The ripples of the financial crisis are spreading throughout the news. Serbia is hard-hit. Auto production in Turkey has dropped 59% as Turkish exports plummet. Factory managers are being kidnapped and held hostage in France. The Spanish real estate sector has all but collapsed. Unrest among Chinese migrants is increasing after massive layoffs in the cities.In other news, a “Twitter revolution” is gaining momentum in Moldova.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Gaia, Insubria, Islam in Action, islam o’phobe, JD, TB, Tuan Jim, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Croatia: IMF Praises Government But Sees Problems
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, APRIL 7 — The International Monetary Fund has said it is satisfied and impressed by the anti-recession measures taken by the Croatian authorities in the recent months, observing however that it is probable that in the coming months Croatia will suffer another “difficult period” that could generate a considerable downturn in the economy. The IMF delegation, led by Athanasios Arvantis, announced the results of the annual visit pointing out that Croatia has not asked for any assistance from the international organization. “We are impressed by the determination of the government to limit the effects of the crisis”, said Arvantis, referring to the budget revision decided on last week which froze salaries in the public sector at 2008 levels. Despite this and other measures taken by the central bank, especially maintaining stable levels for the national currency, the kuna, “the Croatian economy in 2009 will undergo substantial decline, perhaps even more than the 2% estimated by the government. According to the IMF, the main causes are the sharp drop in spending, in particular by consumers (down 14% in January), in foreign investments, and in exports. “These circumstances however are the same in other countries and Croatia is not an exception”, reported the IMF. Special attention was given to the banking system “very stable at the moment”, but which could see a “very difficult period” in the coming months. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Anti-Kidnapping Advice for Managers at Risk
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 9 — There is a growing number of episodes of managers being taken hostage by workers in French companies, and so now we have a sort of “anti-kidnapping” handbook drawn up by a civil rights lawyer named Sylvain Niel. ‘La Tribune’ today writes that the expert advises managers who want to avoid risks to “gauge the risk of mutiny against management staff”. In the event of being kidnapped, he instead suggests “accepting all workers’ requests because promises made under threat can be cancelled by a judge”. All managers should provide their office with a “survival kit” carrying spare clothes and shaving kit in the event of having to spend a night away from home. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
More States Look to Raise Taxes
A free fall in tax revenue is driving more state lawmakers to turn to broad-based tax increases in a bid to close widening budget gaps.
At least 10 states are considering some kind of major increase in sales or income taxes: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. California and New York lawmakers already have agreed on multibillion-dollar tax increases that went into effect earlier this year.
Fiscal experts say more states are likely to try to raise tax revenue in coming months, especially once they tally the latest shortfalls from April 15 income-tax filings, often the biggest single source of funds for the 43 states that levy them.
The squeeze is especially severe in states hit hardest by the recession, such as Arizona, where sales-tax revenue has fallen by 10.5%, income-tax collections are down 15.7% this fiscal year, and the government faces a $3.4 billion budget gap next year. But such shortfalls are likely to be widespread; federal income-tax receipts from individuals have dropped more than 15% in the past six months, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.
While most states so far have managed to cope with dwindling cash by cutting spending and raising fees on things such as fishing licenses and car registrations, that is unlikely to be enough in the new fiscal years that generally begin July 1, many analysts said.
“Income taxes and sales taxes are the go-to taxes when you really need to raise a lot of money,” said Donald J. Boyd, who monitors states’ fiscal health for the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y.
Sales-tax revenue has fallen more sharply than at any time in the past 50 years, Mr. Boyd said, and he expects income-tax collections to drop below levels state officials projected — though the extent of the damage probably won’t become clear until May.
Raising taxes is a perilous proposition for lawmakers, who must balance their states’ budgets every year. Not only do they face political heat for increasing financial burdens during the recession, but added taxes risk worsening their states’ economic problems by, for example, further hobbling consumer spending.
Some lawmakers say they have little choice. “With the size of our budget gap, we are looking at a situation of closing down our courts, releasing prisoners and cutting the school year by as much as a month,” said Rep. Peter Buckley, co-chairman of Oregon’s joint Ways and Means Committee.
His committee is considering an income-tax increase on high-earners, along with major budget cuts, to help close a projected $4.4 billion budget gap over the next two fiscal years. And things could get worse after a revenue forecast due out May 15, he said, because Oregon’s unemployment rate has climbed to 10.8% and the state relies on income-tax revenue.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is likely to support the surcharge, said a spokeswoman , because the state is faced with losing as much as a third of its tax revenue.
Legislators know the increases will be unpopular with residents. “There will be blame, we accept that,” Sen. Eileen M. Daily of Connecticut said earlier this month when she and fellow Democrats announced a budget that raises income-tax rates and expands the sales tax to raise more than $3 billion over the next two years. Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican, has said she would veto the plan.
But some governors are proposing tax increases. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell wants to raise the marginal income-tax rate by one percentage point, to 6.95%, on those earning more than $60,000 a year, effective in 2010. His budget plan also includes increases in corporate taxes as well as spending cuts to close a projected $750 million shortfall in a $3 billion budget, said spokesman Joe Rogalsky.
Many states remain determined to balance their budgets by relying solely on spending cuts. That is the case in Indiana, where raising revenue “is really not on the table,” said Pat Bauer, the speaker of the state House.
Instead, he hopes to tap the state’s rainy-day fund and to produce a budget that covers only one year, rather than the usual two, because plunging revenue makes it impossible to forecast that far in advance.
Tax collections have dropped drastically the past four months, according to Christopher A. Ruhl, director of the Indiana Budget Agency. Income-tax collections, which reflect withholding and estimated tax payments, fell 21% in March compared with last year and are down 7% for the fiscal year.
States have lowered revenue forecasts repeatedly in recent months, yet the estimates still seem to exceed the grim reality. Last week, Pennsylvania officials said total March tax collections were $334.6 million, or 7.9%, short of expectations, due to sharp drops in income and sales taxes and a steep decline in corporate income taxes. For the fiscal year that began July 1, 2008, collections to date are running $1.6 billion less than forecast.
This has led some experts, such as Nicholas Johnson of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, to predict more legislatures will take up broad-based tax increases as early as May or June. “The problem,” he said, “is that they are filling a hole that has gotten a little deeper.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Over One-Half of Population Hit by Crisis
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 7 — The financial position of 60% of the country’s population is worse today than in March 2008, according to a survey made by the TNS Medium Gallup public opinion research agency, reports VIP Daily News Report. Only 6% of respondents said that their financial situation has improved since the same period of 2008, while 31% said that their financial position has remained more or less unchanged. The survey showed also that 40% of respondents believe that their financial situation will generally or significantly deteriorate over the next year, while the same percentage of respondents believe that it will remain the same. Only 12% of respondents expect their financial situation to improve. One in three citizens believes that they are only slightly affected by the global economic crisis, while only 14% said that they do not feel the effects of the crisis at all. According to as high a proportion as 85% of respondents, the main onslaught of the global economic crisis on Serbia is yet to come. More than 70% of respondents described the performance of the government and other institutions in dealing with the global economic crisis as inadequate. The survey was made in late March on a sample of 1,018 respondents. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Real-Estate Sector Accumulates 470 Bln Euros in Debt
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 7 — The construction sector, which for many years was the motor of the Spanish economy, has accumulated 469.943 billion euros of debt with the banks, 318.032 billion of which is attributed to property developers, according to statistics from the Bank of Spain, reported today in La Vanguardia. In the last 17 years, loans granted by credit institutes to property developers multiplied by 31, going from 10.199 billion euros in 1992 to 318.032 billion last year. Totalling all of the loans in the construction sector, which add up to 151.911 billion euros, debt in the sector is 469.943 billion euros as of the end of 2008, a 2.8% increase compared to the previous year. Loans granted to property developers include new activities and credit that has not been paid off and is still being reimbursed. These two factors, according to the central bank, are the Achilles’ heel of financial institutions, because many property developers cannot deal with their debt and are forced to liquidate their assets, while others go directly into receivership. The strong exposure of the sector has almost doubled the amount of bad debt, which increased to 3.8% at the end of 2008, and which, according to forecasts in the sector, could reach 6% by the end of 2009. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Tension Between Banks and Consumers Increasing
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 8 — The number of appeals and complaints received by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) increased from 1,838 in 2007 to 2,800 in 2008, an indicator that tension between banks and consumers is increasing amidst the ongoing global financial crisis, daily Today’s Zaman reported. While most of the complaints against banks concerning loans and credit cards in previous years came from companies in the real sector, there has been an explosion of complaints from companies in the financial sector since last year. The number of complaints the agency received regarding credit card debt increased from 10 to 122 in 2008. According to BDDK data, the increase was caused by problems between the real sector and banks due to non-performing loans caused by the economic crisis; most complaints and notifications concern credit card problems. In 2007 the agency had received 585 complaints concerning credit cards and bank account cards, but this increased to 939 in 2008. The number of complaints concerning consumer loans increased from 266 in 2007 to 528 in 2008. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
World Bank: MENA Countries Not Hit Hard
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, APRIL 1 — The Mena region — Middle East and North Africa — is one of the areas which has best fielded the blows delivered by the financial crisis which has halved economic growth in developed countries. The latest report by the World Bank, New Global Prospects, reported by daily paper Emirates Business says that ‘growth in the Middle Eastern countries and North Africa appears the least damaged of the developing regions, falling by 0.3% compared with growth forecasts of 3.3%.” The report also says that for the Gulf “the reduction in oil income and cuts in production of crude will reduce the GDP of the exporting countries to 2.9% from the 4.5% estimated in 2008”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Ayer Head” Professor Lies Again
A curious thing happened after my column, “‘Ayer Head’ Professor Defends Bill Ayers,” was posted on Sunday night. An FBI document about the Weather Underground, which was hyperlinked in the column, was changed by the FBI to delete a reference to the terrorist group. The “Ayer Head” Professor, Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University in Boston, admits he is the one who prompted the FBI to make the curious change. It is all part of an effort to try to separate Ayers, a leader of the Weather Underground, from the murders that his group was responsible for.
[…]
The controversy over Kennedy’s involvement with the FBI comes at a time when the Bureau is under fire for its engagement with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), considered by many security experts to be a front for terrorist groups. The FBI had a formal relationship with CAIR until the group’s terrorist ties were exposed in a court case. Then the FBI, according to John Miller, Assistant Director in the Office of Public Affairs, “suspended any formal engagement” with CAIR. Rep. Frank Wolf wants to know if there is still informal contact going on with CAIR.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Act Forces Congress’ Return to Limited Government
Legislator to colleagues: ‘Your laws not authorized by Constitution’
As a reminder of the federal government’s limited powers, 20 representatives want to ensure that every single piece of legislation passing through Congress includes a statement citing specific constitutional authority for enacting it.
Sponsored by Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., H.R. 450, or the Enumerated Powers Act, states, “Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress. …”
When he introduced the proposal Jan. 9, Shadegg gave a House floor speech reminding his colleagues of limited authority granted in the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
It states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Stand up for the Supreme Law of the Land and shock your fellow citizens into thinking with WND’s “Legalize the Constitution!” magnetic bumper sticker.
“What that means is that the Founding Fathers intended our national government to be a limited government, a government of limited powers that cannot expand its legislative authority into areas reserved to the states or to the people,” Shadegg said. “As the final amendment in the 10 Bill of Rights, it is clear that the Constitution establishes a Federal Government of specifically enumerated and limited powers.”
For that reason, Shadegg said he has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act each year that he’s been in Congress.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Child Marriage and More Child Abuse in the American Muslim Community~audio!
By Christopher Logan
Over the past several months more and more details about child abuse, child marriage, and child slavery have come to light stemming from American Muslims. An example of horrifying child abuse has just recently occurred in Chicago as a Muslim woman hit, bit and pinched her two-year old niece to death.
Over the past several months more and more details about child abuse, child marriage, and child slavery have come to light stemming from American Muslims. An example of horrifying child abuse has just recently occurred in Chicago as a Muslim woman hit, bit and pinched her two-year old niece to death.
Continue reading and hear the audio of a 7 year-old American Muslim girl talking about her “husband” and Mosque beatings at link.
| — Hat tip: Islam in Action | [Return to headlines] |
Expulsion Threatened Over Prayer for Sick Teacher
Students’ lawsuit against College of Alameda moves forward
Attorneys representing two students who have been threatened with expulsion by a California college because of a prayer for a sick professor say a federal judge has refused the school’s efforts to have the case dismissed.
“It’s outrageous,” said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which is working on the case brought by students Kandy Kyriacou and Ojoma Omaga of the College of Alameda in Alameda, near Oakland.
“Since when does praying for a sick teacher to get well — with her consent — earn a suspension? This is not just a constitutional violation; it is a complete lack of common sense. These students were not looking for a fight, but since the school to this day insists that it can expel them if they pray again, we will have to resolve it in federal court,” he said.
The case was prompted by an incident just before Christmas in 2007 in which the students went to deliver a Christmas gift to a professor.
“Kandy found the instructor alone in her shared office,” according to Pacific Justice. “When the instructor indicated she was ill, Kandy offered to pray for her. The instructor bowed her head, and Kandy began to pray — until she was interrupted by another faculty member, Derek Piazza, who walked in and said, ‘You can’t be doing that in here!’ Kandy quickly left and rejoined her friend and fellow student, Ojoma Omaga. Piazza followed Kandy outside and repeated his rebuke.”
While the students reported they were surprised by the teacher’s aggressive behavior, they were stunned when, days later, they both got letters notifying them of the college’s retroactive “intent to suspend” plan.
The letters, however, provided no facts on which to make such a threat, listing only vague references to “disruptive or insulting behavior” and “willful disobedience.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Grand Jury Power, Take it Back
An article appearing in American Juror, the newsletter of the American Jury Institute and the Fully Informed Jury Association, cites American jurist Joseph Story, an icon of the legal profession known to every member. The article explains:
“An indictment is a written accusation of an offence preferred to, and presented, upon oath, as true, by a grand jury, at the suit of the government. An indictment is framed by the officers of the government, and laid before the grand jury. Presentments, on the other hand, are the result of a jury’s independent action:
“‘A presentment, properly speaking, is an accusation, made by a grand jury of its own mere motion, of an offence upon its own observation and knowledge, or upon evidence before it, and without any bill of indictment laid before it at the suit of the government. Upon a presentment, the proper officer of the court must frame an indictment, before the party accused can be put to answer it.’“
So, government officials prepare an indictment and lay it before the grand jury. On the contrary, the presentment originates in the grand jury. The grand jury discovers an offense on its own. It observes and collects evidence of the offense and the government has nothing to do with it. So the grand jury is independent. The court then prepares the indictment based on the presentment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Throws Out Thomas Klocek Case Against Depaul—Appeal Planned
This one hurts. A lot.
On September 15, 2004, longtime DePaul University adjunct Professor Thomas Klocek took part in a spirited out-of-classroom discussion with some Muslim DePaul students over Palestinian-Israeli political issues. Klocek defended Israeli actions against terrorists; the students, unaccustomed to having their views challenged, complained to his dean and succeeded in having Klocek dismissed from the Catholic college after 15 years of service.
The Chicago native had always received high evaluation scores from his students.
Klocek filed a defamation and invasion of privacy suit against DePaul a year later. The first two judges assigned to the case ruled that it should proceed to trial. But last month—four years after Klocek sued—Cook County Circuit Court Judge Charles Winkler dismissed the case.
Andy Norman of Chicago’s Mauck & Baker is Klocek’s attorney—he plans to appeal. Norman stated, “We believe that Winkler is in error and are confident we will have his decision reversed in the appellate court. We still look forward to a public trial where DePaul students and the public can judge for themselves whether certain administrators silenced Tom Klocek because a few Muslim activists wanted his opinions repressed.”
I’ve spoken to Klocek many times about the events of September 15, 2004 and I’m firmly convinced that DePaul trashed his academic career to placate a noisy group of students who view themselves, wrongly, as a protected class.
Winkler is a graduate of DePaul’s College of Law.
| [Return to headlines] |
Sutton Resigns as U.S. Attorney
The San Antonio federal prosecutor at the center of a politically charged case against two Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler resigned Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, said Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western Judicial District of Texas.
Sutton’s resignation was voluntary, Jones said, and his future plans were not immediately disclosed. He was not available for comment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Tories Are No Example for the GOP
British conservatives are once again on the rise. American conservatives: Don’t be fooled.
Since last year’s electoral wipeout, the Republican Party has been in a debate over how to remake itself. Some have pointed to Britain’s Conservative Party, which is today poised — after 12 long years — to regain power.
Conservative Party leader David Cameron, we are told, has crafted a “modern conservatism” which is well past all that Thatcherite talk of free markets, tax cuts and individual freedom. This conservatism is caring and recognizes the role of government; it connects with citizens and worries about day care and global warming. If only the GOP would emulate its British cousins, so the argument goes, it might forge that lasting conservative majority.
It’s true the Cameroons (as they are referred to by disaffected Tories) are on track to win next year’s general election. It is also true that this has little to do with the non-philosophy the Cameroons have been spinning to the public. The next election will instead be a referendum on a worn-out Labour movement. If Conservatives win, it will be because the party has made itself less offensive to the electorate than those currently in charge. And that, American friends, is no way to rebuild a party.
It’s not that the Tories don’t offer lessons, in particular what not to do after a big defeat. The Conservatives were bounced in 1997 after the British public wearied of a party more redolent of corruption than the Thatcher revolution. (Sound familiar?) It chose a young, charismatic politician named Tony Blair who promised change and argued the nation could have it all — a strong, free-market economy and a big, caring government. (Also sound familiar?)
The initial conservative response was to try to “reconnect” with the British people, though not via serious policy discussions. Leader William Hague appeared at a theme park wearing a baseball cap, hoping to appeal to younger voters.
To the extent the party did engage in policy debates, it was in the context of factions warring with each other over issues such as support for the European Union. It failed to take a hard line on the corruption that hurt the party. As it floundered, it increasingly stoked populist passions, in particular anti-immigration fervor or opposition to the Iraq War.
Mr. Cameron came to power in 2005, promising to transform the party. What he did was indulge a particular British paranoia that Tories are viewed as the party that doesn’t care.
Thus Mr. Cameron drafted advertising guru Steve Hilton to “decontaminate” its image. The Conservative leader purged pinstriped members, replacing them with minority and women candidates. He instructed the party to do “social action” projects (say, helping renovate youth centers), to show it cared about ordinary Britons. He flew to a remote island, where he was pictured on a dog sled, to show his worry about global warming.
As for political philosophy, the Cameroons describe their new agenda as one of promoting “social revival,” the idea that government should attend to people’s general well-being rather than their wealth. This has required them to embrace government — and anything else they think the public might like.
Much of the Tories’ “modern conservatism” consists of reassuring voters about what it won’t do. It won’t dismantle a failing national health-care system. It won’t disavow failing public schools. It won’t resist higher tax rates on the “rich.” Beyond this bold agreement with the status quo, the party has refused to articulate its own agenda, lest any part go down badly with voters.
“Mr. Cameron’s conservatives have learned the Blair lesson of focus groups all too well,” says James Delingpole, British author of “Welcome to Obamaland.” “What you are about to have elected in this country is not a party of political principle but of political opportunism.”
Mr. Cameron has been at this revamp for years, but only recently did Conservatives start to gain traction. This coincided closely with growing public anger with the Labour Party and its new leader, Gordon Brown.
Polls show the public is furious with Labour’s handling of the financial crisis, which also helped expose a dozen years of unrestrained Labor spending. The party has been hit with an embarrassing scandal tied to parliamentarians’ perks. Mr. Brown, in his nearly two years as prime minister, has enraged voters with tax hikes and by reneging on a promise to hold early elections. Mr. Cameron has carefully avoided giving them a reason to dislike the alternative.
Many Conservatives here fear Mr. Cameron will become prime minister, only to be quickly exposed as a poll-driven “heir to Blair” who treads water a few years and then loses. What every American should understand is that this is not a test of “modern conservatism.” It’s a test only of whether an opposition that voices no coherent ideology can succeed when the ruling party stumbles.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Hide School Rankings
So let’s see if we’ve got the attitude of the teachers’ unions and their apologists right. They don’t like it when students are subject to standardized performance tests in reading and math. If the government insists on conducting such tests, they don’t like having the numbers published. If the numbers are published, they won’t sit still for out-of-context inter-school comparisons; some schools, after all, are full of poor students who were born overseas. But, oh yeah: They don’t want the contextual data published, either. And if it is published, they don’t want parents to be able to set data from different schools side by side, because that might encourage parents to — gasp! — “rank” one school against another.
Thus, apparently, goes the argument against the controversial new School Information Finder at the Ontario Ministry of Education Web site, which was posted on the weekend and hastily tweaked by Minister Kathleen Wynne in response to cries of outrage from groups such as People for Education (hint: They’re for state-managed, factory-model education, but perhaps not so keen on charter and alternative schools or home-schooling).
The group contends that for the Ministry to make demographic information about schools available is … well, it’s hard to understand exactly what their objection is, exactly. Executive director Annie Kidder claims that the new Web site feature “blindsided” her constituents. We fail to understand, as a matter of English-language usage, how providing information can “blindside” anybody. Then again, we don’t pretend to understand the twisted logic of those who oppose accountability within the public-school system.
The bizarre aspect of the current controversy is that all of the information needed to compare schools was already on the Ministry Web site — for those prepared to make printouts and do the comparisons manually. This week’s teapot tempest erupted because of a new Web site feature that allowed parents to set the data from one school side by side with the data from one or two others. “They were concerned about the comparison, that it seemed to be promoting a sort of shopping between schools, and there was a concern that that comparison could them lead to some kind of rank,” said an Education Ministry spokesman.
In what universe could it be considered problematic that parents would be given the tools to choose the best school for their children? Our society encourages responsible parenting in every facet of childhood development. Why should we systematically cripple our government databases — at the request of a purported parents’ group no less —in order to reduce parents’ ability to get their children into the best possible schools?
Moreover, why should our government shy away from technology that permits schools to be assigned a “rank” — as if that were somehow a dirty four-letter word. Schools should be ranked — with the teachers and administrators at the worst-performing schools held accountable, and their high-achieving counterparts suitably rewarded.
Ontario public schools are distinct from other service providers only in that parents have to pull up stakes and move house in order to make use of consumer incentives. But an awful lot of them do make use of their ability to vote with their feet, and the quality of the local schools is embedded in the price of neighbourhood homes. Why should the government conspire to conceal this essential information from homebuyers? What family ever made a decision on where to live without taking local education services into account?
Public education should not require us to put blind faith in the plainly ridiculous idea that all schools bearing the government trademark are equal. If the quality of public education did not benefit from competition and informed consumer choice, it would be the only consumer good in the universe that didn’t. And if our choice of schools must be straitened, it is all the more vital for data about schools to be abundant, multivalent and accessible.
Remarkably, Premier Dalton McGuinty, who defended the existence of the Web site’s Finder feature on Tuesday, is standing up for this principle. The headless Conservatives, groping about in the wilderness in a particularly pathetic manner, have taken the anti-information side.
One more point bears mentioning: Despite the efforts of teachers’ unions, People for Education and similar groups to keep parents in the dark, the truth will get out: Families will find ways to get information about which schools are good and which schools aren’t. But in the absence of easily accessible official data, they will simply be forced to rely on old-fashioned methods such as word of mouth and insider information. The winners will be well-connected upper-middle-class types, who have access to such channels. The losers: poorer families and immigrants.
Try as they might, the hyper-egalitarians won’t be able to eliminate differences in public schools. All they’ll do is hide them from those most at risk of enrolling their kids in the runt academies of the school board’s litter.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
More Homegrown Extremists, Suspected Terrorists Working Here: RCMP
OTTAWA — Canadians should be concerned but shouldn’t overreact to news that more homegrown extremists and suspected terrorists are believed operating here than ever before, says the RCMP’s top national security officer.
In his first in-depth interview since assuming command of the nascent National Security Criminal Investigations unit, Assistant Commissioner Bob Paulson said more terrorism arrests are expected in coming months.
“The threat we’re facing today is as threatening as it’s ever been,” he said during a hour-long talk in his headquarter’s office this week. “We’re as busy as we’ve ever been and a little busier, frankly,” but he added that the sky is not falling.
“You want Canadians and people who have a role to play to be engaged and you want them to understand the nature of the threat, but you have to balance that against the Chicken Little criticism.
“Even discussing national security investigations publicly and openly runs the risk of being misunderstood of saying, ‘the sky is falling.’ The threat is a significant threat [and] we and other agencies of the government are actively managing that threat.”
He said the increase in national security criminal cases — from 848 last May to an undisclosed but larger number now — is “marginal” and “nothing that people ought to be excessively worried about. That’s what we get paid to do.”
More concerning is the evolving origin of the threat.
“Historically, it’s always been the threat from somewhere else in the world coming over here. But it’s no secret to anyone that a larger part of the threat is the so-called homegrown threat and that’s certainly the lion’s share of the threat that we’re dealing with.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Letter Slams ‘Inhumane’ Seal Hunt
U.S. President Barack Obama sees the Canadian seal hunt as “inhumane” and vowed to express his “outrage” during his days as a senator, it was revealed today.
Obama, who has not spoken publicly about the seal hunt since becoming President, vowed in a 2006 letter to animal-rights activists to work with colleagues “to ensure that we take all the necessary steps to express our outrage” with the Canadian government.
“I share your concerns about the Canadian seal hunt,” Obama wrote to a member of People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in the letter, dated April 13, 2006.
“As you know, Canada annually opens its eastern waters to commercial seal hunting. The United States and European Union have been unified in their opposition to the slaughter of seals by passing legislation decades ago to restrict the sale of seal-based products within their borders,” Obama wrote.
“I certainly believe in the spirit of these acts; the U.S. should not condone this recent Canadian action.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Rejects Privacy of Trash
OTTAWA — There is no constitutional right to privacy of your trash set outside for municipal collectors, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The ruling comes after a Calgary drug dealer argued in a court hearing last fall that police violated his rights against unreasonable search and seizure when they rummaged through his rubbish in the middle of the night, obtaining enough evidence to obtain a warrant to search his home and subsequently charge him with trafficking ecstasy.
A former swimming star who set a national and a world record, Patrick was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006. He has been out on bail pending an appeal of his sentence, said his lawyer, Jennifer Ruttan.
Patrick’s case has been closely watched by provincial governments, civil libertarians, and criminal defence lawyers.
The key issue before the Supreme Court was whether our garbage — which can contain personal information such as financial records, medical information and one’s DNA — is constitutionally protected from unfettered state intrusion.
Ms. Ruttan, in written arguments filed in Supreme Court, said that Patrick’s “reasonable expectation of territorial privacy” of his home naturally includes its perimeters and that police should need a judge’s permission to go through garbage, just as they do to enter a house or tap a phone.
The Crown, in a legal brief, countered that Patrick gave up his privacy rights when he abandoned his unwanted garbage, an argument that succeeded in the Alberta courts.
The Crown also asserted that combing garbage for clues — a common police practice nationwide — is tantamount to “old-fashioned police footwork.”
To exclude evidence in Patrick’s case “would bring disrepute to the administration of justice by letting a plainly guilty drug manufacturer go unpunished,” says the legal brief.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which intervened on Patrick’s side, rejected the premise that picking through waste is legal because it has been abandoned, noting in a written court submission that city bylaws nationwide prohibit “scavenging” garbage.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto Star Columnist Alleges Our Foreign Policy is Controlled by Secret Israeli Cabal
The Toronto Star’s Linda McQuaig is often goofy and unhinged. But this time, she’s really gone off the deep end. In today’s column, she suggests that key Canadian policy decisions are being made by a “secretive management committee” jointly staffed by sinister Canadian and Israeli security experts. To wit:
“The Galloway episode highlights how Harper has abandoned any pretense of even-handedness in the Middle East … Indeed, it seems likely Israel had a hand in the decision to ban Galloway from Canada. In March 2008, the Harper government signed a broad-ranging security pact with Israel. The pact, which has received scant attention in Canada’s Parliament or media, established close Canada-Israeli co-operation in “border management and security,” under a management committee comprised of Canada’s deputy minister of public safety and Israel’s director general of public security. So was the decision to ban Galloway not only absurd and anti-democratic, but also influenced by a foreign government? Canadian government spokesperson Alykhan Velshi denied this yesterday. But what exactly does this secretive management committee do, and how might it affect Canada’s Muslim and Arab populations? Clearly, we need a thorough public review of the Canada-Israel security pact.”
Keep digging, Linda. Who knows what dark Mossad conspiracies you’ll find.
UPDATE: I’ve been trying to figure out where McQuaig got the notion for her accusation, and I think I’ve tracked it down: This (completely speculative) March 26 posting by left-wing anti-globalization radical Michel Chossudovsky. In fact, the two are so similar that I’m surprised McQuaig didn’t at least give a shout-out to her conspiracy-theorist-in-arms.
Perhaps FullComment readers can help Mr. Chossudovsky decide if he should be demanding royalty payments from The Toronto Star. Compare these two snippets — right down to the “important question” (as McQuaig puts it) at the end:
MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY, MARCH 26, 2009
In all likelihood, the decision [to exclude Galloway] was taken in close consultation with Israel under the terms of a far-reaching agreement on “public security” signed in Tel Aviv on March 23 2008 …
The “Declaration of Intent” establishes a framework of bilateral cooperation between Canada and Israel in the area of “Public Security”. The agreement has not been the object of debate in the Canadian parliament, nor has it received media coverage. Under the proposed agreement, the Deputy Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of Canada is in liaison with his Israeli counterpart the Director General of Public Security for the Government of the State of Israel. Together they chair a joint Management Committee …
The important question is whether Israeli officials were present in Canada and whether they were assisting their Canadian counterparts with regard to the decision to bar George Galloway.
LINDA MCQUAIG, APRIL 7, 2009
Indeed, it seems likely Israel had a hand in the decision to ban Galloway from Canada. In March 2008, the Harper government signed a broad-ranging security pact with Israel.
The pact, which has received scant attention in Canada’s Parliament or media, established close Canada-Israeli co-operation in “border management and security,” under a management committee comprised of Canada’s deputy minister of public safety and Israel’s director general of public security …
So was the decision to ban Galloway not only absurd and anti-democratic, but also influenced by a foreign government?
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: The Island Will be Mine-Free by 2011
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, APRIL 6 — UN Special Representative and Chief Mission in Cyprus, Taye-Brook Zerihoun called for a concerted push to achieve the goal of a mine-free buffer zone in Cyprus by 2011. “Recent incidents have served as tragic reminders of the dangers these devices still represent”, Zerihoun said, recalling the injuries sustained by de-miners and civilians in landmine explosions in 2008. Zerihoun echoed the hope expressed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for stronger action on de-mining. In a message to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the Secretary-General urged the international community to renew its commitment to carry out the “life-saving work” of freeing the world of the threats caused by landmines and explosives remnants of war. “The benefits of mine action are evident in Cyprus”, Zerihoun said, adding that over 6.5 million square metres of land comprising 55 minefields have been “released” since 2004, thanks to the Mine Action Centre Cyprus. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Tamil Protestors Arrested
Protestors against Sri Lanka’s renewed offensive against Tamil Tigers were arrested for overstepping the limits stipulated for their demonstration
Police arrested 83 protesters following a Tamil demonstration outside the Foreign Ministry yesterday evening.
At least 150 Tamils and Danish supporters gathered at the ministry yesterday to protest the ongoing war in Sri Lanka, where the Sri Lankan government is continuing an offensive against the rebel Tamil Tigers group.
According to the UN at least 2,800 people have died during the troubles since 20 January this year.
The demonstrators feel that Denmark is not doing enough to prevent the civilian casualties and planned to continue their protest overnight.
However, police said the demo’s permit ran out at 5pm yesterday and when protestors refused to leave, they were arrested in a preventative measure. All were later released that night.
Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller previously issued a statement with other Nordic ministers expressing their regret at the Sri Lankan government’s decision to break the ceasefire. In February, Denmark also provided 10 million kroner in humanitarian aid to the civilian population affected by the war.
The protestors spent the night in St. Nicolaj’s Church before they resume their demonstration again today.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch TV Show Exonerates Bin Laden
A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the September 11 attacks.
In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show Devil’s Advocate on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled that there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in 2001.
The Netherlands, home to Big Brother creator Endemol, is known for being on the cutting edge of format-based television.
But even for Dutch standards, Devil’s Advocate, from Amsterdam production house AVRO, pushes the envelope.
The show features star defence attorney Gerard Spong standing up for some of the world’s worst criminals.
In the latest show, Spong was able to convince the jury that bin Laden’s connection to September 11 was a product of “Western propaganda”.
The jury also ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove bin Laden was the real head of terrorist network Al Qaeda.
The jury did rule, however, that bin Laden is a “terrorist who has misused Islam”.
The show is certain to provide further ammunition in the already heated Dutch debate over immigration and the country’s large Muslim minority.
The Netherlands saw a sharp rise in anti-immigration and anti-Islamic sentiment after the 2004 murder of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim extremist.
Spong has been at the centre of the debate, supporting legal action against anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Watchdog Orders Halt to Registration of Ethnicity
Leading national daily de Volkskrant reports that the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DDPA) has ordered local councils to immediately end registration of the ethnicity of problem youths. The independent watchdog says the practice is illegal.
The DDPA ruling most directly affects the City of Rotterdam, which has been registering all problem youths since 2002, including their ethnicity. In 2006, the DDPA granted 21 cities and towns with a large Antillean minority, including Rotterdam, a temporary exemption of the ban on registration of ethnicity.
Antillean youths are overrepresented among juvenile delinquents. However, the temporary exemption expired in December last year, and the DDPA says the ban on registration of ethnicity is once again in force.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Earthquake: Hundreds of Greek Students Return Home
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, APRIL 7 — One hundred and sixty young Greeks who were studying in L’Aquila have returned home courtesy of an airplane laid on by the Greek authorities. Meanwhile the press has reported that one Greek is still missing in the city. About 400 Greeks who were studying at the University of L’Aquila were yesterday transported by coach to Rome where a group of them has already left for Athens. Other repatriations will continue today. Vassili, a young Greek student, who is still under the rubble, yesterday gave signs of life which encouraged rescue workers. Contact has now been lost but the media has reported that rescue workers are still looking for him. His sister was slightly injured. His mother has now arrived in L’Aquila. Today’s Greek press gives significant coverage to the quake, pointing out the government’s prompt assistance and headlining “Biblical destruction in Italy” and “Deadly Richter, serious damage to monuments” (Ethos), underlining “more than 150 dead” and “the Greeks shaken by earthquake in Italy” (Kathimerini). It is “a massacre” for Elefterotipia, whilst To Vima reports “Crying and ruins”. “They are fighting against time to reach victims buried in the rubble who are still alive” reports Ta Nea. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Automobile Arson a Trend in Berlin
Arson attacks on expensive cars in Berlin seem to be on the rise. DHL, SAP and Deutsche Bahn have also been targeted by vandals. Police suspect militant leftists are behind the attacks but arrests have been few and far between.
Early on Thursday morning, it happened again. Three cars in the central Berlin district of Friedrichshain went up in flames, victims of night-time arson attacks. Both the fire department and the police were quick to respond, but the perpetrators — many of whom are widely assumed to be from Berlin’s not insignificant radical left-wing scene — melted into the night.
It is a story that has become all too common in Berlin. Twenty-four hours earlier, attackers transformed an Audi and a BMW into smoldering wrecks in the district of Mitte. Recent weeks have seen Porsches, Mercedes and VWs likewise torched. Indeed, arson attacks considered by the police to be “politically motivated” look to be dramatically higher this year than last. And so far, not a single arsonist has been convicted — a situation that has some politicians in Berlin up in arms.
“We expect Berlin Interior Senator Ehrhart Körting and Police Chief Dieter Glietsch to remove the blinders from their left eye and take action against the militant left,” Robbin Juhnke of the Berlin Christian Democrats, told the Berliner Morgenpost on Thursday.
Juhnke’s inference is that the coalition which governs the city-state of Berlin, pairing Körting’s center-left Social Democrats with the far-left Left Party, is soft on left-wing violence. And the numbers are indeed sobering. In 2009, there have already been 32 arson attacks on vehicles in Berlin in which 48 cars have been destroyed. In all of 2008, 68 such attacks took place.
What to do about it, though, remains a matter of some debate. Police have set up “traps” by observing expensive cars parked in at-risk neighborhoods — but to no avail. The problem, they say, is that it takes only seconds to light a car on fire. By the time police respond, the perpetrators have disappeared into the night. In an unwitting admission of just how little progress has been made, a police spokesman told Berliner Morgenpost in January that “we suspect the perpetrators travel by foot, with the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn or by bicycle.”
A Political Background?
Adding to the difficulties, the left-wing scene, dominated as it is by self-proclaimed anarchists, is splintered, with a number of loosely-formed groups that don’t necessarily work together. Plus, it isn’t even clear that all of the arson attacks can be blamed on the far left. Berlin police suspect that there are a number of individual “copy-cat criminals” at work.
Still, there are a number of signs pointing to a political background for at least some of the attacks. In late January, for example, seven cars belonging to Deutsche Bahn went up in flames. The German rail operator has long been a target of the militant left wing due to the fact that it transports highly radioactive nuclear waste to a storage facility in Germany’s Gorleben. The periodic transports — known as Castor Transports — are traditionally accompanied by at-times violent left wing protests.
Cars belonging to the express mail company DHL are likewise a favorite target due to the fact that the company provides logistics support for the German military in Afghanistan, another cause for disgruntlement in Germany’s left. There have been a number of organized left-wing marches against both companies, the most recent in Berlin in mid March.
In a similar vein, the Berlin offices of the software giant SAP, located in the Mitte district, have become a favorite target of left-wing militants. The building’s large picture windows ending up in shards on an almost monthly basis. The most recent attack occurred on Tuesday night, when a group of 100 black-clad anarchists suddenly appeared in central Berlin, vandalized cars and buildings, including the SAP offices, and then dispersed.
Such organized and vaguely political vandalism has been a feature of Berlin for years. But when it comes to the ongoing series of arson attacks against parked cars, the motives — and potential political connection — become more difficult to pinpoint.
In January of this year, a group calling itself the “Movement for Militant Resistance” — which uses the acronym BMW based on its name in German — claimed responsibility for the torching of eight vehicles in a letter published in the left-wing scene zine Interim. The group claimed it was fighting against gentrification in the Berlin districts of Neukölln, Kreuzberg and Mitte.
Can’t Ignore the Suffering
The claim seems plausible, says Klaus Farin, an expert on the extreme left with the Archive of Youth Cultures in Berlin. He says that many on the far left place great stock in living free of the consumerism and status symbols that characterize modern-day society.
“Most people have become good at simply ignoring the suffering and inequalities that surround us,” Farin told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “The anarchist scene is full of people who can’t ignore anything at all. They just see it in front of their eyes day in and day out.” Many use that, he says, as an excuse for violence.
It could also explain why many of the cars burned in Berlin have been upmarket models — Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes and luxury VWs. “They tend to find displays of wealth obscene,” Farin says.
Still, Farin is also wary of characterizing the recent wave of arson attacks as political acts. Many of the cars burned, after all, have been inexpensive, privately-owned compacts. And some of the perpetrators, he says, could just as easily have been bored Berlin teenagers looking for an adrenalin rush — a phenomenon on display every year during the German capital’s traditional May Day riots.
Indeed, Farin says, it isn’t even clear whether there has indeed been an increase in the number of cars burned in Berlin. “There have always been cars burning in Berlin. For decades,” he said. “There were times in the past when the cops wouldn’t even go in to certain streets in Kreuzberg.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Bombs Planted at 4 Churches
In an unprecedented series of attacks, unidentified arsonists yesterday planted explosive devices in four major churches in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, though only the Piraeus bomb detonated, causing damage but no injuries.
A homemade bomb, comprising two gas canisters attached to a timer, went off inside the Aghia Triada Church in Piraeus shortly before 3 p.m. Earlier police bomb disposal experts destroyed a similar device found inside the Athens Cathedral. Police cordoned off the area around the cathedral, next to the capital’s main tourist district, after receiving a warning from an anonymous caller who also contacted the press. An anonymous caller had also warned police about the bomb in Piraeus but officers arrived too late to avert the blast.
Two homemade explosive devices, again connected to timers, were also defused by police in Thessaloniki, inside the central churches of Aghia Sofia and Aghios Dimitrios.
A warning about a bomb at the Athens central appeals court complex yesterday turned out to be a hoax.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Health: C-Sections Account for Over Half of Births in Cyprus
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, APRIL 3 — Medical authorities in Cyprus yesterday jumped into action after it emerged one in two women have caesareans in the private health sector at a rate that far exceeds international recommendations, daily Cyprus Mail reports today. The Medical Association said it would launch an investigation into reports that some obstetricians performed as many as five times more C-sections than the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation. At 55% of all deliveries in the private sector, the Caesarean-section rate is almost four times the 15% maximum rate recommended by the WHO and six times the preferred rate cited by many researchers. Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s House Health Committee meeting, Association president Dr Andreas Demetriou said the matter would be discussed at the association’s meeting next Tuesday, adding that he hoped that with the Gynaecological Association’s co-operation they would be able to work towards reducing the high proportion of C-sections in Cyprus. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Quake-City Mayor Appeals to Madonna for Help
Rome, 6 April (AKI) — The mayor of the small Italian town of Pacentro, launched an appeal to US pop-star and entertainer Madonna on Monday to help the town collect funds to help the people of the central region of Abruzzo affected by a devastating quake. Madonna’s paternal grandparents lived in Pacentro until 1919.
“If Madonna used her popularity to bring world attention to the tragedy of the people of Abruzzo, it would be a beautiful thing. She would be lending us a helping hand,” said Fernando Caparso, the mayor of Pacentro in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
“Who would be better than her? A Ciccone, to help this part of the world,” said Caparso, referring to Madonna’s Italian last name.
Madonna’s full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone
Pacentro “did not have any dead or injured residents, but only damages to old structures as well as the main church. However, there was so much fear, and we are now focused on helping our neighbours that have lost everything: This is why I ask Madonna to use her influence.”
In 1987, Madonna visited Pacentro, where he met her cousins.
Monday’s devastating earthquake in the mountainous Abruzzo region killed at least 92 people and injured 1,500 others.
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the capital of the Abruzzo region, L’Aquila, as well as damaging 25 other cities including Pacentro and towns at 3:32 am local time. It was followed by a series of weaker tremors.
Between 3,000 to 10,000 buildings were reduced to rubble and L’Aquila’s university hospital has been declared off limits amid fears it could collapse.
Between 30,000 to 40,000 people are said to have lost their homes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Offers Own Homes to Quake Survivors
[Comment from Tuan Jim: Let’s see how this one turns out]
L’AQUILA, Italy — Italy’s billionaire prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, on Friday offered to put up in his own homes some of the thousands of people made homeless by this week’s earthquake.
“I will do what I can too, by offering some of my houses,” the 72-year-old media mogul told reporters after a state funeral for the victims in the mountain city of L’Aquila.
About 17,000 survivors are living in tents in L’Aquila and other towns in the central Abruzzo region, which was hit by the 6.3 magnitude quake on Monday. Thousands more are being put up in hotels or have found refuge with family.
Berlusconi’s private homes include a mansion in Arcore near Milan, beach villas in Sardinia and Portofino on the Riviera, another on Lake Maggiore, an apartment in central Rome and many more. Forbes magazine rates him as Italy’s second richest man.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Moldova: Facebook, Twitter Help Moldova Protester Organize Demonstrations
Even as the Moldovan government refused entry to foreign journalists, new media tools including Twitter and Facebook are playing key roles in organizing protesters at demonstrations in the Moldovan capital.
Protests of around 15,000 people against disputed legislative elections seemingly materialized out of nowhere on Monday and Tuesday in central Chisinau after an SMS campaign initiated by critics of the government.
Sergei Muntian, a 22-year-old protestor, told the AFP news agency that the outpouring began after many people received an SMS that said: “Come fight the Communists in the front of the government building. Pass this message on.”
After protests turned violent on Tuesday, cell phone service in the areas surrounding the demonstrations was not available. Whether disruptions were initiated by authorities to stem protesters’ ability to communicate or if phone networks were overloaded by the massive crowds gathering in the capital of Chisinau remains unclear.
Unfiltered reports
But outside of the main protest areas protesters were able to access the Internet to post updates on Twitter and Facebook.
Messages on Thursday said NGOs and student groups were planning protests at Avram Iancu Square and linked to YouTube videos of demonstrators reporting cases of abuse by the police.
Using the searchable keyword #pman, named after Chisinau’s central square’s Romanian name Piata Marii Adunari Nationale, Twitter postings, called tweets, have flooded the online service so much that the protests have been dubbed the “Twitter Revolution.”
“Chisinau surrounded by troops,” a user named robintel posted Wednesday on the micro-blogging service Twitter. “People are protesting. The US said the elections were OK. Not nice.”
Membership at several groups set up on social networking site Facebook have seen membership swell since protests began Monday. One such group titled “Support Moldova” boasted nearly 7,000 on Thursday.
Decentralized organization
The protests were spearheaded by a committee of activists called “I am an Anti-Communist” and their size came as a surprise not just to the government but also to mainstream opposition parties that lost Sunday’s election.
“Using the Internet we managed to gather 15,000 people on the square in a few minutes,” Natalya Morar, one of the leaders of the committee, told reporters.
Twitter and Facebook posts, though often not verified by independent sources, are proving to be a major source of information about developing events in Chisinau. Some 18 journalists working for Romanian and international media were prevented from entering Moldova on Wednesday, and other Romanian journalists were sent back from Chisinau airport, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Wide-spread use of mobile phones and text messaging was seen to be a central element in the success of the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine as well as protests in Belarus in 2006. Internet-based media platforms also provided nearly instantaneous reports from terror attacks in Mumbai, the crash landing of a passenger plane in the Hudson River near Manhattan, and an earthquake in China.
But despite the large amount of updates emerging via social media from Chisinau, bloggers in eastern Europe have also complained about the lack of information getting in.
Since (the media) have no facts to report, they published an article about the social networking aspects of the protests,” wrote Kyiv-based, American blogger Ann M. Merrill. “Please. Give me some real news!”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Moldova: Fearing Uprising, Russia Backs Moldova’s Communists
This week’s peaceful protests in Moldova that transformed into riots have raised the possibility of an anti-Communist revolution like those seen in Georgia and Ukraine. Now Russia is stepping in to back Moldova’s old guard, but the country’s tangled history could prove to be diplomatic quicksand for the West. More protests were brewing on Friday.
The unexpectedly passionate protests in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau this week — spurred by an election on Sunday that kept the Communist Party in power — have moved Moscow to denounce the uprising. Now the electoral crisis in this corner of the former Soviet Union is shaping up as another showdown between east and west — and one that might just hobble Washington’s Russian charm offensive.
Monday’s Twitter-organized student protest brought some 10,000 people to Chisinau’s main square, who accused the government of rigging Sunday’s vote. The protest turned violent on Tuesday, with some demonstrators throwing rocks and storming the Moldovan parliament. The original protest organizers, including a journalist named Natalia Morar — who said she only expected 300 people to show up — have distanced themselves from the violence.
Now Morar has been charged with “calls for organizing and staging mass disturbances,” according to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. Moldova’s current president, Vladimir Voronin, has belittled the protests and accused neighboring Romania of organizing a coup. He even expelled Romania’s ambassador on Wednesday. “When the flag of Romania was raised on state buildings, the attempts of the opposition to carry out a coup became clear,” he said. “We will not allow this.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lined up behind Voronin on Thursday and described the protesters who ransacked the parliament as “pogrom-makers” bent on destroying the country.
Reunification With Romania?
In the West, the uprising looked like another post-Soviet “color” revolution, a people’s movement against an old-guard Communist regime, such as Georgia’s 2003 “Rose Revolution” or Ukraine’s 2004 “Orange Revolution.” From Moscow’s perspective, that’s exactly the problem. “The Moscow authorities are afraid of spontaneous mass protests in the regions … and, for this reason, Russian television is showing what is happening in an exclusively negative light,” Dmitry Oreshkin, a Moscow-based political analyst, told Reuters. “It is beneficial for the Kremlin to show the consequences of peoples’ protests to justify why it needs to be tough.”
The Duma, or Russia’s lower house of parliament, has called on the EU to condemn the protests. But some of the anti-Communist opposition parties in Moldova want to join the EU, if possible by reunifying with Romania. The two nations were unified for a while before World War II, and about two-thirds of Moldovans claim Romanian descent. Reunification was a campaign issue in Sunday’s election. “If Romanians and Moldovans decide in favor of a union,” one European diplomat said in last week’s run-up to the vote, “the EU will not oppose them.”
However, the Communist (and anti-Romanian) influence also has passionate defenders in Moldova, since Romanian troops allied with Nazis had a cruel record in Moldova during World War II. Russia is seen as a protective big brother against the Romanian influence in parts of Moldova — especially Transnistria, a breakaway region with many Russian speakers and its own, but still internationally unrecognized, president.
Russian troops have kept the peace in Transnistria since 1992, and Russian support for the region has been compared to Russian support for breakaway regions in Georgia and Ukraine.
More Protests Friday
Riot police took back the Moldovan parliament and presidential buildings on Wednesday, and Thursday was calm in Chisinau. But a large protest in the capital was brewing on Friday — organized on a Twitter stream tagged #pman, which stands for the initials of Chisinau’s biggest square— with protesters claiming the government would use the threat of a Romanian coup as a reason to arrest people illegally.
“Communists block students in their classrooms and threaten them with exmatriculation if they protest,” claimed one Twitterer on Friday. “Somebody help Moldova pleaseeee,” wrote another.
The violence on Tuesday was a setback for the protesters’ cause even within Moldova’s anti-Communist community, and some experts wondered if it wasn’t orchestrated.
“The protests were initially very peaceful, but then a small group, which seemed to be very well-organized, started these violent riots,” Igor Munteanu, who runs a think tank in Chisinau called Viitorul, told Britain’s Independent newspaper. “My suspicion is that this was provoked and directed from within. Elements of the Communist leadership do not want closer relations with the EU, as it will mean loosening their grip on power. They know that if they provoke a crisis with Romania and the EU, and improve relations with Moscow, they will be able to continue running the country as they please.”
In the meantime, Sunday’s vote has been recounted, but the results shaved only one parliamentary seat from the Communists, from 61 to 60, denying them absolute power to select Moldova’s next president. (President Voronin will have to step down because of term limits, no matter who wins the power struggle.)
“Voronin and his Commies had enough time to stage the votes again — it’s obvious what that means,” wrote one skeptical Twitterer on Friday. “Recounting is worthless.”
But the heated accusations weren’t restricted to the region. Some Russian analysts on Wednesday were blaming President Barack Obama for the Moldovan unrest, saying American’s interest is to hem in Russia. In response, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that: “We’re calling on the parties to refrain from further violence and resolve their differences peacefully and through peaceful means.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Moors Want Spain to Apologize
It was the start of one of the earliest and most brutal episodes of ethnic cleansing in Europe, so Spain is, understandably perhaps, a little reluctant to mark the occasion.
Four hundred years ago today King Philip III signed an order to expel 300,000 Moriscos — or part-Muslims — who had converted from Islam to Christianity.
Over the next five years hundreds of the exiles died as they were forced from their homes in Spain to North Africa at the height of the Spanish Inquisition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Amsterdam Borough Chairman Wants Gays and Muslims to Get Along
Ahmed Marcouch, the chairman of the Slotervaart borough council in Amsterdam, has chosen the confrontational approach to make his ethnic minority neighbourhood more tolerant towards homosexuals.
Every time he leaves his house in the Amsterdam borough Slotervaart, a Moroccan gay man looks through the peep hole in his door to check for gay-bashers. “But unfortunately the bastard will always be waiting on the corner of the street. When the gay man passes, he gets called names and spat on”, says Ahmed Marcouch. The chairman of this immigrant borough of 45,000 people has taken it upon himself to fight this type of homophobia. On Wednesday he presented a memorandum with measures to make the neighbourhood more gay-friendly.
Marcouch wants to see a gay bar opened, he wants to educate primary school children and organise a football tournament between Moroccan and gay teams. “The freedom of gay people is my freedom and my freedom is the freedom of gay people,” the prominent local politician said at the presentation of his proposals.
Amsterdam, long hailed as the gay capital of the world, has lost much of that reputation due to some violent incidents in recent years. Whether or not Muslim youth are responsible for the attacks is a subject of debate, but a clash between the public acceptance of homosexuality and the rejection of that practise by Islam is most apparent in Slotervaart. The borough, which gained international notoriety as the neighbourhood of Mohammed B., the murderer of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, is home to a largely immigrant population with 7,500 Moroccan-Dutch and 4,000 Turkish-Dutch people. At the same time, the borough contains a large recreational area, the Oeverlanden, that functions as an open-air meeting place for homosexual men looking for sex.
‘They are not people’
Robberies and violence against these men have made the news in recent years, as have incidents in the centre of Amsterdam. The American journalist Chris Crain was molested when he and his boyfriend were walking hand in hand in Amsterdam in 2005. Crain wrote about the assault in The Washington Blade, the gay magazine of which he was the editor in chief. “I hope our gay friends in Holland realise that it’s a bit too soon to declare victory and go home, now that they’ve won their legal battles,” he wrote, referring to same sex marriage being legal in the Netherlands.
A 2008 report by the University of Amsterdam, entitled ‘As long as they don’t touch me’, showed that the acceptance of homosexuality is low amongst young men like those living in Slotervaart. In the report, one of them is quoted as saying: “They are not people. Dogs, monkeys, animals are better than those people.”
Marcouch now wants to take the shock treatment approach to this intolerance. Marcouch, a Muslim who was born in Morocco himself, has already made an appearance at the ‘Pink Eid Al-Fitr’, a gay celebration of the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, and he has debated with religious leaders who say that Islam and homosexuality can’t co-exist. And now he wants to take it one step further: “We’re going to take the confrontational approach and it will be painful at times.”
Justification of intolerance
In a controversial move, Marcouch now wants Amsterdam’s famous Gay Pride parade to start in Slotervaart this year. The organisers of the parade, which takes place on Amsterdam’s canals, say this is technically impossible. They have offered instead to give Marcouch a place on the first boat to sail in the parade in August. “If Gay Pride can’t come to Slotervaart, Slotervaart can come to Gay Pride,” organiser Frank van Dalen said.
But Marcouch is dissatisfied with this alternative. “It’s about the change that should take place here, not in the centre,” he says.
The discussion about homosexuality in Slotervaart is complicated by the fact that Islam is often called upon as a justification for intolerance towards gays. Violence against gays is often attributed to young men “with Moroccan features”, even though the 2008 study by the university of Amsterdam showed that the perpetrators are just as often of Dutch origin (36 percent) as of Moroccan origin (36 percent).
Intolerance is also not limited to Muslims, as the policies of the junior partner in the Dutch government show. The orthodox Christian ChristenUnie does not allow its own openly gay party members to hold public office. “Minister Rouvoet for youth and family policy has a clear role in educating children. But his own party gives Muslims an excuse to reject homosexuals,” Marcouch says.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: MPs Object to Imam as Army Chaplain
Deputy Defence Minister Jack de Vries is reconsidering the appointment of an imam from the Moroccan community as an army chaplain. MPs have criticised the Islamic cleric’s appointment.
The imam is said to have called Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende a hypocrite and to have said he was worth less than a doormat. He is also alleged to have said that Christians are still at war with the Muslim religion. Many MPs believe he is not a suitable candidate to become an army chaplain.
Mr de Vries will now hold talks with the parties involved to find out whether the appointment should go ahead. The imam was due to start his new job on Thursday together with a colleague from the Turkish community.
The Ministry of Defence has spent five years trying to select suitable chaplains, but up to now has been hampered by disagreement between different Islamic organisations.
[Comment from Tuan Jim: It’s that hard to find one…]
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Parents Forced to Rein in Delinquent Youths
Parents of young criminals in Amsterdam West are to receive compulsory help in bringing up their delinquent children. In a pilot scheme in the suburb, the parents of teenage lawbreakers have to appear at the police station to draw up a “risk assessment” of their home situation, national broadsheet de Volkskrant reports. The 2.5 million euro scheme launched by Amsterdam City Council and the justice ministry will have the resources to deal with 200 ‘problem’ youths.
On the basis of the risk assessment, the youths will receive a speedy punishment and if deemed necessary, the family will be monitored by social services. Social workers will keep an eye on the delinquents and try to prevent them falling into a downward spiral of criminal behaviour. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin says he wants to stop families from “looking the other way”.
A hardcore of teenage delinquents, many from Moroccan family backgrounds, have made the street gangs in Amsterdam’s western suburbs notorious. In February one part of the district, known as the Kolenkitbuurt, featured on a government urban renewal list as the ‘worst neighbourhood in the Netherlands’. However, an annual police assessment released on Wednesday shows that police efforts are bearing fruit and the number of hardcore gang members is falling.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Dutch Parliament Objects to Muslim Army Chaplain
The Dutch parliament is holding up the appointment of a new Muslim army chaplain because of his ‘radical’ views.Editorial — This imam has no place in the Dutch army The Dutch army was supposed to swear in its first two Muslim chaplains on Thursday. But deputy defence minister Jack de Vries was forced to postpone Ali Eddaoudi’s appointment after parliament raised questions about his political views.
Eddaoudi, who is of Moroccan descent, wrote several opinion articles in NRC Handelsblad that some view as radical. In a 2006 article, Eddaoudi defended the right of Muslim neighbourhood stewards to refuse to shake hands with members of the opposite sex. In a 2008 article, he called prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende “a Christian and a hypocrite” and said that “Christians are still at war with Islam”.
In 2007 he wrote a column on the website maroc.nl in which he criticised the Dutch mission in Afghanistan. “The Dutch, Americans and British have no business being in the Islamic world,” Eddaoudi wrote. He called the Taliban “a proud people” that will never give up, and that more and more Dutch soldiers would come home in body bags as long as western soldiers perpetrate “violence and humiliation” against the Afghan population.
The right-wing liberal party VVD and the populist Party for Freedom (PVV) both demanded Eddaoudi ‘s resignation. But De Vries said he couldn’t simply fire Eddaoudi since he has already been appointed by the army. “We can’t just undo his appointment based on a feeling. We need a legal basis that just isn’t there,” De Vries said.
Eddaoudi was nominated for the job by the CMO, a mediator between the government and the Muslim community in the Netherlands. The CMO also nominated Suad Aydýn, a Turkish imam. Aydin’s appointment is not being contested.
The Dutch army already employs Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Hindhu and humanist chaplains or counselors for spiritual guidance.
De Vries will make a decision about Eddaoudi in two weeks time.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: This Imam Has No Place in the Dutch Army
The Dutch parliament usually doesn’t interfere with individual government appointments, but it made an exception with the controversial appointment of a Muslim chaplain for the Dutch army. With good reason.
Fortunately, parliament is not opposing the appointment of Muslim chaplains or imams in the army as such — with the exception of the tiny fundamentalist Christian party SGP, which opposes the ‘multicuturalisation of spiritual care’.
The Dutch army already has Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu and humanist chaplains. In a week that saw a 20-year-old Dutch soldier of Moroccan descent, Azdin Chadli, give his life for his country while on duty in Afghanistan, no one will deny that there is a need for Muslim spiritual caretakers in the army.
This week two imams were supposed to get their degree after completing their training at the national defence academy: the Turkish-Dutch Saoud Aydin and the Moroccan-Dutch Ali Eddaoudi. Only the populist Party for Freedom (PVV) opposes the appointment of Aydin because of his membership of the Turkish Islamic organisation Milli Görüs. But several parties have protested the appointment of Eddaoudi because of the controversial views he has aired in several newspaper or internet columns. Deputy defence minister Jack de Vries now regrets his decision.
Eddaoudi, who previously worked as a spiritual caretaker in prisons and hospitals, has a right to his opinion — even if it shows little delicacy to call prime minister Balkenende “less worthy than a doormat” (as he did in NRC Handelsblad in 2006). To his credit, Eddaoudi doesn’t shy away from denouncing problems in the Moroccan or Muslim community either.
The heart of the matter is an opinion article he wrote on the website Maroc.nl in June of 2007. According to Eddaoudi, Dutch soldiers have no business in Afghanistan. He says what the West is doing there is “nothing more than an ordinary attempt to terrorise people”. Earlier he wrote that “Christians are still at war with Islam”.
De Vries says Eddaoudi has distanced himself from his earlier statements. That may be. But it doesn’t make him anymore suited to give spiritual care to a troubled Dutch soldier in Afghanistan. An imam like Eddaoudi has no place in the Dutch army.
The ministry says it was only following the advice of the CMO, a mediator between the government and the Muslim community. It is obligated to do so because of the separation of church and state. But this is no excuse: after all, Eddaoudi passed the tests of both the army and military intelligence. There can be only one conclusion: De Vries and his collaborators were not paying attention.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
No Doubt Tony Blair Would Have Saved Jesus — Then Where Would We be?
Mr Blair revived Labour, now he’s bidding for the Papacy. But some things are bigger than even he can encompass, says Charles Moore.
Tony Blair, you will remember, saved the Labour Party. Then, through electoral victory, he ensured, as he put it, “one cross on the ballot-paper: a nation reborn”. After saving his country, he left office, and became a Roman Catholic.
So it was only a matter of time before Mr Blair got to work on his adopted Church. BT (Before Tony), the Church has been pretty badly run for 2,000 years, but now, he promises, all that can change.
In an interview with the gay magazine Attitude this month, Mr Blair explains that the entrenched views on homosexuality and other matters held by oldies like Pope Benedict XVI can be overcome. Here is Tony’s solution: “You can either A: hold on to your core vote and say ‘let’s not break out because we might lose what we’ve got’. Or B: say ‘let’s accept the world is changing and work out how to lead that change and reach out’.”
So that’s Christian ethics sorted. Why didn’t St Paul, St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas think of that before? Even Jesus (great guy, obviously) failed explicitly to attack the “core vote” strategy. Where would Christians be without Tony reaching out?
As well as bidding for the Papacy by popular acclaim, Mr Blair is also the Representative of the “Quartet” (the EU, the United States, Russia and the United Nations) in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So in the time left over from his global spiritual role and from being senior adviser to JP Morgan Chase, he is bringing to the Middle East the peace which has largely eluded it for the entire history of civilisation.
This Easter, his contribution has been to urge the Israeli authorities to allow Gerry Adams to visit Gaza and bring his healing powers to work on it. Thanks to Mr Blair’s persuasive charm, the Israelis agreed. As the Sinn Fein website reported, in the week which begins by commemorating Christ’s entry into Jerusalem: “This morning he [Adams] entered Gaza.” Hosanna!
It is a privilege to be alive at the same time as Tony Blair. But one’s sole regret is that his presence in the 21st century has prevented him from averting the greatest crime in history. If only Tony had been around in 1st-century Judaea, surely all that unpleasantness with the Crucifixion could have been avoided.
The thought has crossed Tony’s mind, though he is too modest to put it so directly. In an interview which he gave to The Sunday Telegraph for the Easter of 1996, he reflected on the character of Pontius Pilate.
“The intriguing thing about Pilate,” he said, “is the degree to which he tried to do the good thing rather than the bad… he was so nearly a good man. One can imagine him agonising, seeing that Jesus had done nothing wrong, and wishing to release him. Just as easily, however, one can envisage Pilate’s advisers telling him of the risks, warning him not to cause a riot or inflame Jewish opinion. It is a timeless parable of political life.”
In Tony’s view, Pilate’s dilemma was “the struggle between what is right and what is expedient”. Another “classic example” was the Munich Crisis, “as were the debates surrounding the Great Reform Act of 1832 and the Corn Laws”. Tricky situations all of them, but don’t forget that “Christianity is optimistic about the human condition [Things Can Only Get Better!]… It can identify what is good, but knows the capacity to do evil. I believe that the endless striving to do the one and avoid the other is the purpose of human existence. Through that comes progress.”
From which we may conclude that Tony is telling us that he, though sensitive to the views of opponents, would have pushed through the Great Reform Bill, repealed the Corn Laws and rejected the Munich Agreement. If he had had Pontius Pilate’s job, he believes he would have beaten back people like Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell (interesting, by the way, that he thinks about this: Pilate’s “advisers” are not mentioned in the New Testament), and would have let Jesus go back to Galilee unharmed. He might even have offered him a fairly senior role, perhaps accompanied by a peerage, in his administration.
But it could not be. Instead of the “progress” which Mr Blair sees as the highest good, the human race has had to settle for salvation, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Heigh-ho.
Few of us, perhaps, can share Tony Blair’s confidence about how to solve the problems of war and peace, sin and death, but he is surely right that Pontius Pilate is indeed “intriguing”.
There are striking characters in the New Testament — notably Peter with his impetuous courage and touching weakness; but none feels like a modern, educated, worldly person whom one might meet at dinner.
Except for Pilate. Particularly for British people, with our memory of empire, he is entirely recognisable. Such men had to deal with Mahatma Gandhi and the mad Mahdi, and learn to distinguish between the two. A modern Pilate may well, as you read this, be sitting in Helmand province, trying to prevent his few Easter eggs from melting in the heat, and wondering whether the Islamist fanatic at his door will do a deal with him or blow him up (or both).
He will interest himself a little in the beliefs of the exotic people whom he half-rules, but he will use his scepticism as a carapace against them. “What is truth?” he will ask, as Pilate did, without expecting to be told anything worth hearing.
He will want, if he can, to do justice. But he will be conscious that justice, so far from home, may be beyond him. If politics demands it, he will give the natives what they want, and then wash his hands.
And he will also feel fear. There will be the simple fear of a man whose career depends on the favour of the powerful. He will be frightened, as Pilate was, when the crowd tells him that if he does not do their bidding: “You are no friend to Caesar.”
There will also be a deeper fear — that his entire way of life, privileged and civilised though it is, cuts him off from what really matters. It is not, as Tony Blair thinks, just the struggle between doing what is right and what is wrong. It is more tragic — the knowledge that doing what is right is actually impossible, even though you have some glimmerings of what right might be. That, surely, is why Pilate wrote on the Cross that Jesus was the King of the Jews and why, when told to change it, replied: “What I have written, I have written.” He wanted to bear witness to his own mistake.
So we modern, educated people, well known for feeling shallow and pointless, can take a sort of comfort from Pontius Pilate. He experienced our predicament, and is commemorated for it every single day, mentioned by name whenever Christians say the Creed. He is somehow necessary, part of what had to happen, part of something bigger than even Tony Blair can encompass.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Bashing in Bavaria and Paris
US President Barack Obama says Turkey’s future is in the European Union. Not everyone agrees. Numerous politicians in Germany have gone on the attack, and even French President Sarkozy is unimpressed. Turkey’s role at the NATO summit has soured the mood.
[…]
It is a sentiment not universally shared in Europe. On Monday, a number of politicians, particularly in Germany, went on the offensive. “It is a meddling in the internal affairs of Europe,” Bernd Posselt, a member of the European Parliament from Bavarian’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), blustered in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. “The EU is not Obama’s plaything. … He should accept Turkey as America’s 51st state instead,” he continued.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Man Freed as Teenage Rape Victim Commits Suicide
Just hours before a 15-year-old girl was set to give evidence against a 42-year-old man suspected of raping her, she committed suicide.
The man will no longer stand trial for the rape of the teenager, reports Sveriges Radio Jönköping.
It was when the girl started to have trouble at school and to experience psychological problems that she came into contact with the man.
When the girl was at lowest ebb she sought contact with the 42-year-old who is alleged to have supplied her with drugs.
He is also alleged to have rape her repeatedly over the course of last year, when the girl was only 14-years-old.
The case against the man was based on the testimony of the teenager. Her death now means that the case will be closed and the man will no longer stand trial.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Gang Rape Suspects on Trial in Södertälje
Four young men appeared in court on Thursday charged with involvement in a series of gang rapes in Södertälje in eastern Sweden.
A total of seven young men between the ages of 19 and 23 are being held in custody for the rapes.
The men are believed to belong to a network of several smaller groups who have systematically raped young women and girls in the town.
Six of them have been charged and four of them stood trial in Södertälje district court on Thursday for aggravated rape, among other charges, in one of the four cases.
The girls have said the men took turns raping them while the others held them down, newspaper Länstidningen Södertälje reports.
“We have good reason to believe that several more women have been raped and we implore them to contact us,” Kia Samrell, information office at the Södertälje police department, told TT.
The case began in February when a young women reported that she had been raped by four men in an apartment in Hovsjö. Due to DNA evidence and information from various witnesses, the attack was linked to three additional unsolved rape cases in Södertälje.
One of the cases involved a woman who at the beginning of February believed she was getting a ride home, but was instead taken to a camping site where she was raped by several men.
In March last year, another young women was forced into a car in Lina and raped by five men. In the fourth case, which occurred in November 2007, a 12-year-old girl was raped by three men in an attic in Ronna.
The individual suspects have not all been involved in each rape.
“The men belong to different overlapping constellations,” said Samrell.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Gaddafi Couple Sue Geneva Authorities
Tripoli is turning up the pressure on Switzerland again, in the wake of last summer’s arrest of one of the sons of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife, along with the Libyan state, filed a civil lawsuit against the Geneva authorities in a Geneva court on Wednesday.
They are claiming damages for the “disproportionate” way in which they were treated by the Geneva police who detained them in their hotel in July, after receiving complaints that they had seriously mistreated two of their servants.
The couple were released on bail after two days, and charges against them were dropped in September after the servants withdrew their complaint, having reached a financial arrangement with Hannibal.
“Police did not hesitate to use physical force and act with brutality despite a lack of resistance” and along with the justice authorities “deliberately chose to inflict on Mr Gaddafi the most humiliating treatment possible”, Swiss television TSR quoted the complaint as saying.
The claimants also say that the Geneva authorities had not complied with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic standards and had set an “astronomical” bail of SFr500,000 ($435,000).
They further claim that police had refused to act on a complaint of theft made by the Gaddafi couple.
Strained relations The Swiss lawyer for the Gaddafi couple said they were claiming SFr50,000 ($43,000) in moral compensation and SFr470,00 in material damages.
Lars Knuchel, spokesman for the Swiss foreign ministry, said: “The case has been filed with the Geneva courts and it is a good thing.” The authorities in Geneva have consistently backed the actions of their police.
Relations between the two countries have been strained ever since the arrest, with Libya taking a number of retaliatory measures against Switzerland.
Libya demanded an apology for the arrest and imposed economic measures against Switzerland, including closing Swiss companies and stopping flights.
Two Swiss nationals working in Libya were also arrested and later released but were refused permission to leave the North African country. The foreign ministry says one of them is unwell and has appealed to the Libyan government to allow the citizens to leave the country on humanitarian reasons.
Bern has ruled out an apology over the affair and stressed the Geneva authorities acted within the law. In a briefing on Tuesday, the foreign ministry noted it could take “a long time” before the crisis with Libya was resolved.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey added that dialogue was continuing but the matter was now between the Geneva authorities and Libya.
Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz meanwhile described the 63-page claim as another “stage in a game begun by Libya” and which looked set to continue.
“Every avenue is blocked. I don’t see a way out at the moment,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police Shock Pakistani Students
CAIRO — It has never crossed Muhammad Adil’s mind that a simple meeting with a fellow student at a British library would turn into his worst nightmare.
“This has totally changed what I have learned about this country and my time here,” Adil, a 27-year-old Pakistani student, told the Guardian on Friday, April 10.
Adil, who is in his final of an MBA at Liverpool John Moores University, met with a 25-year-old Pakistani student at the library on Thursday.
As they talked and ate peanuts while sitting on benches outside the building, anti-terror officers suddenly showed up.
“Special forces with telescopes on their machine guns came and said ‘hands up’,” Adil recalled.
“I thought maybe they are students playing with me. My friend was sitting on the bench.
“They grabbed my wrists and pushed my friend and he fell down on the other side of the [flowerbed] wall.”
When the Pakistani student told the officers that he was a student, he was told to “shut up”.
“I kept saying ‘I’m normal’,” Adil said as he was forced to lay down with his hands tied behind his back.
“I couldn’t see my friend but the officers were on him. They said ‘don’t move’,” he said.
“They asked me if I knew why I was being arrested — as a suspect of terrorism, I was laughing at that. I’m a student.”
Adil was among 12 Pakistani students arrested in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe, Lancashire over a “major terrorist plot”. No one has been charged yet.
Insult
The Pakistani student, from Peshawar, was kept lying face down on the floor with his hands tied behind his back for an hour with the officers pointing guns at him.
“I asked them to tell me what’s wrong,” said Adil, who has been studying in Britain for two years.
“I ask him how long, do you have any proof that I’m a terrorist? I said I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m a student.
“I was laughing in shock at that point and the officer told me it’s not the time to laugh.”
After an hour, the two Pakistani students were taken to a police station in separate cars.
“They picked me up from the floor but kept me handcuffed and searched me all over then took me to the local police station, and questioned me about my name, age, where I lived, how long I’d lived there, the color of my eyes, my friends.”
After several hours of tiring questioning, the police made a U-turn.
“When they confirmed everything they were talking me to like we were friends and asked if I wanted water or the toilet. He said ‘Are you okay’ and I said my hands are tied if that’s okay. I talk too much. It’s my habit,” said Adil.
The police treatment has changed Adil’s view of Britain.
“They are clearly identifying Muslim students. It’s a big insult,” he said.
Britain’s two million Muslims have taken full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 attacks.
They have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by police for no apparent reason other than being Muslim.
“The first thing I will do is leave this country as soon as possible,” said Adil.
“The police officer said your country [Pakistan] is not secure but I still prefer to live there. I love my country.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Al-Qaeda Terror Plot to Bomb Easter Shoppers
An al-Qaeda cell was days away from carrying out an “Easter spectacular” of co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on shopping centres in Manchester, police believe.
Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.
Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann’s Square.
Police were forced to round up the alleged plotters after they were overheard discussing dates, understood to include the Easter bank holiday, one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.
“It could have been the next few days and they were talking about 10 days at the outside,” one source said. “We had to act.” Police are now engaged in a search for an alleged bomb factory, where explosives might have been assembled.
If such a plot was carried out, it would almost certainly have been Britain’s worst terrorist attack, with the potential to cause more deaths than the suicide attacks of July 7, 2005, when 52 people were murdered.
A plan to arrest the suspects in a series of co-ordinated raids yesterday morning had to be hastily brought forward to Wednesday afternoon after the country’s most senior anti-terrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, of the Metropolitan Police, was photographed going into Downing Street carrying a briefing paper with top secret details of Operation Pathway in full view.
Yesterday morning, Mr Quick resigned after he was told by the Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, that he had lost her confidence and that of MI5.
As a result of his blunder, hundreds of police officers had to be scrambled to arrest the suspects, who were being monitored round the clock.
Former police chiefs pointed out that rounding up suspected suicide bombers in public places in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe, Lancs, had put other people at risk and could also have compromised the operation.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, described the alleged plot as “very big” and said investigators were looking at links with Pakistan.
Mr Brown said: “We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan. That is an important issue for us to follow through and that’s why I will be talking to President Zardari about what Pakistan can do to help us in the future.”
All but one of the men arrested were Pakistani nationals who came to Britain on student visas. This suggested a possible new tactic by al-Qaeda, which had previously used British-based extremists who travelled to Pakistan for training.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BNP is Bigger Threat Than Ever, Harman Warns Ahead of EU Poll
The British National Party poses its biggest electoral threat yet as anger over job cuts and immigration grows, Harriet Harman warned yesterday.
She raised the alarm as the far-right party snatched a surprise second place in a council by-election in one of its main target areas for the forthcoming polls for the European Parliament.
The BNP is almost certain to win two or three seats, which are fought under a proportional representation system based on huge regional constituencies.
And Labour Party chairman and deputy leader Miss Harman admitted: ‘It is a worry. Certainly they are a bigger threat than they have been before.’
She delivered her warning after a campaign visit to the North West, one of the areas where the BNP is strongest and where its leader, Nick Griffin, is hopeful of becoming an MEP.
To counter the threat, Labour is mobilising at local level wherever there is a sign of heavy BNP activity under the slogan ‘Fairness not Fear’. It is also teaming up with anti-fascist groups and sending in anti-BNP ‘battlebuses’.
The BNP also has a strong presence in Yorkshire and the Humber and the East and West Midlands.
But there will be no nationwide attack, fearing that would merely play into the party’s hands by giving it ‘the oxygen of publicity’…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brown Clashes With Pakistan Over Terror Suspects Handed Student Visas by Home Office
The scandalous exploitation of Britain’s lax student visas rules by a suspected Al Qaeda cell erupted into a huge diplomatic row today between Gordon Brown and Pakistan.
The Prime Minister declared that Pakistan ‘has to do more to root out terrorist elements in its country’ in the wake of the revelation that 11 of the 12 suspects had travelled to Britain from the country.
But at least 10 of the 12 were allowed to enter by the Home Office after successfully applying for student visas.
As security forces in Britain carried out a desperate search for the terrorist bomb factory, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom said it was the UK that was guilty of not doing enough to carry out security checks on foreign students.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan said Pakistani authorities could help carry out background checks on student visa applicants but were not allowed to.
He said: ‘It is at your end you have to do something more. Every day we are raiding people, we are arresting people, we are arresting suspects wherever we find them.’
The row will leave Mr Brown red-faced amid increasing concerns the Government has ignored repeated warnings about the dangers of both the student visa rules and bogus colleges.
Government figures showed 42,292 student visas were issued to Pakistani students between April 2004 and April 2008.
At the same time, it appears a supposed 2007 crackdown on bogus colleges — which charge foreign students thousands of pounds for fake academic courses — failed to detect the suspects seized this week in the North-West of England.
Only one is understood to have been studying at a reputable institution. Officials also believe they lied about their financial resources to evade a Home Office test of their ability to pay for their studies.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas insisted today that foreign national students were checked against watchlists of criminals and suspects from other countries.
‘It’s naive to think that we don’t check, we do work very closely with the Pakistan authorities, indeed we’ve been criticised for doing so,’ he said — only a week after he said student visas were ‘the major loophole in Britain’s border controls’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme today that there were 285 million people coming in and out of the country every year, including nearly 400,000 issued with student visas.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Metropolitan Police Chiefs Ordered to Justify Tactics at G20 Protests
The Metropolitan Police has been ordered to review the crowd control tactic known as the “kettle” that was used to pen in 5,000 people protesting at the G20 summit in London last week.
Senior Scotland Yard officers who led Operation Glencoe, designed to prevent disorder in the capital during the summit, have been summoned to explain their tactics to members of the force’s watchdog body, The Times has learnt.
Commander Bob Broadhurst and his team will also be questioned at a closed meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority about the death of Ian Tomlinson, who was hit by a riot police officer minutes before he died from a heart attack.
Mr Broadhurst, who gave stark warnings of violence ahead of the protests, will face questions about whether the language he and fellow commanders used increased the possibility of confrontation with demonstrators.
The meeting will take place on April 23 amid mounting public concern and complaints about an aggressive police approach to the demonstrations.
The officers will also have to appear at a public session of the authority the following week.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is investigating the circumstances of Mr Tomlinson’s death, said yesterday that it had received 120 complaints about the policing of the G20 protests in the City of London.
Many complainants are responding to the footage of the apparent assault on Mr Tomlinson but a significant number are people who were trapped inside the “kettle” — the police cordon thrown around the Bank of England — for several hours.
Kit Malthouse, deputy chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: “We have asked the Met for a thorough briefing session. We want to review and understand why they employed those tactics.”
Mr Malthouse, who is also London’s Deputy Mayor with responsibility for policing, said that members would also require a full explanation of the intelligence material which convinced police that anarchist groups were planning violence in the City…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: My Persecution by the Muslim McCarthyites
Islam in Britain has been taken over by the followers of a distorted faith. We need a reformation to rescue it
This week I not only won a libel case in the High Court but a victory against religious fanaticism within Britain’s Muslim community. Muslim Weekly, a conservative newspaper, had falsely accused me of belonging to a heterodox sect and therefore being a heretic. I was apparently less of a Muslim than the readers of that paper.
As the head of a progressive Muslim organisation in Britain that is dedicated to an enlightened, egalitarian and erudite Islam, I was victimised, like other forward-looking Muslims, by a campaign of classic McCarthyism. Just as Senator Joseph McCarthy ruined the lives of countless Americans during the 1950s when he and his committee smeared innocent people as communists, the Muslim hierarchy in Britain have used witchhunts to maintain their unquestioned theological power. Any Muslim freethinker is automatically branded as heretical or un-Islamic and excommunicated from the community — and debate is shut down.
I hope that my public vindication in the courts will embolden more progressives, dissenters and particularly thinking women to put their heads above the parapet and challenge the fundamentalist mullahs. Only then can we loosen the deadly grip of the self-appointed religious fraternity on what it is to be a Muslim in Britain.
Unfortunately, Islam in Britain has been taken over by the followers of a warped manifestation of the faith. The Muslim Council of Britain, the main Muslim newspapers and many of the big mosques are dominated by men who subscribe to a virulent and backward-looking brand of Islam that has been exported from the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent.
We need a reformation that saves Islam from foreign-inspired zealots. That reformation is already under way, with Muslims going back to the pristine teaching of the transcendent Koran, not taking on trust the hadith (a compilation of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad recorded some 250 years after his death by non-Arabs) or the corpus of medieval man-made Sharia (religious law). But because this reformation is still in its infancy, the reactionary clergy and its supporters is doing everything to strangle it.
Most if not all the thorny problems of faith that British Muslims face today — whether it is apostasy, blasphemy, jihad, women’s oppression, homosexuality, religious intolerance or the democratic deficit in and outside the community — can be traced either to fabricated hadith or the masculine-biased Sharia.
Although the Koran repeatedly declares that God’s revelation is conclusive and sufficient guidance for Muslims and that there is no need for any supplementary legal authority in Islam, the traditional Muslim clergy defies this explicit divine assurance. They falsely convince their flock that they cannot be true believers without the hadith. They falsely assert that this source of Islam is at the heart of being a real Muslim. Most Muslims have been told that the hadith are the sacred authentic words of the Prophet, but the plethora of fictitious and forged hadith proves otherwise.
Granted, there may be some useful guidance in the thousands upon thousands of hadith but they need to pass a rigorous double test. First, they cannot contradict the Koran and, second, they must not defy reason and logic. Unfortunately, most Muslims have been programmed to regard hadith as sacrosanct teachings that cannot be challenged. This holds all Muslims hostage to the antiquated prejudices or distortions of the narrators and recorders of the prophetic traditions.
The rampant oppression of women in Muslim society does not stem from the Koran but is chiefly the product of misogynistic hadith. For example, a famous “authentic” hadith declares that there will be a preponderance of women in Hell. But the facts here on earth suggest otherwise — male criminality far exceeds that of females.
These anti-Koranic perspectives will continue to predominate in the British Muslim community as it becomes more directly tied to ultra-conservative and extremist sects — such as the Wahhabi, Deobandi, Jamati Islami and the Tabligh Jamaat. These ideological radicals propagate a highly toxic caricature of Islam. They regard creed and culture as indistinguishable, refusing to grasp that Islam is a global religion, not a faith that is linked to one particular people or place.
Although Muslims have their own specific territorial cultural traditions, there is no such thing as an Islamic culture. Therefore the modern trend among British Muslims blindly to emulate Arab ethnic dress or grow beards or for women to wear the Wahhabi-sanctioned niqab or face masks has nothing to do with the Koran but everything to do with the primitive tribal mores and sexist practices of Arabia.
The relentless importation of Wahhabi-influenced theology and tradition into the body politic of the Muslim community is mainly the result of two factors. First, the Saudis control Mecca and Medina, the centres of Islam. This gives the Wahhabi Saudis both a spurious legitimacy and a captive market to peddle their sectarian poison.
Second, with their petrodollars the Saudis can afford to export the most horrendous brand of Islam around the globe. Here in Britain, conservative mosques and madrassas receive funding from the despotic Saudis and in turn extol their nefarious interpretation of Islam.
It is essential therefore that all thinking Muslims resist this foreign theological imposition and create a British Islam that is not only faithful to the original uplifting teachings of the faith but one that is natural to and at home in modern British society.
Dr Taj Hargey is the chair of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford and the Imam of the Summertown Islamic Congregation in Oxford
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UK: No Compensation for Murder Victim Who Confronted Rowdy Mob
[Comment from Tuan Jim: I don’t agree with victim compensation from the government in principle, but for an existing precedent — this is a poor response.]
The family of a man who was murdered by a rowdy mob outside his home has been refused compensation because he confronted them over the noise they were making.
Kevin Johnson, 22, a demolition worker, was killed by three youths in Sunderland in 2007 after challenging them because they were keeping his baby awake. He died from a single stab wound to the chest.
His father John Johnson, a taxi driver, said he had now been turned down three times by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
But he added that he would keep fighting the case and said he was pinning his hopes on the final stage of the appeal process, a face-to-face hearing in Newcastle later this month.
He said: “This is what the letters say, if Kevin hadn’t left the safety of his home he wouldn’t have died.
“This is absolutely right. But he wanted to move those toe rags on and he was hailed as a hero by the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police for his actions.
“And then they turn round and say that because of that we don’t qualify for compensation? I’m determined to keep going with this. These rules and regulations need to be changed.”
Mr Johnson said he received his first letter rejecting the family’s pounds11,000 compensation claim last year and had subsequently had two further appeals rejected.
Last year, as part of the Enough is Enough campaign, which is calling for tougher sentences in cases involving knife crime, he joined other families in presenting a 35,000-signature petition to Downing Street.
Dean Curtis, who was 18 at the time, Tony Hawkes, who was 17, and Jordan Towers, 16, were all given life sentences for Mr Johnson’s murder with minimum terms of 17, 16 and 13 years in prison. Mr Johnson left a son, Chaise, who is now two years old.
A CICA spokesman told the Sunderland Echo newspaper: “We consider all available evidence in reaching our decisions, including relevant witness statements.
“If this evidence shows that a victim’s behaviour contributed significantly to the incident they were involved in then we have to take that into account, but there are safeguards built into our process.
“If an applicant does not think their case was assessed fairly, they can apply to have it reviewed. If the applicant remains unhappy after the review they can have an appeal heard by an independent tribunal.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The New Enemy Within is Invisible
Al-Qaeda is changing its tactics to avoid detection of its agents. Security forces must adapt quickly to find them, says Con Coughlin…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Wojtyla: Opera Written by Catholic and Muslim Authors
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, APRIL 2 — An opera with music composed by Catholic and Muslim musicians from Italy, Egypt, Lebanon, and Malta in honour of John Paul II, will be performed this evening at 21:00 in the Cathedral of Palermo for the 4th anniversary of his death. The one act opera is entitled “Il mondo può cambiare” (The world can change), and was written by Matteo Croce. The music will be performed by the orchestra of the Bellini Conservatory of Palermo, and directed by Maestro Gaetano Colajanni. “This is an ecumenical work,” said Matteo Croce, “which compares internationally famous talents from different cultures and religions. This is an experiment in honour of Karol Wojtyla, an eclectic figure, and a great example of an educator, communicator, theologian, and philosopher”. “I saw John Paul II in Egypt,” said one of the Opera’s composers, Egyptian Rageh Daoud, in Palermo, “during one of his visits to the Middle East. This pope struck me with his profound humanity. For this reason, in my symphonic poem, I was inspired by the conflict between good and evil that affects every man. I am a Muslim,” he added, “and I believe that there is one God. We speak different languages and come from different cultures, but we are bound by the fact that we are human beings.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Delibasic’s Film About the Suffering of Mostar
(ANSAmed) — PESARO, APRIL 3 — Filming of the documentary “Mostar yesterday, today, tomorrow” directed by Predrag Delibasic has concluded in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The film has been produced by the Cineforum Association of Pesaro with the contribution of the municipal council for peace and international cooperation. Two natives of Pesaro have been involved in the making of the film — Pierpaolo Loffreda, co-author of the story and assistant director, and Gianni Minelli, cinematographer, together with the participation of the Croatian author, Predrag Matvejevic. The film tells the story of the city of Mostar and reconstructs the stages of its suffering during the 1992-1995 war. The Old Bridge, a symbol of the dramatic events, which was built over the River Neretva in the mid 16th century and destroyed (together with a large part of the principally Muslim historical centre) by Croatian forces. Approximately 6,000 citizens out of a total population of 100,000 died in the conflict. Numerous interviews about the possibility of resuming a civil life and a peaceful coexistence were carried out. The film will feature footage, much of it not previously released, taken in the field. Predrag Delibasic, who is originally from Sarajevo and is professor emeritus of cinema at the University of Belgrade, has made two other documentary films shown in Pesaro in recent years: ‘Captain Riva’, co-produced by the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI) in 1985, and Esame di maturità (‘School-leaving exams’) on the siege of Sarajevo and the consequences today in 2005. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Albania, Enel to Develop Energy Park at Porto Romano
(ANSAmed) — TIRANA, 7 APR — Albania’s main industrial association, Konfindustria, has signed an agreement with Italian energy company Enel, relating to the development of the Porto Romano energy park. According to the plans, Enel and some local companies will build a coal-based power plant with two units, each producing 800 megawatts. The Informest website reports that the project will see the construction of one interconnecting 400 kilowatt power line to join the plant to the local energy grid and another of 500 kilowatts to carry the energy across the sea to Italy. The new facility will become operative in 2014, and its greater generating capacity will have a significant impact on the security of the country’s energy providers, whose system is currently most depending on hydroelectricity. Local environmentalist organisations have expressed opposition to the project, saying that the coal-based power plant will lead to a notable increase in pollution. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Horrors of KLA Prison Camps Revealed
The man spoke plainly as he explained the horrors he lived through in a Kosovo Liberation Army prison camp 10 years ago. He told me about how he watched people beaten with steel pipes, cut with knives, left for days without food, and shot and killed.
“What can you feel when you see those things?” he said. “It’s something that is stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. You cannot do those things to people, not even to animals.”
As the man talked, his mother paced nervously in the nearby kitchen. She was panicked and tears were streaming down her face.
“They’ll kill him, they’ll kill him,” she moaned, clutching one of her grandchildren.
But her son persisted. We spent hours in the family’s sitting room as our source detailed allegations of possible war crimes by KLA officers in a military camp in the Albanian border town of Kukes.
It was a crucial interview for a delicate story I have been investigating for years.
Mystery of the missing
Soon after the war ended in Kosovo, I started looking into the thousands of civilians who disappeared during and after the conflict. Many Albanian victims were dumped in wells or transported to mass graves as far away as Belgrade.
But others — mainly Serbs — simply vanished without a trace. There were no demands for ransom, no news of any kind.
I had met sources who spoke vaguely about secret camps in Albania where Kosovo Serbs, Albanians and Roma were interrogated, tortured and in most cases killed.
I met another source who agreed to share important details about KLA prison camps. This man cut a very different profile.
He had returned from a successful career abroad to join the KLA in its fight for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.
The man was still proud of the goals he fought for, but he had become haunted by the treatment of civilians he had seen at a KLA prison camp. More than that, he said he felt angry and betrayed by KLA commanders who tolerated and even ordered the abuses.
“It didn’t seem strange at the time,” he told me as he described seeing desperate civilians locked in a filthy agricultural shed.
He said the civilians were Serbs and Roma seized by KLA soldiers and were being hidden away from Nato troops. The source believes the captives were sent across the border to Albania and killed.
“Now, looking back, I know that some of the things that were done to innocent civilians were wrong. But the people who did these things act as if nothing happened, and continue to hurt their own people, Albanians.”
This man was one of eight former KLA fighters who revealed some of their darkest secrets from the war.
A soldier’s story
Yet another source spoke of driving trucks packed with shackled prisoners — mainly Serbian civilians from Kosovo — to secret locations in Albania where they were eventually killed.
He recalled hearing two of the captives begging to be shot rather than tortured and “cut into pieces”.
“I was sick. I was just waiting for it to end,” the source told me. “It was hard. I thought we were fighting a war [of liberation] but this was something completely different.”
It has taken these men 10 years to speak to an outsider about the dark side of the war. They were breaking a code of silence that has held strong in Kosovo.
Very few Kosovo Albanians have publicly revealed crimes committed by their own side. And for good reason. Witnesses who have agreed to provide testimony for prosecutions of KLA commanders have faced intimidation and death threats.
Some have been killed, according to United Nations officials in Kosovo.
There is another reason. All the men we spoke with insisted they were Kosovan patriots and would take up arms again to defend the country’s independence.
But that is precisely the point: independence — of a sort — arrived for Kosovo last year. Their wartime goal has been attained.
As one of the former KLA fighters told me: “Now is the time to be honest to ourselves and build a real state.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Montenegro: EU, Project Against Organized Crime
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 3 — The project ‘Fight Against Organized Crime and Corruption,’ which the European Union is financing with 1.2 million euros, will last for 15 months, it was stated at a news conference, reports BETA news agency. The chief of the European Union’s office in Podgorica, Leopold Maurer, said that the Montenegrin authorities are dedicated to fighting against corruption and organized crime, but that the EU expects investigations and verdicts at a high level. The director of the Montenegrin Police Bureau, Veselin Veljovic, said the fight against corruption and organized crime is one of the priorities in the work of the police. He said that, last year, the Police Bureau reported 47 persons to the special state prosecutor, on suspicion of having committed 90 crimes as members of organized criminal groups. The police have processed 112 crimes with elements of corruption and pressed charges against 106 people, Veljovic added. The British ambassador in Podgorica, Kevin Live, said this was the most important project so far in the field of fighting against organized crime and corruption that is being realized in Montenegro, and that the value of the project could add up to 5 million euros.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Roma Status Far From Satisfactory, Minister Says
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 8 — Minister for Labor and Social Policy, Rasim Ljajic, stated that the status of the Roma in Serbia is “better, but far from satisfactory,” underscoring that education is the community’s main problem, reports Tanjug news agency. At a meeting of the sub-committee for issues relating to the promotion of the Roma status and implementation of the Roma Decade, Ljajic said that he expects a set of measures for assistance to the most vulnerable segments of society, of which Roma make up the majority, to be adopted by May 1. “The measures will include additional scholarships for high school pupils from most vulnerable families, RSD 3 billion for employment of apprentices and public works for which Roma will be employed,” said Ljajic. He also said that the set of measures implies social assistance on a one-time basis, which will be paid twice a year, as well as also doubling child allowance twice a year. Ljajic also said that 25% of the Roma population have no education, while 36% of them have only some years of elementary education, and underscored that “no progress can be made unless more Roma children are enrolled in schools.”(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia-Spain: USD 6.1 Million for Better Life of Youth
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 8 — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic, Spanish Ambassador to Serbia Inigo de Palacio Espana and UN representative to Serbia Lenart Kotsalainen signed an agreement in implementing the programme ‘Support to National Efforts to Promote Youth Employment and Migration Management.’ Following the signing Dinkic said that the programme will be realised by the Serbian government and the UN with funds amounting to USD 6.1 million from the Spanish Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, adding that it will last 30 months, that is from 2009 to 2011. He stressed that the main beneficiaries of the programme in the Belgrade, South Backa and Pcinja Districts will be the young, including the Roma and returnees. Espana recalled that in 2006 the Spanish government and UNDP signed an agreement on setting up a fund to achieve the EU millennium development goals. He said the Spanish government set aside over USD 700 million for these purposes, adding that over USD 54 million has been earmarked for the Balkans. Espana noted that Serbia is amongst the most important beneficiaries of the Spanish assistance because around USD 12 million has been earmarked for three projects of youth employment and migration, conflict prevention and promotion of peace and development of the private sector. Kotsalainen voiced his belief that the project, worth USD 6.1 million, will improve the quality of the life of the young in Serbia, adding that the programme will particularly facilitate the return of young returnees to Serbia, who are in most cases of Roma nationality. Together with partners from Serbia, the programme will be implemented by the International Labour Organisation, the UNICEF, UNDP and International Organisation for Migrations, reports Emportal. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Islamic Arch in the Making
By Ioannis Michaletos
Over the 1990’s one of the most popular theories regarding the changing nature of the Balkan affairs, was the existence of the “Islamic arch” or the “Green traverse” stretching from Turkey up to Croatia that would unite all the Balkan Muslim communities into a single force, subject to control by either Turkey or the Middle Eastern Sunni powers and the Shiite Iran as well.
The years after 9/11 many of such Islamic networks that were also connected with international terrorism, were disband. Moreover this particular theory faded away from the mainstream media, although it is still a reality that is being pursued by various Islamic circles.
This present article will briefly provide the most important events of this Balkan Islamic arch project that are related to terrorism…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Business: Sicily to Play Key Role in Trade With Tunisia
(ANSAmed) — SYRACUSE, APRIL 9 — The Region of Sicily and the Regional Province of Syracuse “will become the major figures in trade between Italy and Tunisia”. The news was confirmed in a statement. The Regional Councillor for Industry, Pippo Gianni, and the Provincial Councillor for Economic Development, Paola Consiglio, together with the Deputy Director of the economic development and initiative sector, Salvatore Mancarella, took part in a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday in Rome following the agreement between Italy and Tunisia for the implementation of a package of cooperation projects focused on promoting the private sector. 17 Provinces, 9 Regions and 2 Business Innovation Centres are taking part in the project. “The bilateral agreements undertaken between Italy and Tunisia provide for collaboration by the Italian Regions and Provinces with the Foreign Ministry in the implementation of the activities set out in the agreements, coordinated between them to start up businesses, industrial parks, universities, resea rch centres and agencies for territorial development”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Lebanon: Genoa and El Mina Sign Friendship Agreement
(ANSAmed) — GENOA, APRIL 3 — The Mayor of Genoa, Marta Vincenzi, has met with Abdul Kader Alameddine, Mayor of the Lebanese city of El Mina, to conclude a friendship agreement between the two cities. El Mina and Genoa — which over recent years have shared common features and goals in the contexts of economic, cultural and tourism development — have agreed that institutions organised by the community, and any other institutions created in either of the two cities, will be part of the institutions to develop cultural, educational, tourism, trade and other programmes. As part of their development and integration programmes, both cities will invite representatives from the relevant bodies to define programmes and projects which will increase commercial trade and tourism. In the same vein, universities, research and training centres, hospital organisations, municipal agencies and respective chambers of commerce will also be involved. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Med: Youths Looking for Gov’t Jobs, Many Mini-Businesses
(by Chiara Spegni) (ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — Young people looking for government jobs, which are the most highly sought-after, who often end up becoming autonomous workers in small family businesses, or work in the fields. Few women and many people over the age of 60 are still in the job market. This is the outline provided by Eurostat, based on employment data from the nine EU partner Mediterranean countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Tunisia. The analysis also includes data on Israel, which has a situation similar to the EU countries of the Mediterranean’s northern shore, along with Turkey, France, Greece, Spain, and Italy. According to Eurostat, when young people in Mediterranean countries finish school they arrive on a job market in which the public sector means prestige, regular salaries, and the right to a pension, giving them a very different social status compared to the private sector. Men dominate the public sector, while in Europe the opposite is true. The fact that there are not many technical or scientific jobs in the public sector results in few people seeking training in these fields, to the detriment of the private sector, which finds workers who are specialised in courses that are not highly applicable, with top-flight workers are seeking jobs elsewhere. In general, Eurostat data shows a lack of mobility in the job market: a substantial portion of young people stay in rural areas. Morocco has 43.4% of the labour force employed in the agricultural sector, followed by Egypt (30.9%) and turkey (27.3%). The agricultural sector accounts for over 15% of the labour force in the majority of the Mediterranean countries, except for Israel and Jordan. In Europe as a whole, agricultural employment does not exceed 5%. Many small businesses are flourishing, which provide goods and services in the commercial, transport, and artisan industries. Almost one-third of workers in the Mediterranean countries are autonomous, |domestic’, and not-classified, which yields little information (except in Israel and Jordan, with about 84% of these workers on salary).In Morocco in particular, independent workers and those who work from home are make up over half of all workers, but there are high numbers also in Syria (30%) and Egypt (27%). On the north shore of the Mediterranean, only Italy and Turkey have similar figures. Italy has the largest ‘atypical’ unclassified labour force, which is much higher than France (35.3% compared to 9.8%), while Turkey reports 23.5% autonomous workers and 14.6% of domestic workers as part of its labour force. Another sad note for the Mediterranean countries involves female employment numbers, which are under 30%, except for Israel (58.7%). In four countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Tunisia) the gap between the unemployment rate for men and women is over 10%. In the nine Mediterranean countries, there is a 15% share of men between the age of 15 and 24 who work and do not study, and a 47% share of women. On the other hand, in Europe, all young people between the ages of 15 and 24, who do not work, are students. Eurostat has also provided its ‘recipe’ for the Mediterranean countries: integrating young people who are more qualified in a production system that offers modern and qualified positions, reducing the proportion of ‘informal’ and less productive work; to reduce the number of people employed in agriculture and increase productivity in the sector; to improve access for young women to the job market and provide older workers salaries that guarantee them a pension, something that is occurring in most of the Mediterranean countries. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Med: Brain Drain, France and Germany Most Requested
(by Chiara Spegni) (ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, APRIL 8 — France and Germany are the most sought after university destinations for students from the southern Mediterranean. The ‘brain drain’ phenomenon is in fact a constant for the region, which often ends up losing its brightest individuals. Eurostat explains that it’s difficult to estimate the number of these ‘away-students’, while they were able to supply a summary of the destinations for young people from seven Mediterranean countries which are partners of the EU: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories and Tunisia. The analysis includes some data on Turkey, France, Greek, Spain and Italy. According to Eurostat, despite progress made in schooling, as far as university teaching in Mediterranean countries is concerned, those states still do not offer adequate courses that are parallel to those in European countries. Egypt and Turkey record a high number of graduates, but in comparison to the total population of the two countries, this number makes up less than half of the number of graduates in France. Together with Israel however, Egypt and Turkey are the only two countries in the southern Mediterranean which offer a wide range of university courses recognised at international level. In other countries, there are well known universities but with a limited number of courses. With the exception of Morocco and Turkey, most graduates in the Mediterranean countries are women whereas graduates that complete their studies abroad tend to be men. The main Achilles heel reported by Eurostat in the Mediterranean countries is the lack of scientific-technical university courses, which implies that, for many students, going aboard is the only option. It is difficult to estimate how many emigrate to study at a foreign university but data regarding preferred destinations has been collected from these countries of origin. Amongst those who leave for study reasons, it is known that almost all Algerian students (93.5%), seven Tunisians out of ten (69.2%), half of the Lebanese (45.9%) and two thirds of Moroccans (67.4%) go to France. It is also the destination for 15.8% of Egyptian students, 15.6% of Spaniards and 14% of Italians. Germany presents a decidedly more varied situation: it is the destination for half of Turkish students who choose to go abroad (53%), 18.9% of Moroccans, 17.6% of Egyptians, 13.7% of Tunisians, followed by 10.8% of Israelis and by 9.6% of Lebanese. German universities are the first choice for the 27 EU member states (20% of those who go abroad) and it is preferred by a quarter of Spanish and Italian students who emigrate for study reasons (24.4%). Palestinians who leave their country to study pour into the Arab countries (81.8%), while the USA is the preferred destination for a third of Israeli students (31.4%), who also disperse into the Arab states (16.5%), in central and western European countries (17%), in Germany (10.8%), in Italy (9.4%) and the UK (8.3%). A quarter of Egyptians students who leave their country for study reasons choose the USA (26.7%), 17.6% choose Germany, 16.4% go to the UK and 15.8% to France. Only 6.5% of Egyptians go to the Arab countries. Immediately after Germany, a quarter of Turks prefer the US (25.2%), which is also the preferred destination for 18.2% of Lebanese. On the whole, there is not much movement between one country and the next in the southern Mediterranean, with the exception of students from the Palestinian Territories going to Arab countries. The ‘brain drain’ is thus prevalent from south to north, with an as yet unknown proportion of students who stay on definitively in the country once they have finished their studies. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Tunis Business Centre Plan for Italian Companies
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, APRIL 6 — A project named “An Italian showcase on the Mediterranean” was presented in Tunis with the aim of setting up a business centre in Tunisia that should assist and promote the introduction of Italian businesses in the Maghreb and in Gulf countries. The initiative belongs to ‘Unioncamere’ with cooperation from the ‘Prospettiva Italia’ company. The business centre should supply Italian businesses with the preparation and assistance needed for institutional missions in those Countries. The plan should be most active in the identification of real market opportunities for interested companies. Then there are issues linked to the strengthening of potential market shares; optimisation of production and distribution costs; improvement of company image when dealing with existing clients; creation of a company image for potential clients and the setting up of lasting and profitable partnerships and trade relations. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Elections, Explosion at Polling Station in Kabylie
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, APRIL 9 — Two bombs exploded a short time ago close to an electoral polling station in Imeghebine, in Kabylie, not far from Naciria, where another device was spotted and defused. According to ANSA sources on the ground, a police officer was injured in the blast. The two home-made bombs were placed against the wall of a polling station which was closed following an attack. The Berber region to the east of Algiers continues to be one of the most heavily affected by attacks by armed Islamic groups affiliated to Al Qaeda for an Islamic Maghreb. Presidential elections are being held in the Algerian Republic today. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: EU Ready to Raise Questions Over Human Rights
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, APRIL 8 — The European Commission is ready to pose a series of questions tied to human rights with the Algerian authorities pursuant to the association agreement with the country. According to the Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero Waldner, writing in answer to questions regarding human rights violations in the country. The agreement with the EU and member states on one side and Algeria on the other, explained Ferrero Waldner, effectively offers a solid juridical basis to deal with the questions of human rights and public freedom”, always “in a spirit of dialogue and respect for the sovereignity of Algeria”. In any case, the European Commission specifies that the possibility of applying the punitive measures contained in the association agreement represents a last resort”. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Elections, 4 Dead in Different Attacks
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, APRIL 9 — On the eve of the presidential elections which are taking place in Algeria today, three patriots, the civilians who took up arms in the 1990s to defend themselves against attacks by armed Islamic groups, were killed yesterday evening near Jijel in the east of the country. According to reports in the Algerian press today, the 3 men, who were brothers, died in an ambush by several terrorists between Aghzar and El Aouana. Another attack took place yesterday morning in the area of Bouira, in Kabylie. A Gendarme agent was killed when a homemade roadside bomb exploded. In the last 48 hours, security measures have been strengthened throughout the country. New police and gendarmerie blocks appeared mainly in Algeria and Kabylie where attacks are feared on ballot day. More than 20 million Algerians have the right to vote today to elect a new head of state. The outgoing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power for 10 years, is the firm favourite. At 10:30am local time, after two and a half hours of open polls, 9.36% of the over 20 million Algerians registered to vote have cast ballots, announced Algeria’s Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni, on the Algerian state television. The turn-out is the only issue during these elections that should ensure Bouteflika, a third mandate. “We don’t have any totals on the rate of turn-out”, assured Zerhouni yesterday but the President has asked Algerians to vote en masse. “Vote for me or against me, but go and vote! A president who isn’t elected by overwhelming majority isn’t a president”, said the candidate-president. About 200 international observers invited by the African Union, Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OCI) are in Algeria to “guarantee transparency in the vote count”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Elections; the Challenge for a Post-Oil Future
(by Laura De Santi) (ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, APRIL 8 — Diversifying the economy in order to ensure a post-oil future for the country — or better, a post-natural gas one — will be the major challenge the next Algerian president will have on his hands. To reduce sky-high import levels and break off its addiction to fossil fuels, the country will have to go back to focussing on industry and agriculture as well as take advantage of the tourism potential of a land which, between Africa and the Mediterranean, is bounded by 1,200 km of coastline with two thirds of its territory part of the Sahara desert. With 2008 currency reserves totalling 140 billion dollars and another 55 billion accumulated in the Fund for Revenue Stability, Algeria, despite the sharp drop in oil prices, “will be protected for years from the world crisis,” according to the authorities, and outgoing president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised that, if elected on Thursday for a third term in office, he will bring in “a new development plan worth 150 billion dollars, three million jobs and a million houses”. In office for the past ten years, Bouteflika has already launched two plans worth a total of over 160 billion dollars to support growth in the country. He has also set in motion the construction of 1600 km of motorways, as well as dams, depuration and desalination plants, works for the Algiers underground (underway for the past 26 years) and those for the modernisation of the railway network. “But what is the purpose of the motorways and railways?”, former minister and Sonatrach president and CEO Abdelmadjd Attar asked ANSA. “Certain public works create jobs, even short term ones. But no industry to go alongside them has been launched. You can’t just think first about infrastructure and then create industry and production centres at a later date.” “What will Algeria be like in 20 years? Wealth is not being created,” said Attar. “The country’s energy resources are being sizeably reduced and, if large new fields are not found, already in 2020 hydrocarbon exports will be halved.” Despite the desire to diversify the economy and the programmes to bring about industrial and agricultural recovery supported over the past ten years, hydrocarbons still make up 98% of exports and about 45% of GDP. In 2008, of the 75 billion dollars from oil and gas, over half (39 billion dollars) were spent to import food, medicine and building materials. “It is a dangerous figure,” said industry minister Hamid Temmar, noting that food products expenditure went from 2.5 billion dollars in 2003 to almost 8 billion dollars in 2008. The agricultural and industrial sectors make up respectively 9 and 5.6% of GDP. Foreign debt was at 24 billion dollars in 2004 but has dropped to today’s figure of 600 million dollars, while also unemployment has gone down, according to official figures, to under 12%. And so why do so many young people risk their lives to get into Europe? And why did 40,000 managers and researchers leave Algeria between 1996 and 2006? At the origin of the exodus is the nightmare of terrorism as well as social injustice and paltry salaries, according to the press, which reports that at least 5 million Algerians today live in poverty. Over a million retirees live on less than 12,000 dinars per month, the minimum wage (about 120 euros), while 45 euros is instead the amount the handicapped receive from the state and the 1.5 million unemployed do not have the right to government assistance of any type. (ANSA).
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Egypt: Higher Council to Protect Textile Industry, Minister
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, APRIL 6 — A higher council will be set up to draw up strategies for developing the textile industry in Egypt, Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid said. He stressed that LE 325 million (some USD 57 million) will be allocated in direct financial support to protect the sector’s investments and workers as well as to stave off illegal competition. The new council will comprise 11 members and will be chaired by the Trade and Industry Minister. Rashid pointed out that his ministry is implementing an integrated multi-faceted system to develop the textile industry. It aims at luring more foreign investments, promoting exports and combating illegal market practices, he explained. Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid blamed current problems facing the textile industry to old agricultural and industrial policies. He said, however, that the industry has seen a remarkable increase in investments, jobs and exports over the past four years. He put textile exports at LE 14.2 billion in 2008 (over USD 2 billion), compared to LE 11.8 billion (some USD 1.9 billion) the year before. Exports of clothes hit LE 7 billion (1.244 bln) in the past year, added the minister. (ANSAmed).
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Egypt: No Development Without Electricity, Minister Says
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, APRIL 6 — Energy is essential to achieving sustainable development, the Egyptian minister of electricity said today. In a meeting with members of the Egyptian Junior Business Association, Hassan Younis said the power sector secures the energy needed for development, especially from renewable sources. The Supreme Council of Energy aims to have 20% of the energy produced in 2020 from renewable sources, Younis said. Egypt has benefited from almost all its hydraulic, wind and solar energy, he added. Renewable energy has become more of an international leaning to create new jobs and protect the environment, the minister said, stressing that Egypt supports this approach. Younis welcomed the private sector’s contribution to power production through establishing generation stations and selling the output. Power has reached about 99% of the Egyptian population, with 1,680 kilowatt-hour per capita. (ANSAmed).
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Farming: Algeria Plans to Export Olive Oil
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 1 — Algerian olive oil could one day be on sale in the supermarkets of northern Europe along with Italian and Spanish olive oil. At least, that is the government’s objective, which plans to develop its olive cultivation in the next few years to satisfy local demand for oil but also for exportation. According to the website Econostrum.info, the government plan is to devote 500,000 hectares of land to olive cultivation by 2014, compared to the current 300,000 hectares. The olive oil industry is already in expansion in Algeria: production went from 19,000 tonnes in 1997 to an average in the last ten years of 35,000 tonnes per year, with a record 56,201 tonnes in 2008-2009. The country is fifth in the Mediterranean, behind Spain, Italy, Greece and Tunisia. Now that it is able to satisfy domestic demand (around 50,000 tonnes per year) Algeria wants to conquer other markets. Preparing the industry for this the government has announced a series of measures, including the creation of a professional organisation and the introduction of a quality label. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah’s Egyptian Network, Hamas in the Dark
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/TEL AVIV, APRIL 9 — Hamas has claimed in a communiqué that it knew nothing of the arrests of around fifty Arabs of various nationalities in Egypt, as reported by the country’s public prosecutor, Abdel Maguid Mahmud, who alleges that they were working under orders from Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. According to the allegations, the arrested persons had been ordered to keep an eye on the situation in Gaza from the Egyptian sector of the frontier city of Rafah, with some media sources alleging that they were also charged with sneaking arms and funds into the Strip. In a statement issued in Gaza last night, Hamas spokesperson Hamas Fawzi Barhum pointed out that the organisation had learnt of events only through the press, reaffirming that Hamas never recruits personnel outside Palestinian territory. Barhum went on to specify that Hamas does not interfere in the affairs of any nations and that Egypt is fully entitled to protect its own borders and its national sovereignty. Meanwhile, it has come to light that the 49 detainees include two employees, of unspecified nationalities, of an Iranian satellite TV station. According to the Cairo daily, Al Ahram, “the conspiracy” includes Lebanese, Syrians, Sudanese, Palestinians and Egyptians. Al Ahram claims that the arrested persons were planning to carry out their mission (the recruiting of agents and the spreading of their political beliefs) under the cover of exhibitions being organised in Egypt. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
PNA: EU to Support Agriculture With 39.7 Mln Euro
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, APRIL 2 — The Occupied Palestinian Territories are to receive 39.7 million euro over three years as part of an EU package of projects to support agriculture and improve the food security situation in developing countries across the globe. A Commission press release said 23 countries were included in the 314 million euro package, which is the first financing decision in the framework of a 1 billion euro ‘Food Facility’ adopted at the end of last year as a response to the growing food security problems faced by many developing countries. The Occupied Palestinian Territories are one of the biggest recipients with an indicative allocation of 39.7 million euro. Louis Michel, Commissioner responsible for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said: “The package adopted targets the 23 countries worst hit. Over the months ahead, we must not forget the impact that the financial crisis and economic downturn will have on developing countries — this is only now becoming clear and could be much worse than expected”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Red Crescent to Send 167 Tons of Food Stuff to Gaza
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 8 — Turkish Red Crescent (the Muslim equivalent of Red Cross) is getting ready to send 167 tons of food stuff in nine lorry trucks to Gaza, which will be eighth relief package, sent to Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, Anatolia agency reports today. A press release issued today by the Turkish Red Crescent said the package would consist of basic food stuff like, flour, pasta, sugar, pounded wheat, lentils and vegetable oil. Three lorry trucks loaded with food stuff will set out Wednesday from the Disaster Operation Center in Ankara and will be joined by six other trucks in Hatay and the relief convoy will later proceed to the Cilve Gozu border gate towards its destination. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Automotive: Turkish Exports Continuing to Fall
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 1 — Exports of what used to be described as the propelling force of Turkey’s economy, the automotive sector, continued to fall for the sixth straight month, according to figures of a regional exporters’ union reported today by Anatolia news agency. Automotive exports plunged by 53.8% in January-March period down to as low as 3.73 billion USD as demand in European and Russian markets, the largest buyers for the Turkish automotive products, has continued to decline. Turkey made the most exports to France in the first three months of 2009 with 508 million USD which was followed by Germany, Italy, Britain and Belgium. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Automotive: Chinese Carmaker Chery to Set Up Plant in Turkey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 1 — Chinese carmaker Chery plans to set up a new car manufacturing plant in Northwestern Turkey, Anatolia agency reported quoting an executive of the company. Chery Turkiye Sales Director, Gokhan Altmisdort, said that “Chery aims to manufacture 100,000 cars a year in its new plant”, adding that “this is nearly 10% of Chery’s overall output”. According to Altmisdort the new plant would possibly be built in Karasu town of the Northwestern province of Sakarya and it would create 10,000 jobs. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Automotive: Bosch to Invest More in Turkey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 3 — The Bosch Group in Turkey generated sales of more than 1.6 billion euros in 2008 and continued to invest in automotive technology despite the slump in markets, Hurriyet daily reports quoting Bosch’s general manager. Hermann Butz, general manager of Bosch Sanayi Ticaret said the decline in exports to 972 million euros was compensated with better domestic sales in Turkey. Total sales therefore remained unchanged compared to the previous year and Bosch maintained its market position, Butz said at a press conference in Istanbul. However, the downturn in the global economy also affected the firm. The number of associates slightly decreased to around 5,400 employees in Bursa and Istanbul. “To secure as much employment as possible we agreed with the labor union on a flexible work hours model,” said Butz. Bosch invested 210 million euros in Turkey in 2008. Of this figure, 136 million euros were spent to establish two new units for gasoline and special machinery in Bursa. Bosch also spent 22 million euros for environmental projects, which included sponsoring Uludag University’s solar and hydro mobile car. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Automotive: Turkish Production Declines 59%
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 8 — Production in the automotive manufacturing industry in Turkey declined 59% in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same period of last year, daily Hurriyet reported quoting the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Jordan; Nuclear Project to Provide 5,000 Jobs
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, APRIL 6 — Jordan’s ambitious nuclear programme is expected to create at least 5,000 jobs, helping the kingdom deal with growing unemployment problem, an official said today. The USD 3 billion project has become a priority for officials in Amman, amid dwindling hope of discovering oil reserves. According to Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan the plant will be built in the southern city of Aqaba, which will provide rest of the kingdom with a big part of its energy needs. “The reactor will reduce the Kingdom’s energy bill and reliance on oil derivatives. The reactor is part of the Jordan’s pursuit to acquire nuclear energy for generating power and desalinating water,” he said. Touqan said when the project is up and running in 2030, it will provide the kingdom with at least 30% of its needs of energy, helping reduce deficit in the state budget. The desert kingdom signed several nuclear agreements with France, Britain, Canada, China, the US, South Korea and other countries to proceed with the programme. The interested countries agreed they will explore, exploit and mine Jordan’s rich underground reserves of nuclear minerals such uranium in exchange for providing the cash-strapped country with an operational nuclear programme. The kingdom has no oil and relies on import from the oil rich Gulf states.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Syria-Iran Agreement for Gas Pipeline to Europe
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 9 — Syria and Iran have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop various energy projects, including the creation of a gas pipeline that will convey gas from sources in southern Iran to Europe via Syria. The Italian Trade Commission in Damascus reports that the Persian pipeline, which has just begun construction, will measure approximately 4,900km in length when complete and will convey gas from Iran passing it through Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean sea to Greece and Italy. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Energy: Storage Facility for LNG to be Built in Marmara
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 7 — Energy security has became an eminent issue for Europe as well as Turkey after a recent pipeline crisis between Russia and Ukraine. In an attempt to address such crises, as Today’s Zaman reports, Turkey decided to construct a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank within already existing LNG facilities in Marmara-Eregli in Tekirdag run by the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS). The LNG facility, to be built using the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, will have a storage capacity of 160,000 cubic meters. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said the new facility will increase the storage capacity. Additionally, BOTAS is currently looking into the feasibility of constructing new LNG facilities in Ceyhan and Dortyol. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Launches First Atom Fuel Production Plant
Trumpets nuke advances as world powers invite to talks
On the occasion of National Nuclear Day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the country’s first nuclear fuel production complex as his top advisor said Tehran would study a “constructive” offer for nuclear talks from six world powers.
“This is the first nuclear fuel complex,” the official and manager of one of the complexes, Vajihollah Asadi, said. “100 percent Iranian and the president will inaugurate this.”
A day after insisting Tehran has no plans to build an atom bomb, Ahmadinejad was also expected to announce the testing of a new generation of centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
The projects, both in central Isfahan province, are likely to trigger fresh concerns among the international community which has repeatedly urged Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program completely.
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Justice: Turkey, Syria to Sign Agreement to Swap Convicts
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 7 — Ankara and Damascus are set to sign an agreement to exchange their nationals serving time in jail in Turkey and Syria, Anatolia news agency reports today. The agreement is expected to be signed during a three-day visit of Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin to Damascus beginning on Wednesday. Under the agreement Turkish and Syrian convicts could request a transfer to serve the rest of their sentences in prisons in their own countries. (ANSAmed).
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Obama in the Mideast: Iraq as the best ally of the United States
The objectives of the new US president are the same as those of his predecessor. More than Turkey Iraq could become the real stabilising factor in the region, on the condition however that the goals associated with security and economic development are met. Iran is the greatest challenge for peace.
Paris (AsiaNews) — First of all, I personally believe that US policy under the Obama administration is changing in form but not in substance and it is communication strategy is smarter than during the two Bush terms. But the goals are the same: a free and democratic Iraq allied to United States to spread its ideals to the Arab peoples and the introduction of political, administrative, economic and cultural reforms to the region.
As for Iraq’s neighbours Obama is focusing his attention on an alliance with a more open and stable Turkey, without neglecting this country’s Kurdish question, which Obama wants solved in a peaceful way and with reforms in favour of Kurds.
Indeed for the first time a US president has met the leader of the Kurdish-based Democratic Society Party (DTP), sending a strong signal to the Turkish armed forces and Turkey’s AKP government that they should find a solution to the Kurdish problem whilst protecting Turkey’s territorial integrity. Once the issue is out of the way, Turkey can rightfully claim its place as a modern Western state.
Iranian threat: war or diplomacy?
The other hot issue in the Middle East is the security threat to Israel and US interests posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Obama said he wanted to pursue a policy of dialogue with this country in order to convince its leaders to stop their military nuclear programme.
No solution has yet to emerge though. Iran insists that its programme is peaceful and the West and Israel are continuing to put pressure. Either they impose more economic and diplomatic sanctions or go for a second option, which is military.
The latter still seems to be on the table, but no one wants to take responsibility for it. Why? First of all because, if it involved limited strikes, it would not have the desired effect; and secondly, because a full blown war would have worldwide catastrophic consequences given Iran’s influence and strategic location.
We must also bear in mind that Western military forces are spread across various theatres of operation and that the current economic crisis could cause the world’s economic system to collapse. If the Strait of Hormuz were ever to be closed, the Persian Gulf would be choked off and oil prices would hit the roof.
Obama’s ‘surprise’ visit to Iraq: democracy and economic development
Now to Iraq. President Obama organised his trip to Iraq and Turkey very well. Iraqi authorities were told ahead of time of his visit and the US Embassy in Baghdad requested a meeting between President Obama and Iraq’s official authorities as well as those of the Kurdistan region.
Meetings with President Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki were set up. A meeting with Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani and his prime minister, both of whom came to Baghdad for the occasion, was also organised.
President Obama expressed his support for and commitment to democracy in Iraq and its constitution (drafted by an elected assembly and adopted by 80 per cent of the electorate).
Kurds are demanding that the constitution be implemented since it calls for a broad autonomy to be granted to Kurdistan, the return of Arabised regions [under Saddam’s regime] to the jurisdiction of the government of Kurdistan and an end to the policy of ethnic cleansing (carried out by Baghdad between 1968 and 2003).
President Obama seems interested in protecting what the United States has achieved in Iraq: a certain economic and cultural development and especially significant progress in terms of public liberties.
Once the average wage in Iraq was 3 dollars a month; now it is around 900. Today more than 700 publications exist compared to eight Saddam-controlled papers and magazines published before. Now we have more than 30 TV stations against three under Saddam.
One sore point remains, and that is security, which is still fragile. If the US pulls out too quickly it could cause chaos, especially because of the lack of regional support for Iraq, its ethno-religious diversity and its great wealth in oil and gas.
Iraq: a bridge between West and East, a crucial factor in regional stability
Iraq will continue to be important to President Obama because of its strategic position in relation to the three continents of the Old World and as a crossroad between the Persian, Turkish and Arab world. Plus Iraq’s Kurdish component brings it closer to countries with an important Kurdish population.
If Iraq, which is at the core of an axis that contains 80 per cent of the world oil and gas reserves, becomes a democracy and remains close to the West, this could be a great asset for the United States in the coming decades. It would be the only country with an important role in the whole Middle East.
The role and influence of America’s other allies is limited. First of all, Israel is almost totally isolated and cannot play any really positive role to restore the image of the United States. Saudi Arabia’s role is limited to its oil. Egypt is losing ground, especially at the cultural and diplomatic levels. For its part Turkey cannot be the expected bridge between East and West because it is trying so hard to stay out of the East whilst at the same failing to become fully integrated into the West for obvious reasons. Anyway its influence is very limited in the Arab world and Iran.
Multiculturalism: a resource for the new Iraq
Geographically Iraq is in the middle of the Middle East. It is home to Shia and Sunni Muslims, Christians and members of other religions. It is constituted by Arabs, Kurds, Assyro-Chaldeans, Turkmen, Armenians, Persians, etc. And it has developed religious, political, ethnic and economic ties with all the countries of the region. It has huge natural resources and many cadres and specialists in every domain.
As long as it continues to receive Western support and its federal constitution based on a just and permanent division of powers is maintained, it has the bases for sustainable development. Under its federal system each component will have its own institutions and an equal share of the resources within a clear division of power.
This is what the US administration means when it says that it is committed to respecting Iraqis’ will as expressed in their constitution. Defining rights and duties is essential for the future of the region.
* Saywan Barzani is the representative of the Kurdish government in Europe; he is also the nephew of the president of Iraqi Kurdistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Religious Police Arrest Famous Actors, Because Men and Women Were Performing Together
The muttawa raids a hotel where a popular television series was being filmed. The actors have been released on bail, and one woman has been subjected to a moral education session. There is sharp division in the country between the fundamentalist religious leaders and those who want more freedom.
Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) — A blitz by the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the religious police, or muttawa), who early in the morning of March 30 raided a famous hotel in Riyadh and took away the actors and production staff for a television series.
Three actors and one actress were taken to the local police station, and later released on bail. According to a local newspaper, they are the famous Omani actor Ebrahim Al Zidjali, the actors Ali Saad and Fawaz Al Jaser, and the actress Sahar.
Local sources explain that the religious police intervened because scenes were filmed at the hotel in which male and female actors were on the set together. For this reason, Sahar was also taken to a center of the Commission where female officers explained to her the consequences and dangers of being with men in public places.
The actors were filming an episode of the series “Ayyamu Al Surab” (the days of Surab) produced by Al Sadaf. After the raid, the other members of the group immediately left the hotel.
Ebrahim Al Zidjali has commented that he does not understand why it is prohibited to film the scenes in the country, since public television broadcasts similar series that include scenes filmed in public places with authorization from the authorities.
In Saudi Arabia, religious leaders have repeatedly lashed out against movies, music, and many television shows which they call immoral and worthless. There is a true split in the country between the authorities, many of whom follow this kind of teaching, and an increasingly large base of young liberals who want more openness, more freedom for women, and the authorization of different forms of entertainment.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Dark Side of Dubai
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports
The wide, smiling face of Sheikh Mohammed — the absolute ruler of Dubai — beams down on his creation. His image is displayed on every other building, sandwiched between the more familiar corporate rictuses of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. This man has sold Dubai to the world as the city of One Thousand and One Arabian Lights, a Shangri-La in the Middle East insulated from the dust-storms blasting across the region. He dominates the Manhattan-manqué skyline, beaming out from row after row of glass pyramids and hotels smelted into the shape of piles of golden coins. And there he stands on the tallest building in the world — a skinny spike, jabbing farther into the sky than any other human construction in history.
But something has flickered in Sheikh Mohammed’s smile. The ubiquitous cranes have paused on the skyline, as if stuck in time. There are countless buildings half-finished, seemingly abandoned. In the swankiest new constructions — like the vast Atlantis hotel, a giant pink castle built in 1,000 days for $1.5bn on its own artificial island — where rainwater is leaking from the ceilings and the tiles are falling off the roof. This Neverland was built on the Never-Never — and now the cracks are beginning to show. Suddenly it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert.
Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing — at last — into history…
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Transport: Abu Dhabi Changed Gear, a Greener City
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI, APRIL 2 — An integrated transportation system which will revolutionise space, time and daily habits: this is the content of the Surface transport master plan’, presented by Abu Dhabi’s authorities, which re-designs an Emirate capital furrowed with bus, underground and tram lines and lapped by waters carrying ferry services and water-faring taxis. The project keeps the watchwords, dynamic, high-speed and control of CO2 emissions to the fore. Once the works have been completed a bus, tram or ferry stop will be just a 5-minute walk away from wherever you happen to be in the city with an underground station within 500 metres. “We shall deliver a multi-faceted and multi-modal transport system which will sustain Abu Dhabi’s economic, social, cultural and ecological objectives, to make it a top-class, vibrant and sustainable city” said Abdullah Rashid Al Otaiba, Chair of the Department of Transport. The Emirate’s ambitions have been known for some time. Despite the global crisis, work has not let up on the two islands which symbolise Abu Dhabi’s will to make its mark: Yas Island, where a new Formula 1 circuit is to open in November, and Saadiyat Island, dedicated to art and cultural excellence with loans from the Louvre and Guggenheim museums. Both will be reachable by underground lines while on Yas a double tram and underground circuit will ensure easy transfers to Saadyat which is in the process of being transformed into a pedestrian zone. It will take another twenty years — with four five-year stages — to complete the project, which will be regulated by the government, but managed by the private sector. The tramline network which will carry most passenger traffic will be up and running from 2015, while the underground lines come into operation in 2020. The system will be rounded off with 590 km of railway lines with high-speed trains travelling up to 400 km/h, connecting Abu Dhabi with the regions of Gharbia, Al Ain and with Dubai, and a second goods’ line, part of a vast regional network crossing the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman). Costs have not yet been released “ given the current global financial situation”, said Al Otaiba, who stressed nonetheless that ‘the directive is: ‘carry on’“. So while the new comes along apace, Abu Dhabi is also holding up the old: an accompanying plan is under study for a transportation tax, a toll to be paid by polluting vehicles for travelling through the city. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Study Says Istanbul is the Most Expensive City
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 8 — According to a study carried out by Turkey’s Office of Statistics (TUIK), reported by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Istanbul, of 81 regional capitals in Turkey, Istanbul was the most expensive in 2008, costing 14.2% more than the national average (where 100 is the national average and 114.2 is Istanbul’s result). According to the study the cheapest city in Turkey is Siirt in the south-east, not far from the border with Iraq and Syria, closely followed by other cities in less developed areas of the country such as Batman, Mardin and Sirnak (index rating 93.3). The two most expensive other cities are Izmir (105.2) and Ankara (105), which in turn are followed by several major industrial centres in the Marmara area with a 104.8 index rating (Kocaeli, Izmit, Sakarya, Yalova) and Antalya, a tourist province located on the Mediterranean that has a 104 index rating. The least expensive cities also include Hatay, Maras and Osmaniye, all of which are located in southern Turkey. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Siemens Opens New Factory Near Istanbul
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 6 — German conglomerate Siemens AG has opened a new facility near Istanbul to produce electric power transmission and distribution products. The cost of the new facility recahed 100 million euro and is “one of the most advanced in the world”, according to a press release by the company. Siemens said it will move some of its current Turkish operations to the new location over the next three years. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hindu Nationalists: if We Win the Elections, We Will Dialogue With the Christians
The Bharatiya Janata Party pledges that it wants to institute “a permanent inter-faith consultative mechanism” for discussions with Christians, including “the issue of religious conversions.” The secretary of the Indian bishops’ conference: “I pray they mean what they say.”
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is promising to set up a permanent discussion group with Christians if it wins the upcoming national elections. The BJP is the party of reference for the fundamentalist groups responsible for all of the anti-Christian violence in Orissa.
The BJP has inserted within its political platform a promise to institute “a permanent inter-faith consultative mechanism to promote harmony among and trust between communities. This mechanism.” says the BJP manifesto, “will also be used for a sustained and sincere inter-faith dialogue between leaders of the Hindu and Christian communities on all aspects of life, including the issue of religious conversions. The dialogue should be held in the spirit of the unanimous report of inter-faith dialogue on conversions, which was organised at the Vatican in May 2006 by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Council of Churches in Geneva.”
Commenting on the news for AsiaNews, Percival Fernandez, the auxiliary bishop of Mumbai and the former secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, says that “the proposal of the BJP is welcome.” To those who question the good intentions of the Hindu party and recall that various political figures have called the BJP a ‘jingoistic party’, the bishop says: “I pray they mean what they say, and not disguise their real agenda by rhetoric that looks and sounds good but is in fact hollow!”
“The communal tendencies of some of the political parties, evident in their performance where groups of misguided people take law in their own hands and create terror and fear among people, and are supported by such parties, is a blot on the beauty of secular India which can be a beautiful example of true democracy to the whole world!”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Weapons Deal Inked With Israel
New Delhi, 7 April (AKI/Asian Age) — India’s ruling United Progressive Alliance government has inked yet another deal with Israel, valued at 240 million dollars, for the manufacture of biomolecular charge systems to be used as ammunition for artillery guns, defence sources have confirmed. These will be manufactured at five factory plants to be set up in Bihar’s Nalanda district, located in the country’s northeast.
The deal was inked with the Israel Military Industries in the last week of March following clearance from India’s Cabinet Committee on Security in January 2009.
The factory plants will be built and integrated for India’s Ordnance Factory Board by the Israel Military Industries.
The DRDO will also be involved in the project for joint development of the ammunition, defence sources indicated.
This deal comes close on the heels of another deal signed with Israel in February this year for supply and joint development of medium-range surface-to-air missiles which is valued at two billion dollars.
However, several defence deals worth billions of dollars have been inked with Israel in the past seven years. The Indian military regards Israel as a reliable defence partner.
In August 2007 an Indian cabinet approved two arms deals worth 1.7 billion dollars with Israeli companies to upgrade the country’s missile defence systems.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Men Get 12 Years Each for Terrorism
Jakarta, 8 April (AKI/The Jakarta Post) — A Jakarta district court has convicted three Muslim militants of terrorist acts and sentenced them to 12 years each in prison.
The three terrorists — Sugiarto alias Sugicheng, Agustiawarman alias Bukhori, and Heri Purwanto alias Abu Hurairoh — were “legally and convincingly” proven guilty of conspiring to carry out acts of terror in Indonesia, the court ruled on Tuesday.
“The defendants had assembled bombs and planned to attack Bedudal Cafe in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra,” presiding judge Aswan Nurcahyo said during their final trial at the South Jakarta District Court.
The judges said the men were given equal sentences because they were all found guilty of involvement in the “evil conspiracy”.
The judges said the aggravating factor for the three men’s sentences was their failure to show remorse for their actions.
Prosecutors had demanded that the court jail the suspects for 15 years.
The lawyers for the defendants said they would consider whether to appeal against the verdict in one week’s time.
The convicts were part of an alleged 10-member cell of the Jamaah Islamiyah terror network who were rounded up in Palembang, South Sumatra, last July by a special police anti-terror detachment.
However, the judges said the trial revealed that the ring leader of this group was Mohammad Hassan bin Saynudin, alias Fajar Taslim, a Singaporean citizen with alleged links to Al-Qaeda who is facing the same charges in a separate trial.
“As Fajar Taslim was included in the list of wanted persons, the group chose Taib as its leader to protect him [Fajar],” Aswan said.
It was Fajar who ordered Agustiawarman and Heri Purwanto to carry recces at the Bedudal Cafe, he said.
The attack on the backpacker cafe was planned for 2006 but was cancelled because of fears of inflicting Muslim casualties.
The judges also found Heri guilty of playing a role in the murder of Dago Simamora, a Christian teacher, in 2007.
Fajar, 36, admitted in court he helped plan a 2001 attack on Singapore’s Changi airport, saying members of his Al-Qaida-linked militant network wanted to fly a hijacked Russian Aeroflot plane into the terminal.
He did not specify why the attack was cancelled.
Prosecutors told the court that the attack was aborted at the last minute because the media had uncovered details of their plot.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Yudhoyono’s Party Wins
[Comment from Tuan Jim: Far better than the alternatives, but the actual presidential election won’t be till later in the summer.]
JAKARTA — INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s party won most seats on Thursday in elections seen as a key test for the country’s youthful democracy, according to a leading polling institute. Projections by the independent Indonesian Survey Institute have the centrist Democrats winning 20.4 per cent of the votes, based on a near-complete unofficial count of ballots from 2,100 polling stations.
The opposition Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) of ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri gained 14.6 per cent and Suharto’s former ruling party, Golkar, was close behind with 14 per cent.
‘At this stage the data is stable. The Democrats are the winning party with the most number of votes,’ institute director Saiful Mujani told Metro TV television station.
Islamic parties were projected to win a total of just 25.7 per cent, their worst showing in the country’s history as people focused on practical concerns like growth and jobs amid the global economic crisis.
It was the third general election since the fall of the Suharto presidency in 1998 ushered in a new era of reform, turning Indonesia into the world’s third-largest democracy, after India and the US.
Final official results from across the archipelago’s 6,000 inhabited islands could take weeks to tally, and the shape of the new government will not be known until after presidential elections in July.
The outcome of the vote will be crucial for parties hoping to field a candidate in the more important presidential polls, when liberal ex-general Yudhoyono will seek a second five-year term.
Parties must hold 20 per cent of seats in the 560-seat lower house or 25 per cent of the popular vote to nominate a presidential candidate on their own, otherwise they must team up with coalition partners.
‘We will start tomorrow engaging in political communications (with other parties),’ Mr Yudhoyono told reporters after the close of polls.
Carefully avoiding any claim to victory, he added: ‘We will see what kind of coalition we have and how many presidential candidates meet the requirements.’
The election was peaceful except for a series of attacks overnight on Wednesday by suspected separatist rebels in eastern Papua province, where some members of the indigenous Melanesian majority want to split from Indonesia.
Five people were killed in the attacks which including a raid by suspected separatist guerrillas armed with arrows and bombs on a police post near the capital Jayapura.
No unrest was reported in Aceh province, where a 30-year separatist conflict ended only four years ago and fears of violence were high after several ex-rebels were murdered in the lead-up to the election. — AFP
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: One Policeman Killed as Riots Break Out in Baluchistan
Quetta, 9 April (AKI/DAWN) — One policeman was killed in Pakistan’s Khuzdar district in the country’s Baluchistan province as riots broke out following the killing of three Baluch nationalist leaders near the city of Turbat on Thursday.
Baluch nationalist leaders, Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Lala Munir and Sher Mohammad Baloch were found dead in a rural mountainous region near Turbat, police reported.
The killings have resulted in public outrage in the province.
Angry protesters took to the streets in the city of Quetta and blocked the Karachi-Quetta highway, while shutter-down strikes were being observed in other towns across the province.
Rioters set ablaze several vehicles, including one belonging to the United Nations.
In a bid to ward off rioters and restore calm, police tear-gassed the protesting students on Sariab road, and have reportedly made several arrests.
Police claimed to have recovered the bodies of the slain leaders from a mountainous area 40 kilometres away from Turbat.
Meanwhile, Baluchistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani has constituted a three-member tribunal comprising Baluchistan High Court judges to probe into killing of the leaders.
The Chief Minister appealed the public to remain calm, and said that unrest could sabotage the reconciliation process in Balochistan
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Islamist Groups Form Unholy Alliance in Pakistan
The United States is paying increasing attention to Pakistan in its bid to bring stability to Afghanistan, amid fears that the nuclear state could collapse. Rival Islamic militant groups are joining forces to make their country into a stronghold — and are receiving support from Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Singapore: Syndicate Leader Arrested
THE suspected kingpin of a human smuggling ring that brought illegal immigrants from Johor into Singapore has been arrested in Malaysia. Salam Awang, a 62-year-old Malaysian, was apprehended by police there and handed over to the Singapore authorities on Friday, said a Singapore Police statement last night.
The authorities here had issued a warrant for Salam’s arrest in February, which was endorsed and executed by the Malaysian authorities.
Salam’s ring of human smugglers is alleged to have brought illegal immigrants into Singapore from Johor by sea.
On March 14, his son, P. Ramlee Salam, 28, died in a late-night boat chase near Singapore.
The speedboat that he was in collided with a Singapore Police Coast Guard boat when the suspected smugglers engaged in a ‘series of reckless manoeuvres to evade capture’, said the statement.
His death is still being investigated separately and will be the subject of a separate Coroner’s inquiry.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands Converting Back to Hinduism: Truth, or Propaganda?
In Kalyan, in Maharashtra, Hindus are celebrating the “reconversion” of 1,130 families. The guru Narendra Maharaj urges the faithful not to be corrupted by the Christian missionaries, and calls on them to vote for the parties that defend the Hindu community. Bishop Fernandez: Christians must continue to spread the message of love, and the values of the Gospel.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — A lavish demonstration to celebrate the return to Hinduism of 1,130 families who had left the traditional religion of India to become Christian. It took place in Kalyan, a city in the district of Thane, in the state of Maharashtra, about fifty kilometers from Mumbai. A similar ceremony had taken place on April 27, 2008, in Borivali in suburban Mumbai, during which the return to Hinduism of 1,793 new converts to Christianity was celebrated.
Several thousands of Hindu faithful participated in the ceremony in Kalyan, during which the guru Jagadguru Narendra Maharaj warned those present not to let themselves be corrupted by the work of Christian missionaries, and urged spiritual leaders to leave their ashrams, the hermitages of Hindu tradition, in order to oppose conversions. In his speech, the guru also accused politicians of using Hinduism purely for electoral purposes, and urged the faithful to vote for parties that defend the Hindu community.
Interviewed by AsiaNews, Percival Fernandez, auxiliary bishop of Mumbai, said that he was perplexed by the celebration, which clearly has value only as propaganda, while the origin of the alleged “return converts” is unknown, nor is it known to what Christian confession they are supposed to have belonged before returning to Hinduism.
“Theologically, can anyone who has received Baptism in the Catholic Church be ‘reconverted’?” Bishop Fernandez asks. “The seal we receive in Baptism is permanent and indelible. Isn’t it? So reconversion in the theological sense is impossible.” In any case, the news of the ceremony in Kalyan brings up the age-old issue of conversions, the object of violence toward Christian individuals and communities in the country. The massacre of Christians in Orissa is justified by fundamentalist groups as a struggle against the alleged “forced conversions” to Christianity. In some states of the Union, there are anti-conversion laws that seek to block conversion from Hinduism to the Christian and Muslim faiths, but not the other way around.
“Anyway, there is a possibility of some Catholics getting ‘reconverted’ out of fear and not in reality,” the bishop explains, “as in the case of a family in Kandamal whose son is a priest.”
In the face of the repeated accusations of proselytism and forced conversions lodged by the most intransigent wing of the Hindu community, Bishop Fernandez says: “I don’t think we should be worried about ‘stopping’ this claim. We should continue to propagate the message of love and the values of the Gospel, especially by our lives, and no effort on earth can stop us from evangelising through this powerful means.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
U.S., Others Urge End to ‘Futile Fighting’ in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, April 10 (Reuters) — The nations leading Sri Lanka’s peace process on Friday urged the Tamil Tigers to free 100,000 civilians they are holding and the military to stop shelling the no-fire zone where the separatists are making their last stand.
The statement from the United States, Britain, Japan and Norway came as Sri Lanka’s military said it had begun what it called “the largest hostage rescue operation in the world” by identifying the best routes for people to get out.
The four-nation group, dubbed the Tokyo Co-Chairs, discussed on a conference call “how to best end the futile fighting without further bloodshed”, a U.S. State Department statement said.
[Comment from Tuan Jim: In the span of several months the gov’t has nearly completely wiped out a major terrorist organization that has killed thousands over decades — and this is “futile fighting”?!?]
“They call on the Tamil Tigers to permit freedom of movement for the civilians in the area,” it said. “They reaffirmed the need to stop shelling into the ‘no fire zone’ to prevent further civilian casualties.”
Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped inside a 17 square km (7 sq mile) army-declared no-fire zone on the northeastern coast, held there by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and being killed in shelling, the co-chairs’ statement said.
It is on that piece of land where the final act of Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war is expected to play out, and diplomats have been working furiously to negotiate an exit for the people stuck there but have been repeatedly rebuffed by the LTTE.
The government has vowed no ceasefire but pledged to stop fighting briefly to let people out as it has done in the past. At least 64,000 people have fled since January.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late on Thursday, and assured him that “Sri Lanka was aware of and observes all international obligations to protect civilians”, a statement from the president’s office said…
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Health Care Reform: Beijing Promises to Include Migrants in Urban Health System
For decades, more than 900 million Chinese have been excluded from effective free medical care. For a few years, rural residents have been given partial reimbursement, but they must pay their own expenses up front, without being certain that they will receive reimbursement. Experts: it is essential to see how rural and migrant people will be treated.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The central government yesterday published its plan to launch health care reform within 3 years, better explaining the guidelines for the project of the State Council made public the day before. But analysts maintain that this document does not explain how the ambitious objectives can be met, in a situation in which two thirds of the population must pay for all treatment.
Beijing is setting ambitious objectives for itself: by 2011, it wants to provide health care to 90% of the population; guarantee all essential medication at affordable prices; establish a network of clinics, in both the cities and rural areas, working together; reform the public hospitals so that they are no longer based on the criterion of profit (treatment is given to those who can pay, or who have insurance to cover the expenses).
Since the health care reform in the 1990’s, the situation in the country has become dire. Almost all rural residents, about 910 million people, are without free health care. For a few years, the local authorities have been providing reimbursements for part of essential medical treatment: but the reimbursements are often modest, and the authorities find pretexts to withhold or delay them. Moreover, the reimbursement is commensurate with the costs of the local hospitals, which are much more affordable but less efficient than the ones in the cities. In any case, the migrants are excluded, more than 110 million people living far from their villages of origin.
For this reason, the experts observe that any reform must consider first of all the rural areas and the migrants. The government expects to give migrants the possibility to choose whether to register and receive treatment in their villages of origin, or the cities where they work. University students will also be enrolled in the health care registries in the cities where they are studying.
Gu Xin, an expert at the University of Beijing, tells the South China Morning Post that the town governments could be reluctant to bear the extravagant expenses of guaranteeing millions of migrants the same care that is given to resident citizens. This is also because the draft law does not explain where the municipalities will get the needed funds. Moreover, the migrants frequently “change” their cities according to the availability of jobs, and each city has its own taxes and criteria for medical spending.
The experts say that, in any case, the objectives announced are important: 2,000 new provincial hospitals within 3 years, 29,000 new clinics in smaller cities by 2009, a basic medical center in each village by 2011.
So far, the rural areas have been excluded from the economic miracle, including health care. Now the plan is to pay the university tuition for future doctors who agree to work in rural clinics for at least three years, and to offer 1.9 million continuing education classes for health care workers, in order to improve the quality of service.
But there are some who note that for years Beijing has been promising reforms on behalf of rural residents, and the first results are still awaited.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
S. Korea: Hyundai Asan’s CEO to Visit N.K. Every Day
Hyundai Asan CEO Cho Kun-shik said yesterday he will visit the Gaeseong industrial park in North Korea every day until the North releases a Hyundai Asan worker.
“I visited Gaeseong to check whether the Hyundai employee is well and how the investigation is going,” Cho told reporters at the inter-Korean Transit Office on the border.
“Resolving this issue is my top priority, so I will keep visiting Gaeseong until the North releases him,” he said.
The North incarcerated the Hyundai Asan worker, known only by his surname Yu, on March 30 for allegedly criticizing the communist regime and encouraging North Korean employees to defect to the South.
Pyongyang rejected Hyundai Asan president’s request to meet the employee.
The South Korean company, which manages the complex and runs tour programs in Mount Geumgang and Gaeseong city, is facing the worst crisis since it started inter-Korean business in the communist country in 1998.
The North’s recent launch of a long-range rocket cast a darker cloud on inter-Korean business.
Hyundai Asan has suffered more than 100 billion won in losses since it halted Mount Geumgang tour in July.
It reduced the number of employees to 470 from 1,000 and cut wages by more than 30 percent.
There are over 38,000 North Koreans employed at the Gaeseong industrial park.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea to Prosecute Servicemember in Osan Stabbings
[Comment from Tuan Jim: Actually came across this story in a Korean paper, but S&S tends to have more details on military-related matters. Name shown was a bit of a red flag that raised my eyebrows — but if he is/was a muslim — why would he be hanging around a “juicy-girl”.]
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — South Korea will prosecute the U.S. soldier accused of stabbing three people last month near Osan Air Base, officials said Wednesday.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice gave the U.S. military formal notice Tuesday that it would take jurisdiction, said Army Maj. Vincent Mitchell, spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division.
“Under the [status-of-forces agreement] they have the right to choose,” said Mitchell. “So they’ve let us know that they wanted to exercise jurisdiction.”
The accused soldier is 37-year-old Spc. Abdelkader Raoufi of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade.
Korean authorities plan to prosecute Raoufi on charges of attempted murder and inflicting bodily injury with a dangerous instrument in the March 6 incident, Mitchell said.
Authorities contend that Raoufi used a knife to attack a 27-year-old bar worker. Two local men who heard her screams and ran to help her also suffered multiple stab wounds, South Korean police said.
All three have been recovering steadily, police said, but the woman came close to death and for a time had been on life-support and in intensive care with lung and other injuries.
Mitchell said the Army assisted the woman in filing a claim and on March 25 paid her the equivalent of $4,788.68 in Korean won. The two men have not filed claims, he said.
“We regret the incident took place and our sympathies are with the victims involved,” said Mitchell, who said he was expressing the views of the 2nd Infantry Division commander, Maj. Gen. John W. Morgan III.
“We take things of this nature very seriously and we’re going to do everything that we can to work with the Korean authorities in coming to a final conclusion on this case,” Mitchell added.
Meanwhile, the accused soldier remains in pretrial confinement at the Eighth U.S. Army Confinement Facility at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Mitchell said.
One of the injured men, South Korean air force Capt. Cho Jae-hwi, underwent surgery to repair damaged glands and other facial injuries. But his wounds were so extensive that only partial repairs were possible, police said.
The other man, Lee Taek-woon, was recovering from knife wounds to the leg.
According to police, the soldier had a romantic interest in the woman but she was not interested in him.
As she left work at a club in the Shinjang Mall entertainment district sometime after midnight, the soldier allegedly attacked her, stabbing her repeatedly.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
French Hostages Freed Off Somalia
One French hostage has died and four others have been freed in a rescue operation by French troops on a yacht off Somalia, French officials say.
Two pirates were killed in the operation and three were captured, the French presidency says.
Two French couples had been seized with a child, who was among those freed from the yacht, Tanit, seized last week.
The operation came after a US captain made an unsuccessful overnight bid to escape from another seized vessel.
Captain Richard Phillips managed to jump overboard off the lifeboat on which he was being held by pirates, US media reported.
But his attempt to reach a nearby US military ship was thwarted before it could come to his aid.
US troops in the area are continuing to monitor Mr Phillips’ situation. He was captured after a struggle on his ship, Maersk Alabama, which also remains in the hands of pirates.
Reports said the French rescue operation was not thought to be in the vicinity of the US fleet and the Maersk Alabama.
Warnings ‘unheeded’
The French operation to free those on board the Tanit began six days after the yacht was seized, the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
Earlier in the week Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had left open the possibility that troops could launch an effort to free the French hostages, telling reporters French officials knew the location of the Tanit.
However, it also emerged that the families on board the yacht, which was reported to be heading down to Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, were urged not to travel through the Gulf of Aden.
The region has become a haven for pirates and is the scene of frequent seizures and attacks on international shipping.
A spokesman for the French foreign ministry said the couple — named as Chloe and Florent Lemacon — were “repeatedly warned” not to travel through the area.
“It is difficult to understand why these warnings were not heeded,” spokesman Eric Chevallier said.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Bulgaria Doesn’t Pay Ransoms
The members of the crew on the kidnapped ship “Malaspina Castle” with 16 Bulgarian sailors are alive and healthy.
This has said in a telephone conversation with his family a member of the crew, who is Bulgaria, informed the deputy foreign minister Milen Keremedchiev.
“One of the members of the crew has contacted his family by telephone and has said that they are all in the captain’s cabin in good health and alive”, informed Keremedchiev, cited by BNR.
“The other sailors will also be allowed to contact their families”, confirmed he.
The deputy foreign minister announced also that the ship has reached the southern shore of Somalia and the kidnappers have already made contact with the Italian company which is related to the work on the ship.
Negotiations however, still have not started and so far there is no announced ransom amount.
During a regular briefing the spokesman of the foreign affairs ministry Dragovest Goranov said that the Bulgarian state didn’t pay ransoms.
Asked whether Bulgaria is ready to pay part of a $ 2 million ransom in order the sailors to be saved, Goranov answered “No, the Bulgarian state doesn’t have this money and doesn’t pay ransom”.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Migrant to be Deported After Going to Hospital for Toothache
Brescia, 9 April (AKI) — A Senegalese illegal immigrant has been issued with an expulsion order in the northern Italian city of Brescia after he went to hospital with bad toothache. The Italian lower house of parliament is currently examining a government security bill that would require doctors and other staff and hospitals to report illegal migrants to the authorities.
Thirty-two year-old Maccan Ba was reluctant to seek medical attention for his toothache. But after four days of not being able to sleep and eat due to the pain, he went to the ‘Spedali Civili’ hospital, where he paid his treatment subsidy and waited for his turn to see a doctor.
According to Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Ba was then suddenly removed from the waiting area and taken to the police station.
“The took me from the waiting room at the dentistry first aid area. I do not know who reported me, whether it was the doctor or the security guard, from whom I asked directions to get to the first aid area,” said Ba, quoted by Corriere della Sera.
Ba — who has been issued with an expulsion order is now in hiding at the homes of friends and family members, said he would never go to an Italian hospital again.
However, the hospital’s management denies involvement and blamed the security guard and Ba himself for his expulsion order .
“In the first three months of the year, we have taken care of 1,006 patients who are non-European Union citizens. None of these was ever reported for being an illegal migrant.
A sit-in was due to take place in front of the hospital on Thursday, organised by rights group ‘Rights for All.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Judge ‘Passes Illegal Immigrants in Street After Ordering Their Deportation’
A judge has criticised the Government’s record of deporting illegal immigrants, saying he often sees people he has recommended for removal walking around his town centre months later.
Peter Jacobs said that while the Home Office had improved, it still needed to be tougher, particularly on those who break the law while in Britain.
His comments came as he jailed a Liberian woman who lived and worked illegally in Norfolk for seven years. She admitted possession of a false passport and entering Britain without leave in 2002.
He sentenced her to 10 months and ordered that she be deported after being released.
Judge Jacobs told Norwich Crown Court: “The reality is the Home Office is better than it was but they don’t keep a proper take on these things.
“I and my brother judges recommend people for deportation and then we walk along King Street or London Street and see them a few months later. In this case we will have to wait and see.’
The deportation of illegal immigrants is often delayed for long periods because their cases join the bottom of a long Government waiting list.
Last month a BBC investigation claimed that at the current rates of deportation, it would take 34 years and cost £8 billion to clear the backlog.
A study by the London School of Economics estimated that there were 725,000 foreigners in Britain illegally. This is 81 per cent more than the Home Office’s most recent estimate of 430,000 in 2005.
In response to Judge Jacobs’s comments, a Home Office spokesman said: “We will not tolerate those that come here and break the law and last year we removed a record number of foreign prisoners. This year we will remove more.
“About one in five foreign prisoners are removed direct from prison and deported 180 days before their release date.
“Any non-European foreign national sentenced to 12 months or more is now automatically be considered for deportation.
Judge Jacobs’s comments came as it was claimed that the number of people caught trying to travel to Britain by illegally boarding ferries in Calais had doubled in the past year.
Officials at the French port told a local newspaper that in the first three months of the year, 6,031 were handed over to port security forces, while 2,919 were handed over in the same period last year.
Eric Besson, the French immigration minister, was reported to be considering bringing in the military to help deal with the problem at the ferry port and the Channel Tunnel, which reported a 50 per cent rise in the number of people apprehended.
The issue of the deportation of foreign criminals has dogged the Government for several years.
In 2006 the Home Office admitted that more than 1,000 foreign criminals — including murderers and rapists — had been released between 1999 and March 2006 without being considered for deportation.
The fiasco, which led to the sacking of Charles Clarke as Home Secretary, led the Conservatives to accuse the Government of “making up immigration policy as it goes along”.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Number of Migrants Caught Trying to Sneak Into Britain on Lorries Doubles in a Year
The number of migrants caught trying to sneak into Britain on ferries has more than doubled in the past year, French border officials revealed. Statistics show a 106 per cent jump in the number of economic immigrants and asylum seekers trying to breach security at the ferry port in Calais. French immigration minister Eric Besson is even said to be considering sending in the army to cope with the rocketing numbers congregating at the port.
The numbers, reported in local paper Nord Littoral, reveal that more than 6,000 migrants have been turned over to French police between January and March 2009. That figure compares with just under 3,000 in the same period last year — with the overwhelming majority discovered in the back of lorries heading to the UK. Herve Couret, safety chief for the port, told the paper: ‘Between January 1st and March 31 2009, 6,031 non-authorised personnel were handed over to port security forces.
‘Between January 1 and March 31 2008, we handed over 2,919 of them,’ He revealed 75 per cent of them were hidden in the back of lorries, a figure which has also doubled since the same period last year A further 1,501 were caught on video surveillance trying to jump fences, he added. ‘It’s very serious — but this is not the most worrying thing,’ he said. ‘I am really angry about the rise of another phenomenon — 1,304 unauthorised people were caught in 231 refrigerated lorries. ‘These people are getting sick in the lorries. This is quite new — people smugglers don’t have any feeling.’ Channel Tunnel bosses also reported a 50 per cent rise in migrants from last year, again trying to sneak on lorries boarding the Eurotunnel freight trains. Despite 11 miles of barbed wire security fences, officials for Eurotunnel said they are now apprehending around 5,000 migrants every year. The increase is so alarming that Eurotunnel boss Jacques Gounon said he would welcome the army if they were sent in to guard the 700 hectare site. He said: ‘We are ready to welcome them on the site and to provide shelter for them. ‘We are not frontier guards and we need to reinforce surveillance measures on the edge of the site.’
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Condoms Will Not Save Africa: Archbishop George Pell
JUST weeks after Pope Benedict XVI attracted widespread ire when he said condoms were aggravating the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the head of the Catholic Church in Australia has backed the pontiff’s stance.
Cardinal George Pell said yesterday that the health crisis facing Africa was “an enormous challenge” but contraception was not the answer to stopping the spread of AIDS.
“The idea that you can solve a great spiritual and health crisis like AIDS with a few mechanical contraptions like condoms is ridiculous,” the Archbishop of Sydney said in a television interview.
“Condoms are encouraging promiscuity. They are encouraging irresponsibility.”
His words echoed the remarks made by the Pope during a visit to Africa last month, when he said that AIDS could not be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which “can even increase the problem”.
The Pope said the solution lay in sexual abstinence and monogamy within marriage.
Cardinal Pell yesterday compared the AIDS infection rate in the Catholic Philippines with that of Thailand, which, he said, was struggling to cope with an epidemic of the disease.
“If you look at the Philippines, you’ll see the incidence of AIDS is much lower than it is in Thailand, which is awash with condoms,” he said.
“There are condoms everywhere and the rate of infection is enormous.
“That’s what the Pope is talking about.”
However, Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations executive director Don Baxter said condoms in Africa were not the only solution but were a vital part of a solution, as they had been in Thailand.
“The virus was well established in Thailand very early on and the rates of transmission have declined since the widespread use of condoms in the sex industry and the general population,” he said.
Mr Baxter said the Pope’s comments about condoms were easily misunderstood in Africa, where it was common for both men and women to have several concurrent sexual partners but still see themselves as being faithful.
“Calls for not using condoms and being faithful are heard by Africans to mean if they have regular partners, they don’t need to wear condoms,” Mr Baxter said.
“It only requires one person in the quite complicated sexual networks to be exposed and then all in the network are at risk,” he said.
Cardinal Pell’s comments received little support from other Australian religious leaders.
The Anglican Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, lent his support to Cardinal Pell’s criticism of society’s increasing promiscuity, but not to the banning of condoms.
“We don’t oppose the use of condoms,” he said. “The Catholic Church has opposed condoms. We haven’t.
“We have no problem with birth control that includes condoms.”
Dean Jensen said there was more to modern promiscuity than just the ready availability of condoms.
“In terms of adultery, in terms of divorce, yes, we are in big trouble as a society because of the sexual revolution,” he said.
“It’s a century-long movement that has happened. In my view, it’s a disaster. It has ruined lives. It is ruining our society.”
A spokesman for the Uniting Church said the use of condoms had led to improvements in people’s quality of life. “They have obviously stopped people from catching life-threatening diseases,” he said. “The Uniting Church is not opposed to the use of condoms.”
AIDS Council of NSW president Mark Orr said it supported the many HIV/AIDS organisations throughout Africa which had rejected the Pope’s position. “The facts are quite clear,” he said. “We’re living in a world where there is a new HIV infection every seven seconds.
“Someone dies of an AIDS-related condition every 11 seconds. A large proportion of people with HIV are in Africa.
“In the face of those facts, it is incredibly irresponsible for someone in Cardinal Pell’s position to discourage the only proven method that we have of stopping the transmission of HIV.
“Abstinence is one method of preventing the transmission of HIV, but we need to live in the reality of people’s lives and their decision making. And often people choose not to abstain.”
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Just surfing by to wish you and yours a glorious Resurrection Day.
I too wish you a nice easter. But about the green arch in the Balkans: in 1984 sarajevo held the winter Olympics. Later I spoke to a Slovenian engineer who built the olympic facilities there and ho said that already at the beginning of the 80-ies they said that they were in reality helping Islam spread in Europe. Namely, the main hall where some ceremoines were held is (was?) called Zetra, which the engineer said stood for Zelena trasa (green path). So Islam hasn't been on the march in the Balkans only since the Balkan wars in the 1990-ies.
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