Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/27/2015

At least 55 Iraqi soldiers were killed today in three suicide bombings in al-Anbar Province. The deadly attacks came as the Iraqi military attempted to recapture Ramadi from the Islamic State.

In other news, an unexploded WW2 bomb was safely detonated in Cologne after the largest postwar evacuation in the city cleared the area of 20,000 people.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, DS, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, PS, 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 Families Spending 90% of Tax Bonus
» Free Financial Markets Are a Hoax
» Secret Meeting in London to “End Cash”
» Yuan Still Undervalued: US Treasury Secretary
 
USA
» 4 Ingredients in 80 Percent of Processed Foods Are Decimating Immunity, Causing Cancer and Many Other Diseases
» Barack “Climate Change” Obama
» Caught on Tape: Self-Driving Car Ploughs Into Journalists
» FIFA Officials Corrupted Football — US Prosecutors
» Free-Range Maryland Family Cleared of Child Neglect Charge
» Hillary the Arms Dealer
» NASA Mission to Europa Will Seek Conditions for Life
» New Horizons Sees More Detail as it Draws Closer to Pluto
» Prepare Your Homes and Neighborhoods for the Violence That is Going to Sweep America
» Rick Santorum Joins Crowded Republican Field for President
» SpaceX Cleared for US Military Launches
» The Jihad Caucus
» ‘We Are Lucky to Have Stoltenberg’: Obama
 
Canada
» Back to the Future! Real-Life Hoverboard Breaks Record
» Occupy Wall Street Organizers Out to “Swing” Canadian Election
 
Europe and the EU
» 65-Year-Old German Mum’s Quadruplets Face Big Health Risks: Doctors
» Al Pacino Pulls Out of ‘Nazi’ Knut Hamsun Play
» British People Have Become ‘Internationally Renowned’ For Having ‘Really Lousy’ Teeth
» Czechia: Communist Prosecutor Faces Charges After 62 Years
» Eurasian Economic Union Looks to Europe
» Eurosceptic Finns Party Leader Named Foreign, EU Affairs Minister
» Finland: Stubb Becomes Finance Minister, Soini Takes Foreign Affairs Portfolio
» Germany: WWII Bomb Forces Cologne Evacuation
» Germany: World War II Bomb Forces Evacuation of 20,000 in Cologne
» Germany WW2 Bomb Find Prompts Cologne’s Biggest Evacuation
» Italy: Fincantieri Invests in Camper & Nicholsons International
» Italy: Bulgari Used Foreign Companies to Dodge Taxman — Prosecutor
» Netherlands: Muslims Angered by Wilders Request
» Norway: World’s Biggest Elk Statue Arrives in Oslo
» Swiss Prosecutors to Investigate 2018 and 2022 World Cup Bids
» Swiss Authorities Investigating World Cup Votes Following Arrests of 7 FIFA Officials in US Corruption Case
» The Myth of Bad British Teeth
» Vatican Family Chief in Umbria Castle Probe
 
Balkans
» Albania-Serbia: Tirana Heavily Guarded for Vucic Visit
» Albania, Serbia Pledge to Work for Balkans’ Stability
 
North Africa
» Egypt Seeks Anti-Jihadist Allies Among Libyan Tribes
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Amnesty International Accuses Hamas of ‘Horrific Abuses’
» Amnesty International Accuses Hamas of Torturing, Killing Palestinians in New Report on Gaza Conflict
 
Middle East
» How to Squeeze the Biggest Jet Into the Busiest Airport
» ISIS Rise Provoked by Outside Interference Into Middle East, North Africa — Putin
» Islamic State Launches Wave of Suicide Attacks on Iraqi Troops
» Saudi Arabia Breaks Record for Number of Beheadings in Only 5 Months
» Saudi-Led Airstrikes on Police Headquarters Kill 45 in Yemen
» The Borg of the Middle East
» ‘There’s Evil in This World’: US Vets Risk All to Fight ISIS With Kurdish Forces
» Three Suicide Bombers Kill 55 Iraqi Soldiers, ISIS Suspected
» Tony Blair Quits Middle East Envoy Role
» Tony Blair Steps Down From Mideast Envoy Post
» Turkey’s Religious Heartland Enjoys AKP Prosperity
» UAE Denies Entry to Amnesty International Expert
 
Russia
» Ukraine: Kiev Place 1 Billion Eurobond Backed by US
 
South Asia
» Bangladesh: Catholic Church Promotes Interreligious Dialogue Against Extremism
» Bangladesh: All Religious Groups Condemn the Rape of a Catholic Tribal Woman
 
Far East
» Secret Taliban Peace Talks in China Criticized
» Southeast Asia: Billions of Dollars in Weapons to Counter the Threat From China
» Vietnam: Beijing Bans Fishing in the South China Sea, A Step Hanoi Calls Arrogant and Illegitimate
 
Australia — Pacific
» Billions for Tribute, But Not One Penny for Defense?
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» South Africa: Ancestors Delaying Medupi — CRL Commission
 
Immigration
» Appeals Court to Obama: NO, YOU CANNOT!
» Austria Relegates Refugees to Tent Cities
» Ban: More EU Migrant Relocation, Less Mediterranean Military
» Bavaria Against Italy-Austria, Transit Migrants is Violation
» EC Okays Plan to Relocate 24,000 Refugees From Italy
» EU Asks Member States to Admit 40,000 Asylum Seekers
» Fico: Influx of Migrants Opens Up EU to Terrorism
» Greece: Nearly 12,000 Immigrants Entered Illegally in April, Twice as Many as in March
» Migrant Crisis: EU Asks States to Accept 40,000 Asylum Seekers
» Poland to Offer Safe Haven to 60 Syrian Christian Families
» Sweden to Learn of New EU Migrant Quota Details
» Triton Mission to Reach 138 Miles South of Sicily
 
Culture Wars
» Catholic Group Exposes Red Influence in the Vatican
» Did the Journal Science Publish a Fabricated Study on Gay Marriage?
» Google Images Campaign Wants Search Engine to Stop Seeing White Skin as ‘Default’
» Tinder and Grindr Dating Apps ‘Causing STI Cases Like Syphilis and HIV to Rise’
 
General
» A Timeline of FIFA Scandals Under Blatter
 

Bank of Italy Says Families Spending 90% of Tax Bonus

Survey says the 80-euro monthly helps make ends meet

(ANSA) — Rome, May 26 — Cash-strapped Italian families are spending 90% of the government’s 80-euro monthly tax bonus, the Bank of Italy said Tuesday in its annual report.

A survey by the central bank of family budgets found that the low-income tax break, implemented by Premier Matteo Renzi, appears to be helping families make ends meet each month.

The report said that the bonus, for people with a gross annual income of between 8,000 euros and 26,000 euros, has cost the Treasury about seven billion euros.

It said that about 5.5 million households, or one-quarter of the national total, have benefited from the transfer.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Free Financial Markets Are a Hoax

There are no free financial markets in America, or for that matter anywhere in the Western word, and few, if any, free markets of any other kind. The financial markets are rigged by the big banks, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury in the interests of the profits of the few big banks and the dollar’s exchange value, which is the basis of US power.

There is a contradiction between a strong currency on one hand and on the other hand massive money creation in order to sustain zero and negative interest rates on the massive debt levels. This inconsistency is revealed by rising gold and silver prices.

When gold hit $1,900 an ounce in 2011 the Federal Reserve realized that the precious metal market was going to limit its ability to provide enough liquidity to keep the thoughtlessly deregulated financial system afloat. The rapid deterioration of the dollar in terms of gold and silver would sooner or later spill over into the exchange value of the dollar in currency markets. Something had to be done to drive down and to cap the gold price. The Fed’s solution was to take advantage of the fact that the prices of gold and silver are determined in the futures market where paper contracts representing gold and silver are traded, and not in markets where the physical metal is actually purchased by people who take possession of it. The Fed realized that uncovered short sales provided enormous leverage over the prices of the metals and that it would be profitable for the bullion banks, such as JPMorgan, Scotia, and HSBC, to short the market heavily and then cover their shorts at lower prices produced by selling as a result of triggering stop-loss orders and margin calls.

Dave Kranzler and I have shown on numerous occasions that the bullion banks and the Federal Reserve make profits and protect the dollar by suppressing the prices of gold and silver. They do this by illegally selling huge numbers of uncovered shorts in the futures market. This illegal operation is supported by the so-called “regulatory authorities” who steadfastly refuse to intervene.

It has just happened again.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Secret Meeting in London to “End Cash”

Economist Martin Armstrong claims there is a “secret meeting to end cash” set to take place in London before the end of the month involving representatives from the ECB and the Federal Reserve.

Armstrong, who is known for successfully predicting the 1987 Black Monday crash as well as the 1998 Russian financial collapse, expressed his shock that no news outlet has reported on this upcoming conference.

“I find it extremely perplexing that I have been the only one to report of the secret meeting in London. Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University, and Willem Buiter, the Chief Economist at Citigroup, will address the central banks to advocate the elimination of all cash to bring to fruition the day when you cannot buy or sell anything without government approval,” writes Armstrong.

“When I googled the issue to see who else has picked it up, to my surprise, Armstrong Economics comes up first. Others are quoting me, and I even find it spreading as far as the Central Bank of Nigeria, but I have yet to find any reports on the meeting taking place in London, when my sources are direct.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Yuan Still Undervalued: US Treasury Secretary

The United States still believes China’s yuan currency is undervalued, unlike the International Monetary Fund, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Wednesday. “We continue to think it’s undervalued,” Lew said in a talk at the London School of Economics university.

The IMF said Tuesday that the yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), was no longer undervalued.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

4 Ingredients in 80 Percent of Processed Foods Are Decimating Immunity, Causing Cancer and Many Other Diseases

It’s not just the high fat, salt or sugar content of processed foods that is driving obesity and diet-related illnesses — the lack of food diversity is killing our gut flora, claims one researcher. If we exclude sugar, approximately 80 percent of all calories in processed foods come from a combination of four ingredients.

Drawing upon evidence from multiple studies, Professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and author of The Diet Myth, Tim Spector said the restrictive nature of highly processed diets which use just a few ingredients is responsible for reducing our microbe diversity — and is making us ill.

“That junk food is bad for you is not news — the combination of saturated fat, calories, sugar, chemicals and lack of fibre is an obvious signal. The lack of diversity in the diet, though, is an overlooked factor: 80% of processed food is made up of just four ingredients — corn, wheat, soy and meat,” he wrote.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Barack “Climate Change” Obama

“Woe to the land that’s governed by a child.” — Shakespeare, Richard III

IF Obama’s climate change idiocy is just a way to distract us from the problems we have thanks to his failure to address them, then it is purely cynical, political. IF Obama really believes this stuff, he is unfit to be President

I have been wrestling for some kind of explanation why the President of the United States, Barack Obama, would continue to talk about climate change and urge the global transition from fossil fuels to wind, solar and bio-energy. I have concluded that he thinks everyone, not just Americans, are idiots.

We know he lies about everything, but these two topics are clearly near and dear to his heart.

My friend, Paul Driessen, is a policy analyst for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, a free market think tank. Among the pundit class he’s ranked very high by his colleagues. Here’s what he has to say about climate change:

“Earth climate always has changed, is always changing, and always will change—but not from fossil-fuel use. Solar fluctuations, deep ocean circulation patterns, and other powerful natural forces have driven climate change and weather events throughout Earth’s history and will continue to do so.

“President Obama’s hubris is breathtaking. He now thinks an army of regulators can control our planet’s temperature and climate by tweaking emissions of plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide, a mere 0.04% of the atmosphere.

“America’s communities do not need to be protected from climate change. They need to be protected from the excesses of authoritarian presidents and bureaucrats.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Caught on Tape: Self-Driving Car Ploughs Into Journalists

Instead, in what is perhaps the most epic “option” in the history of automotive history, Volvo decided to make the special feature known as “pedestrian detection functionality” cost extra money. It gets better: the cars do have auto-braking features as standard, but only for avoiding other cars — if they are to avoid crashing into pedestrians, too, then owners must pay extra.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FIFA Officials Corrupted Football — US Prosecutors

US prosecutors have accused several officials from football’s governing body Fifa of racketeering, fraud and money laundering involving tens of millions of dollars over 24 years.

Prosecutors said they had discovered a dozen schemes, including one awarding the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.

Fourteen people have been indicted, with seven held in Zurich on Wednesday.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who is not among them, issued a statement vowing to kick out corrupt officials.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Free-Range Maryland Family Cleared of Child Neglect Charge

Hallelujah! Danielle and Alexander Meitiv have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the Dec. 20 incident when they let their kids walk home from the park in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Washington Post reports:

A Maryland couple investigated for neglect after they let their two young children walk home alone from local parks have been cleared in one of two such cases, according to the family’s attorneys and documents.

The new Child Protective Services finding, which follows an appeal, comes as the experiences of “free range” parents Danielle and Alexander Meitiv have drawn national attention, sparking debate about parenting choices and how far local officials should go to enforce laws designed to protect children.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary the Arms Dealer

Clinton Foundation payola funds State Department approval of arms shipments to repressive governments.

While presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was America’s top diplomat the Department of State that she oversaw approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments forked over millions of dollars to the now-embattled Clinton Foundation.

According to an International Business Times report by David Sirota and Andrew Perez, “at least seven foreign governments that received State Department clearance for American arms did donate to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary.” The article identified the seven nations as Algeria, Australia, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, and Thailand.

Mainstream media’s surprisingly probing coverage of the unfolding Clinton Foundation donations-for-favors scandal suggests that reporters have turned on the Clintons in the age of Obama.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NASA Mission to Europa Will Seek Conditions for Life

NASA’s Europa spacecraft will use nine scientific instruments to assess the icy, ocean-harboring Jupiter moon’s ability to support life, space agency officials announced today (May 26).

The Europa probe — which is scheduled to launch in the early to mid-2020s — will carry supersharp cameras, a heat detector, ice-penetrating radar and a variety of other gear that will shed light on the satellite’s surface composition and the nature of its salty subsurface sea, among other things, NASA officials said.

The newly announced scientific payload “will help us take great strides forward in understanding the habitability of Europa,” Curt Niebur, Europa program scientist at NASA’s Washington headquarters, said during a news conference today.

Astrobiologists regard the 1,900-mile-wide (3,100 kilometers) Europa as one of the solar system’s best bets to host extraterrestrial life.

Europa possesses a salty ocean beneath its ice shell, and this sea is apparently in contact with the moon’s rocky mantle, making possible a number of complex chemical reactions, scientists say. In addition, scientists think that Europa’s seafloor also features hydrothermal vents, providing a potential energy source for life-forms, if any exist in the dark depths.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Horizons Sees More Detail as it Draws Closer to Pluto

What a difference 20 million miles makes! Images of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft are growing in scale as the spacecraft approaches its mysterious target. The new images, taken May 8-12 using a powerful telescopic camera and downlinked last week, reveal more detail about Pluto’s complex and high-contrast surface.

The images were taken from just under 50 million miles (77 million kilometers) away, using the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on New Horizons. Because New Horizons was approximately 20 million miles closer to Pluto in mid-May than in mid-April, the new images contain about twice as many pixels on the object as images made in mid-April.

The images New Horizons returns will dramatically improve in coming weeks as the spacecraft speeds closer to its July 14 encounter with the Pluto system, covering about 750,000 miles per day.

“By late June the image resolution will be four times better than the images made May 8-12, and by the time of closest approach, we expect to obtain images with more than 5,000 times the current resolution,” said Hal Weaver, the mission’s project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Prepare Your Homes and Neighborhoods for the Violence That is Going to Sweep America

The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is beginning to disappear, and a new era of chaos and anarchy is coming to our cities.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but violence is increasing on the streets of America. Over Memorial Day weekend, 29 people were shot in Baltimore and 55 people were shot in Chicago. But of course the trend that I am talking about is much broader than that. According to the FBI, the number of police officers “feloniously killed” in the line of duty rose by an astounding 89 percent in 2014. We live at a time when Americans are becoming extremely angry and extremely frustrated, and this is only going to intensify as economic conditions worsen. But already we have seen some of this anger and frustration boil over into violence in Ferguson and in Baltimore. And you know what? The vast majority of Americans expect more of the same in the coming months. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey that was recently released, 96 percent of all Americans believe that there will be more civil unrest in America this summer. What we have seen up until now is just the warm up act. The main event is still to come.

If things are this bad already, how bad will they be when the next great economic crisis hits this nation and unemployment skyrockets and poverty is everywhere? That is why I am encouraging people that currently live in the heart of our major cities to consider moving. Unfortunately, most Americans are completely dependent on the jobs that they currently have, so moving is not really a practical option for a lot of people.

For those that cannot move, you are just going to have to get prepared right where you are. That means making your home and your family as unattractive a target to potential criminals as you possibly can. The goal should be to avoid a violent confrontation if at all possible. So you will want multiple layers of security between you and those that would potentially harm you and your family. You want to try to deter the bad guys from ever coming on to your property in the first place, but if they do come, you need to be ready to deal with them.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rick Santorum Joins Crowded Republican Field for President

Rick Santorum, a Christian conservative who came second in the 2012 Republican primaries, has launched a second campaign for the US presidency.

Mr Santorum is expected to formally launch his campaign on Wednesday at an event in his home state, Pennsylvania.

The former senator won several key races in 2012, emphasising social issues like abortion and gay marriage.

But he may have trouble standing out in the crowded the field of 2016 Republican candidates.

Mr Santorum will compete against candidates like former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who have all been actively courting Mr Santorum’s base of socially conservative and religious voters.

The sheer number of candidates for the White House has created logistical issues for debate moderators.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

SpaceX Cleared for US Military Launches

The US Air Force has certified the private company SpaceX to launch military and spy satellites.

A joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing has had a monopoly on those launches since 2006.

Founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, SpaceX has already won contracts with NASA to ferry cargo and crews to the International Space Station.

The approval from the US military followed two years of intensive reviews by the US Air Force.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Jihad Caucus

The United States allows 70,000 people from all over the world to obtain legal permanent residence through our Refugee Program— one of the most generous in the world. We also bring in another 40,000 or so through the Asylum program. Then there is the Special Immigrant Visa for people from Iraq and Afghanistan— about 10,000 in FY 2014— and a Cuban/Haitian Entrant program bringing in another 20,000 annually. That adds up to about 140,000.

Many of these “ refugees” come from Islamic countries like Somalia, Iraq and Iran, bringing with them at least the potential for terrorism, in many cases a contempt for our country and the almost universal edict among Muslims to dominate. Islamic supremacist Mega Mosques are being erected all over the country, vigorously supported by the Obama Justice Department, which runs interference for them over the objections of local citizenry.

It’ s about to get worse. The Syrian civil war— enabled at least partially by Obama’ s insane foreign policy— has created a refugee crisis, with approximately 2.9 million Syrians now living in refugee camps in surrounding countries. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees wants the U.S. to accept 130,000 Syrians by the end of 2016. We have only taken 700 so far, but given the FBI’ s warning that it cannot guarantee ISIS or other terrorists are not among the refugees, even that is too many.

Not to be dissuaded from such silly national security concerns, a group of 14 U.S. senators, led by the indefatigable Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, have written a letter to Obama urging him to allow 65,000 Syrians in as refugees. This would require a dramatic expansion of the refugee program, and virtually guarantee that a sizable number of ISIS fighters would slip in among them. Frank Gaffney’ s Center for Security Policy has given them the moniker “ Jihad Caucus” because practically speaking, Jihad is what this request will bring.

The 14 senators demanding this massive influx of Syrians are:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘We Are Lucky to Have Stoltenberg’: Obama

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saluted US President Barack Obama for helping to push through “the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War” as the two met in Washington on Tuesday.

After the meeting, the former Norwegian prime minister praised Obama for being prepared to “show leadership at a time where we really need US leadership”.

Obama said that he believed Stoltenberg was the right person to steer the alliance through the new security risks. “This is a challenging and important time for NATO, and we are very lucky to have Secretary General Stoltenberg at the helm,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Back to the Future! Real-Life Hoverboard Breaks Record

A hoverboard rider recently soared into Guinness World Records after flying a record distance on the futuristic, flying skateboard.

Catalin Alexandru Duru, the inventor of the prototype hoverboard, traveled the length of two-and-a-half football fields (about 905 feet) to achieve the world record title before landing gently in the sparkling water of Quebec’s Lake Ouareau. Duru reached a height of 16.4 feet, but the flying board is allegedly capable of much greater altitudes, said Duru, who told Guinness World Records that his machine could reach “scary heights.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Occupy Wall Street Organizers Out to “Swing” Canadian Election

Adbusters magazine—the flagship of the Canadian non-profit Adbusters Media Foundation that spawned Occupy Wall Street (OWS)—is out to take down Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government in October elections.

The magazine that calls all restless millennials to arms in a revival of 1960-styled protests for ultimate Marxist takeover—is printed in the United States.

The message of its 100,000 international circulation, found mostly in corner convenience stores like 7-Eleven is a clarion call to Marxism: “Let the Global Revolution Begin”, “Cultural Revolution is Our Business”.

Adbusters lure to disaffected youth of the day is the raunchy: “Having fun, Kicking #”. (Canada Free Press, Oct. 14, 2011)

Adbusters founders are as ambitious as they are arrogant: “We are a fast growing global network of culture jammers, mental environmentalists and social revolutionaries working to change the way information flows; the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

65-Year-Old German Mum’s Quadruplets Face Big Health Risks: Doctors

Doctors at a Berlin clinic Wednesday said quadruplets, whose very premature births to a 65-year-old German mother have captured headlines and stirred debate, face big health risks.

Eight days after their delivery, two of the newborns are receiving help with breathing and one has undergone surgery for an intestinal problem, said the medical experts at the prestigious Charite hospital.

Teacher Annegret Raunigk, who already had 13 children, gave birth to the quadruplets by caesarian section in the 26th week of pregnancy, after travelling to Ukraine for fertility treatment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Al Pacino Pulls Out of ‘Nazi’ Knut Hamsun Play

American acting legend Al Pacino has pulled out of a stage adaptation of ‘Hunger’, the dark psychological novel by Norway’s Knut Hamsun, because of the writer’s enthusiastic support for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

British People Have Become ‘Internationally Renowned’ For Having ‘Really Lousy’ Teeth

British people have become “internationally renowned” for having “really lousy” teeth, and we are too tolerant of it, a doctor has warned. Dr Chris van Tulleken said tooth decay “doesn’t really bother us” in the UK, resulting in much worse oral hygiene than elsewhere in the world.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Czechia: Communist Prosecutor Faces Charges After 62 Years

Melnik, central Bohemia, May 25 (CTK) — A state prosecutor has filed criminal charges against Tomas Liptak, 80, for having been involved in the banishment of farmers from their homes in the early 1950s as a prosecutor, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.

Liptak denies any wrongdoing, MfD writes.

Liptak was a district prosecutor in Kralupy nad Vltavou, central Bohemia, in 1953, it adds.

The criminal complaint could be filed after such a long time because communist crimes do not fall under the statute of limitations, MfD writes.

Melnik prosecutor Jaromira Petrasova said Liptak was suspected of having banished several families.

Liptak worked in the commission that was deciding on the banishment of farmers in order to gain their property for agricultural cooperatives, it adds.

If convicted, he may be sentenced up to 10 years in prison for abuse of power, MfD writes.

So far, only two sentences — both suspended — have been meted out for forced collectivization in the Czech Republic, it adds.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Eurasian Economic Union Looks to Europe

(AGI) Astana, May 22 — An energy group such as Italy’s Eni “is sure to derive great benefit from the Eurasian Economic Union and over time to gain value across Eurasia,” said Kazakhstan’s Energy and Infrastructure Minister, Tair Mansurov. He is also a member of the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).

Mr Mansurov stopped to talk to AGI at the Astana Economic Forum (AEF), a platform for dialogue founded on the initiative of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and now in its eighth year. The forum is due to discuss the EEU, which was founded at last year’s AEF and is pursuing integration in the region. “I know Eni very well. It is very active in Kazakhstan and Russia and is a very well-known energy company. Its value in Kazakhstan and Russia is definitely destined to grow across the Eurasian Union which has no other interest than to interact with them.” The union has five members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, but intends to extend to all countries of the former Soviet bloc, and is also courting Turkey and Vietnam, to open further to business with Europe. “The formation of this common market, due to start on January 1, 2019, will certainly help improve the situation and give impetus to the sale and production of energy,” he said. “There is a huge energy potential in many of these countries, and if we give them the opportunity they will produce it more efficiently. It is a concept that has been accepted by all member states and so it will work.” The intention is also to interact with Europe on infrastructure, trade and exchange of know-how. “We have studied the process of European integration that is a constructive for us,” said the minister. He also presented the forum with President Nazarbayev’s book, “Implementation of the Eurasian Project”. The book marks the period from March 1994, when the Kazakh leader had his vision of a free trade area in Eurasia, to it becoming reality in June last year.

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

Eurosceptic Finns Party Leader Named Foreign, EU Affairs Minister

Finland’s new Prime Minister Juha Sipila on Wednesday named eurosceptic Finns Party leader Timo Soini the country’s new foreign and European affairs minister.

It is the first time the populist, far-right party will be in government, after placing second in Finland’s April 19 general election.

Soini, who has been an outspoken critic of the European Union and especially of eurozone bailouts, was cautious in his first statements after the appointment.

“The (European) Union must be reformed. We need to improve it so that we can serve its citizens better. In the government however, we don’t regard the amendment of treaties as an issue at this time,” Soini said at a press conference alongside Sipila…

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

Finland: Stubb Becomes Finance Minister, Soini Takes Foreign Affairs Portfolio

Finland’s former Prime Minister, Alexander Stubb, will hold the post of finance minister in Juha Sipilä’s next government, with responsibility for implementing a programme of swingeing cuts to the national budget.

In a press conference announcing the outcome of weeks of negotiations between the Centre, Finns and National Coalition parties, incoming Prime Minister Juha Sipilä unveiled a plan on Wednesday to make 6 billion euros of savings by 2021.

Sipilä also named his new foreign minister as Timo Soini, leader of the eurosceptic Finns party, which gained the second largest share of the vote in April’s election.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: WWII Bomb Forces Cologne Evacuation

The discovery of a bomb buried near the Rhine River has prompted the largest evacuation in Cologne since World War II. Experts are due to deactivate the 200-kilogram device shortly.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: World War II Bomb Forces Evacuation of 20,000 in Cologne

Some 20,000 residents in the western German city of Cologne are being forced to evacuate their homes after authorities discovered a 200-kilogram (440-pound) bomb from World War II. Schools and kindergartens remained closed and dozens of ambulances were on the scene to evacuate residents of a nursing home.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany WW2 Bomb Find Prompts Cologne’s Biggest Evacuation

Some 20,000 people in the German city of Cologne have been forced to leave their homes as authorities defuse a one-tonne bomb from World War Two.

Schools and kindergartens — as well as the zoo — remained closed during the city’s largest post-war evacuation.

About 1,100 residents of a retirement and disability centre in the Riehl area were among those taken to safety.

It is not unusual for unexploded bombs to be discovered in Germany. Allied bombers targeted Cologne in WW2.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Fincantieri Invests in Camper & Nicholsons International

(AGI) Rome, May 22 — Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri has signed a deal to acquire a minority stake in Camper & Nicholsons International’s via a capital increase. Camper & Nicholsons is a global leader in activities related to luxury yachting. The deal includes the possibility for Fincantieri to increase its stake in the future. “The investment consolidates the presence of both companies in the larger yacht segment and confirms Fincantieri’s strategic interest in an area in which it has devoted substantial resources and achieved significant results since creation of the group’s specialty division, Fincantieri Yachts,” the companies said in a statement.

“Drawing on Fincantieri’s 230 years of expertise in shipbuilding, Fincantieri’s yacht division offers unparalleled levels of design, styling and quality in the build of megayachts. Fincantieri and Camper & Nicholsons have already established an excellent relationship through the build of two megayachts, including the 134-metre Serene and the 140-metre Ocean Victory. Delivered in 2011 and 2014 respectively, Serene and Ocean Victory are representative among the most innovative and technologically advanced megayachts ever built. With the investment in Camper & Nicholsons, Fincantieri aims to strengthen its leadership in the new build sector.” “Acquiring a stake in a company of Camper & Nicholson caliber has a significant strategic value,” Fincantieri’s CEO Giuseppe Bono stated. “From today we are among the first shipbuilders to directly oversee the promising megayachts market segment. Our presence will cover the entire range of activities typical for this business, from sales and marketing to life cycle management of these very special units. This partnership will allow us to extend our skills and therefore to further strengthen our role in a segment which guarantees attractive margins.” “In only nine months of ownership, we went on to acquire the Camper & Nicholsons brand and are now delighted to welcome such a strong investment partner, as Fincantieri,” Camper & Nicholsons International’s Executive Chairman Gualtiero Giori commented. “Both companies share similarly long and proud histories yet remain leaders in our respective sectors today. We look forward to their support in taking Camper & Nicholsons to even greater heights of success in the years to come.”

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

Italy: Bulgari Used Foreign Companies to Dodge Taxman — Prosecutor

Global profit margin sent to Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland

(see related)(ANSA) — Rome, May 26 — Prosecutors investigating alleged tax evasion by Italian jewelry and luxury goods brand Bulgari say the company used a series of overseas companies to dodge the taxman.

Bulgari is suspected of having hidden from the authorities some three billion euros of revenue from 2006 to 2013.

Investigators believe it did this by reallocating its global profit margin to Switzerland, the Netherlands and Ireland through foreign subsidiaries. Ireland was identified as the “final destination” in the group’s tax planning, they say. Paolo and Nicola Bulgari were among 13 people sent to trial on Tuesday for the alleged tax evasion.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Muslims Angered by Wilders Request

Turkish and Muslim communities in the Netherlands called Wilders’ demand for anti-Islam exhibit a ‘provocation.’

Representatives of Muslim communities in the Netherlands told Anadolu Agency that Geert Wilders’ request for a cartoon exhibition depicting Prophet Muhammad is a ‘provocation’.

The Dutch far-right politician, who is known for his anti-Islam pronouncements, sent a letter to the Dutch parliament last week requesting that an exhibition of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad be shown in the Dutch parliament..

Ejder Kose, a lawyer and deputy chairman of the Center for Public Debate told Anadolu Agency that he hoped the parliament will refuse the request for both legal and political reasons. “Geert Wilders initiative is certainly a provocation,” he said.

The Center for Public Debate is a non-profit organization committed to promoting objective debate on the Dutch Turkish diaspora.

Kose also pointed out that Wilders’ initiative could be considered a hate crime and that it “will be important to define the limits of freedom of expression.”…

[Return to headlines]
 

Norway: World’s Biggest Elk Statue Arrives in Oslo

Oslo this week took delivery of the world’s largest elk sculpture, a ten-metre-high beast in shimmering steel which stands 30cm taller than its Canadian rival ‘Mac the Moose’.

The giant elk, created by Norwegian artist Linda Bakke, will mark the mid-point of the road between Oslo and Trondheim, welcoming travellers to the country’s northern reaches.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Prosecutors to Investigate 2018 and 2022 World Cup Bids

The Swiss have launched an investigation into the allocation of the World Cup to Russia and Qatar. Despite two ongoing investigations into FIFA officials, the organization said the vote for group president will go ahead.

Also on Wednesday, nine officials from soccer’s governing body were indicted due to a similar US corruption investigation. They were apprehended at a luxury hotel in the Swiss financial capital where they were to attend a conference to decide who should be FIFA’s next president — incumbent Sepp Blatter or current Vice President Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Authorities Investigating World Cup Votes Following Arrests of 7 FIFA Officials in US Corruption Case

Swiss federal prosecutors opened criminal proceedings related to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups Wednesday, throwing FIFA deeper into crisis only hours after seven soccer officials were arrested and 14 indicted in a separate U.S. corruption probe. The officials were arrested and detained by Swiss police pending extradition at the request of U.S. authorities after a raid at a luxury hotel in Zurich.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Myth of Bad British Teeth

Britain has become “internationally renowned” for having “really lousy” teeth, according to TV doctor Chris van Tulleken, with people not caring enough about staining and decay. Is this label fair?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Family Chief in Umbria Castle Probe

Msgr Vincenzo Paglia among four probed for price-rigging

(ANSA) — Terni, May 27 — The president of the pontifical council for the family, former Terni bishop Vincenzo Paglia, could face charges in a probe into suspected embezzlement and price-rigging in the sale of an Umbrian castle, police said Wednesday.

The sale of Narni’s San Girolamo castle is linked to a “hole” of over 20 million euros during Paglia’s term as Terni bishop, they said.

The probe started in July 2013 with the arrest of the former head of the technical office of the diocese, Luca Galletti, former buyer Paolo Zappelli and the head of the Narni municipal planning office Antonio Zitti.

Investigations have been concluded against all those implicated, the usual prelude to charges being brought.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Albania-Serbia: Tirana Heavily Guarded for Vucic Visit

TIRANA — Some 1,500 police officers, Albanian police special units and secret services have been deployed to ensure the safety of Serbian premier Aleksandar Vucic during his visit to Tirana today.

Police vehicles and officers with flak jackets monitor all access points to the city, the main crossroads and all Tirana key spots.

The road linking the centre of Tirana to the international Mother Theresa Airport, where Vucic is expected to land around 11 A.M, will be closed off to traffic together with the road-arteries through which the Serb premier will pass.

Army helicopters will monitor the situation from the sky.

The Serbian premier will be welcomed with full honours by his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama and he will meet the most important Albanian authorities.

Relations between Tirana and Belgrade have been fraught by a long and bitter enmity marked by wars, conflicts and the Kosovar issue.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Albania, Serbia Pledge to Work for Balkans’ Stability

TIRANA (AFP) — The prime ministers of Serbia and Albania, Aleksandar Vucic and Edi Rama, in an historic visit vowed to strengthen their fragile ties in the interests of the future stability of the Balkans.

“There was a chilly period between Belgrade and Tirana but this (Vucic’s) visit is a sign of the will of the two countries even if we are far from agreeing on all” issues, Rama said at a joint press conference marking the first visit by a Serbian head of government.

At the heart of the mutual friction was Kosovo, the former Serbian province with an ethnic Albanian majority which unilaterally declared independence in 2008.

Belgrade still refuses to recognise it as a nation, unlike some 100 countries including the United States and most nations in the European Union.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt Seeks Anti-Jihadist Allies Among Libyan Tribes

Hundreds of Libyan tribal leaders met yesterday in Cairo. Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri: “ Egypt will not hesitate to support her brother Libyans until they achieve security and reconciliation among themselves.” Egyptian President ponders Arab States intervention in Libya, modeled on Yemen.

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Hundreds of Libyan tribal leaders met yesterday in Cairo (pictured) at the invitation of the Egyptian authorities with the goal of preventing Islamist violence from infiltrating the areas along their shared border.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in fact, sees the growth of jihadist movements in Libya, the greatest danger to the security of his country and is seeking the cooperation of the leaders of the Libyan tribes to remove this threat.

Inaugurating the meeting, the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shukri stressed the positive role that the tribes can play in restoring stability to the country fragmented after the fall of Gaddafi, with both governments and various militias that control parts of the territory.

“Egypt — said the minister — will not hesitate to support her brother Libyans until they achieve security and reconciliation among themselves.” Egypt, he said, called on tribal leaders because they are the “backbone” of the stability, security and territorial integrity of their country.

According to some analysts, the Egyptian president is pondering an Arab States intervention in Libya, modeled on that taking place in Yemen, in order to fight the jihadists of the Islamic State and other radical groups in the country.

Egypt’s plan however, is hindered by the difficulty in reconciling hundreds of tribal leaders and the fact that the great majority tribes invited by Cairo sided with the internationally recognized government and only some of those with the unrecognized government of Tripoli.

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

Amnesty International Accuses Hamas of ‘Horrific Abuses’

Group calls it ‘propaganda, focus should be on Israeli crimes’

(by Aldo Baquis) (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV/GAZA, MAY 27 — Hamas committed grave abuses in Gaza during the war last summer with Israel, according to an Amnesty International report released Wednesday. The abuses included the summary execution of at least 23 Palestinians and torture of dozens of others “to spread fear” among its political rivals in the Gaza Strip. The report, entitled ‘Strangling Necks: Abduction, torture and summary killings of Palestinians by Hamas forces during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict’, marks the second time in only a few months that Amnesty International has directly accused Hamas, after speaking out against the launching of thousands of rockets at Israeli territory. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that the report was based on “propaganda” to make the movement seem worse than it is. Barhoum charged Amnesty with failing to verify with Hamas the grounds for the accusations. The report, he said, “takes attention away from crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation towards the children, women and elderly of our population”. The drafters of the report listed a number of cases it described as “spine chilling” in which Palestinians accused by Hamas of helping Israel were tortured and killed, which may constitute war crimes. Special mention is made of the case of Atta Najjar, a former Palestinian Authority (PA) policeman who was serving a 15-year prison sentence imposed by a military court that had found him guilty of collaborating with Israel. On August 22, 2014, he was taken out from the prison and executed.

Najjar’s brother is quoted in the report as saying that there were “marks of torture and bullet wounds on his body. His arms and legs were broken and his body was as if you’d put it in a bag and smashed it”. The report states that some of the torture of Hamas prisoners occurred in an abandoned clinic in the perimeter of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Another incident cited in the report happened in public on the same day at the entrance to the Al-Omari mosque in the presence of hundreds of people including children. Six Palestinians accused of “collaborating with Israel” were hooded and shot to the head by a pistol, and then riddled with bullets by Kalashnikovs. Amnesty International said that it was unacceptable that no one had been punished in Gaza for this brutality and called for “independent and international” verification. Hamas replied by saying that the organization would do better to focus on the crimes allegedly committed by Israel and submit the documentation to the International Criminal Court.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Amnesty International Accuses Hamas of Torturing, Killing Palestinians in New Report on Gaza Conflict

Amnesty International accused Hamas militants Wednesday of abducting, torturing, and carrying out summary executions of Palestinians during last year’s conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The report, the last of four released by the human rights group detailing events during the fighting, said that at least 23 Palestinians were shot and killed by Hamas, which rules Gaza, while dozens more were arrested and tortured. Amnesty said those targeted were either political rivals of Hamas, including members of the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, or people the militant group had accused of cooperating with Israel.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How to Squeeze the Biggest Jet Into the Busiest Airport

Dubai International Airport has a problem every international airfield wishes it had. Thanks largely to the success of Emirates, the state-owned airline, and its strategy of using a pair of runways in the desert as a massive transfer hub for long-haul flights, Dubai has quickly become the world’s busiest international airport. Key to that success has been Emirates’ embrace of the 525-seat double-decker Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial aircraft. The airline, the biggest operator of the superjumbo, already flies 60 of the planes and intends to increase its fleet to 140.

But that’s left the airport and its two runways bursting at the seams. The Gulf emirate plans to shift to a new airfield within a decade, but until then it’s looking for ways to squeeze more traffic through its existing facility. Dubai is opening a new airport concourse that will increase passenger capacity by 25 percent, to 90 million a year. That’s still 10 million passengers short of the passenger traffic the airport is forecast to reach by 2020.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Rise Provoked by Outside Interference Into Middle East, North Africa — Putin

There was previously no terrorism in countries where Islamic State militants “now prosper” until outside forces “not sanctioned by the UNSC” interfered, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, stressing the “serious consequences” that followed.

“We know what is happening, for example, in the Middle East, in North Africa; we know the problems associated with a terrorist organization, which has appropriated the right to be called the ‘Islamic State” (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL),” Putin said during a meeting with security officials from the BRICS block in Moscow.

“But there was no terrorism in the countries where it (IS) flourishes today before an unacceptable interference from the outside happened, not sanctioned by the Security Council of the united Nations,” he stressed.

Russia’s president describe the consequences of such interference as “serious,” with the Islamic State currently controlling territory in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Launches Wave of Suicide Attacks on Iraqi Troops

Islamic State extremists unleashed a wave of suicide attacks targeting the Iraqi army in western Anbar province, killing at least 17 troops in a major blow to government efforts to dislodge the militants from the sprawling Sunni heartland.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia Breaks Record for Number of Beheadings in Only 5 Months

Human rights activists are unsure of the specific reason for the recent uptick in beheadings. However, what is known is that the increase is related to the Saudi’s new king. After the death of King Abdullah and his almost decade-long reign on January 23, King Salman ascended to power with a much more assertive policy regarding executions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi-Led Airstrikes on Police Headquarters Kill 45 in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen — Saudi-led airstrikes struck a headquarters for police commandos in Yemen’s capital Wednesday, killing at least 45 people gathered there to prepare to fight against forces loyal to the country’s exiled president, Shiite rebels said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Borg of the Middle East

ISIS wants to transform everything in its path to a single structure, with itself at the center.

By Michael J. Totten

ISIS has conquered Syria’s spectacular Roman Empire city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site long known affectionately as the “bride of the desert,” and in all likelihood is gearing up to demolish it. We know this because they’ve done it before. ISIS used hammers, bulldozers, and explosives to destroy the ancient Iraqi cities of Hatra and Nimrud near Mosul, and they did it on video.

“These ruins that are behind me,” said an ISIS vandal on YouTube, “they are idols and statues that people in the past used to worship instead of Allah. The Prophet Muhammad took down idols with his bare hands when he went into Mecca. We were ordered by our prophet to take down idols and destroy them, and the companions of the prophet did this after this time, when they conquered countries.”

Muslims have ruled this part of the world for more than 1,000 years. All this time, they’ve been unbothered by the fact that Palmyra, Hatra, and Nimrud include pagan monuments, temples, statues, and inscriptions that predate Islam. Only now are these places doomed to annihilation…

           — Hat tip: DS [Return to headlines]
 

‘There’s Evil in This World’: US Vets Risk All to Fight ISIS With Kurdish Forces

KIRKUK, Iraq — Aaron Core thought he had seen enough of Iraq during a U.S. Army tour that ended in 2010. But the image of American journalist James Foley being murdered by an ISIS executioner prompted him to leave Tennessee and head back, this time as an unpaid volunteer in the service of the Kurdish Peshmerga.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Three Suicide Bombers Kill 55 Iraqi Soldiers, ISIS Suspected

Attack on military convoy near Fallujah

(ANSA) Beirut, May 27- At least 55 soldiers were killed Wednesday in Iraq by three suicide bombers believed to be from ISIS who attacked a convoy near Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad in Al Anbar province, Al Jazeera television reported.

The triple attack happened in the neighborhood of Karma, the day after Iraqi authorities announced the start of a counter-offensive to drive the Islamic State forces out of Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar province 100 km west of Baghdad that fell to the jihadist movement May 17.

Paramilitary militias are taking part in the counter-offensive, especially Shiite ones allied to Iran who in recent months fought for the re-capture of Tikrit, the home city of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Tony Blair Quits Middle East Envoy Role

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to stand down from his role as Middle East envoy representing the US, Russia, the UN and the EU, sources confirm.

He will leave the role next month after he fulfils “outstanding commitments”, a source close to Mr Blair told the BBC.

Mr Blair, who took the role just hours after leaving Downing Street in 2007, has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to confirm his decision.

He will “remain active” in the region in an informal role, the source said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tony Blair Steps Down From Mideast Envoy Post

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday stepped down as the international community’s Mideast envoy, leaving a post that began with great promise but which struggled to deliver dramatic changes in its quest to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey’s Religious Heartland Enjoys AKP Prosperity

It zips through the Turkish countryside at 250 kilometres an hour: fast, efficient — and a vote-winner for the governing AK Party (AKP).

We’ve boarded Turkey’s high-speed train as we continue our election trip across the country. It’s still new — this is only the second line, connecting Ankara to once sleepy Konya. It’s cut what was a 16-hour train ride via another town down to just 1 hour 45 minutes.

The railway is a pet project of the government, intended to be an engine of growth for Turkey’s economy — and for Konya itself.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UAE Denies Entry to Amnesty International Expert

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have barred an Amnesty International expert from entering the country, the London-based rights group said Wednesday.

James Lynch, Amnesty’s acting head of business and human rights, was on his way Tuesday to participate in a conference in Dubai, when immigration authorities at the airport refused him entry.

Lynch had been expected to speak about the responsibility of corporations to ensure migrant workers’ rights are protected in the construction boom across the Gulf, an Amnesty statement said.

He was forced to book a flight back to Britain on Wednesday morning…

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

Ukraine: Kiev Place 1 Billion Eurobond Backed by US

Interested banks are City, JP Morgan e Morgan Stanley

(ANSA) — KIEV — Kiev began to place Eurobonds, of a billion euro value, guaranteed by the US, the press agency Interfax announced citing a banking source. The banks involved in the transaction are City, JP Morgan Stanley and Morgan.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bangladesh: Catholic Church Promotes Interreligious Dialogue Against Extremism

The Episcopal Commission for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue promotes a week of meetings and discussions. The aim is to create an environment “conducive” to dialogue. The initiative was also attended by Muslim and Hindu leaders. Mons. Bejoy N. D’Cruz: diversity is a value.

Khulna (AsiaNews) — “We want our people to have ever greater skills in the field of inter-religious dialogue” so they know “how they should behave with people of other faiths”. This is what Fr. Ajit Costa, Omi tells AsiaNews commenting on the meeting that took place from May 18 to 23 at the Caritas headquarters in Khulna, Bangladesh’s third largest city.

The week of meetings and discussions focused on interreligious dialogue — which was attended by over 60 Catholics, including priests and nuns — was also promoted by the Episcopal Commission for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue (Ec-Cuird).

“We shared our experience in the field of interreligious dialogue with them — said Fr. Costa, secretary of the Ec-Cuird — and also explained the teachings of the Catholic Church on this matter, so that they can be “better equipped”. The priest adds that their objectives include the need to “create a favorable environment” for dialogue and confrontation, so thatCatholics can contribute “to the removal of religious conflicts”.

Msgr. Bejoy N. D’Cruz, president of the Episcopal Commission, stresses the importance of “sharing” experiences “with people of other faiths,” listening “to their stories” and understanding them in a friendly atmosphere. “Interreligious dialogue is a part — he added — but it is an exchange of opinions in an atmosphere of respect.” For the bishop dialogue must lead to the understanding of the teachings and principles of a different religion while always remembering that diversity is a value.

Among the various participants AsiaNews gathered feedback from Marino D’Mondol, who is enthusiastic about the initiative which taught him important lessons. “I learned how to talk to a Muslim, a Hindu and people of other faiths,” said the man, who says he will know try to “respect” the other’s thinking in any future meeting and discussion.

“If we all knew how to dialogue and we put it into practice in daily life — the teacher adds — there would be no sectarian conflicts, wars, extremist attacks in this country and in the world.”

An expert in Islamic law, Alamgir Hossain and Hindu scholar, Ashok, also attended the seminar. Both stressed the value of dialogue between different faiths, inspired by the teachings of their respective religions. A significant presence, at a difficult time in the country (Sunni Muslim) and characterized by targeted attacks and violence against bloggers and minorities.

Fr. Noren Baidya concluded by admitting that the situation in the field of inter-religious dialogue in Bangladesh “cannot be called satisfactory” and this is why it is “necessary” to strengthen activities, initiatives, opportunities to meet and share experiences in order to become promoters of dialogue firsthand.

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

Bangladesh: All Religious Groups Condemn the Rape of a Catholic Tribal Woman

The 21-year old ethnic Garo is currently recuperating at the Tejgaon’s Victim Support Centre. Five rapists are still at large. The attack took place on minibus in the capital. The Bishop of Mymensingh, where the young woman hails from, calls for “exemplary punishment” for the attackers.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) — The gang rape of a 21-year-old Catholic woman inside a minibus in Dhaka last Wednesday has caused outrage in Bangladesh.

The young woman, who is an ethnic Garo, comes from the Diocese of Mymensingh. After going to the One-stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, she was taken to Tejgaon’s Victim Support Centre.

Police in Vatara began an investigation, but no one has been arrested yet.

“I am deeply saddened. We cannot tolerate such an attack against our people,” said Mgr Ponen Paul Kubi, bishop of Mymensingh, who, like the victim, is an ethnic Garo. “I ask for an exemplary punishment for the rapists,” he told AsiaNews.

The young college student works part time at the Jamuna Future Park, Bangladesh’s largest shopping mall. According to her sister, she was forced into a minibus around 9.30 pm, and dropped off two hours later in front of a shoe store on Jasimuddin road.

Although the area is monitored by CCTV cameras, police said that the videos were of not use to the investigation.

The victim told police that she saw one of the rapists inside the shopping mall a few hours before the attack. He asked her some questions and then left.

According to investigators, the rapist decided to abduct and rape the young woman after he spoke to her.

Yesterday, thousands of people from all religious backgrounds and more than 50 organisations took part in a protest rally in favour of the victim and against violence against women.

“Young people are becoming more disorderly because schools do not teach morality anymore,” Catholic human rights activist Rosaline Costa told AsiaNews. “Even in good schools, female students and teachers are harassed.”

“We have dozens of laws, but they are not enforced,” the activist noted. “Police officers are sometimes involved in such crimes and come out clean. The result is that young people feel encouraged” in this kind of behaviour.

According to Costa, “schools should give lessons in morality, and the police should do their job properly, bringing perpetrators to justice.”

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

Secret Taliban Peace Talks in China Criticized

Once again, secret talks with Taliban representatives are said to have taken place — this time in China. Given the string of deadly attacks in their country, Afghans have reacted to the alleged meeting with skepticism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Southeast Asia: Billions of Dollars in Weapons to Counter the Threat From China

Over the past 15 years, defence spending by ASEAN nations has gone up more than three folds. By 2020, it should reach US$ 52 billion, especially in naval procurement. As tensions in the South China Sea rise, Southeast Asian nations buy submarines, amphibious craft and corvettes.

Singapore (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Southeast Asian nations are getting into an arms race, with spending centred on their navies and coastguards, this according to IHS Janes Defence Weekly.

Defence spending by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines — has steadily increased in the past few years and is expected to increase even more over the next decade. This year, it is projected to reach US$ 42 billion.

According to data provided by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), military expenditures in Southeast Asia, except for Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam, were US$ 14.4 billion collectively in 2004 and should reach an estimated $52 billion by 2020.

Much of the spending will go into naval procurement because of rising tensions in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building military bases on artificial islands and through which US$ 5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

Although the latest economic downturn has somewhat reduced military budgets, except for Singapore, the region’s economic boom over the past two decades has allowed for rising defence spending.

For instance, Singapore has built six Formidable-class multi-role frigates in partnership with France’s state-controlled naval contractor DCNS. Similarly, Malaysia has ordered six corvettes worth around 9 billion ringgit ($2.50 billion) from DCNS.

Vietnam has taken possession of three Russian-built Kilo-attack submarines and has three more on order, something experts say underscores Hanoi’s determination to counter China’s more powerful navy.

Singapore, which has four second-hand submarines, has ordered two from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Indonesia has ordered three from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding (042660.KS).

“Submarine force development suggests the navies are wary of maritime power projection capabilities in the region,” said Rukmani Gupta, senior armed forces analyst at IHS Janes.

The Philippines hopes to get by year-end the first of ten coastguard vessels Japan is building for it. Japan is also supplying used navy patrol boats to Vietnam.

“As Southeast Asian navies add new capabilities for warfighting, any future conflict in the region is likely to be faster, more intense and more lethal, and therefore perhaps more devastating,” wrote in a research paper Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

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

Vietnam: Beijing Bans Fishing in the South China Sea, A Step Hanoi Calls Arrogant and Illegitimate

The ban covers disputed maritime areas and most of Vietnam’s and Philippines’ coastal waters. Hundreds of thousands of people who depend on fishing could lose their jobs. For Vietnam, China “does not have the right to ban fishing in our waters.”

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) — The Vietnamese government has firmly rejected China’s recent fishing ban in South China Sea.

The ban came into effect on 16 May and will last until August, running 12 degrees north parallel to the border of the waters of China’s Guangdong Province with Fujian Province.

It includes the Tonkin Gulf as well as the Paracel and Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.

“We resolutely oppose China’s worthless decision. Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal grounds to claim the Paracel and Spratly Islands,” said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lê Hải Bình.

“Vietnam has the sovereign right and jurisdiction over national waters, and our exclusive economic zone,” he added. “This is in accordance with the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”.

China’s fishing ban threatens to hit hard Vietnam’s coastal communities, which rely primarily fishing. “All this is causing great losses to (hundreds of thousands of) Vietnamese fishermen,” a fisherman from LÃ1/2 SÆ¡n Island told a local newspaper.

Starting in 1999, several Vietnamese boats have been attacked, their fishing gear and catch confiscated by Chinese “paramilitary” vessels.

“Some fishermen,” he explained, “have been imprisoned on Hainan Island. After these incidents, many Vietnamese fishermen have had to take out bank loans.”

Some Vietnamese historians in Ho Chi Minh City told AsiaNews that “this is an extravagant demand from China. The Chinese want to control all the waters of the South China Sea. They want to turn it into a Chinese lake. For this reason, they are gradually occupying islands, atolls and reefs that belong to Vietnam and the Philippines.”

In addition to natural gas and oil reserves, the South China Sea has rich fishing grounds that represent 10 per cent of the world’s catch.

Much of the coastal population of China, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia practice subsistence fishing.

Because of overfishing and pollution of coastal areas, fishermen have been forced to go further afield, in areas where maritime boundaries are disputed.

Small-scale incidents happen all the time involving Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino boats.

Last week, the Indonesian Navy sank 41 foreign fishing boats (including one Chinese) for illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.

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

Billions for Tribute, But Not One Penny for Defense?

by Johanna Markind

On May 18, 2015, YouTube — or really its owner, Google, won a major victory for free speech. A U.S. appeals court rejected an actress’s attempt to prevent YouTube from showing a movie trailer critical of Muhammad that has been blamed for ‘causing’ riots in the Muslim world on September 11, 2012.

Sadly, when it comes to criticizing Islam outside the U.S., Google is much less brave. It appears to have capitulated to Islamist lawfare in Australia without firing a shot in defense.

The Q Society of Australia posted two YouTube videos (first here, second here) contending that Islamists are trying to spread Shari’a Down Under by using Australia’s halal food certification industry as a vehicle to impose a sort of hidden tax.

On December 24, 2014, Mohamed El-Mouelhy filed a defamation claim against Q Society, Kirralie Smith, Debbie Robinson, and YouTube for injuries allegedly caused by the videos. Smith is the speaker in the videos, and Robinson is Q Society’s president.

On March 19, without even responding to the claim, YouTube blocked access to the videos from Australian IP addresses.

Despite repeated requests, YouTube has refused comment on whether it settled with El-Mouelhy, or on what terms…

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South Africa: Ancestors Delaying Medupi — CRL Commission

Johannesburg — The reason the Medupi power station is suffering delays is because graves were disturbed during construction, upsetting the ancestors, the CRL Rights Commission said on Tuesday.

“How come this Medupi never comes together?” asked commission chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi in Johannesburg at the release of a report on the re-use of graves by local governments.

“It’s the bones underneath and in the vicinity. Some of the graves were destroyed there,” she said of the power station near Lephalale, Limpopo.

“The belief systems of some people will tell you that this Medupi dream of yours will never happen. It will be another 10 years.”

Construction of the power station has been beset by delays and strikes by contractors…

           — Hat tip: PS [Return to headlines]
 

Appeals Court to Obama: NO, YOU CANNOT!

In yet another devastating blow to Barack Obama’s unlawful attempt to use his phone and pen to circumvent the US Constitution, an Appeals court has upheld an injunction against Executive Orders issued by Obama to implement unilateral amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.

This great news for America was as reported:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Relegates Refugees to Tent Cities

Austria has begun housing refugees in tents. The government says it’s a last resort to deal with the greater influx of people seeking refuge. Alison Langley reports from a tent city in Linz.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ban: More EU Migrant Relocation, Less Mediterranean Military

Ban Ki-moon says the EU should focus on saving migrant lives at sea rather than sinking smuggling boats. The European Commission has called for the redistribution of 40,000 migrants currently in Italy and Greece.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the European Union should explore different means of helping migrants making the treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from northern Africa than the current proposed military actions involving aerial surveillance, warships and boat raids against smugglers. About 1,800 people have died crossing the Mediterranean this year.

“The priority should be given to lifesaving and strengthening search and rescue,” Ban said Wednesday after meeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bavaria Against Italy-Austria, Transit Migrants is Violation

Too many migrants to Germany, to assess infringement procedure

(ANSA) — BERLIN — Bavarian Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann, has evoked a procedure for violation of European treaties against Italy and Austria because of the transit of migrants to Germany.

“The continuous violations of the Schengen treaty must be considered at the European level”, said the CSU politician, “otherwise an infringement procedure” should be considered.

Hermann has called on the German government to act tougher against Rome and Vienna. According to the Bavarian politician Berlin must lodge a formal complaint in Brussels and when needed, countries that do not keep their commitments should exit from the Schengen zone.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EC Okays Plan to Relocate 24,000 Refugees From Italy

Only applies to Syrians, Eritreans who arrived after April 15

(ANSA) — Brussels, May 27 — European Commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal to introduce an emergency mechanism to relocate 40,000 migrants within the EU over the next 24 months, 24,000 from Italy and 16,000 from Greece, European sources said. The emergency mechanism will only apply to Syrians and Eritreans who arrived in the two countries after April 15 of this year, the European Commission (EC) said in a proposal approved Wednesday.

Syrians and Eritreans were chosen because those nationalities have an average EU recognition rate for international protection that is equal to or above 75%, according to the latest available EU-wide Eurostat data.

The EU budget will provide an extra 240 million in dedicated funding to support the 24-month scheme.

Moreover, an EC note explained that the EU resettlement scheme will grant 20,000 places to people in clear need of international protection outside of the EU. The note did not clarify where the people to be resettled will be drawn from. However, European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Wednesday that an office would be created in Niger to assess asylum requests on the ground in that country.

“It is an experimental project. If it works, we will do it also in other countries,” said Avramopoulos. Commenting on how the number of 40,000 emergency migrant relocations had been established, Avramopolous said that “fewer (than 40,000) would not have helped Italy and Greece; more would not have been accepted by the other EU countries”.

In 2014, Italy saw 277% more irregular border crossings than in 2013, or 60% of the total number of irregular border crossings in the EU, the EC said in a note. Irregular border crossings in Greece soared 153% in 2014 compared to 2013, registering 19% of the EU’s overall total, the EC added. Unprecedented flows of migrants have continued reach Italian and Greek shores in 2015.

The EC proposal also outlines an action plan to fight migrant smugglers, guidelines on systematic fingerprinting of new arrivals, and an “information note” on the Frontex-coordinated border surveillance operation Triton. Avramopoulos said the new operational plan for Triton will “include the area of the former Italian Mare Nostrum operation” and have the goal of saving lives as well as monitoring EU borders. Mare Nostrum was set up to prevent further deaths at sea following two migrant ship disasters in October 2013 in which at least 400 people died, but in November 2014 was replaced by Operation Triton, run by the European border control agency Frontex. Triton was set up as a monitoring operation, with neither the mandate nor the capacity to carry out rescue operations on the scale of Mare Nostrum prior to the current EC proposal. The EC proposal will be put to EU leaders, who have been increasingly split on the re-allocation of migrant quotas after an initial apparent agreement.

A majority in the European Parliament has previously voted in favour, but about 10 European governments have said they are opposed and Spain and France have expressed reservations. The United Kingdom and Ireland have ‘opt-in’ rights under the Treaties governing the proposal, meaning they only participate if they so choose, while Denmark has an ‘opt-out’ right, meaning it will not participate, according to the EC’s note.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday told Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, that he “welcomed the European Commission’s proposal for the redistribution of 40,000 asylum seekers, stressing that it is a step in the right direction” in a meeting in Brussels between the two leaders. Sources close to the high representative added that the UN head also “expressed hope that the proposal will be accepted by EU member states”. The key tests will be the June 15 council of EU interior ministers and the June 26 summit of European leaders.

A centre-right Italian senator, belonging to the opposition party Forza Italia (FI), on Wednesday slammed the EU agenda on immigration as a “failure” and “humiliation” for the current Italian government.

Maurizio Gasparri complained that the EU plan “says nothing about the overwhelming majority of clandestine immigrants that have arrived and continue to arrive in Italy”.

Gasparri is in favour of the destruction of boats and rescue operations conducted directly in Libya, where many of the boats leave.

Gasparri warned that Italian cities were at risk of “social revolt”.

Anti-immigrant constituents in Italy on Wednesday posted on the Internet a list of suppliers assisting Italy’s CIE immigrant holding centres in order to “take the fight against the centres also outside of those walls,” the posting said.

A Chamber MP belonging to the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement, Marialucia Lorefice, on Wednesday denounced one immigrant reception centre, the Cara di Mineo, located in Sicily, as “an open-air prison”. She said 4,202 immigrants out of 18,000 processed there had “fled”. She added that it houses “a veritable black market with illicit stalls and bazaars” and that the state should intervene.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU Asks Member States to Admit 40,000 Asylum Seekers

(BRUSSELS) — The EU on Wednesday asked its member states to admit over the next two years 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea who have already landed in Italy and Greece.

“We… have a proposal for an emergency mechanism to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers to other European (member) states,” home affairs commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference.

“Syrians and Eritreans will be relocated from Italy and Greece to other European Union member states over a period of two years,” he said.

Repeating an earlier proposal, Avramopolous said the European Union is also asking member states to admit 20,000 people from third countries who have “a clear need for international protection”.

“They will be resettled from countries outside Europe to European Union member states.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fico: Influx of Migrants Opens Up EU to Terrorism

Bratislava, May 27 (CTK) — Slovakia will raise objections to the European Commission’s proposals for spreading refugees across the European Union member states, because their influx may increase the threat of terrorism, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-Social Democracy) said.

At the same time, however, he said Bratislava does not want to challenge the principle of European solidarity.

“The first big risk we will use as an argument against the EC proposals is the threat of an influx of people who do not come to Europe to seek work and a better life but to spread terrorism,” Fico said.

In addition, refugees have a different culture and religion than Slovak inhabitants, he said.

The EC today proposed that other EU members accept a total of 40,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece. Slovakia is supposed to accept 785 migrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Nearly 12,000 Immigrants Entered Illegally in April, Twice as Many as in March

ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s coast guard says nearly 12,000 immigrants were arrested entering the country illegally last month — an almost seven-fold increase from the previous year.

The agency said Wednesday that 11,873 people were arrested in April and 6,583 were arrested in March — nearly all on islands facing the coast of Turkey.

Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, on a visit to Athens Tuesday, said he would back a European Union relocation plan to assist Greece and Italy.

Greece’s government has welcomed the plan but is seeking a higher quota, to help it cope with large numbers of arriving from war-torn Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Migrant Crisis: EU Asks States to Accept 40,000 Asylum Seekers

The European Commission has called on EU member states to take in 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea who land in Italy and Greece over the next two years.

Germany, France and Spain would receive the most migrants under the Commission’s latest plan.

The idea of using quotas to resettle those who have made it to Europe has caused controversy in some EU states.

The UK government says that it will not take part in such a system.

France, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia and Estonia have also all voiced concerns, and a final decision will be taken by EU governments after a vote by MEPs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Poland to Offer Safe Haven to 60 Syrian Christian Families

Help to Christians who are ‘persecuted in a barbaric way’

(ANSA/AP) — WARSAW — Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz says the country will take in 60 Christian families fleeing violence in Syria.

Kopacz said Tuesday that “for a start” 60 families with children will be brought to Poland. More could follow later.

She said that Poland, a Christian nation should “quickly react” and offer help to Christians who are “persecuted in a barbaric way in Syria.” The decision follows accusations by Andrzej Duda, who won Poland’s presidential election this weekend, that the government has been slow in offering help to Syrians.

A Polish-Syrian organization has been seeking permission for months to bring in some 300 Christian families from violence-torn Syria.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden to Learn of New EU Migrant Quota Details

Sweden is likely to face the start of a bitter battle over migrant quotas later today when the European Commission presents details of its controversial plans to relocate refugees across the continent, an idea backed by the Nordic country but strongly opposed by others.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Triton Mission to Reach 138 Miles South of Sicily

3 planes, 6 ships, 12 patrol boats, 2 helicopters to be used

(ANSA) — Brussels, May 26 — The operating range of the EU’s Triton patrol and rescue operation will be extended to 138 nautical miles south of Sicily, the Frontex border agency said Tuesday after the signing of a new mission remit with three times the original funding and resources. Three planes, six ships, 12 patrol boats and two helicopters will now be in use.

The extended range brings Triton’s remit close to that of the highly praised Italian Mare Nostrum op which ended last year after saving some 170,000 migrants. The decision to beef up Triton was taken after a disaster claimed 800 lives off Libya.

Frontex also said it will coordinate Triton from a regional base in Sicily and will work closely with the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), the Eurojust judicial cooperation unit, and Europol.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Catholic Group Exposes Red Influence in the Vatican

Doing the research and investigative work that the major U.S. media have all but abandoned, an organization called the American Life League (ALL) has uncovered dramatic evidence of links between the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church and an international communist group known as the World Social Forum. The evidence suggests overt Marxist influence on the climate change movement that Pope Francis and his top advisers are now embracing.

The ALL report, a 76-page PowerPoint presentation complete with original source material and numerous photographs, documents how Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican’s top social justice organization, is actually “providing leadership” to the communist group.

The report’s author, Michael Hichborn, stated, “This is a very serious problem. Given how intimately connected the World Social Forum (WSF) has been with the promotion of communism, abortion, and homosexuality since the very beginning, it’s impossible to see how any Catholic can participate in it, or even speak positively about it, let alone have any involvement in its governance. But Caritas Internationalis does!”

These allegations can’t be dismissed as anti-Catholic bigotry, since the American Life League is itself a Catholic organization that has been working for years to expose Catholic funds and organizations that promote causes at variance with official Catholic teaching.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Did the Journal Science Publish a Fabricated Study on Gay Marriage?

The scientific community has been shaken to its core after one of the biggest science journals on the planet, Science, had to retract a study that found that gay canvassers were very persuasive with people who had voted against same-sex marriage.

Michael LaCour, a political science researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles wanted to examine whether canvassers with a personal stake in the issue of gay marriage sway voters opinions on the issue, and reached out to Donald P. Green, a professor at Columbia University who was highly respected when it comes to field experiments, according to a New York Times report.

Green signed on to help LaCour with his study in 2013, although he had reservations that it might be too ambitious of an idea of a graduate student. Now, two years later and just a few months after being published in Science, the study is under fire due to accusations the LaCour had misrepresented his methods and lacked evidence for his findings.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Google Images Campaign Wants Search Engine to Stop Seeing White Skin as ‘Default’

A campaigner and artist has launched a new site that hopes to make Google’s image search results more diverse.

At the moment, a search for most generic body parts — like “cute baby” or “arm” — shows people and bodies that are almost entirely white. But as part of a project named World White Web, Johanna Burai hopes to change that.

The almost entirely white results are part of the way that the internet and culture think of whiteness as neutral or the norm, Burai told the Fader.

“This is a crystal clear example of how the norm of whiteness manifests itself—the white body is neutral,” she said. “The search result is just one example of how being white is a norm in society. A lot of people choose to turn a blind eye to the privileges you get simply by being white, as well as to the systematic racism experienced by people of color in their everyday lives.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tinder and Grindr Dating Apps ‘Causing STI Cases Like Syphilis and HIV to Rise’

Health bosses in Rhode Island warned high-risk behaviours, including using social media to arrange casual and often anonymous sexual encounters, are fuelling a rise in STIs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Timeline of FIFA Scandals Under Blatter

For the past 17 years, Joseph Blatter has headed the world football organization FIFA. The arrest of seven high-ranking officials is one scandal among many during his tenure as president.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]