The Italian coast guard rescued more than 1,200 migrants and recovered two bodies from five unseaworthy vessels off the coast of Libya. Meanwhile, the European representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that despite its financial difficulties, Greece must do more to provide aid and shelter for the illegal immigrants that land on its islands.
In other news, for the first time since the massacre by Anders Behring Breivik four years ago, the youth camp on the island of Utøya in Norway has reopened.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nidra Poller, Phyllis Chesler, PS, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Deutsche Bank Profits Rise, But Hurt by Litigation Costs
Litigation expenses were up, to 1.2 billion euros
(ANSA-AP) — FRANKFURT — Deutsche Bank’s net profit rose in the second quarter, but legal expenses stemming from investigations of the bank’s past conduct also increased and the bank’s new co-CEO said its financial performance was unsatisfactory.
John Cryan said Thursday that Deutsche Bank needed to cut costs, shed unprofitable activities and improve “poor overall returns to shareholders.” Net income increased to 818 million euros ($899 million) in the April-June quarter from 238 million euros in the same quarter last year. Taxes fell and profits rose from trading stocks in volatile markets.
Litigation expenses were up, to 1.2 billion euros from 470 million euros. The bank paid $2.5 billion in the first quarter to settle allegations it manipulated a key interest rate benchmark, and faces other probes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Unemployment Rises to 12.7%
Up 0.2 of a percentage point on May
(ANSA) — Rome, July 31 — Italy’s unemployment rate climbed to 12.7% in June, up 0.2 of a percentage point on the previous month, according to preliminary data released by Istat on Friday. The national statistics agency said the number of unemployed people was 85,000 (2.7%) higher in June than in the same month last year, while the unemployment rate was 0.3% of a percentage point higher than a year ago.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Debtors Despair as Boom Turns to Bust
Millions of Russians took out loans during the economic boom years, but now they face crippling debts and the law is not on their side, the BBC’s Oleg Boldyrev reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Italy’s GDP Has Dropped for 7 Years, Widening Gulf, Says Svimez
Report says south is ‘adrift’
(ANSA) — Rome, July 30 — Industrial development association Svimez said in a report on Thursday that southern Italy suffered its seventh consecutive year of negative growth in 2014, further increasing the gulf with the wealthier north of the country. “(Italy is) a country divided and unequal, where the south is adrift and sliding further and further behind,” the report read. “In 2014 southern Italy’s GDP was negative for the seventh consecutive year (-1.3%)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Central Bank Suffers Record Loss
The Swiss National Bank has reported a record half-year loss. The lender said the sharp drop was mainly attributable to its strong national currency after a move to scrap the franc’s cap against the euro.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) said the poor performance was primarily due to its January 15 decision to abandon the minimum rate of 1.20 francs to a euro, leading to losses on its foreign currency assets. Scrapping that cap amounted for 47.2 billion francs in losses, the lender explained, with another 3.2 billion francs lost on its gold reserves due to falling prices for the precious metal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Greek Coup: Liquidity as a Weapon of Coercion
“My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Luca Brasi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains, or his signature, would be on the contract.” The Godfather (1972)
In the modern global banking system, all banks need a credit line with the central bank in order to be part of the payments system. Choking off that credit line was a form of blackmail the Greek government couldn’t refuse.
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is now being charged with treason for exploring the possibility of an alternative payment system in the event of a Greek exit from the euro. The irony of it all was underscored by Raúl Ilargi Meijer, who opined in a July 27th blog:
The fact that these things were taken into consideration doesn’t mean Syriza was planning a coup . . . . If you want a coup, look instead at the Troika having wrestled control over Greek domestic finances. That’s a coup if you ever saw one.
Let’s have an independent commission look into how on earth it is possible that a cabal of unelected movers and shakers gets full control over the entire financial structure of a democratically elected eurozone member government. By all means, let’s see the legal arguments for this.
So how was that coup pulled off? The answer seems to be through extortion. The European Central Bank threatened to turn off the liquidity that all banks — even solvent ones — need to maintain their day-to-day accounting balances. That threat was made good in the run-up to the Greek referendum, when the ECB did turn off the liquidity tap and Greek banks had to close their doors. Businesses were left without supplies and pensioners without food. How was that apparently criminal act justified? Here is the rather tortured reasoning of ECB President Mario Draghi at a press conference on July 16:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
America’s Enemies Are Laughing at Us
Time magazine is out with a colorful and glossy “Inside the New Cuba” special edition, featuring smiling Cuban kids wearing Communist garb on the cover. Page 64 has a photo showing “Cuban fans” holding up “their national flag” at a baseball game. It turns out that the really happy Cubans are those who have been defecting from the island “paradise,” as Time magazine calls the prison camp country.
Credit goes to Christine Rousselle of Townhall.com for covering these defections. They seem to be developing into a regular feature, with Rousselle providing regular updates about additional defections.
So far, eight players from the Cuban men’s field hockey team, four rowers from the Cuban national team, and two members of the Cuban soccer team have defected.
The defections completely undercut the chapter of the special Time magazine issue on Cuba that is titled, “The Big League Next Door,” which speculates that normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba could “stop Cuba’s top talent from fleeing…” This chapter is written by Robert Siegel, senior host of National Public Radio, and Eyder Peralta, an NPR reporter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Baltimore Killings Soar to a Level Unseen in 43 Years
BALTIMORE — Baltimore reached a grim milestone on Friday, three months after riots erupted in response to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody: With 45 homicides in July, the city has seen more bloodshed in a single month than it has in 43 years.
Police reported three deaths — two men shot Thursday and one on Friday. The men died at local hospitals.
With their deaths, this year’s homicides reached 189, far outpacing the 119 killings by July’s end in 2014. Nonfatal shootings have soared to 366, compared to 200 by the same date last year. July’s total was the worst since the city recorded 45 killings in August 1972, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The seemingly Sisyphean task of containing the city’s violence prompted Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to fire her police commissioner, Anthony Batts, on July 8.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) One of the world’s most lucrative industries, spending on cancer drugs reached an all-time high last year, as it was valued at more than $100 billion. Spending on cancer drugs increased 6.5 percent annually over the past five years and is expected to continue growing at a rate of 8 percent each year through 2018, according to figures provided by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.
That spending is highly concentrated, as the US and five of Europe’s largest countries account for nearly two-thirds of the entire market.
This means that billions and billions of dollars are secured by Americans being diagnosed with cancer.
That’s one profitable industry; however, it could all be completely dismantled by one thing: a cure…
In an interview on the Hagmann and Hagmann Report, Dr. Ted Broer, an internationally recognized health and nutrition expert also based in Florida, describes how cutting edge Dr. Bradstreet’s work was, as well as a discovery he made that very well may have placed him in great danger and could have been the motive for his suspected murder.
The alternative doctors who went missing and/or were killed, were reportedly “interlocked” through Dr. Bradstreet and Dr. Gonzalez’s extensive research on autism, and what’s causing autism, according to Dr. Broer.
Dr. Gonzalez, a renown holistic cancer treatment pioneer who helped thousands overcome the disease through alternative medicine, died of an apparent heart attack just one month after Dr. Bradstreet’s body was discovered floating in a river.
Internationally recognized health and nutrition doctor reveals possible motive for Bradstreet’s death
Dr. Broer stated in the interview:
This information I’m about to give you right now is extremely controversial and a bunch of people have exited the planet who were working with it.
This information has been around for awhile. They knew the information they were working with and they were basically being very, very careful, supposedly. And some of them were being accused of using GcMAF, and the FDA apparently raided several of their offices several weeks before they committed suicide or suddenly died.
It’s going to sound complicated, but I’m going to break this down for everybody super, super easy tonight. When you first hear these terms they’re going to sound weird to you.
GC protein is a protein in the body that’s used by macrophages in the body. What it does is, macrophages in the body are the ones that kill cancer cells, they stop cytokines storms and can be involved in cytokines storms, we’ll explain all these terms in a few minutes.
After defining GcMAF and how it’s formulated, Dr. Broer reiterates that it’s “probably the single most effective thing in the immune system to kill cancer cells.”
However, what Dr. Bradstreet and his colleagues discovered is that the immune system is being compromised by a compound called “nagalase.”
Nagalase is an enzyme/protein that’s made by cancer cells and viruses causing immunodeficiency syndromes and has also been linked to autism as well as a “host of other problems,” Dr. Broer explains.
Doctors found dead and/or went missing felt that nagalase was being introduced to the body through vaccines
“What ends up happening is when the GC protein cannot be converted to McGAF, the entire immune system is compromised.“
Some of the doctors who wound up dead or missing believed that the nagalase protein/enzyme was being introduced intentionally into the body either virally or directly through vaccines.
[…]
Remarkably, there’s a significant amount of research available on nagalase and the GcMAF protein. Citing a chapter from The GcMAF Book by Dr. Tim Smith, MD, Dr. Broer said:
Nagalase is like a stealth bomber, the nagalase enzyme synthesized in or released from cancer cells or a virus particle pinpoints the GcMAF protein facilities on the surface of your T and B lymphocytes and simply wipes them out with an incredibly precise bomb.
How precise? Nagalase locates and attacks one specific two-electron bond located only at the 420th amino acid position on a huge protein molecule, one of tens of thousands of proteins, each containing millions of electrons.
This is like selectively taking out a park bench in a major city from 6,000 miles away. More astonishingly, if that is possible, nagalase never misses its target, so there is no collateral damage…
Dr. Bradstreet and his colleagues also learned that the nagalase protein was not present in children at birth but was somehow introduced into autistic children, they felt, during the immunization process.
Before his death, Dr. Bradstreet treated 1,100 patients with GcMAF with an 85 percent response rate — something that was deemed impossible by the medical community.
After reintroducing GcMAF (which had been blocked by nagalase), 15 percent of Bradstreet’s autistic patients were no longer autistic, as all of their symptoms were completely eradicated.
[Comment: Six doctors in Florida researching GcMAF died under suspicious cirmcumstance within a 4 month period.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CDC Destroyed Vaccine Documents, Congressman Reveals
“…the [CDC] co-authors scheduled a meeting to destroy documents related to the [MMR vaccine] study. The remaining four co-authors all met and brought a big garbage can into the meeting room and reviewed and went through all the hard copy documents that we had thought we should discard and put them in a huge garbage can.” (William Thompson, CDC researcher)
On July 29, US Congressman Bill Posey made his last stand on the floor of the House. Granted five minutes to speak, he laid bare the lying of the CDC in a now-famous 2004 study that exonerated the MMR vaccine and claimed it had no connection to autism.
“No connection to autism” was the lie.
Congressman Posey read a statement from long-time CDC researcher William Thompson, one of the authors of the 2004 Pediatrics study designed to determine, once and for all, whether the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine could cause autism.
Thompson saw and participated in violating the protocol of the study. He was there. He helped his co-authors destroy documents that would have shown an MMR-autism link.
You can see a rush transcript of Congressman Posey’s remarks here (on theageofautism.com website), which includes his reading of a statement from whistleblower Thompson.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Camp Releases Candidate’s Clean Bill of Health, Tax Returns
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on Friday released a statement from her doctor declaring she is in “excellent physical condition and fit to serve as president of the United States,” along with eight years of tax returns showing the Clintons paid tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes.
The release comes on the same day the State Department released thousands of emails relating to her tenure as secretary of state.
In the tax returns, released late Friday afternoon, the documents show the Clintons have paid $43 million in federal taxes since 2007. They also donated $15 million to charity, and paid an additional $13.6 million in state taxes.
The Clintons’ effective federal tax rate for 2014 was 35.7 percent, while the effective tax rate for federal, state and local taxes was 45.8 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hackers: Second Attack on Planned Parenthood Inside Job
The 3301 hacking group responsible for breaching the website of Planned Parenthood last Sunday has accused the organization of faking a second attack in order to elicit donations from supporters…
According to E, who spoke to Infowars via encrypted communications, analysis of Planned Parenthood’s site during and after the alleged attack shows otherwise.
“One contradiction was they claimed they were taking down the server to protect its users, but at the same time they added a donation page (on the same server) prompting for credit card payments,” E said. “They took down the main content on the website to only upload a donation page. That would be more dangerous if the site was indeed under attack.”
“All they did was pull the site down briefly, then edit the homepage to say ‘our site is down, donate here.’ Disabling ICMP and changing the header of your site to ‘we’re offline’ doesn’t mean the website is being ddosed. That’s nonsense.”
Other sources including the Federalist have also come to similar conclusions, noting that “even though ppaction.org redirects to a page saying the site was hacked, the domain still house [sic] a perfectly functional URL and page that are being actively used to help build Planned Parenthood’s fundraising list.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nutty Professor: Rutgers Teacher Who Said US Worse Than ISIS Has History of Bizarre Statements
A Rutgers University professor who is under fire for saying that the U.S. is “more brutal” than ISIS has used racial slurs against white men, attacked a leading advocate against female genital mutilation and even led a successful protest last year to stop former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from speaking to students.
Deepa Kumar, associate professor of journalism and media studies at New Jersey’s main public university, made news recently by tweeting: “Yes ISIS is brutal, but US is more so, 1.3 million killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.” But that tweet, sent in March but only brought to prominent attention after it was noticed by the site SoCawlege.com, is not Kumar’s first brush with digital bigotry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sodastream CEO Gives Amazing BDS Testimony to Congress: ‘Manipulation: Violence and Destruction’
At a Congressional hearing on the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), CEO of SodaStream Daniel Birnbaum gave gripping testimony that left no question about the impact of the movement on the people and businesses in Israel and the West Bank.
Legal Insurrection collected and posted video Wednesday of Birnbaum’s powerful testimony.
“The BDS are in the business of manipulation, violence, and destruction,” says Birnbaum, as he gives a laundry list of heinous activity taken against the company for the crime of operating an open business with fair treatment of all workers from any background.
“BDS tactics include intimidating, harassing, and threatening of our retail partners around the world. BDS activities have been vandalizing our products in stores, stickering them with hate images, throwing product on the floor, stickering, picketing, chaining themselves to the entrances to the stores, conducting violent demonstrations and flash mob events, circulating pamphlets and utilising social media to spread vile videos on YouTube, mobilizing mainstream media .. all to manimpulate our retailers to drop our product.”
Legal Insurrection has more details on exactly what the consequences have been for the company:…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
The Curious Case of Lois Lerner’s Physically Damaged Hard Drive
New documentation released by the House Oversight Committee this week again raises questions on how Lois Lerner’s hard drive was physically damaged and whether there was some kind of deliberate act to destroy data on it.
The House Oversight Committee report cites an officially transcribed interview with John Minsek, senior investigative analyst with the IRS Criminal Investigations (CI) unit. Minsek examined the Lerner hard drive in 2011. In the transcribed interview, he notes Lerner’s hard drive contained “well-defined scoring creating a concentric circle in the proximity of the center of the disk.” The Oversight Committee report states:
“Using the CI unit’s digital forensic facilities, Minsek opened the hard drive and conducted additional tests. Once he opened the hard drive, Minsek noticed “well-defined scoring creating a concentric circle in the proximity of the center of the disk.”
So how did the scoring get there?
Last month, testimony from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) revealed that Lois Lerner’s hard drive had “scoring on the top platter of the drive.” The testimony also noted that the IRS technician that inspected the hard drive believed that additional steps could have been taken to recover data, although this did not occur and the hard drive was later destroyed by an industrial strength AMERI-SHRED AMS-750 HD shredder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This Gadget Hacks GM Cars to Locate, Unlock, And Start Them
GM’s Onstar service offers some of the most futuristic features on any connected car, including the ability to locate the vehicle, unlock it, and even start its ignition—all from a smartphone app. But if a hacker like Samy Kamkar has hidden a small, $100 box anywhere on your Onstar-equipped car or truck, those same conveniences could fall into unintended hands.
At the DefCon hacker conference next week, Kamkar plans to present the details of a new attack on GM’s OnStar RemoteLink system he’s developed that can allow a hacker to track a target vehicle, effortlessly unlock it, trigger the horn and alarm or even start its engine—everything but put the car in gear and drive it away, one function that thankfully still requires the presence of the driver’s key. Kamkar’s shown that if a hacker can plant a cheap, homemade Wi-Fi hotspot device somewhere on the car’s body—such as under a bumper or its chassis—to capture commands sent from the user’s smartphone, the results for vulnerable vehicle owners could range from nasty pranks to privacy breaches to actual theft.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UConn Hit by Cyberattack ‘Originating in China’
Sensitive information on the University of Connecticut’s servers may have been compromised in a cyberattack traced to China. A university official said “these types of attacks are becoming more and more common.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It is one thing to be born in an enslaved country with the weight of the state forbidding public dissent or freedom of assembly, worship, and speech. It is one thing to be born with the shackles of bondage firmly fastened around your neck from the time of your entrance into the world. It is another thing altogether to be born in a land of liberty where one’s ancestors broke the shackles of tyranny at the cost of their very lives — thus allowing us to live in a land where the freedom of dissent, the freedom to elect our civil magistrates, the freedom of speech, assembly, and worship (not to mention the freedom to keep and bear arms) are sacrosanct — only to then turn around and squander our liberty and to allow would-be tyrants to take it from us without a fight. What a waste! What a horrible, terrible, awful waste! And that is exactly what the last few generations of so-called “preachers” have done.
Think what these pussyfooting preachers have lost: they failed to preserve the sanctity of life; they failed to preserve the sanctity of marriage; they failed to preserve the sanctity of the Holy Scriptures; they failed to preserve the sanctity of liberty; they failed to preserve the sanctity of honesty and decency; they even failed to preserve the sanctity of the Church itself.
Truly, “Ichabod” is written over the establishment church in America. And, as a result, “Anathema” is being written over the entire nation. I am convinced that any spiritual renewal that might still come will mostly bypass America’s establishment churches and will be carried by nontraditional, non-aligned, unincorporated, unaffiliated — maybe even underground — fellowships. This is what is currently happening in communist — and other — oppressed countries. And America is fast becoming an oppressed country.
In fact, if the pastors in America had even a fraction of the man-stuff that the pastors in Colonial America had, they, too, would be sounding the clarion call of independence and secession. Like King George’s England, Washington, D.C., has become a corrupt cesspool of wickedness that is using every means possible to wrap its tyrannical tentacles around every State, city, hamlet, and village in the entire country. At some point, the only options freedom-loving people in this country will have are slavery or secession. And that point may come a whole lot sooner than most of us expect.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What’s Left of Our National Character?
We keep piling it on. Same-sex parodies of marriage, men insisting that they’re women, selling parts of babies slaughtered in the womb, politicians demanding austerity from us as they zoom off to Davos in their private jets—this is supposed to have no effect at all upon what kind of people we turn out to be. Ask any libertarian.
We have a new symbol of our national character. Out with the eagle, out with Uncle Sam. Fittingly, this new national symbol was unveiled this weekend in Detroit. Where else?
What is this updated icon of America? It’s a nine-foot-tall bronze statue of Satan, of course, complete with horns and a pair of little children looking up at him adoringly.
Some say this idol ought to have been set up at the White House, or on Capitol Hill, or the steps of the Supreme Court. All in good time. Is there any doubt that those locations have already been sealed off from Jesus Christ? But Detroit is a much better match, symbolically. Its ruined public buildings, its filthy streets, its crime, its inadequate and failing grasp of law and order—this is what the kingdom of Satan looks like, and this is what all America will look like once his stooges are done with us.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Where Have All the Bullets Gone?
While Obama claims to support “common-sense” gun laws, he has made high-profile public announcements telegraphing his anti-gun intentions and engaged in behind-the-scenes gun control — tweaking government regulations to deny gun rights to veterans, seeking the same for Social Security recipients, and using the ATF to ban certain types of popular ammo. Calling guns more dangerous than terrorism, Obama recently indicated he’ll devote the rest of his time as president to gun control.
Calling guns more dangerous than terrorism, Obama says he’ll devote the rest of his time as president to gun control.
But one event in particular fed fears of back-door government gun control: the unprecedented purchase of ammunition by the feds.
In early 2013, the Internet blazed with news that the Department of Homeland Security intended to purchase over 1.6 billion rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition. The order would fulfill DHS requirements for five years, reportedly. DHS has 55,471 employees authorized to carry firearms, which comes to about 5,800 rounds per year, per employee.
For perspective, during the first year of the war on terror, approximately 72 million rounds were expended in Iraq and another 21 million in Afghanistan — about 2,000 rounds per war fighter. Thus, giving DHS agents a much larger quota of 5,000 rounds did seem extreme.
Some people asserted the feds deliberately intended to dry up the private market for ammunition. Lawmakers demanded answers. Yet the overall requisition, in context, may not have been unreasonable.
The largest order, 750 million rounds, came from DHS’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) for instruction purposes. Another 650 million rounds were slated for Inspections and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. FLETC public affairs director Peggy Dixon said at the time that the purchase request was “a ceiling. It does not mean that we will buy, or require, the full amounts of either contract.” FLETC in fact uses approximately 20 million training rounds per year, and overall, actual DHS purchases have declined continually since 2009. In 2014, DHS-planned purchases were 75.1 million rounds, down from 84.4 million in 2013.
But there was more. In 2012, the Social Security Administration published a requisition for 174,000 rounds of hollow point pistol ammo — a particularly lethal type and certainly not suited for target shooting. Why on earth would the SSA need it? For that matter, why does SSA need a police force, much less highly trained SWAT teams? Do they anticipate an armed revolt by elderly Social Security recipients upset with their latest cost of living increases? Do they fear an anti-government conspiracy launched over tepid coffee in the reading lounges of retirement communities across the country? Given Obama’s attitude toward the elderly (e.g. “Granny, take the pill”) they may have reason to fear.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria’s Top Pole-Vaulter Paralyzed After Training Injury
Austria’s leading pole-vaulter Kira Grünberg has suffered severe cervical injuries after the 21-year-old landed beside the mat on her head and neck in a practice jump. Her injuries have left her tetraplegic.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Births in Southern Italy at 150-Year Low Says Svimez
‘Risk of a demographic upheaval, unpredictable consequences’
(ANSA) — Rome, July 30 — The birthrate in southern Italy is at a 150-year low, with 174,000 births registered in 2014, said industrial development association Svimez on Thursday. In the south, the birthrate has dropped to 1.31 children per woman, compared to the 2.1 necessary to ensure demographic stability, it said.
“In the next few years the south will be affected by a demographic upheaval, a tsunami with unpredictable consequences,” the report said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Exoplanets 20/20: Looking Back to the Future
Geoff Marcy remembers the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Paul Butler remembers being dead tired. The two men had just made history: the first confirmation of a planet orbiting another star. The groundbreaking discovery had been announced less than a week earlier by the European team of Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Glyphosate is Definitely Genotoxic, ‘ Declares Who Scientist Who Authored Roundup Cancer Study
(NaturalNews) One of the lead scientists who helped conduct the World Health Organization (WHO) study on Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide that determined the chemical to be “probably carcinogenic” has now gone on record saying that glyphosate is “definitely genotoxic.”
Professor Christopher Portier, speaking at a recent scientific briefing on glyphosate in Westminster, London, told listeners that there’s “no doubt” in his mind that glyphosate, the primary active ingredient in Roundup, causes genetic damage that can lead to cellular malfunction and cancer.
[Comment: Think about all the processed food that contains wheat and corn — Much of which is sprayed with roundup.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Generali Posts 1.3 Billion First-Half Net Profit
Total premiums exceed 38 billion driven by growth in life insura
(ANSA) — Milan, July 30 — Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. on Thursday reported first-semester net profit of 1.3 billion euros, up 21.6% over the same period in 2014.
Its operating result also rose by 11.3% to 2.8 billion euros, its best performance for eight years.
Total premiums rose by 7.3% to over 38 billion euros, driven by a 10.6% growth in life insurance policies.
“By the end of the year we expect to have improved net profit significantly with respect to 2014 by maintaining the high growth in profitability achieved during the semester,” CEO Mario Greco said. Generali shares rose by 3.24% to 18.1 euros in early trading on the Milan stock exchange following the financial report.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Finmeccanica First Half Show Net Profit 111 Mln Euros
Aerospace giant confirms targets for 2015
(ANSA) — Rome, July 30 — Aerospace company Finmeccanica said Thursday it closed the first half of 2015 with a net profit of 111 million euros compared with a loss of 39 million euros in the first six months of last year. Net results before extraordinary transactions were a reported 91 million, compared to a loss of 61 million in first half of 2014, the company said.
It added that new orders in the first six months of the year amounted to 5.539 billion euros, above expectations. The company also confirmed its forecast targets for 2015.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Pained’ Verdini Presents Berlusconi Splinter Group
Senator was one of ex-premier’s closest aides
(ANSA) — Rome, July 29 — Denis Verdini said he was “pained” on Wednesday as he presented a new parliamentary group in the Senate after splitting from Silvio Berlusconi’s opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party. Verdini was previously one of three-time premier Berlusconi’s closest and most loyal aides. But he and a group of followers have left FI amid differences over, among other things, Berlusconi dropping his support for Premier Matteo Renzi’s bill to overhaul Italy’s slow, costly political machinery. Verdini helped Berlusconi negotiate the reform package, featuring a transformation of the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with limited powers.
Berlusconi dropped his support for the so-called Boschi bill, named after Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi, and for a separate overhaul of the election system after Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) had President Sergio Mattarella elected head of State against his will early this year. “We were at ease within the group but we do not renege on anything,” Verdini said. “The split, like any split, was painful and hurt. When you don’t see eye-to-eye, no one dies.
“I have great loyalty for Berlusconi, but we see things differently. “The Boschi bill should be approved as it is”.
The possibility that Verdini’s group could help the government pass some measures has caused unease within the PD, with former PD Lower House whip Roberto Speranza saying it was the stuff of a “horror film”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Airport Fire Caused Alitalia 80 Mln Damage So Far
CEO warns carrier will expand elsewhere if no new airport plan
(ANSA) — Rome, July 29 — Alitalia said Wednesday that its damages suffered from the May 7 fire in Terminal 3 at Rome’s Fiumicino airport have to date reached 80 million euros. The total bill won’t be known until the airport returns to normal operations, the carrier added. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Silvano Cassano also urged Fiumicino airport authorities to devise a credible investment plan. “If Fiumicino continues to focus on low-cost carriers and mediocre service, Alitalia will be forced to shift its growth elsewhere,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lorenzin Nixes National Health Care Cuts
Minister says 10 bn euros to be saved, not cut
(ANSA) — Rome, July 28 — Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin told ANSA Tuesday there will be no cuts in the national health care system, but rather the system will be made more efficient so savings can be reinvested in the sector. “I wish to state clearly that I oppose any new cuts to the national health service,” she said. “Savings are not the same as spending cuts,” Lorenzin went on. “Any savings achieved thanks to efficiency measures will be reinvested in the national health care system, and we estimate we can save 10 billion euros over five years,” she added. “The government has not decided to cut health care spending,” Lorenzin said. “Rather the government has cut funding to regions by over four billion euros, and regions in turn have cut health care spending,” the minister said. “I have always disagreed on this point,” she added. “I did not think that was the path to follow”.
The minister reiterated that the 10 billion euros saved by reorganizing the national health system and reducing waste will be reinvested in “innovation, research, staff, and access to new medications”.
“So those who think 10 billion euros will be cut have misunderstood,” Lorenzin concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S-Funded Sicilian Bypass Road Opened
300,000 euros provided by M5S regional deputies
(ANSA) — Palermo, July 31 — A bypass financed by Italy’s 5-Star Movement (M5S) is set to open to traffic on Saturday to provide a workaround after a viaduct collapsed on the A19 road between Palermo and Catania in April, effectively splitting Sicily in half.
The bypass is a 300-metre-long road that has been renovated and made safe thanks to 300,000 euros of financing provided by M5S regional deputies, who put aside part of their salaries.
A ceremony to mark the inauguration of the road took place on Friday morning and it will be open for traffic from Saturday, August 1.
“This road is a sign of the times- we wanted to show that we are political force that wants to gain credibility among the people,” said Giancarlo Cancelleri from M5S at Friday’s inauguration ceremony.
A column supporting the highway gave way in April following a landslide, cutting one of the island’s main transport connections. Repairs to the affected stretch are expected to take months or years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: League Councillors Probed for Discrimination
For removing Muslim prayer rug from Turin city hall
(ANSA) — Turin, July 31 — Two Turin city council members from the anti-immigrant Northern League party are under investigation for possible religious discrimination, sources said Friday. The move came after Roberto Carbonero and Fabrizio Ricca last Tuesday removed a Muslim prayer rug provided by city hall for Muslim guests at a forum on Islamic fashion. “We have nothing against the Muslim religion, but city hall is a secular and institutional place,” the pair said as they removed the prayer rug. The incident sparked widespread condemnation.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said preventing anyone from praying is “irresponsible”, and Turin Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia called for equal treatment for all religions.
Turin Mayor Piero Fassino called the pair’s actions “indecent behavior, offensive to the city and its guests”.
Sources said the two are being investigated for possible violations of a 1993 law banning the promotion of nazi-fascist ideology and discrimination, violence or persecution based on race, religion or ethnicity.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Youth Camp After the Massacre
Four years ago, far-right terrorist Anders Breivik carried out a massacre in a camp run by the youth branch of the Norwegian Labor Party. Now a summer camp is reopening on Utøya island. Hundreds of young people have already registered to attend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philae’s Comet Discoveries Create Series of Conundrums
The Philae comet lander has not spoken to Earth since a link-up through its parent spacecraft, Rosetta, on 9 July — and scientists may never hear from it again.
But a haul of seven reports analysing data that Philae collected and sent home over three days in November last year, before it went into hibernation, has revealed further puzzling information about the comet it sits on, which is whirling closer to the Sun. Some scientists say the findings suggest that the comet is not an unaltered time capsule from the dawn of the Solar System, as researchers had presumed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Striking French Seamen Block Calais Port
Hundreds of French sailors blocked the city of Calais Friday, using burning tyres to prevent access to the port in the midst of the peak holiday travel period.
The roughly 300 workers from French company Scop SeaFrance are protesting against plans to sell off some of their ferries to rival Danish firm DFDS, a move expected to result in hundreds of job losses.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A university graduate who stole mobile phone contracts worth £5,000 from O2 by pretending to be a company director before splashing the cash on luxury gifts for herself will not be jailed.
Anne Bharwani, 25, swindled the mobile phone giant out of 16 iPhone 5s contracts in just two months, using the profits from her scam to pay for a designer handbag, laptop and expensive shoes.
She used forged bank statements and bogus purchase orders to carry out the scam, posing as an executive at eight different companies, including international shipping firm Boreas and a subsidiary of global financiers Rothschild.
The Old Bailey heard how she signed up for £5,168 worth of iPhone 5s contracts but when O2 came to collect the bills, the firms had no idea about the contracts and said Bharwani had never worked for them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cairo and Riyadh to Develop Military and Economic Relations
“The two sides stressed the need to exert all efforts to boost security and stability in the region, and to work together to protect Arab national security,” including an Arab military force, the ‘Cairo Declaration’ states.
Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signed a pact in Cairo aimed at boosting military and economic ties between the two Arab allies.
In what they called a ‘Cairo Declaration,’ they pledged to enhance cooperation and investments in the energy and transport sectors.
In a statement released after a meeting between President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, Sisi’s office said the two leaders also would also work to create a joint Arab military force.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Samih Shoukry described “solidarity” between Cairo and Riyadh as important to protecting regional security in a joint press conference with Saudi’s top diplomat Adel al-Jubeir.
“The two sides stressed the need to exert all efforts to boost security and stability in the region, and to work together to protect Arab national security,” Egypt’s presidential office said.
The “highly difficult regional circumstances” would require “security vigilance and extra effort,” state-owned paper al-Ahram reported Sisi as saying.
Sisi backs the use of force against armed groups in the region after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for beheading 21 Egyptian Copts in February in Libya.
Saudi-Egyptian relations have grown closer with Riyadh emerging as a key supporter of Sisi since the then-army chief ousted Morsi two years ago, offering billions to help kick-start an economy battered by years of political turmoil.
In return, Cairo is participating in the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Cairo had previously said it was also prepared to commit ground troops if required.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hackers Claim John McCain Knew ISIS Execution Videos Were Staged
In a rather stunning note, CyberBerkut, a Ukrainian group of hackers, claims to have hacked John McCain’s laptop while he was in the Ukraine, and as Techworm reports, what they have released from his June visit appears to be a fully staged production of an ISIS execution video…
As Techworm reports, according to the hackers, they broke into the laptop of one of the American politicians, Senator McCain and after found a video with staged IS execution, which they decided to show to the world community.
It so happened that Senator John McCain had visited Ukraine on a official visit somewhere in the first week of June 2015. The hacktivists belonging to CyberBerkut somehow managed to access his laptop.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Member Busted Massively Supporting ISIS … Now Declares War Against ISIS
But Instead Goes After Its Political Rival (Which Is the Most Effective Force FIGHTING ISIS)
In the final analysis, Turkey wants Assad out of Syria and that means backing anyone and everyone who is willing to help make that happen (including ISIS) with the exception of the PKK, who Ankara is keen on crushing especially after June’s election results. So now, Turkey will use ISIS as an excuse to procure NATO support for a politically motivated rout of Kurdish “terrorists”. The West will hope that ISIS will suffer more damage than YPG, Turkey will hope that PKK and, by extension, YPG will suffer more damage than ISIS, and everyone — Ankara, Washington, ISIS, and PKK — will hope the when the dust (and blood) finally settles, Bashar al-Assad will have met a Gaddafi-esque end.
So Turkey isn’t really going after ISIS … instead, the ruling party is going after its main political threat — the Kurds — and continuing its long-term effort to overthrow Syria’s Assad.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Caroline Glick
While Israel and much of official Washington remain focused on the deal President Barack Obama just cut with the ayatollahs that gives them $150 billion and a guaranteed nuclear arsenal within a decade, Obama has already moved on — to Syria.
Obama’s first hope was to reach a deal with his Iranian friends that would leave the Assad regime in place. But the Iranians blew him off.
They know they don’t need a deal with Obama to secure their interests. Obama will continue to help them to maintain their power base in Syria though Hezbollah and the remains of the Assad regime without a deal.
Iran’s cold shoulder didn’t stop Obama. He moved on to his Sunni friend Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
Like the Iranians, since the war broke out, Erdogan has played a central role in transforming what started out as a local uprising into a regional conflict between Sunni and Shiite jihadists.
With Obama’s full support, by late 2012 Erdogan had built an opposition dominated by his totalitarian allies in the Muslim Brotherhood.
By mid-2013, Erdogan’s Muslim Brotherhood- led coalition was eclipsed by al-Qaida spinoffs. They also enjoyed Turkish support.
And when last summer ISIS supplanted al-Qaida as the dominant Sunni jihadist force in Syria, it did so with Erdogan’s full backing. For the past 18 months, Turkey has been ISIS’s logistical, political and economic base…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
by Nidra Poller
The principle is similar: faced with an enemy that repeatedly declares its genocidal hatred, acts on it wherever possible, constantly strives to improve its ways and means, you peace process. Why was it successful with Iran and not with the “Palestinians”? Perhaps because the comical P5 + 1 applied the pressure to itself in the case of Iran, leaving no one to resist. The same pressure applied to Israel since 1993 has failed to produce total surrender. Drastic concessions were proposed but the enemy insisted on the right of return of “refugees” down to the third, fourth, and forever generations that would spell the elimination of the Jewish state. There were no significant limits to the concessions made by the P5+1 and no expectation that the deal will yield anything other than itself. The deal is that there’s a deal.
The devil is not in the details it is in the evil, the collusion with evil. Antisemitism in its modern form of antizionism is the ultimate perversion: choosing death over life, it reverses good and evil. The perverse subject embraces evil while proclaiming his goodness. The Iran “deal” is not the result of American government naiveté, faulty negotiating skills, or realpolitik. It has nothing to do with slowing Iran’s nuclear arms development. It is an international seal of approval for Iran’s genocidal project. A wink of complicity.
What better proof than the hasty visit of German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel accompanied by a regiment of businessmen? Germany of all nations, still heavy with the weight of the Shoah, had to demonstrate immediately that the deal is a practical matter of trade and polite relations. But the truth bled through the window dressing and, as befits perversion, was expressed in an outright lie: Gabriel reminded his Iranian counterparts that they must not question Israel’s right to exist. “That is unacceptable,” he declared, accepting it as if it were a second helping of ham hocks. Italy’s molto simpatico PM Matteo Renzi reassured his amico grandissimo that his country would always be there to defend Israel. With what? French MFA Laurent Fabius who distinguished himself during negotiations by taking a strong position—before caving in to pressure—waited an extra week for his sober visit, sans traveling salesmen but bearing a missive from President Hollande inviting President Rohani to visit him in November. What could be more grotesque, more obscene than these frantic gestures laced with hollow excuses?
Obama&Kerry are trying to force, cajole, intimidate, manipulate Congress and public opinion to approve the phony agreement that will, they claim, slow down Iran’s nuclear arms project while giving the Islamic Republic (they don’t pronounce its real name for good reasons) time to become the friendly partner they deserve. All the concrete evidence proves the contrary. So what have they really accomplished?
While talking up the deal domestically, with special emphasis on Jewish organizations, they sent Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to dangle yummy defensive military goodies in front of the Israeli government as a consolation prize. What have they wrought? Kerry, grilled by the Senate Foreign Relations committee, is scolded for being duped. If his only fault was a failure to get better terms from those crafty Persians, then the honor of America’s chief negotiator and aspiring Tour de France cyclist would be intact. Now, fearing the slick sale pitches will not do the trick, the Secretary of State has moved on to sinister threats. Invited by the Council for Foreign Relations to defend the deal, he warned that if Congress should vote against it, “Israel will be more isolated and more blamed [sic].”…
| — Hat tip: Nidra Poller | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Story Behind Turkey’s US-Backed “War on Terror”
In fact, even the most mainstream of news outlets are unable to completely obscure the fact that Turkey’s ISIS “offensive” may amount to nothing more than a smokescreen, as Erdogan launches a renewed effort to crush the PKK and nullify opposition gains won at the ballot box early last month when, for the first time in more than a decade, AKP lost its parliamentary majority.
Coalition building efforts since the election have gone largely nowhere, and in what amounted to a sure sign that some manner of crackdown was likely just around the corner, Erdogan warned on June 21 that “if politicians are unable to sort [it] out, then the people are the only recourse” — a nod to his right under the constitution to call new elections.
Critically, AKP doesn’t need much to push them back over the top in terms of regaining their majority in parliament. Consider the following from WSJ:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
World’s Yezidis Rally for International Community to Stop ISIS Genocide in Iraq
by Phyllis Chesler
The Yezidis are holding worldwide rallies and Memorial Services tomorrow in Oldenberg, Germany; on August 2nd in Lalish, Iraq (the Yezidi spiritual heartland), and in France; and on August 3rd in Geneva, Armenia, Berlin, and in cities in Sweden, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the United States (Lincoln, Nebraska; Houston, Texas; and perhaps Buffalo, New York).
On August 2nd in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Yezidi community is sponsoring an Art Walk with prizes for the best art work that illustrates their people’s historical and contemporary story. Houston-based Yezidis are holding a Remembrance Service at the University of Houston.
Yezidis are remembering and protesting the seventy four genocides that their people have endured in the Middle East. These massacres have taken place from the seventh century on and were perpetrated by Arab Muslims, Mongols, Persians, Kurds, Turks, Ottomans, etc.
August 3, 2015 marks the one-year anniversary of the most recent of these genocides—perpetrated by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL); it is a 21st century disaster that remains ongoing…
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
France and Russia ‘Reach Deal’ On Ditched Mistrals
After eight months of negotiations France and Russia have reached a deal on the amount Paris must pay Moscow in compensation for the non-delivery of two Mistral warships, a senior Russian official said Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: More Women Forced to Migrate to Support Their Families
Total migration has declined by 30 percent from 2012 to 2014. However, female migration has redoubled: from 37,304 to 76,007. First destinations are UAE and Lebanon. Saudi Arabia stays as first choice for all Bangladeshi migrants.
Dhaka (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The number of Bangladeshi female migrant workers has redoubled even though migration of Bangladeshi workers has declined by 30 percent in 2014, compared to that of 2012.
According to the June 2015 statistics of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), a total of 37,304 female workers had gone to different countries in 2012 and the number rose to 76,007 in 2014.
UAE is the first destination for female workers. According to the BMET statistics, the UAE is home to 27 percent of the total female migrant workers of Bangladesh.
Two basic reasons can explain this rising trend. Firstly, the demand for female workers in the UAE is higher than that of other countries. Secondly, attractive salary in the UAE draws more female migrant workers there than other countries.
After the UAE, Lebanon hires a large number of female migrant workers. While the country has only 1.3 percent of total Bangladeshi migrants, it nevertheless has the second highest percentage of female migrants (24.3 percent) compared to all other countries. About 97,000 female workers reside in Lebanon today.
A total of 9.4 million Bangladeshi migrants are toiling in various parts of the globe and sending their hard-earned money back home.
The fruits of their hard work are paying off, as an incredible $15.31 billion in remittance was received in fiscal 2015 — the highest in the country’s history.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has the highest percentage of Bangladeshi migrants, about 28.2 percent. The June 2015 statistics of the BMET shows there are more than 2.6 million Bangladeshi migrant workers in the KSA. Remittance inflow was recorded at $3.12billion from the KSA in the fiscal year 2013-14 as per Bangladesh Bank.
The UAE, ranking second, is currently home to more than 2.3 million Bangladeshi migrants who have sent home $2.68 billion remittance in fiscal 2013-14.
Oman is the third favourite overseas employment country today, with 10.7 percent of the total Bangladeshi migrants. An impressive 1 million workers were there at the end of June 2015. Remittance inflow from Oman was $0.7 billion in fiscal 2013-14.
To follow, the other destinations are, respectively: Malaysia, with about 7.14 lakh Bangladeshi migrants; Singapore, 5.6 lakh; Kuwait, 4.9 lakh; Qatar, 4.1 lakh migrants.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Crops Destroyed by Fires in Indonesia’s Worst Drought in Five Years
El Niño will affect 80 per cent of Indonesia’s territory, peaking in September. In many provinces, people are enduring drinking water shortages. Farmland is abandoned for lack of irrigation.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Indonesia is facing its worst drought in five years, affecting almost 80 per cent of the country. Only the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are the exception; here rain is expected.
Forecasts by Indonesia’s National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional or LAPAN) are now being felt across South-East Asia.
In its latest report, the latter noted that the index measuring the activities of El Niño in the Pacific Ocean is between 1.5 and 2.5, much higher than in the past when it stood at 1.37.
Drought conditions have led to crop failures in some parts of West Java Province whilst water shortages have been recorded in eastern provinces like in Bali, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) with rainfall levels under 50mm per month.
Bogor, a city in West Java popularly known as ‘Rain City’ because of year-round precipitation, is also experiencing water shortages, leading local authorities to urge residents to cut back on water use.
There are only two seasons in Indonesia: a dry season (April-October) and a wet season (October-April). But for the past three years, traditional weather patterns have been disrupted and rain has fallen during dry season.
Officials with the National Board for Disaster Management (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana or BNPB) said that drought will reach its peak ‘season’ in September.
In Central Java and some parts of East Java, crop failures might be recorded over the coming weeks due to the prolonged dry season.
Even in Bekasi, just 25 kilometres from Jakarta, residents face clean water shortages for their daily needs (like cooking and showers). Many farmers have also given up due to water shortage.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo had promised to make Indonesia self-sufficient in food production within three years; however, the prolonged dry season will hamper his ambition.
In some provinces on the island of Sumatra, especially Riau and Jambi, bush fires have made the prolonged dry season even worse.
Bush fires have been an annual occurrence on Sumatra, prompting Singapore and Malaysia to take issue with Indonesia over the practice, because of its impact on air quality.
In addition, airliners have had to cancel flights on several occasions due to bush fire smoke.
Multinational corporations often use slash and burn techniques to clear land, a practice that can get out of control.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Experts Confirm Réunion Debris is Boeing 777
Malaysian authorities confirmed on Friday that plane wreckage washed up on France’s island of Réunion was from a Boeing 777, meaning the part is almost certainly from missing flight MH370.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India, Bangladesh Exchange Land Enclaves, Settling Boundary Dispute
India says it has swapped more than 150 adversely-held enclaves with its small neighbor Bangladesh, settling a decades-old border dispute and an uncertain future for tens of thousands of people living in squalid conditions.
Television images showed people bursting firecrackers and raising an Indian flag in Masaldanga enclave which became part of India at midnight Friday.
India’s External Affairs Ministry in a statement described July 31 as a historic day for both India and Bangladesh as “it marks the resolution of a complex issue that has lingered since independence” from British colonialists in 1947.
Nearly 37,000 people lived in 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh, while 14,000 lived in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India. These people are getting citizenship of their choice.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
MH370 Search: Plane Debris Flown Out of Reunion
A piece of debris that experts believe could be from missing flight MH370 has been flown out of the French island where it was found on Wednesday.
The object, believed to be part of a wing, left Reunion in the Indian Ocean on a flight to Paris on Friday evening.
From there it will be transported to a defence ministry laboratory in Toulouse for analysis.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished in March 2014.
There were 239 passengers and crew on board.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Debris on Reunion Island Beach May Unlock MH370 Crash Mystery
Local workers on a Reunion Island beach in the Indian Ocean found more debris — including a bottle of laundry detergent from Jakarta, Indonesia Friday — which could be further evidence of wreckage believed to be from missing Malyasia Airlines Flight MH370.
A Malaysian official and aviation experts said Thursday that a sea-encrusted section of a plane wing found washed up on Reunion Wednesday is almost certainly part of the Boeing 777, potentially the biggest breakthrough in the search for the missing jet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Long Suspected Pakistan of Sheltering Late Taliban Leader Mullah Omar, Report
U.S. intelligence officials suspected Pakistan of sheltering Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, one of the world’s most wanted men, for years before his death, according to a published report.
On Wednesday, Afghan officials announced that they believed Omar had died in a Pakistan hospital sometime in 2013. On Thursday, the Taliban issued a statement confirming the death of the man known as “The Commander of the Faithful”, but did not specify when or how he had died. The Taliban statement also specifically claimed that Mullah Omar never left Afghanistan, “even to go to Pakistan or to any other country.”
However, the Washington Post, citing diplomatic and intelligence documents, reported that the CIA had a lead on the reclusive Omar’s whereabouts several times in 2010 and 2011, always placing him in Pakistan. The suspicions are another example of the complex relationship between the U.S. and one of its key allies in the global war on terror.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ebola Vaccine is ‘Potential Game-Changer’
A vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is tackled, preliminary results suggest.
There were no proven drugs or vaccines against the virus at the start of the largest outbreak of Ebola in history, which began in Guinea in December 2013.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the findings, being published in the Lancet, could be a “game-changer”.
Experts said the results were “remarkable”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa: Upsurge in Vehicle Stoning on R300
Cape Town — Motorists using the R300 have been cautioned to drive on a full tank and not stop for any reason — the latest warning about a stretch of road that authorities regard as a vehicle-stoning hot spot.
The warning from Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa follows an incident on Saturday evening in which a motorist narrowly escaped being hit by bricks hurled at his vehicle near Hindle Road.
IT technician Jeandre Terblanch was travelling towards Kuils River when he and other motorists were targeted by assailants standing on the side of the R300, just metres before the Hindle Road off-ramp.
Terblanch said three men, two dressed in reflector jackets, picked up bricks and started pelting passing vehicles…
| — Hat tip: PS | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuelan Governor Says 1 Person Killed During Looting of Supermarket, Reports 27 Detained
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan authorities say one person has been killed and at least 27 people detained after a supermarket was looted in the city of Ciudad Guyana in the country’s southeast.
In announcing the figures, Bolivar state Gov. Francisco Rangel pushed back against opponents of the government who attributed Friday’s unrest to widespread scarcities of basic goods across the oil-rich nation. He said that there was no excuse for the mob’s action and that food is not short in the industrial city.
Local newspaper Correo del Caroni said dead person was a 21-year-old man who had a gunshot wound in the chest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Activists Say Cuban Migrants Traveling to US Targeted for Abuse, Extortion in Mexico
Advocates for migrants in Mexico say they have filed 15 complaints accusing Mexican government officials of extorting Cubans passing through the country en route to the United States.
Activists charge that migration officials hold Cuban migrants and call their relatives in the United States to demand payments while threatening harm to their loved ones.
Alberto Donis is a lawyer and head of a migrant shelter in southern Mexico. He said Friday that activists have documented hundreds more similar cases.
Mexico’s National Migration Institute rejected what it called “unfounded accusations.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A senior BBC reporter triggered a furious response today after asking a group of black refugees: ‘Are you going back to the Jungle?’
Viewers accused Diplomatic Correspondent Paul Adams of making a racist slur — not realising that the ‘Jungle’ is the real name of the huge migrant camp just outside Calais.
Mr Adams has spent the past two nights with migrants desperately trying to get to the Channel Tunnel and then on Britain.
After a group were repelled by French police at the fences around the Eurotunnel terminal the journalist asked them: ‘Are you going back to the Jungle or will you try again?’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Migrant Crisis: PM Offers Extra Fencing and Dogs
Extra sniffer dogs and fencing are to be offered to Calais officials to help them deal with high numbers of migrants trying to reach the UK, the PM says.
David Cameron spoke to French President Francois Hollande on the telephone on Friday and said the pair had agreed to work to tackle illegal immigration.
The PM has warned the situation will be a “difficult issue” throughout summer.
There have been thousands of attempts by migrants to access the Eurotunnel terminal, affecting train services.
The crisis has led to major congestion on both sides of the Channel, with passenger services disrupted and 6,000 lorries parked in queues along the M20 in Kent as part of Operation Stack.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Migrants: David Cameron Warns Crisis to Last All Summer as Striking French Workers Block Port
British troops will be involved in an operation to ease traffic congestion in Kent as the chaos in Calais continues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Extra French Police Help Curb Calais Migrant Flow
A newly enforced police unit in northern France blocked at least 200 people from reaching the Channel Tunnel on Thursday night, as the British government prepares for an emergency meeting on Friday to grapple with the crisis.
Around 3,000 people from countries including Syria and Eritrea are camping out in the northern French port of Calais and trying to cross into Britain illegally by clambering on board lorries and trains.
France has bolstered its police presence in Calais and migrants have made fewer attempts to enter the Eurotunnel than in previous nights.
Traffic through the tunnel, which had been severely disrupted the previous day, was barely affected.
Britain’s prime minister, meanwhile, has come under fire for controversial comments on the crisis, which dominated British media this week as holidaymakers and truck drivers have been blocked on the British side due to delays caused by the migrants’ actions.
David Cameron referred to a “swarm of people” wanting to come to his country to seek better lives and find employment, speaking while on a visit to Vietnam.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary’s Flawed Fence Offers Refugees Hope
As Hungary continues work on a border fence, its neighbor Serbia is struggling to cope with an influx of refugees. Can a 21-million-euro fence stop these desperate people? Lidija Tomic visited the border to find out.
There are currently 3,000-4,000 asylum-seekers in Hungary. In neighboring Serbia, 55,000 migrants have expressed their intention to seek refugee status. Red Cross records show that some 1,000 people come to Serbia every day. Although they stay for a short while in order to get basic aid and rest from their long journey, most of them want to reach Germany, Switzerland or Scandinavian countries as their final destination.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Coast Guard Rescues 1,230 Migrants, Recovers Two Bodies
Coordinated five rescue ops off the Libya coast
(ANSA) — Rome, July 31 — Italy’s Coast Guard on Friday recovered the bodies of two migrants and rescued a total of 1,230 people off unseaworthy vessels headed to Italy from Libya.
The Coast Guard coordinated a total of five operations to save people steeped aboard two rubber dinghies and three boats, some 30 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants in Calais Desperately Rush the Channel Tunnel to England, Night After Night
The desperate scene playing out each night and day in Calais, with migrants trying to vault fences or cut their way through them and climb onto trains or into trucks going across the Channel to England, is just one chapter in a painful drama playing out across Europe.
For many of the migrants who have been coming to the Continent from Africa, the Middle East and beyond, Calais, a mere 21 miles from the white cliffs of Dover, is their last stop. If they make it across to Britain, many believe they will have reached safety and a better life. Some are attracted to Britain because they speak some English, others because they see better job prospects there than on the Continent. A few even cite a strong pound.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant: ‘France Will Protect Me More Than UK’
While the intense media coverage of Calais might suggest that all migrants there want to make it to the UK, an increasing number of them are now actually choosing to stay in France.
Hammer in one hand, screws in the other, 32-year-old Abdulaziz from Sudan is building a house in the heart of the “New Jungle” migrant camp next to the Calais ring road.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
PD Presents Bill on Citizenship for Kids Born in Italy
Would change rules for children of foreign parents
(ANSA) — Rome, July 30 — The ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD) submitted a proposed immigrant citizenship reform bill to the Lower House constitutional affairs committee Thursday.
The bill would grant citizenship to babies born in Italy of foreign parents if at least one of the parents has been a legal resident for at least five years. Children born in Italy of foreign parents would also be allowed to apply for citizenship once they have attended Italian schools for at least five years.
Children who arrive in Italy aged between 12 and 18 years old would be able to apply for citizenship after having lived in the country for at least six years, and if they have attended a “school cycle” that has led to them achieving final qualifications, or if they have completed a similar professional course and received a qualification.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UNHCR: Greece Must Do More to Tackle Migration ‘Emergency’
More than 109,000 people have arrived in Greece in 2015
(ANSA-AP) — ATHENS, Greece — A senior U.N. refugee agency official is urging Greek authorities to “wake up” and do more to deal with a burgeoning number of refugee arrivals that has become a full-blown humanitarian emergency. UNHCR Europe Bureau Director Vincent Cochetel says more than 109,000 people have arrived in Greece since the beginning of the year, most of them fleeing war in their homelands.
He told a news conference Friday that Greek officials need to take charge and “get serious” about building more centers to provide shelter, food and other services to meet people’s basic needs. Cochetel said the UNCHR is aware of Greece’s acute financial crisis, but authorities must tackle the situation as if it were a “natural disaster.” He said some Greek islands receive up to 1,000 new arrivals each day.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christians are losing the culture war. Every institution in America is now under the control of those who hate God. Our public schools, government, universities, entertainment, legal, media, political parties, and churches are under the control of the kingdom of darkness.
How has this happened? The kingdom of darkness does its work in the dark. They have seized every one of our institutions without firing a shot. They have used their weapons of lies and deceit to violate and destroy all that is good. They have invaded every Godly institution, bombarded us with lies, and stolen the future of our children and grandchildren.
They have been militant. As a result we have been violated. They have taken from our children what was rightfully theirs. The Kingdom of God has suffered violence. It is time to drop the sissified Gospel and reinvigorate the masculine side of our faith.
Let’s face it. There is absolutely no institution in modern America that Christianity has controlling influence over.
They slaughter unborn babies and force us to pay for it. They sell their little body-parts for personal gain. The command you to bake homo-cakes and demand you violate your conscience.
American Christianity will lead you to Heaven while it let’s the world go to hell.
The haters of God have become emboldened. They have no conscience, no mercy, and no remorse. They get caught selling baby parts and become outraged at the one who made the film for doing it “secretly”. Everything our opponents do is rooted in deceit.
Christians must become more focused…more aggressive with our faith if we are to save Western Civilization. The idea that one can win by surrendering is a doctrine of demons that has infiltrated the American Christian mindset.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Planned Parenthood: Serving Mankind From Dust to Dessert
You see, the playbook of Planned Parenthood has been deciphered through the covert videos taken by the Center for Medical Progress. They have been exposed for exactly who they are and what they are doing, and the truth is making them and their facilitators very uncomfortable. Until now, the unbridled evil of their deeds has been hidden behind the unremarkable and non-threatening faces of the women depicted in the videos. Behind the masks of Drs. Nucatola, Gatter and others could be that of Josef Mengele himself.
Just because the silent screams of the unborn are inaudible as they are dismembered and their organs harvested, ostensibly for noble scientific purposes, does that make the current doctors of death any less maniacal, any less evil, or less sadistic than Mengele and his willing cohorts? No.
I would assert that there are many more similarities than differences between the subjects depicted on the covertly secured videos and the murderous “doctors” working in the concentration camps inside Nazi Germany. If there is any difference, perhaps it exists in the number of victims, for we know that the Nazi death camps were responsible for 6-8 million deaths. The murders of the unborn are far higher, however, and the body count is rising every day.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Using Google as your primary online search engine could be subjecting you to brainwashing and propaganda, as the advertising and information giant actively filters search results to push its own agenda. A prominent psychologist has warned that Google’s “filter bubble” censors certain information from view, promoting confirmation bias and ultimately ignorance of what’s really going on in the world.
Michael Carr-Gregg says the effect of Google’s proprietary web-crawling algorithms and tailored search results narrows people’s understanding of the world, skewing public perception towards what Google thinks is important for them to know. He warns that real world events often fly under the radar in favor of junk-food news like celebrity gossip and reality television, for instance.
Australia’s News.com.au reports that Google’s filter bubble also tailors search results based on earlier search queries, preventing users from pulling up other pertinent information that might not fit into their normal routine of searching habits. Over time, such a system isolates users not only from content that deviates from what they normally encounter, but also from others who think and believe differently from themselves.
“There’s this crazy idea that all the billions of web pages have been thoroughly vetted and reviewed, and this omniscient source found the best,” stated Harvard University psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein to Pacific Standard Magazine, warning of Google’s growing control over what we all pull up while searching online. “That whoever and whatever is doing the searching for us is infallible.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Microsoft Under Fire as Windows 10 Users Find Playing Solitaire Now Costs $10 a Year
‘I can entirely understand why someone thought this feature, known as WiFI Sense, was a good idea,’ wrote PC Gaming Blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
‘How many times you done that awkward dance where you go to a friend’s house and want to use their wifi, so he’s upstairs with the router, trying to bend the cable further than it will go so he can see the sticker on the back, and shouting ‘X94 no sorry X49’ down to you, then it takes twelve goes and you still don’t get anywhere?
‘WiFI Sense is intended to take the pain out of this: you go to your mate’s house and your Windows 10 laptop/tablet immediately hops online because the password’s been shared via MS’ servers.’
‘In theory, lovely.
‘In practice — Microsoft have, somewhere, an enormous database full of people’s passwords.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Neanderthals Had Outsize Effect on Human Biology
From skin disorders to the immune system, sex with archaic species changed Homo sapiens.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Immigrants: “Some are attracted to Britain because they speak some English, others because they see better job prospects there than on the Continent. A few even cite a strong pound.”
What a bunch of twaddle. They assemble in Calais to get into Britain because of the welfare benefits, free housing, free medicare and everything else that the British taxpayer has worked hard to provide.
OT:
Allen West is reporting that the DOD is pressing charges against one of the sailors who shot the Chattanooga terrorist – since he wasn’t allowed to have a gun at the recruiting center!
wasn’t he an officer?
The Navy fellow,I mean, not West.
Per July 24th Navy Times:
Also:
Cut/paste of related comment at FreeRepublic:
Thank you for pointing all that out. Apart from the incredible reaction toward the Hero by those whose own character should be called into question, we now have judges who will actually play along with the beat up rather than chastise those so called prosecutors whose own bent agenda’s push those beat up cases into court.
The justice system throughout the West has become a political minefield.
And we avert our eyes from the bodies hanging from various scaffolds.
The colonisation of Europe must go on! At any cost. No cost is too high for this big project.
So, what else happened since last time the Labor Youth were at the island? They – The Norwegian Labor Youth, AUF – elected a Syrian as their leader. What does that tell you about where Norway is going, and, who is pulling the strings in this little theater called democracy?
Norway isn’t going anywhere at all. It has arrived in Hell already, settled comfortably amid the silk cushions in its gold-plated hand basket as Lucifer dances ahead. Of course Norway does’t believe in any of that “spiritual stuff”. That made it much easier to get them to sit on those cushions and admire the scenery painted on theatrical flats and lining the roadway.
Norway is so crushingly naive it’s painful to watch.
Let’s hope there is still a cast that has not yet entered the scene. A cast that never played along with the script that was presented, and never will. A cast that will stick to their own script.