It’s possible that the Russo/Finnish/Maltese ship that disappeared off Portugal was hijacked a second time. There is also speculation that the ship was carrying a “special” cargo other than its ostensible load of timber, and that a two-week layover in Kaliningrad was responsible for the augmented shipment.In other news, while in Nairobi, Hillary Clinton compared the 2000 Florida recount with Nigeria’s rigged elections.
Thanks to AA, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Diana West, DK, Earl Cromer, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, Lurker from Tulsa, Sean O’Brian, Skjoldungen, Steen, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Germany: Shipping Industry Fights for Survival
The global economic crisis is wreaking havoc on shipping: Demand and prices have collapsed and ports are filling up with fleets of empty freighters. The crisis has fueled cut-throat competition and not all companies will survive. Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd alone needs 1.75 billion euros to stay afloat.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Deficit Forecast to be Four Times Last Year’s Record
To put some context on a new estimate that puts this year’s federal deficit at $1.8 trillion, consider this: That amount had never been spent by the federal government in a single year until 2000, let alone borrowed.
That’s right. As the decade began, the US government spent $1.8 trillion in a year for the first time. Now it’s poised to spend that much in excess of its tax revenues.
The Treasury released the latest figures Wednesday, showing spending of about $3 trillion in the past 10 months, and revenues of only $1.74 trillion.
With two months to go in the fiscal calendar, the Obama administration is projecting that the imbalance will end up totaling $1.84 trillion, more than four times last year’s record-high. The monthly deficit for July, also reported this week, came in a bit above what economists had expected.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘1984’: It’s Here
“With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. … All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over 30 to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which The Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak — “child hero” was the phrase generally used — had overheard some compromising remark and denounced its parents to the Thought Police.”
These words, written by George Orwell in his prophetic novel, “1984,” describe a dystopian future in which an all-powerful government watches its citizens night and day. A socio-political and omniscient Party rules the world in which Orwell’s characters live, and it is ever vigilant for signs of disloyalty, of dissent, among the subjugated populace. Any word or deed that can in any way be deemed an impropriety in the eyes of the stern, totalitarian government of Big Brother is an offense so serious that all citizens, including their own children, are encouraged to inform on the offender. Spying on and then reporting your own parents, ensuring that they will be hauled away into the night to be tortured, re-educated and then executed, is deemed a noble act, the most heroic thing a young child of the Party can do.
[…]
Are you wondering if this culture of informing, this tattletale nation of citizens suspiciously monitoring their fellow citizens’ law-abiding behavior, can happen here? You shouldn’t. You, as an American, live under a brittle almost-dictatorship headed by a man who cannot stand criticism and who cannot abide dissent. You answer to a man previously described in Technocracy as our technology dictator, a man whose operatives dispatch union thugs to beat up those who dare to criticize Barack Hussein Obama’s plans to nationalize the United States’ health care system. (These are, of course, the same law-abiding Americans who were deemed “un-American” by Nancy Pelosi, in writing.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Angry Mobs: Protesting and Civil Discourse
But while the media hyperventilates over shouting matches and ascribing nefarious motives to the protesters, I can tell them a thing or two about angry protesters.
I remember very clearly being virtually barricaded in the White House during the Vietnam War, surrounded by 150,000 students. Now they were angry— and dangerous. They were turning buses over that we had stationed to try to keep them away from the White House fence. There were FBI reports that some had bombs in their possession. I myself nearly missed a gasoline can that had been ignited and thrown into the road. This was much more like a revolution in a banana republic than a protest.
I recall that soldiers of the 82nd Airborne were stationed in the Executive Office Building basement, just in case. I couldn’t get home at night because we couldn’t get the car through the crowd. Most of us stayed in the White House that weekend. […]
I was always struck at the time, however, by the very sympathetic press coverage of the protesters. They were seen really as just idealistic young people working for peace against a very unpopular, mistaken war.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Citizen Questions Healthcare, Gets Threatened in the Middle of the Night!
[Video]
Mike Sola, the man who questioned John Dingell in MI town hall meeting reports he got
visited by thugs in the middle of the night.
This is a real eye-opening interview on Fox and Friends that shows the real state of
America. This is how our government REALLY works!
| [Return to headlines] |
Coptic Americans to Hold Rally in Washington on Mubarak’s Visit
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — Egypt’s President Mubarak is poised to travel to Washington in mid August on an official visit, which had been previously scheduled for May 25, but had been delayed because of the death of his grandson.
Coptic organizations in the U.S. and Canada have prepared for a peaceful mass demonstration in front of the White House, to be held on August 18 during the meeting between Mubarak and President Barack Obama.
These organizations view Mubarak’s visit to the U.S. as an opportunity to voice their grievances over the escalating violations and discrimination against the Copts in Egypt, and to demand justice and the rule of law.
“During Mubarak rule of 28 years, there have been more than 1500 violent attacks against the Egyptian Christians (Copts) which resulted in loss of lives, injuries and destruction of churches and property,” according to the Press release of a group of more than ten Coptic organisations in the U.S. and Canada. “Lately, such attacks increased significantly in frequency and severity and the attacking criminals are encouraged by the total impunity as the government does not prosecute them.” says the release.
Other Coptic Organizations also rallying in front of the White House are demanding among others an immediate stop to attacks on Coptic churches and monasteries, Muslims killing Copts without being convicted and the systematic abduction, rape and forced Islamization of Coptic teenage girls
Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, a Copt himself and President of the local Egyptian Union Organization for human rights (EUHRO), said the Coptic Rally in front of the White House is a golden opportunity to express the anger felt by the Copts against the violation of their legitimate rights in Egypt after all efforts to obtain justice have failed.
At the same time, he called on Coptic activists in Egypt to arrange for a peaceful demonstration at home in the presence of mass media before President Mubarak’s visit to the United States in order to make sure that the world knows that the Copts at home compliment Copts in the Diaspora and all are united on one legitimate issue. This call came as a defense of the Copts in the West who have been accused by pro-government media, and even some Muslim intellectuals, of “treason” and of “following an American and Zionist agenda.”
Ever since the date of President’s Mubarak’s August visit became known, five years since his previous visit, the Egyptian government has been trying to placate the American Copts to diffuse their anger over the increased sectarian violence against the Copts in Egypt, in the hope of precluding them from embarrassing President Mubarak, or even completely undermining his visit to Washington.
To appease the Copts, President Mubarak said in an NDP Party speech on August 3rd in the town of Damietta “I am the president of all Egyptians of different religions, there is no difference between Muslim and Christian citizens because we are all Egyptians living on the soil of Egypt,” pointing out that the distinction on the basis of religion was created by the old “Western colonialism” to cause divisions among the sons of one homeland.
In preparations for Mubarak’s visit to Washington, a few co-opted parliamentarians, headed by Dr. Mostafa El Fiky, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Egyptian parliament, asked for dialog with the Coptic community. The meeting, which took place on 22 July 2009 at the Grand Hall of St. Mark Coptic Church in Fairfax, Virginia, went badly. Dr. El Fiky insisted that “Copts are living their second golden age under Mubarak” and that there is no Coptic persecution. When Ms. Dina Guirguis, executive director of Voices for a Democratic Egypt, tried to dispute his statement, he accused her of treason and said “I know who has sent you.” His outburst, which was recorded on tape, was criticized by many.
The Free Copts organization came out on its website exposing the tricks of the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, which knew of the intended Presidential visit before anyone else. The Embassy, through its affiliated organizations, managed to book all the spaces around the White House for the 17th and 18th of August to prevent Copts from demonstrating.
“They produced inflated numbers of participants, such as ‘Egyptian American Pharmacists’, which has a booking for 1400 people. Are there 1400 Egyptian-American Pharmacists who are coming to cheer for Mubarak?” said Magdi Khalil, a Coptic activist and director of the Middle East Forum. “They booked for 3550 people who would come to cheer for Mubarak, which is an absolute joke! We know for a fact that the Egyptian Embassy staff is going round the mosques in New Jersey, where there are many new immigrants, offering people to join the pro-Mubarak demonstration for a fee of $50-100, in addition to a free sight-seeing day in Washington.”
“The Copts have taken immediate legal action against this abuse of democracy,” said Khalil “We have now received permission and have been assigned a rallying place in LaFayette Park in front of the White House.”
A number of people from Darfur in Washington will also hold a demonstration in front of the White House on the day of Mubarak’s meeting, protesting against the “Egyptian saboteur role in Darfur.” Families of Sudanese refugees killed in Cairo by Egyptian security are expected to participate, as well as Nubians. Egyptian Muslim-born converts to Christianity who have fled to USA seeking asylum will also rally on that day.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) sent a letter to Obama on 8/10/2009, the second in two months, expressing concern over an upsurge of violent attacks in recent months by militant groups on Coptic Orthodox Christians, where perpetrators of the violence are not prosecuted by the government. USCIRF urged President Obama to raise concerns about religious freedom and related human rights during his upcoming meeting with the Egyptian President. It recommended that the Egyptian government should implement procedures that would ensure that all places of worship are subject to the same transparent, non-discriminatory, and efficient regulations regarding construction and maintenance, as well as removing the religion “portfolio” from the state security services and placing responsibility for religious affairs in a more transparent and politically accountable section of! the government.
A Copt from Maryland said “When Mubarak meets with President Obama, no doubt he will be talking about the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis. Just imagine that if President Obama looks out the window, he will find hundreds if not thousands of American Copts standing there imploring the help of the free world to stop the suffering of their Coptic brethren in Egypt at the hands of Mubarak and his regime. How will Mubarak feel then?”
| [Return to headlines] |
Craigslist Threats Target Children
A San Diego man is accused of posting threats against the children of military families.
The alleged threats were detailed in a criminal complaint obtained by NBC San Diego. In the complaint, the 40-year-old allegedly used two different email addresses to post comments on Craigslist.
The complaint also stated that San Diego Police warned Rodgers not to post threats on the Internet and officers took him to County Mental Health for evaluation. He was released eight days later and allegedly posted more threats.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Diana West: Lux Et Dhimmitude
It’s official. Islamic law extends to New Haven, Connecticut where Yale University Press has chosen to submit to the dictates of sharia and not reproduce the 12 Danish Mohammed Cartoons in a new book about … the 12 Danish Mohammed cartoons. Indeed, in keeping with sharia’s dicates, the book, The Cartoons that Shook the World by Jytte Klausen, will include none of the originally planned images of Mohammed, including, as the New York Times reports, “a drawing for a children’s book; an Ottoman print; and a sketch by the 19th-century artist Gustave Doré of Muhammad being tormented in Hell, an episode from Dante’s “Inferno” that has been depicted by Botticelli, Blake, Rodin and Dalí.”
How was this editorial gag put in place? The Times reports…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Evidence Supporting Claims in ‘Rightwing Extremism’ Report Lacks Depth, Group Says
Shortly after its release in April, Americans for Limited Government filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Homeland Security, asking to see the supporting evidence for a report on “right-wing extremist groups” that sparked outrage and questions. Apparently there wasn’t much.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Extremism’ Report Based on Web Chat
2 groups call for Napolitano to take responsibility, quit
But critics noted that the report also targeted as “potential terrorists” Americans who:
- Oppose abortion
- Oppose same-sex marriage
- Oppose restrictions on firearms
- Oppose lax immigration laws
- Oppose the policies of President Obama regarding immigration, citizenship, and the expansion of social programs
- Oppose continuation of free trade agreements
- Are suspect of foreign regimes
- Fear Communist regimes
- Oppose a “one world” government
- Bemoan the decline of U.S. stature in the world
- Are upset with loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China and India, and more
A new report from Americans for Limited Government now has revealed that according to documents released under a Freedom of Information Act procedure, the DHS report was based on sources including “a frighteningly kooky website” that included a report about a scientist destroying a radio to God.
One of the DHS sources was “whatdoesitmean.com,” the report said.
“And what is the thrust of whatdoesitmean.com — this site the Obama administration considers a reliable source for intelligence gathering against the American people?” the ALG wondered. “Whatdoesitmean.com contends that the government of the United States has been in direct contact with extra-terrestrial aliens through sophisticated radio waves. Its masthead contains unicorns, Tarot cards, secret numbers, and hieroglyphics.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ExxonMobil Pleads Guilty to Killing Birds
WASHINGTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. pleaded guilty to killing migratory birds in five states, and will pay about $7,000 for each bird killed, Justice Department officials said Thursday.
ExxonMobil pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of approximately 85 migratory birds, most of which died after exposure to natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities. Birds died in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas between 2004 and 2009.
Officials said that at those sites, birds would either get coated in hydrocarbons or ingest the oily waste, leading to their deaths. None of the birds are on the government’s list of endangered or threatened species.
The firm will pay $600,000 in a fine and payments to wetlands preservation funds. That is roughly equal to what ExxonMobil makes every 20 minutes, based on their $8.6 billion earnings for the first half of 2009.
ExxonMobil has also agreed to make changes to prevent such bird deaths in the future, and says it has already spent $2.5 million in the effort.
Assistant Attorney General John Cruden praised ExxonMobil for taking steps to fix the bird-killing contamination even before formally pleading guilty to five misdemeanor charges of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
“ExxonMobil has worked with us and we commend them for that,” said Cruden.
Company spokeswoman Margaret Ross said ExxonMobil has “a long-standing water-bird protection program that focuses on deterring birds from landing in water on company property.”
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Judge Calls Soldier’s Obama Challenge ‘Frivolous’
Stunned warrior: ‘I might get crushed in the wheels of the Chicago machine’
TAMPA, Fla. — An American soldier questioning the eligibility of President Barack Obama to hold office has had his latest legal challenge dismissed “as frivolous and wholly without merit,” though the basic constitutional issue has yet to have a legal ruling.
The Aug. 6 order by U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara came less than two hours after motions were filed by Maj. Stefan Cook, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who is seeking a firm determination whether the commander in chief of the Armed Forces is a “natural born citizen,” a requirement for those holding the presidency.
“There was no reasoning, no nothing,” said Maj. Cook, who noted previous legal decisions in his case included three or four pages of legal explanations.
“It’s ridiculous. They’re not even saying why it’s frivolous and without merit. You can say that to anything with no justification or reason. That’s crap. So much for jurisprudence in this country.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Try to Detect ‘Lone Offenders’
Federal authorities have launched an effort to detect lone attackers who may be contemplating politically charged assaults similar to the recent murders of a Kansas abortion doctor and a Holocaust museum security guard.
The effort, known as the “Lone Wolf Initiative,” was started shortly after President Obama’s inauguration, in part because of a rising level of hate speech and surging gun sales.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hail to the Creep
A larger group of my peers, while anything but activists, tend (like many of us) to view the era in which they came of age idyllically — in retrospect, much more fun-filled and exciting than it seemed at the time. We’d finally gotten rid of that terrible, horrible Nixon (who was wholly responsible for Vietnam, don’t you know) and his cretinous toady, Ford; Jimmy Carter was president, they’d decriminalized pot in many states, and “Saturday Night Live” was a groundbreaking new hit TV show.
Of course, at that juncture they had no financial responsibilities whatever, no taxes to pay, children to raise, nor pressing health concerns. Then, it was on to college, maybe grad school; during this time, Reagan and Bush the Elder screwed things up again; Clinton brought back good times and an era of light concern, after which Bush the Younger drove us all to the brink of a veritable apocalypse.
In short, a substantial part of their worldview became centered around the sentimental notion that all would be right with the world as long as reassuring, loving liberals were running the show.
Did I mention that most of this group tended to be rather naive and poorly informed?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mich. Prison Assessed for Possible Gitmo Transfers
STANDISH, Mich. — Federal and state officials visited a maximum-security prison in rural Michigan on Thursday to begin assessing its suitability to house Guantanamo Bay detainees.
About a dozen state officials were joined by 18 representatives from the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments and the Bureau of Prisons on the tour of the lockup in Standish, said Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
The prison in Standish, 145 miles north of Detroit, and a military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., are being considered to house the 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters currently at the Guantanamo Bay prison, if it is closed by 2010 as President Barack Obama has ordered.
Wednesday’s was a fact-finding inspection, and federal officials had not proposed transferring detainees to Standish, Marlan said.
“The visit to Standish is to do a preliminary site survey. No final decisions have been made,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs in Washington said about the survey.
Marlan said the group looked at six housing units, the administration building, the health care wing and the cafeteria, where they lunched on the same meal the inmates were served: Salisbury steak, beans, spinach and carrot cake.
None of the federal officials commented to reporters as they left for private meetings with local officials.
The tour was similar to one given recently to a corrections team from California, which has shown interest in sending inmates from its overcrowded prisons to Michigan and is expected to make a decision within a couple of weeks, Marlan said. Michigan also has received inquiries about housing inmates from Pennsylvania.
The region around Standish is hurting economically, with an unemployment rate of more than 17 percent, and some residents welcome bringing in the Guantanamo detainees if it will prevent closing down the prison, which with about 340 workers is the area’s largest employer.
“Let ‘em come. This community is hurting enough,” Gloria Watson, 71, said while lunching in a downtown restaurant.
The terrorism suspects would be no more dangerous than other criminals who have been held in the prison throughout its 20-year history, said Watson, the pastor of a Presbyterian church in nearby Twining. “I just wish people would stop running scared.”
Others fear bringing the Guantanamo detainees to Standish would make the town a target.
“The problem I have is, you almost are putting a bulls-eye on the whole entire area. There are just too many things that could go wrong,” said Tom Kerrins, the chief steward for the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union representing prison workers in Standish.
Kerrins, 49, said the union opposes sending the Gitmo prisoners to Standish in part because it doubts the jobs of watching over them would go to the state officers working there now and would instead go to federal officers.
“They’re still going to kick us down the road. They’re going to use their own people,” the Gladwin resident said Thursday outside the prison.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Thursday that he would ask the departments of Defense and Justice to lead a delegation to visit Guantanamo Bay “to better understand the special circumstances and the challenges that these detainees present by moving them to Michigan.”
Hoekstra, who is running for Michigan governor in 2010, is opposed to moving the prisoners to the state.
“Allowing state and local officials to see firsthand these detainees and Guantanamo Bay is necessary for them to understand the challenges and risks,” he said in a statement.
Kansas’ two Republican senators, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, oppose proposals to move detainees to Fort Leavenworth, and have held up the nomination of New York Republican Rep. John McHugh for Army secretary until they receive more information from the Obama administration about the possible Leavenworth choice.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called on her Kansas colleagues to relent on Thursday, saying it’s in the best interest of the Army and the nation to swiftly allow the nomination to move forward.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
NYT Promotes ‘National Security’ Climate Fears
Desperation time has arrived for the promoters of man-made global warming fears. As the science of man-made climate fears continues to collapse, new tactics are being contrived to try to drum up waning public support.
[…]
The core of the claims made in the August 8, 2009 New York Times article by John M. Broder are stated as follows: “Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s ‘Green Jobs Czar’ Worked With Terror Founder
Van Jones served on board of activist group where ex-Weatherman serves as top director
Van Jones, the man appointed as “green jobs czar” to the White House, previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the Weather Underground terrorist organization is a top director.
WND previously reported Jones was as an admitted radical communist and black nationalist leader.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pair of Nuns Help Mo. Police Nab Robbery Suspect
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Thou shalt not steal — especially within sight of a convent. Police in Independence, Mo., are crediting a pair of nuns with helping nab a gun-toting man suspected of burglarizing two homes Thursday morning.
Around 7 a.m., one of the women glanced out a window of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist convent and spotted a suspicious man walking through a soybean field. She and another nun headed outside to see if the man was lost or hunting illegally.
They saw the man was carrying a shotgun, boxing gloves and other items. When they began to question him, the man ran into nearby woods.
One of the nuns gave chase, wearing her ankle-length habit and flip-flops. He got away, but the 49-year-old nun was able to describe him later to police, who made an arrest.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Strange Bedfellows? Industry Groups Join in Effort to Push Health Care Reform
Healthy Economy Now — a group that includes the pharmaceutical industry, doctors, union interests, business interests and advocacy groups — is spending millions to pressure members of Congress to get on board with health care reform.
[…]
But with public opinion starting to turn and town hall meetings getting raucous, it’s unclear whether these groups backed the winning horse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Union Stalemate Threatens Southwest Airlines’ Bid for Frontier
Southwest Airlines’ pilot union is awaiting word from the Dallas-based carrier on whether it can resume talks with Frontier Airlines pilots in an effort to save Southwest’s bid for Frontier, the union’s president said.
“We’re ready to work around the clock,” said Carl Kuwitzky, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. The union says Southwest has asked for an extension in the bidding process for Frontier; the auction for the Denver-based carrier’s assets had been scheduled for Thursday, but now Southwest is asking for it to be moved to as late as Monday.
SWAPA demanded that an integration plan with Frontier’s pilots be part of the formal $170 million bid Southwest put up for Frontier. Without the protections in place before the bidding started, Southwest pilots would lose negotiating leverage and potentially be harmed in the talks with Frontier, Kuwitzky said in an interview today.
Frontier’s pilot union rejected the offer from SWAPA that included job protections for all Frontier pilots, pay increases of up to 40 percent when Frontier pilots transitioned over to Southwest’s seniority list and other considerations.
“We think it’s a fair agreement,” Kuwitzky said.
The stalemate with the pilots threatens to blow apart the complex talks happening in New York between Southwest, Frontier’s management, Frontier’s creditors committee and the other bidder for Frontier, Republic Airways Group Inc.
Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin said the auction process is confidential and that she wasn’t able to comment on events related to the pilots.
Southwest’s bid outlines integrating Frontier over two years by phasing out its Airbus fleet and substituting Boeing 737s. Southwest would continue all of Frontier’s flying and also its Lynx regional carrier.
Kuwitzky said the union knows that the carrier’s effort may fail if the court doesn’t give them more time to reach an agreement with the Frontier pilots.
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
Whither the Watchdogs?
The largest and most influential news-gathering organization in the world, the Associated Press, is delivering content to its subscribers created by groups with financing from philanthropist George Soros and another “progressive” billionaire who campaigned for Barack Obama and topped donor lists to groups like ACORN and MoveOn.org.
AP content drives the news agenda more than any other agency in the world, including the New York Times. It not only provides most of the national and international copy for newspapers, but, because of its influence and worldwide reach, directly affects what is reported as news on the major networks, cable networks, radio networks and even the other international wire services.
When you ask yourself why the news media has a pro-socialist and globalist bias, one need look no further than the total corruption of the nonprofit cooperative known as the AP.
[…]
Remember this when you turn on the TV for your news — it doesn’t matter which channel. Remember this when you open your newspaper — it doesn’t matter where you live. Remember this when you turn on the radio for news — it doesn’t matter which station.
That’s the sad reality of where the media are today. And when you hear the cacophony of voices all telling you the same thing, understand why.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yale Press Bans Images of Muhammad in New Book
by Patricia Cohen
It’s not all that surprising that Yale University Press would be wary of reprinting notoriously controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a forthcoming book. After all, when the 12 caricatures were first published by a Danish newspaper a few years ago and reprinted by other European publications, Muslims all over the world angrily protested, calling the images — which included one in which Muhammad wore a turban in the shape of a bomb — blasphemous. In the Middle East and Africa some rioted, burning and vandalizing embassies; others demanded a boycott of Danish goods; a few nations recalled their ambassadors from Denmark. In the end at least 200 people were killed.
So Yale University and Yale University Press consulted two dozen authorities, including diplomats and experts on Islam and counterterrorism, and the recommendation was unanimous: The book, “The Cartoons That Shook the World,” should not include the 12 Danish drawings that originally appeared in September 2005. What’s more, they suggested that the Yale press also refrain from publishing any other illustrations of the prophet that were to be included, specifically, a drawing for a children’s book; an Ottoman print; and a sketch by the 19th-century artist Gustave Doré of Muhammad being tormented in Hell, an episode from Dante’s “Inferno” that has been depicted by Botticelli, Blake, Rodin and Dalí.
The book’s author, Jytte Klausen, a Danish-born professor of politics at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Mass., reluctantly accepted Yale University Press’s decision not to publish the cartoons. But she was disturbed by the withdrawal of the other representations of Muhammad. All of those images are widely available, Ms. Klausen said by telephone, adding that “Muslim friends, leaders and activists thought that the incident was misunderstood, so the cartoons needed to be reprinted so we could have a discussion about it.” The book is due out in November.
John Donatich, the director of Yale University Press, said by telephone that the decision was difficult, but the recommendation to withdraw the images, including the historical ones of Muhammad, was “overwhelming and unanimous.” The cartoons are freely available on the Internet and can be accurately described in words, Mr. Donatich said, so reprinting them could be interpreted easily as gratuitous…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
British Transport Police Release E-Fit After Sexual Assault at Elstree and Borehamwood Station
British Transport Police (BTP) officers have released an E-FIT of a man they wish to identify following a sexual assault at Elstree and Borehamwood train station on Wednesday 15 July 2009.
BTP Detective Constable Tony Gittins, the investigating officer, said the incident occurred around 12.40am.
“The victim, a 28-year-old woman from Borehamwood, was walking up the steps linking the station to the road when a man approached her from behind and touched her indecently,” said DC Gittins.
“The man left the station after being challenged by the victim, and officers believe that he then walked down Shenley Road towards the retail park.”
He added: “I would urge anyone with any information about the incident, or who recognises the man pictured in the E-FIT, to contact police.”
The man police wish to identify is described as Asian, between 19 and 23-years-old, with short dark hair and acne on his forehead. He is described as wearing a cream, short-sleeved shirt and dark trousers.
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Police Probe After British Boy, 14, Drowns in French Lake While Lifeguards Were on a Lunch Break
A British teenager drowned in a lake in France while lifeguards took their lunch break.
Liam Manley, 14, from London, disappeared under the water in the Dordogne resort of St Estephe, close to Bordeaux.
He had dived into the lake on Wednesday with an English school friend during the guards’ official lunch break which lasts between 1pm and 2pm.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Extradited for ‘Stealing’ A Mobile Phone
Ervin Juresa does not seem like a man on Europol’s most-wanted list. He is mild-mannered, well dressed and articulate — less international master criminal, more suburban accountant.
But Juresa, a Slovenian national, was not only the subject of a European arrest warrant (EAW), but recently found himself deported for an alleged crime that took place more than five years ago and that, had it come before a UK court, might have been treated as a civil rather than criminal matter.
Extradition is high on the political agenda — pushed up by the case of Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker, who has just lost his latest appeal in the High Court against being extradited to America. His is the latest of a series of highly publicised cases that have focused attention on the extradition arrangements with the US. The first were the NatWest Three and then Ian Norris, the former chief executive of Morgan Crucible, battling to avoid being sent for trial over alleged white-collar crimes.
Those arrangements have come under fire: the Conservatives recently called for a review saying that the 2003 extradition treaty, agreed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, is not being used for terrorists but to target white-collar suspects. Critics also maintain that there is an unequal playing field, with a lower burden of evidence required for the Americans than for the UK wanting to extradite from the United States.
But each year hundreds of other people are also extradited, few with any publicity, under the fast-track extradition warrant that operates across Europe. In the UK fiscal year 2008-09, 516 suspects were removed to EU member states.
Fair Trials International, the campaigning group, has serious concerns about how the system operates; it says that it leaves little scope for British courts to prevent an extradition even where it would lead to injustice and warns that there can be a risk that the person extradited will not receive a fair trial. Further, a warrant can be issued many years after the event took place.
Juresa’s case dates to before he arrived in Britain in May 2004. He was the manager of the island of Bled, a municipality in northwestern Slovenia that regularly features in lists of the world’s most beautiful places. No surprise, since Bled is a picture-postcard compendium of castle, church, rock and verdant trees on a glacial lake in the Julian Alps. It is visited by aristocrats and politicians from all over the world as well as Slovenes, many of whom choose Bled for their weddings.
But beneath Bled’s aura of tranquillity there is turbulence. In 1997 its parish church became embroiled in a wrangle for control of the island with the Slovene Government. Juresa initially found himself allied with a group of Catholic churchmen in their battle against the Government but he claims that his relationship with them soured when he alerted the island’s bank to what he perceived as an impending financial storm.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Fears ‘Ghost Ship’ That Vanished in the Channel May Have Been Carrying Dangerous Secret Cargo
Fears that a ship which disappeared off the map after passing through the Channel was loaded with a secret and dangerous cargo have been voiced today.
The maritime world is rife with speculation over the fate of the apparently hijacked Arctic Sea, a cargo ship that was heading from Finland to Algeria when it apparently vanished into thin air.
[…]
Today Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia’s Sovfracht maritime bulletin, said the ship, carrying about £1 million-worth of sawn timber from Finland to Algeria, might have been targeted because it was also loaded with an unknown cargo.
He told the Russia Today news channel: ‘The only sensible answer is that the vessel was loaded secretly with something we don’t know anything about.
‘We have to remember that before loading in Finland the vessel stayed for two weeks in a shipyard in Kaliningrad.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Fights Universal Care’s High Cost
France claims it long ago achieved much of what today’s U.S. health-care overhaul is seeking: It covers everyone, and provides what supporters say is high-quality care. But soaring costs are pushing the system into crisis. The result: As Congress fights over whether America should be more like France, the French government is trying to borrow U.S. tactics.
In recent months, France imposed American-style “co-pays” on patients to try to throttle back prescription-drug costs and forced state hospitals to crack down on expenses. “A hospital doesn’t need to be money-losing to provide good-quality treatment,” President Nicolas Sarkozy thundered in a recent speech to doctors.
And service cuts — such as the closure of a maternity ward near Ms. Cuccarolo’s home — are prompting complaints from patients, doctors and nurses that care is being rationed. That concern echos worries among some Americans that the U.S. changes could lead to rationing.
The French system’s fragile solvency shows how tough it is to provide universal coverage while controlling costs, the professed twin goals of President Barack Obama’s proposed overhaul.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Court Rules on Display of Nazi Symbols
BERLIN — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that people can be prosecuted for displaying Nazi slogans in Germany only if they are in the German language.
The Federal Court of Justice overturned a lower court’s ruling convicting a neo-Nazi of transporting a shipment of 100 T-shirts with the slogan, “Blood and Honour,” written in English.
The slogan is a direct translation of the German “Blut und Ehre,” a motto of the Hitler Youth.
The display of Nazi symbols or slogans is forbidden in Germany, but the court ruled that the ban only applied to those written in the German language.
It sent the case back to the lower court and noted that the defendant could still be found guilty, because the shirts also carried banned Nazi symbols.
The defendant’s name was not released.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Up to Three Million ‘Illegal’ Workers With No Rights
Mestre, 12 August (AKI) — There are almost three million illegal workers in Italy with no rights or workplace protection, a major trade union organisation said on Wednesday. The Association of Artisans and Small Businesses of Mestre (CGIA) expressed alarm about the high figure — estimating nearly half the illegal workers were employed in southern Italy.
Secretary of the CGIA, Giuseppe Bortolussi, secretary, Giuseppe Bortolussi, said the illegal workers were at the mercy of unscrupulous employers and at high risk of serious accidents.
“This army of illegal workers is a social and economic emergency,” Bortolussi said. “They are people without any collateral, often at the mercy of criminal organisations that now have control of a large part of southern Europe.
“The workers are deprived of any form of coverage and protection with a high risk of accidents that a serious country can no longer tolerate. “
Of the total workers, an estimated 44.6 percent or 1,317,400 were concentrated in regions of southern Italy.
According to the data, 21.2 percent or 626,700 workers were concentrated in the northwest, 18.4 percent or 542,700 in the centre of the country and another 464,500 or 15.7 percent in the northeast.
Bertolussi said the southern region of Calabria had the worst record for employing illegal workers — a rate of 26.9 percent — closely followed by Sicily with 21.4 percent.
The CGIA of Mestre, based in the northeast Veneto region, said almost a quarter of the illegal workers were employed in agriculture, while others were employed in construction and the service sector.
“The debate these days about the need to recover the purchasing power of salaries and wages can only be addressed through decentralised bargaining without penalising those who, especially in the South, have wage levels that are much lower than average in the European Union,” Bortolussi said.
The Association of Artisans and Small Businesses Mestre is primarily a trade union organisation that provides services to companies and union services in support of self-employed and entrepreneurs.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Missing Cargo Ship: Crew Reported Second Attack
The missing cargo ship Arctic Sea that is being hunted by Russian warships reported a second attack by ‘pirates’ near Portugal, according to official sources.
European Commission maritime officials told The Daily Telegraph that following its first attack in Swedish waters, a second set of radio messages was received from the Maltese-flagged merchant ship after the vessel had passed through the English Channel at the end of last month.
“Radio calls were apparently received from the ship which had supposedly been under attack twice, the first time off the Swedish coast and then off the Portuguese coast,” said a Commission transport official.
The Commission has no further comment to add at this stage, in order not to hinder the ongoing law enforcement activities.”
Brussels officials have remained “fully aware of what seems to be the disappearance of a ship flying the flag of a member State of the European Union” but are sceptical of reports of piracy, while refusing to give further details.
“From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with ‘traditional’ acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea,” said the official.
Until the latest statement, the last contact with the Arctic Sea was thought to have been via a routine radio check by British coastguards on the vessel as it entered the English Channel on Jul 28.
The communication with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which appeared to be normal, came four days after the Arctic Sea’s Russian crew members had reported a violent armed attack on their vessel in Swedish waters to managers based in Finland, from where the ship set sail.
For unknown reasons, and according to Maltese maritime officials, the reported attack was not communicated to the police in Helsinki until July 28, too late for British coastguards to be alerted to the existence of a possibly hijacked vessel in the English Channel.
The second message was received after the Arctic Sea was last tracked in the Bay of Biscay on July 30 now placing the last contact at the beginning of August and as the ship changed course from its Algeria destination to a new western Atlantic bearing.
Solchart, the operator of the merchant vessel, has blamed piracy for the ship’s disappearance.
“My view is that it is most likely that the vessel has been hijacked,” said Viktor Matveyev, director of the Finnish company.
Russian space satellites, warships and nuclear submarines have been scrambled in a full scale pirate hunt for the ship amid fears that vessel could be carrying a dangerous “secret cargo”.
Before collecting a cargo of sawn timber from the Finnish port of Pietarsaari on July 23, the Arctic Sea had been repaired over a two week period at the Pregol shipyard in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave notorious for smuggling and lawlessness.
Mikhail Voitenko, the editor of Russia’s Sovfracht maritime bulletin, has suggested that the ship might have been hijacked because it was carrying a “secret shipment” unknown to its crew or owners.
“The only sensible answer is that the vessel was loaded with a secret cargo apart from timber,” he said.
“I am sure it was not drugs or some other illegal or just criminal cargo. I think that something much more expensive or dangerous. It looks like some third party did not want this trans-shipment to be fulfilled so they made this highly sophisticated and complicated operation.”
According to Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency, Interpol has reported the Arctic Sea as a hijacked vessel to the world’s police forces, making the incident the first case of piracy in European waters in modern times.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
MP’s Anger at Segregated Muslim Wedding
A London MP has spoken of his anger after he and his wife were ordered into separate rooms at a Muslim wedding.
Jim Fitzpatrick, MP for Poplar and Canning Town, and wife Sheila, left the constituents’ wedding at the London Muslim Centre when told it was strictly segregated. Today the minister for food and farming accused the complex next to the East London mosque in Whitechapel of threatening community cohesion.
He said: “The segregation of men and women didn’t used to be as much of a strong feature. We’ve been attending Muslim weddings together for years but only recently has this strict line been taken. It is an indication of the stricter application of rules that is taking place.”
He said he believed the centre was being influenced by the Islamic Forum of Europe, seen as a backer of Sharia law. “I think the stranglehold influence of the IFE is present more than ever. We are trying to build social cohesion in a community but this is not the way forward.”
The centre’s website says “free mixing” of men and women is not permitted at weddings.
Spokesman Mohammed Shakir said: “Our policy has not changed. We hire out the facilities but it is down to the bride and groom what they do.”
| [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Woman Banned From Wearing a ‘Burkini’ In a French Swimming Pool
The Burkini swimsuit — designed to spare the blushes of Muslim women worldwide — was plunged into controversy yesterday.
A French mother was banned from wearing the three-piece outfit at her local swimming pool.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Enter Church Asylum
There were violent scenes around Brorson Church during the night after police entered a church where Iraqis have been seeking sanctuary.
Copenhagen Police in riot gear entered the Brorson Church in Copenhagen overnight to remove rejected Iraqi asylum-seekers who have been seeking sanctuary in the church since May this year. Seventeen men were removed from the church.
Women, children and the elderly were allowed to remain.
Demonstrators attempted to prevent a police bus containing the 17 men from leaving the area, resulting in violent scenes during which police used batons and pepper spray to clear the way for the bus to leave.
Some 60 Iraqis, whose applications for asylum have been rejected, have been seeking sanctuary in Brorson’s Church since May of this year after Denmark and Iraq signed an agreement under which Iraqi nationals, whose asylum requests had been denied, could be repatriated.
Iraq
Iraq, however, has denied that it has agreed to receive rejected asylum-seekers who do not wish to be repatriated.
“There are no such agreements. All talk of such agreements existing are a hetz designed to affect the reputation of the Iraqi government among Iraqi refugees,” says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the Iraqi government website.
| — Hat tip: Skjoldungen | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland Considers Freeing Lockerbie Bomber Early
EDINBURGH, Scotland — Scottish officials said Thursday they were considering early release for the Lockerbie bomber — igniting debate between victims’ relatives in the United States and Britain over whether he should be allowed to return home to Libya.
British media reports say Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi will soon be freed on compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill with cancer. The possibility of an imminent release has reignited the fierce debate about whether justice has been done for victims of the attack that killed 270 people — most of them Americans.
The Scottish government dismissed the reports by Sky News and BBC television that he would be released next week as speculation, and said Scotland’s justice minister had yet to review all case information before deciding whether to release al-Megrahi. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington had not been made aware of any final decision.
“We have made our views clear to the U.K. government, to other authorities, that we believe that he should spend the rest of his time in jail,” he said.
Neither the BBC nor Sky News cited sources for their reports. A decision had been expected by the end of August.
The man in charge of deciding al-Megrahi’s fate insisted he was still considering his options.
“Clearly, he is terminally ill, and there are other factors,” Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill told the BBC. “But I have made no decision as yet.”
Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan secret service agent, is the sole person convicted for the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. He was arrested in 1991 in Libya, held under house arrest until handed over in 1998 and convicted in 2001 by a special Scottish court set held at Kamp van Zeist in the Netherlands. His co-accused Amin Khalifa Fhimah was acquitted, but al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison.
He unsuccessfully appealed immediately after the trial. But a second appeal is currently under way in Edinburgh after a review by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2007 raised serious concerns over the evidence used to secure the conviction.
Those concerns have convinced many British families that the full truth about the bombings has yet to be uncovered, and many in the U.K. had been looking forward to al-Megrahi’s second appeal to find out more about the atrocity.
“Other people and other countries were involved in this,” said the Rev. John Mosey, from Worcestershire, England, who lost his daughter Helga, 19. “We should show him some Christian compassion.”
Jim Swire, who lost his 24-year-old daughter Flora in the blast and serves as a spokesman for many of the British victims, said “everything points to a miscarriage of justice” and said he would be “delighted” if al-Megrahi were sent home.
The possibility that al-Megrahi could leave his Scottish prison exposed long-standing trans-Atlantic disagreements between victims’ families. Some U.S. relatives of the victims expressed outrage over the possibility that al-Megrahi would be freed early.
“I have a tough time being compassionate for a guy who killed 270 people,” said Peter Sullivan of Akron, Ohio. His best friend, Mike Doyle, was among the victims.
Sullivan, 51, said there was no reason al-Megrahi could not be treated in custody. “He ought to die in prison. Period.”
Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, died in the attack, said the idea that al-Megrahi could be freed was a nightmare.
“This is total, pure, ugly appeasement of a terrorist dictator and a monster,” Cohen said, arguing that that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi would feel vindicated if the convicted bomber could return to Libya.
“Al-Megrahi would be a star,” she said, “and we will be left here in ashes and suffering.”
Al-Megrahi’s fate is of particular importance because his trial and conviction led to a massive shift in Libya’s relationship with the West.
Gadhafi engineered a rapprochement with his former critics following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He renounced terrorism and voluntarily dismantled Libya’s secret program to develop nuclear weapons — earning commitments from Britain and the United States to work together to contain the threat of international terrorism.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Civilian Patrols in 20 Areas, But They’re Illegal
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID, AUGUST 11 — Even in Spain under socialist Zapatero, which has a crime rate 20 points lower than the European average, residents of around 20 municipalities have organised civilian patrols to combat delinquency. In the view of an increase in burglaries during the summer period and a lack of police, private patrols are supervising collective security, as reported by daily newspaper Publico. In Torrecera, a small municipality with 1,300 residents in the province in Cadiz (Andalusia), patrols of 3 to 5 people have defeated a gang of thieves, which for weeks had been stealing household appliances, farming machinery, computers, bicycles and anything they could get their hands on. Even the mayor has joined the patrols: “I’m not armed or authorised to intervene, but I just want to raise the alarm with the police given that the nearest police station is 10km away,” explained Mayor Manuel Bertolet to the paper. Torrecera is the most recent of twenty municipalities where, in the last year, groups of citizens have formed patrols, which are illegal given that in Spain, unlike in Italy, the government has not provided for their authorisation. The authorities and police unions have not hidden their concern about this new phenomenon which risks seeing the proliferation, above all during the summer months when there is a lack of police, of civilian patrols organising the surveillance and protection of houses left empty by holidaymakers. “It is indicative that people must get out into the streets and guard because there aren’t enough police,” stated the SUP police union spokesman, José Maria Benito, according to whom the number of police personnel is reduced by a third during summer months, due to holidays. Furthermore “the crisis is causing an increase in the number of burglaries,” observed the secretary of Confederation of Spanish Police (CEP), Ignacio Lopez, in statements to Publico. As a remedy, the police unions have proposed that the Interior Ministry give city police officers functions as neighbourhood police officers so that they can be “closer to citizens and tradespeople.” They also point out the risk of civilian patrols coming face to face with armed criminals. According to the Interior Ministry, in 2008 burglaries went up by 11.7%, a trend confirmed by data relating to the first few months of 2009. To avoid burglaries, vandalism, night-time disturbing of the peace and to reduce citizens’ fear is the aim of the private patrols that have been set up by civilians in the neighbourhoods of Ensanche in Coruna, in Galicia, and Sestao in the Basque Country. In most cases, the patrols are merely an instrument for putting pressure on the administration so that public security forces are strengthened. In Torrecera the local patrols have seen to it that from September they will have two police officers assigned to their municipality. In Las Tablas, an urban suburb of Madrid, which has grown exponentially in recent years like other suburbs, there are now 22,000 residents in an area which still does not have a police station. At the beginning of March, as a result of a wave of burglaries, several residents’ associations organised civilian patrols with the result of obtaining a permanent surveillance service on the main access roads of the neighbourhood But the police station, urged by a petition with 7,000 signatures, is still just a dream. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
SPD Backs New Rules for Dual Citizenship
Germany should change its restrictive citizenship rules to allow for dual nationality, Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told daily Berliner Zeitung on Thursday.
“In the future dual citizenship should no longer be a problem,” the Social Democratic minister said. “We should take our leave of our provincial, nationalistic way of thinking and recognise reality.”
Despite attempts by opposition parties to overturn the law, children born of foreign parents in Germany are still forced to choose between German citizenship and the citizenship of their parents when they turn 18.
But Zypries told the paper she knows many people with dual citizenship. “They have a relationship to both countries. They live here, but have roots in the home of their parents and don’t want to cut those ties,” she said. These people were likely born to an international couple where one parent is German, thus allowing them dual citizenship.
The minister said the “option model” that forces young adults to choose between their loyalties should be abolished. Young people should be able to “choose whether they want one citizenship or want to have both,” she said, adding that this would greatly reduce bureaucratic complexity.
The generation that will be forced to choose their citizenship will come of age soon, which means the law should be changed immediately, she said.
The current citizenship law is backed by the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), but Zypries said it had failed integration policy.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Democrats at Record High: Poll
The far-right Sweden Democrats have increased their support to a record 5.6 percent, according to a new voter poll published on Thursday.
The Pirate Party, fresh from its success in the EU elections, has however fallen 1.3 percentage points and enjoys 2.9 percent support, according to the poll by United Minds and Cint which was published in the Aftonbladet newspaper.
Since the previous poll in July the Sweden Democrats have increased their support by 1.5 points. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson is aiming for even higher in the general election to be held next year.
“Our goal is to land on six, eight percent and this is a step in the right direction,” Åkesson said to Aftonbladet.”
Jimmie Åkesson sees a future for the party in which it holds the balance of power.
“When the power of government is up for grabs I think all parties will be prepared to talk to us,” he said.
The poll indicates that the left block of Social Democrats, Green and Left parties enjoy a lead with 46.8 percent of the vote. The governing Alliance coalition collected a total of 42.1 percent.
The Liberal party increased its support by 1.1 points to 7.6 percent in the latest poll while problems for the Christian Democrats continue — with only 3.6 percent they remain below the threshold required for parliamentary seats
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK ‘Unaware of Child Trafficking’
Many Britons do not realise the scale of child trafficking in the UK and may be making it worse, campaigners say.
A poll of 1,255 people for campaign group Ecpat UK and the Body Shop found one in 10 did not know that children are trafficked into the UK.
The survey also found that 22% admitted buying fake DVDs or visiting brothels, which can perpetuate child trafficking.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre identified some 325 potential victims in 2007 to 2008.
The Home Office said the hidden nature of the trade in children made it extremely difficult to estimate the scale of the problem.
‘Hard to spot’
The study showed 34% of people believe trafficked children end up in foreign countries, not in Britain.
However, a government Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) report in April found that victims had come to the UK from 52 different countries.
Ecpat said children were trafficked for domestic work or for prostitution, as well as for restaurant work and benefit fraud.
Christine Beddoe, from Ecpat, said: “Child trafficking is not easy to spot and not easy to talk about. The fact that the majority of all global trafficking is for sexual exploitation has created a taboo.
“If we are all aware, then we can all help stop children falling through the cracks in society. We can make a real difference and prevent child trafficking.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Tamiflu Turned My Children Into Hallucinating, Sobbing Wrecks’
Andrew Castle, it must be said, is no Jeremy Paxman. So when Mr Burnham agreed to take part in the show to discuss the alleged merits of Tamiflu (how it sticks in my craw even to write those words) he was doubtless looking forward to putting across the Government’s point of view in the gentlest of surroundings.
What ensued was an ambush, as the visibly irate presenter revealed that his daughter Georgina had collapsed and nearly died after taking the supposedly harmless drug.
Mr Burnham, for his part, burbled some platitudes about Tamiflu being ‘our main line of defence’ against swine flu, and how it was a ‘different phase of the illness’ when Georgina was prescribed the drug.
Oh really? Perhaps Mr Burnham would have liked to come round to my house and explain the merits of Tamiflu to my three-year-old daughter as she sobbed and retched in my arms night after night.
While he was at it, perhaps he could take the time to scrub our sitting room floor, once James, our exhausted 15-month-old boy, had vomited so many times that his tiny stomach could heave up nothing but bright orange phlegm.
This is to say nothing of the raging fevers, nightmares and hallucinations which plagued both our children until we decided they could take no more.
The effects of swine flu? Not a bit of it. My wife and I are utterly convinced that all these symptoms were, quite simply, the vicious side effects of Tamiflu.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Attacking the Bible in Britain
A Scottish art gallery allowed viewers to deface the Holy Bible with obscenties while going easy on the Koran.
While many ordinary Glaswegians just shake their heads at the display, Calvert says, “That a taxpayer subsidised gallery should see fit to give space to something like that is disappointing.” He’s not alone. Susie Squire, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, tells the Daily Mail, “People pay their council tax to get their bins collected, not to fund pornography and destruction of religious texts.”
[…]
But putting aside the lewd nature of some pieces, the quality of the work is so pitiful as to leave me wondering whether the gallery should be charging the artists £7,000 to display their work. As someone who has attended more than his share of openings and shows, the sh[OUT] exhibit fails to rise above the quality of work I would expect from first-year university students. Is there artistic merit in photos of a woman ripping pages out of the Bible to eat them or shove them up her nose as Roxanne Claxton does? Anthony Schrag, who holds a masters degree in art, thinks so, “Roxanne gave a performance where she ate a Bible and it became part of her.”
Try doing any of this with the Koran.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Man Sacked After Conviction
A BBC presenter who hit a teenager with a wooden pole has been sacked.
A crown court judge has told Ashley Blake, 40, who presented Midlands Today, it was “almost inevitable” he would be jailed.
He denied attacking the youth outside a bar in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, but was convicted of wounding and perverting the course of justice.
A BBC spokesman said on Thursday that Blake had been dismissed with immediate effect.
The spokesman said: “Ashley Blake was found guilty last week of two serious charges.
“An internal process has resulted in Ashley’s dismissal which is effective immediately.”
Blake, who also presented Inside Out, denied attacking Greg Jones, 17, outside the bar in January.
Blake told Birmingham Crown Court he used the pole as a “bat” to deflect bottles and other missiles thrown at him by up to 30 people.
He had been arrested at the scene and, when interviewed by police, denied wielding the pole.
He changed his story when shown CCTV footage of him fetching the pole from behind the bar.
Speaking after the trial ended on 3 August, he said: “(I am) just gutted, absolutely gutted… it’s all over, isn’t it? My job — everything.”
Blake, who was remanded on bail, will be sentenced on 2 September.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Crack Addict Bristol Nurse Robbed 80-Year-Old at Knifepoint
A Bristol who robbed an 80-year-old woman at knifepoint and burgled another family to fund his crack cocaine habit has been jailed for six years.
Aissam Zbili was a skilled anaesthetic nurse who was highly regarded by colleagues at North Bristol NHS Trust.
But Bristol Crown Court heard that, following his divorce in 2004, he became addicted to the Class A drug and resorted to crime to fund his fixes.
Zbili, 46, of Fishponds, pleaded guilty to robbery and two aggravated burglaries, which all took place in November last year.
Imposing sentence Judge David Ticehurst told him: “It is a perfect illustration of the nightmare an addiction to Class A drugs can create.
“You were a professional, highly qualified anaesthetic nurse and your descent into chaos began in 2007, when a friend introduced you to crack cocaine.”
Zbili was told he would serve half of his sentence in custody, followed by deportation.
Giles Nelson, prosecuting, said it was on Bonfire Night last year when Zbili turned up at a home in Gloucester Street, Eastville, holding a knife, and demanded “give me all the money you made” from unemployed mum-of-two Kadine Sutherland.
Mr Nelson said: “She was on benefits and she got £100. She gave it to the defendant and he left.
“Police were called to the scene, there was forensic analysis and the defendant’s fingerprint was found on a door.”
The court was told that, later the same night, Zbili returned to the address with a knife and again asked for money but left empty-handed.
A police scenes of crime officer recovered Zbili’s DNA from his saliva found at the home.
Mr Nelson said that although Zbili claimed he knew the family, the prosecution did not accept he did.
However, he said that Zbili had befriended retired police officer June Long, 80, and she had lent him money before he turned up at her flat, grabbed a knife from her kitchen and put it to her throat — helping himself to a further £140.
The court heard Mrs Long died in January, but there was no established connection between the robbery and her death.
Nicolas Gerasimidis, defending, said while once his client had been a hard-working anaesthetic nurse, he divorced, due to pressures of work, and lapsed into drug addiction.
He said his client maintained he did know the victim of the aggravated burglaries.
He was bitterly remorseful that he had robbed a kind elderly woman.
Mr Gerasimidis told the court: “The defendant was a drug addict and in debt to drug dealers.
“He says he was threatened with his life, he went to borrow money from Miss Long and she didn’t lend him any.
“That made him pick up the knife and threaten her with it. He accepts threatening her, but not holding the knife to her throat.”
Detective Constable Tania Coles said: “The victim is satisfied with the sentence he has been given and hopes to put this behind her.”
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Heavy Police Presence for Harrow Central Mosque Protest
THOUSANDS are expected to descend on Harrow for a Bank Holiday protest against the borough’s new mosque.
Demonstrators recruited through the internet are taking to the streets outside Harrow Central Mosque, saying they oppose plans for a Sharia Law court in the new building.
The protest, throughout the day on Saturday, August 29, has been advertised on right-wing websites and organisers are expecting at least a couple of thousand to join in.
There are fears the protest could turn nasty, after a similar demonstration in Birmingham last weekend descended into a pitched battle between police, protesters, and Islamic groups.
However, Bill Baker, one of the organisers of the protest, said ties had been cut with groups English Defence League and Casual United, who he blamed for the trouble in Birmingham.
He told the Harrow Times marshalls would be escorting protesters from Harrow and Wealdstone station to the mosque, in Station Road, and would be on the look-out for trouble-makers.
He said: “We all live under one set of rules and that’s what we expect from Muslims as well.
“Why can’t they just decide whether they live in this country under our laws or move to a country that uses Sharia law?”
He added: “I am loyal to my country and I don’t believe racist extremism of any kind should hijack this issue.”
Protesters have been recruited through a vast array of internet sites and Facebook group, with messages like: “The planned Islam centre is not only a mosque but a five-storey building containing education centre for new converts to Islam and also sharia law courtrooms. This must be stopped so please come along to our passive protest and bring your friends with you. Don’t forget to bring some banners and your St George’s cross flags.”
Harrow police found out about the protest via the internet, and have been holding high-level meetings with mosque leaders, senior police chiefs, and Harrow Council.
They are planning to be out in force during the protest to avoid a repeat of the ugly scenes in Birmingham.
In a statement put out ahead of the demonstration, the police said: “We recognise people’s right to protest and we will ensure that there are sufficient police resources deployed on Harrow borough to facilitate any legitimate protest.”
Councillor Susan Hall, deputy leader of the council, said: “One of our main priorities is to build stronger communities and those who wish to use Harrow as a stage to try and drive a wedge into that community and ferment division — whether they are religious extremists or political fanatics — do not represent what Harrow is about.
“Nonetheless, we respect the right to demonstrate and we are confident our police partners will ensure this event, if it takes place, will go ahead without causing fear or intimidation to any of our residents.”
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MP Storms Out of Muslim Constituents’ Wedding After He Was Segregated From His Wife
A Government minister today told how he and his wife walked out of a Muslim wedding after being segregated into male and female areas.
Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick, the minister for food and farming, said the strictly-enforced rule threatened community cohesion in the heavily Muslim area of Whitechapel, East London.
Mr Fitzpatrick, 57, said he and his GP wife Sheila have attended many mosque weddings before but have never witnessed such an arrangement.
And he fears the growing trend is due to the influence of the Islamic Forum of Europe, proponents of Shariah law, who have links to the wedding venue.
‘We’ve been attending Muslim weddings together for years but only recently has this strict line been taken, he said.
‘The segregation of men and women didn’t used to be as much of a strong feature.
‘But it is an indication of the stricter application of rules that is taking place that didn’t exist before.
‘We left so as not to cause offence.’
The MP for nearby Poplar and Canning Town, added: ‘It is a disappointment. I think the stranglehold influence of the IFE is present more than ever before.
‘We are trying to build social cohesion in a community but this is not the way forward.’
[…]
The Islamic Forum of Europe, is described as ‘moderate’ group with headquarters at the London Muslim Centre but with branches across the continent.
The organization was widely credited with George Galloway’s election victory in 2005.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Wealthy Suburb Where Fearful Parents Hire Guards to Escort Their Children Home From School
Worried parents are hiring security guards to escort their children home from school.
Mothers in middle-class suburbs have turned to the private patrols over fears that their children could be attacked.
The guards meet children from the school bus and ensure they reach their homes safely.
Abi Mohamed, head of a security firm in Hampstead, North-West London, said his company had been contacted by teenage girls who were too scared to go home alone.
His firm, Hocroft Trading and Security, already offered a ‘Meet and Greet’ service to women who felt vulnerable returning home alone and has now extended it to include their children.
The pupils use their mobile phones to call the security guards if they want an escort.
Mr Mohamed said: ‘Three 15-year-old girls started calling every single day. As soon as they come off the bus, we go and meet them and we will follow them home.’
He said his firm received 25 to 30 calls a day. He believed a spate of robberies in Hampstead had increased the fear of crime, with women targeted as they let themselves into their homes.
Fashion designer Nicole Farhi was strangled until she passed out and had to plead with her attackers not to stab her.
Peter Williams, who runs private security firm London Community Services, said his guards also offered the ‘Meet and Greet’ service to women and would extend it to children if their parents wanted.
Mother-of-two Victoria Dennis, 34, said she often used Mr Williams’s ex- Gurkha guards when she was returning home alone with her children.
She added: ‘When it’s dark I call the Meet and Greet service on the school run so they’re at my house to meet me. I would definitely use it for my children when they are older.’
Private security is a £4.3billion industry in Britain, according to British Security Industry Association figures.
Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has said Britain risks becoming like parts of South Africa where private guards are seen as essential for the middle-class and wealthy.
Detective Constable Reg Pickering, who headed an investigation that led to two brothers being jailed for a series of ‘strangulation robberies’ on wealthy women in London, said he believed the private firms canvassed robbery victims.
‘They are providing a service and it reassures people that someone is going to be at their door when they return home,’ he added.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Under-Age Lookouts and Pitbulls Protect Milan’s Cocaine Ghetto
Six housing blocks transformed into stronghold. Kiddies on bikes keep watch. Only CCTV turned to face wall
MILAN — On the wall of one of the basements, they’ve painted a huge graffito that dwarfs the swearwords and sexual allusions: The Ghetto of Milan. The pitbulls are left hanging from a tree for a night and a day to make them meaner. They’re not so much guard dogs as attack animals, intended for the police.
Kiddies cycle round the large internal garden bereft of trees, swings or slides. At eight or nine years of age, the youngsters earn 30 euros a week for keeping a lookout. When a stranger approaches, they whistle. Other children then run up and down the flats giving their code of two short knocks and one long, or three long and one short. The flats they knock at are occupied by respectable tenants, with no criminal record (the latest arrests were a warehouseman and a mum), whom the gangsters have ordered to store their cocaine for 400 euros a week. South American traffickers supply the coke and forensic tests have shown it to be 84% pure. In Milan, where 150,000 people snort six tons of cocaine a year, the average purity is 40% and a gram sells for 70 euros. Here at the “houses”, the price is 90 or 100 euros and the cocaine that elsewhere is cut with aspirin, chalk or deadly strychnine is handled with care. It’s top quality. No rip-offs. In fact, people queue up.
The “houses”, they’re called. It’s the pattern (or spectre?) of Gomorra. Gang bosses guarantee legal and financial assistance to anyone who ends up in jail. The “houses” are six blocks of social housing belonging to ALER, the Lombardy residential housing agency. Standing nine storeys high, they look exactly the same as all the others bounded by two main roads that slice through north Milan before it becomes Sesto San Giovanni and the hinterland. Numbers 304, 306, 308 and 310 Viale Fulvio Testi; and numbers 361 and 365 Viale Sarca. ALER has made the “houses” a priority. Inspectors have been sent time and again. Some 24% of the households are at least one year in arrears with the rent and out of 216 units, 36 of which are squatted, half are occupied by non-Italians.
But this is not a story about foreigners. In the 1970s, the six blocks were occupied even before building work had finished. In the 1980s, there was the usual Italian-style solution with an amnesty for everyone, whether they had a criminal record or a regular job: this is a working-class area with a noble history of manual labour (Pirelli, Breda). According to the police, the gang bosses are the three Porcino brothers, originally from Melito di Porto Salvo, the most southerly town on mainland Italy, and two groups of Italian travellers, the Braidic and Hudorovich families. Investigators associate the travellers with motorbike and car theft (vehicles are taken from the car parks at nearby malls and stripped for parts in the basements of the “houses”) but the Porcino brothers have a track record for one thing only: cocaine.
Buyers use the entrance on Viale Fulvio Testi, from a car park that adjoins the gate and separates it from a four-star hotel. The anti-Mafia department has made enquiries. Cocaine leaves the “houses” to be delivered to contacts from the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria. There were also contacts with gangsters during the Inter Milan and AC Milan matches at the Stadio Meazza with Reggina, the Reggio Calabria team. Reggina was relegated at the end of last season. The local authority’s presence is a CCTV that is little more than a joke. It is mounted on a wall and worked for a few minutes: just long enough for some of the youngsters to clamber up and turn the lens to the wall. There’s also the new metro, of course. Ten metres away on Viale Fulvio Testi, they’re building one of the new stations for Linea 5. Chief of police Vincenzo Indolfi regards this place as a wound, or rather “a tumour”, as he puts it. He has ordered the Greco-Turro police station, led by Manfredi Fava, to come down hard on the “houses”. Fava has a team of street-smart officers working flat out and they’re getting results, although some administrators would rather see operations closer to the city centre. Every couple of weeks, there’s an arrest. But it’s hard work. Residents refuse to collaborate or make statements. Submission. Terror. No reaction, no rage, no indignation. They want a quiet life in slippers and singlet.
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Drugs: Balkans is Main Route, EU Renews Action Plan
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, AUGUST 11 — The route through the Balkans is always green for drug trafficking. The majority of opiates destined for Europe that arrive from the number one world producer, Afghanistan, travel via Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and the western Balkan states. According to UN data, the moving of production from the southern provinces of Afghanistan has caused traffickers to use the Balkan Route more, whereas the so-called ‘Silk Road’ which passes through central Asian states, the Russian Federation, the Caucus states and Turkey, appears to be in decline. This is what is stated in a document from the EU presidency on the occasion of its most recent meeting of the Council of EU27 Foreign Ministers which on July 27 approved an updated action plan between the EU and the western Balkan States for the fight against drugs in the 2009-2013 period. The plan provides for Member States and European institutions to continue to supply the necessary assistance for countries in the region to fight against the smuggling of drugs. According to 2008 Europol data, drugs and trafficking of humans are the most widespread illegal trade arriving in the UE, while in the other direction it is drugs and stolen vehicles which are number 1. As happened in the early 1990s, explains the EU presidency document, almost 60% of seizures of heroin and morphine in 2006 were made in the countries along the western Balkan Route, compared to 8% in 1996. Considering all opiates, (heroin, morphine and opium), in 2006 36% of seizures took place in Iran, followed by Pakistan (26%), Turkey (8%) and eastern and central Europe (6%). Seizures went up by 46% in Pakistan, 47% in Iran, 24% in Turkey and by 18% on the European Balkan Route, excluding Turkey. In particular, heroin passes principally through the Balkan states, but the region is used also as for trafficking cocaine, the usage of which is going up in western Europe, thus diverting from the classic America-western Africa-Spain route. There are also signs of an increase in the production of amphetamine pills in illegal laboratories in Serbia, for their distribution in the Middle East and the EU. Cannabis and synthetic drugs are produced directly in the region: Albania is still the number one producer, even if in an recent report it was indicated that domestic cultivation of cannabis has gone down by 70% and the price has risen. Even if it is lower that in western Europe, the other side of the coin is drug consumption at local level: cannabis is fashionable, opiates are on the up, while the taking of synthetic drugs has been observed to be increasing. There is no precise data, but recent studies suggest that cocaine and amphetamine use is increasing. The latter include ecstasy, amphetamines and methamphetamines. Cannabis is also used widely. Opiates are another story: the low cost of heroin has contributed to its use by 16 — 25 year olds, who also run the risk of catching AIDS. Thus the EU is committed to supporting the region in its fight against drug trafficking and organised crime. The whole Balkans area has made progress in this area, for example, in terms of border control and interregional collaboration, but it continues to need the cooperation and support of the EU in order to move toward integration with Europe. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: NATO Secretary Rasmussen to Pristina on 13/8, Press
(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA, AUGUST 10 — NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Kosovo this week, according to the country’s newspapers. Rasmussen will reportedly arrive in Pristina on August 13. During his visit he will have meetings with the commander of the NATO Kosovo Forced (KFOR), Giuseppe Emilio Gay, with the president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu and the country’s prime minister, Hasim Taci. Rasmussen will also see the minister for Kosovo security forces, Fehmi Mujota. In his first press conference, two weeks ago in Brussels, Rasmussen announced his plans to reduce the number of NATO troops in Kosovo: “By the end of my mandate I want KFOR to be reduced to a small reaction force, or to withdraw completely,” he said. The NATO-KFOR force counts around 15,000 troops. On June 10 the NATO defence ministers approved the gradual reduction of KFOR troops starting by the end of this year, with an initial reduction to 10,000, down to 2,300 within two years. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Organ Traffic, European Council Mission Pushed Back
(ANSAmed) — TIRANA, AUGUST 11 — An assistant to the Swiss parliamentary representative Dick Marty, entrusted by the Assembly of the Council of Europe to investigate on presumed illegal human organ trafficking in Kosovo between 1998 and 1999, was impeded for about 2 hours today by the inhabitants of the village of Gurra, in northern Albania, where an illegal clinic was reportedly located in which it is suspected that organs were removed from Serbians captured by UCK fighters (the now dissolved Kosovo Liberation Army), reported the press in Tirana. Representatives from the council of Europe did not wish to comment of the incident. An investigation conducted between 2002 and 2003 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Ex-Yugoslavia (ITCY) was closed due to the lack of proof. Last year however the issue returned to life after the publication of the book ‘The Hunt” written by the ex ICTY attorney, Carla del Ponte, in which ‘the yellow house” in the village of Gurra was described, where according to del Ponte blood stains were discovered on the interior walls. In the images broadcast by Tirana’s News 24’ a group of locals is seen demanding ‘documents to verify their mission and a mandate from the district attorney for the search” of the suspected house from the Albanian delegation that accompanied the Council of Europe representative. ‘We are tired of this story, but also offended that these kind of accusations have emerged against us”, a farmer affirmed to the cameras of News 24’. Dick Marty, who will have to draft a report on the presumed traffic in human organs, began his investigative mission last week with a visit to Belgrade and Tirana. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Bail Granted to Tunisian Deported From Italy
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, AUGUST 11 — Ali Toumi Ben Sassi, a Tunisian national who was deported from Italy last week after having served a 6-year prison sentence for crimes related to terrorism and arrested upon his arrival in Tunisia, was granted bail. A judge granted Toumi bail after an interrogation, accepting the defendant’s request. Toumi is accused of recruiting volunteers to send to Iraq and supporting a terrorist organisation. If he is convicted, he risks 20 years in prison. Despite objections from the European Court of Human Rights, Ali Touli, who is married to an Italian and a father of three children, was deported from Italy. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Film: War in Gaza Erupts in Locarno Festival
(ANSAmed) — LOCARNO, AUGUST 10 — It would be nice, as the children of Gregory Peck say in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” to protect children from knowledge of the bad things in the world. This time, however, it is necessary for the unspeakable, that is the violent death of children, to be denounced or witnessed as director Stefano Savona has done in ‘Cast Lead’, the documentary that takes the name of the Israeli army operation in the Gaza Strip that lasted from December 27 2008 to January 18 2009. The film, which is a part of the Cineaste of the Present section at the Locarno Film Festival, wants, maybe more than to describe, to help decipher the conflict that had different echoes in the media and among the governments of the Middle Eastern area: “War in Gaza” for the Western world, “Massacre in Gaza” for the Arab-Muslim world. The cineaste appears not to have taken any particular position, explaining that: “I see what happens from the point of view of the Palestinians only because I found myself under the bombs inside their territory”. Savona is probably the first foreign witness to the location of the war: from January 4 to the 14 he was on the border with Egypt, then through a mysterious strategy he managed to enter with his camera to live for four days among the explosions and the dead. >From that moment on the images tell their story: the desperation of those who witnessed their family being killed and their houses destroyed, as well as the Israeli news that affirms that the offensive hit only Hamas and not the population. “The images are also on Hamas’s fundamentalism”, the filmmaker, who shot about 20 hours of film, specified, “but they also show the death of a 12 year old boy who was hit while going to get wood from his orchard, in the same way that I saw other children, clearly not terrorists, who were killed. It is probable that Israel aimed at military objectives, but then as always there was imprecision and collateral damage. It was also difficult to distinguish among the adults who were killed who was a fighter and who wasn’t”. The film is divided into chapters, and the day and place of the filming is shown: like that of “16.01.2009 — Middle School managed by UN”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Marwan Barghuti Elected to Fatah Governing Body
(ANSAmed) — BETHLEHEM (WEST BANK) — Palestinian politician 50-year-old, Marwan Barghuti, imprisoned in Israel with life sentence for murder, has been elected to an important role in the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), according to initial results from elections held on Sunday, August 9 at the party congress in Bethlehem. Of the 10 representatives of the old guard who were up for re-election to the Central Committee and Revolutionary Council, less than half have won their races. Among those who have been elected is also Mohamed Dahlan, who is loathed by Hamas for leading a repression against the Islamist movement in the ‘90s, when he was the head of the Palestinian security forces in Gaza. Among those who have lost their races is former Palestinian Premier Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurei), who was not re-elected to the Central Committee. Abu Ala, who is 72-years-old and part of Yasser Arafat’s old guard, was the head of the government and had led negotiations with Israel in 1993, which resulted in Palestinian autonomy. The nearly 2,600 delegates attending the congress have elected 18 of the 95 candidates to the Central Committee, which normally has 21 members, and 80 of the 500 candidates to the Revolutionary Council, which normally totals 120 members. The three remaining members of the Central Committee will be co-opted. It is possible that the number of members will be increased to 23. In the Revolutionary Council, in addition to the 80 members who have already been elected, another 20 members will be co-opted and another 20 will be elected by the 11,000 Palestinians held in Israel. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Peace Partner’ To Rebuild Jew-Killer’s House
Calls terrorist who killed 3 Israelis a ‘martyr,’ ‘hero’
JAFFA, Israel — A representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party this week vowed to rebuild the bulldozed home of a terrorist and referred to the Jew-killer as a “martyr” and “hero,” according to informed sources speaking to WND.
Hatem Abdel Kater, Abbas’ adviser to Jerusalem and the PA’s minister for Jerusalem affairs until last month, visited the family earlier this week of Jabr Duwait, who was a 30-year-old Palestinian Arab resident of eastern Jerusalem who drove a bulldozer against traffic on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street in July 2008 and plowed into several cars and pedestrians. Duwait’s attack killed three Israelis and injured dozens more, some seriously.
Israel bulldozed the home of Duwait’s family in an action upheld by the country’s Supreme Court as deterrence against further attacks.
According to sources present at the meeting, Kater vowed to use PA funds to rebuild the Duwait house and referred to the terrorist as a “hero” and “martyr.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Anti-Israel’ Adviser Top Pick for Ambassador to Syria?
Long considered one of Jewish state’s greatest foes in Washington
Daniel Kurtzer, President Obama’s Mideast adviser, is the lead candidate to serve as U.S. ambassador to Syria, a senior Egyptian security official told WND.
Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, long has been seen in Jerusalem as one of the Jewish state’s greatest foes in Washington. He has been identified by Jewish and Israeli leaders, including prime ministers speaking on the record, as biased against Israel and is notorious for urging extreme concessions from the Jewish state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Defense: Turkey to Host Joint Exercise With Israel and USA
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, AUGUST 11 — Turkey will host this year’s ‘Reliant Mermaid’ joint search and rescue exercise in the Mediterranean Sea involving the air and naval forces of Israel, the United States and Turkey, Anatolia news agency reports. The exercise will be held from August 17 to 21 in the East of the Mediterranean Sea. Eight ships, four helicopters and three search-and-rescue planes from the three countries will take part in this year’s maneuvers. The exercise aims at efficient and rapid coordination and cooperation of forces of the three countries in case of emergencies. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: UN Experts Condemn Alleged Torture of Prisoners
Geneva, 13 August (AKI) — United Nations human rights experts voiced serious concern on Thursday over accusations of torture and rough interrogation tactics used against protesters jailed during the recent unrest in Iran following its disputed presidential election.
“No judicial system can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh interrogations or under torture,” stressed Manfred Nowak, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture.
The victims include lawyers, journalists and other human rights defenders, as well as members of the opposition who took to the streets to demonstrate over the results of the 12 June polls, according to the UN experts.
About 200 people arrested during the mass protests provoked by June’s disputed election, remain in detention, around 100 of whom are facing trial. The charges include spying, conspiracy, rioting and vandalism.
The opposition alleges the polls were rigged to ensure hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, and wants the them annulled. The government says the election was the “healthiest” since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Nowak said he had brought more than 300 cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment to the attention of Iranian authorities. The allegations came from ex-detainees as well as relatives and lawyers of people still being held, Nowak said.
Most involved alleged torture at Evin prison in Tehran or at Kahrizak detention centre outside the capital, but also concerned police stations, according to Nowak.
“These confessions for alleged crimes such as threats against national security and treason must not, under any circumstances, be admitted as evidence by the Revolutionary Court,” added El Hadji Malick Sow, vice-chairperson of the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention.
Sow was referring to the court currently conducting trials of detained protesters, which have been described by some western and other commentators as show-trials.
Foreign media have been banned from covering the judicial proceedings and it is unclear whether the defendants have adequate legal counsel, noted the experts. They also include the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya.
The experts added that many detainees are kept without any communication with the outside world, without knowing the charges they face, medical treatment, legal assistance or family visits.
The UN rights experts said they continue to receive reports of people dying in custody, and whose families are given false or contradictory information regarding the cause of death.
Iran’s most senior dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has compared the mass trials of government opponents and public confessions to the tactics of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and other authoritarian rulers.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Hezbollah, Israel Will Not Start War Without US OK
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, AUGUST 11 — There will be no attack on Lebanon by Israel until the US government under Barack Obama wants it. The view was supported by the head of PR of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Nawaf Mussawi, in an interview published today by the Beirut daily ‘L’Orient le jour’. “Israel,” Mussawi said, “has never started a war against Arab countries without the backing, the green light and the sometimes the mandate of the US. The 2006 war was started upon the request of George W Bush.” But a new conflict is a remote possibility, “at least in the first year of Obama’s administration.” In any case, Mussawi went on, the Resistance will continue to “prepare itself” because, despite new potential at international level and the “defeat” that according to Hezbollah they suffered in 2006, “the Israelis are arrogant enough to launch a new military venture in order to shake up our new stability.” Just yesterday Israeli PM Netanyahu stated that Lebanon will be held responsible for any problems along the temporary border that separates the two countries. The Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon had expressed a similar opinion two days earlier. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Professor Ramadan on Iranian TV
Dutch site ScienceGuide reveals that Tariq Ramadan has his own show “Islam & Life” on Iranian broadcaster PressTV. On his show Ramadan discusses various social and political issues from an Islamic point of view.
According to PressTV this is “A weekly show presented by Tariq Ramadan on the world’s fastest growing religion and the daily challenges faced by its followers especially in the West.” The most recent show, for example, was about Islam and art. Recent shows discussed Islam and student involvement, Changing Europe and Islam, Obama and the Muslim world, Islam and science, and the concept of freedom in Islam.
| — Hat tip: AA | [Return to headlines] |
‘Racism’ Claims at Lebanon Beach Clubs
Summer is at its peak in Lebanon. Each weekend its famous beach clubs are heaving with people seeking some relief from the oppressive heat.
Thanks to the relative peace in the country, many clubs are now having their best season in years — with thousands of tourists joining the beachside throng.
However, it seems not everyone is welcome at the clubs.
The Lebanese office of campaign group Human Rights Watch says a majority of beach clubs it surveyed are preventing many migrant workers from Asia and Africa from using their facilities.
The clubs are not being quite as specific as that.
It is alleged the bans are on household maids and domestic servants, widely employed by Lebanese families and the many Gulf Arabs among the tourists.
As the vast majority of the maids are women from places like the Philippines, Nepal, Ethiopia and Kenya, it seems no-one can be in any doubt as to who these restrictions are aimed at.
Restrictions enforced
“It’s a clear manifestation of the racism that exists in large parts of Lebanese society,” says Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch, whose survey found that 17 out of 27 beach clubs enforce some kind of restriction on migrants.
One of Beirut’s best known and oldest beach establishments, The Sporting Club, is among those enforcing such restrictions.
The manager, Marwan Abu Nassar, initially justified the ban on grounds that allowing in maids would attract too many children to the club.
When it was pointed out that there is a children’s pool inside the complex — and there are usually many families with youngsters there — Mr Abu Nassar eventually conceded he was operating a policy of discrimination.
“You can call it that, if you want, from a foreigner’s point of view,” he said.
Marwan Abu Nassar protested that if he started allowing in domestic maids, “we would get complaints, I would lose customers and it would affect my business”.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Sides With Hezbollah Against Israel?
Sources: Intel agents snooping, relaying information to terror group
The Russian intelligence service may be providing valuable information to Hezbollah about Israeli activities, prompting concern in Tel Aviv that any future military initiative against the group may not come as a surprise, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, may be providing intelligence based on intercepts it is acquiring from its enlarged presence in the Middle East, especially at a new base in Tartus, Syria, according to informed sources. The Syrians have allowed Russia to enlarge facilities at Tartus to increase its naval presence. Tartus is only 25 miles from Lebanon’s northern border with Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: US Military Delegation Tomorrow in Damascus, Press
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, AUGUST 11 — A military delegation from the US Centcom Command, responsible for the Middle East and Central Asia, is expected tomorrow in Damascus to discuss with the Syrian authorities about security on the border between Syria and Iraq. So reported daily newspaper An Nahar. Citing “reliable US sources”, the newspaper specified that the US delegation intends to hold meetings set up with their Syrian counterpart last June. Since the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Washington has accused the Syrian regime of letting its territory be a corridor for “extremist and terrorist networks” heading for their Arab neighbour. Syria expressed through the official SANA press agency today its “full” condemnation of “terrorist” acts carried out yesterday in Iraq and in which more than 50 people lost their lives. After fours years of diplomatic freeze, the US has set up high-level diplomatic contact with Syria in recent months and by the end of September the appointment of a new ambassador to Syria is expected. The role has been vacant since 2005. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism Alert; Israelis to Leave Sinai, Gov’t
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, AUGUST 11 — The Israeli government has today launched alarm on an imminent series of terrorist attacks on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, urging its citizens (and in particular those in the tourist areas of the zone) to leave the area immediately. The state of alert was raised by the government’s antiterrorism unit on the basis of information on potential attacks on Israeli citizens. A danger which was judged to be credible by experts and destined to increase, it was pointed out, with the nearing of a series of Jewish festivities starting on the evening of September 18 (Rosh Hashanah, Jewish new year). The alarm refers in particular to movements observed on the border with the Sinai peninsula — an area famous for its seaside resorts — and the Gaza Strip, a portion of the Palestinian territory controlled by the radical Islamist Hamas group. Lebanese Shiie movement Hezbollah has also raised tension. Intelligence services believe they could kidnap or strike tourists, businesspeople and Israeli diplomats with the upcoming first anniversary of the assassination of its leader attributed to the Israeli Mossad. The suggestion, as well as the specific alarm regarding Sinai, is to avoid as much as possible long stays and unplanned meetings in all Arab countries. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Iranian Alliance Will Fail
by Jonathan Spyer
The key strategic process that has taken place in the Middle East in the last half-decade has been the emergence of an Iranian-led bloc of states and movements, committed to undermining the U.S.-led status quo. This bloc has a well-formulated ideology that enabled the cooperation of several quite disparate forces. In the course of 2009, however, this Iranian-led alliance has suffered a series of setbacks. These suggest that its eventual fate may not differ from previous anti-Western ideological manifestations in the region.
Central to the outlook of the pro-Iranian alliance is the notion of “muqawama” — resistance. Iran and its allies have promoted themselves as the force of tomorrow, the “sunrise bloc,” challenging what they portray as the declining power of the United States and its allies. Israel, which this bloc views as an artificial remnant of colonialism in the region, is a central target.
For a while, the muqawama bloc appeared to be racking up achievement after achievement. Iran has sidestepped international attempts to limit or slow its nuclear program. Hezbollah, its creation and client, emerged intact — and claimed to be victorious — in its 2006 fight with an ill-prepared and badly led Israel Defense Forces. The same organization went on to defend its independent military infrastructure in Lebanon, intimidating its pro-Western opponents.
In the Palestinian arena, Hamas has been able to maintain its Gaza enclave thanks to Iranian support
This is important because Iran knows the Palestinian issue remains the great legitimizing element for millions in the region. So a plausible bid for ownership of the Palestinian cause is a strategic goal for the bloc…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Zionist MP’s Enter Al Aqsa Mosque Courtyard
Occupied Palestine
Three members of the Zionist Knesset parliament entered the courtyard of Al Aqsa Mosque.
Their presence was seen as a provocation and ‘pollution’ of the Holy Mosque.
After they entered the courtyard a Zionist radio station announced that “three Knesset members who belong to the Right Wing National Union Bloc have wandered into the courtyard of Al Aqsa without coordination with the police and Knesset guards.”
Apparently the three Zionist MP’s were supposed to visit the courtyard last week but their visit was cancelled due to ‘police pressure.’
Al Aqsa Mosque is frequently penetrated by droves of settlers.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Has Kremlin Mastermind Given Game Away in Novel?
MOSCOW (Reuters) — “Close to Zero” is the tale of a Russian publisher operating in a murky political system featuring paid-off media, corrupt officials, dubious politicians and law enforcement agencies on the take.
The short novel was published last month and passed unnoticed until Thursday, when a newspaper reported that its author was none other than the Kremlin’s chief political strategist Vladislav Surkov, writing under a pseudonym.
Surkov, a shadowy figure who rarely speaks in public, wields immense influence. His role as deputy head of the Kremlin administration for the past 10 years under both Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev puts him at the center of political power.
In the novel, which advertised itself as “gangsta fiction,” the main character Yegor Samokhodov orders a poet to write verse in the name of the regional governor to make the official look clever and win an award.
Samokhodov, a publisher who does a sideline in political public relations, then tries to bribe a female journalist at an opposition newspaper to “correct” stories about damage to children’s health from a toxic chemical factory owned by the governor’s relative.
Fact or fiction ?
The events portrayed are everyday fare in Russia, where local media sometimes take money in return for favorable coverage and those in power believe they can bribe or bully their way to victory in almost any situation.
A source at the Russky Pioner magazine which published the novella confirmed to Reuters that the story was Surkov’s work.
“Yes, it was him,” the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The Kremlin denied that Surkov had authored the novel. “He definitely didn’t write it,” said a spokesman.
But media reports pointed out that the pseudonym used — Natan Dubovitsky — is almost identical to the name of Surkov’s second wife, Natalya Dubovitskaya.
The author of Russia’s doctrine of “sovereign democracy” which touts a strong, organized state at the center of the political machine guarding against chaos and foreign meddling, Surkov often rails against Western “lies” in portraying Russia.
“Our partners … tell us about democracy while thinking about our hydrocarbons,” he told foreign journalists in his last news conference with them in 2006.
Andrey Kolesnikov, the editor-in-chief of Russky Pioner and also Russia’s best-known political correspondent, told Reuters he had decided to publish the work because of its artistic quality, despite not knowing who wrote it.
“I received the text by email with a request from the author that he was interested in my opinion,” Kolesnikov said.
“I really liked the novel. I am convinced it is a work of quality … for the author, it was an act of self-discovery.”
Kolesnikov said the author had told him he had previously contributed to the magazine. Surkov has authored an column in Russky Pioner.
In one revealing part of the story, the opposition journalist Nikita Mariyevna tells Samokhodov she hates those in power — a “greasy crowd” of governors, deputies, ministers, security service officials and police.
But the book’s hero replies: “It’s not those in power that you hate, but life.” He goes on to explain that unfairness, the use of force and stagnation are just part of life and urges her to live with this rather than try to destroy it.
Analysts speculated that Surkov might have written the book as a signal to the main pro-Kremlin party United Russia that times could be changing and they might face greater political competition in future.
Surkov worked as a public relations and advertising consultant in the 1990s before joining the Kremlin. Among his patrons were the Alfa Group owned by key oligarch Mikhail Fridman and the now disgraced oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
(Additional reporting by Polina Devitt and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Jon Hemming)
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
EU Speaks Out on Chechnya Murders
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — The Swedish EU presidency has urged Russia to protect its NGO community following a series of killings of human rights activists in Chechnya.
The EU statement comes after the bodies of Alik Dzhabrailov and his wife Zarema Sadulayeva, who worked for the children’s charity Save the Generation, were found dumped in the Chechen capital Grozny on Tuesday.
Mr Dzhabrailov may have been targeted because of alleged links with separatists. But his wife asked kidnappers to take her as well when the couple were snatched on Monday night, family members reported.
“It is important that an investigation into these latest murders is conducted promptly, transparently and thoroughly. The perpetrators must be brought to justice,” the Swedish presidency said on Wednesday (12 August).
“The EU urges the Russian authorities to do everything in their power to ensure the protection of human rights defenders.”
The Save the Generation deaths follow the shooting in July of prominent civil rights activist Nataliya Estemirova and the earlier slayings in Moscow of Chechnya human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
A spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel told DPA that she will raise the topic at a meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi on Friday.
Mr Medvedev himself has condemned the Grozny killings as “vile.”
Previous statements by both Moscow and Brussels have done little to bring people to account, however.
The string of murders has been widely linked to the regime of Ramzan Kadyrov, the 32-year old president of the semi-autonomous Chechen republic, who dresses in Armani sportswear and lives in a mansion with caged lions.
Mr Kadyrov has blamed “militants” trying to destabilise his rule.
Two of Russia’s leading human rights organisations, the Memorial NGO and the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, have pulled out of Chechnya in recent days due to safety concerns.
“The light of public scrutiny is gradually being turned off in Chechnya. First, international organisations and journalists were banned from the region, and now, local civil society is being eliminated,” Amnesty International said.
The situation in Chechnya is part of growing instability in Russia’s North Caucasus region.
In neighbouring Ingushetia, gunmen on Wednesday murdered the local construction minister while he was sitting at his office desk. A bomb in June almost took the life of Ingushetia president Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
For India’s Supreme Court Kicking One’s Wife is Not an Act of “Cruelty”
According to the ruling the husband and family should not be prosecuted for abuse. An Indian deputy calls for the intervention of the Ministry of Justice. Activist condemn the decision as “an insult to all humanity” and point the finger at the “patriarchal”society that legitimizes violence.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) — India’s women are in revolt against a recent Supreme Court decision, which states that “kicking one’s daughter-in-law is not an act of cruelty.” Women have branded the ruling as “retrograde” and are demanding the intervention of the Ministry for Justice.
The dispute stems from a family case between a woman and her husband, who lives in South Africa. The highest judicial body in India has ruled that the man and his relatives can not be prosecuted for “cruelty” towards his wife, just because the mother-in-law or other family members of the group beaten and kicked her and threatened her with divorce.
A branch of the Supreme Court, chaired by the Chief Judge SB Sinha explains that other charges can be laid, but not to Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, which punishes the husband’s — or his relatives — maltreatment of the woman. Brinda Karat, a key figure in the Marxist-inspired Communist Party of India, sent a letter to Minister for Justice Veerappa Moily, requesting a review of the trial because it is the roadmap “to legalize domestic violence”.
Julia George, a lawyer and activist from Stree Vani — “Voice of Women”, an association based in Pune, in Maharashtra — describes the story as “not only an insult to women, but to all humanity”. “Even the act itself of kicking is inhumane — she explains to AsiaNews -It is distressing that, even today, there are honourable members of the judiciary that take this position”.
The lawyer stressed that the question arises within families, where women are “beaten to death not only by husbands, but also by his relatives”. “The question — states Julia — exceeds the boundaries of social class, education or wealth”. It is due to the “patriarchal” logic typical of Indian society, which “encourages women to accept gender oppression.”
The activist, reports that during her professional career in Maharashtra she has witnessed many cases of domestic, physical and mental violence. For this reason it is essential to strengthen “education” but it “must not be one sided only, men too must be educated and sensitized.”
“Women — Julia George concludes — face tremendous obstacles and difficulties even to denounce cases of abuse. The same police officers are reluctant to receive complaints. Laws are the cornerstone of the Indian Constitution and what we do is invite women to take a step forward and to help them do so”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Catholic Hospitals in Kerala Recanalise Sterilized Women
This move could cost 10 thousand rupees (around 180euro). The Church is worried about the anti-birth campaign run by the government and about the decrease in the Catholic population. The state wants to penalise those who have more than two children with fines, esclusion from schools and medical cure.
Trivandrum (AsiaNews) — The Bishops in Kerala will “extend support to women who want to undergo reversal of tubectomy or recanalisation. Says Fr Jose Kottayil, secretary to Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference (KCBC) Commission for Family. He further added “we want to bring down the cost below Rs 40.000 (700€) to Rs 10.000 (180€) in church-run hospitals.
Male but especially female sterilization has been practiced in India since the 60’s as a method to curb the population. In the 70’s it was even practiced rather violently; now is being proposed with economic benefits. The same population is repeatedly targeted; the poorest, the minorities, the Muslim and Christians.
The possibility of reversing the sterilization, offered by KcBc, is one of the methods with which the Keralite church wants to use to encourage Christian families to have more children. Thanks to the publicity in the schools and in the society, and the emargination of those who have more than two children by the government, in the last 50 years the Keralite Catholic population has decreased from 24% to 19% .
One of the reasons of the decline is the constant and strong immigration of educated Christians abroad and to other states in India. But the Bishops are particularly worried about the size of the Christian families that do not have any more so many children as before.
Early in 2006 the Catholic Church had issued a pastoral letter exhorting the faithful to have more children,. This created tensions with the government of Kerala which instead wants to start a birth control program in order to keep the growth in population around 2%. Last year the Bishops opposed a state family planning bill that would penalize families for having a third child. According to the proposed bill, families having a third child will be fined 10.000 Rs. In addition families will also be denied free education and treatment in government hospitals. The legislation even recommends punishing those calling for more children in the name of religion or caste.
Coming strongly against the bill, Fr Althara, spokesperson of KCBC, then said, the Church in Kerala would launch aggressive pro-life campaigns through its family apostolate in every diocese. “The Church would take care of the education and health-care needs of children from economically backward families, if they are willing to have more babies,” he added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: One Dead, Several Injured in Grenade Attack
Srinigar, 12 August (AKI/DAWN) — One person was killed and nine others were injured on Wednesday when suspected militants threw a grenade at a busy bus terminal in Indian administered Kashmir, police said.
The incident took place in the town of Sopore, 50 kilometres north of the summer capital Srinagar.
“Militants hurled a grenade at a police bunker which missed its target and hit the civilians,” a police spokesman said, adding the man who died was a 63-year-old Muslim.
Violence has increased recently in the Muslim-majority region ahead of India’s independence day holiday on August 15.
In June suspected separatist rebels threw a grenade at a security patrol in the heart of Shrinigar, wounding four paramilitary soldiers.
The attack came a day after two Pakistani soldiers were killed in the first ever suicide bombing in a part of Kashmir held by Pakistan.
India and Pakistan claim the disputed Himalayan region and have divided its rule.
They fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Story of Zhang, Who Has Had to Open Up His Chest to Prove Infirmity
Only thus could he be recognized as suffering from, but not compensated for, pneumoconiosis, a disease of the lungs from ingestion of dust. It is ‘the most widespread occupational disease in China, with about 10 thousand new cases annually. Migrants are forced to work in mines and construction, without precautions.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) — More than a hundred workers staged a sit-in protest in front of City Hall Daozi (Hunan), in late July, asking for compensation for pneumoconiosis which they contracted from working on the city’s buildings and infrastructure. In boom time China employers often try to get away with not recognizing serious illness caused by labourers forced to work without elementary health and safety precautions. This is the story of Zhang, who has had to open up his chest to prove he is suffering from this fatal disease.
Zhang Haichao, a 28 yyear old farmer from Henan worked for years at a abrasive materials factory in Xinmi, near the provincial capital Zhengzhou, breathing clouds of toxic dust on a daily basis. In the second half of 2007 he started to suffer from a constant cough and breathlessness. Several hospitals confirmed severe pneumoconiosis, a disease caused by the concentration of dust in the lungs causing a severe reduction in physical capacity and a decline in life expectancy.
When he went to seek compensation from the factory he discovered that all his medical records had disappeared and the company refused compensation. He turned to local medical authorities, but he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a lung disease of viral origin and not from dust inhalation.
The workers protection website China Labor Bulletin points out that Zhang has protested this diagnosis, after the major hospitals in Beijing and Zhengzhou had found pneumoconiosis. So he was subject to a voluntary thoracotomy: the lungs were filled with dust and pneumoconiosis acknowledged.
Zhang still has not received compensation: he has a daughter of three and elderly parents to support, for medical visits he has spent 90 thousand Yuan and is in heavy debt.
According to official data, pneumoconiosis is today the most widespread and serious occupational disease in China, with between 7500 and 10 thousand new cases diagnosed each year, counting for over 75% of new diseases in the workplace. The phenomenon no longer only affects miners, but also builders who for years worked on the rapid construction of skyscrapers and streets without basic protection measures. In communist China, the ill have great difficulty in winning work related legal cases and gaining compensation.
In a recent open letter to the Committee of the Communist Party of Shenzhen, some workers complained of their sad situation, unable to work because of illness, forced to pay for expensive treatments, and without any subsidy or compensation. The letter did not achieved great results: the municipal authorities offered only 30 thousand Yuan to each worker as compensation, without acknowledging their illness. The amount was refused by the workers, who are thinking about bringing a case against the local government, that they claim are only interested in financial gain and a rapid urban development, without meeting basic security standards at work.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines Clashes Leave 43 Dead
At least 43 people — including 23 soldiers and 20 militants — have been killed in clashes in the southern Philippines, an army commander says.
Maj Gen Benjamin Dolorfino said 400 troops launched co-ordinated attacks on a camp belonging to Abu Sayyaf rebels on the southern island of Basilan.
He said soldiers recovered home-made bombs and 13 high-powered firearms.
Fighting has ceased, but troops were combing the area to see if two targeted Abu Sayyaf chieftains had been killed.
The rebel leaders were named as Khair Mundus and Furuji Indama by the Associated Press (AP) news agency, citing military officials.
‘Slugfest’
Abu Sayyaf is one of several militant groups in the southern Philippines seeking independence or greater autonomy for Muslims in the region.
US military advisors have been helping to train the Philippines military to fight them.
Abu Sayyaf was once linked to regional Islamist networks, but has recently become better known for criminal brutality and high-profile kidnappings, mostly targeting Christians and foreigners.
In January, militants kidnapped three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Two were freed in April, while the last hostage, 62-year-old Italian Eugenio Vagni, was released in July after being held for nearly six months.
The troops “launched a decisive law enforcement operation targeting the Abu Sayyaf’s main training camp in the province”, said army spokeswoman Lt Steffani Cacho.
She said “sizeable quantities” of bombs were found, some already “rigged to explode”.
The army’s losses were the highest in a single day’s combat for some years.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Wong Defiant as Senate Rejects Carbon Trade Laws
The Government’s contentious emissions trading laws have been voted down as expected in the Senate.
Amid loud interjections in the chamber, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong lashed out at Coalition senators for opposing the laws and vowed to re-introduce it.
“This bill may be going down today, but this is not the end.”
All non-Government senators voted against the bill.
The vote provides the Government with a potential double dissolution trigger, depending on when it decides to make a second attempt at passing the laws.
Senator Wong said it would be brought back into the Parliament before the end of the year, although she did not specify when.
“It’s not smart to pretend this won’t leave us isolated from the rest of the world, and it’s not smart to undermine our transition to a low-carbon economy,” she said.
The defeat of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) comes as no surprise, with the Opposition and Greens vowing in the months leading up to the vote that they would block it.
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz accused the Government of painting everyone who is against the scheme as a climate change sceptic.
“Labor’s response to those that question some of the scientific paradigms has been shrill, extreme and doctrinaire,” he said.
If the Government waits three months to re-introduce the legislation and it is again defeated, it will provide a trigger for a double dissolution election.
It had wanted the bill to pass before international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
But the Opposition says the scheme should not be finalised until after the Copenhagen talks, and will be proposing amendments in the coming months.
The Greens have refused to back the scheme because they say the emissions cut target is far too low at 5 per cent.
But Leader Bob Brown says he has already written to the Government to continue negotiations.
He says the Greens still want a 25 to 40 per cent target but says they will talk with the Government on how to get there.
“The Government got it wrong but the foundation is there to get it right,” he said.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon urged all parties to “pull their heads in” and finalise an outcome so the laws could be passed.
“I think we’ve got an obligation now to negotiate all in good faith to get an effective emissions reduction target and also to do it in a way that’s economically responsible,” he said.
But Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce said they will continue to oppose the laws.
“We’ll continue our fight not just on behalf of regional Australia but on behalf of all Australians.”
Family First Senator Steve Fielding says he cannot support the scheme now, but has left the door open to supporting it further down the track.
“Despite my concerns about the science, Australia may be forced to adopt an emissions trading scheme,” he said.
| — Hat tip: DK | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Compares 2000 Florida Recount to Nigeria’s Rigged Elections
NAIROBI — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compared Nigeria’s corruption and electoral problems with the 2000 Florida presidential election recount during a town hall meeting today in Abuja, Nigeria.
Answering a question about Nigeria’s recent election, Clinton said, “In 2000, our presidential election came down to one state where the brother of the man running for President was the governor of the state. So we have our problems too.”
But Clinton praised the 2008 U.S. election as an example of how democracy should work.
“I know a little bit about running elections and I have won some elections, and, I have lost some elections,” she said. She pointed to her loss to now-President Obama, and the subsequent joining of his administration, as a way forward for Nigeria’s next general election.
“In my country the man that I was running against and spent a lot of time and effort to defeat, asked me to join his government. So there is a way to begin to make this transition that will lead to free and fair elections in 2011,” Clinton said.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Mob Kills UK Gems Expert in Kenya
A leading Scottish gemstone expert has been killed in Kenya by a gang armed with clubs, spears, bows and arrows.
Campbell Bridges, 71, was attacked by 20 men in the grounds of his 600-acre property near the southern town of Voi.
He fought off the mob with his son Bruce and four Kenyan staff but died of his injuries on arrival at hospital.
Police are investigating the attack which is reportedly connected to a three-year dispute over access and control of Mr Bridges’ gemstone mines.
Police said he was driving his pick-up truck in the grounds of his home within a national park when he was ambushed by about 20 men brandishing crude home-made weapons.
Witnesses said his injuries were caused by stab wounds from a knife. No-one else was injured in the attack on Tuesday.
Mr Bridges’ body has since been flown to the capital Nairobi.
A close friend, the Rev John Ellison, 72, from Alton, Hampshire, told the BBC Scotland news website that the internationally-renowned gemmologist would have put up a strong fight.
“He was very fit, strong and confrontational but a lovely man nevertheless,” he said.
“He would stand up to anyone. He would have gone in with his fists flying if someone attacked him.”
He added that his “wonderful” friend had “a quick fuse if anyone was dishonest”.
Mr Bridges was brought up in Scotland but had lived in the African country most of his life.
He is credited with discovering the green Tsavorite gem, a rare stone unique to the region, and also worked as a special consultant to the New York jewellers, Tiffany and Co.
Mr Ellison revealed that Mr Bridges had previously been threatened as he owned mining rights and therefore knew where the deposits were.
“He was very well known in Africa and the gemstone industry, which gave him a lifetime achievement award,” he said.
“He had a fund of stories and I was privileged to have been the first person outside his family to know of his discovery in 1971. This is terrible news.”
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of Campbell Bridges on 11 August following injuries sustained in an attack near Voi in Kenya.
“British consular officials are liaising with the local authorities who have confirmed that an investigation is under way.”
Mr Bridges leaves a wife, Judy, and two grown-up children, Laura and Bruce.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Iraqi Evictions Slammed
Several politicians, including a former prime minister, condemn police raid on Iraqi asylum seekers
Severe criticism is being directed at the Copenhagen police’s heavy-handed removal of 19 Iraqi asylum seekers from their shelter at Brorson’s Church in Nørrebro early this morning.
Former prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who is currently the president of the Party of European Socialists, has blasted the police action.
‘It went beyond the bounds of common humanity and decency,’ he said.
Politicians at home have condemned the police action as well, most of the criticism coming from three of the four government opposition parties. But the Social Democrats, the nation’s largest opposition party and Rasmussen’s former party, supported the evictions.
While the former prime minister refused to get into the political aspects of the action, he told Ritzaus Bureau he was worried what the United Nations and humanitarian groups would think when they get news of the operation.
Video taken of the eviction included an officer beating a young woman numerous times with his truncheon and several other incidents of police using what could be interpreted as excessive or unnecessary force.
Many of the Iraqi men’s wives and children fled from the church during the action and their whereabouts are unknown.
Birthe Rønn Hornbech, the integration minister, told Berlingske Tidende newspaper that the police action was not initiated by the government.
‘The police have their own division to deal with immigration issues,’ Hornbech said.
She added that the Iraqis themselves were to blame for the situation.
‘When Denmark made the agreement with Iraq to take the refugees, I appealed repeatedly to them through the media to go home willingly. I made it clear that if they had to be sent back forcefully then they wouldn’t have any influence on their own situation.’
An Iraqi delegation is reportedly on the way to Denmark to determine the identity of the men arrested at the church.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bangladeshi Theft Victim Allowed to Stay
Turin, 13 August (AKI) — A young Bangladeshi rose seller who faced expulsion from Italy on illegal immigration charges after he reported a theft to police, will now be allowed to stay in Italy for at least a year, according to the daily, La Repubblica. Jahngir Chacklader, 27, has been given a permit of stay allowing him to work on an immigrant integration project after a campaign by the newspaper.
Chacklader faced expulsion and criminal charges after police in the northern Italian city of Turin discovered he was illegal when he reported to them three Romanians, who were subsequently arrested on suspicion of robbing Chacklader.
Sergio Chiamparino, the centre-left mayor of Turin, obtained the permit of stay and a job for Chacklader by arguing he risked reprisals from the three Romanians suspected of having robbed him, La Repubblica reported.
Chiamparino successfully invoked provisions in current Italian immigration regulations which guarantee humanitarian protection to immigrants who have reported a crime to police and who are cooperating with their inquiries.
The measures were originally aimed at protecting prostitutes who reported their clients and pimps to police.
Chacklader, who has lived in Italy for the past three years, will now appear as a witness at the forthcoming trial of the three Romanians, who he alleges stole the money he had earned selling roses for a euro or two each to young couples last Saturday.
A controversial security law passed last month made illegal immigration a punishable offence in Italy.
Under the law, people entering Italy without permission face fines of up to 10,000 euros and immediate expulsion. Anyone renting housing to an illegal immigrant faces up to three years in prison.
The law triples the length of time illegal immigrants can be detained in holding centres from two to six months.
Despite the conservative government’s tougher stance on immigration in Italy, immigrants have not been deterred from entering the country illegally.
There are now more than a million illegal immigrants in Italy, according to figures published this week by Catholic relief organisation Caritas.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: Egypt Sign Agreement to Regulate Workers Flow
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, AUGUST 11 — Jordan and Egypt signed an agreement to streamline the flow of Egyptian expatriates, following a recent jump in traffic of workers from the North African country into the kingdom. The agreement was signed between Jordan’s Minister of Labour Ghazi Shbeikat and Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Immigration Aisha Abdul Hadi, according to a statement run by the official news agency, Petra. Jordan has been reluctant to crack down on illegal Egyptian workers, who make up the majority of expatriates in the kingdom, because Egyptian expatriates take over jobs shunned by Jordanians. But with the economic situation in Egypt suffering under the umbrella of the global credit crunch, more Egyptians are arriving in quest for a job. Unemployment in Jordan increased in the past six months, with latest figures from Department of Statistics putting jobless rate at 12.5 percent. Jordan is home to nearly 300,000 Egyptian workers, most of them work in construction, agriculture and tourism. The two countries also announced they are working on enhancing exchange of expertise in occupational safety, immigration, employment and training. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Millions Watch Islamisation of Europe Video
Despite it being tediously dull — one graphic slowly replaces another while an actor speaking in a monotone narrates statistics — the video has attracted millions of viewers. The message is that Muslims will make up 50 percent of Europe’s population by 2050.
By Mohammed Amezian
According to a fragment from the seven-minute video Muslim Demographics, “In a matter of years, Europe as we know it will cease to exist. Yet the population of Europe is not declining. Why? Immigration. Islamic immigration. Of all population growth in Europe since 1990, 90 percent has been Islamic immigration”.
The video alternates moving letters on a black background with pie charts, block graphs and statistics. The voiceover is done in a rather monotonous American accent and Arabic music plays in the background. It ends with a somewhat alarming call to take action against the growing threat of Islam in the West.
Just what action one is supposed to take is left unsaid by the filmmaker, who calls him, or herself, Friend of Muslim (FoM). So far, more than 10 million people have watched the video.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Cabinet to Discuss ‘Cost of Immigrants’
A request by Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration PVV party for government ministers to calculate exactly how much non-western immigrants cost Dutch society, is to be discussed by the cabinet on Friday, reports the Volkskrant.
Some political parties have called for the question to be ignored but the cabinet intends to take seriously its obligation to answer parliamentary questions, the paper says. However ministers must decide how far they will go in their reply on this ‘sensitive issue’.
Integration minister Eberhard van der Laan has asked the government’s social policy unit, the SCP, to help ministers make the calculations, according to the Volkskrant.
It reports that an initial meeting with SCP director Paul Schnabel, two advisors to the prime minister and civil servants was held on Wednesday morning.
Schnabel will not comment on the discussions, says the paper, pointing out that the issue is ‘politically explosive’ and that it is unclear what the PVV will do with the information it has requested. PVV leader Geert Wilders has for some time called for a halt to non-Western immigration.
According to the Volkskrant, Van der Laan has taken the lead in coordinating replies to the 79 questions raised by PVV MP Sietse Fritsma in mid-July. She has asked for calculations from 12 government departments, based on spending over the past five years and a forecast for the coming five years.
Parliamentary questions have to be answered within three weeks but ministers have made use of the possibility of requesting a one-off extension of three weeks.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
‘Gay’ Group Will Wait Until 2012 to Challenge Prop. 8
Plans to spend next 3 years launching outreach, education campaigns convince voters
Bowing to the advice of political consultants and pollsters, officials from a major gay rights advocacy group announced Wednesday that they will wait until 2012 to return to California voters with an initiative legalizing gay marriage.
The leaders of Equality California, which calls itself the largest gay rights advocacy group in the state, said they won’t try to qualify a measure on the subject for the 2010 ballot despite demands from many gay and lesbian activists seeking quicker movement on the issue.
That decision, however, hasn’t stopped a liberal advocacy group, Courage Campaign, from collecting signatures for a 2010 ballot initiative on the subject. According to that group’s Web site, it has already raised about $136,000 to “invest in research, polling and focus groups to repeal Proposition 8,” the ballot initiative passed last year banning same-sex marriage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Children Offered Condoms and Chlamydia Tests on the Beach in ‘Summer of Love’ Scheme
To many, the town conjures up fond childhood memories of traditional seaside holidays.
But today, as they stroll along the seafront in Bournemouth, young holidaymakers are being offered more than just ice creams and candyfloss.
Free condom holders and tests for a sexually transmitted disease are being provided from a bus.
A popular family beach is being targeted by a team of youth workers, who welcome teenagers on board to test for chlamydia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Empty Cradles, Demographic Destiny and the Death of the West
While the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding was good cinema, it was also a big fat Hollywood fiction. With Greece’s fertility rate of 1.36 children per woman — well below the replacement level of 2.1 — “big” is not a modifier demographers would associate with today’s Greek families. In fact, a more accurate film might be called My Big Fat Muslim Wedding.
Worse still, Greece is no anomaly. Long ago the cradle of Western civilization and more recently one of its backwaters, it’s now part of a phalanx of Western demographic failures. In fact, while it may seem counterintuitive to those weaned on the stuff of Malthusian nightmares, the West is facing a population implosion of historic proportions. And the statistics are staggering.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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