A dozen illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Syria fell off a boat in the eastern Aegean, and are presumed to have drowned. The boat was allegedly being towed back to Turkey by the Greek coast guard when the tragedy occurred. The Greek authorities disclaimed any responsibility for what happened.
In other news, a female Austrian tourist in Dubai who says she was raped will be charged with a crime herself, for having sex outside of marriage.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to ESW, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, Papa Whiskey, Steen, TV, 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.
Spain Formally Exits Bank Bailout Program in Better Shape
But Brussels warns challenges still exist in fragile economic recovery and soaring bad loans
Spain on Thursday will formally exit the program it entered in exchange for a 41.3-billion-euro loan from its European partners to clean up the banking system, with the economic and financial scenario looking a lot better than when it asked for the bailout some 18 months ago.
Foreign investor confidence in the country has been restored with the risk premium back below 200 basis points; the labor market has stabilized, albeit with the jobless rate still unacceptably high at 26 percent; the economy has emerged from its longest recession since the restoration of democracy, although growth remains anemic; and the asset management corporation Sareb, or so-called bad bank set up to absorb the toxic real estate assets of the nationalized banks, is up and running.
However, doubts remain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Has the Jerusalem Fund Advocacy for Anti-Israel BDS Created Problems for Tennessee Gov. Haslam?
On Monday there was an expose of the well regarded father of Ms. Samar Ali an accomplished American Muslim appointee of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. The expose published in Front Page Magazine concerned Samar’s father, Dr. Subhi Ali, an esteemed member of the local and state medical community, who practices in Waverly, Tennessee, “Samar Ali: Her Father’s Organization Wants to Destroy Israel”. Dr.. Ali is Chairman of The Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC, a pro-Palestinian anti-Israel NGO promoting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the Jewish State of Israel seeking its destruction. David James, the author of the expose has limned his sources, the disclosures of which are sure to cause headaches for both Tennessee Gov. Haslam and Bill Hagerty the State Commissioner of Economic and Community Development. According to sources in Tennessee, Commissioner Hagerty, where Ms. Ali heads a state international trade office, is fighting the possibility of losing her talents and Middle East financial connections. Perhaps it may be intimidation from Muslim Advocacy groups who have penetrated the Haslam Administration Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
Back in June of 2012, we posted on Ms. Ali’s impressive background…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal Icon Urges Obama Impeachment
‘The most destructive, dangerous president we’ve ever had’
Nat Hentoff does not think much of President Obama. And now, the famous journalist says it is time to begin looking into impeachment. Hentoff sees the biggest problem as Obama’s penchant to rule by executive order when he can’t convince Congress to do things his way.
The issue jumped back into the headlines last week when, just before his first Cabinet meeting of 2014, Obama said, “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone … and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions.”
“Apparently he doesn’t give one damn about the separation of powers,” Hentoff told WND. “Never before in our history has a president done these things.” And just to make sure everyone knew how extremely serious he regarded the situation, the journalist added, “This is the worst state, I think, the country has ever been in.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Majority of Americans Not Convinced Obama’s NSA Changes Mean Anything
by Katie Pavlich
Late last week President Obama gave a speech detailing new changes to the NSA spying program after revelations the United States Government is spying on American citizens and collecting phone data regardless of whether an individual has ties to terrorism. But according to a new Rasmussen Report, the majority of Americans don’t think things will be changing at the NSA.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Michelle Obama: Hanoi Jane’s My Role Model
First Lady Michelle Obama says Jane Fonda is one of her role models, and that she admires her political savviness. During an interview with People Magazine, Obama listed “Hanoi Jane,” as one of the people she would like to look and live like when she’s 70 or 80 years old. “There’s Jane Fonda, a beautiful, engaged, politically savvy, sharp woman,” Obama said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pollution From Chinese Manufacturing Choking US West Coast
Billowing across the Pacific Ocean from China and landing on the western shore of the United States are significant quantities of toxic air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and black carbon. Ironically, a great deal of that air pollution is caused by the production of goods inside China for export to the United States.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Santa Ana Fight: 1 Arrested, 4 Outstanding
“We believe our victim and her friends were in line and there was something that precipitated a verbal argument,” said Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. Cellphone video posted online shows a snippet of the violent confrontation that followed. Police say she was punched and kicked until she lost consciousness. “The suspects were listed as two males and three females, Hispanic between 20 and 25 years of age,” said Bertagna.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Woman Who Was Badly Beaten Outside Santa Ana Nightclub Dies
Friends described Kim Pham, a graduate of Chapman University and an aspiring talk show host, as having a big heart. One person has been arrested, four are being sought.
Santa Ana police have arrested a woman and continue to seek four other people in connection with the violent confrontation, which one friend said may have been triggered when Pham unintentionally walked in front of a camera as another group posed for a photo.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yankees Sign Japanese Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka for 7 Years, $155 Million
The Yankees have signed Masahiro Tanaka, a highly-regarded Japanese pitcher, for $155 million over seven years, according to a baseball official familiar with terms of the contract.
Tanaka, 25, had an excellent season last year, going 24-0 with a 1.27 earned run average as he led his team, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, to the Japan Series championship.
| [Return to headlines] |
British Veterans to Commemorate 70th Anniversary of Anzio Landings in Italy
Dwindling band of British veterans to commemorate 70th anniversary of a campaign that was likened to the trench warfare of the First World War
A group of British veterans will take part in events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Anzio landings in Italy on Wednesday. Just four veterans will travel to the coastal town south of Rome to remember one of the most savage campaigns of the Second World War, sometimes known as “the forgotten D-Day”. The youngest veteran is 88 while the oldest is 91.
The small number of former servicemen taking part in the anniversary is testimony to the dwindling number of survivors from the campaign. Alex Munro served in the Scottish Horse, William Gerrie was a member of the Royal Signals and Jack Hearn was in the Royal Army Service Corps. The only non-Army member of the group is Stan Turton, who served aboard HMS Spartan, a Royal Navy cruiser that took part in the landings on Jan 22 1944 but was bombed and sunk a week later.
Operation Shingle, as the campaign was known, was an attempt to outflank the Germans’ Gustav Line of defence further south…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fears Grow for Michael Schumacher as Former F1 Champion Remains in Coma
More than three weeks after former Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher suffered a severe head injury while skiing in France, fears are reportedly growing that the German driver will never make a full recovery.
Schumacher has been kept in a medically induced coma at a hospital in the Alpine town of Grenoble since falling and hitting his head on rocks December 29. Doctors have performed two emergency operations and have pronounced his condition as stable.
However, the Austrian news website Format reports that the seven-time world champion’s friends and family are increasingly concerned that Schumacher may be suffering from Apallic syndrome, or a persistent vegetative state. It reports that Schumacher is being “fed there with probes, washed daily and moved again and again to avoid bed sores.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Energy Revolution on Verge of Collapse
Germany’s energy revolution has gone sour, as have its efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “Energiewende” policy aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent between 1990 and 2020, mostly by closing coal-fired power plants and boosting renewable energy. Yet in 2013, coal burning soared to its highest level for more than 20 years.
Then, last week, economy and energy minister Sigmar Gabriel said he will slash wind and solar subsidies by a third, to cut rising energy bills. Subsidies for renewables currently cost German consumers €23 billion a year. Merkel is also shutting down Germany’s nuclear power plants, its largest source of low-carbon energy. This means emissions, which had fallen by 27 per cent by 2011, are now on the rise.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is This the Worst Campaign Video Ever Made?
By Daniel Hannan
Regular readers will know Guy Verhofstadt — former prime minister of Belgium, leader of the Liberals in the European Parliament and now, incredibly, a candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission. I’m currently posting a series of his best lines on Twitter. Here’s a sample:
“Our fatherland is now Europe. Our national anthem is Ode to Joy. And our flag is that of the twelve yellow stars on an azure background.”
“A clear victory for the pro-Europeans at the 2014 elections must herald the creation of a real constituent assembly, with the aim of establishing a truly federal Europe.”
“A majority of people want more Europe, not less. The Constitution was not rejected because it was too ambitious but because it was not ambitious enough.”
“The euro crisis does not in any way indicate that the introduction of the single European currency was a mistake.”
“The ultimate consequence of identity thinking is the gas chambers of Auschwitz.”
I’ve previously posted videos of him in which he comes across as a bit of a berk. But the clip above is chosen by his own campaign team, as a compilation of his supposedly best moments.
Watch it. Remember that this man is a serious candidate for Europe’s top job. And then try to maintain, with a straight face, that Europe is “coming our way”.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Taken to EU Court for Failure to Protect Lab Animals
Could be fined 150K euros a day for not applying EU directive
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 21 — The European Commission on Tuesday said it will refer Italy to the European Court of Justice for failure to implement a 2010 EU Directive on the protection of laboratory animals. Italy could be fined more than 150,000 euros a day if found in violation of the directive that became effective January 1 this year.
The directive aims to improve the welfare of lab animals and to firmly anchor the principle of the three Rs — to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals — in EU legislation. Among other things, it says member States must take into account available “scientific knowledge in respect of factors influencing animal welfare as well as the capacity of animals to sense and express pain, suffering, distress and lasting harm”.
Animal welfare is enshrined in Article 13 of the European Union treaty.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pickaxe Killer Not Fit for Prison Says Psychiatrist
‘Kabobo should be held on a psych ward pending trial’
(ANSA) — Milan, January 20 — A Ghanaian migrant who killed three people with a pickaxe last year is not mentally fit to be in prison and should be held in a psychiatric hospital pending trial, a forensic doctor told a Milan court Monday.
Mada ‘Adam’ Kabobo went on a rampage with a pickaxe at dawn on May 11, 2013, killing three passersby in an apparently random attack.
The 21-year-old was taken into custody shortly after the attacks in a residential area on the northern outskirts of Milan.
A Milan judge previously found that Kabobo knew what he was doing at the time of the rampage, even though he has been diagnosed as schizophrenic.
He reportedly told investigators he was hearing voices during the killing spree.
The young killer recently tried to strangle his cellmate in Milan’s San Vittore prison, telling authorities he did it because he was hearing voices.
The court will discuss the forensic report on January 27, when it will decide whether to transfer Kabobo to a psychiatric ward pending a fast-track murder trial set to begin February 6.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Real Estate Heiress Accused of Two-Bn-Euro Tax Evasion
Armellini also suspected of dodging taxes on property empire
(ANSA) — Rome, January 21 — Roman real estate heiress Angiola Armellini is under investigation for suspected tax evasion on two billion euros of assets.
The suspect, daughter of the late Renato Armellini, the so-called ‘king of bricks’ in the capital in the 1970s, is accused of criminal association in order to avoid paying taxes.
Eleven other people face the same charges in connection with the case.
Finance police believe Armellini is the de facto head of a complex business empire created in the 1990s to conceal capital from the inland revenue through a series of off-shore companies located in Monaco, Luxembourg, Jersey and other ‘tax havens’. Investigators also say she owns some 1,243 properties in Rome and that she has never paid local property tax on any of them.
This is not the first time that Armellini is implicated in alleged financial crimes.
In 1991 she was involved in a case of suspected fiscal fraud and false accounting to over 500 billion lire.
Five years later, in 1996, she was investigated together with her ex-husband for fraudulent bankruptcy to the tune of 200 billion lire.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Moldovan Mafia Organization Dismantled
Arrests made in Italy, members marked by tattoos
(ANSA) — Venice, January 22 — About 20 Moldovan nationals alleged to be part of a local mafia organization have been arrested in Italy and Moldova. The operation was coordinated by the Venice anti-mafia investigations directorate. Charges against those arrested include drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, and duress. The arrest warrants were carried out in collaboration with Moldovan police.
The organization based itself in Verona, a choice allegedly due to the fact that no other criminal organization was working on the ground there.
Investigators say that the members of the organization were distinguishable by tattoos on their bodies attesting to their ‘life of crime’ and membership in the group.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Police Seize Rome Pizzerias, Tuscan Businesses Suspected of Laundering Naples’ Mob Money
Italian police seized 27 pizzerias, cafes and other eateries in the heart of Rome and elsewhere in a probe highlighting the seemingly legitimate business fronting for organized crime in places far from the mobsters’ Naples base.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: MPs Cool Toward Tougher Laws on Political Violence
A proposal by Sweden’s democracy minister seeking harsher sentences for politically motivated crimes found little support in parliament on Tuesday during a debate about political violence.
Jomshof of the Sweden Democrats accused the Left Party and the Social Democrats of not distancing themselves enough from the “violent left”. He also slammed Speaker of the Riksdag Per Westerberg for participating in an anti-racism demonstration in the Stockholm suburb of Kärrtorp in December.
Christina Hoj of the Left Party chided Jomshof, saying it was rather ironic that the Sweden Democrats called for the debate when representatives of the party run around the city carrying iron pipes and support a far-right website like Avpixlat.
A recent report by the Swedish National Council on Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet, Brå), found that representatives from all Sweden’s political parties have been subjected to threats and violence. However, the Sweden Democrats and politicians on the far left, as well as younger politicians, are more vulnerable.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Enza Ferreri
The issue of taqiyya — the religious permission, indeed virtue, of Muslim deception to infidels for the good of Islam — is such a uniquely crucial aspect of the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially, like in the West, when the former are a minority and the latter a majority, that there have been at least a couple of trials in Europe revolving around it, one recent and the other current.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Muslims Denounce Prophet’s Cartoons
CAIRO- UK Muslims have waged war against an offensive website that publishes cartoons depicting Prophets Muhammad and Jesus (peace be upon them), demanding discharging Muslim Politician after republishing these cartoons.
The images were “extremely offensive to believers” of the two faiths and “potentially inflammatory,” read the statement of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) which denounces the Prophets cartoons, Al-Ahram Online reported on Tuesday, January 21.
The criticism has been mounting against the offensive website, Jesus and Mo, which produces a weekly comic depicting the two prophets while wading into religious debate woven with sarcasm.
Prophet Muhammad Inspires Man Utd Striker
The Wise Leader (Peace be upon him)
According to the site, the comics were introduced by the website in a series as a “weekly comic strip, dealing in religious satire”.
The site has refused to take down the cartoons, showing no intention for future reconciliation.
Citing the uproar following the release of 12 Danish cartoons of prophet Muhammed (pbuh) in 2005, MAB warned that the depiction of the two prophets was “as insulting as those published in Denmark.”
The Islamic organization, an affiliate to Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), asserted its adherence to freedom of expression.
MAB has also questioned “the wisdom of any individual or organization that places at risk the dignity and values of anyone else, even if they might not hold those values.”
Similar uproar was reported in 2012 when an atheist group in University College London published a cartoon depicting Jesus and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) on a webpage.
In 2005, Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten daily published 12 cartoons, including one showing a man said to be the Prophet wearing a tomb-shaped turban.
Another caricature showed the Prophet as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.
The cartoons, considered blasphemous under Islam, were later reprinted by European newspapers on claims of freedom of expression, straining relations between the Muslim world and the West.
The cartoon crisis, however, has prompted Muslims worldwide to launch campaigns to highlight the merits of the Prophet.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fury at Tower Hamlets Over Knock-Down Sale of Old Poplar Town Hall
An inquiry is being called tonight over the sale of an historic town hall in London’s East End which slipped through the planning net and may have lost council taxpayers a fortune.
The old Poplar Town Hall—steeped in East End social history with the 1921 rates rebellion—was sold in 2011 at a knock-down price of £867,000 to be used for offices.
But Opposition councillors at Tower Hamlets are furious at revelations in a national newspaper on Sunday that the listed building in Poplar High Street, within walking distance of Canary Wharf, has a ‘change of use’ permit and is to be turned into a luxury hotel…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Liberty GB Radio Host Charged With ‘Hate Crime’ For Criticising Fiyaz Mughal
Last week Liberty GB radio host, Tim Burton, was charged by West Midlands Police with racially aggravated harassment, after his post on Twitter described a prominent individual as “a mendacious grievance-mongering taqiyya-artist”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour’s John Biggs Challenges Lutfur Rahman in Bid to Take Tower Hamlets
John Biggs has thrown down his challenge to take on Lutfur Rahman in the fight to be next Mayor of Tower Hamlets with the launch of a tough drive on drugs and crime in London’s East End.
Labour’s candidate to oust the independent Rahman administration from the Town Hall at the polls in May pledged tough action on crime last night when he faced the media at Whitechapel’s Micro business centre.
“The current mayor doesn’t give crime priority—he’s too busy having his photo taken or giving grants to his favourite organisations,” the seasoned London Assembly member claimed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Meet the Dark Enlightenment: Sophisticated Neo-Fascism That’s Spreading Fast on the Net
By Jamie Bartlett
Since 2012 a sophisticated but bizarre online neo-fascist movement has been growing fast. It’s called “The Dark Enlightenment”. Its modus operandi is well suited to a digital society. Supporters are dotted all over the world, connected via a handful of blogs and chat rooms. Its adherents are clever, angry white men patiently awaiting the collapse of civilisation, and a return to some kind of futuristic, ethno-centric feudalism.
It started, suitably enough, with two blogs. Mencius Moldbug, a prolific blogger and computer whizz from San Francisco, and Nick Land, an eccentric British philosopher (previously co-founder of Warwick University’s Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) who in 2012 wrote the eponymous “The Dark Enlightenment”, as a series of posts on his site. You can find them all here…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The ‘Neo-Fascist’ Dark Enlightenment is More Sad Than Scary
By Tim Stanley
If you’re going to take time out of your busy day to think, think big. And so it’s quite exciting to discover that some online conservatives say the best way to deal with the world’s problems is to abolish the democratic state and replace it with a Jacobite monarchy. Let’s not waste time on reforming the NHS. Let’s just ban public healthcare and go back to the leaches.
I joke, but according to the Telegraph’s Jamie Bartlett, a group of internet philosophers classifying themselves as “the Dark Enlightenment” reckon that everything’s been downhill since the Enlightenment and that we need to start all over again…
[Reader comment by Jack Smith on 22 January 2014 at about 8 am.]
There are two indisputable facts that cannot be forgotten. 1. We are ruled by a remote, arrogant and interchangeable political caste who do not properly represent us and who act in ways that run contrary to the best interests of the indigenous population. So yes, democracy is failing. 2. Mass immigration and multiculturalism have been hugely disruptive and destabilizing to our society and the notion that the indigenous British population has gained anything positive from having mass immigration from the 3rd world imposed on them is utterly absurd; and only the most deluded and intellectually dishonest ideologues would claim otherwise. It is not hateful or stupid to oppose mass immigration and multiculturalism, it is self-loathing, short-sighted and self-destructive to be in favour of them. No amount of sententious, intellectually dishonest bleating about ‘cultural enrichment’ will change that.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The mutation that enables adults to digest milk appeared independently in several parts of the world over the past 7,500 years, and it spread rapidly. It had been thought that the genes for milk-drinking spread because they provided Northern European farmers, who lived in areas with little sunlight, with a boost of calcium and vitamin D. Evolutionary biologist Oddný Sverrisdóttir of the University of Uppsala tested DNA from skeletal remains of eight people who lived in sunny northeastern Spain some 5,000 years ago. She found that none of them had the milk-drinking mutation, even though one third of modern Spaniards can digest lactase.
A check of their mitochondrial DNA showed that these people were in fact ancestors of modern milk-drinking Spaniards. So what happened that gave milk-drinkers the advantage? Sverrisdóttir speculates that early farmers ate yogurt and cheese long before they could digest raw milk. When their crops failed and the stores were eaten, they may have turned to milk in desperation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why UK Muslims Are Saying This Comic Cartoon is No Joking Matter
One of the most influential Islamic organisations in the UK has slammed a website that publishes cartoons featuring Prophet Mohamed and Jesus. The website, Jesus and Mo, features a weekly comic strip in which the two prophets debate and joke about the central tenets of Islam and Christianity.
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) published a statement saying that the images were “extremely offensive to believers” of the two faiths and “potentially inflammatory,” and urged the website’s operators to take down the comics at once…
[JP note: Allah: They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. They’re not laughing now.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
6,500-Year Old Tin-Bronze From Serbia
The hypothesis of a single origin for Eurasian metallurgy has been challenged by the discovery of copper smelting evidence some 7000 years old at Plochnik, a Vincha culture settlement in eastern Serbia. Here, the tin-bronze foil was excavated from an undisturbed context, on the floor of a dwelling structure next to a copper workshop — a single occupation horizon dated to circa 4650 BCE. The tin-bronze foil from the site of Plochnik is therefore the earliest known tin-bronze artefact anywhere, extending the record of bronze making by about 1500 years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: The Slow Agony of Luxor and the Nile Valley
Governor, alternatives like agriculture, industry necessary
(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) — LUXOR, JANUARY 22 — With the tourism industry in deep crisis in Upper Egypt, it is hard not to encounter people including street vendors, boat, taxi or carriage drivers ferrying tourists along the Nile in Luxor or to visit archaeological sites not begging visitors to buy something.
‘Please, I am hungry, buy something, you decide the price’, they say. Western tourists walking through Luxor are few although clashes and casualties registered between the two souls of Egypt — Morsi supporters and opponents — are relatively far from here.
‘Here in Luxor we have taken to the streets at two historic times: on January 25, 2011 and in July 2013’, said Boutros, a Coptic trader. Luxor residents chose to demonstrate for the ouster of two presidents, Mubarak and Morsi, as well as others across the country. ‘However we are not interested in politics.
We only want to work’, said Gamal from a nearby spice store smelling of cinnamon and cardamom with an old radio playing verses from the Koran.
Almost everything is sold at half price or on sale at markets as well as big hotels. A number of luxury hotels even offer Spa services with 50% off. The Art Museum, a three-storey bazaar selling products made by local artisans and spices which used to be open from 9 am until 10 pm, is empty. So retailers have decided to open only once a week.
‘Only if a hotel or travel agent calls we open’, said the manager. All products are half price or cost even less. The worst year, according to many, was 2012 under the government of the Muslim Brothers.
And the new governor of Luxor, Tarek Saad El Din, who took over the post last August, has far from an easy job. Four governors have filled the post since 2011 and the problems are still there.
About ‘70% of people here in Luxor work in tourism and my top objective is to attract again foreign and Egyptian visitors to this region’, El Din told ANSAmed.
As a consequence, he started meeting ambassadors of France, Italy, Great Britain, Russia, Japan and Egypt, asking them to come check the situation on the ground. In Luxor, recalled El Din, ‘nothing has ever happened. No violence’.
Numbers however show a harsh reality. ‘In August, the rate of visitors was 1%. In the past few days it has risen to 28%’. A significant impulse, said the governor, was given by the visit of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
In order to confront the emergency and literally feed the starved tour operators in Luxor, ‘the government of Cairo has allocated 3 million liras for guides and 2.5 for carriage drivers (and their horses)and all those working with feluccas all year’, said El Din.
While waiting for the negative trend to stop, it is necessary to aim high. ‘There are no factories here’, said the governor. ‘With the industry minister, we have decided to start two projects to develop food and beverage industries in the areas of Bogdadi and Esna. All this respecting the environment’.
The governor’s idea is to develop renewable energies, in particular solar energy.
‘So far we have installed panels on three different public buildings in the city’, he said. Before becoming governor, El Din was executive director of the authority to develop Egyptian tourism. ‘The agency has 1,74 million dollars in investments, 72% of which are in the hands of local entrepreneurs. We have confidence mostly in Egyptian investors’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Salafi Preacher and Politician Abu Ismail Sentenced for Insulting Judiciary
Cairo — Prominent Salafi preacher and politician Hazem Salah Abu Ismail was sentenced to one year in prison, with labor, on Monday, for insulting the Egyptian judiciary. Abu Ismail’s defense protested the ruling and mocked the court, describing it as a farce.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: ‘Al Qaeda Virus is Spreading Like Wildfire’
Libya’s inhospitable south has become the scene of violent clashes between Arab and Tebu tribes. DW spoke to Adam Rami Kerki, the leader of the main political organization of the Tebu people.
Radical Islamic groups seem to be gaining momentum across Libya.
The al Qaeda virus is spreading like wildfire, and not only across Libya but also throughout the whole of North Africa and the Sahara. The power vacuum in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt after the 2011 uprising is a perfect scenario for them. Today it is difficult to distinguish between the Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaeda, Ansar al Sharia, the Salafists … it’s hard to know who is who. Without going any further, around 15 members of the GNC — Libya’s interim legislative body — are linked to radical Islamic groups.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccans Denounce Extremist Views
Rabat — Since Takfirist views now spread in record time, thanks to social media and online forums, many Moroccans say it is time to take a stand against religious extremism.
Political, art and civil society figures face online criticism for calling for modern approaches to Islam. They say people need to be able to discuss hot-button issues such as inheritance, polygamy and the marriage of minors without fear of being lambasted by extremists.
“The waves of takfirism are battering Moroccans more and more,” parliamentarian Khadija Rouissi of the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) told Mediaz.ma on January 12th. “Takfirism inevitably leads to murder,” the MP added…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Melee Disrupts Constitutional Debate
MPs lose their aplomb over article on apostasy and Islam
(ANSAmed) — ROME — A melee between secular and religious Tunisian lawmakers last night disrupted voting on a draft constitution, underscoring tensions over the role of Islam and the transition to democracy three years after the nation’s revolution.
Peppered with shouts, fits of tears, chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great), shoving matches, and MPs leaving the room, the debate foundered on an article banning accusations of apostasy, which means renouncing one’s religion.
Religious MPs said the article is “contrary to Islam”, while secular ones said allowing the charge of apostasy in the constitution would mean giving jihadists license to kill.
Elected in October 2011, the constituent assembly was expected to come up with a final draft within a year, but its work has been stymied by infighting, social unrest, and the assassination last year of two secular politicians, allegedly killed by hardline Islamist militants, whose violent proliferation since the 2011 uprising has widened the rift between Islamist and secular parties.
The ruling moderate Islamist Ennahda party having agreed to step down, approving the constitution is a key step before a caretaker government takes office to prepare for new elections later this year.
Deputy Assembly Speaker Meherzia Labidi, who is from the Ennahda party, ended up adjourning the session to Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
3 East Jerusalem Al-Qaida Recruits Arrested, ‘Planned Massive Bombings’
Shin Bet arrests men recruited online by Gaza operative working for al-Qaida chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri; suicide and truck bombs part of massive terror plot.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Wednesday that it arrested three Palestinians from east Jerusalem recruited online by an al-Qaida operative in Gaza, who were in the midst of preparations to carry out a string of large-scale bombing and shooting attacks on multiple targets in Israel.
The intended targets included the Jerusalem Convention Center, a bus traveling between the capital and Ma’aleh Adumim, the US embassy in Tel Aviv, and emergency responders who would have arrived at the scene of attacks
The Shin Bet said an Al-Qaeda operative in Gaza, named as as Ariv Al-Sham, recruited the men separately from one another, and had planned to activate three independent terrorist cells via his recruits. Senior Shin Bet sources said they believed Al-Sham received his orders directly from the head of Al-Qaeda’s central structure, Ayman Al-Zawahri.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Foils Al Qaeda Plot on US Embassy
Israel has foiled an Al Qaeda plan to attack the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Fox News confirmed. There is no indication whether the plot went any further than the talking stages and it is still unclear who exactly is behind the plot. Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, said Wednesday it arrested three Palestinians it accuses of plotting to carry out bombings, shootings, kidnappings and other attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Kills Gaza Militant Behind Recent Rocket Attacks
JERUSALEM, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) — The Israeli military said it killed a key militant in northern Gaza Strip overnight Wednesday, saying the man was behind a string of rocket attacks on southern Israel in recent years.
The airstrike in Beit Hanoun, which came shortly after midnight, targeted Ahmed Za’anin, a senior operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who has perpetrated numerous cross-border attacks, the military said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda Training British and European ‘Jihadists’ In Syria to Set Up Terror Cells at Home
British people fighting in Syria are being trained as “jihadists” and then encouraged to return to the UK to launch attacks on home soil, an al-Qaeda defector and western security sources have told the Telegraph.
In a rare interview on Turkey’s border with Syria, the defector from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said that recruits from Britain, Europe and the US were being indoctrinated in extremist anti-Western ideology, trained in how to make and detonate car bombs and suicide vests and sent home to start new terror cells.
He has provided the first confirmation from Syrian rebels that young British men are being indoctrinated in extremist anti-Western ideology.
Some of those intent on overthrowing the Syrian regime are being brainwashed by fanatics, the former member of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) warned.
[Gosh, I can’t imagine that any Americans would be involved in this — can you? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Airlines Reopens Flights to Iran
Flights to Tehran from Austrian Airlines have began again after a year’s interruption of the service following disputes over refuelling in Iran and economic sanctions. The airline will begin to fly again to the Iranian capital on 11th March, providing five weekly flights.
The announcements comes as Europe and the US begin to lift sanctions on the country following discussions with Iran about pausing it’s nuclear programme. The new flight additions will be a particular relief for European business travellers looking to visit Iran as there is currently a shortage of direct flights there from Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai to Charge Austrian Woman Victim for Illegal Sex
An Austrian tourist who claimed she was raped by a policeman’s son in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has been told that she is facing jail herself — for having sex outside of marriage.
| — Hat tip: ESW | [Return to headlines] |
European Businesses Rushing Toward Iran in Hope of New Deals as First Sanctions Are Suspended
France is sending business executives by the planeload to Iran. German and Dutch entrepreneurs are taking courses on how to close a deal in Tehran, and car makers are drawing up plans for investment.
Europe’s business community is abuzz with preparations to rush back into Iran, an economic powerhouse in the Middle East, as some sanctions are suspended. And the interest is welcome — Iran is desperate to revive its economy after years of international isolation.
Under a deal with world powers, Tehran has agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief and the unfreezing of about $4.2 billion in overseas assets. Iran and world powers now have six months to conclude a permanent deal.
As always, in business, it’s about getting in first.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Inbari: The Syrian Constellation Before the Geneva 2 Peace Talks
Pinhas Inbari published this timely Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) brief on the issues and dramatis personae at the opening round of the Geneva II talks in Montreaux, Switzerland that began today.. We consider insightful Inbari’s analysis of the roiling seemingly intractable, inconclusive civil war in Syria now in its 35 month. Israel is concerned about what may arise from these fractious discussions given the presence of both Assad regime and Syrian opposition, including potenntially intrusive Al Qaeda-affiliates operating in the demilitarized zone on the Golan plateau. Further, as Inbari points out in this brief, should , mirabile dictu, should an agreement be reached and a new government installed in Damascus are the be renwal of demands for return of the Golan, annexed by Israel in December 1981.There have also been reports of both Israeli Arab Muslim extremists and Palestinians from Gaza joining those al Qaeda opposition militias in Syria. The Syrian Kurds have abiding concerns regarding attainment of possible hard fought regional autonomy that has apparently vanquished Al Qaeda militia thteatening their Rojava heartland in Syria’s North East.
This post should assist you in identifying the contending parties, including the Islamic regime in Tehran and its proxy Hezbollah, whose presence at the meeting was considered unhelpful. vigorous objections raised by the Syrian opposition, the US, UK and others forced UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon to abruptly ‘disinvite’ the Iranian delegation from attending this session. Nevertheless, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who lauded the UN Secretary General’s invitation extended to Iran, may be both the assad regime;s and its Shiite hegemon’s diplomatic proxy auditing the proceedings for the Islamic Regime…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s New Law Violates Human Rights and the Hippocratic Oath
Last Saturday a new law was adopted in Erdogan’s Turkey that violated the ancient Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians and surgeons around the globe. In an email Monday, from a group called “Erdogan Failures”, we received this jolt in the wake of graphic protests by several thousand Saturday night in Taksim Square in Istanbul protesting proposed internet service provider controls. This is the latest tyrannical fillip in Erdogan’s agenda to quash anyone in his path to become the Emir of the rising Turkish Caliphate.
Erdogan was in Brussels Tuesday holding discussions with EU President Barroso about Turkish compliance with the 2005 guidelines for accession. Those guidelines include respect for and evidence of protection of human rights. Denial of first aid to protesters by attending physicians and emergency medical personnel is a violation of basic human rights under a UN treaty that Turkey signed. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in a news release about the law signed by Turkish President Gul drew attention to these violations, “Turkish President Signs Bill that Criminalizes Emergency Medical Care”.
PHR, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, the World Medical Association, the British Medical Association, the German Medical Association, and other leading medical groups have all criticized the bill, which could compromise everyone’s access to emergency medical care in Turkey.
The legislation conflicts with Turkey’s own laws, and must now be blocked through Turkey’s constitutional court.
When I spoke with my knowledgeable European source on these developments in Turkey, he revealed another plausible reason why Erdogan wanted to enact this travesty; an attack on Turkey’s richest family, the Koç family (pronounced “Koch” in English).Those Gezi Park protesters, both wounded and not ran to the Divan Istanbul Hotel, next to Taksim square to seek refuge. The riot police came in after them beat up and arrested many. The managers of the Divan hotel called in emergency doctors from the American Hospital to examine the wounded and treat them as much as possible. The Divan Istanbul Hotel is the flagship property of a chain of luxurious hotels in the Divan Group owned by the Koç Holding A.$., the only Turkish company listed in the Fortune 500. Founded in 1926 by Vehbi Koç, Koç Holding A.$. is the largest industrial conglomerate in Turkey and one of the largest companies in Europe. The current honorary Chairman of Koç Holding A.$. is John Hopkins University graduate, Rahmi Mustafa Koç, son of the founder. The American Hospital in Istanbul and others in a health network throughout Turkey have been endowed by the Koç family. Given the fallout between Turkey’s Premier Erdogan and Sheikh Mohammad Fethulleh Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the US, Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal had both an article and companion interview with Gulen, “From his Refuge in the Poconos, A Reclusive Imam Roils Turkey” and read the transcript of the WSJ interview, here).Erdogan and Gulen were purported allies during that period. Moreover, President Gulen who signed the new emergency medical treatment law is both a co-founder of the AKP with Erdogan and a follower of Gulen.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: New Erdogan Purge, 96 Magistrates Removed
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JANUARY 22 — A fresh judicial “purge” in Turkey, where the government of Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been weakened by a sweeping corruption scandal, has led to the removal of 96 judges and prosecutors, according to local press reports on Wednesday. It is the most significant crackdown on the judiciary in the history of the Turkish republic founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk over the ruins of the Ottoman empire, according to Zaman.
Ever since the beginning of the corruption scandal, Erdogan removed 3,000 police chiefs and officials and another 20 prosecutors including those in charge of the anti-corruption probe. The opposition has accused Erdogan of trying to shut down investigations involving dozens of people close to the Islamic government. According to opposition leader Kemal Kilidaroglu, the premier is ‘ready to do anything’ to stop investigations and hold on to power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Chief’s Bungled Iran Invitation Hurts His Role as Diplomat as Syria Conflict Grinds on
Ban Ki-moon made a rare effort at solo diplomacy when he invited Iran to join this week’s Syria peace talks, but it backfired, raising questions about the effectiveness of a U.N. secretary-general better known — and often criticized — for his reserved and scripted style.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European, US Officials on Alert After Olympic Athletes in Sochi Receive Terror Warnings
The United States and five European countries said Wednesday that they have received messages containing terrorist threats ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, but Russian organizers and the International Olympic Committee are downplaying the threats, describing them as random messages from a member of the public.
The U.S., Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia said they received the threats in the form of emails and handwritten letters, according to Reuters. The messages threatened that athletes will be targeted with terrorist attacks at the upcoming games.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Descends Into Chaos After Cops Fire on Protesters
KIEV, Ukraine — Two people were shot to death early Wednesday in anti-government protests in Ukraine, the first fatalities in the increasingly heated clashes with police in the streets of the Ukrainian capital, raising concerns that the movement is spiraling into a more dangerous phase of violence.
Medics at the site said a third man died after he fell from a high point near a sports arena at the site of clashes, but Natalia Vishnevska, spokeswoman for the city health department, said that man survived the fall and was being treated in the hospital.
The protesters’ deaths fueled fears that daily protests aimed at bringing down the government over its decision to shun the European Union for closer ties to Moscow and over human rights violations could turn even more violent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Protests: Two Protesters Killed in Kiev Clashes
Two protesters have been killed in clashes with police in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Prosecutors confirmed they had died from bullet wounds. They are the first fatalities since anti-government protests began in November. Wednesday’s clashes began after police moved in to dismantle a protest camp.
The clashes took place on the day that new anti-protest laws come into force. Parliament approved the laws last week, triggering renewed protests which spilled into violence on Sunday night.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Black Widow Terror Threat Linked to Islamist Recruitment of Women
Police and intelligence officers in Russia on Tuesday continued their intense search for three suspected female suicide bombers who may be headed to Sochi, where the Winter Olympics will begin on February 6, according to numerous reports.
The hunt for these three women suspected of planning terrorist attacks at the 2014 Winter Games has diverted the attention of news organizations away from anti-terrorism operations against Russia’s Muslim extremists and onto the female suicide bombers known as “black widows.”
For more than a decade, women have committed many of Russia’s worst terror attacks, downing airliners, blowing up subway cars and killing people going to a rock concert. “Black widows” are women who were married to Islamist men killed during the ongoing battle between the Muslims of the North Caucasus and Russia. According to Russian cops, these three women could be used by terrorist groups to perpetrate suicide bomb attacks.
Los Angeles, Mexifornia: Asian girl beaten to death by Hispanics over a photo
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist Killed in Shootout Amid Russian Hunt for ‘Black Widows’
Police in the chaotic North Caucasus region of Russia killed a leading Islamist militant during a dramatic shootout, the latest in President Putin’s attempt to stabilize the nation in the lead-up to the Sochi Olympic Games.
Eldar Magatov, who was suspected in several attacks in Russia, was discovered by police at a house in the Dagestan region. Police tried to apprehend him — and the situation turned violent, members of the National Anti-terror Committee said on Tuesday, the New York Post reported. Magatov was killed, after trading fire with police.
The region is known for its massive swell of Islamist influence and has become a thorn in Mr. Putin’s side. Dagestan has become ground zero for the separatist battle that is tearing apart nearby Chechnya.
Islamists put out a video just this week in which two members of a militant group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in Volgograd last month that killed at least 34 and wounded dozens more. The men then vowed to conduct similar suicide attacks at the Games in revenge for Muslim blood that’s been shed around the world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
33 Uzbek, 3 German Among Militants Killed in Army Operation in NW Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) — At least 36 foreign national militants and important Pakistan Taliban commanders were among the over 40 militants killed in the operation launched by Pakistani forces in the country’s northwestern tribal region, local media reported on Wednesday.
Local media quoting military sources reported that some key Taliban commanders, 33 Uzbeks and three Germans were killed in a counter offensive of the armed forces on Tuesday in North Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Attacks on Shiites Intensify in Pakistan
Militant Islamists have once again attacked minority Shiites in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province. Experts say the sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites in Pakistan is getting uglier by the day.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangkok Travel Advice During Shutdown Protests
Advice for travellers in Bangkok — where the government has declared a state of emergency — on transport options, getting to airports and avoiding the crowds
Demonstrators returned to the streets on Wednesday and, although numbers seemed to be decreasing last week, the main protest group has branded the government’s state-of-emergency measure — introduced in an attempt to regain control of the situation — illegal. Their attempted shutdown of the city continues, with protesters blocking major streets and marching on government offices.
The emergency decree was imposed in part to secure the city and because protesters have tried to shut down government offices and prevent civil servants from working. It will be in place for 60 days and applies to Bangkok and the surrounding areas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India Summons Pakistani Envoy on Cross-Border Business
NEW DELHI, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) — India Tuesday summoned the Pakistani envoy and lodged a strong protest after the neighboring country stopped all cross-border business and bus services, local media reported Wednesday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pig Faces Blacked-Out in Malaysian Edition of New York Times
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — Seemingly innocuous pictures of pigs in the front and middle pages of today’s International New York Times (NYT) have been blacked out in the Malaysian edition of the paper, raising both amusement and concern among readers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ChinaLeaks: Exposé on Chinese Elite’s Offshore Accounts Comes at Sensitive Time
Family members of Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping, along with Tencent billionaire and China’s richest woman, are among 20,000 people in Hong Kong, the mainland and Taiwan whose offshore holdings have been exposed
Relatives of at least five current and former members of China’s top leadership have been exposed as having offshore accounts, as part of a revelatory report by investigative journalists.
The leak, part of a package of 2.5 million files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, points to nearly 22,000 offshore clients with addresses in mainland China and Hong Kong and 16,000 offshore clients from Taiwan.
“China has become a leading market for offshore havens that peddle secrecy, tax shelters and streamlined international deal-making,” the report said. “Every corner of China’s economy, from oil to green energy and from mining to arms trading, appears in the ICIJ data.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Princelings Storing Riches in Caribbean Offshore Haven
More than a dozen family members of China’s top political and military leaders are making use of offshore companies based in the British Virgin Islands, leaked financial documents reveal. The brother-in-law of China’s current president, Xi Jinping, as well as the son and son-in-law of former premier Wen Jiabao are among the political relations making use of the offshore havens, financial records show.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greenlandic Leader Says Cooperation With China Important
TROMSO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) — It is important for Greenland to cooperate with China, Greenlandic leader Aleqa Hammond said on Tuesday. In an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the on-going Arctic Frontiers conference in the northern Norewegian city of Tromso, Hammond said that her government has a very good dialogue with China, a world economic powerhouse…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Ranks World’s No 1 for ‘Most Unaffordable’ Housing
For the fourth consecutive year, the city is ranked world’s No 1 for unaffordable housing
Soaring property prices in the past few years have given Hong Kong the title of most unaffordable housing in the world for the fourth straight year, according to a survey of 360 cities by US-based consultancy Demographia.
The survey reported that Hong Kong’s median home price was more than HK$4.02 million, while the annual median household income of HK$270,000 was nearly one-15th of the home price.
Demographia rated housing affordability in Hong Kong as “severely unaffordable”. “It is impossible for the salary income to catch up,” said Polytechnic University real estate professor Eddie Hui Chi-man.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ruling on Muslims Moves Japan Closer to ‘Surveillance Society’
Police and the government collect a wide range of information about society as part of their daily operations. They have the ability to obtain, accumulate and use huge amounts of personal information about individual citizens…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorists Taking Cut of Millions in Drug Money
Terrorist groups are profiting as part of a money-laundering operation involving the hundreds of millions of dollars Australians spend on illegal drugs.
The revelations come as Australia’s biggest money-laundering probe, Project Eligo, has identified hundreds of unwitting Australian residents being duped into helping launder the drug money overseas, including funds generated by outlaw motorcycle groups and people-smuggling operations.
The money-laundering investigation has uncovered 40 separate money-laundering operations across Australia that are involved in moving hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money offshore.
The operation has so far seized $26 million in dirty cash, restrained $30 million of houses and other assets funded by drug money and intercepted drug shipments totalling more than $530 million dollars.
It’s understood that dozens of “exchange houses” or money-laundering centres in the Middle East and Asia are then used to wash and distribute the money to overseas crime bosses.
It is believed at least one of the exchange houses used in the Australian operation delivers a cut from every dollar it launders to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, whose military wing has been proscribed in Australia as a terrorist organisation….
| [Return to headlines] |
29.6-Carat Blue Diamond Found at South African Mine
Analyst says acorn-sized diamond found at Cullinan mine near Pretoria could fetch $15m-$20m at auction
A rare 29.6-carat blue diamond that could be worth millions of pounds has been discovered in South Africa. Petra Diamonds said the “exceptional” acorn-sized diamond was unearthed at the Cullinan mine near Pretoria.
Previous notable finds at the mine include the Cullinan Diamond in 1905, described as the largest rough gem diamond ever recovered, at 3,106 carats; a 25.5-carat blue diamond in 2013, sold for $16.9m (£10.2m); and the Star of Josephine in 2008, sold for $9.49m.
Petra’s chief executive, Johan Dippenaar, said the latest discovery could outstrip recent finds. “By some margin … this is probably the most significant stone we’ve ever, in terms of blue stones, recovered,” he said. Cailey Barker, an analyst at the brokers Numis, said the diamond could fetch $15m-$20m at auction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mandela Statue: Row Over Rabbit in Nelson’s Ear
South Africa’s government has ordered sculptors to remove a bronze rabbit they hid in the ear of a Nelson Mandela statue, unveiled after the former president’s death last month. It wanted to “restore dignity back to the statue”, a spokesman told the BBC.
The sculptors reportedly inserted the rabbit as a trademark signature and to denote the haste with which they had to complete the statue. Rabbit in the Afrikaans language is “haas”, which also means haste.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Quirky Addition to Mandela Statue Causes Controversy
A new, 29.5-foot sculpture of Nelson Mandela is billed as the biggest statue of the South African leader. It also has a tiny, barely visible quirk: a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Leader Promises Fresh Offensive Against Al Shabaab Militants
Somali president Hassan Sheik Mohamed has promised more attacks against Al Shabab militant group in his country. “The fight against Al Shabab has not ended. It has started now” Somali president said during an interview at Universal TV on Monday night…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Defense Min. Praises Italian Efforts to Save Migrants at Sea
‘But Europe must take action’
(ANSA) — Augusta, January 22 — Italian Defense Minister Mario Mauro said Wednesday that a major search-and-rescue operation for migrants at sea was proving a success.
Known as Mare Nostrum, the operation was launched by the Italian government in October last year after several rafts carrying migrants shipwrecked off the country’s coasts, resulting in roughly 400 deaths. The operation includes amphibious ships, unmanned drones and helicopters with infrared equipment.
“Mare Nostrum is the response to an enormous problem,” he said. “It means that Italy is taking on its responsibilities”.
He cautioned, though, that “if we want to avoid more deaths at sea, Europe must address the issue through concrete measures”.
European Union leaders agreed in late October on new, collective measures to cope with Italy’s migrant crisis, but southern European countries most heavily exposed to the emergency situation have called for other EU members to do more.
The minister was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting at the Italian navy base in Augusta, on the island of Sicily.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Coast Guard Rejects Blame for Migrant Sea Tragedy
The coast guard on Wednesday rebuffed reports that one of its vessels had been towing a boat full of would-be immigrants back to Turkey when a number of the passengers fell into the sea, resulting in several drownings, following criticism from international bodies over the incident.
The statement came in the wake of criticism by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) which quoted survivors as saying that several migrants fell off the boat as it was being towed, at high speed, toward the Turkish coast. The UNHCR called for an inquiry into the circumstances of the tragedy.
Meanwhile the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, said he was “shocked and distressed” and called on Greek authorities to “put an end to the illegal practice of collective expulsions and effectively investigate all such cases.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Moves Towards Decriminalizing Clandestine Immigration
(Reuters) — Italy’s Senate voted on Tuesday to scrap a law that makes entering the country without the proper paperwork a criminal offence and means migrants can be tried and fined up to 5,000 euros ($6,800) before being deported. The lower house of parliament must also now approve the change for it to take effect.
Under planned new rules, an illegal migrant would still be barred from finding work but would have better protection from maltreatment by black-market employers. The migrant would be deemed guilty of an administrative infraction, not a crime, but could still ultimately face expulsion.
Italy has borne the brunt of the migrant flow to the European Union from Africa in the past two decades, but the problem has become particularly pressing since two shipwrecks last October off Sicily’s coast killed more than 500 migrants. Migrant boat arrivals in Italy from North Africa surged last year to more than 40,000, almost four times as many as in 2012.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UNHCR Dismayed About Migrant Boat Sinking in Aegean
The United Nations refugee agency has expressed dismay at the capsizing of a boat carrying migrants to Greece illegally, leaving 12 people feared drowned. The UNCHR late Tuesday urged the government to investigate why the accident occurred as a stranded fishing boat was being towed by a Greek coast guard vessel in the eastern Aegean.
Greek authorities said 16 people were rescued following Monday’s incident near the small island of Farmakonisi, but 12 others were still missing after a two-day search. Authorities said the boat had been carrying 26 Afghans and two Syrians, and that the missing included infants and children.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Oxfam Cancels Event at East London Mosque Over ‘Homophobic’ Speaker
The charity Oxfam cancelled an event at the East London Mosque after it learned the headline speaker had declared gay people should be “severely punished” under Islamic law.
It called off the event, at the mosque’s London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel last Friday, when they found speaker Ibrahim Hewitt had written a book for GCSE students calling homosexuality a “great sin”. Mr Hewitt wrote that homosexuality is an “evil practice which could corrupt and pollute the whole society”, and should be treated like paedophilia or incest. Oxfam media co-ordinator Alun MacDonald said that Mr Hewitt’s comments were “not in line with Oxfam’s position on homosexuality”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Massive Asteroid Seen Steaming Off
Ceres, the largest dwarf planet in the inner Solar System, is spurting water into space. The most likely sources of the sporadic vapour plumes, which astronomers have observed using an orbiting telescope, are two relatively dark areas in the orb’s mid-latitude regions. What triggers the wisps is not yet clear, but a NASA mission scheduled to arrive at Ceres early next year could solve the puzzle — and help to explain how water has been distributed throughout the solar system, incuding Earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
I have never understood why anyone, especially a woman, would willing pay good money to vacation in a muslim majority country.
Greece was towing the refugee boat back to Turkey? That’s great news, maybe Greece has some hope, even after Golden Dawn is pretty much finished as a legitimate party after the arrests. Shame those people died, but their relatives and fellow countrymen shouldn’t blame the Greek authorities who were towing them back to Turkey and denying them access to their country, which they have every right to do, just like I have every right not to let a stranger into my house, they should blame the European liberal elites incharge for creating(undemocratically and without the native peoples’ permission) incentives for illegal migrants to make the journey.
Some good news from Turkey: BBC Radio 4, no less, reports that in a border area with 150,000 Syrian refugees, two thirds have been taken into people’s homes. A contrast is drawn with Jordan, where they are stuck in camps away from populated areas.
Liberty GB radio host charged for ‘hate crime’.
His ‘mistake’ was to call a Muslim a ‘mendacious grievance mongering taqiyya-artist’
during his radio show.
Which now means that the truth can no longer be publicly broadcast in the UK without repercussions from the Illiberal elite.
On The Dark Enlightenment – for which I could not link to for some reason, even though I have typed in the title itself. So one must form an opinion as to why two UK writers for the London Daily Telegraph would put up two similar articles over some ranting on a blogsite that seems to be so ‘significantly ominous’ in its message that its seeming lack of readership numbers doesn’t even provide a suitable public access to it.
Do both the writers of those Telegraph articles who are so critical of what they have ‘uncovered’ which based on their own accounts is just different political thinking, really believe they are defending the best system?
Maybe those two articles go a long way in exposing the now shallow thinking of those who today, pass for journalists.
Try here
http://bam-pow-oof.tumblr.com/post/37857338807/the-dark-enlightenment-the-complete-series-by-nick
and here
http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks JP.
“exposing the now shallow thinking of those who today, pass for journalists.”
Even worse, Bartlett and Stanley pass for thinkers. They have “research degrees” from Oxford and Cambridge, respectively. 100 years ago, they would not have been able to pass as journalists for a local newspaper in England.
Yes Joe, and that would be in keeping with our standard of education today which is heavily politicized.