Holocaust denier says he’s ‘unbroken’ after prison

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- A Holocaust denier released from an Australian jail after publishing material offensive to Jews says he is "unbroken" and "unrepentant."

Dr. Fredrick Toben, the founder of the Adelaide Institute, emerged from three months in a South Australia prison on Nov. 12.

The Federal Court had found him in breach of a 2002 court order to remove all offensive material from his institute’s Web site.

Toben's site this week carried a message saying that he is “unbroken and unrepentant,” and appears “refreshed and relaxed” after his “little holiday.”

The site features three links to video clips on YouTube during which Toben, 65, vows to continue his work “demolishing the Holocaust.” It also carries a banner saying that “The days are numbered for the greatest lie in the history of mankind.”

Toben also spent two months in Wandsworth Prison last year as German authorities tried unsuccessfully to extradite him on a European Arrest Warrant for publishing Holocaust denial material -- a crime in Germany. Toben was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his way to Dubai from America. continues here

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Secret CCTV cameras fitted INSIDE people's homes to spy on neighbours outside

CCTV cameras are being fitted inside family homes by council 'snoopers' to spy on neighbours in the street outside, it was revealed today.

The £1,000 security cameras have been placed inside properties but are trained on the streets to gather evidence of anti-social behaviour.

Each device is linked to a laptop computer and accessible online by police and council officials 24 hours a day.

But the trial inside two homes by Croydon council in south London has sparked new fears about invasion of privacy and Britain's ‘surveillance society’.



And critics said the extra surveillance was only needed because police had failed to tackle the problem.

A council spokesman said the cameras would allow the authorities to respond quickly to anti-social behaviour and gather evidence for criminal prosecutions.

He denied they would be used to spy on neighbours and said more cameras could be installed if the pilot proves a success.

But critics say the scheme has echoes of the East German Stasi secret police, which recruited members of the public as spies.

Charles Farrier, of No-CTV, said that the move was ‘a step further in our Big Brother society’.

He said: ‘There is no evidence they act as a deterrent and we should be concentrating on the root problem anyway and working to gel our communities.

Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, warned the cameras would create a 'culture of fear and mistrust'.

He said: 'People accept these cameras into their homes because they are afraid.

'The council might be installing them with the best intentions, but the end result is a culture of fear and mistrust driven by a failure on the part of the borough and the police to have proper law enforcement in this area.

'Better to have real action from the failing authorities than to extend once more our surveillance society.'

A Croydon spokeswoman confirmed that the cameras cannot be seen from the street and refused to say in which areas they had been installed.

Residents taking part did not want their families or locations identified for fear of reprisals.

Images can be viewed on a computer and accessed remotely and the evidence used to take people to court.

The trials have been running for the past week.

But some local residents have backed the idea. Kirenna Chin, 30, said: ‘Louts use my hedge as a bouncy castle and urinate in my front garden. It's very intimidating.

‘It's a fantastic idea to fit hidden CCTV. If they offered me one I would definitely take it.’

Gavin Barwell, Croydon's cabinet member for community safety, said: ‘This is good news for residents.

‘These CCTV kits give us another weapon to fight anti-social behaviour quickly. We'll be working together with the police to put them to best use.’

Croydon has one of London's most advanced CCTV networks. continues here

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Schoolgirl, 13, 'gang-raped by boys who filmed ordeal on mobile phone'

A 13-year-old schoolgirl was gang-raped at knifepoint by three teenage boys who filmed the attack on a mobile phone, a jury heard today.

The girl, who had walked out of school after being bullied, was led to the eighth floor of a block of flats for the ordeal which was filmed by her 14 and 15-year-old attackers, it is claimed.

The alleged attack on an estate in Peckham, South-East London, on February 24 this year, was interrupted by teachers who came to the scene after a friend raised the alarm at school, Inner London Crown Court heard.

The four-minute video was apparently extracted from a phone belonging to one of three youths arrested.

The footage, played to the jury, shows one teenager pushing on the victim's chest as he rapes her, while his friend forces her to perform a sex act.

Jurors watched as the boy filming the incident reaches into frame to make an 'ok' sign with his fingers.

Two of the boys, who were sitting in the well of the court with their parents, bowed or covered their faces as the explicit video was played.

Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, told the jury: 'The Crown's case is that together in a group these defendants raped a girl who was at the time was 13, and they recorded it on a mobile telephone.

'Events started in the morning, shortly before nine o'clock.

'She had decided to leave school with a friend of hers.

'There had been some name calling of her and as she was leaving she saw these three defendants.

'They asked her where she was going and she replied: 'Home'.

'She never made it home. Instead she was taken to a block of flats.'

As she was led away she turned to her friend who saw her mouth the words: 'Don't leave me.' The friend waited outside the tower as she disappeared.

Before going in, one of the boys, now aged 16, asked her for oral sex and she refused, said the barrister.

He persisted, allegedly asking her to get into the lifts with him.

Mr Wilkins added: 'As she started to walk away, he said "You don't know what's in my pocket". A clear threat. Scared, she got into the lift with all three boys.'

A second boy, now 15, allegedly pulled out a flick knife which a third boy, now 16, took from him and played around with in front of her, it is claimed.

While the girl was subjected to the degrading assault on the eighth floor, her friend went to get help at school, jurors heard.

Shortly afterwards, it is claimed, the third boy spotted a teacher approaching the block and could be heard to say: 'Oh s**t, what are we going to do?'

Mr Wilkins said: 'There is a general panic and they hurriedly leave the block.' They took the lift back outside and fled on a bus, the court heard.

The teacher found the alleged victim on the estate and she was taken for medical help.

The prosecutor said an intimate examination revealed she had been subjected to sexual activity and was bleeding. continues here

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BREAST CANCER: BREAKTHROUGH IN TUMOUR ENZYMES

SCIENTISTS have discovered a key enzyme that helps make breast cancer tumours bigger and more aggressive.

It is hoped the breakthrough could one day lead to new treatments to stop abnormal cells in breast tissue becoming tumours.

Researchers found that blocking the enzyme lysyl oxidase (LOX) cut the chance of a tumour forming. Those that did develop were smaller and less aggressive, making them easier to treat.

Researchers said LOX was key for turning abnormal but non-malignant breast tissue into tumours, according to a study published online in the journal Cell.

Although the tests were carried out for breast cancer, researchers said it could lead to treatments for many other cancers that have higher LOX levels.

Study co-author Professor Valerie Weaver, of the University of California, said: “We still have a lot more work to do but this is exciting.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with more than 45,500 women diagnosed each year.

Breast cancer numbers have risen by more than 50 per cent in 25 years. The disease kills 12,000 women and 90 men each year.

Dr Laura Bell, of Cancer Research UK, said: “The next steps will be to find out if LOX can be switched off and whether this helps to prevent tumours forming or slows their growth.” continues here

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BNP signs its first non-white member...

... but he's only joined because he hates Muslims

An elderly Sikh who describes Islam as a "beast" and once provided a character reference for Nick Griffin during his racial hatred trial is set to become the British National Party's first non-white member.

Rajinder Singh, an anti-Islam activist in his late seventies who blames Muslims for the death of his father during the Partition of India in 1947, has been sympathetic towards Britain's far-right party for much of the past decade even though he currently remains barred from becoming a member because of the colour of his skin.

But last weekend the BNP's leadership took their first steps towards dropping its membership ban on non-whites after the Human Rights Commission threatened the party with legal action. The move will be put to a vote of members soon.

Martin Wingfield, the BNP's communications and campaigns officer, has already put forward the case for Mr Singh's membership, telling members on its website: "I say adapt and survive and give the brave and loyal Rajinder Singh the honour of becoming the first ethnic minority member of the BNP."

A BNP spokesman said last night: "He is perhaps the kind of immigrant you want if you are going to have them."

Mr Singh, a former teacher from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, says he would be "honoured" to become a card-carrying member of the BNP.

Explaining his motives, Mr Singh said: "I am a retired teacher, living a quiet life. I got in touch with the BNP on certain core policies that appeal to me. I also admire them since they are on their own patch, and do not wish to let anyone else oust them from the land of their ancestors."

Mr Singh and another Sikh from Slough who goes by the pseudonym Ammo Singh have previously co-operated with the BNP and have been used by the party's leadership to try to woo Asian supporters, particularly Hindus and Sikhs living in areas where tensions with Muslims run high. The party has had little success, however, with all mainstream Sikh and Hindu groups widely condemning the BNP.

But Rajinder Singh and Ammo Singh – who keeps his identity secret but is thought to be an accountant in his late thirties – have answered Mr Griffin's call, thanks to the BNP's staunchly anti-Islamic rhetoric since September 11.

In December 2001, Ammo Singh claimed he had helped the BNP distribute thousands of anti-Islamic leaflets in Southall, west London, but recently he has kept a low profile. Rajinder Singh, on the other hand, has begun to appear in BNP literature more frequently, writing for the party's newspaper, Freedom, and appearing on the internet television channel, BNPTV.

His intense dislike of Islam appears to stem back to his father's death during the Partition of India, which led to the deaths of an estimated two million Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus. "I come from partitioned Punjab that saw a lot of bloodshed in 1947," he said. "Anyone escaping that genocide would pray to God, [say] never again and vote for BNP." continues here

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