Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/16/2013

A policeman was called to a mosque in Birmingham in response to a report of a stabbing. When he arrived, the knife-wielding assailant stabbed him, too, despite having been tasered. All involved in the incident — policeman, three other victims, and attacker — are thought to be Muslims. The would-be murderer is described as a Somali.

In other news, refugee season has started in earnest on the island of Lampedusa. A boat carrying 260 illegal migrants landed on the island today, and another sixty were rescued off the coast.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, JD, Kitman, Mary Abdelmassih, McR, Nick, 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.

USA
» 14-Year-Old at the Center of “NRA T-Shirt Controversy” Now Facing Possibility of 1 Year in Jail
» AT&T to Load iPhones With Emergency Alerts From Obama — That You Can’t Switch Off
» Bloomberg Plans to Unveil Food Recycling Plan
» Mexican Pirates vs. Constitutional Militia
» Multiplying Scandals to Hide the One Scandal That Could Sink Obama
» Obama Launches Total Takeover of Media System
» Revealed: Yahoo Fought Against NSA’s Warrantless Spying Program But Lost and Was Forced by Secret Court to Join Prism
» The Continuing Collapse of the Global Warming Hoax
 
Europe and the EU
» A Little History of What Germans Drink and Why
» Europe’s Concert Halls Chase the Perfect Sound
» International Trade: ‘France Ready to Veto Over Cultural Exception’
» Jet Bound for New York is Diverted to Glasgow Airport Escorted by Fighter Jets After Passenger Finds a Note Saying ‘I’ll Set This Plane on Fire’ in the Toilet
» UK: Anti-Fascists Fuel the Fire of Hate
» UK: Mosque Knifeman Stabbed Policeman in Chest and Stomach After He Had Been Tasered… and Only Stopped When Worshippers Helped Restrain Him
 
North Africa
» Islamists Warn Christians From Demonstrating to Topple Egyptian President
 
Middle East
» Al-Qaeda Extremists Destroy Shiite Mosque in Hatlah
» Armed Commando Kills 4 Shiites in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
» Syria Condemns Egypt for Severing Diplomatic Ties
 
South Asia
» India: Anti-Christian Fundamentalism Breaks Out Maharashtra
» Indonesia: Central Java: Fatwa Against Catholic Schools, “Forbidden” To Muslims
» Kamalari: Girls and Women Victims of Slavery in Nepal
» Uzbekistan: Authorities Carry Out “Anti-Terror Raid” At the Home of a 76-Year-Old Christian Woman Suffering From Parkinson
 
Far East
» China, India and Pakistan Increase Nuclear Stockpile
» China Lifts Off Past Europe in Space Travel
 
Latin America
» China to Build Panama Canal Rival
 
Immigration
» Italy: Two Hundred and Sixty Migrants Land in Lampedusa
» SS Sirio Rescues 60 Migrants Off the Lampedusa Coast
 
Culture Wars
» The £49bn Bill We Pay for Children Who Can’t Celebrate Father’s Day: The Devastating Financial — and Human — Cost of Our Fatherless Society
 
General
» ‘Fertility Levels Are Higher Than We Expected’
» Kings Without Kingdoms: G8, Google-Meisters and Bilderbergers
 

14-Year-Old at the Center of “NRA T-Shirt Controversy” Now Facing Possibility of 1 Year in Jail

Suspended and arrested after refusing to change his NRA shirt. Today, 14-year-old Jared Marcum appeared before a judge and was officially charged with obstructing an officer.

A $500 fine and up to a year in jail, that’s the penalty that Jared could face, now that a judge has allowed the prosecution to move forward with it’s obstructing an officer charge against him.

“Me, I’m more of a fighter and so is Jared and eventually we’re going to get through this,” Jared’s father Allen Lardieri said. “I don’t think it should have ever gotten this far.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

AT&T to Load iPhones With Emergency Alerts From Obama — That You Can’t Switch Off

Just in case you want more Obama in your life…

AT&T is loading iPhones with emergency alerts from Barack Obama…That you can’t switch off.

AT&T has begun rolling out Wireless Emergency Alerts updates for iPhone 4S and 5, so you won’t be the last folks to know if the entire northern hemisphere is about to be covered in ice à la Day After Tomorrow.

You’ll receive a notification from the carrier when your update is ready, but only if you’re using iOS 6.1 or higher.

Once installed, AMBER and Emergency alerts are automatically sent to your phone unless you switch them off via Settings. However, should you be tired of Obama, just know that there’s no way to switch off Presidential alerts.

So now Barack can track your calls and send you messages, too.

           — Hat tip: McR [Return to headlines]
 

Bloomberg Plans to Unveil Food Recycling Plan

The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans to announce shortly that it is hiring a composting plant to handle 100,000 tons of food scraps a year in New York City. That amount would represent about 10 percent of the city’s residential food waste.

[Return to headlines]
 

Mexican Pirates vs. Constitutional Militia

Last week we saw one of the most shameful, anti-American displays in the U.S. Congress in my lifetime. Mexcian President Felipe Calderon, who reinvented the word hypocrite, stood in front of the world in OUR house and slammed the State of Arizona for their new law to stop the sewage coming across the border from his country, bringing death and misery to that state. That little Napoleon stood in OUR house and ran his mouth while Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the morally and ethically bankrupt Democrats stood and cheered.

On May 18, 2010, Congressman Ted Poe reported that for the third time, Mexican military helicopters were flying in Texas air space:

“These military incursions are becoming routine. What are they doing here? We don’t know. Has our government protested this violation of international law? No one is talking. Our own government seems to be blissfully silent about these incursions. That’s why I’m asking Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano for some answers.”

Bush and a Republican controlled Congress are the ones responsible for creating the unnecessary, suck hundreds of billions from our pockets monster called the Department of Fatherland Security. Now, they can’t get an answer from the current flunky about foreign military helicopters flying in my state? I ask again: Who is wagging who’s tail?

While they’re all waiting around for ‘Big Sis’ to respond, Mexican pirates are now going after Americans on American soil with guns:

Pirates terrorize boaters on Texas lake along Mexican border — May 20, 2010

ZAPATA, TEXAS — “It sounds like something out of yesteryear: Pirates attacking boats and sailors, robbing them of their treasures. But it’s not on the high seas, but in deep South Texas. With machine guns in hand, Mexico’s deadliest cartel is patrolling the waters of a Texas border lake. These pirates already have hit several boats on Falcon Lake near Zapata, which is about an hour south of Laredo.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Multiplying Scandals to Hide the One Scandal That Could Sink Obama

Once in a while, a truly ugly scandal rears its head. If it isn’t cut off at the pass, it could damage the White House and take the president into a place he doesn’t want to inhabit. Benghazi, for example.

“Obama stood by and did nothing while Americans were murdered.” That story line has to be stopped…

Benghazi could torpedo Obama? Could take him down? The scandal is widening? It’s getting harder to contain? It’s rising to a roar?

Okay. Do the one thing that will appear to be completely counter-intuitive. Leak new scandals. Let a few dupes take the fall. Who cares?

Obscure Benghazi with new shocks. The AP scandal. The IRS scandal. The NSA-Snowden scandal. In each of those, Obama himself can survive. The damage he incurs is far less than what would happen if the Benghazi op explodes…

The truth goes like this. “Okay, guys, we’re in the war room. We’ve got Benghazi. This is a bad one. Obama is exposed. His flank is unprotected. If we let this scandal play out, it’s going to drown the president. We can time a few new scandals so people will forget about Benghazi. Let’s bring them into play, one after the other. Hit them hard. Obama will weather the storm. Memory is short…”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Launches Total Takeover of Media System

Even the Washington Post describes it like something out of Orwell’s 1984. The FCC has approved a presidential alert system. Obama may soon appear on your television or call your cell phone to warn you about the next specious al-Qaeda underwear bombing event.

Commissioners voted last week to require television and radio stations, cable systems and satellite TV providers to participate in a test that would have them receive and transmit a live code that includes an alert message issued by the president. No date has been set for the test, according to the Post.

Once again, the government has imposed an unreasonable and absurd mandate on business and the American people…

In addition to your cell phone, the government wants to take control of your internet broadband in the event another phony terror attack threatens the homeland.

Lisa Fowlkes, deputy chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC, told FederalNewsRadio on Monday that the FCC is looking at how wireless broadband could also enhance the EAS as part of a recommendation that was in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan from last year. The idea is to hijack broadband and the internet for emergency alerting propaganda with the “Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) being developed by FEMA and the wireless industry,” according to Fowlkes.

The system would break into your computer or wireless device and broadcast presidential propaganda announcements, FEMA reports, so-called “Imminent Threat Alerts,” and AMBER Alerts.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Revealed: Yahoo Fought Against NSA’s Warrantless Spying Program But Lost and Was Forced by Secret Court to Join Prism

Yahoo’s top lawyers had a courtroom showdown with the National Security Agency after it had demanded information on certain foreign users without a warrant, but the tech giant lost and was forced to hand over the data, it was revealed today.

Court documents obtained by the New York Times show that the Internet company had initially refused to join the PRISM spying program, insisting that the broad national security requests seeking users’ personal information were unconstitutional.

However, the secret court operating under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) sided with the NSA and forced Yahoo’s hand.

Information about Yahoo’s legal battle against the NSA first emerged in a heavily redacted court order, but the name of the company involved had not been released until now.

It was claimed that besides Yahoo, a number of major Silicon Valley companies became part of PRISM, among them Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Skype, AOL and the lesser known Internet company PalTalk, which has hosted a lot of traffic during the Arab Spring and the on-going Syrian civil war.

However, only Facebook and Google have been shown to have worked toward creating ‘online rooms’ in which to share data with the government.

Information about the classified program was leaked last week by NSA systems administrator Edward Snowden, 29, who smuggled the files concerning PRISM on a thumb drive.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Continuing Collapse of the Global Warming Hoax

The warming we have had the last 100 years is so small that, if we didn’t have meteorologists and climatologists to measure it, we wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

While the nation tries to come to grips with the cascade of scandals involving the Obama administration, a significant phenomenon has been occurring. It is the demise of the global warming/climate change hoax that has driven national and international policies since the 1980s.

Directed from within the bowls of the most corrupt international organization on planet Earth, the United Nations, the hoax originally generated the Kyoto Protocols in December 1997 to set limits on the generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The UN’s climate charlatans claimed that CO2 was causing the Earth to dramatically warm. It was a lie. The U.S. Senate unanimously refused to ratify it and, in 2011, Canada withdrew from it.

As reported by Craig Rucker, Executive Director of CFACT, fast-forward to the recent UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, and news that Russia, joined by Ukraine and Belarus, blocked the adoption of the agenda of the “Subsidiary Body for Implementation”, part of the standard fast-tracking toward a 2015 Climate Treaty scheduled to be adopted and signed in Paris. Part of the treaty is a scheme to redistribute the wealth of developed nations to those less developed.

The Russians were fed up with the usual behind-closed-doors proceedings that create such treaties, but no doubt they were well aware that the treaty would empower the UN to govern a large portion of economic activity around the world. All UN treaties require nations to surrender some aspect of their national sovereignty.

There is clearly a backlash against the global warming hoax, particularly from nations that have discovered the costs to their economies that idiotic “renewable” energy schemes and emissions reductions incur. In the real world, they are experiencing longer, harsher winters as the result of the cooling cycle the Earth has been in for the last seventeen years!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Little History of What Germans Drink and Why

A drink is more than just a drink — it’s also culture, history and tradition.So why do Germans pick wine over beer? And how come beer used to be healthier than water? DW dips its straw into Germany’s favorite beverages.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Concert Halls Chase the Perfect Sound

Is it art or science? In the quest for the ideal acoustic in a concert hall, the fact that our ears are on the sides of our heads is just as important as being on good terms with the architects.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

International Trade: ‘France Ready to Veto Over Cultural Exception’

Le Monde, 14 June 2013

“A spectacular political and trade policy gesture”: this is how Le Monde describes the move being prepared by Paris, which may make France the only EU state to refuse to grant a negotiation mandate to the European Commission on the occasion of the meeting of EU trade ministers in Luxembourg on June 14.

The initiative could block talks with Washington on a free-trade agreement, which have been scheduled to take place behind the scenes at the next G8 summit in Northern Ireland on June 17 and 18.

The daily explains the attitude of President François Hollande’s administration —

In its bid to protect the cultural exception, the government will flatly refuse to proceed with talks if audiovisual media are not excluded — a policy that has to date been rejected by the Commission, as well as Germany and the UK.

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

Jet Bound for New York is Diverted to Glasgow Airport Escorted by Fighter Jets After Passenger Finds a Note Saying ‘I’ll Set This Plane on Fire’ in the Toilet

.EgyptAir plane carrying 326 passengers was travelling from Egypt to JFK .Aircraft back in the air after police search found ‘nothing suspicious’

A transatlantic flight which made an emergency landing in Scotland after a passenger found a note which read ‘I’ll set this plane on fire’ was back in the air today.

Following a search of the aircraft by police officers overnight, it was allowed to continue its journey this morning to America.

‘Officers have carried out an extensive search of the aircraft resulting in no suspicious items being found,’ said a spokesman for the Scottish Police.

The EgyptAir passenger jet, carrying 326 people, was escorted by Typhoon fighter jets from RAF Leuchars and met by a convoy of half a dozen police vehicles at Glasgow Prestwick airport.

It had been travelling from Cairo to JFK Airport in New York when it was diverted after the seemingly threatening note was found in a toilet.

Passenger Nada Tawfik, a producer for BBC New York, was on the flight and said she found the note in the Boeing 777’s toilets by the sink.

She immediately told cabin crew who locked the toilet.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Anti-Fascists Fuel the Fire of Hate

“One reason why UAF will not campaign against Islamist extremists is that one of its own vice-chairmen, Azad Ali, is one. As well as his UAF role, which he took up last year, Mr Ali is community affairs coordinator of the Islamic Forum of Europe, a Muslim supremacist group dedicated to changing “the very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed from ignorance to Islam”.

Mr Ali has written on his blog of his “love” for Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaeda cleric closely linked to many terrorist plots, including the September 11 attacks, and used to attend talks by Abu Qatada, the extremist cleric whom Britain is seeking to deport.

He has described al-Qaeda as a “myth” and denied that the Mumbai attacks were terrorism. On his blog, he also advocated the killing of British troops in Iraq. He sued a newspaper for reporting that he had said this, and lost.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Mosque Knifeman Stabbed Policeman in Chest and Stomach After He Had Been Tasered… and Only Stopped When Worshippers Helped Restrain Him

A knifeman shrugged off being hit with a Taser and stabbed a police officer and three other people at a mosque in Birmingham last night.

The male police constable was responding to reports that three men had been stabbed inside the Madrasah Qasim ul Uloom mosque in the Ward End area of Birmingham when he was attacked.

The four men are being treated in hospital for their wounds and are described as ‘stable’.

A 32-year-old man, believed to be of Somali extraction and a local, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is currently in custody, a police spokeswoman added.

He added the suspect had this afternoon been taken to a secure mental health facility.

‘The suspect was assessed by mental health experts at lunchtime today and was deemed unfit to be interviewed in relation to the attack,’ he said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Islamists Warn Christians From Demonstrating to Topple Egyptian President

by Mary Abdelmassih

(AINA) — The youth-led Tamarod (rebel) Initiative has collected more than their targeted 15,000,000 signatures calling for a no-confidence vote against President Mohammed Morsi and forcing early elections in Egypt, causing the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party and its Islamists partners to feel seriously threatened, say political observers. Millions are expected to join a nationwide anti-Morsi and anti-Brotherhood demonstration set for June 30, to coincide with Morsi’s first anniversary as president. Protesters in Cairo will go to the Presidential “Unity” Palace in the Heliopolis suburb of Cairo with their demands. “We will stay there until Morsi leaves,” said Mahmoud Badr, spokesman for Tamarod. In every other Egyptian province local protests will be held. Expatriate Egyptians will also hold demonstrations in their respective countries.

This week Assem Abdel Maged, a leader of the Egyptian extremist group Gamaa Islamiya, said that those calling for the demonstrations are “extremists Copts” and issued a warning to the Coptic church and Christian citizens who plan to join in the protests on June 30. Speaking on an Islamist satellite channel (video), he said “Do not sacrifice your children, Muslim public opinion will not tolerate toppling the President.”

Abdel Maged denounced the Coptic rights group Maspero Youth Union as “extremist Copts” whom he holds responsible for the Maspero massacre on October 9, 2011 which claimed the lives of 27 Copts and injured 329, with no Muslim casualties (AINAÂ 10-10-2011). “They held battons in the shape of crosses and assaulted the Egyptian soldiers and smashed the heads of the army recruits with stones while they were in their armored vehicles.” His criticism targeted another rights group, Copts Without Shackles, whom he claims is made up of communists and atheists.

Abdel Maged, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the terrorist attacks in the late eighties in Minya on police headquarters, killing 117 policemen, is coordinator for the Tagarrod Movement to support Morsi and counter the Tamarod initiative. “Not one single Copt signed our petition,” he said.

“Who will be responsible if fanatics slaughter the Copts because of this incitement?” asked renowned Egyptian TV anchor Amr Adeeb, on his nightly program.

It was reported that the Presidential palace applied pressure on Coptic Pope Tawadros II in order to forbid the Coptic Orthodox Christians from joining the demonstrations. However, the Pope told the media the “Copts are free to choose.” This was also confirmed after a multi-denominational meeting of Christian leaders this week in Wadi Natrun, which stressed the freedom of Egyptian Copts in determining their position on the events of June 30, and the Egyptian churches do not impose a specific position on the Copts. “The church does not play politics,” said Coptic judge Amir Ramzy of the Cairo Criminal Court, adding that Pope Tawadros is different from the late Pope Shenouda III, who had asked the Copts not to join the protests of January 25, 2011 Revolution, which ousted former president Mubarak. “The Copts still joined, so even if Pope Tawadros asks the Copts to boycott the June 30 demonstrations, they will still go out.”

Maspero Youth Union announced that they have pressed charges against Abdel Maged on grounds of threatening Egyptian citizens, attempting to threaten social peace and instigating sedition. They will hold him fully responsible in the event that Coptic property or churches are subjected to any attacks before and during the event of June 30 through his instigations.

During the Presidential elections in 2012 which, brought Morsi to power, over 6,000,000 Copts voted, excluding those who were prevented by force by Islamists from leaving their villages to cast their votes, which would not have gone to the Muslim Brotherhood candidate.

Addressing the Copts, Ibrahim Eissa, editor-in-chief of Al Tahrir newspaper and TV presenter, wrote “you are not a minority, you are many and influential, and your participation on June 30 will cause panic to the Muslim Brothers and their partners.”

           — Hat tip: Mary Abdelmassih [Return to headlines]
 

Al-Qaeda Extremists Destroy Shiite Mosque in Hatlah

(AGI) Beirut — Syrian insurgents claiming to be connected to Al-Qaeda have destroyed a Shiite mosque in Hatlah .

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

Armed Commando Kills 4 Shiites in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

(AGI) — Baalbek (Lebanon), June 16 — An armed commando killed four Shiites in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, increasingly often the theatre of the encroaching Syrian conflict. “Three of the victims were members of the Jaafar family and the other of the Amhaz family”, both of which are highly respected clans in the region. The news was reported by security forces.

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

Syria Condemns Egypt for Severing Diplomatic Ties

The Syrian government has condemned Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for severing the two Arab nations’ diplomatic ties. Morsi had also called for the implementation of a no-fly zone over Syria.

Damascus on Sunday accused Egypt of involvement in a foreign conspiracy against Syria, calling Cairo’s decision to sever diplomatic ties “irresponsible.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India: Anti-Christian Fundamentalism Breaks Out Maharashtra

Anti-Christian attacks are rare in the State, one of the richest in India, but in recent months, religious hatred has been on the rise. Hindu extremists have in fact tried to stop Christians from building their own places of worship, as well as expel them from their villages, a “growing and worrying trend”, according to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Christian families have been chased out of their villages; plans for church construction have been blocked; places of worship and prayer assemblies have been attacked in some parts of Maharashtra, one of India’s richest and most advanced states, home to cosmopolitan Mumbai, the country’s financial capital.

This is “a growing and worrying trend,” the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) told AsiaNews, especially in the past two months. Over this period, more and more Christian groups have called for help, especially in Yavatmal District, which has become a target for local Hindus. This is surprising because anti-Christian and anti-Catholic attacks in the state have been rare.

One of the most affected places is the village of Pandahrewani. About two months ago, Hindu residents forbade local Christians from practicing their religion, stopped them from building a small church, and told them to leave the village. Witnesses told the GCIC that local Hindu fundamentalists are stirring the flames of religious hatred.

In one case, Hindu militants filed a complaint with the local police against a Christian man, Suresh Athram, who had tried several times to build a home. They also assaulted his wife.

Although police tried to settle the dispute by bringing the parties together to find a compromise, they failed.

On 25 April, during the Hindu festival of Hanuman Jayanthi, a mob of hundreds of Hindus stormed a local Church. After devastating the building, they filled it with Hindu idols and conducted a ceremony out of contempt for the place.

On 6 June, a Hindu man, Bapurai Dhadange led a group of 20 people in order to seize Christian-owned land. Christians reacted by filing a complaint with police, which turned them away.

However, when the attackers filed a counterclaim against the Christians, accusing them of forced conversions, police told the Christians to pay up to avoid arrest.

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

Indonesia: Central Java: Fatwa Against Catholic Schools, “Forbidden” To Muslims

In a “controversial” statement, the local Ulema Council in Tegal said that such schools are haram, “morally unsound.” Politics and local authorities have fuelled the controversy for electoral advantage. However, the families of Muslim students have defended the schools, claiming the right to free choice in matters of education.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — The powerful Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has come out against Catholic schools in Tegal District, Central Java province, issuing a “controversial” a fatwa that has sparked reactions and protests.

For MUI leaders, such schools are “haram”, “morally unsound” for young Muslim pupils despite the fact that they score high for the quality of the education they provide and have as a consequence attracted a large number of non-Christians.

In so doing, they have opened up a new fault line after their recent attack against Miss World Contest; this in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, where Catholics are a small but significant presence.

For the schools, the fatwa is a great blow, coming in the wake of attacks from Muslim extremists and local governments that included threats of closure that were however eventually dropped.

The Ulema Council has often intervened to enforce orthodox views about Muslim precepts, such as how to butcher animals or uphold Islamic mores. However, in this case the motivation behind MUI’s stance is “political” in nature. It follows appeals by local authorities to force Catholic schools to teach the Muslim religion to its non-Christian pupils.

Harun Abdi Manaf, MUI leader in Tegal, said that the council went through “lengthy discussions” and that a “decision was taken in April” to issue “a fatwa destined for the parents” of Muslim pupils, telling them not to send their children to Catholic schools. He explicitly referred to Catholic schools in Tegal and Pemalang, which have been under the threat of closure because they opposed a government order that requires them to reach Islam.

In addition to Mgr Julianus Sunarko, bishop of Purwokerto, many Muslim families have come to the defence of the two schools, claiming their right to a quality education. In fact, many schools run by nuns, priests and lay Catholics offer such excellence in education that they are sought after by non-Christians.

However, government authorities have tried too often to exert some form of control (however small) over these schools. The demand to have Islam included in the curriculum has thus become a rallying point to gain Islamist political and electoral support.

Indeed, Indonesian authorities in recent years have repeatedly given in to MUI’s pressures. For example in Aceh, a province run by Islamic radicals, women are not allowed to wear tight pants or skirts.

In March 2011, MUI also lashed out at the flag raising “because Mohammed never did it”. Before that, it had launched anathemas against Facebook for its “amoral” nature, as well as yoga, smoking and voting rights, in particular for women.

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

Kamalari: Girls and Women Victims of Slavery in Nepal

Sold into slavery by their families in debt. Kathmandu condemns slavery, but in the poorest regions of the country, it remains a common practice. An activist: “victims of continuing violence, but police will not conduct any investigation.”

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — The increase in rapes, murders and violence against Nepalese female slaves (kamalari) drives many young women in the capital to demand the government for greater recognition of their rights. On June 2, about 70 girls gathered in front of the administrative offices, to protest. The police charged the protesters and about 15 of them suffered beatings and bruises.

The kamalari are often very young girls sold as slaves to landlords by rural families who can not pay rent. The phenomenon is especially prevalent in the mid-western region of the country, in the districts of Dang, Bardia and Kailali. The sale and use of kamalari is still a widespread practice in Nepal, although the law prohibits slavery. The girls are often the victims of violence by their masters and do not enjoy any protection from the courts.

On 27 March, 12-year old Srijana Chaudhari suffered severe burns that resulted in her death a few days later. The girl worked for an engineer in Lalitpur district. Last year, Meghi Chaudhari, 16, died in similar circumstances. According to Freed Kamalari Development Forum, an organization supporting young Nepalese slaves, at least 22 kamalari have disappeared over the last five years. Phakala Tharu, coordinator of the Forum, told AsiaNews that “some are found dead, others injured, but no investigation is ever carried out. Unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg, what makes the problem visible — added the activist — there are actually dozens of kamalari victims, every day, of sexual and other forms of violence at the hands of their masters. “

Kathmandu adheres to international treaties and conventions against slavery, but the problem is still widespread in the poorest areas of the country. In September 2008, a committee of three Supreme Courts of Justice urged the government to condemn the kamalari tradition as a system of slavery and to formulate specific laws for the problem. But Kathmandu has yet to accept the proposal.

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

Uzbekistan: Authorities Carry Out “Anti-Terror Raid” At the Home of a 76-Year-Old Christian Woman Suffering From Parkinson

Police raided her flat, breaking a window. The operation, characterised as “counter-terrorism” by the authorities, netted 15 religious books that were later destroyed. A huge fine was imposed on the old pensioner.

Tashkent (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Uzbek police raided the flat of a 76-year old Protestant woman who was charged with illegal possession of Christian books. For her crime, she was given a fine worth ten times the country’s minimum wage.

Naziya Ziyatdinova lives alone in her home in Guliston, a town some distance from Tashkent. She has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for some time and has difficulty walking.

A few weeks ago, National Security Service officers and members of Uzbekistan’s secret police raided her home. During the operation, they broke a window and destroyed some Christian books.

In justifying their action, the authorities described the 11 am raid as “anti-terror cleaning”.

Days after the raid, an Uzbek court imposed a 795,900 soms (US$ 380) fine on Naziya Zivatdinova.

The Protestant community has come to the defence of the woman, describing the behaviour of the agents as “criminal”, and called on the authorities to shed light on the matter.

At present, Naziya receives a pension of 120,000 soms (US$ 58). If she had to pay the fine she would have to go without money for seven months.

Under Uzbek law, possession of any form of religious literature is illegal and the courts often order the destruction of religious material confiscated at homes.

Naziya Zivatdinova was in possession of 6 DVDs, a videocassette and about 15 books, including a Bible.

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

China, India and Pakistan Increase Nuclear Stockpile

Swedish Institute for Peace (SIPRI) reports increase. The buildup iof war heads by the three Asian giants threatens the fragile stability of the continent. China overtakes Britain in the sale of weapons and is fifth behind the United States, Russia, Germany and France.

Stockholm (AsiaNews / Agencies) — While the major nuclear powers are reducing their arsenals, China, India and Pakistan are increasing their nuclear warheads. This was revealed by the annual report of the Stockholm International Peace Reserch Institute (SIPRI). According to the document Beijing has increased its nuclear potential by 10 units, from 240 in 2011 to 250 in late 2012, finishing fourth in the list of nuclear powers. New Delhi and Islamabad instead added 20 warheads each to their arsenal: from 90 to 110 for India and 100 to 120 for Pakistan.

SIPRI notes that the arms race in weapons of mass destruction by the three Asian giants, undermines the already fragile stability of the continent. The Middle East is ravaged by war in Syria; in South Asia instead tension continues between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir, in eastern Asia North Korea continues with tests of its ballistic missiles, which unnerve neighboring countries and in the South China Sea there are ongoing disputes over territorial waters between China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines and Vietnam.

Only two old superpowers are cutting down on their stockpile: Russia has reduced its ballistic missiles by 1,500 units, from 10 thousand to 8,500, while those of the United States are instead down by 1300 units, from 8 thousand to 7,700. There is no change for France, with 300 warheads. Britain also remains stable with 225, and Israel with 80.

The SIPRI report does not take into account the two possible new nuclear powers: North Korea and Iran. For the institute their programs are still in the early stages and therefore not quantifiable.

The document reveals something still more alarming. While the United States and Russia have destroyed their chemical weapons, on the other hand there are suspicions about the use of sarin gas in Syria. SIPRI reports that fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in progress in Syria, is having devastating effects in Lebanon and Iraq.

Other data relating to Asia is the growth of the international arms trade with China, which has surpassed Britain to become the fifth largest exporter in the world after the United States, Russia, Germany and France.

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

China Lifts Off Past Europe in Space Travel

China’s advancing technological prowess has reached the point where is has overtaken Europe in the fields of space research and travel. Germany is also finding ways to assist the Asian nation’s missions.

China’s latest space mission to dock with an orbiting space station began this week as three astronauts blasted into orbit on a 15-day mission. Once docked, the three aboard the capsule, two men and one woman, will carry out medical and scientific experiments at China’s experimental space laboratory, Tiangong 1. Tiangong, meaning heavenly palace, is illustrative of the political ambitions China has to pursue its aims in space.

China has very ambitious plans for space. By 2020 the country’s military, which is responsible for space travel, wants to build a space station that’s as big as the Soviet Union’s MIR Space Center and which would be permanently staffed. With every trip into space the realization of this plan is drawing closer. Other space-faring nations are waiting patiently to see what will happen next.

Shenzhou 10, as the current space trip is known, comes a decade after China sent its first astronaut into space — the first of five manned missions. Chinese space travel ventures, in the meantime, look impressive and technologically formidable.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China to Build Panama Canal Rival

A Chinese tycoon has managed to push through Nicaragua’s congress a bill granting his company the rights to build the country’s largest-ever development project. However, experts see huge challenges ahead.

According to media reports, the legislation approved in the National Assembly dominated by President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Front contains no specific route for the canal and virtually no details of its financing or economic viability. It simply grants the Hong Kong-based HKND Group, owned by Beijing-based entrepreneur Wang Jing, 50 years of exclusive rights to study the plan, build and operate a canal linking the Pacific and Caribbean in exchange for Nicaragua receiving a minority share of any profits. The projected cost of the canal is 40 billions dollars.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Two Hundred and Sixty Migrants Land in Lampedusa

(AGI) Rome — The flow of illegal immigrants to Italy’s southern coasts is on the rise. A boat with 260 people landed in Lampedusa on Sunday ..

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

SS Sirio Rescues 60 Migrants Off the Lampedusa Coast

(AGI) Rome — Navy ship SS Sirio rescued a boat with 60 migrants off the coast of Lampedusa on Sunday afternoon.

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

The £49bn Bill We Pay for Children Who Can’t Celebrate Father’s Day: The Devastating Financial — and Human — Cost of Our Fatherless Society

By the end of his or her childhood, a British boy or girl is much more likely to have a TV set in the bedroom than a father at home.

Our 45-year national war against traditional family life has been so successful that almost 50 per cent of 15-year-olds no longer live with both their parents.

At the same time we have indulged our neglected and abandoned young with electronics, so that 79 per cent of children aged between five and 16 have a TV in their room.

As we soppily mark ‘Father’s Day’ with cards, socks, sentimentality and meals out, we should remember that in almost all cases the absent parent is the father. There is no doubt about the facts here. Let me list some of them.

The cost of our wild, unprecedented national experiment in fatherlessness is now £49?billion each year — more than the defence budget.

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Fertility Levels Are Higher Than We Expected’

The world’s population is likely to grow faster than previously projected, United Nations research indicates. DW spoke with the UN’s John Wilmoth about the causes and consequences of increasing population growth.

The United Nations on Thursday (13.06.2013) released revisions to its “World Population Prospects” report, which now predicts the world population will reach 9.6 billion by 2050. The UN’s John Wilmoth talked to DW about the causes and consequences of increasing population growth.

DW: What factors or new information accounted for the revision? What are its most significant findings?

John Wilmoth: We only change things based on new information as it becomes available. In several of the least developed countries, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa, we found fertility levels higher than what we had expected. In fact, they’ve probably been higher than we thought in the last decade or so — the evidence for this sort of thing accumulates over time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kings Without Kingdoms: G8, Google-Meisters and Bilderbergers

It’s that time of the year when a “by invitation only” roll-call of about 140 luminaries — corporate heads, major politicians, royalty, media moguls, and financial kingpins — meet behind heavily guarded, closed doors to chart the world’s course and then translate it into policy.[1]

The annual Bilderberg event is broadly viewed as a political version of the Davos, Switzerland World Economic Forum, through which high-society elitists discuss big business and the global economy. As the World Economic Forum, the Bilderberg group likewise wields extraordinary power.[2] That the Bilderbergers are responsible for the single European currency is no small feat.[3] Collectively, “the cosmopolitan elite” hatch decisions on major wars.

“June is Bustin’ Out All Over”

For the first time in Britain since the Turnberry, Scotland event in 1998, the Bilderberg Group will meet June 6-9 at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire, just north of London. No doubt by design, the Bilderberg summit is scheduled back-to-back with Google’s “Zeitgeist” Global Summit.[4]

Google’s “Big Tent” event gathers the world’s “best and the brightest” to peruse the “latest and greatest” big ideas. Participants observe Chatham House Rules, mandating strict confidentiality.[5] Both Grove Hotel summits share in common venues, conduct codes, and agendas, not to mention a near identical guest list; both opportunistically precede the June 17-18, 39th G8 Summit to convene at the Lough Erne golf resort in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Here’s the scoop: In all but name, the G8 meeting represents a global government operations meeting. Once ratified, Bilderberg’s 2013 agenda passes on to the G8 heads of state. With the likes of Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin in attendance, this single gathering represents the biggest police operation in Ireland’s volatile history.[6]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/16/2013

  1. As I posted elsewhere, I first heard this story about the stabbings at the Birmingham mosque at 7 a.m. on BBC Radio. There was then total silence. I am sure that if the assailant had been identified as white indigenous English the BBC would have crackled with the story all day. I had to resort to Russia Today to find out more. There has still bee very little more said as the assailant was a Somali muslim. Except, of course, that the BBC has come to life again to broadcast the thanks of the pc who responded to the call to those at the mosque who helped him, after he also had been stabbed.

    I am not sure if the pc was summoned or already there guarding the mosque. Yes, it is costing the British taxpayer a fortune to do this at a time when the police force is being cut because of austerity measures. Yes, Enoch, more money down the drain that could have been saved if they only had listened to you. But they could not, Enoch, because Edward Heath was the New World Order’s front man of his day, Cameron his successor. Heath later admitted that the EEC which we were hoodwinked into joining would lead by stealth to today’s EU and claimed, lying through his teeth, that the plans were on the table when we went through the referendum under Harold Wilson.

    My methodist minister has been asking us to pray for Christians being massacred in mostly muslim countries but also by Hindus and to ask for God’s guidance and protection when it happens to Christians in England. At the moment, the Left, with their muslim allies are just engaged in a process of ridicule and marginalisation of Christianity in Europe. But if it comes to persecution I do hope to see a pc guarding my chapel; no it probably won’t happen, they will just throw us to the lions again.

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