First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a new healthy-behavior campaign aimed at helping Americans stay fit and feel better. Dubbed “Drink up!”, the program urges people to drink more water, at least an additional glass of it every day.
In other news, unemployment in Greece has reached a record 27.9%, with almost 60% of under-25s out of work.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, KP, 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.
Bailout Nr. 5? Euro Zone Eyes Slovenia’s Troubled Banks
The euro crisis has been on the back burner lately, but the problems facing banks in Slovenia are coming to a head. Billions of euros in bad loans make the country a candidate for the next bailout.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Budget Experts: Social Security Checks Will be Delayed: U.S. At Risk of Default by Oct. 18
By Erik Wasson
Excerpt: Social Security checks set for Nov. 1 could be delayed until Nov. 13, leaving seniors without money for half a month. The Bipartisan Policy Center said that under this option, the delays would become longer and longer until at some point payments would have to be missed. Hoagland said that Social Security recipients could sue the government over the delay and could likely win a judgment since the benefits are legally considered entitlements.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
France Set for €15billion Budget Cuts
The French Prime Minister announced an “unprecedented” savings drive on Wednesday which will see €15 billion worth of cuts included in the 2014 budget. France has also admitted it wil miss its EU deficit target.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: ELSTAT: Record Unemployment at 27.9% in June
58.8% of people under age 25 are out of work
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 12 — Greece’s jobless rate rose to a record 27.9% in June from 27.6% in May, according to data from the country’s statistics service ELSTAT made public on Thursday, as Kathimerini online reports. The figure was more than double the eurozone’s average of 12.1% in July. Even worse, 58.8% of people under age 25 are out of work, ELSTAT said. The number of unemployed increased by 174,709 persons compared with June 2012 and by 20,254 persons compared with May 2013, data showed. The jobless total stood at just over 1.4 million.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prosecutors Open New Probe in MPS Bank
Political ties of ex-managers examined
(ANSA) — Siena, September 11 — A new probe has been opened into the ties between former senior managers of the troubled Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) and politics, sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday. Prosecutors in Siena, where the bank is headquartered, so far have not placed anyone formally under investigation in the inquiry, sources said.
Siena magistrates, with the collaboration of prosecutors in other Italian cities like Florence, have questioned local politicians in order to reconstruct possible relationships between politics and the bank.
Earlier this year, MPS became embroiled in scandal amid massive losses and political furore over the previous Italian government’s 3.9-billion-euro bailout plan to cover its capital needs, which also threatens the bank with State control should it default.
The bank also became the target of probes early this year after it emerged that a previously undisclosed series of derivative and structured-finance deals produced losses of around 720 million euros for MPS.
Former senior MPS officials are facing penalties totalling as much as five million euros from the Bank of Italy for alleged fraud and corruption. MPS is the world’s oldest operating bank and Italy’s third-largest lender, and reported losses of 350 million euros in the first half of the year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Prepare for Tough Times if Your Job Has Anything to Do With Real Estate or Mortgages
If you have a job that involves building homes, buying homes, selling homes or that is in any way related to the mortgage industry, you might want to start searching for alternate employment. Seriously. Interest rates are starting to rise dramatically, and mortgage lenders such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are all cutting thousands of mortgage-related jobs. Last week, mortgage refinance activity plunged to the lowest level that we have seen since June 2009 and total mortgage activity dropped to the lowest level since October 2008. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning. Mortgage rates closely mirror the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries, the the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has nearly doubled since early May. But it is still only sitting at about 3 percent right now. As I have written about previously, it has a ton of room to go up before it hits “normal” historical levels, and so do mortgage rates. As I noted the other day, some analysts believe that the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries is going to hit 7 percent eventually. If that happens, mortgage rates will be more than double what they are today. And we have already seen the average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage go from 3.35 percent in May to 4.57 percent last week. If interest rates continue to rise we could be heading for a “housing Armageddon” that will make the last housing crash look like a Sunday picnic.
The mini-housing bubble that we have been enjoying for the last couple of years is coming to an abrupt end. It doesn’t matter what the mainstream media is telling you about a “sustainable” housing recovery. Just look at how the big mortgage lenders are behaving. They know the gig is up. According to Bloomberg, Bank of America has just announced that they will be eliminating 2,100 mortgage-related jobs…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Damian Paletta
Excerpt: BPC said, for example, the government must pay roughly $12 billion in Social Security benefits on Oct. 23, $6 billion in interest payments on Oct. 31, and $55 billion in Medicare, Social Security, military and veterans benefits on Nov. 1.
The group also said that spending cuts that would be required if the debt ceiling isn’t raised could be quite steep.. For example, BPC said if the “X-date” arrives Oct. 18, the government would be $106 billion short on its bills between Oct. 18 and Nov. 15, leaving the government unable to pay 32% of the required funds during that time.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Study: US Could Default as Early as Oct. 18, Delay Social Security Benefits
By Andrew Taylor
Excerpt: The political fallout would also be intense, especially if Social Security benefits are delayed. Tuesday’s study predicts that if the default date — which is when the government cannot pay its bills in full and on time — comes on Oct. 18, the subsequent Social Security payments due on Nov. 1 could be delayed by almost two weeks.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
EFF’s Cheat Sheet to Congress’ NSA Spying Bills
The veil of secrecy around the government’s illegal and unconstitutional use of both Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is being lifted. As a result, Congress has seen a flurry of legislation to try and fix the problems; however, as we’ve been saying since June there are far more questions than answers about the spying. And Congress must create a special investigative committee to find out the answers. Right now, the current investigations are unable to provide the American public with the information it needs.
For now, here’s a quick summary of the bills in Congress drafted after the June leaks that have a chance to go forward. They try to fix Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, curtail the secret law being created by the surveillance court overseeing the spying (The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA Court), and change how the FISA Court operates. Unfortunately, there is no bill in Congress with prospects of moving forward that tackles Section 702 of FISA — the section used for PRISM.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Emails Show IRS’ Lois Lerner Specifically Targeted Tea Party
Newly released emails show that Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the IRS scandal over special scrutiny of conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status, specifically targeted tea party applications and directed they be held up in 2011 in order to come up with an agency policy.
The email, released by a House committee investigating the IRS, seems to counter Democrats’ arguments that tea party groups weren’t specifically targeted.
“Tea Party Matter very dangerous,” Ms. Lerner said in the 2011 email, saying that those applications could end up being the “vehicle to go to court” to get more clarity on a 2010 Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance rules.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Women: Hispanics, And Blue Collar Workers Defended Gun Rights in Colorado
By Matt Vespa
Excerpt: In Dave Weigel’s September 11 post on Slate, the spokeswoman for the recall, Jennifer Kerns, provided the information and showed that even Democrats love their guns. Granted, gun rights supporters have known this for quite some time. The only people who don’t get seem to get it are urban-based liberal elites.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Michelle Obama Launches a Campaign to Drink More Water
(AGI) Washington, Sept 12 — First Lady Michelle Obama has launched her latest healthy living campaign, following those on eating vegetables and doing exercise, called ‘Drink up!’. It is imperative to drink more water, whether from the tap, a plastic bottle or a spring, said the first lady. “It’s really that simple. Drink just one more glass of water a day and you can make a real difference for your health, your energy and the way you feel. So ‘drink up’ and see for yourself,” she said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) In yet another extraordinary exemption for the very vaccine companies that continue to poison our children, the Minnesota legislature has passed a law banning formaldehyde in all children’s products except for pharmaceuticals, vaccines or foods.
For the record, even the CDC admits that vaccines still contain formaldehyde, a highly toxic chemical typically used to “deactivate” the many viruses used in vaccines.
The new law, House Bill 458, is entitled, “Formaldehyde banned in children’s products.” It was signed into law by the Governor of Minnesota on May 13, 2013.
On the surface, it sounds great. Who wouldn’t want formaldehyde banned from children’s products? Formaldehyde, after all, is highly toxic to the nervous system. Protecting children from dangerous chemicals is a noble cause.
But there’s just one problem with this law: it exempts one of the worst sources of formaldehyde exposure in children: VACCINES.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Moonbats Trash September 11 Memorial
Excerpt: Patriots had one way of acknowledging September 11 yesterday. Our would-be Muslim overlords had another. Moonbats had a third way. At Middlebury College in Vermont: ‘A 2,977 flag memorial was ripped out of the ground in front of Mead Memorial Chapel shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 by a group of five protestors claiming that the flags were on top of a sacred Abenaki burial site.’
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Speaks at Private Pentagon Ceremony for Families of 9/11 Victims
[ . . . ]
President Obama spoke earlier today at a private ceremony at the Pentagon for the families of the victims of the attack there:
The private ceremony, which is to include a wreath-laying and a moment of silence, is to begin at approximately 9:30 a.m., shortly before the time 12 years ago when a hijacked American Airlines jet was flown into the Pentagon, killing 125 people in the building and 59 passengers on the plane.
Obama is to speak at the ceremony, along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin E. Dempsey.
[Private indeed. He wasn’t about to show his mendacious mug in public — not in a city suddenly full of patriotic American bikers! — PW]
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Obama Expands the War on Coal to Gas-Burning Power Plants
Excerpt: With only three years left to fundamentally transform America into a second-rate country, Obama is going straight for the jugular: our energy supply. In addition to throwing the war on coal into overdrive by effectively banning the construction of new coal-fired power plants, he is going after gas: ‘This month, the Environmental Protection Agency will propose standards that will establish stricter pollution limits for gas-fired power plants than coal-fired power plants, according to individuals who were briefed on the matter but asked not to be identified because the rule was not public yet.’
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Excerpt: Via The Hill: Congress’s approval rating rose to the highest level in nearly a year as lawmakers resisted President Obama’s call for military action against Syria. A new Gallup poll released Thursday found a 5-percentage-point increase in Congress’s popularity to 19 percent.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Pastor Arrested Before Burning Qurans
MULBERRY, Fla. — A Florida pastor was arrested Wednesday as he drove a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with kerosene-soaked Qurans to a park, where the pastor had said he was planning to burn 2,998 of the Muslim holy books — one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Sheriff’s deputies in Polk County, Fla., arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 44, each on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The media is not that concerned with suppressing incidents. It is concerned with suppressing pattern awareness. No one can deny that the occasional racial murder takes place and that the perpetrators look like Obama’s sons. And no one can deny that Muslims sometimes set off bombs or fly planes into buildings. They deny only that these incidents form a pattern. Real patterns are replaced with false patterns. Every Muslim terrorist attack is met with media chatter about an Islamophobic backlash. The backlash never materializes, but it doesn’t need to. The mere repetition of it does the trick and sets the pattern. It tells readers that the attack is the incident, but the backlash is the pattern. The attack is only an incident and not characteristic of Muslims while the backlash is a pattern and characteristic of our bigotry and intolerance.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
The Survivors of Communism Summit
100 Million Corpses in 100 Years — We Must Never Forget
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” — Winston Churchill
The Alexandria Tea Party sponsored “The Survivors of Communism Summit” on September 10, 2013. The theme was “100 Million Corpses in 100 Years — We Must Never Forget.” The packed Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria was spellbound by the stories of the luminaries who attended the event.
If you question the need for such a summit, consider the romanticized version of communism taught in American public schools and the recent fake petition drive to support Karl Marx for President in 2016 as the candidate for the Democrat Party. It was shocking to see how many people signed up after they were told that “President Obama had endorsed him.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This is How Jihadis Celebrated the Sept. 11 Anniversary
By Caitlin Dewey
Twelve years after Sept. 11, the way we remember the terrorist attacks has fallen into predictable patterns. In the United States, we mourn. On certain jihadi message boards, blogs and social media pages, people celebrate.
This year was no different. The Middle East Media Research Institute, a think tank that monitors extremist social media, rounded up dozens of pro-9/11 tweets, Facebook posts and forum threads from across Africa and the Middle East.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Confidentially Submits Plans for I.P.O.
Twitter filed the initial paperwork on Thursday for its long-awaited initial public offering of stock.
Unlike with typical I.P.O.’s, however, potential investors and the public will not yet get a look at the company’s finances.
The microblogging service, which has about 200 million users worldwide, filed its preliminary prospectus, known as an S-1, with securities regulators using a provision of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS Act, that allows the company to keep its initial filings confidential if it has less than $1 billion in annual revenue.
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[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
(NaturalNews) The “skeptics” are always quick to denounce any evidence pointing to harm caused by vaccinations, especially when such evidence is inaccurately perceived to be limited or anecdotal. But the side effects associated with vaccines are very real for many people, including for 27-year-old Brittney Fiste, whose daily struggles post-vaccination with Gardasil, the infamous human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, have left this previously vibrant and healthy young woman bedridden and seizure-stricken.
In a piece posted by HormonesMatter.com back in May, Brittney’s mother, Roxie, recalls how her daughter’s health quickly deteriorated after being jabbed with Gardasil back in 2007. The story is all too familiar — a young woman full of energy and ambition is reduced to near-vegetable status, struggling just to get out of bed in the morning and function without collapsing or suffering a serious seizure in the process. This is the harrowing life that Brittney and thousands of other young women like her must now live with as a result of Gardasil.
For Brittney, serious declines in health began to manifest less than one day after she got her first Gardasil injection back in June 2007. Brittney’s mother says her daughter collapsed on the family room floor the morning after receiving the shot and in the days and weeks that followed experienced partial seizures, severe leg pains and then full seizures, among other symptoms. Brittney’s behavior also changed, as she suddenly began to have random, unprovoked outbursts of anger.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ban Says Italy’s First Black Minister a ‘Strong Message’
UN secretary-general condemns racist attacks against Kyenge
(ANSA) — New York, September 12 — United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-moon on Thursday said Italy having a black cabinet member for the first time in history sends an important and positive message. On Wednesday at the UN headquarters in New York, Ban met with Italian Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, who has been the target of repeated abuse since her nomination in April. “I condemn all acts of racism, the incitement to racism and the diffusion of ideas of racial supremacy,” added Ban.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fat Gravity Particle Gives Clues to Dark Energy
Force-carrying ‘gravitons’ with mass could help to explain Universe’s accelerating expansion
At a cosmology meeting last week in Cambridge, UK, attendants debated a controversial class of theories in which gravity is carried by a hypothetical ‘graviton’ particle that has a small, but still non-vanishing, mass. Such a particle would tend to gobble up vast amounts of energy from the fabric of space, enabling the Universe to expand at an accelerated, although not destructive, pace.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: ‘Soldier’ Hollande’s Popularity Hits New Low
Cuts, unemployment and deficit as war moves further away
(by Tullio Giannotti) (ANSAmed) — PARIS — As the war against Assad becomes more distant on the horizon, French citizens have to deal with their own problems. And only three in 10 appreciate their president, who has never ranked high in popularity polls but has now hit an all-time low. The austerity measures ahead, the budget and negative prospects don’t help him. Conservative newspaper Le Figaro, which has been a harsh critic, blames him for the worst performance as president in terms of unemployment since Giscard d’Estaing who had to deal with the oil crisis in the mid 1970s. Hollande has to deal with 139,000 jobs lost in his first few months as presidents, a huge number considering the 69,000 lost during the same period of Nicolas Sarkozy’s mandate. What is most hard for Hollande is that he made, and stressed on several occasion, a campaign pledge to boost employment by December 2013 while unemployment is instead still rising.
Hollande’s popularity — 30 over 100 according to a survey commissioned by Le Nouvel Observatuer, a weekly close to the gauche — remains negative. And the negative trend has continued for months, interrupted only by growing popularity over military intervention in Mali. This time around, the war-effect did not work out also because France appeared isolated on the international front or, even worse for the French public opinion, ‘dragged by the United States’. The result is that military intervention in Syria is backed by 35% of the population, according to the poll.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Hollande ‘In Schoolboy Jibe at Britain’s Cameron’
The atmosphere might be understandably tense the next time the French President Francois Hollande and UK Prime Minister David Cameron are together in the same room. According to one report Hollande said the UK leader had committed a “schoolboy error” over Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Louvre Gallery Hit by Chinese Fake Ticket Scam
The world famous Louvre art gallery has fallen victim to a Chinese fake ticket scam after thousands of counterfeits were seized by Belgium customs officials. The fakes were described as “perfect clones of the real tickets” a museum source said.
French police are investigating an apparent scam involving fake tickets for the Louvre museum in Paris after top-quality counterfeits were found in the hands of Chinese tourists, museum and judicial officials said Wednesday.
The probe was launched after agents found false tickets being used on several occasions last month by Chinese tourists and tour guides, a source at the Louvre — one of the world’s largest and most-visited museums — told AFP.
At first the tickets were of poor quality, but then some seized on August 14 were found to be of “very good quality, perfect clones of our tickets”, the source said.
The museum filed a criminal complaint on August 15.
“We uncovered several more fake tickets in the following days, but we have not intercepted any since August 26,” the source said. “We are being very watchful because these tickets are valid for a year.”
A judicial official said police had questioned several tour guides in connection with the case but that no charges had been laid.
The source said that around the same time the tickets were discovered, Belgian customs officials alerted French authorities that they had seized about 3,600 counterfeit tickets for the Louvre hidden in a package sent from China.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: 57% of Citizens Favor Sending the Army to Marseille
Huffington Post-commissioned survey shows crime a big issue
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 12 — More than half, or 57% of French citizens would favor sending the army to the crime-ridden Mediterranean port city of Marseille, according to a Huffington Post-commissioned survey by the YouGov institute. With municipal elections less than 200 days away, the issue of crime in what is France’s second-largest city and this year’s European Culture Capital appears to have reached national dimensions.
Another 76% of YouGov respondents said they believe Marseille, where 15 people have been killed in showdowns between rival gangs since the beginning of the year, is in a downward spiral.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Muslim Schoolgirl Loses Swimming Class Appeal
Muslim schoolgirls can not skip swimming lessons on religious grounds, one of Germany’s top courts ruled on Wednesday. The ruling was sparked by a case involving a Muslim girl who argued she should not have to take part in swimming classes because she would see bare-chested boys in their swimming trunks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: New Poll Gives Syriza (Radical Left) 1.5% Lead
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMER 12 — A new poll carried out in Greece by Pulse, gave a 1.5% lead to SYRIZA (radical left) against New Democracy (center-right) as far as voting intention is concerned, as GreekRepoter website writes. The Pulse poll will be published by the newspaper To Pontiki (The Mouse) on Thursday, September 12. When the question, “If elections were to take place today, which party would you vote for?” a 20.5% of the people participating in the survey pointed out SYRIZA (compared to 21% in July) and 19% said they would vote ND (same as in July). Neo-nazi Golden Dawn followed with 13.5% (13%), PASOK with 7% (6.5%), the Communist Party with 5% (5.5%) Independent Greeks with 4% (same) and Democratic Left with 3% (same). The option Another Party was chosen by 6% (7%), White/Abstinence by 12% (11.5%) and the option Undecided/Not Respond by 10% (9.5%).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Mayor Tells Venice Officials to Avoid Olympic Spats
Veneto governor came out against the capital
(ANSA) — Rome, September 11 — Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino told Venice officials to avoid spats over which Italian city should bid to host the 2024 Olympics.
The capital was the first city to step forward after Premier Enrico Letta said at the weekend that the country could consider a bid for the Games.
But Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni said he wants Milan to be Italy’s candidate and Luca Zaia, the governor of Veneto, the region around Venice, said “no more Rome” Tuesday when announcing the lagoon city would try for it.
Venice wanted to be Italy’s candidate for the 2020 Olympics but the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) opted for Rome, only for former Premier Mario Monti to sink the capital’s bid last year due to concerns about the cost of holding sport’s biggest event.
Rome had been one of the favourites to land the 2020 Games, which the International Olympic Committee awarded to Tokyo on Saturday. “I don’t approach politics like the conflict of a soccer derby,” said Marino.
“There are rules. It’s necessary to present an application to take part and Rome certainly will, then a committee will decide.
“Instead of getting lost in parochial debates between regions and cities, we should unite in this competition between Italy and the rest of the world so that Italy wins.
“And I’m sure our country will win”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Sparks Row Over ‘Breivik Party’ Reports
The Norwegian embassy in Rome has sent a plea for help to the country’s foreign ministry after the Italian press reacted strongly to the probable inclusion of the populist Progress Party in the next government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Roma Camps Destroyed by City Authorities in Turin and Rome
Groups protest ‘violation of human rights’
(ANSA) — Turin, September 12 — Two operations to forcibly evict Romani inhabitants from camps in Turin and Rome were carried out on Thursday, human rights groups and city officials said.
City-ordered operations to dismantle the via Salviati camp in Rome, where 35 Romani families live, began in the early hours and were carried out by 70 officers from three police units, human rights observers from the European Roma Rights Center, Amnesty International and the association 21 Luglio said.
The 120 Roma, living in the Salviati camp since June, recently sent an appeal to Rome’s mayor, Ignazio Marino, asking to be allowed to integrate with the rest of the city.
“We do not want to live in a ghetto, we don’t want to be in camps. We want to integrate,” the letter read.
A joint letter from the three monitoring organizations said that “the dismantling does not respect standard, guaranteed procedures and continues to repeat human rights violations of the city’s (Rome) past administration”.
“Beyond being a serious violation of human rights, today’s dismantling is a undeniable step back in regards to the European Union Framework for Roma Integration Strategies guaranteeing social inclusion of Roma and the elimination of the ‘camp’ model, to which Italy is a signatory,” the note from the human rights groups said. Roma inhabitants from another camp on the outskirts of the Piedmont city of Turin were evicted by city authorities on Thursday. The Cascina Continassa area, inhabited by approximately 100 Roma for over 10 years, will make way for a new training camp for the city’s Juventus soccer club that will be closer to the team’s lucrative stadium.
“The delivery of the area marks a critical step in the redevelopment of this part of the city area that has long been subject to strong degradation. It makes way for the start a major project to revitalize the area and achieve economic benefits,” a communication from Turin city authorities said.
The Cascina Continassa encampment was attacked and set on fire in December 2011 by a violent mob after a local Italian girl said she had been raped by a Romani man from the camp.
The girl later admitted she had been lying and she had not been raped at all.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Leftist MP Sparks Row Over Teaching of Ancient Greek
Democratic Left MP Maria Repousi, who last week stirred controversy by arguing that religious studies should not be taught in schools, walked into another row on Wednesday by arguing that Ancient Greek should not be compulsory and the texts studied by pupils should be translated into Modern Greek.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Anders Breivik Enrols for University Courses
Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a rampage in 2011, has been allowed to study certain political science subjects in his cell.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Ex-Madeleine McCann Police Chief Seeks to Ban Media From £1m Libel Trial
The disgraced Portuguese detective accused of hampering the search for Madeleine McCann sought to ban media from the court room as a libel case against him got underway.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rolling Back the EU Threatens Return to ‘War and Trenches’ Says José Manuel Barroso
Critics of the European Union “who want to roll back our integration” threaten to take Europe back to the divisions that led to the First World War, José Manuel Barroso has warned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Romantic Germany Risks Economic Decline as Green Dream Spoils
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Excerpt: The full implications of this may become clear over the next decade, just as Germany’s ageing crisis hits with maximum force and its engineers retire; and just as German voters discover — what they suspect already — that it costs real money to hold a half-baked euro together. The likelihood is that Germany will start to lose its economic halo soon, “de-rated” like others before it.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Democrat Ballot Papers Systematically Stolen
by Ingrid Carlqvist
If you want to vote for the Sweden Democrats in Sweden’s up-coming church elections and happen to live in Malmö, you are in for some difficulties. Time and again SD’s ballot papers are missing from the polling stations and when representatives of the party deliver new ones, they mysteriously disappear.
— The Danes are right. Sweden’s election system is not sufficiently secure, says Jörgen Grubb from the Sweden Democrats in Malmö.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: ‘Far Too Few Dare Criticize Islam’: Abba Star
Abba legend Björn Ulvaeus has made veiled criticisms of Islam in a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal saying “less religion in the world would be better”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hate preacher Abu Hamza’s most trusted lieutenant cannot be kicked out of Britain because being sent to America to face terror charges would breach his human rights, it emerged today.
European judges have ruled that terror suspect and Broadmoor patient Haroon Aswat cannot be deported because it would be bad for his mental health.
Aswat, who claims to be a schizophrenic, is wanted by the U.S. authorities for plotting to set up a jihadi training camp in Bly, Oregon.
The European Court of Human Rights has upheld its decision not to allow the extremist to leave the UK for America after a Home Office appeal failed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A disabled man was asked to pay £30 to retrieve his lost wallet from a bus company.
Arthur Adlam, 31, had just drawn his disability allowance and had around £225 in his wallet when he accidentally left it behind on the bus.
But his panic quickly turned to disbelief when he was told that though his property had been handed in, it would cost him almost £30 to get it back.
Father-of-four Arthur, 31, left the wallet on the seat of a Stagecoach bus in his home town of Dunfermline, Fife.
But staff at the bus station told him it was company policy to take a 12 per cent cut plus a 50p ‘admin fee’ — a total of £27.50 — just to get it back.
Furious Mr Adlam said: ‘It’s an outrage. They told me they couldn’t give it back without charging me.
‘They charged me for something that doesn’t belong to them. No one should pay to get their own money back.’
Eventually he negotiated the fee down to £10 — but now red-faced coach chiefs have offered to give the full amount back and review their penny-pinching policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As they pull at a wonky bike stand in the small hours of the morning outside a kebab shop, many would automatically presume that this group of lads were drunkenly vandalising their town centre.
But far from being a bunch of thoughtless thugs, these revellers were actually public-spirited Good Samaritans who were repairing a damaged rack.
The high-spirited group were caught on CCTV repairing a broken bike rack after a night out — using a team effort to heave the stand back into place.
[Comment: Check out the video.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Top City Lawyer David Latham Told Bosses Plans to Kill Himself Before Committing Suicide
A partner at a top law firm who threw himself under a Tube train had warned a colleague he was going to kill himself the day before, an inquest has heard.
Colleagues of David Latham, 58, a world-renowned trademark lawyer at Hogan and Lovells, had noticed he was ‘inconsolable’ as he worried over the fate of a big case.
After weeks of sleepless nights, the father-of-three, from Kensington, west London, told a fellow partner that he was planning to kill himself but the remark was dismissed as a ‘flippant comment’.
The next day, on February 15 this year, Mr Latham jumped in front of a tube train in west London.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: UFM Working on Preparation of Several Projects
In the areas of renewables, transports, social development, SMEs
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 10 — Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Secretary General, Fathallah Sijilmassi, has said the UfM Secretariat is currently working on the preparation of a number of projects to be implemented in Egypt in cooperation with different Egyptian ministries, particularly in the areas of renewable energy, transport, social development and support to small and medium-sized enterprises.
According to the Enpi website (www.enpi-info.eu), the Secretary General stressed the importance of supporting Egypt in this crucial period, recalling the country’s key position in the region and the role it played in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean. The head of the UfM pointed out that the Secretariat gives special attention to youth, and seeks to support projects that will create new jobs and encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship, and contribute to helping young people to launch their own projects.
Among the projects the Secretariat is preparing to launch is ‘the Mediterranean jobs initiative’, under which the Secretariat is studying with a number of Egyptian institutions, notably the Social Fund for Development, ways of implementing projects aiming to provide new job opportunities for young people.
UfM proposed projects in the field of renewable energy seek to help the transfer of modern technology in this field to Egypt and to provide new sources of clean energy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Coptic Refugee Finds Comfort in Pope’s Words After Enduring Pain in Minya
George and his family owned a supermarket. On 10 August, Islamists blew up the business and threatened to kill him and his loved ones. After his escape, he spent the past month in Rome, waiting for his application for political asylum to be accepted by Italian authorities. In Egypt, “there is no place for me,” he said. “I can no longer live there. The Egyptian Revolution is not democratic.” For Christians, “Life has never been easy. No one has helped us.”
Rome (AsiaNews) — “I saw the pope at the Astalli Centre. Meeting him and listening to his words comforted me, especially now, after I escaped from Egypt. At the moment, it do not think I can go back. I have beautiful memories that will always stay with me, but there is no place for me in my land,” said George, a 27-year-old Copt who in August fled from Minya (Upper Egypt), the region most affected by the violence unleashed by Islamists after the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi. Now he is in Rome, where he applied for political asylum to start a new life.
A business graduate, George ran a supermarket with his family (father, mother and a younger brother) in the Muslim section of the city. “We have always had problems for the simple fact of being a Christian,” he explained, “but the situation got worse after Morsi’s ouster. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists treated our community as if we were ‘ guilty ‘ of what happened. They came after us, and we became a target.”
Darkness came on 10 August. “I was about to go into the store, when a group of Islamists stopped me. They threw a bomb at the place blowing it up. That meant that my job was gone; just like that, before my eyes, and I could do nothing. Just because we are Christians! Then, they turned on me. Putting a gun to my head, they threatened me. ‘If you say a single word of what happened we are gonna kill you, then we are gonna burn down your house and wipe out your family’.”
Something broke inside the young man when his store was destroyed. “It was then that I decided to run away. A friend and I reached Cairo by car, but it was a difficult and dangerous journey. Once we got there, we asked for and obtained a visa for Georgia. The plane made ​​a stopover in Rome. When we got off, we asked the airport police for political asylum.”
Once in Italy, George and his friend went first to Milan, home to a large Coptic Egyptian community. However, they found that no one could put them up.
When they met a priest from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), they were invited to return to Rome, where it would be easier to find a bed.
“Meeting him was a true sign of the Lord,” he said. “For now, we spend our days looking for a permanent place to stay, but not even Caritas is able to help us. It is hard but I keep going.”
On 23 September, the two Christians will meet with Italian authorities for the first time to start the process of seeking political asylum.
“If I can get it,” he said, “I shall bring my family here as well. They are still in Minya but have nothing now. The few times we can talk, their voice betrays the fear and concern they are going through” because of threats from the Islamists, “but also over surviving. Without the shop, they do not have the means to support themselves.”
“The problem is that the Egyptian Revolution was never a democratic revolution. Never!” George said as he talked about Minya. “It was not when Mubarak fell, much less when Morsi was ousted. Tamarod is good because it is a democratic movement that includes Christians and Muslims, but few Muslims live with us in harmony. There were always problems with the Islamic community; they did not appear with the Muslim Brotherhood. “
“There were problems” during Mubarak’s dictatorship, George said. “Certainly, compared to what we have today, they seem much smaller. But in Egypt, Christians and Muslims have never really lived in peace. Christians have never been treated in a democratic way. I do not know why, but that is the way it is. I have always had trouble with Muslims. They have always looked down on us Coptic Christians, even the police and the army . . . “.
For a moment, the story stops. Then George starts up again, with difficulty. “The police, the armed forces, they are all Muslims, and almost no one is willing to help the Christians. Minya has changed face; now it is devastated. Neither the police nor the army have come to our help.”
“I cannot live in Egypt anymore,” he said repeatedly. “I hope to be reunited with my loved ones soon, and start over our life.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Anniversary of Oslo: 20 Years of Fiction, Fantasy and Failure
Matthew Hausman, Esq.
The Oslo Accords have dictated the quest for Arab-Israeli peace since the 1990s, although they constitute a very real threat to Israeli sovereignty in the Jewish homeland. Focused on validating Palestinian peoplehood, the Oslo process came to control the dialogue as if it had been the paradigm from the beginning. However, Oslo was only the latest resolutional framework after San Remo, the League of Nations Mandate, and U.N. Resolution 242, all of which presumed the historicity of Jewish claims, not the ascendancy of a Palestinian nationalism that did not exist in 1948.
Indeed, until the mid- to late-1960s, the Arab-Muslim world had steadfastly refused to impute a separate national identity to Arabs who resided in Mandate lands before Israeli independence (the majority of whom were immigrants to the land or the children of immigrants). Palestinian nationality was invented long after 1948 as a dissimulative tool for repudiating Jewish history. The Palestinians have never seriously sought peace with Israel, and their push last year for upgraded U.N. status served only to illustrate their cynical contempt for both concept and process.
Article 31 of the Oslo Accords specifically states: “Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.” The Palestinian Authority’s U.N. initiative last year clearly violated this provision and arguably abrogated the accords.. Although this breach was glaring, it was by no means the Palestinians’ first substantive violation. Since the beginning of the Oslo process, the PA has failed to honor its obligations, minimal though they have been compared to the demands placed on Israel. In contrast, Israel has honored her obligations, even when doing so has threatened her security and national integrity.
Israel granted Palestinian autonomy in much of Judea and Samaria, permitted the PA to arm itself, unfroze and transferred funds to the PA, and fueled a territorial economy that provides the highest standard of living in the Arab-Muslim world. Israel has also tolerated PA military activity, though its security forces have been linked to terrorism, and has continued to service the electrical and utility needs of the territories. As a recent concession to induce the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, Israel released from her prisons a cohort of jihadists and terrorists responsible for the deaths of men, women and children.
In contrast, the PA has refused to amend its charter calling for Israel’s destruction, renounce terrorism or foreswear anti-Semitic incitement. Moreover, it has stated repeatedly that it will never recognize a Jewish state. It should have surprised no one when the Palestinians walked away from negotiations last month because of Israel’s temerity in retaliating against terrorists in Ramallah…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
A Plea for Caution From Russia
By Vladimar V Putin, New York Times, September 11, 2013
Excerpt: MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies. Relations between us have passed through different stages.
| [Return to headlines] |
Assad Tells Obama to Stop Arming Rebels, Or No Deal
President Obama must promise not to arm rebel forces or Syrian dictator Bashar Assad will not hand over his chemical weapons, the embattled leader told a Russian state media outlet today while demanding that Israel also surrender its nuclear arsenal.
“When we see that the U.S. genuinely stands for stability in our region, stops threatening us with military intervention and stops supplying terrorists with weapons, then we will consider it possible to finalize all necessary procedures and they will become legitimate and acceptable for Syria,” Assad told RIA News.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Black Jihadist Flag Flies Over Christian Town of Maaloula
Syrian rebels murdered Catholics for refusing to convert to Islam, then joked about it
The black jihadist flag is flying over the Christian town of Maaloula in Syria as the Army’s battle with opposition militants continues to rage.
As the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen confirms, the opposition militants who first attacked the town when a suicide bomber killed himself at a nearby checkpoint are from the terrorist al-Nusra Front, which killed US troops in Iraq and swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda earlier this year. FSA militants are fighting alongside the al-Nusra insurgents.
“I’ve spoken to some local members of the National Defence Forces, a pro-government militia. They say they are fighting for their town and the fact it was a place where Christians and Muslims once lived side by side. They say they are fighting against the people they regard as terrorists,” writes Bowen, adding that residents claim rebels have desecrated Christian churches…
Residents who vacated the village soon after the conflict started wrote a letter to the United States Congress accusing the opposition militants of looting churches and forcing Christians to convert to Islam.
The rebels looted “monasteries and churches, removing sacred images as they went on, ordering residents to abandon their religion, to convert to Islam to save their life,” states the letter.
Another woman claims her husband was murdered by the militants after he refused to convert to Islam. After the man was shot dead, the rebels apparently mocked his wife, remarking, “Jesus didn’t come to save him.”
[…]
“I saw people wearing Al-Nusra headbands who started shooting at crosses,” another resident told AFP . An Al-Nusra fighter “put a pistol to the head of my neighbor and forced him to convert to Islam by obliging him to repeat ‘there is no God but [Allah].’ Afterwards they joked, ‘He’s one of ours now.’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vital weapons shipments from the United States have begun to arrive in rebel fighting units that oppose the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria, according to sources on both ends of the transactions.
The light arms, ammunition and other small, trackable armaments — likely grenades, mortars and shells — are coming via clandestine CIA operations in a significant escalation of U.S. involvement in the 30-month-long civil war.
The White House promised in June that it would arm anti-Assad forces who were not aligned with Islamist radical groups, authorizing the CIA to do the heavy lifting and manage the pipeline.
But news of the weapons’ long-awaited delivery comes at an awkward moment, a day after President Obama pledged to pursue diplomacy instead of military action.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait to Transfer $2 Billion Aid to Egypt: Cen. Bank Governor
Hisham Ramez says the $2 billion deposit will remain in the Central Bank of Egypt for five years, Kuwait state news agency also mentions a $1 billion grant and $1 billion in oil products
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NBC News Admits “Free Syrian Army” Is a Myth
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Few media outlets are willing to say that out loud, but it’s quite true. There is no Free Syrian Army. It’s an umbrella for providing Western aid to a front group run by the Muslim Brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Patriarch Kirill to Obama: No Attack on Syria
After the Pope’s letter to Putin , the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church joins appeals of the spiritual leaders of the world to avoid a military solution to the crisis. Despite the leading role of Moscow in the crisis, the Russians are uninterested in developments in the Middle Eastern country .
Moscow (AsiaNews ) — While he did not officially join the prayer vigil called by the Pope for peace in Syria, the Russian Orthodox Church is now joining the chorus of religious leaders from around the world to stop a possible military attack on Damascus. On the anniversary of 9/11 in the U.S., the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill sent a message to President Barack Obama, urging him to stop the military plans against the regime of Bashar al -Assad and denouncing the risks of even wider instability in the region.
In his message, published on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate , Kirill asked the White House chief to “ lend your ear to the voices of religious leaders who unanimously oppose any military interference in the Syrian conflict and to make every effort for the soonest commencement of peace negotiations .” The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church said he was “deeply alarmed “ by the Pentagon’s plans to attack Syria and warned of the possible consequences : “Without a doubt , this will lead to further suffering for the Syrian people ,” which is already living a “daily Golgotha” ..
Echoing the statements of Russian diplomacy, the Patriarch said that “ An external military intervention may result in the radical forces coming to power in Syria who will not be able and will not wish to ensure inter-confessional accord in the Syrian society .” In this case — he denounced , as was done in the past — the Christian population “will end up under the threat of total extermination or expulsion .”
The Patriarch then invited hi reader to “seize the opportunity operable for a diplomatic solution ,” referring to the Russian initiative to put all chemical weapons in Syria under international control. This plan will be discussed today, 12 September, in Geneva by the foreign ministers of Russia and America , Serghei Lavrov and John Kerry.
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant , Moscow has already presented Washington a four-point plan which, according to rumors provides for Damascus adhering to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW ), a declaration by Syria on the location of their arsenals and their place of production , the entrance of Opac and chosen inspectors, in cooperation on how to destroy the weapons .
Despite the active role of their country in international efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict , the situation in Syria is of little interest to Russians , who for the most part do not take sides either with the regime or with the rebels. According to a recent poll by the independent Levada Center , only 8 % of Russians is following the developments of the situation in Syria , 52% know “a little “ about it, while 39 % no nothing. 51% of respondents said they did not take sides with any of the parties in conflict. Most have a pragmatic approach or are simply indifferent to the position of the Kremlin over conflict : 34% of respondents believe that Moscow supports neither party, but is simply trying to take advantage of the situation . The same percentage of people respond that they have nothing to say. 21% has come out in favor of supporting Damascus and 11% would like to see Russia sided with the West.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Uses NYT Op-Ed to Warn US Against Syria Strike
MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) — A potential US strike on Syria is fraught with dangerous consequences, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned in an op-ed he wrote for the New York Times.
Washington is currently contemplating a strike on Syria as retaliation for a deadly August 21 chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb, which it has attributed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Official Damascus has blamed the attack on rebel forces, and Russia has tentatively backed its long-time ally, while calling for further investigation.
“Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies,” Putin said in the op-ed, entitled “A Plea for Caution from Russia,” which was posted on the US newspaper’s website Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Rebels Reject Deal to Strip Regime of Chemical Weapons
A Syrian rebel commander criticized the Russian plan for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons to avoid a US-led attack, calling it a “dirty deal.” The plan “would serve Israel, not the Syrian people,” Col. Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi, a commander in the Free Syrian Army, said in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Women Are Victims Twice Over, Of Combat and Ostracism
Rape is being used as a weapon of war by both sides
(ANSAMed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 12 — Syrian women are facing the double jeopardy of civil war and of being stripped of their freedom by extremist Islamist militias, women’s representatives told a French-sponsored conference Thursday.
The conference on Syrian women is being held on the sidelines of the ongoing Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)gender issues summit. “The female part of the social fabric is suffering, ill-treated. Due to cases of extremism that were a complete unknown in Syria until now, women have lost hope and have been ostracized from public life”, said National Syrian Coalition representative Yasmin Merie.
Syria before the war that began in 2011 was a country of moderate Islamists with “a very high percentage of educated women compared to other Arab countries”, Merie pointed out. Now in militia-held regions, women are being subjected to severe restrictions on their personal freedom, with many forced to stay home from work in fear of reprisals.
“Jihadist groups are Syria’s new disease”, said Samar Yazbek, director of the Soriyat women’s association. “They forbid women to leave home without a veil, they forbid them to work outside the home. They abduct young women, forcing them to marry foreign combatants. This is how they are attacking our society. They infiltrate it in order to change it”.
Weakened by the war and deprived of a livelihood for themselves and their children, many women succumb to these abuses, placing their family’s survival ahead of their personal rights.
“Local associations are working on small projects to help women retain economic autonomy, so they won’t need the help of the jihadists and can preserve their role in society and their presence in public,” she explained. Syrian women also face the daily threat of rape, which is being used by both sides as a weapon of war, the representatives said. The armed forces of Syrian President Bashar el-Assad use rape to repress women and girls who sympathize with the rebels, and to torture their detained male relatives.
“They rape captured rebels’ wives and sisters before their eyes, as a form of torture”, said one humanitarian worker who spoke on condition of anonymity. Jihadists rape in order to forcibly link women to their cause, with abducted teenagers being offered them as “temporary brides”. “These young women end up suffering severe medical and psychological trauma, because of the violence and because of the taboo on losing one’s virginity, which is a source of great shame to the both victim and her family,” the source went on.
“These women are hard to reach, because so many of them can’t even bring themselves to speak about what is happening to them.
Which in turn endangers their health, because rape can cause pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, severe genital trauma.
It’s hard to cure those who fear being cured.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: The Battle for Maalula, Under Sniper Fire
Fides Vatican news agency quotes local sources
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY — Syrian government soldiers have entered the Christian mountain village of Maalula after it was seized by Islamist militias in recent days, local sources told Fides Vatican news agency on Thursday.
Local Christian youth fighting alongside the soldiers of President Bashar al-Assad are under fire from snipers, the sources said. Retaking the village could be tough, because of the way it is built on steep slopes. So far three young Greek Orthodox men have been killed and six Christian men have been abducted and taken somewhere near the city of Yabrud, on the slopes of the Qalamoun mountains, the sources told Fides.
Greek Orthodox nuns in the convent of Saint Tecla were “under siege” for several days by armed groups threatening to invade the sanctuary, the sources said. All local religious community members, both men and women, are reportedly still safe, but Christian crosses have been removed and civilian homes have been sacked, Fides reported.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
By Frank Gaffney, Jr.
The Middle East has been, to use President Obama’s phrase, “fundamentally transformed” in recent years. Particularly the so-called Arab Spring — marked by the rise of Islamists, civil war and jihadism — has produced an ominous new reality in much of the region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Weapons Reaching Syria Rebels
The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.
The arms are being delivered as the United States is also shipping new types of nonlethal gear to rebels. That aid includes vehicles, sophisticated communications equipment and advanced combat medical kits.
U.S. officials hope that, taken together, the weapons and gear will boost the profile and prowess of rebel fighters in a conflict that started about 2 1/2 years ago.
Although the Obama administration signaled months ago that it would increase aid to Syrian rebels, the efforts have lagged because of the logistical challenges involved in delivering equipment in a war zone and officials’ fears that any assistance could wind up in the hands of jihadists.
[So after our leadership’s twerk-out Our spooks their munitions stores jerk out! We’ll arm each Muslim man Like we did in the ‘Stan — Hey, wait a sec. How did that work out? — PW]
The arms shipments, which are limited to light weapons and other munitions that can be tracked, began arriving in Syria at a moment of heightened tensions over threats by President Obama to order missile strikes to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons in a deadly attack near Damascus last month.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
US Troops in Ft Hood Receive Orders to Deploy to Syria
I have been able to verify something extremely troubling in the past 12 hours. A close and verifiable source contacted me to lament the deployment of a friend from Ft. Hood to Egypt, where this particular soldier will be for the next nine months. We have no military base in Egypt, so we’re all trying to understand the assignment and wonder if he and the other 400 soldiers are living in a tent in the desert, and if they are, how do they receive supplies, from everything to food, water, ammunition, and fuel to conduct whatever mission they are to fulfill, for I cannot imagine a C-140 being allowed to land at Cairo International.
The following information has been sourced thoroughly. This particular soldier said that while he was not really thrilled about the assignment to Egypt, it was better than the soldiers that remained at the military base BECAUSE THEY HAD JUST RECEIVED THEIR DEPLOYMENT ORDERS TO GO TO SYRIA. That certainly contradicts the posturing and false reassurances and table-pounding of Obama and Kerry, does it not?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Venture Capitalist Claims US Troops Have Received Orders to Deploy to Syria
Venture capitalist Dan Bubalo claims he was told by a source close to Ft. Hood that US troops have been ordered to deploy to Syria.
Writing for conservative columnist Mychal Massie’s website, Bubalo cites a “close and verifiable source” who told him that a friend at Ft. Hood had received news that he was to be sent to Egypt for the next nine months…
Bubalo claims the information was “sourced thoroughly,” but he received flak from some of the respondents in the comments below his article.
“I’m currently deployed and this article made me laugh,” wrote one respondent who claimed to be a Sergeant.
However, another alleged active duty soldier shot back, “It’s truth, a few of my fellow soldiers left last week…others are setting up to go this weekend.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vladimir Putin: Emergency Warning to America
A potential US strike on Syria is fraught with dangerous consequences
The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.
Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Vladimir Putin Didn’t Tell the American People About Syria
By Anna Neistat
Excerpt: It’s not what Vladimir Putin’s New York Times op-ed says that’s so worrisome; it’s what it doesn’t say. As a Russian and as someone who has been to Syria multiple times since the beginning of the conflict to investigate war crimes and other violations, I would like to mention a few things Putin overlooked … There is not a single mention in Putin’s article, addressed to the American people, of the egregious crimes committed by the Syrian government and extensively documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry, local and international human rights groups, and numerous journalists: deliberate and indiscriminate killings of tens of thousands of civilians, executions, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Bomb Hits Near US Consulate in Afghanistan, 1 Dead
By Amir Shah
KABUL — Militants staged a suicide car bombing then engaged in a gunfight with security forces near the American consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat early Friday, officials said. An Afghan translator was killed, while several other people, including police, were wounded.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which underscored the perilous security situation in Afghanistan, where U.S.-led troops are reducing their presence ahead of a full withdrawal planned for next year. The insurgent strikes are no longer concentrated in the country’s south and east, but occur with troubling frequency in the north and west, which have been the more peaceful areas in years past.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Kabul declined immediate comment…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Jakarta Hosts ‘Miss Muslimah World’, the Islamic Response to Miss World
Next week, the capital will host a beauty pageant that “respects” Muslim customs and traditions. For the event, organisers consulted Islamic experts and scholars. Six Muslim nations will be represented. Controversy and threats still surround Miss World 2013 in Bali but for the government, “the show must go on.”
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Next week, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, will host a beauty contest for “Muslim Ladies”.
This is the Islamic response to the Miss World Pageant, scheduled for this week in Bali and Bogor (West Java) that provoked a furious controversy among the country’s extremist fringes. Because of threats and warnings, the swimsuit show was cancelled so as not to hurt people’s religious sensibilities.
Miss Muslim World or ‘Miss Muslimah World 2013’ in the local language will instead be held in South Jakarta on 18 September with the participation of 20 ‘beauty queens’ from six Muslim nations, namely Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
One of Indonesian organisers of the event, Eka Shanty, said that beauty would not be the “primary factor” or sole yardstick. The focus will be on the three ‘S’, she said, namely sholehah (good morals), smart and style, but undoubtedly participants will be “beautiful as well.”
Organising committee told participants that they must wear “Islamic style” clothing that reflect “the colours of the Muslim world.”
The Committee also confirmed that “in-depth meetings” were held before the competition with experts and Islamic scholars to discuss clothing and other items that relate to Muslim traditions.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the more famous beauty pageant, Miss World, continued with the intervention of the Religious Affairs Minister, Suryadharma Ali, who described the event as “improper” because it violated traditional Indonesian customs and habits.
However, after a series of internal conflicts, and Islamist threats, the government in Jakarta decided to let the pageant go ahead because “the show must go on.” Nevertheless, the authorities in Bali have imposed strict security measures, deploying police and army units.
In recent years, Indonesian authorities have given in several times in the face of pressure from Islamic fundamentalist groups like the Ulema Council (MUI) or the Islamic Defenders Front, which have ‘monitored’ manners and morals in the archipelago. For example in Aceh, the province ruled Islamic radicals, women cannot wear tight pants or short skirts.
In March 2011, the MUI also lashed out at flag raising “because Muhammad never did it”. Before that, it issued anathemas against the popular social networking site Facebook, deemed ‘amoral’, as well as yoga, smoking, and the right to vote, especially for women.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Japan: Mazda Says Production With Fiat Going Well
New Alfa Romeo Spider to be built on Mazda MX-5 platform
(ANSA) — Frankfurt, September 11 — Work is going well on the Fiat-Mazda collaboration project that will see a new Alfa Romeo Spider built on the platform of Mazda’s MX-5, a spokesman for the Japanese automaker said Wednesday.
The project “is progressing well and without any problems,” Wojciech Halarewicz, vice president of communications for Mazda Europe, said in an interview with ANSA at the Frankfurt motor show.
But he said that Mazda has no interest in using Fiat sites for its own European production in the future.
And he wouldn’t comment on the new vehicles’ sales timetable.
“We know when the new car will be ready, but we prefer not to mention time,” said Halarewicz. “For now, we want to focus on…the launch and in this, we are totally independent of Fiat”.
The collaboration between the two automakers does not extend to marketing, he pointed out.
In May 2012, Fiat and Mazda announced plans to join forces to produce a new generation two-seater sports car and agreed to explore possible further collaboration in Europe.
The new car would be based on the platform of Mazda’s MX-5 model, the best-selling lightweight sports car of all time, and each company would supply its own engines.
Both versions were to be produced at Mazda’s plant in Hiroshima, starting in 2015.
Each car would also have its own distinct design under the agreement.
For Fiat, that means producing its vehicle under the Alfa Romeo marque, which is expected to spearhead Alfa Romeo’s return to the American market, where its most successful car was its two-seat roadster made famous by its use in the 1967 film The Graduate.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Japan’s Nuclear Migraine: A Never-Ending Disaster at Fukushima
Japan is stumbling helplessly from one crisis to the next as it battles the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. US nuclear inspector Dale Klein is demanding the intervention of foreign experts, but a quick solution is unlikely.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Rebel Clashes Spread to Second Southern Philippine Island
(Reuters) — Fighting between security forces and rogue Muslim rebels seeking to declare an independent state escalated in a southern Philippine city on Thursday and spread to a second island, officials said. U.S.-trained commandos exchanged gunfire with a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) holding dozens of hostages in Zamboanga City, on the southernmost island of Mindanao, army spokesman Domingo Tutaan said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Terrorists in Philippines Use Christians as Human Shields
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The Moro National Liberation Front isn’t just a terrorist group. It’s a terrorist group recognized by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. And it’s demonstrating the Islamic notion of cooperation in the Philippines.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Are We Prepared to Survive? Know Your Enemy!
Dr. Fred Schwarz wrote an excellent book called “You Can Trust the Communists (to be Communists)”. During WW2 an Australian patient of his was convinced that American servicemen were intent on poisoning him. This man later killed two American officers with a shotgun and was convicted of criminal insanity. These Americans held no ill will toward this Australian, yet they were violently killed. Why? The Australian man believed a lie. He believed they would somehow poison him. Dr. Fred Schwarz demonstrates that it does not take two to make a fight. A lie in the mind of another is enough. The same is true for Communism. Is the same true for the New World Order? Is it true for environmentalists?…
Dr. Fred Schwarz later explains Communist methodology that should be understood by everyone. The first act of Communist power is to disarm the people. Since Communist force generates revolt, the Communists systematically destroy the potential leadership of resistance before resistance can organize. All individuals with leadership qualities are destroyed. Pro/Anti Communists alike are destroyed. Those with qualities of leadership which could be used when people awaken to Communist tyranny and resist are systematically destroyed. Please give this some consideration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amanda Lindhout — Patron Saint of Stupid
Amanda Lindhout is a victim of feminist propaganda that diverted women from marriage and motherhood by teaching them they can “do anything.”
Amanda Lindhout was 27 in 2008 when she was taken hostage by Somalian mujaheddin and held for 15 months while her terrified mother back in Canada struggled to raise a large ransom. Before that happened, Amanda was starved, tortured and gang raped by her captors.
Amanda was a cocktail waitress in rural British Columbia when she decided to become a girl reporter and see the world. Apart from a short stint as a freelancer for Iran’s Press TV in Iraq, and an Internet story from Afghanistan, she hadn’t accomplished much.
Nevertheless, she had the feminist superwoman complex. “I have the world in the palm of my hand,” she wrote her journal.
She convinces a boyfriend, Australian photographer Nigel Brennan to come along to Somalia. He was reluctant but “Amanda has enough confidence for them both.”
No matter that there no longer were any international bases of operation in Somalia, or that few journalists ventured in. For Amanda, this was a plus: “The truth was, I was glad for the lack of competition.”
What did Amanda Lindhout expect when she flew into Mogadishu August 21 2008 with Nigel Brennan?
The country is in a state of anarchy. The mujaheddin hijack oil tankers and freighters for ransom. How hard would it be to take her hostage?
2. She had already been kidnapped in Baghdad but she bought her freedom at an ATM.
3. Her seatmate on the plane into Mogadishu told her that her head was worth $500,000. She is in grave danger!
Did she take the next plane out? No, she sallied forth with the sense of entitlement and invincibility inculcated in young western women today.
Two days later, on August 23, as they went to visit a refugee camp, she and Brennan were taken hostage by 20 armed men and imprisoned in a darkened room. The Daily Mail takes up the story:
“They are told that $3 million in ransom money is wanted for them both. The conditions quickly became brutal as they were beaten and starved and Lindhout gang-raped. … One captor puts his assault rifle to her head and plays Russian roulette. They are constantly moved to different houses .. live in constant fear that they would be handed over to hardline rebels al Shabaab, which Washington claims are al Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia. Lindhout develops a fungal infection on her face, her hair and toenails fall out while Brennan suffers dysentery.
After 100 nights, Lindhout is taken alone out into the desert. She is told to kneel and has her head snapped back with a yank of her hair, a knife pushed against her throat. She begs for her life and is given a cell phone to call her mother and plead for a million dollars or she would be killed. ‘I sobbed in the dirt, sounding like an animal, like som
One night, Nigel overhears Amanda on the phone, begging her mother to take the entire $500,000 that Nigel’s family largely raised and use it to pay just for her. He is devastated. “I don’t think I have ever felt so lonely and cheated in my life . . . I’m furious at myself for trusting her.” The bank account for their ransom, it turns out, was held in Australia; her mother unable to access it. (They are no longer talking.)
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American Militant Killed in Feud Over the Islamist Shebab
(AGI) Mogadishu, Sept 12 — A U.S.-born Islamist militant was killed in Somalia in a feud for control over Shebab, Al Qaeda’s branch in the Horn of Africa. Alabama-born Omar Hammami, 29, had gone to fight in Somalia in 2006, attracting the attention of U.S. anti-terrorism services which had put a 5 million dollar bounty on his head.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saadi Gaddafi to be Offered Asylum in Niger
(AGI) Niamey — Niger has arrested Saadi Gaddafi and plans to offer him asylum on humanitarian grounds ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Luis Fleischman: Focus on Central America is Crucial to Our Security
Central America constitutes an important strategic area for the United States. As discussed in my recent book “Latin America in the Post-Chavez Era: The Threat to U.S. Security”, legal and institutional collapse in Central America could have very serious consequences for regional and U.S security. Central America has been victim to increasing drug cartel activity as the situation in Colombia and Mexico has turned more complicated for the drug lords. In addition, Central America is an important area of transit for drug shipments. Several countries in Central America have fallen into a situation of anarchy.
Anarchy invites the proliferation of gangs, terrorist groups and foreign powers as the situation in Afghanistan clearly demonstrates. The presence of terrorist groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Middle Eastern groups such as Hezbollah, and the growing presence of Iran in Latin America, as part of its alliance with the Venezuelan-led Bolivarian revolution, makes Central America into a key geo-political challenge.
Former U.S Ambassador to the Organization of American States, John Maisto has pointed out that the U.S State Department website lists areas in the world where the United States faces challenges but surprisingly Central America is not on that list. Central America has been severely affected by the rise of drug cartels and drug trafficking activity. This activity destroys the institutions of the state; it bribes judges, corrupts politicians and leaves the local populations at the mercy of violence and insecurity…
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Boat With 199 Migrants Rescued Off Sicilian Coast
Passengers mostly Syrian, authorities say
(updates previous) (ANSA) — Siracusa, September 12 — A boat carrying 199 migrants that was rescued by the Italian Coast Guard and finance police 70 miles off the coast of Sicily near the city of Siracusa overnight Wednesday was carrying mostly Syrian nationals and some Egyptians, authorities said.
The boat that was drifting at high sea was spotted by a Greek aircraft crew who alerted the Italian Coast Guard.
The passengers on the overloaded boat were transferred to Coast Guard and police ships before being taken to shore.
Two of the passengers were transported to a local hospital for medical checks and the others, 64 of whom are children, are said to be in good condition.
Police have detained 15 crew members who were on board and confiscated the unflagged ship.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Police Arrest ‘People Smugglers’
Italian police said on Thursday they had arrested the crew of a ship carrying more than 200 refugees believed to be from Syria, boarding and detaining the vessel in international waters in the first operation of its kind.
“This is the first capture carried out in international waters to implement international conventions… to detain and inspect a ship not flying a national flag,” the police said in a statement.
The 30-metre long vessel was referred to by police as a “mother ship” used by people smugglers to bring migrants to Italian waters then put them on smaller vessels to reach the coastline.
It was spotted 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Sicily by a Romanian patrol boat taking part in the European Union’s Frontex border guard service.
Italian police have arrested all 15 crew members and detained the ship itself.
The migrants included 85 men, 50 women and 84 minors, and all said they were refugees from Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco’s African Immigrants Fear Rising Racism Tide
“Is it a crime now, being an immigrant?” asks Eric Williams, a Cameroonian living in Rabat, where the murder of a Senegalese man has stoked fears among Morocco’s sub-Saharan community.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sacrificing African-Latino-Americans to S744 Immigration Amnesty
…After nearly five years of “hope and change” promised by the Obama administration and all the senators and House members — we still suffer 14 million people searching for jobs while that 7 million continue with minimum wage jobs. Millions more gave up looking for a job.
Last week, McDonald’s fast-food workers in major cities demonstrated against their CEO oppressors who make $10 million annual bonus pay checks while the hamburger flippers make minimum wage. Fast-food jobs can no longer be seen as a step up to the next level, but a financial dungeon for millions who cannot afford a college degree or vocational tech training.
At the bottom of this jobs-financial nightmare, African-Latino Americans by the millions cannot find or secure jobs. Instead, Congress continues pumping 100,000 legal, green-card-holding immigrants into our country every 30 days.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Tunisian Migrants Rescued Off Sicily Coast
(AGI) Trapani, Sept 12 — Mazara del Vallo port authorities rescued seven Tunisians 14 miles off the Sicilian coast on Wednesday night. The immigrants, all men between 20 and 35 years of age, were taken to the port by the Coast Guard. They were assisted by members of the Civil Protection Agency, identified and brought to the Pian del Lago shelter near Caltanissetta.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Homeschooling is against the law in Germany. Why? Because, says the German Supreme Court, they don’t want anyone developing a “parallel culture.” The fact that millions of Muslims in Germany insist on living in a parallel culture doesn’t seem to register. But let Christian parents in Germany try to give their children a Christian education, and watch the jack-boots storm into action.
It was the Nazi regime that banned homeschooling. This law is one of the few surviving relics of the Hitler era. The Third Reich lives on in the law against homeschooling.
Last week a German reader wrote a letter to Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, complaining about Farris’ articles attacking the ban. I don’t wish to edit the letter when quoting it, so please allow for the fact that Herr Schmidt is writing in what is, to him, a foreign language.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Gives Atheists Permission to Think
Excerpt: In a letter to an Italian newspaper, the Pontiff said that atheists could now decide for themselves what was right and wrong using something called a ‘conscience’. But he added: “Don’t go crazy with it, because we all know what you’re like.” Tom Logan, an atheist from Stevenage, said: “Thanks Pope, that’s really nice of you.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Blobfish Wins Ugliest Animal Vote
The grumpy-looking, gelatinous blobfish has won a public vote to become the official mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. This gives the fish the unofficial title of world’s ugliest animal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lightning-Fast Evolution Clocked During Cambrian Explosion
A crustacean with 3,000 lenses in its eyes, 6-foot-long shrimplike creatures and organisms that looked like tulips emerged hastily (from an evolutionary perspective) on the scene some 520 million to 540 million years ago. And now scientists have figured out just how quickly evolution was occurring during evolution’s “big bang.”
And it was fast by most measures, five times quicker than occurs today.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Next Wireless Revolution, In Electricity
By Tina Rosenberg
Excerpt: [Tech innovators] don’t put money into inventing better and cheaper ways for very poor people to light their homes, cook or run appliances off the grid. “But because of the things you desire [in the rich countries], these things have become reality [in the poor] ,” Gaurav said. “LED technology, very efficient batteries and a falling solar panel price have suddenly allowed lights to be delivered to off-grid households at a fraction of the cost. “
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Voyager 1: Spacecraft ‘Has Left Solar System’
Nearly four decades after it was launched, the plutonium-powered spacecraft becomes the first probe to leave our solar system.
The Voyager 1 probe has become the first spacecraft to ever leave our solar system, Nasa said on Thursday. Thirty-six years after it was launched from Earth, the plutonium-powered Voyager is now more than 11.5 billion miles from the sun in interstellar space.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |