BNP suffers election meltdown (UK)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Guardian

White supremacist gun dealer gets 10 years (USA)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CTPost

Extremists plan US Embassy protest (UK)

Anjem Choudary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Belfast Telegraph

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BBC News

US mosque bombing suspect shot dead

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

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

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

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

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

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

Centre commends police

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

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

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

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

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

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

News 24