EDL to demo at comedy gig (UK)

Right-wing extremists have threatened to demonstrate outside the Lancashire show of comedian Russell Howard after the comic poked fun at the organisation on TV.

The funnyman screened news coverage of a recent English Defence League (EDL) demonstration in Blackburn on his show, Russell Howard’s Good News, and criticised those involved.

A Facebook group posted by people claiming to represent the EDL Chorley Division appeared, promising to demonstrate outside when the comic performs a sold out tour warm up date at Chorley Little Theatre on May 17, and urging others to join them.

Set up by someone calling himself Steve-o NoSurrender Young, the info page says: “Without mention of what we actually stand against, he went into a three minute rant on how ‘thick’ we all are.

“For every action, there is a reaction. We’re going to be loud and he’s going to know we’re there. Hopefully next time he’ll think twice before opening his middle class mouth about things he knows nothing about.”

But he stressed: “Russell is not our enemy, he is our adversary. We are not going there with the intention to cause him, any of his fans or property damage. It will be a peaceful demonstration.”

Other supporters used racist terms for Muslims and made threats. However, the page was overrun by locals opposing the demo. One Chorley resident, Louie Knowles, said: “Look at you wanting to shout and rant out side the theatre while he’s performing. You’re just going to make Chorley (the town I live in) look ‘trampy’ and ‘scummy’.

“If you all want to go and make your home town look like it’s run by a load of thugs and fighters, go straight ahead.”

And another, Mathilde M. Reinbold, said: “You guys do realise that you’ve basically gone and proved Russell right with this page, don’t you?”

Ian Robinson, president of Chorley Little Theatre, said: “This is a big night for Chorley Little Theatre and the town itself with a show we could have sold out 100 times over. It would be a shame if a fun comedy show was ruined by a few people taking offence at one joke.

“It would spoil it for the audience, the hard-working theatre volunteers, and may mean Chorley never gets a show like this again. I hope the EDL stay away.”

Lancashire Evening Post

Jury finds man guilty in NM swastika branding case (USA)

The first of three defendants accused of branding a swastika into the arm of a mentally disabled Navajo man was convicted Friday of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery.

An 11th District Court jury in Aztec found William Hatch, 29, guilty after deliberating for much of the day.

Jurors acquitted Hatch of more serious charges, including kidnapping and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

Hatch and two others were accused of branding Vincent Kee, 22, shaving the back of his head with a swastika symbol and using a marker to scribe obscenities on his backside in April 2010.

Hatch's co-defendants face trials later. All three also are to be tried in federal court as the first in the nation to be charged under a 2009 law that makes it easier for the federal government to prosecute people for hate crimes.

Kee testified Thursday his skin felt like it was melting as someone burned the Nazi symbol on his arm, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

Hatch declined to take the stand before the defense rested its case Thursday, the newspaper reported.

The federal case had been scheduled to go to trial in April but prosecutors decided to wait until the state trials were complete. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque said the trial has been tentatively set for Oct. 3.

If convicted under the federal hate crime statute, each defendant could face prison terms of up to 10 years. The possible sentence could increase to life if prosecutors prove kidnapping occurred.

Google Hosted News

Russian neo-Nazi gets life sentence for murdering lawyer and journalist

Conviction hailed as rare victory for justice by activists who say long sentences have brought down number of racist attacks

Human rights activists in Russia have hailed a rare victory for justice after a court in Moscow sentenced an extreme nationalist to life in prison for killing a prominent lawyer and a young journalist.

Nikita Tikhonov was jailed for shooting dead lawyer Stanislav Markelov, 34, and Anastasiya Baburova, 25, a trainee reporter at the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, in January 2009 on a side street in the Kropotkinskaya district of central Moscow.

Tikhonov's girlfriend, Yevgeniya Khasis, was also tried and sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony for helping co-ordinate the attack by mobile phone.

A jury at Moscow's city court found the pair guilty late last month after hearing they had targeted Markelov because of his work on prosecutions of neo-Nazis. At the time of his death the lawyer and Baburova were walking to a metro station after a press conference.

Tikhonov shot Markelov in the back of the head with a pistol from close range and then shot Baburova when she tried to grab his arm.

In contrast to the disputed trials surrounding other high profile murders such as those of journalists Paul Klebnikov in 2004 and Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, family and colleagues of the victims said they were satisfied with the outcome.

"The court process was honest, fair and carried out with dignity," said Baburova's mother, Larisa. "We are certain they were the killers; we have no doubt. They executed a terrible crime and must answer for their actions."

Sergei Sokolov, the editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station the investigation had been "impeccable". He praised the judge in the case for putting the Tikhonov and Khasis – who "posed a real danger to society" – behind bars for a lengthy sentence.

Alexander Cherkasov, an activist with the Memorial rights group, said he and others had "studied the whole process very thoroughly, evaluated the evidence very critically, and come to the conclusion that the defendants on the bench were exactly the people who should be punished for the murders".

According to witnesses in the courtroom the killers laughed and smiled as the sentence was read. Tikhonov had initially confessed but both later claimed they were not responsible for the deaths.

During a trial lasting three and a half months, the jurors heard that Tikhonov, 31, and Khasis, 26, were involved with an ultra-right group called Russky Obraz. Tikhonov had a motive to seek revenge on Markelov because the lawyer represented the family of a 19-year-old antifascist activist who was murdered in 2006. A search warrant was issued for Tikhonov in connection with that killing and although he was not captured, three accomplices to the crime received heavy prison sentences as a result of Markelov's efforts.

Tikhonov and Khasis fell under police suspicion in autumn 2009 and officers bugged their apartment, recording the pair discussing the murder. They were arrested in November that year. Three pistols and a Kalashnikov were found in the apartment. One of the pistols, a 1910 Browning, matched bullets found at the murder scene.

Neo-Nazis have already written posts on online forums threatening the judge in the trial. However Natalya Yudina of Sova Centre, a group that tracks nationalist aggression, expressed hope the outcome would act as a deterrent.

"In the last year there has been an increase in guilty verdicts for neo-Nazi hate crimes and we've seen a corresponding drop in the number of violent racist attacks," she said.

"Long sentences undoubtedly have an effect, and today's court decision is one more step in the right direction."

Tikhonov and Khasis's lawyers have said they will appeal.

The Guardian

Race scandal shatters myth of integrated French team

Is French football racist? The front page of Friday’s Libération newspaper asked the question that has tormented the whole country this week.

French football is in crisis after revelations that the sport’s managing officials have considered unofficial – and illegal – quotas to limit the number of young black and Arab hopefuls in French training academies.

Secret recordings published by the investigative website Mediapart revealed that Laurent Blanc, France’s respected team manager, appeared to concur with measures to bar non-white players with dual nationality, who could go on to play for other countries after having been trained with French public funds.

The controversy comes at a sensitive time in France, when questions of race and nationality are in the spotlight as the extreme right and anti-immigration National Front appears to be making big electoral gains.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has deliberately taken his party further to the right in a bid to stem defections to the National Front ahead of a presidential election next spring.

The revelations have increased unease over these tactics. The scandal proved that “the arguments of the National Front have ended up invading all spheres of public debate and today are taking over French football”, said François Asensi, parliamentarian from the largely immigrant Parisian suburb of Seine Saint Denis.

Blanc, who was a member of the multi-ethnic team that brought home the World Cup in 1998, is heard making controversial comments on the tape about the choice of players.

“You have the impression that we only produce one kind of player: big, strong and fast . . . Who are the big strong and fast players? The blacks,” he is heard saying.

In the recording, Blanc insists he is not racist and the discussion appears to have begun with a debate on the skills of power versus technique in France’s team. But his comments appear to reinforce racial stereotypes by suggesting black players are limited to power and speed. “The Spanish tell me, “we don’t have this problem. We don’t have any blacks”, Blanc says on the tape.

The controversy has shattered one of the most powerful myths of modern sporting history. When France won the 1998 World Cup, the team was hailed as a powerful symbol of successful integration, bringing together “white black and Arab”. The casual comments by a well-liked manager, and the suggestion by France’s sporting officials that non-white players pose a problem, reveal that this was only ever a myth, says Patrick Mignon, sociologist with Insep, a sports institute.

“Football became a mascot that allowed us to speak of society’s problems through the success or failure of the team,” he says.

This week those same team members who symbolised social integration have broken the sport’s unspoken code to openly criticise the federation and denounce nascent racism.

Guadeloupe-born Lilian Thuram, Blanc’s team-mate in 1998, has called for sanctions.

The government has launched an investigation, alongside an inquiry by the French football federation, which is due to report next week.

But few believe Blanc will be sacked, unless there are more revelations. Though at first he denied the comments, Blanc apologised after the tapes were published. Chantal Jouanno, sports minister, has defended him, though she said he might have made inappropriate comments. Blanc is well-liked, and even Thuram has said he does not believe him to be a racist.

FT.com

MAN CONVICTED OF HOLOCAUST DENIAL IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC FOR WEB CONTENT ON US SERVER

The Prague-West District Court (Okresní soud pro Prahu - západ ) found Czech-Canadian Vladimír Stwora guilty of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms and sentenced him to a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a probation period of two years. The prosecution charged the man with publishing a Czech translation of an article denying the Holocaust on his website. Stwora insists he is innocent and claims he just wanted to prompt a discussion by publishing the article. The verdict has not yet taken effect, the Czech Press Agency reports. A first-instance court acquitted Stwora twice before, but the appeals court overturned those verdicts and returned the case to the lower level to be reheard. The case concerns the Czech translation of an article entitled "The Four Million Version of the Holocaust" by a D. Cassidy. According to the case file, Stwora published the text on his web page in July 2007. The prosecution said the article casts doubt on whether the Nazi genocide of Jewish people during WWII ever took place by questioning the number of victims and the question of whether the death camps and gas chambers really existed.

The prosecutor drew attention to the following claim from the article: "In reality there is no proof that poisonous gas, gas chambers or gas ovens were used in any death camp." The prosecution said Stwora published the text with the intention of disputing "the essence and extent of the Nazi genocide against Jewish people during WWII", the Czech Press Agency reports. Stwora has repeatedly rejected the charges. In the past he has pointed out that he is not the author of the article, nor its translator, and has claimed to disagree with the content of the text. He told the court that he published the article in Canada and that the web server on which his website is located is housed in the USA and that what he did was not a crime in those countries.

Romea

Bin Laden supporters clash with EDL (UK)

Hundreds of Osama bin Laden supporters clashed with English Defence League extremists today as a "funeral service" for the assassinated terror leader sparked fury outside London's US Embassy.

Police stepped in to separate the chanting groups amid threats of violence from both sides.

US leaders were branded "murderers" by radicals, who warned vengeance attacks were "guaranteed".

"It is only a matter of time before another atrocity - the West is the enemy," Abu Muaz, 28, from east London, said.

EDL members chanted "USA, USA" as Muslims knelt to pray for bin Laden at the opposite end of the highly-secured embassy, in central London.

An ambulance was called to the scene amid reports that one of the extremists had been attacked.

The pro-bin Laden event was organised by controversial preacher Anjem Choudary.

The former UK leader of the outlawed al-Muhajiroun and member of the "poppy-burning" Muslims Against Crusades extremist group called on the US to return bin Laden's body to relatives.

He has already warned of another 7/7-style terror attack in the wake of bin Laden's death.

Britain has followed the US in placing its embassies, diplomatic missions and military bases around the world on heightened alert in recent days.

The US said the decision to drop bin Laden's body into the North Arabian Sea was taken to avoid creating a shrine for the dead al-Qa'ida chief.

An EDL member slipped through police lines to unveil an effigy of bin Laden in the middle of the 300-strong group of extremist Muslims.

It prompted screams of "USA, burn in hell" and "Obama, burn in hell" from angry protesters.

Onlookers enjoying a sunny afternoon in Grosvenor Square were unimpressed.

Mary Smythe, 38, from Croydon, south London, said: "I think both sides are pathetic, quite frankly.

"It's disappointing and horrible to listen to the threats. They are all an embarrassment to this country."

The Independant

BNP suffers election meltdown (UK)

The British National party appears to be heading for meltdown at the polls after being wiped out in its key target city of Stoke-on-Trent and securing only one seat on councils to have declared so far.

The extreme rightwing party has been hit by vicious infighting over the last year, with a string of senior figures defecting amid growing concern over the state of its finances.

It only managed to field around 250 candidates in Thursday's local elections – compared to approximately 700 in the equivalent poll in 2007 – and its only victory so far has come in Queensbury, West Yorkshire.

The BNP has so far lost seven of the 11 council seats it was defending, with three still to declare.

In Stoke-on-Trent, it lost all five of its sitting councillors. It also appeared to have failed in Wales, where it had predicted a breakthrough in the run-up to the vote.

The BNP spokesman, Simon Darby, refused to comment on the results, saying "there was no point". Anti-racist campaigners said the results were disastrous for the party.

"Nick Griffin is now in a really parlous position," said Nick Lowles from Hope not Hate, which has mobilised thousands of anti-racist campaigners in the past few weeks.

"The British National party as a political force now appears to be finished ... it has such huge debts that even the rebels who are openly opposed to Griffin have realised it is not worth taking over."

The BNP reached a high water mark in 2009 when Griffin and Andrew Brons were elected to the European parliament but, in the past 18 months, its support has imploded.

Dozens of prominent figures have either been suspended or have resigned, and in recent weeks it emerged that around 15 former members had defected and were planning to stand for the rival English Democrats.

Insiders say they predict further walkouts and defections in the coming days.

The Guardian

White supremacist gun dealer gets 10 years (USA)

A Milford man accused of being a white supremacist was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for selling weapons to a government informant posing as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Alexander DeFelice admitted what he did was wrong during the sentencing.

"I'm not a rocket scientist. What I did was wrong and I'm just glad nobody got hurt," he told U.S. District Judge Janet Hall.

But his admission was not enough to save him from being sent to prison for a decade.

"Fortunately, in this case no one was injured, but the risk of injury was not insignificant," Hall said.

A jury convicted DeFelice in December of conspiracy and firearms charges, but acquitted two other men including the leader of the Connecticut-based Battalion 14 supremacist group. Two other defendants pleaded guilty in the plot.

During a nearly three-hour sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Kopel urged the judge to send the 34-year-old DeFelice to prison for 15 years contending that if DeFelice is not himself a white supremacist, he certainly shared their ideas, and was more than eager to supply them with weapons to be used against minorities.

"He was chomping at the bit to sell guns and to sell grenades to them," Kopel told the judge.

But DeFelice's lawyer, Michael Hillis, countered that his client was a dupe of an overeager federal informant who lured DeFelice into the crime.

According to the government's case, beginning in 2008 DeFelice began meeting with the informant, Joseph Anastasio, who claimed he was seeking to buy guns and grenades for the KKK.

DeFelice sold several rifles and a shotgun to Anastasio as well as three grenades he made.

In one recorded conversation between DeFelice and Anastasio, DeFelice talks about making a bomb look like a basketball to hurt blacks.

"You drive to the top of a hill in downtown New Haven, you light the fuse and roll it down the hill and when all the (blacks) go after the basketball ...," according to the recording.

But in court Thursday, DeFelice told the judge he is not a racist. "I am far from being a racist, I have more black friends than white friends," he said.

CTPost

Extremists plan US Embassy protest (UK)

Anjem Choudary

A radical cleric is planning to spark fury by protesting against the killing of Osama bin Laden outside the US Embassy in London.

Anjem Choudary, a known supporter of the world's most notorious terrorist, says he will lead a "funeral prayer" and call on US authorities to return the body to relatives.

The former UK leader of the outlawed al-Muhajiroun and member of the "poppy burning" Muslims Against Crusades extremist group is calling on fellow extremists to join the demonstration on Friday afternoon.

He has already warned of another 7/7-style terror attack in the wake of bin Laden's death. Britain has followed the US in placing its embassies, diplomatic missions and military bases around the world on heightened alert in recent days.

Domestic attacks and "more intense fighting" in Iraq and Afghanistan will be sparked within days, Mr Choudary said.

He said supporters in the UK loved bin Laden "the way they care about their own parents".

"I think Britain is more likely to face a 7/7 today than ever," the sharia law lecturer said.

"This will encourage more people to participate. He became a figurehead leader, someone who sacrificed a lot for the Muslim community. He gave his wealth, he sacrificed a lot for the sake of others."

The US Embassy has not been warned of the planned protest. A source at the embassy in Grosvenor Square said: "We have not heard anything about it, he has not been in touch."

The decision to drop bin Laden's body into the North Arabian Sea was taken to avoid creating a shrine for the dead al Qaida chief, the US said.

 Belfast Telegraph

Disability hate crime in Brighton and Hove 'increases' (UK)

The number of reported cases of hate crimes against disabled people in Brighton and Hove has almost doubled.

Sussex Police said there were 33 recorded incidents in the city between April 2010 and March 2011, up from 17 the previous year.

Sgt Peter Castleton believes the increase is down to better recording by police and a campaign to encourage victims to come forward.

He said most people had been subjected to very distressing verbal attacks.

Sgt Castleton, who is part of Brighton's partnership community safety team, said: "Typically, we're talking about harassment, it's often name calling.
'Devastating results'

"Fortunately there's not a lot of physical harm reported to us but it's harassment and name calling and of course it's very, very distressing for the people involved.

"When we're talking about disability, we're not just talking about physical disability we're talking about sensory disability, we're talking about mental health impairment and learning disability as well."

He also believes it's a crime that is significantly under reported and urged anyone who a victim of hate crime to contact officers.

In March Brighton and Hove City Council's partnership community safety team launched a poster campaign and a new hate incident report form.

At the launch, councillor Dee Simson said: "Disability hate crime is often hidden and not much discussed, yet it can have devastating results.

"We are aiming to improve the reporting of such incidents and develop good practice in dealing with them."

BBC News

US mosque bombing suspect shot dead

A man wanted in the bombing of a Florida mosque was shot and killed on Wednesday when he brandished a weapon as agents tried to serve an arrest warrant in northwest Oklahoma, FBI officials said.

Sandlin Matthews Smith, aged 46, of Florida, pulled out a firearm as federal and state law enforcement officers approached him in a field at Glass Mountain State Park near Orienta and asked him to surrender, said FBI Special Agent Jeff Westcott of Jacksonville, Florida.

Westcott said agents learned late on Tuesday that Smith was staying in a tent in the park, located in the rugged foothills of the Glass Mountains in northwest Oklahoma.

"During the overnight hours, the Oklahoma City FBI SWAT team, along with the assistance of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, set up a perimeter around the area," Westcott said.

Agent Clayton Simmonds at the FBI's Oklahoma City office said Smith was taken to a hospital in Fairview, where he was pronounced dead.

Reporters were kept back about two miles from the scene of the shooting, which is located in a sparsely populated area of Major County. Simmonds said he didn't think there were any other campers at the park.

Centre commends police

Smith was facing several federal charges, including damage to religious property and possession of a destructive device, in connection with the May 10 2010, bombing of the Islamic Centre of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville.

No one was hurt in that explosion, but authorities found remnants of a crude pipe bomb at the scene, and shrapnel from the blast was found a hundred metres away.

The centre issued a statement commending law enforcement officers' diligence in finding the person responsible for the blast.

"The membership and constituents of the Islamic Centre of Northeast Florida join all citizens of goodwill in Jacksonville to express their relief that any threat posed by the person suspected in the bombing of the Islamic Centre has ceased as well as convey their regret that any lives were lost," the statement read.

Simmonds said it's unclear why Smith was in Oklahoma. He said the shooting still was being investigated.

"I'm not at liberty to say who fired on him," Simmonds said.

News 24

10-year-old accused of killing neo-Nazi father may pursue insanity defense, his attorney says (USA)

An attorney for a 10-year-old boy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his father, a local neo-Nazi activist, on Wednesday told a Riverside County Juvenile Court judge that the boy may pursue a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The sandy-haired boy appeared in Juvenile Court shackled and wearing a bright orange shirt and khaki pants, with his stepmother, biological mother and grandmother sitting on a courtroom bench behind him. Judge Charles J. Koosed postponed the boy’s detention hearing for two weeks and ordered that he  continue to be held at juvenile hall.

The boy has been charged as a juvenile for the shooting death of his father, Jeffrey R. Hall, a regional director for the National Socialist Movement. Hall was shot around 4 a.m. Sunday morning while on the living room couch. Detectives believe the shooting was an “intentional act."

Detectives with the Riverside Police Department said there were no reports of an argument or other incident before the shooting, and police have never responded to any domestic disturbance calls at the Hall residence. Hall, 32, has five children including two from a previous marriage.

Continued at the  LA Times Blog

Blackburn BNP candidate's vile racist slurs (UK)

A British National Party election candidate has provoked fury after making vile racist slurs on her Facebook page.

Nancy Shaw-Farmer, who is bidding to become a councillor in Roe Lee in Blackburn, has been described as ‘an absolute disgrace...living in the dark ages’ whose remarks ‘were bad, even by BNP standards’.

The 45-year-old former Clitheroe Grammar School student defended her comments, insisting people who found them offensive ‘didn’t have a sense of humour’ and refused to apologise.

But the BNP said it took the matter ‘very seriously’ and was investigating her remarks.

Posts by Ms Shaw-Farmer, who works as an Avon Sales leader and lives in Bastwell, on the social networking site included: • 4 P***s in a car near where I work asked for directions to a junior school. Sent them in the wrong direction.

• the current government don’t want cannabis legalised as it would put too many P***s out of work. ha ha ha.

• Bungee jumping! £25 per person. Muslims and P***s free. No strings attached and free transport. ha ha ha.

• When Pakistan had its floods I said if I was out of England for whatever reason, I’d get back there pronto to help my country, no f****** P***s went back to help did they!

Meanwhile, another candidate, Robin Evans, who is standing in Shadsworth with Whitebirk, used Facebook to write a tribute to Adolf Hitler and praise former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who is accused of war crimes.

Local elections take place across East Lancashire tomorrow (Thursday). The BNP is putting forward three candidates in Blackburn with Darwen, but none in Hyndburn or Ribble Valley.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: “This is bad, even by the BNP’s standards. I hope the decent people in Shadsworth and Whitebirk, and Roe Lee, will now think 20 times before voting for them.”

Blackburn with Darwen’s Liberal Democrat leader, councillor David Foster, said: “I am absolutely appalled that somebody who is standing for office is putting such appalling things in the public domain.

“We had a good demonstration the other week against the EDL’s demonstration that showed Blackburn rejected racism.”

Coun Michael Lee, Blackburn with Darwen’s Conservative leader, said: “You cannot believe the quality of people that this party will put forward as candidates.

“They are an absolute disgrace. Are they living in the dark ages? I despair.

“Hopefully the electorate will teach them the lesson they deserve and they will get no votes, and no seats like they did last time.”

Simon Cressy, of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight which uncovered some of the postings, said: "The people of Blackburn deserve better."

Salim Mulla, chair of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said the comments left him furious.

He said: “It makes me very, very angry that there are people of this nature who want to spread their hatred within the community.

"I think people like this shouldn't be even allowed to stand for any party, whether it is the BNP or another.

“I think they are a bunch of troublemakers and hooligans who want to cause friction in the community.

“I would appeal to all members of the community not to support them and not to work with them.”

Ms Shaw-Farmer, is pictured on Facebook with BNP leader and North West MEP Nick Griffin, who she describes as her ‘hero’.

She said Islam was ‘evil’ but insisted: “I am not an extremist, anyone who knows me would say I have a lot of Muslim friends.

“I really don’t mind the people that are here that have integrated in our society. I can’t stand the violent extremists who burn our poppies and have no respect for our country.”

Asked whether Asian people would find her remarks offensive, she said: “If they have not got a sense of humour, then possibly.”

She added: “I am not apologising for anything on my personal page,” and later insisted: “My views are not necessarily those of the party.”

Mr Evans is the BNP’s Blackburn with Darwen organiser, and was formerly East Lancashire co-ordinator for the party.

He said: “Facebook is not my political battleground. It’s more like my own, private comments. It’s not the BNP’s forum. It’s my forum if I want to wish Colonel Gaddafi or Adolf Hitler a happy birthday. People can read what they want into it.”

He added: “Everything I put on Facebook, of course I stand by it.”

BNP spokesman John Walker said: “The British National Party takes allegations of this nature very seriously.

“The party will be fully investigating this matter and until the outcome of that investigation it would be inappropriate to make further

Blackburn Citizen

St. Petersburg neo-Nazi gets prison in pipe bombs case (USA)

A St. Petersburg man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for selling pipe bombs to undercover agents.

Marc A. Balentine, 42, pleaded guilty Jan. 28, federal prosecutors said.

Balentine and a co-defendant met with undercover agents and a confidential informant to discuss potential crimes, according to court documents. The informant and agents asked Balentine if he could provide them with pipe bombs.

Balentine eventually provided the agents with five bombs "capable of causing serious physical injury or death," documents state.

Prosecutors said Balentine is a member of a white supremacist gang known as European Kindred, which originated in Oregon prisons.

TBO.Com

Still Waiting..... By Nick Lowles (UK)

Trent: Waving a new tricolour?

Four days after the BNP threatened to expel anyone caught out acting like a Nazi we’re still to hear of any expulsions, only more party resignations.

It would appear that the youth wing has now left the party with its leader Kieren Trent and his new girl friend purged by a series of angry and threatening party loyalists over their relationship, the current plight of her former lover and an apparent switch of allegiance to Irish republicanism from Ulster loyalism by the pair. My sources tell me that as well as making Facebook declarations of their new allegiances, some former “BNP Crusaders” went as far as to sneak into a commemoration for the 1916 Easter Uprising over the long weekend!

Staying with the Irish theme, the BNP’s organiser for Northern Ireland, the ‘Comical Ali’ of racial purity Steven Moore, managed to make a brief appearance over the weekend, watching the tanned Nick Griffin tie a few old posters around some lamp posts. In typical BNP fashion this was over a month later than any other party and, of course, in considerably less numbers than the other parties. If anything it was just a photo opportunity to prove to the world that Nick Griffin tanned very nicely in Cyprus and also to get Moore to stop hiding after the embarrassment of his racist and sectarian Facebook comments and the delightful truth as to who paid for his wedding.

Next up, Griffin was in Wales with a motley crew of BNP thugs tweeting away about Searchlight moles trying to ruin his party and its campaign (guilty as charged). But it wasn’t long until he returned to his favourite theme; there then came an appeal for funds to pay for petrol for the party’s “Truth Truck”, which in reality is better described as a “Lie Lorry”. Perhaps if Griffin had given the money that it cost to fly both him and his security over to Belfast to the petrol pump attendant instead, none of this would have been necessary. Still, neither common sense nor decency has ever stood in the way of a good old fashioned BNP begging letter/text/phone call/tweet etc, etc.

What did surprise about Griifin’s visit to Belfast was the fact that the BNP had refused to attend an employment tribunal in the city only a few days earlier because they were allegedly concerned for their safety...

Hope Not Hate

March of the Living held at former concentration camp at Auschwitz (Poland)

On Monday the 20th annual March of the Living took place at the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in southern Poland. About 7 000 people participated, mainly young Jewish people from various countries and young Polish people. Holocaust survivors also participated.

The march honours the victims of the Holocaust. Those attending proceeded along the three-kilometer road from the gate of the Auschwitz I concentration camp, with its well-known Nazi slogan Arbeit macht frei ("Work will set you free") to the Auschwitz II - Birkenau camp, where most victims of the Nazi death factory perished.

"What happened at Auschwitz is horrific, we must not forget it. Nothing like this should ever happen again," Polish press agency PAP quoted Filip, a middle school student from Sered', Slovakia, as saying. He was participating in the March of the Living for the second time.

The March of the Living has been held since 1988 and annually since 1996. Participants proceed through the former death camp on Holocaust Day, which was established by the Israeli Parliament in the 1950s for the commemoration of the six million Jewish people murdered by the Nazis. The largest number of people met for the March of the Living in 2005, the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Approximately 20 000 people attended that year, including then-Polish PM Marek Belka and the Israeli PM Ariel Sharon.

The Nazis murdered 1.1 million people, most of them Jewish, at the Auschwitz death camp, which was first set up in 1940. The victims also included Polish people, Roma people, and Soviet prisoners of war.

Romea

Hungarian court acquits Nazi hunter Zuroff of libel

Nazi hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff was acquitted by a Budapest court of libel charges leveled against him by an accused Hungarian Nazi war criminal.

Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was acquitted Tuesday by Judge Viktor Vadasz two days before his accuser, Dr. Sandor Kepiro, is scheduled to go on trial in Budapest Municipal Court. Kepiro is charged with being involved in the murder of more than1,200 Jews, Serbs and Gypsies during a raid by the wartime Hungarian Gendarmerie at Novi Sad in 1942.

Kepiro, 97, filed suit after Zuroff, the head of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, submitted documents to the Hungarian courts in 2006 regarding Kepiro's alleged role in the murders of 1,246 civilians in Novi Sad. Most of the victims were taken to the Danube River and shot in January 1943.

Kepiro was found guilty of involvement twice -- once by the pre-Nazi Hungarian courts, and again after the war, in 1946. By then he allegedly had fled via Austria to Argentina. He returned to Budapest in 1996, and Zuroff, who has been searching for Nazi war criminals under the Wiesenthal Center's Operation Last Chance program, located him.

In his verdict, Vadasz noted that Zuroff had acted in good faith by first contacting the Hungarian prosecutors after discovering that Kepiro had returned to Hungary from Argentina before notifying the media.

"Needless to say, I am relieved to have been acquitted, but the most important issue is Kepiro’s guilt, which will be hopefully established by a criminal court in his trial which begins Thursday morning," Zuroff said in a statement. "This has been a long and frustrating process, which began in the summer of 2006, but I am hopeful that justice will finally be achieved. That is what the victims of the massacre in Novi Sad deserve and that is what I have been fighting for from the very beginning of this process."

JTA Post

BNP faces court over bills (UK)

The British National Party owes companies in Northern Ireland hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid bills, it is claimed.

The Belfast Telegraph can reveal that a number of firms here could take the party to court for monies outstanding.

One former supporter of the party has warned that small family-run firms could go bankrupt because of the shortfall, thought to total over £500,000, UK-wide.

A case has already been heard in the High Court in March involving the non-payment of election expenses relating to the Barking constituency in London, where party leader Nick Griffin was the candidate.

A company called Newton Press has taken legal action over an outstanding bill of more than £10,000 for printing services.

Last week the BNP pledged to pay off all the money it owed by the end of the year, adding that the debts were a result of spending during the last European and general election campaigns.

A former BNP supporter in Northern Ireland, who is also owed money, said he is not confident of being repaid soon.

Jim Dowson is a fundraiser who helped set up BNP offices all over the UK, including in Northern Ireland.

His firm Adlorries, which provides promotional and marketing services, claims he is owed around £160,000.

He said he has already had to dip into his own cash to pay off smaller companies related to his firm who were left out of pocket.

“The BNP claim to be the saviours of British industry and British workers, but I am afraid that around half a dozen small, family-run businesses, including some in Northern Ireland, could go to the wall because the BNP have not paid them,” he said.

“We are in a recession and times are hard enough as it is. People have been treated disgracefully.”

Mr Dowson also expressed anger that party boss Mr Griffin was spotted walking around east Belfast last week, just yards from a firm the BNP allegedly owes more than £40,000.

David Sloan from small family firm, Romac Press in east Belfast, says his company is owed £44,000.

He has defended his firm taking business from the right wing group, saying that the UK is deep in a recession.

“We were not in a position to turn people away but the BNP has basically wiped out a year’s profits,” he said.

”I have contacted police, the electoral commission and I'll take it to the High Court if I have to.”

A spokesperson for the BNP refused to confirm or deny the accusations and said that whether or not the party owes money to creditors is “irrelevant”.

Belefast Telegraph

Neo-Nazi posters removed (Austria)

A special police unit is investigating after posters called for the release of an arrested fascist were erected at a busy road.

Large banners with German slogans that can be translated as "Freedom for Gottfried Küssel!" and "Let our comrade free!" were eliminated after motorists driving along the B37 near Krems, Lower Austria, informed local police at the weekend.

Officials announced today (Mon) that the federal police department for the protection of the constitution and the fight against terrorism has taken over the investigations.

Küssel was put in custody earlier this month. The Austrian is considered as a mastermind of the European neo-Nazi scene. He has posed in front of pictures of Third Reich dictator Adolf Hitler many times and organised marches of skinheads in the Czech Republic and other countries.

The agitator is accused of cooperating with managers of a website on which neo-Nazis exchanged hate-filled messages against ethnic minorities and journalists. "Alpen-Donau" went offline shortly after Austrian prosecutors announced they informed their counterparts in the United States for support.

Austrian authorities were forced to watch on as the right-wingers did little to disguise their Austrian nationalities when posting notes about occurrences in the country because the server of the homepage was located in the USA. The online platform recently reappeared on the web under a slightly different name.

Two other people were also put in custody when six houses in Styria and Vienna were searched and Küssel was arrested. Police in Vienna said recently that all of the men remain in detention as investigations continue.

Meanwhile, Freedom Party (FPÖ) official Martin Graf has come under fire after a website run by some of his office staff contained a user’s message calling for the release of Küssel. Graf became the third president of the federal parliament in Vienna after the most recent general election in 2008. He is considered as a representative of the FPÖ’s powerful far-right wing.

FPÖ chairman Heinz-Christian Strache said he and his party had nothing to do with people frequenting "Alpen-Donau" after the faction was lauded for some decisions by users chatting on the controversial homepage’s discussion platform.

Austrian Independant

Neo-Nazi Leader Jeff Hall Shot Dead in His Home; 10-Year-Old Son Detained (USA)

Jeff Hall

Authorities in Southern California are investigating the slaying of a well-known white supremacist leader who was shot and killed yesterday morning -- possibly by his own son.

Jeff Hall, 32, was found dead inside his Riverside home in the 5400 block of Lauder Court at about 4 a.m. Sunday. Hall died of a single gunshot wound from a "known assailant," the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner said in a press release.

According to the Riverside Police Department, authorities have detained Hall’s 10-year-old son. Contacted by The Huffington Post, a watch commander stopped short of calling the boy a suspect but did say investigators are not looking for any additional persons of interest.

"[His] juvenile son has been detained for further investigation," Lt. Bruce Loftus said. "He is the only one being detained."

Loftus, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to comment further.

Hall has been cited by multiple sources as a neo-Nazi and regional director of the National Socialist Movement. The organization's website describes the group as the "largest National Socialist Party operating in the United States of America today." They claim their core beliefs include "defending the rights of white people everywhere" and the "promotion of white separation."

Hall held a monthly meeting for the organization inside his home on Saturday afternoon. Roughly a dozen members of the group, along with a reporter from The New York Times, were present for the meeting. Hall reportedly discussed several items, including an upcoming "patrol" that was planned for the Mexican border in Arizona.

"This is a very active area right now," Hall told those present, the Times reported. "You guys get your Glocks cocked and get ready to rock. We’re going to the border. That's how we do it."

On Sunday, the NSM posted a brief message about Hall's death, saying the father of five was dedicated to the organization and spent "countless volunteer hours ... leading Patrols in efforts to halt illegal immigration. ... Thank you for all the memories Brother. We miss you."

Some of Hall's Lauder Court neighbours, who claim to have been intimidated by Hall and the NSM, have had a different reaction to news of his death -- speaking as if an era of fearfulness had ended.

"Honestly, I feel like it's over," neighbour Juan Trejo told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "It was scary here. Hopefully we’ll never see any of them again."

Huffington Post