Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/21/2013

A large percentage of immigrant Belgian youths feel that they are discriminated against, and will never be accepted by their country. 93% are Belgian nationals, but 42% feel themselves to be foreigners, and not Flemings or Walloons.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Germany has kept nearly a thousand suspected “Islamists” under surveillance since 2001.

In other news, unusually cold weather has descended on Italy, with temperatures dropping to 15°C (59°F) in Sicily and 9°C (48°F) in Rome.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Steen, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Italians Reduce Dental Visits for Kids Due to Crisis
» Italy: Pensioners and Employees in South Worst Hit by Local Tax
» Obamacare Causes Huge Decrease in Job Growth as Employers Aim to Avoid Penalties
» Welfare Entrepreneurs and Food Stamps
 
USA
» (Video) 2012 Flashback: Joe Walsh on the Threat of Homegrown Radical Islam
» Bomber ‘Put Gun in His Mouth and Fired as He Was Cornered in Boat’ And Wounds Mean He May Never be Able to be Quizzed
» Earth Day’s Big Lie
» FBI Hatches Terror Plots
» FBI Hunting 12-Strong Terrorist ‘Sleeper Cell’ ‘Linked’ To Tsarnaev Brothers
» Glenn Beck: “After What I Have Learned This Week I’m a Changed Person.” (Video and Transcript)
» Hackers Hijack CBS to Claim Obama Involvement in Boston Bombings
» I Know the Boston Bombers
» Is Everyone Afraid to Say Islamic Extremist?
» Jihad: A Study in Perpetual War Against the West
» Official: Boston Bombing Suspect Suffers Throat Injury, May Not be Able to Talk
» Older Boston Bomber Brother ‘Manipulated’ His Younger Sibling and Flipped When His ‘Only American Friend’ Had His Throat Slit in Unsolved Murder
» Operation Pass it — Seeks Florida Senate Approval of SB58 American Law for American Courts
» ‘Police May Never Question Marathon Bombing Suspect’, Says the Mayor of Boston
» Sickening Violent Streak of Bomber — As His Family Reveal Beaten Wife’s Islamic Conversion
» Wild Brooklyn Melee Erupts as NYPD Arrests Muslim Teen for Allegedly Taunting Jewish Subway Rider
 
Europe and the EU
» “Not Certain That Sharia4belgium is a Terrorist Organisation”
» Belgium: Young Muslims Don’t Feel Accepted
» Four-Thousand Year Old Gold-Adorned Skeleton Found Near Windsor
» Germany: Nearly 1,000 Islamists Watched Since 2001
» Hiding Above a Police Station… We Track Down Briton Accused of Stealing Crocodile Dundee Star Paul Hogan’s £22m
» Italian Railways Showcase ‘Stunning’ New Frecciarossa
» Italy: Cruise Ship Market Growing Steadily
» Italy: Chianti Classico Producer Sells to Chinese Businessman
» Italy Wedding Tourism Generated 315 Million Euros in 2012
» Italy: Taranto Judge Rejects Bid to Get Seized ILVA Products Back
» Italy: Puglia Fish Companies ‘Evaded 6.5 Mn in Taxes’
» Italy: Re-Elected President Napolitano Faces Tough Challenge
» Italy: Barroso Welcomes Napolitano’s Re-Election
» Italy: Temperatures Drop to 15C in Sicily and 9C in Rome
» Italy: 52 Piedmont Councillors in Embezzlement Probe
» Italy: Napolitano Re-Election Provokes Protest, Gratitude
» Italy: PDL’s Alfano Says Grillo MPS Want to Replace PD on Left
» Italy: Riina Jr. ‘Proud’ To be Son of Mafia ‘Boss of Bosses’
» Napolitano Remains President of Italy
» Norway: Justin Bieber Fans ‘Convert to Islam’ In ‘Tasteless’ TV Stunt in Bid to Win Concert Tickets
» Spain: US Task Force in Moron Base to Watch Over N. Africa
» Sweden: ‘They Gave Into Islamophobia’: Mustafa
» UK: Newlywed Murdered Near to Her Young Son After She Decided to Leave the Country Just Five Months Into Her Marriage
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Contemporary Italian Jewelry Show Opens in Tel Aviv
 
Middle East
» New Protests Break Out in Bahrain Before Formula 1 GP
» Sex Parties, A Gym and a Spa: Inside the Saudi Prisons Where Terrorists Caught in Saudi Arabia Are Sent
 
Immigration
» Avra Valley Man Displays Migrant Litter on Front Yard
 
Culture Wars
» Head of Pro-Abortion Group Pleads Guilty to Arranging Sex With Child
» Queering of the Boy Scouts
» The Continued Push for the Socialization of America, Part 2
 

Italians Reduce Dental Visits for Kids Due to Crisis

Two million children risk damage to teeth

(ANSA) — Rome, April 19 — One Italian family out of three gave up taking their children back to the dentist in 2012 after the first visit as part of belt-tightening sacrifices during the economic crisis, a report by the National Orthodontic College said on Friday.

Approximately two million children risk permanent damage to their teeth and 40% fewer families can afford braces to correct dental alignment, the report said.

According to the publication, currently five million children between the ages of five and 14 are in need of orthodontic devices.

In Italy, 90-95% of orthodontic care is private.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Pensioners and Employees in South Worst Hit by Local Tax

(AGI) Rome, Apr 20 — Pensioners and employees in Italy’s southern regions are the people worst hit by the extra burden of local and regional income tax. “Taxpayers in Calabria bear the heaviest burden followed by those in the Molise region,” reported the economic studies office of the small business and artisans association CGIA Mestre. The reasons mainly lie “in the poor situation of the health sector in many southern regions. Regions suffering health care deficits were obliged to raise the basic rate of 0.9 percent in 2010, by 0.5 percentage points, to 1.4 percent,” general secretary Giuseppe Bortolussi reported.

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

Obamacare Causes Huge Decrease in Job Growth as Employers Aim to Avoid Penalties

(NaturalNews) As the nation gears up to usher in some of the first installments of Obamacare, job growth appears to be grinding to a halt, particularly within the small business sector, according to new reports. An expert economist analyzing the latest employment figures says the rapid decrease in job growth that has been taking place over the past few months is a direct result of employers’ hesitancy concerning not only the requirements of Obamacare, but also the penalties for non-compliance.

Many experts have been warning for years that the implementation of Obamacare would result in decreased job growth and job losses. But because the issue became a highly-politicized “left-right” debate, many people did not take the issue seriously, even though its implications affect everyone negatively regardless of their individual political persuasions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Welfare Entrepreneurs and Food Stamps

President Obama and his lackeys continue to assure us the economy is improving while millions continue to be on the unemployment lines and/or have decided to give up and file for disability. All this makes me long for the good old days with President Warren Harding’s frugality and after his death in the summer of 1923, President Calvin Coolidge continued his legacy.[1] Both were Republicans.

Unlike President Obama who wants to tax the rich, President Harding knew that the restoration of an economy wracked by depression would be dependent precisely on those risk takers who, if they were allowed to, would be the engines driving the recovery from it and higher tax rates would drive capital underground or into tax-free securities whereas lower taxes would draw capital into the marketplace where it could put people back to work.[1] To put it in today’s terms, Nationally Syndicated Columnist Walter E. Williams says capitalism raises all boats.

Harding cut taxes ferociously, bringing the top rate down from 73% in 1921 to 25% in 1925. He cut government spending equally aggressively and the economy leapt upward and by 1923 at the time of Harding’s death, it had returned to full employment. Under Coolidge the federal debt continued to fall and the federal budget was always in surplus. Oh yes, and under Coolidge middle class city-dwelling Americans wired their homes for electricity and bought their first cars or household appliances on credit. Under Coolidge the economy grew strong, even as the federal government shrank and we heard about the “Roaring Twenties.”[1] Next in line was Republican progressive Herbert Hoover elected in 1928 who set the stage for FDR’s nearly four terms (1932, 1936, 1940, 1944) and even government’s bigger liberal role, the New Deal.

Today we no longer have venture capitalists willing to take a risk to create new businesses which would be offering jobs to the millions unemployed. Home Depot’s CEO says under today’s over- regulated climate, he couldn’t start a new business. Other CEOs have said the same thing. No, today, we have welfare entrepreneurs instead. Callers to a Glenn Beck radio talk show on April 4, 2013 were giving personal testimonies of their experiences in dealing with these folks with their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards…

Ever since Barack Obama’s election in 2008, he has been following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University which is a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

(Video) 2012 Flashback: Joe Walsh on the Threat of Homegrown Radical Islam

Marathon Pundit

After being called “irresponsible” for his statements on the threat of domestic radical Islam by his Democratic opponent Tammy Duckworth, then US Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) said in a video last year, “While the overwhelming majority of Muslim Americans are as peace-loving as everyone else, there are radical Islamists right here in the United States trying to kill Americans and destroy this country.”

He added, “Let me be clear, bowing down to political-correctness has and will get Americans killed.”

Last week, three people were murdered—and dozens injured—by two radicalized Muslim brothers at the end of the Boston Marathon. Early Friday morning one of them killed a police officer.

Walsh doesn’t pull any punches against Duckworth, who succeeded Walsh in Congress in the gerrymandered 8th District, or CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations.

A month later, Duckworth, donning a hijab, told members of a west suburban Chicago mosque that growth of the district’s minority population is”uncomfortable for the status quo.”

Walsh now hosts a radio show on WIND-AM Chicago.

Hat tip to Bill Baar’s West Side.

[Return to headlines]
 

Bomber ‘Put Gun in His Mouth and Fired as He Was Cornered in Boat’ And Wounds Mean He May Never be Able to be Quizzed

A new report says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shoved his pistol in his own mouth and pulled the trigger as SWAT officers and federal agents closed in on the boat where he was hiding in Friday night. However, instead of killing him, the bullet simply passed through his neck.

Authorities have said they cannot question him because of a throat wound. He remains in ‘very serious’ condition at a Boston hospital.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino revealed on Sunday that federal agents may never be able to interview Tsarnaev. Menino didn’t elaborate on his comment and it is unknown whether the gunshot also caused brain damage.

Police sources told MailOnline that investigators are looking into the possibility that Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan had a suicide pact so that neither of them could be taken alive and put on trial.

A suicide pact could also explain why 19-year-old Dzhokhar ran over his own brother in his stolen Mercedes SUV as he escaped from the scene, the sources added.

The new twist in the story of Tsarnaev’s dramatic capture comes as the Boston police commissioner warns that he and his brother Tamerlan were plotting more bomb attacks on the city and they were caught just in time. Authorities insisted that the pair were working alone…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

Earth Day’s Big Lie

The Earth is not endangered, nor should it be worshipped as a pagan religion

Monday, April 22, is Earth Day. Begun in 1970, it led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, along with the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. It is the global platform for the Big Lie that carbon dioxide (CO2) is causing the Earth to warm and the basis of the environmental movement’s ceaseless efforts to reduce the use of energy for any reason.

Carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has been increasing, but the Earth has been cooling due to reduced solar radiation. CO2 has virtually no relationship to the climate except to show up well after a significant change has occurred.

On April 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that the International Energy Agency had announced that, despite spending “more than $2 trillion in investment into renewable-energy projects…the world had made almost no progress over the past 20 years in reducing the carbon content of its energy supplies.” It has never needed reduction. How many hospitals, schools, bridges, and other useful things that could have been built instead?

[…]

A global propaganda campaign will glorify Earth Day and its message is that you must change your life to accommodate the lies that sustain the environmental movement and permit government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency to strangle the economic life of the nation.

On Earth day there will be thousands of events to promote its anti-energy, anti-technology, and anti-humanity message.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FBI Hatches Terror Plots

In an April 2012 New York Times article titled, “Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.,” it is revealed that many of the high-profile terror attacks foiled by the FBI, were in fact fabricated from start to finish by the FBI itself. The article states:

The United States has been narrowly saved from lethal terrorist plots in recent years — or so it has seemed. A would-be suicide bomber was intercepted on his way to the Capitol; a scheme to bomb synagogues and shoot Stinger missiles at military aircraft was developed by men in Newburgh, N.Y.; and a fanciful idea to fly explosive-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol was hatched in Massachusetts.

But all these dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects naïvely played their parts until they were arrested.

The report would also reveal that a fabricated, then foiled attack in Portland in 2010, even included a van and an inert bomb parked next to a real crowd of thousands during the city’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FBI Hunting 12-Strong Terrorist ‘Sleeper Cell’ ‘Linked’ To Tsarnaev Brothers

The FBI was last night hunting a 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to the Boston marathon bomb brothers.

Police believe Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were specially trained to carry out the devastating attack.

More than 1,000 FBI agents were last night working to track down the cell and arrested a man and two women 60 miles from Boston in the hours before Dzhokhar’s dramatic capture after a bloody shootout on Friday.

A source close to the investigation said: “We have no doubt the brothers were not acting alone. The devices used to detonate the two bombs were highly sophisticated and not the kind of thing people learn from Google.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Glenn Beck: “After What I Have Learned This Week I’m a Changed Person.” (Video and Transcript)

Absent from their announcement was any mention of the Saudi national. Now the documents were brought to our attention at TheBlaze, and those documents indicate that this guy is scheduled for deportation next Tuesday due to issues related to national security. The document goes on to say that the individual is linked to the Boston bombing. That’s what the federal document says.

This is the same person that we were initially told was a person of interest. This was the Saudi national in the hospital. His apartment was in Revere, Massachusetts. It was raided. The items were removed. And then we were told he was just a possible witness. And then we were finally told by the authorities he had nothing to do with the attack in fact he wasn’t a witness to the crime. Why was he in the hospital? How did he get to the ground zero? What was he doing there? He wasn’t even a witness? Really?

This guy who wasn’t a witness is suddenly being deported next Tuesday, whisked off our continent to go back to Saudi Arabia, and he wasn’t even a witness — yet the documents he’s being deported voluntarily on terror charges linked to the Boston bombing.

I want you to hear me clearly. If you think everybody in the government is bad you’re wrong. The only reason TheBlaze knows this because we have several — I can’t count them on both hands — several sources who’re brave, valiant Patriotic Americans that work in all departments at all levels of this governmnent. Who have contacted TheBlaze one way or another, and said “help, help, help.”

There are several dedicated Americans in the law enforcement community that decided they could not stand idly by, and let the truth be swept under the rug.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hackers Hijack CBS to Claim Obama Involvement in Boston Bombings

The mainstream media’s refusal to report on images showing private military operatives on the scene of the Boston bombings carrying heavy backpacks prompted hacking group the Syrian Electronic Army to take matters into their own hands by hijacking CBS 60 Minutes’ Twitter account and sending out tweets exposing unanswered questions behind this week’s attacks.

“The attack occurred while a “48 Hours” special about the Boston Marathon bombings was airing on the same network,” reports Boston.com.

The tweets sent out by the group mainly focused on the Obama administration’s support for Al-Qaeda militants in Syria, but also brought attention to an issue which has been subject to a corporate media blackout since it first emerged — the presence of numerous identically dressed men who were caught on camera immediately before and after the Boston bombings wearing black backpacks and behaving as if they were engaged in some kind of security exercise.

[Comment: In the first picture of two of the military operatives both wear backpacks but in the second picture only one has a backpack.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

I Know the Boston Bombers

By Alyssa Kilzer

The FBI released images of the pair of suspects believed to be responsible for the bombing attack near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Investigators are asking for the public’s help with any information leading to their whereabouts. The FBI is urging anyone who recognizes the men to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to the bureau’s website, FBI.gov.

I started getting facials from Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (pronounced Zu-bey-da) six years ago when I was 17 at a spa in the Boston area. She soon after left the spa and contacted my mom to have us start coming to her house, at 410 Norfolk St., right on the line of Cambridge and Watertown.

All throughout my senior year of high school and four years of college I went to her house about three times a year. The last time I went to the house was in December and January of 2011/2012.

The first few years the third-floor apartment was often crowded with her two sons, now identified as the alleged Boston bombers, and her two daughters, one of which was around my age. It was definitely not a glamorous place to get a facial, as the “spa” was set up in her living room, and during these years the family expanded.

The staircase was crowded with their shoes, the house filled with noises of arguing, cooking, etc. She would often apologize for this. Her daughters and Dzhokar, the younger son, always struck me as perfectly nice and normal kids about my age. As far as I knew the daughters also attended Rindge (the local public high school) along with their brother.

She gave a damn good facial, often working on my skin for two or three hours, and this is why my sister, mom and I continued to go back to her home for years.

During this time one of Zubeidat’s daughters, and then the other, were set up in arranged marriages, and started having kids. This was something I found slightly disturbing, as one was just my age (18-19) and didn’t seem to be happily married.

Within two years I heard that she had been beaten badly and eventually filed for divorce, which was at first against her mother’s wishes. Later Zubeidat said that she had accepted the divorce because it was an unhappy marriage. Her daughter then moved back into the house with her child. Her younger son, Dzhokar, was often in the room or the room next door looking after his nephew while I was getting my facial.

[…]

Between 2008 and 2012 I got to know her pretty well. During those 2-3 hours I spent a lot of time asking her about her personal life, background and her family. (I’m a writer and tend to ask people exhaustive questions about their personal lives, especially as interesting a character as this.)

The hijab shouldn’t have surprised me so much, because she had become increasingly religious while I was in college. She often mentioned Allah, and the lessons of the Koran. “Allah will reward him,” she said once about my brother, when I told her that my brother and mom were close, and that I thought my brother would take care of my mom later in life.

She started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious. She was often fasting. She told me that she had cried for days when her oldest son, Tamerlan, told her that he wanted to move out, going against her culture’s tradition of the son staying in the house with the mother until marriage.

She started saying things like, “Don’t worry, there aren’t men in the house today,” when I asked if I could use the bathroom, which I thought was kind of funny at the time, since I didn’t mind if there were men in the apartment or not…

           — Hat tip: TV [Return to headlines]
 

Is Everyone Afraid to Say Islamic Extremist?

It was quite amazing on Friday when GOPUSA ran it’s lead story with the headline: One Islamic Bomber Dead, One on the Run; Boston Suburbs Locked Down. It was amazing, because some people actually wrote in and complained that we used the word “Islamic.” Some accused us of spreading rumors. Others blamed us for “poor reporting.” And why? Simply because they hadn’t heard it anywhere else.

Here was my personal favorite by one reader: “Hey dumbass, he’s not islamic, but he was russian.”

There’s so much I could say about that one sentence. I guess this guy doesn’t know the difference between a religion and a nationality.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jihad: A Study in Perpetual War Against the West

Were the Boston Bombers Trying to Help Create an International Caliphate?

Jihad is the doctrine in Islam which directs its followers to armed assault against non-believers. The recent Boston pressure cooker bombing was committed by two Muslim believers, proving Obama has done nothing to permanently halt the threat of Muslim terrorism.

The purpose of jihad is to convert, impoverish or kill all unbelievers. It is an essential element of the teachings of Mohammad, and cannot simply be removed from the Koran. Therefore, when are Americans going to take seriously Islam as a threat and figure out a way to defuse its dangerous demand to subjugate the world in the name of Allah?

Obviously, the doctrines of Political Correctness are keeping Americans from addressing the issue in depth. We seem more intent upon not being rude than fighting to keep bombers off our streets. So, what can be done to address this bedeviling problem?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Official: Boston Bombing Suspect Suffers Throat Injury, May Not be Able to Talk

The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings suffered an injury to his throat and may not be able to talk, a federal official told CNN on Saturday, possibly hindering attempts by authorities to question him about a motive in the attack.

With one suspect dead, authorities believe answers to a motive and whether the brothers had help rest with Dzhokar Tsarnaev, who was captured Friday night just minutes after authorities had indicated that a massive manhunt for the suspect appeared to come up empty.

The official, who was briefed on Tsarnaev’s condition, spoke on condition of anonymity.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Older Boston Bomber Brother ‘Manipulated’ His Younger Sibling and Flipped When His ‘Only American Friend’ Had His Throat Slit in Unsolved Murder

Dead terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s best friend had his ‘throat slit’ in an unsolved murder in 2011 as family members today told of how he was known to ‘manipulate and use’ his brother.

The older of the suspected marathon bombers was the black sheep of the family who ‘used his younger brother’ and had fallen out with an uncle he called on the eve of his death, relatives have said.

It has emerged the terror suspect’s best friend died in a gruesome unsolved murder two years ago, just after Tamerlan said he had ‘one single American friend’.

The 26-year-old, who appears to become increasingly radicalized over the last few years, was killed in a shoot-out with police on Thursday night.

Friends revealed that Tamerlan was changed by the murder of best friend Brendan Mess.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Operation Pass it — Seeks Florida Senate Approval of SB58 American Law for American Courts

OPERATION PASS IT is a major push to URGE Florida Senate Leadership with phone calls and emails requesting them to bring SB58, Application of Foreign Laws in Certain Cases, before the full Senate for a hearing and passage before the close of the current 2013 legislative session in Tallahassee. WHY THIS IS NEEDED: SB58 HAS NOT BEEN SCHEDULED this week in Tallahassee by the Florida Senate Rules Committee. This despite House approval of this important legislation on April 18, 2013 which Gov. Rick Scott approves and would be poised to sign it into Law should the companion legislation pass the Senate. Here are the facts: 1. The Senate Rules Committee agenda has been set. 2. SB58 has already passed three Senate committees. 3. Senate President Don Gaetz can have the bill pulled from the Rules Committee and taken to the full Senate. You are respectfully requesting the Senate President do just that since the Rules Committee is not scheduled to meet again in the 2013 Legislative session after this week’s scheduled meeting. WHAT YOU CAN DO: PLEASE MAKE CALLS AND SEND EMAILS TO FLORIDA SENATE LEADERS AT BOTH THEIR SENATE AND DISTRICT OFFICES URGING THEM TO BRING SB58 UP FOR A SENATE VOTE: “PLEASE MAKE SURE SB58, APPLICATION OF FOREIGN LAW IN CERTAIN CASES, IS HEARD AND VOTED ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE BEFORE THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION ENDS.”

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

‘Police May Never Question Marathon Bombing Suspect’, Says the Mayor of Boston

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was in “very serious” condition at a Boston hospital after being captured Friday night, Menino said

The Mayor of Boston, Tom Menino, has said authorities don’t know if they will ever be able to question the marathon bombing suspect.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, remains in a “very serious” condition at a Boston hospital following his captured after eluding police for 24 hours in a bloody manhunt.

Mr Menino told ABC’s “This Week”: “We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to question the individual.”

Yesterday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said that Tsarnaev is apparently unable to communicate at the moment.

There was no immediate word on when Tsarnaev might be charged and what those charges would be.

The twin bombings killed three people and wounded more than 180.

Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a firefight with police earlier on Friday as officers hunted them for the twin blasts on Monday that killed three and injured 176.

US Senator Dan Coats, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said it was questionable whether Tsarnaev would be able to talk again.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sickening Violent Streak of Bomber — As His Family Reveal Beaten Wife’s Islamic Conversion

The parents of the wife of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev yesterday spoke of their horror at the devastation caused by the man they ‘never really knew’.

Like most Americans, Dr Warren Russell and his wife Judith are trying to comprehend how Tamerlan and his brother Dzhokhar could turn against a nation which took them in as refugees.

But for the Russells, the bafflement and anguish is all the more painful — given their knowledge of just how much their daughter Katherine had put into the relationship with Tsarnaev, who was shot dead on Friday morning.

As Judith said yesterday: ‘In the aftermath of the Patriots’ Day horror, we now know that we never really knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Wild Brooklyn Melee Erupts as NYPD Arrests Muslim Teen for Allegedly Taunting Jewish Subway Rider

The attempted arrest of an allegedly hate-mongering teen aboard a Brooklyn subway quickly turned into a wild showdown between cops and a roiled mob, according to sources and video obtained by the Daily News.

The melee began when suspect Stephan Stowe, 17, and a group of eight friends approached a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke aboard a Brooklyn-bound 3 train just before 3 p.m. Monday, police sources said Wednesday.

“Assalamu Alaikum,” Stowe said to the man, using a common greeting among Muslims that means, “Peace be with you,” court documents allege.

When the man ignored the greeting, Stowe allegedly became combative.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“Not Certain That Sharia4belgium is a Terrorist Organisation”

The Chairman of the Human Rights League Jos Vander Velpen has told the VRT that he fears that the raids carried out at the homes of several people with ties to the now-defunct radical Islamist group Sharia4Belgium won’t necessarily provide a good solution in the fight against terrorism.

Sharia4Belgium’s former leader Fouad Belkacem was among those detained in Tuesday’s raids.

As well as Mr Belkacem, five other people were detained. Four of the six people detained on Tuesday, including Fouad Belkacem, remain in custody. It is likely that they face a custody hearing on Friday.

Speaking on VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’ Jos Vander Velpen said: “I believe that it is quite possible that Belkacem will remain in custody.

“This has been made possible by a new law that came into force on 18 March. This provides for the detention of people suspected of having encouraged others to carry out terrorist acts. “

However, Mr Vander Velpen is also keen to point out that it is not yet certain whether or not Sharia4Belgium actually can be classed as a terrorist organisation.

“This will have to be decided by a court of law. It remains difficult to define what a terrorist group actually is.

Jos Vander Velpen also questions whether the use of the criminal justice system in this way is the best way of fighting terrorism.

“Radicalisation is a gradual process that takes place over a number of years. A more versatile solution is needed. A demonstration would against the recruitment of people to go and fight in Syria would do more good than raids like those yesterday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Young Muslims Don’t Feel Accepted

A survey of several hundred young Muslims has found that many don’t feel accepted by Belgian society. The survey was carried out by the daily ‘Gazet van Antwerpen’. Although 93% of those questioned are Belgian nationals, only a small minority consider themselves to be Belgian or Flemish.

As in 2005, ‘Gazet van Antwerpen’ surveyed both Muslim and non-Muslim youngsters in Antwerp, Mechelen, Turnhout (all Antwerp Province) and Sint-Niklaas (East Flanders). Despite the efforts made by the government in the field of integration and anti-discrimination policy, the overwhelming majority of the youngsters still feel that they are not accepted by society at large.

Just 30% of the Muslim youngsters questioned feel that they are accepted by Flemish society. Six out of ten of the youngsters surveyed even think that that Flemish society will never considered them to be integrated. This opinion is more prevalent by female respondents than with males.

Although 93% of those questioned are Belgian nationals 42% consider themselves to be foreigners. Only a minority say that they are Flemish or Belgian. They do however; feel a strong connection to the town or city in which they live.

The feeling that they are discriminated against is as prevalent among the young Muslims now as it was in 2005. Around 30% of those surveyed said that they had suffered discrimination at school.

One in five say that they had been discriminated against at work. However, the percentage of young Flemish Muslims that say that they had been the victim of racism has fallen from 59% in 2005 to 51% now.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Four-Thousand Year Old Gold-Adorned Skeleton Found Near Windsor

Archaeologists, excavating near the Royal Borough, have discovered the 4400 year old skeleton of an upper class woman

Windsor may have been popular with royalty rather earlier than generally thought.

Archaeologists, excavating near the Royal Borough, have discovered the 4400 year old gold-adorned skeleton of an upper class woman who was almost certainly a member of the local ruling elite.

She is the earliest known woman adorned with such treasures ever found in Britain.

The individual, aged around 40, was buried, wearing a necklace of folded sheet gold, amber and lignite beads, just a century or two after the construction of Stonehenge some 60 miles to the south-west. Even the buttons, thought to have been used to secure the upper part of her now long-vanished burial garment, were made of amber. She also appears to have worn a bracelet of lignite beads.

The archaeologist in charge of the excavation, Gareth Chaffey of Wessex Archaeology, believes that she may have been a person of power — perhaps even the prehistoric equivalent of a princess or queen.

It’s known that in southern Britain, some high status men of that era — the Copper Age — had gold possessions, but this is the first time archaeologists have found a woman of that period being accorded the same sort of material status.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Nearly 1,000 Islamists Watched Since 2001

The German government has carried out video surveillance on 962 suspected Islamists since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday.

According to the report there are currently 20 suspected Islamists under surveillance, while far-right extremists are being monitored too.

In the past 12 years, the Federal Criminal Police Office has used video evidence gathered from the surveillance of 84 people to uncover and prevent terrorist activity.

In the wake of the attack at the Boston Marathon, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has rejected calls for tougher security measures in Germany.

“The terrible attack in Boston shouldn’t be exploited for an internal debate,” she told Welt am Sonntag, adding that German security operations “should not be underestimated.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hiding Above a Police Station… We Track Down Briton Accused of Stealing Crocodile Dundee Star Paul Hogan’s £22m

A British tax adviser accused by Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan of stealing £22 million of his earnings is hiding out in Switzerland — directly above a police station.

Philip Egglishaw, 59, who allegedly helped conceal the movie star’s earnings in offshore tax havens, is said to have ‘absconded with or spent all’ of the money and is a wanted man in Australia.

Australian authorities — who have been told by The Mail on Sunday of Egglishaw’s whereabouts — are hunting him in connection with a massive tax evasion scheme used by wealthy people there.

The Australian actor has filed legal papers against Egglishaw in the US. Egglishaw has ‘absconded with or spent all’ of the star’s millions, according to documents filed in the Californian District Court.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Railways Showcase ‘Stunning’ New Frecciarossa

Top speed 360 kph

(ANSA) — Rome, April 19 — Ferrovie dello Stato, Italy’s state-owned railway company, this month presented its new technological gem, the high-speed Frecciarossa 1000 train, to President Giorgio Napolitano at a ceremony in Rome.

The top-end masterpiece was created by Italian train-maker AnsaldoBreda in conjunction with France’s Bombardier. It is now touring Europe in a promotional roadshow that is slated to end when operational tests will start.

The Frecciarossa 1000 was built as part of a wider 5 billion-euro investment plan aimed at modernizing the railroad comapny’s fleet, also though the investment of 1.5 billion euros in the production of regional trains. It can reach speeds of as high as 360 kilometres per hour. The machine is billed as “the most stunning high-speed train in the world” by its owner, Ferrovie dello Stato’s passenger transport unit Trenitalia. The model boasts a metallic snake-like body that showcases flexibility and style. Its red and grey colours travel up the aerodynamic body with elegance and style, and its interiors showcase comfort and design.

“Frecciarossa 1000 is unique in the international scenario owing to its technological innovations, technical performance, interoperability, design, quality and safety”, Ferrovie dello Stato said in an emailed statement. It is “set to raise the current technical, environmental, external and internal aesthetic standards, while guaranteeing maximum performance and travel comfort”. It was released from the AnsaldoBreda production plant on March 26, and has since started its whirlwind promotional tour.

Ferrovie dello Stato has commissioned a total of 50 Frecciarossa 1000 models to embellish the tracks that criss-cross Italy. The company currently has 60 ETR500 Frecciarossa trains running the tracks across Italy, reaching speeds as high as 300 kilometres and bringing passengers swiftly and safely to destination. It operates the ETR610 Frecciargento model — the so-called “Silver Arrow” train — mainly used to connect up the capital city of Rome with the prime time tourist destination of Venice, through speeds of as high as 250kmh.

Prior to arriving in Rome for the presentation to the Italian president, the technological gem was showcased to admiring audiences in other cities such as Berlin, Naples, Milan, Bologna and Rimini, where Italian caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti was present.

The 1.5-billion-euro project took three years to come to fruition, after Ferrovie dello Stato held a public tender in 2010 for the works that was won by AnsaldoBreda and Bombardier. The very first model was dedicated to Italian Olympic Champion and politician Pietro Mennea, who recently died, and is slated to start operational tests very soon. It is forecast to start carrying passengers at the end of 2014 or in early 2015. Trenitalia also has some 70 regional trains under production as part of a separate project won by French power-equipment and train maker Alstom. AnsaldoBreda is owned by Finmeccanica, Italy’s state-owned defence company. Bombardier is the world’s third-largest planemaker, and also owns train producer Bombardier Transportation.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Cruise Ship Market Growing Steadily

In spite of economic crisis, turbulence and Costa shipwreck

(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 16 — In spite of the economic crisis, political turbulence in North Africa, and last summer’s fatal Costa Crociere shipwreck, the Mediterranean cruise market is still growing.

“A record 6.13 million Europeans booked cruises in 2012, with the market doubling in just eight years and growing by 38% since the crisis began in 2008”, according to a report by the International Cruise Shipping Association (CLIA).

In 2012, four out of five Europeans, or approximately 3.5 million, chose Mediterranean cruise destinations, the report said.

The outlook for 2013 is cautiously optimistic, for in spite of disappointing results for the Italian (-8%) and Spanish (-18%) cruise markets last year, the overall trend for national markets over the past five years has been positive, according to CLIA.

The sector’s success is due to new marketing strategies that have attracted different clienteles for longer periods of time, with some shippers working year round, analysts said.

The sector still has margin for growth, because it makes up just 1% of the European holiday market, which is growing at 8% a year, against 3% in the US (with a 6% yearly growth rate). Of these percentages, 65% of the growth rate is related to the Mediterranean, analysts pointed out.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Chianti Classico Producer Sells to Chinese Businessman

First time in history Gallo Nero owned by non-Italian

(ANSA) — Florence, April 16 — The purchase of one of the 600 Chianti Classico Gallo Nero vineyards by a Chinese entrepreneur on Tuesday makes it the first time in history a non-Italian has bought one of Tuscany’s iconic wineries.

Eight hectares of vineyard with an olive grove and two farmhouses near the town of Greve in Chianti were sold by the Italian owner to the Chinese pharmaceutical businessman based in Hong Kong.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Wedding Tourism Generated 315 Million Euros in 2012

Foreigners’ tying the knot help country’s travel professionals

(ANSA) — Rome, April 19 — Italy celebrated a total of 6,180 foreigners’ weddings in 2012, generating revenue of more than 315 million euros for the tourism and travel industry, according to a report released by leisure consultant Jfc.

Some 1.2 million people travelled to Italy last year to celebrate friends’ and relatives’ weddings, which cost couples an average of 51,000 euros to organize.

Some 87.8 million euros were spent specifically on the actual ceremonies, whilst marrying couples’ travel costs totalled about 22.8 million euros in the year. Foreigners’ honeymoons in Italy after having celebrated the union generated revenue of 22.8 million euros, as 82% of those that travelled to Italy to tie the knot stayed on for their post-wedding trip.

Wedding guests spent some 204.7 million euros to travel to ceremonies and on accommodation for the trip.

The practise has also benefited local municipalities such as Venice and Florence that have introduced in 2009 a so-called “wedding tax” which couples wishing to use a specific location are required to pay, such as those choosing the Sala Cuoi d’Oro in the Ca’ Vendramin palace in Venezia, which costs 5,000 euros.

The fee is the same for those wishing to formalize their union in the magnificent “Salone del Cinquecento” room in the central Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, while the couples choosing Villa Oscano — Posta dei Donini in Perugia are charged 800 euros.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Taranto Judge Rejects Bid to Get Seized ILVA Products Back

Material seized in November can’t be returned

(ANSA) — Taranto, April 19 — A preliminary investigations judge on Friday threw out a request by lawyers acting on behalf of the troubled ILVA steelworks in Taranto for the return of steel products seized in November after a top court rejected efforts to shut down the company’s plant.

The products were sequestered last November as part of an ongoing legal and political battle over the future of the plant in the southern port city amid serious long-running environmental and health concerns. ILVA lawyers filed the application on April 10, the day after the Constitutional Court rejected prosecutors’ claims that the government’s 2012 “Save ILVA” decree was unconstitutional, meaning that production at the factory could continue while necessary environmental upgrades are carried out.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Puglia Fish Companies ‘Evaded 6.5 Mn in Taxes’

Firm chief cited for hiding documents

(ANSA) — Bisceglie, April 19 — Police on Friday raided three fish-marketing and selling firms in the southern Italian region of Puglia and found they had allegedly not paid taxes to the tune of 6.5 million euros over the last year.

The head of one of the companies was cited for hiding tax returns.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Re-Elected President Napolitano Faces Tough Challenge

First head of state to serve second term

(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — President Giorgio Napolitano became Italy’s first head of state to be re-elected on Saturday after he agreed to stand in the sixth presidential ballot in a bid to end political chaos.

Five previous ballots failed to elect a successor to the 87-year-old because rifts within the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), the biggest group in parliament, saw two of its own candidates scuppered.

The chaos-hit PD was joined by earlier on Saturday by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party and outgoing Premier Mario Monte’s Civic Choice party in asking for Napolitano to stand again. The PdL’s regionalist ally, the Northern League, voted for Napolitano too and he prevailed with a big majority, winning the votes of 738 of the 1,007 so-called ‘grand electors’, Napolitano, a former member of Italy’s Communist party whose first seven-year term was due to end next month, had repeatedly ruled out staying on in the past. The deadlock over the head of state was threatening to further complicate efforts to end the political impasse recession-hit Italy has endured since February’s inconclusive general election. The president has a key role in orchestrating efforts to form a new government in a hung parliament.

Napolitano said he faced a “difficult challenge at a crucial moment” after being re-elected. He also called on “everyone to honour their duties” to “reinforce the (country’s) political institutions”. He now must get back to working on ending the impasse and see which parties are willing to form a government on the basis of a programme he asked to be drafted by a group of experts.

Napolitano said he would give more details about how he intends to set about this on Monday.

The president will face a stiff challenge in brokering solutions to create a new government, given the rifts within the PD, which led the alliance that came first in February but failed to win a working majority in the Senate.

The party is set for a leadership contest as Secretary Pier Luigi Bersani said Friday he would quit “one minute” after the presidential election after rebels in his own party sank the candidates he proposed to Upper and Lower House lawmakers and representatives of Italy’s regions. On Friday around 100 of the centre left’s ‘grand electors’ failed to vote for ex-premier Romano Prodi in the fourth presidential ballot.

Bersani presented Prodi’s name in an attempt to regain PD unity after many in the party on Thursday did not vote for the previous candidate he had proposed, former Senate Speaker Franco Marini.

The outgoing PD chief was already under fire for his handling of the post-election impasse.

Italy still has no government as Bersani failed in a bid to reach out to the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), which holds the balance of power in the Senate.

He refused to consider forming a broad coalition government with the PdL, while at the same time rejecting calls for another vote, saying that this would be equally inconclusive under the current election law. Bersani’s exit could make way for the PD’s Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi, a telegenic 38-year-old who has been compared to the young Tony Blair and came second in the centre-left’s premier-candidate primary in December.

Renzi, whose loyalists led the rebellion against Marini, is currently the country’s most popular politician, according to opinion polls, but he is viewed with suspicion by many in the PD.

M5S leader Beppe Grillo called Napolitano’s re-election a coup and called on “millions” of Italians to join him in a protest in Rome.

But he then announced he would not be in the capital in time to lead the protest on Saturday.

M5S candidate Rodota’ also had the support of the left-wing SEL, which was allied with the PD in February’s election.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Barroso Welcomes Napolitano’s Re-Election

Italy will continue to contribute to ‘European ideal’

(ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — European Commission President Jose’ Manuel Barroso on Saturday welcomed the re-election of Italian president Giorgio Napolitano.

“I’m certain that under the new presidency Italy will continue in its European tradition to give a decisive contribution to our common European ideal,” said Barroso.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Temperatures Drop to 15C in Sicily and 9C in Rome

(AGI) — Rome, Apr 21 — Minimum nighttime temperatures plunged to 7C in Florence, 8C in Turin, 9C in Rome, 10C in Bari, and 11C in Genoa and Milan. Temperatures didn’t dip below 14C in Venice or 15C in Naples and Palermo.

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

Italy: 52 Piedmont Councillors in Embezzlement Probe

Suspects include regional governor Cota

(ANSA) — Turin, April 19 — Prosecutors in Turin on Friday notified 52 out of a total of 60 Piedmont regional councillors that they were under investigation over alleged misuse of public funds for political parties. Regional governor Roberto Cota of the right-wing regionalist Northern League was one of the people placed under investigation. He has denied any wrongdoing and said he had already presented himself to investigators “to explain his position”.

The suspects, representing all political party groups in the regional council, could now face charges of embezzlement, illicit party funding and fraud although prosecutor Giancarlo Caselli said there were “significant differences between the various individual positions, concerning both the reason given for the requested refunds and the sum of money involved”.

The Piedmont probe is the latest in a series of scandals within Italy’s regional governments involving the alleged misappropriation of public funds.

The centre-right governments of Lazio and Lombardy both fell in 2012 due to such alleged misconduct.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Napolitano Re-Election Provokes Protest, Gratitude

5-Star Movement calls for ‘millions’ to go to Rome

(By Paul Virgo) (see related stories) (ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — Saturday’s re-election of President Giorgio Napolitano provoked gratitude from the mainstream Italian parties and protests from followers of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S). Most of the parties in parliament lobbied Napolitano to agree to serve a second term and end a situation of gridlock after five ballots failed to elect a successor to the 87-year-old because of rifts within the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), the biggest group in parliament. The deadlock was threatening to further complicate efforts to end the political impasse recession-hit Italy has endured since February’s inconclusive general election.

Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose centre-right alliance came second in February, thanked Napolitano for his “spirit of sacrifice” and “personal generosity” for agreeing to serve a second term as Italy’s head of state “in such a difficult, uncertain situation”.

Outgoing PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani said the re-election was “excellent” and outgoing Premier Mario Monti expressed satisfaction too.

But there was tension outside Italy’s Lower House of parliament, where a big crowd gathered after M5S leader Beppe Grillo urged “millions” to protest against the re-election.

“I’m going to Rome. I’ll be outside the House,” comedian-turned Grillo said via Twitter. “There must be millions of us”.

Earlier Grillo said on his blog, which gave life to the Internet-based M5S in 2009, that the other main parties’ decision to ask the 87-year-old to stay on a head of state amounted to a “coup”. He accused the established parties of making secret deals behind closed doors, unlike the M5S, which chose its presidential candidate, Constitutional Lawyer Stefano Rodota’, after an online vote of members.

Grillo said he was immediately abandoning a campaign in the north of Italy to drive 650 km to the Rome parliament. But he then announced he would not be in the capital in time to lead the protest on Saturday and made an appeal for the there to be no violence.

The crowd outside the House, which was not just made up of M5S supporters, shouted “buffoons”, “Rodota” and “come on out” after it was announced that Napolitano had been re-elected.

Grillo’s comments were blasted by mainstream politicians, with some saying the protest was similar to Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s “march on Rome” in 1922. “Mussolini and Hitler said the same things as Grillo,” said Northern League chief and Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni.

“Parliament is the seat of democracy”. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno told Grillo to “calm down”.

“I don’t like the idea of threatening parliament,” Alemanno added. “Grillo should respect Rome”.

Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi expressed concern too. “We’ve seen all sorts (from the M5S) and now there is Grillo’s comical march on Rome and his funny fascism,” said Berlusconi.

“It’s a farce that should make us laugh, but also make us reflect on how this movement with no democracy may develop”. Rodota’ also distanced himself from the protest, saying that parliamentary decisions should be contested within “democratic, Constitutional legality”.

European Commission President Jose’ Manuel Barroso was among the first international figures to welcome Napolitano’s re-election. “I’m certain that under the new presidency Italy will continue in its European tradition to give a decisive contribution to our common European ideal,” said Barroso.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: PDL’s Alfano Says Grillo MPS Want to Replace PD on Left

(AGI) — Rome, Apr 21 — PDL Secretary Angelino Alfano, speaking to TG5 said, “The Italian people have seen that the Grillo MPs are all leftwing and want to take the Democratic Party’s place on the left.”

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

Italy: Riina Jr. ‘Proud’ To be Son of Mafia ‘Boss of Bosses’

Toto’ passed on ‘values, morals’

(ANSA) — Padua, April 19 — Giuseppe Salvatore Riina, son of Salvatore ‘Toto” Riina, the most powerful Sicilian Mafia boss in the 1980s and early 1990s, on Friday defended his father and said he was proud to carry his family name. “It is a surname that was given to me by two parents who were able to teach me many things: values, morals,” he told the northern regional Corriere del Veneto newspaper.

“I am honoured to be the son of Toto’ Riina and Antonietta Bagarella”.

His mother, like Riina, also comes from a powerful Mafia family from Corleone in the province of Palermo, considered the heart of Mafia activity in the years leading up to the massacres of 1992-1993 in which anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were just two of the many people who lost their lives. Giuseppe currently lives under special surveillance in the Veneto city of Padua where he works for a local association providing services to marginalised people after serving an eight-year-and-10-month sentence for Mafia association.

Arrested in 1993, Toto’ Riina is currently being held in a maximum-security jail on multiple life sentences and his son said he was sure “his father will not come out of prison alive”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Napolitano Remains President of Italy

Giorgio Napolitano is still the president of Italy, the first head of state in the country’s history to receive a second mandate. He was elected in the sixth round of voting with the support of the Democratic Party (PD), People of Freedom (PDL), Civic Choice (SC) and Northern League. Mr Napolitano, 87, had said repeatedly that he had no inclination to serve another seven-year term but the rush of events over the past few days — the failure of the two distinct political strategies that led the PD to back first Franco Marini and then Romano Prodi — convinced the outgoing president to change his mind. After a busy morning of talks with leaders of the parties that later voted for him, just after lunch Mr Napolitano consented to stand. “I am available. I cannot step aside. But now what is needed is a collective assumption of responsibility”, he observed in a note. The green light from the outgoing president meant that the next round of voting — the sixth — was plain sailing, as Mr Napolitano coasted home with 738 votes. Stefano Rodotà, the candidate of Beppe Grillo’s Five Star MoVement (M5S), obtained 217 votes, considerably more than the M5S’s 162 parliamentarians. Outside the Chamber of Deputies, Piazza Montecitorio teemed with M5S supporters and sympathisers chanting protests at the “coup” orchestrated by the main political parties over Mr Napolitano’s candidature. Beppe Grillo headed back to Rome, apparently intent on widening the scope of protest demonstrations.

Redazione Online

English translation by Giles Watson

www.watson.it

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

Norway: Justin Bieber Fans ‘Convert to Islam’ In ‘Tasteless’ TV Stunt in Bid to Win Concert Tickets

Justin Bieber fans have ‘converted to Islam’ on television in a bid to secure tickets to one of his shows.

The fans — known as ‘beliebers’ — tried to see their Canadian hero in concert by taking part in the stunt on Norwegian station TV Norge.

The girls were told to remove all make-up, put on hijabs and recite what was reported to be an Islamic statement of belief in Arabic before reading a piece of Arabic text aloud.

Norwegian news website Dagen reported that the fans were also made to say: ‘Justin Bieber is unclean and probably gay’.

The stunt featured on the comedy show called ‘Anne-Kat’, hosted by award-winning comedienne Anne-Katrine Hegna Hærland.

She said: ‘We wanted to find out how far Norwegian “beliebers” are willing to go for tickets to one of Bieber’s concerts.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: US Task Force in Moron Base to Watch Over N. Africa

500 Marines to protect diplomats, civilians in NA, the Sahel

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 19 — The Spanish government on Friday authorized the one-year deployment of a US task force of 500 US Marines and eight US Air Force planes at Moron de la Fontera Air Base near Seville, Deputy Premier Soraya Sanz de Santamaria told reporters at a press conference following a cabinet meeting.

The Marines will protect military personnel and installations currently in Arab Spring countries and in the Sahel, and are being deployed under a 1988 military cooperation agreement between the US and Spain, De Santamaria said. Authorization for the task force was granted for the protection of diplomatic and civilian personnel working in a strategic region affected by “episodes of instability”, the deputy premier explained.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: ‘They Gave Into Islamophobia’: Mustafa

Omar Mustafa has spoken out about his disappointment in the Social Democrat party, saying he felt let down by the leadership after being ousted from the party’s governing board just a week after his appointment.

“My involvement in different Muslim civil society organizations was seen as a burden and they asked me to give up my position,” Mustafa told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

Mustafa, who chairs Sweden’s Islamic Association (Islamiska förbundet), resigned from all his duties with the party after mounting criticism centring on the Islamic Association’s links to individuals with known anti-Semitic and homophobic views.

Asked if there was a particular incident that made him agree to quit the Social Democrats, Sweden’s left-of-centre opposition party, Mustafa replied that the leadership had sent a clear signal that the party lacked confidence in him.

“There was neither will nor ability to handle the media hunt against me even though they know very well that I have done nothing wrong and that the media hunt turned Islamophobic in character,” Mustafa wrote in the email interview with SvD.

He declined to clarify who “they” are but said it felt like “one, without reflecting properly, gave into Islamophobic forces within and outside the party”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Newlywed Murdered Near to Her Young Son After She Decided to Leave the Country Just Five Months Into Her Marriage

[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content **]

A mother-of-two has been murdered during a savage attack at her home, while her young son was in the house, according to reports.

Jabeen Younis, 30, was discovered by police at her Oldham home with serious neck injuries.

A 20-year-old woman was arrested in the early hours of today on suspicion of murder. She remained in police custody for questioning this afternoon.

Jabeen is understood to have recently separated from her husband five months into their marriage and friends said she wanted a fresh start in her native Pakistan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Contemporary Italian Jewelry Show Opens in Tel Aviv

Nine women artisans featured in Bella Gioia!

(By Kate Carlisle) (ANSA) — Tel Aviv, April 15 — Contemporary art exhibition Bella Gioia! in Tel Aviv is a celebration of jewelry by nine Italian women artists who are unwavering in their belief that jewelry is “one of the highest expressions of art and design.” says gallery owner Ermanno Tedeschi.

Showing at Tedeschi’s gallery in the city’s Bohemian neighborhood Neve Tzedeck from April 30 to May 6, all the women participating in the show express “their way of being by creating jewelry that originates from strong emotions and from a primitive, creative intelligence,” says Carmela Callea, director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Tel Aviv.

Curators Valeria De Simoni and Fabiana Magri have put together works that are full of life have been molded with a playful attitude to brings together imagination and reality.

It is the first event in Israel by Creativity Lab ICPO, a melting-pot organization that brings together professionals operating in different fields — like art, design, food and fashion — with various experiences and skills — including management, communications, fundraising and social networking — from different countries.

ICPO is a sort of “creative kibbutz” where ideas can be nourished and supported, says Magri.

“We are not an agency or company, but a group of thinkers networking to develop ideas,” Magri says.

Clothing is emboldened by accessories, a “powerful expressive code,” says Di Simoni.

Starting in the 1930s, artists like Picasso, Man Ray, Calder, Dali’ and Giacometti conceived of jewelry as reduced scales of their greater works and used the body of an alternative exhibition space.

Today, contemporary jewelry is an art unto itself. “It is considered a separate discipline that, beyond the formal constraints of the visual arts and regardless of precious materials, stands as a true experimental research characterized by freedom of expression,” Di Simoni says.

Eco-friendly artists’ cooperative 2me, born from a partnership between Hannika Cereda and Fabiana Cortesia, creates its designs from recycled plastic objects, textiles and metals.

Their collection, Postcards from Cogoleto, tells the story of a place and its industry, taking left-over scraps and injecting them with new life and meaning.

Genoese artist Elena Cavallo uses what she calls “little treasures” found in dusty attics and basements. Old buttons, antique beads and hat pins are all mounted into sinuous lines that embellish necklines.

Another artist of Genoese extraction, Bruna Chiarle, instead dips into the many expressions of glass for her works, using techniques like cutting, engraving and grinding to create unique design pieces.

Sisters Camilla and Valentina Gallo form Jamais Sans Toi jewelers and work with clay and ceramics to bake and glaze vibrant pieces that are both elegant and theatrical.

Nature is Elena Martinelli’s creative muse. Through oxidation and patina methods she models light and shade into metal jewelry for what she calls an “introspective journey”.

Caterina Sciancalepore, who works under the name of Nericata, creates delicate porcelain necklaces using ancient know-how and contemporary creativity.

Laura Stefani and Eva Franceschini (Laura and Eva) from Padua scrape the bottom of the barrel for top-notch results, using recycled everything then giving it a gloss that brings it to life, making pieces that become protagonists.

Every piece stands out as unique and one of a kind, made to bring Bella Gioia — meaning something precious and beautiful in Italian. After all, says Callea, “beauty is nothing but the promise of happiness”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

New Protests Break Out in Bahrain Before Formula 1 GP

(AGI) Dubai — Clashes were reported between protesters and police in the Shiite suburbs of Manama, Bahrain, ahead of the F1 GP .

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

Sex Parties, A Gym and a Spa: Inside the Saudi Prisons Where Terrorists Caught in Saudi Arabia Are Sent

The conservative oil rich state is hoping to steer jailed al-Qaeda militants away from religious extremism with counselling, spa treatments and exercise at a luxury rehabilitation centre in Riyadh, news agencies there are reporting.

The luxury facilities, which the country has spared no expense on providing, include Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a gym and a television hall.

For those who have shown signs of good behaviour, two day breaks may be granted for those who wish proximity with their wives, in special ‘suites’ which are part of the complex.

The program will accommodate around 3,000 prisoners in 5 centres in the kingdom but it is the new facility in Riyadh, however, which is to offer prisoners a ‘taste of luxury as an incentive to moderate their beliefs’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Avra Valley Man Displays Migrant Litter on Front Yard

AVRA VALLEY, Arizona — You won’t find flowers or garden gnomes in AJ Duncan’s front yard.

But you will find a clothing line filled with carpet shoes he says drug smugglers wear to cover their tracks, along with a pile of backpacks and blankets, and more than 400 black water jugs.

They are all items Duncan has found over the last year and a half, while hiking through his beloved desert. “There are millions of backpacks and blankets,” Duncan says. “I’ve been out here 48 years and I can’t see half my desert anymore.”

A couple months ago, instead of throwing the trash away, he decided to put the items on display in his front yard. He hopes to raise awareness about what is being left behind on the land.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Head of Pro-Abortion Group Pleads Guilty to Arranging Sex With Child

[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content **]

The former director of a leading abortion advocacy group who was caught in a child sex sting pleaded guilty to his crimes.

Scott Richard Swirling, who was the director of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), was arrested for attempting to arrange for a sexual encounter with a twelve-year-old girl. He was charged with traveling across state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct, a crime which carries a penalty of up to 30 years.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Queering of the Boy Scouts

[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content **]

“The key part of the resolution says no youth may be denied membership in the Scouts “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.” A ban would continue on leadership roles for adults who are openly gay or lesbian. Gay-rights groups, which had demanded a complete lifting of the ban, criticized the proposal as inadequate. “Until every parent and young person have the same opportunity to serve, the Boy Scouts will continue to see a decline in both membership and donations,” said Rich Ferraro, a spokesman for the gay-rights watchdog group GLAAD.”

Ferraro naturally avoids the issue that no one has the “right” to join Boy Scouts of America. BSA is a private organization. They have the absolute right to ban sexual deviants from joining their organization. If sexual deviants want a scouting group, they are free to have their own queer scouts organization. Allowing youth membership will open the door for impressionable young boys to fall under peer pressure and propaganda by young men who have had their minds corrupted with the big lie about being “born that way”…

Parents of boy scouts should read about what happened up in Canada. [www.newswithviews.com/Bradlee/dean104.htm]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Continued Push for the Socialization of America, Part 2

We have been looking at the goals that the communists have set forth in an effort overthrow the American experience. They have accomplished many of those goals and we’ll look at the rest of them today.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all form of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings,” substituting shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms. We have seen many good pieces of art be removed from parks and buildings only to be replaced by the ‘ shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms’…

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. We have seen both of these occur. With 70 members of Congress belonging to the Democrat Socialists of America they run rampant through D.C. and in local legislatures. If the Committee on Un-American Activities was still in force, we wouldn’t have 70 members of Congress representing the communist party.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. Pay close attention the next time you see pictures of an SEIU rally. You will see the Democrat Socialists standing right alongside of them. As I stated before, most unions if not all of them have their beginnings in communism…

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose communist goals. [Note: Psychiatry remains a bulwark of the communist agenda of fostering self-criticism and docility.] I also will mention that the psychiatric professionals are now trying to reclassify homosexuality as a normal, healthy lifestyle. They are now looking at classifying pedophilia as a legitimate sexual orientation and making it illegal to attempt to counsel a person out of that lifestyle as California has done with homosexuality and in the process nullify all laws against pedophilia.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/21/2013

  1. I am sure that you could apply the same comments from immigrants to Belgium to immigrants to Britain or any other European country.
    If the immigrants are not happy and the host populations are not happy then why do they wish to persist with this balmy left-wing experiment in social engineering, turning Europe into something it never was nor never expected to be.
    Or do we know the answer, namely that all this is being done for another purpose. To me it all seems like planned white genocide but I am still trying to determine who will benefit as a world without the most inventive race ever with a higher iq level than its immigrants seems to be a recipe for global disaster and the end of civilisation. Those who say the world will be brown in the end need to look at what sort of a world that will be by looking at Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the West Indies and South and Central America.

    Here in Britain there is a bit of a rumpus because a councillor in rural Sussex, sickeningly white as ex-pm Gordon Brown would have described it, has voiced his objection to the purchase of a redundant school there as a boarding school for ethnic minorities from inner London. The pupils will be 97% black or Asian.
    The BBC described them as ethnic minorities but probably in that part of London the ethnic minority is the dwindling residue of the original cockney sparrows. They are now the ethnic minority in their own city and probably will be in their own country in a few decades.

    There were comments about the resignation on a Conservative Party website and somebody said that to suggest that other races are somehow inferior is a disgrace in this day and age. A brave respondent actually said that that was not true and that equality was a Marxist lie as scientific research has shown the opposite. I am intrigued by the fact that liberal whites or Marxists will be happy to tell us that the Chinese and Jews have a slightly higher average iq than Europeans but scream the house down if you point out that all other races have a lower average iq. Europeans will disappear, especially here in Britain, because of a Marxist lie and the world will go down with them. Please somebody put a stop to this insanity before it is too late. We do not want to disappear because of some childish make-believe and a proven untruth.

    • You can do something. Listen to the late Jonathon Bowden’s excellent lecture on Youtube on Marxism and the Frankfurt School and take it from there.

      (Baron and Dumphna – Apologies for mentioning this a second time, and I promise I’ll not mention it again, but I do believe this brilliant talk by the genius Jonathon Bowden puts the European plight into the sharpest focus that it should be a must for evryone.)

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