French perfume house Guerlain faces legal action over racist comments (France)

Anti-racism groups in France are to sue the perfume house Guerlain after one of its best known perfumiers said he "worked like a nigger" to create a new scent.

Around 100 protesters gathered outside the Guerlain store on the Champs Elysées this weekend, calling for a worldwide boycott of the perfume house and its owner, the luxury brand, Louis Vuitton-Moët Hennessy, because of the racist slur.

Jean-Paul Guerlain, 73, a descendent of the perfume house's founder, was interviewed on French state TV last week, and asked about the creation of a new perfume, Samsara. He replied: "I worked like a nigger. I don't know if niggers have always worked like that, but anyway."

Patrick Lozès, of France's Representative Council of Black Associations, said the French word "nègre" used by Guerlain was an "extremely pejorative" and "racist" term equivalent to "nigger" in English.

He said that the fact Guerlain felt so at ease using it on national TV was symptom of the "deep sickness" of racism in French society. He condemned LVMH and the Guerlain company for not reacting to the comments quickly enough.

US civil rights leaders, including Al Sharpton, who will visit France next month, are to ask for a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss Guerlain's comments.

Guerlain, a famous "nose", or perfume developer, retired from the company in 2002 but acts as a consultant to their top perfumier. He issued a statement apologising for his "shocking words" and said he took full responsibility.

Guerlain head office said his words were unacceptable. LVMH released a statement condemning "all forms of racism". Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, said Guerlain's comments were "pathetic".

The Guardian

Some profit from anti-Muslim fear (USA)

Steven Emerson has 3.39 million reasons to fear Muslims.

That's how many dollars Emerson's for-profit company — Washington-based SAE Productions — collected in 2008 for researching alleged ties between American Muslims and overseas terrorism. The payment came from the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation, a nonprofit charity Emerson also founded, which solicits money by telling donors they're in imminent danger from Muslims.

Emerson is a leading member of a multimillion-dollar industry of self-proclaimed experts who spread hate toward Muslims in books and movies, on websites and through speaking appearances.

Leaders of the so-called "anti-jihad" movement portray themselves as patriots, defending America against radical Islam. And they've found an eager audience in ultra-conservative Christians and mosque opponents in Middle Tennessee. One national consultant testified in an ongoing lawsuit aimed at stopping a new Murfreesboro mosque.

But beyond the rhetoric, Emerson's organization's tax-exempt status is facing questions at the same time he's accusing Muslim groups of tax improprieties.

"Basically, you have a nonprofit acting as a front organization, and all that money going to a for-profit," said Ken Berger, president of Charity Navigator, a nonprofit watchdog group. "It's wrong. This is off the charts."

But a spokesman for Emerson's company said the actions were legal and designed to protect workers there from death threats.

"It's all done for security reasons," said Ray Locker, a spokesman for SAE Productions.

Emerson made his name in the mid-1990s with a documentary film, Jihad in America,"which aired on PBS. Produced after the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the film uncovered terrorists raising money in the United States.

He followed up with the books Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S."and American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us.

He claims that extremists control 80% of mosques in the United States. In August, he claimed to have uncovered 13 hours of audiotapes proving that Feisal Rauf, the imam behind the proposed mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, is a radical extremist.

"I don't think he'll survive the disclosure of these tapes," he told talk show host Bill Bennett.

Rauf is still in place as a project leader, even though tape excerpts have been online for weeks.

Emerson formed a Middle Tennessee connection last summer, when his organization uncovered pictures on a Murfreesboro mosque board member's MySpace page. His company said the pictures proved are proof of a connections to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization. But mosque leaders said they checked with the Department of Homeland Security and found the concerns were groundless.

Special Agent Keith Moses, who heads the FBI's Nashville office, told The Tennessean last month that the bureau doesn't discuss specific allegations.

"In a post-9/11 era, the FBI is taking every step to prevent further terrorist attacks," he said. "We also want to protect civil rights and the freedom of religion.

Others cash in

While large organizations like Emerson's aren't the norm, other local and national entrepreneurs cash in on spreading hate and fear about Islam.

Former Tennessee State University physics professor Bill French runs the Nashville-based, for-profit Center for the Study of Political Islam. He spoke recently to a group of opponents of the Murfreesboro mosque gathered at a house in Murfreesboro.

With an American flag as a backdrop, French paced back and forth like the Church of Christ ministers he heard growing up. His message: how Creeping Shariah law is undermining the very fabric of American life.

"This offends Allah," said French, pointing to the flag on the wall. "You offend Allah."

French, who has no formal religious education in religion, believes Islam is not a religion. Instead, he sees Islam and its doctrine and rules — known as Shariah law — as a totalitarian ideology.

In his 45-minute speech, he outlined a kind of 10 commandments of evil — no music, no art, no rights for women — taken from his book Sharia Law for Non-Muslims. The speech was free, but his books, penned under the name "Bill Warner," were for sale in the back and ranged from about $9 to $20.

When he was done, the 80 or so mosque opponents gave him a standing ovation and then began buying French's books to hand out to their friends.

Frank Gaffney, head of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for Security Policy, earned a $288,300 salary from his charity in 2008. Gaffney was a key witness in recent hearings in the Rutherford County lawsuit filed by mosque opponents. He said he paid his own way.

On the stand, the Reagan-era deputy assistant defense secretary accused local mosque leaders of having ties to terrorism, using ties to Middle Eastern universities and politics as evidence. His main source of information was his own report on Shariah law as a threat to America, one he wrote with other self-proclaimed experts.

But, under oath, he admitted he is not an expert in Shariah law.

The list of people on the anti-Islam circuit goes on. IRS filings from 2008 show that Robert Spencer, who runs the Jihadwatch.org blog, earned $132,537 from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a conservative nonprofit.

Brigitte Tudor, who runs the anti-Islam groups ACT! For America and the American Congress for Truth, earned $152,810, while her colleague Guy Rogers collected $154,900.

Unusual arrangement

Emerson's older, most established organization collects several times that in an average year.

Emerson incorporated his for-profit company, SAE Productions, in Delaware in 1995. He launched the nonprofit Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation in Washington, D.C., in 2006.

But he doesn't make that distinction on his website, www.investigativeproject.org, which describes the Investigative Project on Terrorism as "a non-profit research group founded by Steven Emerson in 1995." And today, the two groups share the same Washington street address, which is published on Emerson's personal website.

In 2002 and 2003, despite lacking nonprofit status, Emerson received a total of $600,000 in grants from the Smith Richardson Foundation, a conservative public-policy shaper based in Connecticut. The foundation declined to comment on the grants but said it gives money only to tax-exempt charitable groups.

Giving money to a for-profit is extremely rare for foundations, said Peter Bird, president of the Nashville-based Frist Foundation. It can happen only when the foundation keeps meticulous records on how the money was spent by the group that received it.

"It almost never happens," he said.

Locker, a former USA TODAY national security editor now working for SAE Productions, said his organization does not discuss funding.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation's 1023 application for tax-exempt status stated that all the money raised by the Washington, D.C.-based charity would go to a nonprofit subcontractor with no ties to Emerson or any board members. The application also said the charity would buy no services from board members. Emerson ended up being the only board member.

In a letter dated Dec. 8, 2006, the IRS asked if there would be any ties between the subcontractor and the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation. On Dec. 29, 2006, Emerson wrote back: "There are and will be no financial/business transactions between officers, board members or relatives of the aforementioned and applicant organization."

In 2008, however, the charity paid $3,390,000 to SAE Productions for "management services." Emerson is SAE's sole officer.

Because of its unusual arrangement with Emerson's company, the Investigative Project's tax returns show no details, such as salaries of staff.

Locker said the approach was vetted by the group's lawyers and is legal. He said that Emerson takes no profits from SAE Productions and therefore the Investigative Project is a nonprofit.

That doesn't fly, said Charity Navigator's Berger. Berger said tax-exempt nonprofits must be transparent and disclose how they spend money and how much they pay their staff. Emerson's group appears to be trying to skirt these rules, he said.

"It really undermines the trust in nonprofits," he said. "This is really off the grid."

The Frist Foundation's Bird said the discrepancy between the Investigative Project's application to the IRS and its practices is troubling.

"It looks like they told the government one thing and did another," he said.

 USA Today

Cherie's sister now a Muslim (UK)

Tony Blair's sister-in-law has converted to Islam.

Lauren Booth, 43, the half-sister of Cherie Blair, says she now wears a hijab when she leaves the house and prays five times a day after a "holy experience" in Iran.

Journalist Lauren took the decision six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al Masumeh in the city of Qom.

She said: "I haven't wanted to touch alcohol," adding that she hoped her conversion would help change former PM Blair's "presumptions" about Islam being a threat.

 Daily Mirror

FAR-RIGHT PARTIES OPPOSE EU MEMBERSHIP FOR TURKEY

Several far-right parties that oppose Turkish membership in the European Union said Saturday they will push for an EU referendum on the subject. Turkey began accession talks in 2005, but has made little progress, due mostly to a dispute over Cyprus — an EU member that is divided between the ethnic Greek south and Turkish north. Austrian Freedom Party chief Heinz-Christian Strache and members of Belgium's nationalist Flemish Interest Party, the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People's Party, among others, said Turkey has no place in Europe and that citizens should be allowed to weigh in on the matter. "We are all simply of the firm opinion that Europe would go dramatically astray if one starts taking in non-European countries as members," Strache said. "It would be the end of the European Union, it would be the beginn ing of a Euro-Asian-African union that would stand in complete opposition to the European peace project and therefore can't be allowed to happen." Strache and others spoke to reporters the sidelines of a two-day meeting aimed at boosting the parties' coordination. It comes amid a recent resurgence of support for right-wing parties across the continent.

Morten Messerschmidt of the Danish People's Party, who also is a member of the European Parliament, said the parties would use the so-called citizens' initiative included in the EU's new Lisbon Treaty to "suggest to have a referendum from Romania to Denmark, from Italy to Finland ... on this topic of Turkish membership in order to consult not only the politically correct establishment within the European Commission but the average European." Turkish EU membership is a divisive issue in Europe, with leaders of key states such as Germany and France among those expressing reservations about it. But Britain, Italy and Spain have supported the mostly Muslim country's EU bid. President Barack Obama has urged the EU to embrace Turkey, a member of the Group of 20 and NATO strategically located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, saying its EU membership would broaden and strengthen the continent's foundations. Washington also considers Turkey an important ally with far-reaching influence stretching from Afghanistan to the Middle East.

FAR RIGHT SET TO JOIN LATVIA COALITION

Latvia's ruling government has agreed to form a new ruling coalition that will include a multiparty alliance containing some ultranationalists, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said Friday. After the center-right government won the Oct. 2 parliamentary election, coalition talks dragged on over concerns that including an alliance with increasingly nationalistic views would harm Latvia's image in the West and damage fragile relations with neighboring Russia. The alliance—All for Latvia-For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK—has five members in the outgoing 100-member legislature and will have eight in the new one. Overall, the coalition—whose heavyweights will be the Mr. Dombrovskis-led Unity party and the populist Greens and Farmers Union—will control 63 seats. Many of the incoming lawmakers from the All for Latvia party, part of a grouping that calls itself the patriotic alliance, are young and inexperienced—one is 22 years old—and renowned for ultra-nationalist views. Mr. Dombrovskis told journalists he had decided to cooperate with the nationalists after they pledged not to touch the Baltic state's sensitive ethnic-policy issues.

Some ultranationalists from All for Latvia, which is widely credited with rejuvenating the alliance, have suggested that Latvia should solve its ethnic problems though "repatriation"—a code word for sending ethnic Russians to Russia. Repatriation is a fringe idea and rejected by most Latvians. All for Latvia members have also said that all public education in the Baltic state should be in Latvian, a move that would enrage the native Russian-speaking part of the population, who make up about one-third of Latvia's 2.3 million people. Currently native Russian speakers can receive most of their primary-school education in Russian and some 40% of high-school instruction as well, with the remainder given in Latvian. Mr. Dombrovskis said the nationalist alliance had agreed not to raise issues of education and repatriation while cooperating in the coalition. However, Raivis Dzintars, the chairman for All for Latvia, said in a statement Friday that although the party had agreed to waive these issues for now, it would continue working on them. Mr. Dombrovskis said the parties were still negotiating over ministerial positions, though it was likely that national alliance would receive one post.

Associated press

Probe urged into Safed rabbi for alleged racism (Israel)

The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) has demanded that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein launch a criminal investigation against Safed’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu for incitement to racism. The demand comes after Eliyahu’s recent halachic adjudication against selling or renting out apartments to Arabs. A conference on the same theme was held last week by Eliyahu and fellow rabbis who share his view.

“These sentiments are prohibited by law, and worse tenfold when they are expressed by a public figure in an official capacity – as Rabbi Eliyahu is,” the IRAC wrote to Weinstein. “The exploitation of the religious and public status given to a city rabbi, and using the money of the religious council [which hired the convention hall where the conference was held] in order to express racist opinions, severe enough by themself, necessitate your urgent probe.”

 Jerusalem Post

Naomi Campbell: Editor 'sacked' in racism row (UK)

 Naomi Campbell, the supermodel, claims that the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine was sacked for putting her face on the front cover.

Naomi Campbell, who claimed last year that the advertising business was using the recession as an excuse to drop black models, has now gone even further in her accusations of racism.

The 40-year-old supermodel alleges that the boss of a fashion magazine was sacked after putting her on its front cover.

"One time, I went to Australia," she says. "The editor-in-chief of a magazine there told me that she got fired for putting me on the cover. I do remember going there and saying, 'Where's the Aboriginal model? There should be one. They're beautiful women.' "

Campbell, who does not name the journalist in question, has never been afraid to speak out about racism in the fashion business. In 2009, she alleged that major companies were refusing to use non-white women to promote their products.

"This year, we have gone back all the way that we had advanced,'' she said. "I don't see any black woman, or of any other race, in big advertising campaigns.''

In 1988, the Londoner appeared on the cover of French Vogue as its first black cover girl. Yves St Laurent, her late mentor, had threatened to withdraw all of his advertising from the magazine following its refusal to place Campbell, or any black model, on its front page. She also became the first black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue.

Telegraph

BULGARIA CRACKS DOWN ON HATE SPEECH

Authors of hate speech will face up to four years imprisonment and a BGN 5,000 fine, according to the newly adopted amendments to the Bulgarian Penal Code. The penalty will apply to journalists and authors in the media and in electronic information systems, such as websites. The newly adopted amendments explain in details the forms of discrimination and incitement that will be punishable.

They include discrimination, based on sexual orientation, religion, disabilities and social standing among others. Besides facing jail and fines, violators will also be held up to public censure. The sanctions will be the same for use of violence or property damage, based on race, nationality, ethnicity, religion and political views. Racist or xenophobic murders would be punished with 10 to 20 years imprisonment. The amendments also envision an increase of the penalties for destruction of a protected area, valuable rock formations and cliffs. The fines for perpetrators would range from BGN 2,000 to BGN 10,000. The Penal Code will from now on oblige the Bulgarian state to recognize and apply legal implications of convictions, issued in other EU countries.

Novinite

Racist yobs attack historic Eastwell church (UK)

Nazi swastikas have been daubed on an historic Kent church - causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

The mindless graffiti - which included anti Semitic abuse and a skull - was painted on the ruins of St Mary’s Church in Eastwell.

Would have been the aisle and exterior walls were covered.

Police in Ashford believe the racist attack happened sometime between October 1 to 15 are now hunting the yobs who did it.

DC Matthew Avery, who is investigating the case, said: "I am interested to speak to anyone who knows anything about this vandalism.

"The graffiti, which is offensive and racial, covers a large area and will cost a considerable amount of money to clean.

"All graffiti is vandalism, however to do this to a church, even if in ruins, is despicable behaviour."

The church in Lenacre Street has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.

It is also a scheduled monument.

Matthew Saunders, director of Friends of Friendless Churches who own the ruins, spoke of his disgust after finding the graffiti.

He said: "To make a church a canvas for spreading racial hatred is appalling.

"We have consolidated the ruins of St Mary's at some considerable expense and to have to spend more money on removing these violent offensive words is not how we expected to have to allocate our very limited resources."

Anyone with information should contact South Kent police on 01622 690 690 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 Kent Online

Swedish police link 'racist' shootings to lone gunman (Sweden)

Swedish police fear a lone gunman may be behind a spate of racially-motivated shootings in the southern city of Malmo.

Detectives say they are linking up to 15 gun attacks in the city over the past year that have targeted people of immigrant background.

The investigation comes amid growing tension in Sweden over immigration.

In elections in September, 20 members of a far-right anti-immigration party won seats in parliament.

Police have not revealed exactly which cases the special unit is looking into.

However, Swedish media report that they include one fatal shooting - a 20-year-old woman last October who was sitting in a car.

In recent weeks, two men of ethnic minority background have also been shot and wounded while waiting at bus stops in the city.

And on Thursday evening two women described by police as "immigrants from a European country" were wounded after being shot through their apartment window.
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"We have established a special unit here in Malmo to investigate between 10 and 15 similar crimes," police spokesman Lars-Haakan Lindholm told AFP news agency.

"It does appear there are racist motives. We are receiving help from profilers from the national police force. This is our number one top priority right now."

The investigation has revived memories of a spate of racially-motivated attacks in and around the Swedish capital Stockholm from August 1991 to January 1992.

John Ausonius, now 57, killed one person and wounded 10 others. He was jailed for life in 1994.

Malmo, which has a significant immigrant population, was the scene of riots in December 2009 following the closure of an Islamic centre.

BBC News

Dutch retrial ordered for Wilders hate speech case (Netherlands)

A Dutch court ordered a retrial Friday for anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, sending the closely-watched hate speech case back to square one before a whole new panel of judges.

The far-right politician faces charges of inciting hatred against Muslims for many remarks, including some equating Islam with fascism and violence and others calling for a ban on the Quran and a tax on Muslim headscarves.

Wilders accused judges at the Amsterdam District Court of bias and called for their dismissal after they refused to recall a defense witness who wrote on a weblog that a member of an appeals panel directly involved in the case had improperly contacted him.

A hastily convened substitute panel ruled Friday that Wilders' objections were valid, which means the trial that began in January must restart from the beginning with new judges.

Wilders welcomed the decision.

"This gives me a new chance on a new fair trial," he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "I am confident that I can only be acquitted because I have broken no law but spoke the truth and nothing but the truth and exercised my freedom of speech in an important public debate about the dangerous totalitarian ideology called Islam."

Judge G. Marcus said the panel understood Wilders' "fear that the court's decision displays a degree of bias ... and under those circumstances accepts the appeal."

Since the charges were filed, Wilders' party has become part of the Netherland's ruling conservative government, making him one of the most powerful politicians in the nation.

Wilders' case pits his right to freedom of speech against the right of Muslims to worship freely. Dozens of complaints had been filed against Wilders by Muslims who said they felt insulted or threatened by remarks such as "let not one more Muslim immigrate" and "I've had enough of the Quran in the Netherlands: Forbid that fascist book."

Prosecutors initially refused to take the case, saying Wilders' remarks are part of legitimate political debate. But they were ordered to do so by appeals judges, who said there was sufficient evidence for a hate speech trial.

Defense witness Hans Jansen, called as an expert on Islamic culture, wrote on his personal website that he had been approached at a dinner party by one of the appeals judges, Tom Schalken.

"He kept steering the conversation back to the Wilders case," Jansen wrote. "He tried to convince me that his decision to drag Wilders in front of the Amsterdam District Court was correct."

Wilders earlier had asked the court to dismiss the judges because one said that Wilders appeared to be dodging debate by remaining silent in court. That motion was rejected.

The politician asked again Friday that the judges be dismissed, calling Schalken's contact with Jansen "scandalous."

"A judge that's part of my process in the sense that he decided I should be prosecuted ... without blinking an eye goes to dinner and tries to convince a witness that he's right," Wilders told a new panel of judges convened to rule on the dismissal. "I wonder which circus I've landed in here."

A conservative government that depends on Wilders' Freedom Party to reach a one-vote majority in parliament took office this month. In return for his support, the government has vowed to turn away more asylum seekers, halve the number of new immigrants from non-Western countries, ban face-concealing Muslim garb for women in public and force immigrants to pay for their own mandatory citizenship classes.

Associated Press

Two more immigrant shootings in Malmö (Sweden)

Malmö police have recruited the detective who played a decisive role in apprehending "Laser Man" gunman John Ausonius as a new double shooting has further raised fears of a repeat of 1991's racist attacks.

The news comes as a further two women were hurt in a new shooting in Malmö on Thursday evening. The women, aged 26 and 34, were shot while in an apartment in the Kroksbäck neighbourhood of the city.

"They are immigrants from a European country," said Calle Persson at Skåne police.

Detective inspector Eiler Augustsson is credited with having played a decisive role in the investigation and arrest of John Ausonius, who terrorized Stockholm’s immigrant population in the beginning of the 1990s.

Ausonius received his "Laser Man" moniker because his victims were targeted with a red dot from a rifle equipped with a laser sight.

Police fear that the shootings are the latest in a wave of attacks which are deliberately targeting people of immigrant origin. A total of 50 shootings have been recorded in the city this year, and police fear a number of these may have been carried out by a lone gunman.

Aside from the two women, there was also a child in the apartment when the shootings occurred.

"The child has been taken care of, I think by relatives," Persson said.

The apartment is located on the first floor of the apartment building.

The police have completed their forensic inspection of the apartment but are as yet uncertain as to the firearm used.

"Forensic evidence has been recovered from the location," said Jesper Ingvert at Malmö police to the local Sydsvenskan daily.

While no suspects have yet been identified, police confirm that they have a witness who could have seen the perpetrator.

"We have witnesses which we have interviewed. One of the witnesses has seen a man who left the location running," said Ingvert.

Malmö police plan to review their resources on Friday morning.

"We are going to put together a team here in the morning which will look at our operation in a little longer perspective," said Peter Martinsson at Malmö police.

Integration minister Erik Ullenhag, in an opinion article in the Expressen daily on Friday, called the attacks "alarming".

"Everyone has a responsibility to defend the open society where all, regardless of background, can be safe on our streets and town squares," Ullenhag wrote.

Ullenhag plans to visit Malmö on Friday to gather information on the atmosphere in the city after the shootings.

Meanwhile Juan Fonseca, former MP and head of the Discrimination bureau in Stockholm, has called on "all immigrants and ethnic Swedes" to call a five minute strike next Thursday, in support of the victims.

Gellert Tamas, the author of a renowned book about the "Laser Man" attacks told DN on Thursday that there are clear parallels.

"John Ausonius has been very clear in the interviews that I have conducted with him that he was inspired by the debate about immigrants which was conducted in the beginning of the 1990s," Tamas told DN.

"He felt a moral support, that people stood behind him. But he also felt a political support, from (populist anti-immigrant party) New Democracy primarily, but even from other political parties such as the Sweden Democrats."

Between August 1991 to January 1992, Ausonius, today 57, shot 11 people -- most of them immigrants -- in and around Stockholm. He killed one person and seriously wounded the others.

He was sentenced to life behind bars in 1994 and remains in prison.

The Local Sweden

Wilders' inciting hatred trial enters final day (Netherlands)

Friday is the final day of the trial of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders on inciting hatred and discrimination charges, with Wilders himself expected to take the stand later in the day.


Wilders' lawyer Bram Moszkowicz told the court on Thursday the MP's controversial statements are part of the right to free speech and the public debate.

The public prosecution department, which was forced to to take the case by the appeal court last year, has also said the MP should be found not guilty on all charges.

The judges will give their verdict on November 5.

Dutch News

Woman charged with hate crime against Muslims (UK)

A Burien woman has been charged with two counts of malicious harassment, the state's hate crime statute, after she allegedly yelled racial slurs and assaulted two Muslim women.

Jennifer Leigh Jennings, also known as Jennifer Leigh Adams, was charged Thursday in King County Superior Court on what happened to be her 37th birthday. Her arraignment, in which she is expected to enter a plea, is scheduled for Nov. 2.

The incident happened about 6 p.m. Saturday at an AM/PM gas station at 15252 Tukwila International Blvd. The two women -- both U.S. citizens -- were trying to pump gas into their car.

"Jennings was watching and said, 'Suicide Bomber,' and 'Hey you don't know how to pump go back to your country,'" Detective David Heckelsmiller wrote in a probable cause document.

Jennings slammed the car door on one of the woman's legs and pushed the other woman, according to police. She also allegedly kicked the first woman when she got out of the vehicle.

A Tukwila police detective viewed a recording made by a AM/PM surveillance camera and investigators are waiting for a copy to be made for the case, police spokesman Mike Murphy said Thursday.

On her way to the Tukwila police holding facility, Jennings told an officer, "Ya, I shouldn't have called them sand (expletives) or other stuff like that," according to the probable cause document.

At the holding facility, Jennings continued to be upset, telling an officer with a dark complexion, "You're only doing this because he's the same race and religion as those two ladies."

Jennings, whose criminal history includes a fourth-degree assault conviction and four convictions in the 1990s for exposing herself or illegal touching, has been released on bail.

Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he believes the incident is a symptom of the anti-Muslim hysteria being stirred up in mainstream media.

"I hope we can stand up against that kind of fear promotion that can lead to this stuff," he said. "We fear that this may just be one of the many incidents that may be happening, and people are suffering in silence."

Seattle Pi

Racist thugs in acid attack (UK)

Racist thugs have carried out a string of attacks against an Asian family whose cars have been smashed with golf clubs and vandalised with battery acid.

The two sisters and their brother, whose parents originally came from Bangladesh, have been subjected to a hate campaign over the last six months.

In the latest incident, a gang of five men wielding golf clubs broke the windows and dented the bodywork of the sisters' vehicles as they sat watching X Factor on television.

The siblings, who were too scared to give their names, said they were worried the vandalism agai nst their cars would escalate into violent assaults.

Each of the attacks took place in Whitson Place East in Saughton where one of the sisters and her brother live in separate flats.

Police today said they were treating the incidents as "racially motivated" and pledged that they would be "robustly investigated".

The older sister, who is in her 30s, said: "The first attack happened on April 14 when someone poured what seemed to be battery acid on his (her brother] Vauxhall Corsa. It was across the bonnet and the rest of the car, and removed the paintwork. It cost him about £700 to repair.

"Then on October 14, exactly six months later, my Toyota Yaris also had battery acid poured over it. But when I called the police they told me we would need witnesses and suggested we install CCTV."

The family said they had also suffered from racial abuse.

The older sister, who moved to Edinburgh from England five years ago, added: "My sister came round to my flat on Sunday night and parked her Citroen C3 outside my flat. We were watching X Factor when she heard a noise and went out to see what it was.

"She saw around five men wearing hoodies smashing our cars with golf clubs. They had broken the windows and were denting the bodywork.

"My sister shouted at them to stop and her husband tried to run after them. They shouted, "f****** p*** b*******" as they ran off.

"We're very worried about our safety. They've attacked our cars four times but what happens if it escalates and they attack us next? I have an eight-year-old son so I'm worried.

"It's left us very frustrated, stressed and angry. It's pathetic people behind these attacks."

A police spokesman said officers were still investigating the earlier attacks on the family's vehicles.

He added: "Enquiries are ongoing and anyone who witnessed anything suspicious or who has information is asked to contact police immediately."

A 43-year-old man has been arrested with a racially-motivated breach of the peace.

Scotsman

Case dropped against man at EDL rally (UK)

A police investigation has been launched after a case against a 63-year-old anti-fascist protester was dropped when new evidence came to light.

Alan Clough, of Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, was due to stand trial at Bolton Magistrates Court yesterday accused of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at the EDL and UAF rally in March.

But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) made the decision not to proceed with the case on Monday after viewing footage of the rally.

Justice4bolton, a campaign group which claimed police used heavy-handed tactics on the day, allege the footage shows Mr Clough being pushed by police officers and hit on the head with a baton, before being pushed to the ground and arrested.

A spokesperson for Justice4bolton said the organisation had received “an overwhelming number of reports” alleging “violent behaviour on the part of the police on March 20”.

A spokesperson for the CPS said: “Having viewed footage received from the defence team, we felt that there was no longer a realistic prospect of securing a conviction.

“Given this, the correct decision was to drop the charge against Mr Clough.”

A police spokesman said: “GMP has received a complaint in relation to footage which appears to show a man being inappropriately struck during his arrest at the EDL protest in Bolton in March, 2010.

“The footage is now being viewed by officers from Greater Manchester Police’s professional standards branch.

“An internal investigation is now under way, as a result it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.” 

Bolton News

GERMAN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES 'SWEEPING STATEMENTS' ON INTEGRATION

Germany's president Christian Wulff has warned that blanket generalizations about Muslim immigrants are wrong. The comments come as he begins a tour of Turkey, with the debate about integration rumbling on in Germany.

German President Christian Wulff has criticized "sweeping statements" about a failure of Muslim immigrants to integrate, ahead of a visit to the Turkish parliament on Tuesday. The president arrived in Turkey on Monday to begin a five-day trip that has been overshadowed by a national debate in Germany about Muslim integration. "I believe it is a mistake to maintain that a whole group is unable and unwilling to integrate," Wulff told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet's Tuesday edition.

Seizing opportunities
Wulff said, adding that the state and society had to offer opportunities to integrate. "In return, individuals must accept these opportunities," Wulff said. Wulff was set to meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, before giving a speech in the Turkish parliament. His comments to the newspaper came after Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that multiculturalism in Germany had "failed completely" and that immigrants should do more to integrate. The debate about Islam and integration reached a new level in Germany when a then member of the country's central bank, Thilo Sarrazin, launched a book claiming that Muslim immigrants were undermining German culture. Although Sarrazin subsequently resigned from the bank, his book has proved to be a bestseller.

Bid to calm integration debate
At the start of the month, President Christian Wulff tried to calm the controversy by claiming that - along with Christianity and Judaism - Islam was now also a part of Germany. His comments sparked reaction from conservative politicians, such as Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer who said Germany should not accept more immigration from "foreign cultures" such as Turkey and Arab countries. The president also used the newspaper interview to address the issue of Turkish entry to the European Union. He said it was in Germany's interest that Turkey should continue to adopt European economic, legal and constitutional standards. Wulff said that Turkey's negotiations to join the EU should be handled in a fair and open-minded way, adding that the country had already made considerable progress. Germany has some four million Muslims among its 82 million inhabitants, with some 2.5 million Turks forming the largest ethnic minority in the country.

Deutsche Welle

Mayor of Camden to attend London hate crime vigil (UK)

The Mayor of Camden, Councillor Jonathan Simpson, is taking part in a vigil against hate crime this weekend, along his Mayoress, radio DJ Amy Lamé.

The event follows last year’s vigil at Trafalgar Square, held after the homophobic murder of Ian Baynham.

Thousands of people are expected to attend the vigil to take a stand against all types of hate crime. During the vigil, the Mayor and Mayoress will be reading a list of all those people who have been victims of hate crime during the past year.

Councillor Jonathan Simpson, Mayor of Camden, said: “It is absolutely essential that we continue to show, peacefully but determinedly, that hate crime against anyone, whatever their sexuality, race or faith, will not be tolerated in Camden, or anywhere else.”

Pink Paper

Neo-Nazi politician sentenced to 10 months over racist remarks (Germany)

A far-right German politician has been sentenced to 10 months in jail on charges of inciting racism over insults he hurled at Turks and Jews during an event in February.
 
The Saarbrücken 11th Court of First Instance yesterday handed down a 10-month sentence to the National Democratic Party’s (NPD) group leader in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Udo Pastörs, and issued a 6,000-euro fine for his derogatory remarks targeting Germany’s Turkish and Jewish communities. Pastörs’ jail sentence will be suspended indefinitely.

The prosecutor had asked for up to four years’ imprisonment for Pastörs, whose appeal required court judges to listen to his speech from February once again. The politician in his speech said Germany should do everything it can do to stop immigration to the country, using disparaging remarks to describe Jews and Turks. The court also found the politician’s remarks had a quality that incited violence. The court also noted that Pastörs did not appear to be remorseful or aware of the seriousness of his remarks. The prosecutor said a one-and-a-half-year sentence and a 10,000-euro fine would have been more suitable in this case. He also said jail sentences in such cases should not be commuted.

In a statement after the verdict, Pastörs said the book recently published by former Deutsche Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin greatly “overshadowed” his speech. A group of NPD supporters protested outside the courthouse during the hearing.

 Todays Zaman

Russia seeks extradition of mentally ill neo-Nazi from Norway

Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has demanded the extradition of ex-mixed martial arts pugilist Vyacheslav Datsik, who was arrested in Norway after escaping from a psychiatric ward in St. Petersburg.

The extradition warrant was sent to Norway on Monday, spokeswoman Marina Gridneva told RIA Novosti.
Datsik, 33, was arrested on September 21 when he appeared, armed, at an immigration office in Oslo seeking asylum. The Norwegian authorities denied his asylum request earlier in October and have begun preparing his extradition to Russia, AFP news agency said.

The martial arts fighter was involved in political activities as a member of the ultranationalist Neo-Nazi movement, Slavic Union, which was banned in Russia this year but has reportedly opened its office in Norway.

Datsik, who was repeatedly disqualified for being too violent with his opponents in the ring, retired from mixed martial arts after losing six straight fights between December 2001 and February 2003.

From 1996 to 2001, he faced numerous criminal charges for assault and battery, murder threats, arbitrary behavior and theft, but all the charges were dropped.

Datsik was arrested in 2007 after a series of robberies in cell phone stores. However, psychiatric examinations concluded that he was mentally ill and he was exempted from being held responsible for the criminal charges.

 RiaNovosti