http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2009 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:29:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196338-Papers-please-Ukraine-parliament-backs-government-s-border-control-plan The Verkhovna Rada has ratified the Law "On Border Control," which was submitted by the Yulia Tymoshenko government. The law identifies the legal framework for border control, procedures and conditions for crossing the state border of Ukraine. According to the law, passports and other documents of Ukrainian citizens, foreigners and stateless persons who are crossing the state border are checked by authorized officials of the State Border Service of Ukraine to establish that they are authentic and belong to the given person. They also determine the presence or absence of grounds for temporarily refusing a border crossing. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196338-Papers-please-Ukraine-parliament-backs-government-s-border-control-plan Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:37:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196337-Profit-in-crisis-Ukraine-may-delay-presidential-elections Ukraine may delay its presidential elections until May 2010 because of the flu epidemic, the deputy head of President Viktor Yushchenko's secretariat was reported by Itar-Tass news agency as saying on Friday. "If the government fails to establish control over the situation with the influenza epidemic, the possible imposition of an emergency situation in the country and the postponement of the elections to May 30 (2010) are not excluded," the official, Igor Popov, was quoted as saying. The elections are due to take place on Jan. 17, 2010. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196337-Profit-in-crisis-Ukraine-may-delay-presidential-elections Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:29:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196336-Ukrainian-Presidential-candidate-Sergiy-Tigipko-Flu-epidemic-being-used-to-distract-public-attention-from-real-problems The Ukrainian authorities are using hysteria over the flu outbreak in the country in order to distract the attention of citizens from economic and social problems, presidential candidate Sergiy Tigipko has said. "The seasonal flu epidemic has completely pushed off the agenda the fight against the economic crisis and other really urgent social issues," the politician's press service quoted him as saying on Thursday. "The mission of the World Health Organization is planning to study the situation in Ukraine for another two weeks, and only then draw a conclusion about the danger of the epidemic. However, our authorities have created a sensation, although they in fact appeared to be unprepared for an annual seasonal flu epidemic," Tigipko said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196336-Ukrainian-Presidential-candidate-Sergiy-Tigipko-Flu-epidemic-being-used-to-distract-public-attention-from-real-problems Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:25:37 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196335-Ukraine-President-s-schizoidal-address-to-the-nation-over-non-existent-flu-epidemic Dear fellow citizens! I address you in performance of my constitutional duty under the Article 106 of the Basic Law of the state. The reason is the emergency epidemic situation in the country. Infections of viral origin, including the A/H1N1 flu, are rapidly spreading across Ukraine. The emergency is evident in the scale of the epidemic: the speed and the geography of its spreading, rapid progress of the illness and the exceptional number of deaths. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196335-Ukraine-President-s-schizoidal-address-to-the-nation-over-non-existent-flu-epidemic Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:15:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196333-Polish-PM-Poland-not-buying-swine-flu-vaccination-unless-it-has-been-properly-tested Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that his government won't buy vaccines for swine flu that have not been properly tested or from producers who won't take responsibility for possible side effects. Tusk told reporters that vaccine producers were pressuring governments to buy, but were also demanding that all responsibility and compensation for possible negative side effects fall upon government shoulders. "Today we are dealing with great pressure from pharmaceutical firms ... we are dealing with expectations that hundreds of millions of zlotys (dollars) will be spent on vaccine while no one wants to guarantee that it has no side effects," he said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196333-Polish-PM-Poland-not-buying-swine-flu-vaccination-unless-it-has-been-properly-tested Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:47:13 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196324-Tens-of-thousands-protest-against-Irish-austerity-measures Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators rallied across Ireland on Friday to protest government plans for tough austerity measures, police and reports said. The protests were called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to back its 10-point plan to spread belt-tightening -- ordered to deal with a ballooning gap in public finances -- over the next eight years instead of four. Rallies took place in Dublin and seven other centres. Unions also threaten a national strike on November 24. In February 120,000 people took to the streets in Dublin in a similar protest before an emergency budget in April. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196324-Tens-of-thousands-protest-against-Irish-austerity-measures Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:23:40 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196306-Europe-Still-Divided-20-Years-After-Berlin-Wall-Fell Europe's dividing lines survive even 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia's PACE delegation head said on Friday. November 9 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the 160-km concrete barrier between East and West Berlin, the symbolic demarcation line between the socialist camp in Eastern Europe and the West. Konstantin Kosachyov said Russia and Europe had retained most of their differences, "which means the dividing lines in Europe have survived the fall of the Berlin Wall." Kosachyov, who also heads the international affairs committee at the lower house of Russia's parliament, referred to visa restrictions and certain "indirect" limitations for Russian businesses. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196306-Europe-Still-Divided-20-Years-After-Berlin-Wall-Fell Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:35:40 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196267-Three-bald-bears-perplex-experts- Bears in a zoo in eastern Germany have lost their fur, but international experts cannot work out why. Three spectacled bears in Leipzig Zoo are in various states of baldness, with the worst being hairless all over. Zoo curator Gerd Noetzhold said he had discovered that zoos throughout Europe and further afield had encountered the same problem, but no-one knew why. One expert suggested it could be caused by climate and the diet of the bears, whose native habitat is South America. The bears come from the Andean mountains of Ecuador, Peru and northern Bolivia. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196267-Three-bald-bears-perplex-experts- Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:37:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196194-Chinese-Villagers-Listed-as-Dead-in-Welfare-Scam Hundreds of Chinese villagers are protesting after they were registered as dead and struck from village lists. The taxes villages pay to higher levels of government and the social warfare payments allocated by the central Government are both based on the number of households. By recording the false deaths, local officials held back payments. And the victims are also deprived of newly established medical insurance and pension schemes. The 300 members of Zhouzhuang village - a sixth of the population - discovered they were "dead" when a man tried to apply for a new identity book for his parents, according to a report on China National Radio's website. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196194-Chinese-Villagers-Listed-as-Dead-in-Welfare-Scam Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:26:10 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196189-Global-Warming-Afforded-Same-Legal-Status-as-Religion-in-UK When it comes to climate change, just have a little faith! In an unusual case in the United Kingdom, it has been ruled that climate change beliefs should be afforded the same legal protections as religious freedoms. The bizarre ruling sets a landmark legal precedent and could have broad implications both in Britain and abroad. The case began when Tim Nicholson, former head of sustainability at property firm Grainger PLC was laid off in July 2008 for his criticism of management on the basis of climate change beliefs. Mr. Nicholson, who renovated his house to be greener and refuses to fly by air, was upset that Rupert Dickinson, the firm's chief executive, had an employee fly to him in Ireland to deliver his Blackberry. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196189-Global-Warming-Afforded-Same-Legal-Status-as-Religion-in-UK Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:34:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196182-Italy-Convicts-23-Americans-for-C-I-A-Renditions In a landmark ruling, an Italian judge on Wednesday convicted a base chief for the Central Intelligence Agency and 22 other Americans, almost all C.I.A. operatives, of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. The case was a huge symbolic victory for Italian prosecutors, who drew the first convictions involving the American practice of rendition, in which terrorism suspects are captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, often one more open to coercive interrogation techniques. Critics of the Bush administration have long hailed the case as a repudiation of the tactics it used to fight terrorism. And the fact that Italy would actually convict intelligence agents of an allied country was seen as a bold move that could set a precedent in other cases. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196182-Italy-Convicts-23-Americans-for-C-I-A-Renditions Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:47:21 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196151-Revealed-hidden-misery-of-children-trafficked-to-Britain Hundreds of children trafficked to Britain each year are being failed by social workers, teachers and doctors, it is claimed today in a report which uncovers the hidden misery of the international trade in young labour. The findings suggest that when trafficked children try to escape from imprisonment in Britain, their cries for help are ignored or negligently handled by UK agencies. The report, by the Children's Society charity, found that those who managed to escape their captors were often returned to domestic imprisonment, where they were forced to work as prostitutes in brothels or as slaves in British homes. Children who were allowed to leave their guardian's home were usually too frightened to disclose what was happening to them. One young girl trafficked to Britain was groomed and sexually exploited while in the care of children's services. She did not know that what was happening was illegal, or that it was considered abuse. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196151-Revealed-hidden-misery-of-children-trafficked-to-Britain Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:55:59 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196131-Czech-court-gives-go-ahead-to-Lisbon-treaty David Cameron was put firmly on the spot today when a Czech constitutional court removed the last possible legal barrier to the Lisbon treaty. The judges' decision to give the green light to the controversial EU accord means that it should come into force by the end of the year after a long-awaited flick of the pen from Vaclav Klaus. It dashes the hopes of the Conservatives, who had relied on the Czech President to delay its ratification until after the next general election in the UK. The court in Brno had spent the past week considering a petition by 17 Eurosceptic Czech senators but it ruled this morning that the treaty could proceed. The treaty did not, said the chief judge Pavel Rychetsky, contravene the letter or the principles of the country's constitution. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196131-Czech-court-gives-go-ahead-to-Lisbon-treaty Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:55:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196125-Violence-stirs-teacher-action-in-Greece Prompted by the recent terrorist attack on an Athens police station, university teachers yesterday took the lead in trying to organize a movement against violence and called on other groups to join them in a common protest. The Hellenic Federation of University Teachers' Associations (POSDEP) issued a statement saying that the latest "cycle of violence" had prompted it to take action. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196125-Violence-stirs-teacher-action-in-Greece Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:17:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196122-UK-Scientists-quit-government-drugs-body-over-David-Nutt-sacking The Government is facing mass resignations from the official advisory body on drugs after the sacking of its chairman, The Times has learnt. Two members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs quit yesterday in protest at Alan Johnson's dismissal of David Nutt in a row over the relative harm caused by drugs and alcohol. Les King, an expert chemist, was the first to resign. He said that the Home Secretary had denied Professor Nutt his right to free speech and called for the council to become truly independent of politicians. He was swiftly followed by Marion Walker, a pharmacist and clinical director with the substance misuse service at the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196122-UK-Scientists-quit-government-drugs-body-over-David-Nutt-sacking Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:04:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196115-UK-A-level-students-face-despair-over-shortage-of-university-places Sixth-formers are facing the toughest competition yet for university entry because of an early increase in applications and a shortage of places for next year. Documents seen by The Times show that most of the extra places pledged by the Government for 2010 have already been spoken for. A rise of at least 15 per cent in applications, compared with the same time last year, is expected to be announced by Ucas today, increasing the shortage of places. The pressure on A-level students is likely to be more intense than this summer, when there was a rise of 10 per cent applying, a record level of interest and tens of thousands of capable candidates missing out. The deadline for submissions to the university admissions service for next year is not until January, but already leading institutions are reporting high rates of return on Ucas forms. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196115-UK-A-level-students-face-despair-over-shortage-of-university-places Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:37:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196109-Second-autopsy-Hampton-s-death-likely-murder A doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination on the body of Timothy Hampton says the nuclear expert's fall from the UN building in Vienna was murder. The 47-year-old British scientist, who was involved in monitoring nuclear activities, was found dead last week at the bottom of a staircase in the United Nations' building. The doctor who first examined Hampton's body concluded that there were 'no suspicious circumstances'. Following objections raised by his widow, Olena Gryshcuk, and her family as to the reliability of the assessment, another physician was asked to repeat the autopsy. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196109-Second-autopsy-Hampton-s-death-likely-murder Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:26:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196095-Sick-Bag-Alert-Chinese-Eat-Baby-Soup-for-Sex One Baby Policy Blamed for Killing Babies in China Some of the Chinese people are known to be eating babies and the news circulated through the internet or via Email communication is shocking the world. An Email report received by The Seoul Times confirmed that news with several vivid and appalling pictures of human embryos fetuses being made into a soup for human consumption. The report went on. A town in the southern province of Canton (Guangdong) is now on trend taking baby herbal soup to increase overall health and stamina and the power of sexual performance in particular. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196095-Sick-Bag-Alert-Chinese-Eat-Baby-Soup-for-Sex Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:47:21 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196085-Romania-bars-all-hospital-visits-over-swine-flu Romania is forbidding people from visiting patients at all hospitals due to a surge in swine flu cases, a health ministry official said Monday. The official, Dr. Adrian Streinu-Cercel, said 174 new cases of A(H1N1) were recorded in the past week alone, bringing the national total to 555. None of them was fatal. Five schools were closed due to the virus, he said. "Given the fast spread of the virus in the communities of children and youngsters, including in Bucharest and in three departments in the south and north-east, the ministry decided to close five schools, two in the capital," Streinu-Cercel told a news conference. "Hospitals are also quarantined, visiting patients being forbidden," he said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196085-Romania-bars-all-hospital-visits-over-swine-flu Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:10:43 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196082-Eastern-Europe-20-years-after-wall-fell-study-finds-less-support-for-democracy A specter is haunting Eastern Europe: the ghost of Communism past. Twenty years after the collapse of Soviet-backed communist governments across the bloc, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, support for multiparty democracy has fallen in almost every country in the region, according to a wide-ranging new study. Majorities still support democracy over communism in all but one of the nine countries in the survey, but only two nations have seen a rise in approval for democracy. And support for capitalism as an economic system has fallen in every single country surveyed. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196082-Eastern-Europe-20-years-after-wall-fell-study-finds-less-support-for-democracy Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:23:00 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196081-France-Russia-Move-on-Ship-Sale France is sending a warship to Russia ahead of a groundbreaking deal for the purchase of a helicopter carrier. The planned purchase of the French amphibious assault ship reaffirms Russia's growing global reach and bid to beef up its forces. Russia's Navy General Staff Oleg Burstev told local media that the Mistral helicopter carrier would arrive later this month on a trip to St. Petersburg. He confirmed that Moscow had given the green light to Paris for the purchase of a similar-type vessel with plans to construct a further four warships under license. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196081-France-Russia-Move-on-Ship-Sale Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:17:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196080-Russia-Tries-Once-Again-to-Rein-in-Vodka-Habit It was late on a Monday afternoon at the drunk tank in this Moscow suburb, but it could have been any day, at any hour, at any similar facility across this land. People would come. They always do. Such is Russia's ruinous penchant for the bottle - and the challenge facing a new government policy to curb it. First to be escorted in by police officers was a construction worker named Damir M. Askerkhanov, who said he had been bingeing on vodka and beer - "This is my very own holiday!" - before he was found stumbling about in the cold. At 23, he admitted that he had already been picked up intoxicated twice recently. "Only even drunker," he said. Sergey A. Yurovsky, 36, who is studying to be a government clerk, arrived next, mumbling and getting tangled up in his sweater when he was asked to take it off for a brief medical exam. After he was moved to a room to sober up, and dozed off, officers showed up with Larisa V. Lobachyova, 53, whose hair was matted with dirt from a fall. "It is this way all the time," said Inspector Igor I. Poludnitsyn, who has supervised the drunk tank for seven years. "It is our national calamity." Russia's president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, has been voicing that sentiment a lot lately, declaring that the government must do something about the country's status as a world leader in alcohol consumption. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196080-Russia-Tries-Once-Again-to-Rein-in-Vodka-Habit Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:15:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196079-Ex-Spy-Killed-in-Russia Gunmen shot dead a former K.G.B. agent turned basketball entrepreneur on Monday, law enforcement officials said. The former agent, Shabtai von Kalmanovic, was shot in his car a few hundred yards from the office of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, the officials said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196079-Ex-Spy-Killed-in-Russia Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:11:59 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196070-Panic-in-Ukraine-Authorities-deny-aircraft-are-spraying-aerosols-over-cities-Martial-Law-expected The office of Emergency Response in the district of Desniansko, Kiev, are tonight (30th Oct.) strongly refuting reports that light aircraft were spraying a substance over the city intended to counter a "swine flu pandemic" in Ukraine. It was reported that light aircraft were seen over the Forest market area of the city (close to the Forest metro station) and they were spraying an aerosol substance intended to "counter swine flu", this of course would constitute forced medication of the population. The editors of local newspaper in Kiev received dozens of phone calls from concerned residents and shop owners in the Forest market area of the city reporting they had observed several light airplanes circling in the sky during the day spraying an unidentified aerosol into the atmosphere. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196070-Panic-in-Ukraine-Authorities-deny-aircraft-are-spraying-aerosols-over-cities-Martial-Law-expected Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:48:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196054-Minister-says-Ukraine-flu-epidemic-to-create-emergency-in-Hungary There is no flu epidemic in Hungary but the epidemic in Ukraine may create an emergency situation, the health minister said on public television late on Sunday. "There is a very rapid and virulent virus in Ukraine; the number of patients multiplies overnight and this creates an emergency situation in Hungary because the virus will not stop at the border," Tamas Szekely said. Previously, the virus was expected to arrive in Hungary from the west and south, the minister said. Currently there is no epidemic in Hungary, he added. Last week, around 14,600 people reported to suffer from flu-like symptoms, less than the week before. An epidemic is declared when the number of new cases reaches 20,000 a week. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196054-Minister-says-Ukraine-flu-epidemic-to-create-emergency-in-Hungary Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:55:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196048-British-Hacker-s-Extradition-Placed-on-Hold-McKinnon-Reportedly-Suffers-from-Asperger-s-Syndrome British UFO hacker won't be sent to the U.S. to face computer charges... yet Britain's Home Secretary Alan Johnson will analyze recently introduced medical evidence before admitted NASA hacker Gary McKinnon can be extradited to the United States. McKinnon reportedly suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, a unique form of autism, and it has been argued it would be inhumane to extradite McKinnon to face charges in the U.S. The Briton has admitted he hacked into computer networks belonging to NASA and various branches of the U.S. military. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196048-British-Hacker-s-Extradition-Placed-on-Hold-McKinnon-Reportedly-Suffers-from-Asperger-s-Syndrome Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:51:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196030-U-S-Ship-Fires-on-Poland Shots were fired form the destroyer USS Ramage as it was leaving the Polish port of Gdynia on Wednesday (October 28), Polish media reported. A witness working in a port warehouse told news channel TVN24 he heard rounds hitting a wall and video shot on Thursday (October 29) shows marks on the building's exterior. "We were in the warehouse of our furniture company, on the balcony. At one point we heard a shot, a pretty loud bang. We didn't know what was going on and as we later found out, the shots hit around 98 Feet (30 meters) from us. As it turned out later, they posed a real threat to us," Adam said. "It was really a coincidence that it didn't hit us, but the wall. Our cars are here, we work and spend whole days here, so there was a high risk, I can't hide that it affected us in some way," he added. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196030-U-S-Ship-Fires-on-Poland Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:36:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195998-EU-Making-Paedophilia-Legal-Across-Europe The German Government is promoting sexual contact between parents and children. If you cannot imagine this is true, you have to read the leaflet shown in Germany and EU to Legalise Paedophilia. The leaflet is a publication of a German Government Children's Department, which is distributed by the million, free of charge. Extract from the link: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195998-EU-Making-Paedophilia-Legal-Across-Europe Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:15:10 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195997-German-Government-Publication-Promotes-Incestuous-Pedophilia-as-Healthy-Sex-Ed- Micheal O'Brien, author on crisis of culture in West, says this "German state intervention in family life is a new level of auto-destruction" Booklets from a subsidiary of the German government's Ministry for Family Affairs encourage parents to sexually massage their children as young as 1 to 3 years of age. Two 40-page booklets entitled Love, Body and Playing Doctor by the German Federal Health Education Center (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung - BZgA) are aimed at parents - the first addressing children from 1-3 and the other children from 4-6 years of age. "Fathers do not devote enough attention to the clitoris and vagina of their daughters. Their caresses too seldom pertain to these regions, while this is the only way the girls can develop a sense of pride in their sex," reads the booklet regarding 1-3 year olds. The authors rationalize, "The child touches all parts of their father's body, sometimes arousing him. The father should do the same." Canadian author and public speaker Michael O'Brien who has written and spoken extensively about the crisis of culture in the West spoke to LifeSiteNews.com about the shocking and extremely disturbing phenomenon. It is, he said, "State-encouraged incest, which in most civilized societies is a crime." The development is, he suggests, a natural outcome of the rejection of the Judeo-Christian moral order. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195997-German-Government-Publication-Promotes-Incestuous-Pedophilia-as-Healthy-Sex-Ed- Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:35:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195996-EU-to-ban-all-shop-refunds EU Bureaucrats want to end the right of shoppers to get their money back for shoddy goods. This would end the 100 years of protection British consumers have enjoyed. For more than a century, shops have offered refunds to people who return unwanted or faulty goods. Plans by the European Union to "harmonise" consumer law will short-change them by removing that right and weakening safeguards. Ministers have vowed to fight the Consumer Rights Directive but the UK Government has no power to stop the change if it is backed by the majority of European Union states. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195996-EU-to-ban-all-shop-refunds Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:04:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195977-UK-What-BNP-leader-says-and-what-the-facts-show On fascism "I am not a Nazi and never have been." Griffin was convicted in 1998 of inciting racial hatred for articles that denied the Holocaust and praised the Waffen-SS. On immigration "The indigenous people of Britain have been victims of a genocide in recent months". The BNP leader first publicly referred to a "bloodless genocide'' when commenting in April on the language in the party's "Language and Concepts Discipline" manual, which says that black and Asian Britons should be called "resident foreigners', saying recent mass immigration was denying the English their ownidentity, and that the children of migrants did not become British simply by being born in Britain: "In a very subtle way, it's a sort of bloodless genocide." Analysis: The BNP claims that within 60 years the "indigenous British will become an ethnic minority in their own country". While it is true that 24% of births in 2008 were to non-UK mothers, foreign-born people make up no more than 11% of the UK's total population. Britain has just experienced the largest wave of immigration in recent history - mostly from Poland - but it is thought that half have already gone home. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195977-UK-What-BNP-leader-says-and-what-the-facts-show Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:54:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195973-Star-Fades-for-Blair-in-EU-Role The odds against former British Prime Minister Tony Blair becoming the first president of the European Union appear to have lengthened. Mr. Blair is the most prominent figure linked by diplomats to the post which, together with the job of a new EU foreign policy chief, will be created by the so-called Lisbon Treaty. The pact is designed to increase the 27-nation grouping's influence in world affairs. Formal negotiations on who should fill the top job are unlikely to begin until at least next month, European officials say, because the treaty has been held up awaiting ratification by the Czech Republic. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195973-Star-Fades-for-Blair-in-EU-Role Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:23:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195972-Disappointed-Sarkozy-shifts-gaze-from-Washington French President Nicolas Sarkozy, initially dubbed Sarko the American for his pro-U.S. stance, is finding it much tougher to deal with Washington than he had anticipated and is recalibrating his policies accordingly. Stung by perceived snubs from U.S. President Barack Obama and encouraged by the growing importance of the G20, Sarkozy is increasingly reaching out to non-aligned states in an effort to extend France's international influence. He has forged especially close ties with Brazil, is seeking alliances in central Asia and is intensifying his activities in the Middle East, using multi-billion dollar military and civilian nuclear trade deals as his calling card. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195972-Disappointed-Sarkozy-shifts-gaze-from-Washington Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:18:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195945-Thousands-await-Knock-s-new-Virgin-Mary-vision Pilgrims have travelled to a rain-soaked corner of western Ireland hoping to witness a miracle They came from Wexford, Manchester and even India, driven on by the hope that in this rain-soaked corner of western Ireland the mother of God would appear to them this weekend. All along Knock's main street the pilgrims slept in vans and motor homes, all hoping to book a space near the site where a Dublin-based spiritual healer predicted the Virgin Mary would materialise. Joe Coleman's visions of a Marian apparition on the exact spot where villagers claimed they saw the Virgin Mary in 1879 have created a fervour across the Catholic world. Coleman complained that the Catholic church had not made a priest available to recite the Rosary with him and the thousands gathered in waiting. Describing himself as "a visionary of our Blessed Mother", he said the visitation would only be visible "to people who come with an open heart". http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195945-Thousands-await-Knock-s-new-Virgin-Mary-vision Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:33:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195944-Legal-threat-to-web-group-that-opposes-Berlusconi The 20,000 members of a Facebook group called "Let's Kill Berlusconi" face an investigation after Rome magistrates said that the group could prompt an assassination attempt against the Italian Prime Minister. But new members were continuing to join the group (Uccidiamo Berlusconi in Italian) yesterday after prosecutor Nello Rossi announced the move, following government pressure for action against the Facebook users. Angelino Alfano, the Justice minister, said: "I'm waiting for the magistrates to do their duty and investigate, pursue and find the ones, who by encouraging hatred and murder against Silvio Berlusconi, are committing a punishable offence." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195944-Legal-threat-to-web-group-that-opposes-Berlusconi Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:30:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195940-Russia-cargo-jet-crash-kills-11 A Russian cargo plane has crashed in the far-eastern Yakutia region, killing all 11 crew members on board. The government plane had just unloaded its cargo at Mirnyi airport. It took off and crashed 25 km (15 miles) away, Russian state media reports. The Ilyushin came down in a deserted area and there were no casualties on the ground, local officials say. A special commission of the Russian Interior Ministry has left Moscow to investigate the cause of the accident. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195940-Russia-cargo-jet-crash-kills-11 Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:45:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195921-British-nuclear-expert-s-17th-floor-UN-death-plunge-was-not-suicide- A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination. Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna. An initial autopsy concluded that there were 'no suspicious circumstances'. But it is understood that Mr Hampton's widow Olena Gryshcuk and her family were deeply unhappy with that verdict. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195921-British-nuclear-expert-s-17th-floor-UN-death-plunge-was-not-suicide- Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:47:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195914-L-tat-c-est-moi-the-cult-of-Sarko Never before has a 23-year-old student's announcement that he's withdrawing a job application caused such waves of astonishment and relief. Last night Jean Sarkozy, the son of the French President, abandoned his dream of taking over the political leadership of the huge La Défense skyscraper park just west of Paris. The announcement by the young man, on the television news, brought to an end a battle of political wills which appeared, in recent days, to have pitted the Sarkozy clan against almost the whole of France, from the press and public to the President's own party and Prime Minister. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195914-L-tat-c-est-moi-the-cult-of-Sarko Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:37:32 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195912-Chemical-alert-as-six-passengers-faint-on-transatlantic-flight-to-Heathrow More than 200 passengers were at the centre of an fumes alert at London's Heathrow airport after at least six "fainted" during a transatlantic British Airways flight. The Boeing 777 was ordered to a remote part of the airfield after landing early this morning, where it was met by 11 fire appliances and six ambulances. The drama began as the British Airways flight BA184 from Newark, New Jersey, landed at Heathrow's Terminal 5 at about 6.50am. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195912-Chemical-alert-as-six-passengers-faint-on-transatlantic-flight-to-Heathrow Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:19:13 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195893-Ukraine-gripped-by-swine-flu-fears-goes-into-lockdown According to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers in connection with the epidemic of influenza A (H1N1) a three-week vacation is announced in all educational institutions of Ukraine, MIGnews.com.ua correspondent reports. In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine introduced a three-week ban on public events, but also introduces a vacation in all higher education institutions. Yulia Tymoshenko assured that to date, all pharmacies and hospitals are provided "with rapid tests to detect Californian influenza." "We have bought a sufficient number of medical masks, which are distributed to the regions of Ukraine. All the pharmacies and hospitals have already been provided with relevant masks, medical supplies and drugs for prophylaxis and treatment of swine flu", - she said. In addition, the Prime Minister announced that all funds necessary for the purchase of medicines to prevent and treat flu, "which can cope with this disease" have been assigned from reserve fund. Yulia Tymoshenko stressed that she will control all pharmacies. According to her, for the period of the epidemic of influenza A (H1N1), all health institutions, regardless of their form of ownership, will be subordinated to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195893-Ukraine-gripped-by-swine-flu-fears-goes-into-lockdown Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:15:57 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195879-Russian-President-Medvedev-blasts-defenders-of-Stalin Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made an outspoken attack on those seeking to rehabilitate former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Millions of Soviet citizens died under Stalin's rule and Mr Medvedev said it was not possible to justify those who exterminated their own people. He also warned against efforts to falsify history and defend repression. Some Russian politicians have recently tried to portray Stalin in a more positive light. Under President Medvedev's predecessor, current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Stalin was often promoted as an efficient leader who turned the Soviet Union into a superpower. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195879-Russian-President-Medvedev-blasts-defenders-of-Stalin Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:37:49 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195878-French-magistrate-calls-for-Chirac-trial-Did-Sarko-put-him-up-to-it- Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial on corruption charges. A magistrate ordered the trial over alleged false job contracts dating from Mr Chirac's time as Paris mayor. The 76-year-old served as the capital's mayor from 1977 until he was elected president in 1995. Mr Chirac has always denied wrongdoing and the Paris public prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, has previously said there was no case to make against him. This is the first time a former head of state in France will have been ordered to stand trial for corruption, although correspondents say Mr Marin is likely to appeal against the magistrate's trial order. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195878-French-magistrate-calls-for-Chirac-trial-Did-Sarko-put-him-up-to-it- Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:30:20 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195877-EU-paving-the-way-for-European-empire- European Union leaders have cleared a major obstacle holding up the massive Lisbon reform treaty, paving the way for a new-look EU with its first-ever president. At talks in Brussels, the leaders approved a proposal to satisfy a last-minute demand by Czech President Vaclav Klaus for his country to win an opt-out from the EU's charter of fundamental rights. The Czech Republic is the only one of the 27 EU nations, which has not ratified the treaty - which some critics say is a threat to the sovereignty of member-states', and will turn the bloc into "an empire the size of Europe." "I am happy to say that the European Council, this evening, has been able to take a decision and agree on what has been asked for by the Czech government and the Czech president," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195877-EU-paving-the-way-for-European-empire- Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:25:15 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195808-Memoirs-of-Hitler-aide-could-finally-end-Holocaust-claims The memoirs of the last SS adjutant to Adolf Hitler are to be published in a move historians say could cast away the last shred of doubt over his personal involvement in the Holocaust. Fritz Darges died at the weekend aged 96 with instructions for his manuscript about his time spent at the side of the Führer to be published once he was gone. Darges was the last surviving member of Hitler's inner circle and was present for all major conferences, social engagements and policy announcements for four years of the war. Experts say his account of his time as Hitler's direct link to the SS could discount the claims of revisionists who have tried to claim the German leader knew nothing of the extermination programme. Right-wing historians have claimed the planing for the murder of six million Jews was carried out by SS chief Heinrich Himmler. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195808-Memoirs-of-Hitler-aide-could-finally-end-Holocaust-claims Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:19:30 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195805-Italy-Mafia-Boss-Executed-in-Broad-Daylight A Mafia boss was gunned down by a hired hitman as he waited outside a bar. Mario Bacio Terracino, 53, was shot dead in what police believe was an ongoing feud with a rival clan over the control of a lucrative drug trafficking network. Terracino was also known to police as a bank robber and was accused of a £1,8-million heist committed in 1991, but was never convicted. His trademark was said to be entering buildings from below through the sewer network. Police in the southern Italian port of Naples, where the Mafia are known as the Camorra, released CCTV footage from a security camera in a bid to catch the hitman. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195805-Italy-Mafia-Boss-Executed-in-Broad-Daylight Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:21:02 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195794-Two-Scottish-paedophiles-jailed-for-life Men led largest paedophile ring in Scotland, responsible for 125,000 images and videos and abuse of friends' children Two men have been jailed for life for masterminding a child abuse conspiracy that included an "utterly appalling" attack on an infant boy and the assault of a three-month-old baby. Neil Strachan, a convicted sex offender, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years in prison while his co-accused James Rennie, once an influential youth worker, was jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years at the high court in Edinburgh today. Both men were given "lifelong restriction" orders, using powers introduced in 2006 for the most serious and violent sexual offenders, which will place them under risk assessment and management plans until they die. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195794-Two-Scottish-paedophiles-jailed-for-life Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:42:40 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195792-Spanish-Woman-Thanks-Guardian-Angel-Who-Diagnosed-Rare-Disease-on-Bus A Spanish woman has thanked a stranger who saved her life after approaching her on a bus to tell her she was suffering from a rare disease. Montse Ventura, 55, said a woman who sat opposite her on Barcelona's number 64 bus nine months ago urged her to have tests for acromegaly, a disorder resulting from an excess of growth hormone due to a pituitary gland tumour. She said she had never heard of the disorder but the woman handed her a piece of paper where she had written down the names of two clinical tests, the Guardian newspaper reported. "She wrote something down and said 'Have the analysis done as soon as possible because if you wait until you feel the need to consult your doctor, you may already be in a very bad state,'" Ventura said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195792-Spanish-Woman-Thanks-Guardian-Angel-Who-Diagnosed-Rare-Disease-on-Bus Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:28:05 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195774-Tony-Blair-set-to-stand-for-EU-presidency-if-job-is-big-enough- Tony Blair will stand for the presidency of the European Union if its leaders agree that the role is a substantial one requiring clout on the world stage, The Times has learnt. The former Prime Minister would give up his lucrative commercial interests for a job that would allow him to "make a difference" for Europe, friends say. In the clearest indication so far that Mr Blair wants the job, allies acknowledged last night that he would be a "highly interested spectator" as European heads of government meet tonight and tomorrow in Brussels. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195774-Tony-Blair-set-to-stand-for-EU-presidency-if-job-is-big-enough- Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:42:33 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195764-Greece-pledges-new-counter-terrorism-policy-after-Athens-attack Greece's newly elected socialist government said Wednesday it will soon present a new counter-terrorism policy, after Tuesday's bloody attack against a police station in a northern Athens suburb left six policemen injured. "It was an attack against Greek society. Greece will not surrender to fear. Democracy will not be terrorized. The Government does not negotiate with terrorists. They will be arrested and prosecuted," Minister of Citizens Protection Mihalis Chrisohoidis told reporters following his visit to the hospital which admitted the injured policemen and a civilian in shock. Comment: This attack appears to be a very convenient excuse for the new government of Greece to "tighten the reins", isn't it? In fact, it is difficult for us to see anyone or anything else benefitting here other than the government. Prime Minister George Papandreou also visited the injured on Wednesday morning. According to the latest official reports, at least five terrorists who escaped were involved in the shooting outside the Agia Paraskevi police station. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195764-Greece-pledges-new-counter-terrorism-policy-after-Athens-attack Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:50:09 -0400 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195751-EU-Troubles-V-clav-Klaus-can-unravel-Lisbon-treaty The Czech president is stoking fears that his country's national interest is in danger in an attempt to delay the treaty's progress Brno, a city of 400,000 people in the south-east of the Czech Republic, may be the place where the European Union's future will be decided. It is also where the country's constitutional court had a session on Tuesday to assess a complaint filed against the Lisbon treaty by a group of rightwing senators associated with the country's Eurosceptic president, Václav Klaus, a staunch opponent of the agreement. As widely expected, the court's hearing was eventually postponed until November 3, so the suspense will only grow. Already approved by both chambers of the country's parliament, the treaty still needs to be ratified by the Czech president. The problem is that Klaus's renowned aversion to the agreement prompts him to hinder Lisbon's evaluation with anything he can reach. The president did not show up at the court's session on Tuesday, but sent two representatives to proxy for him. Standing before the jury, they accounted for their principal's objections to the Lisbon treaty by presenting the questions that Klaus had posed to the constitutional court last year, when the judges affirmed the legality of selected parts of the agreement. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195751-EU-Troubles-V-clav-Klaus-can-unravel-Lisbon-treaty Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:36:54 -0400