A car bomb exploded and killed 43 people today in the town of Reyhanli, Turkey, which lies on the border with Syria. The Turkish government asserts that the Assad regime is responsible for the bombing.
In other news, Spanish banks foreclosed on and seized almost 40,000 homes in 2012.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, LS, Mary Abdelmassih, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Spanish Banks Seized 40,000 Homes in 2012
Banks seized nearly 40,000 homes in Spain last year due to unpaid mortgages, official data showed Friday, as a sharp economic downturn and record unemployment took its toll.
A total of 39,167 homes were seized in 2012, the Bank of Spain said in a bulletin based on a survey of lenders which approve over 85 percent of mortgages in the country.
It is the first time the central bank has published figures on the number of homes seized by banks.
The Bank of Spain plans to publish the figure each semester from now on.
The vast majority of homes seized last year, 32,490, were considered primary dwellings, with the rest either secondary residences used as holiday properties or rented out.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ANSA Photo Show in New York, Washington Fetes Piedmont
Part of Year of Italian Culture in the United States
(By Sandra Cordon) (ANSA) — Turin, May 10 — Highlights of the culture, history, and natural beauty of the northwestern Piedmont region will be on display in Washington and New York in May and June as part of a photographic tour of the Italy. The exhibition ‘Tour Around Italy’ is sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Embassy in the United States, and the Milan Expo 2015 committee, and was created by the ANSA news agency to better explain and promote Italy abroad.
In fact, the photographic exhibit is part of the wider initiative: ‘2013 — Year of Italian Culture in the United States’, which is designed to boost awareness throughout the US of all that Italy has to offer.
The Year of Italian Culture involves more than 180 events curated by the Italian embassy in Washington and by Italian consulates and cultural institutes in more than 40 US cities.
And part of that initiative, organizers say, is focusing the spotlight on regions and events that are not always prominent on the conventional tourist circuit which too often includes only the most popular cities of Rome, Florence and Venice.
Piedmont officials say that their region is certainly one such example.
Although it has numerous attractions, including its popular capital Turin, which hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics, local officials say Piedmont’s attributes are sometimes overlooked. They are counting on this exhibition to help change that. The collection of photographs, representing various regions of Italy, focuses on six key themes, including local handicrafts, food specialties, fashion and style, important art, and Italian initiatives and excellence in the field of science and research.
The intended audience for the exhibition, which will begin in Washington on Saturday at the Italian Embassy, includes the Italian community in the US and Italian-American associations operating in the area, organizers say. The same photographic exhibition will also be presented at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) headquarters in New York, beginning May 14.
Other agencies involved in the Piedmont element of the project, including Unioncamere Piemonte, hope to boost the region’s international profile for visitors as well as investors who may be interested in finding new opportunities in the region. “The internationalization of our region should be supported with projects and actions to reinforce the presence of Piedmontese companies in foreign markets,” said Ferruccio Dardanello, president of Unioncamere Piemonte. His organization represents eight chambers of commerce which account for companies employing more than 1.5 million workers in the Piedmont region.
The exhibition will demonstrate not only the beauty, traditions, impressive foods and wines of the region, but also its industrial expertise and impressive future, added Dardanello.
The photos in the exhibition will be published in book form, to help illustrate 150 years of Piedmont’s history with an eye to the future.
Added regional President Roberto Cota: “Based on what we were yesterday, and showing where we are today, this exhibition will be an excellent tool to make everyone understand what we want to be tomorrow”.
A free Apple Store iPad app has also been created around the exhibition, allowing virtual visits.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Authorities Launch Criminal Investigation of West, Texas, Fertilizer Plant Explosion
Hours after a paramedic in West, Tex., was taken into federal custody on Friday for unlawful possession of a “destructive device,” the Texas Department of Public Safety and the McLennan County sheriff said they are launching a criminal investigation into the fertilizer plant explosion there last month that killed 14 people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Benghazi and Boston: Maintaining the Momentum
Obama administration’s criminal culpability in that tragedy, Absolute treason of the press
The House Oversight Committee hearings this week on the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya were extremely revealing on three levels. One, of course, was the information finally revealed as the whistleblowers were identified and Americans were able to hear their riveting accounts of the events on the ground that night.
Two: Though it has been established that perhaps a majority of Republican lawmakers are treasonous, progressive whores, it appears that there are at least a few who are serious about preserving the republic and who grasp the gravity of the Obama administration’s crimes. This is not only gratifying, but certainly could be integral to extricating this obscene cabal.
Three is the absolute treason of the press. This may not be surprising to the reader, given their comportment in recent years, but their level of abject propaganda and obsequious toadying during the hearings was unparalleled. Few of the alphabet television networks touched on the hearings at all, and those that did relegated much of their coverage to hidden nooks and crannies on their websites.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Benghazi: The Undoing of Hillary
by Srdja Trifkovic
It remains to be seen who will be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016. After this week’s congressional hearings on Benghazi it is certain that Hillary Clinton—the worst Secretary of State in American history—will not be that person. If this country’s political system has some spark left, the Libyan scandal will also come to define the Obama presidency.
The Department of State and the White House did their utmost to conceal the true nature of the attack last September 11, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed. It was a brazen act of Islamic terrorism, carried out by hard-core jihadists, of course, but the Administration was understandably loath to admit that its former Libyan protége’s were the culprits. The result was an elaborate, conspiratorial subterfuge. It entailed penalizing a senior career diplomat—Gregory Hicks, the Deputy Mission Chief in Tripoli—who refused to go along with the Administration’s patently absurd claim that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration sparked off by an “anti-Islamic” video posted on YouTube.
Last Wednesday, Hicks testified before the House Oversight Committee that he called an acting assistant secretary to dispute Susan Rice’s claim—made on Sunday news shows five days after the attack—that the outrage was caused by the clip. He said he was “stunned” by the claim, because he knew that the video was actually a “nonevent” in Libya. “My jaw dropped,” he said. “I was embarrassed.” Hicks was immediately rebuked for his misgivings, and told in no uncertain terms to drop that line of questioning. He got a call from Beth Jones, an acting assistant secretary to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to stop doubting Washington’s stance that the attack was spurred by a protest: “The sense I got is that I needed to stop my line of questioning.” All efforts to get military help to the consulate were rebuffed, according to Hicks, and special forces in Tripoli wanting to help were “furious.”
Hicks further said that, within weeks, his performance was criticized by superiors: he received a “blistering critique” of his management style. This was a classic case of punishing the potential whistle-blower, not for speaking out—Hicks had remained silent until the hearing—but for doing his job. Hicks also revealed that Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton’s Chief of Staff, told him that he could not speak to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)—who went to Libya on a fact-finding mission—unless a State Department attorney was in attendance. Hicks called the attorney “the minder,” send to monitor what was being said.
The end result was a demotion of Hicks. As Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted, his testimony provided proof conclusive that Hillary Clinton was personally involved in trying to suppress information about the true nature of the attack.
Mark Thompson, under-secretary at the Department of State’s counterterrorism bureau, provided evidence that supported Hick’s account—and then some more. He testified that the Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST), was not allowed to respond to the attack. Thompson noted that FEST was specifically created to respond to just such attacks. This tallies with Hicks. “Is anything coming?” he asked a defense attaché at the embassy in Tripoli as he worked to coordinate a response during the attack. “Will they be sending us any help? Is there something out there?” There was nothing, by the will of Washington.
Following Hick’s testimony House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) asked the White House and State Department to release all emails related to the attack which House committees were able to see, but not keep or share, during their investigation: “Last I remember, the President said, and I’ll quote, ‘Would be happy to cooperate with the Congress in any way the Congress wants.’ Well, this is his chance to show his cooperation so that we can get to the truth of what happened in Benghazi.” Boehner is asking for two sets of emails which show that the White House tried to change the initial characterization of the attack in Benghazi from a potential terrorist attack by Islamic terrorists to a spontaneous demonstration in reaction to the amateur film: “The truth shouldn’t be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall.”
The first set of emails, sent one day after the attack, provide evidence that a senior State Department official told her superiors that in his final message Stevens said the attack “was conducted by Islamic terrorists.” This was four days before Susan Rice said went on Meet the Press and other Sunday news shows to claim that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration. The second set of emails concerns frantic exchanges between the White House and State Department officials, where the former “insisted on removing all references to the terrorist attack to protect the State Department for providing inadequate security.”
According to Boehner, “somebody clearly decided they didn’t like the references to Islamic terrorism and made changes in this document.”…
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Boston Bomber Buried at Midnight in Secret Ceremony After Mystery Benefactor Claims His Body
The elder Boston marathon Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in a secret midnight service at an undisclosed location after a mystery benefactor came forward — ending weeks of controversy.
According to federal officials the body was taken from the Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlor and entombed under cover of darkness outside of the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, where his remains have laid since last Friday.
The burial location was approved by Ruslan Tsarni, the terror suspects outspoken uncle, who has been attempting to find a cemetery that would accept his nephew for burial.
‘As a result of our public appeal for help a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased,’ said Worcester police in a statement this morning.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man in NY Arrested for Giving Kids a Gun to Play With at Park…a “Toy” Gun
A man was arrested at home after another parent complained he gave his children a toy gun to play with.
Another mom who was on a playground at the park at the time said she walked up to Pawlowski, and told him to take the toy gun and his kids and leave. “I don’t tend to take things lying down, so I went past the parents, and so I walked straight over and I confronted him,” said Leni Calas. “I mean, he’s brandishing a firearm and I don’t care if that firearm is plastic. That’s unacceptable.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Paramedic Bryce Reed to Plead Not Guilty to Explosives Charge
WACO, Texas A lawyer for a Texas paramedic arrested on charges of possessing bomb-making material says his client will plead not guilty and had no connection to the fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month.
Waco attorney Jonathan Sibley said in a prepared statement Saturday that his client, Bryce Reed, anxiously awaits his next court appearance Wednesday, which will include a detention hearing.
Paramedic vocal after Texas plant explosion facing charges
Texas officials launch criminal investigation into deadly fertilizer plant explosion
Authorities arrested Reed on Friday, but stressed that he has not been linked to the April 17 explosion in West.
The statement said Reed remained “heartbroken” about the explosion, in which he lost friends, and wants to continue to help his community rebuild.
Reed was a first responder, but two days after the explosion was “let go” from West EMS for unknown reasons.
On Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said that the agency had instructed the Texas Rangers and the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department to conduct a criminal probe into the explosion…
| [Return to headlines] |
White House Scrambles to Contain Benghazi-Gate Fallout
The White House scrambled Friday to explain newly released email excerpts that show a top State Department official pushing to water down the intelligence community’s initial story-line on the Benghazi attack, as Republicans sharply challenged the administration’s honesty.
With new details emerging in the Benghazi-gate controversy, the White House held a background discussion with more than a dozen news organizations. Afterward, Press Secretary Jay Carney weathered a barrage of questions from the media during an at-times awkward White House briefing — where he tried to defend the truthfulness of his and other officials’ prior claims that the initial talking points on the attack reflected the best intelligence assessment of the time.
Carney lashed out at Republicans, accusing them of leaking the emails in an effort “to politicize this.”
Further, he said: “These documents bear out what we’ve said all along.”
But Carney was challenged on that point, repeatedly by reporters at Friday’s briefing but also by substance of the email excerpts themselves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
White House Holds Secret Briefing for Select Media on Benghazi (Video)
The testimony this week from Greg Hicks — the #2 man in Libya behind murdered Amb. Chris Stevens — and other whistle blowers did not have the effect Obama and his minions were hoping for. They told us there was nothing new. They told us the hearings were all about politics. They told us that they have been upfront with the American people from the beginning. Wrong… on all accounts!
What was once speculation on the events that night of September 11, 2012 have now become sworn testimony. Military aid was purposely withheld. Why? The fact that the attackers were al Qaeda-linked terrorists was initially covered up. Why? And who specifically ordered the talking points regarding what happened to devolve into a completely bogus storyline of a spontaneous public uprising over an anti-Islamic Internet video?
Late this week, ABC News reported on e-mails that were obtained which reveal that the talking points provided by the CIA were purged of all references to terrorism and al Qaeda. The talking points which were delivered to five political talk shows by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice were scrubbed twelve different times.
This is VERY important information. Back then, we were told that Rice was simply relaying the best available information at the time. This is a lie… plain and simple. The fact is that the CIA (and everyone else) knew that this was not an attack over an Internet video. The CIA knew the attackers were terrorists, and they knew they were affiliated with al Qaeda. There was no protest. There was simply a terrorist attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Commercial Quantum Computer Leaves PC in the Dust
For the first time, a commercially available quantum computer has been pitted against an ordinary PC — and the quantum device left the regular machine in the dust.
D-Wave, a company based in Burnaby, Canada, has been selling quantum computers since 2011, although critics expressed doubt that their chips were actually harnessing the spooky action of quantum mechanics. That’s because they use a non-mainstream method called adiabatic quantum computing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Public or Private Electric Power?… Ruin of BC Hydro
Beware governments selling/privatizing public owned assets based on political philosophy. The BC Liberals promised not to sell BC Rail or privatize BC Hydro then did. Christy Clark was Gordon Campbell’s Deputy Premier 2001-2005 when selling of BC Rail and privatizing of BC Hydro schemes were devised.
| a) | Legendary Premier WAC Bennett (Social-Credit gov’t) created BC Hydro Crown Corporation in 1961, who’s primary function was threefold, to Generate, Transmit and Distribute electricity. We enjoyed the lowest electrical rates in North America from clean hydropower until BC Liberals recent privatization, resulting in doubling our electricity rates, (the real purpose of the $1 billion Smart Meter scam) tripling of rates to follow. | |
| b) | BCHydro traditionally paid hundreds of millions in dividends every year to our treasury. Today if BCHydro were in the private sector it would be bankrupt. |
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Abu Qatada Documents ‘Linked’ To Denmark Arrest
Danish police have arrested and charged a man in an investigation linked to radical cleric Abu Qatada in London.
Scotland Yard alerted the Danes as part of its probe into whether the preacher published extremist material online while on bail and fighting deportation. The arrest was made in Copenhagen after raids on Abu Qatada’s London home but police will not release more details…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s Least Romantic Man? Hamza Islam Arranged for Woman’s Home Burgled During Their First Date
A man has been jailed after arranging to have a woman’s home burgled — while they were on their first date. Hamza Islam conspired to have a 22-year-old woman’s home broken into while he took her out, having spent weeks befriending her beforehand. Islam, 29, also known as Leon Powles, bombarded the unidentified woman with calls and texts before their first date, making repeated requests to take her out…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron Should Stop Grovelling to Barack Obama and Stand Up for Britain Over the Falklands
by Nile Gardiner
The prime minister jets into Washington this weekend, for a meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday. As I noted in a piece earlier this week, this is an opportunity for David Cameron to look like a statesman, not a cheerleader. His last visit to Washington was an embarrassment, with the British leader fawning all over the most left-wing and anti-British president of modern times, even de facto endorsing Obama for a second term as president.
Tony Blair used to be derided in the UK press as Washington’s “poodle,” though in reality he had far more influence in the United States than he was given credit for, and some Bush administration officials even complained that he had too much of the president’s ear. Cameron has far less sway than Blair did on this side of the Atlantic, and is generally little known among the American public. But he is still mocked in the US media (notably by the bastion of the liberal establishment, The Washington Post) as President Obama’s “guard dog,” because of his overwhelming adoration for his US counterpart. Cameron even allowed himself to be a campaign prop (albeit one with limited name recognition) in the crucial swing state of Ohio, flown out on Air Force One to attend a basketball game, and photographed eating a hot dog with the US president. The White House also used the opportunity of a glitzy state dinner for the prime minister as a reward ticket for more than 40 top fundraisers for Obama’s re-election campaign, all at American taxpayers’ expense.
David Cameron’s humiliating and undignified groveling before Barack Obama has failed to reap any dividends, as the Obama Administration’s disgraceful handling of the Falklands issue has amply demonstrated. The Obama presidency has consistently sided with Argentina’s calls for a negotiated settlement over the sovereignty of the Falklands Islands, and recently refused to formally recognise the result of the Falklands referendum, which showed that 99.8 percent of Falkland Islanders wish to remain a British Overseas Territory. The Obama administration’s response was insulting, unhelpful, and mean-spirited. In the aftermath of the referendum, the US State Department insisted on treating Britain and Argentina as equals with “competing claims” to the Falklands, while urging a “resolution” between London and Buenos Aires. This is a huge slap in the face to the inhabitants of the Falklands, as well as to the memory of the 255 British servicemen who laid down their lives for the freedom of the Islanders. It also undercuts the British position, while encouraging the aggressive and delusional stance of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
European Parliament Speaker Calls for Tax-Evasion Crackdown
Schulz says next EU summit should introduce measures
(ANSA) — Rome, May 10 — European Parliament Speaker Martin Schulz on Friday called for the next summit of European leaders to take action to combat tax evasion. “Experts calculate that some one trillion euros have been lost as a result of tax evasion. It is important that measures to combat tax evasion and fiscal fraud to be introduced at the next European Council (in June),” Schulz said after a meeting with Italian Premier Enrico Letta in Rome. “It would be an important signal”, he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Hollande Acknowledges Slave Trade ‘Debt’ To Africa
CRAN sues CDC for compensation for profiting from slave trade
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MAY 10 — In a speech to commemorate French national victims of slavery day on May 10, President Francois Hollande called for striking the term “race” from the nation’s Constitution.
Written in 1946, Article 1 of the national charter says that “France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It guarantees equal rights under the law to all citizens regardless of origin, race, or religion”. The president will seek to strike the word “race” by this summer, Radio France Inter reported.
In a Paris ceremony, Hollande also recognized France’s debt to Africa for its part in the slave trade. “We know the deadly role France played in the exploitation of African territories and through this sinister trade”, the president said, adding that France is “repaying this debt by sending our soldiers” to fight al-Qaeda in Mali.
Also on Friday, the Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) announced it is suing French state bank CDC for illegally profiting from the slave trade in Haiti, collecting sums equal to $21 billion from the former colony between 1804 and 1946.
“The state bank played a significant role in the slave trade. The ransom it extorted from Haiti threw the island into an infernal spiral of instability and misery”, CRAN delegates charged at a press conference at the Justice Department. Their suit is part of a wider campaign by CRAN to obtain compensation from France for the slave trade.
“The only possible choice, the greatest and the most dignified, is memory, vigilance and transmission”, Hollande stated in reply to CRAN’s material claims.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Teenager Shot 23 Times in Latest Marseille Killing
A teenager was shot 23 times in the latest fatal shooting in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police reported on Friday. The 17-year-old was killed as he drove his car in the north of the city.
A 17-year-old has been riddled with bullets in the latest deadly shooting linked with rampant gang violence in France’s southern port city of Marseille, police said.
The 17-year-old, identified only by his first name Iskander, was shot over 20 times with a nine-millimetre automatic pistol while driving his car in the city’s rough northern districts on Thursday night.
Police said two men drove up to the victim’s vehicle on a motorcycle and one of them opened fire, hitting the victim in the chest and head.
Authorities said the victim was known to police for minor drug crimes and driving misdemeanors.
It was the sixth gang-related killing since the start of the year in Marseille, which has been plagued in recent years by a wave of shootings, often with Kalashnikov assault rifles, connected with the drug trade.
The violence has reached such levels that a local official last year called for the military to be sent in and the government formed a task force to tackle the crime wave.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Refuses to Pay Slavery Reparations
French President François Hollande announced on Friday that France would not be paying reparations for the role of the state-owned CDC bank in the slave trade, despite allegations that a €21 billion debt has crippled Haiti for centuries.
Hollande on Friday ruled out the payment of reparations for slavery as a rights group announced a suit against state-owned bank CDC over its role in the trade.
“What has been, has been,” Hollande said in a speech to mark France’s slavery remembrance day. “History cannot be rubbed out. It cannot be subjected to an accounting process that… would be impossible to complete.”
France’s Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) announced it will on Monday be serving a writ on the bank CDC (Caisse des depots) over its role in the slave trade in general and events surrounding Haitian independence in particular.
“The CDC was an accomplice to a crime against humanity,” CRAN President Louis-Georges Tin told reporters. “It played a considerable role in the slave trade.”
Haiti won its independence from France in 1804 after the celebrated slave revolt that had been inspired by the French revolution of 1789.
But the French navy subsequently blockaded the Caribbean country and extracted massive compensation for the colonial power’s property losses.
According to Tin, the amounts paid to France via the CDC between 1825 and 1946 were the equivalent of $21 billion in today’s money and contributed to a legacy of underdevelopment that has left Haiti as one of the poorest countries on the planet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Public ‘Didn’t Get’ Nazi Production of Wagner Opera
A production of Wagner’s Tannhauser in Dusseldorf has caused outrage in Germany after depicting Nazi scenes.
The composer did not write any Nazis into his opera as it was written in the 1840s. The Rheinoper venue said some members of the audience had to seek medical help after the first performance. Music critic Norman Lebrecht told the Today programme: “The public didn’t get it and didn’t like it. “The production company were in a state of shock — not because of the bad reviews, but because the public were besieging them with demands to sell back their tickets for the rest of their production, nobody wanted to see it.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
German Home Burgled Every Four Minutes
Burglaries rose sharply last year, according to new figures seen by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Daytime break-ins in particular have increased, with robberies becoming more violent. Critics say cutbacks mean crimes aren’t being solved.
In the last year, there were 144,117 reported burglaries across the country, representing an increase of 9 percent on the year before. That amounts to a break-in every four minutes.
Daytime burglaries went up by 9.5 percent. Muggings of occupants are becoming more violent, with reports of victims being tied up, gagged and beaten, leaving many suffering from panic attacks and sleeplessness for months after the attack.
German home insurers paid out about €470 million in damages last year, 12 percent more than in 2011.
“The latest figures are alarming,” Jörg von Fürstenwerth, chairman of the Association of German iInsurers (GDV) told the Welt am Sonntag.
High-value electronic devices such as laptops, tablet computers and smartphones are driving up damage costs, which amount to an average of €3,300 per burglary according to an estimate by the GDV.
The vast majority of burglars escape undetected. Police solved just 15.7 percent of cases last year. Experts say cutbacks are to blame, as many commissions which had dealt specifically with burglaries having been wound down.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Kyenge Gets Another Volley of Racist Insults
‘Shoot her, not Carabinieri, f**k off’ say far-rightists
(ANSA) — Pistoia, May 10 — Italy’s first black minister, Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, received the latest in a spate of racist insults Friday.
“Shoot Minister Kyenge, not Carabinieri” and “Minister Kyenge, f**k off” were found daubed on walls in the Tuscan city of Pistoia, signed by supporters of the far-right Forza Nuova party.
The first taunt referred to a man who shot two Carabinieri outside the premier’s office while Democratic Party (PD) deputy head Enrico Letta’s new left-right government was being sworn in nearby.
On Thursday Forza Nuova party hung a banner outside the PD offices in the Marche city of Macerata that read: “Kyenge go back to Congo”.
Italian prosecutors have opened a probe into online abuse directed at PD member Kyenge, a doctor who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo who has said she will push for migrant detention centres to be closed and for children born to migrants on Italian soil to get automatic citizenship.
Forza Nuova is against a proposal by PD Senator Mario Morgoni for Kyenge to be made an honorary citizen of the Marche city.
As well as anonymous attacks on the Internet, the 48-year-old Kyenge was also targeted by a senior member of the the anti-migrant Northern League.
League MEP Mario Borghezio called Letta’s new executive a “bonga bonga government” and claimed Kyenge would seek to “impose her tribal traditions from the Congo”.
An online petition has been launched calling for Borghezio to be ousted from the European Parliament.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Kills Passer-by With a Pickaxe in Milan
(AGI) — Milan, May 11 — A passer-by was killed when he was attacked by a man armed with a pickaxe in Milan. Two others, including a 19-year-old, were injured. The man, who was said to be 30 and from Ghana, struck a 64-year-old man on the head in Milan’s Via Adriatico on Saturday morning. Then in Piazza Belloveso he also struck a 40-year old man several times on the head.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: PD Warned Not to Let Grillo Take Control of the Web
(AGI) — Rome, May 11 — In an address to Italy’s Democratic Party conference, Italian entrepreneur and party member Renato Soru warned: “We let Silvio Berlusconi take control of the television, let’s not leave the web open to Beppe Grillo”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Centre-Left in Danger of Touching Bottom, Says New Leader
(AGI) — Rome, May 11 — The new secretary of the centre-left PD, Guglielmo Epifani, warned against “self indulgence” and the danger of touching bottom — of the “potential failure of our project.” “This is why we need to respond, not letting things go,” he warned.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Only 1 in 26 Students at Italian Universities From Abroad
Less than half of the EU average
(ANSA) — Rome, May 10 — Only 3.8% of Italian university students are foreigners, compared to a European average of 8.6%, according to a study released on Friday.
There are 110,000 foreign students in Italian universities, and roughly one out of every 26 of them are from abroad, said a study by the European Migration Network called “International students in Italian universities: empirical investigation and insights”.
A total of 51,947 non-European Union students studied in Italian universities during the 2011-2012 academic year, up from 22,951 in 2004.
Albania topped the list of regular enrollments with 11,802 students, followed by China with 6,161.
North American universities sent roughly 20,000 students for a portion of schooling to Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Post General School Strike, Cabinet Postpones Reform
Platform for defense of public education calls it a ‘success’
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 10 — The Spanish cabinet on Friday postponed enactment of an education reform bill following a general strike yesterday and massive demonstrations by tens of thousands of students, parents and teachers.
According to education ministry sources cited by EFE news agency, the cabinet postponed enacting the bill in order to finalize ways to fund the reform.
The Platform to Defend Public Education, which called the national mobilization yesterday, said the postponement is “a success”.
If approved, the bill introduced by Education Minister Jose’ Ignacio Wert will become the country’s eighth educational reform since Spain returned to democracy 40 years ago.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Six Teens on Trial for Stockholm Gang Rape
Six teenage boys aged 15 to 17 are facing trial for raping a 15-year-old girl in a north-western suburb of Stockholm in March.
The prosecution will argue that one of the boys handed out condoms to the other five as they agreed to take turns raping the girl in the Stockholm suburb Tensta, Sveriges Radio (SR) reported.
Charges have been filed against five of the boys for aggravated rape, while the sixth boy faces a charge of attempted aggravated rape.
Although a witness claimed to have overheard the boys planning the rape, the teens have denied all the allegations made against them. Several witnesses have also stated that the girl was “completely torn up” when she told them about what happened, saying she was sad and frightened.
Besides DNA and data from two of the boys’ phones, police have not published further details about any further evidence.
While attack rapes are statistically rare in Sweden, with sexual violence between people who are already acquainted dominating reports to the police, the current case is the third suspected gang rape in the Stockholm area in recent months.
In late January, three men, two of whom were teenagers, were ordered held on remand on suspicion of raping a woman in central Stockholm in December. In mid-January, a woman reported being attacked and raped by five men in Sundbyberg, just west of Stockholm.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Muslim Girl Made to Attend Swimming Lessons
Integration comes before religion, according to the country’s supreme court. It ruled that a 14-year-old Muslim girl could not be excused from swimming lessons because the teacher was male.
In a judgment on Friday, the Lausanne-based Federal Court said puberty also constituted no grounds for dispensation: the girl could cover up under an Islam-conforming burkini.
The 14-year-old girl from a strict Muslim family attends a district school in the canton of Aargau, the Swiss news agency SDA reported.
In 2011 her parents sought permission for their daughter to be excused from swimming lessons that took place every five weeks under the supervision of a male teacher. Girls and boys were taught separately.
The authorities rejected this request and have now been vindicated by the ruling of the Supreme Court.
In their appeal, the family had argued that as Shiites they followed a particularly strict form of Islam.
They said this did not allow their pubescent daughter to swim under the gaze of a male teacher — even if she was wearing a body-concealing swimsuit.
The family had also argued that the girl could already swim and attended a private swim course for Muslim girls.
In its ruling the Federal Court referred to a judgment establishing a principle from 2008. According to this decision, obligatory swimming lessons take precedent over religious duties.
The court also referred to the fact that the school had provided separate lessons for boys and girls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Sex Investigation Police Charge 11th Man
AN 11th man has been charged with sexually abusing teenage girls by police working on the Operation Bullfinch child exploitation investigation. Shah-Nawaz Khan, of Botley Road in Oxford, has been charged with sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15 and two counts of sexual assault. The charges relate to two girls, said police. The 22-year-old is next due to appear at Oxford Crown Court on July 19 for a plea and case management hearing. Police charged Khan in March but did not release this information to the public. A spokeswoman said this was an unintentional error…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Des Lynam Reveals He Voted UKIP
Ukip have received a boost as the housewives’ favourite Des Lynam revealed he voted for the party in last week’s local elections.
The TV presenter has become the latest famous face to back the Eurosceptics, and has even re-written the lyrics of Send in the Clowns as a retort to Ken Clarke’s description of the party. Mr Lynam’s announcement comes after Nigel Farage’s party averaged at around 24 per cent of the vote in their best local election results ever.
The news comes just days after Mr Farage boasted to friends that he would soon have another celebrity on his side. The veteran broadcaster, famous for his unflustered sports presenting skills, said: “I was delighted to cast my vote for Nigel Farage’s team in Sussex where I live. I feel they have something to offer the country as a whole, and Sussex.”…
[JP note: Lovely Sussex — soon to be Shariashire.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: **Disturbing Content**.]
Smiling for the camera, they appear like any other happy newlyweds, ready to embark on their life together.
But a week after this picture was taken, Jamie Starbuck had killed and dismembered wife Debbie, ready to embark on a £65,000 round-the-world trip paid for with her inheritance.
Starbuck — who brazenly charted his globetrotting adventures in a blog entitled Diary of a Misanthrope — was yesterday starting a life sentence after admitting the murder of his 44-year-old wife.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jailed, 28st Care Worker Who Abused Her Elderly Residents by Sitting on Them
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A 28-stone nursing home worker who abused elderly vulnerable people by sitting on them was yesterday jailed for nine months.
Fiona Salmon, 40, also pinched, slapped and manhandled those in her care during the campaign of physical and verbal cruelty.
She sprayed deodorant in an elderly woman’s face, threw talcum powder at another and rubbed one female resident’s head so hard she made her nose bleed.
Colleagues of the care assistant watched in horror as Salmon sat on residents’ legs to stop them getting up.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Members of the London Muslim Mosque Are Inviting All Londoners to an Open House Sunday
Members of the London Muslim Mosque are inviting all Londoners to an open house Sunday. Though community leaders often say city mosques are open to the public, they’re issuing a more formal welcome to the event in hopes of reaching out to those who have never ventured in. Note: There will be baklava…
[JP note: Sure.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Heads Condemn Jailed Telford Sex Abuse Gang
Telford’s Muslim community has joined the condemnation of a child sex gang that preyed on vulnerable teenagers in the town
Seven Asian men have been jailed for their part in sexually abusing and exploiting girls aged from 13 to 16, with offences including rape, child prostitution, trafficking and sexual activity with children. Details of the three-year investigation were revealed by the Shropshire Star yesterday after reporting restrictions on a series of lengthy and complex trials were lifted.
IN a statement condemning the actions of the seven men who were convicted, the Telford Muslim Forum said crimes committed by any individuals or groups were “highly condemnable. The Muslim community in Telford lives in peace and harmony with all other communities and the individuals who have been committing these crimes do not portray the whole Muslim community,” it added. “We fully support the local authorities in the investigation process and believe that that process should be thorough and fair, and criminals who commit these crimes should be brought to justice. We want our youngsters to perform well in schools and colleges, achieve more and become role models — and we need help and support from organisations to make this happen.”
The leading players in the abuse were brothers Ahdel and Mubarek Ali, of Regent Street, Wellington. Ahdel Ali, 25, was given a 26-year extended sentence — 18 years’ immediate custody with an additional eight-year period on licence.
Mubarek Ali, 29, was given 22 years, 14 years’ immediate custody and eight years on licence, for seven offences — four of controlling child prostitution, causing child prostitution and two offences of trafficking in the UK for the purpose of prostitution, involving two of the victims.
Also convicted were Mohammed Ali Sultan, 26, of Victoria Avenue, Wellington; Tanveer Ahmed, 40, of Urban Gardens, Wellington; Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, 53, of Solway Drive, Sutton Hill; Mahroof Khan, 35, of Caradoc Flats, Kingshaye Road, Wellington and Mohammed Younis, 60, of Kingsland, Arleston.
Laura Johnston, director of children’s services at Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “This has been an extremely sensitive and complex investigation which has affected a lot of families.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
As people of all faiths and beliefs united against extremism, we are writing to commend the outstanding article by Professor Geoffrey Alderman in the The Jewish Chronicle on 3 May 2013, “It’s not necessarily good to talk”. Professor Alderman is right to question whether Jewish interfaith representatives are talking to the “right kind of Muslims”.
The “wrong kind of Muslims” are associated with the extremist Jamaat-e-Islami, expressed in the UK through institutions such as the Islamic Foundation (IF), Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and East London Mosque (ELM). All three are currently being endorsed by Jewish interfaith involvement (see here and here and here).
One of the most prominent Jamaat-e-Islami figures in Britain is the anti-Rushdie campaigner,Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, who was formerly Vice Chairman of the ELM and Deputy Director of the IF; he is also one of the founders of the MCB. Mueen Uddin has now been indicted for his role in the Al-Badr Islamist death squads in the genocide of some 3 million civilians during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence — most of the victims being Hindu and Christian religious minorities, as well as Muslim intellectuals.
The Islamic Foundation has Jewish interfaith leaders on its Advisory Board (see here and here and here)…
We are committed to truthful and honest Jewish-Muslim co-operation and a genuine stand against extremism. Reaching out to extremists amounts to the marginalisation and even betrayal of liberal Muslims. Therefore, in the light of our concerns, we most urgently request the Board of Deputies of British Jews to clarify publicly the Board’s position and/or support for interfaith projects endorsed by the MCB, IF and ELM.
Yours faithfully
Dr B B Chaudhuri, “Nirmul Committee” — Bangladesh War Crimes Committee
Nooruddin Ahmed, “Muktijuddho O Gono Mukti Andolon” — Bangladesh Liberation War and War Crimes Campaign
Ansar Ahmed Ullah, “Swadhinata Trust”
Ralph Assor
Farida Begum, “Secular Voice of Bangladesh”
Geoffrey Ben-Nathan
Margaret Ben-Nathan
Janet Clifford
Samir Das, “Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council Europe”
Dhiren Halder, “Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council UK”
Ms R L Hart
Jonathan Hoffman
Michelle Huberman
Laurence Julius
Denis MacEoin
Nadia Nathan
Golam Rabbani, “East London Bangladesh Community”
Nina Rahel, Community Activist in Islington, London
Waliur Rahman, “Soytten Sen School of Performing Arts”
Mohammed Moslahur Reza, Forest Gate, London
Mala Sarkar, “Bangladeshi Community of Newham”
Mihir Sarkar, “Jagannath Alumni Association”
Sharon Theodore
Niran Timan
[JP note: Allah Ueber Alles.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Qatada Offer ‘A Trick to Get Bail’
HATE preacher Abu Qatada offered to quit Britain yesterday — but Home Office bosses don’t believe him.
Qatada vowed to fly voluntarily to Jordan when his homeland ratifies a treaty ensuring he will get a fair trial. But Home Office sources fear the offer is a trick. They claim the terror cleric could leave Belmarsh jail on bail — only to refuse to board the plane…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Shaun Bailey, The Prime Minister’s Only Black Aide, Was ‘Frozen Out by David Cameron’s Clique’
Shaun Bailey, David Cameron’s only black working class adviser, has alleged that he was pushed out of Downing Street by the Prime Minister’s “clique” of Old Etonian aides, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Shaun Bailey lost his job as a special adviser earlier this year before several former public school pupils were drafted in to senior roles at No  10. Mr Bailey, who was moved to a part-time role in the Cabinet Office, has told friends that he was excluded from Mr Cameron’s inner circle because he was “different” and repeatedly asked difficult questions about the Government’s priorities…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A gang of Asian men who groomed vulnerable white girls for sex has been jailed for more than 50 years.
Police say up to 100 girls could have fallen victim to the gang led by brothers Ahdel Ali, 25, and Mubarek Ali, 29, of Wellington, Shropshire.
Over a three-year period between 2006 and 2009, the men targeted schoolgirls to control as child prostitutes by giving them alcohol, food and money.
The Ali brothers were found guilty of numerous offences against four girls aged from 13 to 17, including rape, sexual activity with a child, inciting and controlling child prostitution and trafficking children for sex.
Both married and of Pakistani heritage, they had described their victims as worthless ‘whores’, ‘slags’ and ‘sluts’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Telford Gang is Jailed for Sexually Abusing Girls
Today the Shropshire Star can finally tell the horrific story of sexual abuse and exploitation of schoolgirls by a group of men in Telford.
Seven men were jailed after a series of complex court cases, the reporting of which has been banned until now while legal battles raged on. We can reveal details of those court cases following a hearing in the High Court today in which a judge upheld a decision that another man accused of child sex abuse offences was not mentally fit to be retried.
The man, Noshad Hussain, 23, was cleared of trafficking a girl, 14, at a trial last year, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on four charges of engaging in sexual activity with her. Today’s High Court ruling brings to an end a three-year investigation into a child prostitution ring in Telford…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Telford Faces Up to Child Sex Abuse Cases
Child sex abuse will continue to be a problem in Telford, according to a local support group.
It follows the end of a series of court cases relating to a child prostitution ring. “It’s very easy to think once the court case is done, that’s the end of the problem and that’s not the case,” Tam Sheen said. She set up the Calla charity in Telford to support victims and their families who came forward as part of West Mercia Police’s Operation Chalice…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Government is Wary About the Abu Qatada Situation — It’s Right to be
By Peter Hoskin
Could it really be that simple? After years of political and legal struggle, could Abu Qatada really just leave the UK voluntarily? That, after all, is what his legal team suggested in court yesterday. Their client, they claimed, would be happy leaving on a jet-plane for Jordan so long as he could be guaranteed a fair trial there. If our Parliament and Jordan’s ratify the treaty that Theresa May recently arranged, he’d hightail it out of here — and that could happen within months. Like I said, could it really be that simple?
It would be nice were it so, and not least because it would erase a particularly troublesome and persistent item from the Government’s to-do list. David Cameron could barely contain his enthusiasm for the idea yesterday, as he exclaimed “if he goes of his own accord, frankly, I’ll be one of the happiest people in Britain.”
But the rest of Government is being more restrained for now. Sources I’ve chatted to are hyper-aware of two potential problems with this latest development. The first is the possibility for political fallout even if Qatada leaves voluntarily — or, indeed, precisely because Qatada might leave voluntarily. As the Sun puts it in its editorial this morning, “Since when was it up to convicted terrorists to lay down their own conditions for extradition?” Tory backbenchers may still chafe at the European laws that have prevented us from just kicking him out…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A man who persuaded a young woman to let him take her out on a date so an accomplice could burgle her home, has been jailed.
Hamza Islam, 29, courted the 22-year-old woman for weeks with texts and phone calls before she relented to a night out with him, West Midlands police said.
But when she returned to her Birmingham home, she found that her plasma-screen TV and laptop had been taken.
The date had been a cover for Islam and his accomplice to raid her house.
When Islam arrived to pick her up for their date and asked to use the bathroom.
He deliberately left the window open, then sent a message to his accomplice telling him the house was empty, after which the second man burgled the home.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
World War II Must be Warning Memory to Italy
ROME, May 9 (Xinhua) — “History is the best early warning mechanism. Let us never forget what happened to our countries when nationalism and demagogy prevailed,” Italy’s Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said on Thursday.
Speaking at the State of the Union in Florence, an annual conference for high-level reflection on the European Union, Bonino said that to defend the European construction it is fundamental to rediscover its mission…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
As More People Are Arrested for Blasphemy in Egypt, A Young Christian Teacher is Jailed
Demyana Emad, 23, a primary school teacher in Luxor, is accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in front of her pupils. She claims she is innocent. A group of Islamic extremists stormed into the school, urging pupils to testify against the woman.
Luxor (AsiaNews) — Under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, more and more people are being arrested in Egypt on allegations of insulting Islam. The latest case involves a Coptic teacher who was detained on the order of the Prosecutor’s Office in the Governorate of Luxor, and is set to remain behind bars until the end of the investigations.
Until her arrest, Demyana Emad was a 23-year-old social studies teacher at the Sheik Sultan primary school in south Luxor. She became a case in April, when the head of the parents’ association filed a complaint against the teacher for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in front of her pupils, a charge Ms Emad has rejected, calling for more evidence to be brought to the fore.
What is known is that recently, several Islamic “extremists” pushed their way into the school to press the pupils to testify against her.
Edam’s case is not unique. With the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood, more and more people, especially minority Copts, have been detained on allegations of blasphemy and insulting Islam.
The most serious case occurred back in October in Bani Suef (Upper Egypt) when two Coptic children Nabil Nagy Rzik, 10, and Mina Nady Farag, 9, were arrested after local Islamic authorities accused them of urinating on some pages of the Koran.
Despite the resistance of their parents and the local priest, who pointed out that the two kids were illiterate, the imam of their village put pressure for their detention.
In another case in September 2012 in Sohag, Bishoy Kamel, a Coptic religion teacher, was sentenced to six years for posting blasphemous cartoons and insults against President Mohammed Morsi on Facebook. He has always maintained his innocence and said that he is the victim of a plot.
On 13 September 2012, police arrested Saber Albert, a 25-year-old Coptic man for posting an anti-Islam film that caused demonstrations all over the world.
Saber is still in custody awaiting trial.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Christian Rights Groups Request EU Investigate Egypt
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — Acting on behalf of the European Union of Coptic Organizations for Human Rights (EUCOHR), The Coptic Dutch Association submitted yesterday an official memorandum to the European Parliament to open an international investigation into Dr. Mohamed Morsi, President of the Republic, and the Egyptian Interior Ministry because into the unlawful imprisonment of Christians.
This action was prompted by an Egyptian court in the Upper Egyptian town of Beba ordering the detention of the parents and cousin of a Coptic man, Ebram Andrawes, who allegedly disappeared with a 22-year-old Muslim girl, Rana El Shazly, at the end of February after she converted to Christianity, got married and fled to Turkey.
The El Shazly family, from El-Wasta town, 90 kilometers south of Cairo, first accused the Church in Wasta of subjecting Rana to “Black Magic” and converting her to Christianity (AINAÂ 3-22-2013), then they organized three demonstrations with hundreds of Muslims against the local St. George’s church and its priest, hurling stones at Coptic homes and ordering Coptic businesses to close until the Muslim girl returned.
A hearing in the Egyptian Shura Council, asked Interpol to bring Rana back, after accusing her of theft. Failing this, El Shazly brought charges against Ebram’s family. Rana recently sent the third letter to her family in which she denies that she eloped with a young Copt. She affirmed that she is still a Muslim and is married to a Muslim man.
According to the Coptic Dutch Association’s memo, Ebram’s parents, Zaki Andrawes and his severely ill wife Souad Akhnoukh, as well as his nephew, Peter, were imprisoned for 15 more days following the initial 4 days, on fabricated charges that they are members of the American missionary Organization Joyce Meyer and are distributing its magazine, stressing that the charges against them were fabricated in order to put pressure on them to return Rana.
The Coptic Dutch Association pointed out that it has CD of the condition of the mother of the young man, currently jailed in Minya and is seriously ill and was not allowed to be transferred to a hospital as a punishment to her and her family. The CD was submitted to the European Parliament and the European Union.
“We requested the European Parliament to issue a statement of condemnation against what happened to the Copts in El-Wasta and the unjust imprisonment of the Coptic family,” said Bahaa Ramzy, president of Coptic Dutch Association. “We requested the immediate release of three Copts, to establish a fact-finding committee affiliated to human rights organizations of the EU because of the fabricated charges against Copts, and linking Egypt’s economic aid to the human rights of the Copts.”
“It is unacceptable what the Copts are going through in Egypt, and we protest that families are held captive by the authorities.” said Ramzy, “What have the parents to do with this? Why take them as captives? This is collective punishment for the whole family.”
| — Hat tip: Mary Abdelmassih | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: As People Take the Law in Their Own Hands, Lynching and Vigilante Murders Rise
In Sharqiya province (Nile Delta), vigilante justice is a daily occurrence. Scores of videos are posted online with scenes of criminals killed by angry mobs, their bodies hanged as a warning at the entrance of the villages. Experts point the finger at rampant crime and the bad example of the police, whose violence and bloodshed has gone unpunished so far.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — Egypt’s regular courts are increasingly replaced by mob killings, lynching, hangings and Sharia courts. In Sharqiya Governorate, east of the Nile Delta, vigilante or Islamic justice has become the norm in the past two years. Shocking online videos show mobs attacking unarmed men, beating them to death. In some cases, their mutilated bodies are strung up in the middle of a village. The police are notable for their absence or indifference.
The latest mob killing was reported last Friday, when hundreds of residents in Qataweya village stormed the house of Rabie Lasheen, a local Muslim Brotherhood leader, and lynched his 16-year-old son Youssef, who died in hospital from his injuries.
Lasheen’s son was accused of shooting a 28-year-old man for insulting his father in a Facebook post. An auto-rickshaw (tok-tok) driver in his 40s was accidentally gunned down in the shooting as well.
According to some witnesses, the police were again completely absent during the lynching. Two police officers were dispatched to the crime scene at dawn after the violence had ended.
Such violence in Sharqiya has been blamed on the governatorate’s high crime rate, on gangs into car thefts, rapes and murders.
The most affected villages are located near the city of Belbies, 20 km from the provincial capital of Zagazig.
Interviewed by the Egyptian newspaper Arham, police officers in Belbies admit that they can do nothing to address this situation. There are too few of them and they are poorly paid to fight too many crimes. In such circumstances, people prefer to take the law into their own hands.
“What do we do when we receive reports about such incidents?” Major Mohamed Dabbous asked. “Absolutely nothing!”
“It happens in an instant; no way would we make it to the crime scene on time, especially if the road is blocked and that happens quite frequently here” due to protests, riots or other types of disturbance. Only if the Prosecutor’s Office orders it are people arrested.
What is more, “When a whole village kills a man, do you think it is possible to arrest all 10 to 15,000 residents? Of course not,” Captain Farag explained. And killing criminals has now become a source of local pride.
In recent years, several villages in other governorates have also witnessed brutal lynching. One of the most harrowing took place in Mahalla Ziad village, in March. Locals beat and stabbed two men accused of abducting two young boys.
Samir Naim, a veteran sociologist and professor at Ain Shams University, says we have to look to the military for explanations.
In 2011 and 2012, security forces carried out massacres with impunity with nearly a thousand people killed during the demonstrations of the Jasmine Revolution.
For the expert, the glorification of violence has changed the concept of justice in rural areas, justifying the establishment of local militias and improvised courts.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Release Teacher Accused of Blasphemy
A Coptic Christian teacher detained in Egypt on charges of “defamation of religion” must be immediately released and the criminal case against her dropped, said Amnesty International today, ahead of her appearance in court on Saturday.
Dimyana Obeid Abd Al Nour, 24, has been in custody since 8 May, when she went to the public prosecution’s office in Luxor to respond to charges of “defamation of religion”. The case against her is based on a complaint lodged by the parents of three of her students alleging that she insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad during a class.
The alleged incident took place at the Sheikh Sultan primary school in Tout, Luxor Governorate, on 8 April during a lesson on “religious life”. Dimyana Obeid Abd Al Nour has been teaching at three schools in Luxor since the beginning of this year. “It is outrageous that a teacher finds herself behind bars for teaching a class. If she made some professional mistake, or deviated from the school curriculum, an internal review should have sufficed,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International. “The authorities must release Dimyana Obeid Abd Al Nour immediately and drop these spurious charges against her.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Offers Fake Palestinian Passport to Top Muslim Cleric: PNA
RAMALLAH, May 10 (Xinhua) — The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Friday accused Hamas movement of offering a fake Palestinian passport to top Muslim Cleric Sheikh Yousef al- Qaradawi. The PNA Interior Ministry said in a statement that it had sent official letters to countries that recognize the PNA, clarifying that the passport, which was given to Qaradawi, is “fake.”
The PNA is ruling the West Bank and its Interior Ministry is the legal Palestinian body that is authorized to issue passports to the Palestinians or to give it to other nationalities as an honor. Qaradawi, who began on Thursday a two-day visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, was honored by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya and was offered a diplomatic red Palestinian passport…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Orthodox Men Hurl Stinkbombs at Women Praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall
Religious tensions in Israeli society turned Judaism’s holiest site into “a battlefield” on Friday, police said, as ultra-orthodox men hurled missiles and insults at women worshippers exercising their right to pray in a manner previously restricted to men.
Ultra-orthodox protesters screamed “Nazis” at officers forming a human chain to keep them away from liberal women activists praying under traditional prayer shawls, known as tallits, at the Western Wall in the heart of Jerusalem’s historic Old City…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘Vietri Ceramics’ Connection’
Giovanna Solimene, famous thanks to Leah Rabin
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, MAY 6 — Israel and Vietri a Mare, a splendid resort on the Amalfi Coast, have a connection — the ‘Ceramiche artistiche Solimene’, the precious local ceramics.
The relation is due to the late Leah Rabin, wife of late Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin, who had a great passion for the pottery made by the company founded in 1947 by Vincenzo Solimene, a skilful artisan and master of this local craft. Giovanna Solimene, now leading the family company, is today in Israel to celebrate the success of her ceramic and tile company, with tiles known locally as ‘riggiole’.
‘Leah saw our plates when visiting a friend’s house in Israel and fell in love with them’, said Giovanna Solimene. ‘She asked the Israeli embassy in Rome to contact us to have our products. With time we became acquaintances and then friends’.
Solimene explained on the sidelines of a party dedicated to her by the Italian ambassador in Tel Aviv Francesco Maria Talo’ that Rabin loved her family’s products so much that she used their plates on official occasions when her husband was prime minister. ‘All those who saw them, wanted them’, she said. ‘Leah was a sort of involuntary and very effective sponsor’.
Solimene said she was sorry she had not travelled to Israel earlier to visit Rabin, who invited her several times. ‘There is an incredible atmosphere, beautiful colours. You can’t forget colours, like the ones in Vietri’.
Solimene did manage to meet Rabin once. ‘After her husband was killed Leah arrived in Italy in 1997 to receive an honorary citizenship in Pompeii. She was a stone’s throw from Vietri and surprised everyone when she asked to be taken to visit us’. So Rabin stopped for two hours at the beautiful Solimene factory, built on a project by Piero Soleri. ‘She was fascinated by the original and colourful structure which has become one of the most representative works of architecture of the 20th century’, said Solimene recalling all the confusion with her security detail and the surprise visit. ‘We showed her our products and then we talked like old friends, although it was the first time we met’.
The connection continued until her death: ‘She sent me a wedding gift and we wrote. We always stayed in contact’. ‘Thanks to her and word of mouth, many Israelis come to visit our factory and many buy our artistic pottery. We are well known in Israel’ ‘Although she is dead, the family friendship continues’, said Solimene. ‘Now her daughter Dalia is our friend’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Car Bombs Kill 43 in Turkey Near Syrian Border
(Reuters) — Twin car bombs killed 43 people and wounded many more in a Turkish town near the Syrian border on Saturday and the government said it suspected Syrian involvement.
The bombing increased fears that Syria’s civil war was dragging in neighboring states despite renewed diplomatic moves towards ending two years of fighting in which more than 70,000 people have been killed.
The bombs ripped into crowded streets near Reyhanli’s shopping district in the early afternoon, scattering concrete blocks and smashing cars in the town in Turkey’s southern Hatay province, home to thousands of Syrian refugees.
Restaurants and cafes were destroyed and body parts were strewn across the streets. The damage went at least three blocks deep from the site of the blasts.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government was the “usual suspect”, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said.
“We know that the people taking refuge in Hatay have become targets for the Syrian regime,” Arinc said in comments broadcast on Turkish television. “We think of them as the usual suspects when it comes to planning such a horrific attack.”
Another deputy prime minister, Besir Atalay, was quoted by NTV as saying initial findings suggested the attackers came from inside Turkey, but had links to Syria’s intelligence agency.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Nor was there any comment from Damascus.
NATO-member Turkey has fired back at Syrian government forces when mortars have landed on its soil, but despite its strong words has appeared reluctant to bring its considerable military might to bear in the conflict.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey reserves the right to take “every kind of measure”, but he said he saw no need for an emergency meeting of NATO which would be the first step towards involving the alliance in any possible response.
The United States strongly condemned the attacks and vowed support in identifying those responsible, while NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius voiced “full solidarity” with Turkey.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office said he hoped the perpetrators would be swiftly brought to justice…
| [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Blasts Hit Turkey Border Town of Reyhanli
Four people have been killed and another 18 wounded in explosions in a Turkish town close to the Syrian border, officials say.
The blasts were reported in the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, The interior minister told Turkish media they were caused by car bombs. Thousands of refugees have fled Syria across the Reyhanli border…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar: “Sharia Law Does Not Provide for the Stoning, “ the Debate Within Islam
The statement by a scholar of Islamic faith in a Qatari magazine lifts the lid on the issue in the Muslim world.
Doha (AsiaNews / Agencies) — In an interview with the Qatari newspaper Al-Dana, the cleric Shaikh Isam Talimah stated that “Sharia law does not provide for the stoning to death for the crime of adultery.” According to the scholar of Islamic scripture, the Koranic verse which addresses the issue of zina, or extra-marital relationships, in fact provides for a punishment of one hundred lashes to be imposed on both men and women. “Stoning — Talimah explained — was a custom of the Jewish tradition, Muslims took it up only at a later stage.” He added: “The resort by some people to stoning was to reinforce the punishment, especially when there are high immoral risks, such as the proliferation of the cases of rape, pedophile or incest”.
The practice of stoning is widespread in most countries of the Islamic world. History shows stoning was also common in Greek and Jewish culture, linked to the crime of adultery or prostitution. In Muslim countries, the ‘sinner’ is tied up, wrapped in a white shroud and partly buried. According to tradition, if the victim is able to escape and flee they should be granted a pardon. While only the legs of men are immobilized, women are buried up to shoulder height.
The Koran does not explicitly addresses the issue of stoning, but some spheres of the Islamic world find traces referring to it among the sayings of the prophet. The issue is a matter of debate and disagreement. Mohammad Bin Abdullah, editor of the Al-Dana, aware of the wave of reactions that the statement would have produced, invited readers to post comments in response promising to publish them.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar Jails a Nepali Teacher on Charges of Insulting Islam
By Anup Kaphle, Published: May 9, 2013
A Nepali teacher who taught chemistry at Qatar Academy has been jailed in Doha on felony charges for insulting Islam.
Dorje Gurung, who has taught chemistry to middle and high school students in the United States, Britain and Australia, appeared in a Doha court on Thursday. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison, according to Doha News.
Gurung was fired from Qatar Academy after arguments with students on April 22 and 23. Although he was set to leave the country, he was summoned by the police and has been jailed since last Wednesday, according to The Himalayan Times.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: Christian Missionaries Must Leave Kashmir or Suffer the Consequences, Says Islamic Extremist
A militant from an armed group, the United Jihad Council, accuses priests of converting the poor in exchange for money. The president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) slams the rise of religious intolerance against Christians. Two South Koreans were beaten and arrested for handing out Bibles in the street.
Srinagar (AsiaNews) — “All Christian missionaries must immediately leave the Kashmir Valley. If they do not, they will suffer the consequences,” warned Sadagat Hussain Syed, spokesman for the United Jihad Council, an umbrella organisation for Jammu and Kashmir jihadist groups. The words of the Islamic fundamentalist, “show the gravity of the situation in which Christians live in the only Indian state with a Muslim majority,” said Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), as he spoke to AsiaNews.
Recently, Sadagat issued a press release in which he accused Christian missionaries who live in Kashmir of “exploiting the poor and needy, offering them economic aid to convert them to Christianity.”
According to the Islamic extremist, this attitude is “highly regrettable” because “Islam is a religion of peace and harmony, which protects minorities. However,” he warned, “anti-Islamic activities cannot be tolerated.”
Created in 1994, the United Jihad Council and its armed militants have been fighting for the independence of Jammu and Kashmir from India.
According to the GCIC president, such statements lead to discrimination against the Christian minority. One of the latest examples of religious intolerance occurred on Monday in Lasjan, a village near Srinagar (the state capital).
Two South Koreans were distributing Bibles and other Christian materials to passers-by, who could freely take them or not. When a mob gathered and beat up the two Christians, police arrived to arrest the two who are now in a safe place receiving medical care.
For Sajan George, this “is a clear case of discrimination against the Christian faith and shows the double standards with which our minority is treated.”
In India, he noted, “it is very common to encounter foreigners wearing saffron-coloured clothes,” which symbolises Hinduism, “distributing the Bhagavad Gita,” the Hindu Sacred Book,” at train stations. They enjoy full religious freedom, as enshrined in our Constitution, and no policeman will arrest them, ever.”
By contrast, in Jammu and Kashmir, Islamic militants will often go after foreign Christians and missionaries. In January for example, a group of foreign tourists was almost lynched after the publication of a few posts on Facebook.
A similar case occurred in 2011, when Rev Chander Mani Khanna, a pastor with the All Saints Anglican Church, was arrested for baptising seven Muslims and then charged by an Islamic court (which has no legal authority in the state, nor elsewhere in India) for proselytising and forced conversions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Problems Will Disappear if Ahmadiyah Disappear, Says West Java Governor
Just days after hard-line Islamic group members tore down the homes of an Ahmadiyah community in his province, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said violence against the beleaguered minority group would stop if the religion disappeared.
“Of course we want religious tolerance to go properly but the Ahmadiyah have committed a violation by spreading a deviant belief. The problem will disappear if the belief disappears,” Ahmad told Indonesian news portal Kompas.com on Tuesday.
Early on Saturday morning, a mob of 400 hard-liners attacked an Ahmadiyah community in Sukamaju village, Singaparna district, leaving dozens of houses in shambles. Some 60 police officers guarding the village were outnumbered and rendered powerless against the assailants.
The Ahmadiyah community has faced years of discrimination in Indonesia, where the sect’s branch of Islam has been named “deviant” by a prominent Islamic organization.
Last month, 30 Ahmadiyah members were sealed in the Al-Misbah mosque when the Bekasi government shuttered the building.
Religious intolerance is on the rise in Indonesia, where minorities find themselves targeted by members of an increasingly vocal hard-line fringe. In few places is intolerance more routine than West Java. In recent months, Christians and Ahmadiyah have found their houses of worship targeted by the government amid pressure from hard-line groups.
While he condemned the violence in Sukamaju, Ahmad said a joint decree signed by three ministers clearly stipulated that believers of “deviant” religions were not permitted to spread their teachings.
“But to bring Ahmadiyah back to Islam we should use a good way, we should not use violence,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Massive Nationwide Manhunt in Indonesia Results in Killing of Several Terrorists
JAKARTA, May 11 (Xinhua) — The Indonesian police’s anti-terror squad Densus 88 has conducted a massive nationwide manhunt against those suspected of being involved in terroristic activities, arresting some and killing those who fought it out with the authorities.
The squad launched the manhunt operations in known terrorist hideouts in West Java, Central Java, Banten and Lampung provinces following the recent arrest of a person linked to a terror group in Jakarta that allegedly planned an attack against the Myanmar embassy in retaliation for the Yangon government’s crackdown on the minority ethnic Muslims of Rohingya in Myanmar…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Votes in Landmark Polls as Bomb Kills 11
Queues formed outside polling stations in Pakistan on Saturday morning as voting began in a crucial general election.
In Karachi, the poll was overshadowed by a Taliban bomb which killed 11 people when it exploded outside the offices of the Awami National Party (ANP), the main secular party for ethnic Pashtuns. Elsewhere, however, extremist threats of violence and a series of technical glitches failed to prevent voters turning out in force. The emergence of Imran Khan as a political force has electrified Pakistan and brought the election campaign to life…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Women Banned From Voting in Pakistan’s Waziristan District
(AGI) Miranshah — Women were banned from voting in Pakistan’s northern tribal district of Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Having Had Enough With Pyongyang, Beijing Closes Its Bank Account
The Bank of China blocks foreign currency flow to and from North Korea. China’s patience is over. They are serious, several analysts say. “Pyongyang has been able to ignore the rest of the international community over the years thanks to Beijing’s support. But now things have changed, and they must come to terms with the world,” Catholic source tells AsiaNews.
Seoul (AsiaNews) — The Bank of China has closed the account of a North Korean lender accused by the United States of helping finance Pyongyang’s controversial nuclear weapons programme. The government-owned Chinese banking giant notified the Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank, of the closure and ending of fund transfers related to it.
No reason was given for the closure, which comes amid growing frustration in China over North Korea’s military provocations. But Beijing has voted in favour of the latest UN sanctions against the North and appears to have lost its influence over Kim Jong-un’s regime, which is now almost completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Mainland China is North Korea’s last ally and biggest trading partner. However, because of the military crisis caused by Kim Jong-un, trade between the two countries dropped more than 7 per cent in the first three months of this year. Although China’s imports from North Korea rose 2.5 per cent, exports dropped 13.8 per cent.
The action by the state-controlled bank may signal that Beijing is ready to use economic measures to bring Pyongyang to yield.
“This decision is a very serious blow to North Korea,” a Catholic source, who works on the Korean border, told AsiaNews. “Until now, the Chinese kept the economy of that country alive, but now they cannot take it anymore. Pyongyang has been able to ignore the rest of the international community over the years thanks to Beijing’s support. But now things have changed, and they must come to terms with the world.”
For Shi Yinhong, a professor and international relations expert at Renmin University, “Beijing is sending a signal to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that he’d better stop ignoring China’s demands and creating instability on the Korean peninsula.”
Cui Shying agrees. For the expert on Korean affairs at Tongji University in Shanghai, China wants to show that it was serious in implementing sanctions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mongolians Urged to Plant More Trees
ULAN BATOR, May 11 (Xinhua) — The Mongolian government on Friday renewed the call for public participation in afforestation to fight desertification as the country marked its biannual National Planting Trees Day. Minister for Nature, Environment and Green Development Sanjaasuren Oyun told a public event that the government is mulling incentives for every citizen to plant trees, including land grants, fiscal subsidies and tax cuts.
In 2010, Mongolia designated the second Saturday in May and the second Saturday in October each year as National Planting Trees Day. Since then the country planted nearly 6 million trees, whose survival rate stood at 70 percent in 2012.
Pine, aspen, Mongolia sea buckthorn are among the tree species suitable for planting in the country, for they could be used for wind-breaking, sand-fixation and pest control.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Did the Federal Government of Nigeria Engage in Igbo Genocide?
by Emma Enekwechi
Chinua Achebe’s recent book has revived fierce discussions about the Biafra genocide, the darkest chapter in Nigerian history. The country is still divided over the issue and ‘Biafrans’ want out of Nigeria
After Chinua Achebe published his new book — ‘There was a country: A personal history of Biafra’, Nigerian politicians, and intellectuals assailed his account of events accusing him of propaganda and creating the impression that what he wrote was some sort of fabrication. They went further to attack his person and impugn his reputation as one of Africa’s greatest novelists. It has therefore become necessary to put together a sample of narratives from international observers, reporters, and writers articulated during or immediately after the events of 1966 -1970 and after…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigerian Cult Ambush Kills 46 Policemen
Attackers from a secretive cult with links to pagan movements ambushed and killed as many as 46 police officers in central Nigeria.
Detectives are investigating if the gunmen were linked to the country’s al-Qaeda offshoot. A detachment of 60 policemen were on their way to arrest the leader of the Ombatse militia when the group’s fighters launched their attack. At least 23 officers were killed and many were still missing, said Abayomi Akeremale, the police commissioner of Nasarawa State, which lies on the nominal border between Nigeria’s Christian south and its Muslim north.
Separate reports said that 46 people were killed, but they could not immediately be verified. “There was a huge ambush and our men were caught offguard and killed like they were animals,” Mr Akeremale said. “Already 23 bodies have been recovered. Most were burnt after they were killed. There are many others who remain unaccounted for.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Fierce Fighting in Kismayu
A fierce fighting between Alshabab militia and the Raskamboni brigade occurred last night at the surrounding of Kismayu airport and the Kismayu University. This happened when members of Alshabab started a hit and run fighting at the airport. The airport which acts as an army base for the Kenyan troops who are part of the Amisom troops based in Somalia faces frequent attacks from the Alshabab militia…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UN Peacekeepers in Sudan Fail to Protect Black African Tribal Chief From Arab Militia Executioners
South Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations Francis Deng told reporters on May 12th that the Misseriya Arab tribesmen’s attack on a convoy of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and a delegation of the Ngok Dinka tribe the previous week killed his older brother, the Ngok Dinka tribe’s Paramount Chief Kuol Deng Kuol.
At least one UNISFA Ethiopian peacekeeper was also murdered. The attack occurred on land that belonged to the Dinkas, in the vicinity of Abyei, the oil-producing region which borders South Sudan and Sudan and remains contested between the two countries.
Ambassador Deng said that UNISFA failed to adequately protect his brother, leading the Paramount Chief into what turned out to be a trap that could have been prevented with a more robust UNISFA force. He also said that the government of Sudan to the north had to know in advance of the heavy presence of the Misseriya Arabs in the area, or may have even been complicit in the attack. The Misseriya had supported indicted war criminal President Omar al-Bashir’s regime in the northern part of the country against the south during the bloody civil war leading up to South Sudan’s secession and independence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform
The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.
Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.
Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.
This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in.
[Comment: Standard modus operandi. Create the problem (unchecked immigration), then propose “the solution” (national database). The “solution” would have been rejected by the public without “the problem”.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Grillo Against Automatic Citizenship for All Born in Italy
M5S leader says any reform should be put to referendum
ANSA — Rome, May 10 — Beppe Grillo, the leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), said Friday he was against Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge’s proposal for Italian citizenship to be automatically granted to all children born in Italy to migrant parents.
Comedian-turned-political Grillo, whose movement won around a quarter of the vote in February’s general elections, said there were no other laws of this kind in Europe, “aside from some extremely tightly regulated exceptions”.
“A decision that can change the geography of the country can’t be left to a little group of parliamentarians,” Grillo added on his blog, calling for reform of this kind to be put to a referendum.
Italy and AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has said he is willing to be an advocate of Kyenge’s campaign for citizenship reform.
The 22-year-old was born in Sicily to parents from Ghana and only obtained his Italian citizenship when he turned 18, although he grew up with Italian parents from the north of the country who adopted him.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration “Reform” Hoax Will Kill Millions of American Jobs
Seven years ago we the people fought off all the America hating pro-illegals groups like LaRaza, the ACLU and others who want to protect and reward liars, cheats and thieves. The well-protected, dangerous Marxist in the people’s house works for the Masters of the Game whose goal is seamless borders to integrate these united States of America with Mexico and Canada as a region of one world government. That’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s a well documented fact.
Barry Soetoro aka Obama has the support of both parties in the Outlaw Congress who are trying to out pimp each other for future votes. The impostor president has the support of millions of members of the Democratic Communist Party USA. People too stupid to understand the serious ramifications for our sovereignty and that their own jobs are at risk.
Puppets of the global controlling elite upchuck their nauseating rhetoric on a daily basis:
Holder: Amnesty is a ‘civil right’ — Attorney general promises government working to protect illegal aliens
“U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in remarks that largely have escaped notice, has claimed that “creating a mechanism for [illegal aliens] to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows… is a matter of civil and human rights.” Holder made these remarks in an April 24 speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Awards Gala. MALDEF’s notable activity includes suing Sheriff Joe Arpaio and opposing Arizona’s immigration law.”
Violating America’s immigration laws has nothing to do with the worn out ‘civil right’s’ mantra spewed by the Democratic/Communist Party USA. Make no mistake about it: The Democratic Party is nothing more than a sub-party of the Communist Party International…
The “official” unemployment rate being fed to the American people by a corrupted and controlled media is nothing but fabricated lies. The estimated number of criminals (illegal aliens) who are holding jobs that belong to Americans and naturalized Americans is 11.5 MILLION. With more than 20 MILLION Americans out of work and 49 MILLION on food stamps, political whores like Marco Rubio and Chuck Schumer want to reward tens of millions of criminals who have stolen our jobs and we can’t vote them out of office for the betrayal and treachery. Rubio and other RINOs trying to push yet another phase of a non-stop mass invasion are pimping for future votes which will not happen.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
These Are Not Immigrants Like Your Grandparents Were
When your grandparents came as immigrants their goal was to start a new life, assimilate into American culture and reap the benefits of a free society. Today’s immigrants are more interested reaping the benefits of being the welfare society created by others and assimilating not so much. Think I am wrong?
The United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued a report showing 60% of the people amnestied in 1986 have never filed to become Naturalized, content with just having legal status. Where’s the love of country?
If amnesty is given to the 11 million plus illegal aliens there is no reason to expect they will want citizenship in greater percentages if it means having to learn English and paying a fee to take the test.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Common Core Forcing Marxism/Nazism on America’s Children
The comparison of Nazism and Common Core (CC) are uncanny
Recently, I met a remarkable woman who has accomplished an extraordinary work in her mission toward educating the American people of a clear and present danger to their children and the methods by which said danger can be stopped. This lady’s accomplishments speak for themselves…
Would you give us a brief synopsis of what Common Core is, and why it is so dangerous to our children and to us all?
Christina: Common Core is a Nationalized Federal government takeover of our Education system which of course is against the law, as the Federal Government is not allowed to set any educational curriculum standards — a right reserved to the States. Least of all do they have the power to create a one size fits all complete take over of education on all levels. This is a States rights issue. The Federal Government has standardized the education curriculum that will apply to all public schools, charter schools, private schools, Christian schools and homeschooling. No one is safe from this new mandate. Common Core Standards are being mandated and implemented by the Federal Government via organizations such as National Governors Association, Achieve, and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
What makes common core so dangerous to our children and us is becoming more evident each day. First of all, it is a one size fits all, education takeover. So, let’s say your child has a learning disorder. He or she will be left behind, as CC has no provision for helping those that can’t keep up.
The comparison of Nazism and Common Core (CC) are uncanny. One such comparison is that Nazism had Leaders and Master Teachers in the National Socialists Teachers League that visited schools and kept data files on Teachers. The Obama Administration funded 10,000 Master Teachers (MT’S) to train Teachers on CC and the MT’s will keep data files on students and Teachers. Students were taught to spy on parents and teachers. CC will have students as young as 5 participating in the evaluation of Teachers. In Nazism, the curriculum was rewritten to provide a Nazi (government) approved curriculum. Common Core curriculum is being rewritten to provide a global approved curriculum…
And, if that is not enough, the Master Teachers will be instructing the Teachers to not teach our nations framework or any form of nationalism. Instead they will be trained to be “good global, sustainable citizens” prepared for a global world not our proud heritage as we were taught. They will become a “managed work force” for the New World Order…
This same MT discussed a parallel writing technique where students are encouraged to create division and class warfare in the classroom. Students love to argue in everything and to encourage this will enhance their ‘creative “ side; to be angry with parents; to encourage them and give them permission to be rude and nasty. Kids will love it and it will teach them “oppositional behavior”. It is all sick and designed to destroy the family unit.
[Comments: Excellent summary of “Commie Corps” indoctrination. A MUST READ for ALL Americans.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron Would Like to Forget Gay Marriage, But it Will Haunt Him
by Charles Moore
Gay marriage: the Coalition alters mankind’s most important social structure at its peril
Oscar Wilde’s lover famously described homosexuality as “the love that dare not speak its name”. The definition fits the Coalition’s attitude to its own Same-Sex Couples Bill. It won’t say a word about it any more. Her Majesty, speaking on the advice of her ministers, did not mention the Bill in her Gracious Speech in Parliament on Wednesday. Yet it is proceeding. It returns to the House of Commons on May 20, and will reach the Lords in June.
Given that David Cameron encountered such strong resistance from his party’s supporters when he introduced the Bill, this silence is not surprising. An opinion poll of Tory defectors to Ukip in the recent council elections showed that a quarter of them had deserted their party because they opposed gay marriage. Obviously, the Prime Minister would rather talk about something else…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Puppeteers, Puppeteer-Controlled Government and Media, And Gosnell!
[WARNING: **Disturbing Content**.]
In today’s troubling world, dark clouds are gathering overhead as the puppeteers of perdition and poverty continue to control the actions of many of our politicians, the media, our political system, and our futures. The Gosnell trial offers a unique insight into this darkness.
Many people have questioned how the government allowed the Gosnell factory of death to operate under the radar and why the media has conducted a virtual blackout of coverage of the Gosnell trial. Actually, the answer is quite simple. The puppeteers, puppeteer-controlled government and the puppeteer-controlled media consider what Gosnell did (this butcher does not deserve to have a medical title associated with his name) as ‘business as usual’. They aren’t embarrassed by his slaughter of babies born alive; they quietly champion it. At some point, doesn’t silence by the government and the media in this case imply approval?
Embedded within U. N. Agenda 21 is zero population CONTROL, even depopulation. The self-appointed tyrants imposing this unholy and unconstitutional agenda upon us do not see people as human beings, but as soulless beings, animals who are to be mined for what we can deliver to the collective, then discarded so that ‘mother earth’ is not violated.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Better to be blown up as a tolerant society, they are told, than to point the pop tart of intolerance on the great playground of the nanny state.
America today tolerates different things. It tolerates little boys dressing up as little girls at school, but not little boys pointing pencils and making machine gun noises on the playground.
The little boy whose mother dressed him up in girlish clothes once used to be a figure of contempt while the little boy pretending to be a marine was the future of the nation. Now the boy in the dress is the future of the nation having joined an identity group and entirely new gender by virtue of his mother’s Münchausen-syndrome-by-proxy and the aspiring little marine is suspected of one day trading in his sharpened pencil for one of those weapons of war as soon as the next gun show comes to town.
The Duke of Wellington once said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton. What battles will the boys playing on the playgrounds where dodgeball is banned and finger guns are a crime win and what sort of nation will they be fighting to protect?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
78,000 Apply for Private Mars Colony Project
Huge numbers of people on Earth are keen to leave the planet forever and seek a new life homesteading on Mars.
About 78,000 people have applied to become Red Planet colonists with the nonprofit organization Mars One since its application process opened on April 22, officials announced Tuesday, May 7. Mars One aims to land four people on the Red Planet in 2023 as the vanguard of a permanent colony, with more astronauts arriving every two years thereafter.
“With 78,000 applications in two weeks, this is turning out to be the most desired job in history,” Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp said in a statement. “These numbers put us right on track for our goal of half a million applicants.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Common Source for Earth and Moon Water
Chemical fingerprints of lunar rocks suggest both bodies already had their water at birth.
By Ron Cowen
Measurements of the chemical composition of Moon rocks suggest that Earth was born with its water already present, rather than having the precious liquid delivered several hundred million years later by comets or asteroids. And in finding a common origin for the water on Earth and the Moon, the results highlight a puzzle over the leading theory for the formation of Earth’s satellite.
Geochemist Alberto Saal of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and his colleagues built on recent studies, including their own, that have revealed a substantial amount of water in the Moon’s interior. To find the source of the water, the team relied on a chemical fingerprint — the relative amounts of hydrogen and deuterium, a hydrogen isotope that has one extra neutron in its atomic nucleus.
In investigating primitive lunar samples carried to Earth by the Apollo 15 and 17 missions, the team found a deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio that matched the isotopic ratio in carbonaceous chondrites, which include some of the most primitive meteorites known. The ratio is also similar to that found in water on Earth. The findings “suggest a common source of water for both objects” and provide “a very important new constraint for models of Earth and Moon origin”, says planetary scientist Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, who was not part of the study.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Bosch Fawstin
As I put it at the end of my first talk, If telling the truth about something can get you killed, then that truth needs to be told again and again and again. And acting on that truth will save us…
[JP note: Aloha Akbar.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Toxic Mars Dust Could Hamper Planned Human Missions
Mars dust is dangerous to human health and could severely hamper proposed missions to send people to the Red Planet. So say space-health and life-support researchers who met this week to mull over the possibility of sending a crewed mission to the Mars by 2030.
Laboratory studies had suggested that Mars dust might be a health hazard because it contains fine-grained silicate minerals, which are common on Mars. If breathed in, the silicate dust would react with water in the lungs to create damaging chemicals.
Recent robotic missions suggest that the outlook for a crewed mission may be even worse. Delegates to the Humans 2 Mars Summit (H2M) in Washington DC, an effort to chart and overcome the challenges of getting humans to Mars within the next two decades, yesterday heard the latest evidence of the dangers of Martian dust.
Richard Williams, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, pointed out at the meeting that perchlorates, which are known to harm the thyroid gland, increasingly look to be widespread on Mars.
Baked for analysis
Perchlorates were first detected by NASA’s Phoenix lander in 2008 near the Martian north pole. More recently, there was a possible detection by NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed in August 2012 and is now exploring Gale crater, near Mars’s equator. Last December, Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument baked up a scoop of soil, taken from a site called Rocknest, to analyse the dust’s composition.
“We believe that there could be perchlorates in the Rocknest dust sample,” says Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for SAM. “Since dust blows all over Mars, this certainly should be considered along with other human health impacts.”
That’s not all. In the past few months Curiosity has found veins of a mineral, most likely gypsum — and that is also worrisome, says Grant Anderson, co-founder of Paragon Space Development, a company based in Tucson, Arizona.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |