Providers are called on to do more against “hate pages” on the Web

Internet providers will be expected to do more against violence- and hate-extolling pages on the Internet. A declaration of the European Parliament, which will be submitted to a plenary session in Strasbourg next week, is designed to give a decisive push in this direction. The draft of the declaration, which heise online has seen, calls on providers in somewhat vague language to make provisions against “hate pages” part of their standard terms and conditions. The ultimate object of the push by five EU Members of Parliament, Glyn Ford and Claude Moraes of the UK’s Labour Party, the Hungarian Liberal Party member Viktória Mohácsi and the two German European Members of Parliament Bernd Posselt (Christian Social Union; CSU) and Feleknas Uca (The Left Party), is to banish racism and hate propaganda from the Internet altogether. The preamble to the declaration mentions anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Romany campaigns. Should the providers refuse to act more forcefully the five initiators of the declaration have vowed to pressure the European Commission into drafting appropriate legislation.

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Pupils are urged to drop maths

Pupils are being discouraged from taking A-level maths as schools in England chase higher places in the league tables, scientists have claimed.

The Royal Society of Chemistry said that as maths was a difficult subject, schools feared examination failures which would threaten their standings.

Chief executive Richard Pike also said universities were increasingly having to run remedial classes in maths.

The Department for Education and Skills said more pupils were studying maths.

Dr Pike said: “Schools and students are reluctant to consider A-level mathematics to age 18, because the subject is regarded as difficult, and with league tables and university entrance governed by A-level points, easier subjects are taken.”

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The Egyptian authorities have arrested an engineer who works at the country’s nuclear energy agency for spying for Israel, state prosecutors said.

Prosecutor Hisham Badawi told a news conference the Egyptian national had taken reports from his workplace with the aim of exchanging them for money.

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Jean-Marie Le Pen has been in politics for more than 50 years, but at his rally at Porte de Versailles in Paris the crowd greet him as if he was the hottest new act in politics.

Some 5-6,000 people waving flags crammed into the stadium on Sunday to cheer on the National Front leader. The overspill who could not fit in still screamed their approval through the open doors.

“I’m voting for the first time,” 19-year-old Frederic told me. “And I’m voting Le Pen because immigration is a serious problem in France - that’s not racist, it’s realistic and Le Pen will deal with the problem, while candidates like Sarkozy and Royal just pretend it’s not happening.”

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Prime Minister John Howard said Friday that people with HIV should not be allowed to migrate to Australia, and that the government was investigating whether it could tighten existing restrictions.

The comments triggered anger among HIV-AIDS workers, who accused Howard of xenophobia and of blaming sufferers for their illness.

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Six bombs exploded in predominantly Shiite sections of the capital Sunday, killing at least 45 people in a renewal of sectarian carnage that set back the U.S. push to pacify Baghdad.

North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members, U.K. officials said.

The U.S. military announced three U.S. troop deaths - two soldiers and a Marine killed in separate incidents.

And in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, health officials raised the toll from a bombing Saturday close to one of the sect’s most sacred shrines, saying 47 people were killed and 224 wounded.

Twin car bombs exploded minutes apart in the busy market of Baghdad’s Shurta Rabia neighborhood, a mostly Shiite area in the city’s west. The first blast went off at midmorning in front of a kebab restaurant. Five minutes later, another car exploded nearby as rescuers were evacuating victims. Many women and children were among the casualties, police said.

Shortly after noon, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus near a courthouse in the mainly Shiite northwest Baghdad neighborhood of al-Utafiyah, killing at least eight people and wounding 11, officials said.

Many of the victims were severely burned, an official at the Khazimiyah Hospital said.

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[Maybe they should do what they did in the UK, bring in immigrant nurses and the pay disputes will stop as they are just happy to be in the UK.-ed]

Over 40,000 Irish nurses are taking industrial action in a row over pay and conditions.

Members of the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association have been involved in a work to rule since the beginning of April after talks broke down.

The dispute is due to escalate today with work stoppages for short periods of time at targeted hospitals across the country.

Talks with the Health Service Executive broke down earlier this year and they warn that these stoppages will impact on patients.

The nurses want a 10% pay rise and a shorter working week. They argue they are entitled to a reduced 35 hour week, which would bring them into line with other health professionals.

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One commentator recently forecast that by 2015, one in every three Spaniards will be a foreigner.

This startling prediction gives an idea of the number of people moving to Spain.

It also helps to explain, perhaps, why this is such a political hot potato.

There are currently 3.69 million foreigners living in the country – or about 8.4 percent of the estimated 44 million population.

The National Statistics Institute said last month 650,000 had registered with the authorities since January 2004.

By contrast, in 1999, only 750,000 foreigners were registered with the authorities resided in Spain.

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Police arrested nine people and broke up a group involved in smuggling a form of crystal methamphetamine known as “shabu” that was until now practically unknown in Europe.

Those in custody, mostly of Philippine origin, are accused of distributing the drug to members of the Philippine community that live in Barcelona.

Shabu is a type of crystal meth usually smoked in pipes similar to those used for crack.

The narcotic affects the central nervous system and causes serious health problems, since in the short term it can cause insomnia, anorexia, irritability, aggressiveness and paranoia.

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[Why is it only black boys that fail?-ed]

Schools, parents and pupils must do more to improve the attainment of black Caribbean boys, a union has said.

A charter on the issue published by the National Union of Teachers stresses the responsibilities they all have.

It says the boys themselves must develop their own learning and parents must support them and their schools.

Schools must encourage them to have high expectations and have “a moral commitment” to raise and promote their achievements, the NUT added.

The charter, published at the union’s annual conference, in Harrogate, was compiled with the collaboration of groups of black boys in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

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