Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/30/2014

The spread of the Ebola virus in Africa is a growing concern, especially in Liberia. The disease has spread to Nigeria, and analysts are worried that the contagion will migrate to Britain and the USA via air travel.

In other news, the Israeli Defense Forces caused international outrage by destroying a mosque in a Gaza refugee camp. However, when entering other mosques, the IDF discovered caches of missiles, weapons, and bombs.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, Phyllis Chesler, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Italy Considering Tax Breaks to Encourage Auto Buying
» U.S. Economy Grew 4% in Second Quarter
 
USA
» Suicide Bomber From U.S. Came Home Before Attack
 
Europe and the EU
» Attack in Germany Prompts Fears Over Rise in Anti-Semitism
» Belgium: Brussels Jewish Museum Suspect Charged With ‘Murder in a Terrorist Context’
» Ebola Virus a Threat to UK, Philip Hammond Warns
» Exodus II: Persecuted Jews Are Fleeing Europe
» Italy: Finmeccanica India Helicopter Bribe Case Shelved
» Italy: Sale of 35% of CDP Reti to China’s State Grid Approved
» Italy: Ex Governor’s Brother Convicted in Terremerse Fraud Case
» Italy: Renzi Watching to See Juncker Pledges Become ‘Facts’
» Italy: Police Clash With No TAV Protestors
» Italy: ‘Sick’ Woman With Two Jobs Charged With Fraud in Sicily
» UK: ‘A New and Emerging Threat’: Government Convenes Cobra Emergency Committee to Respond to Ebola Outbreak
» UK: Anti-Israel Protesters Block London Traffic, Wave Al Qaeda Flag
» UK: By Keeping Its Sharia Guidance, Is the Law Society Fit to Represent Solicitors?
» UK: Board Deputy Resigns After Racism Complaint
» UK: CCTV Shows Man Wearing Rasta Wig Punch Woman to the Ground in Violent Street Robbery
» UK: HSBC Closes Some Muslim Groups’ Accounts
» UK: Outrage as Muslim Mayor of Tower Hamlets Orders the Palestinian Flag to Fly Over Town Hall ‘In Solidarity With Gaza’
» UK: Police Deny Trojan Horse Probe — But Then Admit Officers Investigating if Crimes Have Taken Place!
» UK: Silent Protest in Birmingham as City Council Refuses to Fly Palestinian Flag
» Wave of Anti-Semitism Intensifying in Germany
 
North Africa
» Deaths Reported in Egypt Bomb Blast
» Libya Islamists Seize Key Benghazi Army Base
» Temporary Ceasefire Near Tripoli Blaze, More Diplomats Flee Libya Chaos
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: Israel: Hamas and Obama’s Foreign Policy
» Diplomatic Contretemps in the Israel US Cease Fire Negotiations
» Disney Heiress Takes Code Pink Line, Withdraws Investment From Israeli Company Over ‘Occupation’
» Gaza: Additional Aid From EU for Water, Pharmaceuticals, Etc
» Hamas Says No to Short Truce in Gaza
» IDF Forces Found Missiles, Explosive Devices and Maps in Mosque
» IDF Launches New Offensive Into North, Central Gaza
» IDF Strikes 80 Hamas and Islamic Jihad Targets Across Gaza, Steps Up Offensive
» Israel-Gaza Conflict — Live
» Israeli Strikes on Gaza Destroy Refugee Camp Mosque
» Italy Sending Gaza 1.65 Mln Euros in Aid, Says Mogherini
 
Middle East
» Iraq: Islamic State Jihadists Issue 30-Minute Killing Spree on Video
 
Russia
» Russia Concerned by Reports of Kiev Using Ballistic Missiles in Eastern Ukraine
» Ukraine Conflict: Army Claims Strategic Town in Donetsk
 
Far East
» China: Nearly 100 Casualties in Xinjiang Clash: Uighur Group
» Chinese Authorities Tighten Security in Xinjiang Region After Surge in Violence
» Clashes in China’s Xinjiang Region Leave ‘Dozens’ Dead
» More Violence in China’s Xinjiang After Deadly Attack
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Blast at Northern Nigeria College
» Checks for Ebola at West Africa Airports
» Concert Stampede Kills 33 in Guinea
» Fourth Female Suicide Bomber Hits Nigeria’s Kano, Kills Six
 
Latin America
» Argentina on the Brink of Bond Default
 
Immigration
» 20 Migrants Killed in Shipwreck Off Libyan Coast
» Italy: 112 Africa Migrants Dock at Porto Empedocle
» UK: Cameron Faces Furious Row With Brussels After EU Threat to Wreck Immigration Crackdown
» UK: The Inconvenient Truth Mr Cameron Ignored in His ‘Crackdown’ On Immigrant Benefits… Migrants Handed £5billion Tax Credits
 
Culture Wars
» UK: Now That Richard Dawkins is Attacking Muslims and Feminists, The Atheist Left Suddenly Discover He’s a Bigot
 
General
» Hatred of Jews is Fuelling Protests Across the Western World
 

Italy Considering Tax Breaks to Encourage Auto Buying

Transport minister says plan in the works for Treasury approval

(ANSA) — Rome, July 29 — The Italian government is considering a tax break aimed at encouraging more private and public vehicle purchases as a tool of economic stimulus, Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said Tuesday.

Officials are considering different “incentives” to stimulate activity in the auto sector, said Lupi, adding that he would meet Wednesday or Thursday with Industry Minister Federica Guidi to develop a plan for Treasury approval Italy has one of the oldest automobile fleets in Europe and it needs refreshing, he added.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Economy Grew 4% in Second Quarter

The United States economy rebounded in the spring after a dismal winter, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday, growing at an annual rate of 4 percent for the three months from April through June.

The increase exceeded economists’ expectations and further cemented their views that the decrease in America’s overall output during the first quarter was most likely a fluke tied in large part to unusually stormy winter weather as well as other anomalies. Any dip in gross domestic product outside of an official recession is considered rare.

During the first quarter, output shrank by 2.1 percent, less than had been reported, according to the Commerce Department’s newly revised G.D.P. figures, also released on Wednesday. The department had previously said first-quarter output decreased 2.9 percent.

[Return to headlines]
 

Suicide Bomber From U.S. Came Home Before Attack

When Moner Mohammad Abusalha drove a truck packed with explosives into a restaurant in northern Syria in May, American authorities conceded that they knew little about how a young man who grew up a basketball-obsessed teenager in a Florida gated community had become a suicide bomber.

And they have never publicly acknowledged the startling discovery they made weeks into their investigation: that after receiving training by an extremist group in Syria, Mr. Abusalha had returned to the United States for several months before leaving the country for the last time.

Mr. Abusalha chose to carry out his attack in Syria rather than in the United States, but the difficulty learning about his background, motivations and travels illustrates the problems law enforcement officials face in trying to identify the Westerners — including dozens of Americans — believed to have been trained by Islamic militants in Syria.

[Return to headlines]
 

Attack in Germany Prompts Fears Over Rise in Anti-Semitism

Petrol bombs were hurled at the walls of a synagogue in Wuppertal in western Germany today amid fears of a rising tide of Gaza-related anti-Semitism in Europe.

The attack, which followed a similar incident at a Jewish centre in Toulouse, caused no serious damage. An 18-year-old man has been arrested by German police…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Brussels Jewish Museum Suspect Charged With ‘Murder in a Terrorist Context’

Mehdi Nemmouche charged with shooting that left 4 dead, including 2 Israelis, one day after he was extradited from France.

The alleged Islamist extremist suspected of killing four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May was charged with “murder in a terrorist context” on Wednesday, AFP quoted the Belgian prosecutor’s office as saying.

Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, a French national of Algerian descent, was arrested in France on May 30 and extradited to Belgium on Tuesday to face charges…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Virus a Threat to UK, Philip Hammond Warns

The Ebola virus, which has killed more than 670 people in West Africa, is a “threat” to the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has told the BBC.

So far no Britons have been affected and there are no cases in the UK, but the government is viewing the outbreak very seriously, Mr Hammond said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Exodus II: Persecuted Jews Are Fleeing Europe

by Archbishop Cranmer

You’re not hearing much about this. The media focus at the moment is on the evil Zionist Jews and the Gaza holocaust, Labour’s ‘death tax’, Tulisa’s emotional trauma, and Ebola — the latest pandemic of fear and terror of the earth.

But in the latest International Religious Freedom Report issued by the US Department of State, tucked away amidst the horrors being perpetrated in Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, we find this…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Finmeccanica India Helicopter Bribe Case Shelved

Prosecution finds firm had nothing to do with bribes

(ANSA) — Rome, July 29 — Prosecutors on Tuesday shelved proceedings against aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica for alleged corruption in the sale of 12 AW-101 helicopters to the Indian government. The prosecution found the company had nothing to do with the alleged corruption, the company said in a statement. Prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Busto Arsizio earlier this month asked that former Finmeccanica CEO and president Giuseppe Orsi be sentenced to six years in prison on international corruption charges in the helicopter case.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Sale of 35% of CDP Reti to China’s State Grid Approved

Chinese company to pay over 2.1 billion euros

(ANSA) — Rome, July 30 — The board of Italian State lender, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), on Wednesday approved the sale of a 35% stake in Italian energy-grid holding company CDP Reti to China’s State Grid Corp, a CDP statement said.

The CDP currently owns all of CDP Reti, which has a controlling stake of 30% in gas grid Snam. As a part of the operation, CDP Reti will also receive a controlling stake of almost 30% in power grid company Terna, which is 100% owned by CDP at the moment. China’s State Grid Corp will pay a sum of not less than 2.101 billion euros for the stake in CDP Reti, the statement said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex Governor’s Brother Convicted in Terremerse Fraud Case

Giovanni Errani sentenced to two and a half years in prison

(ANSA) — Bologna, July 30 — A court on Wednesday sentenced the brother of the former governor of the Emilia-Romagna regional government to two and a half years in prison for fraud.

Giovanni Errani, brother of Vasco, stood trial for fraudulently obtaining one million euros in regional funds used to pay for the building of a new winery in the Terremerse cooperative, in the town of Imola, in 2005.

Co-defendant Giampaolo Lucchi, the winery project manager, received a suspended sentence of a year and six months. The court also ordered both defendants’ assets seized.

Earlier this month, an appeals court convicted former governor Vasco Errani of fraud in the same case, sentencing him to one year in prison.

The court sentenced two co-defendants, both of them regional officials, to 14 months behind bars.

Vasco Errani had been acquitted in 2012 in a fast-track procedure on charges that he favored his brother Giovanni in the Terremerse winery deal that made use of public funds.

The investigation into the loan began in 2009, after daily newspaper Il Giornale suggested there may have been irregularities in the issuing of the funds.

Vasco Errani resigned as governor upon his conviction, and remains free pending his appeal.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Watching to See Juncker Pledges Become ‘Facts’

‘An undeniable victory for Italy’s proposals’ says premier

(ANSA) — Rome, July 30 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday that Italy must watch carefully to ensure that pledges by European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker of greater fiscal flexibility and economy-boosting investments become fact.

Juncker has promised an EC package on jobs, growth and investment, involving 300 billion euros over three years. “Juncker’s message is an undeniable victory for Italy’s proposals,” Renzi said in a recap of his first 150 days in office.

“We will remain vigilant to make sure words turn into actions”.

The Italian premier pointed to recent economic policy moves by his administration as an example of growth-boosting measures on the domestic level. “We lowered taxes for businesses and the middle class,” Renzi said. “We cut the IRAP (regional business tax) and utilities bills for small and medium businesses by 10%, respectively”.

He also pointed to an 80-euro monthly bonus for low income earners, which he said affects 11 million families. “It’s a small drop in the sea, but it marks a (policy) U-turn,” Renzi said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Clash With No TAV Protestors

Demonstrators use shrubbery to create barriers

(ANSA) — Alessandria, July 30 — Police clashed with protestors Wednesday during demonstrations against a controversial TAV high-speed rail project in northern Italy.

Protestors created small barricades using shrubbery as they demanded a halt to the project including the public expropriation of land in the area where the high-speed train line, which will connect Turin to Lyon, is being built.

No TAV protestors said affected property owners were offered as much as five times the value of their land by governments anxious to create what proponents say will be an important link for business and industry.

Opponents, who rallied near an existing rail line that will be replaced by the TAV, said that was an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money.

The protests, which have sometimes turned violent, have built up steam in recent years and been taken up by leftist and anti-capitalist groups despite government efforts to persuade opponents that the line is an essential piece of infrastructure, especially when Italy’s economy has been suffering its longest postwar recession.

The Italian and French governments have insisted that the link will not only speed passenger and freight traffic but also boost both countries’ economies.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ‘Sick’ Woman With Two Jobs Charged With Fraud in Sicily

(AGI) Messina, July 30 — A 41-year-old woman from Taormina, in Sicily, has been charged with social security fraud after taking medical leave from her job at a restaurant to work at a hotel in Giardini di Naxos.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘A New and Emerging Threat’: Government Convenes Cobra Emergency Committee to Respond to Ebola Outbreak

The deadly Ebola virus poses a ‘very serious threat’ to Britain, it was warned today as the government convened a meeting of its Cobra emergency committee.

Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered ministers to review measures needed to protect Britons at home and abroad.

It comes as a man has been tested for the Ebola virus in Birmingham, putting doctors on red alert for signs that the outbreak which has killed more than 670 people in West Africa could be heading to the UK…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Anti-Israel Protesters Block London Traffic, Wave Al Qaeda Flag

Islamist protesters wave PLO, Al Qaeda flags as they leave motorists trapped in a major traffic route under the River Thames.

A shocking video from a major traffic artery in London shows Islamist protesters blocking the route in a loud protest which included the waving of an Al Qaeda flag.

The footage was taken last week in Blackwell Tunnel — a major traffic route which runs underneath the River Thames in Britain’s capital city, leaving motorists temporarily trapped in the tunnel…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: By Keeping Its Sharia Guidance, Is the Law Society Fit to Represent Solicitors?

By LSS [Lawyers’ Secular Society] Secretary Charlie Klendjian

It’s been over four months since the Law Society published its practice note on sharia succession rules. Since then there has been some progress but unfortunately there is a good deal still to be done, as this post will demonstrate…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Board Deputy Resigns After Racism Complaint

A Board of Deputies representative who was accused of making racist comments has resigned from his position.

Board President Vivian Wineman said he “utterly condemned and deplored” the remarks made by Antony Cohen, a deputy for the Leeds Jewish Representative Council.

“We emphasise that his views have absolutely no place at the Board of Deputies and note that he was speaking without the authority of his constituency.”

At a Board plenary meeting earlier this month, Mr Cohen told deputies: “I’m going to lay all my cards on the table, I don’t care about any Palestinians, I only care about the Jewish people in this country and in Israel. We are facing a tremendous danger.”

The remark prompted 10 deputies to file a code of conduct complaint against him for racism and discrimination.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: CCTV Shows Man Wearing Rasta Wig Punch Woman to the Ground in Violent Street Robbery

This is the moment a robber pulled a Rastafarian wig from his trousers to use as a disguise before punching a woman to the ground and stealing her handbag.

Police have released CCTV footage of the incident in an attempt to trace the man who left the 40-year-old woman with a broken arm and afraid to leave her home alone.

The victim was attacked from behind while she was outside the front door of an address in Northumberland Road, Walthamstow, on July 4, in broad daylight…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: HSBC Closes Some Muslim Groups’ Accounts

HSBC bank has written to Finsbury Park Mosque and other Muslim organisations in the UK to tell them that their accounts will be closed.

The reason given in some cases was that to continue providing services would be outside the bank’s “risk appetite”.

The wife and teenage children of a man who runs a London based Islamic think tank have also been contacted.

HSBC said decisions to close accounts were “absolutely not based on race or religion”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Outrage as Muslim Mayor of Tower Hamlets Orders the Palestinian Flag to Fly Over Town Hall ‘In Solidarity With Gaza’

Lutfur Rahman ordered move ‘in support of a ceasefire and peace’

Tower Hamlets’s Muslim mayor Lutfur Rahman sparked a storm of protest tonight after raising the Palestinian flag over the town hall ‘in solidarity with Gaza’.

Barely 24 hours after it emerged Mr Rahman is to face trial over claims he committed widespread voting fraud, he ordered the flag to fly ‘in support of a ceasefire and peace’.

Jewish leaders condemned the move as ‘destructive’ for community relations as local residents said the council should concentrate on ‘potholes and bins’ and not international conflicts.

Mr Rahman was a member of the Tower Hamlets Labour Party and was its candidate to be the first directly elected mayor of the borough in 2010.

But he was expelled from the Labour party after allegations surfaced about his close links with an Islamic extremist group called the Islamic Forum of Europe.

He is accused of using illegal tactics to win the mayoral election in Tower Hamlets, East London, in May…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Police Deny Trojan Horse Probe — But Then Admit Officers Investigating if Crimes Have Taken Place!

Spokesman told Mail officers would ‘examine whether any criminal offences have been committed’

West Midlands Police have issued an astonishing denial they are investigating the Trojan Horse scandal — but then admitted its officers are looking to see if any criminal offences have taken place.

We told today how the force had finally begun a probe into the schools controversy after receiving potential new evidence from former terror chief Peter Clarke and others…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Silent Protest in Birmingham as City Council Refuses to Fly Palestinian Flag

Gaza supporters to gather in Victoria Square to send “message of solidarity”

Gaza supporters are to stage a silent protest in Victoria Square after Birmingham City Council refused to fly the Palestine flag.

And councillors and members of the public will show their solidarity with Gaza by raising the flag outside the council house in an hour-long demonstration on Friday.

A spokesman for Birmingham City Council had said flying the flag would break council protocol.

Thousands have already shown their support for Gaza in peaceful demonstrations across the region.

And Coun Mariam Khan (Lab, Washwood Heath), who is organising the silent protest, said she was expecting another “good turnout”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Wave of Anti-Semitism Intensifying in Germany

Arsonists have attempted to burn down a synagogue, while a rabbi in Frankfurt has received death threats, as the wave of anti-Semitic attacks triggered by the conflict in Gaza continues in Germany…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Deaths Reported in Egypt Bomb Blast

Police officer says three people killed in explosion near Cairo possibly detonated explosive device by mistake.

Three people have been killed in a car-bomb blast in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, according to Egyptian state media.

Security officials were quoted as saying those killed were carrying an explosive device in their car and likely detonated it by mistake.

MENA news agency said the explosion took place early on Wednesday in the town of el-Saf in Giza province…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Libya Islamists Seize Key Benghazi Army Base

TRIPOLI: Islamist groups seized the headquarters of the army’s special forces in Libya’s second city Benghazi after days of fighting, plunging the country further into lawlessness and uncertainty.

An Islamist and jihadist alliance announced the capture of the main military base in the eastern city in a statement early Wednesday, which was confirmed by an army official…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Temporary Ceasefire Near Tripoli Blaze, More Diplomats Flee Libya Chaos

(Reuters) — Rival militias fighting for control of Tripoli airport agreed on Wednesday to a temporary ceasefire to allow firefighters to try to control a huge blaze at a fuel depot hit by a rocket.

After a fortnight of the worst fighting since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, most Western governments have followed the United States and United Nations pulling their diplomats out of the North African country…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: Israel: Hamas and Obama’s Foreign Policy

When US President Barack Obama phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, in the middle of a security cabinet meeting, he ended any remaining doubt regarding his policy toward Israel and Hamas.

Obama called Netanyahu while the premier was conferring with his senior ministers about how to proceed in Gaza. Some ministers counseled that Israel should continue to limit our forces to specific pinpoint operations aimed at destroying the tunnels of death that Hamas has dug throughout Gaza and into Israeli territory.

Others argued that the only way to truly destroy the tunnels, and keep them destroyed, is for Israel to retake control over the Gaza Strip.

No ministers were recommending that Israel end its operations in Gaza completely. The longer our soldiers fight, the more we learn about the vast dimensions of the Hamas’s terror arsenal, and about the Muslim Brotherhood group’s plans and strategy for using it to destabilize, demoralize and ultimately destroy Israeli society…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Diplomatic Contretemps in the Israel US Cease Fire Negotiations

This afternoon we held the third weekly conversation about Israel’s War with Hamas in Gaza on Pensacola Radio station 1330amWEBY with host Mike Bates, Rabbi Eric Tokajer and myself. We discussed the status of the conflict, its nuances and what was the fifth Hamas rejection of a cease fire from Egypt that Israel approved. We also discussed Secretary of State Kerry’s handling of the latest cease fire proposals that infuriated Israelis across the political divide. We noted what Ari Shavit, columnist for Ha’aretz, and author of My Promised Land said: “U.S. Secretary of State of State John Kerry ruined everything”.”Very senior officials in Jerusalem described the proposal that Kerry put on the table as a strategic terrorist attack.” That was a reference to Kerry’s conveying to Israel what were Hamas’ demands for lifting of the blockade and opening of the frontier with Egypt…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Disney Heiress Takes Code Pink Line, Withdraws Investment From Israeli Company Over ‘Occupation’

by Phyllis Chesler

Abigail Disney, Walt’s great-niece and heiress, has just withdrawn her 12 million dollar investment in the Israeli Company Ahava because, she says, it is “stealing minerals” from an “Occupied West Bank.” Ms. Disney believes this violates both the 1970 Hague Convention and the Geneva Convention “by exploiting natural resources in occupied territories.”

Well—not exactly, and not so fast.

Disney is not actually withdrawing a penny for “complicated financial reasons.” She has decided to “donate the profits, as well as funds equal to the value of her shares in the Dead Sea minerals cosmetics firm Ahava, to groups working to end this illegal exploitation.”

Serious Israeli (and non-Israeli) legal experts view the territories as “disputed” not “occupied”—but let’s not quibble…

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

Gaza: Additional Aid From EU for Water, Pharmaceuticals, Etc

Crucial that aid gets to those in need, Commissioner Georgieva

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JULY 28 — The European Commission is giving an additional 5 million euros to support emergency relief operations in the Gaza.

The new funding will enable organizations working on the ground to provide drinking water, emergency healthcare, basic household products and hygiene kits, as well as food rations. “I am horrified by the loss of lives and injuries caused to civilians in Gaza,” said Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. “It is unconscionable that hospitals and schools, where there are terrified children, women, the sick and the elderly taking shelter, have become military targets. The appalling consequence is that in the last two days children have been killed at the rate of one an hour. It is intolerable that UN premises are subject to attacks.” The commissioner called on the parties to the conflict to ensure full and safe access to aid workers. “It is crucial that assistance reaches these people in desperate need,” she said. Since the beginning of this latest outbreak of hostilities, the European Commission has refocused its humanitarian assistance in Gaza to respond to the most urgent needs of its people. Today’s additional aid brings the Commission’s total humanitarian funding in Gaza in 2014 to 23.5 million euros.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Hamas Says No to Short Truce in Gaza

GAZA, July 30 (Xinhua) — The Islamic Hamas movement rejected on Wednesday an Israeli-proposed four-hour lull of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri said in a press statement that the Israeli proposal for a four-hour truce is worthless as it does include hot zones along the borders with Gaza. “This is an act of media maneuver,” he said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Forces Found Missiles, Explosive Devices and Maps in Mosque

During the night, the IDF attacked 80 terrorist targets within Gaza, including mosques that Hamas used for terrorist activities. The infantry and engineering corps destroyed three tunnels designed to harm Israeli civilians, in addition to revealing anti-tank missiles and other weapons hidden inside a mosque…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Launches New Offensive Into North, Central Gaza

The military is advancing into more densely populated areas, with close air support, says IDF Radio. Two soldiers lightly hurt.

The Israel Defense Force began to advance toward “new targets” in the Gaza Strip Wednesday morning, ignoring US President Barack Obama’s reported attempt to strongarm Israel into an immediate ceasefire.

IDF Radio, which reports the military advance, said that “it can be estimated that the IDF received permission from the political echelon to advance forward in various sectors in northern and southern Gaza.”

The advance is into more densely populated areas, it said, and the movement is being accompanied by fire, and receiving close air support from aircraft. Two soldiers have been lightly injured, so far, from antitank fire, and a explosive charge was also activated against a tank. No one was hurt…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Strikes 80 Hamas and Islamic Jihad Targets Across Gaza, Steps Up Offensive

Troops destroy 3 tunnels, discover weapons, maps and explosives; IDF strikes mosques used by Hamas for military activity; 5 soldiers wounded in Tuesday mortar attack.

The IDF killed over 20 terrorists and struck more than 200 targets from the air in the past 24 hours in Gaza.

The targets included mosques which were being used by Hamas for military activities. One such mosque was used as a command center while another had been in use as an observation post to monitor IDF troop movements. That mosque was in close proximity to a children’s playground.

Troops destroyed three terror tunnels and discovered another containing large quantities of AK-47 assault rifles and grenades…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Israel-Gaza Conflict — Live

A second UN school has been attacked by Israeli shells with Gaza’s emergency services saying ‘dozens’ killed as fresh ceasefire attempts are made. Follow developments here

Latest

09.24 Israel Defence Forces say they continue to destroy tunnels

IDFSpokesperson IDF [Twitter] Our forces have detonated three Hamas tunnel routes within Gaza in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Radio 4’s Sarah Montague quotes some of the interview with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on the Today programme

Sarah_Montague Sarah Montagu [Twitter] Foreign Sec Philip Hammond on @BBCr4today now: western opinion “rapidly turning against Israel because of the scale of the action in Gaza”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Destroy Refugee Camp Mosque

Shocked Gaza residents survey the damage after a refugee camp mosque was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the early hours of Wednesday morning

The mosque, in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, was reduced to ruins during Israeli airstrikes overnight on Tuesday. Mohammad Sousi, who built the mosque, could not believe what he was seeing…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Sending Gaza 1.65 Mln Euros in Aid, Says Mogherini

‘For medicine and primary needs’ says foreign minister

(ANSA) — Rome, July 29 — Italy will send 1.65 million euros in aid to Gaza, Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini told the Lower House Tuesday.

The funds are being donated following appeals from international agencies and NGOs, and will be spend on medicine and primary goods for the civilian population. “As well, Italy contributes four million euros to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) budget, and two million euros to aid Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon,” the minister told MPs.

Halting the now 22-day war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas government is “imperative”, Mogherini added.

“A truce is not, will not be decisive but it is the first, indispensable step to stop weapons and start the negotiating process. This is why we are all working so the sides will accept a first, immediate and unconditional truce”, added Mogherini.

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 100 Palestinians since midnight, including five entire families in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, local sources told Haaretz newspaper.

Also on Tuesday, a senior Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official said all Palestinian factions have agreed to declare an unconditional 24- or 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire.

This was soon denied by the militant Hamas organization, which said it will only hold its fire if Israel does.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Islamic State Jihadists Issue 30-Minute Killing Spree on Video

Video depicting the slaughter of hundreds by Isis jihadists released as a warning to its enemies that they face a horrific death

Al-Qaeda linked terrorists that control swathes of Iraq and Syria have circulated a video compilation of hundreds of graphic executions to mark the Muslim religious festival of Eid.

Accompanied by an explicit threat to Iraqi soldiers , the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis), showed dozens of young men men cowering in the shadow of gunmen before being brutally slaughtered…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Concerned by Reports of Kiev Using Ballistic Missiles in Eastern Ukraine

DUSHANBE, July 30 (RIA Novosti) — Moscow is concerned by reports that Ukraine’s government troops have used ballistic missiles against independence supporters in the country’s east, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Conflict: Army Claims Strategic Town in Donetsk

The Ukrainian army says it has seized a key town near the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, as fighting rages in the east.

Pro-Russia separatists were driven out of Avdiivka on Wednesday, the army said. The strategic town is near the airport and train station in Donetsk…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

China: Nearly 100 Casualties in Xinjiang Clash: Uighur Group

BEIJING: A clash in Xinjiang, home to China’s mostly Muslim Uighur minority, left nearly 100 people dead or wounded, an exile group said on Wednesday (July 30) after what authorities called a “terror attack” on a police station and township.

Dozens of civilians and assailants were killed and injured in the attack by a gang armed with knives and axes, Chinese state media reported late Tuesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Authorities Tighten Security in Xinjiang Region After Surge in Violence

Tensions run high between government and Muslim Uighur minority after spate of clashes in north-western China

Security tightened drastically across China’s far western city of Kashgar on Wednesday, as Uighur exiles disputed official reports blaming terrorists for fatal violence that claimed dozens of lives in the same part of the Xinjiang region two days earlier.

Residents and travellers said that extra security officials poured into the city, roads were closed and internet access cut, as Reuters reported a possible stabbing death.

A French traveller told the news agency he saw a body lying in a pool of blood outside the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar on Wednesday morning, and two people with knives running away, but could not tell the cause of the violence…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Clashes in China’s Xinjiang Region Leave ‘Dozens’ Dead

Clashes between police and a mob left dozens of people dead in China’s turbulent Xinjiang region, marking a new escalation of violence with the ethnic Uighur minority after a series of bomb attacks in recent months.

Authorities shot and killed dozens of people who had killed or wounded dozens of others in attacks on a police station and government offices on July 28, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The Uyghur American Association said 20 Uighurs were killed in what it called “excessive state violence” against people protesting a crackdown timed with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

More Violence in China’s Xinjiang After Deadly Attack

(Reuters) — Western tourists saw a body lying in a pool of blood in a major city in China’s violence-prone Xinjiang province on Wednesday, as security forces flooded in after the government said dozens of knife-wielding attackers were shot dead elsewhere in the region earlier in the week…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Blast at Northern Nigeria College

A suicide bomb has exploded at a college in northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano, and there are casualties, witnesses say.

The explosion occurred as students queued to check their names on a new admission list, they added. Bodies lay strewn at the blast site, witnesses told the BBC…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Checks for Ebola at West Africa Airports

The Ebola outbreak in western Africa has prompted airport controls of passengers following the death of a Liberian in Nigeria last week. More than 670 people have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since March.

The regional airline ASky said on Tuesday it had suspended all of its flights to and from Freetown and Monrovia, the capitals of Sierra Leone and Liberia to inhibit the potential spread of the viral disease.

Passengers departing Conakry in Guinea and Lome in Togo were being screened by medical teams, ASky said.

Nigeria said it had banned entry to ASky until it could prove that all its passengers had been adequately screened. And, the private clinic where the man died was being “decontaminated.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Concert Stampede Kills 33 in Guinea

CONAKRY, July 30 (Xinhua) — At least 33 people were killed in a stampede following a beach concert in Guinea’s capital of Conakry, local media reported Wednesday.

The tragedy occurred Tuesday when the crowd were leaving through a narrow gate after the concert, which was organized to celebrate the end of Ramadan…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Fourth Female Suicide Bomber Hits Nigeria’s Kano, Kills Six

KANO Nigeria (Reuters) — A female suicide bomber blew herself up in a college in northern Nigeria’s biggest city of Kano on Wednesday, killing six people and critically wounding another six in the fourth such attack by a woman in Kano in less than a week, a security source said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Argentina on the Brink of Bond Default

Economy minister in negotiations in New York

(ANSA) — Buenos Aires, July 30 — Argentine’s economy minister Axel Kicillof was in New York on Wednesday, in final negotiations aimed at avoiding a bond default.

The meetings come after a United States judge ruled in favour of hedge fund investors who have demanded repayment of $1.3 billion.

If a deal to avoid a default can’t be reached it would mark the second such financial crisis for Argentina, which defaulted in 2001.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

20 Migrants Killed in Shipwreck Off Libyan Coast

ROME, July 30 (Xinhua) — A boat said to be carrying 150 people sank some 100 km off Libya’s capital Tripoli, killing at least 20 African migrants and leaving dozens missing, Italian media said Wednesday.

According to Libyan sources quoted by ANSA news agency, 22 people were pulled to safety by Libyan rescue teams. The survivors said they were attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and there were around 150 people on board.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident more than 100 Africans were being carried to a port of Sicily after being rescued by the Italian government’s Mare Nostrum, or Our Sea, search-and-rescue patrol mission in the past hours off the island in southern Italy, ANSA added…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: 112 Africa Migrants Dock at Porto Empedocle

Coast Guard intercepted Liberian ship in Straight of Sicily

(ANSA) — Palermo, July 30 — A Liberian boat carrying 112 migrants from sub-Saharan African was escorted by the Italian Coast Guard Wednesday to Sicily’s Porto Empedocle.

The migrants from the boat Perge were to be transferred to a centre in Trapani, almost 200 km away, rather than the nearby centre in Siculiana which was said to be at capacity with 260 migrants.

The Liberian boat was intercepted in the Strait of Sicily, the 90-mile-wide strip of sea between Sicily and Tunisia, the northernmost country in Africa.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of 67,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Italy to date this year, including over 6,500 unaccompanied children.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has pleaded for more help from other European countries in managing the migrants, many of whom are heading for other parts of the continent.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Cameron Faces Furious Row With Brussels After EU Threat to Wreck Immigration Crackdown

DAVID Cameron was facing a furious new row with Brussels tonight after European Union officials threatened to wreck his latest immigration crackdown.

The European Commission signalled that the Prime Minister’s plans for extra curbs on welfare claims by migrants could be in breach of EU law.

In a chilling warning to Downing Street, they vowed to “investigate” his remarks to find out whether the blitz on benefits was incompatible with EU obligations to treat all citizens equally.

But the broadside from Brussels was angrily dismissed by Number 10 insiders this afternoon. A senior Government source hit back: “On this issue, we could not be clearer. We are confident these plans are fully compliant with the law.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: The Inconvenient Truth Mr Cameron Ignored in His ‘Crackdown’ On Immigrant Benefits… Migrants Handed £5billion Tax Credits

by James Slack

Britain is spending £5billion a year on tax credits for migrant workers, it has emerged.

Official figures show that 415,000 foreign nationals are benefiting from the perk, worth the equivalent of almost £100million every week. The bill dwarfs the total savings achieved by David Cameron’s latest crackdown on out-of-work welfare payments to migrants, which was unveiled amid great fanfare on Tuesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Now That Richard Dawkins is Attacking Muslims and Feminists, The Atheist Left Suddenly Discover He’s a Bigot

By Damian Thompson

Richard Dawkins, what on earth happened to you?’ asks Eleanor Robertson in the Guardian today. Ms Robertson is a ‘feminist and writer living in Sydney’. She follows to the letter the Guardian’s revised style guide for writing about Prof Dawkins: wring your hands until your fingers are raw, while muttering ‘Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Hatred of Jews is Fuelling Protests Across the Western World

by Andrew Bolt

A PUTRID Jew-hatred has returned to the West, fed by mass immigration and stoked by the Left.

Do not mistake this anti-Semitism for mere anger at Israel over the war in Gaza. That war is just the calculated pretext for a month of menace that has terrified many Jews — as well as those of us who prize civilisation over barbaric tribalism.

France now has more than six million Muslims and two weeks ago Arab protesters — some chanting “death to Jews” — attacked synagogues, torched cars and burned Jewish shops in Sarcelles, a suburb of Paris dubbed “Little Jerusalem”.

Germany now has four million Muslims. Arab and Turkish protesters were this month filmed shouting “Gas the Jews” and other Jew-hating slogans and a Berlin imam, Sheik Abu Bilal Ismail, was filmed at his mosque preaching: “Oh Allah, destroy the Zionist Jews … Count them and kill them to the very last one. Don’t spare a single one of them.”

The Netherlands has almost one million Muslims and protesters in The Hague this month chanted “Death to the Jews” in Arabic, while some waved the black flags of the Islamic State terrorist group. The home of Holland’s chief rabbi was pelted with rocks…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/30/2014

  1. So some in slumbering Europe are starting to wake up . . . albeit a rude wake up. I hope it is not too late.
    Is this waking up worrying the DARING LIARS a.k.a. elected western politicians. Ah these are elected so don’t error. They can’t error. If they error no one will notice or complain. That’s true as democracy goes. Awakened swedish women . . . be reasonable leaders and take back your country and Europe from the spineless cowards.

  2. “I don’t care about any Palestinians, I only care about the Jewish people” I support this sentiment and I am not prepared to resign from anything.

    Palestinian and islamist flags in UK: Blair and his commie cronies repealed the UK treason laws but we still have laws against sedition. Why don’t we bang up all these pallys and their supporters and enablers?

    Finally, when will Lutfur Rahman be arrested and the law be allowed to take its course?

    Answers on a postcard……

    • “I don’t care about any Palestinians, I only care about the Jewish people”
      And that is precisely why Israel will never know peace or security. Racist Jews. No better than racist Muslims, and not much different at heart.
      I spent long enough in rural Israel to be appalled at the living conditions of Palestinian villagers, denied piped water and power while the Jewish settlement on the hill had everything laid on by the government. This was my first encounter with apartheid, and it was not in South Africa. I think you obsessive Israel fans are lucky so few outsiders have actually spent any time there.

      • I didn’t see Peter’s appalling sentiment, nor am I going to search for it; just happened to open the page just now to approve comments during the Baron’s absence. Yours was at the top, so I approved it – in bothe senses of that word. Such sentiments are appalling.

        However, it’s not that simple: there are dirt poor Israelis who suffer from the same neglect – ask MC in Sderot. Or look at the conditions of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

        Sometimes I think is is easier to overcome hatred than it is to get past the inhumanely indifferent evil chauvinism of “I don’t care about X, I only care about Y”. It’s closely aligned to “I got mine and the rest of you are obviously less deserving or you would be like me”.

        Calling such immoral calculations “racism” doesn’t do justice to the regressive tribal fears expressed by Peter. “Racism” would be an improvement.

      • BTW, I’ve heard that template expressed in a myriad of ways:

        I only care about America
        I only care about my family
        I only care about what the ____________ did to the ___________ in the year ______. I will never forget. They will pay.

  3. @Checks for Ebola at West Africa Airports

    Would have thought the only effective CHECKS would be to quarantine the prospective passengers for 21 days.

    At what point would international air travel from a epidemic area be curtailed?

    • When there are enough dead family members of enough voters to threaten the re-election of enough congressmen or MPs. That’s when the rules start to change.

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