An undercover left-wing journalist in the Netherlands managed to join the PVV and easily obtained access to Geert Wilders. She reports that, despite Mr. Wilders’ tight security, she was close enough to him on numerous occasions to have killed him, had she so desired.In other news, the infamous George Galloway was deported from Egypt after the aid convoy that he organized for the Gaza Strip caused violent clashes with the Egyptian border patrol. According to reports, the security forces and members of the convoy threw stones at each other.
Thanks to Amil Imani, C. Cantoni, Diana West, DS, Gaia, Insubria, JD, JP2, MR, MZ, Nilk, Paul Green, Sean O’Brian, TB, TV, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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California’s Tax Withholding Bump-Up Starts Today
Some call it California’s cash advance.
Effective today, the amount of state income taxes withheld from California workers’ paychecks will increase 10 percent.
That might sound like a tax increase, but state officials insist that’s not the case.
Tax experts agree, saying this bump up in withholding taxes gives the state some wiggle room in managing California’s treasury in a year that saw a titanic political battle to get a handle on the state’s budget.
The increased withholding comes on top of a 0.25 percent state income tax increase and a reduction in the dependent credit, also enacted as part of the state budget.
Essentially, the accelerated withholding program does not generate additional tax revenue. Instead, it front-loads it, bringing cash in more quickly in an effort to keep the state treasury stocked with funds, which is where the “cash advance” tag comes in.
State officials have estimated that the move will generate an additional $1.7 billion in the current fiscal year.
The bottom line is that a worker’s total annual income tax bill won’t rise, and the amount owed at April 2010 tax time will be adjusted accordingly.
Simply put, if you owe taxes when April 15 comes along, the balance due will be less based on what was withheld from your paycheck in the last two months of the year. If you’re due a refund, you can expect a little more.
Taxpayers can evade the accelerated withholding schedules simply by increasing the number of allowances on the withholding forms filed with their employers.
That won’t make much difference for the calendar 2009 tax year, but it will have a bigger impact for 2010 and perhaps beyond.
“The changes that are happening are only for about nine weeks for 2009, so the impact for 2009 is minor,” said Brenda Voet, spokeswoman for the state Franchise Tax Board. “But we’re trying to warn people to go to their personnel and human resources departments for 2010 to make sure they have the proper amount of tax withheld and make any adjustments they need to make. We don’t want people to be surprised by anything.”
For low-income earners, the withholding change has minor effects.
FTB said a single person earning $17,000 annually with no dependents and one withholding allowance will see his or her weekly withholding rate go to $2.68 compared with $2.44 prior to the change, a difference of 24 cents. That same person with five or 10 withholding allowances will see no change.
Those with higher wages will experience bigger impacts.
FTB said a single person earning $51,000 annually with no dependents and one withholding allowance will see his or her weekly withholding rate go from $40.58 to $44.64, an increase of $4.06.
For a married person earning $145,000 annually with two dependents and no withholding allowances, the weekly increase is $16.90 (from $168.95 to $185.85). The married $1 million-a-year earner with two dependents and no allowances will see a $173.92 weekly increase (from $1,739.19 to $1,913.11)
Those who pay quarterly estimated income taxes will have to make an adjustment at the change of the year in January. They will pay 70 percent of their estimated taxes in the first half of 2010, as opposed to the 60 percent paid this year.
Even with the increases, state withholding will remain less than half the amount withheld for federal taxes.
The withholding increase taking effect today is open-ended. The Legislature could call it off at some point, but financial analysts don’t see that happening in the near future, given California’s recent struggles to balance its budget.
Local workers who say they’re counting every penny in the current economy said the withholding increase represents another body blow.
“I know the state has its budget problems, but so do I,” said Marjorie Smith, an employee at a local insurance office. “I guess it’s not called a tax increase, but taking even a couple of dollars away right now makes a difference. I’m paying medical bills, lunches for kids and household expenses.”
Sacramento hair stylist Melissa Adams agreed: “I’m barely hanging on to my home right now. I can’t make ends meet, and I can’t borrow any more. Every dime means a lot.”
FTB officials said they are stressing that California wage earners meet with both tax preparers and at-work human resources department officials to fine-tune their taxes.
Besides increased withholding, a state income tax increase approved by the Legislature as part of February’s budget deal will raise rates by 0.25 percentage points for each tax bracket for the 2009 and 2010 tax years.
Some taxpayers — those fortunate enough not to suffer any drops in income — also will be paying slightly higher taxes under new rates posted by the FTB in August. That’s because price deflation, which occurs when consumer prices fall, has caused California’s six tax brackets to kick in at slightly lower income levels.
However, Californians whose incomes were reduced by pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs probably won’t see a noticeable tax increase because of the bracket changes. State officials said the taxes of those people likely will go down, not up.
Also in the mix: A new tax law lowered the state dependent exemption credit from last year’s $309 to $98 for the 2009 and 2010 tax years.
“With all of the changes, it’s a good time to sit down and figure out the proper amount of tax you’re going to pay for your particular situation,” Voet said.
| — Hat tip: MZ | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Press Says EU Wants Labour Costs Reduced
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JANUARY 7 — The European Union wants Greece to show greater austerity in order to bring its enormous deficit under control, and has specifically requested a reduction in labour costs, according to press reports this morning. According to economic analyst Yannis Angelis, interviewed by the online financial daily Capital, the EU recommendations aim to reduce labour costs in Greece and improve the country’s competitiveness — one of the fundamental problems of its economy. If the government agrees to Brussels’ recommendations, this will lead — according to Angelis — “to the largest domestic devaluation of the last few decades”, with a reduction in labour costs and the prices of goods and services. The pro-governmental daily Ta Nea reports that before the EU mission’s arrival yesterday to examine the draft version of the government’s ‘stabilisation plan’, Brussels had sent Athens a number of “recommendations” on measures to be adopted, including an increase in energy rates and VAT, as well as a “7% cut in the salaries” of public sector employees. The newspaper admitted that it is not yet clear whether this refers to a reduction in the overall amount of state money spent on salaries (including future employees to be hired) or a nominal reduction in salaries. Experts say that the goal could be reached by doing away with holiday bonuses, “the legislation for which would also include private sector salaries”, or in a less drastic way through a reduction in benefits and allowances: an option already under consideration by the government. Until now, the Greek plan had called for a freezing of salaries of over 2,000 euros and — following the advance figures on targets for 2013 and 2012 — reportedly also a reduction in benefits. The trade union of public sector employees Adedy has called a strike between the end of January and February against the government measures, while from the standpoint of communists and those on the far left, “the government’s cure is worse than the sickness itself”. Meanwhile, the EU mission continues in Athens, entrusted with the task of guaranteeing that the three-year stabilisation programme will be effective in bringing the deficit under 3% of GDP in three years, as the government claims. Following meetings yesterday with civil servants from the finance ministry, representatives from the Commission and the Central European Bank will be engaging in talks today with the economy, labour, healthcare and defence ministries. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Air Force Completes Killer Micro-Drone Project
The Air Force Research Laboratory set out in 2008 to build the ultimate assassination robot: a tiny, armed drone for U.S. special forces to employ in terminating “high-value targets.” The military won’t say exactly what happened to this Project Anubis, named after a jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology. But military budget documents note that Air Force engineers were successful in “develop[ing] a Micro-Air Vehicle (MAV) with innovative seeker/tracking sensor algorithms that can engage maneuvering high-value targets.”
We have seen in recent years increased strikes by larger Predator and Reaper drones using Hellfire missiles against terrorist-leadership targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But these have three significant drawbacks.
First, you can never be quite sure of what you hit. In 2002’s notorious “Tall Man incident,” CIA operatives unleashed a Hellfire at an individual near Zhawar Kili in Afghanistan’s Paktia province. His unusual height convinced the drone controllers that the man was Bin Laden (who stands 6 feet, 5 inches). In fact, he was merely an innocent (if overgrown) Afghan peasant.
A second problem is that the Hellfire isn’t exactly the right weapon for the mission. Originally designed as an anti-tank missile, it’s not especially agile, nor is it designed to cope with a target that might swerve or dodge at the last second (like cars and motorbikes).
And thirdly, such strikes tend to affect a number of others, as well as the intended target. It raises the risk of killing or injuring innocent bystanders.
This was the rationale for Project Anubis. Special Forces already make extensive use of the Wasp drone made by AeroVironment. This is the smallest drone in service, weighing less than a pound. It has an endurance of around 45 minutes, and line-of-sight control extends to 3 miles.
It might seem limited compared to larger craft, but the Wasp excels at close-in reconnaissance. Its quiet electric motor means it can get near to targets without their ever being aware of its presence.
The Air Force’s 2008 budget plans described the planned Project Anubis as “a small UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] that carries sensors, data links, and a munitions payload to engage time-sensitive fleeting targets in complex environments.” It noted that after it was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Anubis would be used by Air Force Special Operations Command. The total cost was to be just over half a million dollars.
No official announcements have been made since then, and the Air Force did not return a request to comment on this story (hardly surprising for a weapon so likely to be used covertly). But the current Air Force R&D budget does mention the effort, briefly. This newer document refers to Project Anubis as a development that has already been carried out. According to the budget, $1.75 million was spent to reach the goal.
The current state of Project Anubis is unknown. It could be one of tens of thousands of military research efforts that started, made some progress and ended without a conclusion. Or Anubis could now be in the hands of Air Force Special Operations Command.
If so, Anubis would solve both of the problems associated with the Predator-Hellfire combination. It would follow and catch the most elusive target, and its ability to take a video sensor close to the target should mean it can be positively identified before the operator has to make a go or no-go decision.
(There may be a classical reference here: The god Anubis was responsible for weighing the hearts of the dead to judge whether they would have eternal life. The Project Anubis MAV will have to make similarly fine judgments.)
A tiny warhead, weighing a fraction of a pound, could mean extremely little collateral damage, compared to the 20-pound warhead on a Hellfire.
I reported in 2007 on a rumor that the miniature Wasp drone (photo at top) might get a lethal “sting.” It now appears that word of this new weaponry was more than idle talk.
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
C-Span Host Allows Anti-Semitic Rant
‘Catatonic’ as caller, Scheuer blast Israel
A C-SPAN host has let a caller and a guest both launch anti-Semitic rants without objection or censure, and then declined to explain why the harsh criticism of Israel — described as of “no worth” — was allowed.
The discourse came recently while Bill Scanlan was hosting the program, and a video of the exchange has been preserved at a website called “the elder of ziyon.”
The site describes the exchange as including an “unbelievably anti-Semitic question by the caller,” but also criticized that the C-SPAN anchor doesn’t even blink. C-SPAN guest Michael Scheuer also is captured “pretty much telling the world how Israel deserves to be the target of terror attacks.”
The episode started with an unidentified caller to the show:
“I, for one, am sick and tired of all these Jews coming on CSPAN and other stations and pushing us to go to war against our Muslim friends,” the caller said. “They’re willing to spend the last drop of American blood and treasure to get their way in the world … They have way too much power in this country.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ed Koch: ‘Hundreds of Millions’ Of Muslims Are Terrorists
Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York City, told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Thursday that “hundreds of millions” of Muslims are terrorists. Taking up the now-standard conservative political talking point, in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt, that political correctness prevents the US from identifying Muslim terrorists as such, Koch said (www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWyRsuxuWAE): We’re afraid of calling them Muslim, Islamist terrorists. We’ll call them anything but. Because we don’t want to alienate Muslim countries. That’s ridiculous. Of course the vast majority of Muslims — there are a billion, four hundred million — are not terrorists, but there are hundreds of millions who are. They want to kill every Christian, every Jew, every Hindu who won’t convert. And we ought to put it on the table.
Host Neil Cavuto did not attempt to correct or even question Koch’s claim.
Joshua Holland at AlertNet gives Koch “the benefit of the doubt” and assumes Koch meant to say “hundreds of thousands” of Muslim terrorists. Even so, Holland argues, that suggests Muslim terrorists aren’t doing their job very well.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Edsel Ford Student Apologizes for Twin Towers Sweatshirt During Well-Attended Meeting
Between 250 and 300 parents, students and concerned citizens turned out for a meeting Tuesday night at Edsel Ford High School in Dearborn to discuss controversial sweatshirts worn to school Monday by several Arab-American students, according to various media reports.
In an apparent reference to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, the sweatshirt read, “You can’t bring us down” below an image of the school’s thunderbird mascot flying near a windowed number 11 (as in class of 2011).
Wadhah Almadhagi, one of the students who helped design the sweatshirts, last night apologized for his actions.
“I was foolish to do it and I’m very sorry,” Almadhagi said, per WDIV. “I can promise that as long as I’m in Edsel Ford I’ll do my best to ensure something like this, as foolish and naive as this, will never happen again.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Have You Seen My Country Lately?
In keeping with the hard-hitting tenor of his nationally syndicated radio show, Jerry Doyle has authored a no-nonsense call-to-action book, “Have You Seen My Country Lately? America’s Wake-Up Call.”
Resonating themes that are at the heart of the tea-party movement, Doyle rails against what he calls “economic fascism,” as typified by President Obama’s takeover of General Motors by imposing “total government control of one of the biggest auto companies in the world” and arranging “an enormous payoff” to one of Obama’s biggest campaign supporters, the United Auto Workers union.
With an insightful review of the 1960s that ranges from LSD-enthusiast Timothy Leary to Black Panther criminals, including Eldridge Cleaver and George Jackson, Doyle makes it clear Obama is “a disciple and practitioner of 1960s radicalism.”
Noting Obama’s long association with SDS Weatherman bomber Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the black liberation theology pastor who was Obama’s spiritual adviser for 20 years, Doyle declares, “Obama is not the beginning of something new: he’s the culmination of something old and stale: the extremist collectivism and hippie naïveté of the 1960s.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NCTC Director Michael Leiter Remained on Ski Slopes After Christmas Day Airline Bombing Attempt
WASHINGTON — The top official in charge of analyzing terror threats did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day, the Daily News has learned.
Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency’s “bat cave” nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.
“People have been grumbling that he didn’t let a little terrorism interrupt his vacation,” said one of the sources.
The NCTC, the post-9/11 clearinghouse for intelligence to detect terror plots against the U.S., is under intense scrutiny for failing to “connect the dots” on Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Leiter’s spokesman declined to say when the terror-center chief returned to Washington and fully retook the helm of his analysis agency, which is near CIA headquarters just outside the nation’s capital.
“It is our policy to not make our director’s schedule available to the public,” center spokesman Carl Kropf said in an e-mail.
Leiter has long been well-regarded, and he was not the only official in the homeland security orbit to skip town for vacation during the holidays. President Obama himself stayed in Hawaii until Jan. 4.
But Leiter’s decision to stay close to the ski slopes instead of his headquarters — ground zero for defending the nation against terror — has raised eyebrows among intelligence officials, who have been scrambling since Dec. 25 to figure out what went wrong and plug the holes.
Leiter — appointed by President George W. Bush — already ranked high in the buzz over whose heads could eventually end up on Obama’s chopping block.
Without mentioning Leiter or the NCTC by name, Obama made it plain in a Tuesday speech that there was intelligence in the center’s hands that should have been “fully analyzed and fully leveraged” to stop Abdulmutallab from boarding Northwest Flight 253.
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutors Say Anti-Muslim Cartoons Protected by Constitution
?In a story that has been picked up by The New York Times and the AP, The St. Cloud Times is reporting that two county prosecutors will not file charges against a man they say has admitted to posting anti-Musim cartoons near a mosque, a Somali-owned store and other places in and around St. Cloud.
Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall and Benton County Attorney Robert Raupp, in separate letters to St. Cloud City Attorney Jan Petersen, said the cartoons showing the Prophet Muhammad having sex with animals represented protected speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations condemned the cartoons as hate speech.
Investigators say the man told them that Muslims are “anti-Christian” and that he found the images online and thought it would be “cool” to post them on utility poles in the St. Cloud area.
“While I do not condone the crude and distasteful messages which the suspect in this case attempted to convey, criminal prosecution under the statutes available to this office would not be successful,” Raupp writes.
?Kendall wrote that the cartoons were political speech, and that the suspect was educating people rather than threatening them.
?Petersen told the paper he had not decided on whether to file other charges.
After news spread about the cartoons in December, Minnesota CAIR spokeswoman Jessica Zikri called on community leaders to speak out.
“We believe there is a direct correlation between anti-Muslim rhetoric and bias incidents targeting American Muslims,” she said. “Our state’s political and religious leaders need to speak out strongly against anti-Muslim hate, just as they would speak out against any other form of intolerance.”
| [Return to headlines] |
When James Woolsey and Nihad Awad Are on the Same Page
by Diana West
It’s more than strange when a former CIA director and the head of an Islamic advocacy group arrive at the same place on profiling terrorists — or, rather, not profiling terrorists. I refer to ex-spy chief James Woolsey and executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Nihad Awad, whose post-Abdulmutallab (the underpants bomber) statements are startlingly similar.
First, Awad’s statement. It is pointed as befits a media-trusted quote-meister — a gig unchanged, shockingly, by Awad’s past links to Hamas and other jihadist groups, and CAIR’s status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial and Muslim Brotherhood affiliate. “First look at behavior, not at faith or skin color,” Awad told the New York Times. “Then spend what it takes to obtain more bomb-sniffing dogs, to install more sophisticated bomb-detection equipment and to train security personnel in identifying the behavior of real terror suspects.”
Operative message: Ignore Islam. Watch for suspicious behavior and beef up the security gauntlet. That’s a sure-fire way to deny the existence of jihad and never end it, choosing instead to submit indefinitely to its untenable siege, equal parts frightening, humiliating and inconvenient. But — and this is where things get really disturbing — Woolsey’s idea of deterrent strategy is no different.
“I don’t think we should focus just on people from the Middle East,” he told National Review Online, euphemistically dismissing the heart of the Islamic world. “But generally speaking, we are talking about males in their late teens to 40 or so. I don’t see any reason why one shouldn’t put young men under particularly rigorous scrutiny and double-check all of them.”
All of them? To Woolsey, this counts as being tough-minded. “You really have to be an extremist with respect to political correctness to think you can’t treat young men differently from grandmothers.”
He added: “My family, we’re all WASPS. All three of my sons say we should be scrutinizing people like them: guys in their 20s and 30s. They say they’d be glad to go through three checks at the airport.”
Is he kidding? Nope. He wants us to believe that generic “young men,” not agents of Islamic jihad, are the problem. “Behavioral distinctions are also something to focus on,” he continued. “People who are acting funny, people who don’t have baggage, people who pay in cash. Those things have nothing to do with race, ethnicity, or religion and seem entirely appropriate as reasons for double-checking or having them go through special scanning machines.”
Woolsey’s message is the same as CAIR’s: Ignore Islam…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
WMDs in Your BVDs
Liberals like to lay the blame for Islamic terrorism on one of two causes: namely, the poverty in most Muslim nations or American foreign policy. Sometimes, just for variety, they’ll mention both items. And, as usual, they’re dead wrong on both counts.
If the cause were actually poverty, you wouldn’t find worldwide terrorism funded by Saudi Arabia and waged by such wealthy individuals as Osama bin Laden and young Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Nor should we forget the various Islamic doctors in London and Fort Hood’s Maj. Hasan, none of whom were charity cases.
Inasmuch as Islamic butchery has been directed at Russia, Iraq, Spain, France, Bali, England, Thailand, Israel, India, Pakistan and Holland, to name just a few of the non-American targets, our foreign policy can hardly be held accountable. However, you may be my guest if you wish to place some of the blame on George W. Bush’s reluctance to acknowledge that Islam had declared war on us and that Barack Obama refuses to even acknowledge that Hasan’s religion had anything to do with his murderous rampage.
I know that even some of those folks who aren’t as unwilling as our presidents to call a spade a garden utensil like to point out that the majority of Muslims aren’t killers. Well, duh. The fact is, most Russians were not members of the Communist Party and most Germans weren’t Nazis. So what? Between them, Stalin and Hitler, with the able assistance of their countrymen, murdered tens of millions of people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
5 Charged in New Year’s Sex Assaults
Five men have been charged in connection with a New Year’s Eve sexual assault, a day after photos of the suspects were released to the media.
The men contacted a lawyer and turned themselves in at the downtown 51 Division police station just after 6 a.m. Thursday.
Police finished taking statements from the men shortly before noon and took them to College Park for a court appearance.
Rozbah Bahri, 27, Parvez Bahri, 25, Said Serwary, 23, and Omed Sarwary, 23, of Toronto, and Ahmad Ghafari, 23, of Hamilton, have each been charged with two counts of gang sexual assault.
Two women told police they met five men at the Princes Ball, a New Year’s Eve party at the Allstream Centre in Exhibition Place.
They said the men accompanied them to the Marriott Hotel near Yonge and Bloor streets and, uninvited, entered their room shortly after 3 a.m.
The women said the men sexually assaulted them before leaving the hotel.
Photos from the event were posted on a party-promotion website, beforelastcall.com.
The women looked through the photos and identified all five of their alleged attackers. The photos were made public by police on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
Colonial Past Continues to Haunt France
JEAN-MARIE Le Pen is, against all odds, back in political business.
As France’s major political parties agonise over whether to ban the burqa and slap a E750 ($1170) fine on the husbands of the estimated 2000 women who wear it, the 81-year-old warhorse of the far-right National Front is enjoying an unexpected “new youth” and rubbing his hands together with glee, as Liberation newspaper puts it.
Le Pen was declared all but politically dead when Nicolas Sarkozy won the presidency in 2007 on a strong anti-illegal immigration platform. The extremist leader’s sudden resurrection is thanks to the so-called hyperpresident’s personal initiative for a “noble” national debate about what it means to be French.
[…]
But the process has been hijacked by xenophobes and is running out of control, according to figures from the President’s own centre-right UMP Party.
At least one-fifth of the 50, 000 contributions to the official website were erased because of obvious racism and Muslim-bashing.
As former Chirac spokesman Francois Baroin said, the debate has opened a Pandora’s box of baser instincts that can only help the National Front.
Once again France is in the grip of national angst linked to its colonial past, and its failure to integrate the children of its former colonies, many of them Muslims.
[…]
Next Monday, a group of 20 leading intellectuals will present a massive public petition calling for the abolition of the ministry that French with long memories detest for its resonance with the darkest days of collaborationist Vichy France.
For Juppe, the question of what it means to be French “does not truly pose itself”. French identity is contained in “three words”, he said, citing the revolutionary slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity.
With the addition of laicite (secularism and the strict separation of church and state) national identity is fully expressed.
“What we should be debating is whether we are remaining faithful to our tradition of welcoming those who join us, in particular Muslims,” he said.
France was a country of immigration and any process that set up Muslims against other communities was “detestable”.
Even the President seems to acknowledge the racist cat has jumped too far out of the bag. Sarkozy dumbfounded voters and commentators when his more-socialist-than-thou New Year’s “wishes” discourse failed to mention his pet subjects of immigration and national identity.
The President is playing a clever game, and has refrained from shutting down the debate, which will conclude early next month.
For the moment Sarkozy is leaving the trench warfare to his over-zealous Minister for Immigration and National Identity, the former Socialist Eric Besson.
Besson, the “most hated man in France” in the words of Marianne magazine, launched a PR offensive in the new year, lauding the national identity debate as a resounding success.
He even released his contribution to the debate, a short book titled For The Love of the Nation, which newspaper critics ridiculed as littered with historical errors.
Besson congratulated himself for outdoing government targets for expulsion of illegal immigrants.
Yesterday, however, the minister was forced on the back foot, cancelling a meeting as part of the national identity debate. He would have been confronted by Le Pen’s political heir and daughter, Marine Le Pen, in Pas-de-Calais, near where the “jungle” constructed by illegal immigrants waiting to cross the channel was controversially demolished last year.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
‘Drunk’ British Passengers Spark Heathrow Terror Scare
Three young British men were arrested at Heathrow on an aircraft bound for Dubai last night after a bomb threat was allegedly made.
Armed anti-terror police boarded the 8pm Emirates flight and arrested the passengers, understood to be English, after a verbal threat was made to blow up the aircraft as it taxied along the runway in preparation for take-off. Cameron McLean, a passenger on the Boeing 777 who was sitting several rows from one of those arrested, told Sky News: “Police just swarmed the guy and rushed him out. I think he was a white male. There was another one but I didn’t see him.”
He said that one man was taken out in handcuffs after which sniffer dogs were brought on board to check along the aisles and in the overhead lockers. A police source said that other passengers had remained on the aircraft and added: “We have not found anything.”
The incident comes amid heightened tension at airports across the world in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing of a flight to Detroit by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a former London student.
Initial reports suggested that the threat was not serious, and that the alert could have been raised after a comment from a drunken passenger. The other passengers were held on the aircraft for at least four hours after the incident.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “We are aware of a security incident at Heathrow. The airport and terminal remains open.”
An airport spokesman said: “I can confirm there has been an incident on the EK004 flight to Dubai. Police are attending. It’s not affecting the rest of the airport which remains opens.”
[…]
Reports suggested that the men had been drinking and may have made the comments in jest, but aviation experts believe that the crew had acted prudently in the circumstances.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Spanish Presidency Targets Economic Unity
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JANUARY 8 — Prime Minister Zapatero, the permanent President of the European Council Van Rompuy and the President of the European Commission, Barroso, have agreed that the main goal to start the recovery from the worst global financial and economic crisis is an European economic unity. They comments were made during today’s inauguration in Madrid of Spain’s EU presidency. The goal of steady growth, protecting the environment and creating wealth, is the basis of the future European economic strategy, which will be discussed on February 11 in the European Council convened by Van Rompury. The news was announced by the permanent President himself in a joint press conference in Madrid with Zapatero and Barroso, after a working lunch. Van Rompury explained that he intends to work in coordination with Spain, to convince the EU-27 that a joint effort will lead to rapid growth. >From his side, Zapatero stressed the need to take advantage of the synergy of 500 million people, to make Europe stronger and give it more clout. The Spanish Prime Minister expressed a similar idea in this morning’s press meeting, in which he promised that the new economic strategy for the coming 10 years, which will be developed under Spain’s presidency, will include sanctions for those member States which fail to respect the set targets. If we move forward together wéll make prosperity a common good for all Europeans, said Zapatero. Barroso underlined that economic recovery and the creation of jobs must have the absolute priority. The new economic plan will be approved in the summit that has been scheduled for March 25 and 26. It will replace the unsuccessful Lisbon strategy which was approved 10 years ago with the goal to turn Europe into the most competitive knowledge economy in the world by 2010. But none of the targets set in this strategy, like the increase of the employment rate up to 70% of the active population or the investment of 3% of GDP in innovation and development, have been reached by the member States, particularly after the crisis. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Auchan Opens Superdiscount Hypermarket
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JANUARY 7 — In March, the Auchan group will be opening a French hypermarket with cut-rate prices on food products, among others, in the upper Rhine: the name will be, appropriately enough, ‘Priba’ (with its assonance with the term for low prices). According to Le Figaro, which reported on the matter, it will cover a surface area of 9,000 square meters and will be ten times the largest of its kind, such as ALDI or LIDL. Priba will offer between 28,000 and 30,000 products, compared with ALDI’s 700 and LIDL’s 1,100, as well as an immense self-discount space where customers can buy sugar, flour and other foodstuffs according to their weight, as currently happens for fruit and vegetables. Moreover, to limit technical and personnel costs, product specific counters will be done away with (meat, fish, etc.). Another new element for the sector is Priba’s vast range of brand name products at low costs. To lower costs, Le Figaro reports that Priba managers might follow in the footsteps of such hypermarkets as Radouga, opened in Russia by Auchan, especially since Marc du Colombier — the manager of the branch that will be in charge of the first Priba — worked in Auchan Russie. In Radouga, most of the cash desks are automatic, and for fresh products the customers take their shopping carts around a refrigerated room, which cuts costs on traditional lockers and refrigerated counters. The new opening coincides with the drop in Ed sales, the discount branch of Carrefour which — according to Le Figaro — dropped by 7% in the first three quarters of 2009. For Leader Price, on the other hand (branch of the Casino group) the drop was 10.3%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Plans ‘Google Tax’ On Internet Searches
France is planning a “Google tax” on internet search websites to raise money to plough into creative industries weakened by the digital revolution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Expels ‘Dangerous Imam’ For Inciting Violence
France has deported a Muslim preacher to Egypt for making public speeches inciting violence against the West.
Announcing the move, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux described Ali Ibrahim el-Soudany as a “dangerous individual”.
Mr Soudany, who had for months been preaching at a mosque near Paris, was expelled on Thursday, officials said.
Mr Hortefeux said the Egyptian citizen had been “calling for a fight against the West, spurning the values of our society and inciting violence”.
Since 2001, 129 radical Muslims — including 29 imams — had been expelled from France, said an interior ministry statement.
There are an estimated five million Muslims living in France — western Europe’s largest Muslim population.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Synagogue Set on Fire, Old Library Destroyed
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JANUARY 7 — Several of the 1,600 ancient volumes and manuscripts stored in the library of the Etz Hayyim synagogue, in Hania, on the island of Crete, were seriously damaged when the synagogue itself was set on fire by arsonists yesterday, the church’s director Nikolas Stavroulakis told ANSA. The big wooden staircase leading to the first floor, which accommodates the library, was completely destroyed. A neighbor called the fire brigade whose prompt intervention prevented flames from extending to the rest of the building, Stavroulakis explained. The intense heat generated by the fire and the smoke seriously damaged most of the ancient books, especially those stored near the outer wall of the library. “I can’t say how many books, if any, could be restored”, the director said. The synagogue of Hania, the last major Jewish monument on the island of Crete, is one of the oldest and best known in Greece and serves as both a place of worship and a cultural centre and museum of the ancient Jewish community on the island. It was restored in the late 1990’s.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Grey Goo’ Food Laced With Nanoparticles Could Swamp Britain
Britain is on the brink of a massive expansion in foods containing controversial ‘grey goo’ nanoparticles, according to the former head of the Food Standards Agency.
Low-calorie chocolate and beer that doesn’t go flat could be on sale within just five years, Lord Krebs said last night.
However, he and other peers believe there will be no requirement for the hi-tech products to be labelled as containing nanoparticles — microscopic compounds that can worm their way into the brain, liver and kidneys with unknown consequences.
But critics said the public have the right to know what they are putting into their bodies, and point out that new legislation will mean that cosmetics that contain nanoparticles will have to be clearly labelled.
Once derided by Prince Charles as ‘grey goo’, nanoparticles are tiny particles — 300 million would fit in a pinhead — with powerful properties that make them of interest to food companies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Cleaning Woman Called ‘Security Threat’ In Italy: Report
ROME — A Muslim cleaning woman employed in a provincial government office is a security threat and should be sacked, a local official of Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League was quoted as saying Friday.
Alessandro Savoi, the Northern League’s leader on the Trento provincial council, made the demand in a letter to the council’s chairman, Giovanni Kessler, the daily Repubblica reported.
“Get these Islamists out of our offices,” the letter was quoted as saying.
“There is sensitive information on our desks and they can put their hands on anything.”
He called on Kessler to change the company contracted to clean the offices to one that did not employ Muslims, but Kessler ruled out any discrimination in hiring staff, the report said.
Racist incidents, including attacks, are increasing in Italy, in the view of analysts who tend to put the blame on politicians, particularly those of the Northern League, a partner in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing government.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Cleaners Seen ‘Threat’ In Italy
CAIRO — Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League believes that Muslim cleaning women are a security threat and should be sacked.
“Get these Islamists out of our offices,” Alessandro Savoi, League leader in Trento province, said in a letter to the municipal council head Giovanni Kessler cited by the Repubblica daily Saturday, January 8, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Savoi, whose party is notorious for anti-Muslim stances, dubbed the Muslim cleaners as a security threat.
“There is sensitive information on our desks and they can put their hands on anything.”
He, furthermore, suggested to Kessler to change the company contracted to clean the offices to one that did not employ Muslims.
The Northern League is widely accused of racism with many critics calling it the BNP of Italy, a reference to the British right-wing party.
Its election campaign played on issues such as immigration, crime and economic and cultural fears from immigration.
Portraying itself as a defender of Italy’s Christian roots, it started its mission in the new government in May 2008 with bringing down a mosque in the northern city of Verona.
Last September, the League rejoiced the success of its campaign to halt the building of a mosque in the northern city of Bologna.
The anti-immigrant league has drafted a bill to ban the construction of minarets in Italy, following the suit of Switzerland.
Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to unofficial estimates.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Newspaper Reprints Prophet Mohammed Cartoons
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has reproduced the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
They were used to illustrate an article about Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist whose home was broken into by an Islamist armed with an axe a week ago.
It printed six out of the 12 drawings that infuriated Muslims around the world when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten first published them in 2005.
Several of the drawings were seen as linking Islam and its revered prophet to terrorism and suicide bombings, with Westergaard’s cartoon showing him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb.
On Jan 2, an axe-wielding 28-year-old man broke into Westergaard’s home screaming for “revenge” and “blood”. Police — alerted by the cartoonist who had hidden in a panic room — shot and arrested him.
Aftenposten’s editor, Hilde Haugsgjerd, said it seemed “natural and justified to republish the artistic and journalistic body of work that is likely the cause of this violence”.
Aftenposten first published copies of the cartoons in 2005 but did not join newspapers in many other countries when they reprinted in 2006 some or all of them, citing freedom of expression.
Angry crowds demonstrated across the Muslim world, leaving dozens of people dead in riots and causing damage to Danish embassies and the country’s export trade due to boycotts.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Bans TV Ads Promoting Body Obsession
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JANUARY 7 — After tobacco and alcohol TV ads, now also commercials promoting slimming products or cosmetic surgery will be banned in Spain between 6am and 10pm when children are more likely to watch TV. El Pais daily reports that no TV network will be allowed to broadcast commercials promoting perfect bodies, triggering obsessive attitudes, inciting to social isolation or success based exclusively on “one’s figure”, “weight or outward appearance”. The ban will have a big impact on the advertising industry because beauty and hygiene products related ads are ranked third in terms of annual turnover (over 500 million euro) according to data on 2008 investments gathered by InfoAdex. The objective of the ban is countering any ad likely to trigger disorders, such as bulimia or anorexia, in minors. The measure is one in a wide range of regulations aimed at shield children from contents that may be prejudicial to their physical, moral or mental development. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The EU — Using Law for Its Own Ends
As I keep saying — It happens all the time. Once you give an inch to those who want power, they’ll take a mile. European countries in the EU already know this to their cost… many times a week, as the EU grinds out law after law after law. And it is all done by force.
The latest is that the EU demands a 3.7% par rise for all “EU officials”. Individual member countries have tried to halve that, thus saving E90 million (about $129 million) a year. But, the EU demands the full rise, and is placing the claim before EU judges… who are “EU officials”! There is something awfully stinking about that. But, EU countries don’t have courage to fight back. If I were in charge of the UK, I would simply say, as once did a famed US general: “Nuts”, and get out of the EU fast, regardless of consequences.
The EU says it is not a matter of law but of right… the EU has a ‘right’ to take the taxes of member states, to use on itself. (Which is what the UN is aiming for). And what it gives to itself is big, for doing next to nothing. Fancy a Third of a Million? Be a Judge!
The judges who will examine the claims earn £215,000 a year. That’s about $342,500 a year or E239,000. (Open Europe Press Summary, 7th Jan). On their pay, a mere 3.7% rise will add a very nice sum to their cash bucket! The one leading the decision to have a court decide on their behalf, is the EU’s British Commissioner and EU Foreign Minister, Baroness Ashton (another socialist), who already earns £241,000 a year (not including expenses, which can double her income). That’s nearly $384,000 or E268,000!! A 3.7% rise will add over $14,000 or E10,000 to her little stash, while the people who pay her, the tax payer, struggles to just survive.
Forgive my cynicism, but those who work for the EU work for self. They have no regard for freedom, nor for how others struggle to live because of their meddling and tax-taking. Right now in the EU, they are pushing farmers to increase output even more, with the excuse that more people need more food. But, the EU has been operating its ‘CAP’ system for decades. This is the Common Agricultural Policy, which calls on farmers to maximise production. The basic food products are then kept in massive barns until they rot or are burned The farmers get equally large subsidies, and bad farmers get large subsidies even though they are terrible at their jobs. And that is just one scam used by the EU. There are plenty more!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Let Them March in Wootton Bassett
I’m in two minds over what to say about the Islamic fanatics planning their despicable march through the streets of Wootton Bassett, the Wiltshire town through which our fallen soldiers’ bodies are repatriated.
On the one hand I’d like to describe a fate which would guarantee the lot of them a shortcut to their warped Paradise; but on the other hand I can do without the aggravation of being charged with inciting racial hatred.
That’s a legal process reserved for white, Christian people as I’m sure you well understand.
If I say hanging is too good for these pariahs, I say it not to be inflammatory — you know me better than that! — but mindful of what would happen to 500 Christians trying to pull such a stunt in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. Quid pro quo, you might say.
Not a week goes by when the hand of Islam isn’t pushed in the chest or the face of British Christian culture, history, or law, right in our backyard. And time and time and time again, our cowardly politicians, police and bureauprats, take yet another measly step backwards.
If the march in Wootton Bassett goes ahead, I will be there. I hope you’ll join me.
We will be heard, even if we have to march right over the police cordons perversely protecting these traitors.
I should point out that although I can get worked up to a proper tizzy when sitting at my computer, I’ve never in my life been moved to march in protest. Not for the Miners, over the Poll Tax, pro or anti-hunting, or indeed Iraq. It just hasn’t been my style.
I don’t join Facebook petitions. But I have this week.
Enough is enough.
These cretins need teaching a lesson and not by police or politicians who don’t have the guts for it anyway, and who would be seen as armed extensions of our ‘evil’ foreign policy if they did — but by us: The people.
The police have not yet given the march permission to go ahead, and I expect Home Secretary Alan Johnson will try to make political capital by banning it anyway — all the more ironic, given his role as an arch-appeaser of all things Islam.
But the authorities should allow the march to go ahead.
And then every British soldier home on leave from trying to be an international policeman in these hell holes, should gather, unarmed and in civilian dress, and march at the same time, down the same street in Wootton Bassett — in the opposite direction to the traitors.
A couple of dozen squaddies would probably suffice, because this lot are rarely more than mouthy cowards. They can push a button and murder innocent women and children while fantasising ridiculously about a room full of virgins, but fight man to man? You’re having a laugh!
Wouldn’t it be even better if thousands of ordinary Britons took it upon themselves to make this their day?
| — Hat tip: JP2 | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Who Called Soldiers Baby Killers Says Words Were Not Offensive
Two Muslim men accused of calling British soldiers murderers, racists and baby killers during a homecoming parade told a court their words could not be seen as offensive because they were speaking the truth.
Shajjadar Choudhury, 31, and Munim Abdul, 28, are two of seven defendants charged with public order offences at the parade of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, known as The Poachers, in Luton on March 10 last year.
They and Jalal Ahmed, 21, Yousaf Bashir, 29, Jubair Ahmed, 19, Ziaur Rahman, 32, and Ibrahim Anderson, 32, all from Luton, deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Luton Magistrates’ Court.
During the five-day trial, the court has seen video footage showing the men holding placards branding the soldiers “Butchers of Basra” and had shouted chants including: “British soldiers murderers, British soldiers terrorists”, and “shame on you”.
Mr Abdul told the court they believed they were speaking the truth, so their words could not be offensive.
He was asked by Neil Mercer, defending him: “Did you intend to offend, insult, harass, alarm or distress anyone?”
He replied: “No. We chose our words carefully and selected them in order not to harass, alarm or distress anyone.”
He said they had not aimed their words at individual soldiers, but at the British forces in general.
He said: “We are judging the British forces as a whole entity.
“Basically we are saying they are murderers. We mean the whole entity, i.e. the British forces, that they are a murdering entity, and condemning them as a whole, not individually.”
Mr Abdul told the court that when he referred to British soldiers as murderers, he meant it literally because they had killed people in what he saw as an illegal war.
He said: “Because the war in the first place is illegal, so subsequently anyone they kill is murder.”
He said the phrase “British soldiers, go to hell” reflected his belief that if people commit sins they will be sent to hell rather than paradise.
Mr Abdul told the court he had been part of a similar protest in Luton the previous year, where they had chanted similar things and held similar placards.
He said there had been no arrests and nobody had made official complaints as far as he knew.
He said: “We did not get the hostile crowds like we did last year.
“In fact we were able to engage with the people, with debate and discussion.”
Mr Mercer asked: “Did you think that your placards or the slogans you were shouting might be offensive?”
“If it’s the truth, no, and it’s the truth,” Mr Abdul replied.
Avirup Chaudhuri, prosecuting, suggested Mr Abdul used the words to insult and abuse people and was aware that they would have that effect.
Mr Abdul said he completely disagreed. He said: “If it’s the truth then there’s no way they would find it upsetting.
“It’s like calling a paedophile a paedophile, that’s what he is.
“We know this war is illegal and basically we described them accordingly.
“We chose our words selectively in order not to insult. If we wanted to insult we could have said so many other things. We could have gone into a different level, we could have gone to another degree to insult people.
“In our thinking, we felt there should be no reason why anyone should be upset when it’s the truth.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pictured: The Albanian Immigrant Gang Pose With High-Powered Machine Guns on Bebo and Youtube
A gang of immigrants who are being watched by police has posted a series of sickening images on the internet with members flaunting an arsenal of automatic weapons.
Members of the OTR gang stare menacingly down the barrels of a chilling cache of high velocity machine guns.
The Albanian ‘gangsters’ — from Bromley, South London — brag that they will ‘put a punch in your mouth’ before adding: ‘If I pull the trigger you’re going to permanently bleed.’
In the twisted four-minute Youtube clip, members pose with AK47 assault rifles and handguns. Gun shot sounds can be heard in the background.
The Bromley gang has recorded dozens of music videos in the past year and posted scores of pictures online of alleged members handling potentially lethal handguns and rifles.
But police sought to play down the threat posed by the group, insisting there’s no evidence the guns are ‘real weapons’.
Senior officers even claimed the photographs may not have even be taken in the UK — even though one shot shows two gang members posing with a British-licensed Mercedes in a pub car park.
A spokesman said: ‘There’s no evidence that these photographs involve real weapons and no evidence that the photos were taken in Bromley, or even this country. There’s nothing to say that these are recent photos.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Protecting the Media From the Police
The inept policing of public space is preventing reporters and photographers from going about their lawful business
Over 300 of Britain’s best-known photographers have signed a letter to protest against the use of terror laws to stop and search by police and the officious regiment of police community support officers (PCSOs). The letter comes after news that a photographer belonging to the NUJ — Andrew Handley of MK News in Milton Keynes — received £5,000 after being unlawfully held for taking pictures of a car accident.
What both these pieces of news demonstrate is that police nationally have, without proper legislative authority, taken it upon themselves to obstruct the rights of photographers and the duty of journalists to go about their business. As I have said before, there is an ongoing struggle about the control of public space, which has profoundly symbolic importance for a free society. What seems to be happening is that police using terror laws have decided that all public space has been re-designated as state space, over which the police and CCTV systems have exclusive photographic rights.
The letter to the Daily Telegraph, which is really quite mild considering the importance of this issue, says:
‘Some in the police, especially PCSOs, believe it is illegal to take any pictures of a police officer. This is because of ambiguous legislation, introduced earlier this year, which made it an imprisonable offence to collect “information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”. Given the existence of Google Street View, we do not believe the legislation should be used against ordinary photographers.’
Meanwhile, on the Milton Keynes case, the British Journal of Photography reports that Handley, a photographer for the past 34 years, was handcuffed, arrested and detained for eight hours after trying to take pictures of a car accident at Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes from behind a police cordon. His fingerprints and DNA were taken — it is not known whether police also took his photograph.
“This is not the first time a police officer has told me to stop taking pictures,” says Handley. “I explained that I was entitled to do my job and assumed I would be allowed to continue. Instead I found myself with my hands cuffed behind my back and in a police cell. As the hours ticked past I started to get more and more worried. I thought it would all be cleared up in a matter of minutes.”
After the case was settled, Roy Mincoff, legal officer at the NUJ, said he hoped “good practice will prevail in the future, with police officers at all levels being properly trained in, and regularly reminded of, the special role of the media as a public watchdog, recording and reporting events in the public interest”.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Undercover Journalist Gains Easy Access to Geert Wilders
An undercover Dutch journalist spent four months working for Geert Wilder’s populist PVV party. She was given unchecked access to the right-wing politician, a frequent recipient of death threats. “I could have killed him,” were the first words of Karen Geurtsen’s article published in the magazine HP-De Tijd on Thursday. Posing as an intern, Geurtsen spent four months undercover, working with Geert Wilders and his anti-immigration party, PVV.
The breach of security is particularly painful since Wilders, a politician with controversial views on Islam, has been under permanent government protection since the assassination of film-maker Theo van Gogh. Wilders is constantly escorted by a private security detail and lives in a specially prepared safe house.
According to Geurtsen, she had “dozens” of opportunities to take the life of the best protected Dutch politician. As a party staff member she was allowed unchecked access to the PVV’s offices.
The National Coordinator for Fighting Terrorism (NCTb) is responsible for Wilder’s security. A spokesperson for the NCTb had no comment when asked whether his agency should have prevented the journalist from gaining access to the PVV’s leader. “Generally speaking,” he said, “security agencies only screen people in key positions of trust. That description does not cover staff members of political parties.” Scrutinising prospective employees is primarily the responsibility of the employing organisation, he added.
According to Karen Geurtsen, it would not have been hard to discover she was a journalist. “I am listed as a contributor to HP/De Tijd in its masthead,” she said. “It also easy to find evidence of my occupation as a journalist online.”
Jan Dijkgraaf, editor in chief of HP/De Tijd, said his magazine had pursued the story because polls have shown that the number of highly educated people considering the PVV as a possible electoral choice is growing. “Our aspiration is to publish a magazine for intelligent people, and we wanted to know what the PVV was really like,” he said. “A lot of people say stuff about them, but nobody really knows anything for sure. Is it really an extremist right-wing party, as some people say, or a prim and proper political party who have turned up the volume a notch to get attention?” According to Dijkgraaf, covert journalism was the only way to find out, since the PVV has proven to be an impenetrable fortress for enquiring journalists.
‘Leftist cockroaches’
Geurtsen’s observations will be published in a series in HP/De Tijd in the coming weeks, with the first instalment published last Thursday. In an interview, she described an atmosphere of hostility in the party’s ranks. Political enemies were occasionally referred to as “leftist cockroaches,” She noted. In her first article, she cited an unsubstantiated rumour accusing the politician of an extramarital affair.
Asked to summarise the series his magazine would be publishing, Dijkgraaf said, “The PVV is a terribly shoddily run, amateurish organisation. Geurtsen was allowed to write speeches for PVV parliamentarian De Roon a few days after she started work. Speeches he would then deliver in parliament. The people get more stupid as you move down the organisational ladder. The articles read like a soap-opera.”
In a Twitter message, Geert Wilders called the undercover infiltration of his party “disgusting” and “a new low for leftist media”.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Violence: Spain Proposes European Law to Protect Victims
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JANUARY 7 — Spain has presented its first legislative proposal to Brussels today in its fourth rotating presidency of the EU, with a European directive for protecting victims of gender violence. The draft directive, according to sources from the European delegation in Madrid, was formally presented to the Committee of Permanent Representatives, made up of the twenty seven Ambassadors from the EU member States. The aim of the initiative, which already has the support of 12 countries, is to ensure that victims of gender violence have the same legal protection in each of the member States and to coordinate the various countries legislation in this area. Despite the technical legal complexities, Spain hopes that the directive will be approved during its six-month presidency of the EU. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bad Weather: Albania, Whole Villages in North Flooded
(ANSAmed) — TIRANA, JANUARY 7 — The Albanian Government could declare a state of emergency as early as this afternoon in the north-west of the country, where entire villages are now flooded, said President Sali Berisha. Around 5,000 hectares have been flooded due to the bursting of the banks of the river Drini, where three major water power stations are sited, and whose reservoirs have been left permanently open so as not to put their dams at risk. The situation is unfortunately not improving explained the Premier today, repeating his appeal to the population in the area at risk to abandon their homes. More than 600 families have already been moved to the city and if the water level rises further, around 9 thousand people will have to be evacuated. “We are now thinking only about saving people and not losing a single citizen” declared Berisha. The army and police forces have been working in the flooded areas for several days, and helicopters patrolled the skies today so as to be able to carry out any emergency rescues necessary. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Parliament Passes New Law on Bankruptcy
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 4 — The parliament of Serbia has approved the new law that allows automatic bankruptcy proceedings for companies whose bank accounts have been frozen for at least three years. The law, according to a statement of the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Belgrade, includes the possibility for creditors to start bankruptcy proceedings. Another novelty is bankruptcy with a pre-arranged reorganisation plan. The law will also regulate the role of bankruptcy trustee, whose name will be drawn from the list of the court having jurisdiction. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hurdles Remain at Ministerial Level, Kouchner
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JANUARY 6 — Even if the designation of a secretary general seems to be in the offing, with consensus reached on the candidature by the ministers of five member countries yesterday evening in Cairo, the road ahead of the Mediterranean Union is by no means free of obstacles, as was admitted today by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner during a press conference in the Arab League’s headquarters. He said that one obstacle is that some of the Mediterranean Union’s Foreign Ministers refuse to take part in meetings calling for the presence of the Israeli head of diplomacy, Avigdor Lieberman. However, Kouchner noted that the problem only existed at the “ministerial level”, while the meetings of “experts and ambassadors” were going forward as planned, and projects for concrete cooperation between the countries on the two shores of the Mediterranean Sea were “showing progress”. However, the French minister added that the intention is that of trying to remove obstacles “step by step”. The intransigent positions held by Lieberman on the Palestinian issue were the reason why Egypt, which holds the co-presidency of the Mediterranean Union, and other Arab countries refused to sit down at round table events in a ministers’ meeting which had originally been scheduled for November. Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa has said that the Mediterranean Union was not been created to resolve conflict in the Middle East, but that its internal situations is influenced by the Arab-Israeli conflict in a de facto manner. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Masadeh to be Secretary General by End of Feb
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 6 — After months of deadlock — mostly due to the open wound caused by the Israeli military operation ‘Cast Lead’ a year ago — the discord blocking the official designation of Ahmad Masadeh as Mediterranean Union secretary general seems to have been resolved. It is a designation which may be officialised by February, according to the results of the five-member meeting yesterday evening in Cairo which saw the participation of the Foreign Ministers of France, Egypt (co-president of the Mediterranean Union), Tunisia, Turkey and Jordan. The designation — which must still be made official by Mediterranean Union co-presidents, France’s Nicholas Sarkozy and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak — will immediately follow the setting in motion of the operating activities of the new secretary general, who will find himself before the difficult task of translating the Mediterranean Union programme into concrete action. In reality, in his “running” for Mediterranean Union secretary general, Masadeh did not have any competitors. But now the doubts raised over his candidature — which came to the fore when he was officially named as candidate and which led to the naming of another possibility by Tunisia as an alternative — have been resolved. Given the positive outcome of the five-member meeting in Cairo, Ahmad Masadeh has promptly resumed the ‘diplomatic’ course which could lead to his taking on the position and, therefore, to dealing with issues that, both in the plenary session in Paris and the one in Marseille, have been identified as goals of the Mediterranean Union. The “house” that Masadeh will be occupying over the next few years is almost ready: the Pedralbes Castle in Barcelona. The Catalan city has thereby seen its Mediterranean and cosmopolitan qualities awarded, as Catalonia’s Speaker of Parliament, Ernest Benach, commented to ANSAmed, noting that Barcelona is a “meeting place which enjoys a privileged vantage point over the dialogue between the North and the South”. In Pedralbes, along with the offices of the secretary general, there will be international activities connected with the Mediterranean, thereby making Barcelona into a bona fide hub. And it is Barcelona where the heads of state and government of the 43 Mediterranean Union members will meet in June — and therefore almost at the end of Spain’s term in the EU presidency — to give their full political support to the mandate of the secretary general. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Secretary General’s Office in Pedralbes Palace
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 6 — The Royal Palace of Pedralbes in Barcelona will be the headquarters of the secretary general’s office of the Mediterranean Union. Also the location of the Ceramics Museum, the palace is currently undergoing renovations that will make it suitable for its new function. Originally it was a country home owned by industrialist Eusebi Guell, who purchased it, along with the surrounding territory, in 1862. In the 1890s, Guell charged Anton Gaudì, his trusted architect, with the task of renovating the building. Having to work with a relatively small space, Gaudì organised the rooms on more than one level, added the Guell Pavilions, and redesigned the garden, adding two fountains. Afterwards, Guell made the building and surrounding land available for the construction of a royal residence. Work began in 1921 and was headed by architects Eusebio Bona and Eusebio Bona Puig, and Francesc Nebot. The three-floor Italian-style palace, with gardens redesigned in geometric style, was inaugurated in 1924 for a visit from the Spanish royal family. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: New Security Checks a “Discrimination”
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JANUARY 6 — The Algerian ambassador to Washington, Abdellah Baali, has said that the new security measures announced by the US and introducing extra scrutiny for passengers from 14 nations, including Algeria are a form of “discrimination”. The Algerian press quoted Baali as saying that “The United States has the right to protect the security of its citizens, but this is discrimination against the citizens of Algeria who do not pose any particular risk to the people of the United States. Baali also announced that he will file a formal protest once he receives formal notice of the new regulations. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Climate: Global Warming to Blame for Egypt Warm Weather
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JANUARY 8 — It has been a warm winter this year in Egypt, perhaps even unprecedentedly warm, due to global warming, the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) said today. Speaking in statements to MENA news agency, NRIAG chairman Salah Mahmoud said solar activity is not to blame for such a higher-than-usual temperature. Solar activity is at its lowest level now, Mahmoud said. Greenhouse gas emissions have attributed to the rise in temperature in Egypt, Mahmoud noted. It is a relatively warm weather witnessed in Egypt and the Arab region, while several European countries are living in extra-ordinary low temperatures and high snow, the NRIAG head said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Editor in Chief and Editor of Daily Sentenced
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JANUARY 6 — Sayedda Zeinab Felony Court today sentenced Abdou Maghrabi, the Editor in Chief of Al Balagh Al Gadid newspaper, and Ihab al-Agami, an editor, to one year imprisonment each and a 40,000 EGP fine in the case filed by actor Nour el-Sherif and Chairman of the Egyptian Actors Union Ashraf Zaki against the paper. The weekly newspaper accused prominent cinema and TV actor Nour el Sherif of being a member of a gay group busted recently at a five-star hotel in Cairo. The independent newspaper has also alleged that this group, which includes a number of artists, paid bails to be released after more than five hours’ investigations. Nour el-Sherif said he was surprised to find a big picture of him on the front page of the paper and an article saying that he and a number of artists were arrested over homosexuality charges, considering this a libel.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Nag Hamadi: Armed Commando Attacks Coptic Christians, Seven Dead and Three Wounded
The incident happened at midnight last night, after Christmas Mass which the Coptic Church celebrates Christmas on January 7. The attack was revenge for an alleged case of sexual assault against a twelve year old, which occurred last November.
Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The death toll from an attack against the Christian Copts in Egypt is seven dead and three wounded. Yesterday, shortly before midnight, an armed commando opened fire on a group of faithful of the church of St John in Nag Hamadi, in the province of Qena, 64 miles from Luxor. Sources in the Ministry of the Interior explain that the assault was a response to an alleged case of sexual assault, which occurred last November. The Muslim community has accused a Christian of raping a 12 year old girl.
Local witnesses report that a group of three armed men in a car opened fire on the faithful. The Christian community had gathered to celebrate Christmas midnight mass which for the Coptic falls on January 7. The head of the armed commandos, ministerial sources added, have already been identified. The attackers opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd. Among the injured there are two Muslims, who were in the vicinity of the building at the time of the attack.
Kirollos, the bishop of the diocese of Nag Hamadi, confirms that the victims are “six faithful and a security guard”. He had left the church a few minutes before the arrival of armed commandos. In recent weeks, the bishop had received threats from Muslim groups. Groups of Muslims shouted “we will not let you celebrate the holidays.”
The violence was provoked by the alleged rape of a twelve year old Muslim girl in November last year. In the days that followed, the local Islamic community burnt and damaged Christian buildings and properties. The police asked bishop Kirollos to remain safely at homes, for fear of further violence.
In Egypt, the Coptic Christian community is about 10% of the population in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. The Christian community it is the victim of violence and persecution, caused by a sharp rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Sometimes the basis of many attacks disputes over land ownership, or over for women, but they soon become sectarian clashes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Clashes Erupt After Killings of Seven Christians
Cairo, 7 Jan. (AKI) — Violent clashes broke out between hundreds of Christian Copts and police in southern Egypt on Thursday after seven people were killed in a drive-by shooting, police said. The clashes occurred outside a hospital morgue where the bodies of the Coptic Christians had been taken after the killings on Christmas Eve late Wednesday.
Six male churchgoers and a security guard were shot dead outside a church in Naj Hammadi in southern Qena province as Christians left a late night mass, Bishop Kirollos of the Naj Hammadi diocese said.
Officials said three men in a car drove by a group of worshippers as they were walking out of the Virgin Mary church and opened fire with machineguns into the crowd just before midnight on Wednesday.
The attack is believed to be in revenge for the rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man in the town in November.
There were five days of riots in the town after the rape of the girl and many Christian properties were torched and damaged.
The interior ministry said it believed the attack was in retaliation for the November rape and that witnesses had identified the lead attacker.
Coptic Christians comprise 10 percent of Egypt’s total population of 80 million and many complain of discrimination.
The Coptic Christian church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in 451 AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ. Its theology is similar to the Eastern Orthodox church.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Frattini Condemns Christian Killings in South
Rome, 7 Jan. (AKI) — Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has condemned the brutal murder of seven Coptic Christians who were killed in a drive-by shooting in southern Egypt late Wednesday. In a statement released on Thursday, Frattini said he was “horrified” by the violence against the Coptic Christian community in Egypt.
“The international community cannot ignore this and should remain alert to religious intolerance which constitutes a very serious violation of fundamental human rights,” Frattini said.
“Italy will continue to defend freedom of religion at every level everywhere, as an absolute and undeniable civil right.”
Frattini was speaking ahead of an official visit to Egypt next week when he will meet Egyptian foreign minister Aboul Gheit and other senior officials.
“These acts of violence and discrimination designed to hurt religious minorities like what occurred in Egypt yesterday are cause of particular concern,” Frattini said.
He said he would discuss with his Egyptian counterpart measures to protect the Christian community in Egypt to prevent a recurrence of the violence.
On Thursday violent clashes broke out between hundreds of Christian Copts and police in Naj Hammadi in southern Qena province after the killings amid fears of further violence.
The clashes occurred outside a hospital morgue where the bodies of the Coptic Christians had been taken after the killings on Christmas Eve ..
Six male churchgoers and a security guard were shot dead outside a church in Naj Hammadi as Christians left a late night mass.
Officials said three men in a car drove by a group of worshippers as they were walking out of the Virgin Mary church and opened fire with machineguns into the crowd just before midnight on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Coptic Bishop Real Target in Christmas Attack in Egypt
Mgr Kirollos had received several threats in preceding days. Crowd at the funeral of the six Christians killed throw rocks at police who respond with tear gas. Security forces are accused of negligence.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — Coptic bishop Anba Kirollos was the real target in last Wednesday’s drive-by shooting against a Coptic church in Nag Hammadi. Meanwhile, police has found one of the car used by gunmen in the attack on the Eve of Orthodox Christmas, but thousands of Christians attending the victims’ funeral slammed law enforcement and pelted police cars with rocks.
“I was the one intended to be assassinated by this plot, and when it failed the criminals turned round and started shooting and finishing off the young ones,” Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammagi Diocese told Middle East Christian Association (MECA) today in an interview.
In the evening of 6 January, at the end of the Christmas vigil, at least three gunmen began spraying bullets from two cars against people filing out of the church.
A security guard and six Christians were killed, mostly young men in their early 20s. A young couple and a 14-years-old boy were also among the dead.
Bishop Kirollos said there had been threats in the days leading up to the Christmas Eve service, a reason he decided to start Mass an hour earlier than normal. “For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas Eve,” he said.
The bishop left the church minutes before the attack. “A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door,” he said. “By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine-gun shots.”
For the prelate, Egyptian security forces were negligent. Even though that they had been warned of the tense situation, they did not provide adequate protection to the church.
Tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nag Hammadi have been rising in the past few months after a young Christian man was accused of raping a 12-year-old Muslim girl.
For Copts, the rape charges are a pretext, and point to the fact that police has not arrested the accused. However, because of the accusations, which were made in November, Christians have been attacked in Farshout, Abu Shusha, Aerky and Alshokeify, which are part of the parish of Nag Hammadi.
According to Egypt’s official news agency, police have recovered one of the two cars used in the drive-by shooting and identified the three perpetrators.
However, during yesterday’s funeral, attended by at least 5,000 faithful, police had to use tear gas to stop people from stoning them. Some ambulances were also attacked.
“People are angry and worried,” Bishop Kirollos said. Some Copts point out that for years TV, radio and newspapers have preached intolerance towards Copts.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Bars British MP Galloway From Country
Egyptian security escorted British lawmaker George Galloway to take a flight out of the country on Friday and he was barred from returning after violent protests over an aid convoy he led into Gaza, MENA news agency said.
The Foreign Ministry declared the left-wing politician an “unwelcome individual”, the agency said.
An Egyptian security source said Egypt reached a deal with members of the aid convoy to take supplies to Palestinians in Gaza after protests overnight.
Egyptian security forces and members of the convoy had thrown stones at each other when tempers frayed over the route the trucks were to take.
Cairo had insisted the food and other supplies should enter Gaza via an Israeli-controlled checkpoint but convoy leaders wanted to use the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing.
Galloway, who had re-entered Egypt to ask about the fate of seven detained convoy members, was immediately asked to leave the country, security sources said.
Galloway was escorted by Egyptian security personnel as he went to Cairo airport heading for London, MENA said.
Police said later the seven detained convoy members had been freed and placed on a “watch list.”
No member of Galloway’s convoy was immediately available for comment.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
George Galloway MP Deported From Egypt, Say Activists
British MP George Galloway has been deported from Egypt, say activists working with him to take an aid convoy into Gaza.
The Bow and Bethnal Green MP had been with international activists trying to take 200 aid trucks into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Egypt had refused some of the vehicles access and there have been protests and clashes on the Egypt-Gaza border.
The state news agency says Mr Galloway has left Egypt and returned home.
There have also been reports the Respect MP has been declared “persona non grata” and will not be allowed to enter Egypt again, following his criticism of Cairo over delays to the aid convoy.
The activists have accused the Egyptians of heavy-handed policing. Egyptian officials counter that Mr Galloway has tried to embarrass the government.
In a speech last year Mr Galloway described Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak as a “criminal” and “outlaw of the Arab world” and called for his overthrow.
Egypt has faced criticism in the Arab and Muslim world for co-operating with Israel in its blockade of the Gaza Strip. But Egypt says it allows humanitarian aid to pass with certain restrictions.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Roads Blocked Due to Snow and Rain
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, JANUARY 8 — Snow and rain are creating problems to traffic in many Moroccan regions. Streets are blocked, trains and airplanes are delayed, announced Morocco’s Transport Ministry today. The snow has caused seven roads to be closed in the Middle and High Atlas region, others have become impassable due to the heavy rains in the north and south-west of the country, near the city of Essaouira. Airplanes headed to Europe are delayed and train traffic has slowed between Casablanca and Rabat. All dams have reached a level of 81% due to the rain that has fallen in the past days; the same happened in the past years in fact, with positive consequences for agricultural production, balancing the international economic crisis. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tension on Egyptian Border,17 More Soldiers Injured
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JANUARY 6 — In addition to having shot and killed an Egyptian soldier in a tower, today’s clashes on the Rafah border injured another 17 soldiers, including 10 officers. The number was specified by news agency, MENA, which stated that a general, a colonel, and a commander were all injured. On the other side of the border, according to AFP, five Palestinians were seriously wounded by gunfire from Egyptian soldiers who reacted after about 200 protesters, demonstrating against the new barrier under construction by Egypt, threw rocks at the troops. Gunfire was reportedly exchanged by both sides. Another 15 Palestinians were injured when Hamas police reacted with nightsticks and tear gas, and fired shots into the air to disperse the protestors. The demonstrations was reportedly organised by Hamas officials in power in Gaza to protest against the barrier, which should put an end to the construction of underground tunnels used to smuggle goods and weapons into Palestinian territory, bypassing the Israeli blockade. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Algeria, New Security Checks a “Discrimination”
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JANUARY 6 — The Algerian ambassador to Washington, Abdellah Baali, has said that the new security measures announced by the US and introducing extra scrutiny for passengers from 14 nations, including Algeria are a form of “discrimination”. The Algerian press quoted Baali as saying that “The United States has the right to protect the security of its citizens, but this is discrimination against the citizens of Algeria who do not pose any particular risk to the people of the United States. Baali also announced that he will file a formal protest once he receives formal notice of the new regulations. (ANSAmed).
2010-01-06 11:15
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Western Sahara: Spain’s Judge Garzon to Visit Saharawi Camps
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JANUARY 6 — Over the coming days the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon will be visiting Saharawi refugee camps in southern Algeria. Spanish radio is quoted by the Algerian press as reporting that Garzon would be going to camps near Tindouf in order to question thirteen Saharawi witnesses as part of an inquiry conducted by the Spanish judiciary into “genocide and war crimes” which Morocco allegedly committed between 1976 and 1987. After reports from Saharawi citizens and human rights organisations on “genocide, homicide and torture committed by Morocco in the Western Sahara”, in 2007 the judge agreed to begin legal proceedings against Moroccan civil servants. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Israeli Aircraft Drop Warning Leaflets
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JANUARY 7 — Israeli military aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets into the Gaza Strip today, warning the population not to approach the border so as not to risk being fired on by Israeli forces. This morning seven mortar bombs launched from Gaza exploded in Israeli territory without causing victims or damage. An Israeli military reaction now seems possible. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Daily Praises Berlusconi Ahead of Visit
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JANUARY 6 — The Italian-Israeli bilateral summit in Jerusalem in February will help boost already “thriving and friendly relations” between the two countries, the Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth said on Wednesday. Although dates for the summit have not been announced officially, Premier Silvio Berlusconi and a delegation of ministers and businessmen are expected to arrive in Jerusalem at the start of February. “There are a number of reasons to be critical of Berlusconi but he has a merit which cannot be denied: since he entered politics in 1994, he’s radically changed relations between Israel and Italy,” said the daily. “Israel is a tiny state surrounded by enemies ….consequently, every friend is greeted warmly,” the daily said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Militia Admits Casualties and Wants to Hit Back
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/TEL AVIV, JANUARY 6 — The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Palestinian militia operating in the Gaza Strip, have admitted suffering casualties in an Israeli air strike last night and threatened to hit back. In a statement circulating today in Gaza, the organisation informed that the Israeli attack claimed the life of Jihad a-Samari, 33, a local commander belonging to the PCRs armed wing: the Sallah E-Din Brigades. Four other militants were injured. “This crime will not go unpunished”, the PRC informed. A spokesman for the Israeli military explained that the militants were hit “as they were about to launch rockets into Israel. Similar attacks “cant be tolerated”, the spokesman added. “We will not allow any terror organisation to disrupt the life in our border settlements he said. In the last few weeks, clashes near the border between Israel and Gaza have been reported on an almost daily basis.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tighter Measures to Protect Threatened Minister
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV — The Israeli intelligence has stepped up security measures to protect Defence Minister Ehud Barak whose life is feared to be in danger. According to the military radio, Barak has received “dozens” of anonymous death threats. One threatening letter was shown yesterday by a commercial TV network. After a formal opening (“Honourable Minister of Defence”), the author of the letter openly threatens to kill Barak and his family, if the minister “destroys the settlements in Judea-Samaria (West Bank) to gain the respect of the Americans”. The TV channel explained that similar threats were received also by Israels police chief Dudi Cohen. The intelligence warned that Jewish extremists, most of them living in the West Bank colonies, may resort to violence to prevent the freezing of their settlements. Colonists reacted angrily at these news. According to their representatives, this would be part of a campaign of misinformation organised by military leaders themselves to discredit them.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
British Woman Tells Dubai Police a Waiter Raped Her… Then She is Arrested for Drinking Alcohol and Having Sex With Her Fiancé
A British woman who claimed she was raped by a waiter in Dubai was arrested by police in the Arab state for having illegal sex with her fiancé.
The 23-year-old Londoner said she was was attacked after she passed out in a hotel lavatory.
The woman, a Muslim of Pakistani decent, told police she had been celebrating getting engaged to her boyfriend at the time.
But when she admitted drinking alcohol and sharing a hotel room with her 44-year-old fiancé, the couple were arrested.
They were charged with ‘illegal drinking’ outside licensed premises and having sex outside marriage.
Police ignored the rape allegation, confiscated the Britons’ passport and threw them in jail.
The couple, who have not been named, have been bailed pending trial. They could face up to six years in prison.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Empowering Iranians to Dislodge the Mullahs
By Amil Imani
After the fraudulent June 12, 2009 presidential elections in Iran, Iranians poured into the streets by the millions, chanting, “Where is my vote?” The thunderous protests were the birth pangs of the Green Movement. That was six months ago, and the movement has rapidly evolved into a massive force aiming to sweep aside the current regime. Street slogans have changed from “where is my vote?” to “death to the dictator,” in direct reference to Ahmadinejad and the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
Longstanding slogans vilifying the U.S. and Israel have been drowned out by slogans against the supporters of the Islamic regime, such as Russia and China. The brutal Ahmadinejad-Khamenei gang has its back against the wall. Every major Iranian city, its universities, and many workplaces are festooned with graffiti against the leaders of the regime. The supreme leader, previously presumed above the law of the land, is now loudly proclaimed by the masses as a murderer who has lost the legitimacy of his office. In fact, the very office of the Supreme Guide and the Islamic Republic is soundly rejected by the masses clamoring for an Iranian Republic to replace the Islamic one.
All signs point to an early demise of the Islamic Republic — and the establishment of a secular democracy completely divorced from Islam…
| — Hat tip: Amil Imani | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Syria and Lebanon Protest at US Measures
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JANUARY 8 — Damascus and Beirut protested today, albeit in differing tones of voice, at the US government’s decision to intensify checks of citizens of some nations — including Syria and Lebanon — which are held to be sponsors of terrorism, or potential places of refuge and territories for the passage of suspect terrorists. Receiving the US politician Alcee Hastings, in Beirut, the Lebanese President, Michel Suleiman, expressed his “concern at the security measures announced by the United States”, stating that Lebanon “enjoys a climate of stability and has shown itself capable of fighting terrorism”. Following the failed attack on the Amsterdam-Detroit flight at Christmas, the United States has recently decided on tightening its security cordon at airports, especially concerning passengers originating from Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. For its part, Syria has strongly criticised Washington’s decision, albeit unofficially, calling it “a dangerous return to the ‘black lists’ of the Bush era”. The editorial of daily newspaper al Watan, which is close to the government, this morning averred that “Mr Obama is staking his reputation on this affair”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Preparing Military for Possible Iran Conflict
The US does not want to see confrontation with Iran but is still preparing its military for that possibility, America’s top uniformed officer said Thursday.
“We’ve looked to do all we can to ensure that conflict doesn’t break out there, while at the same time preparing forces, as we do for many contingencies that we understand might occur,” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during an appearance at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Mullen had been asked whether the US military was stretched too thin to take further action in trouble spots beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We’re very hard-pressed right now” because of the two wars, he noted, but added that it is primarily ground troops that have been deployed, and “the likelihood that our ground forces would have to go somewhere in these kinds of numbers in some other part of the world, or even in the same region, I think is pretty low.”
Many experts assess that any American military engagement with Iran would most likely rely on air and naval power.
Mullen was even more definitive when asked to assess whether Teheran was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
“I believe that they’re on a path that has a strategic intent to develop nuclear weapons and have been for some time,” he said.
Mullen’s words were echoed by a report in The New York Times this week that US President Barack Obama’s top advisers say “they no longer believe the much disputed National Intelligence Estimate” from 2007, which assessed that Iranian scientists ended all work on designing a nuclear warhead in 2003.
Israel had long objected to that finding, and questioned the intelligence evaluation behind it. Mullen’s comments and those of other US officials bring the two countries more in line.
“I think the Obama administration now fully acknowledges that Iran intends to conduct a nuclear weapons capability program,” Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. “We agree with the administration on the intent of the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear military capability.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Corsi Tells Why Talking With Iran Won’t Work
WND writer offers rare insight into Islamic regime on Fox News show
Corsi explains that the Iran threat cannot be solved using methods based on traditional assumptions of international diplomacy, such as that the other nation is operating in its own interest.
Iran’s Islamic leadership, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes its long-awaited Shiite messiah will return to rule after a cataclysmic event. Some observers believe the nuclear destruction of Israel fits Iran’s scenario.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia: Orthodox Christmas Strengthens Alliance Between Putin and Patriarch Kirill
Church and state work closer together for a strong and united Russia. The government announces two billion rubles to restore holy places destroyed by Communism. The old Novodevichy Convent is set to be returned to the Church. Kirill blesses the actions by Putin and the government in tackling the economic crisis.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — More than 150 million Russian Orthodox Christians and 30,000 Russian Orthodox churches celebrated Christmas today around the world. In Moscow for the first time since he took over from the late Aleksij II, Patriarch Kirill celebrated Midnight Mass in the traditional Vigil liturgy in Saint Christ the Saviour Cathedral in the presence of 4,000 people, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas following the old Julian calendar, which is 13 days “behind” the Gregorian calendar adopted by the Catholic, Protestant and some Orthodox Churches as well as the secular world.
In Russia, 7 January also marks the end of the period of abstinence from eating meat and sweets and drinking alcoholic beverages that began on 28 November. It is also a national holiday, and a time when security forces are on maximum alert as a result of recent terrorist attacks around the world. Some 8,500 police agents have been deployed in the capital until tonight to ensure order and security.
Christmas is also a time when secular and religious worlds come together. For the past five years, this has meant growing ties between political and Church leaders. Both have used the occasion to tell the nation about their ever closer relationship for a stronger and more united Russia.
This year, in addition to the traditional exchange of wishes and thanks with the Patriarchate of Moscow, the Russian government gave the Church a special Christmas gift. In his meeting with the patriarch at the Danilov Monastery, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the government would provide RUB 2 billion (US$ 63 million) to restore holy sites, monasteries and churches destroyed during last century’s atheist drive by the state against religion. He also said that the Novodevichy Convent, one of most beautiful and important in the country, would be returned to the Patriarchate before the end of the year.
Putin praised the Church for “educating citizens in a spirit of patriotism and love of country, passing on love for spiritual values and history.” For his part, Kirill said that he hoped that the Lord would help Putin “in performing the high task God gave him.” The patriarch also praised the prime minister for the way he managed the economic crisis, which has had a greater impact in Russia than elsewhere in the world.
In his message to the Orthodox community on Christmas Eve, Kirill stressed the “unity of Holy Russia”. Going over the various trips he took in his first year as patriarch, he explained that it is through “the strength of faith in a multiethnic society” that transcend “ethnic and social differences” that Russia will be able to maintain “its spiritual unity” in today’s world.
Funding to restore Christian sites and the return of properties seized from the Church in Soviet times are but the latest gift of the Kremlin to the Patriarchate. This year, Russia’s Justice Ministry is set to present plans to amend the federal law on “Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations”, which, if approved, would severely restrict the activities of certain religious communities, like Evangelical Christians.
In addition, the authorities plan to add religious education in public schools as well as chaplains paid by the state to the armed forces. It also appears possible that the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow will be granted the right to vet parliamentary bills before they go to the Duma.
This would indicate that now laws might have to be blessed before they are approved.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Government Backs Supreme Court Decision Banning Islam-Based Parties
Justice minister says decision to be confirmed in appeal. Fundamentalists protest; Islamic leader calls ruling a conspiracy, announces a “mass movement” to reinstate amendment.
Dhaka (Asia News) — The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld a decision by the High Court banning religion-based parties, Justice Minister Shafique Ahmed said. This makes the fifth amendment to the constitution null and void. The latter had enabled Islamist parties to emerge.
The minister said that the ruling “will force religious parties of Bangladesh to drop religion from their name”. At present, about 12 parties refer to Islam, including the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, an important ally of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Meanwhile protests by various Islamic parties who oppose the court ruling continue.
The minister’s remarks have in fact added fuel to the fire of opposition, with demonstrations by the country’s Islamist fringe escalating.
Amir Mufti Syed Rezaul Karim, head of the Islami Andalon Bangladesh (IAB), called the decision a “clear conspiracy against Islam”, and plans a “mass movement” to reinstate the amendment.
In 2009, police and elite security forces arrested 600,000 people, including 518 terrorists or individuals affiliated to extremist organisations with close ties to Islamist parties represented in parliament.
The terrorists were planning to attack the US Embassy, churches and sensitive places in neighbouring India.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Bomber Wanted Body Used as ‘Fertilizer’ For Jihadists
‘Oh God, I beseech Thee that I would massacre Your enemies’
A jihadi website posted a posthumous statement from the attacker who blew up himself and seven CIA employees in Afghanistan in which the man frets about not being a “martyr” and having to face judgment for his sins.
[…]
The article, “When Will My Words Drink My Blood? — I Am Now Fit For Publication,” apparently was written shortly before the bomber took on his suicide mission. It is attributed to Al-Khorasani, a pen name used by Hammam Khalil al-Balawi to post jihad writings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: Bimaru: The Poorest States in India Awaken
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, once called “the sick states” have increased their development up to 11%. Orissa also has a good development (8.74%). But corruption, terrorism and Maoism is also growing because the wealth of these states is not distributed equitably, leaving very poor groups in the population.
They had been called Bimaru (in Hindi language means sick) the four Indian states: Bihar,
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the most poor states in India along with Orissa; but now they are catching up and also performing better than the Indian average of 8.49. Bihar, for example has broken the two digits figure. From 2004 to 2009, Bihar average growth had been 11.03. Uttarahkand (that was part of Uttar Pradesh) had an average of 9.31 in the same period; Jharkhand (that was part of Bihar) had a growth of 8.45, Chhattisgarh (that was part of Madhya Pradesh) a good growth of 7.35. Three of these states had been carved out in 2000. That can show that smaller states can perform better or that development produce the need of autonomy.
So the fast development of India is not only produced or in favor of the already industrialized states but is spreading also to the less developed areas of the country.
Orissa’s performance, 8.74%, is also remarkable, since 10 years ago it had the worst fiscal indicators among all the states. The chief minister, Nveen Patnaik hs been a major force in accelerating growth and stabilizing state finances. His image as a clean politician has been tarnished recently by report of widespread corruption. Land acquisition problems and Maoist violence have highlighted continuing tribal travails, and the murder of Christians s a blot on his secular record. Yet he should be praised for making Orissa stage a huge turnaround.
The same credit should be given to Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, with its annual growth of 11.03 represents the fastest growing state in India together with Gujarat 11.05. Under the previous administration of Lalu Prasad, Bihar was at the bottom of development.
Fast growth in poor states does not automatically mean that growth has reached all poor people. Major beneficiaries include a creamy layer of politically well-connected people. The spread of Maoism in some of these states, like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh an Orissa suggest a widespread tribal distress.
The poor states remain far behind the rest of India. Maoism, terrorism and corruption are growing. Yet, the economic gap between some poor and rich states is shrinking dramatically.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Interference in Nepali Affairs Leading to Unrest Among Maoists
Protests are launched today in the capital and seven other cities. Maoist leader and former Prime Minister Prachanda accuses India of “guiding” Nepal’s current government, urges Nepalis to fight for the nation’s independence and sovereignty.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — The fourth phase of protests by Nepal’s Maoists begins today. Thousands of former guerrilla fighters took to the streets of the capital to demonstrate what they view is India’s meddling in Nepali affairs.
“National independence has been our issue all the time. So we have been fighting for the National independence and sovereignty,” Maoist leader Prachanda said. “The present government is guided by India and has not received any mandate from the Nepali people,” he added.
For the former prime minister, India aims at destabilising the country in order to pursue its own economic and political agenda. As an act of protest, he has called for all treaties between India and Nepal since 1950 be burnt.
Under the country’s former Hindu monarchy, India and Nepal developed close economic and political ties. Maoists have instead built close ties with Communist China. When the Republic was proclaimed in 2006 and the Maoists formed a government, relations between Kathmandu and Beijing grew.
Last 10 October, Prachanda visited China where he met President Hu Jintao.
On 3 December, Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also made his first visit to Beijing. On that occasion, he reassured his hosts that Nepal would stop anti-Chinese activities on its territory by Tibetan activists. China pledged major economic aid in return.
Maoist demonstrations are set to take place till 19 January in the capital and seven other cities. The fourth phase of protests will end with a sit-in in front of the Singha Durbar, the official seat of the Nepali government, and the Indian Embassy.
With his deputy Bahattarai, Prachanda also announced a protest march to an area along the border where the territories of China, India and Nepal meet, which is currently under Indian military control. Senior leaders Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Ram Bahadur Thapa are also set to visit the dams Indian-built dams on the border. A general strike is called for 24 January.
Back on 11-13 November, 150,000 Maoists took to the streets of the capital, blocking access to the main government buildings, in order to demand their reintegration into society.
Given the situation, the national unity government formed last May after Prachanda’s resignation has been on constant alert for fear that the former rebels might take arms again.
On 17 November, Nepali Home Affairs Minister Bhim Rawal went to India to secure New Delhi’s support against possible Maoist threats.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia: Four Christian Churches Attacked Over Controversy on the Use of “Allah”
Three Protestant places of worship, and one Catholic in the sights of Islamic fundamentalists. The offices of Metro Tabernacle Church damaged. Cars owned by Catholics vandalised. The director of the Catholic weekly Herald confirms “pressure” on government and judiciary to “cancel the Supreme Court ruling.”
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) — “There is no immediate danger, but the situation is still worrying.” This was the comment reported to AsiaNews by Fr Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Catholic weekly Herald, on last night’s attack of “three Protestant and one Catholic church “. The priest also confirms “a national propaganda campaign” of the Muslim majority, so that “the name of Allah can only be used to refer to the God of Islam.”
Around midnight on Wednesday an explosion damaged the administrative offices of Metro Tabernacle Church, a Protestant church in Kuala Lumpur. Three other Christian places of worship, including the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Petaling Jaya, were also attacked. The assailants threw a Molotov cocktail inside the building, which caused minimal damage. Fr. Lawrence reported that in addition to places of worship some “cars owned by Catholics” were attacked, with “bodywork damaged and broken windows, but there are no injuries.”
The anger of the fundamentalist wing in the country was unleashed by the December 31st decision by Supreme Court judges allowing Christians to use the word “Allah” in reference to God contrary to the government ban. The government has announced it will appeal the ruling. Today a protest rally, sponsored by 58 Muslim NGOs, was held on the streets of the capital which was attended by about 300 people.
“There have been no reports of incidents during the protest — confirmed Fr Lawrence to AsiaNews — because the police did a good job. The security forces have are committed to keeping the peace and preventing calm an escalation of violence”. The priest said that there is a campaign of propaganda in Malaysia that seeks to “put pressure on the Government”: Islam is the state religion, it must maintain a dominant position and the rules must be in accord with Islamic law.
“We are worried — says the priest — but the situation is not dangerous as of yet. We have established close cooperation with the government to help restore peace in the country”. In order to avoid further violence, Fr. Lawrence confirms that “we will not use the word Allah in the editions of our newspaper until the judiciary issues the final ruling.”
“Today the TV has broadcast the Friday prayers all over the country — concluded the priest — During the sermon it was repeated several times that Allah is the God of Muslims and they alone can use it. It is an attempt to put pressure on judges, to cancel the ruling of the Supreme Court. With a climate like this, it is not possible to carry out a fair and just trial. “(DS)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysian Churches Fire-Bombed as ‘Allah’ Row Escalates
Three churches have been attacked in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, ahead of protests by Muslim groups.
The administrative offices of one church were destroyed by a firebomb attack and one of the other two churches attacked was slightly damaged.
Some Muslim groups are angry at a court decision allowing non-Muslims to use the word Allah to refer to God.
The government of the mainly Muslim nation has condemned the attacks on the churches and vowed to take action.
[…]
The argument has continued in the media and the courts for months but had not become violent — until assailants on motorbikes were seen smashing the windows of the Metro Tabernacle Church, a Protestant church in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
The ground floor office of the three-storey church was destroyed in a blaze a little after midnight, said Kevin Ang, a church spokesman.
Kuala Lumpur police Chief Mohamad Sabtu Osman said police had found a wrench, an empty petrol tin and two scorched motorbikes at the scene.
Separately, Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compounds of two other churches before dawn, causing minor damage in one and none in the other, church officials said.
Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the attacks, saying such actions would “destroy our country’s harmony”.
“The government will take whatever steps it can to prevent such acts,” he said.
There was tight security at all churches in Malaysia and at several mosques where protests against the court’s ruling took place, says the BBC’s Jennifer Pak in Kuala Lumpur.
Mass nationwide demonstrations failed to materialise on Friday, but protesters at mosques in Kuala Lumpur carried placards reading “Allah is only for us” and “Heresy arises from words wrongly used”.
“I hope the court will understand the feeling of the majority Muslims of Malaysia,” said Ahmad Johari, at the National Mosque.
“We can fight to the death over this issue,” he told Associated Press news agency.
The government has appealed against the court verdict and the High Court has suspended the decision’s implementation until the appeal is heard.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
KFC Advertisement in Australia Sparks Race Row
The Australian arm of the fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken has had to withdraw an advertisement after accusations of racial insensitivity.
It showed a white cricket fan trying to pacify a group of rowdy West Indian fans by handing around fried chicken.
When the advertisement reached America via the internet there were complaints.
It was accused of reinforcing a derogatory racial stereotype linking black people in the American deep south with a love of fried food.
The advertisement from Kentucky Fried Chicken features a white cricket fan dressed in the green and gold of the Australian team surrounded by a group of West Indian supporters, who are dancing and singing to a calypso beat.
He decides to quieten them down by handing around a bucket of fried chicken.
Picked up by the American media, the advertisement immediately stirred controversy, because it was alleged to have perpetuated the racial stereotype that black people eat a lot of fried chicken.
The fast food chain’s head office in America said it was withdrawing the advertisement, and apologised for what it called “any misrepresentation” which might have caused offence.
It is the second time in three months that something broadcast in Australia has caused a racial stir in America.
The last flare-up was over an entertainment show on the Australian network Channel Nine in which a group of singers appeared with blacked-up faces to impersonate the Jackson Five.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Teen Girl Assaulted at Shopping Centre
[Comment by Nilk: The big surprise with this one is that there is a description of the alleged perps. Usually the only time we get that is if they’re looking for a NON-MOMEA.]
Two youths are wanted by police over the sexual assault of a teenage girl at a western Sydney shopping centre on Christmas Eve.
The pair, believed to be aged in their mid- to late teens, attacked the 17-year-old in a stairwell at a Parramatta shopping centre, police said.
“The girl went with the males to a nearby shopping centre where she was taken to a fire stairwell in a car park on level seven,” police said in a statement.
“The girl has told police the males then forced her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.”
Police have released images of the two males, who are described as being of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean appearance.
Anyone with information on their identities is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Life and Death in the Middle Belt: A Clash of Civilizations in Nigeria
Muslims and Christians are both growing more radical in Nigeria, home of the would-be underwear bomber. Almost nowhere else in the world does the rivalry between religions lead to bloody conflict quite so often.
In Bauchi, there are rumors that militant Muslims are preparing to attack Christians in Jos, 100 kilometers (62 miles) away. Is it true? Or just an attempt to spark fear?
Nothing is certain in Jos, a city of close to a million inhabitants in central Nigeria’s so-called “Middle Belt,” a broad region between the 8th and 12th parallels north. Somewhere in this region, a shifting line separates Nigeria’s predominantly Islamic north from its Christian south. Many Christians fear that followers of Allah are trying to expand southward, and Jos lies in the midst of the conflict.
Violence erupted again last week, shortly after the would-be Detroit bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was identified as a Nigerian Muslim. “The Hausa-Fulani are not part of us,” Christians wrote on Internet forums, referring to the country’s largest Muslim ethnic group, to which Abdulmutallab traces his origins. “They are bastards, mixed with Arab blood to terrorize the world. They do not like education. They hate civilization and I wonder why they still exist as part of the human race.”
Pastor James has come to Jos for a few hours. This is not a good sign, because wherever Pastor James turns up, terror isn’t far away. He has just come from Bauchi, and he too has heard talk that the Muslims there are arming themselves.
The 50-year-old pastor is one of the most prominent peace activists in Nigeria. One reason he’s so famous is that he appears often with Imam Muhammad Ashafa from Kaduna in north-central Nigeria. The men preach the same message: “No matter whether you are Christians or Muslims, live your religion but don’t kill anyone.” Another reason the pastor is so prominent is that 20 years ago, going by James Wuye, he was known as a feared Christian militia leader in Kaduna, about 200 kilometers west of Jos. He lost an arm battling the people his current partner at the pulpit represents. “I hated the Muslims,” he says. He came to his senses in the mid-1990s, and since then he has called himself a “conflict manager.” Pastor James is a busy man today, preaching peace throughout Nigeria.
The country has a population of about 150 million; its roughly 400 ethnic groups speak more than 400 languages. Half the nation prays to “Allah” and the other half to “God.” Hardly anywhere in the world has the ongoing rivalry between Christians and Muslims claimed so many victims, with at least 10,000 dead.
There has been killing everywhere. Muslims have been hunted down in the southern port city of Lagos, while Christians have been victimized in Kano in the Muslim north. But the majority of deaths occur in the Middle Belt, in places like Kaduna and Bauchi, and particularly Jos, where followers of the two religions live relatively close to one another.
In almost no city in the world is the clash of civilizations more evident. Without a wall, Jos is a divided city. Entire neighborhoods go up in flames, over and over, most recently in November 2008. Each new conflagration claims hundreds of lives. In 2001 Muslims set fire to the enormous indoor market buildings in downtown Jos, which house more than 10,000 market stalls. Most of the casualties were among members of the primarily Christian Ibo tribe. After each new conflict, the divide between religions becomes more raw.
A Colonial Divide
Arab traders brought Islam to the Sahel zone about 1,000 years ago, but for a long time it played only a secondary role as a religion. Trade, including the slave trade, was more important to the caliphs and emirs than faith. Christian missionaries penetrated up from the south a little over 100 years ago, following the country’s British colonial masters. But the British allowed the emirs to prevail and prevented the missionaries from advancing any further. One consequence of the colonial masters’ decision is that schools and universities in the south today are much better than those in the north.
The military governments that ruled Nigeria until 1999 used authoritarian means to hold together the multiethnic nation. Then came democracy. A new constitution and informal agreements brought a measure of stability — for example, under new rules, the presidency will change hands between Christians from the south and Muslims from the north at least once every two terms, while the vice-president and the president will each be from one of the two religious groups.
But such agreements have not guaranteed the peace.
Part 2: ‘The Government Covered Up the Real Numbers’
Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, had hardly been voted into office in 1999 when 12 states in northern Nigeria introduced Sharia law, triggering an outcry throughout the Christian world.
The causes of periodically erupting religious conflict are sometimes banal and often far-fetched. When the Miss World contest was scheduled to be held in Nigeria in 2002, Muslims were angered by an insensitive newspaper commentary. The ensuing violence claimed 215 lives in Kaduna alone.
Uche Uruakpa, 38, can describe the religious conflict from a unique perspective. He’s a Christian doctor, and in 2001 he started working in the largest Muslim hospital in Kano, a city of a million people — 90 percent of them Muslim. “On some mornings, there were 2,000 patients lying in front of my office in the hospital,” says Uruakpa.
The bloodshed began when a fundamentalist Muslim saw a Christian child on the street carrying a page from the Koran — and promptly killed the child. Hundreds died in the ensuing frenzy. “The government covered up the real numbers,” says Uruakpa, who hid for two weeks in Kano’s Christian neighborhood and left the city a year later. “They would have to offer a lot for me to work there again,” he says.
Uruakpa lived in a culture that he found foreign and impenetrable. “I saw them all,” he says, including men with four wives, the maximum number a man is permitted to have in Islam. Some married girls, he says, were not even 12 years old. “The men came to me with their large families, and I had to ask them which ones were their wives and which ones were their daughters.”
Exodus from the North
The irony in Nigeria is that the north has a greater need for the better-trained experts, doctors and scientists from the south, and yet the lack of culture and persistent acts of extreme violence have led to an exodus of businesspeople, professors, doctors and scientists.
In the early 1990s there were about 500 industrial firms in Kano. Ten years later, that number had declined to about 200. This is one reason why many Muslim Hausa-Fulani have moved further south where, in cities like Kaduna, Jos and Bauchi, they now form the new proletarian poor.
Sheikh Khalid Aliyu is familiar with the boys who sell adulterated gasoline in bottles along the arterial highways in Jos, periodically getting high by sniffing gasoline or glue. “Poverty, bad policy and tribalism are the fuels of discontent,” says Aliyu, whose organization promotes conciliation and understanding among the Muslim population.
Aliyu knows all too well that the successes are modest. “Politicians aren’t solving the problems,” he says. “No jobs, no education, no electricity, nothing to do. A hungry man will not produce peace,” he says.
The Christians now feel threatened, while the Muslims feel marginalized. The Hausa-Fulani have particular problems when they arrive in Jos. Because Nigerian law distinguishes between new arrivals and local residents, they are unable to shed the label of “newcomers” in the city, which has a Christian-dominated government. This prevents them from securing jobs in the public sector or gaining access to universities. The same is true throughout Nigeria, but in places of great poverty, anger grows rampant — and with it the urge to find refuge in religion.
‘Both Sides Are Preparing for Battle’
Maiduguri in the far northeastern corner of Nigeria, with an estimated population of more than a million, is one of those places — dusty, isolated, impoverished. There are dozens of Koran schools in Maiduguri, some funded with money from Saudi Arabia. Trucks filled with children from Niger and Chad occasionally arrive in the city, and the children are taken to madrassas to learn the Koran, but not reading and writing. When they are not in school, the children are expected to work.
“It’s modern slavery,” says Bolaji Aina of the German’s Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), which supported women’s projects in Maiduguri for many years. Boko Haram, an Islamic sect, has been all too willing to take on these latter-day slaves. More than 700 people died last July during clashes between the sect and police in Maiduguri.
The country has plunged headlong into 2010, divided, without any real prospects and without leadership. President Umaru Yar’Adua has been in a Saudi Arabian hospital for weeks, incapable of governing his country amid growing demands for the appointment of a successor. But who would it be? Another Muslim like Yar’Adua? Or is the Christians’ turn?
“Both sides are preparing for battle,” says Pastor James, the peace missionary, in Jos. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game. The events in the north are also radicalizing the south.”
It was quiet in Jos over the Christmas holidays. But, as it happened, the rumors coming from Bauchi were not rumors at all. Clashes in the city last Monday, instigated by an Islamic sect, claimed 38 lives.
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: 29,000 Illegal Immigrants Expelled in ‘09
(ANSAMED) — PARIS, JANUARY 7 — In an interview with radio network Europe 1, French Immigration Minister Eric Besson said that 29,000 illegal immigrants were expelled from the country in 2009. The figure is similar to that of 2008, but well above the 27,000 goal set by President Nicolas Sarkozy. This is not the first time that the number of expulsions has exceeded the agreed-on objectives. In 2008, France expelled 29,799 “undocumented” foreigners. At that time, the objective was 25,000. In 2009, 108,000 foreigners were naturalized while 175,000 “entered France with a long-term visa”, the minister explained. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Locals Attack Migrants, Nine Hurt
ROME — Residents of an Italian town beat with iron bars, shot at and ran over immigrants, wounding nine — two seriously — in a second night of racially charged violence, authorities and reports said.
The clashes in the southern town of Rosarno, which erupted Thursday during a protest by mainly African farm labourers, had injured 18 policemen and 19 foreigners in two days, authorities in Reggio Calabria province said.
Around 100 locals armed with batons and metal bars, and some carrying clubs and cans of petrol, had meanwhile set up a barricade late Friday near a place where many immigrants meet, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Nine busses with police escorts later evacuated around 250 immigrants in the early hours of Saturday as locals applauded.
In separate incidents on Friday, two immigrants were beaten and seriously wounded with iron bars, media and officials said. One of the wounded was admitted to hospital for brain surgery.
Two other immigrants were shot in the legs with hunting shotguns and five more were deliberately run over by vehicles driven by locals, they said. They were lightly hurt.
Police arrested the occupants of one of the vehicles, ANSA said, quoting investigators.
Police reinforcements had been sent to the area, said police chief Antonio Manganelli, as Italian President Giorgio Napolitano called for “an immediate end to the violence”.
The violence broke out Thursday when hundreds of immigrants, most of them Africans employed illegally as farm labourers, demonstrated after some of them had been shot at with an air rifle, ANSA said.
Demonstrators set fire to cars and smashed windscreens before police intervened, leading to a scuffle that left several of the demonstrators wounded, ANSA said.
The disturbances continued on Friday with about 2,000 immigrants holding a sit-in in the centre of Rosarno while Italian residents blocked roads and occupied the town hall.
While 250 immigrants were evacuated early on Saturday to an emergency shelter located at Crotone, some 170 kilometres (105 miles) away, some 500 were still holed up on another building in the town, according to ANSA.
Police were staying in the town to ensure the immigrants don’t return and residents don’t burn down any buildings.
Earlier Friday the UN refugee agency’s spokeswoman in Italy Laura Boldrini told AFP the body feared an “immigrant hunt” in Rosarno.
A team from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was to visit the area on Saturday, she said.
Boldrini said authorities must find those responsible for the air-gun shooting of the immigrants, who included political refugees and asylum seekers.
She said there should be immediate dialogue including about the “inhuman conditions in which these workers are living: the unhealthy cabins without water, without hygiene”.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said the tensions were a result of “too much tolerance towards clandestine immigration”.
According to Italy’s main trade union CGIL, about 50,000 immigrant workers in Italy live in poor conditions similar to those in Rosarno.
It said immigrants employed as farm labourers earned low wages of around 25 euro (36 dollars) a day.
The union also accused the mafia of controlling the sector and criticised Maroni’s statement, saying immigrants were paid “miserable salaries and have terrible hours, similar to slavery”.
| — Hat tip: MR | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tension High in South After Immigrant Riots
Reggio Calabria, 8 Jan. (AKI) — The Italian government has pledged to set up a welfare task force after hundreds of immigrant workers rioted in two southern towns overnight after a local shooting. Police arrested 11 people after the riots which broke out in the town of Rosarno and nearby Gioia Tauro in Calabria after two immigrants were wounded in a shooting by unidentified gunmen.
According to police estimates around 2,000 protesters gathered outside the town hall to protest against the shooting which the immigrants claimed was motivated by racism. At least 34 people have been injured in the street conflict.
After meeting national and regional officials in Rome on Friday, interior minister, Roberto Maroni, said that a “difficult situation” had arisen in Rosarno because too little had been done to control illegal immigration in the past.
“In recent years illegal immigration has been tolerated without anything effective being done,” Maroni said in a telephone interview aired on a TV programme.
“On the one hand it has promoted crime and on the other also generated a situation of serious degradation like that in Rosarno.”
Maroni said the government was doing everything necessary to bring the immediate situation under control and had taken effective action to stop illegal immigration.
“We have now brought an end to illegal immigration, to the landings that have led to these destructive situations and little by little will get this situation back to normal.”
The situation remained tense on Friday after groups of protesters blocked streets, stoned police, attacked residents and damaged shop windows and cars.
The Italian interior ministry said 14 people — including police officers, protesters and residents — were injured in the riots.
The ministry said shops and schools in Rosarno were closed because of the violence and protests were continuing on Friday.
Agazio Loiero, the governor of the Calabria region, told Sky TV said that the violence was “unacceptable” but the immigrants had been provoked.
The conditions on farms in southern Italy are notoriously poor, and immigrant workers are often housed in barracks without electricity and running water. Some are reportedly earning as little as 25 euros a day.
Pino Varra, parish priest at Rosarno’s San Giovanni Battista church told Adnkronos that while the riots were triggered by an attack, beyond that was the “hardship” that the immigrants suffered and that had led to their revolt.
“This is not a xenophobic city and you cannot send that message,” he told Adnkronos.
“We should not simply be indignant about yesterday’s damage but we must look beyond that and look at the conditions in which the immigrants live.”
But many residents are furious about the damage caused by the riots and denied responsibility for provoking the attacks.
“It’s impossible that we created this confusion,” said one resident. “Children have been sent to hospital, and a pregnant woman had a miscarriage, another had a heart attack after being attacked by foreigners in his car.”
Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi won elections in April 2008 on an anti-crime platform, vowing to curb illegal immigration which, according to surveys, many Italian associate with a growing security problem in their towns and cities.
Italy in May began returning to Libya migrants rescued or intercepted at sea in international waters, triggering criticism from the Vatican and the United Nations Refugee Agency or UNHCR. The repatriations followed a deal Italy struck with Libya last year to combat people trafficking in the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Gelmini: Max 30% Foreigners Per School Class Next Year
(AGI) — Rome, 8 Jan. — A 30% cap will be imposed on the number immigrant students per class starting with the next 2010-2011 school year in primary, middle and high schools. The Ministry for Education, Universities and Research told sources that the plan is meant to promote integration as well as safeguard the symbols and identity of the Italian school system. A letter was sent to all Italian schools itemizing the “indications and recommendations for the integration of non-Italian pupils”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Robot Border Guards to Patrol Future Frontiers
A MIGRANT makes a furtive dash across an unwalled rural section of a national border, only to be confronted by a tracked robot that looks like a tiny combat tank — with a gimballed camera for an eye. As he passes the bug-eyed droid, it follows him and a border guard’s voice booms from its loudspeaker. He has illegally entered the country, he is warned, and if he does not turn back he will be filmed and followed by the robot, or by an airborne drone, until guards apprehend him.
Welcome to the European border of the not-too-distant future. Amid the ever-present angst over illegal immigration, cross-border terrorism and contraband smuggling, some nations are turning to novel border-surveillance technologies, potentially backed up by robots, a conference on state security at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, heard in November. The idea is to scatter arrays of sensors in a border area in ways that give guards or robots plenty of time to respond before their targets make good an escape.
The need to secure borders is evident across the globe, from India — which is constructing a 3400-kilometre, 3-metre-high barbed-wire and concrete border wall to close itself off from Bangladesh — to Libya, where foot patrols are being augmented with new people-sensing technologies.
Libya has an agreement with the European Union to try to limit the flow of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa traversing its borders before crossing the Mediterranean and entering Italy. To help it enforce this deal, Libya is spending €300 million on technology for what it calls a “large border security and control system”, made by Selex Sistemi Integrati, part of Italian aerospace firm Finmeccanica. Selex says its command, control and communication technology will include all the computers and software necessary to make sense of the data gathered by a raft of different sensors on the Libyan border. Project details remain under wraps, but Selex already makes acoustic, infrared and remote-imaging sensors, which could find uses in border control.
Elsewhere, the US Department of Homeland Security, along with Boeing Intelligence and Security Systems, is fielding sensors on the border with Mexico, in an $8 billion project called the Secure Border Initiative network…
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Immigrant Attacked Friend With Knife to Get Deported Back to Africa Because He Hated Britain
An immigrant carried out a knifepoint attack to be deported back to a war-torn African country — because he found Britain worse than his homeland.
Kasiba Misigaro, 21, who was living off state handouts, had asked the immigration services to send him home but they did nothing — despite him having been convicted of 21 offences over the past five years.
So he pulled a knife on an African friend hoping to be deported, believing he will have a better life back in Burundi, one of the ten poorest countries in the world.
Misigaro targeted Isce Akanbi, 40, last month in West Ham tube station in east London.
He threatened Mr Akanbi with a knife before taking two mobile phones and a wallet.
Mr Akanbi and two friends pursued Misigaro and eventually he dropped the stolen items, along with his weapon. Police arrested him at the scene.
He told officers: ‘I only did it because I wanted to go home. I don’t want to be here.’ He insisted he did not intend to stab the victim, only frighten him.
James Lofthouse, prosecuting, told Inner London Crown Court: ‘He was on benefits, hates being in the UK, has no interest in working or integrating, has no money, and would commit further offences if he remained here.
‘He said he had already approached the immigration services about going to Burundi but they didn’t seem particularly interested in assisting.’
Judge Simon Gerald remarked: ‘If we put him on a plane I imagine he’d like that too.’
Charles Langley, defending, said: ‘This is a rather unusual case, where the defendant wants to be sent back home. I would seek that your honour makes a recommendation for deportation.’
The court heard Misigaro has amassed convictions for 21 offences in the last five years and was completing an unpaid work order for his last crime, an attempted robbery, when he committed this offence.
Judge Gerald said it was a ‘very serious offence’, aggravated by the fact Misigaro was on a community order at the time.
Misigaro, of Plaistow, east London, admitted robbery and was jailed for three years.
He will be automatically deported at the end of his sentence.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Gay Marriage Law Passes First Reading
(ANSAmed) — LISBON, JANUARY 8 — A bill to legalise marriage between homosexuals has passed its first reading in Portugal’s parliament, while proposals made by the far-left and the greens in favour of adoptions by gay couples were rejected. The bill promoted by the socialist administration was defended in the Lower House by Premier José Socrates and was passed with the votes of almost all the left majority MPs, despite a ‘No’ from the right. Before becoming law, the bill will have to pass through commission and a definitive parliamentary vote before being promulgated by the head of state, the Catholic and right-aligned Anibal Cavaco Silva. In his speech, Socrates spoke of his desire to “remedy decades of injustice perpetrated at the expense of homosexuals”. He pointed out how, “up until 1982 Portugal was in the absurd and sickening situation of considering homosexuality an offence punishable by law”. The legalising of homosexual marriage formed part of the social’s electoral manifesto when they won in last September’s elections. Speaking of the rejected adoption proposals, the Premier stressed that this was “a different matter to marriage”: “adoption,” Socrates said, “is not a right of couples, it is a right of the child”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Same-Sex Marriage Law Backed in Portugal’s Parliament
Portugal’s parliament has passed a law to legalise same-sex marriage, but rejected proposals to allow homosexual couples to adopt.
The bill was approved with the support of the governing Socialist Party and other parties further to the left.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates opened the debate with an appeal to back the law, saying it would put right an injustice that had caused unnecessary pain.
The law has been fiercely opposed by conservatives in the Catholic country.
Rightist parties had sought a national referendum on the issue following a petition that collected more than 90,000 signatures, but their proposal was rejected.
Friday’s debate was at times heated, says the BBC’s Alison Roberts in Lisbon, with Socialists attacking as discriminatory a counter-proposal from the centre-right Social Democrats for a new so-called civil union for same-sex couples.
The bill will now be reviewed in committee before coming back for a final vote in parliament.
If the law is ratified by President Anibal Cavaco Silva, it could come into effect in April — just a month before a visit to Portugal by Pope Benedict XVI, a staunch opponent of gay marriage.
The ratification would make Portugal the sixth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriages after Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway.
Many other countries have introduced civil partnerships, which give lesbian and gay couples some of the rights of married heterosexuals.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
1 comment:
Regarding the KFC Advertisement:
"Picked up by the American media, the advertisement immediately stirred controversy, because it was alleged to have perpetuated the racial stereotype that black people eat a lot of fried chicken.
The fast food chain’s head office in America said it was withdrawing the advertisement, and apologised for what it called “any misrepresentation” which might have caused offence."
First, the complaint itself is absurd. The advertisement isn't depicting American black people. Nor was the cricket a scene where you will find American black people. Now was it drawn up by American people (i.e. Australian advertising company acting on KFC Australia's behalf).
The ad did not offend the Australian left who ensure that you can't ever depict Black Aborigines badly or realistically if they will look bad.
The ad did not offend the West Indies/Caribbean fans currently in Australia to watch the Cricket this summer. How the white dude looks is how I would look if I bought a seat to the cricket and ended up in the middle of the West Indies fans - Tolerant but ready to lose my hearing to their drums. And the ad is funny, it is humorous.
A side to that, I once went to the Cricket and was surrounded by Indian fans, my friends and I had to endure half a day of anti-white racist comments directed to us, even those present who are Jewish. That is reality.
Anyway, the whole advertisement controversey is a storm in a tea cup. Australians have just had to pander to the American left. Watch the ad on youtube and be underwhelmed.
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