Pirates are back in the news tonight. The Danes foiled an attack, but even so the shipping companies are starting to re-route around the Cape of Good Hope. I assume that avoiding the increase in the Lloyd’s premiums makes the extra mileage worth it — especially with the cost of fuel in free fall.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Conservative Swede, Fjordman, Gaia, Holger Danske, Insubria, JD, Paul Green, RRW, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Chuck Norris: the Most Overlooked News Story of 2008
Have you noticed lately that mainstream media are giving less attention to the war in Iraq, especially concerning our troops progress?
CNSNews recently reported that, “There were only two front page New York Times stories that mentioned “Iraq” in the headline in October 2008 — there were 11 in October 2006 and 17 in October 2004… The Washington Post ran four front-page stories that had headlines using the word “Iraq” in October 2008… in October 2006 there were 17 stories, and 27 stories in October 2004.” (Was it coincidental timing that, when George Bush was up for re-election in 2004, there were record numbers of [negative] war stories?)
One can partially point the finger at the economy or election coverage as reasons for the reduction of Iraq war articles. But I believe those issues were used more as justifications for the liberal media’s intentional neglect to report U.S. Middle East military progress. Who doesn’t recognize that we live in a time in which there’s little if no publishing space for positive military stories about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary to Head State: is it Constitutional?
Founding Fathers included clause that prevents Clinton appointment
Barack Obama, it has been reported, intends to announce Sen. Hillary Clinton as his choice for secretary of state, an appointment America’s Founding Fathers forbade in the U.S. Constitution.
The constitutional quandary arises from a clause that forbids members of the Senate from being appointed to civil office, such as the secretary of state, if the “emoluments,” or salary and benefits, of the office were increased during the senator’s term.
The second clause of Article 1, Section 6, of the Constitution reads, “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.”
During Hillary Clinton’s current term in the Senate, the salary for Cabinet officers was increased from $186,600 to $191,300. Since the salary is scheduled to again be raised in January 2009, not only Hillary Clinton, but all sitting Senate members could be considered constitutionally ineligible to serve in Obama’s Cabinet.
[…]
James Madison’s notes on the debates that formed the Constitution explain the reason for the clause. Madison himself argued against “the evils” of corrupt governments where legislators created salaried positions — or increased the salary of positions — and then secured appointments to the cushy jobs they just created. Others agreed that such tactics were evident in Colonial and British government, and they wrote Article 1, Section 6 to prevent the practice.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judicial Tyranny
‘Gay’ rights activists seem to be taking the country closer to legal chaos
Whatever one’s view of gay rights, its activists seem to unintentionally be taking the country closer to legal chaos. Take two recent cases, one from each coast.
Last week, the New Jersey attorney general pressured the online dating giant, eHarmony Inc., into a settlement requiring it to offer services to homosexuals. Never mind that gay-dating sites already crowd the Internet or that eHarmony was founded by an evangelical Christian psychologist to provide a unique faith-based approach to dating. Now eHarmony Inc. must develop a Web-dating service for same-sex couples, pay a $50,000 fine and pay $5,000 to the man who filed the original complaint because, he claims, his rights were violated when he couldn’t meet gay men on eHarmony. We suppose he can use his $5,000 settlement check to sue his neighborhood bakery for offering doughnuts but not bagels.
Where does the principle established by the eHarmony settlement take us? Can a dressmaker be sued if she will not also make suits for men? Can a vegetarian sue a butcher who doesn’t offer heads of lettuce? Businesses in New Jersey have entered a legal Twilight Zone where, at least theoretically, they can be sued for everything they do do.
Over on the Left Coast, California voters passed Proposition 8, an amendment to the state constitution saying that the only “valid or recognized” marriages are between a man and a woman. Voters effectively reversed a California Supreme Court ruling that legalized that same-sex marriage — contrary to an earlier state-constitutional amendment passed by voters. Now the California Supreme Court is firing back. It has decided to hear arguments that, in effect, the constitutional amendment is unconstitutional.
The legal theory of opponents of Proposition 8 is so spurious that it should be dismissed on summary judgment. The gay-rights objection boils down to this: Voters decided on a question that they were not supposed to decide on. Can every losing side of every proposition avail itself of this novel defense? If so, does the state proposition process survive as a meaningful measure of self-government?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Offend a Radical — Urinate in a Footbath
As a staunch supporter of the Constitution, which expressly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…,” I am embarrassed by many of my countrymen who are bending over backwards to accommodate radical Muslims by installing religious ritualistic devices in public places.
As a Muslim, I am embarrassed, as well, by many of my co-religionists who attempt to impose their radical religious agenda on American society by installing the same ritualistic devices in these same public places.
As an American Muslim, I am personally offended when I read about footbaths on public property, i.e., municipal airports, state colleges, etc. I think that the best way to combat these blatant Constitutional violations is by turning the aforementioned footbaths into urinals.
Our government seems to have neither brains nor balls to combat the advance of stealth Gihad, but I believe that American people are smart enough and courageous enough to handle the threat of Sharia.
I am asking every American patriot to place this (see image) or similar note above every footbath located on public property, then take a picture and email it to us at INFO at REFORMISLAM.ORG.
Khalim Massoud
President
Muslims Against Sharia
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Somalis’ Holy Trip Ends at Airport
Two men from a local mosque were kept off a flight Saturday, and their lawyer blames “unfair suspicions.”
An imam and a youth coordinator at a Minneapolis mosque were prohibited from boarding a flight Saturday morning to Saudi Arabia as part of a spiritual pilgrimage, an attorney for the mosque confirmed Sunday.
The attorney said it’s likely the men are on a federal “no fly” list because they and the mosque have been connected by rumor to a number of missing Somali men whose families fear have returned to their East African homeland to fight in that nation’s civil unrest or to receive terrorist training.
The FBI, which has been investigating alleged links between some in Minneapolis’ large Somali refugee community and the strife in that nation, would not comment on the airport incident. The scope of any such links, if they exist, remains unclear.
Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmed of Abubakar As-Saddique, a large mosque in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis, and the mosque’s youth coordinator, who did not want to give his name, were not allowed to board a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but were not told why. The youth coordinator said others in a group that planned to make the trip — a hajj, or spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina— also were not allowed to board, but he did not know how many people were involved.
Mahir Sherif, a California attorney who represents Abubakar as well as other Somali mosques across the country, said there are many possible reasons why the men are on the federal Transportation Security Administration’s “no fly” list, which as of mid-August contained about 50,000 names. But he suspects that the reasons are linked to stories circulating in the Somali community that the mosque has been used to indoctrinate and train young men to return to Somalia — stories that Sherif strongly denied Sunday…
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Welcome to the Police State: 20,000 Uniformed Troops Inside U.s. by 2011
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Woman Beaten for Not Liking Obama
Man becomes enraged after remark about president-elect
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An attack on a Jacksonville woman began as an argument over President-elect Barack Obama, according to police.
The incident took place Friday morning at a Westside apartment in the 4000 block of Confederate Point Road when a fight over politics turned into a physical battle.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, 46-year-old Lindsy Whitfield got worked up when his friend told him she didn’t like Obama.
Police said Whitfield slammed a picture frame on the floor of the woman’s apartment, and then picked up the shattered frame, threw it and hit her in the face.
The enraged man then began beating the victim with his fists before telling her he was going to kill her, according to a police report.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Arrest… or Assault? Judge’s Disgust After Soldier is Held Down and Hit Eight Times
[View CCTV Video at Above Link]
A judge has condemned an apparent police assault on a soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall, 24, was thrown to the ground by three uniformed officers after a night out with friends and punched eight times.
The violent arrest — caught on CCTV — shocked a crown court judge, who called it appalling.
But astonishingly, Lance Corporal Aspinall was himself hauled before the courts and convicted of assaulting the police.
He was sentenced to 200 hours’ community service and even ordered to pay compensation to the officers.
His ordeal ended only when Judge John Phipps watched the damning CCTV footage and quashed the verdict on appeal.
[…]
Judge Phipps said: ‘I am shocked and appalled at the level of police violence shown here.’
Last night, Mr Aspinall — who served for seven years in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers — said: ‘I was scared for my life. I remember thinking, “I’m going to die here. I can’t believe I’ve survived Afghanistan and Iraq and now I’m going to die on this main road in my home town at the hands of the police”.
‘Yet I was the one who ended up in the dock, not the officers.’
[…]
Police officers had been called to the town centre to deal with a man reportedly causing a nuisance to paramedics.
But when a special constable and two colleagues saw Mr Aspinall in the road they presumed he was the cause of the trouble.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Crime: France, Proposal for Prison From 12 Years of Age
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 28 — Behind bars from 12 years of age, was the proposal, at the end of its meeting, made by the commission charged with the reform of the justice system for minors in the country. The commission, chaired by André Varinard, will present an official report to the Minster of Justice Rachida on December third, while the project for the relevant law has already been announced for June 2009. If the appeals of the commission become law, children of 12 will be put in prison if they commit crimes requiring the sentence, compared to 13 as the law currently stands. The proposal of the commission of experts is to fix the age at 12 for the age at which someone can begin to have responsibility for criminal actions (while until now it has never been determined). The average age for this type of responsibility in Europe is 14, while in Great Britain it is 10. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France-Algeria: Oas Commemorative Stone Removed in France
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 19 — At the end of a bitter argument and a long judicial process, stone commemorating the leaders of OAS — who were condemned to death by militiary and judicial tribunals — were removed from the Marignane cemetery in Bouches-du-Rhone. The OAS, or Organisation of the Secret Army, committed acts of terrorism in order to oppose the independence of Algeria. In its place the local authority has placed a card which announces the “forthcoming building of a memorial in honour of our people that died in the Algerian war”. The removal has been authorised by the Marseille court and provoked both scorn — from the association “for the defence of moral and material interests of ex-prisoners and exiled politicians of French Algeria”, who erected the memorial — and, on the other hand, satisfaction on the part of the Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) which has celebrated the elimination of the “stone of disgrace”. The OAS was responsible for several hundred terrorist attacks and executions in both France and Algeria and killed 2,700 people, of whom 2,400 were Algerian, between May 1961 and September 1962. In 1968, General De Gaulle conceded a general amnesty, from which ex-OAS activists were able to benefit. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Montenegro: Frattini Tells Rocen to Back EU and NATO
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 27 — Italy’s Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, has today held a meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart, Milan Rocen. Minister Frattini — notes a communique issued by the Italian Foreign Ministry — confirmed Italy’s support for Montenegro’s application process for EU membership and the rapprochement of the Balkan country with NATO, in meeting the requirements laid down by the alliance and in view of a stabilisation of the Balkan region. Rocen assured Minister Frattini about Montenegròs progress on this road and the populacés unified resolve over these choices. In particular, with reference to the dialogue set up by the European Union with countries of the western Balkans concerning liberalising the visa requirement, Minister Frattini expressed the hope that this objective could be met for Montenegro by next summer. Other subjects tackled were those of collaboration in the field of economics, which presents particularly interesting vistas in the sectors of energy, infrastructure and privatisation. Frattini accepted an invitation extended by Minister Rocen to visit Montenegro at the start of 2009 to mark 130 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Four Nuns Eye Living Wills
Genoa, 18 Nov. (AKI) — Four nuns from northern Italy say they have asked their superiors be allowed to write living wills asking to be allowed to die should they fall into a comatose ‘vegetative state’. The issue is a burning one in Italy, where the Vatican and conservative politicians have criticised a landmark ruling last week by Italy’s top appeals court allowing a woman, Eluana Englaro, who has been in a coma for 17 years, the right to die.
“We are four nuns and are asking if we may write living wills stating that we do not wish to be kept alive in a vegetative state,” said Sister Ildefonsa, 74. Her order runs a nursing home in the northern port city of Genoa.
“I have asked my superiors… there are four of us nuns who have made the request,” said Sister Ildefonsa.
The ordeal endured by another nun who had stroke and was kept alive for almost three months on a life support machine, attached to feeding tubes and drips, profoundly affected Sister Ildefonsa.
“It hurt me so much seeing her in that state…Why prolong suffering?” she said, adding that the experience had increased her conviction that patients who are not going to recover should be allowed to die.
“Science and medicine can get it wrong. Providence should be allowed to take its course,” Sister Ildefonsa said.
“I firmly believe in the sanctity of life, from the first instant of conception,” said the nun, who has received an award for her exceptional services to the sick.
Meanwhile, nuns caring for Englaro have launched an appeal for her life to be saved after last week’s Court of Cassation ruling.
The court upheld a ruling in July by a lower court in Milan allowing for the removal of Englaro’s feeding tubes, as requested by her father. She has been in a coma since a 1992 car accident in the northern city of Lecco in Lombardy.
No Italian doctor has so far agreed to remove Englaro’s feeding tubes, including staff at the hospital in Lecco where she is cared for.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lawyers Call for International Court for the Environment
A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent climate change.
Stephen Hockman QC is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment.
The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year.
But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the “right to a healthy environment”.
The innovative idea is being presented to an audience of politicians, scientists and public figures for the first time at a symposium at the British Library.
Mr Hockman, a deputy High Court judge, said that the threat of climate change means it is more important than ever for the law to protect the environment.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Parents in Sweden Face Fines for ‘Nameless’ Children
Swedish authorities are cracking down on parents who take too long to name their newborn children.
For the past several months, officials from the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket ) have been sending letters to parents of children in the agency’s registry who lack a first name.
In the letters, the agency informs the indecisive parents that they face fines as high as 10,000 kronor ($1,200) if they don’t notify the agency of their child’s name promptly.
“It’s every child’s right to have a name,” said the Tax Agency’s Thomas Norgren to The Local.
According to Swedish law, parents are to have their child’s first name registered with the agency by the time the child is three months old.
But some parents wait until after their children are registered for daycare, which usually takes place around a child’s first birthday.
Norgren explains that, while the law isn’t new, he and his colleagues only recently turned their attention to the issue upon realizing just how many Swedish children in their registry lacked a first name.
“We decided that this is our job, after all,” he said.
“That’s what the law says; that it’s important for every child to have a name.”
Since then, the agency has been informing parents of their responsibility to register their child’s name or face the consequences.
Currently, the Tax Agency is working on 400 known cases of “nameless” children, but Norgren believes there are many more.
“Right now are efforts are concentrated in the south of the country since that is the region for which our office is responsible,” he said.
Specifically, delinquent parents residing in Jönköping, Kronoberg, Kalmar, Blekinge, Skåne, as well as the island of Gotland have been contacted by the agency.
Norgren expects the agency to implement the programme across the country in the next several months, although he couldn’t guess as to the total number of possible cases which may exist across the country.
“We know there are more out there,” he said.
“But it’s important to point out we’re talking about a very small fraction of cases compared to the [more than 100,000] children who are born in Sweden each year.”
The agency’s efforts appear to be paying dividends, however, as most parents have been quick to respond to the Tax Agency’s letters by sending the agency word of their child’s name.
However, a few cases have gone as far as the Country Administrative Court (Länsrätten), although no fines have been collected as of yet.
“It’s a very long process,” Norgren said.
He speculated that most cases involve parents who simply forget to file the appropriate paperwork, while other cases may involve parents who cannot reach an agreement on what to name their children.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Moroccan Entrepreneur Reduces 5 Workers to Slavery
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 28 — Spain’s Civil Guard has condemned a Moroccan entrepreneur from Cartaya (Cordoba) for having enslaved workers from his own country, forcing them to work in inhuman conditions. The story of Mohammed, Khalip, Chahid and their colleagues — which was reported today in El Pais, a newspaper — is emblematic: they came to Spain from Tangiers where they used to work in a textile business, under the promise of a wage of 1500 euros per month to work in a packaging factory and instead found themselves “fifteen hour shifts without breaks, undergoing verbal and psychological abuse” and “constant harassment from their employer”. The employer in question has been accused by the Civil Guard of threatening behaviour, personal damage and fraud. The security forcés report which was based on the workers testimonies and today quoted by El Pais describes the situation thus: “The businessman took 7,000 euros from each worker in exchange for the jobs. The workers laboured for 15 hours each day in a 60 square metre space without ventilation and instead of the promised 1,500 euro a month they received 200 euros a month to divide between five; the employer would spit in their faces, insult them and kick them. One worker who had diarrhoea — forcing him to go to the toilet often — was pulled out of the bathroom and forced to work without being able to clean himself”. According to Fernando Osuna, the lawyer of the five Moroccan workers, this is a “case of overt slavery”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swedes Arrested for Armoured Car Heist
Four Swedes in all have now been arrested for Denmark’s biggest robbery ever but the money remains missing
Swedish police have arrested three people in Stockholm in connection with the theft of 62 million kroner this April from money transport and management company Loomis in the suburb of Glostrup.
Another Swede was arrested in late September for the robbery and is being held on remand in Copenhagen. Danish police have requested that the other three Swedes also be extradicted for prosecution.
Bent Isager-Nielsen, chief inspector for Copenhagen West Police, said that while he was pleased with the arrest, he believes at least one more suspect is still at large.
‘We know that there were five people behind the robbery itself,’ he said. ‘But when you consider the phoney bomb planted at police headquarters and the nail booby traps they laid all over the roads, we can assume it was a big operation that required a larger number of people than we’ve arrested so far.’
The Loomis heist is the biggest robbery in the country’s history. None of the money has been recovered.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
The Mumbai Atrocity is a Wake-Up Call for a Frighteningly Unprepared Britain
The Mumbai atrocities show very clearly what too many in Britain obdurately deny — that a war is being waged against civilisation.
It is both global and local. It is not ‘our’ fault; it has nothing to do with Muslim poverty, oppression or discrimination.
The Islamic fundamentalist fanatics use specific grievances — Kashmir, Iraq, Palestine, Chechnya — merely as recruiting sergeants for their worldwide holy war against all ‘unbelievers’.
The Mumbai attackers targeted British, American and Indian citizens simply because they wanted to kill as many British, American and Indian ‘unbelievers’ as possible.
Where they found Muslims, they spared them.
They also singled out for slaughter the occupants of the Chabad House, a pious Jewish outreach organisation with no Israeli or political agenda — underscoring the point that at the core of the Islamists’ hatred of Israel festers their hatred of the Jews.
This was not, as is so often described, ‘mindless violence’.
On the contrary, the terrorists precisely calibrated both their choice of targets and the way in which they attacked them. This tells us many things.
India was chosen in order to further two aims. First was to foment greater tension between India and Pakistan.
No less important was the wish to destroy the ever more vital strategic alliance between India and the West in common defence against the Islamist onslaught.
That was why British and American visitors in those two grand hotels were singled out.
And that was why Mumbai itself was chosen — as the symbol of India’s burgeoning commerce and prosperity and its links with the West.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Violence Erupts at Nationalist March
Police in Lund in southern Sweden faced paving stones, bottles, and torches flying through the air as they attempted to restore order following demonstrations on Sunday marking the death of King Karl XII.
Seven people were arrested and over 130 were detained.
Despite the violence, there were no reports of any serious injuries during the November 30th marches held annually by Swedish right-wing groups to honour the Swedish king who died in 1718.
Violence erupted when members of several anti-racist groups staged a counter demonstration to force the right-wing marchers to change their route and keep them out of central Lund.
“We’re satisfied that the right-wing demonstrators were able to carry out their march, even if the route had to be changed. We are, however, very dissatisfied that the left-wind demonstrators attacked police,” said the police’s Håkan Jarborg Eriksson to the TT news agency.
Jarborg Eriksson commanded the roughly 150 officers drawn from all over Skåne county who arrived in Lund to patrol Sunday’s demonstrations.
The violence began outside Lund’s central train station on Sunday afternoon where police had gathered to restrict hundreds of counter-demonstrators.
Police were attempting to keep the left-wing activists from reaching the site where supporters of Fria nationalister Skåne (‘Free Nationalists of Skåne’) were gathering to start their march.
Suddenly the counter-demonstrators began throwing paving stones and bottles, and launched a number of fireworks, resulting in the thick smoke covering the area.
The nationalists, who numbered about one hundred, were forced to delay their torchlight parade, which was to take them to the northern section of the city.
The march was to conclude at the monument which has become a focal point for nationalists and which commemorates Sweden’s victory against Denmark in the Battle of Lund.
When the march finally began, the nationalists were escorted by a large police force, paving stones and bottles filled their air, this time being met by lit torches being lobbed back by the nationalist marchers.
After a long pause near the monument, the nationalist marchers were taken via “a back way” back toward the city centre and waiting trains.
The seven people arrested are between 17 and 26-years-old. They are suspected of assaulting a police officer, vandalism, and preparing to commit serious assault.
The roughly 130 demonstrators who were detained for disturbing the peace were taken away in buses.
There were also two additional November 30th demonstrations on Sunday in Stockholm in honour of Karl XII.
In the afternoon, about 30 people from the National Democrats marched from Östermalm across town to Riddarholmen.
A large police presence was on hand to maintain order, but four people were detained.
Later in the evening, around 100 supporters of the People’s Front party (Folkfronten), the reconstituted party of Sweden’s former National Socialist Front (NSF) marched along the same route.
Karl XII fought a series of battles against Russia, Denmark, Saxony and Poland. Between 1715 and 1718 he ruled Sweden from Lund. He was killed in Fredriksten, Norway, on November 30th 1718 by a bullet between the temples.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Welcome to Soviet Britain
The Labour heartlands where figures reveal that half the population relies on the state for a job
Labour’s public sector spending has created a wave of ‘Soviet’ boroughs where around half the population depends on the state for work, figures revealed yesterday.
An analysis of council statistics showed that in ten areas more than 40 per cent of the workforce is employed in the public sector.
Many are deprived areas where the true dependency on the state will be far greater once benefit payments to those out of work are taken into account.
[…]
Richard Dodds, a farmer and Tory councillor on Castle Morpeth borough and Northumberland councils, said: ‘I produce wheat and cattle but there are a lot of people who produce absolutely nothing.
‘Everything is about monitoring performances and going on courses. We’ve had an awful lot of white elephants and non-jobs created in the North East.’
Wansbeck has seen a 40 per cent decline in manufacturing over the past decade.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Work: French Youth Project, Italy a Preferred Destination
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 28 — They are between 18 and 28 years old and they have degrees or diplomas but above all they are motivated, they want to move and travel and they hope, in the majority of cases, for an international career. This is the profile of the young international volunteer (VIE), a role created in 2000 by the French government and which offers to whomever wants it, the opportunity to get experience abroad in French law firms. “It is a real springboard which not only young people in France can make use of but also young people throughout Europe. It is a real job with a monthly tax-free salary of around 1,700 euros, complete social cover and the possibility of moving abroad for between 6 and 24 months”, explained the managing director of Pernod Ricard Italia, Noel Adrian, during the awards ceremony of the VIE Grand Prix, which took place in Rome today at the French embassy. Currently, there are 189 young French volunteers in Italy (which is one of the top ten preferred countries out of the 130 countries involved in the project). “Of these”, maintains Adrian, “60 per cent say that they are prepared to remain in Italy after the working period is over. 40 per cent of those interviewed were not sure whether they wanted to remain. The problem? The salary and the role that is offered to them”. Indeed, as they have been guaranteed a net salary of 1,700 euros per month by the project for their first job, it is difficult for them to think about remaining in a country where young people are offered low salaries and conditions that are not deemed suitable. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia-Croatia: Cultural Cooperation Better Then Ever
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, NOVEMBER 28 — Croatian Ambassador to Serbia Tonci Stanicic evaluated that the cultural cooperation between Serbia and Croatia is developing better than ever and that it will get even better, repots Tanjug news agency. Commenting on the growing exchange of theatre performances and film co-productions, Stanicic said that it is still not part of a strategy, but that he believes that the cultural cooperation will improve when the two states become ready to support the so-called capital cultural projects. He concluded that the cultural ties are getting more intensive than ever, the list of all areas of cultural cooperation is very long, including theatre, film and arts, where it is developing rather well, said Ambassador Stanicic. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey-Albania: Topi Urges Turkish Companies to Invest
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 28 — Albania’s President Bamir Topi invited Turkish companies to boost their investments in important sectors of the Albanian economy. During the second day of his official visit to Turkey, yesterday, President Topi held a working meeting with business representatives of major Turkish companies in Istanbul. The Albanian president had also a meeting with the Chairman of the Association of Balkan Chambers of Commerce and Board of Foreign Economic Relations, Rifat Hisarciklioglu, Head of the Albanian-Turkish Business Council, Hasmet Kyrym, and other businessmen. In the attendance of this activity were also representatives of Balkan official delegations participating in the “Balkan Economic Summit” and local authorities. Speaking about economic relations with Turkey, President Topi said that economic ties between the two countries have considerably increased, but they should become more intensive. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Victims of French Nuclear Tests to Get Compensation
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 28 — “In the end France has faced up to its responsibilities”. This was how El Watan, an Algerian newspaper, greeted the news that France is to launch — possibly as soon as January — a plan to compensate those who were made ill by French nuclear testing in Algeria. The announcement, which has been heavily reported by the Algerian online media, was made by the French defence minister, Hervé Morin, during an interview with Parisien-Aujourd’hui, a French magazine. The French nuclear tests in question were carried out in the Algerian Sahara between 1960 and ‘66 in the Reggane area, a village in the Adrar province of central Algeria, where Berber tribes also live. Until 2006, noted El Watan, France had always refused to acknowledge that the nuclear tests had had an impact on the soldiers and civilian population of the area. And, until today, in order to obtain compensation, one had to take legal action which is a difficult thing to do for the ‘civilian population of the Reggane area, which was particularly badly hit”, who, according to El Watan, “had almost no means to exert their rights”. Mr. Morin forecast that the project should be presented in parliament by the end of the first quarter of 2009. In order to end up with a shared law, the minister has also proposed meetings with parliamentary members of the majority and the opposition, to come together before the end of the year. According to the AP news agency, the French army carried out 210 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1996, firstly in the Sahara(1960-1966) and then in Polynesia (1966-1996).(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Culture: Istanbul Ready to Become European Culture Capital
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 28 — Istanbul unveiled yesterday its plans for celebrating its nomination as European Capital of Culture 2010, Middle East online reports today. The projects, ranging from street art to music festivals, are dedicated to the ancient philosophy of Aristotle who said everything is made up of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. “This is how we interpret Istanbul. We believe that the culture that has permeated Istanbul for many centuries, allowing a Greek man to work with an Armenian artisan, a Turkish businessman and a Jewish trader, is a good example for the world today,” said Nuri Colakoglu, president of the Istanbul-2010 committee. International architects Renzo Piano and Norman Foster are involved in a project to transform the working-class district of Yenikapi. Around it lies a new archeological park, which showcases items uncovered from the ancient Byzantine harbour of Eleutherios, including the body of a third-century emperor and about 30 ships. A number of modern art exhibitions comprising plastic objects will also be displayed, and organisers have invited prominent artists to work alongside their younger counterparts in the run up to 2010. Istanbul was awarded European Capital of Culture status for 2010 in 2006 by the European Union, along with the German town of Essen and the Hungarian city of Pecs. (ANSAmed).
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Algeria: No More Chaotic Sale of Sheep for ‘Aid’ Festival
(by Laura De Santi) (ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 27 — No more sale of sheep in garages, shops transformed for the occasion, public gardens or along the streets of Algiers. A few days before the Festival of sacrifice, the Aid el Adha or Aid el Kebir, on December 8 or 9, in which Muslims all over the world commemorate the sacrifice of Abraham, with prices of sheep are soaring, the leadership of Algiers tries to put things in order imposing new regulations. ‘‘Strict measures have been taken to avoid disordered selling, a real crisis in the past years’’ said Laabidi Hamdaoui of the agricultural direction of the Wilayah of Algiers. ‘‘The selling of hay or livestock outside licensed locations is absolutely prohibited’’ he added, specifying that 110 locations have been licensed in Algiers alone. Preventive measures were also introduced due to the ‘‘appearance in Morocco of the plague of small grazing animals’’, like the organisation of ‘‘55 mobile teams of veterinarians’’. To avoid whole herds of animals entering the capital as happens every year, ‘‘it was decided to ban the transport of more than two animals per person to the city centre’’. During the Aid, improvised markets appear, with livestock coming in from the country’s central regions, particularly Djelfa (500km south of Algiers), where many farms are located. Families look for days to find their sheep, at least six months old, for a price between 15 thousand dinar (around 150 euros) and 50 thousand dinar (around 500 euros), depending on size. For the rite, in which people commemorate the antique sacrifice of Abraham in which God asked him to immolate his son Ishmael, in the Koran, Isaac in Genesis, around 2.5 million sheep will be slaughtered in Algeria. ‘‘That day, said Hamdaoui, ‘‘the veterinarians will take care of checks in the official hygiene offices and abattoirs’’. A real inspection will be difficult since each family kills its own animal in the courtyard, the roof or the pavement. And Algiers, as during each Aid, will be flooded with blood. (ANSAmed).
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Sectarian Events
Demolition, too soon
Nash’at Abul-Kheir
A social services building in Alexandria, owned by Abu-Seifein church in Lumbroso, which housed a home for the aged and an orphanage, was bulldozed. The security authorities claimed the building was unlicensed, but Father Antonious of Abu-Seifein’s told Watani that the Church had purchased the land on which it later built the social services centre in 2007; the purchase had then already included a valid building permit. Last February the church was informed by the relevant authorities that a demolition order had been issued for the building on the pretext that it was not licensed, upon which the church swiftly took the matter to court, and a court decision was due on 29 November.
It is obvious though that the authorities decided not to risk an unfavourable ruling, and rushed to demolish the building before any ruling was issued. The furniture was thrown out, and the building bulldozed. Damages amount to some two million Egyptian pounds.
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Social Issues: Who’s to Blame?
Like thousands of young women, Noha Rushdi has been exposed to sexual harassment ranging from annoying glances up to explicit abuse. But unlike those who keep quiet for fear of being ostracised by society, Rushdi decided to make a report.
Ms Rushdi was assaulted one afternoon last June when she was walking along Khalifa al-Ma’moun Street in Heliopolis. She was suddenly attacked by a passing driver who reached out from his mini-truck and grabbed her breast. “I was so hurt that I was about to lose consciousness,” she recalls. “I tried to push him away with all my strength, but he did not let go. I fell to the ground and started screaming. He began to drive away, and I saw he was wearing a vicious smile. He looked like a professional-like harasser. I felt deeply insulted and infuriated. Fortunately, a car came in the opposite direction, so the truck had to stop. I ran and jumped on the front of the truck car’s so as not to let him get away. I don’t know how I found all that courage. I was even ready to be run down by his car as long as he would be punished.”
Blaming the woman
“When I fell off his car people began to gather round: most of them were shop assistants and employees. They asked what had happened, and I said he had sexually harassed me. Strangely enough, some of them tried to help the driver to drive his truck off, but others told me that they would make him apologise. I was furious. I tried to tell them that it’s not as though he’d merely stepped on my toes; this guy had sexually harassed me and I was not willing to let that go. Again, they wondered what I expected. I said I would take him to the police. One passer-by said, ‘I don’t understand what you want. If you can’t accept that men behave this way then stay at home.’
“Unfortunately, all the people who witnessed the incident were passive. Another man said, ‘Look at what you are wearing!’—bearing in mind that I was wearing loose clothes. People just know how to repeat clichés and assume all the time that the woman is the one to blame. The only woman who thought she could help me came near and advised me to leave the scene to save myself more humiliation. Meanwhile, my friend sought assistance from the nearest police station, but the police officer told her simply it was none of their business and that we should call the ‘emergency police’ if we wished.”
Is she out of her mind?
“A young man who was at the scene and felt sorry for me managed to drag the driver to the station. The only comment I heard from the crowd was, ‘Is she crazy?’
“When we got to the station, the officer in charge called another policeman, but he didn’t show up. The officer told me I was mortifying myself by reporting the incident. I told him I had studied law and I knew my rights. The officer took my statement but he did not ask my friend or the young man, who were witnesses. Then he told me that there was no car to take the driver to the main police station, and bluntly asked me to take him in my car. My father had arrived by that time and he took him in our car to Heliopolis Police Station, accompanied by a police officer, to authenticate the report. The driver tried to apologise, which meant that he admitted guilt, but when he was standing before the prosecutor he denied everything. The prosecutor encouraged me and told me that I was brave to report the crime.
“My biggest shock was the ignorance of people whose attitudes bore no trace of so-called manliness. These people are ready to stand and fight with a taxi driver and not defend a helpless young woman who was sexually harassed, and after all they claim to be religious. Strangely, even a lawyer at the station asked me if I was out of my mind.”
Poor conscience; no penalty
Ms Rushdi says the only people who backed her decision were her parents. “My father was proud that I did not give up my rights,” she says.
Fadia Abu-Shabha, professor of criminal law at the National Centre for Criminal and Social Research (NCCSR), says 20,000 cases of rape and sexual harassment are reported every year, and 90 per cent of rapists are unemployed. A UN report issued eight years ago said 45.5 per cent of the women living in Cairo were subject to different forms of sexual harassment, but only 5.2 per cent reported incidents to the police.
Women are not only subject to harassment on the streets or in means of transport, but also suffer at work, especially from their superiors. Many find themselves in a critical position since they stand to lose their jobs if they fight back.
As to why harassment has suddenly mushroomed to unprecedented proportions, is the question everyone is trying to find an answer for.
Psychologist Ahmed Abdullah goes so far as to say that 60 per cent of women have been subject to sexual harassment in childhood, whether orally, being touched, or being exposed to pornography. Dr Abdullah believes that this is due to an absence both of conscience and legal penalty. He says some men do not have a suitable outlet for their repression and their desires are therefore transcribed into violence or corruption.
In the family
Broken families are a major cause for psychological disturbance, Dr Abdullah says, which may lead men to express their sexual need explicitly with no moral limits. Some attribute the tendency of men to see women as nothing more than sex objects to the image propagated by the media of women as witless, hollow creatures.
The spread of randomly built districts and crammed housing may lead some people to look for physical satisfaction by any available means. Some men derive emotional satisfaction by feeling they can subdue a woman, asserting thus their masculine dominance.
Azza Karim, an expert at NCCSR, believes society is seeing an ascending rate of parental violence, disrespect by children of their parents, and sex crime. She relates this to pressing economic and social conditions. The more young people feel they are burdened the more they begin to look for a way of escape; in many cases they rebel against conventional norms and start acting in a disgraceful manner. Karim believes that research centres do not study these negative trends for fear of tarnishing Egypt’s image.
Many parents also evade discussing sex awareness with their children and this may lead them to look for information by wrong means or try to discover what the other sex is really like through harassment.
The problem is not what women wear, because many veiled women are also victims of harassment. It is still the backward male perspective that regards women as inferior and gives men the right to mistreat and abuse them. Shocking statistics reveal that 35 per cent of women are beaten by their husbands, and 69 per cent are beaten if they refuse intimate relations.
Spread of religiosity
All these studies, nonetheless, failed to discuss whether there was any relation between the ever-widening wave of Islamism sweeping through our society and the proportional spread of harassment. Maybe, a woman who wished to remain anonymous said, our Islamic scholars should devote more time and energy to educating men on respect of women.
The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights has asked the Ministry of Interior to take severe measures against harassers after a series of incidents of sexual harassment that took place in broad daylight. It recommended some tips for women to enjoy safety in the street in Egypt, among them installing CCTV cameras and setting up a special force to combat harassment.
The centre has moreover set up two hotlines, 02-37154562 and 02-3715 4557 for victims of harassment, through which legal help and psychological support are offered.
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Gaza: UNRWA, 3 Million Dollars of Aid From OPEC Fund
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) Fund for International Development has decided to donate three million dollars to the United Nations agency that is trying to help Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. The funds are aimed at improving humanitarian aid (food and medicines) in the Gaza Strip. The news was announced in a memo from the fund’s director general, Suleiman Al-Herbish, which was released by WAM, the United Arab Emirates news agency. Around one week ago the UN agency raised the alarm over a shortfall of 87 million dollars — which would have been 160 million including the cost of un-financed projects over the years. The situation was threatening to compromise the agency’s work in Gaza. Following the two humanitarian convoys from Jordan this week and the urgent delivery of food and medicines decided upon by Arabic foreign ministers (who met for a special conference at the Arab Leagués HQ in Cairo), now OPEC is contributing too. Actually, the organisation’s commitment to the Palestinian population goes back almost 30 years, according to Al-Herbish, who cited the example of the ‘Special Grant Account for Palestine’, created in 2002 at the time of the second Intifada and stocked with 10 million dollars, a figure which later rose to 70 million. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Approves Release of 250 Palestinian Prisoners
JERUSALEM- The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The move followed a pledge by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during talks with Abbas on November 17, their first such meeting in two months.
A senior Israeli official has said that none of the prisoners to be freed belongs to Palestinian groups such as Hamas.
In a similar move in August, Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners. More than 11,000 Palestinians are still held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas weclomed the approval of the prisoner release but criticised Abbas for maintaining normal relations with Israel despite its crippling blockade of Gaza.
“We welcome any decision to free Palestinian prisoners from the occupation’s prisons,” a statement said.
“Hamas will do whatever is necessary to free as many prisoners as possible from all the Palestinian factions.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Human Traffic: Gulf Monarchies Criticise US Report
(ANSAmed)- DUBAI, JUNE 11 — In a rare open stance against the US ally, the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) fiercely criticised the report presented by the State Department, which accuses most of the countries from the oil cartel of not doing their best to fight human trafficking, daily Gulf News reports, citing a document circulating in the six oil monarchies, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, at the end of the meeting of the foreign ministers Monday evening in Riyadh, during which GCC invited Washington to “review its hostile policy”. “GCC deeply regrets the false information which the report contains, aimed at exercising unjustified pressure for political purposes,” the six cartel countries commented. The blacklist included Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, accused of various cases of workers and domestic servants bound to conditions of “obligatory servitude” or induced into prostitution. Even though the UAE and Bahrain were excluded, Manama demonstrated its disappointment at its position in the rankings, too low compared to the efforts made to stem the phenomenon within its borders. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Offers Joint Nuclear Plants With Gulf States
Iran on Sunday proposed developing nuclear power plants jointly with neighboring Arab states in the Gulf, amid international pressure on Tehran to halt its sensitive atomic work.
“I suggest that countries in the region put on their agenda the creation of a consortium to build and develop light-water nuclear plants,” said Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organization.
“Iran is ready to present a comprehensive proposal if the Persian Gulf countries agree to it in principal,” he told an energy conference in Tehran.
However, he did not give any specifics about the proposal, or its feasibility.
Iran has rejected international calls to halt uranium enrichment, which it claims is for peaceful purposes, and is under sanctions targeting individuals and institutions involved in its nuclear program.
The light-water reactor market is dominated by Western countries and Russia, which is currently building Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr on the Gulf.
Home-built plant
Officials say Iran’s first home-built nuclear plant using domestic technology is at the basic design stage and is scheduled to come on line in around nine years.
The Islamic republic is also building a 40-megawatt heavy water research reactor in Arak, in central Iran.
Uranium enrichment lies at the center of fears about Iran’s nuclear program as the process can be used to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.
Iran, OPEC’s second largest oil exporter, insists it only wants to enrich uranium to make nuclear fuel to meet the growing energy demands of its population.
Tehran has not responded to a proposal by world powers offering Iran incentives including help with peaceful nuclear technology and a light water reactor in return for suspending enrichment.
Iran and the Gulf states have an amicable but sometimes turbulent history and disagree over the name of the gulf that runs between them; Iran names the water the Persian Gulf as opposed to the Arabian Gulf.
The United Arab Emirates and Iran are at loggerheads over three Gulf islands, which the UAE says are occupied by Iran. But despite the islands dispute the two states have close ties and Iran is the UAE’s top trading partner.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon to Establish Ties With ‘Palestine’
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 28 — Lebanon has decided for the first time to establish diplomatic relations with the ‘‘state of Palestine,’’ and has approved the opening of an embassy in Beirut, Middle East online reports today. ‘‘The cabinet has approved the establishment of diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine,’’ Information Minister Tarek Mitri said following a cabinet meeting late on Thursday. A Palestinian embassy would replace an office in Beirut representing the Palestine Liberation Organisation, but Mitri said no date had yet been fixed to implement the move. The PLO, which is headed by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and groups the main Palestinian political movements, is recognised by most country’s as representing the Palestinian people. Abbas’s predecessor the late Yasser Arafat symbolically proclaimed the state of Palestine in 1988 but the Palestinians have yet to win independence due to the continuation of the long and brutal Israeli occupation. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanese Government Recognizes ‘State of Palestine’
The Lebanese government has approved forming full diplomatic relations with what it calls the “state of Palestine,” and is elevating the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Beirut to the status of an embassy.
No date has been set to carry out the decision, which was announced by Lebanese Information Minister Tariq Mitri. The PLO is regarded by the Arab League as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said he thought the move showed the government in Beirut was trying to show support for ‘Abbas’ administration. “He is facing tough times. There is a split in the Fatah movement and there’s a running battle between Fatah and the Hamas in Gaza,” Khashan told The Media Line.
In addition, the Lebanese army is posted outside the ‘Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp and is contemplating military action if Palestinians in the camp do not surrender six members of the Islamist Fatah Al-Islam organization seeking refuge there. “I believe the Lebanese government wants to give the impression that it is not anti-Palestinian and it is welcoming diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine, which has not been declared yet,” Khashan said.
Lebanon accommodates nearly 400,000 Palestinian refugees who say they are discriminated against by the government. […] “The Palestinians are treated as non entities in Lebanon and have no rights whatsoever. I believe there is a deliberate effort by the Lebanese government to keep their situation sub-human so they will never contemplate seeking permanent residency in the country.”
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
“Saakashvili Wanted Adulation”
[Video]
9 minute interview with Erosi Kitsmarishvili by Russia Today.
| — Hat tip: Conservative Swede | [Return to headlines] |
Rose Revolution Leader Joins Opposition, Establishes New Party
By Molly Corso, freelance reporter in Tbilisi.
Seven months after her abrupt decision to leave Georgia’s ruling party, former Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze has officially joined the opposition. Once a strong political ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, political analysts now believe she could be his biggest threat.
Burjanadze, 44, formally launched her political comeback on November 23 — the fifth anniversary of the Rose Revolution — with the opening of her new political party, Democratic Movement-United Georgia (http://www.democrats.ge).
The move came after weeks of increasingly aggressive anti-Saakashvili rhetoric from the Burjanadze camp, a marked departure from her signature style of quiet diplomacy.
“The authorities have lost confidence both within and outside the country,” she said during the party convention Sunday. “Today we need wise policies and restoring [Georgia’s] image of a reliable partner and then we need a dialogue with everyone in order to secure our country’s interests through this dialogue.”
[…]
In addition to her legacy as parliamentary speaker, Burjanadze served as acting president twice: in 2003 before the emergency presidential elections that brought Saakashvili to power, and in 2007 before the emergency presidential elections that kept Saakashvili in power following violent clashes with protestors in Tbilisi.
However, her political star has been repeatedly tarnished by a bad sense of timing. “Burjanadze has always been late going into the opposition,” analyst Matsaberidze said, noting if she had left Saakashvili’s government after the November 7, 2007 protests her position would be stronger.
Now, former colleagues believe her timing could not be better. According to Keti Makharadze, a former member of Burjanadze’s political bloc in parliament, post-war Georgia is ready for a “stable” politician like Burjanadze, regardless of her political baggage.
“Attitudes have changed [in Georgia since the war],” Makharadze said. “Stability is the word … in that reality, Nino’s type of presidency would be a fit.”
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Dane Saves Himself, Girl in Mumbai
Jesper Bornak was so shaken by his brush with terrorism in Mumbai that he could not even face his own daughter
When terrorists began their attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday, Jesper Bornak was enjoying a meal at the city’s Café Leopold with five crew members from German airline Lufthansa.
But once the bullets started flying in and around the café, the Dane quickly dove under a table, pulling a petrified girl in the eatery down with him and covering her with his body as a shield.
One of the Lufthansa men then threw himself on top of Bornak, so the Dane could not see what was going on around him. All three played dead.
‘One of the terrorists walked past our table,’ he told public broadcaster DR. ‘I could hear the broken glass crunching under his feet.’
Bornak said the next thing he heard was a couple of shots, which he later learned had killed an Indian woman who had sat behind the group.
When the two terrorists in the café tried to go up to the bar on the second floor, the Lufthansa man told Bornak they had to run for it.
‘On the way out of the café we ran over dead people — or at least I think they were dead,’ he said.
Bornak said that once outside the girl he had helped save ran in another direction than he and the crew member. The two managed to reach a nearby residence and the family there hid them until Bornak was able to contact the Danish Foreign Ministry.
Bornak was so shaken by the incident that he hesitated before being reunited with his daughter when he finally arrived back in Denmark on Friday morning.
‘While I was lying there under the table I came to terms with the situation. I was sure I was going to be shot.’
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Militants Could Start Regional War: Pakistan
Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari made an urgent appeal to India on Sunday not to punish his country for the terror unleashed on Mumbai last week, warning that militants had the power to precipitate a war in the region, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
As the government in New Delhi faced mounting domestic recriminations after the three-day terrorist rampage in Mumbai, Zardari urged India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resist striking out at his government should investigations show that Pakistani militant groups were responsible for the attacks.
Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by Islamist militants last year, warned that provocation by rogue “non-state actors” posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
“Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?” asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times.
Pakistan terrorists
“ Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants, “
President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari “We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on the United States or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq,” said Zardari.
“Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Militants Could Start Regional War: Zardari
Islamabad : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country for last week’s attacks in Mumbai, saying militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Zardari, whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by Islamist militants last year [and even threatened to nuke India], warned that provocation by rogue “non-state actors” posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
“Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?” asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times. “We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated (the) 9/11 (attacks on the United States) or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq,” said Zardari.
“Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace.”
Analysts say the Mumbai assaults by Islamist militants, which killed nearly 200 people, bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for previous attacks in India. Indian officials have said most, perhaps all, of the 10 attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan. […]
Zardari has vowed to crack down if given proof.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Mumbai: “Kill Hell Boy”
[Video]
A FRENZIED lynch mob tried to kill sole surviving Mumbai terrorist Azam Kasav, dramatic new video footage revealed yesterday.
Baby-faced Kasav, 21, was caught with another gunman after a Skoda they had hijacked was halted at a road block.
Armed cops opened up on the car, killing Kasav’s comrade instantly. A passer-by captured the unfolding scene on video using his mobile.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Mumbai Cemetery Won’t Bury Gunmen
A Muslim graveyard has refused to bury nine gunmen who terrorized Mumbai over three days last week, leaving at least 172 people dead and wreaking havoc at some of its most famous landmarks.
The men are not true followers of the Islamic faith, according to the influential Muslim Jama Masjid Trust, which runs the 7.5-acre (three-hectare) Badakabrastan graveyard in downtown Mumbai.
“People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim,” said Hanif Nalkhande, a trustee. “Islam does not permit this sort of barbaric crime.”
[…]
The bodies of the nine gunmen now lie in a morgue awaiting last rites, while the lone surviving militant is in police custody.
Normally, unclaimed bodies thought to be Muslims are given to the nearest Muslim graveyard for burial after three days, leaving police unsure what to do now. Police don’t believe anyone will claim the gunmen’s corpses since they are thought to be from Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Murdered Rabbi Foresaw Mumbai Attacks
Jewish leader banned photos of his building, believing terrorists were seeking intel
A rabbi killed in last week’s coordinated terrorist raids in India was so fearful his Jewish outreach center would be attacked he forbade media photographers from snapping pictures inside the building, believing terrorists were seeking information on the building’s layout.
“[Rabbi Holtzberg] constantly spoke of his fear of a terrorist attack in the Chabad House,” said Meie Alfasi, a photographer for Shterum.org, a news website affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish outreach movement.
“Once I wanted to bring a Reuters photographer to document the Chabad House activities, but he was adamantly against the idea,” said Alfasi.
“He said that he was afraid of pictures, afraid of photographers and afraid of unnecessary public exposure that could harm the Chabad House that is located in a very sensitive area,” said Alfasi, who spent time a few months ago India, staying for a few days at the home of the Holtzbergs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Zardari Urges India to Resist Response to Terror Attacks
Islamabad, 1 Dec. (AKI) — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country for last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region.
In an interview with the British Financial Times newspaper, Zardari urged Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resist any attack if speculation confirmed the militants came from Pakistan.
“Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Toiba, who do you think we are fighting?” asked Zardari.
Pakistan is fighting militants from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the border of Afghanistan.
“We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on the United States or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq,” said Zardari.
“Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace,” he said.
New Delhi was facing growing criticism over its failure to anticipate the attacks and its response.
The chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra has offered to resign amid criticism of the handling of the Mumbai attacks.
Vilasrao Deshmukh said he was awaiting a Congress party decision. His deputy, RR Patil, has already resigned.
Attackers with guns and bombs targeted multiple locations including two luxury hotels last week, killing at least 172 people and injuring around 300 others.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Proposed Divorce Laws Trigger Controversy in Pakistan?
Amir Mir
LAHORE: Pakistan’s top Islamic advisory body’s recent recommendation to the federal government to drastically amend the outdated divorce laws and give more say to women in divorce cases has triggered a serious controversy, with Islamic hardliners vowing to resist the proposed amendments with full might.
The Council of Islamic Ideology had (CII) proposed to the PPP government last week after thorough deliberations that a divorce should go into effect within three months of a woman’s request and it should be mandatory for a husband to divorce his wife within 90 days if she submits a written demand for divorce. If the husband fails to do so, the recommendations say, the marriage would automatically stand cancelled after the 90-day term lapsed, except if the wife withdrew her demand. The recommendations say if the husband gave his wife assets and property and demanded them back at the time of divorce, the wife would have to return the assets except for dower and maintenance or else approach a court of law for the resolution of the conflict.
Under existing Pakistani laws, men are free to divorce their wives, but a woman can only start divorce proceedings if she first surrenders her right to ‘mehr’, or money pledged to her at the time of wedding as a token of her husband’s earnestness. Existing laws allow a husband to divorce his wife verbally in private but the CII recommended it should be done in writing. Though this proposal was received well by the progressive sections of the Pakistani society, there was a lot of hue and cry raised by the religious circles. Many religious scholars strongly objected to the CII recommendations which have already been forwarded to the federal government to ensure their implementation through the parliament that is actually empowered to amend laws.
Hardliners, however, have branded the proposed changes by the CII un-Islamic and at odds with Islamic shariah. “The so-called Council of Islamic Ideology is trying to invent a new Islamic Shariah,” said Mufti Munibur Rehman, a leading Pakistani cleric who signed a statement with other hardliners criticising the CII. “They are trying to create anarchy and chaos in the country and if they are not stopped then I fear a movement for enforcement of true Islamic shariah would be launched throughout the country.” “The Council of Islamic Ideology is crossing its constitutional limits by recommending un-Islamic reforms in the law,” said Hanif Jalandhry, the secretary general of the Alliance of Organisations of Islamic Schools.
As the issue was taken up on the floor of the National Assembly the other day by hardline clerics, demanding the sacking the chairman of the Council for Islamic Ideology for his un-Islamic recommendations to change the divorce law, the PPP government strangely decided to disown the recommendations and announced sending them back to the CII for review. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi assured the National Assembly that the government would not support the reported recommendation by the Council of Islamic Ideology that a divorce should go into effect within three months of a woman’s request for it, even if her husband did not respond by that time. Minister for Law and Justice Farooq Naek said that these were only recommendations of the CII and these would become law only if parliament approved them. He said that no law against the Holy Quran and Sunnah would be passed.
However, the way the enlightened PPP government has distanced itself from the CII recommendation show that they are being politicised. For example, some of the scholars opined that the former president Pervez Musharraf, according to his theory of enlightenment, had appointed such persons in the CII who were not capable of issuing religious decrees (fatwas). But the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan led by Asma Jahangir, an enlightened friend of Benazir Bhutto, has called on Asif Ali Zardari, the president of the country, to immediately frame the laws in line with the CII’s recommendations. “These recommendations are no doubt very positive, sensible and logical and the government should implement them forthwith without any fear of bigotry. Disowning the recommendations of the CII would stir more trouble and the Pakistan government should better place them before the National Assembly to reach a consensus. By disowning the CII recommendations, the government would be giving in to extremist hardliners who have repeatedly tarnished the name of Islam to promote their vested interests”, Asma Jahangir added
amir.mir1969@gmail.com
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
China: Government Officials Arrested: Beijing Powerless Against Corruption
Economic growth has benefited the corrupt politicians and businessmen. This is the opinion of experts, in the face of continued serious corruption cases. A former parliamentarian and torchbearer, and a “model” businesswoman, has been arrested. As has the second richest man in the country.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China is unable to uproot the endemic corruption among politicians and businessmen (who are often one and the same), which is estimated to cost the equivalent of 3% of gross domestic product each year. Chang Wu-ueh, a professor at Tamkang University in Taipei, says that Beijing “understands very well that the main beneficiaries of its economic progress are government officials.”
Xie Bing, president of the Sichuan Hantang Corp., repeatedly praised as a model businesswoman and a rising political star, has been arrested for embezzlement. Xie, of humble origins, became a member of the National People’s Assembly (from which she was expelled on October 28), and was one of the Chinese torchbearers. She is accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of yuan in public money, and of taking money collected from small investors with the promise of high interest. Her husband was arrested in August.
A few days ago, Huang Guangyu (in the photo) was arrested. Huang is the second richest man in China, with a fortune estimated at 18.4 billion yuan (approximately 1.84 billion euros). He was arrested for illegal speculation, and for the manipulation of stock prices. Having begun with a small store, he is the owner of Gome Electrical Appliances Holding, a leader in the sales of electronic equipment, with more than 1,200 stores and 200,000 employees, and revenue of 6 billion dollars in 2007.
In June, Beijing announced zero-tolerance on corruption, warning that this must be uprooted for “the popularity and survival of the communist party.” But serious cases continue to emerge: last week, two former directors of the communist party in Chenzhou were condemned to death for corruption. Yesterday, Beijing announced closer scrutiny of the use of public funds.
Corruption is also being discussed in the collapse, two weeks ago, of a tunnel for the metro line being built in Hangzhou (Zhejiang), which killed 21 workers. Now, mayor Cai Qi has ordered strict control of all projects related to the metro line.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Leaders in Panic Over Crisis and Unemployment
A rapid rise in unemployment is expected, because of the shutdown or lower production of many companies. The jobs of 120 million migrants are at risk, but also those of 6 million new graduates. Social protests are growing among workers fired without proper severance pay.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — “Owing to dramatic changes in the international economic and financial environment, the Chinese economy currently faces growing downside pressure,” and “the global financial crisis has not bottomed out yet.” Zhang Ping, president of the national commission for development and reform, the highest office of economic policy in the country, said today at a press conference that the crisis in the country has become much more severe since November, and said that in 2009, “excessive bankruptcies and production cuts will lead to massive unemployment and stir social unrest.”
This is already happening now, and protests continue to break out among workers fired with minimal severance, or without being paid at all. On the night of November 25 in Dongguan, about 500 workers fired from the toy factory Kader Holdings (one of the oldest in the area) broke windows and furniture in the offices, and clashed with police (in the photo) in protest against the “unjust severance” they had received.
The crisis is especially severe for the 120 million migrant workers concentrated in the big cities, upon whose sacrifice China built the economic boom, and who are now the first to be fired. Of the 8.6 million people living and working in Shenzhen, less than 25% are “permanent residents.” Economist Andie Xie expects “about 20% of the migrants to lose their jobs.”
Meanwhile, there are also 6 million new graduates seeking work, who are also being hit by the crisis.
In order to stimulate production, the central bank has cut interest rates by 1.08 points, the biggest cut since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
It is an ad hoc measure that has left a number of experts puzzled. Stephen Green observes that “rate policy in this environment is a marginal factor — businesses think about possible returns on investments, and households will look at house price prospects.”
Erwin Sanft, an economics expert, tells Bloomberg that “there’s near-panic in Beijing as they look at ways to cushion the slowdown.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
World Bank: Chinese Growth Will Fall to 1990 Levels
The World Bank warns that the situation could become even worse. Beijing, preoccupied over rampant unemployment, is addressing the problem by stimulating domestic consumption. But meanwhile, it is unable to contain the growing social protests.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — In 2009, economic growth in China will be “only” 7.5%, the lowest level since 1990 and about two points below the worst previous predictions. Louis Kuijs, a World Bank expert in Beijing and a respected author, today warns that with the global financial crisis, it will probably be “worse,” with even greater effects on the Chinese economy, especially because of its heavy dependence on exports.
The drop in exports is causing the shutdown of thousands of factories in China, and the loss of millions of jobs, especially among migrants. The government is afraid that unemployment and economic difficulties could lead to more social protests, and for weeks Meng Jianzhu, the country’s public safety minister, has been urging local authorities to be “sober minded” in handling protesters, and to listen to their complaints instead of unleashing the police on them. Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, insisted on November 20 that “the first priority is to maintain current employment levels.”
Experts observe that Beijing, like other countries, is confronting the crisis by stimulating domestic consumption, but without intervening in the structural problems of its economy. The government will invest 4 trillion yuan for infrastructure and social services, but the World Bank warns of the danger that the infrastructure spending could increase the widespread corruption, and calls instead for investment in health and education, and assistance for low-income families. In order to avoid waste and corruption, Beijing has prohibited the spending of these funds “on public buildings,” and will not permit them to be given to industries that consume large amounts of energy, produce large amounts of pollution, or already produce excessive amounts of products for the domestic market.
Yesterday, in Guangzhou, hundreds of taxi drivers who have been striking for days clashed with the police, after one of them was beaten by three men claiming to be city officials. In response, more than 2,000 taxi drivers have marched on city hall, calling for justice.
In a chain reaction, taxi drivers went on strike yesterday in Zhouxi, in Shaanxi, with the same economic requests as in other cities: lower taxes, lower fuel prices, more controls on unauthorized taxis. It is the seventh city in which taxi drivers have gone on strike, and the local governments are confronting the problem by negotiating small concessions, but no one is trying to reorganize the sector.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Imams Condemn Prejudiced Study
The Australian National Imams Council condemned a recent study that accused Muslim preachers of sanctioning domestic violence and polygamy and stressed its support of women rights.
The study accused Muslim imams, or preachers, of promoting domestic violence and spousal rape as well as sanctioning polygamy, which is illegal under Australian law.
The study found that preachers applied Islamic law only when it served men and hindered police investigations in cases of domestic violence. It also found that imams gave men the green light to rape their ex-wives under the pretext that they are still religiously married even if legally divorced.
“ We understand Australian law very well and we are not trying to change it. We don’t believe that problems facing the Muslim community will be solved through that “
Moez Nafti, ANIC presidentThe study by the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council in Australia’s southeastern state of Victoria was based on a series of interviews with lawyers and police officers, though the researchers noted that the ANIC had declined to be involved with the study. They presented their findings at an Islamic studies conference earlier this month at the University of Melbourne.
An ANIC statement Friday condemned the study’s findings and said it was based on the individual mistakes of a few preachers.
“This study is not objective,” ANIC president sheikh Moez Nafti told AlArabiya.net, adding that he did not agree with outcome.
When asked about polygamy, Nafti said that a group of imams had called for sanctioning it but that ANIC refused because Australian law prohibits it.
“The media took advantage of the situation to give the impression that all preachers are like that,” he said. “We understand Australian law very well and we are not trying to change it. We don’t believe that problems facing the Muslim community will be solved through that.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Nothing But the Qur’an
In Nigeria, one in five children are sent to Qur’anic schools. They spend at least four years memorising Islam’s holy book. The pupils are often abandoned by their parents and are forced to beg on the streets to survive. Efforts are now underway to improve the lives of these children, to teach them basic subjects such as English and mathematics, and to give them professional skills.
“Most of these children are children of peasant farmers and menial labourers,” says Salamatu Jibril, the director of a local charity which has carried out research on Qur’anic schools.
“The parents are so poor that they cannot afford modern education. But they know there is a free Qur’anic school system. Many of these parents have 20 children, so if they can send one away, it’s a relief for them.”
Daily routine
The Qur’anic school pupils begin their day with the early morning prayers between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. Then they start reciting and memorising the Qur’an till 10 a.m. They are free till the late afternoon prayer at 5 p.m. and then they begin to recite again. This is followed by more prayers and then recitation till late in the evening.
I visited one of the schools on the outskirts of Kaduna in northern Nigeria late one evening…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Piracy: Liberian Ship Captured in Gulf of Aden
(ANSAmed) — ON BOARD THE FRIGATE NIVOSE, NOVEMBER 28 — A Liberian cargo boat was attacked and captured this morning by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, but three crew members managed to escape before being rescued by the German Navy. France Presse news agency heard this from French military sources. The freighter, the ‘Biscaglia’, sailing under the Liberian flag, was attacked “by five Somali pirates pointing fire arms at the crew” said the captain of the ship, the Frenchman Jean Marc Le Quilliec to a journalist of France Presse, on board the frigate ‘Nivose’ of the French Navy. According to the officer, three crew members of the ‘Biscaglia’ jumped overboard when spotting the European combat helicopters active in the region, to avoid being captured. The commander of the ‘Nivose’ added that the three crew members were picked up by a ‘Lynx’ helicopter of the German Navy. On November 15th pirates captured the ‘Sirius Star’, a Saudi super tanker with 300 thousand tonnes of crude oil on board. They demand 25 million dollars for the ship and the release of the 25 crew members. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Danish Op Repels Cruiseship Pirates
Somali pirates attempted to board a cruiseship in the Gulf of Aden over the weekend. The vessel was carrying 400 tourists.
The attempt failed after the vessel was reported to have increased speed and a French warship under Danish operations command came to the vessel’s aid, according to Admiral Danish Fleet Headquarters (SOK).
“The operation was run by the Danish military, although the warship Absalon was not involved as it was in harbour at the time,” the SOK spokesperson said.
The Absalon currently heads the Task Force 150, an international naval operation designed to help guard against piracy in the region.
Hitherto Somali pirates have only attempted to board cargo vessels.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Pirate Plot to Hijack Cruise Ship Foiled
Intl forces saved US luxury liner packed with civilians
A bid by Somali pirates to hijack a luxury cruise ship was foiled by an international taskforce, officials said on Monday, as ransom negotiations for a Saudi super-tanker stretched into overtime.
A spokesman for the Danish navy, the current lead nation in the NATO taskforce, confirmed the operation had stopped a group of pirates from boarding a civilian vessel which reports said was carrying some 400 passengers and 200 crew.
“The (Danish) navy’s tactical command on Sunday led a military operation, dispatching a vessel from the coalition to the aid of a civilian ship threatened by pirates, thereby preventing an act of piracy,” Danish navy spokesman Jesper Lynge told AFP.
Lynge said it was up to the countries involved to give details of the cruise ship involved.
But according to Danish TV2 News, six to eight armed pirates on two speed boats were observed speeding toward the Nautica, a cruise liner that had set sail from Florida.
A French navy warship, alerted by the Danish Navy, scrambled a helicopter to the scene, which sent the pirates fleeing, TV2 News said.
Saudi tanker
“ We are being informed that the owners of the tanker were discussing the matter of the release with the powerless Somali government, which does not represent us. Anybody who wants a solution must talk to us “
Leader of group holding Sirus StarThe attempt on the Nautica underscored the growing audacity of hijackers operating off the coast of largely lawless Somalia, a fortnight after they hijacked a Saudi super-tanker which was fully laden with oil.
The hijackers of the super-tanker had set a November 30 deadline for the owners of the vessel to pay a $25 million ransom.
But with no news of a breakthrough in the negotiations with owners Vela International, the shipping arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco, the pirates said Monday they were still ready to negotiate its release.
“We are no longer giving any ultimatum, but we will continue to be open for negotiations,” the leader, Mohamed Said, the leader of the group holding the ship, told AFP.
“The owners of the tanker must engage with the right people. Any kind of negotiations with a third party will be futile and will not end the hostage crisis,” the pirate leader said, adding: “Our aim is not to hurt the crew members or damage the ship.”
The 330-meter Sirius Star was carrying two million barrels of crude oil and 25 crew when it was seized on November 15.
Powerless govt
Said told AFP Monday: “We are being informed that the owners of the tanker were discussing the matter of the release with the powerless Somali government, which does not represent us. Anybody who wants a solution must talk to us.”
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was quoted in a Saudi newspaper Monday as saying that the tanker would be freed without a ransom.
“It is not true that the hijackers have demanded a ransom of millions of dollars to release it,” he told the Saudi newspaper Okaz.
“We are confident that efforts made by tribal leaders and government officials will result soon in releasing the ship without any ransom.”
Yusuf’s beleaguered government controls only a few parts of Somalia and has not made any attempt to crack down on piracy, which has thrived in recent months and injected millions of dollars in the coastal economy.
The pirates have slammed Western ships for dumping toxic waste in Somali seas and also allege that Western ships have been illegally fishing in the country’s rich waters for years. A spokesperson said pirates consider the ransom paid a tax owed to the country.
Foreign navies
The presence of foreign navies is intended to restore confidence among shipping companies, many of whom are now re-routing to sail around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.
The Russian Navy said Monday that one of its frigates Neustrashimy (Fearless) had escorted three vessels through the Horn of Africa on Monday.
The announcement came after Somali pirates said that a deal for the release of an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo ship that they seized more than two months ago has been reached and that the release was expected within days.
Meanwhile the Japanese Shipowners’ Association said Monday the country’s shipping industry would incur more than $100 million in extra costs if its vessels change their routes to avoid Somalia’s pirate-infested waters.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Greece, Network Traffickers to Italy Wiped Out
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, NOVEMBER 28 — Five officials of the port of Patras, who together with three owners of transport companies are suspected of involvement in a network that moves illegal immigrants to Italy, have been committed for trial, charged with criminal association. Another retired official, believed to be the “contact” with Turkish traffickers, is wanted by the police. More than 20 people would be involved in the network that used ships for the trafficking of illegal immigrants, half of them officials or workers in the port. At present 8 arrests have been made, others are still looked for, according to the regional chief of police, Nikos Seretis. The investigation may spread outside the city of Patras, since it is suspected that behind the arrested, which come police officials call “collectors”, hide high port managers. Meanwhile the police of Athens, after the protests of inhabitants of the region of Agios Panteleimonas, in the capital’s centre, raided several houses detaining around 60 Afghan citizens, who according to journalists will be expelled. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Second Boat With 300 Migrants Sighted
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), NOVEMBER 28 — An Atlantic aircraft from the Italian Navy sighted the second boat with about 300 migrants on board, signalled an SOS yesterday from a satellite phone while in Maltese waters, about nine miles to the south east of the island of Lampedusa. The vessel is proceeding slowly due to adverse weather conditions, with seas of 4-5 strength. Another boat with 303 migrants on board was rescued by a fishing boat form Mazara del Vallo. Just this morning the immigrants were disembarked from the two fishing boats, after remaining of the coast of the island for some hours before coming into port. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: 303 Migrants in Lampedusa,Search for Other Boat
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), NOVEMBER 28 — In total there were 303 migrants who landed this morning on Lampedusa after they were rescued by a fishing boat form Mazara del Vallo and by the Coast Guard off the coast of the island. The Non-EU’s called for an SOS with a satellite phone while in difficulty due to stormy conditions, and appeared particularly worried. All of the migrants have been moved to the island’s immigration centre. Meanwhile in the operations centre of the Port Master in Palermo, research is being coordinated for another boat crossing the Sicilian Channel with about 300 people on board that had asked for assistance yesterday while off the coast of Malta. The signal was sent to the authorities in Valletta, who were unable to rescue the vessel. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Finance Sector Needs More Sharia Scholars
PARIS, Dec 1 (Reuters) — As the world financial industry sheds jobs by the tens of thousands, the $1 trillion Islamic banking sector has a growing load of work for sharia scholars but few candidates coming forward to do it.
Experts steeped in the Muslim scriptures are critical to Islamic finance, which requires a religious stamp of approval before a bond, mortgage contract or other financial product can be marketed as moral according to the standards of the Koran.
But qualifying for this work takes much more time and effort than other jobs in finance require. Candidates must first study Islamic law or sharia for many years, and then master finance.
“Globally, and especially in Europe and America, there is a shortage of scholars familiar with both fields,” said Mufti Abdul Kadir Barkatulla, an Indian-born imam in London who sits on sharia boards for six banks including Lloyds TSB.
“A few scholars are going around the world (advising banks) and new scholars are not being trained fast enough to take their place,” he said at an Islamic finance conference in Paris.
Part of the problem is linguistic.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Kazakh Parliament Passes Law That Severely Restricts Religious Freedom
All unauthorised religious activity is banned, even meeting to pray or do charity work. Offenders will be severely punished. OCSE, which had asked for further consultation, expresses its “disappointment”. Representatives of various religious groups express their views and concerns about the law.
Astana (AsiaNews/F18) — Kazakhstan’s parliament yesterday adopted a new law on religious freedom despite a request by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to have the original bill changed. The country’s religious minorities (Catholics, various Christian groups and Ahmadi Muslims) are concerned of what the new legislation might mean for them.
Janez Lenarcic, head of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), expressed his “disappointment” for the adoption of a law that did not make “full use of broad consultations with civil society and expertise from the international community.”
“We hope the President of Kazakhstan will use his constitutional power” to stop and have the law vetted again, he said. This would send a “positive signal” ahead of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010.
“It is very strange that the Justice Ministry asks for a new review from the OSCE and then parliament adopts the law,” human rights activists Yevgeny Zhovtis told the Forum 18 news agency. “I’m very disappointed. This law is not in conformity with OSCE or any other international norms” and will “take Kazakhstan back to Soviet times. [. . ..] Its way of controlling religious communities is absolutely terrible.”
The new law, which was passed by the lower house of parliament by a unanimous vote, bans all unauthorised religious activity as well as the expression of unauthorised religious beliefs.
An authorisation will be needed to conduct missionary activity or import religious texts.
Small “religious groups” will only be allowed to carry out religious activity with existing members but cannot maintain any places of worship “open to a wide access.” As for groups that are already registered, they must be authorised again.
This would be the death knell for Baptist Churches which have refused on principle to seek legal status and have already been heavily penalised for this. Last month for example, Pastor Andrei Blok was sentenced to 150 hours of compulsory labour in the Akmola Region for refusing to pay fines imposed on him for leading unregistered worship.
The law also calls for tougher penalties on anyone involved in unauthorised religious activity, including missionary activities or charity work.
According to Baptist Pastor Yaroslav Senyushkevich, “it will be like under Stalin.”
Archbishop Tomasz Peta (pictured) was more measured in his reaction. “We hope that the president won’t allow Kazakhstan after 17 years to return to the path of restrictions on religious freedom,” he said.
Instead Nurym Taibek of the Ahmadi Muslim community does not mince his words. “This law,” he said, “clearly violates our constitution, the course the president has set out, OSCE and other human rights commitments.”
By contrast for Kazakhstan’s Chief Mufti Absattar Derbisali, the law “is very positive” and can be used against the “many sects” that “have caused very many problems in families”.
For his part Aleksandr Ivlev of the Russian Orthodox Church in Almaty is cautious, and has decided to postpone any comment until after it comes into effect to “better know it”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
OIC Signs Cooperation Framework With the USA
A Cooperation Framework on an important initiative in the field of health titled “Reaching every mother and baby in the OIC with emergency care” has been signed between the OIC General Secretariat and the USA today on December 1, 2008.
The cooperation between the OIC and the USA, which got its momentum through the appointment of the first US Special Envoy to the OIC by the US President, resulted into this framework as a step forward towards OIC-USA partnership in health sector.
Endorsed by the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers at its 35th session, the framework would allow the OIC and the USA to cooperate in a project aimed at reaching every mother and baby in the OIC member states with a staggered approach. Initially the project would focus on top ten OIC countries in terms of their need for mother and baby health care.
The specific objectives of the project under the cooperation framework would be to reach up to one million women and their babies annually, to reduce maternal and child deaths, to train midwives to achieve the required numbers of care providers for mothers and babies, to ensure basic emergency care in primary care centers and obstetric surgical units with specialized services and finally to equip computerized / palm pilot / internet based surveillance and monitoring capacity in primary and specialized center to identify and rectify pitfalls in implementation.
Following the signing of the framework, the OIC and the US health experts and specialists would now work jointly towards identifying one or two countries to pilot the project.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Oil: OPEC, Too Much Crude Oil on Market
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 28 — The oil market receives “too much supply”, said Opec Secretary-General Abdallah El-Badri on the eve of the meeting of the Cartel, which could decide to cut its output. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Camps Where Militants Learn to Commit Atrocities Around the Globe
Pakistan is a haven for terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba with dozens of training camps hidden across the region. Muslim extremists from Britain and other countries have travelled to the camps to receive instructions on how to make bombs, shoot guns, kidnap and torture and plot atrocities against Westerners.
Most of the al-Qaeda terrorist training camps in Afghanistan were destroyed in the international military action that followed the September 11 attacks in the United States.
However, terrorist training continued in remote regions of Pakistan and Kashmir. Many of those trained by al-Qaeda returned to their home countries, including Britain, where they joined existing networks or established new, loosely-knit groups.
Almost every Briton suspected of terror activity since the September 11 attacks have received instruction from militants linked to Kashmiri separatists or al-Qaeda. […]
MI5 believes the number of potential terrorists living in Britain could be as high as 4,000. Most will have Pakistani links through their families but will have been born and brought up in Britain. The terrorists are usually radicalised through their contact with extremist clerics in British mosques. […]
Lashkar-e-Taiba is said to have training camps spread across Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Its camps and recruitment centres are thought to be spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan and PoK including Muzaffarabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karachi. […]
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or Army of the Righteous [whose objectives include destroying India and Israel], is a group of Pakistani militants linked to al-Qaeda. Set up in 1993, its primary objective is to end Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir.
LeT is the military wing of the Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an Islamic fundamentalist organisation in Pakistan, headed by Prof Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is also the amir, or general, of LeT.
The group has long fought Indian forces in Kashmir and was blamed for an attack on India’s parliament in December 2001.Though banned in 2002 by the Pakistani government, it is reported to have received clandestine support from army and intelligence officers.[…]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
The Truths and Myths of Global Warming
Interview with Franny Armstrong
A new film called ‘The Age of Stupid’ carries the message that global warming is a myth and environmentalists who are warning us against its impact are scaremongers.
According to the film’s makers, the pessimistic predictions of people like Al Gore are simply untrue and unfounded, despite their high media profiles. The film had its world premiere at the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam on 20 November , and is due for general release next year.
The number of climate sceptics appears to be growing, although they are still a minority. They refuse to accept the science behind global warming. Because, they say, there simply isn’t any science behind it.
Irresponsible alarmism
Franny Armstrong is among them. Her film ‘The Age of Stupid’ challenges what she sees as irresponsible alarmism. She compares the current fear of CO2 or one’s carbon footprint with the apparent dangers of DDT…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
re the Man beating his “girlfriend” for saying she doesn’t like Obama.
I am beginning to sense that there is a spiritual element here that was not in any previous elections: not even in the Clinton election. I cannot quite formulate the words to describe it: I want to say something along the lines that there is a demonic power at its root; mere opinion or party loyalty does not account for this fanaticism.