Christian pastor sentenced to death in Iran for refusing to renounce his faith could be hanged 'at any time without warning'
A Christian pastor who converted from Islam is to be put to death for leaving Islam following the ruling of an Iranian court, it was reported today.
Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, was arrested more than two years ago on charges of apostasy, and has now been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for refusing to renounce his Christianity, according to the pastor's legal team.
The father-of-two had defied a request by the Gilan provincial court, in Rasht, Iran, to repent, and now faces death by hanging.
Mr Nadarkhani may be executed at any time without warning, as death sentences in Iran can be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.
If the execution goes ahead he would be the first Christian to be officially executed in Iran for religious reasons in 20 years.
The married father-of-two was detained in his home city of Rasht in October 2009, while attempting to register his church.
Supporters of the pastor say he was arrested after questioning the Muslim monopoly on the religious instruction of children in Iran.
Critics have said the execution could be seen as a form of defiance at
Western sanctions against Iran in the row over its nuclear agenda.
Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), told Fox News: 'This is defiance. They want to say they will carry out what they say they will do.
'The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith.
'This one case is not just about one execution. We have been able to expose the system instead of just letting one man disappear, like so many other Christians have in the past.'
Church officials say there may be as many as 100,000 devoted Christians in the country and that Iran's leadership is concerned about the spread of Christianity.
Nadarkhani was initially charged with protesting, but charges against him were later changed to 'apostasy' - or abandoning Islam - and 'evangelising Muslims', which both carry the death sentence.
He was later tried and found guilty of apostasy in September 2010, and sentenced to death.
In June this year the Supreme Court of Iran upheld the death sentence but asked the lower court in Rasht, which issued the initial sentence, to re-examine whether or not he had been a practising Muslim adult prior to converting to Christianity.
Nadarkhani told the court during his first hearing on Sunday that he had no intention of returning to Islam.
He said: 'Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?'
However, the court said that because Nadarkhani has Islamic ancestry, he therefore must 'recant his faith in Jesus Christ'.
When the court ordered him to 'return to the religion of your ancestors - Islam', Nadarkhani replied: 'I cannot.'
Jason DeMars, of advocacy group Present Truth Ministries, said: 'This law dictates what should be done with apostates, depending on what type of apostasy has been committed.'
Mr DeMar added that section 6.225 of Iran's controversial legislation says that if a person's parents were Muslims at the time they were trying to conceive a child, and that converts to another religion and renounces Islam, he or she would be a national apostate.
He said: 'The death sentence is the penalty for national apostate, but after the verdict is pronounced, he or she will be commanded to repent of what he or she has done
'If he refuses to repent, he will be killed.'
The written verdict of the Supreme Court's decision also included a provision for annulment of the death sentence if Mr Nadarkhani recanted his faith.
Although the court found that Mr Nadarkhani was not a practising Muslim adult, the court said he remained guilty of apostasy because he had Muslim ancestry.
Mr Nadarkhani's lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, told the court that the repeated demand for his client to recant his Christian faith violated Iranian law and its constitution.
The last Iranian Christian convert from Islam executed by the Iranian government was Assemblies of God Pastor Hossein Soodmand in 1990.
However, several other Christians, including at least six Protestant pastors, are reported to have been assassinated in Iran by unknown killers in recent years.
23 February 2012
WHO SAID IT?
Like our Founding Fathers, we must be courageous against anyone who
would try to erode our Second Amendment right.
As Thomas Jefferson said,"Government should fear the people; the
people should not fear the government."
This is a fun quiz! Listed below are 10 direct quotes. You have to
guess which American politician said it! Your four choices are:
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Former VP Dan Quayle
President Barack Obama
Former President George W. Bush
Ready? Steady? Here we go!
Who said it?
1) "Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of
Israel "
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
2) "I've now been in 57 states. I think one left to go."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
3) "On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line
of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here
today".
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
4) "What they'll say is, 'Well, it costs too much money,' but you
know what? It would cost about--- It it would cost about the same
as what we would spend. Over the course of 10 years it would
cost what it would costs us. (nervous laugh) All right. Okay.
We're going to do it. It would cost us about the same as it would
cost for about---- hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm
glad you're fired up, t hough. I'm glad."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
5) "The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice,
savings and inefficiencies to our health care system."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
6) "I bowled a 129. It's like - it was like the Special Olympics,
or something."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
7) "Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our
Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than
selecting a Supreme Court justice. The members of our highest
court are granted life tenure, often serving long after the
presidents who appointed them. And they are charged with the vital
task of applying principles put to paper more than 20 centuries
ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
8) "Everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to
the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma. They end
up taking up a hospital bed, it costs, when, if you, they just
gave, you gave them treatment early and they got some treatment,
and a, a breathalyzer, or inhalator, not a breathalyzer. I haven't&n bsp;
had much sleep in the last 48 hours.
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
9) "It was interesting to see that political interaction in Europe
is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot
of I don't know what the term is in Austrian--- wheeling and
dealing."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin ;
D. George W. Bush
10) "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good
judgments in the future."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
This was a trick quiz. All of the correct answers are the same
person. Each of these quotes are directly from President Barack
Obama. And now you know why he brings his teleprompter with him
everywhere he goes...even when talking to a 6th grade class.
And some members of the media continue to insist he is "The
smartest man ever elected to the Presidency".
Yeah, right. Send it to all your family and friends so they, too, can see
how smart he is!
would try to erode our Second Amendment right.
As Thomas Jefferson said,"Government should fear the people; the
people should not fear the government."
This is a fun quiz! Listed below are 10 direct quotes. You have to
guess which American politician said it! Your four choices are:
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Former VP Dan Quayle
President Barack Obama
Former President George W. Bush
Ready? Steady? Here we go!
Who said it?
1) "Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of
Israel "
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
2) "I've now been in 57 states. I think one left to go."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
3) "On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line
of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here
today".
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
4) "What they'll say is, 'Well, it costs too much money,' but you
know what? It would cost about--- It it would cost about the same
as what we would spend. Over the course of 10 years it would
cost what it would costs us. (nervous laugh) All right. Okay.
We're going to do it. It would cost us about the same as it would
cost for about---- hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm
glad you're fired up, t hough. I'm glad."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
5) "The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice,
savings and inefficiencies to our health care system."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
6) "I bowled a 129. It's like - it was like the Special Olympics,
or something."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
7) "Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our
Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than
selecting a Supreme Court justice. The members of our highest
court are granted life tenure, often serving long after the
presidents who appointed them. And they are charged with the vital
task of applying principles put to paper more than 20 centuries
ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
8) "Everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to
the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma. They end
up taking up a hospital bed, it costs, when, if you, they just
gave, you gave them treatment early and they got some treatment,
and a, a breathalyzer, or inhalator, not a breathalyzer. I haven't&n bsp;
had much sleep in the last 48 hours.
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
9) "It was interesting to see that political interaction in Europe
is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot
of I don't know what the term is in Austrian--- wheeling and
dealing."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin ;
D. George W. Bush
10) "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good
judgments in the future."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
This was a trick quiz. All of the correct answers are the same
person. Each of these quotes are directly from President Barack
Obama. And now you know why he brings his teleprompter with him
everywhere he goes...even when talking to a 6th grade class.
And some members of the media continue to insist he is "The
smartest man ever elected to the Presidency".
Yeah, right. Send it to all your family and friends so they, too, can see
how smart he is!
21 February 2012
An end to multiculturalism: New migrants should show 'a grasp of the English language and an understanding of British traditions'
By James Chapman
21st February 2012
The English language and Christian faith will be restored to the centre of public life, ministers are to pledge today.
Eric Pickles will praise the traditions and heritage of ‘the majority’ and describe multiculturalism as the politics of division.
Public bodies should no longer ‘bend over backwards’ to translate documents into dozens of languages and migrants must be asked to learn English and understand the British way of life, the Communities Secretary will say.
Children should be educated in a ‘common culture’, promoting a British identity that crosses class, colour and creed.
Events such as the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics should be used to celebrate traditional culture and ‘fly the flags of Britain’ with pride.
Mr Pickles was speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail ahead of today’s announcement of a new strategy on community cohesion and integration.
He said the last Labour government and Harriet Harman, who was its equalities minister, had ‘encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream’.
The minister said the Coalition celebrated Britain’s tradition as a nation of ‘tolerance’ and insisted he was proud to celebrate the special customs and practices that make communities unique.
‘But it’s sad to see how, in recent years, the idea of tolerance has become twisted,’ Mr Pickles added.
‘A few people, a handful of activists, have insisted that it isn’t enough simply to celebrate the beliefs of minority communities; they want to disown the traditions and heritage of the majority, including the Christian faith and the English language.
‘In recent years we’ve seen public bodies bending over backwards to translate documents up to and including their annual report into a variety of foreign languages.
‘We’ve seen men and women disciplined for wearing modest symbols of Christian faith at work, and we’ve seen legal challenges to councils opening their proceedings with prayers, a tradition that goes back generations, brings comfort to many and hurts no one.
‘This is the politics of division.’
Mr Pickles said political correctness had replaced common sense and left millions of people afraid to express legitimate concerns and frustrations. ‘We need a new approach: one that emphasises what we have in common rather than difference,’ he added.
‘Harriet Harman was leading the country down the wrong path. If we are to remain a country where people of different backgrounds feel at ease and get along, we need more confidence in our national traditions. We need to draw a line.
‘We must be unafraid to insist on the common ground and common values we all share.
‘It’s right to stand up for the right of councils who wish to start their proceedings with a prayer. If we want people of all faiths to feel at home and able to contribute here, the last thing we should be doing is knocking Christianity.
‘By the same token, it’s right to ask new migrants to demonstrate a grasp of the English language and an understanding of British traditions. It would be plain unkind is to encourage people to come here without the basic skills and understanding that are vital to getting on in a job, in education and the local community.’
Far from seeing religion as a problem that needs to be solved, ministers regard it as part of the solution, according to Government sources.
The days of the state trying to suppress Christianity – and other faiths – should be over, they said, with the Government aiming to use neighbourhood schemes and other projects to bring different faiths together. Today’s strategy will say the Government believes in certain values and ‘will actively promote them’ – including freedom of speech, freedom of worship, democracy and the rule of law.
It will pledge to challenge extremism in all its forms and tackle those who spread ‘hatred and division’. Ministers plan to marginalise extremist behaviour and improve the recording of hate crime against the Muslim and Jewish communities.
Requiring incomers to learn English, ministers will say, will help improve social mobility.
‘We want to help people realise their potential to get on in life. It’s not about where you are from, but where you are going. We want immigrants to speak the language of their new home,’ said a Government source. ‘People should be educated in elements of a common culture and curriculum.’
21st February 2012
The English language and Christian faith will be restored to the centre of public life, ministers are to pledge today.
Eric Pickles will praise the traditions and heritage of ‘the majority’ and describe multiculturalism as the politics of division.
Public bodies should no longer ‘bend over backwards’ to translate documents into dozens of languages and migrants must be asked to learn English and understand the British way of life, the Communities Secretary will say.
Children should be educated in a ‘common culture’, promoting a British identity that crosses class, colour and creed.
Events such as the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics should be used to celebrate traditional culture and ‘fly the flags of Britain’ with pride.
Mr Pickles was speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail ahead of today’s announcement of a new strategy on community cohesion and integration.
He said the last Labour government and Harriet Harman, who was its equalities minister, had ‘encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream’.
The minister said the Coalition celebrated Britain’s tradition as a nation of ‘tolerance’ and insisted he was proud to celebrate the special customs and practices that make communities unique.
‘But it’s sad to see how, in recent years, the idea of tolerance has become twisted,’ Mr Pickles added.
‘A few people, a handful of activists, have insisted that it isn’t enough simply to celebrate the beliefs of minority communities; they want to disown the traditions and heritage of the majority, including the Christian faith and the English language.
‘In recent years we’ve seen public bodies bending over backwards to translate documents up to and including their annual report into a variety of foreign languages.
‘We’ve seen men and women disciplined for wearing modest symbols of Christian faith at work, and we’ve seen legal challenges to councils opening their proceedings with prayers, a tradition that goes back generations, brings comfort to many and hurts no one.
‘This is the politics of division.’
Mr Pickles said political correctness had replaced common sense and left millions of people afraid to express legitimate concerns and frustrations. ‘We need a new approach: one that emphasises what we have in common rather than difference,’ he added.
‘Harriet Harman was leading the country down the wrong path. If we are to remain a country where people of different backgrounds feel at ease and get along, we need more confidence in our national traditions. We need to draw a line.
‘We must be unafraid to insist on the common ground and common values we all share.
‘It’s right to stand up for the right of councils who wish to start their proceedings with a prayer. If we want people of all faiths to feel at home and able to contribute here, the last thing we should be doing is knocking Christianity.
‘By the same token, it’s right to ask new migrants to demonstrate a grasp of the English language and an understanding of British traditions. It would be plain unkind is to encourage people to come here without the basic skills and understanding that are vital to getting on in a job, in education and the local community.’
Far from seeing religion as a problem that needs to be solved, ministers regard it as part of the solution, according to Government sources.
The days of the state trying to suppress Christianity – and other faiths – should be over, they said, with the Government aiming to use neighbourhood schemes and other projects to bring different faiths together. Today’s strategy will say the Government believes in certain values and ‘will actively promote them’ – including freedom of speech, freedom of worship, democracy and the rule of law.
It will pledge to challenge extremism in all its forms and tackle those who spread ‘hatred and division’. Ministers plan to marginalise extremist behaviour and improve the recording of hate crime against the Muslim and Jewish communities.
Requiring incomers to learn English, ministers will say, will help improve social mobility.
‘We want to help people realise their potential to get on in life. It’s not about where you are from, but where you are going. We want immigrants to speak the language of their new home,’ said a Government source. ‘People should be educated in elements of a common culture and curriculum.’
Eleven Asian men 'plied girls of 13 with drink and drugs to use them for sex'
By Richard Hartley-parkinson
21st February 2012
A group of 11 Asian men plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex 'several times a day', a court heard today.
The five girls, who were aged between 13 and 15 when the alleged abuse began, were passed around by the men 'who acted together to sexually exploit the girls', a trial at Liverpool Crown Court was told.
The offences are said to have happened in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2008 and 2009. All the girls were from broken homes and one was in care.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that some of the girls were raped and physically assaulted and some were forced to have sex with 'several men in a day, several times a week'.
Opening the case, prosecutor Rachel Smith said: 'Some of you may find what you are about to hear distressing. The events and circumstances described by the girls are at best saddening and at worst shocking in places.
'No child should be exploited as these girls say they were.'
Miss Smith said the girls were given alcohol, food and money in return for sex but that there were times when violence was used.
'There were also occasions on which one or more of the girls were so incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs that they were incapable of having any control over whether or with whom they had sexual intercourse,' she said.
The court was told that some of the defendants paid the girls and took payments from other men to whom they supplied the girls for sex.
Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, and Hamid Safi, 22, are on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under the age of 16.
They have all pleaded not guilty along with a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He also denies two counts of rape, aiding and abetting a rape, one count of sexual assault and an allegation of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.
The court heard the men knew each other and that two of them worked in the takeaways Tasty Bites and the Balti House, both in Market Street in the Heywood area of Rochdale.
Four of the other men worked as cab drivers at local taxi firms, one was a student and four were jobless.
The men were known to the girls by nicknames such as 'Master' and 'Tiger', the court was told. The girls would often spend their days 'unsupervised by responsible adults'.
They were not in school regularly and 'drank and smoked and hung around with little to do'.
Miss Smith said they were the 'sort of children who were easy to identify, target and exploit for the sexual gratification of these men'.
One girl, who was 13 when the alleged abuse began, told police that the men she met were 'friends' who looked after her and 'her number would be passed around amongst the Pakistani men in her area'.
She told police: 'When you've got Asian friends, number gets passed and they pass it to their friends. And they pass it to their friends, end up with a massive circle... everyone's got it.'
Miss Smith said: 'The prosecution say that what this girl was describing was the group activity of a number of adult men, including these defendants, who had spotted the opportunity to sexually exploit children who were vulnerable to that sort of exploitation and were taking it.'
One 13-year-old victim fell pregnant to one of the defendants and had the child aborted, the jury was told.
Another teenager recalled being raped by two men while she was 'so drunk she was vomiting over the side of the bed'.
Miss Smith told the jury that one of the older girls, who was 16 at the time of the alleged abuse, recruited younger girls for the men as well as having sex with them for money.
Miss Smith said she introduced a 14-year-old girl 'to a number of different men who wanted to have sex with her, with or without her consent'.
The victim met the defendants at a takeaway, including the 59-year-old male who cannot be named.
'She was raped there and elsewhere and also taken by the man to other places where she was provided by him to other men for sex,' Miss Smith said.
One girl, who was 15 when she met the defendants, told police that she was initially 'flattered' by the attention of the men. She said that she thought it meant that she was 'attractive and they thought she was pretty', the court heard.
However she quickly became regularly heavily drunk, depressed and 'incapable of getting herself out of the situation'.
She told police: 'At first I was scared, then after that it....just didn't bother me anymore...At first I felt dead bad and horrible but then I didn't feel anything anymore.
'I didn't like it but it didn't bother me....Because, it had been happening every day. Most of the time I was just dead drunk so that when it happened I wouldn't feel as bad.'
Miss Smith said the girl was 'persistently coerced or forced into submission by them'.
'When she was told that she had to have sex with the particular defendant or other men, she would submit to them, although she describes herself as lying impassively with her eyes shut or looking at the wall. She was given alcohol, which she drank heavily, not least because it numbed her thoughts to what was happening to her.'
The court heard that it was 'common knowledge' among the defendants that the girl was 15 and that Abdul Aziz would give her lifts to school while Abdul Rauf asked the other older girl if she 'knew anyone younger'.
The court heard that on one occasion the 59-year-old man met two girls at a takeaway where they were given food and vodka.
He demanded sex from one 15-year-old, saying: 'It's part of the deal because I bought you vodka, you have to give me something.'
Miss Smith said the girl refused and he raped her. When the girl started crying, he said: 'Don't cry, I love you.'
On another occasion, the 59-year-old took one of the girls to Oldham where she was raped by another male whom she did not know.
On the way home, he told her: 'Don't tell anyone, I'll give you money, I'll give you anything you want.'
The court heard about another occasion when the man said he gave girls the vodka as a 'treat' and that they had to have sex with other men. He also plied girls with cannabis, the court heard.
The court was told that in about August 2008 Abdul Aziz 'took over' from the 59-year-old and started taking girls to various locations where they would have sex with older men - including a flat in Rochdale where Mohammed Sajid and Mohammed Shazad lived - where a 'group of men' would always be waiting to have sex with them.
'Abdul Aziz was being paid by the various men to whom he delivered the girls for the purposes of sex,' Miss Smith said.
One girl estimated that she was 'having sex with several men in a day, several times a week', Miss Smith said. Another girl said she was attacked by Adil Khan when she refused 'two of four men' who were waiting for sex at a Rochdale house.
Another alleged victim, who was 14, said she would get 'proper hammered' and she 'lost count of the number of times she had had sex with men when she did not want to do so'.
Miss Smith said: 'She was unable to describe all of the men but said she would regularly find herself drunk to near-unconsciousness, waking up with men having sex with her.'
The same girl said she was raped by Abul Aziz in his taxi in December 2009 and afterwards he told her she no longer needed to pay a taxi fare.
She also described an occasion when Liaquat Shah raped her while Hammid Safi watched.
The court heard that on another occasion the same two defendants raped her together with Safi saying 'I want a turn, I want a turn' after Shah carried out the first rape.
She also said the two men raped her while she was so drunk 'she was vomiting over the side of the bed' after drinking Sambuca, vodka, beer and Jack Daniels.
She told police: 'They were just having it in turns sort of thing... there was nothing I could do, I was throwing up, I just kept throwing up... And I felt like I couldn't move.'
Miss Smith said: 'They saw her being sick and each raped her. Afterwards they left and she cried herself to sleep.'
Another girl said she was attacked by Adil Khan when she refused to have sex with 'two of four men' who were waiting for sex at a Rochdale house.
In December 2008 a 13-year-old girl fell pregnant to Adil Khan, who later denied even knowing her, despite police having DNA proof he was the baby's father.
Hassan, from Oldham, and Shahzad, from Rochdale, also deny rape.
Aziz from Rochdale, denies two counts of rape and one allegation of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Khan and Rauf, both from Rochdale, have also pleaded not guilty to trafficking for sexual exploitation. Sajid, from Rochdale, denies trafficking, two counts of rape and one allegation of sexual activity with a child.
Amin, from Rochdale, denies sexual assault. Shah and Safi, from Rochdale, each denied two counts of rape and Safi has also pleaded not guilty to trafficking.
Aziz, Khan, Safi and the 59-year-old are remanded in custody. Qayyum, from, Rochdale, and the rest of the defendants are on bail.
[ed. It should be called a hate-crime and the politicians working themselves in a lather to meet "community leaders" and apologise... oh yeah that's right these were white girls involved in the tip of a white slave trade ice-berg, meh *yawn"...]
21st February 2012
A group of 11 Asian men plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex 'several times a day', a court heard today.
The five girls, who were aged between 13 and 15 when the alleged abuse began, were passed around by the men 'who acted together to sexually exploit the girls', a trial at Liverpool Crown Court was told.
The offences are said to have happened in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2008 and 2009. All the girls were from broken homes and one was in care.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that some of the girls were raped and physically assaulted and some were forced to have sex with 'several men in a day, several times a week'.
Opening the case, prosecutor Rachel Smith said: 'Some of you may find what you are about to hear distressing. The events and circumstances described by the girls are at best saddening and at worst shocking in places.
'No child should be exploited as these girls say they were.'
Miss Smith said the girls were given alcohol, food and money in return for sex but that there were times when violence was used.
'There were also occasions on which one or more of the girls were so incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs that they were incapable of having any control over whether or with whom they had sexual intercourse,' she said.
The court was told that some of the defendants paid the girls and took payments from other men to whom they supplied the girls for sex.
Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, and Hamid Safi, 22, are on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under the age of 16.
They have all pleaded not guilty along with a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He also denies two counts of rape, aiding and abetting a rape, one count of sexual assault and an allegation of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.
The court heard the men knew each other and that two of them worked in the takeaways Tasty Bites and the Balti House, both in Market Street in the Heywood area of Rochdale.
Four of the other men worked as cab drivers at local taxi firms, one was a student and four were jobless.
The men were known to the girls by nicknames such as 'Master' and 'Tiger', the court was told. The girls would often spend their days 'unsupervised by responsible adults'.
They were not in school regularly and 'drank and smoked and hung around with little to do'.
Miss Smith said they were the 'sort of children who were easy to identify, target and exploit for the sexual gratification of these men'.
One girl, who was 13 when the alleged abuse began, told police that the men she met were 'friends' who looked after her and 'her number would be passed around amongst the Pakistani men in her area'.
She told police: 'When you've got Asian friends, number gets passed and they pass it to their friends. And they pass it to their friends, end up with a massive circle... everyone's got it.'
Miss Smith said: 'The prosecution say that what this girl was describing was the group activity of a number of adult men, including these defendants, who had spotted the opportunity to sexually exploit children who were vulnerable to that sort of exploitation and were taking it.'
One 13-year-old victim fell pregnant to one of the defendants and had the child aborted, the jury was told.
Another teenager recalled being raped by two men while she was 'so drunk she was vomiting over the side of the bed'.
Miss Smith told the jury that one of the older girls, who was 16 at the time of the alleged abuse, recruited younger girls for the men as well as having sex with them for money.
Miss Smith said she introduced a 14-year-old girl 'to a number of different men who wanted to have sex with her, with or without her consent'.
The victim met the defendants at a takeaway, including the 59-year-old male who cannot be named.
'She was raped there and elsewhere and also taken by the man to other places where she was provided by him to other men for sex,' Miss Smith said.
One girl, who was 15 when she met the defendants, told police that she was initially 'flattered' by the attention of the men. She said that she thought it meant that she was 'attractive and they thought she was pretty', the court heard.
However she quickly became regularly heavily drunk, depressed and 'incapable of getting herself out of the situation'.
She told police: 'At first I was scared, then after that it....just didn't bother me anymore...At first I felt dead bad and horrible but then I didn't feel anything anymore.
'I didn't like it but it didn't bother me....Because, it had been happening every day. Most of the time I was just dead drunk so that when it happened I wouldn't feel as bad.'
Miss Smith said the girl was 'persistently coerced or forced into submission by them'.
'When she was told that she had to have sex with the particular defendant or other men, she would submit to them, although she describes herself as lying impassively with her eyes shut or looking at the wall. She was given alcohol, which she drank heavily, not least because it numbed her thoughts to what was happening to her.'
The court heard that it was 'common knowledge' among the defendants that the girl was 15 and that Abdul Aziz would give her lifts to school while Abdul Rauf asked the other older girl if she 'knew anyone younger'.
The court heard that on one occasion the 59-year-old man met two girls at a takeaway where they were given food and vodka.
He demanded sex from one 15-year-old, saying: 'It's part of the deal because I bought you vodka, you have to give me something.'
Miss Smith said the girl refused and he raped her. When the girl started crying, he said: 'Don't cry, I love you.'
On another occasion, the 59-year-old took one of the girls to Oldham where she was raped by another male whom she did not know.
On the way home, he told her: 'Don't tell anyone, I'll give you money, I'll give you anything you want.'
The court heard about another occasion when the man said he gave girls the vodka as a 'treat' and that they had to have sex with other men. He also plied girls with cannabis, the court heard.
The court was told that in about August 2008 Abdul Aziz 'took over' from the 59-year-old and started taking girls to various locations where they would have sex with older men - including a flat in Rochdale where Mohammed Sajid and Mohammed Shazad lived - where a 'group of men' would always be waiting to have sex with them.
'Abdul Aziz was being paid by the various men to whom he delivered the girls for the purposes of sex,' Miss Smith said.
One girl estimated that she was 'having sex with several men in a day, several times a week', Miss Smith said. Another girl said she was attacked by Adil Khan when she refused 'two of four men' who were waiting for sex at a Rochdale house.
Another alleged victim, who was 14, said she would get 'proper hammered' and she 'lost count of the number of times she had had sex with men when she did not want to do so'.
Miss Smith said: 'She was unable to describe all of the men but said she would regularly find herself drunk to near-unconsciousness, waking up with men having sex with her.'
The same girl said she was raped by Abul Aziz in his taxi in December 2009 and afterwards he told her she no longer needed to pay a taxi fare.
She also described an occasion when Liaquat Shah raped her while Hammid Safi watched.
The court heard that on another occasion the same two defendants raped her together with Safi saying 'I want a turn, I want a turn' after Shah carried out the first rape.
She also said the two men raped her while she was so drunk 'she was vomiting over the side of the bed' after drinking Sambuca, vodka, beer and Jack Daniels.
She told police: 'They were just having it in turns sort of thing... there was nothing I could do, I was throwing up, I just kept throwing up... And I felt like I couldn't move.'
Miss Smith said: 'They saw her being sick and each raped her. Afterwards they left and she cried herself to sleep.'
Another girl said she was attacked by Adil Khan when she refused to have sex with 'two of four men' who were waiting for sex at a Rochdale house.
In December 2008 a 13-year-old girl fell pregnant to Adil Khan, who later denied even knowing her, despite police having DNA proof he was the baby's father.
Hassan, from Oldham, and Shahzad, from Rochdale, also deny rape.
Aziz from Rochdale, denies two counts of rape and one allegation of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Khan and Rauf, both from Rochdale, have also pleaded not guilty to trafficking for sexual exploitation. Sajid, from Rochdale, denies trafficking, two counts of rape and one allegation of sexual activity with a child.
Amin, from Rochdale, denies sexual assault. Shah and Safi, from Rochdale, each denied two counts of rape and Safi has also pleaded not guilty to trafficking.
Aziz, Khan, Safi and the 59-year-old are remanded in custody. Qayyum, from, Rochdale, and the rest of the defendants are on bail.
[ed. It should be called a hate-crime and the politicians working themselves in a lather to meet "community leaders" and apologise... oh yeah that's right these were white girls involved in the tip of a white slave trade ice-berg, meh *yawn"...]
20 February 2012
Political thought control is alive and well in right-wing America
By Thomas Fleming
20th February 2012
Here in the Land of the Free, the Conservative beehive is all abuzz over the cancellation of Judge Andrew Napolitano's television show on the FOX Business Network.
Judge Napolitano's hard-hitting analysis of American security since September 11 has made him very popular both with libertarians and with anti-establishment rightists.
While the network and the Judge insist that the cancellation is due to poor ratings, conspiracy theorists are convinced that the FOX is reacting to one of Napolitano's commentaries in which he more or less described the American regime as a two-party state that creates and manipulates public opinion in order to maintain and increase its power. It doesn't matter who wins elections, he argued, since candidates never attempt to carry out their campaign promises.
I do not pretend to know why Napolitano's show was cancelled, but I do know that his comments cannot have ingratiated the Judge with either the Republican Party or the media establishment. In pointing out the lies of George Bush and Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Rick Santorum, he was not playing by the rules. If he goes on very much more in this vein, he will disappear into the obscurity of a newspaper blog.
This is what I do not understand. If Napolitano is serious in his argument, then he must have known that the party-state will not permit him to say it publicly, even on an unfrequented corner of cable television. The "system" can only be perpetuated if a sufficient number of Americans are persuaded that the shadow-boxing matches staged by the two parties are actually contests between principled opponents, that there really is a choice between the ideology of CNN and the ideology of FOX.
Hard as it is to believe, many - perhaps most - Americans who think at all about politics really are born little liberals or little conservatives. Otherwise intelligent Conservative do think that Ronald Reagan cut the size of government; educated liberals persist in believing that Barack Obama wants to help the middle class. The conservative commentator Joe Sobran used to speak of the liberal hive that was forever buzzing the same slogans without actually taking part in a conscious conspiracy. What he failed to note - until it was too late - is that the conservative hive is no less conformist than the liberal hive.
The hive has been an appropriate political metaphor since at least Mandeville's Fable of the Bees. From the late Karl von Frisch, however, we have learned how bees manage their little polities. Honey bees communicate the location of flowers by engaging in complex dances. If one of them makes a slight innovation in the dance, the other bees sting him to death. That is what happened to Sobran, metaphorically, and it will happen to Napolitano if he does not learn some discretion.
Political thought control is more severe today than it was 50 years ago, but it has always been a feature of political parties. The Marquis of Halifax noted the emergence of political parties in the late 17th century. (He also called them by a more accurate name: factions.) "The best party," he observed, is but a kind of conspiracy against the nation," and added: "It is like faith without works, they take it as a dispensation from all other duties."
Parties depend on a caucus system that imposes a discipline on the members who must submit or face punishment. In the United States, John C. Calhoun watched with horror as the leaders of the Democratic Party--Martin Van Buren in particular - began to crack the whip even on distinguished statesmen. Since Van Buren's day, America has been a two-party regime that punishes dissidents such as Calhoun himself, Robert LaFollette, George Wallace, and Pat Buchanan (recently fired from MSNBC).
Wallace was a corrupt politician with many flaws; nonetheless, knew the score when he declared, "There is not a dime's worth of difference between the two parties." In the four decades since Wallace was shot in 1972, the value of the dime has been eroded by inflation to two cents, but even that two cents is greater than the differences between Barack Obama and any of the Republican candidates except Ron Paul.
20th February 2012
Here in the Land of the Free, the Conservative beehive is all abuzz over the cancellation of Judge Andrew Napolitano's television show on the FOX Business Network.
Judge Napolitano's hard-hitting analysis of American security since September 11 has made him very popular both with libertarians and with anti-establishment rightists.
While the network and the Judge insist that the cancellation is due to poor ratings, conspiracy theorists are convinced that the FOX is reacting to one of Napolitano's commentaries in which he more or less described the American regime as a two-party state that creates and manipulates public opinion in order to maintain and increase its power. It doesn't matter who wins elections, he argued, since candidates never attempt to carry out their campaign promises.
I do not pretend to know why Napolitano's show was cancelled, but I do know that his comments cannot have ingratiated the Judge with either the Republican Party or the media establishment. In pointing out the lies of George Bush and Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Rick Santorum, he was not playing by the rules. If he goes on very much more in this vein, he will disappear into the obscurity of a newspaper blog.
This is what I do not understand. If Napolitano is serious in his argument, then he must have known that the party-state will not permit him to say it publicly, even on an unfrequented corner of cable television. The "system" can only be perpetuated if a sufficient number of Americans are persuaded that the shadow-boxing matches staged by the two parties are actually contests between principled opponents, that there really is a choice between the ideology of CNN and the ideology of FOX.
Hard as it is to believe, many - perhaps most - Americans who think at all about politics really are born little liberals or little conservatives. Otherwise intelligent Conservative do think that Ronald Reagan cut the size of government; educated liberals persist in believing that Barack Obama wants to help the middle class. The conservative commentator Joe Sobran used to speak of the liberal hive that was forever buzzing the same slogans without actually taking part in a conscious conspiracy. What he failed to note - until it was too late - is that the conservative hive is no less conformist than the liberal hive.
The hive has been an appropriate political metaphor since at least Mandeville's Fable of the Bees. From the late Karl von Frisch, however, we have learned how bees manage their little polities. Honey bees communicate the location of flowers by engaging in complex dances. If one of them makes a slight innovation in the dance, the other bees sting him to death. That is what happened to Sobran, metaphorically, and it will happen to Napolitano if he does not learn some discretion.
Political thought control is more severe today than it was 50 years ago, but it has always been a feature of political parties. The Marquis of Halifax noted the emergence of political parties in the late 17th century. (He also called them by a more accurate name: factions.) "The best party," he observed, is but a kind of conspiracy against the nation," and added: "It is like faith without works, they take it as a dispensation from all other duties."
Parties depend on a caucus system that imposes a discipline on the members who must submit or face punishment. In the United States, John C. Calhoun watched with horror as the leaders of the Democratic Party--Martin Van Buren in particular - began to crack the whip even on distinguished statesmen. Since Van Buren's day, America has been a two-party regime that punishes dissidents such as Calhoun himself, Robert LaFollette, George Wallace, and Pat Buchanan (recently fired from MSNBC).
Wallace was a corrupt politician with many flaws; nonetheless, knew the score when he declared, "There is not a dime's worth of difference between the two parties." In the four decades since Wallace was shot in 1972, the value of the dime has been eroded by inflation to two cents, but even that two cents is greater than the differences between Barack Obama and any of the Republican candidates except Ron Paul.
Ray Honeyford was vindicated. When will the same recognition be given to Enoch Powell?
By Abhijit Pandya
19th February, 2012
Ray Honeyford, who died last week, warned us about the harm to national identity multiculturalism would cause, and the alienation of ethnic minorities that would result as a consequence of implementing this policy.
Make no mistake about it - 'multiculturalism' is the deft and subtle practice of racism.
It precludes immigrants and many of their children from integrating, and without integrating they cannot have the social skills, behavioural norms and subtle cultural characteristics, to achieve their full potential in our country. It also prevents them from fully understanding and enjoying the enormous British historical and cultural contribution in the creation of the modern world.
Multiculturalism, or religious and cultural segregation, has resulted in literally hundreds of young Muslims rotting in jails around the country as a result of their exposure to Islamic extremism.
If only for them, and the tax-payer, an opposite policy of removing the barriers to integration in mainstream British society, that is based on Judeo-Christian values, had been pursued. They might have been able to make more of their lives, and possibly contributed in a meaningful way to our country.
The misjudgment by parts of the media, and the public, of Ray Honeyford echoes the treatment of one of the great British patriots of the 20th century, Brigadier and Professor John Enoch Powell.
Few people know or understand that Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech was about the treatment of aliens. The story underlying the quote in the speech 'Foaming with much blood' was about Aeneas, an immigrant who was assaulted in a foreign land.
Powell was simultaneously highlighting the plight of the unassimilated immigrant, raising an attack on immigration and, what is not grasped, protecting the immigrant from what he intuitively saw as a damning choice between either forced assimilation, or ostracisation.
For a man such as Powell, who loved the culture and history of different peoples across the world, both were morally unacceptable. His contemporaries chose mass-immigration without assimilation. As a consequence segregation became morally acceptable and, perversely, morally unacceptable to dissent from.
His speech hinting at the treatment of Aeneas echoed an important forewarning about the treatment of sub-continent Asians and Blacks by a growing National Front in the 1970s, a reaction to increasing immigration that could have been avoided. This growth of extremism was as a result of consecutive Governments allowing ghettoisation of immigrants. This was a result of allowing them to spread unevenly across the country in relation to their population as a minority.
This policy, of mass immigration coupled with segregation, was grossly unfair to locals in varied parts of the country who saw their neighbourhoods changed in a way that left them unrecognisable. This was as a result of the sheer numbers of immigrants and the fact that they could not assimilate due to multiculturalism encouraging them to ‘stay in their place’.
No one of sound mind could say that the uprooting and forced homelessness of Palestinians to create the state of Israel was morally sound. It is odd that it is unacceptable to voice similar sympathies for, amongst others, the peoples of Bradford and Birmingham that saw their world turned upside down by mass immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. The lack of defence of Enoch Powell’s concerns on this front illustrates that we live in a time of deplorable moral cowardice.
No one was better placed than Powell, a Professor of Ancient Greek and a fervent admirer of the range of cultures on our planet, to understand the difficulty of assimilation that came with mass-immigration.
For example, Powell knew more about Indian culture than anyone in any Conservative government in which he had served. He spoke fluent Urdu and had deep understanding of Indian history. He was one of very few British senior officers who could say that when leaving India, the Indian’s serving with him actually wept because of the extraordinary lengths he undertook to appreciate their culture.
Powell saw and practised a post-colonial respect for the Indian culture remarkably both before Indian Independence, and before the United Nations and the global policy of self-determination of colonial peoples in the 1960s was in full flow.
Powell’s sentiments have been appreciated by some Ugandan Asians arriving into Britain in the 1970s. Some of them are aware of how their anglicanised colonial upbringing, in contrast to some of the deeper rooted religious fervour of their sub-continent ethic Indian and Pakistan counterparts, has led them to greater success in Britain.
They, as many others now, see that multiculturalism has resulted in losses of gainful opportunities that would have come with assimilation for their ethnic and foreign counterparts. More importantly multiculturalism has hindered for many a new arrival, regardless of ethnicity, the ability to understand and then contribute to traditional British culture.
Multiculturalism is also the most disgusting statement of contempt for British history and culture- it fosters the idea that British culture cannot be practised exclusively on British soil. This latter aspect weakens our national identity and, in turn, our country.
Multiculturalism is a blessing for any racist who believes that the ability to assimilate and understand British culture is racially restricted. This is a view that would have, absurdly, precluded Professor Powell’s study of the ancient world on the basis that he was not a Roman or a Greek.
With Cameron’s multicultural speech in mind it is time that we stop hounding men such as Honeyford and Powell. Men who understood the problems of mass-immigration without assimilation.
Only then will we be able to protect, and support, our national identity and the long rooted cultural traditions of our country. This is pressingly needed as a result of Labour’s thirteen year open-door immigration policy which has exacerbated the assimilation problem to no end.
19th February, 2012
Ray Honeyford, who died last week, warned us about the harm to national identity multiculturalism would cause, and the alienation of ethnic minorities that would result as a consequence of implementing this policy.
Make no mistake about it - 'multiculturalism' is the deft and subtle practice of racism.
It precludes immigrants and many of their children from integrating, and without integrating they cannot have the social skills, behavioural norms and subtle cultural characteristics, to achieve their full potential in our country. It also prevents them from fully understanding and enjoying the enormous British historical and cultural contribution in the creation of the modern world.
Multiculturalism, or religious and cultural segregation, has resulted in literally hundreds of young Muslims rotting in jails around the country as a result of their exposure to Islamic extremism.
If only for them, and the tax-payer, an opposite policy of removing the barriers to integration in mainstream British society, that is based on Judeo-Christian values, had been pursued. They might have been able to make more of their lives, and possibly contributed in a meaningful way to our country.
The misjudgment by parts of the media, and the public, of Ray Honeyford echoes the treatment of one of the great British patriots of the 20th century, Brigadier and Professor John Enoch Powell.
Few people know or understand that Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech was about the treatment of aliens. The story underlying the quote in the speech 'Foaming with much blood' was about Aeneas, an immigrant who was assaulted in a foreign land.
Powell was simultaneously highlighting the plight of the unassimilated immigrant, raising an attack on immigration and, what is not grasped, protecting the immigrant from what he intuitively saw as a damning choice between either forced assimilation, or ostracisation.
For a man such as Powell, who loved the culture and history of different peoples across the world, both were morally unacceptable. His contemporaries chose mass-immigration without assimilation. As a consequence segregation became morally acceptable and, perversely, morally unacceptable to dissent from.
His speech hinting at the treatment of Aeneas echoed an important forewarning about the treatment of sub-continent Asians and Blacks by a growing National Front in the 1970s, a reaction to increasing immigration that could have been avoided. This growth of extremism was as a result of consecutive Governments allowing ghettoisation of immigrants. This was a result of allowing them to spread unevenly across the country in relation to their population as a minority.
This policy, of mass immigration coupled with segregation, was grossly unfair to locals in varied parts of the country who saw their neighbourhoods changed in a way that left them unrecognisable. This was as a result of the sheer numbers of immigrants and the fact that they could not assimilate due to multiculturalism encouraging them to ‘stay in their place’.
No one of sound mind could say that the uprooting and forced homelessness of Palestinians to create the state of Israel was morally sound. It is odd that it is unacceptable to voice similar sympathies for, amongst others, the peoples of Bradford and Birmingham that saw their world turned upside down by mass immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. The lack of defence of Enoch Powell’s concerns on this front illustrates that we live in a time of deplorable moral cowardice.
No one was better placed than Powell, a Professor of Ancient Greek and a fervent admirer of the range of cultures on our planet, to understand the difficulty of assimilation that came with mass-immigration.
For example, Powell knew more about Indian culture than anyone in any Conservative government in which he had served. He spoke fluent Urdu and had deep understanding of Indian history. He was one of very few British senior officers who could say that when leaving India, the Indian’s serving with him actually wept because of the extraordinary lengths he undertook to appreciate their culture.
Powell saw and practised a post-colonial respect for the Indian culture remarkably both before Indian Independence, and before the United Nations and the global policy of self-determination of colonial peoples in the 1960s was in full flow.
Powell’s sentiments have been appreciated by some Ugandan Asians arriving into Britain in the 1970s. Some of them are aware of how their anglicanised colonial upbringing, in contrast to some of the deeper rooted religious fervour of their sub-continent ethic Indian and Pakistan counterparts, has led them to greater success in Britain.
They, as many others now, see that multiculturalism has resulted in losses of gainful opportunities that would have come with assimilation for their ethnic and foreign counterparts. More importantly multiculturalism has hindered for many a new arrival, regardless of ethnicity, the ability to understand and then contribute to traditional British culture.
Multiculturalism is also the most disgusting statement of contempt for British history and culture- it fosters the idea that British culture cannot be practised exclusively on British soil. This latter aspect weakens our national identity and, in turn, our country.
Multiculturalism is a blessing for any racist who believes that the ability to assimilate and understand British culture is racially restricted. This is a view that would have, absurdly, precluded Professor Powell’s study of the ancient world on the basis that he was not a Roman or a Greek.
With Cameron’s multicultural speech in mind it is time that we stop hounding men such as Honeyford and Powell. Men who understood the problems of mass-immigration without assimilation.
Only then will we be able to protect, and support, our national identity and the long rooted cultural traditions of our country. This is pressingly needed as a result of Labour’s thirteen year open-door immigration policy which has exacerbated the assimilation problem to no end.
Test tube hamburgers to be served this year
by Nick Collins
19th February, 2012
By generating strips of meat from stem cells researchers believe they can create a product that is identical to a real burger.
The process of culturing the artificial meat in the lab is so laborious that the finished product, expected to arrive in eight months' time, will cost about £220,000 (EUR250,000).
But researchers expect that after producing their first patty they will be able to scale up the process to create affordable artificial meat products.
Mass-producing beef, pork, chicken and lamb in the lab could satisfy the growing global demand for meat - forecast to double within the next 40 years - and dramatically reduce the harm that farming does to the environment.
Last autumn the Telegraph reported that Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands had grown small strips of muscle tissue from a pig's stem cells, using a serum taken from a horse foetus.
Speaking at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Vancouver yesterday afternoon (SUNDAY), Prof Post said his team has successfully replicated the process with cow cells and calf serum, bringing the first artificial burger a step closer.
He said: "In October we are going to provide a proof of concept showing out of stem cells we can make a product that looks, feels and hopefully tastes like meat."
Although it is possible to extract a limited number of stem cells from cows without killing them, Prof Post said the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter.
He said: "Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells form there."
Each animal would be able to produce about a million times more meat through the lab-based technique than through the traditional method of butchery, he added.
Making a complete burger will require 3,000 strips of muscle tissue, each of which measures about 3cm long by 1.5cm wide, with a thickness of half a millimetre and takes six weeks to produce.
The meat will then be ground up with 200 strips of fat tissue, produced in the same way, to make a hamburger.
To produce the meat, stem cells are placed in a broth containing vital nutrients and serum from a cow foetus which allow them to grow into muscle cells and multiply up to 30 times.
The strips of meat begin contracting like real muscle cells, and are attached to velcro and stretched to boost this process and keep them supple.
At the moment the method produces meat with realistic fibres and a pinkish-yellow tinge, but Prof Post expects to produce more authentically coloured strips in the near future.
He forecast that, with the right funding and regulatory approval, his method could be scaled up to industrial proportions within as little as ten years.
But creating different cuts, such as steaks, would be more problematic because to grow thicker strips of meat would require an artificial blood supply, he added.
The work is being financed by anonymous and extremely wealthy benefactor who Prof Post claims is a household name with a reputation for "turning everything into gold".
Prof Post plans to ask Heston Blumenthal to cook the meat, and the anonymous financer will decide who to invite to eat it.
The only person to have tried the lab-grown meat so far is a Russian journalist who snatched a sample of pork during a visit to Prof Post's lab at Maastricht University last year and declared himself unimpressed.
19th February, 2012
By generating strips of meat from stem cells researchers believe they can create a product that is identical to a real burger.
The process of culturing the artificial meat in the lab is so laborious that the finished product, expected to arrive in eight months' time, will cost about £220,000 (EUR250,000).
But researchers expect that after producing their first patty they will be able to scale up the process to create affordable artificial meat products.
Mass-producing beef, pork, chicken and lamb in the lab could satisfy the growing global demand for meat - forecast to double within the next 40 years - and dramatically reduce the harm that farming does to the environment.
Last autumn the Telegraph reported that Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands had grown small strips of muscle tissue from a pig's stem cells, using a serum taken from a horse foetus.
Speaking at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Vancouver yesterday afternoon (SUNDAY), Prof Post said his team has successfully replicated the process with cow cells and calf serum, bringing the first artificial burger a step closer.
He said: "In October we are going to provide a proof of concept showing out of stem cells we can make a product that looks, feels and hopefully tastes like meat."
Although it is possible to extract a limited number of stem cells from cows without killing them, Prof Post said the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter.
He said: "Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells form there."
Each animal would be able to produce about a million times more meat through the lab-based technique than through the traditional method of butchery, he added.
Making a complete burger will require 3,000 strips of muscle tissue, each of which measures about 3cm long by 1.5cm wide, with a thickness of half a millimetre and takes six weeks to produce.
The meat will then be ground up with 200 strips of fat tissue, produced in the same way, to make a hamburger.
To produce the meat, stem cells are placed in a broth containing vital nutrients and serum from a cow foetus which allow them to grow into muscle cells and multiply up to 30 times.
The strips of meat begin contracting like real muscle cells, and are attached to velcro and stretched to boost this process and keep them supple.
At the moment the method produces meat with realistic fibres and a pinkish-yellow tinge, but Prof Post expects to produce more authentically coloured strips in the near future.
He forecast that, with the right funding and regulatory approval, his method could be scaled up to industrial proportions within as little as ten years.
But creating different cuts, such as steaks, would be more problematic because to grow thicker strips of meat would require an artificial blood supply, he added.
The work is being financed by anonymous and extremely wealthy benefactor who Prof Post claims is a household name with a reputation for "turning everything into gold".
Prof Post plans to ask Heston Blumenthal to cook the meat, and the anonymous financer will decide who to invite to eat it.
The only person to have tried the lab-grown meat so far is a Russian journalist who snatched a sample of pork during a visit to Prof Post's lab at Maastricht University last year and declared himself unimpressed.
Paul says US `slipping into a fascist system'
By DAVID A. LIEB
Feb 18, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul warned the U.S. is "slipping into a fascist system" dominated by government and businesses as he held a fiery rally Saturday night upstaging established Republican Party banquets a short distance away.
The Texas congressman drew a couple thousand standing and chanting people to Kansas City's Union Station as the party's establishment dined on steak across the street at the Missouri GOP's annual conference. Kansas Republicans were holding a similar convention in a suburb across the state line.
Paul staged his rally near the nation's World War I museum, asserting that the U.S. got off track about 100 years ago during the era of President Woodrow Wilson, who led the nation through World War I and unsuccessfully advocated for the nation's involvement in a forerunner of the United Nations.
"We've slipped away from a true Republic," Paul said. "Now we're slipping into a fascist system where it's a combination of government and big business and authoritarian rule and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen."
Although campaign aides were aware, Paul told reporters after his speech that he did not know his rally was coinciding with long-established Missouri and Kansas Republican Party events, where Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell - a vice presidential prospect - was the keynote speaker.
Several Republicans slipped away from the banquets to join the Paul rally. Among them was Ralph Munyan, a Republican committeeman in Kansas City's home county, who said he agreed with Paul's warnings of a "fascist system" and his pledge to the end nation's involvement in wars overseas and against drugs.
"His foreign policy is one of peace," Munyan said.
Paul repeatedly denounced President Barack Obama's recent enactment of a law requiring military custody of anyone suspected to be associated with al-Qaida and involved in planning an attack on the U.S. Obama said when he signed the legislation that his administration would not authorize the indefinite military detention of American citizens without a trial.
Feb 18, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul warned the U.S. is "slipping into a fascist system" dominated by government and businesses as he held a fiery rally Saturday night upstaging established Republican Party banquets a short distance away.
The Texas congressman drew a couple thousand standing and chanting people to Kansas City's Union Station as the party's establishment dined on steak across the street at the Missouri GOP's annual conference. Kansas Republicans were holding a similar convention in a suburb across the state line.
Paul staged his rally near the nation's World War I museum, asserting that the U.S. got off track about 100 years ago during the era of President Woodrow Wilson, who led the nation through World War I and unsuccessfully advocated for the nation's involvement in a forerunner of the United Nations.
"We've slipped away from a true Republic," Paul said. "Now we're slipping into a fascist system where it's a combination of government and big business and authoritarian rule and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen."
Although campaign aides were aware, Paul told reporters after his speech that he did not know his rally was coinciding with long-established Missouri and Kansas Republican Party events, where Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell - a vice presidential prospect - was the keynote speaker.
Several Republicans slipped away from the banquets to join the Paul rally. Among them was Ralph Munyan, a Republican committeeman in Kansas City's home county, who said he agreed with Paul's warnings of a "fascist system" and his pledge to the end nation's involvement in wars overseas and against drugs.
"His foreign policy is one of peace," Munyan said.
Paul repeatedly denounced President Barack Obama's recent enactment of a law requiring military custody of anyone suspected to be associated with al-Qaida and involved in planning an attack on the U.S. Obama said when he signed the legislation that his administration would not authorize the indefinite military detention of American citizens without a trial.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
