MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Indonesia 5.3 and : 6.1 Vanuatu! More info here.

• Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

• Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

• BREAKING PALMER REPORT Released:- Palmer Report accuses IHH of pre-meditated violence and Turkish government of working with IHH .Full report here: Right click and open in new tab or window.

 http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/Palmer-Committee-Final-report.pdf

• Obama's Jewish Outreach Director and His Anti-Christian Hate Propaganda.(AT).The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) recently announced that Barack Obama has named its former executive director, Ira Forman, as his Jewish outreach director. Mr. Forman's tenure at NJDC includes the publication of anti-Christian hate material under color of Judaism, which could easily evoke reciprocal ill feelings from Christians who do not realize that NJDC has almost as little to do with Judaism as the Westboro Baptist Church has to do with Christianity.NJDC's "Bubbie versus the GOP" cartoon videos for the 2004 election, which Mr. Forman commissioned personally, include scenes of Republicans sewing a cross into the blue field of the American Flag along with a cabal of red-robed Republicans around a lectern with a cross on its front. Depiction of the Cross, along with Christian ministers and Jesus, in a "This is the Enemy" context makes the video a form of anti-Christian hate media, just as depiction of the Star of David in the indicated contexts (flag, cabal) would be anti-Semitic. The movies are no longer available but .pdf summaries are available here while we have the offending screen shots on file.NJDC on Mr. Forman's watch also smeared the Christian computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" by saying falsely that it encourages the player to kill everybody who will not convert to Christianity. The Anti-Defamation League did not like the game's exclusionary Christian emphasis but added:

The game is designed to make force an option only used by players if necessary when their forces are attacked by those hunting them, and any characters that kill others in the game are penalized. Conversion to Christianity in the game is not depicted as forcible in nature, and violence is not rewarded in the game.Hmmmm.......Against Christians and guns?Read the full story here.

• Boehner Rebuffs Obama’s Juvenile Stunt: Says No To Speech On Night Of GOP Debate.(National Journal).House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is rebuffing President Obama’s request to appear before a Joint Session of Congress on Sept. 7, instead “respectfully” inviting him to address a Joint Session on Sept. 8. Boehner cites logistical and security concerns.Read the full story here.

• Obama relents on jobs speech to Congress, moves address to Sept. 8.(WashingtonPost).President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 8 to lay out his plan for jobs and the economy, the White House announced Wednesday night.The date is one day later than the president requested earlier Wednesday, but that date conflicted with a scheduled debate of Republican presidential candidates in California, drawing objections from GOP lawmakers.House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) responded by suggesting that Obama come to Capitol Hill on Thursday night, citing the need for the House to conduct a “security sweep” in its first day back in session.“It is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks,” Boehner wrote in his response letter to Obama.The White House said the president intends to lay out new jobs proposals aimed at boosting the economy.“The president is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy, so he welcomes the opportunity to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8th, and challenge our nation’s leaders to start focusing 100 percent of their attention on doing whatever they can to help the American people,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement late Wednesday.Though Obama would need both chambers of Congress to adopt a concurrent resolution in order to be allowed to speak, it is highly unusual for Congress to reject a president’s request.Boehner’s move to postpone Obama’s address one day garnered the approval of at least one prominent Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday evening.“From one Speaker to another ... nicely done John,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) tweeted shortly after Boehner released his letter.Three of the GOP White House hopefuls are sitting House members — Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Ron Paul (Tex.) and Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.).Jesse Benton, Paul’s campaign manager, criticized the White House announcement as a political move.“It is undignified that the president of the United States would resort to such transparent tactics to step on our Republican debate,” Benton said.One Republican congressman responded to the White House’s announcement by criticizing Senate Democrats for not passing a fiscal 2012 budget.“President shouldn’t get a joint session until his senate passes a budget,” Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) said via Twitter. “More PR from this president is not going to create a job.”Carney said that Obama believes Congress, during its recess, heard the same frustration from ordinary Americans as the president did during his recent three-day Midwest bus tour. Americans are “fed up with Washington not working.”Hmmmmm.....Hey not everyone can vacation and golf whole the time.Read the full story here.

• White House to Oppose House Bill to Hold UN Accountable.(Commentary).Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen unveiled her United Nations reform bill that will put the world body on notice it will pay a steep price if it continues to thumb its nose at the United States on vital issues. The bill will cut off U.S. funding of any UN agency that treats the Palestinians as an independent state prior to the resolution of the Middle East conflict as well as ending the flow of American largesse to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC).But while Ros-Lehtinen’s bill is likely to pass the House, it will face a rough time in the Senate due to opposition from the White House. An administration source told Politico: “This draft legislation is dated, tired, and frankly unresponsive to the positive role being played by the UN.” This raises the question: is President Obama willing to head into a re-election contest flying the flag of the UN?The White House claims Republican critics of the UN are ignoring the positive role the institution has played in Afghanistan and Libya. It argues that American influence at the world body is maximized when the U.S. is fully engaged and paying the 22 percent of the UN’s budget that flows from Washington. But Obama’s “don’t worry, be happy” approach to the UN has done nothing to convince its members to stop trying to kill the peace process by voting to recognize an independent Palestinian state without first requiring it to make peace with Israel. Nor has the administration used its supposedly weighty influence at Turtle Bay to transform UNRWA or the Human Rights Council, both of which exist primarily in order to perpetuate the Arab war against Israel. Despite progress on some fronts, the UN and its affiliate agencies remain a cesspool of anti-Semitism and bias against Israel as the upcoming Durban III UN conference (which, to its credit, the administration plans to boycott) proves yet again.The House effort to mandate reform of the UN on a variety of issues is motivated by a fundamental principle that ought to be a matter of bipartisan consensus: the United States should only fund those institutions and causes that reflect American values and interests. UNRWA, which has been infiltrated by Hamas and whose purpose is to keep Palestinian refugees in place rather than to resettle them, is a classic example of a UN institution receiving American money that contradicts that principle. The Human Rights Council, which devotes most of its energy to excoriating democratic Israel while ignoring genuine abuses elsewhere, is another.The Ros-Lehtinen bill is long overdue and deserves the support of pro-Israel Democrats. Just as they did back in May when they demonstrated their opposition to Obama’s attempt to pressure Israel to accept the 1967 lines as the starting point for negotiations, Democrats need to put the White House on notice they have no intention of facing the voters next year as defenders of a corrupt United Nations.Hmmmmm....This raises the question: is President Obama willing to head into a re-election contest flying the flag of the UN?Read the full story here.

• Lest We Forget the Abortion Issue.(Spectator).By G. Tracy Mehan, III.There is no question that the economy will be the central issue of the 2012 presidential election. No one, not even the most ardent defense hawk or most committed social conservative, believes otherwise. Still, serious social and cultural issues remain -- important in and of themselves, as well as to the Republicans' task of mobilizing and motivating their coalition to bring "change we can believe in" to Washington.Lest we forget, President Obama, despite his continued attempts to mute the issue, may be the most pro-abortion politician to hold the top office of the land. Indeed, Vice President Biden's recent fudging on China's horrendous one-child and forced-abortion policies is just the latest manifestation of this reality.The well regarded pro-life news service LifeNews.Com has recently updated its comprehensive compilation of "President Barack Obama's Pro-Abortion Record." The compilation opened with an entry documenting Obama's November 2008 choice of Rahm Emanuel -- who boasted a zero percent pro-life voting record per the National Right to Life Committee -- for Chief of Staff. It now includes several new entries for August 2011, including the effort to force insurance companies to pay for abortion drugs under Obamacare and the vice president's contretemps in China.The entire document runs to 10 pages when printed out and encompasses, by my count, 148 entries.According to LifeNews' Steven Ertelt, the compilation includes "bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency.""While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions," says Ertelt.The overwhelming sense one gets reviewing the Obama record, notwithstanding some repetition here and there, is that abortion is not a peripheral or conflicted issue for President Obama and his administration. It is fundamental. It is part of their DNA.Lest we forget the abortion issue and the right to life of the pre-born, concerned citizens should consult LifeNews.Com's thorough documentation of President Obama's actual record, not his rhetoric.Hmmmm.....Hear,hear.Read the full story here.

• 'We smelled a rat from the outset': Republicans demand probe into solar panel company that went bust after receiving half-billion dollar federal loan.(DailyMail).A solar panel manufacturer that received a half-billion dollar loan as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package is laying off 1,100 workers and filing for bankruptcy.Republicans are now looking into the government's loan to Fremont, California-based Solyndra LLC, saying it was clear that the company was a dubious investment. It is likely that the bankruptcy will now serve as further ammunition for the President's opponents in Congress to criticise the economic stimulus bill.Visited by the President last year as he outlined his economic stimulus package, Solyndra was the poster child for U.S. government investment in green technology. But hard times have hit the U.S.'s solar industry and Solyndra is the third solar company to seek bankruptcy protection in the past month.The price for solar panels has plummetted in part because of heavy competition from Chinese companies, dropping by about 42 percent this year.The House Energy and Commerce Committee have already subpoenaed documents relating to the loan from the White House Office of Management and Budget.'We've smelled a rat from the outset,' GOP Representatives Fred Upton of Michigan and Cliff Stearns of Florida said in a joint statement published yesterday.Mr Upton and Mr Stearns said they would continue to seek documents that would provide more details about the Solyndra loan.They added: 'Unfortunately, Solyndra is just the latest casualty of the Obama administration's failed stimulus, emblematic of an economic policy that has not worked and will not work. 'We hope this informs the president ahead of his address to Congress next week.'When Obama, who is set to address Congress to unveil a new jobs plan, toured Solyndra's facilities last year he said the investment was important because more clean energy would benefit the environment, the economy and national security.'The future is here,' Obama said during his visit. 'We're poised to transform the ways we power our homes and our cars and our businesses.'And we are poised to generate countless new jobs, good-paying, middle-class jobs, right here in the United States of America.'Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow said Solyndra was a once promising company that had increased sales revenue by 2,000 percent in the past three years.The $535million loan guarantee was sought by both the Bush and Obama administrations, he said, and private investors also put more than $1billion into Solyndra.'We have always recognized that not every one of the innovative companies supported by our loans and loan guarantees would succeed, but we can't stop investing in game-changing technologies that are key to America's leadership in the global economy,' Mr Leistikow said.Solyndra had been heralded as one of the nation's bright spots of green technology innovation.The company created an innovative solar 'tube' that could soak up sunlight from many different angles, producing energy more efficiently and using less space.The company's panels were also light and easy to install, which was meant to save up front costs.But over the past few years, other companies caught up and provided similar products at a lower cost.Brian Harrison, Solyndra's president and CEO, said that raising capital had become impossible.'This was an unexpected outcome and is most unfortunate,' Harrison said in a statement published yesterday.Solyndra's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing topped a disastrous month for the U.S. solar power industry.Read the full story here.

• "The President's Speech".Carney: Change time of debate?(Politico) — The White House suggested Wednesday that the hosts of next week’s GOP presidential debate can change the time by an hour so it doesn’t interfere with President Obama’s planned jobs speech to Congress.POLITICO and NBC are hosting a Republican debate Sept. 7 at 8 p.m., the same time the White House said Obama asked Congress to make an address.Asked about the timing on Wednesday, press secretary Jay Carney said, “It is coincidental.”“There are a lot of factors that go into scheduling a speech before Congress, a joint session,” he said. “You can never find a perfect time. . . . There are many channels, there are many opportunities for people to watch the president, and obviously for people to watch the debate.”Asked later if the interruption is then an “added bonus” for the White House, Carney suggested that isn’t the case. “There’s one president, there’s 20-some-odd debates,” he said.“There are many opportunities for the American people. There’s a choice they can make to watch the president, to watch the debate,” he said. “A network could make a decision to alter the timing of the debate by an hour.”Carney later elaborated, saying that if “sponsors chose and the candidates so chose to adjust the timing of their debate . . . that would be completely fine with us, in the spirit of democracy.”Hmmmm.......There are no coincidences in Politics. Read the full story here.

• Re-assigning an ATF Director Is Not Enough: Those Behind ‘Fast and Furious’ Must Be Prosecuted.(Biggovernment).News broke yesterday that punishment had been meted out for “Fast and Furious.” Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson had been re-assigned and U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke had resigned. There was no mention of pending criminal prosecution or jail time. Rather, we were politely informed that Melson would be moved to a new position at the DOJ in Washington DC while Burke would “return to private life.”Hmmm. Let’s think about this: Over 150 Mexican law enforcement officials have been killed as a result of Fast and Furious. As have nearly 1,000 Mexican civilians, at least one U.S. Border Agent (God bless the family of Brian Terry), and who knows how many other humans on both sides of the border who have yet to be accounted for. And there are still over 1,000 weapons on the loose, although we are starting to find them more and more at crime scenes in America.And all that happens in response to this is that an Acting Director gets re-assigned and a U.S. Attorney returns to private life?Think about it: “Straw purchasers” went into gun stores to buy weapons they had pre-determined to pass on to criminals, and now those criminals have used the weapons against Mexicans and Americans alike. It has put us all at risk, and especially those living near the border in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.No wonder Congressman Paul Gosar of the House Oversight Committee contends that “we (Americans) were the known collateral damage” in this whole plan.Yet we’re supposed to sit back and say, “Wow, that Eric Holder sure is tough on crime. Just look honey, he re-assigned Melson as a result of all this.”No, no, no. It’s an insult to our intelligence and our love of country for Holder and Co. to think they can shift a few people around and we’ll forget the literal death and carnage that has been caused.They tried this once already, when they re-assigned “two A.T.F. Phoenix division supervisors, William Newell and William McMahon…to positions in Washington” a few weeks ago. But that didn’t assuage any one’s anger over this outrageous operation then, and giving Melson a desk job in DC won’t do it now.Moreover, U.S. Attorney Burke, who says he’s stepping down to re-enter private life, is the very one who denied “victim of crime” status to Brian Terry’s family earlier this month. What a cowardly human he must be: upon resigning he claimed “responsibility” for the “mistakes” associated with Fast and Furious, yet he denies Terry’s family the right to be recognized as victims of those very mistakes.But as disgusting as these things are, we must remind ourselves that both Melson and Burke are just the tip of the iceberg. This goes much higher in the administration. And thankfully, Congressman Issa has made it clear he’s ratcheting up the investigation at this point, instead of slowing it down.Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his panel would "continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn't offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department.""This isn't going to change anything," one congressional investigator said of the management shake-up.Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Melson should leave altogether."Instead of reassigning those responsible for Fast and Furious within the Department of Justice," he said, "Atty. Gen. [Eric] Holder should ask for their resignations and come clean on all alleged gun-walking operations."Read the full story here.

• 9/11 children's colouring book angers US Muslims.(Guardian).A colouring book about the events of 9/11, complete with pictures of the burning twin towers and the execution of a cowering Osama bin Laden for children to fill in, has provoked outrage among American Muslims.We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids' Book of Freedom has just been released by the Missouri-based publisher Really Big Coloring Books, which says it is "designed to be a tool that parents can use to help teach children about the facts surrounding 9/11". Showing scenes from 9/11 for children to colour in and telling the story of the attacks and the subsequent hunt for Osama bin Laden, "the book was created with honesty, integrity, reverence, respect and does not shy away from the truth", according to its publisher, which says that it has sold out of its first print run of 10,000 copies.One page of the $6.99 book, which has been given a PG rating, shows Bin Laden hiding behind a hijab-wearing woman as he is shot by a Navy SEAL. "Being the elusive character that he was, and after hiding out with his terrorist buddies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, American soldiers finally locate the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden," runs the text accompanying the picture. "Children, the truth is, these terrorist acts were done by freedom-hating radical Islamic Muslim extremists. These crazy people hate the American way of life because we are FREE and our society is FREE."The Council on American-Islamic Relations has condemned the book as "disgusting", saying that it characterises all Muslims as linked to extremism, terrorism and radicalism, which could lead children reading the book to believe that all Muslims are responsible for 9/11, and that followers of the Islamic faith are their enemies.Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the organisation, told the Toronto Star that "America is full of these individuals and groups seeking to demonise Islam and marginalise Muslims and it's just a fact of life in the post-9/11 era". Nonetheless, he expressed his hope that "parents would recognise the agenda behind this book and not expose their children to intolerance or religious hatred".Publisher Wayne Bell told American television that the book does not portray Muslims "in a negative light at all. That is incorrect. This is about 19 terrorist hijackers that came over here under the leadership of a devil worshipper, Osama bin Laden, to murder our people," Bell said. "He [Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR] calls the book disgusting ... but he should call the people in the book, the 19 terrorists, Osama bin Laden, he should call him disgusting. This is history. It is absolutely factual."Really Big Coloring Books, which also published a colouring book teaching children about the Tea Party last year, has said that it will donate a portion of its proceeds from sales of the book to Bridges for Peace, "a Jerusalem-based, Bible-believing Christian organisation supporting Israel and building relationships between Christians and Jews worldwide through education and practical deeds expressing God's love and mercy".Read the full story here.

• Related - Publisher Of 9/11 Coloring Book Calls FBI After Receiving Threatening Messages.(CBS) CLAYTON, — Taking heat from Muslim groups upset with a coloring book about the 9/11 Attacks, a publisher says he’s been in contact with local police and the FBI.Wayne Bell, the Publisher of Really Big Coloring Books, Inc., says there’s been a negative backlash against the book “We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids’ Book of Freedom.”“These are people from Al-Jazeera that have called in here numerous times, people from Iranian TV, people from Palestinian Hamas TV,” Bell said, “A lot of people from the Islamic community have called in here and said increasingly negative things prior to the book being made and then after we made the book too, about the book itself.”The book features images of Osama Bin Laden and Islamic terrorists. It also shows American citizens upset by the attacks, including a woman with a cross around her neck. But it shows no Muslim Americans mourning the attacks.The Council on American Islamic Relations has criticized the book as one-sided, only portraying Muslims as either “extremists” or “terrorists. ”Bell was asked to explain the absence of patriotic Muslim Americans in the book who were also opposed to the attacks.“Well, I don’t know, I mean this is what our research showed us,” Bell said, “Every time we mention one of the hijackers we call them what they are. And that’s what parents wanted. Radical, Islamic, Muslim Extremists. And every time we mention one of the hijackers like the three guys that drove the plane into the Pentagon, there’s nothing else you can call them. I mean, what do think, they’re having a bad hair day?”The book has been selling briskly, so fast that Bell said he had no extra copies for reporters to take with them today. Bell declined to disclose how many copies have sold, except to say “a lot.”Read the full story here.

• Islamic (Sharia) Justice in Europe.'It's Often a Dictate of Power'.(Spiegel).Using Sharia law to settle disputes can be innocent, but it can also undermine Western ideas of fairness. Journalist Joachim Wagner, author of a new book on parallel justice, discusses the influence of Islamic arbitrators on Germany's legal system.

SPIEGEL: You write that Islamic arbitration poses a threat to the constitutional legal system. Why?

Wagner: These arbitrators try to resolve conflicts according to Islamic law and to sideline German criminal law. We see witness testimony withdrawn (from German courts) and accusations trivialized to the point where an entire case runs aground. The justice system is "powerless," partly because it hasn't tackled the problem vigorously enough.

SPIEGEL: Some reports from judges and public prosecutors in your book sound like a cry for help.

Wagner: They're overwhelmed, because they don't know how to react. They're in the middle of a legal case, and suddenly there's no evidence. Eighty-seven percent of the cases I researched either were dismissed or ended with an acquittal when Islamic arbitrators were involved.

SPIEGEL: How can we combat this shadow justice system?

Wagner: Prosecutors need to investigate Islamic arbitrators more intensively. If they had done so sooner, the arbitrators would have been convicted of obstruction of justice long ago. And certain lawyers need to stop behaving as if they were mere servants to a parallel justice system. They allow themselves to be directed by their clients' desires, regardless of truth and justice. And finally, my plea would be for judges to hear witnesses earlier, which would reduce the arbitrators' influence.Read the full story here.

• Related - Parallel Justice - Islamic 'Arbitrators' Shadow German Law.(Spiegel).By Maximilian Popp.In mosques or tearooms, Muslim elders dispense verdicts that keep their communities in line. They mediate between aggrieved immigrants, sometimes at the expense of German justice. Some say the arbitrations ease caseloads in court, but others see the creeping advance of Sharia law.The men ambushed Fuat S. on the street, then locked him in a basement and tortured him. Fuat was later admitted to the hospital in Berlin's Neukölln district with gaping wounds, contusions and broken bones.Police took his statement concerning the attack the same night. Fuat S., a gambler and a recipient of "Hartz IV" -- Germany's social welfare benefits for the long-term unemployed -- gave a detailed statement. He'd conned an acquaintance, Mustafa O., out of €150,000 ($217,000) and the man was taking his revenge, Fuat said, together with his three brothers. They hit his hands, arms and knees with a hammer and threatened to shoot him. The public prosecutor's office in Berlin initiated proceedings against Mustafa O., a Palestinian man who had come to their attention repeatedly for violent acts. Police had investigated him in a number of cases, and now prosecutors saw an opportunity to convict a dangerous repeat offender. But when the case began, Fuat S., the principle witness, unexpectedly withdrew his testimony. It was not Mustafa who had tortured him, he said, but an Albanian man he didn't know. Mustafa, he said, wasn't even in the basement at the time. This was clearly a lie, as police analysis of telephone data showed, but the judge was forced to acquit the defendant due to lack of evidence.The decision, in fact, was reached by a different judge. According to police, the victim's and the perpetrator's families had met at a restaurant in the presence of an Islamic "justice of the peace," an arbitrator who mediates conflicts between Muslims. The two families had reached a compromise: Fuat would drop the charges, and in exchange be relieved of part of his debt.According to Bernhard Mix, the public prosecutor in charge of the case, Fuat's false testimony was part of a deal between the families. "It's difficult to establish the truth using legal means, when the perpetrator and the victim reach an agreement," he says.These justices of the peace don't wear robes. Their courtrooms are mosques or teahouses. They draw their authority not from the law, but from their standing within the community. Most of them are senior members of their families, or imams, and some even fly in from Turkey or Lebanon to resolve disputes. Muslims seek them out when families argue, when daughters take up with nonbelievers or when clans clash. They often trust these arbitrators more than they trust the state.The late juvenile court judge Kirsten Heisig drew attention to this problem a year ago: "The law is slipping out of our hands. It's moving to the streets, or into a parallel system where an imam or another representative of the Koran determines what must be done."In Wagner's book, judges and prosecutors tell of threats toward public officials and systematic interference with witnesses. "We know we're being given a performance, but the courts are powerless," says Stephan Kuperion, a juvenile court judge in Berlin. Federal public prosecutor Jörn Hauschild warns, "It would be a terrible development if serious criminal offences in these circles could no longer be resolved. The legal system would be reduced to collecting victims."So who are these men who make the decisions about justice and love, lives and monetary compensation?Read the full story here.

• Dutch Quiz Show: Failed Asylum Seekers Vie For Farewell Cash.(Spiegel).Failed asylum seekers in the Netherlands will answer questions about Dutch topics Thursday night in hopes of winning money to resettle after deportation. Critics have panned the TV show concept, but its creators say they are drawing attention to a serious issue that displaces well-integrated youths.Just how Dutch can the children of failed asylum seekers in the Netherlands be? "Absolutely Dutch," says Frank Wiering, editor-in-chief of public broadcaster VPRO, set to air a controversial new television quiz show highlighting the young people's plight on Thursday evening. After growing up Dutch, children of asylum seekers are being forced to return to their country of origin because stricter rules have led to the rejection of their parents' applications, he says.The show, called "Weg van Nederland" can mean both "Away From the Netherlands" and "Crazy About the Netherlands." For just one episode -- part of a Dutch television pilot week held every year -- five contestants between the ages of 15 and 24 will field questions about Dutch culture, history, geography, politics, royalty and language for a chance to win €4,000 ($5,800). The money is intended to help them get settled in their new home country after they are deported. The show's set includes the cabin of an airplane -- an apparent reference to their imminent departures -- and press photos would seem to indicate that one of the prizes is a Dutch-themed bullet-proof vest, though Wiering declined to confirm that in a conversation with SPIEGEL ONLINE, saying he didn't want to spoil the surprise.The point of the show, Wiering insists, is to use humor to raise awareness about a growing problem in the country since the implementation of stricter immigration policies in recent years. "We need to look at what we've created when it comes to the human side effects," he says.During the show the audience gets to know five candidates, selected with the help of advocacy organization Defence For Children International, through side discussions and short videos about their lives. In between, they answer quiz questions for a host and two assistants who are reportedly dressed as police or immigrations officials. Meanwhile viewers will have the opportunity to win a trip for themselves to a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean by following along and answering the questions online. "It will be very hard to win this prize, though," Wiering says, explaining that viewers will face the additional challenge of having to renew their participation repeatedly, much like the difficult application process for an asylum seeker.Though the show has yet to air, reaction has already been strong. Wiering says he's heard it described as "monstrous," "terrible," and an "abuse of people for entertainment," though he disagrees.The show, which the TV editor insists is not a hoax like an infamous 2007 competition for kidney donors , has already garnered interest from foreign networks like Germany's Arte, he added. "I think that there is certainly an element of bad taste in the show. But the situation behind it is what is truly in bad taste," he says.Hmmm........."The 'prize' is right?Read the full story here.

• Kuwaiti Columnist: The Jews Killed Arab POWs following Instructions in 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.(Memri).The following are excerpts from the article:

"Thirty-five centuries ago, the Jews divided humanity into two categories: Jews and Gentiles, which is to say [Jews and] idolaters (see the book called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, translated by Muhammad Khalifa Al-Tunisi, with a foreword taken from the writings of 'Abbas Mahmoud Al-'Aqqad, printed in Kuwait). According to this book, the Jews believe they are God's Chosen People, His sons and His beloved, while everyone else – Muslims, Christians, and members of the other faiths – are idolaters. They also believe that the world and all its resources are [God's] gift to them alone..."The Israelis believe that the entire world is their homeland, and that their state in Palestine may expand without limit. They wanted, via the Bolshevik Revolution, [to make] Russia their first country, and one of their goals is to establish a worldwide kingdom. They identified nine countries in which they might establish their homeland – [called] Israel – and ultimately chose Palestine."Zionism is line with the Machiavellian principles according to which the end justifies the means, [which means that] the establishment of a political entity [justifies] destruction, murder, and extermination, like what was done in Palestine."In the 1967 war, the Jews exterminated most of the Egyptian prisoners [of war] out in the burning sands of the battlefields. They tied them up and lay them on their stomachs, as through sleeping, and [then] ran them over with tanks. [Other] prisoners were stood up against a wall by senior Israeli officers and shot... Helicopters hovered over the withdrawing [troops] and shot them [from the air]..."All this was done according to the instructions in The Protocols of [the Elders of] Zion. Some of the Arab rulers covered up this [act of] extermination, fearing the retaliation of their peoples. In Israel, there were those who demanded to prosecute the Israeli leaders who [were responsible for] the extermination of Syrian, Jordanian and Kuwaiti prisoners during the 1967 war."The Egyptian people can now bring to trial in an international court all of Israel's leaders who took part in the past wars. The Jews implemented the instructions of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to murder the Arab prisoners while trampling all values of human [behavior] and military honor that forbid murdering hostages."Hmmmm......He forgot to mention the part where they fry the brains of prisoners to make 'devil eggs'?lol.Read the full story here.

• Poland - Vandals scrawl 'they were flammable' at spot where hundreds of Jews were burned alive during World War II.(DailyMail).Vandals have desecrated a monument marking the spot in Poland where hundreds of Jews were burned alive during World War II.They defaced the stonework, scrawling 'they were flammable' and also daubing a swastika on the memorial.The monument in the town of Jedwabne honours the victims of July 10, 1941, when about 40 Poles hunted down Jews, closed them in a barn and set it alight. It is estimated between 300 and 400 Jews were killed. The incident is one of the better known cases of local people collaborating with the Nazis in the killing of Jews during the occupation of Eastern Europe.The vandals used green paint to spray the symbols of a swastika and 'SS' - the name of an elite Nazi force - on the monument, as well as the phrases 'I don't apologise for Jedwabne' and 'they were flammable'.Police discovered the desecration on Wednesday during a patrol and are now trying to find the culprits.The massacre was unknown for decades but came to light with the 2000 book 'Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland,' which sparked outrage and soul-searching in Poland.It led to a government investigation that confirmed that Poles - and not Nazi Germans - were to blame for the killings. Poland's then-president Aleksander Kwasniewski apologised for his country's sins, but some Poles today remain in denial that such horrors were committed by their own people.Polish people are today commemorating the anniversary of the German attack on their country on Sept. 1, 1939, that marked the start of World War II.Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish population of some 2.5million until World War Two, when most of its Jewish citizens perished in the Nazi-sponsored Holocaust.The few who survived the war faced periodic oppression by the communist regime installed in Poland after 1945.Poland is a largely homogenous Roman Catholic country but religious and ethnic minorities are more common in eastern regions near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine.Read the full story here.

• Kazakh president wants tougher laws to counter Islamic extremism.(Alarabiya).The spread of religious extremism threatens stability in mainly Muslim Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Thursday, urging parliament to adopt tougher laws on migration and religious activity.Oil-producing Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest and most successful economy, has only recently witnessed outbursts of militant Islam experienced by other former Soviet states in the vast region bordering Afghanistan.In a rare official admission, Kazakh prosecutors in the western Atyrau region said on Wednesday a group of extremists planning “acts of terror” had been detained.“The parliament has to consider adopting a law on religious activity,” Nazarbayev told a session of parliament, which is composed solely of deputies of his ruling Nur Otan Party.“The talk is not about banning the freedom of conscience. No. It is about protecting the state from religious extremism.”Muslims make up 70 percent of Kazakhstan’s 16.5-million population, and Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan had to tighten control over its borders. He did not mention any specific countries which may pose a threat.“Whoever wants may come here, whoever wants may open a mosque and name it after his father. No one knows what these mosques are really doing, no one has approved (their opening),” he said. “But, as a state, we should put our home in order.”Radical Islam, fuelled by widespread poverty, is on the rise in the fertile but overpopulated Ferghana Valley where former Soviet Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan share borders.Nazarbayev, whose steppe nation is a major exporter of grain and flour, said he shared concerns by the United Nations that food shortages in the surrounding region could increase the risk of illegal migration, epidemics and “other conflicts”.A 71-year-old former steelworker who in Soviet days rose to prominence through the Communist Party, Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan for more than two decades and says preserving stability in his multi-ethnic nation is his main achievement.He has put in place rapid market reforms and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment, mainly in the energy and metals sectors.But at the same time human rights groups and the West have criticized Kazakhstan’s record on democracy, pointing to rigid state control of the media and little tolerance of dissent.Read the full story here.

• Report: Hezbollah opens base in Cuba.(Ynet).Hezbollah has established a center of operations in Cuba in order to expand its terrorist activity and facilitate an attack on an Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the attack is meant to avenge the death of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah. The organization alleges that Israel was behind his 2008 assassination.According to the report, three Hezbollah members have already arrived in Cuba with the purpose of establishing a terrorist cell there. The cell is to include 23 operatives, hand-picked by Talal Hamia, a senior member tasked with heading the covert operation.The operation, titled "The Caribbean Case," was reportedly allocated a budget of $1.5 million. The Cuba base is to be initially used for logistics purposes, including intelligence collection, networking and document forgery. Hezbollah has been active in South America for quite some time now, primarily in Paraguay, Brazil and Venezuela, the report notes.Read the full story here.

• 'PA statehood vote to risk bilateral agreements'(Ynet).Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said Tuesday that if the Palestinians further their statehood bid at the United Nations in September, it might jeopardize all existing agreements between the Palestinian Authority and the United States and Israel. In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Oren said, "We have a lot of agreements with the Palestinian Authority, we have no agreements with a ‘Government of Palestine.'"It's just a fact – we have no agreements with a ‘Government of Palestine.' It puts us in a different realm," said Oren, adding that the move would render invalid economic treaties, including export, import and water sharing, as well as security cooperation agreements.The Israeli ambassador stressed that Palestinian agreements with the United States are also at risk: "America is a cosignatory to the Oslo Accord and this would seriously undermine it...Unilateral steps would have legal, economic, and political ramifications for us and for America as a cosignatory."Commenting on the Middle East Quartet's attempt to push the sides back to the negotiations table by issuing a statement that would affirm Israel as a Jewish state and determine a Palestinian state in 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, Oren said the effort won't solve the problem. "There is no guarantee that even if the Quartet members succeed in putting out a common position on negotiations that that will in any way divert the Palestinians from their intention of declaring a Palestinian state unilaterally," he told the magazine, adding that Jerusalem and Washington are "working for similar goals and see very much eye to eye" on the issue. According to Oren, the statehood declaration will provide the Palestinian Authority with "lawfare" against Israel in the international arena, which will further diminish the chances for reaching a negotiated agreement. "We want to be able to negotiate but we won't be able to negotiate if they are attacking our legitimacy in every international court. We're not going to negotiate under fire and it's a mistake for the Palestinians to think that we would," the ambassador said. Oren warned that in the absence of a negotiated solution, Israel's support for the creation of a Palestinian state might be jeopardized. "The Palestinians risk all that has been achieved if they go forward with this ... and that would be a great tragedy."Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Some 27,000 cases of domestic violence, involving 26,000 women, were reported to police in the first six months of 2011.(HurriyetDaily).Woman beaten by boyfriend dies after 45 days in hospital.A woman who was allegedly held captive and severely beaten by her boyfriend for four days in July died Thursday in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.Meral Tahta, 32, was found at a bus stop in Konya on July 18, severely beaten and unconscious. Further examination at Konya Numune Hospital showed that she had suffered a brain hemorrhage due to blows she received to her head and that her kidneys had failed to due to dehydration and malnutrition.Police apprehended Tahta’s boyfriend, Mustafa Konuk, who allegedly tortured her for four days after the couple had an argument, punching and kicking her and depriving her of food and water. He later left Tahta at a bus stop in Konya’s Selçuklu district and called police to say he had left his girlfriend there.Konuk was arrested by a court on charges of attempted voluntary manslaughter. Tahta had two children from a previous marriage and was working as a waitress in a local bar.One woman was meanwhile killed and four injured by their husbands during the first three days of the Ramadan bayram holiday.In the northwestern province of Sakarya’s Karapürçek district, a woman was allegedly killed by her husband for filing for divorce. The husband, A.Ö., was reported to have been barred from his home several times through court decisions for violence against his wife.Some 27,000 cases of domestic violence, involving 26,000 women, were reported to police in the first six months of 2011, including cases of murder, assault and threats.Hmmmm.....Another reason to keep Turkey out of the European Union.Read the full story here.