Magic Statistics

The Conservative government’s Bill C-22 to raise the age of consent for heterosexual sex from 14 to 16 passed through committee earlier this week.  Catholic NDP MP Joe Cromartin proposed an amendment, opposed by the government, to lower the age of consent for homosexual sex from 18 to 16.  That amendment was defeated in committee and the bill goes forward for final approval by the House of Commons, expected within the next two weeks.

Among members of the Justice and Human Rights Committee voting against the amendment were two opposition Liberal MPs: Derek Lee, representing Scarborough-Rouge River, and Larry Bagnell, representing my own riding of Yukon.  Way to go, Larry!

The list of all MPs who voted against the amendment is posted here.  If you feel so inclined, send them a quick e-mail or letter of gratitude.  While you’re at it, ask them to support the bill on the floor of the House.

The full text of Bill C-22 can be downloaded here (pdf).

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A Sikh family in India kidnapped their daughter and assaulted an elder in her church because she has converted to Christianity.

Daljit Kaur and Govindra Singh, Sikh converts and members of New Life Fellowship, Delhi, were attacked by members of Daljit's Sikh family on the night of April 14th, 2007.  Govindra was badly beaten and Daljit was abducted and taken back to her home in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. Govindra, a church elder and his wife lead a church cell group which Daljit attended regularly before the incident.

The family is also upset because Daljit is engaged to a Christian and refuses to have a traditional Sikh wedding.

Govindra was reportedly threatened with death if he initiated legal action against Daljit's family.

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A columnist for Pakistan Post, a weekly Urdu-language newspaper published in the United States, was attacked and beaten outside a house in Mississauga.  Last January, Jawaad Faizi began receiving anonymous death threats accusing him of insulting Islam.

A Muslim journalist beaten with a cricket bat outside a Toronto-area home fears for his life after facing repeated death threats apparently because someone has deemed his writing to be anti-Islam.
. . .
Faizi, 35, said the threats began after he wrote in January about a lecture at a Toronto-area mosque given by a Pakistani cleric, Muhammad Tahir Ul Qadri, leader of the international Islamic-based organization, Minhaj ul Quran.

Two weeks ago, Faizi wrote a critical column based on news reports from Pakistan about charismatic claims made by Ul Qadri, who often visits Canada, that he had inscribed the name of the prophet on the moon.

That sparked further telephone threats accusing him of apostasy, prompting Faizi and Post editor Amir Arain to complain on Monday to police, who advised them to be careful.

The beating occurred on Tuesday as Mr Faizi drove up to Mr Arain’s home in the Toronto suburb.  Two men assaulted him with cricket bats, damaging his car and inflicting cuts and bruises.  They also insulted him in Urdu and Punjabi.

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The International Energy Agency says China looks set to outstrip the US as the world’s top CO2 emitter in less than two years.

”Either this year or next year,” IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told Reuters, in answer to the question of when China would overtake the United States.

The IEA is energy adviser to 26 rich nations and Birol is a key author of the Paris-based agency’s annual World Energy Outlook report.

China is set to become the world’s top carbon emitter just as serious talks start to extend the U.N.-sponsored Kyoto Protocol on global warming beyond 2012, potentially heaping pressure on Beijing to take more action on climate change.

If this week’s scene at the United Nations is any indication, that last suggestion is probably a forlorn hope.  Britain tried to initiate a debate on climate change, claiming that it threatens collective security, but China put the kibosh on that.

"This is an issue which threatens the peace and security of the whole planet - this has to be the right place to debate it," [British Foreign Secretary] Mrs [Margaret] Beckett said.

But China's deputy ambassador to the UN, Liu Zhenmin, was blunt in rejecting the session.

"The developing countries believe that [the] Security Council does not have the professional competence for handling climate change, nor is it the right decision-making place for extensive participation," Mr Liu said.

In an unpublished government report, leaked to Reuters, China states it will not accept mandatory limits on carbon emissions.  On Wednesday, the US ambassador to the European Union reiterated his government’s position that it will not join an international climate agreement unless China and India agree to be included.

China brings another coal-fired power plant into production every four days.

h/t: Sobering Thoughts and Greenie Watch

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Yesterday’s gruesome killing of three employees of a Christian publishing house was only the latest in a string of attacks on Turkey’s Christian minority.  The murder victims, two Turks and one German, had been bound hand and foot and their throats slit.  Jeff King, President of International Christian Concern, provides some personal details.

The two Turks who were slaughtered like animals were Necati Aydin and Ugur Yüksel. Necati was a convert to Christianity from Islam. Necati was a husband and father of two young children. He had met his wife when he boarded a bus and the only available seat was next to a girl who was reading her Bible. He was intrigued and began to ask her questions about the Bible. Eventually, they married. Ugur was trying to save up money to get married to his engaged sweetheart.

Necati and his coworker Ugur lived in Malatya, a known center of Turkish nationalism (it is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981).

While they are generally described as "Bible workers" in the press, what is not known is that they were devoted to their city and to Turkey.

They had a love for Turkey and wanted to make it a better place. In fact, they had recently been involved in the work of rehabilitating 3 Turkish (not Christian) schools that had fallen into disrepair.

The incident has heightened doubts about the government’s ability to protect religious minorities and cast into question the claim that Turkey is a secular state.  A Protestant pastor spoke to Asia News about that.

“Where are we? I am disgusted by theses atrocities which seem to repeat themselves again and again with ever increasing violence, in a country which promotes itself as a secular and democratic majority Muslim nation.  But where is the respect for differences, for the religious and ethnic minorities present on the territory?  We were almost used to the continual background slander and accusations of proselytism, of giving out money and faith, we were almost used to being ladled as “infidel Muslim grabbers”, who – poor things – allow themselves be brainwashed by us, convinced by a mere handful of dollars hidden in a Bible.  But we never could have imagined that all of this would have led to such an atrocious gesture, prepared in the name of God, carried out against Christians”.
. . .
Today, Turkey cries out at the shocking scandal, against the nightmare of religious hatred which persists, yet no-one is courageous enough to really take a stand, to condemn not only this religious hatred, but also the mass media which with great subtly and cunning continues to brainwash people with propaganda which incites them to believe that we are evil, that we want to wipe them out, to take away their faith and turn them from their beliefs in the God of Mohammad.  Is it not perhaps the opposite?  Look at the figures, look at the statistics: they tell us that since the era of Ataturk the construction of places of worship have been banned, and for this we are not authorized to open new churches, only there where there is already a Christian presence (usually foreigners), but the mosques sprout up like mushrooms all over Turkey.

Maybe Turkey is "secular" only for Christians.

Turkish police say that they have detained a total of ten people in connection with the brutal murders.  All are young men, around 19 or 20.  Several reportedly told police they killed to protect Islam.

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Yahoo has been condemned in the past for co-operating with Chinese authorities seeking to suppress expression of critical opinions and information.  The internet company may now be forced to pay a price.  The wife of a Chinese dissident has sued the company in an American court for divulging information that led to the imprisonment and torture of her husband.

The suit was filed by the World Organization for Human Rights USA on behalf of Yu Ling, the wife of Wang Xiazoning, said Monique Beadle, refugee project director for the organization. Wang was arrested in September 2002 on charges including "incitement to subvert state power."

Ling is seeking damages under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act, two statutes under which U.S. companies have been sued for allegedly aiding in human rights abuses overseas, Beadle said. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland.

Ling, who is now reportedly in San Francisco, said court records show that the Chinese government requested records of her husband's Internet activity, which Yahoo provided. Now, Wang "has been tortured in the Chinese prison where he is being held," according to Beadle.

The evidence against Yahoo appears compelling.  Chinese courts specifically said that Yahoo’s information was crucial in arresting and convicting Wang, who was sentenced to ten years for “anti-state” activities.

Yahoo had no comment on the case, but reiterated that they must comply with the laws of the countries in which they operate.

Yahoo’s Chinese business has given rise to serious legal problems of late.  Several large music firms sued Yahoo China last month, alleging copyright infringement by linking to pirated music.

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