An Austrian has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn, according to a report.
The Kronen Zeitung newspaper claims Helmut G. was told by a court in Graz, Styria, that his yodelling offended his next-door Muslim neighbours.
The men reportedly accused the 63-year-old of having tried to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin. The daily paper writes the Austrian was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled he could have tried to offend them and ridicule their belief. The Muslims, whose nationalities were not revealed by the report, were right in the middle of a prayer when the Austrian started to yodel.
"It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood" the man told the newspaper today (Mon).
#1
Really?! Throw away the nude scanners, suspicion, political correctness embodied by grope-downs of wheelchair-bound nuns by muslim TSA agents, and long lines at airport security. I think I've found a video that will cause any fence-sitters or outright jihadis to curl up into the fetal position. The rest can get on the plane.
And as for that Austrian, give him a medal and send him a donation for his legal defense. Harumph!
#4
we cannot allow any more of these insideous leaks, how will we keep our elites in power. You know, "elites", Harvard Grads......those guys with "big" international connections through old family ties......the ones that are "given" business to "run" by their "fellow elites", businesses like "the Texas Rangers".
#5
The article quotes Assange: It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume.
What has actually come to light since 2007 should already have been enough for a blizzard of indictments, perp walks, convictions & prison terms. It hasn't happened.
Useful reforms such as reinstatement of Glass-Steagall and regulation of credit default swaps as insurance programs are beyond consideration.
I doubt anything Wikileaks could disclose will make any difference. Assange is a bit of a fool, but we already knew that.
#6
Assange has said HRC will probably have to resign over the Dept State leaks. He's hard core left - I wonder how much of the timing was related to trying to kill off Clinton as a political opponent to Obama?
#7
An excellent comment over the US's failure to go after already-known bankster malfeasance, from Zerohedge: Eric Holder has still to prove that he is anything besides an organ donor.
#10
The way to kill HRC as an opponent is to keep her as SecState and out of politics. The way to get a primary opponent is to kick her out of the job she clearly coveted if the could not be el Supremo.
#11
Assange has said HRC will probably have to resign over the Dept State leaks. He's hard core left - I wonder how much of the timing was related to trying to kill off Clinton as a political opponent to Obama?
That's a good question. I've been thinking about that sort of thing, and also about the possibility that some of the material in the cables may be planted disinformation. (Specifically, the whole bit about biometrics.)
The world should progress towards an international deal on climate change without the US, scientists have suggested, as talks kick off with little hope of the superpower agreeing to cut emissions.
#9
Ah, Cancun. Where's the next one? In a hellhole like...Maui?
Why don't they have the next one on one of those Bangladeshi islands that's supposedly sinking?
#10
Sure, why not? I mean, you already gave China and India a pass. We three will just kinda sit over here and point and laugh while you schmucks wreck your so-called "economies" for a fever dream.
[Pak Daily Times] A smoking volcano on Indonesia's main island of Java has forced the closure of a local airport. Mount Bromo came back to life last week after a yearlong lull, unleashing a powerful blast of volcanic debris but causing no injuries or serious damage.
State volcanologist Surono warned, however, a bigger eruption may be on the way.
Officials on Monday shut down the airport in Malang, a town 25 kilometres from the volcano, for five days. Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 235 million, has more active volcanoes than any other country in the world. Mount Bromo is one of Java's most popular tourist attractions. Villagers often climb the 2,329-metre high mountain to leave offerings at the peak.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Lucky they do not have an EPA. Our little Mt. Augustine in Alaska when steaming put out 500 tons of SO2 a day, and while erupting put out 6000 tons a day. Indonesia has big league volcanoes. Fines will amount to billions per day. Wotta deal.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/30/2010 11:51 Comments ||
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#3
Villagers often climb the 2,329-metre high mountain to leave offerings at the peak.
Guess it didn't work...
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
11/30/2010 12:20 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Protesters clashed with police Monday, setting fire to cars, tires and two schools used as polling stations in riots sparked by alleged widespread fraud by the ruling party in Egypt's parliamentary elections. The Mohammedan Brotherhood acknowledged it had been heavily defeated, blaming vote rigging.
The government having arrested over two hundred of their candidates may have had something to do with it as well...
Riots broke out in several Egyptian cities a day after the voting, and in some places police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
Egypt's opposition says the government of this top US ally was using the election to secure a complete monopoly over parliament and prevent dissent ahead of more significant presidential elections next year.
The upcoming vote is clouded in uncertainty, because the man who has ruled Egypt for nearly three decades, 82-year-old geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, has had health issues and underwent surgery earlier this year.
A coalition of local and international rights groups Monday reported that the balloting was marred by widespread rigging after the government prevented monitoring.
It sounds like a bit of unofficial monitoring occurred, however, else how would they know to report such things?
It said opposition candidate representatives and independent monitors who were supposed to be allowed to watch the voting were barred from almost all polling stations around the country, allowing officials to stuff ballot boxes.
Though official results are not due until Tuesday, candidate supporters around the country erupted into the streets in anger after hearing word their favorites lost.
In the southern province of Assiut, police fired tear gas at a procession of Mohammedan Brotherhood supporters armed with sticks who were carrying their candidate Mahmoud Helmi and chanting "Islam is the winner."
Further south in the city of Luxor, backers of an independent candidate set fire to cars and clashed with security forces. Five people were maimed and 30 jugged.
Other protests erupted in Egypt's northern Delta region. Around 500 backers of the secular opposition Wafd party clashed with ruling party supporters in Gharbiya, and police fired into the air and shot tear gas to disperse them.
Other protesters set fire to two schools used as polling stations in Menoufiya and burned tires outside a station south of the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria, briefly blocking the main highway to Cairo.
In a statement, the High Election Commission dismissed reports of violence or irregularities during the voting, saying that the few incidents it uncovered "did not undermine the electoral process as a whole."
The ruling party secretary-general, Safwat el-Sherif, blamed the Brotherhood for fomenting reports of fraud.
Defeating the Islamic fundamentalist Mohammedan Brotherhood appeared to be the government's main goal in the election. The group, though banned, is Egypt's strongest opposition movement and in 2005 elections stunned the government by winning a fifth of parliament's seats, its strongest showing ever.
The Brotherhood's media official, Abdel-Galil el-Sharnoubi, acknowledged that when the results are announced, his movement may end up with almost no seats. He said none of its 130 candidates have so far secured a seat, either losing to the National Democratic Party or facing a Dec. 5 runoff.
It sounds like a good time was had by all, except those jugged ahead of time.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The MB had 88 seats in the previous parliament, now they have none? Mubarak is really sending a message.
On Monday, five Islamist MPs in Kuwait proposed a one year prison sentence and a $3,500 fine for women who wear swimsuits at the beach. How much if they go nekkid?
The legislators also said that the same penalty should apply to women who reveal their upper chest or take part in "indecent behavior." How much of the upper chest? Is there a graduated rate per booby? Will the state pay women over a certain age or tonnage to put it back on? Is there a graduated scale of indecency applied to behavior? It hardly seems fair to dump the entire $3500 fine on a wench indulging in an act that's only $25 indecent. And I knew a few femmes in the heady daze of my youth who'd occasionally hit $7000 or more behind closed doors...
The proposal calls for a ban on women wearing swimsuits at beaches, islands and swimming pools. Whether it covers private beaches run by hotels and resorts is unspecified.
The amendment still needs to be approved by parliamentary panels, by the parliament itself and also signed by the emir to become law.
The MPs complained of a spread of "indecent" practices and warned that lifeguards were unable to act against women for such violations of public order because of a lack of clear legislation.
However, liberal woman MP Aseel al-Awadhi condemned the proposal as unconstitutional and "regrettable," wondering why it failed to also make reference to men.
LOL
So far, Kuwait has not imposed any restriction on women's dress in public.
[Bangla Daily Star] On the eve of the hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... called by BNP, at least 50 people were maimed in festivities in the capital and elsewhere in the country and 300 people were nabbed during 24 hours till yesterday evening.
The jugged include the members of the main opposition BNP, its associate bodies and one of its key allies Jamaat-e-Islami.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police held another 300 people during the period on various charges.
Pro-hartal activists battled with police near the BNP central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka, city's outskirt Tongi, neighbouring districts Gazipur and Narayanganj and other districts including Sylhet, Tangail, Pabna, Kishoreganj, Sirajganj, Sherpur and Rangamati.
Law enforcers picked up 17 BNP and Jamaat men from Sirajganj, 17 from Sherpur, 34 from Dinajpur, 18 from Manikganj, three from Bogra, four from Pabna, 12 from Tangail, seven from Narayanganj, six from Kishoreganj, six from Tongi, five from Gazipur, 48 from Sylhet, 27 from Comilla, five from Noakhali, 12 from Kurigram, 12 others from Barguna, two from Netrokona and 13 from Khagrachhari district.
Police charged batons and picked up eight BNP activists near its central office at Naya Paltan when the party men brought out a procession.
In Dhaka, five buses were torched at Mirpur, Niketan, Shyamoli and Farmgate, three taxicabs at Bonorupa, Savar, Rupnagar and two human haulers at Nilkhet from 6:00pm to 10:00pm yesterday.
Five cocktails were went kaboom! at Dhaka University, Shahbagh and near City College.
In Tongi, police charged batons on BNP men injuring at least 10 to disperse a procession around 3:30pm.
Police barred BNP men from opening its office in the Pourasobha area.
Our staff correspondent, Sylhet, reports, about 30 persons suffered wounds as police charged baton on BNP men in the city yesterday afternoon.
Police also foiled an attempt to bring out a procession by BNP men in the city's Surma Market point and Registry Maidan.
The BNP activists set a minibus afire and vandalised a microbus at the city's Shibganj at about 4:00pm.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... several processions were brought out and human chains were formed in the city by different ward units of Awami League, Chhatra League and Jubo League ... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League....
Our Pabna correspondent adds, police jugged 10 BNP leaders and activists at Chatmohar, Vangura and Sujanagar upazilas and foiled several bids of the party to form processions.
Chatmohar police said they jugged the opposition men on suspicion of carrying out subversive activities during the hartal.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Ishwardi police filed a case against 230 leaders and activists of Chhatra Dal, Jubo Dal and BNP for rampaging.
Our Tangail correspondent reports, 12 leaders and activists of BNP and its front organisations were jugged in separate raids.
Six BNP men were jugged in Kishoreganj at 11:30am, our correspondent from the district adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday dismissed three petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaled Zia in connection with her previous residence in Dhaka Cantonment.
One of those was a leave-to-appeal petition challenging the High Court verdict that had declared valid the government notice asking Khaleda to leave the disputed house.
The second petition sought a stay order on the HC judgment. The third sought permission for Khaleda to return to the disputed house while also seeking a status quo on the residence.
The apex court's decision came after an unprecedented chaos that played out in the courtroom for half an hour. It stemmed from insistence by Khaleda's lawyers to hold a hearing on a contempt petition, ignoring the court's requests to follow the cause list chronologically.
The BNP chief's lawyers pressed for adjourning the hearing on the leave to appeal prayer and insisted on the petition, filed by Khaleda, which accused the government of being contemptuous of court in dealing with the disputed house.
Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque who led a three-member full bench of the apex court presided over the session.
Amid a tensed environment, some pro-BNP lawyers were behaving in an unruly manner. When the court asked a lawyer (who was shouting) to come close to the bench, a senior pro-BNP lawyer asked all to be quiet. Other senior lawyers remained silent.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
is this the Ed Asner-looking one or the other battle ax? I get them two confused. Regardless, getchyerass outta the house!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2010 18:44 Comments ||
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Google Translate and sourced from English language sources.
This is a big deal. The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) the party that ruled Mexico exclusively for 70 years will benefit the most.
The Mexico national supreme court has upheld a law passed by the Mexican state legislature which bans informal coalition candidates in state elections.
The law was passed in September under the urging of Mexico state governor Enrique Peña Nieto.
Enrique Peña Nieto is considered to be PRI's top candidate for the 2012 presidential elections.
Despite recent elections in Mexico in which the main opposition to PRI, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), has made large gains at all levels against the PRI, including two back to back presidential terms, the gains are considered to be endangered.
For example, last summer's gubernatorial elections affecting 14 states, PAN ended up with no net gain against PRI in state governor's seats, despite a sitting PAN president, Felipe Calderon.
The new law ends a practice of local parties in Mexico state to put up informal coalition candidates to oppose the more popular PRI. PAN and the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) have entered several coalition candidates throughout Mexico, including Mexico state to oppose the PRI.
PAN and PRD both oppose the law and the court decision.
The state leader of the PRD, Luis Sanchez Jimenez called the decision "regressive" and said he will go to the Mexican Human Right Commision for help.
Sanchez Jimenez also termed the decision a "wedding gift."
[Al Jazeera] Police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro have claimed victory in the Alemao shantytown after launching an operation aimed at pushing members of a narco gang out of the area.
But about 600 gang members are believed to be remain in Alemao, a grouping of a dozen slums in the north of the city where tens of thousands of people live.
"There is no doubt that Rio residents have reason to celebrate today," Rodrigo Oliveira, Rio police inspector, said. "The complex was seen as a fortress for narcos and in less than two hours we took control.''
Al Jizz's Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Rio, said that the first phase of the operations was over, with security forces having penetrated deep into the slum.
"Authorities are planning to put a Brazilian flag on top of the favela," our correspondent said.
"This is our D-Day," Colonel Lima Castro, the military police front man, said in a reference to the historic allied invasion of Normandy during World War Two.
Brazilian police seized 40 tons of marijuana in its crackdown on drug trafficking gangs in slums, in northern Rio de Janeiro, a state official told the AFP news agency on Sunday.
"The military police alone seized 20 tons. The rest was done by the civil police force and other security forces that participated in the crackdown," said a front man for Rio de Janeiro state's security.
Secretariat Reporters were shown several houses where huge quantities of marijuana, ready packaged for distribution, were stacked in rooms and abandoned by narcos fleeing security forces.
Nelson Jobim, Brazil's defence minister, had authorised the deployment of 10 military armoured vehicles, two air force helicopters and 800 soldiers for the offensive, to reinforce the 17,500 police involved in the earlier stage of the crackdown. About 300 federal police were also dispatched to bolster local forces.
Police had given suspected narcos in Alemao slum an ultimatum to turn themselves in after more than 1,000 police and army personnel surrounded the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ever turn on a light and watch the cockroaches scramble?
They've been eating fairy bread for breakfast at the presidential palace again, it appears.
[El Universal] More efficiency in the execution of projects in order to meet growth targets is required in Venezuela, said Ricardo Sanguino, the president of the Committee on Finance, National Assembly.
According to the pro-government legislator, Venezuela's economy will begin to recover in 2011, but the authorities must be efficient in the execution of programs. A 2 percent economic growth is expected next year.
Sanguino added that the macrosocial balance is more important than the macroeconomic balance.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Religious persecution in New Zealand. Too bad, it's such a beautiful place. Crossed off my bucket list.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/30/2010 14:26 Comments ||
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#3
NZ has been off the reservation for a long time. Sort of the San Francisco of the Pacific. They believe the US abd Oz would protect them so they are worse freeriders than the EUros.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2010 18:46 Comments ||
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#6
I didn't understand this article.
From what I could infer this has to do with exporting. That is, I think NZ exports halal beef and lamb to the muslim world now and will continue doing so. Some producers wanted to export to Israel (and would have set up kosher slaughtering ops) but will not be able to do so. NZ Jews who ate kosher meat had been eating imported beef and lamb anyway.
Domestically kosher produced poultry was to be banned but is no longer to be banned.
This is what makes the law suit by the NZ Jewish difficult (because there is, in effect, no change in the system to the Jewish community and thus, presumably, no grounds for a standing to sue).
The potential producers of kosher meat would seem to have grounds to sue but if the govt is promising them more revenue from sales to the muslim world, they probably wouldn't take it to court.
So the NZ govt has been clever (and yet despicable).
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/30/2010 19:20 Comments ||
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#7
With the exception of the Maurie, where was it New Zealanders came from? I rest my case.
#2
This may prove to be interesting. Oddly enough, the Turks are very big into banking, and tend to follow strict international banking laws, part of their efforts to integrate into the EU.
So this may go over very poorly in Turkey, as much as if Obama was discovered to have offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.
[Dawn] The PML-N has distanced itself from its member of the National Assembly, Sahibzada Fazl Karim, who is spearheading a campaign against a possible presidential pardon for a Christian woman convicted under the blasphemy law.
The MNA, in his capacity as the chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), led a long march which initially had been planned in protest against increasing attacks on shrines.
However, The infamous However... the focus of the participants of the march which began on Saturday and ended in Lahore on Sunday remained Aasia Bibi who was recently sentenced to death by a lower court. An application has been submitted to the presidency against the sentence.
Talking to Dawn, PML-N's information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said: "The party has nothing to do with SIC's long march and Mr Karim has done that in his personal capacity."
He said Mr Karim had contested general election on PML-N's symbol, but his association with the SIC was his personal affair.
When asked about PML-N's stance on the long march, Mr Iqbal said: "We neither support nor oppose it."
Mr Karim has been elected MNA from NA-82 in Faisalabad on PML-N's ticket in 2002 and 2008 and is reported to have a trustworthy relationship with party chief Mian Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf....
The fiery speaker heads the most powerful alliance of the Brelvi school of thought. The alliance has repeatedly asked the government not to pardon the mother of five. "The pardon would lead to anarchy in the country. Our stand is very clear that this punishment cannot be waived," he has been quoted as saying.
However, The infamous However... sources said his recent moves had not been taken well by the party leadership. His statements may have been helpful for his constituency, but are damaging the image at the national and international levels of the party that has faced allegations of being a too close to the right wing political forces.
The sources said there was no possibility of an immediate action against the MNA for not following party discipline, but he was unlikely to get the nomination in the next elections.
When an attempt was made to contact Mr Karim, his son said he was preoccupied with TV programmes and would not be available till midnight.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain People's Party MNA Sherry Rehman, while lending support to blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi, on Monday called for urgent amendments to the country's blasphemy laws.
Rehman submitted a private members' bill in the National Assembly Secretariat calling for an end to death penalty for blasphemy, and will chair a roundtable conference today (Tuesday) on amendments to these laws. The conference, to be organised under the auspices of the Jinnah Institute, of which Rehman is president, will engage academics, lawyers and other members of civil society in an open discussion on the amendments to the blasphemy laws.
It will highlight the case of Aasia Bibi and the blatant abuse of the legislation in bringing false claims against members of minority communities. The participants will include Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jahangir, HRCP General Secretary Hina Jilani, National Commission on the status of Women Chairman Anis Haroon, Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, Ali Dayan Hasan, former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology Dr Khalid Masood and religious scholar Javed Ghamdi.
A blurb issued by the Jinnah Institute on Monday read: "The blasphemy laws as set out in the Pakistain Penal Code (sections 295 and 298) find their roots in British colonial law and have in their present form become a source of victimisation and persecution of the minorities in the country. The amendments to the blasphemy laws is intended to ensure that all citizens of the country have an equal right to constitutional protection and that miscarriages of justice in the name of blasphemy are avoided at all costs. The bill amends both the Pakistain Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the two main sources of criminal law. The aim is to amend the codes to ensure protection of minorities and vulnerable citizens."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ahmed, 48, is required to surrender to officials on January 7, which is when he is to begin serving his nine-month jail sentence and repaying $25,000 to the church.
That's a profit of $225,000, minus 9 months in jail.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
On Monday, five Islamist MPs in Kuwait proposed a one year prison sentence and a $3,500 fine for women who wear swimsuits at the beach.
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain People's Party MNA Sherry Rehman, while lending support to blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi, on Monday called for urgent amendments to the country's blasphemy laws. 
