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."