POLICE PROBE MAN'S ANTI-SEMITIC POSTS (Canada)

Just months after Ontario decided not to charge a Toronto man with hate crimes, partly because he was undergoing rehabilitation, he is again being investigated over his online writings on a website called Filthy Jewish Terrorists. Police are probing Salman Hossain's recent postings on the Arizona-based Internet site on which he writes harshly about Jews, Christians and moderate Canadian Muslims, whom he calls "traitors." He refers to Jews as "diseased and filthy," "the scum of the earth," "psychotic" and "mass murderers" and writes that "a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe." In addition, he blames Jews for terrorist plots, such as the Toronto 18 bomb conspiracy, which was the work of Islamist extremists. He also praises God for "the victorious resistance operations" in Afghanistan. Abbee Corb of the Hate Crimes Extremism Investigative Team, which is made up of representatives of 13 Ontario municipal police forces, confirmed yesterday that an investigation is underway. "We are, as a team, collectively looking at this individual. As far as what investigations we have underway, of course that information I can't release because that could compromise any investigations that are ongoing. "However, you can rest assured that the hate crimes extremism investigative team -- again 13 police services -- is looking into him and investigating him as we speak."

In an email exchange with a National Post reporter, Mr. Hossain was unapologetic. Asked about the investigation, he responded that, "Your hate laws are only being used to stop the truth from being spoken." "I don't fear telling the truth and I don't answer to racist genocidal Jews who want to call ME a hater, when Jews hate ALL NON-JEWS. It's not my fault you people rape babies, then cry foul when someone exposes it," Mr. Hossain responded. Canada's hate crimes law prohibits supporting or promoting genocide, as well as the communication of statements (other than in private conversation) that wilfully promote hatred against an identifiable group. "This is a slam dunk," Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said after reading the Internet postings. He called for an immediate investigation and was joined by writer Tarek Fatah, one of several so-called Muslim "traitors" named on the site. "It's pretty hard to believe that in the 20th century there is a blogger right here in Canada who calls for the genocide of the Jewish people. Can it get any worse than that?" Mr. Farber said. Dave Ross, a spokesman for the Ontario Provincial Police, said yesterday the Hate Crimes and Extremism Unit of the force's anti-terror section "was aware of a site and is conducting an investigation." Counterterrorism investigators first took notice of Mr. Hossain, who claims to know the ringleader of the Toronto 18 plot, three years ago after he posted messages online supporting terrorist attacks in Canada. "We should do that here in Canada as well," he wrote at the time. "Kill as many Western soldiers as well so that they think twice before entering foreign countries on behalf of their Jew masters ... if there were any planned attacks against Canadian/ American soldiers by 'Muslim militants' in Canadian soil, I'd support it."

After the National Post first reported on the investigation of Mr. Hossain, students at University of Toronto at Mississauga began a campaign to have him expelled or suspended for tarnishing the image of Canadian Muslims and the campus. Almost 500 people joined a Facebook page calling for his expulsion. The OPP hate crimes and extremism unit conducted a lengthy investigation and brought the case to Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley last year. After reviewing the case, however, Mr. Bentley decided not to press criminal charges because he said Mr. Hossain had taken down the postings in question, had refrained from similar conduct for over a year and was undergoing rehabilitation. But Mr. Hossain is now posting on filthyjewishterrorists.com,where he writes that he is now at York University and that "there are tons of Jews on campus." A York spokesman confirmed he is a student. "No one in this world can take our history away from us. Especially not the cancerous group of people calling themselves Jews or Judeo-Christians who are going to be genocided in the near future," he writes. He writes about "honorable hatred of the Jews" and makes derogatory comments about a federal prosecutor who helped convict one of the ringleaders of the Toronto 18 terrorist group. Mr. Farber said that when Mr. Bentley decided against prosecuting Mr. Hossain last year, he promised to streamline the investigation of hate crimes to make the process faster. Mr. Farber said it is now time to put that new system into action. "I think we can all agree on one thing, that calling for the murder of an entire people has to be dealt with by the law and it has to be dealt with quickly," he said in an interview. "This is no longer 1980 where neo-Nazis used to stand on the street and hand out pamphlets," he added. "At the push of a key, potentially thousands of people can access his call for murder and it only takes one or two extremists to read this and decide that they want to carry out his plan. And that's what makes this dangerous."

Selected excerpts from the website filthyjewishterrorists.com

+"Could Vancouver 2010 Olympics be the next 9/11? I honestly truly believe that Jewish terrorists are scouting around Vancouver, Whistler, and other areas of the Province. With the potential for terrorist atrocities happening, one must take into account any public facilities and businesses that are owned by members of the Jewish community, and who are worth almost nothing in property values and assets?"
+"All the praises is due to God Almighty for the victorious resistance operations being carried out by the brothers in Afghanistan, the Caucuses, Iraq, Occupied Palestine, Somalia, and other places in the world. Some of us are engaged in liberating the occupied lands from the oppressors with weapons and self sacrifice in lives, whilst from amongst others, we are planning on bringing back the Caliphate."
+"Those of the Muslims who have sold their souls to the Judeo-Christian alliance of War against Islam, are outright traitors to the religion, and in the afterlife God will count them amongst the Jews and the Christians -not amongst the Muslims. They are not Muslims."
+"Sheikh Bassam Nihad Jarrar, an inhabitant from South Lebanon's Biqa'a Valley was involved in predicting the demise of Israel around the year 2022. The prediction states clearly that the Muslims shall fight the Jews and kill them. This is God's punishment and promise to Israel and the Jews which will occur in less than a generation."
nationalpost

AUSTRIAN FAR-RIGHT ICON EYES PRESIDENCY

A woman who has criticized anti-Nazi law and is married to an extreme rightist is running for president in Austria, and critics contend her candidacy could tarnish the reputation of a country still marred by its connection to the Holocaust. Barbara Rosenkranz, 51, is not expected to win the April 25 election, despite her endorsement from the owner of Austria's most widely read newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung. But she is likely to lead a campaign against popular President Heinz Fischer laced with the anti-foreigner and anti-European Union rhetoric her far-right Freedom Party generates. She is most widely known for her belief that Austria's law banning the glorification of the Nazis is a hindrance to freedom of expression and violates the country's constitution. In the same vein, she also has defended doubts over Nazi gas chambers. Her husband, Horst Jakob Rosenkranz, was part of a far-right political party that was banned for being too radical. For Austria's Jewish community, Rosenkranz's nomination is a disgrace and "makes a mockery of the 65,000 Austrian Jews who perished in the Shoah," the Hebrew term for the Holocaust. Other political parties also have criticized Rosenkranz's candidacy and expressed concern about the message it is sending abroad. Austria's image as a country was marred by its association with Adolf Hitler. About 130,000 Jewish Austrians fled the country in 1938-39, and it was annexed by Nazi Germany from 1938 until the end of World War II. It wasn't until 1991 that Franz Vranitzky became the first Austrian chancellor to declare in parliament that Austrians were not only victims but also perpetrators of the Holocaust. Austria's president holds a largely ceremonial post and does not have much, if any, political say. Still, the job comes with a large portion of prestige and involves frequent international travel and representation.


"She is definitely not suited for the highest post in the republic," President Fischer's Social Democrats said in a statement. "Whoever trivializes as freedom of expression the denial that there were gas chambers in the Third Reich is certainly unfit as candidate for the presidency," echoed the opposition Greens. The debate sparked by Rosenkranz is, to some extent, a reminder of late President Kurt Waldheim, who served as U.N. chief from 1972 to 1981, and was barred for two decades from entering the U.S. after it became known he had belonged to a German army unit that committed atrocities in World War II. It also brings to mind the late Joerg Haider, former member of the Freedom Party, who praised aspects of Hitler's labor policies and made statements that sounded anti-Semitic. When the Freedom Party won 27 percent of the vote in 1999 elections and joined Austria's coalition government early in 2000, the EU slapped the country with months of diplomatic sanctions. Haider died in a car crash in 2008. On Wednesday, just hours after being officially nominated, Rosenkranz reiterated her controversial stance about anti-Nazi legislation in well-couched wording, stressing in an interview with Austrian radio that her party's name contains the word "freedom." "If one is for freedom of opinion and freedom of expression, then there is no other way but to allow absurd, bizarre, reprehensible opinions," she said. Experts say Rosenkranz is unlikely to get more than 20 percent of the ballots cast next month. "She's a polarizing figure," said Christoph Hofinger, managing partner and scientific director of the Vienna-based Institute for Social Research and Analysis. But, speaking of the newspaper owner who has endorsed her, he also said: "Of course, the Kronen Zeitung has an impact and if they heavily back her it will help her."

Associated Press

Facebook group shut as users call for Nazi Concentration camp reopening

A Facebook group calling for the "reopening" of Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen was taken offline after winning more than 13,000 members, officials have said.
Political scientist Markus Rachbauer said members of the group called "Child abusers, we’ll reopen Mauthausen for you!" belittled Nazi era crimes.
"People posting messages there called for torture and murder," he said.
Facebook user Antonia F., for example, wrote she would "personally turn up the gas" for child abusers, while others suggested drug dealers, murderers and "social benefits parasites" should be gassed.
Willy Mernyi, head of the Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ), said: "We immediately appealed to Facebook to shut this group down when we heard of its existence."

The Austrian Constitution Protection Authority (BVT) said Friday it was investigating.

austrian independent

Thanks to SRC for letting us know about this item

British National Party BNP Membership Scammed Exposed

The British National Party's boast that it's changed its rules to let non-whites join is today exposed as a sickening sham.

A senior figure in the far-right party openly told a British Asian reporter posing as a wannabe supporter he would not be welcome. Yet only weeks earlier, the BNP voted to end its ban on non-whites, with leader Nick Griffin bragging: "We are happy to accept anyone as a member providing they agree this country should remain fundamentally British".

But Christine Knight, 60 - one of a dozen BNP councillors for the borough of Barking and Dagenham - left him in no doubt about the party's real attitude to non-whites.

Knight, a close ally of BNP Greater London Authority member Richard Barnbrook, told him: "The constitution may have changed but our core members would have a problem with you." And making no attempt to hide the BNP's vile views, she said: "You are for your people and I'm for mine.

"You're saying you're British but you are still siding with people who are not indigenous to the country.

"People can say I'm a racist for saying it but it's my opinion."

During a half-hour hate-filled rant she even claimed she could not get state benefits because she was "the wrong colour".
Knight - whose dad was an immigrant from Ireland - said: "I'm British, my parents were, my grandparents were, their parents were and my parents' parents' parents were.

"I'm trying to point out that things that we've paid out for thousands of years don't go to us any more."
She added: "My father came over here and joined the Army.
"My husband was born and bred here.
"But it's going to change - we'll be ethnic minorities in our own country."
The BNP decided to rewrite its constitution after being warned it broke discrimination laws.

After the party voted for the change, Griffin said he expected a "trickle rather than a flood" of applications from blacks and Asians. The whitesonly policy had been in force since the party was formed in 1982.
It was challenged in the High Court by the Equality and Human Rights Commission last year and judges are due to rule on the case next week.
Griffin - who caused outrage when he appeared on BBC1's Question Time show in October - took over as BNP leader in 1999 and has since tried to tone down the party's fascist image.

But he has been accused of choosing Barking to fight the next election as a way of deliberately exploiting local fears about immigration.
Barking has more BNP councillors than anywhere else.
And more than 40 per cent of voters backed them in wards contested by the racist party at the last local elections - compared with a Labour average of just 33 per cent.

Following The People's confrontation with Christine Knight, a BNP spokesman said last night: "As Britain's fourth biggest political party it's inevitable members will hold differing viewpoints.

"Should our new constitution be accepted by the High Court on Tuesday, membership will be open to all who support the policies and principles of the British National Party."
 
Originaly published by the People
Russell Myers; Shekhar Bhatia

RACISM ON THE RISE IN BRITAIN

Racist attacks are on the rise in Britain, where both politicians and the tabloid media routinely disparage Roma gypsies, Muslims and migrants, a European rights watchdog charged on Tuesday. Race-linked offences in England and Wales jumped from 31 000 in 2003 to more than 38 000 five years on, according to a report from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) based on British government figures. More than 13 000 race or discrimination cases were successfully prosecuted in 2007-2008, against 8 800 for the previous two years, said the commission, which is part of the pan-European Council of Europe rights body. Asylum-seekers were often vulnerable to hasty decisions to reject their claims, unnecessary detention and intense public hostility, the report said. "Together with Muslims, migrants, Gypsies, they are regularly presented in a negative light both in political discourse and in the media, especially the tabloid press," it added.

Roma faced "some of the most severe levels of hostility and prejudice" in modern Britain. But stop and search practices ordered under new anti-terror laws also "disproportionately" affected blacks, Muslims and other minority groups, ECRI said, urging Britain to boost the share of minorities in the force. Anti-Semitic incidents were also on the rise, as was the number of anti-Semitic comments in leading British media. The watchdog acknowledged British authorities had toughened the legal framework for fighting racism and discrimination, and were working to promote racial equality in jobs and education, with school results already improving. But overall, the ECRI report said "the tone of public debate continues to include some elements of racist and xenophobic discourse". Britain was not alone in being criticised by the Council of Europe for its treatment of Roma gypsies. 

Roma also faced severe forms of discrimination in Estonia, where their children were systematically placed in schools for the disabled, despite having no handicap. In a report on racism in Estonia, also released on Tuesday, ECRI slammed the country for failing to punish discrimination based on nationality, race, colour or religion unless it endangers a person's life or property. Similarly, in a report on Albania, it criticised the country for failing to adopt laws to tackle discrimination against minorities, especially impoverished Roma and Egyptian Albanians who are currently denied the vote. Austria, by contrast, has adopted laws to combat discrimination but they are rarely applied, with blacks and Muslims most exposed to discrimination but Jews also facing persistent anti-Semitism, ECRI said. Employers in Austria can choose to sack foreign workers first, housing ads can discriminate against minorities, and minority children are left to fall by the wayside at school, ECRI wrote in a country report. Like in Britain, ECRI accused some politicians and media of whipping up hostility towards asylum-seekers. On a plus note, ECRI said Austria had made headway in recent years on improving the plight of Roma gypsies.

GOVERNMENT ISSUES NEW HANDBOOK TO COMBAT HOMOPHOBIA IN CZECH SCHOOLS

The Czech government is distributing a new handbook to primary and secondary school teachers called “Homophobia in Schools” – aimed at raising awareness of homosexuality and the problem of bullying based on sexual orientation. The government council behind the handbook says it wants teachers to be better able to recognise homophobia – and to do something about it. Children in schools everywhere call each names in the playground, and often that juvenile name-calling is of a sexual nature; boys and girls will often taunt each other with names such as “poof” or “homo” and so on. For most people it’s a normal part of adolescence, but some believe it should be clearly put into context by teachers, in an effort to create greater tolerance of homosexuality in later life. Lucie Otáhalová, head of the secretariat of the government council for human rights:

“Of course young people laugh at different things, not only at gays and lesbians – that’s part of the youth culture, but I think the role of schools and teachers should be to talk about this, to talk about homosexuality, to discuss it with students and show them that this is not correct. So that’s basically the purpose of the handbook – we want to give the handbook to these teachers, so they know what is homophobia, what types of students are the perpetrators, what types of students are the victims, and how to solve the problem.”

Lucie says the decision to publish the handbook was partly motivated by surveys showing that up to 75% of male pupils in the Czech Republic had negative attitudes towards gays and lesbians. But here at the Londýnská primary school in Prague, I discovered far more tolerant views:

“We sometimes say – you are gay – but we don’t really mean it in the real meaning. I don’t know any, but I think they are a little bit funny, but they are only people so I don’t know why to discriminate against them.” “I tolerate this orientation, and the people, in the community, and I saw a lot of films about this theme. I like these people! They’re only people, and I don’t have a problem with them.”
The deputy head of the Londýnská school, Václav Nádvorník, strongly agrees that schools should accept homosexuality as a fact of life, and says the booklet is undoubtedly a good thing. However he believes it’ll just end up filed away with all the other publications schools like his receive from the government each year:

“There are gays and lesbians in the classroom, it’s true. In Moravia, Czech Republic, Zimbabwe, everywhere. They’re everywhere. But the way how children are educated about them and how they are respected is different, and it’s according to the personality of the teacher. Government can do nothing. As I said, it’s according to the teacher. If the teacher wants to accept it, it’s possible. If they don’t, it’s impossible.”
The Londýnská school is a progressive, cosmopolitan school in urban Prague, known for embracing diversity; attitudes to homosexuality elsewhere in the country, such as in the Catholic heartland of South Moravia, may be quite different. How children view homosexuality and how schools respond to homophobic behaviour depends largely on the attitudes of their teachers and parents, who - of course - simply reflect the values of their community.

Radio Prague

COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S ANTI-RACISM COMMISSION PUBLISHES NEW REPORT ON AUSTRIA

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) today published its fourth report on Austria which deals with racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in this country. ECRI’s Chair, Nils Muiznieks, said that while there has been progress in certain areas, the prevalence of racist discourse, the disadvantaged position of non Austrian children in education and the lack of a comprehensive integration policy remain sources of concern. As regards positive developments, Austrian anti-discrimination legislation has been strengthened thanks to the adoption of Equal Treatment Acts in each of the nine Länder. Some of these offer broader protection against discrimination than at federal level and provide access to newly created or reinforced specialised bodies. The authorities have pursued their efforts to provide the police and the judiciary with training on criminal legislation against racism and xenophobia. Steps have been taken to recruit police officers with an immigrant background, which is encouraging. Measures have been adopted at local level to facilitate immigrants’ integration. German language support has been provided to children with an immigrant background. In addition, access to employment has been facilitated for persons arriving in Austria for the purpose of family reunification. At the same time, racism in public discourse remains a worrying issue, in the absence of an adequate response by the authorities. Far-right political parties have openly exploited prejudice against minorities, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, Jews and Muslims and their statements have not been always condemned by mainstream political parties in a sufficiently strong manner. In addition, some media have contributed to creating an atmosphere of hostility against members of minority groups and asylum seekers. At present, Austria does not have an effective press self-regulatory body, the Press Council having stopped functioning since 2002.


Non-Austrian children still find themselves in a disadvantaged position in the education system and their over-representation in schools for pupils with special needs is a problem. There continue to be major disparities between citizens and non-citizens in the field of labour. Discriminatory practices in the field of housing and employment, for example advertisements, are still common and have not been adequately addressed. There is still no comprehensive integration policy at federal level and the obligation to fulfil an “integration contract” in order to obtain a residence permit is too coercive and does not include enough incentives to promote integration. Austria’s family reunification policy is on the whole too restrictive and the quota system for family reunification inappropriate. Although it is well-developed, Austrian legislation in the field of discrimination remains highly fragmented and complex; this undermines its effectiveness. The Commission for Equal Treatment and the Ombudspersons for Equal Treatment lack the structural independence required to command full public confidence. The same is true for the Bureau for Internal Affairs which deals, among other matters, with allegations of ill-treatment by the police. In its report, ECRI has made a number of recommendations, three of which require priority implementation and will be revisited by ECRI in two years’ time:


* Provide the Ombudspersons for Equal Treatment with sufficient financial and human resources, the guarantees that make them fully independent and the power to apply to the courts;
* Promote, without encroaching on the principle of media independence, the reestablishment of a regulatory mechanism for the press that would ensure respect of ethical standards;
* Improve the response to allegations of racist or racially discriminatory behaviour by the police, by measures such as establishing an independent body with powers to investigate individual complaints.
Council of europe

The English Defence League show how they are fighting for Christianity.

The EDL state that they against the Islamifacation of the UK and are defending Christianity and Christian values for the British People.
So while they were expressing support for Geert Wilders and defending these so called Christian values in London they showed their respect for Christianity.

By pissing on a church.   
 (Westminster Abbey)

EDL Founding Member admits EDL now controlled by BNP activist.

As many will know the English Defence League “EDL” is a Violent football hooligan thugs led anti-Islamic movement and has always maintained that it has nothing to do with the British National Party “BNP”.

And equally the British National Party has stated it has nothing to do with the EDL and it is not in fact it’s current boot boy army.
Yet an interesting video has appeared on You Tube which was made by the EDL’s founding member Paul Ray. It was posted on a You Tube EDL channel by a user called LutonLionheart.
In the video Paul Ray admits that one of the EDL’s main activists is none other than the BNP Gold Member and Activist Chris Renton.
He state’s that Chris Renton is actively involved with two neo-Nazi organisations Combat18 and Stormfront.
He also goes on to state that Chris Renton BNP activist is now the commander in chief of the EDL.
He also states that the EDL now to has serious Neo-Nazi leanings with Chris Renton BNP being at the forefront of that influence.
The video was originally removed by the previous up loader but it has been re-uploaded by a anti-racist activist for others to see.
The You Tube user by the id of CY2290 has many great videos on his channel and are worth a perusal. To go to his channel please click HERE

Roma duped into seeking Swedish asylum

An estimated 1,000 Roma people, primarily from Serbia, have been lured this year alone into travelling to Sweden in the vain hope of securing residence permits, the Swedish Migration Board has said.

Buses filled with Roma people have been pulling into Gothenburg and Malmö on an almost daily basis.

"Travel agencies run by unscrupulous businessmen are tricking already vulnerable people into coming to Sweden," said board director-general Dan Eliasson.
The migration board chief is advising Roma people not to make the long trip to Scandinavia as their chances of being granted residency are "extraordinarily small".
"They probably feel that they are living in difficult social conditions and maybe even that they are discriminated against, but this is not something that gives them the right to protection in Sweden.

"Generally they'll quickly be informed that they can't get a residence permit and they'll have to go home," said Eliasson, who added that the vast majority came to Sweden from Serbia, though some have also made their way north from Montenegro and Macedonia.
The Roma population in Serbia is considerably poorer than the wider population, and sporadic reports have emerged of violations perpetrated against Roma in Serbia, Kosovo and, recently, in Italy.

"But in order to gain asylum you need to be able to show that you are persecuted and risk violent treatment. It is very difficult to receive asylum from Europe," said Eliasson.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg 'hacked into emails of rivals and journalists'

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been accused of hacking into the email accounts of rivals and journalists.

The CEO of the world's most successful social networking website was accused of at least two breaches of privacy in a series of articles run by BusinessInsider.com.

As part of a two-year investigation detailing the founding of Facebook, the magazine uncovered what it claimed was evidence of the hackings in 2004.

In the first instance, it said that, when Zuckerberg discovered that Harvard's student newspaper The Crimson was planning on running an article on him in 2004, he used reporters' Facebook logins to hack into their accounts.

In the second instance, the magazine claimed Zuckerberg hacked into the accounts of rivals at Harvard who accused him of stealing their idea for a social network. He then allegedly tried to sabotage the rival network they had set up.

Business Insider claimed that Zuckerberg learned The Crimson was planning to write an article on him when he was called in for an interview in 2004.

The newspaper was investigating allegations by other Harvard students that Zuckerberg had stolen their social networking idea - allegations that are now well-documented and became the subject of a $65million legal suit.
In 2004, however, Facebook - which now boasts over 400million users around the world and is an incorporated company worth millions - was still just a network confined to Harvard students known as TheFacebook.com.
At the time, Zuckerberg was involved in a now well-publicised dispute with three other Harvard students who had originally asked him to help them create an online social network.
Business Insider chronicles the dispute in detail as part of its main article on the founding of Facebook.

The other Harvard students - Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra - had accused Zuckerberg of intentionallly misleading them about his willingness to help them build their website, HarvardConnection.com.
They had approached the student newspaper, the Crimson, about their accusations.
On hearing their claims, Crimson reporters then spoke to Zuckerberg about the allegations, Business Insider said.

Zuckerberg was apparently able to convince the newspaper that he network he was building differed substantially to HarvardConnection.com, which he viewed primarily as a dating website. The newspaper pulled the story.
However after further claims emerged, Zuckerberg apparently became anxious that the paper would run a story on him after all.
Business Insider claimed he then told a friend how he had hacked into the accounts of Crimson staff.
He allegedly told the friend that he used TheFacebook.com to search for members who said they were Crimson staff.

Then, he allegedly examined a report of failed logins to see if any of the Crimson members had ever entered an incorrect password into TheFacebook.com.
In the instances where they had, Business Insider claimed that Zuckerberg said he tried using those incorrect passwords to access the Crimson members' Harvard email accounts.
In two instances, the magazine claimed, he succeeded - and was able to read emails between Crimson staff discussing the possibility of writing an article on the accusations surrounding him.

'In other words,' Business Insider claimed, 'Mark appears to have used private login data from TheFacebook to hack into the separate email accounts of some TheFacebook users'.

It would not be the only time that Zuckerberg breached privacy, Business Insider claimed.
In a separate article in the series, the magazine alleged that Zuckerberg had also hacked into his rivals at HarvardConnection.com - which, by May of 2004, had been renamed 'ConnectU'.

Although Facebook was already wildly popular by the summer of 2004 - reaching a million users by the fall - Zuckerberg, the magazine claimed, was still concerned about his competition.
Those concerns, it was alleged, led him to hack in to ConnectU's site and make changes to multiple user profiles - including one of its founders and the fellow student accusing him of stealing the ideas for Facebook, Cameron Winklevoss
Business Insider alleged that Zuckerberg created a fake account filled with fake information for Winklevoss.

It also alleged that he logged into the accounts of some ConnectU users and changed their privacy settings to invisible - apparently making it harder for people to find friends on the network.
Eventually, the magazine claimed, Zuckerberg deactivated at least 20 ConnectU accounts entirely.
Business Insider admitted it was not clear how Zuckerberg could have hacked into the ConnectU accounts.
When Facebook was approached about the allegations in the Business Insider articles, the company told Mail Online: 'We’re not going to debate the disgruntled litigants and anonymous sources who seek to rewrite Facebook’s early history or embarrass Mark Zuckerberg with dated allegations.

'The unquestioned fact is that since leaving Harvard for Silicon Valley nearly six years ago, Mark has led Facebook's growth from a college website to a global service playing an important role in the lives of over 400 million people.'
However the magazine also claimed that a source close to the company said it was the fallout from instances such as these - as well as the expensive litigation with ConnectU - that has shaped Facebook's current privacy policies.
Fears over privacy present one of Facebook's biggest challenges, with the company coming under fire from users almost every time it makes a change to its privacy policies.

After its investigation, Business Insider concluded that Zuckerberg had led his ConnectU rivals on regarding his own intentions of building a social network.
But the magazine said that, in light of the fact that Zuckerberg appeared to consider the two networks as two separate things, and that he had never signed a contract with Connect U, the $65million settlement eventually paid to ConnectU was over the top.

The alleged hackings detailed above, however, it claimed were far 'more troubling'.
The claims will be read with interest by the millions of Facebook users concerned about their privacy - but the full fallout still remains to be seen.

dailymail

We must not be afraid of taking on Islamic extremists (UK)

Muslims are standing up to fundamentalist organisations such as the Islamic Forum of Europe. We should do the same, writes Andrew Gilligan

The East End has one of the best local papers in Britain, a genuine mirror of its community. But curiously, this week's issue seems to have missed a story which has been making some serious waves in that very community. One of the local MPs, Labour's Jim Fitzpatrick, was quoted in The Sunday Telegraph, and on national television, as saying that his party had been infiltrated by a secretive, fundamentalist organisation, the Islamic Forum of Europe – which he compares to the Militant Tendency in the 1980s.

At the same time, the area's other MP, George Galloway, was quoted – albeit on a secretly recorded tape – as saying that the IFE played a "decisive role" in his election victory, and admitting that he owes them "more than it would be wise… for me to say". Lutfur Rahman, the council leader in Tower Hamlets, repeatedly refused to deny that the IFE helped him win the leadership. And the reports also pointed out that a great deal of public money has been channelled to IFE-linked projects, causing council officers major concerns.

The IFE, based at the hardline East London mosque, claims to be an "open and tolerant" social welfare institution. In fact, as undercover reporters for Channel 4's Dispatches found, it is working, in its own words, to change the "very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed… from ignorance to Islam". It may not manage that – but it has already won significant political power over a multiracial community through democratic, secular parties whose values are diametrically opposed to its own.
 
I admit an interest – I made the programme, and wrote The Sunday Telegraph report. But I think I know why others are reluctant to address the issues we raised. That reason is fear. In six months of research, we spoke to dozens of people in the Tower Hamlets Labour Party. Almost everyone who talked to us said exactly the same thing – but no one, save Mr Fitzpatrick, was brave enough to say it on the record.

Graham Taylor, the chairman of the party, has been forced to make a grovelling apology for suggesting that the town hall was a "centre of Islamic fundamentalism" (he says the comment was meant ironically). Rushanara Ali, the Labour candidate in Mr Galloway's Bethnal Green & Bow constituency, is a secular moderate. But she issued a weaselly statement which can be read, as it was no doubt intended, as an attack on Mr Fitzpatrick, who represents the neighbouring constituency of Poplar and Canning Town.

In the back of every politician's mind lurks the fear that taking on the IFE will cost them votes. In the back of every journalist's mind is the knowledge that writing anything even faintly questioning of the East London mosque will incur tedious correspondence with its hair-trigger libel lawyers. In the back of every white person's mind lurks the fear of the IFE's favoured charge, "Islamophobia".

Dispatches's answer to that charge is that 70 per cent of our interviewees were Muslim. The most important people in the film are the locals of the area – Harmuz Ali, the vice-chairman of the Brick Lane mosque, Badrul Islam, the chief executive of the Ethnic Minority Enterprise Project, and many others. They reject the IFE, knowing better than anyone that it does not represent their community. They dismiss as nonsense the claim that any attack on it is an attack on Islam itself.

Interestingly, too, the IFE's and the mosque's response to the reports has so far been rather more muted than their pre-publication threats would suggest. The Muslim community of East London is calling the IFE's bluff. Given the importance of this issue, it is time for others to find similar courage.

telegraph

DEATH LEAP OF GIRL, 15, BULLIED ON FACEBOOK

A TORMENTED public schoolgirl plunged to her death from a bridge after classmates bullied her on Facebook, an inquest heard yesterday.

In the latest of a series of conflicts, Holly Grogan, 15, was upset by allegations that she had slept with another girl’s brother.
Hours later she was found dead beneath the bridge of the busy A40 dual carriageway.
Her father Steve told the coroner the events of ­September 16 last year “tipped Holly over the edge”.
It was the culmination of more than six months of bullying by girls from £11,000-a-year St Edward’s School, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

At one point, one of her friends told the inquest, the Facebook taunting took the form of open discussions about an invented medical condition, HGS, or “Holly Grogan Syndrome”.
Mr Grogan, 45, of Cheltenham, told the hearing in Gloucester that the girls’ accusations upset his daughter and made her cry.
They warned her not to come to a party she had been excited to have been invited to.
He said: “Later that day she received a text from the party host saying it might be better if she didn’t go to the party.”
Holly denied to her father that she had slept with the boy.

Still upset later, she asked if she could get into her parents’ bed for a cuddle at 9.45pm.
In the morning, Mr Grogan said he went to have a shower, adding: “My wife Anita went to wake Holly and noticed her bed hadn’t been slept in.

“There was a note on the desk. She wrote, ‘I don’t want to name names but I just wish people could learn to forgive and forget and be more ­considerate to people and let people move on’.”

Mr Grogan admitted his daughter’s problems began after she had lied to get attention. She told classmates her brother had died and her parents were splitting up. The results were devastating. He said: “You cannot ­underestimate how important friendships are when you are 15.”
He broke down as he told how much he regretted never having raised the issue of bullying with the school.

“Holly certainly didn’t want us to but, in hindsight, we wish we had,” he said.

“It was the wrong decision.”

One of her friends said later: “She was being bullied – they didn’t understand how much it affected Holly.”
St Edward’s headmaster Dr Andrew Nash said: “Facebook is something we worry about because it is so completely outside of our control.”
Recording a verdict of suicide, deputy Gloucestershire coroner David Dooley said: “It was clear she craved forgiveness for the lies she told and the desperate position she put herself in, and didn’t see a way out of that.”

dailyexpress

"God bless the Muslims. They'll need it when they're burning in f-ing hell."

This item originally appeared on the 5th March in the New Statesmen

 If you were still in any doubt about the character of the English Defence League, today's march on the Houses of Parliament should make things clear.

 The group, which claims to be non-racist and pro-freedom of speech, but whose followers have been filmed shouting racist slogans and chanting support for the far-right British National Party, has mounted a series of anti-Muslim demonstrations around Britain since March last year. In January, the EDL rioted in Stoke-on-Trent, where Asian residents and their white neighbours (described as "race traitors", according to Unite Against Fascism) were attacked.
Today's rally was in support of the far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Having been banned from entering the UK on a previous occasion, he was at the House of Lords today (at the invitation of the UK Independence Party leader, Lord Pearson) to screen his anti-Islam film Fitna.

This afternoon, several hundred EDL supporters assembled outside Tate Britain, downriver from parliament. When the march at first failed to get going, police allowed them to wander off to the pub for an hour or so. (By comparison, a smaller crowd of anti-racist protesters, organised by Unite Against Fascism, had been kept tightly corralled by police outside parliament's St Stephen's Gate since morning.)

Before marching towards parliament, the crowd was addressed by Guramit Singh -- virtually the only non-white EDL supporter present -- who claimed to be one of the "12 leaders" of the EDL. He called "on all religions" to "eradicate militant Islam".
Although Singh and a subsequent speaker at the rally occasionally made a distinction between "moderate" Muslims and "extremists", the crowd's biggest cheer was reserved for Singh's closing words:

"God bless the Christians, Jews, Sikhs, even God bless the Muslims -- they'll need it when they're burning in fucking hell."

Earlier, the Welsh Secretary and veteran anti-racist campaigner Peter Hain said: "The English Defence league, together with their allies the BNP, represent a racist and fascist threat -- not just to Muslims but to [all] black, Asian and Jewish citizens, too."
This was illustrated by the EDL supporters (including a couple dressed in fetching his'n'hers -- black for him, pink for her -- sweatshirts that bore the legend "EDL -- Derby division") I witnessed threatening a frightened mixed-race group of teenagers as they crossed paths on a sidestreet near Pimlico Station

newstatesman

Sussex Police hit out at BNP over preferential treatment claims

Police bosses have hit out at BNP allegations that they give preferential treatment to “foreign religious centres”.
Senior Sussex officers said the claims were a deliberate attempt to create tension between communities, the police and the public.
Statements placed on the right-wing party’s website said a Horsham and Crawley branch meeting had discovered that police had agreed “special measures” to respond to alarms at Broadfield Mosque and Ifield Sikh temple.
The site added that a senior officer is automatically assigned to any callout to either of the religious sites.
It stated: “British people who may need the police are put behind the interests of the foreign religious centres and have to wait, even if they called first”.
Speaking to The Argus Chief Inspector Steve Curry dismissed the allegations as “without any foundation”.
Chief Insp Curry said: "These allegations are clearly designed to undermine relations between communities and between the police and the public we serve.
“Sussex Police remain committed to serving all the people of Sussex fairly and impartially.
"There is no truth to the allegation that each response to the temple is supervised by a 'senior police officer'; the response to any alarm activation at the temple site will be supervised by the duty inspector as with any other call of that type."
theargus

Former concentration camp vandalized in Austria

A former concentration camp in Austria has been vandalized with anti-Semitic and anti-Turkish graffiti by suspected far-right activists, police and officials said on Friday.
Abuse was scrawled on the outer wall of the Mauthausen camp near Linz overnight and no culprits had been found, Michael Tischlinger, head of the provincial anti-terrorism police, told the Austrian Press Agency.

"Such a desecration is not a prank, the culprits had a select target," said Willi Mernyi, head of the Mauthausen Committee which helps oversee the site where around 100,000 people died during Nazi rule in Austria in 1938-45.
"There is an active far-right scene in Upper Austria that does not even shrink away from vandalizing a former concentration camp," Mernyi said in a statement.

The case shows authorities need to clamp down more on the extreme right, local Social Democrat politician Josef Ackerl said. Local police and Austria's interior ministry were not available for comment.
Far-right parties together captured nearly a third of the vote in Austria's 2008 national elections and feed off xenophobia and anti-European sentiment in the insular Alpine Republic.
reuters

Belgium police launch operations against PKK

Some 300 Belgian police raided 25 addresses across the country on Thursday in an operation against a militant PKK group.

Residences in Brussels, Antwerp, Charleroi, Namur and Verviers were searched as well as the offices of Kurdish television broadcaster ROJ in the town of Denderleeuw.

The PKK, which launched an armed attacks against the Turkish state in 1984 for a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey, is branded a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.

worldbulletin

Human rights group seeks freedom for religious converts

A new human rights group is mobilising people around the world to stand up for the freedom of religious converts to freely live out their faith.
Set My People Free to Worship Me is planning to stage simultaneous marches on April 3 in London, Frankfurt, Melbourne, Cairo, Stockholm and Sydney.

The group’s founder Kamal Fahmi said he was organising the protests to seek freedom, justice and equality for religious converts. The movement wants especially freedom for converts to worship, marry and raising their children according to their new faith.
“We want to advocate that all people, especially Muslims, have the freedom to change faith, to live out and practice their new beliefs,” he said.
Mr Fahmi stressed the movement was non-violent. hopes the marches will become an annual event.
He said: “We believe that it is time to support our suffering Christian brothers and sisters from Muslim background and raise awareness of the injustices that they face.”
The group has launched a petition demanding “freedom to worship in the Muslim world” and condemning apostasy laws.
It reads: “In our rapidly changing world, religious values and human rights are being challenged. Every year thousands die because of persecution, injustice and oppression by governments and religious institutions.
“If we don’t watch it, very soon justice and equality for all men and women will be usurped. In the Muslim world the Muslim people don’t have the freedom to choose their faith. We wish to speak out against the Muslim apostasy law worldwide.”
christiantoday

Caste prejudice 'may exist' in British workplaces

Discrimination on the grounds of caste - or historic social standing in Hindu and Sikh communities - may be happening in the UK, a government peer has said.
Ministers have previously said they did not think people from lower castes were treated unfairly in the workplace.
But Baroness Thornton said evidence may exist. She has ordered more research.
She was speaking as peers accepted an amendment to the Equalities Bill, paving the way for such discrimination to be made illegal if necessary.
Hindu campaigners have long argued that members of the lower caste - referred to as Dalits or "untouchables" - suffer unfair treatment at the hands of higher caste members, even in second generation UK Asian communities.
Baroness Thornton told peers the National Institute of Economic and Social Research was due to present its research in July or August.

"We have looked for evidence of caste discrimination and we now think that evidence may exist, which is why we have now commissioned the research," she said.
"The proportionate thing is to take the power to deal with that discrimination if and when that evidence is produced."
Lord Avebury, for the Liberal Democrats, who moved the amendment, said he believed the research would "conclusively prove that caste discrimination does occur in the fields covered by the bill".
If it becomes law, the bill will require organisations of all sizes and types to promote equality and avoid discrimination in the workplace.
It will clarify existing discrimination legislation concerning sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and age, and ministers hope increased transparency will help tackle the pay gap between men and women.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said the decision to commission research represented "a historic moment".
"The blight of caste discrimination, under which millions in India are regarded as 'untouchable', has spread to this country virtually unnoticed."

CHILDREN AGED FIVE TO GO ON SCHOOL 'HATE REGISTERS'

PUPILS as young as five will soon be placed on school 'hate registers' for making playground taunts, it emerged last night.

Any form of racist or homophobic bullying will go down on record at the school and the pupil responsible could be monitored throughout their school life.
Details of any incidents, however minor, will then be kept on a database by the local authority and made available to ministers to inform future anti-bullying campaigns.
Children's charities last night expressed concern that youngsters may be criminalised for simple playground banter.

Michele Elliott, of charity Kidscape, said: "Children are being criminalised and singled out from a very early age when they don't know what they're doing."
The extent of the new measures came to light after 10-year-old Peter Drury was told his name would be placed on a register at his primary school in Somerset and his behaviour monitored. It followed an accusation that he called a friend "gay boy".
His mother Penny Drury said she was called into the school and informed the incident would be registered and that her son's file monitored while he remained at Ashcombe Primary School, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

She said: "He doesn't even understand about the birds and the bees, so how can he be homophobic?
"Peter is very naive boy who didn't know what he was doing and is now very upset that he is in trouble."
Many schools already voluntarily record any incidents of racist, homophobic or anti-disability bullying.

daily express

Dutch anti-Islamists makes key gains in local elections

Preliminary results in Dutch local polls suggest an anti-Islam party has made major gains and may pose a serious challenge in June parliamentary polls.

The Freedom Party (or PVV), led by Geert Wilders, is opposed to what it calls the country's "Islamisation".
General elections have been called following the collapse of the Dutch government in a dispute over the deployment of troops in Afghanistan.
Last year, the PVV came second in the country's polls to the EU parliament.

'Springboard' situation
The PVV fielded candidates in municipal elections in two cities: Almere, a city of some 200,000 inhabitants east of the capital Amsterdam, where its looks set to be the biggest party, and The Hague, where it was in second place.
Preliminary results show that in Almere, it has won 21% of the vote, while in The Hague, it has won eight seats, behind the Dutch Labour Party which had 10 seats.

"What is possible in The Hague and Almere is possible all over the country. It's a springboard for our victory," Mr Wilders told supporters in Almere.
Last year, the PVV came second in European elections in the Netherlands, winning 15% of the vote.

BBC News

BNP 'blocked' Asian man's application to join party

THE BNP have told an Asian businessman that his application to join the party will be blocked, he said today.

Mo Chaudry, 49, had wanted to join the far-right party to "fight them from the inside".
The businessman, from Newcastle-Under-Lyme in Staffordshire, said he was seeking to take advantage of the enforced change to the party’s constitution to expose them.
BNP members voted to admit black and Asian people last month when the party was threatened with an injunction by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Pakistan-born Mr Chaudry, who is worth £60 million, runs a string of businesses around Stoke-on-Trent, which has eight BNP members on the city council. He is a star of the Channel 4 programme The Secret Millionaire, in which rich benefactors go undercover to find good ways of using their money.

He said today: "I debated with the BNP’s deputy leader Simon Darby on BBC Radio 5 Live and he told me that my application would be blocked. How can you be more discriminatory than that?"
He added: "People are not racist in Stoke-on-Trent and I have never experienced racism in my time here but the city council has eight BNP members. The good people that don’t vote need to get off their backside and change things."
The EHRC is considering the changes the BNP have made to their membership rules and will be back in court on March 9.
EHRC has threatened legal action if the rules are still considered discriminatory.

Huddersfield Examiner

BNP party activist Mark Walker has lost his case for unfair dismissal

A BRITISH National Party activist and former North-East teacher who was sacked for absenteeism has lost his case for unfair dismissal.
A judgement against former Sunnydale Community College teacher Mark Walker was issued by an employment tribunal last month.
Mr Walker, 39, was suspended from the school, in Shildon, County Durham, in March 2007, and claimed he was the subject of a political witch hunt.
Twenty months later, he was officially sacked over his sickness record and took the school’s governing body to an employment tribunal.
The Newcastle tribunal, which was met in January, unanimously dismissed Mr Walker’s case, but has not yet published its reasons.
Patrick Harrington, a spokesman for Mr Walker’s union, Solidarity, said there could be further action against his employers, Durham County Council.
Mr Harrington said he would be studying the tribunal’s reasons with a view to a potential appeal, but an appeal was not the only option.
He said: “What we would point out is that Mr Walker’s ill health was largely contributed to by the employer and, in particular, the way they handled the disciplinary process.

“There may be a personal injury claim for the stress caused.”
Mr Harrington also cited an NSPCC report about Mr Walker, who is from Rievaulx, Spennymoor, County Durham, that was leaked to The Northern Echo.
The report reveals the disciplinary inquiry uncovered a large number of emails indicating a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old former pupil.
It makes it clear that no illegal content was found on Mr Walker’s school laptop or desktop computers.
It concludes: “There is sufficient evidence from the emails, and from previous matters concerning his professional conduct, to conclude that Mr Walker’s behaviour has resulted in his conduct being less than one would expect of a teacher placed in a position of trust.”
Mr Harrington said: “This report was very damaging to Mr Walker and there is a duty of confidentiality and a question of damages for the breach. The report was in the hands of the county council and the NSPCC and has to have been leaked by staff.”
Durham County Council declined to comment because of legal reasons.

■A tribunal into the case of Mr Walker’s brother, Adam Walker, also a BNP activist, has been adjourned until the end of May.
The General Teaching Council, in Birmingham, is considering allegations he posted inappropriate comments on the internet

The Northern Echo

BNP leader Nick Griffin to be given TV platform by BBC again

The BNP's Nick Griffin is to be given a new TV platform by the BBC, it was revealed yesterday.
Despite the row in the wake of Griffin's appearance on Question Time last year, he will appear again at the height of the general election campaign in the spring.
The BBC said "alongside" the TV debate between leaders Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, they are to hold a "minor parties debate".
The corporation's website said: "There will be arrangements in the programming around the BBC debate, a week before polling day, to ensure other parties which have demonstrated they have some electoral support - UKIP, the Green Party and the BNP - will have their say."
Bnp activists hailed it as a victory for the far-right group. Deputy leader Simon Darby said it was a "good idea to go head to head with the Greens and UKIP".

After the Question Time bust-up, Darby also claimed the BBC are taking a softer line with the BNP in programmes.
He said an edition of Panorama will feature the far right in the next few months and added: "Unlike some of the previous encounters between the two bodies I think this will be relatively straightforward. But with these guys you never really know."
Anti-fascist group Searchlight called the plan an outrage. A spokesman said: "Executives at the BBC have become obsessed with giving the BNP national publicity at the licence fee payer's expense.
"These are supposed to be serious debates allowing people to make an informed choice. Nick Griffin has no place there." Griffin's BBC Question Time spot turned into a disaster for the Beeb and the BNP.
Riots broke out in front of the corporation's HQ after Griffin boasted it would "propel the BNP into the big time".
But once the cameras began rolling nervous Griffin, 50, squirmed and bizarrely claimed EU laws meant he "could not explain" why he once denied the Holocaust. Justice Minister Jack Straw said: "We've seen that the moment anyone puts an uncomfortable quote to him he wriggles. He wants to wriggle out of it."
Cambridge-educated Griffin was elected as a Euro MP last July.
Mirror

Three men assaulted in Cornwall ‘homophobic’ attack

Police are treating an attack on three men in Padstow, Cornwall, as a hate crime because one of the men was trans.
The friends, who were on holiday from the Plymouth area, had gone out on Saturday night and were attacked as they returned to an address on Broad Street.
It is thought they were followed into the house by two men, one of whom attacked them.
Police were called to the property at just after midnight on Sunday morning and two of the victims required hospital treatment for cuts. One of the two, a man in his fifties, was knocked unconscious.
A police spokesman told the Cornish Guardian: “We have recorded this incident as a hate crime after one of the victims made a claim that the assault could have been a homophobic attack because one of the party was a transsexual.
“We are following all lines of inquiry including checking the local pub’s CCTV camera footage.
“If anyone has any information we would encourage them to please come forward.”
The first suspect is described as white, between 5ft 7in and 5ft 8in tall, in his late 20s, with a bald head and a stocky build. He was wearing a long-sleeved black t-shirt.
The second man was described as white, 5ft 9in, slim, with short tight curly hair and a local accent.

More Attacks on Minorities in Barnaul, Russia

Two more attacks on ethnic minorities have been reported in Barnaul, Russia (Republic of Altay), a city that made international headlines earlier this month after a South Korean exchange student was killed in a racist attack.
According to a February 24, 2010 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center, three of the suspects in the killing of the Korean student are now suspected of attacking a citizen of China and an ethnic Tuvan at the beginning of February. There were no details in the report about the extent of the victims' injuries.
 
UCSJ

Egypt blogger military trial criticised

Egypt has been strongly criticised by Human Rights Watch for trying a blogger, Ahmed Mustafa, before a military court.
The 20-year-old is accused of publishing false information in a blog a year ago, alleging a case of nepotism at Egypt's premier military academy.
Egypt's emergency law, in place since 1981, allows indefinite detention and trials of civilians in military courts.
Egyptian officials have denied that the power is much used.
The only evidence presented at his trial this week is the post on his blog.
The trial has been adjourned to 7 March to give defence lawyers more time to review the evidence.

There has been no investigation into Mr Mustafa's allegation of corruption, namely his claim that a teacher's son was pushed out of the academy, to make way for the son of a more influential individual who could make financial contributions, Christian Fraser, the BBC correspondent in Cairo says.
Under two international human rights accords, both ratified by Egypt, the government is required to protect freedom of expression.
Yet Human Rights Watch draws attention to a growing list of bloggers who remain in detention.
Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006, for writing about sectarian tensions in Alexandria and criticising President Mubarak.
Another blogger, Hany Nazeer, was detained in October 2008 under the country's emergency law that was designed to fight terrorism for expressing forthright views on Christianity and Islam.
Last year after a visit to Egypt, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on human rights reiterated that the trial of civilian suspects in military courts raised concerns about the independent administration of justice.
"The Egyptian government says one thing in Geneva and then immediately makes a mockery of the Human Rights Council's review process," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"No civilian should be tried before a military court, and no government that claims to respect human rights should be prosecuting someone solely for writing about corruption," he added.

BBC News

Police probe anti-Muslim website attacking Wrexham Mosque plan

POLICE are investigating a sick anti-Muslim website set up on Facebook to stir up tensions over fake claims a ‘super-mosque’ was being built in Wrexham.
The site “No to the super mosque in Wrexham” on the social network site wrongly claims permission has been given for a mosque at the Miners Institute in North Wales’s largest town.
And the website, which bears the Welsh Defence League logo, is also filled with hateful messages against Muslims, which North Wales Police are now investigating.
The web group has more than 2,800 members and this follows a march by the Welsh Defence League designed to stir up tensions in the town.
A counter group “Yes to the Super Mosque in Wrexham” has also been set up on Facebook.
The Wrexham Muslim Association (WMA) has denied there are any plans to convert the town’s Miners Institute building into a mosque but said there were plans to lease a small building in the town for worship.
A spokesman for the WMA said: “There is nothing in this rumour we are setting up a mosque at the Miners Institute.
“We simply do not have enough money to do anything like that.
“But we are hopeful of leasing a place from the council next to St James’ Church in Wrexham.”
Commenting on the anti-Muslim remarks on the webpage on Facebook the spokesman added: “They are upsetting and annoying and I don’t want to pay any attention to such remarks.”
Ian Tetherington, secretary for anti-fascist group Searchlight Cymru, said: “A mosque is not something to be scared of, it would be something to be proud of.
“Wrexham has a history of tolerance and should be proud of that.
“These people are Welsh, they just happen to be Muslims, instead of Christians or Hindus, but they are still Welsh and just want somewhere to worship like other faiths.

“I don’t see why anyone would have a problem with them worshipping in a safe, dry place.
“The idea this is a ‘super-mosque’ is a complete fabrication made up to stir things up and create tension.
“There are a few hundred Muslims in Wrexham so why would they want a huge place of worship, this is simply not the case.
“Like other faiths in the town they just want somewhere to meet rather than the temporary building where they are currently having to meet.
“I live close to a mosque myself in Cardiff and do not understand why people would have an issue with it.”
A North Wales Police spokesman said: “We are aware of the site and are investigating.
“We are also liaising with members of the local community.”
Daily Post

Immigrants cleaning Swedish cities

In Stockholm, 80 percent of people working as office or hotel cleaners were born outside of Sweden, the new report from Statistics Sweden (SCB) for 2008 shows. In Gothenburg the equivalent figure was 59 percent and in Malmö 66 percent.
Foreign born staff account for 12 percent of all employees aged 16-64 in Sweden and make up 16 percent of the population.
While big city areas have slightly higher populations of immigrants - with 18 percent in Malmö and Stockholm, and 16 percent in Gothenburg, foreign born workers were over-represented in a series of professions such as nurses, hospital orderlies, personal assistants and child minders.
Of the ten categories of profession presented in the statistics, sales staff was the group with the lowest proportion of foreign-born workers - with only 6 percent.
The military, police, fire fighters and air-traffic controllers had a very low proportion of immigrants staff, the statistics show.
Bus and tram drivers, choreographers, dancers and language professionals were all groups with a high proportion of foreign-born workers.
 
posted by Peter Vinthagen Simpson thelocal

Hitler abortion poster sparks anger in Poland

A Polish anti-abortion group has sparked controversy by using pictures of Hitler and a bloody and torn foetus in a billboard campaign designed to ensure Poles adhere to the country's strict abortion laws.

The provocative images, which appeared in the western city of Poznan as a part of a promised nationwide campaign, also carry the slogan "Abortion for Poles: introduced by Hitler, March 9, 1943."

Fundacja Pro, the organisation behind the billboard, said that it wanted to remind Poles that abortion was first introduced to Poland during the Second World War by the country's Nazi occupiers as a means of limiting the population of a people they deemed inferior.
One of Europe's most devoutly Catholic countries, Poland now has some of the strictest abortion laws in the EU, and any attempt to have them liberalised arouses furious and passionate debate.

"It was Hitler who first introduced abortion to Poland, and in several days it will be the anniversary of that event.
"In this context it is worth recalling the words of Pope John Paul II: 'History teaches us that democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism'," Fundacja Pro said in a statement.
But the use of Hitler, along with the torn foetus pictures, has already incurred the wrath of critics.
Nazi Germany inflicted horrific levels of death and destruction on Poland, so any perceived attempt to hijack that suffering for the sake of a political or ethical agenda can be viewed with distaste.
"I understand that this campaign is designed to shock but there are limits to the use of shock," said Elzbieta Streker-Dembinska, an MP and member of the Polish parliament's health committee.
"A foetus and Adolf Hitler is unjustified comparison. The design of the billboard is unacceptable and crosses the boundaries of decency."
She added that she suspected the billboard campaign was designed to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8, a day which often sees pro-abortion demonstrations in Poland.

The Telegraph

Irish punk rocker Feargal Sharkey spoke at the annual Hope, Not Hate rally

A Cabinet minister and a punk have visited the region to join forces against racism.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Irish punk rocker Feargal Sharkey spoke at the annual Hope, Not Hate rally at Trimdon Labour Club, in County Durham, on Saturday.
The group campaigns against far right parties such as the BNP and National Front, which have targeted the region with renewed vigour since Labour’s slide in the polls.
Mr Sharkey, who found fame with Seventies punk outfit The Undertones, said he did not back any political party, but supported multiculturalism.

The Teenage Kicks singer and chief executive of UK Music said: “What makes up the whole fabric of this wonderful place we live in is the extraordinary mixture, that we have – different ideas, cultures, colours and religions.

“We have had people coming to this country for the last By Rachel Wearmouth rachel.wearmouth@nne.co.uk 4,000 years and if it wasn’t for that, we would not be what we are today.”

Councillors, trade union members and residents turned out in force to air their views and discuss ways of counteracting far right politics and racism.
Mr Johnson said far right parties offered simple solutions to complicated problems such as immigration and that Labour was working to deal with the issue.
He said: “The trouble with the immigration debate at the moment is we do not have a soundbite.”
He arrived at noon at the club, famous for being where former Prime Minister and MP for Sedgefield Tony Blair celebrated his party’s landslide victory in 1997.
Mr Johnson commended Hope, Not Hate for its work and said: “In this country, people have consistently refused to pick up the message of hatred and intolerance.
“I think the BNP is popular across the country at a time when unemployment is high, and their message is to say it is the fault of people with brown faces or this person.
“We need to spread the message of Hope, Not Hate and face up to them in a united way.”
Clare Williams, chairwoman of the Northern TUC Race Advisory Group, said the economic climate was also a problem.
She said: “The current recession and the burdens felt by ordinary working people are being used by these parties to try and persuade us that (the BNP’s) solutions are the best answer.”
Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson said campaigners against far right parties needed to do more work.
He said: “We may not have the sense of community that we used to have, but it is still there and there are community groups that we need to support.”

written by Rachel Wearmouth thenorthernecho

Israel angry over anti-Semitic postcards sent by Spanish schoolchildren

Rafi Shotz, Israel's ambassador to Spain, received dozens of postcards from elementary school students bearing statements including "Jews kill for money," "Leave the country to the Palestinians" and "Go somewhere where they will accept you."

A Foreign Ministry official said the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years old.

"Some had very disturbing messages," an embassy spokesman said. "They asked things such as: 'Why do you kill children?' or said that 'money is not everything' and that if someone should leave, it should be the Israelis 'because it is not your land'.
"These are messages about a political situation that they do not understand. Most of these children probably do not even know where Israel or Palestine are."
The Foreign Ministry considered summoning Spain's ambassador to Israel, Alvaro Iranzo, to complain, but ultimately spoke to the envoy by telephone instead, Haaretz reported.
"Apparently there are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel individuals who get permission to operate within schools," the official said. "Each time, the embassy has received several dozen postcards from a different school. And it seems as though whoever is doing this is moving from school to school."
Naor Gilon, the ministry's deputy director for Europe, called Mr Iranzo and said "Israel is greatly distressed" by the postcards. The envoy insisted the letters are not part of any Spanish Education Ministry program, but the initiative of private citizens.
Joan Malonda, the head teacher of El Castell primary school in Almoines, confirmed that the hand-drawn cards had come from his pupils, the Guardian reports.

He denied the children were being indoctrinated.
"A lot of this work was done at home and reflects the atmosphere in their own social environment. They were simply asked to write a postcard on the subject.
"We try to teach the children to have a critical attitude, but we also want them to contrast their criticism against other points of view."
telegraph

Man sentenced for phone call anti-Semitic threats (USA)

A brain-injured man was sentenced to five years of supervised federal court probation Tuesday for making anti-Semitic phone threats to burn down the home of former University of Oregon President David Frohnmayer.
Assistant Oregon U.S. Attorney Frank Papagni joined Gregory Paul Freeman’s defense lawyer in recommending the relatively light sentence because Freeman has had diminished mental capacity since he was struck by a train while intoxicated in 2005.
According to Papagni and federal public defender Craig Weinerman, Freeman made the threatening calls to Frohnmayer and allegedly to several other victims after consuming alcohol, which interacted with his anti-seizure medication.
Frohnmayer, who is not Jewish, has said in the past that he nonetheless took the threats seriously.
Freeman, 56, was convicted in December on a single charge of using a telephone to threaten arson. He had never before been convicted of a crime.
He agreed not to challenge facts alleged by the government in the Frohnmayer case, in exchange for no charges being filed in connection with similar threatening messages he phoned to a Eugene Planned Parenthood clinic, the Eugene Masonic Lodge and to his former psychiatrist.
In court Tuesday, Papagni told Freeman he should “take great comfort” in knowing that his victims’ compassion helped keep him out of jail.
Though none chose to appear at the sentencing, all supported the probationary sentence because of Freeman’s mental circumstances, the prosecutor said.
Papagni also noted Freeman’s compliance with a “no alcohol” condition of his pretrial release. Given that he will continue to be closely monitored under court probation, Freeman should pose little risk of making future threats, the prosecutor said.
“As long as he continues not to drink and has no contact with (the victims), he should be free to live his life as he wishes,” Papagni told U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, who imposed the recommended sentence.
According to court records, Freeman told a court risk and treatment evaluator that drinking exacerbated his “impulsive expression of his negative attitudes toward authority figures” and “individuals of certain faith and political persuasion.”
According to an FBI agent’s sworn statement to obtain an arrest warrant for Freeman last year, the messages included statements such as “Listen, you Jews” and “I’m going to burn your abortion clinic down because you are a baby killer and you hate babies.”
registerguard

Racist incidents, protests spread at UC campuses (USA)

A firestorm over racially and ethnically charged incidents at several University of California campuses spread Tuesday as UC San Diego announced a KKK-style hood was found on campus and students in Los Angeles and Irvine demonstrated against intolerance.
"What kind of campus promotes an environment that allows people to think it's acceptable to target people for their ethnicity, gender or sexuality?" said Corey Matthews, one of about 200 mostly minority UCLA students who held a lunchtime rally. "It's something about the tone of the environment that allows this."
At UC Irvine, about 250 people gathered for a "student solidarity speakout" to condemn the recent spate of racist incidents at UC San Diego that targeted black students and another incident last month at UC Davis, which targeted a Jewish student with a swastika carved on her door, said Marya Bangee, an event organizer.

The protests came on the same day UC San Diego announced the discovery of a white pillowcase fashioned into a KKK-style hood — the third racist incident around the campus in as many weeks — and a day after UC Santa Cruz officials found an image of a noose scribbled on the inside of a bathroom door.
Officials found the hood, which bore a hand-drawn circle and cross, on a statue of children's book author Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, outside the main campus library late Monday. A rose had been inserted between the statue's fingers.
Detectives were analyzing the pillowcase for fingerprints and DNA evidence, a university statement said.
UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox vowed to punish the culprits to the fullest extent of the law. "We will not tolerate these despicable actions," she said in the statement.
The hood came on the heels two other UC San Diego incidents: a February off-campus, student-organized "Compton Cookout" party that mocked Black History Month with ghetto stereotypes; and a noose found hanging from a library bookshelf last week.
UC San Diego campus police said they had completed their investigation into the noose incident and turned their results over to the city attorney on Tuesday for possible hate crime charges.
One of the students responsible for the noose apologized to the university community in an anonymous letter published Monday in the campus newspaper. She said the noose was formed while she and friends were playing around with a piece of rope and had no meaning as a lynching symbol.

The student said she is not black, but is a minority.
The incident also is under investigation by law enforcement agencies, campus spokeswoman Judy Piercey said.
Although UCLA students said no racial incidents had occurred recently on their campus, in 2007, a fraternity held a "Tijuana Sunrise" party that mocked Mexican-Americans with stereotyped images, they said.
The incidents are disturbing and most likely the work of "outliers" using offensive and outrageous behavior to gain notoriety, said Brian Levin, director of California State University's Center for Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino.
He said surveys show young people are less prejudiced than ever, but "these things touch a nerve, and these folks know it."
UCLA demonstrators called on administrators to institute a required ethnic studies course that would teach students about other cultures.
"It would be a very strong and powerful statement for diversity," said Kent Wong, a speaker at the rally and director of UCLA's Center for Labor Research and Education.
At UC San Diego, officials were already moving to create a more tolerant environment after meeting with black student leaders, Piercey said.
Initiatives include recruiting more minority faculty, instituting a mentoring program, creating an African American Resource Center, and ensuring funding for the diversity office, Piercey said.

The Guardian