Grab-bag

Various stories, some which don't deserve more than a one-line mention if at all, some which do, but which I haven't gotten around to yet.

If you want a story translated in full or if you see it translated elsewhere, please let me know.

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* Swedish broadcaster SVT is coming out with a new four episode series called Åkalla about a family of Iranians who feld to Sweden for a life of freedom.  The series is partially reality, partially fantasy. (SE)


* Muslims are still occupying the  mosque in Malmö slated for eviction.  The matter has been reported to the police.  (SE)


*  A Dutch transsexual teenager of North African origin living in Belgium was caught in Ghent steeling from a shop dressed as "Black Piet" (Saint Nicholas' Moorish helpers).  (NL)


* Police in the Hague caught a car thief who tried hiding in a Turkish mosque.  Several Moroccan helped the police to his hideout and the mosque administration helped make the arrest. (NL)


* Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf continues digging in radical imam Jneid Fawaz's site, which has a Q&A section.  Fawaz forbids Muslim children from participating in Memorial Day ceremonies, from celebrating their birthdays and from passing on praying five times a day.  "Whoever imitates a people belongs to them," Fawaz sums up his attitude against integration.  I'm not sure how much he needs to worry. (NL)


* Le Monde reports that about 200 mosques are currently being built around France.  Large mosques are being built in  Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Paris, Tours, Saint-Denis, Cergy-Pontoise etc.  Créteil leads the pack, the mayor inaugurated the great mosque of the city this past week. (FR


* Danish politician Lars Nicolai Jensen calls for more contact with adults as a way to prevent youth from getting to crime.  He says he's met immigrants who never met a Dane they liked, and thinks that making positive contact could change their lives. (DA)


* Dutch parliament member Jeroen Dijsselbloem says that all the attention is focused on the big immigrant groups (Moroccans, Turks, Antillians), but that the Somali youth might become the 'next Moroccans'.  There are 20,000 Somalis in the Netherlands with major social problems.  Single parent households, drug abuse and lack of involvement in the children's education. (NL)


* The Chechen suspects in the Nordbybråten asylum transit center attack in Østfold, Norway, are afraid that since they cooperated with the police, they would face a harsh 'shariah court' from their comrades.  (NO)


* A health study in the Netherlands found that half of Hindus and about 40% of Creoles, Turks and Moroccans suffer from Vitamin-D shortage, compared with 6% by ethnic white Dutch.  They health authorities advise taking vitamin-D supplements. (NL).  See also here and here.


* The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Taieb Fassi Fihri agreed with his Dutch colleague that Dutch Moroccans could name their child according to their wishes and without using the Moroccan official naming list. (NL)  See also here and here.

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