Immigration police in Norway have raised the alarm about hundreds of “refugees” who were discovered to have ISIS flags, photos of severed heads, and other jihad paraphernalia on their mobile phones when they entered the country. Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says that the EU’s open-borders migration policy has made the continent look like a battlefield.
In other news, in the wake of last month’s terror attacks, Lombardy has banned the burka in schools and government buildings. Meanwhile, a Syrian national suspected of being a member of ISIS has been detained in Sicily.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, 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.
Bank of Italy Says it Asked for Ban on Subordinate Bonds
BoI doesn’t have power ‘to ban sale of this or that product’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 11 — Bank of Italy (BoI) Senior Deputy Governor Salvatore Rossi on Friday said the central bank called for a ban on the sale of subordinate bonds to private individuals, commenting in the wake of the government’s November decree to save four struggling banks in which a reported more than 100,000 account holders who had purchased such bonds lost money.
“The truth is that Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco, before all this came out, asked to prohibit the sale of subordinated bonds to bank branches, so that only institutional investors could buy them and not simple depositors,” Rossi said in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
“We can’t ban the sale of this or that product. We don’t have such ample powers. And I remind you that supervision of investor solicitation is the job of another authority,” Rossi said.
“I’d like to avoid the usual Italy-against-Europe game, but it’s undeniable that there was a difference of views between Italian authorities — the government first of all but also us — and Brussels, or rather the Directorate General and the competition (authority), and that is what pushed us to follow the now-criticised road that brought about the saving of Banca (Banca) Marche, CariFe, CariChieti and (Banca) Etruria,” Rossi said.
“The results of supervisory activity must be measured across the entire system. In these past seven years, first of financial crisis, then of sovereign debt and economic crisis, the number and size of bank crises in Italy have been a fraction of those in Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands”.
The subordinate bonds sold by the four banks — prompting one to commit suicide after losing his life savings — are regarded as high-risk financial products that should normally go to savvy institutional investors and not to inexperienced small savers looking for safe instruments to place their money in.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
December 14th to 18th: A Week of Reckoning for Global Stocks if the Fed Hikes Interest Rates?
Are we about to witness widespread panic in the global financial marketplace? This week is shaping up to be an absolutely critical week for global stocks. Coming into December, more than half of the 93 largest stock market indexes in the world were down more than 10 percent year to date, and last week stocks really started to slide all over the world. Here in the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 600 points over the past week or so, and at this point it is down more than 1000 points from the peak of the market. That brings us to this week, during which the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the very first time since the last financial crisis. If that happens, that could potentially be enough to accelerate this “slide” into a full-blown crash.
And just look at what is already happening. Trading for stocks in the Middle East has opened for the week, and we are already witnessing tremendous carnage…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Stays, Grexit Risk Not Over: EU
Greece cannot remove the IMF from its economic bailout, the head of the EU’s rescue fund said Sunday, adding that the possibility of a Greek eurozone exit remains if reforms are neglected.
“There has to be a financial contribution because the IMF, according to the ESM Treaty and to the agreement in the July summit, should be part of the programme also financially,” Klaus Regling, head of the European Stability Mechanism, told To Vima weekly.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last week argued that the global lender’s participation was “not necessary” in the country’s third bailout, highlighting the International Monetary Fund’s “unconstructive” position in demanding tough reforms and guarantees.
But Regling warned Sunday: “If the IMF decides not to participate it could be a big problem.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Arbitration for Stricken Investors ‘Excellent Idea’
Govt mulls easement measures
(ANSA) — Brussels, December 11 — Setting up an arbitration court to weigh the claims of investors left penniless after the rescue of four crisis-hit Italian banks is an excellent idea, EU sources said Friday as the Italian government weighs measures to help them out. Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariFe and CariChieti were rescued November 22. A bondholder in Banca Etruria who lost his savings killed himself November 28.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Save-Banks Decree ‘Victims’ Appeal to Renzi
Group denied permission to demonstrate at PM’s event
(ANSA) — Florence, December 11 — A group representing account holders who lost money as a result of a recent government decree to save four struggling banks on Friday appealed directly to Italian Premier Matteo Renzi to hear their concerns.
“We expect the premier to at least receive a delegation so he can hear the distress of many of us,” said Letizia Giorgianni, spokeswoman for the group ‘Victims of the Save-the-Banks’.
Florence police denied the group’s request to hold a demonstration in front of the Leopolda former train station in Florence on Sunday — the venue for Renzi’s annual three-day political brainstorming event — for security reasons, moving it to a nearby square instead.
The group said it wants to demonstrate “in the heart of Renzi’s Italy, right there where the Renzi idea of Italy and government originated”, and will move ahead with the demonstration in the approved location in Piazzale della Porta al Prato.
Thousands of shareholders and bondholders lost their savings after the November 22 rescue of Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariFe and CariChieti.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Camusso Denounces Lack of Post-2008 Financial Regulations
‘We continue to pay the consequences’ says trade union leader
(ANSA) — Perugia, December 11 — The leader of Italy’s biggest trade union, Susanna Camusso of CGIL, on Friday railed against a lack of regulations following the 2008 financial crisis.
“The promise that the world made to itself in 2008, that there would never again be toxic finance, derivatives, non-transparent and ungoverned finance, didn’t translate into regulations or constraints,” Camusso said, commenting on the plight of reportedly more than 100,000 bond holders who lost money as a result of a November government decree to save four struggling Italian banks.
One of the bondholders who lost his savings, Luigi D’Angelo, committed suicide.
“Today we’re continuing to pay the consequences of a world that financialized itself without rules”, said Camusso.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Inflation Drops to 0.1%, Deflation Hits 11 Cities
Annual rate down from 0.3% in October
(ANSA) — Rome, December 14 — Italy’s annual inflation rate for November was 0.1%, down from 0.3% in October, Istat said on Monday, confirming the figure given in its preliminary estimate.
It is the lowest level since May. The national statistics agency added that its consumer-price index in November was 0.4% lower than the previous month.
Eleven big Italian cities had negative annual inflation rates in November, Istat said. The city to experience deflation most was Bologna with a fall in prices of 0.7%. It was followed by Padua, Palermo, Catania, Perugia, Cagliari, Bari, Verona, Venice, Modena and Aosta. Low or negative inflation is seen as a threat to recovery prospects. The Italian economy as a whole endured periods of deflation both this year and in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Third Avenue Fallout to Decimate US Bond Market
The unraveling drama in the US junk bond market might greatly contribute to the economic slowdown anticipated as a side-effect of the US Federal Reserve’s rates increase, also undermining the credibility of bonds issuance as a tool to attract capital.
Kristian Rouz — Last week’s Wall Street anxiety over the freeze in payoffs and the subsequent closure of the Third Avenue credit fund is rapidly spreading to the entire market of the US commercial bonds, threatening to impair the investment in US energy projects, among other ventures, and to worsen the overall economic growth outlook.
As if the concerns over the US Federal Reserve’s coming rise in borrowing costs were not grave enough, investors are now expecting a massive decline in high yield bonds, with some 10% to 15% of the market evaporating due to capital withdrawals from the industry.
US bond investors are concerned with the opened prospect of them not getting their money back, while the US junk bond drama is unraveling on Wall Street.
Risky corporate bonds are on a selloff, while the struggling US companies, in particular those hit by the slump in energy prices and the ongoing appreciation of the US dollar, are losing their last source of investment capital.
The $788.5 bln-worth Third Avenue collapse might now trigger a domino effect in the US bond market that flourished since the end of financial crisis in 2009.
Another fund, Stone Lion Capital Partners, froze payoffs on their $400 bln debt holdings due to too many investors demanding their money at once. Yet another junk bond fund, the London-based Lucidus Capital Partners, founded in 2009, announced on Monday it would liquidate its assets next month.
“The risk is that this is going to cascade into something bigger,” Scott Minerd of the Santa Monica, CA-based Guggenheim Partners said. “If we’re going to see contagion, the most vulnerable funds are going to be the ones that are down significantly.”
So far, the US junk bond market has declined an average 2% at the close on Friday, according to the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF, the benchmark of the industry, with the likes of the $211 mln-worth AdvisorShares Peritus dropping 4.3% in the stock trading that day, and the ProShares Ultra, another junk bond fund, declining 5.8%.
Mutual funds allow their investors to deposit or withdraw money on a daily basis, while exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide an opportunity to increase or decrease investors’ portfolio during each day, resulting in a one-time massive investors’ rush to withdraw amidst the anxiety — a challenge many funds have proven unable to address.
The Third Avenue Focused credit Fund crashed on December 9 after its biggest investment project, the now-bankrupt Energy Future Holdings Corp., was proven to be too much of a toxic asset to handle.
“The real question is going to be how many hedge funds go bankrupt,” Jeffrey Gundlach, the Los Angeles-based money manager overseeing $80 bln worth of assets, said. “There’s never one cockroach. There’s never just one portfolio that’s mismarked.”
Tougher regulations imposed by the US authorities on capital investment in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis have rendered most US assets less liquid and increasingly volatile, which, coupled with the looming Fed hike in rates and a decline in returns from the once-booming US shale industry, all contributed to the fallout in high yield bonds.
Meanwhile, risk premiums on top-100 US high yield bond finds skyrocketed by 10% on Friday, signaling an unprecedentedly high volatility and a potential upcoming crash of the industry. However, investors are not buying into these assets any longer, fearing they would join the ranks of those who already cannot pull their capital invested in junk bonds.
The structural problem in the US credit market might eventually result in a massive blow to the credibility of the entire institution of corporate bond issuance. Many companies in the real economy find themselves stripped of cash and cut off of investment resources, meaning the junk bond downturn may add to the slowdown in GDP expansion, already expected as a consequence of the Fed hike in borrowing costs.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Author of Mandatory Meningitis Vaccine Bill Caught Taking $420K From Big Pharma
State Senator Kemp Hannon, the author of the recently passed law that will require all seventh and twelfth graders in the state to get meningitis shots, has been caught taking large bribes from pharmaceutical and health companies.
State Senator Kemp Hannon, Chair of the New York Senate Health Committee, and author of the recently passed law that will require all seventh and twelfth graders in the state to get meningitis shots, has been caught with his hand in the pot, according to the New York Daily News: specifically, the pharma pot. And to no small sum, mind you. His investments in pharmaceutical and health companies is at $100,000 while it is also being alleged that he has received more than $400,000 from the same interest groups. Hannon’s investments are a direct conflict of interest and he should be charged criminally. This is an act of using your position to influence and write laws for the sole result of personal gain.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat’s Squirrelly Gun-Control Argument
Ted Kennedy, the 47-year “Lion of the Senate,” per his own account on August 19, 2004, was put on an airline watch list. In this instance, he had to speak with a supervisor in order to get his initially refused boarding pass: “I got on the watch list last April. I was taking a plane to Boston and I get out to the USAIR and I come up to the counter and I said I want my ticket.” This is the reason Republicans reject no-fly lists as a basis to limit individual liberty: if a powerful guy like the senior senator from Massachusetts can be mistakenly placed on a secret government list, what hope is there for the rest of us?
To make matters worse, these hidden lists are reported to be up to 40% inaccurate. Therefore, should intrusive, faceless big government use Orwellian rosters to summarily strip American citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process, or the charge or conviction for any crime?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-POW Who Was Held in Afghanistan to Face US Court-Martial: Attorney
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who was held for five years by Taliban-linked insurgents after leaving his Afghan base in 2009, will face a court-martial, his attorney said Monday.
“The charges against Sergeant Bergdahl have today been referred for trial by a general court-martial,” attorney Eugene Fidell said in a statement. “I had hoped the case would not go in this direction.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Franklin Graham: 144,000 American Muslims Not ‘Peaceful
‘Endorses Trump’s closed border plan: ‘Our politicians need to realize the dangers’
Franklin Graham, who heads the Samaritan’s Purse organization as well as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has endorsed GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s idea of halting Muslim immigration into the United States, at least temporarily.
He warns there’s a good reason: some 144,000 Muslims already in the United States “who openly say without hesitation that violence in the name of Islam is justified!”
Graham’s comments have been posted over the last 24 hours on his Facebook page, where he noted the mantra from “political leaders and world experts” that “the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful people.”
“Some have suggested that as many as 99 percent fall into this category. Well, we don’t have to guess or estimate; the Pew Research Center has released extensive research on how Muslims in the U.S. self-identify on questions of violence — and the conclusions are frightening.”
Graham cited the 1.8 million Muslim adults in the United States.
“Pew Research released that eight percent of adult Muslims in the U.S. said that suicide bombings and other forms of violence in the name of Islam are ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ justified. Think about it — that’s 144,000 Muslims who openly say without hesitation that violence in the name of Islam is justified!
“That’s not ‘peaceful’ and that’s not a small number — it’s about the size of the entire population of Syracuse, New York!” he wrote.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) An Oakland-based public interest group has published a new report detailing the extent to which agri-business giants like Monsanto have gone in mounting a public relations campaign aimed at legitimizing and defending genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food chain.
In “Seedy Business: What big food is hiding with its slick PR campaign on GMOs,” the group, U.S. Right To Know, accused the agrichemical and food industries of spending lavishly the past few years pushing and touting GMOs globally, at the risk of fact-based science proving that they are harmful:
Since 2012, the agrichemical and food industries have mounted a complex, multifaceted public relations, advertising, lobbying and political campaign in the United States, costing more than $100 million, to defend genetically engineered food and crops and the pesticides that accompany them.
The report further states that the industry “manipulates the media, public opinion and politics with sleazy tactics, bought science and PR spin.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Herschel Walker, Football Great: ‘I’m With Trump’
‘We have to quit being politically correct’
Herschel Walker, the former NFL football great with Dallas, Minnesota and Philadelphia, who later made a star-studded appearance on “The Apprentice,” weighed in on the upcoming presidential election by naming his candidate of choice: Donald Trump.
Why?
In part, because of Trump’s controversial remarks about Muslims and the need to temporarily shut U.S. borders to them for security reasons.
“Look, we can’t build a wall and not let people in the country,” Walker said to TMZ Sports. “But we do have to get this country safe. We have to quit being politically correct. We have to do what’s right to save America.”
And that means Trump for president, Walker said.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Stops Terrorist Investigations by Calling it Profiling
A former employee of Homeland security is blowing the whistle on Homeland Security. He claims political correctness and the Obama Administration is preventing Homeland Security from investigating terrorist organizations. Why would political correctness stop the investigation of potential terrorists? This administration calls it profiling and discrimination against Muslims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Appoints New Official Responsible for Russia
A new US deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for Russia and Ukraine took over his duties on Monday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A new US deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for Russia and Ukraine took over his duties on Monday, Defense Department spokeswoman Michelle Baldanza announced.
“Today Dr. Michael Carpenter started as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. He also has responsibility for the Western Balkans and Conventional Arms Control,” Baldanza told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Baldanza explained that most recently Carpenter served in the White House as a special advisor to Vice President Joe Biden for Europe and Eurasia.
“He has also served at both the National Security Council and the Department of State working on Russian Affairs,” she added.
Carpenter has replaced Evelyn Farkas who quit in October. Farkas was a strong supporter of providing arms to Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Support Pours in for Donald Trump After Muslims Rant: Panic as Donations for Campaign Soar
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is spending a fraction of his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton as he continues to dominate political debate in the United States.
While Mrs Clinton wrote off £19million in the past quarter to bolster her bid for the White House, the billionaire property tycoon is estimated to have invested just £3million.
Since Trump’s controversial demand for Muslims to be temporarily banned from entering the US following an Islamic State inspired mass shooting in San Bernardino, donations have been pouring in to his campaign coffers.
Experts estimate more than 100,000 supporters have given donations averaging £40 to his campaign, even though he is largely self financing his presidential ambitions.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Dam Has 431,000 People in Harm’s Way
(Dallas News) The problem — one of many — first appeared as last May’ s record rainstorms quickly filled the region’ s reservoirs. An instrument at the Lewisville Lake Dam showed pressure building under the downstream side.
Jason Vazquez, dam safety program manager for the Army Corps of Engineers at the time, collared another engineer, and in pelting rain they raced to the affected area, officially known to the Corps as “ Seepage Area No. 1.”
Even during the seven-year drought, the area had looked like a swamp, covered with chest-high cattails and weeds. Corps technicians sometimes encountered water moccasins and alligators as they measured seepage. This time, Vazquez and his partner, wearing rain slickers and rubber boots, spotted something far more disturbing: water and sand bubbling up from a tiny hole in the ground.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
They’re ‘So Nice, ‘ Until They Get Religion and Want to Kill US
By Paul Sperry
‘We see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers,” President Obama said while addressing the nation in the wake of the latest homegrown massacre at the hands of Muslims.
But is that really what’s poisoning their minds?
FBI investigators are now operating on the belief that San Bernardino terrorists Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were individually “radicalized,” and for “quite some time,” possibly starting as early as 2013 — before the rise of ISIS and its Internet propaganda machine. So it wasn’t ISIS poisoning their minds, as the president suggests.
So what was it? The feds are still scratching their heads, willfully blind to the obvious religious factor.
But this much they know: “These two killers were starting to radicalize towards martyrdom and jihad as early as 2013, and so that’s really before ISIL [ISIS] became the global jihad leader that it is,” FBI Director James Comey testified Wednesday. “They were actually radicalized before they started dating.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Three Questions the Select Committee on Benghazi Still Hasn’t Answered
It seems unlikely that ambassador Stevens died of natural causes. This being the case, other questions arise. Could the life of the ambassador have been saved? Was an order to stand down given to stop aid from reaching Benghazi? What was ambassador Stevens doing at Benghazi in the first place? Finally, Who killed ambassador Stevens?
We know now that it may have been possible to save Stevens and the other Americans at Benghazi. “Judicial Watch…released a new Benghazi email from then-Department of Defense Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash to State Department leadership immediately offering ‘forces that could move to Benghazi’ during the terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. In an email sent to top Department of State officials, at 7:19 p.m. ET, only hours after the attack had begun, Bash says, ‘we have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak.’“
“According to a Fox News report by Jennifer Griffin, former Navy Seals Ty Woods and Glen Doherty…were ordered to stand down three times following calls during the attack. The first two times occurred soon after they heard initial shots fired…and (they) requested permission to go to the consulate to help out…(Forbes).”…
What was Stevens doing at Benghazi that brought him into harms way? It is generally agreed that some kind of gun running was taking place at Benghazi and that ambassador Stevens was a party to it. Fox News confirmed this. Weapons were probably collected by the CIA from the old Libyan regime and assembled at Benghazi for transport via Turkey to the rebels fighting Assad in Syria.
Many now believe that after Stevens’ death the administration put forward the cover story of a video being the reason for the attack that “killed” Stevens. In her Dover Air Force Base statement Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said, “We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with.”
Nevertheless, Guy Taylor, writing in the Washington Times, claims documents show that the administration’s story that the attack at Benghazi was false from the beginning. “Before the Obama administration gave an inaccurate narrative on national television that the Benghazi attacks grew from an anti-American protest, the CIA’s station chief in Libya pointedly told his superiors in Washington that no such demonstration occurred…”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump: Clinton “Killed Hundreds of Thousands of People”
Clinton executed orders handed down by the global elite
Donald Trump went on Fox News Sunday and said Hillary Clinton “killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity” as Secretary of State.
“She is the one that caused all this problem with her stupid policies. You look at what she did with Libya, what she did with Syria. Look at Egypt, what happened with Egypt, a total mess,” Trump said.
“She was truly—if not the—one of the worst secretaries of state in the history of the country,” he added. “She talks about me being dangerous. She’s killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity.”…
Donald Trump’s accusation certainly rings true. In addition to overseeing the illegal invasion of Libya and the murder of 30,000 people—and possibly more than 100,000 people—Clinton supported the Syrian jihadists fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. She was an early advocate of supporting and arming “moderate” Syrian rebels who eventually defected to al-Nusra and the Islamic State.
“Clinton’s unwillingness to let go of the ‘regime change’ mandate in a sovereign state, coupled with a moralistic but biased outrage, suggests someone who does not respect international law and could be dangerous as U.S. president: hypocritical, prejudiced and self-righteous,” writes Rick Sterling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Army National Guardsman Guilty of Conspiring to Support Daesh
A member of the US Army National Guard pleaded guilty to intending to provide material support to Daesh.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A member of the US Army National Guard pleaded guilty to intending to provide material support to Daesh, also known as Daesh, the US Justice Department said in a press release on Monday.
“Hasan R. Edmonds, 23, of Aurora, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to ISIL [Daesh], a designated foreign terrorist organization, and one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIL,” the release stated.
Edmonds admitted that he conspired with his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, to send a letter to Daesh indicating their willingness to fight on the terrorist group’s behalf.
Daesh is designated a terrorist organization by numerous countries, including Russia, where it is outlawed.
Jonas Edmonds also pleaded guilty last week, according to the press release.
Under the current charges, Hasan Edmonds could get up to 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
The US District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois has scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 18, 2016, according to the Justice Department.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Volusia County Burglary Suspect Discovered in Homeowner’s Pajamas
In Deltona a 22-year-old shoplifting suspect pulled free from a deputy and disappeared Sunday morning. A short time later a 73-year-old woman awoke to find the woman in her house wearing her husband’s flannel pajamas.
The older woman assumed her husband was having an affair with the suspect, Eryn Rice, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
He was out golfing and came home. When he saw the young woman, he assured his wife that he’d never seen her before, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The couple later discovered Rice’s sock and panties in their washing machine. She had also done laundry in their house and taken a nap in their guest room, deputies reported.
When she was first discovered, Rice told the woman that she had a severe case of sleep walking. The woman felt bad for her, the Sheriff’s Office reported, and gave her cereal for breakfast.
Rice then “repeatedly fell asleep” over her bowl of cereal, the woman told deputies, something that made her suspicious.
After talking with Rice, the couple agreed to drive her to a home less than a mile away.
They later flagged down a deputy, asked if authorities were looking for a woman and told the deputy what happened.
Deputies arrested her a short time later.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
69 Police Officers Injured in Clashes in Eastern Germany
Protesters also demolished store front windows and two bus stops
(ANSA-AP) — BERLIN — Leipzig police say 69 officers have been injured in clashes with rioting leftwing protesters and that they had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the group. Some 50 police cars were also damaged in the riots Saturday evening, which started after hundreds of leftwing activists demonstrated against a rally by far-right protesters in the eastern German city of Leipzig earlier in the day.
Police said Sunday they temporarily detained 23 people after the leftist rioters threw stones at police, erected street blocks and burned down garbage cans. The protesters also demolished store front windows and two bus stops.
It was not immediately clear how many protesters were injured in the clashes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Attack on Freedom: Activists to Take Spain to ECHR Over ‘Gag Law’
A group of layers and journalists are taking Spain to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the country’s controversial “gag law,” which activists say is an attack on freedom of speech and information rights.
The coalition of activists, known as ‘Defender a quien defiende’ (DqD) launched a triple lawsuit with the ECHR, calling for the immediate repeal of the law.
The highly controversial Citizen Security Law, dubbed the ‘gag law’ by critics, was passed by the governing Popular Party (PP) earlier this year and came into action in July, despite widespread protests and demonstrations.
DqD has labeled the law “authoritarian,” with critics arguing that it restricts the right to legitimate protest and allows authorities to harshly crack down on any form of anti-government demonstration.
Under the law, the vague description of “disrespecting a police officer” can attract a fine of US$662 (€600), while those guilty of staging an “unauthorized protest” can be hit with financial penalties as high as US$662,000 (€600,000).
Many photojournalists have taken aim at the law, which also makes it illegal to photograph a police officer, with many arguing that it severely affects their ability to do their job.
DqD argues that such provisions “violate” basic freedoms, expressions and the right to protest, in turn restricting journalists and photojournalists from subsequently sharing certain pieces of information with the public.
“They are particularly affected since the law jeopardizes their main function: to report on events of public relevance,” the lawsuit states.
Photojournalists are “obliged by police to stop filming or photographing police actions for fear of being penalized,” the lawsuit says, amid fears that it may allow instances of police misconduct to go undocumented and unreported.
The law has already attracted controversy since it came into effect in July after a man was fined US$662 (€600) for calling police “slackers” on social media.
In another controversial instance a woman was fined US$883 (€800) for taking a photo of a police car parked illegally in a disabled zone, however the fine was later scrapped.
The timing of the ECHR lawsuit, which is to be officially launched with a press conference on Tuesday, comes at a critical time for the ruling controversial Popular Party (PP) ahead of the country’s December 20 election.
All three major opposition parties have vowed to scrap the highly unpopular law if they win power, with some analysts saying the controversy around the matter could influence swing voters who remain undecided on who to vote for in the national election.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Teacher Stabbed in Paris by Man Screaming ‘This is for Daesh’
Police in Paris say a teacher has been stabbed by a man shouting ‘This is for Daesh’, the alternative name for Islamic State.
A French judiciary official said the male teacher was attacked with a knife or box cutter at around 7.30am local time as he prepared for classes at the Jean-Perrin pre-school, which caters for children under the age of six, in Aubervilliers, a suburb of the French capital.
After stabbing the teacher, the attacker fled the scene prompting a massive search by armed police.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Does Merkel Want to Create ‘United States of Europe’?
The German Chancellor is seeking to use the current refugee crisis to abolish national borders and further integrate the EU, DWN reported.
The migration crisis may be used by Angela Merkel to build a “United States of Europe.” National borders are thought to disappear completely, while border guard activities are expected to be in the competence of the EU and take place only at the external borders, the newspaper reported.
Merkel is a convinced advocate of the EU’s rapid and complete integration. She views the refugee crisis as a welcome opportunity to completely abolish national borders.
According to the newspaper, without an external trigger, such a far-reaching intention would never have had any chance for implementation. As German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in an interview with the New York Times a couple of years ago, the EU’s complete transformation to political union is possible only in the times of a crisis.
Following the introduction of the single currency, the abolition of national borders is now to come, DWN wrote. The corresponding plans of the European Commission should be presented as early as next week.
If approved, the new system could lead to an unprecedented disempowerment of national states and a new, common system of border guards. However, a number of the EU member states claim not to be ready for such a joint border management approach and argue that these measures would affect their sovereignty.
The changes would primarily play into the hands of Germany, which has already received more benefits than any other EU member state. The German Chancellor announced that internal barriers would only reinforce the contradiction between EU countries and are incompatible with the principles of the EU.
However, Merkel’s statements are nothing else but an apparent PR-action, the newspaper wrote. In fact, protection of refugees, human rights and humanism are comfortable flashy rhetoric, behind which Merkel is trying to pursue her own goals.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Claims More Muslims Join ISIS Than the British Army
The 69-year-old Republican presidential candidate tweeted a link to a magazine article last night which referenced the claim, which was based on figures from England’s first Muslim MP.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Anti-Islam Politician Wilders Named Man of 2015
Far-right politician Geert Wilders was Monday named by a television poll as Dutch politician of the year as his Freedom Party gains ground amid a polarising debate on Europe’s migrant crisis.
Wilders won 25 percent of the 37,000 votes cast, and became the first politician to win the annual award three times from the Een Vandaag (one Today) programme, broadcast on the public broadcaster Netherlands 1.
“He has a feel for the concerns that many Dutch people have about asylum seekers,” wrote one participant in the poll which has run since 2004.
The news came as Dutch officials revealed the country will this year break all records for the number of migrants seeking asylum in The Netherlands…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU and Turkey Open Fresh Chapter in Accession Talks
Turkey and the EU have opened another avenue of negotiations regarding Turkey’s accession into the bloc. Turkey’s long-stalled EU ambitions have been boosted by Europe’s desperation on issues like refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First-Hand Evidence of Data Manipulation Now Exists From the U.K. Parliamentary Petitions Site.
On Friday, anyone could go to the website of the “UK Government and Parliament” and look at the infamous petition to “Block Donald J Trump from UK entry.”
As of Friday morning, at about 10:30 am Central Standard Time (CST), the raw data file (.json format) could be downloaded from the “Block Donald J Trump from UK entry” petition website. At that time, the total signature count was 527,669, with the total signature count from the U.K. at just 253,966. The sum of the individual signatures for each of the 650 MPs was 250,168…
And now, magically, as of Saturday afternoon CST (following publication of my article questioning the data), we see that the data behind the Trump ban petition has been radically changed on the U.K. government website. According to the current dataset, 523,230 of 550,500 total signatories (95 percent) are coming from within the U.K., and the sum of the individual signatures for each of the 650 MPs is now 515,789.
What an amazing turn of events in terms of data integrity, or lack thereof.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Teacher Stabbed in Class by Man Citing Islamic State
A teacher has been attacked in a classroom in a northern suburb of the French capital, Paris, by a man citing the so-called Islamic State group.
The attack took place when the teacher was alone in the classroom in Aubervilliers, French media said.
The attacker was reportedly wielding a box cutter and scissors and is still on the run.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
France Forced to Step Up Security at Schools
On Monday afternoon, the teacher admitted to making up the entire story about being attacked, according to the prosecutor. However, his claims had sent shockwaves throughout the country, prompting a strong reaction from the French government.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France’s minister of education called the alleged attack on the nursery school teacher near Paris “an unacceptable act of immense gravity”.
The minister confirmed that security would be stepped up at schools in the country, where measures are already in place following the Paris attacks of November 13th.
“We will continue to work with the Ministry of Interior, to strengthen security measures in a context where, yes, schools do feel threatened,” said Vallaud-Belkacem.
The teacher had claimed that a man armed with a box cutter had entered the classroom at around 7.30am while he was preparing for the day.
He said he was stabbed several times by the man, who then shouted “This is for Daesh. This is a warning”. Daesh is another term for Isis.” The teacher claimed that the attacker had fled, sparking a police hunt.
Local authorities have said that the police presence would be stepped up at all the schools in the Aubervilliers area.
The school where the teacher worked remained closed on Monday with authorities and police set to hold a meeting on Tuesday…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
French Far-Right Sends Strong Signal Despite 2nd Round Election Loss
The far-right National Front (FN) party’s failure to secure victory in the second round of regional elections does not preclude it from sending a strong message to society, a French center-right The Republicans opposition party lawmaker told Sputnik on Monday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova — The FN lost all 13 mainland regions on Sunday, a week after garnering first-place votes across six regions in the first round.
“Many of our fellow citizens made a turn concerning their first vote but let us not forget they had sent a very strong message on December 6,” Jacques Myard said.
Myard, member of the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee, warned that an “erratic” pursuit of shifting ideology in France would constitute a “major failure” and stressed the need for an EU-wide recalibration.
“Europe and its utopias, its economic and monetary short runs and its mass unemployment, the defense of national unity which is in jeopardy as well as our sovereignty, border controls and our migration policy, the French foreign policy towards Russia and the Middle East [need to be redefined],” he observed.
FN leader Marine Le Pen said the tripling of regional councilors vaulted her anti-migrant and eurosceptic party into a position of serving as France’s main opposition force.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece to EU Court Over Landfill on the Island of Corfù
Temploni’s site is operating illegaly since at least 2007
(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — The European Commission is referring Greece to the Court of Justice of the EU over poor waste management on the island of Corfu.
The EU Commission’s concerns relate to the Temploni landfill which has been operating in breach of EU waste and landfill legislation since at least 2007, and represents a serious risk for human health and the environment. In an effort to urge Greece to take the necessary measures in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Temploni landfill, Brussels is referring Athens to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Various on-site inspections by national authorities have revealed that the Temploni landfill is operating very poorly and in breach of EU legislation. The shortcomings include improper management of biogas, missing treatment of liquid draining from the landfill (leachates), and the presence of waste which the site is not permitted to treat. The European Commission expressed its concerns in a letter of formal notice in March 2011 and in a reasoned opinion in January 2012. Although the Greek authorities have recognised this issue and are trying to address it, the necessary measures have still not been taken and the landfill continues to operate in breach of EU waste legislation, constituting a serious threat to the environment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 15 Under Investigation in Agrigento Tax Office Probe
Director, official among suspects
(ANSA) — Agrigento, December 10 — Fifteen people including the director and an official of the Agrigento tax office in Sicily were arrested Thursday in connection with a probe into tax procedures there. Director Pietro Pasquale Leto and official Vincenzo Tascarella are among the suspects being investigated on various charges including corruption, aggravated fraud against the state, abuse of office and absenteeism. In total, 8 of the suspects worked at the Agriugento tax office, prosecutors said. Seven have been placed under house arrest and four in pre-trial prison detention, while two must sign in daily with police and two have been banned temporarily from the medical profession. The investigation centers on the disclosure of information concerning past or future tax inspections and the unjustified cancellation of tax procedures and several departments are implicated. In a statement the Sicilian tax authority said it “firmly condemned all dishonest conduct and severely punishes those responsible”.
It also said it is pursuing disciplinary measures.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ATM Fraudsters ‘Withdraw Millions of Euros’
Criminal gang allegedly withdrew up to 100,000 euros a night
(ANSA) — December 2 — A criminal organisation used a technique called ‘cash trapping’ to allegedly withdraw up to 100,000 euros a night from cash machines in northern and central Italy.
The gang, which is thought to be based in Romania but operating in Italy, allegedly stole millions of euros from ATMs in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy, Tuscany and Lazio.
They are thought to have used a single bank card, with two holes drilled in the sides, to complete a regular withdrawal before inserting a small metallic plate in the dispensing slot to begin the fraud.
The men inserted small nails in the holes in the bank card, so as to prevent its full insertion. At that point, the system noted an error and aborted the operation, despite having prepared the money for release. The notes were then caught by the metal plate, named by the gang as the ‘fork’. The investigation by police in Bologna began in mid-2014 as a result of complaints by the bank Unicredit and the Banca Poplare for Emilia-Romagna.
Police arrested eight Romanians and one Italian, who are accused of criminal conspiracy, fraud and illicit use of a credit card.
Unicredit said in a statement: “We want to thank the police for the speed and care with which they conducted this important operation and protected the security of citizens.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cosa Nostra ‘Back to Voting for Bosses’
Election had been interrupted by Corleonesi reign of terror
(ANSA) — Palermo, December 11 — Cosa Nostra has gone back to voting for top bosses after years of tyranny from the Corleonesi of jailed boss of bosses Totò Riina, police said Friday after arresting six suspected mafiosi in Palermo.
The bosses are currently being elected in formal elections by so-called men of honour, police said.
This had been the practice up until Riina’s reign of terror started in the 1980s, police said.
Riina was arrested on January 15, 1993 after 23 years on the run.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Deal Reached for Mahindra to Take Over Pininfarina
Italian car designer comes under Indian control
(ANSA) — Turin, December 14 — Pininfarina said Monday that a deal has been reached for India’s Mahindra & Mahindra to take over the Italian car designer. Pininfarina is famous for its designs of luxury cars such as Ferrari, Rolls Royce and Maserati models. Mahindra & Mahindra makes various vehicles, including SUVs and tractors. It will take over Pininfarina via its Tech Mahindra subsidiary.
Mahindra is one of the biggest customers of the heavily indebted Pininfarina.
It will buy all the shares currently held by Pincar at 1.10 euros each, a total of almost 25 million euros, before launching an offer for the remaining shares.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Man Claiming to Belong to ISIS Stabs Teacher in France
Schoolteacher not in serious conditions, assailant on the run
Poliziotti davanti alla scuola materna di Aubervilliers, nella banlieue di Parigi, dopo stamani un maestro e’ stato accoltellato da un uomo che affermava di appartenere all’Isis
PARIS — A teacher was stabbed by a man who claimed he belonged to ISIS, this morning, in Aubervilliers, a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Paris, radio France Info reported.
The assailant is on the run.
The injured man, a kindergarden teacher, has been hospitalised.
Despite several stabbings by the aggressor who wore a balaclava, the man is not in life-threatening conditions.
According to local authorities, the assailant screamed “I belong to Daesh, this is a warning” while he was attacking the teacher.
The sentence was heard by a person working inside the school at the time of the attack.
The teacher was injured first by a knife and subsequently by a cutter. He was alone in the classroom, shortly after 7 a.m, and was getting ready to welcome his pupils.
The assailant, who was wearing a balaclava and a white tunic, subsequently ran off, most probably on foot.
A massive search operation is underway in the area. Paris’ anti-terrorism public prosecutor’s office opened a file for attempted murder linked to criminal conspiracy for terrorist purposes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel: Obama: Erdogan ‘Liars of the Year’ — Poll
German web platform Alles Schall und Rauch has conducted a poll among its readers to determine who they think is world’s “liar of the year”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Barack Obama and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan “won” the first three positions.
As 2015 comes to an end, a popular German website figured it was just about time to find out who its readers considered trustworthy after everything that happened in the course of the year. It seems that Angela Merkel lost trust among citizens of Germany as they crowned the Chancellor with the disgraceful “Liar of the year” title with 39 percent of the readers’ votes.
However, the platform claims it wasn’t just Germans who took part in the poll, but people from 40 different countries.
Around 21 percent of those surveyed thought Barack Obama deserved to be called the biggest liar. Recep Tayyip Erdogan received 18 percent of the respondents’ votes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko are close on the heels of the “fantastic three” with 8.05 percent and 7.81 percent respectively.
According to the poll, Germans consider Russian President Vladimir Putin, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Iranian head of government Hassan Rouhani honest policy-makers.
Surprisingly, the president of Syria Bashar Assad received only 0.10% of the votes. French leader Francois Hollande earned just 0.77 percent.
The author of the article, while summarizing the poll’s results, noted that it was Angela Merkel who Time magazine named “Person of the Year”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Money Talks: German Carmakers Oppose Extension of Anti-Russian Sanctions
German engineering enterprises are suffering huge losses from the anti-Russian sanctions and strongly oppose their extension, DWN wrote.
Russia is one of the most important export partners for Germany in the engineering field. However, ant-Russian sanctions have negatively affected German companies and caused widespread criticism among German entrepreneurs. During the first nine months of 2015 exports to Russia declined by 27% to 3.58 billion euros, DWN reported.
In December, the European Union’s sanctions against Russia could be automatically extended. However, Italian officials requested that EU member states would debate the issue rather than prolong the sanctions automatically.
If extended, German businesses will continue to suffer serious losses and the German economy in general will witness a significant downturn, DWN reported.
“In this year, Germany might be able to export to Russia products worth only 5 billion euros. This is almost 3 billion euros less than two years ago,” the newspaper wrote, citing head of the German Engineering Association Thilo Brodtmann.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated over the conflict in Ukraine, with Western countries accusing Russia of its alleged involvement in the crisis. In July 2014, the US and EU imposed sectoral economic sanctions against Russia. In response, Russia restricted food imports from the countries that joined the anti-Russian sanctions.
The EU’s economic sanctions against Russia are set to expire on January 31, 2016. The extension of the sanctions will be discussed by the leaders of the EU member states at the European Council on December 17-18.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Noam Chomsky: Paris Attacks Are Result of Western Policies in Middle East
Daesh, also known as the Islamic State, can’t be defeated by military force; by increasing airstrikes against the terrorist organization, the West increases the likelihood of large-scale terrorist attacks similar to what happened in Paris on November 13, according to celebrated US scholar Noam Chomsky.
If the West wants to reduce the possibility of further terrorist attacks, it needs to address the root causes of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
These root causes are the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Wahhabization of Sunni Islam, which in turn resulted in the rise of global radical Islamism, Professor Chomsky explained.
Thus, before jumping in and bombing Daesh in the Middle East, the West needs to ask first and foremost why it occured.
“If you want to end it, the first question you ask is: why did it take place? What were the immediate causes and what were the deeper roots? And then you try to address those,” Professor Chomsky stated in an interview with acTVism Munich, an independent and non-profit global online media network.
Otherwise, the simple bombing strategy will do nothing but increase the likelihood of more terrorist attacks.
Furthermore, Chomsky added that it’s probably impossible to defeat Deash by military force; but even if it happened and the West managed to destroy the terrorists, something worse would emerge in its place if the underlying root causes aren’t properly addressed.
A series of suicide bombings and shootings shook Paris on November 13. Several extremists launched coordinated attacks across the city, killing some 130 people and injuring over 360 at several locations, including restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and in the vicinity of the Stade de France stadium.
Daesh, a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Now Italy Says Enough: Lombardy Bans the Burka After Europe’s Terror Attacks
The wealthiest region in Italy has approved a ban on women wearing the burka in hospitals and local government buildings in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands took to the streets of several Polish cities to protest against the new government. A group calling itself the Committee for the Defense of Democracy organized the marches and opposition parties joined in.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Record Support for French Right Despite Defeat
France’s mainstream parties beat back a surging far right, whose support nonetheless rose to historic highs in Sunday’s regional elections, as it proved a force to be reckoned with. Elizabeth Bryant reports from Paris.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected ISIS Member Detained in Sicily
Judge set to ratify detention
(ANSA) — Ragusa, December 14 — A Syrian national who landed at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo on December 4 has been detained by police in Ragusa because he is suspected of being a terrorists linked to ISIS, ANSA sources said on Monday. The fact that the man belongs to the extremist Islamist group is allegedly shown by images on his cell phone, the sources said. A preliminary investigations judge in Ragusa was set to ratify the man’s detention on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Court Sentences Two to Life for ‘Terrorist Crimes’ In Syria
Two Swedish men were sentenced to life in prison on Monday for “terrorist crimes” in Syria in 2013, a Swedish district court said in a statement.
The two men, aged 32 and 30, were convicted of assisting in executions in Syria.
During a search of one of the men’s homes, police had found a USB stick containing films showing the killings, the court was told.
In a video shown in court by the prosecutor, masked men stood around three men on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The UN’s Paris Climate Deal ‘Signals End to Gas Cookers’ Say Experts
Within 15 years, British families may have to start phasing out gas cookers, fires and boilers if the UK is to meet new tougher targets aimed at halting rises in global temperature.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK PM Tells SNP Leader to Back Controversial Snoopers’ Charter
The UK’s controversial surveillance bill is back in the headlines after Prime Minister David Cameron called on the leader of the Scottish National Party to back the Snoopers’ Charter.
During recent talks at Downing Street, David Cameron warned Nicola Sturgeon that British lives were in danger if SNP MPs contested the updated Investigatory Powers Bill published by the government in November 2015.
Speaking ahead of his discussion with the Scottish First Minister, Mr Cameron expressed the need for cross-party support for the bill, when it is debated in the coming year, and sought assurances from the UK’s devolved administrations that they are doing as much as possible together to fight terrorism.
Nicola Sturgeon didn’t divulge any details of her discussions or her party’s stance on the bill, dubbed the Snoopers’ Charter. Instead she said it was an “important opportunity” to discuss how they could work more closely together.
Meanwhile, a campaign against mass surveillance has been launched in the UK, aiming to raise US$32,292 (£20,000) to produce a film that will explain what mass surveillance means to the British people.
The campaign has been set up by Jim Killock, director of Open Rights Group.
“ORG has been calling for the Government to be transparent about what they were doing. Now that we know, we are calling for a surveillance law that means only people who are suspected of crime are put under surveillance,” Killock says.
Britain’s Prime Minister has said that Daesh, also known as Islamic State, poses a “very direct threat to our country and our way of life” and that terrorists should not be given “safe spaces” to communicate on the internet.
If passed, the new bill would allow police, security services and even the tax office to hack into your smartphone or computer.
“This can be done on a mass scale by the intelligence agencies who can hack people and organizations who are not under suspicion in order to try and get their targets,” Killock states on his campaign website.
Outlining other aspects to the bill, Killock says: “The security services can continue tapping hundreds of underground cables to scoop up and snoop on our communications in real time.”
“The IPB [Investigatory Powers Bill] could change the relationship between each of us and the State. We can’t let the British public sleepwalk into this,” Killock warns.
The bill would also force Internet Service Providers to keep a record of people’s activity online, enabling MI5 and GCHQ to collect swathes of communications data.
The government has been joined by MI5 in calling for big internet and social media companies to be more cooperative in reporting “suspect” users and sharing encrypted data with spies.
Andrew Parker, head of Britain’s security agency MI5 recently told British media that: “Some of the social media companies operate arrangements for their own purposes under their codes of practice which cause them to close accounts.” Andrew Parker wants the companies to pass on those account details to the intelligence agencies.
However, Twitter recently emailed a number of users warning them that their accounts may have been hacked by “state-sponsored agents.”
According to a post by not-for-profit organization, Coldhak, the email states:
“As a precaution, we are altering you that your Twitter account is one of a small group of accounts that may have been targeted by state-sponsored actors.”
It’s thought the correspondence from Twitter is the first time the social media site has warned users of any hacking activity carried out by a government.
The Joint Committee examining the Investigatory Powers Bill will report back to parliament in February 2016.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK Scrambling for EU Compromise After Member States Reject Benefit Plans
After EU member states rejected UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposals to restrict benefit payments to EU migrants, London is now desperately looking for other ways to compromise and prevent Britain from leaving the EU ahead of a summit on the matter this week.
As fears of a Brexit rise due to the rejection of Cameron’s welfare proposals, Conservative MP and Mayor of London Boris Johnson has declared that Britain must be given a an opt-out from free movement rules, citing separate exemptions given to other member states such as Denmark.
Johnson said that an EU exemption that allows Denmark to prevent non-residents from buying property in the country could be emulated in the UK in reference to EU migrants benefits.
Denmark insists that any non-nationals must live in the country for five years before being eligible to buy property in the country, while Cameron has proposed restricting welfare benefits for EU nationals living in the UK during their first four years in Britain.
EU States Reject Migrant Welfare Proposals
Cameron’s proposals have been shot down by fellow EU member states, led by Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, who say the matter of restricting welfare benefits is a ‘red-line’ issue.
This rejection, along with a letter from EU Council President Donald Tusk stating that there was “no consensus” on the issue from within the bloc, sparked speculation that the UK was planning on dropping its plan to restrict welfare benefits.
My letter to EU leaders. Need to speed up negotiations to end uncertainty about the future of #UKinEU. t.co/MEu8Kd1lvK
— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) December 7, 2015
However, a spokesperson for Mr Cameron said while the prime minister was open to suggestions on how to come to a compromise on the matter, he was still pushing for changes to be made.
Not always clear when Tusk uses the royal “we” and when he doesn’t. #euco #brexit #ukineu t.co/zUqPAgbemP
— Valentin Kreilinger (@tineurope) December 7, 2015
“He is open to different ways of dealing with this issue — but they must deliver on the objective set out in the Conservative manifesto on controlling migration from the EU.”
Johnson Pushes for Danish-Style Solution
However, some British MPs have hit back, with London mayor Johnson criticizing EU leaders for “recklessly” rejecting the UK’s proposals.
“The PM’s suggestion was modest, and sensible. It has been recklessly disregarded. This country could have a viable and exciting future outside the present EU arrangements,” Boris Johnson wrote in the Telegraph newspaper.
“If we are going to stay, we need reform; and if the Danes can have their special circumstances recognized, so can Britain.”
While the plans to try and emulate the Danish exemption has not been formally tabled to EU officials, it’s thought that the issue may be brought up during this week’s EU summit, which is to be dominated by British membership renegotiation talks.
EU officials hope to finalize a deal by February, which would then pave the way for a referendum on British membership of the EU by mid-2016.
However, the protestations from EU member states to Cameron’s proposals have been seized upon by Euroskeptics in the prime minister’s own Conservative party, who have called on party members to lobby MPs to campaign for a Brexit.
It’s thought that around 130 of the Conservative party’s 330 MPs back a Brexit, with many saying that Cameron’s potential inability to exact concessions over the issue of migrant benefits may increase anti-EU sentiment.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Can Billionaire John Caudwell’s Bombshell Theory be Right?
Phone tycoon reveals ELEVEN of his family now have crippling Lyme disease and he believes it’s passed on by other people NOT ticks
At its most dangerous it can cause heart failure, inflammatory arthritis, inflammation of the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord, numbness, paralysis, memory loss, depression and anxiety.
Two months ago John Caudwell revealed that he, his ex-wife Kate McFarlane, 59, and Rufus’s two sisters Rebekah, 36, and Libby, 26, had also tested positive for the disease.
Today he tells The Mail on Sunday another six members of his family and their immediate circle, including Libby’s yacht-broker boyfriend Simon Morgan, 28, Caudwell’s former partner of 15 years Claire Johnson and their son Jacobi, at 11 the youngest victim, have received the same diagnosis, bringing the tally of sufferers to an incredible 11 people. Caudwell says: ‘I am crystal clear this is one of the most dangerous illness to mankind today. Lyme disease is damaging hundreds of thousands of lives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Girls’ Boarding School St Mary’s School Ascot Uses Finger Vein Scanners
Pupils at the well respected St Mary’s School Ascot in Berkshire are registered for the day by passing one of their fingers over a scanner, which identifies them from their pattern of veins.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Inside Britain’s Sharia Courts Dispensing ‘Justice’ Across the UK
A forthcoming book by Machteld Zee offers an unprecedented insight into the secret world of Britain’s so-called Sharia courts after she was allowed access to them over three days in 2013.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ofsted May Swoop on Sunday Schools, Church Youth Groups, And Even Choirs
The Christian Institute has outlined its fear over the proposals — suggested following the Trojan Horse incidents — describing the checks as ‘profoundly insulting’ and ‘the kind of thing they do in China’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Video of Taxi Driver Who Sped Off After Refusing to Give a Blind Woman a Lift
Annie Giles-Quinn, 61, from Collyhurst, Manchester, had been trying to get a lift home from a night out in the city’s Northern Quarter but the driver refused because of her dog, Mr Quinn.
[Comment: Driver must be a Buddhist…/sarc.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Young People Vote Far-Right in Europe
In the European Union, which was founded upon ideals of democracy and inclusion, more and more young people are turning to far-right parties that lure them in with simple messages. Some experts see democracy in danger.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Spring Began 5 Years Ago in Tunisia
Bouazizi’s act of desperation set revolts in motion
CAIRO — A Tunisian itinerant vendor’s act of desperation five years ago sparked what would be the first in a long string of protests in Tunisia and revolts throughout the Arab world known as the ‘Arab Spring’. On December 17, 2010, the young Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzib in central Tunisia to protest dire economic conditions and police abuse of power. The act would become the spark that led to the ousting of the regime and the fleeing of President Ben Ali, inaugurating a transitional period marked by concerns about extremist tendencies, the election of the first post-dictatorship president and the fear of terrorism.
Bouazizi’s self-immolation became a symbol to be imitated across many North African countries. Tahrir Square became the focal point of the Egyptian uprising against President Hosni Mubarak and the first anti-Gaddafi protests were held and violently crushed in Libya, followed by international military intervention and the ‘Colonel’s’ end. The hope of a democratic renaissance was hit hard, though, as militias took over the country that then slid into total anarchy and is even today divided between two governments and has an Islamic State (ISIS) presence in it. Syria is yet another story. Protests did not cause the Bashar Al-Assad regime to fall and the country is still being torn apart by a civil war with hundreds of thousands killed, the rise of ISIS, anti-regime and government battles and airstrikes by the international coalition. Revolt occurred in a Yemen already suffering from Al-Qaeda cells and Shia Houthi militia activities, leading to a civil war that continues. A lesser impact was seen in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Sudan, Morocco and Kuwait. The international community was taken by surprise by the Middle Eastern uprisings after years of stagnation in the area, leading to the largest season of change since the end of the colonial era and the ousting of regimes that had wielded power for several decades. The instability fostered concerns in Israel, which — after losing its longstanding ally Mubarak — kept an attentive eye on Jordan. One year after Bouazizi’s act of sacrifice, what had actually changed? North African dictators once held to be unshakeable pillars of order inflicted with an iron fist but reliable partners of the West were no longer in power. Ben Ali was in a pampered exile, Mubarak continued to suffer physically and under the legal system and the Algerian Abdelaziz Bouteflika had survived the ‘revolutionary wave’. It was in late 2011 that concerns that Islamist parties could gain greater power after the uprisings began to grow. The Muslim Brotherhood gained power in Egypt in 2012, to then be ousted a year later by the military. In the intervening years, what is considered to be the greatest danger to the Middle East and beyond took root and continues to grow: ISIS.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
IS in Libya Executes Two for ‘Witchcraft’ And ‘Spying’
The Islamic State jihadist group has executed a woman for “witchcraft” and a man accused of spying in its Libyan stronghold, news agencies close to the country’s rival authorities said Monday.
IS beheaded the Moroccan woman in a public square and shot dead a Palestinian man for alleged spying in the coastal city of Sirte, said the agency close to the internationally recognised government.
The jihadists also chopped off a Libyan’s hand for stealing, witnesses told it and a rival Tripoli-based news agency…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
To Defeat ISIS in Libya, The West Needs Egypt — And Russia
Ahead of Sunday’s talks in Rome on the Libyan crisis, the U.S. and Italy stress that a lasting solution to the ISIS threat must include Arab allies — and Moscow
The “other” front line in the war against ISIS is in Libya. An ongoing civil war has created fertile ground for the Islamist terror group to expand four years after the fall of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Settling differences between two rival governments in the capital of Tripoli and the eastern city of Tobruk is key to shutting down the rapid expansion of ISIS in the North African country.
A lasting solution to the conflict between the internationally recognized government in the east — supported by Egypt — and the Qatar-backed parliament in Tripoli is critical to tackling the increasing terror threat.
Along with the United States, Italy is pushing a new diplomatic strategy that will be put to the test Sunday at an international conference in Rome on the Libyan crisis. Diplomats have made it a priority to bring Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi into the fold. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni have invited at least 15 countries to participate in the talks, which the Obama administration plans to model on the recent Syrian peace talks in Vienna. Ahead of the meeting, the UN called on world leaders to contribute more than $160 million to help Libya recover from years of conflict, the AFP reported Thursday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Car Driven Into 11 People at Bus Stop Near Jerusalem
Palestinian attacker killed, infant among the injured
TEL AVIV — A car on Monday was driven into a group of people waiting for a bus at the entrance to Jerusalem, injuring 11. The attacker was killed by security forces, said police spokesman Luba Samri, who added that the man was a Palestinian named Abed Almohsin Hassoneh, from the eastern part of the city.
The incident occurred on Herzl Street, not far from Chords Bridge.
Medical workers say that a child of one and a half years old and a 70-year-old woman were among those injured. Media have said that the infant sustained injuries to his foot. The police said that they had found an axe in the attacker’s car, which investigators posit he could have been planning to hit bystanders with after driving into them. A guard and a civilian nearby intervened against the attacker.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Foreign Ministers Back EU Label Directive Protested by Israel
EU foreign ministers backed the directive to explicitly label goods originating in Israeli settlements beyond the country’s 1967 borders, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The European Commission adopted an “interpretive notice” last month on the indication of origin of goods produced in territories under Israeli occupation since 1967. The notice, a clarification of existing EU legislation, explains that the “Made in Israel” label does not apply to goods made in the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
“The Council and the European Union stays united on these technical guidelines of indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott and should in no way be interpreted as one,” Mogherini told reporters at a briefing.
Mogherini added the Council continued to engage in the Middle East peace process and “broader” bilateral relations with Israel.
Tel Aviv views Brussels’ adoption of the interpretive guideline as a convenient pretext for boycotts and other protests.
Late in November, Israel announced it was suspending contacts with EU bodies involved in efforts to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Lawmakers Snub Netanyahu Plan to Tap Major Gas Field
An Israeli parliamentary committee refused to give its blessing Monday to a natural gas deal aimed at tapping a huge field in the Mediterranean despite a strong push by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The 7-6 vote against the deal by the Knesset’s economics committee was however non-binding and Netanyahu is expected to seek to move ahead anyway, with a court battle likely to result.
ADVERTISINGCommittee spokesman Lior Rotem told AFP the vote was against Netanyahu’s plan to bypass usual antitrust oversight, on the grounds of diplomatic and security needs.
“It’s a recommendation,” he said. “The government is not obliged to accept this recommendation.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Two-Thirds of Palestinians Support Knife Attacks: Poll
Two-thirds of Palestinians support the ongoing wave of stabbings against Israelis, with the same percentage backing a larger armed uprising, a poll released on Monday found.
Sixty-seven percent back the use of knives, while 66 percent of those asked said an armed intifada or uprising would “serve Palestinian national interests in ways that negotiations could not”, the survey by the respected Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) found.
ADVERTISINGAt the same time, nearly three-quarters said they opposed the involvement of “young schoolgirls” in stabbings.
Since October 1, almost daily attacks by Palestinians and clashes with Israeli soldiers have killed 117 on the Palestinian side, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
CENTCOM Investigation: War on Syria Not the Islamic State
Islamic State works with Pentagon to destroy Syria
According to a report posted by The Daily Beast the “accusations suggest that a large number of people tracking the inner workings of the terror groups think that their reports are being manipulated to fit a public narrative. The allegations echoed charges that political appointees and senior officials cherry-picked intelligence about Iraq’s supposed weapons program in 2002 and 2003.”
In November it was reported a task force would be formed on the allegations and on Friday it was announced no less than three House committees will jointly investigate the allegations…
The Pentagon’s investigation and those conducted by Republicans in the House are unlikely to reveal the real reason the war against the Islamic State is a failure.
From the start the air campaign against IS has targeted the economic infrastructure of Syria and Iraq.
“So far the US raids that came after the direct Russian involvement in Syria have only targeted civilian, infrastructure plants, electricity plants and other infrastructure, and they have not targeted any terrorist groups,” Jamal Wakim, a professor at the Lebanese International University, said in November.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Free Syrian Army Ready to Provide Russia With Data on Terrorist Targets
According to one of the Free Syrian Army leaders, FSA is willing to share “precise intelligence” with Moscow to help coordinate airstrikes against Daesh (the Islamic State) militants.
CAIRO (Sputnik) — The Free Syrian Army is ready to provide Russia with data indicating positions of Daesh terrorists in Syria, head of FSA intelligence, Gen. Hossam Awak, told Sputnik on Monday.
“We have precise intelligence, documents, maps, and we can share them with the Russians so that their strikes on Daesh are more effective,” Awak said.
He believes that the information provided by Damascus is not accurate enough, which makes Russia’s airstikes not as efficient as they could be.
“We really want to cooperate with the Russians in fight against Daesh on condition that their airstrikes hit solely Daesh targets,” the general stressed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has repeatedly assured that all airstrikes on terrorist targets in Syria are carried out after thorough data checks and with high precision.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ginger Jihadi and British Schoolgirl Wife Threaten to Cut Off Hands of Those Against ISIS
A notorious ‘ginger jihadi’ and his British wife have made vile threats to cut off the hand of anyone who opposes the Islamic State (ISIS).
Australian Abdullah Elmir and his UK-schoolgirl jihadi bride Amira Abase have returned to Twitter on a joint account to make the sick threat, alongside a photograph of the 9/11 attack.
The teenage Daesh converts have not been on Facebook or Twitter since they married in July, but tweeted once in August, and three times on Monday.
An image of what appears to be Abase cradling an AK-47 is used as the profile picture for the joint account under the name of Abu Z and Umm Z.
The tweets said: “With his head raised high, and his dignity preserved. Anyone who dares to offend him will be disciplined. And any hand that reaches out to harm him will be cut off. So let the world know that we are living today in a new era.”
Messages posted this week also threatened to take over the West.
[What ‘race’ is Islam again?]
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Hero SAS Sniper Foils Suicide Bomb Attack by Killing Five Jihadis With Just Three Bullets
An SAS sniper has foiled a terror attack by killing three jihadis and two ISIS guards — using just three bullets.
The sharp-shooter took out three terrorists, at least two of whom were wearing explosive vests, as they made their way to carry out a suicide mission.
The unnamed veteran, who joined the SAS a decade ago, saved potentially hundreds of lives by unleashing three well-aimed shots from a distance of 800m.
The operation took place two weeks ago at a bomb factory around 10km outside the ISIS-occupied city of Mosul.
The decision to open fire was given when three men were seen leaving the factory wearing heavy coats, despite the hot weather.
This was an attempt to hide their suicide vests as they made their way to attack civilians in a nearby town, an attack which could have killed a huge number of innocent men, women and children.
The sniper shot the first jihadi in the chest, detonating his explosive device and killing him instantly, along with two ISIS guards sat in a nearby car.
The second terrorist was killed with a headshot, as he and the third man tried desperately to get back into the locked factory.
The third jihadi also died when his explosive vest was set off by a third and final well-aimed shot from the colour sergeant.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS’s Sharia Judges Order Children With Down’s Syndrome Killed in Nazi Echo
Sharia judges have apparently ruled that ISIS militants are authorised to ‘kill newborn babies with Down’s Syndrome or congenital deformities’ in Syria and Iraq in their latest sickening act.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Maltese Ships Owned by Turkish President’s Son Being Implicated in ISIS Oil Trade
As Russia continues to accuse Turkey and its presidential family of directly benefitting from the trade in oil with the Islamic State, it transpires that the oil tankers allegedly involved in the illicit business are registered in Malta and all fly the Maltese flag.
Moreover, at least one of dozens of companies set up in Malta by Azerbaijani billionaire Mubariz Mansimov — which over the last year sold oil tankers to Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — is also at the centre of the accusations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stop Buying Daesh Oil and it Will be Gone — Italian Politician
In order to crush Daesh Europe must stop buying the oil the terrorists are selling us though our friends, the leader of Italy’s Northern League party said on Saturday.
“We can wipe ISIL off the face of the earth if we stop buying the oil it sells through our friends (here I mean Turkey) and by flushing it out with the only possible method there is — a military intervention,” Matteo Salvini said in an interview with the state-run RaiNews24 television channel.
He called Prime Minister Renzi’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia “a very bad signal and hoped that it would be the last such trip to a country which “sponsors terrorism on an international level.”
Speaking about the EU’s sanctions against Russia, Matteo Salvini, who is also a member of the European Parliament, dismissed them as “idiotic and suicidal” and said that Italy must raise its voice against their expansion.
“We have viewed [the sanctions] as being idiotic, suicidal, crazy and masochistic ever since they were introduced,” Salvini said, adding that if Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also realizes this, the Northern League would back him up.
“Better late than never,” Salvini commented on this week’s media reports about Rome’s opposition to an automatic prolongation of the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions.
“We hope that we will enter 2016 together with Russia which will be a friend and ally, not an enemy under sanctions. This is primarily true about the war on terror, because we have Renzi who is sleeping and Putin who is working. I believe that we need to work harder,” he emphasized.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Oil Traders Caught Exporting Daesh-Extracted Oil
Swiss oil traders might have gotten themselves into some trouble after it was revealed that they regularly imported oil from terminals in Turkey, where Daesh, also known as ISIL/ISIS, sold their illegal oil supply, the Swiss newspaper Le Matin reported.
The newspaper obtained documents showing that several major Swiss petroleum trading companies exported oil from the Turkish city of Ceyhan, one of the places in the country where Daesh-extracted oil was sold.
“The risk [of Swiss companies importing Daesh-oil] is very high,” said Jean-Charles Brisard, a French expert on terrorism financing, according to Le Matin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Regime: Allies Recapture Key Airbase Near Damascus
Syrian troops recaptured a military airport and nearby town east of Damascus on Monday, more than three years after they were overrun by rebel groups, a military source said.
“The Syrian army has taken full control of the town of Marj al-Sultan and its airport in Eastern Ghouta,” a rebel bastion east of the capital, the military source said.
Rebel groups seized the airport, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) east of Damascus, in November 2012…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Schools Pompous Saudi Prince: “Has Your Country Taken Any of the Syrian Refugees?”
On Friday Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal slammed Donald Trump for proposing a ban on Muslim immigrants in the US until the government could alleviate security concerns.
Prince Alwaleed called Donald Trump a “disgrace” for his popular plan.
.@realDonaldTrump You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the U.S presidential race as you will never win.
On Sunday Donald Trump responded to the Saudi Prince in epic fashion.
“@Michael2014abc: @Alwaleed_Talal @realDonaldTrump Has your country, Saudi Arabia, taken ANY of the Syrian refugees? If not, why not?”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2015
Of course, Trump is right.
Saudi Arabia has banned Syrian immigrants from its country due to security concerns.
Over one million migrants will relocate to Europe this year.
But the wealthiest Muslim nations — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Oman and Kuwait have accepted NO SYRIAN REFUGEES!
The wealthiest Gulf nations argue that accepting large numbers of Syrian refugees is a serious threat to the safety of its citizens because terrorists could hide themselves among civilians.
A Kuwaiti politician appeared on Middle East television and explained why the Gulf States won’t accept Syrian refugees.
They come from different cultures and won’t assimilate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Kurd Protesters Killed in Clashes With Police
Two protesters were killed Monday in clashes with police in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir amid growing tensions over a days-long curfew, security sources said.
The two demonstrators, aged 21 and 25, were shot dead in violent clashes that erupted over the curfew that has been in place in the city’s central Sur district almost uninterrupted since December 2, a security source told AFP, asking not to be named.
The circumstances of the deaths were not immediately clear. At least two other people were wounded and some 40 arrested…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Washington Looking for ‘Volunteer Armies to Hit the Ground in Syria’
The Russian offensive in Syria requires the support of ground forces to achieve ultimate success in the fight against Daesh terrorists, DWN wrote. However, Russia and the United States consider the deployment of their troops to the region too risky.
In this regard, Washington is trying to take the initiative in its own hands and find partners who would agree to send their ground troops to Syria, but without much success.
The first step in this direction was Turkey’s “little invasion of Iraq”, the newspaper wrote. However, the deployment of Turkish armed forces in the country was met with violent protests in the Baghdad government which does not want to see Turkish or American soldiers on its soil.
The second step was the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s appeal to Germany, in which he called to bolster the country’s military contingent as part of the US-led coalition against Daesh. However, Chancellor Angela Merkel has responded to US demands with restraint. According to her, Germany is already contributing to the solution of the problem, and now it is not time to raise new questions in this regard.
On December 4, Germany’s parliament approved the deployment of Bundeswehr troops in Syria to fight against Daesh, a group outlawed in a number of countries worldwide, including Russia and the United States. The mission is expected to involve up to 1,200 German troops and is set to last until December 31, 2016.
Similar requests were also sent to other partners of the United States, but none of them has yet given a positive reply.
Russian and Syrian armed forces have already managed to achieve significant success in their fight against Daesh terrorists in Syria. In the south of the province of Aleppo, the Syrian army continues to recapture settlements under the control of terrorist groups.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far ruled out the deployment of Russian ground troops in Syria, deeming that further involvement in the conflict would put its military at too great a risk.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: ISIS Release Chilling Video Showing How the World Will End After They Kill Pope
The Islamic State has released a chilling video showing their vision of the end of the world as they make more suggestions they are plotting to assassinate the Pope.
The video named “Meeting at Dabiq”, shows shows jihadi tanks advancing on an apocalyptic Rome.
The title references the location where extremist prophecy says the end of the world will occur following a final battle between “believers” and “crusaders.”
The sinister video, set to chilling music, shows Rome turned to a desert of dust.
It features heavily-armoured terrorists approaching the Colosseum and the Vatican City, before the narrator apparently claims ISIS will take over Rome, destroying crucifixes and taking Christian women as slaves.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Shiite, Sunni Militants Fuel Chaos
Armed groups have led the slide into chaos in Yemen, where a truce between Arab-backed loyalist forces and Iran-backed Shiite rebels is expected to enter into force at midnight Monday.
Shiite militiamen and Sunni extremists have sought to exploit a power vacuum since 2011 nationwide protests forced veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
The Huthis
The Shiite Huthi militiamen, also known as Ansarullah (Supporters of God), have long complained of marginalisation by authorities in Sanaa.
They hail from the Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that comprises approximately one-third of Yemen’s Sunni-majority population…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
COP21— Canadians Fleeced, Again
With just a soupcon more of its traditional insensitivity, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ended its ruefully named “Conference of the Parties 21” (COP21) in Paris on Saturday. I’m sure COP21 was indeed a conference of parties, wild parties, featuring only the best of everything for everyone there. Oysters, pate d’foie gras, Dom Perignon, Courvoisier, hmmm.
After spending nearly two weeks (and gazillions of dollars) at Le Bourget, just, a few miles northeast of Paris, one can only imagine the debaucheries that must have led to the gout & hangovers, which in turn led to the aching heads and blurred vision at the morning conclaves, which furthermore led to the “Agreement” the IPCC has so jubilantly touted.
Yes, friends, some 50,000 “delegates” from 196 countries spent two weeks wining and dining themselves, all on the hapless taxpayers’ dollars. Take a wild guess which country had the largest delegation at a whopping 383 delegates? Was it China? Was it India? Was it the US? No, friends it was… wait for it—CANADA! But we’ll talk about that in a minute.
No nation that signed on to this “Agreement” is actually planning to adhere to its terms, as it would surely be harmful to any national economy, given the exceptionally weak recovery from the Global Recession over the past seven year and the idiotic binding and non-binding commitments.
If all the nations that signed on actually abided by the “Agreement,” then a worldwide recession would ensue creating immediate and very disruptive consequences. So wisely, everyone is going to go home put the “Agreement” in his or her underwear drawer, where it belongs and forget about it.
Well, not exactly everyone. One country is taking this whole global warming, sorry climate change thing very seriously: Canada, speaking of which! So it looks as if all levels of government in Canada are solemnly planning to single-handed reduce the content of earth’s atmospheric carbon levels. They hope to achieve this by lowering Canada’s share of global atmospheric carbon (now at 1.6% of the world’s total vs. US’s 15.9% and China’s 28.3%).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jubilee of Mercy Among India’s Survivors of Anti-Christian Persecution
Holy Doors open in the Indian dioceses of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Bhopal and Bangalore. “Today we pass through the Holy Door and remember another door, the one the Synod Fathers of the Second Vatican Council opened to the world 50 years ago,” said the archbishop of Bhopal. Some 3,000 faithful, including many tribals, attended the service in the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Thousands of faithful yesterday took part in the opening of the Holy Doors in the dioceses of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) and Bangalore (Karnataka), marking the official beginning of the Jubilee of Mercy in the dioceses of the world.
Despite the memory of the violent persecutions because of their Christian faith, participants sought “to discover God’s infinite mercy that welcomes everyone and manifests itself in people so as to encounter each one of us.”
More than 3,000 people, including priests, nuns and tribal Catholics gathered in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar’s Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral. At 7:30 am (local time), they marched in procession with Archbishop John Barwa, performing typical Sadri tribal dances. Mgr Barwa then read out the Bull proclaiming the Jubilee (Misericordiae Vultus).
The procession moved into the cathedral, where the archbishop opened the Holy Door that looks onto the Adoration Chapel. Elsewhere in the diocese, the deans of cathedrals opened three Holy Doors.
In Jehangirabad, the Archbishop of Bhopal Mgr Leo Cornelio, opened the Holy Door of the Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi at 8:30 am (local time). “The Extraordinary Holy Year is a gift of mercy,” Mgr Cornelio said in his homily during the Mass that followed the inauguration of the Jubilee.
“Going through the Holy Door,” he explained, “is to discover God’s infinite mercy that welcomes everyone and manifests itself in people so as to encounter each one of us.”
“This year each of us will grow more strongly through God’s mercy,” the prelate noted. “Can we feel part of this mystery of love? Today we pass through the Holy Door and remember another door, the one the Synod Fathers of the Second Vatican Council opened to the world 50 years ago.”
“That was meant as a renewed encounter with people,” he added, “with where they live: cities, homes, and workplace. Wherever people are, the Church is called to approach them and bring to them the joy of the Gospel.”
Finally, Mgr Bernard Moras, archbishop of Bangalore, opened the Holy Year of Mercy in St Francis Xavier Cathedral in the suburb of Fraser Town. The ceremony took place at 5 pm (local time), in the presence of several priests, religious and laity.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Global Players: Asian Giants Strengthen Positions in Africa
The new global players China, Japan and India are on course for the next ‘African campaign’. The continent is once again the object of attention of the world’s leading States, wrote Vladimir Terekhov.
“The irony of historical process in this case is in the fact that some time ago the first two themselves were objects of severely ferocious colonial policy. Today, all three of them are quite successfully conquering hearts and souls of Africans with economic tools.”
Recently China’s President Xi Jinping, made a trip to the African continent where he attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC. The Forum is held since every year since 2000, and this one took place in Johannesburg on December 4-5, 2015.
During the forum, Xi Jinping announced that within the next three years China will allocate $60 billion in order to support the operation of ten programs intended for solution of a wide range of problems, preventing full development of African countries.
As mentioned by Terekhov in his article, China had become the biggest competitor to the leading Western States in the sphere of economic relations with African countries.
“The total volume of Sino-African trade in Year 2014 amounted to $222 billion. Republic of South Africa and Nigeria are the main trade partners of China at the continent.
The turnover with each of them is close to 30 billion US Dollars,” Terekhov wrote for the New Eastern Outlook.
It should be noted that more than half of Chinese subsidies allocated annually to provide various kinds of overseas projects go to Africa. Currently, Beijing implements more than 2,600 projects worth about 94 billion US Dollars on the continent.
Talking about China’s recent visit to Africa, Terekhov noted that during his visit, Xi Jinping also met with President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe. His other most notable negotiations were with the leaders of Republic of South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, that is, with three of the leading African countries.
Similarly, India and Japan, are also stepping up their presence in Africa. The main platform of development of relations with African leaders for the first of them is the India-Africa Forum Summit, IAFS.
Terekhov explained that the outcome of the summit’s third meeting, held in New Delhi October 26-29, 2015, has become an extensive joint declaration “Partners in Progress: Towards a Dynamic and Transformative Development Agenda”. “This document, being rather a memorandum of understanding, affects virtually all aspects of bilateral inter-State relations.”
Looking at Japan it can be said that Japan has significantly greater resources for global competition with China. The strategy of ‘close personal custody’ is being observed in Africa, according to Terekhov.
As noted the author, these top Asian players operate in Africa within the presence of former European metropolises and the United States.
“Washington, apparently, faces the necessity of a radical change of foreign policy, with which their own interests (including those in Africa) will prevail over the grounds to maintain ally relations with the leading European countries. In this regard, much may be clarified in the course and by the results of the upcoming presidential race in the United States.”
Terekhov mentioned that there is a relative invisibility of the political processes flow around the African continent.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina Axes Controversial Tax on Grain Exports
Argentina’s new pro-business president announced Monday he was eliminating a tax on grain exports and cutting levies on exports of soy.
All of those taxes, introduced in 2008, had triggered a major clash with producers and the government then in power.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Angela Merkel: Criticism After German Chancellor Made Time Magazine Person of the Year
Critics said Time magazine’s decision to recognise the controversial Chancellor’s achievements showed that her rich, left-wing supporters are hopelessly out of touch with the societal consequences of mass migration.
The award was also met with fury in Greece, where Mrs Merkel has become a figure of hate over Germany’s perceived leading role in the crushing financial constraints which have kept the country locked in a devastating economic depression.
In a gushing eulogy Time editor Nancy Gibbs called the 61-year-old the “Chancellor of the Free World” and praised her leading roles in both the refugee and the Greek debt crises.
But the American magazine’s decision to honour her with the high-profile award went down less well in Germany itself, where there is deep unrest over the huge numbers of migrants streaming in every day from the Middle East.
Felix Steiner, an editor at state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, said writers in New York who were praising Mrs Merkel’s open door migration policy had no idea about the impact it has had on German communities.
In a scathing attack he called them a “politically left-intellectual group of high earners in a country that receives virtually no refugees”.
Mr Steiner added: “The haunted ones are the cities and municipalities that are being forced to take in ever more refugees and have no idea how they will ever be able to house and care for them.”…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
EU Urges Italy to Fingerprint Migrants by Force if Necessary
EU, Merkel press Italy to set up more hotspots
(ANSA) — Brussels, December 14 — The European Commission on Monday asked Italy to take migrants’ fingerprints by force if necessary, and to hold anyone who resists attempts at identification, according to a report ANSA saw Monday.
The report also said only one of six designated hotspots, or migrant identification facilities, are operational in Italy. “The Commission expects two more (hotspots) at Pozzallo and Porto Empedocle to be opened within days,” according to the report to be published Tuesday.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano earlier defended Italy’s migrant and refugee facilities amid calls from Brussels for Italy to “do more” to identify the newcomers.
The European Commission said last Thursday that it has opened an infringement procedure against Italy for failing to respect the rules on the collection of the fingerprints of asylum seekers upon entry into Europe.
Greece and Croatia have also been hit with the procedure.
The move regards the alleged failure to correctly implement the Eurodac Regulation, which demands the fingerprinting of asylum seekers and transmission of data to the Eurodac central system within 72 hours.
“We are intransigent on the photographing and fingerprinting of migrants,” Alfano said.
“We are close to 100%”.
His comments came ahead of a meeting in Milan with EU Immigration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos over the infringement procedures.
“Europe open a procedure of thanks instead, because had we not saved thousands of lives Europe would now be covered in…shame,” Alfano added. On Tuesday Brussels is expected to publish a report on the steps taken by Italy and Greece to set up so-called ‘hotspots’ for identifying and sorting migrants and refugees. Of the six hotspots planned for Italy only one has been created so far, sources in Brussels said. Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she “expected Italy and Greece to create the hotspots and to do so in such a way that migrants are not only registered, but also redistributed or sent home”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fear, Anger and Hatred: The Rise of Germany’s New Right
For years, a sense of disillusionment has been growing on the right. Now, the refugee crisis has magnified that frustration. Increasingly, people from the very center of society are identifying with the movement — even as political debate coarsens and violence increases.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of “Refugees” Caught With Images of ISIS Flags, Severed Heads on Their Phones
Police raise alarm about asylum seekers entering Norway.
Authorities have discovered images of ISIS flags and severed heads on the cellphones of hundreds of asylum seekers crossing into Norway, highlighting concerns about terrorists exploiting the migrant crisis to infiltrate jihadists into Europe.
Nettavisen reports that an “explosion” of refugees crossing into the country in recent months meant that the Police Immigration Service (PU) had to register the migrants quickly.
According to the report, after searching luggage and mobile phones belonging to migrants, police have logged “hundreds” of examples of “photos and videos of executions and brutal punishments, such as images of people holding up severed heads or hands.”
Authorities also discovered numerous examples of ISIS flags and symbols belonging to other terrorist organizations.
Erik Haugland, head of Norway’s asylum program, said that the images may be on the phones for innocent reasons, but that some individuals had likely downloaded the photos because they supported or were affiliated with terrorist groups.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary PM Orban on Refugees: ‘Continent Looks Like a Battlefield’
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has slammed European Union leaders who are against his call to prevent refugees from entering the bloc, calling them “weak, unsure and powerless” saying the “continent looks like a battlefield.”
Orban — who has announced he is running for a third time as PM in 2018 and is keen to build on anti-immigration sentiment — has been a strong opponent of the open doors policy, espoused by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Hungarian PM has been a strong opponent of calls for a EU quota system to relocate refugees arriving in Europe to each member state under a formula based on population and economic factors.
Hungary has joined Slovakia in taking the EU to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg over the proposed mandatory quota mechanism which would see Hungary forced to admit 2,300 and Slovakia 800 refugees.
“The continent looks like a battlefield and the worse is yet to come. How many more will hit the road, heading for Europe? I believe it’s millions, or tens of millions,” Orban told his party’s conference.”
He said the bloc was being “invaded” by migrants:
“We will protect our borders (and) Hungarian people from criminals, terrorists (and) illegal immigrants.”
He also took a swipe at some of the pillars of the EU, saying there needed to be a return to common sense and national pride. “[Europe and] its people today believe in superficial and secondary things: in human rights, progress, openness, new kinds of families, tolerance,” Orban said. “These are nice and sweet things, but essentially, they are secondary,” he told the conference.
Hungary built a 175-km (109M) razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia and then built another 40-km (25M) razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia before announcing in October 2015 that it would completely close off its border with Croatia to migrants.
Only 200 Relocated Out of 160,000
There is a deep division within Europe over the refugee crisis, with some countries blaming Germany and Sweden for having precipitated the mass movement of people by declaring their door open to refugees from Syria and other war-torn countries.
In mid-November, the European Commission conceded: “The measures proposed by the Commission and adopted by the Council [in September] to relocate 160,000 people in clear need of international protection will allow for a significant, if partial, reduction of the pressure on the most affected Member States.”
However, it conceded that — so far — only just under 200 people have been relocated under the scheme, with many member states either refusing to take them in, or slowing down the process of admitting them.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Vows to Reduce Refugee Influx But Rejects Cap
German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Monday to “tangibly” stem a massive refugee influx to quell a rebellion in her conservative ranks but firmly rebuffed calls to slam the door shut.
At a pivotal party congress of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Merkel said Germany would pursue a range of measures to stanch the flow of asylum seekers, slated to number around one million people this year.
But after weeks of damaging infighting in which the right wing of the party demanded an upper limit on newcomers, Merkel insisted Germany would continue to live up to its “humanitarian responsibilities”.
“We want to tangibly reduce the number of refugees arriving,” Merkel said to applause.
“With an approach focused on the German, European and global level, we will succeed in regulating and limiting migration.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Pours Oil on Troubled CDU Waters Over Refugee Crisis
After weeks of growing tensions over the refugee crisis within Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Chancellor Angela Merkel now seems to have reunited her party. DW’s Kate Brady reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia: Wire Fence Along Istria’s Border With Croatia
Resident population expressed disappointment
(ANSA) — LJUBLJANA, DEC. 13 — Yesterday Slovenia started building a metal fence even along the Istrian border with Croatia, near the Rakitove and Dragonja crossings, not far from the border between Slovenia and Italy, so as to stem a possible flow of refugees. The operation involves about one hundred military: 60 soldiers at Dragonja and 30 at Rakitovec.
According to Slovenian media, the construction of the fence has caused a general disappointment among the population of Istria, who are arguing, among other things, that the border between Slovenia and Croatia in Istria is far less likely to be crossed by migrants. Even the mayor of Piran, Peter Bossman, expressed “deep disappointment”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) There’s no more trying to cover up the truth about Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider. Despite what you may have heard, Planned Parenthood does not offer women mammograms, nor does it really do anything noteworthy in the “women’s health” department other than murder unwanted babies in the womb for profit.
And this isn’t speculation — it’s right from the horse’s mouth! Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards was forced to admit this dirty truth during a recent hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during which she openly confessed that not a single Planned Parenthood clinic has a mammogram machine (did you hear that Obama?).
In the immediate aftermath of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) release of undercover videos depicting Planned Parenthood employees bartering aborted baby body parts in exchange for cold cash, the mainstream media went wild claiming that Planned Parenthood does more than just terminate unborn human lives — Planned Parenthood also provides mammograms to irradiate women to detect breast cancer, we are told.
But this isn’t the truth, and Richards ‘fessed up to this after being pressed under oath to address the fact that none of the roughly 700 Planned Parenthood locations nationwide even have a mammogram machine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
School Principal Bans Santa, Thanksgiving and Pledge of Allegiance
Santa Claus is banned. The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited. “Harvest festival” has replaced Thanksgiving, and “winter celebrations” substitute for Christmas parties.
New principal Eujin Jaela Kim has given PS 169 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a politically correct scrub-down, to the dismay of teachers and parents.
[Comment: Another communist graduate of teachers college.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On a superficial level, the agreement, which is to take effect in 2020, appears ambitious in terms of the goals it sets and its universal participation. In reality, however, what emerged from Paris was the folly of a massive give-away to bribe the so-called developing nations to participate…
In truth, these various provisions are little more than glaze to cover over the massive wealth redistribution scheme that lies at the heart of the agreement. The phrase “common but differentiated responsibility” has served as the guiding principle of the negotiations. It is based on the redistributionist notion of “climate justice” or “equity,” which casts the developed countries as the source of the problem of man-made climate change and the developing countries as the innocent victims. According to the “common but differentiated responsibility” principle, all nations in theory have a “common” responsibility to protect the environment in order to save the planet. However, it is the developed countries that must bear the real burden to substantially cut their own emissions on an accelerated timetable. And it is the developed countries who are legally bound to pay for whatever voluntary steps the developing countries decide to take to reduce their emissions over time and to adapt to alleged climate change impacts within their borders.
In a moment of rare candor following his usual exhortations about the need for urgent action to address climate change, Secretary of State John Kerry admitted the obvious. No matter what drastic steps the United States takes to reduce its own carbon emissions, the problem said to be created by man-made carbon emissions will remain basically the same:
[Comment: Puppet Obama doing his part to increase debt — all part of Cloward-Piven strategy to bankrupt the USA.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Of course. Who is going to raise the alarm on those raising the alarm on the lost fools blathering away with no courage to do the right thing and act against the Evil Muslim cult. Have any of these backward dopey liberal people read the Koran? Far more shocking stuff there to raise the alarm about than you could sheikh a death rattle at. Wholesale armed hostile invasion. Muslim combatants under orders to connect with their on the ground leaders at the nearest mosque as soon as possible after bafflling the pathetic enemy at the gate with bs.
Angela Merkel makes the statement “multiculturalism is a sham” If this is coming from Angela Merkel herself it is a non starter, if she is telegraphing some change in strategy by *TWMNBM who pull her strings then it is a huge story and I would expect to see the same shift in strategy here when *TWMNBM begin tugging on Obama’s strings likewise and leading him in the same direction. It is pointless to watch someone like Merkel or Obama or Trump or Hilary when the real strategies are coming from elsewhere, coming from illegally from *TWMNBM and *GTMNBM HQ. I expect it is all just some hand waving to snow job her own party
: )
see here
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/12/14/angela-merkel-multiculturalism-a-sham.html