Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/10/2015

A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up in downtown Ankara today, killing almost a hundred people and wounding more than two hundred more. The explosions occurred in the midst of a pro-Kurdish demonstration. Angry crowds, suspecting state involvement with the attacks, clashed with police afterwards.

In other news, as temperatures dropped below freezing in Finland, donated winter clothes were distributed to “refugees” in major cities and towns.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Nick, Nilk, RE, 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
» Fiscal Union Will Never Fix a Dysfunctional Eurozone, Warns Ex-IMF Chief
 
USA
» America’s Growing Pessimism
» Apple Removes Some Apps From Online Store Over Security Concerns
» Army Officer Recommends No Jail Time for Bowe Bergdahl, Attorney Says
» Attorney: Army Officer Recommends No Jail Time for Bergdahl
» Carson Declares War on the Press
» Chicago: 3 Killed: 6 Wounded Since Friday Morning
» Everything You Need to Know About California’s New Electronic Communications Privacy Act
» Islamic Indoctrination of US Public School Students ‘Now a Nationwide Epidemic’
» L.A.’s Westside Wealthy and the Homeless Collide as Numbers Surge
» Leaked TPP Agreement Requires Member Countries to Honor Copyright Takedowns
» MU Students Burn Islamic State Flag in Protest of Terrorist Group’s Activities
» ‘Obama Has Been Rolled by Putin Like Sushi Roll’- US Presidential Candidate
» Obama Met by Pro-Gun Protests at Scene of Latest School Shooting in Oregon
» Someone in Chicago is Shot Every 2.8 Hours (Despite Major Gun Control)
 
Europe and the EU
» Actor Dressed as Hitler on the Streets of Germany Tells How People Begged Him to Bring Back Labour Camps and Posed for Selfies With Him as Right-Wing Extremism Surges in the Country
» Angela Merkel’s Incredible Rise From Quantum Chemist to the World’s Most Powerful Woman
» Austria: Got Back Properties Confiscated by Nazis, Indicted
» David Cameron’s Four Key Demands to Remain in the EU Revealed
» Edward Snowden Says UK Spies Can Send ‘Smurfs’ To Hack Into Your Phone and Gain ‘Total Control’ Over it
» Germany: Honecker’s Barracks-Like Buildings Take Revenge
» Italian Researchers Find Natural HIV Inhibitor
» Italy: Ex-Minister Fitto Acquitted of Corruption on Appeal
» Italy: Ignazio Marino Quits as Rome Mayor
» Italy: Police Seize Assets Worth 2mn From Corruption Suspects
» Italy: Max Biaggi Indicted for Alleged 18 Mn Tax Evasion
» Italy Beats France to Top Global Wine Production in 2015
» Italy: De Blasio Says Inspired by Marino
» Italy Will Double International Development Budget in 4 Yrs Says Gentiloni
» Living in a Steel Box: Are Shipping Containers Really the Future of Housing?
» Romania: In Summer 5% Jump in Arrivals From Italy
» Some 100,000 Protest in Berlin Against EU-US Free Trade Deal
» Thousands Take to Berlin to Protest EU-US TTIP Accord
» ‘To Hell With Their Culture’ — Richard Dawkins in Extraordinary Blast at Muslims
 
North Africa
» Bin Laden Company Launches Moroccan Organic Product Line
» Tunisian Constitution ‘Balance Between Europe and Islam’
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Jerusalem Attacks: Israelis Hurt in Two Palestinian Stabbings
» Palestinians Stab Israelis in Two Separate Jerusalem Attacks
» Palestinians Stab Israelis in 2 Jerusalem Attacks
» Third Phase Miadit Carabinieri Mission Starts
» Unrest Worsens in Israel as Death Toll Rises and Further Attacks Hit Jerusalem
 
Middle East
» Ankara Explosions Leave Almost 100 Dead — Officials
» British Ex-Guantanamo Bay Detainee ‘Joins Islamic State in Syria’
» Dissent — Not Solidarity — Follows Bloodbath in Ankara
» Dozens Killed in Blast Near Train Station in Ankara
» Former Guantanamo Inmate Has Left UK to Join Islamic State
» Gulf Arabs ‘Stepping Up’ Arms Supplies to Syrian Rebels
» ISIL Threatens to Execute 180 Assyrian Christians
» Qaeda in Yemen Claims Killing of ‘Sorcerers’
» Thousands Protest in Turkey After Deadly Suicide Bombings
» Turkish Peace Rally Protesters Dancing Moments Before Deadly Bombings in Ankara
» Turkish PM Says Deadly Attacks Likely Were Suicide Bombings
 
Russia
» Money-Losing Business: West Loses Faith in ‘Project Ukraine’
 
South Asia
» Nepal on the Brink of Civil War as India’s Embargo Unleashes Hatred Against Modi
» Pentagon to Make ‘Condolence Payments’ To Victims of Kunduz Bombing
 
Far East
» China Starts Operating 2 Lighthouses on Disputed South China Sea Reefs
» Hong Kong Post Boxes to Lose Royal British Insignia
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Suspected Boko Haram Suicide Attacks Strike Chad
» Three Bombs Planted by Boko Haram Islamic Group in Baga Sola, Chad
 
Immigration
» Finland: Emergency Shelters Hit by New Setback: Freezing Temperatures
» Germany’s Far-Right Rises Amid Refugee Wave
» German Populist Far-Right Gains Amid Refugee Wave
» Greece: Islands See Surge in Refugee Arrivals
» ‘I Will Never Force My Eurowife to Put on Scarf’ — Afghani Refugee
» Mussie Zerai: Eritrean Priest Who Saves Migrants by Phone
» Obama Slams Trump on Immigration
» Officials Deny Talks of Germany-EU Solidarity Tax
» Protesters, Police Clash at Refugee Homes in Germany
» Refugee Crisis is a Boon to Vienna’s Far-Right Party
» Sweden Minister: ‘Speed Up Deportations’
» UK: Coventry Policeman Headbutted in Willenhall After Catching Drunk Man With His Trousers Down Round Knees Peering Through House Window
 

Fiscal Union Will Never Fix a Dysfunctional Eurozone, Warns Ex-IMF Chief

The euro will be consigned to a permanent state of malaise as deeper integration will bring no prosperity to the crisis-hit bloc, according to the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.

In a stark warning, Olivier Blanchard — who spent eight years firefighting the worst global financial crisis in history — said transferring sovereignty from member states to Brussels would be no “panacea” for the ills of the euro.

The comments — from one of the foremost western economists of the last decade — pour cold water on grandiose visions for an “EU superstate” being hailed as the next step towards integration in the currency bloc.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

America’s Growing Pessimism

A recent poll shows that people are worried about education, the elderly, and the decisions of business leaders and the government. When Americans look to the future, two mega-trends evoke the most optimism about the nation’s long-term trajectory, the latest Allstate/National JournalHeartland Monitor Poll has found.

One of these trends, the onset of the digital revolution, evokes optimism in every major segment of society. But the second one, the nation’s growing racial and ethnic diversity, divides Americans along lines of race, generation, and, above all, partisanship, thereby illuminating some of the fault lines in modern American life.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Apple Removes Some Apps From Online Store Over Security Concerns

Apple said on Thursday that it had removed “a few” applications from its App Store, expressing its concern that the security of some users’ personal data could be compromised in certain circumstances.

The company said the apps threatened users’ security by installing certificates that can expose data to monitoring by third parties. The company did not specify the precise number of apps at issue.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Army Officer Recommends No Jail Time for Bowe Bergdahl, Attorney Says

An Army officer is recommending that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a lower-level court martial and be spared the possibility of jail time for leaving his post in Afghanistan, his lawyer said Saturday.

Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban after leaving his post on June 30, 2009, and held until last year, when he was exchanged for five Taliban commanders. His commanding officers in Afghanistan say a 45-day search for Bergdahl put soldiers in danger.

Military prosecutors charged Bergdahl in March with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, a charge that could carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Attorney: Army Officer Recommends No Jail Time for Bergdahl

An Army officer is recommending that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a lower-level court martial and be spared the possibility of jail time for leaving his post in Afghanistan, his lawyer said Saturday.

Defense attorney Eugene Fidell said Lt. Col. Mark Visger has recommended that Sgt. Bergdahl’s case be referred to a special court martial, which is a misdemeanor-level forum. It limits the maximum punishment to reduction in rank, a bad-conduct discharge and a term of up to a year in prison.

But Fidell also said that Visger recommended that there be no prison time or punitive discharge against Bergdahl. In light of Visger’s recommendations, the defense is asking that the case be disposed of non-judicially, rather than by any court martial.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Carson Declares War on the Press

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson admonished the Washington press corps Friday, calling the news media “embarrassing” and “insincere” and vowing to “expose” the institutional bias he says runs rampant.

Speaking at a gathering of reporters and communications professionals at the National Press Club in Washington, Carson lashed out at the press, citing several instances where he believes his views have been misrepresented.

“Many in the press will say I’m sensitive and that I should not be thinking about running for office, because I get offended by what they do,” he said. “But the reason I expose the press is because I want the people of America to understand what they’re doing. It’s not because I’m sensitive.”

The retired neurosurgeon said he has no intention of calling a truce with the news media.

“I will continue to expose them every time they do something, so that as more people understand what they are and what they’re doing, it will negate their effect,” he said. “Until they have the kind of transformation that’s necessary for them to become allies of the people, we have to know what they’re doing.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Chicago: 3 Killed: 6 Wounded Since Friday Morning

Three people were killed and at least six others were wounded in shootings on the West and South sides (of Chicago) since Friday morning, police said.

The most recent fatal shooting was at 4:10 a.m. Saturday in East Garfield Park, according to Chicago police spokeswoman Officer Janel Sedevic.

A 17-year-old boy was riding in a vehicle in the 3900 block of West Ferdinand Street when someone walked up and began firing shots. He was hit in the neck and the face and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

At 3:20 a.m., a 33-year-old man was killed in an apartment in South Austin.

He was attending a party in the 1100 block of North Lawler Avenue when someone shot him in the head, Sedevic said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead.

Partygoers gathered outside the building in the moments after the shooting, talking quietly.

Everyone was confused about what happened, said one woman who was at the apartment and heard the gunshots.

“I tell my friend, who the hell popping firecrackers in the house?” she said.

At 12:43 p.m. Friday, another person was killed in South Austin.

A 15-year-old boy was found in a backyard in the 4900 block of West Congress Parkway with gunshots to the legs and torso, said Chicago police spokeswoman Officer Amina Greer.

Police initially said he was in his 20s, and that he had been shot in the stomach and head.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Everything You Need to Know About California’s New Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act on Friday in what the American Civil Liberties Union described as a “landmark victory” for digital privacy.

Here’s a quick primer on what it’s about and how it might affect you…

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic Indoctrination of US Public School Students ‘Now a Nationwide Epidemic’

Islamic indoctrination of students in US public schools has transformed from a few isolated cases into “a nationwide epidemic that has been brewing for a while.”

According to Cece Heil of the religious group American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the Islamic indoctrination of American students is now happening everywhere throughout the country.

She said in the last several years, parents have contacted the centre “concerned about the teaching of Islam in their local schools.”

“It seems that many schools may be going well beyond simply teaching about a religion. From disparate treatment of religions, to distortion of truth, the teaching of Islam seems entrenched with problems,” she wrote on the ACLJ website.

Heil said students in Tennessee and Georgia, for instance, are being told to recite the Five Pillars of Islam while not learning about Christianity or Judaism.

She said some schools in Georgia are telling students that Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians.

In Tennessee, she said, students are being told to write “Allah is the only God” while Christianity lessons are skipped.

“This far surpasses education on the history of world religions. This is indoctrination,” she said.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

L.A.’s Westside Wealthy and the Homeless Collide as Numbers Surge

by Seth Abramovitch

Mayor Eric Garcetti declares a state of emergency as the city sees a 12 percent increase in the homeless population, law enforcement’s hands are tied, and Westside enclaves like Brentwood and Mar Vista close ranks (and parks) against the tide of transients.

On Sept. 22, in the face of his city’s escalating homeless­ness crisis, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took an unprecedented step: He declared a state of emergency. Part of that was semantics, as the term legally allows for the early opening of wet-weather shelters ahead of the heavy rainfalls predicted this winter. “But,” Garcetti tells THR, “we kind of figured it’s an hon­est assessment of where we are.”

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

Leaked TPP Agreement Requires Member Countries to Honor Copyright Takedowns

Wikileaks has released what it says is the final text of the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a “free trade” deal between the United States and eight other countries.

The text contains an interesting provision in the Intellectual Property Rights chapter regarding ISPs and their obligations to copyright holders.

Under the TPP, an ISP is defined quite broadly:

For the purposes of this Section, “ Internet service provider” means: (a) A provider of online services for the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user’s

By that definition an ISP is your internet provider, but would also ?extend to? companies like Dropbox, Mega and other file storage services hosted within member countries.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

MU Students Burn Islamic State Flag in Protest of Terrorist Group’s Activities

A group of students, faculty and staff on Thursday afternoon gathered around the Columns on Francis Quadrangle in anticipation of watching an Islamic State flag burn.

Some of the attendees stood on the path running parallel to the Columns while others stood off to the side under the shade of trees. More passionate students sat on the bases of the Columns and waved U.S. flags. Young Americans for Liberty organized the event to protest the militant organization’s killings using weapons supplied by the United States and to honor those killed by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

If we are too afraid to speak out against them, they will continue to take lives,” Ian Paris, an MU senior and president of Young Americans for Liberty, told the crowd Thursday afternoon.

Paris said the event was intended to “initiate a dialogue to effect change” and not “to ignite hatred for Islam.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

‘Obama Has Been Rolled by Putin Like Sushi Roll’- US Presidential Candidate

“People should respect, trust, and even be afraid of the United States but right now there is none of that. This is because our president is on the wrong side in Syria, he has chosen the wrong side in Libya, he had underestimated Yemen and he found himself on the wrong side in Egypt. He makes promises that he doesn’t want to fulfill. He announced his intentions in Afghanistan, which led to a catastrophe. Obama suffers one setback after another,” Huckabee said.

The Republican said while comparing the foreign policy of the US president with Russia’s president, “This president has been rolled by Vladimir Putin like a California sushi.”

He further noted, “Whether it’s a red line and whether Russia goes to prop up Bashar al-Assad — the result is always the same: Putin is leading, Obama is following,” Mike Huckabee said during an interview with Fox News.

He said that Obama’s policy has led to unmitigated international disaster.

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

Obama Met by Pro-Gun Protests at Scene of Latest School Shooting in Oregon

President Barack Obama travelled to Oregon on Friday to lend his support to the families of the latest victims of a school shooting. The shooting at the Roseburg Community College left 10 people dead, the deadliest shooting incident in the last two years, and his visit came on the day there was another school shooting in Arizona, where an 18 year-old killed a classmate and wounded three others.

Obama was greeted in the strongly pro-gun state by around 250 demonstrators, some of whom had travelled a long way to protest against his visit, and support gun rights. Obama is currently taking legal advice to find new ways to use his executive powers to enforce existing regulations.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Someone in Chicago is Shot Every 2.8 Hours (Despite Major Gun Control)

Concealed carry is almost nonexistent. To purchase a gun or ammunition requires a Firearm Owners Identification card in the entire state of Illinois, and additionally, a Chicago Firearm Permit — which is required to possess a firearm in Chicago.

Not only are the people heavily regulated in Chicago, but guns are also heavily regulated. Any long gun with a grip protruding from the stock or a firearm with a telescoping stock is prohibited and classified as an “assault weapon.”

Magazines are limited to a 12-round capacity.

Even a spring-powered pellet gun with a muzzle velocity of 700 feet-per-second is classified as a “firearm,” although it does not use gun powder, the component that puts the “fire” in “firearm.”

A stun-gun — a non-lethal device with no projectile — is considered a deadly weapon and cannot be carried for self-defense.

Chicago, for all intents and purposes, is a “gun-free zone.”

But all the state and city regulations associated with firearms in Chicago have failed to produce a safe city, and these are the policies that President Obama and Secretary Clinton wish to extend to the rest of the country.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Actor Dressed as Hitler on the Streets of Germany Tells How People Begged Him to Bring Back Labour Camps and Posed for Selfies With Him as Right-Wing Extremism Surges in the Country

An actor dressed as Hitler on the streets of Germany was begged to bring back labour camps, kissed and made to feel like ‘a pop star’ — casting an uncomfortable light on growing support for right-wing extremism in the country.

Oliver Masucci plays the Nazi leader in ‘He’s Back’ (‘Er ist wieder da’), a biting social satire by author Timur Vermes which was released in German cinemas this week.

However, it is not his performance, but the reactions of people on the street to ‘Hitler’ which have got the country talking as it prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees this year alone.

‘He’s Back’ is based on Vermes’ ‘what-if’ best-seller of the same name, published three years ago. In it, Hitler is baffled to find himself in a multicultural Germany led by a woman, Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He discovers TV chefs, Wikipedia and the fact that Poland still exists before he ends up a small-screen star, in a social commentary on society, mass media and celebrity hype.

But the film goes a step further than the novel, and intersperses the action with real life documentary footage — including footage of people welcoming back the despotic mass murderer with open arms.

In real life, Masucci — walking through the streets with a Hitler moustache and uniform — got rousing receptions from ordinary people, many of whom pose for ‘selfies’ with him…

           — Hat tip: RE [Return to headlines]
 

Angela Merkel’s Incredible Rise From Quantum Chemist to the World’s Most Powerful Woman

The world’s most powerful woman earned her Ph.D. in quantum physics, presides over the richest economy in Europe, and is the central broker in a massive euro-bailout deal.

Germany’s Angela Merkel is the undisputed leader of her political party, and she faces hardly any opposition in her now third parliamentary term as chancellor.

In honor of the Bundeskanzlerin’s 10 years in power, here’s the story of Merkel’s rise from humble beginnings under an oppressive East German regime to the top spot as Germany’s leader.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Got Back Properties Confiscated by Nazis, Indicted

Controversy about the case of Jewish writer Stephan Templ

(ANSA) — BERLIN — A lot of controversies were created by the case of the Jewish writer Stephan Templ, indicted in Vienna for fraud and sentenced to a year in prison as consequence of a story born from the request for the return of a family building, confiscated to his ancestors by the Nazis. Templ, who lives in Prague, had applied in 2005, on behalf of his mother, to get some of a State building token away by the Nazi regime, a right that was recognized to him in the first instance. Subsequently, however, the right was challenged and the writer and historian, who had already received compensation, as he had deliberately concealed the existence of another aunt entitled to compensation, cheating the state.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

David Cameron’s Four Key Demands to Remain in the EU Revealed

David Cameron and his closest Cabinet allies have drawn up a four-point plan of key demands as the price for keeping Britain in the European Union.

Diplomats have been sent to win support from 27 European countries for a new deal between Britain and Brussels ahead of an “in-out” referendum.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Edward Snowden Says UK Spies Can Send ‘Smurfs’ To Hack Into Your Phone and Gain ‘Total Control’ Over it

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has warned that UK spy agency GCHQ has the ability to hack into smartphones with encrypted text messages and gain “total control,” the BBC reports.

Snowden told the BBC that GCHQ has something called “Smurf suite,” which is a collection of spying programs that the agency can use to hack into the phones of suspected terrorists.

One tool is called “Dreamy Smurf.” Snowden says it allows GCHQ to turn on mobile phones without the user knowing. There’s also “Nosey Smurf,” which can be used to turn on the phone’s microphone.

Another tool in GCHQ’s “Smurf suite” is “Tracker Smurf.” It can turn on a smartphone’s geolocation feature, which allows intelligence agencies to accurately track a user’s location. Authorities can already track smartphones by measuring which cell tower they’re nearest to, but it looks like this tool is much more accurate.

One GCHQ program isn’t about spying at all. It’s called “Armoured Smurf.” If a user suspects that something is wrong with their phone and tries to inspect it, then it hides GCHQ’s spy software.

Snowden explained that GCHQ gains access to smartphones with a simple text message. “It’s called an ‘exploit’,” he said. “That’s a specially crafted message that’s texted to your number like any other text message but when it arrives at your phone it’s hidden from you. It doesn’t display. You paid for [the phone] but whoever controls the software owns the phone.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Honecker’s Barracks-Like Buildings Take Revenge

From state of abandon to ‘boom’,higher rents relaunch Plattenbau

(by Pierluigi Mennitti) (ANSA) — BERLIN — Twenty-five years after German reunification, there is an item of the old East Germany, which is bound to take an unexpected revenge, thanks to the housing shortage and consequent rise in their prices, especially in big cities. We are talking about the ‘Plattenbau’, long name in German language for the barracks-like buildings, which used to be the urban symbol of socialism. The term is a combination of two words, panel (Platte) and building (Bau), which explains everything you need to know: easy to build, reflecting the economic logic of egalitarianism.

In the Western countries this type of building was considered to be as a ‘testimony’ of Communist drabness. It’s true: they were not so beautiful, although the elderly people in the GDR remember today that when, in the seventies, Erich Honecker launched his new housing plan, accommodation in these buildings, heated and equipped with modern comforts, were very appreciated, compared with the cold and shabby apartments you could find in historic buildings. After the fall of regimes, everybody wondered what to do with those barracks-like buildings. In some cases it was decided to renovate them starting from exterior surfaces, by adding balconies or colouring the facades. In other cases (such as Dresden or in the Marzahn district in Berlin), it was decided to reduce their height, by eliminating four or five floors and by ‘lightening’ these buildings. Today they are becoming as popular as they used to be, since the real estate market is static. Prices have shot up in Berlin to more than 4,000 Euros per square metre on the upper floors, and many architects have designed innovative solutions. Starting from the capital, this revival has spread to other cities of the former GDR, such as Leipzig, Jena, Dresden. For Honecker’s barracks-like buildings, it’s a sort of redemption after so much misunderstanding.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Researchers Find Natural HIV Inhibitor

Scientists from CIBIO in Trento say it’s the protein Serinc5

(ANSA) — Trento, October 2 — A cellular protein called Serin5 is a strong natural viral inhibitor capable of neutralising HIV and other viruses, according to researchers from the Centre for Integrated Biology (CIBIO) at the University of Trento, who this week published an article on their findings in the journal Nature.

The research team was led by Massimo Pizzato, who said that the Serinc5 protein sits on the cell surface and can prevent the HIV virus from of infecting new cells.

However, a protein in the HIV virus called Nef currently deactivates the Serinc5 protein’s antiviral action, he said.

Pizzato said that his group is now working to make the Serinc5 protein “invisible” to HIV, which would enable it to combat the virus.

“At that point we will have taken a crucial step ahead of the virus,” Pizzato said.

In an associated study in Heinrich Gottlinger’s lab at the University of Massachusetts, the same results were achieved using a different methodology.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex-Minister Fitto Acquitted of Corruption on Appeal

Former Puglia governor implicated in nursing home contract trial

(ANSA) — Bari, September 29 — The Bari appeals court on Tuesday acquitted ex-minister Raffaele Fitto of corruption on grounds there was no case to answer in connection with an alleged bribe taken in exchange for the management of 11 nursing homes.

Fitto, who served as regional affairs minister under the last Berlusconi government, was accused of taking 500,000 euros from Roman businessman Gianpaolo Angelucci for party funding in exchange for the management contract while he was governor of the southern Puglia region.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ignazio Marino Quits as Rome Mayor

In wake of latest scandal

(ANSA) — Rome, October 8 — Ignazio Marino on Thursday quit as Rome mayor in the wake of the latest scandal to engulf the ruling Democratic Party’s (PD) representative in the capital. City prosecutors opened a probe into the mayor’s expenses after the small rightwing Brothers of Italy (FDI) party and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) — the second-largest party in Italy — filed petitions. Marino subsequently announced he would refund expenses of 20,000 euros from his own pocket and also relinquish his City of Rome credit card, but this did little to assuage opponents including within his own party. The opposition has vociferously criticized Marino’s frequent missions abroad, from which he has returned with 13 million euros in donations from foreign patrons to restore Rome’s crumbling monuments.

The mayor who took office in June 2013 — after winning 63.9% of the vote in the capital, compared to 36.1% for centre-right incumbent Gianni Alemanno — faced an uphill battle from day one of his administration, as he inherited a city with depleted coffers and a local racketeering scandal that would soon explode on his watch, nearly engulfing him.

Marino’s council lost several members in the wake of a sweeping corruption probe into a local mafia of businessmen, gangsters and politicians — including his predecessor Alemanno, who was named in the probe — that muscled in on lucrative city contracts for garbage collection, parks maintenance, and refugee reception centers. The mayor been under pressure to resign ever since the scandal broke last winter, even though he was never named in that investigation.

Marino carried on, ruffling more feathers as he said he would replace the board of ATAC public transport company and fire managers under whose watch the city’s transport system degenerated into chaos. He added the city would seek private partners for ailing ATAC, sparking transportation strikes that added to the already incandescent climate in Rome in which work-to-rule actions by subway drivers caused thousands of irate commuters to get trapped in underground tube stations during a ferocious heat wave that lasted most of the summer.

In November 2014, as the Rome mafia scandal rocked the capital, the mayor came under fire for unpaid traffic fines.

Eight 80-euro fines were slapped on Marino’s car after he allegedly forgot to renew a permit. The mayor defended himself by saying someone deleted from the system his authorization to drive his red Fiat Panda to work while his permit was being renewed. The incident came to light after opposition New Centre Right (NCD) Senator Andrea Augelio accused authorities of “freezing” the fines as a favor to the center-left mayor, who incensed many by extending pedestrian zones in Rome’s historic center and removing free parking spots. Marino also incurred the wrath of the right by taking strong stands in favor of gay marriage and the integration of immigrants.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Seize Assets Worth 2mn From Corruption Suspects

Former Milan city manager, three others nabbed yesterday

(ANSA) — Milan, September 30 — Finance police on Wednesday seized 32 gold bars worth over half a million euros, 19 luxury watches and over 120 pieces of gold jewelry from a former city manager and two city employees who were arrested yesterday on corruption charges.

The seized assets were worth some two million euros, police said.

Former city manager Luigi Mario Grillone, city public housing employees Giuseppe Amoroso and Angelo Russo, and developer Marco Volpi were arrested on charges of taking bribes and kickbacks from 2005 to 2012. The investigation began when developer Giuseppe Squillacioti reported Grillone to police.

Prosecutors say Grillone demanded Squillacioti pay his mother 5,000 euros a month, that he hire his architect brother and provide him with a car, a laptop, and a cell phone, and that he renovate Grillone’s and his mother’s homes, among other hefty favors.

As well, Squillacioti allegedly paid Grillone 50,000 euros to buy a boat worth 450,000.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Max Biaggi Indicted for Alleged 18 Mn Tax Evasion

Trial set for September 2016

(ANSA) — Rome, October 7 — Former motorcycling world champion Max Biaggi was sent to trial in Rome on Wednesday for alleged tax evasion of 18 million euros. The trial is set to start on September 15, 2016. Biaggi won the 250cc class world title four-times between 1994 and 1997, and took the superbike world championship in 2010 and 2012. The retired 44-year-old was also runner-up in the premium class in 1998, 2001 and 2002.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Beats France to Top Global Wine Production in 2015

Italian producers harvest equivalent of 48.8 million hectolitres

(ANSA) — Brussels, October 7 — Italy has outstripped France to become the world’s biggest producer of wine in 2015 according to European Commission estimates released on Wednesday.

This year Italian vintners harvested the equivalent of 48.8 million hectolitres of wine, up 13% over 2014.

By contrast their French rivals — who last year were in pole position — harvested the equivalent of 46.45 million hectolitres, down 1% on 2014.

The variation was due to more favourable weather conditions in Italy this year. Spain came in third place at 36.6 million hectolitres, down 5% on last year.

Germany and Portugal followed in fourth and fifth place with 8.788 million and 6.703 million hectolitres respectively.

Overall EU member countries harvested the equivalent of 163.8 million hectolitres. The figures are based on estimates sent the 28 EU member states to the Commission.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: De Blasio Says Inspired by Marino

One day after Rome mayor steps down

(see related)(ANSA) — Rome, October 9 — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday resigning Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino “is one of the Italian leaders who inspired me”.

The Democrat spoke at a Metropolitan Museum event on Italian heritage, one day after his Italian counterpart and friend stepped down under intense pressure from his own Democratic Party (PD).

De Blasio also cited Florence Mayor Dario Nardella and Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris as sources of inspiration.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Will Double International Development Budget in 4 Yrs Says Gentiloni

From 0.17% of GDP to 0.30%

(ANSA) — Rome, October 5 — Italy aims to almost double its development aid budget from 0.17% of GDP to 0.30% of GDP over the next four years, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Monday.

This goal will be put into the 2016 budget bill, now being finalised, he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Living in a Steel Box: Are Shipping Containers Really the Future of Housing?

It takes time to adjust to living inside a steel box. Timothy Ader did not, initially, like the idea of staying at Wenckehof, a student village in Amsterdam made up of 1,000 recycled shipping containers. But three years after moving in, he has no regrets.

“My first impression of the containers was, ‘It’s ghetto stuff — I’m not living there,’“ recalls the 24-year-old. “But I started visiting a friend of mine living here and started to like the place. Then I moved in and I realised how good it was. I’m really comfortable in my container and I have a lot of space of my own. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world right now.”

The Wenckehof, completed back in 2006 and formerly known as Keetwonen, remains the largest development of its kind anywhere in the world. Although it was built as a temporary housing experiment, it proved so popular with students it was given permanent status by the Amsterdam authorities in 2011. And its success has intrigued architects and housing organisations looking for low-cost solutions to housing shortages in cities around the world.

In Berlin, repurposed shipping containers have been used for student accommodation, and, more recently, to house asylum seekers. […]

There remains the larger question about who, ideally, shipping container homes are supposed to be for. If projects continue to be pitched as emergency or temporary fixes, are shipping containers destined to be housing for the poor?

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Romania: In Summer 5% Jump in Arrivals From Italy

In the first 6 months, more than 140,000 visitors

(ANSA) — ROME — The number of Italian visitors to Romania is growing. According to Romanian Tourist Board, the country has recorded more than 140,000 visitors from Italy in the first half of 2015. The first data regarding the summer season show an increase by over 5%, compared to the same period last year.

“These data are very important — the Board says -, on this basis, Italy’s ranked second in the ranking of foreign markets that generate flows of tourists to Romania”. Among the main areas of interest: the medieval Transylvania, the painted monasteries in Bucovina, the region of Maramures and natural heritage. In 2015, “ a change in the behavior of the Italian tourism was recorded, with arrivals in spring, and in early and late summer”. According to official data, Romania is ranked among the top five European countries selected by the Italians for their winter holidays.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Some 100,000 Protest in Berlin Against EU-US Free Trade Deal

The number of people protesting Saturday in Berlin against the European Union’s controversial free trade pact with the United States has risen to about 100,000, local police reported.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — The protest targets the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which seeks to liberalize trade between the United States and the European Union.

The rally kicked off at 10 a.m. local time (8:00 GMT), organized by a broad coalition of 16 civil rights groups, trade unions and environmental organizations, such as the German Trade Union Confederation, Oxfam and Greenpeace.

“Currently, about 100,000 people participate in the demonstration. There have been no incidents during the protest,” a German police spokesman told RIA Novosti.

The rally is patrolled by some 1,000 policemen and several helicopters, according to the German law enforcement.

Opponents argue that the proposed deal will water down standards and regulations on environmental protection, health and safety, and workers’ rights.

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

Thousands Take to Berlin to Protest EU-US TTIP Accord

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets to demonstrate against a free-trade agreement between the EU and the US. TTIP, activists fear, would erode labor and environmental standards. Naomi Conrad reports from Berlin.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘To Hell With Their Culture’ — Richard Dawkins in Extraordinary Blast at Muslims

The British scientist was appearing on a live TV chat show in the United States when he blasted “to hell with their culture” when referring to some practices in Islam, such as women being made to wear burkhas.

The 74-year-old said: “There’s this notion Islam and Muslims are this protected species. That if we talk about them at all or criticise at all, it’s somehow hurting or humiliating Muslims. It’s a ridiculous idea.”

Dawkins went on to say Islam had a “free pass” because of the “terror of being thought racist” if the religion is criticised. He added: “It’s confused with racism. An incredible number of people think Islam is a race. And so they think if you criticise Islam you’re being racist.”

Social media erupted over the conversation, with some criticising the strong use of language against Muslims.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Bin Laden Company Launches Moroccan Organic Product Line

Osama’s brother selling Argan oil and dates

(ANSAmed) — RABAT, OCTOBER 9 — Osama bin Laden’s other brother has launched a new company in Morocco selling organic products such as dates, olives, citrus fruit, chili peppers, Argan oil and cacti honey. Tarek Mohammed Bin Laden is the founder of Fair Business Company, a fair trade enterprise for Moroccan products that was launched after a plan for a gigantic Casablanca tower failed to materialize. Universal Business Invest, a holding company of the Saudi billionaire, was founded in 2014 to manage investments in Morocco and has made a splash on the market with its luxury brand Moroccan Legacy. Fair Business Company is promoting about 300 products at the international level, selling through large distribution networks as well in airports and railway stations and online. Shortly after its debut on the market, it won the Best Investor Prize at the International Agriculture Show this year.

It now plans to branch out into the Russian, US and Chinese markets, as well as Middle Eastern ones.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisian Constitution ‘Balance Between Europe and Islam’

One of its drafters discusses ‘free thought’ in Naples

(ANSAmed) — NAPLES, OCTOBER 9 — The politician, academic and lawyer Fadhel Moussa, who was involved in drafting the Tunisian constitution, spoke on Thursday evening in Italy about the country’s charter. He was also one of the protagonists of the Tunisian national dialogue, a coalition of civil society organizations that won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Moussa, member of the Constituent Assembly and representative of the Modern Democratic group, was speaking at a Naples roundtable discussion entitled ‘Freedom of Thought in European and Arab Constitutionalism’, part of a number of days focusing on the theme ‘On Free Thought’.

He noted that it had been necessary to find “a balance between the part of society connected with the Islamist movement and the part that we could call closer to European models”. Moussa stressed the importance of Article 6 in the constitution, which “met the need to valorize and protect the importance of the sacred within Tunisian society, requiring the state to protect it. It also expressly prohibited other forms of manifestation of the importance of the sacred in social life, such as being sentenced for apostasy, a religious condemnation that could have serious effects at the civil level and could compromise people’s safety. The Tunisian constitution, as concerns everything related to the issue of freedom of religion, is the result of an attempt to reach a compromise between contrasting pressures within Tunisian society.” One of the aspects that makes Tunisia truly a new country after the Arab Spring lies therefore in the fact that “the central issue of freedom of religion has been dealt with starting from the assumption that religion is a right that can be practiced not by the state as a moral, juridical person, but as individuals,” Moussa said. The ‘On Free Thought’ initiative was organized by the Naples culture and tourism councillor’s office alongside Fondazione Premio Napoli. Discussion was also held on Middle Eastern issues including the situation in Iraq. Among the speakers was La Stampa correspondent Domenico Quirico, who was held by Islamic fundamentalists for five months in Syria.

“I got to know these men from up close,” he said. “I spoke to them about God, the only conversation subject with them. They believe they are true Muslims. These fighters come from very different experiences: from a doctor with a British passport to a Tuareg smuggler, from a former drug dealer to a theologian.

Obama is making a mistake when he says they are outside the third millennium; I instead believe they are at the heart of it.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Jerusalem Attacks: Israelis Hurt in Two Palestinian Stabbings

There have been two stabbing attacks by Palestinians in Jerusalem, with Israeli police shooting the attackers dead, Israeli officials said.

Two policemen were stabbed near Damascus gate on Saturday afternoon local time. A teenager stabbed two Israelis nearby earlier in the day.

Overnight, a rocket fired by Gaza Strip militants landed in open country in southern Israel.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Palestinians Stab Israelis in Two Separate Jerusalem Attacks

Several Palestinians carried out two stabbing attacks in Jerusalem on Saturday before being shot dead by police, the latest in a series of assaults against civilians and soldiers in Israel and the West Bank.

Recent days have seen a series of attacks by young Palestinians wielding household items like kitchen knives, screwdrivers and even a vegetable peeler. The youths had no known links to armed groups and have targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians at random, complicating efforts to predict or prevent the attacks.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Palestinians Stab Israelis in 2 Jerusalem Attacks

Palestinians carried out two stabbing attacks in Jerusalem on Saturday before being shot dead by police, while another two Palestinians were killed during a violent demonstration near the Gaza border fence, as a weeklong bout of violence showed no signs of slowing.

Jerusalem has seen a wave of stabbing attacks linked to tensions over a sensitive holy site in the Old City that is sacred to Jews and Muslims. In recent days the attacks by Palestinian assailants have spread to the rest of Israel, while violent protests have erupted in the West Bank and along the Gaza border, where seven Palestinians were killed on Friday. The violence has unnerved a jittery Israel, and prompted the U.S. on Saturday to issue a fresh call for restraint by all sides.

In the first stabbing on Saturday, a 16-year-old Arab attacked two Israelis who were walking from the Old City toward the city center, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Police opened fire, killing the attacker.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Third Phase Miadit Carabinieri Mission Starts

General consul La Cecilia, Italian engagement in Palestine

– JERUSALEM — The third phase of a mission to support Palestinian security forces (Miadit) by the Italian Carabinieri police was inaugurated today at the training center in Jericho, West Bank. The mission is reportedly aimed at strengthening Palestinian capacity in the field of security with a 12-week training course for 180 officers of the Presidential Guard, for the forces of national security, Palestinian civil police in the implementation of the law, investigative and police techniques, the protection of cultural heritage, including tourist police courses. Moreover, 25 Palestinian officers from previous courses were selected for another two weeks of training at a Centre of excellence for police stability units (Coespu) in Vicenza for ‘training for trainers’. The Italian general consul in Jerusalem Davide La Cecilia attended the ceremony with the mission’s commander, Carabinieri Colonel Marco Di Stefano, the commander of the Commission in charge of training of Palestinian security forces, Youssef Al Halo, and Jericho governor Majed Fityani. He recalled that the Carabinieri police, “which represents the founding ideals of the Italian nation, has always ensured through its missions of peace keeping and capacity building, important contributions in several critical scenarios of the Middle East”. La Cecilia then stressed that Italy is engaged in several initiatives in this sector “so as to strengthen Palestinian institutions with the objective of establishing an independent, sovereign and democratic Palestinian state that lives in peace and security besides Israel through a peace agreement”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Unrest Worsens in Israel as Death Toll Rises and Further Attacks Hit Jerusalem

Israeli security forces have killed two Palestinian youths along Gaza’s border fence, as the conflict threatens to escalate. Israeli police have also shot dead three further Palestinian assailants in Jerusalem.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ankara Explosions Leave Almost 100 Dead — Officials

Two explosions at a peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara have killed at least 95 people and injured 245, according to officials.

TV footage showed scenes of panic and people lying on the ground covered in blood, amid protest banners.

The blasts took place near the city’s central train station as people gathered for a march organised by leftist groups.

The attack is the deadliest ever of its kind on Turkish soil.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

British Ex-Guantanamo Bay Detainee ‘Joins Islamic State in Syria’

BRITISH ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee has apparently travelled to join Islamic State (ISIS) extremists in Syria.

Muslim convert Jamal al Harith was freed from the US detention centre in Cuba in 2004 after the Government lobbied for his release.

But the 48-year-old is said to have joined ISIS fighters in Syria 18 months ago, according to Channel 4 News.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Dissent — Not Solidarity — Follows Bloodbath in Ankara

The bomb blasts in Ankara have exacerbated the political tensions in Turkey. The first accusations were made very soon after the attack.

Only a few minutes after the two explosions that had taken place seconds apart from each other, the first tensions between police and demonstrators were felt. Several demonstrators attacked a police car because they were certain that the state was involved in the attack.

Critics accuse Erdogan of having intentionally incited the conflict between the state and PKK since the summer in order to win over the conservative electorate for the Justice and Development Party. And pro-government journalist Fatih Tezcan has attributed the bloodbath in Ankara to the HDP. He believes that the party wants to win the sympathy vote.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dozens Killed in Blast Near Train Station in Ankara

(CNN)Two powerful bombs exploded near the main train station in Ankara on Saturday morning, targeting a peace rally and causing carnage, killing at least 86 people and injuring 186 others in the deadliest attack in the Turkish capital in recent memory.

The explosion, which caused chaos and bloodshed, took place during a peace march involving, among others, the pro-Kurdish HDP, or People’s Democratic Party.

The casualties, reported by the interior ministry, consisted primarily of people gathered outside the main train station to attend a lunchtime demonstration to call for an end to the renewed conflict between the Kurdish PKK organization and the Turkish government.

About 14,000 people were in the area. Two suicide bombers are believed to have caused the blasts, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a televised address to the nation.

The attack came before national elections scheduled for November 1.

A video on social media showed a ring of young people dancing and singing before an orange blast erupted in the background.

Following the attack, for which no group has claimed responsibility, bodies lay in front of the station on Hipodrum Street and paramedics tended to the injured as a police helicopter circled overhead.

Video showed bodies strewn on sidewalks, with injured people lying on the ground with bystanders trying desperately to help them.

Protest banners and flags littered the ground. Members of the public helped carry the injured to ambulances and buses to take them to hospital.

The blasts were so powerful they shook high-rise office buildings at some distance. The death toll is expected to climb…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Former Guantanamo Inmate Has Left UK to Join Islamic State

Jamal Udeen Al-Harith, a former Guantanamo inmate from Manchester, has allegedly being able to leave Britain and join Islamic State (IS) in Syria without security services stopping him.

The former Guantanamo inmate is believed to have left for Syria over a year ago, reports the Telegraph. He is one of four men who had been held in Guantanamo Bay detention camp and released in 2004. David Blunkett, then Home Secretary in Tony Blair’s government, said: “No one who is returned…will actually be a threat to the security of the British people.”

The Muslim convert changed his name from Ronald Fiddler in the 1990s, reports Channel 4. Weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Mr Al-Harith travelled to Quetta, in Pakistan, for what he says was a religious holiday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gulf Arabs ‘Stepping Up’ Arms Supplies to Syrian Rebels

Saudi Arabia is responding to the recent Russian air strikes on Syrian rebels by stepping up its supplies of lethal weaponry to three different rebel groups, a Saudi government official has told the BBC.

The well-placed official, who asked not to be named, said supplies of modern, high-powered weaponry including guided anti-tank weapons would be increased to the Arab- and western-backed rebel groups fighting the forces of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies.

He said those groups being supplied did not include either Islamic State (IS) or al-Nusra Front, both of which are proscribed terrorist organisations. Instead, he said the weapons would go to three rebel alliances — Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Southern Front.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIL Threatens to Execute 180 Assyrian Christians

Members of the ISIL terrorist group threatened to execute 180 Assyrian Christians abducted in Syria in late February, Russian media reported on Saturday.

“They demand a ransom of 12 million dollars for the lives of our men,” a representative of the Assyrian community told RIA Novosti news agency.

On Thursday several Arabic-language TV channels showed an ISIL-released video showing three Assyrian men dressed in orange jumpsuits before they were shot dead.

One of the men said ISIL would begin executing the other prisoners if the militants’ demands were not met.

The men were captured in February when ISIL overran a series of Assyrian settlements in northeastern Syria.

The Assyrian church leaders in Syria and Lebanon have appealed to the Assyrian diasporas abroad and representatives of international organizations to help save the lives of the Christian hostages.

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

Qaeda in Yemen Claims Killing of ‘Sorcerers’

Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed on Saturday to have killed four men suspected of practising witchcraft and sorcery in an area controlled by the jihadists.

Residents of Mayfaa town in the southeastern province of Hadramawt said Al-Qaeda militants had distributed a pamphlet naming the four men.

It did not say when the killings were carried out, but a neighbour of one of the victims told AFP that he had been missing for days.

“We have implemented Allah’s ruling against them, which is the death sentence,” said the flier that was also posted on walls in the area…

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

Thousands Protest in Turkey After Deadly Suicide Bombings

Thousands of citizens have protested on the streets of Ankara against the bombings that killed at least 95 people and left 246 wounded. Some protesters carried placards with the words, “The state is a killer.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Peace Rally Protesters Dancing Moments Before Deadly Bombings in Ankara

Twin simultaneous bombings ripped through a crowd of opposition supporters and Kurdish activists at an Ankara peace rally today killing 97, maiming and injuring over 246. The bombings occurred just a few weeks before a snap election scheduled for November 1st. There is suspicion that the Turkish President couldn’t have wished for a more timely mishap. It comes before an election he called to try and eliminate the Kurdish minority HDP party and return his AKP party to its previous super majority. You may recall the Suruc bombing in July that killed 33 socialist youths affiliated with the HDP that kick started the PKK uprising in southeastern Turkey. That was used as a pretext for Erdogan’s subsequent counter terrorism campaign and air assault on both Syrian Kurdish YPG and PKK bastions in northern Iraq. The better to condition the US request for Turkish clearance of the use of Incirlik air base for the flagging air assault campaign against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. It is not without coincidence that he PKK today called for a temporary truce before the looming election. The conventional wisdom is, as in the Suruc case , that it was possibly the work of ISIS. However, there may have been other Islamist contenders for this latest terrorist spectacle in Turkey. Recall that the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, the IHH, an ally of the AKP regime, supplied funds and weapons to opposition Islamist groups in Syria…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish PM Says Deadly Attacks Likely Were Suicide Bombings

ANKARA, Turkey — Nearly simultaneous explosions targeted a Turkish peace rally Saturday in Ankara, killing at least 95 people and wounding hundreds in Turkey’s deadliest attack in years — one that threatens to inflame the nation’s ethnic tensions.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said there were “strong signs” that the two explosions — which struck 50 meters (yards) apart just after 10 a.m. — were suicide bombings. He suggested that Kurdish rebels or Islamic State group militants were to blame.

The two explosions occurred seconds apart outside the capital’s main train station as hundreds of opposition supporters and Kurdish activists gathered for the peace rally organized by Turkey’s public workers’ union and other groups.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Money-Losing Business: West Loses Faith in ‘Project Ukraine’

Eighteen months after the Maidan “revolution” in Ukraine, the West is getting increasingly worried by the rampant corruption in Kiev’s corridors of power and the price it has to pay for the money-hungry Ukrainian bureaucracy.

Bloomberg Business took interest in the foreign bank accounts of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and, with some help from its sources at the US Treasury Department in Washington, found out that the main transactions there coincided with the arrival of new loan installments provided to Ukraine by the IMF and other international donors.

The sums arriving at the Premier’s bank accounts were in stark contrast with his monthly salary of just $200.

Ukraine’s Western sponsors also want to know the whereabouts of the $150 million earmarked for the construction of the so-called “European Rampart” or “The Wall” along the Ukrainian-Russian border.

All Mr. Yatsenyuk could serve up were just 200 meters of barbed wire on concrete posts…

Arseniy Yatsenyuk is not the only one suspect in the hard-hitting corruption scandal.

Boris Lozhkin, a presidential deputy chief of staff, has found himself in the midst of a corruption investigation being conducted by Austrian police, and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is suspected of stealing tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.

The information to this effect was published by Serhiy Leshchenko, a Verhovna Rada deputy who many say is also in the employ of the US embassy in Kiev.

This means that the incriminating information was made public with the full knowledge of US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt…

Speaking at a financial forum in Odessa, Mr. Pyatt described the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office as a pillar of Ukrainian corruption.

With the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin being a longtime friend of President Petro Poroshenko and reporting directly to him, Ukraine’s Western sponsors apparently believe that the government, the presidential administration and the MPs are all parts of a single corrupt whole and that pumping more money into such a regime simply makes no sense.

And that its end may not be too far off now…

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

Nepal on the Brink of Civil War as India’s Embargo Unleashes Hatred Against Modi

Members of the Madhese community have attacked and robbed Nepalis and Indians trying to cross the border for the Hindu festival of Dashain. The minority is retaliating for the government’s failure to meet its constitutional demands. Modi is ridiculed in a prayer at Nepal’s most important Hindu temple. Bomb explodes in the Buddha’s birthplace, without victims. An ambulance is set on fire.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Nepal’s Madhese minority, which lives in the Morang district of the southern region of Terai, has turned against outsiders to protest an unofficial Indian embargo on its imports to Nepal.

As a result of weeks of trade blockade, including basic items, many Madhese have begun using homemade weapons to attack and rob those who cross the Indian border.

At the same time, anti-Indian hatred is mounting, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scorned in a mock prayer in Nepal’s foremost Hindu temple.

Since Nepal’s first secular and democratic constitution was approved, India has imposed an unofficial embargo. Few lorries are allowed to cross the border.

According to local security forces deployed along the border areas to restore order because of the violent protests by minority groups, the Madhese are attacking Nepalis living in mountain areas and in the Himalayan region out of revenge against the government’s failure to meet their constitutional demands.

“People are using the no man’s land between the two countries to carry out their attacks,” said Constable Naresh in Birgunj, Parsa district, on the border with the Indian state of Bihar.

“Many Indians have tried to enter Nepal to celebrate Dashain (the biggest Hindu festival), but were beaten and robbed. We cannot do anything because it is not Nepali territory, whilst Indian police just stands and watch.”

The worst part, he added, “is that they are unleashing sectarian violence, since they only attack those who do not belong to the Madhese community.”

In addition to physical violence, members of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (United Madhese Democratic Front), an alliance of four Madhesi parties, set fire to an ambulance in Bardibas, Mahottari district.

On Thursday, a homemade bomb exploded near Lumbini, Buddha’s birthplace, without causing any casualties. The perpetrators of the act are still unknown.

Meanwhile, the embargo is whipping up hatred against Modi, who has been blamed for the initiative.

Some famous Nepali artists and officials staged a parody of the Indian prime minister, mocked with a prayer entitled “Chhyama Puja” (“forgiveness from sins,” which usually involves asking the intercession of the gods).

Many people, including comedians and the former government deputy secretary, attended the event, which has taken on a particular significance since it was held at the Pashupatinath Temple, the most famous Hindu temple in the country, where Modi prayed during his 2014 visit. The stated objective of parody was to “absolve him of the sins he committed by imposing a trade embargo on Nepal.”

In view of the situation, the US State Department issued an advisory for US citizens travelling to Nepal, warning that “Peaceful demonstrations can become violent. [. . .] Various commodities, including fuel, have become scarce because of a marked reduction of importation. [. . .] This shortage could disrupt public transportation around Nepal. Food, along with the provision of normal goods and services, might also be affected.”

Two Chinese airlines — China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines — have also suspended flights to Kathmandu for lack of fuel.

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

Pentagon to Make ‘Condolence Payments’ To Victims of Kunduz Bombing

The Pentagon announced on Saturday it would make payments in compensation for those killed and injured by US airstrikes on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.

The group, known by its French acronym MSF, has demanded an independent international investigation.

It says 33 people are still missing after the October 3 attack, in addition to 12 MSF staff and 10 patients already confirmed dead.

“The Department of Defence believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement, adding that US Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) also has the authority to pay for repairs to the hospital.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Starts Operating 2 Lighthouses on Disputed South China Sea Reefs

China has started to operate two lighthouses on a reef on a disputed island chain in the South China Sea, a state news agency reported, amid rising concerns among the U.S. and China’s neighbors about Beijing’s maritime intentions.

The Spratlys, mostly barren islands, reefs and atolls that are believed to be atop oil and natural gas deposits, straddle one of the world’s busiest sea lanes. They are also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.

Tensions have been brewing between Washington and Beijing about China’s claim to virtually all of the South China Sea.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hong Kong Post Boxes to Lose Royal British Insignia

Plans by the Hong Kong post office to cover up British royal insignia on historic mail boxes have sparked a backlash from conservation campaigners and accusations of a push to erase the city’s colonial past.

A crown and cypher — a monogram of the British monarch at the time — features on 59 post boxes around the city, mostly the insignia of Queen Elizabeth II.

But Hongkong Post described them as “inappropriate” in a city which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997…

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

Suspected Boko Haram Suicide Attacks Strike Chad

Five suicide bombers killed 33 people in Chad and wounded 51 more in a coordinated attack suspected to be the work of the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a local government official said.

Witnesses reported multiple blasts that appeared to target the market in Baga Sola, directly across Lake Chad from Nigeria, and a camp housing refugees who have fled from Boko Haram.

The group have proclaimed an emirate in northeastern Nigeria, enforcing a brutal interpretation of Islamic law, and also pushed into neighbouring countries.

Dimoya Souapebe, the sub-prefect in the town, and a hospital source both confirmed the casualty figures…

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

Three Bombs Planted by Boko Haram Islamic Group in Baga Sola, Chad

THREE explosions have killed 37 people in a city in the Central African Republic of Chad, in the latest atrocity blamed on the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram.

Another 52 people were reportedly wounded in the attacks that struck on Saturday afternoon, one targeting the fish market at Baga Sola and the other two occurring at a refugee camp on the outskirts of the city, which is on the shores of Lake Chad.

           — Hat tip: Nilk [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Emergency Shelters Hit by New Setback: Freezing Temperatures

Warm clothes donated by Finland’s residents have been taken into use in recent days throughout the country’s asylum seeker reception centres and emergency shelters, as temperatures have begun to dip below freezing even in the south. In some locations, there is still a shortage of warm men’s clothing and shoes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany’s Far-Right Rises Amid Refugee Wave

Almost declared dead only months ago, Germany’s populist far-right is seeking a comeback amid a record wave of asylum-seekers, hoping to anchor itself in mainstream politics.

As Chancellor Angela Merkel has opened the doors to unprecedented numbers of refugees, she initially earned popular support but also quickly faced xenophobic hecklers who angrily branded her a “traitor” and worse.

Anti-foreigner fury has flared most visibly at rallies of the resurgent PEGIDA movement, short for “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident.”

“Merkel is guilty, commits ethnocide against the German people,” read a banner at last week’s protest in Dresden, Saxony state, in the former communist East where PEGIDA emerged one year ago next week.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Populist Far-Right Gains Amid Refugee Wave

Almost declared dead only months ago, Germany’s populist far-right is seeking a comeback amid a record wave of asylum-seekers, hoping to anchor itself in mainstream politics.

As Chancellor Angela Merkel has opened the doors to unprecedented numbers of refugees, she initially earned popular support but also quickly faced xenophobic hecklers who angrily branded her a “traitor” and worse.

Anti-foreigner fury has flared most visibly at rallies of the resurgent PEGIDA movement, short for “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident”.

“Merkel is guilty, commits ethnocide against the German people,” read a banner at last week’s protest in Dresden, Saxony state, in the former communist East where PEGIDA emerged one year ago next week…

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

Greece: Islands See Surge in Refugee Arrivals

The number of refugees arriving on Greek islands has risen from 4,500 a day in late September to 7,000 over the past week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday, as a toddler was found dead off the coast of Lesvos in the eastern Aegean.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘I Will Never Force My Eurowife to Put on Scarf’ — Afghani Refugee

The connection between the Taliban and Europe, an Afghani’s attitude to marrying a European girl and the religion of ISIL tormenters — all good food for thought in this interview.

Vasily Raksha — Twenty-two year-old Muhammad Akbar had to flee his homeland Afghanistan because of Taliban violence that had been chasing him since childhood. His father studied in Moscow and worked for the Afghani government. When Muhammad was only four, Taliban militants killed his father just because of his job.

He spent only six years at school and started working as a cell phone salesman because he was the sole child in the family and had to support his mother.

As the situation grew more and more dangerous, Muhammad and his mother moved to Pakistan and then to the Netherlands, from where he was deported and has spent five months in a refugee camp near the Hungarian village of Vámosszabadi in the country’s north-west.

“I am worried about my mother. The Dutch government gave her a house but she doesn’t speak the language and she is 50, she is alone there and has a lot of problems, she can’t even go shopping or read.”

Muhammad dreams about rejoining with his mother in the Netherlands.

“I would like to work there as a car engineer, I love this work”.

Ninety Percent of Migrants are Refugees Saving Their Lives

Once a day a bus transfers asylum-seekers from the camp to the neighboring town of Gyor to enliven them. Some go shopping, some meet with friends.

The camp offers practically no entertainment, but for a single TV-set for all, the guy said. Nor does it offer jobs. As we are walking through the streets heading to a McDonald’s in the town center for a cup of coffee, Muhammad loudly complains about the hostile attitude of locals toward migrants, and passers-by meet us with cold looks.

“Yes, I’m a Muslim. I was born that way. Is it my guilt? First of all I am a human.”

He said that Hungarians often discriminate refugees when they learn about their religion, origin and inability to speak Hungarian or English.

“They treat us like animals. They simply stop talking to us when they learn who we are.”

Muhammad stood against an opinion that the majority of incomers are actually stowaways seeking easy money in flourishing EU countries, infiltrating under the guise of refugees.

“We all want to go home. I love Afghanistan and I will go there as soon as the war ends. No one wants to stay in Europe. Would you want to abandon your family and go so far? No! Yes, there might be some 10 percent of those who may commit crimes, come for sex and drugs. But 90 percent are saving their lives! I would have never come here.”

Love is More Important Than Wearing Hijab

The young man underscored that a clash of civilizations, something that Europeans fear, is not imminent. He is single and has no kids, so a wedding in Europe may become his personal experience of interaction between cultures.

“If I marry a European girl, I will do it in the Muslim way, and she should follow. But if we really love each other but she does not want to convert to Islam, I will not push her. I will neither force her to wear a scarf. If we love each other, we can resolve it. Everyone is free. And everyone has his own life.”

The One-Way Choice ‘Offered’ by Taliban

Muhammad elaborated that the Taliban poses the deadliest risk for Afghanistan and forces people to make a risky decision.

“If you work with the Taliban, then you get problems with the police and government. But if you don’t, then you have problems with the Taliban.”

Entering the McDonald’s, Muhammad invites us to be his guests and wants to pay for us, though just four minutes ago he was grumbling over a ‘pitiful’ hundred euros allotted for food plus 20 euros given as pocket money for a month. We kindly take over the initiative noticing that Muhammad feels a bit embarrassed: an Afghani host should treat his guests disregarding his own poverty, a tradition says.

ISIL Has Nothing to Do With Islam

The refugee slammed ISIL for unjustifiable atrocities: those who commit them cannot be Muslims.

“They are killing everyone, they are killing children,” Muhammad said with a frightful disgust. “A kid is going to school, a kid is playing. He does not understand anything. What did a kid do to them [ISIL terrorists] so that they kill him? Our holy book Quran prohibits a Muslim to kill another Muslim and states that all Muslims are brothers. In my opinion, those who kill humans cannot be Muslims.”

He thanked Russia for doing the right thing of defeating ISIL.

“If not Russia, someone else has to do it”.

Muhammad has a compassionate heart. Some 25 days ago, when migrant crowds were rushing across Hungary, he helped them do it by preventing accidents, using his good command of English and five Asian languages.

“I love helping people.”

Several Hungarian young men took their seats at a table nearby, with one of them having huge tunnels in his ears — something that might seem a culture shock for a man brought up in the Muslim culture, some may suggest. But Muhammad said that everyone was free to choose their way of life and fashion.

At the end of our meeting Muhammad took his iPhone 4 and showed us a picture of himself — with a trendy haircut and trimmed mustache, all in accordance with the latest fashion, and a ring piercing through his right eyebrow. We could never recognize him on this photo that would well suit a glossy magazine for hipsters.

“You see, I play the guitar a little bit. I used to be a trendy guy, but then I felt depressed because of all of this… But now my heart feels warmer,” he said with a smile and put his hand on his chest.

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

Mussie Zerai: Eritrean Priest Who Saves Migrants by Phone

For years they have been ringing his mobile for help, from the Sinai desert to the Mediterranean. Now this Eritrean priest, himself a former refugee, is a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work saving migrants.

A small man with greying temples, Mussei Zerai wears a simple metal cross over his light blue t-shirt as he describes his own escape from his homeland and his drive to help others whose lives are in danger.

Founder of the humanitarian organisation “Habeshia” which aids those fleeing war and persecution, Zerai moves between the Vatican and Switzerland, where he offers support to mainly Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholics seeking shelter.

Born in 1955, Zerai left a war-torn Eritrea when he was 14, escaping a dictatorship for Italy, where he hoped to join his father. But by the time he got there, his father had left for Nigeria, meaning the teenager was on his own…

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

Obama Slams Trump on Immigration

President Barack Obama used a campaign stop in Washington State on Friday to criticize the Republican presidential candidates on immigration policy and Donald Trump, specifically, for the way he talks about Latinos.

“How many folks here got a little Irish in them?” Obama asked. “There was a time they were talking about the Irish just like Mr. Trump is talking about Mexicans right now.

“How many Italians,” Obama continued. “They were talking about you, too.”

Referring to a proposal from the former reality television star to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to keep undocumented immigrants from entering the country on foot from Mexico, Obama said that America’s “greatness doesn’t come from walls, it comes from opportunity.”

The line appeared to sideswipe the Trump campaign’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“Why are all these Republicans so down on America?” Obama said. “Listening to them is really depressing and it doesn’t match up with the truth.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Officials Deny Talks of Germany-EU Solidarity Tax

Officials have dismissed a report saying that Berlin and Brussels want a new tax to help with the refugee crisis. The report had said the tax would have been a Europe-wide initiative.

German and EU officials denied the newspaper report on Saturday, insisting there was no interest in a European solidarity tax to assist with the ongoing refugee crisis.

“The fact remains: we don’t want tax increases in Germany or to introduce an EU tax,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

A European Commission spokesman also released a statement denying such a proposal existed.

Earlier on Saturday, a major German newspaper reported that discussions have been taking place between the government and EU authorities on creating a European solidarity tax to help carry the costs of the ongoing refugee crisis.

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, additional revenues from the tax, which could come in the form of a surcharge on petroleum or by raising sales tax, would go directly into the EU’s budget.

Some of that money would go to countries such as Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Greece, to help secure their open borders. Another portion of the money would go to countries that serve as popular destinations in order to provide for the refugees there. Finally, a portion of the money would go to the refugees’ countries of origin, in order improve living conditions there, the paper said.

Germany has pushed for a more pan-European approach to solving the refugee crisis, an attitude also supported by the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and some other member states.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Protesters, Police Clash at Refugee Homes in Germany

Police have been attacked by protesters at asylum seeker shelters in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg. The overnight unrest comes after reports of a massive increase in attacks on refugee homes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Refugee Crisis is a Boon to Vienna’s Far-Right Party

The Freedom Party is tapping into anxiety over the high number of migrants in Vienna. The far right has become a challenge to the Social Democrats, who have ruled Austria’s capital for decades, Alison Langley reports.

The refugee crisis that has overwhelmed Europe this year is loosening the Social Democratic Party’s 70-year grip on power in Vienna and bolstering the far-right Freedom Party as voters in the Austrian capital head to the polls Sunday.

The Social Democrats have won every election since World War II, and the city’s current mayor, Michael Häupl, has been in office since 1994. But while rising numbers of migrants from the Middle East arriving en masse may be speeding up the demise of Red Vienna, the party’s grip on the city has been loosening for years, with voters now frustrated over skyrocketing rents, rising unemployment, stagnant wages and a record municipal debt.

“City debt is higher than it’s ever been,” says Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party, as he ticks off the social ills plaguing Vienna. “Highest tax burden, highest unemployment and now the refugees. That is the result of 20 years of Häupl.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Minister: ‘Speed Up Deportations’

Forced deportations of asylum seekers who have been refused entry to Sweden must be intensified, Swedish minister for migration, Morgan Johansson, told Swedish Radio on Saturday.

An increasing proportion of refugees due to be deported from Sweden are instead disappearing. Last year Migrationsverket decided to expel more than 20,000 people. But the proportion of those leaving the country voluntarily after the expulsion order was reduced to 41%.

That left 11,112 set for police investigation Some of those were forcibly deported, but in most cases the refugees went underground.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Coventry Policeman Headbutted in Willenhall After Catching Drunk Man With His Trousers Down Round Knees Peering Through House Window

A Coventry police officer has been left with a permanent scar after he was headbutted by a drunk man he caught peering through a window.

But after already spending eight months on remand, attacker Philemon Kumani may escape an immediate jail sentence — subject to immigration issues being resolved.

Kumani, aged 28, formerly of Salcombe Close, Willenhall, Coventry, had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to maliciously wounding Pc Paul Whitehead in February.

Passing sentence, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano said: “He’s not a violent man, from what I’ve read and heard; he’s a man who needs help, and help with his alcohol problem.”

‘Do not release’

And commenting on the fact that Kumani had already been in custody for eight months, which is the equivalent of a 16-month sentence, she added: “He has already served most of any sentence I could impose.”

But the case was adjourned and Kumani was again remanded in custody after the court heard from a dock officer that his file had been marked: “Immigration issues. Do not release.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/10/2015

  1. Of concern also is the fact that AlQaeda has threatened the pope as I have documented in this post http://strategicintelligencefiles.blogspot.co.il/2015/10/AlShabaab-AMISOM-Forward-Operating-Base-Burundi-Ethiopia-Jihadists-Leego-Shabelle-Somalia-Long-War-Strategy-Ideology-Yoweri-Museveni-Kenya-Madaraka-CIA-Eid-al-Adha-Ummah-Osama-bin-Laden-AlQaeda-Islam-Prophet-Muhammad-Malakna-ISIS-ISIL.html.
    Nonetheless, there seems to be total apathy to the Islamist threat towards the Pontificate in African Nations; and I hope that the US, UK, Italy and the Vatican do not delegate the Pope security to African Security Personnel

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