Google bosses convicted over abuse video of Down’s syndrome boy

Three Google bosses were today convicted of violating the privacy of a boy with Down's syndrome in a ruling that could also affect websites such as YouTube and Facebook.
The men received suspended six-month sentences after the internet giant allowed a video of the teenager being abused to be posted online.
Google said the ruling by an Italian court set a “dangerous precedent” and raised major questions over the future of websites where people regularly upload information.
“This is the biggest threat to internet freedom we have seen in Europe,” said MP Tom Watson. “The only people who will support this decision are Silvio Berlusconi and the governments of China and Iran. It effectively breaks the internet in Italy.”
Google today vowed to appeal, saying in a statement: “We are deeply troubled by this conviction, it attacks the very principles of freedom on which the internet is built.”
Two executives, David Drummond and Peter Fleischer, and former employee George Reyes were accused of negligence. Prosecutors said the video remained online for two months even though some web users had posted comments asking for it to be taken down.
Judge Oscar Magi absolved the three of defamation and acquitted a fourth defendant altogether.
Mr Drummond, who is Google's chief legal officer, vowed to fight his conviction. He said: “I am outraged by the decision … If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely by virtue of our positions at Google every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability.”
The case stems from an incident in 2006 when four boys in Turin filmed and uploaded a 191-second clip of them bullying a schoolmate with Down's syndrome. It shows the youths making fun of the boy, before punching and kicking him. One of the attackers then makes a mocking call to Viva Down, an advocacy group for people with Down's syndrome. The complaint was brought by the charity and the boy's father. “The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police,” Google said.
“We also worked with the police to help identify the person responsible for uploading it and she was sentenced to 10 months community service, as were several other classmates.”

Originaly posted on This is London Website

White supremacist group considers John Day for possible national headquarters (USA)

Grant County residents are taking steps to fight any effort by members of a white supremacist group calling themselves the Aryan Nations to find a new headquarters in John Day.
On Friday, residents will gather for two town hall meetings in Canyon City, just south of John Day. Speakers will include Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, attorneys Norman Gissell and Tony Stewart, who helped win a landmark judgment against the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations in 2000.
On Monday, 60 to 70 protesters carried signs in downtown John Day with slogans such as "One Race: Human," "No to Aryan Nations!" and "Say No to Hate and Violence!"
The gatherings come in the wake of a visit to John Day last week by Paul R. Mullet, who described himself as the Aryan Nations national director. He told townspeople he was in town to look at two large downtown properties for a possible national headquarters for the group, said John Day Mayor Bob Quinton.
Mullet, of Athol, Idaho, added that Grant County, with its wide open spaces, would be an ideal setting for both a headquarters and a neo-Nazi national gathering in September 2011.
Mullet also said he was looking for a property with enough space to train recruits, house them in a barracks, and hold gatherings. The group would pay cash "from legal means," he said.
Wearing a uniform shirt with a swastika patch, Mullet was accompanied by Leif Berlin, described as the group's Washington state leader, and Grant County residents Jacob Green of Mount Vernon and Christopher Cowan of John Day, said John Day Police Chief Richard Tirico.
Quinton expressed surprise that anyone in the county would be affiliated with the hate group.
"If they've got a presence here, it's been pretty much under the radar," he said.
But Grant County Undersheriff Todd McKinley said officials aren't dismissing the group's plan. "We are taking it seriously," he said.
Grant County, with fewer than 8,000 residents in an area twice the size of Delaware, "would rather be known for cattle and timber and their rivers, and not be known as an area that harbors a hate group," McKinley added.
Monday's rally drew a broad cross section, Quinton said.
"There were grandmothers and people in their 20s and every age group in between," he said. "There were log trucks honking and cars honking and people waving."
The supremacist group advocates so-called racial purity and claims that Jews and nonwhites are natural enemies of white people. The group seeks to establish a state for the "Aryan race," where nonwhites would be prohibited.
The group's interest in Grant County may have been piqued by a 2002 ballot measure declaring the county a "U.N.-free" zone. The designation has occasionally attracted outsiders with the mistaken idea that Grant County is lawless and a good spot to lie low, law enforcement officials said.
Lt. Stuart Miller of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office in Coeur d'Alene monitors separatist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist activities. He said the group has been relatively inactive in the Idaho panhandle since the 2004 death of Richard Butler, the group's longtime leader.
Butler owned a 20-acre compound and neo-Nazi church near Hayden Lake, north of Coeur d'Alene, for many years. He was forced to sell it in 2000 after losing a $6.3 million lawsuit brought by two Native Americans, a mother and son, who were shot at by Aryan Nations members.
The group's current national leader is August B. Kreis 3rd of Lexington, S.C., according to the group's Web site. The site says the group's national headquarters will soon move to St. Cloud, Fla.
Mullet, meanwhile, and two associates were accused in August of scattering supremacist literature on lawns around Coeur d'Alene, Miller said, but charges of littering were later dismissed.
Grant County remains on guard.
"I can guarantee you we are probably not done with the issue," said Tirico, the police chief. "Most of the population is agreeing they will stand together on this. I am very happy with the community on the way they handled this."

Originaly posted by Richard Cockle at dailyme

Racist vandals daub 'BNP' on mosque

RACIST graffiti yobs have defaced a South Tyneside mosque.

The letters BNP were daubed on the doors of the building in Laygate when leaders arrived to open up yesterday.
It is thought the vandals struck some time over the weekend.
One person from the mosque, who did not want to be identified, said: "They seem to have done it very quickly.
"South Shields, in general, has quite a diverse community which works well, and it is quite sad when things like this go on."
The vandalism was reported to police, and was quickly removed by South Tyneside Council's graffiti team.
Neighbourhood Inspector Peter Sutton of South Shields Police said: "Officers went straight round to the mosque, and this does seem to be an isolated incident.
"We have an excellent working relationship with those who attend the mosque, and we are all saddened at such behaviour.
"Inquiries are being made by the local policing team, who are working closely with the community to catch those responsible."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 03456 043 043.

shieldsgazette

BNP wants election violence but we will stop them, says minister

BNP thugs will try to provoke violence during the general election campaign in London, a government minister warned today.
Immigration minister Phil Woolas said there was no doubt that “bad people” in the racist party — whose leader Nick Griffin is standing for election in Barking and Dagenham — would “like to cause trouble”.
Mr Woolas said the Met police and the Crown Prosecution Service were preparing for a surge in public order offences and taking precautions.
“You allow free speech of course, but you take measures to ensure that inflammatory incidents and events are not juxtaposed,” he said.
“You take care that public figures are kept away from inflammatory points. I've been very impressed by the sophistication of the Met so I think we will prevent the problem.”
Mr Woolas, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “We are going to beat the BNP. Nick Griffin actually stood in my constituency and we saw them off and we're doing the same in London by recognising the concerns of the people who vote for them and are tempted to vote for them.
“We don't pander to them and we don't pander to racism, but we do say that we understand the concerns of the BNP voter and we are addressing those concerns.”
Mr Woolas predicted that immigration would be the second most important issue of the election after the economy, leading to a “bruising battle” between the main political parties.
He claimed that Labour would win votes on the issue because of the success of the new “points-based system”, under which non-EU migrants can enter Britain to work or study if they meet criteria relating to their skills, wealth and earnings.
Mr Woolas revealed that from next year the system would be strengthened through the introduction of a “London skills shortage list”.
He said: “You can say you can work in this country as a teacher, but you can only work in London. If the employer who is sponsoring you doesn't play that game we can fine the employer.”
The minister said the Government was also planning new rules under which migrants who fail to pay for NHS treatment will be barred from Britain until they clear their debt.
“If you come and use the NHS and we send you a bill and you don't pay it we won't let you back in the country. That's 20p or £20,000… I feel quite strongly about this. If you are coming into the country and using the NHS, it's not a charity,” he said.
“It's paid for by the taxpayer for the taxpayers and although we respect the Hippocratic oath and we look after anyone who needs emergency treatment, we are not suckers. We won't allow people to come and use our health service unless they pay for it.”
Mr Woolas said it was wrong to assume that his support for immigration controls was an authoritarian position.
“I believe that we will only create a tolerant society when people are reassured that we are controlling immigration,” he said.
“Because people fear that we don't control immigration, the person who gets the backlash is the legal migrant and the British ethnic minorities. So I believe that controlling immigration is morally the right thing to do.”
This is London

Nightclub ordered to pay for ethnic discrimination (Sweden)

The Svea Court of Appeal has ordered Elite Hotels to pay compensation to six men after finding that they were denied entry to a Stockholm nightclub due to their ethnicity.

The court has ordered Elite Hotels to pay 15,000 kronor ($2,000) to each of the six men who were refused entry to the Nasty nightclub and filed a complaint with the discrimination ombudsman (DO) alleging ethnic discrimination.

"That's great. Of course this is positive. I wish that this was given more attention - I hadn't heard about this ruling until you called, for example," one of the men, Waqas Yousaf, said when The Local called on Tuesday.

The young men, whose appearance is described by the court as "foreign", decided to act on their suspicions that they were systematically refused entry to bars and nightclubs in Stockholm due to their ethnicity.

On the night in question, April 3rd 2005, the men recruited some friends whose appearance is classified by the court as "Swedish" and divided themselves up into separate groups according to their ethnic appearance.

When the two groups - identical in age, gender and attire - approached the entrance of Nasty the group with a "Swedish" ethnic appearance was let in unhindered, while the group with a "foreign" ethnic appearance was refused.

The door staff at Nasty, which was then housed in the Elite Hotel Stockholm Plaza Hotel in central Stockholm but has since closed, told the group that the club was having an invitation-only Easter party, information that was not mentioned to the group with "Swedish" appearance.

The whole incident was recorded on film and the court ruled that the video evidence supported the men's testimony.

The court has thus ruled that discrimination did occur and furthermore established that Elite Hotels was responsible for the door staff at the nightclub, thereby upholding DO's appeal of a district court ruling dismissing the case on the grounds that Elite Hotels could not be held liable for the actions of Nasty AB's staff.
Elite Hotel's explanation that the door staff's comments were just part of the standard nightclub practice of "white lies" told to maintain the right age group of clientèle at the club was ruled by the court to be insufficient to prove that discrimination had not occurred.
The court has ruled that Elite Hotels pay the sum of 15,000 kronor to each of the men plus interest, and that each party should pay their own court costs.
The Local asked Waqas Yousaf if he felt anything had changed in Stockholm in the years between the incident and Tuesday's ruling.
"I am in another situation now, so it has changed for me - I don't go out as often as I did then," he said.
The Local

CANADIAN NAZIS TO RALLY IN CALGARY ON MARCH 21

The Aryan Guard, the group that thinks it is still alive, along with a splinter group called White European Bloodlines (WEB) has something to prove after the year they had. The Aryan Guard founder Kyle McKee is sitting in a jail cell on attempted murder charges, and another member, John Marleau, is in another jail cell for attacking a C-Train (Canada's Amtrak) operator. A mother with ties to the Aryan Guard lost her kids to the state since she and her husband thought it would be cool to scrawl racist crap on their 7-year-old daugher's arm and tell her how to kill black people. and then there's the fact that they said they were breaking up, only to come back bigger and stronger than e-- no wait, that's didn't happen. They only came back sort of after announcing they disbanded. Anyway, they want to rally at Calgary, Alberta's City Hall on March 21, and given the trouncing the Nazis got at last year's rally, no doubt antifa are feeling their oats right about now. Now this is the same day that some Nazis have declared "White Pride World Wide Day" or something, and some group called the National Socialist Front out of Chicago also pulled itself out of the mothballs to declare a march on that weekend. The day before all of this, March 20, there is a white power show going down in Richmond, VA. Meanwhile on our side, there is an anti-war rally going on in DC that day as well. In other words, we are going to have a busy weekend in about 30 days or so! We have the call for the Calgary rally here, but soon we hope to have all the other info as well. Keep an eye on our Alerts section on the side bar. We want to wish our antifa friends well up north as they deal with this, and if they need an inspiration, we are perfectly fine if you pretend that the assembled Nazis are a US Olympic hockey team and you want a little payback (We couldn't resist)!
originally posted by the great site the One Peoples Project

onepeoplesproject

BNP supporters call for Execution of Human Rights head Trevor Phillips

Updated. (The video has been removed from You Tube and the user has closed his account and as stated below we have a copy and are happy to supply it to any official person.)

A video had appeared on the You Tube video sharing website today which was calling for the Execution of Human Rights head Trevor Phillips. The video called

Trevor Philips, the Man who Must be Destroyed
which was posted by a user called WandsworthBNP.

It clearly stated that Mr Phillips has now become a problem and must be removed.

In the video description by the user WandsworthBNP he states.
He has become an irratation, we must execute him

This video is an obvious incitement to violence and a death threat.


So far the video has already attracted support from other BNP supporters on the web site including.
Posted by HaitianCorpse
How dare this nigger reside in my country? Off with his shit coloured head.

Posted by BNPxTRUTH

He will NEVER be British as far as I am concerned, any more than the white scum of the UAF.

Being British is not just about where you happen to be born, it's about who you are.

These pigs will never be British

Posted by WandsworthBNP

He must be DESTROYED

Posted by Morrisseyisdead

YES!

Since this item first appeared the You Tube user WandsworthBNP has closed his account and thus removed the video and because of that fact this blog item needed to be re-edited.

here is first screen shots taken from the death threat video.

and as you can plainly see in this image in the video description he calls for Mr Phillips to be executed

and if there is any doubt that WandsworthBNP was a BNP supporter, his You Tube home channel should dispel any doubts.

Relevant authorities have been contacted about this as they need to take appropriate action against such death threats. We have a copy of the original video and we are more than happy to hand it over to the police.

As the Italian authorities have recently arrested individuals for a video that was abusive to children that was only posted for a short period of time before being removed by the uploader on to You Tube I see no reason why the British law enforcement agencies should not find the person who made this video and prosecute him to the full extent of the law.

Far Right Bomb-maker jailed for three years

A former member of a far-right group has been jailed for three years for making explosives in his home, including a pipe bomb.
Darren Tinklin, 24, from Blackwood, Caerphilly county, had admitted two charges of making explosives and possessing a firearm.
Tinklin had not wanted to injure and had not meant to create any risk, Newport Crown Court heard.
He had kept right-wing paraphernalia, including items with Nazi SS symbols.
He also had a t-shirt which said "100% fascist".
Cardiff Recorder Nicholas Cooke said he must send a "stern message to those who flirt with the manufacture of devices of this kind".
He said: "Ideas and political affiliations may come and go but there is a potential threat presented by someone who harbours an interest in explosives and extremist views.
"I cannot completely ignore that."
The court heard that Tinklin gave up his right-wing political interests in 2005, and although he had downloaded a bomb-making manual, he had never opened the files.
Mr Cooke referred to Tinklin's drug problem, saying it could lead to irresponsibility which coupled with an interest in explosives was a cause for concern.
He added there was the risk of explosive materials falling into the wrong hands.
However he gave him credit for his guilty plea but warned that people involved with explosives would face stern custodial sentences.
Tinklin was sentenced to three years, less the 119 days he has spent on remand.
 
BBC News

For the background of this item
walesonline

Accused Auschwitz Sign Thieves Face Trial in Poland

Five Polish petty criminals are awaiting trial in the case of the Auschwitz sign stolen in December last year. Prosecutors believe the theft was masterminded from Sweden by Anders Högström, a former neo-Nazi leader, and are trying to extradite him to Poland.
Marcin A., 29, is awaiting his trial in a prison on Montelupich Street in Krakow, Poland. The historical building dates from the 19th century and was first used by a military court. Germany's Gestapo later used the basement to torture and murder prisoners. When World War II ended, the Polish judicial system hanged SS guards from the Auschwitz concentration camp here.
In the worst-case scenario, Marcin A., a construction worker from near the northern Polish city of Torun, will serve a 10-year sentence. He stands accused of having helped to steal an "item of particular cultural importance." That's how lawyers describe the cynical "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work makes you free") sign that formed the top part of the entrance gate at Auschwitz, now a museum and memorial site.
The iron sign disappeared suddenly on Dec. 18. Within 70 hours, police recovered it and detained five suspects, including Marcin A.

Krakow's public prosecutors are convinced A. and his four accomplices were put up to the job. They believe Anders Högström, a Swedish former neo-Nazi leader known throughout Europe, was the mastermind behind the theft. Högström claims he is innocent.
The court will decide which statement is true. Swedish police arrested Högström in Stockholm the Thursday before last, and a court will decide this week whether to extradite him to Poland.

Old Mouse and Young Mouse
On Dec. 18, snow covered the cobblestones leading up to the main gate at Auschwitz I, the camp's main section. According to police, four men approached the gate around nightfall. The accused are Andrzej S., known as "Lens" because of the thick glasses he has worn since childhood, the brothers Lukasz and Radoslaw M., called "Old Mouse" and "Young Mouse," and another man who goes by the nickname "Lark." Like Marcin A., all four come from the area around Torun. And all are known to the local police as thieves, burglars and drinkers. Marcin A., who didn't participate in the operation directly, is said to have hired the others, paying each man the equivalent of €1,250 ($1,690) for the job.
The men are believed to have cased the arched gateway together and concluded that they needed tools. They bought a ladder and pliers at a nearby hardware store. Then, at some point during the night, three of the men returned, the fourth waiting in a car. They unscrewed the sign on one side and yanked it out of its mounting. In a nearby park, they sawed the sign into three pieces and loaded it into the backseat of a van. Guards at the memorial site didn't notice the theft until much later. The shift supervisor has since been fired.
While still in the Auschwitz area, the men called Marcin A. to report that the job was complete. Cell phone records later put police on their trail.

The Mastermind Behind the Theft?
Polish investigators believe the thieves were originally supposed to bring the sign to Gdynia, a Polish city on the Baltic Coast. A yellow Seat car with a Swedish license plate was waiting there to transport it to Sweden by ferry. Polish police assume the purchaser at the other end was Anders Högström.
Högström, 34, founded a right-wing extremist political party called the National Socialist Front in the 1990s. Since then, he has publicly declared a change of heart, and even allowed himself to be held up as a reformed sinner at a gala with Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria in Stockholm in 2001. Could he really be the creative mind behind the theft of one of the Holocaust's most important symbols?
Polish investigators think so. They believe Högström either relapsed and wanted to obtain a very special bit of memorabilia, or he might also have hoped to be able to sell the sign to a collector. In any case, they say Högström knew Marcin A., and talked on the phone with him both before and after the theft. A. and his wife had worked for a construction company belonging to Högström's father multiple times in previous years.
The investigators believe Högström panicked when the world reacted to the theft with such outrage, and blew the whistle on his Polish helpers to distract attention from his own guilt.

Politically Charged Atmosphere
Högström bragged to SPIEGEL in January that he had helped advance investigations in the case. He says he was commissioned by unknown individuals to transport the item and offer it to a rich collector. Instead, he claims, he alerted the police.
Why, though, would these unknown criminals have chosen an ex-neo-Nazi, of all people, as their middleman?
Högström has now hired a hotshot attorney, Björn Sandin. Sandin is saying nothing more than that his client is innocent. He also wants to prevent Högström from being extradited to Poland. A Swedish prison is certainly more comfortably appointed than Marcin A.'s cell in Krakow.
A.'s lawyer, Alina Ciechanowicz-Adamska, fears her client's trial may take place in a politically charged atmosphere, since the world at large was so appalled by the theft at Auschwitz. She admits her defense strategy doesn't deny the men were there, and instead plans to argue that Marcin A., Lens, Lark, Old Mouse and Young Mouse didn't really understand the significance of the item they stole. She's hoping to convince the judge that the crime was more the theft of scrap metal, rather than an offense against an "item of particular cultural importance."

spiegel

Jail for paedophile who groomed girl, 14 (UK)

A predatory paedophile who stealthily groomed a 14-year-old girl with depraved and crude sexual chats before taking her to woods for sex was jailed for four years today.
Balding Gerrard Roberts used a social networking site called Netlog to groom young girls before cajoling them into meeting him for sex between May and September last year.
The 50-year-old chicken farm worker, who was dismissed from the RAF following an arson attack in 1980, groomed the girl in a case of "sustained predatory sexual offending", Judge Stephen Robbins said.
Usha Shergill, prosecuting, said Roberts "rather connivingly built up an online relationship" with the 14-year-old girl and then sexually abused her.
But he was simultaneously grooming an undercover investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
Ms Shergill said Roberts clearly thought he was messaging a 13-year-old girl and "employed highly manipulative tactics" in order to gain her trust.
He was "engaging and complimentary" at first, before progressing to "highly sexualised chats" in which he "expressed his wish to engage in sex", she said.
Roberts arranged to meet her at Twickenham railway station in south west London, but was arrested when he arrived on September 24.
He told officers: "I'm only looking around. I've never done this before. I only wanted to meet her."
Police found semi-nude images of the 14-year-old girl who Roberts was also grooming at the same time when they searched his computer and traced her through her mobile phone number.
Ms Shergill said: "He groomed her, he met her and he engaged in sexual activity with her on two occasions.
"It was a predatory exercise to stealthily groom a 14-year-old girl."
He aimed to win her trust "in order to meet her and abuse her", Ms Shergill said.
Roberts had bombarded her with 24 "depraved and crude" messages, telling her to send him semi-nude photos of herself and asking her for sex.
After sexually touching her in Wat Tyler Country Park in Basildon, Essex, Roberts bought her a meal from McDonalds which the pair ate in his car.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police she felt embarrassed and remorseful afterwards but agreed to meet Roberts again after he told her he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
Richard Barrett, defending Roberts, admitted his client did not show much insight or empathy into his offences.
Roberts, of Steep Marsh, Petersfield, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a female child, two counts of sexual grooming, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, and attempted sexual activity, at an earlier hearing.
The Independant

Facebook group advocated shooting Down Syndrome sufferers

An Italian page on the social networking website Facebook has brought together activists calling to use children with Down Syndrome for target practice, prompting outrage among officials and activists.
The group’s page, which by late Sunday had amassed more than 1,700 members including women, featured a photograph of a baby with Down Syndrome and the word “idiot” scrawled over it. The users referred to these children as “useless baggage” and “foul creatures”, proposing to use them as targets at shooting ranges.

Italian authorities and activists have denounced the web page and are rallying to have it shut down. More than 20,000 internet activists have united against the group, opening rival pages.
Italy’s equality minister Mara Carfagna has called the group “dangerous” and “unworthy of civilized society,” Corriere della Sera newspaper reports.
“Inciting crime is the same thing as committing crime, and without a doubt it will be prosecuted,” said Carfagna. “Those guilty will be found and charged. The police are working to ban the group.”
However, it may take some time for the group’s page to be shut down due to the legal complexities, AFP news agency reported.
Recently, a Russian blogger had also stirred public debate and criticism by proposing to euthanize newborn children diagnosed with Down Syndrome.
RT

MOST CZECHS AGREE WITH ABOLITION OF WORKERS' PARTY

Most Czechs support the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) to dissolve the ultra-right Workers' Party (DS), according to the latest Internet poll conducted by the SANEP agency and released to CTK Sunday. Almost 75 percent of the respondents agree with the DS's abolition, and some four-fifths say the DS is an extremist party promoting Nazism. According to 69 percent of the polled, extremist parties threaten democracy. Moreover, about three-quarters of the respondents would like to abolish "all political parties and movements that have elements of racial hatred and xenophobia and instigate violence." Over 55 percent of the polled do not consider the fight against extremism sufficiently resolute. The NSS decided to dissolve the extra-parliamentary DS on Wednesday, complying with the proposal of the government saying the DS is extremist and poses a threat to democracy. The court justified the verdict concluding that the DS's programme, ideas and symbols contain the elements of xenophobia, chauvinism, homophobia and a racist subtext, and follow up national socialism, the ideology connected with Adolf Hitler. The DS representatives announced on Saturday that they would run in the May general election for the allied Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS). Most DS members would join the DSSS, DS chairman Tomas Vandas told reporters. The SANEP poll shows that some 65 percent do the polled would agree with the abolition of any party that would follow up the DS's activities. A total of 14,293 respondents participated in the SANEP Internet poll on February 18-20 of whom the agency selected a group of 6377 people aged 18-69 years.


praguemonitor

A victim of cyber bullying in South Korea

99 per cent of South Koreans between the age of 10 and 39 are regular internet users. Whatever happens in society immediately attracts online comments, many of them anonymous. They can be offensive; Korean actresses have committed suicide because they couldn't cope with cyber bullying. The government wants to punish online libel with up to three years in jail. But the opposition has blocked the bill, fearing censorship.

After a young Korean woman said on a popular TV show in November that short men were losers, she was flooded with angry complaints on the internet. Soon after her name and address became public, and she was forced to officially apologise to appease the enraged public. The TV show, called "Gossiping Beauties", also had on a German guest, Vera Hohleiter, who also became a victim of cyber bullying in South Korea.


"This is a huge problem and it's been widely discussed in the Korean media," says Hohleiter. "And it was found that those who spread really nasty comments in the internet are a very small group among the Korean web users, less than one per cent. It's just the Korean media overreacting to these internet scandals, making them bigger than they actually are."


"Sleepless in Seoul", was published last July. In it, she described everyday experiences from overcrowded subway trains and South Koreans' daily diets up to horrible mother-in-laws. She has a Korean partner and her writing is intentionally subjective. But many Koreans felt she hit at their national pride.

"I've lived long enough in Korea to know that something like this could happen," says Hohleiter. "Many Korean journalists asked me if I hadn't been aware while writing that this would cause quite a stir. I always answered saying I tried not to think about it because otherwise, had I been too careful, it would have become a really bad book!"
When her book, "Sleepless in Seoul", came out last July in German, a Korean student in Germany translated parts of it - not always correctly - and published them on her blog. This made Vera Hohleiter a target in the Korean internet.
"When the affair was at its peak, I hardly went out in public, only to work in the radio," she recalls,  "I took taxis whenever I had to go somewhere. Korean friends advised me to do that. One friend told me she would be worried about my safety if I took the subway."Vera Hohleiter did get death threats, but there were also Koreans who supported her. A publisher soon decided to bring out an authorized Korean translation of her book. But when it was published, it turned out that not many Koreans seemed interested in finding out first hand what all the fuss was about. Meanwhile, emotions have cooled down and Vera Hohleiter now finds herself able to walk the streets of Seoul without fear. She says, however, that her next book will be a novel for sure.

DU World

Focus on disability hate crimes in Pembrokeshire (Wales, UK)

A group helping to organise a conference to raise awareness of disability hate crime says too few of such cases are reported to police.
Henry Langen of Pembrokeshire Access Group (PAG) also said that many were not leading to prosecutions.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Dyfed-Powys Police will co-host the day-long event at Narberth, with PAG.
Among the speakers will be Simon Green, 34, of Bridgend, a wheelchair user who has been a victim of hate crime.
The conference, at Hotel Plas Hyfryd, Narberth, is open to any disabled persons who have

Earlier this year Simon Green presented a BBC Wales Week in Week Out documentary on disability hate crime, and also appeared in a follow-up on the Panorama programme.
Mr Green, who has been a wheelchair user for six years, said during that time he had been physically and verbally assaulted because he is disabled.
For Week In, Week Out he secretly filmed a couple of his nights out to expose the hostility and abuse he sometimes experiences.
During one evening he was confronted by a group of men who verbally abused him, swore at him, called him a "cripple", and suggested he could really walk.
Mr Langen said: "There's not enough of these cases reported to the police and with regard to the ones that are reported there are not enough prosecutions.
"The CPS and the police need to have a rethink on this."
A spokeswoman for the CPS said it wanted to encourage more people to come forward and report any instances of disability hate crimes.
All reports would be treated seriously, the spokeswoman added.
"We are starting to look more closely at disability hate crime and improve what we are doing with it," she said.
"There are still improvements that can be made."
BBC News

HUNGARY PARLIAMENT MULLS LEGAL BAN ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL

Hungary's parliament voted on Monday in favour of making Holocaust denial a criminal offence, punishable by up to three years imprisonment. The law was passed in a final vote with 197 in favour, 1 against, and 142 abstentions. It had been proposed by Attila Mesterhazy, prime ministerial candidate of the governing Hungarian Socialist Party. A motion by the centre-right opposition party Fidesz to extend the law to cover the denial of other crimes committed under the Communist regime was rejected by 178 votes to 146, with seven abstentions. The law, which is due to come into effect in 30 days, was passed on the final session of parliament until after general elections that are due to be held in April. New legislation is subject to review by Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom, who has the power to return it to parliament for reconsideration. Fidesz, whose lawmakers abstained in the final vote, is far ahead of the Socialists in opinion polls and is widely expected to form Hungary's next government. Some 450,000 Hungarian Jews are thought to have perished during the closing months of the World War Two at the hands of the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party, backed by Nazi Germany.

DPA

OUTGOING HUNGARIAN PM WARNS OF RISE OF FAR RIGHT

Outgoing Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said on Monday Hungary's main parties must join forces to prevent the far right entering parliament in April elections, calling it a "monster" that threatens democracy. Hungary will hold elections on April 11 and 25. Opinion polls give the far-right party Jobbik 6-7 percent support, which could lead to it winning dozens of seats in the Hungarian parliament. It won three in the European parliament last year. Jobbik has been banking on deep public discontent over the economic crisis and rising resentment against Hungary's large Roma minority. It campaigns on tax cuts, clamping down on corruption and what it calls "Roma crime". "This monster stands in front of our doors and is banging on the door demanding that we let it in," Bajnai said in a speech in parliament. Jobbik has no representation in parliament. "It became a movement ... from a movement a party, and it got into European Parliament and now it wants to make it into the Hungarian parliament," said Bafnai, who is not running in the April election. Jobbik has strong support in the countryside, mainly in the northeast where unemployment is high. Analysts have said that cooperation with the far right could dent the next government's image in the eyes of investors. Bajnai said Jobbik had no realistic programme and was only seeking scapegoats for the economic crisis. "The far right ... abuses democracy and freedom. It lies that it has a solution to all those who have been worn out and have lost patience, while it itself is the problem," he said. The main centre-right opposition party Fidesz, widely expected to win the elections and oust the ruling Socialists, has ruled out any coalition with Jobbik. The Socialist minority government has steered Hungary back from the brink of financial collapse since it called in the International Monetary Fund in 2008. But the economy contracted by 6.3 percent in 2009 and job losses soared. The main parties remained split later on Monday in votes on proposals to fight both far-right and far-left ideas. Parliament approved legislation to punish public Holocaust denial with up to three years in prison, the Socialists voting in favour and Fidesz, whose proposal to add Communist crimes to the bill failed to get a majority, abstaining.

reuters

English Defence League Leaders Arrested And Then Post Video Statement Wearing A Burkha (no don't laugh, its serious)

Apparently the English Defence League leaders were arrested for an “incitement to cause a breach of the peace" on their way to a nice racist riot in Edinburugh.

A video statement about this has been posted on the internet. Although I don’t know why the guy is wearing a Burkha, seem’s some very strange logic there. The full statment is below the video.



Offical  EDL Statment
On Saturday 20th February 2010 Members of the leadership team of the English Defence League were arrested as they traveled to Scotland to support the Scottish Defence League demonstration. While in custody the team members homes and families homes were raided by police armed with automatic machine guns which terrified the leaderships family which included small children and other older family members. Computer equipment was seized during the 3 hour raid.
Leadership team members were banned from attending any meeting with more than 3 edl members then bailed to return to a police station in Sheffield in the near future.
We are asking every member of the EDL to be available to protest outside the police station when the team has to answer bail. (date to be confirmed).
We need to get the message across that we will not be silenced by being bullied by the authorities and our struggle against muslim extremism will continue.
We have agreed to cancel the Bradford demo as a small concession but will be announcing further protests as a result of the disgraceful treatment of our leadership team.

Greece holds 44 over attack on anti-racism rally

Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Athens demanding the right to grant citizenship for all second generation immigrants who live in Greece.
Greece on Saturday detained 44 suspected right-wing extremists for violently disrupting an anti-racism rally in Ambelokipi, central Athens, Greek media said.
Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Athens demanding the right to grant citizenship for all second generation immigrants who live in Greece.
One woman was injured and had to get hospital treatment.
The suspects have been "charged with a range of offenses, including disrupting the peace, using threatening behavior and illegally carrying and using weapons."
Extremists caused widespread damage.
A 50-year-old woman was injured during the scuffles on Saturday, when the assailants allegedly used various objects to attack the protesters that had gathered outside the Panormou metro station.
All the charges have been changed from misdemeanors to felonies, as the 44 were allegedly wearing hoods or had their faces covered when they committed them.

worldbulletin

Dissolved Extreme Right Wing Workers' Party members to run in elections (Czech)

Representatives of the Czech ultra-right Workers' Party (DS), which was dissolved by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS), will run in the May general election for the allied Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS), DS chairman Tomas Vandas told reporters Saturday.
The DS members will also join the new party, Vandas, who will be the main face of the election campaign, added.
"Our people will run for this political entity," he said.
Policemen were patrolling outside the press conference's venue to monitor possible promotion of the DS in public, Prague police spokesman Tomas Hulan said.
The NSS decided to dissolve the extra-parliamentary DS on Wednesday, complying with the proposal of the government saying the DS is extremist and poses a threat to democracy.
The court justified the verdict concluding that the DS's programme, ideas and symbols contain the elements of xenophobia, chauvinism, homophobia and a racist subtext, and follow up national socialism, the ideology connected with Adolf Hitler.
The DS is instigating to violence and striving for a radical change of the democratic system, the court said.
This has been the first case of a court dissolving a political party over its political activities in the history of the independent Czech Republic established in 1993.
The DS can file a complain against the verdict with the Constitutional Court within a 30-day deadline, which will have a suspensory effect.
Vandas repeatedly said he can feel public support for the DS and that in spite of its abolition he would like to run in the elections (scheduled for May 28-29).
The NSS at the same time admitted that a number of problems to which the DS pointed really existed. Despite it the dissolving of the party is meaningful as a clear gesture of the society towards neo-Nazis and rightist extremists, the court said.
"The verdict (on the party's dissolution) can in no case halt us or discourage us from our activities, and this is why we have decided that the DS will run as the DSSS in the spring," Vandas said.
However, the party has a negligible chance to cross the 5-percent threshold for entering the Chamber of Deputies, according to analysts and polls.
The DS has now almost 1000 members. Vandas said he expected 90 percent of the them to join the DSSS.
If the DS were deleted from the registry of political parties, the party might return to its original name, Vandas added.
The DS will definitely file a constitutional complaint against the NSS's verdict, but its representatives do not want to risk of the party being excluded from the elections if the US upheld the verdict ahead of them, Vandas said.
The DSSS's first election meetings are to take place in Pribram and Dobris, central Bohemia, on March 27. Vandas will head the election campaign.
The DSSS, seated at the same address as the DS, has been headed by Hana Pavlickova, Vandas's mother, since December 2006.
The DSSS was established as the Party of the Czech Republic's Citizens (SOCR) in January 2004 by Tomas Magnusek, current writer, actor and producer, and former political prisoner Jan Broj, adviser to president Vaclav Havel in 1990-1992, became its first chairman.
The party had almost no members and was unknown.
Magnusek left the party that changed the name to the Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS) and joined the coalition Law and Justice, which also comprised the DS.
The DS representatives then took control of the DSSS and filled the post of its head with Pavlickova.
The DSSS says on its website that it wants to defend the rights of working citizens, students and apprentices and support mothers with children and traditional families.
"We do not consider immigration an alternative to secure the nation's natality," the DSSS says, adding it rejects discrimination against or preferential treatment of certain groups.
"The DSSS condemns totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, mainly Nazism and communism, it continues fighting for our independence from the EU's red tape, for a strict policy against immigrants and the real freedom of speech," the party writes on its website.
It also says it does not cooperate with any unregistered movements or organisations.
According the NSS's verdict, it was proved that the DS was cooperating with the neo-Nazi National Resistance organisation that is not officially registered.

Bomb thrown at Cairo synagogue (Egypt)

A man hurled a suitcase containing a makeshift bomb at Cairo's main downtown synagogue in the early hours Sunday morning, causing no injuries or damage, police said.
According to the police report, a man entered a hotel located on the fourth floor of a building across from the synagogue at around 3 a.m. and as he was checking in, abruptly threw his suitcase out the window.
The case contained four containers of gasoline each attached to a glass bottle of sulfuric acid meant to shatter on impact and ignite the makeshift bomb, said police, speculating that the man may have panicked.
The bag, which also contained clothes, cotton strips, matches and a lighter, fell onto the sidewalk in front of the hotel and briefly caught fire before being extinguished. There were no injuries and no damage to the historic synagogue.
The suspect fled the scene and is now being sought by police.
Egypt's once thriving Jewish community largely left the country 50 years ago during hostilities between Egypt and Israel, but a number of heavily guarded synagogues remain.
The downtown synagogue, Egypt's largest, is the only one still conducting services for the Jewish high holidays, which are sometimes attended by Israeli diplomats.
The temple, known as Shaar Hashamayim, or the Gate of Heaven, was built in 1899 in a style evoking ancient Egyptian temples and was once the largest building on the wide downtown boulevard.
Egypt's Jewish community, which dates back millennia and in the 1940s numbered around 80,000, is down to several dozen, almost all of them elderly.
Despite the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, Egyptian sentiment remains unfriendly to Israel, and anti-Semitic stereotypes still occasionally appear in the Egyptian media.
Since an Islamist insurgency based in southern Egypt was quashed in the 1990s, there have been few organized terrorist attacks in Egypt's Nile valley and the capital Cairo. There have, however, in a number of amateurish attempts to target foreigners over the years.
In February 2009 a crude explosive device planted in a bazaar popular with tourists killed a French teenager.
 
JPOST