The overwhelming evidence of global warming continues to accumulate — as does the level of ice and snow in Greenland’s central ice cap, which increases at a rate of about two inches a year.
Shhh! Don’t tell Al Gore…
Thanks to Abu Elvis, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, heroyalwhyness, JD, Lexington, LN, RRW, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Charity Homes Built by Hollywood Start to Crumble
Suit accuses Habitat for Humanity of not disclosing project built on dump site
RESIDENTS of a model housing estate bankrolled by Hollywood celebrities and hand-built by Jimmy Carter, the former US president, are complaining that it is falling apart.
Fairway Oaks was built on northern Florida wasteland by 10,000 volunteers, including Carter, in a record 17-day “blitz” organised by the charity Habitat for Humanity.
Eight years later it is better known for cockroaches, mildew and mysterious skin rashes.
A forthcoming legal battle over Fairway Oaks threatens the reputation of a charity envied for the calibre of its celebrity supporters, who range from Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt to Colin Firth, Christian Bale and Helena Bonham Carter.
The case could challenge the bedrock philosophy behind Habitat for Humanity, claiming that using volunteers, rather than professional builders, is causing as many problems as it solves.
‘Earthquake Swarm’ Continues to Rock Yellowstone
At 11:32 this morning, a 3.5 magnitude earthquake was reported 38 miles east southeast of West Yellowstone, Mont., in Yellowstone National Park — the latest in a swarm of earthquakes that has hit the area in the past week.
The 3.5 tremor was followed this afternoon by a 3.2 magnitude quake at 12:40 p.m. and a 3.0 temblor at 1:15 p.m.
The swarm of more than 500 tremors is the largest series of back-to-back quakes to hit the area in years, according to scientists.
[…]
In 2007, Smith and his University of Utah colleagues said the current rise in the caldera was “unprecedented” but concluded that because there were no major earthquakes or “earthquake swarms” accompanying the uplift, they found “little indication that the volcano is moving toward an eruption.”
The last major earthquake swarm was in 1985 and lasted three months, Smith told The Denver Post.
The Yellowstone Plateau, which comprises Yellowstone National Park, is one of the largest super-volcanoes in the world and has gone through three volcanic cycles spanning two million years that included some of the world’s largest-known eruptions.
Franken Takes 225-Vote Lead in Minn. Recount
Lawyers for both campaigns have laid the groundwork for lawsuits through public comments and legal maneuvering. In recent weeks, as Franken clung to a small lead, Coleman’s lawyers promised a lawsuit over their claim that some ballots duplicated on election night wound up being counted twice in the recount.
He stands to lose as many as 110 net votes if the court were to take Coleman’s side on the duplicate ballot issue. Coleman’s lawyers could also make an issue of the loss of 133 ballots in Minneapolis, which the Canvassing Board resolved by using the election night count for that precinct. If Coleman were to prevail on that, Franken would lose 46 votes.
The standards for accepting or rejecting absentee ballots are fodder for either candidate in a lawsuit, and Foley predicted that a lawsuit could also make use of issues that so far have received little or no attention.
“I suspect there are other things that lawyers for both campaigns have flagged internally, that they haven’t necessarily brought to public attention yet,” Foley said.
Intending to Help Palestinians, U.S. Pours Money Into Terrorist Front Agency
What a generous country we are. We’re sending $85 million to the Palestinian “refugees” in the West Bank and Gaza, the State Department announces.
Through this contribution to the Emergency Appeal for the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian refugees, who comprise 70 percent of the population in Gaza and 30 percent in the West Bank, will receive urgently needed food, medicines, and other critical humanitarian assistance. The contribution to UNRWA’s General Fund will support the provision of basic and vocational education, primary health care, and relief and social services to more than 4.6 million registered Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
And why do these “refugees,” many of whom live in regular villages and towns, need all this aid? Why don’t they act like normal people and create an economy and earn a living? Because their leaders insist they remain “refugees,” dependent on the UN and donor countries for their livelihoods. Actually, many of them, especially in the West Bank, do work and even commute to Israel. After forty-plus years of this nonsense, you’d think the Palestinians would realize who their real oppressors are, and it’s not Israel.
Manufacturing Activity Hits Lowest Point in 28 Years
[December report shows no industry reporting growth]
American manufacturing activity plunged in December to its lowest point since 1980, according to an Institute for Supply Management report released Friday. The situation could worsen, as the report also showed that new factory orders fell to a level last seen 60 years ago.
“The decline covers the full breadth of manufacturing industries, as none of the industries in the sector report growth at this time,” said Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the factory report for the Tempe, Ariz.-based institute. “Manufacturers are reducing inventories and shutting down capacity to offset the slower rate of activity.”
Steel mills, chemical plants, computer assembly lines and even industrial bakeries are bearing the brunt of a global recession that has struck with alarming force since October.
The institute’s factory index fell to 32.4 in December, well below economists’ forecasts and the 36.2 reached in November.
Figures below 50 indicate that the manufacturing sector is shrinking. An index that stays beneath 41.1 means that the entire economy is in decline.
The pressure comes from stressed economies in Europe and Asia, not just the fragile credit markets, burst housing bubble, troubled automakers and surging unemployment in America.
“It’s a breathtaking plunge in manufacturing,” said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics LLC in Pepper Pike, Ohio, whose estimate tied for lowest among economists surveyed.
“The exports numbers are reflecting recessions abroad. The world is very much coupled.”…
Obama Suffers Stimulus Setback
Barack Obama on Sunday was dealt his first serious setback since the election when his choice for commerce secretary withdrew from nomination, as congressional leaders warned that an emergency $775bn fiscal stimulus package was unlikely to be passed before Mr Obama’s inauguration.
Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, said he was stepping aside because of a pending probe into a company that had done business with New Mexico.
“Let me say unequivocally that I and my administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact,” he said, in a statement released on Sunday by the Obama transition team.
Mr Richardson’s withdrawal came as leaders from both parties warned that a planned stimulus bill, to revive the contracting US economy and whose cost could hit $1,000bn, would be unlikely to reach Mr Obama’s desk before early February.
Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives, told Fox News that it would probably only reach Mr Obama by the President’s Day recess in early February.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, told ABC News that “to have it on his desk by January 20 — that’s just not a practical thing”. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader, refused to give a deadline for enactment of the bill and said it was more important to “do it right the first time”.
Mr Obama, who on Saturday urged Congress to act “swiftly and boldly” on the plan, is due to meet Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill on Monday to push the fiscal stimulus ahead.
Bernard Henri Levy Among 6 Jews Said Targeted by Islamist Group
Jewish-French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy was listed by a Belgium-based Islamist group as a target for assassination alongside other leading Jewish personalities in Europe, the Belgian daily La Derniere Heure reported earlier this week.
The planned assassination was apparently thwarted after group leader Abdelkader Belliraj, a Belgian of Moroccan ascent, was arrested last February in Morocco, the newspaper reported.
Belgian authorities found the list during a raid on homes of local Muslim community members last November, according to the report.
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The hit list mentioned the names of five other well-know Jewish figures in Belgium and France: Josy Eisenberg, producer of the A Bible ouverte (Open Bible) television program on FR2; Simone Susskind, a leader of Belgium’s secular Jewish community; attorney Markus Pardes, president of the International Association of Jewish lawyers and jurists; Belgian writer Jean-Claude Bologne and La Derniere Heure reporter Edmond Blattche.
Belliraj is scheduled for trial next week over charges of assassinating and orchestrating the murders of six people in Belgium during 1980s, as well as for charges of arms trafficking.
Commission Launches €3 Million Emergency Funding Decision for Humanitarian Aid in Gaza
The European Commission will provide an extra €3 million relief assistance in the Gaza Strip. An emergency humanitarian aid decision has been launched with this in mind. The aid will be deployed as rapidly as possible to meet the basic needs of people affected by the Israeli airstrikes and by continuing access restrictions. Close cooperation is taking place with czech presidency.
Louis Michel said: “One and a half million people are crammed into an area that is just over one percent the size of Belgium. They rely on supplies from outside for their survival and, with every day that passes, their situation becomes more desperate. The European Union’s humanitarian aid goes impartially to those who are most in need, in line with the principles of international humanitarian law. The obligation to respect these principles is universal and attacks from either side that kill or injure civilians indiscriminately are unacceptable. Blocking access to people who are suffering and dying is also a breach of humanitarian law. I call on the Israeli authorites to respect their international obligations and ensure a “humanitarian space” for the delivery of vital relief.
In 2008, the European Commission provided more than €73 million in humanitarian assistance for victims of the ongoing crisis in the Palestinian Territories of which 56% was for relief activities in the Gaza Strip. Earlier this week, it committed remaining funds from this budget for urgent medical support in Gaza. The latest €3 million — the first humanitarian funding earmarked by the Commission in 2009 — will be focused on food, emergency shelter repairs and further medical support, all areas identified as priorities by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in their flash appeal of 31 December.
The funds are channelled through the Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) under the responsibility of Louis Michel. EU-funded humanitarian projects are implemented by international NGOs, specialised UN agencies and the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement.
European Countries Begin to Experience Gas Shortages
Russia and Ukraine traded insults at the weekend as a gas stand-off between the two countries entered a fifth day, causing gas shortages to ripple west into Europe.
Poland reported an 11 per cent drop in Russian gas deliveries through Ukraine on Sunday and appeared to be the worst-hit by the dispute. The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are also affected.
In an escalation of tensions, Gazprom said it would sue Ukraine in the international arbitration court in Stockholm for stealing gas and reneging on a long-term gas transit contract signed in 2002.
Russia embargoed gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 after talks on a deal for this year collapsed, echoing a dispute in 2006 when gas shortages were felt deeply in Europe.
Both sides have guaranteed to maintain deliveries to Europe which relies on Russian gas via Ukrainian pipelines to meet one fifth of its demand.
However, Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state gas company, warned that it would face technical problems delivering gas to Europe within a fortnight unless Gazprom resumed supplies.
Gazprom said its ability to compensate for gas shortfalls in Europe with supplies through non-Ukrainian pipelines was “not unlimited”.
PGNiG , the Polish oil and gas company, said it was relying on Russian gas delivered through Belarus to compensate for the shortfall through the transit pipeline from Ukraine.
Naftogaz said transit terms for 2009 had not yet been agreed and accused Gazprom of cutting supplies to Europe to blacken its name.
Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chief executive of Gazprom, said the Naftogaz claim was a “direct lie”.
“The contract is black and white, signed and stamped,” he told reporters in Berlin.
Legal experts could not verify the rival claims because Russian-Ukrainian gas contracts are secret.
Mr Medvedev embarked on a whirlwind tour of Europe at the weekend to drum up support. He urged the European Union to put pressure on Ukraine to honour its transit obligations as a signatory to the European energy charter.
The EU has refused to mediate in what it sees as a commercial dispute between two companies, but has called a meeting of its 27-member states on Monday to co-ordinate a response…
Government Plans to Extend Powers to Spy on Personal Computers
Police could routinely hack into personal computers without the need for a warrant under new plans from the European Union.
The technique, known as “remote searching” involves bugging computers in homes and offices in order to monitor website use and email traffic.
The Home Office is backing proposals by the EU council of ministers to extend electronic surveillance on private property.
It would allow other European nations to request surveillance by British police.
The proposals have raised concerns among civil liberties groups and Shami Chakrabati, director of Liberty, said: “These are very intrusive powers, as intrusive as someone busting down your door and coming into your home.
“The public will want this to be controlled by new legislation and judicial authorisation. Without those safeguards it’s a devastating blow to any notion of personal privacy.”
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said the proposals may benefit law enforcement but added: “The exercise of such intrusive powers raises serious privacy issues. The government must explain how they would work in practice and what safeguards will be in place to prevent abuse.”
Terrorists, paedophiles and organised criminal gangs have been exploiting the internet in recent years as a way of avoiding traditional phone taps used by investigators.
Britain already allows remote searching under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and police have carried out a small number of operations among the 194 clandestine searches conducted last year.
The police can use a number of techniques which include sending a computer virus through an email which infects the computer if opened.
They can also use a surveillance vehicle or neighbouring property to hack into a wireless internet connection.
The most intrusive technique involves breaking into a property to fit a device to a computer which logs key strokes on the keyboard and transmits the results back to a listening station.
London Church Forced Off Its Property
CWN.org — LONDON — If you live in London, and you want to build the largest Mosque in Western Europe, that’s great. But if you want to build the largest church, forget about it.
London’s Kingsway International Christian Church, the largest church in Europe, no longer has a permanent home. Nor is there much prospect of it finding one in London.
This congregation of as many as 10,000 was forced off its property to make room for the 2012 London Olympics. And now it must hold six Sunday services jammed into a 1000-seat former theatre in East London.
“I’m probably one of the few pastors around the world who has to preach five times every Sunday,” Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.
When Kingsway had its old building taken from it for the London Games, it not only was forbidden to re-build nearby, where most of its church members live. But the London Development agency offered this predominantly black church land on the far outskirts of London, in a white suburb, where local officials didn’t want a large black church and turned down Kingsway’s planning request.
“We were left high and dry, to face the wrath of the community,” Ashimolowo said. “When you have a church of our magnitude with 90 percent ethnic minorities from about 46 nations, the first thing that comes to the mind of the neighborhood is, ‘Oh my God, this large church is coming to our neighborhood.’“
So for now, Kingsway has nowhere to move. Feeling more than just abandoned by the city, Pastor Ashimolowo contends government officials’ treatment of the church amounts to racial discrimination and religious persecution.
“When the largest church has its property taken from it and made to operate from a small building, that is a form of persecution,” Ashimolowo said.
Mega-Mosque Plans Could Make London “Muslim Capital of Europe”
CWNews.com — LONDON — Today, a neglected piece of real estate on London’s east end sees little more than commuter trains rumbling past it.
But it’s the future location of what some say will be the biggest Islamic in-road into Christendom in 400 years — a gigantic mosque complex, the likes of which the West has never seen.
This is the site for the proposed mega mosque. Currently, a small building is the present makeshift mosque on an undeveloped piece of land. Imagine a huge modern Islamic complex — in effect, an Islamic village for worshippers.
Video from the website of the mosque architect Ali Mangera shows what will be called the London Markaz, a 17-acre Islamic worship center for as many as 70,000 Muslims. Planned to be the hub of an Islamic quarter for the 2012 London Olympics, it will dwarf many of Britain’s Christian cathedrals.
“It’s going to be very large,” said Alan Craig of the Christian Peoples’ Alliance. “It’s going to be a mosque, it’s going to be an Islamic garden, there’s going to be a library, there’s going to be residential accommodation.”
Craig, who is a councilman for the London borough of Newham where the mosque would be built, is fighting its construction.
“I’m not anti-Muslim,” he said. “I’m a Democrat — I believe Muslims have the right to build mosques. But there’s a difference between your average mosque down the road and this monster mosque, this mega mosque, which they want to build.”
But it’s not just the size of the mosque that’s a concern. It is also about who is behind it — a shadowy group called Tablighi Jamaat. The Federal Bureau of Investigation states that Tablighi Jamaat has ties to al-Qaeda. Shoe bomber Richard Reid was associated with this group, as were two of the bombers who struck London’s public transportation system in 2005. The money for the project comes from sources in the Middle East.
Even moderate British Muslims oppose the mosque and have circulated a petition against it. Dr Irfan al-Alawi, who says the mosque will be a security threat, is one of the leaders of the Muslim opposition.
“This mosque would lead to more violence in the U.K.,” al-Alawi said. “I think, yes. Once the youth have been brainwashed, and been captured by the satanic ideology of the Tablighis, yes, it will come as a very hard-hitting movement.”
But while some moderate British Muslims may think the mega-mosque is a bad idea, it has one important booster — the Lord Mayor of London.
“The person who is really behind it is Ken Livingstone,” al-Alawi said.
Recycling Crisis: Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Uk’s Growing Waste Paper Mountain as Market Collapses
Taxpayers are facing a multi-million-pound bill to store 100,000 tons of waste paper and cardboard as the British recycling industry plunges into crisis.
Rubbish carefully sorted by householders is piling up in vast warehouses as the market for waste paper collapses, and experts have warned that the mountain of garbage could double in the next three months.
Waste paper is now virtually unsellable, so the private firms contracted to deal with household rubbish have been forced to put it into storage, incurring huge bills.
Some companies have begun to claw back the cost from local authorities, prompting fears of hikes in council tax bills and raising the question of whether the ‘kerbside’ recycling, championed by environmentalists across the country, is economically viable.
Last night Steve Bell, of Recycling UK, revealed that none of Britain’s 80 paper mills is now accepting new stock — and warned that the situation is not expected to fully recover until 2010.
UK: ‘Spy-in-Sky’ Trials Get the Go-Ahead Despite Government Promise to Scrap Road-Pricing Plan
Ministers are pressing ahead with a £10million trial of ‘spy-in-the-sky’ road-pricing technology despite widespread public opposition.
Test runs will start soon in seven locations for the scheme which could result in charges of up to £1.30 a mile on the most congested roads.
Volunteer drivers will have units fitted to their cars, which will be tracked by satellite and will automatically deduct payments from a test account.
The trials are proceeding despite previous statements from the Government suggesting that it had abandoned the idea of national road pricing.
UK: New Year, New Database Madness
Sir Ken Macdonald is right to call the latest government proposals ‘an unimaginable hellhouse’ of personal data
The British government’s passionate desire to gather and own permanent electronic records about everyone concerning everything shows no sign whatsoever of going away.
There’s the NHS Spine; Contact Point, with half a million children’s personal records on it for hundreds of thousands of people to see; the DNA database, containing five million UK citizen’s records, most recently unanimously condemned by 17 Strasbourg judges; and of course the forthcoming mother of them all, the National Identity Register.
The former director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, is quite right to call the latest proposals, for a multibillion-pound government database of everyone’s communications traffic, including texts, phone calls and emails, “an unimaginable hellhouse of personal private information”. The only thing he hasn’t pointed out is that it has been in the plan for a very long time.
As has the close — “ indeed, some might say inseparable “ — relationship between the Home Office and the private IT sector.
Remember the beginning of 2007? That was when John Higgins, the grandly named director general of Intellect, a UK trade association for the technology industry, publicly ticked off the then shadow home secretary, David Davis, for presuming to say that a Tory government would scrap the UK’s identity cards scheme with its database-driven design.
Seeing a £19bn gravy train for his members possibly leaving town, the IT representative felt moved to warn: “The manner of this intervention … will potentially make companies wary of entering into any public sector contracts at all.”
UK: Organs of 50 NHS Donors Are Sold to Foreigners Who Pay £75,000 for Each Operation
The organs of British donors are being given to private patients from overseas — despite a severe shortage of organs for people in this country.
Documents show that 50 livers from British donors were given to patients from Cyprus, Greece and other countries, even though 259 British patients are waiting for a potentially life-saving transplant.
It means British people with incurable liver disease could potentially die waiting for a transplant when suitable organs have been handed to foreigners.
UK: Two-Year-Olds ‘To be Screened for Speech Problems’
Toddlers could be screened for speech problems after evidence that many are so addicted to television and video games that they are failing to learn basic communication skills.
An ambitious nationwide screening programme for two-year-olds is reportedly being considered to tackle the problem which experts say is now more prevalent than dyslexia or autism.
The decline of the traditional family meal time, the long-hours culture in the parents’ workplaces, poor childcare with little stimulation and social deprivation are also being blamed.
Barely a 10th of children in some areas can repeat even one nursery rhyme and, in extreme cases, some do not even know their own name.
Montenegro: Country Launches European Union Bid
Paris, 15 Dec. (AKI) — Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on Monday formally applied to join the European Union. Djukanovic hailed it as an historic day for Montenegro, the Balkan region and the EU. But the move reopened the vexed issue of the 27-member bloc’s further expansion.
“This is a great day for Montenegro, an old European state and that is the youngest member of the United Nations and the Council of Europe,” said Djukanovic (photo).
He was speaking in Paris after submitting the application to French president Nicolas Sarkozy. France currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
“This is a great day for the Balkans as well as all candidates and potential candidates for the EU,” Djukanovic said.
“I hope I’m not wrong to say that that this is also a great day for the European Union because today it confirms its intention to unite the European continent,” Djukanovic added.
EU enlargement commissioner Ollie Rehn also hailed Montenegro’s formal application. “Montenegro reached an historic turning point today, which marks a determination to share common European values,” he said at the ceremony in Paris.
Montenegro signed a ‘Stabilisation and Association Agreement’ for closer EU ties in October 2007.
The tiny, mountainous Balkan state with a population of only 650,000 accelerated its drive towards the EU after seceding from a state union with Serbia in May 2006 and declaring its independence.
Montenegro has promised to undertake reform, but has been dogged by past claims that it is a haven for organised crime.
Of all the republics of the former Yugoslavia, only Slovenia has become a full EU member, while Croatia and Macedonia are official candidates. Bosnia and Serbia have both signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, but are still a long way off from full-fledged membership.
Application to the EU is a lengthy negotiation process with candidate countries being obliged to meet a number of democratic, economic and legal standards before being allowed to join.
The further expansion of Europe has become a controversial issue in recent years. France and many other EU countries are opposed to admitting more new members until the bloc’s internal rules are reformed.
Last March, Djukanovic was being investigated for a multimillion-dollar cigarette smuggling operation to Italy and for offering free access and shelter to Italian mafia members in Montenegro ports between 1994 and 2002.
He has repeatedly denied the charges and the rumours that he was being investigated.
Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water: a Calendar of Concrete Projects From 2009
The Ministerial Conference on Water held on 22 December 2008 on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan marked the speeding up of the issue of water management and the first important step for the implementation of the decisions made by Heads of State and Government on 13 July 2008 in Paris for the Union for the Mediterranean.
A double goal was reached, partly through the major contribution of the civil society partners who met on 21 December.
Firstly, the ministers adopted the guidelines of a Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean to tackle the challenges and impacts of climate change. This Strategy, which will be submitted to the same ministers during the first semester of 2010 and to the Heads of State and Government at the end of 2010, will make it possible to handle problems exceeding the means of action of any single country or organisation. It will have two figured targets concerning the preservation of water quality and the reduction of pressure on water resources through more efficient use.
Secondly, the ministers drew the attention of governing bodies of the Union for the Mediterranean to the need to implement the new infrastructural projects in the domain of water as soon as possible, consistent with the Strategy. From this perspective, they have already identified an initial series of projects which will be discussed as from January 2009. These projects will be completed during the Fifth World Forum on Water to be held in Istanbul in March 2009 and the first funds will be finalised for the ministerial conference on sustainable development in Monaco before the end of March 2009.
The ministers have undertaken to adhere to this very ambitious yet realistic schedule as regards the water situation in the Mediterranean. They emphasised the significant role that the Union for the Mediterranean must play to effectively improve life for the inhabitants of this region.
Anti-Israel Group Wreaks Havoc With Israeli Web Sites
Pro-Hamas hackers rerouted Ynet English and Bank Discount’s surfers to a hostile Web page Friday that included messages against Israel and the US, along with a propaganda song in Arabic.
The hackers took over an Israeli domain registration server called DomainTheNet for a couple of hours and managed to divert surfers to an alternative server in Japan where the hostile Web page was planted.
The move was the latest in a widening Hamas psychological war against Israel.
Last week it was reported that Hamas’s activists sent radio messages in Hebrew to IDF soldiers, threatening them that an invasion of Gaza would end with bloodshed. On Thursday Hamas sent text messages to Israeli cell phones saying that there was nowhere to take cover because Hamas’s rockets would reach all Israeli cities.
The hackers, who call themselves Team Evil and are based in Morocco, planted messages on the hostile Web page comparing the Israeli actions in Gaza and the American operation in Iraq to the Holocaust.
The message, in white letters against a black background, read: “The bitter truth [of] history repeats itself… and the criminals will be rotting in hell and can’t escape the punishment of God.”
The page included pictures of dead Palestinians in Gaza, Iraqi prisoners being abused by an American prison guard, and a picture of a Natorei Karta member holding a sign that calls for the end of Zionism.
At the bottom of the page, the hackers described Israel as a “malignant tumor,” saying its “demise” would bring peace to all people. […]
Gazans Say Experiencing ‘Another Nakba’
Residents in northern Strip fear expansion of IDF operation, flee Beit Lahiya homes to ‘safer areas’; many areas plunged into darkness; water, sewage systems breaking down
Gaza’s residents were waiting anxiously Sunday night to see whether the IDF would expand its ground operation in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Palestinians reported that many families have left their homes in Beit Lahiya’s al-Atatra neighborhood and are staying with relatives in “safer” areas. Hundreds of residents, who are afraid to travel in their own cars for fear of IDF strikes, could be seen leaving the neighborhood on foot toward central Jabalya.
“It was a difficult site and reminded us of images we saw on television during the 1948 Nakba (displacement of Palestinians following Israel’s inception),” one resident who left his home told Ynet. “The sense is that of a new Nakba.”
Sources in Gaza told Ynet that as part of the preparations for possible escalation, the health minister in Hamas’ government, Bassem Naeem, has instructed medical teams to refuse any gunmen asking to ride in their ambulances “so as not to give Israeli forces and excuse to strike the vehicles”.
Meanwhile, many areas in Gaza have plunged into darkness following the collapse of the local electrical system.
According to Gisha — Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Gaza City’s main hospital, Shifa, is also suffering from an inadequate supply of electricity.
The sewage and water systems also appear to be breaking down and effluent is flooding the streets, residents said.
Hamas: Airstrike Kills Senior Leader
Abu Zakaria al-Jamal 3rd militant ruler to be targeted
An Israeli airstrike Saturday killed a senior Hamas commander, Reuters reported.
Hamas said the airstrike in Gaza killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of the armed wing of the militant group.
The Israeli army would only say it carried out a series of air attacks through the night.
Israeli warplanes and gunboats blasted more than two dozen Hamas targets Saturday, including weapons storage facilities, training centers and leaders’ homes as Israel’s offensive against Gaza’s Islamic militant rulers entered a second week.
The Jerusalem Post reported the home of al-Jamal was a target of the raids. He was the third senior Hamas operative to be targeted.
Hamas Moves on Fatah ‘Collaborators’
The Hamas government has placed dozens of Fatah members under house arrest out of fear that they might exploit the current IDF operation to regain control of the Gaza Strip.
The move came amid reports that the Fatah leadership in the West Bank has instructed its followers to be ready to assume power over the Gaza Strip when and if Israel’s military operation results in the removal of Hamas rule.
Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken.
Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the Jabalya refugee camp, was shot in the legs by Hamas militiamen for allegedly expressing joy over the IDF air strikes on Hamas targets.
“Hamas is very nervous, because they feel that their end is nearing,” a senior Fatah official said. “They have been waging a brutal campaign against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip.”
Meanwhile, sources close to Hamas revealed over the weekend that the movement had “executed” more than 35 Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel and were being held in various Hamas security installations.
The sources quoted Hamas officials as saying that the decision to kill the suspected collaborators was taken out of fear that Israel might try to rescue them during a ground offensive. The officials claimed that at least half of the victims were killed by relatives of Palestinian militiamen who were killed as a result of information passed on to Israel by the “collaborators.”
Justifying the latest crackdown on Fatah, a Hamas official in Gaza City said that his government had received information according to which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had instructed his loyalists in the Strip to start moving toward undermining Hamas.
“We will kill them all if they try to help Israel bring down our government,” the official said. “We will hang Mahmoud Abbas and [former Fatah security chief] Muhammad Dahlan in the public square if they try to enter the Gaza Strip aboard Israeli tanks.”
The Hamas official said that his security forces had launched a massive “preemptive” campaign aimed at thwarting Fatah’s attempts to “spread anarchy and chaos.” He confirmed that many Fatah operatives had been shot in the legs over the past few days by Hamas “to make sure that they don’t help Israel.”
Fahmi Za’arir, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, accused Hamas of “executing” a number of Fatah detainees. He said the Fatah leadership knew of at least two Fatah men who were shot dead by Hamas after being released from prison. He named them as Nasser Muhana and Saher al-Silawi.
Za’arir said that several Fatah members who attended funerals of victims of the IAF strikes were severely beaten by Hamas militiamen who accused them of collaboration with Israel.
It was “shameful” that Hamas was directing its weapons and energies against its own people instead of fighting against Israel, the spokesman said.
The decision to place Fatah operatives under house arrest was issued by the much-feared “Internal Security Apparatus,” which reports to the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry in Gaza.
The order, which was delivered to the Fatah activists on Thursday, reads: “You are forbidden from leaving your home for 48 hours unless you want to attend Friday prayers. Anyone who violates the order will be punished.”
Hamas, Al-Qaeda Threaten Jewish Targets Abroad
The Palestinian Authority jihadist organization Hamas and its global twin, Al-Qaeda, have threatened Jewish Targets Abrtoad
In reaction to the elimination of a leading Islamist in Gaza on Thursday afternoon, a top PA terrorist, Ismail Redwan, threatened “revenge” in the name of Hamas. On PA television, he declared that “all options are open to Hamas, including suicide bombings and attacks on Zionist interests everywhere.” Redwan added that the PA militias “will end the occupation.”
In a separate statement, the Hamas regime urged “the mujahideen (jihad fighters) and the rest of the Palestinian people to confront the Israeli occupation army and the Israeli settlers in every Palestinian city, village and refugee camp.” Hamas, it should be noted, considers all Jewish cities, towns and villages anywhere in Israel to be “settlements”.
The Hamas threat to strike targets abroad, like the rest of the organization’s current tactics, is reminiscent of Hizbullah. That Lebanese terrorist organization also threatened to strike Israeli and Jewish assets worldwide in the wake of the assassination of Hizbullah’s strategist and Iran-directed handler Imad Mughniyeh. He was killed when his car exploded in Damascus in February 2008. Hamas terrorists have been receiving support and training from Iran, for which Hizbullah acts as a proxy army in Lebanon.
Al-Qaeda Joins the Call
Earlier this week, security analysts from the Israel- and US-based Institute for Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) warned that Hamas, Hizbullah and Al-Qaeda may collaborate or carry out “sympathetic attacks” on Israeli or Jewish targets worldwide.
On Friday, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) terrorist organization called on Muslims worldwide “to strike Israeli interests… everywhere and immediately.” , Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, head of the ISI, also called for “mujahideen… to strike the US enemy, which fully backs aggression against Gaza.”
In addition, ITRR warned that acts of terrorism may target Egyptian assets, due to Egypt’s failure to open Sinai to Gazan refugees. […]
On the Ground in Gaza
Barry Rubin
Israel didn’t want to attack the Gaza Strip from the ground or from the air. Hamas, which had long broken the ceasefire, canceled it altogether. Then it began large-scale attacks on Israel. This is a war of defense. And it is being conducted just 30 miles from here, Israel’s main city.
According to the just-released Israeli government statement on the offensive:
“The objective of this stage is to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas in the area of operation, while taking control of some of rocket launching area used by the Hamas, in order to greatly reduce the quantity of rockets fired at Israel and Israeli civilians.
“The operation will…strike a direct and hard blow against the Hamas while increasing the deterrent strength of the Israel Defense Forces, in order to bring about an improved and more stable security situation for residents of southern Israel over the long term.”
Even as the 2006 war was continuing, the Israel Defense Force was evaluating the mistakes made in Lebanon—helicopters needed better short-range munitions, improved air-ground coordination, care in using tanks unsupported by infantry, and so on.
But contrary to the insistence of armchair strategists now, it would not be easy to seize control of all the Gaza Strip and govern it for an extended period of time. Hamas is not going to go away. International support for Israel is limited. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority will not react strongly to try to take Gaza back for itself. There are about one million people in the Gaza Strip and Hamas will make every attempt to ensure there are civilian casualties—and pretend there are even more.
So “total victory” is not easy, if it is even possible. The irony is that Israeli policy is based on the idea that there is no military solution to these issues. But since there is no diplomatic solution either, force must be used to protect Israel and its citizens…
Retired IDF Officers: Schalit Must be Part of Any Cease-Fire Deal
Eleven retired senior IDF officers have written a letter to the senior political echelon, demanding that the government include the release of captured soldier Gilad Schalit in any future cease-fire agreement.
The 11, who are members of the Yisrael Hazaka Party, headed by Brig..-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Efraim Sneh, sent the letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
“Operation Cast Lead has created a one-time opportunity to bring back soldier Gilad Schalit, who has been held hostage for more than two years,” the letter reads. “Now that Hamas is cornered, it is possible to force it to release Schalit on different conditions than before the military operation.
“This is why we were astounded to learn that it was decided not to include the release of Schalit as one of the conditions to end the military operation,” the letter says.
The officers stressed that they were all familiar with the operational limitations of any prisoner exchange when a war ends.
“We are also not fans of the approach to release prisoners at any cost. However, missing out on the opportunity that emerges from Operation Cast Lead is an unforgivable act that contradicts the IDF’s values, to which we have educated generations of soldiers,” the letter continues.
Among the other officers who signed the letter are Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Goren, Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Shlomo Inbar and Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Eli Levy.
60 Percent of Kurdish Women in Iraq Circumcised
TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq — Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor’s house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.
There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. “I do this in the name of Allah!” she intoned.
As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan’s genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan’s mother smiled with pride. “This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember,” said the mother, Aisha Hameed, 30, a housewife in this ethnically mixed town about 100 miles north of Baghdad. “We don’t know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it.”
Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq — and one of the few places in the world — where female circumcision is widespread. More than 60 percent of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have been circumcised, according to a study conducted this year. In at least one Kurdish territory, 95 percent of women have undergone the practice, which human rights groups call female genital mutilation.
The practice, and the Kurdish parliament’s refusal to outlaw it, highlight the plight of women in a region with a reputation for having a more progressive society than the rest of Iraq. Advocates for women point to the increasing frequency of honor killings against women and female self-immolations in Kurdistan this year as further evidence that women in the area still face significant obstacles, despite efforts to raise public awareness of circumcision and violence against women.
“When the Kurdish people were fighting for our independence, women participated as full members in the underground resistance,” said Pakshan Zangana, who heads the women’s committee in the Kurdish parliament.. “But now that we have won our freedom, the position of women has been pushed backwards and crimes against us are minimized.” […]
Iraq: in One Year, Victims of Attacks Down by 75%
Half of the killings occurred in Baghdad. Unofficial sources dispute the figures provided by the government, and say the victims are between 8,000 and 9,000: 25 killed each day. In December of this year, there were 299 victims, while in 2006 there were more than 1,700.
Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) — In 2008, there were 5,714 victims of attacks in Iraq, less than a third compared to the 16,252 last year. The Iraqi government says that about half of the killings (2,300 people) took place in the capital.
To the numbers of Iraqi deaths, published by official sources in Baghdad, are added the unofficial numbers of the deceased among United States soldiers: from about 900 last year, the highest number of deaths since 2003, the figure went to just above 300 in 2008.
The account of the victims includes the dozens of Christians killed in attacks, especially in the capital and in the area of Mosul. For the communities of Iraqi faithful, 2008 was a year characterized by a constant exodus from their country, and marked by constant violence in which priests and religious also lost their lives, including the Chaldean bishop of Nineveh, Faraj Rahho, who was kidnapped and found dead before Easter.
The independent American website icasualties.org, which provides statistics on the victims of attacks in Iraq, calculates that in the month of December alone 299 people were killed, between civilians and security forces in Baghdad. The number is still high, although there has been progress compared to December of 2008 (500 dead) and December of 2006 (1752).
The American organization Iraq Body Count disputes the numbers, saying that the number of victims of attacks is in reality between 8,000 and 9,000 people, including Iraqi police in its count, in addition to civilians. According to the organization of activists, known for its opposition to the policies of outgoing president Bush, 25 people are killed each day.
The news of the drop in the number of victims comes, in any case, as a positive sign. The country is just emerging from the controversy in parliament over the presence of non-American foreign troops in Iraqi territory — about 6,000 soldiers, 4,000 of them British — who risk finding themselves without any legal standing after December 31. The statistics provided by Baghdad also come just a few days before a delicate passage for security in the country, in the province of Diyala. On January 1, the 8,000 Sunni militants of the Sons of Iraq, who until now have participated together with U.S. military forces in activities against Al Qaeda, will be incorporated into the national army. The inclusion of the Sunnis of Diyala in the regular army is complicated by their acute distrust and lively protests toward the central government.
Saudis Thrill to Rare Treat of Cinema on Home Soil
They howled and clapped, munching popcorn while cheering the figures on the screen — a normal movie theater scene elsewhere, but revolutionary in Saudi Arabia, where films have not played publicly for decades. Massive lines snaked out from the King Abdul Aziz Cultural Center as Jeddah residents queued up late last month to see the first feature film open to the public for 30 years, hoping the event heralded a big change in the ultra-conservative kingdom’s stinted cultural scene.
In what took hush-hush negotiations with senior political officials and the kingdom’s strict religious police, the Red Sea port of Jeddah and the nearby city of Taif allowed the Rotana entertainment group, owned by powerful Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, to put on its new comedy “Manahi” for nine days.
The result was overwhelming, the 1,200-seat hall hardly meeting the demand for the 15-riyal ($4) tickets over more than a week. “The hall was filled up to the very last seat during the two shows scheduled each day, forcing us to add a third show after midnight,” organizer Mamdouh Salem told AFP.
Decades ago film lovers in Saudi Arabia would crowd into clubs and halls to watch the same movies enjoyed throughout the Arab world. But in the 1970s, leading clerics of the ultra-conservative Wahhabist version of Islam which is practiced in the country cracked down and banned cinemas as having a corrupting influence on society. The taboo has been broken somewhat in recent years, with videos and satellite television, and movies shown surreptitiously at night in popular coffee shops.
But to see a movie in a real theater, Saudis still have to travel to neighboring countries where social mores are a little more relaxed. Putting on the film in Jeddah, a progressive city compared to the capital Riyadh, took the support of Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the powerful governor of the province of Mecca, himself a poet and supporter of the arts.
The local religious police, from the feared Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, inspected the hall ahead of the screenings to ensure that women and men would be separated, following Saudi Arabia’s strict rules of segregation between the sexes. […]
Turkey Teaches Anti-Christian Discrimination
Turkey’s Ministry of Education has introduced a school text book which encourages discrimination of the country’s small Christian community, despite growing international concern over increasing violence against non-Muslims in Turkey.
The book, Primary Education, History of Republic Reforms and Atatürkizm, Lesson Book 8, is aimed at thirteen year olds and was published this year by Devlet [State] Books. The controversial text describes missionary activity as a threat to national unity by destroying national and cultural values through converting people to another religion.
The constitution of Turkey recognizes freedom of religion for individuals, but the Christian minority frequently complains of ingrained prejudice against them. The text accuses missionaries of using natural disasters, such as earthquakes, to serve their own interests and warns children of the subversive aims of missionaries as well as tips on how to recognize their activities.
A spokesperson for the Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey said: “To the Turkish State and society, the words ‘missionary activity’ encapsulates not only the work of foreign missionaries, but all Christian activity in the country. “The state and various groups have for years, through endless disinformation, spread the belief that Turkish Christians are part of a secret foreign plot to destroy Turkey. This is the same twisted mindset that has led to numerous attacks on our churches by young people who are convinced that we are CIA agents or similar”.
Local Christian communities form less than one per cent of Turkey’s population of 70 million people. Concerns are growing that the education system is further marginalising the indigenous Christian population.
Pravda: Russia to Purchase Israeli Spy Planes to Its Own Detriment
Russia intends to purchase Israeli arms, particularly unmanned aircraft. The decision is based on Russia’s recent experience in South Ossetia, when the Russian army was left without reconnaissance planes. Nevertheless, the Russian defense industry has very good spy planes at its disposal, and they are not worse than those of Israel. The purchase of Israeli planes may lead to the fact that the countries of the East will refuse to purchase the products of the Russian defense industry.
Russia is ready to purchase foreign-made arms to the detriment of its own defense industry. A delegation of Russia’s defense ministry visited Israel at the end of November 2008 and conducted negotiations regarding the purchase of Israeli unmanned planes.
Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said that Russia would purchase spy planes from Israel if the Russian defense industry proves to be unable to make the planes that Russia needs. To put it in a nutshell, the official virtually questioned the capabilities of the Russian defense industry.
[…]
Russia’s top military officials paid attention to Israel’s Hermes-450 unmanned aircraft (made by Elbit Systems) during the five-day war with Georgia. The Israeli aircraft, which the Georgian army had, gave the country a great advantage in terms of obtaining the information about the enemy’s actions. Unlike Georgia, Russia was “blind” during the entire conflict and had to use old Tu-22 bombers for the same purpose. The problem would have most likely never surfaced if Georgia had not downed one of those bombers…
“Light the Fire” Order Set Mumbai Ablaze
Evidence is growing that the bombings were orchestrated by militants in Pakistan
Controllers in Pakistan watched live television and warned the gunmen of the arrival of Indian commandos, according to evidence amassed by the FBI and handed over to the Pakistani government.
The American agency had decoded Skype calls over the internet that were made between the gunmen in the two five-star hotels and a Jewish hostel in Mumbai with their Lashkar controllers in Pakistan, identified as Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa.
Talking in colloquial Punjabi, the controllers repeatedly told the attackers to “Aag lagao” (“Light the fire”), which has been interpreted in India as a way of maximising casualties. During the conversation, the men were also instructed to kill all the Israelis who were held captive in the Jewish hostel, but to spare all the Muslims.
Shah revealed that the 10 assailants were trained in Pakistani Kashmir and then travelled by boat from Karachi to Mumbai. He implicated several other Lashkar men.
“He is singing,” a Pakistani security official told The Wall Street Journal. Indian police say his confession backs what they have been told under interrogation by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the one surviving gunman.
Islamabad rejected the alleged FBI evidence and dismissed India’s claim of close ties between Lashkar and the Pakistan military’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.
Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, yesterday demanded that Pakistan hand over the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.
As Indian frustration mounts, air bases and troops along the Pakistani border remain on stand-by. Pakistan has redeployed troops from the Afghan border to its Indian frontier.
Arackaparambil Kurian Antony, India’s defence minister, said last week Pakistan had given no indication that it would clamp down on senior jihadis. India claims they were the masterminds behind the November 26 attacks that left 171 dead, including Andreas Liveras, the British millionaire.
“I do not think there is any noticeable change in the attitude of Pakistan,” Antony said. “Statements are not important. Actions are important.”
India — Vatican: Catholic Seminaries and Islamic Schools Unaware of Developments in Catholic-Islamic Dialogue
A great expert on Islamic-Christian dialogue, the German Jesuit points the finger at the superficial treatment given to important steps taken by Benedict XVI and Muslim scholars. This puts at risk the co-existence of the two great communities in a world also globalised at the religious level.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — The joint paper that came out of the Catholic-Muslim Forum held last November in the Vatican is unknown in India. Indian seminaries and madrassah (Islamic schools) are completely unaware of the latest developments in Christian-Muslim relations. This is harmful to the life of the two communities which represent small minorities in the country. Nirmala Carvalho spoke about it with Fr Christian W. Troll, who is in India for studies. A member of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, the German Jesuit teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Italy) and the Sankt Georgen Graduate School in Frankfurt (Germany).
Crucial for the growth of genuine inter-religious encounter and dialogue on the various levels would seem to be that the religious leaders and teachers of both religions are deeply convinced in faith: it is God’s will that we should know about the other in order to appreciate and respect one another and this desire and effort constitutes an essential part of my mission as religious leader and theologian. Religious leaders and teachers must invest energy and time in genuine mutual knowledge and in Dialogue.
Much if not everything depends on religious leadership and teaching in this area. Unfortunately, here even the “Open Letter and Call” singed by more than 270 Muslim leaders and thinkers addressed to all the important Christian Churches—which is a Muslim initiative—has not been communicated down to the seminaries, madrassah, to the priests and teachers and even less to the common believers.
Similarly, the resolutions at the Conference in Yale, Cambridge and Rome have also not been “broken down” as it were to the great number of practicing believers in both traditions. Ask any student of theology, any priest or Maulvi, almost none of them is even aware that such an initiative has been taken and that these important meetings have taken place. This is tragic. If we are serious about Islam Christian dialogue and if we do not want to make ourselves ridiculous in the public as religious leaders, it would seem to be fundamental that such important and costly initiatives on the highest level, in which a significant number of Muslim and Christian leaders have taken part, be communicated to wider sections of both religious communities and be made subject matter for dialogues on various levels.
Theologically both Christianity and Islam are related to each other, we both have Abraham as our father in faith. India is part of the global village and for gainful solidarity in Asia and the western World, Justice and Peace are essential and for obtaining this goal the process of dialogue, among other things, is necessary. We must work with a sense of urgency, the world is a globalised village in religious terms also, and there are many challenges to overcome if believers of different traditions are to live together in harmony.
Muslim-Christian relations are 1,400 years old. During that long history there has never yet been an initiative like the Common Word. It is deplorable that not much has been done to make it known and effective.
In India, people belong to Dialogue groups which are on the level of cordiality and friendship. But for far too long this dialogue process has remained almost entirely on a sporadic and largely emotional level, involving relatively few persons. Dialogue must be backed by knowledge, shared thinking and a constructive spirit.
In India, both Christians and Muslims are minority communities and it is imperative that both these minority communities live in harmony and co-existence not to be a collective force but in order that both Christians and Muslims make their respective contributions (inspired by their respective faiths) to the formation and strengthening of the ‘common good’ in plural and democratic societies, societies which are secular (in the sense of aspiring to being religiously neutral) and which are committed to the human rights of all their members. For however valuable it may be to achieve theological agreement over the question of the double love-commandment—Love for God and Love for neighbor—on its own this can hardly guarantee just and peaceful co-existence within diversity. Much is being done in the name of love. Christians and Muslims will have to spell out concretely and of various level s of living how they wish to translate the commandment of love of God and neighbor into sustainable ways of shared initiatives and projects.
Very much indeed depends on religious leaders and teachers in India — the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has taken this Islam-Christian dialogue into the second gear, the Pope has begun the rational procedure between two great religions both gifted with reason to search for the greater truth in genuinely lived religious values, and this has to be communicated effectively, religious leaders and teachers have a responsibility of taking the dialogue process to seeking out resolutions in spite of the differences for a common task. Dialogue should take place on the ideological, theological and practical levels. For dialogue on these levels to succeed the appropriate teaching and information about the religious views and developments of the other, the partner, religious community is a must. Are Christian and Muslim seminaries and madrassah doing sufficiently in this respect? Do they have the desire to do more? Is the ‘Islamic Studies Association’ of India, founded more than thirty years ago by Catholic bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to promote knowledge and understanding between Muslims and Christians in India, receiving the attention and interest it deserves? Beautiful common declarations on the international level raise expectations. If they are not met, if there is not even an effort to meet them, then frustration and ridicule will be the result.
Indonesia: Acquittal of Former Spy Chief Condemned by Activists
Jakarta, 2 Jan.(AKI/Jakarta Post) — Human rights activists have condemned a decision by an Indonesian court to acquit a former spy chief who was previously convicted of ordering the murder of a leading activist. The South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday cleared Muchdi Purwoprandjono of all charges linked to the murder of prominent rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004.
Human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib died of arsenic poisoning during a flight to the Netherlands.
“It is the worst New Year’s gift from law enforcers to the people in their struggle for justice and human rights,” rights group Pijar Indonesia said in a statement on Thursday.
“The verdict threatens the country’s human rights defenders by implying you can walk away after killing them.”
The court decision buried the truth behind Munir’s murder, in which the judiciary was expected to uncover a “political conspiracy” involving the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), Pijar said.
Setara Institute executive director Hendardi said the ruling preserved the legal impunity of certain officers in Indonesia, particularly military generals accused of rights abuses.
“We can see clearly the judges were under political pressure from those who wanted the case closed,” he said.
Munir had exposed the kidnapping of 13 activists by special forces under Purwopranjono’s command in 1997 and 1998, under the former Indonesian leader Soeharto.
A pilot on the flight on which Munir died has already been convicted and jailed for killing him.
Pollycarpus Priyanto, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in January, and Indra Setiawan, the former chief of Garuda Airlines, was also sentenced to a year in jail for his involvement as an accessory.
The judges on Wednesday argued that the state prosecutor had failed to substantiate claims that the retired military general had solicited and assisted convicted murderer Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto in Munir’s murder.
Munir’s widow, Suciwati, told reporters outside the court she would respect the ruling but would appeal the court ruling.
“I have already lost my husband, and now I lost justice. The outcome is being watched by the international community to see how seriously Indonesia enforces the rule of law,” she said.
Usman Hamid, a prominent rights activist and a close friend of Munir’s, slammed the “poor prosecution” as one of the reasons for Muchdi’s acquittal.
He cited prosecutors’ failure to present tapped conversations between Muchdi and Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto.
“I don’t understand why they didn’t present the voice records. We witnessed how scared the prosecutors were during the trials,” said Usman, who chairs the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), founded by Munir.
Muchdi, a former BIN deputy chief, has been released from prison and held a charity event to show his gratitude for the verdict.
Currently deputy chairman of the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), he has long claimed he was a “victim of foreign intervention” in the Munir case.
Indonesia: Muslim Groups Plan to Send Jihad Fighters, Voluntary Workers to Aid Gaza ‘Brothers’
Israel’s prolonged strikes against Gaza have prompted Muslims worldwide, including in Indonesia, to seek to help Palestinian citizens. Israel’s actions have inspired an Islamic organization in Aceh Province to recruit jihadis, or holy warriors, to go to Palestine, while West Javan Islamic organization wants to send voluntary workers to provide humanitarian aid and medical assistance to Palestinian victims.
The Aceh chapter of the Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI, will recruit Muslims to fight in Palestine, chairman Yusuf Al-Qardhany said. “The recruitment of jihadis to Palestine will start [today],” he said. “At present, 13 applicants wishing to become jihad fighters have already registered.”
Speaking from Banda Aceh, Yusuf said that at least 60 fighters from Aceh would go to Palestine via Egypt. Prior to their dispatch, they would receive a week-long military training in Aceh, he said. Registration for potential recruits would be open for two weeks.
All applicants would have to fill out a form which included parental approval for them to go to Palestine, he said. Yusuf said sending fighters was part of FPI’s support for its Palestinian brothers, who were struggling to reclaim their land from Israeli occupation. “As a manifestation of Muslim brotherhood, we are ready to become martyrs to help our Muslim brothers in facing the brutality of the Israeli forces,” he said. […]
Indonesian Troops in Gaza?
THOUSANDS of Indonesian Islamists rallied across the country on Sunday to condemn Israel’s military strikes on the Gaza Strip and called on the government to send troops to fight Israeli forces. Around 3,000 members of the Islamist Hizbut Tahrir movement took over the streets of central Jakarta to condemn Israel’s strikes and ground offensive, which have killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Dressed head-to-toe in black and white, the women in headscarves, the crowd marched peacefully, waving Indonesian and Palestinian flags and carrying banners denouncing the Jewish state as a ‘terrorist’ force. ‘Indonesia’s military must go to war against Israel, not just as peacekeepers. We ask the government to send troops there, not just medicine,’ Farid Wadjdi, the movement’s local head, was quoted as saying by news website Detikcom.
Thousands of members of the group, which calls for the establishment of a worldwide Islamic Caliphate, also marched in other cities including the second-largest city, Surabaya, where more than a hundred police stood guard outside the United States consulate, local media reported.
Protesters marched over an Israeli flag painted onto the ground in Makassar city in South Sulawesi province, rubbing their feet into the image as a sign of disrespect, television station MetroTV said.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, and does not recognise Israel. It has condemned the massive Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip and has sent aid workers, who are currently in Jordan.
The offensive, launched more than a week ago in response to a wave of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, has killed over 463 people so far. Rockets fired from Gaza have killed four Israelis.
1,300 Arrested in Muslim West
CHINA arrested almost 1,300 people for terrorism, religious extremism or other state security charges in the country’s Muslim-majority western Xinjiang region last year, state press said on Sunday.
The vast desert area bordering Central Asia is home to more than eight million members of China’s ethnic Uighur population, Muslims who have complained for decades of political and religious repression.
The Procuratorial Daily said the arrests came as the government made ‘maintaining social stability’ a priority last year, when Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympic Games in August. A wave of unrest, at times resulting in violence, erupted in Xinjiang ahead of the Olympics. According to state press reports, the unrest was largely fomented by Uighur Muslim separatists..
The paper said 1,295 people were arrested on suspicion of endangering state security in the first 11 months of 2008, and that 1,154 were formally charged and faced trials or administrative punishment. Judicial authorities were ordered to ‘strike hard on the three forces of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism that endanger state security’, it said.
Last month, two Islamic ‘terrorists’ were sentenced to death for an attack on police four days before the Olympics that was intended to sabotage the Games, state press reported earlier, citing the Supreme Court. The men were convicted of murder following the attack in Xinjiang that left 17 police dead and 15 injured.
The August 4 attack was the worst in a wave of unrest in Xinjiang ahead of and during the Olympics that left dozens of people dead and which China blamed on separatist militants.
China Honey Latest Food Safety Worry
Honey is the latest Chinese food import to raise safety worries in the United States, reports the San Francisco Gate. According to the report, the United States has imported the majority of its honey from China for years, despite concerns that it might be contaminated with a dangerous antibiotic.
Over 10 years ago, in 1997, a contagious bacterial epidemic infected bee larvae in hundreds of thousands of Chinese hives, resulting in the majority of that country’s honey production being cut by two-thirds, said the SF Gate. The report explains that while Chinese beekeepers could have destroyed the infected hives, they, instead, applied a dangerous, extremely toxic, banned antibiotic. According to Michael Burkett, professor emeritus at Oregon State University and an international bee and honey expert, this was the wrong choice, “You hear about people shooting themselves in the foot? Well, the Chinese honey-sellers shot themselves in the head,” he told the SF Gate.
The problem is that China used a cheap, broad-spectrum antibiotic called chloramphenicol, to treat its hives; chloramphenicol is considered so toxic it is only used in the most serious of infectious cases in humans and only when all other alternatives have been exhausted, said the SF Gate. “That’s on the big no-no list,” Burkett said, adding that, “In the U.S., Canada, and the European Union, chloramphenicol is on everyone’s zero-tolerance list.” Regardless, the Chinese chose to dose its hives with the dangerous drug and now, those honey buyers who test for it, find the banned antibiotic in the imported honey, said the SF Gate.
[…]
Meanwhile, Seattle PI wrote about its investigation into the growing trend in honey trafficking. Because U.S. bee colonies are dying off, import demand has increased, with traders looking to bypass tariffs and health safeguards by diluting honey or tainting the product with pesticides and antibiotics, said Seattle PI. China is known to “transship,” or launder the honey in other countries to avoid U.S. import fees and tariffs on imports that intentionally lowball domestic prices. Seattle PI noted that honey from China comes to the U.S. as being falsely labeled as tariff-free from Russia, or from countries that have small bee populations or no known export production. According to Seattle PI, only a small fraction of honey imported into the U.S. is inspected and the U.S, government has not legally defined honey, posing challenges for enforcement agents working to keep tainted honey out of the country.
Philippines: Islamic Militants Deny Link to Bomb Attacks
Kidapawan City, 2 Jan. (AKI) — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Friday denied any involvement in a string of bombing incidents in the southern Philippines in recent weeks.
MILF negotiating panel head Mohagher Iqbal criticised the military and police in the southern province of Mindanao for linking the MILF to every bombing incident.
“It seems the police and military have made it a standard operating procedure in blaming us for every bombing incident in Mindanao,” Iqbal said in a radio interview.
Local media said police and military authorities had blamed “rogue” commands of the MILF for a series of bombings in Mindanao in December.
A number of attacks have occurred in Mindanao since August, following the Supreme Court’s blocking of the signing of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain.
Meanwhile, militants from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Friday were accused of abducting five villagers in the southern Philippines and reportedly used them as shields against pursuing government forces.
The kidnapping was the second abduction in Southwest Mindanao in the past week.
On December 28, three farmers were also abducted in Alamada, a hinterland town in North Cotabato.
The MILF is one of the largest Muslim separatist groups located in Southern Philippines. There are around 4.5 million Muslims in the Philippines.
Couple Criticise Gambia Government
A judge in The Gambia has made an example of two British missionaries charged with criticising the Muslim state.
The missionaries, David and Fiona Fulton, broke down and wept as they were sentenced to a year’s hard labour in jail after pleading guilty to charges of sedition. The couple who are from Torquay, have three children — including a two-year-old adopted daughter.
The judge quoted from an email sent in September, entitled “Hell In The Gambia”, in which the country, which is 97 percent Muslim, is described as “sinking fast into a morass of Islam”.
The Fultons face imprisonment at the country’s high-security Mile Two jail. It houses some of the state’s toughest inmates — including some women. Malaria and beriberi are reported to be prevalent there. The British Foreign Office is seeking clarification about the details of the sentence and where the couple will serve it. One report suggested they could be billeted to work on peanut plantations, where malaria is common. […]
Idrissa Mbai, the presiding magistrate in the case, said that the sentence was meant to deter others who might seek to criticise the government of President Yahya Jammeh, who has cracked down on dissent in the wake of a series of coup attempts. “I found the offences of the accused party to be very shocking. They have shown no respect for the country, the government and the president of the republic. “I will send a clear message to the offenders,” he said. […]
CIA Tracking 4000 UK Terror Suspects
THE CIA has begun an unprecedented intelligence-gathering operation in Britain to help MI5 monitor 4000 terrorist suspects.
More than four out of 10 CIA operations to prevent attacks on US soil are now conducted against targets in Britain.
This has led to friction between British and American spies, with some US intelligence officers irritated that resources are being diverted to gather intelligence on suspects in their closest ally’s backyard. British intelligence officers do not know the identity of all the CIA informers and are uneasy about some of the uses to which the intelligence has been put.
MI5 as a whole is glad of the help, however, and works closely with its sister service. US spies share information when it concerns security in Britain.
Intelligence from CIA informers is believed to have helped thwart more than one terrorist atrocity on British soil. Information passed on by a CIA source in Britain was also instrumental in locating Rashid Rauf, a British-born al-Qaeda operative killed by a US air strike in Pakistan on November 22.
A British official said: “There is a great deal of CIA activity inside the UK. The CIA has been given a free rein to raise, handle and process from intelligence sources inside the UK.
“In many cases we do not know who their assets are. Several of the recently foiled terrorist plots inside the UK were uncovered by informants run by US source handlers. We’ve been able to interdict these plots.”
A former CIA officer who still carries out freelance work for the agency voiced the irritation of some American spies. “It’s certainly frustrating that Britain is an Islamist swamp,” he said. “You don’t want to have to spend time spying on your friends.”
British security chiefs have long turned a blind eye to a CIA presence in Britain and, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, MI5 and the CIA have worked together closely to combat the threat from Islamist extremists. MI5 also tolerates similar operations by the Israeli agency Mossad, which briefs members of the London Jewish community on threats to their security.
However, US security chiefs have stepped up their presence in Britain in the past two years, as they think Islamist extremists there are the biggest threat to US security and fear MI5 may be swamped by the scale of the threat. They also fear al-Qaeda recruits could travel to the US under America’s visa waiver program.
MI5 director-general Jonathan Evans has estimated about 4000 people in Britain pose a direct threat to national security…
Ice in Greenland is Growing
Though the ice may be melting around the edges of the Greenland Icecap in recent years during the warm mode of the AMO much as it did during the last warm phase in the 1930s to 1950s, snow and ice levels continue to rise in most of the interior. Johannessen in 2005 estimated an annual net increase of ice by 2 inches a year.
On Sept. 15, 2008, the editor of Danish daily Berlingske Tidende summoned historian and columnist Lars Hedegaard to his office to lower the proverbial ax. He received a transparently suspicious explanation. “I’d been tedious and repetitive, and they needed younger people,” he said. “I thought, they’re not going to get me. There will be a record of what I’ve done these nine years.”
Overall, the press and Western leaders have had “ yet another missed opportunity “ to stand up “and call madness what it is,” in the words of scholar Robert Spencer. During World War II, however, Denmark was the only European nation to save virtually all its Jewish citizens.
Danish People’s Party’s (DPP) EU spokesman Morten Messerschmidt now takes the unusual step of complaining to the UN about Abdul Wahid Petersen, who has defended stoning as part of Islamic law. 
What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup? Well, the outcome is dependent on your cultural proclivities: