The “Troika” — the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission (EC), and European Central Bank (ECB) acting in concert to enforce austerity and control the debt crisis in the Eurozone — is on the verge of breaking up. Tensions have reportedly arisen between the IMF and the EC as the crisis continues unabated, despite the projection made three years ago that it would be over by the end of this year.
In other news, Muslim fundamentalists in East Jakarta have staged protests threatening a Catholic church, saying that it is “illegal”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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This is the beginning of the capital controls we’ve been warning about for years. Throughout history, when governments are on the brink of financial default, they begin limiting capital controls in exactly the way we are seeing here.
Following that, governments typically seize government pension funds, meaning the outright theft of pensions for cops, government workers, etc., is probably just around the corner.
Finally, the last act of desperation by governments facing financial default is to seize private funds from banks, Cyprus-style. The precedent for this has already been set in Cyprus, and when that happened, I was among many who openly predicted it would spread to the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Debt Crisis: Troika on the Brink of Implosion
Mediapart Paris
Disagreements between the European Commission and the IMF on how to end the debt crisis in Europe continue to grow. Starting in Brussels, it is possible to envisage the careful dismantling of the group.
Ludovic Lamant
The “Men in Black” of the Troika are edging towards a divorce. Three years after it was formed outside of any legal framework provided by the European treaties, this body with three chiefs meant to steer the reform programmes for Eurozone countries threatened with bankruptcy, is riven by tension. The strife has sparked a debate in Brussels on what comes after the troika.
Established during the “rescue” of Greece in May 2010, the unpopular troika is now working with the governments of three Eurozone member states, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus. It’s the troika that sets out the list of cuts, structural reforms and other privatisations that a country must commit to if it wants, in exchange, a mega-loan to stave off default. The IMF also provides advice to the European Council on reforming the Spanish banking sector.
In three years, this structure with its opaque inner workings has come to symbolise an authoritarian management of the crisis that has pushed Eurozone capitals to the wall, and forced them to push through reforms rejected by many of their citizens in order to stave off bankruptcy.
Logically, this troika will dissolve once the bailouts are finalised — by 2016 for Cyprus, according to the official deadlines. The problem: on the ground, the [recovery] still seems fragile (Ireland), or downright non-existent (Greece). Other mega-loans may still turn out to be necessary and will keep up the torment. This weekend the Europeans and the IMF are to meet in Washington to discuss a new aid package to Greece.
Fearing Pandora’s box
If Brussels does not dare move forward in a frank manner on this issue, it is above all because the member states — Germany in the lead — do not want to open Pandora’s box. Replacing the troika would no doubt give yet more powers to the European Commission, moving it closer to a “European Monetary Fund” — a scenario that would not necessarily be any more popular in the eyes of many of the continent’s citizens…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Emerging Challenges: What’s in Store for the New Global Powers
China, India and Brazil are taking the global economy by storm, becoming more politically confident on their way. But even as they form a front against the West, they will have to tackle slower growth and major domestic problems that their newly prosperous citizens are no longer willing to tolerate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ft. Hood Gears Up for Financial Collapse
Soldiers at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas received training last week on how to “manage themselves in peaceful situations involving civilians,” reports KDH News.
The timing of the training is interesting when analyzing America’s current economic state, which is bordering on collapse. American investment broker, businessman, author and financial commentator Peter Schiff warns us that we are in worse shape now economically than we were just before the 2008 financial crisis, which we still have yet to recover from.
Soldiers whose training has always revolved around enemies in foreign combat zones, is now focused on American civilians. Troops underwent “crowd and riot control” training at Fort Hood’s Elijah urban training site last week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: ‘Tough Budget Tempered by €500m Jobs Stimulus Package’
The Irish Times, 16 October 2013
On October 15, the Irish government unveiled an austerity budget for 2014 with €2.5bn in spending cuts, as the country prepares to leave the troika bailout programme at the end of the year, writes The Irish Times
The budget involved little change to the tax or welfare system, although did include a €1 increase in medical prescription fees and a reduction in the level of maternity benefit.
The newspaper’s editorial writes –
There is something of a wing and a prayer about this budget as it attempts to rebuild public confidence and accelerate economic growth. Cuts are smaller than originally envisaged and planned expenditure greater.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mission “Raise the Debt Ceiling” Is Accomplished: See You All Again in February
And so, in the proverbial 11th hour, or technically 10th hour and 10th minute before the midnight of the X-Date, the House gets the necessary 216 votes to pass the Senate bill to raise the debt ceiling, and in a final 285-144 tally, in which 87 Republicans voted yea to 144 GOP noes as all 198 Democrats vote yea, has agreed to restore funding.
Next up: the BLS random number generator starts cranking again and informing everyone in just how sorry a state the economy finds itself, which of course is bullish for stocks because it means that the taper is indefinitely delayed, potentially until June 2014. Also next up, as the emergency Treasury measures are netted out against the new debt limit, it means that once the new Daily Treasury Statement hits, the total US Federal debt will be just at, or over $17 trillion. Rejoice.
Finally — see you all again here in three months. In the meantime the interim status quo is as follows:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: ‘Cuts Beyond the Troika’
Jornal de Negócios, 16 October 2013
Pensioners, civil servants and state sector employees will be the big losers under the terms of the 2014 budget announced by the government on October 15.
The country looks set to fail to meet the 2013 deficit target of 5.5 per cent of GDP agreed with the troika, with the figure expected to stay at around 5.9 per cent, meaning austerity will continue into next year, observes Jornal de Negócios.
The budget will cut €3.9bn in state expenditure, explains the daily, through –
Salary reductions for around 90 per cent of state employees, an increase in the retirement age from 65 to 66 years and an increase in banking sector taxation.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Southern Italy Set to Keep Trailing North, Centre — Report
South hit hardest by crisis, Svimez says
(ANSA) — Rome, October 17 — Southern Italy risks enduring slower economic growth than the centre and the north again in 2013 and 2014, after years of suffering the economic recession more that other Italian and European regions, according to a new report released on Thursday.
Svimez, a group that promotes economic development in southern Italy, said the south should post economic growth of about 0.1% in 2014, compared to a forecast 0.7% increase in gross domestic product on a national level and a 0.9% gain in the north. The south of Italy has been in recession since 2007, the report said. It contracted 3.2% in 2012, compared with a 2.1% contraction in the north.
The 2013 drop is forecast at 2.5% compared with a national contraction set to be 1.8% and the centre-north on course to be down 1.6%.
Industrial production in the South has declined 25% since 2007, compared to Germany’s 40% increase and Spain’s 10% gain, Svimez said. Employment fell 24% and investments plummeted 45% in the period, according to the report.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The International Monetary Fund Lays the Groundwork for Global Wealth Confiscation
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report. Titled “Taxing Times,” the report paints a dire picture for advanced economies with high debts that fail to aggressively “mobilize domestic revenue.” It goes on to build a case for drastic measures and recommends a series of escalating income and consumption tax increases culminating in the direct confiscation of assets.
Yes, you read that right. But don’t take it from me. The report itself says:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Have Lost Virtually All of Our Constitutional Rights
How Many Constitutional Freedoms Have We Lost?
This post explains the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution — and provides a scorecard on the extent of the loss of each right. (This is an updated version of an essay we wrote in February. Unfortunately, a lot of information has come out since then.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ATF Threatens French-Style Firing Squad for Agents Who Leak Secrets
After months of anguished debate over mass shootings, gun control and Second Amendment rights, the Justice Department finds itself on the defensive after a training manual surfaced that suggests federal agents could face a firing squad for leaking government secrets.
The online manual for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — complete with a photo of a turn-of-the-century firing squad — was obtained by The Washington Times from a concerned federal law enforcement official, and it immediately drew protests from watchdogs who said it showed a lack of sensitivity to gun violence and the continuing hostile environment toward whistleblowers.
Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, said the DOJ has forgotten about the protections of the First Amendment, which covers leaks to the media, and that the photo could scare its employees into self-censorship.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bizarre “Freemason” Rant on House Floor During Debt Ceiling Vote (Video)
“You are all sons of the devil,” stenographer shouts as she is dragged away
A stenographer staged a bizarre performance on the House floor near the end of the debt ceiling vote last night, ranting about Freemasons before she was quickly dragged away by security guards…
Reidy was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation. It is not known whether criminal charges will be filed.
“For that one short tiny moment we actually had some sanity and bravery on the House Floor!” joked Daniel McAdams, labeling Reidy “the last sane person on Capitol Hill.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Black Women Targeted With Eugenics Drug, A Deadly Carcinogen Offered as a ‘Contraceptive’
It has been on the U.S. drug market since the early 1990s, and population control organizations like Planned Parenthood continue to push it heavily on black women and other ethnic minorities as a form of contraception. But the injectable contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, manufactured by Pfizer, has an extensive track record of causing serious harm to women, including its tendency to trigger the development of cancer…
This warning clearly states that women who receive Depo-Provera could develop significant and irreversible bone mineral density loss, for instance. The drug can also lead to blood clots in arms, legs, lungs and eyes and may also cause stroke, bleeding irregularities, weight gain, ectopic pregnancy and delayed return to fertility. In some cases, women who get jabbed with Depo-Provera become permanently sterile.
Perhaps most concerning is the fact that Depo-Provera has been shown to more than double a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. A 2012 study out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that, compared to women who had never received a Depo-Provera shot, jabbed women were about 220 percent more likely to develop the disease, regardless of their family and medical histories.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Food Stamps Most Rapidly Growing Welfare Program
Expert: ‘There’s very little bang for all this increased buck’
Food stamps are the most inefficient, vastly expanding social welfare program in the country, according to a new study. Forty-seven million people participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, and costs have increased over 358 percent since 2000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Internal TSA Documents: Body Scanners, Pat Downs Not for Terrorists
The TSA has quietly admitted there is no actual “threat-addressing” basis for employing nude body scanners or invasive pat down procedures at airports, a notion many travelers who are weary of the federal agency’s borderline sexual molestation have long suspected but were hard-pressed to prove.
The evidence was found in sealed court documents, available through the PACER.gov website, regarding engineer and blogger Jon Corbett’s ongoing litigation over the constitutionality of the agency’s loathsome security practices.
In a redacted version of the appellant’s brief, filed by Corbett on October 7 with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, several portions of the Summary of Facts section were blacked out, raising questions as to the nature of the censored information.
But in a sealed version of the same documents obtained through PACER.gov (and available here), the redacted sections appear with incriminating clarity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jeh Johnson Will be Nominated to Lead Department of Homeland Security
President Obama plans to nominate Jeh C. Johnson, a former general counsel for the Defense Department, to become the next head of the Homeland Security Department, according to administration officials.
If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Johnson will fill the vacancy left by Janet Napolitano, who resigned in July to lead the University of California system. The coming nomination was first reported by The Daily Beast.
During Mr. Johnson’s tenure at the Defense Department, he spearheaded the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. He also shaped the Obama administration’s policies on detainees and military commissions.
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New York City’s Marxist Power Couple
Having been a virtual arm of the Obama White House for years, MSNBC is now turning into an arm of the de Blasio campaign. De Blasio, a former aide to socialist New York City Mayor David Dinkins, faces law-and-order Republican candidate Joe Lhota on November 5.
De Blasio’s support for communist regimes in Cuba and Nicaragua, and his embrace of Islam as an emerging political force, were highlighted in a recent New York Times article. The paper also noted his illegal “honeymoon” to Communist Cuba. However, the mysterious trip occurred in either 1991 or 1994, depending on which paper you read, and much about the nature of the travel remains unknown.
Our review of documents concerning de Blasio’s involvement in the communist-front Nicaragua Solidarity Network confirms that notes of one meeting in 1991 say that he stated that Islam was an emerging “power,” and wondered if there were “progressive elements” in Islam “we can work with.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Secretly Signing Away U.S. Sovereignty
Shock plan regulates food, medicine, financial markers, Internet freedom
Despite the government shutdown, the Obama administration has continued secret negotiations to complete what is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.
The expansive plan is a proposed free-trade agreement between the U.S., Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
The agreement would create new guidelines for everything from food safety to fracking, financial markets, medical prices, copyright rules and Internet freedom.
The TPP negotiations have been criticized by politicians and advocacy groups alike for their secrecy. The few aspects of the partnership leaked to the public indicate an expansive agenda with highly limited congressional oversight.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
President Obama Signs Bill Ending Government Shutdown and Raising Debt Limit
President Obama signed the bill passed Wednesday night by Congress to end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit.
After Congress passed the measure, the director of the Office of Budget and Management said that government employees should expect to return to work Thursday morning.
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Report: NBC Edits Video to Frame Veterans
Maddow selectively edits clip to demonize peaceful activism
MSNBC has been caught airing a deceptively edited video of a rally that took place in Washington D.C. over the weekend, in addition to flagrantly lying to its viewers.
However, in a segment produced by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, only two-thirds of the footage was shown, making it appear as though veterans initiated the confrontations.
Just as we witnessed during the Trayvon Martin affair, NBC has once again utilized selective editing techniques in attempts to manipulate its target audience, omitting violence on the part of police in order to demonize protesters who dared to defend themselves against the barrage of assaults — both to their bodies and their liberties.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) It is the ultimate example of sickening, pathetic political correctness. In the aftermath of the EBT cardholder ransacking of Walmart stores in Louisiana last Saturday, where the stores shelves were wiped clean in a food stamp “rampage” that cost the retailer untold thousands of dollars, “shoppers left with up to eight carts of food and then went back for more,” reports ABC News.
Effectively, EBT cardholders transformed into “spontaneous hoarders” who monopolized the entire supply of food, meat and other goods. Walmart shelves were literally wiped clean, and other shoppers who tried to enter the stores to purchase food items had nothing available to them.
Walmart corporate has now gone public with the most bizarre pro-theft explanation ever heard. Allowing EBT hoarders to ransack the stores and steal tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise while denying any inventory to other shoppers was “the right thing to do,” the Walmart company now says.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tea Party Vows Future Fights as Republicans Assess Damage
“Republicans in the House, with a little help from Ted Cruz, got all excited with this stupid wing strategy that has now done a lot of damage to our brand,” said Murphy, in a reference to the Texas Republican senator who spurred the confrontation with the White House. “We’ve taken a big blow.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What John Adams Foretold Has Come True
“Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. … but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, … in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would … sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. … anarchy and tyranny commence.”
The entire Adams passage is well worth the time it takes to read and understand it. I want to examine (in no particular order) some of Adams’s thoughts and see how he foretold, over 200 years ago, the situation in which we live today.
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With Budget ‘Deal,’ National Debt Free to Soar Again
The good news: The national parks are open, furloughed federal workers are back on the job, and the country will not cut off benefit payments because it can’t borrow.
The bad news: The national debt is back on course to hit $17 trillion any day now, with no deal in sight to ever reverse the climb.
The latest increase in the debt cap is the sixth since President Obama took office, when the debt was $10.6 trillion. It was raised three times when Democrats controlled Congress, and has been raised three times since Republicans took control of the House.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
World Without Humans Author Calls for Eugenics to Deal With Debunked Climate Change
Eugenics, as always, provides the answer
Never mind that man-made global warming theory is a load of applesauce. That it has been roundly debunked will not stop anti-civilization zealots like Alan Weisman.
On Tuesday, Mr. Weisman, who is not a scientist — he holds a bachelor’s degree in literature and a master’s degree in journalism — mounted CNN’s military psy-op treaded propaganda platform to sell us on the prospect that having children is evil.
Draconian laws limiting human population growth are not necessary, the author of The World Without Us argues. Instead, the establishment need only ramp up its anti-human propaganda campaign…
In short, according to Weisman, if a woman wants more than 1.5 kids — or, the elite’s preferred goal, zero — she’s an uneducated bimbo. For Weisman and the anti-humanity bunch, the only solution is a schooling in the use of contraceptives.
In addition to chastising women who embrace the human instinct of procreation and instituting (no doubt government-enforced) mechanisms of “moral persuasion” to dissuade humanity from the necessity of reproduction — remember, this guy wrote a book glorifying the prospect of a planet Earth minus humans — Weisman suggests punitive carbon taxes to diminish civilization and the evil human desire for prosperity and security.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Streets Reopened After Suspicious Package Scare at Langevin Block
OTTAWA — The Langevin Block, home of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office, was evacuated Wednesday and the police bomb squad dispatched while police investigate a “suspicious package.”
Wellington Street was closed in both directions between Elgin and O’Connor streets for several hours while the joint RCMP-Ottawa police Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive team investigated.
Wellington was reopened at about 3 p.m. after the team “rendered the package safe using a robot,” police said.
Metcalfe Street remains closed between Wellington and Queen streets until about 4 p.m. when it was reopened.
Police arrested a “person of interest” at the scene. The RCMP is leading the investigation.
The incident began at about 11 a.m. Photos tweeted from the scene show a man in white robes and cap being held in the back of an RCMP cruiser.
The incident occurred just hours before the scheduled 5 p.m. speech from the throne.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Chimps Catch Human Yawns: Swedish Study
A new study has revealed that chimpanzees catch yawns from humans, an unusual cross-species contagion that has researchers wondering just how empathetic the chimps are to their human cousins.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Homegrown Imam Programme Proposed
Islamic community generally positive to the idea of state-supported education for Islamic religious leaders
The idea of Danish imams being able to stay at home and be educated in Denmark was proposed this week by Anders Gadegaard, the head of Danske Kirkers Råd, the national council of churches. The concept was praised by the national Islamic association, Det Islamiske Trossamfund.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Coalition Talks: Greens Reject Alliance With Conservatives
After a long night of talks on Tuesday night, Germany’s Greens have ruled out forming a governing coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. Now her only option is to allign herself with the center-left Social Democrats.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Half of Sweden’s Jews Hide Their Faith: Report
Jews in Sweden are among the most likely in Europe to hide their religious affiliation, for example by not wearing a kippah, but the survey found that fear of anti-Semitism abounded across the continent.
Some 49 percent of the 800 survey respondents in Sweden kept away from brandishing their faith, the online poll by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has revealed. The EU average for concealing your faith was 20 percent.
The year-long study was carried out in France, the UK, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Latvia. While the report will be released in full in November, some of the statistics have been revealed.
The Local’s Patrick Reilly hit the streets of southern city Malmö earlier this month wearing a kippah, and filed a report of stares and taunts that has been picked up by media in Sweden, but also in Israel and the US.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How UK’s First Nuclear Reactor for 25 Years Will Work
The first new British nuclear reactors for a quarter of a century will be safer and more efficient and reliable than ever before. But it won’t be enough
THIS could be the start of something big. In the next few weeks, the UK government is expected to sign a deal to start building the country’s first new nuclear reactors for 25 years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian President Called as Witness in State-Mafia Trial
(AGI) Palermo, Oct 17 — A Palermo court has allowed the public prosecutor to call Italian President Giorgio Napolitano as a witness in the State-Mafia trial, which investigates allegations that representatives of the state made secret deals with the Mafia in the early 1990s. The prosecutor wants to hear the president about talks that have taken place between Nicola Mancino, president of the Italian Senate from 1996 to 2001, and former presidential advisor Loris D’Ambrosio.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Major Prison Programme Underway, Says Justice Minister
(AGI) Rome, Oct 16 — Justice Minister Annamaria Cancellieri, speaking about prison overcrowding at Question Time in parliament, said: “By the end of this year, 2,500 new prison places will be available, which will rise to about 4,400 in the first half of 2014 and about 10,000 at the completion of the Prisons Plan, in the second half of 2015.” ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prison Pardon Would be Absurdity, Says Mayor of Florence
(AGI) Florence, Oct 16 — Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the new premises of the city’s Oblate Library, commented: “An amnesty and pardon measure, seven years after that of 2006, has a negative educational impact. This does not mean that we should not invest in prisons, or reflect on alternative measures, but if we again release prisoners because the jails are full we should ask ourselves a question: either we change the laws or we build new prisons”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Letta Will Have to Go After EU Elections, Says Grillo
(AGI) Rome, Oct 16 — Beppe Grillo wrote on Twitter, anticipating his new blog on Wednesday: “If the people of Europe are absolutely fed up and want a better Europe, people like Letta should pack their bags immediately after the European elections.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Might Contact Germany Over Problem of Ex-Nazi Burial
(AGI) Rome, Oct 16 — The body of former Waffen SS Captain Erich Priebke was moved to the military base of Pratica di Mare after his funeral was cancelled due to protests and clashes between demonstrators and far-right supporters. The transfer from Albano Laziale, near Rome, was overseen by Roman prefect Giuseppe Pecoraro, who had over-ridden the refusal by Albano’s mayor to allow the funeral. “The government has followed this issue very closely and is speaking with the prefect, and I can’t exclude that it is contacting Germany’s ambassador,” said Rome’s Mayor Ignazio Marino. “I said no to a solemn funeral from the start. I side with Albano’s mayor, who opposed the funeral. A public or solemn ceremony in church was something to be avoided and I believe the Church itself held this view,” he said. The unmarked van which moved the body to Pratica di Mare, escorted by police, was targeted by protesters as it left the church, who threw rocks and kicked it. A paper bomb was also reportedly thrown. Police charged the crowd to disperse the protests, and arrested two far-right militants. The president of the Jewish community in Rome, Riccardo Pacifici, said: “When we know all the details, we’ll find out that someone was betrayed by a braggart who guaranteed something he could not guarantee.” He was referring to Priebke’s lawyer Paolo Giachini, who had promised a private and intimate ceremony free of political tensions. “He oversaw the remains as if they belonged to him, while he was merely the deceased’s legal guardian whose power of attorney expired automatically upon his death,” Mr Pacifici said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Far-Right Group to Sue Over Priebke Funeral Clashes
Rome, 16 Oct.(AKI) — An extreme-right Italian group has announced legal action against protesters at Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke’s funeral outside Rome, which was halted on Tuesday as they clashed violently with neo-Nazis.
“Priests were attacked, nuns threatened and stones were hurled in [televised] images that shocked millions of Italians,” the far-right Forza Nuova group’s national secretary Roberto Fiore said in a statement on Wednesday.
Authorities stopped Priebke’s funeral on Tuesday at the chapel of a renegade Catholic splinter group, after anti-fascist protesters clashed with neo-Nazis at the funeral and the hearse carrying his coffin was attacked.
Fiore alleged that “activists from Rome’s Jewish community and several leftist extremists sought to desecrate the coffin and prevent the funeral”.
“Such a clearly incivil and blatantly anti-Christian act is unprecedented, even in wartime,” he stated.
Priebke, a practising Catholic, died in Rome last week under house arrest, aged 100, and has since been at the centre of a furore in Italy and elsewhere.
A Nazi SS captain who was convicted over the 1944 killings of 335 men and boys including 75 Jews — Italy’s worst World War II atrocity — Priebke never repented the crime.
The Vatican issued an unprecedented ban on holding his funeral in any Catholic church in Rome and the city’s mayor Ignazio Marino refused to allow his burial in the capital amid fears his grave would become a shrine for Nazi sympathisers.
Priebke’s body was on Wednesday taken to a military airport outside Rome and Italian officials said contacts had been made with Germany, amid reports that he could be flown there.
Earlier this week, authorities in Priebke’s hometown of Henningsdorf, 22 kilometres northwest of Berlin, ruled out his burial there, as had been suggested by the leader of the Jewish community in Rome, Riccardo Pacifici.
Argentina, where Priebke lived for almost 50 years after the war, refused to take his body, cementing his status as an international pariah.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy ‘Should Have Told EU in Advance’ About Alitalia Plan
BA has complained package amounts to State aid
(ANSA) — Brussels, October 16 — Italy should have given the European Union advance notice of the rescue package it orchestrated for Alitalia to ensure it was compatible with European law, the European Commission said Wednesday. “When there are doubts about the nature of the transaction, that is, whether it is State aid or not, the member states would be wise to notify Brussels,” said a spokesman for Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
EU anti-trust authorities expected a notification from Italy on decisions about increasing capital in Alitalia, the spokesman added.
“All States are obliged to notify the Commission when it comes to state aid,” the spokesman said.
On Monday, shareholders in the troubled carrier unanimously approved an emergency 300-million-euro capital hike to save the airline from bankruptcy. That triggered immediate outrage from the parent company of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, the International Airlines Group, which quickly called on the European Commission to intervene, saying the package amounted to State aid and broke EU law.
The capital increase is part of a government-led 500-million-euro rescue package, which also includes 200 million euros in loans, approved by the board last Friday, when the carrier was in danger of defaulting on its big debts within days.
The state-owned post office, Poste Italiane, will buy up to 75 million euros in any unsubscribed shares in the capital increase. Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit will guarantee to take a stake worth up to 100 million euros.
The airline’s biggest shareholder, France-KLM, backed the capital increase but it is not yet certain whether it will take part in it. The French-Dutch airline owns a 25% stake.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Poland: Imam Blames ‘Arson Attack’ On Halal Slaughter Row
A Polish imam has claimed an alleged arson attack on a mosque was ‘revenge’ for the Chief Mufti of Poland’s pledge to continue the banned practice of halal slaughter.
A fire began at the mosque in Gdansk, northern Poland, at about 4.40 am local time on Wednesday, damaging doors and parts of the elevation. The incident coincided with the holiday of Eid-al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, one of the two most important religious observances for Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Public Masturbation Not a Crime: Swedish Court
A man who openly masturbated on a Stockholm beach has been acquitted of sexual assault in court after it was ruled he was not targeting a specific person.
The incident occurred on June 6th at the Drevviken beach when the man removed his shorts and began masturbating close to the water. He was subsequently charged with sexual assault.
The Södertörn District Court has now acquitted the 65-year old in a judgement which stated that it “may be proven that the man exposed himself and masturbated on this occasion”.
However, the court added that no offence had been committed as the masturbating man was not pleasuring himself towards a specific person.
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Sweden: Uppsala Unearths Pagan Road of Old Kings
Archaeologists digging in old Uppsala have discovered what appears to be a remarkable display of power of a fifth century Swedish chieftain. Massive posts marked the ancient road in perfect alignment for more than a kilometre.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Stockholm City Bans Masks at Big Sports Arenas
The city of Stockholm is instituting a ban on wearing masks to three big stadiums in order to discourage violence among sports fans.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lee Beaumont does everything in his Leeds home with bottled water — washing, cleaning and even flushing the toilet for less than the cost of his previous monthly bill.
A money saving expert has had his mains water supply shut off after realising it was cheaper if he used mineral water instead.
Lee Beaumont does everything in his Leeds home with bottled water — washing, cleaning and even flushing the toilet for less than the cost of his previous monthly bill.
The 25-year-old’s brave decision came after Yorkshire Water asked him for a £14 per month standing charge, and so instead of paying up he asked them to cut off his supply.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Terrorists Attack Two National Guard Barracks
On border with Algeria
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — Two Tunisian National Guard barracks on the border with Algeria were attacked on Wednesday evening by terrorist groups. The two paramilitary barracks are part of an advanced border monitoring system whose activities had been bolstered recently after armed Islamic groups carried out actions along the border. There have been no reports of casualties among the guards. The first barracks to come under attack was one in Faj Hassine along the northern border with Algeria. The attackers were immediately pushed back and withdrew. A few hours later a group of terrorists attacked the El Mella barracks in the Jendouba governorate, which is located in a forested area. A shootout ensued for over twenty minutes and ended only after support units for the National Guard were brought by helicopter. The areas where the attacks were carried out are considered some of the most sensitive ones in the anti-terrorism system set up between Tunisia and Algeria, which for weeks have been working together in border sweep-up operations along the border.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Blows Israel’s Cover for Iranian Spy Ring
The Turkish-Israeli relationship became so poisonous early last year that the Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to have disclosed to Iranian intelligence the identities of up to 10 Iranians who had been meeting inside Turkey with their Mossad case officers.
Knowledgeable sources describe the Turkish action as a “significant” loss of intelligence and “an effort to slap the Israelis.” The incident, disclosed here for the first time, illustrates the bitter, multi-dimensional spy wars that lie behind the current negotiations between Iran and Western nations over a deal to limit the Iranian nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New and More Virulent Strain of HIV is Spreading Rapidly Through Russia, Claim Scientists
Russian scientists believe they have identified a new and more virulent strain of HIV.
The subtype, known as 02_AG/A, is spreading rapidly and is now thought to account for more than 50 per cent of new HIV infections in Siberia.
The virus was first seen in the city of Novosibirsk in 2006 and is thought to be the most virulent subtype of the virus in Russia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia to Test New Missile Designed to Thwart U.S. Defenses
Russia will test launch a controversial missile over the next several weeks that U.S. officials say is raising new concerns about Moscow’s growing strategic nuclear arsenal and Russia’s potential violations of arms treaties.
The RS-26 missile is expected to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Europe, U.S. officials told Inside the Ring.
A House defense aide said the new missile appears to violate the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, based on recent tests and Russian statements that it is designed to thwart U.S. defenses. The treaty bans missiles with ranges of between 310 and 3,400 miles.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Snowden Says in Interview He Took No Secret Files to Russia
Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, said in an extensive interview with The New York Times this month that he did not take any secret N.S.A. documents with him to Russia when he fled there in June, assuring that Russian intelligence officials could not get access to them.
He also asserted that he was able to protect the documents from China’s spies because he was familiar with that nation’s intelligence abilities, saying that as an N.S.A. contractor he had targeted Chinese operations and had taught a course on Chinese cybercounterintelligence.
“There’s a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,” he said.
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Indonesia: East Jakarta: Extremists Threaten Catholics. Parish Priest Defends Religious Freedom
The parish of Kalvari , in Cipayung , is being targeted in a campaign against the local Catholic community . Banners and signs with threatening slogans appear near the mosque. A parishoner: years of harmony and coexistence at risk. New attacks ( verbal ) also against the church of St. Bernadette .
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — The appearance of a banner with a threatening slogan written on purpose to inflame sentiments, threatens to scupper years of peaceful coexistence and good relations between Muslims and Christians. This is what is happening in the parish of Kalvari , in Cipayung , the urban area of East Jakarta , a recently formed centre for Catholics who had been able to worship for several years without incident or tension. The local community does not intend to give in to these threats and, while wanting to avoid confrontation with the wing extremist, is by no means willing to remain helpless and passive. The issue could end up in court, as a result of a possible legal action brought by the parish priest “ in defense of religious freedom.”
The banner (pictured) , posted on a road leading to the main entrance of the Jami Ul Umar mosque, says that “ the community of Cipayung rejects the possibility of a church , built illegally in the area, and calls on local government to resolve the situation as soon as possible”. A very thinly veiled threat which puts a strain on the “harmony” and cohabitation of recent years. So far there have been no official claims of responsibility and no information about the authors.
A source for AsiaNews , on condition of anonymity , reports that the presence of such a banner constitutes a provocation , which could “undermine harmony” that so far has reigned between the two communities . The parish priest Fr . Martin Hadiwijava Pr — an expert in martial arts and engaged for some time in dialogue and peaceful coexistence with Muslims — says that such provocations can not be tolerated because they may open the door to a real campaign of persecution by extremist groups. He invites all to “defend the fundamental rights” guaranteed by the Constitution and announces the use of legal action against anyone spreading sectarian violence .
Meanwhile, banners and other posters, the work of as yet unidentified fundamentalists, appeared in Ciledug , in the regency of Tangerang ( Banten province ), where a few weeks ago the local lunatic fringe challenged the creation of the parish church of St. Bernadette . Catholics have obtained building permits, including the infamous IMB , but this was not enough to appease the Islamist faction that continues to launch threats and warnings.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world and, while guaranteeing the constitutional principles of religious freedom, it is more and more often the scene of attacks and violence against minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or of other faiths. In the province of Aceh — the only one in the Archipelago — the Islamic law (sharia) applies and in many other areas the influence of the Muslim religion in the lives of citizens is becoming more radical and extreme. In addition, certain rules such as the building permit — the infamous IMB — are exploited to prevent the building or close Christian places of worship, as is the case for some time in Bogor regency, West Java, for the faithful of the Yasmin Church ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Mall Attackers Prayed, Talked on Cell Phone Between Shootings
Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) — As they strolled through Westgate Mall, guns strapped to their torsos, the attackers chatted on their cell phones while they sprayed bullets at terrified shoppers.
Ruthless and nonchalant, they randomly gunned down shoppers at the upscale mall in the Kenyan capital.
At one point, they took turns to pray, removing shoes to perform the ritual washing in a room stacked with boxes. They bowed down in Islamic prayer, taking a break from incessant gunfire.
[It is quite evident that even one person with two b@lls and a 1911 could have stopped this dead. Walk heavy and watch your six. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Mall CCTV Shows Terrorist Executing Victims
[WARNING: *Disturbing Content.*]
Surveillance video of a shop in the Westgate Mall obtained exclusively by CNN shows the moment terrified men, women and children run for the lives from the attackers.
Chilling footage has emerged of the moment a terrorist mercilessly gunned down a shopper in last month’s bloody attack at a Kenyan shopping mall.
Surveillance video obtained exclusively by CNN from a supermarket in the Westgate shopping centre shows the moment terrified men, women and children ran for their lives from the attackers.
One man cowers in front of a cashier desk, but he is immediately spotted by one of the terrorists who shoots him at close-range and walks away.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cuban Press Makes Moves to Open Up, But Crackdowns on Journalists Continue
Castro government officials announce major policies for media but dissidents remain unconvinced
The headlines in the official Cuban press continue to trumpet the good news of Cuba’s economy, but the Communist government’s new public policy is now allowing some room for criticism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria: ‘Government Panics Over Refugees’
Sega, 17 October 2013
Bulgarian authorities are preparing “a series of emergency measures in response to the growing refugee crisis,” reports Sega.
According to the daily, the Ministry of Interior is to receive an additional 27 million leva (€13.5m), of which 5 million will be for construction of a 30km long wall on the border with Turkey close to Elhovo.
Sega points out that 6,503 refugees, many of them Syrians, have arrived in the country in recent months. A further 10,000 to 20,000 refugees are expected in the coming months.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria to Curb Syrian Influx With Border Fence
A Syrian boy carries blankets during a food, clothes and blankets distribution by Bulgarian Red Cross volunteers at a refugee center in Sofia on October 3, 2013
A Syrian woman holds her baby as she waits to receive food, clothes and blankets from the Bulgarian Red Cross at a refugee center in Sofia on October 3, 2013
AFP — Bulgaria said Wednesday it plans to build a fence on its southeastern border with Turkey to limit the number of illegal Syrian immigrants entering the country and creating a refugee crisis.
Deputy Interior Minister Vasil Marinov said the ministry had proposed building a 30 kilometre (19 mile) long, three metre (10 feet) tall barrier in the mountainous region of Elhovo.
“Nearly 85 percent of the illegal border trespassers from Turkey pass through Elhovo,” he told journalists, adding that this was the most difficult section of the 259 kilometre border with Turkey to control.
The building of the fence will cost about five million leva (2.6 million euros, $3.4 million), he said, without providing a timeline for its completion.
Bulgaria has been overwhelmed by an influx of illegal immigrants overflowing from neighbouring Turkey, the first port of call for many fleeing war-torn Syria.
Over 6,800 foreigners — 70 percent of them Syrian — have entered Bulgaria illegally since the beginning of this year, border police data has shown, while lengthy procedures have kept most immigrants inside crammed reception centres.
So far, the country’s severely understaffed refugee agency has only granted refugee status to 17 people while another 965 have received humanitarian status that allows them to leave the shelters but not the country.
Faced with a humanitarian crisis, the European Union’s poorest member has kept opening new shelters and promised to speed up the procedures. It has also demanded financial aid from the bloc and several international organisations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: 77 Syrians Arrived on Rodhes Island
Two Turkish citizen arrested for smuggling of humans
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 17 — Two Turkish citizen were arrested today for illegally transferring 77 Syrian immigrants on a luxurious sailboat from the Turkish coast and disembarking them at the beach of Charaki on the Greek island of Rhodes, in the eastern Aegean Sea. As GreekReporter writes, the Turkish smugglers tried to return to their country but officials from the Central Port Authority of Rhodes arrested them. The vessel was confiscated, while the two traffickers, aged 30 and 32 years, were led to the Prosecutor’s Office. The 77 Syrian immigrants were transferred to Rhodes Hospital, where they were subjected to the necessary tests, while six people were provided first aid. Those six included two pregnant women, an old woman who lost consciousness, and a man with a broken leg.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Record Number of Asylum Seekers
There are more asylum seekers arriving in Sweden now than in the beginning of the 1990s during the Balkan wars, according to Mats Johansson who works for the Migration Board in Norrköping. Swedish Radio P4 reports that the number of temporary housing for asylum seekers may run out by the end of the year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Warship Comes to Rescue of Migrants Off Malta
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The American warship where an al-Qaida suspect was interrogated after being snatched from Libya by U.S. special forces has come to the rescue of 120 Somali migrants.
A statement Thursday from the Maltese army says it asked the USS San Antonio to intervene Wednesday because it was close to the migrants’ dinghy. The Somalis were having trouble in rough seas and high winds some 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Malta and were taken to the Mediterranean island.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
10-Year-Old NASA Space Telescope Now Spying on Alien Planets
Designed when the number of confirmed exoplanets could be counted on two hands, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has become a strong observer of these distant bodies, thanks to engineering forethought and ingenuity.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Biggest Star Ever Found is Ripping Apart
The largest star ever discovered may give scientists a better sense of how massive, dying stars seed the universe with the ingredients for rocky planets and even life.
W26 is about 1,500 times wider than the sun, making it the biggest known star in the universe. The red supergiant star is nearing the end of its life and will eventually explode as a supernova, researchers said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Universal Law of Urination Found in Mammals
You’ll never look at Dumbo in the same way again. Elephants, cows, goats and dogs all take roughly 21 seconds to empty their bladders. A “law of urination” now explains the physics behind what happens when you just gotta go.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |