Italian police say dozens of people have been arrested across Europe for smuggling would-be immigrants from Iraqi Kurdistan. Police in Rome say suspects were detained in 16 Italian cities and in France, England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece and Sweden. Police say the suspects allegedly smuggled thousands of Iraqi Kurds in Europe over the last three years. The arrests follow a three-year investigation involving hundreds of Italian police officers. Rome police said Monday the human-trafficking organization was also active in Iraq and Turkey. Sky TG24 TV said some Kurds were allegedly smuggled inside empty snack vending machines loaded on trucks that were transported by ferry across the Adriatic between Greece and Italy.
The right won in the big countries where it governs, in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Austria, and Hungary. In Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, and Cyprus, the parties of the right also came first. This right wing surge is accompanied in a series of countries by the rise of populist right and far right forces, in particular in Holland, where the far right Islamophobic and anti-European party of the deputy Geert Wilders obtained 16. 4% of the vote and 4 MEPs. In Austria, Finland and Hungary, the forces of the far right which have been involved in anti-immigrant campaigns also gained support. In the United Kingdom, the BNP obtained 2 MEPs, with 6.7% of the vote. Greece also saw a breakthrough for the far right, with 7.2% for the LAOS organization. Social democracy fell back, in particular in the countries where it governs: in Britain, Spain and Portugal. It experienced a veritable rout in Germany where it scored only 21%, one of the weakest electoral scores for the SPD, not to mention the collapse of the PS in France. It is always difficult to draw global lessons on relations of social and political forces from a poll marked by abstention by almost 60% of voters. Nevertheless, the first socio-economic effects of the crisis- redundancies, explosion of unemployment, lower purchasing power - did not produce movements of electoral radicalisation, on the left or in an anti-capitalist sense.
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said on Tuesday he objected to the sacking of a security official by the top Western peace envoy in Bosnia, deepening his region's dispute with the international community. Dodik said he would accept neither Valentin Inzko's decision to sack a state security official for spying on international officials. "My message to Inzko is: This is unacceptable for us, we will not respect this decision because it was made without need and judgment," Dodik told reporters. "You are set up, Mr. Inzko. Nothing is true that Gregorian and his team alleged," Dodik said. Gregorian, a U.S. diplomat with vast experience in the region, is biased against Serbs, he added. Inzko's spokesman said the envoys' decisions were final and binding. Inzko is the international High Representative for Bosnia and has the power to impose laws or fire officials seen as obstructing the Dayton accords. He is also the supreme authority on interpreting the country's constitution. Under the Dayton agreement, Bosnia was divided into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, with a weak central state. Muslims and Croats want a stronger state, Bosnian Serbs want to keep their broad autonomy and strongly oppose any outside effort to centralise power.
Several hundred Serbs have blocked traffic at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings today in protest at the introduction of new customs measures. The protesters called on EULEX to immediately suspend all activities regarding the collection of customs duties at the two administrative crossings in question, stating that businesses in the region were happy to pay taxes, but not to fund the unrecognized state of Kosovo. They also demanded that an agreement be reached as soon as possible between international officials and the competent Serbian ministries over a means of tax collection that was in keeping with UN Security Council resolution 1244. Today's protest , which was policed by EULEX and Kosovo Police Service members with a KFOR unit in attendance too, ended without incident.
Studying abroad has been consistently a popular option for UT students wanting to experience an education outside of Knoxville. This summer the College of Communication and Information offered a month long study abroad excursion in the country of Cyprus for interested students. Sixteen students were selected to travel to Cyprus for the month of June to study and learn about the country's culture while taking classes at the University of Nicosia in the country's capital. The island nation of Cyprus is located in the Mediterranean Sea. the students will be making a video documentary about traditional Cypriot food and wine, and they will also create a video about studying abroad. For the documentary, students will be filming at various locations around the country of Cyprus. A snail farm, a winery and vineyard, a fish dock and several other locations are on the agenda for filming. Studying in Cyprus will give these students a unique opportunity to not only take classes but also experience a culture that is different from the one they are used to. Facts about Cyprus - Known to many tourists as "the island of Aphrodite"; Has a population of about 780,000; Entered the EU in 2008 in half (the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" is not recognized); Is the Mediterranean's third largest island; The official languages are Greek and Turkish; The capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, is the last divided capital in Europe.
Rome's Jewish community, some of whom were forced to leave Libya 40 years ago, are angry over Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's apparent willingness to meet them only on Saturday, when Jews observe Shabbat. Community leaders also want Gadhafi, who arrives in Rome on Wednesday for his first visit to Italy, to tell them the whereabouts of a Palestinian who was sentenced for a 1982 attack on a Rome synagogue and found asylum in Libya. Libyan organizers of the trip have invited the Jews to attend a meeting - along with Italians who were expelled from the country in the early 1970s - planned for Saturday in a tent being set up for Gadhafi in a sprawling Rome park. Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, is a day of rest during which Jews cannot work. Many of Rome's Jews are observant, including Shalom Tshuva, a Libyan who is a deputy president of Rome's Jewish community and head of Libyan Jews in Italy. The Jewish community in the former Italian colony, which traces its origins to Roman times, numbered about 38,000 at the end of World War Two. But it declined steadily after anti-Jewish pogroms in 1945 and 1948. By the time Israel won the Six-Day War against Arab nations in 1967, the community had dwindled to about 7,000. Following Israel's victory, anti-Jewish riots broke out and nearly all Libyan Jews were evacuated to Italy for safety.
Frontpage Interview's guest today is a Coptic Orthodox priest Fr. Zakaria Botros, who al Qaeda has called "one of the most wanted infidels in the world," issuing a 60 million dollar bounty on his head. Popular Arabic magazines also call him "Islam's public enemy #1". He hosts a television program, "Truth Talk," on Life TV. His two sites are Islam-Christianity.net and FatherZakaria.net. He was recently awarded the Daniel of the Year award. FP: Fr. Zakaria Botros, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Botros: Thank you for inviting me. FP: Let's begin with your own personal story, in terms of Islam and Christianity. Botros: I am a Copt. In my early 20s, I became a priest. Of course, in predominantly Muslim Egypt, Christians—priests or otherwise—do not talk about religion with Muslims. My older brother, a passionate Christian learned that lesson too late: after preaching to Muslims, he was eventually ambushed by Muslims who cut out his tongue and murdered him. Far from being deterred or hating Muslims, I eventually felt more compelled to share the Good News with them. Naturally, this created many problems: I was constantly harassed, threatened, and eventually imprisoned and tortured for one year, simply for preaching to Muslims. Egyptian officials charged me with abetting "apostasy," that is, for being responsible for the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. Another time I was arrested while boarding a plane out of Egypt. Eventually, however, I managed to flee my native country and resided for a time in Australia and England. Anyway, my life-story with Christianity and Islam is very long and complicated. In fact, an entire book about it was recently published. FP: I apologize for asking this, but what were some of the tortures you endured when you were imprisoned? Botros: Due to my preaching the Gospel, Egyptian soldiers broke into my home putting their guns to my head. Without telling me why, they arrested me and placed me in an extremely small prison cell (1.8x1.5x1.8 meters, which was further problematic, since I am 1.83 meters tall), with other inmates, and in well over 100 degree temperatures, with little ventilation, no windows, and no light. No beds of course, we slept on the floor—in shifts, as there was not enough room for all of us to lie down. Due to the lack of oxygen, we used to also take shifts lying with our noses under the crack of the cell door to get air. As a result, I developed a kidney infection (receiving, of course, no medical attention). Mosquitoes plagued us. Food was delivered in buckets; we rarely even knew what the gruel was. The prison guards would often spit in the bucket in front of us, as well as fling their nose pickings in it.