Senator says domestic terror threat is real danger (USA)

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee says domestic terrorism is a real and growing danger.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, says the political discourse in the U.S. turns extreme and incendiary at times, and that can lead some people to take radical actions.

Federal authorities report an uptick in the activities of domestic extremist groups in the last year.
Noting the recent bombings in Moscow, Lieberman says more must be done to protect trains, subways and buses in the U.S.
Lieberman appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Guardian

Nazi collaborator to lose “Hero of Ukraine” title

A Ukrainian court has reversed a controversial decision made by the country's previous president, Viktor Yushchenko.
Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator and leader of Ukraine's Nationalist Movement during World War II, is to be stripped of the title “Hero of Ukraine.”

The decision to award him with the honorary title split the country in two in January, with most major political parties expressing strong opposition.
The Council of Europe also lashed out at the move, deeming it a glorification of Nazism. The appeal against the award was instigated by a lawyer from the city of Donetsk, Vladimir Olentsevich. The judges ruled Bandera ineligible to carry the title, as he died before the independent Ukrainian state was established in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The ruling can be appealed within ten days
RT

Disabled man 'attacked in street' in Aberdare (Wales, UK)

A mother says she thought her disabled son was going to die after an "unprovoked attack" on a night out.

Martyn Griffiths, 32, who is awaiting a heart and lung transplant, was injured in an incident at Aberdare town centre in the Cynon Valley early on Saturday.
He was knocked out but later regained consciousness and is being treated at hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
South Wales Police said one man had been arrested and bailed, and inquiries were continuing.

Mr Griffiths's mother Janette Leonard said her son had battled against health problems since he was a baby.
She said she had always tried to ensure he enjoyed as normal a life as possible.
"He's very physically disabled and he's very vulnerable. He wanted to go out with his friends so off he went," she said.
"He's 32 but he looks like a 13-year-old or an 80-year-old. He's a very vulnerable adult."

She added: "I've always tried to make him as independent as possible despite his disabilities. I've always encouraged him to do the most he can in life."

Ms Leonard received a call from police in the early hours of Saturday saying her son had been hurt, so she rushed to the scene.
Mr Griffiths had regained consciousness when she arrived and was waiting for an ambulance, but his condition suddenly deteriorated.
"He said he had severe chest pains and I thought he was dying. I said to the ambulance people 'you've got to come quickly'.

"They still said 'you will get an ambulance through but it might be an hour or two'.
"I thought he was going to die. The taxi driver said 'get in the car and we will go over', and he took us to the hospital."

'Heart problems'
Mr Griffiths was treated at Prince Charles Hospital and his mother hoped he would be discharged on Sunday afternoon.
She said his face was "battered" but he seemed to be physically okay.
Mr Griffiths has been in and out of hospital since he was a baby and was given one of his mother's kidneys in an operation about 10 years ago.
She said he had suffered from kidney, heart and lung problems.
"He's had operations in the [Royal] Brompton hospital in London since he was six months old," said Ms Leonard.
"He was born with heart problems. He's on the list at the moment for a heart and lung transplant."

A South Wales Police spokesperson said: "In the early hours of the 3rd April, an assault was reported to police near to New Look in Aberdare.
"One male has been arrested and bailed, and inquiries are continuing."
In response to Ms Leonard's concern about the waiting time for an ambulance, a Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We are unable to comment on individual cases but if the patient or his family wish to contact us we would be happy to discuss it directly with them."

BBC News

TURKEY'S GAYS, TRANSSEXUALS DECRY INCREASING HOMOPHOBIA

When Turkey's family affairs minister recently described homosexuality as a curable disease, she was roundly criticized for discrimination and flouting human rights. But for activists her remarks only underscore what they say is increasing prejudice, discrimination and violence -- even from police -- against homosexuals and transgender people in this Muslim-majority country stuck between its conservative roots and flourishing modernism. A total of 45 gays and transgender people were killed over three years in "hate murders", said Demet Demir, a transsexual and leading activist from Istanbul-LGBTT, a civic body promoting homosexual rights. "In February alone, five people were killed. In Antalya (southern Turkey), a transsexual friend was brutally murdered; her throat was slit. "In Istanbul, another was stabbed to death. Three young men... killed her for money, but she only had 70 liras (46 dollars, 34 euros) and a gold chain," Demir said, adding that three gay men had also been killed in Anatolia. The violence comes against a backdrop of clashing values in this secular democracy that is vying to join the European Union. Unlike other Muslim countries, same-sex relationships have never been criminalised in Turkey. Prostitution and sex change operations are legal. Several gay and transgender bars have flourished in major cities such as Istanbul, while a transsexual singer and homosexuals figure among the country's top celebrities. There are also several associations fighting for gay and transgender rights that organize regular conferences, parades and demonstrations. But at the same time, traditional Islamic values hold sway over large sections of this macho society, which frowns upon displays of femininity.

Discrimination is rife: transgender people are forced to work in the sex sector as nobody will employ them while homosexuals feel they have to hide their sexual identity so as not to risk losing their jobs. Last year, for example, a football referee came out on television, only to see his refereeing licence revoked. The Turkish army classifies homosexuality as a "disease" while police are notoriously harsh against transsexuals. "Just yesterday, police raided the flat where we meet our clients, breaking down the door," Ece, a 43-year-old transsexual, said. "They arrested everyone and beat one of the girls with a truncheon. She had to have three stitches to her head," she added. Although the Islamist-rooted government has enacted a series of rights reforms to boost the country's EU bid since it came to power in 2002, it has turned a blind eye to homosexual rights. In March, Family Affairs and Women's Minister Selma Aliye Kavaf declared in a newspaper interview that she believed homosexuality was a "biological disorder, a disease." "I think it should be treated," she said, attracting a storm of anger and enhancing fears that Islam is taking a more prominent place under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). According to Demir, the violence against homosexuals and her kind has its roots in a "rise in nationalism, Islamic values, poverty, and unemployment in the past seven or eight years". "In such a climate, homosexuals and transsexuals are easy targets. Assailants think that nobody will ask questions and that they won't risk heavy penalties if they kill a transsexual," she said.
Ece, who has been working in the sex sector for 22 years, said she felt compelled to take precautions to minimize risks to her life: making sure she is not alone when meeting clients and never seeking work along motorways. "In the flats where the girls work, there are always housekeepers and cleaning ladies... We are never really alone with the client," she explained. "If there is ever any aggression against one of us, we all intervene. If there is a fight, we all join it." In a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February, several non-governmental organizations called for the government to ensure security for gay and transgender people. They pointed out that eight transsexuals had been killed between November 2008 and February this year. Ece said the authorities share responsibility in those crimes. "When a minister makes such declarations, when the police break down your door and beat you up with a truncheon... there will always be people who think that we are evil creatures," she said. "They will think they have a right to eliminate you, make you disappear." Firat Soyle, a lawyer for Lambda Istanbul, a gay rights group, said the government needed to ban discrimination on sexual orientation. "In the Turkish legal system, there is no reference to homosexuality, neither penalisation nor positive discrimination. But this legal vacuum is always used against homosexuals," he said.
AFP

BELGIUM MOVES CLOSER TO EUROPE'S FIRST BURQA BAN

In the clash of cultures between the West and Muslim world, few battles have been more fiercely fought than the one raging in Europe today over the burqa. The burqa, or full-face veil, was the law for women in Afghanistan under the Taliban, and is still worn these days in the more conservative parts of the Middle East, as well as in Europe, raising questions about how far liberal democracies should go in tolerating such dress codes. Belgium gave an answer Wednesday when parliamentarians backed a draft law that would ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places. The Justice and Home Affairs Committee voted unanimously to endorse the move, which must now be approved by parliament for it to become law. Such a vote is expected by the end of April, which would make Belgium the first European country to implement a ban. Because of the support for the measure among all the main political parties, it is likely to pass.

The draft law would make it illegal to wear clothing that covers all or part of the face, which would also include the facial veil known as the niqab. Defying the rule could lead to nominal fines of $20 to $35 or possible imprisonment for up to seven days. Proponents say they're targeting the burqa not because of its religious symbolism or even because it is widely seen in the West as a sign of male oppression, but rather for safety reasons: they say that people who hide their faces represent a security risk. In that light, the law also seeks to target potentially violent demonstrators who cover their faces, backers say. But the bill's chief sponsor, Daniel Bacquelaine of the liberal Reformist Movement party, admits that cultural considerations have also come into play. "In an open society, we need common values and we need equal rights and duties," he says. Bacquelaine estimates the burqa is worn by only a few hundred of Belgium's 630,000-strong Muslim population, but the numbers have been rising in the past decade. "It has become a political weapon," he says. "There is nothing in Islam or the Koran about the burqa. It has become an instrument of intimidation, and is a sign of submission of women. And a civilized society cannot accept the imprisonment of women."

Other European countries are enacting similarly strict laws when it comes to burqas and headscarves. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for a ban on the burqa to follow a 2004 French law prohibiting students and staff from wearing headscarves and any other "conspicuous" religious symbols in state schools. Headscarves have also been outlawed in schools in the Netherlands, Britain and in many German states, and the Italian government has just started a debate on whether to ban them. The European pushback against Islam has gone even further in Switzerland, where the public last year approved a referendum making it illegal to build minarets on mosques, a move that outraged Muslims in the country.

In Belgium, however, the burqa bill has the cautious support of much of the Muslim community. "Nobody likes somebody covered," says Saïd El Khadraoui, a Belgian Socialist member of the European Parliament. "It is wrong to say the burqa is part of Islam — the vast majority of Muslims do not wear it. And it's not a bad idea to give a signal that we need some rules to live together." His sentiments are echoed by Emir Kir, who was born in Belgium to Turkish Muslim parents and is now the Secretary for Public Sanitation and Monument Conservation in the Brussels region. "I don't like the burqa. Every person should be visible. In most cases, it is not a religious act, but macho one," he says. "But I wonder if we need a law on it. If we do this, we could make it a symbol and reinforce extremists on all sides. And in the middle of this economic crisis, where everyone is concerned about their job, this is not the number one problem." Kir also wonders whether the bill would be compatible with the Belgian constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Indeed, legal concerns led France's Council of State to warn this week that a similar proposal working its way through France's legislative system could be unconstitutional. French politicians are still mulling their options. The leader of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party has said that while he respects the council's conclusions, the parliament is not bound by them. The lower house of Belgium's parliament is set to vote on the bill on April 22 and it could enter into law in June or July. But even if the measure is delayed by court challenges, it is still hugely significant for Belgium and its relationship with its Muslim community, according to Carl Devos, a political scientist at Ghent University. "The Muslim community is not yet well-integrated in Belgium. The difference between them and us is still there," he says. "This law draws a line, saying we in western European democracies accept Muslim beliefs, but in order to live together — and even communicate — we have to be seen."

Time.com

RACISM ON THE RISE AMONG TEENAGE PUPILS (Ireland)

ALMOST half of teachers in some post-primary schools have recently reported a racist incident, new research reveals. Rising unemployment has made racism a bigger problem among teenage students, according to the survey. It is worse in Dublin, in schools with higher numbers of students from migrant backgrounds and in areas suffering high rates of joblessness. There are more than 48,000 migrant students from over 160 different nationalities in Irish second-level schools/colleges, predominantly in urban areas. Marketing company Behaviour and Attitudes conducted the research among members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) on the issue of interculturalism, racism and resources for minority ethnic students. TUI represents about one-third of second-level teachers, employed in VEC and community and comprehensive schools, as well as lecturers in further-education colleges and institutes of technology. The post-primary schools in which they teach have a higher proportion of minority ethnic students than those in the voluntary secondary sector, traditionally run by religious groups. According to the survey, 46pc of teachers in community and comprehensive schools were aware of an incident of racism in the month prior to the survey last year, compared with 40pc of those in VEC schools. It found the influx of pupils from migrant backgrounds has presented particular challenges for schools, including racist behaviour and intimidation. African children were perceived to be subjected to more incidents. Racist incidents also occur between different nationalities, particularly in schools with large populations of minority ethnic pupils, with examples of eastern European children taunting African/Indian/Pakistani children.


Devastating
One-in-three teachers reported that their schools did not have a policy to deal with racism. TUI deputy general secretary Annette Dolan warned of the impact of education cuts on schools. She said that key middle management posts played a vital role in promoting interculturalism and that the ongoing block on appointments to these positions would have devastating effects. "While the various cutbacks inflicted on the education sector have had a severe impact on all students, minority ethnic students have been disproportionately hit by government cutbacks," Ms Dolan said. "In addition, specific supports for these students have been asset stripped in the Government's slash-and-burn approach to education over the past 18 months."
Irish Independant