Albanian Kosovars expressed their gratitude to Bill Clinton by erecting (ahem) an 11-foot statue of the former president on Bill Clinton Boulevard in Pristina. Mr. Clinton himself visited Kosovo to unveil the statue.In other news, some of the detainees at Guantánamo have expressed a preference for remaining where they are instead of relocating to a maximum-security prison in Michigan or some other harsh northern clime.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Cimmerian, CSP, Esther, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, Sean O’Brian, TB, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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IRAP: Rigor and Tax Cuts Not Antithetical Choices, Tajani
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 30 — “Rigour and the reduction of fiscal pressure are not antithetical choices”, said Antonio Tajani, vice president and EU Transportation commission on the sidelines of the young industrialists meeting in Capri. “The choice of policies of rigour are in fact necessary”, said Tajani, “to avoid a rise in public debt, but this could also be combined with an intelligent reduction of fiscal pressure”. In particular, regarding the IRAP tax cut widely supported in the governing majority in Italy, Tajani underlined that it is a choice that is up to the Italian government. “I think that it is going in this direction”, he added, “but as a European Commission we cannot evaluate before” the decisions are made. Despite this, Tajani optimistically explained that the Italian government’s choices have always been in harmony with the European Union. Regarding the crisis in general, Tajani said he was convinced that “the worst phase is behind us although we still have some problems, starting with unemployment”. In the attempt to restart the economy, the EU commission underlined the key role that can be played by the “development of infrastructure both in the transport and the energy sectors”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Taxpayers Give £20m Benefits to Polish Children — Even if They Have Never Set Foot in Britain
Taxpayers are funding child benefit for more than 50,000 children of migrant workers — even though the youngsters still live in their home countries.
Treasury figures show that Poles make up the vast majority of the payments made under a loophole in EU legislation.
Benefits are paid to 37,941 children in the former Eastern Bloc country, who have one or both parents working in the UK.
The cost is estimated at more than £24million a year.
The number of Polish children being subsidised by British taxpayers has jumped by 6,542 in two years despite a slowdown in immigration because of the recession.
Under ‘social responsibility coordinating regulations’ drawn up in Brussels, EU migrant workers who pay taxes in their host country are able to claim benefits and tax credits as soon as they start work, even if they have left their families behind.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Pay-to-Play White House
Finally, it is clear what President Obama meant when he said this would be the most “transparent administration in history.” He wasn’t saying that his White House would be open and accountable; he was saying that his administration didn’t feel much need to come up with plausible lies, they’d be fine using the transparent kind.
In the months since Mr. Obama took office, his administration has showered the Democratic Party’s key fundraisers with insider briefings from administration staffers, access to the president and top aides and all the social perks that only the White House can bestow. The president, who ran for office saying he wanted to clean up fundraising, is perfectly happy to wallow in the cash-for-access mud pit.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Broad Dialogue With Muslims Worldwide
Interviewee:
Farah A. Pandith, U.S. special representative to the Muslim communities, U.S. State Department
Interviewer:
Toni Johnson, Staff Writer, CFR.org
Farah PandithThe Obama administration has created the post of special representative to the Muslim communities with the goal of building trust with the world’s Muslims. The first person to serve that role, Farah Pandith, a Kashmir-born Muslim, says the U.S. role in Muslim engagement includes working with the local communities, to try to provide an opportunity across the board in every region, and opportunities to build on initiatives for the common good. The new initiative will employ social media and a host of other tools to help meet the needs of diverse Muslim communities. “The United States is not engaging with a particular kind of religious leader or endorsing a particular type of Islam,” she says.” Our effort is to engage with a wide scope of civil society, included in that will be people who have influence whether they’re religious leaders, scholars, academics, teachers, businesspeople.”
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Campaign Chief: We Did ‘Zero Research’ On ‘The One’
Manager claims ignorance of his own candidate’s past, including Rev. Wright
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe claims President Obama’s campaign staff had done “zero research” on its candidate and was not aware of the inflammatory statements and views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Plouffe, whose firm was hired to run Obama’s presidential campaign, made the statement in a forthcoming book. While Plouffe and his staff may not have done their homework on Obama’s radical associates, it may be hard for political insiders to believe some of Obama’s other key advisers during the campaign were not aware of Wright’s controversial views.
One of Obama’s most senior advisers was closely associated with Wright while others traveled in the same Chicago circles as Obama. Also, a review of Wright’s church literature and the vast amount of church material available to the public makes the possibility of Obama himself not knowing about Wright’s controversial views seem implausible.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CBO: Obamacare Will Cover Only 2% of US Citizens
Obama State-run media sycophants have worked feverishly to suppress it. One of a handful of media outlets that did publish anything on it (AP) devoted only one paragraph to this extremely important piece of news. Said paragraph reads:
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A Congressional Budget Office estimate suggests very few Americans under the age of 65 would sign up for health insurance under the much-debated public option. The CBO found that the scaled back government plan in the House version of health care legislation couldn’t overtake private insurance, with only about 2 percent of Americans under the age of 65 opting in.”
This is important because it completely contradicts what Obama and the White House have been saying for months…and months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chuck Norris: President Obama, Time to Make a Decision
Let me see if I have the facts straight.
Last May, President Obama removed Gen. David D. McKiernan as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and replaced him with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who in September issued a dire report warning that, without as many as 40,000 more troops for the fight in Afghanistan, the mission “will likely result in failure.”
President Obama rebuffed that he would make no quick decision but take as long as needed to do a broad study first on the issue. Is this about genuine concern, or could this delay simply be a politically driven tactic for upcoming state elections?
Meanwhile, more U.S. troops died at the hands of our enemies.
Roughly a month after McChrystal’s requests, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel continued to blame the Bush administration for the chaos in the war. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs blamed former Vice President Cheney. Vice President Biden blamed the generals for a bad military plan. And presidential adviser David Axelrod blamed Fox News!
Meanwhile, more U.S. troops died at the hands of our enemies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Did Black Panther Make Secret White House Visit?
Chairman gives no reason for his name on guest list
Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the radical New Black Panther Party, refused to confirm or deny to WND whether he visited the White House since President Obama took office, despite his name appearing on a recent administration disclosure.
Shabazz’ namesake was among the 110 names and 481 visits released by the White House on Friday as part of the Obama administration’s so-called volunteer disclosure policy. The names were just a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have gone through the White House’s doors since January.
Among the famous names that stood out on the brief list were Shabazz, Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Guantánamo Suspects Want to Stay, Say Officials
As President Barack Obama’s deadline to close Guantánamo looms, some occupants of the notorious detention centre would rather prolong their stay than be sent to maximum security prisons on the US mainland, according to camp officials.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Monty Python Stars Threaten Legal Action Against Chris Christie
Michael Palin and Terry Jones have complained that Chris Christie, the Republican candidate for the New Jersey governorship, used clips from a Monty Python sketch in a campaign advertisement.
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Muslim Unrest Hits US Homes
In what may be the first recorded instance of a Muslim wife attempting to murder her husband for not being pious enough, a Staten Island woman was charged this week with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Rabia Sarwar, a 37-year-old Muslim, said she did it because her husband, a 41-year-old Pakistani native, enjoyed booze and pork and wanted her to dress in revealing clothes. (She held fabric over her face and threw a shawl over her head before leaving court on Thursday.)
While the Sarwar case is sensational by dint of the role-reversal and the method of attempted murder (throat-slitting), it’s also pedestrian: Over the past two years, there have been about a dozen attempted or successful honor killings committed in the US.
Last week in Arizona, an Iraqi-born man tried to kill his 20-year-old daughter because she wanted out of her arranged marriage; he escaped.
In July, a 17-year-old named Rifqa Bary ran away from home because, she said, her Muslim family would literally kill her for converting to Christianity. (She has been ordered by a Florida court to return to her home state of Ohio, where she will appear before another judge.)
So: Why is there such a recent spate of honor killings in America? What does it mean when a woman tries to exact the same vengeance that’s been wreaked upon her gender by men for centuries?
“This is not a reverse honor-killing — it’s martyrdom,” says Islamic apostate and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, herself the target of death threats. “It’s a ticket for heaven for her, to clear her books. The only exception that’s made for a wife or daughter to disobey her husband or father is if he forces her to do something that’s un-Islamic. This is a message to other Muslims: ‘This man is defying God. What am I supposed to do?’“
“The vast majority of honor killings do appear to be cases where there is some attempt to violate or leave [Muslim] cultural norms,” says David Bryan Cook, associate professor of religious studies at Rice University. “They’ve been going on in the US and Britain for a number of years, but in the recent past they’ve gotten a lot more publicity.”
Barring terror attacks, independent Muslim expression of anti-Western sentiment seems to be more virulent in Europe. There was the 2004 daylight assassination of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by the same Muslim extremist who also targeted his collaborator Hirsi Ali; the riots and death threats issued after the publication of a cartoon that was critical of Islam in a Danish newspaper in 2005.
Some believe that the sheer vastness of the US has kept such incidents largely off the radar. “We’ve not been seeing it yet because our country’s so big,” says Amil Imani, who was born in Iran but raised in the US, and is the founder of Former Muslims United.
He points to the recent killing of a radical imam in Michigan, who hoped to carve out a separate Islamist state in the Midwest, as evidence that America has more to worry about than it may be aware. “Look at what is going on in England, which is almost identical to our culture,” he says. “Stealth jihad is happening in America before our eyes.”
Does Hirsi agree with this assessment?
“Oh yes, oh yes,” she says.
“Believe me. Yes. The kind of American Muslim you’re seeing now is changing — not because America is changing, but because the world is. Someone from Pakistan is coming here not for freedom, but to escape a horrible situation. [Once here], they are being radicalized.”
Imani also believes that the fear and loathing of the West tends to be a generational thing; kids born and raised in America by Muslim immigrants tend to reject such orthodoxy, while older Muslims embrace it.
“In the privacy of their home, Muslim parents will call every American woman a prostitute, every man corrupt,” Imani says. “People who are 20 and over, who have lived in Muslim countries — they cannot handle American culture. This case is very new, very rare. But you haven’t seen anything yet.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
New Anti-Limbaugh-Beck Group Tied to Ex-Obama Czar Van Jones
By Noel Sheppard
A new left-wing organization created specifically to attack Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan, and Paul Brown has ties to ex-Obama green jobs czar Van Jones.
As NewsBusters reported Thursday, StopTheWitchHunt.org was formed to “call out” what it considers “mischaracterizations and hate speech” by the aforementioned quintet.
With the assistance of tipster Bret A. Gehring, NewsBusters has discovered an organizational link to Jones.
Our investigation began with who was listed as the contact person on the STWH press release reported by Reuters Thursday…
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Obama to Lift U.S. Entry Ban for Those With HIV
The 20-year-old ban will be overturned early next year, president says
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Friday that a U.S. travel ban against people infected with the HIV virus will be overturned early next year.
The order will be completed on Monday, Obama said, finishing a process begun during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
The United States is one of about a dozen countries that bar entry to travelers based on their HIV status. The ban has been in place for more than 20 years. Obama said it will be lifted just after the new year, after a waiting period of about 60 days.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Should Prayers be Covered?
WASHINGTON — — As the health care battle moved forward last week, Phil Davis, a senior Christian Science church official, hurriedly delivered bundles of letters to Senate offices promoting a little-noticed proposal in the legislation requiring insurers to consider covering the church’s prayer treatments just as they do other medical expenses.
Critics say the proposal would essentially put Christian Science prayer treatments on the same footing as science-based medical care by prohibiting discrimination against “religious and spiritual health care.”
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Thomas Sowell: Dismantling America, Part II
Among the most pathetic letters and e-mails I receive are those from people who ask why I don’t write more “positively” about Obama or “give him the benefit of the doubt.”
No one — not even the president of the United States — has an entitlement to a “positive” response to his actions. The entitlement mentality has eroded the once common belief that you earned things, including respect, instead of being given them.
As for the benefit of the doubt, no one — especially not the president of the United States — is entitled to that, when his actions can jeopardize the rights of 300 million Americans domestically and the security of the nation in an international jungle, where nuclear weapons may soon be in the hands of people with suicidal fanaticism. Will it take a mushroom cloud over an American city to make that clear? Was 9/11 not enough?
When a president of the United States has begun the process of dismantling America from within, and exposing us to dangerous enemies outside, the time is long past for being concerned about his public image. He has his own press agents for that.
Internationally, Barack Obama has made every mistake that was made by the Western democracies in the 1930s, mistakes that put Hitler in a position to start World War II — and come dangerously close to winning it.
At the heart of those mistakes was trying to mollify your enemies by throwing your friends to the wolves. The Obama administration has already done that by reneging on this country’s commitment to put a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe and by its lackadaisical foot-dragging on doing anything serious to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That means, for all practical purposes, throwing Israel to the wolves as well.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian’s Bid to Sue US Rejected
A New York court has ruled against allowing a Syrian-born Canadian to sue US authorities over his mistaken 2002 arrest for alleged terrorism links.
Maher Arar was held at New York’s John F Kennedy airport following erroneous advice from Canadian officials that he had links to Islamic militants.
Mr Arar was then flown to Syria where he claims he was tortured, something which Syrian authorities deny.
In a statement, Mr Arar described the US ruling as a loss to the rule of law.
After exonerating him in 2007, Canadian authorities paid him 10.5m Canadian dollars (US$8.9m; £4.54m) in compensation.
Mr Arar is now seeking redress from the US, arguing that he was a victim of “extraordinary rendition”, a process in which terrorism suspects are transferred to foreign countries for harsh interrogation.
But the New York court ruled that it was not authorised to intervene in the case.
“If a civil remedy in damages is to be created for harms suffered in the context of extraordinary rendition, it must be created by Congress,” the court said in a written statement.
Mr Arar’s lawyers say they will now take the case to the US Supreme Court.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Top Spy: Canadians View Terror Suspects as Folk Heroes
Richard Fadden was appointed last June as the director of the Canadian Security Intelligent Service (CSIS). According to Fadden too many Canadians close their eyes to the ongoing threat of terrorism and many of the elites treat terror suspects as quasi heroes.
Gee, where does Fadden get that idea from? Perhaps he’s smoking something. Or maybe he eats pizza with some of those funny mushrooms on it. Then again he probably just reads the Toronto Star.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
BNP Set to Join European Parliament Far-Right Group
Alliance will bring extremist parties major funding from Brussels
The British National party is close to finalising a pan-European alliance with other far-right political parties that would allow them to tap Brussels for hundreds of thousands more euros and greatly increase their power in the European parliament.
Anti-fascist groups have expressed grave concerns about the formation of the Alliance of European National Movements, warning that it threatens to undermine the democratic process.
So far, five far-right parties — Hungary’s Jobbik, France’s National Front, Italy’s Three-Colour Flame, Sweden’s National Democrats and Belgium’s National Front — have signed up to the coalition, agreeing to abide by a declaration of common goals drafted by the BNP’s leader, Nick Griffin.
The BNP was due to join last month, but was forced to postpone the move following the furore surrounding Griffin’s appearance on Question Time. However, the BNP will sign up within weeks, according to insiders.
Austria’s Freedom party, as well as groups from Spain and Portugal, are also poised to join the coalition, which has pledged to oppose “supranational bodies like the European Union which seek to limit the rights of individual countries”. If the alliance can muster 25 MEPs from at least seven EU member states, it will be able to garner considerably more influence within the European parliament than the various parties can achieve on their own.
Similar-size groupings in the past have been able to access at least an additional €1.5m in grants and payments from the EU to help cover the cost of extra secretarial and administrative services. They may also be able to appoint a chairman of an influential EU parliamentary committee.
So far, the alliance can boast fewer than 10 MEPs. But if it relaxes its opposition to a number of parties in Eastern Europe joining, or enjoys future success in Euro elections, its ranks would swell. Each of the parties will submit a representative to a presidency body that will co-ordinate decisions. The presidency will then elect a chief, leading to speculation over a role for Griffin.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Must Stop ‘Fetishizing’ American Relationship
In a week when European affairs are prominent, a study by an influential Brussels think tank suggests the EU is going about things the wrong way. The Europeans must stop being so submissive, they must present a united front on foreign policy and they must work toward a “post-American” state of affairs, the study says.
It’s Europe Week in Washington. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been asked to speak to a joint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday as part of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Only about a hundred world leaders have ever addressed a joint session of Congress. The last German chancellor to be bestowed the honor was Konrad Adenauer, who spoke before the US legislature in 1957 during the Cold War.
Shortly after on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama will also greet top European Union leaders at the EU-US summit. A special strategy meeting is planned on energy issues.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Fully Functioning Grenade Left in Cinema Sparks Investigation
A cleaning lady working at a cinema got the fright of her life when she picked up a paper napkin from a seat and found it was wrapped around a hand grenade.
The authorities evacuated around 800 guests still watching films in other parts of the Düsseldorf multiplex cinema after the cleaning lady and the security guard she took the grenade to, alerted the police.
Examination of the grenade showed it to be completely functional, although it still had the pin inserted, and would not have spontaneously exploded, according to a report in Stern magazine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Thieves Caught Trying to Steal Bronze Statue of Patron Saint
Rome, 30 October (AKI) — Two thieves carrying a bronze statue of Catholic saint Francis of Assisi were caught by Italian police because the statue was too heavy. The 80 kilogramme, 1.70 metre statue was placed on a fountain in a public garden near the military base of Cecchignola on the outskirts of Rome.
Police caught the thieves, a 47 year-old man from Rome and a 49 year-old Romanian man, using special tools to remove the statue from the fountain and then tried to take it to their pick-up van.
Because of the weight of the statue, both thieves struggled to take it to their van when they were spotted by a patrol unit from Italy’s paramilitary police. The thieves tried to escape but were later arrested.
Both of them were unemployed and were previous offenders.
Saint Francis of Assisi was a Catholic deacon and the founder of the Franciscans. He is considered the patron saint of animals, the environment and Italy.
He died on 3 October 1226 in the city of Assisi, located in central Italy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Shocking Mafia Execution Video Posted to the Internet
Naples, 29 October (AKI) — Prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Naples have made public a shocking CCTV video of a mafia execution. In the video, the killer is seen shooting a man twice in the head outside a bar, smiling and making a cuckold sign with his hand before walking off. Prosecutors have allowed Italian media to post the video the Internet in the hope that witnesses will come forward to identify the killer and his accomplices.
Dressed in jeans and a baseball cap, the killer arrives at the ‘Virgins’ bar in the Naples district and mafia stronghold of Sanita after an accomplice, loitering outside, gives him the all-clear.
The killer first walks into the bar, casually holding a pistol in his hand, then turns around and walks out. As he leaves the bar he shoots the victim, named as 53-year-old, Mariano Bacioterracino, in the head.
Bacioterracino, who had previous criminal convictions, falls to the ground and the killer shoots him again in the back of the head. As he does so, he makes the cuckold sign with his free hand, possibly to another accomplice inside the bar, before walking briskly away.
In the video, a man selling cigarettes outside the bar can be seen quickly moving on with his merchandise after the killing, while a female passer-by steps over Bacioterracino’s corpse before turning back and bending over him to take a closer look.
Terracino served 10 years in jail for his involvement in the 1977 kidnapping of Guido De Martino, who later became an MP for the former Italian Communist party.
He was also tried as suspect in the killing of Naples mafia member Gennaro Moccia, but was acquitted.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mafia Killing Video ‘Sent to Victim’s Daughter’s Mobile’
Naples, 30 October (AKI) — A chilling mafia execution captured on video was sent to the victim’s young daughter, her aunt told Naples daily Il Mattino on Friday. “The girl was terribly upset when someone sent it to her. I doubt she’ll ever get over it,” said Pasqualina Bacioterracino. Her brother Mario was in May shot several times in the head by a killer in the Naples district and mafia stronghold of Sanita outside a bar in broad daylight.
Prosecutors investigating Mariano Bacioterracino’s murder recently released the CCTV video to media in the hope that witnesses would come forward and identify the killer and his suspected accomplices.
Bacioterracino, aged 53, had served for kidnapping in the 1907s, but his sister claims this was his only crime.
“We just hope that my brother’s killers will be identified and brought to justice. We are just simple people and this kind of stuff is way over our heads,” she said.
“The killers mistook my brother for a mafia member or boss, but all he ever did was to kidnap someone.”
Prosecutors said on Friday that so far no witnesses have come forward.
In the video, the killer is seen shooting Bacioterracino two or three times in the head outside the ‘Virgins’ bar, smiling and making a cuckold sign with his free hand before walking off as bystanders look on.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Med-Fini: Europe’s Negative Attitude Feeds Fundamentalism
(ANSAmed) — CAPRI (NAPLES), OCTOBER 31 — If Europe continues in its attitude of supremacy towards the Moslem religion, the risk is that it will nurture fundamentalism. This is the opinion expressed by the Speaker of the Italian Lower House, Gianfranco Fini, in his address to the Young Confindustria Congress being held in Capri today. “As has been noted by that shrewd Mediterranean entrepreneur, Tarek Ben Ammar, there is a hostile take over being staged by Europe on the area’s brains. This may be a positive or a negative take-over. If an attitude of supremacy holds sway, there is the risk of feeding fundamentalism”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mystery Deepens Over Vienna UN Death
A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination.
Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna.
An initial autopsy concluded that there were “no suspicious circumstances”. But it is understood that Mr Hampton’s widow Olena Gryshcuk and her family were deeply unhappy with that verdict.
Now a doctor who undertook a second post-mortem examination on behalf of the family believes she has found evidence that Mr Hampton did not die by his own hands.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Fortuyn Asked Van Gogh to be His Culture Minister
From Dutch: In 2002 Fortuyn asked Van Gogh to be his culture minister. Van Gogh told his friend columnist Theodor Holman about the offer, and offered Holman to be his state secretary of culture.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Wilders Warns Against “Climate of Hate”
Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, has called Integration Minister Eberhard van der Laan (of the Labour Party) and Democrats D66 leader Alexander Pechtold “political accomplices” of Mohammed Bouyeri, the murderer of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
Five years ago today, the Dutch filmmaker was stabbed to death in the street by a radical young Muslim who felt he had insulted Islam. Theo van Gogh was well known for his outspoken anti-Islamic views and was the maker of the controversial film Submission. The murder was the second political murder in recent history in the Netherlands and sent shockwaves through the country. (The first came when politician Pim Fortuyn was murdered shortly before the elections in May 2002.)
Mr Wilders says comments by the two politicians have contributed to “a climate of hate and violence against him and his party.” He added that the Labour Party and D66 had not learnt anything from the murder of Pim Fortuyn. The two politicians have typified the Freedom Party as extreme right and a danger to the constitutional state at the weekend.
Mr Wilders believes that this “demonisation and the denouncements” were made out of fear of the Freedom Party’s success. He warned: “If anything ever happens to me or my party that everyone will know that Van der Laan and Pechtold contributed to a climate that made it seem justified to some madmen.”
The Friends of Pim Fortuyn foundation is holding a public commemoration of Theo van Gogh on the spot where he died this afternoon. A number of debates have also been organised to mark the anniversary of his death.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Against Costantinople for S.Nicolas Cathedral in Nice
(ANSAmed) — NICE — After a lull lasting more than 85 years, the controversy over the ownership of Nice’s prestigious Cathedral of Saint Nicolas will be back before France’s magistrates. Parties to the contention are the Russian Federation and the cultural association which runs places of worship under the aegis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Saint Nicolas cathedral was constructed during the first years of the twentieth century at the behest of Russia’s last zar, Nicolas II, who purchased the land and financed the building of the place of worship. The dispute over ownership goes back to a 1924 court ruling in which French justice came down in favour of the cultural association which managed the religious edifice. The Soviet Union did not challenge this decision. With the collapse of the USSR, however, the Russian Federation stated that it was the legitimate heir to the last zar’s estate, and claimed ownership of this holy place. Their interpretation is contested by the cultural association, which is presently in possession of Saint Nicolas Cathedral and has been managing it for the Patriarchate of Constantinople since 1931. According to the Rector of the cathedral and the association’s Chair, Jean Gueit, Russia’s objective is to bring the cathedral back under to control of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has been on bad terms with Constantinople for some years. Gueit has declared his readiness, and that of the association, to take the case through every court in the land: “If Nice’s court comes down in favour of Moscow, we shall appeal and if necessary take our case to the European Court of Human Rights”. Meanwhile, Nice’s municipal authorities have made a bid to settle the dispute by suggesting that the ownership of the building be conceded to Russia, but that the management of the cathedral remain in the hands of the association. Neither party was happy with this proposed solution. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Minaret Answers “Reassure” Muslim Bloc
Swiss government clarifications about the minaret initiative have put the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) at ease, its Geneva ambassador tells swissinfo.ch.
Babacar Ba, the OIC representative to the United Nations in Geneva, also outlines a possible offer of mediation in the ongoing Swiss-Libyan hostage crisis
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hero Boyfriend Beaten to Death by Yobs Who Stole His Girlfriend’s Halloween Witch’s Hat
A hero boyfriend has been beaten to death by a gang of thugs after confronting a thief who stole his girlfriend’s Halloween hat.
Detectives have launched a murder inquiry after 30-year-old former bank worker Ben Gardner suffered fatal head injuries after being assaulted in Sutton, Surrey, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mr Gardner and his 28-year-old girlfriend Alana — who is known as Ally — had been enjoying a Halloween themed night out at a club before the pair decided to walk home past a Kebab shop in Throwley Way in the town’s one-way system.
It was then that one drunken man — who was with a large group of men and women — grabbed Mr Gardner’s girlfriend’s black pointed hat and wig and walked away from the couple.
It is understood that when Mr Gardner asked for the hat back the thief spat in it before handing it over.
At this point it is believed another man punched Mr Gardner in the back of the head and he fell to the ground where he received a further flurry of punches and kicks.
Within seconds he was left unconscious on the pavement with what proved to be fatal injuries. Meanwhile, his girlfriend was also punched and kicked and suffered minor injuries.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Man ‘Racially Abused BNP Leader Nick Griffin and Threatened to Shoot Him’, Court Hears
Mr Griffin was giving evidence in the trial of 23-year-old Tauriq Khalid, from Burnley, who is accused of shouting ‘white b*****ds’ towards Griffin and other BNP members who were demonstrating in the Lancashire town.
As the far-Right leader gave media interviews outside Burnley police station last November, Khalid drove past and made the comment, returning shortly afterwards to make the gun gesture, Preston Crown Court was told.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Rant Fury
Lord in YouTube dig at birth rate
A LORD’S claim that Britain faces coming under Islamic rule has been blasted as “alarmist” and “inaccurate”.
In a sick rant, UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson makes wild statements about the Muslim birth rate.
He said the UK was under threat because “the Muslims are breeding ten times faster than us”. He added: “I don’t know at what point they reach such a number we are no longer able to resist the rest of their demands.
“We must be looking at somewhere between 10 or 20 years. If we don’t do something in the next year or two we have in effect lost.” In the video interview posted on YouTube, the multi-millionaire went on to warn against the “growing threat of Islamism”, rambling: “We have to make sure people understand the threat that faces us from violent Islam.”
A Muslim Council of Britain spokesman hit back at the birth rate comment, saying: “It’s inaccurate. The policy estimates have already been widely discredited. We would be concerned about this type of alarmist statement.”
[The IFPS video included here!]
Lord Pearson — tipped to be next UKIP leader — last night stood by his comments, but insisted they were directed at fundamental Islamists.
He said: “One’s talking about the violent end of the spectrum that’s what one’s worried about.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Day BNP Leader Nick Griffin ‘Became a Victim of Race Hate’
British National Party leader Nick Griffin feared he could be shot after an Asian heckler racially abused him and made a gun gesture with his hand, he told a court
The far right party’s MEP was protesting over the arrest of sympathisers who had distributed leaflets linking Muslim gangs to the heroin trade when Tauriq Khalid shouted abuse from a passing car, it was claimed yesterday.
Mr Griffin, who last month controversially appeared on the BBC’s Question Time show, took the alleged threat so seriously that he left the demonstration and hid in a car
But he admitted he hadn’t heard the heckler threaten to shoot him
and had made the assumption from the gesture.
Khalid, 23, went on trial yesterday accused of racially abusive and threatening behaviour towards the politician, who was this year elected a Euro-MP for North West England.
Giving evidence, Mr Griffin said he had been giving television interviews outside Burnley Police Station in November last year when passers-by began hurling abuse.
He said: ‘Some time after that another car came past and I was not so pre-occupied. The driver stopped, he was going from right to left, he had his window open and he shouted out, I thought, “White bastards”, and drove off.’
Moments later, the man drove back the other way, Mr Griffin said.
‘He stopped the car, he had his window down this time, and he was leaning out of the window and pointed at me in a gang gun gesture. He shouted out, “Griffin, you bastard. I am going to…” but I didn’t at the time catch it.
‘But I took it as to “kill” or “shoot you” as it was the same time as the hand gesture.’
Mr Griffin told Preston Crown Court that his security team advised him to leave the demonstration in case ‘he came back to shoot me’, and he sat in a car for 30 minutes. He returned to the protest and was told a supporter had jotted down the registration plate. Mr Griffin then made a complaint to police.
Ian Metcalfe, prosecuting, said that during the demonstration, ‘Mr Griffin received some signals of support from members of the public and also signals of reproach from others. The prosecution say the defendant went further and indeed broke the law.’
Mark Stewart, defending, said Khalid admitted shouting abuse but claimed that because Mr Griffin was being interviewed, he was not concentrating fully and misheard what was said.
Mr Stewart said that while his client was ‘not proud’ of his behaviour, he had shouted ‘f****** w*****’ and flashed Mr Griffin the V- sign. Mr Griffin denied this, saying: ‘I don’t think “Nick Griffin, you f****** w*****” can be misheard as “white bastards”.’
He added: ‘There is a difference between a V- sign gesture and a gun gesture. It is a threat.
‘I am quite used to having people flicking the Vs at me, it doesn’t bother me. But there is a difference between that and a threat like this. It is a direct threat.’
Khalid, from Burnley, denied making threats to kill or abusive taunts. He told police that he may have flicked Mr Griffin the V-sign and shouted ‘Get out of Burnley’. The trial continues.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Vattenfall Mulls New Swedish Nuke Plants
Swedish state-owned power firm Vattenfall unveiled plans at a press conference on Friday to which could result in the construction of a new nuclear power station, according to a statement.
Vattenfall confirmed reports that it is to continue a partnership with Industrikraft, a firm formed last summer with the goal of providing nuclear power to Swedish industry.
“We at Vattenfall’s are very happy to be able to continue our close partnership with representatives for Swedish industry and work together to develop energy solutions for the future,” Hans von Ulthmann, Vattenfall vice CEO said.
The firms behind Industikraft include some of Sweden’s major industrial firms, such as paper firm Holmen, SCA, Boliden and Eka Chemicals.
Industrikraft was formed less than six months before the government parties agreed to lift a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power.
The government decision paved the way for up to ten new reactors to be built at existing nuclear power facilities.
Vattenfall explained that the next phase in the project would be to investigate and reach a decision on concrete partnership projects.
“The partnership is fully in line with our long-term strategic goal “Making Electricity Clean” and contributes to the achievement of stated climate goals,” Vattenfall CEO Lars G Josefsson said.
As Vattenfall’s owner the Swedish state retains the final say on any plans to construct new nuclear power facilities on Swedish soil.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia-Slovenia: Border, Croatian Opposition Blocks Accord
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, OCTOBER 29 — Slovenia could once again block negotiations for Croatia’s adhesion to the European Union if the country does not proceed in coming days with signing of the agreement on the delineation of maritime borders in the Gulf of Piran in the northern Adriatic. So said the Croatian Premier, Jadranka Kosor, who yesterday evening did not obtain from the centre-left opposition support for the border compromise reached in September with the Slovenian Premier Borut Pahor. The major force of the opposition, the Social-Democratic Party (SDP), expressed, after a meeting with premier Kosor, its reservations over the affair. For the head of the SDP, Zoran Milanovic, it still must be made clear what it means, from a legal stand point, the expression ‘Slovenian contact with the open sea’, present in the agreement, or if the compromise opens the way for the cession of 200 square kilometres of Croatian territorial waters to Slovenia which is interested in gaining access to the international waters of the northern Adriatic. That which is defined as the ‘Kosor agreement’ must, before it is signed, obtain the go-ahead from two thirds of Parliament, a majority that it does not have without the SDP. Milanovic explained that, before granting approval, he would like to hear the opinion of the President of the Republic, Stipe Mesic, and some experts on international law. In December 2008 Ljubljana blocked Zagreb’s continuing negotiations with the EU insisting that first it was necessary to resolve the border dispute. The compromise reached in September provides for the institution of an international intermediary to judge based on the presumption that Croatia guarantees Slovenia “contact” with the open sea. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Former President Clinton Unveils Statue in Kosovo
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo’s capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton on Sunday as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name.
Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO’s bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces’ crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
This is his first visit to Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last year.
Many waved American, Albanian and Kosovo flags and chanted “USA!” as the former president climbed on top of a podium with his poster in the background reading “Kosovo honors a hero.”
Some peeked out of balconies and leaned on window sills to get a better view of Clinton from their apartment blocks.
To thunderous applause Clinton waved to the crowd as the red cover was pulled off from the statue.
The statue is placed on top of a white-tiled base, in the middle of a tiny square, surrounded by communist-era buildings.
“I never expected that anywhere, someone would make such a big statue of me,” Clinton said of the gold-sprayed statue weighing a ton (900 kilograms).
He also addressed Kosovo’s 120-seat assembly, encouraging them to forgive and move on from the violence of the past.
The statue portrays Clinton with his left arm raised and holding a portfolio bearing his name and the date when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, on March. 24, 1999.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed during the Kosovo crackdown and about 800,000 were forced out of their homes. They returned home after NATO-led peacekeepers moved in following 78 days of bombing.
Leta Krasniqi, an ethnic Albanian, said the statue was the best way to express the ethnic Albanians’ gratitude for Clinton’s role in making Kosovo a state.
“This is a big day,” Krasniqi, 25 said. “I live nearby and I’m really excited that I will be able to see the statue of such a big friend of ours every day.”
Clinton last visited Kosovo in 2003 when he received an honorary university degree. His first visit was in 1999 — months after some 6,000 U.S. troops were deployed in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission here.
Some 1,000 American soldiers are still based in Kosovo as part of NATO’s 14,000-strong peacekeeping force.
Police in Kosovo upped security measures ahead of Bill Clinton’s arrival by adding deploying more traffic police and special police.
NATO officials said the peacekeepers were also on alert, although no additional security measures were taken.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Statue Hails Bill Clinton’s Role in War Against Serbia
Former US president Bill Clinton vowed Sunday that Barack Obama would stand by Kosovo as he attended the unveiling of a huge statue in his honour.
The three-metre (10-foot) tall statue, which depicts Clinton waving his left hand, was erected in a boulevard already named after him in Pristina, where he is viewed as a hero for his role in the war against Serb forces.
“I am profoundly grateful that I had a chance to be a part of ending horrible things that were happening here 10 years ago and giving you a chance to build a better future for yourselves,” he said at the ceremony.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo Hails Ex-President Clinton, Unveils His Statue
PRISTINA (Reuters) — Kosovo’s Albanian majority unveiled a statue of former U.S. president Bill Clinton on Sunday to thank him for saving them by stopping a wave of ethnic cleansing by Serbia.
As the U.S. President in 1999, Clinton launched NATO air strikes to halt the killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbian troops.
Clinton’s speech was interrupted several times by Kosovo Albanians wildly cheering his name and U.S.A., and waving U.S., Albanian and Kosovo flags.
“I am profoundly grateful that I had a chance to be a part of ending the horrible things that were happening to you 10 years ago giving you a chance to build a better future for yourself,” Clinton told the crowd.
The crowd chanted Clinton’s name when the former president started shaking hands with people along a boulevard named after him.
“I never expected … anywhere someone will make such a big statue of me,” Clinton said after his 3-meter (10 foot) statue was unveiled.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Agriculture: EU-Israel Agreement for Trade Liberalisation
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 31 — The council of economic and financial affairs of the European Union has approved the partnership agreement between Israel and the EU, which will allow for the liberalisation of further agricultural trade between the two parties with wider concessions for Israeli fruit and vegetables, reported Corriere Ortofrutticolo online. The agreement, as a note on the Fepex (the association of Spanish fruit and vegetable exporters) site reads, provides for the full liberalisation of imports on agricultural products from Israel, excluding some products considered sensitive, like potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, oranges, tangerines, table grapes, melons and strawberries. For some of the products the agreement institutes quotas for the period from January 1 to 30 June 2009, during which there will be no customs duties: for potatoes the quota is 33,963 tonnes, for tomatoes 28,000 tonnes, peppers 17,248 tonnes. Other products with quotas without customs duties are large tomatoes (5,000 tonnes) and cucumbers (1,000 tonnes). Regarding zucchinis the agreement decrees liberty to import the product all over Israel, independently from the EU between December 1 and the end of February. According to Fepex, the agreement reached between the EU and Israel damages the sector in Spain, very important quotas are given to Mediterranean countries with production similar to that of Spain without the country receiving any compensation. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
And Now the Truth Becomes Clear: Hillary Clinton Announces That the Palestinians Are the Obstacles to Peace
by Barry Rubin
Yesterday I discussed the significance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s praise for Israel’s policy during her trip to Jerusalem, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had offered unprecedented concessions to get peace talks started again.
We don’t know what the plan is though there are hints that Israel agreed to stop all construction on the West Bank once the 3,000 apartment units now being constructed were completed and that this freeze would not apply to construction in east Jerusalem. This is indeed a major concession on Netanyahu’s part and once again puts the lie to the claim that he is inflexible or hard line (though no doubt we will still daily see this in media coverage).
This visit, however, also may be a major turning point in both U.S. policy and public perceptions of the problem regarding the peace process.
At the center of this stands the Number One Paradox of the issue, in some ways of all Middle Eastern politics: Why is it that although the Palestinians complain that they are suffering from a horrible occupation and not having a state of their own they are not in any hurry to make a peace agreement, end the “occupation,” and get a state.
The main answer is that the dominant Palestinian view is still the desire to win a total victory and wipe Israel off the map. The back-up stance is that any peace agreement must not block the continued pursuit of that goal. And the back-up position to that is to reject strong security guarantees, recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, an unmilitarized Palestinian state, settlement of Palestinian refugees in Palestine, territorial compromise or exchanges, and indeed any concession whatsoever.
There are two implications of this…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Fini: Peace Never So Distant, More EU
(ANSAmed) — CAPRI (NAPLES), OCTOBER 31 — “Peace between Israel and the Palestinians has never been so far off,”said The Speaker of Italy’s Lower House, Gianfranco Fini, during his address to the Young Confindustria Congress being held in Capri today. “Never before as at the present moment has a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seemed so far off.” Fini went on to express a hope for a greater involvement of Europe’s institutions in the Middle East issue. “Once the Treaty of Lisbon has been ratified, the EU has to make more of an effort to play a decisive role in the Middle East peace process: a role that cannot be played by Washington alone”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ICE Seminar on Restoration at Tel Aviv
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 31 — On December 17 th and 18 th there will be a seminar on restoration and diagnostics, organised by ICE (Italian Trade Commission). A note by ICE states that the market of restoration and conservation has grown significantly during the last few years. According to a plan set out by the relevant authorities, approximately ten thousand buildings will be subject to restoration in the near future in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinians Reject Clinton Proposal, Then Blame U.S., Israel
Deal would have quietly ended Jewish construction in strategic territories
JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday offered the Palestinians backing for a halt to Jewish construction in the strategic West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, but the Palestinian Authority refused her proposal.
At a press conference here today, Clinton publicly endorsed Israel’s view that Jewish construction in the West Bank should not impede resuming negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority had demanded a complete halt to settlement activity in line with previous demands from the Obama administration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Muslim Woman’s Place is in Society: Nobel Laureate
Iranian Nobel Laureate and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi on Monday implored Muslim women to assume a wider role in their home countries through education and active participation in politics.
“Women must fulfill their duty to society and not stay at home,” she told participants in the Festival of Thinkers forum in Abu Dhabi.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Arms Cache Discovered Near Riyadh
Saudi authorities have discovered an arms cache near the capital linked to an Al-Qaeda cell dismantled in August, an interior ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
The spokesman, quoted by the SPA state news agency, said the weapons were found in a house after interrogations of 44 people allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda whose arrests were announced on August 19.
The arms haul comprised 281 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 250 magazines and 35 cases containing 41,250 rounds of ammunition, the spokesman said.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
EU — Dati: Turkey More Useful in Med. Than in Europe
(ANSAmed) — CAPRI (NAPLES), OCTOBER 31 — Turkey has a greater usefulness “at the heart of the Mediterranean”, than within Europe. This is the position taken by former Minister of Justice for France, Rachida Dati, speaking to the Young Confindustria Congress taking place on the island of Capri today. “Turkey is a great country, a great presence; it is capable of playing the role of intermediary between the Mediterranean and Europe, which is why it is of greater utility at the heart of the Mediterranean than it would be at the heart of Europe”. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Maronite Cardinal Says Hezbollah an Abnormal Force
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 31 — There has been a lively exchange of views between the Catholic Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir,and exponents of the pro-Iranian Shiite Hezbollah movement, over the issue of the arms held by the ‘Party of God’. In an interview appearing in today’s edition of the Lebanese weekly, al Massira, Cardinal Sfeir defined the presence of Hezbollah militia in Lebanon as an “abnormality” and he responded its high prelate without, however, naming names saying that he was welcome to shout as much as he wished. The Maronite Patriarch accused the movement under Sayed Hassan Nasrallah of using its militia to “consolidate its political position”. “There is no doubt that Hezbollah has greater loyalty to Iran than it has to Lebanon,”Sfeir said, adding that the pro-Iranian group “will not lay down its arms until it is asked to do so”. Speaking through its Deputy Secretary, Naim Qassem, Hezbollah replied that it defines itself as an “anti-Israeli resistance force”. Cited in the local press today, Qassem stated: “Lebanon’s strength lies in resistance and we shall never surrender (…) Let us leave the street-criers to bawl as they like”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Italy to Hand Over UNIFIL Command to Spain, Frattini
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 30 — Italy’s Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, has today confirmed to Spain’s Prime Minister, Jose Louis Zapatero, that Italy is to stick to the undertaking made by premier Silvio Berlusconi and will not be calling for “a renewal of its command” of the UNIFIL mission stationed in Lebanon. Frattini was speaking at a press conference called in Brussels at the end of the Council of European leaders. At present, UNIFIL is under the command of Italy’s General Claudio Graziano. The foreign office chief stressed that this was a “decision for the United Nations” but it was nonetheless a fact that Madrid has expressed its “availability” to take over the command and that Italy had not. The issue had also been addressed by Italy’s Defence Minister, Ignazio La Russa, in the morning: he announced that “the question of the command aside,” Italy’s plans were “to reduce its contingent in Lebanon, which presently stands at over 2,000”. The Minister went on to reaffirm that Italy intends to “keep to its undertaking” to hand over command to Spain, even if “many sides, not just Israel but also some international organisations had been calling for an extension to its period in command of the UNIFIL mission”, which has been led by Genera Graziano for the past three years. Meanwhile, following yesterday’s differences in opinion between Israel and Spain over the future command of UNIFIL, Israel’s defence minister, Ehud Barak, cancelled a visit to Spain planned for next week. The official reason given for the cancellation was “a crowded diary”, according to statements issued by Spain’s Foreign and Defence Ministers, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and Carme Chacon.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Matrix Producer Plans Muhammad Biopic
Barrie Osborne, part of the Oscar-winning team behind the Lord of the Rings films, says the new production ‘will educate people about the true meaning of Islam’
Producer Barrie Osborne cast Keanu Reeves as the messiah in The Matrix and helped defeat the dark lord Sauron in his record-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now the Oscar-winning American film-maker is set to embark on his most perilous quest to date: making a big-screen biopic of the prophet Muhammad.
Budgeted at around $150m (£91.5m), the film will chart Muhammad’s life and examine his teachings. Osborne told Reuters that he envisages it as “an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam”.
Osborne’s production will reportedly feature English-speaking Muslim actors. It is backed by the Qatar-based production company Alnoor Holdings, who have installed the Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi to oversee all aspects of the shoot. In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen.
“The film will shed light on the Prophet’s life since before his birth to his death,” Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mustafa, Alnoor’s chairman, told al-Jazeera. “It will highlight the humanity of Prophet Muhammad.”
The as-yet-untitled picture is due to go before the cameras in 2011. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will be beaten to cinemas by another Muhammad-themed drama. Late last year, producer Oscar Zoghbi announced plans to remake The Message, his controversial 1976 drama that sparked a fatal siege by protesters in Washington DC. The new version, entitled The Messenger of Peace, is currently still in development.
| — Hat tip: Cimmerian | [Return to headlines] |
Qatari Firm in Talks to Make Prophet Mohammad Film
An epic film about Islam’s Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix” is being planned with the aim of “bridging cultures”.
Filming of the $150-million English-language movie is set to start in 2011 with American Barrie Osborne as its producer, Qatari media company Alnoor Holdings said on Sunday.
The film — in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic rules — is in development and talks are being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain, Alnoor said.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-KGB Spy Gunned Down in Moscow
A Russian businessman who was convicted in Israel as a KGB spy has been shot dead in Moscow, police say.
Investigators said Shabattai Kalmanovich, 60, was killed by gunmen who fired at his Mercedes from a passing car, Russian media reported.
His driver was seriously wounded in the attack but tried to chase the killers, reports said.
Mr Kalmanovich was well known in Russia as a music concert promoter and as a basketball sponsor.
His killing appeared to have been “carefully planned”, a police official was quoted by ITAR-Tass news agency as saying.
In televised remarks, Moscow Investigative Committee chief Anatoly Bagmet said the killing could have been related to Mr Kalmanovich’s business affairs or have been driven by “personal revenge”.
Jailed for spying
Mr Kalmanovich emigrated from the former Soviet Union to Israel in 1971 and in 1988 was jailed for spying for the KGB, media reports said.
He was released after serving five years and relocated to Sierra Leone, where he made a fortune in the diamonds trade.
He later returned to Russia where he ran a large shopping centre in Moscow and promoted concerts for stars including Michael Jackson and Liza Minnelli.
Mr Kalmanovich also sponsored basketball clubs and in 2008 became general manager of the Russian women’s basketball team.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Hunt Intensifies for Al Qaeda 9/11 Plotter Said Bahaji After His Passport is Found in Pakistan
WASHINGTON — The CIA is hunting a 9/11 plotter in Pakistan who was a roommate of one of the lead hijackers who struck the twin towers with hijacked jets, the Daily News has learned.
Pakistani military officers yesterday displayed a cache of newly-captured weapons and documents including the German passport of Said Bahaji.
Bahaji, 34, lived with 9/11 plot leaders Mohamed Atta and Ramzi Binalshibh and was part of their Hamburg, Germany, cell, helping to plan the 9/11 attacks.
Ziad Jarrah, the hijacker of the United Airlines jet that crashed in Pennsylvania, attended Bahaji’s wedding.
Bahaji is believed to be alive and has rank in Al Qaeda as “a senior propagandist,” a U.S. counterterror official told The News.
He also is involved in operational activity.
The passport — which CNN video showed with a Pakistani entry stamp of Sept. 4, 2001 — is evidence the CIA’s hunt for Bahaji may intensify.
It was shown to reporters in South Waziristan, the tribal agency where the CIA has launched dozens of missile strikes at Al Qaeda safe houses in the past year.
Operatives typically fork over their passports to the group when they enter the tribal areas.
“Atta and Binalshibh used Bahaji’s computer for Internet research,” the 9/11 commission’s 2004 report said.
“Diskettes seized from Bahaji’s residence also contained bomb-making instructions.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Aims to Bury Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Swathes of dirty clouds brood over a coal plant in rural Japan, but scientists are now hoping to send the pollutants the other way, deep into the bowels of Mother Earth.
The cutting-edge but controversial technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being tested at the Mikawa power station, located near the coast of Japan’s southern Fukuoka prefecture.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Space Arms Race Inevitable Says Chinese Commander
An arms race in space is an “historical inevitability” a senior Chinese air force commander has warned marking an apparent shift in Beijing’s opposition to weaponising outer space.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa (From Swedish): Homosexual Imam Visits Parliament
Imam Muhsin Hendricks from South Africa came to talk about homosexuality and Islam. He says we live in a changing world, and Islam mmust adapt to the world.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Uganda: Mayuge Women Want Adulterous Wives Punished
WOMEN in Mayuge district have asked the Government to come up with a policy to penalise women who commit adultery with married men.
They said the adulturous couple should be punished equally, unlike the current practice where men are pinned more.
Their request was made through the state minister for gender, Rukia Isanga Nakadama, during a two-day convention in Mayuge district recently.
The function was organised by the gender ministry in partnership with the World Islamic Call Society in Mayuge.
The convention’s theme was ‘Women empowerment on religious, economic and leadership dimensions’.
Entrepreneur and resource management skills, gender violence and its implications on development and conflict management are the other topics that were discussed.
Participants were also urged to guard against domestic violence.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Finally, A Coup in Honduras
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon and the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Dan Restrepo, visited the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, on Wednesday to compel the country’s recalcitrant democrats to make a deal with the man the latter had lawfully removed from the presidency on June 28th. It remains to be seen whether, pursuant to this deal, ex-President Manuel Zelaya will now be— as he claims— restored to power. What is already unmistakable, though, is that it is better to be a foe of America than its friend…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Italy Gets Support, Burden to be Divided
(by Chiara De Felice) (ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — Italy and the other European countries, continually under pressure from the flow of migrants from the southern shores of the Mediterranean, have been given support from the rest of the EU, which today committed to divide the burden and responsibility for a phenomena that does not seem to be slowing down. Italy is “fully satisfied”, said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, given that all of its most important proposals have been accepted. After Premier Silvio Berlusconi and French president Nicolas Sarkozy, in a joint letter, asked for “concrete solidarity” from their European partners, the Council answered in the affirmative and underlined its conclusions that “the need for tangible and efficient solidarity with the member states that suffer particular migrant pressure”. Included in the actions solicited by Rome and Paris, all approved by the Council, is the strengthening of Frontex, the European agency for coastal patrols. The EU asks the commission to study the possibility of “regular rental, financed by Frontex, of joint repatriations flights for illegal migrants. Additionally, to “strengthen Frontex’s operational capacity” the 27 member states ask for a drawing up of clear common operating procedures with rules of engagement for joint operation at sea in order to protect those in need of such and for “operating cooperation between Frontex and the countries of origin and transit” must increase. A green light was also given to the Italian proposal to create a European asylum agency that will be active by the end of December. The last point is the strengthening of dialogue with Libya on migration management and an answer to illegal immigration. The EU calls for an agreement that also covers the aspects of “cooperation at sea, border control, and readmission”. Italy is “fully satisfied” by the decisions on immigration adopted today by the Council. “We obtained the acceptance of the most important proposals” recently put forward by Berlusconi and Sarkozy”, said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini during the press conference that closed the Brussels meeting. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: More Dialogue With Libya
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 30 — The European Council asks both the presidency and the Commission “to step up the dialogue with Libya on migration management and on the response to illegal immigration”, including the aspects of “cooperation at sea, border control and readmittance”. So is underlined in the final statement of the summit of EU State and government leaders on immigration. The document, that is nearing its approval by the European Council, stresses the growing need for “a wide-ranging, far-sighted and global European migration policy”. The EU insists on “tangible and effective solidarity with those countries that are under most pressure”, also asking to reinforce Frontex, European Union agency for external border security, and to “step up the dialogue with Libya”. For Frontex “clear rules of engagement are needed for joint operations at sea”. The agency should also fund the repatriation of illegal immigrants, according to the EU. The European agency for asylum, proposed by Italy, will be created “in 2009”. Italy is pleased with the document, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, because “the most important proposals” made recently by Premier Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy “have been accepted”. Frattini mentioned the approval of the creation this year of the European agency for asylum, the strengthening of Frontex and the Commission’s appeal for negotiations between the EU and Libya. Of course, the minister concluded, “now we are waiting for those decisions to be turned into concrete action”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: One Status for Refugees Needed, Sarkozy
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 30 — The European Council in December should define one European status for refugees, said French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the end of the EU summit in Brussels. Sarkozy expressed his satisfaction for the commitments made today by the 27 member states to strengthen Frontex, the European coastal borders patrol agency and allow the organization of common repatriation flights for illegal immigrants. However, according to the French president, after these results, in December the European Council should take additional steps for cooperation in dealing with immigration, overcoming the current fragmentation that exists between the 27 states in terms of the refugee status given to migrants who apply for it. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Maroni: Apparent Change of Heart by EU
(ANSAmed) — CAPRI (NAPLES), OCTOBER 31 — The Home Minister Roberto Maroni, speaking at the Young Confindustria conference at Capri, stated: “there seems to be a turning point on Mediterranean policy at the European Commission”. He went on to say “We have been abandoned by the EU, but now it looks as If things may be changing”. Maroni, however, is doubtful about “the possibility of an ad hoc commissioner being appointed for immigration by this new EU”. If it should happen, anyhow “I hope it won’t be solely for illegal immigration but also for those who come here to work. What we need are precise rules to be observed” he added. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tremonti: Weigh Up the Pros and Cons
(ANSAmed) — CAPRI (NAPLES), OCTOBER 31 — In evaluating immigration “it is clearly necessary to weigh up the positive and the negative factors against each other, and not just the negative ones”. Italian Finance Minister, Giulio Tremonti, made this observation to the Young Confindustria Congress being held on the island of Capri today, where the Mediterranean tops the agenda. With reference to remarks made by the Speaker of the country’s Lower House in his address, Fini, Tremonti said that it was important to take into account such aspects as “flows of remittances back to the countries of origin, which are striking in economic terms: we are importing workers and exporting capital; we pay the price of each person who comes here to work, but their heads and hearts remain in their homelands, otherwise they wouldn’t be making these remittances”. Tremonti said it was important to evaluate “how they, the immigrants, envisage their own future”. The Finance Minister reminded his audience of the provision which allows “a part of the VAT paid on consumer goods to go towards the sponsorship of voluntary work in the countries where the immigrants are coming from, where there is poverty. The state gives up a small piece of its VAT revenue if it goes into voluntary work in the poorer nations”, he said.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Porn Publisher Asked Jennings for Help
Result was 1st book for chief of office of safe schools
A pro-family organization is reporting a publisher of “gay erotica” sought out Kevin Jennings, who heads President Obama’s office of Safe Schools in the Department of Education, to write a book aimed at encouraging homosexuality in high schools and colleges.
The result was “Becoming Visible,” which opens with, “Why teach gay and lesbian history? … Indeed, as lesbian and gay studies has emerged as a discipline over the last two decades, its dramatic discoveries have shown it to be one of the most exciting fields in contemporary historical scholarship.”
Researchers at Mass Resistance reported Sasha Alyson of Alyson Publications sought out Jennings to do the book.
[…]
The publishing firm, which created “Daddy’s Roommate” and “Heather Has Two Mommies,” also has promoted “Macho Sluts”; “The Age Taboo,” an anthology of arguments for pedophilia; and “Pedophilia: The Radical Case,” the report said.
“It’s outrageous that the same company that markets books that condition children to accept homosexuality also peddles instructions on how pedophiles can have sex with children without getting caught,” said Lambda Report editor Peter LaBarbera, now of Americans For Truth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Current Global Temperatures Impossible According to IPCC ‘Science’.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says, “Unless we fight climate change, unless we stop this trend, we’ll have devastating consequences for humanity.”
Other leaders make similar silly statements. Obama claims the “threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing.”
But which way is it growing? Which trend are they going to stop? The one predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the one Mother Nature is providing? They’ve chosen the IPCC even though all their predictions (scenarios) are wrong. But it is worse. Global temperatures of the last few years are impossible according to the ‘science’ of the (IPCC).
[…]
As physicist David Douglass said, “If the facts are contrary to any predictions, then the hypothesis is wrong no matter how appealing.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad: A Wake Up Call! Clear & Present Danger to the West
Jerusalem Cloakroom #228, Oct. 23, 2009
1. Jihad (Holy War) has been a cardinal feature of Islam since the 7th century. It constitutes a clear & present danger to Western democracies, irrespective of the Arab-Israeli conflict, independent of the Palestinian issue and regardless of Israel’s policies and existence.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Love your site, but embracing Israel and rejecting National Socialism for conservative-reactionary politics diminishes chances for European national survival. Under Adolf Hitler a great bet was made you could say, and the bet was lost and the price dearly paid. But rest assured, had we won, things would not be brown, or red.
National Socialism has won less wars than the French. Its exemplery qualities were fancy uniforms and losing.
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