The German government has admitted that 600,000 “refugees” (more than half the total number that arrived in 2015) have gone missing. They may have absconded to other EU countries, or they may still be in Germany — there’s no way to tell.
In other news, a man with a gun entered a school in northern Saskatchewan and shot seven people, killing five of them (some reports say four). Many observers expressed surprise that such a tragedy could occur in Canada, which has very strict gun control laws.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Dean, ESW, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, KGS, LP, MM, RRN, 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.
Bail-in Decided Together Says Dijsselbloem
Banking woes ‘due to legacy from past’ says Eurogroup chief
(ANSA) — Davos, January 21 — Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told ANSA Thursday that “the decision on the bail-in was taken together…and it’s fundamental to have a perfectly functioning banking union”. He was answering a question on why, when many northern European countries have been able in the past to rescue banks entirely with public money, that option has now been removed for Italy because of the bail-in rules. Banking woes linked to non-performing loans and exacerbated by the new bail-in rules are due to the fact that “certain countries have brought behind them legacies from the past,” Dijsselbloem said, replying to a question on why banking stocks have been taking a beating, especially in Italy. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Dijsselbloem added that “it is now impossible to go back” on the new rules that have been adopted.
A bail-in forces the borrower’s creditors to bear some of the burden by having part of the debt they are owed written off.
The new bail-in rules were approved by the European Central bank in October.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
China’s GDP Growth Could be Only 5% as Strong Doubts Are Raised on Chinese Statistics
The stated GDP increase of 6.9% in 2015 is based on data manipulated by provincial authorities. They tend to inflate figures on investment, consumption, wages, trade, projects, and tax revenue. Xinhua reports allegations to this effect.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — Chinese economic growth of 6.9% for 2015, the lowest in the last 25 years, presented by the National Office of Statistics, could be even lower. Several observers say that looking at other indicators China’s economy growth in 2015 could be much smaller.
According to some (anonymous) economists, quoted in today’s edition of the South China Morning Post, growth might not exceed 5%.
Wang Baoan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, presenting the data two days ago, defended their accuracy, but the problem lies with the data used.
However, Xinhua reported last month that the authorities in northeastern China had falsified economic data for years, causing distorted political decisions and leading to corruption cases. Economic data were inflated to show the success of authorities or provincial secretaries, as in the days of Mao Zedong. Data were falsified in many domains: GDP growth, investment, consumption, trade, as well as income and substandard housing area renovation.
Businessmen in southern China told AsiaNews that at least once a year they are invited by the Party secretary to propose huge projects and fake investments, that will not be realized, but are used to draw up inflated budgets and false revenue from taxation that can exceed the 50% of the real figures.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Draghi Says Inflation Prospects Less Rosy
ECB chief cites low oil prices, emerging economies’ growth
(ANSA) — Davos, January 22 — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Friday that hopes of lifting eurozone inflation rates that are considered dangerously low have been hit. “There is less cause for optimism about inflation prospects,” Draghi said at a meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Draghi added that this is “not just die to the strong fall in oil prices” but also because of “the downward revision of the growth prospects of the emerging economies”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Padoan: Visco Huddle With Renzi on Banks’ Bourse Woes
Juncker sees no risk of bigger crisis
(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday conferred with Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco on the turbulence that has hit Italian banking stocks this week. Government sources said that the turbulence was being monitored “with great collaboration, harmony and attention by competent authorities in the awareness of the complexity of the situation and in the conviction that past and future measures by lawmakers will help some banks in a process of integration that is more necessary than ever”.
Several Italian lenders are under intense pressure due to investors’ concerns about the number of non-performing loans on their balance sheets. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday he did “not see the risk of a bigger banking crisis” when asked about the market turbulence that has hit Italian banking stocks particularly hard. Padoan said that, despite the “turbulence”, “there is an underlying solidity of the Italian system that is going forward and…is considered one of the most trustworthy and attractive for investments”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Early Retirement Up 74% in 2015 Says INPS
523,536 new pensions issued last year, up 9.2% over 2014
(ANSA) — Rome, January 21 — Some 148,540 people took early retirement in 2015, up 74% over the previous year, State pensions and social security agency INPS said Thursday. The increase was linked to the effect of a change in retirement rules under the controversial December 2011 Fornero pension reform that raised the pensionable age and requirements for retirement on the basis of the number of years of social security contributions made.
This reform had forced many workers to postpone retirement after coming into effect.
Overall INPS issued 523,536 new pensions in 2015, up 9.2% over the previous year.
The number of ordinary retirement pensions and survivors’ pensions remained stable while the number of invalidity pensions fell by 15%, according to the institute.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Milan Bourse Builds on Thursday’s Gains
FTSE Mib up 1.78% in early trading
(ANSA) — Milan, January 22 — The Milan stock exchange made more gains on Friday amid bullish trading on the European markets after reassurances from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday.
Milan’s FTSE Mib index was up 1.78% in early trading on Friday, after closing up 4.2% on Thursday to recoup some of the heavily losses suffered earlier in the week.
The shares of some Italian banks that had been the centre of concerns about the number of non-performing loans they are laden with performed well again on Friday after registering big rises on Thursday.
Leading the way was troubled lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which was up 9.11% On Thursday Draghi said the ECB’s interest rates will stay long for a long time and that the bank is ready to do everything possible to lift eurozone inflation towards its target of slightly under 2%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Standard and Poor’s Upgrades Greece’s Credit Rating by One Notch to B-
Standard and Poor’s on Friday raised its credit rating for Greek debt by one notch, saying it expected Athens to meet the conditions attached to the latest bailout package.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Christian College’s Faculty Opposes Effort to Fire Professor for Comparing Christianity to Islam
The faculty council at an Illinois Christian college recommended Wednesday that the school end its effort to fire a professor who asserted while wearing a headscarf that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
Wheaton College Faculty Council chairman Lynn Cohick said in a letter to her colleagues that the council unanimously agreed the termination effort against associate political science professor Larycia Hawkins should “be withdrawn due to grave concerns about the process.”
Hawkins drew national attention when she began wearing a headscarf to show soldiarity with Muslims who had experienced what she called “vitriolic” rhetoric following the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks.
“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,” Hawkins wrote on social media. “And [as] Pope Francis stated … we worship the same God.”
The college placed Hawkins on leave, pending a full review of the “theological implications” of her comments. The college said it had no specific objection to Hawkins wearing a headscarf as a gesture of care and concern. But it also said that “overtures of Christian friendship must be enacted with theological clarity as well as compassion.”…
| — Hat tip: ESW | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Anti-BDS Bill Against Companies That Boycott Israel Unanimously Passes Florida Senate
The Florida State Senate in Tallahassee yesterday unanimously passed on Third Reading an anti-BDS bill SB 38 on “scrutinized companies” directed at companies boycotting Israeli companies. See the Florida Senate Legislation Tracker for the tally of those State Senators who cast the unanimous vote. The ‘scrutinized companies” Florida legislation would:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Google Paid Apple $1 Billion to Keep Search Bar on iPhone
Google Inc. is paying Apple Inc. a hefty fee to keep its search bar on the iPhone.
Apple received $1 billion from its rival in 2014, according to a transcript of court proceedings from Oracle Corp.’s copyright lawsuit against Google. The search engine giant has an agreement with Apple that gives the iPhone maker a percentage of the revenue Google generates through the Apple device, an attorney for Oracle said at a Jan. 14 hearing in federal court.
Rumors about how much Google pays Apple to be on the iPhone have circulated for years, but the companies have never publicly disclosed it. Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple, and Google spokesman Aaron Stein both declined to comment on the information disclosed in court.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Miami Doctor Faces Suspension Over Video of Her Attacking Uber Driver
A doctor at a Miami hospital is in danger of losing her job after video surfaced this week of her going on a profanity-laced rant and punching a Uber driver who wouldn’t give her a ride.
The YouTube video, viewed more than 1.4 million times as of Friday morning, led to the suspension of fourth-year neurology resident Anjali Ramkissoon from clinical duties with Jackson Health Systems, Miami Fox affiliate WSVN-TV reports.
“Jackson has launched an internal investigation,” the hospital said, according to the station. “The outcome of the investigation will determine if any disciplinary action will be taken, up to, and incluiding termination.”
On the video Ramkissoon, wearing white shorts and an orange shirt, slaps the Uber driver and kicks him in the groin.
After she is pushed to the ground, she gets up and jumps into the passenger seat of the Uber vehicle.
“Yeah, get in the (expletive) in car! Get the (expletive) in the car!” she says to the Uber driver. “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I bet they won’t. I bet they won’t. Get the (expletive) in the car you piece of (expletive). Get the (expletive) in the car!”
The video then shows her tossing papers and a cellphone out the window…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Miami Gardens Cop Shot and Commuters Scramble During “Ambush”
A gunman behind the wheel of an SUV shot an unsuspecting Miami Gardens police officer filling out an accident report next to his patrol car Friday morning, leading to a brief but wild rush hour chase that left cop cars pockmarked with bullet holes and a truck smashed and disabled at an intersection.
The officer, veteran David Starling, 52, was shot in the upper leg as he tried to take cover inside his patrol car. Wounded, he called in the make of the shooter’s vehicle and the direction it was headed, then gave chase.
The shooter was captured a few minutes later, but not before leaning out the window of the black BMW sport utility vehicle he was driving and firing at least eight times at a civilian and the officers chasing him, police said. When the BMW crashed into a white truck at the busy intersection of Northwest 183rd Street and 32nd Avenue, the man took off on foot.
Police caught up to him in a nearby backyard and took him into custody. No Miami Gardens police officer fired his weapon, Police Chief Antonio Brooklen said. Inside the shooter’s abandoned vehicle, police found the weapon allegedly used in the attack and shell casings.
The gunman had not been identified by early Friday afternoon as police contacted federal authorities and scoured databases for any possible links to a string of unprovoked attacks on cops this month. Starling was transported to Aventura Hospital and Medical Center with a non-life threatening injury.
“The violence against police officers in this country must stop. The violence against children must stop. The violence against our community must stop,” said Brooklen. “No one is exempt from violence.”…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
The Final Forecast: Crippling Blizzard Bears Down on Washington, D.C.
A dangerous and historic snowstorm is closing in on the D.C. area. It is one we will remember for years if not generations and will likely take many days to recover from.
A blizzard warning takes effect at 3 p.m. and continues through early Sunday morning. Light snow begins around midday and becomes heavier by the late afternoon. Wherever you are by late afternoon, plan to be there until at least Sunday or Monday.
[Why this incredible storm is so potent]
Overnight, the snow really starts to rip, and winds intensify. Through Saturday, the combination of strong winds and heavy snow may produce whiteout conditions which make travel difficult to impossible.
Total snow accumulations range from about 16 to 30 inches, the highest amounts to the north and west of the District, and lowest to the southeast into Southern Maryland.
Extremely heavy snow bands that remain nearly stationary over the same areas may produce some snow totals that exceed 30 inches. We cannot pinpoint these areas ahead of time but there is a small chance (15 percent or so) that 30 inch totals could impact the immediate metro area, though we favor areas in northwest Virginia, e.g. the higher elevations near Winchester.
Near and especially southeast of the District, there remains some potential for a dry slot that would interrupt the snow for a time Saturday and potentially result in a brief changeover from snow to sleet, cutting down accumulations…
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Who Had the Worst Week in Washington? Hillary Clinton.
For Hillary Clinton, it’s starting to look like deja vu all over again.
Start a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination as giant front-runner. Check. Raise tens of millions of dollars and look unbeatable for large swaths of the year before the primaries start. Check. An insurgent challenger running to her ideological left? Check. Collapsing poll numbers on the eve of actual votes? Check.
Over the past week or so, Clinton has watched as her national polling lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a self-avowed socialist, has shrunk. And, far more important, Clinton’s standing vis a vis Sanders in the key early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire has eroded as well.
In Iowa, after holding a high-single-digit lead (at worst) for months, Clinton now finds herself in a dead heat with the caucuses just over a week away. The Real Clear Politics polling average gives Clinton an edge of less than five points.
Sanders has always run stronger in New Hampshire than in Iowa, but of late several polls suggest that he is widening his steady lead over the former secretary of state. In the Real Clear Politics polling average, Sanders is up by almost 13 points.
Lose both of those states early next month, and Clinton’s inevitability bubble bursts. Period…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
5 Dead, 2 Critically Injured in Northern Saskatchewan School Shooting
The remote town of La Loche, Sask., is reeling after five people were killed and two critically wounded during a school shooting.
One person has been arrested, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed from an emergency press conference in Davos, Switzerland.
“We all grieve with and stand with the community of La Loche and the province of Saskatchewan on this terrible and tragic day,” Trudeau said.
It’s unclear whether staff members or students were amongst the victims.
The RCMP have released few details on the shooting but said they have investigators at the school and at a second location in the town.
The incident happened around 1 p.m. at Dene High School in La Loche, a remote town of approximately 3,000 people. It is located about 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
A male student told CTV Saskatoon that he saw a girl get shot inside a classroom. He then hid beneath a desk and called police…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Alleged ISIS Video ‘Threatens Italy’
Uses sequences from 1981 movie Lion of the Desert
(ANSA) — Rome, January 22 — A new propaganda video allegedly put together by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist terror group has emerged that threatens Italy and Turkey, British tabloid The Daily Mail reported Friday.
“We won’t stop until (our) flag flies over Constantinople (i.e. Istanbul) and Rome,” says the audio accompanied by sequences from Lion of the Desert, a 1981 Libyan historical action film financed by then-dictator Muammar Gaddafi. It stars Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar, a Berber Bedouin leader fighting the Italian army in the years leading up to World War II, and Oliver Reed as Italian General Rodolfo Graziani, who attempted to defeat Mukhtar.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French Parliamentarians Show Solidarity With Jews
“We will not accept a situation where people are afraid to express their Jewish identity.” -Meir Habib
(Israel)—French members of parliament, Meir Habib and Claude Goasguen, joined the movement to show solidarity with the Jews of France by wearing kippahs (skullcaps) on Wednesday to the National Assembly in a display that is usually not allowed in the French parliament given the country’s principle of “secularism” and prohibition against wearing religious articles in official or state locations, such as schools. (Photo via Breaking Israel News)
Habib is Jewish, though does not normally wear the head covering in public. He explained his action by saying that, “freedom of religion is a central value in France” and that removing kippahs would deliver a “dangerous message we are surrendering to terrorism. We will not accept a situation where people are afraid to express their Jewish identity,” he continued. “What will haredi (Orthodox) Jews do? Shave their beards? The problem is more general and concerns all of France.”…
| — Hat tip: RRN | [Return to headlines] |
French Livid Over Pamela Anderson’s Foie Gras Crusade
Hollywood bombshell Pamela Anderson has feathers flying in the French parliament, where she was expected Tuesday to support a ban on force-feeding ducks and geese to make the French delicacy foie gras.
The 48-year-old former Baywatch star and Playboy model was invited to the French parliament by a member of the green EELV party, which wants to introduce a draft law to ban the controversial practice.
ADVERTISINGThe Canadian-born actress, now a militant animal rights activist who campaigns against fur, leather and animal testing, is due to give a press conference at the parliament…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Gazprom: ENI Pledge to Maximize Sales of Russian Gas in Italy
Russian energy company Gazprom’s CEO Alexei Miller and Italian Eni’s head Claudio Descalzi pledged to cooperate on maximization of Russian natural gas deliveries to Italy, according to a press release issued by Eni on Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the release, the two officials earlier in the day met in Moscow where they discussed gas market prices on the continent.
“The two companies have also reiterated the close partnership in the Italian gas market and have committed to take the necessary measures to maximize the sales of Russian gas within the long-term contracts existing between the parties,” the press release reads.
In 2014, Gazprom provided Italy, the second largest consumer of Russian gas in the European Union, with 21.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary, Slovenia Urge Fencing Off of Greece to Keep Migrants Out
Hungary and Slovenia on Friday urged the erection of a fence along Greece’s northern border, effectively sealing off the EU’s passport-free Schengen area to migrants seeking to enter the bloc via the western Balkans.
Both countries criticised Greece — the asylum-seekers’ first entry point into the bloc after crossing from Turkey — for failing to protect its sea borders.
“Just complaining that Greece is not protecting its borders isn’t enough,” Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a joint news conference with Slovenian counterpart Miro Cerar…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Says Flexibility is Rule, Not Concession
Recent tension between Brussels and Rome over several issues
(ANSA) — Rome, January 21 — Premier Matteo Renzi has said that budget flexibility was part of the European Union’s rules and not a gift that the Commission has granted Italy. There has been tension recently between Renzi’s executive and Jean-Claude Juncker’s commission over several issues, including budget flexibility. Last week Juncker blasted Renzi for allegedly attacking the EU executive at “every opportunity” and the Commission has said Rome is enjoying more flexibility than any other member State. “European flexibility is not a concession,” Renzi said in an interview published in Thursday edition of financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. “It is a European Union rule, a precise commitment from Juncker and his team. I haven’t changed my mind and I don’t think he has either”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt to Make ‘Great Investment’ In Teachers With New Recruitment Says Renzi
‘Maximum, maximum demand for quality’ says PM
(ANSA) — Rome, January 21 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday the government was going to set up a competitive exam to recruit 63,712 new teachers. He said it was “a great investment on schools”, adding that he hoped the new teachers could start work in September. Renzi said the new recruitment exam would entail “a choice linked to the quality of women and men of schools, they are the most precious asset because we give them our children.” He stressed the importance of “the maximum, maximum demand for quality from all points of view”. The government’s school reforms, when they come into force, will end an unhealthy dependence on substitute teachers that Renzi dubbed ‘substitute-itis’. “Substitute-itis will end when the reforms go into force,” he said, saying “it will take two or three years”. Renzi added: “a great investment must be made on head teachers so that they make full use of autonomy”.
The premier said reforms have already meant that teachers who have been in temporary jobs “for 20 years” have been hired full-time.
The new teacher recruitment drive via competitive exam will involve “around 200,000 candidates,” Education Minister Stefania Giannini said. She said the exam would involve computerized written exams but not quiz-type exams, and a quarter of the questions would be in a foreign language. “One out of three will get in, obviously, if they do well in the tests,” she said, stressing that the exam would make sure quality was rewarded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
No Fallout From ‘Virile’ Italy-EU Exchange Says Juncker
EC chief blasted Renzi for offending Commission
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 20 — There will be no negative fallout from a verbal scuffle between Italy and the European Commission, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters Wednesday. “Relations between the Commission and the Italian government, between commissioners, and between myself and my Italian colleagues and the premier (Matteo Renzi) are good,” he said. “There was a exchange of masculine, virile words, but this is normal in times of democracy and will have no consequences,” Juncker said. Last week Juncker blasted Renzi for offending the EU executive at “every opportunity”. There has been tension between Rome and Brussels in recent months over several issues, including the refugee crisis, budget flexibility and bank rescues. Renzi said on Facebook Tuesday that Italy has regained its leadership role and that those who do not like it must “deal with it”.
Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici tried to take the heat out of the row on Wednesday, saying the Commission has no quarrel with Italy. “The Commission can’t be accused of acting against Italy — this is absolutely wrong,” he said, adding he respects Italy, a founding member of the European Union, and Premier Matteo Renzi’s reform drive. “There is no war (with Italy),” he said. “We must lower the tensions and work together with maximum objectivity,” he said on the sidelines of the January 20-23 World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.
On Tuesday a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European People’s Party (EPP) caucus leader Manfred Weber, fed the row by saying Renzi was undermining the EU’s credibility.
But Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert on Wednesday denied that the German government was behind criticism of Renzi. “When Jean-Claude Juncker speaks, he speaks as president of the European Commission,” Seibert said.
Italian government sources said Deputy Industry Minister Carlo Calenda will on Wednesday be tapped as Italy’s new ambassador to the European Union, replacing Stefano Sannino.
Calenda’s appointment will be formalised at a cabinet meeting Wednesday night, they said. Calenda will be the first career politician to be named as envoy to Brussels after a string of career diplomats.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Signs of Thaw Between Juncker Commission, Renzi Govt
No fallout from ‘virile’ Italy-EU exchange says Juncker
(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — There will be no negative fallout from a verbal scuffle between Italy and the European Commission, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters Wednesday. “Relations between the Commission and the Italian government, between commissioners, and between myself and my Italian colleagues and the premier (Matteo Renzi) are good,” he said. “There was a exchange of masculine, virile words, but this is normal in times of democracy and will have no consequences,” Juncker said. Last week Juncker blasted Renzi for offending the EU executive at “every opportunity”. There has been tension between Rome and Brussels in recent months over several issues, including the refugee crisis, budget flexibility and bank rescues. Renzi said on Facebook Tuesday that Italy has regained its leadership role and that those who do not like it must “deal with it”.
He returned to the issue on Wednesday, saying that the European Union was a great opportunity if the bloc drops the path of financial austerity. “Europe is a great opportunity if it abandons the path of austerity and takes the road of (budget) flexibility,” Renzi told the Senate ahead of a vote on his government’s Constitutional reform bill to overhaul Italy’s political machinery.
Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici tried to take the heat out of the row on Wednesday, saying the Commission has no quarrel with Italy. “The Commission can’t be accused of acting against Italy — this is absolutely wrong,” he said, adding he respects Italy, a founding member of the European Union, and Premier Matteo Renzi’s reform drive. “There is no war (with Italy),” he said. “We must lower the tensions and work together with maximum objectivity,” he said on the sidelines of the January 20-23 World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.
On Tuesday a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European People’s Party (EPP) caucus leader Manfred Weber, fed the row by saying Renzi was undermining the EU’s credibility.
But Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert on Wednesday denied that the German government was behind criticism of Renzi. “When Jean-Claude Juncker speaks, he speaks as president of the European Commission,” Seibert said.
Later on Wednesday the cabinet is set to appoint Junior Industry Minister Carlo Calenda as Italy’s new ambassador to the European Union, replacing Stefano Sannino.
Calenda will be the first career politician to be named as envoy to Brussels after a string of career diplomats.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spike Lee ‘Racist to Whites’ In Oscars Row: UK Actress Charlotte Rampling
British actress Charlotte Rampling, nominated for a best actress Oscar this year, said Friday that black US director Spike Lee was “racist to whites” for his stance over this year’s all-white nominations lineup.
“It’s in the other direction, it’s racist… to whites,” Rampling, nominated for her role in Andrew Haigh’s romantic drama “45 Years”, told French radio.
“You can never know for sure, but maybe black actors did not deserve to be in the final selection,” Rampling, 69, said in French on Europe 1 radio.
She also rejected Lee’s idea that the Academy Awards should have quotas to level the playing field for minorities in the Oscars chase…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland ‘Made Secret Deal With PLO’ After Bomb Attacks
Controversy is growing in Switzerland over an alleged secret deal, made almost 50 years ago, between the Swiss government and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
The agreement, detailed in a new book, was apparently designed to prevent terrorist attacks on Swiss territory.
In return, Switzerland would offer diplomatic support to the PLO.
It followed a series of attacks in 1969 and 1970 by Palestinian groups that caused huge concern in Switzerland.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya’s Chaos: Threat to the West
by Mohamed Chtatou
ISIS badly needs Libya for its operations in North Africa: to spread its paramilitary brigades, to organize its terrorist networks and, most importantly, to prepare its political pawns, after the chaos, to take over power.
“Over the last four years, Libya has become a key node in the expansion of Islamic radicalism across North Africa… and into Europe. If events in Libya continue on their current path, they will likely haunt the United States and its Western allies for a decade or more.” — Ethan Chorin, Foreign Policy.
ISIS taking control of North Africa, the soft underbelly of Europe, would amount to it getting ready to recapture, by terror and force, al-Andalus from the Catholic Christians of Spain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Protests: Extraordinary Meeting of Parliament
Demonstrations continue in at least 16 governatorates
TUNIS — Tunisian Parliament convened at the Bardo, this morning, for an extraordinary meeting to address the social and security situation in the country, President Mohamed Ennaucer announced.
Demonstrations which began in Kasserine spread to at least 16 of the 24 Tunisian administrative governatorates. Protests have turned violent and could compromise the country’s stability.
Parliament, today, will set the date for another extraordinary meeting with the government to tackle the issue of youth unemployment, affecting both high school and university graduates, at the root of current demonstrations.
Demonstrations carried on late into the night, yesterday.
Some 300 demonstrators in Jendouba (north-west) invaded the seat of the governatorate demanding the governor’s resignation and similar scenes were witnessed in Beja and Kairouane.
In Sfax, a delegation of Shkira, tires were burnt and the state highway was blocked.
Scuffles erupted and tear gas was used in Sidi Bouzid, Medenine, Siliana, Tozeur, Mahdia, Kef, Sousse, Sfax. Yesterday afternoon, tensions were also running high in Kasserine where demonstrations first began last Saturday.
Police forces moved back and let the army take their place in in El Hamma and in Souk Lahad and a police station was set on fire.
Riots also broke out in the evening in the outskirts of Tunis in cité Ettadhamen and Soukra.
Authorities fear the presence of terrorist infiltrators among the demonstrators, especially in the Kasserine region.
Tunisian premier Essid who was attending the Davos Forum, decided to cut his visit short and head back home to confront the serious situation. International meetings, including a trip to France today, were cancelled.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Imposes Nationwide Curfew Amid Spreading Unrest
Tunisia imposed a nationwide overnight curfew Friday in response to growing unrest as protests over unemployment across the country descended into violence in some cities.
The week of increasingly violent demonstrations was triggered Sunday when a young man who lost out on a government job climbed a transmission tower in protest and was electrocuted. The suicide more than five years ago of another unemployed youth set off a popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia’s longtime ruler and eventually gave rise to the “Arab Spring” uprisings across North Africa.
Tunisia built the only democracy to survive that movement, which spawned chaos elsewhere in the region. But the country’s economy is foundering, and about one in three young people remains without work.
Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since a suicide bombing in November killed 12 members of the presidential guard in the heart of Tunis — an attack that capped an unusually violent year for Tunisia. That bombing, as well as deadly attacks earlier in the year against the Bardo museum in Tunis and the tourist beach town of Sousse, were claimed by the Islamic State group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Coordinated Assault
“I’m proud of him.”
That’s what the father of Dafna Meir’s murderer said when the Palestinian media asked him what he thinks of his cold-blooded son Murad Adais.
On Sunday afternoon, Adais butchered Meir in her home, in front of her children.
Whether Adais Sr. is really happy that his son will rot in prison is less important than the fact that he said what he said to his home crowd.
He knows that his audience thinks his son is a hero. And so he played to his audience…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese President in Tehran for First Visit in 14 Years
Iranian state TV is reporting that the Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Tehran to hold talks with Iranian officials about future economic and political cooperation.
State TV quotes Ebrahim Rahimpour, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Asia and Pacific affairs, as saying the Chinese president is in Tehran with a high-ranking political and economic delegation at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart President Hassan Rouhani.
“This is the first visit by a Chinese president in 14 years,” Rahimpour said, “During his one-day official trip, it is expected to visit Iran’s supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Rouhani.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Firefighters Battle Libya Oil Facility Blaze
Firefighters on Friday battled a blaze at an oil facility in northern Libya for a second day, an official said, after an assault by jihadists aiming to seize export terminals.
Libya’s internationally-recognised government, meanwhile, called for Western air strikes to repel the jihadists.
“Four storage tanks together containing around two million barrels of crude oil are on fire,” said a security official in the Ras Lanouf region along Libya’s northern coast.
The blaze in one of the tanks is beyond control “and we expect it to collapse at any moment”, he said. “We are now working on putting out the fires in the other three tanks.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Cleric Calls Chess ‘Work of the Devil, ‘ Issues Fatwa
Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa against chess, saying it is like gambling and is forbidden by God. The mufti said the game was a waste of time and stirred enmity among people.
“Chess is like alcohol and gambling that God has forbidden,” Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh announced in one of his broadcasts that has appeared frequently in the last months.
The cleric expressed his views in a Saudi religious television channel called Almajd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Jails Woman for ‘Obscene Hand Gesture at Erdogan’
A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to almost a year in jail for making an obscene hand gesture at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an anti-government protest in 2014, reports said Tuesday.
Filiz Akinci was convicted of making an offensive hand gesture at Erdogan — then prime minister — while his bus was passing on his way to a rally for local elections in the western city of Izmir in March 2014.
In the sixth hearing of the trial on Wednesday, the court in Izmir sentenced Akinci, an economist and a mother-of-two, to 11 months and 20 days in jail, Dogan news agency reported.
The court had originally sentenced her to six months in jail, but doubled it because the “victim” was a public official, Dogan added…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Life After Sanctions: Will Iranian Goods ‘Conquer’ Russian Market?
While the Russian embargo on the food and other imports from Turkey is in place, Iranian producers are ready to replace Turkish products and export them to Russia.
Director of the Organization of Industry, Trade and Mines in the Iranian province of Mazandaran, Mohammad Mohammadpour, said that Iran can replace Turkey and become Russia’s key partner in the food and agricultural sector.
“Our climate enables farming all year around. That is confirmed by the figures: today Iran is among the ten largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the world,” the economist said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik Persian.
According to him, Iran is holding leading positions in the production of pistachios, dates and saffron.
“We are proud of the fact that our potential has not been exhausted,” Mohammadpour said.
In his opinion, Iran and Russia are not only friends, but real allies: the countries created a coalition on the basis of their strategic interests.
According to the economist, Iranian economic and business circles maintain constant contact with Russian top officials and look forward to a broad economic cooperation between the two countries.
The current political situation, namely Russia’s deteriorating relations with Turkey, plays a significant role in the rapprochement between the two countries. However, Mohammadpour argued, it is not a decisive factor for Iran’s willingness to expand cooperation with Russia.
“Those who say Iran is solely using the current political environment and seeking to conquer the Russian market in this way, are wrong. The history of relations between our peoples goes back to the distant past. We are geographically separated, but economically united by the Caspian Sea,” the economist argued.
Earlier, in an interview with Sputnik Persian, Hedayat Asghari, the executive director of the Iranian Trade Association, outlined the prospects of replacing Turkish fruit, meat and fish with Iranian produce in the Russian market.
Hedayat Asghari said that an Iranian delegation had already clinched a preliminary agreement with a Moscow-based wholesale company on the supply of Iranian fruits and vegetables to the Russian capital.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Official Defends $150mln Afghanistan Villas to Get Business Going
The millions of US taxpayer dollars spent building ornate villas in Afghanistan under the Department of Defense’s Afghanistan business task force was a way to get investment started, US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Brian McKeon told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — According to whistleblower reports in December 2015, the villas remained mostly empty after they were built, except for a small number of visitors and the US security personnel who reportedly stayed in them.
“I think there was an understandable imperative and desire on the part of the commanding generals [in Afghanistan] to get something going, recognizing it was high cost,” McKeon said on Wednesday.
McKeon faced questioning from Senator Claire McCaskill asking about villas built at a cost of approximately $150 million in Afghanistan under the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations in Afghanistan (TFBSO).
“This is a terrible waste of taxpayer money,” McCaskill stated after describing the luxury accommodations including queen sized beds, 27 inch flat screen televisions, and a separate investor villa with upgraded furnishings.
McKeon agreed that the villas did sound “quite exorbitant,” but added that he is “not a businessman.” When pressed on the poor record keeping at the Defense Department, McKeon explained that accounting for contracts and money spent is “far from [its] core competence.”
The TFBSO was a unique Defense Department program in effect from 2010 through 2014, whose director reported to the Secretary of Defense on efforts to improve stability and economic opportunity in war-torn Afghanistan.
According to independent investigation by the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Defense Department largely failed to keep records of contracts and purchases.
Over the course of its four year existence, the Task Force was authorized to spend $822 million. A full audit has not yet been conducted on the TFBSO, but members of the Senate Armed Services Committee said on Wednesday they would follow up on the matter.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tajikistan’s Battle Against Beards to ‘Fight Radicalisation’
Shaving beards is part of a government campaign targeting trends that are deemed “alien and inconsistent with Tajik culture”.
Earlier this week, police in Tajikistan’s Khatlon region said that they had shaved the beards of nearly 13,000 men as part of an “anti-radicalisation campaign”.
The BBC spoke to nine other men who described similar experiences — being detained in the street and forcibly taken to the police department or a barber shop, where they were shaved.
The government campaign is explained by the need to fight radicalisation, amid fears that Central Asia might follow the path of countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria towards extremism.
According to official data, 99% of the Tajik population are Muslim. However, atheism was officially encouraged during 70 years of Soviet rule.
The campaign against Islamic practices also affects women. There is an official ban on wearing hijabs in schools and universities — but in practice it is enforced in all state institutions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
To Help Afghanistan, U.S. Blows Millions on Rare Blond Italian Goats That May Have Been Eaten
I get it guys, that’s a weird headline, but every word of it is absolutely true. Let me explain.
As part of the expansive reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, the United States has blown spent a ton of money, by some estimates as much as 725 billion dollars all things considered in the region. However, today the BBC is reporting on a truly strange endeavor, paid for by the United States, in the hopes of expanding and growing the local cashmere industry.
$4.2 million was spent to import a rare breed of blond Italian goats to the region, largely in the hopes of stimulating local job growth. The only problem?
According to Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction John Sopko, the goats may have been eaten.
Listen, don’t ever let the government in this country tell you that your tax dollars aren’t hard at work. According to the BBC:…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Monsanto Protests to Take Place in Latin American Countries
Protests against the US agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal will take place on Friday in Argentina, Peru and Chile, the organizers said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The event will start at 5 p.m local time (20:00 GMT) in various cities across Argentina, including capital Buenos Aires, and at 6 p.m. in the Peruvian capital of Lima and Santiago in Chile.
Almost 3,000 people have confirmed their attendance on the events’ respective Facebook pages.
“With the United States as the main driver and with rules tailored to large corporations this treaty clearly violates the sovereignty of people, it allows companies like Monsanto sue countries over not meeting their demands, privatize seeds and obtain control over food,” the organizers of the Buenos Aires event said about TPP.
Founded as a food additive company in 1901, Monsanto has grown to employ 22,000 people across 61 countries and is the world’s leading producer of genetically engineered seeds and chemical herbicides.
A 12-nation TPP pact, the wording of which was agreed between the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific Rim nations in October 2015, intends to deregulate trade among its signatories that together make up 40 percent of the world economy.
The details of the controversial free trade agreement, negotiated in unusual secrecy, have been revealed to the public after almost seven years of discussions. Opponents say the pact would undermine standards and regulations on environmental protection, health and safety, as well as workers’ rights.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Haiti Elections Postponed a Third Time
Haiti’s electoral authorities have postponed a presidential runoff election for a third time.
The chairman of the Electoral Council, Pierre-Louis Opont, said there had been security concerns.
Opposition candidate Jude Celestin has vowed to boycott the vote.
There have allegations of voting fraud in November’s first round elections, and street protests calling for the runoff to be postponed have turned violent at times.
The current Haitian President, Michel Martelly, is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.
Ruling party candidate Jovenel Moise, a banana exporter, won the largest share of the vote in November’s first round elections, with 33%, but fell short of a majority.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Above Law: Refugees in Sweden Can Drive Cars ‘Without Driver’s License’
From now on refugees can drive vehicles without having to show a driver’s license when stopped by police, the Swedish newspaper Fria Tider reported, citing Sveriges Radio.
A Swedish court dismissed the case of a young man from Bosnia, who was caught operating a car without a driving permit. The man told judges that he actually had a driver’s license in his country of origin, but had lost it nine months ago when he moved to Sweden.
Although the man did not prove that he had a license in Bosnia, Swedish judges chose not to charge him, because they could not prove that he did not have a license in Bosnia, according to the Swedish newspaper. In other words, Swedish judges had to prove that the man didn’t have a driver’s license in Bosnia, which ended up being an impossible thing to do.
“In practice, this means that newly arrived migrants can drive vehicles without a driver’s license,” Fria Tider said.
Investigator Helena Renberg from Karlskrona said she has to deal with 30 similar cases in her small town alone, Sveriges Radio reported.
The situation with the Bosnian man has made many Swedes angry, because if a Swede committed a similar violation he or she would have to pay thousands of kronor.
“If a person cannot prove that he has a driver’s license, maybe he shouldn’t drive… After all, the Swedish law clearly states that a person must show the document [when driving a vehicle],” police officer Stefan Palm from Blekinge County said, according to Fria Tider.
According to user Osiris from the Flashback forum, this precedent means that now every refugee from another country can drive a car in Sweden without having to show a driver’s license, as they can simply say that they lost it.
“Sweden is becoming more and more lawless. The system has completely lost touch with reality,” Osiris wrote on the forum.
People from outside of the European Union who are not officially registered in Sweden are not required to have a driver’s license. Since the entire process of registration in Sweden can take up to two years, as long as refugees can claim that they had a driver’s license in their countries of origin, they can keep driving vehicles without having to show proper documentation while their applications are being processed, Fria Tider explained.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Amid Rats and Mud, Refugees Struggle in French Camp
Not far from the “Jungle” in Calais, 3,000 people live among foul swamps in another refugee camp. The inhumane conditions have compelled MSF to build new accommodation on drier grounds. Diego Cupolo reports from Dunkirk.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin to Prolong Refugee Border Controls
In France new clashes between migrants, police in Calais
People gather in the morning sun outside a tent at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni
– BERLIN — German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière wants to postpone indefinitely border controls in place for migrants in Germany, according to statements he made in an interview to public regional radio Mdr.
Such controls at Germany’s borders should expire mid-February.
“I don’t see at the moment a date in which the controls can be lifted”, stressed de Maizière. He added: “For a few weeks now we have been able to note and register almost all migrants entering Germany”.
Germany reintroduced in September 2015 border checks on refugees due to the constant inflow of migrants. Particular attention is given to the border with Austria, the last leg of the Balkan route. Such regulation has been extended several times and the last deadline would have expired on February 13.
The next extension, according to what announced by de Maizièere, will be indefinite.
“There is not more redistribution among the Laender without registration”, added the minister in the interview to Mdr radio, “and we also send back men who have an entry document and don’t ask for political asylum in Germany”.
Meanwhile new clashes were registered between police and migrants at the port of Calais, in northern France. Hundreds of illegal migrants seeking to reach Great Britain opposed security officers who fired tear gas to restore calm. For about one hour last night, police were heavily deployed to try to control a group of about 200-300 migrants accused of setting on a fire a road leading from the refugee cam — the so-called ‘jungle’ of Calais — to the ferries.
Officers late last night were able to disperse the crowd and free the road.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ending Schengen Would be ‘Catastrophic’ Says Schulz
‘Enormous economic damage’ says EP president
(ANSA) — Berlin, January 22 — Ending Schengen would be catastrophic for Europe, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Friday.
Speaking in an interview with German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, he said: “It seems to me that many of those who have discussed the closure of the borders in recent days, effectively sounding the death knell of Schengen, can’t or don’t want to imagine the catastrophic effects it would have.” Schulz said ending Schengen would bring about “enormous economic damage” and represent a “threat to growth and jobs”.
Also on Friday, Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan voiced support for a “European Marshall Plan” to tackle the refugee crisis via economic aid in the asylum seekers’ home countries.
Padoan said the plan, originally suggested by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Thursday, was in the right “spirit”.
“Italy is certainly in favour of a European strategy, not forgetting that Schengen is fundamental in all this,” he said.
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American program to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II, in which the United States gave $13 billion (approximately $130 billion in current dollar value as of August 2015) in economic aid.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Erdogan Demands Submission’: Why Turkey is Difficult Partner for Germany
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure: she has to limit the influx of refugees in order to appease her critics, German magazine Spiegel Online wrote.
For this purpose, Merkel needs Turkey, with Erdogan being aware about Germany’s vulnerability and taking advantage of the situation.
The EU has already promised Ankara a three billion euro financial aid package and a visa-free regime for Turkish citizens. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, however, made it clear that these steps are an insufficient pay for Turkey’s assistance.
“Three billion euros are designed to demonstrate the political will to share the burden,” the head of government told the German Press Agency earlier. “We are not begging for money from the EU. But if there is a serious commitment to share this burden, we have to sit down and talk about all details of the crisis,” the politician stressed.
“Erdogan demands submission,” the magazine wrote, reminding that the country’s military is currently waging war against the Kurds in southeastern parts of Turkey.
The Turkish President is currently blocking the opposition in the country, arresting objectionable academics and sends critical journalists into jail. The chief editor of the Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet Can Dündar has been spending the last months in prison because he had reported on Turkey’s weapons deliveries Islamist rebels in Syria.
Replying to the question of whether Germany should cease cooperation with Turkey the magazine wrote that Ankara is an important partner to resolve the refugee crisis and fight against terror.
However, partnership does not mean that Germany should silently watch how Turkish authorities are violating human rights and infringing on all possible freedoms.
According to the magazine, Berlin must remind Turkey of the necessity to comply with minimum democratic and constitutional standards.
“Germany should address the oppression of the Kurds, the restriction of media freedom, the persecution of opposition members in Turkey,” the magazine wrote. “Moreover, it should make every effort to ensure that refugees in Turkey — Syrians as well as Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis — are decently treated, that they have access to education, healthcare and the labor market. That’s at the end more effective than strict border controls.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Could Go Under in 6 Weeks, Dutch PM Claims as France Admits ‘We Weren’t Built for This’
He told a panel on Europe at the World Economic Forum in Davos: “We have six to eight weeks.”
Meanwhile French prime minister Manuel Valls admitted the EU “could very well break up in a very short time”.
He warned the ongoing refugee crisis across Europe and the threat of Islamic State (ISIS) terrorism could spell the end of the political union on the continent.
Speaking at a summit of global elites in the exclusive Davos ski resort in Switzerland, the French politician suggested the EU had not been built to withstand “such powerful crises” of an unprecedented flow of migrants across the bloc’s borders or ISIS-inspired attacks.
Mr Valls described Britain’s possible exit from the EU at an upcoming referendum as a “tragedy”, while hoping a deal on the UK’s membership could be reached in February…
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Stefan of Helsinki is the Tundra Tabloids’ correspondent working in the asylum center industry, who shed light last year on just how these fraud refugees are coming to Finland, who their handlers are, how much money being paid, criminal organizations involved as well as industry workers scamming the system to help them stay.
All of Stefan’s claims have been verified in countless media reports since that time. This is all pure fraud and the Finnish taxpayer is paying for it through the nose and losing his country in the process. Here is Stefan’s latest concerning the flow of Afghanis and Iranians over the northern border with Russia.
[…]
I have been extremely busy with my work and I must say the news of what I usually see and hear amongst the asylum seekers has become so repetitive and redundant that you guys already know all that there is to know.
But today I came across an Afghan lady who told me that she came via Russia. Of course we all know that since summer, some people were coming here via the “arctic route”. But my conversation with this afghan woman brought something new to my attention. She said that people from Iran and Afghanistan (all non-refugees by definition) are now getting Russian visas and go to Moscow. There they have to buy Russian cars and drive to the Finnish border and they can cross it without any problems!!…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
The German government is unable to say where more than half of the one million asylum seekers allowed into the country have ended up, MailOnline can exclusively reveal.
Government statistics show that Germany registered 1.1million applications by the end of last year under its EASY system, which does not record much more than an applicant’s country of origin.
German Interior Ministry spokesman Dr Harald Neymanns admitted that delays in the processing of asylum seeker applications would account for some of those missing.
But he also said that in some cases refugees may not have stayed in Germany but instead gone on to a different country elsewhere in the EU.
A third explanation is that the refugees may not have existed in the first place — because some asylum seekers have been found to apply multiple times in an attempt to get sent to the city of their choice.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Volunteers Welcome at Asylum Seeker Reception Centres
Finland’s asylum seeker reception centres invite people to volunteer their time to help out with daily activities, serve as a friend to the residents and facilitate groups to help pass the time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Teaching Migrants How to Behave
Migrants arriving in Finland are being offered classes on Finnish values and how to behave towards women. Concerned about a rise in the number of sexual assaults in the country, the government wants to make sure that people from very conservative cultures know what to expect in their new home.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fork it Over: Germany Confiscates Migrants’ Money to Cover Expenses
The federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are reported to seize money from newcomers, leaving them only with a small amount of cash.
Refugees must submit their cash and jewels to the local police when entering a number of European countries, German magazine Spiegel Online reported.
The rule was first introduced by Denmark and Switzerland in December 2015 and caused several protests across Europe. The new measure was aimed at “finding assets which may cover the expenses” of the state, the Washington Post reported earlier.
Now it appears that not only the Danes and Swiss, but also the Germans have started to confiscate money from refugees entering the country.
The police are allowed to seize valuable items and cash from migrants, leaving them with a minimum amount of 750 euros per person, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim told the German newspaper Bild.
In Baden-Württemberg, refugees are allowed to have only 350 euros. They also can keep items which are necessary to maintain a modest standard of living, like watches and mobile phones.
In December 2015, Baden-Württemberg’s authorities are reported to have seized tens of thousands of euros from newcomers. The measure has been criticized by several media outlets, although the local authorities argue that those receiving state benefits must first cover expenses with their own assets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Admits it Lost Track of Over 1 Million ‘Refugees’
Interior Ministry admits 600,000 migrants have gone missing in or outside Germany, as police investigate mass New Year sex assault campaign.
In the wake of massive sexual assaults perpetrated by Muslim migrants on New Year’s Eve, and the threat of jihadists infiltrating the sudden mass influx of “refugees,” Germany admitted on Thursday that it has lost track of 600,000 asylum seekers.
By the end of 2015 Germany had registered 1.1 million asylum seekers under its EASY system, that records little data other than the applicant’s country of origin, reports the British Daily Mail late Thursday.
But German Interior Ministry spokesperson Dr. Harald Neymanns admitted that over half-a-million of the migrants have gone unaccounted for, raising serious concerns.
Neymanns said in some cases the migrants may have gone on to a different country in the EU. He tried to minimize the threat by noting many migrants submit more than one application and that processing delays could also account for some of the missing “refugees.”
As for how many of the 600,000 are still in Germany, he said it was “almost impossible” to tell.
The shocking revelation comes as Germany is still coping from a massive wave of sexual assaults on its women on New Year’s Eve, in a campaign of harassment and rapes centered largely in Cologne, but that also took place in a number of other European states, including cities in Sweden as well as in Paris.
North Rhine Westphalia, where Cologne is situated, leads Germany in migrant absorption with 21% of the intake. The capital city of Berlin stands at just over 5%.
Police in Munsterland in North Rhine Westphalia on Thursday conducted a series of raids within the context of the investigation of the New Year’s sexual assaults, which the German government originally covered up for days by not acknowledging they were perpetrated by Muslim migrants.
A full 150 asylum seekers were interrogated in the police raid at two refugee centers, with police finding that many of the “refugees” claimed to be from war torn Syria, but in fact were mostly from North Africa. They also discovered every second migrant had registered at least twice on the EASY system.
No fewer than 821 complaints of criminal incidents, including hundreds of sexual assaults, have been received by police from the New Year’s attack. More than 520 sexual assaults, including three rapes, took place in Cologne alone.
Imam Sami Abu-Yusuf of the Al Tawheed mosque in Cologne this week defended the sexual assailants, blaming the victims for “wearing perfume.”
Germany is in fact not the only country to have potentially dangerous migrants go missing; a US State Department official admitted last month that US President Barack Obama’s administration has lost track of thousands of foreigners in the US who had their visas pulled over terror suspicions.
The official, Michele Thoren Bond, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, said the US had revoked over 122,000 visas since 2001, including 9,500 over terrorism concerns. She admitted to not having a clue where those who had their visas revoked currently are.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Has Lost 600,000 Absconding Migrants Who Could be in Other EU Countries by Now
The German government has admitted it cannot account for 600,000 of the 1.1 million migrants who arrived into the country last year — raising concerns that the migrants have absconded into Germany and other European Union (EU) nations.
Delays in processing applications may account for some of those missing, it is reported, buts other may have moved on to different EU countries, the Interior Ministry has confessed.
The 1.1 million migrants registered with the German state’s ‘EASY’ system, operated by the German Ministry For Migration and Refugees. It does little more than record an applicant’s arrival and their country of origin.
Once migrants have registered, officials assign them a place where they are to be cared for, and where they can then make a full application for asylum.
However, according to the Daily Mail, only 476,649 of the 1.1million migrants have so far turned up at their assigned destination and registered their asylum case there. That number breaks down as 326,529 men and 150,120 women.
There are three possible explanations as to why the missing 600,000 migrants have not yet appeared…
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Germans Battle Refugee Sex Assaults With Signs, Cartoons
Rocked by a wave of sexual assaults committed by migrant men, Germany is fighting back with cartoons, in a PC campaign critics say would be comical if it didn’t address such a serious issue.
In a national effort already blasted by critics as demonstrating the government’s ineptitude in dealing with unruly refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, authorities have distributed anti-sexual harassment cartoon leaflets at public swimming pools and other public facilities. One depicts a hand reaching for a shapely, bikini-clad woman’s backside, and bears a universal-language slash demonstrating such behavior is forbidden.
“No verbal and bodily sexual harassment toward women in any kind of clothing,” reads the caption below.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary to Block Passage for Migrants, Calls for Fences
Migrants seeking asylum will no longer be allowed to pass through Hungary, says the country’s prime minister. Hungary and Slovenia have also called for a border fence with Greece to stem refugee arrivals.
Refugees will no longer be allowed to cross into Hungary, even if they are just passing through, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview on Friday.
“The best migrant is the migrant who does not come. The best number is zero,” Orban asserted during a state radio interview on Friday.
“The route can go any way it wants, but it is certain that it will not go through Hungary,” he added, referencing the Balkan route used by asylum seekers to reach northern European states.
He also praised neighboring country Austria for their proposal to cap refugee intake — which it later backpedaled on — and only accept 127,500 migrants by 2019. “Common sense has prevailed,” the Hungarian premier declared.
Hungary sealed its border with Serbia last September and with Croatia in October with a 175-kilometer (109-mile) fence topped with razor wire. Orban said his government is also ready to extend the fence to Romania.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Valls Crisis Puts European Project at Risk
French Premier, ‘we cannot welcome all migrants’
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 22 — The migrant crisis is putting at risk the EU idea itself: said French Premier Manuel Valls talking to the BBC.
Europe can not welcome all migrants fleeing conflicts in Iraq and Syria: “Otherwise our societies would be totally destablised”. The message “we need to send” said Valls “is that we will not welcome all refugees, because the opposite message encourages further movement”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: EU at Grave Risk, Warns France PM Valls
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that Europe’s migration crisis is putting the EU at grave risk.
Mr Valls told the BBC Europe could not take all the refugees fleeing what he called terrible wars in Iraq or Syria.
“Otherwise,” he said, “our societies will be totally destabilised.”
More than a million migrants, mostly refugees, arrived in Europe last year, many making perilous journeys. On Friday, at least 21 people were killed as their boats sank off Greek islands.
Mr Valls also said that France could extend its current state of emergency “for however long is necessary” because of the threat from Islamic State (IS) jihadists, whom he called “Daesh”.
“We will see if we extend it,” he said. “We cannot live forever in a state of emergency.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia: Only Migrants Who Seek Asylum in Austria or Germany
Measure will come into force tonight
(ANSA) — LUBLIJANA — Slovenia will accept only the migrants who show clear intention to apply for international protection in Austria and Germany, reported Slovenian Interior Minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar, during a presse conference which was held at the end of the Council of Ministers, where the issue was discussed today. The measure should come into force tonight, but, according to Interior Minister, this decision in no wise will compromise the international protection system in Slovenia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Finnish ‘Soldiers of Odin’ Street Patrol
The authorities have not made a big commotion over sharia patrols by the Somali community in keeping Muslim females off the streets in Helsinki:
“We do not run into girls often this late. It would be shameful for them to run into us in the street. They do not want to lose face in front of their community.”
According to the FB page: Soldiers Of Odin are not:
- A racist group.
- A nationalist socialist movement.
- A drug gang
- A motorcycle gang.
- A syndicate.
Their vice president told me “The media [slanders] every immigration-critical group. Of course it is not nice, but what can you do?” Other group members have shared similar sentiments. I’ve seen nothing to suggest that the Soldiers have any kind of malicious motive.
The group has stated it has zero tolerance for behavior that strays outside of their guidelines, which mandate cooperation with police and prohibit violence.
Despite their neo-pagan name, the Soldiers of Odin seem to be the picture of moderation. They’ve made it clear that the group will not tolerate extremist or illegal actions.
Unfortunately, lawmakers don’t care if their narratives are out-of-sync with reality. Legislation is already in the works to ban street patrols…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
US Will Ask Countries to Double Global Number of Resettled Refugees
Washington wants other countries to double the global number of resettled refugees, according to a US State Department press release.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will call on other countries to do utmost to double the global number of resettled refugees at the upcoming summit in New York city in the fall 2016, the US State Department said in a press release following Secretary of States John Kerry’s announcement in Davos on Friday.
“In order to create a brighter future for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, our goal is for nations with existing legal pathways for refugee admission to make commitments that double the global number of resettled refugees and those afforded other legal channels of admission,” Kerry stated.
The State Department added that those countries lacking such programs will be asked to establish them.
Kerry announced earlier in January that President Barack Obama will host a summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York to enhance aid to Syrian refugees from other countries.
The Obama administration announced last year that the United States would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016. The United States has accepted approximately 2,100 Syrians fleeing the ongoing civil war and terrorism threats in that country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Yet Another Migrant on Child Sex Attack at a European Swimming Pool
Staff at an Austrian swimming pool have been told to “pay attention” after a horrified mother caught a migrant sexually assaulting her three year old son in the children’s pool.
The latest migrant sex violence outrage took place at the Linz baths, where a 36 year old mother of three identified only as ‘Sandra F’ by Austrian paper Kronen Zeitung was paddling with her children, a ten year old daughter and two sons aged three and six. She told the paper: “I had noticed six foreigners aged between 30 and 40 years old in the indoor pool. Two were sitting on the edge of the children’s pool.
“One of them sidled up next to my youngest, and had his hands in his underwear”. The woman told the paper she witnessed performing a sex act next to her young son.
The woman removed her children from the facility and informed a lifeguard, who threw the migrant man touching himself out of the pool. The police were not called, the report suggests.
Promising to keep an eye out for migrant molesters in future but promising no change in policy otherwise the city director of swimming pools said of the incident: “We immediately gave our staff the instruction to may more attention for such incidents”…
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Charlotte Rampling: Oscars Diversity Row ‘Racist to Whites’
Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling has called the ongoing row about the lack of diversity at this year’s Academy Awards “racist against white people”.
Asked by France’s Europe 1 if she understood some black stars’ decision to boycott the event, Rampling said: “No, I think it’s the other way round.”
“We can never know… But maybe it’s because no black actors merited being nominated,” she said.
Rampling, 69, has been shortlisted for best actress for her role in 45 Years.
Quizzed over Spike Lee’s suggestion that quotas might need to be introduced for black, Asian and minority ethnic actors, after all 20 Oscar acting nominees were white for the second consecutive year, Rampling was dismissive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Oscars Pledge to Double Female and Minority Members by 2020
The organisers of the Oscars have pledged to double the number of female and minority members of the Academy by 2020.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced the changes following a backlash over the lack of diversity in this year’s nominations.
Three new seats will be added to the Academy’s board of governors to improve diversity in leadership.
Several top industry figures have said they will not attend the Oscars.
Actor Will Smith and director Spike Lee are among those to announce they will not be going to February’s Academy Awards, after it emerged no black or minority actors had been nominated in the four Oscars acting categories for the second year running.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
That report about the La Loche shooting: Actually most families in small town Saskatchewan own guns. La Loche is an Aboriginal community where hunting is part of the way of life for the citizens. The only politically concern now is that Trudeau (like Obama) will use the shooting as an excuse for tougher gun laws. He can try but he’ll find resistance to that idea in Saskatchewan.
The news reads like Mad Magazine. Europe certainly seems lost.
That’s funny. At least Mad Magazine made sense on a certain level.
The sniper training for the “migrants” in Sweden takes the cake. OK, the fact that Merkel’s still chancellor after letting in over a million invading, hostile parasites is stranger even than that.
Third place goes to the Finnish requirement that new parasites could not walk across the border with Russia but it’s OK if they ride a bicycle. Actually, now I think they can’t walk or bike but being in a car is OK.
And, for honorable mention, there are the British social workers in Rotherham who didn’t want to report the rape and forced prostitution of underage white girls for fear the would appear to be racists.
For just damn good theater you have to appreciate U.S. pilots warning ISIS truck drivers of impending attack and the whole fan dance by Obama on his “war” on ISIS, with avoidance of environmental damage as his chief war aim. Assad must go it is now clear but why is still a mystery.
If you enjoy horse races and Indy speed tracks there’s the fun of watching most of the GOP presidential contenders race to Las Vegas to pay homage to Sheldon Adelson. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 2.0.
Several GOP contenders have expressed interest in war with Russia but I suspect that’s just to appeal to the Hispanic vote so it’s probably insincere.
A witty oldster sometime back wrote that the only reason he clings to life is to see what happens next. That’s me now. Who needs cable when you can read about all this stuff on the internet?
Assad must go…. Because “our” ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood allies want him gone maybe?
It’s like Monty Python or Alice in Wonderland. Government loses 600,000 people. Five charged for throwing bacon sandwich at a mosque door. .. In the 1970s, Monty Python did a sketch in which a rasping, old-school colonel taught his men hand-to-hand combat using only fresh fruit. “Keep the banana primed at knee height, men,” that sort of thing. What was a puerile joke then is now stark, daily reality in a Europe that I am ashamed now to call home. What kind of people allows this to be done to them, almost without protest? How low are Europeans going to sink before they react? Worst is the nagging thought, are such degenerate cowards really worth defending anyway? At least the young Moroccans have pride and [male reproductive organs].
My guess:
Europeans (indeed, much of the so-called “western world”) have little if any real idea of what’s happening.
They’ve never really had to get their minds around an actually absolute government coming on the scene. Even divine-right kings have been “removed.”
Meantime, personal goals based on society that existed years ago are where they are.
Oh boy.
Just to pick out a few:
Over the holiday season (which didn’t feel very holiday-y), I watched several of my old Disney movies on VHS, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang among them {How do you do cursive and underlining on this blog? The usual way doesn’t work.}. They sure do look like they were made in a long lost age or on a different planet.
Soldiers of Odin…..it is so VERY sad that everything Norse or Viking is associated with you-know-what today. So very, very sad.
Multiple ID’s ? No duh. Was it Mohammed ben Mohammed ibn Mohammed al Mohammed who molested you? Or was it Mohammed al Mohammed ibn Mohammed ben Mohammed? Or maybe Mahmud ben Mahmud ibn Mahnmud ben Mahmud.
They do kinda look alike.
The *Kronen Zeitung* (‘Crown Newspaper’) of Austria used to be the socialist working-class rag, complete with naked girl on page 3, apparently, this has shifted somewhat and it is now associated more with the grass-roots ‘Right’. Readers of *Der Standard* (left-liberal Austrian paper with the biggest website) think of Krone readers as barely even Neanderthals.
There are (or used to be) also *Kurier* , rather dry & stuffy, associated with center-right, and *Die Presse*, even drier & stuffier, mostly business, Austria’s version of The Wall Street Journal.
“em”, “/em”, “u”, and “/u” with appropriate enclosing angle brackets (“”) gits ‘er done. Hit ctrl-U in Firefox and Internet Explorer and you can see how certain effects on any page were coded.
– This is London
Labour turned London into a foreign city
“I emerged shaken. I had glimpsed a London I did not know existed — one of Third World poverty, exploitation and criminality.
It is writer Ben Judah’s great achievement to reveal that hidden city in his new book, This Is London: Life And Death In The World City.”
ft
This is actually, Europe, AD 2016. The “Global” Europe that has been constructed by unwanted forces over the last decades. Even the tramps in most former developed countries are foreigners, as pointed out about London in this book.
“Whether a mini cab driver who also washes dead bodies, a Romanian prostitute in a blonde wig, or a wealthy young African with bodyguards hired from his own tribe, they open up to Judah.”
“Immigration, Judah makes clear, has touched every aspect of life in London and utterly transformed it. ”
A quick look at Amazon
“Currently unavailable.
We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.”
@Col. Bunny
“The sniper training for the “migrants” in Sweden takes the cake.”
What if the excercise of the invading soldiers went on right before our eyes…?
I’m afraid the sniper training does go on before our eyes, as does the entry of hundreds and hundreds of Muslim light infantry.
Years ago Monty Python had a skit with Graham Chapman in black face acting the part of a Zulu with assegai talking to his two white bread “parents” in a working class accent. (“Ow be ba’ boy mi’noit, Mum.”)
It was, of course, hilarious but that absurdity is now stark reality with Zulus, Nigerians, Pakistanis, and Saudis having taken over the capital city of Britain.
Those comedians were visionaries. I’m going to go back and listen to all those Peter Sellers Goon Show radio programs for investment ideas. Long on ammo, as commenters like to say over at Zero Hedge.
. . . hundreds and hundreds of thousands
Back in the days when they had borders, there was a little local crossing from Salzburg (where Julie Andrews lives as a singing nun) to a little village in Bavaria called Freilassing. You would take a Salzburg city bus which had only 3 or 4 stops, get off the bus at the border, walk through a little customs building, show your passport to the cranky, officious, heavily armed guards, walk out the other side and re-board the bus.
Very ‘Cold War’, especially in fog or a snow storm.
Austria was not part of the EEC ( = smaller EU) back then, but ‘forever neutral’.
‘Forever’ ended up meaning about 40 years.
Anyway, it was kind of entertaining when the very serious (and heavily armed) Austrian border guard would disassemble some Salzburger grandma on the way back to make sure she hadn’t bought more than the legally allowed limit of evil EEC cheese, milk or lunch meat in the 1 supermarket in little Freilassing.
How do you lose 600,000 people ?
Baron and Dymphna, I hope your gates and walls are strong. I just tried to follow the link to “Labor turned London into a foreign city”.
Lots of spinning and then misdirection and in the end I couldn’t get to it. The web must be made and kept very strong because that will be the next target, just in my wicked imagination and humble opinion.
Divide and conquer. Remove ability to communicate. Remove arms (good luck with that one, though) Oy.
KashmirObserver: Morocco conference to focus on non-Muslim rights January 23, 2016, 07:38 PM
Morocco is to host a first conference in Islamic history championing the rights of religious minorities living within Muslim-majority territories.
The World Conference on Religious Minorities is scheduled to take place in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, from January 25 to 27, according to the Morocco World News website.
The event is expected to attract around 300 Muslim personalities from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and the host country itself; religious authorities from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, and other non-Muslim religious communities will also be present.
Iranian Shia cleric and scholar Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad will be participating at the conference.
The conference aims to release its first declaration, laying emphasis on the rights of non-Muslims inside Muslim lands since the Constitution of Medina.
Also known as the Charter of Medina, the document was drafted by the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) in 622 CE and is hailed as the world’s first written constitution as well as the first Muslim constitution.
The charter stipulates that non-Muslim members of the community should be entitled to the same political and cultural rights as those of Muslims.
“The Prophet was religiously persecuted, so he knew first-hand what it was to experience religious persecution,” Sheikh Hamza Yousuf, the co-founder of Zaytuna College, the first Muslim liberal arts college in the United States, who is to attend the conference, was quoted by The Washington Post as saying.
The conference wants to counter “the idea that Muslims and non-Muslims can’t live together,” he added. “This is not who we are or who we want to be.”
The Moroccan Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs will host the conference together with the UAE-based think tank Forum for the Promotion of Peace in Muslim societies.
That book about London is available on amazon UK — just costs more in postage. . .
I should say, it was available last night when I looked it up.
Thanks to mad Merkel Germany is now a failed state, the police have given up, the crime rate soaring and public services collapsing all because of a mass influx of mainly illiterate, uncivilised and young third world men.
Meanwhile porcine Cameron returns to the UK from Davos with instructions from the de facto Emperess of Europe to renege on promises made to the public and accept 3,000 children “refugees” from camps in Europe. Anyone with more than one brain cell knows that once in the UK they will immediately be claimed by family members who will flood into the country too whether they are actually genuinely relatives or not.
Idiotic ” no border” activists or traitors as I prefer to call them are encouraging migrants to riot in Calais too.
Signs of sanity in Austria though with commissioned officers reminding politicians of their responsibilities towards their OWN nation and citizenry. The time has come for European folk to choose sides and be aware of the consequences of their actions. Left wing lunatics, feminists and open border nut cases should be sent to, say, Saudi Arabia and peddle their nonsense there.
Cameron and the equally useless Theresa May should stop threating Putin (so ridiculous I know but you have to have a heart of stone not to laugh) and put the UK first. Make your voices heard people before it is to late!