Tag Archives: freedom

Controversial Dutch lawmaker enters UK after ban overturned

Days after a court allowed him entry into Britain, controversial Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders said his arrival Friday marked “a victory for the freedom of speech.” “I hope, once again, that the UK government will never, never turn back somebody for political reasons because they don’t like what they are saying,” Wilders said at a news conference at the Houses of Parliament. Wilders, known for his much-criticized film about Islam, was denied entry into Britain in February when he flew there to screen the film, “Fitna,” at the House of Lords

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Current health bill unacceptable, Catholic bishops say

Senior Catholic bishops are threatening to oppose the health care bill under consideration in Congress if lawmakers don’t make significant reforms regarding federally funded abortions and other issues. “No one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a letter Thursday to members of Congress

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Turkish leader denies press crackdown

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is denying accusations that a record fine levied against the country’s largest media conglomerate, Dogan Holding, was politically motivated. “I believe it is not right to mistake the routine works of the state agencies with freedom of press,” Erdogan said, according to Turkey’s state news agency, Anatolian

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Paper’s organ harvesting article causes Israel-Sweden rift

Israeli troops are accused in a newspaper article of harvesting organs from dead Palestinians, and Israel wants Sweden’s government to condemn the Swedish paper that published it. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman compared the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s hands-off position to the country’s neutrality during World War II. “It’s a shame that the Swedish Foreign Ministry fails to intervene in a case of blood libels against Jews,” Lieberman told Sweden’s ambassador to Israel on Thursday evening

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Air China raises Cathay stake

Air China, the country’s flag carrier, has agreed to pay HK$6.3bn (US$813m) to increase its stake in Cathay Pacific, only three years after first securing a holding in the Hong Kong airline. Chavez’s government is “moving forcefully to silence critics,” said the unclassified U.S. analysis prepared by the Open Source Center, a government intelligence center

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