Financial Crisis
»	Greece: Small Companies Cut Salaries by 20%
	USA
»	Fort Collins Welcomes New Islamic Center …
	Europe and the EU
»	Antisemitic Statements at a Jewish School in Brussels
»	For French Muslims, This Horror Only Makes Matters Worse
»	France: Sarkozy Says Qatar’s Influential Muslim Cleric Not Welcome in France
»	France: In Rouen: A Teacher Calls for a Minute’s Silence — for Merah
»	Italy: 89-Year-Old May be Indicted for WWII Massacre
»	Spain: 10 Years Disqualification for Wasting Administrators
»	Spain: President of Cannabis Consumer Group Arrested
»	UK: Al-Qaeda Plotting Cyanide Attack at Games
	Middle East
»	Dubai Top Cop Sees Gulf Islamist Plot
»	Jordan Islamists Against Corruption, No to Gov’t Propaganda
»	S. Arabia: Male Assistant Selling Lingerie, 600 Shops Close
»	UAE: Dubai Police Chief: Muslim Brotherhood Wants to Overthrow Gulf Leaders
	South Asia
»	India: Intra-Community Clash at Mosque in Saidabad
	Australia — Pacific
»	Queensland Election: Update
	Immigration
»	Humanitarian Asylum Requests to Italy Highest in EU

Greece: Small Companies Cut Salaries by 20%

15,000 workers in 3,200 businesses have already been hit

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — The labor market in Greece is undergoing a huge shift after the reduction of the minimum wage, with many companies proceeding to salary cuts by up to 20% since February 14 through individual contracts with their employees, as daily Kathimerini reports quoting data collected by the Labor Inspectors’ Squad. Figures show that at 45 businesses employing over 50 people there were new contracts with an average salary decline of 20.094%. Within just one month from the application of the law providing for a 22% reduction in the minimum wage, as agreed with the country’s creditors, there have been no fewer than 45 new corporate contracts in Athens and Thessaloniki, while in the preceding four-month period, from October to February, there had only been 65 new contracts throughout the country. Since February 14, 3,231 small enterprises, employing fewer than five people, have submitted details of their employees’ individual contracts with an average salary drop of 20.63%. These reductions concern some 15,000 workers. Meanwhile, the Labor Ministry is to present Parliament with a regulation that will reward businesses that are consistent in paying their social security contributions: from early October they will get a 5% reduction in their contributions to social security funds.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Fort Collins Welcomes New Islamic Center …

A new Fort Collins Islamic Center broke ground Saturday to the thunderous applause of about 200 local Muslims and the blessings of community members alike. “Our church has been looking forward to having them as a neighbor,” said Rev. Hal Chorpenning, the senior minister at Plymouth Congregational Church positioned less than one block away from the center’s location on Prospect Road between Shields and Whitcomb streets. “ … I welcome them warmly to the neighborhood.” The facilities will replace the city’s current Islamic Center situated near the CSU campus’ northeast corner on Peterson Street, which will likely become a daycare center or other source of revenue for the new center. Jared Woodrow, president of the university’s Muslim Student Association, said the area’s Islamic community had outgrown their decades-old mosque and decided to construct a new one with additional features. Upon final completion, it will include a prayer hall, library, school, gym and meeting rooms for local Muslims and interested community members. “You can be there all day,” Woodrow said.

According to those interviewed, the reactions non-Muslim Fort Collins residents have had to the center’s construction have been generally positive. “As a whole, I’ve been very pleased with the reaction and the reception that we’ve gotten here in Fort Collins,” said Shakir Muhammad, a local engineer and active participant at the center. Woodrow explained that all but one city official approved of the facility’s construction. Muhammad pointed out that State Representative John Kefalas (D-52), who is part of the city’s delegation to the state legislature, wrote a letter in support of the new Islamic Center. “Fort Collins is a community that prides itself on being inclusive, and this is a religion that many people subscribe to,” Kefalas said. “ … There are students that come (to CSU) from countries in the Middle East, and I think that this is just another way to be welcoming and to be inclusive.”

But Fort Collins Jihad, a self-described awareness organization that regards the community’s Islamic Center as dangerously radical, sees the new facilities’ construction as a victory for extremist Muslims and a detriment to the city. Muhammad is aware of FCJ. “It’s not a group. It’s just one person with a website,” he said. “His (the website creator) claims are not very factual … “ Requests for comments from FCJ were not returned.

Despite being in the good graces of the overwhelming majority of the city, fundraising for the project has been difficult, Woodrow said. He explained that most of the center’s attendees are visiting CSU scholars from foreign nations who have little incentive to donate money to a facility they’re only going to use for three years. “ … A lot of the people don’t have an investment into this city,” he said. To compensate, Fort Collins Muslims have gone city-to-city across Colorado to stop at various mosques and ask those in attendance for financial donations to pay for the new center’s construction. And while the fundraising process still has yet to be completed, those in charge of the project have insisted on not sacrificing principles to satisfy financial needs. The center rejected a donation from the son of Saudi Arabia’s treasurer, wanting to avoid questionable associations, Woodrow said.

The new facility’s construction will take place in two phases. The first involves the creation of a prayer hall, library and meeting rooms and is scheduled to be completed by December. The second will add on a school and a gym when enough funds are raised.

— Hat tip: JP

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Antisemitic Statements at a Jewish School in Brussels

Brussels — At around 15:40, four individuals of Arab-Muslim origin arrived at the door of the Athenaeum Maimonides in Anderlecht and tried to pull the door to enter multiple times. The security services of the school intervened and were joined by police officers on site. When checking on individuals, one of them said, “I do not care to touch the door of s*** dirty Jew.” A complaint was filed with the police. The four individuals are illegal in Belgium.

— Hat tip: TV

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For French Muslims, This Horror Only Makes Matters Worse

by Nabila Ramdani

Images of armed police milling around the flat of a “neutralised” Muslim of Algerian descent will be welcomed by France’s increasingly right-wing political class. As would-be presidents campaign tirelessly towards an election starting next month, they will stress the need to seek out and destroy young men like Mohamed Merah. The 23-year-old “troubled-housing-estate’“kid turned jihad warrior had a truly dismal life record. It covered almost every manifestation of alienated immigrant angst, from petty crime, through to indoctrination in prison, right up to murderous terrorism.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, has already set the bar in clichéd scare-mongering by saying that French children of all faiths need “protection” from “fundamentalists” like Merah. The implication, of course, is that there are plenty more like him in the so-called banlieues — the vast housing projects on the outskirts of major cities like Toulouse and Paris. It was while growing up in one that Merah is said to have become exposed to Islamic extremism, at one stage even marching around the grey tower blocks holding a sword while shouting “al-Qa’ida!” It is a pathetic, cartoon-look image, but the kind that has sadly gained increasing credibility over the past few years, as Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has lurched determinedly to the right. Claude Guéant, the President’s notoriously combative Interior Minister who presided over Merah’s death, last year described the growing number of Muslims in France as a “problem”. There are now some six million in the country compared to a few hundred thousand when the Republic became a secular one in 1905. Both Sarkozy and Guéant have regularly highlighted every perceived “problem” associated with Muslims, including burqa-wearing, eating halal meat, and praying in the street because of a lack of mosques.

Behind all of these day-to-day issues is the growing and even more divisive implication that ordinary Muslims are not only anti-social and undesirable, but directly linked to global terrorism. One of the main reasons offered for a burqa ban, for example, was to stop radicals using the garments to hide bombs underneath, and to disguise their identities. Centrist presidential candidate François Bayrou was among those who described the formulation of such theories as “poisonous”, while even Gilles Bernheim, France’s grand rabbi, admitted: “It’s often difficult to be a Muslim in France. This difficulty is worse today in this unhealthy climate, aggravated by talk that divides rather than unites.”

Extremist rhetoric underpinned by policies designed to stigmatise will attract disillusioned nationalist voters in the race for the Elysée Palace, but they ignore the real problems facing Muslim communities in modern France: those of discrimination and underachievement. Yes, there are thousands of young men with the same Algerian background as Mohamed Merah, but that does not make them all murderous criminals. Many are the sons of immigrants forced to leave a North African country crippled by 132 years of colonial exploitation. It is now exactly half-a-century since the end of the Algerian War of Independence — one in which up to 1.5 million died and which opened huge divisions between aggrieved survivors. The legacy of hatred between expats forced to return to France and the Algerian economic migrants who joined them burns with a uniquely Gallic ferocity.

Such discord was exacerbated by Mr Sarkozy last month when he said that France would “not repent” for what went on during the war, even though close to 2.5 million Algerians live in the Republic today. They not only form the largest Muslim community, but for the most part still live in those marginalised urban estates which rose out of their forebears’ refugee camps. Life has traditionally been hard for all French Muslims, but the kind of images which have been coming out of Toulouse over the past fortnight will make it even worse.

Nabila Ramdani is a Paris-born journalist of Algerian descent who regularly writes about French politics and Islamic affairs

— Hat tip: JP

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France: Sarkozy Says Qatar’s Influential Muslim Cleric Not Welcome in France

Qatar-based Sunni Muslim cleric Yousuf Al Qaradawi not welcome in France

Paris: President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday that influential Qatar-based Sunni Muslim cleric Yousuf Al Qaradawi was not welcome in France. Egyptian-born Qaradawi, 86, has been invited to visit next month by the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF). “I told the emir of Qatar himself that this gentleman was not welcome in the territory of the French Republic,” Sarkozy told France Info radio. Qaradawi, who hosts a popular show on Al-Jazeera satellite television, backed Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and has launched a fund-raising effort for the Syrian opposition. He had been due to attend the UOIF congress at Le Bourget near Paris on April 6 alongside renowned Egyptian preacher Mahmoud Al Masri. “I said that a certain number of people, who have been invited to this congress and who maintain or who would like to take positions that are incompatible with the republican ideal, would not be welcome,” Sarkozy said. Qaradawi, who has close ties with the leadership of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, left the country in the 1960s after being imprisoned. He is accused of having made anti-Semitic and homophobic statements and was banned from entering Britain in 2008. He has been banned from entering the United States since 1999.

— Hat tip: JP

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France: In Rouen: A Teacher Calls for a Minute’s Silence — for Merah

Here is a quite remarkable story, from Rouen in Normandy:

Fifteen students, in the final year of the Lycee Gustave Flaubert in Rouen, walked out of their classroom Friday morning, March 23, shortly after 8 am, after their English teacher asked them to observe a minute of silence in memory of the killer of Toulouse, Mohamed Merah, who she described as a “victim.” According to students, who immediately wrote a letter to the headteacher , they alerted Rectorate of Rouen, that this certified teacher had claimed that the link with al-Qaeda was “invented by the media and Sarko.” Only a half dozen students who were “taken aback” remained in the classroom, “wanting to know why she had behaved in this way”, according to the testimony of a student. One told us she would be excused at the end of the conversation. “She said she was not well and would perhaps take time off,” he added.

The letter of protest by students is here.

— Hat tip: JP

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Italy: 89-Year-Old May be Indicted for WWII Massacre

Ex-corporal executed ‘117 Italian officers’ says prosecutor

(ANSA) — Rome, March 20 — A Rome military prosecutor on Tuesday called for the indictment of an 89-year-old former German officer for alleged involvement in the massacre of thousands of Italian soldiers on the Greek island of Cephalonia in World War II.

The suspect, ex-corporal Alfred Stork, should be called to trial for ordering the execution of “at least 117 Italian officers” after they surrendered, said Rome Prosecutor Marco De Paolis, who claimed to have material evidence for his case.

Among his evidence is an alleged 2005 confession in which he told German prosecutors he was a member of one of the two execution platoons. The incident was just one episode amid a much larger massacre which came after the 1943 armistice between Italy and the Allies that instructed Italian troops to switch sides.

After news of the September 8 armistice filtered across to the island on September 14, 1943, General Antonio Gandin told each of his men in the Acqui division to follow his own conscience and choose between three alternatives: fight on alongside the Germans, surrender his weapons, or keep them and resist German attacks.

Over the next eight days, 1,300 men died in battle, 5,155 were shot after being taken prisoner, and 3,000 drowned when a ship carrying them to Nazi concentration camps sank.

The bodies of 200 men were tossed down a well, from which they were only recovered and sent back home a few months before former Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi’s visit in 2001.

To the outrage of Italy, a German court cleared then 86-year-old former lieutenant Otmar Muhlhauser of war-crime charges in 2006.

Deceased in 2009, he was believed to be the last survivor of the Werhmacht regiment which carried out the massacre, and he reportedly admitted he had personally ordered the execution of hundreds of soldiers including General Gandin.

The incident forms the backdrop to the best-selling 1994 novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which became a film in 2001 starring Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: 10 Years Disqualification for Wasting Administrators

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 23 — Public administrators who falsify or hide data on the deficit and figures regarding the wages of directors of local governments will be disqualified from holding public offices for ten years. The measure is part of a bill for more transparency and access to public information which was approved in today’s cabinet meeting. It was presented in the press conference that followed the meeting, by Vice Premier Soraya Sanz de Santamaria. The vice premier called it one of the most important regulations in the political programme of the Mariano Rajoy government. The government bill includes a code of good governance with sanctions in case of violations. It forces politicians and public managers to inform taxpayers about the use of their money, following a similar initiative taken in the United States and in other European countries. Politicians and managers in the public sector can be suspended for hiding bills or accounts, for not handing over requested documentation, for surpassing the public deficit limit and for wasting tax money, which will be seen as a crime. Public administrations must be transparent about the way they spend public money. The government will open an internet portal for transparency, on which subsidies, data regarding public tenders and the salaries of public sector managers will be published. The portal is scheduled to be ready by this summer, when the bill is expected to have completed its examination in parliament. As soon as the regulation comes into force, public officials must respond to any request by citizens for information about the management of public funds within one month.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: President of Cannabis Consumer Group Arrested

Promoted crisis-tackling marijuana plant project in Rasquera

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 23 — Catalan police have arrested the head of the Barcelona association of cannabis consumers (ABCDA), which has promoted the controversial scheme to plant marijuana in the town of Rasquera (Tarragona). Local police sources quoted by the media today say that the man was arrested on drug-trafficking charges. Four other members of the association were also charged with the same crime. During the operation, police also raided one of the offices managed by consumer group in the Barceloneta area of Barcelona, seizing 1.3 kilos of marijuana, weighing equipment and 2,000 euros in cash. At the time on the office, which was later taken over by police, a dozen people smoking or waiting to buy the drug were on the premises.

On March 1, the Catalan town of Rasquera approved the sale of state-owned land to the ABCDA association, which has 5,000 members, to plant a “cannabis cultivation for recreational and therapeutic purposes”, in exchange for the creation of forty jobs in an attempt to cancel the 1.3 million euros of deficit in the town’s coffers. The decision brought provoked intervention by the Catalan regional government, which said that such a plantation would violate Article 368 of the penal code, which bans cultivation, treatment and trafficking of drugs.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UK: Al-Qaeda Plotting Cyanide Attack at Games

Web fanatics target Olympics

AL-QAEDA fanatics are plotting a deadly cyanide poison attack on the London Olympics, a Sun investigation has found.

Extremists on a website with links to the terror group have posted detailed instructions on how to cause carnage at this summer’s Games.

The chilling online plot was uncovered as two convicted al-Qaeda terrorists were released early from jail and put back on the streets ahead of the Olympics.

And the specific nature of the “cyanide slaughter” web posts suggest they should be taken seriously by the security services.

An extremist who called himself Abu Hija Ansari said the poison should be mixed with a handcream that would enable it to be absorbed through the skin.

He wrote in Arabic: “Through skin: 1 — cyanide, 2 — skin cream. Mix the ingredients. The skin cream will open the pores in the skin and speed up the absorption and effectiveness of the poison.”

He said plotters should wear “medical gloves” when producing the lethal mixture.

A second extremist said on the website: “It is a good idea and you need to plan well.”

She added chillingly under a logo of the 2012 Games: “It’s time to prepare for the event, as once again they are interfering with innocent Muslims.”

Our investigator used a false identity to access the website which has 17,000 members worldwide and known links to six al—Qaeda terrorists.

He said: “There is a contingent using this site who want to strike at the Games. The explicit nature of what is being said would indicate more than just sabre-rattling but a wish to do real harm to the event and the people at it.”

Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the all-party homeland security group, said: “I hope the individuals are identified so action can be taken. Those who believe there is no terrorist threat are living in cloud cuckoo land.”…

— Hat tip: Nick

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Dubai Top Cop Sees Gulf Islamist Plot

KUWAIT: The Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamist force that emerged after the Arab Spring, is plotting to take over Gulf states, Dubai’s police chief said in remarks reported yesterday. Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said he had his reasons to claim that the “Brotherhood was plotting to change the regimes in the Gulf”, in an interview published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas. “My sources say the next step is to make Gulf governments (their ruling families) figurehead bodies only without actual ruling. The start will be in Kuwait in 2013 and in other Gulf states in 2016,” he said.

Khalfan has been involved in a tit-for-tat controversy with the Brotherhood after he threatened earlier this month to arrest cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a leading Brotherhood figure, for criticising the United Arab Emirates for deporting Syrian protesters. The police chief said he based his information on “leaks” from Western intelligence agencies and said this “had been known to us”. “If these leaks from Western intelligence were to be correct, by 2016 all Gulf rulers” will be just figureheads with no actual power, Khalfan said. “I am warning Gulf states about these groups.”

All of the six oil-rich Arab states in the Gulf have been governed for centuries by ruling families that dominate almost every aspect of life and who have the final say on almost everything. These states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — together sit on more than 40 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and around a fifth of its natural gas. Khalfan said the alleged plot will begin in Kuwait because “it is ready more than any other Gulf state… this is a strategy”. Sunni Islamists made an impressive show in a Feb 2 snap election in Kuwait, securing more than 20 seats in the 50-member parliament. — AFP

— Hat tip: RR

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Jordan Islamists Against Corruption, No to Gov’t Propaganda

Rally to ask for concrete reforms

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN — Hundreds of Islamist leads activists rallied in downtown Amman Friday against what they say lack of genuine drive to eradicate corruption in the kingdom.

Security forces were mobilized to prevent clashes with pro-regime groups that arrived in the scene to disrupt protests.

Leaders from the Islamist movement spearheaded the rally, which kicked off from king Hussein mosque in down town Amman after Friday prayer.

“We are tired of hearing about elections and reform, while no action is being taken against corruption. The whole nation is demanding genuine reforms, not media prooganda by authorities,” Salem Falahat, former overall leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, told ANSA during the protest.

Minor clashes took place between security forces and protesters, but nobody was injured. Islamist leaders said authorities lack genuine policies to fight corruption.

The government has recently come under fire from the opposition for what has been seen as a deliberate attempt to impede investigation into a number of high profile corruption cases that involve ministers and influential businessmen.

The aid-dependent kingdom is struggling with its worst economic meltdown in decades amid lack of job opportunities and foreign investment.

Activists say the sale of state assets over the past years has enriched the country’s business and political elite but has done little to help the poor.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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S. Arabia: Male Assistant Selling Lingerie, 600 Shops Close

Wave of inspections checking enforcement of male staff ban

(ANSAmed) — DOHA, MARCH 22 — Six hundred underwear stores have been shut down in Saudi Arabia for breaking a law that forbids male staff from being hired, while 30 others have been given a deadline of 2 weeks to take on exclusively female members of staff. The news has been reported today in the Gulf press. A Saudi law approved in June last year not only forbids men from working as assistants in underwear and cosmetics shops, but also forbids men from even having access to the stores, meaning that men are unable to buy underwear for women. Women hired will also have to wear the hijab, which is traditional dress in Saudi Arabia and in a number of Gulf states, and consists of a long black tunic and a veil covering the head.

The Saudi Employment Minister has sent a number of inspectors to check that the law is being enforced and has suspended the approval of male assistants who had been working in underwear and cosmetics shops. A similar regulation had been discussed by the Qatari government after controversy in the Emirate over women’s unease at being served by men as they purchased underwear. In the end, the country opted for a gradual substitution of men by female staff when new assistants are hired.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UAE: Dubai Police Chief: Muslim Brotherhood Wants to Overthrow Gulf Leaders

The head of Dubai police has openly accused the Muslim Brotherhood, the Arab Spring winners, of plotting to overthrow the Arab Gulf monarchies. “The Muslim Brotherhood, the force that has emerged from the Arab Spring, plotting regime change in the Gulf,” General Dhahi Khalfane was quoted in an interview published Sunday by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas.

“My sources say that the next step is to make the Gulf ruling families powerless. This will begin with Kuwait in 2013 and end in 2016 with other countries,” he said, ensuring that this information came partly from Western intelligence services. Note that the Islamists won the parliamentary elections held February 2nd in Kuwait, capturing 23 of 50 parliamentary seats. Earlier this month, General Khalfane threatened to issue an arrest warrant against the influential Qatar-based Sunni cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi for criticizing the decision of the Emirati authorities to expel the Syrians who demonstrated in Dubai without permission. They protested against the Syrian regime. Khalfane said he had warned the six Gulf monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait) against the Muslim Brotherhood.

— Hat tip: JP

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India: Intra-Community Clash at Mosque in Saidabad

HYDERABAD: Police resorted to a mild lathicharge to disperse two clashing groups of the same community at Saidabad in the old city during prayer time on Sunday. According to the police, a group of people belonging to the dominant sect went to the Ahmadiya mosque and asked the devotees to stop their prayers. An argument ensued which led to stone-throwing on business establishments in the vicinity. Saidabad police inspector K Narsing said that some locals abused the people present at the mosque saying that they were not Muslims and told them to immediately stop the prayers. They distributed some pamphlets which those inside the mosque found objectionable. The agitated devotees tried to push out the miscreants and a scuffle ensued between the two groups. In the melee both the groups hurled stones on each other but no one was injured. Police alerted higher officials who rushed special teams to the place to defuse the situation. Meanwhile, some Muslim organisations lodged a complaint with the police on the issue. Mohammed Arshad Ali Quasmi, state general secretary of Majlis Tahfuz Khatam Nuwwat Trust, alleged that Ahmadiyas distributed blasphemous printed material at the mosque. Majlish Bachao Thareek also lodged a complaint making a similar charge.

— Hat tip: JP

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Queensland Election: Update

[This is news analysis by our Perth correspondent Anne-Kit. The news story itself is at the link.]

I noticed an item on the Queensland State Election in the newsfeed today. Let me update you on the results:

Out of an 89-seat parliament the winning LNP (Liberal National Party: in Queensland our two conservative parties, the National Party (country party) and the Liberal Party have amalgamated) is set to win 75 seats and Labor 6 (yes, that’s six!) seats. This means that officially Labor no longer counts as a political party in Queensland and will not get public funding for its electorate offices, staff etc. Apparently they will have to rely on the new Government’s mercy in this matter.

In most seats the swing towards LNP and away from Labor was in double digits. This is pretty exceptional in itself, but in many seats the swing was 20+ points!

It was a bloodbath, and it was very sweet to see! And it is clear for all (except the usual suspects) to see that this is a very strong message to the Federal Gillard government that they are next, come the Federal election in 2013.

The above link was the most recent I could find, and they are still counting, but the latest news is (former) Premier Anna Bligh did not win her seat and has left Parliament.

— Hat tip: Anne-Kit

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Humanitarian Asylum Requests to Italy Highest in EU

Applicants total 301,000 in all of Europe

(ANSA) — Brussels, March 23 — Italy had the highest number of humanitarian-motivated asylum requests in 2011 out of the 27 EU nations, according to a report released on Friday by the European Union’s statistics bureau Eurostat. The highest number of overall requests was in France with 56,300 applicants, followed by Germany with 53,300, then Italy with 34,100 in 2011.

A total of 301,000 asylum applicants were registered in the 27 EU countries in 2011 compared to 259,000 in 2010, and 90% were new applications, 10% repeat. In all of the 27 EU countries in 2011, 75% of first-time applicants were rejected, 12% were granted refugee status, 9% subsidiary protection and 4% authorization to remain for humanitarian reasons.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

	Financial Crisis
»	Goldman’s Top Economist: There is No Economic Crisis
»	Greece: EU: Regional Funds to Guarantee 1 Bln Loans for SMEs
»	Italy: Economic Crisis Hits Young Business Community
»	Mark Steyn: the Sun Also Sets
»	Serbia: Rising Unemployment, Decline in Production
	USA
»	“National Defense Resources Preparedness” Executive Order: Power Grab or Mere Update?
»	Agenda 21 Treaty on the Horizon
»	Another Modest Proposal — in Earnest, Not Satire
»	Archaeology: Getty Museum Repatriates Antiquities to Greece
»	Establishing a White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities
»	Former Vice President Dick Cheney Undergoes Heart Transplant, A.P. Reports
»	Google Plans to Spy on Background Noise in Your Phone Calls to Bombard You With Tailored Adverts
»	Grand Central’s Gigantic Snake Amazes Commuters
»	National Popular Vote: Goodbye, Sweet America
»	Obama’s Secret War-Making for the U.N.
»	Record-Breaking Laser Pulse Paves Way for Fusion
»	Senator Rand Paul Steps Up to Protect Property Owners
»	Sturm, Ruger Firearms Has Suspended All New Orders Due to High Demand
»	The Socialist Apprentice
»	Tiger Woods Wins First PGA Tournament in More Than Two Years
	Canada
»	Book Tells Muslim Men How to Beat and Control Their Wives
»	Tar Sands Debate: Politicization Dirtier Than Crude?
	Europe and the EU
»	1.5 Mln Greeks “Interested” In Return to Farming
»	Berlusconi Buys Villa on Lake Como
»	British Conservative Party Fundraiser Resigns Amid Scandal
»	Could Crude, Whisky and Wind Make Scotland Richer Than England?
»	Fiat Reiterates Commitment to Italy
»	France: Sarkozy Denies Helping Depardieu in His Business
»	France 2012: ‘Tax Exile’: Noah Lawsuit Against Le Pen
»	France: Jews and Muslims Must Show Unity Against Jihadists
»	France: Laying the Groundwork for the Toulouse Massacre
»	France’s Muslims Fear Backlash After Terrorist Shootings
»	France: Dozens of Jewish Graves Desecrated
»	France: Gunman’s Brother on ‘Preliminary Charges’
»	France: Toulouse: 400 Extremists in Europe, EU Anti-Terrorism
»	French Police Stop March in Memory of Toulouse Killer
»	How to Tackle Terrorism in the 21st Century?
»	Interest in ‘Halal’ Finance Growing in Italy
»	Italian Values Shifting From Autonomy to Fraternity
»	Italy: Priest Fined for Ringing Church Bells Too Loudly
»	Italy: Man Who Gave ‘Gomorrah’ Clan Ferraris Arrested
»	Italy: Justice Minister Says Ex-Prison Islands ‘Could be Reopened’
»	Italy: Anti-Semite Site Publishes List of 163 Italian Professors
»	Italy: Sixteen Tax Judges Arrested in Campania
»	Italy: Government Signs Off Labour Reform
»	Just a Regular French Youth
»	Multinational Military Medical Unit to be Led by Italy
»	Spanish Police Arrest ‘Bar Code Pimps’ Gang
»	The Last Testament of a Psychopath: Toulouse Gunman Found ‘Infinite Pleasure’ In Murdering His Victims
»	The Stasi Watched My Every Move: Dancing on Ice Star Katarina Witt Reveals East German Secret Police Spied on Her Since the Age of Eight
»	The World is Turning Conservative, So Liberals Are Eating Their Words
»	U.S. State Department Actively Promoting Islam in Europe
»	UK: Brave Woman Shopper Pounced on Pervert Taking Indecent Pictures of Children in Sainsbury’s… After Security Guards Refused to Help Her
»	UK: Bullfinch Update: Six Men Charged Over Child Sex Ring Held in Prison
»	UK: I’ve Backed Ken Livingstone for Mayor Before, But This Time I Just Can’t Do it
»	UK: Ken Livingstone Has Lost My Vote, Says Influential Guardian Columnist
»	UK: Mother Left Her 16-Month-Old Baby Home Alone While She Partied for Five Days and Nights
»	UK: Olympic Terror Group Hunted
»	UK: Pensioner Was Left Helpless on the Floor for 10 Minutes While Her Nurse Prayed, Inquest Hears
»	UK: Social Workers Took Away Our Baby for Nine Months: With No Evidence Against Them, Couple Were Banned From Looking After Their Son
»	UK: The Arts Festival Tied Into the Olympic Games That’s Costing us £5.4m
	Mediterranean Union
»	Lebanon: Courses for Judges and Magistrates Financed by EU
	North Africa
»	Algeria: Plan to Save Old Fortified Villages
»	Egypt: Coptic Christians After Shenouda
»	Islamists Dominate Panel Tasked With Drafting Egypt’s Constitution
»	Morocco: Equality in Constitution, Not Yet in Practice
»	Spain and Morocco Compete for Oil Search in Canary Islands
	Israel and the Palestinians
»	Gaza: Islamic Jihad Celebrating After Challenge to Israel
»	Term ‘West Bank’ Only Came About as Result of Jordan’s Imperialist Effort to Expand
	Middle East
»	Borat Anthem Stuns Kazakh Gold Medallist in Kuwait
»	Egypt is Looking to Get Cozy With Iran
»	Lebanon: Policewomen Candidates in Hijabs Spark Row
»	Lebanon: Maid Filmed During Beating Kills Herself
»	Power Elite and the Muslim Brotherhood, Part 10
»	Saudi Arabia and China Team Up to Build a Gigantic New Oil Refinery
»	Syria: Terzi: Turkish Minister Spoke of Air Raids
»	The Rising Tide of Muslim Violence Against Christians
»	UAE: Europe Approves Camel’s Milk
»	UAE: Saadiyat Workers Conditions Improve, But Not Enough
	South Asia
»	Domestic Maids Complain of Rampant Abuse in Malaysia
»	Indian Court Refuses TV for Italian Marines
	Far East
»	China’s Huawei Moves Out of the Shadows to Join Technology Race
»	China’s Massive Water Diversion Project Remains Controversial
»	Classical Music Affects Heart Transplants
»	The Slang Chinese Bloggers Use to Subvert Censorship
	Australia — Pacific
»	Anna Bligh Hangs on to Seat in Bloodbath
»	Australia Deports ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Rapist Back to UK 13 Years After Brutal Attack and Yet We Continue to Dither Over Kicking Out Qatada
»	Gallipoli Anniversary Could Divide Australia, Federal Government Warned
»	James Cameron Set for a Mariana Trench Sequel
	Sub-Saharan Africa
»	A Pirate’s Prison Tucked Inside Seychelles Paradise
	Immigration
»	UK: Ministers Plan Major Immigration Crackdown
	Culture Wars
»	Oregon: “Wrongful Birth” Of Down Syndrome Child
	General
»	Nokia is Looking Into Haptic Tattoos to Help You Feel Who’s Calling
»	‘Warp-Speed’ Planets Flung Out of Galaxy on Wild Ride

Goldman’s Top Economist: There is No Economic Crisis

Crisis, what crisis? That is the attitude of Jim O’Neill, one of the most influential economists and bankers in the world. The head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the company’s former chief economist does not believe the world economy is in trouble.

In fact, says Mr O’Neill, the crisis is focused on a handful of nations — the US, the UK and the struggling Mediterranean countries.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Greece: EU: Regional Funds to Guarantee 1 Bln Loans for SMEs

Commissioner Hahn, new instrument agreed with Eib

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 21 — EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn has today in Athens added another element to boost growth by launching a new Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-Sized enterprises (SMEs) for Greece. This new facility, agreed in cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB), will help SMEs which have been worst hit by the crisis to access credit, by providing the banks in Greece with sufficient liquidity. According to the EU Commissione, this is another step to assist the country in optimising the use of EU Structural Funds: some 500 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will guarantee loans with an expected leverage of 1 billion euros through EIB loans to SMEs. Banks will act as intermediary bodies.

“Today’s decision — commented Hahn — is crucial to put the Greek economy back on track and give the country new hope. The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have acted in great cooperation to find tailor made solutions for Greece and secure small businesses financing. This is of crucial importance to turn the wheel around and get business off the ground in Greece”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Economic Crisis Hits Young Business Community

Study shows drop in under-30 entrepreneurs

(ANSA) — Venice, March 21 — A study published on Wednesday reported that the pan-European economic crisis has hit young Italian entrepreneurs, sharply driving their numbers down over the last three years.

Business owners and administrators under the age of 30 have dropped by 20% since 2005, said the report compiled by Italian statistics organization, Datagiovani. The drop in numbers has affected the northeast more than any other part of the country, said the study.

CEOs and company owners under the age of 30 fell below 350,000 at the close of 2011, compared to the third quarter of 2008, when there were over 378,000 and nearly 436,000 at the end of 2005.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Mark Steyn: the Sun Also Sets

I was in Australia earlier this month and there, as elsewhere on my recent travels, the consensus among the politicians I met (at least in private) was that Washington lacked the will for meaningful course correction, and that, therefore, the trick was to ensure that, when the behemoth goes over the cliff, you’re not dragged down with it. It is faintly surreal to be sitting in paneled offices lined by formal portraits listening to eminent persons who assume the collapse of the dominant global power is a fait accompli. “I don’t feel America is quite a First World country anymore,” a robustly pro-American Aussie told me, with a sigh of regret.

Well, what does some rinky-dink ‘roo-infested didgeridoo mill on the other side of the planet know about anything? Fair enough. But Australia was the only major Western nation not to go into recession after 2008. And in the last decade the U.S. dollar has fallen by half against the Oz buck: That’s to say, in 2002, one greenback bought you a buck-ninety Down Under; now it buys you 95 cents. More of that a bit later.

I have now returned from Oz to the Emerald City, where everything is built with borrowed green. President Obama has run up more debt in three years than President Bush did in eight, and he plans to run up more still — from ten trillion in 2008 to fifteen and a half trillion now to 20 trillion and beyond. Onward and upward! The president doesn’t see this as a problem, nor do his party, and nor do at least fortysomething percent of the American people. The Democrats’ plan is to have no plan, and their budget is not to budget at all. “We don’t need to bring a budget,” said Harry Reid. Why tie yourself down? “We’re not coming before you to say we have a definitive solution,” the treasury secretary told House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan. “What we do know is we don’t like yours.”

Nor do some of Ryan’s fellow conservatives. Texas congressman Louie Gohmert, for whom I have a high regard, was among those representatives who appeared at the Heritage Foundation to express misgivings regarding the Ryan plan’s timidity. They’re not wrong on that: The alleged terrorizer of widows and orphans does not propose to balance the budget of the government of the United States until the year 2040. That would be 27 years after Congressman Ryan’s current term of office expires. Who knows what could throw a wrench in those numbers? Suppose Beijing decides to seize Taiwan. The U.S. is obligated to defend it militarily. But U.S. taxpayers would be funding both sides of the war — the home team, via the Pentagon budget, and the Chinese military, through the interest payments on the debt. (We’ll be bankrolling the entire People’s Liberation Army by some point this decade.) A Beijing-Taipei conflict would be, in budget terms, a U.S. civil war relocated to the Straits of Taiwan. Which is why plans for mid-century are of limited value. When the most notorious extreme callous budget-slasher of the age cannot foresee the government living within its means within the next three decades, you begin to appreciate why foreign observers doubt whether there’ll be a 2040, not for anything recognizable as “the United States.”…

— Hat tip: DS

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Serbia: Rising Unemployment, Decline in Production

Situation is worrying, says president of Chamber of Commerce

(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MARCH 20 — The economic situation in Serbia is very worrying according to the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (Pks) Milos Bugarin. He underlined that besides the rising unemployment and lack of liquidity , there are also a decline in industrial production and processing industry and the domestic and external debts of about 4.4 billion euros to be paid this year.

According to Bugarin, the economic growth rate that was revised from 1.5 to 0.5 percent was also cause for concern, because it could easily slide into a recession under the pressure of the external crisis.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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“National Defense Resources Preparedness” Executive Order: Power Grab or Mere Update?

by Ed Morrisey

We’re getting a lot of e-mail this weekend about an executive order issued on Friday afternoon by President Obama titled “National Defense Resources Preparedness.” While the timing of the EO is curious — why send it out on a Friday afternoon when an administration is usually trying to sneak bad news past the media? — the general impact of it is negligible. This EO simply updates another EO (12919) that had been in place since June 1994, and amended several times since.

[…]

this is almost identical to EO 12919 from 18 years earlier. Note what this EO specifically orders: identify, assess, be prepared, improve, foster cooperation. None of these items claim authority to seize private property and place them at the personal disposal of Obama. What follows after Section 103 are the directives for implementing these rather analytical tasks, mostly in the form of explicit delegations of presidential authority to Cabinet members and others in the executive branch.

Why the update? If one takes a look at EO 12919, the big change is in the Cabinet itself. In 1994, we didn’t have a Department of Homeland Security, for instance, and some of these functions would naturally fall to DHS. In EO 12919, the FEMA director had those responsibilities, and the biggest change between the two is the removal of several references to FEMA (ten in all). Otherwise, there aren’t a lot of changes between the two EOs, which looks mainly like boilerplate.

[…]

Barack Obama may be arrogant, and the timing of this release might have looked a little strange, but this is really nothing to worry about at all.

[…]

EDITORIAL NOTE: See same conclusion at

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/03/18/national-defense-resources-preparedness-executive-order-power-grab-or-update/

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Agenda 21 Treaty on the Horizon

International Covenant on Environment and Development: Convert the “soft-law” non-binding Agenda 21 into firmly binding global law.

While liberal journalists continue to claim that Agenda 21 is just a “conspiracy theory” being advanced by right-wing crackpots, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Council for Environmental Law (ICEL) have released their fourth Draft of the International Covenant on Environment and Development. This document was designed from the beginning to convert the “soft-law” non-binding Agenda 21 into firmly binding global law – enforceable through the International Criminal Court and/or the dispute resolution features of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Two excellent analyses of this document are available here, and here. Read the entire 242-page document here.

Few people understand that it is standard operating procedure for the U.N. to issue a massive non-binding policy document to test the water and make adjustments to its plans before introducing the real, legally-binding treaty.

— Hat tip: JD

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Another Modest Proposal — in Earnest, Not Satire

Modest proposals, in sense given the phrase by the great 18th century satirist Jonathan Swift, are flavour of the month in the bioethics community. Hot on the heels of an infanticide proposal in a leading journal comes a modest proposal to genetically modify children to save the world from climate change.

In a soon-to-be-published article in Ethics, Policy and Environment, three bioethicists, from New York University and from Oxford, float some quite eye-popping ideas. An interview with the S. Matthew Liao, of NYU, in The Atlantic sparked a firestorm on blogs.

Dr Liao explained that human engineering must be explored because other solutions for climate change, like international agreements and geoengineering, are clearly not working.

Among his suggestions are drugs to provoke aversion to meat to wean people off eating animals. This would help enormously, because half of the world’s greenhouse emissions may come from livestock farming.

Genetic modification and drugs to make people smaller is another solution. “For instance if you reduce the average U.S. height by just 15cm, you could reduce body mass by 21% for men and 25% for women, with a corresponding reduction in metabolic rates by some 15% to 18%, because less tissue means lower energy and nutrient needs.”

One of the most intriguing proposals is inducing positive attitudes towards the environment with drugs, although he sees it as a way of boosting willpower rather than inducing beliefs.

“If you crave steak, and that craving prevents you from making a decision you otherwise want to make, in some sense your inability to control yourself is a limit on the will, or a limit on your liberty. A meat patch would allow you to truly decide whether you want to have that steak or not, and that could be quite liberty enhancing.”

He proposes an interesting twist on the one or two-child policy advocated by some environmental groups: a child-per-family quota based on volume and weight rather than number:

“…given certain fixed allocations of greenhouse gas emissions, human engineering could give families the choice between two medium sized children, or three small sized children. From our perspective that would be more liberty enhancing than a policy that says ‘you can only have one or two children.’ A family might want a really good basketball player, and so they could use human engineering to have one really large child.”

Preposterous? Not so fast. “Human engineering may seem bizarre and unrealistic, but this does not mean it could not turn out to be feasible and promising: telephones, ‘test tube babies’, and personal computers are all important aspects of modern life that were once regarded as bizarre and unrealistic,” another author, Rebecca Roache told the Guardian.

The article has been criticised even by colleagues, Anders Sandberg told the Guardian. But the authors are unperturbed by labels like “eco-Nazis” and “eugenicists”. “We are fairly typical liberal academics thinking about the world,” Sandburg says.

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Archaeology: Getty Museum Repatriates Antiquities to Greece

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MARCH 9 — Three ancient marble fragments from the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles have been repatriated to Greece following a deal last year, as daily Kathimerini website reports. A culture ministry statement says two of the 2,400-year-old pieces are parts of the same broken gravestone decorated with relief sculptures, and will be joined onto a third section in a Greek museum. The Getty also returned an inscribed slab related to a religious festival. The 5th century BC fragments arrived in Athens on Friday. Greece is discussing lending an ancient Greek inscription to the Getty in return. In recent years, the Getty has repatriated to Athens another four significant ancient works, including a gold wreath allegedly illegally excavated in northern Greece.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Establishing a White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities

A new Executive Order issued on March 15, 2012, establishing a White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities, received no attention from the mainstream media.

Why would MSM report the news that is so important to the American people when there are so many pointless reality shows to occupy the citizens’ time? The Romans had pane et circenses, bread and circuses, in the gladiatorial arenas. Americans have sports and reality TV to dull their senses and perception of the troublesome reality.

The new Executive Order establishes another bureaucracy to “lift communities out of distress,” and to “support comprehensive planning and regional collaboration.” Communities would not be in distress if the economy and the country were not purposefully destroyed through burdensome regulations, insane energy policy, directives, wasteful stimuli, resolutions, omnibus overspending bills, and executive orders.

The Council is a “pilot initiative” that partners with “cities and regions to augment their vision of stability and economic growth.” This partnership aims to drive communities toward “regional planning” that leads to “sustained economic growth.”

The end goal of the initiative is to persuade regions to accept federal resources more effectively and efficiently to develop and implement economic strategies to “become more competitive, sustainable, and inclusive.” There will be strings attached to these federal resources. The operating words are “sustainable,” and “regional” or “regionalism,” buzzwords for UN Agenda 21.

[…]

What is wrong with regionalization? It is a step toward globalization. It is another layer of unaccountable, unelectable, and parasitic government. Municipalities are shaped into borderless groups that develop comprehensive plans in many areas but especially land use. These plans supersede local laws and often disregard property rights. The unelected layer of “regional” government will then ask each community to bring their laws and zoning in line with those of the “region.”

— Hat tip: JD

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney Undergoes Heart Transplant, A.P. Reports

Former Vice President Dick Cheney had a heart transplant Saturday and is recovering at a Virginia hospital, his office said.

An aide to Mr. Cheney, Kara Ahern, said that he had been waiting for a transplant for more than 20 months and did not know the identity of the heart donor.

Mr. Cheney was recovering Saturday night at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., after surgery earlier in the day.

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Google Plans to Spy on Background Noise in Your Phone Calls to Bombard You With Tailored Adverts

Adverts could soon be tailored according to the background noise around you when using your smartphone, if a patent application by Google becomes reality.

The search engine giant has filed for a patent called ‘Advertising based on environmental conditions’.

As that title implies, it’s not just background sounds that could be used to determine what adverts you seen on your mobile phone. The patent also describes using ‘temperature, humidity, light and air composition’ to produced targeted adverts.

— Hat tip: JD

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Grand Central’s Gigantic Snake Amazes Commuters

NEW YORK — A strange sight is accosting visitors at Grand Central Station here this week: a gigantic snake. A life-size model of the 60-million-year-old Titanoboa has taken stage at the train terminal, an advertisement for a new documentary on the Smithsonian Channel.

“That thing would swallow me whole,” Grand Central visitor Sarah Bouroque said when she saw the giant snake. “I’d have to run and hide if I saw that thing in real life.”

Remains of the ancient Titanoboa snake, which weighed in at a whopping 2,500 pounds (more than 1,100 kilograms) and a length of 48 feet (almost 15 meters), were first found near fossilized plants, giant turtles and crocodiles dating back to the Paleocene Epoch (about 60 million years ago). This was when the world’s first known rain forest emerged, and dinosaurs no longer ruled the Earth.

“It was an actual animal? A real animal? It’s huge, that’s impressive,” visitor Chris Wood said, eyeballing the giant reptile. “It’s pretty impressive — I don’t know what to make of it, really.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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National Popular Vote: Goodbye, Sweet America

Our Constitution is under constant attack.[1] One of the most pernicious attacks is being waged by those who seek to override the constitutional provisions under which The States, as political entities, elect the President; and to replace it with a national popular vote (NPV) under which inhabitants of major metropolitan areas will choose the President.

What Form of Government Did We Create In Our Constitution?

Before you can see why it is so important that The States elect the President, and why the NPV is so execrable, you must understand how our “federal” government was structured and intended to operate. “Federal” actually referred to the form of the national government created in our Constitution, and to the division of powers between the national government and The States.

[…]

How The National Popular Vote Will Work

Here is the nefarious 888-word interstate compact. It is written in the bureaucratic style favored by those who seek to confuse, confound and conceal. Their Explanation of National Popular Vote Bill expressly discloses, however, that

“Under the National Popular Vote bill, all of the state’s electoral votes would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

In other words, if the popular vote in Virginia is for James Madison, but the total national popular vote favors Adolf Hitler, then all of Virginia’s 13 Electoral Votes are given to Adolf Hitler.

Indeed, the winner of the national popular vote will end up with all the electoral votes for every State. Do you see? And do not think that the winner will fail to claim a “Mandate” for whatever he wants to do.

— Hat tip: JD

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Obama’s Secret War-Making for the U.N.

You may not have heard of PSD-10 because it has received no significant coverage from the major media. Yet, President Obama issued “Presidential Study Directive 10” last August 4, 2011, and posted it on the White House website. It amounts to a new and potentially far-reaching exercise of American military power cloaked in humanitarian language and conducted under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

Under this new “Obama doctrine,” U.S. troops can be deployed to arrest or even terminate individuals wanted by the International Criminal Court, which is based on a treaty that has not been ratified by the U.S. Senate and isn’t even up for Senate consideration.

This “Presidential Study Directive on Mass Atrocities,” another name for PSD-10, declares that “Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States.” This is at sharp variance with the traditional role of the U.S. military—self-defense and protection of the homeland. Toward this end, an “Interagency Atrocities Prevention Board” is being formed to develop and implement this new Obama doctrine. However, it is apparent that the doctrine is already going forward.

Members of the public haven’t heard of PSD-10, but they may have heard of a decision Obama made on October 14, 2011, when he informed Congress that he had authorized “a small number of combat equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield.”

Kony, a Ugandan warlord who runs the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), is better known than most foreigners, since he is the subject of the viral “Kony 2012” video about the more than 30,000 “invisible children” he has allegedly murdered or abducted. His whereabouts are unknown, although it is believed he is no longer in Uganda.

Despite the name of his group, Kony is not a Christian and instead receives backing from the Islamic regime in northern Sudan. Although he poses no direct threat to the United States and has not carried out terrorist attacks on the U.S. or killed any American citizens, the Department of Treasury has designated him as a “global terrorist” under Executive Order 13224, a measure signed into law by President Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

— Hat tip: JD

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Record-Breaking Laser Pulse Paves Way for Fusion

In terms of laser energy, it was the biggest bang yet. On 15 March, the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California fired a single laser pulse containing 1.875 million joules of energy, exceeding its design energy of 1.8 megajoules for the first time. “This is very exciting, like breaking the sound barrier,” says NIF director Edward Moses. Next on the agenda for the building-sized laser is firing a pulse that energetic at a target, thereby igniting nuclear fusion.

The milestone comes $4 billion and 15 years after construction began on the massive laser, which started operating in 2009. Since then Moses has gradually been turning up the power, so the new record is only a small step above NIF’s previous record of 1.6 MJ. Still, no other laser in the world comes close to such energies — the 192-beam NIF delivers dozens of times more energy than the 30-kilojoule pulses from the world’s next-largest operating laser, the 60-beam Omega laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester, New York.

NIF’s ultimate goal is to reach fusion’s “ignition threshold”, where fusion reactions generate more energy than the laser pulse contains. This will require delivering lots of energy in a very short time to heat and squeeze a tiny hydrogen target into such a hot, dense mass that the nuclei fuse, releasing energy.

The energy required is relatively modest — 1.8 megajoules is about the energy released by a half kilogram of high explosive. But NIF delivered that energy in only 23 billionths of a second, so that its power during that period reached 411 trillion watts, 1000 times more power than the US electric grid generates on average.

It has been a long, hard slog to achieve this goal. Livermore took its first shots at fusion targets in the 1960s with much smaller lasers, and NIF itself had a troubled birth in the 1990s. Though it has taken more time than expected to reach the energy required for igniting fusion, Livermore hopes to reach ignition by year’s end.

Meanwhile, the lab is already planning an even bigger laser called LIFE (Laser Inertial Fusion Energy).

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Senator Rand Paul Steps Up to Protect Property Owners

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has just introduced legislation designed to reign in out-of- control federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers. The bill, if enacted, will be a vital blow to the enforcement of radical environmental/Agenda 21- inspired regulations. The bill is called the Defense of Environment and Property Act of 2012 (S.2122).

A little history: in 1972, as the environmental movement was getting its start through popular efforts to stop pollution in our rivers and air, Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (later called the Clean Water Act). The law prohibited the discharge of pollutants into “navigable waters” without a federal permit. The problems began when the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers made a power grab by enforcing the act over ponds, occasional mud puddles, and even dry lands by labeling them as wet lands.

The result has been disastrous to property owners and businesses, sometimes even leading to jail sentences to “violators.”

The result of such outrageous interpretations of the Clean Water Act has led Senator Paul to introduce his bill to do the following:

[…]

The EPA, Army Corps and other agencies of the government have been using the intimidation of government power to enforce the policies of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development. These policies do not recognize private property rights and they have made a sham out of the rule of law and the court system, replacing it with rule by edict. Until now these outlaw agencies have terrorized American citizens without interference or control by their rightful masters — Congress.

— Hat tip: JD

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Sturm, Ruger Firearms Has Suspended All New Orders Due to High Demand

[Orginally from Zero Hedge, posted at Urban Grounds]

From the Sturm, Ruger news release:

“Despite the Company’s continuing successful efforts to increase production rates, the incoming order rate exceeds our capacity to rapidly fulfill these orders. Consequently, the Company has temporarily suspended the acceptance of new orders.”

I haven’t heard any similar information from the other leading firearm manufacturers, but will look into it after seeing this.

It was reported a few days ago that the Department of Homeland Security made a commitment to purchase 450 million rounds of .40S&W Hollow Point ammunition.

[…]

Looking back at the increased purchases of firearms and ammunition in the run-up to the ‘08 election and after, it would appear that with this administration and the current economic, social and political climate, there is about to be another run on these products.

In conjunction with what has transpired in the past four years, is it any surprise that there are a plethora of survival blogs and television programs?

My advice is this, if your money is invested in anything, move it to precious metals, such as brass, copper, lead and steel.

• In states in the Northeast, a stock of 25,000 rounds for an individual might be considered excessive — and maybe even someone to “keep an eye on.” Maybe local police ought to know.
• In the West, in a state like Oregon, that’s a fair amount of ammo.
• In other states, Utah comes to mind, it’s a good start.
• And in parts of Texas? “Shoot, Bubba, you’re almost out!”

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The Socialist Apprentice

Socialism: The sweet siren song of the shortcut promising us that we don’t have to work, that we don’t have to think, that we don’t have to plan… someone else will be doing those things for us

And that is how tyranny begins. When we forget that government isn’t magic, that it’s a tool we made and set to work. A tool that forgot its purpose and its masters. A tool that became too complex and unwieldy to fulfill the tasks we designed it for. We made government. It’s ours. And it is only as human as we make it.

Government stops being human when we forget that we made it and that only we can shut it off. But when we let it go, when we watch dazed while it spins out of control, and the buckets fly, and we accept the messes in the hope that eventually the room will somehow be clean, then we ourselves have let the monster loose. Power has shifted, and the users become the used.

— Hat tip: JD

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Tiger Woods Wins First PGA Tournament in More Than Two Years

Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, his first PGA Tour victory in more than two years.

Woods shot a final round 70 to finish at 13 under par at the Bay Hill course, where he had won six times before, Reuters reported. This was Woods’s 72nd PGA Tour title and his first since the BMW Championship in September 2009.

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Book Tells Muslim Men How to Beat and Control Their Wives

A local bookstore has “sold out” of a controversial marriage guide that advises Muslim men on how to beat their wives.

The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who’s described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning.”

— Hat tip: KGS

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Tar Sands Debate: Politicization Dirtier Than Crude?

by Daniel J. Graeber

Canada’s natural resources minister told delegates at the International Energy Forum in Kuwait that his country was on the cusp of becoming an “energy superpower.” Canada ranks No. 6 in terms of global oil production, but much of its crude exists in the form of oil sands. European leaders are considering a measure that would classify oil sands as an environmental issue, prompting Canada to threaten to take the issue to the World Trade Organization.. With the U.S. political system in a deadlock over Canadian crude, the Ottawa government is now working to convince the international community that the global market is in jeopardy if polices “discriminate against oil sands..”

Drill-happy critics of the Obama administration are painting the Keystone XL oil pipeline planned from Alberta as a panacea to U.S. economic woes. Because of debates over the planned route through Nebraska, however, the White House has pushed the issue aside for now. The pipeline company behind the project, TransCanada, has opted for a smaller leg in the United States while the Canadian government has thrown its support behind the Northern Gateway pipeline meant for Asian exports.

Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said his presence at the IEF summit in Kuwait proved his country was “an emerging energy superpower.” Canada has around 175 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, which means it’s the only non-OPEC member in the global top five, just behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

[…]

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1.5 Mln Greeks “Interested” In Return to Farming

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MARCH 21 — More than 1.5 million Greeks living in the major urban centres of Athens and Thessaloniki have expressed an “interest” in returning to the countryside and taking up farming as a way of making a living, Athens News Agency reports quoting deputy Agricultural Development and Foods Minister Yiannis Drivelegas as saying. In statements during the signature of the first contracts for the lease of public land in Central Macedonia for use by farmers and livestock breeders, he said this was discovered in a survey conducted that the ministry that is due to be presented in the next few days. Other officials noted that the process to lease state land for farming began 20 weeks ago and that every Thursday there would be new posts of land available for lease on the website of the agency in charge of payment, control and providing information on Community aid OPEKEPE. The same officials said they had already received 4,000 applications for leases and hoped to have leased up to 10,000 plots of agricultural land amounting to 10,000 hectares by the summer.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Berlusconi Buys Villa on Lake Como

30-room mansion belonged to ex-aide Dell’Utri

(ANSA) — Como, March 21 — Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has bought a villa on Lake Como that used to belong to his former business aide Senator Marcello Dell’Utri, Italian daily Il Giorno said Wednesday. After years of home-hunting, the billionaire tycoon settled on a historic mansion with 30 rooms, a tennis court and boat dock on the northern Italian lake famous for jet-set residents such as George Clooney. Dell’Utri, who acted as Berlusconi’s campaign manager in the 1994 election that first brought the media magnate to power, reportedly left the villa 10 years ago.

He recently received a seven-year jail sentence for allegedly helping the Mafia, but Italy’s highest court ruled he should have a retrial.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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British Conservative Party Fundraiser Resigns Amid Scandal

A British Conservative Party fundraiser resigned on Sunday after a report alleging he offered journalists posing as financiers access to Prime Minister David Cameron in return for donations of £250,000 (299,000 euros).

The party’s co-Treasurer Peter Cruddas stood down within a few hours of the Sunday Times report and video of him telling the bogus financiers the contributions would allow them to ask Cameron “practically any question you want. “

“I deeply regret any impression of impropriety arising from my bluster in that conversation,” Cruddas said in his resignation statement.

“Specifically, it was categorically not the case that I could offer, or that David Cameron would consider, any access as a result of a donation,” he added.

“But in order to make that clear beyond doubt, I have regrettably decided to resign with immediate effect.”

In resigning, Cruddas emphasized that he had not consulted any politicians or senior party officials before meeting the undercover journalists, and he denied that donors would have been able to influence policy or gain undue access to politicians.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Could Crude, Whisky and Wind Make Scotland Richer Than England?

As the Scottish referendum approaches, the debate on who wins control of the UK’s North Sea oil fields will be bitter, complex and potentially life-changing

“It’s Scotland’s oil” is one of the most highly charged slogans in Scottish politics. First used by the Scottish National Party in 1974, the notion that Scotland “owns” up to 90% of the North Sea’s reserves remains one of the strongest sources of grievance for nationalists.

And in the next two years, as Alex Salmond leads the country into a referendum on independence, it is likely to become one of the central arguments for nationalists: they believe it will help decide the fate of the UK.

Ever since it became clear that North Sea oil fields would generate immense riches, the SNP has insisted that that wealth has been squandered by successive governments at Westminster. They point out that Norway, a country with a similar population to Scotland at just under 5 million, has saved much of its oil income: surplus revenue is ploughed into the government pension fund, which is now Europe’s largest owner of shares and is worth about 3.3 trillion kroner (£360bn).

The SNP argues that if you extend a line east from where the Scotland-England border hits the coast north of Berwick, the division of the seabed would give Scotland control over nearly all North Sea oil and gas fields.

The Scottish government, which is drawing up a detailed case to support that 90% claim as its civil servants prepare for the referendum, asserts the North Sea will generate about £54bn in revenues over the next five years, while its “asset base” is valued at roughly £1tn, including remaining reserves.

Salmond claims that, combined with Scotland’s significant offshore wind and marine energy resources, and other industries such as whisky, this would make Scotland the OECD’s sixth wealthiest nation, leaving the rest of the UK trailing in 15th place.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Fiat Reiterates Commitment to Italy

CEO Marchionne says meeting with Premier Monti was ‘perfect’

(ANSA) — Rome, March 16 — Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne on Friday reiterated the automaker’s intention to carry out its ambitious investment program in Italy at a meeting with Premier Mario Monti on Friday.

But Marchionne is said also to have told Monti that it was imperative that the firm is able to produce cars at competitive costs, which requires greater labor flexibility.

The meeting between Monti and Marchionne, also attended by Fiat Chairman John Elkann, was arranged following concerns voiced by unions that Fiat was focusing more on its alliance with US automaker Chrysler, in which it holds a 58.5% stake, and was not actively applying its 20-billion-euro investment plan in Italy.

Coming out of his meeting with Monti, Marchionne said their talks had been “perfect”.

Unions and some political figures have also been concerned about the mixed signals the CEO has sent about the possibility of shutting down two of Fiat’s five plants in Italy.

Last month Marchionne said Fiat may be forced to shut two of its five plants in Italy if it cannot use them to produce cars to export to the American market at a competitive cost and that this meant ensuring that these plants can be utilized “in full and flexible capacity”.

“Our intentions are to embark on an industrial policy which opens opportunities for our plants in Italy, if they can achieve a level of productivity that will allow us to compete on an international level, to export to other countries. Fiat is ready to offer Italy the enormous opportunities being created in America, but we can only do this under conditions that are extremely clear ,” he added Marchionne later added that Fiat was “maintaining its commitments” in Italy and at its Mirafiori plant in Turin “we are working at lightning speed (to revamp the plant) and this is why we have announced we will also be producing Jeep vehicles there starting next year”.

Speaking this month on the sidelines of the Geneva automobile show, Marchionne reiterated there was “no threat to the plants in Italy. We have already begun to invest in Pomigliano and for Mirafiori we have confirmed the timetable for its restructuring and production there will resume in 2013. As for our other plants, they are involved in other products on which we have nothing to say. Thus there is no threat and we are moving ahead with our business plan” Labor flexibility was also at the center of an address he recently made to the European Automaker Association ACEA, of which he is chairman.

‘If I could do just one thing, most likely it would be to create a flexible labor system capable of managing supply and demand, he said.

“I am convinced that the conditions exist to create positive flexibility. What we need to do is break with mentalities of the past. “If we continue to insist that what we had and built in the past is essential for the future, when in reality it has become an obstacle to a nation’s industrial growth, then it is clear that we are not going to go far”.

Observers believe Marchionne may be ‘playing hardball’ to get unions to agree to greater labor flexibility.

Marchionne and Elkann arrived at their meeting with the premier abroad a new Fiat Panda, the automaker’s best-selling city hatchback car the production of which Fiat recently moved from Poland to its plant in Pomigliano d’Arco, near Naples.

Friday’s meeting came on the day that Fiat was forced to shut down three of its five plants in Italy due to a truckers’ strike that has blocked the arrival of materials and parts, as well as the delivery of finished cars to dealerships.

A statement from Fiat said the strike was “de facto paralyzing automotive logistics, especially in central-southern Italy” and added that the labor action had already resulted in delaying production by some 20,000 vehicles and that it would be “very difficult to recover this during the year”. Friday’s closures involved Fiat’s Pomigliano, Cassino and Sevel plants, while the Mirafiori and Melfi factories were already closed in order to allow them to be revamped to produce new models. Fiat has blamed previous strikes for its drop in sales and market share in Europe last month and said a further 10% drop was expected for March.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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France: Sarkozy Denies Helping Depardieu in His Business

(AGI) Paris — Almost a month before the April 22nd presidential elections Nicolas Sarkozy has denied helping Gerard Depardieu.

Sarkozy stated that he has never intervened to apply pressure or help Gerard Depardieu in his private business. In recent days it was the well informed satirical weekly “Le Canard Enchaine’ “ which reported the boasts of the French actor.

During a lunch Depardieu launched into raving praise for the president, declaring that he would certainly vote for him because he had helped him when he had “a problem with one of his businesses abroad.” .

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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France 2012: ‘Tax Exile’: Noah Lawsuit Against Le Pen

(AGI) Paris- Former French tennis player Yannick Noah has announced a lawsuit against Marine Le Pen, who called him a “tax exile”. The controversy stems from a televised speech by the Front National presidential candidate on 9 March pointing to the 52 year-old former sportsman and singer of Cameroonian origin as a negative example due to his dispute with the French tax authorities.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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France: Jews and Muslims Must Show Unity Against Jihadists

by Ed Husain

“God forbid that the recent killer of Jewish children and a rabbi in France be a Muslim or of Arab descent,” I tweeted a day before the French authorities named Mohamed Merah as the prime suspect in last week’s terrorist atrocity. People on Twitter responded to me saying: “He also killed Muslims”. And yes, he did — but it does not take away from the severity of the killer’s antisemitism that led to him target Ozar Hatorah school and killing Rabbi Jonathan Sandler and the blessed children he was trying to protect. What was their crime? Miriam Monsonego, aged 7, was killed in cold blood as the murderer grabbed her by her hair to shoot her in the head. She was the headmaster’s daughter. Rabbi Sandler’s two sons, Gabriel and Arieh, aged four and five, were killed too.

I remember their names because I am a father of two young daughters, aged two and four — I can imagine no greater torment in life than to lose our children, and worse, to have them killed before our eyes. My sympathies and prayers are with the parents and Jewish communities globally who continue to suffer at the hands of butchers who take antisemitism to its logical conclusion. The self-proclaimed al-Qaeda jihadist who committed these heinous acts did not only hate Jews. He and his ilk equally abhor their fellow Muslims who are integrated, pluralist, and do not harbour Jew-hatred. Merah slaughtered Jewish children, but before that he also killed proud French Muslims who served in their nation’s armed forces: Sergeant Imad Ibn Ziaten, Corporal Abed Chennouf, Private Mohamed Legouad.

The cancer that is takfiri thinking — the jihadist declaration that people like me or other normal Muslims are not Muslims because we do not share their extremism — underpins this terrorist violence. It is a fact that al-Qaeda has killed more Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere than it has non-Muslims. To the violent Salafist jihadi, the majority of Muslims are misguided, deviant and a barrier to creating their dream of a global caliphate. In these testing times, it is vital that Jews and Muslims demonstrate togetherness against the common enemy. Mahmoud Abbas, for all his faults, was swift to demand that terrorists stop using the Palestinian cause to justify their evil. French-Muslim leaders have rallied around Jewish communities. What starts as refusing to honour the dead at Holocaust Memorial Day, leads to dehumanising Jewish and other deaths, and then to producing men like Mohamed Merah who in cold blood kill children and other innocents.

Ed Husain is author of ‘The Islamist’ and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

[JP note: Fat chance, and empty rhetoric from a softly-softly jihadist won’t butter any parsnips.]

— Hat tip: JP

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France: Laying the Groundwork for the Toulouse Massacre

by Melanie Phillips

When the Toulouse school massacre happened, the media rushed to say that the perpetrator was a white far-right racist. The lone gunman had mown down at close range a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school, wounding several others. He was thought to be the same killer who a few days earlier had murdered three black French paratroopers in two separate attacks. A killer who targeted Jews and blacks — must be a far-right white racist, right? Wrong. The suspect who the French police have now cornered turns out to be a jihadi Islamic terrorist with self-declared links to al Qaeda, who has made trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the past. Well, there’s a surprise.

Jews throughout the world are all potential targets for attack in a terrifying manifestation of global incitement to murder. Islamists regularly declare their intention to kill Jews wherever they can find them. Hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza at southern Israel over the past couple of weeks bear out daily the frenzied attempt to murder as many Jews as possible. In the Mumbai massacre in 2008, it turned out that the attack on the tiny ultra-orthodox Lubavitch centre was for the Islamic perpetrators of that atrocity the most important target. There have been repeated Islamic terrorist attempts on Jewish targets around the world. Oh — and Islamists have been murdering black people in Libya because they are black. Yet all this is ignored by the mainstream media. Desperate to sanitise Muslim genocidal terrorism and prove that racism and Jew-hatred is confined to white people and the ‘far right’, the media simply did not entertain the possibility that the perpetrator of the French killings might have been a Muslim. So a range of likely perpetrators was canvassed — but they were all variations on white racists.

And even when the perpetrator turned out to be an Islamic terrorist the media were still trying to spin it away, with Sky News stressing the deprivation of the killer and his family and interviewing a French female journalist living in London who claimed that this was ‘an attack against diversity’. As blogger Edgar Davidson observed here:

‘She said that it was all down to the racist climate in France which had been made worse by Nikolas Sarkozy in the last five years and she picked out, as an example of racist lack of tolerance, the burka ban he had introduced.’

Not only are the media and ‘progressive’ commentators in the west desperate to sanitise Islamic terrorism and genocidal incitement; they also join in. The Toulouse jihadist said he was ‘seeking revenge for Palestinian children and French military postings overseas.’ But no Palestinian children have ever been targeted by Israel for murder. Quite the reverse: Israel regularly puts its own soldiers in harm’s way in order to any minimise civilian casualties in military operations against Palestinian terrorists and their infrastructure which it undertakes solely to protect its own people from further murderous Palestinian attacks. Any Palestinian child casualties in such operations occur solely as a tragic and inadvertent by-product of war — and as often as not because the Palestinians have put their own children in harm’s way.

Yet this deranged belief that the Israelis deliberately kill Palestinian children is not only pumped out daily by the Arab and Muslim world inciting their people to hate Jews and to murder them as a holy act; not only do western progressives ignore this incitement and pretend instead that Islamic terrorism arises from legitimate ‘grievances’; these same western progressives themselves pump out precisely the same lies and incitement — and then suggest that the deliberate murder of Jewish innocents is the moral equivalent of attempts by Israel to prevent the slaughter of yet more innocents. Thus the EU foreign affairs chief, the British Baroness Ashton, seemed to equate the murder of the French Jews in Toulouse with the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza in Israeli military operations there. Although the EU now claims she was misunderstood and that she was merely referring to all violence against children, that does not let her off the hook — indeed, by underscoring the fundamental amorality of the remark, it not only attaches Lady Ashton to that hook yet more firmly but also now attaches the EU itself. And now Hamas itself, no less, has sprung to her defence:

‘“Ashton’s declarations are worthy of appreciation and support due to Israel’s attempts to pressure her,” said a senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, on his Facebook page.’

As a fine article in The Commentator points out:

‘No-one will ever know whether the tragedy in Toulouse would not have taken place if the atmosphere were different. But we can say that history teaches that mass demonisation can all too easily lead to the dehumanisation of the group or people or nation that is being demonised. From there it is only one single step to the belief that murder itself can be justified.’

The terrorist who carried out the French killings may now have been caught. But those in the west who provide an echo chamber for the diabolical discourse that incubates genocide have yet to be brought to account.

— Hat tip: JP

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France’s Muslims Fear Backlash After Terrorist Shootings

The recent murder of seven people including three children in Toulouse by self-proclaimed jihadist Mohamed Merah outraged France and has left the country’s six million Muslims fearing a hostile reaction. By FRANCE 24 (text) After Toulouse terrorist Mohamed Merah was shot dead by a police marksman, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quick to call on the French not to “give in to vengeance”.

“Our Muslim counterparts have nothing to do with the crazy motivations of a terrorist,” Sarkozy said on Thursday.

But despite the president’s call for calm in the wake of Mohamed Merah’s violent killing spree Muslim communities in France are living in fear of a backlash.

Leading Muslim clerics across the country have been swift in condemning the actions of 23 year-old Merah, and distance the beliefs of the self proclaimed Jihad inspired terrorist from the majority of those who follow the faith.

‘Do not confuse Merah with Islam’

“We do not want there to be any confusion between the Muslim religion and what happened in Toulouse. That had nothing to do with Islam,” Dalil Boubakeur rector of Paris’ Grande Mosque told FRANCE 24 on Friday.

“We ask that the French community do not pass judgement on our religion based on these events,” Boubakeur added…

— Hat tip: Nick

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France: Dozens of Jewish Graves Desecrated

Over 30 Jewish graves vandalized in southern city of Nice. City’s chief rabbi: Incident may be connected to Toulouse shooting

Over 30 Jewish graves were vandalized in a cemetery in the city of Nice in southern France, media outlets reported Saturday, five days after three schoolchildren and a rabbi were murdered in front of a Jewish school in Toulouse.

According to reports, the vandals tore off 22 Stars of David that were affixed on candle lamps built into the tombstones. They also tried to tear out nine other Stars of David, but only managed to twist them. In addition, four candle lamps were missing.

— Hat tip: Steen

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France: Gunman’s Brother on ‘Preliminary Charges’

French prosecutors have filed preliminary murder and terrorism charges against the brother of a gunman who killed Jewish schoolchildren and paratroopers.

An official from the prosecutor’s office confirmed the charges of suspected complicity were handed to Abdelkader Merah, 29.

He has denied helping his 23-year-old sibling Mohammed, who was killed by police on Thursday, commit three deadly attacks that claimed the lives of seven people.

Preliminary charges under French law mean there is strong reason to suspect a crime was committed but allow magistrates more time to investigate.

Merah’s younger brother Mohamed, 23, was shot dead by police after claiming responsibility for killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers earlier this month.

His older brother and his partner, who has since been released, were arrested on Wednesday after Mohammed Merah was shot at the end of a 30-hour siege at his flat in Toulouse.

A post-mortem examination showed he was hit by more than 20 bullets.

During the standoff, Mohammed admitted killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three soldiers in separate attacks.

The Paris public prosecutor’s office earlier said in a statement: “Police inquiries have produced grave and matching pointers that suggest his (Abdelkader’s) participation as accomplice in crimes relating to a terrorist enterprise is plausible.”

The inquiry will seek to establish whether Abdelkader, who state prosecutors say was already known to security services for helping to smuggle Jihadist militants into Iraq in 2007, should stand trial.

Abdelkader said during preliminary questioning he was proud of his sibling’s killing spree, a police source has said.

Police also found explosives in a car that he owned, according to the Paris prosecutor leading the case.

Zoulika Aziri, the mother of the siblings, was released on Friday.

— Hat tip: Nick

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France: Toulouse: 400 Extremists in Europe, EU Anti-Terrorism

“Single actors” like Merah difficult to monitor

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 23 — There are about 400 Islamic extremists trained by Al Qaeda in Europe, with most of them in Germany, France, Great Britain and Belgium, according to the EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles De Kerchove. He went on to say that the European monitoring system has a number of faults that make keeping an eye on the individuals most at risk difficult. The expert said that there is no European data archive for airline passengers, making it almost impossible for the secret services of different countries to know the exact number of people who have undertaken “dangerous” trips to countries at risk like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the problem that leads to such incidents like the one in Toulouse is that the “weakened” Al Qaeda is relying ever more on “single actors” often recruited online or in prisons, ever more difficult to individuate. De Kerchove said that EU countries should step up collaboration, and that the latter should not be restricted to “financial flow control”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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French Police Stop March in Memory of Toulouse Killer

(AGI) Toulouse — Police in France prevented a group of people from holding a demonstration in memory of the Toulouse killer.

This afternoon, some one hundred riot police officers intervened to disperse about thirty people who were trying to hold a demonstration in memory of Mohammed Merah, the man behind a series of shootings in Toulouse who was killed by the police two days ago after an over 32-hour siege. Most of the demonstrators were burqa-clad young women. Wearing the full-body burqa veil in public is illegal in France. . .

— Hat tip: Steen

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How to Tackle Terrorism in the 21st Century?

It could not be further removed from the streets of Toulouse.

It was on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that Mohamed Merah trained in terrorism.

As a leading expert told euronews, he is not the only one to have made the trip from Europe.

EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove estimates several hundred youths from the bloc have been to Afghan-Pakistani tribal zones.

For Western counter-terrorism agencies there is another more insidious threat — online propaganda glorifying hatred and extremism.

“The Internet is an incubator of radicalisation,” de Kerchove said. “What is common to terrorists is dehumanising their victims, so they no longer feel the consequences of their actions. Giving them back a voice and returning victims to the forefront, showing the abominable consequences of terrorist actions, in a way, helps remove the ‘glamour’ from the terrorist act and in that way it is concrete counter-narrative policies that need to be developed.”

France is now reinforcing the fight against extremist indoctrination, online or otherwise, more aware than ever of the danger it presents.

Toulouse: psychological harm

In measuring the psychological impact of traumatic experiences, proximity to an event, or to people who suffered, is a major factor.

The murders of four people at a school in Toulouse, and three at a barracks, are therefore expected to affect those in the immediate vicinity the most.

But not only.

euronews spoke with psychologist Helene Romano about possible wider repercussions.

Giovanni Magi euronews asked: “What psychological consequences could this have for everyone? First the terrorist acts, children being murdered, then relief, that the person responsible was identified, then the long negotiations…”

Hélène Romano said: “The very strong impact is due to several things: it happened at a school, children were killed. Then there’s the face of the killer — I’ll use a generalist word here — he looked ‘normal’, where we’d want him to look like a monster. This can be very destabilising, very wounding, because it’s not reassuring at all. So the impact can be one of insecurity for the individual. This is why the reactions of the grownups are so important to make the children feel safe again.”

euronews: “From the point of view of communities, in this case the Jewish and Muslim communities, what psychological interplay is involved in these cases?”…

— Hat tip: TV

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Interest in ‘Halal’ Finance Growing in Italy

Milan conference, Deloitte viewing products respecting Sharia

(ANSAmed) — MILAN, MARCH 19 — Islamic finance has existed in Europe for more than forty years, with the United Kingdom one of the world’s leading countries in the field, and others, such as Malta and Luxembourg, also at the forefront. In Italy, where the sector is more or less non-existent, results of the first experiments are now beginning to be seen.

In 2009, for instance, Deloitte set up a sector dedicated to Islamic finance. “At the moment, we are developing products compatible with Italian regulations,” says Alberto Liotta, a director at the consultancy firm, a guest at a conference organised by Islamic Relief Italia. “Attention is mainly focussed on conventional financing instruments, such as leasing, the concept of which can be brought closer to those of Islamic finance”.

“In the West, there is strong financing demand based on religious principles as a result of the growth of the Muslim middle-class, due to interest in “halal” products by ethical finance and because there is a serious amount of money to be made,” says Alberto Brugnoni, a director at Assaif, another consultancy firm. “Major investment funds are also focussing on this not so much for interests as to diversify their portfolio”.

Yet although the issue has been discussed for a few years now, the time appears not yet right for the birth of a retail Islamic bank in Italy following the model of the Islamic Bank of Britain. “In truth, it would be possible to create it in Italy because the regulations here are harmonised with the rest of Europe,” says Valentino Cattelan, a sector expert and professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata University. “From an investor’s point of view, the problem is that it would not yet be very profitable business because of tax problems and because there is not yet a market considered to be useful”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italian Values Shifting From Autonomy to Fraternity

Individualism in ‘crisis’ says thinktank Censis

(ANSA) — Rome, March 13 — The same Italian individualistic drive that helped spur growth and development in the country during the 1970s is now in crisis, said a report released on Tuesday by social and economic thinktank Censis.

Italians are looking for relationships and partnerships, said the report ‘Italians and their Values’, presented Tuesday in the presence of ex-premier Giuliano Amato, Censis Director General Giuseppe De Rita and Cabinet Undersecretary Paolo Peluffo, for the 150th anniversary year of Italian Unification. According to the report, Italy and Italians seem to be driven less by autonomy and more by the desire for “relationships and responsibility”. Figures regarding social values polled by Censis revealed that 65% of Italians have a strong sense of family, 25% are seeking a higher quality of life, 21% embrace religious tradition and 20% share their love of beauty with their fellow nationals. The data contrast a 2010 Censis report pointing to “individualistic pulsations in which the only thing that counts is the private sphere”. The shift in values should be “nurtured and strengthened” to continue its positive effect on development trends, said the report.

Traditionally, Censis combines economic analysis with detailed social analysis to evaluate the economic and social environments in their entirety, seeing them as closely interrelated.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Priest Fined for Ringing Church Bells Too Loudly

‘I’m contesting the ticket’

(ANSA) — Venice, March 21 — A Venice parish priest was cited Wednesday for disturbing the peace by ringing the church bells too loudly. According to local environmental authority Arpav, Father Rinaldo Gusso from San Pietro Orseolo church in Mestre is guilty of noise pollution over the past four years. The case could set a precedent. In 1997 the government passed a law setting the maximum number of decibels that many belfries regularly surpass in Italy. Saverio Centenaro, Venice city council vice president, has asked Mayor Giorgio Orsoni to amend the law to grant special privileges to churches. “I’m following the law carefully, and then I’ll decide what to do,” said the priest. “In any event I’m contesting the fine”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Man Who Gave ‘Gomorrah’ Clan Ferraris Arrested

Businessman also provided safe houses, police say

(ANSA) — Caserta, March 21 — A businessman who laid on Ferraris and Maseratis for the mobsters described in Roberto Saviano’s Neapolitan mafia expose’ Gomorrah was arrested for the fourth time Wednesday.

Paolo Diana is also accused of providing safe houses for the clan whose death threats have forced Saviano into round-the-clock protection, the Casalesis.

Police seized 25 million euros in assets from Diana.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Justice Minister Says Ex-Prison Islands ‘Could be Reopened’

Idea may go ahead ‘if we can meet costs’ says Severino

(ANSA) — Rome, March 20 — Two of Italy’s former prison islands, Asinara off Sardinia and Pianosa off Tuscany, could be used again to ensure maximum-security regimes for mafiosi and to ease overcrowding in Italy’s jails, Justice Minister Paola Severino said Tuesday.

Severino said the costs might be “high” but “if we were able to meet those costs we might think of reopening them”.

Some politicians welcomed Severino’s idea but local officials, especially in Sardinia, were critical.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Anti-Semite Site Publishes List of 163 Italian Professors

(AGI) Rome — A real “proscription”. A list of 163 Italian university professors “guilty” of belonging or being close to the Israeli intelligence. The NeoNazi website HolyWar published it, defining the professors “Sayanim”, namely “people glad to serve Israel, despite living in another state”. A page drenched with anti-Semitism, in which the authors of the article explain that “the Sayanims of our universities collaborate with the Israeli intelligence, whose fulcrum is the largest Israeli university, where data is collected. That’s why these people are to be considered extremely dangerous”. A list of 163 Italian university professors follows. “Obviously — the anti-Semite website admits — we are not absolutely sure that every single one of these people is a Sayanim, but we have reasons to suspect they are, seen as they have actively cooperated with the lobby that has subdued us”. The website also published a long list of journalists, writers, MPs accused of “wanting to gag the Internet” and another threatening list of names of people claimed to be “activists of the Italian Jewish communities, one of the Zionist organisations”.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy: Sixteen Tax Judges Arrested in Campania

Financial police arrest eight tax tribunal officers in Camorra swoop

MILAN — At least sixteen tax magistrates, eight tax tribunal officer, a prominent lawyer who also teaches at university, and an accountant are among those arrested in the Naples area in the course of an operation against Camorra gangs. Magistrates have ordered three of the sixteen judges to be remanded in custody while the other thirteen have been placed under house arrest. In the course of inquiries, investigators are believed to have identified dozens of corruption-tainted tax disputes that led to sentences in favour of the often Camorra-implicated appellants, to the detriment of the public purse.

ARRESTS — A total of sixty pre-trial supervision measures were issued following requests by the Naples anti-Mafia directorate. Twenty-two are for preventive custody, twenty-five are for house arrest and thirteen are bans on residing in Naples. Magistrates, tax officials and clerks — all of whom worked at the Naples provincial tax tribunal or the Campania regional tribunal — subject to house arrest are joined by a member of the taxpayer ombudsman’s office. An official at the Naples tax agency has been banned from residing in Naples…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy: Government Signs Off Labour Reform

Minister Fornero says no going back, the only way is forward. Confident that magistrates will provide safeguards. Bishops warn that workers are not goods

ROME — “We are changing the rules on economically motivated redundancies”. At four in the afternoon, a note from Raffaele Bonanni rekindled enthusiasm among supporters of Workers’ Statute Article 18. Their hopes were swiftly dashed, however, turning the clock of negotiations back by twenty-four hours. There has been no change of heart over the crucial issue of labour reform. Mario Monti and Elsa Fornero are pressing ahead and are now looking to extend the reform to public-sector employees. Union leaders left the negotiating table without a written text because the reform will be approved today by the Council of Ministers: “unless otherwise agreed”, which indicates that the government is allowing itself a few more days for the final draft, even if it means sending the text to the president of Italy when the prime minister is already on his way to the Far East.

Yesterday morning, Mr Monti had some face time with CISL trade union leader Bonanni, and then visited the president’s Quirinale Palace with employment minister Fornero and junior minister Antonio Catricalà, before meeting the social partners at 5 pm. The CGIL would later complain that he stayed for only a few minutes, making it abundantly clear that Article 18 was not up for discussion.

Any hopes of a U-turn over redundancies on economic grounds were dashed — the government “has not changed its mind” — while the prime minister strove to calm troubled waters, brushing aside “abuse” on the most painful issue: “We have perceived widespread concern over Article 18 and I would like to reassure everyone. I pledge that, with a minimum of care over drafting, there will be no risk of economically motivated redundancies being abused with discriminatory intentions”. The statement leaves the door open for a clause, along the lines proposed by Mr Bonanni, which would allow magistrates to quash dismissal in cases where the employer cites economic issues. “The CISL also wants to modify the regulation and construct a credible labour reform”, Mr Bonanni said before the meeting, declaring himself “in full agreement” with the Democratic Party (PD) economics spokesman Stefano Fassina, a sworn enemy of the “Fornero treatment”…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Just a Regular French Youth

by Srdja Trifkovic

As soon as I heard the news I suspected the score. “Far-Right extremists!” screamed the media pack, but my hunch was right: the murderer of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school near Toulouse, and of three French soldiers only days earlier, was not French. He was a French citizen of Algerian descent, as we now know, but his allegiance and his identity had nothing to do with passports and ID cards.

Mohammed Merah (23), who was killed at his apartment on Thursday after a 30-hour standoff, was a Muslim—one of at least twenty million who now inhabit the European Union. The “context” was duly provided by The New York Times: “Much of the concern about domestic terrorism in Britain, Belgium, Germany and France has focused on these young people, who may have had little formal religious education but are susceptible to calls for jihad, especially when their own lives have been marked by disappointment, crime, racism and joblessness.”

The suggested narrative about this “soft-spoken and alienated youth” is clear:…

— Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic

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Multinational Military Medical Unit to be Led by Italy

Strategic initiative pools EU member states’ capabilities

(ANSA) — Brussels, March 22 — Thirteen European countries signed a declaration Thursday to create a multinational military unit led by Italy to provide medical support to multinational operations. The project is part of a strategic initiative to pool and share more military capabilities among EU member states.

Claude-France Arnould, the European Defence Agency head, announced the cooperation on Thursday as part of a broader plan to cope with defense-budget cuts imposed by the financial crisis.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spanish Police Arrest ‘Bar Code Pimps’ Gang

Spanish police arrested 22 suspected pimps who allegedly used violence to force women into prostitution and tattooed them with bar codes as a sign of ownership, officials said Saturday.

Police are calling the gang the “bar code pimps.” Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money — (EURO)2,000 ($2,650) — which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before releasing her.

The woman had also been whipped, chained to a radiator and had her hair and eyebrows shaved off, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

All those arrested were of Romanian nationality and had forced the women to hand over part of their earnings, the statement said.

The women were tattooed on their wrists if they tried to escape, the statement said. Police also seized guns and ammunition. It was not immediately clear when the raids took place.

Police seized (EURO)140,000 ($185,388) in cash, which had been hidden in a false ceiling, a large amount of gold jewelry and five vehicles, three of which were described as luxury cars.

The gang was made up of two separate groups, referred to as “clans” in the statement, each dedicated to controlling prostitution along fixed stretches of a street in downtown Madrid.

One of the alleged ringleaders who was identified only by the initials “I.T.” is wanted by authorities in Romania for crimes linked to prostitution, the statement said.

The women were controlled at all times to ensure “money was taken off them immediately,” the statement said.

Sex is a multibillion-dollar industry in Spain, with colorfully lit brothels staffed mainly by poor immigrant women from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe lining highways throughout the country.

Prostitution falls in legal limbo: it is not regulated, although pimping is a crime. The northeastern city of Barcelona plans to introduce regional legislation in coming weeks banning prostitution on urban streets.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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The Last Testament of a Psychopath: Toulouse Gunman Found ‘Infinite Pleasure’ In Murdering His Victims

Police recordings of the Toulouse gunman while he was under siege suggest he was a psychopath who took ‘infinite pleasure’ in killing his victims.

Islamic extremist Mohammed Merah, 23, murdered seven people including a Rabbi, three children and three soldiers in three seperate scooter-bourne attacks before being shot dead at the end of 32-hour police siege.

But during the stand-off following the murders, Merah showed no remorse — and even claimed his only regret was arriving too late to kill more Jews outside the Lycee Ozar Hatorah school.

In police recordings of Merah, leaked to a French newspaper, he boasted that the killings gave him ‘infinite pleasure’.

The Independent reported that Merah said he had no interest in being a suicide bomber and just wanted to ‘see’ his victims, ‘touch them’ and ‘film them.

He told police negotiators he wanted to ‘have the honour of dying with a gun in my hand like a mujaheddin’.

The French newspaper Journal du Dimanche quoted a police source as saying: ‘He wanted to give himself a star role.

‘He had a narcissistic need to seem important.’

The French-Algerian, a known fundamentalist, had been on a French security service ‘watch list’ since 2008, was on the U.S. no-fly list, and had attended an al-Qaeda training camp.

After the first the series of attacks he was placed on a list of possible suspects but little was done to trace him until the Jewish school massacre when he shot a teacher and his two sons, aged four and five, as well as a seven-year-old girl.

Following the murders he resisted arrest for 32 hours while under siege at his council flat but was killed by gun wounds in a blazing shoot out with police last Thursday.

Merah, who filmed himself carrying out the executions of four Jewish people and three French soldiers, had fought in Afghanistan and was a self-styled Jihadist.

He said he wanted to kill Jewish children in revenge for the lives of Palestinian youngsters who had died at the hands of the Israeli army.

— Hat tip: Nick

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The Stasi Watched My Every Move: Dancing on Ice Star Katarina Witt Reveals East German Secret Police Spied on Her Since the Age of Eight

Katarina was originally accused by anti-government activists of being an informant to police. She then discovered a 3,000 pages which documented her every move, including a suspected sexual encounter. Her first boyfriend was deliberately stationed thousands of miles away because authorities worried the relationship would affect her performances

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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The World is Turning Conservative, So Liberals Are Eating Their Words

by Damian Thompson

Liberals of various descriptions make so much noise in British public life that it’s easy to overlook the fact that liberalism has run into deep trouble on the world stage. For an illustration, consider a joint interview given this week by Tony Blair and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Mrs Sirleaf is asked about the fact that homosexuality is illegal in her country. She replies: “We like ourselves just the way we are.” Pressed on the point, she confirms that she will not sign any legislation decriminalising “sodomy”. Mr Blair is a champion of gay rights, so you’d expect him to take issue with this statement. Not a bit of it. “The President’s given her position, and this is not one for me,” he says.

Here’s another interesting vignette, again involving a Labour politician, but this time on his home turf. This week Ken Livingstone was accused by Jewish Labour supporters of telling them at a private meeting that since Jews tended to be rich he wasn’t expecting them to vote for him. In a letter published in the Jewish Chronicle, they also accused Livingstone of using the word “Jewish” in a pejorative manner. And this just weeks after he described the Tories as “riddled with homosexuality”. The Ken of the 1980s was painful to listen to, but I don’t remember him dog-whistling like that. In those days he was an ultra-liberal politician, the whining incarnation of rainbow ideology. What has happened? Call me a cynic, but one possible explanation is that, 30 years ago, Livingstone wasn’t chasing a Muslim bloc vote influenced by raging anti-Zionists and homophobes.

A mixture of demographic crisis and the loss of economic power is turning into a disaster for Western liberalism. Left-wing politicians are adjusting their principles rather than offend the world’s conservative non-white majority. Right-wing politicians and multinational corporations are no better: they turn a blind eye when confronted by the brutal ethnic nationalism of East Asia. Not only do the Han Chinese subjugate their own minorities, but they also treat their African employees like children. Time to call in the Western race-relations police? I think not. Because if there’s one thing Chinese and Africans have in common, it’s contempt for degenerate Western values. In the words of Mrs Sirleaf, “We’ve got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve.” Which, as it happens, is precisely Beijing’s view.

For international liberals, the 21st century has been a sequence of distressing setbacks. Europe has absorbed the unprecedented immigration of deeply conservative Muslims. The new regimes of the Arab Spring are planning even more effective suppression of women’s rights. Russia is run by the corrupt and illiberal remnants of the KGB. And, as I’ve said, neither the exploiters nor the exploited in the Sino-African empire give a damn about the progressive agenda of the BBC or the Guardian. To be sure, there will be gay weddings in Britain and other European countries, but the idea that they can be marketed to other cultures is fantasy. Most of the developing world isn’t interested in Enlightenment-inspired human rights, which it regards as cultural imperialism. If liberals want to preach against Zionism, that’s fine; foreign aid is welcome, too. But when it comes to sensitive questions of faith and culture, the only message non-Western leaders want to hear is the one offered by brave Mr Blair: “This is not one for me.”

[JP note: And it’s good night from him.]

— Hat tip: JP

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U.S. State Department Actively Promoting Islam in Europe

by Soeren Kern

The French government — which has been trying to reverse the pernicious effects of decades of state-sponsored multiculturalism — expressed dismay at what it called “meddling.”

The United States ambassador to Spain recently met with a group of Muslim immigrants in one of the most Islamized neighborhoods of Barcelona to apologize for American foreign policymaking in the Middle East.

U.S. Ambassador Alan Solomont told Muslims assembled at the town hall-like meeting in the heart of Barcelona’s old city that the United States is not an “enemy of Islam” and that U.S. President Barack Obama wants to improve America’s image in the Middle East as quickly as possible by closing the “dark chapters” of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.

“There are things that the United States has done badly,” Solomont said at the February 28 gathering organized by a non-profit organization called the Cultural, Educational and Social Association of Pakistani Women. “But now the Obama government wants to improve relations with Muslims,” he promised.

During the one-and-a-half-hour question-and-answer session, Solomont asked those in attendance simple rhetorical questions, including: “Did you know that the United States sends a lot of money to Pakistan?” and “Did you know that the decision to destroy Osama bin Laden’s house was made by the United States?”

After responding to queries about the “Talibanization of Pakistan due the war in Afghanistan” and the “demonization of Islam in the West,” Solomont said Obama wants to end the long-time American practice of establishing alliances with dictators in the Middle East, a strategy which he said has failed to prevent the rise of “the bearded ones” [radical Islamists], this according to the Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia, which also interviewed Solomont on the sidelines of the event.

The Barcelona meeting, which was held in a Muslim ghetto called Raval (a.k.a. Ravalistan because Muslim immigrants now make up 45% of the barrio’s total population), is an example of the Obama administration’s so-called Muslim Outreach.

The U.S. State Department — working through American embassies and consulates in Europe — has been stepping-up its efforts to establish direct contacts with largely unassimilated Muslim immigrant communities in towns and cities across Europe.

Proponents of Obama’s approach to public diplomacy — some elements of which originated with his immediate predecessor — say it is part of a “counter-radicalization” strategy which aims to prevent radical Muslims with European passports from carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States.

A key component of the strategy is to “empower” Muslims who can help build a “counter-narrative” to that of terrorists. In practice, however, Obama ideologues are crisscrossing Europe on U.S. taxpayer funded trips to “export” failed American approaches to multiculturalism, affirmative action, cultural diversity and special rights for minorities.

Further, American diplomats are repeatedly apologizing to Muslims in Europe for a multitude of real or imagined slights against Islam, and the U.S. State Department is now spending millions of dollars each year actively promoting Islam — including Islamic Sharia law — on the continent.

In Ireland, for example, the U.S. Embassy in Dublin recently sponsored a seminar ostensibly designed to help Muslim immigrants increase their influence within the Irish business and financial communities.

The opening speech at the event was delivered by Imam Hussein Halawa of the Islamic Cultural Center of Ireland, despite the fact that leaked U.S. State Department cables show that the U.S. government has known for many years that Halawi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and serves as the right-hand man of the radical Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Halawa, an Egyptian immigrant who has dedicated his life to the cause of introducing Islamic Sharia law in Europe, told those in attendance that the main purpose of the conference was to bring the Irish banking system into conformity with Islamic legal principles. U.S. Ambassador Dan Rooney, a lifelong Republican turned Obama acolyte, said at the same conference that the United States was a “solid partner” behind Halawa’s venture.

In Austria, the U.S. Embassy in Vienna sponsored a film contest in February on the theme of “Diversity and Tolerance” aimed at teaching wayward Austrians that they should show respect for Muslim immigrants who refuse to integrate into their society.

Ambassador William Eacho, an Obama campaign fundraiser turned political appointee, awarded the first prize to a group of students in the northern Austrian town of Steyr who produced a one-minute silent film promoting tolerance for Muslim women who wear Islamic face-covering veils such as burkas in public spaces.

Obama and his team may think they know what is best for Europeans, but according to recent polls, more than 70% of Austrians are in favor of a law that would ban the burka.

In Belgium, U.S. Ambassador Howard Gutman, another Obama fundraiser turned diplomat, told lawyers attending a conference in Brussels in November 2011 that Israel is to blame for Muslim anti-Semitism in Europe.

[…]

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UK: Brave Woman Shopper Pounced on Pervert Taking Indecent Pictures of Children in Sainsbury’s… After Security Guards Refused to Help Her

A shopper who suspected a man had been taking indecent photographs of children in a supermarket pounced on him herself — because the store’s security staff refused to help.

Jane Gothard, 47, followed Mohamad Hatef out of the store and detained him while she waited for police to arrive at the scene — despite security guards refusing to get involved.

Her brave actions resulted in Mohamad Hatef being jailed for two years after police launched an investigation that revealed numerous offences against children.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Bullfinch Update: Six Men Charged Over Child Sex Ring Held in Prison

SIX men charged following an investigation into an alleged child sex ring have today been remanded in custody.

The six have appeared at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court accused of a number of offences and all asked District Judge Lynne Matthews to release them on bail.

However after prosecutor Clare Tucker opposed their requests they were remanded in custody until they appear at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday.

The six were arrested on Thursday as part of Operation Bullfinch, a police investigation into a gang alleged to have sexually exploited up to 24 girls from Oxford aged between 11 and 24.

The men are:

Thirty-one-year-old hospital porter Akhtar Dogar, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, who faces three charges of rape, one of conspiring to rape a child, three of arranging the prostitution of a child, one of making a threat to kill and one of trafficking.

His 30-year-old unemployed brother Anjum Dogar, who faces one charge of conspiring to rape a child, one of arranging prostitution of a child and trafficking.

Twenty-six-year-old security guard Kamar Jamil, of Aldwich Road, Oxford, who faces four charges of rape, two of arranging the prostitution of a child, one of making a threat to kill and one of possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Unemployed Zeshan Ahmed, also 26, of Palmer Road, Headington, who faces 10 charges of sexual activity with a child.

Security guard Bassan Karrar, 32, of no fixed address, who is accused of raping a girl.

And his brother Mohammed Karrar, who is 37 and lives in Cowley Road, Oxford, and is accused of two charges of conspiracy to rape a child and one of supplying a class A drug to a child. He is unemployed.

Seven other men also arrested on Thursday are now on police bail while detectives’ enquiries continue.

The six will appear for a preliminary hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court for the next stage of the proceedings.

— Hat tip: Salome

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UK: I’ve Backed Ken Livingstone for Mayor Before, But This Time I Just Can’t Do it

by Jonathan Freedland

I agree with Livingstone’s manifesto for London, but he shows too hard a heart to the capital’s Jewish community

Ken Livingstone got my support in 2000, 2004 and 2008. I backed him early on in his late 1990s campaign to become London’s first mayor, defying the control freaks of the New Labour machine. And I endorsed him last time round, not just here but also in the Jewish Chronicle — a column for which I took more flak than almost any other I’ve written.

His manifesto promises for 2012 are as appealing as ever. I like his plans to cut fares, slash energy bills and ease the capital’s housing shortage, all of which are superior to the policy black hole offered by Boris Johnson. I should be an automatic vote for Livingstone. But I’m not. I am among the one in three Labour supporters in London who, according to this week’s YouGov poll, cannot bring themselves to vote for the party’s candidate for mayor. I can no longer do what I and others did in 2008, putting to one side the statements, insults and gestures that had offended me, my fellow Jews and — one hopes — every Londoner who abhors prejudice. Back then I tried to shrug off Livingstone’s quip to property developers the Reuben brothers that they could “go back to Iran and see if they can do better under the ayatollahs”, even though telling immigrants to go back to where they came from is the language of a pub racist from the 1950s. (The Reubens are in fact an Iraqi-Jewish family and the brothers were born in India.)

Likewise, I accepted that when the mayor repeatedly likened a reporter to a concentration camp guard — even after he knew the reporter was both Jewish and offended — he was merely being irritable, his tongue loosened by a glass or two. I condemned his hugging embrace of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the scholar who supports female genital mutilation, the murder of homosexual people, and suicide bombing so long as the victims are Israeli civilians, deeming even the unborn child inside an Israeli mother’s womb a legitimate target, because that child will one day grow up to wear his country’s uniform. I condemned all that but allowed my concern to be trumped by my wider interest in London and my belief that Livingstone would be a better mayor than Johnson, who had himself, let’s not forget, casually referred to “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles” and who had, after 7/7, suggested that it was Islam, not merely violent Islamism, that was at fault. But that position is no longer sustainable. For in the years since his defeat, Livingstone has, if anything, got worse, stubbornly refusing even to recognise, let alone apologise, for the hurt he has caused — and then adding to the pain.

This week he made the news again, as a group of Jewish activists, all lifelong Labour supporters, wrote to Ed Miliband describing a closed-door meeting they had had with Livingstone that had left them “despondent”. The letter was leaked, with most attention focusing on its account of Livingstone’s suggestion that “as the Jewish community is rich, [it] simply wouldn’t vote for him”. As it happens, I was at that meeting and I can confirm that the former mayor did make precisely that argument, linking Jewish voting habits to economic status, even if he did not baldly utter the words “Jews are rich”, a phrase that would have been additionally offensive. I and others shot back that the US evidence — where an economically successful Jewish community has remained almost monolithically loyal to the Democrats — suggested he was wrong. We also reminded him of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community, among whom poverty rates are high.

He’s been in further trouble over his tax arrangements — which may well explain his sudden plunge in the polls. That has perhaps obscured the fact that he earned some of that money presenting shows on Press TV, the English-language broadcaster owned and controlled by the Iranian government. That put him in the pay of a theocratic dictatorship that denies the Holocaust and believes that both homosexuality and adultery merit stoning. He says it’s no different from writing a column for the Sun. His autobiography is similarly unrepentant and notable for its repeated interest in Jews, Israel and Zionism. I’m told that Miliband’s office saw an early draft which had plenty more on those subjects, including statements that had them raising their “eyebrows to the heavens” — and which they were mightily relieved to see did not make the final version.

The case against Ken Livingstone is not that he is some crude racist. It is rather that, when it comes to this one group of Londoners and their predicaments, their hopes and anxieties, he simply doesn’t care. Consistently warm to some communities — this week he went to Finsbury Park mosque, quoted Muhammad’s final sermon and expressed the hope that as mayor he would educate Londoners in the teachings of Islam — he doesn’t care what hurt he causes Jews. He shows Jews, says one Labour parliamentarian, a “hard heart”.

Labour brass don’t deny the problem, one conceding that Livingstone’s approach “looks like a sectional strategy”, pitting one community against another — and favouring the one with more votes — even if that is not its intention. Such an approach is doomed, if not dangerous in our diverse, plural capital. As that Labour source says, “You have to be a mayor for all of London, not bits of London”.

The meeting that night was packed with people who desperately wanted Livingstone to reassure them they could vote Labour. One explicitly said he sought no recantation of past remarks nor a change of position on Israel, just reassurance that “you won’t put us through another four years of this”. Even that Livingstone could not provide. Afterwards, one activist told me he felt as if he had grown up in two tribes, both intertwined in his DNA: one was the Jewish community, the other the Labour party. Yet now he was being forced to choose — because Livingstone had made it impossible to remain true to both. People will wrestle with their own dilemmas. Some will conclude that only Livingstone’s policy positions on transport or housing matter. I’m afraid I’ve reached a different conclusion. I don’t want to see Boris Johnson re-elected, but I can’t vote for Ken Livingstone.

[Reader comment by Brouillard on 23 March 2012 at 7:45pm with 979 recommends.]

Ken is an odious self regarding individual. He’s also a prejudiced bigot. Why anyone would be a fan of his is beyond me.

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Ken Livingstone Has Lost My Vote, Says Influential Guardian Columnist

by Andrew Gilligan

In his Guardian column tomorrow, Jonathan Freedland says the following:

Ken Livingstone got my support in 2000, 2004 and 2008. I backed him early on in his late 1990s campaign to become London’s first mayor, defying the control freaks of the New Labour machine…His manifesto promises for 2012 are as appealing as ever. I like his plans to cut fares, slash energy bills and ease the capital’s housing shortage, all of which are superior to the policy black hole offered by Boris Johnson. I should be an automatic vote for Livingstone. But I’m not. I am among the one in three Labour supporters in London who, according to this week’s YouGov poll, cannot bring themselves to vote for the party’s candidate for mayor. I can no longer do what I and others did in 2008, putting to one side the statements, insults and gestures that had offended me, my fellow Jews and — one hopes — every Londoner who abhors prejudice.

This is a significant moment for three reasons. First, Freedland was actually present at the disastrous March 1 “fence-mending” meeting between Livingstone and Jewish Labour supporters which culminated in several of them (though not him) sending the party leader, Ed Miliband, a private letter (leaked to the Jewish Chronicle) saying that Ken “does not accept Jews as an ethnicity and a people.” Livingstone has “absolutely” denied something else the letter-writers claimed, that he told them did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour “as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich we simply wouldn’t vote for him”.

Freedland bluntly contradicts Ken’s denial, writing:

I can confirm that the former mayor did make precisely that argument, linking Jewish voting habits to economic status, even if he did not baldly utter the words “Jews are rich.”

For the 950th time, Ken is exposed as a liar. Though Freedland deplores Livingstone’s many offensive outbursts against Jews, accuses Livingstone of having used “the language of a pub racist from the 1950s” when he told a pair of Jewish developers to “get back where you came from,” he adds:

The case against Ken Livingstone is not that he is some crude racist. It is rather that, when it comes to this one group of Londoners and their predicaments, their hopes and anxieties, he simply doesn’t care. Consistently warm to some communities — this week he went to Finsbury Park mosque, quoted Muhammad’s final sermon and expressed the hope that as mayor he would educate Londoners in the teachings of Islam — he doesn’t care what hurt he causes Jews. He shows Jews, says one Labour parliamentarian, a “hard heart”.

Secondly, Freedland essentially agrees with something I’ve been writing about this election — that personality trumps policy. Finally he cannot, of course, be accused of being an evil member of the Tory lie machine and may give those on the left permission not to vote for Ken. What he says today throws into even sharper relief Miliband’s decision to back Livingstone so wholeheartedly, including over the Jewish issue. It may be a subtle attack on Miliband, too, about whom Freedland has been sceptical — but maybe I’m reading too much into it.

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Mother Left Her 16-Month-Old Baby Home Alone While She Partied for Five Days and Nights

A mother is facing jail after leaving her baby home alone which she partied for five days and nights.

Neighbours of the 20-year-old woman heard the baby girl’s screams and alerted police officers who broke into her filthy house.

They found the 16-month-old starving in her cot, her nappy and clothes had not been changed for days and there was blood on a blanket.

The distressed youngster was so hungry she grabbed at food which she was offered by police officers and also gulped down water.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Olympic Terror Group Hunted

BRITISH security forces were last night hunting a group of Islamic terrorists intent on wreaking havoc during the Olympic Games.

Security sources have told the ­Sunday Express that 15 to 20 ­terror suspects entered Britain from France in the past week.

The warning, issued by the ­Renseignements Généraux, France’s equivalent to MI5, was given to British MI6 agents in ­Toulouse, south-west France, examining the home of extremist gunman Mohamed Merah, 23.

The security officers were searching for a UK link on the killer’s computers. According to sources French RG officials then revealed that up to 20 out of 50 known terror ­suspects had slipped out of France for ­Britain.

Last night MI5 were on a high-level alert after fears sleeper cells already based in the UK are poised to strike. Fears grew over individuals who have secured Leave to Remain status since coming to Britain at least five years ago from Iraq, Kurdistan, Afghanistan and North Africa. Most of the “cleanskins” are believed to be working for local authorities as cleaners, hospital porters or taxi ­drivers.

They obtain Certificates of Good Contact, a police check that establishes they have no criminal record in Britain, giving them the perfect cover until called upon.

One security source said yesterday: “We went through a period when hundreds were entering ­Britain every week through Heathrow and many were not challenged or detained…

— Hat tip: Vlad Tepes

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UK: Pensioner Was Left Helpless on the Floor for 10 Minutes While Her Nurse Prayed, Inquest Hears

Abdul Bhutto was in charge when Alzheimer’s sufferer Dorothy ­Griffiths, 87, toppled off her bed

An OAP who died after a fall at a care home was left helpless for 10 minutes because a nurse was praying, an inquest heard.

Abdul Bhutto was in charge when Alzheimer’s sufferer Dorothy ­Griffiths, 87, toppled off her bed.

Another carer asked him for help to lift the pensioner back up.

But Muslim Mr Bhutto allegedly said he must finish his prayers first.

An ambulance was not called for four hours and Mrs Griffiths, who suffered a cut to her head and a gash to her hip, later died in hospital.

Carer Zoe Shaw, who was in tears in the witness box, said: “He was praying upstairs in the office on his prayer mat. A staff member told me we had to wait for him to finish.”

Agency nurse Mr Bhutto failed to appear at Monday’s inquest in ­Sheffield. Assistant deputy coroner Donald Coutts-Wood called him in the recess to ask why he was not there.

He told the hearing Mr Bhutto denied to him he was duty nurse on the night the OAP fell at private Valley Park near Barnsley, South Yorks, last October.

He claimed he had been there on a course.

After her tumble, the pensioner was checked and left in the lounge.

But at breakfast she was unresponsive and paramedics were called.

Mr Bhutto has now been issued with a summons to attend the resumed hearing later this year.

Dorothy’s daughter Jean David said after the inquest: “We are quite upset he hadn’t appeared.”

Home operator Mimosa declined to comment.

— Hat tip: Nick

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UK: Social Workers Took Away Our Baby for Nine Months: With No Evidence Against Them, Couple Were Banned From Looking After Their Son

When Julie Nevin put her only son to bed in late December 2010, he was seven months old.

The next time she was allowed to perform that simple act, Reilly was a 16-month-old toddler.

She and her husband David lost nine months of their little boy’s life after social services took him away over a minor bruise on his forehead.

They believed Mr and Mrs Nevin may have slapped their beloved son, with the couple at one point being arrested on suspicion of assault and subjected to the humiliation of police taking their DNA, fingerprints and mugshots — despite all the initial checks coming back clear.

The couple’s nightmare only ended when a consultant paediatrician belatedly conceded that the bruising had most likely been caused by the little boy accidentally bumping into the metal legs of the family’s sofa — as they had originally suggested.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: The Arts Festival Tied Into the Olympic Games That’s Costing us £5.4m

If madcap art was an Olympic sport, Britain would be there on the podium claiming gold, silver and bronze.

From carting a plane fuselage around Wales, to felling a forest for an immigrant-only football match, to sailing a chunk of Norway to the south coast of England; the nation’s artists have excelled themselves in their attempts to celebrate the London Games.

Mind you, they have had some help — £5.4million of taxpayers’ cash to be exact.

The artists have been given up to £500,000 each by the Arts Council to mark the Olympics in their region. But their projects were yesterday dismissed as ‘fripperies’.

— Hat tip: JD

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Lebanon: Courses for Judges and Magistrates Financed by EU

Project with total investment of 2.7 million euros

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, March 19 — The Lebanese Institute for Judicial Studies has concluded a training course of 34 judges who in turn will become instructors in a training initiative for judges and lawyers sponsored by the European Union with funding total of 2.7 million. The ceremony that marked the conclusion of the course was attended by Lebanese Justice Minister Chakib Qortbawi, and the head of the EU delegation in Lebanon, Angelina Eichhorst. The project funded by the EU has so far benefited 3,500 judges and lawyers, more than the originally anticipated 2,625.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Algeria: Plan to Save Old Fortified Villages

New school to train architects specialising in ksours

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — The typical red clay buildings, or ksour, that dot the horizon in rural areas of North Africa in particular, are considered in Algeria to be not only a form of architectural heritage, but also fundamental to the history and culture of the country, which is why are plans are in place to protect them from the slow destruction of time.

The remarkable heritage, however, is at significant risk of degradation because of the material used to build the constructions, which descend from Berber architecture and remain to this day an example of air control in a country that is forced to deal with extreme temperatures.

The etymology of the word “ksar” (“ksour” in the plural) is telling. The word derives from the Arabic “qsar”, meaning fortified village or castle, itself mutated from the latin term “castrum”, as military camps were known. The constructions were built close to oases and not far from the caravan routes, located in areas guaranteeing greater security against potential attacks or raids by plunderers.

After various statements and promises, the government in Algiers has taken a more concrete step, with the country’s Culture Minister, Khalida Toumi, announcing the creation in Adrar of a school for the training of technicians and architects specialising in the construction of buildings made from earth.

The decision to base the school in Adrar can be explained by the vast number of ksour in the area. Toumi said that the centre would be a “hub of excellence” and would focus on both education and training. This, the minister added, is a necessary step because there are currently only five architects in Algeria specialising in the buildings, which demand “respect of materials and techniques” if they are to be adequately preserved and handed down to future generations.

Over the years, ksour have been the subject of classification by the Algerian authorities, who have identified them in the Mzab Valley in particular, in the towns of Yamerna, Laghouat, Ouargla, Naama and Adrar.

Another concrete step is the plan that will see the restoration of 700 earth constructions located in In’Salah (some 750 kilometres north of Tamanrasset). The operation will involve more than simple building restoration work, as the social and economic purposes of the buildings will also be taken into consideration. The purpose of the ksour was often to provide communities or individual families with an area in which to leave food in the best possible conditions for a whole season, according to the climate in a given area. Attention will also be paid to their preservation as fundamental elements of the urban framework. Technicians and architects will therefore work with sociologists and popular culture experts to ensure that restoration works do not alter the philosophy at the root of these buildings.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt: Coptic Christians After Shenouda

The late patriarch ruled his Church for 40 years. Spirituality, vocations, participation in rituals have increased, but ecumenism and lay involvement slowed. Skirmishes on intermarriage with Catholics. Nationalist and anti-Israeli, Shenouda clashed with Sadat, who imprisoned him. An alliance with Mubarak to build new churches. The urgency of the mission in society and in defense of women. Egypt caught between a military dictatorship and fundamentalism.

Beirut (AsiaNews) — The death of Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Church for more than 40 years, leads me to take stock of the life of this Church, its relations with other churches, with Islam and Egyptian policy ..

Shenouda III, born Abnub, Asiut province on August 3, 1923, named Nazir Gayyed Rufa’il, studied history and archeology at Cairo University and theology at the Faculty of Theology until 1946. He taught there for several years, and in 1954 entered the monastery of Suryani (Dayr al-Suryan) which is in the Nitria Scetis desert, about 120 kilometers from Cairo on the road to Alexandria. This monastery is linked to that of Deir Anba Bishoy (Monastery of Abba Bishoy). As Patriarch, Shenouda went on to choose all the bishops of the dioceses of Egypt from these two places.

In 1962 he was appointed Bishop of Ecclesiastical Studies by the 116 ° Patriarch Cyril VI, and he took the name Shenouda. Finally, 14 November 1971 the synod elected him patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, a year after the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser in September of 1970.

In fact, the patriarch in the Coptic Church is always a monk, as well as a bishop. And when choosing a layman to be a bishop, he must spend a few months in a monastery, before being ordained a bishop.

As patriarch, Shenouda governed both under Sadat and Mubarak. During these years he has given a very strong spiritual impulse to the Coptic Church through his weekly general audiences which lasted for almost 40 years. Every Wednesday there was an audience for more than an hour with questions and answers, and discussions with the faithful. Each time there were several thousand attended. Later, these were recorded on video and cassette and broadcast by the mass media.

He is also the author of 50 books that touch on all religious questions, from a spiritual angle. He was a monk who knew the tradition and the Bible by heart. He could quote chapter and verse. He knew the spiritual literature and monastic life of the saints, drawing on them in abundance in his sermons and writings. It was not a theologian, with an advanced research in the fields of dogma, but he made a major contribution to spirituality.

He also contributed to a renewal of the dioceses, founding many new ones and downsizing exisiting ones. This allowed the bishops to have more daily contact with the faithful for a more effective ministry. At the same time, some people think that this was a move to elect and consecrate several bishops who were his supporters for a majority in the Coptic Synod.

His fame as a bishop was already great, it then grew with his election as Patriarch (“Baba Shenouda”). I met him when he was bishop: we worked together in the World Council of Churches for Middle East (MECC). We always had a very good relationship, even if we did not agree on everything. I was also in charge of the “Ecumenical Youth Service” (YES) for young people of different denominations throughout Egypt. The Patriarch loved to come for all occasions. To the very end, our relationship was direct and friendly. He would say to me: “You are young, you’re like my son, hear what I have to say …”. He had great respect for my studies on the history of the Church, though — he said — “we should not implement everything that is in the tradition.”

His views were constructive, very respectful of the difference between us. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I did not belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church. Within his won community, however, he was known for his authoritarian decisions.

This policy has however led to a strengthening of the formation of the faithful in Egypt. Having consecrated very young and learned bishops (35-40 years) all his disciples, he could spread his vision across the country.

With the laity the situation was more delicate. Shenouda was conscious of having the responsibility of all the Church and thus some of the laity were humbled.

During his patriarchate vocations to the priesthood and religious life multiplied. He expanded the pastoral care of students, asking young people to always have a spiritual director, and to practice confession. The practice of communion was also widespread, but only after confession. Sometimes there were priests who before giving Communion to a young person, would ask him whether he had confessed and with whom … He has done so much for spirituality and devotion in the Coptic Church, increasing the practice of the Sunday liturgy.

There were also conflicts with the laity, and differences of views with other brothers in the

Relations with other Christian Churches

Relations with other churches were more problematic. He was never very warm towards the Protestants. He said that “we must learn from the Protestant Bible study,” but was always wary of collaboration. His relationship with Catholics was better.

In 1973 he visited Pope Paul VI and even signed the first official document of agreement between the Catholic and Orthodox Church, in which it was agreed not to carry out mutual proselytism. Proselytizing is an accusation that the Orthodox Churches have often made against Catholics. The agreement provided that if there were any cases, Shenouda would call Rome, which would intervene to remedy the situation.

Once, in Upper Egypt, near Dayrut, in an Orthodox village 300 km south of Cairo, forgotten for years by the Orthodox bishop, they threatened him: “If you do not come, we’ll become Muslims.” But before they came to the Catholic church in the village nearby and asked to become Catholics. The priest and the bishop of the diocese of Asyut discouraged them, exhorting them to remain Orthodox. At a renewed threat that they would become Muslims, the bishop relented and sent a Catholic priest to the village. This fact, however, caused problems between Shenouda and Rome, which led to an agreement: the Orthodox would find a solution for the village within six months. After this period, if nothing happened, then the faithful — at least some of them — would enter the Catholic Church. In itself there was no desire to proselytize, but only the desire to help these Christians, who otherwise would have become Muslim.

Things got worse between Catholics and Orthodox after a few years after his election as Patriarch over the rules he imposed on mixed marriages. In the east marriages between Orthodox and Catholics are common and do not raise problems in families because the faith is common, despite differences in the rituals and traditions. The traditional use, throughout the East, is that marriage is celebrated in the church of the groom, the children follow the tradition of their father, but it is possible that agreements are made between them. In any case, the two parts remain in their Christian confession. Shenouda decided that if there were mixed marriages, the Catholic party had to be re-baptized into the Coptic Orthodox Church. In practice, the Catholic means Catholic women. His theologian, argued supporting his position for a while, has pointed out that patristic tradition does not provide for a new baptism, but he, stubbornly, kept this rule until now.

It must be said that his priests are often more open than he. He was a conservative regarding ecumenism and did not make much progress toward unity among Catholics and Orthodox.

In 1984 he also criticized the Syrian Orthodox patriarch, Zakkha Iwas, because he signed, on June 23, an agreement with the Catholic Church (with John Paul II). The joint statement that it resulted in, was very advanced: it provided freedom in marriage, communion with one another and even shared formation of priests, and even today many Syrian Orthodox priests study in Catholic seminaries and theological faculties.

When Shenouda heard about this agreement, he criticized Zakkha, for having dared so much, without first consulting him. It should be noted that the Syrian Orthodox, Copts and Armenians are joined by a bond because they are pre-Chalcedonian Churches. His Beatitude Zakka told him that their churches are sisters, but independent. In addition, he noted that the same Shenouda had signed the 1973 agreement with the Catholics without consulting the other two churches.

Relationship with Islam

In the relationship with Islam, Patriarch Shenouda made a lot of meetings with the Imam of Al Azhar. He knew the Koran and the Arabic language: he even wrote poems in Arabic. He could deal with the Muslims, without cedine ground on the dogmatic aspect, he was rather careful not to provoke Muslims.

Although attacks against churches and killing of Christians and fundamentalist violence continued during the period of his government, he managed to maintain cordial relations with the Muslim world, but without compromise on important issues.

Relations with Anwar as-Sadat

Relations with the State have always been very delicate. He became patriarch under Anwar Sadat. From the political point of view, Shenouda had a very clear position on relations between Egypt and Israel. He was always against an agreement between the two countries.

When Sadat went to Jerusalem, he gave his speech at the Knesset and launched diplomatic agreements, Shenouda condemned this policy. Perhaps this move had tactical reasons: the Coptic Church is a minority (it does not exceed 10% of the population) and Muslims increasingly view Christians as allies of the West (and Israel). His decision allowed him to escape the cliché, in alliance with a powerful anti-Israeli lobby, still present in Egypt.

But Shenouda’s position drove Sadat to put him under house arrest in the Anba Bishoy Monastery in the Desert (Wadi an-Natroun) for four years, from September 1981 until the death of Sadat (assassinated October 6, 1985). Sadat even imprisoned some bishops for the first time in the history of Egypt, in a tense situation that lasted almost a year.

In addition, in order to rule, Sadat garnered support from the Muslim Brotherhood, increasingly tough on Christians. We can say that the whole Sadat period was very difficult for Shenouda.

Relations with Hosni Mubarak

When Mubarak came to power, 31 years ago, the situation changed. The patriarch supported the president and vice-versa. The two made a personal agreement that lifted the ban on the construction of churches. In Egypt, by law, a church may be built only if they comply with 10 rules. But they are so stringent that it is virtually impossible build any. The pact between Mubarak and Shenouda the agreement provided for a certain number of church buildings each year. When it was made public it was criticised by Muslims, but nothing more.

The agreement, however, presupposed that the patriarch would support all decisions by Mubarak. When the Arab spring broke last year, many Christians were in Tahrir Square. But the Patriarch was reluctant to support the movement, because it became increasingly anti-Mubarak.

The problem of Christians in the Middle East is always this: caught between two fires, between a dictatorship and fundamentalism.

Our situation in the Middle East has always been weak and the Coptic Church is an illustration of this: unable to envisage prospects, initiatives, to engage in society and politics. The Coptic Church is often closed in on herself, living in a ghetto to protect themselves and live in peace. They do not try to change society for fear of not succeeding, being a minority.

In the past it was different, 50 or 80 years ago it was much more alive. Then, becaus eof teh deteriorating conditions of freedom, we hid in our monasteries, in prayer, in the Church’s inner life. Now, with the Arab Spring, we are in a moment that has aroused so much hope of freedom for Christians and Muslims, in rejecting a theocratic regime. Unfortunately it seems that we are returning to where we started from.

The other problem is the Egyptian army. The army controlled Egypt since the days of Nasser, for at least 60 years, and does not seem to want to relinquish power. Even now they decide everything. Egypt is at a delicate crossroads: it could become a military dictatorship or a fundamentalist regime. Precisely for this reason, many Christians hesitated during the revolution.

The future of the Coptic Orthodox

Among the Coptic bishops there are very good personalities, who could take over the leadership of the Coptic Church. Among these would I exclude Shenouda’s deputy, who was an executor of his decisions, but lacking in personality.

The Coptic Church remains strong in spirituality, in liturgical prayer, fasting. The Copts have almost 200 days of fasting a year. And their fast means that they do not take anything, no drinks, no food from midnight until the earlier of 3pm the next day. And their meals are very light. This fast, lived in union with Jesus Christ, strengthens the faith and the strength of the Copts, to be able to resist in their identity.

The Copts do not show that they are fasting, but when Muslims realize this, they were surprised in a positive way. The food is vegetarian, then, eggs, cheese, milk, etc are also excluded. It must be said that somehow this religious testimony of the Copts impresses Islamic people who often delineate the West and Christians to atheism.

After the Arab Spring, we are at a new stage that needs new choices. Within the Coptic Church more freedom should be given to the bishop, priests, laity: they need a united but not dictatorial voice. They also need to engage more in society, for the common good, politics, human rights. Coptic Christians are not opposed to this, but do not promote this. But Christians have a very important function, especially to restore dignity and value to the woman, who in Islam are often humiliated.

The relationship with the Muslims should be more active and vibrant: you can not live side by side, without asking any questions. For example, in Egyptian society Islam is publicized on the bus, in taxi. Christians must ask Muslims to build a society that leaves room for all.

Another dimension is mission. In Egypt there is no mission because of sociological conditions: Islam does not allow evangelization. But an urgent and explicit testimony that would be good is working together with other Christian denominations. We have a few: divided we are weakened even more.

Finally, we can only pray to ask God to illuminate the Holy Synod to elect a successor strong in faith, open to the world and its needs and attentive to the needs of the weakest in society at large.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Islamists Dominate Panel Tasked With Drafting Egypt’s Constitution

Egyptian liberals were scrambling Sunday to block the formation of a panel charged with drafting a new constitution, to which the parliament has appointed a large majority of Islamists. Only six women have been named on the 100-member panel. By News Wires (text) AFP — Egypt’s parliament has elected an Islamist-dominated panel to draft a new constitution, and liberal activists are scrambling to block the move, state media said Sunday.

Thirty-nine of the 50 lawmakers chosen for the 100-member constituent assembly are Islamists, according to press reports, with Islamists also represented among the remaining 50 members drawn from outside parliament.

Liberal lawmakers had walked out on the vote in the joint parliament and senate session on Saturday, accusing the Islamist majority of trying to dominate the crucial panel.

The new constitution will replace the one annulled by the ruling military which took power after an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak last year.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the largest in the parliament, has the biggest representation on the panel, followed by the ultra-conservative Salafi Al-Nur party.

Only six women — three from the parliament and senate and the rest from civil society — were appointed, along with a handful of Coptic Christians who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of about 80 million.

One of the Copts, Rafiq Habib, is a vice president of the FJP whose mother organisation, the Brotherhood, argues that Copts and women may not head a Muslim country.

The 50 people appointed from outside parliament include a member of the ruling military council, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member seen as the group’s religious guide, judges, lawyers and an activist who lost both eyes in clashes with police.

The official Al-Ahram newspaper reported on its website that the Islamists had the support of almost 40 percent of panel members elected from outside parliament and about 75 percent of its lawmakers.

The assembly is due to hold its first meeting on Wednesday, as a secular leaning group, the National Association for Change, and others pressed a court to annul the vote that elected the panel.

On Saturday, Coptic tycoon Naguib Sawiris, who founded the largest liberal party in parliament, bitterly condemned the process and announced his Free Egyptians Party members had walked out of the vote.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “A constitution being written by one force and one force alone. We tried our best but there was no use.”

Two other parties had boycotted the vote from the start, including the leftwing Tagammu.

The liberals and leftists fear the Islamists will try to beef up references to their religion in the new charter.

“The constitution should not reflect the majority, it should reflect all forces in society,” said Tagammu head Rifaat al-Said.

“There is an attempt to posses everything,” he said of his party’s Islamist opponents. “Possessing the constitution is the most dangerous thing.”

According to a military schedule, the panel was meant to finish the new constitution before a presidential election, but that now seems unlikely with the poll scheduled for May.

— Hat tip: Nick

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Morocco: Equality in Constitution, Not Yet in Practice

Difficult journey of Moroccan women towards equal rights

(ANSAmed) — RABAT — King Mohammed VI of Morocco is making an early move on libertarian movements on the back of the “Arab Spring”, and has made a historic speech announcing the need for constitutional reform. Women’s rights organisations have immediately spoken out as part of a coalition known as the “feminist spring for equality and democracy” and are hastily preparing a memorandum to be submitted to the commission tasked with drafting the new constitutional text. One urgent demand is the need to insert into the Constitution the equality between men and women, and there are calls for international conventions to supersede national regulations on the matter.

The women’s battle has ended in victory, with the text approved by the population in the referendum of June 30 advocating “equal opportunities and respect of human dignity” as well as the “pre-eminence of international conventions compared to the country’s internal law”.

Article 19 is even more explicit, sanctioning full equality of rights and individual freedom between men and women. The process of equality in Morocco has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade, at least in legal terms. The first major break with conservatism and Arab and Muslim tradition came in 2004 with the advent of the new family code. The text approved the abolition of the notion of “attaâ” (obedience), the right of women to demand divorce, to marry without need for an agreement from a guardian, and rigid measures on polygamy and underage marriage. Another important step came in 2007, with the introduction of the right to Moroccan nationality for children born to a Moroccan mother and foreign father.

Feminist circles in Morocco are aware of the legal steps forward taken over the last few years, but also that these have not produced any great results in practical terms. The first major disappointment will come with the creation of the new government led by the moderate Islamist, Abdelilah Benkirane, in which female representation, in the first government of the era of the new constitution, will be insignificant. “It is an act of contempt towards women and towards the whole of Morocco. The government cannot be allowed to ridicule women’s rights and violate the measures featuring in the Constitution,” women said in Rabat on February 20, after travelling from around the country to demonstrate outside the country’s Parliament, responding to calls for a “network of women’s solidarity” and a “Democratic League of Women’s Rights” (LDDF).

The main challenge remains to overcome the clash between a party approved on paper and the mentality of a conservative society. The target of equality between the sexes remains a long way off, due to difficulties linked mainly to education rights, female unemployment (which is structurally higher than the male rate), and the weakness of women in the world of work, where they are most exposed to precarious and poorly paid positions. Reforms, therefore, are lacking real implementation. The problem, according to Fatima Zohara, a lawyer and the president of the Moroccan association for the fight against violence, lies in the mentality of judges, which “remains patriarchal”. Legal circles, she says, have not yet picked up on the philosophy and the spirit of the new family code and are therefore incapable of implementing it fully. Regarding the removal of reservations on the international convention against all forms of discrimination against women, “hereditary division should be considered, as should the right of a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim”. It is difficult to imagine that such an idea could be accepted, especially by a government led by Islamists.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain and Morocco Compete for Oil Search in Canary Islands

(ANSAmed) — MADRID — Spain and Morocco are competing in the search for oil in the deep-sea area of Canary Islands, near the sea border with Morocco. This can be inferred from what the Industry, Tourism and Trade Minister José Manuel Soria has stated today during a radio interview at Radio Onda Zero. Soria confirmed that Morocco “is already carrying out surveys” in the area, which is allegedly located “on the border of the imaginary line ideally separating the Kingdom of Morocco from the Kingdom of Spain”. According to the Minister, if there actually is oil, “there will be two options: either Morocco extracts it or both Morocco and Spain do, each on its side of the line”. Soria ensured that the chance of finding oil “is good”, totalling 20%.

The Minister also underlined that the potential production of any oil fields totals 140,000 barrels of raw oil in 20 years, the equivalent of 10% of daily consumption in Spain. According to the Minister, overall the Canary Island oil would allow Spain to save EUR 28 bln on its energy invoice. With regard to opposition by the Canary Islands’local authorities and environmental protection groups, who fear that the environment and tourism (the archipelago’s main industry) would suffer irreversible damage, the Industry Minister maintained that the debate is “unnecessary and groundless”, because surveys will be carried out at a 61-km distance from the coast “nearly in the middle of the ocean”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Gaza: Islamic Jihad Celebrating After Challenge to Israel

Complex relations between pro-Iranian group and Hamas

(ANSAmed) — GAZA — Thousands of supporters of Islamic Jihad paraded through Gaza’s central Omar al-Mukhtar Street last night, celebrating the “success” of the four days of armed conflict with Israel, which ended in a ceasefire brokered by Egypt. Protesters, who waved the organisation’s black flags and showed off their weapons, then listened to a message of congratulations from their leader, Ramadan Shallah, who was speaking over the telephone from Damascus. Shallah said that jihad (Islamic holy war) will continue until the whole of Palestine is freed. Shallah focussed on the ideology of the organisation, which was founded in 1978 by Fathi Shkaki, who was inspired by Khomeini’s revolution in Iran and out of disagreement with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas subsequently originated.

One of the differences between the organisations, the analyst Muhammad Hijazi has told ANSAmed, is that in their formative years, while the Muslim Brotherhood were busy spreading Islam in the societies in which they operated (through schools, mosques and charities), Islamic Jihad was already insisting on the need for all-out armed conflict against Israeli occupation, and organised the first armed cells. Only after the first intifada in 1987, says Hijazi, did Hamas feel the need to have its own armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which today is 15,000 strong.

Set up according to the model of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad — the al-Quds Brigade — has 5,000 trained members, despite the fact that it does not have any permanent bases and is forced to train in open areas, which are chosen according to availability. According to Israeli intelligence, the group is not to be underestimated, and is theoretically capable of striking the suburbs of Tel Aviv from Gaza with the use of al-Fajr missiles. The identity of the group’s leader remains secret. The management of the al-Quds Brigade, meanwhile, is entrusted to Khaled al-Batash, while the organisation’s political leader in Gaza is Nafez Azzam.

For ideological and religious reasons, relations with Hamas are not easy. Hamas sees Islamic Jihad as a dangerous group, a “vehicle” used by Iran to spread Shia Islam through the Gaza Strip. The phenomenon has so far involved only a few hundred individuals, but Ismail Haniyeh’s men are determined to overcome the group, by force if necessary. Islamic Jihad’s members continue to identify themselves as Sunnis, but some express tolerance for those wanting to embrace the Shia current of Islam. Today in Gaza, Islamic Jihad and Hamas are re-examining their respective relationships, after four days of violence in which Islamic Jihad has launched at least 200 rockets towards Israel (losing around twenty militiamen), while Hamas have been happy following events from a distance.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Term ‘West Bank’ Only Came About as Result of Jordan’s Imperialist Effort to Expand

by David Ha’ivri

Do you know? Have you stopped to think? When did this area start being called “the West Bank” and by whom?

The term “West Bank” is used so widely that one might get the impression that it has some real historical significance. Those who rally together, calling for Israel to pull out of this area and allow the establishment of a Palestinian State here, would like you to believe that one previously existed and that Israel took it over and closed it down. The narrative presumes that people will believe it without question and will not ask for any proof. Amazingly, that strategy has worked pretty well so far.

Many people do not expect to be lied to by TV announcers and academics, and so they just take the narrative at face value. Even people who support Israel often do not realize how un-related to fact many of these claims against Israel are. So Israel’s supporters are more often put on the defensive, trying to point out the good deeds that Israel is doing in the world as a way to cover up for actions that they do not know how to explain.

But, in fact, the West Bank narrative really has little foundation. It only appeared on the stage of history in 1948, when the Hashemite army of Trans-Jordan crossed over its own western border, the Jordan River, which it is named for. The army of Trans-Jordan did so as part of the joint Arab effort to destroy the newly founded Jewish State and push the Jews into the sea.

The line of defense that the Jewish army succeeded in holding as they defended Tel Aviv from invasion was later dubbed “The Green Line” because it was marked with green colored crayon on the map that was used at the signing of the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its neighbors in 1949 on the Greek island of Rhodes. In that agreement, the Arab side refused to define the green line as a recognized border, but only as an agreed ceasefire line — nothing more.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan tried to annex their newfound land west of the Jordan River by imposing their laws and naturalizing the Arab residents of the area. They went so far as to change the name of the country to Jordan, removing the prefix “Trans” as a way to hide the fact that they belong on east side of the river, but not on both…

— Hat tip: TV

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Borat Anthem Stuns Kazakh Gold Medallist in Kuwait

Kazakhstan’s shooting team has been left stunned after a comedy national anthem from the film Borat was played at a medal ceremony at championships in Kuwait instead of the real one.

The team asked for an apology and the medal ceremony was later rerun. The team’s coach told Kazakh media the organisers had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake. The song was produced by UK comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for the film, which shows Kazakhs as backward and bigoted.

The spoof song praises Kazakhstan for its superior potassium exports and for having the cleanest prostitutes in the region.

The film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, released in 2006, follows Baron Cohen’s character, the journalist Borat Sagdiyev, as he travels to the US and pursues the actress Pamela Anderson.

The film outraged people in Kazakhstan and was eventually banned in the country. The government also threatened Baron Cohen with legal action. Reports say the film is also banned in Kuwait.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Egypt is Looking to Get Cozy With Iran

Although Saudi Arabia had good relations for more than 30 years with Egypt under now-ousted President Hosni Mubarak, the kingdom is warily watching political developments in Cairo as the Muslim Brotherhood shows increasing strength, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

As a consequence, Egypt is leaning more toward a strategic relationship with Iran. Closer Egyptian ties with Iran also were underscored by Egyptian parliamentary member Mohamed Abu Hamed, who resigned recently from the Free Egyptians Party, or FEP, which has enthusiastically embraced closer strategic relations with Tehran even though it opposes the Brotherhood.

— Hat tip: JD

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Lebanon: Policewomen Candidates in Hijabs Spark Row

Interior Minister, no to religious symbols

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 23 — An initiative by 39 Muslim female police cadets who turned up for training wearing their veils have caused controversy in Lebanon, where the law bans the use of the hijab among security force personnel, as it bans all other religious symbols. The ban reflects fears that sectarian divisions visible among the forces could endanger the country’s delicate political balance.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, a Maronite Catholic, has reasserted to the Daily Star newspaper that this rule has to be upheld. “We have been opposed to the use of religious symbols in security force institutions since the early 1970s and it is ridiculous to bring this into discussion today” Charbel said.

According to press reports, some of the 39 women, who turned up for training after having passed the admission examinations, agreed to remove their veil, while others insisted on keeping them on. At this point, Major Suzanne Haji, who is in charge of receiving female recruits, was forced to turn to her commanding officer for advice,who reacted themselves by calling on Minister Charbel, who maintained a firm line.

As security sources reveal, soldiers and police officers are free to pray, each according to their own faith, but not to wear religious symbols while on duty. The need to keep religiou out of security service operations is obvious when one looks back at the 15 years of civil war (1975-1990) that raged between ethnic-sectarian militias in the country. There is a high level of concern that such tensions could suddenly reignite in Lebanon as incidents over the past few days illustrate: at Beirut’s Antonina Catholic university around forty Shiite Muslim students gathered to pray in the courtyard in a protest against the lack of any place of worship for them in the institution. Yesterday incidents broke out involving the police at the Lebanese University when students belonging to the Christian Lebanese Forces movement gathered to protest against the demonstration held by their Shiite fellow students. Several opposition figures have also denounced the Shiite protest as a provocation, saying they belong to Hezbollah, which is allied to Syria and to Iran, and which has been a leading political force in the government since the exit of Sunni premier Saad Hariri.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Lebanon: Maid Filmed During Beating Kills Herself

An investigation has been launched in Lebanon after an Ethiopian housemaid committed suicide a week after video was aired of her being dragged through the street and abducted.

Ethiopia’s consul general said Alem Dechasa killed herself on Wednesday, a week after the LBCI television channel played amateur footage of her being lifted off the ground by her hair and forced head-first into a car.

The horrifying footage sparked national outrage in Lebanon.

The consul general, who saw Ms Dechasa on Tuesday, said she had been taken to hospital in order to recover.

The Lebanese cabinet condemned the violent incident and ordered an investigation into the matter before Ms Dechasa died.

But the campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling for a wider investigation into the ill treatment of domestic workers.

It also wants to know why there appeared to be no follow up into Ms Dechasa’s case after she received hospital treatment.

HRW director for Beirut Nadim Houri said: “Obviously her death is a tragedy. What makes it a bigger tragedy is that we think it could have been prevented.

“Her case is not unique, unfortunately, in Lebanon. In the study released a year-and-a-half ago, we saw an average of one death per week of migrant domestic worker in the country, often they commit suicide, so it’s a broader systemic issue.

“So first, we need an independent investigation into first the ill-treatment of this woman and, secondly, why she was not properly followed up when she was transferred to Deir al Salib to get proper treatment.”

The video showed a second man helping a first one as he forced Ms Dechasa into the back of the car whilst she screamed: “No, no, no.”

After the video was aired, LBCI used the car’s licence plate number to identify one of the men.

Activists in Lebanon posted the man’s contact information on social media sites and demanded he be sued by the courts.

Mr Houri said taking the case to court would help highlight the extent of the problem and its prevalence.

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Power Elite and the Muslim Brotherhood, Part 10

In “Truth and falsehood in Syria” (Al-Ahram Weekly, October 13-19, 2011), Jeremy Salt (associate professor of Middle Eastern history and politics at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey) wrote that “the Syrian people are entitled to demand democracy and to be given it.” However, he also revealed that “in the eyes of many Syrians, their country is once again the target of an international conspiracy… Armed groups have killed hundreds of police, soldiers and civilians… Large shipments of weapons have been smuggled into Syria from Lebanon and Turkey… Interrogation of captured members of armed gangs points in the direction of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s Future Movement. Hariri is a front man for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, with influence spreading well beyond Lebanon. Armed opposition to the regime largely seems to be sponsored by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood… The Brotherhood has two prime objectives: the destruction of the Baathist government and the destruction of the secular state in favor of an Islamic system… If the Syrian government is brought down, every last Baathist and Alawi will be hunted down. In a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, the status of minorities and women would be driven back.”

[…]

And what is the position of Israel regarding the revolution in Syria? While the Israelis do not like Assad, they are also concerned about a revolution that would bring the MB to power. Relevant to this, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat on February 2, 2012 published “The Syrian crisis calculations,” in which Osman Mirghani wrote: “The fears regarding Israel also include the possibility that the fall of the al Assad regime may result in the Muslim Brotherhood rising to power, along the lines of Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. The last thing Israel would want is to find itself besieged by Muslim Brotherhood regimes along its border from Egypt to Syria, and pro-Iran movements from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas in Gaza.”

— Hat tip: JD

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Saudi Arabia and China Team Up to Build a Gigantic New Oil Refinery

The largest oil exporter in the Middle East has teamed up with the second largest consumer of oil in the world (China) to build a gigantic new oil refinery and the mainstream media in the United States has barely even noticed it.

This mammoth new refinery is scheduled to be fully operational in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu by 2014. Over the past several years, China has sought to aggressively expand trade with Saudi Arabia, and China now actually imports more oil from Saudi Arabia than the United States does. In February, China imported1.39 million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia. That was 39 percent higher than last February. So why is this important? Well, back in 1973 the United States and Saudi Arabia agreed that all oil sold by Saudi Arabia would be denominated in U.S. dollars. This petrodollar system was adopted by almost the entire world and it has had great benefits for the U.S. economy. But if China becomes Saudi Arabia’s most important trading partner, then why should Saudi Arabia continue to only sell oil in U.S. dollars? And if the petrodollar system collapses, what is that going to mean for the U.S. economy?

Those are very important questions, and they will be addressed later on in this article. First of all, let’s take a closer look at the agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and China recently.

— Hat tip: JD

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Syria: Terzi: Turkish Minister Spoke of Air Raids

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 23 Referring to the words of his Turkish colleague Ahmet Davutoglu, Italy’s Foreign Minister Terzi said “Following the used of artillery, there is now talk of even using air force bombardment” and that descriptions of the situation in and that descriptions of the situation in Syria “make you shiver”. “The descriptions given by the Turkish minister made you shiver and they gave an idea of the violence that has been unleashed”. Davutoglu “spoke of the siege of Homs and of other cities, of artillery attacks to hit at demonstrators on the streets with snipers firing on the crowds. This action has now become more widespread, with even air bombardment being spoken of following the use of artillery,” the Italian minister reported

— Hat tip: Insubria

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The Rising Tide of Muslim Violence Against Christians

Current affairs website, The Commentator, asks ‘Did you read about Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and his call this month to “destroy all the churches of the region?”‘

Hyperbole? Apparently not. The article also cites a number of recent incidents of Muslim persecution of Christians, drawn from a monthly compilation by Raymond Ibrahim of the think tank, Middle East Forum: “Half of Iraq’s indigenous Christians are gone due to the unleashed forces of jihad,” [Ibrahim] wrote. Many fled to Syria where, alas, “Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the nation’s modern history.”

Meanwhile, 100,000 Christian Copts have fled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak’s downfall unleashed Islamic forces, while 95 percent of Christians have left northern Nigeria where the Islamist group Boko Haram has been slaughtering them. The group announced recently that it’s planning a “war on Christians” in the coming weeks to, a spokesman said, “end the Christian presence in our push to have a proper Islamic state.”

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UAE: Europe Approves Camel’s Milk

But further testing necessary before EU market is open

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MARCH 19 — Europe says ‘yes’ to camel milk: samples of milk from these desert mammals from the United Arab Emirates have been deemed suitable for export to European markets, an essential outcome paving the way for complete approval of a potential relationship between the EU and UAE for the product. Even though camel’s milk has been promoted as a “safe” food by European labs, final approval for exports is still subject to sanitary certification of the farms where the camels are raised.

Inspections by European Commission scientists in January last year flunked the sanitary conditions at the camel farms and offered guidelines to bring them into line with the requested parameters. The next inspection will not be carried out until next year, but UAE labs are already working at full steam to meet EU standards. The European market holds enormous potential for camel’s milk, nicknamed “the white gold of the desert” in Arab countries, as well as all products derived from it. Not only derivatives such as yogurt and cheese, but also sophisticated sweets and foods like milkshakes, cappuccinos and expensive lines of chocolate. The potential outside of the region, in Europe and worldwide, is extremely high. The FAO estimates the worldwide market volume for camel’s milk to be 10 billion dollars. “White gold”, which has met resistance in some palates and whose image suffers in the West, which tends to consider it to be a strange food, has various advantages: compared to cow’s milk, it has less than half of the fat, 40% less cholesterol, and three times more vitamin C. It is also easy to digest because of its similarity to breast milk and is good for people who are lactose intolerant or who suffer from food allergies. But that’s not all: a group of researchers from the UAE recently announced the creation of a cancer drug derived from a combination of substances found in milk and urine, while the cosmetic properties of “white gold” are a time-honoured secret of women from the Gulf Region. Once the European markets are open, farmers explained, it has not been ruled out that the current number of camels raised in the UAE, which are mainly brought up for racing and not for the food industry, will no longer be sufficient to meet demand (estimated to be 10 times greater than current levels) and they will have to be imported from other countries in the region to increase breeding.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UAE: Saadiyat Workers Conditions Improve, But Not Enough

HRW, abuse in culture district construction site continue

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, 21 MARCH — Working conditions of the Saadiyat Island workers have improved, but not enough: this is the conclusion drawn by the Human Rights Protection Association Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report published in Dubai today.

In 2009, HRW had exposed the subhuman working conditions and several cases of abuse on labourers working on the construction of infrastructures on the island, which will become an elite cultural district with the opening, among other things, of branch districts of the Louvre and Guggenheim Museums.

“Constructors and their international partners have worked to improve the workers’ status”, the Association’s report states; however, HRW adds “abuse continues”.

Even if they recognize the validity of measures taken by United Arab Emirates’ authorities, such as payment of salaries through banks, the opening of hotlines to report abuse, healthcare coverage and regular inspections, the illegal confiscation of passports by employers continues, there are no punishment mechanisms for abusers and the legislation regulating hiring of staff is incomplete.

The TDIC, the company for tourism development and investments in charge of the Island of Happiness (this is what the word “Saadiyat” means in Arabic, replied in a statement that it “appreciated the work carried out” by HRW; however, it underlined that data are “not accurate and not up to date”. “The study is based on interviews carried out between October 2010 and January 2011”, a statement published by the Wam press agency states; TDIC points its finger against the limited number of interviews carried out as a sample.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Domestic Maids Complain of Rampant Abuse in Malaysia

Malaysia is one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia and almost every household boasts at least one domestic worker. Most are from Indonesia or Carmbodia — many complain of abuse.

For years, women working as domestic maids in Malaysia have complained that they are treated badly and abused by their employers. Often from poorer countries, they have filed report after report to their governments about the working conditions.

Two years ago, the Indonesian government imposed a ban on Indonesians working in Malaysia as maids. Jakarta then worked out a list of guidelines with the Malaysian government to ensure working conditions improved.

Nonetheless, these don’t seem to be effective. Now the Cambodian government wants to negotiate stricter regulations with Kuala Lumpur, after many nationals returned.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Indian Court Refuses TV for Italian Marines

Newspapers and magazines permitted

(ANSA) — Kollam, March 21 — An Indian court on Wednesday refused in-cell television privileges for the two Italian marines being held in the town of Thiruvananthapuram, accused of killing two Indian fishermen in February.

However, the judge agreed to requests for reading material to be delivered to the incarcerated sailors, including Italian daily newspapers and weekly magazines.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were guarding an Italian merchant vessel against pirate attacks in international waters, have been at the centre of a diplomatic row between Italy and India since being detained last month.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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China’s Huawei Moves Out of the Shadows to Join Technology Race

The telecoms firm has ambitions to join Apple, Samsung and Nokia in the big league — but if it wants to crack the US market, it will have to offer more transparency

The security guard’s mirrored sunglasses reflect Barcelona’s pale winter sunshine. His job is to keep the crowds attending the sprawling trade fair at bay. Behind him, a pavilion the size of a bus garage houses the latest technology produced by China’s Huawei. Those without a meeting to attend are told they cannot enter, and cameras are banned inside.

Huawei is China’s biggest exporter, and its equipment helps run the BT broadband network, but the brand is unknown to most UK households. Regarded as a secretive organisation even within the people’s republic, Huawei is headed by a former Red Army engineer, Ren Zhengfei.

Unlike other Chinese IT firms, such as the PC maker Lenovo and telecoms group ZTE, Huawei is not listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. A private company owned entirely by its founders and employees, the names of its board members were only published for the first time last year.

But it is also a flagbearer for China’s “going out” policy of encouraging the first generation of corporations created by economic liberalisation in the 1980s to compete on the world stage. Entrepreneurial and unbureaucratic, it has prospered without having the state as a shareholder.

It sells everything from mobile mast radios to software, data-centres and laptop dongles. Founded in 1987, Huawei only began exporting in earnest in 2000, but already over 65% of its revenues are from abroad. Last year, they totalled 185.2bn yuan (£18.51bn), just half a billion pounds less than the world’s largest telecoms equipment group, Ericsson.

Now Huawei is preparing to step out of the shadows. While its governance remains veiled, the company is pushing its brand to the fore. It wants to place its products in the hands of millions of western consumers, and become the fourth largest manufacturer of smartphones by the end of this year.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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China’s Massive Water Diversion Project Remains Controversial

China’s south has too much water; the north does not have enough. That’s why the South-North Water Transfer Project was thought up. But the ecological and social costs are huge.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the Danjiangkou Dam, a massive wall that has risen to 176 meters over the past five years. The blue steel beams shine in the spring rain while a mist hangs over the reservoir behind.

The water for the second biggest reservoir in China comes from the Han River, the biggest tributary of the mighty Yangtze.

Mao Zedong dreamed of diverting water from the south to the north 60 years ago. From 2014 on, a complex system of canals and pipes is supposed to provide Beijing — 1400 kilometers away — with water.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Classical Music Affects Heart Transplants

Classical music is good for the soul and maybe the heart too. Mice with heart transplants survived twice as long if they listened to classical music rather than pop music after their operation.

Masateru Uchiyama of Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, gave mice heart transplants from an unrelated donor which were therefore expected to be rejected. For a week following the operation, the mice continuously listened to Verdi’s opera La Traviata, a selection of Mozart concertos, music by Enya, or a range of single monotones.

Mice exposed to opera fared best — they survived an average of 26 days, with those who listened to Mozart close behind at 20 days. Mice who listened to Enya survived for 11 days and the monotone group only seven days.

The team tested the effects of La Traviata on deaf mice too. They survived for just seven days, reinforcing the likelihood that hearing the music, rather than another factor, such as feeling vibrations from the music, accounted for the difference.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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The Slang Chinese Bloggers Use to Subvert Censorship

They call it the Grass-Mud Horse lexicon, and, lucky for us language lovers, the China Digital Times just started a recurring word of the week feature to go along with its catalog of the slang China’s bloggers use to subvert government censorship. The first post, which went up last Wednesday, explains the project’s namesake, Grass-Mud Horse. “Grass-mud horse, which sounds nearly the same in Chinese as ‘f*** your mother’ (cào ni ma), was created as a way to get around and poke fun at government censorship of vulgar content,” writes Fiona Smith. The term is perfect for a lot of reasons: It sounds like a swear, has its own YouTube culture and references the Communist party, which is often referred to as “mother.” All of that has led to its evolution as not only a term that means “someone who is web-savvy and critical of government attempts at censorship,” in the words of Smith, but also the representation of an entire language.

Over at China Digital Space, where the Grass-Mud Horse project lives, we find the full alphabetized list of common terms used on the heavily censored Chinese Internet platforms. Each letter has between 2 and 21 entries — there’s a lot on there. Here are some of our favorites:

Term: Love the Future.

Definition: “‘Love the future’ is a coded reference to Chinese artist and dissident, Ai Weiwei (???) that began to be used after Ai’s disappearance in early 2011. Ai’s surname sounds the same as the word ‘love’ in Chinese, and his given name ‘Weiwei’ can be converted into the word “future” by adding two small strokes to the second character.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Anna Bligh Hangs on to Seat in Bloodbath

ANNA Bligh tonight looked set to survive a political scare in her own Brisbane seat as Labor was annihilated in the Queensland state election.

With about half the vote counted in South Brisbane, the Premier had 52.1 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, against 47.9 for LNP candidate Clem Grehan.

Ms Bligh, who won the seat in 1995, earlier appeared to be in deep trouble, but was set to survive courtesy of Green preferences.

The question was whether Ms Bligh would be prevailed upon to stay on in the Labor leadership to help the party rebuild.

With her deputy and heir apparent Andrew Fraser among the Labor casualties, all will depend on whether Education Minister Cameron Dick retains his seat of Greenslopes. His prospects improved slightly tonight, but he remained under the gun.

Earlier, parliamentary speaker John Mickel said Ms Bligh should step down as leader if Labor lost badly.

“The Labor Party needs to move forward and the only way to move forward is to put Anna Bligh behind them,” the retiring Labor MP said today.

He said if Ms Bligh retained her South Brisbane seat, she should continue on as the member but resign as the party’s leader.

“She is the one who chose the ministers and if the Labor party goes down to a historic defeat tonight it’ll be because the electorate at large has found Anna Bligh accountable, because she never kept her ministers accountable,” Mr Mickel said.

“I’m talking about a series of issues that Anna Bligh did not hold ministers to account when she should have.”

Mr Mickel, a former Labor minister, said one of the issues was the Queensland Health payroll debacle, which happened under former health minister Stephen Robertson, who is also retiring.

— Hat tip: The Observer

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Australia Deports ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Rapist Back to UK 13 Years After Brutal Attack and Yet We Continue to Dither Over Kicking Out Qatada

Violent rapist has been deported back to Britain, even though he has lived in Australia since 1967 and no longer has family or any other connections here.

Leslie Cunliffe, 67, known as the ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ rapist, spent 12 years in prison for the abduction and rape of a young woman he kept locked in a homemade dungeon.

He arrived at Heathrow on Thursday after the Australian authorities revoked his visa and put him on a plane.

The resolve of the Australians contrasts starkly with the impotence of our Government in the case of hate preacher Abu Qatada, whom the Government wants to deport to Jordan but cannot because of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

— Hat tip: JD

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Gallipoli Anniversary Could Divide Australia, Federal Government Warned

THE Federal Government has been warned that celebrating the centenary of Anzac Day could provoke division in multicultural Australia — and told there were “risks” in honouring our fallen soldiers.

The centenary is a “double-edged sword” and a “potential area of divisiveness” because of multiculturalism, a taxpayer-funded report has found.

Bureaucrats spent almost $370,000 for focus-group testing and a research paper used by the Government to guide 2015 commemoration plans, which listed multiculturalism under “risks and issues” that should be considered to avoid “unexpected negative complications.”

The report also called on organisers to avoid any reference to current military action because they are “unpopular with young people”.

The paper states: “Commemorating our military history in a multicultural society is something of a double-edged sword.

“While the 100th anniversaries are thought to provide some opportunity for creating a greater sense of unity, it is also recognised as a potential area of divisiveness.

“There are strong views either way in terms of how to recognise any ‘non Australian’ military service of those who now live here.”

— Hat tip: Nilk

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James Cameron Set for a Mariana Trench Sequel

Hollywood director James Cameron is sinking to new depths this week. As soon as stormy weather over the Pacific island of Guam clears, he will attempt to dive to the bottom of the nearby Mariana Trench in a one-man, titanium sphere he designed with Australian engineer Ron Allum.

If successful, he’ll be the first person to reach the deepest known place on Earth since Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in 1960. Others may try to repeat the 10,994m descent soon, though. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire, is backing a mission in a plexiglass sub that looks like an aeroplane. Two other teams, a Florida company called Triton and Google’s DOER sub are also hoping to make the trip soon.

Cameron will be filming the trench in 3D — possibly for use in the movie Avatar 2 — and he also hopes to collect sediments and a few creatures for analysis.

Submarine technology has come a long way since Piccard and Walsh did their dive. When their craft — the bathyscaphe Trieste — landed on the bottom, it inadvertently threw up a thick cloud of silt that blocked their view. Cameron’s one-man submarine, Deepsea Challenger, is designed to hover just above the bottom to avoid a repeat. It will send out little rovers with cameras and snatchers.

The beauty of deep-sea diving craft, says Paul Tyler at the University of Southampton, UK, is how selective they can be. Rather than trawling to collect samples, craft such as Cameron’s can reach out and grab species straight from the water.

Tyler expects it will pick up critters like sea cucumbers and squishy shrimp-like animals called amphipods.”But generally, animal groups tend to decrease [in abundance] as you go down,” he says. At over 1000 atmospheres of pressure — double that found on the 3000 to 6000-metre-deep abyssal plains that form most of the ocean floor — “there will be no animals with air, no fish with bladders: everything will be solid water and tissue.”

Although Cameron’s mission is the first crewed dive for 52 years, the Mariana Trench isn’t exactly unexplored territory, says Alan Jamieson of the University of Aberdeen, UK. “Just because a human hasn’t been there doesn’t mean it hasn’t been explored,” he says. In 2009, for example, a robot submarine named Nereus made the trip, taking photos and collecting samples for researchers to sift through.

Despite the focus on the Mariana Trench, it is just one of five spots in the Pacific Ocean that are more than 10,000 metres deep. All are isolated from one another and probably contain very different organisms and geology. The Branson-backed project aims to explore these other trenches as well, and Jamieson says there is an argument to be made for even more trench exploration: “A scientific survey of Everest isn’t the same as a scientific survey of Kilimanjaro.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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A Pirate’s Prison Tucked Inside Seychelles Paradise

A rare visit to a location deep inside the tropical forest of Mahé, in the Seychelles archipelago, where a prison has been established to hold the captured Somali pirates wreaking havoc in the Indian Ocean. Once captured — and land-locked — the pirates change their ways.

By Paolo Colonnello

Along the granite mountain covered by tropical vegetation, the steep path leads to a courtyard surrounded by three warehouses and a light grey building overlooking the sea. All around this one sqaure-kilometer facility are tall wire fences, watchtowers, and armed men. Welcome to the pirate prison of Mahé, where sea-faring criminals are being held in the middle of the forest of the Seychelles islands.

When we arrived, the accused Somali pirates — Jahamal, Shaif, Mohamed, each in their early 20s — were eating lunch. They wore blue detainee uniforms. “But we are all fishermen,” they said with a laugh. These young men have been convicted without even know their sentences.

Maxim Tirent, the 56-year-old French-born director of the prison, explains that the inmates have been brought here from all over the Indian Ocean. “By now, there are too many,” he says. “Once they are identified with pictures and fingerprints, some are just waiting to be repatriated.”

The most recent arrivals were seized three weeks ago by a British Navy frigate, which left them on the island. “When they are at sea, they are fearless and arrogant, but here they behave well,” explains Tirent. “They are submissive and quiet. They spend their days working to fix the streets, or praying. They’ve never caused any troubles.”

Currently, the prison holds some 500 detainees, including many accused of drug-related crimes. Among the total prison population, there are currently 88 wanted for acts of piracy, many from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The Seychelles has become a strategic international outpost against rising piracy in the Indian Ocean. It is the hidden side of this tropical haven, which is beloved by tourists for its natural preserves and beautiful beaches.

Piracy has become a scourge for international commercial interests. Salvatore Puma, the Italian general manager of the exclusive resort Constance Ephelia of Mahé, said that during last Christmas vacation the local hotels “could not serve fish, because the fishermen refused to go out to sea, too afraid of being attacked.”…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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UK: Ministers Plan Major Immigration Crackdown

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is planning a major immigration crackdown on tens of thousands of people who “abuse” family visas to settle in Britain, according to a leaked cabinet letter.

The letter from Mrs May to Nick Clegg, which has been seen by The Sunday Telegraph, proposes a tough new minimum income of £25,700 a year for anyone seeking to bring a spouse, partner or dependant to the UK from outside the European Union from June — almost double the current threshold of £13,700.

The minimum income would rise dramatically — up to £62,600 — if children are also brought in.

Mrs May also wants a longer probationary period of five years before spouses and partners can apply to live permanently in Britain, and a higher level of English to be required.

The proposals could cut the number of immigrants allowed in by 15,000 a year — a significant step towards the Government’s aim of reducing “net” migration to 100,000 people each year.

However, they are expected to fought hard by Mr Clegg and other Liberal Democrat ministers, escalating still further the tensions between the two Coalition partners that have risen dramatically since last week’s controversial Budget…

— Hat tip: Nick

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Oregon: “Wrongful Birth” Of Down Syndrome Child

An Oregon jury awarded nearly US$3 million to a couple whose daughter was born with Down syndrome after doctors had reassured them that the baby would be normal. They alleged that it had been a “wrongful birth” because had they known that the baby would be handicapped, they would have aborted her. A number of studies have shown that at least 90% of women who learn that they are pregnant with a Down syndrome child have an abortion.

The baby was born in 2007. The couple, Ariel and Deborah Levy, say that the $3 million will be needed to care for their daughter’s medical and social needs over her lifetime. The case was so controversial that the judge banned publication of photos of the Levys.

Bioethicist Art Caplan commented that the case showed the need for legal reform to cope with mistakes in genetic testing:

“Wrongful birth lawsuits are a horrible way to deal with failed prenatal testing. Forcing parents to argue that their child never should have been born may make legal sense but it is morally absurd. Why ask parents to reject the existence of their own child? Who can really put a value on a life that some argue in court ought not exist?

“There is no reason to permit wrongful birth or wrongful life cases. When a mistake is alleged about genetic testing there ought to be some sort of no-fault insurance scheme under the supervision of neutral mediators, not a courtroom slugfest that demeans the value of a life with disability and reeks of eugenics.”

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Nokia is Looking Into Haptic Tattoos to Help You Feel Who’s Calling

Not satisfied with just getting its own flavor of slide-to-unlock patented, Nokia wants to take haptic feedback to a level you haven’t previously encountered. Haptic tech is employed, for example, when your phone vibrates as you type on its touchscreen. Haptics deal with appealing to your sense of touch by applying forces or vibrations to your skin. Which is exactly what Nokia wants to do, proposing the application of tattoos with ferromagnetic inks, that will vibrate based on commands from your phone.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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‘Warp-Speed’ Planets Flung Out of Galaxy on Wild Ride

Planets in tight orbits around stars that get ejected from our galaxy may actually themselves be tossed out of the Milky Way at blisteringly fast speeds of up to 30 million miles per hour, or a fraction of the speed of light, a new study finds.

“These warp-speed planets would be some of the fastest objects in the galaxy, aside from photons and particles like cosmic rays,” said Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. “In terms of large, solid objects, they would be the fastest. It would take them 10 seconds or so to cross the diameter of the Earth.”

In 2005, astronomers found evidence of a runaway star that was flying out of the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of 1.5 million mph (2.4 million kph). This hypervelocity star was part of a double-star system that wandered too close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

The strong gravitational pull at the galactic center ripped the stars apart, sending one hurtling through space at high speeds, while capturing the other to stay in orbit around the massive black hole.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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	Financial Crisis
»	Central Banking Was Responsible for 2008 Meltdown — Nothing Else
»	Greece to Revive Economy by Exporting Sun
»	Italy: CGIL Announces 16 Hours of Strikes Against Labour Reform
	USA
»	Feeding the Homeless Banned in Major Cities All Over America
»	Scientists Vow to Fight Cuts in NASA’s Planetary Science
»	Silence of the Lapdogs
»	‘We Have a Duty to Prepare for the Worst’: Peter King Warns Iran Has ‘Hundreds’ of Hezbollah Agents in the U.S.
	Europe and the EU
»	France: Tolouse: Joint Jewish-Muslim March Cancelled
»	Italy: Telecom Italia in ‘False SIM Card’ Probe
»	Mohamed Merah and the Secret Services: A Serial Killer Under Observation
»	Mohamed Merah — Man of the West
»	Murders in Toulouse: Authorities Helpless to Prevent Lone Wolf Attacks
»	Ox Carts and No Coffee: Building a Monastery the Medieval Way
»	Pattern Master Wins Million-Dollar Mathematics Prize
»	Spain: Spring Brings Snow on the Peninsula’s Centre-South
»	‘Stoning Will Happen in UK Too if Sharia Allowed’
»	Sweden’s Jewish Leaders Have Attacked Malmö’s Mayor Reepalu
»	Swedish Parliament Passes Controversial Data Storage Bill
»	The A380 and the Aviation Engineering Dilemma
»	Toulouse: Italy Arab Communities: Dialogue Must Go on
»	UK: Bullfinch Update: 13th Man Arrested
	Balkans
»	After Kosovo Independence, Albanians Call for Unification
»	Bosnia: President Izetbegovic: EU Accession Request in June
	North Africa
»	Abducted Eritreans Held in Sinai as Relatives Scramble to Find Ransom
	Israel and the Palestinians
»	Donors Urged to Help Palestinians
»	Fears of Anti-Semitism: More and More French Jews Emigrating to Israel
	Middle East
»	Alevi Turks Concerned for Alawi ‘Cousins’ In Syria
»	Saudi Arabia: Grand Mufti: All Churches on the Arabian Peninsula Should be Destroyed
»	Stakelbeck: Real Roots of Iranian Regime’s Israel Hatred/Analysis
	South Asia
»	Emerging India Has More Cell Phones Than Toilets
»	India Bans Its Airlines From Paying EU Carbon Tax
»	Women in Pakistan Face the Brunt of Honor Killings
	Far East
»	Boom in Asian Patent Filings Continues
»	China’s Monopoly on Rare Earths May Soon be Broken
	Sub-Saharan Africa
»	Africa’s Belt of Misery: Religion and Climate Change Fuel Chaos in Sahel
»	First Madagascar Settlers May Have Been Indonesian
	Culture Wars
»	Dutch Group Pioneers Mobile Euthanasia
	General
»	Mercury Surprises: Tiny Planet Has Strange Innards and Active Past

Central Banking Was Responsible for 2008 Meltdown — Nothing Else

Free-Market Analysis: Following the 2008 global economic crash on an almost day-to-day basis, as we have, we’ve regularly made the argument that it was caused by central banking monetary inflation and that its result is bound to be the eventual demise of the dollar reserve system.

We believe we’re being proven correct on both points. We’ve also pointed out that the crash itself was predictable and that the top elites that put this global central banking system in place know full well that cyclically it creates crashes, recessions and now depressions.

But, of course, there is plenty of pushback. Seems everybody has an opinion about what caused the 2008 crash. And most of these opinions, played out in the mainstream media, are focused eagerly on causes that have nothing to do with central banking.

In other words, these theories are PROTECTIVE of central banking and the damage that monetary stimulation can do. Inevitably, when we read these theories we tend to notice that those advancing them are apologists for the system as it is. The system of monopoly fiat. The system that crashes regularly and ruins people’s lives as part of its foundering.

This article, a long one (excerpt above), posted at Reuters goes into incredible detail about an obscure rule change that the SEC allowed in 2004. This supposedly allowed big banks to increase leverage that led to the crash. The article sets out to disprove it.

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Greece to Revive Economy by Exporting Sun

Greece is poised to boost its economy by exporting solar power to big markets like Germany, taking advantage of an EU goal that requires member states to produce 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Italy: CGIL Announces 16 Hours of Strikes Against Labour Reform

Italy’s biggest union opposed to ‘easy firing’

(see related story) (ANSA) — Rome, March 21 — Italy’s biggest trade union, the leftwing CGIL, said Wednesday that it will hold 16 hours of strikes against the government’s planned labour-market reforms, which include moves to make it easier for firms to dismiss staff.

CGIL chief Susanna Camusso has said her union will do “everything necessary” to stop the package, which has won broad backing from the country’s business associations and more moderate trade unions.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Feeding the Homeless Banned in Major Cities All Over America

What would you do if you came across someone on the street that had not had anything to eat for several days? Would you give that person some food? Well, the next time you get that impulse you might want to check if it is still legal to feed the homeless where you live. Sadly, feeding the homeless has been banned in major cities all over America. Other cities that have not banned it outright have put so many requirements on those that want to feed the homeless (acquiring expensive permits, taking food preparation courses, etc.) that feeding the homeless has become “out of reach” for most average people. Some cities are doing these things because they are concerned about the “health risks” of the food being distributed by ordinary “do-gooders”. Other cities are passing these laws because they do not want homeless people congregating in city centers where they know that they will be fed. But at a time when poverty and government dependence are soaring to unprecedented le vels, is it really a good idea to ban people from helping those that are hurting?

This is just another example that shows that our country is being taken over by control freaks. There seems to be this idea out there that it is the job of the government to take care of everyone and that nobody else should even try.

But do we really want to have a nation where you have to get the permission of the government before you do good to your fellow man?

It isn’t as if the government has “rescued” these homeless people. Homeless shelters all over the nation are turning people away each night because they have no more room. There are many homeless people that are lucky just to make it through each night alive during the winter.

Sometimes a well-timed sandwich or a cup of warm soup can make a world of difference for a homeless person. But many U.S. cities have decided that feeding the homeless is such a threat that they had better devote law enforcement resources to making sure that it doesn’t happen.

This is so twisted. In America today, you need a “permit” to do almost anything. We are supposed to be a land of liberty and freedom, but these days government bureaucrats have turned our rights into “privileges” that they can revoke at any time.

The following are some of the major U.S. cities that have attempted to ban feeding the homeless…

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Scientists Vow to Fight Cuts in NASA’s Planetary Science

Angry space scientists have launched a call to action to restore NASA’s planetary science budget — a rallying cry to push back on President Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2013 budget for NASA.

That budget calls for deep cuts to the nation’s planetary science program, a drop of more than 20 percent. The reduction in NASA’s planetary budget by $309 million includes cutting the Mars exploration program by $130 million.

Some 2,000 space researchers and luminaries are attending the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference here, and they are not happy.

“Part of the reason that planetary (science) got ‘whacked’ … is because the planetary community is perceived in certain powerful circles as being weak,” said Andrew Chaikin, a veteran science journalist, space historian and author. “We have to come together and show them you’re not weak,” he said before a town hall gathering of disgruntled space scientists. “We have to come together and respond in a sustained way to chart our own course,” Chaikin said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Silence of the Lapdogs

by Diana West

Warning: This column contains news of evidence of possible forgery and fraud in the long-form birth certificate of the president of the United States and — bonus — his Selective Service registration card.

I figure the warning is necessary to prevent Americans, particularly Americans who work in news media and politics, from hurting themselves on any hard, sharp facts that might poke through my discussion of what is surely the biggest scandal to emerge around the seemingly dodgy docs Barack Obama is using to verify his identity.

I refer to the logic- and history-defying news and political blackout of the March 1 press conference called in Maricopa County, Ariz., by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse.

I ask you: Have you read in your local paper about the technical evidence that led the posse’s three retired criminal investigators and two attorneys to conclude that the birth certificate image White House officials uploaded at the White House website on April 27, 2011, did not originate in a paper format, but rather was created (forged) as an electronic file on a computer?

Have you seen on network or cable news the video clip (one of six posse videos at YouTube) re-creating exactly how an additional fraud might have been committed to forge the president’s Selective Service registration card? Heard even conservative talk radio discussing the posse’s discovery that immigration files in the National Archives recording overseas arrivals into Hawaii are missing from the week of Obama’s 1961 birthday? Or about the retired mailman’s affidavit attesting that the mother of ex-Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers enthusiastically told him that she helped with “foreign student” Barack Obama’s education?

I know my ears pricked up when, watching the posse’s press conference online, I heard lead investigator Michael Zullo explain that the 1961 Hawaiian newspaper listings of Barack Obama’s birth confirm nothing because the posse “can prove beyond a doubt” that these newspapers announced arrivals of foreign babies as well as native-born. Zullo also announced the posse had “documented evidence of two adopted individuals who were breathing three years prior” and were similarly listed as newborn infants. Heard anything about that?

I know the answer. You have read, seen and heard nothing — and certainly not a peep from any representatives in Congress. The unique exception seems to be poor Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, whose mere mentions (better than nothing) of “examining the evidence” get him insta-hammered by the media and White House alike. Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, one of the presenters of the birth certificate at the White House last spring, actually had the gall to call into question via tweet Stearns’ fitness to conduct congressional investigations into the Obama administration’s decision to funnel $535 million into Solyndra, the bankrupt solar company. Why? Because Stearns dared to express interest in evidence amassed by veteran law enforcement professionals under Arpaio, himself a 30-year federal law-enforcement official and five-time-elected sheriff.

“1984?-style, we mustn’t question. We mustn’t look. We certainly mustn’t look at questions that cross the narrative of authority. What are we, free people?…

— Hat tip: Diana West

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‘We Have a Duty to Prepare for the Worst’: Peter King Warns Iran Has ‘Hundreds’ of Hezbollah Agents in the U.S.

‘As Iran moves closer to nuclear weapons and there is increasing concern over war between Iran and Israel, we must also focus on Iran’s secret operatives and their number one terrorist proxy force, Hezbollah, which we know is in America. That’s right, we know Hezbollah operatives are here.

[…]

King warned that there were hundreds — at a minimum — of Hezbollah operatives in the United States, including 84 Iranian diplomats at the United Nations and in Washington who, ‘it must be presumed, are intelligence officers.’

[Note from Egghead: I rest my case.]

— Hat tip: Egghead

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France: Tolouse: Joint Jewish-Muslim March Cancelled

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 21 — The joint Jewish-Muslim march scheduled for Sunday in Paris, organized in memory of the victims of the Toulose and Montauban serial killer, who killed seven people in the last days was cancelled, as the Chairman of the Representative Council of the Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) Richard Prasquier announced. “It has no more reason to take place”, Prasquier specified, according to what the French media reported.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Telecom Italia in ‘False SIM Card’ Probe

Ninety-nine employees investigated, including management

(ANSA) — Milan, March 21 — Ninety-nine Telecom Italia employees and managers are being probed for the alleged activation of falsified SIM cards and related criminal association from 2005 to 2007, said Milan investigators Wednesday.

Police searched the company’s headquarters Wednesday and Telecom Italia CEO Marco Patuano, as legal representative of the telecommunications giant, was served investigation notification, though the probe predates his position at the helm.

Investigators allege that the SIM scam could have inflated 2008 profit statements by as much as 231 million euros.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Mohamed Merah and the Secret Services: A Serial Killer Under Observation

A debate is beginning in France over possible failures of the country’s security and intelligence agencies. Prior to his killing spree, Mohamed Merah had been placed on a government list of radical Islamist fundamentalists. And there were even clues leading to his mother after the first murder. Could authorities have acted sooner?

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Mohamed Merah — Man of the West

by Caroline Glick

The massacre of Jewish children at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school in Toulouse presents us with an appalling encapsulation of the depraved nature of our times — although at first glance, the opposite seems to be the case.

On the surface, the situation was cut and dry. A murderer drove up to a Jewish school and executed three children and a teacher.

Led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, all of France decried the massacre and announced its solidarity with the French Jewish community. World leaders condemned the crime. The killer died in a standoff with French security forces. Justice was served. Case closed.

But dig a little deeper and it becomes clear that justice has not been served…

— Hat tip: Caroline Glick

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Murders in Toulouse: Authorities Helpless to Prevent Lone Wolf Attacks

A man like Mohammed Merah is Western law enforcement’s worst nightmare. The suspected perpetrator of the Toulouse attacks fits into the “lone wolf” category of terrorist. Such individuals claim to be part of organizations like al-Qaida but act on their own initiative — making them hard to detect before they act.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Ox Carts and No Coffee: Building a Monastery the Medieval Way

Historians, architects, archaeologists and volunteers in Germany are teaming up to build a medieval monastery the old-fashioned way. Working conditions will be strictly 9th-century, without machines, rain jackets or even coffee. It will take decades, but they hope to garner fresh insights into everyday life in the 800s.

What did a medieval stonemason do when heavy rainfall interrupted his work? Umbrellas are impractical at construction sites. Gore-Tex jackets weren’t yet invented, nor were plastic rain jackets. “He donned a jacket made of felted loden cloth,” says Bert Geurten, the man who plans to build an authentic monastery town the old-fashioned way.

Felted loden jackets will also be present on rainy days at Geurten’s building site, which is located near Messkirch, in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, between the Danube River and Lake Constance. Beginning in 2013, a Carolingian monastery town will be built here using only the materials and techniques of the 9th century. From the mortar to the walls, the rain jackets to the menu, every aspect of the operation will be carried out as just as it was in the days of Charlemagne. “We want to work as authentically as possible,” says Geurten.

The building contractor from the Rhineland region has long dreamt of carrying out his plan. When he was a teenager, the now 62-year-old was inspired by a model of the St. Gallen monastery plan in an exhibition in his home city of Aachen. The plan, dating from the beginning of the 9th century, shows the ideal monastery, as envisioned by Abbot Haito of Reichenau.

Haito dedicated his drawing to his colleague Abbot Gozbert of St. Gall, who presided over the monastery from 816 to 837. He meticulously recorded everything that he believed was necessary for a monastic city, from a chicken coop to a church for 2,000 worshipers. Altogether he envisaged 52 buildings — but they were never built. That will change in spring 2013, though, when ox-pulled carts wil begin carrying the first stones to the building site in the forest near Messkirch. It won’t be finished until about 2050, according to estimates.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Pattern Master Wins Million-Dollar Mathematics Prize

Imagine I present you with a line of cards labelled 1 through to n, where n is some incredibly large number. I ask you to remove a certain number of cards — which ones you choose is up to you, inevitably leaving ugly random gaps in my carefully ordered sequence. It might seem as if all order must now be lost, but in fact no matter which cards you pick, I can always identify a surprisingly ordered pattern in the numbers that remain.

As a magic trick it might not equal sawing a woman in half, but mathematically proving that it is always possible to find a pattern in such a scenario is one of the feats that today garnered Endre Szemerédi mathematics’ prestigious Abel prize.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo awarded Szemerédi the one million dollar prize today for “fundamental contributions to discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science”. His specialty was combinatorics, a field that deals with the different ways of counting and rearranging discrete objects, whether they be numbers or playing cards.

The trick described above is a direct result of what is known as Szemerédi’s theorem, a piece of mathematics that answered a question first posed by the mathematicians Paul Erdos and Pál Turán in 1936 and that had remained unsolved for nearly 40 years.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Spain: Spring Brings Snow on the Peninsula’s Centre-South

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, 21 MARCH — >From the recent weeks’ drought and high temperatures to snow: on the first day of spring, Spain and the capital Madrid woke up beneath a thin white layer during the morning hours. Low temperatures and snowfalls, unusual in this period of the year, caused the imposition of an “orange” and “yellow” (medium) danger code on over 30 Spanish provinces, as the State Weather Broadcasting Agency informed, and the use of snow chains for road circulation on the streets of Teruel, Granada, Jaen, Murcia and Castellon, in Central and south-east Spain, involving the provinces of La Rioja, Guadalajara (Castilla-La Mancha), Avila, Burgos, Segovia, Palencia, Soria and Valladolid, in Castilla y Leon. In the Valencia Community, car boxes, parks and basements were flooded due to heavy showers and rain, causing floods and tens of calls to emergency services.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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‘Stoning Will Happen in UK Too if Sharia Allowed’

London: Brutal punishments like whipping and stoning could become widespread in Britain if Islamic Sharia law is allowed to thrive, a member of the House of Lords has warned. Baroness Cox said a growing number of British Muslims are shunning the official court system in favour of Sharia councils to settle legal disputes. She told a House of Lords conference this could even lead to the destruction of democracy and fuel support for far-right groups like the British National Party, the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.

Baroness Cox has been one of the most outspoken campaigners against the growth of Islamic law in Britain. British Muslims have been able to turn to Sharia courts since 1982. A study estimated that at least 85 Islamic sharia courts were operating in Britain. The figure surprised many as it was 17 times higher than previously accepted. Sharia law courts are run by the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, a body whose rulings are enforced through the state courts under the 1996 Arbitration Act.

— Hat tip: JP

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Sweden’s Jewish Leaders Have Attacked Malmö’s Mayor Reepalu

[Translated from the Swedish by Freedom Fighter]

[Comment by FF: Many Jews in Sweden consider Reepalu’s statements as Nazi-like, comparable to Social Democratic statements from WWII]

In a letter to the Social Democratic chairman Stefan Löfven the Swedens Jewish Central Council has attacked Malmö’s Social Democratic Mayor Ilmar Reepalu (S) in Malmo and his allegations in the magazine Neo that the Jewish Community of Malmö has been infiltrated by the Sweden Democrats.

The Council took issue with Reepalu about the statement across all borders having previously given the Jews themselves the blame for the threats, violence and harassment they face. Reepalu himself has already backed off the statement.

— Hat tip: Freedom Fighter

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Swedish Parliament Passes Controversial Data Storage Bill

Sweden’s parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted through an EU-backed law obliging telecom and Internet operators to store data traffic information for at least six months. The proposal passed with 233 in favour, 41 opposed and 19 abstentions, the TT news agency said.

The new law, which will take effect May 1, requires all operators to store information on subscribers, including who they contact by phone or over the Internet, how long the conversation lasts and their location at the time, for at least six months. However, the contents of the communications will not be stored.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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The A380 and the Aviation Engineering Dilemma

To reduce fuel consumption, Airbus used extremely lightweight materials in its flagship A380. Now cracks have appeared in the wings, and repairs will cost the company hundreds of millions of euros. The problem highlights the engineering dilemma caused by the industry drive for fuel efficiency.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Toulouse: Italy Arab Communities: Dialogue Must Go on

“We are horrified, Islam nothing to do with crazy fanatic”

The organisation Arab World Communities in Italy (COMAI) has expressed its horror at recent events in Toulouse and has called for short-cuts and generalisations assimilating Islam and the acts of a “criminal fanatic” to be avoided.

“Unfortunately, fanaticism is a phenomenon that concerns all religions, and episodes such as those in Toulouse risk taking backwards a form of dialogue that is in fact increasingly necessary,” Foad Aodi, the president of COMAI and of the Association of Foreign Doctors in Italy, has told ANSAmed.

“It is at moments like this that we must strengthen the links that unite us, overcoming prejudice and stereotypes,” he explained. “The great challenge that we face is to show how Islam can co-exist with democracy and that the two are not incompatible terms,” he added. As a result, “moderate Muslims should be supported in their battle. It is not right or fair to evoke the Palestinian question to justify the murder of innocent Jewish children”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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UK: Bullfinch Update: 13th Man Arrested

ANOTHER man has been arrested this afternoon as detectives in Oxford continue to investigate allegations of a child sex exploitation ring in the city involving 11-year-old girls.

The man was arrested just after 1pm and a total of 13 men have now been arrested in Oxford today as part of Operation Bullfinch.

More than 140 police officers have today been involved in the operation which centres on 24 girls from Oxford aged between 11 and 16.

All of those arrested, who are suspected of crimes including causing prostitution of girls under the age of 18, rape and administering drugs with intent to commit rape, are still in police custody.

They are expected to be questioned by detectives until 10.30pm this evening, when some could be released on police bail…

— Hat tip: Nick

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After Kosovo Independence, Albanians Call for Unification

Belgrade, 20 March (AKI) — Four years after Kosovo ethnic Albanians declared independence from Serbia, their co-nationals in other Balkan countries have stepped up a drive for unification with Albania proper, local media reported on Tuesday.

Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci said last week “it would be the best for Albanians to live in one state, if there were any border changes in the Balkans”. He was reacting to the demands by Serbs in northern Kosovo, who oppose independence, to remain a part of Serbia.

Over the past four years, Pristina and Tirana have practically eliminated border between Albania and Kosovo, issued joint school textbooks and agreed and joint consular representation abroad “to cut down costs”.

“Albanians should feel the same in Tirana and Pristina,” Albanian prime minister Sali Berisha told media. On Tuesday, Menduh Thaci, a leader of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, who make 25 per cent of the country’s two million population, joined the call for unification with Tirana and the creation of “Greater Albania”, which would be a home to all Albanians living in the Balkans.

“Macedonia is an artificial creation” and all Albanians, living in Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece should have the right to live in one state and unite with Tirana, Thaci told Tirana television “Ora news”.

Western powers, which were instrumental in supporting Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, oppose the creation of “Greater Albania” and local Balkan leaders have warned the move would destabilize the entire region.

But the latest surveys showed that 63 per cent of Albanian citizens favored unification, as well as 81 per cent of Albanians in Kosovo and 53 per cent in Macedonia.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Bosnia: President Izetbegovic: EU Accession Request in June

Agreement in country over European integration

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 21 — Bosnia Herzegovina will officially ask to enter the European Union “in June this year”, the leader of the tripartite Bosnian presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, has said in Brussels today. The President was speaking after his meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

“We would like to present a credible request in June this year,” Izetbegovic said. “In the next three months, the issue will be resolved politically, and perhaps six months of parliamentary procedures will follow, but I hope that the EU’s leaders will not await these procedures”. Speaking on his first official visit to Brussels, Izetbegovic was keen to send out a message. “This is the most important place for Bosnia Herzegovina,” he said.

After 15 months of political stagnation, the country “for the first time has an internal agreement that is not the result of international pressure,” the President commented. “There is agreement in Bosnia on the importance of integrating the EU and I believe that in 10 years we will be part of this process”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Abducted Eritreans Held in Sinai as Relatives Scramble to Find Ransom

Hostages from Eritrea and other countries are being held for ransom in the Sinai desert. The European parliament has called on Egypt to stamp out the practice and investigate ‘murders, tortures and rapes.’

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Donors Urged to Help Palestinians

(BRUSSELS) — Donor nations were under new pressure Wednesday to honour a $1 billion aid pledge to the Palestinians, as the prime minister warned that a fiscal crisis was threatening the government. Salam Fayyad called for a “greater effort” to help the Palestinian Authority bridge a budget gap, stressing that its ability to provide services to its people and “continue to function… has been impaired already.”

“The viability of the Palestinian Authority before we even become a state is really at stake, and it’s in a great deal of jeopardy,” Fayyad told reporters after a meeting of donor countries in Brussels.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who chairs the so-called Ad Hoc Liaison Committee of donor nations, called on countries to redouble their efforts.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Fears of Anti-Semitism: More and More French Jews Emigrating to Israel

More and more French Jews are buying homes in Israel amid fears of rising anti-Semitism in France. Many complain of being harrassed in public and feel the country is no longer a safe place to raise their children. In the wake of the Toulouse attacks, the wave of emigration is only likely to increase.

Many must have been reminded of the treatment of Jews under the Third Reich. Shortly after the attack on a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse on Monday, school principals in the city walked into classrooms and asked the Jewish pupils to come forward. “We ask you to leave the class and join the other Jewish children, who are in a locked and safe location.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Alevi Turks Concerned for Alawi ‘Cousins’ In Syria

While the Turkish government is at the forefront of condemning the brutal crackdown on dissent in Damascus, a different perspective can be found among the nation’s large Alevi minority. It feels ties to Syria’s Alawites.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Saudi Arabia: Grand Mufti: All Churches on the Arabian Peninsula Should be Destroyed

Sheikf Abdul responds to an organization on the Kuwaiti ban on building new churches in the country. For the religious leaders only one religion on the Arabian Peninsula. The fear of the Christians and the silence of Western countries.

Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) — All the churches located on the Arabian Peninsula must be destroyed. This is the opinion expressed by Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority, Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, in response to the request of the delegation of a Kuwaiti nongovernmental organization, the Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage. The delegation wanted a clarification on the basis of Islamic law with regard to the proposal made by the Parliamentary Assembly of Kuwait, to prohibit the construction of new churches in the country. A proposal not accepted by Parliament.

The Grand Mufti, who is also head of the Saudi Supreme Council of Islamic Scholars replied by quoting the prophet Mohammed, according to which only one religion should exist on the Arabian Peninsula. As part of the Peninsula, the conclusion of the Grand Mufti Kuwait must destroy all the churches in its territory.

The response of the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia — where there are no churches, although there are at least a million Christians — supersedes the proposal of the Kuwaiti parliamentarian, Osama al-Munawar, according to whom existing churches could stay, but the construction of new buildings of religions other than Muslim should be prohibited.

The statement of the Saudi Grand Mufti was greeted with concern by Christians living in Arab countries and has caused mixed reactions in the media of the Middle East. But it has practically been ignored in Europe where March 19 a report on intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe was released, which certifies hundreds of cases on the Old Continent in 2011.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Stakelbeck: Real Roots of Iranian Regime’s Israel Hatred/Analysis

My new report examines the roots of the Iranian regime’s genocidal push to wipe Israel from the map. Why do Ahmadenijad and the mullahs believe what they believe? Needless to say, it goes much deeper than the conventional, mainstream media reasoning.

Click the link above to watch my report and learn more.

— Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck

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Emerging India Has More Cell Phones Than Toilets

Recent census data in India revealed that more homes have telephones than toilets. The figures shed light on the contradictions in a country that is experiencing an economic boom while struggling with poverty.

For the past seven years, Malika Behan, a domestic help in Delhi, and her relatives have lined up religiously in front of a crowded public toilet next to their one-room structure to perform their morning ablutions. She is one of the lucky ones.

There are thousands of others who have no option but to head out to the open fields or alongside the railway tracks to relieve themselves. Even in the capital New Delhi, it is common to see people squatting by roads and openly defecating because there are simply no adequate public toilet facilities.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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India Bans Its Airlines From Paying EU Carbon Tax

India has barred its airlines from complying with the European Union carbon tax scheme, joining China in resistance to plans that have caused a backlash among the EU’s trade partners.

The European Union imposed a carbon levy on air travel with effect from January 1, but no airline will face a bill until 2013 after this year’s carbon emissions have been tallied.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told parliament on Thursday that “the imposition of carbon tax does not arise” because Indian airlines would simply refuse to hand over their emissions data.

“Though the European Union has directed Indian carriers to submit emission details of their aircraft by March 31, 2012, no Indian carrier is submitting them in view of the position of the government,” he said.

India’s resolution to boycott the scheme follows China’s decision last month to prevent its airlines from complying with the EU directive. The two Asian giants have attacked the EU scheme, calling it a unilateral trade levy disguised as an attempt to fight climate change.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Women in Pakistan Face the Brunt of Honor Killings

According to a centuries-old custom in Pakistan, men and women are killed with a sense of righteous pride for allegedly establishing “illicit” relationships.

Honor killings in Pakistan are known as “Karo Kari” in Sindh province, “Kala Kali” in the Punjab, “Tor Tora” in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and “Siyahkari” in Balochistan. The terms are used for persons accused of indulging in adulterous or “immoral” behavior.

Traditionally, honor killings in Pakistan are not considered murder. They are accepted and recognized as a way of protecting family honor. Members of a certain clan or a family consciously decide to kill an allegedly adulterous or guilty individual and the perpetrators are backed by their families.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Boom in Asian Patent Filings Continues

The European Patent Office announced Friday a new all-time record of 244,000 patent filings in 2011 (+3.7%). While 38% of patent filings came from EU companies, Asian companies continued to gain ground, with their share rising to 33%, the US alone accounted for 24% and Germany for 14% of applications.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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China’s Monopoly on Rare Earths May Soon be Broken

It’s a rare fight. The US, Europe and Japan have lodged a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over China’s export of rare earths — or lack of it. China produces 95 per cent of the global supply of the 17 metals, which are used in technologies from cellphones to wind turbines, but it has set up quotas restricting exports.

Despite their name, rare earths can be mined on most continents, although the cost of extraction has been too high to be economical. China’s quotas may have helped push up demand — and prices — enough to make extraction cost-effective. Several companies are now starting to extract rare earths outside China.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Africa’s Belt of Misery: Religion and Climate Change Fuel Chaos in Sahel

Bloody conflicts in a band of Africa stretching from Senegal to Somalia are hampering efforts to bring progress to the troubled region. Muslims are increasingly pitted against Christians, and nomads against sedentary farmers. Matters are made worse by climate change and a flood of weapons.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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First Madagascar Settlers May Have Been Indonesian

Madagascar is a country of paradoxes. It lies just 400 kilometres off the coast of Africa yet appears to have been colonised only within the last 1500 years. Stranger still, it now looks as if most of the women in that first population came from Indonesia rather than Africa.

We know from language and culture that modern Malagasy have African and Indonesian ties. To identify Madagascar’s “founding mothers”, Murray Cox of Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and colleagues analysed mitochondrial DNA from 266 Malagasy and 2745 Indonesians. This mtDNA is inherited from mothers.

Their results suggest Madagascar’s initial population contained around 30 women of reproductive age, with roughly 93 per cent of their genes indicating ties to Indonesia. Such a small population suggests they may have colonised Madagascar after crossing the ocean by accident.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Dutch Group Pioneers Mobile Euthanasia

A pro-euthanasia lobbying group in the Netherlands has set up a suicide clinic and formed teams of doctors that make house calls to people who wish to die. Although euthanasia is legal in the country if certain conditions are met, critics say mobile suicide teams go too far.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Mercury Surprises: Tiny Planet Has Strange Innards and Active Past

The small, sun-scorched planet Mercury has an interior unlike that of any other rocky planet in our solar system and a surprisingly dynamic history, two new studies suggest.

Using observations from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft in orbit around Mercury, researchers have found that the planet’s huge iron core is even larger than they had thought, and it’s likely overlain with a solid shell of iron and sulfur — a layered structure not known to exist on Earth, Venus or Mars. And there’s more: Mercury appears to have remained geologically active for a surprisingly large chunk of its evolutionary history, researchers said.

“Many scientists expected Mercury, being a small planet only slightly larger than the moon, to have cooled off not long after it formed and to be essentially ‘dead’ for most of its evolution,” said Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead author of one of the new studies and a co-author on the other. “But it appears that Mercury had an exciting and active middle age.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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	Financial Crisis
»	Serbia: Balance of Payments Deficit Grows by 42.5% in 2011
	Europe and the EU
»	Dramatic Siege in Toulouse Suburb as Armed Police Surround Flat of ‘Islamic Warrior’ Who Broke Out of Taliban Jail in Afghanistan and Now Suspected of Being Serial Killer
»	France Shootings: Police Lay Siege to Toulouse Suspect
»	French Police Raid House for Suspects in Jewish School Attack; Officers Injured
»	Italy: CGIL Digs in Heels Against Labor Reform, Monti Says
»	Toulouse: Interior Minister Wants to Capture Killer Alive
»	U.S. Sent Suspect Back to France from Afghanistan, Prosecutor Says
»	UK: Ken Livingstone: Jews Won’t Vote Labour Because They Are Rich
»	UK: Ken Livingstone: What He Really Thinks About Jews
»	UK: The Letter to Ed Miliband From Jewish Labour Supporters
»	UN Tweet Partly Responsible for Toulouse Massacre?
»	Video: Eastern European Woman Warns America About Realities of Communism
	North Africa
»	Algeria: Imports Falling, Exports Up
	Israel and the Palestinians
»	France: Manhunt for Killer of the Children at Jewish School. Links to Al Qaeda
	Middle East
»	Bahrein: King: Continue With Reforms and Forget the Past
»	Stakelbeck on Terror Show: Why Israel Must Fight
»	Turkey: Expert: Iraq Overtakes Germany as Export Destination
	South Asia
»	India: Orissa Govt Sees No Urgency in Freeing Italians
»	India: ‘Patience Needed’ To Work Through ‘Legal Log Jam’

Serbia: Balance of Payments Deficit Grows by 42.5% in 2011

(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MARCH 20 — Serbia’s balance of payments deficit amounted to EUR 2.97 billion in 2011, growing by 42.5 percent in nominal terms compared to the year before, according to a magazine issued by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The increase in current account deficit is primarily due to the increased foreign trade and income deficits. The magazine says that 2012 is in for a larger current account deficit due to the completion of the investment cycle in the export-oriented sectors and to increased imports. Net inflow of foreign direct investment in 2011 amounted to EUR 1.83 billion, more by about EUR 1 billion when compared to the year before.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Dramatic Siege in Toulouse Suburb as Armed Police Surround Flat of ‘Islamic Warrior’ Who Broke Out of Taliban Jail in Afghanistan and Now Suspected of Being Serial Killer

A self-confessed Al Qaeda terrorist thought to have murdered seven people across south west France over the past two weeks was going to post footage of his crimes online today, he claimed.

Mohammed Mera, 24, told news channel France 24’s editor Ebba Kalondo at 1am this morning he had ‘filmed everything’ with a small video camera and ‘intended to put the videos online’.

But just two hours later more than 300 armed police dramatically raided his Toulouse home — where three officers were injured — and he is now cornered and under siege.

He has been described as ‘armed and dangerous’ with a cache including an Uzi machine gun and Kalashnikov assault rifle, with police saying he is likely to kill again.

It has also emerged he was being tracked by French security services ‘for years’ and had broken out of a jail in Kandahar, Afghanistan, as part of a mass Taliban escape in 2008.

Scroll down for video…

He said he is punishing France’s army for its foreign interventions and the plight of Palestinian children — and has promised to give himself up later today.

Suspected serial killer Mohammed Mera, who broke out of an Afghanistan jail in 2008 as part of a mass Taliban escape, once kidnapped another man, it has been reported.

A close family friend of the 24-year-old suspect told Le Parisien she knew him well while in the city’s Izards housing estate.

The woman, Laela, said: ‘He was well known to the police. Around two years ago he kidnapped a young person on the estate.

‘I remember that the mother of the boy in question was wandering around the estate trying to find him.

‘Finally, her son was freed. And I’m convinced then a complaint was lodged, and Mohammed was heard by investigating officers.’

Following the kidnapping, for which he was never charged, he is said to have ‘crossed the estate in combat gear, with a sword in his hand shouting ‘Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda!’.

Describing his family as ‘charming people’, Laela said: ‘His mother finally left after divorcing her husband.’

This family split, she said, may have contributed to his slip into anti-social behaviour. But the main reason was Islamic fundamentalism.

She said: ‘He was a normal kid who was radicalised. He had exchanges with people on the internet, but also frequently meant other Islamists in the region.

‘On the estate, he wanted to indoctrinated younger children. One day, for example, he grabbed my little nephew, and took him to a car where he showed him some horrible videos.

‘There were scenes of decapitation, things going on in Afghanistan, or images showing the horror of the war.’

He earlier threw a pistol from a window, in exchange for a ‘communication device’ — and police are now blowing entry points into the building in preparation for a raid.

The gunman shouted ‘I can see you!’ at police as they started the raid this morning, before opening fire. One officer was shot in the knee, another on the shoulder, and another in the chest.

But he was protected from serious injury by his bullet-proof vest.

The suspected serial killer is thought to have killed a Rabbi and three pupils at a Jewish school in the city on Monday, and to have assassinated three soldiers last week.

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the man, a French-Algerian who had made several visits to Afghanistan, was acting out of revenge for France’s military involvement in the country.

The man, who describes himself as an Islamic warrior, also wanted to take revenge for what he describes as the ‘murder’ of Palestinian children by Israeli forces.

‘He claims to be a Mujahideen and to belong to Al Qaeda,’ said Mr Gueant, who is at the scene of the tense stand-off.

‘He wanted revenge for the Palestinian children and he also wanted to take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions.’

Nearby, heavily armed police in bullet-proof vests and helmets cordoned off the area.

One local said he had spoken by phone to a couple who lived in the flat directly opposite the suspect. He said: ‘They are in their bedroom hiding under their bed, terrified.

‘Just after 3am they heard a commotion, the man shouted down to the police ‘I can see you!’ and began firing a gun. They don’t know the man well, but they said they just used to pass him on the stairwell.’

Near neighbour Julie Verdier, 24, said : ‘It is astonishing to know that he was next door. Maybe I passed him, maybe I said hello, it’s completely surreal.

The alleged killer was traced through his brother’s computer’s IP address after using it to set up a meeting with his first alleged victim, Imad Ibn Ziaten.

The 30-year-old parachutist was in plain clothes and standing by his motorbike when he was gunned down on Sunday, March 11.

‘Killer and victim had exchanged emails, with the killer using a false account,’ said an investigating source.

Police were also able to trace the gunman through his own bike — a Yamaha T-Max 530 scooter.

They found out where it had been sold, and learnt that the killer had asked how to underdo the tracking system of the vehicle — meaning it could not be traced.

There had also been attempts by the killer to disguise the bike by changing the colour and altering distinctive features.

The suspect was known to the DCRI intelligence unit (Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence).

‘He’s a maniac. I was thinking he was more likely to come from a rougher area than a bourgeois neighbourhood like this. I hope all this will end very quickly.’

Wafia Bendali, 26, who lives on the third floor of the building, said: ‘We heard gunfire three times, and turned on the television. Then the police phoned to say to stay in the house.’

The house, in north Toulouse, is just a few miles from the Ozar Hatorah School where Monday’s shootings took place.

A second man — believed to be the man’s younger brother — was arrested nearby. The gunman’s mother was also at the scene of the siege, trying to persuade the alleged serial killer to give himself up.

She has already told police that she did not want to speak to him ‘because I have no influence of him. Negotiations with the suspect are ongoing, gunfire has been exchanged,’ said Mr Gueant.

Those shot on Monday were Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, his two young sons, three-year-old Gavriel and six-year-old Aryeh, and headmaster’s daughter Miriam Monsonego, eight.

All were shot in the head at such close range that the gunfire burned the surrounding skin. CCTV cameras at the school showed that the gunman recorded his shooting spree with a small video camera around his neck.

Last week the same attacker is believed to have shot three soldiers, all of North African or Caribbean origin, in the same area in two separate attacks. He carried the same weapons and rode a black scooter to and from the attack at 8am on Monday.

There had been a four-day gap between each of his three attacks — leading to suspicions there would be a fourth on Friday.

Hundreds of anti-terror police officers are currently flooding Toulouse, with south-west France in virtual lockdown.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said racism appeared to be the motivation for Monday’s school attack, adding: ‘When you grab a little girl to put a bullet in her head, without leaving her any chance, you are a monster. An anti-Semitic monster, but first of all a monster.’

The bodies of the three children and Mr Sandler were driven to Paris on Monday afternoon to be flown to Israel for burial.

Earlier today an El Al Israel Airlines flight from Paris brought the bodies to Israel. The children held dual Israeli-French citizenship; the rabbi had lived in Israel for years and the families had asked to bury them in the country.

After the plane landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport before dawn, memorial prayers were read over the plain pine coffins bearing Stars of David before they were placed in four ambulances for transport to the Har Menuchot cemetery.

Relatives sobbed inconsolably by their gravesides after they were brought to Jerusalem for burial today.

At the funeral ceremony in Jerusalem, Eva Sandler, the rabbi’s widow and mother of two of the slain children, and Yaffa Monsenego, the mother of the third, burst repeatedly into tears as speaker after speaker eulogised the dead.

The murdered members of the Sandler family were wrapped in white prayer shawls while the body of Monsenego’s daughter was draped in black velvet.

Israeli media reported that Eva Sandler is pregnant and arrived in Israel with her remaining child, a toddler.

About 400 people gathered at the cemetery, including grieving relatives who arrived from France, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and leaders of the French Jewish community.

In his eulogy, Israeli parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin said the Jewish people ‘once again find themselves facing beasts … driven out their minds by hatred’.

Juppe said: ‘An attack on a Jew in France is not only an issue for French Jews. … Anti-semitism is against all French values.’

— Hat tip: Gaia

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France Shootings: Police Lay Siege to Toulouse Suspect

Police hunting a gunman suspected of killing seven people in southern France are laying siege to a flat in Toulouse.

The man, named as Mohammed Merah, 23, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, has said he belongs to al-Qaeda and acted to “avenge Palestinian children”.

Police are negotiating with the man, who is still said to be armed but says he may give himself up this afternoon.

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the man had been tracked by French intelligence for “several years”.

The brother of the suspect has been arrested in another part of Toulouse, with several other relatives also reported detained.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made a televised address, paying tribute to the security forces who are carrying out the operation and saying that terrorism “will never be able to fracture our national community”.

Scooter clues

Mr Gueant, who is at the siege scene, says the suspect has a Kalashnikov, a mini-Uzi 9mm machine pistol and several handguns. He earlier threw one gun, a Colt 45, from a window in exchange for a phone. A .45 calibre pistol was used at all three murder scenes. More weapons were found in a car near the flat.

Mr Gueant said the suspect had no particular demands and that, after initially talking to the authorities, Merah broke off discussions. Negotiations have now resumed, Agence France-Presse reports.

Surrounding buildings have been evacuated.

The suspect’s mother, who is Algerian, had been brought to the scene, but Mr Gueant said she had refused to become involved as “she had little influence on him”.

The man shot at the door after police arrived, Mr Gueant said, injuring one officer in the knee and “lightly injuring” another.

The minister said: “Our main concern is to catch him and to catch him under such conditions that he can be brought to justice.”

The flat in Toulouse is in a five-storey building and Merah is on the ground or first floor, correspondents say.

Police wearing helmets and flak jackets have cordoned off the area. Prosecutors say other operations are under way to track down possible accomplices.

Mr Gueant said the suspect had made one visit to Afghanistan and one to Pakistan.

“He claims to be a mujahideen and to belong to al-Qaeda,” Mr Gueant said.

“He wanted revenge for the Palestinian children and he also wanted to take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions.”

French media have linked Merah to a group called Forsane Alizza (Knights of Pride) that was banned by Mr Gueant in January.

The prison director in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Gulam Farooq, told the BBC that Merah was arrested in 2007 and jailed for three years for planting bombs, before escaping in a mass Taliban-led break-out in 2008.

The BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris says investigators report that Merah was identified because of an email message sent to his first victim about buying a scooter.

The message, sent from the suspect’s brother’s account, set up an appointment at which the soldier was killed, sources told AFP.

The man had also sought out a garage in Toulouse to have his Yamaha scooter repainted after the first two attacks. A scooter was used in all the attacks.

An editor of the France 24 network said a man had called it overnight saying he was responsible for the shootings and that he wanted to published on the internet films he had made of all of the killings.

Although there is no confirmation it was Merah, France 24 said he had made the same comments as later reported by Mr Gueant, gave the same age and recounted very specific details of the killings.

Merah’s lawyer said his client was in court two weeks ago for driving without a licence and was “courteous and civilised”.

A huge manhunt had been launched after Monday’s shooting at a Jewish school that left four people dead, and the killing of three soldiers in two incidents last week.

[…]

After Wednesday’s raid took place, Ms Le Pen said the “fundamentalist threat has been underestimated” in France.

— Hat tip: Seneca III

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French Police Raid House for Suspects in Jewish School Attack; Officers Injured

TOULOUSE, France — Two French police officers were injured in a shoot-out during a raid on a house in Toulouse on Wednesday to arrest suspects in the killings of three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in southwest France this week, a police source told Reuters.

The source said the raid began at 3.00 a.m. local time and was ongoing, but did not provide further details.

French news channel BFM TV said the suspects were linked to an Islamist group which it identified as Forsane Alizza but it was not immediately possible to confirm this.

On Tuesday, Police spread out across southern France by the hundreds in the hunt for an expert gunman suspected in three deadly attacks. Authorities suspect the school killer was also behind two recent attacks in the same area on French paratroopers that left three soldiers dead and one seriously wounded. The victims were of North African and French Caribbean backgrounds…

— Hat tip: Vlad Tepes

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Italy: CGIL Digs in Heels Against Labor Reform, Monti Says

‘They were the exception’ says premier after talks

(ANSA) — Rome, March 20 — Premier Mario Monti said that Italy’s largest trade union CGIL had rejected government proposals to make firing employees easier in talks with labor unions and employers on Tuesday. All parties agreed to loosening restrictions on firing, Monti said after a three-hour meeting, “with the exception of CGIL, which shared a negative opinion”. The government agreed to hold conclusive meetings with trade unions and business associations on Thursday when it would present its definitive changes to the labor code. Monti’s government of non-political technocrats wants to introduce changes to boost productivity and make it easier for women and young people to find work.

The main point of contention is whether to change Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statue, a law that forbids companies with over 15 employees from firing people without just cause.

Monti has argued that this law makes firms reluctant to hire new staff on regular contracts, which has led to a situation in which almost one in three 15-to-24-year-olds are unemployed while many others have work contracts that offer them few rights and little job security.

He once said there is a sort of “apartheid” in the Italian labour market in which older workers often have a high level of protection while young people have virtually none. So the government argues that it is necessary to make it easier for firms in economic difficulty to dismiss staff, as this would actually encourage companies to hire, while boosting benefits for people out of work.

Italy’s main unions, however, have remained opposed to changes that would make it easier for firms to put workers on the dole in a series of talks with the government this year.

Labour Minister Elsa Fornero has said that, if the government fails to reach an agreement with the unions and business representatives, it will press ahead and present a package of reforms to parliament anyway.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano tried to nudge the interested parties to find some common ground, saying on Monday that failure to reach an agreement would be “grave”.

Labour reform is widely seen as being a key test for former European commissioner Monti, who took over the helm of government when the financial crisis forced Silvio Berlusconi to step down as premier in November.

Monti’s government passed a 30-billion-euro austerity package to put Italy’s public finances in order in December and so far this year it has presented a series of liberalisations and red-tape-cutting measures aimed at boosting growth.

But tackling the unions over Article 18 is considered by many to be the biggest challenge yet.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Toulouse: Interior Minister Wants to Capture Killer Alive

(AGI) Toulouse (France) — French police will do everything to capture alive the suspected Jewish school killer. The man is currently besieged in an apartment. Interior minster Claude Gueant said he wanted the man tried for his crimes. The minister, present in person to coordinate the special forces raid, explained: “Our main concern is to catch him and to catch him under such conditions that he can be brought to justice.” He emphasised: “We are certainly concerned to capture him alive.” Two loud explosions have just been heard at the site of the siege.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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U.S. Sent Suspect Back to France from Afghanistan, Prosecutor Says

TOULOUSE, France — The U.S. army sent a Frenchman currently besieged by police in Toulouse after the killings of seven people, back to France after he was arrested in Afghanistan, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Afghan police detained the man at a road checkpoint and handed him over to the U.S. army “who put him on the first plane headed to France,” prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters. Molins, France’s top anti-terror magistrate who is overseeing the probe into the killing of three soldiers, three Jewish children and a teacher, did not provide a date or details of the Afghan arrest of suspect Mohamed Merah. He said it occurred on one of two trips the 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian origin made to Afghanistan. Molins said the second trip began in mid-August last year and lasted two months. French police were laying siege Wednesday to an apartment block in Toulouse where the self-declared al-Qaida militant Merah was holed up.

— Hat tip: KGS

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UK: Ken Livingstone: Jews Won’t Vote Labour Because They Are Rich

by Martin Bright

EXCLUSIVE

Prominent Labour-supporting Jewish Londoners have written a devastating letter to Ed Miliband expressing their profound concerns about mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone.

The letter, a copy of which has been seen by the Jewish Chronicle, was written in response to a meeting held on March 1st at which Mr Livingstone stood by his decision to embrace radical Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi and take money from the Iranian state broadcaster Press TV. Most damaging for Mr Livingstone is the revelation that he believes Jews will not vote Labour because they are rich. The letter states: “Ken toward the end of the meeting stated that he did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich we simply wouldn’t vote for him.”

The letter explains to Mr Miliband that Jewish Labour supporters were finding it “harder and harder to consider voting for Ken”. At the heart of the critique is the fear that Mr Livingstone’s language when discussing the Jewish community, Israel and Zionism is close to classic antisemitism. “Ken determines Jews as a religious group but does not accept Jews as an ethnicity and a people and did not respond on this other than to say that as an atheist he found this hard to comprehend. In the same way that Black, Irish, Women and LGBT groups are afforded the right to determine their own identity, many of us feel that Ken doesn’t afford Jews that right.” The letter reveals that Mr Livingstone used the words Zionist, Jewish and Israeli interchangeably and did so “in a perjorative manner”.

The Jewish Labour figures behind the letter, which include Liberal rabbi Danny Rich and former Limmud chair Andrew Gilbert, express concern that Mr Livinstone has aligned himself with the politics of radical Islam. “The real and more pressing issue is that of the strong perception that Ken is seeking to align himself with the politics of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime, whilst at the same time turning a blind eye to Islamist antisemitism , mysogynism (sic) and homophobia.” The authors of the letter added: “We are concerned that this is more about infantile, far-left politics, being seen to take a stance against whatever the anti-establishment or anti-imperialism cause of the moment is.” The letter was written ahead of a meeting between the Jewish communal leadership and Ed Miliband later this month, when the issue of Mr Livingstone will be top of the agenda.

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Ken Livingstone: What He Really Thinks About Jews

Labour-supporting Jews in London have written a devastating private letter to the party leader, Ed Miliband, after a group of them including Jewish Labour councillors, Labour members of the Board of Deputies and Labour Friends of Israel met Ken this month to try to build bridges. Previous discussions, they said, had been “acrimonious” and this one doesn’t sound any better. In the letter, obtained by the Jewish Chronicle, the Labour supporters write: “Many of us had just about managed to vote for [Ken] in 2008. Today, many of us who would otherwise normally vote Labour are finding it harder and harder to consider voting for Ken, despite agreeing with his policies for London.”

Part of their problem, they said, was that

Ken determines Jews as a religious group but does not accept Jews as an ethnicity and a people… [though] black, Irish, women and LGBT groups are afforded the right to determine their own identity, many of us feel that Ken doesn’t afford Jews that right… At various points in the discussion Ken used the words Zionist, Jewish and Israeli interchangeably as if they meant the same, and did so in a pejorative manner. These words are not interchangeable and to do so is highly offensive, particularly when repeated over and again as was done. For example, when discussing Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s extreme views on homosexuality, Ken said “one would expect the same views on homosexuality from extreme Christians, Muslims and Israelis” and using the word “Zionist” as an adjectival negative to criticise much more widely than what can be attributed to the ideology of Zionism…

Ken toward the end of the meeting stated that he did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich, we simply wouldn’t vote for him. When we pointed to research undertaken by the Institute of Jewish Policy Research that demonstrates the Jewish community in the UK has a propensity to vote much more radically than its wealth, and this is attributed to Jewish values and sociology and history and also alluded to Democrats in the USA, Ken begrudgingly accepted this. The real and more pressing issue is that of the strong perception that Ken is seeking to align himself with the politics of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime, whilst at the same time turning a blind eye to Islamist antisemitism, misogynism and homophobia, even when overt and demonization of Zionism and the derogatory use of the word Zionist and use of antisemitic memes.

We are concerned that this is more about infantile far left politics, being seen to take a stance against whatever the anti-establishment or anti-imperialism cause of the moment is. Boiled down, it’s hard to interpret this in any other way than Ken basically having no sympathy for those that he perceives as bourgeois , which is why he isn’t really attempting to appeal to, and perhaps why he is losing progressive as well as Jewish votes.

Ken’s continued defence of al-Qaradawi (pictured) has been condemned even by Val Shawcross, his own running-mate. It is chilling that Livingstone gave no ground even in a private meeting and instead invoked the stereotype of the fat, rich, selfish Jew — a favourite of anti-semites throughout history. This document is testimony to the fact that relations between Ken and one of London’s most important minorities have quite simply broken down.

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: The Letter to Ed Miliband From Jewish Labour Supporters

A letter from Labour-supporting Jewish Londoners to Ed Miliband about mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone

Dear Ed,

RE: Meeting between Ken Livingstone and Labour supporting Jewish Londoners

On the 1st of March 2012 a substantial number of Labour-supporting members of the Jewish community met Ken Livingstone at a private meeting in order to explore ways in which Ken could re-connect with Jewish voters in advance of the May 3rd m ayoral election. We believe that it is vitally important that Labour win in London, not just for our city, but also for the future success of the Party. The meeting was not part of the official Jewish calendar; however it was carried out with the full support of the London Jewish Forum, Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council with party members from each organisation attending. Also present were key people from Labour Friends of Israel, Jewish Labour councillors from five London Boroughs and also by the religious leadership of all streams of the Jewish Community. The meeting was not open to the wider press; Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian and Jewish Chronicle was present although in a personal capacity. The meeting was held under Chatham House rules, understood as what was said can be repeated, though the individuals saying things cannot be attributed. Ken, at the beginning of the meeting however, made it clear directly that he was happy to have anything he said attributed.

This meeting partly followed up on a meeting held two years previously with a similar group of Labour- supporting London Jews, which was acrimonious. At that time we did not follow the meeting up with the party leadership in any way. A number of us having attended the meeting have concluded that as loyal Party members, in this instance, considering our collective desire to see Labour win in London, it would be remiss of us not to raise these issues now, rather than in a post-mortem of a failed mayoral bid. We still believe that Ken has every possibility of reconnection with Jewish Labour voters. For the good of the Party and for London we would ultimately like to see this happen. It is worth mentioning that it was made very clear to Ken the mood amongst Jewish Labour Party supporters. Despite his seeming obsession with Israel, which gives some quarters cause for concern, many of us had just about managed to vote for him in 2008. Today, many of us who would otherwise normally vote Labour are finding it harder and harder to consider voting for Ken, despite agreeing with his policies for London. Many of us are actively working for local GLA Labour candidates, and in particular Andrew Dismore in Barnet and Camden, where grassroots efforts are being made to ensure he wins.

A key focus of the discussion centred on Ken’s discourse when discussing Zionism. It is not an uncontroversial thing to say that for the vast majority of British Jews, Israel plays an important part in their core identity, in the same way that family, language and cultural ties continue to bind BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities with India, Pakistan etc. This is certainly a conversation that has taken place with Ken on numerous occasions. Ken determines Jews as a religious group but does not accept Jews as an ethnicity and a people, and did not respond on this other than to say as an atheist he found this hard to comprehend. In the same way that Black, Irish, Women and LGBT groups are afforded the right to determine their own identity, many of us feel that Ken doesn’t afford Jews that right. Just as we do not have a right to tell Ken what he thinks about Israel despite our many disagreements, Ken doesn’t have the right to define who we believe we are. At various points in the discussion Ken used the words Zionist, Jewish and Israeli, interchangeably, as if they meant the same, and did so in a pejorative manner. These words are not interchangeable and to do so is highly offensive, particularly when repeated over and again as was done. For example, when discussing Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s extreme views on homosexuality, Ken said “one would expect the same views on homosexuality from extreme Christians, Muslims and Israelis” and using the word “Zionist” as an adjectival negative to criticise much more widely than what can be attributed to the ideology of Zionism. He also stated “I am not against Israel, I am against Zionists”, which we also find impossible.

Ken’s relationship with radical Islamist politics was also raised in the context of him accepting a paid role presenting on the Iranian state-controlled Press TV and his continued defence of the City Hall reception for Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. When challenged over whether it had been appropriate to publicly embrace an individual who holds racist, misogynistic and homophobic views, in addition to his justification for suicide bombings in Israel, Ken again reinforced his view that al-Qaradawi is a moderate voice to be engaged, and that he was encouraged to do so. Ken stated that as al-Qaradawi was not advocating suicide bombings in the UK, and as he had apparently been the victim of a smear campaign by the British press, Ken would gladly embrace him as he would anyone being attacked by the Murdoch empire. Given the scenario of hugging Nick Griffin, Ken quickly backed off this comment.

Ken, towards the end of the meeting, stated that he did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich, we simply wouldn’t vote for him. When we pointed to research undertaken by the Institute of Jewish Policy Research that demonstrates the Jewish community in the UK has a propensity to vote much more radically than its wealth, and this is attributed to Jewish values and sociology and history and also alluded to Democrats in the USA, Ken begrudgingly accepted this. The real and more pressing issue is that of the strong perception that Ken is seeking to align himself with the politics of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime, whilst at the same time turning a blind eye to Islamist antisemitism, misogynism and homophobia, even when overt and demonisation of Zionism and the derogatory use of the word Zionist and use of antisemitic memes. We are concerned that this is more about infantile far left politics, being seen to take a stance against whatever the anti-establishment or anti-imperialism cause of the moment is. Boiled down, it’s hard to interpret this in any other way than Ken basically having no sympathy for those that he perceives as bourgeois , which is why he isn’t really attempting to appeal to, and perhaps why he is losing progressive as well as Jewish votes.

Whilst we do feel somewhat despondent that we are covering the same arguments and reaching the same conclusions as we have done before, we do feel that it is now more important than ever, given the closeness of this election, given the election’s significance to the Party nationally, and to the growing unease amongst Jewish Labour voters, its time to resolve the matter once and for all. This private note is to Ken and Ken’s senior team, the party leader’s office, the shadow London Minister’s office, Ed Balls’ office and to a very limited part of the Jewish communal leadership, who will meet Ed Miliband later this month. We firmly believe that Ken can turn this situation around, and can count on Jewish voters to help him be elected Mayor of London. But he does however desperately need to face up to the issues we raise.

Andrew Gilbert

Adam Langleben

Judith Bara

Rabbi Danny Rich

Neil Nerva

Jem Stein

— Hat tip: JP

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UN Tweet Partly Responsible for Toulouse Massacre?

Anorak asks, “Did UN worker’s anti-Israel tweet provoke Mohammed Merah to murder?”

I think that’s a very good question. Mohammed Merah claims he killed the Jewish children in revenge ‘for deaths of Palestinian children’. Just over a week ago, a UN national officer who tweets under the name @KhuloodBadawi posted a picture of a bloodied Palestinian girl. @KhuloodBadawi falsely attributed the killing on Israel:

In fact, the little girl had been mortally injured in a car accident back in 2006. But did the image of a dead Palestinian child and a UN officer claiming the cause was Israeli attacks incite Mohammed Merah to execute little Miriam Monsonego?

— Hat tip: heroyalwhyness

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Video: Eastern European Woman Warns America About Realities of Communism

It has become quite evident in 21st century America that a collectivist cabal — with members on both the right and the left of our political divide, has managed to successfully advance a number of idealogical principles aligned with classical socialism and communism. In recent years we have seen socialized medicine, socialized birth control, the Occupy Movement’s cries for class warfare and a redistribution of wealth, along with Washington’s trend towards a totally federalized, vertical control of most aspects of society and our economy. Many collectivists will romanticize about the days of communism, having us believe that those were the golden years of human social and economic evolution.

The video below is a brief interview with an East German woman who attempts to set the record straight with regards to the wonders of socialism and the days of communism from experiences in her former country (see video below):

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Algeria: Imports Falling, Exports Up

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MARCH 20 — The first two months of this year have seen Algerian imports falling while the country’s exports have risen. Between January and February, imports stood at 6.7 billion dollars compared to 7.15 billion in the same period last year. According to this report from the Algerian Customs, this represents a 6.4 percent fall. The fall in February was even more dramatic: -10.7 percent with a value of 2.95 billion dollars compared to 3.31 in February 2011. The greatest falls came in imports of machine products for industry and agriculture. Exports grew from 11.24 in the first two months of 2011 to 13.13 for this year.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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France: Manhunt for Killer of the Children at Jewish School. Links to Al Qaeda

Since 3 am the suspect is under police siege in Toulouse. He is a young 24 year old, Algerian mother, with trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan, who wanted to “avenge the Palestinian children” and to denounce the “crimes” of France in Afghanistan. The funeral of the rabbi and the three children killed will be held today in Jerusalem.

Toulouse (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The French police have surrounded a house in Toulouse to capture the probable killer of three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school. The siege began at 3 am and has already led to the arrest of the brother of the suspect barricaded in the house. The suspect’s mother was also the brought to the scene convince him to give up.

According to Minister of the Interior Claude Guéant he is a young 24 year old French national with an Algerian mother, with reported affiliations with al Qaeda. Guéant said the man — talking with the police besieging him — said he wanted to “avenge the Palestinian children” and to condemn the “crimes” of France in Afghanistan. The young man said he had also spent periods in Afghanistan and Pakistan for military training. Guéant also confirmed that the young man, as he carried out the massacre at the Jewish school had a video camera attached to him to film the murder.

The 24 year old was on the list of suspects after the murder in Montauban and Toulouse of some French soldiers of North African and Caribbean origin. He is also believed responsible for killing Jonathan Sandler, teacher and 30 year-old rabbi, his sons, Arieh and Gabriel, the daughter of the dean of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school, Myriam Monsonego. The four bodies arrived last night in Tel Aviv to be buried in Israel.

The funeral of the rabbi and the three children will be held in Jerusalem in the late morning. The police expect the presence of several thousand people.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Bahrein: King: Continue With Reforms and Forget the Past

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MARCH 20 — In a speech delivered today, the King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, called for progress to be made in drafting and implementing a reform programme. The King called on all sides of society to take on their “individual responsibilities and to move beyond the events of last year”. “We shall renew our determination to pursue reforms and to satisfy the aspirations of the people, without making any exceptions, and without privileging the interests of one community above those of another,” the Sunni sovereign ruling the Shiite-majority island state said. “The government, but the citizens too, political movements and civil associations have to play an active role in promoting and enacting democratic practices,”. The King urged his listeners to “learn from the lessons of past events, from experience, and look to the future with confidence and optimism”. The speech came on the handing over of a report by the independent commission of inquiry into enactment of the recommendations made following investigations into the brutal suppression of popular demonstrations in February-March last year. A first report, indicating excessive use of force, also contained recommendations for attaining national reconciliation.

“The doors for dialogue remain open,” the king promised, in an echo of a similar readiness expressed by the Shiite opposition yesterday. They, however, are pressing for a constitutional monarchy.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Stakelbeck on Terror Show: Why Israel Must Fight

On this week’s edition of the Stakelbeck on Terror show, we examine why Israel must always retain the right to its own self-defense in the face of threats of annihilation by enemies like Iran.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren joins us to discuss this. as well as the success of Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system and the continued persecution of Christians across the Middle East.

We also go on the ground in Barcelona for a shocking eyewitness report on how Muslim immigrants are transforming Spain in an attempt to reverse the “Reconquista.”

And this week’s Sharia Flaw segment takes a closer look at the recent murder of a group of Iraqi young men by Islamic jihadists. Their crime: sporting “un-Islamic” haircuts.

Click the link above to watch.

— Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck

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Turkey: Expert: Iraq Overtakes Germany as Export Destination

Manager Accenture: Tukish traders turning eastwards

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MARCH 20 — Turkish foreign trade is looking ever more eastwards and “soon” northern Iraq will become the country’s main trading partner, overtaking Germany. This news and this forecast have come from a top manager at Accenture, the Dublin-based consulting company. The amount of Turkish exports headed for the German market, which has until now been their main outlet, has fallen from almost 14% in 2004 to 10.4% last year, as the English-language website of Turkish daily Hurriyet reports, where the Accenture manager’s prediction also appears. On Turkey-s southern border Iraq became the second most important market for Turkish exports last year, with volumes of 8.27 billion dollars, which was up from the 9th position it occupied in 2004 (with 1.85 billion dollars of exports). The lion’s share of the increase has been in exports to northern Iraq.

Eight years ago, exports to Iraq represented just 2.9% of Turkey’s trade. This increased to 6.1% by 2011.

This acceleration of sales to Iraq grew was of 37% between 2000 and 2010, while the same period saw only a 9% increase in the rate of exports going to Germany.

“Northern Iraq will soon become Turkey’s main trading partner, overtaking Germany,” predicts Mark Spelman, Managing Director of “Strategy Practice” at Accenture. Mr Spelman quoted a 2010 report that showed the percentage of exports to countries undergoing rapid development has grown markedly since 2000. For comparison, Brazil’s exports to emerging h reached 63% compared to the 48% of nearly 12 years ago. Mr Spelman predicts that Turkey will continue to increase its trading ties with other emerging economies, especially with the Gulf and countries of the Middle East. Trade with Europe will hit a ceiling and greater opportunities will be found in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The rate of growth in Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia, for example, saw a jump of 38%, beating even those with Iraq, Hurriyet reveals, but without citing the period concerned. But there has been “opposite developments” in exports to the USA, which increased by a “modest 9%”, and to Germany, (“just 16%”). The rate of exportation to the United Kingdom has frozen at 16%.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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India: Orissa Govt Sees No Urgency in Freeing Italians

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik believes Maoists will not harm hostages so he can wait. Sources tell AsiaNews the government does not intend to meet any of the rebels’ demands. A new deadline is set for 24 March. Rebels name two new mediators; the government names three of its own.

Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and India’s External Affairs Minister do not want to show any “urgency” in solving the case of the two Italian men abducted by a Maoist group in Kandhamal District. Sources tell AsiaNews that government officials are convinced that Maoists will not harm the two tourists, Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo. In fact, they are not prepared to meet any of the rebels’ demands, so there is no hurry in solving the crisis.

Maoist rebels, who have once more postponed their deadline to 24 March, have issued a 14-point list of demands, including the release of 600 prisoners, financial compensation to Maoist sympathisers killed in police custody, scrapping land transfers and projects in tribal areas and protecting tribal areas from tourists. As a token of their goodwill, they also announced a unilateral ceasefire.

When the second deadline expired yesterday, Maoists names three people as their mediators with the government. One of them refused saying he could not trust the government because it had reneged on its word in the past. Another one was rejected by the government. Today the rebel group named two new mediators, former bureaucrat D Sharma and activist Prafulla Samantray.

For his part, Patnaik named three government negotiators: Home Affairs Principal Secretary U N Behera, Panchayati Raj Department Commissioner and Secretary P K Jena, and Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Classes Development Department Commissioner and Secretary S K Sarangi.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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India: ‘Patience Needed’ To Work Through ‘Legal Log Jam’

Trivandrum, 16 March (AKI) — The legal process in India is very complicated and will take months before the fate of two Italian marines held in the country is decided, Italian undersecretary for foreign affairs Staffan De Mistura said.

“We’re in a legal log jam. We need two more months, but we won’t ever abandon our soldiers,” he said in a interview with the Italian Il Mattino newspaper.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone were guarding an Italian oil tanker on 15 February off of the southern Italian coast when allegedly shot dead two fishermen. The marines say they mistook the fishermen for pirates but claim they merely fired warning shots in the direction. Ballistics tests are being conducted to determine the origin of the fatal shots.

Italy says the oil tanker was in international waters when the shooting took place, giving it legal jurisdiction. India disagrees and have imprisoned the soldiers.

“It will take time and we need to be patient,” De Mistura said. “The marines should be tried in Italy. They are Italian marines and we’ll have to deal with a legal log jam until get get that recognition.”

He said that elections in the state of Kerala where the Italians are detained is influencing the case.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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	Financial Crisis
»	Beijing Raises Fuel Prices, Risks Stoking Inflation
»	Indian Economy Slowing Down: The Future of Young People at Risk
»	Monti Says Critical Stage With Germany Now Past
	USA
»	Romney Hails ‘Extraordinary Victory’ In Illinois Primary
	Europe and the EU
»	Ashton: My Remarks on Toulouse Attack ‘Grossly Distorted’
»	Crumbling Cologne Cathedral Drops Stones
»	East German Payments ‘No Longer Needed’
»	France: Neo-Nazis May Behind Toulouse Killings
»	France Clears Three Neo-Nazi Suspects in Jewish School Shooting
»	Germany: High Hurdles for Possible Ban on Far-Right Party
»	Germany: Mayors Attack Solidarity Pact: Poor Western Cities Fed Up With Funding East
»	Norway: Prince Charles Meets Massacre Survivors
»	Swedes Back Obama in US Election: Survey
»	The Economic Death of a Southern Italian City
»	UK: ‘Sexual Abuse of 15-Year-Old Girl by Gang of Six Men Was Filmed on Mobile Phone’
»	UK: Ken Livingstone: I Will Make London a Beacon of Islam
»	UK: Queen Elizabeth Delivers Jubilee Speech to Parliament
»	Vatican Report Expresses ‘Pain, Shame’ at Abuse in Ireland
»	With Spring, A New Political Tenor Arrives in Italy
	Israel and the Palestinians
»	Germany to Sell Israel Nuclear-Capable Submarine
	Middle East
»	Accused of Terrorism: Turkish Reporters Struggle Against Repression
»	Prayer Chain for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Imprisoned in Iran
»	Series of Attacks in Iraq, Dozens of Dead. Church of St Mathew in Baghdad Targeted
	South Asia
»	Indonesian Ulema: Lady Gaga is “Haram,” Forbidden, No to Concert. Fans in Revolt
»	Italian Marines to Stay in Indian Prison for Two More Weeks
»	Pakistan: Lawmakers Debate Terms of US Ties
	Latin America
»	International Pressure on Bolivarian Countries: A Hopeful Sign
	Immigration
»	France Makes it Harder to Become French
»	UK: Editor Courts Controversy With Book About Islamic Immigration
	Culture Wars
»	UK: Home-Grown Freedoms Are the Strongest
»	UK: Note to Ken — Multiculturalism is So 80s

Beijing Raises Fuel Prices, Risks Stoking Inflation

For the second time this year, the government comes to the rescue of (state-owned) refineries by raising petrol and diesel prices by 6 and 7 per cent respectively. This will push up inflation, which has always caused social unrest. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund gives the thumbs up to government policy, warning however against risky investments.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China has raised the price of petrol by about 6 per cent and diesel about 7 per cent for the second time in 2012, as it struggles with the rising cost of crude oil resulting from the crisis between Iran and the international community. Iran supplies China with 20 per cent of oil imports, but sanctions have reduced sales and increased prices. Now many fear inflation might go up further and cause social unrest.

Chinese authorities have decided to save domestic refineries, which are state-owned, rather than keep inflation low. After consumer prices peaked in July last year at 6.5 per cent, they eased in the subsequent months. In February, it stood at 3.4 per cent from a year earlier, below the government’s target of 4 per cent.

China’s is the world second largest oil consumer after the United States. Demand for energy has led to more exploration but also increased international and domestic tensions.

“This price hike comes sooner than our expectations,” said Gordon Kwan, head of regional energy research at Mirae Asset Securities Ltd in Hong Kong. “It signals the official ending of China’s anti-inflation campaign.”

Meanwhile, China’s economy is sailing safely towards a soft landing, but it needs to move away from its export and investment-driven growth focus if it wishes to maintain vitality, this according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“China is landing quite well,” said Zhu Min, the recently appointed IMF deputy managing director. “However, it still needs to carefully manage its investment-driven development model, as investment takes up about 48 per cent of gross domestic product.”

Indeed, to manage unemployment, the government has invested heavily in certain areas, creating significant speculative bubbles. More importantly, it has failed to sustain the new middle classes and help workers, which might lead to rising demands.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Indian Economy Slowing Down: The Future of Young People at Risk

Over the last ten years, growth has declined from 9% to 6%. But poverty has fallen from 37.2% to 29,% from 2004/2005 to 2009/2010. The Congress government has failed to fully exploit the wealth generated by the economic boom, enslaving itself to a policy of waste and corruption. The new objectives are to eradicate poverty and create jobs. But without a pro-growth plan, the first victims are the future generations.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — The economic growth of India that was up to 9% in the later part of the last decade is currently slowing down at 6.1% in the quarter ended Dec.31, the slowest in the last three years. The Government has already downgraded expectation of growth this March budget.

This slowing growth challenges two views cherished by leaders in New Delhi: that the country will effectively eradicate poverty within the space of a generation, and that it will assume its rightful place in the front rank of global powers. Both goals depend on an economy that generates enough resources to fix glaring deficiencies in health and education and to build a muscular military. India must also generate jobs to ensure that a youthful population is employed productively rather than drawn to myriad violent movements — from Maoism to ethnic separatism to religious radicalism — that dot large part of the country.

Though the global economic slowdown hasn’t helped matters, The Wall Street Journal blames India’s politicians. Instead of using the bounty of the boom years to double down on reforms, the ruling left-of-center coalition led by the Congress Party appears to suffer from a strange hankering for the socialist past. This has led it to sacrifice a historic opportunity to swiftly transform India into a middle-income country on the altar of shortsighted populism.

Nobody embodies this sorry state of affairs more than the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Ha was once touted as a great reformer, thanks to having been the finance minister who unleashed the “Big Bang” reforms amid a balance of payments crisis in 1991. But his tenure as Prime Minister has been different. Most recently, the first sign of political opposition was enough for him to abandon a plan to lift restrictions on foreign investments in retail. These days he’s more likely to be seen muttering darkly about foreign hand behind anti-nuclear protests in the southern state of Tamil Nadu than make a principled case for deeper liberalization.

The government’s biggest “achievement” is its flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which promises each rural person a 100 days of work per year. This distorts labor market, encourages widespread corruption and has helped — along with fuel and fertilizers subsidies to balloon the federal fiscal deficit to an estimated 5.6% of GDP this year instead of the budgeted 4.6%. A proposed food security bill would poor billions of dollars more into a public distribution system already notorious for graft and wastage, and create a new entitlement that future generations will find difficult to kill.

Slowing growth should be taken as a warning that there won’t be sufficient spoils to divide if Delhi continues on its current course instead of shifting to a strongly pro-growth policy. The question now is, how quickly will Indian politicians heed the alarm bell being sounded by slowing growth and undertake reforms to unleash the country potentials.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Monti Says Critical Stage With Germany Now Past

Angela Merkel hails Italy’s “courageous reforms”

MILAN — Growth, European governance and reforms were three of the items on the agenda when the German chancellor Angela Merkel met Italy’s PM Mario Monti. Mr Monti said afterwards: “We reviewed European issues as a whole, not just economics and finance. At this stage of Europe’s life, when the worst of the crisis looks very much behind us, we cannot relax, either on matters of domestic policy or on European policy. The European Union needs to embark on a stage of focusing attention on employment, and youth employment in particular”.

MEDIA BRIEFING — Mr Monti and Ms Merkel faced the cameras at the end of their afternoon meeting. The German chancellor was in Rome to call on Italy’s prime minister, Mario Monti, and president, Giorgio Napolitano. The visit was keenly anticipated, especially following the cancellation of a similar visit in the wake of the surprise resignation of the German president, Christian Wulff. Mr Monti commented: “During our talks, we manifested our shared interest in the ratification by our respective parliaments of the fiscal compact, the European stability mechanism, and we explored ways of working jointly”. Mr Monti then highlighted areas of strong convergence with Germany: “We have decided to cooperate closely on various tools for growth policy, specifically services, labour mobility and innovation. We want to hold firm on budget stability while enhancing focus on growth, and to do so in an integrated fashion”…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Romney Hails ‘Extraordinary Victory’ In Illinois Primary

(CNN) — Mitt Romney scored a decisive win in the Illinois Republican presidential primary Tuesday night, with the former Massachusetts governor holding a double-digit lead over his top rival.

“We thank the people of Illinois for this extraordinary victory,” Romney told supporters in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg. “Elections are about choices. Today, hundreds of thousands of people in Illinois joined millions of people in this country in this cause.”

With 99% of precincts reporting, Romney led former Pennsylvanian Sen. Rick Santorum by a 47%-to-35% margin. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was running third at 9%, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich brought up the rear at 8%.

Exit polls showed Romney led strongly in the Cook County suburbs and the “collar counties” around Chicago, where about half of Tuesday’s votes were cast…

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Ashton: My Remarks on Toulouse Attack ‘Grossly Distorted’

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Tuesday that remarks attributed to her Monday referring to the attack in Toulouse were “grossly distorted” by a news wire service.

A statement released by Ashton’s bureau said she “referred to tragedies taking the lives of children around the world and drew no parallel whatsoever between the circumstances of the Toulouse attack and the situation in Gaza.”

Ashton, the statement added, “strongly condemns the killings at the Ozar Hatorah school” and extended her sympathies to the families and friends of the victims, as well as to the people of France and the Jewish community.

The EU foreign policy chief came under heavy criticism from Israeli officials Tuesday in response to the reported remarks. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Tzipi Livni all called on Ashton to retract the statement attributed to her.

Agence France Presse reported Monday night that Ashton told a group of Palestinian youth in Brussels: “When we think about what happened today in Toulouse, we remember what happened in Norway last year, we know what is happening in Syria, and we see what is happening in Gaza and other places — we remember young people and children who lose their lives.”

The statement was perceived as an equation between the murder of three Jewish schoolchildren in France and Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking during a visit to China, Liberman said that the comparison was inappropriate and that he hopes that she retracts her statement. The children Ashton should be talking about, he continued, “are the ones in southern Israel who live in constant fear of rocket attacks [launched against] them from Gaza.”

— Hat tip: J-PD

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Crumbling Cologne Cathedral Drops Stones

Cologne cathedral, one of Germany’s most famous landmark buildings, is crumbling and dropping stones on people’s heads — leaving one man with cuts to his head which needed hospital treatment on Monday. A 50-centimetre chunk of the cathedral fell off from 25 metres above the ground and smashed into smaller pieces when it hit the roof before showering onto people below.

The Kölner Stadt Anzeiger newspaper reported on Tuesday that a homeless man who had been sitting by the cathedral was hit on the head and required brief hospital treatment for cuts. And although the area was roped off while workers inspected the spot where the piece had broken off, people familiar with the cathedral say bits break off all the time.

Smaller pieces break off all the time, Matthias Demi of the cathedral’s constructions office told the paper, though usually “only in very wet weather or wind.” When there is exceptionally bad weather, such as storms, the cathedral is cordoned off.

“It was very unusual that such a big piece broke off in such good weather,” said the head of the cathedral’s building operations Barbara Schock-Werner. She said she had never seen anything like that in 13 years of working at the cathedral.

After an inspection it was determined that the piece that fell was from the 14th century and dropped off from the cathedral due to wear and tear. “It could be that the stone already had a crack in it and because of the strong temperature changes between February and March and the crack grew,” Demi told the newspaper.

For now the spot will not be repaired as it would require extra scaffolding and be too big of a job at the moment.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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East German Payments ‘No Longer Needed’

Mayors in the struggling Ruhr area in west Germany want to end their “solidarity” payments to eastern Germany, saying the east no longer needs the money and their cities are heavily in debt, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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France: Neo-Nazis May Behind Toulouse Killings

Paris, 20 March (AKI) — France is investigating the possibility that neo-Nazis are behind the shooting that left four people dead outside a Jewish school in southern France, as well as other recent fatal attacks, interior minister Claude Geant said Tuesday.

The gunman who shot dead four people outside of a Jewish school in Toulouse was wearing a video camera on his chest, Geant told Europa 1 in an interview Tuesday, citing a witness. It’s not known if the incident was taped by the assailant.

The attack at the private Ozar Hatorah school followed two shootings last week in and around Toulouse which killed three soldiers. A scooter was also used those attacks.

A teacher with his two children and the daughter of the school’s director were killed in Monday’s shooting.

“The government of Israel has decided to transfer the coffins to Israel as soon as possible, with the cooperation and assistance of Israel’s representatives in France,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

France has one of Europe’s highest Jewish populations.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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France Clears Three Neo-Nazi Suspects in Jewish School Shooting

Police now looking into whether killer was Islamic extremist

Police have cleared three neo-Nazi suspects in the killing of three schoolchildren and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. The suspects were former soldiers who were discharged from duty for neo-Nazi activity in 2008.

All three were interrogated by the police.

French authorities now believe the killer was motivated by Islamic extremism or racism, Israel Radio reported.

It is the third shooting attack in the Toulouse region in just over a week, and the suspect may be linked to all of them. The previous shootings targeted and killed soldiers of North African origin.

The soldiers, part of an elite paratrooper regiment, were let go from the military after a photo of them surfaced of them saluting a Nazi flag with a swastika.

Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 29, his 4-year-old and 5-year-old sons Gabriel and Arieh, and 7-year-old Miriam Monsonego were killed Monday outside the Ozar Hatorah school in the southern French city.

In the attack, a gunman drove a scooter and used a handgun to shoot and kill the victims. Police believe the killer may have taped the killing, and think he may plan to post the video on the Internet.

— Hat tip: Vlad Tepes

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Germany: High Hurdles for Possible Ban on Far-Right Party

Ever since the revelations about the murderous Zwickau cell, political pressure to ban the far-right NPD party has been growing. After a previous attempt failed in 2003, the government wants to be sure it can succeed before it starts proceedings. But a secret document reveals the legal challenges are tougher than many are admitting.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Germany: Mayors Attack Solidarity Pact: Poor Western Cities Fed Up With Funding East

Closed swimming pools, potholed streets, run-down buildings. Many western German cities, especially in the industrial Ruhr rust belt, are looking worse for wear after years of neglect in which they’ve had to transfer billions funds to help rebuild the former communist east. Now their mayors want to stop paying.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Norway: Prince Charles Meets Massacre Survivors

Britain’s Prince Charles on Tuesday met survivors of Norway’s island massacre last year as he and his wife Camilla visited Oslo as part of a Scandinavian tour.

The prince had requested the meeting with several survivors of the July 22nd killings on Utøya island, where right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik shot dead 69 people, mainly teenagers attending a summer camp.

The now 33-year-old Breivik, who has said he was on a crusade against multi-culturalism and Europe’s “Muslim invasion”, had earlier set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people.

Prince Charles lost his grand uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten, with whom he was close, in a 1979 attack by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

The meeting took place behind closed doors at the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, in the presence of Norway’s King Harald V and Queen Sonja.

Before the meeting with the Utøya survivors, including the head of the Labour Party youth movement which had organised the summer camp, Eskil Pedersen, the prince laid a wreath at the national monument in Oslo.

He also held talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, but they made no public statements.

On Wednesday, Prince Charles is set to visit Norway’s second largest city, the picturesque Hanseatic port of Bergen, where he is scheduled to visit a marine research ship and a Norwegian Royal Navy frigate.

On Thursday, he and Camilla continue their Nordic tour, first travelling to Sweden, followed by a visit to Denmark.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Swedes Back Obama in US Election: Survey

If Swedes could vote in US elections, President Barack Obama would handily beat either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum, according to a new survey, which also reveals Swedes can’t seem to get enough of US politics. Seventy-four percent of Swedes indicated they would vote for Obama whether the sitting Democratic president faced either of the top two Republican challengers, an online survey carried out by the YouGov polling firm shows.

And while less than half of US voters currently approve of Obama’s record as president, 62 percent of Swedes say they are satisfied with Obama’s performance. The YouGov survey also revealed Swedes’ concerns about what might happen should the Republicans retake the White House in November 2012, with 52 percent indicating an Obama loss would have a negative effect on the world’s security.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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The Economic Death of a Southern Italian City

Crotone was once called the “Milan of the South,” thanks to its bustling industry and entrepreneurial spirit. But over the past 20 years, the Calabrian city has seen its factories close and locals forced onto welfare.

With 1,586 employees, the Local Health Authority (ASL) is the largest enterprise in this mid-sized city in Calabria, a region in southwest Italy. And the next largest? The provincial public administration, with 390 employees, which is followed by city government offices and local branches of the national government.

In Crotone, one in every 50 inhabitants has a public-sector job. More than twice that number — 6,444 — are unemployed. Locals call this “social safety valve” system. Even the state-funded holding center for illegal immigrants is considered an important source of employment.

Once upon a time, Crotone was called the Milan of southern Italy. The 1960s and 1970s were the golden age of Pertusola, a successful metallurgy company that employed up to 1,300 people; of Montedison, where more than 1,000 workers produced fertilizers and detergents; and of Cellulosa, where hundreds of chemists developed innovative paper products. It was an era when a state-of-the-art technical institute, the Donegani school, turned out the workers of tomorrow. It was an age of wealth and freedom.

But since the 1990s, all this is in the past. Pertusola and Montedison have closed, and Cellulosa went bankrupt. The last generation of workers occupied the factories with strikes, and set fire to the machines.

The glorious industry of the area is no more. Now, there is just the toxic trail they’ve left behind: the soil across a huge area in the center of the old town is poisoned by metals and chemicals, and has been waiting for a cleanup for 20 years. None of this helps build a tourist industry in an area known for several important sites of Greek ruins…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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UK: ‘Sexual Abuse of 15-Year-Old Girl by Gang of Six Men Was Filmed on Mobile Phone’

A drunken 15-year-old girl was filmed naked and pleading as a gang of six men sexually abused her throughout the night, a court heard.

Harrowing footage from one of the defendant’s mobile phones seen by Leeds Crown Court showed the young girl lying naked while men laughed and touched her.

She could be heard saying: ‘Give me back my clothes’ and ‘let me go’.

Ali Rehman, 26, his brother Hassan, 18, Larasab Hussain, 45, Faisar Younas, 23, Saqib Hussain, 31, and Wahid Hussain, 19, are on trial in West Yorkshire after the teenager was ‘used and abused like an object’.

The jury watched the videos as Sharon Beattie, prosecuting, transcribed the men’s conversation — which was in Urdu, Punjabi and English.

Miss Beattie said: ‘In her account, various videos were taken that evening, only one was recovered — taken at the end of the evening.

‘But it demonstrates how they were treating her as an object, something to use and abuse. There is no question of her giving consent to any activities that evening.’

The court heard how the schoolgirl had been drinking with a friend on the night of May 11, 2010, when they went to Ali Rehman’s home, where they shared Jack Daniels and coke with him and his friends.

Her friend went upstairs with Rehman to buy some cannabis and left the house at around 9pm, taking the 15-year-old’s mobile phone with her.

It was agreed that the young girl should be left behind to sleep off the alcohol because she was ‘wasted’, with Rehman, from Dewsbury, West Yorks, saying: ‘You can stay here because you can’t even walk.’

The abuse began, the court heard, when the teenager was led upstairs to a bedroom and she was laid down on a mattress.

The girl had told police that Rehman allowed his friend Saqib Hussain into the room and told him: ‘You have 10 minutes.’

Miss Beattie told the court: ‘If this is right it demonstrates from the off Ali Rehman was set on this girl being available for the sexual gratification of himself and his friends and the fact she couldn’t walk demonstrates she was vulnerable to all these men.’

After 10 minutes it is alleged that Rehman then entered the room and raped her, but was interrupted by his brother telling him they had to leave.

Ali Rehman was set on this girl being available for the sexual gratification of himself and his friends and the fact she couldn’t walk demonstrates she was vulnerable to all these men.

The court heard that Rehman told the girl to put her clothes on, flung her over his shoulder and carried her from his bedroom to the nearby home of co-defendant Faiser Younas.

The jury heard that at one point she woke up to two of the men trying to rape her at the same time. She said she remembered crying throughout her ordeal.

The prosecutor said the group then left, putting the girl in a taxi, driven by Larasab Hussain, going via Asda in order to get more alcohol.

The girl said she could feel herself coming around by this point, but was then given more vodka.

The group then went to Hussain’s flat to allegedly continue the abuse further. One man was heard to say he did not want his face in any pictures.

They then went back to Rehman’s home, where the police discovered the girl in the morning.

At first the girl denied that anything had happened to her out of fear, the court heard.

But she changed her mind and gave her full account in October 2010.

Ali Rehman is charged with three accounts of rape, and one of attempted rape, Saqib Hussain is charged with sexual assault, Faisar Youas with one account of rape, Hassan Rehman with attempted rape, Wahid Hassan with one account of attempted rape and Larasab Hussain with an account of sexual assault.

The men, all from Dewsbury, deny the charges. The trial continues.

— Hat tip: Vlad Tepes

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UK: Ken Livingstone: I Will Make London a Beacon of Islam

by Andrew Gilligan

Here is the full version of a story which appears in the print edition of today’s Daily Telegraph:

Ken Livingstone has promised to turn London into a “beacon” for the words of the Prophet Mohammed in a sermon at one of the capital’s most controversial mosques. Mr Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for mayor of London, pledged to “educate the mass of Londoners” in Islam, saying: “That will help to cement our city as a beacon that demonstrates the meaning of the words of the Prophet.” Mr Livingstone described Mohammed’s words in his last sermon as “an agenda for all humanity.” He praised the Prophet’s last sermon, telling his audience: “I want to spend the next four years making sure that every non-Muslim in London knows and understands [its] words and message.” He also promised to “make your life a bit easier financially.” Mr Livingstone was speaking at last Friday’s Jummah prayer at the North London Central Mosque, also known as Finsbury Park Mosque, formerly controlled by the terrorist recruiter Abu Hamza.

Hamza was removed in 2003 but the mosque is now controlled by an Islamist organisation, the Muslim Association of Britain, which has been linked to the banned terror group, Hamas. A man who has acted as spokesman for the current leadership, Azzam Tamimi, is on record as supporting suicide bombings. One of the mosque’s current directors, Mohammed Sawalha, is described by the BBC as a former senior figure in Hamas who “is said to have masterminded much of Hamas’s political and military strategy” from his post in London. In 2009 Mr Sawalha also signed the Istanbul Declaration which calls for attacks against the allies of Israel, which include the UK. The British Government interpreted it as calling for attacks on British troops. In 2010, the Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, a Muslim moderate, resigned from the mosque’s board of trustees and reported it to the Charity Commission, accusing the mosque of forging his signature on key legal documents.

Mr Livingstone has been dogged by allegations of links to Islamic fundamentalism. In 2010, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, he campaigned against his own party’s candidate to back a controversial independent politician, Lutfur Rahman, sacked by Labour for his links to a Muslim extremist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). During his mayoralty, Mr Livingstone’s London Development Agency channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds to the East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets, controlled by the IFE, even though senior LDA managers strongly opposed the grant. In return, IFE activists campaigned strongly for him at the 2008 mayoral elections, boasting that they “got out the vote” for Mr Livingstone and achieving dramatic swings to him in their east London heartland. Mr Livingstone also gave thousands of pounds of public money to the Muslim Welfare House, a charity closely associated with the Finsbury Park Mosque, which signed an open letter backing his re-election campaign in 2008. In his last sermon, delivered in the valley of Mount Arafat, near Mecca in 632 AD, the Prophet Mohammed attacked discrimination, saying that “a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white, except by piety and good action.” However, he also said that men had a right to ensure their wives “do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve.”

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Queen Elizabeth Delivers Jubilee Speech to Parliament

England’s Queen Elizabeth II delivered a speech to both houses of the British parliament on Tuesday as part of the events surrounding her Diamond jubilee, marking 60 years as the country’s head of state.

During the ceremony at Westminster Hall in London, a stained glass window marking the queen’s anniversary was unveiled. The window was a gift from members of parliament and was paid for with private contributions of the lawmakers.

Elizabethis just the second English monarch ever to celebrate 60 years on the throne. The first was Queen Victoria, who celebrated her Diamond jubilee in 1897.

Queen Elizabeth said she hoped her Diamond jubilee would provide an “opportunity for people to come together in a spirit of neighborliness and celebration of their own communities.”

She thanked her son, Charles, and other members of her family for representing her in travels to other Commonwealth countries.

At the end of her speech, the queen rededicated herself “to the service of our great country and its people now and in the years to come.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Vatican Report Expresses ‘Pain, Shame’ at Abuse in Ireland

Progress has been made, according to Apostolic Visitation

(ANSA) — Rome, March 20 — A Vatican report on paedophilia by clergymen in Ireland expressed pain and shame at the sex abuse on Tuesday while stressing that the Catholic Church had made significant progress in protecting children.

The Holy See published a summary on its website of the findings of a 2011 Church probe in Ireland, called an Apostolic Visitation, commissioned after several reports uncovered decades of abuse and cover-ups in Catholic schools in Ireland and in the Dublin diocese.

The scandal was one of a series that have hit the Church around the world in recent years, in countries including the United States, Australia, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Germany and Italy, badly hitting its standing.

“The Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his (2010) Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis,” the summary read.

“With a great sense of pain and shame, it must be acknowledged that within the Christian community innocent young people were abused by clerics and religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively…

“For these faults, forgiveness must once more be asked: from God and from the victims!”.

The Vatican report said the senior churchmen it sent to Ireland had verified that steps had been taken since the 1990s to achieve greater awareness, both in the Church and society as a whole, of how serious the problem of abuse is.

“The Archbishops of the visited Archdioceses gave assurance that all newly discovered cases of abuse are promptly brought before both the competent civil authority and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” it added.

The report also contained a series of recommendations, including more training on child protection for seminarians and increased pastoral attention to victims of sexual abuse and their families.

After an initial response to the scandals that some depicted as defensive, the pope has been increasingly open about sex abuse and has prayed and wept with victims on recent trips overseas, including to Malta and Britain Benedict has repeatedly pledged to root out abuse but some victims groups have said they want to see “more concrete” steps.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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With Spring, A New Political Tenor Arrives in Italy

What’s going on in Italy? The administration is popular, despite having not been elected. Elected political elites, on the other hand, have little power. Under recently appointed Prime Minister Mario Monti; the tenor of Italian politics has improved considerably. The question is how long the experiment can last.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Germany to Sell Israel Nuclear-Capable Submarine

Germany has confirmed plans to sell a discounted nuclear-capable submarine to Israel, after Berlin reportedly dropped objections over Jewish settlement building in the Palestinian territories.

Germany will send a sixth nuclear-capable submarine to Israel and will subsidize the cost, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced on Tuesday after meeting his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak in Berlin.

The sale comes after years of negotiations that Israeli media reported were stalled due to tensions over Israel’s continued construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Berlin reportedly agreed to the sale after Israel released millions of dollars in withheld customs duties to the Palestinian Authority last year.

Three German-made Dolphin-class submarines are already in use in the Israeli navy, delivered in 1999 and 2000. Two other submarines have been ordered and are under construction, slated for delivery later this year.

The Dolphin-class submarines run on a combination diesel and electric motor. Experts say the latest order from Israel is capable of carrying nuclear-capable, mid-range rockets, although this has not been confirmed.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Accused of Terrorism: Turkish Reporters Struggle Against Repression

Turkey has sparked international criticism over its treatment of journalists who dare to criticize the government, with many jailed on terrorism charges. The recent release of prominent reporters may signal change, but more than 100 journalists are still imprisoned in the country, more than in China or Iran.

He has done things in the last 375 days that he would never have imagined doing before. He made dumbbells out of pipe sections, watched too much television, and at some point he discovered the sunflower seeds. That was when he realized that he was losing too much weight in prison. “I chewed those damned sunflower seeds like someone possessed,” says Ahmet Sik.

The journalist is sitting in his living room in Istanbul, surrounded by his wife Yonca, daughters and closest friends. There is red wine and chocolate cake, and Sik, a youthful 42-year-old with a thin beard, still can’t believe he’s a free man. It is the evening of Tuesday, March 13, the day after his release from the Silivri high-security prison for presumed terrorists .

He was in pretrial detention for a year and 10 days on charges of being a “member of a terrorist organization.” Sik is one of the most famous investigative journalists and authors in Turkey. His colleague Nedim Sener, another investigative reporter who has won several awards, had researched the reasons behind the murder of journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. A little over a year ago, on the morning of March 3, 2011, a special unit of the Turkish police arrested both men.

The journalists were charged with belonging to an ultra-nationalist secret organization called “Ergenekon,” though there was no evidence to support the allegations. The notorious network, Turkish prosecutors claim, contrived a plan to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan several years ago. Since 2007, special police units have been trying to put a stop to the activities of the Ergenekon group, although its existence has never been proven.

Non-governmental organizations like Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch had long criticized Turkey for its repression of journalists, but a line was crossed with Sik and Sener’s arrests. With their work, the two men had helped expose connections among politicians, the judiciary and organized crime in Turkey, the so-called “Deep State” that went back decades.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Prayer Chain for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Imprisoned in Iran

Dear Christian friends,

We have been asked to forward this email and pray for Pastor Youcef. Please forward using the bcc box so that a list of e-mail addresses is not circulated.

URGENT PRAYER NEEDED for cancellation of execution for Pastor Youcef in IRAN

This prayer chain is calling ALL Christians into action NOW on behalf of this Iranian pastor, who faces execution!

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani never practiced the Muslim faith and converted to Christianity at age 19, becoming a pastor later. But the courts say that since his mother and father were practicing Muslims, he must recant his Christian faith or die. So far, in three court appearances, he has refused to do so — RISKING EXECUTION AT ANY MOMENT. The Iranian Supreme Court often acts quickly in administering the death penalty…

— Hat tip: 1389AD

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Series of Attacks in Iraq, Dozens of Dead. Church of St Mathew in Baghdad Targeted

A bomb exploded near the Syrian-Orthodox church in the capital, killing two guards and wounding five others. Across the country there were over 20 explosions. AsiaNews sources: attacks to derail the upcoming Arab League summit. The violence set to continue.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) — The Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Matthew, in Baghdad, is one of the objectives targeted by Iraqi extremists, who this morning carried out a series of attacks across the country to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion — March 20, 2003 — to overthrow Saddam Hussein Nasser. Church sources in Iraq asking for anonymity for safety reasons, told AsiaNews, that the two guards were killed in the attack, while five others were injured. Meanwhile, the provisional toll from the bomb attacks — in more than 20 explosions — in the capital, in Kirkuk, in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, and Hillah in Mahmoudiya is at least 39 dead and 200 wounded.

AsiaNews sources in Iraq confirm “at least the 20 explosions” in different areas of the country, including the bombing of the church of St. Matthew, which “caused the death of two guards and wounded five other people.” At present it is unclear if the place of Christian worship was the real target of the extremist. In Kirkuk, a city 300 km north of the capital, there were “three blasts that caused about 10 deaths and more than 40 wounded” in a neighborhood where the attackers “have targeted a police station.”

Reports speak of 13 other deaths and fifty wounded in Karbala, the Shiite holy city, where two car bombs exploded. More attacks were reported in Hillah, Latifuyah and other areas of Iraq, although currently there is no official news.

The long trail of blood today marks the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion and is just the latest in a series of unending violence that mark a nation divided between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, and where Christians are often the victim of revenge caught in the crosshairs of power plays. From 2003 to December 2011, the date of complete withdrawal of U.S. troops, 4,550 U.S. soldiers have died and 300 allies. However, the real carnage regards the Iraqi civilian population, which has around 100 thousand casualties since the war began.

Iraqi political experts interviewed by AsiaNews emphasize that today’s attacks could be linked to the upcoming Arab League summit, to be held in Baghdad — for the first time since 1990 — between 27 and 29 March next. “There are nations — said the expert — who want to derail the summit, because the league is composed of a majority of Sunnis.” Added to this is “the feast of Nawruz”, the traditional celebration that marks the new year for Shiite and Kurdish communities. Born within the pre-Islamic era sacred to the Zoroastrians, it is now observed by many Sufi and Baha’i.

The attackers, said the source, want to strike at key events and “we expect more attacks in the coming hours and days to come.” Violence in Iraq “is not finished.” (DS)

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Indonesian Ulema: Lady Gaga is “Haram,” Forbidden, No to Concert. Fans in Revolt

Radwan Khalil, a member of the MUI said that the singer is a “threat” to morality and the concert is “haram”. She is “too sexy” and could lead to carnal desires. Thousands of fans against the words of Muslim leader. Ironic comment by a leader of the liberal movement: it is “forbidden” to attend without a ticket.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — “Pop” music lovers in Indonesia are at war, following the statement issued today by the Ulema Council (MUI), which has branded the Lady Gaga concert, scheduled in the coming months as “haram” — forbidden — and morally “threatening”. The Islamic organization plays a role of “observer” of manners and morals in the archipelago and several times in the past, has intervened in the debate with public stances that have sparked heated debate. Among others, in March 2011 they railed against the flag-raising “because Muhammad never did so”, before they had launched anathemas against the popular social network Facebook deemed “amoral” against yoga, smoking and the right to vote, especially for women.

Khalil Radwan, executive member of the MUI said that “no Indonesian Muslims” should attend the concert of the U.S. pop-star, in June in Jakarta, because her gestures and clothing exhibited on the stage are contrary to morality and reprehensible. “My opinion — adds the leader of the Ulema — is based solely on religious tradition. [She] is too sexy on stage, this could induce a carnal desire among people of different sexes.” Consequently, Khalil Ridwan continues, we would see a “moral drift of the nation and its people.”

The strict clampdown has provoked the reaction of thousands of Indonesian music lovers, who have not hidden their anger and outrage at the words of the Islamic leader. “Music is music,” they say in a loud voice, “it has nothing to do with the desires of the flesh.” Some used irony, like Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a leader of the Islamic Liberal Network movement, declaring: “as far as I know, it is ‘haram’ to see the show without a ticket.”

The U.S. performance artist Lady Gaga — whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta — has sold millions of albums around the world and is scheduled to appear at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in central Jakarta on June 3. All 44 thousand tickets have already been sold and the concert is already declared “sold out”. The date in Indonesia is part of a larger tour in Southeast Asia for the next few months. The singer’s entourage are aware that, for the exhibition, she will wear a dress “suited” to the host country.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italian Marines to Stay in Indian Prison for Two More Weeks

Separate hearing to decide on jurisdiction

(ANSA) — Rome, March 19 — Two Italian anti-piracy marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen will stay in prison in southern India for two more weeks, a magistrate ruled on Monday.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who have been at the centre of a diplomatic row between the countries since being detained last month, were sent back to a jail in the city of Thiruvananthapuram.

A separate hearing on Monday, meanwhile, is considering Italy’s claim that it should have jurisdiction for the case, not India, as the officers were guarding an Italian merchant vessel in international waters.

The Italian government also believes that, regardless of who has jurisdiction, the marines should be exempt from prosecution in India as they were military personnel working on an anti-piracy mission.

Italy has said the marines fired warning shots from the merchant ship they were guarding, the Enrica Lexie, after coming under attack from pirates.

It said they followed the proper international procedures for dealing with pirate attacks, which are frequent in the Indian Ocean.

The Indian authorities, on the other hand, said the marines failed to show sufficient “restraint” by opening fire after mistaking the fishermen for pirates.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Pakistan: Lawmakers Debate Terms of US Ties

Islamabad, 20 March (AKI/Dawn) — Pakistani lawmakers have opened a debate on the terms of the nation’s re-engagement with the United States after ties were all but severed following deadly American air-strikes on Pakistani troops in November.

“Pakistan wants to pursue good relations with every country, Pakistan also wants to pursue its own national interest,” foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar told reporters after the session.

The session on Tuesday, being attended by both the upper and lower houses and chaired by the recently appointed Senate Chairman Nayyar Bokhari, could help determine whether the country’s reopens US and Nato supply lines to Afghanistan.

The parliament was also briefed on the details of Pakistan’s sensitive defence pacts in an in-camera session.

The parliamentary commission has also demanded an end to American drone strikes inside the country and is seeking an unconditional apology for the Nato attack that killed 24 soldiers in Pakistan.

Raza Rabbani, chairman of a parliamentary committee on national security, outlined its recommendations in that those responsible for the attack should be brought to justice and the recommendations also said that any use of Pakistani bases or airspace by foreign forces would require parliament’s approval.

“The US must review its footprints in Pakistan,” he said. “This means the cessation of drone strikes inside Pakistan.”

The Ministry of Defense and US/Nato/Isaf were also told to draft new flying routes for areas close to the border.

The panel recommended that “Pakistan should seek an unconditional apology from the US for the unprovoked incident” and said “taxes and other charges must be levied on all goods importing in or transiting through Pakistan”.

Rabbani said that if and when supplies to foreign forces in Afghanistan are resumed, the shipments must be taxed. He insisted that parliament should approve any future use of Pakistani bases or air space by foreign forces.

The commission said that the re-opening of the US/Nato supply route must be based on a thorough revision of the terms of conditions of the agreement, which shall be subject to strict monitoring within Pakistan on anti-entry, transit and exit points.

It was also suggested that no verbal agreement regarding national security shall be entered into by the government or any other ministry or department.

The commission said that no overt or covert operation inside Pakistan shall be tolerated. It also suggested that there should be prior permission and transparency on the number and presence of foreign intelligence operatives in Pakistan.

The commission recommended to the government that Pakistan should actively pursue the gas pipeline project with Iran.

It was also recommended that 50 per cent of US/Nato/Isaf containers may be handled through Pakistan Railways.

The session was adjourned until Monday on Opposition Leader Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan’s request to give lawmakers time to study the recommendations.

Nisar criticised the government for keeping the report “secret” and failing to give party leaders time to discuss it before tabling it in parliament.

The parliament, which will now meet on Monday, will debate for several days and then vote on whether to accept the report.

Gen. James Mattis, commander of US Central Command, said earlier this month he expected to visit Pakistan in mid-to-late March to talk with leaders about reopening the supply routes. His would be the first trip by a US military official since the airstrikes, and will be taken as a high-level sign that Pakistan’s army leadership wants to re-engage.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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International Pressure on Bolivarian Countries: A Hopeful Sign

By Luis Fleischman

After a decade of silence and an apologetic attitude towards the countries of the Bolivarian alliance (ALBA), the international community finally protested attacks against freedom of the press in Ecuador, forcing the Ecuadorian president to back off.

For years the Organization of American States and countries of the region have been enablers and thus passive accomplices of the anti-democratic wave that has penetrated Latin America. Under the pretext of helping the poor and the disenfranchised, Bolivarian regimes led by Venezuela and including Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia have violated civil, political and human rights, freedom of the press and judicial autonomy…

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France Makes it Harder to Become French

France will be making it harder for foreigners to seek French citizenship as of January. Critics say the new requirements, which include tough language tests and allegiance to “French values”, are an electoral ploy that panders to the far right.

Foreigners seeking French nationality face tougher requirements as of January 1, when new rules drawn up by Interior Minister Claude Guéant come into force.

Candidates will be tested on French culture and history, and will have to prove their French language skills are equivalent to those of a 15-year-old mother tongue speaker. They will also be required to sign a new charter establishing their rights and responsibilities.

“Becoming French is not a mere administrative step. It is a decision that requires a lot of thought”, reads the charter, drafted by France’s High Council for Integration (HCI). In a more obscure passage, the charter suggests that by taking on French citizenship, “applicants will no longer be able to claim allegiance to another country while on French soil”, although dual nationality will still be allowed.

Guéant, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, described the process as “a solemn occasion between the host nation and the applicant”, adding that migrants should be integrated through language and “an adherence to the principals, values and symbols of our democracy”. He stressed the importance of the secular state and equality between women and men: rhetoric perceived largely as a snipe at Muslim applicants, who make up the majority of the 100,000 new French citizens admitted each year.

France’s interior minister has made it clear that immigrants who refuse to “assimilate” into French society should be denied French citizenship…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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UK: Editor Courts Controversy With Book About Islamic Immigration

Danny Lockwood, an editor and publisher, has courted controversy by writing a book with a provocative title, The Islamic Republic of Dewsbury.

It is a blunt assault on multi-culturalism seen through the prism of his experience of immigration in the town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. The book’s paperbook version sold out in six weeks, according to a HoldTheFrontPage report, but it is available for download on Kindle. Lockwood refers to his book as a “hard-hitting chronicle of the massive social changes in the district” and what he describes as “20 years of failed multi-culturalism.” He launched an independent weekly title, The Press in Dewsbury, in March 2002 in competition to the Dewsbury Reporter and Batley News, which he used to edit. Many of the book’s topics were aired when Lockwood was sued for libel by Dewsbury’s former MP and Labour minister, Shahid Malik. A two-week trial ended in a hung jury and Malik then dropped the action after reaching an out-of-court settlement with Lockwood and a Tory councillor. Lockwood said: “We haven’t heard a negative word from a single person who has looked beyond the title and actually read the book. No fatwas, no boycotts of the business.” On the Amazon site, there are currently eight reviews, all of them warmly praising Lockwood’s book. Lockwood says he still has copies of the book available from his own publishing offices in Dewsbury.

Sources: HoldTheFrontPage/Amazon reviews/Yorkshire Evening Post

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Home-Grown Freedoms Are the Strongest

Charles Moore reviews ‘Can We Talk About This?’ at the Lyttelton.

This performance (it is not a play) is well titled. The words were, allegedly, uttered by Theo Van Gogh, the director of the controversial anti-Muslim film Submission just before an Islamist assassin stabbed him to death in the street in Amsterdam in 2004. The answer, from the murderer’s point of view was, obviously, ‘No’. By his deed, he was rejecting the central Western idea that questions of belief and ideas are to be settled by discussion, not by the sword. But the title has a further meaning as well. It asks a question of the audience. Can we — vaguely liberal, largely secular Western society — talk about the danger to that society posed by multiculturalism, and particularly by more militant versions of Islam? The purpose of this show is to get that talk going. Judging by the conversation buzzing at the end of the evening, it succeeds.

The means chosen is not, as I say, conventionally theatrical. DV8, the company which puts on the performance, is known for “physical theatre”. Normally, its shows are wordless. In this case, there are plenty of words, but none of them is contributed by a playwright. All are taken from interviews conducted by DV8 with more than 40 players in the relevant debates — people such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the brave ex-Muslim atheist who starred in Submission, Ann Cryer, the former Labour MP who campaigned against forced marriage, the ghastly, plagiaristic columnist Johann Hari, the late Christopher Hitchens etc. The interviews are then spliced together and delivered by the members of the DV8 company. As they speak, they constantly perform the physical theatre for which they are trained, wiggling their heads about and twisting their limbs. It sounds pretentious, but actually it improves what would otherwise be an extremely static hour and 20 minutes.

Almost the first words are, like the title, a question: “Do you think you are morally superior to the Taliban?” Members of the audience are asked to put up their hands if they do. On my night, only about 20 per cent did so, and I think this was supposed to prove how weak and weedy is our relativism beside the implacability of extremists. In fact, I did not put up my hand, and I suspect others felt the same, on the grounds that it is unwise to judge one’s personal moral superiority. If the question had been rephrased to ‘Do you think British culture is morally superior to that of the Taliban?’ the result would have been very different. In any event, it is clear where the sympathies of the director, Lloyd Newsom, lie. He is on the Left, and he is attacking those of his comrades — they have dominated public policy for 30 or 40 years — who believe in group rights, rather than common rights. He is opposing the doctrine of multiculturalism which says that the ethnicity and religion of minorities are so important that they should excuse their adherents — Pakistani or Bangladeshi Muslims, for example — from the rules of tolerance that apply to the rest of us. He favours a racially plural culture, but not a ghettoised one.

One of these 40 interviewed was Ray Honeyford, who died earlier this year. Mr Honeyford provided an early test case of multicultural doctrines. He was the headmaster of a state school in Bradford in the 1980s, and he wrote articles complaining about how Muslim parents could demand privileges not available to other parents, such as the right to take their children off to the Indian subcontinent during term-time. He thought it was wrong that they could be exempted from the British culture of which they were, by citizenship, a part. For his outspokenness, he was called a racist, and forced out of his job. It was the start of something very big, which got bigger with the threats to Salman Rushdie. It is with us still.

Seen from a non-Left point of view, some of the evening is common sense for slow learners. Few conservatives ever thought that multiculturalism was a good idea, so we derive a melancholy, slightly lofty satisfaction from seeing others catching up with us. I have heard these issues aired so often before that at one point, I must admit, I drifted off. I woke up with a start when I heard my own name being mentioned on stage. One of the wiggling, twisting actors mentioned a column I wrote in this newspaper eight years ago in which, he said, I “claimed that the Prophet Mohammed was a paedophile”. I didn’t, in fact, should anyone out there be thinking of murdering me. My point was that we should all be free to say that he was.

Despite being misrepresented, I was, of course, pleased to be made a small player in this history. Is the essential message of the evening right? In one sense, yes. We are a free society only if we keep it free. To do so, we must maintain a common political culture from which no group, because of some real or imagined grievance, is excused. I was impressed by how strongly the audience seemed to feel this, clapping almost defiantly at the expression of a truth too long suppressed. A few years back, Left-wing theatres like the National would not have dared put on this sort of show. It is good that it now does so. In another sense, though, I was less convinced. People like the director seem to put their faith in the application of universal principles of human rights. In reality, these principles, especially when imposed by the European Court of Human Rights, make things worse. They create their own intolerance. Our strongest freedoms are home-grown.

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Note to Ken — Multiculturalism is So 80s

by Ed West

Is Ken Livingstone the most repulsive man in Britain? I’m not talking physically repulsive, of course, although his recent Putin impression is hardly likely to set a new dynamic of the male sexual ideal, a la Nick Kamen’s appearance in boxer shorts in the 1985 Levi’s advert. Nor his hysterical witticisms, chronicled here (although his comment for June 26 last year was hard to fault). I mean that he is someone who actually has a malign and divisive influence on society. His latest stunt is telling the people of Finsbury Park mosque that when he retakes power he’s going to “educate the mass of Londoners” in Islam, saying: “That will help to cement our city as a beacon that demonstrates the meaning of the words of the Prophet.” As this paper reports:

Mr Livingstone described Mohammed’s words in his last sermon as “an agenda for all humanity.” He praised the Prophet’s last sermon, telling his audience: “I want to spend the next four years making sure that every non-Muslim in London knows and understands [its] words and message.” He also promised to “make your life a bit easier financially.”

I’m not sure what he meant by the last one. Ken made life easier financially for quite a few people during his eight years in power, but money is not really the issue.

Rather it is Ken’s long-time shenanigans in playing divisive ethnic politics than makes him such a repulsive figure. After the July 7 bombings London was covered in those “Diversity is strength”-style posters that troubled cities such as Leicester and Luton are fond of displaying in unwitting parodies of George Orwell’s nightmare future. And yet “one London” is precisely the opposite of what Ken’s politics have achieved.

It’s worth recalling that Livingstone pioneered multiculturalism, that long-discredited and divisive policy (see Charles Moore today), following the 1981 Brixton riots. In London multiculturalism focused on supporting the black community, which involved giving out public largesse to self-declared “community leaders” to combat racism. In places like Bradford and Birmingham, where community leaders saw multiculturalism not as a way of fighting inequality but of resisting assimilation, it was much more damaging; a new book about the policy in Dewsbury is proving a great hit.

Since then the dynamic in London has changed, and Muslim immigrants have become the new working class for the unthinking Left, for whom anti-racist doctrine trumps any concerns about misogyny, homophobia or anti-Semitism, let alone the views of the native working class. It’s true that Islam has become something of a scapegoat for all the problems associated with immigration, if only because by citing it one can express anti-immigration sentiments using liberal arguments, when in fact “diversity” is a problem in itself.

But this hostility is, in my opinion, magnified by the way that politicians have jumped on the Islamophobia bandwagon and tried to de-legitimise genuine concerns about both cultural practices and immigration levels. Perhaps Ken’s fondness for Islam is genuine and he does see it as the job of the London Mayor to educate people about the faith, rather than, say, fix its myriad problems, but such words can only be divisive in a large, diverse city where people rub along best when differences are minimalised.

Standing in a very anti-Tory city during a time when the Government is highly unpopular, Ken is probably going to lose, and the reason is that he has a serious white problem. He is very unpopular with many suburban voters for his associations with Irish Republicans, black “anti-racists” (many who express openly racist views) and now ultra-conservative Islamic clerics. That is why the 2008 elections were so racially divided, as this report stated:

Correlations between London Assembly voting patterns and ethnic groups show that the link strengthened between the Labour Party vote and areas high in percentages of both Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups.Another significant change recorded here was between the votes for the Conservative party and areas with a high percentage of the population that was White British. The strong positive correlation between the data increased in strength from 0.44 in 2004 to 0.56 in 2008.

Comments like those made in Finsbury Park are hardly going to reverse this trend. In all honestly I can’t say I would have voted for Oona King, whom Ken defeated to be Labour candidate, but I know that many would, and Livingstone’s election was good news for the Tory party. But I still lament that Labour has chosen this highly divisive figure to represent London; for the good of all Londoners, Muslims especially, let’s hope that this is his swansong. Doesn’t he realise that multiculturalism is so 1980s?

— Hat tip: JP

[Return to headlines]

	Financial Crisis
»	Greece: Exceptional Situation, Solidarity Needed, Almunia
»	Greece: People Indifferent to Swap Success
»	Italy: Treasury ‘Paid Morgan Stanley $3.4 Billion’
»	Italy: Spread Ends on 278, Yield 4.84%
	USA
»	Apple to Use Cash for Stock Dividend and Buyback
»	DHS Terror Document Lists Yawning, Goose Bumps as Suspicious Behavior
»	Frank Gaffney: Fund But Verify the Export-Import Bank
»	Little Rock Airport to be Named After the Clintons
»	The Quit and the Dead
	Europe and the EU
»	“Italy Rife With Corruption, Wrongdoing and Malpractice” Says Court of Auditors
»	Arms Exports: Made in Germany
»	Concern Over Threats to Paris Synagogues
»	EU’s Catherine Ashton Compares Kids Murdered in France With Gaza
»	France: Women’s Match Called Off Over Headscarves
»	France’s Hollande Secures German SPD Endorsement on Europe
»	France: Butchers Have a Beef With French Politics
»	France: Four Killed at French Jewish School Shooting
»	France: Four Dead as Gunman on a Motorbike Opens Fire at Jewish School in France
»	France: Govt Steps Up Surveillance at Jewish Schools
»	France: Man Opens Fire at Toulouse’s Jewish School, 4 Dead
»	France: Toulouse: Sarkozy Declares Incident National Tragedy
»	France: Police Link Scooter to Three Shootings
»	Germany: Joachim Gauck Elected President
»	Interest in ‘Halal’ Finance Growing in Italy
»	Italy: Top Lombardy Official in Corruption Probe
»	Italy: Trucker Strike Shuts Down Fiat Plants
»	Italy: Fincantieri Shipyard Gets US Navy Contract
»	Italy: Berlusconi Richest Man in Parliament, Income Records Show
»	Rape Case Shames EU-Aspirant Ukraine
»	Shooting Outside Jewish School in Toulouse, France; 5 Dead
»	Swiss Hikers Die in Norway Avalanche
»	UK: ‘Honour Code’ Supported by Young Asians, Poll Says
»	UK: Conservative Councillors Branded ‘Perverse’ After Purley Islamic Centre Refused
»	UK: Ken Livingstone: I Am Right — You Are All Wrong
»	UK: Mosque Trust Doesn’t Want to Pay Traffic Bill
»	UK: One-in-Five Young Muslims Supports ‘Honour’ Violence
»	UPS Looks Set to Buy Dutch Rival TNT Express
»	Viking Explorers Carried Fuzzy Stowaways, New Study Finds
»	Viking Mice Marauders Swept Across Northern Europe
	North Africa
»	Algeria: AQIM Moves Base From Northern Mali
»	Egypt: Obituary: His Holiness Shenouda III
»	Libyan Police Too Scared to Arrest Cemetery Vandals Despite Capturing Three Who Desecrated Graves
	Israel and the Palestinians
»	OK, Treat Israel as a Democracy
	Middle East
»	Jordan: Tourism Loses $1 Billion After Arab Spring
»	London 2012: Women or No Women? Dilemma for Saudi Arabia
»	UAE: Italy Promoting Halal Food Certification
»	UAE: Expat Dilemma: What Do You Do When the Mosque’s Too Loud?
»	UAE: Europe Approves Camel’s Milk
	South Asia
»	India: Hindu Nationalists Attack Three Christian Communities
»	India: Muslims in India Are Being Misled — Salman Rushdie
»	Indonesia: Lady Gaga Fans Told to Return Tickets for ‘Un-Islamic’ Concert
»	Italy Urges India to Ensure Hostage Safety
»	Polls Open in Kerala: Outcome Crucial for Italian Marines
	Far East
»	Chinese Bloggers Are Gagged With Their Own Names
»	Controversial Scientist Plans to Clone a Mammoth
	Sub-Saharan Africa
»	Nigeria: Warder Fires Shots Near Keffi Mosque
»	Rwanda/Sierra Leone: Project Umubano is a Truly Remarkable Expression of the Conservative Party’s Core Values …
	Immigration
»	A World of Refugees
»	Another 295 Immigrants Rescued South of Lampedusa
»	Norway’s Population Hits Five Million
»	States (Countries) With Irish Migrants ‘Should Pay Tax’
	Culture Wars
»	John Sentamu’s Fall From Grace With Liberals Shows That You Criticise Gay Marriage at Your Peril
»	Norway’s Businesswomen and the Boardroom Bias Debate
»	UK: Is This the Most Anti-Christian Government in British History?
»	UK: Sunday Trading is Just Another Attack on Christian Britain

Greece: Exceptional Situation, Solidarity Needed, Almunia

But Greeks to blame, not euro, EU competition chief

(ANSA) — ISTANBUL, MARCH 2 — Greece’s situation is an exception, mainly caused by the Greeks and not by the euro. Greece now will require Europe’s and Germany’s solidarity for a long time, which of course ask for guarantees. This statement was made by European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, on the sidelines of the Aspen Institute Italy conference in Istanbul. To the question whether Greece is left to itself and kept in a state that makes it possible to rescue Italy and Spain, or that Europe is really supporting the country, Almunia answered to the microphones of RAI that “Greece has its own kind of problems” and that its “situation cannot be compared with no other country in the eurozone,” not even those “that are receiving financial aid” like Ireland and Portugal. “I believe,” he continued from the Aspen Bosporus Dialogue, “that the Greek community is making a huge effort” and that “the government of Lucas Papademos, with the support of the two main parties, Pasok and New Democracy,” is launching “the reforms and instruments Greece needs. In any case, it will be a long process: reorganising the Greek manufacturing system, modernising the country’s public administration,” recover the tax yield and to make “products Greece will be able to export to the rest of the eurozone and other countries will take time.” During this time, Almunia said, Greece will require “solidarity: I believe that the agreements that have been reached in the past week show this solidarity.” Now “Greece and its authorities must accept their responsibilities” and “the countries that can and must continue to give their support to Greece should not listen to people speaking out” against this aid, the European Commissioner urged: “that would be a huge mistake” because “if Greece resolves its problems, everyone will benefit. It is in the interest of all Europeans.” Almunia, answering another question, denied that Europe is in some way responsible for the Greek situation: “the Greek government is mainly responsible,” he said, “because it has not done what it should have to take advantage of the opportunities created by the euro and to avoid the creation of imbalances in the Greek economy”, which has reached “an unsustainable debt level.” However, “the Greek society”, according to Almunia, “is also responsible” for the current situation: “the public authorities cannot solve the problems if society and business fail to contribute and collaborate.” Answering the question if the fact that Germany keeps asking Greece to make a bigger effort does not “create embarrassment” for Europe, Almunia said that “the sacrifices that are asked of Greece are asked by all members of the eurozone” and “in some cases by the entire European Union, not only Germany.” He admitted that Germany is still “the largest and most competitive economy with the most room to express solidarity through financial support. But it is logic,” he added, “that Germany “lays down conditions” to make sure that “its solidarity will produce results.” Thinking like “a German MP, a member of the German government or a German taxpayer, it is easy to understand that they want guarantees for their efforts,” Almunia concluded.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Greece: People Indifferent to Swap Success

Most Greeks indifferent about bond swap

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — The Greek debt swap is a success and the Greek government, as well as several EU members, are pleased with the result. It allows the country to obtain the second 130 billion euro bailout package from its international lenders and to avoid a default. But most people in Greece are not interested in the whole affair, not even fully understanding terms like “PSI”, “swap” or “CAC”. Common people in Greece are in fact not at all affected by today’s triumphant announcement by Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, but continue to focus on the question how to make it to the end of the month. It is true, as many observers say, that the story of the treasury bond swap (PSI) has been going on for months and people have become accustomed to both the threats and the compliments made by the government. Most Greeks have given in to a type of impotent resignation, forming a “silent majority” which has never taken to the streets or has tired of doing so, realising that peaceful protests nor throwing Molotov cocktails and burning shops in the end have any effect. “Yes, I have heard about the bond swap but to be honest I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing for Greece,” admits retired nurse Elias Papadimitriou. “I must think about it. On the one hand I believe that all the money flowing to Greece is positive, but I think that it will not solve the problem of more than a million people without a job and of so many people who don’t even have enough to eat.” Pavlos Anastasiades, 37 years old, manager of an news-stand on the central Kolonnaki square agrees: “Even if Europe gives Greece another 130 billion euros, it won’t be of any use. Our corrupt politicians will take that money as well and our country will go bankrupt.” But where the normal people are indifferent or perhaps upset about the swap deal, the reactions of the politicians are naturally a different story.

“The agreement with private lenders has been closed with positive results, not only regarding the debt, but also regarding the future of the country and of our children,” said former Premier Giorgos Papandreou, leader of the socialist Pasok party for a few more days. “It is a provocation and a impudence from the side of Venizelos, Papademos and their friends to applaud this swap,” said Aleka Papariga, leader of the communist party (Kke), who added that “only the banks and creditors will gain from this. Thanks to this PSI, a new round of plundering of the Greek people will start in June.” According to Giannis Michelakis, spokesman of the centre-right Nea Dimocratia party (ND), “the positive development of the swap of bonds held by private parties shows why we support the government of Lucas Papadimos. Without our support, today’s result would not have been possible. Now we need measures to boost the economy, for which we need a new government with a strong backing from the population.” The leader of the Democratic Left party, Fotis Kouvelis, called the swap deal a “sigh of relief”, despite the fact that the fact that there are still issues that have “a negative impact, like the welfare funds and the small investments made by private investors.” The usually very sceptical Giorgos Karatzaferis, leader of the far-right Laos party, commented that “after what has happened, people in Greece must understand that we will not be able to ask money from the market for 10 or 20 years. We must understand that if Greece needs a loan, nobody will have any confidence in its treasury bonds. I really don’t understand the reason for so much enthusiasm,” he concluded.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Treasury ‘Paid Morgan Stanley $3.4 Billion’

Rome, 16 March (AKI/Bloomberg) — When Morgan Stanley said in January it had cut its “net exposure” to Italy by $3.4 billion, it didn’t tell investors that the nation paid that entire amount to the bank to exit a bet on interest rates.

Italy, the second-most indebted nation in the European Union, paid the money to unwind derivative contracts from the 1990s that had backfired, said a person with direct knowledge of the Treasury’s payment. It was cheaper for Italy to cancel the transactions rather than to renew, said the person, who declined to be identified because the terms were private.

The cost, equal to half the amount to be raised by Italy’s sales tax increase this year, underscores the risk derivatives countries use to reduce borrowing costs and guard against swings in interest rates and currencies can sour and generate losses for taxpayers. Italy, with record debt of $2.5 trillion, has lost more than $31 billion on its derivatives at current market values, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg Brief Risk newsletter from regulatory filings.

“These losses demonstrate the speculative nature of these deals and the supremacy of finance over government,” said Italian senator Elio Lannutti, chairman of the consumer group Adusbef.

Morgan Stanley said in a 19 January filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it “executed certain derivatives restructuring amendments which settled on 3, January 2012” and reduced its Italian exposure by $3.4 billion.

Mary Claire Delaney, a spokeswoman for the New York-based firm, declined to comment further. Officials at the Italian treasury in Rome declined to comment on the contracts.

Accounting Gain

Morgan Stanley had a gain of about $600 million in the fourth quarter related to the unwinding of contracts with Italy. That gain was a reversal of charges it took earlier in the year to reflect the risk that the country wouldn’t pay the full amount it owed, chief financial officer Ruth Porat said in a 19 January interview.

The $600 million gain accounted for about half the bank’s fixed-income trading revenue in the fourth-quarter, excluding a charge related to a settlement with MBIA Inc. and accounting gains tied to the firm’s own credit spreads.

As Italy’s borrowings rose beyond the 1-trillion-euro mark in the mid-1990s, the country started to use interest-rate swaps and swaptions, options to enter into a swap, to cut the cost of servicing that debt, a person with knowledge of Italy’s contracts said.

Swap Rates

Many bonds sold at the time had maturities of five or 10 years, some paying coupons of as much as 10 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Italy used swaps to spread its payments over 30 years or more, the person said.

The country also reduced its interest costs by issuing swaptions, using the income it received from selling the derivatives to pay debts.

As swap rates, which typically track German bond yields, plunged after 2008 and option volatilities increased, Italy found itself owing its banks money on the derivatives as its bets unraveled.

The five largest U.S. swap dealers — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — have a combined net derivative counterparty exposure to Italy of $19.5 billion, filings show. When added to figures for European banks released in the European Banking Authority’s round of stress tests last year, the total rises to as much as $31 billion.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Spread Ends on 278, Yield 4.84%

Down from 281 Friday

(ANSA) — Rome, March 19 — The spread between Italian and German 10-year bonds ended Monday on 278 points, down from 281 Friday.

The yield was 4.84%.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Apple to Use Cash for Stock Dividend and Buyback

Apple announced Monday that it would pay a stock dividend of $2.65 a share in the fourth quarter and its board authorized a $10 billion share buyback, two moves that will use up some of its cash hoard of nearly $100 billion to reward investors.

[Return to headlines]

DHS Terror Document Lists Yawning, Goose Bumps as Suspicious Behavior

Bodily functions are now potential indicators of terrorism

A document from the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security & Preparedness lists banal bodily activities such as yawning, staring and goose bumps as “suspicious activity” indicative of terrorism.

The document entitled Terrorism Awareness and Prevention, is presented as a guide for both “residents and workers of New Jersey,” along with employees of federal, state and local agencies, on how to “assist in combating terrorism” by identifying “unusual or suspicious activities and behaviors.”

The guide encourages participants to “look for signs of nervousness in the people you come in contact with.” “Signs will become particularly evident in a person’s eyes, face, next and body movements.”

The document then lists examples of suspicious behavior indicative of terrorism, which include, “Exaggerated yawning when engaged in conversation,” “glances,” “cold penetrating stare,” “rigid posture,” and “goose bumps”.

Of course, any of these behaviors could be explained by a million other circumstances and the likelihood that they are indications of terrorist activity is virtually zero.

However, as we have seen from recent literature put out by the DHS or related law enforcement bodies, the standard for being characterized as a potential terrorist is getting broader and broader all the time.

Last month it was reported on the FBI’s “Communities Against Terrorism” (CAT) program, which encourages store managers and staff of numerous different businesses to report examples of suspicious activity to the authorities.

— Hat tip: McR

[Return to headlines]

Frank Gaffney: Fund But Verify the Export-Import Bank

Ordinarily, a question of whether to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) and to increase its loan limit would be about asuncontroversial a proposition as one could find on Capitol Hill. Ex-Im provides an important counterpart tothe government-guaranteed loans our international competitors use to encourage their industries’ exports. And it actually makes money for the Treasury.

This year, though, some of my friends among the fiscal conservative and strict constitutionalist communities are urging that the Bank’s authorization be allowed to expire or, at least, that Ex-Im not be allowed to increase the amount of loans it can make with government guarantees. They argue that we should not be extending credit at a time when we are broke, we should not be picking winners and losers, and that these sorts of transactions amount to crony capitalism and favor big businesses…

— Hat tip: CSP

[Return to headlines]

Little Rock Airport to be Named After the Clintons

(AGI) Washington — The airport in Little Rock Arkansas will be named Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. The former fellow citizens of the state’s most famous couple have decided to honor the former president and his wife, the current secretary of state .

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

The Quit and the Dead

By Mark Steyn

Pamela Geller was struck by that ad The New York Times ran the other day, “It’s Time To Quit The Catholic Church”, an “open letter to ‘liberal’ and ‘nominal’ Catholics”. So she sent in her own ad, “It’s Time To Quit Islam”, an “open letter to ‘moderate’ Muslims”. Analogous artwork, same pitch, only difference being the intended target. The Times’ Senior Vice-President for Corporate Hogwash called to tell Miss Geller that — surprise! surprise! — they were way less eager to rush this one into print:…

— Hat tip: TV

[Return to headlines]

“Italy Rife With Corruption, Wrongdoing and Malpractice” Says Court of Auditors

Vat evasion among highest in Europe at 36%. “Illegal practices much more extensive than appears on surface”

MILAN — Wrongdoing, corruption and malpractice are “still remarkably present in Italy and their presumable dimensions are far in excess of what, often laboriously, actually comes to light”. The rueful reflection came from the president of the Court of Auditors, Luigi Giampaolino, at the ceremony to inaugurate the judicial year.

VAT — But corruption and wrongdoing are not the only problems. Fiscal probity, for example, lost ground all over Europe with the recession, registering an improvement in 2009 that was less marked in Italy. But compliance has fallen across Europe and VAT evasion in the Bel Paese at 36% is among the highest in Europe. The Court of Auditors points out: “Detailed analysis of value added tax alone reveals a tax gap for Italy of more than 36%, by far the highest for any of the larger European countries with the exception of Spain, where the gap is in excess of 39%”…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Arms Exports: Made in Germany

In an annual report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany comes in third among global arms exporting nations. The report says most of the world’s arms exports go to Asian countries.

A study released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that Germany is the world’s third-highest exporter of weapons, coming in behind the United States and Russia. Germany’s arms exports represent 9 percent of the global total, while the US accounts for 30 percent and Russia for 24 percent.

According to SIPRI’s report, a large part of Germany’s arms exports are submarines and frigates, with Greece, South Korea, and South Africa representing the most important trade partners.

SIPRI says that for the period of 2007-2011, global volume of arms imports increased by 24 percent compared to 2002-2006. Asian countries are leading the way among weapons importing nations.

India is the leading individual country for the 2007-2011 period, accounting for 10 percent in weapons volume. It is followed by South Korea (6 percent) China and Pakistan (5 percent) and Singapore (4 percent).

— Hat tip: Fjordman

[Return to headlines]

Concern Over Threats to Paris Synagogues

Police have opened an inquiry after two synagogues in Paris received a threatening letter, a source close to the probe said Monday, making no link to a shooting at a Jewish school that killed four. The letter, reading “You are the people of Satan, Hell is waiting for you,” was received at one of the synagogues during the weekend and the other on Monday morning, the source said.

Monday’s attack saw a scooter-riding gunman shoot dead three children and a 30-year-old religious studies teacher at the school in the southwestern city of Toulouse.

The gunman opened fire on a crowd as children arrived for class, then charged onto school grounds. A fifth victim, a 17-year-old boy, was left in a critical condition. The gunman escaped. Rights groups and the government denounced the attack as anti-Semitic.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

[Return to headlines]

EU’s Catherine Ashton Compares Kids Murdered in France With Gaza

Catherine Ashton

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission

Speech at the high-level conference Engaging youth—Palestine Refugees in the changing Middle East

(at the end) :

We are gathered here because we have recognised the potential of the youth of Palestine. Against all the odds, they continue to learn, to work, to dream and aspire to a better future. And the days when we remember young people who have been killed in all sorts of terrible circumstances — the Belgian children having lost their lives in a terrible tragedy and when we think of what happened in Toulouse today, when we remember what happened in Norway a year ago, when we know what is happening in Syria, when we see what is happening in Gaza and in different parts of the world — we remember young people and children who lose their lives. Here are young people who are asking not to be leaders of the future, but to be taken seriously as leaders of today. And it is to them that we should look and to them we should listen and it is to them that I pay tribute.

— Hat tip: J-PD

[Return to headlines]

France: Women’s Match Called Off Over Headscarves

A referee on Sunday refused to officiate a women’s football match, when players for one of the teams took to the pitch wearing Muslim headscarves, the club involved said. The official sent a report to the Languedoc-Roussillon league in the south of the country about the incident involving players from Petit-Bard Montpellier, who had been due to play Narbonne in the regional promotion tie.

The league must now decide whether to order the match to be replayed or to award a win to Narbonne. The two teams played a friendly match instead, with Narbonne winning 7-6. Football’s world governing body FIFA banned players from wearing the Islamic headscarf in 2007, claiming it is unsafe.

But football federations and even the United Nations have urged FIFA to lift the ban, maintaining that concerns about safety are baseless and that it discriminates against Muslim players, particularly when no such restrictions apply in other sports.

Iran’s women’s team last year forfeited a 2012 Olympic qualifier because players wouldn’t play without wearing hijabs.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

[Return to headlines]

France’s Hollande Secures German SPD Endorsement on Europe

(AGI) Paris — Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande shores up his position in Europe. Having received the outspoken support of Spanish socialist leader, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Slovakia’s premier-appointed Robert Fico, Hollande’s latest endorsement came from the German SPD’s Sigmar Gabriel.

Interviewed by French daily Le Monde, Gabriel characterised the socialist leader’s recipe for Europe as the right approach.

“[Hollande] is saying the right things, namely that the Pact is just half of the solution for Europe,” Gabriel said. Outside of the Merkel government coalition, the German SPD is making its support for the EU ‘Pact’ conditional to Berlin’s successful canvassing for taxation on financial transactions.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

France: Butchers Have a Beef With French Politics

The French butcher who cuts and tresses your meat with care, and serves as city dwellers’ link to the land, is falling on hard times, unable to find new blood to keep his iconic image alive — as supermarkets and Arab butchers selling halal meat at cheaper prices thrive. The changes in this age-old industry reflect profound economic and societal shifts gnawing at France’s core, and have catapulted the butcher shop into the debate before presidential elections in April and May. President Nicolas Sarkozy has lamented the decline of the traditional French butcher and now wants all meat clearly marked — halal, kosher or French — while Prime Minister Francois Fillon has suggested the ritual slaughter of animals by Muslims and Jews is out of sync with modern times. The conservative leaders awoke to the topic after extreme-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen contended that Muslims have a stranglehold on butcher shops — and on the French way of life. With polls suggesting Sarkozy will lose to Socialist rival Francois Hollande, the president is racing after third-place Le Pen’s voters to bolster his chances at a second term.

Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire released data making clear that Le Pen was wrong when she said last month that all meat sold in the Paris region is halal. However, halal butcher shops run by Muslims have long been on the rise in the country with Western Europe’s largest Muslim population — while traditional butcher shops are in decline. So worrisome is that downturn that one such butcher, who specialises in top quality meats, poses nude for calendars to make the profession more sexy to the young. For his 2012 calendar, Yves-Marie Le Bourdennec is seen sitting on a stool, his back drawn with cuts like a cow — with a saucy but stern school marm wielding a pointer at his side. In a civilisational contrast, Muslim butchers, most with origins in former French colonies in North Africa, may play recordings of the Quran on Friday, Islam’s holy day — when they remain open — or display a Hadith, a saying of the prophet, pinned to a shop wall.

[…]

— Hat tip: JP

[Return to headlines]

France: Four Killed at French Jewish School Shooting

At least two children from a Jewish school in Toulouse, south-west France, were killed this morning after a man on a scooter opened fire. Parents were dropping their children off at the Ozar Hatorah school when the man rode up on the scooter and began shooting. One adult and three children were reported to have been killed while several more people were injured. Reports claimed the adult was a rabbi. The daughter of the school’s director is also alleged to be among the injured. Early reports are linking the shooting with an attack last week on three soldiers, two of whom were shot dead as they used a cashpoint in a town nearly 30 miles away from Toulouse. Sources at the school said the man was wearing a black helmet and rode away immediately after opening fire. Around 25,000 Jews live in Toulouse. The school, which has 200 pupils, describes itself as “religious” but modern, with its aim being to “form the French citizens of tomorrow, in harmony with their Judaism.” It states: “The Jewish school, because of its diversity, is needed more than ever before, in the heart of the city. Since the beginning of our people’s history, we have been bearers of a rich culture, and its universal influence has been shown throughout our history. We must continue this today.” Ozar Hatorah has a senior school and a kollel, a torah learning institute for married men.

— Hat tip: JP

[Return to headlines]

France: Four Dead as Gunman on a Motorbike Opens Fire at Jewish School in France

A man on a motorbike has opened fire outside a Jewish school in France, killing a father and his two sons and at least one other child, a Toulouse prosecutor has said.

Prosecutor Michel Valet said the teacher, aged 30, was shot dead along with his sons aged just three and six. He said another child aged between eight and 10 years old was also killed, while a 17-year-old was seriously injured. Mr Valet described a chilling scene in which the gunman “shot at everything”. One parent described the incident as “a vision of horror”. The shooting comes just days after two other incidents in which soldiers were gunned down by a man on a motorbike in the same region. Police stated there a similar calbre of gun was used in all three shootings, AFP reported, while Interior Minister Claude Gueant said on Monday there are “similarities” between the attacks. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who called Monday’s shooting “abominable” and “frightening”, quickly cautioned that it was too early to draw links between the attacks. “There are some similarities but it’s much too early to say if there is a real link or not. Only the police and the judiciary will tell us what conclusions to draw,” Mr Sarkozy told French radio.

Monday’s attack occurred as students were arriving for morning classes at the Ozar Hatorah school. The gunman opened fire at the spot were parents were dropping their children off. The city is now said to be in lockdown as police hunt the gunman. Some two hours after the attack, the children were still in the school. It was not clear if their parents were with them. Mr Gueant has ordered security to be tightened around all French Jewish schools after the attack. Mr Sarkozy said he is travelling immediately to the school, along with his education minister and the head of the CRIF, the umbrella representative group of Jewish organisations in France. François Hollande, Mr Sarkozy’s presidential rival, has also said he is on his way to the school. Mr Sarkozy called the shootings an “abominable drama and a “frightening tragedy”. Patrick Rouimi, the father of a child at the school, told AFP that a man opened fire on a group of people standing at a spot where children were picked up for the school. “I saw two people dead in front of the school, an adult and a child … Inside, it was a vision of horror, the bodies of two small children,” a distraught father whose child attends the school told RTL radio. “I did not find my son, apparently he fled when he saw what happened. How can they attack something as sacred as a school, attack children only sixty centimetres tall?”

The shooting occurred at about 8.10am, just ahead of the start of classes in most French schools. The gunman initially used a 9-mm weapon but it jammed, so he switched to a .45-calibre weapon as he went into the Toulouse school, police said. The gunman, wearing a helmet, fled the scene on a black scooter, witnesses told BFM. A correspondent for the news channel said people in the area were in “immense shock”. Freelance journliast Christopher Bockman told the BBC that Toulouse was in lockdown as police hunted the gunman. The Israeli foreign ministry has stated it is “horrified” at the news of the attack. “We are horrified by this attack and we trust the French authorities to shed full light on this tragedy and bring the perpetrators of these murders to justice,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. France’s Grand Rabbi Gilles Bernheim has also expressed shock at the attack. “I am horrifed by what happened this morning in Toulouse in front of the Jewish school,” he told AFP, adding that he would leave immediately for the southwestern French city.

France has Europe’s largest Jewish community, estimated at up to 700,000 people. The head of the Jewish students union of France (UEJF), Jonathan Hayoun, called on the authorities “to reinforce security at Jewish schools and synagogues.” He also said in a statement that “anti-Semitic and racist speech has created a climate of insecurity for Jews in France”. Police in the area launched a major manhunt last week after the killing of three paratroopers and the wounding of another in two separate, but connected incidents. The perpetrator of both attacks fled on a motorbike. “One can’t fail to notice the similarities between the attacks on our troops in Toulouse and in Montauban and then this horrible attack on children this morning,” Mr Gueant said on Monday.

However a police official warned Monday that it was too early to draw solid links between the attacks “We’re in a heated atmosphere. It’s premature for this or that hypothesis to try to establish a direct link,” Didier Martinez, regional secretary of the SGP Police union, said on BFM-TV. Witnesses described how the killer had time to turn over one of the wounded men who was trying to crawl away and fire three more shots into him before getting back on his scooter and making his escape. Between 50 and 60 police officers, including anti-terrorist specialists, have been drafted in to the investigation. Senior military officials have ordered troops based in the region not to wear their uniforms outside barracks. Mr Bockman told the BBC that the soldiers who were targeted were of ethnic origin. He said it appeared the gunman was deliberately targeting ethnic minorities in the area.

— Hat tip: JP

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France: Govt Steps Up Surveillance at Jewish Schools

After shooting in Toulouse

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 19 — The French Interior Minister has today ordered “increased surveillance” in front of the country’s Jewish schools following an attack on one of the latter in Toulouse. Interior Minister Claude Guéant interrupted a visit in Mulhouse (in eastern France) and is expected to arrive in Toulouse (south-west) today.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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France: Man Opens Fire at Toulouse’s Jewish School, 4 Dead

Three children and a professor, the killer chased the victims

(ANSAmed) — PARIS — It only took a second at around 8am, at the Toulouse’s Jewish school in south-western France. A killer wearing a helmet and riding a black scooter opened fire on children at the daily gathering point. A 30 year old teacher (and rabbi) was killed, along with his two kids, aged 6 and 3, and another child aged 10. Two other children were also injured and have been taken to the hospital. According to the Prosecutor, the killer “opened fire on anything he saw” and then “he chased some children in the school”.

As was widely suspected from the very beginning, the killer was almost certain the same as the one who last week — also on a scooter — carried out two ambushes against soldiers in Toulouse and the nearby Montauban, killing three and injuring one. As was the case in the previous incidents, the man reportedly used two weapons: a 11.43-calibre pistol and a 9-calibre one. Investigators say that the second was used after the first jammed. President Nicolas Sarkozy called off all election campaign appointments to rush to the town, as did Interior Minister Claude Gueant and representatives of France’s Jewish institutions, starting from Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim. Orders were given to immediately step up security measures in front of the country’s Israelite schools. “Today is a national day of tragedy. This crime does not only concern the Jewish community. The entire national community is shaken,” said Sarkozy. The head of state announced that a minute of silence will be observed tomorrow in all schools in memory of the young victims of the attack.

“Children were killed in cold blood. They are not only your children, but also ours. Children cannot be killed in this way in the land of the Republic without being held accountable,” added Sarkozy, who stated that “everything possible will be done to arrest” the individual responsible for this crime.

The number of those dead and injured may still rise. The children, parents and teachers of the small private Jewish institute (for middle and high school students) in the Roseraie area are under shock. Searches being carried out over the past few days in the area following the soldiers’ shooting in Tolouse and Montauban have been transformed into a true manhunt. Some clues seem to be available: the first is a clear scar on the killer’s face, either a scar or a tattoo. However, his aims and reasons for carrying out these attacks are not yet known, but the man is clearly extraordinarily cold-blooded and knows the places where he carried out the attacks very well. In the attack on the soldiers, it seems that he had exchanged emails with one of them.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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France: Toulouse: Sarkozy Declares Incident National Tragedy

Minute of silence tomorrow in all schools

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 19 — “Today is a national day of tragedy. This crime does not only concern the Jewish community. The entire national community is shaken,” said French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Toulouse. The head of state announced that a minute of silence will be observed tomorrow in all schools in memory of the young victims of the attack.

“Children were killed in cold blood. They are not only your children, but also ours. Children cannot be killed in this way in the land of the Republic without being held accountable,” added Sarkozy, who stated that “everything possible will be done to arrest” the individual responsible for this crime.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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France: Police Link Scooter to Three Shootings

The same stolen scooter was used in three deadly shooting incidents in eight days in France, a police source said Monday after three children and a teacher were killed at a Jewish school. Police have also said the same gun was used in the attacks, drawing a clear link between the school shootings and the murder of three soldiers that have shocked France.

The shooting, which was immediately branded as an anti-Semitic attack, plunged the nation into shock. President Nicolas Sarkozy declared the murders a “national tragedy” as anti-terror police probed the third fatal shooting involving a gunmen wielding what police said was the same pistol in the Toulouse area in recent days.

France stepped up security at Jewish and Muslim schools following the assault on the Ozar Hatorah school, which local parents, rights groups and the government denounced as an anti-Semitic atrocity.

Two boys aged three and six and their father, a 30-year-old religious studies teacher who witnesses said tried to protect them, were gunned down, along with the 10-year-old daughter of the director of the school.

The gunman opened fire on a crowd as children and teachers arrived for class in the morning, then charged on to school grounds. A fifth victim, a 17-year-old boy, was left in a critical condition. The killer escaped on what witnesses said was a powerful scooter.

Last week, three French paratroopers — all of North African descent — were killed in two similar incidents in the same region, also involving a scooter-rider wielding the same powerful .45 calibre handgun.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Germany: Joachim Gauck Elected President

A Beautiful Sunday for Germany

Joachim Gauck is Germany’s new president after being elected on Sunday. The expectations for him are already unbelievably high, but he has a good chance of being a great head of state. He has experienced much of Germany’s turbulent postwar history firsthand, and as a former East German pastor, he knows the value of freedom.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Interest in ‘Halal’ Finance Growing in Italy

Milan conference, Deloitte viewing products respecting Sharia

(ANSAmed) — MILAN, MARCH 19 — Islamic finance has existed in Europe for more than forty years, with the United Kingdom one of the world’s leading countries in the field, and others, such as Malta and Luxembourg, also at the forefront. In Italy, where the sector is more or less non-existent, results of the first experiments are now beginning to be seen.

In 2009, for instance, Deloitte set up a sector dedicated to Islamic finance. “At the moment, we are developing products compatible with Italian regulations,” says Alberto Liotta, a director at the consultancy firm, a guest at a conference organised by Islamic Relief Italia. “Attention is mainly focussed on conventional financing instruments, such as leasing, the concept of which can be brought closer to those of Islamic finance”.

“In the West, there is strong financing demand based on religious principles as a result of the growth of the Muslim middle-class, due to interest in “halal” products by ethical finance and because there is a serious amount of money to be made,” says Alberto Brugnoni, a director at Assaif, another consultancy firm. “Major investment funds are also focussing on this not so much for interests as to diversify their portfolio”.

Yet although the issue has been discussed for a few years now, the time appears not yet right for the birth of a retail Islamic bank in Italy following the model of the Islamic Bank of Britain. “In truth, it would be possible to create it in Italy because the regulations here are harmonised with the rest of Europe,” says Valentino Cattelan, a sector expert and professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata University. “From an investor’s point of view, the problem is that it would not yet be very profitable business because of tax problems and because there is not yet a market considered to be useful”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Italy: Top Lombardy Official in Corruption Probe

Construction payoffs alleged

(ANSA) — Milan, March 6 — The Lombardy regional council president from the Northern League political party, Davide Boni, is under investigation for corruption and bribery, police said on Tuesday.

Investigations are part of a previous probe into payoffs by the former mayor of Cassano D’Adda near Milan, who was arrested as a result.

Two other elected officials for the Region of Lombardy are also being questioned in the same investigation into zoning and building permit irregularities.

Depositions by a local architect regarding building corruption were the basis for investigations. Boni said on Tuesday that he was “unaware” of any wrongdoing and was “available for any clarifications” needed to assist investigators.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Trucker Strike Shuts Down Fiat Plants

Automaker losing market share due to inability to deliver

(ANSA) — Rome, March 16 — Fiat on Friday was forced to shut down three of its five plants in Italy due to a truckers’ strike that has blocked the arrival of materials and parts as well as the delivery of finished cars to dealerships.

A statement from Fiat said the strike was “de facto paralyzing automotive logistics, especially in central-southern Italy” and added that the labor action had already resulted in delaying production by some 20,000 vehicles and that it would be “very difficult to recover this during the year”.

The strike by truckers is against the pay and condition changes Fiat wants to impose in order to make producing vehicles feasible at the company’s Italian plants.

Friday’s closings involved Fiat’s Pomigliano, Cassino and Sevel plants, while the Mirafiori and Melfi factories were already closed in order to allow them to be revamped to produce new models, including those of Fiat’s partner Chrysler, which includes the Jeep marque.

Fiat has blamed previous strikes for its drop in sales and market share in Europe last month and said a further 10% drop was expected for March.

Sales of Fiat group cars in Europe plummeted 16.5 % over February 2011, which was close to double the overall fall in new car sales on the continent. This resulted in Fiat’s share of the European market shrinking to 7.2% from 7.8% in January.

However, this was still better than its 6.9% share in February of last year.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and Chairman John Elkann were set to meet on Friday with Italian Premier Mario Monti and other government officials to brief them on Fiat’s plans for Italy. Speaking earlier this week the CEO said it was his intention to “reiterate what I have already said. We intend to continue with our investments according to plan. There is nothing new to add. We have confirmed our commitments and investments are moving forward”.

There is great concern in Italy, especially among unions, that Fiat may renege on its 20-billion-euro investment plan for the country and may even shut down its Pomigliano plant near Naples and historic Mirafiori factory in Turin.

These concerns were sparked by statements from Marchionne himself that Fiat, especially once it merges with Chrysler, could not continue to operate plants in Italy at a loss. He later said there were no closure plans and many observers saw the polemic as a ploy to muscle unions into agreeing to greater labor flexibility.

Marchionne also said he would not ask Monti for any state help or favors, including a reintroduction of the ‘cash-for-clunkers’ incentives offered in recent years that produced short-term results but failed to resolve the sector’s structural problems, including over-production capacity.

In a interview published last month by the Corriere della Sera daily, Marchionne said Fiat may be forced to shut two of its five plants in Italy if it cannot use them to produce cars to export to the American market at a competitive cost but added that Fiat had an opportunity to use its plants in Italy to meet the growing demand in the United States for the vehicles of its partner Chrysler.

Marchionne said that in order to make exports to the US feasible production costs in Italy needed to become more competitive and this meant ensuring that plants in Italy can be utilized “in full and flexible capacity”.

“(If this is not possible) we will have to withdraw from two of our five operating plants,” he said. The Fiat CEO as repeatedly said that Europe has an over capasity for automobile production and needed to reduce this by some 20%. In regard to labor relations, Marchionne said that some union leaders in Italy were more interested in politics and “talk too much in the media about Fiat and Marchionne and talk too little with us”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Fincantieri Shipyard Gets US Navy Contract

Two new-generation LCS ships budgeted

(ANSA) — Trieste, March 19 — Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri is playing a leading role in the building of two new-generation Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that the United States Navy has ordered with a budget of $715 million.

The contract for the ships was awarded to a consortium headed by US defense colossus Lockheed Martin and is part of an over-$20-billion-program to acquire 55 LCSs by 2020.

The two ships, to be named USS Little Rock and USS Sioux City, are being built at Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, which produced the first LCS prototype in 2008, the USS Freedom, the year before the state-owned Fincantieri acquired the American shipyard.

A third ship, the Fort Worth, is in an advanced stage of construction and should be ready for delivery in June. A fourth ship, the Freedom, has already been delivered.

The Lockheed-Fincantieri consortium will not build all 55 vessels, however, because Congress has decided to split the program between it and Austral USA, the American arm of the Australian shipbuilder.

The Little Rock and Sioux City will be followed by sister ships USS Milwaukee and USS Detroit. The former is currently in the early stage of production while the latter is in pre-production.

“Our program has benefited from the experience gained in building the Freedom, taking into account the requests made by the client, the rationalization of the productive process, investments already carried out and those planned to speed up production and boost efficiency, including doubling the production area with two new dry docks,” Fincantieri said in a statement.

Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono said this latest commission from the US Navy “is very important and follows a recent $90-million order from the US Coast Guard. This is important not only because it guarantees continuity and value to our activities in America and the work done by the group’s Italian companies, that operates in the sector of naval components and systems, but because it is an indication of a recovery for the whole market, including the civil sector”.

The contract awarded by the US Coast Guard calls for Fincantieri to build 40 boats for delivery in the second quarter of 2013. Marinette Marine is the prime contractor and will build 50% of the boats at its ACE Marine facility in Green Bay, Wisconsin, while the remaining 50% will be completed by partner Kvichak Marine Industries of Seattle, at its shipyard in Kent, Washington.

The 40 ships are part of the 250 Response Boats — Medium (RB-Ms) that the Coast Guard plans to buy to modernize its fleet, of which 166 are now under construction.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Berlusconi Richest Man in Parliament, Income Records Show

Monti wealthiest life Senator

(ANSA) — Rome, March 19 — Income records released Monday showed that former premier Silvio Berlusconi was the richest man in parliament with over 48 million euros earned in 2011, eight million more than the previous year. Italian Premier Mario Monti made 1.5 million euros in 2011, making him the wealthiest Senator for life, a position he accepted in the run-up to taking the helm of a government of technocrats after Berlusconi resigned in November in the heat of the euro crisis. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, former Italian president and ex-governor of the Bank of Italy, was the second-highest-earning Senator for life with 691,832 euros. Senate Speaker Renato Schifani earned 223,939 euros, slightly more than House Speaker Gianfranco Fini who made 201,115 euros in 2011.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Rape Case Shames EU-Aspirant Ukraine

Last week she was raped, choked, thrown into a pit on a construction site and set on fire. In order to save her life, doctors have amputated her feet and her right arm. She has also lost her kidneys and 55 percent of her skin.

The case of Oksana Makar, an 18-year-old girl from Mykolayiv, on the Black Sea coast, has caused a furore in Ukraine. Her family has set up a website for donations to help them seek justice and pay medical costs.

But the horror of the assault has taken back stage to the fact police let two of the suspects walk free, in all likelihood because their parents had good connections with local authorities.

President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukraine’s general prosecutor Viktor Pshonka have now taken charge of the case and all three suspects are in custody.

But their reaction to events, which saw street protests and an eruption of anger on social media, masks a grave problem in Ukrainian society and politics — contempt for the law by people in authority.

“If you are the son or the nephew of someone with power, you can basically go around acting with total impunity. Nepotism and lack of respect for the rule of law is rife in Ukraine. If you look at Yanukovych’s son (Oleksander) — he has become one of the 100 richest men in the country since his father came to power. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in a normal country. This really is the borderland of Europe,” a Kiev-based EU diplomat told this website.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Shooting Outside Jewish School in Toulouse, France; 5 Dead

This incident comes days after three soldiers were shot dead by a man on a scooter in the same region of France.

A 30-year-old paratrooper was shot dead in a residential area of Toulouse just over a week ago, while two soldiers were killed and a third wounded as they used a cashpoint in the town of Montauban, some 29 miles away, on Thursday.

All the soldiers appear to have been ethnic minorities.

— Hat tip: KGS

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Swiss Hikers Die in Norway Avalanche

Five people died after an avalanche hit an expedition of Swiss nationals led by a French guide on a mountain in northern Norway on Monday, Norwegian authorities said. A sixth member of the group was dug out of the snow alive and was being treated in hospital, police said.

“It’s a man. His injuries are moderate and his condition is stable,” a hospital spokesman, Jan Fredrik Frantzen, told AFP. The nationalities of the five victims were not immediately clear.

Around 30 rescue workers, assisted by dogs and several helicopters, were searching for the missing expedition member, while F-16 fighter jets had also been deployed to help with observations of the site.

According to police, the avalanche occurred early on Monday afternoon at an altitude of about 1,000 metres on the Sorbmegaisa mountain in the Kåfjord municipality, and swept away half of a 12-member expedition in the area who were probably travelling on skis.

The expedition had split into two six-person groups each made up of five Swiss nationals and one French guide. Police said all of the 12 had been wearing radio transmitters, which helped the search.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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UK: ‘Honour Code’ Supported by Young Asians, Poll Says

Two-thirds of young British Asians agree that families should live according to the concept of “honour”, a poll for BBC Panorama suggests.

Of 500 young Asians questioned, 18% also felt that certain behaviour by women that could affect her family’s honour justified physical punishment.

These included disobeying their father, and wanting to leave an exisiting or prearranged marriage.

The results come as women’s groups call for action to stop “honour” crimes.

The poll, conducted for the BBC by ComRes, interviewed young Asians living in Britain between the ages of 16 and 34.

Asked if they agreed that families should live according to “honour”, 69% agreed, a figure that rose to 75% among young men, compared with 63% of young women.

— Hat tip: Nick

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UK: Conservative Councillors Branded ‘Perverse’ After Purley Islamic Centre Refused

TORY councillors have been branded “perverse” after rejecting plans for an Islamic Centre in Purley. The six voted against the proposal despite planning officers recommending the development be approved. And questions have also been raised as to why committee chairman councillor David Osland allowed “Mosquebuster” Gavin Boby to address the chamber, despite knowing of his links to the far-right English Defence League. Councillors further clashed at the meeting — policed by around eight Met officers — which ended in plans for an Islamic place of worship coupled with multi-faith community facilities defeated by an all-Conservative six votes to an all-Labour five. Mr Osland told the Advertiser it was not unusual for planning decisions to be split along party lines and that all Tory members defeated the plans based on parking and planning issues. He said Conservative councillors agreed the road leading to the proposed site was too “hazardous”.

However, figures released to the Advertiser by the London Ambulance Service show there have been no accidents in Russell Hill Place during the last year. When asked why he allowed Mr Boby — who the Advertiser last month revealed helped compose 600 opposition leaflets circulated around Purley by New Addington EDL member Frank Day — to speak, Mr Osland added: “Yes we did know about his background. “I didn’t ask him to speak. He went through the proper channels and was allowed to speak. I suspected he might try to get up to some nonsense and I brought it to an end. He is a horrible man and represents a horrible view of society.” He confirmed he has powers to prevent people from speaking.

Mr Boby, whom the Advertiser understands does not live in the borough, told the meeting the centre should be refused on traffic and parking grounds, before saying: “Islamic doctrine is unfortunately…”, at which point councillor Osland cut him off, saying: “I won’t hear anything about religion. I only listen to planning matters.” Mr Boby retorted: “You are bound by law…”, before Mr Osland interjected again, saying: “I’m not going to have any of that here.” However, Mr Boby had been given a three-minute slot prior to last Thursday’s committee meeting to share alongside Coulsdon resident Deborah Baggott, who also spoke against the application in Russell Hill Place, Purley. Usman Sadiq and Monir Mohammed, of the Purley Islamic Community Centre (PICC) group, were then given three minutes to argue for the centre. The committee heard 431 people responded to the planning application. Only 247 of these were from Purley and Kenley. A total of 213 were in favour while 218 opposed it.

Purley councillor Donald Speakman also spoke out against the application saying he opposed the “location” of it rather than the “principle”. But during an intense verbal exchange Labour councillor Bernadette Khan said: “I think when communities come together to show support it can only be a good thing for a borough.” Labour councillor Paul Scott added: “If the car park is so dangerous the council should have closed it long ago.” Following Tory councillors’ rejection of the plans he branded their decision “perverse”. Labour councillor Wayne Lawlor said: “It does smack of Islamophobia. Not that I would accuse them of that, but it sends out the wrong message to the Islamic Community. The Tories’ objections didn’t stack up.”

Tears could be seen on the faces of the local Muslim community, who attended in their droves and sat side-by-side with BNP members, as they left the town hall meeting. Following the meeting, Mr Sadiq said: “We are keen to carry on our project. There is a lot of momentum and community support for the project and this is just a setback.” Regarding Mr Boby’s permission to address the committee, he added: “I think we have to respect the views of the chair and if the chair accepts he was allowed to speak and has links with the EDL we respect the chair’s decision.”

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Ken Livingstone: I Am Right — You Are All Wrong

Ken Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London, held a secret meeting earlier this month with Jewish Labour supporters, the JC can reveal. But although the meeting was designed to build bridges, sources present at the dinner described the event as “frustrating” and “disappointing,” with Mr Livingstone refusing to give any ground on issues that have caused deep concern within the Jewish community. The former mayor, who is neck and neck in the polls with incumbent Boris Johnson, stood his ground on his decision as mayor in 2004 to embrace the Islamist cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who has condoned suicide bombing against Israeli targets. Mr Livingstone said he would be proved right on this issue, just as he had been proved right in the past on gay rights and talking to Sinn Fein. Challenged on his decision to take money from the Iranian state broadcaster Press TV, Mr Livingstone said it was important for him to get his views across to the Iranian people. He said his role at Press TV was equivalent to the one he once held as a columnist at the Sun.

The dinner was held on 1st March at the London Jewish Cultural Centre with around 25 people present, including Labour councillors and Rabbi Abraham Pinter from Stamford Hill.

Because of the sensitivity of the relationship between Mr Livingstone and the Jewish community, the talks were confidential and off the record. Guests were chosen to represent a wide range of Labour-supporters and Jewish groups and were not the “usual suspects” from the community leadership. Mr Livingstone was keen to emphasise that although he has been a consistent critic of Israel, he has always turned down invitations to visit authoritarian regimes across the Middle East. He recognised that Israel was a democracy, said he did not want to push Israel into the sea and repudiated any suggestion that his criticism of Israel was motivated by antisemitism. Although his preference was for a one-state solution, he said he was pragmatic enough to recognise that a two-state solution might be a more realistic outcome. The former mayor told guests he had employed an Orthodox Jewish nanny.

[…]

[JP note: Blame the nanny.]

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Mosque Trust Doesn’t Want to Pay Traffic Bill

MUSLIMS raising £2.9 million for a new mosque are objecting to paying £35,000 to ease parking and traffic problems. The Noor Gilani Mosque Trust won planning permission for a new place of worship in Chaplin Road, Normacot, to replace the existing mosque, last year.

But Stoke-on-Trent City Council asked that the trust pay £15,000 towards a parking scheme and £20,000 towards traffic calming measures through a section 106 agreement, due to the scheme’s potential impact on highway safety. The trust claims this amount would be a “substantial burden” and has now asked for the financial contribution to be waived. Asif Mahmood, pictured, who has been secretary at the Mosque Trust for seven years and lives in Lightwood Road, said: “We are a charitable organisation and we have to arrange these funds ourselves, through charity events and our members. It’s self-raised money and we don’t have any funding from any other organisations. The council have been very fair to us but we are expecting to have this money waived.”

Council planning officers have recommended the parking scheme contribution be deleted because most worshippers live within walking distance. Plans for the mosque also include 39 new off-street parking spaces. The officers’ report states: “It is difficult to understand how on-street parking controls facilitated by this contribution would address the issues at hand when many of the worshipers would themselves be the potential beneficiaries of a permit scheme that would be implemented to control on-street parking. This supposition is reinforced by the fact that only three objections were received to the application of which only two expressed concerns on highway safety and parking grounds.”

However, the officers say the £20,000 contribution towards traffic calming measures is still required. As the mosque and its car park lie on opposite sides of Chaplin Road, there will be the potential for highway safety issues to arise once the building is in use. The proposed mosque will be three storeys high and built in a traditional Islamic style. The trust has so far raised £691,000 for the project. Bagh Ali, city councillor for Lightwood North and Normacot, said: “I don’t think the section 106 agreement was necessary. £35,000 is a lot of money, considering the mosque is being funded by the community. There won’t be parking problems. There are now mosques in Cobridge, in Tunstall and in Shelton. So this specific mosque will be used by the community in Longton. People will just be coming from the local area.”

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: One-in-Five Young Muslims Supports ‘Honour’ Violence

MANY young British Muslims believe violence should be meted out to women who “dishonour” their families, it is claimed today. More than two thirds (69 per cent) of Asians aged 16 to 34 say communities should live according to “honour” or “izzat”. Nearly one in five — 18 per cent — said certain acts thought to shame families were justification for violence. The possible reasons included disobeying a father, marrying someone unacceptable or wanting to end a marriage. Honour-related violence can include acid attacks, abduction, mutilations, beatings, and death. But 94 per cent of those questioned said there was “never a justification” for murder. The issue of honour killings is investigated on BBC1’s Panorama tonight at 8.30pm. A study of police data by the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation recorded over 2,800 honour crimes a year. Nazir Afzal, lead prosecutor on the crimes for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We don’t know the true figure of honour killings. It’s anything between 10 and 12 a year in this country.”

Jasvinder Sanghera, of the charity Karma Nirvana, set up a helpline for women at risk. It receives around 500 calls a month but she says this is the tip of the iceberg. Of 500 Asians interviewed for the Panorama poll, 75 per cent of young men and 63 per cent of young women said families should live according to “honour”. One victim of an honour killing in Britain was Iraqi Kurd Banaz Mahmod, 20, of Mitcham, south London in 2006. For weeks she told police her family were trying to kill her. But her pleas went unheeded and she was strangled on the orders of her father and her uncle. A court heard the pair believed she had brought shame on her family by leaving her violent husband and starting a new relationship with an “unsuitable” man. The victim’s father, Mahmod Mahmod, and uncle, Ari Mahmod, were jailed for life in 2007. Cousins Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain were jailed in 2010 for a minimum of 22 and 21 years respectively for the killing. A Home Office spokesman said: “We are determined to end honour violence.”

— Hat tip: JP

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UPS Looks Set to Buy Dutch Rival TNT Express

The world’s biggest package-shipping group, United Parcel Service (UPS), is one decisive step closer to buying TNT Express from the Netherlands. Both sides reached a transaction deal on Monday.

US-based United Parcel Service (UPS) reached a deal with TNT Express to buy its Dutch rival for 5.6 billion euros ($6.77 billion), the companies announced in a joint statement on Monday.

The takeover will result in a dominant package-shipping operation in Europe with a potential to threaten the supremacy of the current leader in the sector, DHL Express of Germany.

“The transaction will recreate a global leader in the logistics industry with more than 45 billion euros in annual revenues and an enhanced, integrated global network,” UPS and TNT Express said in a statement.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Viking Explorers Carried Fuzzy Stowaways, New Study Finds

Between the eighth and 10th centuries, Vikings were exploring and spreading into Greenland, Iceland and Newfoundland. Now, a new study finds that these notoriously fierce people brought with them some fluffy stowaways: house mice.

Vikings appear to have brought the house mice with them when they arrived in Iceland and Greenland, according to a genetic analysis of the tiny rodents. The descendents of these Viking mice can still be found today in Iceland, though the Greenland mice died out and were replaced by their Danish cousins.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Viking Mice Marauders Swept Across Northern Europe

They didn’t rape and pillage or wear horned helmets, but Norwegian mice accidentally stowing away on Viking ships swept through almost as many countries as the fearsome humans whose ships they boarded.

That’s the conclusion from an analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from modern house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) living on Iceland and Greenland, which was compared with mtDNA extracted from mouse skeletons on the islands dating to the Viking heyday, 1000 to 1200 years ago. The sequences were also compared with mtDNA sequences from Viking mice in Norway and the UK.

“We show they got as far as Greenland,” says Eleanor Jones of Uppsala University in Sweden, who led the team.

On Iceland, the Viking mice are still thriving. The mtDNA extracted from Viking mice skeletons there was easy to trace in today’s Icelandic mice, mainly because the relative isolation of the country means that there have been few subsequent mouse invasions. “It’s exactly the same mitochondrial DNA, reaching right through from the ninth century to the present day,” she says.

It is unlikely that Viking mice made it as far west as Newfoundland, because only around 20 Vikings ever reached the island — and they probably stayed for only a year. However, Jones’ team lacked ancient mice from the island to test this.

In earlier research, Jones demonstrated how the Norwegian mice colonised much of the British Isles and Ireland. She says that they probably stowed away by accident in hay and grain kept in the ships for domesticated animals.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Algeria: AQIM Moves Base From Northern Mali

Algiers, 7 March (AKI) — Al-Qaeda’s North African branch has moved its base from northern Mali to Algeria’s far south, according to local media.

The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), headed by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, moved because of the fighting between Tuareg rebels and Malian soldiers that has displaced thousands of people, Algerian daily Echourouk said.

AQIM moved to a camp 90 kilometers from the town of Timiaouine in southern Algeria in a mountainous area.

According to investigators, a new wave of violence is due to the group’s movement.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Egypt: Obituary: His Holiness Shenouda III

His Holiness Shenouda III, who has died aged 88, was venerated as the direct successor of St Mark the Evangelist and 117th leader of the Coptic Church; during 41 years in the role he strengthened his Church, but struggled to defuse tensions between his flock and Egypt’s Muslims.

St Mark, author of the second of the New Testaments’s four gospels, founded the Coptic Church in Alexandria in the first century AD. But after the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD, the Copts split from the Catholic Church over complex questions of the nature of Christ’s divinity. Unlike Protestants, they continued to believe in transubstantiation, and many of their rites appear similar to those of the Catholic Church, but the schism fostered more than a millennium of mutual suspicion. When Shenouda visited the Vatican in 1973, he was the first Coptic leader to do so for 1,500 years. With Pope Paul VI he signed a declaration of reconciliation between the two Churches. As delicate as this act of rapprochement was, however, it was as nothing compared to Shenouda’s principal task of managing the relationship between his Christian congregation and Egypt’s Muslim majority. Shenouda estimated that Copts numbered about 12 million of Egypt’s 80 million souls. Government sources tend to put the figure slightly lower, at around 10 per cent of the population.

Whatever the precise total, Shenouda found that leading a minority sect in a country with a history of Islamic extremism but led — until recently at least — by a military dictatorship, put him in an invidious position. If he beat the drum too hard in defence of his flock, he was seen as fomenting sectarian divisions. On the other hand, he could not stand idly by as Egypt’s Christians suffered often violent attacks. The delicacy of his standpoint was illustrated in 1981 when, prompted by outrage at failure of the government to rein in Muslim extremists, Shenouda criticised Anwar Sadat and found himself banished for four years to the desert monastery of Wadi Natrun. Thereafter, Shenouda worked more quietly to establish harmony between the faiths. It was a measure of his diplomatic skills that by the time of his death he was regarded with respect from all sides.

He was born Nazeer Gayed on August 3 1923, in Assiut, 200 miles south of Cairo. His family were Christian and Nazeer took an early interest in the religion, attending services and Sunday school throughout his teens. He studied History at Cairo University, graduating in 1947, and then had short spells in the military, as a journalist, and as a teacher. Following days spent giving lessons in English he proceeded to Cairo’s Orthodox Seminary to study by night. He joined the seminary as a teacher after completing his studies there, eventually being ordained as a priest in 1954. After his ordination he modelled himself on St Anthony, the 3rd-century ascetic, and took himself off to a monastery in the Eastern Sahara, living for some of the time on his own in a desert cave. Taking the name Antonius el-Syriani, Shenouda only ended his retreat in 1959, when he was summoned to become private secretary to Pope Cyril VI.

Three years later he was consecrated Bishop Shenouda and entrusted with running the Coptic seminary. Unlike other Churches, the Coptic faith has had no trouble recruiting worshippers or priests in recent years. Shenouda was a great advocate of reaching out to young Christians, and during his tenure applicants to the seminary trebled. When Cyril VI died in 1971, Shenouda was elevated to the See of St Mark and named His Holiness Pope Shenouda III. Almost immediately he was confronted with attacks on Copts, many of whom complained that police refused to investigate. Shenouda attempted to soothe his congregation while making appeals for tolerance (often drawing on passages from the Koran). He became friends with the moderate Islamic cleric Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid al-Tantawi and began many of his sermons and public speeches with the phrase: “In the name of the one God whom we all worship…” Such efforts did not stem extremist attacks, which steadily increased in number and violence into the 1990s, when they became so brazen and deadly (striking at tourists as well as Copts, notably at Luxor in 1997), that the government of Hosni Mubarak was forced to take action.

Shenouda had a good relationship with Mubarak, who had released him from internal exile in 1985. Indeed Shenouda decided that he could secure the best for his flock by influencing the status quo, not challenging it. This attitude sometimes saw him criticised by his own congregation as a puppet of Mubarak. More nuanced judgements suggested that Shenouda had arrived at a modus vivendi with Mubarak in which the Church was allowed a wide measure of authority within the Coptic community, in return for which it was expected to prevent Christians making “inflammatory” demands or staging “provocative” demonstrations. The worth of this uneasy compromise has come under increasing scrutiny, particularly since Mubarak’s demise. Since Egypt’s revolution, the country’s Christians have suffered a series of attacks. On New Year’s Day last year, suicide bombers struck a church in Alexandria, killing more than 20 worshippers. As the year unfolded Muslims and Christians began to fight running battles; one in May left 12 dead. Then, last autumn, more than two dozen people were killed as police fired on Christians demonstrating against worsening discrimination. As a steady stream of Copts fled abroad, Shenouda’s policy of understated diplomacy seemed to be disintegrating.

At Orthodox Christmas ceremonies this year, however, Shenouda was joined at Cairo Cathedral by leading Army generals and figures from the Muslim Brotherhood. “For the first time in the history of the cathedral, it is packed with all types of Islamist leaders in Egypt,” Shenouda said, welcoming them. “They all agree on the stability of this country and on loving it, working for it and working with the Copts as one hand for Egypt’s sake.” Shenouda was considered a conservative among Copts, refusing calls to relax rules which, for example, ban divorce except in the case of adultery. Leaders of the Church will now suggest three candidates to succeed him, whose named are written down and placed in a box. A boy then picks one name while wearing a blindfold, his hand guided by God.

His Holiness Shenouda III, born August 3 1923, died March 17 2012

— Hat tip: JP

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Libyan Police Too Scared to Arrest Cemetery Vandals Despite Capturing Three Who Desecrated Graves

Police in Libya captured three members of an armed mob that desecrated British war graves in Benghazi — but released them after a few hours because they were ‘too dangerous’.

The extremists, who admitted smashing the gravestones with sledgehammers, belong to an Islamist militia with links to Al Qaeda.

During questioning, police were so nervous they made the men wear blindfolds so they would not be able to identify their interrogators.

‘We had no option but to release them, even though they admitted criminal damage,’ a senior officer told The Mail on Sunday.

‘We have no control over these men, they are too dangerous, they have more weapons. We have arrested members of this brigade in the past and their fellow fighters raided the police station to get them out.’

To worldwide outrage, this newspaper revealed two weeks ago that 150 memorials were systematically overturned, many of them shattered, while a sandstone cross was smashed.

It happened at a cemetery outside Benghazi, the headquarters of anti-Gaddafi forces during last year’s revolution.

Many of the servicemen buried there were members of the 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats, who helped turn the tide of the war in North Africa against Rommel’s forces between 1941 and 1943.

This newspaper has discovered that those responsible are members of a Salifist sect called the Rafallah al-Sahaty Brigade that follows an ultra-purist interpretation of Islam.

Soldier Sanad Albeidi, who filmed the desecration, said: ‘I realised they were from the Rafallah al-Sahaty.

‘I knew it would be too dangerous to try to stop them. I thought they might be going to dig up some bodies so I filmed them to get evidence.

‘I posted my film on YouTube so the world could see the damage these men were doing, and the insult to British war heroes.’

— Hat tip: Nick

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OK, Treat Israel as a Democracy

by Douglas Murray

A winning point for any friend of Israel is to compare Israel with any of its neighbours. On any measure — democratic, legal, let alone anything to do with rights — Israel is clearly in a different league from its neighbours. But a few weeks back I was on a panel with a critical left-wing friend of Israel who made an interesting point. “I’m fed up of hearing Israel compared with Syria and Saudi Arabia’ she said. “Israel is a democracy and democracies get held to higher standards.” Very true, I thought. Though people do need to realise Israel is rather better behaved than her autocratic neighbours, there is sense in this plea.

As it happens, I’ve been thinking about it rather a lot. My recent book on Bloody Sunday (the day in 1972 when British troops gunned down and killed 14 British citizens on the streets of a British city) has absorbed me on and off for 10 years. While working on it, I spent plenty of time immersed in what the UK did to fight its war against the Irish Republican Army.

Incidentally, I always find it cringe-making when Brits tell Israelis about Northern Ireland. As sure as the emergence of dietary matters in interfaith meetings, a point about how Israelis might learn from our experience in “the Troubles” is a cliché of British exchanges with Israelis.

This despite the fact that the differences are huge. The IRA, for all its brutality and callousness, never sought the destruction of the British state, or the annihilation of the British people. Its requests were impossible to grant and its tactics bloody, but moderate Republican parties existed throughout the Troubles and the IRA never wanted to drive us into the Channel. Nevertheless, Northern Ireland always comes up. So, in the spirit of response to my friend’s request that we judge Israel by the standards of other democratic states, and conforming to type, allow me one case comparison. I give it not just because so few friends of Israel know about this story, but because so few people outside the small number of us who care about the history of the Troubles know about it.

In the 1980s, British Military Intelligence set up something called the Force Research Unit in Northern Ireland. One of its purposes was to run agents and double-agents within the IRA. One of the agents was known as “Stakeknife”. This agent — who was outed in 2003 — was paid and “run” as an agent by the FRU. With his cover carefully protected, he rose through the ranks, eventually reaching the top of the IRA’s internal “nutting squad”. That is, he was at the head of the IRA unit tasked with discovering and dealing with — that is torturing and killing — suspected “informants”.

This was an extraordinary security coup for British intelligence. To have not merely infiltrated the IRA but to have infiltrated it so completely that, as well as numerous other agents, the Brits got a man to the top of the IRA’s internal security unit, demonstrated considerable infiltration success. But it had a striking cost. It meant that in order to protect Stakeknife’s cover and advance his reputation and prospects within the IRA , British intelligence allowed a man to torture and kill — and arrange for others to torture and kill — people British intelligence knew to be innocent, including a Belfast pensioner who was killed to protect Stakeknife’s cover. Some sources allege that many dozens were killed in this way during the Troubles. But the rationale was that these deaths were needed to keep British agents rising up the IRA’s ranks. It was just a shame if you were a poor patsy pensioner.

All this and more happened in what’s often called “the dirty war”. It certainly was dirty, to an extent still not fully known. But this is what the British state did, rightly or wrongly, to protect its citizens and to subvert, and eventually bring to the table, an organisation with murderous — though not genocidal — intentions. I could go on, could compare Israel’s behaviour to the US, France or any developed democracy. But I give this story to make one point: that when we compare Israel not with her despotic neighbours but with other democracies, she comes out rather well.

Douglas Murray is associate director of the Henry Jackson Society and author of ‘Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry’ (Biteback)

— Hat tip: JP

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Jordan: Tourism Loses $1 Billion After Arab Spring

The government is working on tourism projects in key areas

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN — Political turmoil hitting the region cost Jordan’s ailing tourism sector a staggering one billion US dollars in lost revenues, a senior official said today.

One year into the first spark of the Arab spring, Jordan stands amongst the countries to have suffered from lack of interest among European and other western tourists.

Speaking during a visit to the rock engraved cit of Petra, Tourism minister Nayyef al Fayyes said the government is working on reducing impact of lack of travellers on tourism projects in key areas.

Losses come from cancelled bookings and lack of passengers flow from nearby airports.

Jordan offers some of the most exciting destinations on planet with the rosy city of Petra and the Dead Sea standing at the heart of its attractive venues.

The royal Jordanian has recently decided to stop flying to a number of European and regional destinations due to lack of demand on these routs.

It will also retire some of its fleet as part of cost reduction plan to trim mounting losses.

Jordan had its fair share of protests ever since the waive of the Arab spring started blowing a year ago with activists calling for an all out war on corruption and constitutional amendments to stop nepotism and favouritism.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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London 2012: Women or No Women? Dilemma for Saudi Arabia

Strong pressure on Kingdom who never sent female athletes

(ANSAmed) — Rome, 19 March — Women or no women? This is the dilemma that Saudi Arabia has been facing for months ahead of the London Olympics. Time is now short. The Wahhabi kingdom will have to decide whether to send women for the first time in its history to the games. The President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, has expressed hope: “We are still discussing the details with them, but I’m optimistic that it can happen,” he said. It would be an epochal change for a country where women can not even drive a car or go to gyms.

Until recently, such a prospect would not even have been considered by the oil sheiks who follow an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islamic law. In fact, at the Beijing games in 2008, as in all previous editions, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the small sultanate of Brunei were the only states not to send even a single female athlete.

However, the atmosphere has changed after the Arab spring and the great upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East.

Stronger pressure has come from the IOC, as well as public opinion, for Ryadh to end its embarrassing and anachronistic veto, which apart from anything is not in the inclusive and anti-discriminatory spirit of the games. Qatar has already announced that it will send two female representatives to London. Ryadh at first agreed, but then reneged on the decision, indicating a harsh struggle that is taking place within the realm between liberals and the powerful Wahhabis.

Among other things, given the strong limitations to women’s participatin in sport, Saudi Arabia could not even find athletes to meet the standards and the Olympic qualifiers. In that case, however, the IOC may offer special invitations or find other solutions.

Last month, the international organisation, Human Rights Watch, asked the IOC to take a hard line against Saudi Arabia when it was again refusing to send female representatives to the Games.

The presence of women — said HRW — must be a condition for participating in the London games. However, it is unlikely that the international sports community would adopt such measures against the world’s leading producer and exporter.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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UAE: Italy Promoting Halal Food Certification

Aim to unite Italian excellence, respect religion

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, FEBRUARY 22 — The visit to the United Arab Emirates by a delegation from the Ministry for Economic Development and Invitalia, the government agency for the attraction of investments, has also been used to promote the certification of halal food, a new instrument focussing on the needs of Muslim clients, that opens up considerably to Muslim markets.

“The ministry is working on an ambitious project of halal certification, an instrument that allows a marriage of Italian excellence and the guarantee of production respecting Islamic rules, which brings significant potential for opening towards markets connected to precise religious principles,” the director of the department of trade internationalisation at the ministry, Patrizia Giarratana, told ANSA.

Halal Italia, the only Italian body for the voluntary certification of food and other products in line with legal Islamic requirements, which was created through a scheme proposed by Italy’s Islamic Religious Community (CO.RE.IS), has recently been recognised by the Emirati authorities and been signed up to the appropriate register. The recognition, which will shortly come into force, will open up the market of the entire Gulf area.

“It is an extremely significant result, considering that halal imports in the region reached 50 billion dollars in 2010,” said the chief executive of Halal Italia, Hamid Roberto Di Stefano.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UAE: Expat Dilemma: What Do You Do When the Mosque’s Too Loud?

One of my first memories of Dubai is of standing on the rooftop of the Sheraton Deira hotel, watching the light change over the city’s rooftops as the sun went down. Suddenly, the azaan, or call to prayer, rang out from a distant mosque, the thin voice of the lone Imam quavering in the breeze. His voice was joined by another and another until the air vibrated with the sound calling the faithful to worship. To me, it’s one of the seminal experiences of life in Dubai. But then I don’t live close enough to a mosque to be woken up by its call just before sunrise every morning. Discussion about this broke out last week in the Letters column of Dubai-based tabloid 7 Days after a couple of expats wrote in to say how the loud morning call to prayer from mosques close to their villas was making their families suffer lack of sleep. A reader identified as “Offended Muslim” responded, “With all due respect to you and your religion, please be informed that it’s a Muslim country… How can you write a letter like this on a public forum?… I really have no words to show my expressions after reading your letter.” And indeed the obvious answer is: The UAE is a Muslim country. If you don’t like the sound of the azaan, don’t choose a home near a mosque.

But there are instances in which the azaan really is too loud. Expat Geoff Pound, who lives in the emirate of Fujairah, writes on his blog that this can be caused when a new mosque hasn’t had its amplifiers correctly modulated; when the mosque’s loudspeakers are turned in a new direction; when a new Imam gets overly excited; or when he holds the microphone too close to his lips (apparently the ideal distance is six inches). And, in those cases, concerned residents are advised to contact the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (Iacad), which is the government body that oversees mosques in Dubai, and ask for an inspection. Believe it or not, there are national guidelines on the volume at which the azaan should be played and the job of the azaan, according to Grand Mufti Mohammed Alkobais, is “to inform and not to disturb.”

However, given what a sensitive topic it is, most expats are reluctant to make an official complaint. Last year, authorities twice checked the volume of a new mosque located in the largely expat compound The Meadows after receiving complaints that it was disturbingly loud.The interesting thing? According to the Imam, all but one of the complaints were from Muslims. The UAE practises a policy of religious tolerance, and that works both ways. If you’ve exhausted all other options and you really can’t see any beauty in the early-morning azaan, don’t complain to the newspaper: Do what everyone else does — move house.

Annabel Kantaria is a journalist who moved to Dubai long before most people knew where it was. She doesn’t ride a camel to work; has never seen a gold-plated golf buggy and only rarely has pink champagne for breakfast. Follow her on Twitter: @BellaKay

— Hat tip: JP

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UAE: Europe Approves Camel’s Milk

But further testing necessary before EU market is open

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MARCH 19 — Europe says ‘yes’ to camel milk: samples of milk from these desert mammals from the United Arab Emirates have been deemed suitable for export to European markets, an essential outcome paving the way for complete approval of a potential relationship between the EU and UAE for the product. Even though camel’s milk has been promoted as a “safe” food by European labs, final approval for exports is still subject to sanitary certification of the farms where the camels are raised.

Inspections by European Commission scientists in January last year flunked the sanitary conditions at the camel farms and offered guidelines to bring them into line with the requested parameters. The next inspection will not be carried out until next year, but UAE labs are already working at full steam to meet EU standards. The European market holds enormous potential for camel’s milk, nicknamed “the white gold of the desert” in Arab countries, as well as all products derived from it. Not only derivatives such as yogurt and cheese, but also sophisticated sweets and foods like milkshakes, cappuccinos and expensive lines of chocolate. The potential outside of the region, in Europe and worldwide, is extremely high. The FAO estimates the worldwide market volume for camel’s milk to be 10 billion dollars.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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India: Hindu Nationalists Attack Three Christian Communities

All the incidents took place in West Bengal, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh in the last week. In all cases, police arrested the victims, not the attackers. For the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) president, Lent, Advent and Christmas are when minority Christians suffer the most.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Three anti-Christian attacks were recorded in West Bengal, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh just in the past week, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported. Like Advent and Christmas, Lent is a time when Hindu ultranationalists tend to intensify their harassment and terrorising of minority Christians. For GCIC president Sajan George, the situation shows the “total lack of justice towards Christians who are increasingly vulnerable.”

On Wednesday, police in Burnpur (West Bengal) arrested five members of the Brethren Gospel Pentecostal Church after some residents of the village complained about their prayers.

Although police released them, they were forced to re-arrest them when Hindu ultranationalists complained. This time the five Christians were charged with violating various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those against “causing communal disharmony” and “unlawful assembly”.

On Monday, some 30 activists from the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu nationalist group, broke into a private home in a slum in Govindpuri (South Delhi). After dragging out Rev Jagdish, a Pentecostal clergyman, they called police and had him arrested. He was released, but only after he signed a pledge not to visit that home again or conduct prayer meetings.

On Sunday, other Bajrang Dal activists stormed a house church in Multai, Betul District (Madhya Pradesh), accusing Rev Motilal Gujare of engaging in forced conversions.

When the local police arrived, they arrested the clergyman and a member of his congregation, Prakash Masih, citing Section 298 of the Penal Code, which bans “Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent” [. . .] of wounding the religious feelings of any person”.

“Hindu radicals enjoy political protection,” Dajan George said. “They feel so strong that they fabricate charges to harass the Christian community. In order to satisfy nationalist feelings, police arrest innocent Christians without a fair trial.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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India: Muslims in India Are Being Misled — Salman Rushdie

New Delhi: Acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial ‘The Satanic Verses’ as also bestsellers like ‘Midnight’s Children’ and ‘Shame’, on Saturday denounced “disgraceful vote bank politics” being practised in the country and said “95 per cent of Muslims in India are not interested in violence being done in their name”. Returning to India two months after he was stopped from attending the Jaipur Literary Festival, Rushdie spoke at the concluding dinner at the two-day India Today Conclave at the Taj Palace Hotel here.

The event was marked by tight security presence but devoid of the kind of protests that had marred the Jaipur event by radical Muslim groups protesting his visit. Rushdie, who was happy at the “lack of interest and protest in my visit” this time around to his land of birth, was, however, severe on politicians of the subcontinent, both in India and Pakistan, who pandered to “religious fanaticism” and indulged in “political opportunism”, an allusion to those who cancelled their speaking engagements at the conclave because of his presence.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, as well as Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan, stayed away citing “other engagements”. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader said he could not come to the same venue as Rushdie who had done “immeasurable hurt to Muslims” with his allegedly blasphemous references in “Satanic Verses”.

Rushdie said “Deobandi bigotry” and “kneeling to mullahs” had not worked for the Congress, alluding to their recent loss in the state elections during which the party was accused was trying to win over Muslims in Uttar Pradesh with inducements of job quotas and other blandishments. Rushdie, who addressed a packed hall that greeted him with frequent applause, spoke out strongly against “public apathy”, against violence and intolerance of cultural freedom, saying: “Freedom is not absolute, if you don’t defend it, you lose it…

If you give in to the threat of violence, there won’t be less violence, there will be more.” Rushdie began by joking at being “promoted” as the keynote speaker at the closing gala dinner after Imran Khan dropped out. But he then proceeded to target Imran with his verbal barbs, describing him as a “dictator in waiting”, a person who is not very well read (“during his playboy days in London he was known as ‘Im the Dim’“) and also one who lied about not knowing that he would be here as the organisers had told him about his presence as far back as last month.

Rushdie said “immeasurable harm” was caused to Islam by terrorists who attacked India, by Osama bin Laden who had taken refuge in Pakistan and by fanatics like those who killed former Punjab governor Salmar Taseer, whose son, writer Aatish Taseer sat on the dias with Rushdie and was in conversation with him. Rushdie said common people were more sensible than their leaders and 95 per cent Muslims in India were not in favour of the violence and the things being said in their name. “India always had a long and hoary cultural and religious tradition of accepting free speech. Everyday, there is a price for hooliganism by bigots,” he said, taking a dig at the “disgraceful votebank politics taking place in India”.

Rushdie said the customs ban on the import of “The Satanic Verses” in the age of the internet was absurd and said there was apparently no bar on his controversial book being published in India. He said his notion of freedom was the freedom to propagate ideas, even though it might offend a particular individual or group, as long as it was done in a civil manner, without threat of violence. “A writer is the adversary of power, but power is so scared of the writer that it ends up strengthening the writer,” Rushdie said. Asked whether India matched Pakistan in intolerance, Rushdie responded: “However bad things get in India, they will be worse in Pakistan.”

— Hat tip: JP

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Indonesia: Lady Gaga Fans Told to Return Tickets for ‘Un-Islamic’ Concert

Jakarta, 19 March (AKI) — A prominent member of Indonesia’s highest Islamic authority said Muslims should stay away from an upcoming Jakarta concert by American pop star Lady Gaga who he said aims to undermine the values of the world’s largest Muslim country.

“[The concert is] intended to destroy the nation’s morality,” said Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) chairman Cholil Ridwan, who added that he had never watched the singer perform and only heard of her “reputation” second-hand.

Cholil said Lady Gaga’s sexy manner of dress and dance should be considered un-Islamic.

“She’s from the West, and she often shows her private parts while performing,” Cholil said.

He said the 25,000 fans who purchased tickets for the 3 June concert leg of the “Born This Way Ball” tour should return their tickets. The show sold out in around two hours when tickets went on sale on 10 March.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy Urges India to Ensure Hostage Safety

Indian FM says will do ‘everything possible’

(ANSA) — Rome, March 19 — Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi on Monday underlined to Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna the “absolute need” to safeguard the lives of two Italian tourists kidnapped by Maoist rebels in eastern India Saturday.

Krishna promised Terzi India would “everything possible at all levels” to try to effect a “positive solution” in the case.

Paulo Bosusco, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, were seized while trekking in Kandhamal district.

There has been no word from the rebels, who are involved in a bloody, decades-long guerilla war against the Indian authorities, since a deadline for the local government to meet 13 demands passed late on Sunday.

These included the release from prison of three Maoist leaders and the end of an offensive against the rebels in the state, which the local authorities are said to have suspended.

The Italian ambassador to India said Monday he was “optimistic” the hostages would be released.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Polls Open in Kerala: Outcome Crucial for Italian Marines

AGI) Rome — Polls opened this morning in the electoral district of Piravom, in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. These are “supplementary” elections to replace the defunct local representative T.M. Jacob but which have instead turned into a crucial ‘test’, not only for the South Indian State and the soundness of Sonia Gandhi’s Congress Party, with the leadership of Governor Oommen Chandy, but also for the case of the 2 Italian Marines. During the morning, 35% of the voters have already turned out at the polling stations which will close at 5 pm local time and 1:30 pm CET. The total number of voters are 183,000 and they will have to chose between 2 contenders: Anoop Jacob, the son of the deceased Jacob, and the candidate of the LDF Communist opposition, M.J. Jacob. The ‘Communist’ Jacob has repeatedly challenged the Congress Party and already in 2006, he was victorious over T.M. Jacob by over 5000 votes. However, the soundness of Gandhi’s party is very important for the Congress that, without Piravom, would lose 3 seats in the State Parliamentary Assembly.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Chinese Bloggers Are Gagged With Their Own Names

Blogging for many people in China is the main form of open and (relatively) free communication. But users have started hushing up, as all entries must now be made under a real name.

Microblogs have become a hit in China. Over 250 million people use weibos, microblogs in English. Weibo is China’s most prominent message platform, as Twitter is blocked, and it is extremely popular among the county’s youth. The platform allows users to read messages sent by others and also write messages themselves.

“I am on Weibo every day. I post new comments every day. Microblogs have opened up a window of communication for us all,” says one user.

Information spreads like wildfire on Weibo — even information about topics that are barely covered in the state media; Information, for example, on the political drama surrounding former top Communist Party member Bo Xilai who was removed from office as party head of Chongqing last week.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Controversial Scientist Plans to Clone a Mammoth

South Korean Hwang Woo Suk was long regarded as a cloning pioneer — until he was charged with having faked much of his stem cell research. Now, he is back with a new project: he wants to clone a woolly mammoth.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Nigeria: Warder Fires Shots Near Keffi Mosque

Lafia — There was apprehension in Keffi in Nasarawa State, after a prison warder fired a shot during the Friday Muslim Juma’at prayers at the Central Mosque adjoining the palace of the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Muhammadu Chindo. Witnesses said a warder at about 2pm, fired a shot in the air to disperse worshippers in front of the mosque, while escorting some inmates in a prison van from the court. “He just fired into the air to disperse worshippers so that the van in which they were conveying the accused persons could pass through”, said a witness. He added that the worshippers ignored the gunshot, and continued with their prayers, but that upon completion of their prayers, they attacked the vehicle which was still at the premises, and beat up the warden and other officers present. It was gathered that the warden was stripped naked. “The officers tried to escape, but the crowd did not allow them”, a witness said. He said the angry mob later stormed the prison, and destroyed part of it. The witness added that the mob attempted to burn the prison, but were dispersed by some prison officers, who shot into the air.

A team of policemen and soldiers, it was gathered, was drafted to the prison to tackle the situation. The police authorities in state confirmed the incident, but the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Cornelius Ocholi refused to release the warden’s name, saying, “his name is not known yet.” Ocholi said signals sent to the police stated that the warden fired the shot while he was at the gates of the prison. He said the signal added that, “A worshipper left, and headed towards the prison, and officers tried to stop him, but he pushed on. So they fired a shot into the air to stop him because they did not know his motive. So, other worshippers stormed the prison, throwing stones and bottles. They even injured a police sergeant, who was there to maintain order.” He said calm has returned to Keffi, adding that the police are on top of the situation.

— Hat tip: JP

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Rwanda/Sierra Leone: Project Umubano is a Truly Remarkable Expression of the Conservative Party’s Core Values …

Stephen Crabb is MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire and a Government Whip.

The Party is now recruiting volunteers for Project Umubano 2012 in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Now in its sixth year, Project Umubano is a truly remarkable expression of the Conservative Party’s core values: voluntarism, compassion, enterprise and an outward-focus. It is also combines a lot of fun and hard work. Umubano brings together the most diverse groups of Party members and supporters, working for two weeks each July in challenging environments alongside African partners focused on tackling the root causes of poverty. (A video snap-shot of last year’s project can be viewed here)

The scope of the Project continues to grow in response to requests from our partners. There is a strong focus on training to ensure there is a lasting benefit to the work we do.

In a number of Project areas we require specialist skills and experience: Healthcare, Law, Business & Finance, and parliamentary support. But there is also a wide range of opportunities for the generalists among us. The Umubano English language teaching programme in Rwanda, led by Wendy Morton remains the largest single part of the Project, and there will also be teaching opportunities in Sierra Leone through our partner Street Child of Sierra Leone. Our sport project will also operate for the first time in Sierra Leone under the leadership of FA-qualified coach Stephen Ogden who has been at the forefront of our football and cricket coaching in Rwanda in previous years.

One of the highlights last year was the success of our workshops for Rwandan entrepreneurs, led by Fiona Bruce MP. This will continue with the addition of a specific Introduction to Finance training programme. Strengthening Parliament and civil society goes hand-in-hand with developing a market economy. Last year a team of researchers led by Anita Boateng and Emma McClarkin MEP trained staff at the Rwanda Senate. We hope to return there in July with an expanded team. There will also be a Community Group Advocacy Project working with NGOs that focus on the survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

With ages ranging from late teens to early seventies, our volunteers come from all kinds of background and from right across the UK. Every Umubano volunteer finds that they have something special and unique to contribute. Operating outside of our comfort zone brings out the very best in the whole team. Whatever skills and experience they all bring, Umubano volunteers all share our Party’s strong commitment to social action and international development. It is this enthusiasm and commitment which ensures that Project Umubano goes from strength-to-strength and continues to make a modest but real difference in two of the poorest countries on earth.

Project Umubano 2012 runs from 7th-21st July in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. For further information and application form, email projectumubano@live.co.uk.

— Hat tip: JP

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A World of Refugees

By Daniel Greenfield

The old paradigm that a country has the right to decide who enters it has been decisively overturned in Europe, it’s under siege in such first world countries as America, Canada, Australia and Israel by the creed that says it’s the human rights obligation of every nation to accept every refugee.

Given a chance, a sizable portion of the third world would move to the first, a minority because of oppression and a majority because the opportunities and freebies are much better there. Even low ranked first-world nations still find themselves swamped with refugees looking to move in.

The news is no better in Canada or Australia, it’s certainly no better in Europe where the EU sees mass migration as a convenient way of completing its project of dissolving national identities. Encouraging separatism at the regional level is one way of doing it, but mass fragmentation of nations gets the job done even more thoroughly and comprehensively.

The EU is working off another melting pot model, much like the national governments who think that they can create a pliable left-leaning electorate by opening up the borders. What they actually end up creating is chaos and chaos eventually becomes order. The only question is whose order it will be. It isn’t likely to be their order, which leaves few options.

Westerners have become the ultimate refugees, lost at home, refugees in their own countries, wanderers in their own cities. The same processes that have turned their countries into superpowers are now drowning them in their own effluvia. And the citizen of the first world often finds that he seems to belong less in his own country than the refugees flooding it. He has become a displaced person, a familiar enough feeling to many of his new neighbors who are also victims of ethnic and religious conflicts. But while the conflicts they have fled are official, his conflict is not. He is the victim of a nameless conflict that cannot be named, of a colonization that cannot be described as such and of the ethnic cleansing of his national identity and the theft of his future.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Another 295 Immigrants Rescued South of Lampedusa

(AGI) Rome — The Coast Guard and Navy have rescued another 221 immigrants enroute towards the Sicilian coast. The first 114, crowded on a nine-meter dinghy, were taken aboard a patrol boat about sixty miles south-east of Lampedusa. The first sighting had arrived from the Maltese SAR, but the La Valletta authorities did not intervene. A second rubber dinghy, with 107 immigrants and on the verge of sinking, was intercepted at about 90 miles south-east of the island. The tug-boat Asso30, which had already gone to the aid of the boat in distress (that with 5 victims) in the Channel of Sicily, took on the passengers. A AB212 Navy helicopter, sent by air patrol commander Bettica, is continuing in the meantime to search for other vessels which, according to the SOS sent via satellite telephone, are also in distress. In the waters covered by Maltese Search and Rescue, another 74 immigrants have been rescued by a Tunisian fishingboat.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Norway’s Population Hits Five Million

As Norway’s population continues to boom, the number of inhabitants in the country is set to reach five million on Monday, according to Statistics Norway.

In recent years, two thirds of Norway’s population growth has stemmed from an increase in immigration, while a third of the increase comes from more babies being born, Statistics Norway said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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States (Countries) With Irish Migrants ‘Should Pay Tax’

COUNTRIES that benefit from Irish emigration should pay a tax to the Irish State in return, sociologist Fr Micheál Mac Gréil SJ has said.

The Jesuit priest, who addressed the annual St Patrick’s Day pilgrimage on Máméan in Connemara’s Maamturk mountains, said current emigration was symptomatic of a free movement of labour that had become an “international scandal”.

Weaker countries like Ireland would “never develop” while there was a “push-pull” factor attracting young people to stronger economies, he said at the weekend.

“The push is the crisis at home, the pull is the opportunity abroad,” which was reflected in an Irish Times survey on emigration on Saturday, Fr Mac Gréil noted.

The survey showed 59 per cent of emigrants left by choice, while 41 per cent said they were forced to leave.

Fr Mac Gréil, former professor of sociology at NUI Maynooth, said he did not blame young people for leaving, either by choice or circumstance, and many were “great ambassadors for Ireland”.

“But the reality is that it is a great loss for the country, and it would be better for young Ireland to be on the dole — and be creative — than to be emigrating,” he said.

Fr Mac Gréil emphasised he was not in favour of a “centralist socialism that curtailed freedom of movement”, as this was to punish individuals for an issue that was “determined by globalisation”.

“When it costs the State an average of â‚85,000 to educate people to third-level, it is time that host countries paid a tax in return for the benefits accruing,” he said.

By the same token, Ireland should then be prepared to pay a tax to developing countries whose citizens — trained in areas such as medicine — are employed here.

— Hat tip: McR

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John Sentamu’s Fall From Grace With Liberals Shows That You Criticise Gay Marriage at Your Peril

by Brendan O’Neill

The extent to which gay marriage has become a measuring stick of moral decency is clear from the fate suffered by the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. There was a time when Sentamu was fawned over by commentators-with-a-conscience. These right-minded folk, though essentially Godless, loved this energetic bishop and his banker-bashing, Mugabe-mauling publicity stunts. Yet as soon as he opened his gob on the matter of gay marriage, and said he was opposed to it, his stock in the chattering-class world plummeted with eye-swivelling speed. Now Sentamu is a figure of ridicule in respectable circles. He’s still popular with the public, but elite opinion-formers openly scoff at the idea that he should take over from Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury. Be warned: if you take anything other than a nodding-dog approach to the issue of gay marriage, your reputation will be ripped to shreds.

Three or four years ago, Sentamu would have been a shoo-in as your average Islingtonian’s favourite future Archbishop of Canterbury. They went wild for him when he cut up his dog collar on live TV in protest against Mugabe. They leapt for joy when he started laying into bankers and their “massive bonuses”. As a measure of how much he was loved by liberals, in 2007 Sentamu came second in Channel 4’s annual search for “the most inspiring political figure of the year” (he lost out to the now late anti-war homeless man, Brian Haw). Back then, not liking Sentamu was a very lonely business. I should know. In my online magazine spiked we labelled him “the Kerry Katona of the Church of England” (because of his love of self-publicity) and we got a fair bit of flak for that.

[…]

— Hat tip: JP

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Norway’s Businesswomen and the Boardroom Bias Debate

As the EU begins a three-month consultation on whether there should be quotas for women in the boardroom, Harriet Alexander asks whether Norway’s quotas could work in Britain.

Mimi Berdal is a woman who knows how to smash through a glass ceiling.

In fiercely egalitarian Norway, where women are required by law to make up 40 per cent of board memberships, Mrs Berdal is the postergirl for women in business. The most gilded of her country’s “Golden Skirts” — women who sit on multiple boards — she was at one time on the board of 90 different companies, making her the country’s most sought-after female executive.

Yet despite being a high-profile beneficiary of Norway’s pioneering policy, the 52-year-old has mixed feelings about a controversial new EU initiative to spring more women into boardroom roles. Indeed, the smartly-suited blonde lawyer argues that it would be better if quotas were not necessary.

“On principle I do not believe in too much regulation on the private sphere,” she told The Sunday Telegraph. “It would have been much better if this had happened on a voluntary basis.

“Some women, including myself, feel that law regulation in private companies is a complicated issue,” she said, adding that it would be better for the boardroom balance to evolve naturally.

Mrs Berdal’s caution may come as a shock to those who praise Norway’s business community as a model of how to propel more women into the boardroom. Across Europe only 13.7 per cent of board members from large firms are women, while in Italy the figure falls to a mere 6.1 per cent. In Britain 15.6 per cent of FTSE 100 board directorships are now held by women.

Mrs Berdal’s comments come in the wake of this month’s launch by Viviane Reding, the EU justice commissioner, of a three-month consultation on how to redress the gender imbalance in the boardroom. Member states, business organisations and firms are being canvassed for their views as “stakeholders”, and asked what sanctions could be used against companies which fail to meet gender targets.

However, while critics say quota schemes are both ineffective and patronising to women, the tone of the consultation paper suggests Ms Reding has already made her mind up on the matter.

Nowhere does the paper ask whether quotas are a good idea in principle; instead it poses questions such as: “Which objectives (eg 20 per cent, 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 60 per cent) should be defined for the share of the under-represented sex on company boards?”

Ms Reding, a feisty ex-journalist from Luxembourg, is not afraid to lecture other European nations on the importance of progressive polices. In 2010, she sparked a furious row with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, when she likened his plans to deport Roma immigrants to the policies of the Holocaust. “Personally, I am not a great fan of quotas, but I like the results they bring,” she told The Sunday Telegraph…

— Hat tip: The Observer

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UK: Is This the Most Anti-Christian Government in British History?

by Paul Goodman

First, Ministers announced that the consultation on gay marriage would not be whether to carry it out but how to do so. Next, they confirmed that they do not supporting the claimed right to wear a cross at work. And today we learn that George Osborne has decided to tear up the Sunday trading laws (forget the flannel about “suspending” them: the move will be permanent). This initiative is being applauded by all right-thinking political journalists and think-tankers on Twitter as I write, and is therefore obviously mistaken. (Tim has also pointed out that the Foreign Office is rather backward about coming forward over the persecution of Christians abroad.) Not all churchgoers oppose gay marriage, or believe that Christians should have the right to wear a cross at work, or are opposed to relaxing the Sunday trading laws…but a lot of them object to one or the other or two or all three.

David Cameron and Osborne must either be confident that they already have the churchgoing vote wrapped up for 2015, or else be trying to write off as much of it as possible. The alternative explanation — that they are tone-deaf to what Christians think — is too absurd to contemplate. The question posed by my headline is doubtless one for John Rentoul, but I suspect that some churchgoers will now begin to ask it in earnest.

[JP note: John Rentoul is famous for posing questions to which the answer is no.]

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: Sunday Trading is Just Another Attack on Christian Britain

by Christine Odone

Who could begrudge the Treasury a new creative idea to stoke the economy? Relaxing Sunday trading laws during the Olympics looks like just the ticket: millions of tourists will go from the men’s swimming finals on Sunday to Selfridge’s or from the women’s volleyball semi-finals to Westfield mall — spending money and kick-starting the sluggish economy along the way. Why then do so many of us feel uneasy about the plans?

Look at the wider picture. The Coalition wants to legalise gay marriage but refuses to push through a tax break for married couples. Government lawyers are defending the right of employers to ban staff from wearing a cross to work. Plans are afoot to remove bishops from the House of Lords. An ex-councillor fights to ban prayers as part of the formal proceedings of local council meetings — and wins. A couple with a sterling record of fostering children is banned from further fostering because of their Evangelical Christian views on homosexuality.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to spot a pattern here: at every turn, Christianity in Britain is coming under fire. No wonder Church leaders are up in arms over Sunday trading — they suspect that this measure is not a temporary one but a stealthy attack on keeping Sunday “special”. When George Osborne admitted he would be studying the impact of the change in the law (“maybe we’ll learn lessons from it”), I’m not alone in hearing alarm bells: if it brings in enough to his coffers this man is prepared to dispense with the (very modest) trading restrictions of the Sunday Trading Act 1994. Who does Osborne and co think we are? 24/7 consumerists or people with an inner life? One day in seven to keep for faith and family does not seem a great deal to ask. But these are hard times, and tolerance for religious sensibilities in limited supply. I fear Sundays will never be special again.

— Hat tip: JP

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	Financial Crisis
»	Greece: Protest Staged by Employees of Pasok Party
»	Monti Has Engineered Italian ‘Renaissance’, Says IMF Chief
»	Worrying Situation in Greece, Malmstrom
	USA
»	Obama Executive Order: Peacetime Martial Law!
»	‘Total Information Awareness’ Surveillance Program Returns, Bigger Than Ever
	Europe and the EU
»	British Parking Police Become Mobile Video Recorders
»	EU Court Says Hotels Should Pay Royalties
»	Even the French Think the EU is a Waste of Money
»	Ireland: Jewish Black Kid is New “Lord of the Dance”
»	Italy: Government Passes ‘Golden Share’ Bill
»	Italy: Rightist Youth Group Brings Protest to Indian Restaurants
»	Spain: Government Says Yes to Oil Rigs Off Canary Islands
	North Africa
»	Libya: France, Hague Court Compete for Gadhafi’s Spy Chief
	Middle East
»	Football: Qatar-FIFA: Divided Over Alcohol in World Cup Stadia
»	Iran: USA Reinforce Hormuz Strait Defence With Minehunters
»	Iraq: ‘70:000’ Killed Between 2004-2011
»	Jordan’s Trade With Syria Drops by 50 Percent
»	Lebanon: Ethiopian Woman Suicide, Spotlight on Migrants’ Lives
»	Saudi Arabia Supplying Weapons to Syrian Opposition
»	Yemen: US Citizen Killed by Terrorists in Taez
»	Yemen: Militants Shoot Dead American Teacher
	Russia
»	Police Detain 100 in Anti-Putin Protest
	South Asia
»	Confiscated Italian Ship to Remain in India for Now
»	India Doesn’t Want to Punish the Marines or Italy, Quilon Parish Priest Says
»	Indonesia: Islamist Groups Object to Gender Equality Bill
»	Pakistan: Bin Laden Wives Fighting, Causing Problems
	Sub-Saharan Africa
»	Al Shabaab Bases in Somalia Targeted in Air Raid
»	Ethiopia Conducts Terrorist Camp Raids in Eritrea
»	Nigerian Christian Community Attacked, At Least 10 Victims
	Latin America
»	Eleven Regular Colombian Soldiers Killed by FARC Rebels
»	Venezuela: Agents Arrested in Death of a Consul’s Daughter
	Immigration
»	Agrigento Prosecutors Investigate Barge Deaths
»	Seafaring Migrant Vessels Spawn Italy-Malta Tensions
»	Special Medical Emergencies Unit Dispatched to Lampedusa
»	UNHCR: New Wave of Immigrants Arriving, Prepare Lampedusa
	General
»	Proposed UN Environmental Constitution for the World Would Establish an Incredibly Repressive System of Global Governance

Greece: Protest Staged by Employees of Pasok Party

Offices occupied for not receiving salary since 4 months

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MARCH 7 — Employees of Pasok, the Greek socialist party led by former premier Giorgos Papandreou, today symbolically occupied the party headquarters for 45 minutes, from 1.45pm to 2.30pm local time. The initiative was meant as a protest against the fact that they have not received their salary in the past four months. During that period, the leaders of the party said, state contributions to parties have been “frozen”. The protest of Pasok employees was staged a few days before the party’s national assembly, in which the succession of Papandreou as party leader will be discussed.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Monti Has Engineered Italian ‘Renaissance’, Says IMF Chief

Premier has given country ‘seriousness, determination’ — Lagarde

(ANSA) — Rome, March 9 — International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde hailed Italian Premier Mario Monti on Friday for creating an Italian “Renaissance” after taking the helm of an emergency government of non-political technocrats last year.

Former European commissioner Monti approved a tough austerity package in December to stop the debt crisis, which forced his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi to resign in November, from spiralling out of control.

His government is now trying to introduce a series of structural economic reforms, including liberalisations to encourage competition and labour-market measures to make it easier for young people and women to find jobs.

“Monti has given Italy a sense of seriousness, concentration and determination to take the country out of the depression it found itself in,” Lagarde told Bloomberg Television.

“As he is not a politician, Monti has the courage to implement very tough measures such as the opening-up of competition, the removal of constrictions on the economy and greater labour flexibility.

“He has brought a sort of Renaissance to that extraordinary country”.

Lagarde described Monti and his compatriot Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, as the two “super Marios” for their efforts to end the eurozone crisis.

The IMF chief warned, however, that the European Union must boost its financial firewall to protect states from coming under speculative attacks on the money markets or Italy will still be at risk of contagion from problems elsewhere.

“I don’t have the minimum sensation (that this is happening),” she said. “But growth is low (in Italy), the debt is very high and I think it’s in Europe’s interest to stop contagion”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Worrying Situation in Greece, Malmstrom

Ready to help, but there is still plenty to do

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 8 — The situation in Greece on the immigration front is” very disturbing,” said the EU commissioner for internal affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom, following the Council of EU ministers in Brussels today, referring to the report of the European Commission mission in the country.

“There is progress — added Malmstrom — but there is still plenty to do.” “Many recommendations were given to the authorities ‘Greek — said the EU commissioner — from the European Commission, the Member States and the international community. We are working with them to try to help.” Malmstrom also spoke of the Evros area on the border with Turkey, where a ‘wall’ is due to be built to stop illegal immigration. “The humanitarian situation — said the EU commissioner — in Evros is very worrying, and there are funds available, but we must improve the administrative process, so that the authorities can act in the best way they can.” “We are ready to help, — said Malmstrom — but responsibility remains in the hands of the Greeks, as with all Member States”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Obama Executive Order: Peacetime Martial Law!

This Executive Order was posted on the WhiteHouse.gov web site on Friday, March 16, 2012, under the name National Defense Resources Preparedness. In a nutshell, it’s the blueprint for Peacetime Martial Law and it gives the president the power to take just about anything deemed necessary for “National Defense”, whatever they decide that is. It’s peacetime, because as the title of the order says, it’s for “Preparedness”. A copy of the entire order follows the end of this story.

Under this order the heads of these cabinet level positions; Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Defense and Commerce can take food, livestock, fertilizer, farm equipment, all forms of energy, water resources, all forms of civil transporation (meaning any vehicles, boats, planes), and any other materials, including construction materials from wherever they are available. This is probably why the government has been visiting farms with GPS devices, so they know exactly where to go when they turn this one on.

Specifically, the government is allowed to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate. They decide what necessary or appropriate means.

UPDATE: BIN reader Kent Welton writes: This allows for the giving away of USA assets and subsidies to private companies:

— Hat tip: JD

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‘Total Information Awareness’ Surveillance Program Returns, Bigger Than Ever

A new feature story in this month’s Wired blows the lid off plans for a massive new National Security Agency data center in Utah that represents the resurrection of a program that Congress killed in 2003, known as “Total Information Awareness,” targeting literally all electronic communications all over the world — including those made by American citizens.

The proposal was to build computing systems that could suck up every electronic communication on the planet and filter them through a smart super-computer that would flag certain conversations, emails, transactions and other items of interest for further review. It was a program so monstrous in scope that after a brief legislative battle, Congress imposed strict regulations on the type of technology that could accomplish those ends, prohibiting it from ever being used against Americans.

But if well sourced intelligence reporter James Bamford is to be believed, as of this year, their efforts to stop it are moot.

— Hat tip: JD

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British Parking Police Become Mobile Video Recorders

“It looks like a standard identity badge, giving the traffic warden’s number and confirming that he is an officer of the local council. But a closer examination of the card pinned to the warden’s jacket reveals something far more sinister — it contains a tiny lens and is actually a camera for filming motorists. It is so unobtrusive that many motorists would not even know they were being filmed.

Wardens — or civil enforcement officers (CEOs), as they are now known — are under no obligation to inform drivers that they are filming. The only notification is a small strip across the top of the badge which reads ‘CCTV in operation’. If there is a dispute, footage can be used as evidence in a court. Councils that have given the £500 cameras to wardens say they protect staff from abusive behavior and also helps resolve disputes.”

— Hat tip: McR

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EU Court Says Hotels Should Pay Royalties

Irish hotel owners should pay royalties for the use of copyrighted works on TV or radio by guests in their rooms.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Irish hotel owners should pay royalties for the use of copyrighted works on television or radio by guests in their rooms.

The case was taken by Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Limited, or PPL, which argued that it was contrary to Irish law to provide such services free of charge and sought damages.

The case was taken against Ireland and arose from a bid to change Irish law that would make hotel owners exempt from paying royalties.

In its ruling today, the ECJ found that “a hotel operator which broadcasts phonograms in its rooms should pay equitable remuneration to producers… and member states may not exempt such an operator from the obligation”.

Initially, PPL had taken the case to the Commercial Division of the High Court, but the Irish court referred several questions on to the ECJ. Today’s ruling will now be referred by to the Irish Commercial Court where a determination on the case will be made.

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has described the decision as “outrageous”. Chief executive Tim Fenn said the ruling would result in an additional layer of costs being imposed on hotels and guesthouses at a time when many premises are struggling to survive.

— Hat tip: McR

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Even the French Think the EU is a Waste of Money

MORE than half of French people have branded the European Union a waste of money. Some 43 per cent of Germans feel the same way, compared with 39 per cent of Britons.

The poll findings reveal simmering tensions across all member states as the eurozone crisis takes its toll on taxpayers.

— Hat tip: Steen

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Ireland: Jewish Black Kid is New “Lord of the Dance”

(Wins All-Ireland Championships three times — creates a new legend)

The son of a black Baptist and a white Jewish woman form Iowa, Drew Lovejoy, is taking the world of Irish dance by storm. This year the 17-year-old from rural Ohio has just won the All-Ireland Dancing Championship in Dublin for the third year in a row.

The New York Times says “for those feeling down about the United States and its place in the world” Drew Lovejoy should be an inspiration.

According to the NY Times Lovejoy has been dancing since the age of six but neither he, nor his mother, can remember when he first became interested in Irish dance. Lovejoy thinks it might have something to do with the amount of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly movies his mother played for him as well as the musicals and theater performances.

When Lovejoy saw his first show “he was hooked.” But his mother, Andee Goldberg, didn’t think it was possible for him to become part of the Irish dance world.

She said “You’re biracial and you’re a Jew. We thought you had to be Irish and Catholic.”

But Lovejoy said “I want a medal.”

Lovejoy is still so driven that he once danced an entire competition on seven broken toes.

Now he trains for at least an hour a day and dances for several hours at a dance school in Cincinnati, two-hours for his home in Greenville, Ohio.

Lovejoy says the fact that he comes from an unusual background, for the world of Irish dance, is an advantage. People remember him. Lovejoy said people would say “It’s that black kid from America in the pink shirt”.

In 2008 fellow competitors and his friends started comparing him to Barack Obama.

However in his rural hometown things are different. Lovejoy, his mother and his father Donald Goldberg moved to Greenville when he was nine-years-old. His mother and Lovejoy’s birth father, Terrance Lovejoy, had parted ways when their son was a baby.

Being a dancer isn’t a usual hobby for a boy in Greenvile, and a black teen living in a predominantly white town.

In fact bullying became so bad at school his mother took him out and started him in an online education program.

— Hat tip: McR

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Italy: Government Passes ‘Golden Share’ Bill

‘EU should drop case against old policy’ says Moavero

(ANSA) — Rome, March 9 — Premier Mario Monti’s cabinet on Friday approved a reform to the country’s golden-share policy which gave the state veto power in companies where it no longer had a controlling interest.

“The decree redesigns the Italian policy of special government powers in the sectors of defense and national security, energy, transport and communications, in compliance with the parameters defined by the European Union,” said European Affairs Minister Enzo Moavero, who penned the bill.

The measure is a response to a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling against Italy in 2009 for criteria which the ECJ said were “too vague and imprecise” and penalized investors who could not predict a government veto. “We believe that following the approval of the bill, the European Commission will close its case against the old policy,” said Moavero.

The golden share had long been criticised by the EU and the former European commissioner for the internal market, Charlie McCreevy, who repeatedly said that “golden shares have no place in the single market”.

Supporters of the golden share argued that the state should have veto powers in companies which operate under a government license which cannot be bought or sold, as in the case of transport, telecommunications and utilities.

Under the new decree, the government can only veto acquisitions in those sectors made by parties outside the European Union.

Special provisions were made for defense contractors such as Finmeccanica, retaining some government veto rights in the interest of national security. photo: European Affairs Minister Enzo Moavero

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Rightist Youth Group Brings Protest to Indian Restaurants

Rome, 7 March (AKI) — A group of Italian right-wing activists pledged to target Indian restaurants in Rome to protest the arrest of Italian soldiers for the alleged shooting deaths of two fisherman last month.

The Rome branch of Gioventu’ Italia (Italian Youth) — a group linked to nationalist political party La Destra (The Right) — on Wednesday protested in front of the Indian embassy to demand the release of marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone who are being held in an Trivandrum prison in the southern Kerala state.

“For tonight we’ve decided to symbolically hit some Indian businesses in the capital. We’ve closed dozens of Indian restaurants by tying ribbon around their gates with flyers reading “Boycott Made in India, Free the Marines Now” said a statement on the group’s website.

A diplomatic spat broke out in February when the marines guarding the Italy-flagged Enrica Lexie oil tanker shot in the direction of a boat they mistakenly took for pirates. Latorre and Girone say they only fired warning shots. India claims jurisdiction over the case, but Italy insists the shooting took place in international waters in the Indian Ocean, giving Rome the right to oversee any possible trial.

An Indian judge on Monday ordered that the Italians be transferred to a prison from a guest house in the city of Kochi where they had been held since 20 February.

Italy has sent a foreign ministry envoy to follow the incident and prime minister Mario Monti on Wednesday reportedly spoke by telephone with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh about the case.

“Our indignation isn’t only from the unexplainable behaviour of the Indian government, but also against the Monti government whose actions against the incident are weak,” the Giuventu’ Italiana statement said.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Spain: Government Says Yes to Oil Rigs Off Canary Islands

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 16 — Oil company Repsol will set up nine oil rigs off the Canary islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, to look for oil. The Spanish government today approved the controversial project, backed in 2001 by the government of José Maria Aznar and opposed by the regional government of the Canary Islands and by environmental organisations, Europa Press reports.

The nine oil platforms will be placed at a distance of 10 to 48 kilometres from the beaches of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. They will check the “high probability” that there is oil in the area, as indicated by surveys carried out between 2001 and 2003 by Repsol around 70 km from the Canary Islands, near the marine border with Morocco. In the past days, Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism José Manuel Soria announced that Spain “cannot afford the luxury of disregarding possible sources of energy” and that the government of Mariano Rajoy “supports and encourages” initiatives aimed at reducing Spain’s energy dependence. The licences to drill, granted in 2001 by the Aznar government, were cancelled in 2004 by the Supreme Court due to errors of form and the company was waiting for a new government licence. Both the government of the Canary Islands, formed by Coalicion Canaria and the Psoe party, and the mayors of the two islands are against the start of the project, fearing the environmental impact it may have on the islands and its main source of income, tourism. Environmental organisations like Oceana are also against the oil platforms. They have warned that the drilling will take place in some of the “ecologically most valuable areas of the Canary Islands,” which are put at serious risk in the case of oil leaks.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Libya: France, Hague Court Compete for Gadhafi’s Spy Chief

Interpol has put its weight behind Libya’s demand that Gadhafi’s ex-spy chief be handed over to Tripoli. France and the International Criminal Court are also pushing to get their hands on the man arrested in Mauritania.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Football: Qatar-FIFA: Divided Over Alcohol in World Cup Stadia

(ANSAmed) — DOHA, MARCH 15 — The 2022 World Cup in Qatar could be alcohol-free, with the host country yet to decide whether or not it will allow the sale of alcohol in the arenas where matches are played.

Although one of the World Cup’s sponsors is Anheuser-Busch InBev, a multinational company that produces alcoholic drinks, Doha appears to be hesitating over whether to sell alcohol during the tournament. Alcohol is one of the few products to be heavily taxed in the Emirate and its circulation remains very strictly controlled.

“Alcohol will be available in Qatar, but we are discussing the extent of this with FIFA. Russia, England and Brazil have had different opinions on the matter,” said Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the 2022 Supreme Committee. FIFA has made its position on alcohol at the World Cup clear, not least when Brazil was considering banning the sale of alcohol in stadia to reduce the risk of violence. At the time, FIFA’s general secretary, Jerome Valcke, intervened, saying: “Alcohol is part of the World Cup, so alcohol will be there. Forgive me if this seems arrogant, but we will not negotiate on the issue”.

Despite the position taken up by FIFA with regards to Brazil, Qatar remains unconvinced and discussions with football’s governing body are continuing. For FIFA, the bottom line appears to be “No alcohol, no World Cup”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Iran: USA Reinforce Hormuz Strait Defence With Minehunters

(AGI) Washington- The US navy has strengthened its flotilla in the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz with four more minehunters.

Alongside the fifth fleet in Bahrain, the Pentagon has readied the vessels and four CH-53 Sea Stallion with mine-detecting equipment for departure. The aim, admiral Jonathan W. Greenert explained, is to reinforce security in the narrow Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes; a strategic point which Iran has repeatedly threatened to blockade in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities. In January Iran’s chief military official warned the U.S. to not send any more aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf after the USS John C. Stennis traversed Hormuz. Since then the Pentagon has sent another nuclear powered carrier, the USS Abraham Lincon, with a squadron as protection.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Iraq: ‘70:000’ Killed Between 2004-2011

Baghdad, 29 Feb. (AKI) — Terrorism and other acts of violence killed almost 70,000 people in Iraq in the almost eight years between 5 April 2004 and 31 December 2011, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

“These figures represent the total number of victims who fell as a result of terrorist attacks and violence and military operations,” the statement said.

Citing numbers provided by the Health Ministry and National Security Council, Al-Dabbagh said 69,263 people died and 239,133 were wounded.

The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry in 2009 had said 85,694 people were killed from 2004 to 2008.

The newest casualty statement said Baghdad province suffered the highest number of deaths between 2004 and 2011 at 23,898.

The statement came as car bombs continue to detonate, with a blast killing at least three people in Baghdad on Wednesday, according to reports.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Jordan’s Trade With Syria Drops by 50 Percent

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, MARCH 15 — Trade exchange between Jordan and Syrian dropped by 50 percent since the start of the Syrian uprising against Bashar al Assad rule, Jordanian economists said today.

Additionally, Jordan lost markets in eastern Europe due to lack of security in Syria, the kingdom’s main rout to Europe.

Official figures indicate that Syria is the fourth strongest trade partner to Jordan after Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, with most of the kingdom’s imported vegetables and basic items such as rice and cotton coming from Syria.

According to Mohammad Abdullat from the Jordan chamber of commerce, the kingdom exports to Syria goods worth USD 200 million and imports items worth USD 200 million.

He said the kingdom’s industrial sector has been heavily affected amid lack of alternative markets.

However, the government has agreed with Iraqi to allow trucks move through its northern borders and into Turkey before going to the European markets.

Jordan has been wary of detrimental impact on its economy after the international community agreed to impose sanctions on Damascus.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Lebanon: Ethiopian Woman Suicide, Spotlight on Migrants’ Lives

Woman was seen beaten in video broadcast on television

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 16 — The suicide of an Ethiopian domestic help in Beirut once again puts the spotlights on the dramatic situation of immigrant workers in Lebanon, who are often mistreated according to human rights organisations. Medical sources quoted by the press have said that the woman, the 33-year-old Alem Dechasa, hung herself on Tuesday night in a mental hospital where she was taken three weeks ago. The was taken to the institute after a Lebanese television station broadcast a video in which a man could be seen beating her and forcing her to get in a car outside the Ethiopian consulate. The man, Ali Mahfouz, then took her to the mental hospital, claiming that the woman had psychological problems and had already attempted to kill herself several times. The Ethiopian consul general, Asaminew Debelie Bonssa, has told the Daily Star that the consulate has filed a complaint against Mahfouz, without specifying the charges against the man. Sources in the country’s police and justice system, quoted by the same newspaper today, said that the man was arrested last week and released a short time after. Around 200,000 immigrants are estimated to work in Lebanon, a country with around four million inhabitants. Employers often take the passport of their domestic helps and force them to stay in the house and to work all days of the week. Human rights organisations have reported many cases of suicide already.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Saudi Arabia Supplying Weapons to Syrian Opposition

(AGI) Dubai — Saudi Arabia is turning out to be a real driver of the Syrian opposition. “In order to put an end to the massacre in Syria”, Riyadh send “weapons, through Jordan, to the Free Syrian Army”, a diplomat said, upon condition that his identity be kept secret. The announcement was made two days after Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Damascus and after last week’s meeting between King Abdullah II and Hashemite sovereign Abdallah. “Jordan firmly denied the rumour” (not officially confirmed by Saudi Arabia either), said Rakan Majali, spokesman of the Jordanian government. Indeed, Jordan is in a very delicate position, because of its geographical location: it borders with Syria, the country through which a good 65% of its incoming trade passes and about 80,000 Syrians have sought refuge in the country since March 2011.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Yemen: US Citizen Killed by Terrorists in Taez

(AGI) Sanaa — An American national teacher has been killed by a terrorist commando in Taez, the second town in Yemen. The man was the vice-director of a Swedish linguistic institute. He was killed by two men who shot him after getting close to him by motorbike.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Yemen: Militants Shoot Dead American Teacher

An al Qaeda-linked group has claimed it killed an American teacher in Yemen, saying he was trying to spread Christianity in the Muslim country.

The English language teacher, who was deputy director of the Swedish Institute school, was shot dead in his car in the city of Taiz by a passenger on a motorcycle, security officials said.

In a statement, the Fighters of Ansar al Sharia, or Partisans of Sharia, said it “killed an American Christian missionary”.

“The attack is in response to a Western campaign to preach for Christianity among Muslims,” it said.

It was the second incident targeting a language school teacher after suspected militants abducted a Swiss woman in the Red Sea port of Hodeida and moved her to the province of Shabwa, according to Yemeni officials.

Taiz, about 120 miles south of the capital Sanaa, was a flashpoint for opposition protests that forced an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule, but has seen little al Qaeda violence.

The local al Qaeda group is, however, active in the south and east of the country and there has been an upsurge in violence since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took power last month vowing to fight the group.

A government aircraft has bombed the southern town of Jaar in an apparent attack on militant targets.

Ansar al Sharia captured the town in Abyan Province in March last year and turned it into their main base in southern Yemen.

The deadliest in a series of attacks by the group killed at least 110 army conscripts last week.

— Hat tip: Nick

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Police Detain 100 in Anti-Putin Protest

Police arrested around 100 demonstrators who had gathered outside a TV station known as loyal to the Kremlin. They were angry about a documentary that portrayed anti-Putin protesters as paid agents of the West. Russian police detained roughly 100 people protesting a documentary that claimed protesters critical of Vladimir Putin were paid to attend demonstrations.

“Anatomy of a protest,” aired by NTV, said that opposition leaders planned to overthrow the government, and that migrant workers and others were being paid to attend recent protests against Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin. NTV is part of state-owned Gazprom.

Around 1,000 people took part in Sunday’s protest, chanting “Shame on NTV” and “Russia without Putin,” near Moscow’s Ostankino television tower.

“Putin’s most important weapons are lies and propaganda and they are just as effective at protecting him as police batons,” said former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, just minutes before he was arrested.

Sergei Udaltsov, an opposition leader who had already been detained twice this month, was also detained on Sunday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Confiscated Italian Ship to Remain in India for Now

Vessel needed for evidence, say Indian authorities

(ANSA) — Kochi, March 15 — An Indian high court judge on Thursday refused to release the confiscated ship, the Enrica Lexie, impounded since the last month’s incident in which two Italian marines allegedly killed two Indian fishermen off the southern Indian coast.

The owners of the impounded vessel sent a request to the Indian authorities last Friday asking for the vessel’s return to Italy.

Examinations of evidence taken from the merchant ship by Indian ballistics experts, expected to conclude last Friday, are still underway after the family of one of the victims filed a court appeal, said Indian authorities.

“Results from examinations need 14 days to process” and the boat must remain accessible to investigators for further inspections, said Kerala authorities.

The marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, are at the centre of a diplomatic dispute between Rome and New Delhi, which intensified when the two were sent to prison at the beginning of March.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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India Doesn’t Want to Punish the Marines or Italy, Quilon Parish Priest Says

Fr Stephen Kulakkayathil denies claims that a climate of hostility surrounds the Italian marines. Italy’s Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Staffan de Mistura has generated admiration for his reasonable defence of the Italian soldiers. The case is unrelated to upcoming by-elections. An anti-government rally is expected to attract 200,000 fishermen.

Kochi (AsiaNews) — “India does not want to punish anyone without reason. We have nothing against the marines, whether they are Italian, German, British or Spanish,” Fr Stephen Kulakkayathil told AsiaNews. A former secretary general of the Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council (KRLCC), he is the parish priest in Quilon. There are no tensions or resentment against the two members of the San Marco Regiment, he said. Last Monday, a judge in Kollam ordered Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone moved to a prison in Trivandrum for the killing of two Indian fishermen, Gelastine and Ajesh Binki. At present, they are being held in section of the prison in accordance with their status.

The decision has been controversial. In Italy, the firm action taken by Indian authorities is seen in terms of domestic politics, i.e. upcoming elections. Hoever, for Fr Kulakkayathil, that is not the case. “It’s a by-election. Two months ago a state minister died and he must be replaced.”

Unlike this week’s elections in Uttar Pradesh and Goa, Kerala elected its state assembly on 13 May 2011. The vote was won by the Congress party with only four seats more than the Communist Party-Marxist.

“Like the Italians, people want to know what really happened,” the clergyman said. “We are all waiting for the ballistic tests.”

“We are also very much impressed by your Foreign Affairs undersecretary, Staffan de Mistura. We like his way of doing things, seeking dialogue but also defending and comforting the two marines. It’s the right attitude.”

“If there are doubts, they are of a different kind. Why didn’t the ship captain stop?” In Italy, they are asking the same question but no answer has yet been found.

The crux of the matter is about who has jurisdiction, an issue that has not yet been settled.

Under international law, countries can extended their territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles. Beyond that, states can enforce their laws in a ‘contiguous zone’ of 12 miles, for a total of 24.

Countries can also establish an ‘exclusive economic zone’ (EEZ) of up to 200 miles, which gives them the right to develop local resources.

“Under Indian law, Indian fishermen can go up to 200 miles to fish,” Fr Stephen said. This is the main point. The fishermen (and Indian authorities) say the fishing boat was in the contiguous zone. Under Indian law, it could go into the EEZ.

Until the matter is clarified, the Dioceses of Quilon, Kochi and Trivandrum are planning a protest rally next Monday, not against the government of Italy but against their own government, to demand greater security for fishermen.

“Some 200,000 people will gather to protest in front of government offices in Trivandrum,” the clergyman said.

Meanwhile, life is slowly going back to normal for the communities involved. “Gelastine’s son is back in school; he has exams to do shortly. Otherwise, not enough time has gone by; the loss of a husband and father are wounds that do not heal quickly.” (GM)

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Indonesia: Islamist Groups Object to Gender Equality Bill

Jakarta, 15 March (AKI/Jakarta Post) — Six major Indonesian Islamic organizations have voiced objections to the gender fairness and equality bill, saying that some articles may harm Islamic values.

The objections were made during a consultation meeting between the organizations and the House’s religion and social affairs commission.

The criticisms came from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the Indonesian Consultative Council for Muslim Women Organizations (BMO-IWI), Aisyiah, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the Islamic Community Party (PUI) and Muslimat NU.

The representatives, who were all women, said that the bill could further violate Islamic law on inheritance sharing, marriage and women’s rights to be a mother and housewife.

They said that the bill’s article 12, for example, which stipulated that every man and woman could freely choose a husband or wife, contradicted Islamic law that suggests the bride and groom be of the same religion.

Eneng Zubaedah from the MUI said that Islam, as a religion, strictly regulated the proportion of inheritance between a man and a woman, which was two to one.

“We have to realize that it may also contradict the idea behind the bill,” Eneng Zubaedah said.

HTI spokesman Iffah Ainur Rochmah said that gender equality that encouraged women to work would eventually cause more conflicts within marriages.

“In 2009, statistics from Jakarta revealed that the divorce rate of teachers went up mainly because wives had better salaries, and thus felt superior,” she said.

Commission head Ida Fauziyah said that she appreciated the insights and promised that the House would pay serious attention to the concerns.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Pakistan: Bin Laden Wives Fighting, Causing Problems

Islamabad, 15 March (AKI) — Osama Bin Laden has been dead for 10 months but his wives are alive and fighting.

His eldest and youngest wives, 61-year-old Khairiah Saber from Saudi Arabia and 29-year-old Yemeni Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, recently had to be separated during a fight in a Pakistan prison, according to a Thursday report by the UK Daily Mail newspaper.

Amal thought her older rival leaked information about their terrorist husband’s whereabouts to American authorities, leading to his death, according to an unnamed source inside Pakistan’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence spy agency who said prison guards were instructed to keep the two apart.

An article by the daily published 12 March said Khairiah was overwhelmed with jealousy that the younger wife was sleeping with bin Laden, prompting her to rat him out to American authorities.

Three of the al-Qaeda leader’s wives and eight children are being detained in Pakistan. He reportedly has five spouses.

The al-Qaeda leader was killed on 2 May during a secret US special forces raid on his compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad. Pakistan said the operation was conducted without its permission, causing tensions between Islamabad and Washington’s already strained relations.

The issue of bin Laden’s widows was already a matter of concern for Pakistan when on 9 March the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Pakistan’s branch of the insurgent group, threatened to unleash a wave of suicide attacks if they were not released from prison.

The wives last week were charged with illegally entering and staying in the country.

The country originally intended to repatriate bin Laden’s family after they were interrogated about how the terror chief was able to stay in Pakistan.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Al Shabaab Bases in Somalia Targeted in Air Raid

(AGI) Mogadiscio — An air raid has hit several Al Shabaab terrorist bases to the north of the Somali port of Kismayu. The raid targeted several objectives in the area of the village of Daytubako, 135 Km from Kismayu, the nucleus of terrorist operations in the Horn of Africa. According to Mohamud Farah, spokesman for the Somali Army Regulars in Bass Juba, the fighter jets were from Kenya, but the Defense Ministry in Nairobi did not wish to confirm in the report. Already last October Kenya had sent troops to Somalia, following the terrorists held responsible for kidnappings and incursions into Kenyan territory, such as that of last week in which 7 persons were killed.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Ethiopia Conducts Terrorist Camp Raids in Eritrea

(AGI) Addis Ababa — The Ethiopian govt reports on operations carried out against ‘terrorist’ encampments in neighbouring Eritrea. Addis Ababa claimed that the operations involved three “terrorist training camps,” located in Badme, run by the people allegedly “responsible for the killing of five European tourists (2 Germans, 2 Austrians and 1 Hungarian), on January 18.” The Ethiopian army sortie was confirmed by Eritrean authorities, who yesterday clarified that they would not retaliate against Ethiopian troops’ penetrating 10 miles into Eritrean territory, in the Gelakalay and Gimbina regions.

Significantly, Badme is still subject to territorial disputes between the two countries.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Nigerian Christian Community Attacked, At Least 10 Victims

(AGI) Lagos- Two attacks on Christian communities in the Nigerian state of Kaduna left ten dead and five more wounded.

According to local authorities a clergyman and politician are among the victims. The commando unit which carried out the attacks comprised around twenty men who fired their automatic weapons in Dayi and Kauna, in the Chikun area. “There is still an unacceptable thirst for revenge against Christians today,” said former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, “what is being done to quell this rage? Shock and grief over a news agency flash article or yet another report on these ever more frequent and ferocious massacres are not enough. Estimates on the number of victims of religious intolerance are rising exponentially. As are the number of nations in which the maximum degree of persecution are recorded. In some of these there are even indicators that matters are worsening”. “There are over 50 nations in the world in which Christian communities are subject to atrocious acts of persecution,” Frattini noted, “if all democratic and liberal governments decided to discuss this topic among the key ones in their bilateral agendas and condemned these barbaric acts in multilateral voices, then that would be enough. Harsher penalties are needed. More and clearer commitments are needed from Europe, so that it may use its legitimate diplomatic pressure in any way possible, as well as the right to religious freedom wherever it is threatened or denied, so that those culpable do not go unpunished. We mustn’t wait for further bloodshed. The EU must provide further defenders of liberty to uphold its values in favour of human rights and religious freedom, calling upon all nations to not underestimate these tragic events and to support freedom.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Eleven Regular Colombian Soldiers Killed by FARC Rebels

(AGI) Bogota — Eleven regular Colombian soldiers died, were killed in an ambush made by Farc rebels, along the Venezuelan border. More soldiers have been injured. In October, Farc rebels killed a total of 20 soldiers in diverse attacks. The soldiers killed yesterday were patrolling various oil installations and plants.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Venezuela: Agents Arrested in Death of a Consul’s Daughter

(AGI) — Caracas — 12 agents of police were arrested and accused of killing the daughter of a Chilean consul in Maracaibo. The 19 year old youngster was traveling with her brother and did not stop at a road block. The troops allegedly opened fired on the car instead of chasing it.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Agrigento Prosecutors Investigate Barge Deaths

(AGI) Agrigento — The Agrigento Prosecutor’s Office has opened an inquest into the deaths of 5 immigrants on a barge in Lampedusa. This new tragedy occurred off the coast of Lampedusa when 5 immigrants were found dead aboard a barge 80 miles from the island. The inquest, according to the information available to AGI, is being coordinated by Prosecutor Renato Di Natale and by Substitute Prosecutor Matteo Delpini. The Prosecutor’s Office has arranged for the inspection of the bodies and from the results of this first examination, the decision to effect autopsies could be taken. The Prosecutor’s Office intends to shed light on the cause of the immigrants’ deaths.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Seafaring Migrant Vessels Spawn Italy-Malta Tensions

(AGI) Palermo — Italian authorities and UNHCR are on high alert as more migrant boats cross the Strait of Sicily. With concerns compounded by the death by drowning of an estimated five persons during a recent crossing, UNHCR spokeswoman Laura Boldrini reports that four vessels are currently crossing the stretch of sea between Italy and Tunisia. Carrying an estimated 80 passengers, one such vessel was spotted in Maltese Search and Rescue waters by a French fishing boat. With the boat’s position forwarded to authorities in Valletta, there is growing speculation that Maltese authorities may — as in several other past instances — simply redirect the vessel towards the nearest Italian safe haven, namely the island of Lampedusa. According to Boldrini Italian and Maltese are currently at loggerheads as to who has responsibility for rescuing the migrants.

Furthermore, Lampedusa shelter facilities recently witnessed forceful protests which issued in migrants setting fire to the shelter, leading local authorities to declare the port ‘unsafe’. Interviewed on the matter, the Italian Coast Guard dismiss any direct responsibility in rescuing the vessel spotted off Maltese SAR waters. Similar incidents have generally resulted in Italy taking care of rescue operations, leading, however, to diplomatic spats between Rome and Valletta. Boldrini also reports a Somali source as claiming that a further three vessels are at sea, two of which are yet to be spotted by radars. On that note, the UNHCR spokeswoman clarified that the information has been forwarded to the Italian Coast Guard.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Special Medical Emergencies Unit Dispatched to Lampedusa

(AGI) Rome — Italian health authorities have agreed to dispatch a special medical emergency task force to Lampedusa. With the small island off the coast of Sicily bearing the brunt of migrant vessel landings, Health Minister Renato Balduzzi, Sicily’s Regional Health Councillor Massimo Russo and the INMP migration institute’s DG, Concetta Mirisola, agreed to the task force’s establishment. The special emergencies unit — which is to work side by side with other emergency services — is to comprise doctors, nurses and interpreters. News of the unit’s set-up was reported by the Health Ministry in the wake of today’s spotting of a migrant vessel in the Strait of Sicily, with 57 on-board, of whom 5 deceased. INMP (Istituto Nazionale per la Salute, le Migrazioni e la Poverta’) boasts a prior involvement in handling Lampedusa’s North Africa migrant crisis:between April and September 2011, in conjunction with Palermo’s ARNAS Hospital, INMP carried out medical triage at the port of Lampedusa and provided first aid services.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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UNHCR: New Wave of Immigrants Arriving, Prepare Lampedusa

(AGI) Palermo — The UNHCR has warned of the arrival of a new wave of immigrants in the Channel of Sicily and to prepare Lampedusa. Speaking to the AGI, Laura Boldrini, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees remarked, “It is physiological with the coming of summer.” This, however in a profoundly changed geopolitical situation in the area, and without taking into account the recent condemnation by the European Court for Human Rights of Italy’s policy of forcing immigrants back. Today saw a dramatic landing of 56 persons on Lampedusa, with the death of 5 persons, while yesteday a group of 54 and then another which was blocked in the area of Trapani. Now at least another 4 vessels have been sighted, Boldrini confirms, of which a series of controls are being carried out. “I believe that we must expect a new, significant arrival of persons,” she added, “who are ever more at risk.” Boldrini continued, “As long as there are situations of tension in nearby areas, such as the Horn of Africa, people will try to find a safe place. People continue to flee Somalia, as they do from other countries.” The situation has to be taken into account and for this reason “we must be ready for every eventuality. It is important that the First Aid and Transit Center in Lampedusa is in functioning condition.” The Imbriacola district structure is, in fact, closed after it was set afire at the end of a revolt. It has become imperative that “Lampedusa once again be considered a “safe haven” as it has always been until a few months ago.” ..

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Proposed UN Environmental Constitution for the World Would Establish an Incredibly Repressive System of Global Governance

Most people have no idea that the United Nations has been drafting an environmental constitution for the world that is intended to supersede all existing national laws. This document has a working title of “Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development” and you can read the entire thing right here. Work on this proposed world environmental constitution has been going on since 1995, and the fourth edition was issued to UN member states on September 22nd, 2010. This document is intended to become a permanent binding treaty and it would establish an incredibly repressive system of global governance. This “covenant”, as it is being called, claims authority over the entire global environment and everything that affects it. Considering the fact that everything that we do affects the environment in some way, that would mean that this document would become the highest form of law for all human activity. This proposed UN environmental constitution for the world is incredibly detailed. The U.S. Constitution only has 7 articles, but the UN document has 79 articles. If the U.S. eventually ratifies this treaty, any national, state or local laws that conflict with this covenant will be null and void. This is potentially one of the greatest threats to our national sovereignty that we have ever seen and we need to warn the American people about it.

Essentially what this proposed environmental covenant does is it takes the sustainable development principles underlying Agenda 21 and turns them into global constitutional law.

— Hat tip: JD

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