SOMALI YOUTH FOR PEACE: June 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Libya: AU condemns French arms drop to rebels

30 June 2011 Last updated at 02:37 GMT

Libyan rebels round-up soldiers loyal to Col Gaddafi in Western Libya. 7 June 2011

France is said to be concerned at the military stalemate in Libya

African Union Commission chief Jean Ping says France's decision to air-drop weapons to Libyan rebels is dangerous and puts the whole region at risk.

He told the BBC the action risked creating problems similar to those in war-torn Somalia.
France has confirmed it dropped arms to Berber tribal fighters in the mountains south-west of the capital, Tripoli.
Some analysts said the move might contravene the UN Security Council embargo on arms supplies to Libya.
Mr Ping was speaking from Equatorial Guinea where African heads of state are to meet on Thursday for an AU summit.
Libya is expected to be high on the summit's agenda.
"There are several problems," he said.
"The risk of civil war, risk of partition of the country, the risk of Somalia-sation of the country, risk of having arms everywhere... with terrorism.
"These risks will concern the neighbouring countries."
Mr Ping said that an AU peace plan for Libya set out in March was still valid. The road map calls for a ceasefire to allow political talks to take place.
News of France's weapons delivery to the rebels emerged in a report by Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday.
The newspaper said France - a leading force in the Nato operation in Libya - did not inform its allies about the move.
Fears of stalemate The report said the weapons included rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles, although French officials would only confirm light arms and ammunition had been dropped to rebel fighters.
The decision was reportedly taken after a meeting in April between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Chief of Staff of the Libyan rebels, Gen Abdelfatah Younis.
France is said to have been concerned at the stalemate in the Libyan conflict that started in February.
Rebels have recently been making gains and hope to advance on Tripoli from the existing front line on the other side of the Nafusa mountains about 65km (40 miles) from the capital.
Russia and China have criticised the Nato campaign, saying it has gone beyond the remit of UN resolution 1973, which authorised international military action in Libya.
However, the US has argued that resolution 1973 allows countries to provide arms to rebels despite an earlier resolution - 1970 - that imposed an arms embargo on the whole of Libya.

Libya Crisis

'Singing penis' sets noise record for water insect

By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature
Micronecta scholtzi (c) Jerome Sueur Tiny bugs make huge sounds with a surprising organ

Tiny bugs make huge sounds with a surprising organ

A tiny water boatman is the loudest animal on Earth relative to its body size, a study has revealed.

Scientists from France and Scotland recorded the aquatic animal "singing" at up to 99.2 decibels, the equivalent of listening to a loud orchestra play while sitting in the front row.

The insect makes the sound by rubbing its penis against its abdomen in a process known as "stridulation".

Researchers say the song is a courtship display performed to attract a mate.

Micronecta scholtzi are freshwater insects measuring just 2mm that are common across Europe.

In a study published in the journal PLoS One, the scientists discovered that the small animals make a mighty sound.

The team of biologists and engineering experts recorded the insects using specialist underwater microphones.

On average, the songs of M. scholtzi reached 78.9 decibels, comparable to a passing freight train.

"We were very surprised. We first thought that the sound was coming from larger aquatic species such as a Sigara species [of] lesser water boatmen," said engineering expert Dr James Windmill from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

"When we identified without any doubt the sound source, we spent a lot of time making absolutely sure that our recordings of the sounds were calibrated correctly."
Continue reading the main story
STRIDULATION FACTS

Stridulation is the act of rubbing two body parts together to produce a sound
Resonating sounds are made when a ridge is rubbed across a finely ridged surface
It is most commonly associated with grasshoppers and crickets but some beetles, bugs and even spiders are known to chirp, chirrup and hiss in this way
Only one species of mammal, the streaked tenrec, is known to stridulate by rubbing its quills together

Find out more about acoustics in the animal kingdom

Dr Windmill explained that the reason the insects don't deafen us is down to the bug's underwater lifestyle.

99% of the sound is lost when transferring from water to air but despite this, the songs were still loud enough to be audible to the human ear.

"The song is so loud that a person walking along the bank can actually hear these tiny creatures singing from the bottom of the river," said Dr Windmill.

The majority of the loudest animals on Earth are also the biggest, with blue whale songs reaching 188 dB and elephant's rumbling calls measuring 117 dB.

Although remarkable acoustic signals are made by a range of invertebrates, including the miniature cricket and preying mantis, and by large mammals, none compare to M. scholtzi once body size is taken into account.

"If you scale the sound level they produce against their body size, Micronecta scholtzi are the loudest animals on Earth," said Dr Windmill.

Researchers believe that sexual selection could be the reason why the insects' songs reach such high amplitude.

"We assume that this could be the result of a runaway selection," biologist and co-author Dr Jerome Sueur from the Museum of Natural History, Paris, told the BBC.

"Males try to compete to have access to females and then try to produce a song as loud as possible potentially scrambling the song of competitors."

Dr Sueur explained that the competition could have exaggerated the volume of males' songs over time.

In many insects, the song volume is limited because predators would hear them, but observations suggest that M. scholtzi lack auditory predators.
Modifications

To produce the intense sound, the water boatmen "stridulate" by rubbing a ridge on their penis across the ridged surface of their abdomen.

"There is a least another one insect producing sound with its genitalia. This is a pyrallid moth, Syntonarcha iriastis, that uses highly modified genitalia to produce ultrasonic signals," explained Dr Sueur.
Micronecta scholtzi (c) Jerome Sueur The tiny bugs belong to a family known in the UK as lesser water boatmen

"Insects seem to be able to use any part of their body to generate sound. Some of them use their wings, others their legs, abdomen, head, wings, thorax etcetera."

What makes M. scholtzi extraordinary is that the area they use to create sound only measures about 50 micrometres across, roughly the width of a human hair.

"We really don't know how they make such a loud sound using such a small area," said Dr Windmill.

Without any obvious adaptations to amplify the sound, the question of how the animals physically make such a loud call remains a mystery.

"These very small bugs create sound at very high level, and it could be very useful for future ultrasonic systems to learn how they do that," said Dr Windmill.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: Will Social Media Democratize the Arab World?

The Stream: How Social Media is Changing the Narrative in the Middle East

In this episode: How social media activists in Palestine are challenging the narratives of mainstream media using YouTube and live blogging.

Daughters of the brothel

AL Jazeera Witness

Naseema was born into and lives in one of India's
most infamous brothels but is now working to free
trafficked women.

Witness Last Modified: 29 Jun 2011 10:40

Filmmaker Gautam Singh explains how he came to make Daughters of the brothel.

India's handwritten magazines have long fascinated me. But while researching the subject

for a blog, I came across one in particular that stood out. Jugnu is a 32-page monthly magazine

that has been written and published by the sex workers of the Chaturbhuj-sthan brothel in Bihar,

near the border with Nepal, for the past 10 years.

Home to about 10,000 women and children, the whole area - named after the Chaturbhuj-sthan

temple, which is located inside - is essentially one large brothel. Historians believe it was first

established during the Moghul era. Prostitution has become a family tradition there - passed down

from generation to generation.

Intrigued, I contacted the magazine and as more details emerged about this extraordinary publication and the women behind it, I realised that this story was

much bigger than a blog.

The magazine had been set up by a group of sex workers led by one girl - Naseema. Born into

Chaturbhuj-sthan, Naseema was abandoned by her mother and raised by a woman she calls her

'grandmother'. Although not actually related to her, this woman used the money she earned as

a prostitute to raise Naseema and send her to school. Naseema became the first girl in the brothel's

300-or-so-year history to receive an education.

When she returned to Chaturbhuj-sthan it was not to sell her body. With the help of local banks,

Naseema established small industries inside the brothel - making candles, matchsticks, bindis

and incense -

offering many prostitutes an alternative form of employment. And she set about persuading the sex

workers to send their children to school. Now almost every child in Chaturbhuj-sthan is in full-time

education.

More than 50 former prostitutes now work with Naseema, who taught them how to read and write.

As well as running the magazine - which is sold across India and also sent to subscribers elsewhere -

Naseema and the other women work to prevent others

being trafficked, mainly from neighbouring Nepal and Bangladesh, into prostitution. In the last year

alone, they have been able to send at least 20 new girls safely back home.

But their work has brought them many enemies; the most feared being Rani Begum. As chief of the

brothel, Begum's finances have suffered a blow as a result of Naseema's activities. Her thugs have

publicly harassed and beaten Naseema and the other women who work with her. Naseema has also

had to fight pimps, as well as some police officers and clerics who were unhappy about her work.

With a clearly identifiable hero, a suitably sinister villain and plenty of action guaranteed as they

face

off against one another, I felt I had come across a story worthy of a novel. I was hopeful that we could

produce a perfect film, but shooting inside a brothel was never going to be easy. I deliberately chose

a very small crew of just three people so that we might remain as invisible as possible. We used

a Canon 7d camera. Its small size and light weight meant that we were able to move quickly from one

place to the next - something that was to prove useful when Begum's thugs were sent to threaten us.

Before starting the shoot, I met Begum, hoping that this would reduce the likelihood of any problems

arising at a later point. About 65 years old, she lives in a huge mansion inside Chaturbhuj-sthan. Polite

and courteous, she sought to portray herself as somebody running a kind of welfare institute for destitute

girls and referred to her brothel as a 'social heritage'. A former dancer herself, she stressed that every girl

in the brothel is taught classical music and dance.

Begum grew less friendly when I started questioning her about Naseema and her work, but nevertheless promised not to trouble us as long as we filmed indoors. One day, however, while eating lunch, some men

came to tell me that Rani Begum wanted us to leave. We eventually had to call the local police to enable

us to complete our shoot.

For me, the most emotional scene in the film is when we meet Roma. A 19-year-old Bangladeshi girl,

Roma thought she was coming to India to marry a friend of her brother-in-law. She was rescued from

the brothel by Naseema and taken to live in a government shelter. But her family still refuses to allow her

to return home for fear that she will give them a bad name. We were able to watch the heartfelt telephone conversation between Roma and her family as she pleaded with them to take her back.

And then there is the story of Boha Tola - a red light area in the neighbouring Sitamarhi district that was

burnt down when local government officials conspired with villagers to eradicate it. Unofficial sources say

that at least 100 women, men and children went missing as a result of the fire. As they were never officially registered by the government, no effort was made to find out what had happened to them.

Naseema and some of the other women recorded the incident on their mobile phones and gave me the

footage to use exclusively in the film. They told horrifying tales of gang-rape, children being thrown onto

fires and police brutality. Some of the women from Chaturbhuj-sthan went on hunger strike to show their solidarity with the people of Boha Tola, but the hunger strikers and their supporters were all put in prison.

Now 32 years old, Naseema is an amazing character who is proud to call herself "a daughter of the brothel".

Source:

Al Jazeera

Maher Zain Awaken with lyrics

Did the Prophet forbid women from driving camels?

Saudi Women are virtual prisoners in their own homes

MUSLIM WOMAN TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT CONDITION OF THE WOMEN IN ARABIA SAUDI

Saudi Women stripping in Internet Chat Rooms

Saudi women in new driving protest

How does a girl become a boy? In India, through radical surgery approved by parents

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

There are now seven million more boys than girls under six years of age in India due to sex selective abortions. (File Photo)

By MUNA KHAN
Al Arabiya with Agencies

Parents in India desperate for a son have resorted to drastic surgeries to change their daughters’ gender.

India’s National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to investigate claims that 300 girls underwent surgeries to become boys in procedures that cost the equivalent $3,200 each. It has also asked for a list of the doctors and hospitals involved in the surgeries as well as actions taken or planned against them, according to The Times of India.

The children in question are said to be between one and five years of age, according to the Hindustan Times.

Civil society activists have reacted with outrage, with one saying the practice “has made a mockery of women in India.”

Ranjana Kumari, of the Center for Social Research said the surgical transformation of girls into boys without their informed consent was a sign of India’s growing “social madness.”

The author and feminist Taslima Nasreen in a Twitter post wrote: “Shocking! Not only do people kill unborn girls, they turn girls into boys by genitoplasty.”

She added: “Doctors who practice illegal female foeticide and genitoplasty should get life in prison.”

It is not uncommon in India, which has a population of 1.2 billion, for families to prefer boys but the lengths to which parents will go to secure a baby boy have come under attack in recent years.

Sex selective abortions have resulted in a gender balance that favors boys and there are now seven million more boys than girls under six years of age, according to The Daily Telegraph of Britain.

Activists say news of the parents changing the gender of their daughters means that girls are not safe even after birth.

Although the surgeries were performed in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, the children were operated on were from all across the country.

Physicians quoted in the investigation said they only performed “corrective surgeries” on children born with genital abnormalities, but activists said parents and physicians were incorrectly identifying the conditions in a bid to turn girls into boys.

The parents of a two-year-old who had the surgery spoke to the Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity.

“I think my child would not be confused over his gender when he grows up and can live a normal life as he would not have any memories of the surgery,” One of the parents said.

When asked about requiring the consent of a patient, a physician who performed the genitoplasty, Dr. Brijesh Lahoti, told the Hindustan Times “In India, there is no problem in performing these surgeries as only the consent from parents and an affidavit is required.”

The president of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics in Indore, Dr V P Goswami, was quoted by The Telegraph as being shocked to learn of the surgeries and said that such procedures could leave the child impotent or infertile in adulthood.

“Genitoplasty is possible on a normal baby of both the sexes but later on these organs will not grow with the hormonal influence and this will lead to their infertility as well as their impotency. It is shocking news and we will be looking into it and taking corrective measures,” he told the Telegraph. “Parents have to consider the social as well as the psychological impact of such procedures on the child.”

Leading activists have deplored the failure of education and public awareness campaigns to shift attitudes on preference for boys over girls.
“The figures are getting worse. In 2001 there were 886 girls born to every 1,000 boys in Delhi. Today there are only 866. The more educated and rich you are, the more there is killing of girls,” said Ms. Kumari who is also a leading campaigner against female foeticide.

A study conducted in 2009 revealed that 7,000 female foeticides occurred every day in India. The same study said that over the past 20 years, as many as 10 million girls had been killed by their parents either prior to their birth or immediately after.

“People don’t want to share their property or invest in girls’ education or pay dowries. It’s the greedy middle classes running after money. It is just so shocking and an outright violation of children’s rights,” said Ms. Kumari.

She told The Telegraph that the government needed to shift its focus on reminding people about how Hinduism places a great value on women. (India is constitutionally a secular country; however, there are more than 200 million Muslims in India, the second largest cohort of Muslims in the world, after Indonesia.)

“In India we say God resides in that house where there’s a woman but that has evaporated because of all this greed. We need to emphasize the spiritual wealth a girl brings to a family, but we also need to support them with financial subsidies and jobs,” she added.

(Muna Khan, Senior Correspondent for Al Arabiya English, can be reached at muna.khan@mbc.net)

Mimi Raad: Women and men

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

A few years ago, a man would meet a woman, in some of our societies, and hardly exchange looks or words.(Illustration by Mimi Raad)

By MIMI RAAD
AL ARABIYA

Such a “cliché” topic. I couldn’t help thinking one more time about our differences few days ago.

I guess a few years back, a man would meet a woman, that is in some of our societies, at their parents’ place, or homes of relatives and friends, and hardly exchange looks or words. Sometime they would meet in public places with or without chaperon; and much later if a man could get over the dreadful father’s answer to the phone, talk to her over the phone for long hours…I still remember those delicious moments in my room, speaking or whispering some silly things…Then technology dropped more communication tools: Internet, mobile phones and all the various applications that allow instant conversation in various forms, sound, image and sound, chatting…you name it…I think we’re lucky to be able to witness such a great leap in human communication.

But nowadays any man is able to get in touch with any woman and tell her whatever he has on his mind. All these practical ways to communicate have a negative influence on men’s ability to court a woman, at least me. Or is it just me becoming really impermeable to their flat flattering?

I had this message on my Facebook page: “I will do anything for you.”

The only answer that crossed my mind was: “That’s good to know. Buy a one-way ticket to Siberia.”

Last time on the plane while reading peacefully a book, minding my own business, the man sitting next to me goes: “You seem like an unattainable goal.”

What did you expect me to say other than “You are correct!”

Or that other young man who used to be in the same classroom as me, and who spotted me on Facebook, sends me a silly message after years of silence: “You are the only person for me!”

I could only tell him “I wish I could say the same of you.”

A work colleague whom I see every day and who I thought was much wittier, said to me during a coffee break: “You dazzle me!”

I was spontaneous and answered him “Sadly, you don’t.”

I’m sure we all had our share of these sweet little stupid lines that make us Only human. What can I say…I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

(Mimi Raad of Al Arabiya is an image consultant who also blogs at mimisfashiondiary.com. She can be reached at: mimi.raad@mbc.net. Ms. Raad, who is steadfastly single, wants her male fans to know that, despite her tendency of inflicting put-downs on suitors, she is immensely open to receiving witty bon mots and, of course, bonbons.)

Anwer Sher: From Kalashnikovs to detonators

Thursday, 23 June 2011

The 9-year-old Sohana Jawed was kidnapped on her way to school and forced to wear a suicide vest. (File photo)

By ANWER SHER
Al Arabiya

The news of a 9-year-old girl being kidnapped and used as a human bomb in Pakistan is perhaps the most disgusting news that one could have read. The taking of any life, for whatever reason, is a deplorable, but to inflict such a fate upon a child is beyond imagination. It begs the question that does the end justify the means?

Back in the 1980’s Pakistan’s cities were plagued by what I called the Kalashnikov culture; where the brandishing of guns and using them was engrained in to the society to such an extent that its blatant defiance of decency and law order was an everyday occurrence.

With the advent of the war of terror, and the emergence of an intransigent radical Pakistani Taliban, or its equivalents, the Kalashnikov as given way to the potency of the detonator. The ability to kill scores or people in one blast has become more potent to the perpetuators of these crimes than ever before.

What is deeply saddening has been in the way that marginalizing decency and tolerance has been occurring since the 1970’s. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, under pressure from street protests over the rigging of the elections, reacted by appeasing the radical right political platform with the banning of a religious sect from calling themselves Muslims, and then went on to bring Sharia law into the country, he did not for once realize that a Pandora’s Box had been opened. Given the deep differences between the religious sects there was never going to be a consensus on the issue of Sharia law, and the result was a polarization of the country.

Suddenly the political cauldron was brewing a soup where interests of the feudal, the military, the majority Sunni, the large minority Shia, the political parties and many other strong interest groups had to learn to coexist and, hopefully, prepare a soup that was politically and socially edible. Bhutto’s rampant and ill planned nationalization of private industries and the consequent mismanagement of it added to the stress that the social fabric of Pakistan was already facing after the loss of what is now Bangladesh.

General Zia Ul Haq, who overthrew and subsequently hanged Bhutto, created even a bigger mess for the country. The advent of the Afghanistan war with Russia suddenly created a deep polarization of the military, who had, so far, been immune to the religious and political pressures on the outside.

The encouragement of the Taliban in Afghan politics by Zia and his henchmen, while served the immediate purpose of influence in Afghan politics, which was really limited after the Taliban were installed, but in the long term exposed Pakistani society to the same conservatism that was and is the creed of the Taliban.

Today Pakistan is not at the crossroads of a choice between radical Talibanization or modernism and tolerance. It is as a country way past that crossroad, and is perhaps hurtling down a pathway of change that cannot be good for the country. Sadly the recent news of the US government negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan toward a peace and perhaps power sharing arrangements will only give the Pakistani Taliban the encouragement that they need most. The mullah with a Kalashnikov will no doubt celebrate that he has brought the American with a cruise missile to the negotiating table.

However, we have seen moments in time where one small event has changed the course of history. Be it Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat in a bus in America’s segregated South, or a diminutive Chinese man standing before a tank, these were events that shaped how we see history. Rosa Parks brought to the forefront the cruelty of the segregation laws, while the Chinese man standing up to a tank may not have brought a government down, it did alter the thinking of the Chinese leadership.

Perhaps, one can only hope that acts such as those of a 9-year-old girl being kidnapped to be used as a human bomb while wake up the people of Pakistan to realize just how wrong the whole social fabric has become. Can one see this to be Pakistan’s Tahrir Square? Can one see a million people march to end bloodshed? Can someone just say “enough” loudly enough to cause the change this country needs? The politicians live their comatose existence knowing that survival is what matters for them, not change; someone has else has to find their voice, and this is the hundreds of millions of Pakistanis who are revolted by this incident but are silent.

(Anwer Sher is a well-known author and columnist. He can be reached at: aqsher@gmail.com)

American Muslim woman sues fabled store Abercombie & Fitch over hijab

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

A US Muslim woman sued Abercrombie & Fitch on Monday, accusing the clothing retailer of firing her for refusing to remove her religious head scarf. (File photo)

By AFP
New York

A US Muslim woman sued Abercrombie & Fitch on Monday, accusing the clothing retailer of firing her for refusing to remove her religious head scarf, a Muslim advocacy group said.

Hani Khan of San Mateo, California, alleged that store managers had told her to remove her hijab as part of the clothing chain’s “Look Policy,” the Council of American-Islamic Relation (CAIR) said in a statement.

Ms. Khan was fired from her job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in California in February 2010, after working there for four months, when she refused to comply with the managers’ request, according to CAIR.

“When I was asked to remove my scarf after being hired with it on, I was demoralized and felt unwanted,” Ms. Khan said. “Growing up in this country where the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion, I have felt let down.”

After being fired, Ms. Khan complained to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which ruled in September 2010 that she had been the victim of discrimination. She filed the lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch after failing to reach a mediation agreement with them, CAIR said.

“Abercrombie & Fitch cannot hide behind a ‘Look Policy’ to justify violating Ms. Khan’s civil rights,” Araceli Martinez-Olguin, a lawyer representing Khan, said in the statement.

Abercrombie & Fitch, a youth-oriented clothing retailer notorious for ads featuring scantily clad young models, has repeatedly faced legal trouble because of its “Look Policy,” which it considers important for to its market image.

In September 2009, US authorities sued the company for discriminating against a Muslim woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who alleged that a store had refused to hire her because of her headscarf.

In a similar case in 2008, a Muslim woman said a manager at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Milpitas, California, had written “not Abercrombie look” on her interview form and refused to hire her after she applied for a job.

Last year, US authorities sued the company for discrimination over the incident.

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

A US Muslim woman sued Abercrombie & Fitch on Monday, accusing the clothing retailer of firing her for refusing to remove her religious head scarf. (File photo)

By AFP
New York

No halal or kosher meat in Holland?

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Holland became the second country after New Zealand to ban the slaughter of livestock without stunning it first. (File Photo)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMSTERDAM

The Dutch parliament has passed a bill banning the slaughter of livestock without stunning it first, removing an exemption that has allowed Jews and Muslims to butcher animals according to their centuries-old dietary rules.

If enacted and enforced, religious groups say observant Jews and Muslims would have to import meat from abroad, stop eating it altogether, or leave the Netherlands.

However, the bill must still pass the Senate, which is unlikely before the summer recess, and the Cabinet said the law may be unenforceable in its current form due in part to ambiguity introduced in a last-minute amendment.

If the Netherlands outlaws procedures that make meat kosher for Jews or halal for Muslims, it will be the second country after New Zealand to do so in recent years. It will join Switzerland, the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, whose bans are mostly traceable to pre-World War II anti-Semitism.

In New York, the Anti-Defamation League condemned the vote, with its national director, Abraham H. Foxman, calling it “a de facto ban on kosher slaughter” that “has repudiated the Netherlands’ historic commitment to religious freedom.”

“Dutch Jews must not be put to the choice of violating a central tenet of Judaism, foregoing fresh meat, or emigrating. We call upon the Dutch Senate to prevent this action from leading to a clear violation of religious freedom that has a disproportionate impact on the Jewish community,” Mr. Foxman said in a statement.

Dutch Deputy Secretary of Economic Affairs and Agriculture Henk Blekers said: “The Cabinet will give its judgment over the proposed law after it has been treated by both houses.”

The Cabinet will “also look at how it fits with freedom of religion,” Mr. Blekers said, citing the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lawmaker Marianne Thieme of the Party for the Animals -- the world’s first animal rights party to win seats in a national parliament -- welcomed the approval of the bill that she had first introduced in 2008, and said she was now prepared to defend it in the Senate.

“It’s a great honor,” she said. She has argued that sparing animals needless pain and distress outweighs religious groups’ rights to follow slaughter practices “no longer of our time.”

But the threat of a possible ban has led to outcry from Jewish and Muslim groups who say it infringes on their right to freedom of religion.

Around 1 million Muslims live in the Netherlands, mostly immigrants from Turkey and Morocco. The once-strong Jewish community now numbers 40,000-50,000 after more that 70 percent were deported and killed by the Nazis during World War II.

“The Dutch Jewish community is small and the Jewish kosher meat consumption is smaller still, but the impact on our community is deep and large,” said a committee of rabbis pleading with parliament not to pass the law in an open letter. “Older Jews are frightened and wonder what the next law will be that limits their religious life. The youth are openly asking whether they still have a future that they can or want to build in the Netherlands.”

A solid majority of Dutch voters say they support the ban, and parliament voted for it by a margin of 116 for to 30 against.

Ritual slaughter rules prescribe that animals’ throats must be cut swiftly with a razor-sharp knife while they are still conscious, so that they bleed to death quickly.

Support for the ban came from the political left, which sees ritual slaughter as inhumane, and from the anti-immigration right, which sees it as foreign and barbaric.

Only Christian parties were opposed, arguing the ban undermines the country’s long tradition of religious tolerance.

Centrist parties were initially divided, with many of them loath to lose support of Muslim voters. Last week they introduced an amendment that says ritual slaughterers may still be granted licenses -- if they can “prove” that it does not cause animals more pain than stunning.

Science is divided as to whether ritual slaughter does cause more suffering.

The Royal Dutch Veterinary Association says it believes that during “slaughter of cattle while conscious, and to a lesser extent that of sheep, the animals’ well-being is unacceptably damaged.”

Other observers, including noted American welfare expert Temple Grandin of Colorado State University, has said animals do not appear to show more distress when a ritual slaughter is conducted properly.

Elbakkali Elkhammar, chairman of the Dutch Council of Imams, said that religious groups should be given the benefit of the doubt.

“There are various opinions about this matter, both from Islamic jurisprudence as medical science, that sometimes approve of other protocols for ritual slaughter and sometimes forbid them,” he said in a statement. “The solution is therefore to leave the rules unchanged.”

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Indonesia's maid trade thrives despite Saudi execution

29 June 2011 Last updated at 01:06 GMT

By Karishma Vaswani BBC News, Jakarta

Migrant workers have to undergo at least 100 hours of training

The execution of an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia by beheading earlier this month has failed to deter many workers still willing to make the journey from South East Asia to the Middle East.

The family of Ruyati Binti Sapubi wept quietly while others chanted Muslim prayers at her funeral. Huddled together in grief, it is hard to imagine what they are going through.
Ruyati was was convicted of murdering her employer in Saudi Arabia, where she worked as a maid, and then beheaded by sword. The Indonesian government was informed of her beheading only after her death.
Her daughter, Een Nuraini, is now at the centre of a media storm. She insists that her mother suffered abuse at the hands of her Saudi employers.
"I don't believe that my mother killed someone without a reason, it's impossible," she says, holding her mother's photograph.
"She was a good person. Maybe she confessed because she was pressured. Nobody was defending her."
Indonesia has one of the largest migrant workforces in the world. More than a million Indonesian women work as domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia. Hundreds of thousands more are in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

“Start Quote

Sometimes I would start my day at six in the morning and work until midnight”

Yahya Nah Lailah Migrant worker

They send home $7bn (£4.3bn) a year in remittances - that money goes a long way towards lifting millions out of poverty, taking a huge burden off the government.

In Ruyati's village, life has visibly improved thanks to the money sent back home. There are new motorcycles on the streets and mobile phones in the pockets of teenagers. It is the same picture in villages across the country.
Personal sacrifice Most of the women who go abroad to work have little or no education.
Indonesia's government insists that each would-be worker has at least 100 hours of training before they go overseas. It is hoped that this will help young women to avoid problems with their new employers.
In a classroom at one migrant training centre in Jakarta, dozens of women of all ages are being taught to speak basic Arabic, cook, clean and operate vacuum cleaners and washing machines - the likes of which most have never seen before.
Twenty-four-year-old Muslina is leaving behind her four-year-old son to work in Saudi Arabia.
"I come from a village about 15 hours away from Jakarta by bus. I want to work in Saudi Arabia so that I can make enough money to put my son through school," she says.

Een Nuraeni (L) daughter of Indonesian migrant worker Ruyati, cries during a protest against the execution of her mother outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Jakarta on June 21, 2011

Relatives of Ruyati Binti Sapubi staged protests outside the Saudi embassy in Jakarta

"It's very difficult to find work where I live. Of course I've heard about Ruyati's story - but I think it's the exception. I just hope I get a good employer - not everyone will end up like Ruyati."
Yahya Nah Lailah, 38, has worked in Saudi Arabia three times in the past decade. She acknowledges that there are problems with the way domestic workers are treated.
"I had to look after four children while I was there. I also cooked and cleaned, and had no holidays for two years," she says.
"Sometimes I would start my day at six in the morning and work until midnight. But I need the money - and that's why I keep going back."
Little protection Stories like Ruyati's have raised concerns about the level of protection Indonesian workers are afforded overseas.
In November last year, 23-year-old Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa was taken to a Saudi hospital with broken bones and burns over her body.

Migrant workers at training centre in JakartA

There are more than a million Indonesian women working in Saudi Arabia

Her employer was arrested after allegedly putting a hot iron to her head, and stabbing her with scissors. The woman was sentenced to three years in jail - but was acquitted soon after.
Critics say that this case is just one of many, showing how vulnerable Indonesian migrant workers are. Foreign workers in the Gulf often have little or no legal recourse.
Often their passports are held by employers, and some are not allowed to make contact with their friends and families back home.
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised he will do more to protect his people working overseas.
Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have been working on a deal to improve the lot of Indonesian nationals there.
The president has announced a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia, which comes into place on 1 August.
But some Indonesians are not convinced their government is serious about the protection of migrant workers.
Angry demonstrations have been held in the country, demanding justice for Ruyati and those subjected to abuse.
Indonesian officials say a solution is in sight.
"In the future we plan not to allow migrant workers to live in the houses of their employers. That's where the problem partly lies," says Jumhur Hidayat, head of Indonesia's national agency for the placement and protection of migrant workers.
"No-one knows how they are treated. If they live out, then we can have regular inspections monitoring their condition. That way there will be no further cases of abuse," he says.
Indonesia must make sure that the risks of going abroad to work are worth the rewards.

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Monday, June 27, 2011

Tycoon turned politician Prokhorov ready to invest his money in election

RT

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Published: 27 June, 2011, 10:42

Mikhail Prokhorov (RIA Novosti / Artem Zhitenev)

TAGS: Election, Russia, Politics, Opposition

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has started to reform the opposition Right Cause party as he wants to make it second-largest in the country.
The head of Russia’s Onexim group and New Jersey Nets owner, Prokhorov, is ready to invest $100 million from his own pocket in the Right Cause party’s electoral campaign this year, according to Russian media reports. A matching sum could be allocated by fellow businessmen. The parliamentary elections are scheduled for December.

Right Cause has failed to attract many voters since its creation in 2008 after three right-leaning parties – the Union of Right Forces, Civil Force and the Democratic Party – decided to merge. Many have seen it as an artificial project intended to defend the interests of the rich, saying the right-wing force have no political future in Russia. But the party’s leadership believed that a well-known figure such as Prokhorov may be able to reach out to the general public.

This is yet to be proven electorally, however. Prokhorov already said he would like to study the situation in the Russian regions. He also considers himself to be more of a businessman than a politician.

But the tycoon has already set several ambitious goals – to gain as much as 15 percent of the vote during the December elections and become the second largest party after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia. Prokhorov is also ready to head the government himself if he “feels support from the people.” His potential participation in the presidential election will depend on the results of the State Duma poll.

Speaking at the Right Cause’s congress over the weekend, where he was elected the party’s head, the businessman said there should be at least “two ruling parties.” The country badly needs reforms in many areas, he stressed. In particular, he supported the idea of abolishing compulsory military service.

In the media realm, one of the three state television channels should be privatized, the Right Cause leader told Vedomosti daily on Monday. There should be competition on the political scene as well, he noted. This is one of the reasons why Right Cause will not join Putin’s Popular Front.

The pro-business party has already set about reforming itself, abandoning the institution of the co-chairmen, as well as reducing the federal political council from 32 people to 11.

Last week, another opposition party, Parnas, was not registered by the Justice Ministry as a result of flaws in its charter and other procedural irregularities. Prokhorov said his party was different because “there should be parties that point out when something is bad, but others must propose what is to be done.”

He also told journalists his party was intending to investigate the case of Sergey Magnitsky, a lawyer for the British hedge fund Hermitage Capital, who died while in custody. “Not a single official has been called to account,” Prokhorov said, adding it was “outrageous.”

The leader of Right Cause also believes there are no reasons to hold former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev in prison. “Any judicial catches are just unacceptable,” Prokhorov said.

Michele Bachmann compares herself to infamous sodomite, rapist and killer

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Published: 28 June, 2011, 02:27

An attendee watches a video display as Republican presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) speaks during the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference on June 17, 2011 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP)

TAGS: Celebrity, Crime, Scandal, Interview, Accident, Politics, Lifestyle, History, USA, Performance, Culture

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was born in Waterloo, Iowa and she wants voters to know that she intends on carrying on the city’s tradition of breeding bold, gallant, hometown heroes.
“John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa and that’s the kind or spirit that I have too,” she told Fox News today.
The Tea Party prima donna doesn’t mean she wants to convey the courageousness of The Duke, though. Well, maybe she doesn’t, but that isn’t exactly what she said.
It seems as if Bachmann confused the iconic American cowboy star — John Wayne — with another American institution: mass murderer, rapist, former KFC manager and children’s’ entertainer John Wayne Gacy. That’s the John Wayne that lived in Bachmann’s borough at least, and now the Republican congresswomen is fighting off a frenzy of bad press — only a day after formally announcing her run for the White House.
Maybe Bachmann should have done a bit of research before her Monday morning gaffe, and even still, perhaps the legendary Western wrangler wouldn’t have been the best choice for a comparison either.
John Wayne — or Marion Mitchell Morrison, his birth name — famously made statements to Playboy magazine in 1971 in which he said the “stealing of this country” from Native Americans was “just a question of survival.” “The Indians were selfishly trying to keep (the land) for themselves,” he told a reporter, before adding that the government didn’t owe them anything.

That was also the same interview in which Wayne said he believes in white supremacy, “until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility,” calling them irresponsible and undeserving of authority or leadership.
Oh, and one more thing in that issue: he also revealed his pro-war stance about the Vietnam conflict.
And then there was the whole multiple marriages thing, the documented affairs and rumors of alcoholism.
Even if The Duke had a handful of skeletons in the closet, at least they were only literal ones. On the other hand, that John Wayne didn’t keep a cache of child bones in his crawl space and never faced a 10-year sentence for sodomy against youths like the Waterloo resident Bachmann bases herself off of.
Since the flub, Bachmann’s camp has said that the parents of actor John Wayne were from Waterloo, although the entertainer never resided there.
If Bachmann intends on filling the shoes of other famous Tea Party female Sarah Palin, she still has quite a few goofs to chalk up.
And if she intends on filling John Wayne Gacy’s footware, a pair of high-quality clown shoes can be purchased at most magic shops, costume stores and novelty boutiques.

Israel PM orders navy to stop aid flotilla

Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:23PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel's security cabinet has ordered the navy to use all possible means to prevent the incoming international aid flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip.

After two days of closed-doors meetings, the ministers committee on security affairs on Monday voted in favor of the navy plans to stop the convoy of vessels known as Freedom Flotilla II from breaching the Israeli-imposed naval blockade on the Palestinian territory, giving the army authority to use “all necessary means” during the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The statement also said that the cabinet has also ordered Israeli troops to operate with "maximal restraint and avoid clashes with activists on board the vessels."

Israeli officials say navy commandos have revised their tactics in the wake of the May 31, 2010 attack, which killed nine Turkish activists on board the leading ship, Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara, and drew international condemnation.

Israeli ministers also said that Tel Aviv and Egyptian authorities have reached an understanding on the issue of aid convoy and that ships participating in the pro-Palestinian flotilla will be directed to the Israeli port of Ashdod or Egypt's El-Arish port to unload their cargo. After inspections the cargo will be transferred overland to Gaza.

The cabinet has also ordered the Foreign Ministry to continue its diplomatic efforts to prevent the flotilla from setting sail to Gaza.

Meanwhile, organizers of Freedom Flotilla II said on Monday that Tel Aviv is pressuring Greece to halt the ships' departure. Greece is being used as a departure point with around seven of the vessels already docked in various Greek ports. The vessels would meet in international waters south of Cyprus before heading to Gaza.

The fleet, with around 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries on board of some 10 ships, would depart for the impoverished enclave on Tuesday in a bid to break Israel's five-year blockade on the coastal territory which is home to 1.5 million Palestinians.

Organizers say the convoy will carry medicine, a fully-equipped ambulance and cement.

HM/HGH/MMN

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Monday, June 27, 2011

Tycoon turned politician Prokhorov ready to invest his money in election

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Michele Bachmann compares herself to infamous sodomite, rapist and killer

RT

Israel PM orders navy to stop aid flotilla

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