Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun were kidnapped in Cameroon today. One of the priests had warned his superiors several weeks before the kidnapping that the situation in Cameroon was unsafe. The incident occurred in the north of the country, near the border with Nigeria, but it is not yet known whether Boko Haram were responsible for the kidnapping.
In other news, Australian officials say that the pulse signal detected by a Chinese ship searching for Flight MH370 is consistent with an aircraft’s black box.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, KGS, MS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Greeks Became Poorer Despite Working Longest Hours
According to the European Commission’s quarterly review
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, APRIL 1 — Despite Greeks working the longest hours in Europe, poverty in the country became more acute in 2013, according to the European Commission’s quarterly review on Employment and Social Situation made public here on Monday and published by Ana-Mpa. In addition, further reforms of the tax and benefit systems in 2012-13 reduced incomes in all or most households in Greece and Portugal. The at-risk-of-poverty rate recorded the biggest rise in Greece in 2011-13. In 2013 poverty concerned 23.7% of the population, increased 1.8% compared with 2011, followed by Romania, with a 1.1% increase and poverty at 21.2%, Latvia with a 0.9% increase and poverty at 21.4% and Spain with a 0.7% increase and poverty 20.9%. In 2008-13, the real Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) declined 14.8% in Greece, the second highest percentage in the EU after Ireland (-16%). The main reason for the decline was tax increases, pension reductions and the limited impact of social protection expenditure. According to the European Commission review, the rate of growth of nominal unit labour costs in 2013 recorded the biggest decline in Cyprus (-5.4%) and Greece (-4.7%), while the Greeks work more hours a week (43.7 hours/week) compared with the rest of the Europeans. The Polish come second with 42.5 hours, followed by Cypriots 42.4 hours, Portuguese 42.2 hours and Austrians 42.15 hours. The fewest hours are worked by the Finns (39.7), Hungarians (39.8) and the French (40). In January 2014, a total of 3.1 million young people, aged 15-24, were hit by unemployment in the EU.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moody’s Downgrades Ukraine Credit Rating, Again
The credit ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded Ukraine, blaming continuing political and economic instability. It also put the country on its list of those that could face a further downgrade.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul: Wake Up! The Bank is Empty! Full Interview
Ron Paul explains how Congress’s $1 billion aid package to Ukraine will impoverish Ukrainian citizens at the expense of American taxpayers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
All-Girls Islamic Academy in Texas Grows Little by Little
Richardson, Texas — The father of four daughters, Qadeer Qazi is one man in a family of all girls. Now he runs a school full of them. In August, Qazi opened Qalam Collegiate Academy — the first all-girls school in Richardson.
Initially, there were nine students and six teachers at the sixth- through 10th-grade academy. That’s since expanded to 17 students and eight teachers…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bush Portraits Met With Mixed Reactions
An exhibit displaying portraits of world leaders painted by Former U.S. President George W. Bush opened Saturday in Dallas, Texas, sparking a wave of reactions regarding the quality and meaning behind each and every art piece.
The show called “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy” puts on display Bush’s first work as an artist. It is held at the George W. Bush Presidential Center and showcases portraits of 24 global leaders.
Bush, who started painting in 2012, three years after leaving office, said reading an essay by the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on painting inspired him to take lessons.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
D.C. Shift: Gun Control to Threat Detection
After an Iraq War veteran took the lives of three other people at Fort Hood on Wednesday, President Barack Obama, Pentagon officials and others in Washington agreed more must be done to spot “insider threats” before they strike.
But what almost no one is saying: change gun laws.
The Fort Hood attack is the latest in a string of mass shootings, from the Navy Yard attack in September to a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin the year before, where the response from Washington has shifted from guns — to the shooters who wield them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Raids Real ‘Indiana Jones’ Home
A team of law-enforcement officials including FBI agents has swooped down on a rural home in Indiana that houses a bizarre collection of artifacts from around the world.
“I have never seen a collection like this in my life except in some of the largest museums,” Larry Zimmerman, professor of anthropology and museum studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, told The Indianapolis Star. Zimmerman added that he is “frankly, overwhelmed.”
The collection belongs to Don Miller, an unassuming, 91-year-old Indiana native who is now being called “the real Indiana Jones” for his lifetime of globetrotting adventures.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Government is Not the Tool to Change Society
David Knight covers headlines in the news relating to the continued attack on the family in America and the slow loss of tolerance and religious freedom in America.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Blasts FBI Over Saudi Family Investigation
A federal judge on Friday chided the FBI for failing to produce records tied to a prominent Saudi Arabian family who seemed to abandon their Sarasota home suddenly just prior to the 9/11 terror attacks.
U.S. District Court Judge William Zloch ordered the FBI to conduct a much more thorough search than it had previously done and deliver all pertinent documents — uncensored — to him by April 18 for review.
The judge said the FBI must comply using its most advanced document search system, called Sentinel, to search for records pertaining to a year-and-a-half old Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Fort Lauderdale news site Broward Bulldog. The Herald-Tribune Media Group joined the suit earlier this year as a “friend of the court.”
Under the judge’s order, the FBI also must search for documents related to the Saudi family, a home in Sarasota’s gated Prestancia subdivision and the investigation following the 2001 attacks using Sentinel and multiple other search systems.
The agency initially refused to search for the family’s names, claiming that would result in an invasion of privacy.
Judge Zloch ordered the FBI to also inform the court of any documented communications between it and other government agencies concerning the investigation.
That information, and an explanation of how the FBI is complying with the judge’s order, is due by June 6.The 23-page order Friday was Judge Zloch’s second in favor of the Bulldog and its editor, Dan Christensen.
In the latest order, Zloch takes the FBI to task for failing to exhaustively produce documents pertaining to the case.
He describes the agency’s initial search as “preemptively narrowed in scope based on agency decisions that categories of documents are exempt and thus, will not even be sought.”
He called one of the government’s characterizations of the Bulldog’s requests “literal to the point of being nonsensical.”…
| — Hat tip: MS | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Brotherhood Launches Own U.S. Political Party
Islamofascism: With an eye toward the 2016 election, the radical Muslim Brotherhood has built the framework for a political party in America that seeks to turn Muslims into an Islamist voting bloc.
‘Muslim voters have the potential to be swing voters in 2016,” said Nihad Awad in launching the benign-sounding U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, whose membership reads like a Who’s Who of Brotherhood front groups.
“We are aiming to bring more participation from the Muslim community.”
USCMO also aims to elect Islamists in Washington, with the ultimate objective of “institutionalizing policies” favorable to Islamists — that is, Shariah law.
This development bears careful monitoring in light of the U.S. Brotherhood’s recently exposed goal to wage a “civilization jihad” against America that explicitly calls for infiltrating the U.S. political system and “destroying (it) from within.”
The subversive plan was spelled out in hundreds of pages of founding archives that the FBI confiscated from a Brotherhood leader’s home in the Washington suburbs after 9/11.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Parents Upset Over School’s ‘Eggstravaganza’ Easter Egg Hunt Invite to Children
Some Muslim parents in Dearborn, Mich., are upset over an “Eggstravaganza” Easter egg hunt invitation their children received from teachers at school because the event is going to be held on the grounds of the Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church.
Attorney Majed Moughni, the father of two public school students, said his son was uncomfortable about receiving the flyer from the Presbyterian church for their event on April 12…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Matthiessen, Author and Naturalist, Dies at 86
Peter Matthiessen, a roving author and naturalist whose impassioned nonfiction explored the remote endangered wilds of the world and whose prizewinning fiction often placed his mysterious protagonists in the heart of them, died Saturday. He was 86 and lived in Sagaponack, N.Y.
He had been treated for acute leukemia for more than a year. His death came as he awaited publication of his final novel, “In Paradise,” on April 8.
Mr. Matthiessen was one of the last survivors of a generation of American writers who came of age after World War II and who all seemed to know one another, socializing in New York and on Long Island’s East End as a kind of movable literary salon peopled by the likes of William Styron, James Jones, Kurt Vonnegut and E.L. Doctorow.
| [Return to headlines] |
The Global Recording Initiative: Yes, Your Grocery Store is Forcing You Into Agenda 21
Agenda 21, the United Nation’s open plan for global sustainability, is widely understood to be voluntary. Critics of the scheme, however, insist the UN is engaging in double-speak, and that this so-called “volunteer” status is actually creating a world government through the interlinking of UN bureaucracies and international corporations.
It is appears now they may be right, this time involving a place most households in the Western world cannot avoid, the grocery store.
As it turns out, every item scanned at Wal-Mart, America’s top food reseller with an estimated 25% of market share, supports Agenda 21 through a little known organization called the Global Recording Initiative. The GRI, according to its website, is a non-profit entity which “promotes the use of sustainability reporting as a way for organizations to become more sustainable and contribute to sustainable development.” Wal-Mart is one of the growing number of corporations who attach to the registry, “voluntarily” conforming to the policies of GRI, which is a “collaborating centre” with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The GRI functions as an over-the-shoulder manager, one that tracks compliance — through a school-style alphabet grading system — by companies who submit the proper paperwork and commit to managing their firms under the dictates of Agenda 21. UNEP, the executor of Agenda 21, is plain in its expectations and goals for the initiative, saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Climate Change, The Trillion Dollar Heist
Alex dissects the greatest hoax of the century, “man-made global warming,” in this exclusive special report.
Contrary to major media reports, the Arctic & Antarctic ice sheets have seen record growth year after year. After blatantly lying to the public in the face of hard science, so called “experts” are now calling for a “crackdown” on climate change skeptics who dare to question the “consensus” that man made global warming is not man made. Not only do they seek to tax us at every turn in the name of global warming, now too they seek to silence anyone who disagrees.
In the face of many real environmental threats such as genetic modification which damages our DNA, extreme over-fishing and toxic waste dumping, the environmental movement has been hijacked in the name of Al Gore carbon taxes. In fact the single greatest threat to humanity across the ages is despotism and democide, but don’t expect the government to tax itself anytime soon.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Beer Culture to Become World Heritage?
Belgium has petitioned the United Nations’ education and cultural agency UNESCO to include Belgian beer culture on its list of immaterial cultural heritage. UNESCO officials in Paris will have the final say, but the first signs are very positive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Clashes at Brussels March for Jobs
A big anti-austerity demonstration has been taking place in the European quarter of Brussels, where EU offices are located.
Water cannon and pepper spray were used to try to disperse protesting Belgian trade unionists near the headquarters of the European Commission and the European Council…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s Brotherhood Inquiry: Another Blow to Democracy?
In turning their attention to the Muslim Brotherhood, the British government are putting their weight firmly behind the undemocratic coup regime of Al Sisi and his generals and ignoring the democratic will of the Egyptian people that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power in the first place. Were they still a party of government there would not be an inquiry into their activities, yet the coup has rearranged the chess board and left Britain unsure of its own commitment to democracy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Le Pen: Ban Non-Pork Meals in Schools
Leader of France’s far-Right party says schools should not pander to Jewish and Muslim children by offering non-Pork alternatives for lunch
School canteens will no longer offer non-pork meal options in towns where France’s anti-immigration far-right Front National (FN) party won local elections, its leader Marine Le Pen has said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Winemakers Take Battle With France to China
European producers vie for world’s biggest consumer market
(ANSA) — Milan, April 2 — One of the biggest challenges facing “Made in Italy” brands — whether in fashion, food or any other category — is finding ways to muscle into foreign markets and face off increasingly tougher competition from abroad.
One solution, at least in the wine industry, is for various producers to group together.
Italia del Vino, a leading, private consortium grouping together 11 of the country’s top producers, is taking that path, setting it apart from many of Italy’s often small, family-run firms. Founded in 2009, Italia del Vino’s members — Banfi, Cantine Ferrari Fratelli Lunelli, Casa Vinicola Sartori, Casa Vinicola Zonin, Fratelli Gancia, Gruppo Italiano Vini, Librandi Antonio e Nicodemo, Marchesi di Barolo, Medici Ermete & Figli, Santa Margherita, Società Agricola Drei Donà and Terredora — accounted for some 905 million euros in total turnover in 2012. Together they exported about 400 million euros in wines, accounting for some 10% of Italy’s total wine exports and representing about 44% of total Italian wine turnover. The participating firms employ some 2,000 workers and represent all of Italy’s wine regions — from Piedmont to Sicily.
During a presentation to the foreign press corps in Milan on Friday, Ettore Nicoletto, the consortium’s president as well as chief executive of Santa Margherita, said Italy’s wine exports are performing strongly: in 2013, sales abroad grew 8% on 2012, to 5.1 billion euros. Nicoletto added that between 2005 and 2013, exports registered a 6% compound annual growth rate and said they are expected to grow by 9% a year over the next four years, reaching seven billion euros by 2017 — “an important milestone, for they will have reached the current value of French exports, further reducing the gap between the two country’s wine industries”.
A key part of the consortium’s strategy is to tackle the Chinese market, which Nicoletto said has replaced the United States as the world’s largest consumer of red wine. According to Stefano Silenzi, marketing director of Casa Vinicola Zonin, by 2020 China will have overtaken the United States as the overall largest wine market in the world.
Italian wines have some key advantages over other competitors as they try to crack the Chinese market, including that they are “very drinkable and food-friendly,” Nicoletto pointed out. Also, Italy is the world leader in bottling technology, supplying many Chinese wine producers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Turin Strips Benito Mussolini of Honorary Citizenship
Granted by Italian monarchy in 1924
(ANSA) — Turin, April 1 — The Turin city council on Monday voted to strip Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini of his honorary citizenship, which he was granted by royal decree in 1924.
“This was an act of duty, which confirms the city’s anti-Fascist identity,” said center-left city council member Michele Paolino.
The motion passed with 29 in favor and three against.
The regionalist, anti-immigrant Northern League abstained, but asked that the name of Soviet Union Avenue, one of Turin’s main throughways, be changed.
“Mussolini was responsible for quashing civil, political and social liberties and for ethnically and politically motivated torture and assassinations,” the approved text said.
“He also made Italy a protagonist of World War II alongside Nazi Germany, with the shameful co-responsibility for the holocaust of 13 million people”. The move came ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, a national Italian holiday commemorating the end of World War II and of Nazi occupation of the country. Milan and Turin were the first two cities to be liberated on that day in 1945.
Mussolini was executed three days later.
The measure is also on a continuum with a campaign to renew the city’s identity that began in 1946, when entire neighborhoods were renamed in an effort to leave the city’s Fascist past behind.
“There are more urgent issues that require our attention,” the Northern League argued during the motion debate.
“The city council has given itself the luxury of tackling a completely superfluous issue,” added former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia party.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Top Offender at European Court of Human Rights
Rome ordered to pay compensation of 71 million euros in 2013
(ANSA) — Strasbourg, April 2 — Italy was the top offender at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2013 in terms of the compensation it was ordered to pay citizens for failing to ensure their rights are respected, the court said Wednesday.
It said Rome was ordered to pay over 71 million euros last year, the highest of the 47 countries that belong to the Council of Europe, which the ECHR has jurisdiction over.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Fines Google One Million Euros for Street View Breach
‘Google Cars not properly marked, citizens had no warning’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 3 — Google has been obliged to pay a fine of one million euros by Italy’s privacy watchdog for the Internet giant’s Street View service. The charge dates to 2010, when so-called Google Cars with mounted cameras and other devices roamed Italian streets without properly identifying themselves as such. The agency ruled this did not give citizens the opportunity to avoid being photographed as Google mapped out Italian alleys and thoroughfares.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi’s Name on FI Logo for European Elections
Ex-premier not eligible to stand after conviction
(ANSA) — Rome, April 2 — Silvio Berlusconi’s opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party on Wednesday presented its logo for May’s European elections featuring the name “Berlusconi” even though the ex-premier will not be able to stand as a candidate.
The 77-year-old billionaire is ineligible as he was banned from public office after the Supreme Court upheld a tax-fraud sentence against him last year, his first definitive conviction in two decades of legal battles.
The media magnate, who was also ejected from parliament following the conviction, said the ruling was part of a campaign by left-wing elements in the judiciary who want to sweep him out of Italy’s public life.
FI presented the logo along with its slogan for the May 25 election to select new members of the European Parliament — “Più Italia in Europa. Meno Europa in Italia” (More Italy in Europe.
Less Europe in Italy).
Three-time premier Berlusconi has been highly critical of the austerity the European Union imposed on countries as its main response to the eurozone debt crisis.
There has been speculation that Berlusconi’s two older daughters could stand in the European elections to justify having the family name on Fi’s logo, although this has repeatedly been denied.
Berlusconi’s eldest daughter Marina, 47, is a top executive at his media empire, and Barbara, 29, is one of two CEOs at his AC Milan soccer club.
FI is currently third in the polls, according to several surveys, with the support around 20% of voters, compared to around 32% for Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and around 22% for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Poll Shows Renzi’s PD Top Party, Followed by M5S
Forza Italia slightly down in voters’ favour
(see related stories) (ANSA) — Rome, April 2 — A poll sounding out political preferences amongst Italian voters released on Wednesday showed that only four parties would exceed the 4% threshold in European Parliament elections to be held May 25.
According to the survey by the Datamedia research institute carried out for Rome daily Il Tempo, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi remained Italy’s leading party at 31%, gaining 0.5% in a week, and confidence in Renzi jumped in the rankings to 58%.
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) followed at 24.3%, up 0.3% from the previous week.
Forza Italia led by former premier Silvio Berlusconi trailed behind at 20%, down 0.5% on last week, followed by the regionalist, anti-euro Northern League party which remained stable at 5%.
The poll also showed over one in two Italian voters did not intend to cast their ballots.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: New Twist in PVV-Labour Dispute Over Anti-Moroccan Statements
The row between the anti-immigration PVV and Labour party over anti-Moroccan statements escalated further on Thursday night when a promiment PVV parliamentarian said she would file a formal police complaints against Labour leaders for making discriminatory statements.
Fleur Agema told a television show she will file the complaints on Friday against Labour party leader Diederik Samsom and party chairman Hans Spekman.
The tit for tat filings follow the news that over 5,000 people have made formal complaints against PVV leader Geert Wilders for leading his supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant on the night of the local elections.
On Thursday, Wilders called on people to file complaints against Samsom and Spekman for comments about Moroccans made by them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Norwegians Returning Home From Syria: PST
OSLO, April 5 (Xinhua) — The Norwegian police security service (PST) warns that an unspecified number of radical Norwegian citizens had returned from Syria in the first three months of 2014, the Norwegian news agency reported on Saturday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia Sweden: Swedish Newspaper Hacks Disqus, Goes to Commenters’ Homes With Cameramen
Sweden was once wealthy, beautiful, and modern. But all that has changed. It has become as totalitarian as Saudi Arabia or Iran. Their immigration policies have overwhelmed the culture and the treasury of the Swedes. One U.N. report says that Sweden will soon be a third-world nation.
The worse it gets, the more restrictions there are on freedom and speech. Strict enforcement of the blasphemy laws under the sharia — “do not criticize or insult Islam.”
This video is chilling. One of Sweden’s biggest newspapers, Expressen, used criminal hackers to break into Disqus and get the email addresses and identities of commenters online, and to reveal the persons behind the nicknames or anonymous user IDs. The newspaper sent a reporter and a cameraman to one person’s home and asked them about things they had written on different websites. Expressen published the names and photos of some people, which led to at least one person losing his job.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Teen Intern Convicted of Pre-School Rape Attempt
A 15-year-old-boy has been sentenced to juvenile detention and youth service for attempting to rape two children at a Malmö pre-school in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Kirsty Hopkins, 22, lost control of her vehicle on a bend after smoking cannabis and ploughed into a car containing Lisa-Marie Stoneley and her family.
The mother-of-two’s injuries were so severe she spent eight days in a coma and three months in hospital with swelling on the brain.
She suffered two broken legs, ripped cartilage in both knees, multiple fractures and all but one of her vertebrae were damaged.
Miss Stoneley, 35, is now confined to a wheelchair and the community carer has had to abandon her dream of training to become a nurse.
Hopkins pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst over the alcohol limit and possessing cannabis at Taunton Crown Court.
But despite being on bail for a similar offence at the time, she managed to escape with just an eight-year driving ban and a two-year suspended prison sentence.
Crown Prosecution Service guidelines state that the maximum sentence for the offence of dangerous driving if tried at a crown court is two years, with a fine and mandatory disqualification until a new driving test is passed.
Yesterday Miss Stoneley criticised the sentence, saying she was furious that Hopkins had failed to show any remorse for her actions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Apparently, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are not the only countries concerned about the sudden political rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Just three weeks after the Kingdom labelled the group a terrorist organization, British Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an investigation of the Muslim Brotherhood over concerns about its links to violent extremism…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Maria Miller Should Resign, Say Grassroots Conservatives
Party members and activists say the Culture Secretary should go over her expenses claims — and not one offers to back her
Grassroots Conservative party members have called on Maria Miller to resign and expressed serious concerns about how the affair was handled by David Cameron, the Prime Minister.
In a straw poll of 50 activists at the party’s spring forum in central London, 14 told the Telegraph the Culture Secretary should have stood down from the front bench — or been sacked — over her expenses claims.…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Those Sneaky Council Spy Cars Fleece Drivers of £32million a Year
Local authorities’ use of high-tech ‘spy cars’ to surreptitiously snoop on motorists has now reached an unprecedented level.
As many as 75 councils across Britain employ vehicles fitted with cameras and number plate-recognition systems to patrol the streets. As a result, councils are issuing huge numbers of fines for supposed traffic violations. But as this investigation shows, many are spurious.
The proliferation of these Big Brother vehicles has not only given rise to concerns about invasion of privacy — it has fuelled suspicions that, instead of concentrating on traffic management and road safety, councils are preying on motorists in a cynical campaign designed to boost their coffers.
The full extent of the use of their mobile CCTV cameras can be revealed following a series of Freedom of Information requests made by the Mail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Norway Skydiver Dodges Meteorite
Skydivers know what they do is dangerous, but they don’t expect falling meteorites. Anders Helstrup, from the Oslo Parachute Club, caught this rare footage of a large chunk of space rock hurtling past.
Geologist Hans Amundsen confirmed to Norway’s NRK channel that a meteorite had indeed exploded some 20 kilometres above the earth’s surface on the day of that jump. He said he believed that the object was an fragment of a meteorite in its last “dark flight” or “post-incandescence phase”.
“This is the first time in history that a meteorite has been filmed in the air when it is no longer emitting any light,” Amundsen said. “It’s certainly much less likely than winning the lottery three times in a row.”
The incident took place in June 2012 in southern Norway and the region has since been combed to find the space rock.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Libyan Group Detains Over 50 Egyptian Trucks to Protest Prosecution of Libyans in Egypt
Officials say militiamen in Libya have detained over 50 Egyptian trucks on the road to the country’s east to protest the prosecution of members of their group in Egypt on arms smuggling charges.
Libyan Interior Ministry spokesman Rami Kaal said Saturday that gunmen prevented the trucks from entering the city of Ajdabiya. He says drivers and passengers have been waiting with their vehicles on the side of the road since Friday. He says trucks with perishable goods were allowed to pass.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it is in contact with Libyan authorities to secure the drivers’ release, while renewing warnings to Egyptians not to travel to Libya.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tribal Clashes Kill 23 in Egypt
A second day of clashes between two tribes in southern Egypt has left a total of 18 people dead, officials say.
The Egyptian military said that it had intervened to stop the fighting between the Arab Bani Hilal clan and a Nubian family…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
African Hebrews Fight for Recognition
The so-called African Hebrews in Jerusalem have struggled to gain acceptance in Israeli society despite the fact that many of them were born in the country. Some of their customs and practices are frowned upon.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Backs Kerry’s Middle East Push
(ATHENS) — European foreign ministers on Saturday said they fully supported efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to keep Middle East peace talks alive as tension mounted on both sides. “We support the efforts of Secretary of State Kerry,” EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said at the close of a two-day meeting in Athens. Kerry has laboured lately to bring Palestinians and Israelis back from the brink…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
25 Killed in Violent Attacks in Iraq
BAGHDAD, April 5 (Xinhua) — Twenty-five people were killed and 33 others wounded in violent incidents across Iraq, mainly in the western province of Anbar, on Saturday, police said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
50 Rebels Killed by Locals in Syria’s Central Town
DAMASCUS, April 5 (Xinhua) — Locals of a Syrian central town confronted radical militant groups, killing and wounding over 50 rebels on Saturday, according to the official SANA news agency.
The locals of the town of Taibet al-Emam in the countryside of the central province of Hama confronted rebels from the al-Qaida- linked Nusra Front, who were committing acts of kidnapping and burglary, killing and wounding 50 of them, said SANA, spelling no further details…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EU Tells Turkey: Website Bans Hinder Accession
EU foreign ministers have criticized Turkey for blocking internet sites such as Twitter and YouTube. They called on Ankara to respect freedom of expression in view of its long-running bid to join the bloc.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
For the First Time Since the Islamic Revolution, Boeing Reopens Exports to Iran
The U.S. Treasury Department licenses the aircraft manufacturer to sell individual components to Tehran. The national airline still uses aircraft dating to before the rise to power of Khomeini.
Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Boeing, the giant U.S. aircraft manufacturer, will sell Iran some components, possibly replacing the damaged and obsolete aircraft parts of the national airline . This was announced today a company spokesman, after the U.S. Treasury Department granted the company a license to export. Boeing has had no relations with Tehran since the Khomeini revolution in 1979.
The gesture is seen as part of the agreement signed on 24 November 2013, by the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and Iran, which provides for an easing of sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a freeze on uranium enrichment and a greater UN control of the nuclear sites.
The national airline Iran Air still uses planes bought before the crisis of 1979, when Iran held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. For a long time the country has objected to the sanctions relating to the renewal of its fleet of aircraft, explaining that they only made the aircraft more dangerous.
Over the past 25 years there have been more than 200 incidents with Iranian planes, which has cost the lives of over 2 thousand people.
Boeing said that the license covers only the components necessary to secure the current flight operations with the aircraft sold before the revolution of 1979. For the moment, there is no agreement for the sale of new vehicles, but if the deal is confirmed it is possible that Iran could ask for hundreds of new aircraft.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar Refuses to Surrender 28 Muslim Brothers to Interpol
(AGI) Cairo, April 5 — The government of Qatar has refused to surrender to the Interpol 28 Egyptian Muslim Brothers who escaped to to Qatar after the ousting of former president Muhammad Morsi last July 3. The Egyptian authorities which requested the extradition reported that among the 28 Egyptians who took refuge in Qatar there is also former Investment Minister, Yehya Hamed, in addition to other outlawed leaders of the Islamic group such as Tarek al Zommor, Assaem Abdul Maged and Mahmoud Ezzat.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: 20 Injured in Mortar Attacks in Damascus
DAMASCUS, April 4 (Xinhua) — At least 20 people were injured on Friday in mortar attacks in a Christian-dominated neighborhood of the Syrian capital Damascus, local media reported.
Armed militant groups fired mortar shells into Damascus’ eastern neighborhood of Bab Touma, injuring 20 people and causing property losses, state news agency SANA said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Gives Boeing Green Light to Sell Plane Parts to Iran
Boeing has announced it has been given limited US government approval to export spare parts to Iran. It is part of a temporary easing of sanctions against Tehran by world powers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Media’s Disinformation Campaign on Ukraine: “There Are No Neo-Nazis in the Interim Government”
As soon as this government took over, the New York Times referred to it as a new wave of democracy, and this then set the tone for the media in the West. Although here and there it’s sometimes mentioned that Svoboda, a member of the coalition government, “once had some quasi-fascist inclinations,” that’s as far as it goes. All else about Svoboda and the paramilitary Right Sector has been effectively swept off into Orwell’s memory hole.
This is not to say that no one on the Internet has commented on the true nature of Svoboda. To their credit a number of well qualified observers have had no problem spelling out that Svoboda has a solid neo-nazi fascist basis, and not just “inclinations” towards these beliefs. For example, consider the views of Max Blumenthal, Professor Stephen F. Cohen, Professor Francis Boyle,Professor Michel Chossudovsky,Dr. Inna Rogatchi, David Speedie, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Oleg Shynkarenko, Andrew Foxall and Oren Kessler.
Rather than simply plead ignorance about the depth of fascist-racist beliefs in the Svoboda membership, the least the mainstream media could have done was to mention that the European Parliament took the unusual step in December of 2012 to pass a resolution of concern about the unsavory nature of Svoboda.The Parliament’s resolution #8 states as follows:
“[The European Parliament] is concerned about the rising nationalistic sentiment in Ukraine, expressed in support for the Svoboda Party, which, as a result, is one of the two new parties to enter the Verkhovna Rada; recalls that racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU’s fundamental values and principles and therefore appeals to pro-democratic parties in the Verkhovna Rada not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with this party.”
Svoboda was founded in 1991 as the Social National Party of Ukraine — its name unmistakably being an intentional reference to Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist party and it used the Nazi Wolfsangel logo which closely resembles a swastika. In 2004, with the arrival of OlehTyahnybok as leader, the party changed its name to Svoboda to somewhat moderate its image while nevertheless retaining its neo-Nazi core. Also to soften its image it changed its Nazi logo to a stylized three-finger salute…
Worthy of note that what separates Germany from the Bandera Nationalists in Ukraine is that Germany has taken responsibility for the atrocities they committed. Contrast this to Lviv, Ukraine, where surviving members of the WW2 Galician SS, willing participants in genocide, still parade on holidays, proudly displaying medals given them by the German Third Reich. In July of 2013 the Svoboda party organized a rally to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the 14thWaffen SS Division. And on January 1, 2014, to commemorate Bandera’s 105th birthday, about 15,000 Svoboda supporters marched through Kyiv, some wearing Nazi SS Waffen army uniforms.
[…]
In trying to downplay the significance and role of Svoboda and the Right Sector, the media usually point out that Svoboda has only 8 percent of the seats in the Rada and that the Right Sector doesn’t have any elected members, thus making it appear that these parties are of little consequence. The startling fact not revealed is that Svoboda has seven members within the government’s 21-member cabinet, so they compose one-third of the cabinet — all in the most key and powerful positions. Moreover, the Right Sector has a role in government as well; its leader DmytroYarosh is in charge of the police as the Deputy Secretary to the Minister of National Security.
[Comment: Informative article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Rejects Gas Price Rise Set by Russia
(AGI) Kiev, April 5 — Ukraine has declared they will not pay the price of almost 500 dollars per cubic metre for Russian gas, announced recently by the Russian gas consortium Gazprom.
Kiev has also accused Moscow of conducting ‘economic aggression’. “Political pressure will prove useless, we are not accepting the price of 500 dollars”, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenuk said during a cabinet meeting. He added: “Russia has not succeeded in conquering Ukraine with military aggression, so now they are opting for an economic aggression.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghans Flock to Pick Karzai Successor
Voters have flocked to Afghanistan’s presidential election amid massive security precautions. Electoral officials extended polling by one hour and issued extra ballot papers to cope with long queues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Elections: Bookseller of Kabul Shuts Up Shop in City Under Siege
Kabul is sealed off as police try to protect voters and prevent suicide attacks engulfing elections to replace Hamid Karzai as president
The bookseller of Kabul doesn’t close for anyone. Not for the warlords, who bombarded the capital in the 1990s, nor the Taliban, which burned his books in the years after. His shop was never shut for more than a few days in the past 25 years.
Until now.
On the eve of historic elections to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, the shabby green façade of his famous store is shuttered, the result of a family tragedy and the fear that stalks the capital…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Afghans Defy Threat of Violence to Vote in First Democratic Transition of Power
Afghans flocked to polling stations nationwide on Saturday, defying a threat of violence by the Taliban to cast ballots in what promises to be the nation’s first democratic transfer of power. The turnout was so high that some polling centers ran out of ballots and others remained open an hour past scheduled to accommodate long lines.
Electoral workers wearing blue vests with the logo of the Independent Election Commission pulled the paper ballots out of boxes and carefully showed them in footage shown live on national television Saturday. Approximately seven million votes were cast.
Partial results are expected as soon as Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australian authorities say electronic signals reportedly detected by a Chinese ship involved in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane are consistent with an aircraft black box.
“I have been advised that a series of sounds have been detected by a Chinese ship in the search area. The characteristics reported are consistent with the aircraft black box,” Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the joint agency coordinating the operation, said in a statement.
Houston said earlier reports that the Chinese ship, Haixun 01, had detected pulse signals in the Indian Ocean related to MH370 could not be verified at this time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Ship Detects ‘Pulse Signal’ In MH370 Search, State Media Says
A Chinese ship that is part of the international search for the missing Malaysian airliner MH370 has detected a “pulse signal,” say Chinese state media. It remains unclear whether the signal is from flight’s black box.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christina Schmid: ‘ I Question the Wisdom of What We Did in Afghanistan’
Christina Schmid, who gave defiant public support to the Armed Forces after the death of her husband, reveals her reservations about the human cost of the campaign
Her admission is all sorrow, no anger. Christina Schmid, the woman who has best articulated the loss suffered by wives and lovers since the fighting in Afghanistan began, doubts whether the sacrifice of 448 British lives — including her young husband’s — was ultimately worthwhile…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fear and Loathing in India’s Muslim Heartland Could Decide General Election
The communal violence Congress predicts will follow an election victory for Narendra Modi came early to Muzaffarnagar
The communal violence many Muslims fear if the Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi wins next week’s Indian general election holds no terror for 37 year old tailor Mohammad Ilyas: it has already done its worst…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Flight 370 ‘Followed by Fighter Jets’ Claims Girlfriend of Victim (Video)
Sarah Bajc, partner of Philip Wood, says flight still intact.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Pet owners in Thailand are being told to keep a close eye on their four-legged friends after hundreds of dog remains were found near the border of Laos.
It is thought the dog remains, made up of hundreds of skins and bones which had been abandoned in a forest in Sakon Nakhon, northeastern Thailand, were destined for Vietnam and China.
There, dog meat is considered a delicacy, but is also used to make leather products — in particular golf gloves made from canine testicles…
Mr Dalley, who has lived in Thailand for over a decade, says dogs are often packed into cages before being dragged out and skinned alive.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Most Expensive Aviation Search: $53 Million to Find Flight MH370
The search and investigation into missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is already the most expensive in aviation history, figures released to Fairfax Media suggest.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, has claimed the government is deliberately concealing information that would help to explain what happened to the missing flight.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Couple Gets Death Over ‘Blasphemous’ Text Message
A court in eastern Pakistan has sentenced a Christian couple to death for sending a blasphemous text message insulting to the Prophet Mohammed, their lawyer said Saturday.
Judge Mian Amir Habib handed the death sentence to Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar in a jail in the town of Toba Tek Singh on Friday, defense lawyer Nadeem Hassan told AFP. Prosecution department officials confirmed the sentence.
The impoverished couple, who are in their forties, have three children and live in the town of Gojra, which has a history of violence against Christians, Hassan said. Both denied the charges, Hassan said, adding that they would appeal the sentence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani 9-Month-Old Baby Accused of Attempted Murder
Nine-month-old boy in Pakistan accused of attempted murder, “highlighting flaws of Pakistan legal system”
While many children his age are still learning how to crawl, a nine-month-old boy in Pakistan has been accused of attempted murder in a case observers say highlights endemic flaws in the country’s legal system…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Says Taliban Prisoners to be Released to Aid Ongoing Peace Talks
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s interior minister says the government will release 13 Taliban prisoners to aid ongoing peace talks with militants.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Saturday he hopes the Taliban will release some of its own prisoners as well. Khan said some of those being released by the government were on a Taliban list.
Khan said next round of talks will be held next week and the number of released prisoner may rise to 30. The government released 19 prisoners last month. Khan said he met Saturday with Taliban officials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The recent burning and beheading of female victims in Thailand’s southern Muslim provinces marks a renewed campaign of terror by insurgent groups, according to a Human Rights Watch statement released today. At least three Thai Buddhist women have been killed and mutilated by insurgents since February, according to HRW.
“Southern insurgents are killing Buddhist women and spreading terror by beheading and burning their bodies,” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said in the statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Pro-Government ‘Red Shirts’ Rally in Thailand
Tens of thousands of pro-government “Red Shirts” have rallied on the outskirts of Bangkok. The demonstration is aimed at showing support for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra after months of anti-government protests.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christians Form Human Shield Around Church in ‘China’s Jerusalem’ After Demolition Threat
Christians have flocked to defend a church in eastern China after Communist Party officials claimed it was an “illegal construction” and announced plans to demolish it
Thousands of Chinese Christians have mounted an extraordinary, round-the-clock defence of a church in a city known as the ‘Jerusalem of the East’ after Communist Party officials threatened to bulldoze their place of worship…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Coal Fuelled China Long Before Industrial Revolution
CHINA now consumes nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined. And perhaps it always did: it seems coal was routinely burned 3500 years ago in what is now China — the earliest evidence we have for the practice.
John Dodson at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Sydney, and his colleagues in China, were examining early evidence of bronze casting in northern China when they found chunks of burned coal in the ancient slag piles instead of the charcoal they expected. “We got one of the guys to take samples and he sieved out some seeds, which we radiocarbon dated in Sydney,” says Dodson. The seeds were chosen because they formed at the time the coal was burned, whereas the coal formed millions of years earlier. “You can’t just radiocarbon date the coal because it is already ancient carbon,” he says.
The results confirmed that coal had been burned in the area around 3500 years ago. The team also found coal at four more sites, dating back 3500 to 3700 years — with one of them dating back even further, to about 4600 years ago (The Holocene, doi.org/rw8).
“We have been looking at vegetation change in the landscape and it seems the coal appears in the archaeological sites just as the evidence for ancient forests in the region disappeared,” says Dodson. He thinks the locals switched to coal once they had burned all the wood in the forests for fuel.
“With no other energy supply you would be forced to move on. But here, coal was lying around on the surface — you don’t even have to mine it — and life could continue,” says Dodson.
The finding is remarkable because it is practically the only evidence of coal burning in the archaeological record. One rare exception is a study from the 1990s, which reported limited evidence that lignite (brown coal) was used for fuel around 73,000 years ago in ice age Europe — but not on a routine basis as seems to be the case in Bronze-Age China.
Early coal use could imply that the climate change associated with burning fossil fuels may have begun long before the industrial revolution in the 18th century. “Maybe things were set in train thousands of years ago,” says Dodson.
William Ruddiman at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville has long argued so. His “early Anthropocene” hypothesis suggests human-induced climate change may have begun 8000 years ago. Ruddiman thinks the latest study is consistent with his idea, “because people would have only turned to coal when wood became unavailable because deforestation was nearly complete”, he says.
Jennifer Marlon at Yale University thinks it is unlikely that the coal combustion in China had much of a global climatic impact. “Emissions would have been way too small still,” she says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Once thought to be feral dogs, a new study suggests that dingoes are actually a separate species from their domesticated relatives.
Commenting further, coauthor Mathew Crowther of the University of Sydney said in a research brief: “We can also conclusively say that the dingo is a distinctive Australian wild canid or member of the dog family in its own right, separate from dogs and wolves. The appropriate scientific classification is Canis dingo, as they appear not to be descended from wolves, are distinct from dogs and are not a subspecies.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Officials Can Meet With Jemaah Islamiah Offshoot Despite Links to Terrorism
Australian officials have been secretly authorised to hold talks with an offshoot of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group, despite the organisation being subject to US and United Nations sanctions because of its links with terrorism…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Crowd Attacks Ebola Treatment Center in Guinea
A crowd angry about an Ebola outbreak that has killed 86 people across Guinea attacked a center where victims were being held in isolation, prompting an international aid group to temporarily evacuate its team, officials said Saturday.
The violence took place in the southern town of Macenta, where at least 14 people have died since the outbreak emerged last month. The mob who descended upon the clinic accused Doctors Without Borders health workers of bringing Ebola to Guinea, where there had never previously been any cases.
Some young people threw rocks at the aid workers, though no one was seriously hurt, said Sam Taylor, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders.
“We understand very well that people are afraid because it is a new disease here,” Taylor said. “But these are not favorable working conditions so we are suspending our activities.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Curbing Violence in Nigeria (II): The Boko Haram Insurgency
Africa Report No 216 3 Apr 2014
Executive Summary and Recommendations
Boko Haram’s four-year-old insurgency has pitted neighbour against neighbour, cost more than 4,000 lives, displaced close to half a million, destroyed hundreds of schools and government buildings and devastated an already ravaged economy in the North East, one of Nigeria’s poorest regions…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ENI Mulls Leaving Nigerian Oil Fields Over Thefts
‘Local criminals syphon off 60,000 barrels per day’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 3 — The CEO of Eni told a Senate hearing Thursday that the Italian State-controlled energy giant was thinking of “abandoning” operations in Nigeria. Paolo Scaroni said Eni had suffered too many crude-oil thefts at the hands of local criminals in the Niger Delta, where it has operated oil fields since the 1970s. “Only us, Total, and Shell operate on land in the area. The situation is very delicate because we’re subjected to bunkering,” added Scaroni, referring to the process of syphoning crude from oil pipes. “They then refine it, sell the gas and throw the rest into the sea, creating enormous environmental and economic damage.
“In 2013 we lost 60,000 barrels per day by closing off the pipes. “We need to produce 170,000 barrels a day and we only produced 110,000”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Attack Mosque in Northeast Nigeria, Kill 20
YOBE (Nigeria): Survivors say suspected Islamic militants opened fire in a mosque in northeastern Nigeria and gunned down at least 20 worshippers.
Civil servant Musa Ibrahim said the gunmen struck before dawn on Saturday as residents of Buni Gari village were gathering for the first prayer of the day. The village is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Yobe state capital of Damaturu in an area that has been attacked numerous times.
Mosques have been a frequent target of militants who threaten Muslim clerics who preach against their extremist doctrine…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mob Attacks Ebola Treatment Centre in Guinea
Angry crowds attack Ebola treatment centre, accusing staff of bringing the disease to their town, as fear and mistrust hampers efforts to manage outbreak
An angry crowd attacked an Ebola treatment centre in Guinea on Friday, accusing its staff of bringing the deadly disease to the town, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said, as Mali identified its first suspected cases…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: ‘Biggest’ Mosque in Yorubaland Gets Chief Imam
Islamic scholars have been urged to encourage national unity among Nigerians irrespective of their religious backgrounds. This call was made by a scholar, Sheikh Thaoban Adam, at the turbaning of Alhaji Shakirdeen Babatunde Ibraheem as the Chief Imam of the acclaimed biggest mosque in Yorubaland, in Aiyepe, Ogun State…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Priest Called Cameroon ‘Unsafe’ Weeks Before Kidnapping
(AGI) Rome, April 5 — Father Gianantonio Allegri, one of the two priests kidnapped in Cameroon on Saturday, had described the territory as unsafe in a letter sent from the parish in Maroue on March 12. “The situation of poor security in the territory hasn’t changed: even if alarming instances aren’t manifestly expressed here, it’s palpable in our conversations and feelings”, Father Allegri wrote, adding: “We know that security forces and the army are working to prevent infiltrations at the border with Nigeria.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Priests and Nun Kidnapped in Cameroon
Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun have been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Cameroon, Italy’s foreign ministry and media reports say.
Gunmen ransacked the building in the north-west of the country before taking the hostages, Italy’s Ansa agency said. The area is close to a stronghold of militant Nigerian group Boko Haram…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: US Aid to Egypt Used for Terrorism: Ethiopia Official
A Member of Ethiopia’s largest opposition party UDJ blamed Egypt’s financial assistance to al Shabab militants in Somalia for spreading terrorism in the horn of Africa. According to MP Girma Seifu of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, American aid to Egypt is being diverted to finance terrorists in Somalia as Cairo seeks to weaken Addis Ababa and stop construction of the Ethiopian Dam…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Swede Held in Kenya Terror Group Case
A Swedish man has been arrested in Kenya on suspicion of trying to recruit young men for Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabab. The man was reportedly arrested on March 28th in the city Kapsowar in the Rift Valley province in western Kenya.
“The man is Swedish and he’s now been taken to Nairobi. There are no more details to give at this time,” More details I can not give right now , said Arthur Osiya at Nairobi police to Sveriges Television (SVT). According to SVT a security source said that the Swede is of Somali origin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Italian Priests Are Kidnapped in Cameroon
(AGI) Vicenza, April 5 — Two Italian priests from Vicenza, in the Veneto region, were kidnapped in northern Cameroon, their local diocese reported. The kidnapping was carried out during the night by armed men in the Maroua area. The Italian Foreign Ministry immediately activated its Crisis Unit and the embassy in Yaounde. Sources within the ministry said that confirmation of the kidnapping is being sought.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Two Italian Priests Kidnapped in Cameroon: Official
Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun have been kidnapped by gunmen in northern Cameroon, Italy’s foreign ministry and media reports said on Saturday.
The attack occurred overnight in the north of the west African country, which borders violence-wracked Nigeria, according to the Ansa news agency. The Italian foreign ministry said that two priests from Italy’s northern Vicenza region had been seized, but gave no other details.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Argentina Bank Note Features Map of the Falklands and Folk Hero Antonio Rivero
The new currency may be a move that enrages the British, as it’s currency shows images of both the Falkland Islands, legal territory of the UK, and an anti-UK folk hero.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Salvadoran Sea Survivor Passes Polygraph
The Salvadoran fisherman who says he survived 13 months adrift in the Pacific has passed a lie detector test proving his tale is true, his lawyer said Friday.
A US-based law firm representing Jose Salvador Alvarenga said a psychological exam and the polygraph test showed that the 37-year-old Salvadoran man was telling the truth.
Alvarenga made global headlines after his small open boat washed ashore in the Marshall Islands in January, more than a year after he disappeared off the southwestern coast of Mexico, where he lived for many years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Similarties Between Cuba’s Castro and Barack Obama
Laurie Roth in her recent NWV article about the total take over of America said tyrants and dictators are predictably similar in how they take over. They ride in as the savior of change and hope. Does that sound familiar?…
Former Premier of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus made an interesting observation: “The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Darren Aronofsky’s Noah: Pro-Satan Propaganda
Indeed, none of these aspects surprised me, and I did not expect much better. But I was shocked to see the extent to which the film was not just unbiblical, but stridently anti-biblical. In fact, the movie was actively Satanic.
“Whoa! Only crazies and radicals say stuff like that!” I realize this may sound extreme. But if it is true, surely we should go ahead and say so. And even a cursory review of several elements of the film shows this to be true, indeed.
Consider Noah’s depiction of fallen angels (that is, demons). The movie portrays these creatures as noble beings who wanted to help humanity, who felt sorry for us when the Creator kicked mankind out of paradise — and whom a harsh and heartless Creator God punished for their compassion, encasing them in solid rock to live on earth as monstrosities.
Demons? Caring, self-sacrificial heroes. The Creator? Cruel, heartless, judgmental and silent. Sure sounds “pro-Satan” to me!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gay Mafia Attacks Free Speech, Takes Out Mozilla CEO
Liberal authoritarianism in action
On Friday, the uber-liberal loudmouth, Bill Maher, said there is a gay mafia. It wrecks the careers and reputations of people who do not tote the gay agenda.
“I think there is a gay mafia. I think if you cross them, you do get whacked,” Maher said during an exchange on the step down of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, who committed the unpardonable sin of making a thousand dollar donation eight years ago to support a ballot initiative, supported by 52 percent of Californians, that would have outlawed same-sex marriage. Guest panelist Carrie Sheffield noted Obama was against gay marriage at the time.
So much for the marketplace of ideas. In America today, you cannot go up against the liberal establishment and escape unscathed. The campaign launched on Twitter against Eich, who is considered a highly competent technologist — he invented Javascript, the browser programming language — was so intense and nasty he decided it would be best for the company if he stepped down.
So intense were the attacks, Eich took down his Twitter account and was forced to retreat from the medium he helped develop. “I will be less visible online, but still around,” he wrote in a blog post announcing his decision to step down.
Mozilla, a nonprofit company responsible for the Firefox browser, was obliged to pay homage to the gay agenda and submit to political correctness.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Dr. Brian Mattson
In Darren Aronofsky’s new star-gilt silver screen epic, Noah, Adam and Eve are luminescent and fleshless, right up until the moment they eat the forbidden fruit.
Such a notion isn’t found in the Bible, of course. This, among the multitude of Aronofsky’s other imaginative details like giant Lava Monsters, has caused many a reviewer’s head to be scratched. Conservative-minded evangelicals write off the film because of the “liberties” taken with the text of Genesis, while a more liberal-minded group stands in favor of cutting the director some slack. After all, we shouldn’t expect a professed atheist to have the same ideas of “respecting” sacred texts the way a Bible-believer would.
Both groups have missed the mark entirely. Aronofsky hasn’t “taken liberties” with anything.
The Bible is not his text.
In his defense, I suppose, the film wasn’t advertised as such. Nowhere is it said that this movie is an adaptation of Genesis. It was never advertised as “The Bible’s Noah,” or “The Biblical Story of Noah.” In our day and age we are so living in the leftover atmosphere of Christendom that when somebody says they want to do “Noah,” everybody assumes they mean a rendition of the Bible story. That isn’t what Aronofsky had in mind at all. I’m sure he was only too happy to let his studio go right on assuming that, since if they knew what he was really up to they never would have allowed him to make the movie.
Let’s go back to our luminescent first parents. I recognized the motif instantly as one common to the ancient religion of Gnosticism. Here’s a 2nd century A.D. description about what a sect called the Ophites believed:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Teach Common Sense Not Common Core
“Common Core will be raising good little socialists, who are in tune with their feelings, not so much their critical thinking skills.” — Author unknown
Common Core, the brainchild and work of 30 individuals under the aegis of the Governors’ Association and the almost $200 million sponsorship of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is something else. It is the tool to achieve the “fundamental transformation” of our society as promised in 2008. It is nationalized education “standards” that require students to find another way to reach an answer, particularly in math, even if the answer is wrong, justifying the incorrect answer as the path to help students learn to think critically. This would probably happen right after the student is turned off to math or he/she reaches the right developmental age to think analytically and critically.
A simple addition, 17+25=42, elicited the following response from a second grader in San Jose who was using the GO Math! Curriculum of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, aligned with the Common Core standards, “I got the assignment by talking in my brain and I agreed of the answer that my brain got.”
Here is another simple math problem that a third grader should be able to solve immediately, 26+17=43. In the Common Core new, perplexing, and convoluted way of thinking, the problem is resolved this way:
“Add 26+17 by breaking apart numbers to make a 10.
Use a number that adds with the 6 in 26 to make a 10.
Since 6+4=10, use 4.
Think: 17=4+13
Add 26+4=30
Add 30+13=43
So, 26+17= 43”
If you are dumbfounded by this kind of stressful and irrational logic, you are not alone.
A simple subtraction, 243-87=156 done quickly “the old fashioned way,” turns into a complicated solution that requires strange logic and drawing a graph such as the one illustrated below:…
Parents are waking up and garnering the support of some teachers. But there are powerful groups who are pushing Common Core because there is a lot of money at stake. Common Core standards are not a grass-roots, nor state-led initiative. It is the Obama administration Race to the Top competition bribing schools with billions of dollars if they adopt Common Core.It is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, it is Pearson, the billion dollar educational publishing and testing conglomerate, the Center for American Progress, the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and recipients of Bill Gates Foundation money who continue to propagandize Common Core.
[…]
The Eagle Forum described some of the reading materials aligned with Common Core. The common denominators are anti-Americanism, sexuality, porn, and global warming:
[Comment: Read the article. Commie Core is much worse than you can imagine.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Champions of Censorship Win Again
Brendan Eich, technology innovator credited with inventing JavaScript and co-founding Mozilla, forced to resign as CEO of Mozilla.
One of our cherished rights in this country is our 1st Amendment guarantee of free speech. Throughout our history, Americans have been allowed to speak their mind no matter how controversial the topic. Unfortunately, over time, this right has been steadily diminishing and the forces of censorship are winning. For example, on college campuses today, liberal speakers are welcomed, while conservatives are ignored and labeled too reactionary for young audiences.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Are They Called ‘Homofascists’? Here’s Why…
Many Christians have been warning for years that the radical homosexual activist lobby is made up of Christian-hating fascists who are in rebellion against both God and nature, who are hell-bent on criminalizing Christianity and pushing to the fringes anyone who publicly acknowledges natural human sexuality and the age-old, immutable institution of legitimate marriage as created by God.
Sadly, many people, even many Christians, think that I and others are using hyperbole when we refer to this sexual anarchist “LGBT” movement as “homofascist” or the “Gaystapo.” I hope you’ll think again. It’s time to wake up and smell the impending anti-Christian persecution. It’s fully at hand.
BarbWire contributor Laurie Higgins, commenting on the Washington Examiner story below, summed it up well in an email tonight:
“CEO and co-founder of Mozilla (and inventor of JavaScript) Brendan Eich is forced to resign because of his $1,000 donation to Prop 8 six years ago. So, I guess it’s semi-official: American citizens who believe marriage is inherently sexually complementary cannot work in America — not even in their own companies. First Amendment: R.I.P.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
You Can’t Spell Progressive Without an S.S.
Sinclair Lewis was wrong — when fascism came to America, it was actually wrapped in a rainbow flag and wearing an ascot.
How else can one describe the ongoing left-wing commitment to the stamping out of free speech, whenever that speech contradicts the gay agenda, as well as other parts of the “progressive” platform? With the resignation of newly minted Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, the “progressive” Left, especially its social wing, has once again shown itself to be the enforcers a political correctness in speech and thought that ought to be chilling to any person who actually cares about individual liberty.
It’s time to come right out and say it — the gay “rights” movement is the biggest threat to American freedom in existence today. Bigger than Islamic terrorism. Bigger than Russian revanchism. Bigger even than ObamaCare and our continuing out-of-control spending.
Yet, this is only one small part of the “progressive” movement in America which is quickly taking on shades of 1933. Under Barack Obama, the radical Left has apparently felt that its time has come, and its movement toward open totalitarianism has accelerated. The recent displays of homofascism are but the tip of the iceberg in the Left’s attempts to create an all encompassing control of your lives, your words, and even your thoughts. There is not a single area in your lives or mine that the Left would not like to domineer so as to force compliance. Indeed, anyone who has been paying any attention knows that the left-wing agenda is characterized by this. There is not a single aspect of their agenda that cannot be accurately described by one of the following terms: coerce, regulate, control, punish, socially engineer, mandate, confiscate, or dominate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bananageddon: Millions Face Hunger as Deadly Fungus Decimates Global Banana Crop
Scientists have warned that the world’s banana crop, worth £26 billion and a crucial part of the diet of more than 400 million people, is facing “disaster” from virulent diseases immune to pesticides or other forms of control.
Alarm at the most potent threat — a fungus known as Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4) — has risen dramatically after it was announced in recent weeks that it has jumped from South-east Asia, where it has already devastated export crops, to Mozambique and Jordan.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Quote:
Hopkins pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst over the alcohol limit and possessing cannabis at Taunton Crown Court.
end
So, plead guilty and don’t get punished.
What are courts for?