Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/1/2013

The federal government shut down today after the House and the Senate failed to reach agreement on a funding bill. National parks and monuments were shut down, but World War Two veterans stormed the barricades around the memorial on the Mall in Washington D.C., allowing them to visit the monument dedicated to their sacrifices.

In other news, the institution of “temporary marriage” is making a comeback in Tunisia, after being banned for decades by more secular, modernized governments.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Steen, 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
» Greece: 60% of People Under 24 Are Jobless, Eurostat
» Greece Lost Some 40 Bln Euros in Uncollected VAT
» Lessons From Ireland’s Failed Bank Guarantee
» Portuguese Reject Austerity Policies in Local Elections
» Privatizations: Greece: Russia Eyes Trainose and Rosco
 
USA
» Confirmed: ObamaCare Breeds Massive Corruption and Fraud
» Duke Professor: White People Are as Racist as Ever
» Federal Judge Denies Motion to Halt New Maryland Gun Laws
» Fresh DOJ Loss in ‘Fast and Furious’ Docs Fight
» Government is Shutting Down in Budget Impasse
» Government ‘Shut Down’ Doesn’t Prevent Opening of $2 Billion NSA Spy Center
» How to Constitutionally Fund the Government
» Jacksonville Airport Reopens After Evacuation
» Nearly Two Dozen Medical Studies Prove That Vaccines Can Cause Autism
» Obama: Citing Big Demand on Insurance Exchanges, Urges G.O.P. To Drop Health Law Fight
» ObamaCare: The Identity Thief Wolves Are at the Door
» ObamaCare’s Personal Health Assessment
» ObamaCare Lie Exposed as Government Website Deletes ‘Free Health Care’ Promise
» Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence
» The Threatened Government Shutdown is Caused by Bad Policy by Both Parties
» These Are Not the Normal Activities of a Government Planning for Peace and Stability
» Top Scientists Slam and Ridicule UN IPCC Climate Report
» Why Are They Trying So Hard to Demonize Gun Owners?
» Why is Obama’s Hatred of America Tolerated?
» WWII Vets Knock Over Shutdown Barrier to Visit Memorial
» Young Somalis in Minnesota Are Still Signing Up for Terrorist Group Al Shabab That Carried Out Deadly Kenya Mall Attack — Including at Least Four Men in the Last Year
 
Europe and the EU
» 8,000 Year Old Evidence of Human Activity Found in Alps
» Arrest Warrant Issued for Former Cyprus Bank Chief
» Austria Coalition Re-Elected, But Anti-EU Parties Gain
» Brother of Irish Nationalist Leader Gerry Adams Convicted of Raping Daughter
» Denmark: Anti-Semitism in Copenhagen
» France: Junior Beauty Pageants Want Their ‘Dream’
» France: Drones Proposed to Tackle Marseille Crime
» French Mother in Prison Child Rape Gets 20-Yrs
» Golden Dawn Arrests Take Greece Into Uncharted Waters
» Greece Plans New Anti-Racism Law Amid Golden Dawn Crackdown
» Greece: Golden Dawn MPs in Court
» Italy: Interior Ministry to Deploy 200 Soldiers to TAV Train Site
» Italy: The Enduring Appeal of Silvio Berlusconi
» Italy: Napolitano, Letta ‘Can’t be Trusted’ Says Berlusconi
» Markets Nervous as Italian Government Nears Collapse
» Norway’s New PM Loses Four-Party Coalition Deal
» Norway to Air Five-Hour ‘Slow TV’ Knitting Show
» Soul-Searching as Denmark Revisits WWII Rescue of Jews
» UK: Munir Farooqi Case: Family Home Set to be Seized Under Terrorism Laws
» UK: Police Plan to Seize Home of Convicted Terrorism Recruiter
» UK: Shoplifting Secret of the Housewife Who Stole 900 Designer Handbags
» Vatican Bank Publishes Annual Report Online for First Time
 
Balkans
» Bosnia First Post-War Census Reopens Old Wounds
 
North Africa
» Libya: Country Struggles on Way to Democracy, Mitri Tells UN
» Tunisia: Two Terrorists Arrested, Weapons Seized in Mornaguia — Interior
» Tunisia: ‘Orfi’ Or Temporary Marriage Making a Comeback
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Israeli Army Kill Palestinian in Northern Gaza: Report
 
Middle East
» 7 Women Charged With Murder in Abu Dhabi Allege Forced Prostitution
» Did Obama Swallow Iranian Disinformation?
» Dutch, German Anti-Missile Systems Protect Turkey Against Syrian Rockets
» Iran Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Men to Marry Their Adopted Daughters as Young as 13: “This Bill is Legalising Paedophilia”
» Muslim Man Has a Brain Aneurysm Then Converts to Christianity When He Wakes Up From Coma
» Netanyahu Says Israel Won’t Let Iran Get Nuclear Weapon, Even if it Stands Alone
» Saudi Arabia: 30,000 French Muslims Perform Haj Every Year
» Saudi Mufti Again Calls for Destruction of All Churches on Arabian Peninsula
» Syria: Italy Donates Hospital to Refugee Camp in Jordan
» Syria: UNICEF Italia: Palestinian Kids Targeted Without Mercy
» Was Syria a False Flag Operation?
 
Russia
» Greeks Go to Russia to Promote Medical Tourism
 
South Asia
» 26 Militants Killed in Afghan Operations in 24 Hours
» Indonesia: Minister Against Governorate: Clash on the Christian Official in the Islamists’ Crosshairs
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Kenyan Troops Suspected of Shoplifting From Stores Damaged by Terror Attack
» Mall Terrorist Attack May Cost Kenya $200 Million in Lost Tourism Earnings
» Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram Members Behead 10 Travellers Along Borno-Yobe Highway
» South Africa: Renowned Palestinian Poet Performs in Khayelitsha
 
Latin America
» Caribbean States Seek Slavery Reparations From Europe
 
Immigration
» Migrants Drown Off Italian Coast
» New Norway Govt to Get Tough on Immigration
 
Culture Wars
» Italy: Puglia’s Gay Governor Says Pope is Raising Hope
 

Greece: 60% of People Under 24 Are Jobless, Eurostat

(ANSAmed) — BRUXELLES, OCTOBER 1 — Greece’s rates of unemployment remain the highest in Europe, GreekReporter writes quoting the latest Eurostat figures released today. More precisely, Greece comes first with unemployment at 27.9% followed by Spain with 26.2% and for one more time the figures show that unemployment mainly hits the young under 24 years old.

According to Eurostat data, unemployment reaches 61.5% among the young. In all the 28 countries of the European Union, unemployment remained stable at 10.9% in September, despite the optimism for a gradual exit from the financial crisis. The unemployment percentage in the Eurozone also stayed unchanged at 12%. In total, it is estimated that the unemployed in the EU reached 26.6 million citizens and in the Eurozone 19.2 million citizens.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Greece Lost Some 40 Bln Euros in Uncollected VAT

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 20 — Greece lost some 40 billion euros in uncollected Value-Added Tax in the period from 2008-2011, Kathimerini online reports quoting data from a survey published Friday by the European Commission aimed at estimating the so-called VAT Gap, defined as the difference between the expected VAT receipts if all the VAT which is due is collected and the actual VAT collected by European Union member states.

Greece had the second-worst performance behind Romania in the list of countries that have seen their VAT Gap grow since the start of the crisis, the EC report said, showing data that suggests Greece lost revenues of 9.7 billion euros in 2011 in uncollected indirect taxes and a similar amount in the three previous years as well. The data compiled for the report show that up to 2008, there had been a moderate declining trend in the level of the VAT Gap, particularly in a number of post-accession countries.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Lessons From Ireland’s Failed Bank Guarantee

On 30 September 2008 the Irish government announced it will guarantee all banks, their loans and deposits to the tune of €440 billion — three times the size of the country’s economy.

It was two weeks into the global crisis caused by the collapse of US-based Lehman Brothers investment bank. Banks were struggling to get cash. Panic had spread throughout the financial markets.

Ireland’s decision was heavily influenced by its eurozone peers, who were afraid that letting a bank fail in one euro-country could trigger a domino effect throughout the entire European banking sector.

The then president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, rang up the Irish finance minister the weekend before the decision to tell him: “you must save your banks at all costs.”

The Irish guarantee ended in March this year. The country is expected to return to the markets early next year and pay back its debt on the EU-IMF loans over the next few decades.

The end of the Irish experiment coincides with Cyprus being forced to impose losses on deposits above €100,000 as part of its own bailout.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Portuguese Reject Austerity Policies in Local Elections

Portuguese voters rejected austerity policies in Sunday’s local elections. Initial results showed Conservative Social Democrat prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s party got just 18.9 percent of the votes, while the centre left opposition Socialist party scored 36.7 percent on a policy of less austerity and more investment in economic growth.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Privatizations: Greece: Russia Eyes Trainose and Rosco

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 20 — Russian Railways is interested in buying the Greek railway company TRAINOSE, the repair company Rosco and the Thessaloniki Port, having submitted an initial application of interest in the framework of the provided procedures, GreekReporter website writes quoting Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin. Under the terms of the privatization process, the applications must be submitted by the end of September. The Thessaloniki port is one of the two major ports of Greece. In 2012, 4.4 million tons of goods and 317,000 TEU were transported through the port which showed a net profit of 5.13 million euros. TRAINOSE carries almost 4,5 million tons of cargo and 15 million passengers annually and the company’s income for 2012 was 140.7 million euros but its profit was a mere 1.3 million euros. The transport companies are among those on the block as Greece seeks to sell off state enterprises as demanded by international lenders.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Confirmed: ObamaCare Breeds Massive Corruption and Fraud

A non-profit organization sued by the federal government last year for fraud was awarded a $2.1 million federal contract this year to enroll Americans into Obamacare, confirming our prediction last week that widespread fraud will explode under the health law. Credit: intenteffect via Flickr

The New York Post reported today that an Obamacare grant recipient, Seedco, was sued by the federal government in 2012 for lying on government reports in order to receive additional bonus money.

As reported by the New York Times last year, Seedco received more than $8 million in federal grants for operating job placement centers.

According to federal prosecutors, Seedco falsely reported that it had successfully matched jobseekers with jobs by basing their claims on the positions jobseekers already had.

“By reporting thousands of fake job placements, Seedco collected ‘performance payments’ totaling perhaps as much as $1.6 million over five years,” reported Michael Powell with the New York Times.

The lawsuit did not stop the federal government from awarding Seedco another multi-million dollar contract, this time as a coordinator for the Obamacare Navigator program.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Duke Professor: White People Are as Racist as Ever

Duke University sociology professor Eduardo Bonilla-Silva says white people are as racist as they’ve ever been, it’s just modern, more insidious forms of racism have taken over the more overt forms of racism common in America’s past, The Dartmouth reports. Bonilla-Silva made his argument Thursday in a guest lecture at the Ivy League Dartmouth College.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Judge Denies Motion to Halt New Maryland Gun Laws

A federal judge on Tuesday declined to halt Maryland’s strict new gun laws while a lawsuit challenging their constitutionality goes forward.

U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake issued the opinion after a hearing Tuesday morning on the Firearms Safety Act of 2013. The judge said plaintiffs had months to file for a temporary restraining order which “significantly undercut” the request for fast action, and that she was not convinced they would suffer irreparable harm if the law went into effect.

“Potentially the only economic harm could be on behalf of the dealers,” Judge Blake said. “There’s a strong public interest in lessening the risk of tragedies.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Fresh DOJ Loss in ‘Fast and Furious’ Docs Fight

A federal judge has rejected Attorney General Eric Holder’s attempt to keep the courts from wading into the “Fast and Furious” documents dispute that led to him being held in contempt by the House last year.

In a ruling Monday night, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson turned down the Justice Department’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee after President Barack Obama asserted executive privilege to prevent some records about the administration’s response to the “Operation Fast and Furious” gunrunning scandal from being turned over to Congress.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Government is Shutting Down in Budget Impasse

A series of rapid-fire back and forth legislative maneuvers by the House, Senate and White House late Monday failed to break a bitter budget standoff over President Obama’s health care law, setting in motion the first government shutdown in nearly two decades.

Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, dismissed as game-playing a late-hour House proposal to begin conference committee negotiations.

The impasse meant that 800,000 federal workers were to be furloughed and more than a million others would be asked to work without pay. The Office of Management and Budget issued orders that “agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations” because Congress had failed to act.

[Return to headlines]
 

Government ‘Shut Down’ Doesn’t Prevent Opening of $2 Billion NSA Spy Center

The so-called “government shut down” and the furloughing of thousands of non-essential federal employees has not prevented the opening of a $2 billion dollar NSA spy center in Utah which will snoop on Americans’ private emails, Google searches and phone calls.

As we highlighted yesterday, the shut down will only affect the tiny amount of services government provides that Americans actually like.

Rest assured, TSA grope downs, VIPR checkpoints, drone attacks, SWAT team raids, tax collection, torturing terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, arming jihadists in Syria and running guns to Mexican drug dealers will all continue unimpeded — as will NSA domestic spying.

Although the NSA itself refuses to confirm it, to all intents and purposes the agency’s mammoth new spy center in Bluffdale, Utah “may be open already,” according to the Denver Post.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

How to Constitutionally Fund the Government

It’s the House’s prerogative to supply funds, or not, for Obamacare.

The Constitution expressly provides (in Article I, Section 7): “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” This Origination Clause applies to all spending legislation. As the clause elaborates, when the subject at issue involves spending public money, the Senate “may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills”; but it may not instigate spending. The Senate can tinker within the spending limits set by the House, but it must live within those limits. The continuing resolution to fund the government, which is the legislation at issue in the current controversy, is no exception. The Senate is not permitted to originate spending, as Majority Leader Harry Reid did on Friday, with the indulgence of Senate Republicans — who voted against his appropriation of Obamacare funds but did not challenge the validity of it.

The Republican establishment keeps flashing those “one half of one third” tablets Dr. Krauthammer carried down from Mount Sinai. But Republicans fulfilling a pledge to honor the Framers’ Constitution would do better to take their cues from James Madison. “The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose the supplies requisite for the support of the government,” he explained in Federalist No. 58 (emphasis added).

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jacksonville Airport Reopens After Evacuation

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman Shannon Hartley told a news conference Tuesday night that one of two suspicious packages found at the airport had a “destructive” component that required it to be taken offsite. He said the device was later “rendered safe.”

The airport was evacuated earlier Tuesday after police found one suspicious package in the terminal and another in a nearby parking garage. Hartley wouldn’t say which of the packages was destructive.

The evacuation left planeloads of passengers stuck on the tarmac.

[Return to headlines]
 

Nearly Two Dozen Medical Studies Prove That Vaccines Can Cause Autism

(NaturalNews) Mainstream doctors and media pundits are notorious for claiming that the vaccine-autism debate is over and that no legitimate scientific evidence exists to suggest even a possible link between vaccinations and autism spectrum disorders (ASD): case closed. But a thoroughly-researched report recently published by Arjun Walia over at Activist Post reveals that there are at least 22 published scientific studies that show a link between vaccines and autism and that there are many more out there with similar findings.

Much of the original controversy stems from Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s study back in the late 1990s, which exposed gastrointestinal inflammation as an obvious side effect of vaccination with the combination measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Dr. Wakefield obviously struck a major nerve with his research, which was quickly torn apart by the establishment and maliciously paraded around as being fraudulent, even though his groundbreaking findings have repeatedly been validated and replicated by many other studies.

A 2002 study published in the Journal of Biomedical Sciences, for instance, observed a causal effect between the MMR vaccine and autism, particularly with regards to the measles portion of the vaccine. The researchers from Utah State University concluded that MMR is capable of inducing an abnormal measles infection in some children, which in turn can lead to neurological problems that fall under the umbrella of ASD.

Another study published in the journal Entropy in 2012 observed a strong correlation between the MMR vaccine and autism, except in this case aluminum was the culprit. According to an abstract of this study, vaccines that contain aluminum are particularly toxic to children, who end up later being diagnosed with ASD, as they have insufficient serum levels of both sulfate and glutathione. The aluminum found in some vaccines, in other words, appears to be a primary aggravator of ASD symptoms.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama: Citing Big Demand on Insurance Exchanges, Urges G.O.P. To Drop Health Law Fight

Flanked by new beneficiaries of his health law, President Obama on Tuesday publicly admonished Republicans in the House to “reopen the government” rather than continue to block federal spending to battle the three-year-old Affordable Care Act.

“As long as I am president, I will not give in to reckless demands by some in the Republican Party to deny affordable health insurance to millions of hard-working Americans,” Mr. Obama said, adding with a gesture toward his guests in the sunny Rose Garden, “I want Republicans in Congress to know — these are the Americans you’d hurt if you were allowed to dismantle this law.”

The president’s televised appearance captured the split-screen aspect of the first day of October: The first day of a new fiscal year dawned to a government shuttered for lack of new funding, yet for the first time putting into effect a key piece of the health-care law that is at the center of the budget showdown between the parties. Tuesday was the first day that uninsured Americans, about 15 percent of the population, could start enrolling in the state-based insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges, created by the 2010 law.

[Return to headlines]
 

ObamaCare: The Identity Thief Wolves Are at the Door

Obamacare not only opens up all Americans to obvious cyber threats nationally, but also globally.

wolfCyber vulnerabilities originate from Obamacare’s required “Federal Data Services Hub,” which gives access to the NSA, DHS, DOJ, HHS, Social Security Administration, IRS and more. At first glance, it may seem like a simple case of everyone knowing your personal health information, which is bad enough, but the damage is farther reaching.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ObamaCare’s Personal Health Assessment

Goal is not to prevent medical errors or give the patient better care; the goal is to deny care, procedures, treatments, surgeries, drugs to the chronically ill

My 81-year-old mom received a letter from her doctor, four days before the Affordable Care Act takes effect. It is a two-page questionnaire titled Personal Health Assessment (PHA) from the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) that her doctor chose to voluntarily participate in, thus enrolling all his patients onto this LLC (Limited Liability Company), a mixture of partnership and corporation. How was the group formed and why?

According to the government website, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are “groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to their Medicare patients.” This immediately begs the question, were patients not receiving high quality care before, were doctors not coordinating with each other privately what was in the best interest of their Medicare patients?

The real answer comes in the next paragraph. “The goal of coordinated care is to ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. When an ACO succeeds both in delivering high-quality care and spending health care dollars more wisely, it will share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program.” (The boldfaced words are on the website)

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ObamaCare Lie Exposed as Government Website Deletes ‘Free Health Care’ Promise

Well, America, brace yourself. As it turns out, health insurance under Obamacare isn’t free after all. The big lie is exposed, per The Weekly Standard:

Even as President Obama and his administration are making a last minute push to encourage enrollment in Obamacare, a quiet change was made on the Healthcare.gov website regarding those who will still not be able to afford coverage after the program kicks in. From at least June 26, 2013 to as recently as September 15, under the topic, “Where can I get free or low-cost care in my community?” the following statement appeared: “If you can’t afford any health plan, you can get free or low-cost health and dental care at a nearby community health center.”

What? It’s not free

The conservative news magazine includes graphics of the examples in question, and clearly the word “free” is now missing from the Healthcare.gov site in question (see those graphics here).

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence

WASHINGTON — As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda in August has caused more immediate damage to American counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Threatened Government Shutdown is Caused by Bad Policy by Both Parties

Preface: Remember what the Founding Fathers said about partisan soap operas.[url]

While partisans focus on specific things the other side is doing — “Obamacare” and the “debt ceiling” are the buzzwords of the day — the truth is that we wouldn’t be in this budget crisis in the first place if the government hadn’t engaged in bipartisan idiocy by:

* Killing the Golden Goose of the internet economy — by far the strongest section of the U.S. economy — through mass surveillance, which directly harms internet companies, Silicon Valley, California … and the entire U.S. economy (Facebook lost 11 millions users as of April mainly due to privacy concerns … and that was before the Snowden revelations)

* Encouraging American businesses to move abroad for decades, sucking money out of the U.S. economy and injecting it into foreign economies

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

These Are Not the Normal Activities of a Government Planning for Peace and Stability

On the domestic front, homeland security preparations and exercises have accelerated to the point that the government has now said that a cyber attack capable of taking down the national power grid is a 100% certainty. They’ve stocked tens of millions of emergency ration and supplies, and nearly 2 billion rounds of ammunition. They’ve trained for the last decade for scenarios that include economic collapse and the subsequent civil unrest that would follow.

These are not the normal activities of a government planning for peace and stability.

In the following interview with SGT Report, Dave Hodges of The Common Sense Show connects the dots in a way that will leave most of our countrymen stunned.

There’s a plan in place and it involves political leaders, business conglomerates, the military industrial complex and a massive global agenda. And one day soon that plan will be executed. Once that day comes, look out, because everything you’ve ever imagined going wrong will, and the world will delve into one of its darkest periods in history.

“Anything is possible. I wouldn’t put anything past them,” notes Sean of SGT Report.

Indeed.

Pay attention to this amazingly insightful interview, because it details how the elite think, what their priorities are, and how far they are willing to go to accomplish their goals.

[Comment: A MUST READ for Americans.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Top Scientists Slam and Ridicule UN IPCC Climate Report

Moments after the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) released a summary of its latest global-warming report on September 27, top climate scientists and experts were already reading through it and trashing the methods, findings, claims, and more. In fact, based on leaked drafts of the controversial report, critics had been debunking and ridiculing the UN’s climate claims for weeks prior to the official release. Once the summary report was officially released in Stockholm, the deluge of criticism accelerated, with more than a few top scientists calling for the UN IPCC to be disbanded entirely.

The latest climate document claimed that despite more than 16 years of essentially no increase in global temperatures in defiance of UN theories and predictions, politically selected IPCC experts were more certain than ever that humans were to blame for global warming — 95 percent sure, to be precise. While it is not entirely clear how the IPCC calculated the “percent” certainty, the claim has confused some of the world’s most respected climate scientists. “How they can justify this is beyond me,” noted Professor Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“It makes no sense that the IPCC was claiming that its confidence in its forecasts and conclusions has increased,” Dr. Curry was also quoted as saying in news reports. “This is incomprehensible to me; the IPCC projections are overconfident, especially given the report’s admitted areas of doubt. The consensus-seeking process used by the IPCC creates and amplifies biases in the science. It should be abandoned in favor of a more traditional review that presents arguments for and against — which would better support scientific progress, and be more useful for policy makers.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why Are They Trying So Hard to Demonize Gun Owners?

There is an all-out effort to demonize gun owners in the United States today. Those that own guns are repeatedly portrayed as being uneducated, mentally deficient racists in the mainstream media. No evidence is ever produced to actually back up those claims. Gun owners regularly make lists of “potential terrorists” in official government documents, and many government officials openly regard them as ultra-paranoid “conspiracy nuts” that are a serious threat to national security.

Of course the truth is that gun owners are actually among the most law-abiding and patriotic people in the entire nation, but that doesn’t really fit with the radical gun control agenda of the progressive elite. In order to move their agenda forward, they must make gun owners look bad, and they will go to ridiculous extremes in order to achieve that goal. And to a certain extent, it is working. As you will see below, some large financial companies no longer want to conduct business with gun owners, and just the sight of a gun is enough to get people freaking out and calling the police in many communities in America today.

Never underestimate the power of propaganda. Just think about it — pretty much the only time that advocates for gun owner organizations are invited to appear on the mainstream media is when the big news organizations think that they can make them look bad. Other than a few token appearances by pro-gun advocates, most of the time it is a relentless flood of anti-gun messages on the mainstream news.

And often the anti-gun messages that Americans are being fed are absolutely absurd. In fact, they would be absolutely hilarious if so many people were not taking them so seriously…

And progressive strategists don’t plan on letting up. In fact, it was recently revealed that they have drafted an 80 page “how-to manual” that actually encourages gun control advocates to emotionally exploit major shooting incidents to advance the cause of gun control

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why is Obama’s Hatred of America Tolerated?

Is radical Islam finding strength in a Hope and Change-promising U.S. president who openly supports the Muslim Brotherhood?

Even though the hatred of Obama toward the U.S. has been palpable ever since his election, it is tolerated. Proof of that tolerance was showcased when he was re-elected last November.

Farrakhan’s and Wright’s hatred of the U.S., which gives both a comfortable, rich man’s life, is manifest in the spewing of spitting mad, hate-filled words. But nobody is forced to be a member of the Nation of Islam or an attendee of the Trinity United Church of Christ.

As President of the United States of America, Obama’s hatred is something that cannot be avoided.

Obama’s hatred comes in the persona of the worst possible combination: that of a Marxist Muslim.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

WWII Vets Knock Over Shutdown Barrier to Visit Memorial

A group of World War II veterans in an Honor Flight group Tuesday knocked over barriers imposed during the government shutdown at the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., to get inside.

As part of the federal government shutdown, national parks are closed. But the group of veterans continued to the monument Tuesday, as reported by Stars and Stripes reporter Leo Shane:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Young Somalis in Minnesota Are Still Signing Up for Terrorist Group Al Shabab That Carried Out Deadly Kenya Mall Attack — Including at Least Four Men in the Last Year

Leaders of the nation’s largest Somali community say some of their young men are still being enticed to join the terror group that has claimed responsibility for the deadly mall attack in Kenya, despite a concentrated effort to shut off what authorities call a ‘deadly pipeline’ of men and money.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

8,000 Year Old Evidence of Human Activity Found in Alps

Fourteen-year-long archaeological excavations in the Parc National des Écrins in the southern Alps have provided evidence of human activity from the Mesolithic to the Post-Medieval period.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Arrest Warrant Issued for Former Cyprus Bank Chief

An international arrest warrant was Friday issued for Athanasios Orphanides, the former head of Cyprus central bank and currently professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Neither Orphanides nor his lawyer appeared at a district court for a private lawsuit filed by a resident who lost bank bonds worth €400,000.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Coalition Re-Elected, But Anti-EU Parties Gain

Austria’s centrist coalition led by Chancellor Werner Faymann scored a razor-thin majority in Sunday’s (29 September) elections, with anti-EU populists and right-wing nationalists boosting their ranks in the Alpine country. The two main centrist parties — Faymann’s Social Democrats (SPO) and the centre-right People’s Party (OVP) — together got only 50.9 percent of the vote, their worst score since the Second World War.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brother of Irish Nationalist Leader Gerry Adams Convicted of Raping Daughter

The brother of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has been convicted of raping his daughter in a case that embarrassed the Irish nationalist political party. A Belfast jury found Liam Adams guilty Tuesday on 10 counts of raping and sexually assaulting his daughter Aine from 1977 to 1983, when she was 4 to 9 years old.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Anti-Semitism in Copenhagen

By Bruce Bawer

Another day, another newspaper story about anti-Semitism in Europe. The good news, I suppose, is that there are at least some newspapers in Europe that are willing to acknowledge the phenomenon. The bad news is that there’s more than enough material to keep the stories coming.

The latest report, in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, is about seventeen-year-old Moran Jacob, a Jewish boy who until recently lived in Nørrebro, a heavily Muslim neighborhood of Copenhagen. Back in January, Jacob agreed to testify at a hearing about anti-Semitism at Copenhagen’s City Hall, where he told about the harassment he’s been subjected to since childhood. At the time, several newspapers provided accounts of his testimony. (Representatives of Islamic organizations were invited to attend the hearing, but chose not to.)…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

France: Junior Beauty Pageants Want Their ‘Dream’

(by Aurora Bergamini) (ANSAmed) — PARIS — France’s junior beauty pageants are protesting against a draft law banning beauty contests for girls under 16 years of age over concerns they turn children into erotic objects and make them grow up too soon. The Senate adopted the measure on September 17 as part of a draft law on gender equality. The draft law will now go to the National Assembly for final approval. ‘Just as gay marriage has been approved, beauty pageants for little girls are banned, it is incomprehensible’, Michel Le Parmentier , the organizer of Mini-miss model France 2013 (for little girls aged five to 11) and Minis teen-junior France 2013 (12 to 17 years) told Le Monde. The two beauty pageants are the only ones authorized nationally for minors since 1989. The last one took place last Saturday.

Participants include 40 to 50 minors who dress up as princesses hoping to be elected as the most beautiful, like their oldest counterparts. ‘There are no swimsuits nor makeup in my shows’, said Le Parmentier -contrary to beauty pageants for minors in the United States.

The organizer said he will fight the measure and instead call for tighter rules regulating beauty contests. Little beauty pageants and their mothers are prepared to fight with him.

‘People who draft these laws have never come to a contest’, said Caroline, mother of two participants, Marie aged 10 and Laura, 11. ‘This is not America’, she told Le Monde.

Young participants in fact claim their appearance is not the only aspect evaluated by judges. Other qualities, like their ability on the catwalk, are also important. Lou, a 6-year-old wearing makeup, will be judged by a jury of seven members including ex winners, mothers of beauty contestants and model representatives. Nina, 12, said she decided to participate to feel ‘more beautiful’. Stacy, 13, wearing a little black dress, says she wants to become a ‘model or actress’. Her mother told the paper that seeing her become a star makes her ‘proud’.

‘Let us live our dream’, said Barbara, 13, who won the title of Miss teen-junior, in an appeal to lawmakers who will have to vote by November the measure promoted by centrist Senator Chantal Jouanno, a former sports minister under Nicolas Sarkozy. She added: ‘Jouanno wants to send out the message that we will all become prostitutes, it’s an insult’.

The former minister denounced the ‘early eroticization’ of little girls, often turned into ‘lolitas’ by commercials. Her proposal includes harsh sanctions against organizers of junior beauty pageants — up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France: Drones Proposed to Tackle Marseille Crime

A mayoral candidate has proposed the use of drones over the streets of Marseille to combat the city’s notorious network of drug dealers and reputation for violent crime.

Eugène Caselli, the Socialist Party president of the Marseille urban community, and mayoral candidate, proposed on Thursday that drone aircraft be used to seek out drug-dealing and violent crime on the backstreets of the city, which has been hit by a spate of murders.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Mother in Prison Child Rape Gets 20-Yrs

A French mother who held down her four-year-old son while he was raped by his stepfather in a prison visiting room was sentenced to a maximum 20 years in jail.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Golden Dawn Arrests Take Greece Into Uncharted Waters

The crackdown on the far-right party will undoubtedly release new tensions on to an already poisoned political scene

Not since the return of democracy after the collapse of military rule in 1974 has a party been so publicly hounded. The arrests will undoubtedly unleash new tensions on to a political scene already poisoned by profound disillusionment with an establishment widely blamed for the financial mess that has lead to the nation’s economic and social meltdown.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece Plans New Anti-Racism Law Amid Golden Dawn Crackdown

ATHENS (Reuters) — The Greek government said on Monday it would soon present a bill targeting racist hate speech, part of a crackdown on the far-right Golden Dawn party after the killing of an anti-fascist rapper.

“(The bill) will be submitted to parliament in a matter of days. It has symbolic and moral value,” Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters, adding that it would align Greek legislation with European standards.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Golden Dawn MPs in Court

Four MPs from the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party are set to appear in court on Tuesday, reports the BBC. The MPs are set to be formally charged with belonging to a criminal organisation, murder, assault, and money laundering. Some 20 members of the party, including its leader, have been arrested.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Interior Ministry to Deploy 200 Soldiers to TAV Train Site

Protesters have clashed, damaged equipment at building site

(ANSA) — Rome, September 20 — Italy’s interior minister decided Friday to deploy 200 more military personnel to the construction site of the TAV high-speed rail link that will connect Turin to Lyon in Val di Susa following violent protests, arson and criminal damage. The decision was taken at a meeting of the so-called ‘National Security and Order Commission’ headed by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. “After an in-depth analysis of the protest demonstrations as well as the recent episodes involving damages involving certain companies, the Commission has recognised the need to keep the level of attention and vigilance high”, the interior ministry said in a statement. Construction of the line, which is already underway, has been hotly contested. Protestors have repeatedly clashed with police and damaged construction equipment. Critics call the project costly and needless, saying it will wreak havoc on the environment. Supporters argue it will save money and protect the environment in the long run as it will cut down on freight and automobile traffic.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: The Enduring Appeal of Silvio Berlusconi

Why Scandal and Tax Fraud Win

By Gianni Riotta

Italy is in the middle of another existential political crisis — and somehow, against all expectations, Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister, is at the center of it yet again. Forza Italia, Berlusconi’s party, forced last week the collapse of Italy’s left-right governing coalition if a legislative commission demands that Berlusconi relinquish his seat in parliament, thus forcing him to begin serving a one-year prison sentence for tax fraud. The latest bout of political instability hasn’t just triggered a standard round of name-calling among Italy’s political class; it has dramatically worsened the outlook of Italy’s already fragile economy, scaring off investors and bringing economic reform to a grinding halt. Milan’s stock exchange plunged 1.2 percent on Monday. Berlusconi seems more than willing to risk his country’s future to save his own neck, even if just temporarily.

Of course, that raises the question of why he is even in the position to do so. By any assessment, Berlusconi’s political career should have been over long ago. This is a man whose most distinguished contribution to his country during his decade of service as prime minister was the inventiveness of his sexual escapades. In the twenty years since Berlusconi was first selected prime minister, Italy has been the only country in Western Europe with a negative growth rate. He is openly despised — not only by his ex-wife, who finally objected to his unabashed adultery, but also by most international leaders. (German Chancellor Angela Merkel was instrumental in the demise of his last cabinet.) When the courts finally convicted him of tax fraud earlier this year, it was fair to assume that Berlusconi’s long national adventure was coming to an end. It was also wrong.

Today, one in four Italians says that he would still vote for Berlusconi — even if he causes the government to collapse in order to avoid a prison term. How has Berlusconi managed to maintain such popularity given his record of uninterrupted scandal, broken promises, subzero growth, and stalled reforms? Among would-be sophisticates, the answer has usually focused on Berlusconi’s prodigious media empire: he controls three television networks as well as numerous radio stations, daily newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses, not to mention the AC Milan soccer team and its broadcasting rights. But reducing Berlusconi’s popularity to his media holdings is much too simple. It fails to explain why Berlusconi has always been most popular when he has been in the opposition, rather than when he is campaigning as an incumbent and has public television at his disposal as well. Media is a factor in Berlusconi’s appeal, but not the main one.

The real answer can be summed up with a single word: taxes. Berlusconi’s base is the vast swath of Italians who believe that Italy’s entire political and legal system is rigged against them, the tax code above all. Berlusconi has always been eager to fan that skepticism into outright hostility. Italians aren’t attracted to Berlusconi because of his alleged ties to the Mafia, or his racially insensitive comments, or his skirt-chasing. They are attracted and amused by his cheeky populism against the powers that be, within Italy and abroad. He is playing a rogue familiar to Italians from classic comic operas; in that sense, his conviction on tax fraud bolsters his appeal among the public…

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

Italy: Napolitano, Letta ‘Can’t be Trusted’ Says Berlusconi

But party rifts look like forcing ex-premier to reconsider

(ANSA) — Rome, October 1 — Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi has said in a letter to be published Thursday President Giorgio Napolitano and Premier Enrico Letta could not be trusted because they had not ensured he would keep his Senate seat after a tax-fraud conviction. “How can people who don’t ensure (my) political survival be trusted”,” said Berlusconi in the letter, which was however written before rifts in his party brought it to the verge of meltdown Tuesday.

He wrote the president and premier were allegedly “hostile” to him and so he had decided to bring the government down.

“Letta and Napolitano should have realised that, since they were not addressing the question of safeguarding the political rights of Italy’s centre-right leader, they were destroying an essential element of their credibility,” he said, while taking another swipe at allegedly biased magistrates.

On Tuesday, however, sources close to Berlusconi’s party said the three-time premier might backtrack from a vow to vote down Letta in a confidence test Wednesday provided certain conditions were met, including not applying the law decreeing his Senate ouster.

Ministers including the secretary of Berlusconi’s party, Angelino Alfano, were reportedly reconsidering their resignations, handed in Saturday to spark the government crisis.

One of the conditions reportedly aimed at continuing the alliance would be Alfano taking over from Berlusconi at the head of the revamped Forza Italia, the name with which the media magnate won his first election in 1994.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Markets Nervous as Italian Government Nears Collapse

Risk of snap elections in Italy is causing jitters on financial markets, but some say investors have grown accustomed to the chaos. The value of Italian debt hit a two-week low, while the value of ‘safe haven’ German bonds ticked upward when markets opened on Monday (30 September), Reuters reports.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway’s New PM Loses Four-Party Coalition Deal

Norway’s incoming Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Monday night announced that she would begin negotiations on forming a two-party government joining her Conservative party with the populist Progress party.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway to Air Five-Hour ‘Slow TV’ Knitting Show

It will certainly have more than enough of twists and turns, but it may not make much of a thriller. Norway’s state television channel is to broadcast an evening-long programme featuring a group of eight people knitting.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Soul-Searching as Denmark Revisits WWII Rescue of Jews

As Denmark commemorates the heroic rescue of the vast majority of its Jewish population during World War II, the country faces thorny questions over its relationship with Nazi Germany. The flight of more than 7,000 Danish Jews — around 95 percent of the total — to safety in neighbouring Sweden in 1943 is an inspirational story from an otherwise dark chapter in Europe’s history.

It has been said that King Christian X wore the Star of David in sympathy with Jews as he rode through the streets of Copenhagen, but that is a myth — Danish Jews never had to wear the yellow badge.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Munir Farooqi Case: Family Home Set to be Seized Under Terrorism Laws

Relatives will appeal court’s decision to hand convicted terrorist’s house over to police

The family home of a man convicted of attempting to recruit two undercover police officers to fight British soldiers in Afghanistan is set to become the first to be seized in the UK under terrorism laws. Forfeiture will now begin after the Court of Appeal rejected a challenge against his conviction by bookstall owner Munir Farooqi who received four life sentences in September 2011 for inciting jihad.

Three judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, concluded that the conviction of the 56-year-old grandfather was sound despite arguments by his lawyers that he had been incompetently represented at the trial at which he failed to give evidence in his own defence. The decision means the Farooqis’ four-bedroom house in Longsight, Manchester, will make legal history as the first to be subject to seizure proceedings under the Terrorism Act 2000 which entitles the courts to take property owned or under the control of terrorists at the time of an offence…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Police Plan to Seize Home of Convicted Terrorism Recruiter

The family of a jailed terrorist recruiter face losing their home as police, for the first time, plan to seize a property involved in terrorism.

Former Taliban fighter Munir Farooqi was handed four life sentences in 2011 for trying to radicalise young British men and send them to kill troops in Afghanistan. He lost an appeal against his conviction on Monday paving the way for police to seize his £200,000 home, which he used as his “recruitment centre”.

Greater Manchester Police intend to recover the asset under a power that allows homes and other properties to be seized if they were part of a terrorism offence. It will be the first time the power has been used since it came in to force in 2009. A senior police officer insisted the move was not aimed at punishing Farooqi’s family members and they would not be made homeless because they have two other properties…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Shoplifting Secret of the Housewife Who Stole 900 Designer Handbags

A housewife is facing jail after she stole more than 900 designer handbags worth up to £500,000 in a crime spree lasting three years.

Jayne Rand, 48, carried out a nationwide “campaign of shoplifting”, helping herself to a haul of handbags made by leading designers including Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Police believe she is Britain’s most prolific handbag thief, stealing almost one a day in a three-year crimewave.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Bank Publishes Annual Report Online for First Time

Reports 86.6 million net profit in 2012, quadruple 2011 results

(ANSA) — Vatican City, October 1 — The Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), for the first time published its annual report online on its new website on Tuesday, as part of a sweeping effort to bring more transparency to the Holy See.

The report said the IOR saw a net profit of 86.6 million euros in 2012, four times 2011’s net profit of 20.3 million euros.

The IOR used 54.7 million euros to increase the Holy See’s budget and 31.9 million euros went to a general reserve for operational risks.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bosnia First Post-War Census Reopens Old Wounds

Sarajevo (AFP) — Bosnia on Tuesday began a high-stakes census expected to reveal exactly how the 1992-95 war changed the country’s ethnic makeup.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: Country Struggles on Way to Democracy, Mitri Tells UN

Armed clashes, torture, and economic collapse

(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, SEPTEMBER 17 — More than two years after the revolution that ousted Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libya still struggles on the road of democratic transition, United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) leader Tareq Mitri told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“The deterioration of the security situation and the increase in divisions between political groups and revolutionary militias are an obstacle to the development of a coordinated, solid and efficient security system,” specified Mitri, who is also UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Libya.

Tensions between armed groups, tribes and political forces have degenerated into lethal clashes, rampant political assassinations (journalists, security forces, judges), attacks against diplomats, threats to the UN and general criminality, making justice and reconciliation a distant mirage, Tikri said. The detention of more than 8,000 people with links to the old regime is also “problematic”, with numerous cases of torture, mistreatment and deaths in custody in spite of slight improvements in prison conditions. The oil sector has been paralyzed by a wave of strikes since July, blocking the country’s extraction and export sites and bringing the national economy to its knees. Authorities must find a solution as soon as possible or pass the point of no return, Mitri said. On the plus side, Mitri pointed to progress on the constitutional front, as the nation’s Congress has adopted a law for the election of a Constituent Assembly. The inclusive national dialogue launched by Premier Ali Zeidan in the past few months with different sectors of civil society is a platform on which it will be possible to debate key national issues and find consensus ahead of a new Constitution and new elections.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia: Two Terrorists Arrested, Weapons Seized in Mornaguia — Interior

Tunis — Two terrorists were arrested and two others escaped after National Guard units raided a house in Mornaguia on Saturday, the Interior Ministry announced in a statement. Hand-made bombs, TNT explosives and tasers were seized during the operation, the same source added. The raid conducted on Saturday by security forces is connected to a car chase on Wednesday night involving National Guard units and a suspected car in the region of Oued Ellil…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia: ‘Orfi’ Or Temporary Marriage Making a Comeback

Outlawed in 1956 with promulgation of gender equality

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — In Tunisia, a marriage becomes official when the couple signs the dotted line before witnesses.

But since the fall of the dictatorship in 2011 and the expansion of Salafist proselytism, another formula that was outlawed under the previous, secular regime is making a comeback: the “orfi” or temporary marriage, which imposes no obligations on the man.

Temporary marriage was made in illegal in 1956, when Tunisia’s Code of Personal Status officially abolished gender inequality.

In an orfi union, the woman de facto accepts a subordinate position vis a vis the man, giving up any rights she or her children may aspire to. The practice is widespread among the rich and the divorced, because it allows men to beg off from recognizing their children and therefore potential heirs.

Now the practice is taking root among university students as well. Reportedly, some 1,000 marriages have been contracted in this way since 2011, which gives a measure of the spread of Salafist influence among the young and educated. Women who accept this kind of union supposedly know what they are up against, but obviously the odds are stacked against them: as in the case of a wealthy elderly businessman with a double nationality who wed a girl 50 years his junior in an orfi marriage. When she became pregnant and refused to have an abortion, he simply sold all his properties in Tunisia, killed her, and left the country.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Israeli Army Kill Palestinian in Northern Gaza: Report

GAZA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — A Palestinian was killed on Monday night by Israeli artillery shells fired near the border between the Gaza Strip and the Jewish country, an Israeli news website reported. The website of the Israeli Daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that a Palestinian was killed and another was arrested after the two approached the border fence…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

7 Women Charged With Murder in Abu Dhabi Allege Forced Prostitution

Defendants told officials the victim had used their passports to run brothel

Abu Dhabi: Seven women charged with murder say their victim was forcing them to work as prostitutes.

The defendants told public prosecution officials the victim was withholding their passports and was using them to run a brothel.

Investigations revealed the deceased had taken the Bengali women from a domestic helpers’ recruitment agency in Ajman, giving them the impression that they had been hired as domestic workers.

The man then took them to his Al Ain home where he held them and forced them into prostitution. According to court documents the women devised a plan to kill him and flee his home.

The women also reportedly confessed to the crime before the Public Prosecution adding that one of them told the victim that she was going to give him a massage while the other defendants tied him down and choked him.

Medical reports found the victim died from asphyxiation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Did Obama Swallow Iranian Disinformation?

President Obama told the United Nations General Assembly on September 24 that “…the Supreme Leader [of Iran] has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, and President Rouhani has just recently reiterated that the Islamic Republic will never develop a nuclear weapon.” A fatwa is supposed to be an authoritative religious edict, and sounds like a guarantee that the Iran regime has ruled out nuclear weapons.

But the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) says, “In fact, such a fatwa was never issued by Supreme Leader Khamenei and does not exist; neither the Iranian regime nor anybody else can present it.” MEMRI Founder and President Yigal Carmon told FoxNews.com, “There is no such fatwa. It is a lie from the Iranians, a deception, and it is tragic that President Obama has endorsed it.”

If MEMRI’s report is true, then the President of the United States has accepted a form of disinformation designed to make the Iranian regime look good, perhaps in order to make a deal with that regime. What do we know about this fatwa?

We do know that some in the U.S. media, including such figures as Fareed Zakaria of CNN, have accepted it as fact.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch, German Anti-Missile Systems Protect Turkey Against Syrian Rockets

No missiles or mortar shells launched since deployment; Turkish defense has systems for lower air level attacks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iran Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Men to Marry Their Adopted Daughters as Young as 13: “This Bill is Legalising Paedophilia”

Parliamentarians in Iran have passed a bill to protect the rights of children which includes a clause that allows a man to marry his adopted daughter and while she is as young as 13 years.

Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer with the London-based group Justice for Iran, told the Guardian she feared the council would feel safe to put its stamp of approval on the bill while Iran’s moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, draws the attention of the press during his UN visit to New York. “This bill is legalising paedophilia,” she warned.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Man Has a Brain Aneurysm Then Converts to Christianity When He Wakes Up From Coma

A Muslim man who had a sudden brain aneurysm that left him in a coma has converted to Christianity following a near-miraculous recovery.

Karim Shamsi-Basha was in a coma for a month in 1992 but when he woke up, he began a 20-year journey that lead to him becoming a Christian.

His neurosurgeon told him he had seen very few people in his condition go on to make a full recovery and suggested that Mr Shamsi-Basha find out why he survived.

Syrian-born Mr Shamsi-Basha wrote a book about his journey, called PAUL AND ME, which includes chapters about Paul — one of the Bible’s best known figures — whose conversion to Christianity took place in the city of Damascus.

The author and photojournalist grew up in a closely-knit Muslim family in Syria who were tolerant of all faiths, with a best friend who was a Christian, but he did not seriously consider changing religion before his illness.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Netanyahu Says Israel Won’t Let Iran Get Nuclear Weapon, Even if it Stands Alone

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, even if it stands alone, because Israel’s future is threatened by a “nuclear-armed’“ Iran seeking its destruction. He urged the international community to keep up sanctions pressure in his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: 30,000 French Muslims Perform Haj Every Year

French minister Hélène Conway-Mouret, who wrapped up a two-day visit to the Kingdom, Monday said Haj operations in Paris had been streamlined to enable pilgrims to experience a hassle-free journey through their agents in France. Mouret said she held discussions on the welfare program of French Haj pilgrims. French Ambassador Bertrand Besancenot was also present at the press briefing held at the French Embassy in Riyadh. The minister, who met with senior Haj officials in Jeddah, pointed out that around 30,000 French pilgrims come for Haj every year and another 19,000 come for Umrah throughout the year…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Mufti Again Calls for Destruction of All Churches on Arabian Peninsula

Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah has once again called for the destruction of all Churches on the Arabian Peninsula. Bin Abdullah, head of the Ulema Council and the Standing Committee on Fatwas, made this statement after a presentation by the Kuwaiti parliamentarian Osama Al-Munawer of the bill that bans construction of new non-Muslim religious buildings in Kuwait.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Italy Donates Hospital to Refugee Camp in Jordan

Italian FM-Civil Protection agreement; to go to Red Cross

(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 20 — As part of the humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of civilians fleeing the ongoing violence in Syria, the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Civil Protection Department signed an agreement Friday to build a prefabricated hospital in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, the Foreign Ministry announced. The 1,500 sq-m structure will be built by the end of the year by the Trento Autonomous Province government and will provide both emergency and specialist care to the approximately 130,000 Syrian civilians in the camp. Once completed, the hospital will be donated to the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent and will be managed by a consortium under the European Commission’s Humanitarian Cooperation office, ECHO, in collaboration with the UNHCR. The initiative is part of a broader project at the European level announced during Foreign Minister Emma Bonino’s and European Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva’s visit to Jordan in June.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: UNICEF Italia: Palestinian Kids Targeted Without Mercy

Iacomini, generation fleeing once again needs protection

(ANSAmed) — ROME — In a context of ‘desperation over the conflict in Syria, we must not forget Palestinian children in the country and the data is not comforting’, the spokesman of Unicef Italia, Andrea Iacomini, said on Friday.

‘Two thirds of Palestinian children living in Syria have been concerned by the shutdown of schools inside the country’.

‘It is necessary to intervene as soon as possible also alongside these children who are already refugees with their families and have suffered the drama of a new flight from the cities where they were living. The ongoing conflict was particularly difficult for young Palestinian refugees, including those who fled to Jordan and Lebanon who were forced to leave their homes, friends and schools and have been forced to confront new teaching methods which are not simple absorb. It is a generation fleeing once again which must be protected’.

The spokesman of Unicef Italia said that ‘this year almost 500,000 Palestinian refugee children more have returned to school in 700 schools set up by Unwra in Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza Strip’.

Among 118 schools opened by Palestinians in Syria, 68 were closed, 10 schools were used as emergency refuges and only 40 are still open. Thanks to work carried out by Unrwa and Unicef, which provided teaching material, school desks, teaching kits, 41 buildings were opened so children could attend school.

Unicef is active through the programme ‘Back to learning’ to bring 1 million Syrian children back to school. In the past two years about two million had to drop out of school due to the conflict, Iacomini said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Was Syria a False Flag Operation?

…The following articles provide information that tends to support the idea that the Ghouta chemical weapon incident was a false-flag operation. Note the reference to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, “a veteran of the diplomatic intrigues of Washington and the Arab world … [who] worked Washington to back a program to arm and train rebels out of a planned military base in Jordan.”

What a growing number of Americans have come to realize is that it is not wise for any American to believe what they see on their television screens coming from the alphabet soup of mainstream media outlets, better known as the propaganda arm of the federal government.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greeks Go to Russia to Promote Medical Tourism

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 20 — This autumn, 15 Greek businesses, including leading private hospitals, rehabilitation centers and hotels with spa facilities, will promote their services in a workshop in Moscow to increase their clientele and establish Greece as a medical tourism destination for Russians.

As Greek Travel Pages (GTP) website reports today, this is the second workshop organized to showcase Greece as a medical and health tourism destination to the Russian market. The 2nd Greek Medical & Health Tourism Workshop will take place 30 October 2013 at the Park Hyatt Ararat Hotel in Moscow.

Russian arrivals to Greece this year increased by 30%, exceeding 1.2 million visitors. However, according to the workshop’s organizer, Tourism Today blog, Greece remains an “unknown health travel destination” to the Russians as shown during the first workshop held in May. According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), medical tourists from Russia amount to some 300,000, with an annual growth rate of 20%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

26 Militants Killed in Afghan Operations in 24 Hours

KABUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) — Twenty-six militants were killed in separate military operations launched by the Afghan police and army since early Monday, the country’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday morning. “Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) carried out several cleanup raids in Nangarhar, Faryab, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Ghazni provinces within the last 24 hours. As a result 26 armed Taliban were killed, two wounded and seven others were arrested by the ANSF,” the ministry said in a statement. The NATO-led coalition forces also supported the ANSF in some of the above operations, it said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia: Minister Against Governorate: Clash on the Christian Official in the Islamists’ Crosshairs

Minister Gamawan Fauzi supports Islamist demonstrations for the ouster of Susan Jasmine Zulkifli. The Lieutenant-Governor’s dry response: Indonesia is pluralist nation, Fauzi should learn the constitution. Behind the local battle, the spectre of a national dispute is arising between two different visions of the country.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Minister ofthe Interior against the governorate of Jakarta; constitutional rights against an extremist drift; pluralism and integration against a sectarian and radical Islamic vision of the country. It has become a frontal collision between institutions and different ways of understanding the future of the nation. The controversy centers on the Protestant Christian Susan Jasmine Zulkifli, head of the sub-district of Lenteng Agungin South Jakarta area (West Java province) with a large Muslim majority. Fuelling the tension was the intervention of a prominent minister of the executive branch of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who called on the Jakarta government to transfer the official; the reply of the capital’s administration was a turn of the screw, which rejected the appeal and invited the minister to judge people based on their work, not the faith they profess, in a state that calls itself “multicultural and open to religions”.

For weeks the Islamic extremist fringe has been seeking in various ways — demonstrations, defamatory campaigns, collecting signatures (later revealed to be from non-existent persons) — to obtain the expulsion of Zulkifli, whose only fault is that of being a Christian in a Muslim-majority district. In fact, behind the attack would be the lunatic fringe attempt to delegitimize Christian personalities who are taking on more and more political weight and space in the most populous Muslim country in the world, in which religious freedom and equal rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and are the foundation of the state, but are not always respected.

In recent days in the district of Lenteng Agung, there have multiplied the demonstrations by extremist groups against the chief clerk. The demonstrators label the woman an “infidel” and someone inappropriate for government from a “religious and moral” perspective. “We want to expel her from here”, said Suparma, an inhabitant of the area “because she is not one of our own”. An opinion shared by Hamdan Rasyid, leader of Jakarta section of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), according to which the presence of Zulkifli threatens to exacerbate the “tensions between Muslims”.

Exacerbating the clash (until now political), was the unexpected intervention of Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi who has brought the dispute to national prominence. He declared his closeness to protesters opposed to the Christian official, because “her presence is not greeted with warmth by the majority of the population”.

There was a quick reply from the head leadership in Jakarta, with the intervention of the (Christian) Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama — better known as “Ahok” — who defined as “inappropriate” the comments issued by a high-profile politician and member of the government. The vice-governor called on the Minister to “study the Constitution” that provides for pluralism “in the spirit of the Pancasila”, the founding principles of the nation. Ahok asked him moreover not to drag a political dispute onto the religious level, inviting opponents to beat him “at the next elections in 2017” after a political struggle, not with specious attacks of a confessional nature.

Indonesian political experts explain that the fight around Zulkifli and, indirectly around the Ahok-Jokowi duo at the head of Jakarta’s governorship, hides in reality a much broader challenge, which reaches the national level. Along with Governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Ahok has created a tandem government which has been able to improve the quality of life in the capital, by adopting a number of laws that have received the approval of the population. It is therefore reasonable to assume that one part of the country is using the guise of religion, to launch attacks of a “purely political” nature, in an attempt to discredit opponents and recover the lost consensus. Moreover, in view of the 2014 national elections the Islamists are bothered by the active collaboration between Christian and Muslim leaders.

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

Kenyan Troops Suspected of Shoplifting From Stores Damaged by Terror Attack

Jewelry cases smashed. Mobile phones ripped from displays. Cash registers emptied. Alcohol stocks plundered.

For the second time in two months, poorly paid Kenyan security forces that moved in to control an emergency are being accused of robbing the very property they were supposed to protect. First the troops were accused of looting during a huge fire in August at Nairobi’s main airport.

Now shop owners at Westgate Mall are returning to their stores after last week’s devastating terrorist attack to find displays ransacked and valuables stolen.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mall Terrorist Attack May Cost Kenya $200 Million in Lost Tourism Earnings

Experts predict that the terrorist attack on a Nairobi mall will cost Kenya’s economy $200 to $250 million in lost tourism revenue.

Tourism generates 14 percent of Kenya’s GDP and employs 12 percent of its workforce.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram Members Behead 10 Travellers Along Borno-Yobe Highway

At least 10 persons have been confirmed dead by security and transport officials after suspected Boko Haram terrorists launched two different attacks on a major highway in northeast Nigeria. The terrorists had, during the attack on the Damaturu-Maiduguri highway, also set ablaze several vehicles, including those conveying food items to Borno State. The attacks took place some few kilometres from Benisheik Town where terrorists dressed in military fatigue and riding in armoured tanks killed at least 140 travelers on September 17.

A security source who doesn’t want to be named as he is not permitted to speak to the press, said most of those attacked were found beheaded.

“We found ten corpses by the road side near Benisheik just before Ngamdu Village; the victims were beheaded and their heads placed on their chests,” said the security source…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

South Africa: Renowned Palestinian Poet Performs in Khayelitsha

On 24 September 2013, Remi Kanazi, a world-renowned Palestinian-American performance poet, gave a performance of his poetry in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. Kanazi’s poetry covers a range of topics, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Islamophobia and imperialism…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Caribbean States Seek Slavery Reparations From Europe

Fourteen Caribbean nations are seeking reparations from Britain, France and the Netherlands for over 400 years of slavery brought to their islands by the former colonial powers.

Caribbean leaders made their case at the United Nations’ general assembly last week.

“The awful legacy of these crimes against humanity ought to be repaired for the developmental benefit of our Caribbean societies and all our peoples. The European nations must partner in a focused, special way with us to execute this repairing,” said the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves.

Gonsalves is spearheading the effort on behalf of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a regional organisation which focusses on economic integration.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants Drown Off Italian Coast

Around 13 migrants drowned a few metres off the coast in Sicily as they tried to swim ashore from their stranded boat, reports Reuters. Locals helped managed to pull some out of the water. “We managed to save two by cardiac massage,” said a lifeguard at the scene.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Norway Govt to Get Tough on Immigration

Norway’s incoming government will get tough on immigration, future prime minister Erna Solberg said on Monday as she presented the main policies of the minority coalition she is forming with a populist right-wing party.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Puglia’s Gay Governor Says Pope is Raising Hope

Francis using delicate approach on sensitive issues — Vendola

(ANSA) — Rome, September 20 — Pope Francis’s comments this week on controversial issues such as homosexuality, divorce and abortion are giving people new hope during desperate times, Puglia’s openly gay governor, Nichi Vendola, said Friday.

“In the face of despair of the world — despair that is the result of the (economic) crisis, poverty and scarcity — Pope Francis has recovered rare examples of vocabulary that give us hope for change on the horizon,” said Vendola, the leader of the Left Ecology Freedom party (SEL).

In an interview published Thursday in a Jesuit journal, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church should not be “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception but instead, should reach out to individuals.

“We have to find a new balance — otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel,” the pope was quoted as saying.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/1/2013

  1. Wouldn’t you love to get into the minds of those that decided to barricade open air memorials in our nation’s capitol? Good on the Vets and those that came with them to view these memorials.
    We are in a very strange place here in the US; the White House, the People’s house, has been closed for visits. And yet, the parties of the well connected rage on.
    There is something very wrong with this picture.
    I would love to know who decided to barricade our country’s memorials… I would fire that person immediately.

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