Just for a change, check out the news from the USA tonight.Most of it centers around — surprise! — Barack Obama. His cabinet picks continue to reveal unprecedented levels of sleaze, corruption, and tax evasion. The stimulus package — a.k.a. the “spendulus” package — still outrages conservatives, but it is going to pass anyway. The government will spend close to a trillion dollars, money that it doesn’t have, on Congress’ cronies and pet projects, and this will somehow revive the economy and “put America back to work”.
Dream on.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fausta, Henrik, Holger Danske, Insubria, JD, TB, The Pundit, Tuan Jim, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
- - - - - - - - -
Florida: Newborn Baby ‘Thrown Out With the Trash Alive After Botched Abortion’
A young mother has accused a Florida clinic of botching her abortion, allowing her child to be born alive — then putting the baby into a plastic bag and throwing her out with the trash.
Now Sycloria Williams is suing Dr Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique and the abortion clinic’s owners in a case that has shocked both sides of the abortion debate.
Aged 18, Ms Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How the One Can Regain His Glow
Before he was chosen to lead the nation’s top law enforcement agency, Holder was a senior partner with Covington & Burling, a law firm that represents 17 Yemenis currently held at Gitmo. Well, bless his heart. We wouldn’t want the poor suspected terrorists to suffer under the treatment at Guantanamo Bay.
I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and believe me, it’s shocking. The prisoners get to choose from six meal plans at the beginning of every week, and movie nights are held nightly. If they’re good, the terrorists can have popcorn as they sit in an overstuffed couch for comfort. Each prisoner has three medical personnel to care for them, including a physician, and can attend art and English classes.
I’m sure some would reject Holder because he worked so hard as President Clinton’s deputy attorney general to release 16 violent FALN terrorists. Holder showed real moxie because he stood up against the FBI, U.S. attorneys and the NYPD officers who were maimed by the FALN terrorists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Illinois: State Can Run Out of Money, But Can’t File for Bankruptcy
SPRINGFIELD — Facing an ever-growing pile of bills, crushing debt and less tax money flowing into the state treasury, Illinois is broke. But could the state climb out of its nearly $9 billion budget hole by declaring bankruptcy?
No, say tax and budget experts.
Federal law permits individuals, businesses and local governments to file for bankruptcy reorganization and sometimes debt forgiveness. States are not covered by the law. No U.S. state has ever declared bankruptcy.
“A state is not going to just shut down,” said Elizabeth McNichol, a state budget specialist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., think tank.
“As bad as things are, no state is going to have zero revenue coming in,” McNichol said. “It’s really just a matter of choices.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Support for the Stimulus Plan Falling?
by Mark Blumenthal
Is support for the economic stimulus legislation falling? Three polls provide data on point this week: Gallup says support is flat, while CBS News and Rasmussen Reports say support is declining.
[…]
What we do know is that pollsters are getting different results, something that often happens when many respondents lack strongly held views. We also know that most Americans are not closely following stimulus debate.** Less than a third tell CBS (28%) and Gallup (31%) that they are following news about the stimulus debate “very closely,” while almost a quarter (23% on CBS and 24% on Gallup) say they are following the issue “not too closely” or “not at all.”
We have some evidence of a modest decline in support for the stimulus, although given all the potential noise around slight changes in question wording, we probably need a few more polls to know for certain.
Update: Thanks to the reader who caught something I missed. Rasmussen also changed the wording of their stimulus question. In their first test in early January, the question identified only “Barack Obama” as the sponsor. Beginning with their 1/27-28 survey, that changed to “Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats” (emphasis added). I have corrected the table above to reflect the changed wording
That change is important: While “congressional Democrats” are earning slightly better ratings than their Republican counterparts, their numbers are nowhere near as positive as Obama’s. On the CBS survey, or example, Obama 62% approve of his performance as president, but only 48% rate the “congressional Democrats” favorably. Nancy Pelosi’s favorable rating, using the tougher CBS format (that encourages respondents to report when they are unfamiliar), has dropped to just 10% favorable, 30% unfavorable).
So we have yet more reason for skepticism about the apparent decline in support for the stimulus package.
**We have limited data on whether the most attentive Americans differ in their overall support. In a release earlier this week based on a different question, Gallup reported that those “most closely following news about the plan differ little from the overall national average in terms of their attitudes about the plan.” However, their table showed that the attentive Americans were more likely to want to reject the stimulus package altogether (27%) than those following it “somewhat closely” (11% reject) or not closely (15% reject). Similarly, without reporting any specific numbers, CBS News tells us that “those following very closely are more likely to oppose the bill than those following just somewhat closely.”
[go to link for charts and full analysis]
| [Return to headlines] |
Lard (and Love) is in the Air
[Comment from JD: Hazlitt book online: http://jim.com/econ/contents.html]
A good Republican (like Ron Paul) would know that government make-work schemes are what the brilliant economist Henry Hazlitt called an “optical illusion”:
[I]f we have trained ourselves to look beyond immediate to secondary consequences, and beyond those who are directly benefited by a government project to others who are indirectly affected, a different picture presents itself. It is true that a particular group of bridgeworkers may receive more employment than otherwise. But the bridge has to be paid for out of taxes. For every dollar that is spent on the bridge a dollar will be taken away from taxpayers. … Therefore, for every public job created by the bridge project a private job has been destroyed somewhere else.
Projects invented by government with the intention of “providing employment” have a hidden component, as Hazlitt lucidly and painstakingly explained:
We can see the men employed on the bridge. We can watch them at work. The employment argument of the government spenders becomes vivid, and probably for most people convincing. But there are other things that we do not see, because, alas, they have never been permitted to come into existence. They are the jobs destroyed by the [billions] taken from the taxpayers. All that has happened, at best, is that there has been a diversion of jobs because of the project. More bridge builders; fewer automobile workers, television technicians, clothing workers, farmers.
But why listen to Henry Hazlitt’s irrefutable logic, when the country’s conmen are counseling a lemming’s lunacy: follow Ãœber-Obama over the cli
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Big Porno Deputy
In its big January 2004 issue, a Playboy headline proclaimed, “We Won!” and drew their flag as displacing our Stars and Stripes over the U.S. Capitol. What did Playboy “win” in Washington, D.C.? In this “We Won” issue, publisher Hugh Hefner outlined how he operated “behind the scenes” to bring U.S. laws in line with Playboy morality. In fact, David Ogden, a Playboy legal hit man with allegiance to the bunny flag may soon be the United States deputy attorney general.
Who are President Obama’s closet handlers? Why did he tap the publicly venal Ogden to head his U.S. Justice Department transition team? Ogden must hire lawyers with fealty to the Big Porno conglomerate, symbolized by this image in which Playboy vaporized the American flag and all it stands for. Harvard lawyer President O would never expect justice for blacks from lawyers whose income derived from wealthy Klansmen — nor could he expect justice for women and children from lawyers whose income is derived from wealthy pornographers. No Ogden team lawyer has ever defended a single woman, man or child alleging victimization by Big Porno.
[…]
Burch charges Ogden with being “a hired gun from Playboy and the ACLU.” He points to Ogden as pushing the Kinsey-based pro-sodomy Lawrence vs. Texas, as working for “Playboy and Penthouse” and fronting videos like “Bubblegum Cuties,” “Sweet Young Things,” “Young Girls” and “Fresh and Young.”
Ogden “successfully defended the right of pornographers to produce material with underage children,” and sued the federal government to get a tax-funded Braille Playboy edition, says Burch.
Well, if Ogden’s Playboy has “won,” then its social contagions deserve the credit for winning pandemic adult and child trafficking/pornography, child sexual abuse and sexual addictions, with arrests (still at this time) of judges, university presidents, legislators, mental health professionals, male and female teachers, clergy, state attorneys general, Nobel prize winners, police, FBI agents and, now, children who molest children.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Opts for Retreat Over Leading
I’ve read some recent press reports wrongly suggesting that Obama somehow returned to the fanciful end of his campaign with his recent speech to Democrats. But Obama didn’t again become the visionary leader who was going to bring everyone together and get all things done.
He retreated back to the primaries where he was able to “feel the love” of those most ideologically aligned with him after getting his ears pinned back by both the press and Republicans because he experienced so many self-inflicted wounds coming out of the gate.
To be fair and more accurate, he did bounce back and forth erratically between Mr. Hope and Change versus I’m the guy who kicked your butt in the span of two days, so it’ll be interesting to see which Obama shows up on Monday night. Or maybe he’ll change again a couple of times in between.
Big picture without dropping down into the weeds on it because there’s a lot of brush, he made two major mistakes. First, Mr. bi-partisanship handed off the job of producing a stimulus package to the highly-partisan Pelosi and didn’t know what to make of it when she produced just what he should have expected.
Also, his vetting effort left him looking like the manager of an illegal lawn care service who sent a crew just plucked off a street corner to mow a lawn the size of a football field with old hand mowers that couldn’t quite cut it.
This isn’t some fired up, strong leader we’re seeing in the, for today at least, highly-partisan Obama. It’s someone just realizing how far in over his head he is looking for the best friends he can find.
Hopefully he’ll grow, and perhaps even grow up a little in office and do it quickly. Otherwise, the Republicans, the media, and eventually the public is going to have a beautiful lawn ornament for a president we can look at and admire and think, “Now if it could only cut grass.”
| [Return to headlines] |
Peter Schiff: Stimulus Bill Will Lead to “Unmitigated Disaster”
The fiscal stimulus bill being debated in Congress not only won’t help the economy, it will make the recession much worse, says Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital.
Schiff scoffs at the notion the economic decline is starting to level off and concedes no government action means a “terrible” recession. But the path of increased government intervention will lead to “unmitigated disaster,” says Schiff, who gained notoriety in 2007-08 for his prescient calls on the housing bubble and U.S. stocks.
The problem, he says, is the government is trying to perpetuate a “phony economy” based on borrowing and spending. With the U.S. consumer tapped out, the government is “now taking on the mantle” of consumer of last resort, he continues, predicting the bond bubble will soon burst — if it hasn’t already — ultimately leading to a collapse of the dollar and an “inflationary depression worse than anything any of us have ever seen.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Solis Failure to Disclose Lobbying Demands Full-Scale Criminal Investigation
The Obama Administration suffered yet another blow yesterday with more Cabinet nominee tax troubles. This time it comes from Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis, whose husband just paid $6,400 in tax liens against his business. They had been outstanding for 16 years. They were only paid two days ago. And that’s just the beginning of her very serious problems.
Much like Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle, who both paid their taxes only when considered for the posts of Treasury Secretary and Health and Human Services Secretary, respectively, Ms. Solis’ husband’s troubles greatly endanger her nomination and weaken the appearance of propriety within the Administration.
According to the statement issued by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, “Today’s executive session [considering Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis] was postponed to allow members additional time to review the documentation submitted in support of Representative Solis’s nomination to serve in the important position of Labor Secretary.” That’s one way of putting it.
Another way would be that in light of this embarrassment, the committee ought to have delayed proceedings so that Ms. Solis has an opportunity to gracefully exit the scene and not further weaken her prospective boss. Although the Obama Administration is publicly standing behind Ms. Solis, it is unclear how much media and political scrutiny of her husband’s business she will endure before stepping aside. And then there is the even more serious question of where she should go when she does step aside.
Instead, the committee has reopened the door to her nomination. Which is too bad, really. But they should pause to consider her very recent misdealings, and not send her to floor for a vote.
In addition to being a party to tax evasion, Ms. Solis also has been accused of violating House Ethics Rules. If true it would rightly disqualify her from serving. According to the Weekly Standard’s Hans A. von Spakovsky, Solis was “involved with a private organization that was lobbying her fellow legislators on a bill that she has cosponsored, [and] she apparently kept her involvement secret and failed to reveal a clear conflict of interest.” At issue was her serving as a board member, specifically, Treasurer, for the American Rights at Work organization.
The gravity of Ms. Solis’ failure to disclose this involvement to the House as required by law cannot be overstated. By doing so, she initially filed a false financial disclosure form. And if she did so deliberately, she actually committed a federal crime, punishable by law. Her later amendment to the Clerk of the House of Representatives actually all the more suspicious because it came after her nomination by President Obama to Labor Secretary.
It should be noted that former Congressman George Hansen (R-ID) was sent to jail for a similar violation. And Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) will soon suffer the same fate. If found guilty, Ms. Solis should face the same “equal justice under law.”
Ultimately, the botched nomination process by President Barack Obama very much weakens his White House. Now, his plans to raise taxes will be that much more magnified. The stench of Washington’s waste of tax dollars will come under all the greater scrutiny. His claims to keep lobbyists out of positions of power are now laughable. And it all comes at a time when his mandate to govern is threatened with evaporation should his trillion dollar spending bill-otherwise known as the “stimulus”-fails as the economy continues to weaken.
Ms. Solis ought to do the honorable thing and withdraw her nomination. And she should then face a full-fledged inquiry into possible criminality for failure to disclose her lobbying as required by federal law.
For his part, the President needs to begin seriously vetting his Cabinet nominees before asking Americans to continuing taking him at his word and hoping for the best.
| [Return to headlines] |
The Beginning of… the Second American War of Independence 2009 — 20??
…The original American Revolution might have been helped along by ‘The Madness Of King George’… but the second conflagration has definitely been fanned by the lunacy of the Texas Dauphin and Saint Barry O’Bomber.
Fighting talk from New Hampshire… reminding Obama and Congress of some forgotten basics…
[…]
I said:
It will be interesting to see if these Bills are actually passed… and there’s always the possibility of this situation spreading to other states.
Well… it has spread. It seems that the list now includes Oklahoma, Michigan, Montana, Missouri and Washington State.
Oklahoma State Sovereignty bill HJR 1029
Montana House Bill No. 246
Michigan House Resolution HCR 0004
Washington 10th amendment HJM 4009
Missouri House Resolution 212 states:
Whereas, Barack Obama, President of the United States, has promised that one of the top priorities of his new Administration is to sign into law the “Freedom of Choice Act” which purports to classify abortion as a “fundamental right” equal in stature to the right of free speech and the right to vote — rights that, unlike abortion, are specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution;
and…
the federal Freedom of Choice Act would invalidate any “statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action” of any federal, state, or local government or governmental official, or any person acting under governmental authority, that would “deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose” abortion, or that would “discriminate against the exercise of the right…in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information”;
and…
Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act would nullify any federal or state law “enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of [its] enactment” and would effectively prevent the State of Missouri from enacting similar protective measures in the future…
“the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-fifth General Assembly, hereby declare our sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.”…
[continue at blog link]
| [Return to headlines] |
United States of Argentina
[Comment from JD: A good article — comparisons of US with Argentina are sobering.]
Anyone not alarmed by the state of the U.S. economy is not paying attention. As our Dear Leader begins his term, the theory of very big government has the support of an alarmingly broad political consensus. Despite the obvious dangers—devastating inflation and the ruin of the dollar—the United States seems pledged to a debt-funded spending spree of gargantuan proportions.
In opposing this trend, critics face the problem that the perils to which they point sound very theoretical and abstract. Perhaps Zimbabwe prints its currency in multi-trillion units, but that’s a singularly backward African dictatorship: the situation has nothing to do with us. Yet an example closer to home might be more instructive. Unlike Zimbabwe, this story involves a flourishing Western country with a large middle class that nevertheless managed to spend its way into banana-republic status by means very similar to those now being proposed in Washington.
The country in question is Argentina, and even mentioning the name might initially make any comparison seem tenuous. The United States is a superpower with a huge economy. Argentina is a political and economic joke, a global weakling legendary for endemic economic crises. Between them and us, surely, a great gulf is fixed. Yet Argentina did not always have its present meager status, nor did its poverty result from some inherent Latin American affinity for crisis and corruption. A century ago, Argentina was one of the world’s emerging powers, seemingly destined to outpace all but the greatest imperial states. Today it is … Argentina. A national decline on that scale did not just happen: it was the result of decades of struggle and systematic endeavor, led by the nation’s elite. As the nation’s greatest writer, Jorge Luis Borges, once remarked, only generations of statesmanship could have prevented Argentina from becoming a world power.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canada: Leading Islamic Reformer [Tariq Ramadan] to Speak at SFU Feb. 23
Swiss Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan, renowned for his questioning of Islam’s mainstream beliefs, will outline his vision of a reformed faith Feb. 23 during a lecture at SFU’s Vancouver campus entitled The Scope and Limits of Reforming Islam.
Ramadan, who teaches Islamic studies at Oxford, is a leading advocate for a revitalized Islam in the West. His recent book, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, proposes an approach that integrates both spiritual and ethical objectives for contemporary Muslims, enabling them to more fully participate in the civic life of secular western countries.
The main roadblock, he argues, is the traditional methodology Islamic jurists use to interpret scripture, which often renders their rulings incompatible with modern, democratic societies. It’s not Islam but “the Muslim mind” that needs “radical reform in the way we are dealing with scriptural sources,” he told The Canadian Press last December.
Ramadan says what’s needed is a more democratic process in which Muslim experts from all professions collaborate with jurists to find innovative solutions to contemporary challenges ranging from abortion and HIV/AIDS to globalization and climate change.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Canada: Work Permit for Criminal
MONTREAL — CANADA has granted a work permit to a Chinese fugitive charged with smuggling because he cannot be deported to a country suspected of torturing prisoners, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told lawmakers Thursday. Kenney said Lai Changxing ‘got a work permit from officials out of our Vancouver office,’ in accordance with court rulings that, in some circumstances, allow foreigners blocked from deportation to be granted a work permit.
Normally, foreign wanted criminals are not granted refugee status by Canada and are deported to the country seeking to prosecute them. China’s use of the death penalty and reputed abuse of prisoners, however, has made Canadian courts reject Lai’s deportation.
Lai and his family fled to Canada in 1999 after China accused him of masterminding a six-billion-dollar smuggling ring.
Canadian officials refused Lai and his ex-wife Tsang Ming Na refugee status on grounds they were mere ‘common criminals,’ but attempts to extradite them and their three children have been repeatedly blocked by Canadian courts citing concerns about China’s treatment of prisoners.
The case has long been a diplomatic thorn between Canada and China, as well as an international cause celebre in human rights circles.
China gave Canada a rare diplomatic assurance it would not execute Lai if he was found guilty, but a Canadian judge ruled in 2007 that risk assessments in the case failed to address the possibility that Lai might be tortured in China. — AFP
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Professor Makes His Mark, But it Costs Him His Job
OTTAWA — On the first day of his fourth-year physics class, University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt announced to his students that he had already decided their marks: Everybody was getting an A+.
It was not his job, as he explained later, to rank their skills for future employers, or train them to be “information transfer machines,” regurgitating facts on demand. Released from the pressure to ace the test, they would become “scientists, not automatons,” he reasoned.
But by abandoning traditional marks, Prof. Rancourt apparently sealed his own failing grade: In December, the senior physicist was suspended from teaching, locked out of his laboratory and told that the university administration was recommending his dismissal and banning him from campus.
Firing a tenured professor is rare in itself, but two weeks ago the university took an even more extreme step: When Prof. Rancourt went on campus to host a regular meeting of his documentary film society, he was led away in handcuffs by police and charged with trespassing.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Not Enough Housing for Asylum Seekers
Capacity has been under severe pressure at asylum centres as the number of asylum applications increases
The Danish Red Cross has been forced to reopen asylum centres to cope with the increasing number of asylum applicants.
Ebeltoft and Grenå asylum centres in Eastern Jutland are being reopened at the request of the Immigration Service, reports avisen.dk. The two centres were closed in 2005 and 2007 respectively, due to the reduction in asylum applications. When they are reopened, they will have the capacity to take up to 220 asylum seekers.
Jørgen Chemnitz, head of the Red Cross asylum division, said the move was needed as he expected last year’s trend of increasing asylum applications to continue into this year.
‘We agree with the Immigration Service that the capacity must be increased. We expect that the increase [in asylum applications] from the latter half of 2008 will continue into 2009,’ said Jørgen Chemnitz, head of the Red Cross asylum division.
The Red Cross is responsible for the welfare of asylum seekers in Denmark on behalf of the Immigration Ministry. In addition to the reopened centres, a centre for unaccompanied minors will be opened and the capacity at the centre in Jelling will be increased.
Chemnitz said the extra overall capacity was badly needed, ‘not least in Sandholm, where we have been forced to house our newcomers rather close together. It’s been very unsatisfactory when we’ve not been able to provide a dignified welcome.’
The latest Immigration Ministry figures from October 2008 show that 1,673 asylum seekers were residing in Danish asylum centres. The number of those applying for asylum jumped from 134 in July 2008 to 241 in October 2008.
The majority of asylum seekers last year came from Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia and Iran, while unaccompanied minors seeking asylum mainly hailed from Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Al Capone Operation Against Gangs
There’s something odd when 950 gang members with no obvious income drive around in big cars, dress in expensive clothes and visit exclusive restaurants.
Denmark’s Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen (Cons.) has told the police to intensify efforts against 950 gang members and to evaluate each member’s consumption using the so-called Al Capone method.
The Al Capone method is named after the American gangster of the 1930s. While police were apparently unable to jail him for his illegal activities, they eventually managed to put him in prison on tax evasion charges.
More members This is the third time that gang members’ private finances are to go under a magnifying glass, but the job is somewhat more extensive as the current conflict between bikers and immigrant gangs has increased membership considerably.
The Hells Angels support group AK81, for example, has doubled to 200 in just a few months, while police say that there are some 350 members of immigrant gangs, split into Level 1 and Level 2 members.
Millions “This is a major job and a difficult environment to work in. One wants to make it difficult for them to be criminals because we hunt out the things that they buy with their illegal funds,” says Deputy Chief Superintendant Jørgen Isalin of the National Investigation Centre.
Police have previously carried out two Al Capone operations. The first targeted the Hells Angels and Bandidos biker groups and provided 30 million kroner to state coffers. The other operation, which targeted 561 individuals, also provided a major boost to the taxman.
Coordination Over the past year, the National Police and the Tax Authority (SKAT) have investigated the Level 1 immigrant gang members — these are leading members of the gangs. Consumption analysis has been carried out on each of them.
At a meeting on February 16, the National Police and the Tax Authority are to decide how to move the operation forward.
Later this month, Tax Minister Kristian Jensen (Lib.) and Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen (Cons.) are to meet to coordinate operations.
According to Jyllands-Posten, Mikkelsen has forced the police to intensify its operations.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Police Reject Headscarves
Danish police officers are not allowed to wear headscarves on duty.
[Comment from Tuan Jim: Compare this to the Norwegian dhimmitude in yesterday’s news feed.]
Headscarves and other religious head coverings are not permitted in the Danish police force according to Police Personnel Commissioner Lene Frank.
Frank’s comments come in the wake of a decision by Norway’s police to allow a female cadet to wear the hijab or headscarf.
“Under the current rules for police uniforms, it is not possible to wear a headscarf, for example, when in uniform,” says Frank in a written response.
Theoretical The issue has not previously been raised in Denmark in practice, and the National Police has not previously wanted to decide on the issue.
“If the issue arises, then we will have to look at it more carefully, including the practical and safety aspects of using a headscarf on duty,” Frank says.
The Police Association supports its central authority.
“We sometimes have to use force, and it is therefore extremely important that we signal independence and neutrality,” says Association Chairman Peter Ibsen.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Police Rule Out Headscarves
The National Police is the latest organisation to face the question of whether there is room for personal convictions in public institutions
The National Police will not follow the example of Norway, which announced on Thursday that it would allow women officers to wear Muslim headscarves.
‘As the uniform regulations are right now, it is not permitted to wear headscarves in uniform,’ said chief constable Lene Frank in a press release.
She added, however, that no officers had challenged the rule, and said that requests to wear a hijab, a scarf worn over the head and neck and covers all but the face, would be addressed on a case by case basis.
The National Police now joins a growing list of national institutions facing the question of whether to allow Muslim women to wear headscarves. After heated debate, parliament last year permitted members to wear a hijab, but not a full-body burkha when addressing the assembly. The courts are currently considering whether it would allow a judge to wear a headscarf should the issue arise.
The decision by the police force makes Denmark the only remaining Scandinavian country without a policy allowing officers to wear a hijab.
Norway’s move follows a decision by the Swedish police in 2006 that allows its officers to wear religious headgear such as hijabs, turbans and Jewish skull caps.
In Norway the move was made as a way to open the force up to Muslim women. Denmark is engaged in a similar effort, but representatives for police officers say maintaining an image of impartiality comes before cultural considerations.
‘Since we are occasionally required to use force when dealing with citizens, it is important that we don’t come off as being partial or biased,’ said Peter Ibsen, president of the Police Union.
He added that the union believed no form of religious apparel should be worn with the uniform.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Left Wing Gears Up for Local Elections With National Strategy
Cheaper public transport and smaller class sizes are two of the campaign pledges in the Socialist People’s Party’s bid to conquer the country’s local elections
Villy Søvndal, leader of The Socialist People’s Party (SF), is convinced his party’s success in the last national election will seep over into the local elections, which are to be held this coming November.
SF made historic gains in the 2007 national election, securing 13 percent of the vote and nabbing 23 parliamentary seats. But in the last two local elections, SF has only managed 7.5 percent of the vote nationwide.
Søvndal is now pushing for a concentrated effort to win the majority of votes in the municipalities. SF currently has no members sitting in lord mayor posts, which is a situation Søvndal said the party was ready to put 1.2 million kroner into in order to change.
‘These elections are going to be about social welfare and the voters know who the best party is on that issue,’ a confident Søvndal told Politiken newspaper.
Søvndal said the issues that mattered most to him for the November elections were the soaring costs of public transport, floundering elderly care and crowded schoolrooms. He also indirectly criticised the Liberal-Conservative government for putting too much power in its own hands.
‘The independence of the municipalities is being seriously challenged. There has never been so tight a hold on local government as there is now,’ he said.
Søvndal said he didn’t think his party was likely to get a majority in Copenhagen, where the Social Democrats have always been in control. Unlike on the national level where SF and the Social Democrats have a fairly solid alliance, the relationship between the two parties has been strained at City Hall — especially after Ritt Bjerregaard, the Social Democratic Mayor, made a budget agreement with the opposition Liberal and Conservative parties.
Local elections will be held on 17 November. Anyone who has lived in Denmark for over three years and has not been convicted of a crime may vote in the elections, provided they are a legal resident and have a national registration number.
[Comment from Tuan Jim: Maybe someone can explain to me why it’s so popular in Europe to allow non-citizens the vote in elections — local or otherwise?]
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Justice Minister Allows Sale of Super-Strong ‘Ice Hash’
THE HAGUE, 06/02/09 — The notorious Dutch drugs cafes (‘coffee shops’) have been selling an extremely strong variant of hashish for about five years. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin will however continue to permit the sale of this super-drug.
The Christian democrats (CDA), Labour (PvdA) and the conservatives (VVD) had requested an explanation from the minister following an article in Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool on 16 December on the alleged sale of Ice Hash, as it is known. To produce it, cannabis plants undergo a chemical process which can boost the percentage of THC — this ingredient makes users ‘stoned’ — to over 50, 60 or 70 percent.
Cannabis grown in natural circumstances generally has a THC percentage of between 1 and 4. Cannabis in Dutch coffee-shops on average contains 15 to 20 percent. Ice Hash or Ice-o-later is thus another three to four times stronger.
Hirsch Ballin confirms in a letter to parliament that Ice-o-lator hash is sold in the government-tolerated coffee shops. “This type of cannabis has been on the market for around 5 years.” He added that less than 5 percent of the ‘coffee shops’ sell these drugs “with a very high THC content.”
The minister adds that “very few users are interested in this very strong and expensive hashish.” Although “in general, the higher the THC content, the greater the chances of acute negative reactions,” the minister has “no indications” that ice hash “would be more or less damaging in the long term than other types of cannabis.”
Hirsch Ballin will continue to tolerate the super-drugs. “Sellers in coffee-shops inform their clients about the strength of the product. No health incidents are known to us as a result of its use” and there is therefore “no reason to take action against its sale.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Male Pastor Fined for Refusing to Work With Female Colleague
The Kouvola Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court’s decision that pastor Ari Norro pay 320 euros in fines for refusing to work with a female colleague. The case is a precedent in that it is the first time the courts were forced to rule on religious freedom and equality in the modern Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church.
In the spring of 2007 Norro refused to work with a female pastor just before a church service in Hyvinkää.
During the incident in question minister Ari Norro, a guest preacher in Hyvinkää, told his local colleague, pastor Petra Pohjanraito, that she would have to let him perform the church service alone. Norro then asked Pohjanraito to leave his side just minutes before the scheduled service was set to begin.
Norro has maintained that it is impossible for him to perform his duties alongside a woman and has demanded that charges against him be dropped.
Lower court also cast blame on vicar
Last year the Hyvinkää District Court ordered that Norro pay 320 euros in fines as punishment for his discriminatory behaviour. At the time the court also found the residing vicar guilty of work discrimination since he did not make an effort to stop Norro’s bullying. The District Court ruled that Pohjanraito had been inappropriately dismissed from doing her job.
In 2006 the episcopal conference concluded that male ministers do not have the right to refuse working with female colleagues.
Around one-third of pastors in the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church are women.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
France: University Reform, Students Clash With Police
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, FEBRUARY 5 — There were clashes today between demonstrators and police in Strasbourg on the fourth day of action against the controversial reform of the teachers’ and researchers’ statute. Shoes and eggs were thrown at the University windows, and police had to hold back a group of students from the building’s entrance. Around two thousand teachers, researchers and students joined the demonstration in Strasbourg during a visit by the Minister for Higher Education, Valerie Pecresse, who this morning opened the largest university in France, born of a merging of three institutions. During the ceremony the minister was heckled by teachers and researchers who presented a petition with more than two thousand signatures against the reform. Another ten thousand people demonstrated at the same time in Paris and Bordeaux, along with six thousand in Toulouse and five thousand in Marseille, plus several hundreds in other French cities. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Doctors May Report Illegals
Green light for security package. Medical association objects. CGIL calls for doctors to refuse
ROME — Doctors who report illegal immigrants, ordinary citizens in vigilante patrols, immigrants charged 80 to 200 euros for a residence permit and homeless on file within three months: the Northern League is back in the chair as all the articles in the security bill obtained approval. There was a green light for even the most controversial regulations, such as the one that lifts the ban stopping doctors from reporting illegal immigrants. Interior minister, Roberto Maroni, said that Wednesday evening’s vote, when the government was defeated three times, “was a mistake, but the majority is solid”.
Members of the House of Freedom (PDL) played down the defeat of article 39, explaining that the measure will return to the Lower House and the amendment that extends detention in reception centres to 18 months from the current two will be resubmitted. They are, however, aware that the president’s Quirinale palace is following the parliamentary debate closely precisely because of controversy provoked by the new regulations, especially the one regarding doctors.
Junior interior minister Alfredo Mantovano was reassuring, pointing out that doctors will have to report “serious issues of personal or social interest, such as diseases that are dangerous for the patient or pose a risk of epidemic”, but this was insufficient to dispel doubts. The medical association and the national institute for migrant health stress “the very real danger of the spread of infectious diseases often carried by illegal immigrants”. The leader of the Democratic Party (PD), Walter Veltroni, called the regulations “racist” and the CGIL trade union confederation “invites disobedience”.
There was a vigorous response from the opposition to the creation of a register for the homeless, which requires that anyone without a fixed address should be on file within three months of the law’s approval. But it was vigilante patrols that raised most concern. According to this measure, “local authorities will be authorised to use the services of citizens’ associations to indicate to local police officers any events that could jeopardise urban security, or situations of environmental concern”. It was only an amendment proposed by Felice Casson (PD) that prevented such citizens from bearing arms and “co-operating in the performance of territorial policing activities”, as the draft approved in committee envisaged.
The Northern League also managed to eliminate prison sentences for graffiti artists while the Christian Democrat UDC obtained approval of an article “to repress cases of the condoning or inciting via internet of Mafia-style, criminal, subversive and terrorist associations, sexual violence, discrimination and ethnic, national, racial or religious hatred”, proposed after messages applauding Totò Riina and rapists appeared on Facebook.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cabinet OKs Eluana Emergency Decree
Napolitano may refuse to approve right-to-die stop
(ANSA) — Rome, February 6 — The cabinet on Friday unanimously approved an emergency decree to stop doctors carrying out a landmark right-to-die court ruling that is fiercely opposed by the Catholic Church.
The decree, which forbids people from refusing artificial feeding, is aimed at preventing doctors from complying with the November ruling that approves the removal of the feeding tube from Eluana Englaro, a woman trapped in a vegetative state for 17 years.
Ministers approved the measure despite open opposition from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who must approve the decree before it becomes effective.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi said if the cabinet had not gone ahead with the decree he would have ‘‘personally’’ felt that he had broken the law by failing to assist Eluana.
‘‘We can’t allow responsibility for Eluana’s death to fall on us,’’ he said.
Earlier on Friday Napolitano wrote to Berlusconi saying that an emergency decree could not be issued when it clashed with a court ruling.
He cited five precedents in which Italian presidents refused to approve decrees in such cases.
He also urged parliament to ‘‘quickly’’ frame legislation on living wills to prevent a recurrence of the Englaro case.
Stefano Ceccanti of the Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, described the cabinet’s decision to approve the decree despite Napolitano’s letter as ‘‘a very serious institutional snub’’.
‘‘I didn’t think they’d do it,’’ he said.
Politicians from the Radical and Communist Refoundation parties accused the government of running a ‘‘Taliban state’’ and claimed that Italy was becoming ‘‘a province of the Vatican City’’.
Opposition Italy of Values leader Antonio Di Pietro described the decree as ‘‘an extremely serious danger for democracy’’.
‘‘Establishing that a court ruling can be cancelled by government decree means that in the future it will be possible to cancel a sentence against a politician simply because the government at the time doesn’t like it,’’ he said.
Some observers said even if Napolitano refuses to sign the decree, the cabinet’s move will have gone some way to pacifying the Church, which has repeatedly said that the removal of Eluana’s feeding tube would be murder.
On Friday the Vatican denied that Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone telephoned Premier Silvio Berlusconi about the decree, which was drafted Thursday. Doctors have begun reducing the amount of food and water that Eluana receives at an Udine clinic which has offered its services to help her end her life. Unless the decree is passed, her feeding tube will be removed in three days, after which she will take about two weeks to die. Eluana’s father, Beppino Enaglaro, has been fighting for over a decade for a dignified end to his daughter’s life, in accordance with what he says were her wishes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Demonstrators Convicted for Anti-Semitic Slogans
Two participants in a pro-Palestinian demonstration have been convicted for shouting anti-Semitic slogans during a demonstration in Utrecht on 15 January. One of the two was sentenced to a 400-euro fine; the other was given 30 hours of community service. He also received a suspended jail sentence of three weeks because he has already been arrested several times for insulting people, including police officers.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Reforms Proposed for Sweden’s Immigrant Language Classes
Sweden’s subsidized language courses for immigrants have been given a failing grade by a state quality control agency, despite recent attempts to improve the programme’s curriculum.
“The introduction of a new curriculum for Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) hasn’t brought about an improvement in results,” said the Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) in a statement.
According to the agency’s findings, presented to the government on Thursday, more than one in three SFI students fail to complete the programme within three years of starting their studies.
And among those that do get through the entire curriculum, only half manage a passing grade in the programme’s highest level within three years.
The agency carried out the analysis following a government request in February 2008 in which it asked the agency to examine what sort of reforms would help improve SFI.
In carrying out the study, the agency compared results from students enrolled in SFI before and after the implementation of a new curriculum in 2003 and found that the changes had no noticeable effect.
The agency calls the findings “unsatisfactory” saying there is “great room for improvement” at SFI and outlining a number of suggested changes.
First on the list of proposed changes is giving more consideration to students’ educational background when assigning them to a specific class. The agency found many instances where students with both high and low levels of education were placed in the same classroom, which hindered the progress of both groups.
In addition, the agency suggests expanding opportunities for SFI courses to be geared toward specific careers. By having an expanded, industry-specific vocabulary, SFI graduates would then be better equipped to enter the workforce.
The report also proposes that SFI implement a wider range of flexible lecture schedules, including distance learning opportunities, to increase the likelihood that students continue with their studies even if they find employment.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: No Sexual Discrimination for Aristocratic Titles
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 4 — In light of a ruling by the Spanish Constitutional Court, which states that men and women have “equal rights to succeed to Spanish noble and aristocratic titles”, nobles are now required to equally recognise titles passed to men and women. The court unanimously rejected an appeal and the transitory application of a law proposed by the socialist government in 2005 and passed in 2006. Spanish daily El Pais reports today that one of the appeals involved the succession of the title of ‘Viscount of Torre Mayor’. In July of 2006, Maria de Los Angeles Barrionuevo took legal action against her younger brother, the Viscount of Torre Mayor, protesting “his preferential treatment and favoured genealogical right” to receive the title. A temporary law forbade equality in succession to all title disputes including those still pending administrative or jurisdictional resolution on 27 July 2005, making an exception for disputes already resolved by a definitive sentence when the law became effective. Maria de Los Angeles Barrionuevo’s appeal was rejected by the court. The aspiring viscountess then submitted another appeal to the Audiencia Nacional, the Superior Court of Madrid, which froze the decision raising unconstitutionality issues. The constitutional court ruled that the legislative branch, in considering “legal safety” and “equality” values, gave disproportionate weight to equality, and prescribed sexually discriminatory law. As for the retroactive nature of the law, the court explained that a law is retroactive when it involves “exhaustive situations” and pending trials from definitive sentences do not apply. Now, after the Constitutional Court’s sentence, the title of Viscount of Torre Mayor “with all of its honours, pre-eminence, and privileges” will be withdrawn to pass it to its legitimate holder, Maria. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Socialists Block Secular Laws by Voting Against
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 4 — The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has voted against and blocked a series of secular laws facilitating apostasy and the revision of agreements between the state and the Holy See, presented yesterday in the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies by the groups on the extreme left ERC, Izquierda Unida and Iniciativa per Catalunya. The Socialist vote against the laws, reported the media today, has come at the same time as the visit by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who today will be meeting in Madrid with Premier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Deputy Premier Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Foreign Minister Migue Angel Moratinos, King Juan Carlos and the People’s Party speaker and opposition leader Mariano Roy. Two of the legislative initiatives aim to facilitate apostasy, one to revise existing agreements with the Vatican and a fourth to create a parliamentary commission to study a legislative initiative for living wills and euthanasia. Socialists have rejected all of the initiatives with their ‘no’ vote, along with the People’s Party and other groups in the Congress. Also the conclusions of the parliamentary commission on the modification and the widening of the law on abortion, initially scheduled for today, have been postponed until next week. In his first meeting with the Cardinal Bertone, according to governmental sources quoted by El Pais, Zapatero would like to clear the field of “prejudices and misunderstandings which have complicated relations with the Vatican”. For quite some time the government has been working on a relaxing of relations with the Church, after clashes sparked over laws on homosexual marriages, rapid divorces and the subject of education for citizenship. This healing of the rift in relations had been delegated by the premier in the last legislature to Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Private Citizens and Firms in Bankruptcy Triple
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — The economic crisis is bringing more and more families and enterprises to the brink of bankruptcy in Spain. The number of insolvent families quadrupled in 2008, while the number of companies which started bankruptcy proceedings and suspended payments tripled from 2007, according to figures issued today by the National Statistics Institute. In total 2,902 enterprises and persons filed for bankruptcy, 38.6% of which were in the construction and property sector. The number of citizens that declared insolvency increased by 289.6% from the previous year and companies and self-employed workers filing for bankruptcy increased by 187.3%. If we include industry and services with the construction and property sector, the total makes up 67.2% of companies which declared suspension of payment or bankruptcy for the concurrence of creditors. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Malmö Police Chief ‘Knew of Racist Remarks’
Malmö police chief Ulf Sempert has reported himself following admissions that he has previous knowledge about racist comments made on board a police bus but chose not to react.
The racial slurs uttered by three police officers on duty during disturbances in the city’s Rosengård district in December have sparked a storm of protest from the public, police leadership, and politicians.
On Thursday, Sempert himself issued several statements apologizing for the officers’ behaviour, adding that they had been reassigned.
But now Sempert has filed a complaint against himself after it was revealed that he knew about the comments before they began circulating in the media late Wednesday night, the Sydsvenskan newspaper reports.
The tape contains a conversation between police on the night of the December disturbances.
“You little ape son of a bitch. Should I make him sterile when I catch him?” said one police officer on the tape.
“Yeah, he’s going to get beat so well that he won’t be able to stand on his own legs,” answered a colleague.
Neither the police who filmed the racist comments nor who managed the investigation of the Rosengård disturbances reacted to what was said on the tape, but Sempert’s closest advisor was informed of the inappropriate statements by prosecutors when the film was submitted as evidence.
However, neither Sempert’s advisor nor the chief prosecutor knew exactly what was said at the time.
According to Sydsvenskan, Sempert learned of the inappropriate and racist comments, in part from his advisor, and in part from the chief prosecutor.
When the newspaper confronted Sempert about his prior knowledge of the racist remarks, he claimed the reason he didn’t react was that he must have seen the matter as “one of many issues” and thought that it had landed the county police commissioners desk.
“It sounds just like a poor excuse and that makes it even worse,” he told the newspaper.
“It’s better that they be allowed to investigate it,” he added, referring to department’s internal affairs investigators.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
The Fractured French Right: the Front National Disintegrates
The Front National of Jean-Marie Le Pen is rapidly disintegrating. Within the space of a few weeks there have been numerous defections among those who held important posts both within the national party and in certain regional branches. It does not bode well for the future of the party, nor does it promise any real hope for Marine Le Pen. She is Jean-Marie’s daughter and he wants her to be his successor.
Riposte Laïque has an interesting article on this week’s “spectacular” break, as they call it, between Marxist philosopher and social critic Alain Soral, and Marine Le Pen who had supported his controversial entry into the Front National two years ago.
On Feb. 2, Soral announced at his blog that he will be leaving the Front National, two years after joining it. His words betray a huge disappointment with regard to Marine Le Pen. Alain Soral is a former member of the Communist Party. He is also close to the anti-Semitic “comedian” Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala. On an international level, he believes that the world is riddled with Zionist influences, an obsession with him, and so he does not hesitate to show indulgence for Hezbollah and Hamas…
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
UK: NHS Staff Face the Sack if They Discuss Religion With Patients
All NHS staff who discuss their religion with patients face losing their jobs, it was revealed today.
A Department of Health document warns talking about religion with patients could be considered harassment or intimidation.
The paper, published last month, does not state exactly what is acceptable but it says action taken for misconduct could lead to dismissal.
It emerged after the Christian nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient was asked to return to work.
Her NHS bosses were forced into a humiliating climbdown last night after the case provoked a national outcry.
Caroline Petrie gave their offer a cautious welcome — but insisted she should not be forced to choose between her profession and her faith.
Mrs Petrie was accused of failing to show a commitment to ‘equality and diversity’ after the incident and faced a disciplinary hearing.
But her supporters claimed she was a victim of religious discrimination. The Daily Mail led the way in highlighting her plight.
[…]
Mrs Petrie, a mother of two from Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, added that she knew nothing of the offer to return to work until the Mail contacted her. Mail cutting
‘They have not told me anything directly yet,’ she said.
‘I’m not too sure I would go back to work until I know what the implications of that would be.
‘I would want to know what the terms were before I made a decision.
‘On the issue of praying for my patients I’d want to continue and if they won’t allow me that I don’t think I would return.
‘It’s very difficult for me not to ask patients if they want me to pray for them when I feel that prayer works for the sick. It’s a matter of conscience to me. I should not have to choose between being a Christian or being a nurse.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Outrage as BBC Presenter Jeremy Clarkson Brands the Prime Minister a ‘One-Eyed Scottish Idiot’
Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson is under fire after branding Gordon Brown a ‘one-eyed Scottish idiot’.
The BBC presenter, who is in Australia to host a live version of the motoring show, also accused the Prime Minster of lying.
[…]
The presenter, 48, was comparing Australian premier Kevin Rudd and Mr Brown after Mr Rudd had given a speech about the financial crisis.
He said: ‘It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a world leader (Rudd) admit we really are in deep s***. He genuinely looked terrified. The poor man, he’s actually seen the books.’
‘[In the UK] we’ve got this one-eyed Scottish idiot, he keeps telling us everything’s fine and he’s saved the world — and we know he’s lying, but he’s smooth at telling us.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Royal Mail Delivers More Bad News as 16,000 Workers Learn They Will Lose Their Jobs
Up to 16,000 jobs are to be scrapped at Royal Mail, it emerged last night.
Royal Mail chiefs have written to thousands of staff offering voluntary redundancies, or reducing their hours to part-time and plan to relocate workers to larger sorting offices.
Royal Mail employs around 160,000 workers and post bosses have planned the cost-cutting drive to cut 10 per cent of its workforce in an attempt to streamline and improve efficiency.
It’s estimated the proposal will reduce the wage bill by £470million a year.
But the decision threatens the future of Saturday deliveries and last night unions warned that mass redundancies would lead to a reduction in service and this could mean a rise in postage costs.
[…]
Communication Workers Union spokesman Sian Jones said she was aware of the plans to shed jobs and said any redundancies would affect deliveries.
She said: ‘We’re angry about talk of job losses on the back of Royal Mail recording exceptional profits last year.
‘Royal Mail needs to invest in their workforce. We’ve already had Sunday collections cut and the scrapping of second delivery.
‘This move could lead to a further reduction in services.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Boy With 11 Tumours Who Was Sent Home to Die…
…And survives after grandparents’ alternative therapy treatments
After he developed an aggressive form of childhood cancer in 2006, Connah Broom’s body came under relentless attack from the disease.
Eleven tumours spread from his neck to his knees and his case appeared hopeless.
In 2007, doctors told his family there was nothing more they could do. They said they should take him home to enjoy his final months.
But Connah’s family refused to give up hope. His grandparents began treating him with alternative therapies and, remarkably, he survived.
Latest scans on Connah, now aged seven, show that ten of his 11 tumours are shrinking, have no blood flow and may be dead.
The family are preparing for new scans which they hope will reveal the last tumour is also in retreat.
His grandparents are convinced their treatments, including a strict organic diet and a daily sauna, are helping him beat his disease.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Town Hall Threatens Father With £2,500 Fine for Flying Flag to Welcome Soldier Sons Home
A proud father was threatened with a £2,500 fine when he flew the England flag to welcome his sons home from guarding the Queen. Robert Smithson put up the flag in the front garden of his cottage when twin sons Richard and Robert came home on leave from Buckingham Palace for the first time. A pernickety council official warned he faced a huge fine — because the flag pole was at the wrong angle.
But now the council has been forced to admit it does not know its own planning regulations and the official was at fault. The 40-year-old gas engineer of Millfield, Sunderland, said he received a letter from Sunderland City Council following a complaint by a member of the public. He said: ‘It said that I’m allowed to fly the flag vertically, but not horizontally. ‘They said the way I have it now means it is classed as advertising, so I need to have a licence. And if I didn’t obtain one, it meant I could be paying a maximum £2,500 fine. ‘I would have laughed, had the whole thing not been so serious.’ Mr Smithson said the only way to make the flagpole vertical would have been to wedge it insecurely in the drainpipe. He has previously decorated his house with the cross of St George when England have reached the final stages of international football tournaments But this time he put the flag up to honour his 18-year-old sons, who belong to the Coldstream Guards.
‘I’m very proud,’ he said. ‘They’ve been serving their country and standing outside Buckingham Palace guarding the Queen.’ Mr Smithson was especially riled by the council’s high-handed approach. ‘For somebody to put a complaint in about the national flag is bad enough, but the way the council has handled it is appalling. ‘Why did they send a threatening letter out first, when they could’ve just knocked on the door and had a quiet word when they came out to look at the flag? ‘If I had been a pensioner I would have had a heart attack reading a threatening letter like that saying I could owe £2,500.’ Sunderland City Council have now admitted they were in the wrong because the latest regulations exclude national flags. ‘At first we thought it needed consent,’ said planning chief Phil Barrett. ‘We have now decided the flag can stay. ‘We will be writing to Mr Smithson and apologising for any upset the letter has caused.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Hunting Act Always Was Unworkable
When a law is as flawed as this one, it undermines the credibility of all others and should be repealed.
The Hunting Act 2004 was always a vindictive piece of legislation, whereby the predominantly urban-based Labour Party demonstrated its ignorance of the countryside and a contempt for the people who live there. It was an abuse of power that took up more parliamentary time than any other issue for generations.
Contrast, for example, the months of debate about hunting with the current absence of any proper discussion on the gravest economic crisis since the Second World War. Worse than the way it was enacted, however, was the law itself. The circumstances in which a fox could be killed were so confused that prosecutions have been thin on the ground.
Now, the first person to be convicted of an offence under the Act has had his appeal upheld. Tony Wright, huntsman to the Exmoor Foxhounds, flushed a fox from cover in order for it to be shot, supposedly an exempt activity under the Act, but was found guilty and fined by magistrates. The prosecution said it was for him to prove he was hunting legally and that hunting a mammal includes searching for it. The High Court yesterday ruled that “hunting” did not include “the mere searching for an unidentified wild mammal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it”.
The judges also said it was for the prosecution to prove that defendants were not covered by exemptions to the ban, not the other way around. Opponents of hunting welcomed this “clarification” of the law; but in reality it renders the chances of a successful prosecution more remote. The confusion at the heart of the Act meant that Mr Wright (along with others whose cases will now also fall) was wrongly criminalised.
When a law is as flawed as this one, it undermines the credibility of all others. It should be repealed.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UK: the All-Seeing Eye of State Surveillance
It is not any one cigarette or one extra drink that is ruinous to the health. The damage is done over the years, almost imperceptibly. Grave threats to the health of democracy can also accrue so incrementally that they draw little attention. A committee of peers diagnose one such danger today in a report on the steady creep of surveillance. The charge of hysteria is routinely used to sweep aside such talk when it comes from crusading journalists and pressure groups. The Lords constitutional affairs committee, however, cannot be dismissed the same way. A more dignified band of dignitaries would be hard to imagine — it includes a former attorney general who is a conservative champion of that antiquated role, a Tory expert on the constitution, and a founder of that force of militant moderation that was called the SDP.
Their insistence that mundane data collection “risks undermining the fundamental relationship between the state and the citizen” may be dramatic, but it is rooted in careful argument. Privacy is not only a precondition to a life of any quality, it is part of the meaning of liberty. The rule of law in Britain is not codified in a constitution, but underpinned by shared support for the twin ideals of executive restraint and individual freedom. Under the gaze of 4 million CCTV cameras, and in the face of the burgeoning electronic tabs being kept on citizens, both ideals are strained. Bit by bit the state — and private firms — cease to believe that the courtroom is the place to hold individuals to account, and instead grow used to monitoring them in all sorts of contexts in the name of convenience. Bit by bit, meanwhile, individuals learn to live with the ubiquitous prying eye.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Sweden’s Nuclear About-Face Means for Germany
Sweden’s government announced on Thursday it was reversing its pledge to phase out nuclear energy. The decision isolates Germany in Europe — and commentators say it is high time for Berlin to take a new look at nuclear energy here too.
In 1980, Sweden was on the vanguard. In that year, a referendum passed calling for a ban on the construction of new nuclear reactors in the country and the ultimate phase out of existing reactors. It was a model that was eventually emulated by Germany and seen as the way of the future.
On Thursday, the country once again took a step into the future — by abandoning the ban on new nuclear power plants. Stockholm said the move was necessary to avoid energy sources that produce vast quantities of greenhouse gases. While Sweden has been a leader in developing alternative energy sources, they still have not done enough to completely replace nuclear power, which supplies half the country’s energy.
The new proposal, presented by the country’s center-right coalition, calls for the construction of new reactors as the old ones are taken out of service. Parliament will vote on the bill on March 17. The package also calls for the expansion of wind power and for a 40 percent cut to greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 relative to 1990 levels.
The decision has angered the Swedish opposition as well as environmentalists around the world. “To rely on nuclear power to reduce CO2 emissions,” Greenpeace spokeswoman Martina Kruger said, “is like smoking to lose weight. It’s not a good idea.”
Sweden’s decision means that Germany is the only country in Europe still intent on phasing out nuclear energy. The government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder passed the phase-out law in 2000 and the last reactor is set to go off line in 13 years. But despite a decade of programs meant to promote wind, solar and biomass energy, alternative sources made up just 14 percent of the country’s supply as of last summer. Much of the rest of Germany’s power comes from coal-fired power plants, hardly an appetizing alternative amid accelerating global warming…
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Ibm to Laid-Off: Want a Job in India?
Employees who would otherwise face layoffs from their North American jobs at IBM are being given the chance to work abroad through ‘Project Match.’
NEW YORK (CNN) — IBM employees being laid off in North America now have an alternative to joining the growing ranks of the unemployed — work for the company abroad.
Big Blue is offering its outgoing workers in the United States and Canada a chance to take an IBM job in India, Nigeria, Russia or other countries.
Through a program dubbed Project Match, IBM will help interested workers whose jobs are on the chopping block to “identify potential opportunities in growth markets and facilitate consideration by hiring managers in those markets,” according to an internal company document obtained by CNN.
The company also will help with moving costs and provide visa assistance, it says.
Other countries with IBM opportunities include Argentina, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates, according to the document.
Only “satisfactory performers” who are “willing to work on local terms and conditions” should pursue the jobs, the document says. IBM would not immediately confirm if it means that the workers would be paid local wages and would be subject to local labor laws.
[…]
A spokesman for Alliance@IBM, a workers’ group that is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America but does not have official union status at IBM, slammed the initiative.
“IBM not only is offshoring its work to low-cost countries, now IBM wants employees to offshore themselves,” spokesman Lee Conrad told CNN. “At a time of rising unemployment IBM should be looking to keep both the work and the workers in the United States.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: 10 Years Since NATO Bombs, Big Increase in Cancer
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 4 — The Serbian daily newspaper ‘Politika’ has revealed a huge increase in the number of cancer cases (+200%) in the areas of Kosovo which were most heavily bombed by Nato. The paper also points out the silence and non-reaction of the Belgradés government. “Kosovo, a little Hiroshima”, runs the headline of the front page of the newspaper, which goes on to quote from a book by Mirjana Andjelkovic-Lukic, who is an scholar and expert in weapons and explosives at the Technical and Scientific Centre of the Serbian Army. Amongst other things, the book looks at several high-ranking Serbian officers (one of whom was the author’s husband) who died of cancer having carried out research, in the year 2000, on the ground in Serbia to investigate the results of the Nato bombings. Between 2000 and today there have been surveys carried out on 112 areas in Kosovo which show that the radioactive level of gamma and beta rays is twice the normal, says the document cited by Politika. A map published by the newspaper shows that the area that is mostly highly contaminated with depleted uranium is western Kosovo, where Italian troops in the KFOR mission have been stationed since deployment. A team of doctors led by Professor Naboisha Srbljak of the main hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica, has investigated the areas where there has been a “dramatic increase” in cancer cases, “of up to 200% more than before the bombings”, says the newspaper. In some areas, cancer cases have increased four-fold. Whilst before the Nato bombings, 10 out of 300,000 Kosovans had cancer, now 20 in every 60,000 have the illness. Politika — which recalls the time when the Italian Defence Ministry had to compensate an Italian ex-soldier after he was diagnosed with cancer following a mission in Somalia — affirms that Professor Srbljak has sent the results of the research to the World Health Organisation (WHO), but the organisation is yet to take any action, it adds bitterly. The Nato bombings on military targets in Serbia and Kosovo lasted 78 days from March 24 to June 10 1999. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Full Frontal Liberalism
In just these first few weeks, we have seen alarming shifts in our approach to national defense, the war on terror, international relations, ethics in government, social issues and domestic policy.
[…]
There was his reckless pledge to close Gitmo — without a clue as to where to send the poor enemy combatants, who are already treated better than most federal prisoners — and his sanctimonious revocation of lifesaving enhanced interrogation techniques.
Then his bizarre apologies to the Muslim world for who knows what. As others have noted, this nation has a pretty good track record toward the Muslim world, with its aid to Somalia, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians, and liberating interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq..
[…]
Of course, he’s also announced his plans to gut our strategic missile defense programs, but are you aware that he has demanded that the Defense Department trim its budget by 10 percent despite his promise to strengthen the military? And why not? We are the world’s aggressors, and there wouldn’t be terrorists if we didn’t “create” them with our bellicose “unilateralism.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: NGO Says Balkan Integration Has Waited Long Enough
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 5 — Five non-governmental organisations working in Serbia have written a letter to the European Union members states, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the embassies of EU countries in Belgrade, asking for a new assessment of the current situation in Serbia and the entire region in light of the latest international developments. “We believe that the latest developments at the international level, which are having further adverse effects on the fragility of the western Balkan states and their future as European states, require an entirely new approach in EU strategy towards the region,” said the letter, the contents of which were reported by the agency Tanjug. “In our opinion,” continued the document signed by five NGOs, “the continual postponement of the concession of candidate status for EU membership for western Balkan states, especially Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo, is counterproductive since it harms the already weak democratic potential of these countries.” Noting that the new Serbian democratic government has not yet managed to respond entirely to the peoplés expectations as concerns its integration into Europe and the Euro-Atlantic sphere, in the letter it is stated that “Serbia needs help, first and foremost from the European Union.” The letter was signed, among others, by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and the Centre for Human Rights in Belgrade. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Agriculture: Egypt; Rice Export Ban Goes Ahead
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 5 — A ban on the exportation of rice by the Egyptian government is going ahead, according to Minister for Trade and Industry, Rashid Mohamed Rashid. According to the Italian Foreign Trade Commission (ICE) in Cairo, Rashid announced that conditions which led to the export ban — that is the curbs imposed on rises in the market price — remain unchanged. A partial exception has been made for companies which import rice on behalf of the State body in charge of purchasing basic food products (the Authority for Supply Commodities) and which are also permitted to export a quantity of produce equal to that imported, paying an export tax of 1,000 Eygptian pounds per tonne, equal to around 142 euros. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Group Turns Hijab Into a Fashion Hallmark
Egyptian fashion league says it wants to fight the “nudity trend”
Hijab is the new black. The veil worn by many Muslim women has become a fashion accessory that indicates more than just religious observance as models, actresses and fashonistas use their headwear to make a statement.
In Egypt, a group of young women have formed the first organization for “hijab fashion” in hopes of catering to the increasing numbers of veiled women and proving that elegance can still be modest.
In Bahrain veiled models are increasingly preferred to their Western, unveiled counterparts because they more accurately represent their society. And in Morocco the popularity of tight, seductive hijab styles have earned the trend the name “shoufouni,” Arabic for “look at me.”
The founder of the Egypt group, Yasmine Mohsen, calls herself a “veiled model” and told AlArabiya.net that she wanted to offer suitable clothes, makeup and accessories to meet the demands of women who choose to wear the veil.
Mohsen says many veiled women come from rich classes and need to dress fashionably
“Now many veiled women come from rich classes and need to dress fashionably,” she explained. “Some of them even hesitate to wear the veil as they think it will make them less elegant.”
But Mohsen’s goals for the group also go beyond the fashion industry. She hopes that seeing models in hijab will help change stereotypes in the West about Islam and women.
“We are saying that hijab is elegant and that being veiled is not equivalent to raggedness and lack of femininity.”
Fighting the “nudity trend”
“With the increasing number of veiled women the idea of a veiled model became more acceptable “
Yasmine Mohsen, founder of fashion leagueWhen Mohsen started her career five years ago, she said she was criticized and treated as an intruder in a field that is not usually associated with covering oneself.
“With the increasing number of veiled women the idea of a veiled model became more acceptable. It didn’t stop at women’s products; I also made a video clip and several commercials for Gulf channels,” she said.
More than 300 professional models who work in fashion shows, video clips and commercials have joined and found work through the group.
“ It is well known what kind of clothes we model and what kind of commercials we can do “
Mohsen, founder of fashion leagueThrough its Facebook group and seminars the Cairo-based professional organization hopes to attract more members, explained Mohsen, who said that part of her goal is to fight the “nudity trend” in modeling.
“We are here today to fight the nudity trend that objectifies women and present them as bodies for show and sale,” she said, explaining that the industry often pressures veiled models to take off their hijabs or limits their job opportunities. “Exposing the body is not by any means elegant or feminine,” she added.
“It is well-known what kind of clothes we model and what kind of commercials we can do. So, whoever works with us must be seeking to offer something decent and respectable.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Negotiators Stopped With Suitcases of Cash
[Comment from JD: Negotiators!? The word should be in quotes. What is the source of this money?]
Hamas negotiators left Egypt without a long-term cease-fire with Israel on Thursday — but not before some members of the militant group’s delegation were stopped at the Gaza border carrying millions in cash.
The delegation walked away from the cease-fire talks because of disagreements over the blockage on Gaza and border security. Talks will continue at a later date.
An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the group initially refused to be searched by Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing. When the group relented, authorities found $7 million and 2 million euros ($2.5 million) in cash in their suitcases. Another security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said $9 million and 2 million euros were found. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Media: Tunisian Paper Seized, Journalists Protest
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, FEBRUARY 5 — The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) has issued a statement in protest over the January 31 putting under sequestration of the periodical Attariq Aljadid, edited by the opposition movement Attajdid. The SNJT, which has over six hundred members, has again called for Article 73 of the Press Code to be amended, since it allows the authorities to persecute press organs judged to be publications “which could pose a threat to public security”. According to official sources, the periodical was seized after it violated Article 63 of the Code, which forbids the publication of proceedings linked to an on-going trial. The article made specific reference to Bechir Abidi, condemned to ten years and one month in prison at his first hearing, a charge which at his appeal yesterday was reduced to eight years. The latter was charged with being one of those responsible for the protest demonstrations in Gafsa, which resulted in the death of a young demonstrator killed by a gun shot from police. The general secretary of the Attajdid movement and editor of the seized periodical, Ahmed Ibrahim, rejected the accusations, arguing that the incriminating article was published after the first appeal hearing on December 4. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Cleric: Here’s How to Beat Wives
‘He’s tried admonishing, he’s tried banishment — but nothing’
An Egyptian Muslim cleric has instructed that husbands should not beat their wives to the point that their beauty is scarred or bones are broken, but that it should be clear that: “A word would be enough for any wife with lofty morals, but with you, words do not help.”
The instruction comes from Egyptian Cleric Galal Al-Khatib, whose sermon was broadcast on All-Rahma Television on Dec. 24, 2008. It has been interpreted by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, an independent nonprofit that provides translations of media reports from the Middle East and analysis of those reports.
He explains there are three stages of discipline for wives under Islam: Admonishment, banishment and beating.
“The Prophet Muhammad said that the beatings should be light, and that one should avoid the face, or the sensitive areas, which might lead to broken bones, or might leave a mark that would spoil her beauty, whether on her face or anywhere on her body,” the cleric advises.
Khatid explains that the husband first must understand what disobedience in a wife is.
“Disobedience is to leave the house without the husband’s permission, to refuse to obey the husband in bed, to speak to the husband impolitely, or to do the opposite of what he likes. All these are forms of disobedience,” he said.
“The first measure for reforming a disobedient wife is to admonish her. The husband should talk to her gently, reminding her of God, and reminding her that if she wants to enter Paradise, she must obey him. He must tell her that by pleasing her husband, she pleases God, and that his rights supersede the rights of her parents,” he said.
“Okay, if admonishing doesn’t work, the next measure is ‘banishment.’ Some say that the wife should be banished from his bed, while others say he should refrain from having sex with her, although I do not agree with the latter view, because having sex is one of the rights of the husband, so how can he discipline her by depriving himself of sex?” Khatid said. “It’s enough if he refrains from smiling and saying nice things to her, and instead, he gives her the cold shoulder, but he has the right to have sex with her, even during banishment.”
He continued with his lesson on Islamic family relations:
“Okay, he’s tried admonishing, he’s tried banishment — but nothing. Her emotions are numb, and she says: Good riddance. So what is the next measure? ‘…and beat them.’ Beating,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Algeria; Several Attacks in Kabylia in 24 Hours
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 4 — Islamic groups continue to hit the Berber region of Algeria, Kabylia, where over the past 24 hours they have carried out at least three attacks in different zones. One soldier was killed and 9 others injured yesterday afternoon when a bomb exploded near Ait Chaafa, between the two cities of Ouzou and Bejaia in the Kabylia region. The bomb was most likely detonated at a distance when the army convoy was going by. Another explosion occurred yesterday afternoon in the Hazouza forest, injuring a 27-year-old civilian, according to Liberté, while in the night between Monday and Tuesday a bomb was placed in a town council parking lot in Ain Zaouia, 50 kilometres south of Tizi Ouzou. The explosion destroyed two tankers and a school bus but did not result in any victims. A second bomb went off near the new police headquarters in Ain Zaouia. On Monday five soldiers, including two ANP (Algerian National Army) captains, were seriously injured when a rudimentary bomb went off near Iflissen, 60 kilometres north-east of the capital of Kabylia. Over the past few hours a huge sweep-up operation has got underway in the region, set in motion on the basis of information supplied by Ali Ben Touati, the ‘emir’ of one of the main branches of Al Qaeda for the Islamic Maghreb (formerly known as the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat), who handed himself into the authorities a few days ago. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
After Gaza Hamas More Popular Than Fatah, Poll
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 5 — A poll launched after the conclusion of Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza shows that more people support Hamas than Fatah, and that opinions among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have become more radical. According to the poll, published today and carried out by the Palestinian research institute, Jerusalem Media Communication Center (JMCC), if elections were held in Gaza and the West Bank at the moment, Hamas would get 28.6% of the votes (19.3% in a poll carried out in April last year) and Al Fatah 27.9% (34% in April). In addition, 27.7% of those interviewed said they trusted Hamas more than Al Fatah, while 26% had more confidence in Al Fatah. Hamas has become more popular in the West Bank, with its popularity ratings rising from 12.8% in October to 26.5% now — at the expense of Al Fatah. The rise of Hamas is also confirmed by the fact that the premier of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, is preferred by 21.1% of those interviewed, while 13.4% prefer the president of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Also, the government of the Palestinian Authority Salam Fayyad is considered worse than the Haniyeh government by 40.7% of those interviewed. Moreover, 47.6% of Palestinians think the conflict between Hamas and Israel ended in a victory for Hamas, whereas for 9.8% Israel won and for 37.4% there was no winner. The percentage of Palestinians in favour of military operations against Israel has risen to 53.5 (49.5% in April), and support for attacks against Israel’s civilian population has risen from 50.7% to 55.4%. The poll was carried out on a representative sample of 1,198 Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The margin of error of the sample is 3%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Children’s Bunny ‘Martyred’ on Arab TV
‘Tell them that Assud died as a hero’
A bunny character on a children’s program broadcast by the recognized terrorist organization Hamas has been “martyred” but not before he was able to tell child viewers they must occupy Israeli cities.
“We should teach our children that we have a land to which we must return: Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Tel Aviv,” said the character “Assud.” “We will return to all these cities, Allah willing.”
This is the same character who earlier on the program was caught stealing and sentenced to having his hand cut off, although the penalty later was lifted because he repented.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: PNA Announces 600 Million Dollar Aid Programme
(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH, FEBRUARY 4 — An aid programme to help in the reconstruction of Gaza following Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’ was announced today by Salam Fayad, the Premier of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Fayad added that the total cost of the programme would be 600 million dollars, and that most of the funds were to come from foreign donors. Fayad said that funds would be put aside for the reconstruction or repair of all buildings damaged during the conflict. The exact details of the project will be made known at another time, he clarified. Meanwhile, an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza has been called in Cairo for March 2. Organisers aim to collect at least 2 billion dollars from the initiative. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Elections, Many Voters Still Undecided
(by Aldo Baquis) (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 4 — Six days before the political elections in Israel a massive 28pct of voters is still undecided, and the lead of the Likud party over Kadima has shrunk to three seats (on a total of 120 in the Knesset). Ehud Barak’s Labour party is in a neck to neck race with the rightwing Israel Beitenu (Avigdor Lieberman). Election night could be nerve-wrecking and captivating. Even if Kadima manages to surpass Likud, it would have a hard time building a solid government majority because the rightwing parties seem to have formed a strong block. Three polls have been carried out in recent hours: by commercial television channel Canale 2, by the dailies Maariv and Haaretz. The results according to Canale 2, Likud remains the biggest party with 27 seats (for the dailies respectively 27 and 28); Kadima is close with 24 seats (the dailies: 23 and 25). Israel Beitenu comes third with 17 seats (17, 15); Labour falls to fourth place with 14 seats (17, 14). Canale 2 says that most of the voters who haven’t made up their minds yet will choose either Kadima or Labour, a smaller group is balanced between Kadima and Likud or Likud and Israel Beitenu. Another point of uncertainty is formed by the Arab voters, who may boycott the election to protest Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza and its high death toll. An Arab website estimates that 56pct of Arab voters will abstain: a non-scientific survey in which still 6,000 persons have participated, most of them young. This would mean a shift to the right in the Knesset. The situation was analysed on Sunday by the person in change of surveys of Kadima, Kalman Gayer. In a meeting with party leaders he said that on February 10 there may be only one seat between Likud and Kadima. Kadima, said Gayer, is continuously gaining votes among Russian immigrants and the group of undecided. The problem of Livni and her party is that the two rightwing parties are getting stronger (Israel Beitenu and Shas) and the moderate leftwing weaker (Labour and Meretz). In the coming days both Kadima and Likud will direct their attacks against Israel Beitenu in the hope of weakening the party. In the electoral propaganda of the leftwing Meretz, Lieberman was presented today as despot like Mussolini or Stalin. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Frattini,Turkey Has Important Role in Negotiations
(ANSAmed) — MILAN, FEBRUARY 2 — Italy’s Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, who is in Milan today for a meeting on peace and trade in the Mediterranean, wanted to stress the importance of Turkey’s role in the Middle East negotiations, even after the confrontation in Davos between the Turkish Premier, Tayyip Erdogan, and the Israeli President, Shimon Peres. “We cannot fail to place specific attention on Turkey”, Frattini explained. “They are influential in political negotiations for the Middle East”. According to the Foreign Minister “the declarations of the Turkish President explain internal political dynamics, but do not diminish the mediatory role in negotiations for the Middle East”. Frattini stressed that Turkey “as a candidate for adhesion to the EU must be considered in a special light”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Palestinian Militant Killed Over Alleged Attack Plot
Jenin, 5 Feb. (AKI) — The Israeli army on Thursday killed a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing who was allegedly planning attacks against Israeli civilians. The army said Ala ad-Din Abu ar-Roub, a leader of the al-Quds Brigades, died after an exchange of fire at his home in the West Bank town of Jenin.
Witnesses quoted by the Palestinian news agency, Maan, said the Israeli Defence Forces surrounded ar-Roub’s house early on Thursday as he prepared to leave. Israeli forces stormed the house shot ar-Roub and took him away from the family as members tried to save his life.
The IDF later returned his body to the Palestinian Red Crescent which transferred him to the Khalil Suleiman Hospital. Doctors there said ar-Roub had been shot three times in the head and chest.
According to Israeli media the raid was a joint operation combining elite undercover Israeli troops, an infantry unit and agents from Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency.
The IDF also claimed that a search of ar-Roub’s house uncovered firearms, a flak jacket, ammunition and an explosive device.
Extrajudicial assassinations by the Israeli army of suspected militants, considered illegal under international law, are common in the Palestinian territories. Several faction leaders and militants have been killed by these attacks.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Charges to be Dropped Against USS Cole Bombing Suspect
The legal move by the Hon. Susan J. Crawford would bring all Guantanamo cases into compliance with President Barack Obama’s executive order to halt court proceedings at the Navy detention center in Cuba.
The senior military judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay is expected to drop charges Friday against a suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, FOX News has confirmed.
The legal move by the Hon. Susan J. Crawford would bring all Guantanamo cases into compliance with President Barack Obama’s executive order to halt court proceedings at the Navy detention center in Cuba.
Judge James Pohl had refused the Obama administration’s request to delay the arraignment of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the accused planner of the Cole attack in Yemen.
A senior Obama administration official told The Associated Press that the charges against al-Nashiri will be dismissed without prejudice. That means new charges can be brought again later in another venue, possibly a military court martial or criminal court.
It also gives the White House time to review the legal cases of all 245 terror suspects held there and decide whether they should be prosecuted in the U.S. or released to other nations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Press Freedom Centre, No to Al Jazeera Sanctions
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, FEBRUARY 5 — The measures taken by Israel against Qatar’s television network Al Jazeera are “unacceptable”, according to the Centre for Press Freedom in Doha, an international organisation with Italian journalist Lilli Gruber and writer Paolo Coelho among its twelve directors. “After forbidding the international press to cover the tragic events in Gaza, Israel now wants to punish foreign media based on the political choices of their countries of origin. This is an unacceptable link between two unrelated events”, explains a note issued by the Doha centre, which monitors violations of press freedom across the world and gives refuge to journalists persecuted in their home countries. Last week Israel decided to impose restrictions on Al Jazeera’s activities by not granting visas and working permits to non-Israeli television staff. It also limited access for Al Jazeera journalists to the spokesman of the Prime Minister, as well as the ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs. Though Israel and Qatar have no formal diplomatic relations, the countries have commercial relations with two Israeli diplomats on the peninsula, well-known for its oil, until January. To protest against Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, which caused over 1,330 victims, Doha has decided to shut down Israel’s diplomatic offices. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Internet: Turkey; Over 1,500 Web Sites Banned
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 4 — More than 1,500 web sites are currently banned in Turkey, access to most of which was blocked following complaints by individuals over inappropriate content on these sites, daily Today’s Zaman writes. Turkey’s Telecommunications Directorate has blocked 1,591 Web sites since last year under the law against cyber crime, which includes a wide range of offenses. Nearly half of the site-blocking rulings were issued due to the content involving the sexual exploitation of children online. This was followed by obscenity as the main reason for the closure of 539 sites. Other reasons included online prostitution (13), facilitating narcotics acquisition (3), encouraging suicidal behavior (1), illegal gambling sites (85), providing a physical location and the opportunity for gambling (88) and other reasons (165). Crimes against the memory of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were the reason 52 web sites to be blocked. Constant bans on scores of web sites drew the ire of Ngo’s Turkey, which called on authorities not to restrict the scope of freedom of individuals who wish to have full usage of the Internet and find alternative methods to combat undesired content on web sites. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Russia Official: Bushehr Plant to Go Live in ‘09
Russia plans to begin operating the nuclear reactor it has been building for Iran before the end of 2009, the Interfax News Agency quoted a top official as saying on Thursday. Rosatom chief Sergey Kiriyenko.
“If there are no unforeseen events… then the launch will go according to the timetable,” Sergei Kiriyenko, chief of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, was quoted as saying. “The launch is scheduled for this year.”
[…]
Iran agreed to return spent nuclear fuel from the plant to Russia to ensure Teheran did not extract materials that could be used in producing nuclear arms, but Jerusalem doubted the effectiveness the agreement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Israeli Military Manoeuvres at Shebaa Farms, Press
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 5 — Extensive military manoeuvres performed by the Israeli military have been reported along the provisional border with Lebanon near the occupied territory of Shebaa Farms, the eastern sector of the area under the responsibility of the UN mission deployed in the south of Lebanon (UNIFIL), reported Beirut daily ‘As-Safir’ this morning. Quoting eye witnesses from the nearby village of Shebaa, the daily specifies that “a series of extensive military manoeuvres performed by Israel were seen inside the occupied area of Shebaa Farms”. Israel occupied the area in 1967, Syria and Lebanon have disputed the occupation since the ‘50s. As-Safir adds that the manoeuvres ‘‘coincide with the announcement made by Israel that “its troops “along its northern borders with Lebanon are on high alert” fearing attacks from the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah related to the first anniversary on February 12 of the murder in Damascus of Imad Mughniye, appointed as military leader of the Party of God. Israel has always denied any involvement in the murder but Hezbollah leaders have guaranteed that “vengeance” will come “when and where we decide”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu Secretly Warns Hamas
Threatens to wipe out leadership in Syria, Gaza if rockets continue
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu — leading by a wide margin ahead of next week’s prime ministerial elections — has secretly issued a stern warning to Hamas that if its rocket campaign continues once he’s in power, he will not hesitate to eliminate the terror group’s leadership in both the Gaza Strip and Syria, WND has learned.
The warning is particularly strong, since Hamas’ leadership in Syria is protected by the Damascus regime. Israel traditionally shies away from threatening attacks on Syrian soil. The Jewish state took great care during its 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon to not strike targets too close to the Syrian border for fear of bringing Damascus into the conflict. One year later, though, Israel targeted a nascent Syrian nuclear reactor being built with aid from North Korea.
According to both Israeli and Palestinian sources intimately familiar with the threats, Netanyahu this week conveyed a secret message to Hamas through a third Arab party in which he stated he will undoubtedly be Israel’s prime minister next week. Netanyahu’s message warned if Hamas’ terrorist attacks continue from Gaza, he could target its top leaders in both Gaza and Syria even if such actions would result in a confrontation with Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Proposes Bilateral Committee With Turkey
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, FEBRUARY 2 — Turkey and the Holy See should create a bilateral committee to address “unresolved matters” between the two states, Pope Benedict XVI suggested Monday. Receiving a delegation of Turkish bishops, Benedict said he hoped “permanent contacts” could be established to resolve problems facing Catholics in Turkey, including the fact that Ankara has not granted legal recognition to the Catholic Church. This makes it difficult for the Church to own and buy property or build churches, schools and hospitals in Turkey. The pontiff also encouraged a vocational drive given the lack of priests in the country and appealed for “ever simpler” access to places of Christian pilgrimage. Turkey, whose 62 million inhabitants are overwhelmingly Muslim, was one of the countries which reacted strongly to Benedict’s observations on Islam during a lecture at a German university in 2006. The Turkish Premier and leading Islamic clerics in the country sharply criticised the German pontiff for citing a Byzantine medieval emperor who criticised Islam and demanded an apology. Benedict’s trip to the country later in the year helped smooth relations, and he won Turkish praise by backing Ankara’s bid to join the European Union, stressing his respect for Islam as a peaceful religion and visiting Istanbul’s Blue Mosque — making him the second pope ever to visit a mosque. There are about 35,000 Catholics living in Turkey. Ephesus, an ancient city on Turkey’s west coast, hosts a shrine which is said to mark the home of the mother of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Religious Edict Calls for ‘Reporting Terrorists’
Saudi Arabia has a list of 85 wanted al-Qaeda terrorists including 83 Saudis and 2 Yemenis. It is calling for suspects to turn themselves in to the authorities.
Riyadh, 5 Feb. (AKI) — A fatwa or religious edict by a Saudi Arabian mufti calls for followers to report terrorists to authorities, in the backdrop of a list of 85 wanted al-Qaeda militants published on Monday.
“If we analyse the crimes that they have committed, we understand how important it is that all theologians, collectively or individually, condemn their actions, such as cursing against other Muslims and killing our hosts, or to announce to want to hit public places or security forces bases,” said the fatwa issued by mufti Abdelaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, published in Saudi daily Okaz.
In a clear message to al-Qaeda members, al-Sheikh says “He who kills a fellow believer, will forever remain in hell, where he will suffer God’s anger and punishment.”
Saudi television read the list of the names and showed photos of some of the wanted men and said they had “adopted the straying ideology,” a reference to al-Qaeda.
Authorities have asked them to give themselves up to police and “return to a normal life”.
But they fear they may be following Muhammad al-Awfi and Said al-Shahri, who after returning from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, fled to Yemen to form a new terror cell.
Saudi Arabia also put hundreds of militants through a rehabilitation program which included education by clerics to “correct” their thinking and financial help to start a new life.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: More Than 40 Al-Qaeda Suspects ‘in Iran’
Riyadh, 5 Feb. (AKI) — Forty-one suspected Al-Qaeda members wanted by Saudi authorities are currently in Iran, according to a report in pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq-al-Awsat. Quoting Saudi police investigations, the report says the suspects make up nearly half the 85 alleged terrorists wanted by authorities.
Saudi police believe they either choose to live in Iran or travel there on their way to Afghanistan or Pakistan. Authorities fear the suspects are plotting attacks on Saudi Arabia and Jordan from Iran.
Some of the suspects may also move to Yemen, another Al-Qaeda stronghold in the region.
The Saudi interior ministry on Tuesday released a list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects, all but two of them Saudis. One of the men on the list, Abdullah al-Qarawi, is a Saudi who has been operating from Iran for three years, the ministry claimed.
Al-Qarawi, 35, is believed to have been behind some recent terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, said a Saudi security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Al-Qarawi leads Al-Qaeda’s operations in the Persian Gulf and Iran and recruits jihadist fighters for Afghanistan, the official said. It is believed al-Qawari has more than 100 Saudis working for him in Iran, where they move about freely, the official added.
His current battle name is Najim, he has learnt to use sophisticated weapons, allegedly provides jihadists with cash and false IDs and has created a base in Iran that supports Al-Qaeda cells in Iraq and Lebanon.
Al-Qarawi has allegedly been in Iran since 2006 and is reported to have helped several Saudi Al-Qaeda fugitives flee to Iraq and Lebanon where they have trained to carry out attacks.
Iran has consistently denied accusations by Saudi Arabia and the United States that it is harbouring Al-Qaeda members.
The Saudi interior ministry’s most-wanted Al-Qaeda suspects are currently located in countries including Yemen, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, said Saudi daily Okaz on Wednesday.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda, is on the wanted list. His branch recently announced that it was merging with the Saudi branch to form a new cell.
Okaz quoted unnamed sources saying 11 former detainees from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who returned to home to Saudi Arabia in 2006 subsequently entered Yemen and joined local Al-Qaeda cells there.
Over the past year or so, the Yemeni group appears to have expanded and brought in a number of Saudis, experts say.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Comprehensive Approach
Asked how he plans to deal with Iran, President Obama has said, on multiple occasions, that he wants a “comprehensive approach.” Presumably, that means that all options are on the table, but a closer reading reveals that Mr. Obama favors policies based on diplomacy and economic incentives….
[…]
Perhaps someone ought to ask the president how that approach is faring, given Tuesday’s space launch in Iran. It received little attention in the United States, but ran’s successful orbiting of a small satellite represents a milestone for the Islamic Republic. After years of trying, Iranian engineers have mastered the technologies associated with multi-stage rockets and putting a small package in orbit around the earth.
That puts Iran in a relatively exclusive club; since the beginning of the Space Age more than 50 years ago, only 10 nations have managed to put a satellite into orbit. While the Iranian craft is crude by our standards, Tehran can still boast about its accomplishment. A number of wealthier and more technologically advanced nations—including South Korea, Brazil and Australia—are still working on their own indigenous launch systems. With Tuesday’s launch, Iran officially has a space program, and the bragging rights that go with it.
But more importantly, the satellite launch represents an important breakthrough for Iran’s ballistic missile program. The same technology that put that satellite in orbit can be easily refined, improving the accuracy and payload of the missiles which double as space boosters.
Some details of the Iranian launch have not been revealed, but the Safir (“Messenger”) rocket is believed to be a two-stage configuration, combining a Shahab-3 medium range missile and a North Korean-built second stage. The Shahab-3 can already reach targets in Israel; the two-stage variant could deliver warheads to much or Europe—or beyond.
Pyongyang’s support for the Iranian program cannot be over-stated…
[continued at link]
| [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Exports by Auto Sector Drop 56%
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 3 — Exports by Turkish automotive sector has dropped 56% to USD 882 million in January 2009 over the same month previous year. Uludag Exporters’ Association told the Anatolia agency that it was the lowest level in the last three years. In the same period of the previous year, exports from the automotive sector were about USD 2 billion. In January, Turkey exported automotive products to 11 free zones as well as 128 countries and autonomous regions. France was on top of the list with exports of USD 155.1 million followed by Germany, Italy, Britain and Belgium. Turkey exported automotive products to Palestinian Territories, Djibouti, Gabon, Jamaica, Mauritania, Chad, Maldive Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, North Korea and Liberia for the first time. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Sponsor Confirms Secret Iran Talks
‘Unofficial’ meetings on nukes included ambassador, top aide
[Comment from JD: Synopsis: Leftist scientists and policy people meet to figure out a way to let Iran carry on with its agenda. Read the article to see what a scummy bunch these Pugwash people are…]
Top-level Iranian and American officials participated in four closed-door international conferences last year to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, the director of the sponsoring organization confirmed to WND.
Jeffrey Boutwell, the Washington, D.C.-based executive director of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, insisted the meetings were unofficial gatherings in which the participants did not represent their governments in direct negotiations.
Earlier this week, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Ehlam denied reports of secret meetings between unofficial representatives of the Obama administration and the Iranian government coordinated by the Pugwash Group, as reported by WND Sunday.
But Boutwell said three of the Pugwash meetings with Iran were held in The Hague, Netherlands, in March, June and August. The final meeting took place in Vienna in December.
[…]
Boutwell noted, “Iran does have the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium.”
[…]
WND asked Boutwell to comment on IAEA declarations that Iran had not been transparent with its nuclear program and doubts remained regarding whether it was diverting nuclear efforts to a weapons program.
“I think I’m going to close the conversation now,” Boutwell insisted. “We are now getting into negotiating in public about what the best course is with Iran, and our meetings are private and off-the-record, and we just want to get people together to search for solutions.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What the USS San Antonio Can Teach US About Iran
by Herschel Smith
The Amphibious Dock USS San Antonio has something to teach us about Iran and its intentions.
But before learning from the USS San Antonio, a framework must be constructed within which to view this information. David Ignatius authored an article for the Washington Post on the A-Team for Iran. Ignatius likes Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft because of their ability to help American foreign policy “turn a page,” so to speak. Ignatius asks the two how they would begin negotiations with Iran.
[…]
The obvious but unstated presupposition is that Iran is pursuing a nuclear program, and indeed, behaves as it does, because of its fear and need for survival, or in their own words, “mutual security” in a dangerous region. That no nation has threatened them, and that no nation in the region would even be able seriously to threaten them, doesn’t weigh in on the axiom. It is simply irreducible, the notion that Iran would live in peace with its neighbors if only it could assure its own security.
All mathematics and in fact all philosophy begins with presuppositions, propositions that are unproven because they cannot be proven But the investigation doesn’t end here. When a system of thought based on these presuppositions yields conclusions, results, observations and consequences that are radically inconsistent with what would be expected given the presuppositions, then something is wrong with the starting point. Under these conditions, one must be willing to relinquish his presuppositions.
That Iranian weapons, special groups, IRG, Quds and other rogue forces supported by Iran (Ansar al Sunna) created havoc inside of Iraq hasn’t been enough to convince the two A-Team members that Iran doesn’t intend on having peace in the region. Neither, for that matter, does the fact that General Petraeus had to appeal to Iranian General Qassem Suleimani to stop the shelling of the Green Zone in the summer of 2008 (at which point it stopped) convince the A-Team that their ideas of a docile Persia just may not be panning out.
But this unwillingness to revisit presuppositions isn’t baggage carried by the Arab states. In fact, the Arab states never started with these ideas. They are uniquely Western. With Iran’s push towards going nuclear, the balance of the Middle East is thinking the same way, and not because they need the energy…
[Read entire post at link]
| [Return to headlines] |
Mamma Mia! Putin Denies Mystery ABBA Concert
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office moved on Friday to quash claims he attended a mystery concert featuring ABBA lookalikes singing to him from behind a veil at a military-style compound.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted after the London-based Bjorn Again, a long-established act that imitates 1970s pop super-group ABBA, said it had put on a show, cloaked in secrecy, for Putin, seven male guests and a woman who may have been the premier’s wife.
“I can tell you officially and for sure Vladimir Putin never took part in any concert of the kind. He wasn’t there,” Peskov said.
However the musicians’ manager, Rod Stephen, said he was in little doubt about whom the concert was for, and one of the band’s singers said she saw Putin himself at the performance.
“It was quite obvious where Mr Putin was sitting,” Aileen McLaughlin, who doubles for blonde ABBA vocalist Agnetha Faltskog, told AFP by phone from London.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
India: Hindu Fundamentalists Vandalise Catholic School in Bophal
Violence is triggered by trumpeted up charges against the school principal.
Jabalpur (AsiaNews/UCAN) — A group of young Hindu radicals attacked a Catholic school on Monday in Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, destroying classrooms and equipment. The school principal, a Catholic priest, was arrested for insulting India’s national anthem.
This attack was triggered by an incident that occurred on 26 January, Republic Day, which led a group of teachers at St. Thomas Senior Secondary School to accuse the principal, Fr Thomas Malancheruvil, of stopping them and their students from singing the national anthem. Under Indian law such a crime can be punished with three years in jail.
The accused principal has rejected the charges, saying all he did was to rebuke the teacher responsible for the school’s National Day programme for being late.
Father Malancheruvil told the teacher that would be suspended for a three days but withdrew the suspension the same day when the teacher apologised.
Later however the same teacher, a colleague and a group of students spread rumours that the principal had prevented some students from singing the anthem.
This was used as a pretext by a group of 30 activists from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who attacked the school destroying computers, furniture and windowpanes
Called by the principal police moved in, arrested the young activists and Father Thomas himself. Five AVBP intruders were hurt in the incident.
The clergyman and 15 attackers of the Catholic school were later released on bail.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Catholic Groups Attacked by Hindu Tribals on Island of Majuli
They had attended the ordination of the first native local priest. On the way home, they were stopped by local Hindu groups. The bus was attacked by hundreds of people, and the men and priests were beaten.
Majuli (AsiaNews) — It was supposed to be a day of celebration, but instead it turned into the latest example of violence by Hindu radicals against Christians and the conversion of tribals. Hundreds of Catholic faithful were beaten, humiliated, mocked, and driven away.
On January 24, a few hundred Catholics crossed the Brahmaputra river to get to Majuli. Situated in the middle of the river, on its Indian side, in the district of Jorhat in the state of Assam, the island is a well-known tourist attraction. Since 1987, it has had a small parish in Jainkraimukh, but its fame is mainly due to its historical remnants of Assam culture, like the sacred palace of Neo-vasihnavite Satras and the monasteries founded by Srimanta Sankradeva in the 16th century.
The small community of the island, mostly made up of Mishing tribals, was celebrating the priestly ordination of the first Catholic priest born in Majuli, Hemonto Pegu. For the occasion, the pastor, Fr. Bartholomew Bhengra, had invited the priests and faithful of the nearby communities to participate in the celebration presided over by Joseph Aind, Salesian bishop of Dibrugarh.
Faithful from the parishes of Mariani, Sarupathar, Naojan, Jagun, Dibrugarh, and other villages of the district of Jhorat came to the island. In order to reach Majuli, they all had to cross the river by boat, and then get onto buses and jeeps to get to Jengarimukh, where the ordination was being held. Priests, men, women and children took two hours crossing the Brahmaputra and one on the roads of Majuli, which, at 577 square kilometers, is the largest river island in the world.
After the ordination, at about 2 in the afternoon, the various groups began heading back toward the river. When they reached the village of Kamalabari, some of the jeeps on which priests and religious were traveling were stopped by a crowd of local people belonging to the tribal communities. Asked why they were on the island, the members of the group explained that they had attended the ordination of the new priest. They were insulted by the crowd. Witnesses of the aggression say they were threatened with statements like “Never come back again and if you do come back, we will cut you into pieces and throw you into the Brahmaputra,” and “Missionaries go back Christians should not enter our place!”
The community of Mariani — the largest group at the ordination, with about 400 people — was stopped by a group of about 600 people near the boat dock. The pastor of St. Antony, Fr. Caesar Henry, and the rector of St. Xavier High School, Fr. G.P. Amalraj, were on an off-road vehicle in front of the bus. They were immediately pulled off the vehicle and beaten. The attackers shouted, “Here are the missionaries, kill these dogs,” beating and kicking the two priests. Then they went to the bus, made the parishioners get off, and began to beat the men mercilessly. The crowd continued to shout insults: “you dogs, you beef eaters [editor’s note: Hindus are vegetarians], this is the land of the Hindus and you have no right to come here! Why do you come to convert the tribals?”
After the violence, the people were forced to walk 5 kilometers to get to the boat dock, while the crowd continued to insult them on their walk for about an hour. Shaken up and concerned about the safety of the young people, women, and children, the priests advised the local authorities, asking for protection at least for the other groups. The buses carrying students from Holy Cross School in Naojan were escorted by the police, but stones were still thrown at them. The authorities then provided boats for the groups of faithful, and at 6 o’clock in the evening the groups were able to cross the river again.
Commenting on the events, Fr. Caesar Henry says, “As we have just celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Republic, we cannot help but ask, Are we not Indians? Do we not have the right to move from place to place without being harassed and persecuted because we belong to a group and profess a faith? The constitution provides freedom and equal rights to all. Do our great gurus and sages teach us to abuse or ill-treat innocent and simple people who go to attend social and religious celebrations?”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Frees “Father” of Its Nuclear Bomb
A Pakistani court on Friday ruled that nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of the country’s atomic bomb, was a free man, five years after he was put under house arrest for selling nuclear secrets in the world’s most serious proliferation scandal. The decision was criticized by the United States.
“It’s a matter of joy. The judgment, by the grace of Allah, is good,” Khan told reporters outside his Islamabad house soon after news of the High Court ruling broke.
“ The court has said as he was not involved in nuclear proliferation or criminal activity, there is no case against him, therefore, he is a free citizen “
Abdul Qadeer Khan’s lawyer”It is because of this judgment that I am speaking to you,” said the 72-year-old scientist, who has been treated for prostate cancer.
Khan’s lawyer said the High Court had declared him a free citizen.
“The court has said as he was not involved in nuclear proliferation or criminal activity, there is no case against him, therefore, he is a free citizen,” lawyer Ali Zafar told Geo News television.
The chief justice of the Islamabad court, Sardar Mohammad Aslam, on Friday heard government lawyers and lawyers representing the nuclear scientist in closed doors chamber.
The United States blasted as “unfortunate” Pakistan’s decision to release Khan, a State Department spokesman said.
Gordon Duguid told reporters that while Washington did not have confirmation as to whether Khan has been freed, “it would be unfortunate if the court released him,” citing the “serious proliferation risk” that he presents.
Father of the bomb
Khan, lionized by many Pakistanis as the father of the country’s atomic bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004, but was immediately pardoned by the government, although his movements were restricted to effective house arrest.
It was not immediately clear to what extent security agencies would lift restrictions on his movements. His detention had been relaxed over the past year and he had been allowed to meet friends and had traveled to the city of Karachi at least once under tight security.
Last year, a U.N. nuclear watchdog said Khan’s network smuggled nuclear blueprints to Iran, Libya and North Korea and was active in 12 countries.
Last month, the U.S. State Department said it had imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and three private companies because of their involvement in Khan’s network.
Pakistan has never let foreign investigators question Khan, saying it had passed on all relevant information about his nuclear proliferation…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
US Star Appeals to Thailand for Muslim Refugees
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie urged Thailand to welcome Muslim refugees fleeing Myanmar after visiting a refugee camp with her partner Brad Pitt, the United Nations said Friday.
Thailand’s treatment of the Rohingyas, an oppressed Muslim minority from mainly Buddhist Myanmar, has been widely condemned as evidence emerges that hundreds were rounded up by the Thai military and towed out to sea.
“ Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years, makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores “
Angelina JolieJolie issued the plea during a visit to camps in northern Thailand which house 111,000 mostly Christian ethnic Karen refugees from Myanmar.
“Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years, makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores,” the Oscar-winning actress said in a statement issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR.)
Jolie previously visited the camp in 2004 and wanted to return to show her partner Pitt, UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said.
Since becoming goodwill ambassador for the Geneva-based agency in 2001, Jolie has visited refugees in more than 20 hotspots including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan.
Two Rohingya boat people found off Indonesia this week said they were rounded up and beaten by the Thai army before being cast adrift in rickety, engineless boats.
Thailand’s military has admitted towing hundreds out to sea and cutting them adrift, but insisted they had adequate food and water and denied reports the boats’ engines were sabotaged.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
S. Korea: Four Resign in KCTU Sexual Assault Scandal
Union member says leadership sought cover-up
Four leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions resigned yesterday in the wake of a growing sexual assault scandal involving the organization.
Later in the day, the KCTU made a public apology, though it was unclear whether the entire KCTU leadership would step down en masse. The scandal involves a high-ranking KCTU official who allegedly attempted to rape a female union member last December.
“We apologize for causing concern and disappointing the nation with a sexual violence case and we’ll do all we can to prevent a recurrence of such an incident,” the KCTU said in the apology posted on its Web site.
“The KCTU will develop measures to compensate the victim for her suffering while making sure there will be no additional harm to her,” it added. According to the KCTU, the alleged offender has been dismissed from membership — the heaviest disciplinary action that can be taken by the organization.
Meanwhile, the victim, identified only by the alias “A,” filed a complaint against the alleged offender, identified only as “B,” with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. She requested that prosecutors investigate KCTU officials for what she says was an attempt to cover up the case.
The incident goes back to last December when A provided shelter to KCTU Chairman Lee Seok-haeng, a fugitive at the time. He had been charged with spearheading illegal candlelight protests against U.S. beef imports last summer.
Lee was arrested on Dec. 5 while staying at A’s house and A went under police investigation for aiding a fugitive.
KCTU officials then contacted A to advise her how to handle the police investigation. It was during that process that B, a high-ranking KCTU official, trespassed on A’s home and attempted to rape her, A contends.
“Some high-ranking KCTU officials have continuously put pressure on A even after the incident, saying that the case should not be made public because it would seriously harm the organization’s reputation. In this way, my client has been re-victimized,” said A’s attorney, Kim Jong-woong, at a Thursday press conference.
“The incident and the organization’s handling of it clearly shows that the KCTU leadership has no moral basis to carry out its goals, such as leading a democratic labor movement,” he added.
In the wake of the press conference, KCTU leaders held a marathon meeting of its executive committee from Thursday afternoon to midnight to discuss measures to handle the scandal, which is damaging the organization’s morale.
They failed to reach an agreement on possible measures, including a general resignation of the leadership. The KCTU executive committee will meet again on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
The Evidence is in on Islamist Terrorism
From Melbourne to the Middle East, terrorists want to kill
[Comment from the Pundit: Note here that despite its conservative leaning, The Australian still refers to Islam in a slightly ‘couched’ way; referring to Islamic extremists twisting the tenets of the “honoured” Muslim faith into a justification for mass murder. Nonetheless — a very good article.]
ABDUL Nacer Benbrika is morally on a different planet from the rest of us and it is about time people who think the terror threat is exaggerated realise it. Benbrika was sentenced in a Melbourne court on Tuesday to 15 years for terror offences. Six of his henchmen also went to prison. The cause of their convictions explains a great deal about the way Islamist extremists, some mad, some bad and all dangerous to know, will twist the tenets of the honoured Muslim faith into a justification of mass murder. Their example shows how terrorists, from Melbourne to the Middle East, think and act the same. And it demonstrates how enemies of Israel in the West, who explain terrorism as an inevitable response to the problems of the Palestinians, miss the point. The grim reality is that for religious zealots with murder on their mind, any excuse will do.
Anybody who believes Benbrika was a misguided man who did no harm in the end should consider the evidence against him. Despite Australia giving him a home, and an unearned social security income paid to support his seven children, he was keen to kill as many of us as he could. Certainly, he said Australians deserved to die because of the country’s involvement in the war against Saddam Hussein. But he also argued Islam sanctioned death for unbelievers. That Benbrika is as incompetent as he is irrational and never launched an attack does not matter. The World Trade Centre attackers were not highly trained combatants either — struggling to fly a plane straight. As judge Bernard Bongiorno said in court, “terrorist acts as they have been experienced in modern times are often carried out by amateurs whose principal attribute has not been skill, but rather zealous or fanatical belief”.
For an example of the fanaticism Justice Bongiorno points to, it is impossible to beat Samira Ahmed Jassim, who was arrested in Iraq this week. This woman is an enemy of the emerging Iraqi democracy and expressed her political opinions by organising 28 terrorist attacks. Her modus operandi was to arrange for women to be raped and then tell them the only way they could erase the shame was to blow themselves up, taking unbelievers, in this case ordinary Iraqis, invariably Muslims, with them. The pointless brutality of such crimes beggars belief for all but those who see mass murder as a form of worship. It is nonsensical to suggest that it serves any political purpose. Nor does the way the Hamas Government of Gaza uses suicide bombers and rocket attacks. Hamas has the despicable distinction of deploying the first female suicide bomber. That 2002 attack killed two, wounded 150 people and accomplished precisely nothing. Nor did the Hamas rocket attacks that led the Israeli army to intervene in Gaza last month. Hamas has no chance of defeating Israel in open war and there was no chance that Muslim nations would come to its assistance. But attacking Israel at every opportunity makes sense to anybody who believes in a divine directive to destroy the Jewish state.
It is time for people who believe Western decadence and the Iraq war are the cause of terror attacks to accept the obvious. While Islamic extremists sometimes dress up their motives in the language of conventional politics, they are at war with everybody who does not agree with them. The vast majority of Muslims understand this and recognise there is no place in their faith for terror of the Hamas and Benbrika kind. Opposition to sectarian conflict was one of the reasons Iraqis voted against religious candidates at last weekend’s provincial elections, with Shia religious parties losing control of five of the seven provinces they previously ran. It is also time for enemies of Israel to stop blaming the Jewish state for war crimes it did not commit, presumably on the assumption that anything that makes Israel look bad helps Hamas, the ostensible ally of innocent Palestinians. Last month, UN officials in Gaza said Israeli forces had mortared a school where they knew civilians were sheltering. It made international headlines and undoubtedly encouraged Muslim anger all over the world. But it wasn’t true — and the UN knew it. There is no reasoning with Hamas terrorists and the Benbrikas of the world and no case for any argument that explains their actions as anything other than acts of evil.
| — Hat tip: The Pundit | [Return to headlines] |
Gaddafi Condemns Africa Democracy
Col Gaddafi was elected as the African Union’s new head this week
The new African Union (AU) chairman, Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi, has said that multi-party democracy in Africa leads to bloodshed.
Speaking at the AU summit in Ethiopia, Col Gaddafi said Africa was essentially tribal and political parties became tribalised, which led to bloodshed.
He concluded the best model for Africa was his own country, where opposition parties are not allowed.
Analysts say the AU is in for an interesting year under Col Gaddafi.
The BBC’s Mark Doyle, at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, says many may wonder what direction the 53-member organisation will take under his leadership over the next 12 months.
Our parties are tribal parties — that is what has led to bloodshed
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
US of Africa plan ‘fudged’
Views on Gaddafi’s African mission
At the final press conference of the summit on Wednesday, Col Gaddafi sought to back up his argument by citing other countries like Kenya, where elections in December 2007 were followed by ethnic killings, and war-torn Somalia.
“We don’t have any political structures [in Africa], our structures are social,” Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.
“Our parties are tribal parties — that is what has led to bloodshed.”
The Libyan leader’s remarks could prove controversial in a continent where people have struggled for decades to have more open systems of government, says our correspondent.
He adds it seems likely activists who have fought for multi-party democracy in countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal may profoundly disagree with the new AU chairman.
Gaddafi ‘despair’
While these activists accept that ethnicity plays a big role in African politics, they insist the advantages of democracy over dictatorship are undeniable.
The summit had to be extended into a fourth day after disagreements over Col Gaddafi’s plan to create a United States of Africa.
The Libyan leader envisages a single African military force, a single currency and a single passport for Africans to move freely around the continent.
Col Gaddafi had used his inaugural address as rotating head of the AU to push his long-cherished unity project and called for integration to begin immediately.
But many of his fellow leaders said the proposal would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
They said they would study the unity proposal, make a report and meet again in three months time.
In other words, our correspondent says, they are kicking the ball into the long grass.
One participant in the closed-door AU meeting said Col Gaddafi appeared to admit defeat and laid his head on the table in despair, before he swept out.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said: “He didn’t walk out, he just got tired.”
Before arriving at the summit, Col Gaddafi circulated a letter saying he was coming as the king of the traditional kings of Africa.
Last August, he had a group of 200 traditional leaders name him the “king of kings” of Africa.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How a Profiteer Works One of the World’s Worst Economies
Dave Mphele, a black marketeer in Zimbabwe, uses a combination of cunning and coercion to thrive in a nation with 231 million percent inflation. In his own bizarre way, he’s helping the country function. […]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Honoring Victims of Castro, Che
[Comment from JD: Another good article by Humberto Fontova.]
You’ll often find people with itchy noses and red-rimmed eyes ambling amidst the long rows of white crosses at Tamiami Park on Coral Way and 107 Avenue in Miami. It’s a mini-Arlington cemetery called the Cuban Memorial, in honor of Castro and Che’s murder victims and those who fell trying to free Cuba from the murderous barbarism they imposed with their Soviet overlords while “The Best and Brightest” dithered, bumbled and finally betrayed.
But the tombs are symbolic. Most of the bodies still lie in mass graves dug by bulldozers on the orders of Ted Turner’s fishing buddy, Harry Belafonte’s bosom pal and Barbara Walter’s favored dinner companion.
Never heard of this Cuban Memorial in the mainstream media? Well, it honors the tens of thousands of Fidel Castro’s and Che Guevara’s victims (many of them U.S citizens, by the way). Need I say more about the media blackout? … I didn’t think so.
[…]
The elderly lady still holds a tissue to her eyes and nose as they wait to cross the street after leaving the memorial. Her red-eyed grandson still has his arm around her. She told him about how his freedom-fighter grandfather yelled “Viva Cuba Libre!” and “Viva Cristo Rey!” the instant before the volley shattered his body.
They cross the street slowly, silently, and run into a dreadlocked youth coming out of a music store. His T-shirt sports the face of her husband’s cowardly executioner, Che Guevara. They turn their heads in rage toward the store window. Well, there’s the murderer’s face again, on a huge poster, $19.95 it says at the bottom, right next to the inscription “Fight Oppression!”
You, friends, tell me how she might feel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela Behind on Payments to Oil Contractors
[Comment from Tuan Jim: Clearly Gazprom isn’t the only company being run into the ground by business-ignorant national leadership for political reasons.]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s state oil company is behind on billions in payments to private oil contractors from Oklahoma to Belarus, some of which have now stopped work, even as President Hugo Chavez funnels more oil revenue to social programs.
Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, says unpaid invoices jumped 39 percent in the first nine months of last year — reaching $7.86 billion in September. And that was when world oil was selling for $100 a barrel.
With prices plummeting by more than half, PDVSA is trying to renegotiate some contracts. But analysts say hardball tactics to reduce charges from crucial service providers could backfire by lowering Venezuela’s oil output. And foreign debt markets are reflecting jitters about Venezuela’s finances.
Oil accounts for 94 percent of Venezuela’s exports and funds nearly half the socialist government’s budget, and Chavez uses it to bankroll an international aid bonanza, showering allies with cheap fuel, refining projects and cash donations.
But U.S. contractor Helmerich & Payne Inc. said last week that it has stopped drilling with two of its 11 oil rigs in Venezuela because of delayed payments. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, company says it will stop three more rigs by the end of February and the rest by the end of July if PDVSA doesn’t begin to pay off a debt it puts at nearly $100 million.
Dallas-based Ensco International Inc. said it suspended operations on an oil rig off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast because it was owed $35 million, prompting PDVSA to take over operations.
And Belgazstroy of Belarus has stopped work on gas networks in western Venezuela because of nonpayment, Venezuela’s ambassador to Belarus, Americo Diaz Nunez, told Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency, adding that two other Belarusian contracts are also in question.
Greg Priddy, a global oil analyst with the Eurasia Group in Washington, estimated that within a year, production could decline an extra 100,000 to 150,000 barrels a day if drilling slows — equal to $5 million of daily income even at today’s slumping oil prices.
PDVSA said in a statement that service providers increased prices by as much as 40 percent when oil prices were high, and company officials said only Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez could discuss the debts issue. PDVSA headquarters did not respond to requests for an interview with Ramirez, but he previously said PDVSA will make good on its accumulated debts with contractors.
Venezuela’s net oil income soared 225 percent in the first nine months of 2008, allowing PDVSA to stash $10.8 billion in a government-run investment fund to be used for infrastructure, agriculture and other projects.
But the debts are mounting as Chavez campaigns for a Feb. 15 referendum that would eliminate term limits for all elected officials and enable him to seek re-election indefinitely.
In Venezuela’s oil-producing Zulia state, PDVSA has held off on paying 230 service providers for an average of six months, said Nestor Borjas, state director of the nation’s Fedecamaras business chamber. The debts total about $465 million, he said.
The outstanding payments appear to be contributing to declining confidence in Venezuelan bonds, which have fallen 7 percent since Jan. 9, to an average yield of 17.4 percentage points more than U.S. Treasuries, said Enrique Alvarez, head of research for Latin American financial markets at IDEAglobal in New York.
He attributed the plunge to PDVSA’s shortfalls in payment, falling oil prices and the referendum.
Still, some analysts agree with government assurances that it has enough cash accumulated from the days of $147-a-barrel oil to sustain itself through 2010 with oil prices at $45 a barrel.
“While Venezuela is still far from being in a comfortable economic and financial position, the expectations of a default price in the markets appear excessive,” Alejandro Grisanti of Barclays Capital in New York said in a recent report.
And some suppliers say they’re not worried by the delays.
“It’s happened in the past. We’ve always been paid,” said Jens Schmidt, general manager for Copenhagen, Denmark-based Maersk Drilling in Venezuela, whose 10 offshore rigs are all operating normally.
Franco says many oil companies around the world are delaying payments as they renegotiate contracts, but PDVSA is taking a stronger stance than most — one likely to discourage already reluctant investors. “It’s part of a larger strategy of hardball,” said Franco said.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Deal With Libya Signed, Maroni Pleased
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, FEBRUARY 4 — Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has signed the implementation protocol in Tripoli of the Collaboration agreement between Italy and Libya from December 2007 against illegal immigration. “Today” Maroni told ANSA “we have taken an important step forward. This is the start of the technical stage of the project, next week an Italian-Libyan unit will be formed for joint patrols”. Maroni was received this morning by Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Shalgam and Interior Minister Naser al Mabruk, and the Chief of Navy staff, who were pleased with the ratification of the Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation Treaty between the two countries yesterday in Senate. “It’s a new page in the relation between Libya and Italy” said Maroni, “not only for the fight against illegal immigration, but for collaboration in all fields”. The minister confirmed that mixed teams will be formed and that the patrol boats which will be sent to Libya are in Gaeta at the moment. They will be handed over to a Libyan delegation in the coming days. Maroni said he hopes illegal immigration will start to decrease by Easter, and that it will stop by the end of the summer. He added that he will soon return to Libya to verify the other point in the implementation protocol, regarding the monitoring of Libya’s southern borders. “Finmeccanica will take care of the monitoring” he revealed, “this is a crucial step to reduce the number of illegal immigrants entering Libya”. The minister then congratulated Libyan leader Muhammar Gaddafi on his appointment as president of the African Union. He underlined that this morning he has felt “a very favourable atmosphere which crowns the efforts made to get this far”. In the coming weeks the minister will visit other Mediterranean countries to deal with the question of illegal immigration with them as well. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: European Council, Asylum Seekers Situation Critical
(ANSAmed) — STRASBURG, FEBRUARY 5 — The situation of asylum seekers in Greece “is critical”, underlined Thomas Hammarberg, human rights commissioner of the European Council, on the occasion of the publication of his report to the country in December. “The authorities must urgently improve the procedure to request asylum to guarantee full respect for international standards, intrinsic to human rights” the commissioner stressed. He added that despite the new law to create a system to protect asylum seekers, “the management of requests for asylum continues to show serious and systematic deficiencies”. Hammarberg also said that he is concerned about living conditions in some temporary shelters, which he calls “unacceptable”. He is particularly concerned about the mine-strewn areas in the Evros region, where many foreigners have been killed or mutilated. “Greek authorities,” said the commissioner, “must clear this area of mines and guarantee the safety of immigrants”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Libya: Amnesty: No Safeguard of Migrant Rights
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 5 — “Yet again funding is being underwritten to Libya without any requirement that human rights and the right to asylum be respected for migrants who are being held in inhumane conditions, tortured, shipped south in containers to be re-sold to traffickers asking up to 500 dollars to return them to the coast”. This is how Andrea Segre, author of the documentary “Come un uomo sulla terra” (Like a Man on the Earth), sums up the criticisms made today in a press conference with Amnesty International on the treaty Italy has just ratified with Libya to control illegal migration. Documenting the accusations, were blocks of documentary footage and a series of exclusive photos of Fortress Europe — a blog dedicated to the victims of illegal immigration — and testimonies from Ethiopian migrant survivors of the violence. “Strong opposition” to the ratification of the treaty was expressed by Amnesty spokesperson, Riccardo Noury, according to whom the process leading to its signing was “characterised by a lack of transparency and negotiations whose contents were withheld from public opinion, but whose scope has today become clear: Italian complicity in controlling Libya’s borders to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean in the absence of any kind of guarantee of their rights. In short, according to the principle that ‘what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t feel’“. Which gives rise to a petition to the leaders of the Italian and of the European parliaments, to the European Commission and to UNHCR that “the violence inflicted on thousands of human beings who are arrested and deported by Libya’s police” be stopped and that “Italy’s responsibility for this situation be clarified”. In the petition, which has so far gathered 3,500 signatures, including that of Nobel prize-winner Dario Fo, an appeal is made for an international inquiry into how migratory flows are controlled following the bilateral agreements made with Italian governments since 2004, to find out what are the conditions in the Libyan detention centres. “The men are tortured and the women raped”, Segre claims, “and it is likely that Libya will continue to treat migrants in the same inhumane way”. Without considering the fact that many of these should qualify for the right of asylum under the Geneva Conventions, which Libya has not signed. Once they have been transported to the South, Segre emphasises, “they are re-sold to the traffickers for 30 dollars a head, who then take them back to Tripoli and Bengasi, where they end up in detention centres once again. This has happened to some of them 3-5 times, before they manage to get aboard a boat for a price of another 1500-3000 dollars”. They manage to pay this money with the help of family members and through distance payments. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sicily: 76 Centres for Legal Migrants to Italy
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, FEBRUARY 5 — There are 42 residential centres in Sicily which offer board and lodging to foreigners with their papers in order, with 1,687 beds; there are also 34 non-residential centres. The figures have been collected in a publication by the Central Management for documentation and statistics by the Ministry for the Interior. The document relates particularly to Centres registered in 2007, where foreigners in financial difficulty are sent for short stays by the Immigration office of the local City council. The registration does not include Centres for reception and assistance for immigrants without papers (reception centres, centres for asylum seekers, centres for identification and expulsion). The study also reveals that Catania is the province with the highest number of centres (11), followed by Trapani (7), Ragusa (6), Caltanissetta and Messina(5), Agrigento (3) and Palermo (2). 25 of the 42 residential centres are privately-run, 8 are publicly-run , and 9 are a mixture. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Another Senator Lines Up Behind ‘Fairness Doctrine’
Stabenow: ‘I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard … I feel like that’s gonna happen’
WASHINGTON — Another Democratic U.S. senator has gone on record as supporting the reinstatement of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” adding, “I feel like that’s gonna happen.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told radio host and WND columnist Bill Press yesterday when asked about whether it was time to bring back the so-called “Fairness Doctrine”: “I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else — I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves. I mean, our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency. You know, that we all have to step up and be responsible. And, I think in this case, there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place.”
Asked by Press if she could be counted on to push for hearings in the Senate this year “to bring these (radio station) owners in and hold them accountable,” she replied: “I have already had some discussions with colleagues and, you know, I feel like that’s gonna happen. Yep.”
[…]
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Bush appointee whose term runs through June, however, warned that Democrats may be adopting a stealthier approach to shutting down conservatives on talk radio.
In a speech to the Media Institute in Washington last week, Multichannel News reports, McDowell suggested there are efforts to implement the controversial policy without using the red-flagged “Fairness Doctrine” label.
“That’s just Marketing 101,” McDowell explained. “If your brand is controversial, make it a new brand.”
Instead, McDowell alleged, Democrats will try to disguise their efforts in the name of localism, diversity or network neutrality.
McDowell further suggested that the FCC may already be gearing up to enforce the “Fairness Doctrine” through community advisory boards that help determine local programming. While radio stations use the boards on a voluntary basis now, McDowell warned if the advisory panels become mandatory, “Would not such a policy be akin to a re-imposition of the Doctrine, albeit under a different name and sales pitch?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Educators: Explore Homosexuality But Not Bible
Lawsuit alleges Christians face policy discrimination
A New York school district faces a lawsuit for encouraging students to explore homosexuality while trying to prevent them from studying the Bible.
The action has been brought by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of a student identified only as A.Q. against the Lindenhurst Union Free School District near New York City.
The suit alleges the district allows and encourages homosexuality by providing special services to organizations including the Gay-Straight Alliance, Key Club, Chess Club, Fishing Club and Ski Club. It contends the district illegally has discriminated against students seeking a Bible Club, instead forcing them to apply for permission to use school facilities as an outside group.
“Christian student groups shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “The First Amendment and federal law both prohibit such actions on the basis of religion, and this has been established by years of court precedent.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Haggard: Christian Right Off Course, Needs to Change
Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard didn’t hold back when criticizing the Christian right during a recent interview, in which he accused the movement of acting ungospel-like and having the wrong understanding of human sexuality.
[…]
He pointed out that the only thing the Christian right is proud of from this past election is the passage of Proposition 8 in California — a measure that overturned a court ruling allowing same-sex marriage. Haggard believes that’s “not much to be proud of.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wisconsin Hospital Pursues Late-Term Abortion Plan
Wisconsin lawmakers are pleading with the University of Wisconsin Hospital to abandon a plan to offer second-trimester abortions.
The school announced plans recently to set up an operation to do late-term abortions in Madison, and the Associated Press notes there has been a flurry of criticism. Twenty-eight Republican senators, along with one Independent, said second-trimester abortions are “barbaric” and “kill viable babies.” Senator Glenn Grothman of West Bend calls it appalling that the university hospital would be affiliated with late-term abortions.
Wisconsin Right to Life conducted a petition drive opposing the hospital’s plans. “Thousands and thousands of petitions that have been collected over, I would say, the last ten days — just thousands of them to show that people are appalled at this plan to start performing late-term abortions in the city of Madison,” says Wisconsin Right to Life spokeswoman Susan Armacost.
She adds that 29 lawmakers have signed a request to halt the proposal, even though Democrats won the majority in the last election.
| [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Jewish Targets Listed on Muslim Website
‘Give them the Islamic message,’ demands New York-based extremist
A U.S. jihadi website has issued a series of videos targeting the New York headquarters of Chabad, a Jewish outreach movement, just two months after the group was rocked by a deadly terrorist attack in Mumbai, India.
The videos also ask viewers to “give the Islamic message” to Yeshiva University, a Manhattan-based Jewish college, as well as “Jewish Federation buildings all over the U.S.” in response to the institutions’ purported funding for Israel amid its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Islamic threats already resulted in a New York Police Department investigation and a beefed-up police presence outside the Chabad headquarters, WND has learned.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
0 comments:
Post a Comment