Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/16/2014

Yesterday the Russian central bank increased its key interest rate in an attempt to stop the slide of the ruble, but its effect was short-lived. The ruble resumed its plunge against other currencies today, as the price of oil continued to drop. The decline of the ruble is having ripple effects beyond Russia, pulling down stock market prices in other emerging economies and causing serious damage to investment funds, even in some Western countries.

In other news, a bomb exploded on a road in Yemen, killing twenty-five people, at least fifteen of them children on a school bus.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, K, Phyllis Chesler, 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
» Bank of Italy Says Italians Net Wealth Falling With Crisis
» Croatia’s Unemployment Increases, 19.1% in November
» Czech Central Bank Urges Postponing Euro Entry
» Divorce Rate Surges in Spain
» German Central Banker Says Don’t Expect Much From ECB QE
» India’s Inflation Rate Flat, Raising Rate Cut Hopes
 
USA
» Curiosity Rover Finds Methane on Mars: What it Could Mean for Life
» Curiosity Rover Sniffs Martian Methane
» Curiosity Rover Detects Martian Methane Burps
» Ivy League Professor Praises White People Who Are ‘Ready to Commit Race Suicide’ After Ferguson
» Life on Mars: What Has NASA Found?
» Methane ‘Belches’ Detected on Mars
» NASA Finds Evidence of ‘Life on Mars’
» Radicalized: ISIS Propaganda Attracting American Youth
 
Canada
» Evidence of Early Metalworking in Arctic Canada
 
Europe and the EU
» Austrian Muslims Accuse Government of Rights Violations
» Czech Villagers: Kuwaitis Go Home!
» Denmark: Study Sheds Light on How Humans Tamed Horses
» Doing the Housework Means Men Get Less Sex: Researchers Reveal Chores Seen as Feminine Can Put Women Off
» EU May Take Hamas Off of Terror List
» Ex-MEP Chiesa Thanks Italian Ambassador for Release
» Fiom’s Landini Warns Italy Losing Auto Production Sector
» Germany: Cops Fear Clashes as Anti-Islam Demos Grow
» Germans Stage Large Anti-Islam Protest
» Germany: 15,000 March in Anti-Islam PEGIDA Demonstrations in Dresden
» Greece: Police Expresses Fears of Bigger Terror Hit After Israeli Embassy Attack
» Italy: Renzi and M5S in Senate Clash Tuesday During Debate
» Italy to Run for 2024 Olympics — Renzi
» Italy: No-TAV Activists Block Piedmont Train Station
» Lord Heseltine Predicts UK Will Join the Euro
» Oldest Danish Town Possibly Older
» Spain: 8 Arrested: Jihadi Cell Recruiting Women for ISIS
» Spain: Police Arrest Seven for Recruiting Women for ISIS
» Spanish Police Raid Anarchist Terrorist Cell
» Sweden: Malmö Human Trafficking Plot Investigated
» Why it’s Time to Celebrate Sweden’s Diverse Identity
 
North Africa
» Libya Dawn Conducts 1st Airstrike on Eastern Oil Zone
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» My Jewish Feminist Problem: Why My Sisters Can’t Think Straight About Israel
 
Middle East
» 25 Killed in Yemen Bomb Blast
» Erdogan Speech Indicates Deep Rift With EU
» Jordan: Brotherhood Leader Indicted for ‘Harming Ties’ With UAE
» President Barzani: Iraqi Government, Mosul People Responsible for City’s Recapture
» Syria: NGO: 200 Killed in Fighting in North-West
» Turkey Football Fans Put on Trial Over ‘Anti-Erdogan Coup Bid’
 
Russia
» Ruble Continues Its Decline in Russia, Despite Interest Rate Increase
» Russian Economy on the Brink as Emergency Moves Fail to Shore Up Collapsing Rouble
» Russia Crisis Hits Pimco Fund, Wipes Out Options as Ruble Sinks
 
South Asia
» Indian Supreme Court Rejects Italian Marines’ Travel
 
Far East
» Chinese Woman Tries to Sell Her One-Year-Old Daughter on the Street in Order to Pay Husband’s £10,000 Medical Bill
» Inside Beijing’s Airpocalypse — A City Made ‘Almost Uninhabitable’ By Pollution
» US$1.25 Trillion Moved Out of Mainland China Illegally in 10 Years, Says Report
 
Australia — Pacific
» Grief for Those Killed at the Lindt Café in Sydney by Refugee Islamikaze Man Haron Monis
» Sydney Hostage Taker: “Islam is the Religion of Peace”
» Sydney Siege: Prime Minister Tony Abbott Asks Why ‘Madman’ Gunman Was Not on Asio Watchlist
» The Media Heroine of the Australian Terrorism #illridewithyou Counterbacklash Has Some Issues
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» First Trials of Blood-Based Ebola Therapy Kick Off
» Kenya Shuts 510 NGOs: Some for ‘Terrorism Financing’
 
Immigration
» Czech Republic Told it Must Share the Migration Burden
» Finland to Take 350 Syrian Refugees in 2015
» Hollande Condemns Racism at Long-Awaited Immigration Museum Opening
» Immigration in France: Hollande Slams Alarmists
» Judge Declares Obama Immigration Action Unconstitutional
 
General
» ‘Lord of the Rings’ Litter Box Lets Your Cat Poop in Middle-Earth
» The Largest Vessel the World Has Ever Seen
» Will We Ever Find Dark Matter?
 

Bank of Italy Says Italians Net Wealth Falling With Crisis

Bankers association says drop in loans stopped in November

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — The net wealth of Italian families is falling under the pressure of the ongoing economic crisis, losing 1.2% on average in 2013 compared with 2012, the Bank of Italy said Tuesday in a new report.

It said that as of the end of 2013, the net wealth of Italian families amounted to 8.728 billion euros, or an average of about 144,000 euros per individual or 356,000 euros per household.

Meanwhile, in a separate report the Italian Banking Association (ABI) said that for first time in 30 months of steady declines, lending to households and business stopped dropping in November.

The Abi found that last month there was no reported change in the level of bank lending, following a drop of 0.7% in October.

Meanwhile, the central bank said that the value of real assets held by Italian families fell by 3.5% at the end of 2013, likely due to a fall in the value of homes, which dropped by 5.1% over the year.

That loss was only partly offset by an increase in financial assets of 2.1% and a reduction of 1.1% in liabilities, said the report.

Bank of Italy said that the trend has not been stopped in the course of 2014.

It said its preliminary estimates show that in the first six months of this year, the net wealth of Italian families fell by 1.2% in nominal terms compared with December 2013.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Croatia’s Unemployment Increases, 19.1% in November

312,000 jobless people

(ANSA) — ZAGREB — After a strong, but short recovery in the summer, due to seasonal employment in tourism, unemployment in Croatia has began to grow again, and in November reached 19.1 % of the whole labour force, according to data released today by Croatia’s Employment Office (HZZ). 312 000 Croats were jobless last month, 2% more than the previous month. A positive sign, however, is represented by the fact that unemployment has fallen on an annual basis, since in November 2013 the unemployed people were 340,000, that is 21%.

Youth unemployment is among the highest in Europe, at 42% in the age group 16-25. Graduated people searching for a job account for 13% of all unemployed people.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Central Bank Urges Postponing Euro Entry

(PRAGUE) — A fragile recovery in the eurozone and fiscal uncertainty at home means EU member Czech Republic should hold off setting a date for joining the euro, the central bank and finance ministry said Monday.

Nearby Lithuania will join the eurozone as its 19th member in January while neighbouring regional economic powerhouse Poland has yet to fix an entry date.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Divorce Rate Surges in Spain

The number of divorces in Spain rose by 12.5 percent in the third quarter of 2014 with the economic crisis playing a role, according to official statistics released on Monday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Central Banker Says Don’t Expect Much From ECB QE

Weidman says falling inflation doesn’t mean deflation

(ANSA) — Berlin, December 16 — Jens Weidmann, head of Germany’s Bundesbank, says that inflation in the eurozone “could even fall below zero,” in the coming months, but that does not automatically mean deflation. Weidmann, a member of the European Central Bank (ECB) governing council, said Monday that people shouldn’t expect “too much” from the ECB in terms of quantitative easing, or buying sovereign bonds to boost economic growth. Germany has been opposed to QE because it fears the plan would be too risky. Weidman said QE isn’t needed in Europe.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

India’s Inflation Rate Flat, Raising Rate Cut Hopes

India’s wholesale inflation fell to a five-and-a-half-year low driven by ongoing falls in fuel and food prices, data showed Monday, boosting expectations of an interest rate cut early next year.

The Wholesale Price Index, India’s inflation measure with the biggest basket of goods, slipped to a lower-than-expected zero percent in November from a year earlier, the lowest rate since July 2009, official data showed.

The latest WPI compares with a five-year-low of 1.77 percent recorded in October, and was below analysts’ estimates of about 1.1 percent.

Analysts said Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’s aggressive policies to curb price rises appeared to be paying off…

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

Curiosity Rover Finds Methane on Mars: What it Could Mean for Life

NASA’s Curiosity rover has recently made a surprising find on Mars that could help scientists get one step closer to figuring out if the Red Planet has ever supported life.

While finding significant amounts of methane on Mars isn’t a sure-fire sign of past or present life — geological processes can also produce the gas — it’s still a good starting point, according to many scientists.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Curiosity Rover Sniffs Martian Methane

Background gas levels are low — but they spike periodically.

The methane could be arriving from outer space, delivered by comets smashing into the planet. It might come from active geological processes, such as chemical reactions between different types of rock. Or, most excitingly, it could come from bacteria. On Earth, most atmospheric methane gets its start inside living organisms.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Curiosity Rover Detects Martian Methane Burps

NASA’s Curiosity rover has sniffed out short-lived bursts of methane on Mars, contradicting its initial methane-less reports. The find suggests that something is actively producing the gas, although it is unclear whether it is alien microbes or simply underground water interacting with rock.

“They’re very exciting measurements,” says Christopher Webster at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who presented the results at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco today. “They’ve completely opened up the debate again on Mars methane.”

The rover also found evidence of more complex organic compounds in powdered samples of rock — the first definitive detection of organics on the surface of Mars.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ivy League Professor Praises White People Who Are ‘Ready to Commit Race Suicide’ After Ferguson

Russell Rickford, an assistant history professor at Cornell University, urged white students to commit “race suicide” on Wednesday night in response to the death of Michael Brown and the recent riots in Ferguson, Mo.

The Ivy League professor suggested that “treason to whiteness” is a necessary step to salvage humanity.

“There’s still a slender minority of white folks, a very slender, but a slender minority of white folks, that are ready to commit race suicide,” Rickford told the audience, near the end of his remarks. “Which is to say, they are ready to reject corrupt skin privileges. They’re ready to perform treason to whiteness, as an expression of their loyalty to humanity.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Life on Mars: What Has NASA Found?

Nasa’s Curiosity Rover has been exploring the Gale Crater on Mars and has noticed unusual spikes in in methane levels which could be produced by biological organisms, like bacteria. It might also be left over from ancient species.

The readings in a 300 metre squared area spiked 10-fold over a period of just 60 Martian days. It implies that the gas is produced periodically by a nearby but unknown source

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Methane ‘Belches’ Detected on Mars

The US space agency’s (Nasa) Curiosity rover has detected the intermittent “belching” of methane gas on Mars.

Methane on the Red Planet is intriguing because here on Earth, 95% of the gas comes from microbial organisms.

The Curiosity team cannot identify the source of its methane, but the leading candidate is underground stores that are periodically disturbed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NASA Finds Evidence of ‘Life on Mars’

Evidence of life on Mars could have been found by Nasa’s Curiosity Rover.

One of the instruments on the robot found mysterious spikes of methane that cannot easily be explained by geology or other theories. Scientists can’t be sure what is causing the spikes, but it is possible that it could be very small, bacteria-like living organisms.

If the gas is coming from living, breathing microbes then it would mark one of the biggest discoveries in history.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Radicalized: ISIS Propaganda Attracting American Youth

MINNEAPOLIS — Which city is America’s biggest hotbed for terrorists? If you’re thinking New York or Los Angeles, you’d be mistaken. Think middle America.

Dozens of young men and women have left Minneapolis-Saint Paul in recent years to join Islamic terrorist groups overseas.

Most of these U.S. passport holders hail from the Twin Cities’ large Somali Muslim community.

Some have been suicide bombers. Others star in propaganda videos.

Destination: Islamic State

Their exodus from the Twin Cities began in 2007, with a call to jihad in Somalia, courtesy of the al Qaeda-linked group, al-Shabaab.

Today, their destination is the Islamic State.

“Since July of 2012, we haven’t had any kids leave to go join al-Shabaab, but we have had several leave now to go join ISIS,” Bob Fletcher, with the Center for Somalia History Studies, told CBN News.

“And the reason is that ISIS controls land, they control cities,” he explained. “They are in a position to be able to recruit differently than al-Shabaab.”

“Al-Shabaab, all they have to promise is ‘Come join us in the jungles while we ambush and plot our terrorist attacks.’ But what ISIS is selling now is the opportunity to build something, to build a new society, and that is very, very exciting for a lot of kids,” Fletcher said.

At least 12 Twin Cities residents have traveled to Syria to join terrorist groups in recent years. All were Somalis except Douglas McCain, an African-American convert killed fighting alongside ISIS last summer.

One Somali-American ISIS recruit even worked at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before joining the Islamic State.

“The recruiters get a hold of these young people, they mentor them, they assess them, they identify them,” Abdirizak Bihi, with the Minneapolis-based Somali Advocacy Center, told CBN News.

Unlikely Recruits

Bihi’s teenage nephew fell prey to terrorist recruiters and was killed in Somalia in 2008.

“Nobody would believe that a Somali-American kid who grew up here, had nothing to do with Somalia, no culture, or anything, or language, would be brainwashed, radicalized, by the same people, by some of the people we trusted so much, and return him to hellfire in Somalia,” Bihi told CBN News…

[Return to headlines]
 

Evidence of Early Metalworking in Arctic Canada

This paper examines new evidence related to an early (pre-Columbian) European presence in Arctic Canada. Artifacts from archaeological sites that had been assumed to relate to pre-Inuit indigenous occupations of the region in the centuries around A.D. 1000 have recently been recognized as having been manufactured using European technologies. We report here on the SEM-EDS analysis of a small stone vessel recovered from a site on Baffin Island. The interior of the vessel contains abundant traces of copper—tin alloy (bronze) as well as glass spherules similar to those associated with high-temperature processes. These results indicate that it had been used as a crucible. This artifact may represent the earliest evidence of high-temperature nonferrous metalworking in the New World north of Mesoamerica.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austrian Muslims Accuse Government of Rights Violations

Austria’s Muslim organizations said the government violated the rights of an estimated 600,000 Muslims in the country after officials sent a proposed law, dubbed the “Islamic Bill,” to parliament without first consulting the Muslim community.

“The government has sent the bill to parliament without considering our viewpoint,” Mouddar Khouja, founder of Austrian Muslims Initiative, said at a press conference Monday.

“The draft had to be examined during the Austrian Muslims Initiative meeting on Dec. 21.”

Khouja said Muslims are considered second class citizens in Austria and the government does not take into account the existing laws on religious freedoms and UN laws on freedom of religion and belief.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Villagers: Kuwaitis Go Home!

Residents protest, start petition against sale of land to Kuwaitis for summer colony

Prague, Dec 16 (CTK) — The inhabitants of Modlany protest against the planned establishment of a Kuwaiti colony in this north Bohemian village because they are afraid of Arabs becoming their neighbors, daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.

Most recently, Kuwaitis bought another 30 plots from former Modlany Mayor Pavel Rajcan, who advantageously purchased them from the Land Fund in 2006.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Study Sheds Light on How Humans Tamed Horses

The University of Copenhagen’s Centre for GeoGenetics is behind new research that shows that the domestication of horses goes back thousands of years.

Humans tamed horses some 5,500 years ago, and an international study of ancient and modern horse genes Monday sheds light on the traits people saw as valuable, including speed, vigor and learning ability.

Researchers also discovered that a long-gone and previously unknown population of wild horses contributed a large chunk of genes to contemporary horses, according to the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.

“We have identified at least 125 genes that have been modified between ancient and modern horses,” lead researcher Ludovic Orlando, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for GeoGenetics, told AFP.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Doing the Housework Means Men Get Less Sex: Researchers Reveal Chores Seen as Feminine Can Put Women Off

A study has found that men who regularly do housework, such as cooking and cleaning, have less sex than men who don’t bother.

Researchers from the Juan March Institute in Madrid studied data based on relationships of 4,561 middle-aged US couples over 20 years, including their sex lives and how they divide household chores.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU May Take Hamas Off of Terror List

Hamas may no longer be officially considered a terror organization by the European Union after Wednesday. The European Court of Justice in Luxemburg is set to publish its decision on Wednesday regarding an appeal filed by Hamas against its inclusion in the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ex-MEP Chiesa Thanks Italian Ambassador for Release

Detention ‘blatant violation of international law’, he says

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Italian journalist and politician Giulietto Chiesa on Tuesday thanked the Italian ambassador to Estonia for his “decisive intervention and professional mastery” after being released by police following his detention in Tallinn one day earlier.

Chiesa’s wife Fiammetta Cucurnia said ambassador Marco Clemente told local authorities “I am not leaving until you let him go”.

Chiesa, a former MEP, was released at 11 pm local time after being picked up by police at his hotel in the Estonian capital earlier in the day, and told he would be expelled from the country within 48 hours. He had left Rome on Monday morning to participate in a conference titled “Is Russia Europe’s enemy?” On Tuesday Chiesa described his detention as a “blatant violation of all norms of national, international, European and global law” and as an episode that “illustrates to what point the fascist decline in Europe has reached”. The detaining officers did not have a warrant, but they told Chiesa his expulsion decree was at the Estonian foreign ministry, his wife said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Fiom’s Landini Warns Italy Losing Auto Production Sector

Union statistics show Germany, France far ahead

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Italy is at risk of losing its auto sector, an important part of the national economy, as more manufacturing jobs are being moved out of the country, said the head of the national metalworkers union.

Maurizio Landini said the FIOM union has collected data showing that auto production in 2013 by Italy’s leading carmaker Fiat was at less than half of the levels of production recorded in 2007.

To illustrate his point, he said that only 46.4% of the same auto made in 2007 was produced last year.

Yet other European nations continue a strong auto sector tradition, said Landini.

Germany led the way, producing 175% of the number of autos last year as in 2007 while France last year produced 79% as many autos as in 2007 and in the United Kingdom, the level was 61%, he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Cops Fear Clashes as Anti-Islam Demos Grow

Federal Security Service chief Hans-Georg Maaßen has warned Germany could see confrontations between Salafists and people drawn to right-wing, xenophobic politics.

“We can see a quickly rising number of Salafists and simultaneously a worrying reinforcement of xenophobic activities,” Maaßen said.

Maaßen was speaking in the wake of a demonstration by over 15,000 people under the banner of “People Against the Islamization of the Occident” (Pegida) in Dresden on Monday night, an increase of 5,000 participants on last week’s protest.

The increasing numbers also prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel to warn against “agitation and mud-slinging” against foreigners.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germans Stage Large Anti-Islam Protest

Up to 10,000 people marched in an anti-Islam protest in Dresden, reports the BBC. The rally was staged by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida). A smaller counter-protest was staged nearby without incident. German chancellor Angela Merkel warned against xenophobia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: 15,000 March in Anti-Islam PEGIDA Demonstrations in Dresden

15,000 people have marched through the eastern German city of Dresden in an anti-Islam demonstration. The march was the largest yet for the far-right populist PEGIDA movement.

The emergence of the movement has stunned politicians, one of whom — Ralf Jäger, the Social Democratic (SPD) interior minister for North Rhine Westphalia state — described PEGIDA’s members as “neo-Nazis in pinstripes.” While some neo-Nazis have been seen among the crowds, those gathered have mostly been disenchanted citizens.

More than 1,200 police kept a close watch on the non-violent crowds. Nearby, about 6,000 counter-protesters — made up of civic, political and church groups — marched under the banners “Dresden Nazi-free” and “Dresden for All.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the wave of PEGIDA marches and cautioned Germans against falling prey to xenophobic “rabble rousing.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Police Expresses Fears of Bigger Terror Hit After Israeli Embassy Attack

Following last week’s gun attack against the Israeli Embassy in Athens, the Greek Police’s counter-terrorism unit is on alert for another assault, possibly against a human target, in the countdown to critical presidential elections, sources have told Kathimerini.

Concerns are mounting as, by late last night, there had been no claim of responsibility for last Friday’s rifle attack on the Israeli Embassy. Ballistics tests revealed that the two Kalashnikov assault rifles used in the embassy shooting were also used in a similar hit a year ago against the German ambassador’s residence. That attack was claimed by a guerrilla organization called Group of Popular Fighters, which also carried out a hit on the central offices of conservative New Democracy in January 2013. None of the attacks resulted in any injuries. But police fear that a new hit, probably by the same group, could target politicians or high-ranking judicial officials, Kathimerini understands.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi and M5S in Senate Clash Tuesday During Debate

Premier rejects ‘culture of defeatism’, shouting, interruptions

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Premier Matteo Renzi clashed verbally with elected representatives of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) in the Senate on Tuesday, reiterating his earlier rejection of the party’s alleged culture of defeatism and practice of hurling abuse.

“The fact that you are losing members daily does not authorise you to interrupt,” Renzi told M5S senators in reference to Tuesday’s decision by MP Tommaso Currò to leave the opposition party and join the majority. “We are supportive of you and we understand your difficulty,” he continued.

“But if people don’t vote for you any more, I think there must be a reason,” Renzi said.

The premier drew protest from M5S senators when he touched on the controversial planned bid for Italy to host the 2024 summer Olympics based on Rome. The tension rose further when Renzi condemned Tuesday’s massacre of children at a military school in Pakistan. The premier’s sympathy for Pakistan was rejected by the M5S.

“Think about Italian children,” shouted a M5S representative. Renzi responded angrily by calling for “a bit of dignity”.

“How is it possible… to say ‘think about Italian children’,” he asked rhetorically.

“We will never give in to the culture of defeatism, there are some who animate it but there are also those who in the face of problems find nothing better to do than shout, betraying the hopes of those who voted for them,” Renzi concluded.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy to Run for 2024 Olympics — Renzi

Bid to centre on Rome, ‘we’ll run to win’ says premier

(ANSA) — Rome, December 15 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday announced that Italy will stage a bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics. “We’ll run with the spirit of participating of (modern Olympics father Pierre) de Coubertin,” Renzi said during a ceremony at the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). “And we’ll run to win, be sure of that”. The premier said that the bid will be centred on Rome.

Recent changes to International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules make it possible for Olympic host countries to hold events in several places, rather than concentrating them in one city, and spread the huge burden.

Renzi said Italy can “go for gold” if it overcomes the recent resignation that has hit the recession-hit country. “Too often Italy seems resigned (to defeat),” said Renzi.

“You can lose, but what’s unacceptable is to crouch up and give up on playing the game. “We have what it takes to go for gold,” he added, after officially making Italy the first country to officially announce it was running for the 2024 Games. Rome hosted the 1960 Olympics and carried off a largely successful edition of the World Swimming Championships in 2009.

The capital has several positive features to centre a bid on, including the fact that many of the required sports facilities are up and running and would only need upgrading.

These include the Stadio Olimpico, the home ground of Lazio and Roma Serie A football teams, which has a running track for athletics, and the pool used for the swimming races at the 2009 world championships.

Italy has also hosted the Winter Olympics twice, with Turin in 2006 and Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956.

Rome’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics was dropped in February 2012 by then-premier Mario Monti who said that Italy, could not afford such an expensive venture due to its economic situation.

When Renzi suggested in November that the government was ready to back an Olympic bid, some expressed dismay, saying little has changed since.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: No-TAV Activists Block Piedmont Train Station

11 trains had more than an hour of delays on Milan-Turin stretch

(ANSA) — Turin December 16 — Activists opposed to a major railway project blocked a high-speed TGV train at a northern Italian train station Tuesday, causing delays of more than one hour on the line between Milan and Turin, media reported.

The activists shut down traffic at the Vercelli train station by placing an iron chain in front of the Paris-Venice TGV train and reportedly defacing the first passenger carriage with anti-TAV graffiti. The blockade caused approximately one hour of delays for 11 trains in the Milan-Turin stretch. Police intervened and agents from Italy’s General Investigations and Special Operations Division (DIGOS) were brought in to investigate.

A proposed high-speed rail link, which will connect Turin to Lyon, has triggered massive protests by locals and other activists who denounce its high cost and feared damage to the environment.

France and Italy argue the line will save money and help the environment in the long run by cutting down on automobile traffic.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Lord Heseltine Predicts UK Will Join the Euro

The UK will end up scrapping the pound and adopting the euro, former Conservative cabinet minister Michael — now Lord — Heseltine has predicted.

Lord Heseltine told the BBC it was a personal view, and predicted it would not happen “in the foreseeable future”.

But he said the UK had a history of resisting European integration “at every stage” before “giving in”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Oldest Danish Town Possibly Older

If you thought Ribe was the oldest town in Denmark, you’re still right, but now a new study from Aarhus University shows the town may be almost 100 years older than originally thought.

Archaeologists previously believed that Ribe was established in the late 700s, but new research points to its establishment being in the earlier part of the same century, reports Videnskab.

Ribe, in southwest Jutland, is not only Denmark’s oldest town, but is Scandinavia’s oldest town as well.

“Ribe is the place urbanisation started in Scandinavia,” Sarah Croix, the study’s author, told Videnskab. “If Ribe began as a city in the early 700s, then it was long before the Vikings and thus casts new light on our understanding of this period.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: 8 Arrested: Jihadi Cell Recruiting Women for ISIS

Operation between Barcelona, Ceuta and Melilla and Morocco

(ANSAmed) — MADRID — A new operation carried out between Spain and Morocco busted a jihadi cell recruiting women for the Islamic State (Isis). Seven people were arrested at dawn in raids between Barcelona, Ceuta and Melilla and the Moroccan centre of Castillejos, Tuesday morning, according to sources from the Spanish ministry of the interior. Two women arrested in Barcelona and Ceuta were about to join Isis ranks in Syria and Irak, anti-terrorism sources reported.

The women were not enlisted for combat operations but to marry jihadists and bear their children. The alleged recruiters, two women and a man, were arrested in Melilla, the Spanish enclave in the north of Africa while leaders of the cell were apprehended by Moroccan security forces in Castillejos.

The operation follows the arrest on August 3, at the Beni Enzar border in Melilla, of two girls aged 19 and 14 attempting to reach jihadists on the Syrian and Iraqi front. The raid was coordinated by Madrid’s High Tribunal, the Audiencia Nacional and carried out by the Spanish Information General Commissioners’ Office with the support of the Moroccan police and authorities. Searches are currently underway at the homes of the arrested individuals. “All are accused of being part of a recruitment cell working for the terrorist organisation Daesh, and seeking to send women to the Syrian-Iraqi front,” said the ministry of the interior in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Police Arrest Seven for Recruiting Women for ISIS

Spanish police have arrested four woman and three men in Spain and Morocco who were part of a network recruiting women to send over to Isis, says Spanish interior ministry.

The arrests were made early on Tuesday morning in Spain’s two north African enclaves, Melilla and Ceuta, as well as in Barcelona and Castillejos in Morocco.

The network was recruiting women to send over to jihadist terror group Isis’s Iraqui—Syrian front, according to the Spanish interior ministry.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Police Raid Anarchist Terrorist Cell

Police in Barcelona and Madrid on Tuesday morning arrested at least 14 people in a series of raids against a anarchist terrorist cell they believe are behind numerous bomb attacks, Spanish media are reporting.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Malmö Human Trafficking Plot Investigated

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking after a private plane from Beirut landed at Malmö-Sturup Airport, with ten people on board.

Sweden has the highest number of asylum seekers per capita than any other country in the EU.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why it’s Time to Celebrate Sweden’s Diverse Identity

Sweden will never eliminate cultural differences by trying to deny they exist or avoiding discussing them. Now, more than ever, Swedes must embrace them instead, argues Norhan Elhakeem, a Stockholm-based Canadian journalist with Egyptian blood.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Libya Dawn Conducts 1st Airstrike on Eastern Oil Zone

Car bomb explodes in Tripoli, Al Qaida leader killed in Benghazi

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — The Islamist Libya Dawn militias on Tuesday conducted an airstrike on an oil-producing zone in eastern Libya, military sources and eyewitnesses reported. The attack is the first airstrike carried out by the militias dominating Tripoli, who over the past few days have tried to attack the currently closed Sidra port.

The sources said that the government-allied guards of the oil hub managed to respond to the attack thanks to air cover from the Libyan air force, which also destroyed a Libya Dawn air base near Ben Jawad. Local media report that the hub was not damaged by the airstrike and that no casualties resulted. A car bomb exploded near the security department in Tripoli on Tuesday, but also did not result in casualties, reports Sky News Arabiya. According to an official who asked to remain anonymous, the explosion caused heavy damage to the building, ones surrounding it and to cars parked near it. An Algerian leader of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abu Yunis Gilabi Mansour, was killed in Benghazi, eastern Libya, on Tuesday.

Five other militants were killed with him, reports an Algerian security source quoted by Libyan media.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

My Jewish Feminist Problem: Why My Sisters Can’t Think Straight About Israel

by Phyllis Chesler

These days, Israel is far too dangerous a word to pronounce in a Western intellectual or social setting. Say it—and you risk uncivil argument.

For example, it’s ten months after Sept. 11, and I am having dinner with a friend and colleague of many years. We are talking up the usual storm, laughing a lot, enjoying each other’s company when one of us uses the word: “Israel.” My friend, an independent and sophisticated thinker stops talking. Suddenly, the air becomes thin. She takes a deep breath. Her tone is no longer light; it has become dark, coarse, mocking.

“Israel?! It deserves exactly what it’s getting. And more. And don’t think America doesn’t deserve what it’s getting too.”

We are sitting a mile away from Ground Zero in New York City.

“Have you no compassion for the innocent?” I say, shocked by her cold, driven, vehemence.

“Innocent? No one is innocent. We are all guilty. Don’t tell me that you would dare to defend the Zionist apartheid state or the multinationals.”

Her dear face has been utterly transformed into the face of a one-woman lynch mob. I do not want to fight: I can’t bear the ridicule and intimidation. I know that I must say something; I am tired of having to do so. I do not want this friendship to shatter over the Jewish Question, that perpetual elephant in the living room of the world.

My friend is a Jew, a feminist, a leftist, and she prides herself on being an independent thinker. “According to you,” I want to say, “only Americans and Israelis deserve to die for the sins of their leaders? I don’t hear you wishing a hellish death upon Chinese or Iraqi civilians because you disagree with their government’s policies.” But my heart is not into “making points.” My heart is beating too fast. I am afraid of her anger.

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

25 Killed in Yemen Bomb Blast

15 children among victims of attack on Shia rebels

(ANSA) — Sanaa, December 16 — At least 25 people including 15 children died on Tuesday in an attack on Shia rebels in the central Yemeni province of Bayda, according to media reports.

The children were killed when their school bus passed a checkpoint manned by Houthi militiamen in the town of Radaa as the bomb exploded. The attack was allegedly aimed at the home of Abdallah Idriss, an Ansaruallah militia leader.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Erdogan Speech Indicates Deep Rift With EU

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the EU to “mind its own business” on free press, marking an ever-deeper rift in relations.

He made the comments at a speech in the Tupras oil refinery outside Istanbul on Monday (15 December) after European officials criticised his latest arrests of opposition-linked journalists.

Erdogan described the journalists as a fifth column of Islamists trying to hold back progress in Turkey, indicating that the purge will continue.

“Elements that threaten our national security, whether it’s a member of the press, or this, or that, will get the proper response”, he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jordan: Brotherhood Leader Indicted for ‘Harming Ties’ With UAE

AMMAN — The prosecutor general of the State Security Court (SSC) on Monday indicted a leading Islamist leader for “harming Jordan’s ties with a foreign state”.

If convicted, Zaki Bani Rsheid, Muslim Brotherhood’s deputy overall leader, faces a “temporary imprisonment with hard labour” sentence, which ranges between 3-15 years, according to Articles 3 and 7 of the 2014 amended Anti-Terrorism Law.

The defendant was indicted based on his Facebook comments attacking the UAE for labelling the Brotherhood a terrorist group earlier this year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

President Barzani: Iraqi Government, Mosul People Responsible for City’s Recapture

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kurdish Peshmerga forces will not singlehandedly liberate Mosul because the Kurdistan Region does not want to ignite a Kurdish-Arab war, said President Masoud Barzani in an interview with al-Arabiya TV.

Barzani told the Arabic channel that to recapture Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, “the Peshmerga would only play a supporting role, because the Kurdistan Region doesn’t want the start of a Kurdish-Arab war.”

The Kurdish president said that the Iraqi government and the people of Mosul are responsible for liberating the city and that the Peshmerga will stand by them in this effort.

Barzani said had it not been for the Peshmerga who deployed to Kirkuk in the summer, the province would have fallen to the Islamic State (ISIS) like Mosul and parts of Salahaddin and Diyala.

Peshmerga forces have been battling ISIS along their 1050-kilometer border and have regained almost all the territory they lost to the extremist group in August.

However, Kurdish leaders, including President Barzani, have said that the priority is defending the Kurdish autonomous region against ISIS and that they are not willing to fight in Iraq’s Sunni areas.

In his interview with al-Arabiya Barzani said that Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was responsible for the quick defeat of the army in Mosul.

“That army had been trained and armed by the international community for years,” said Barzani of the Iraqi army that was trained and equipped by the US at the cost of billions of dollars.

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

Syria: NGO: 200 Killed in Fighting in North-West

After al Qaeda militants seized regime military base

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — Some 200 people were killed in the aftermath of fighting between al Qaeda militants, local insurgents and loyalist forces in the last 72 hours, according to the Syrian National Observatory for Human Rights (Ondus), which can count on the feedback of a vast array of medical sources and researchers on the ground. Ondus reports that both sides have incurred heavy losses in the fight for the military bases of Wadi Dayf and Hamidiye in the area of Maarrat an Numan, in the Idlib region. The two bases have fallen into the hands of al Qaeda- linked forces and local insurgents while dozens of members of regime forces and allied militias fled towards the south, arriving in Morek, north of Hama, Tuesday morning.

The Syrian air force is pressing ahead with its raids on al Qaida and rebel-held posts.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Football Fans Put on Trial Over ‘Anti-Erdogan Coup Bid’

Thirty-five supporters of Turkish top-flight football side Besiktas went on trial Tuesday facing life imprisonment on hugely controversial charges of seeking to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in 2013 protests.

Hundreds of Besiktas supporters staged a raucous protest outside the Istanbul criminal court, shouting football chants backing the accused, who are all members of the club’s main fan club, the Carsi Group.

Prosecutors have accused all 35 of seeking to stage a coup to overthrow the government of Erdogan, who was then prime minister, during the unprecedented protests against his rule last year…

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

Ruble Continues Its Decline in Russia, Despite Interest Rate Increase

MOSCOW — The ruble’s value continued to slide on Tuesday despite the Russian central bank’s extraordinary effort to defend it, inducing further panic in the nation’s financial industry and presenting President Vladimir V. Putin with an acute new set of political and economic challenges.

Scenes that Russians hoped had receded into the past reappeared on the streets: Currency exchange signs blinked ever-changing digits, and Russians rushed to appliance stores to buy washing machines or televisions to unload rubles.

“We are seeing an economic crisis,” Natalia V. Akindinova, a professor at the Higher School of Economics, said in a telephone interview. “We are seeing a sharp devaluation of the ruble at a time when the central bank doesn’t have the reserves to influence the market, as it did in the past crises.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Economy on the Brink as Emergency Moves Fail to Shore Up Collapsing Rouble

An overnight interest rate hike by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) led to a brief rally in the value of the rouble, but it hasn’t lasted long. Late on Monday the CBR announced that it was increasing its key rate by 6.5 percentage points to 17pc.

The emergency move came as a monumental decline in oil prices and continued uncertainty over Ukraine has led the rouble to fall by more than 50pc over the course of the year.

The currency’s slide has reflected a huge loss of confidence in the Russia economy. The state is heavily dependent on oil — oil and gas account for 67pc of exports, and 50pc of government revenues.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Crisis Hits Pimco Fund, Wipes Out Options as Ruble Sinks

After the single worst day in Russia’s nine-month-old financial crisis, the fallout is spreading across global markets.

Pacific Investment Management Co. (PEBIX) is facing mounting losses on its Russian bond holdings; almost every bullish ruble option contract registered in the U.S. has been made worthless; and foreign-exchange brokers in New York and London told clients they’re no longer taking ruble trades. Sergey Shvetsov, a first deputy central bank governor, expressed astonishment at the scope of the collapse during a business conference in Moscow.

“We couldn’t imagine what’s happening in our worst nightmare even a year ago,” Shvetsov, who oversees financial markets at the central bank, said yesterday. He said the bank’s surprise interest-rate increase in the middle of the night, a 6.5 percentage-point move that failed to stem the run on the ruble yesterday, was a choice between a “very bad” option and and a “very, very bad” option.

The ruble sank beyond 80 per dollar, a record low, as panic swept across Moscow’s financial markets before it rebounded after Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev denied speculation the government would impose restrictions to stop Russians from converting cash into dollars. The currency ended the day at 67.9 per dollar, down 5.4 percent on the day, while bonds and stocks also tumbled, sending the RTS equity gauge down the most since 2008…

[Return to headlines]
 

Indian Supreme Court Rejects Italian Marines’ Travel

Napolitano ‘extremely displeased’ by decision

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and other politicians expressed displeasure after India’s Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to reject requests by two Italian marines for permission to spend Christmas vacation with their families in Italy.

The two marines, accused in the deaths of two Indian fishermen almost three years ago, asked for travel leave. Massimiliano Latorre has been in Italy for medical treatment but was refused permission to remain longer.

The Indian court also refused permission for Salvatore Girone to travel to Italy for Christmas, the Press Trust of India said.

“The President of the Republic is greatly displeased by the news coming from New Delhi about the latest negative developments in the case of the marines,” Napolitano’s office said in a statement.

“He will remain in close contact the government and will closely follow guidelines to be determined in the Parliament”, the statement said.

The case dates to February 2012 when the two marines were on anti-piracy duty and two fishermen were shot.

The case has led to tense relations between India and Italy, which says that because the two marines were on international duty, India does not have jurisdiction.

Other Italian politicians spoke out, in Rome and at the European Union parliament in Brussels. Forza Italia (FI) referred to the “unjust detention” of Latorre and Girone.

FI deputy leader Mariastella Gelmini said that the Indian court’s refusal of travel requests by the Italian marines was “an outrage to Italy”.

She added that is was “yet another a provocation to Italy, and also Europe”. Northern League vice-president GianLuca Pini said that it proved the Italian government’s role in the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union had had no effect on the marines case.

Lara Comi, representing the FI in the European Parliament, called India’s decision “a very serious violation of human rights”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Woman Tries to Sell Her One-Year-Old Daughter on the Street in Order to Pay Husband’s £10,000 Medical Bill

A woman has been found attempting to sell her baby daughter on the streets of China in order to pay her husband’s £10,000 medical bill.

Ni Qiong was photographed roadside in Fuzhou, China, with a written sign imploring pedestrians to purchase her one-year-old daughter.

She and her husband, Zhou Xinggui, are both migrant workers, but he is currently in hospital needing surgery after falling off scaffolding.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Inside Beijing’s Airpocalypse — A City Made ‘Almost Uninhabitable’ By Pollution

Beijing’s air quality has long been a cause of concern, but the effects of its extreme levels of pollution on daily life can now be seen in physical changes to the architecture of the city. Buildings and spaces are being reconfigured and daily routines modified to allow normal life to go on beneath the toxic shroud.

Paper face masks have been common here for a long time, but now the heavy-duty kind with purifying canister filters — of the sort you might wear for a day of asbestos removal — are frequently seen on the streets.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US$1.25 Trillion Moved Out of Mainland China Illegally in 10 Years, Says Report

The mainland lost US$1.25 trillion between 2003 and 2012 to illicit outflows including tax evasion, crime and corruption, the largest loss of money among 151 developing nations surveyed, according to a Washington-based advocacy group that tracks such activities.

This number was described as “highly conservative” as it did not include cash settlements, common among drug dealers and money launderers, Global Financial Integrity said in an annual report on illicit financial flows.

“After a brief slowdown during the financial crisis, illicit outflows are once again on the rise, hitting a new peak of US$991.2 billion in 2012”, 10 times the amount those countries received in official development aid, report authors Dev Kar and Joseph Spanjers wrote.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Grief for Those Killed at the Lindt Café in Sydney by Refugee Islamikaze Man Haron Monis

Neither the late Katrina Dawson, 38, mother of three and a rising star in the Sydney bar or regular patrons thought anything out of the ordinary having a morning coffee at the Lindt Café in Martin Place, the heart of the city’s business financial district. Neither did the other 16 patrons, whether they were regulars, Christmas shoppers or tourists. At 9:42AM Monday a bearded man wearing a head band with an Arabic inscription, clothed in a long white tee shirt entered carrying a blue bag causing terror. He extracted from the bag a pump shot gun and a Hizb ut-Tahrir black flag with the white inscription of the Islamic Shahada, “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.” He then asked the terrified patrons to stand against one of the windows with hands pressed against a window facing Channel 7 across the way holding the Shahada flag. A 16 hour standoff ended when police Swat teams entered early Tuesday amidst exploding flash bang grenades and semi-automatic gunfire. This occurred after a sniper reported “hostage down”.The perpetrator of the hostage taking at Lindt Café was self-styled Muslim Cleric , 50 year old Iranian Man Haron Monis with a history of convictions for violence was shot dead.

Unfortunately Ms. Dawson and Lindt café Manager, 34 year old Tori Johnson were killed. Johnson had tried to seize the perpetrator’s weapon. Five others were wounded including a policeman whose head was hit by shot gun pellets, the others suffered gunshot wounds. Earlier in the hostage standoff two patrons and three Lindt café workers escaped, when the perpetrator had nodded off. The shock and grief reverberated throughout Sydney and Australia, indeed the West, about the loss of lives of Ms. Dawson and Mr. Johnson and surviving shooting victims. The shock was this could happen in broad daylight and was according to Australian PM Abbott “the worst terrorist incident in 35 years in Australia.” The largest terror event was Australia’s “9/11” that occurred in Bali, Indonesia on October 10, 2002 with 200 Australians lost their lives when an Indonesian Al Qaeda affiliate bombed a popular tourist nightspot. Hundreds of Sydneysiders poured out expressions of mourning with memorial floral tributes placed at the Lindt café site praying to comfort the loss of Ms. Dawson and Mr. Johnson and those injured in the explosive shoot out that ended the hostage taking.Monis, the perpetrator was an Iranian national who had been given asylum as a political refugee in 1996 by Australia. He was a self styled Muslim cleric who ran a so-called spiritual health center. He was notoriously well known to Sydneysiders. He had more that 40 charges of sexual assault and was freed on bail as an accessory in the murder of his ex-wife, 30 year old Noleen Hayson Pal by Monis’ companion, Amirah Droudis. Moniz’s ex- wife was stabbed more than 30 times and lit on fire in the stairwell of an apartment complex in April 2013. Ironically Monis might have been thwarted from his lethal spectacle in Sydney, had he been remanded to police custody. Instead both he and the perpetrator Ms. Droudis were released on bail for their roles in the capital crime of murder.

Monis had raised the public ire of Australians for letters sent to the families of Australian soldiers killed in the Afghanistan war, accusing their sons of committing genocide against civilians. He was sentenced to 300 hours of community service for this action. One deceased Jewish Australian soldier’s family was told in their letter from anti-Semitic Monis that “Jews were no better than Hitler.”

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Sydney Hostage Taker: “Islam is the Religion of Peace”

by Daniel Greenfield

In a letter to Prime Minister Abbott, Sheikh Haron described himself as a “Muslim peace activist”. In that same letter, Haron wrote, “It is proven that Australia and Australians will be attacked” in bold letters.

“In Islam there is no any divisions of “radicalists” or “extremists” and “moderates”, we have only one Islam. We cannot call any one “Moderate Muslim” as such a thing does not exist in Islam. I am neither an extremist nor a moderate, I am just a Muslim, a Muslim who tries to follow the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of prophet Muhammad,” Haron wrote in another letter.

Haron further claimed that anyone calling himself a “moderate Muslim” was a Munafiq, a hypocrite and a secret infidel.

“Islam is the religion of peace, that’s why Muslims fight against the oppression and terrorism of USA and its allies including UK and Australia,” he wrote.

Haron however wrote that Islam had its own definition of terrorism…

           — Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]
 

Sydney Siege: Prime Minister Tony Abbott Asks Why ‘Madman’ Gunman Was Not on Asio Watchlist

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the gunman responsible for the deadly Sydney siege as a “madman”, and says he was well known to state and federal police and the domestic spy agency ASIO.

Mr Abbott also revealed his own nagging thought: could the siege have been prevented?

He said Cabinet’s national security committee had the same concern.

The gunman who died in the Martin Place siege had a history of violence and, according to the Prime Minister, was well known to the authorities.

However, Mr Abbott conceded Man Haron Monis was not on a security watchlist, despite his long criminal history and known “infatuation with extremism”.

Mr Abbott said the public had a right to know how someone with a long and chequered history was not on the appropriate watchlists.

The Prime Minister said he also wanted answers.

“How can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?” Mr Abbott said.

“These are questions that we need to look at carefully and calmly and methodically to learn the right lessons and to act upon them.

Man Horan Monis would have already been in custody if the Government’s changes to the Bail Act were in place, New South Wales Attorney-General Brad Hazzard says.

“That’s what we’ll be doing in the days and weeks ahead.”…

[Return to headlines]
 

The Media Heroine of the Australian Terrorism #illridewithyou Counterbacklash Has Some Issues

By Steve Sailer

Below is the Australian Broadcasting Company’s interview with The Megaphone’s designated heroine of the unfortunate events in Sydney today in which two victims of a Muslim immigrant terrorist died.

But even before the murders actually happened, the media was moving on to the real story: its fears of a backlash against Muslims, and the one brave woman, Melbourne writer Tessa Kum, who courageously tweeted her opposition to this theoretical but widely hoped for / denounced backlash. Tessa’s tweet is a genuine Big Story with Google News listing her in 88 news articles.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

First Trials of Blood-Based Ebola Therapy Kick Off

Trials of ‘convalescent’ plasma have begun in Liberia, and plasma and blood studies in Guinea and Sierra Leone will follow.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kenya Shuts 510 NGOs: Some for ‘Terrorism Financing’

Kenya on Tuesday closed over 500 non-governmental organisations, including 15 for alleged fundraising for terrorism, as part of a security crackdown following repeated attacks.

The government’s non-governmental organisation (NGO) coordination board said in a statement it had “de-registered 510 organisations for non-compliance with the law”, with some using their charitable status as a front for raising cash for terrorism.

“Some NGOs have been and continue to be used for criminal activities, including as conduits of terrorism financing in Kenya and in the Horn of Africa,” the statement read, which did not specify the names of such groups.

From the names of 510 listed, many appeared to be aid agencies and charities, with many closed for failing to provide financial audit returns…

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

Czech Republic Told it Must Share the Migration Burden

Although the Czech Republic is not a direct target of large movement of migrants from Syria and other political unstable countries, foreign politicians are telling the government of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka that it should take part of the burden.

Armed conflicts and political instability in countries surrounding the EU have put Europe in a brand new situation. Millions of migrants will probably never come back to their homes. Countries providing protection to these people are bursting at the seams. It is expected that the pressure on EU external borders will increase.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland to Take 350 Syrian Refugees in 2015

Finland has announced it will accept 350 refugees from Syria under the quota system. Altogether the Interior Ministry has said Finland will accept 750 quota refugees, with the remainder coming from Congo and Afghanistan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hollande Condemns Racism at Long-Awaited Immigration Museum Opening

President François Hollande on Monday paid tribute to the role of foreigners France’s history at the official opening of an immigration museum his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy avoided.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Immigration in France: Hollande Slams Alarmists

In his first major speech on the subject of immigration, French President François Hollande blasted the scaremongers “who dream of a smaller, more spiteful France”. He also insisted Europe would go backwards if countries closed their borders.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Judge Declares Obama Immigration Action Unconstitutional

President Barack Obama’s new plan to ease the threat of deportation for 4.7 million undocumented immigrants violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge found on Tuesday, handing down the first legal ruling against the plan.

The ruling has no immediate impact, with the government saying there was no reason for Judge Arthur Schwab of the Western District of Pennsylvania to address the issue in the case, which concerns 42-year-old Honduran immigrant Elionardo Juarez-Escobar.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Lord of the Rings’ Litter Box Lets Your Cat Poop in Middle-Earth

If you’re such a fan of “Lord of the Rings” that you named your cats Frodo and Sam, you probably even want your little hobbit kitties to poop in Middle-earth.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Largest Vessel the World Has Ever Seen

Climbing onto the largest vessel the world has ever seen brings you into a realm where everything is on a bewilderingly vast scale and ambition knows no bounds.

Prelude is a staggering 488m long and the best way to grasp what this means is by comparison with something more familiar.

Four football pitches placed end-to-end would not quite match this vessel’s length — and if you could lie the 301m of the Eiffel Tower alongside it, or the 443m of the Empire State Building, they wouldn’t do so either.

Under construction for the energy giant Shell, the dimensions of the platform are striking in their own right — but also as evidence of the sheer determination of the oil and gas industry to open up new sources of fuel.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Will We Ever Find Dark Matter?

Dark matter is the glue that holds all the galaxies, all the clusters of galaxies and all the super clusters together. So without dark matter, the universe would not look like it does today. The type of dark matter could change the way that structure formed. So that’s one very important thing that we would like to understand. Another thing is that we don’t really know how dark matter behaves here in our galaxy today. We know its density, but we don’t really know how it’s moving. We have some assumptions, but it will be very interesting to really understand the motion of dark matter — whether it’s clumpy, whether it has structures or streams, whether some of it is in a flat disk. The answers to these questions will have implications for the stars in our galaxy and beyond.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

2 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/16/2014

  1. Chartered plane With asylum Seekers to Sweden
    From Beirut

    Asylum seeking The modern way, as a chartered plane from Beirut, arrived at Malmö Airport, Sturup around 9 PM on Monday.

    The crew, a Young Lebanese woman, and two Egyptian men are being questioned on trafficking, while the ten passengers are demanding asylum in Sweden.

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