, said Premier Silvio Berlusconi in an interview to French daily Le Figaro on the eve of the Italy-France summit in Rome. ‘‘A few weeks ago my government confirmed commissioner Mario Virano as president of the technical Observatory on the Turin-Lyon line’’ he reminded. ‘‘We want to speed up the completion of Corridor 5. The high-speed train (HST) was part of our electoral programme, there is full agreement in the government, so the Turin-Lyon will be built. The development of infrastructures is a priority for us. We have reopened many building sites after the previous government had closed them due to environmentalist fanaticism. It pleases me that an idea that was introduced when Italy was EU president in 2003 is gaining a foothold on European level: the emission of Eurobonds to finance big European infrastructures’’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Will Jacqui Smith Ban This Islamic Hate-Monger? or is She a Cowardly Hypocrite?
So here comes the acid test: is Jacqui Smith, as she proclaims, an enemy of extremism in all its forms, or a cowardly hypocrite?
In October, the Home Secretary announced ‘tough new measures’ to deny entry to Britain to anybody ‘engaged in fostering, encouraging or spreading extremism and hatred.’
In recent weeks she has put them to use by banning a Dutch MP with hugely controversial views on Islam, and a notorious anti-gay US preacher.
But will she be prepared to apply the same new standards to Islamic extremists who preach a hatred of Jews?
Ibrahim Moussawi, a known hardliner with links to Hezbollah, has been invited to speak at a London university, the School of Oriental and African Studies. His track-record speaks for itself.
He allegedly described Jews as ‘a lesion on the forehead of history’, and is an editor for the newspaper of Lebanon-based terrorist organisation Hezbollah.
He is also former political editor of the Iranian-backed group’s TV station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the US, as its output is seen as anti-Semitic.
Al-Manar television — the Arabic word for ‘beacon’ — is Hezbollah’s main mouthpiece in the Middle East and around the world, broadcasting from Beirut.
It describes itself as the ‘station of resistance’ and campaigns on behalf of Hezbollah and against the state of Israel, and American and British policy in the Middle East.
It routinely describes fighters who are killed and suicide bombers as ‘martyrs’, and condemns Israeli forces as criminals.
The station has also been widely condemned for anti-Semitism after it broadcast a 30-part series based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged document setting out a supposed secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.
In short, it is a no-brainer for Miss Smith. He should, as the Centre for Social Cohesion and the Conservatives argue today, be banned from setting foot in the UK, let alone speaking here.
Failure to do so must represent double-standards of the very worst kind.
The Far-Right Dutch MP Geert Wilders was banned from travelling to Britain to show his shocking 17-minute film called Fitna at the House of Lords because his views were considered wildly extreme.
His film, which links mainstream Islamic texts with the terrorist attacks on New York in September 2001, was indeed crude and provocative.
It begins with the hugely controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb as a turban, and the suggestion that the Koran is ‘a fascist bookâ€(tm) is patently offensive to millions of people.
But so are the odious ramblings of Moussawi.
Miss Smith also banned the Reverend Fred Phelps, founder of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, from entering the UK earlier this month.
The ‘Reverend’, who campaigns under the slogan ‘God Hates Fagsâ€(tm) is fanatical and hateful in equal measure. He had wanted to visit Britain to picket a performance of a play which dramatises the real-life murder of a gay man in 1998.
Miss Smith said he had ‘engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a ‘number of communitiesâ€(tm). So has Moussawi.
Yet Labour has, in the past, been happy to display double standards when the beneficiaries were Islamic extremists.
The cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi was not just granted a visa to visit the UK in 2005. He was publicly praised by the then London Mayor Ken Livingstone at City Hall.
This was despite the fact Al-Qaradawi had been criticised for condoning suicide bombings and for having anti-Semitic and homophobic views.
Will Miss Smith now repeat the past mistakes of a left-wing establishment inexplicably tolerant of Islamic franatics who pass themselves off as scholars or academics?
The omens do not look good. During her time as Home Secretary, Moussawi has already been allowed in at least twice — in December 2007 and February 2008.
This is her third — and surely final — chance to show some courage.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Will Labour Allow This Muslim Hardliner With Links to Hezbollah Into Britain?
Jacqui Smith was tonight warned against exercising ‘double standards’ as an Islamic extremist prepared to travel to the UK.
Ibrahim Moussawi, a known hardliner with links to Hezbollah, has been invited to speak at a London university.
But the Home Secretary is under pressure to refuse an entry visa to Moussawi, who has allegedly described Jews as ‘a lesion on the forehead of history’.
Earlier this month, she banned the far-Right Dutch MP Geert Wilders from coming to Britain to show his film about Islam as it would threaten ‘community harmony’.
But the Conservatives warned that to ban those who threaten community harmony, while letting in those who glorify terrorism or are part of terrorist groups, would send out the ‘wrong message’.
There must be ‘no double standards on extremists’, warned Tory security spokesman Baroness Neville-Jones.
Moussawi, who has already made at least two trips to the UK, has been invited to speak on political Islam at the School of Oriental and African Studies next month.
Editor for the newspaper of Lebanon-based terrorist organisation Hezbollah, he is a former political editor of the Iranian-backed group’s TV station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the U.S, as its output is seen as anti-Semitic.
Despite his background he has twice been allowed to speak publicly in Britain by the Home Office, once in December 2007 and again in February 2008.
More…
JAMES SLACK: Will Jacqui Smith ban this Islamic hate-monger? Or is she a cowardly hypocrite?
£250,000 bill for return of ‘torture’ prisoner as luxury jet flies him from Guantanamo to Britain
MAX HASTINGS: Torture is wrong but why, in the name of sanity, should we allow those who hate us to live here?
Blears calls for common sense over political correctness in return to ‘core British values’
Yesterday, in a letter to Miss Smith, Baroness Neville-Jones said: ‘You will be aware that Mr Moussawi has links to Hezbollah, which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in many countries.
‘Mr Moussawi has also, over the years, made a number of remarks that are extremist, anti-Semitic and inflammatory. In October last year you introduced what you described as “tough new measures” to deny entry to extremists.
‘These measures included “creating a presumption in favour of exclusion in respect of all those who have engaged in fostering, encouraging or spreading extremism and hatred”. Mr Moussawi has so engaged.
‘In line with your “tough new measures”, I trust that if Mr Moussawi applies for entry, you will use your powers to exclude him.’
Home Office sources said Moussawi’s visa application had not yet been received, but would be studied closely.
A spokesman said: ‘The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. We are determined to prevent individuals coming to the UK who want to spread extremism or hatred in our communities.
‘Exclusion decisions are based on hard evidence not hearsay, and are targeted at those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs.’
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Moslems Close to Winning Case Over Destroyed Mosques
(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, FEBRUARY 20 — The Court of Banja Luka ruled today that the city itself and the Republika Srpska (RS, Bosnia’s Serb-majority body) should compensate Bosnia’s Islamic community with a payment of approximately 41 million euro for the 16 mosques destroyed in the capital city during the Bosnian war (1992-95), says the Fena press agency. The action was first brought in 2000, but the first hearing didn’t take place until seven years later, following a ruling by Bosnia’s Constitutional Court. It is the first time that the RS has had to take responsibility for destruction of places of worship in Banja Luka. The Islamic community, says legal representative, Esad Hrvacic, “is satisfied, even if the total amount of compensation is too small” and despite a law saying that all compensation claimed before 2001 should be transformed into public debt and be paid in treasury vouchers with a 20-year term. “We are expecting it to be applied,” Hrvacic continued, “and that the RS will not appeal the ruling”. During the period 1992-93, all 16 of the city’s mosques were mined and razed to the ground, even if they were located in areas of the city unaffected by hostilities. According to witnesses, all the acts of destruction had clearly been planned and all were carried out during the hours of curfew. Among those destroyed was that of Ferhadija, built in 1572, and numbered among the largest and most beautiful mosques in the Balkans. It is now being re-built. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Serbia Accuses of Organ Trafficking During War
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 23 — The Serbian authorities are planning to acquire further elements and information from the Albanians responsible for the suspected trafficking of organs taken from Serbs captured in Kosovo during the armed conflict in 1998-1999. In recent months the Albanian judiciary rejected Serbia’s request for an in-depth investigation into accusations in a book by former chief Prosecutor in the Hague for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia (TPI), Carla Del Ponte. According to Del Ponte, around 200 Serbs captured in Kosovo at the end of the 1990s and taken to Albania had their organs removed and used in illegal trafficking. The Albanians said in defence of their refusal to cooperate that both local authorities and an investigation by the UN over war crimes investigated the claims without finding any credible corroboration. “New evidence shows that these crimes took place in the north of Albania, and we intend to send an official demand to the Tirana judiciary to provide further information” said Bruno Vekaric, spokesman for the Serbian prosecutor for war crimes Vladimir Vukcevic. Vekaric added that the Serbian authorities plan to present this new evidence to representatives at the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN Security Council. Dick Marty, representing the Council of Europe, will carry out a mission to Belgrade, Pristina and Tirana during March as part of the investigation into the trafficking of organs from Kosovan Serbs. The Belgrade press today published photographic evidence which shows member of UCK (Kosovan Liberation Army) with Serb prisoners in locations in the north of Albania. According to the Serbian judicial authorities this bears out the accusations coming from Belgrade. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lampedusa: Emhrn Sends Delegation to Island
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 23 — A statement from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) reads that the group is ‘particularly worried about Lampedusa and about the worsening of the situation of immigrants in Italy’’ and will be sending a delegation to the island from February 25-27. ‘The situation on the island’’, it continues, ‘became worse on January 14 2009 when the Italian Interior Minister decided not to transfer immigrants to the mainland, but to expel them directly from the island.’’ According to the EMHRN the situation became worse once again after an agreement signed by the Tunisian and Italian authorities which aimed at facilitating the return of illegal Tunisian immigrants to their country of residency. The EMHRN argues that this understanding ‘has increased tension in the centre since Tunisian law can punish those who left Tunisian territory illegally with up to six months imprisonment.’’ The human rights network went on to request that Italian authorities ‘respect the European convention of Human Rights.’’ (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: 007 Accused of Rape; Minister, Pervert or Recruitment
(ANSAmed)- ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 18 — Algeria’s Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni has broken the silence over the scandal involving a CIA agent in Algeria. The agent is charged with date-raping two Algerian women using drugs. “What we must find out” said Zerhouni during President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s visit today to Blida (50 km west of Algiers) “if these rapes are the act of a pervert or if they were a way to put pressure on foreign citizens and recruit them for unknown reasons”. Zerhouni, quoted by APS, also pointed out that “neither of the two victims have reported the crime to Algerian justice. The two women who live abroad preferred to start proceedings in the country where they live now”. According to the press the two Algerian women also have Spanish and German nationality. The CIA agent, Andrew Warren, has been charged with doping and then raping the two Algerian women in his residence in the American embassy in Algiers. He returned to the USA in October and an investigation into the case is in progress in Washington. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Attack in Cairo: Suspicions Point to Hezbollah and Iran
A young French tourist is dead. Wounded other French, a German, three Saudis and four Egyptians. It is an attack on the Egyptian tourist industry, already humbled by the global economic crises.
Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) — A young French tourist was killed and a further 25 people injured in a terrorist attack close to the Khan el Khalili market in the heart of the city. According to security forces, the explosion was caused by a bomb placed under a bench in front of the Hussein mosque. This morning police announced they had arrested three suspects.
The young woman who died was 17 years old and was part of a group of French tourists. Among the wounded are 17 French, a German, 3 Saudis and 4 Egyptians. This is the first attack of this nature to target tourists since the 2006 attack in Dahab, Sinai in which 20 people lost their lives.
Police report that the bomb was home-made. Security forces confirm that this attack was likely conducted by one of the small militant cells that have split off from the main Islamist groups operating in Egypt that try to model themselves after al Qaeda.
However the effect of the attack against tourists is still significant. Egypt is already suffering a severe economic slump thanks to the global financial crisis. This attack will only exacerbate Egypt’s economic pains.
Analysts note that the attack also comes at a time when Iran, using its militant proxies in Hezbollah, appears to have stepped up covert activity in Egypt. Egypt was the mediator of the truce between Israel and Hamas in the recent war in Gaza, and has long been critical of Hamas militancy and its links to Hezbollah and Teheran.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Exports to USA Up 65% Despite Financial Crunch
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 20 — A recent report by the Foreign Trade Division of the US Census Bureau has indicated an increase in the volume of trade exchange with Egypt between August and December of 2008. Egyptian exports to the USA have risen by 65%, reaching USD 715 million, the report said. USA imports from Egypt during the same period in 2007 amounted to USD 433 million, the report added. Egypt’s non-oil exports alone stood at USD 348 million, which is 24% rise on 2007. Egyptian imports from the USA declined by 21% in the last five months of 2008, reaching USD 1.242 billion. In 2007, it equaled USD 1.574 billion. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Constitution Awaited, Draft Version in Early March
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, FEBRUARY 19 — Local media have reported that the plan for the new Libyan Constitution is to be presented in public at the beginning of next month during the People’s Congress scheduled on March 2, drawn up on the initiative of Seif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan president and president of the foundation named after his father. Over the past few days, the works carried out by the Juridical Committee have reportedly drawn to a close. The Committee was made up not only of Libyans but also foreigners including a few Italians, and had been put in charge of assessing the legal aspects of the plan. The official announcement and the presentation of the draft are therefore expected to take place in the session of the General Congress of the People (analogous to a European parliament). “When we talk of constitutions, the laws are able to be modified. There is nothing unusual about the fact that a constitution can be changed,” said the head of the People’s Congress Muktah Keba, one of the highest-ranking posts in the Jamahiriya, meeting with a group of foreign journalists in Tripoli. However, Keba did not confirm that the presentation would be taking place on March 2. “In certain countries, every once in a while, the constitution is adjusted,” he added, referring to what has recently occurred in Algeria. “What our leader Gaddafi wants, in any case, is only the freedom of human beings. Moreover, in Libya what directs our actions in every field is our religious tradition, which respects human beings and sanctions all of his rights.” The plan for the new constitution is the first since 1969 when Gaddafi took power in the country and abolished the one in place at the time. Its definitive approval, according to the wishes of those supporting it, should occur on September 1, the day of the 40th anniversary of the devolution. Also March 2 was not a day chosen by chance, being the anniversary of the “hand over of power to the people” by Gaddafi on March 2 1977, reducing the power of the Revolutionary Committee and creating the Jamahiriya (which translates literally as “regime of the masses”). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Berber Names Banned, Associations Protest
(ANSA) — RABAT, FEBRUARY 18 — Human rights associations and Berber organisations in Morocco have condemned as a racist act the decision by the Rabat government to ban Berber names. The head of the administrative service of the Ministry for the Interior, Idriss Bajdi, confirmed that in January all registry offices apart from embassies and consulates received a list of banned Berber names because they violate law 99-37. In 13 cases the State offices refused to register newborns given a Berber name (such as Tilil, Sifoa, and Llelli), which invoked the anger of the people and human rights associations. ‘Certain names have been banned because they go against the Moroccan identity’’, said Bajdi, adding that ‘the decision was also taken to put an end to the spread of meaningless names’’. Law 99-37 states that an Arabic-Moroccan name must be chosen for newborns, it must not be a surname or composed of more than two names, it must not be the name of a city, village or tribé. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Kerry in Gaza Strip, First U.S. Mission in Years
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/JERUSALEM — John Kerry and two other American congressmen visited rubble-strewn Gaza today in the first U.S. mission to the Gaza Strip in years. Hamas, in power in Gaza for the past two years, looked favourably upon the visit, despite the fact that the US delegation avoided meeting Hamas officials, since the group is on Washington’s black list of Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups. The visit received a cold welcome from an Israeli government spokesperson. The mission is part of a wider Middle Eastern tour of a U.S. congressional delegation led by Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, and former Democratic presidential candidate in the 2004 elections. The trip to Gaza preceded a stop in Syria which seems to reflect the will of the Obama administration to re-launch dialogue with the government in Damascus regarding renewed efforts to restart the peace process. The mission is also taking place in the general context of the spread of the idea that Hamas cannot be left out if an agreement is to be found. Today the British press reported a dialogue between European countries led by France and Great Britain and Hamas leaders. Two French Senators reportedly visited Damascus to meet one of the leaders of the Palestinian movement, Khaled Meshaal. Kerry’s stop in Gaza took place after a visit to Israel in which the Senator met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, with whom he visited the southern city of Sderot (the city most highly targeted by Hamas’ rockets) and confirmed Washington’s will to try to mediate with Syria. Then on board an armoured UN vehicle, Kerry entered the Gaza Strip with colleagues Brian Baird and Keith Ellison (the only Muslim member of Congress), and visited Izzbet Abed Rabbo and Gaza City, where the three stopped in the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) office. While speaking to a Palestinian leader in one of the UN schools, Kerry criticised Hamas for ‘‘not having made the necessary decisions’’ to show a willingness for peace. And referring to Israel, he underlined that any country that has had rockets launched on it for years, ‘‘is destined to respond. When described the situation for the people in Gaza during the war was compared to that of hostages where the (Israeli) police entered ‘‘destroying the entire building and killing everyone, together with the kidnappers’’ he said to ‘‘now look to the future, not the past’’. Commenting on the visit, Hamas sources rejected criticism against them as ‘‘unjust’’, but praised the initiative. ‘‘We highly appreciated this delegation’s visit as we do that of any delegation that wants to verify the facts and see what happened in Gaza’’, said Ahmed Yousuf. Positive tones were contrasted by the embarrassment of the Israeli government, which, through comments made by spokesperson Mark Regev, limited itself in the afternoon to acknowledging that it ‘‘was not informed’’ of the trip to Gaza made by their American guests. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Mahmoud Abbas Visits Prague, Hamas in New Govt
(ANSAmed) — PRAGUE, FEBRUARY 23 — Extremist Islamic movement Hamas should be part of the new Palestinian unity government, according to statements made today in Prague by PNA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), on a two day visit to the Czech Republic on an invitation from Vaclav Klaus, current EU president. “The Hamas movement is part of the Palestinian people and as such, must be represented in a unity government”, said the Palestinian leader. Israel and Palestine must continue with peace talks, with the goal of having two states, according to Abbas. He presented his project for a Palestinian unity government in Prague, which would respect international regulations and commitments. According to the Palestinian leader, the national unity government is the fundamental condition to rebuild the Gaza Strip. The Czech Republic, which has been the EU president since January, last week allocated 350,000 euros in humanitarian aid for Gaza. In January, Prague sent 175,000 euros in aid to refugees in the Middle East through the United Nations. The division of funds will be decided at an international donors’ conference set to take place on March 2 in Cairo. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Netanyahu Looks Right, Lieberman at Foreign Ministry
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 25 — Possibilities for a ‘hawk government’ are increasing in Israel; those for an executive branch with broad agreements at least to Tzipi Livni’s Kadima centrists are decreasing. These are the most recent indications from the ever changing consultations of Likud (nationalist) leader and incumbent Premier, Benyamin ‘Bi-bi’ Netanyahu. Consultations that in recent days were concentrated on the hypothesis of a national unity cabinet, without much success. This has left space for internal dialogue on the right — lay and religious — for the only plan B that Netanyahu has at his disposition: a government (with a poor image for many in the international community and potentially embarrassing for the Barack Obama administration in the US) supported by parties from the right and far right of the political spectrum. An option that the same Likud leader seems to fear, but one which he has begun to sound out in the scheduled meetings with emissaries and representatives from Israel Beitenu (IB, the radical right laic party of Soviet origin led by Avigdor Lieberman which emerged as the country’s third power after the elections on February 10), Shas (the Sephardic orthodoxy), and the Torah Front (Ashkenazi). In the end all spoke of “progress”, leaving however the impression of an interlocutory phase. Lieberman, who would prefer to avoid religious company, made it known that he hopes for the Foreign Ministry, in spite of perplexity from Western chancelleries and the alternative candidacy given by Likud to an immigrant from the ex-USSR, the ex-dissident Nathan Sharanski, in the case of a restricted decision on the right. He also made it clear that he is unwilling to move on the laic status of the government and on the institution of civil matrimony in Israel: the most important issue for the people who elected him, Russophiles and secular voters. While Shas and Torah Front, altrouhgh “available” to Netanyahu, they invoked “the status quo in the relationship between religion and state”. A juniper thicket from which the Likud leader can come out only if the leader of Kadima changes her mind, leaving room for a grand coalition led by him, and open to the maximum — as he stressed today — of “support from the opposition” before a possible escalation in the Iranian nuclear crisis. Another face to face with Bi-Bi is expected for Friday. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Lieberman Wants Netanyahu Government With 3 Parties
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM — State-run radio has said that Israeli Beitenu (IB) leader, Avigdor Lieberman, recommended that President Shimon Peres set up a government with three main parties (Kadima, Likud and IB) under Likud leader Benyamin Netanyahu. Lieberman laid the condition of a government with a wide parliamentary base of three parties and others wanting to join in exchange for his support of Netanyahu. Lieberman is quoted as having told President Peres that ‘‘we recommend Netanyahu, but only in the context of a wide-ranging government.’’ IB came out of the elections much stronger than it had been previously, and with 15 seats has become the third largest party in the Knesset. With its support and the near certainty of those of extreme right and religious parties, Netanyahu would already have the official support of 65 representatives in the Knesset, four more than the quorum for a majority. Shimon Peres has resumed talks this morning with parties before making his decision on who to entrust the task of forming a new government. The talks are to come to an end this evening.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Czech EU Presidency, Difficult Start With Netanyahu
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 23 — The Czech presidency of the EU will not face an easy beginning if Benyamin Netanyahu becomes the next Israeli Premier, but it remains that the peace process must move forward based on a “two states” solution. This is what the Czech vice-Premier and Minister of European Affairs, Alexandr Vondra, said at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. To the question of whether the nomination of Netanyahu could make the peace process with the Palestinians easier, Vondra responded: “That remains to be seen”. “I believe that the beginning may be rough, but then we must move the peace process forward, because the two state solution is getting closer”, Vondra affirmed. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Blast Hits Mosque in Southeast
Zahaden, 18 Feb. (AKI) — A motorcycle bomber struck a mosque in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Wednesday, damaging the building but causing no human casualties, semi-official Iranian news agency Fars reported, quoting police.
The motorcyclist had apparently detonated his bomb outside the building after being prevented from entering the mosque.
Zahedan is the provincial capital of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Pakistan. Similar bombings have been carried out in the past in Iran’s southeastern regions, some of them deadly.
Zahedan is a stronghold of Sunni armed insurgent group Jundallah. The group has launched attacks near the Afghan and Pakistani borders and the Iranian authorities have claimed it is linked it to Al-Qaeda.
Iran claims armed separatist groups usually carry out bomb attacks in the southeast before fleeing to hideouts in Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Killed in Turkey: Two Persons Involved, Lawyer
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 18 — New evidence has revealed that more than two perpetrators may have been involved in the rape and murder of Italian artist Pippa Bacca, who was hitch-hiking across Turkey for peace last year, her family lawyer told ANSA today. “The forensic report has revealed that there were at least two, maybe three, involved in the rape and murder of Pippa Bacca,” Mehmet Eke said. The trial of the man suspected of murdering Giuseppina Pasqualino Di Marineo in northwestern Turkey, after he picked her up while hitchhiking to Israel on a mission of peace, began in October 2008. Turkish prosecutors have “aggravated life in prison” for sole suspect, 38-year-old Murat Karatas. Bacca departed from the Italian city of Milan together with Silvia Moro, an artist friend, on March 8. The two artists had been hitchhiking to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv hoping to send a “peace message” to the world. Pasqualino and Moro separated from each other in Istanbul on March 19, and after March 31, no further contact could be established with Pasqualino. The 33-year-old artist was found dead in a forest near the town of Gebze in the northwestern province of Kocaeli on April 11. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Expects 20% Increase of British Tourists in 2009
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 16 — Turkey expects a 20% increase in the number of British tourists in 2009 in the face of global economic crisis. “There is a 20% increase in the number of reservations made by British tourists”, Ismet Yilmaz, undersecretary of the Tourism Ministry, was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency. Yilmaz sounded optimistic about the tourism sector despite the ongoing global financial crisis with estimating a fall of 20% in the number of tourists to Turkey against a 60% decrease in the world. “More European tourists will start to prefer Turkey, a cheaper destination compared to its peers”, Yilmaz said. Turkey’s tourism revenues, an important resource to finance the huge current account deficit, reached USD 21.9 billion in 2008 when 31 million tourists visited the country. In 2008, the number of German tourists hit 4.25 million and tourists from Russia ranked the second with 2.8 million, while about 2.1 million British tourists visited Turkey. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Colonel on Trial for Neglect in Journalist’s Murder
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 17 — A Turkish court will try a retired colonel and five soldiers for covering up warnings ahead of the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. A High Criminal Court in the northwestern province of Trabzon ruled Tuesday that Retired Colonel Albay Oz and five other soldiers face up to two years in prison on the charge of “neglect of duty” for their role in the death of Dink, Dogan News Agency reported. A Criminal Court of Peace in the province had earlier ruled to dismiss the charges against the six accused. Dink, editor in chief of the Agos newspaper, was shot dead outside the offices of the paper in Istanbul in January 2007. The teenager accused in the murder was quickly apprehended trying to make his way to his hometown of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast. Police later arrested Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal for inciting the teenager to carry out the attack. A total of 20 suspects are currently standing trial for Dink’s murder. It was later revealed that Tuncel, who was a police informant, had alerted Trabzon security forces about plans to murder Dink. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey-USA: Washington Considers Ankara as a Major Actor
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 17 — The United States considers Turkey as “a major actor” in its future projections for U.S. foreign, economic and trade policy, an expert on international trade law, said. “Turkey has been defined as a major actor for the future of the United States. Turkey is a leader in its region and you need to strengthen your role in the region as a strategic partner”, Matthew Nolan, Arent Fox partner, told an Istanbul discussion panel on “U.S. President Barack Obama’s Trade Policies”. Nolan said the U.S. needed to improve its relations with certain countries and regions, such as the Middle East and the Eurasia. “The way Turkey would incorporate itself into the regional actuality and its partnership with the U.S. will be important for the region”, Nolan said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Italian Minister Floats Greater Role for Iran
Kabul, 19 Feb. (AKI) — Italian foreign affairs minister Franco Frattini discussed a greater role for Iran in the stabilisation of Afghanistan in talks with new US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, on Thursday. The two leaders had a lengthy telephone conversation on how to ensure peace and security in Afghanistan to counter a resurgent Taliban.
The Italian foreign minister stressed in a “clear and unambiguous” message that stability cannot be reached exclusively with military means and discussed the need for greater regional diplomacy and support.
Italy intends to reinforce that message during its current role in the rotating presidency of the Group of Eight nations during 2009.
The foreign affairs minister also spoke of the need for a greater commitment to reconstruction and cooperative efforts for the country’s development.
As president of the G8 this year, Italy is organising a conference on the future of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the northern Italian city of Trieste at the end of June.
Holbrooke said he would convey Frattini’s views to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, whom Italy’s foreign minister is expected to meet soon.
Frattini said in Herat on Tuesday that it was essential to find a way for Iran to become a “positive interlocutor”.
The US general in charge of the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday predicted a tough year ahead despite the transfer of 17,000 extra US troops due to arrive in the south of the country.
Army general David McKiernan said the US would need to be heavily committed for years to Afghanistan, where insurgent violence has increased to its highest levels since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.
McKiernan said he was delighted by president Barack Obama’s decision to send extra troops to Afghanistan but warned that their mission would be
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Forces ‘Are Fighting British Muslims With Yorkshire Accents’ in Afghanistan
The Armed Forces are increasingly fighting British Muslims with Midlands and Yorkshire accents on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Intelligence reports show that rising numbers of home-grown jihadists have joined the Taliban so they can kill British soldiers.
Senior military sources say UK troops are engaged in a ‘surreal mini-civil war’ in the dusty badlands of Helmand Province.
The revelations came as the Ministry of Defence announced another three British soldiers had been killed in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan today.
UK troops in action in Helmand are now fighting fellow Britons, it is believed
The soldiers, from 1st Battalion The Rifles, were hit by the blast near Lashkar Gar on Wednesday morning. It brings the British death toll in Afghanistan since the war began in October 2001 to 148.
Surveillance operations from the warzone has picked up voices talking with West Midlands and Yorkshire accents, according to official briefing documents.
The electronic ‘chatter’ confirms mounting fears that young disaffected Muslims are travelling to southern Afghanistan to commit violence against British targets.
MI5 has estimated that up to 4,000 British Muslims had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan for military training, with ‘dozens’ switching to the front-line.
One senior military source said intelligence officers had been hearing more voices speaking in Pakistani accents such as Punjabi, Urdu and Kashmiri Urdu rather than Pashtu, the official Afghan language.
He said: ‘There appears to be more men from other parts of Pakistan fighting with the Taliban than just the Pashtuns who have tribal allegiances with the Afghan Pashtuns.
‘It is this group, the Urdu, Punjabi speakers, etc, who fall back into English in, for example, Brummie accents.
‘You get the impression that they have been told not to talk in English but sometimes simply can’t help it.’
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Secretary Clinton in Jakarta to Show New Attention for East and Islam
Closer relations between the two countries are possible. For experts, Obama administration is expressing new interest in Asia and a different relationship with Muslim countries. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Hillary Clinton has arrived in Jakarta, the second stop in her first foreign trip as US Secretary of State. Her visit to the most populous Muslim country in the world is being closely monitored by experts who want to see what directions US foreign policy is taking under President Barack Obama.
Ms Clinton was welcomed by a group of 50 schoolchildren, waving US and Indonesian flags and singing traditional Indonesian folk songs. They are from the President Obama’s old school, which he attended during his four-year stay in Indonesia.
In personal notes President Obama has called Indonesia “a special country,” where “various people from different cultural and ethnic groups could live peacefully in harmony,” Ms Clinton said after meeting with her Indonesian counterpart, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda at the Foreign Ministry in Pejambon, Central Jakarta, late in the afternoon.
The friendly atmosphere aside, security around the visit was tight with some 3,000 police agents in place.
About a hundred radical Muslims organised a rally against Clinton’s visit, attacking the “US dictatorship” and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).
In her maiden speech as secretary of State Ms Clinton openly acknowledged that “Washington had previously neglected Asia,” said Trias Kuncahyono, a senior editor in Jakarta. On this trip “Clinton wants to show [. . .] a ‘real break’ between the Bush administration and Obama’s.”
“Japan, China and South Korea (the other countries on Clinton’s Asia trip) have been very long American allies in East Asia. That’s why” US attention has now turned to “Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world,” he added.
Experts agree that Clinton’s Jakarta trip is a sign that the Obama’s administration has a new perspective on hot issues like the relationship between Christianity and Islam.
For Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organisation, Muhammadiyah, Clinton’s visit reflected US recognition and appreciation of Indonesia as a strategic partner. In his view East and West can build their relations on fresh, new bases.
Although she is not scheduled to meet any Muslim religious leaders, many Islamic figures have been invited to the dinner prepared by the US Embassy in her honour.
Ms Clinton is also scheduled to meet Indonesian President Yudhoyono at the State Palace.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani Army Colonel ‘Was Involved’ in Mumbai Terror Attacks
Police have accused an officer in the Pakistan Army of being involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
The name of Colonel R Sadatullah appears in an 11,200-page document that lists the charges against Azam Amir Kasab, who police claim is the sole surving gunman of the November attacks in which 170 people died.
Police believe that Colonel Sadatullah is a serving officer in the Pakistan Army’s Special Communications Organisation, an offshoot of the force’s signals corps. It is alleged that an official government e-mail account linked to Colonel was used to send at least one message related to the attacks.
His naming represents the most specific allegation of Pakistan’s involvement in the attacks and will put more strain on India’s relationship with its nuclear-armed neighbour.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
China and U.S. Breathe Sigh of Relief: Economy More Important Than Human Rights
For Mrs. Clinton, human rights will no longer be the main issue. In exchange, Beijing has decided to continue buying U.S. Treasury bonds, in order to support the American economy.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — China’s official media have defined the visit of Hillary Clinton as “a relief,” because the new U.S. secretary of state has set aside the question of human rights, and talked instead about the economies of the two countries.
China Daily commented that “if the point of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s maiden voyage overseas in her new role as United States secretary of state was to assure and reassure, she made it.”
At a press conference in the capital, Clinton clearly explained that human rights in China must not be a distraction from the more vital questions of trade and the environment, and expressed hopes for closer collaboration between the two powers in confronting the economic crisis.
Just a few years ago, Clinton unleashed a harsh attack against Beijing, which had censored part of one of her books published in China, where it talked about women’s rights.
Yu Wanli, an associate professor at the Centre for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, said that after this visit issues like human rights and Tibet will be pushed to the sidelines, in order to “work on something meaningful now.” The American decision brings a “sigh of relief” for Beijing, since there are significant anniversaries this year that could lead to social tensions: the 50th anniversary of the revolts in Tibet, and the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square.
Clinton also breathed a “sigh of relief,” because China has considered the economy more important than the (past) criticisms about human rights: to the request that Beijing continue to buy and accumulate American Treasury bonds, the Chinese said yes. More precisely, Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi said that China wants its foreign currency reserves — at 1.95 trillion dollars, the largest in the world — to be invested safely, at good value and liquidity. But he added that China wants to continue to work with the United States. Similar assurances have been given by President Hu Jintao.
Clinton said that China and the United States find themselves “in the same boat,” and are “rowing in the same direction.” Beijing holds about 700 billion dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds. But the leadership is under pressure to diversify its holdings, because of the depreciation of the dollar. The economic crisis afflicting the United States risks reducing to nothing the value of its bonds.
According to the analyst Wang Xiangwei, however, Beijing has no alternative but to support the U.S. economy and invest in U.S. Treasury bonds, precisely as the Obama administration is seeking new funds to pay for the 787 billion dollar economic stimulus package. Wang Xiangwei (c.f. today’s edition of the South China Morning Post) says that there seems to be some minor blackmail on the part of the United States: if China does not buy Treasury bonds, information will be published in the United States about the money that the leadership and their relatives have deposited in banks there.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Hails Agreement Between Sudan and Darfur Rebel Group
The Chinese press calls it the beginning of a true reconciliation. Comments from other countries are much more cautious. Dispute continues at United Nations between those who want to try the Sudanese president for genocide and those who, like Beijing, do not want direct interventions.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China is hailing the agreement signed yesterday in Doha (Qatar) by the Sudanese government and the rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement, one of the strongest groups among the populations of Darfur.
Among other things, the agreement stipulates the end of attacks against the 2 million refugees living in the camps, and an exchange of prisoners. The People’s Daily, an organ of the Chinese Communist Party, calls it true “reconciliation” between the parties at war, although it acknowledges that there is still a long way to go to peace.
The agreement is being greeted with great caution by the United States and the UN, which see it as a first timid step toward peace. U.S. ambassador Susan Rice says that this does not change the position of her country, which is in favor of having Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir tried for the genocide taking place in Darfur.
Yukio Takasu, a Japanese ambassador to the UN, insisted that the fighting needs to be suspended as soon as possible, because “we don’t want to see talking while fighting,” observing that many other rebel groups must also be involved.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, while applauding the agreement, stressed that “until the parties renounce hostilities, the situation in Darfur cannot improve.”
Last February 11, UN sources revealed that the International Criminal Court intended to issue an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir (in the photo, with Chinese president Hu Jintao), accused of directing the genocide underway in Darfur, where since 2003, according to UN figures, at least 300,000 have been killed and 2.2 million have been made refugees. But the warrant was not issued, in part because of a request for postponement advanced by African and Arab countries, with the support of China and Russia.
According to Beijing, such an initiative would serve only to “destabilize” the region, worsening the conflict in Darfur and blocking any peace agreement between the government and the rebels. There is great disagreement at the UN, and the question could go as far as the Security Council, which could order the arrest warrant to be postponed for a full year.
China, which buys two thirds of Sudan’s oil exports, has been highly criticized for failing to use its economic influence to exert pressure on Khartoum to end the civil war. Together with Russia, it is also accused of selling the country weapons that have been used in Darfur.
Beijing responds that tensions among ethnic groups are a domestic issue for Sudan, and that China contributes to peacekeeping forces sent by the UN. In reality, China is sending hundreds of technical experts there (in February, another 435 Chinese will depart, including engineers, doctors, road construction experts). These people can contribute to the country’s growth, but have no influence over the war, in the absence of specific pressure from Beijing.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Al-Qaeda Video Claims Foreign Abductions in Niger
Dubai, 18 Feb. (AKI) — A message allegedly from Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay in Niger and the abduction of four European tourists in January on the border between Niger and Mali.
“We are happy to announce to the Islamic nation that our mujahadeen have managed to carry out two operations in Niger,” said the audio message purportedly from Al-Qaeda’s North African branch. It was broadcast on Wednesday by Dubai-based Arabic satellite news channel Al-Arabiya.
“The mujahadeen reserve the right to treat the hostages according to Islamic Sharia law,” the audio message warned.
Fowler is a Canadian diplomat and United Nations special envoy to Niger and Guay is the deputy director of the Sudan task force in the Canadian capital,Ottawa. They were abducted with their driver outside Niamey on 14 December while returning from a visit to a gold mine operated by a Canadian company.
On 16 December a rebel group called the Front des Forces de Redressement claimed to have kidnapped Fowler, but a spokesperson later denied the claim.
An undated video showing the diplomats were still alive was sent to the Malian authorities earlier this month. Their missing driver was not shown in the video.
A Swiss couple, an elderly German woman and a British man were returning from a Tuareg cultural festival in Mali on 22 January when they were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen along the border of Mali and Niger
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgarians, Romanians Accused of Stealing Greek Pensions
THE COUNTRY’S biggest trade union is accusing thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants of milking the Greek state pension cash cow.
“Not only are [they] bleeding the pension funds dry, they are plundering them,” Yannis Panagopoulos, president of the Confederation of Workers in Greece (GSEE), told reporters on February 10.
Under European Union law (directive 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and to members of their families moving within the EU), the portability of social security benefits between member states is guaranteed. This is part of wider efforts to promote the free movement of EU nationals within the 27-member bloc.
In practice, this EU law allows all EU citizens to draw a full pension from Greece even if they have worked in Greece for merely a year.
GSEE, which represents more than two million workers throughout the country, is calling on the government to revise national legislation so that EU citizens will no longer be able to do this.
“In all other EU countries, workers are entitled to 1/44th of the minimum national pension for each year they have contributed to the local insurance fund,” said Panagopoulos. “It is only in Greece where one year of social insurance gets you the minimum pension of 486 euros and this is a serious problem for IKA… This is being done by immigrants in neighbouring Balkan countries, where the minimum pension is 80 or 100 euros.”
Unionist Yiorgos Koutroumanis, who heads the Association of Fund Employees, blamed loopholes in national legislation for the problems. “Organisational weaknesses in the system and loopholes enable Greeks as well as immigrants to abuse the system,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, officials at IKA headquarters in Athens have reported a dramatic increase in the number of applications for pension applications filed by Bulgarians and Romanians since January. This coincided with the expiration of a two-year ban imposed by Greece on the free movement of workers from Bulgaria and Romania.
Not only are Bulgarians and Romanians spending the last few years of their working career here in order to secure a better pension, but some others are reportedly also bribing Greek officials (with the help of unscrupulous go-betweens) for documentation showing they and members of their family are permanent residents in Greece so that they can draw a Greek pension. Many have never even visited Greece.
This fraud is costing the Greek taxpayer tens of millions of euros a year, according to reports in the Greek media. And fraudsters are getting away with the ripoff because the government has yet to check whether they have actually worked in Greece and whether they permanently reside here.
Employment Minister Fani Palli Petralia, whose office is responsible for the state pension funds, told reporters on February 10 the government will look into the matter.
According to the Athens Labour Centre (EKA), some 130,000 Romanians and Bulgarians reside in Greece. Bulgaria and Romania are the newest (both joined in January 2007) and poorest members of the EU. Interior ministry data on the number of valid residence permits in circulation show the majority of Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants in Greece are women.
The free movement of workers in the EU is central to the European ideal.
————————————————————————————————————————
One example
After working 24 years as a computer programmer in Sofia, a 63-year-old Bulgarian moves to Greece. He settles in Thessaloniki and finds a job as a typist in a translation office. Upon his 65th birthday, this Bulgarian national is eligible to draw the minimum IKA pension (about 480 euros). Had he returned to Bulgaria to retire, he would have received a pension at least four times smaller.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration Crisis on Britain’s Doorstep
A dangerously tense situation is brewing on Britain’s doorstep as gangs trafficking refugees to the French coast become more violent, an undercover Sky News reporter has found.
Around 1,000 immigrants are thought to be in the Calais area alone, but in an effort to find other routes into the UK many are now heading to alternative ferry terminals, as far down as Saint Malo and Roscoff.
British Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has announced that he plans to travel to Calais in the near future to assess the scale of problem, which he conceded had been made worse because of the improved security measures at the local ferry port.
Both the British and French governments have vowed to go after the organised criminal gangs making millions of pounds trafficking refugees into the coastal towns.
While filming covertly in Calais, Sky’s undercover reporter experienced first-hand how dangerous the gangs have become.
Posing as an illegal immigrant from Armenia, he was approached by a pair of Afghan men who warned that his life would be in danger if he did not leave the lorry park.
The said: “The agents [traffickers] round here will kill you if they see you again.
Immigrants have set up camp
“This parking is only for Afghans. They have been killing lots of people for this parking. Next time if they see you here they will kill you.”
Many of the immigrants interviewed by Sky News described how the tougher security had made it almost impossible for them to smuggle themselves into the UK in lorries.
In recent years they could expect to stay in Calais for around two weeks before successfully boarding a lorry bound for the UK, now many have been there for months, and see little prospect of getting through.
Their situation has become so desperate, that gangs of 15 to 20 immigrants have started lying in wait for lorries at road junctions, attempting to board the moving vehicles as they slow down.
French charities such as Association Terre d’Errance and Coordination Francaise Pour Le Droit D’Asile have suggested many refugees are now heading to towns near the Belgian border and down the coast to ports such as Dieppe, Oustreheim, Cherbourg, Saint Malo and Roscoff.
They have warned that unlike Calais, charity support for immigrants in these towns in limited or non-existent, leaving many without food, water or shelter.
On Britain’s Doorstep
5:48am UK, Monday February 23, 2009
Mark White, Home affairs correspondent
A dangerously tense situation is brewing on Britain’s doorstep as gangs trafficking refugees to the French coast become more violent, an undercover Sky News reporter has found.
Charities have warned of a crisis due to the number of stranded immigrants
A recent crackdown on border security has left thousands of illegal immigrants stuck for months in port towns as they fail to sneak on board lorries to cross the Channel.
They are living in makeshift camps and facing threats from criminal gangs who prey on their desperation.
The situation is generating a humanitarian crisis just a few miles from Britain, charities are warning.
They have no facilities, little food and their situation is becoming perilous. They appear wild-eyed, exhausted and desperate.
Sky News undercover reporter on immigrants in Calais
Around 1,000 immigrants are thought to be in the Calais area alone, but in an effort to find other routes into the UK many are now heading to alternative ferry terminals, as far down as Saint Malo and Roscoff.
British Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has announced that he plans to travel to Calais in the near future to assess the scale of problem, which he conceded had been made worse because of the improved security measures at the local ferry port.
Both the British and French governments have vowed to go after the organised criminal gangs making millions of pounds trafficking refugees into the coastal towns.
While filming covertly in Calais, Sky’s undercover reporter experienced first-hand how dangerous the gangs have become.
Posing as an illegal immigrant from Armenia, he was approached by a pair of Afghan men who warned that his life would be in danger if he did not leave the lorry park.
The said: “The agents [traffickers] round here will kill you if they see you again.
Immigrants have set up camp
“This parking is only for Afghans. They have been killing lots of people for this parking. Next time if they see you here they will kill you.”
Many of the immigrants interviewed by Sky News described how the tougher security had made it almost impossible for them to smuggle themselves into the UK in lorries.
In recent years they could expect to stay in Calais for around two weeks before successfully boarding a lorry bound for the UK, now many have been there for months, and see little prospect of getting through.
Their situation has become so desperate, that gangs of 15 to 20 immigrants have started lying in wait for lorries at road junctions, attempting to board the moving vehicles as they slow down.
French charities such as Association Terre d’Errance and Coordination Francaise Pour Le Droit D’Asile have suggested many refugees are now heading to towns near the Belgian border and down the coast to ports such as Dieppe, Oustreheim, Cherbourg, Saint Malo and Roscoff.
They have warned that unlike Calais, charity support for immigrants in these towns in limited or non-existent, leaving many without food, water or shelter.
One of the reasons that the number of people appears to be going up is that we are catching more people. That is a result of the extra resources we have spent.
Phil Woolas, British Immigration Minister
In Cherbourg, Sky News spoke to Ayas Yousef, a 21-year-old Iraqi Kurd.
Having been deported from Britain twice before, he has decided to avoid Calais and try his luck further down the coast.
He said: “It’s very difficult… I cannot tell you how many times I’ve tried. I’ve got in a lorry maybe 20 to 25 times, but every time they find me.”
He and around 50 other immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan spend their days in a small tent village on a hill over-looking Cherbourg. They benefit from some charity hand-outs, but many others like them are not so lucky.
The Government is also re-examining the amount of financial assistance it offers to France, to help boost security along the French coast.
Mr Woolas told Sky News: “It’s right that we financially contribute and that taxpayer money is being spent in these joint border controls that we already have.
“One of the reasons that the number of people appears to be going up is that we are catching more people.
“That is a result of the extra resources we have spent, so of course we accept our financial responsibility and I think the public would expect us to do so.”
But with the increasing pressure on the public purse, some will argue that if security is already working effectively, it is up to the French government to deal with the problem by either deporting those in their country illegally, or offering them state support.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 300 Illegal Immigrants Transferred From Lampedusa After Riot
Rome, 19 Feb. (AKI) — Three hundred illegal immigrants were transferred from the southernmost Italian island of Lampedusa to holding centres elsewhere in Italy pending their deportation, Italy’s interior ministry said on Thursday.
The transfers came after rioters on Wednesday burned down an entire wing of Lampedusa’s detention centre in protest at expulsion orders issued to 100 Tunisian illegal immigrants.
After the riot, in which 50 people suffered smoke inhalation and other injuries, the interior ministry announced it intended to speed up deportations from Lampedusa.
Wednesday riot and other protests on Lampedusa this year are the direct result of the Italian government’s decision late last year to turn the facility into an expulsion centre instead of a temporary reception centre, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told Adnkronos International.
“The Lampedusa centre has never previously seen such human fury, such self-harm, or arson attack. It was designed as a reception centre and a change in policy does not mean it is equipped to function as an expulsion centre,” UNHCR spokeswoman Laura Boldrini told AKI .
Since the new government policy, Lampedusa’s detention centre has suffered severe overcrowding, as people are being held there for many weeks at a time. Some illegal immigrants having been detained there since December.
The centre was designed for illegal immigrants to stay there for a couple days for medical and ID checks before being transferred to facilities elsewhere in Italy.
“Lampedusa was previously a transit point. The system has gone up in smoke. We need to go back to the old system,” said Boldrini.
Illegal immigrants staged a mass breakout from the Lampedusa centre in January and a group of Tunisians and Moroccans held there went on hunger-strike.
Some 200 Tunisians who were due to be repatriated under a bilateral accord reached in late January with the Tunisian government were transferred from Lampedusa to Rome’s Ponte Galeria expulsion centre, Boldrini said.
The interior ministry did not specify the nationalities of the 300 illegal immigrants transferred between Wednesday and Thursday to holding centres in Cagliari on the Italian island of Sardinia, in the northern Italian city of Turin and the southern industrial port of Crotone in Calabria.
Lampedusa which lies around 113 kilometres from Tunisia and 205 kilometres south of Sicily, has become the main landing point for rapidly growing numbers of illegal immigrants arriving in Italy by sea from North Africa.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants now arrive annually on Lampedusa, and their numbers have been growing rapidly in recent years. Residents say the island is being turned into a Mediterranean ‘Alcatraz’.
Rights groups have voiced concern at conditions at the Lampedusa detention centre and the Italian government’s policy of repatriating illegal migrants to countries where they could suffer human rights violations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: 25 Migrants Drowned in Shipwreck Near Canary Islands
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — The death toll resulting from the shipwreck of a large raft carrying North African immigrants on Sunday evening, which occurred twenty metres off Lanzarote, one of the Canary islands, has risen. Maritime rescue services have been quoted by media as saying that so far 25 corpses had been found, 18 of which from boys under age 17. The last three bodies brought in by Civil Defence submarines were of children between the ages of 13 and 15. The search goes on since, according to witness statements from the six survivors of the shipwreck, one person is still missing, making it a total of 32 people who had been travelling on the raft which ran up against the reefs on Sunday. As the hours wear on, more information is being released on the worst tragedy in immigration seen in Spain over the past ten years. An entire family died in the wreck, a mother and her two children from El Aaiun, Morocco, while another family from Assa, in the southern part of the North African country, have identified another of the children’s bodies. The Moroccan Inetrior Ministry has asked its Spanish counterpart for photos of the victims to be able to identify them and repatriate them to their home country. (ANSAmed).
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the Revolt Moves to Malta
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA — After the yesterday’s clashes between immigrants and the police in the Lampedusa identification and expulsion center, the revolt moved today to two detention centers for migrants in Malta. Policemen and soldiers in anti-riot gear intervened to control two revolts which broke out at the same time in the Safi and Hal Far centres. Also in this case, as happened yesterday in Lampedusa, the non-EU immigrants have set fire to two buildings. Some immigrants have managed to escape in the chaos. The rebels are almost all North Africans who were waiting to be repatriated. The incidents broke out after news of yesterday’s clashes in Lampedusa spread in the two centres in Malta. Meanwhile the latest landing of 230 immigrants on the Maltese coasts has set off yet another political confrontation on the island state, with the Labour opposition asking for the parliamentary agenda to be suspended in order to debate the urgent issue of illegal immigration. The government has said that it is involved with the European Union and Italy in efforts to find the best way to deal with illegal immigration, while the Labour party in the opposition has replied that the population and the structures in place cannot hold up under the situation any longer. (ANSAmed).
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1 comments:
In reaction to the admission of Hizbollah's Ibrahim Moussawi Lord Pearson invited Geert Wilders to British Parliament AGAIN yesterday according to the news.
Regards,
Snouck
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