MEP: UKIP kicked me out because I was a lesbian (UK)

The UK Independence Party is to be taken to the High Court by an MEP claiming it discriminated  against her because she was lesbian.

Nikki Sinclaire is taking action over Ukip withdrawing the whip from her in the European Parliament and preventing her standing for the Commons as a candidate for the party.

She claimed today that her treatment had been in breach of Ukip's constitution and was motivated by sexual orientation discrimination.

A directions hearing is to be held by the High Court today. The West Midlands MEP is also taking the party to an employment tribunal, with a preliminary hearing on December 28.

Ms Sinclaire was kicked out of the party after she refused to sit with the eurosceptic group Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) which Ukip joined in the European Parliament last year.

She said she quit the EFD because it contained ''extreme elements'', including people with ''openly homophobic opinions''.

''I think that homophobic in itself the fact that they expected me to sit next to such people and engage with such people in the Parliament, while taking a holier-than-thou attitude to parties like the BNP (British National Party) in the UK,'' she said.

As well as withdrawing the whip from the MEP, Ukip's national executive committee also ended her position as the party's candidate for Meriden at the general election.

She said she still believed in the aims of Ukip, whose principal goal is to take the UK from the European Union, and would be prepared to be one of its MEPs again if it was ''more tolerant''.

''It is unacceptable in the 21st century for people to be marginalised and treated in an offensive and derogatory way on the grounds of their sexuality,'' the MEP said.

''This behaviour needs to be exposed, so that the party can move forward and I can get on with representing the people of the West Midlands and their causes, which I am so passionate about.''

Her solicitor Paul Daniels, of Russell Jones and Walker law firm, said: ''Ms Sinclaire has just commenced discrimination claims concerning the prejudices she considers present within certain parts of Ukip and its leadership, as she considers these prejudices need to be challenged so that all members are treated respectfully and fairly.

''Ms Sinclaire remains dedicated to the cause of Ukip, but will fight for equal opportunities for all, including the rights of minority groups as well.''

The Telegraph

'Holocaust grave' discovered in Romania

A mass grave containing the bodies of about 100 Jews killed during the Holocaust has been discovered in Romania, researchers say.

The burial pit was found in a forest about 350km (220 miles) north-east of the capital, Bucharest.

It is thought to contain the remains of men, women and children shot in 1941 by troops of the pro-Nazi Romanian regime.

Up to 380,000 Jews are believed to have been killed in Romanian-controlled territory during WWII.

The mass grave was found near the village of Popricani, near the city of Iasi, following testimonies from local inhabitants, who witnessed the killings.

"So far we exhumed 16 bodies but this is just the beginning because the mass grave is very deep and we only dug up superficially", Adrian Cioflanca, a Romanian historian involved in the dig, said.

It is only the second Holocaust-era mass grave discovered in Romania since 1945.

BBC News

Nick Griffin admitted to hospital days before court date (UK)

BNP leader undergoing tests for suspected kidney stones

Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, has been admitted to hospital with suspected kidney stones days before he is due back in court over an attempt to have him jailed.

The MEP and British National party chairman is undergoing tests near his home in Welshpool, Wales, after suffering back and stomach pain, a party spokesman said.

"I am very keen on being in court on Monday as I believe there is going to be a judgment in favour of the British National party," Griffin said in a statement.

"I am waiting on the result of a series of tests on my kidneys and gall bladder and then the doctors will decide what course of action to take."

The Commission for Equality and Human Rights has applied for the committal of Griffin, deputy Simon Darby and party officer Tanya Lumby over allegations that the BNP has failed to remove potentially racist clauses from its constitution.

Griffin, who is representing himself, has countered with an application for the cases to be thrown out.

The move to jail them was adjourned in September at the high court. At a brief hearing in London before Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, it was agreed the actions should be heard by two judges and be transferred to the divisional court for a two-day hearing starting on 8 November.

The Guardian

BOSNIAN FOOTBALL FACES INTERNATIONAL EXILE

Conflict with UEFA and FIFA and exclusion from international competition looks certain as Bosnia's soccer federation, the NSBiH, refuses to call an end to its ethnically selected tripartite presidency.
 
Bosnia's national and domestic teams face suspension from international compettition if the sport's national governing body, the NSBiH, refuses demands from FIFA and UEFA to elect a single president instead of the current three. A high level FIFA and UEFA delegation will attend a meeting of football's national governing body in Sarajevo today. FIFA and UEFA have repeatedly requested that the ethnically-based tripartite presidency be replaced with a single president, but Bosnian Serb football officials have vehemently rejected the demand. “It is truly sad that instead of focusing on the game we must think about things which have nothing to do with sport,” Asmir Begic, goalkeeper for the national team, told Balkan Insight. Begic, who plays for English Premier League club Stoke City, added he hoped that the NSBiH officials “will find a solution and that everything will end well.” Bosnian football officials last rejected the FIFA and UEFA request in July and were given until March 31 next year to change their mind or face automatic suspension and the imposition of an interim committee. If sanctioned, Bosnia would also lose international funding which currently makes up between 70 and 80 per cent of the NSBiH budget. The federation is made up of representatives of the football associations of the country’s two highly independent entities, the predominantly Serb Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat federation.

Bosnian Serb football officials insist they will not accept the FIFA and UEFA demands no matter the consequences. “We believe that preserving the tripartite presidency is a must…the only thing we can accept is that the Presidency rotates [between the three ethnic groups] every 16 months,” the vice president of the Republika Srpska football association, Stasa Kosarac, told Balkan Insight. “We will not back away from this request,” Kosarac added. Radmilo Sipovac, president of Borac, Republika Srpska's leading team, which currently tops the country’s Premier League table - told Balkan Insight his team “did not want to think” about the political shenanigans at the NSBiH. “We play football and the only thing we think about is how to win and become Premier League champions…it is not our job to deal with politics,” he said. Sipovac added that he hoped Bosnian teams would not be suspended from international competition because “it would be a huge loss for sport and football in this country.”
Balkan Insight

Police hate crime campaign honoured (Northern Ireland, UK)

An anti-hate crime campaign involving police in Northern Ireland has been recognised at an awards ceremony.

Unite Against Hate highlights homophobia, racism, sectarianism and transphobia as well as prejudices involving faith or disability.

It was awarded third place in the diversity in action category at Jane's Review gala awards in London on Thursday. Home Secretary Theresa May presented the awards.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott said: "This is a true illustration of the personal, professional, protective nature of the service.

"We are committed to challenging the issues that communities identify as priority and as these awards recognise, we do so with impartiality and absolute integrity. We will continue in our endeavours to deliver the worlds finest police service."

Unite Against Hate involves several government offices. The online campaign had received more than 3,000 petition signatures. Text messaging has also been used to target more than 15,000 students.

Also recognised were Sergeant Brian Caskey, from north Belfast, who came third in the officer of the year category. He has played a key role in the interface strategy developed to address conflict between the neighbouring communities of Tigers Bay, Newington and New Lodge.

"I am delighted and privileged to have been nominated for this award. This is in recognition of the work that all police officers across the service do on a daily basis," he said.

Inspector John Kinkead, from Coleraine, picked up second place in the lifetime officer of the year category.

He has 28 years of service. While based in Coleraine he helped introduce the first registered door supervisor scheme in Northern Ireland. This now forms the basis for the nationally recognised registration required by every staff member employed as a door supervisor.

Sergeant Andy Davies, of Gloucestershire police, said there was no evidence to suggest racially motivated crime had increased in Cheltenham, but said incidents of abuse often go unreported.

"Racism is something we do not tolerate," he said. "We all need to stand up to these kind of outdated and abhorrent attitudes. We would encourage anyone who is targeted by racial abuse to report it to us so that we can take steps to catch the offenders."

Belfast Telegraph

Racist youths in Cheltenham left family terrified - Asian father-of-two (UK)

Roby Mekkara says his family are living in terror after being targeted by racist yobs.

The 41-year-old, of Whaddon Road, has been abused in the street and had his home vandalised by gangs.

In the latest attack, thugs hurled stones at the house, smashing the glass of the front door.

Roby said the family was petrified as the gang of youths peppered their home with stones and eggs, kicking at the door in a prolonged onslaught.

"It was really nasty," he said. "I wasn't there at the time so my wife and children were at home on their own.

"Just imagine how they felt. They were terrified."

The father-of-two, who is originally from India, said the incident is the latest in a string of racist attacks since his family moved to Cheltenham five years ago.

"It has been going on for some time and it seems to be getting worse," he said. "This is the fifth time I have had to repair a window at my home because of something like this.

"I have had to put up with teenagers shouting abuse from the park opposite.

"It makes me sad. The whole family has been made to feel unhappy."

Roby, who grew up in southern India, came to the UK in 2005 after his wife Smitha got a job working as a nurse for the NHS.

He found work as an architectural technician and the couple sent their son, five, and daughter, 10, to a local school.

"We came here to work and to bring our children up in a safe environment," he added.

"I accept the people responsible for this are in a minority, but it has become a problem.

"Nobody should have to put up with this sort of abuse. It has to stop."

Gloucestershire police said they were aware of ongoing problems and were intent on bringing a stop to the anti-social behaviour.

Inspector Roddy Gosden, of Whaddon Safer Community Team, said: "We fully support the Mekkara family and are taking reports of the latest incident very seriously.

"We are aware there have been problems in the past and a lot of work has gone into investigating them – including putting up CCTV cameras at the house to identify who is responsible.

"This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in our community. We are stepping up our efforts to bring these problems to an end for the Mekkaras and appeal for anyone with information to get in touch."

A year ago Sri Lankan national Suda John said attitudes towards ethnic minorities in Cheltenham were worse than ever.

The 31-year-old, from Lansdown, said the situation had got so bad he was considering leaving the town that has been his home for the past six years.

He said: "I've been abused on the street, outside my home and even at work.

"If it happens once you think it might be just one idiot, but when it keeps happening you think there must be a deeper problem."

This is Gloucestershire

A Halloween costume conundrum in Campbellford (Canada)

Despite recent appearances to the contrary, Blair Crowley and Terry Nunn say they are not racists. They just may not possess the best judgment when it comes to Halloween costumes.

Granted, it certainly looked like racism at a Royal Canadian Legion Halloween costume party last Saturday in Campbellford, Ont. where the pair dressed, respectively, as a Klu Klux Klan member and his slave, complete with blackface and a rope tied around his neck.

The appalling costume choice – made all the more disgraceful by the fact that the duo WON THE CONTEST - came to light after party attendee Mark Andrade (a black man) left the event in disgust and later complained to local police about the incident (while Crowley and Nunn did nothing illegal, an investigation has been launched into the Legion branch’s role in the matter).

Crowley and Nunn deserve their fair share of criticism for a clearly insensitive, offensive and poorly conceived idea, but their costumes were less a product of racism as much as they reflected a growing October 31 tendency to push the envelope. For some, Halloween has turned into an arms race to garner the greatest shock value, all the while de-emphasizing what constitutes good taste and reasonable public behaviour.

Obviously, as evidenced by Crowley and Nunn’s first place finish, the costumes were viewed by at least some as being amusing, similar to other common boundary-pushing costumes like a Catholic priest. Crowley’s response to the situation highlighted a widely held attitude that costumes – regardless of their nature – are a light-hearted aspect of a light-hearted holiday and should be received as such.

"It was just a costume for Halloween," Crowley told CTV News (story can be found here). "People dress up like axe murderers [too], so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal."

But while there is a place for humour among Halloween costumes, they should not come at the expense of making others uncomfortable. The term “political correctness” has taken on a negative stigma as being associated with an overly rigid, limiting mindset that caters to supposedly humourless, easy-to-offend people. While it can be taken to the extreme and over-used, political correctness came into being due to diverse populations in which no one should be made to feel alienated or ostracized.

That continues to be the case today, and Mark Andrade should still never be made to feel uncomfortable, regardless of what day of the year it is.

Digital Journal