An officer in the Australian Defence Force was wearing his uniform on the streets of Sydney when he was threatened and assaulted by two men of Middle Eastern appearance. Police are searching for the two suspects. In the wake of the incident, the ADF has advised service members to exercise prudence about where and when they wear their uniforms in public.
In other news, Russia has delivered ten MI-35 attack helicopters to Iraq. The choppers were ordered by the Iraqi government to help in the fight against ISIS.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, RL, Seneca III, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Greece: 6.3 Million People Threatened by Poverty
According to a report of the Parliamentary Budget Office
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — A shocking report of the Parliamentary Budget Office regarding the economic situation of Greek households revealed that approximately 6.3 million Greeks (some 58.3% on a total population of around 11 million according to the census of 2011) are threatened by poverty.
Approximately 2.5 million Greeks are living below the poverty line, while 3.8 million are in direct danger of crossing the poverty line, the report said.
The poverty line, or poverty threshold, is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The survey, entitled “Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) Policies in the European Union and Greece” also notes that protection policies are effective, while the implementation of the GMI in Greece is delayed as GreekReporter website underlines.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Says Italian Banks Must Do Better on Governance
Fund says lenders are making progress
(ANSA) — New York, September 26 — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Italian banks have made progress on improving corporate governance while stressing that they still have a lot of work to do.
In a recent report, the IMF added that it is necessary to beef up Italian regulations concerning big local co-operative banks as well as lenders controlled by foundations, because these “tend to have lower levels of capital and weaker activities with the respect to the system average”. The fund said it is necessary to reinforce vigilance of foundations when these are also bank stakeholders as “foundations don’t have shareholders and are subject to political influence”.
It pointed out that foundations are the majority stakeholders of 23% of Italian landers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York Makes Surprise Trip to Afghanistan
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday as part of a delegation of governors and Defense Department officials to visit troops and receive briefings on counterterrorism and security issues, the governor’s office said.
Also among the group were Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee, Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri and Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada.
This is the second trip abroad for Mr. Cuomo in the recent weeks. He traveled to Israel in August in what his office called an effort to show support for the country in its conflict with Hamas.
| [Return to headlines] |
Oklahoma beheading suspect, and Muslim convert Alton Nolen, aka “Jah’Keem Yisrael,” per a local newspaper account in the McCurtain Gazette (reproduced by Caleb Howe of Truth Revolt),
…was telling coworkers Thursday (9/25/14) of an Islamic teaching that said women should be stoned for an offense, and that an argument followed the remark. Nolen was later fired and returned later Thursday, when he beheaded Colleen Hufford.
The Islamic law, i.e., Sharia-based “offense,” and its requisite punishment by stoning to death, which Jah’Keem Yisrael alluded to Thursday, was certainly adultery.
Reuters reported today, Saturday 9/27/14, from Somalia, a graphic, real time illustration of this living, sacralized Islamic barbarity. The stoning to death yesterday (Friday 9/26/14), of a 33 year-old Somali, as described by Reuters, comported with the Sharia-complaint worldview of the Oklahoma beheading suspect Nolen/ Jah’Keem Yisrael:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Alton Nolen barged into an Oklahoma food plant Thursday, beheaded a woman and stabbed a second, police said. But he may have foreshadowed the attack months ago: In March, he posted a gory photo of a decapitation on Facebook, explaining that ‘Islamic terrorists behead their victims’ because of a ‘precedent bestowed by their Prophet.’
The Muslim maniac who allegedly beheaded his coworker in an Oklahoma office posted a gruesome photo of a decapitation on Facebook months before he carried out the crime.
The shocking image is the most graphic in the collection of chilling posts on Alton Nolen’s profile. His page is filled with grim warnings to America, photos of Osama bin Laden and angry, all-caps messages to his fellow Muslims.
Alton Nolen stormed into the front office of Vaughn Foods in Moore, Okla., Thursday and attacked the first two people he could find, police said. He severed one woman’s head and critically injured a second.
The 30-year-old was fired from the same food plant earlier that day.
Nolen’s former coworkers described him as a recent convert to Islam — and someone so swept up in his new religion that he tried to convert them, too.
On Facebook, he frequently and vocally posted about his religion and the extreme terrorists who share it.
Alton Nolen barged into an Oklahoma food plant Thursday, beheaded a woman and stabbed a second, police said. But he may have foreshadowed the attack months ago: In March, he posted a gory photo of a decapitation on Facebook, explaining that ‘Islamic terrorists behead their victims’ because of a ‘precedent bestowed by their Prophet.’
BY Meg Wagner NEW YORK DAILY NEWSSaturday, September 27, 2014, 11:03 AMA A A 794
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Alton Nolen, the man accused of beheading a woman in an Oklahoma food plant office, maintained a Facebook page full of disturbing warnings to America and photos of terrorist fighters.
The Muslim maniac who allegedly beheaded his coworker in an Oklahoma office posted a gruesome photo of a decapitation on Facebook months before he carried out the crime.
The shocking image is the most graphic in the collection of chilling posts on Alton Nolen’s profile. His page is filled with grim warnings to America, photos of Osama bin Laden and angry, all-caps messages to his fellow Muslims.
Alton Nolen stormed into the front office of Vaughn Foods in Moore, Okla., Thursday and attacked the first two people he could find, police said. He severed one woman’s head and critically injured a second.
The 30-year-old was fired from the same food plant earlier that day.
Nolen’s former coworkers described him as a recent convert to Islam — and someone so swept up in his new religion that he tried to convert them, too.
On Facebook, he frequently and vocally posted about his religion and the extreme terrorists who share it.
Under the name Jah’Keem Yisrael, Nolen discussed an impending judgment day and warned America that the Statue of Liberty “is going into flames.”
While officials have not linked Nolan to any terrorist group, his cover photo featured Taliban fighters, and he once posted uncaptioned photos of Osama Bin Laden.
In March, Nolen even posted a gruesome photo of a beheading…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Every president gets things wrong. What sets Obama apart is his ideological rigidity and fathomless ignorance.
By Bret Stephens
Serious people feel an obligation to listen whenever Barack Obama speaks. They furrow their brow and hold their chin and parse every word. They assume that most everything a president says is significant, which is true. They assume that what’s significant must also be well-informed. Not necessarily.
I’ve been thinking about this as it becomes clear that, even at an elementary level, Mr. Obama often doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It isn’t so much his analysis of global events that’s wrong, though it is. The deeper problem is the foundation of knowledge on which that analysis is built.
Here, for instance, is Mr. Obama answering a question posed in August by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, who wanted the president’s thoughts on the new global disorder.
“You can’t generalize across the globe,” the president replied. “Because there are a bunch of places where good news keeps on coming. Asia continues to grow . . . and not only is it growing but you’re starting to see democracies in places like Indonesia solidifying.”
“The trend lines in Latin America are good,” he added. “Overall, there’s still cause for optimism.”…
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
European Powers Focus on Islamic State at UN Assembly
He noted that 1,000 French people are among the 15,000 foreign fighters in IS ranks. He said French jihadists will be stripped of their passports and that “terrorist propaganda” websites will be shut down.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also concentrated on the Middle East.
He criticised the West for “double standards” on IS at the same time as its support for Israel despite Israel’s killing of hundreds of civilians in Gaza.
He said Islamophobia is just as toxic as anti-Semitism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Congregation Opposes Parking Lot Replacing Church
Saint Rita in Paris ordered to evacuate
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 25 — The parish church of Saint Rita in Paris, one of the few to admit animals during mass, has been ordered to evacuate. The neo-Gothic-style church built in 1900 has been issued the order by a tribunal as the new owner wants it demolished to build apartments and a parking lot.
Santa Rita’s Gallican Catholic archbishop Dominique Philippe has to leave the premises by today but the spokesman for the church’s congregation Franois Lusinchi has warned that pilgrims will “resist” and “occupy the church”.
Two years ago, the cultural association of Catholic chapels which owned the building (Saint Rita is not under the Vatican’s authority) started an evacuation procedure for its occupants and sold the church to a real estate agency that obtained a construction permit.
A court subsequently rejected an appeal against the demolition presented by the association.
Now the congregation hopes to buy back the building thanks to donations.
The parish church was known for blessing motorcyclists and, most of all, for the mass for animals celebrated every first Sunday of November.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Make Lung-Dialysis Breakthrough
First time system successfully experimented in world
(ANSA) — Turin, September 24 — An Italian team of doctors has successfully experimented for the first time in the world a method of lung dialysis to help treat Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which has been ranked at the globe’s third-leading cause of death. The method was tested at Turin’s Molinette hospital and Bologna’s Sant’Orsola hospital. Lung dialysis is a low-invasive system that purifies the patient’s blood by reducing carbon dioxide levels. Tests suggest it can reduce mortality rates among COPD suffers from 35% to 7%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: De Magistris ‘Won’t Quit’ After Abuse-of-Office Conviction
Naples mayor says he is being targeted as part of a plot
(ANSA) — Naples, September 26 — Even as Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said Friday that the mayor of Naples should be suspended under an anti-corruption law, Luigi De Magistris told his city council that he was being targeted by a plot.
De Magistris, a former magistrate, received a 15-month suspended sentence on Wednesday for abuse of office while working on a corruption case. Grasso said that as a result, a 2012 anti-corruption law suspending people convicted of certain crimes from public office, should be used in this case.
“The Severino law should be applied,” said Grasso referring to the measure named after former justice minister Paola Severino. “It has been applied to other mayors. I think it’s inevitable that it will be applied,” added Grasso, a former anti-mafia judge. The case concerns De Magistris’s involvement in obtaining the telephone data of some MPs, including former premier Romano Prodi, without the proper authorization.
He was convicted even though Rome prosecutors in May had asked for the case against him to be dropped. They argued he had only a secondary role in the handling of the related part of the so-called Why Not case in the southern region of Calabria and should therefore be acquitted.
De Magistris said Friday that the Severino law should not apply to his case as it was approved after the trial against him had started.
“We are faced with a deeply corrupt State,” said De Magistris, suggesting certain forces were working to gain control of the southern Italian city.
“While the picture appears even more confused, it also appears clearer that they are working to get their hands on the city,” he added in comments to Naples city council.
The mayor, who was applauded by some councilors during his remarks, also said he had no intention of stepping down.
“They are calling on me to resign because of this conviction, but looking in the mirror, it’s those judges (who handed down the conviction) who should quit,” the mayor said. “I’m confident that this (local) government (executive) can continue until 2016,” he said, adding he intended to serve until the end of his term.
“I don’t think they can wipe out this experience (of local government) with blows landed by judicial technicalities”. However, he added, he was a “man of the (public) institutions” and had faith that “the institutions will be able to repair this violation of the law”. Rome’s Mayor Ignazio Marino said that he respected De Magistris and said he felt badly for his colleague.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Napolitano Will Give Evidence at Mafia Trial — Court
Case regards alleged State-Cosa Nostra negotiations
(ANSA) — Palermo, September 25 — A Palermo court on Thursday reiterated that President Giorgio Napolitano must give evidence at a trial into allegations the Italian State held negotiations with the Sicilian Mafia in the early 1990s. The court had previously upheld a request from prosecutors for Napolitano to be called as a witness, but some lawyers involved in the case had requested that this decision be reversed after the head of State wrote a letter to the judges, saying he had nothing of relevance to testify.
The court said that, as there is no specific law regulating a president giving testimony, it will apply Article 502 of the criminal code, which states that witnesses can give evidence from home if they are unable to attend a hearing.
No date has been set for Napolitano’s testimony. Members of the public and the accused will not be able to attend the hearing at which the testimony is given, although defence lawyers and the prosecution will, the court said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Napolitano Blasts CSM Factionalism
President warns against seeking damaging compromises
(ANSA) — Rome, September 25 — President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday blasted political factionalism within the Italian judiciary’s self-governing body, stressing that the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) was not an “assembly of factions”. The head of State added that “improper negotiations seeking compromises and unhealthy balances between factions” were damaging. Napolitano was addressing the CSM, the make-up of which was finally completed this week at the end of a lengthy deadlock in parliament over the election of new members.
A similar stalemate continues over the filling of two vacant posts on the Constitutional Court, amid wrangling in parliament between parties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Ndrangheta Infiltration in Reggio Emilia Found
Five mn euros in assets seized
(ANSA) — Reggio Emilia, September 24 — Italian police on Wednesday said they had uncovered infiltration of the economy of the wealthy Reggio Emilia region by the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta mafia.
Police seized property worth some five million euros in the provinces of Reggio Emilia as well as Perugia in Umbria and Crotone in Calabria.
It belonged to ‘Ndrangheta-linked construction businessmen from the Calabrian town of Cutro who have been working in Emilia Romagna for years, they said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Major Terror Attack in EU Almost Inevitable, Officials Say
As union scrambles to combat IS threat, anti-terror chief warns al-Qaeda may also strike to prove relevance
A major terror attack on European soil is practically inevitable as Western powers ramp up their assault on Jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria, the Guardian reported Friday, citing an unnamed senior EU official.
The official said Europe was scrambling to deal with the threat of hundreds and possibly thousands of Islamist fighters returning to the European Union from combat in Iraq and Syria with plans to carry out large-scale attacks in the union.
“It is pre-programmed,” the official told the newspaper. “We have clear signals that this is what the foreign fighters are doing. This is the main threat we are facing.”
He added that EU leaders were “very aware and very frightened of this” and currently did not have an effective strategy in place to deal with the threat. “They all fear this could be totally out of control. It may already be too late.”
The EU’s anti-terrorism chief also warned Friday that Europe’s support for the aerial campaign against the Islamic State group would likely lead to attempts at retaliation by Muslim extremists.
“I think we have to acknowledge that it will,” Gilles de Kerchove told the BBC.
“That was clear with the French because three days ago (Islamic State) issued a statement saying there would be retaliation against the coalition. A French man was kidnapped in Algeria and he has been beheaded. So…sadly enough, they did what they announced.”
In addition to the threat posed by Islamic State itself, De Kerchove said the group’s burgeoning popularity among Muslim radicals could encourage other terror groups such as al-Qaeda to carry out attacks in order to prove their worth…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Sicily: 33 Health-Agency Staff ‘Went Swimming in Work Hours’
Accused of defrauding State
(ANSA) — Siracusa, September 24 — Thirty-three employees of a local health agency in the Sicilian city of Siracusa have been placed under investigation for allegedly going swimming while they were supposed to be working.
The 17 managers and 16 staff are accused of defrauding the Italian State.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tory Minister in Great Britain Resigns
(AGI) London, Sept 27 — Tory MP Brooks Newmark resigned on Saturday after being notified of a scandalous story to be published in the Sunday Mirror. Newmark, the minister for Civil Society and a Tory MP at the House of Commons since 2005, submitted his resignation before the story that involves his sending sexually explicit photos to a young female undercover reporter breaks out. This was the second shock in 24 hours for David Cameron, as another Tory stepped down to join Nigel Farage’s Eurosceptic UKIP.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Iraqi Asylum Seekers Make Fortune Renting Out Luxury London Flats — Paid for by You
Claimants stay in a taxpayer-funded lavish apartment, which are then let to super-rich tourists
Former Iraqi asylum seekers have been raking in millions of pounds by illegally sub-letting luxury London flats paid for by taxpayers, The Mail on Sunday can reveal today.
The housing benefit claimants have been funded by the state to stay in lavish apartments in some of the capital’s wealthiest addresses.
But rather than living there, the claimants have been renting them out to super-rich tourists for thousands of pounds a week…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Schoolgirls in Havering Being Targeted for Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
Schoolgirls in Havering are being targeted for sexual abuse and exploitation by a group of young men, the Recorder can reveal.
Havering Council has sent a letter to all headteachers in the borough alerting them to the danger.
The letter, seen by the Recorder, confirms men, “thought to be of Albanian origin,” have attended school premises “in order to target girls.”
Mary Pattinson, head of learning and achievement at the council, told heads to be alert “particularly at the beginning and end of the school day.”
More to follow.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Court to Decide Mubarak’s Fate With Retrial Verdict
An Egyptian court will rule Saturday in the murder retrial of Hosni Mubarak, whose 2011 overthrow unleashed almost four years of tumult capped by the election of another military man.
Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for three decades, is accused alongside seven of his former police commanders of involvement in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that toppled him.
An appeals court overturned his initial life sentence on a technicality.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda Fires Rocket on U.S. Embassy in Yemen, Two Injured
(AGI) Sept 27 — AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), which formed an alliance with ISIS less than one month ago, fired a rocket at the guard post protecting the U.S. embassy in Sana’a, injuring two officers. The attack was carried out after the evacuation order issued by the U.S. State Deparment for all Americans in Yemen. The rocket was fired from a car, 200 metres from the fortified U.S. embassy, with a U.S.-made anti-tank M72 light rocket launcher.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanese political and religious leaders react with emotion and grief at the sheikh’s death. Fr Fadi Daou, founder of Adyan and one of the last people to visit him in hospital, remembers his friend. He was a “true Muslim” who knew how to live his faith to the fullest. His last project was a spiritual retreat for Christians and Muslims.
Beirut (AsiaNews) — At a time when spiritual darkness is spreading over parts of the Middle East, the death of Sheikh Hani Fahs, 68, has elicited an emotional response among political and religious leaders that is far greater than one might expect from his media exposure. It is as if in death, one of Lebanon’s truest voices for interfaith dialogue, a man of great openness, finally found his true stature, one that he embodied by virtue of his own character as well as his knowledge and faith.
Fr Fadi Daou, founder of the Adyan Foundation, was one of the last friends to visit the great thinker in the intensive care unit where he was hospitalised. Standing by the bed, next to intubated body of the dying scholar, F Daou prayed “that God may never deprive Lebanon and the Arab world of fatherly figures of his clarity, i.e. people who live in accordance with their faith and practice what they say.”
This year, the Adyan Foundation had awarded the great scholar its Spiritual Solidarity Prize but had to bestow it posthumously. In announcing the award, Fr Fadi Daou said that what he particularly liked in Hani Fahs was “his distrust of religious men using their authority as an argument, and his closeness to those who humbly, courageously and freely sought God, whatever their religion.”
“You told me: I am a beggar, I beg the love of God and man,” said Father Daou, quoting the great man. “This inner freedom led you to feel responsible for your fellow men, take on their causes, without hesitating or counting your efforts to defend them”.
“You loved young people; you the scientist, the scholar, the teacher,” added Adyan’s founder. “In the impetus of youth, despite possible distractions,” Hani Fahs saw “at least a movement toward the future, at a time in which so many statements and positions take us back. “
Fr Daou hailed Hani Fahs as “a real Muslim who lived his faith to the fullest, as a Shia [. . .] at a time when many claim to be Sunni or Shia and fight accordingly without being real Muslims”.
One of the last projects Sheikh Hani Fahs has in mind was a retreat for Christians and Muslims, at the Convent of Christ the Redeemer in Zahle (Bekaa).
Across the country, especially among Christians, many are paying tribute to his memory, mourning the loss of a man who will remain “a bright light in the history of Lebanon” (according to former Prime Minister Nagib Mikati).
Hani Fahs will be buried today in his native village of Jibchit (southern Lebanon).
Like many of his peers, he studied in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. Now, he leaves behind a large opus of writings, but he will be especially remembered as a true friend of Truth.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Govt Talks to Iran as Anti-ISIS Campaign Rolls on
Iran can play ‘positive role’ against ISIS says Mogherini
(ANSA) — New York, September 26 — Iran can play “a positive role” in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist militia after a long hoped-for deal on its nuclear programme is made, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said Friday.
“Clearly, reaching an accord with Iran would facilitate relations between the countries that are working to combat ISIS and support the Iraqi government,” Mogherini said.
Mogherini said that it was “particularly important” for Iran to reach an agreement regarding its nuclear program in light of the current ISIS threat in nearby Syria and Iraq, where the Islamist fundamentalist militia is carrying out mass atrocities while attempting to carve out a state of its own. She added she is “optimistic” such an agreement can be reached after meeting with her Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
“We agreed it’s essential to make progress this week in order to reach a result by November 24,” said Mogherini, who was recently appointed foreign policy chief of the European Union.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a address to the United Nations Thursday talked of “result-oriented” negotiations for a compromise on his country’s nuclear programme.
Rouhani said Iran’s nuclear programme “must pursue exclusively peaceful purposes” and emphasized the need for “time-bound and result-oriented talks to build mutual confidence”, calling sanctions “unjust “ and “intrinsically inhumane and against peace”.
The end-of-November date is the new deadline set for Iran after a failed attempt in July to come to an accord with six world powers regarding concessions it will make on its nuclear program in exchange for a continued reduction in sanctions.
The Italian foreign minister’s remarks came as an international anti-ISIS coalition led by the United States launched further air strikes against the fundamentalists in both Syria and Iraq, destroying four of their tanks and three jeeps and interrupting oil extraction in an ISIS-controlled oil field in eastern Syria.
Also on Friday, Mogherini said ahead of a European Parliament foreign affairs committee hearing that the Europe must work as a united front.
“We need common European action in the face of global challenges, beginning with the dramatic challenges at our continent’s southern and eastern borders,” she said.
“Now more than ever, the EU must come up with a strategic approach not only to current crises, but also to potential ones and to the impact that apparently distant problems could have on our society and our security”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Accuses U.S. of Military Interference in Syria
(AGI) New York, Sept 27 — Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, spoke out from the podium during the United Nations General Assembly, accusing the United States of ‘military interference’. The minister maintained that the U.S. aim is to defend only its interests, as they have been doing with air raids against ISIS in Syria, Russia’s great ally. The head of Russian diplomacy said that “Washington has openly declared its right to a unilateral use of force wherever it has to defend its own interests.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Delivers Ten Attack Helicopters to Iraqi Government
(AGI) Baghdad, Sept 27 — Ten Russian-produced military helicopters acquired by former premier Nouri al Maliki during a visit to Moscow last year were delivered to the Iraqi government on Saturday. The MI-35 combat choppers, an upgraded version of the Mil Mi-24 Hind used by Russia in Afghanistan in the 1990s, may be a crucial addition to Iraq’s arsenal in fighting ISIS. It is third order for military equipment placed by the al Maliki administration to be delivered.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Three French Suspected Terrorists Arrested in Turkey
(AGI) Paris, Sept 27 — The three French citizens arrested in Turkey after going to Syria, have been charged with “criminal association with the aim of planning terrorist acts”, said their lawyer, Mr Pierre Dunac. One of the three, a 29 year-old, is the brother-in-law of Mohamed Merah, the jihadist from Toulouse who conducted a number of attacks in 2012, which left seven people dead, including three children.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Coalition Air Assault on ISIS Besieging Syrian Town of Kobani
On Thursday, we posted a question on the Iconoclast blog of the NER, “Is the US Going to save Syrian Kurds and Others in Besieged Kobani?” AP reported today of US coalition air attacks on Kobani and other location in ISIS occupied Syria and Iraq, “US-led planes strike fighters attacking Syria town”:
The Islamic State group’s assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has sent more than 100,000 refugees streaming across the border into Turkey in recent days as Kurdish forces from Iraq and Turkey have raced to the front lines to defend the town.
Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, said the strikes targeted Islamic State positions near Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, destroying two tanks. He said the jihadi fighters later shelled the town, wounding a number of civilians. […]The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the coalition’s strikes near Kobani came amid heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and members of the Kurdish force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPK.
The Britain-based group, which relies on activists inside Syria, had no immediate word on casualties from Saturday’s strikes.
This initial air attack at Kobani while welcome, needs more follow up action by the US Central Command and coalition partners. They need to establish a 24/7 no fly zone over the northeastern province of Hasaka, the homeland of Syrian Kurdistan, Rojava. Turkish President Erdogan returning from his UN General Assembly trip in comments in Ankara suggested to President Obama and Vice President Obama establishment of a no-fly zone to protect against Assad regime air attacks on rebel forces and possible use against ISIS. Howwever, he did not indicate what zone should be established. The US has to press the Turks to let Kurdish fighters create a humanitarian corridor. Most importantly, the Turks have to be pressed to permit USAF to fly round the clock missions out of Incirlik air base in eastern Turkey, which lies less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Syrian border. Beside the no-fly Zone over northeastern Syria , Kurdish fighters need training and heavy weapons, especially counter battery, anti-tank weapons to attack ISIS mortars, artillery and tanks. Many of these weapons were captured by ISIS from fleeing Iraqi troops in Northern Iraq and looted from Assad regime arsenals. More pressure has to be exerted on the Administration and Western partners, especially France and the UK, to provide air cover for the Kurdish population in Syria along with training and equipment for their fighters in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine is “Victim” Of U.S.-NATO Interference, Says Russia
(AGI) New York, Sept 27 — Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the Ukraine is a victim of the U.S. and NATO’s “arrogant” policy and interference during his address to the United Nations General Assembly. He said that Western nations present themselves as defenders of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, but then violate state sovereignty and decide what is good and bad for everyone.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mr Modi Goes to Washington to Push ‘Make in India’
After going after Japanese and Chinese billions and before going to America, India’s PM launches a plan to transform the country’s economy. The goal is to create ten million jobs and attract foreign firms to build plants and build its infrastructure.
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) — On the eve of his trip to the United States, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled his administration’s ‘Make in India’ campaign aimed at turning the country into a global manufacturing hub.
The Indian leader made his sales pitch in New Delhi before top Indian CEOs as well as representatives of the world’s top 3,000 companies from 30 countries such as the US, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Poland, Australia, China, Italy, Germany and France.
After striking deals worth billions of dollars with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi is pursuing a plan of attracting investments to India.
The aim is to attract foreign companies to set up factories in India and invest in the country’s infrastructure. This should shift the economy from a services-driven growth model to labour-intensive manufacturing-driven growth. It should also help create jobs for the 10 million people who join the workforce every year.
For Modi, India could become a global leader. As part of this strategy, the government has identified 25 key areas: auto components, information technologies (IT), defence, food processing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, aeronautics, leather, ports, tourism, railway, heavy industry, telecommunications, energy and more.
At today’s unveiling, in addition to a general growth plan, Modi presented specific projects, which provide details on growth drivers, investment opportunities and sector specific FDI (foreign direct investment).
With this in mind, the government has set a web portal (www.makeinindia.com) to provide businesses and firms with information about the plan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Myanmar Grants Citizenship to 209 Muslim Refugees, Even Rohingya
They are part of a group of internally displaced persons fleeing sectarian violence in Rakhine State. Over a thousand Muslims have joined a government pilot program to check the status of refugees. In the past, Burmese authorities repeatedly rejected the persecuted Muslim minority’s request for citizenship.
Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Burmese authorities have granted citizenship to 209 Muslim IDPs fleeing Buddhist-Muslim sectarian violence. The group includes representatives of the Rohingya minority which for years has been the victim of persecution and abuse. The recognition took place yesterday, in the context of the first phase of a larger project that aims to determine the status of about one million Rohingya, whose application for citizenship in the past has been repeatedly rejected by the government.
Its members live in the western state of Rakhine, often in conditions of isolation and apartheid; they must ask permission from the local government to move from villages or camps. Today there are at least 140 thousand people who have been internally displaced by ethnic and sectarian clashes that took place in 2012 with Arakan Buddhist. The Catholic Church in Burma has repeatedly intervened on their behalf.
The government in Naypyidaw and many Burmese refer to Rohingya as “Bengali”, implicitly emphasizing they are “illegal immigrants” from neighboring Bangladesh. However, many families have been living in the area for generations and intend to fight to see their rights recognized.
Burmese officials from the Ministry of Immigration reported that 1094 Muslims have responded to the pilot verification program, in the Myebon refugee camp, about 51 km from the capital Sittwe and accessible only by boat. Among the 209 who have been accorded citizenship, some come from the Kaman Muslim minority and others belong to the Rohingya minority. However, the reasons that led to the recognition of citizenship and the exact number of people who benefited remain unknown.
A Rohingya leader reports that in many have chosen not to take part in the identification program, because they would not agree to be termed “Bengali” at registration. Indeed, a large part of the Muslim minority are stateless, because they are not recognized by Myanmar or neighboring Bangladesh. Even UN officials working in the area no longer use the term Rohingya, to avoid disagreements with the Burmese authorities or local Buddhist religious leaders. A decision strongly criticized by other associations and human rights groups.
Since June 2012, the western state of Rakhine has witnessed violent clashes between Burmese Buddhists and Rohingya causing at least 200 deaths and 250 thousand displaced people. According to United Nations estimates, there are still 800 thousand members of the Muslim minority in Myanmar, who the government considers illegal immigrants and who are therefore subject to abuse and persecution.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
High School Students Join Occupy Protest, Demand Democracy for Hong Kong
More than a thousand teenagers join protest organised by university students and pro-democracy movement. They walk down Tim Mei Avenue to ask mainland China to show respect for Hong Kong’s autonomy. Local police warns against unauthorised demonstrations.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — More than 1,200 pupils, some in their school uniform and others in casual clothes, filled Tim Mei Avenue to ask Beijing to “honour the promises it made” and “grant democracy” to the people of Hong Kong.
Turnout was far higher than expected, organisers said. In Hong Kong’s highly competitive school and society that is significant since joining a strike or skipping class are very risky for students’ careers.
Ho Ho-yin, a Form Five pupil at Ng Yuk Secondary School in Sha Tin, joined the boycott with six classmates. “The central and local government have completely ignored Hongkongers’ voice, so I believe a stronger action, like a class boycott, could prompt the officials to listen to us,” he said.
Leung Mo-man, a Form Five pupil at Sha Tin Methodist College, disagree that secondary school pupils are immature, as some pro-Beijing figures have suggested. “There isn’t a big gap between secondary and university students. Secondary students have their independent thinking as well,” she said.
Joshua Wong Chi-fung, convenor of student-led group Scholarism, said the turnout is much higher than their expectation of around 100 people. “Even though the cost [to pupils] of joining the boycott is higher than that of university students, the secondary pupils are still willing to stand up,” he said. “It’s very encouraging.”
“I support the students to boycott classes if they have the ability and independent thinking to understand what’s going on,” said a woman who accompanied her daughter. “The government has faked Hongkongers over political reform and I do not think the reform proposal could still be amended in the future.”
She was referring to a draft proposal for political reform in Hong Kong by the National People’s Congress that, instead of providing for a roadmap towards responsible government, would allow the mainland to monitor the vote and weed out unwanted candidates.
A 1,200-member committee that includes pro-Beijing business and political leaders would select two or three candidates.
To protest against the decision, the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement announced what it called a “democracy banquet” with its main course on 1 October.
However, Hong Kong police warned that public gatherings of more than 50 people and marches with more than 30 participants require a letter of no objection from the police in accordance with the law. Police insisted that today’s march was unauthorised.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tibet — China: Dalai Lama: A Conclave to Choose My Successor
The leader of Tibetan Buddhism denies reports on the end of his lineage. “Gravely concerned” about Chinese interference in recognition of his heir, announces “similar selection process to that of popes of the Roman Catholic Church” or “written instructions” before he passes away.
Delhi (AsiaNews) — The current Dalai Lama “will not be the last. He is considering a different way of choosing his reincarnation than the traditional method of looking for a young child based on prophecies. The Dalai Lama’s ideas include electing a successor through voting similar to the selection process of popes of the Roman Catholic Church or he would leave a written instruction before he passes away”.
This is according to Tenzin Gyatso, the XIV leader of Tibetan Buddhism, in an interview with the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. The spiritual leader denies reports — published by a German newspaper which have made global headlines — that he would be the last of the Dalai Lama.
The Nobel Peace Laureate explains: “In 2011, I completely retired from political responsibility. China in the past was more concerned because the Dalai Lama had some political significance. Now no longer,” he said. “As early as ‘69, I formally stated that whether the very (religious) institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not is up to the Tibetan people.”
Regarding the misunderstood statements, his secretary, “the Dalai Lama said that a 600 year old tradition could easily end up with a popular leader, and that it would be better that way rather than see it end up in disgrace. But he never said that he would be the last. “
Rather, Tenzin Taklha adds, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is gravely concerned that the Chinese government will choose someone whom it can control as his successor. He also said the Dalai Lama is considering a different way of choosing his reincarnation than the traditional method of looking for a young child based on prophecies. The Dalai Lama’s ideas include electing a successor through voting similar to the selection process of popes of the Roman Catholic Church or he would leave a written instruction before he passes away”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ADF Member Reports Assault in Bella Vista
An investigation has been launched after a member of the Australian Defence Force told police he was assaulted and threatened outside his home in Sydney’s north-west.
The 41-year-old man told police he was threatened and assaulted by two men while wearing his full uniform at Bella Vista at 6.30am on Thursday.
The man, who suffered minor bruising, reported the matter to police and then attended Kings Cross police station in person later on Thursday.
The ADF member described his attackers as being of Middle Eastern appearance.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
ADF Personnel Cautioned on Wearing Uniforms After Sydney Attack Reported
Australian military personnel should carefully consider wearing their uniforms in public, the Defence Department says, after an officer reported being attacked in Sydney.
The 41-year old Australian Defence Force (ADF) officer said he was threatened and assaulted by two males in Sydney’s north-west and suffered minor bruising, NSW police said.
The man called police to report the incident early on Thursday and later spoke to officers at the Kings Cross station.
The two alleged assailants have been described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, police said.
The Hills Local Area Command was investigating.
While the Defence Department has said it would not discuss details about any threats against ADF personnel or their families, a spokesperson said members had been advised to exercise their judgement about wearing a uniform in public.
“ADF members have been advised to consider where they are going, to be aware of their surroundings, and to exercise commonsense and judgement when considering where and when to wear uniform in public,” the spokesperson said.
The incident comes amid concerns about the safety of police officers following an attack in Melbourne on Tuesday which saw two officers injured and their apparent attacker shot dead.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
HE is the baby-faced weapon of the religiously driven, democracy-hating men striving for a Muslim caliphate built on sharia law.
All of nine years old, he stands at the front of a gathering in Sydney reciting passages from the Koran and lecturing followers on the importance of sacrifice in Islam.
The little boy, who according to his father’s social media profile enjoys trips to McDonald’s and dinosaur exhibitions when he’s not giving sermons, heaps praise on “martyrs” and “mujahideen” engaged in bloody jihads throughout the Middle East.
In a video posted by his father, the youngster delivers a chilling speech to a crowd of his “brothers and sisters” in which he calls for the restoration of Islamic authority around the world.
“The mujaheens in Syria and Afghanistan and in Palestine and all around the Muslim lands who know that only Islam can bring mercy to mankind,” he preaches in an Australian accent.
“Let us take this opportunity, in this month (Ramadan) … by sacrificing everything for the sake of Allah.”
The video of the speech was uploaded to social media in July and shared a number of times. At one point the boy appears to receive prompting by somebody sitting behind the lens.
Alongside the video his father — a devotee of controversial Muslim group Hizb Ut-Tahrir — has also shared a number of confronting images, including soldiers brandishing machine guns and Islamic flags.
He has also posted extremist banners proclaiming “Say no to democracy” and proudly describes his admiration for the group’s controversial spokesman Uthman Badar. The man, who The Saturday Telegraph has chosen not to name, seems hell-bent on the idea of a global Islamic state and has shared links to organisations displaying the slogan “Muslims Rise, Caliphate Imminent”…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Fiancée Says Silvio ‘Supports Gay Rights’
Francesca Pascale guest of honor at Gay Village closing night
(ANSA) — Rome, September 26 — Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s fiancée said Friday that her partner is in favor of gay civil rights.
“He’s a liberal,” Francesca Pascale, who joined Italian LGBT advocacy group Arcigay and its center-right counterpart Gay Lib in July, said in a radio interview.
Pascale has been invited to be the guest of honor at the closing night of Rome’s Gay Village, a nightclub and cultural event that has been drawing hundreds of thousands of revellers from mid-June to mid-September since it was founded in 2002. “I’ve been supporting the battle for civil rights, which is not a personal battle but a matter of civilization, since long before I got engaged to Berlusconi,” she said.
Three-time premier and centre-right opposition leader Berlusconi, 77, got engaged to Naples-born Pascale, 28, two months ahead of the February 2013 general election.
Asked whether she considers herself to be part of a transgressive couple, Pascale answered “I call a 50-year age difference pretty transgressive”.
Her husband-to-be, she added, is also in favor of gay rights.
“He is not the problem, but rather the parties in our coalition,” Pascale went on. “The New Center Right (NCD) party is a problem not only for civil rights, but for Italy as a whole”.
The NCD, currently part of Italy’s left-right government and not yet officially back in the centre-right bloc, is a splinter of Berlusconi’s now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party, and is a vocal opponent of gay marriage and adoption rights.
“A party with 2% of the vote doesn’t have the right to pass judgment on everyone else”. Pascale added that she would certainly dance with a drag queen, but doesn’t take a turn around the dance floor with her fiancé because “he’s taken a pledge in church and has given it up”. Asked whether her dog Dudù, a Maltese poodle, is gay, Pascale answered: “He is to me”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish PM Rajoy Withdraws Controversial Abortion Reform
Due to ‘lack of sufficient consensus’
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 23 — A controversial draft law that would restrict the availability of abortion, backed by Spain’s conservative Partido Popular government, was scrapped on Tuesday due to a “lack of sufficient consensus’, said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The government will, however, reform the current regulations — which allow abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy — so that 16- and 17-year-olds will once again have to obtain parents’ permission.
In speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Public Relations World Congress underway in Madrid, Rajoy announced that a Family Protection Plan would be brought in “by the end of the year”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Baron, for your info, that ADF officer has withdrawn the complaint. Apparently his story is a concocted one. I have no other info on that story at this time.
Given how politically correct the senior command of the ADF is these days I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the officer in question was ordered to withdraw his complaint and statement.
I witnessed first hand some of the manipulation that goes on on that sort of stuff when I spent most of a decade working for the Dept of Defence’s PR branch.
I agree with Larry. There will a be little hell to pay for “concocting” the story, but one heck of a lot if he doesn’t say that. I’ve witnessed more deliberate manipulation 20 years ago when there were less cowards so that the numbers who might stand with the victim were far greater.
I wondered about that kind of ‘manipulation’ myself. The officer apparently displayed some ‘bruising’ to police, who BTW, are still looking into the ‘incident’ which must question the real reason behind the complaint withdrawal.
I also note, that one of the chiefs of Defence was pretty quick in getting an apology out to the Muslim ‘community’.
And on another incident not being widely reported, it seems that there have been several ‘incidents’ involving some men of Middle Eastern appearance making their presence felt around Defence Force housing estates near Holsworthy (major Army base) south west of Sydney that is now worrying our soldiers deployed in ‘active’ zones in the Middle East who have left loved ones at home in those areas.
It should be the other way around. Every time a muslim is seen anywhere they should be confronted. Muslims are a very real and present danger to society. And how could any muslim not be? Read the koran. I just hope western non muslim populations have a survival strategy beyond more bought and paid for power and political representation – in the event of another coordinated nuclear or otherwise attack. Increased mass importations of muslim and open borders is not a strategy.
” Muslims are a very real and present danger to society.”
Muslims are a real danger when living in a confused, cowardly gov.
In the first place, what are muslims doing in so large numbers, with 9 children to a womb, doing in Aussie and the west. What does this one-sided, unbalanced romantic love affair mean towards muslims.
The more muslims behead, misbehave, show violence, and demand more power, the more the cowardly west fulfill their imperative orders.
And now every single country has advised its uniformed personnel to avoid their uniforms: Literally and virtually and actually holding the whole western population hostage in their soon to-be-transitioned countries.
Western rulers’ treachery of their own citizen is unprecedented in history, and they are doing it in the name of compassion.
To hell with treacherous DARING LIARS.
“An officer in the Australian Defence Force was wearing his uniform on the streets of Sydney when he was threatened and assaulted by two men of Middle Eastern appearance. Police are searching for the two suspects. In the wake of the incident, the ADF has advised service members to exercise prudence about where and when they wear their uniforms in public.”
Surely this is the perfect illustration of the ‘predicament’ of the West, I think I recall the same being said some time ago* in Britain about British servicemen/women. It says everything we need to know about those that we in the West have at the helm.
Australia isn’t safe for members of Australia’s armed forces and the Australian political establishment isn’t prepared to make it safe. Yet that very same political establishment is prepared to send members of Australia’s armed forces to the Middle East and have them risk their lives in order to make another country safe!
This is precisely the opposite of every natural instinct and by virtue of that very fact it cannot last much longer.
Could it get more absurd? More surreal? Members of Australia’s armed forces are advised to be prudent about when and where they wear their uniforms! The rationale being no doubt that the mere sight of an Australian wearing their military uniform in Australia may provoke Muslims who dwell in Australia into committing violence against them.
I’ve got a better idea: how about the military advise their members to wear their uniforms whenever and wherever it is convenient for them to do so. Carrying loaded sidearms. And if assaulted for the wearing of that uniform they be under standing orders to defend the authority and dignity of the Australian armed forces by using their sidearms in self defence.
Some years ago an Australian journalist with a GoV mindset Tim Blair quipped: “Muslim leaders express fears about backlash against them over tomorrow’s terrorist attack”
Life imitates art. On Saturday Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald – a clone of the Guardian – carried a series of articles about how Australian Muslim leaders are concerned that local Muslims’ fears about Islamophobic attitudes were at an all time high and things were reaching “boiling point” and there could be a repeat of the 2005 Cronulla riots. BTW the Wikipedia entry on that event is woefully PC making the Muslims the victims.
Looks like the signal has gone out: feel free to start attacking Australians in Australia. The Muslim community leadership will respond: we said this was going to happen unless there was more “outreach and sensitivity to Muslim concerns.
This is beyond sad. Whenever things looked dark, I’d say to myself, “well, at least there’s Australia”…you say the signal has gone out: feel free to start attacking Australians…
That old aphorism about the lights going out all over Europe? Hard to believe it’s global now.
As for Wikipedia entries: don’t trust them when it comes to any report on modern events. Like anything after 1900 or so is going to be suspect.
Indeed; I’ve seen their article on GoV.
What a load of rubbish! Isn’t it about time that anyone who verbally abuses a serving soldier is arrested and charged with a “hate crime” and given a mandatory six month stretch? In a wing run by the AB, or the Hells Angels?
After bringing back the birch rod specially for them, and giving them a swift 30 strokes on the cheeks of their bare backside?
Fleeting descriptions of ‘attackers’ to police describing men of Middle Eastern appearance is a hard one to follow through on. The Muslims know how the system operates as they have been manipulating the system to their own advantage for decades now and so will send out ‘clean skins’ i.e. no previous criminal history – so even if caught near the scene of the ‘incident’ will have a reasonable excuse for being in that location – to do the recon and then the attacks.
For the police, it’s almost like chasing ghosts, and until we can as a country finally recognize Islam for what Islam truly represents and then act accordingly, we will as a country continue to chase ghosts.
” . . . hard one to follow through on. ”
Our “democratic” countries make things confused concerning muslims so that they can’t be found, charged or prosecuted. Our western govs. try to avoid any confrontation with muslims no matter how wrong they are. Our govs. are living on borrowed time: just ignore this incident, just turn a blind eye at that incident.
The problem is not with frontline policemen: The problem is with t he superiors and big fish. Policemen who catch muslim criminals are rebuked by their superiors. In all western countries superiors, cabinet ministers, MPs, in all these countries ignore, deny, any muslim criminality. They behave with the same grovelling, dhimmi attitude toward muslims as if all of them have been trained in the same school of slavery to muslim creature.
They have – Common Purpose…