Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/10/2008

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Thanks to Insubria, C. Cantoni, Steen, TB, Fjordman, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Libyan Leader States His Reasons for Rejecting Mediterranean Union Project

At 0840 gmt, Libyan television began to relay a live news conference held in Tripoli by Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi on the Mediterranean union project proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Al-Qadhafi began by saying that he wanted to clarify his position towards the project to the peoples of the region and to the world.

[...]

He said the word union was inappropriate: "There is no unity among Arabs! How can there be unity with Scotland, Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries and the Israelis? Is this reasonable? Leaders of the Arab Maghreb Union have not met for 10 year." He said Arabs and Africans did not share culture, religion or politics with Europe: "We believe in Jesus as a prophet, but Europe does not believe in Muhammad as a prophet. They ridiculed him in Scandinavian countries with lampooning cartoons. We don't ridicule Jesus, may God's peace be upon him! As long as they do these things against Muhammad, it seems that we will be enemies as far as religion is concerned. How can we unite while there is a deep- rooted religious enmity between us?"

Hägglund lashes out at Sweden Democrats

Christian Democrat leader Göran Hägglund has launched a searing attack on the Sweden Democrats, a party he said had failed to shake off its Nazi past.

Addressing a crown of 1,500 at the annual Almedalen political fest on the island of Gotland, Hägglund said that despite attempts to "cover up their brown colour" the Sweden Democrats retained "clear xenophobic tendencies."

"It was not so many years ago that members of that particular party turned up in Nazi uniforms and performed the Hitler salute at party meetings," said Hägglund.

The Minister for Social Affairs wondered aloud what the national football team would be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic or how the industrial, healthcare and service sectors would survive without people with roots in other countries to staff them.

Immigrants still battle underemployment

Employment of immigrants has increased in Norway in recent years, largely because of a labour shortage, but many remain underemployed, since they're only offered jobs below their competence levels.

Profile: Iranian student leader Ali Afshari

Rome, 9 July (AKI) - Ali Afshari was Secretary of the Central Council of the Iranian Islamic Student Association at Amir Kabir University of Technology from 1995 to 1999.

Ashari held that position until 2004, when he was elected member of the Central Council of the Office to Foster Unity National Islamic Student Association (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat).

Iran: Italian and EU support crucial for jailed students, says leader

Rome, 9 July (AKI) - The European Union, and in particular Italy, is important in giving hope to the Iranian students' movement to continue their fight for democracy in Iran.

This was the message from Ali Afshari, a prominent leader of the Iranian student movement, when he arrived in Rome on Wednesday. Afshari gave a media conference at the headquarters of the Adnkronos news agency.

"YouTube et al threaten to bring openness to the House:" Update on Democrat Politicians Move to Control Congressional Internet Content

Of course the YouTube "threat" applies to both sides of the political aisle. So anyone who believes that Republicans are making a mountain out of a molehill about the issue is poorly informed.

This is one issue on which all Americans, no matter their political ideology, need to link arms. To reference the Hang Right blog's banner quote of Benjamin Franklin: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Iran: President says 70 percent of Italians back him

Tehran, 12 June (AKI) - An Iranian newspaper has published an article in which it says the country's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has the support of most Italians.

Controversial Imam Back in Favour at InHolland College

AMSTERDAM, 10/07/08 - The controversial imam Bahauddin Budak may continue to teach at the Hogeschool InHolland college. He has resumed his work as a tutor of Islam, the school has confirmed.

The imam came into the limelight in May after statements on the website of the Netherlands Islamic Broadcasting Organisation (NIO), one of the public broadcasters. Budak advised a Muslim girl who had been raped by her cousin to forgive him.

After the 'incident', InHolland said there was no longer room for the imam in the university's teacher training programme. However, Budak has been rehired after he had made it clear during a number of interviews that his advice was unwise, according to Geert Dales, the chairman of Hogeschool InHolland.

FRA chief admits to intelligence sharing

The head of Sweden's embattled National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) has admitted to sharing sensitive information with other countries, Dagens Nyheter reports.

Ingvar Åkesson said he did not wish to upset his trading partners by revealing their identities. He would only say that FRA dealt exclusively with democratic states.

"Often we have information that could also be of interest to other countries. If we then share it, we can get information in return that is of benefit to leading state figures in Sweden but that we have not managed to get hold of ourselves," he told Dagens Nyheter.

Åkesson would not comment on reports that the main purpose of a controversial new surveillance law was to gather data crossing Sweden's borders on its way to and from Russia.

Turkey: Possible al-Qaeda link to US consulate attack

Istanbul, 10 July (AKI) - While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the US consulate in Istanbul, there is growing speculation that al-Qaeda was behind the shootings.

Turkish security sources told local media that all three assailants were from eastern Turkey and were suspected of being members of a group linked to al-Qaeda.

PRESS RELEASE

Two American Children Escorted from Taliban Madrassa by American Consulate in Karachi for Flight to NYC

"Karachi Kids" Documentary Spurs Action

(July 10 -- Atlanta, GA) - Two American children were escorted by the American consulate officers in Karachi, Pakistan Tuesday night Pakistan time and boarded a flight to Dubai, UAE and then boarded a direct flight to NYC, Noor Elahi Khan and Mahboob Elahi Khan are expected to arrive in Atlanta on a Delta flight this afternoon at 4:30 PM.

The two brothers have been in a Pakistani madrassa for four years and are the focus of a newly released documentary entitled "The Karachi Kids".

news@karachikids.com

Delusion of global warming affects 17 year old

PSYCHIATRISTS have detected the first case of "climate change delusion" - and they haven't even yet got to Kevin Rudd and his global warming guru.

Writing in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of our Royal Children's Hospital say this delusion was a "previously unreported phenomenon".

"A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events."

IMMIGRATION: ONE IN EVERY TEN NEWBORNS IN ITALY FOREIGNER

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JULY 1 - One in every ten children born in Italy has foreign parents, according to the ISTAT report on birth-rate published today. According to the statistics institute data, 10.3% of the children are born by non-Italian couples, a percentage that was 4% in 1999, while 14.3% of the newborns have at least one foreign parent.

EU migration law has an impact on Switzerland

Switzerland will have to adapt its laws on asylum and foreigners to conform to a new migration law passed on Wednesday by the European Union's parliament.

The law limits the period illegal immigrants can be detained to 18 months, six months less than is the case in Switzerland, which has signed a security and asylum accord with the EU due to come into effect in a few months' time.

Sarkozy Moves to Control French Media

President Nicolas Sarkozy has benefited more than almost any other politician from the media's growing obsession with celebrity. France's “téléprésident” orchestrates politics like a reality show -- and now he intends to tighten his grip on public television.

'Snoop law bad for Swedish business'

Sweden's new surveillance law could prove disastrous for the country's highly regarded technology sector, write the CEOs of eight major IT and telecom companies.

Sweden has long had a good reputation as an open and growth-oriented nation. This has contributed to making our country an attractive place both in which to live and conduct business.

But the new surveillance law put forward by the Swedish government is causing a great deal of concern and alarm among many parts of our society, and the government’s handling of reactions to the new law has generated little or no confidence.

Street children in Yemen, caught between selling drugs and sex slavery

Many children in the poorest country in the Middle East are exploited by unscrupulous employers or end up in prostitution. The absence of policies geared towards the family and the state’s lack of interest in children’s fate increase the sense of abandonment.

Terrorism: Bin Laden's followers tell al-Qaeda's story in new video

Dubai, 10 July (AKI) - Followers of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden tell the history of the terrorist organisation in the latest video released overnight on Islamist websites on the Internet.

The video, entitled "Jihad and Martyrdom", was produced by al-Sahab, al-Qaeda's media outlet in Arabic with English subtitles.

ROMA - FRATTINI: "UNFOUNDED SLURS FROM EUROPE'S PARLIAMENT"

(AGI) - Rome, 10th July - What the European Parliament said is "at totally unfounded accusation, and the upshot of a political vote" was the response given by Franco Frattini, in a video forum on 'Repubblica tv', to the resolution with with Strasburg's assembly censured the Italian Government's plan to fingerprint Roma minors. According to the Foreign Minister, the vote in the European Parliament was "the fruit of an unawareness of the actual situation", because it expressed itself on "an Italian law that is not yet enacted, because Parliament is still deciding on the bill's enactment, so it was a premature act, from that point of view".

Govt to ignore EU fingerprint vote

Maroni 'outraged' over resolution on gypsy census

(ANSA) - Rome, July 10 - Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Thursday that Italy would continue to take fingerprints during a government census of gypsy camps despite a European Parliament (EP) recommendation to stop.

Jihad in China

Chinese police shot dead five members of a radical Islamic separatist group intent on waging "holy war," state media reported Wednesday, as top officials called for an all-out security push ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics.

No hard evidence was offered to back up the claim, although a leading terrorism expert said such incidents underscore the significant threat Beijing faces from an al-Qaida-linked radical group fighting for independence in the predominantly Muslim far western Xinjiang region.

Turkey: Police arrest four in US consulate inquiry

Ankara, 10 July (AKI) - Turkish police on Thursday arrested four people in relation to the fatal shootout in front of the US consulate building in Islamabad.

According to Anadolu news agency, Turkey's Interior Minister Besir Atalay said the four were taken into custody as police continued their inquiries into Wednesday's attack.

MIDEAST: OLMERT GOV'T EXAMINES HEZBOLLAH MILITARY POTENTIAL

(ANSAmed) - JERUSALEM, JULY 9 - The Israeli government's defence council was summoned urgently today by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to examine the military potential of Hezbollah two years after the war in Lebanon, the military radio reported. According to the radio, Hezbollah managed to supply itself with military potential superior to the one of 2006. The Shiite militants were reportedly having 40,000 rockets of various types. The military radio added that the militants of Hassan Nasrallah are again acting in the Lebanese villages located between the Litani River and the border with Israel. Yesterday the situation at the border between Israel and Lebanon was examined by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who flew in a helicopter over Upper Galilee in the company of Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. (ANSAmed).

Jordanian journalist hails ‘Messenger of Allah Unites Us Campaign’

AMMAN- A Jordanian journalist has praised the effort made by the "Messenger of Allah Unites Us Campaign” to confront the anti-Islam attacks by some western newspapers.

Nazih Al Qsous, a writer in the Addustor Arabic Daily Newspaper, said in an article published in Wednesday’s issue entitled "Messenger of Allah Unites Us Campaign and the Calculated Response" that the campaign is a well planned response to the anti-Islam acts such as the symposiums, speeches and demonstrations exploited by the mass western media to distort the image of Islam and Muslims.

He said that the “Messenger of Allah Unites Us Campaign” adopted the best measures to stand in the face of the western media campaigns and it should be a model to be followed by others.

"Messenger of Allah Unites Us Campaign has achieved the unexpected when it has won the lawsuit it has filed against a number of Danish newspapers and the Dutch MP when the Amman Prosecutor General has subpoenaed the defendant to come to attend before a Jordanian court and, if they do not come, he will issue arrest warrants," he stressed.

Sarkozy seeks pardon for Petrella

French president wants clemency for ex- terrorist

(ANSA) - Strasbourg, July 10 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday that he has written to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Premier Silvio Berlusconi asking that a former terrorist about to be extradited from France to Italy be granted a pardon.

Rushdie named best-ever winner of Booker Prize

LONDON: Salman Rushdie is probably the Booker Prize's best-known winner. Now he is officially the best.

Rushdie's 1981 novel "Midnight's Children" was named Thursday as the greatest-ever winner of Britain's most prestigious literary award. The book received more than a third of the 7,801 votes cast in a competition to mark the prize's 40th anniversary.

Foreign children 'should be taught in their own languages'

Green spokeswoman Maria Wetterstrand told a press conference at the Almedalen political week in Visby, Gotland, that research shows that “people learn better if they get support in their native language.”

“There has been enough wishy-washiness in schools. It’s time to listen to the results of research,” she said, citing the fact that 40 percent of pupils who had come to Sweden from abroad left school without qualifications.

LIBYA-FRANCE: NUCLEAR COOPERATION AGREEMENT SIGNED

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JULY 10 - Paris and Tripoli officially signed a cooperation agreement for the development of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, concluded in July 2007 by President Sarkozy during his visit to Tripoli after the release of the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor (accused of infecting with HIV more than 400 Libyan children) and repeated on the occasion of the controversial visit to Paris in December of colonel Gaddafi.

Germany plans to give vote to babies

Dozens of German politicians have tabled a new law to extend voting rights to babies, toddlers, children and teenagers.

The bill, which has won the cross-party backing of some heavyweight German politicians, would wipe away decades of "exclusion" and "discrimination" against minors, according to its supporters.

Dallas County officials spar over 'black hole' comment

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

Gates of Vienna News Feed
Last updated July 10, 2008
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