'A child rapist jailed for 19 years for his role in a Rochdale paedophile gang has been on the run for more than four months and is feared to have fled to Pakistan.Choudry Ikhalaq Hussain, 38, was sentenced to imprisonment in his absence on Friday for rape, sexual activity with a child and conspiracy to rape.But Hussain, who was part of a 10-strong child abuse ring all of whom were of Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage, absconded during his trial last November and police believe he is now in hiding abroad.During the trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court Hussain claimed a family member had died.He was given permission by the judge to attend the funeral - which he had said was due to be held in Britain.However, Hussain never returned to court.'
'Asylum seekers and refugees applying to be minicab drivers are exempt from criminal records checks, potentially allowing murderers and rapists to get behind the wheel.Rules laid down by Transport for London (TfL) mean refugees and those applying for asylum do not have to reveal whether they have a criminal history when trying to become a cab driver.The legal loophole in an official application document on 'private hire driver licensing' says people coming to Britain will not be required to have their criminal convictions checked.Asylum seekers and refugees applying to be minicab drivers are exempt from criminal records checks. '
'Quebec girl told to stop reading book by school bus driver
Sarah Auger, 8, enjoyed reading to and from school, until the bus driver said it was dangerous
Kate McKenna, CBC NewsAn eight-year-old girl in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. was told she's no longer allowed to read books on the school bus because it poses a risk to the safety of other students.Sarah Auger loves reading and used to enjoy using her 20-minute ride to and from school to read for pleasure.But recently, her bus driver told her she had to stop.She says she was told reading posed a risk to other students on the bus.He suggested they might stand up to see what she was reading, or she might poke herself in the eye with the corners of the book. '
'American officials realize that they misjudged Mr. Putin and are working to predict his next move, the senior official said. "We have misread Putin. He is not going to give up," the official said.'
'As it stands, the bill states that voters should be asked: "Do you think that the UK should be a member of the EU?"If people aren't aware that the UK is already a member of the EU then they shouldn't have a vote on anything.
...
The Electoral Commission has already said the existing question needs further thought, suggesting that some people are not aware that the UK is already a member and might not understand the premise as a result.'
'Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.Thanks to Investors.com for that spot.
Who makes up this body, and how do they decide requests? Nobody knows; the names of the chairman, members and staff are kept secret.
We do know the panel was set up under pressure from Islamist groups who complained about FBI stings at mosques. Just months before the panel's formation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI for allegedly violating the civil rights of Muslims in Los Angeles by hiring an undercover agent to infiltrate and monitor mosques there.
Before mosques were excluded from the otherwise wide domestic spy net the administration has cast, the FBI launched dozens of successful sting operations against homegrown jihadists — inside mosques — and disrupted dozens of plots against the homeland.
If only they were allowed to continue, perhaps the many victims of the Boston Marathon bombings would not have lost their lives and limbs. The FBI never canvassed Boston mosques until four days after the April 15 attacks, and it did not check out the radical Boston mosque where the Muslim bombers worshipped
'A Labour MP has apologised for claiming the BBC made a "silly innuendo about the race" of the next Pontiff.More here at the BBC
David Lammy was commenting on a BBC Twitter message, which asked "will smoke be black or white?".
Mr Lammy, tweeting from the Commons chamber, said the BBC message was "crass and unnecessary".
He later apologised after Twitter users pointed out the role played by black and white smoke in announcing the election of a new Pope.'
'Luke Rudkowski hits the streets of NYC to find out where Obama supporters really stand on his policies. Now he did this in an underhanded way where the policies where presented to be Romney's, but this was only done to get an honest opinion. The reactions when the truth was uncovered varied but they were very telling to say the least. Here are some of the sources that were mentioned throughout the interviews 1st question, part 1 - Obama, in Europe, signs Patriot Act extension http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43180202/ns/us_news-security/t/obama-europe-signs... 1st question, part 2 - Warrantless Spying Skyrockets Under Obama http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/03/warrantless-spying-skyrockets-under-obam 2nd question - President Obama Signed the National Defense Authorization Act - Now What? http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/02/president-obama-signed-the-na... 3rd question - Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.... 4th question - Drone wars and state secrecy -- how Barack Obama became a hardliner http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/02/drone-wars-secrecy-barack-obama 'So why are these people still supporting Barack Obama? Of course the reason these people don't know these facts is that the US media like the BBC in the UK is all but actively campaigning for Barack Obama's re-election.
'A great deal of Gordon Brown’s economic strategy would strike a sane man as troubling. Not a great deal was mysterious. The orgy of consumption spending, frequent extensions of the cycle over which he would “borrow to invest”, proclamations of the “end of boom and bust”: these are part of the armoury of modern politicians, of all political hues.Read the article for the explanation, which revolves around the 'carry trade'. Is this true? I cannot say. It might be but then it might also just be true that Gordon Brown saw gold as an unproductive asset and thought that he could do so much more by selling the gold and 'investing' the proceeds. The trouble is that when Gordon Brown said 'investing', he too often meant wasting.
One decision stands out as downright bizarre, however: the sale of the majority of Britain’s gold reserves for prices between $256 and $296 an ounce, only to watch it soar so far as $1,615 per ounce today.
When Brown decided to dispose of almost 400 tonnes of gold between 1999 and 2002, he did two distinctly odd things.
First, he broke with convention and announced the sale well in advance, giving the market notice that it was shortly to be flooded and forcing down the spot price. This was apparently done in the interests of “open government”, but had the effect of sending the spot price of gold to a 20-year low, as implied by basic supply and demand theory.
Second, the Treasury elected to sell its gold via auction. Again, this broke with the standard model. The price of gold was usually determined at a morning and afternoon "fix" between representatives of big banks whose network of smaller bank clients and private orders allowed them to determine the exact price at which demand met with supply.
The auction system again frequently achieved a lower price than the equivalent fix price. The first auction saw an auction price of $10c less per ounce than was achieved at the morning fix. It also acted to depress the price of the afternoon fix which fell by nearly $4.
It seemed almost as if the Treasury was trying to achieve the lowest price possible for the public’s gold. It was.'
The bloody obvious point being missed is that there are more speakers of Mandarin Chinese and Hindi than there are of English BUT (and it's a bloody big but) Hindi is not even spoken by all Indians, nor Mandarin by all Chinese. Indeed the common language of India is English, as it is the second language of so many people. But how many Chinese speak Hindi? How many Indians speak Mandarin? The reason English is the international language is not that it is the first language of the majority of people but that it is the first or second language of more people than any other language and the only chance of a common language.
'There has certainly been language shift in Los Angeles, most notably a doubling of the number of Spanish speakers (those who speak the language at home) in the past 30 years from 1.5 million in 1980 to 3.6 million in 2010 (including Spanish Creole).
Internationally, Spanish is also significant and futuregazers have gone as far as predicting that one day Mandarin Chinese could become the default language of business worldwide.
Speaking to the New York Times in 2009, French linguist Claude Hagege, author of On the Death and Life of Languages, said that Hindi and Mandarin could replace English some day.'
"It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not "meet halfway" those who do not want to meet you."Vladimir Jabotinsky, The Ethics of The Iron Wall
'We expect that over time we will be able to reduce support for wind power and other renewable energy technologies as they become more economic, but it is not possible to put a specific timescale on this.''Coalition' Energy Minister Charles Hendry has told MPs that UK governments had spent £2.2 billion supporting wind power over the last eight years and that it was impossible to predict when Wind Power would prove profitable without grants. If this is the case, why are we wasting the money; it's not as though Man Made Climate Change is real.
'Officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport carrying out a so-called ‘equality impact assessment’ to ensure minority groups are able to take a full part in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations next summer.'
