Don’t get your hopes up, but there’s a new cold fusion breakthrough story tonight. Previous disappointments make me approach this one warily.In other news, it looks like a bailout of the US newspaper industry may be in the works. Stay tuned…
Thanks to Abu Elvis, Aeneas, C. Cantoni, CB, Conservative Swede, Furor Teutonicus, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Holger Danske, Insubria, JD, KGS, TB, The Observer, VH, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Bahrain: Alcohol Ban Threaten Local Business
(ANSAmed) — ROME, 24 MARCH — The leisure sector has been hit hard by the financial crisis, and a proposed government ban on alcohol would be the death knell for Bahrain’s restaurant industries, restaurateurs said Tuesday in advance of a vote on the proposal next week. As reported by Al Arabiya newsite, the proposed ban on alcohol in free-standing restaurants, those not attached to hotels, would decimate revenues, causing job losses and a decline in tourism, industry leaders told the Gulf Daily New. The ban is the latest in a series of similar proposals in the Muslim country, including barring alcohol sales in Bahrain’s international airports and its national airline Gulf Air. Last year liberals and Islamists in parliament joined forces to issue a resolution banning the sale of alcohol and closing night clubs throughout the country. Hussein Al Araibi, a general manager at the Meat Company, predicted revenues could decline as much as 50 to 60 percent and vowed to demand compensation if the ban is enacted. There is no official statistics on alcohol contribution to the national economy, but experts have said that the business generates about USD 52 million annually. If passed by Parliament, the ban would then go to the Shura Council, similar to a Senate, and the cabinet prior to becooming a law. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Crisis and Piracy Make Suez Canal Revenue Drop 25%
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, March 24 — Suez Canal revenue and traffic dropped almost 25 percent in February as the world economic crisis continued to bite, a Canal Authority official said on Tuesday. Canal revenue fell to USD 302 million from USD 408 million in February 2008 and the number of boats dropped to 868 from 1,272, the official said. The volume of trade passing through the vital shipping route also took a hit, dropping to 53 million tons in February from 73 million tons in the same period last year.. The Canal Authority decided at the start of the year not to increase tariffs due to uncertainty in the shipping industry in the light of the piracy problem in the Gulf of Aden and the worldwide credit crunch. Arms manufacturers in particular have rerouted their shipping round the Cape of Good Hope in recent months to avoid pirates preying on vessels en route between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. The canal is Egypt’s third-largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers. The government last year raised more than USD 5 billion from ships passing through the canal. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘I’m Having a Very Good Crisis,’ Says Soros as Hedge Fund Managers Make Billions Off Recession
A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been ‘stimulating’ and the culmination of his life’s work.
George Soros, who predicted the global financial crisis twice before, was one of the few people to anticipate and prepare for the current economic collapse.
Mr Soros said his prediction meant he was better able to brace his Quantum investment fund against the gloabal storm.
But other investors failed to take notice of his prediction and his decision to come out of retirement in 2007 to manage the fund made him $US2.9 billion.
And while the financial crisis continued to deepen across the globe, the 78-year-old still managed to make $1.1 billion last year.
‘It is, in a way, the culminating point of my life’s work,’ he told national newspaper The Australian.
Soros is one of 25, top hedge fund managers from across Wall Street who have defied the credit crunch crisis to reap a total of $11.6billion (£7.9bn) last year.
The managers made their profit by trading above the pain in the markets, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha Magazine.
Former maths professor James H. Simons, who has made billions in hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, earned $2.5 billion running computer-driven trading strategies.
And John A. Paulson, who made his fortune by betting against the housing market, came in second earning $2 billion.
The managers made the profit in a year when losses were recorded at two of every three hedge funds and when hedge funds lost an average of 18 percent, according to the New York Times.
Two of the three managers who tied for ninth place, at $250 million, are based in Britain and include David Harding of Winton Capital and Alan Howard of Brevan Howard Asset Management.
Another Brevan Howard employee Christopher Rokos also made the list.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Real-Estate: Spain, 70% Agencies Closed Due to Crisis
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 24 — The real-estate crisis in Spain has led to the closing of 70% of agencies between 2006 — the year of the boom — and today. The outlook for the coming months is even worse. Only 25 thousand agencies of the original 80 thousand active in 2006 have survived. The closing of the rest has led to the loss of around 180,000 jobs. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Another Communist Terrorist to be Free
Another one of Bill Ayers’ and Bernardine Dohrn’s terrorist comrades is being released on the streets of America. Sara Jane Olson, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an off-shoot of the Weather Underground, has served only seven years for involvement in the murder of a bank customer and the attempted murder of Los Angeles police officers by bombing their cars.
(..)
Ayers and Dohrn, leading members of the Weather Underground, had served as supporters of the “Sara Olson Defense Fund Committee,” along with such luminaries as Keith Ellison, now a Democratic member of Congress from Minnesota. Olson was a fugitive for about 25 years until in 1999 she was discovered and apprehended and put on trial for her crimes. She pleaded guilty in 2002 to murdering a bank customer, Myrna Opsahl in 1975, and planting bombs intended to kill police. Opsahl was a 42-year-old mother of four who was trying to deposit money from a church collection.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gun Carry Law Shut Down Over Environmental Impact
Using holsters instead of locked cases demands full review, says federal judge
A federal judge ruled there must be a full review of the possible environmental impact of allowing citizens on national properties to carry concealed guns in holsters rather than locked cases.
[…]
David Codrea, who writes on gun issues for the Examiner.com, conended the judge was stretching the logic in the case.
“Did we not just have a series of volcanic explosions [in Alaska]?” he asked. “Look at the environmental impacts of the [natural] chemical pots in Yellowstone. Look at the number of deer and wildlife run down each year by vehicles.
“I guess I’m asking where was the environmental impact study then?” he said.
He said the possible discharge of a bullet from someone using a gun in a defensive scenario would have such a small impact as to be unmeasurable.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Justice, Supremes Confirm Getting Eligibility Challenge
Taitz documents demanding proof of Obama’s birthplace to be reviewed
The U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Justice Department today confirmed that documentation challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president has arrived and soon will be evaluated.
Confirmation came from DefendOurFreedoms.us, the foundation through which California attorney Orly Taitz has been working on a number of cases that raise questions over Obama’s birth location, and therefore his qualifications to be president under the Constitution’s demand that the office be occupied only by a “natural born” citizen.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Patriot Rocker Revives Call to ‘take America Back’
Steve Vaus re-records anthem that got him blacklisted in 1992
Steve Vaus, whose patriotic anthem “We Must Take America Back” got him blacklisted by the recording industry 17 years ago, has re-recorded the song with updated lyrics for 2009 — and, this time, he believes, not even a radio station boycott can silence his haunting and inspirational track.
[…]
…Thank goodness in this age of instant Internet downloads there’s no record company or media consortium that can block it.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
President Obama Failed to Sell His Budget Plans to the American People
Now you know why President Obama went on Jay Leno. It’s a lot more fun for him, and a lot easier to get applause, when people are laughing and having fun.
There were no yuks Tuesday night, and by my count, his first big smile came 46 minutes into a very sober press conference. It’s no coincidence that he also suffered a setback to his aim of selling the public on the idea that the economy depends on his budget being passed intact.
“The budget is inseparable from this recovery,” he said, putting his chips on a radical spending, borrowing and tax plan.
It’s a bad bet, one he won’t win — and shouldn’t win.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Quiet Muslim-Only Town in N.Y. Founded by Alleged Terrorist
Islamberg was founded in 1980 by Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, a Pakistani cleric who purchased a 70-acre plot and invited followers, mostly Muslim converts living in New York City, to settle there.
[…]
Gilani has told his followers that “Zionist plotters” plan to rule the world, and he encourates them to leave America’s cities and avoid the “decadence of a godless society.” Gilani is the man American reporter Daniel Pearl was trying to interview in Pakistan when he was kidnapped and beheaded. The Sheikh was taken into custody and later released by Pakistani authorities; he denies any involvement in Pearl’s murder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists in Possible Cold Fusion Breakthrough
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Researchers at a US Navy laboratory have unveiled what they say is “significant” evidence of cold fusion, a potential energy source that has many skeptics in the scientific community.
The scientists on Monday described what they called the first clear visual evidence that low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR), or cold fusion devices can produce neutrons, subatomic particles that scientists say are indicative of nuclear reactions.
“Our finding is very significant,” said analytical chemist Pamela Mosier-Boss of the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) in San Diego, California.
“To our knowledge, this is the first scientific report of the production of highly energetic neutrons from a LENR device,” added the study’s co-author in a statement.
The study’s results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The city is also the site of an infamous presentation on cold fusion 20 years ago by Martin Fleishmann and Stanley Pons that sent shockwaves across the world.
Despite their claim to cold fusion discovery, the Fleishmann-Pons study soon fell into discredit after other researchers were unable to reproduce the results.
Scientists have been working for years to produce cold fusion reactions, a potentially cheap, limitless and environmentally-clean source of energy.
Paul Padley, a physicist at Rice University who reviewed Mosier-Boss’s published work, said the study did not provide a plausible explanation of how cold fusion could take place in the conditions described.
“It fails to provide a theoretical rationale to explain how fusion could occur at room temperatures. And in its analysis, the research paper fails to exclude other sources for the production of neutrons,” he told the Houston Chronicle.
“The whole point of fusion is, you?re bringing things of like charge together. As we all know, like things repel, and you have to overcome that repulsion somehow.”
But Steven Krivit, editor of the New Energy Times, said the study was “big” and could open a new scientific field.
The neutrons produced in the experiments “may not be caused by fusion but perhaps some new, unknown nuclear process,” added Krivit, who has monitored cold fusion studies for the past 20 years.
“We’re talking about a new field of science that’s a hybrid between chemistry and physics.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Gregg Criticizes ‘Banana Republic’ Budget Proposal
The ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee warned on Monday that President Obama’s budget proposal will lead to unsustainable debt levels and send the country on a fiscal path resembling that of a “banana republic.”
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered a grim assessment of the $3.6 trillion proposal following a report over the weekend that found the budget plan would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade.
“The president’s budget spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much. … I don’t think I’ve witnessed this level of unease about a budget certainly in the time that I’ve been here,” McConnell said, calling the plan a “tough sell” for centrist Democrats.
“We can’t afford this,” Gregg said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tariq Ramadan Unwelcome: Obama Lawyer
WASHINGTON — Although it has made a break with many of George Bush’s controversial, self-declared war on terror policies and has promised to reach out to Muslims, the Obama administration has decided to back a Bush decision to deny one of Europe’s leading Muslim intellectuals entry.
“Consular decisions are not subject to litigation,” Assistant US Attorney David Jones told the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
He asked the court to uphold a decision to bar Tariq Ramadan, an Oxford University professor, from entering the country.
Jones argued that if the court questioned a consular officer’s decision to bar Ramadan, this would leave the administration in a “quagmire” with others seeking such reversals.
When one of the judges asked how high the review of Ramadan’s case has gone within the Obama administration, Jones said it was “upwards in the State Department.”
Ramadan was invited to teach at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 but the Bush government revoked his visa, citing a statute that applies to those who have “endorsed or espoused” terrorism.
In 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the American Academy of Religion, the American Association of University Professors and PEN American Center challenging the decision.
The administration then abandoned its claim Ramadan had endorsed terrorism, linking the ban to $1,336 he donated between 1998 and 2002 to a Swiss charity the US blacklisted in 2003.
A Swiss citizen of Egyptian origin, Ramadan is one of Europe’s leading Muslim thinkers and has often condemned terrorism and extremism.
The author of 20 books and 700 articles on Islam, he was named by Time magazine as one of 100 innovators of the 21st century for his work on creating an independent European Islam.
His reputation in British and American academic circles is one of a moderate expert on Muslim affairs.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Bill Seeks to Rescue Faltering Newspapers
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.
“This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat,” said Senator Benjamin Cardin.
A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.
Cardin’s Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.
Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.
Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.
Because newspaper profits have been falling in recent years, “no substantial loss of federal revenue” was expected under the legislation, Cardin’s office said in a statement.
Cardin’s office said his bill was aimed at preserving local and community newspapers, not conglomerates which may also own radio and TV stations. His bill would also let a non-profit buy newspapers owned by a conglomerate.
“We are losing our newspaper industry,” Cardin said. “The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy.
Newspaper subscriptions and advertising have shrunk dramatically in the past few years as Americans have turned more and more to the Internet or television for information.
In recent months, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Baltimore Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle have ceased daily publication or announced that they may have to stop publishing.
In December the Tribune Company, which owns a number of newspapers including The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times filed for bankruptcy protection.
Two newspaper chains, Gannett Co Inc and Advance Publications, on Monday announced employee furloughs. It will be the second furlough this year at Gannett.
| [Return to headlines] |
Wyoming: Don’t Mess With U.S. Constitution
Resolution opposes convention to debate ‘our most precious rights’
The state of Wyoming has adopted a resolution to inform Washington bureaucrats and bureaucracies of its opposition to any plans to hold a Constitutional Convention that would recommend changes or alterations to the nation’s founding document.
House Enrolled Joint Resolution 3 was signed recently by Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Astrid Lindgren Prize to Palestinian Education Group
A Palestinian education centre’s work to promote reading in the West Bank and Gaza, has earned it a Swedish literature award named for famed children’s book author Astrid Lindgren.
The Ramallah-based Tamer Institute will receive the annual Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria, along with the cheque for five million kronor ($620,000) at a ceremony in Stockholm on June 2.
“With perseverance, audacity and resourcefulness, the Tamer Institute has for two decades stimulated Palestinian children’s and young adults’ love of reading and their creativity,” said the memorial fund that awards the prize named after the creator of the children’s character Pippi Longstocking.
“In the spirit of Astrid Lindgren, the Tamer Institute acknowledges the power of words and the strength of books, stories and imagination as important keys to self-esteem, tolerance and the courage to face life.”
The institute, a non-profit and non-governmental organization, was created in 1989 during the first Palestinian uprising with the aim of promoting reading and writing and the development of children’s literature among Palestinians.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was created by the Swedish government after Lindgren’s death in January 2002, and claims today to be the world’s largest children’s and young people’s literary award.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
British Gov’t at Odds With Country’s Largest Islamic Group
(CNSNews.com) — The British government has suspended its engagement with the country’s leading Islamic umbrella group, following reports that a senior leader signed a declaration in support of “jihad” against Israel and appeared to condone attacks on British troops.
The rift threatens to deepen over the launch Tuesday of an updated government counter-terror strategy, which the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) says could have the effect of labeling the majority of British Muslims as extremists.
Leaked drafts of the strategy suggest a greater focus on how to deal with citizens who are not necessarily breaking the law but are actively opposed to what are considered to be Britain’s “shared values” such as democracy and tolerance. Advocates of shari’a, those who promote the concept of an Islamic caliphate, and supporters of jihad anywhere in the world could fall within that group.
Islamic civic and religious figures at the weekend held an MDB-convened meeting to discuss the issue, and in a statement released afterwards expressed “alarm that the government may be in danger of adopting misguided notions of extremism.”
“A definition of ‘extremism’ that would classify the overwhelming majority of loyal and law abiding British citizens as extremists would be of no value in our common fight against terrorism,” it said.
One prominent Muslim who would likely fall on the wrong side of such a definition of “extremist” is Dr. Daud Abdullah, the MCB’s deputy director-general.
Abdullah also sits on a government-funded advisory board established to train Islamic clerics and counter the radicalization of Muslims in British mosques.
| — Hat tip: CB | [Return to headlines] |
Brothers Prove They Are the Ultimate Role Models by Building World’s Biggest Train Set
Twin brothers are on track to building the world’s most elaborate train set after spending a mammoth nine years building their model toy.
Gerrit and Frederik Braun have created a ‘miniatur wunderland’, which has six miles of track and carries more than 700 trains.
But the 41-year-old German brothers haven’t finished their project yet and plan to add another seven miles of track, covering 1,800 square metres.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Power Vacuum Looms as Czech Government Falls
To say that the EU is in on the brink of another crisis as a result of the fall of the Czech government would be an exaggeration.
But the defeat suffered this week in Prague comes at an awkward time for both the European Union and the Czechs who hold the EU’s rotating presidency.
While the long-term thrust of EU policy is not in question, the Czechs must now guide the bloc with a caretaker government in the midst of global financial crisis. Moreover, the Czech government’s loss of legitimacy could lead to a damaging power struggle within the 27-member bloc.
The center-right government’s opponents have made clear that it will be allowed to serve out its EU mandate in a caretaker capacity, with day-to-day EU business going on as usual and Czechs chairing regular meetings in Brussels whose agendas have been determined long in advance.
Prime Minister Miroslav Topolanek emphasized continuity when he addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg less than 24 hours after the no-confidence vote, saying the event would have “no impact” on the EU Presidency.
The Czech government’s fall does not mark the first time a sitting EU presidency has undergone a change of government. Denmark in 1993 and Italy in 1996 underwent similar tests, without either instance having any lasting effect on the EU.
Executive Vacuum?
But the loss of legitimacy suffered by the Czech government, while not an immediate threat to the way the EU functions or the goals it pursues, will inevitably stoke the embers of long-smoldering tensions.
Larger countries are always eager for opportunities to advance and cement their influence on EU decisions. Old member states largely remain suspicious of the new, and there’s an ongoing contest of power pitting advocates of an outreach to the south against those favoring closer ties with eastern neighbors.
Francois Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, tells RFE/RL that the Czech government’s woes could result in a shift in EU decision-making to closer-knit circles of large countries and structures such as the 16 countries who have adopted the euro as their common currency.
| — Hat tip: Aeneas | [Return to headlines] |
Hazel Blears Cuts Ties to Muslim Council of Britain After it Refuses to Condemn Controversial Senior Member
Ministers have severed links with Britain’s leading Muslim group in a blazing row over extremism.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is angry that the Muslim Council of Britain has refused to condemn a senior member who signed a public declaration in support of Hamas.
The document, signed by the council’s deputy secretary-general Daud Abdullah, also seemingly advocated attacks on the Navy if it tried to stop arms intended for Hamas being smuggled into Gaza.
Mrs Blears has said that until the MCB — which was once considered the Muslim group closest to Labour — takes a firm stance against Dr Abdullah, relations with the Government will be suspended.
In response, the MCB said it was ‘appalled by the highhanded and condescending action’ of Mrs Blears.
Yesterday, the council — which has received at least £150,000 in Whitehall grants — released a provocative statement in response to the Government’s anti-terror strategy, which threatens a tougher line against groups which promote extremist views.
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the MCB, said: ‘The Government’s new strategy document rightly insists that the rule of law will be upheld at all times in the fight against terrorism.
‘It also says the new strategy ‘will tackle the causes as well as symptoms of terrorism’.
‘However, earlier this year, for some reason, the Government could not bring itself to describe the barbaric Israeli bombardment of Gaza as actions constituting a war crime.
The Government must be more consistent if we are to successfully counter the terror threat.’
Labour’s relationship with the MCB — which acted as a key adviser to Tony Blair in the wake of the July 7 attacks — has lurched between being very close and frosty in recent years. In 2006, ministers decided to distance themselves from the group in frustration at the MCB’s refusal to attend Holocaust Memorial Day.
But after agreeing to drop their opposition, it was welcomed back into the fold a year later. This January, however, tensions again exploded when the MCB launched another boycott against the memorial day in protest at the Israeli action in Gaza…
| — Hat tip: Furor Teutonicus | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Five Arrested for “Bomb-Making” Plans
Catania, 25 March (AKI) — Italy’s telecommunications police have arrested five people in the southern city of Catania for distributing bomb-making instructions on Internet websites.
The probe originated during a routine monitoring of Internet services by telecommunications police, who found websites alleged to have been illegally distributing information for the building and use of explosive devices.
During the probe, police said they found audiovisual manuals for the building of rudimentary explosive devices, ‘war’ weapons, chemicals, dangerous bacteriological agents and other lethal devices.
The investigations were carried out with assistance from Italy’s Division of General Investigations and Special Operations (Digos) charged with investigating terrorism and organised crime.
The probe extended from the north to the south of Italy and several cities including Rome, Bergamo, Terni and Salerno.
During the searches, lethal and non-lethal ammunition was seized, including two rifles and seven handguns as well as extensive information about how to build explosives and how to tamper with telephone booths.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the 13 Most Powerful Muslim Women in Britain
More Muslim women than ever are in leading positions in society, a fact that is at worst misrepresented and at best under-reported. Britain’s first Muslim Women Power List aims to change all that and recognise the women who are making a difference
There are more than 100,000 Muslim women currently working in Britain, yet many feel misunderstood and misrepresented. These women share the ambitions and challenges of all working women: to succeed at a good job and often to combine marriage and motherhood with a fulfilling career. Yet searching for positive role models can be unrewarding work, and there has not, until now, been a professional social network for working Muslim women.
With these issues in mind, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), in association with The Times and Emel magazine, has published the first annual Muslim Women Power List, a celebration of those who are on the way to, or have already reached, the top of their chosen field. Any British Muslim over the age of 18 could apply or be nominated. The aim was to create a network of women who could benefit from each other’s experiences in the workplace; women who have shown strong leadership and made a positive difference to their own and others’ work. Working women are a small percentage of the adult female Muslim population of 768,000, so the value of positive role models is all-important.
“There aren’t many groups I can think of who are more stereotyped, yet less understood by the wider community, than working Muslim women,” says Trevor Phillips, EHRC chairman. “I hope this list will make the rest of Britain sit up and take note — many members of the Muslim community are making a valuable economic and social contribution to our future.”
What the list also shows is that the idea of a one-size-fits-all “Muslim community”, or a commonality of experience, is a myth. Some women have supportive families who encouraged their aspirations; others have parents who felt strongly that they should leave school at 16 and get married. Some choose to wear a headscarf, some don’t; some attend mosque, others consider their Muslim identity to be more about the way they conduct themselves. Some talk about “the Muslim community”, others feel there is no such thing. And, while some remain conflicted about being lumped together as “Muslim women”, all agree that it’s worth it if it highlights and celebrates the fact that not all Muslim women are, as one put it, “oppressed, repressed and depressed”, but, rather, active and successful in business and society…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Confuses Chirac With Sarkozy, France Not Amused
Oh no! Obama sent a letter to Chirac, saying he looks forward to working with him the next four years. Le Figaro, French newspaper is horrified at the faux pas. Doesn’t Obama ever consult his staff before acting? Sarkozy is the President there! It’s like Sarko writing to George Bush and saying he looks forward to working with him. Chirac is the FORMER president.
Here is a translation of the letter in Le Figaro…
| — Hat tip: Conservative Swede | [Return to headlines] |
Queen Goes to the Bank of England for a Chat
The Queen has held an audience with the governor of the Bank of England for the first time in her reign, Buckingham Palace has said.
Mervyn King held private talks with the Queen at her London residence as the annual rate of inflation showed a shock rise in February.
The Consumer Prices Index rose unexpectedly, increasing from 3% in January to 3.2%, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
It is not known what was discussed during the audience but it is likely that the state of the British economy formed the key part of the talks.
The Queen holds audiences with a range of high-ranking officials, from weekly meetings with the Prime Minister to chiefs of armed forces and others from national organisations.
After an official photograph to record the audience, the Queen and Mr King held their talks in private with no officials or advisers present.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Space: Italian and Israeli Space Agencies Sign Deal
(ANSAmed) — ROMA, MARCH 20 — Italy and Israel have started direct cooperation in the space sector. Special commissioner of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Enrico Saggese and president of the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) Isaac Ben-Israel have signed the “Joint declaration for increased space cooperation for peaceful purposes” in Rome today. The main goals of the agreement are observations of the Earth using radar satellites and hyper-spectral technologies and closer scientific and industrial collaboration in the space sector. “It’s a historic agreement, the first of its kind between the two countries” said Saggese “and its goal is to cooperate to achieve joint missions”. The ASI commissioner added that it was time for an agreement on a government level since Italian and Israeli industry started cooperating some time ago. “As Mediterranean ‘neighbours’“, said Ben-Israel, “we share the same vision on the objectives of space research and the use of its results”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Euthanasia by the Back Door’: How Doctors Give 2,500 Patients Drugs to Accelerate Their Death Every Year
Some 2,500 patients a year are given drugs to accelerate their death in what critics claim is euthanasia by the back door.
A survey has found that the lives of one in 200 terminally-ill patients are ended in this way. Of that number, at least 10 per cent die up to a week earlier than they would have.
More than 80,000 are subjected to deep sedation, where they slip into a drug-induced coma before dying.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Exit Winston Churchill, Enter Twitter … Yes, It’s the New Primary School Curriculum
[Comments from JD: Keep the people dumbed down and occupied in mindless entertainment…it’s a “Brave New World”.]
Children will no longer study the Second World War and Queen Victoria, but instead learn about Twitter and blogging under radical plans to overhaul primary school teaching.
The new draft curriculum commissioned by the Government claims that pupils can do without learning about the battle against Nazism and the rise and fall of the British Empire.
In a move which will horrify many parents, it would see children focus on internet tools such as Wikipedia and podcasting, as well as innovations such as blogging and Twitter, which allows users to post instant minute-by-minute updates about their lives.
[…]
The proposals to shake-up primary school teaching were drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, Britain’s former schools inspector, and will be published next month.
In the leaked copy seen by the Guardian newspaper, he lays out plans to replace the traditional 13 subjects with just six.
It would completely overhaul the education of five- to 11-year-olds, stripping away hundreds of criteria for their knowledge of history, geography, language and science, and instead give teachers would be given unprecedented freedom over which areas they cover.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Spy Database to Monitor Your Every Move on Facebook and Myspace
Every contact made on Facebook and MySpace will be monitored and recorded on a massive spy database in a new anti-terrorism plan.
The Home Office today insisted that watching who contacted whom was essential for tackling terrorism and organised crime. MySpace
But the proposal, coming on top of plans to store information about every phone call, email, and internet visit made in the UK, provoked outrage from civil liberties campaigners, with one privacy group branding it ‘unspeakably offensive’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sacked Paedophile Demands Damages From Police Who Told Employers of Sex Abuse Record
‘A dangerous’ paedophile is claiming damages from the police after they told his employer about his conviction for molesting a three-year-old boy.
The man, named only as W, claims his basic human rights were breached by Northumbria Police in late 2007 when they disclosed details of his previous offence.
[…]
The Crown Prosecution Service chose not to proceed to court with his daughter’s claims — but not before W, who is believed to be receiving legal aid, was sacked.
As a result he is now seeking damages for what he claims was a violation of his privacy.
[…]
But lawyers for the police force defended their decision, describing the man as a ‘high-risk sexual offender’ from whom the public needed protecting amid fears that he could have contact with children through his work.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: the Morning-After Text: Girls of 11 Will be Able to Send School Nurse a Message Asking for Contraceptive Pills
Girls as young as 11 will be able to ask for the morning-after pill by text message as part of plans to halt the rise in teenage pregnancies.
From July, girls at secondary schools will be able to text requests for emergency contraception if they have had unprotected sex, or if they fear condoms or other forms of protection have failed.
The scheme, in Oxfordshire, has been introduced after a jump of almost 10 per cent in the number of girls aged 18 and under getting pregnant in the county.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK-Bound Migrants Build First ‘Mini-Sangatte’ in Calais — and It’s a Mosque
Britain-bound illegal migrants have been given the equipment to start building their own ‘mini-Sangatte’ structures in Calais — and the first is a mosque.
The dramatic development saw the sacred place of worship erected on a stretch of wasteland nicknamed ‘The Jungle’ by the main port in the French town.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Croatia: Conference Postponed, Adhesion Vetoed by Slovenia
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, MARCH 24 — Czech PM Topolanek, the current EU president, has today postponed the intergovernmental conference on the progression of Croatian’s adhesion to the EU by a month due to the Slovenia’s veto due to litigation regarding the maritime border. The conference had been to start Friday. In a statement from the presidency, quoted by Croatian press, hope was expressed that the reasons for the block could be overcome between now and April 24 the new date for the conference. At the end of December, Ljubljana used its veto at the opening or the closing of the 11 contractual chapters, a third of the community package which is part of the adhesion negotiations, because it maintains that in the documents presented by Zagreb, the border in the Gulf of Piran in the North Adriatic, is jeopardised. Since then, the two countries have been trying to find a way out with the help of Brussels, perhaps with the mediation of the ex-president of Finland, Marti Ahtisaari, but for now no satisfactory agreement has been reached, not even in regard to the method of possible mediation. Zagreb has insisted on the theory that it is a bilateral issue that cannot hamper the country’s path towards the adhesion plan. Due to the veto, it seems increasingly unlikely that Croatia will complete negotiations before the end of this year in order to enter the EU in 2010 or 2011. A statement from the Croatian Foreign Ministry received by ANSA has repeated “Croatia’s commitment to reforms and the adjustment of the legal system to European norms in order to achieve adhesion in the anticipated timescale”, despite the slowdown of recent months. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Press: Morocco Announces End to Gay Tolerance
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 24 — Morocco announces the end of tolerance with regard to homosexuality, is the title of the full page article in today’s El Pais, referring to the initiative which the Ministry for the interior in Morocco is using to ‘confront all actions which go against religious and moral values, within the framework of the law”. An article with the headline in red on the front page of magazine Al Michaal triggered the reaction by the government in Rabat; in it a gay Moroccan couple tell the story of their wedding, reciting a prayer which comes before the reading from the Koran. The formula is very common in Morocco, between heterosexual couples as well, but it does not mean that the union is legal. In a message quoted by El Pais, the Ministry for the interior registered “voices in the media which are trying to make a case for ignoble behaviour which is a provocation to national public opinion and which are against the moral values and teachings of our society”. The government will carry act against these people “within the framework of current laws”. Homosexuality is punishable in Morocco from six months to three years imprisonment, even though courts do not usually pass sentences for this kind of crime. Nevertheless arrests of gays are commonly made as a ‘deterrent”. El Pais notes that “while several publications are indulgent towards Moroccan gays, the main body of the press is asking for a strong hand against perverts”. Spain’s ambassador in Rabat, Luis Planas, recently became involved in the controversy, when he was photographed with the secretary of Colegas, a Spanish association which defends the rights of gays and lesbians, and with Bargachi, the coordinator of Kifkif (from equal to equal), an association which supports gays in Morocco. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Education: EU-Italy Support to Gaza School to be Launched
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 20 — In collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Education, EducAid, an italian NGO and the Remedial Education Center (REC) have launched a three-year project to support six schools in the northern Gaza Strip in taking care of disabled children and children with learning difficulties. The project is co-funded by the European Union, Regione Emilia Romagna, and the Italian Municipalities of Rimini, Ravenna and Riccione and Province of Rimini. The project will provide training for teachers and schools to deliver special educational support to vulnerable children — who have often been excluded from other public schools — and activities targeting the children themselves. The project will bring direct benefits to around 6,000 children, of whom 60 with special needs, children attending primary schools in the Municipalities of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, 360 governmental teachers, 36 directors of governmental schools, and 450 parents. The European Union is contributing 400.000 euro to the project, the Regione Emilia Romagna is providing 300.000 euro, and the Italian municipalities of Rimini, Riccione and Ravenna are providing 30.000 euro.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Falk: Cast Lead Not Legally Justified
UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk charged Tuesday that Israel’s military incursion into Gaza “was not legally justified given the circumstances and diplomatic alternatives available, and was potentially a crime against peace.”
He made the comment as he presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, claiming that the IDF’s 22-day operation in January appeared to be “a war crime of the greatest magnitude.”
Falk argued further that Palestinian rocket fire into Israel had been mostly a retaliatory act.
In response, Israel Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Roni Leshno-Yaar, said that Falk’s defense of what he called in the report the “Palestinian right of resistance” constituted “poorly veiled” support for terrorism against Israeli citizens
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Under Attack for Using ‘Unlawful’ Shells in Gaza
Jerusalem, 25 March (AKI) — International group Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of unlawfully firing white phosphorous shells at densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip during its recent military campaign. In a report released on Wednesday entitled “Rain of Fire: Israel’s unlawful use of white phosphorous in Gaza”, the organisation says Israel’s action was indiscriminate and constituted a war crime.
The 71-page report includes witness accounts about the effects that white phosphorous munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza.
It also supports the findings of a previous report by rights group Amnesty International. In January it said its delegates had found indisputable evidence of widespread use of phosphorous in densely populated residential areas on a visit to Gaza.
Human Rights Watch researchers in Gaza immediately after the hostilities ended in January said they found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing the substance on city streets, apartment roofs, and at a United Nations school.
The report also presented ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government.
White phosphorous is primarily used to obscure military operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It can also be used as an incendiary weapon.
“In Gaza, the Israeli military didn’t just use white phosphorous in open areas as a screen for its troops,” said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report..
“It fired white phosphorous repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren’t in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died.”
The report documents a pattern or policy of white phosphorous use that Human Rights Watch says must have required the approval of senior military officers.
“For the needless civilian deaths caused by white phosphorous, senior commanders should be held to account,” Abrahams said.
On 1 February, Human Rights Watch submitted detailed questions to the Israel Defense Forces about its white phosphorous use in Gaza.
HRW said that the IDF did not provide a response to its latest findings, citing an internal inquiry being conducted by the Southern Command.
The IDF’s use of phosphorous shells provoked widespread criticism both in Israel and the international media. The army appointed Colonel Shai Alkalai, an artillery officer, to investigate the issue.
More than 1,330 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the three-week Israeli offensive that ended in January.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Officials Express “Concern” for Christians in Gaza
Vatican City, 25 March (AKI) — The Vatican on Wednesday expressed “profound concern” about the position of Christians in the Middle East after the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip. In a statement, the Vatican said two of its senior officials, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri and Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio sent a letter to bishops around the world, asking them to contribute to a collection for the Holy Land, which includes Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In the letter, the two officials expressed the church’s “profound concern” for the position of Christians, particularly following the conflict in Gaza.
They also stressed how Pope Benedict XVI “constantly comforts Christians, and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, with special words and gestures, coupled with his desire to make a pilgrimage in the historical footsteps of Jesus”.
“The wounds opened by violence make the problem of emigration more acute, inexorably depriving the Christian minority of its best resources for the future,” the letter said.
“The land that was the cradle of Christianity risks ending up without Christians”.
More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed and another 5,400 were injured during Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip during December and January.
Large areas of the coastal strip were destroyed and aid agencies including the United Nations say that many people have been left without adequate shelter, food and water.
Sandri and Veglio also said Christians and other inhabitants of vast areas of the Middle East have long aspired to peace and tranquillity which are now under threat.
The pope is due to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on his first official visit from 8 to 15 May.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Gulf: Single Currency Delayed Beyond 2010, Officials
(ANSAmed) — ROMA, 24 MAR — The 2010 deadline for Gulf Arab single currency will be extended and a new timetable set, senior Gulf officials said today, in the first official recognition that monetary union plans would be delayed. As reported by daily Asharq-Alawsat newspaper, Naser al-Kaud, deputy assistant secretary-general of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, told a conference of bankers on Tuesday that a new timetable should be set by the group’s monetary council. Another GCC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told reporters that the deadline would be extended. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Space Program Falls to Earth
The Omid satellite will crash in the next few days after only a few weeks in orbit.
Iran made a lot of fuss about its so-called “homegrown” Omid (Hope) satellite, launched during the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. Now it looks like it’s going to crash back to earth.
A few days ago, Iran’s space officials stated in a surprise announcement that the satellite will be ending its “successful” mission around March 25. What they meant to say is that their satellite has gone rogue and cannot be controlled anymore…
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Could Use Ballistic Missiles Against Iran — Report
JERUSALEM, March 17 (Reuters) — Ballistic missiles could be Israel’s weapon of choice against Iranian nuclear facilities if it decides on a pre-emptive attack and deems air strikes too risky, according to a report by a Washington think-tank.
Israel is widely assumed to have Jericho missiles capable of hitting Iran with an accuracy of a few dozen metres (yards) from target. Such a capability would be free of warplanes’ main drawbacks — limits on fuel and ordnance, and perils to pilots.
Extrapolating from analyst assessments that the most advanced Jerichos carry 750 kg (1,650 lb) conventional warheads, Abdullah Toukan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said 42 missiles would be enough to “severely damage or demolish” Iran’s core nuclear sites at Natanz, Esfahan and Arak.
“If the Jericho III is fully developed and its accuracy is quite high then this scenario could look much more feasible than using combat aircraft,” he said in the March 14 report, titled “Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Development Facilities”.
Israel, whose jets bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981 and mounted a similar sortie over Syria in 2007, has hinted that it could forcibly deny Iran the means to make an atomic bomb.
But many experts believe the Iranian sites are too distant, dispersed and protected for Israel’s warplanes to take on alone.
Israel neither confirms nor denies having Jerichos, as part of an “ambiguity” policy veiling its own assumed atomic arsenal.
Sam Gardiner, a retired U.S. air force colonel who runs war games for various government agencies in Washington, cast doubt on the usefulness of ballistic missiles against Iran, noting, for example, the robust fortification at Natanz.
This, he said, would required that attackers “burrow” into the targets using multiple, precision-guided bombs dropped by plane: “The American conclusion is that the only way to get deep enough is to put a second warhead into the hole of the first.”
Loath to see further destabilisation of a combustible region, the Obama administration has championed engaging Iran diplomatically. Some U.S. officials have signalled unhappiness at the idea of Israel going it alone against its arch-foe.
REPRISALS
Toukan, whose 114-page report frowns on the prospect of unilateral Israeli action, said a Jericho salvo could draw an Iranian counter-attack with Shehab missiles. Other reprisal scenarios include Iran choking off oil exports, hitting U.S. Gulf assets, or ordering proxy attacks on Jewish targets abroad.
Some Israeli experts have been dismissive of the Shehab threat, citing intelligence assessments that Iran has deployed fewer than 100 of the missiles and that, if fired, most would be destroyed in mid-flight by Israel’s Arrow II interceptor.
“Under such circumstances, we would expect little more than a repeat of the Gulf war,” said one ex-general, referring to Iraq’s firing of 40 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 conflict. Those attacks inflicted damage but few casualties.
The Arrow II also provides some protection for Jordan, an Arab neighbour of Israel and which Toukan saw becoming “Ground Zero if a ballistic missile exchange takes place”.
He noted that any Jericho strikes on Iran — which has denied seeking nuclear weapons but vowed to retaliate if attacked — would be complicated should Tehran obtain the most sophisticated version of Russia’s S-300 air-defence system, which can tackle ballistic missiles as well as invading planes.
Israel could face a further difficulty in mounting a sneak Jericho attack because its strategic air bases are located near population centres. The unannounced test launch of what was believed to be a Jericho III outside Tel Aviv last year became public knowledge within minutes.
But that may be the extent of Iran’s forewarning. According to an Israeli defence consultant, only the United States and Russia have put up satellites capable of spotting ballistic missile launches in real time, “and it’s highly unlikely that the Iranians would get access to that information”.
The consultant, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, played down the notion of ballistic missiles being used for conventional attacks:
“You look at any major Western military, and you’ll see that such strikes are the purview of manned warplanes, while ballistic missiles are reserved for nuclear-strike scenarios.”
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Italian Judge Cassese to Head Special Tribunal
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — Italian judge Antonio Cassese has been appointed ad President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, charged with judging those presumed responsible for the terrorist attacks against Lebanon, and in particular the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. The announcement came in a statement from the Special Tribunal. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Religious Police; New Leaders, Old Accuses
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MARCH 24 — The National Society for Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (NSHR) have accused the religious police of abusing their power, stating clear offences that come after months of protests and criticism, even in the media, in a report claiming “excessive” and “illegal” behaviour. Growing intolerance of moderates, popular opinion, incidents and deaths provoked by the “zeal” of the commission for the protection of virtues and the prevention of vice (the name of the surveillance group known as the religious police) led to a call for King Abdallah Bin Saud bin Abdel Aziz to replace the previous head of the religious police with a more moderate figure in February. A change to the conformist leaders in a broader reshuffling of the leadership of the ultra-conservative country amid cautious reforms promoted by the king involved, among others, the Minister of Culture. Culture — the focus of the Book Fair, which recently ended — was the most recent battleground between intellectual and religious police. Despite the tolerant directives of the ministry, the religious police intervened and arrested two authors at the book fair while Saudi writer Halima Muzzafar was signing books for her fans. Surrounded by five security agents, six police officers, and two religious police agents, “I felt like strapping explosives to myself rather than signing my books” commented the writer, whose harsh editorials in the pages of Al Watan aimed at the commission, are well-known by the heads of the religious police. Writers Abdu Khal and Abdullah Thabet ended up in prison for a few hours for not respecting an order to not speak with Muzzafar, and therefore violating sexual segregation laws, and for having argued with police. Reports have claimed serious violations by members of the commission for their conduct and prayer in accordance to the laws of the Koran. “The commission has used excessive power, beyond its jurisdiction in performing its functions”, read a NSHR report in Gulf News, which continued, “the members of the commission have exceeded their limits in managing arrests, interrogations, and investigations into various people in different areas of the kingdom”. There have been many complaints for inhumane treatment, torture, and even murder. One of the most recent and controversial cases involved the death of three people, including a girl and her mother, attributed to a pursuit launched by the religious police. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Court Accepts Second Indictment in Ergenekon Case
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MARCH 25 — An Istanbul court ruled today to accept a second indictment in Ergenekon case in which prosecutors seek imprisonment for 56 suspects, as Anatolia agency reports. The second indictment means another case for the court that also ruled not to combine two files. The court will hold the first hearing on the second case on July 20, 2009. Prosecutors had sent the second indictment two weeks ago to the Istanbul High Criminal Court under the Ergenekon probe that was launched in 2007 when a cache of explosives was discovered in a police raid on an Istanbul shanty house. The 1909-page indictment includes accusations against 56 suspects, twelve of whom are accused of being the masterminds of the alleged criminal network. Nineteen of those suspects have already been under arrest. Eighty-six people — including retired generals Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur, businessman Sinan Aygun, journalist Mustafa Balbay, former police chief Adil Serdar Sacan, politician and an ex-journalist Tuncay Ozkan and Ferda Paksut, spouse of a Constitutional Court member — are accused of being part of a terrorist organization and plotting to overthrow the government by force. An alleged criminal network that came to be known as ‘Ergenekon’ was revealed after police seized 27 grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12, 2007 and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into weapons. Police waged operations in several provinces and detained a number of people, including retired senior army officers, journalists and businessmen, for their alleged involvement in the network. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
What We Mean When We Talk About Iran Nukes
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent
Two clocks are ticking, one in Jerusalem and one in Washington. These are the clocks that measure the Iranian nuclear threat. Apparently these do not show the same time. That, at least, would be the impression of anyone reading the Israeli and American intelligence assessments. The head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, told a cabinet meeting less than two weeks ago that Iran “has crossed the technological threshold.” The United States Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, told the Senate Armed Services Committee two days later that “Iran has not decided to press forward … to have a nuclear weapon on top of a ballistic missile.”
The head of MI used the term “technological threshold” to mean that Iran already has the knowledge, the technology, the equipment and the materials with which to produce its first nuclear bomb, if it so desires. Yadlin placed the emphasis on Iran’s technological capability, which is advancing that state toward the production of nuclear weapons. He made no reference at all to the intentions of the leadership. To most of Israel’s national assessors, including Yadlin, it is clear as day that the regime of the ayatollahs is trying to acquire nuclear weapons.
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Yemen: Al-Qaeda ‘Recruiting Teenagers’ for Attacks
Sanaa, 25 March (AKI) — The terrorist network Al-Qaeda has for the past few months been recruiting teenagers to carry out attacks inside the country, a Saudi Al-Qaeda operative has claimed.
“I recruited many young men that were less than 18 years-old when I was in Taiz (an industrial city in Yemen’s southwest),” Abdullah Abdel Rahman al-Harbi reportedly told investigators after his arrest in March.
Al-Qaeda is alleged to have trained these young people both inside and outside Yemen.
Police have claimed al-Harbi had been living in Yemen for the past nine months and while working as the manager of a tailor’s store, he recruited young men to be Al-Qaeda affiliates.
Yemen’s official state news agency Saba said that a leader of an unnamed militant group with links to Al-Qaeda arranged the marriage of al-Harbi to a Yemeni woman.
He told investigators that he managed to integrate himself easily in Taiz, because he was a Saudi from the capital Riyadh.
Al-Harbi is currently being questioned by police who hope to learn more about Al-Qaeda’s plans and whether the terror organisation planned further attacks inside Yemen, after two recent attacks which killed at least four South Koreans recently.
Al-Harbi’s name was one of the 85 wanted suspects on a list issued by the by Saudi interior ministry in January. After his arrest he was quickly handed over to Saudi authorities.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Manager of Private TV Network Arrested Over Dancer’s Skimpy Costume
The network Emrose TV is known for broadcasting music videos without any censorship. Many private television stations censor themselves in order to avoid protests by extremists. For Islamic militants, women who appear on television should have only their faces and necks uncovered.
Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The manager of the television network Emrose TV has been arrested for failing to censor images of a woman dancing in a short skirt, and with a neckline judged to be too low.
The government had already warned the network not not to broadcast images considered immoral, and had taken director Fahim Khodamani to court. Khodamani had repeatedly refused to cover or alter the videos to conceal the female form. Emrose TV, launched only 10 months ago, is known for broadcasting music videos without any censorship.
Khodamani’s arrest is the first case of its kind, but in the recent past various private TV stations have been accused by the media oversight commission, religious council, and representatives of the more traditionalist political parties.
Commentators are divided between supporting and opposing the decision from Kabul. Some say that it is just the latest sign of capitulation by the government to the claims of the Taliban. But others consider the entire affair as an attempt by institutions not to offer opportunities for propaganda and protest by Islamic fundamentalists.
The Afghan ministry for culture and information has declared that the Taliban are using these opportunities to promote their culture war, and to make proselytes among the inhabitants of the villages, accusing the government of giving in to Western morality and of betraying Afghan culture. Abdul Shukur Dadras, a member of the media oversight commission, has accused the network of undermining the traditional Islamic values that are at the foundation of the country’s culture.
Other television channels, in order to prevent protests by Muslim extremists, have chosen the path of self-censorship. For Islamic militants, women on television may only have their faces and necks uncovered.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh Orphanage Run by British Charity Raided by Anti-Terror Forces
Security forces claim orphanage run by Stockport charity was being used as training camp for Islamist militants
An orphanage run by a British charity in Bangladesh has been raided by local security forces who claim it was being used as a training camp and arms factory for Islamist militants.
The anti-terrorism Rapid Action Battalion said today that it had arrested four people, including a teacher and three caretakers, and was searching for the head of the charity, a British citizen known as Faisal.
The arrests came after a raid yesterday on the Green Crescent madrasa and orphanage on the remote southern island of Bhola, Lieutenant Colonel Munir Haque, an officer involved in the operation, said. The charity’s headquarters is thousands of miles away in the town of Stockport, south of Manchester.
“We found small arms — about nine or 10 in total — plus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices and four sets of army uniforms,” Haque said.
“We also found enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Bin Laden.”
He said that there were about 11 children between the ages of seven and eight at the compound at the time of the raid, but no other adults.
Locals told the officers that the madrasa, or Islamic seminary, was a British charity financed by Faisal, who they said had lived in Britain for 25 years.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Militants Claim Kashmiri Attack
The Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba says it was involved in a five-day gun battle with troops in Indian-administered Kashmir.
At least 25 people died in fighting at Kupwara, including eight soldiers.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is the group which India holds responsible for the armed attacks in Mumbai last November in which more than 170 people died.
The army says the militants were well trained and equipped and had the backing of agencies in Pakistan.
“Militarily prepared”
“The maps and communication equipment [recovered from dead gunmen] indicates that [Pakistani] state and security forces’ assistance was there as such material is not available in the civil domain,” Brig Gurmeet Singh told a press conference in Srinagar on Wednesday.
“The majority of the militants have been killed and those left, if any, will also be eliminated.”
He said most of the barbed-wire fence along the Line of Control (LoC) which divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir is now buried under snow, which was probably how the militants managed to infiltrate into Indian territory.
The brigadier said his troops were “militarily prepared” to deal with the threat posed by between 300 to 400 militants currently operating in the Kashmir valley.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Militants Killed in Strike Against Warlord’s Allies
Islamabad, 25 March (AKI) — By Syed Saleem Shahzad — As tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud was preparing to send suicide bombers to retaliate against a purported deal between the Pakistani army and the US Central Intelligence Agency, at least seven militants were killed in a suspected US drone attack on his headquarters in South Waziristan on Wednesday.
The drone carried out the attack on both the headquarters of Baitullah Mehsud and the home of his loyalist Haji Dost Mohammad in Makeen, northwest of Ladha, where some members of Al-Qaeda were staying.
Government sources said the attack took place as Baitullah Mehsud was planning to send suicide bombers to several Pakistani cities in retribution to the deal between the army and the US intelligence agency.
Makeen is the headquarters of Baitullah Mehsud, once acclaimed to be the head of Pakistan’s Tehrik-i-Taliban and now merged with the Shura of Mujahadeen.
The attack was carried out in a strategic location where several different Pakistani, Arab and Uzbek militants had camps in a 15-kilometre area. This is also the area that has been the focus of investigations since the brutal attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in early March.
This is one a rare attack on the town of Makeen. Sources claim that Pakistan has asked the CIA several times to target Baitullah Mehsud but there have been few attacks carried out in South Waziristan. US drone attacks usually focus on North Waziristan or Bajaur.
So far there is no confirmation of who was killed in the attack but official sources confirmed that attack was carried out on precise information about a meeting of Arab Al-Qaeda members at the home of Haji Dost Mohammad.
US pilotless drones have carried out more than 30 strikes in Pakistan since early 2008 when the United States, frustrated by an intensifying Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and support in Pakistan, increased the attacks..
There has been no sign of a policy change under US president Barack Obama’s administration — there have been seven strikes since Obama took office in late January.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Space: ASI, Italy to Co-Lead New Mediterranean Project
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 20 — Italy and France will lead a new European security project for satellite surveillance of the Mediterranean. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) made the announcement during Sat Expo. “The project will initially be based on the Italian Cosmo-SkyMed constellation of satellites, produced by Thales Alenia Space Italia for ASI and the Defence Ministry . In the next few years we will see the importance of a satellite infrastructure like Cosmo-SkyMed in the placing of our country in the international field”, said outgoing vice-president of ASI Carolina Matarazzi. “The ASI, Defence and Italian industry have learned to work well together and achieve results to be proud of” commented Admiral Filippo Maria Foffi, head of the IV division of the General Defence staff. Radar images taken by satellite have been used in managing several recent emergencies, he pointed out, like the Nargis cyclone in Burma, the earthquake in China and the last two hurricanes which hit Haiti. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christian School Rejects Teacher
A CHRISTIAN school in Werribee has been forced to defend its refusal to offer a training placement to a Muslim teaching student on the grounds of her religion.
Victoria University student Rachida Dahlal has reportedly lodged a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission against Heathdale Christian College, accusing it of discrimination and prejudice.
But the faith-based private school stood by its decision last night. It said it would have been “inappropriate” to offer the student a placement because of the school’s Christian ethos.
Principal Reynald Tibben said Mrs Dahlal — who wears a head scarf and is a devout Muslim — may have found it difficult to work at a school where the teachers’ morning staff briefing includes prayer devotion and Bible reading.
“The way we practise our education is not just nominal, it’s actually what parents want for their kids, and it would have been confusing for the kids. It’s not that we have anything against her or her beliefs, we just felt it was an inappropriate placement,” Mr Tibben said.
“There’s obviously a difference between being a Muslim and a Christian — so it was a religious issue from that perspective — but it was as much about supporting her as it was the college.”
Mrs Dahlal could not be contacted by The Age last night.
According to the Wyndham Leader, the 35-year-old mother had chosen Heathdale because it was the closest school to her home, and one of few offering her specialty subjects of mathematics and French.
Mr Tibben said his school, which takes about 12 university students for training each year, offered to support Mrs Dahlal in finding another school and questioned why Victoria University hadn’t given “a little more thought” in guiding her into a school-based placement.
The university’s acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor John McCallum, said Mrs Dahlal had been counselled about Heathdale’s policy of taking those whose values aligned to its own.
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
Global Warming is Running Out of Hot Air
Many scientists and other observers have come to realize that global warming is no longer a question of science but is all about politics and money. Their slogan, cap-and-trade, was best explained by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, as “a carbon tax that will increase taxes on all Americans who drive a car, who have a job, who turn on a light switch.”
[…]
Eagle Forum’s observer at the Heartland Conference, Pat Carlson of Dallas, reported that its most interesting speaker was Czech Republic president and rotating president of the European Union Vaclav Klaus, who has taken a bold position against the prevailing propaganda about global warming. He described talking to global warming advocates as similar to trying to make “well prepared arguments” using “relevant data” to former East European Communist bureaucrats: “It all fell into emptiness … they did not listen … they did not argue back … they considered you uninformed … a complainer.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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Re: Patriot Rocker Revives Call to ‘take America Back’
another link to the track via YouTube
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