Hiding the truth about Husseini
jpost.com - 30/08/2009
BERLIN, GERMANY - The publicly funded Multicultural Center's (Werkstatt der Kulturen) decision to remove educational panels of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, HAJJ MUHAMMAD AMIN AL-HUSSEINI, WHO WAS AN ALLY OF ADOLF HITLER, from a planned exhibit, sparked outrage on Thursday among a district mayor, the curator of the exhibit, and the Berlin Jewish community.
The curator, Karl Rössler, told The Jerusalem Post that it is a "scandal" that the director of the Werkstatt, Philippa Ebéné, sought to censor the exhibit. "One must, of course, name that al-Husseini, an SS functionary, participated in the Holocaust," said Rössler.
The exhibit covers the "The Third World during the Second World War" and three exhibit panels of a total of 96 are devoted to the mufti's collaboration with the Nazis. The grand mufti delivered a talk to the imams of the Bosnian SS division in 1944, and WAS A KEY ISLAMIC SUPPORTER OF NAZI GERMANY'S DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY.
Foreign mothers help push Britain's population past 61m
dailymail.co.uk - 28/08/2009
UK - An immigrant baby boom is fuelling Britain's fastest population growth in half a century. The number of people in the UK has passed 61 million for the first time, figures showed yesterday.
Record immigration levels over the past decade have driven up the number of women of childbearing age. This helped boost the number of births last year to 791,000 - up 33,000 on 2007. For the first time in a decade, the excess of births over deaths played a bigger role than immigration itself in driving population growth, which is now twice as fast as in the 1990s.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics show that net immigration - the balance of those arriving over those leaving - fell by 44 per cent between 2007 and 2008 as economic turmoil triggered an exodus of foreign workers. Immigration Minister Phil Woolas seized on those figures as proof that Britain's borders were 'stronger than ever' and migration was 'under control'.
He insisted that previous projections showing the UK population rising to 70million within 30 years were now 'not true'. Opposition critics and immigration campaigners reacted with incredulity, pointing out that immigration remains at near-record levels and IT IS FOREIGN-BORN MOTHERS WHO ARE PUSHING UP THE BIRTH RATE.
California Garage Sale to help economy
telegraph.co.uk - 28/08/2009
USA - California's $85bn (£52.5bn) budget has a deficit of $26bn (£16bn). In his latest move to boost his state's ailing economy, Mr Schwarzenegger is offering 6,000 items - ranging from cars to computers to binoculars - for auction on the eBay and Craigslist websites.
California began selling unneeded or unclaimed items online last week and is holding a two-day auction of 6,000 more on Friday and Saturday. To entice buyers, the governor has autographed the sun visors of several of the vehicles up for sale in order to raise their value.
"By posting items online, Californians and people from other states and around the world can participate in the Great California Garage Sale," Mr Schwarzenegger said in a statement on his website. "This is a win-win for the state and for shoppers. Together we are eliminating waste and providing great deals in this tough economy."
Netanyahu-Mitchell Talks End, More Planned
Arutz Sheva News Service - 28/08/2009
LONDON, UK - Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell concluded discussions lasting several hours Wednesday afternoon in London, without any formal agreement on American demands.
After the meeting in London, both leaders continued to present optimistic statements about "progress" towards a resumption of direct PA-Israeli negotiations, which in effect have been conducted with the United States as a proxy for the PA. The discussions between Mitchell and the Israeli leader are a continuation of American attempts to keep all sides talking, DESPITE STATEMENTS FROM BOTH SIDES THAT SEEM TO MAKE ANY AGREEMENT IMPOSSIBLE.
However, ABBAS SAID IN RAMALLAH ON WEDNESDAY THAT THERE MAY BE TALKS BUT NOT ANY NEGOTIATIONS, adding that he is "DETERMINED TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT STATE WITH JERUSALEM AS ITS CAPITAL," without letting Israel exercise sovereignty over any land that was restored to the Jewish State in 1967.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU REITERATED TUESDAY THAT ISRAEL WILL NOT GIVE UP SOVEREIGNTY OVER JERUSALEM and will not stop all construction. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in an interview with the London Times, said that the PA will be a de facto state within two years, regardless of Israel's position. BOTH HE AND ABBAS HAVE REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE, A CONDITION THAT PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU HAS SAID IS A NECESSITY FOR AN AGREEMENT.
Germany Is Iran's Largest Trading Partner
Arutz Sheva News Service - 28/08/2009
GERMANY - On the eve of Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Germany, embarrassing figures have emerged about Germany and Iran. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken out against economic ties with Iran, STATISTICS SHOW THAT GERMANY HAS BECOME IRAN'S LARGEST TRADING PARTNER.
Germany's Federal Statistical Office has released data showing exports to Iran increased 10 percent in 2008. Germany's exports to Iran reached $6 billion in 2008, close to the record it set in 2004 and 2005. On November 27, 2008, German and Iranian business leaders began a conference in Hamburg called "Iran Sanctions: Practical Consequence for German Firms." The purpose of the conference was to improve German business relations in Iran as well as the German and Iranian political relationship. Angela Merkel's own administration has subsidized investments in Iran by providing German firms with $400 million in credit guarantees.
Meanwhile, on June 8 2009, German petrochemical company Basell Polyolefine signed a $1.3 billion trade deal with Iran to supply technology to build three plants involving synthetic and plastic material.
New reports also suggest that the Iranian regime is using technology obtained from Siemens, the German energy and engineering giant, and its partner, the Finnish communications firm Nokia, to crack down on internet access, cell phone use, and Twitter accounts of protesters and dissidents.
Netanyahu in Germany: We Must Stop Evil In Due Time
Arutz Sheva News Service - 28/08/2009
GERMANY - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received on Thursday in Germany 29 sketches of the Auschwitz death camp and declared, "We cannot allow evil to cause massive death. We must stop evil in due time."
In a clear reference to Iran, he added, "IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD HAS STATED SEVERAL TIMES THAT THE STATE OF ISRAEL SHOULD BE 'WIPED OUT' and is advancing Iran's nuclear programme", which Israel and much of the Western world fears will ENABLE THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TO BUILD A NUCLEAR WARHEAD TO BE AIMED AT ISRAEL. Ahmadinejad also is a leader in the movement to deny that the Nazi regime butchered six million Jews.
The Bild newspaper was among those who purchased the blueprints and published their existence after an unidentified person found them last year in a Berlin apartment. Yad VaShem chairman Avner Shalev and director of its archives, Chaim Gertner, were present at a ceremony where the Bild publisher handed the documents to the prime minister.
The blueprints will be displayed at Yad VaShem in January 2010, marking 65 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. "As original plans detailing the construction of Auschwitz, where some one million Jews were murdered, these documents have great historical significance," Shalev remarked. "They constitute concrete illustrations of the Germans' systematic effort to carry out the 'Final Solution'", Shalev added, stating that the documents would be made available to researchers for years to come. The documents will be added to Yad VaShem's archives, which currently holds over 125 million pages of Holocaust records.
Update - Lockerbie bomber
timesonline.co.uk - 28/08/2009
LIBYA - British and other Western expatriates living in Libya WERE WARNED IN APRIL THAT THEY FACED SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS if the Lockerbie bomber died in his Scottish prison.
"Word went out that there could be reprisals . . . We were told not to go into the centre of Tripoli," said one of the thousands of Westerners who are helping to develop Libya's oil and gas fields. "It's so unpredictable here. You don't know what's going to happen." Expats who have been finding it difficult to get their visas renewed hope that, with al-Megrahi's release, the wheels of bureaucracy will turn more easily.
Netanyahu-Abbas-Obama Trilateral Meeting
Arutz Sheva News Service - 28/08/2009
ISRAEL - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "MAY MEET" in trilateral talks next month with US President Barack Obama and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, according to Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Professor Gabriela Shalev.
She said that if the three leaders agree to meet, they will gather at the United Nations when the General Assembly begins its new session. Shalev mentioned the meeting during a press conference at the UN, where she also stated, "We are willing to recognize a two-state solution. While we recognize the Arab state, they must recognize our rights - the Jewish nation - to live in our state. IT MEANS BOTH SHOULD RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER."
Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to Germany for day-long talks following the meeting, and then to return to Israel early Friday. Kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whose 23rd birthday will be Friday, is expected to be a main topic on the agenda in Germany. German negotiators have been actively involved in assisting Egypt in mediating talks with the Hamas terrorist organization on a prisoner swap deal for Shalit's freedom.
Netanyahu to UK: Jerusalem is Sovereign Capital of Israel
Arutz Sheva News Service - 28/08/2009
LONDON, UK - Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told British officials Tuesday in London that Israel would not stop building in any area of its capital city. "JERUSALEM IS NOT A SETTLEMENT. IT IS THE SOVEREIGN CAPITAL OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL, and Israel will not accept limits on its sovereignty there," he told reporters bluntly. "We have been building in Jerusalem for 3,000 years."
Moreover, growing Jewish families in the existing communities of Judea and Samaria need schools for their children and homes to live in, he added. "This is different from grabbing land," he emphasized, and said he hoped to find a "bridging formula" that would enable Jews living in the regions to live a "normal life." Israel has already removed more than 140 security checkpoints and roadblocks, Netanyahu pointed out, adding that it is now time FOR THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY to exhibit "courageous leadership" and RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS THE JEWISH HOMELAND.
He also discussed his disappointment with the inflammatory rhetoric that came out of the recent Sixth Annual Fatah General Assembly held in Bethlehem, at which PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was elected to another five-year term as the faction's leader. Fatah, he said, should have adopted a straightforward stance that it is willing and ready for an end to the conflict with Israel and all claims.
Noting that he had come forward and expressed his support for a PA state, Netanyahu said the PA leadership should reciprocate. "We need a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes Israel," he said. "RECOGNITION IS THE PILLAR OF PEACE."
Fatah Convention: Incitement, No Peace
Arutz Sheva News Service - 28/08/2009
BETHLEHEM, PALESTINE - The convention, held earlier this month, appeared to be anything but a gathering of PA activists seeking peace, despite the GENEROUS FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE US GOVERNMENT, WHICH GAVE FATAH $50MILLION to cover conference expenses, according to a report in the Syrian daily Al-Watan.
The paper said that the financial support was an attempt to strengthen Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti was elected to the faction's Central Committee. Delegates to the convention applauded loudly at the mention by Qureia of two terrorists who committed the worst terror attack in Israel's history.
In their final meetings, the delegates approved a resolution stating that JERUSALEM IS AN "INTEGRAL PART OF THE PALESTINIAN HOMELAND AND POLITICAL ENTITY." The holiest city in Judaism is "awaiting our sacrifices," stated the resolution, which Fatah committed itself to carry out "UNTIL JERUSALEM RETURNS TO THE PALESTINIANS VOID OF SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS."
The jobless generation
dailymail.co.uk - 28/08/2009
UK - The proportion of homes in which nobody works has soared to one in six - the highest level in a decade, official figures reveal. Some 3.3million households with at least one person of working age now have no breadwinner.
Alarmingly, it means a sixth of children, or 1.9MILLION, ARE GROWING UP IN HOMES WITH NO WORKING ROLE MODEL. Such children are far more likely to become benefit-dependent adults - raising fears of a 'jobless generation'. It comes as the Tories warn that the cost of worklessness under 12 years of Labour has reached nearly £350billion.
'Worklessness has become a generational problem - passed from father to son, mother to daughter,' she will say. 'Report after report has laid out the problems children growing up in workless households face: they are more likely to fail at school, become involved in criminal behaviour, develop addictions to drink and drugs and ultimately end up workless themselves. A VICIOUS CYCLE HAS EMERGED.'
The Office for National Statistics said the number of working age people in workless households jumped by 500,000 to 4.8million in the year to June. The proportion of homes in which no one works increased by 1.1 per cent to 16.9 per cent, the highest since 1999 and the biggest year-on-year increase since Labour came to power in 1997. The total has increased by 240,000 to 3.3million. In parts of the UK, the problem is even more acute. In the North East, almost a quarter of homes - 23.2 per cent - now have no one in work.
DNA swap could cure inherited diseases
timesonline.co.uk - 27/08/2009
USA - The prospect of a human baby with three biological parents has moved closer after scientists created monkeys using a technique that one day could stop children from inheriting severe genetic diseases.
The birth of four healthy macaque monkeys in the US offers the strongest evidence yet that DNA can be transplanted safely from one egg to another to correct genetic defects that damage health. The successful experiment in a close human relative suggests that it should be possible within a few years to use the method to help women who carry genetic disorders to avoid passing them to their children.
It should allow scientists to replace faulty "cellular batteries" called mitochondria, which affect about 1 in 6,500 births. While most mitochondria defects have mild effects, some can trigger severe brain, heart, muscle and liver conditions, as well as cancer, diabetes, blindness and deafness.
The technique is controversial, however, because the children it creates would inherit genetic material from three parents. The mother and father would contribute most of their child's DNA but a small amount would come from a second woman donating healthy mitochondria. Such children would be the first produced by germline genetic engineering, in which genes introduced by artificial means would be passed to successive generations.
Japanese, Koreans gain most from cash for clunkers
reuters.com - 27/08/2009
WASHINGTON, USA - Japanese and South Korean automakers registered the biggest market share gains in the US government's "cash for clunkers" program that ended this week with bankruptcy related inventory shortages hurting General Motors Co (GM.UL) and Chrysler.
Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T), Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T), Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) capitalized on the program's goal of pushing consumers away from gas guzzling sport utilities and pickups, to more efficient cars and trucks, preliminary sales figures showed on Wednesday. Overseas manufacturers dominate in car sales, while US companies have been stronger in the light truck segment. Cars outsold trucks 2-1 under the "clunker" initiative.
Ford Motor Co (F.N) was the only domestic manufacturer to hold its own in market share compared with its performance so far this year, while GM slipped and Chrysler stumbled noticeably. Transportation Department figures on the "clunkers" incentive, which offered consumers up to $4,500 when they traded in their older vehicles for more fuel efficient new models, showed on Wednesday that total sales amounted to just under 700,000 with $2.87 billion in rebates.
Four British soldiers die for sake of 150 votes
timesonline.co.uk - 27/08/2009
AFGHANISTAN - Just 150 Afghan voters dared to go to the ballot box in the area of Helmand province where British soldiers sacrificed their lives to secure a safe election day, it was revealed yesterday. The figures were released as the British Ambassador to Kabul admitted that troops could be engaged in combat in Afghanistan for five more years.
The Electoral Commission in Kabul said that early estimates of voting in the former Taleban stronghold of Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, indicated that few exercised their right to vote last Thursday. Several thousand people could have voted. Four of the ten troops who died in Operation Panther's Claw, the five-week offensive to drive the Taleban out of central Helmand before the presidential election, were killed in or around Babaji.
In the three years that British troops have been fighting the Taleban in Helmand, 202 members of the Armed Forces have died and about 800 have been injured in battle, 235 of them "very seriously" or "seriously". Mr Sedwill warned that even after the combat mission was complete troops would still be involved in dangerous tasks for many more years.
Glenn Beck goes after Van Jones
latimes.com - 27/08/2009
USA - Glenn Beck used his popular Fox News show this afternoon to attack the background of Van Jones, a White House environmental advisor who co-founded an African American political advocacy group that organized an advertising boycott of his program.
During his 2 pm PDT show, Beck did not address the boycott spearheaded by Color of Change to protest the talk show host's remark last month that he believes President Obama is "a racist." Instead, he spent a large share of his program suggesting that Jones, who co-founded Color of Change in 2005, is a radical. Jones now serves as a special advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
During a six-minute biographical profile, set to ominous music, Beck said Jones was twice arrested for political protests and has described himself as a "ROWDY BLACK NATIONALIST." The talk show host cast the piece as part of a broader examination of Obama's "czars," special advisers to the President who "don't answer to anybody."
"WHY IS IT THAT SUCH A COMMITTED REVOLUTIONARY HAS MADE IT SO HIGH INTO THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AS ONE OF HIS CHIEF ADVISERS?" Beck asked.