After several days of intensifying mass violence, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has declared a state of national emergency, not unlike the one under which Hosni Mubarak ruled the country for thirty years. The sequence of events leading up to President Morsi’s declaration, if I understand it correctly, involved people being shot and killed at a funeral today for people who were shot and killed at a mass protest yesterday over the sentences that were handed down against soccer players who instigated riots in which people were killed. Or something like that.
In other news, 232 people were killed in a fire that spread rapidly through a Brazilian nightclub after band members lit flares on stage and set the ceiling alight.
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Brussels Contacts Italy Over MPS Scandal
Bailout subject to OK for restructuring plan
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 25 — The European Commission is in contact with the Italian authorities over the unfolding derivatives scandal at the country’s third-biggest bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), a spokesman said Friday.
In December the commission gave provisional backing to a 3.9 billion euro recapitalisation package for the historic bank “to preserve the stability of the Italian financial system,” said a Brussels spokesman. However it made definitive approval of the bailout subject to the presentation by MPS of a restructuring plan within the first half of this year. The world’s oldest bank came under fire earlier in the week after it emerged that 720 million euros had been lost in two derivatives deals with Japanese bank Nomura and the German Deutsche Bank that the Italian credit institution said it only recently discovered. The scandal spurred criticism from ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right coalition’s election campaign, of political interference in its running.
MPS, through its foundation, has historically been linked to the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which has long been dominant in Siena and the rest of Tuscany.
Outgoing technocrat Premier and election condender Mario Monti also vowed to “root out” the “ugly beast” of “mingling banking and politics”.
Italy’s central bank has also been dragged into the fray on charges of lack of banking supervision.
However Bank of Italy Governor Governor Ignazio Visco has denied the claims, saying MPS was a “stable” bank
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s Who Stood to Gain From MPS Golden Dividends
Half of Fresh bonds went to bank’s foundation. At least one subscriber received indemnity undertakings
SIENA — The inquiry into the Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank continues to expand. Investigations got off to a spectacular start last May with blanket searches relating to the €9 billion cash acquisition of Antonveneta and how MPS financed the deal, commencing with the somewhat mysterious Fresh 2008 bonds. Recently, the inquiry overlapped with a second investigation in Siena and Milan into derivatives subscribed by MPS and a few weeks ago, the case moved to Florence. The point of contact is the €960 million securities issue, half of which was swallowed up by MPS’s own foundation, the Fondazione MPS, the other half going to institutional investors, as was reported at the time. However, the investors’ identities were never revealed, despite the financial product’s troubled career…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In Italy ‘1,000 Firms Closed Each Day’ In 2012
Unioncamere report says 364,972 businesses shut down
(see related story on retail sales) (ANSA) — Rome, January 24 — Around 1,000 businesses closed each day in recession-hit Italy last year, according to a report released on Thursday by Unioncamere, the association of the nation’s chambers of commerce.
It said 364,972 firms closed down in 2012, 24,000 more than in 2011.
Unioncamere said it was the fourth time in the last six years that the business-closure rate reached 1,000 firms per day, after 2007, 2008 and 2009.
It added that the number of new companies to launch was 383,883 in 2012, the lowest level for eight years and 7,427 down on 2011.
This still meant that there were more companies opening than closing.
But net difference of 18,911 was the second-lowest since 2005.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Monti Says Italy’s Out of the Crisis Without Help From EU
(AGI) — Rome, Jan 26 — PM Mario Monti said that he guided Italy out of the financial crisis without resorting to help from the European Union. “We succeeded in overcoming an extremely serious financial emergency without passing under Europe’s direct and watchful control as was the case for Greece, Portugal and Ireland”, Italy’s Prime Minister said during a press conference to present the candidates of his Civic Choice list in Lombardy. “Italians made it on their own”, he insisted.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In February there will be a teachers conference in Atlanta, the Association of Teacher Educators annual conference. Their keynote speaker will be Bill Ayers. How can a person that has admitted being a domestic terrorist be a professor in any college in America is beyond me. He was a member of the Weather Underground during the Vietnam War. He was involved in the “Days of Rage” in Chicago in 1969 and became a fugitive after an accidental Greenwich Village townhouse explosion that killed three Underground members in 1970 as they attempted to manufacture a bomb and it exploded prematurely. He has not renounced his activities with the Underground. He simply redirected his approach to his radicalism. He was eventually arrested but was released on a technicality. He commented on his release; “Guilty as hell, free as a bird. Is this a great country or what?” He is also pictured standing on an American flag. This man, or anyone who has the same mindset, should never be allowed to teach in any place of education in America…
There was a strike by the teachers unions in Chicago in September. They have the worst success rate of any school district in the nation yet they wanted raises. They got the raises and then in November many of those same teachers attended the Midwest Marxism Conference held at Northwestern University in Chicago.
The topics of the conference were:
[…]
Here is another example of the complete incompetence of our public school system. This is a true story about a teacher called Tom Dromgoole. This story just hit the newsstands last week. Tom Dromgoole is a New York teacher making $100,049 per year. I’m sure you’re thinking he must be a very hard-working teacher who picks up tons of extracurricular activities. You would be right if those extracurricular activities included a union representative job paying $50,000 a year, while causing him only to be able to teach one class a day. After his class is over, Dromgoole reports to his union job. As a result, the school district has to hire a substitute teacher to teach the rest of his classes.
The taxpayers of New York are getting hammered with paying for two teachers when they only need one. The New York Post reports that 1,500 teachers are currently doing what Dromgoole is doing and costing the city 9 million dollars a year in substitute teacher salaries.
[…]
In 80% of the schools in Texas and 46 States they are using a curriculum called CSCOPE.
This curriculum is islam centered. It teaches that allah is God almighty. Try teach that the God of the Bible is God Almighty and see how far you get.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Today, thanks to the failure of the Congress to address America’s spending and growing debt problems, the U.S. military faces a draconian “sequestration” — massive cuts to the defense budget — that would so seriously decrease the nation’s ability to defend itself and project power globally, that it reminds one of the failure to maintain a strong military that required a massive effort to get up to speed after the Japanese Empire’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The WWII declaration of war included the Nazi Third Reich that threatened the United Kingdom, all of Europe, and Russia…
Retired General Paul E. Vallely, U.S. Army, states the case bluntly. “President Obama is working very hard to destroy U.S. military superiority, consciously and unconsciously to the advantage (of) our global enemies in an attempt to seize control over national security and (in) another overt attempt to bypass Congress, the Obama administration may have already made this play as of this writing.”
Joined at the press conference by Army General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dempsey described sequestration as “a self-inflicted wound on national security”, bluntly saying it was “an irresponsible way to manage our nation’s defense. It cuts blindly and it cuts bluntly. It compounds risk and it compromises readiness.”
[Comments: Obama is fulfilling another Communist goal: gutting the US military.(www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm). Related: How To Destroy America (www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty744.htm) — speech by Governor Lamm.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Brotherhood Group to ‘Connect All U.S. Schools’
Partners with State, Education departments on international initiative
JERUSALEM — A Muslim Brotherhood-linked organization has partnered with the U.S. Department of Education and the State Department to facilitate an online program aiming to connect all U.S. schools with classrooms abroad by 2016.
Vartan Gregorian, a board member of the organization, the Qatar Foundation International, was appointed in 2009 to President Obama’s White House Fellowships Commission.
WND previously exposed that Gregorian served as a point man in granting $49.2 million in startup capital to an education-reform project founded by former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers and chaired by Obama.
Documentation shows Gregorian was central in Ayers’ recruitment of Obama to serve as the first chairman of the project, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge — a job in which Obama worked closely on a regular basis with Ayers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We went to the capitol to speak with representatives about various issues. In particular, one thing I did discuss with a state rep I’ve worked with on an unrelated issue is the ‘smart’ grid. The grid that is not smart. The day it gets hacked will make hurricane Sandy look like a blip on the screen. There will be no ATM machines to get money for food, no gasoline pumps working; it will be a nightmare beyond comprehension for tens and tens of millions of Americans who have no idea what the ‘smart’ grid is or how they have been made vulnerable by greedy corporations:
Hacking Expert David Chalk Joins Urgent Call to Halt Smart Grid — April 12, 2012 [url]
“100% certainty of catastrophic failure of energy grid within 3 years unless course is changed“…
Texas is now a target of the Democratic/Communist Party USA:
Democrats launch plan to turn Texas blue[url]
“National Democrats are taking steps to create a large-scale independent group aimed at turning traditionally conservative Texas into a prime electoral battleground, crafting a new initiative to identify and mobilize progressive voters in the rapidly-changing state, strategists familiar with the plans told POLITICO.
“The organization, dubbed “Battleground Texas,” plans to engage the state’s rapidly growing Latino population, as well as African-American voters and other Democratic-leaning constituencies that have been underrepresented at the ballot box in recent cycles. Two sources said the contemplated budget would run into the tens of millions of dollars over several years — a project Democrats hope has enough heft to help turn what has long been an electoral pipe dream into reality. At the center of the effort is Jeremy Bird, formerly the national field director for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, who was in Austin last week to confer with local Democrats about the project.”
I encourage you to read the entire article, Texans. The political ideology of the Democratic Party is in full lock step with the goals of the Communist International and Communist Party USA. They’ve laid their plans for our state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sending women into combat, like the end of the ban on official homosexuality, has been met with worried remarks about its impact on the “warrior culture”. But the new military that the left has been building for some time now is not interested in warriors; it wants peacekeepers.
The old army fought for a nation. The new one fights for vague concepts such as human rights or international law. Its goals are as intangible as those of the ideology it serves. It doesn’t fight actual enemies, but concepts and social problems. It fights against climate change, poverty and obesity. It fights for education, tolerance and the right of everyone to the gender of their choice. It isn’t really the army, it’s the hall monitors of the United Nations, the State Department, NATO and every liberal group on the planet.
Their ideal new soldier is not a warrior; he speaks three languages, appears non-threatening and can direct refugees, hand out aid to them and quickly pick up the local culture and religion. He is uncritical when witnessing child molestation, human sacrifice or any other quaint local custom. He is willing to die, not for his country, but to win the hearts and minds of the locals. He will not fire in self-defense if there is a single unarmed man, woman or child within twenty miles.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How the UK Sunday Times Observed Holocaust Memorial Day…
Today, January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day, when people throughout the world commemorate the Jews who died at the hands of Hitler and his many willing assistants in all nations.
The Times cartoon above, showing a gargoyle like, hook nosed Benyamin Netanyahu ‘cementing in a wall to peace’ with the blood of those Arabs who identify as Palestinians is pretty much standard fare in the kind of country the UK has become. Or more accurately, as Caroline Glick recently pointed out, the kind of country Britain has been for some time but now feels increasingly comfortable with revealing openly.
While there are undoubtedly a number of sporadic ceremonies in Britain today, the overwhelming thrust of the country’s leadership and its policies are conveyed far more accurately by the cartoon above.
Just a day ago, Liberal MP David Ward compared Israel’s policies with those of the Nazis at Auschwitz:
“Having visited Auschwitz twice — once with my family and once with local schools — I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza.”
While he was eventually forced to make a pro forma apology by party leaders, subsequent remarks by Ward signal that he hasn’t changed his views one iota.
The sophistry that people like David Ward and many other Britons indulge in is pretty wide spread these days…that there’s a difference between ‘Jews’ — especially Left wing Jews willing to play along with the fiction — and ‘Israel’.
As the above cartoon reveals, what they really object to is Jews having the nerve to actually have the right of self-determination and to insist on defending themselves, something they wouldn’t dare criticize for any other group.
What they’re ultimately comfortable with, whether they admit it or not, is the idea of Jews as victims,perpetually dependent on their tolerance and goodwill. Holocaust Remembrance Day, if nothing else, should be a reminder of how quickly the winds can change, and it is a strong and powerful Israel that makes sure that passively going along with those odious breezes is not an option anymore.
The ‘anti-Zionist’ is almost inevitably an anti-semite, and usually you don’t have to dig too deeply at all…
| [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bersani Irked by Monti Jab on MPS
‘Finds fault with PD every day,’ says centre-left leader
(ANSA) — Rome, January 25 — Democratic Party (PD) leader Pier Luigi Bersani said he was irked Friday by outgoing Premier Mario Monti’s latest jab at the PD, over troubled Siena bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), at the centre of a row over previously undisclosed derivatives losses.
“He (Monti) finds a flaw in the PD every day while I never heard any for a year,’ Bersani said, referring to the PD’s support for the Monti government that folded in December after ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi withdrew support. The PD has run Siena for decades and it is represented on the foundation that controls MPS, Italy’s third-largest lender and the country’s oldest bank. Earlier this week MPS said it had just discovered losses of 720 million euros from two derivatives deals, with Japanese bank Nomura and German bank Deutsche Bank, increasing criticism of its running after a 3.9-billion-euro government bailout last year.
Monti said Friday that political involvement in banks had to be “rooted out”, calling it “an ugly beast”.
“The PD is involved (in the MPS case), it has always had a lot of influence on the bank and on Siena’s political life,” Monti said.
While Berlusconi did not attempt to make political capital out of the case, saying he was “grateful” to MPS because it had helped fund a major construction scheme in Milan, his key ally, Northern League leader Roberto Maroni, claimed the affair “smells of kickbacks and if that is proven the government should appoint a commissioner” to run the bank.
Monti, who is polling behind Berlusconi and frontrunner Bersani for the February 24-25 elections, has taken several swipes at the PD lately, criticising it for blocking labour-market reforms and urging it to drop its alliance with the hard-left SEL party.
But the outgoing premier, who pundits say may have to forge an alliance with the PD in the Senate, has been even more severe on Berlusconi, saying he could work with his People of Freedom (PdL) party but only if three-time premier Berlusconi steps down as leader.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Monti — Berlusconi Win Would be “A Disaster”
PM takes offensive: another financial package not needed
Speaking on the Ballarò talk show, Mario Monti weighed into Silvio Berlusconi and the Democratic Party-Left Ecology Freedom (PD-SEL) alliance, avowing that “a Bersani-Vendola coalition would be unable to govern”.
According to the PM, Berlusconi has got it wrong — there is no communist threat — but it is true that Pier Luigi Bersani’s PD, and Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL), cannot genuinely reform Italy because they are held back by extremist elements, the Northern League and Nichi Vendola’s SEL. Mario Monti told the Tuesday evening TV audience: “I am deeply sceptical about the ability of the coalitions led by Silvio Berlusconi and Pier Luigi Bersani to govern Italy”. The prime minister’s harsh condemnation of both Centre-left and Centre-right put his own list firmly back in the centre.
DISASTER — Mr Monti’s most pointed barb was directed at the former PM: “If Berlusconi wins, good luck to him but it will be a disaster for us Italians”. The PDL leader was stigmatised as a “provincial” with little regard abroad. Mr Monti also demolished the Bersani-Vendola alliance, sounding warnings about the risks that Italy continues to run on the economic front. He did, however, reassure listeners that there would be no need for a new financial package. “In my view, political forces under such constraints from extremists are unable to implement more radically innovate policies”, affirmed Mr Monti, leader of the Civil Choice (SC) list, during a Radio Due interview in the morning with Barbara Palombelli.
COMMUNISTS — According to Mr Monti, the PD is not bringing the much-trumpeted “communist threat” into Italy and in that sense, “Silvio Berlusconi is wrong”. In so many words. He went on: “The PD has a communist history from which it has slowly liberated itself and it supported the EU, albeit not immediately”. The problem is more its closeness to SEL “which does not permit the innovative policies” that, according to the PM, Italy needs…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Monti Says Vendola is an Adversary
(AGI) — Rome, Jan 26 — Prime Minister Mario Monti has said that he is an “adversary of the left” and especially of Nichi Vendola, and is concerned over the trade union “Cgil’s strong influence” on the centre-left . “In election terms, we are adversaries of the left and especially so of Vendola’s left, adversaries in a competition that we hope will be fair and civilised, but we are nevertheless adversaries,” Monti stressed in a Milan press conference. “We are concerned over the Cgil trade union’s strong influence” on the centre-left, he added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi: “Left Can’t Manage Banks, Let Alone a Country”
(AGI) Rome, Jan 26 — Speaking on the Rai1 evening news in reference to the Monte dei Paschi di Siena situation, Silvio Berlusconi said “if the left can’t manage a bank they certainly can’t manage the country”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mussolini Did Well Apart From Race Laws, Says Berlusconi
(AGI) Milan, Jan 27 — Mussolini did well but the racial laws were wrong, said former Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. “The racial laws were the worst mistake of the leader, Mussolini, who, in many other respects, however, did well,” Berlusconi told reporters on his arrival at the Shoah memorial in Milan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Corruption Levels ‘Mortifying’, Court President Says
Country 72nd out of 100 nations, on par with Bosnia
(ANSA) — Rome, January 25 — Italy’s corruption levels, estimated to be on par with Bosnia, are an embarrassment, according to comments made on Friday in an official speech by Ernesto Lupo, chief president of the Court of Cassation. Lupo, who was presenting an official report on the state of the Italian Justice system, was referring to a recent Transparency International report on international corruption levels released in December. He called the status awarded to Italy “mortifying”, adding that “many non-European nations, even third world ones” had overtaken the eurozone’s third largest economy in terms of lower corruption levels. Italy slid three notches to 72nd place in Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perception Index released in December.
On a 100-point scale, the country scored 42, well behind countries such as Namibia and Rwanda, according to the Berlin-based NGO, which measured perceived levels of public-sector corruption in 176 countries and territories around the world. Greece, which fell to 94th place, and Italy were seen as having suffered from increased corruption amid the global economic crisis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Trade Union Representative Arrested for Alleged Extortion
Entrepreneur was reportedly targeted by FIOM member
(ANSA) — Naples, January 25; An Italian trade union representative was arrested by law enforcement officers for alleged extortion on Friday in the southern Italian city of Naples.
Angelo Spena, a representative from the Caserta branch of Italian metal workers’ union FIOM (
http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2013/01/25/Trade-union-representative-arrested-alleged-extortion_8138706.html
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Beppe Grillo on MPS: “That’s Not a Hole, It’s an Abyss”
(AGI) Florence, Jan 25 — Beppe Grillo, comedian and founder of the opposition party M5S (Five Star Movement), commented on the discovery of Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s losses. “They’re calling it a hole, but that’s not a hole, that’s an abyss,” he told a crowd in Florence during his Tsunami Tour.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Molise Tops Regional Obesity Chart in Italy
Doctors call for incentives for weight-loss surgery
(ANSA) — Rome, January 25 — One in seven residents of Molise — or 13.5% of the adult population — are obese compared with a national average of 10%, putting the small southern region at the top of the Italian obesity charts, the national statistics institute said Friday. The southern region of Basilicata came in at second place with an obesity rate of 13.1% followed by neighbouring Puglia with 12.6%, according to the 2013 edition of the Istat Noi Italia report.
Instead the slimmest regions were Liguria and Val d’Aosta with 8.3%, followed by Tuscany and Abruzzo (8.7%), Lombardy (8.9%) and Lazio (9.2%). The figures were based on the adult population and updated to 2011. “Even though the figures are lower than in other European countries we must not underestimate the situation,” said Marcello Lucchese, President of the Italian society of obesity and metabolic surgery.
“The number of obese Italians has risen by 25% since 1994, including in northern regions”.
Lucchese said bariatric surgery was “opportune” to protect patients from serious conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer that can result from obesity when diet, physical exercise and drug treatment proved to be ineffective. Obesity in Italy has a social cost of around 23 billion euros a year, of which 11 billion is borne by the national health service.
This figure does not include the indirect cost of 65 billion euros per year due to death, decreased productivity, absence from work and unemployment. “Incentivising weight-loss surgery could lead to savings of 88 billion euros,” said Lucchese.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Deafening Silence of the Left Over the ‘Muslim Patrol’
The aftermath of the recent ‘Muslim Patrol’ saga served as another reminder of the British Left’s cherry-picking approach to morality
There aren’t many times in politics when people of different stripes can unite over an issue, but I’m heartened to see that the Left have joined the chorus of condemnation over the disgusting behaviour of the thuggish ‘Muslim Patrol’ gang.
Sorry, hold on. That’s in a parallel universe. Here in our universe, no such thing has happened. As with every other instance of Islamist fanaticism, the Left remains silent. Case in point: I emailed several groups, including Unite Against Fascism (UAF), The Respect Party (RP), and The Socialist Workers Party (SWP), asking for their comments on the incidents. Want to guess how many replied to me?
Zero.
Bear in mind my emails were polite, concise and formal; I don’t go in for name calling and playground-level discourse. Of course, that’s what they would prefer. Had I written a long, ranty email full of insults, they would have responded like a shot. Take that ammunition away from them by asking a simple, sober question, and they can’t respond. As an aside, I also emailed George Galloway asking for his reaction; equally polite. Not that I expected a reply from him either.
This is what is so fascinating about those on the Left who proclaim to fight against fascism, racism, misogyny and homophobia. If they were honest, they would admit they’re highly selective about whom they actually fight. In their bizarrely distorted world view, fascism and homophobia perpetrated by some people is wrong, but fascism and homophobia perpetrated by Islamists is fine (well, what else can one conclude from their blanket silence?).
This pick-and-choose approach, based on a type of ‘right-on’ politics, is morally bankrupt…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Press: Stray Dogs Increasing Threat
In Sarajevo more attacks reported
(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, JANUARY 24 — Stray dogs in Sarajevo and across Bosnia are becoming an increasingly serious threat after legislation on the wellbeing of animals approved three years ago led to an increase in their number. Health care centres in the capital alone have recorded 1,735 aggressions against people, the ‘Dnevni avaz’ daily reports, quoting the director of a local Emergency Room, Sena Sftic-Taljanovic. The doctor said on average three to four attacks are reported every day and 45 people have been treated for injuries in the first three weeks of the year. The paper criticized authorities for failing to solve the problem and said 745 people reported attacks in 2012, 30% more than the previous year.
According to Britain’s ‘Dogs Trust’ there are some 11,000 stray dogs in the capital. The problem worsened after a 2009 law banned euthanasia for stray dogs and ordered local governments to build dog shelters, something most local communities have failed to do due to lack of funding. Sarajevo’s shelter cannot accommodate more than 500 dogs and the sterilization programme promoted by authorities and the Dogs Trust has not been effective so far.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Mohammed Morsi Imposes State of Emergency
President Mohammed Morsi responded to days of rioting across Egypt by declaring a state of emergency in the three worst-hit cities.
Mr Morsi spoke on Egyptian state television to impose curfews and military control reminiscent of the Mubarak era on Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya.
Earlier, six people died in fighting in Port Said between mourners, protesters and the police at funerals for some of the 31 people killed in clashes on Saturday, when protests against death sentences handed down to football rioters were met with live fire and tear gas.
In a worrying development, protesters were armed and fired shots at police lines.
Mr Morsi had been criticised for his low profile during a series of disturbances that began in Cairo on Thursday night, the eve of the second anniversary of the Tahrir Square protests that brought down ex-President Hosni Mubarak.
He ordered a 30-day state of emergency with curfews in the three Suez canal cities. Suez saw nine deaths on Friday, after protests marking the revolution, while the governorate and Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Ismailiya were both stormed…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Gunfire Erupts During Port Said Funeral in Egypt
(AGI) Port Said, Jan 27 — Egypt has entered the fourth day of violent civil unrest and may witness further bloodshed after the funerals in Port Said, held for those killed during the protests on Saturday, came to a screeching halt when gunshots were heard. Thousands had attended the funerals and the ensuing mid-day prayers, and panic broke out when people fled in all directions upon hearing the gunfire.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
State of Emergency in Egyptian Cities Following New Violence
President Mohammed Morsi has declared a state of emergency in three Egyptian cities after new violence. At least six people were killed and hundreds injured in the canal city of Port Said during clashes with police.
In a televised address Sunday evening, Morsi declared a state of emergency in Port Said, Suez and Ismailia. The three cities will have a curfew imposed “for 30 days starting at midnight (2200 GMT Sunday)” the president said.
“I find the nation facing dangers, I will have to take stricter measures. This is my duty,” said Morsi.
The president also invited Egypt’s opposition forces to a dialogue starting on Monday.
Unrest in Port Said
Crowds tried to storm three police stations Sunday and others torched an army social club, looting items inside, security officials said.
One of victims was an 18-year-old male who died of gunshot wounds to the chest Port Said’s head of hospitals, Abdel Rahman Farag, told the Reuters news agency.
Hundreds were injured, including 429 who suffered from tear gas inhalation and another 38 wounded by gunshots, said Farag.
The military has been deployed in Port Said and the nearby canal city of Suez to help restore calm and protect vital public buildings.
Thousands had gathered in Port Said for the funerals of those killed during earlier clashes on Saturday, with many chanting against President Mohammed Morsi.
“Our city is being hit by the interior ministry!” and “Down with the Brotherhood rule!” people chanted, referencing the Islamist group that backs Morsi…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Govt. Says Russia Still Supplying Arms
(AGI) Moscow, Jan 26 — The bonds between Russia and the Syrian regime are yet to be broken, as Syria’s deputy prime minister, Jamil Qadri, confirmed on Sunday. Russia, Qadri stated, continues to supply Bashar al Assad’s forces with arms, as it did before the revolt began 22 months ago and notwithstanding the 60 thousand dead in between. “We signed an agreement before the beginning of the crisis and Russia is honouring it,” Qadri said on Moscow’s Echo radio station.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tehran Denies Alleged Explosion Occurred at the Fordo Enrichment Facility
As Monday dawned in the Middle East Tehran’s official news agency, IRNA, denied the reports about the alleged Fordo enrichment facility explosion. An IRNA article reported: There has been no explosion in the Fordo nuclear Facility, the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Seyyed Shamseddin Barbroudi said on Sunday. Notwithstanding the Islamic Regime’s denials to the contrary, even if US, German and Israeli intelligence can obtain independent verifiable reports, we may never the outcome of the Fordo mysterious explosion. As in the case of Israel’s dramatic IAF attack that destroyed the Syrian nuclear bomb factory on the banks of the Euphrates River in September 2007, Israel will remain mum. If the mysterious Fordo blast is confirmed it would be a possible setback to Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons poised to provide a nuclear umbrella to threaten Israel, US and Sunni antagonists in the Gulf region. Until then the report of the Fordo uranium enrichment destruction remains unconfirmed.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Warns Citizens to Leave Somalia Immediately
(AGI) London, Jan 27 — The British government has asked all its citizens to leave Somalia immediately following ‘specific threats’ addressed at all foreigners in Somaliland. No further details have been provided.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Fighter Jets Destroy Mali Top Islamist Leader’s Home
(AGI) Bamako, Jan 27 — French fighter jets have pounded the Islamist stronghold of Kidal, in Mali, about 1,500 kilometres north of the country’s capital Bamako. The home of Ansar Dine leader, Iyad Ag Ghaly, was destroyed in the bombing.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
(AGI) Bamako, Jan 27 — Malian and French troops advancing north into Islamist-held territory have reached Timbuktu, which was seized by jihadists linked to al Qaeda last year. A source within Mali’s forces, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that government troops “have gone past Niafounke and since yesterday evening are at the gates of Timbuktu”. The French and Malian armies had not met with any resistance from rebel Islamist forces up till then.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US to Provide Aerial Refueling for French Jet Fighters
(AGI) Washington, Jan 27 — The Unites States will provide aerial refueling for French jet fighters attacking al Qaeda-affiliated militants in northern Mali.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Security guards tried to stop revellers escaping from a Brazil nightclub as a fire ravaged through the building killing at least 232 people, it has been claimed.
An eyewitness to the incident, which happened in the early hours of this morning, said door staff initially did not understand what was happening and tried to stop people leaving through an exit door.
In what appears to be the deadliest nightclub fire for a decade, people were reportedly screaming ‘there’s a fire’ but were trapped inside the burning building.
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Initial reports were that 90 people perished in the blaze, but the death toll has steadily been rising as more bodies have been found in the packed nightclub.
It was earlier reported that as many as 245 people had died in the fire but a new count of bodies brought to a nearby gym has led to an estimated count of 232 people dead.
While the official cause of the blaze has not been stated, local reports claim it was sparked by a firework set off during a band’s performance.
Murilo de Toledo Tiecher, a 26-year-old medical student, told Zero Hora newspaper: ‘People were screaming “there’s a fire” but the security guards didn’t budge and tried to keep the door shut.
‘Five or six people knocked over one security guard and knocked down the door. It was the only exit.
‘The first people to get out tried to pull out whoever was still inside. Hands and arms appeared from the curtain of smoke. We pulled out various people. I pulled out a girl by the hair. It was chaos, the worst desperation.’
But other eyewitnesses said that once the security guards realised how serious the fire was, they tried to help people escape.
The exact number of victims is still unknown and there may be hundreds injured, civil police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha.
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Britain is ‘self-segregating’ as white families flee urban areas for the countryside and outer suburbs.
The trend is causing an ‘ethnic cliff’, in which the proportion of households from minority backgrounds is vastly different in areas just a few miles apart.
Some outer London boroughs — including Enfield, Waltham Forest and Redbridge — have seen their white British population drop by as much as a quarter over the past decade.
The same applies to urban areas around the capital such as Luton, Reading and Bedfordshire.
Meanwhile, the white British population in many suburban and rural districts just next door has soared, according to research produced by Birkbeck College, University of London, in conjunction with think tank Demos.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Celebrating 40 Years of Infanticide
Every year on January 22 pro-aborts celebrate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Forty years ago the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States with a 7-to-2 majority vote in favor of Roe. Subsequently states were prohibited from deciding on the matter. And because of the High Court’s decision women now had a “fundamental right” to choose to abort a pre-born child. The Court’s decision has resulted in approximately 55,772,015 million abortions. That’s 1.394 million abortions each year! So every 12 minutes abortionists take no thought to expunging a child from her mother’s womb.
Today many Americans are naïve to the fact that partial-birth abortion or “intact dilation and extraction” was performed in the United States allegedly for “health reasons.” (Read more about PBA here) In 2003 President George W. Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that made this barbaric practice illegal in most circumstances. The ban describes PBA as “a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary.”…
So the burning question is: At what stage of development does life begin? Christian apologist Greg Koukl addresses this question thusly:
“When does an acorn become an oak? Well, no one knows for sure…Of course we do! An acorn never becomes an oak. An acorn is an oak. Period. That’s what an acorn is. It’s an oak in immature form. It can become a mature oak tree. But young or old, it’s an oak. This is not a matter of opinion, folks. When we get down to it, acorn doesn’t describe what a thing is, in a sense; it describes the stage of development of that particular thing. It’s kind of like asking what is a teenager? Well, a teenager isn’t a particular thing, like there is a being called teenager. What a teenager is is a description of the stage of development of the human being. It is a human at a certain age. An acorn is an oak at a certain age. And a fetus is a human being at a certain age. “
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
While the UN Observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day Antisemitism is Rising
On January 27, 1945 forward units of the 100th Rifle Division of the 1st Ukrainian Front entered the Auschwitz Birkenau death camp precinct liberating several thousand remaining survivors. More than 1.1 million were murdered there by the Nazi SS, 1 million of them Jews. Among the first groups they encountered in the remaining barracks were children, twins, victims of the ‘angel of death, Dr. Josef Mengele’s sadistic medical experiments. The Russian troopers in their white camouflage coats instantly hugged and gave them chocolate. These Jewish children hadn’t had felt any humane treatment during their enforced incarceration in Auschwitz. When the UN observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th, that heinous period of destructive anti-Semitism will not penetrate the minds of European nativists and Islamic anti-Semites. Especially, the 57 member Muslim countries of the Saudi-backed Organization of Islamic Cooperation that frequently dominates proceedings of the General Assembly. The OIC endeavors to impose Blasphemy codes at the UN, in the EU and even here in the US. Codes that would prevent criticism of Quranic Jew Hatred.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
19 Sexual Harassment cases in Tahrir, Sky News reporter assaulted in Alexandria
link
http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/01/27/19-sexual-harassment-cases-in-tahrir-sky-news-reporter-assaulted-in-alexandria/
Stoltenberg promises Norway’s allowing Myanmar’s debt relief after Davos talks with Soros
– Who runs Norway? Soros?
Good thing Barack Hussein Obama is the best friend the Muslim Brotherhood could possibly have.