An Israeli human rights group says the overwhelming majority of Israeli troops suspected of criminal offences against Palestinians are never indicted.

The small number of investigations and even fewer indictments showed Israel’s army was ignoring its duty to protect Palestinian civilians, Yesh Din says.

It said soldiers felt they had immunity from investigation and prosecution, which inevitably led to more offences.

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The leader of an Orthodox Jewish sect was arrested Wednesday after authorities unsealed a sweeping 37-count indictment alleging that he operated a decade-long tax fraud and money laundering scheme stretching from Israel through New York to downtown Los Angeles’ jewelry district, authorities said.

Grand Rabbi Naftali Tzi Weisz, head of the Spinka religious group, and his executive assistant, Gabbai Moseh E. Zigelman, are accused of soliciting “tens of millions of dollars” in contributions to Spinka charities while secretly promising to refund up to 95% of contributors’ donations, federal prosecutors said. The contributors then illegally claimed tax deductions on their bogus donations.

Weisz and Zigelman calculated in January that Zigelman alone had solicited nearly $9 million in 2006, with a $700,000 profit for Spinka after donors were repaid, according to the indictment.

Spinka Jews are members of the Hasidic group within Orthodox Judaism. The sect originated in Romania and has a large population in Israel, Europe and Brooklyn, N.Y., where Weisz and Zigelman reside.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oszATUJ4IRE

The three main minorities in the United States — blacks, Hispanics and Asians — have little trust for each other and hold prejudiced views about Americans of different ethnic origins to their own, a poll showed Wednesday.

“This extraordinary poll reveals some unflattering realities that exist in America today,” said Sandy Close, head of new America Media (NAM) which sponsored the poll together with ethnic media groups.

Forty-four percent of Hispanics and 47 percent of Asians are “afraid of African-Americans because they are responsible for most of the crime,” the survey of 1,105 adults drawn from the three ethnic groups showed.

More than half of black Americans polled and 46 percent of Hispanics said Asian business owners do not treat them with respect.

And half of African-Americans said Latin American immigrants “are taking jobs, housing and political power away from the black community.”

Hispanics and Asians, whose populations are made up mainly of immigrants, were positive about the American dream, saying that those who work hard in the United States reap the rewards of their toil.

In contrast, more than 60 percent of African-Americans dismissed the American dream as not working for them.

All three ethnic groups viewed white Americans in a more favorable light than they did members of another minority.

Sixty-one percent of Hispanics, 54 percent of Asians and 47 percent of African-Americans said they would rather do business with whites than members of the other two groups.

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[Why did they pick on a white child?-ed]

A court in Dubai, in the UAE, has jailed two men for 15 years for the abduction and sexual assault of a 15-year-old French-Swiss boy.

The men, one of whom is HIV positive, took the teenager to the desert and raped him at knifepoint.

The victim’s mother, Veronique Robert, says the authorities lied about the defendant’s medical status to hide the fact that Aids is present in the UAE.

“Fifteen years is nothing for someone who knew he had Aids,” she said.

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How many times have we read some variation on the following lede?

“Israeli armored forces backed by aircraft thrust into the southern Gaza Strip today, killing four Palestinians a day before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to begin laying the groundwork for peace talks.”

The Israelis don’t want to negotiate, but they’re willing to go through the motions – after all, why not? It’s just another way for them to thumb their noses at everyone, including their American benefactors. They’ll never make meaningful concessions: there’s no reason to as long as there are no constraints on their behavior. As long as a steady stream of American aid and arms keeps the Israeli ship of state afloat, Israel is the regional superpower, with none of its neighbors a match for its nuclear-armed military might.

Why should the Israelis be interested in peace, when war has been so good to them? War gave them their country to begin with: first against the British, then against the indigenous Arabs, then against the entire Arab world – all of whom they beat handily.

The Iraq war has been very good for them, if not for us. Israel’s sphere of influence, which never extended much beyond Lebanon, now reaches into Kurdistan – giving them easy access to Iran.

We stood by while the Israelis bombed Lebanon, killing mostly civilians and targeting factories, waterworks, and other non-military, non-Hezbollah facilities, such as churches. Aid to Israel has been increased, and Congress recently passed, with bipartisan support, a resolution naming a military arm of Israel’s number one enemy in the region as an officially-designated “terrorist” group, paving the way for a shooting war.

http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2626

At least 40 migrants have drowned in the Aegean Sea off the western coast of Turkey, officials say.

The bodies were found washed up on the shore near the city of Izmir. Six people were rescued, officials told Turkey’s Anatolia news agency.

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[Black panthers tried to cause trouble by making a racism allegation over Jow Horn's killings of theives in Texas, locals are fed up with being called racism every 2 mins-ed]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5358596078324631308

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_TjftnwhRk

[The people killed were black, and home owner was white; so black groups and crying racism as usual-ed]

The cha-chick of a shell entering a shotgun’s chamber rattled through the 911 line just before Joe Horn stepped out his front door.

Horn, 61, had phoned police when he saw two men break into his neighbor’s suburban Houston home through a window in broad daylight. Now they were getting away with a bag of loot.

“Don’t go outside the house,” the 911 operator pleaded. “You’re going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun. I don’t care what you think.”

“You want to make a bet?” Horn answered. “I’m going to kill them.”

He did.

Admirers, including several of his neighbors, say Horn is a hero for killing the burglars, protecting his neighborhood and sending a message to would-be criminals. Critics call him a loose cannon. His attorney says Horn just feared for his life.

Prosecuting Horn could prove difficult in Texas, where few people sympathize with criminals and many have an almost religious belief in the right to self-defense. The case could test the state’s self-defense laws, which allow people to use deadly force in certain situations to protect themselves, their property and their neighbors’ property.

Horn was home in Pasadena, about 15 miles southeast of Houston, on Nov. 14 when he heard glass breaking, said his attorney, Tom Lambright. He looked out the window and saw 38-year-old Miguel Antonio DeJesus and 30-year-old Diego Ortiz using a crowbar to break out the rest of the glass.

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