The big story of the day concerns an attempted terrorist attack on a jetliner from Amsterdam that was preparing to land in Detroit. The would-be bomber, a man from Nigeria, attempted to light an explosive device that had been strapped to his leg, but succeeded only in burning himself. He claimed that he was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda. As in the case of the “shoe bomber”, the terrorist was subdued by alert passengers near his seat, two of whom were injured in the fracas.
In other news, the Japanese prime minister has unveiled an unprecedented deficit-spending budget, the first since World War Two in which government spending exceeds projected tax revenues.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Debt-Laden Japan Shocked by £630bn Spree to ‘Save Lives’
Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has stunned a nation already mired in huge public debt by unveiling the country’s biggest ever postwar budget: a 92.3 trillion yen (£630 billion) spending spree aimed at “saving people’s lives”.
The unprecedented budget, which supposedly shifts Japan’s fiscal spending focus “from concrete to lives”, comes amid rising concern about the solidity of sovereign debt in the world’s second-largest economy.
The new budget will require additional debt issuance of Y44.3 trillion — within the Government’s expected band, but still at a level that will raise Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 195 per cent.
Of foremost concern, analysts for Nomura said, is that Japanese tax revenues are expected to fall to Y37.40 trillion this year, the lowest that they have been since 1984. It was, analysts said, a watershed moment — the first time that new debt issuance has exceeded tax revenues since the Second World War.
Mr Hatoyama said: “We were just able to stay at a level in which we can maintain fiscal discipline.”
Mr Hatoyama swept to power in August with grand promises that the era of wasteful public spending would end. Japan’s unnecessary and notoriously expensive “roads to nowhere” public works projects would be curtailed and the money diverted to supporting beleaguered households.
Four months on from that victory and Mr Hatoyama has spent more than any of his predecessors and has yet to make any serious impact on the wider effort of repairing Japan’s shattered economy. Unemployment is falling from its March highs, but not at anything like the pace in other Asian economies. Mr Hatoyama has also been hurt personally by the arrest of a former aide this week amid a money scandal that bore all the hallmarks of the politics of “old Japan” — precisely the sort of venality that Mr Hatoyama and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) were elected to crush. Prosecutors in Tokyo accused Keiji Katsuba, 59, of falsifying funding reports beginning in 2000 and listing dead people as donors.
Political analysts said that the episode would not be crippling to Mr Hatoyama, who has denied knowledge of the matter and does not face charges, but it adds to pressures that already include a weakened domestic economy and strained relations with the United States.
Seiji Adachi, senior economist with Deutsche Bank, said: “The scandal in itself is not so serious, but it tarnishes his reputation further and diminishes his power to be an effective prime minister.”
The Government hopes that the budget’s inclusion of steps such as allowances for families raising children and free public high school education will boost its popularity before an Upper House election next summer. That election is critical for Mr Hatoyama and the DPJ. Only by winning an outright majority in the Upper House can the new Prime Minister be free of the various coalitions that have hampered his first months in power.
“I believe that we have delivered all we can without compromising fiscal discipline,” Mr Hatoyama said. “Our country’s economic and employment conditions are very severe. The most important thing for us is to protect the lives of the Japanese citizens.”
The budget plan will contain Y53.4 trillion in policy spending; 51 per cent of that will go to social security programmes. This is the first time that social security has received more than half of policy spending, reflecting the new Government’s focus on jump-starting consumption rather than the big public works projects carried out by former administrations.
Tax revenues are expected to make up less than half the Government’s 2010-11 budget, falling behind new debt borrowing for the first time since the Second World War after a deep recession that devastated company profits.
Italy: More Than 80 Bln Declared in Tax Amnesty
Tremonti says target surpassed in bringing back foreign assets
(ANSA) — Rome, December 23 — Italians have declared over 80 billion euros in hidden assets, capital and investments held abroad thanks to a government amnesty, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Wednesday “We still don’t have the exact numbers but it appears we have surpassed the target we set of 80 billion euros,” Tremonti said in an end-of-the-year press conference.
The deadline for the amnesty was postponed last week from December 15 to April 30, a move which Tremonti said was necessary “because the amount of assets being declared and the paperwork involved was too much for us to process in time”. The original amnesty allowed Italians declaring their foreign assets to pay a one-off fine of 5% on the value of their holdings, but no back taxes.
The terms of the deadline extension raises to 6% the penalty on assets declared by the end of February and 7% until the end of April.
Although Italian media and financial analysts estimated that between 100 to 110 million euros of assets could be declared thanks to the amnesty, Tremonti said last week that “what really matters is that this repatriation (of assets) will stoke the Italian economy, keep companies going and prevent job losses”.
The controversial initiative not only gave tax evaders a chance to legalize hidden assets and accounts without having to pay back taxes, but also shielded them from prosecution for related crimes like accounting fraud and illegally exporting capital.
Tax authorities have estimated that the total value of assets held abroad illegally by Italian citizens is in the neighborhood of 300 billion euros and the Treasury hopes the amnesty will raise some 4.5 billion euros for the state through the penalty fee.
It is the general consensus that over half the undeclared assets held by Italians abroad can be traced to organised crime and thus will never be legalised.
Spain: Recession Cuts Absenteeism by 90%
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 21 — In Spain the threat of sanctions against absenteeism reaped fewer results than the economic recession and the fear of losing one’s job, which this year cut unjustified absences by 90%. According to a report published today by human resources company Randtad, unjustified absences dropped to record levels and were mainly driven by temporary incapacity or by work related accidents. The picture that has been drawn of the average absentee is that of a young male below the age of 30 with poor work skills. This is also the segment of the population which is mostly affected by the employment crisis and the most impacted by job cuts. The report claims that, despite the drastic drop in absenteeism, Spain is still losing an average of more than sixty hours per year per employee, which amounts to an overall cost of 2 billion euros. By sector, in 2009 industry registered the highest level of unjustified absences and the greatest number of workers on redundancy pay, while company size leads to a greater rate of absences in large companies because of the fact that checks on working hours are softer. (ANSAmed).
CAIR Admitted Fundraising for Convicted Terror Group
Lawsuit exposes D.C.-based Muslim organization’s radical connections
While the Council on American-Islamic Relations has contended its designation by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terror-finance case is unjustified, the group has admitted in a legal brief it solicited donations in the wake of the 9/11 attacks for the Holy Land Foundation, the convicted American fundraising arm for the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.
The admission — a previously unnoticed declaration in talk-radio host Michael Savage’s lawsuit against CAIR — was attached to a brief filed this week in the Muslim group’s suit against a father and son who carried out a six-month undercover investigation in which they obtained 12,000 pages of incriminating documents and made secret audio and video recordings. Lawyers for P. David Gaubatz and Chris Gaubatz filed a motion to dismiss the case this week that contends CAIR has no claim because it does not legally exist.
Hasan Asked Islamic Leader About Killing U.S. Soldiers
Radical imam tells news service of exchange with Fort Hood suspect
A radical Islamic imam says Fort Hood terror attack suspect Nidal Malik Hasan asked him, in an exchange of e-mails, about the Muslim perspective on killing U.S. soldiers.
The report comes from the Middle East Media Research Institute, which cited statements imam Anwar al-Awlaki made to the Aljazeera news agency.
Al-Awlaki told the interviewer Hasan initiated the e-mail exchange, and he “was asking about killing American soldiers and officers. [He asked] whether this is a religiously legitimate act or not,” he said, according to the report.
New Promise: Lawsuits to Challenge ‘Obamacare’
Social program called ‘power grab that rewrites American history’
Obamacare, as critics have dubbed the president’s plan to socialize health care, will be flooded with lawsuits if it ever becomes law, according to an organization that works to protect rights and liberties of Americans.
In an alert issued this week, Liberty Counsel, run by President Mathew Staver, promised his organization “is prepared to challenge the constitutionality of the bill since Congress has no authority to require every person to obtain insurance coverage and has no authority to fine employers who do not provide the coverage standards that are required in the bill.”
“In addition,” he warned, “the bill still requires citizens to pay a fine if they don’t maintain insurance for themselves and their families.”
Passenger Tries to Blow Up Plane, Claims Tie to Al Qaeda
DETROIT — A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official.
The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, told investigators that he was given the device by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, where he was also given instructions on how to detonate it, the official said.
“This guy claims he is tied to al Qaeda, specifically in Yemen,” the official said. “He claims he was on orders from al Qaeda in Yemen. Who knows if that’s true.”
Bill Burton, a White House spokesman, said President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was notified of the incident after 9 a.m. local time, and held two secure conference calls with his national security team to discuss the incident, but that his schedule had not changed.
“The president is actively monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates,” Mr. Burton said.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that airline passengers should expect to see additional screening measures put in place on both domestic and international flights.
An FBI spokeswoman, Denise Ballew, would only say that the Detroit field office is investigating the incident and would release more information “when it is appropriate.”
The explosive, which was apparently carried onto the flight from its originating airport in Amsterdam, was originally believed to be a small firecracker, but the U.S. official said the device was “more complicated than gunpowder firecracker” and caught fire as the man tried to set it off.
One person was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center and was still hospitalized Friday evening. “All I know is it was one person treated from the incident,” said U of M Health System spokeswoman Tracy Justice. “Everything else is being handled by the FBI.”
Shortly after the plane landed around 11:50 a.m. Detroit time, the Transportation Security Administration put out a statement indicating that “out of an abundance of caution” the jet’s passengers were going through a special security screening and the luggage in the hold also was being re-examined.
TSA and FBI officials were interviewing passengers, even as the plane sat at a remote corner of the airport surrounded by a phalanx of law-enforcement and emergency vehicles.
The Federal Aviation Administration was referring all questions to the TSA.
The additional security measures ordered by TSA could cause further delays to what already has been a difficult and storm-battered holiday travel season for millions of U.S. passengers. More-extensive airport screening procedures, coupled with likely stepped-up verifications of some passenger identities, could complicate post-Christmas travel.
Regardless of what the investigation uncovers about the suspect’s motives or the material that ignited, Friday’s incident is likely to renew debate over whether additional security systems are necessary to allow flight attendants to alert cockpit crews about cabin emergencies.
In addition to calling pilots on the intercom, airlines and security experts for years have debated the concept of providing cabin crews with additional ways to warn pilots about potential threats from passengers, Video cameras, wireless alerting devices or some type of discreet alarm switch have all been discussed.
So far, the Federal Aviation Administration and many airlines have been resisting such mandates, arguing that they would be expensive and unnecessary.
Plane Incident Called an Act of Terrorism
Federal authorities say a Nigerian passenger on an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight tried to blow up the airliner, which landed safely. The would-be bomber is injured.
Reporting from Washington — In what was described as an act of terrorism, a Nigerian passenger attempted to ignite an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Friday as the plane began its approach for landing, federal officials said. The plane landed safely shortly before noon local time.
The suspected would-be bomber suffered burns as the result of his attempt, and two of the other 277 passengers reported minor injuries, authorities said. FBI agents were investigating the incident, which a White House official said was believed to be terrorism.
“He was trying to ignite some kind of incendiary device,” said a federal anti-terrorism official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. “He lit himself on fire and he’s suffered some burns.”
The official did not reveal the nature of the explosive device and said it was too early to say how potent or sophisticated it was. The passenger has been identified as a Nigerian who began traveling from Nigeria and caught the flight in Amsterdam, the anti-terrorism official said.
The Northwest flight, on an Airbus 330, was operated by Delta Air Lines and had Delta markings. The two companies merged in April 2008.
President Obama was briefed on the Christmas Day incident during his Hawaii vacation and was receiving regular updates.
The administration said in a statement that Obama had conferred with White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan and National Security Council Acting Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and had instructed that “all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel.”
The Department of Homeland Security said passengers might see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident and urged travelers to report any suspicious activity or behavior to law enforcement officials.
“We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates,” the department said.
Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane’s descent, according to the Associated Press. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow and smelled smoke. Then, he said, “a young man behind me jumped on him.”
“Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic,” he said.
J.P. Karas, 55, of Wyandotte, Mich., told the Associated Press that he was driving down a road near the airport and saw a Delta jet at the end of a runway surrounded by police cars, an ambulance, a bus and some TV trucks.
“I don’t ever recall seeing a plane on that runway ever before, and I pass by there frequently,” he said.
The FBI’s Detroit office is investigating, “and more information will be available when it is appropriate,” said Sandra Berchtold, an FBI spokesperson in Detroit.
A statement from the Transportation Security Administration confirmed that “an incident” had occurred aboard Northwest Flight 253 and that the plane had landed safely in Detroit about 11:53 a.m.
“All passengers have deplaned and, out of an abundance of caution, the plane was moved to a remote area where the plane and all baggage are currently being rescreened,” the statement said. “A passenger is in custody and passengers are currently being interviewed.”
Tracy Justice, a spokeswoman for the University of Michigan Health System Ann Arbor, confirmed that the hospital had received one patient from the flight. She did not know the sex or condition of the passenger.
The FBI is expected to focus on whether the Nigerian acted alone or had training from Al Qaeda or another network. There will be great interest also in the nature and destructive capacity of the explosive device and on how it got past airport security screeners.
Nigerians have not figured in many cases involving Al Qaeda, but the rise of violent Islamic extremism in that country, and in sub-Saharan Africa overall, concerns Western anti-terrorism officials.
Salvation Army Major Shot in Front of 3 Children
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A Salvation Army worker was shot and killed Christmas Eve in front of his three young children during an attempted robbery outside the charity’s community center in North Little Rock, a Salvation Army official said Friday.
North Little Rock police said they were looking for the two men who accosted Salvation Army Maj. Philip Wise outside the community center about 4:15 p.m. Thursday. No arrests have been made.
The two men fled on foot into a nearby housing development, police Sgt. Terry Kuykendall said Friday. Police don’t know whether Wise, who was active in the community, knew his attackers, he said.
Wise, 40, had gone to the community center with his children to pick up his wife — also a Salvation Army major — to drive to his mother’s home in West Virginia, said Maj. Harvey Johnson, area commander of the Salvation Army. As Wise neared the side door, two men approached.
Both men were carrying hand guns, police said. One demanded money and shot Wise, Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Wise’s wife, Cindy, was inside the center and called 911.
Blood stained the sidewalk outside the center Friday.
The Wises had just adopted their children — ages 4, 6 and 8 — last year, Johnson said. The three were siblings who came from an abusive family. They were receiving counseling after their father’s death, he said.
Kuykendall said the children were standing beside their father when he was shot, but there was apparently no interaction between the youngsters and the two men.
Wise had worked for three years in Baring Cross, a low-income neighborhood troubled by gangs and drugs, Johnson said. He ran youth programs, a food pantry and church services.
“He was involved in the fabric of that community in a lot of different ways,” Johnson said.
He described Wise as “a big boy” who played “a big old tuba” in a brass ensemble and used his love of music to try help others.
“He encouraged kids in music as an alternative to the life they were living,” he said.
Kuykendall said he knew Wise, although they were not close friends.
“Mr. Wise within the last two months had spent so much time raising money so that several hundred children in this community could have a good Christmas, and for this to happen … on Christmas Eve is just a tragedy,” he said.
Wise was originally from Weirton, W.Va., and his wife, Cindy, was from Charleston, W.Va. They met 16 years ago at a Salvation Army school in Atlanta, Johnson said. Both had worked for the Salvation Army ever since.
“He’s touched a lot of people,” Johnson said. “But who would he have touched if he had been able to live out his career?”
Belgian Jews: Involvement of Extreme Rightist in Anti-Hamas Motion is PR Disaster
By Cnaan Liphshiz
A legal motion by an Israeli group yesterday to prosecute Hamas officials in Belgium drew harsh criticism from Belgian Jewish organizations in Antwerp and Israel. The organizations warned of a “PR catastrophe” because a leader of the Flemish extreme right was involved.
The office of Hugo Coveliers, a high-profile Belgian politician from the extreme-right Vlaams Belang party, requested this week that Belgium’s Justice Ministry issue a warrant for the arrest of Hamas leaders including Khaled Meshal and Ismail Haniyeh. The services of Coveliers’ firm were retained by the European Initiative, a pro-Israeli lobby based in Tel Aviv.
Jewish organizations and various Benelux politicians have accused Vlaams Belang of anti-Semitism. Tel Aviv University’s Stephen Roth Institute for the study of anti-Semitism said the party, which remains a pariah among Belgium’s other parties despite its 1 million voters, regularly maintains ties with neo-Fascist groups.
“Involving a Vlaams Belang politician in such an initiative was very unwise,” said Eli Ringer, vice chairman of the forum of Jewish Organizations of Belgium, which represents Flemish Jews. “From a public relations perspective inside Belgium, it’s catastrophic.”
He added that “Vlaams Belang is not a movement Israel wants to be associated with in Belgian public discourse. From a practical point of view, initiatives by Vlaams Belang people are not taken seriously.”
Uri Yablonka, director of the European Initiative, said: “Our only link to Mr. Coveliers is that attorneys from his office represent our legal case. The work with him is on a strictly professional basis.”
The request for the arrest warrant cites the testimonies of 15 Israeli Belgians who said they had suffered from Hamas’ attacks and the UN report by Richard Goldstone that accuses Hamas of war crimes.
The move was designed to meet a stipulation in Belgian law that allows Belgian courts to prosecute anyone who commits serious crimes against Belgian citizens.
“The idea is good, but this has little chance of succeeding in Belgium even without the involvement of Vlaams Belang,” said David Lowy, founder of a group for Belgian immigrants, JOBI. “Involving them is like shooting yourself in the foot or scoring an own goal. Getting Vlaams Belang to defend Israel’s position only makes that position harder to advocate.”
Christmas: Mass on Radio for Seamen in High Mediterranean
(ANSAmed) — GENOA, DECEMBER 23 — A Christmas mass for seamen will be celebrated tomorrow night at 11.30pm in Genoa’s Harbour Office. The mass will be broadcast on a special channel made available by the Harbour Office so that all seamen working in the High Mediterranean will be able to follow it. Mass will be celebrated in English by the chaplain of the diocesan Filipino community and the community will add to the liturgy by singing its traditional Christmas songs. The initiative was set up thanks to the interest and organisational effort of Genoa s Stella Maris, which offers welcoming and assistance services to those who work in the naval sector. (ANSAmed).
Dutch PM: Coalition With Wilders Would be Difficult
A coalition with Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration PVV party would be ‘very difficult’ but should not be ruled out altogether, says prime minister Jan Peter Balkenede (Christian Democrat) in an interview with the Nederlands Dagblad on Thursday.
According to Balkenende, Wilders’ negative stance on Europe damages the Dutch economy. ‘How can you withdraw to behind the dykes when your economy is so dependent on the European Union,’ he is quoted as saying.
Nevertheless, Balkenende said he does not rule out working with the PVV altogether. ‘You don’t exclude people in advance in a democracy,’ he told the paper.
Holland’s ‘Most Famous Communist’ Is Dead
The most famous communist in the Netherlands, Marcus Bakker, has died at the age of 86, reports Nos on Thursday.
Bakker was an MP for the Dutch Communist Party (CPN) from 1956 to 1982. He was replaced by Ina Brouwer who integrated the party with the left-wing green GroenLinks.
Bakker joined the party in 1943 while it was still a banned organisation in the Netherlands and after the war he went to work for the communist newspaper De Waarheid. Bakker resigned from the party in 1999.
Italy: Regulating Internet is No Fund-Raising Dinner
Methods and objectives should be discussed in the light of possible trade-offs of conflicting legitimate interests
When internet intrudes into the life of society, often turning the established rules of the game on their heads, the issue of regulating web-vehicled information pops up, and with it possible restrictions on freedom of expression. That is precisely what has happened over the past few days as groups of people applaud the attack on the prime minister or interior minister Maroni’s declared intention of presenting a bill of restrictive measures. In the debate that ensued, Gian Antonio Stella in the Corriere della Sera underlined the need to establish limits for the excesses of the web’s “dark side” while web-savvy commentators like Luca Sofri and Beppe Severgnini have pointed out that familiarity with internet’s internal dynamics is essential, warning against inappropriate, unenforceable regulations. In Repubblica newspaper, Stefano Rodotà has reminded us that what is illegal off-line is equally illegal on-line. If crimes are committed on the web, their perpetrators can be prosecuted.
NEW CHALLENGES — The issue of web governance is very broad, and takes in a raft of very different situations, but the lower cost of procuring information, with the immediacy and scope of internet searches, has posed new challenges. If someone says in a private conversation that Mr Berlusconi’s assailant did the right thing, the speaker may be expressing an opinion that is in bad taste but he or she is not committing a crime. If the same opinion is expressed in closed social networking group, the situation is conceptually analogous, although there is a difference of scale, as Marco Pratellesi has argued on Corriere.it. But if the group is open — if, that is, the content is visible without registration or approval — then the legal context is comparable to a street or a newspaper, where speech is public and crimes such as condoning or instigating offences can already be invoked, with a warrant from the magistracy, to restrict the circulation of such information. It is not easy to correlate the various dimensions of internet to established paradigms of communication and their respective regulations.
PREVENTIVE CONTROLS — Marco Orofino, professor of information and constitutional studies at the State University in Milan, says: “Messages exchanged on the web can be considered under article 21 of the constitution, which deals with communication to the public, or under article 15, which relates to freedom of correspondence. In the latter case, the possibilities for intervention are much more limited”. Internet’s popularity and ease of access make damage or crimes committed through web sites highly visible. This tempts some observers to see preventive authorisation or controls as the way forward, although to date these have only been implemented by regimes where freedom of expression is not one of the most safeguarded values.
PRIVACY — A similar problem crops up over the defence of privacy. Invasive or even false information about an individual stays on the internet long after it is outdated. Measures such as denials or corrections, which have little impact even on paper-based information, look to be of very little use in internet. For example, if someone is put on trial and then acquitted, the second piece of news, being less visible and less viewed, will disappear from search engine hierarchies while the first will remain there for years. There are, of course, organisations that will purge the web of defamatory or baseless allegations but such services do not come cheap. When newspaper archives were made accessible via internet, this issue acquired urgency and a reasonable compromise was found. Thanks to a simple procedure, it is possible to block search engine access to news published in past years, which may be outdated or have turned out to be untrue, without modifying or deleting newspaper archives. In practice, the regulator’s intervention in internet raises many problems. If a prescriptive approach is adopted, administratively specifying behaviour and action options in advance, it requires a wide range of specific skills not normally found among politicians. Regulations tend to be out of date before they have even been applied. In addition, many web sites are physically located outside Italy, which makes enforcement problematic. Finally, and particularly in the case of minor web sites, the threat of closure can easily be side-stepped by registering and opening a new site.
IS YOUTUBE A PUBLISHER? — This means that even if we acknowledge that the laws are already in place for comparable off-line situations, it is not always easy to transfer those principles, nor is it easy to implement such measures. Recently, the court in Rome ruled in favour of Mediaset against YouTube, which will have to remove excerpts of Grande Fratello [Big Brother] from its site. In this case, YouTube was considered to be a publisher, responsible for the content published, and not a carrier, like the postal service or telephone companies. If this view were to become widespread, aggregator web sites would simply cease to exist because for the time being, economic conditions do not allow them to control the information they carry. But if the prevailing view were to be that the content owner can delete excerpts that others have posted without authorisation, the situation would remain manageable.
SELF-REGULATION — Many people, like interior ministry Roberto Maroni, place their hopes in self-regulation systems like the advertising industry’s scheme. Obviously, such systems are less stringent but they do permit the flexible management of qualitatively different issues. Many leading web sites promote behaviour policies that effectively constitute self-regulation. Normally, they discuss such policies informally with one or two governments, and with some leading stakeholders, before applying them on a global scale. These moves have considerable impact but in this case, policy selection obviously circumvents the normal democratic process. Web regulation and governance is a complex issue. It should be tackled with calm discussion of objectives and methods, taking carefully into account any trade-offs involving contrasting legitimate interests, and without paying overly much attention to contingent problems, or to the fierce bickering that can so easily accompany them.
Marco Gambaro
18 dicembre 2009
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
Italy: Minister Scores Victory on Olive Oil Labelling
Rome, 23 Dec. (AKI) — Italy’s agriculture minister Luca Zaia has won a hard-fought battle to obtain labelling for virgin and extra virgin olive oil that clearly states where the olives used to make it come from. The victory is a boost for Italian olive oil producers, who are counting on the exceptional quality of the 2009-2010 season’s oil to make up for a 15 percent fall in output compared with the previous season.
“Since 1 July, transparent labelling indicating the country of origin of the olives has been mandatory in all of Europe,” said Zaia.
This means consumers will see ‘Italian virgin and extra virgin olive oil’ written on the labels of bottles, and will know where the oil comes from rather than unwittingly being sold blends of oils from various countries that, he told journalists at a year-end press conference rounding up on his ministry’s activities.
Around 500,000 tonnes of Italian virgin and extra virgin olive oil was produced this year, compared with 600,000 tonnes in 2008. Annual consumer demand in Italy of is around 700,000 tonnes, according to producers.
The European labelling norms are the result of 15 years of negotiations, Zaia noted, adding that he is spearheading campaigns at the European Union to obtain labelling transparency for various agricultural products, most recently milk.
“Italy will in future be a standard-bearer of mandatory labelling that will give citizens clear and reliable information on products and on food safety,” said Zaia.
“People want to know if what they are putting into their bodies is safe.”
Italy: Berlusconi Thanks Pope for Support Over Attack
Rome, 24 Dec. (AKI) — Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has written a letter to Pope Benedict XVI thanking him for his support after the bloody attack against him by a mentally unstable man in the northern city of Milan this month. In the letter, Berlusconi said Christian principles guided his government and that it would work for “social cohesion” in the country.
“I can confirm that the Christian values exemplified by Your Holinesss always guide my government’s actions. It will take all the necessary action to ensure calm and social cohesion,” wrote Berlusconi.
The letter thanked Benedict for the “closeness” the pontiff had shown him in a telegram he sent to Berlusconi in hospital while the premier was recovering from a fractured nose, two broken teeth, blood loss and other facial injuries sustained during the attack against him on 13 December.
A 42-year-old man, Massimo Tartaglia, was arrested after the attack during which he allegedly hurled an alabaster replica of the city’s Gothic cathedral into Berlusconi’s face.
Tartaglia, who has a history of mental illness, is being held in preventive custody in a Milan jail. He told police he carried out the attack alone out of hatred for Berlusconi.
“Christmas is an important time for reflection for all men of good will. Christ’s message of peace and brotherhood is often forgotten when the strength of ideas are met with verbal or physical violence,” said Berlusconi’s letter, delivered to Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Berlusconi said earlier this week he forgave Tartaglia but wants him to serve time in detention and said such attacks against high-ranking Italian officials must be prevented in future
His letter to the pope is another apparent sign that Berlusconi is taking an increasingly pious tone as he eyes Catholic voters in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country.
The premier has been hit by sex scandals this year including alleged dalliances with a prostitute which have strained his relations with the Catholic Church.
His letter to the pontiff also comes amid talk of a new centrist party to challenge Berlusconi made up of pro-Vatican politicians.
Portugal: Blackout Leaves Thousands in Darkness
(ANSAmed) — LISBON, DECEMBER 24 — Since yesterday evening at least 50,000 houses have been in total darkness in central Portugal due to a problem in electricity lines caused by heavy rain and strong winds that are hitting a large part of the country. EDP, the Portuguese utility, reported yesterday evening that around 800 are at work in the attempt to bring back normality to cities such as Torres Vedras, Lourinha, Peniche and Caldas da Rainha. The Civil Protection has launched a national alert and urged the population to stay at home despite the Christmas festivities. (ANSAmed).
Swiss Muslims Put Their Problems on the Table
The vote to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland has been a wake-up call to both the government and Swiss Muslims, round table talks have shown.
Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf met six representatives of Islamic organisations in Bern on Monday, to discuss the situation of Muslims in the light of the anti-minaret vote passed by the Swiss public on November 29.
It was the third such meeting since the anti-minaret initiative was launched, but the first since it was passed. Follow-up meetings are planned where specific proposals will be discussed.
Widmer-Schlumpf told the participants that banning the construction of minarets made no difference to their freedom to practise their religion.
A communiqué issued afterwards by the justice ministry quoted her as saying that the vote was “the expression of problems, but at the same time provided an opportunity to conduct a broader debate on the issue”.
Her willingness to discuss the issues facing the Muslim community and to continue and expand dialogue was greatly appreciated by the participants but they did not shy away from raising issues.
“It was an informative, open conversation,” Hisham Maizar, president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, told swissinfo.ch.
“The state is the guarantor of everything that affects all religious communities. The Muslims do not want special rights. But there are some areas where things could be improved, so as to ensure that this protection really is forthcoming.”
Unresolved issues
Farhad Afshar, president of the Coordination of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, outlined to swissinfo.ch a number of problems, some of which have been on the table for a long time.
For example, despite assurances from both the government and the opponents of minarets that the ban did not affect the right to construct mosques, Afshar asserted that in practice all applications to build sacred buildings met into objections.
“Islam is always being criticised for hiding in backyards and garages, and being invisible — but when we want to build an Islamic centre, or a mosque, communes will not allow us a reasonable site where it can be seen by the public,” he said.
The only mosque worthy of the name, which includes a library and teaching space, is the one in Geneva, and there is a small symbolic one in Zurich, he said. All the other places of worship are simply prayer houses.
The training of imams is another major issue. For years Muslims have been asking Swiss universities to establish courses for imams. The idea is supported by many political parties and experts in Switzerland, who see it as a way to ensure that Swiss Muslim communities have well-integrated clerics rather than bringing in outsiders who have no knowledge of Swiss conditions.
However, members of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party are against it for a variety of reasons, including not wanting taxpayers’ money spent on such training. Since the universities are financed by the cantons, political opponents can refuse to approve allocations to universities proposing such courses.
Afshar says that an alternative could be courses provided by the two centrally-funded federal institutes of technology, in conjunction with leading specialist universities in Islamic countries.
Changing world
Muslims are also concerned about the lack of cemeteries where believers can be buried according to Islamic rites. Muslim who die in the “wrong” commune do not have this option, Afshar explained, and their bodies are often flown back to the country they originally came from, where their families cannot visit the grave.
“But the problem is worse than that. What do we do with a Swiss Muslim who didn’t come from some other country?” Afshar asked. In such cases it is necessary to find an Islamic country willing to accept the body for burial.
The world has changed, Afshar said. “Two hundred years ago we didn’t have the problem of migration. Today we live in an interdependent world, and the problems now being faced by religious minorities require a solution.”
While the Muslim organisations are happy about their relations with the authorities, it is clear that the way they are perceived by large swathes of the population is generally negative.
“Islam-bashing has become socially acceptable,” according to Afshar, who notes however that this contradicts people’s day-to-day experience of Muslims. “I have never heard of anyone saying, I am afraid of my Muslim neighbour. Or, I am afraid at work because I have a Muslim colleague,” he said.
He attributed the anti-minaret vote to the propagation of hostile images coming from abroad.
Maizar pointed out that the strongest yes vote came from areas where people were less likely to have met Muslims.
The problem is that the undoubted right of the Swiss people to express their opinion can restrict the rights of the minority, he said.
“If we just keep quiet about this, and don’t take advantage of the country’s guaranteed basic rights, that doesn’t seem to me to be very healthy for democracy.”
Julia Slater, swissinfo.ch
Venice Under Water
Year’s highest ‘acqua alta’ hits
(ANSA) — Venice, December 23 — More than half of Venice was under water Wednesday as two days of driving rain helped push the acqua alta (high water) to 143 cm above sea level, a record for the year and the 11th-biggest since records began.
Venetians were getting about on pontoon walkways in the estimated 56% of the city that was flooded, including St Mark’s Square and the historic centre. “As well as the rain, which played a big part, strong sirocco winds swelled the flood tide, combining to bring one of the biggest recent events,” experts said.
The first big tide of the year was on November 30 when the water rose 131cm above normal.
When the waters get that high some 43% of the city surface is under water.
Next month, experts say, forecast bouts of more heavy rain could push the sea level to 150cm above normal, the highest acqua alta since 156cm last December, 158cm in December 1986 and 166cm in December 1979.
The record acqua alta was in the great flood of 1966, at 194cm, when flood waters caused huge damage.
Levels of 120-140 cm above sea level are quite common in the lagoon city, which is well-equipped to cope with its rafts of pontoon walkways.
But anything much higher than 150cm risks swamping the city and washing the walkways away.
The high-water threat has been increasing in recent years as heavier rains have hit northern Italy due to climate change, weather experts say.
Scientists have conceived various ways of warding off the waters since the catastrophic 1966 flood and a system of moveable flood barriers called MOSE is being installed after years of polemics.
Experts say there are three main reasons for high water in the city: the rising floor in the lagoon caused by incoming silt; the undermining of the islands by the extraction of methane gas in the sea off Venice; and the overall increase in sea levels caused by global warming.
Croatia: Presidential Vote, Right Fights for Second
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREG, DECEMBER 21 — The first real challenge in the first of the presidential elections on Sunday, December 27 in Croatia is for the second place, contested between four center right candidates while judging from the polls, the vote will go to Ivo Josipovic, the candidate from the left and favoured to succeed outgoing president Stipe Mesic. Josipovic, a law professor at the University of Zagreb and a classical music composer, is the official candidate for the Social Democrat Party and one of its MPs. The poll gives him a stable percentage between 28 and 32 with a high probability of winning the January 10 vote. The differences between the candidates for the second place are small, marginally statistically, and it is impossible to predict who will make it to the second vote against Josipovic. Nadan Vidosevic, president of the Croat Chamber for the Economy and a manager, has around 14%. Vidosevic presents himself as a independent centre politician after being expelled from the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) the largest centre right party lead by premier Jadranka Kosor, for having decided to nominate himself against the party’s wishes. A similar situation pertains to Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic, expelled from the SDP for the same reasons. With a populist campaign Bandic gained support on both sides of the political debate and has 13% in the polls. The candidate of the party in power, Andrija Hebrang of the Hdz, is just fifth with about 10% in the polls, overtaken by another dissident Dragan Primorac, former minister for universities and sport in the government of Ivo Sanader, Kosor’s predecessor. The fight against corruption, in a climate of arrest warrants for politicians and managers, and the country’s difficult economic recovery dominates the elections even though in Croatia the president has no powers in these areas but instead concentrates on foreign policy and national defence. (ANSAmed).
Croatia: Elections to Select President for Europe
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, DECEMBER 23 — Next Sunday Croatian will vote to elect the third president of the Republic since the country gained independence in 1991, the successor of Stipe Mesic who will lead Croatia’s bid to join the EU in 2012. However this was the first electoral campaign in years that does not focus debate on the EU, given that membership is near and practically granted, but on the fight against corruption and economic recovery. Since former premier Ivo Sanader who was leading the largest government formation (HDZ, the centre-right Croatian democratic community) stepped down unexpectedly last July, new premier Jadranka Kosor set up an unprecedented campaign against corruption. Approximately 20 persons including managers, businessmen and directors of major public companies are under arrest or are being investigated, along with two of Sanader’s former ministers. Ivo Josipovic, candidate for SDP (the social democratic party and largest centre-left opposition party), is leading the polls with a 31% share of the vote. the Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, is credited with 17.4%, and HDZ candidate Andrija Hebrang with 9.3%. “Business candidate” Nadan Vidosevic, the president of HGK (Croatia’s Chambers of Commerce) who was expelled from HDZ for running for election against the party’s will, has little chance of making it to the second round of the ballot insofar as polls show him trailing Bandic by more than 5 points. This spreading of votes among right wing candidates (8 in all) damaged Hebrang (HDZ) who would come in fourth, with 9.3%, or even fifth, behind another HDZ dissident, Dragan Primorac, who was minister under the Sanader governments. (ANSA).
Christmas: Flocking to the Nativity Scene in Tunis
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 24 — The nativity scene in the cathedral of Tunis, on centrally-located Avenue Bourghiba, has drawn hundreds of onlookers, for the most part Muslims: one of the signs of the peaceful living of communities, side by side, and the inter-religious dialogue characterising Tunisian society. In addition, from an economic point of view Christmas has been gaining in popularity over the past few years and many shops — especially in the centre of the capital — are decorated for the occasion and bear Christmas greetings on their front windows. This evening at 10pm there will be mass said in the parochial church St Joan of Arc in central Tunisia, and tomorrow morning there be the official religious ceremony officiated over by the bishop of Tunis, as will happen in all Christian churches in Tunisia. (ANSAmed).
Egypt Most Repressive Country to Internet Users, Report Says
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 23 — The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) stated that the internet has became a tool used to bring democracy and free expression in the Arab world, where the most repressive regimes lie. In a new report entitled “One social Network”, ANHRI’s stated that “Egypt has become the most repressive country to internet users in the Arab world” while a Cairo Criminal Court rejected yesterday an appeal presented by blogger Abdel-Karim Nabil Soliman, aka Karim Amer, against two verdicts issued against him by two misdemeanor courts in Alexandria. The court upheld the imprisonment of the blogger for four years for disdaining Islam and insulting the president of the republic. The state security court had charged the blogger with fomenting sedition through scorning the Prophet Muhammad and his companions and affronting the president of the republic. “Internet has a snowball effect on the process of democracy in the Arab world. This new force cannot be stopped by government’s actions of censorship, blocking the internet and arresting and even torturing internet users”, ANHRI’S report said. The report looks into the freedom of internet usage in 20 Arab countries and examines four tools (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube) that the Arab internet users, especially young ones, use to fight for their right of free expression and expose corruption and repression in the Arab world. In addition, the report reveals that the government-sponsored repression against internet users in the Arab world. Many violations have been committed against internet users; this includes kidnapping, arresting, torturing internet users using the Emergency Law like in Egypt and Syria. In some countries, like Saudi Arabia, religious authorities have issued statements banning some websites that the governments were not able to block. “The number of internet users has reached 58 million in the Arab world. However, out of these 58 million users, only internet users in Lebanon, Algeria and Somalia have freedom in using the internet. This relative freedom in Lebanon and Somalia is mainly due to the widespread of the tapping phenomenon in the former and the government being too occupied in what seem to be a civil in the latter”, the report said. In general, in the last three years, the level of repression and harassment against internet users has increased with the increase in the number of users. Even countries, like Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, who were known to allow freedom of internet usage have started to show a repressive attitude towards internet users. Countries, like Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and most of all Syria, continue to block websites. However, Egypt has stopped the policy of blocking websites five years ago and now directs its repression with full force against bloggers and internet users. Egypt has become the most repressive country to internet users in the Arab world.(ANSAmed).
Festival of Oasis in Tozeur, Tunisia Celebrates Tradition
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — Two events of particular interest to tourists are set to begin in the last week of the year at the edge of the Tunisian Sahara. Until December 29, Tozeur will be the site for the 31st edition of the International Oases festival, while until December 30 Douz will host the 42nd edition of the International Sahara Festival. The Tozeur Festival, on the theme ‘Rhythm of the Oases and the South’, will be open to all the governorates of southern Tunisia, which will take part with local traditional groups alongside their Italian and Algerian counterparts. There will also be a large show for local artisanal products. The Douz Festival will offer representations meant to enhance the heritage of the traditions and culture of the zone, through shows, games, and performances by traditional musical and artistic groups. Delegations from Italy, France, Jordan, Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will be attending. Among the side events will be Chaire Ben Ali for dialogue on civilisations under the theme ‘The Palm Tree and Tents in the Dialogue of Civilisations’. (ANSAmed).
For Obama, 2010 in the Middle East Looks More Like the Precipice of Doom Than Achievement
by Barry Rubin
The year 2010 is going to be interesting. Well, all years in the Middle East are interesting; many of them are far too interesting.
For the Obama Administration, I’m going to predict, it will not be a fun year. True, the best face will be put on things. Since it is protected-perhaps next year to a lesser degree—by the media, the administration has a special advantage over its predecessors. Yet there are two huge and two potentially serious problems which it cannot solve.
The first unsolvable problem is the Arab-Israeli conflict. Last January, President Barack Obama promised a quick solution to the issue. Then he promised that an Israeli freeze of construction on settlements would lead to a diplomatic breakthrough. A few months later, he promised he’d get some Arab concessions in response to an Israeli freeze. In September he promised that final status negotiations would begin in two months.
None of these things happened.
In fact, Obama’s policy sabotaged progress. After all, if he was bashing Israel to some extent and demanding a freeze, why should the Palestinians give Israel a way out by negotiating and accept anything less than a total freeze? U.S.-Israel relations have now improved considerably and are good, but there’s no talks going on because the Palestinian Authority is saying “no.”
Remember in his Cairo speech, Obama said the Palestinian situation was “intolerable.” The Palestinians disagree with him. They know they are doing pretty well materially, the world is criticizing Israel, and they don’t have to make any concessions.
But here’s where it gets interesting: there is a very serious prospect of no direct or any serious Israel-Palestinian negotiations during all of 2010. And in late September, Israel’s ten-month freeze ends. No progress, no continued freeze.
There is literally no way out for the Obama Administration…
Future Recruits Refuse Orders Against the Torah
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, DECEMBER 24 — About two hundred young Israelis about to start their military service have signed a petition in which they pledge to refuse orders which could violate the Torah (the Law of Moses). “We refuse to obey any order which, in the opinion of our rabbis, violates the Torah,” they wrote, “since loyalty to the Torah overrides that to the armed forces.” The youths noted especially that the dismantling of Israeli settlements “is against the religious obligation to settle the entire land of Israel”. The initiative has come amid high tension between Israeli settlers and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has adopted a number of sanctions against a yeshiva (rabbinic school) directed by a rabbi refusing to condemn his disciples in uniform after they announced their refusal to take part in the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The yeshiva in question is one of those with a special agreement with the armed forces, whose members do part of their military service while continuing their religious studies. (ANSAmed).
Israelis Denounce Hamas in Belgium for War Crimes
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, DECEMBER 24 — In Belgium, fifteen Israelis have reported leaders of the Islamic movement Hamas accusing them of war crimes. According to reports, Israelis made use of their Belgian citizenship to begin criminal proceedings against Hamas. The law in force in Belgium gives tribunals the power to rule on international crimes if the victims are Belgian citizens or have lived there for a certain period of time. The move is clearly a response to the legal battle that Palestinians are conducting within a number of international forums against Israel, requesting the opening of judicial proceedings against Israeli politicians and soldiers accused of war crimes. Recently, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had to call off a trip to London after finding out that she could have been arrested, due to an arrest warrant for war crimes submitted by Arab activists to a British judge. The denunciation by Israelis targeted in particular the Hamas leader in Damascus, Khaled Meshaal, the premier of the de facto Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, former foreign minister Mahmud Az-Zahar, and the head of Hamas’s military wing, Ahmed Jabri. In the report, Israelis claim they had been victims of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip against southern Israel and its civilian population, and that they have proof linking the Hamas leaders to terrorist attacks even on Belgian citizens. (ANSAmed).
The Forgotten Palestinian Refugees
Even in Bethlehem, Palestinian Christians are suffering under Muslim intolerance.
Meet Yussuf Khoury, a 23-year old Palestinian refugee living in the West Bank. Unlike those descendents of refugees born in United Nations camps, Mr. Khoury fled his birthplace just two years ago. And he wasn’t running away from Israelis, but from his Palestinian brethren in Gaza.
Mr. Khoury’s crime in that Hamas-ruled territory was to be a Christian, a transgression he compounded in the Islamists’ eyes by writing love poems.
“Muslims tied to Hamas tried to take me twice,” says Mr. Khoury, and he didn’t want to find out what they’d do to him if they ever kidnapped him. He hasn’t seen his family since Christmas 2007 and is afraid even to talk to them on the phone.
Speaking to a group of foreign journalists in the Bethlehem Bible College where he is studying theology, Mr. Khoury describes a life of fear in Gaza. “My sister is under a lot of pressure to wear a headscarf. People are turning more and more to Islamic fundamentalism and the situation for Christians is very difficult,” he says.
West Bank: Israeli Killed
(ANSAmed) — BETHLEHEM, DECEMBER 24 — An Israeli was killed today by a firearm inside his car near the Shavei Shomron settlement in the northern part of the West Bank. The hypothesis at the moment is that he was victim of a Palestinian attack. (ANSAmed).
Africa New Destination for Turkish Shoes
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 21 — Turkish shoe manufacturers are increasingly orienting toward new markets in Africa and the Middle East due to a decline in orders from Europe, as Hurriyet daily reports quoting Islam Seker, chairman of the Footwear Industrialists’ Association of Turkey, or TADS, as saying. Approximately 80% of the 500 million pairs of shoes manufactured in Turkey each year are sold overseas. Russia is the leading export destination with 15% of the entire export volume, followed by Romania, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Netherlands. Over the first eight months of 2009, total exports declined 0.8% in terms of pairs sold, and 22% in terms of value, compared with the same period in 2008. Exports to Russia increased by 3% over the same period. (ANSAmed).
Iran Deals Put Turkey at Odds With NATO
Ankara defending nuke ‘rights,’ pressing for business deals
Turkey has run afoul of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United States as a result of its defense of Iran’s nuclear program and recent agreements on multi-billion dollar projects with Tehran, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Despite being a member of NATO, Turkey has backed Iran’s nuclear program and plans to expand dramatically its economic and trade relationship with Iran in the face of existing international sanctions.
[…]
Turkey also plans to build a transit road to China to pass through the Iranian cities of Tabriz, Tehran and Mashhad, according to Davutoglu.
Syria: Assad Blames Israel for Stalled Peace Process
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS — Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad has accused Israel of being “the main one to blame” for the deadlock in the Middle Eastern peace process, and said that Israel is only interested in talks with no concrete basis. “When Israel says it wants negotiations without any conditions what it really means is talks without any principles, without aims and without results, as what we are seeing with the Palestinians,” said Assad in a joint press conference with Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the latter’s visit to Damascus. The president took advantage of the occasion to publicly thank Turkey for the mediation it had engaged in as part of indirect talks between Syria and Israel, mostly as concerns the future of the Golan Heights — the main problem between the two countries. The talks were suspended in 2008 when Israel began its offensive in the Gaza Strip and have not yet resumed. Assad said that Syria “is counting on this mediation more than ever”, and Erdogan replied that his country is ready to reactivate it “if Israel agrees”. However, Benyamin Netanyahu’s government has rejected the possibility of a new diplomatic initiative with Turkey, a country which used to enjoy excellent relations with Israel but which is now considered less reliable by the latter due to the firm stance taken by the country against the intervention in Gaza. (ANSAmed).
Transport: Emirates to Launch A380 on Jeddah Route Next Year
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, DECEMBER 24 — Dubai-based carrier Emirates announced today its Jeddah route will be served by an A380 superjumbo from next year, Arabian Business online reports. The service, which runs four times a week to the Saudi city, will be the airline’s eighth A380 service when it starts on February 1, 2010. Emirates already flies the world’s largest plane to Sydney, Auckland, Heathrow, Bangkok, Toronto, Seoul and from December 29, Paris, the firm said in a statement. “The introduction of the highly acclaimed A380 on the Jeddah route is a true reflection of an increased demand for services in and out of the kingdom,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ senior vice president commercial operations Gulf, Middle East and Iran. “This service into Jeddah will mark Emirates’ first Middle Eastern A380 destination outside of Dubai, a significant milestone for both Emirates and Saudi Arabia.” “Adding an A380 onto this perpetually busy route will significantly increase our capacity; ensuring passengers have greater access to flights.” The A380 service to Jeddah will have 14 private suites in first class, 76 new generation, fully flat seats in business class and 427 seats in economy. From February the A380 flights will depart Dubai on Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 4.30pm, arriving in Jeddah at 6.30pm. The return flight leaves Jeddah at 8.45pm and arrives in Dubai at 12.15am. Emirates currently has seven A380 aircraft in its fleet. A further 51 double-deckers are still to be delivered, the firm said. (ANSAmed).
Turkey to Open Armenian Church in Van City
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 24 — Turkish autorities would open an Armenian church in the eastern city of Van to worship, Anatolia news agency reports quoting Munir Karaloglu, the governor of the eastern province of Van, as saying. Karalogku added that they would open the Akdamar Church to worship in September 2010. “We expect all Armenian citizens to a prayer at the Akdamar Church on September 12, 2010,” Karaloglu told Anatolia agency. The Akdamar Church on Akdamar Island on Lake Van was opened in 2007 as a museum after it was restored by the Turkish government between May 2005 and October 2006. The restoration costed 1.7 million USD (2.6 million Turkish liras). Karaloglu said he had contacted the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for opening of the church to worship, and they would invite all Armenians to the prayer in 2010. The Akdamar Church was constructed by architect bishop Manuel between 915 and 921 A.D. under the supervision of King Gagik I. Among the important pieces of Armenian architecture, the church draws attraction with its stone workmanship and the relieves on its walls. (ANSAmed).
Turkey: Bill on Large Stores Coming Soon to Parliament
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 21 — A bill to re-organize the retail market in Turkey in accordance with the needs and demands of small shopkeepers and large stores is currently being drafted and will likely be on the Cabinet’s agenda soon after the budget talks are over, Today’s Zaman reports quoting Turkey’s Minister of Industry and Trade Nihat Ergun as saying. Discussions in Parliament over the bill will possibly commence by January or February of next year, he added. Ergun was speaking on the results of the Thrace Industry and Commerce Summit, which took place last week in Edirne with the participation of civil society organizations, businessmen, academics and experts from Edirne, Kirklareli and Tekirdag. He said the small business owners attending the summit complained about the lack of legislation to protect their interests against competition from larger stores, including supermarkets, department stores, discount stores and shopping malls. The minister noted that the bill would introduce a number of significant changes to the current system.(ANSAmed).
Yemen: ‘Dozens of Al-Qaeda Militants’ Killed in Air Raid
Sanaa, 24 Dec. (AKI) — Yemeni air strikes on Thursday killed at least 30 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in a remote area of the country, according to senior security officials quoted by the state news agency Saba. The militants were Yemeni and foreign nationals and they died in an air raid on an Al-Qaeda hideout in the Rafdh area of Shabwa governorate, a rugged location about 650 kilometres east of the Yemeni capital.
The head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasser al-Wahishi and his deputy, Saeed al-Saudi Shahrani, were present at the meeting, Saba sited an anonymous source in Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee as saying.
According to the source, the Al-Qaeda meeting was to plan the implementation of a number of terrorist operations against Yemeni and foreign interests, including important economic installations including oil targets.
AFP news agency quoted the security official as saying Saudis and Iranians had been at the meeting.
Al-Qaeda has carried out frequent attacks in Yemen in recent months and the Yemeni government has stated that combatting terrorism and extremism is one of its top priorities.
The Saudi government has recently expressed its concern about the resurgence of the movement in the region.
Thursday’s strike brings the Yemeni government’s tally of Al-Qaeda members killed over the past eight days to 68.
A Yemeni air strike last Thursday on one of the group’s training camps in southern Abyan province killed 34 Al-Qaeda members, according to the Yemeni government.
Supporters of Yemen’s separatist Southern Movement have called for an inquiry into last Thursday’s raids in Abyan. A local official and a tribal source said that 49 civilians, including 23 women and 17 children, were among those killed in that strike.
On the same day, four members of Al-Qaeda were killed in Abhar, about 35 kilometres north of Sanaa, in what the government described as counter-terrorism operations.
The Yemeni defence ministry said on Thursday that 29 Al-Qaeda members had been arrested in Yemen since last Thursday’s strike, revising an earlier figure of 30.
The interior ministry has ordered its bodies and offices in all governorates step up security at all strategic installations in Yemen, according to Saba.
Militants in Yemen and Saudi Arabia earlier this year announced they were forming a loose alliance entitled Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, based in Yemen.
India: Christmas Celebrations Draw Stepped-Up Attacks
‘They are against any expression of Christianity’
India’s radical Hindu parties have stepped up their anti-Christian violence in response to the Christmas celebration, according to organizations whose field operations include India.
Compass Direct and International Christian Concern report that elements of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh organization attacked a pastor and his wife in the village of Decarakonda in Nalgonda province recently.
In another attack, radical Hindus claim to have forced 1,700 Christians to reconvert to Hinduism in western Gujarat state.
ICC’s Jonathan Racho says the radical Hindus are against expressions of other religious beliefs, and Christmas intensifies their fear.
Pakistan: Christians Celebrate Christmas in Fear
Gojra’s Christians still being threatened by perpetrators of violence in August
GOJRA: No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence against minorities in Pakistan this year. Instead, there is a pervasive sense of fear.
The Christians have received cell phone text messages warning them to expect a “special Christmas present”, they said, and are terrified of their tents being torched or their church services being bombed.
“Last year I celebrated Christmas full of joy,” said Irfan Masih, cradling his young son among the canvas shelters and open ditches of the camp. “But now the fear that we may again be attacked is in our hearts,” he added.
Still threatened: “They are threatening us, [saying] ‘we will again attack you and will not let you out of your homes, we will burn you inside this time’,” he said.
Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo Jailed for Subversion
Leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has been jailed for 11 years for “inciting subversion of state power”, after a trial condemned in the West.
The trial, from which Western diplomats and journalists were barred, followed Mr Liu’s co-authorship of a document last year urging political reform.
[…]
Mr Liu is a prominent government critic and veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.
A writer and former university professor, he has been in jail since 2008, after being arrested for writing a document known as Charter 08.
The charter called for greater freedoms and democratic reforms in China, including an end to Communist one-party rule.
Mr Liu is the only person to have been arrested for organising the Charter 08 appeal, but others who signed it have reported being harassed.
All the men had the cartilage of the nose bored, through which they wore a piece of wood or a porcupine’s quill. Whether they are considered as to their persons, their turn of mind, or way of life, the Bosjesmans are certainly a most extraordinary race of people. In their persons they are extremely diminutive. The tallest of the men measured only four feet nine inches, and the tallest woman four feet four inches…. [T]hey are known in the colony under the name of Cineeze, or Chinese Hottentots. Their bellies are uncommonly protuberant, and their backs hollow; but their limbs seem in general well turned and proportioned. Their activity is incredibly great. The klip-springing antelope can scarcely excel them in leaping from rock to rock; and they are said to be so swift, that, on rough ground, or up the sides of mountains, horsemen have no chance in keeping pace with them…. The Ethiopian soldiers, when called upon to defend themselves, or to face an enemy, stuck poisoned arrows with a fillet bound round the head, which, projecting like so many rays, formed a kind of crown. The Bosjesmans do exactly the same thing; and they place them in this manner for the double purpose of expeditious shooting, and of striking terror into the minds of their enemies…. Their bows are remarkably small; and, in the hands of any one but a Bosjesman, would be entirely useless. From the earliest infancy they accustom themselves to the use of the bow. All the little boys who came to us at the kraal carried their bows and small quivers of arrows. A complete quiver contains about seventy or eighty…. [Vol. 1, pp. 233-34, 239, 243]
This month the prominent 70-year-old businessman Alhaji Umaru Mutallab quit his position as director of First Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria’s oldest bank. He criticized his son, who had become ever more extremist. The father, according to the family, is devastated by the news of the failed terrorist attack by his son.
The 32-year-old Jasper Schuringa overpowered the Nigerian terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab (23) on board the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit and prevented a terrorist attack.
At our Christmas Eve service last night, the sermon was about love. The priest began with a list of definitions of the word, definitions given by children. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a source for this list but I was permitted to take it home to share with you.
A gunman with a wheelchair who turned the Christmas holiday into a frightful ordeal for a small community in western Virginia has surrendered, police say.