Multi-million claim for child abuse by Franciscans

RNW, 31 August 2010 - 9:44am

An order of Franciscan monks in the Dutch town of Kerkrade has been told it can expect a huge compensation claim for sexual abuse of children in their care.

Lawyer Bob van der Groen said on Dutch public TV that acting on evidence provided by 39 former pupils of the Franciscan-run boarding school he will write to the monks on Tuesday. The compensation claim could amount to "millions of euros", according to local media.

The victims said that least fourteen members of the Franciscan order regularly commited acts of sexual abuse with pupils. The offences took place at the St Maria at the Angels boarding school in Bleijerheide, Kerkrade, in past decades.

Germany, the Pope's home country, has been one of
many countries hit by sex abuse accusations (BBC)

Related Articles:

German Catholic Church rewrites sex abuse guidelines

Belgian sex abuse tapes amplify Catholic scandals

Belgian cardinal urged victim to delay sex abuse statement

Pope bids to defuse clerical abuse row by meeting victims on visit to Britain

Taxpayers should not fund Pope's visit, says survey

Rift among Dutch Christian Democrats widens

Two on United Flight Arrested on Terror Charges in Amsterdam

Suspects Had Been Cleared Sunday by TSA in Chicago, Birmingham Despite Security Concerns

ABC News, By RICHARD ESPOSITO, CHRISTINE BROUWER and BRIAN ROSS, Aug. 30, 2010

Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with "preparation of a terrorist attack," U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.

The main entrance of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam,
is shown in this Feb. 2008 file photo.

(Marcel Antonisse/AFP/Getty Images)

More Photos

U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed "mock bombs" in their luggage. "This was almost certainly a dry run, a test," said one senior law enforcement official.

A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said "the investigation is ongoing." He said the arrests were made "at the request of American authorities."

The two were allowed to board the flight at O'Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.

The men were identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI, and Hezem al Murisi, the officials said. A neighbor of al Soofi told ABC News he is from Yemen.

Airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama first stopped al Soofi and referred him to additional screening because of what officials said was his "bulky clothing."

In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives. Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O'Hare.

Once in Chicago, officials say they learned al Soofi checked his luggage on a flight to Washington's Dulles airport for connections on flights to Dubai and then Yemen, even though he did not board the flight himself.

Ahmed Mohammed Nassr al Soofi
(left) and Hezem al Murisi.

Instead, officials say, al Soofi was joined by the second man, Al Murisi, and boarded the United flight from Chicago to Amsterdam.

When Customs and Border officials learned al Soofi was not on the flight from Dulles to Dubai, the plane was ordered to return to the gate so his luggage could be removed. Officials said additional screening found no evidence of explosives.

The two men were detained by Dutch authorities when the United flight landed in Amsterdam, according to the officials.

Related Articles:

Dutch prosecutors say Yemenis freed

False alarm at Amsterdam airport

Two Yemeni terror suspects arrested in Amsterdam

Govt to invite investors to manage Jakarta`s int`l airport

Antara News, Monday, August 30, 2010 23:06 WIB 

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is planning to invite a number of foreign investors to manage service facilities at Jakarta city`s Soekarno-Hatta airport, a minister said.

Soekarno-Hatta airport, Jakarta

"We will invite interested investors to serve as partners to manage the airport," State Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar said here on Monday.

The plan to improve the management of the airport was related to the master strategy of state airport operator to improve airport services, he said.

Airports are one of the mirrors or shop windows of a country, he said.

The quality of Soekarno-Hatta airport`s services must be equal to that of other international airports such as Schiphol in The Netherlands, Narita in Japan and Changi in Singapore, he said.

"International airport operators including those of the United States have expressed interest to become investors," he said.

But he added that the government had yet to respond to the offer because it still had to improve the internal management of the state airport operator.

"It (the project) is open to any investor who is willing to, the more so if they have enough experience. We will select them when all the internal aspects have been completed," he said.

To realize the plan the government would first form a subsidiary which would cooperate with the investors, he said.

Related Article:

Schiphol buys New York JFK Terminal 4

Probe into salaries at Dutch aid organisations

RNW, 30 August 2010 - 4:52pm

Maxime Verhagen

Caretaker Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has ordered an investigation of executive salaries at over 100 Dutch organisations involved in development aid. The move follows a row earlier this year about the size of the salaries earned by the directors of the development organisation SNV and the Dutch branch of the Red Cross.

The Red Cross has since reduced its director's salary but SNV says director Dirk Elsen's 160,000 euros a year is "reasonable and fitting" for the work he does and is refusing to budge. Employees of aid organisations are currently not allow to earn more than around 120,000 euros a year. If they do, their government subsidies can be reduced.

The investigation by the foreign ministry will be limited to Dutch organisations which received at least half a million euros in subsidy last year. It is expected to be completed by the end of September.

A comparative investigation of top salaries was requested by the Socialist Party. Socialist MP Ewout Irrgang commented: " nothing is as damaging for the image of development aid as the smell of mega-salaries and the impression of money going to waste."

Crime writer Baantjer dies at 86

RNW, 30 August 2010

Dutch crime writer A.C. "Appie" Baantjer has died at the age of 86, just over two weeks short of his 87th birthday.

Dutch crime writer A.C. "Appie" Baantjer

For nearly four decades he wrote two books a year about police inspector Juriaan de Cock which sold millions of copies and were translated into numerous languages, including English, German, Polish, Korean and Chinese.

Appie Baantjer was himself an ex-policeman and worked for 28 years at the Warmoesstraat station in Amsterdam's red light district. Most of his books take place in that environment.

In the 1990s Dutch television started a series based on his books and entitled Baantjer, which ran for 12 years and significantly increased the size of his audience. The author himself was pleased with the TV version.

"The way Piet Römer plays De Cock," he said " is exactly right."

After the death of his wife Marretje in 2007, Baantjer decided that the 70th De Cock book would be the last. However, he went on to work with co-authors on a new series about Hendrick Zijlstra, De Cock's nephew.

Literary critics tended to dismiss Baantjer's novels as "light reading" or worse, but he won several genre prizes and was at one time the best-selling Dutch author.

First Aboriginal MP in Australia

RNW, 29 August 2010 - 9:40pm

An Aboriginal man has been elected to Australia's House of Representatives, becoming the first indigenous MP in the country's history.

Ken Wyatt, representing the centre-right Liberal party, has taken the seat of Hasluck in Western Australia in a cliff-hanger race with Labour candidate Sharryn Jackson.

Last week's elections in Australia have ended in political deadlock, with neither the Liberals nor the governing Labour party winning an outright majority. Negotiations between the two main parties and the independents who hold the balance of power are continuing.

Mr Wyatt has dismissed racist hate mail he received following his victory, saying it was time for Australia to move forward.

Ken Wyatt was elected as the Liberal representative for the seat of Hasluck

Related Article:

First Australian Aboriginal in House of Representatives

German lawmakers blast banker's remarks as racist

The Jakarta Post, Kirsten Grieshaber, The Associated Press, Berlin | Sun, 08/29/2010

German top government officials and immigrant leaders on Sunday condemned remarks by a board member of Germany's federal bank as racist and anti-Semitic.

Fury: Bundesbank board member Thilo
Sarrazin has been accused of anti-emitism
and racism after his controversial comments

Thilo Sarrazin of the German Bundesbank came under fire for telling the weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag that "all Jews share the same gene." He also said Muslim immigrants across Europe were not willing or capable of integrating into western societies.

Several lawmakers demanded that Sarrazin, 65, step down from his post as board member at Germany's federal bank and resign his party membership of the left-leaning Social Democrats - demands that Sarrazin rejected.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in an interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag that "remarks that feed racism or even anti-Semitism have no place in our political discourse."

Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Sarrazin had "overstepped the borders of provocation."

Leaders of Germany's Jewish and Muslim communities also condemned the banker's remarks.

Stephan Kramer of the Central Council of Jews in Germany told German news agency DAPD: "Whoever tries to identify Jews by their genetic makeup succumbs to racism."

Last year, Sarrazin, who previously served as finance minister for Berlin, told a magazine that "I do not need to accept anyone who lives on handouts from a state that it rejects, is not adequately concerned about the education of their children and constantly produces new, little headscarf-clad girls."

He later apologized for his remarks.

A leading member of the Turkish community in Germany, Kenan Kolat, called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to expel Sarrazin from his Bundesbank post.

In his Welt interview on Sunday, Sarrazin said that "Muslim immigrants don't integrate as well as other immigrant groups across Europe. The reasons for this are apparently not based on their ethnicity, but are rooted in the culture of Islam."

While most lawmakers have condemned his accusations as racist, some newspapers and TV stations have said an open debate about the country's integration of Muslim immigrants is greatly needed.

A government survey in 2009 found that the Muslim population in Germany likely is between 3.8 million and 4.3 million - meaning Muslims make up between 4.6 and 5.2 percent of the population. About 63 percent of those report Turkish heritage.

The overall number of Germans with immigrant roots - including Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants - reached more than 16 million, or nearly 20 percent of the population in 2009.

Sarrazin has a new book out on the topic that he will introduce next week in Berlin. In some of the excerpts that have already been published by German media, he writes that immigrants have profited much more from Germany's welfare system than they have contributed to it, and claims that immigrants are making German society "dumber" because they are less educated but have more children than ethnic Germans.

The had of the Social Democrats, Sigmar Gabriel, called Sarrazin's comments "linguistically violent" and said last week "if you were to ask me why he still wants to be a member of our party - I don't know either."

Related Articles:

German bank votes to expel disputed member

'All Jews share a certain gene': German banker sparks outrage with 'stupid' comments

EU trade chief apologises for saying you can't have a 'rational conversation about Middle East with Jews'

Thousands flee as Indonesia volcano erupts

RNW, 29 August 2010 - 4:41am

A volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years Sunday, spewing a vast cloud of smoke and ash into the air and sending thousands of people fleeing from their homes.

Mount Sinabung erupted for the first time in 400 years

Indonesia issued a red alert after the Sinabung volcano erupted, blanketing the area in thick and acrid black smoke, disaster officials said, although no casualties have yet been reported.

"It's clearly dangerous so we've raised the warning to the highest level, or red level," said Surono, head of the nation's volcano disaster alert centre.

"From the crater, it shot smoke and volcanic ash 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) into the sky," he told AFP. "Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma."

The 2,460-metre (8,100 feet) Sinabung in northern Sumatra has not erupted for more than 400 years but had shown "some volcanic activity" since Friday, Surono said.

"Our team is coordinating with district and provincial officials to monitor the situation," he added.

About 9,300 people have been evacuated from several affected villages to towns -- including Berastagi and Kabanjahe -- outside a six-kilometre "danger zone", search and rescue team official Mohammad Agus Wibisono told AFP.

"The ash has spread to a distance of 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the volcano. Many of the villagers evacuated were farmers and they said the ash had settled on their vegetable farms," he said.

There were however no flight disruptions, Wibisono said.

Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono told AFP that many residents in four affected villages at the foot of the volcano had fled their homes immediately after the eruption.

"Many had left their homes even before they were evacuated. They said the volcano was spewing thick black smoke, small stones and sulphur. They were so scared they decided to leave their homes and go to the city," Kardono said, adding that a rescue team has been sent to survey the area.

"The area is blanketed with thick smoke and there's a strong smell of sulphur," he added.

He said while there were no reports yet of any deaths or injuries, "many" had reported breathing difficulties.

(BBC News)

"We have anticipated that people may have respiratory problems from inhaling dust. So we've given them face masks and are preparing to send in medicines for respiratory infections," he added.

Tents and food are also being arranged for the evacuees and "the situation is under control", Kardono said.

Local media reported that a man had died after experiencing breathing difficulty while fleeing from his village, but Karo district official Andes Mbaga told AFP he had died from heart failure.

"He had a history of heart problems. He was having breathing problems which could have been worsened by the ash and dust floating around," he said.

Evacuees from 18 affected villages are "all doing well" and those who complained of breathing problems are receiving medical help, he added.

"Many of them have removed their face masks. The volcanic activity has also reduced significantly. Lava was emitted during the eruption but it didn't flow out.

"The experts are still monitoring the volcanic activity so we don't know when the status will be downgraded," Mbaga said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity. It has more active volcanoes than any other country.

Earlier this month, four people went missing after the 1,784-metre (5,853-foot) Mount Karangetang, on the remote island of Siau in North Sulawesi province, erupted.

Mount Baru Jari on Lombok island, near the resort island of Bali, erupted in May, spewing ash and lava at least 1,500 metres into the sky, damaging crops but not threatening villagers.

Related Articles:

Volcano erupts in the Congo

Volcano erupts in Russia's Far East

Myrdalsjokull (Katla Volcano) - earthquakes during the last 48 hours

Belgian cardinal urged victim to delay sex abuse statement

Reuters, BRUSSELS | Sat Aug 28, 2010 2:29pm EDT

Godfried Danneels looks on during the launch of his book ''Hope, Belief and Love'' in Mechelen December 15, 2009. (Credit: Reuters/Thierry Roge)

(Reuters) - The former head of Belgium's Catholic Church suggested to a sexual abuse victim it would be better to delay a public statement on the case until the bishop involved resigned in 2011, a Church spokesman said on Saturday.

Jurgen Mettepenningen confirmed transcripts in Belgium's De Standaard newspaper of a meeting Roman Catholic Cardinal Godfried Danneels held with Bishop Roger Vangheluwe and a sexual abuse victim of the bishop in April 2010.

"It is true this meeting and conversation took place, and that the transcript is correct," Mettepenningen told Reuters.

Danneels's spokesman Toon Osaer told Reuters the cardinal had not covered up anything and had openly spoken about the April 2010 meeting following Vangheluwe's resignation two weeks after the conversation took place.

In the transcripts, published in De Standaard on Saturday, Danneels suggested the victim should make no public statement about the abuse until Vangheluwe retired the following year.

"It might be better to wait for a date in the next year, when he is due to resign," Danneels told the victim, according to the transcripts.

He told the victim he believed a public announcement would not serve the interests of the victim or the bishop, the transcripts said.

"I don't know if there will be much to gain from making a lot of noise about this, neither for you nor for him."

Vangheluwe resigned after admitting having abused the victim for a number of years, both as a priest and a bishop.

Danneels retired in January and has been questioned as a witness in an investigation into sexual abuse by the Church in Belgium.

(Reporting by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Related Articles:

Vatican sanctions Belgian bishop who abused nephew

Belgian sex abuse tapes amplify Catholic scandals

Dutch-US water defences keep New Orleans dry

RNW, 28 August 2010 - 8:00am | By Klaas den Tek 

(Photo: ANP)

Five years after Hurricane Katrina struck, a ring of water defences is rising round New Orleans. The system of levees and barriers is being constructed in record time thanks to Dutch expertise and American effort.

Boarded-up homes. Car wrecks piled on top of each other like dominoes. The stench of refuse. Piet Dircke from the Dutch engineering company Arcadis remembers it as if it were yesterday. He visited New Orleans in the autumn of 2005. Arcadis started work just months later.

The United States government commissioned Arcadis to join efforts to protect New Orleans from future disasters. The result was a whopping 200-million-dollar contract. Construction of the city’s ‘defensive ring’ is in full swing.

“The countless cranes mark where a massive array of levees, dams, storm surge barriers and pumps is being constructed. It’s all got to be finished by June 2011. We’ll have built an enormous delta defence system in just four years. It’s never been done before,” says Mr Dircke, confident it will all be finished on time.

Chaos and shortages

On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with winds of up to 233 kilometres an hour. The levees gave way and 80 percent of the city was soon under metres of water. The result was chaos: people had to be rescued from roofs, the relief effort was inadequate, there were shortages of food and clean drinking water. Residents were ordered to evacuate the city to prevent outbreaks of disease. Over 1800 people were killed as a result of the disaster.

New Orleans quickly became a gloomy ghost town. Major work had to be done to make the city habitable again. And to prevent such a thing happening again. A huge system of water defences was needed to keep the sea at bay.

Tradition

The Netherlands experienced its own sea flood disaster in 1953, so that’s where the Americans went looking for expertise. The Dutch have learned a lot through building dykes, reclaiming land and constructing their Delta Works system of sea defences.

Another Dutch firm, Royal Haskoning, is also working in New Orleans.

“The Dutch are known all over the world for this sort of work. The American press and US politicians quickly homed in on how we do things. We Dutch have had centuries of experience of dealing with water,” René Zijlstra of Haskoning points out.

The combination of Dutch know-how and American endeavour has produced results. The system of sea defences round New Orleans will have taken just a few years to build whereas the Dutch ‘Delta Works’ took decades.

Let down

Despite all the progress, New Orleans has still not completely recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Some victims feel they have been let down by the US government. Many are still living in temporary housing outside the city. Mr Dircke explains:

”There are neighbourhoods which were badly hit by Katrina where, for the most part, poor black Americans lived. Those areas have still not seen proper reconstruction. They haven’t really bounced back yet.”

Is it enough?

• Dutch expertise might be in demand in New Orleans, but the flood defences there won’t match the high standards of the Delta Works, warns Professor Bart Schultz of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft.
• The Delta Works protect against floods that are likely to occur once in 10,000 years. New Orleans’ new flood defences are only designed to cope with flooding that happens once in a 100 years – no better than the pre-Katrina criterion.
• After the disaster, the US Army Corp of Engineers was allocated 16 billion dollars to take flood defence measures. By way of comparison, the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier, which spans just one of the inlets in the southern Dutch province of Zeeland, cost an equivalent of around four billion dollars.
• The New Orleans defences are being repaired, says Prof Schultz, but there is no attempt to raise the degree of protection. The reason? “New Orleans is a poor area. In the Netherlands, the great flood of 1953 also threatened the heart of the country."
• The ring of defences now being constructed by Arcadis and Haskoning are designed to withstand hurricanes of up to category 3. Katrina was between 3 and 4. 

Related Article:

Delta Works finally finished

The tide has changed for Dutch dykes