The United States and Britain are reportedly preparing to go to war with Syria, with the casus belli being the Assad regime’s alleged gas attack on civilians. The USA, Israel, and the EU assert that the Syrian government is responsible for the attack, while Russia and Syria insist that the rebels were behind it. Iran has condemned the action without assigning blame. The Syrian government says that its soldiers discovered chemical weapons in one of the rebels’ tunnels.
The medical charity Médecins sans Frontières says it has treated thousands of victims for symptoms of neurotoxin poisoning. Independent groups come down on both sides of the issue, and some even maintain that the observed symptoms do not correspond with the effects of weapons-grade chemical agents.
In wine-related news, Italy is expecting a bumper crop of grapes this year, with white varietals in particular predicted to reach high production levels. The new European Commissioner for Consumer Protection — who is Croatian — says that the EU will increase its efforts to distinguish Croatian prosek, a sweet red dessert wine, from Italian prosecco, a dry sparkling white, so that wine consumers understand the difference and make their bibulous purchases accordingly.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, KP, MC, McR, Papa Whiskey, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Central Banks Told to Cooperate on Managing Global Liquidity
(Reuters) — Central banks should coordinate to avoid unwanted side effects as they exit from ultra-easy monetary policies that have left the world awash in cheap money, top policymakers were told on Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Student Loans Will Haunt You to the Grave
By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: We’ve devoted considerable space on this blog documenting the ways in which student debt prevents young people from beginning their lives as adults. A study from Demos, for example, finds that among college graduates, those without student debt are more likely to own a home and enjoy lower interest rates on their mortgages. But the effects of debt can also linger into older adulthood, even when the loans are paid off: the study found that debt-free grads build up a hefty $208 thousand more in wealth over the course of their lifetime.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Today, many people are starting to realise they will probably never enjoy the comforts their parents took for granted.
For middle-class Britain is not just being squeezed. Thanks to rising food prices, non-existent savings rates, disappearing pensions, surging energy costs, the disappearance of jobs and the grim decline of social mobility, there is a good case that it is beginning to vanish entirely.
People have, of course, been writing obituaries for the British middle classes for years. There was a notable example in this week’s Spectator, which warned that ‘the lifestyle that the average earner had half a century ago — a reasonably sized house, dependable healthcare, a decent education for the children and a reliable pension — is becoming the preserve of the rich’.
That diagnosis will, I suspect, have many readers nodding in recognition.
Ever since the start of the financial crisis, ordinary families have been forced to pull in their belts ever tighter, forfeiting many of the pleasures that once made up the texture of their daily lives.
Government statistics show that since the crash, the average earner has seen his income drop by 10 per cent in real terms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
David Goldman: “Spengler”, on Why the US is Adrift in the Middle East and Globally
David P. Goldman, former Reagan era National Security Council staffer, is a very savvy economic and financial market analyst. Because of his many interests, some would say that he is a classic polymath. Goldman is also Tablet Magazine’s classical music critic, is the Spengler columnist for Asia Times Online, associate fellow at the Middle East Forum, and the author of How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying, Too) and the essay collection It’s Not the End of the World, It’s Just the End of You. His views on geo-politics have for years been revealed in his commentary published in the Asia Times under his nom de plume, “Spengler”. The cognoscenti who followed his commentary used to take bets on who he was until he came out of the closet a few years back. Since then his presence has been more noticeable on the US and international scene. His observations about the economic failures of Muslim countries and the geo-political gyrations in the Middle East have been spot on. His most recent Asia Times op ed, World learns to manage without the US, was written on the cusp of revelations about the alleged Chemical Warfare attacks on hapless sleeping Syrians in those Damascus suburbs , ruminations about Pentagon saber rattling about possible military options to deal with the Assad regime coupled with Sixth Fleet maneuvers in the Eastern Mediterranean. Nonetheless his observations about the failure of US leadership, whether the Obama Administration or Republican stalwarts in the US Senate like Arizona Senator John McCain , have been both astute and clear headed.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
DEA Bans Armored Cars From Picking Up Pot Shop Cash
Medical marijuana is legal in California, but the combination of valuable drugs and what is often a cash-only business can attract some rough characters.
That’s why some dispensaries use armored car companies to get their money to and from their favorite bank (or elsewhere). But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says no more. The federal authority has told armored car companies they can no longer work with some, perhaps all, cannabis retailers in California and Colorado.
The pro-pot forces were up in arms today:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Many people rely on their smartphone throughout the day to surf the web, check their email and send messages to friends. But what about during the night?
A sleep expert has said an increasing number of people have started to use their phone and send text messages while they are asleep and often don’t remember writing them.
Dr Josh Werber warned sleep texting could have embarrassing consequences as well as leading to health problems as people are not getting enough quality sleep.
23-year-old Megan admitted to U.S. television channel CBS 2 that she texts friends and family in her sleep and has ‘no recollection’ of sending them.
She told the channel: ‘My charger is right there in the corner so sometimes I would keep it right here next to me.
‘I guess I got up and texted and went back to bed but I don’t remember it.’
She said she has regularly send texts at three and four o’clock in the morning while she was asleep only to wake up and find out she has sent messages of jumbled up words.
While this could be embarrassing, Dr Werber of EOS Sleep, people who text during their sleep are ‘not getting the deep sleep or the rapid eye movement which is really critical to higher brain function’.
Laura Hogya, who has a full-time job but is also a sleep texter, told the channel hat she wakes up exhausted and is not sure whether it is because she has had a bad night’s sleep from tossing and turning, or from sending text messages.
She said she is half asleep when she gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or to get a glass of water and starts answering messages on her mobile, but she does not remember doing so until the next morning.
Unlike Megan’s messages, Ms Hogya’s make sense but she is still concerned that they could cause problems one day.
‘If I answer a client e-mail that’s something that I have to worry about,’ she said.
Dr Werber unsurprisingly suggested moving phones away from the bed to make it harder to sleep text, which Ms Hogya is trying.
He said banishing phones for the bedroom completely not only prevents people from sending text messages during their sleep but helps them sleep better as they are not disturbed by light, which sends a message to the brain that it is tome to wake up.
He suggests shutting down all gadgets at least an hour before bed time to increase the chance of a good night’s sleep.
There are currently no studies into sleep texting, but a similar phenomenon, sleep emailing, was studied in 2008.
Researchers at the University of Toledo reported the case of a woman, 44, who would compose emails while sound asleep. She had no recollection of sending the emails when awake.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Forum on Islam Sparks Heated Debate at Orland Park Library
Muslim panelists calmly explain beliefs amid outbursts from some audience members
What a southwest suburban library had promoted as an educational forum this week on Muslim life in America quickly turned into a contentious debate about Islam.
The tone for the Thursday evening event was set while the three panelists at the Orland Park Library were still introducing themselves. In the first of many interruptions, a half-dozen audience members stood up and demanded that everyone recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Library Director Mary Weimar denied their request. She explained that it wasn’t standard practice to recite the pledge at library events and requested that the attendees show more respect for the panelists.
So began a tense and often heated 90-minute debate — punctuated with frequent yelling and finger-pointing from audience members — over the practice of Shariah law, the meaning of jihad and the intersection of Islamic and American culture.
While some audience members expressed disdain for Islam and its followers, the Muslim panelists remained calm in attempting to explain their beliefs.
“Despite the anger that a lot of people brought, I think it’s good to talk about these issues,” said Thomas Maguire, associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. “I raised some of those issues myself because I wanted to be able to have those discussions.”
As one of the three panelists, Maguire was joined by Amir Toft, a doctoral student in Near Eastern languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago, and Iman Sedique, a doctoral student in sociology at Northwestern University.
Together they repeatedly asked the audience to maintain an open mind about Islam. In return, they were peppered with questions about Muslim extremists and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Joseph Figliulo, a Frankfort resident and member of Act! For America, a national organization of people concerned about “the threat of radical Islam,” called Shariah “a totalitarian ideology along the lines of communism and fascism.”
Nearly a dozen audience members appeared to side with Figliulo. They often clapped and cheered for one another as they took turns explaining their distrust of Muslims.
Others in the 60-person crowd took offense at the frequent outbursts and told those responsible to “shut up or leave.”
Library officials called police after an audience member accused the panelists of being complacent in the face of terrorism overseas. The remark led to a burst of outrage from audience members who said the panelists were avoiding the topic.
“I can’t explain irrational things,” Toft said in response. “I have no justification for it. There is no justification for it from an Islamic perspective.”
Thursday’s event, titled “Muslims Today,” was part of a monthlong series the library organized to explore Islamic life and culture. The entire series, “The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys,” is sponsored by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
North Carolina Agrees to Compensate Sterilization Victims for 45-Year Eugenics Program
After a ten-year deliberation process, North Carolina is set to be the first state to offer monetary compensation to victims of government-sponsored sterilization.
Between 1929 and 1974, the state sterilized an estimated 7,600 people by choice, force or coercion under the authority of the North Carolina Eugenics Board program.
The North Carolina General Assembly in late July approved compensation for the remaining victims of the sterilization program. State Governor Pat McCrory signed into law the $10 million compensation package — to be distributed among living victims — as part of the state’s $20.6 billion budget shortly after the General Assembly’s vote. Verified victims will be issued a share by 2015.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Admits: There Have Been a Bunch of Intentional Abuses, Including Spying on Love Interests
So, this week, we wrote about the NSA quietly admitting that there had been intentional abuses of its surveillance infrastructure, despite earlier claims by NSA boss Keith Alexander and various folks in Congress that there had been absolutely no “intentional” abuses. Late on Friday (of course) the NSA finally put out an official statement admitting to an average of one intentional abuser per year over the past ten years. The AP is reporting that at least one of the abuses involved an NSA employee spying on a former spouse. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal suggests that spying on love interests happens somewhat more often:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Officers Sometimes Spy on Love Interests
National Security Agency officers on several occasions have channeled their agency’s enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests, U.S. officials said. The practice isn’t frequent — one official estimated a handful of cases in the last decade — but it’s common enough to garner its own spycraft label: LOVEINT.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Patent Confirms That Aspartame is the Excrement of GM Bacteria
(NaturalNews) In 1999, The Independent published an article entitled “World’s top sweetener is made with GM bacteria,” which revealed that Monsanto was knowingly adding aspartame to soft drinks in the United States — and that aspartame is made from GM bacteria. This report, which remains one of the earliest disclosures on aspartame in a mainstream newspaper, received little attention after its publication — possibly because its implications were underestimated at the time — and it has long been forgotten.
Since 1999, the world has become a little more attentive to Monsanto and aspartame, but ignorance still abounds about the latter’s genesis. While more and more people are starting to awaken to aspartame’s destructive effects on our health, do they know how it is actually made? Fortunately, a 1981 patent for aspartame production, once confined to the drawers of patent offices, is now available online for everyone to see — and it confirms everything that Monsanto was happy to tell us in 1999 before their meteoric growth necessitated greater prudence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pizza Delivery Driver Stands His Ground During Robbery — Thug Dead
“Killing” Pizza delivery people is not a random occurrence. It’s been a little over a year since Elizabeth Hutchinson was stabbed 50 times delivering pizza; and then the poor young guy named Daniil Maksimenko was killed around the same time. Then, a few months ago, there was the Papa John’s Pizza guy, Robert Horton, who was shot and killed almost the same way as the first two.
The killers of Elizabeth Hutchinson, Daniil Maksimenko, and Robert Horton were all thugs of a similar constitution.
WEST MELBOURNE Florida — Investigators say a Brevard County pizza delivery man took action into his own hands, shooting and killing a would-be robber.
Investigators said Byron Park, a Domino’s employee, had just delivered a pizza to one of the rooms at the Days Inn off US-192 near Interstate 95. Park, 54, went back to his car, sat down and starting counting his money and tip, waiting for his next call for a delivery.
That’s when investigators said 32-year-old Fredrick Kelly Jr. (pictured) approached him with a knife, demanding money and threatening to kill him. Park pulled out his firearm and fired once toward Kelly, who was struck and pronounced dead at the scene.
“Preliminary evidence in the case demonstrates that the intended victim of the robbery acted in self-defense while being robbed by a violent criminal who was armed with a knife,” said Sheriff Wayne Ivey. “The suspect in this investigation was released from prison in 2009, after serving a reduced sentence for similar violent crimes.”
Investigators said Kelly had a lengthy violent criminal history, which included armed robbery, false imprisonment and aggravated battery. The hotel’s general manager said the company has no comment.
| [Return to headlines] |
Two Million Bikers to Meet “Million Muslim March” In DC on 9/11
By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Now in response to the march, a bunch of bikers are planning their own party in DC on 9/11…with two million people. Thousands of America’s patriotic bikers are organizing an enormous counter protest to the planned Million Muslim March on DC this Sept. 11. The Facebook Page, “2 Million Bikers to DC,” has over 18 thousand “likes,” as of Thursday morning and individual state chapters of riders have launched pages on Facebook, as well.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Excerpt: Anyone living on a diet of revisionist history may be surprised to learn that liberal icon John F. Kennedy did not become a barking moonbat until after a communist had murdered him. Here’s what he had to say about tax cuts while he was still alive:…
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Washington Post Attacked as Terrorist Mouthpiece (Video)
Washington Post staffers cowered in the main lobby of their Washington, D.C. headquarters on Thursday as hundreds of Egyptian-American protesters chanted outside, in response to a protest leader with a bullhorn, that “The Washington Post is lying” and “The Washington Post [is] Supporting Terrorists.”
“A large group of Egyptian protesters rallied in front of The Washington Post offices on Thursday afternoon, registering their support for military leader Gen. Abdel Fatah el-Sissi and their opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood,” reported the Post. In fact, these were Egyptian-Americans, and the reason they were at the Post could be ascertained in their chants. They did support el-Sissi but also were disgusted by the paper’s failure to accurately cover events in Egypt, and to fix the blame for the attacks on Christian churches on the Muslim Brotherhood.
I covered and captured the protests in videos here and here. The Post reported that its main lobby “was shut down and no one was allowed in or out during the approximately half-hour that the protesters peacefully chanted and waved signs.” There was no need for this overreaction, as the demonstrators were indeed peaceful.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘A Nation of Sullen Paranoids’: Too Much Security Can Produce a Kind of Madness
By Peggy Noonan
Excerpt: But, [Stella Rimington, former director-general of Britain’s MI5] suggests, you don’t want to lose your country—the thing you are so anxious to defend—in your effort to save your country. In a career in what she calls “the secret state,” she learned that at the heart of countering terrorism is intelligence, and the most valuable sources against terrorism are human beings—long-term penetration efforts. This must be heavily supplemented by technical intelligence—phones, the Internet—and the more expert the better.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
EU Minister Vows Clarity Between Prosecco and Prosek
‘Two wines are very different’ says Mimica
(ANSA) — Brussels, August 20 — The newly appointed European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Croatian diplomat Neven Mimica, on Friday told ANSA that efforts would be made to distinguish Italian prosecco and Croatian prosek wines for consumers and to give each its due. Italian prosecco is a dry, sparkling white wine made in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions using the Charmat method, where second fermentation takes place in steel tanks, as opposed to bottles used in the classical sparkling wine method.
The Croatian prosek is a sweet red dessert wine, made with dried grapes and traditionally produced in the southern Dalmatia region. High quality prosek can be more expensive than other wines because it requires seven times the volume of grapes. “The commission’s services are engaged in discussions to ensure that there is clarity” between Italian prosecco and Croatian prosek wines, Mimica told ANSA.
“There are very clear rules regarding wines.
“As a consumer, I know that the two wines are two very different products, and I appreciate both”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Excellent Year Expected for Italian Wine, Says Coldiretti
White wine benefits slightly more than red, production up
(ANSA) — Rome, August 22 — Italian wine production is expected to rise and to be of “good quality” thanks to favourable weather conditions this year, the Italian farming association Coldiretti revealed on Thursday.
The group foresees the production of 42 million hectolitres for 2013, up 3% over last year.
Harvest has begun in the northern Italian Oltrepo’ Pavese and Franciacorta areas — Lombardy’s zones for prestigious white and sparkling wines.
“The coming weeks will be decisive, but after years (of extreme weather) normality has returned,” a Coldiretti statement said.
“The weather has favoured an excellent maturation of the grapes,” the group explained, adding that benefits for white wine production should slightly surpass red.
Coldiretti said 331 Italian wines — or 40% of the total — will receive the DOC or the more selective DOCG quality designations.
Thirty percent will be given the lower IGT denomination, while 30% will be labeled table-wine.
Italy’s 250,000 wine companies generate a turnover of nine billion euros and employ 1.2 million people. Coldiretti added that Italy will be the world’s second wine producer this year after France, which is expected to make 46 million hectolitres.
More than half of Italian wine will be destined for export, as wine consumption in Italy shrunk to a historic low of 22.6 million hectolitres in 2012.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Excellent Year for Italian Wines Seen
Italian Enologists’ Association chief gives preliminary outlook
(ANSA) — Rome, August 16 — The Association of Italian Enologists’ has indicated that 2013 may well be an excellent year for the production of both red and white local wines if the current climatic conditions carry on, according to preliminary forecasts of the outcome provided by Riccardo Cotarella who heads the body on Friday. “It’s going well, this climatic situation cannot but be favourable”, he said. “We need to use a conditional tense, obviously, but if it carries on like this, I am optimistic and it could be an excellent year both for whites and for reds”.
Grape-picking has already started in the southern Italian regions of Sicily and Puglia, but only for some vines, like the Chardonnay and Pinot ones.
The rest are expected to be picked starting in a week or 10 days’ time.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Famous German Actor’s Nazi Memorabilia Discovered
(AGI) Berlin — A box has been found containing Nazi memorabilia collected by famous actor and former SS soldier Horst Tappert.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Agency Warns Windows 8 PCs Vulnerable to Cyber Threats
FRANKFURT Aug 22 (Reuters) — A German government technology agency has warned that new security technology in computers running Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system may actually make PCs more vulnerable to cyber threats, including sabotage.
Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday that federal government agencies and critical infrastructure operators should pay particular attention to the risk.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ferrari Unveils Its Most Powerful Road Car Ever
458 Speciale darts 0-100kmh in three seconds flat
(ANSA) — Maranello, August 20 — Ferrari on Tuesday unveiled its latest supercar, the 458 Speciale, touted as the iconic sports carmaker’s most powerful road car in history. The lighter, more powerful version of the mid-engine 458 goes from 0-100km/h (0-62 mph) in three seconds, down from 3.4 in the earlier models, thanks to a peak-power output of 9,000rpm driven by a naturally aspirated 4.5-litre V8 engine.
“It has the highest power density in the history of Ferrari road cars,” said Ferrari in a statement, besting its predecessors the 458 Italia and 458 Spider. Ferrari has yet to release a top speed for the eight-cylinder two-seater with a mid-rear mounted engine.
But it’s a safe bet it will beat the base model’s 325 km/h (202 mph) by some margin.
Ferrari unveiled the Speciale online ahead of its official curtain-raiser at the Frankfurt Motor Show September 10. Engineers in Maranello said it was designed with the target of raising performance and “driving emotion to the highest levels”, while still guaranteeing ease of control in every situation. The revamped engine, which for two consecutive years won the best performance prize at the International Engine of the Year Awards, boasts an extraordinary power output of 135 cv/l, the highest ever achieved by a road-going, naturally air-cooled engine.
The company also boasts that there’s more to this car than what’s under the hood. The Ferrari Styling Centre, in cooperation with legendary car designer Pininfarina, sculpted the car’s forms to optimize performance. The most notable external features are the front and rear movable aerodynamics, which balance downforce and cut drag, helping make the 458 Speciale the most aerodynamically efficient range-production car in Ferrari history. Also, the smooth hood has been replaced with a massive scoop, while the tiny trunk has been made even smaller. Gone is the triple-pipe-exhaust system, replaced with two hefty pipes reminiscent of the old 430 Scuderia, which sit above a rear splitter. Designers have also done much to trim down the supercar to its bare essentials, even in the carpetless cabin, equipped with carbon-fiber seats, a stripped-out center console and a carbon-fiber gearshift, replacing gearbox buttons once on a glamourous panel. All of this to bring its weight down to a nimble 1,290 kilos, down 90 from the standard model. So far no word on its price, though car buffs speculate over $200,000.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Priest Bequeaths 800,000 Euros to Parish Carer
‘Willing to give money to church’
(ANSA) — Milan, August 19 — A trial over an 800,000-euro inheritance left by a priest to his carer is scheduled to start at the Brescia civil tribunal in Northern Italy on Tuesday. Don Giulio Gatteri, the former priest of San Sebastiano a Lumezzane, died last April and left a handwritten will leaving all his worldly possessions to a female carer from Moldova who had assisted the parish for the previous 12 years. The will amounts to 800,000 euros and the Brescia dioceses took legal action in an attempt to clarify how the recoup the sums. She has said that she is available to turn the total over to the church.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rare Goat Extends Habitat in Abruzzo Reserve
Apennine chamois hunted almost to extinction for leather
(ANSA) — Rome, August 14 — A rare mountain goat hunted almost to extinction for its chamois leather after WWII is growing in numbers and extending its habitat in the protected environment of the Abruzzo National Park.
A small herd of Apennine chamois, a goat antelope, was spotted on a mountain not far from the Abruzzo capital L’Aquila by hikers who posted their snaps on Facebook Wednesday.
About 750 members of the endangered species live in the nature reserve, where they are among its prime attractions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Health Minister Calls for Broader Smoking Ban
Lorenzin says smoking leading cause of death in Europe
(ANSA) — Rome, August 14 — Smoking is a killer that should set off alarm bells in society, especially where children and youngsters are concerned, Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said Wednesday.
In an open letter addressed to all Italian parliamentarians, Lorenzin said there must be greater efforts to fight smoking and to prevent young people from taking up the habit in the first place.
“I ask you to support, inside and out of Parliament”, the anti-smoking cause, she said.
Smoking in public and work places that are indoors is against the law in Italy.
But a proposed new bill would ban smoking, both of traditional and electronic cigarettes, in outdoor areas at schools, such as their gardens, car parks, court yards and playgrounds.
It would also ban smoking in cars in which pregnant women and children are travelling.
Statistics are making it brutally clear that young people are becoming addicted at early ages, suggesting they are not dissuaded by the current anti-smoking campaigns, said Lorenzin in her letter.
Instead, families need to train children to turn from smoking in the same way the learn that the rules of the road — such as red stop lights — must be obeyed, said the minister.
With smoking killing 750,000 Europeans each year, the leading cause of death in Europe, faster and broader action is essential, said Lorenzin.
Still, some have fought against her proposed ban on smoking in cars with children and pregnant women because it is allegedly an attack on personal freedom, she noted.
Instead, her initiative should be viewed as providing children freedom from poison, said Lorenzin.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Over 200 Migrants: Including 30 Children, Landed in Sicily
(AGI) Rome — Two boats carrying 200 migrants, with 26 women and 30 children, were rescued in the Sicilian Channel on Friday night .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
I sometimes wonder how long it will be before people wake up to the fact that British life, with its continual loss of freedoms, imposed laws, unjust politically correct rules, and over the top persistent and invasive surveillance, are taking them on a road travelling well above the speed limit at an out of control pace; on a road to hell.
Will there be something or someone to cushion the blow, and will they find an ‘option’ when they reach their destination?
American street preacher, Tony Miano also recently found himself as well in the long arm of the law. He was well and truly ‘nicked’ preaching on a London street about the consequences of ‘sexual immorality’ according to the bible.
Mr Miano, who is a retired member of the Los Angeles Sheriff Department in America, was preaching in Wimbledon, where sports fans were gathering to watch the annual tennis championships. Rain called off play when a policeman approached him, after a member of the public reported him for ‘insulting’ people. He was arrested, taken to the police station, cautioned, questioned, and spent 7 hours in a police cell before being released.
– From Lifesitenews.com:-
In a video of the arrest, a police officer can be heard telling Miano, “We’re arresting you under Section 5 of The Public Order Act. This is because people have been offended by what you’ve said.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim TV Station in UK Fined for Call to Kill
[…]
British regulator imposes one-third of maximum penalty for Noor TV broadcast urging death to those who don’t respect Mohammed
[…]
The offending channel, Noor TV, is based in Birmingham and presents programs in English, Urdu and Punjabi. During a call-in program in May 2012, host Allama Muhammad Farooq Nizami was asked about the proper response to those who don’t respect Mohammed.. He replied, “We are ready, and should be ready at all times, to kill a blasphemer.”
The remarks promptly resulted in viewer complaints, and the Office of Communications — known locally as OfCom — on Wednesday handed down a fine of 85,000 pounds, or slightly more than $132,000. The penalty fell far short of the maximum allowed by British law, 250,000.
In its judgment, OfCom noted that Noor TV has not apologized for the on-air remarks, though it did issue a “clarification” six months after they were made. Nevertheless, OfCom said the fine — one-third of the maximum possible — was appropriate because it signaled deference to the station’s “freedom of expression. […]
[Those who tweet their horror as a response to street executions by Muslims in the name of Allah get Gaol, this broadcaster incites copycat crimes and gets a ‘fine’. this is social justice? — MC]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Science: Italians Find Biggest Magnetic Field in Cosmos
‘The discovery we were waiting for’
(By Christopher Livesay) (ANSAmed) — ROME — The most powerful magnetic field ever observed in the known universe is located in the Milky Way 6,500 light years from Earth’s solar system, according to groundbreaking research by Italian scientists. “It’s the discovery we had been expecting for a long time” lead researcher and astrophysicist Andrea Tiengo told ANSA. The findings, which were uncovered by researchers at Pavia’s Iuss University and the National Astrophysics Institute (Inaf), were published in the magazine Nature. The study, according to researchers, marks the first time humans have directly witnessed the bizarre cosmic phenomenon known as a magnetar: a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field. With a mass greater than that of the Sun, magnetars are typically around 20 kilometres in diameter.
Their density is even greater.
According to scientists, a thimble full of its interior’s substance would have a mass of over 100 million tons. Unlike typical neutron stars, magnetars rotate comparatively slowly, with most completing a rotation once every one to 10 seconds as opposed to less than one second for an average neutron star. Its resulting magnetic field generates very intense bursts of X-rays and gamma rays, with a very short active life of roughly 10,000 years. Scientists estimate there are 30 million or more inactive magnetars in the Milky Way. The magnetic field Tiengo’s team observed is the result of a star that used to occupy the same place. Once it completely decayed, it generated an extremely dense object very similar to a black hole, with a notably large and powerful magnetic field. “What we published is the first direct measurement of a magnetic field of a magnetar,” said Tiengo. “In fact we cannot exclude the possibility that shortly after the Big Bang there were magnetic fields more powerful than what we have observed”. Scientists say the results of their research is a first step towards making a proper catalogue of magnetars in the universe in order to understand the behavior of matter when subjected to magnetic fields that are so intense it is impossible to reproduce in a laboratory.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Surprise, Surprise: Muslim Brotherhood Leader Gomaa Amin is in Hiding in London
The new spiritual leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is living in hiding in London in fear of state-sponsored assassination, it can be disclosed. Gomaa Amin is understood to have been made head of the Islamist organisation last week following the arrest of his predecessor in Cairo by Egypt’s military rulers.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: ‘Hijab Outcry’ Woman in Repeat Attack
The pregnant woman who was beaten last Friday in Farstavägen in southern Stockholm, reportedly because she wore a headscarf, has been attacked again, according to Stockholm police.
“There were several offenders who attacked her with punches. They told her to withdraw her police report,” said Towe Hägg at Stockholm police. According to Hägg, there are no witnesses to the incident.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boss Who Tackled Burglar Raiding His Tyre Business Hauled Before a Court for Attacking Them
A businessman who confronted a burglar raiding his premises appeared in court yesterday accused of attacking him.
Andrew Woodhouse, 43, was chasing thieves off his property when he claims one of them ‘came at’ him with a wooden stick.
Father-of-five Woodhouse allegedly used the stick to injure the man’s legs before holding him down while his wife called the police.
But when officers arrived they arrested Woodhouse and held him in a cell for 18 hours.
He appeared at Newport Crown Court yesterday charged with grievous bodily harm with intent which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment…
Woodhouse employs six staff including two of his sons at the family business, which was set up 20 years ago.
The firm has lost £15,000 in recent years to thefts of diesel and tools.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A violent criminal accused of having regular sex with a 14-year-old abused her daily because social services claimed to have ‘no power’ to stop him, it emerged today.
On one occasion the alleged victim, ‘Jessica’, who fell pregnant twice, ran away and was found half naked under married father-of-two Arshid Hussain’s bed but police arrested her and let him go, secret documents have revealed.
Hussain, then 24, had convictions for robbery and affray, and was about to be jailed for violent disorder.
But Rotherham social services allegedly told Jessica’s mother they couldn’t stop the relationship because she ‘went willingly’.
The Times revealed today that Hussain has never been prosecuted for suspected child sex offences, but is now being investigated 14 years on.
At the time he was on a social services list of men believed to be grooming up to 40 young girls and more than a dozen believed he was their ‘boyfriend’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat: Serbia: Interest in Working With Smederevo Steelworks
Finance minister to Kragujevac, 1,5 bln euros from 2013 exports
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE — Italian carmaker Fiat means to cooperate with Serbian steelworks Smederevo from which it could buy metal plates for 500,000 vehicles on an annual basis, Serbian Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic said Thursday during a visit to the Fiat plant in Kragujevac, central Serbia, local media reported Friday.
Dinkic said the head of Fiat Serbia, Antonio Cesare Ferrara, gave him a letter on the issue by Fiat Group vice president Alfredo Altavilla. ‘New investments to support steelworks are necessary for this cooperation’ said Dinkic. The big steelworks of Smederevo, after US Steel left the venture, is looking for a new foreign partner to return to full production.
The minister stressed that Fiat in Kragujevac is the main exporter in Serbia and the automotive industry is among sectors leading the country’s economic and industrial growth.
Kragujevac’s exports will be worth 1,5 billion euros this year, he said.
‘Demand in the US for the Fiat 500L has doubled’, said Dinkic, noting that 3,700 workers are at the moment employed by Fiat’s factory in Serbia, many more than originally planned under Fiat’s agreement with Belgrade’s government.
The finance minister, who will leave his post in the coming days after a government reshuffle, travelled to Kragujevac for the presentation of the new model 500L Living.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Coptic Journalist: Mubarak Free Not Counter-Revolution
Samia Sidhom, West should not lecture. People against Islamists
(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — ROME — Egypt is not going through a counter-revolution with the release from prison of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday, Samia Sidhom, managing editor of the international edition of Coptic weekly Watani, told ANSAmed in an interview. A counter-revolution has been carried out by the Egyptian people to get back what was taken from them by the Islamists in 2011 — a civilized and democratic Egypt — said Sidhom, who edits an historic publication of the Christian Coptic community founded by her father Antoun in 1958.
The young Egyptians who took part in the January 2011 uprising wanted a civilized, democratic Egypt, said Sidhom in the interview, but ‘the Islamists who rode the revolution and later gained power applied Islamist rule, and they gave Sinai over to the Jihadis and to Hamas. Egyptians never wanted that.
So they revolted against that on June 30 and ousted (Egyptian President Mohamed) Mursi on July 3’. Egyptians, she said, now perceive Mubarak as a ‘genuine patriot. ‘He has nothing to do with any ‘counter revolution’, said Sidhom. ‘The ‘counter revolution’ was made by the Egyptian people to regain what the Islamists stole from them’.
– Who is actually responsible for all the violence against the Christians: the Muslim Brotherhood or someone else? “The Islamists in the broader sense, and that includes the Muslim Brotherhood as a major driving force, are responsible for all the killing and burning not only of Coptic churches, homes, schools, businesses and vehicles; but also of all Egyptian institutions. The Islamists persuaded poorly educated Egyptians in Upper Egypt and in rural areas that it was the Copts who engineered the June 30 millions-strong Egyptian peaceful revolution that finally ousted Mursi. They said it was the Copts who were against Islamist rule. Of course this is not true because the Copts are not so many nor so strong in the first place, and because the June 30 revolution was done by millions and millions of Egyptian Muslims who refused to be governed by political Islam.
Q: Do you agree with those who say the West, by trying to protect the lives of innocent people from police repression and the rule of law in Egypt — the legitimacy of Morsi as elected president included- is helping terrorists? A: Yes, I definitely agree that the West is favouring the terrorists. The western media- and I have been following that very closely and writing about it in Watani International — has been reporting on Egypt so as to make it look like Islamist protestors are many, peaceful and unarmed, and are being brutally repressed by the police and military. All this is absolutely false. Islamists are only in the thousands, while the Egyptians who are against Islamists are many millions. The Islamists are very aggressive, brutal and ferocious terrorists, and are armed to their teeth. They have waged a war of scorched earth terror against Egypt; they brutally torture to death everyone who falls in their hands without any mercy; the reality is too gruesome; they even desecrate and deform the bodies of those they kill. And they have attacked and burned so many police stations, and killed the policemen in such a horrid manner, and are still doing so. That is without mentioning our young men killed in Sinai by the day”.
– Mubarak has just been released from prison. Is it a sign that a counter-revolution has started? “Mubarak was put in jail in the first place in order to face trial for charges of killing protestors and making profit, as well as a number of petty charges . He has already — and that was during Mursi’s time as president — been cleared by the court from the second charge and all the petty charges against him. As to the first charge, new evidence came up — and that was also during the Mursi time — that it was the Muslim Brtotherhood who killed the protestors not the Mubarak regime. By the way, this was a fact that many Egyptians already knew, but it was kept ‘secret’ and Mubarak was accused of killing the protestors during the honeymoon between the US and the Brotherhood. The court has not yet declared the verdict, but Mubarak has spent in custody [much] more than the maximum six months custody stipulated by the law, so he must be released from jail and put under house arrest”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Calls for Mass “Friday of Martyrs” Protest; Nobody Shows Up
Excerpt: Mass protests called by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood mostly failed to materialize on Friday as the movement reeled from a bloody army crackdown on followers of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. Troops and police had taken relatively low-key security measures before the “Friday of Martyrs” processions that were to have begun from 28 mosques in the capital after weekly prayers. But midday prayers were cancelled at some mosques and there were few signs of major demonstrations unfolding in Cairo.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Head Sufi Condemns Obama’s Commitment to Brotherhood and ‘Terrorism’
The Sufi orders of Egypt — representatives of a moderate form of Islam — are the latest segments of Egypt to condemn Barrack Hussein Obama’s flagrant support for the Muslim Brotherhood despite the will of the Egyptian people to be rid of their oppressive rule.
Dr. Abdel Hadi al-Qasi, the top leader of Egypt’s Sufi orders, just delivered a message addressed to the U.S. president.
After correctly indicating that he was speaking on behalf of “millions of Sufis in Egypt,” al-Qasi said, “President Obama, it seems that the U.S. administration, at this current time, instead of choosing to support love, peace, security, and constructive purpose, has chosen to support violence, destruction, vandalism, chaos, and terrorism,” a reference to American (including media) support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which is currently terrorizing Egypt and, as of last count, had destroyed some 80 Christian places of worship.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Team Involved in Tracking Benghazi Suspects Pulling Out, Sources Say
Two weeks after the Obama administration announced charges against suspects in the Benghazi attack, a large portion of the U.S. team that hunted the suspects and trained Libyans to help capture or kill them is leaving Libya permanently.
Special operators in the region tell Fox News that while Benghazi targets have been identified for months, officials in Washington could “never pull the trigger.” In fact, one source insists that much of the information on Benghazi suspects had been passed along to the White House after being vetted by the Department of Defense and the State Department — and at least one recommendation for direct action on a Benghazi suspect was given to President Obama as recently as Aug. 7.
Meanwhile, months after video, photo and voice documentation on the Benghazi suspects was first presented to high-level military leaders, the State Department and ultimately the White House, prison breaks in the country have eroded security. U.S. special forces have now been relegated to a “villa,” a stopover for the operators before they’re shipped out of the country entirely.
“We put American special operations in harm’s way to develop a picture of these suspects and to seek justice and instead of acting, we stalled. We just let it slip and pass us by and now it’s going to be much more difficult,” one source said, citing 1,200 prisoners escaping two weeks ago. “It’s already blowing up. Daily assassinations, bi-weekly prison escapes, we waited way too long.”
The latest development raises questions about when the attackers will be brought to justice in the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last September.
The special operators are starting to get frustrated at the lack of action, and Fox News has been told by multiple sources that one special forces leader “literally yelled” at former Libyan Chief of Mission William Roebuck “and told him, ‘so you’re willing to let these guys get away with murder?’“
The outburst was “met with crickets,” the sources said.
Asked about what actions have been taken on the suspects, the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.
[Of course Dear Leader is not going to “pull the trigger.” That would make noise and attract attention to a betrayal he wants swept under the rug. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands Anti-Government Protesters Gather in Tunisia
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the national assembly in Tunisia’s capital on Saturday, chanting against the Islamist-led government. The protest kicks off a planned week-long campaign aimed at bringing the government down.
Thousands of protesters marched in Tunis Saturday, on the first day of a planned week-long campaign aimed at bringing down the Islamist-led government, amid political deadlock in the north country.
They headed in the direction of the national assembly, where activists and opposition MPs have gathered regularly since the July 25 assassination of secular politician Mohamed Brahmi, demanding the departure of the government led by the Islamist party Ennahda.
“The people want the fall of the regime,” “Get out!” and “(Ennahda leader Rached) Ghannouchi assassin,” were some of the slogans chanted by the protesters.
More than an hour after the start of the protest the numbers continued to grow.
The opposition National Salvation Front (NSF) is hoping the demonstration will trigger a week of protests across the country that will force Ennahda’s resignation and lead to the formation of a non-partisan administration.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Evidence Indicates That Syrian Government Did Not Launch a Chemical Weapon Attack Against Its People
CBS News reports that the U.S. is finalizing plans for war against Syria — and positioning ships to launch cruise missilesagainst the Syrian government — based on the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.
The last time the U.S. blamed the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack, that claim was was debunked.
But is the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people true this time?
It’s not surprising that Syria’s close ally — Russia — is expressing doubt. Agence France-Presse (AFP) notes:
Russia, which has previously said it has proof of chemical weapons use by the rebels, expressed deep scepticism about the opposition’s claims.
The foreign ministry said the timing of the allegations as UN inspectors began their work “makes us think that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation.”
But Russia isn’t the only doubter.
AFP reports:
“At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators,” said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
“In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.”
John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use.
“Of the videos that I’ve seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils… this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents,” he said.
Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles.
“We’re not seeing reports that doctors and nurses… are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade,” Winfield told AFP.
Haaretz reports:
Western experts on chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination.
| [Return to headlines] |
Experts Doubt Syrian Chemical Weapons Claims
CBS News reports that the U.S. is finalizing plans for war against Syria — and positioning ships to launch cruise missiles against the Syrian government — based on the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.
The last time the U.S. blamed the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack, that claim was was debunked.
But is the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people true this time?
It’s not surprising that Syria’s close ally — Russia — is expressing doubt. Agence France-Presse (AFP)notes:
“Russia, which has previously said it has proof of chemical weapons use by the rebels, expressed deep scepticism about the opposition’s claims.
“The foreign ministry said the timing of the allegations as UN inspectors began their work “makes us think that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation.”
But Russia isn’t the only doubter…
[…]
Michael Rivero asks:
1. Why would Syria’s Assad invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive, just miles from where they are staying?
2. If Assad were going to use chemical weapons, wouldn’t he use them against the hired mercenary army trying to oust him? What does he gain attacking women and children? Nothing! The gain is all on the side of the US Government desperate to get the war agenda going again.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Flashback: Yahoo Uncovered Syria Chemical Weapon False Flag in January
Bypassing all claims of ‘conspiracy theory’, it was actually Yahoo News that published an eerily psychic piece that warned of moves by the Obama administration to launch a chemical attack in Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime.
Laying out what is now history in clear text, the mainstream Yahoo report sourcing ANI reads (I have archived a screenshot of the page in case it is removed):
“The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown. As per the scheme ‘Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons,’ the Daily Mail reports.”
But maybe AIN and Yahoo News are conspiracy news organizations? After all, the very notion of a false flag is now considered treason in the mind of Obama drones. It is not politically correct to talk about how the Syrian rebels, who may have carried this out under Obama, are barbaric minions of Hell who revel in beheading all Christian families.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Israel TV: Chemical Weapons Were Fired by Assad’s Brother’s Unit
Maher Assad’s 4th Armored Division of Syrian Army launched nerve gas shells that killed hundreds last Wednesday from base west of Damascus, report says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan to Quench Thirst With Red Sea-Dead Sea Pipeline
Jordan’s ambitious plan intends to eliminate water shortages and stop the degradation of the Dead Sea. “We do not need to reach an agreement with Israel,” minister in Amman says.
Amman (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Jordan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur said on Monday his government plans to spend US$ 980 million to obtain 100 million cubic metres of water a year.
“The government has approved the project,” he told a news conference, linking the Dead and Red Seas “after years of technical, political, economic and geological studies”.
Under the plan, Jordan will draw water from the Gulf of Aqaba at the northern end of the Red Sea to the nearby Risheh Height, where a desalination plant is to be built to treat water.
“The desalinated water will go south to Aqaba, while salt water will be pumped to the Dead Sea,” Nsur said.
Water scarcity is common to the southern regions of Israel and Jordan. At first, the two countries plus Palestine had agreed to fund an US$ 11 billion pipeline from the Red Sea to refill the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea and provide drinking water.
“We had no other option. We will revive the idea of saving the Dead Sea, while at the same time having drinking water. And we do not need to reach an agreement with Israel,” Jordanian Water Minister Hazem Nasser said.
At the same time, “We are thinking of selling desalinated water to Israel and buying water from Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee),” PM Nsur said. “Water from Tiberias will be cheaper for reasons related to transportation, costing us one-third of a dinar per cubic metre”.
The degradation of the Dead Sea started in the 1960s when Israel, Jordan and Syria began to divert water from the Jordan River, the Dead Sea’s main supplier.
The Dead Sea, the world’s lowest and saltiest body of water, is set to dry out by 2050 with drought in the forecast for the desert areas of Israel and Jordan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Hospitals Treated Thousands for Poison Gas Symptoms, Says Charity
Médecins sans Frontières says symptoms indicate mass exposure to neurotoxic agent, as Syrian state TV claims chemical weapons found in rebel tunnels
Médecins sans Frontières has said hospitals it supports in Damascus treated thousands of patients for neurotoxicity, the first independent indication of the use of poison gas in a deadly incident on Wednesday in the Syrian capital.
The medical charity said the hospitals received approximately 3,600 patients displaying neurotoxic symptoms in less than three hours on Wednesday morning, of which 355 reportedly died.
Dr Bart Janssens, director of operations at the charity, said: “Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress.”
He said he could not confirm the cause of symptoms or the culprits. “However, the reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events — characterised by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers — strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent.
“This would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law, which absolutely prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons,” he said.
The news will increase pressure on the international community to take action after Wednesday’s attack, which may have killed as many as 1,300 people. William Hague, the foreign secretary, said this week that the attack was probably carried out by forces loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. The Assad regime has accused Syrian rebels.
Iran’s new president has condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war without blaming a side for it. In a speech at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Saturday, Hassan Rouhani noted that Iran had been the victim of chemical warfare during its 1980s war with Iraq. He said the deaths of innocent people through the use of chemical weapons was “very distressing”.
Syrian state television said on Saturday that government soldiers had found chemical agents in rebel tunnels in the Damascus suburb of Jobar.
“Army heroes are entering the tunnels of the terrorists and saw chemical agents,” state television quoted a source as saying. “In some cases, soldiers are suffocating while entering Jobar.” The report said an army unit was preparing to storm the suburb.
Syrian activists, supported by the British government, believe Assad’s forces launched a nerve and chemical gas attack in Jobar and other suburbs before dawn on Wednesday. Assad’s government has dismissed the accusation and its major ally Russia has suggested rebel fighters may have launched the attack themselves to provoke international action.
The UN high representative for disarmament affairs, Angela Kane, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to push for access to the suspected attack site for UN inspectors, who are already in Syria to investigate months-old accusations.
Assad’s government has not said whether it will allow access to the site, despite coming under increasing pressure from the UN, western and Gulf Arab countries and Russia. If confirmed, it would be the world’s deadliest chemical attack in decades.
Syria’s claim to have discovered chemical weapons in Damascus follows its refusal to accept that a chemical weapons attack had taken place on Wednesday.
The US, Britain, France and Russia have all urged the Assad regime and the rebels to co-operate with the UN and allow its inspectors to look into the alleged attack.
The Assad regime has denied the claims that it was behind the chemical attack, calling them “absolutely baseless” and suggesting they are an attempt to discredit the government.
The UN experts already in Syria are tasked with investigating three earlier purported chemical attacks: one in the village of Khan al-Assal outside the northern city of Aleppo in March, as well as two other locations that have been kept secret for security reasons…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
The Arab Spring Has Failed Because Constitutional Democracy Needs Nation-States
By Daniel Hannan
Excerpt: Full-scale liberal democracy is rare outside Europe and the Anglosphere but, by global standards, Islamic countries do well enough. To pluck examples from opposite ends of the ummah, Albania and Malaysia have both held free elections in recent months without anyone being exiled or shot. No, there a more local explanation, its roots stretching back a century. [Three sentences.]
Excerpt: A couple of months ago, the London Review of Books carried a penetrating article on the Syrian insurrection by the veteran correspondent Patrick Cockburn entitled ‘Is it the end of Sykes-Picot?’ The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement was an accord between the British and French governments (with a minor role for their Tsarist Russian ally) on how to dismember the Ottoman Empire against which they were then at war. It is forgotten in the countries that authored it, but keenly remembered in those it created. [Three sentences.]
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
The Pentagon is Preparing a Cruise Missile Attack Against Syria
Earlier today, in “US Refines “Military Options” Ahead Of Syrian Strikes”, we reported on what we thought was now inevitable especially since it was in agreemenet with what we predicted with absolute certainty over a month ago in “US Prepares For “Kinetic Strikes” Against Syria.” There we said: “The pre-story here is well-known to most: in a repeat fabulation of the Iraq “WMD” lie, the US and the entire developed world “found” Syria to have crossed a red-line when it used chemical weapons, despite subsequent reports that it was the Syrian rebels, aka Qatari mercenaries, who were the party responsible for chemical weapon use. No matter though: the public media campaign was hatched, and merely waited for the catalyst. That catalyst may be imminent…”
Sure enough, a month later the convenient catalyst emerged when this Wedensday, despite the entire world watching Assad (and as Iraq WMD inspector Rolf Ekeus stating the obvious in “It would be very peculiar if it was the government to do this at the exact moment the international inspectors come into the country”), we are meant to believe that the Syrian leader launched the biggest nerve gas attack in the history of the Qatari, Al-Qaeda and CIA-funded and organized Syrian rebellion. Two days later, without any actual investigation, the west determined somehow, on its own, that the attack was launched by Assad, not a false flag attack by the rebels even though it was their chemical weapons depot that had been previously uncovered. Visions of Colin Powell lying to the world (with his former aide admitting years later the WMD speech was the “lowest point in my life”) should now be emerging right before your eyes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Government Promoting Islamic Schools at the Expense of Secular Education
Out of more than a million applicants to secular high schools, only 360,000 have been accepted for the 2013-2014 school year. This favours the Imam Hatips, religious high schools centred on Qur’anic and Islamic studies. For education advocate Unsal Yildiz, the government is trying “to impose an Islamist mindset” on new generations and on society.
Istanbul (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Turkish government is restricting access to secular schools to the benefit of Hatips Imam, Islamic schools that focus on Qur’anic studies. According to Unsal Yildiz, deputy chairman of Egitim-Sen, an independent trade union representing teachers and educators from primary to high school, Erdogan is using such schools to raise a new generation infused with Islamic values and erase the country’s secularist past.
More than a million “students took the placement test this year,” Yildiz said. “This stands as a proof that all these kids want to continue their education in ‘academic high schools.’ Despite that, the Ministry of Education allowed only 363,872 students to do that. This new system is forcing more than half of the students to continue their education in vocational high schools [or] Imam Hatips. . . . Such a forced imposition on students cannot be accepted.”
For the Egitim-Sen chairman, the ruling party is more interested in raising an obedient new generation, and that is why religious education has become a priority.
In recent years, the Erdogan government has in fact shifted education funding towards religious schools, improving their organisational and material endowment, at the expense of other schools that are struggling even to find full-time teachers.
In a recent statement, Education Minister Nabi Avci claimed that families prefer to send their kids in growing numbers to religious education, but for Yildiz, this is not the direct result of personal choice but of government policies.
The facts appear to back his claim. In 2012 and 2013 for example, there were a total of 1,141 Imam Hatips. Of these schools, 42 were closed due to lack of student enrolment. Of the remaining 1,099 schools, 78 never had a student, and 461 were at half-occupancy. With such low enrolment, the authorities were forced to students into these schools by reducing access to secular schools.
Speaking on 6 August, Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar laid out the Justice and Development Party’s views on the matter.
“This is a Muslim country,” he said. “Ninety-nine per cent of the population is Muslim. We have a structure [i.e. Turkish society] that comes from history. Due to Turkey’s geographical placement, we don’t have inventors. Therefore, we need to put our focus in raising strong, well-educated and mid-level technical workers.”
In ten years of power, Erdogan has tried to reshape Turkish society, favouring an outlook on life inspired by the country’s Ottoman past. His government has done so in many ways, from funding blockbuster movies that highlight great Ottoman figures to banning alcohol or the use of lipstick by flight attendants on Turkish Airlines.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
William Hague last night warned that the horrific chemical weapons attack in Syria was ‘not something that a humane and civilised world can ignore’.
The Foreign Secretary refused to rule out any response to Wednesday’s atrocity in Damascus.
And he laid the blame for the attack — which is reported to have killed up to 1,700 people — squarely at the door of tyrant Bashar al-Assad.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: Anti-Christian Pogroms in Orissa Have Strengthened People’s Faith and Unity
The Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar recalls the destruction of the violence of 2008 and speaks of how the Christians have been able to pick themselves up again. August 25 will mark five years since the beginning of pogroms. Today, Msgr. Barwa decribes his “pride” in the population of Kandhamal, for their efforts to rebuild homes, churches and the souls of those who survived.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — The pogroms in Kandhamal destroyed the lives, homes and holy places of the Christian community, but they have also given rise to a blossoming of the community’s faith and sense of fraternity, without distinction of caste or creed. This is the heart of the reflections made by Msgr. John Barwa SVD, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, to AsiaNews. August 25 will mark the fifth anniversary of the violent pogroms perpetrated by militant Hindu ultra-nationalists, that devastated the Christian community. The prelate speaks of his pride in his community “for our faith” and “the constant and serious effort to translate words into action.” Below we publish the reflection of Msgr. Barwa given exclusively to AsiaNews.
The famous observation of Church father Tertullian (160-220 AD), “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” has become a reality, in the growing church of Kandhamal, Odisha, eastern India.
The Mission in Kandhamal (a part of then known as Cuttack Mission) was started by the MSFS missionaries, followed by CM Priests. On June 1, 1947 this Mission was elevated to Mission Sui Juries of Cuttack by Pope Pius XI. With the commitment and dedication of the pioneering missionaries facing every hurdle with courage and confidence, the mission grew in leaps and bounds. On January 24, 1974 Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar was created. The Archdiocese has an area of 12,529 square miles, with a total population of 11,554,700. About 160,000 are Christians, and about 64,000 of who are Catholics.
Any growth is a process, which demands pruning, testing and sufferings. Within a span of 70 years, Kandhamal, where majority of Catholics of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar live, faced untold persecution for their faith in August 2008.
During the persecutions some 400 villages had been purged of all Christians, more than 6000 houses, 340 Churches, village chapels, dispensaries, and schools were burnt and destroyed, thousands were injured, several women and young girls including a nun, gang raped, and around 60,000 men, women and children rendered homeless. Total number of 75 persons (22 Catholics, 28 Baptists, 12 Pentecostals, 4 CNI, 1 Independent Church and 8 non-Christian tribals) including the financial in-charge of the Archdiocese were brutally murdered.
But after five years of the persecutions, I feel proud of my people of the Archdiocese. Today when I visit the corners of my Archdiocese, to bless and inaugurate the churches, village chapels, and to visit their villages, large numbers of people not only the Christians, but also others gather and participate in the celebrations with the words, “Persecutors destroyed and burnt our houses, property and massacred our beloved ones, but they could not destroy our faith and could not separate us from Jesus. We are proud to be Christians and proud of our faith.” Today this voice is becoming louder and clearer day by day. It is the words that are heard, but there is constant and serious effort to translate it in actions and relationships. These sincere efforts of my people are clear sign of their growing in faith. Though they are poor and illiterates, rich in faith and I am proud of my people.
As shepherd of this persecuted land, I am invited to many countries around the globe to share “the growing faith of the persecuted people of Kandhamal”. And during my visits, many do ask me the challenging question “you rebuilt houses and institutions… but there is rumor that persecutions will be repeated?” And my answer to this query is, “trusting in God we live, and make every effort as individual and community, through the socio-pastoral wings of the archdiocese with inclusive in words, actions and undertakings and build up ‘a peaceful Kandhamal’. Yes, after all our efforts, if there is again persecution!!! We only surrender ourselves to God and say, ‘Let Thy will be done, O God’!!!
Besides, today this mission that faced the violent persecutions has become the hub of Religious-Priestly Vocations and has become a Missionary Sending Region.
In line with the observation of Tertullian, faith in Odisha is growing precisely because of its violent persecution. Whatever may be the relative of such a discussion there can be no disagreement that Christians in Odisha have suffered painfully. And yet this persecution has made the faith stronger and has helped young and old people realize the value of faith, commitment and dedication.
The growing distinctions and divisions among Christian denominations in Odisha, in Kandhamal in particular, were evident. In the aftermath of persecutions, there have been strong bonds of unity, communion and fellow feeling. One single voice is heard from everyone today irrespective of caste and creed, “We need peace and harmony-not violence. Anyone promoting or perpetuating violence is against peace.”
Within the span of five years, we have received support (both financial and spiritual) from far and wide in our efforts in rebuilding Kandhamal. With your generosity, we have built up most of the destroyed houses and churches, and we thank everyone wholeheartedly. However, our endeavors of rebuilding institutions, village chapels along with livelihood and the future of our people, women, youth and children have to continue. We are committed to empower people of all sections, especially the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged groups in their struggles for justice and peace.
The anti-Christian persecutions took place five years ago. As we mark the painful events, we remember and pray for those brave souls, and those who stand by us. Thus, let our pledge today and always be of promoting peace, justice and hope to all at all cost.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Coming Fukushima Global Disaster With Dr. Christopher Busby (Video)
“New Leaks” have been discovered, 240 megatons of potentially explosive radioactive material on site, mutations of local plants and wild life, etc.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Japanese Church Ready to Celebrate Takayama Ukon, “Samurai of Christ”
The Bishops’ Conference of Japan sent to Rome the documents needed to open the cause of beatification of the feudal lord who challenged the empire by keeping his faith. His example and teachings paved the way for the evangelisation of Japan. “He led a life appropriate to a saint.”
Osaka (AsiaNews) — The Japanese Church has finished preparing the application for the beatification of Takayama Ukon, a feudal lord or daimyo who, after his conversion, played a pioneering role in the spread of Christianity in Japan in the 16th century.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan presented a 400-page application to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, with all the relevant information about the case. The bishops hope to celebrate the new Blessed in 2015, the 400th anniversary of his death.
Takayama Ukon was born in 1552 in what is now Osaka Prefecture to Takayama Tomoteru, lord of Sawa Castle. When he turned 12, his father converted taking the name of Darius whilst he was baptised with the name of Justo.
Both father and son were daimyo, feudal lords appointed by the imperial court, entitled to raise a private army and hire samurai.
Before his conversion, Justo practiced bushido, the “way of the warrior,” a code of conduct for the Japanese warriors.
Towards the end of the 16th century, in the 1580s, Japan was ruled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, known as the country’s second “great unifier”.
Through their political activity, the Takayamas come to dominate the Takatsuki region. During the rule of the two daimyo, many local residents converted to Christianity.
In 1587, Hideyoshi was convinced by some of his advisers to ban the ‘western religion’. Whilst many feudal lords chose to abjure their Catholic faith, Justo and his father chose instead to give up land and honours to maintain their faith.
During subsequent years, Justo Takayama lived under the protection of aristocratic friends. However, when Christianity was definitely banned in 1614, the former daimyo chose the path of exile and led a group of 300 Christians to the Philippines, welcomed by Spanish Jesuits and the local Catholics, when they arrived on 21 December.
Here some exiles proposed to seek Spanish support to overthrow the Japanese government, but Justo refused Right.
On 4 February 1615, 40 days after his arrival in the Philippines, he died and was buried with full military honours in a Catholic ceremony. Today a statue of him dominates Manila’s Plaza Dilao (pictured).
The current application is not the first time the Japanese Church has tried to get him beatified. The first attempt was made in the 17th century by the clergy of Manila. Unfortunately, due to the isolationist policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, which prevented foreigners from entering Japan, it was impossible to get the necessary documents for a canonical investigation. A second attempt was made in 1965, but failed because of several formal errors.
“The application was not accepted because no one knew how to put it together nor how to best publicise his case,” said Fr Hiroaki Kawamura, head of the Diocesan Commission that sent the papers to Rome. Learning their lessons, this time church officials have been much better prepared.
Last October Mgr Leo Jun Ikenaga, archbishop of Osaka and president of the Bishops’ Conference of Japan, sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI asking for approval of the cause. The Vatican answered, saying that it would take the cause “into special consideration.”
It would do so because the daimyo would be the first individual Japanese to receive such a high honour. There are 42 saints with some connection to Japan as well as 393 blessed. All of them were martyred together during the Edo Period (1603-1867) and are celebrated as groups.
“Takayama was never misled by what those around him. He persistently lived a life following his own conscience,” Fr Kawamura said. “He led a life appropriate to a saint and continues to encourage many people even today.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
A foreign criminal jailed for a series of violent attacks cannot be deported because it would violate his human rights, it has been ruled.
Sanel Sahbaz, a Bosnian who now lives in Hertford, came to Britain as a child in 1993. Since 2005 he has committed a string of offences including common assault, handling stolen goods, theft, public order offences and assaulting police.
But he has now been told he can stay indefinitely after he brought a legal challenge under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to private and family life.
His lawyers argued that if he was sent back to Bosnia it would separate him from his parents, brother and cousin, who are also in Britain, which would breach his rights.
Last night critics said that the ruling by a judge in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber reinforced the need for urgent reform of immigration laws.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christianity is Our Foe … Word Manipulation Used for Control
“Christianity is our foe. If animal rights are to succeed, we must destroy the Judeo-Christian Religious tradition.” — Peter Singer, founder of Animal Rights
“Childbearing should be a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license. All potential parents should be required to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing.” — David Brower, first Executive Director of the Sierra Club
And you thought the Environmental movement was about the environment. Today nothing is as it seems. How do you control millions of people? You lie to them.
The altering of history allows the dumbing of the people by infusing meaningless values prompted by emotional trigger words rather than facts. Values not facts are now promoted in school. Facts are truths which give people the security of knowing where you are like being home with a warm fuzzy feeling you can always count on. Facts ground you because wherever you are, facts never change and will bring you home. You can always count on facts to be the same for everyone. People can communicate on facts alone. Facts when known, bind individuals together. Facts are the fastest way to unite people because they are the same for everyone. People knowing the same fact can organize quickly and come together efficiently. So to conquer people, facts must be destroyed. Once values, which are ever changing opinions, replace facts, individuals become confused and are easily led and often become part of a gang, crowd or mob for security. School programs like: School to Work, NCLB, CCS eliminate facts and indoctrinate value driven emotion. Once you conquer someone’s emotion you can control them. School uses emotions to control the mind…
The easiest way to change the belief system of American individuals through lies and deception is through Outcome Based Education (OBE) replacing Competency Based Education (Carnegie — 8 Year Study 1933-1981.) When the outcome is predetermined, no skill, common sense, logic or reason is necessary to complete the task, all you do is follow someone else’s value to arrive at the required conclusion. Jeannie Georges in her book Outcome Based Education and Higher Thinking Skills found, the motive and the process are worse than the outcome. Outcome Based Education requires:
1. Cleanse the Slate — eliminate history 2. Dumb them Down — Omit factual education and replace with values 3. Modify the Behavior — Stimulus response — Skinner Pavlov animal training 4. Confuse Values — no right and wrong, no consequences for actions 5. Assess , Remediate, Reassess — make sure they are trained
[Comment: Long and informative article. Highly recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Mexico Court Forces Couple to Go Against Religious Beliefs
We have truly reached a turning point in this country. Remember growing up and teasing with your friends? You might have said something that annoyed them, and after they told you to stop, your response would be, “It’s a free country!” But is it? It’s clear that Christian views are increasingly under attack, and the New Mexico Supreme Court has stepped in and added fuel to the fire.
As noted in the Wall Street Journal, the New Mexico Supreme Court has just ruled that a Christian photographer violated the rights of a lesbian couple by refusing to be hired to photograph their “commitment” ceremony…
The points raised by these judges defy all common sense. There is no constitutional right to photography. There certainly is a constitutional right to practice one’s religion. How could these judges make such an error?
As the Christian Post reports, one judge wrote that Elane Photography MUST be forced to violate their religious beliefs because of “the tolerance that lubricates the varied moving parts of us as a people. … it is the price of citizenship.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
@The Pentagon is Preparing a Cruise Missile Attack Against Syria.
The Mahometan tail wagging the Western progressive dog to the edge of the abyss, truly whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
The careful, fastidious use of exculpatory language such as “alleged” gas attack is out of place given the facts. There are thousands of people in the hospital, twitching, foaming at the mouth, and in respiratory distress. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of dead, all without a mark on them. And there is no possibility that the rebels were able to manufacture both the gas, and the heavy artillery needed to deliver it, in their kitchens.
Neither had they any chance to steal all that stuff, not in the quantities involved.
Of course the Syrian government says the rebels did it. But who are we to believe? Assad, or our lying eyes?
Strangely I believe yahoo and Obama funded, and of course the rebels have access to all that they are funded by the US democrats after all, I don’t believe the government would do it for fear of bringing in the US!
A safe bet as a general rule would be to NOT believe
anything that comes out of DC. It’s so obvious isn’t it
that the US wants any excuse or less to go into Syria and
take out Assad. We have here in UK a grossly obscene
warmongering Foreign Secretary who KNOWS that it was Assad’s forces that did the chemical attack. This whole thing could be serious, even possibly leading to a World war. The one thing we don’t need is Hague trying to
egg-on the contest between the two biggest nuclear powers. What we need is to isolate the only real rogue
state on the planet, the US.
Have surmised before on the comments section of this site about the irrational William Hague and his puppeteer foreign policy reflections, Cameron and Hauge are arrogant blind fools seeking glory in the Tournament of Shadows.
The actual text of the post read:
“The United States and Britain are reportedly preparing to go to war with Syria, with the casus belli being the Assad regime’s alleged gas attack on civilians”.
The use of the English in this sentence in the context of previous posts on this gas attack makes it clear that ‘alleged’ refers to allegations by the US and Britain that the attacks were by the Assad regime and that is what they are.
However ‘Sam Grant’ in a style of any muslim apologist uses these words to twist the meaning, by dropping “the Assad regime’s” qualifer to the word he does quote:
‘The careful, fastidious use of exculpatory language such as “alleged” gas attack is out of place given the facts. There are thousands of people in the hospital, twitching, foaming at the mouth, and in respiratory distress.’
I cannot help detect an element of Freudian slip here as Sam jettison’s the careful language used in the article to distract attention from the issue of contention and pretend there is none, as though he wants to cover up the possibility of the alternative.
Whether we’re arguing that it was a gas attack of any sort, or whether we’re arguing who was behind it, the point is the same. There is really no room for doubt that it was gas, and precious little room for doubt that the Assad regime is responsible.
And where you get the idea that I’m a Muslim apologist stumps me. Assad is a Muslim. Of one stripe or another. Whoever did this, and I say it was Assad, but whoever it was, they’re Muslim. This story does not reflect well on Muslims. I’d have to insist that there was no gas involved to come up with a gloss that would serve as a Muslim-apologist post.
The original news article didn’t write of “the gas attack, allegedly carried out by the Assad regime”. As written, the word “alleged” covers all bases and includes an entirely unreasonable nod to the possibility that there wasn’t any gas attack at all.