According to the latest polls, the EU-skeptic party UKIP has moved into second place in Wales. The Labour Party is still firmly in first place, but UKIP have bumped the Tories into third.
In other British polling news, 70% of the UK public want immigration severely curtailed or even stopped entirely.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, 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.
15 Reasons Why Your Food Bill is Going to Start Soaring
Did you know that the U.S. state that produces the most vegetables is going through the worst drought it has ever experienced and that the size of the total U.S. cattle herd is now the smallest that it has been since 1951?
Just the other day, a CBS News article boldly declared that “food prices soar as incomes stand still”, but the truth is that this is only just the beginning. If the drought that has been devastating farmers and ranchers out west continues, we are going to see prices for meat, fruits and vegetables soar into the stratosphere. Already, the federal government has declared portions of 11 states to be “disaster areas”, and California farmers are going to leave half a million acres sitting idle this year because of the extremely dry conditions. Sadly, experts are telling us that things are probably going to get worse before they get better (if they ever do). As you will read about below, one expert recently told National Geographic that throughout history it has been quite common for that region of North America to experience severe droughts that last for decades. In fact, one drought actually lasted for about 200 years. So there is the possibility that the drought that has begun in the state of California may not end during your entire lifetime.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Shadow Banking Loans Are Expanding — So is the Risk
SHANGHAI — Shadow banking, or lending activities conducted outside the balance sheets of commercial banks, continues to grow in China as profit-hungry retail investors continue to plow money into wealth management products.
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government-affiliated think tank, said last October that such lending totaled an estimated 20.5 trillion yuan ($3.38 trillion) at the end of 2012.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Credit Expansion Buoys Emerging Markets, Lifts Asia Shares
Bigger than expected credit growth in China has caused investors to return to emerging economies at least for the short term. The hope is China might not crimp credit too harshly, thus maintaining demand for imports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In 2008, the global financial crisis began as the Securities and Exchange Commission had waived the 12 to 1 leverage ratios for the 5 bigggest investment banks, which then leveraged 40 to 1, collapsing the world financial system. This paved the way for Barack Obama to become president in 2009 and move the U.S. more and more toward socialism, taking over General Motors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, etc., along with the inevitable socialized medicine resulting from Obamacare. That the website for Obamacare enrollment didn’t work is an example of “Planned Incompetence” (PI) , and millions of Americans have already been informed that their current health insurance policies have been cancelled. However, they have been told they could receive subsidies for their new Obamacare health insurance policies. The result will be that whatever the federal government funds will be more and more government-controlled, in this case the American heath care system and who lives and dies (death panels). During his first term as president, from 2009 to 2013, President Obama also engaged in other examples of PI, such as allowing the American ambassador to Libya and 3 others to be killed in an easily preventable terrorist attack, which is still under investigation. Could it be that the U.S. was involved in weapons flowing from Libya to rebels in Syria and Hamas in Gaza?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul: At the Fed, The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen testified before Congress for the first time since replacing Ben Bernanke at the beginning of the month. Her testimony confirmed what many of us suspected, that interventionist Keynesian policies at the Federal Reserve are well-entrenched and far from over. Mrs. Yellen practically bent over backwards to reassure Wall Street that the Fed would continue its accommodative monetary policy well into any new economic recovery. The same monetary policy that got us into this mess will remain in place until the next crisis hits.
Isn’t it amazing that the same people who failed to see the real estate bubble developing, the same people who were so confident about economic recovery that they were talking about “green shoots” five years ago, the same people who have presided over the continued destruction of the dollar’s purchasing power never suffer any repercussions for the failures they have caused? They treat the people of the United States as though we were pawns in a giant chess game, one in which they always win and we the people always lose. No matter how badly they fail, they always get a blank check to do more of the same.
It is about time that the power brokers in Washington paid attention to what the Austrian economists have been saying for decades. Our economic crises are caused by central bank infusions of easy money into the banking system. This easy money distorts the structure of production and results in malinvested resources, an allocation of resources into economic bubbles and away from sectors that actually serve consumers’ needs. The only true solution to these burst bubbles is to allow the malinvested resources to be liquidated and put to use in other areas. Yet the Federal Reserve’s solution has always been to pump more money and credit into the financial system in order to keep the boom period going, and Mrs. Yellen’s proposals are no exception.
[Comment: Intentionally debauching the currency is the sure way to destroy a country.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Public Debt Ended 2013 at Its Highest Level in a Century
Figure has almost tripled in five years to 93.7 percent of GDP
Spain’s public debt is on course to surpass the size of its economy as the balance at the end of 2013 stood at 961.555 billion euros, 93.7 percent of last year’s GDP.
Public debt has tripled since the start of the current crisis around 2008 and now stands at its highest level in a century, according to the historical series compiled by the IMF, which puts Spain’s all-time record at 123 percent of GDP.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yield on Italian 10-Year Bonds Drops to 2006 Low
Markets optimistic about a Renzi premiership
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — The yield on 10-year Italian bonds fell to 3.60% on Monday, its lowest since January 24, 2006. The spread between 10-year Italian bonds and the ultra-safe German bund narrowed to 191 points in mid-trading. Both figures indicate renewed investor confidence in Italy’s ability to rebound from its worst postwar recession.
Markets have been optimistic since Matteo Renzi, head of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), became the likely successor to outgoing Premier Enrico Letta, whose own party voted to oust him Thursday amid disappointment for not moving swiftly enough to enact political and economic reforms. The Milan bourse rose to its highest level since July 2011 Friday on the prospect of business-friendly Renzi becoming Italy’s new premier.
After receiving a government-formation mandate on Monday, Renzi vowed to complete electoral reforms by the end of February, followed “immediately afterward by labor reforms in March, public-administration reforms in April and fiscal (reforms) in May”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bikram Yoga Guru Accused of Rape Hires Former White House Lawyer
A former White House lawyer is now the head of the besieged Bikram yoga empire, whose Indian guru is facing a blizzard of lawsuits accusing him of raping women at cult-like training camps. Petra Starke, who was chief lawyer to President Barack Obama’s economic council, moved from the White House to work for Bikram Choudhury, the founder of the popular hot yoga school.
The 67-year-old yoga master is being is being sued by six different women who accuse him of assaulting victims and promising to “crush anyone who speaks against him”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Blackmailed Congress Stalls Legislation Outlawing NSA Surveillance
In June NSA whistleblower Russ Tice, who was instrumental in blowing the cover of the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping, told Peter B. Collins the NSA is blackmailing top congressional leaders.
“They went after — and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things — they went after high-ranking military officers,” Tice said, “they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the — and judicial. But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of — heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House — their own people.”
Former NSA crypto-mathematician William Binney and other whistleblowers have faced intimidation for daring to reveal details of the agency’s unconstitutional surveillance program.
“They violated the Constitution setting it up,” Binney told James Bamford and Wired in 2012. “But they didn’t care. They were going to do it anyway, and they were going to crucify anyone who stood in the way.”
Binney believes America is now a totalitarian state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bomb Found in Carry-on Bag at Alaska Airport
Alaska’s main airport shut down one of its security checkpoints for an hour Sunday after an oil worker tried to take a suspected pipe bomb onto a plane, officials said.
The man was arrested at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and was in custody pending further charges as of 6:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. ET), NBC station KTUU reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Churches Block-Book Cinemas for Son of God Opening
Pastors distribute tickets to the faithful in pulpit promotion campaign for new film based on hit miniseries The Bible
American church groups are block-booking cinema multiplexes to fill seats with the faithful for opening night screenings next week of Son of God, the forthcoming film about the life of Jesus Christ. They are buying up all the tickets and distributing them to churchgoers as part of a “theatre takeover” to promote the film which is based on the hit television miniseries The Bible…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Coordinated Agenda to Ultimately Disarm Law Abiding Citizens Long in the Works
Evidence that the gun control lobby’s ultimate goal is to disarm law-abiding gun owners surfaced last year in a short video clip taken from a New York State Assembly Session prior to passage of the highly contentious “SAFE Act.”
The video, posted a month after the Sandy Hook school shooting, depicts Assemblyman Steven F. McLaughlin attempting to address the topic of rejected democrat proposals from the gun bill…
The video is only one part of a growing body of damning evidence illustrating how the establishment’s primary aim is to stamp out the Second Amendment entirely under the guise of promoting “safer communities.”
“Yeah; I think it was,” Assemblyman McLaughlin exclusively told Infowars when asked if confiscation was likely the original intent of the SAFE act.
“If you go back to Andrew Cuomo appearing on Fred Dicker’s show on station WGDJ, sometime before we had even passed the bill, he was on there saying, ‘You could say confiscation is an option,’ and those words will hang around Andrew Cuomo’s neck forever because he came right out and said it,” McLaughlin recalled.
Assemblyman McLaughlin says during debates over the controversial SAFE Act, it was clear confiscation was a primary goal. “Somebody gave me the list of rejected democrat proposals, and the first couple of them were confiscation, they wanted to confiscate magazines, they wanted to confiscate what they deem to be ‘assault weapons.’ So the first three items on there were confiscation,” McLaughlin said to Infowars.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Experts Concerned Scientific Advances Are Giving Rise to “Neoracism”
ADVANCES in genetic sequencing are giving rise to a new era of scientific racism, experts have said.
“Genome science can help us a lot in the individualisation of medical practice,” said Nina Jablonski, an anthropology professor at The Pennsylvania State University. But she warned that science could be “misused” to propagate the belief that people inherently have different abilities based on skin colour or ethnic background.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry Generates 12 Tons of CO2 on Trip Discussing Climate Change
This is part of a six-day Kerry trip through Seoul, South Korea; Beijing, China; Jakarta; Indonesia; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, then back to Washington.
In case you’re wondering, flying first class from Washington to Seoul to Beijing to Jakarta to Abu Dhabi and then back to Washington runs up roughly 12.16 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to CarbonFootprint.com, which uses data from the EPA and Department of Energy.
The average American generates about 19 tons of carbon dioxide in a year.
[Comment: How many tons does windbag Kerry emit in his speeches? ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Valentine’s Day Bachelor Golf Holiday Marks 23rd Vacation
When all of the reporting of the first family’s 22 vacations so far to Hawaii, Martha’s Vineyard, Spain, Colorado, Florida, Africa and elsewhere is added up, the estimate reaches over $18 million when hotel and resort rent, security hotel and car rentals, and airfare are included.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Shamelessly Bares His Dictator Image by Saying “I Can Do Whatever I Want.”
Senator Mike Lee is right. On Sunday, February 16, 2014, in an excerpted piece from “The Hill”, the freshman senator from Utah was quoted as saying Obama is creating a “government of one” by ignoring the United States Constitution.
You remember the United States Constitution — the foundation for all the laws enacted and in force in our beloved country — don’t you? Actually what I should have asked is if you ever really knew that all of our laws that have been established were the basis that is the reinforcement of the oaths of office to which all of our elected and appointed servants of the people have sworn their allegiance before accepting such offices.
Without these laws our country is not any more legitimate than a flea-bag, ramshackle tinhorn dictatorship; which is exactly what it is becoming with the cheap and fraudulent two-bit government structure headed by the phony usurping imitation of a man who is anti-American and anti-Christian to the core.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On President’s Day, DNC Vice Chair Encourages Obama to Act as a Dictator
The Vice Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee encouraged President Obama to “move forward” and practically act as a dictator today while Congress is in recess.
In her tweet this morning, Donna Brazile undoubtedly suggested that the president use his “pen and his phone” to sign executive orders which unconstitutionally bypass Congress.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Overemphasis on “Climate Change” Has Made California’s Water Crisis Worse
As the Investor’s Business Daily and countless others have noted, water management in California is a trade-off between the needs of farmers and the demands of the environmental movement, which has embraced the delta smelt, an obscure endangered species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta. The Democrats, and Obama, have supported the environmentalists over the farmers — and the subsequent flushing of California’s reservoirs.
It may be true that the delta smelt is a species on which the whole regional ecosystem depends, and that its disappearance could have a negative effect on fishing, among other impacts. But that calls for wise management involving all stakeholders — not the blunt instrument of the federal courts, which utopian environmental activists have used precisely because they do not want to have to face the real challenges of water conservation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pat Caddell: “The GOP Establishment Wants the IRS to Go After the Tea Party”
Pat Caddell said yesterday on Fox News that the reason Republican leadership hasn’t pushed for a high level investigation of the IRS for targeting the Tea Party is because they want the IRS to go after the Tea Party:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Beat Unarmed Father to Death in Front of His Family, Confiscate Video
Oklahoma police beat an unarmed father to death in front of his family, then confiscated his wife’s cell phone with video of the incident.
MOORE, Oklahoma — Three Moore Police officers were put on administrative leave while detective investigate an in-custody death from overnight. The family of the man who died said police beat him badly and they recorded it with a cell phone camera.
Nair Rodriguez and her daughter Lunahi told News 9 they got into an argument at the Warren Theater around midnight. Nair said she slapped her daughter then stormed away. Her husband, Luis, chased after her. That was when the family said officers confronted Luis Rodriguez and asked to see his identification.
According to Lunahi and Nair, he tried to bypass the officers to stop his wife from driving off because she was so angry. They said officers took him down and it escalated.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
School Stages “Active Shooter Drill” With Blanks & Fake Blood (Video)
In some states, including Missouri, laws have been put into place that require schools to conduct “active shooter drills” to prepare for school shootings, sort of like a fire drill prepares them for fire.
However, when seeing the tactics that the schools use for these drills it seems like they are designed to traumatize the children. It is also leaving many to ask if these drills are practice for false flag events.
Missouri’s Lincoln County school district has already held over a dozen of these drills in the past year alone.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Student Forced to Apologize for Emailing Pic of Obama Kicking a Door, Because Racism
A student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada was forced to issue a formal apology for emailing a picture of President Obama kicking open a door — all because some students thought the image was somehow racist.
The image was actually an edited .gif, and was shown by Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” last fall. It humorously suggests that the president may be fed up with press conferences. McGill student Brian Farnan, vice president of the university’s student government, sent out an email with the .gif and the harmless caption, “Honestly midterms get out of here,” according to Legal Insurrection.
What happened next is almost unbelievable: Another student issued a formal complaint against Farnan for committing a “micro-aggression.”For those not up-to-date on the PC lexicon, “micro-aggression” is the latest phrase of choice for leftist radicals seeking to blame racism for common annoyances suffered by people of all races. Minority activists at the University of Michigan, for example, have insisted that trivial slights, such as “Having your opinion second-guessed in a group assignment,” are micro-aggressions that betray the campus as a hostile place for students of color.
The .gif of Obama kicking a door was racist because of the “cultural, historical and living legacy surrounding people of color — particularly young men — being portrayed as violent,” according to the apology letter that Farnan was forced to write.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The National Guard Targets Constitutionalists as the Enemy
Okay… before I get into the tyranny part of all this, can I just ask what the hell is up with this logo/badge or whatever it is? I get the three top symbols, but the horned goat head is just downright creepy and suggestive of Baphomet, which is just plain evil. If the National Guard there wanted to look edgy, why not a wolf, bear or something else fierce in nature? Did you have to go to hell to get your graphics done? Just sayin’ . Maybe demonic visages are chic now and fitting.
I wrote an article last week that went viral, but was disparaged roundly in certain quarters: Idaho Opens the Door to Martial Law and Gun Confiscation — the Nullification of the Posse Comitatus Act. In the article, I point out the blatant militarization of our police and the use of the National Guard as a “ privatized” military for the government. That was last week… Things just keep getting more and more alarming in the new and improved ‘ reformed’ America.
The Ohio National Guard’s Civil Support Team practices in a May 2013 drill at Put-in-Bay
Remember this prophetic declaration by Obama?
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.“ ~ Barack Obama
Well, he meant every word. In January of this year, the Ohio National Guard’ s Civil Support Team conducted a drill that involved right-wing extremists committing acts of bioterrorism. The training depicted “anti-government” rightwing nut jobs as domestic terrorists. The National Guard is now actively training against American patriots who believe in the Second Amendment and the Constitution. This is going on all over the country and I have written on it multiple times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Utah Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Shutdown Water Supply to NSA Facilities
Will state lawmakers and the governor of Utah pass a law that shuts down the water supply for a new National Security Agency facility in their state? New legislation introduced on Tuesday by State Rep. Marc Roberts seeks to do just that, according to a nonpartisan think-tank’s announcement on Tuesday.
The Republican lawmaker based his proposed bill on model legislation drafted by a coalition organized by the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC) and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC). The Fourth Amendment Protection Act would “prohibit state material support, participation, or assistance to any federal agency that collects electronic data or metadata without a search warrant “that particularly describes the person, place and thing to be searched or seized,” according to Rep. Roberts, staunch constitutionalist and member of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints (Mormons).
Besides the water needed for drinking or cooking purposes, Roberts believes cutting off the daily 1.7 million gallons of water a day necessary to cool-off the NSA computers alone will render the facility useless for spying purposes, especially spying on American citizens…
“At stake is nothing less than our nation’s triumph in the Cold War. The NSA’s decade of warrantless surveillance en masse assaults not only the rights of hundreds of millions of law-abiding Americans, and our democracy as a whole, but resembles Soviet-style spying — on meth, empowered and amplified by the past generation’s remarkable advances in computing technology,” said Boldin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
When Eminent Domain is Just Theft
Say you buy a car. Drive it around for five years, get plenty of use out of it. Then one day you decide you paid way too much. You really should have paid half what you did. Or even less. So you go back to the dealership and say the car is worth less now, and you want a refund.
Think you’d get it?
Precisely. Yet this is just the kind of stunt the Virginia Department of Transportation is trying to pull on James and Janet Ramsey.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who Lost America? Institutional Failure
A book review: Who Lost America by Bromwell Ault
Part 3: Losing our national identity
“A nation is not defined by its borders or the boundaries of its land mass; rather, a nation is defined by adverse people who have been unified by a cause and a value system and who are committed to a vision for the type of society they wish to live in and give to the future generations to come.” Fela Durotoye
In his book, Who Lost America? by Bromwell Ault, the author chronicles the reasons for the loss of America’s culture, its inherent ethos and its “now-evolving” transformation into a society that no longer resembles its origins.
“We continue to explore how the ways we have failed our institutions have played out in our politics and policies and have separated us from the original intentions and character of our democracy,” said Ault. “Good government should produce an atmosphere of national responsibility and opportunity created for the people by the combined efforts of their elected representatives.”…
Ault strikes the question: do we remain a nation where the rule of law prevails or do we morph into a third world country where the “elected representatives” enforce or fail to enforce laws as they desire?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Global Citizenship and Not American Citizenship?
Why would colleges then mandate preparation of our American students for global citizenship, should colleges not prepare students for American citizenship?
The electronic board I saw in a large D.C. mall pictured a young man and proclaimed in bold letters, “WORLD READY. Honor. Excellence. Service. Preparation for work, life, and citizenship in the global economy.” I asked myself, do we live in America or the globe? Shouldn’t this college prepare students for American citizenship in our economy? The asterisk explained that the University of Mary Washington subscribes to the 2012 Association of American Colleges & Universities: Promising Practices for Personal and Social Responsibility.”
As a parent and former teacher, I wanted to know what this AAC&U 2012 platform was, so I started digging. The electronic ad at the mall intrigued me and I could not get it out of my mind.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yoga Guru Bikram Choudhury ‘Raped Students in Cult-Like Training Camps’
Bikram Choudhury, the founder of the Bikram school of hot yoga, told a student “I need to spiritually enlighten you” as he raped her, according to one of a blizzard of lawsuits against him
Yet court documents describe a cult-like atmosphere where the charismatic Mr Choudhury would tell young women training to be instructors they had been “touched by God” before forcing himself upon them.
He “used his status as a guru to identify and victimise the most vulnerable women from among his flock, grooming them, breaking down barriers, and ultimately assaulting them when they were at their most physically, emotionally, or financially vulnerable,” according to court papers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
On Valetine’s Day Belgium’s Federal Government launched a new campaign to provide greater support for the victims of rape and sexual violence. One of the aims of the campaign is to get more people to come forward and report sexual violence to the police.
Last year 2,866 rapes were reported to the police in Belgium. The figure includes 195 gang rapes. 689 instances of sexual violence in the family were also reported. Research, however, shows that 90% of victims of sexual violence fail to report the abuse.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ancient Britons ‘Loved Dairy Food’: Study
BRITONS embraced a “convenience food” lifestyle about 6000 years ago when they replaced hunting and fishing with dairy farming, scientists say.
“Whilst we like to think of ourselves as a nation of fish eaters, with fish and chips as our national dish, it seems that early British farmers preferred beef, mutton and milk,” Dr Mulville said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Facebook Meeting Results in Gang Rape
The judicial authorities in Mechelen have arrested 4 suspects after two girls were raped last weekend. The gang rape took place in Willebroek (Antwerp). The suspects are a 16-year-old and 3 men in their twenties, all of Albanian descent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s Religious Leaders Right to Stand Up for Europe’s Roma
Today, faith leaders from across the UK have highlighted the plight of Europe’s Roma community. Their call could hardly be more timely. The recent debate over migrants coming to the UK has put a spotlight on Romania and Bulgaria, with a focus on Roma that has sometimes swerved into sheer prejudice…
[JP note: Not to mention the marginalized right to sit down.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Rapes: Six New Women Come Forward
Six new victims have come forward in connection with the enquiry into the rapes and assaults committed by fake taxi drivers operating in the Ter Kameren Wood in Brussels.
Brussels prosecutors confirmed on Monday that 23 women have come forward as victims of assault and rape by bogus taxi drivers in the Ter Kameren Wood in the Belgian and Flemish capital. The assaults and rapes occurred by three or four men, who picked up their victims in central Brussels in bogus taxis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria: Interior Ministry Will Not Tolerate Racist Acts, Says Chief Secretary
No manifestations of xenophobia or racist agitation will be tolerated by the Interior Ministry, claims its chief secretary Svetlozar Lazarov. This declaration refers to the escalation of violence during Friday’s attempt of football hooligans to assault a mosque in the city of Plovdiv, which resulted in 120 people being detained. According to Lazarov, attempts aimed at disrupting the balance of the Bulgarian ethnic model are being made and this constitutes a “threat to the national security”.
In the morning program of TV7, Lazarov expressed his belief that someone is to take responsibility for these processes, which he likened to “tides under the surface” of the society. The chief secretary announced that preliminary proceedings have already been filed on the grounds of disseminating hate speech on an ethnic basis…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET702 Reportedly Hijacked and Flown to Geneva
Swiss police have arrested the co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines flight after he allegedly hijacked the plane and forced it to land in Geneva on Monday. Geneva airport spokesman Bertrand Staempfli said the co-pilot had explained how he had seized his chance when the pilot went to the bathroom. “He said he felt threatened in his country and wants to seek asylum in Switzerland.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Antitrust Fines Ryanair and Easyjet Over 1 Mn Euros
Low-cost airlines ‘lacked transparency in sales’
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — The Italian Antitrust Authority fined Ryanair and EasyJet 850,000 euros and 200,000 euros, respectively, for lack of transparency in sales practices, the authority said on Monday.
The authority claims the airlines failed to provide essential information regarding optional flight-cancellation insurance policies, violating rules on consumer treatment.
The authority claims the airlines failed to communicate obstacles to collecting benefits.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Graft Indictment Sought for Deputy Senate Speaker
Maurizio Gasparri allegedly embezzled 600,000 euros
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — Rome prosecutors on Monday requested the indictment of center-right MP Maurizio Gasparri on charges of embezzling 600,000 euros in public funds to take out a personal life insurance policy and cashing it in at a profit before returning the original amount.
Gasparri, the Senate whip for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party, allegedly used the funds to purchase the policy on March 22, 2012.
He redeemed the policy on February 1, 2013, for 610,697 euros, and returned the original amount to the Senate in two payments of 300,000 euros dated February 20 and and March 12 of last year, prosecutors said.
Gasparri, who is the deputy Senate speaker, has denied the graft charges.
He served as telecommunications minister in the 2001-2005 Berlusconi government.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Former Deputy Mayor of Verona Arrested on Corruption Charges
Giacino allegedly got his wife city contracts
(ANSA) — Verona, February 17 — The former deputy mayor of the northern city of Verona was arrested Monday on corruption charges, police sources said.
Vito Giacino, who was elected on Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia party list, stepped down November 15 when he was placed under investigation. Also on Monday, his wife, Alessandra Lodi, a lawyer, was put under house arrest.
The probe was sparked late last year by an anonymous letter accusing Giacino of impropriety in obtaining lucrative contracts for his wife as a legal consultant to the city.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Elkann ‘Regrets’ Comments Slamming Lazy Youth
Fiat Chrysler head says he meant to be encouraging
(ANSA) — Turin, February 17 — The president of Fiat Chrysler John Elkann expressed “regret” on Monday for earlier comments slamming young people as lacking the drive to find work.
In a message posted on the Agnelli Foundation website, Elkann said his comments on Friday were actually meant to show encouragement for youth trying to find their way in the work world.
“I regret that a message intended to be of encouragement at the end was interpreted as a sign of lack of confidence in young people,” Elkann said in his post.
John Elkann was blasted on Friday after saying that work is available for young people, but too many do not have the drive to get out and find it.
In comments to students during a session at a bank headquarters in the northern city of Sondrio, near Italy’s border with Switzerland, Elkann said that young people are lacking in ambition.
“The work is there, but young people are not very determined to find it,” said Elkann, during a question and answer session on the topic of education.
As an example, he said, the hotel industry is always looking for employees, “but there is little (interest)…because young people are doing well or at home or do not have ambition”.
His comments on employment availability stood in contrast with Italy’s unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds recorded at 41.6% in December, the latest available figures.
“If I look at the many initiatives that are there, I do not see in (young people) the desire to seize these opportunities,” said Elkann, an American-born industrialist and grandson of Gianni Agnelli, whose family founded Turin-based Fiat and for decades been the principle shareholders.
Diego Della Valle, head of luxury leather products firm Tod’s, called Elkann an “idiot” on Saturday for his comments about youth and employment.
The pair have been engaged in a longrunning public dispute over investment plans by RCS Mediagroup.
Fiat is one of a group of major shareholders of RCS, the publisher of Italy’s best-selling newspaper Corriere della Sera, with 20.5% of the capital.
Della Valle has a minority interest and owns 9%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Jews Want Apology, Not Spanish Citizenship’
One of Europe’s most influential rabbis has said the offer of Spanish citizenship made to Sephardi Jews comes a “little late” and that those who apply for a passport will only do so to enter other EU member states.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Plans to Stop US Spying With European Internet
Europe could create its own communications network to prevent data passing through the United States and falling into the hands of surveillance organisations such as the NSA, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal to Grant Sephardic Jews Citizenship
Jews fleeing the Spanish expulsion of 1492 were initially granted refuge in Portugal, but again faced expulsion just three years later.
Portugal intends to follow Spain’s lead in granting citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews exiled in the 15th century, the country’s tourism minister said over the weekend. Portuguese Minister Adolfo Mesquita Nunes told Channel One’s View of the World program, broadcast on Saturday night, that the wording of a draft bill, similar to that announced by Spain just over a week ago, will soon be ready.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Reding: ‘Eurozone Should Become the United States of Europe’
European Commission vice-president Reding told Cambridge University students Monday “the eurozone should become the United States of Europe.” She added: “I believe that the UK will not be part of this,” but said it “should … share a common market, a common trade policy, and hopefully a common security agenda”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Study Revives Bird Origin for 1918 Flu Pandemic
Model also links avian influenza strains to deadly horse flu.
The virus that caused the 1918 influenza pandemic probably sprang from North American domestic and wild birds, not from the mixing of human and swine viruses. A study published today in Nature1 reconstructs the origins of influenza A virus and traces its evolution and flow through different animal hosts over two centuries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: First Charges Filed for Stockholm Nazi Attack
Seven people were charged on Monday in the wake of a neo-Nazi attack on anti-racist demonstrators in Stockholm last year. But prosecutors say more indictments are on the way.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Party Tells Sweden to Butt Out Over Gripen
The Swedish government has been blamed for “interfering” too much in the referendum on the purchase of Gripen jets in Switzerland, causing the Christian Democrats to pledge to withdraw support for leading the yes campaign.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Blasts Rock Homes in Southern Sweden
Two explosions shook apartment buildings in southern Sweden on Monday morning in two separate incidents, one near Malmö and the other near Ystad.
The first of the explosions shook the Arlöv area on the outskirts of Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city.
The crime has been labelled as as an attempt at public devastation (allmänfarlig ödeläggelse) and a forensic investigation is underway.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Military: Security Incident at Naval Base
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s defense ministry says it is dealing with a security “incident” at the Royal Navy warfare school in southern England, days after letter bombs were sent to several army facilities…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Appeal Fails on Plan for Dudley Mosque
Muslim leaders have lost their latest appeal in the High Court as they battle a council’s legal bid to take back land earmarked for a controversial mosque and community centre.
Dudley Muslim Association lodged the appeal after its defence to Dudley Council’s action to reclaim land earmarked for the multi-million pound development in Hall Street was struck out at an earlier hearing…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A mother and daughter today told how they were glassed in the head after spurning a clubber’s advances as police issued CCTV images of a man wanted over the attack.
Nicole Hill, 20, had been enjoying a Friday night out in Benjamin’s Bar in Halesowen, West Midlands, with her 47-year-old mother Lorraine when they were set upon in the early hours of November 16, last year.
Moments earlier Ms Hill had refused to dance with the man.
[Comment: Very gruesome, unprovoked assault. No description of suspect in the story, but at least the CCTV image of the suspect was finally released by Midlands police.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: NHS Admits New Medical Records Database Could Pose Privacy Risk
Patient confidentiality could be undermined by the new medical records database, the NHS’s own risk analysis has warned.
The controversial database could be vulnerable to hackers or could be used to identify patients “maliciously”, the document, seen by The Telegraph, states.
It says the scheme could damage public confidence in the NHS and result in patients withholding information from doctors out of fear it may not be kept confidential.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Return of 250 British Jihadis From Syria ‘Serious Threat’, Says Minister
A “significant and growing” threat is posed by up to 250 British-based jihadis, a Home Office minister warns
Britain is facing a “significant and growing” threat from up to 250 British-based jihadis who went to train and fight in Syria and have returned home, a minister has warned. James Brokenshire, a Home Office minister, said the security services were facing a “big problem” for the “foreseeable future” from “jihad tourists”. His comments came amid claims that security services are now monitoring 250 individuals, more than five times the number previously reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Terrorist Jailed for UK Suicide Bomb Plot is Caught Trying to Go to Syria
Convicted terrorist stopped by officials as he tried to leave UK for Turkey. Route often taken by extremists heading to Syria to fight with al-Qaeda. Fanatic — part of suicide bomb plot — had only recently been freed from jail. Believed to be first time ex-British prisoner caught trying to enter Syria. Minister says threat of Britons trained in war-torn country is ‘big problem.’ Follows suicide attack by Abdul Waheed Majeed outside prison in Aleppo.
A convicted terrorist who plotted an attack in the UK has been caught trying to travel to Syria, it emerged last night. The fanatic — part of a suicide bomb plot — had only recently been freed from jail after serving a lengthy sentence. Officials stopped him as he tried to leave Britain for Turkey, which is the route commonly taken by extremists heading to Syria to fight alongside al-Qaeda…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: UKIP Leap to Second Place
The first data from the latest Wales Barometer opinion poll shows UKIP now in second place for the European Election in May. A big increase in the party’s support since the last poll in December means it has overtaken the Conservatives. Labour are still well ahead…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
What Lies Behind the Spectacular Collapse of the British Far-Right?
In the form of UKIP, the toxic extreme right has been sidelined by a more competent radical right force.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Country Celebrates Six Years of Independence
Solemn parliamentary hearing. Well wishes from Obama, Napolitano
(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA, FEBRUARY 17 — Kosovo is celebrating on Monday its sixth anniversary of independence from Serbia, an anniversary which will be remembered with a solemn hearing of Parliament scheduled midday in Pristina. A total of 106 countries out of the 193 represented within the UN have so far recognized Kosovo as an independent country, including the US and 23 of the European Union’s 28 members, including Italy. Among EU’s members Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus don’t recognize Kosovo.
Serbia remains opposed to Pristina’s independence, supported in particular by Russia and China, permanent members of the UN Security Council.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Letter From Bosnia: A Fraudulent “Spring”
by Srdja Trifkovic
There is more than meets the eye to the wave of ostensibly “non-ethnic” anti-corruption demonstrations in several majority-Muslim cities of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which started on February 6 and largely fizzled out a week later. The Nulandesque agenda became obvious within days, as protest leaders and various NGO activists, journalists and politicians all over “the international community” started blaming the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the war for the lamentable social, political and economic situation in the Muslim-Croat Federation, one of the two federal entities established at Dayton. All of them asserted, in remarkable unison, that the existence of the other entity — the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) — was the primary cause of endemic corruption, nepotism, and institutional dysfunctionality in the Muslim-Croat half of the former Yugoslav republic…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
A Woman’s World in Post-Revolution Libya?
Three years ago Libya was hurtling headlong into the revolution that culminated in the death of Moammar Gadhafi. Although instrumental in the fall of the regime, women face mixed fates in the country of new men.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Warrant Issued Against Eight Suspects Involved in Borj Louzir Events
Tunis — The Investigating Judge of the Tunis First Instance Court issued, Friday, a warrant against eight persons arrested in the Borj Louzir events (governorate of Ariana), Spokesman of the Tunis Court of First Instance Deputy Public Prosecutor Sofien Sliti said to TAP news agency. The detainees are accused of being related to terrorist crimes, attempted murder and conspiracy against the safety of the state, he underlined…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
To Israeli students, Abbas talks peace. To Palestinians, Abbas glorifies murderers of Israeli students.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Territories: New Identity Cards Without Religion
Mahmoud Abbas criticized by Hamas, surrendering to U.S.
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM — The decision taken by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) not to mention the religious confession in new Palestinian identity cards has been criticized. The announcement, the Maan news agency reported Monday, came from Deputy Interior Minister Hassan Alawi, who said the new ID papers will be issued as of this month. From Gaza, Hamas said PNA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) “has surrendered to US demands”.
Alawi explained that the decision stems from a concern to guarantee equal treatment to all Palestinians, regardless of their religion.
Palestinians are mainly Sunni Muslims though in the West Bank, Maan reports, the Christian minority makes up 10% of the population. There are also hundreds of Samaritans, a religious confession close to Judaism.
But President Abu Mazen’s initiative has raised the immediate opposition of Hamas which said the decision was taken “amid the trips of US Secretary of State John Kerry”.
In particular, Hamas fears this will pave the way for a future Palestinian state including as citizens Israeli settlers currently living in the West Bank.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ahead of New Talks, Huge Obstacles Between Iran and 6 Powers Stand in Way of Final Nuke Deal
It took months of arduous bargaining before Iran and six world powers could agree on a first-step nuclear deal. But the two sides may find the going even tougher Tuesday, when they start to confront hurdles standing in the path of a final accord.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Says Russia Could Build Nuclear Reactor in Exchange for Oil
(Reuters) — Russia could build a second reactor at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow said in remarks published on Monday. Russia could also supply Iran with trucks, railroad tracks, mini-refineries or other goods to pay for the oil, ambassador Mehdi Sanaei told the daily Kommersant, under a deal Reuters revealed was being negotiated last month.
Reuters reported Iran and Russia were negotiating to swap up to 500,000 barrels of oil per day for goods in the deal that would undermine Western efforts to maintain economic pressure on Tehran while global powers seek to curb its nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Mullah Says Death Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie “Is as Fresh as Ever for Muslims”
As he increased the bounty on Rushdie’s head, Hassan Sanei said: “Surely if the sentence of the Imam had been carried out, the later insults in the form of caricatures, articles and the making of movies would not have occurred” — in other words, if Muslims had murdered Salman Rushdie, other Infidels would be too afraid to say anything negative about Islam, and the global jihad would be able to advance unimpeded, without anyone daring to question its root causes in Islamic teaching.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu: Iran Must be Stopped in Drive for Nuclear Weapons
“The goal isn’t to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, but to deny it the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons,” the premier told the Conference of Presidents.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused the West of allowing Iran to “give practically nothing” while “receiving a great deal.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rebel Free Syrian Army Appoints New Military Chief
DAMASCUS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) — The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has appointed Abd al-Ilah al-Bashir as its new military chief, replacing Salim Idris. In a video statement posted online Monday, the FSA announced the expulsion of Idris and the appointment of al-Bashir. Both are defectors from the Syrian regular army. The statement said the new appointment came against the backdrop of the “tough times facing the Syrian revolution” and aims to “re-shape the construction of the (FSA) leadership.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Pilgrims of Muslim Charity
Three women explain how they were able to travel into the heart of Islam
All thanks to a little help from the United Arab Emirates
Three women fulfill their obligations as Muslims, passing seven times around the Kaaba, the most sacred symbol of Islam, inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca. But their names are not Laila or Fatima or Aisha, just as their native tongue is not Arabic.
They are María Antonia, Ángeles and Consuelo, three Spaniards who converted to Islam and traveled to the holy city with help from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, which each year pays for travel and lodging expenses (around 4,000 euros) for several people like this group of women.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Army Retakes Loyalist Village, Scene of Massacre
Over 20 civilians killed in Maan on Feb. 9 by jihadists
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 17 — The Syrian army retook control of the village Maan on Monday, which was the scene of a massacre the regime has accused jihadist rebels of being behind.
Syrian state news agency SANA said that the soldiers had entered the village after “eliminating the last positions held by terrorists that had infiltrated the area and committed a horrendous massacre of civilians, especially women and children”. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) had also reported a massacre in Maan, in which most of the inhabitants are from the Alawite minority, the same as that of President Bashar Al-Assad. The UN said that “dozens of civilians” had been killed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The British Female Terror Groupies Queuing Up to Marry Jihad Fighters in Syria
An increasing number of British women are travelling to war-torn Syria to marry jihadists from the UK, with some seeing them as leading a ‘perfect life’.
Many are thought to be marrying jihadists on the internet, as strict Islamic code forbids unmarried women to travel alone, according to researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Travel giant First Choice has been ordered to pay £1.7million compensation to British holidaymakers who fell ill at a ‘luxury’ Turkish resort which had faeces in the swimming pool.
The four-star Holiday Village complex in Sarigerme was inundated with complaints after 595 visitors’ dream vacations turned into holidays from hell in 2009.
Tourists complained about dirty toilets and cutlery, a lack of hot water and floating faeces in the pool.
The food was left uncovered for long periods — and was even reheated to be served up as an evening meal.
In total 160 children and 435 adults fell ill with chronic gastric bugs after staying at the resort on the coast in southern Turkey…
Holidaymakers were struck down by a range of conditions including Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, Campylobacter and E-Coli.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Accuses Russia of Contributing to Syrian Conflict
MOSCOW, February 17 (MOSCOW) — The United States’ top diplomat accused Russia on Monday of hindering a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria by supplying its government with arms and aid.
“Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be contributing so many more weapons and so much more aid that they’re in fact enabling [President Bashar] Assad to double down, which is creating an enormous problem,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said at a news conference in Indonesia, The Wall Street Journal reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Discrimination Olympics: Meddling With Muslims in Sochi
by Khaled A Beydoun
Why Putin’s Islamophobic policies pervade the Winter Olympics at Sochi.
Sochi’s more than 20,000 Muslims helped build the infrastructure and stages for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia, where Muslim athletes from a range of participating nations will compete within these multi-million-dollar stadia, slopes, and structures, vying for gold and the glory that comes with Olympic victory.
However, for Muslims in Sochi, the rampant Islamophobia has cast a shadow of concern and danger during these Olympic Games. Coverage of the Sochi games mentions Islam and Muslims exclusively in the form of terrorist threat, head-scarved “black widows”, and, the familiar conflation of religious observance with national security concerns…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Dithering in Kiev: Russia Begins to Lose Patience With Ukraine
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych got rid of his government, but seems unsure what to do next. The protests are spreading to the east and big brother Russia is demanding that calm be restored — with violence if necessary.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kazakhstan: Lace Underwear Ban Sparks Protests
The authorities in Kazakhstan have detained several women protesting against a ban on lace underwear, it’s been reported.
One of the seven women held at the demonstration in Almaty, was waving what she said was the last pair of lace knickers she had left, Vlast.kz website reports. Another demonstrator told Russia’s independent Rain TV that local residents have been receiving messages on their phones urging them to stay at home.
Production, import and sale of lace underwear will stop in July 2014 in Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus under a Moscow-led Customs Union. Officials say lace does not absorb enough moisture. The regulation was approved back in 2011, but has not been enforced until now.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Revolution ‘Exhausted and Disoriented’
For more than two months, Ukrainian protesters have demonstrated against President Viktor Yanukovych. DW journalist Yuri Rescheto, in Kyiv, explains the ambivalent mood in the country’s capital.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dagestan: New Epicenter of Muslim Terrorism in Russia
by Lawrence A. Franklin
According to a survey with 6,000 respondents, the ranks of the jihad are being filled by ever-younger Dagestanis. Dagestan is eclipsing Chechnya as the seat of the most violent insurgency against Russia. The extremist leaders have targeted their fellow Muslim leaders thought to be too mild.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Prisoners’ Release Aimed at ‘Appeasing’ The Taliban
Afghanistan has released 65 Taliban prisoners despite protests from the US. Experts view Kabul’s move as an attempt to appease the militant Islamists that is likely to strain US-Afghan relations even further.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh Opposition Dismisses Al-Qaeda Link
DHAKA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) — Bangladesh opposition has denied its any link with a recent “Al-Qaeda threat” to wage an intifada in the country. Ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP) has also slammed the government for “ploy to serve its vested interests capitalizing the Al-Qaeda threat.”
“This is a ploy of the government to obtain U.S. favor after farcial Jan. 5 parliament elections which international community rejected,” BNP spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told journalists Monday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EIB: €100m for Pakistan Energy Plant
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a EUR 100 million long-term loan to the Government of Pakistan for the construction of the Keyal Khwar Hydropower project.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Karzai Orders Rewrite of Latest Afghanistan Anti-Women Law
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered changes to a law called a setback for women’s rights. The law had already been passed by both houses of parliament, which are dominated by conservatives and tribal chieftains.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry Tours Giant Mosque in Indonesia
(Reuters) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spent part of his Sunday in his stocking feet at an Indonesian mosque, at one point beating a huge drum used to call Muslims to prayer. Kerry’s visit to the modern Istiqlal Mosque in central Jakarta, said to be the largest mosque in Southeast Asia with a capacity of 130,000, was designed to demonstrate his respect for Islam as he visited the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Legoland Malaysia Eyes Bollywood for Film Shooting at Its Nusajaya Venue
JOHOR BAHARU (Bernama) — Recognizing the tourism potential inherent in Bollywood films shot at its venue, particularly as a colourful and eye-catching location for the song-and-dance numbers that are part and parcel of Bollywood films, the Legoland Malaysia Resort in Nusajaya, Johor, wants to attract India’s film makers…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Help Muhammad Asghar
by Rod Liddle
I don’t suppose these petitions do much good, but they may make us all feel a little better about ourselves. Muhammad Asghar is a lunatic living in Pakistan, thus scoring about as low as it’s possible to get on life’s first two throws of the dice…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani Couple Stoned to Death for Adultery; Six Arrested
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) — A couple were stoned to death for adultery in a remote area of Pakistan’s western Baluchistan province, an official said Monday, leading to six men being held on suspicion of murder.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand Poll Talks Amid Fresh Anti-Government Protests
Anti-government protesters in Thailand have retaken parts of the old royal quarter in Bangkok that were reclaimed last week by the police. Opposition leaders led a triumphant march to the prime minister’s office, that has been blocked by protesters since last December.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Uzbekistan: Tashkent Tightens Censorship and Controls on Religious Literature
The government bans books that encourage conversion, or, in the state’s opinion, “distort” religious canons. The new law imposes “severe state restrictions” on the production, sale, distribution and importation of religious material. Even pilgrims from Makkah can have their religious material seized.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Beijing Opens Dozens of New Baby Hatches for Abandoned Children
Every year in China at least 10 thousand infants are abandoned. Because of the one-child policy, many of them are girls, but there are also many babies with disabilities or serious illnesses. 60 million births that are not legally registered.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cambodian Police Arrest 2 Vietnamese Suspected of Smuggling 80 Kilograms of Elephant Tusks
Cambodian police said they arrested two Vietnamese men on Monday who were trying to smuggle almost 80 kilograms (176 pounds) of illegal ivory from Africa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China: Goat Plague Outbreak in Inner Mongolia
BEIJING, Feb 17 (Bernama) — China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has confirmed an outbreak of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) or also known as goat plague in northwest Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Two villages in Bayannur City of Inner Mongolia reported on Feb 10 that 1,063 goats had showed suspected symptoms of the disease with 431 dead, Xinhua news agency reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Military Port Approved in Hong Kong
Chinese military port in Hong Kong’s historic Victoria Harbour fuels concerns over Beijing’s role in the former colony
The controversial construction of a People’s Liberation Army port along Hong Kong’s historic Victoria Harbour has been approved, amid growing unease about China’s role in the former British colony. The military port was “unanimously” passed by Hong Kong’s planning board, China’s state broadcaster, announced…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese “Re-Education Camps” Change Name, But Practices Remain
This fall, Chinese authorities announced the abolition of “re-education through work” camps (“laojiao”), believed to be centres where dissidents are arbitrarily detained and tortured. However, some recent detainees report that these centres still exist but under a different name.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“The wave of news stories about the rise in the Chinese market is creating a very distorted image of what it means to do business in this country and the risks involved.” This is the opinion of the director of a big Spanish industrial company with a presence in China. The director spoke on the condition that he was not named. “Currently, although the opposite image is given, very few Spanish companies are making a profit in China, and many are having great problems finding room for themselves in a particularly difficult market,” the director says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Acts to Shed Sumo’s Scandal-Plagued Past
Japan is reforming its national sport, sumo, to increase transparency and stamp out allegations of illegal gambling, rigged fights and bullying, which, in at least one case, led to the death of a young wrestler.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kim Jong Un Spends More Money on Luxury Goods Than His Father, UN Report Finds
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s lavish spending — including on a private movie theater for 1,000 of his closest friends — eclipses even the legendary ways of his father, according to a U.N. report which also details the suffering of the Hermit Kingdom’s people.
The 372-page report, released on Monday after a year-long investigation into the country, says Kim Jong Un’s regime tried to import luxury Mercedes-Benz vehicles, high-end musical recording equipment and dozens of pianos.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korean Politician Found Guilty of Treason
South Korean left-wing lawmaker Lee Seok-ki was accused of plotting an uprising to assist a North Korean invasion of the South. Five months after his arrest, a court has sentenced the politician to 12 years in prison.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thawing Sino-Taiwanese Relations
Representatives from China and Taiwan recently held their highest-level official talks since 1949. The meeting was intended to pave the way for more engagement between nations, which are still formally in a state of war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Krypton Temple: China’s Surging Tech Start-Up Scene
A decade ago, the tech scene in China was grim. But these days young start-ups are turning heads and attracting investors from overseas. As their products find success abroad, Chinese entrepreneurs are acting locally, but thinking globally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Military Exercises in Asia Meant to Send a Signal to China, Say Experts
The Pentagon has airmailed Beijing a belated and unsubtle message for the recent Chinese New Year — by parachuting in Pacific combat troops into the Asia Pacific. After more than a decade of wars in the Middle East, 2014 is the year in which the U.S. officially starts re-orientating its military focus to Asia as Washington aims to counter the military build-up by China.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Are So Many Elderly Asians Killing Themselves?
It is a question that has puzzled mental health experts in Asia for some time: Why are so many elderly Asians committing suicide?
The past decade has seen astonishing spikes in the rate of Asians over 65 choosing to end their lives early, particularly in the region’s economically successful countries.
- In South Korea, for example, suicides in that age group have risen more than fivefold, from 14 per 100,000 in 1990 to 77 per 100,000 in 2009, according to Hallym University’s Institute of Aging.
- In Taiwan, seniors took their lives more than twice as often as any other age group, at a rate of 35.8 per 100,000 in 2010, versus 17.6 for the national average.
- Suicides among city dwellers in China aged 70 to 74 surged to 33.76 per 100,000 in the mid-2000s, up from 13.39 in the 1990s.
And these numbers are expected to rise.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
World Must Act on North Korea Rights Abuse, Says UN Report
The international community must act on evidence of widespread crimes against humanity in North Korea, say the authors of a long-awaited UN report. A panel of experts mandated by the UN’s Human Rights Council said North Koreans had suffered “unspeakable atrocities”, and that those responsible, including leader Kim Jong-un, must face justice. The panel heard evidence of torture, political repression and other crimes.
Pyongyang refused to co-operate with the report and rejects its conclusions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Sceptic to Head Abbott Review Into Renewable Energy Target
The Abbott government has launched a formal review of Australia’s 20 per cent renewable energy target, choosing senior business figure Dick Warburton — who has been sceptical about mainstream climate change science in the past — to head it.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt and Energy Minister Ian Macfarlane launched the inquiry on Monday afternoon, with Mr Hunt saying the review’s terms of reference would focus on progress towards the target, investment certainty and its impact on electricity prices…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Co-Pilot Who Hijacked Ethiopian Plane Threatened to Crash it, Passenger Says
A passenger onboard an Ethiopian Airlines jet that was hijacked by a co-pilot — who guided the plane to Geneva instead of Rome — said the co-pilot threatened to crash the plane if the pilot kept trying to get back into the cockpit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ethiopian Airlines Co-Pilot Hijacks Plane to Seek Geneva Asylum
The co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome has hijacked the aircraft and landed in Geneva, Swiss police say.
The hijacker — who has been arrested — waited for the pilot to go to the toilet to lock himself in the cockpit. He was unarmed. He has requested asylum in Switzerland. The airline said in a statement that all 202 passengers and crew were safe.
Geneva airport, which was closed for a time, has now reopened.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New York Times’ Biased Coverage on Muslim Persecution
By Raymond Ibrahim
Why does the NYT remain silent about the much more endemic and savage jihad to “sanitize” Nigeria of Christians—a jihad that has seen countless Christians butchered and countless churches destroyed?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Boko Haram — Don’t Label Muslims as Criminals — Sultan
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has asked Nigerians not to label Muslims as criminals due to the activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the North East, saying Boko Haram was not an Islamic group. Abubakar spoke as the Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, said the claims by Christians and Muslims that nobody could go to heaven except through Jesus Christ, or Prophet Mohammed, respectively, was the major cause of religious extremism or intolerance in the country…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Boko Haram, Jonathan and a Nation Without Empathy
Two days ago (on 12th February 2014) in Borno state, the extremist Boko Haram sect killed 60 innocent Nigerians and carted off 24 young girls without any trace. On January 27, the sect murdered no less than 70 innocent Nigerians in cold blood in a series of attacks in Borno and Adamawa states…
[N]o less than 130 churches were burnt down in Borno state in 2013 alone and the Catholic Church alone lost 53 churches out of that figure. All in all Nigeria has lost almost 8000 innocent civilians to Boko Haram in the last three years and that includes women and children. It does not however include the vast number of women that have been captured and kidnapped by them and that are now being used as sex-slaves…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuelans “Taking it to the Streets, “ But No Word From Sean Penn
In brief Venezuelans have had it with the corruption, shortages, censorship, 56% inflation rate, crime and general privations brought on by the late Hugo Chavez’ “Bolivarian Revolution,” especially as implemented by Chavez’ successor Nicholas Maduro, who won last October’s elections — most non-Hollywood observers believe — by stealing them.
Now Maduro and his cronies are stealing the country blind. It’s all under the guise of something the Chavistas call “21st Century Socialism,” mind you. But it still amounts to the government stealing businesses and replacing the owners and managers with vengeful, bumbling and rapacious government hacks. So the results exactly mimic those of old-fogey 20th century socialism. Here’s a nation sitting atop the world’s largest oil reserves and earning $100 BILLION in oil revenues annually — while its citizens can’t find toilet paper in any stores.
But no matter how hard daily life becomes for Venezuelans, no matter how menacingly looms the prospect of national bankruptcy, no matter how drastically oil production drops — President Maduro keeps shipping 100,000 barrels of oil to Castro’s Cuba daily. Venezuelan subsidies to Cuba last year were estimated to total $10 billion. That’s more than double what the Soviets used to send.
So, as you might imagine, the Castro regime’s interest in the Maduro regime’s “durability” probably exceeds even Sean Penn’s interest. To that end around 50,000 Cubans infest Venezuela. The media (especially those networks and agencies bestowed Havana bureaus) all claim these Cubans are all “doctors and teachers.” Actual Venezuelans know better. In fact the Venezuelan secret police is essentially controlled by KGB-trained Cubans. Maduro’s very platoon of bodyguards is headed by Cubans. This is the type of “teaching” most valued by such as Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro, who the Castro regime took under their wing as far back as the 1990’s. Maduro’s Quisling-esque qualities shone even then.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
30,000 Sub-Saharan Migrants Awaiting Border Crossing Attempt
In wake of Ceuta tragedy police say immigrants coordinate mass assaults on fences
Around 30,000 would-be migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are camped out in Morocco, hoping to enter Spain via its North African exclaves, Ceuta and Melilla. That’s according to police sources, who all point to the “enormous migratory pressure” that the two cities are under.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Desperate Migrants Storm Fences in Melilla
Some 250 asylum seekers stormed the barbed wire border fences between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Monday morning with around 150 managing to enter the city, officials said. The would-be migrants charged the high fences at 6am, Spain’s El País newspaper reported.
Once in the city, the men from Sub-Saharan Africa separated into smaller groups, “presumably” heading for the CETI refugee transit centre, the national daily said.
The ‘assault’ on the border between the Spanish city of Melilla and Morocco comes soon after at least 14 migrants drowned trying to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from a beach in neighbouring Morocco.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Freezes Research and Student Exchange Funds
In a tit-for-tat retaliation, the European Union has frozen research grants for Swiss universities worth hundreds of millions of euros and suspended the involvement of Switzerland in the Erasmus student exchange programme.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Suspends Research Talks With Switzerland
Commission responds to Swiss notification that it cannot expand free movement to newest EU member state.
The European Union has suspended negotiations on Switzerland’s participation in the Union’s research programme, Horizon 2020. The suspension came in response to Switzerland’s announcement on Saturday (15 February) that it will not sign a protocol expanding freedom of movement to Croatia, the EU’s newest member state…
[JP note: For Horizon 2020 see: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/what-horizon-2020 ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EU Suspends Education, Research Talks With Switzerland After Anti-Immigration Vote
The European Union said yesterday (16 February) it had postponed negotiations with Switzerland on its participation in multibillion-dollar research and educational schemes, after Berne said it could not sign in its
present form an agreement to extend the free movement of people to Croatia, the newest EU member.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Four Face Charged Over Asylum Bribes
Three female employees and a male colleague at the Decentralized Administration of Attica, an Interior Ministry department, are facing charges over allegedly accepting brides in order to speed up foreign nationals’ naturalization processes as well as allegedly issuing forged Greek identity cards to Albanian citizens, it emerged Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Navy Saves 1000 Boat Migrants
Several boats carrying a total of 1079 people have been spotted and assisted by the Italian navy since Friday.
Italy’s navy says it saved more than 1000 migrants taking the perilous journey by boat across the Mediterranean this weekend, including 64 minors and a newborn baby. Several boats carrying a total of 1079 people were spotted and assisted since Friday, and the majority of them were being transported to the port of Augusta in Sicily on an Italian warship, the navy said in a statement. The migrants came largely from West African countries — Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal — as well as some from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, according to the local Giornale di Sicilia newspaper…
[JP note: Should have flown Ethiopian Airlines.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Newborn Baby Among Saved Migrants
Italy’s navy said on Monday it had saved over 1,000 migrants taking the perilous journey by boat across the Mediterranean this weekend, including 64 minors and a newborn baby.
The migrants came largely from West African countries — Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal — as well as some from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, according to the local Giornale di Sicilia newspaper.
https://news.yahoo.com/swiss-fighters-grounded-during-hijacking-outside-office-hours-182241347.html
Swiss fighters grounded during hijacking as outside office hours
Geneva (AFP) — No Swiss fighter jets were scrambled Monday when an Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked his own plane and forced it to land in Geneva, because it happened outside business hours, the Swiss airforce said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Special Report: An Immigration Crisis on Britain’s Doorstep in Calais
Armed with nothing more than the hope of building a life in the UK, hundreds of refugees from Syria, Egypt, and other war-torn countries have risked their lives to reach the other side of the Channel
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Roma Migrants Evicted From Stockholm Site
Officials evicted all remaining Romanian migrants from a campsite in southern Stockholm on Monday morning, just days after over 100 campers were given a free bus ride home.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Draws a Line on Immigration
By Bruce Bawer
Switzerland is a small, prosperous country which during World War II managed not to become part of the Nazi empire and during the postwar era has succeeded in staying out of the EU. Nonetheless, like other European countries whose citizens have voted to stay out of the EU, Switzerland — in exchange for participation in free trade with EU members — has signed treaties that subject its citizens to EU regulations. Among those treaties is a seven-year-old agreement that grants most EU citizens the right to live and work in Switzerland.
In a referendum on February 14, however, the Swiss electorate voted by a slim majority for a proposal by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) that will invalidate that treaty. The Washington Post’s Anthony Faiola, in his report on the vote, provided a fine example of the way in which the left-wing media routinely reduce real-life concerns to obnoxious caricatures, all the while acting as if the people they’re condescendingly mocking are the ones purveying the caricatures: the Swiss vote, he wrote, was the result of the mischievous efforts of “right-wing populists” who worry that their “idyllic Swiss lifestyle” is “being trampled by hordes of foreign newcomers.” Faiola went on to compare Swiss voters to “the paramilitaries of the Golden Dawn” in Greece and the “anti-immigrant, anti-Roma and anti-Semitic” members of the radical-right Jobbik Party in Hungary. The New York Times took a similar approach: “Far-right parties with anti-immigrant platforms in France, the Netherlands and Norway have gained strength in recent years,” wrote Melissa Eddy and Stephen Castle (the Norway reference obviously being to the center-right Progress Party, which is closer to the American political center than any other party in Norway).
Never mind the reality: Switzerland — where about a quarter of the legal residents were born abroad and 37 percent of residents are foreign-born or have two foreign-born parents — is one of the two countries in the world with the highest percentage of immigrants. (The other is Austria.) The SVP — the same party that sponsored the 2009 law banning minarets — said during the run-up to the plebiscite that the 80,000 EU citizens who are now moving to Switzerland every year (a number equal to 1% of the country’s population) amounts to approximately “ten times the initial predictions back in 2007,” reported the Telegraph.
It doesn’t take much imagination to recognize what a massive burden this flood of immigrants represents — and what a social and culural transformation it entails. As the Telegraph itself seems to acknowledge, the schools, hospitals, public-transport system, and housing market in Switzerland have been “struggling to cope” with the influx. This sort of rapid, dramatic metamorphosis is enough to pose a risk to any country’s social, cultural, and economic stability. Add to this the fact that citizens of Romania and Bulgaria (including innumerable gypsies who, frankly, aren’t looking for honest work but for pockets to pick, houses to plunder, and public property to trash) are now free to settle anywhere they want in the EU — or in countries, like Switzerland and Norway, which have open-border arrangements with the EU. Under such circumstances, the action by Swiss voters isn’t just eminently understandable; it is, quite simply, the responsible thing to do…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
The Swiss Virus: Europe Gripped by Immigration Worries
The Swiss aren’t the only ones in Europe deeply concerned about immigration. Many across the Continent would also like to see limits placed on newcomers from elsewhere in the EU. Europe must remain firm, but right-wing populists stand to benefit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 70% Say No to More Migrants: Survey Reveals Public’s Concerns About Immigration
Seven out of ten voters want immigration reduced or stopped completely, according to a poll released last night. The YouGov survey found strong public concern about immigration, with people saying only the economy will be more important in the 2015 general election.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chemists Call for Boycott Over All-Male Speaker Line Up
Scientists are being urged to boycott a major international chemistry conference after its preliminary list of invited speakers and chairs featured no women.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First Animals May Have Lived With Almost No Oxygen
The most primitive animals may have thrived in water that contained almost no oxygen. The finding suggests that the rise of animals could have created our modern, oxygen-rich oceans, rather than oxygen-rich oceans triggering the rise of animals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Google Wants to Require Smartphones for Sound-Based Passwords
Editor’s Note: This is simply another move to kill on-line anonymity. Google already asks for your phone number when you sign up for a Google account, which allows your new account to be personally identifiable and linked to other government-collected data such as your phone records and location history. Now Google wants to make this more common-place to condition people into giving up their phone numbers in order to even use the Internet. This authoritarian takeover will come under the guise of “making the Internet safer.”
If Google’s latest acquisition is anything to go by, entering a password on a website could soon be as easy as placing your smartphone near your computer.
Israeli startup SlickLogin confirmed today it has become the latest company join Mountain View’s ranks (although it’ll work from Google’s local offices), bringing its patented sound-based smartphone technology with it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Help Your Friends and Family Get Off Windows XP
Today marks 60 days until the end of support for Windows XP and we need your help spreading the word to ensure people are safe and secure on modern up-to-date PCs. As a reader of this blog, it’s unlikely you are running Windows XP on your PC. However, you may know someone who is and have even served as their tech support. To help, we have created a special page on Windows.com that explains what “end of support” means for people still on Windows XP and their options to stay protected after support ends on April 8th:
[Comment: The comments to the microsoft blog post are most entertaining:
Comment from: Miss Tia:
I have an XP computer and I cannot afford to upgrade. I cannot afford to buy Windows 7 (I have read horrible things about Windows 8 & 8.1 plus know friends with it who abhor it so I would get Windows 7 if I could afford it) nor could I afford a new computer.
I guess Microsoft never once considered that many XP users simply do not have the money to upgrade? Plus the cost of the software is close to a new PC on sale, again, totally out of my financial reaches. I will continue using XP because 1) I can’t afford an upgrade and 2) I LIKE IT.
Stop trying to make a profit off people who simply can’t afford things. How many people who financially struggle have been scared by the ‘oh XP support is ending upgrade NOW’ to actually shell out cash they can’t afford to upgrade? This is rather despicable almost desperate corporate attempts at profiting.
Comment from WL1999:
I read the following in the TheRegister web site that the British NHS was going to pay Microsoft for extended XP support.
“Protection at a price to GB taxpayer”
“Only 1 million PCs to worry about… and that’s JUST the NHS”
“Fees for this special protection start at $200 per desktop for the first year, going up to $400 in the second and $800 in the third year.“ ]
Comment from demigod:
Brandon — It is ironic that you post this blog asking us for help. I say that it is ironic because the product you are recommending doesn’t support any migration or upgrade path. Windows 8.1 especially doesn’t even allow you to upgrade from Windows 7 and keep your applications let alone Windows XP. How on earth do you expect us to help you upgrade XP users to a new operating system that doesn’t support any upgrade path? We can’t even take a backup of our previous files and load them into Windows 8 because — SURPRISE — you’ve removed the Backup/Restore functionality.
You are in essence telling us that we need to approach the people we love and like — and tell them they need to go out and spend money — LOTS of money — on new hardware and a new operating system to get either the same or less functionality than they had before. The Metro applications, regardless of how you feel about the start screen are still to this day, inferior products than what we had in XP desktop. Running a single window application (or trying to juggle it into 2-4 squares) is outrageous for something called “Windows”. My friend and family would shoot me if I tried to move them to this mess. They would HATE me.
Comment from HAL5000:
i have switched my family and friends from Windows XP. to Linux! ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Human History, Written on Our Genes
OXFORD, ENGLAND—A team of scientists sequenced DNA samples from 1,490 modern people from 95 genetically distinct populations, and developed a statistical method to make inferences about which populations had interbred over the past 4,000 years. Evidence of “mixing events” was found in 80 of the populations, and some of those events coincide with historical records, such as the Hazara people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, who had an influx of Mongol DNA around the time that the Mongol Empire expanded.
Team member Simon Myers of the University of Oxford told Nature News that he would like to expand the model by using larger sample sizes and by adding ancient DNA samples. “That will give us a deeper understanding of human history,” he explained.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
@What lies behind the spectacular collapse of the British far-right?
The collapse of the British far-right is dependant on the observers definition of far right politics. What is happening the contentions are being corralled and smothered by the neoliberal multiculturalists, the immigration debate is now one of anti-European white self-loathing, Quilliam have decapitated the EDL and are now the mouthpiece regulators of British sharia law. The welfare debate has descended into how fast the economically displaced indigenous working class can be starved to death and be superseded by the charm of the unfamiliar GDP biomass – the “deference” argument of GOOD third world immigration.
Regarding that first food bill/California drought article – be scared of inflation caused by an incapable government, not our weather fluctuations. Me, I trust in our farmers and in American ingenuity as well as the universe itself to handle things. Let’s watch out for the promotion of disasters, just as hiding of them.
Much of California is a desert. Even in its entirety it rarely rains in the summertime, every summer. One place normally gets sixty inches of rain a year, another gets only one inch average.
Two weeks ago the highly revered U.S. National Weather Service predicted no rain for ninety more days. The report is available at NWS and the media screamed it out. Like magic, the the sky opened and the rains fell. We’ve had some really decent rains since, about six. I measure ten inches of rain and counting since the ninety day, no-rain prediction was made.
Water is sent over very long distances from one part of California to another. For example, Hetch Hetchy’s excellent water is consumed by San Franciscans. If it doesn’t rain in LA it means little since water is collected where there there somewhat dependable precipitation in the cold seasons, then sent hundreds of miles via aqueduct.