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Sweden loses patience with refugee champion role

EU Times — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:49:50 +0000

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Six years after his brother was beheaded by Iraqi insurgents, Riyad is still haunted by the memory of identifying the disfigured body and watching the mutilation on a video distributed by the killers.

Yet Riyad now has fresh worries to contend with: the threat of deportation from Sweden, which recently rejected his application for asylum. “They murdered my brother and would have done the same to me,” he told an immigration official in a secretly recorded meeting broadcast on Radio Sweden.

“Yes, I know that,” replied the official. “But it doesn’t count that they might do the same thing to you; you have to prove there is an actual threat.”

Riyad, who worked with his brother on a US army base, was drawn to Sweden by its reputation as the most welcoming European country for Iraqi asylum-seekers, having absorbed tens of thousands in the past decade. In the past two years, however, numbers have dropped sharply as Sweden shows signs of losing patience with its role as champion of refugee rights.

In 2007, 18,559 Iraqis sought asylum in Sweden and nearly three-quarters were accepted. Last year the number arriving was 2,297 – and less than a quarter were granted asylum.

The decline can be explained partly by better security in Iraq. But experts say the main factor was a Swedish court ruling in 2008 placing a greater burden on refugees to prove they were in danger.

Tobias Billström, Sweden’s migration minister, insists there was no political involvement in the ruling, but the centre-right government has been quick to stress the court’s message. “Now you have to show there is a real threat,” he says. “You cannot just turn up and say you’re from Iraq.”

The tougher approach is welcomed by some Swedes, amid unease over the changing face of their traditionally homogenous society. More than a tenth of the population is now foreign-born, with Iraqis among the largest group.

Anti-immigration sentiment could make itself felt in next month’s general election, with opinion polls suggesting the far-right Sweden Democrats could win their first seat in parliament.

Few places feel the tension more than Södertälje, an industrial town where 8,000 Iraqis live, many in high-rise ghettos. Anders Lago, the town’s Social Democratic mayor, says the strain on public services is unsustainable. “We need a new system. Södertälje cannot take care of everybody.”

Behind Sweden’s new approach lies frustration that other European Union states have not taken more refugees. Before the ruling, Sweden received about 60 per cent of Iraqi asylum applications in the EU.

If Stockholm is sending a message to other countries, critics say it has come at a heavy price for vulnerable refugees. It was among four European nations recently rebuked by the UNHCR for forcibly deporting asylum-seekers to Iraq despite the continuing violence.

Mikael Ribbenvik, director of legal affairs for the Swedish migration board, said his agency had issued new recommendations to take account of persecution of minorities in Iraq – a sign, perhaps, Sweden is anxious not to let its humanitarian halo slip too far. But this may be too late for Riyad, who says he would be at risk in Iraq not only because of his past ties to the US military, but also his Christian faith. “I don’t have to remain here,” he told Radio Sweden. “Just send me anywhere in the world – except Iraq.”

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Turkey tells US it won’t adhere to new sanctions on Iran

EU Times — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:36:44 +0000

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Turkish officials have told an American delegation that it has no intention of following unilateral US sanctions on Iran, a move likely to deepen a rift between the two NATO allies over the Islamic republic’s contentious nuclear program that Washington believes is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Turkish and American officials have confirmed that a US delegation comprising representatives from the State and Treasury departments visited Ankara last week to have talks at the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Undersecretariat of the Treasury over US sanctions on Iran.

The talks came as Turkey said it would support Turkish companies making sales to Tehran despite unilateral US sanctions that restrict trade. “They were here to discuss and explain UN sanctions and also the new US sanctions package signed into legislation by President Obama on July 1,” a US Embassy official in Ankara told Reuters late on Friday. The official said Turkey was one of many countries the delegation was planning to visit.

Foreign Ministry officials said the delegation had offered details about the US sanctions but that Turkey’s response was negative, the Anatolia news agency reported. “We told them we don’t feel obliged to adhere to sanctions other than those imposed by the UN,” an official said.

Since June, the UN Security Council, the United States and the European Union have tightened sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which Washington fears is a cover to build an atomic bomb. Tehran says its aims are purely peaceful.

Both the US and EU sanctions cover a broader range of activities than those enacted by the UN and are aimed at squeezing Iran’s energy and banking sectors, which could also hurt companies from other countries doing business with Tehran.

The US legislation will sanction companies for supplying Iran with refined petroleum products with a fair market value exceeding $1 million or that during a 12-month period have an aggregate fair market value of $5 million or more.

The Cumhuriyet daily, quoting an unnamed US official, said Washington had sent the delegation to warn Turkey it intended to target Turkish companies deemed to be trading with the Islamic republic in violation of US sanctions.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız told Reuters this month Ankara would back private firms making sales to Iran. Turkey stepped in to sell Iran the equivalent of 1.2 million barrels of gasoline in June when most other sellers refused to continue sales due to the looming sanctions.

But Turkey charged Iran a 25 percent premium above the market rate then sharply curtailed gasoline shipments by some 73 percent in July as the US sanctions came into force.
Turkish tolerance

The US Embassy official would not comment on the report that Washington had warned Turkey about sanctions, but said, “They are making these visits because it is very important for us to pass the word about this sanctions package.”

A delegation of Turkish officials, led by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, is expected to begin talks with US officials in Washington today on a number of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.

The United States has so far largely looked the other way as its Muslim NATO ally has strengthened political and economic ties with Iran as part of Ankara’s long-term energy strategy.

Washington’s tolerant attitude may end if Turkey continues to take the bite out of US sanctions or boost ties with the Islamic republic beyond a symbolic partnership. Any international firms that sell gasoline to Iran could face retribution under the US sanctions, including a possible ban from the US financial system or denial of US contracts.

Cumhuriyet, an anti-government newspaper, said the Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation (TÜPRAŞ), Turkey’s sole refiner and gasoline exporter, was vulnerable to the sanctions. It said the state petroleum firm, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), was readying to sign important agreements with Iran, and that the United States could sever all commercial ties with these companies. TÜPRAŞ did not answer calls for comment.

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Official US Deficit Put At Staggering $202 Trillion

EU Times — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:23:34 +0000

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts the U.S. budget deficit will hit $1.3 trillion this year. An astronomical figure, to be sure, but that’s lower than was projected in March. It’s also less than last year’s record $1.41 trillion deficit, which was close to 10% of GDP.

And, that’s the good news.

As the deficit grows so does the national debt, which is currently more than $13.3 trillion, according to official figures.

But the situation is actually much, much worse, according to Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff.

“Forget the official debt,” he tells Aaron in this clip. The “real” deficit – including non-budgetary items like unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the defense budget – is actually $202 trillion, the professor and author calculates; or 15 times the “official” numbers.

“Congress has engaged in Enron accounting,” says Kotlikoff, who recently penned an op-ed for Bloomberg entitled: The U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know It.

Yet, the debt market continues to have an insatiable appetite for U.S. Treasuries; heading into Monday’s session, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond (which moves in opposition to its price) was at its lowest level since April 2009.

Kotlikoff says that’s because the market is focused on the “mole hill” of official debt. In time, the U.S. will have a major inflation problem to rival that of Germany’s post World War I Weimar Republic, he predicts. “We have to think about the fact that unless the government gets its fiscal act in order we’re going to have the government printing lots and lots money to pay these enormous bills that are coming due over time.”

America is in need of major reform of the health-care, retirement, tax and financial system, Kotlikoff continues. “We need (to perform) heart surgery on this economy, not putting on more band-aids which is what we’ve been doing.”

Barring that, your hard-earned dollars will soon be worthless, he declares.

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Goldman Sachs accused of trying to destroy China

EU Times — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:15:42 +0000

Goldman Sachs & Co., reviled in the U.S. for its role in the financial crisis, is now getting hammered in the world’s No. 2 economy with a sensationalist new book accusing the investment bank of trying to destroy China.

The “Goldman Sachs Conspiracy,” which has sold over 100,000 copies since it was released in June, reaching popular website Sina.com’s top-10 list, follows another by author Li Delin, “Eliminate All Competitors — How Goldman Sachs Wins Over the World,” published last year.

Li, a financial journalist, appears to have hit pay dirt among Chinese readers with an appetite for the would-be exposes that get prominent display in downtown bookstores, such as “Who Killed Toyota: the Truth of America’s Attack” and “Currency War.”

The nearly 300-page, highly dramatized account covers much of the same ground as a widely cited piece by Matt Taibbi last year in the Rolling Stone magazine that portrayed the Wall Street institution as a “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”

Li’s book takes ample license in its attacks on Goldman Sachs. The company’s ultimate goal, he says in the first chapter, is to “kill China.”

“Like a fox chewing a bone, Goldman Sachs knows the rules of the game and when to go for your neck,” it says.

With the “cruel character of a Manchurian tiger, the group creeps around the world, like a veteran hunter stalking its prey, when it smells blood it pounces!” the chapter says.

Goldman Sachs’ office in Beijing refused to comment on the book and on others of its ilk.

The financial cataclysm of 2008 and ensuing global recession has resulted in a profusion of books dissecting the role of global investment banks including Goldman Sachs.

“It reads like a novel, rather than a real story,” said Peng Yunliang, a securities analyst.

“Goldman Sachs has been at the eye of the storm and is seen as the culprit behind the mess. That’s clearly the most popular topic on the market,” he said.

Goldman was sharply criticized, especially in the U.S., for its high executive pay after it accepted a $10 billion government bailout during the financial crisis. It also received $13 billion from insurer American International Group Inc. after the government bailed that company out. The bank recently agreed to a record settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over civil fraud charges.

In China, the company’s business appears to have weathered well the market chaos elsewhere. The investment bank was an underwriter in the recent record-breaking $22.1 billion initial public offering by the Agricultural Bank of China, among other big deals.

Goldman also saw handsome gains from a $4.9 million investment in 2007 in a 12.5 percent stake in drug maker Shenzhen Hepalink, which later raised about $864 million in an IPO that catapulted the company’s little-known founders to become, at least on paper, the richest couple in China.

Li, in an online chat, said the book was no exaggeration.

“The real financial battle is even more dramatic than my book, according to my knowledge of the markets,” he said. “Goldman Sachs is the hand behind the financial crisis, maybe even its cause.” He soon plans to publish a third book about the company.

The conspiracy genre and dramatized accounts of scandals are popular in China, as in many markets. China’s government exerts strong control over the news media and broadcasters, but the book publishing industry has a bit freer leeway for commentary, particularly when the targets are not Communist Party officials.

The Chinese-language book also accuses Goldman Sachs of involvement in the recent Dubai and Greek debt debacles and the wider European financial and fiscal crises.

To buttress its myriad allegations, the book notes well-known links between former top Goldman Sachs executives, such as former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and government officials in America and other countries.

It also includes copies of what appear to be U.S. court documents. They include a complaint against Goldman Sachs and Fabrice Tourre, a Goldman vice president accused of shepherding a deal at the center of SEC charges that the company sold mortgage securities without telling buyers that they had been created with input from a client that was betting on them to fail.

Last month, a U.S. federal judge approved a settlement calling for Goldman Sachs & Co. to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges that the Wall Street giant misled buyers of mortgage-related investments. In the settlement, Goldman acknowledged that its marketing materials for the deal omitted important information for buyers.

The penalty was the largest against a Wall Street firm in SEC history. But the settlement amounts to less than 5 percent of Goldman’s 2009 net income of $12.2 billion after payment of dividends to preferred shareholders — or a little more than two weeks of net income.

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Italy inspired by France to expel citizens from other EU states by September

EU Times — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:42:48 +0000

A beggar on the streets of Venice. The Italian remarks come hot on the heels of Roma expulsions in France

Italy has said it intends to expel citizens from other EU states if they are not able to support themselves, in a move apparently inspired by France’s current crackdown on Roma.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday (21 August) that French president Nicolas Sarkozy – whose recent actions include closing down Roma camps and deporting around 200 Roma to date – is “right.”

The minister, from the anti-immigrant Northern League Party, said that “if anything, it’s time to go a step further” and referred to the mandatory expulsion of EU citizens who do not meet certain criteria.

“Yes, expulsions just like those for illegal immigrants, not assisted or voluntary repatriations. Of course only for those who violate rules on requirements for living in another member state: a minimum level of income, adequate housing and not being a burden on the social welfare system of the country hosting them.”

“Many Roma are EU citizens but do not respect any of these requirements,” he said. But added, when asked if this would be discriminatory, that the policy should apply to all EU citizens and not just Roma.

“If anything, the problem is something else: unlike in France, many Roma and Sinti here have Italian citizenship. They have the right to remain here. Nothing can be done.”

Mr Maroni admitted that previous attempt by Rome to go in this direction were shot down by the European Commission but said he intends to re-raise the issue of automatic expulsions at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Paris on 6 September.

In 2008, the commission threatened Italy with legal action if it went ahead with a decree allowing the expulsion of other EU citizens facing two years of jail. It gave its blessing to a controversial proposal by Italy to fingerprint Roma, however.

Some in Italy have suggested there is a discrepancy between the relatively strong reaction by Brussels to Italy two years ago compared with its muted response to Mr Sarkozy’s policy towards the Roma community.

According to Mr Maroni this is due to an old “prejudice” whereby a policy carried out by a minister from the Northern League, a junior coalition partner in Rome’s right-wing government, is assumed to “violate human rights.”

France

Mr Sarkozy’s government deported around 10,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria last year but the current raids against against a planned total of 300 Roma camps come after the French president for the first time expressly linked immigration and crime.

The European Commission, for its part, has said it is monitoring the situation in France noting that any deportation decisions must be proportionate and carried out on a case-by-case basis, with human rights watchdogs already questioning whether these criteria are being fulfilled.

Meanwhile, critics of Mr Sarkozy’s policy have suggested that the Roma will simply return as soon as they are able.

They also suggest that Paris is contributing to a vicious circle due to its decision to maintain until 2014 rules restricting access to the labour market to nationals from Bulgaria and Romania – where the majority of Roma come from – and with it a means of supporting themselves.

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Chilean miners found alive after being trapped but rescue will be months

EU Times — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:37:07 +0000

We’re alive! TV images of Chilean miners 18 DAYS after being trapped… but it could be Christmas before they are rescued

* Miners’ message from 2,300ft below: ‘All 33 of us are fine in the shelter’
* It will take months to get them out, say experts
* Men are in a mine shaft shelter the size of a small apartment

A team of 33 miners trapped underground have been told it could be Christmas before they are rescued.

The men have been found alive after 17 days without contact but will have to wait months until a big enough shaft can be dug to pull them out.

Experts fear the group could become insane before then because they are holed up in an area no larger than a one-bedroom flat. The men had travelled 4.5 miles into the winding shafts of the San Jose copper and gold mine in Chile when they were trapped by a cave-in on August 5.

Rescuers tried and failed to reach them, but worked out they were 2,300ft below ground in an emergency refuge.

Seven narrow boreholes were drilled vertically down from the surface in an attempt to break through to them, all to no avail.

Finally, after weeks of mistakes and new cave-ins – and when families and friends had almost given them up for dead – the eighth attempt succeeded on Sunday.

The men quickly tied two notes to the end of a probe that rescuers pulled up, announcing in big red letters: ‘All 33 of us are fine in the shelter.’

A video camera sent down showed some of the miners waving happily and President Sebastian Pinera said: ‘Today all of Chile is crying with excitement and joy.’

Anxiety remains, however. Small capsules of food, water and supplies of oxygen can be passed down the 6in-wide borehole – but it could take four months to drill a 26inwide shaft big enough for the men to be brought out one by one, because the equipment used works very slowly.

The first capsules – which take about an hour to descend from the surface – will include water and food in the form of a high-energy glucose gel to miners who have almost certainly lost significant weight since they were trapped with limited food supplies.

The miners’ survival after 17 days is very unusual, but since they have made it this far, they should emerge physically fine, said Davitt McAteer, a former U.S. mine safety minister.

It is their mental state that will be a cause for concern.

‘The health risks in a copper and gold mine are pretty small if you have air, food and water,’ he said. ‘But the stress of being trapped underground for a long period of time can be significant.’

A team of doctors and psychiatrists arrived last night to maintain the miners’ sanity.

The men have already been trapped underground longer than all but a few miners rescued in recent history.

All 33 miners at San Jose are crammed into a space the size of a flat and it is so hot underground that they are stripped to the waist. It was unclear last night how they had survived. Rations in the refuge were thought to be enough for only 48 hours.

The miners seemed to be aware that their rescue may take a long time. One of them, Mario Gomez, 63, wrote a note to his wife Liliana, saying: ‘Even if we have to wait months to communicate … I want to tell everyone that I’m good and we’ll surely come out OK. Patience and faith.’

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British Villager arrested ‘for firing warning shots at gipsy children who trespassed on his land’

EU Times — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:18:37 +0000

Home comforts: A map showing the position of the family's £1million house in Cambridgeshire (circled, pictured below) and the camping field

A carer said to have become so exasperated with trespassing traveller children that he fired a shot over their heads, has been arrested.

Christopher Bayfield is understood to have suffered repeated petty thefts after 1,000 travellers arrived for a Christian festival in a field next to the house he shares with his parents.

Just hours before he fired the warning shot, he had reported a theft from a car in the driveway.

And, after hearing noises outside the family’s £1million five-bedroom house in Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, he is said to have shouted at the children and fired the warning shot vertically into the air in ‘exasperation’.

The children’s father contacted police when he learned a shot had been fired – but admitted his son had been in private land beside the house.

Cambridgeshire Police later confirmed the intruders were a five-year-old boy and girl of seven.

The travellers and gipsies arrived on the 30-acre field last week.

The landowner expected 30 people – instead, 200 caravans turned up. Soon, the village shop reported thefts by children and the village pub posted a notice saying that only residents would be admitted in an attempt to avoid trouble.

There were complaints that people had been urinating in public areas and saplings were stripped from nearby land.

Yesterday, Mr Bayfield’s family told how seven officers, five of whom were armed, arrived at the house late at night.

The 40-year-old, who looks after his seriously ill father Leslie, 85, was arrested on suspicion of firearm offences, interviewed and released on bail.

His weapon, which he normally uses it to kill rabbits on his vegetable patch, was confiscated.

His father, a retired businessman, said police had scared the family when they turned up.

Mr Bayfield’s sister Pippa, 43, who lives in Cambridge, said: ‘There were five armed officers who turned up at about 11.30pm with a warrant.

‘They took away his clothing for analysis. I don’t understand why – he’s got a firearms licence so there would be residue on his clothes.’

Villagers said the ‘mild-mannered’ bachelor had been provoked into firing the shot on Thursday.

One said: ‘I can only think it would have been exasperation. They’d been at his fruit and veg all week.’

Neighbour John Smart, 78, said: ‘There had been pilfering all week and when he heard something he thought enough was enough.’

Ralph Bayfield, 80, Mr Bayfield’s uncle from Benwick, Cambridgeshire, said: ‘We have a big traveller problem in this area. Christopher has had two lawnmowers stolen.

‘While the police were investigating, someone broke into his car right under their noses. Christopher’s father has cancer so this has been a big weight on his mind.’

The travellers, who were celebrating the Light and Life Gipsy Festival, said they had only come to ‘preach the gospel of Jesus Christ’.

Senior pastor John Boyd said: ‘It’s a terrible thing to do to a little boy collecting ladybirds. Thankfully this is a Christian family and the matter did not escalate as it could have.’

Mr Bayfield will find out next month whether he will be charged.

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Lithuanian Court Rules Swastika Historic Sign, Not Symbol of Nazi Horrors

EU Times — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:32:37 +0000

A Lithuanian court has cleared students carrying swastikas of illegally bearing symbols of Nazism. The judge’s ruling that the emblem is merely a sign with an ancient history has caused anger. Critics fear its another step towards the rehabilitation of fascist sympathizers.

Nearly Half of United States Considering Arizona-Style Immigration Legislation

EU Times — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:01:15 +0000

In this June 15, 2010 file photo, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer speaks in Phoenix. With the scrawl of a pen, Brewer awakened a dormant - but politically explosive - issue of illegal immigration, sending shock waves across the political spectrum in an election year when both parties had hoped to sidestep the topic.

Twenty-two states are now in the process of drafting or seeking to pass legislation similar to Arizona’s law against illegal immigration. This is occurring despite the fact that the Obama administration has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona law and a federal judge has ruled against portions of that law – a ruling that is now being appealed.

Next month, two Rhode Island state lawmakers, a Democrat and a Republican, will travel to Arizona to speak with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, local sheriffs, and other officials about how to better craft their own bipartisan immigration bill for Rhode Island, which already has been enforcing some federal immigration laws.

Meanwhile, 11 Republican state lawmakers from Colorado traveled to Arizona this week to meet with officials there on how to craft legislation for the Mile High state.

In addition, Alabama House Republicans announced this week that they would seek to “push an illegal immigration bill similar to the recently approved Arizona law.” This law would “create a new criminal trespass statute that allows local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants for simply setting foot in Alabama,” said Alabama’s House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard.

In Florida, proposed legislation against illegal immigration has been retooled to address some concerns raised by a federal judge who blocked the proposed bill, though it would still allow Florida state police to enforce immigration law.

In all, there are 22 states considering copycat legislation from the Arizona law against illegal immigration, according to the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), a group that advocates for stricter immigration enforcement.

Arizona’s law mirrors federal law. It requires local law enforcement officers during a lawful stop to determine the immigration status of an individual by asking the person to show identification that residents are already required to carry by law; and it authorizes law enforcement to securely transfer verified illegal aliens to federal custody.

These illegal immigrants, deported to Mexico on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, are shown near the Nogales Port of Entry in Sonora, Mexico.

The law prohibits racial profiling and gives state residents the right to sue local agencies for not complying with the state law.

In the lawsuit challenging the Arizona law, the Obama administration said the United States should not have a “patchwork” of 50 different immigration laws. In late July, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled against most of the major elements of the Arizona law, halting their implementation. That ruling is now in the appeals process.

“We do not expand on federal law,” Florida state Rep. William Snyder, the sponsor of the bill in his state, told CNSNews.com. “We do not change penalties. The goal is not to create a new immigration framework at the state level.”

Snyder, the chairman of the Florida House Criminal Justice Committee, said his staff attorneys have taken the decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton into consideration in re-crafting their bill for the next state legislative session.

Snyder said the office of state Attorney General Bill McCollum has reviewed the legislation, as have committee attorneys, and they believe it will withstand a potential legal challenge from the Obama administration.

McCollum, a GOP candidate for governor, supports the legislation. However, Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-Independent candidate for U.S. Senate, opposes the proposal.

“We will continue to work with the language,” Snyder said.

In Rhode Island, a bill that was introduced late in the session last year, and thus never reached a vote, is expected to be reintroduced in the 2011 session. Its two lead co-sponsors hope to have a bipartisan bill that will withstand a legal challenge after they meet with Arizona officials.

“It exactly mirrors the Arizona law,” Rhode Island state Rep. Peter Palumbo, a Democrat, told CNSNews.com. “We will tweak the bill.”

Palumbo will be going to Arizona with Rhode Island state Rep. Joseph Trillo, a Republican.

Alfredo Salas, 28, shows his license Thursday shortly after being pulled over and let off with a warning for a cracked windshield by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office during a crime and immigration sweep.

Their legislation would essentially codify an existing executive order signed in 2008 by Gov. Donald Carcieri, a Republican, mandating immigration checks on all new state workers and ordering state police to assist federal immigration officials.

This is Carcieri’s final year in office, so Palumbo said it is important to put the force of law behind what has already been Rhode Island policy. State troopers report illegal immigrants they encounter for speeding and other offenses to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.

Because of the executive order in 2008, corruption was discovered in the Department of Motor Vehicles, with drivers licenses being sold to illegal aliens, Palumbo said.

In New Jersey, state Rep. Allison Little McHose, a Republican, introduced a series of proposals that focused primarily on requiring employers to verify the legality of workers, and preventing state benefits from going to illegal aliens.

“New Jersey continues to be a sanctuary state for illegals because they know they can come to the state and receive many free benefits, like medical care,” McHose said in a statement. “The benefits may be free for those receiving them, but not the rest of the public because these costs are borne by the taxpayers.”

Other states with proposals that mirror the Arizona law are Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

“We are very pleased to announce 22 states are now following Arizona’s lead to pass versions of a law that has the support of 60 percent to 81 percent of Americans according to polls,” said ALIPAC President William Gheen in a statement. “State and federal candidates are rushing to display their support for Arizona’s law and immigration enforcement. We will not stop until all American states are protected from this invasion as mandated by the Constitution of the United States.”

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Israel tells UN it will stop Gaza aid flotilla

EU Times — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:44:40 +0000

Activist Samar al-Hajj, organiser of the Mariam women-only aid ship which plans to break the Gaza blockade, speaks during a press conference at the entrance of Tripoli's harbour on August 19. Israel said Friday it could use force to stop a new aid boat to Gaza, as Lebanon refused to bow to warnings against authorizing an all-women ship to head for the blockaded Palestinian territory

Israel informed the United Nations Friday that it reserves the right to use force to stop a new aid flotilla from reaching the blockaded Gaza Strip.

In a letter sent to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said the stated intention of the Bolivian-flagged all-women cargo ship Mariam “is to violate the existing naval blockade of Gaza.”

She added that Israel also had information that another vessel, the Naji al-Ali, plans to leave from a Lebanese port with the aim of violating the blockade.

“Israel reserves its right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from violating the aforementioned naval blockade,” Shalev warned.

She said such “confrontational actions by the organizers as well as those that offer their consent, is deeply troubling and requires the attention of the international community.”

“Israel came under international censure over its May 31 seizure of a six-ship aid fleet bound for the Palestinian territory when Israeli commandos shot dead nine Turkish activists in a clash on the lead boat.

The Mariam, a Bolivian-flagged cargo ship originally named Junia Star, plans to leave from northern Lebanon for Cyprus on Sunday at 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) on the first leg of a planned voyage to Gaza, organizer Samar al-Hajj said Thursday.

The vessel, renamed in honor of the Virgin Mary, plans to carry aid to Gaza in a bid to break the four-year siege of the Strip with more than 50 Lebanese and foreign women activists on board, including local pop star May Hariri.

The Naji al-Ali, another Lebanese boat organised by journalists, has also announced it would sail to Gaza via Cyprus but has not yet received clearance from Lebanese authorities.

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Expelled Roma promise to return to France

EU Times — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:33:34 +0000

French authorities have said the majority are returning on a voluntary basis

But as the 124 people landed in Timisoara, in their native Romania, many said they planned to head straight back to France.

“Of course I’m thinking about returning to France. Life is better than in Romania,” said 26-year-old Ionut Balasz as he arrived in Romania.

Aurel Cioaba echoed his sentiment: “I was there [in France for] four months with my wife, and if I can’t get by here in Romania I will go back.”

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the crackdown on Roma in late July as part of a larger “war” on people who outstay their work permits in France. But the programme has sparked criticism, with human rights group saying it targets a single ethnic group, which is illegal under EU law. French authorities deny the claim, saying the programme is voluntary.

France can repatriate Roma, even though they come from EU-member states Romania and Bulgaria, if they are unable to prove they can support themselves.

French authorities have said the majority are returning on a voluntary basis, given small sums of money – €300 (£245) for each adult and €100 for each child – to help them re-establish themselves at home.

Since Mr Sarkozy’s announcement of the crackdown, police have dismantled dozens of illegally installed gipsy camps, checked the situations of each inhabitant and prepared to whisk them to their Romanian homeland.

Nearly 100 gipsies were sent to Romania on two flights on Thursday. Similar flights were expected later this month and into September.

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Fueling of Iran’s nuclear plant begins

EU Times — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:24:53 +0000

Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr

Iran has begun loading its first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr with fuel in an effort to provide the country with nuclear-generated electricity.

Nuclear fuel is being transferred to the Bushehr reactor under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and senior officials from Iran and Russia.

The Russian-completed plant is finally being launched after years of delay.

163 fuel rods are to be transferred to the core of the plant.

The fueling comes after head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Director Sergei Kiriyenko held talks earlier on Saturday ahead of the inaugural ceremony of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Iran’s AEOI chief said the fueling process will be completed by September 5.

For his part, Kiriyenko lauded the “physical launch process” of the plant and said, “Bushehr plant is a unique power plant, as most of its parts and equipment have been installed on the ones mounted by the Germans,” said Kiriyenko, quoted by IRNA.

He further expressed satisfaction with Russia’s commitment to its part of the deal and noted, “This is an important event. We declare that Russia has stood by all its commitments to the Bushehr nuclear power plant.”

Iranian officials say they expect to use nuclear-generated electricity two or three months following the fuel launch of the plant.

The reactor’s construction was resumed by Russia in 1995, after the German contractor withdrew from the project soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the country.

Source

US Said Preparing New Laws To Seize Americans Retirement Accounts

EU Times — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:21:14 +0000

First They Destroy Private Healthcare in America – Yes, the socialist Democrats won their first battle to destroy the private healthcare system in the US but the automatic IRA bill now in Congress is their next attack to also control, confiscate and destroy the private retirement system. Ultimately, nationalizing healthcare is designed to create a major new government revenue stream by replacing private health insurance with a nationalized, mandatory, government program and their goal is identical with your retirement plan.

Washington will decide the annual forced healthcare premiums on all Americans with the middle and upper wage earners paying far higher premiums than the subsidized voting constituencies who will be the primary beneficiaries of the program. Their goal is to allow Washington to steal much of the annual health premiums (taxes) for current revenue needs and to bailout and subsidize with your premiums the health programs for the voting blocks of poor and underemployed, illegals, unions and the millions of city, county, state and federal government employees. Eventually there will be no private competition available except for the very wealthy and Washington will constantly increase premiums just as they raise taxes today.

Next They Steal Your Private Retirement Benefits – Just as with the Obama Administration plans eventual nationalization of healthcare, the tremendous amount of funds in private retirement plans and IRA accounts are also being targeted to meet future revenue needs. Bills have just been introduced in both the House and Senate to create the new Auto IRA accounts which will at first be voluntary but later will become mandatory like Social Security and I expect the early 3% employee after tax contribution levels to eventually rise to 10 to 15% of compensation rising even more than Social Security has increased over the years. Read this August 17th article in Investment News at for more information.

Just Robbery Pure & Simple – The Auto IRA is the first step to grab and control your retirement assets and replace our private system with a forced, government controlled Social Security type program. In addition they will force much of your retirement funds into buying junk treasury bonds along with the Federal Reserve when the dollar/national debt crisis hits as billions of retirement funds become the buyer of last resort when the rest of the world are dumping dollars and treasury securities. Americans with substantial private retirement benefits will also likely be “means tested” out of their promised Social Security benefits and discover their private retirement benefits will be subject to confiscatory levels of taxes and penalties which will even target previously taxed Roth IRA accounts.

Bipartisan Theft – But don’t think a GOP victory in the fall elections or 2012 will safeguard your retirement assets as Washington’s need for new wealth is a bipartisan effort by both political parties. Note that the leading “Washington based” conservative think tank disagrees with my analysis of the threat to your retirement assets. I take exception to the views of David John, The Heritage Foundation’s leading analyst on issues relating to pensions, financial institutions, asset building, and Social Security reform but read his The Automatic IRAs: A Conservative Way to Build Retirement Security and you will see how even some traditional conservatives are supporting the latest Washington retirement wealth and power grab.

Read More About the Retirement Threat & Protection Solutions – I have already covered the proposals in detail in two lengthy online reports: Get Ready For the Obama Retirement Trap at published on 1/28/2010 and The 10 Step Countdown To Retirement Plan Nationalization at published on 3/22/2010.

Please take the time to review both reports in detail which covered the threats when the Obama Administration first proposed this new program back in January 2010 and also read David John’s glowing support for the new Washington retirement scheme. Then decide for yourself if Washington is here to help you for a change or out to steal you blind as usual. Together, the reports above provide a confiscation timeline and actions you can take now to defend your retirement security and benefits.

Source

Holocaust denier death, Mossad linked

EU Times — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:14:45 +0000

Dariusz Ratajczak

American writer JP Bellinger dose not rule out the the involvement of Israeli spy agency, Mossad, in the tragic death of a Polish historian, who was researching on the Holocaust.

Dariusz Ratajczak, a former professor at the University of Opole, was found dead in a car parked near a shopping center in Opole on June 11, 2010.

Forensic reports indicated that the body was in the car for nearly two weeks, but was in an advanced state of decay, suggesting that it was moved to car long after Ratajczak’s death.

“After being questioned, a number of witnesses told the police that the car had only recently been parked there,” Bellinger wrote in his article.

“Professor Ratajczak’s death was ruled a ‘suicide,’ but skeptical people, perhaps bearing in mind the recent arrest of a Mossad assassin operating in Poland, are asking how a person in an advanced staged of composition was able to drive to a public parking lot and park a car?” he inquired.

He was referring to Uri Brodsky, Mossad agent accused of helping fake a German passport that was used by one of the members of a hit squad involved in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas commander, in a Dubai hotel in January.

Bellinger went on to say that Ratajczak’s troubles began with the publication of his booklet, “Dangerous Topics,” in March 1999 for which he was convicted of Holocaust denial in Poland.

“What possesses greater intrinsic value? Maintaining the mainstream version of the Holocaust at any cost or the life of a single human being whose only offence was to engage in historical research in a quest for the truth?”

Ratajczak believed it was not possible to kill millions of people in the Nazi gas chambers — a view that provoked a firestorm of criticism among his contemporaries and Israelis lobbies.

Michael Sobelman, the spokesman the Israeli Embassy in Poland, accused Ratajczak of anti-Semitism and expressed “surprise” that “such a man works at a Polish university.”
Sobelman’s comment preceded Ratajczak’s expulsion from the University of Opole.

Ratajczak believed that charge of anti-Semitism had become a sort of exceptionally brutal weapon, which the “establishment” uses ruthlessly against independent thinking men.

“What hurts me most is that I found myself in a group of historians who have been muzzled. After all, please see: from 45 years to now the number of Jews murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau has dropped from six million to less than one million. It’s official data. Indeed, even if they had killed one man, that would be a tragedy. But how is it that some historians may legitimately question the numbers of the Holocaust, and others can not? How is it that some people can reduce the six million to less than a million and nothing bad is happening to them? How is it that some people are not allowed to examine this subject and even be wrong, while other historians are allowed all this?” Ratajczak commented.

Bellinger says disturbing news of Ratajczak’s death shocked some traditionalist and patriotic organizations in Poland, and concludes by asking, “Is questioning the holocaust, or holocaust ‘denial’ of more intrinsic worth than the life of any human being?”

Source

Tougher Than Arizona Immigration Bill Introduced in Utah

EU Times — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 09:42:33 +0000

Utah State Representative Stephen Sandstrom has introduced an immigration bill which in some ways may be tougher than Arizona’s embroiled S.B. 1070, yet omits the “onerous” and “punitive” aspects of the bill.

Rep. Sandstrom said he might be willing to bend on some minor points of the bill to improve its chance of passage, but will not compromise on allowing police to question individuals on their immigration status, as this is the “key to the bill.”

Rep. Sandstrom is expecting opposition, but says there are “dozens upon dozens” of legislators who will support the bill, and he believes it will ultimately pass.