In addition to all the G20 news, other stories growing out of the financial crisis are prominent tonight. Unemployment in Ireland has risen 87.5% since the same period last year. More factory managers in France have been taken hostage by plant employees.In other news, a crew of Somali pirates made a mistake: they attacked an armed German naval supply ship, and the Germans fired back…
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Henrik, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JCPA, JD, KGS, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Ireland’s Jobless Claimants Soar by 87.5%
Unemployment in Ireland is surging as new figures revealed that the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance soared by a record 87.5 per cent in the year to March.
The Central Statistics Office said today that in the 12 months to March, the number of people seeking jobless benefits rose by 173,279 to a record 372,800, an increase of 87.5 per cent.
Official figures also revealed that the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance rose by 11 per cent compared to February.
Next week, the Irish Government will announce an emergency budget to deal with a massive public spending deficit.
Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach, admitted that a fall in the unemployment rate is unlikely in the coming months. Opposition leaders described the figures as appalling.
“This is a real concern to all of us,” he told the Dáil this morning, adding that next week’s emergency budget would seek to provide other opportunities for the unemployed.
But Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader, blamed most of the “domestic mess” on the Government’s “incompetence” and called for a cut in the lower rate of VAT from 13.5 per cent to 10 per cent.
Eamon Gilmore, the Labour Party leader, said that the rising jobless figures were spreading “fear” throughout the country.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
London G-20 Protesters Clash Near Bank of England
April 1 (Bloomberg) — Protesters clashed with police outside the Bank of England and broke into a Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc branch in demonstrations on the eve of the Group of 20 meeting in London.
Police in riot gear, on horseback and officers with dogs moved in to surround demonstrators who smashed windows and entered an RBS branch near the central bank in London’s financial district, the City. Officers removed protesters from the building.
Police said they stopped a modified military personnel carrier near RBS’s London headquarters in Bishopsgate and arrested 11 people who had police uniforms. Twenty-four people were detained in total.
As many as 4,000 marchers were outside the Bank of England for the protest, called “Financial Fools Day,” which began just before noon local time, police said. As the demonstrators assembled, pre-summit talks started with a visit by President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Downing Street residence.
“This is about making it shameful to be a banker,” said Annabel Acton, 25, a consultant. “I’ve come here today so we can engage in a peaceful protest and vent our anger against the greed of the financial institutions. They are dealers in death and intent on oppressing us.”
A second demonstration, organized by anti-war activists, began around 2 p.m. near London’s American Embassy at Grosvenor Square and drew several thousand people.
This week’s operation may be the biggest for the U.K. capital’s police since the hunt for failed suicide bombers in July 2005 and comes amid a worldwide economic decline. Many City workers dressed casually, spurning traditional business suits and heeding warnings that they should avoid becoming targets for protesters.
RBS was rescued by the U.K. government, and former Chief Executive Fred Goodwin was widely criticized for accepting a 703,000-pound ($1 million) annual pension.
About 10,000 police officers will be on duty through this week to oversee the protests and to ensure the safety of world leaders who meet tomorrow at the Excel Centre in the east of the city. About 5,000 officers were deployed in November 2003, when then-President George W. Bush came to London for a state visit.
Organizers say the protests, which include a range of groups from climate-change activists to anarchists to unemployed workers, were planned to be peaceful. The Metropolitan Police had warned of possible violence, and financial institutions beefed up security.
Marchers scuffled with police in riot gear near the Bank of England. Television pictures showed one officer being hit in the head with a stick by a protester, and several demonstrators with bloodied heads were seen near the bank.
There was also a carnival atmosphere, with marchers carrying whistles, drums and signs reading “abolish money,” and “capitalism kills.” They hung the effigy of a banker from traffic lights and scrawled “built on blood” on the wall of the Bank of England.
“I’m protesting on behalf of over-50s who have been prudent with savings all their lives and are now getting nothing on their savings,” said Neil Scanton, 55, a computer consultant who is out of work. “I’m just an average guy, not an anarchist or anti-capitalist. There are thousands out there like me who are very angry.”
U.K. unemployment rose to more than 2 million in February as more people joined jobless rolls than at any time since 1971.
As marchers passed a KBC Groep NV bank building on Old Broad Street, workers in casual clothes watched from inside as protesters scrawled “people first” and “solidarity” on the window in crayons.
“I’ve got 12 grandchildren, and I’m afraid for the world we left them,” said Felicity Whittaker, 80, as she headed toward the bank. She said she’d been attending demonstrations “all my life.”
The Metropolitan Police, which has 31,000 officers, is being supported by officers from the City of London force, the British Transport Police and forces from the surrounding counties of Essex, Sussex, Kent and Bedfordshire.
Three financial-sector workers wearing casual clothes as they traveled to work said they had been told to “dress down” for the day to avoid the attention of protesters. They declined to give their names.
Tom Allen, 42, from New York, who arrived at his London office in a J. Press pinstripe suit and red tie, said he would be doing business as usual so had dressed as usual. Allen said he had been asked not to say where he works.
“I didn’t give it a tremendous amount of thought,” he said. “I wear a suit every day and I’m not going to live in fear.”
Several hundred activists set up a “climate camp” outside the European Climate Exchange in Bishopsgate, shutting the road, to protest against the market in carbon emissions.
Lucy Wills, a marketing consultant who painted her skin blue and wore a green wig, said she’s concerned about rising sea levels and that carbon trading isn’t working.
“It allows people to emit carbon without guilt,” she said, adding that she intends to join the climate camp. “It’s like a credit card for carbon emissions — buy now, pay later.”
Police ringed the exchange’s office and set up barriers, though the campers were allowed to block the street.
“We are all at the office,” said exchange Chief Executive Officer Patrick Birley by phone. “Life still goes on.” Employees dressed down so as to not to stand out against the protesters. “We all look extremely scruffy today.”
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Sarkozy “To Save Plant” After Staff Detain Bosses
PARIS, April 1 (Reuters) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged on Wednesday to save a factory run by U.S. bulldozer maker Caterpillar Inc, where staff angry over layoffs detained four managers for 24 hours.
Union sources said the managers were released at Wednesday lunchtime after spending the night locked up in the plant in the town of Grenoble in the French Alps.
Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, plans to slash jobs in various countries and a union official said 733 out of 2,700 workers would lose their jobs at the Grenoble plant.
“I will save the site,” Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio in an interview on Wednesday morning. It was not clear exactly what he meant as the site is not threatened with closure.
“I will meet this union committee, since they have called me to the rescue … We won’t abandon them,” he said, referring to Caterpillar staff’s labour union representatives.
The French president’s approval rating fell to 36 percent in a poll issued on Tuesday, largely on a perception that the government is not doing enough to help workers suffering the effects of a crisis that others caused.
As the global economic crisis has driven companies to close sites and lay off workers, staff in France have taken to locking up managers to secure better terms for those losing their jobs.
Workers at the Caterpillar plant locked the site’s director, head of human resources and two other managers in an office on Tuesday in a bid to force them back into negotiations over redundancy terms, a trade union official said.
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Bias Suits Settled With Gold’n Plump, Job Agency
Muslim workers receive $1.35 million under a religious discrimination settlement.
A federal judge gave approval for Gold’n Plump Inc. and an employment agency to pay $1.35 million to settle lawsuits alleging religious discrimination against Muslims at a chicken processing plant in Cold Spring, Minn.
The money will go to 128 Somali Muslims who claim that St. Cloud-based Gold’n Plump violated their religious rights by refusing to allow them prayer breaks during work hours, and to another 28 workers who said a St. Paul employment agency, the Work Connection Inc., required them to sign forms acknowledging they would be required to handle pork.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated the allegations and said it found cause to believe discrimination occurred, according to lawsuits filed last year.
In a settlement approved Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeanne Graham, Gold’n Plump will add a paid break during the second half of each shift to accommodate Muslim employees who wish to pray. The break is in addition to one early in the shift and lunch breaks required by law.
The Work Connection has agreed to provide offers of employment to the 28 job seekers who were turned away for not signing the “pork form.”
The $1.35 million settlement includes $985,000 for legal costs and $365,000 in cash payments to the 156 workers.
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
Citizen Grand Jury Indicts Obama
Groups in 20 more states reviewing eligibility claims
President Obama has been named in dozens of civil lawsuits alleging he is not eligible to be president, with one man even filing a criminal complaint alleging the commander-in-chief is a fraud, and now a citizen grand jury in Georgia has indicted the sitting president.
The indictment delivered to state and federal prosecutors yesterday is one of the developments in the dispute over Obama’s eligibility to be president under the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that presidents be “natural born” citizens.
Orly Taitz, a California attorney working on several of the civil actions, also announced she has filed another Quo Warranto case in the District of Columbia, where, she told WND, the statutes acknowledge that procedure.
The Quo Warranto claim essentially calls on Obama to explain by what authority he has assumed the power of the presidency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Push Global Warming Bill
Climate legislation unveiled Tuesday in the US House of Representatives was welcomed as a “very strong start” by green groups on the sidelines of UN climate talks here.
The draft law presented by Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will inevitably undergo revision as it wends through the American legislative process.
But it was seen in Bonn as an encouraging sign that Congress would back President Barack Obama’s ambitious goals for slashing greenhouse gases, an essential cornerstone for any new global climate treaty.
More than 190 nations in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have set themselves the task of hammering out an accord in Copenhagen in December.
“The bill is clearly sending a signal to the international community that the US is ready to engage,” said Keya Chatterjee, deputy director of the WWF’s climate program in the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Orders Guantanamo Detainee Released
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the United States to release a prisoner from the Guantanamo detention center who said he fears for his life after informing against senior al-Qaida leaders.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle issued a one-page judgment ordering the release of Yasin Muhammed Basardh, a 33-year-old from Yemen. The judge didn’t say in the ruling why Basardh should be let go, but she said it was explained during a closed hearing in her courtroom earlier in the day.
Basardh has begged U.S. officials not to send him back to Yemen or any other Muslim country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Machine Affirms Fear of Losing Office
As of this writing, America is 70 days into the Also Known As (AKA) “Obama” Administration. People have sent me e-mails asking me to call this man our “president” or call him by his name, “Barack Obama.”
I can do neither. AKA is not our legal president, he is a usurper sitting in the Oval Office, signing into law bills when he has not legal authority to do so, having failed to produce one shred of credible evidence that he is eligible to the office of president under Article II, Section 1, United States Constitution. As he is not our legal president, the laws he is signing are null and void, any money appropriated and spent under those bills constitutes criminal theft perpetrated upon the American body politic.
[…]
To try and squelch opposition, to try and keep his Marxist agenda from the public view, AKA is working feverishly to establish a pro-AKA goon squad to out-shout anyone who speaks the truth about his agenda to destroy America.
This past week saw AKA turn his attention from sniping at the likes of Rush Limbaugh to the American body politic. If what follows does not tell people that something is decidedly amiss with the claims that AKA is ineligible to the office of president, nothing will.
There exists, in Snohomish County, Washington, a man by the name of Stephen Pidgeon. Mr Pidgeon is an attorney and the attorney of record in the cause of Broe v Reed, an action dismissed by the Washington State Supreme Court as “moot” on January 9, 2009, carefully side-stepping the merits of the case brought by Broe, et al. Nothing new or surprising there. Washington State Supreme Court justices are no more or less corrupt than their equals in the United States Supreme Court. Should we be surprised that they would be too cowardly to take on AKA and the mighty Chicago machine that stands behind him?
But Stephen Pidgeon is a man of God who believes that justice must prevail for the 360,000,000 legal Americans inhabiting this country. To that end, Mr Pidgeon has gone about the business of establishing a National Grand Jury, the fourth arm of the United States government afforded the citizens of this nation at times like this when their duly elected and appointed representatives refuse to uphold their oaths of office to protect and defend the United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic; when the duly elected prove their cowardice in the face of what they perceive as political self-interest. Case in point, a non-American, a usurper sitting in the Oval Office and inhabiting the White House.
On March 25, 2009, Stephen Pidgeon reported to various sources, the presence of “law enforcement” officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), complete in regalia to their black goon-mobiles, overtly positioned in proximity to his home. The DHS officials were joined by Snohomish County Sheriff Officers as well as Everett City Police Department Officers in following and hazing Mr Pidgeon, members of his family, employees of his law firm, and associates in an open show of harassment and intimidation.
It seems, AKA., while desperately trying to give the appearance of ignoring the question of his eligibility to the office he has usurped, has, indeed, been paying close attention. It also seems that AKA has unleashed his goon squad against Mr Pidgeon in an attempt to find out what Mr Pidgeon knows about AKA that AKA does not want the American people to know and/or to put a damper on the perfectly legal National Grand Jury because it will effectively expose AKA for the illegal alien usurper that he is.
[…]
And for anyone who thinks the harassment/intimidation of Stephen Pidgeon, his family, employees and associates is justified, remember that what these goons are allowed to do to others, they can and will do to you. That is the way of a tyrant.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Kerry Makes Push for Tighter Gun Control
Kerry called for a ban on the imports of assault rifles, such as the AK-47, into the United States. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., opposed the idea.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Muslims Seek Jobs With Obama Administration
Muslims take page from interest group playbook and submit CVs
In the latest sign that the Muslim American community is becoming better organized and more activist, a book with the résume’s of 45 successful Muslim Americans was submitted to the White House in the hopes they will be considered for some of the thousands of jobs that have yet to be filled.
Muslim Americans overwhelmingly supported Barak Obama during the campaign and community leaders, including the first Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, want to ensure they are considered for positions in the new administration.
“The goal is to bring to the Obama administration the talent that is available out there in the Muslim community,” Ellison’s senior policy advisor, Rick Juaert, told AlArabiya.net.
“There’s some 8,000 jobs yet to be filled, so his (Ellison’s) point is there’s a lot to be done but a lot has been done already, and that we should be doing something proactive which is what this is in terms of getting Muslim names and faces out there so that as the jobs get filled we make sure that there are Muslim faces among them,” he added.
President Barak Obama has made several overtures to Muslims since taking office after seeming to shun them during the campaign, when rumors he was a Muslim threatened to torpedo his candidacy and his staff prevented women wearing the hijab, or headscarf, from getting photographed with him.
He became the first president to mention the word Muslim during his inaugural address and has since reached out to Muslims at home and abroad, most recently in a videotaped message to Iran. But Obama has yet to name any of America’s estimated seven million Muslims to a key position
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi OKs Obama Climate Talks
Meeting of Major Economies Forum to be held on G8 sidelines
(ANSA) — London, April 1 — Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday officially confirmed that Italy will host an international conference on climate change proposed by United States President Barack Obama on the sidelines of this year’s Group of Eight (G8) summit.
Berlusconi, at the helm of this year’s G8 summit to be held in Sardinia in July, was replying to a letter from the US president earlier this week in which he suggested the G8 summit might also host one in a series of meetings of the nascent Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.
The White House announced Saturday that Obama was launching the Major Economies Forum to help facilitate United Nations agreements on global warming and had called 16 countries to take part in a preparatory session in Washington on April 27-28.
The G8 summit will be held on the island of La Maddalena off Sardinia July 8-12 and is set to involve the emerging G5 nations on the second day and developing nations on the last day.
Italy had already scheduled a meeting of G8 environment ministers to take place 22-24 April in Siracusa.
Topics on the meeting’s agenda will be the prospects for low carbon technology, the safeguarding of biodiversity and negotiations ahead of December’s UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.
In addition to the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), the G5 (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa), Australia, Egypt, Indonesia and South Korea will be present at the meeting.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Summit; Nabucco Still in Listed Projects, Germany Opposed
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 20 — Nabucco, the gas pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to Austria, is still in the latest version of the list of projects financed with the unspent 5 billion euro of EC funds that the EU has decided to allocate as part of the anti-crisis package. Sources reported that the new list has been presented by the Czech presidency of the EU’s Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) which met unofficially today on occasion of the summit of state and government leaders to try to overcome remaining divisions. Nabucco has been allocated a 200 million euro loan, a symbolic contribution in light of the fact that the total cost of the operation has been estimated at 8 billion euro. Work on this pipeline, which would offer Europe an alternative to Russian supplies, is not scheduled to begin before 2013. Germany is opposing the inclusion of the Nabucco pipeline in the list of projects because it believes that immediately achievable works should have priority. However Germany’s position is viewed as ambiguous because it may be hiding its intention to safeguard the North Stream Baltic gas pipeline that Germany is setting up with Russia. However a new proposal by the Czech presidency in office in the EU could help to soften Germany’s position. The new paper effectively introduces new criteria which projects have to meet in order to receive European funds, and these criteria include ‘maturity’. Financed projects will also have to be able to use up most of the loans between now and the end of 2010. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Malmö: Integration in the Eye of the Storm
While Sweden’s official unemployment rate stands at around seven percent, nearly 40 percent of Rosengård working age residents are jobless. “A lot of young people here are out of work… Their parents don’t work, and they get their only social interaction in the Islamic milieu, which complicates integration,” says Camara, originally from Guinea. “They spend their time speaking Arabic,” he says, adding that “at heart they don’t really want to be Swedish. They tell me so themselves.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: EU Funds in Danger Due to Unauthorised Building
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 26 — The European Parliament has requested that EU funds destined for Spain are frozen until unauthorised building reported to Brussels by citizens from several EU countries has been resolved, reported to Brussels. The decision, reported by press agencies, is contained in the report proposed by the Danish Green party Euro MP, Margrete Auken, was extremely harsh with the building situation in Spain. The report proposes the suspension and review of new projects that do not respect the environment and that do not guarantee the right to property. It also calls for the elimination of building development plans against EU legislation that are already underway. The European Parliament has approved the report, which is not binding, with 349 votes in favour, 220 against and 114 abstaining. It is the third time that the parliament in Strasbourg has reported unauthorised building in Spain in the current legislature. “An endemic form of corruption has been generated in Spain”, the approved text read, assigning the responsibility of a “model of sustainable development” to all levels of administration: central, regional and town council. According to the report, the judicial authorities are not ‘correctly prepared” to give a response to unauthorised building, which is something that “has strengthened the impression of a lack of initiative and partiality of the Spanish justice system”. The situations that cause the greatest concern, are identified as being Marbella on the Costa del Sol, where “tens of thousands of homes have been constructed illegally, probably violating EU legislation”. Wild urbanisation is also taking place in the protected areas of Cabo de Gata and Murcia. The report urges the ‘urgent” review and modification of the Coast Law, ‘in order to protect the rights of legitimate homeowners and those who own small tracts of land in coastal areas which do not have a negative impact on the environment”. Amongst these people are numerous Germans and Britons, whose properties have been confiscated on the basis of the Coast Law, without receiving any compensation from the administration. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brown Calls for New World Order in Sermon at St Paul’s
Gordon Brown has made an overtly religious call for a new world order based on the ‘deep moral sense’ shared by all faiths.
Making the first speech by a serving Prime Minister at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, he quoted scripture as he urged people to unite to forge a new ‘global society’.
The Prime Minister argued that through all faiths, traditions and heritages runs a ‘single powerful modern sense demanding responsibility from all and fairness to all’.
[…]
He went on to suggest the world economy and society should be rebuilt around a Zulu word for hope — themba — which is also an acronym for ‘there must be an alternative’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Father Had Children Snatched From Him for Five Years After Partner Made False Paedophile Claims, High Court Told
A father branded a paedophile in a police and social services ‘witch hunt’ is claiming damages for being put through a ‘ghastly nightmare’ five years long.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was suddenly accused by his disturbed ex-girlfriend of abusing their three-old-daughter — and an investigation was launched.
Although the mother was later said to be suffering from Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy — in which parents fabricate afflictions for their children — her claims were treated with deadly seriousness.
A social worker, Sandra Sullivan, and a policewoman identified only as WPC Grey, carried out an ‘outrageous and oppressive’ interrogation of the toddler, and decided sexual abuse had definitely occurred.
And it is claimed that WPC Grey then falsely told the father, identified only as B, that medical evidence proved he had abused his daughter, known only as L.
Eventually, after five years, a court ruled B innocent, and his daughter left her mother, known only as SJ, and went to live with him.
Following long legal wrangling, the man, from Reading, Berkshire, is now demanding compensation from the authorities for the ‘wreckage of his life’, claiming their dogged pursuit of unfounded allegations damaged his relationship with his daughter and left him an alcoholic.
As the case began at London’s High Court yesterday, Nicholas Bowen QC, speaking for B, said: ‘This is in many respects an extraordinary and outrageous case.
‘B seeks damages arising as a result of the manner in which a social worker and a WPC carried out and thereafter misrepresented two interviews in 1990.
‘The social worker lied and the WPC lied to B about being in possession of medical evidence that his daughter had been abused.
‘They tried to trick him into confessing.
‘There were questions about the honesty and reasonableness of the mother, SJ, who made and sponsored these false allegations.
‘Without the professional credence given to them by the WPC and social worker, the allegations of sexual abuse would quickly have been exposed as unsafe and unreliable.
‘Had the WPC and social worker behaved competently and honourably, social services and police could not possibly have concluded that L had been sexually abused by B.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Licence Fee Police May Target You for Watching TV on Net
Possible new laws could see those who use online streaming paying a licence fee for the privilege
Viewers who watch television only through their computers could be forced to pay the licence fee, it has been revealed.
Currently, those who solely use catch-up services, such as the BBC’s iPlayer, do not need to pay the annual £139.50 charge.
But a law could be introduced to change this, amid growing evidence that more television viewers are migrating online.
This change is already leading to suggestions that collecting the compulsory licence fee could soon become impossible.
A review by the BBC’s governing body, the BBC Trust, into the issue has admitted it is unclear how many will switch entirely to internet streaming as their ‘sole method’ of watching TV.
The BBC has already been accused of heralding the end of the licence fee by broadcasting BBC1 and BBC2 ‘live’ on the internet — a service viewers are supposed to pay for.
The trust’s chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said there was little evidence that people were deserting their TV sets to watch solely online.
But his committee’s report said it was ‘clear’ this was already happening in ‘some segments’ of society.
For example, research showed that 40 per cent of students in halls of residence used a laptop as their main way to watch TV.
The study also admitted that some people might ‘forgo live television entirely’ by watching catch-up services — such as the iPlayer.
The report said: ‘Legislative change is likely to be required in order to reflect technology changes in the licence fee regulations.’
It added: ‘There was some confusion surrounding the need for a licence fee when using TV receiving equipment on PCs and mobiles.
‘Many were unaware of the different laws surrounding watching on-demand television, which does not need a licence, and live streaming of material as it is broadcast, which does require a licence.’
The report also admitted that the BBC can be too heavy-handed and ‘accusatory’ in chasing up licence fee payments from viewers.
Feedback from market research had shown that its initial letters were ‘too harsh’.
Sir Michael said the BBC should ‘improve the tone’ of its early dealings with the public, especially those who do not have TVs.
Such households have reported being hounded with letters, home visits and threats of legal proceedings even though they do not watch television.
The BBC’s management has welcomed the report and will look at making the payment system easier.
LibDem culture spokesman Don Foster said: ‘While the licence fee remains the best way to pay for public service broadcasting at the moment, we cannot ignore the fact that technology is radically changing the way people watch television.
‘We must look at whether the licence fee can keep up with technology as part of the ongoing debate about how we pay for public service broadcasting in the future.’
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Protests Turn Violent as Thousands of Anti-Capitalists Converge at Bank of England for G20 Riot
Hundreds of anarchists went on the rampage this afternoon as the G20 protests descended into violence.
Police were attacked and a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland was targeted as drunken troublemakers brought chaos to London’s Square Mile.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Student Finds Mobile Phone While Out Celebrating His 18th Birthday and is ARRESTED After Handing it in to Police
A college student who found a mobile phone while out celebrating his 18th birthday was arrested after handing it in to police.
Teenager Paul Leicester was arrested for ‘theft by finding’ and detained for four hours.
The Southport College A-level student eventually had the case against him withdrawn but said it was a ‘shocking experience’.
Paul said: ‘Being arrested isn’t a way to celebrate your 18th birthday. What are you supposed to do when you find a phone? I told the last caller I would drop it off at the police station the next day. But they arrested me for theft by finding.’
The teenager was kept by Merseyside Police in Southport police station for four hours and had his fingerprints taken, along with a DNA swab and a photo for police records..
Officers then grilled him for 15 minutes about the alleged ‘theft’.
Paul, who is of good character, has a Saturday job at a jewellers and is held in high regard by his teachers.
The former Birkdale High School student, who lives in Seaforth, added: ‘I want people to be aware of what happened. I thought I was doing the right thing and had it thrown back in my face.
‘I would not go to the police in future. I would arrange for it to be collected by the last caller. All I was doing was the honest thing. It was a shocking experience.’
Paul’s father Vinnie Leicester, 37, said: ‘I’m disgusted and angry. It should never have happened. Paul’s mum and I have brought him up the right way. It’s ridiculous.’
A police spokesman explained the complaint of theft was subsequently withdrawn and Paul was released without charge.
Sefton Area Commander, Chief Supt Ian Pilling, said: ‘Merseyside Police has contacted Mr Leicester in relation to the incident and he does not wish to make a complaint against the police. As a matter of course we are reviewing the circumstances of the arrest.’
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Top Head Warns Against Sats’ ‘Cramming Culture’ as Quarter of 11-Year-Olds Fail English and Maths
The headteacher of the top primary school in the country has warned cramming for Sats tests would only result in short-term success.
As league tables published today show more than a quarter of 11-year-olds are leaving primary school without mastering the basics of English and maths, Lorraine Cullen of Hall Meadow Primary School said pupils needed to be “thinking” learners to see real long-term improvement.
Hall Meadow and Combe Church of England Primary School in Witney had more pupils than any other school in England who achieved level five — one level above that expected of 11-year-olds — in the tests.
More than a quarter of primary school pupils leave without passing English and maths
Mrs Cullen said that their results did not come from drilling the pupils on the exam script. “I think that you get a certain amount of success doing that but you will never sustain it.
‘We do very little work around preparing for tests. We spend our time developing children who are thinking, motivated and active in their learning.”…
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Black Box That Tracks Every Mile You Drive and Will Make Speed Cameras Obsolete
[Comments from JD: This program will be “voluntary” for now…]
Drivers face having their every move tracked by a ‘spy in the car’ black box.
The system will constantly check a vehicle’s speed — making cameras redundant — and allow for pay-as-you-go tolls.
The £36million EU project is partly funded by the UK Government and backed by car makers and the telecoms industry.
It will be unveiled later this year with a view to its integration into future cars. Manufacturers suggest this could be as early as 2013.
Vehicles fitted with the system will emit a constant ‘heartbeat’ pulse revealing their location, speed and direction of travel.
EU officials believe the technology will significantly reduce road accidents, congestion and carbon emissions.
But civil liberties campaigners say it will have profound implications for privacy by creating a Europe-wide system of Big Brother surveillance.
The European Commission has already asked governments to reserve a radio frequency for the system to operate on.
Engineers say the system will be able to track cars to within a yard, making it significantly more accurate than existing satellite navigation technology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Thousands of Criminals Released From Jail Early Under ‘Reckless’ Plan to Free Up Space
More than 50,000 criminals have been released from prison early under a Government scheme aimed at reducing overcrowding, Ministry of Justice figures revealed today.
Since June 2007, 52,117 prisoners have been let out up to 18 days before the halfway point of their sentence. The figure includes more than 10,000 violent offenders. No room: 52,117 prisoners have been let out early to create more space in jails
The Ministry of Justice figures showed more than 1,000 alleged offences had been committed by criminals let out early, including burglaries, muggings, sex offences, rape, and three murders.
Shadow Justice Secretary Dominic Grieve said ‘This is a direct result of Gordon Brown’s reckless failure to provide enough prison places.
‘Releasing criminals early has already resulted in three murders and over a thousand other crimes.
It is unacceptable — and ministers must scrap this policy now.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Would Nelson Say? EU Wants to Take Over Britain’s Naval Bases Around the World
Britain’s naval bases around the world should be put under the control of Brussels, according to a report commissioned by the European Union.
It says military facilities in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and Cyprus should become part of an EU ‘forward presence’ to help safeguard Europe’s trade routes.
The proposals would also see France forced to put its military bases in Africa and South America under EU control.
They goes so far as to suggest that two aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy should become an EU ‘capability’.
The idea drew a rebuttal from the Ministry of Defence, which insisted British facilities would remain under British control.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Rehn, Possible End to OHR Support in Next Months
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 31 — In just a few months, Bosnia Herzegovina may cease to be subject to international protection from the Office of the High Representative (OHR), if it is able to complete the necessary institutional policy reforms. So said EU Englargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, who took part in a meeting of the Foreign Commission at the European Parliament today in Brussels. In terms of the necessary reforms, Rehn explained that “it is possible that the country will manage to meet these conditions in the coming months. The next step will be to move forwards in the transition process with the High Representative.” The Commissioner spoke of “progress towards European integration” which Bosnia had successfully made, starting with the application of an association agreement, even if “recent months have also seen negative nationalistic rhetoric.” Rehn went on to ask the country’s leaders to “go ahead” with the reform programme and stressed that “we are Bosnia Herzegovina’s partner, we are a working towards a European future, that is our common objective.” (ANSAmed).
2009-03-31 16:27
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Rehn, in 5 Years Biggest Disappointment is EU Rift
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 31 — The European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that the greatest source of disappointment in European foreign policy was the internal division within the EU relating to the Kosovo issue. This was the Commissioner’s assessment of the situation, which he delivered to the Foreign Commission at the European Parliament today in Brussels, following the announcement that Spanish troops would be withdrawn from the country. Rehn went on to add that Nato troops are not expected to be withdrawn from the country in the near future: “it is better to be safe than sorry,” Rehn said, “we need KFOR for a bit longer.” Rehn explained that “the disappointment for everyone is that the EU was not united in assessing the status of Kosovo, which is causing problems in the stabilisation process under way in south eastern Europe.” The Commissioner added that “if the Lisbon treaty had been in place, and if we had a foreign minister capable of harmonising EU policies we would have had better results in terms of the recognition of independence and the time frames involved” to deal with the situation, and to look into the country’s possible future EU membership. Five member states are yet to recognise Kosovo’s independence (Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Romania and Slovakia). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia-Greece: Agreement on Corridor 10 Reached
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MARCH 20 — Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece Miltiades Varvitsiotis told Tanjug news agency that one of the most important results of his visit to Belgrade was an agreement on Corridor 10, the construction of which Greece will finance witht 100 million euro.. “We have agreed with Deputy Prime Minister Mladjan Dinkic on specific sections of Corridor 10 that will be financed by Greece, and it is our pleasure to announce that we will call public bids for the corridor construction by mid-summer,” said Varvitsiotis, recalling that the funds will be allocated from the Hellenic Plan for the Reconstruction of the Balkans. Varvitsiotis, in his three-day visit to Belgrade also discussed with officials in Belgrade resolution of the problems Greek investors are facing in Serbia, where they had already invested 2.5 billion euro. In regards to the current political issues, Varvitsiotis said that Greece’s stand on Kosovo had not changed. I do not believe that Greece will recognize Kosovo in the near future, but this does not mean that we will not maintain economic relations with Kosovo, said Varvitsiotis. We believe in the region’s economic prosperity and we are working on it, he also said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Medidea Magazine Presented, Bridge to the Mediterranean
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 31 — The Medidea Review has been presented in Rome today. It is the first issue of the online quarterly magazine edited by the Medidea Foundation, chaired by senator Giuseppe Pisanu. Opening the conference on the ‘The Mediterranean, possible ways out of the crisis’, Pisanu pointed out how the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean as well as the Persian Gulf have registered an average growth of 4.4% over the past 10 years, and between them absorbed 10% of all Italian exports. An area, underlined Pisanu, which in the upcoming years will boast 5% of global GDP. Speaking about the magazine (the paper version was presented by Editor in Chief Carlo Romano), Pisanu said that with time it will be available to all of the countries of the Mediterranean. For this reason it has been published in Italian and English and will soon be available in Arabic as well. The first edition of the magazine contains interviews with Franco Frattini, Giuliano Amato, Massimo D’Alema, Antonio Tajani, Andrea Riccardi, Amos Luzzatto, Massimo Pini, and Nino Novacco, as well as with the Libyan and French Ambassadors to Italy, Gaddur and Sabliere. There is also an interview with Luca di Montezemolo. The interview with Tarak Ben Ammara features glances at Northern Africa, its potential, as well as the attention being paid by Italy’s political class to the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The film producer and financier acknowledged Italy for its unique contribution to relations with Northern African countries. This was mainly, he said, because it had “the courage to recognise that colonialism had been a mistake” and understood “the suffering and the dignity of the involved in national self-determination”. Turning to north-African youth (65% of the younger population is under the age of 25), Ben Ammar used strong imagery to explain the cultural impoverishment of society in African countries on the Mediterranean. “We have witnessed a takeover bid launched on the youth of Northern Africa,” he said pointing out that these young people do not read books or newspapers, they do not have access to the Internet, and are conditioned by television: “they spend about 6 hours per day in front of the television”, which often broadcasts a non-secular message. For this reason, he explained, an alliance with Mediaset has been created, called Nessma, which is not just the first TV station for Northern Africa, but perhaps for the Mediterranean (from June onwards it will be available on Hot Bird, reaching over 20 million Northern Africans who live in Europe). A television station that rejects the idea that Islam is not compatible with the modern world. And to confirm this he showed a brief film on Nessma in which, he said, “there are no women with veils”. Confindustria President, Emma Marcegaglia, speaks of the crisis and the Mediterranean, saying how for Italy, once the crisis is over, one of the driving policies to be followed (together with greater attention towards technology tied to environmental policies, given the stance adopted by US President Barack Obama) will be a stronger presence in markets such as Eastern Europe, but the Mediterranean above all. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Presidential Election, 3 Candidates May Withdraw
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, MARCH 31 — Three of the six candidates for the presidential elections in Algeria on April 9 have threatened to pull out and the country may see a repetition of events in 1999, when six candidates decided to abandon the elections leaving Abdelaziz Bouteflika as only candidate. Party representatives for Fawzi Rebaine (ADH 54, nationalist), Djahid Younis (El Islah, radical-islamic) and Mohamed Said (PJL, a new and not yet recognised party) denounced in a press conference “the flagrant support” of Bouteflika by the administration and “the continuing infractions committed during the electoral campaign. If the irregularities continue anything is possible, including withdrawal” said Mohamed Seddiki, spokesman of Rebaine. According to the Algerian press this party has not yet received the 1.5 million dinars (150 thousand euros) it should receive by law for its campaign. The electoral Supervisory commission “has turned into a support commission for Bouteflika” according to the Said representative. The use of State funds for the campaign of the outgoing president, unauthorised billposting and the one-sidedness of the administration are for the three candidates “a form of advanced fraud” which will lead to “a rigged ballot”. Bouteflika has been in office for ten years. He is running for his third term. Among the other candidates is also the only woman, Louisa Hanoune (Workers’ party, Trotskyst) as well as Moussa Touati (National Algerian Front, nationalist). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: We Do Not Proselytize, Say Christian Churches
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, MARCH 30 — Reacting to accusations of evangelical proselytism, Archbishop Vincent Landel and the president of the Evangelical church in Morocco Jean Luc Blanc today ruled out all activities of “proselytism”, underlining that the role of the “official churches” is to accompany those Christians who live in Morocco throughout their spiritual lives. A statement signed by the two men of faith, which was issued today in Rabat, confirmed that “being present in Morocco for more than a century, the Catholic and protestant churches have learnt to live in harmony with the country and its inhabitants, taking part in its history and in its evolution.” The two men say that “an essential point is the dialogue between Christians and Muslims which necessarily rules out proselytism, we believe in the richness of the meeting between the two religions which both stand to gain in terms of understanding and reciprocal recognition, the dialogue is part of our responsibility.” The statement was released two days after the detainment and expulsion of five evangelical missionaries, four of whom were Spanish and one German. The women were stopped last Saturday in Casablanca, who were then transferred to Tangiers and put on a boat headed for Algeriras, in Spain. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Funds Website of Palestinian General Power of Attorney
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 25 — EU funded ‘Seyada’ project has supported the Palestinian general power of attorney to launch a new internet website, in Arabic and English. The European Union budget for the ‘Seyada’ project is of 3.7 million euro, aimed at empowering the Palestinian law system and at strengthening the relationship between Palestinian law institutions and the public. “The general power of attorney is the guardian for criminal justice — said Attorney General for Palestine, Ahmad Al-Mughani — and the launching of this internet website is within the framework of developing its performance”. The new website is a way for the legal community and average Palestinian citizens to access the legal system, listing the main prosecuters in the West Bank and useful links, and even offers a mechanism to file a preliminary complaint or a request. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Another Religious Party Enters Netanyahu Gov’t
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, APRIL 1 — New Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu has formalised an agreement today with another religious party, the Union of the Torah (Ashkenazi Orthodox), thereby consolidating his broad right-wing coalition force along with the Labour party. The agreement will give the Union two deputy-minister offices (Education and Health) as well as the presidency of the Finance Commission in the Knesset. The Ashkenazi party had already voted to approve the new cabinet last night, therefore compensating with its 5 deputies for the defection of 4 members of the Labour party (opposed to the compromise signed by Ehud Barak with right-wing parties) who, although they did not entirely break with the group, did opt to leave the floor. With the Union of the Torah confirming its support, the new premier can now count on a majority formed by his party, Likud (right-wing nationalist) and another five: Israel Beitenu (IB, ultra-nationalist party of teh new foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman), Labour (centre-left), Shas (Sephardic party), The Jewish Home (right-wing nationalist party of Israeli settlers) and the Union of the Torah (Ashkenazi). It is a team which, excluding absences, will be able to count on 74 deputies of the 120 in the Knesset, not taking into account possible dissidents in Labour. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Obama to Confront Israel on ‘Biblical Heartland?’
Palestinian official says U.S. strongly opposes Jewish construction
A delegation from the State Department promised the Palestinians the Obama administration will strongly oppose any new Jewish construction in the strategic, biblical West Bank, a top Palestinian Authority official told WND.
[…]
While Jewish construction is being closely watched, the U.S. has not protested rampant illegal Arab construction on Jewish-owned property in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Balad MK Praises Iran’s Nuke Quest
New Balad party MK Haneen Zuabi, the first woman to be elected to the Knesset as a representative of an Arab party, has welcomed Iran’s growing influence on Palestinian affairs and praised Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapon as a means of offsetting Israel’s regional military edge.
Having Israel as the region’s sole nuclear power, she said, was “dangerous to the world.”
Interviewed in English twice in recent days — in her Knesset office and in a Jerusalem hotel — Zuabi, one of Balad’s three MKs and the former director of the I’lam: Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel, said Iran’s role in Palestinian affairs was “more useful” than that of regimes like Jordan and Egypt, in that Iran stood more firmly “against occupation than a lot of the Arab countries. This is our interest.”…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Leader Accused of Bid to ‘Legalise Rape’
UN and women MPs say Karzai bowed to Islamic fundamentalists before poll
Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, has signed a law which “legalises” rape, women’s groups and the United Nations warn. Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.
In a massive blow for women’s rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman’s right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent.
“It is one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century,” fumed Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation. “It is totally against women’s rights. This law makes women more vulnerable.”
The law regulates personal matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance and sexual relations among Afghanistan’s minority Shia community. “It’s about votes,” Ms Karokhail added. “Karzai is in a hurry to appease the Shia because the elections are on the way.”
The provisions are reminiscent of the hardline Taliban regime, which banned women from leaving their homes without a male relative. But in a sign of Afghanistan’s faltering steps towards gender equality, politicians who opposed it have been threatened.
“There are moderate views among the Shia, but unfortunately our MPs, the people who draft the laws, rely on extremists,” Ms Karokhail said.
The bill lay dormant for more than a year, but in February it was rushed through parliament as President Karzai sought allies in a constitutional row over the upcoming election. Senator Humeira Namati claimed it wasn’t even read out in the Upper House, let alone debated, before it was passed to the Supreme Court. “They accused me of being an unbeliever,” she said.
Details of the law emerged after Mr Karzai was endorsed by Afghanistan’s Supreme Court to stay in power until elections scheduled in August. Some MPs claimed President Karzai was under pressure from Iran, which maintains a close relationship with Afghanistan’s Shias. The most controversial parts of the law deal explicitly with sexual relations. Article 132 requires women to obey their husband’s sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least “once every four nights” when travelling, unless they are ill. The law also gives men preferential inheritance rights, easier access to divorce, and priority in court.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Summit Begins, Assad Says No to Warrant for Bashir
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, MARCH 30 — The twenty-first Arab summit has begun today in Doha. In his opening remarks, Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, urged Arab Heads of State to reject the arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4 against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Assad then immediately handed over the presidency to the emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani. Assad also said that peace between Arabs and Israeli cannot be achieved if Israel does not want it. “Israel has killed the initiative, not the Doha summit,” said the Syrian president, referring to Saudi Arabia’s peace initiative, approved by the Arab League in the 2002 summit in Beirut. The proposal provides for the recognition of Israel by all Arab states, so long as the country withdraws from the Arab territories occupied in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi then spoke, saying that “my personal problems with the Saudi King are over. I am prepared to go on an official visit to Saudi Arabia.” Hi speech was applauded by all participants. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Turkey: Gul Revives Adhesion Negotiations in Brussels
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 27 — The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, has made his first visit to Brussels to revive negotiations for his country’s adhesion to the European Union. “This visit is important for the launch of a new phases in relations between the EU and Turkey”, said Gul in a meeting with the press today. Gul emphasised Ankara’s “strategic” role for the EU and areas of common interest like the Caucasus, the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. The climax of the Turkish president’s visit to the Belgian capital was the meeting with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. Currently Ankara has opened ten chapters of the EU adhesion treaty and Gul has said that “we hope to be able to open another two” before the end of the Czech rotating presidency of the European Union. The adhesion process is difficult, but Gul noted that no-one can shirk their responsibilities: “the European Union decided unanimously that Turkey could begin the adhesion process, and now all the member states must remain bound to their commitments”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Hezbollah Representative on Visit to London Today
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 30 — Shia movement Hezbollah has today announced in a statement, quoted by the An Nahar newspaper, that its representative in the Lebanese parliament, Hussein Hajj Hassan, left yesterday for London on the invitation of British House of Commons MPs. The paper noted that Hajj Hassan would be taking part in a parliamentary forum on the Middle East in London. On March 6, British Foreign Minister David Miliband authorised contact with the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah, but only with its political wing. The following day Hezbollah made it known that it looked favourably on the announcement by the British government, and added that it was “always open to contact with any country”. In July 2008, the British government had inserted the armed wing of the pro-Iranian Shia movement in the list of terrorist organisations, excluding however its political wing. Israel, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the United States, on the other hand, have long included the entire Hezbollah organisation on their black list of terrorist groups. Haji Hassan is the same representative who in August 2006 appeared in a photo alongside then Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema in the latter’s visit to the Beirut areas which had been bombed by the Israeli army in the previous weeks. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Obama Administration and Implications for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East
by Scott Carpenter
- The Obama administration marks the return of a so-called “realist” approach and an intentional downplaying of President Bush’s vision of an America that would use its power actively to advance freedom around the world. Few will lament the demise of Bush’s “Freedom Agenda,” which came to be seen as dangerous naivete which risked the stability of the region and with it Israel’s security.
- The height of folly was the Palestinian elections in January 2006 when, in contradiction to the Oslo Accords, Hamas was allowed to compete and ultimately win without laying down its weapons. Too late, the administration recognized it could no longer take the risk of bringing potentially hostile forces to power through democratic elections.
- Unfortunately, neither approach addresses the structural and demographic time bombs in the region. A youth “bulge” requires the creation of 100 million new jobs by 2010, according to the World Bank. Yet if economic reform is to be advanced and sustained, democratic development must also take place.
- The U.S. government can use Arab governments’ insecurity regarding Iran as leverage to encourage real reform. This is particularly true for Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — now engaged in the ideological fight of their lives with Iran and its reactionary allies. Only by establishing a new bargain with these regimes that stresses the need for them to respect internal civil and political rights, while forging a joint response to the reactionary threat, can the U.S. offer a true alternative to theocratic and minority rule.
- This is not to say that democratic and economic reform need be the priority for the West, but it must remain a priority, if otherwise intractable problems which pose a longer-term national security threat are to be addressed. Allowing autocrats to continue to get away with inaction will simply make the coming tidal wave of Iranian-style revolutions larger and more damaging, placing Israel’s existence in even greater jeopardy than it is now…
| — Hat tip: JCPA | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Kurds, Colonel Arrested Over Death Pits in Southeast
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, 25 MAR — A Turkish court arrested Wednesday an army colonel on charges of involvement in alleged killings of supporters of the terror organization PKK between 1992 and 1994 in Turkey’s southeast, daily Hurriyet website reported. Col. Cemal Temizoz was formally charged after investigators into the 1990 disappearances excavated wells in the southeastern towns of Silopi and Cizre owned by the Turkish Oil Pipeline, which revealed clothing and bone fragments. The colonel became the third suspect to be charged this month as part of a probe into allegations that supporters of the PKK were killed and buried in ‘death pits’ in the southeast in the 1990s. The colonel, who had been questioned since Monday, was the head of a paramilitary police force stationed in the Cizre, Sirnak province, in 1993-1996. Recent digs in the area turned up some 20 fragments of bone and pieces of tissue. The two other suspects awaiting trial are the former mayor of Cizre, Kamil Atak, and his son Temel, who were at the time acting as village guards. They allegedly organized the abduction and killing of PKK supporters, within the knowledge and under the protection of the colonel. The investigation was launched in February after media published accounts of the alleged murder of a PKK member who defected from the terror organization and became an informer for the security forces. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Two Sentenced to Death for Spying for Iran
(ANSAmed) — SANA’A, MARCH 31 — Two Yemenites have been sentenced to death by a court in Sanàa for spying for Iran, press sources report. Abdel Karim Lalji and Hani Dinn Mohammed, 33 and 31 years old, have been sentenced to death, while 57-year-old Iskandar Abdo was released due to a lack of evidence. Defence lawyer Chatha Nasser, said he will lodge an appeal. The trial started on October 11 but judges had imposed a press black-out. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
India: Mumbai Terror Suspect Gets Lawyer
Mumbai, 30 March (AKI) — A female lawyer has been appointed for the sole suspected surviving gunman in last year’s deadly Mumbai attacks, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, who is charged with murder and “waging war” against India.
Judge M L Tahilyani told Qasab the court had appointed Anjali Waghmare, a lawyer from the Maharashtra Service Legal Authority, to defend him, the Press Trust of India reported.
Kasab, who is currently being held in the high-security Arthur Road jail, appeared through a video link, wearing a grey shirt, and sporting a trimmed beard.
India has charged 38 people, including Qasab, in connection with the three-day terrorist assault on luxury hotels and other tourist targets in Mumbai last November, which killed around 170 people.
The trail will begin on 6 April.
India accused Pakistan-based militants from the banned Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba of carrying out the attacks. Pakistan has admitted they were partly planned on its soil, but LeT has denied involvement in the assault.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: President Woos Baloch Separatists
Quetta, 27 March (AKI/Dawn) — Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari has asked the southwestern province of Baluchistan’s violent nationalist movement to enter into talks with the government to resolve their grievances. These include economic under-development, suspected US drone attacks and the release of 1,000 prisoners allegedly in Pakistani custody.
Zardari on Thursday directed the provincial government to set up a parliamentary committee of its coalition partners to start talks with disgruntled Balochs to bring them into the political mainstream.
Addressing a meeting of Baluchistan’s cabinet, Zardari said the process of reconciliation would be expanded and all-out efforts would be made to resolve issues being faced by the province, which borders Afghanistan.
He asked the ruling coalition partners to prepare a resolution on the issues being faced by Balochistan, bring it before the provincial assembly and then send it to the federal government. He said his government would even make constitutional amendments to solve the province’s problems.
Baluchistan’s chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, provincial ministers, chief secretary and other officials attended the meeting.
Zardari asked the provincial government to chalk out plans for rehabilitation of the people displaced by US military operations in the region
He assured cabinet members that their recommendations on improving law and order, accelerating the pace of development and resolving other issues of the province would be implemented.
Zardari said the federal government would provide funds for building eight dams in Balochistan. The dams are expected to irrigate an additional 500,000 acres of land.
He said the government was accelerating the pace of oil and gas exploration in the province and providing security to exploration companies.
Members of the cabinet briefed the president about the province’s grievances and said the federal government should provide funds to complete roads and highways that are under-construction.
Zardari said the government would take ‘sincere steps’ to give the Balochs their rights and rapidly solve the province’s problems and urged them not to resort to violence.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Taliban Leader Claims Responsibility for Terrorist Attack on Lahore Police School
Interior minister suggests foreign power could be behind the attack. Taliban makes more threats after yesterday’s attack and the one against Sri Lanka’s cricket team.
Lahore (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Baitullah Mehsud, leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a police academy in Lahore which left eight people dead and 89 wounded. Some sources suggest there were more casualties.
“Yes, we have carried out this attack. I will give details later,” Baitullah Mehsud said on the phone to the Reuters news agency.
Pakistani security forces took back with difficulty the police training school in Lahore after militants barricaded themselves inside, killing at least eight cadets and wounding many more.
Security officials are interrogating at least four suspects captured after the attack.
In a possible reference to Pakistan’s long-time foe, India, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik suggested that a foreign state may have been involved.
For their part Indian authorities have condemned the attack on Lahore.
A few hours ago, another Pakistani Taliban, Omar Farooq, acting as the spokesman for little-known Fedayeen al-Islam, claimed responsibility for a similar attack in Lahore against the Sri Lankan cricket team earlier this month.
The Pakistan Taliban is linked to al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban militants based in the same cross-border area with Afghanistan.
Farooq threatened further attacks if the Pakistani government does not pull Pakistani troops out of Waziristan, or if the US and NATO do not stop their attacks and their leader, Maulana Abdul Aziz, is not released.
Aziz, who taught young people how to talibanise Pakistan, was the chief cleric at Islamabad’s Red Mosque, which was the site of a pitched battle between militants and security forces in 2007.
The Lahore attack and the claims by Pakistan Taliban come a few days after the United States pledged further assistance to Pakistan against the militants and their “safe havens” in Pakistan’s north-west tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Saudi Aid to Taliban Killing U.S. Soldiers?
Kingdom could be source of mischief in Pakistan
While the United States places great hope and expectation in Saudi Arabia to help with the Middle East, the oil-rich kingdom may be working at odds with the U.S. in backing and financing the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
This development comes even though the U.S. has asked Saudi Arabia to work with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan to split with al-Qaida and deny it safe haven in both countries.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: Violence Continues in Troubled Muslim South
Bangkok, 30 March (AKI) — The Thai army killed four suspected Islamist militants during a gunfight on Monday amid continuing violence in Thailand’s troubled Muslim south. Militants opened fire on soldiers in the southern province of Narathiwat, according to police.
Two people died in two attacks in southern Pattani province on Monday. Over the weekend, four people died and three were injured in attacks in Pattani and the neighbouring Muslim-dominated province of Yala, where a dynamite attack wounded nine soldiers.
At least 3,200 people have died in the conflict, which intensified in 2007 and reflects the long-standing alienation of the area’s inhabitants who are predominantly Malay in ethnicity and language and practising Muslims.
Experts say the region’s Islamic schools or ‘pondok’ are fomenting the Islamist rebellion.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Military Base Replacing Muslim Cemetery. The People Are Rising Up
In Hainan, the military is beginning to demolish an ancient cemetery belonging to the Hui Muslims, in order to build a base there. More than 2,00 residents have taken to the streets, and are blocking the work. The population says that it is “unthinkable” to violate the bones of their ancestors, and that the Chinese navy is worse “than the Japanese invaders.”
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The entire village of Huixin (near the city of Fenghuang, municipality of Sanya, on the island of Hainan) is rising up against the Chinese navy, which wants to demolish their ancient cemetery in order to build military facilities there.
Dozens of inhabitants are now watching over the cemetery day and night, out of fear that the graves could be demolished surreptitiously. The residents, who are Muslims of the ethnic Hui minority, say that they have been living in the area since the Tang dynasty (618-907), and that many tombs date back to that era.
Hai Shihao, deputy secretary of the Communist Party in Huixin, explains to Radio Free Asia that the navy wants about 100 mu (6.67 hectares) of land in order to create a training area for parachute troops at the navy base near the Sanya airport.
The navy began the work without notifying the residents, who learned what was happening only in December, when many of the tombs had already been profaned. The people took to the streets, damaged military property, and stopped the work. The navy reoccupied the area to resume the work between the end of February and the beginning of March, and some of the tombs were damaged. But more than 2,000 people took to the streets, and the work was halted again. Now the military is offering compensation.
Hai says that the navy “were prepared to find a new location to which the tombs could be moved. They were also prepared to pay compensation of 6-7,000 yuan (6-700 euros) per tomb . . . We definitely can’t accept this. We can’t agree to it. The tombs of our Muslim ancestors cannot be moved. Ancient tombs should be given protection. No one should be allowed to move them or to dig them up.”
The navy has long intended to create the training base, but did not establish contact with the village ahead of time. There are about 8,000 Hui in the area, whose ancestors came as merchants and settled there during the Tang period.
Sources in the local government say that they are trying to resolve the problem with dialogue and in a peaceful manner, but warn that the navy’s patience will not last forever.
But the residents seem resolute. One resident, named Ma, says that the violation of the tombs “is unthinkable . . . Even the Japanese wouldn’t have dug up the bones of the dead during their occupation of China” (In the photo: a woman takes the bones of her ancestors away from a destroyed tomb).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Conroy Backtracks on Internet Censorship Policy
The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has begun distancing himself from his controversial internet censorship policy in what one internet industry engineer has dubbed “the great walkback of 2009”.
Senator Conroy has long said his policy would introduce compulsory ISP-level filters of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s blacklist of prohibited websites. But last night, he said the mandatory filters would be restricted to content that has been “refused classification” (RC).
When the ACMA blacklist was leaked last month, it caused great controversy, partly because it included a slew of R18+ and X18+ sites, including regular gay and straight pornography and other legal content.
But on SBS’ Insight program last night, Senator Conroy said “it’s mandatory refused classification, and then parents — if the trial says that it is possible to go down this path … have the option to block other material”.
This about-turn has done little to assuage the concerns of online rights groups, the Federal Opposition and the internet industry, as the RC category includes not just child pornography but anti-abortion sites, fetish sites and sites containing pro-euthanasia material such as The Peaceful Pill Handbook by Dr Philip Nitschke.
Sites added to the blacklist in error were also classified as RC, such as one containing PG-rated photographs by Bill Henson.
And the websites of several Australian businesses — such as those of a Queensland dentist — were classified RC and blacklisted after they were hacked by, as Senator Conroy described, “the Russian mob”. They were on the blacklist even though they changed hosting providers and cleaned up their sites several years ago.
“The guidelines are so broad that RC can’t help but hoover up political speech even if only as collateral damage,” said Internode network engineer Mark Newton, describing Senator Conroy’s comments last night as “the great walkback of 2009”.
Senator Conroy conceded many of the decisions regarding what sites appeared on the blacklist were made by “faceless bureaucrats”. He said he was working to build in “further safeguards”, but would not abolish the policy because some sites were found to be put on the blacklist in error.
“I don’t think Senator Conroy really even knows what his own policy in relation to filtering is. It seems to change on an almost daily basis; it is vague and contradictory and there is little public confidence in his ability to implement it,” said Opposition communications spokesman Nick Minchin.
“RC can apply to a range of different subjects, not just sexually explicit, but also the controversial, which under Labor’s proposal would all be filtered.”
Colin Jacobs, spokesman for the online users’ lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, said he was pleased the Government was “distancing themselves from the current flawed blacklist, which as we have seen is chock full of legal and harmless sites”.
But Jacobs was not convinced that a new “RC only” list would be a big improvement.
“Swapping one secret list for another doesn’t mean that fewer mistakes will occur or that everything on the new list will be uncontroversial,” he said.
“Not all RC material is illegal, so we’d probably still see euthanasia sites and the like on the list.”
Others sites confirmed by ACMA as being included on the blacklist include a YouTube clip showing an excerpt from a horror movie and an astrology website.
ACMA said the horror movie clip was added because it is classified as R18+ but “not subject to a restricted access system that prevents access by children”.
“At the time of investigation, access to the YouTube content required only a declaration of an age of 18 years or older which was not verified by evidence of proof of age,” ACMA spokesman Donald Robertson said.
On the astrology website, ACMA said it was blacklisted because, at the time it was being investigated, it had been defaced with “an image which depicted an adult female posed naked and implicitly defecating on herself”.
This image has since been removed and ACMA said it was in the process of removing the astrology site from the blacklist.
ACMA conceded innocent sites could be blacklisted if they are defaced with content not usually associated with the site. Robertson acknowledged this material was often only visible for a short period before being removed by the site owner.
“To deal with the transient nature of online content, ACMA undertakes regular reviews of the list of URLs notified to filter makers to remove those which no longer lead to prohibited content,” he said.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Pirates Attack Wrong Ship, Are Captured
Seven pirates opened fire on a German naval supply ship in the Gulf of Aden but were chased down and captured by an international anti-piracy task force, the US Navy and European officials said Monday.
Meanwhile, Yemen reported that pirates killed a Yemeni fisherman and wounded two others in an attack on a fishing boat Saturday, also in the Gulf of Aden.
The expanse between Somalia and Yemen is one of the world’s busiest waterways and the thousands of ships passing through each year have been plagued by pirate attacks.
In the attack on the German ship, pirates apparently mistook German FGS Spessart supply vessel for a commercial ship when they opened fire on it on Sunday afternoon, US Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen said.
The German sailors returned fire and pursued the skiff while also calling in for support. Several naval ships — including a Greek and a Dutch frigate, a Spanish warship and the USS Boxer — sped to the area while a Spanish marine aircraft and two U.S. Marine Cobra helicopters joined the pursuit.
Five hours later, Greek sailors reached the pirate skiff, boarded it and seized the seven suspects and their weapons, including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the Greek navy said. The suspects were disarmed and transferred for questioning to the German frigate Rheinland-Pfalz where they remain Monday, pending a decision on whether they will be legally prosecuted, Christensen said.
Germany’s Ministry spokesman Christian Dienst said no one was injured in the attack, the first on a German naval ship in this area.
Christensen said that while the casualty-free operation “showcased the incredible international naval capabilities” it also “highlighted the complexity of counter-piracy operations.” Apart from the Gulf of Aden, where the international anti-piracy efforts have been increasingly successful, pirates have also stepped up attacks further south off the eastern Somali coast.
The two areas combined equal more than 1.1 million square miles, or roughly four times the size of Texas, said Christensen. “We can’t be everywhere at once,” he said, adding that merchant mariners must often serve as the first line of defence against pirates.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based militias overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.
Pirate attacks off its coastline hit unprecedented levels in 2008, when pirates made 111 attacks and seized 42 vessels, mostly in the Gulf of Aden. Seven ships have been seized so far this year, although there were roughly 10 times as many attacks in January and February 2009 as there were over the same period last year. There have been almost daily attacks in March.
Somali pirates currently hold 11 ships hostage, with the oldest pirate hijacking dating back to last August, Christensen said.
Yemeni fishermen have also been targeted by pirates, and Yemeni media reported about 50 fishing boats were attacked over the past year. On Saturday, pirates opened fire on a Yemeni fishing boat, killing one fisherman and wounding two others, a Yemeni interior ministry official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak to the press.
The fishermen were in Somali territorial waters when they came under fire, he said. The fishing boat managed to flee and the body of the dead fisherman was later brought back to the Yemeni port of Mukalla, 350 miles (560 kilometres) southeast of the capital, San’a.
The latest attacks came as gas tanker Longchamp, hijacked in January, was released on Saturday with 12 Filipino crew and an Indonesian second engineer on board. The company that manages the vessel said they were unharmed.
Also Saturday, the captain of a Norwegian tanker Bow Asir hijacked off Somalia on Thursday by pirates carrying machine guns, called the owner to say all 27 crew members are safe and sound, according to the Norwegian news agency.
| [Return to headlines] |
Miss Universe Says Had “Lot of Fun” in Guantanamo
Caracas-born Mendoza, 22, who visited the facility March 20-25 along with Miss USA Crystle Stewart, 27, enthused about her Guantanamo trip as an “incredible experience” in a blog entry posted on the Miss Universe website dated March 27, 2009 (http://www.missuniverse.com/missuniverse/blog.php).
“It was a loooot of fun!,” Mendoza wrote, describing how she and Stewart met U.S. military personnel and took rides around the camp, which is encircled by a barbed-wire fenced, minefields and watchtowers. She said they also visited a bar on the base and the “unbelievable” beach there.
“We visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the(y) recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting,” she wrote.
“I didn’t want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful,” she added.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lombardy Has 115,000 Moroccans, 11% Migrants
(ANSAmed) — MILAN, MARCH 31 — There are more than 115,000 migrants (approximately 11% of the total number) of Moroccan origin in Lombardy, making them the second largest community — after the Romanians — in the region. There is also a substantial Egyptian presence (70,000, 7% of the total) and a smaller Tunisian presence (26,000). The figures, updated to July 2008, emerge from the eighth report issued by the Regional Observatory for integration and multi-ethnicity that was presented in Milan by the Ismu Foundation and by the region of Lombardy. In 2008 the total number of immigrants present in Lombardy amounted to 1,060,000, 121,000 more than in 2007 (+13%). They represent approximately 10% of the population. There are 148,000 illegal aliens, 18,000 more than the previous year. The study indicates that most of them live and work permanently in the territory. In fact, 838,000 are residents (112,000 more than in 2007) and there are more than 200,000 families with an average of just over one child per family.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Justice Nominee: Pregnancy ‘Involuntary Servitude’
Members of Congress want Obama to withdraw Johnsen’s name
Dozens of members of Congress have signed a letter to President Obama asking him to rescind his nomination of Dawn Johnsen to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Council.
They cite her radical pro-abortion views, including her description of pregnancy as slavery.
“She’s compared pregnancy to slavery and described it as involuntary servitude,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, says. “She’s compared women to no more than a fetal container.”
King said Johnsen also has described pro-life activists as terrorists.
The letter he and more than five dozen other members of Congress have signed and sent to Obama asks the president to withdraw the nomination.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
Quote: " The twenty-first Arab summit has begun today in Doha. In his opening remarks, Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, urged Arab Heads of State to reject the arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court"
Confirming yet again the division between "Dar al-Islam" دار الإسلام and "Dar al-Harb" دار الحرب ("house of war") the war of believer against all others.
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