The Swiss are poised to vote on whether to revive secret ballots to decide on citizenship

Switzerland's Supreme Court outlawed the secret ballots five years ago, ruling that they were discriminatory. But many Swiss say not allowing voters to have the final say violates Switzerland's system of direct democracy. Switzerland already has some of the toughest naturalisation laws in the world. Candidates for citizenship must have lived in the country for at least 12 years - they must prove that they can speak the language, and that they understand Swiss laws and culture. What is more, being born in Switzerland does not bring an automatic right to citizenship. In Switzerland, people wanting to be Swiss must apply through their local community. In many towns and villages, the final hurdle to citizenship is often the approval of local residents at a town hall meeting, or, in the past, by secret ballot. Two ethnic Turkish men, Elias Ego and Manuel Dogdu, have long experience of this process. They have lived all their lives in the central Swiss town of Schwyz, but they have Turkish nationality. Schwyz, with a population of 40,000, was one of the towns which used secret ballots to approve new citizens. "They distributed brochures with our pictures to all the voters," remembers Elias. "There was a little CV with information about us, and our nationality. We had passed all the language tests with flying colours," adds Manuel. "The authorities recommended us for citizenship." Manuel and Elias, together with their parents, brothers and sisters, had hoped the ballot would be a formality. Instead it turned out to be a humiliating public rejection. "We've been rejected four times now," says Manuel.

An Amnesty International report has found that Israel attacks innocent Palestinian civilians and exploits foreigners

On the Israel-Palestinian front, the report labels the closure of the Gaza Strip as tantamount to the collective punishment of its million and half residents, who have been left without gasoline, food and drinking water. The report adds that 40 Palestinians died as a result of restrictions forbidding them to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment. The report said that of the 9,000 prisoners in Israeli jails, many are minors, and some have never been indicted for any crime or been brought to trial.

McClellan, Bush and the Neocons

Neoconservative ideology, not U.S. national interests, motivated Bush to launch one of the longest and most divisive wars in U.S. history.

Bishop says collapse of Christianity is wrecking British society and Islam is filling the void

The collapse of Christianity has wrecked British society, a leading Church of England bishop has declared. It has destroyed family life and left the country defenceless against the rise of radical Islam in a moral and spiritual vacuum. In a lacerating attack on liberal values, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, said the country was mired in a doctrine of 'endless self-indulgence' that had brought an explosion in public violence and binge-drinking. In a blow to Gordon Brown, he mocked the 'scramblings and scratchings' of politicians who try to cast new British values such as respect and tolerance. The Pakistani-born bishop dated the downfall of Christianity from the 'social and sexual revolution' of the 1960s. He said Church leaders had capitulated to Marxist revolutionary thinking and quoted an academic who blames the loss of 'faith and piety among women' for the steep decline in Christian worship. Dr Nazir-Ali said the ' newfangled and insecurely founded' doctrine of multiculturalism has left immigrant communities 'segregated, living parallel lives'. Christian values of human dignity, equality and freedom could be lost as the way is left open for the advance of brands of Islam that do not respect Western values.

Hat tip, Steve Sailer!

A student of an Islamic seminary in Pakistan's Punjab province has died after he was punished by his teacher

Atif, seven, was hung upside down from a ceiling fan by Maulvi Ziauddin for not memorizing his Koran lessons, his fellow students told the police. Atif's condition deteriorated quickly and he died in the teacher's room. Maulvi Ziauddin has been arrested. Human rights organizations say Pakistani children are often exposed to abuse.

An Indian woman accused of witchcraft was beaten, gagged and burnt to death in a remote eastern village

The woman was dragged out of her home, her hands and legs tied and taken to a crematorium where she was set on fire in front of the village which ignored her screams for help. The victim was murdered by the husband and relatives of a neighbor whose death was blamed on her witchcraft. Dozens of women are killed every year on suspicion of being witches or witch doctors in India where superstition is widespread.

Why Britain struggles to assimilate immigrants

Theodore Dalrymple on the problems that immigration has created in Britain.

Ethnic and religious homogeneity brings peace in Kurdistan

Randall Parker on how peace came to a part of Iraq.

Muslim honor killing victim wanted to live like other German girls

At age 16, all Morsal Obeidi wanted was to live the way other girls in Germany do. She paid dearly: Obeidi's brother stabbed her 20 times. Her murder has sparked a renewed debate in Germany about the failure of many immigrant families to integrate into Western society.

A teenage Somali drug dealer has died four days after being shot in the head in north London

Sharmaarke Hassan, 17, was found with a gunshot wound in Gilbeys Yard, Camden. The teenager from Camden, who had drugs convictions, died in hospital from his injuries. The 17-year-old is the 15th teenager to be killed in London since the start of the year. Police have said they are keeping an open mind about the motive for the killing but believe he was a member of The Money Squad, one of a number of Somali gangs in the area. He had been previously found guilty of possessing cannabis and offering to supply the drugs, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The murder is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident unit, which looks at gun crime in London's Afro-Caribbean communities.

Kenya police have arrested 86 people in connection with killing of 11 elderly people suspected of being witches

Eight women and three men were burned to death in the western Kisii district, where belief in witchcraft is widespread. Those arrested may face charges ranging from murder to robbery with violence. Investigations were still under way but those charged with murder could face the death sentence. Five of the suspects were found in possession of property and livestock belonging to some of the victims and will be tried for violent robbery.

South Africa's Western Cape is to ask for parts of the province to be declared a disaster zone in the wake of recent anti-foreigner violence

The provincial government also asked for UN help in dealing with the crisis. UN and Red Cross figures suggest more than 70,000 foreigners have fled the attacks with 33,000 fleeing to neighbouring nations. Aid agencies are pushing for a disaster zone to be declared around Johannesburg in Gauteng province, where the anti-foreigner attacks began. Most of the immigrants are still sheltering in community halls, churches and police stations and some are sleeping out in the open. In Gauteng, police clashed with mainly Somali migrants as they fought with other foreigners in a relief camp near the capital, Pretoria. The migrants blocked and attacked other foreigners trying to make their way from a makeshift camp to a new, tented camp.

Why East Asians and Native Americans have thick hair

Here is Razib's take on it.

Dogs and genetics

The government is importing dogs from Europe because they have desirable bloodlines.

A class of primary school children in Naples has shocked Italy after submitting homework which supported the burning of gypsy camps

Locals first set fire to the camp in retaliation when a gypsy girl had tried to steal a baby elsewhere in the city. Since then it has been repeatedly attacked, with more petrol bombs launched at its makeshift buildings. Teachers at the school had set the children the task of explaining how they felt about the persecution of the gypsies. The response was an alarming series of drawings and essays, many of which supported the vigilante action. The attacks and essays come against a backdrop of growing intolerance to immigrants, fuelled by hard-line partners in the new government of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. A report by Amnesty International has warned that Italy was now “dangerous” for illegal immigrants. Italy’s statistics agency, ISTAT, has released numbers showing that immigrants are responsible for more than a third of the murders committed in 2007. ISTAT said foreigners had committed 70% of all petty theft, 39% of sexual offenses and 36% of murders.

Every third Somali man in the welfare state of Sweden chews khat

Use of the illegal drug khat is widespread in Sweden's immigrant suburbs but the police have chosen to turn a blind eye. Swedish courts have ruled that narcotics crimes involving khat will only be categorized as serious if at least 400 kilos of the drug is involved. Anyone caught smuggling less than this amount will at most be fined and ordered to perform community service. A critical report issued by the National Police Board’s intelligence division has calculated that 400 kilos is equivalent to 16,000 “abuse doses”, a measure often used by the justice system to calculate the seriousness of a narcotics offence. The report then highlights two Supreme Court cases involving GHB and Rohypnol, where 150 and 200 “abuse doses” are sufficient to render as serious drug offences involving these substances. In Somalia almost everybody chews khat. Many soldiers participating in the country’s civil war chew it to fight, while others chew it to escape the effects of war. The rest chew it because everybody else does. The effects of the stimulant are well-documented. Users can become talkative, euphoric and emotionally unbalanced. The effects of long-term use can be devastating, often leading to personality disorders and other serious mental health problems.

Sweden's parliament has approved a center-right government proposal to deny subsidized public health care services to illegal immigrants

The law, which is largely a formalization of the current practice, stipulates that clandestine immigrants and rejected asylum seekers can only receive emergency medical care if they pay for it themselves. The parliament voted 265-33 in favour of the proposal, with the left-wing Green Party and Left Party voting against it on humanitarian grounds.

Muslim gangs are threatening to take control of one of Britain's top security prisons where inmates include al-Qa'eda terrorists

Staff at Whitemoor jail, Cambs, believe a "serious incident is imminent" as several wings become dominated by Muslim prisoners. There is an ongoing theme of fear and instability among employees, says the Prison Service's Directorate of High Security report. "There is much talk around the establishment about 'the Muslims'," it says. Some staff believe the situation has resulted in Muslim prisoners becoming more of a gang than a religious group. "The sheer numbers, coupled with a lack of awareness among staff, appear to be engendering fear and handing control to the prisoners," the report says. The situation has become so bad that white prisoners are warned about the Muslim gangs by staff on arrival. The concern about Muslim prisoners is in danger of leading to hostility and Islamophobia, the report warns. "Staff appear reluctant to challenge inappropriate behaviour, in particular among black and ethnic minority prisoners, for fear of doing the wrong thing," the report adds. "This is leading to a general feeling of a lack of control and shifting the power dynamic towards prisoners." Just under a third of the 500 prisoners at Whitemoor are Muslim.

Although polygamy is illegal in the U.S., some Muslim men in America have quietly married multiple wives

No one knows how many Muslims in the U.S. live in polygamous families. But according to academics researching the issue, estimates range from 50,000 to 100,000 people. You can see some of the women involved in polygamous marriages in the lobby of Sanctuary for Families, a nonprofit women's center in New York City. It bursts with color as a dozen women in bright African dresses and head wraps gather for a weekly noon meeting for West African immigrants. The women come each week to this support group where they discuss hard issues, such as domestic abuse, medical problems, immigration hurdles and polygamy. Polygamy is freely practiced in parts of Africa, and almost every one of the women in the group has experienced polygamy firsthand – either as a wife in a plural marriage or having been raised in families with one father who has two or more wives. Group member Sarah says that in her native Guinea, the husband springs it on his wife that he's going to marry someone else. Sarah, like the others interviewed for this story, would give only her first name. "Sometimes he say, 'OK, I am going to be married tomorrow,' or 'I'm going to be married today.' He's going ask you like that. It happened to me," she says. Sarah begins to cry. Others nod in sympathy. These women are all Muslim. The Koran states that men may marry up to four women. The Prophet Mohammad had multiple wives.

Australian town moves against Islamic school

Twice the town has managed to rebuff the fast food giant McDonald's. Now it has mobilised to block the construction of the Islamic school. Back in November, more than 1,000 local people took part in a public meeting. Many participants expressed themselves with little regard for political correctness. "This has to be one of the nicest places in New South Wales," said one woman, who has lived in Camden for the past nine years. "Everywhere is being destroyed. Why don't we tell the truth. They're wrecking Australia. They're taking us over," she said. "Why hasn't anyone got any guts? They've got terrorists amongst 'em... They want to be here so they can go and hide in all the farm houses... This town has every nationality... but Muslims do not fit in this town. We are Aussies, OK." Some of the loudest cheers of the night greeted a speech from a local man in his late 70s. "Can I just say this without being racist or political?" he said. "In 1983, in the streets of London a parade by Muslims chanted incessantly 'If we can take London, we can take the world'. Don't let them take Camden."

White guilt, Jewish guilt and ethnocentrism

Steve Sailer blogs about the differences between Jewish and white guilt.

The latest federal figures showed that 32% of the 510,000 children in foster care were black in 2006, compared with 15% of all U.S. children

Several leading child welfare groups have urged an overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a "colorblind" approach meant to encourage their adoption by white families.

A HIV-positive Ugandan woman's claim to stay in Britain has been rejected by the European Court of Human Rights

Her lawyers argued that a lack of medical care in Uganda would lead to her early death, and this would amount to cruel and degrading treatment. The government denies this, saying all NHS HIV drugs are available in Uganda. The court agreed that if the unnamed woman were sent back to Uganda, there would be no violation of the bar on inhuman or degrading treatment. When the woman entered Britain in March 1998 under an assumed name, she was seriously ill and was admitted to hospital. Soon afterwards, solicitors lodged an asylum application on her behalf, claiming she had been raped by government soldiers in Uganda because of her association with the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group in the north of the country. The lawyers argued that her life would be in danger if she were returned to Uganda. By November 1998, she was diagnosed with two illnesses which are known to be indicators of having AIDS, and as being in an extremely advanced state of HIV infection. Her asylum claim was rejected in March 2001, a decision she appealed against. In rejecting her claim, the secretary of state found no evidence that Ugandan authorities were interested in her and that treatment of AIDS in Uganda was comparable to any other African country. The secretary of state also found that all the major anti-viral drugs were available in Uganda at highly subsidised prices. In January the government sent a terminally ill Ghanaian woman who had been receiving treatment in the UK back to her country because her visa had expired.

How the British lost their empire and the West lost the world

Pat Buchanan blogs about how the British blundered into two world wars.

The government has been unable to stem the flow of African asylum seekers crossing into Israel from the Sinai Desert

Since 2005, the number of asylum seekers that have illegally entered Israel has escalated. In the 15 months that elapsed between January 2007 and March 2008, 10,000 Africans crossed into Israel from its southern border.

A Jamaican asylum seeker has been jailed in Britain for five years after admitting serious firearms offences

Anthony Davis, 28, could now face being deported back to Jamaica where his two brothers have been assassinated. Davis had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a loaded Baikal 9mm handgun and silencer. Judge Robert Brown, sitting at Preston Crown Court, told Davis he would leave it to the authorities to decide if he would be deported. He added: "I infer that you had no intention at any stage during a prolonged period of weeks and months to hand either the gun or the silencer to the appropriate authorities. They both therefore remained at large and represented a significant and serious danger to members of the public."

Norway turns to the right

A new public opinion poll indicates that fully 45.5% of Norwegian voters would cast ballots for either the right-wing Progress Party or the Conservatives. Together, they have far more support than the current left-center coalition government and are close to a majority in parliament. The results of the poll, conducted by research bureau Opinion for news group ANB, mark a major shift in traditional political persuasion in a country modelled as a social welfare state. And the results are bad news for the Labor Party, which currently heads the left-centere government. Newspaper Dagsavisen has reported that fully 27.7% of voters now support the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, Frp), Norway's most right-leaning party represented in parliament. That's up 1.5% from the last poll. The poll results indicate that the Progress Party is thus Norway's largest, bigger than Labor, which garnered 25.3% of the vote, down 1.7 points. That's a relatively small amount of support for Labor and a real downturn for the party, given its history of dominance in Norwegian politics. The Conservative Party (Høyre), meanwhile, also gained voter support, up 1.4 points to 17.8%. That's quite a bit smaller than the Progress Party, but together, the two parties could rather easily form a non-socialist ("borgerlig") government with more than 45% of the vote. By contrast, the three parties forming the current government with Labor together commanded only 36.9% of the vote, ironically the exact same percentage that former Labor leader Thorbjørn Jagland once said was needed by Labor alone to rule. Labour had to leave power in 1997 when it "only" won 35% in national elections. The current poll shows just how far Labor has fallen since that time. Its government partner SV (the Socialist Left party) also saw support slip, to 5.9%, while the Center Party (sp) rose slightly, to 5.7% of the vote.

Blacks and Hispanics spend up to 30% more than whites of comparable income on visible goods like clothing, cars and jewelry

This meant that, compared to white households of similar income, the typical black and Hispanic household spent $2,300 more per year on visible items. To do that, they spent less on almost all other categories (except housing), and they saved less. Researchers found that blacks and Hispanics spent 16% and 30% less, respectively, on education than whites of similar income. They also spent 50% less on health care.

Islamic teacher admits threatening to blow up Europe's largest shopping center with limousines as moving bombs

A Muslim English teacher has pled guilty to threatening to blow up the giant Bluewater shopping center. Saeed Ghafoor said he was going to bomb Europe's largest shopping complex using three limousines with gas canister explosives.

The son of Islamic preacher Abu Hamza has been arrested over a suspected burglary attempt

Mustafa Kamel, 18 - one of Islamic extremist Hamza's seven children - was one of two youths arrested after a man caught someone breaking into his home. The householder saw the suspect climbing in through a window at the rear and managed to chase him off. Police suspect Kamel was not the youth breaking in, but was acting as a look-out while another man perpetrated the crime. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "The male resident challenged the suspect, who made off down an alleyway. The resident followed and called police on his mobile. Officers responded and arrested two men, both 18, on suspicion of attempted burglary."

Two black cheerleaders have claimed they were racially abused and prevented from performing at an event to promote India’s Twenty20 cricket league

Dancers Ellesha Newton, 22, and Sherinne Anderson, 25, claim they were stopped from going on stage and abused by an Indian organiser ahead of a match at Mohali. Miss Newton, from Islington, north London, told The Sun newspaper: “An organiser pulled us away. He said the people here don’t want to see dark people. The 'n' word was used and they said they only wanted beautiful white girls. We were crying. I could understand if it were the crowd but they were very receptive.” The two women were among a group of a dozen dancers being used to promote the money-spinning Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament which has attracted star players from around the world. The incident happened ahead of a game involving the King’s XI Punjab and came to light when the two women spoke to the Calcutta Telegraph. Miss Newton told the newspaper that they were going to take their positions on stage when a member of staff from the pre-match show organisers asked them to leave. She said: “We were surprised and asked them why and they told us it was because of the colour of our skin.”

A Mexican woman has been jailed for nine-and-a-half years after 20lb of cocaine was discovered strapped to two children at Heathrow Airport

Elisa Vazquez Sanchez, 40, was convicted of smuggling. The drugs were found attached to the legs of a boy of 13 and an 11-year-old girl. The judge at Isleworth Crown Court said Sanchez "should be ashamed of herself" and recommended that she was deported after serving her sentence. Sanchez and the youngsters were stopped at Heathrow's Terminal 4 after they arrived in England on a British Airways flight from Mexico. The children are now in the care of social services.

Gay rights activists have condemned Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's threat to behead homosexuals

Recently, he told a political rally that gay people had 24 hours to leave the country. He promised "stricter laws than Iran" on homosexuality and said he would "cut off the head" of any gay person found in the African nation. Correspondents say a number of homosexual men have fled to Gambia from neighbouring Senegal after a crackdown there following arrests at a "gay wedding" in February. Both countries are predominantly Muslim and President Jammeh cultivates an image of being a devout Muslim. In February last year, he was condemned by campaigners when he claimed to have cured people of HIV and AIDS. His "cure" was a mixture of herbs that patients ate and spread on their bodies.

Do Nigerian immigrants really have the highest levels of education in the United States?

Steve Sailer on the credibility of Nigerians when it comes to their educational claims.

An estimated 11% of the population and 35% of the army is HIV-positive in South Africa

A trade union representing South Africa's soldiers is taking the defence ministry to court, accusing it of discriminating against people with HIV.

The worsening credit crisis could lead to ethnic violence on Britain's streets as jobs become more scarce

Julie Spence, Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire, said her officers were already struggling to cope with the consequences of migration and warned that if the economic downturn continued, it would heighten tensions in communities with large numbers of migrant workers. Speaking at the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth on Wednesday, Mrs Spence said: "We do wonder what is going to happen as the credit crunch starts to bite. We have already seen [claims that] 'people are taking our jobs'. "What does the future hold? We have to be very alive and alert to that as police officers if we want to live in cohesive communities."

In a British town, more local primary schools than ever are now divided along racial lines

New figures reveal that Oldham appears to be moving backwards in its efforts to improve community cohesion among the borough’s youngest citizens. The statistics obtained by the Advertiser show that more local primary schools than ever are now divided along racial lines – with a total of seven schools made up entirely of children from ethnic backgrounds, and many more dominated by pupils of either white or Asian heritage. It means thousands of children are growing up having little contact with children from different ethnic backgrounds. The figures re-ignite the debate about what needs to be done to reverse racial division in our community – a key cause of previous unrest. David Ritchie’s 2002 report into past disturbances found that in 17 borough primary schools ethnic minority children made up 80% of pupils – and in 13 of these it was at least 90%. In six secondary schools, ethnic minority children accounted for less than 5% of the school population, while in two others they were mainly youngsters from ethnic backgrounds. Today, primary schools including Alexandra Park, Burnley Brow, Horton Mill Infant, Nursery and Junior, Westwood, Greenhill Primary, Werneth Infant and Nursery and St Hilda’s C.E do not have a single white pupil on the roll. Secondary schools continue to slide towards monoculturalism with, as one example, 98.5% of Grange’s pupils from Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Indian heritage – in the 80s this figure was around 10%. Meanwhile Kaskenmoor, has an intake that is 93% white and Blue Coat also has very few students from ethnic backgrounds. In fact, only St Augustine of Canterbury RC School is representative of Oldham’s wider ethnic picture with 24% of its students of ethnic background. Experts blame the increase of racially segregated schools on a "white flight" phenomenon, where ethnic minorities have moved into a district and white people have moved out.

Toronto's public school board has voted to open an Afrocentric alternative school in September 2009

The junior kindergarten to Grade 5 school – believed to be a first in Canada – is expected to help tackle a 40% dropout rate among black students. Approved by a 13-8 vote after a heated debate in which one trustee called another a racist, the school will be located in an empty wing of Sheppard Public School on Sheppard Ave. W. near Keele St. The board also voted to study the feasibility of opening an Afrocentric high school in the future, but rejected a proposal to do so by September 2010, a timeline trustee Irene Atkinson called "absurdly" short. The Afrocentric grade school will seek to hire a number of black teachers and use a more global, less Europe-focused curriculum to engage more students of color. It will be open to children of all backgrounds from anywhere in the city. The idea of an Afrocentric school has been in and out of the spotlight since Ontario's Royal Commission on Learning in 1995 cited it as one possible fix for the stubborn dropout rate among students of color. It was raised anew in 2005 at a public forum on black achievement by education professor George Dei, who studies black youth disengagement. The idea gained steam last year when two local mothers argued Afrocentric schools could be a sort of academic test lab with lessons for mainstream schools. While Angela Wilson and Harrow said their dream is to have an Afrocentric alternative school in each corner of Toronto, they cheered the vote as a start.

South African troops have been deployed in an effort to stop attacks on foreigners that have left 42 dead and forced thousands to flee

Soldiers backed police in early morning raids at three hostels in Johannesburg, arresting 28 people and seizing drugs, arms and ammunition. This is the first time soldiers have been used to stamp out unrest in South Africa since the 1994 end of apartheid. Some 15,000 people have sought shelter from the attacks. Attacks have been reported in North-West province for the first time, after violence in Durban in recent days. There were also attacks in the north-eastern Mpumalanga province. "Two buses were burnt last night and one Mozambican guy was shot. He is in hospital," said police spokeswoman Sibongile Nkosi.

Police are mobilizing a massive presence in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in the wake of increased tension between blacks and Jews

Leaders from both communities have come together recently to preach cooperation among residents of the neighborhood where blacks and Hassidic Jews live side by side. But recent violence has showed that religion and race don't always mix. "I definitely feel [like there's unrest] because I see it everyday. I'm around here a lot and that's what I'm hearing," said Crown Heights resident Anthony Rios. Another resident, Joe Morgenstein, agreed, saying he hears "a lot of racial slurs all day" in the community. Since 1991, when riots broke out after a 7-year-old black boy was killed by a Hassidic driver, Crown Heights has been hurt off-and-on by periodic tension. In the past month, 20-year-old Andrew Charles, who is black, was beaten up, and the suspect is Jewish. Recently, 16-year-old Alon Sherman, who is Jewish, had his jaw broken while being allegedly robbed by two black teens. The attackers were arrested. "It's scary what's been going on, but I'm happy police are taking it seriously," said Chana Levine, a Jewish Crown Heights resident. Police admit their presence there is a temporary fix until tensions drop, but some fear once police leave, what's happened here will be repeated.

Working-class youngsters have lower IQs than their middle-class counterparts

Dr Bruce Charlton said the domination of middle-class students at elite universities is a "natural outcome" of IQ differences between social groups. The evolutionary psychiatrist defended leading institutions from accusations by ministers of bias in admissions. Dr Charlton, of Newcastle University, said: "The Government has spent a great deal of time and effort in asserting that universities, especially Oxford and Cambridge, are unfairly excluding people from low social-class backgrounds and privileging those from higher social classes. "Evidence to support the allegation of systematic unfairness has never been presented. Nevertheless, the accusation has been used to fuel a populist 'class-war' agenda. Yet a vital fact has been missed: Higher social classes have a significantly higher average IQ than lower classes. The unequal class distributions seen in elite universities compared with the general population are unlikely to be due to prejudice or corruption. The observed pattern is a natural outcome of meritocracy."

Blacks and Hispanics are falling behind in academic achievement, according to a new report

Blacks and Hispanics have proportionately fewer graduates from high school and college compared to whites and Asian-Americans. According to the report, blacks and Hispanics are less likely to graduate from high school and attend college than white students, and smaller percentages of black men earn college degrees compared to their proportion of the general population.

Eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in the west of Kenya

A security operation has been launched to hunt down villagers suspected of killing them in Kisii District. The area has witnessed similar attacks in the past when people suspected of engaging in witchcraft have been killed or ostracized. The eight women and three men were all aged between 80 and 96 years old. The mob dragged them out of their houses and burned them individually and then set their homes alight. Residents have been ambivalent about condemning the attacks because belief in witchcraft is widespread in the area. Villagers told reporters that they had evidence that the victims were witches. They say they found an exercise book at a local primary school that contained the minutes of a "witches' meeting" which detailed who was going to be bewitched next. The victim's families have gone into hiding, fearing for their lives.

A German court has jailed a Muslim of Afghan origin for three and a half years for stabbing an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the stomach in the street

The court in the south-western city of Frankfurt convicted Sajed Aziz, 23, of grievous bodily harm. Witnesses said he had shouted anti-Semitic insults at the victim, Rabbi Zalman Gurevitch, 43. The case sparked a discussion in Germany about whether there were no-go areas for Jews in some cities. Passing the sentence, Judge Klaus Drescher said there had not been enough evidence to support the original charge of attempted manslaughter. However, he noted that Aziz had clearly called Mr Gurevitch a "Jewish pig". Aziz admitted in court that he had stabbed his victim on a Frankfurt street on 7 September 2007 but called it self-defence, saying Mr Gurevitch had grabbed him by the collar. The rabbi said Aziz had first shouted anti-Semitic slurs at him, then plunged a nearly three-inch (7-cm) blade into his lower abdomen.

The Algerian security forces have sent hundreds of officers to the southern town of Berriane to end three days of fighting between Arabs and Berbers

Two people have reportedly been killed in clashes between rival gangs of hooded young men in the Saharan town. A number of homes and shops have been petrol-bombed. Correspondents say long-running tensions between Arabs and Berbers in Algeria have been worsened by high unemployment and a shortage of housing. "The town is in turmoil, but it is controllable," provincial governor Yahia Fehim told Reuters news agency. Ethnic Berbers claim to pre-date the Arabs, who now account for the majority in Algeria, and are concentrated in two provinces of the north-eastern Kabylie region. According to varying estimates, they account for between a third and a fifth of Algeria's population of 30 million, and they have campaigned for greater rights since the country won independence from France in 1962.

Messico

The job offer was tempting. It was printed on a 16-foot-wide banner and strung above one of the busiest roads here, calling out to any "soldier or ex-soldier." "We're offering you a good salary, food and medical care for your families," it said in block letters. But there was a catch: The employer was Los Zetas, a notorious Gulf cartel hit squad formed by elite Mexican army deserters. The group even included a phone number for job seekers that linked to a voice mailbox. Outrageous as they seem, drug cartel messages such as the banner hung here late last month are becoming increasingly common along the violence-savaged U.S.-Mexico border and in other parts of the region. As soldiers wage a massive campaign against drug trafficking across Mexico, they are encountering an information war managed by criminal networks that operate with near impunity. The cartels' appeals - which authorities generally believe to be authentic recruitment efforts - seem designed in part to taunt a military plagued by at least 100,000 desertions in the past eight years. Even though the drug war has traumatized Mexicans, cartels still use bravado and a dash of humor to gain supporters. The Nuevo Laredo banner, for instance, promised that the cartels would not feed new recruits instant noodle soup, an allusion to the cheap and frequently mocked meals that many poor soldiers are forced to eat and that the government often provides to stranded migrants.

Hat tip, Randall Parker!

Obama and racial preferences

Randall Parker blogs about why Obama will never stop supporting race-based affirmative action.

The untouchables of India

What do many higher castes Hindus in parts of India's Tamil Nadu state still not share with the Dalits, formerly known as untouchables? They insist on separate glasses for drinking tea and they do not allow the untouchables to go to the same barber shops. They ban them from temples, cremation grounds and river bathing points, among other examples. All this in a state that prides itself on being one of the most politically progressive and educationally advanced parts of the country. But studies have found at least 45 different forms of "untouchability" being practised by upper caste Hindus against the Dalits in Tamil Nadu. So a recent news item about a wall segregating local higher caste Hindus residents from their Dalit counterparts in Uthapuram village in Madurai district barely 600km (350 miles) from the state capital Madras (Chennai) didn't exactly come as a surprise. The higher caste Hindu residents say they won permission for the wall after inter-caste violence in the late 1980s. The wall kept Dalit people out of the main parts of the village. The authorities demolished part of the wall following an order from the state government to allow Dalits to go where they wanted in the village. About 800 higher caste Hindus are reported to have decided to leave the village and seek refuge on a nearby hillock in protest against the decision.

Young blacks - especially males - are much more likely to drown in pools than whites

In fact, almost half of all recorded drowning deaths among people aged 5 to 24 are among blacks, according to the study, which was reported in the April 2006 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Nearly 60% of African-American children can't swim, almost twice the figure for white children. Of the 252,000 competitive swimmers in the USA annually only 2% are black. 75% of all drowning victims are male, with 47% black. 33% are white, and 12% Latino. About 13% of the U.S. population are black and about 13% are Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

More than 25% of Latino men ages 25 and older in the United States have less than a ninth-grade education, compared to 7% of all males

Some 57% of Latino males ages 25 and older had a high school diploma, compared to 90% of white, non-Hispanics. In 2004, 29% of Latino males ages 18 to 24 were dropouts, compared to 7% of white males and 14% of black males. Around 32% of males 25 or older have a bachelor's degree or higher, but only 9% of Latino males do. And while the rate of Latino females going to college is increasing, the rate of Latino males is decreasing, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In 1976, 55% of Latinos in higher education were male. By 2004, 41% of college-enrolled Latinos were male, the Center reported.

Jewish teen on mend as parents want hate crime charges against black attackers

A Jewish teen whose vicious beating on a Crown Heights street prompted demonstrations outside a police precinct station house was recovering at home. His mouth wired shut from the pummeling he allegedly suffered at the hands of two black teens, 16-year-old Alon Sherman could only shrug when asked if he believes the assault was a bias crime.

Genes and musical aptitude

Molecular and statistical genetic studies in 15 Finnish families have shown that there is a substantial genetic component in musical aptitude.

Black crime and bicycles

James Fulford writes about how black crime affects the fuel crisis.

Some 6,000 people have fled a wave of attacks on foreigners in South Africa, which has left at least 22 dead, aid workers say

Many of those who have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls are Zimbabweans, who have fled violence and poverty at home. Up to three million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa. The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says the immigrants have become a scapegoat for social problems, such as unemployment, crime and a lack of housing. Mobs of South Africans continue to roam around some townships near Johannesburg, looking for foreigners and looting their shops. But there have also been attacks on South Africans from other parts of the country, especially from near the Zimbabwean border. Over the weekend, correspondents say central Johannesburg resembled a war-zone, as armed police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse angry crowds. Some Zimbabweans say they will go home, despite the political violence there, rather than face attacks in South Africa. The front pages of several South African newspapers show a horrific image of a man being burnt to death. The police say they have made more than 200 arrests for crimes including murder, rape and robbery.

Darfur, Zimbabwe and political correctness

Steve Sailer explains why so many Americans are more interested in what is going on in Darfur than in Zimbabwe.

Over a billion people worldwide live in regions where 20%-50% of marriages involve partners descended from the same ancestor

In Britain, first-cousin marriages are common in some populations such as Pakistani communities. The tradition is also common among some other South Asian communities and in some Middle Eastern countries. It is known that interbreeding raises the risk of genetic illness. Around 50% of children born in Bradford are to Pakistani parents. Dr Peter Corry, a consultant paediatrician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals says they have identified almost 150 of these rare genetic conditions in the city - much higher than would be expected. And data collected by the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit has shown since 1997 there have been 902 British children born with neurodegenerative conditions and 8% of those were in Bradford which only has 1% of the population.

Hair color and skin pigmentation

A genome-wide association study identifies novel alleles associated with hair color and skin pigmentation.

Hat tip, GNXP!

Smiling, stress and health

A German scientist has proved that people forced to smile and take on-the-job insults suffer more and longer-lasting stress that may harm their health.

Xenophobic violence in South Africa

No one has exact figures of the number of immigrants now living in South Africa, but the Institute of Race Relations believes that there are between 3 and 5 million - equivalent to the country's entire white population. And they have become scapegoats for many of South Africa's social ills - high levels of unemployment, a shortage of housing and one of the worst crime rates in the world. There has been a spate of xenophobic attacks over the past few years. In 2005 and 2006, Somalis living in the Eastern and Western Cape were targeted. But the latest wave of anti-foreigner attacks has caused growing concern in the "rainbow nation" which still bears the scars of apartheid, and where some of the country's poor are worse off than they were before the transition to majority rule.

Drugs and kosher meat

Federal authorities charged that a methamphetamine laboratory was operating at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse and that employees carried weapons to work.

Hat tip, Randall Burns.

Racial and religious strife in Britain

Diversity is ... tension monitoring committees.

Rape and race

A woman ends up getting raped because she doesn't want to appear racist.

A black Hillary Clinton supporter

An African-American writer explains why he doesn't support Barack Obama.

Hat tip, Steve Sailer!

A Zimbabwe asylum seeker has appeared before British magistrates charged with raping a 15-year-old girl

The court heard that the alleged incident took place at the home of Blessing Mwenye, in Burnley Road, Blackburn. The girl confided to a school friend and a teacher the following day. Mwenye was sent in custody to Preston Crown Court after the magistrates rejected a bail application by defense solicitor Jonathan Taylor.

The racial classification of Julius Caesar

Was Julius Caesar of Northern European ancestry?

Six out of 10 Mexican women have suffered some form of violence inflicted by their spouses or partners, according to government studies

Every day thousands of Mexican women suffer physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their spouses, despite a federal law passed over a year ago to protect them. Nearly one-third of the country's 31 states still haven't adopted the law, which requires Mexican law enforcement to punish acts of violence against women. Even where the law has been adopted, it's not being applied, say legislators and activists. That's because, despite an official push to move beyond the cliche image of macho, Mexico is still very much a man's world when it comes to violence against women. Mexico City's Commission on Human Rights recently reported that complaints by women against Mexico City law enforcement agencies for failing to respond to complaints increased more than 12% after the law's passage. Progress is hard to come by in a country where just a few years ago the punishment for killing a cow in some states was greater than for killing a woman. A rapist in Mexico can still escape punishment in 21 states by claiming he was seeking to satisfy an erotic fantasy. He can escape punishment in 19 states if he later marries the victim. The law mandating enforcement on women's complaints of violence, passed in February 2007, was meant to show that the government was taking the problem seriously. Legislators have allocated millions for federal and state law enforcement, a special prosecutor has been appointed and some states have adopted the federal law. But activists and government officials say they can count few real successes. Public administrators, police and sometimes even judges are ignoring the law, they said. In 2006, more than 80% of women who were murdered were killed in their own homes. The National Institute for Women in Mexico reports that twice as many Mexican women suffer abuse than the worldwide average.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Iowa

Steve Sailer on how Lubavitcher Jews have changed a small town in Iowa.

A French court has convicted seven men accused of recruiting young Muslims in Paris to fight against America-led forces in Iraq

The sentences ranged from 18 months in prison to seven years in prison, with the cell's ringleader being jailed for six years. The men were tracked down and arrested after a young Frenchman was found dead in the Iraqi city of Falluja in 2004. They were arrested in 2005, suspected of being part of an Islamist cell recruiting volunteers to join the Iraqi insurgency. One of the group's ringleaders, Farid Benyettou, 27, was sentenced to six years in jail. Boubakeur el-Hakim, 24, whose brother was killed in Iraq and himself fought in the country, was said to have incited friends from France to join him in suicide missions in Baghdad. He was given seven years.

Canada and free speech

Canada, which has made so-called "hate speech" against the law, now struggles to balance political correctness with freedom.

Free speech in Finland

Be careful if you want to blog about Africans and African immigration in Finland.

The Gypsy mother who forced her daughter of 13 to marry a 14-year-old boy dismissed British values as irrelevant to her

Renata Gural said she was unconcerned by the outrage over the teenagers' Romany wedding ceremony at a pub in East London. Mrs Gural, 31, who is pregnant with her sixth child, said: "I'm not bothered what anyone thinks. I'll be the one who decides if my daughter is old enough to marry. I got married when I was 14 in such a ceremony and it hasn't done me any harm. Just because I live in Britain doesn't mean I've got to behave the way you lot think is right. I'll live my life the way I want and that includes the way I bring up my kids. I don't care what the neighbours think, or social services. It's not my problem people around here don't understand our culture and values."

More Gypsy problems in Italy

In Naples, a 16-year-old Roma Gypsy girl was caught inside an apartment allegedly trying to steal a six-month-old baby girl. Her arrest has sparked bitter protests. Vigilante groups in the suburb of Ponticelli have taken to the streets chasing the Roma Gypsies out of two squatter camps.

Women and skin color

Cross-culturally, men prefer women who are lighter-skinned than average.

Women and epilepsy

A mutated gene that causes epilepsy and mental retardation only in women has been identified by scientists, in an unusual reversal of a genetic phenomenon that generally affects only men.

Evolution, culture, and human behavior

Steve Sailer writes about a debate over human uniformity versus human biodiversity.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the South African township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, after attacks on foreigners

Two people were killed and about 40 injured during the attack. A crowd of local people attacked migrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, telling them to leave. Police have arrested 15 people. The economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe has caused an influx of migrants into South Africa. Earlier this year, two foreigners were killed and 1,000 left homeless when their houses were burnt down outside the capital, Pretoria. Around 600,000 people live in Alexandra township, which attracts migrants from across southern Africa. The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Alexandra says mobs chanted "Drive all foreigners away."

Pakistanis and recessive genetic disorders

In a British school for deaf children, half the pupils are of Asian origin though Asians only form about 20% of the local population.

The cost of intelligence

Humans' oversize brains require 20% of all the calories burned at rest and a newborn's brain is so big that it can create serious risks for mother and child at birth.

Thought, behavior and genetics

Your ability to control thought and behavior relative to your peers is almost entirely genetic in origin.

Nigeria's Anglican leader has told the country's many Christian polygamists to give up their extra wives

In a letter to the faithful, Archbishop Peter Akinola warned the issue could "make a mockery" of the church. Until now, converts to Christianity have been allowed to keep their polygamous relationships. Bishop Ali Buba Lamido told the BBC that it was difficult to convert polygamous Muslims to Christianity unless they could keep their wives. Bishop Ali Buba of the Wusasa diocese in northern Kaduna State, said that as much as 10% of some congregations in the north can be in polygamous marriages.

Four people were arrested and a Los Angeles school went on lock down after a fight between black and Hispanic students raged

Police were sent to Locke High School shortly after 1 p.m. Friday afternoon. The fight allegedly involved some 600 students. Some minor injuries were also report. The extent of those injuries was not known but a fire department official said no one was transported to the hospital. Police were sent to Locke High School, 325 E. 111th St., to quell a disturbance call said Susan Cox of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Crime and Jewish snitching

Long before the first rapper stopped snitching or any Mafiosi swore an oath of omertà, there was the Jewish law of mesira. The tenet that forbids Jews from informing on fellow Jews is one of the hurdles facing Brooklyn prosecutors probing the April 14 attack on a black man by two Jewish men, sources told the Daily News. Authorities - invoking a complaint long cited in cases involving rappers - said the initial probe was hindered by the local Hasidim's refusal to cooperate. One source suggested the Orthodox community was taking a page from the rap world's "stop snitching" handbook. But it was actually lifted directly from the Code of Jewish Law. "The Hebrew word is mesira, which means basically you are not allowed to be an informant," said Rabbi Shea Hecht, a well-known figure in Crown Heights. "In essence, I am not allowed to snitch, period." The attack in Crown Heights led Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes to empanel an investigative grand jury to try to shake loose reluctant witnesses. It's the same technique prosecutors tried unsuccessfully in the slaying of rapper Busta Rhymes' bodyguard in 2006. Rhymes and about 50 other witnesses refused to cooperate with cops. Their decision was based on street cred. The slaying remains unsolved. When college student Andrew Charles was attacked in Crown Heights by two men wearing yarmulkes last month, police quickly identified a suspect - the driver of the getaway SUV. Menachem Ezagui came to the 71st Precinct station house with a lawyer after the vehicle was discovered. Police sources said he refused to answer any questions.

Black-on-black crime in London, England

Three teenage gang members have been given life sentences for killing a 14-year-old boy stabbed in the heart with a sword. Paul Erhahon was murdered in an unprovoked attack by a 17-strong gang in Leytonstone, east London, last April, the Old Bailey heard. Two of the teenagers were given minimum custodial terms of 13 years and one was given a minimum term of 11 years. Two other teenagers convicted of manslaughter were also jailed. The court heard Paul was killed by gang members, some aged as young as 13, who wanted to "earn their spurs" in the group. Many wore hoods and masks and were armed with baseball bats, knives, swords and a bicycle chain when they carried out their attack.

Two Africans who robbed and murdered two strangers while living in Britain on expired visas have been jailed for a minimum of 30 years each

Gabriel Bhengu, 27, and Jabu Mbowane, 26, used their brute strength to grab seven victims in suffocating headlocks before robbing them. Both men were so strong that two of their targets died in the attacks, while two others told police they felt they were going to die as they were held in headlocks. The killers are known to have entered Britain legally, but their visas had expired by the time of the murders. Mr Justice Goldring recommended they be deported on their release from their sentences for the murders of Neil Williams, 41, from Telford, Shropshire, and builder Andrew Owen, 42, from Sedgley, West Midlands.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico has been convicted in the 2006 shooting death of a Houston policeman

Jurors have found 34-year-old Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez guilty of capital murder in the slaying of Officer Rodney Johnson. The 40-year-old lawman was killed during a September 2006 traffic stop. Johnson was shot four times in the head after arresting Quintero-Perez for driving without a license. Records show Quintero-Perez was deported in 1999 after being convicted of indecency with a child, but he slipped back into Texas.

Hispanic women born in the United States are more likely to have children out of wedlock than women who are immigrant Hispanics or non-Hispanics

Half of all births to Hispanic women born in this country were to single mothers, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. About 35% of immigrant Hispanic women who gave birth were unmarried, nearly equal to the rate for non-Hispanic women. Hispanic women generally, both U.S.-born and immigrants, have higher fertility rates than non Hispanics — 84 births per 1,000 Hispanic women compared with 63 per 1,000 non-Hispanic women. Hispanics are now 15.1% of the U.S. population, according to Census data.

An illegal alien, accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl, has pled guilty to a count of lewd conduct with a child under 16

Juan Arteaga-Ponce was originally charged with four felony sex crimes — two counts of rape and two counts of lewd conduct with a minor child under 16, a crime often referred to in court circles as L&L. Both crimes are punishable in Idaho by up to life in prison. In accord with a plea agreement, three of the charges will be dismissed against Arteaga-Ponce and the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office will recommend that the defendant be sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three of them to be served before Arteaga-Ponce is eligible for parole. Public defender Christopher Simms is allowed under the plea agreement to ask for a lesser sentence. Once released from custody Arteaga-Ponce, who remains incarcerated on $25,000 bond, will likely be deported. Arteaga-Ponce was arrested by the Blaine County Sheriff's Office after a family complained that he had been involved sexually with the girl for about a month. Court records suggest that Arteaga-Ponce was unaware of the seriousness of his sexual involvement with the girl. The records state that at his arraignment he requested through a Spanish-speaking interpreter that he be deported rather than prosecuted.

In women, estrogen acts like testosterone

Estrogen fuels feelings of power and competition in women in much the same way testosterone does in men. Estrogen levels shot up in power-motivated women when they won and plummeted when they lost, researchers found. The higher the women were in estrogen, the higher they were in power motivation. The researchers found that estradiol (estrogen), but not testosterone, and a non-conscious need for dominance are positively related in women. This positive relationship is strongest in single women and women not taking oral contraceptives. Estrogen is very behaviorally potent and is actually a close hormonal relative to testosterone. In female mammals, estrogen has been tied to dominance, but there has been scant research examining the behavioral roles of estrogen in women.

Practising Muslims will outnumber worshipping Christians in Britain within 30 years

By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with 1.63 million church-going Christians, according to calculations by Christian Research, a think- tank.

Israel and racism

Arabs accuse Israel of discriminating against them.

Nearly 25% of Los Angeles County ’s welfare and food stamp benefits goes directly to the children of illegal aliens

The total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers far exceeds $1 billion a year – not including the millions of dollars for education. With $220 million for public safety, $400 million for health care, and $432 million in welfare allocations, illegal immigration continues to have a devastating impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers.

A 37-year-old illegal immigrant is charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who gave birth in Idaho

Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, a suspected illegal immigrant, is being held at the Fremont County Jail. He's due in court to face rape charges.

British Airways has taken beef off the menu for fear of offending Hindus

More multicultural pandering.

Obama and Africa

Why are so many black Americans disappointed in Africa?

Testosterone, melanin and race

Black people are black because their skin stores large amounts of the pigment melanin. What is it for? It's not sun-block. Native South Americans living in the tropics aren't black. As a group, explains researcher John Manning, black men are more sensitive to testosterone, and this makes them more masculinized than white men. Men who are more masculinized have better cardiovascular health, but are more susceptible to infections. Manning argues that melanin acts as a mechanical barrier to microbes. In other words, black skin evolved to compensate for a weaker immune system. Why would pale, lumbering, asthmatic white men evolve to have hypersensitive immune systems and poor cardiovascular health? Because white men have for several millennia been monogamous homebodies whose relatively uneventful lives enable them to sire children in their dotage. The vast majority of black ancestral marriage patterns, on the other hand, involve polygamy, and polygamous societies are violent. In the evolution of blackness, tolerance to disease wasn't so much of an issue. Black men lived fast and died young.

Zimbabwe is too violent to hold a presidential run-off, the head of a South African observer mission says

The head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has reportedly said the run-off could be delayed by up to a year. No date has been set for the second round between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, which should be 21 days after the official results. These said that Mr Tsvangirai gained more votes than Mr Mugabe but not the 50% needed to be declared the winner. Mr Tsvangirai, however, says the results were fixed and insists that he did pass the 50% threshold. He has not said whether he would take part in a run-off, citing fraud and alleged state-sponsored violence against his supporters. Mr Mamabolo did not say who was behind the recent violence but pointed out that each side was accusing the other, so there was no doubt whether it was happening.

More than half of Indian children under the age of five do not get the health care they need

India ranks alongside Ghana when it comes to providing basic health care to its children under five years of age. Among developing countries, the Philippines was performing best with almost 69% of children able to get access to health care. Ethiopia ranks last - only 16% of children under five get health care when they need it. Girls die at much higher rates in India than most countries. Although India has cut child its mortality rate by 34% since 1990, Indian girls are 61% more likely than boys to die between the ages of one and five. Inequity of health care among male and female children is responsible for this situation.

Political correctness, sexual practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa

Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani says political correctness over criticizing sexual practices such as multiple partners in Africa has prevented us finding an effective strategy to fight HIV/AIDS. HIV is largely a sexually transmitted infection, so there must be something different about sex in Africa. Yet you can’t say that without appearing to be racist. So campaigners have come up with other reasons that HIV is worse in Africa: poverty, ignorance, men having more power than women. All politically correct, but not epidemiologically correct. The truth is that a society in which many people have two or three partners on the go at any one time will produce a bigger epidemic than a society where people may have 10 partners in five years, but only one at a time. And it’s a fact that in parts of Africa, it’s more common for both men and women to have two or three simultaneous relationships than to have serial partners. Do people behave in this way because they are poor and ignorant? Not in Bangladesh, or Bolivia, or dozens of other countries where incomes and literacy are low. Indeed, in Africa, the incidence of HIV infection is highest in the richest households and the richest countries.

Sharp rise in San Francisco's black jail population

As San Francisco's population of African American residents has decreased in recent years, the population of black men and women locked up in the San Francisco County Jail has increased dramatically. More than 60% of all prisoners are African American, according to a survey of the city jail's population. And of the 282 female prisoners, 67% are black. A similar study in 1996 found that half of the jail population was African American. A 2005 study put the number at 53%. In contrast, 6.7% of San Francisco residents are black - a number that has been in steady decline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A Nigeria man, believed dead by his family, has been released from police custody on bail after seven years in detention without charge

Ugochukwu Nwaokporo, now 24, was arrested in 2001, just after he arrived in the capital, Abuja, his family say. He was tortured and shot in the leg by police in an attempt to force him to confess to armed robbery, he says. A year later his parents say that they were told Mr Nwaokporo was dead and did not know he was still being held. The Nigerian police have been the subject of several reports by international human rights organisations who say they are guilty of arbitrary imprisonment, summarily executing detainees and routine torture.

The garbage dumped in the desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering and the cleanup is costing taxpayers millions

In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along southern Arizona border, many in the meeting spots where immigrants rest, change clothes and wait to hitch a ride further north with a smuggler. Arizona officials have spent approximately $4.4 million over five years to clean up the mess, that continues to build with each crossing. Nearly $1 million was spent for 2007 from a base Bureau of Land Management appropriation. Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which covers most of the Arizona border, doesn't have statistics about how many people cross through each year, but on average, agents apprehend 1,500 people a day, with 378,000 illegal immigrants caught in 2007 alone.

Was Israel created through ethnic cleansing?

Jeet Heer claims that Israel was created through ethnic cleansing.

White flight in Australian schools

Australians of Anglo-European background were deserting schools with high proportions of Aboriginal, Lebanese, Islamic and Asian students.

British firms will have to prove they cannot find skilled workers from the European Economic Area before looking elsewhere for immigrants

Outlining plans, the Home Office said bosses would not be able to fill posts before advertising first in Britain. The points-based guidelines for skilled workers also say most will need a job offer before coming to the country. The government says the rules would have reduced skilled migrants last year from outside the EEA (the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) by 12%. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: "Our new points system means that British job seekers get the first crack of the whip and that only the skilled migrants we actually need will be able to come." The Home Office says that in the 12 months to last September, 65,000 skilled workers from outside the EEA were allowed in, but under the new rules there would have been almost 8,000 fewer. But Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: "The government's claim that their new points-based system will result in lower levels of immigration is pure spin. "The scheme has no limits and, in fact, will probably result in even higher levels of immigration."

Silvio Berlusconi is facing a row with the Muslim world over his plans to appoint a member of the far-Right to his cabinet

Roberto Calderoli, 52, a senior member of the Northern League, enraged Muslims two years ago during the row over a set of Danish cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. He appeared on television wearing a T-shirt printed with one of the cartoons. The Italian consulate in Libya was set on fire and 11 people died in riots.

More than 30 state schools in England are made up solely of ethnic minority pupils with no white children on the roll

The finding follows a warning from Britain's race watchdog that schools are becoming increasingly segregated along racial lines. This year's school census, carried out in January, found that 27 primaries and four secondaries were entirely non-white. The schools, which were not identified, are likely to include England's nine state Muslim schools and two state Sikh schools. The remaining 20, all primaries, are likely to be in areas with large ethnic minorities. Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who has claimed that Britain is "sleepwalking into segregation", said last year that there was a disturbing trend for schools to become either mainly white or mainly black. He pinned the blame on the phenomenon of "white flight" from racially mixed areas, saying: "To put it crudely, white parents, particularly, are unhappy about putting children in schools where they think their children are going to be in a minority."

Learning and death

A new study reveals that the evolution of an improved learning ability could come at a particularly high price: an earlier death. Researchers found that although learning ability could be bred into a population of fruit flies, it shortened their lives by 15%. When the researchers compared their learned flies to colonies selectively bred to live long lives, they found even greater differences. Whereas learned flies had reduced life spans, the long-lived flies learned less well than even average flies.

Indians are more likely to carry a gene linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and type 2 diabetes

Scientists have pinpointed a reason why people with Indian ancestry may be more prone to weight problems. They have found this group is more likely to carry a gene sequence linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and type 2 diabetes. The sequence, discovered by a team led by Imperial College London, is carried by 50% of the population - but is a third more common in Indian Asians. The finding might provide a possible genetic explanation for the particularly high levels of obesity in Indian Asians, who make up 25% of the world's population, but who are expected to account for 40% of global cardiovascular disease by 2020.

Researchers find a strain of tuberculosis that is particularly common in Mexican immigrants

The incidence of a strain of tuberculosis (TB) called Mycobacterium bovis, or M. bovis, associated more often with cattle than humans, is increasing in San Diego and is concentrated mostly in Hispanics of Mexican origin, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in collaboration with San Diego County public health officials. Their analysis shows that changing patterns of TB in the United States are increasingly being driven by conditions outside of the country, especially in binational communities. In their review of 3,291 culture-positive cases of TB covering 1994 to 2005, M. bovis accounted for 45% of TB cases in children under the age of 15, with almost all M. bovis cases from 2001 to 2005 found in persons of Hispanic ethnicity. The researchers found that more than 90% of M. bovis cases in San Diego occurred in Hispanics, most born in Mexico.

Arizona is 30% Hispanic

The Census Bureau recently released population estimates of the states' Hispanic populations through 2007. In Arizona, Hispanics make up 30% of the population, double the national average of about 15%. With an estimated 1.8 million Hispanics, Arizona has the fourth-highest percentage of Hispanic people in the nation. West Virginia, Maine, Vermont, North Dakota and Mississippi have the lowest percentage of Hispanics.

Race, education and alchemy

Steve Sailer writes about how our politically correct educational system is failing so many students.

Muslim crime in Europe

Randall Parker blogs about the problem of Islamic crime in Europe and how to deal with it.

Grand jury to investigate attack on black man by Jews in Crown Heights

The Brooklyn district attorney will seat an investigative grand jury to probe the beating of an unarmed black man by two Jewish men in Crown Heights, the Daily News has learned. The victim - a 20-year-old college student and the son of a cop - has met with prosecutor Charles Hynes about the April14 attack in a neighborhood with a long history of racial tension. "He's an excellent young man, and I met with him personally to assure him that I would do everything in my power to bring to justice those who humiliated him," Hynes said Wednesday. Daily News columnist Errol Louis revealed details of the troubling attack in Wednesday's editions, citing fears of unrest if arrests are not made soon. Police sources say their investigation has been slowed by the refusal of neighborhood Hasidic residents to cooperate with authorities. "Right now, the Hasidic community is taking a page from the rappers' 'don't snitch' campaign," said a police source. The investigative grand jury can subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify. Andrew Charles, a sophomore at Kingsbridge Community College, was walking along Albany Ave. when a white attacker on a bicycle sprayed him with Mace, police sources said. A GMC Envoy then pulled up, with a second man emerging from the vehicle to smash Charles in the back and arm with a nightstick, police said. An adviser to the Charles family said both the attackers were wearing yarmulkes.

The new mayor of Rome has promised to purge the Italian capital of 20,000 illegal immigrants and to raze 85 Gypsy camps

Gianni Alemanno, 50, a firebrand neo-fascist and the first Right-wing mayor of the city since the Second World War, vowed to make Rome secure as he was sworn into office after his election at the weekend. The election of Mr Alemanno confirmed a strong shift to the Right by Italians, who have been sickened by a spate of violent crimes committed by immigrants. Earlier this month, the center-Right leader Silvio Berlusconi was re-elected as prime minister and will form a government in partnership with Umberto Bossi, the leader of the anti-immigration Northern League.

A Salvadoran refugee claimant who admitted to killing at least four rival gangsters walks free in Canada

A Salvadoran refugee claimant who admitted to killing at least four rival gangsters in gunfights and grenade attacks is not dangerous enough to be locked up pending his deportation, an Immigration and Refugee Board member has ruled. In fact, adjudicator Daphne Shaw Dyck said she did not believe Jose Franciso Cardoza Quinteros killed several times for the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, despite his sensational admissions to the Canada Border Services Agency last September. Shaw Dyck ordered Cardoza Quinteros released for the second time in seven months on a $1,000 bond with the condition that he must report once a month and not drink alcohol while residing with relatives in Surrey.

Hat tip, Marcus Epstein!

Obama's race speech

Charles Krauthammer writes about Barack Obama's relationship with Jeremiah Wright.

Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims are helping to fuel widespread rigging of postal votes and other electoral malpractices in Britain

The use of Biraderis - extended clan or tribal systems - by first generation Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims as well as their political masters is helping fuel widespread rigging of postal votes and other electoral malpractices in Britain, a report said. Although the majority of those booked for electoral malpractices in Britain have been white males, the report by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, a national charity promoting democratic reform and constitutional change, says half of those convicted are Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

Height and genes

80% of variation in height is due to variation in genetics.

Hispanics make up the overwhelming majority of federal offenders facing powder cocaine charges

By 2000, half of all cocaine traffickers facing federal charges were Hispanic, U.S. Sentencing Commission data show. Additionally, Hispanics made up 61% of traffickers smuggling in more than 5 kilograms (about 11 pounds). More than 80% of crack cocaine offenders are black, according to data between 1992 and 2006. Fewer than 10% of crack offenders are white or Hispanic

The decline of the white race

In 1950, whites were 28% of the world's population and Africans 9%, a ratio of three-to-one. In 2060, the ratio will remain the same, but the colors will be reversed. People of African ancestry will be 25% of the world's population while people of European descent will have fallen to 9.8%.

Florida is not as popular as it used to be among non-Hispanic whites

Florida is not as popular as it used to be among whites who are not Hispanic, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. As recently as 2005 the state held the No. 1 spot for growth among non-Hispanic whites, but the report shows a major shift to the 29th spot. Latest figures show Florida had the third-highest increase in Hispanics between 2006 and 2007. The Hispanic population grew by about 131,000, with only Texas and California drawing higher numbers. Florida's black population increased as well, growing 43,000. It is third behind Texas. Georgia ranked highest.

Immigration could lead to extremism, civil unrest and divisions over ethnicity and race

Swelling populations and a global tide of immigration will present new security challenges for the United States by straining resources and stoking extremism and civil unrest in distant corners of the globe, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in a speech. The population surge could undermine the stability of some of the world's most fragile states, especially in Africa, while in the West, governments will be forced to grapple with ever larger immigrant communities and deepening divisions over ethnicity and race.

Immigrants and tuberculosis in Britain

Drug resistant tuberculosis is posing a growing threat in Britain, probably fuelled by immigration, say experts. Many patients with the disease came from sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Indian baby-tossing stupidity

Muslims and Hindus are linked by a moronic 500-year old ritual that would be considered child abuse in most countries.

Hispanics are Wisconsin’s fastest-growing racial and ethnic group

The U.S. Census Bureau said 11,000 more Latinos moved to the state last year, for a total of 272,000. Almost five of every 100 Wisconsinites are now Hispanic. That’s the 32nd highest ratio in the country, and the state now ranks 24th in its total number of Latinos. Hispanics grew 41% since the last Census.

Ethnic violence in Russia

Racially motivated attacks have risen sharply as ultranationalists wage a violent campaign to drive out immigrants.

Do fertile women have sexier voices?

A woman's voice becomes more alluring when she is at her most fertile, according to new research.

Immigration and the Washington elite

Steve Sailer blogs about why wealthy people are so pro-immigration.