243 illegal immigrants landed at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, causing an accommodations crisis. The town’s holding facility was already overcrowded with nearly 500 migrants, so the new arrivals are being held in a gym.
In other news, Turkish police preemptively arrested 35 young people in Izmir because they were suspected of being potential demonstrators during a visit by President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an economic congress.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Kitman, 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.
Fed Maintains Pace of Stimulus; Economic Outlook is Stable
The Federal Reserve, still uncertain that the American economy can grow unaided, announced Wednesday it will press ahead with its stimulus campaign of asset purchases and low interest rates.
The statement contained no surprises, and the stock market barely budged. The Fed was widely expected to continue adding $85 billion a month to its portfolio of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities, particularly in the aftermath of the disruptive partial shutdown of the federal government in the first half of October.
The Fed maintained a relatively optimistic economic outlook in the statement, released after a scheduled two-day meeting of its policy-making committee. It said the economy continued to expand “at a moderate pace” and that the availability of jobs continued to improve.
| [Return to headlines] |
Greek President Says Citizens Have ‘Given All They Can’
Papoulias refuses ‘blackmail’, troika mission to resume Monday
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 29 — As another Athens mission by EU-ECB-IMF troika was about to begin for the monitoring of the Greek economic recovery process, President Karolos Papoulias told the country’s international creditors that “the Greek population cannot give any more and will not give in to any blackmail”. The reference was to concerns that troika officials — due to arrive in Athens on Monday — are almost certainly going to call for further wage and pension cuts. The request to the government led by conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras will be to make up for the two billion euros the European technical experts have calculated will be needed for the 2014 budget. The head of state spoke from Salonika, where on Monday he took part in a military parade to commemorate the October 28, 1940, anniversary of when Greece rejected Mussolini’s ultimatum to allow Italian troops to deploy in its territory — thereby drawing it into WWII against the Axis Powers. Papoulias said that Greece’s move “was the first anti-fascist victory that awakened a Europe resting on the laurels of the 1938 Munich Accords. Greece has always been in the front line for freedom and human rights. Contemporary Europe must not forget this. Greeks gave their blood and whatever they could (in 1940) and today have given what they could to overcome the crisis. This must be appreciated by Europe. They should not think that we may yield to blackmail”.
The lack of funds for the budget (which Greeks say totals ‘only’ 500 million euros), is the thorniest issue of the latest round of talks scheduled to begin on November 4. The troika supports the view that the two billion euros must be covered by bringing in further austerity measures, while Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras has said that the 500 million calculated by his ministry’s experts could be found through public spending cuts. Local observers say that the Greek government and the troika are likely to come to blows over other unresolved issues as well, including the financial recovery of companies in which the state holds a stake, such as EAS (defence systems), ELVO (cars) and LARKO (mining and engineering sector); the putting of 12,500 state employees on a mobility scheme as part of controversial public administration reform and the problem of a deficit suffered by social security bodies due to reduced revenues caused by constantly rising employment levels.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Poverty Levels ‘Double’ As Recession Drags on
Istat says 4.8 million live in extreme hardship
(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) — Rome, October 29 — Statistics agency Istat reported Tuesday that Italy’s poverty levels had almost doubled since the start of the economic crisis and dashed hopes that the country might have already emerged from its current recession.
The national statistics agency said there were 2.4 million Italians living in poverty in 2007, compared to 4.8 million last year. Istat said almost half of the people living in poverty, 2.3 million, were in southern Italy and over one million of them were minors.
It said that 65% of Italian households had cut spending.
The agency added that Italy is set to post negative growth again for the third quarter. Some experts had said Italy might pull out of the recession, which it entered in the second half of 2011, in the July-September period.
But the agency said the country is set to post its ninth consecutive quarter of negative growth, while stressing that forecasts that it will pull out of its longest recession in over two decades by the end of the year should be proved right. Istat said that there will be a drop in gross domestic product “in the third quarter, albeit a limited one, followed by a weak positive variation (in the fourth quarter)”.
Therefore, it added, “the period of recession that started in the second half of 2011” should end in the final part of this year.
The national statistics agency forecast Italy’s GDP will fall 1.8% this year overall, just above the government’s forecast of 1.7%.
After a decade of sluggish growth Italy slipped into the second part of a double-dip recession in the third quarter of 2011.
Austerity policies adopted after the emergency government of ex-premier Mario Monti was sworn in late in 2011 prevented Italy suffering a Greek-style financial meltdown, but they also deepened the recession.
Unemployment has reached a record high of 12.2% and over four in 10 under-25 are jobless.
There have also been reports of an increase in the number of Italians who need to use soup kitchens.
The social consequences of the recession were confirmed by a separate report Tuesday by saving banks association ACRI. The ACRI survey, conducted by pollster Ipsos, said that 30% of households were directly hit by the crisis, an increase from the 26% reporting problems in a similar survey in 2012. It said one in five families reported a member losing employment, while 15% said conditions at work had worsened — an increase from the 9% facing similar problems in 2012. This year, 3% said they had not been paid on a regular basis and 4% were forced to look for new jobs, the survey said.
The categories of workers reporting the greatest difficulty this year have included professionals, executives, and managers, with 24% saying conditions have deteriorated. Pensioners have been hit hard by the crisis, with as many as 68% of those surveyed reporting financial difficulties, up from 65% in 2012.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Stability the Key to Lower Bond Rates, Economy Minister Says
Political continuity will guarantee market trust says Saccomanni
(ANSA) — Rome, October 29 — The government must keep an even keel in order to bring bond interest rates down, Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni told the Upper and Lower House budget committees on Tuesday.
“Political stability is crucial to ensuring government policy continuity and to sustaining market trust”, Saccomanni told MPs. Saccomanni denied claims that new property taxes would be higher than old ones and said calls for bigger cuts in labour taxes should be backed by details on how to fund them.
Spending cuts were a possible source of revenue to cover growth-stoking payroll taxes, as were asset sales and tougher efforts against tax evasion, he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
When the Fed Tightens, Bad Stuff Happens
BNP’s Paul Mortimer-Lee knocks it out of the park today with not one, not two, but pretty much all quotes in his latest note, “The Fed and QE: Hotel California?” A random sampling thereof (full note shortly).
– — – From BNP:
— History tells us that when the Fed tightens, bad stuff happens. The bond sell-off this summer on the mere announcement of QE ‘tapering’ is a case in point. — Bonds will suffer when actual ‘tapering’ is announced. When it starts, we are likely to trade through the previous high for yields. — Equities may look fairly immune at first, but as QE buying fades and eventually stops, take care. Any equity sell-off will have a knock-on effect on bonds and the economy. — How large the effect on the markets will be will depend on how much the markets rally while QE is ‘on’. The bigger the rally, the worse the sell-off will be.
Our overall assessment is that when the Fed decides to ‘taper’, there will be an adverse effect on markets.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Chip in the Head: Brain Implants Will be Connecting People to the Internet by the Year 2020
Would you like to surf the Internet, make a phone call or send a text message using only your brain? Would you like to “download” the content of a 500 page book into your memory in less than a second? Would you like to have extremely advanced nanobots constantly crawling around in your body monitoring it for disease? Would you like to be able to instantly access the collective knowledge base of humanity wherever you are?
All of that may sound like science fiction, but these are technologies that some of the most powerful high tech firms in the world actually believe are achievable by the year 2020. However, with all of the potential “benefits” that such technology could bring, there is also the potential for great tyranny. Just think about it. What do you think that the governments of the world could do if almost everyone had a mind reading brain implant that was connected to the Internet? Could those implants be used to control and manipulate us? Those are frightening things to consider.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The degree of betrayal found in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is finally coming to the surface… and it’s intense. As a top Democrat admitted today, the Democrats knew all along that Obamacare would cause millions to lose health care coverage. Yet they continued to promote it with premeditated lies such as, “You can keep your current health plan if you like it” and “your health insurance costs will be lower than a phone bill.”
“We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would [lose their existing coverage],” said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer in a NationalReview.com article.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Common Core: Indoctrinating Fourth Graders About ‘White Privilege’
Kyle Olson of EAGnews, an education reform non-profit based in Muskegon, recently published a video exposing the content of the curriculum that will be used by fourth grade teachers for the Common Core national standards in English. Olson takes issue with the use of a children’s book called “The Jacket.”
This is a fun little book about racism and white privilege — a left-wing concept that teaches students the values of an American society are actually designed to benefit white people.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
D.C. Businessman Faces Two Years in Jail for Unregistered Ammunition, Brass Casing
Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.
The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek’s Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search warrant for “firearms and ammunition … gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts.”
Mr. Witaschek’s 14-year-old daughter let inside some 30 armed officers in full tactical gear.
D.C. law requires residents to register every firearm with the police, and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition, which includes spent shells and casings. The maximum penalty for violating these laws is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Police based their search on a charge made by Mr. Witaschek’s estranged wife, who had earlier convinced a court clerk to issue a temporary restraining order against her husband for threatening her with a gun, although a judge later found the charge to be without merit.
After entering the house, the police immediately went upstairs, pointed guns at the heads of Mr. Witaschek and his girlfriend, Bonnie Harris, and demanded they surrender, facedown and be handcuffed.
In recalling what followed, Mr. Witaschek became visibly emotional in describing how the police treated him, Ms. Harris and the four children in the house.
His 16-year-old son was in the shower when the police arrived. “They used a battering ram to bash down the bathroom door and pull him out of the shower, naked,” said his father. “The police put all the children together in a room, while we were handcuffed upstairs. I could hear them crying, not knowing what was happening.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dark Matter No-Show Puts WIMPs in a Bind
Despite tantalising early hints of a sighting, the most sensitive search yet for dark matter has come up empty. First results from the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) detector in South Dakota, announced today, failed to confirm previous potential sightings reported by other detectors. That may spell trouble for elegant recent theories of a shadow universe where myriad particles interact via their own dark forces.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Orders New Agents to See Martin Luther King Memorial
(Reuters) — The new FBI chief on Monday ordered all new agents and analysts to visit the national memorial to late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as a reminder not to repeat the abuses of the U.S. investigative bureau’s past.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FCC Prepares Fairness Doctrine for the Internet
Government and Obama administration attempt to squelch political speech of their ideological enemies
The Federal Communications Commission will facilitate the government’s prospective sovietization of private sector media with its “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,” a survey planned for a field test roll-out in 2014, according to a story posted on The Daily Caller today.
The FCC will “collect a remarkably wide range of information on demographics, point of view, news topic selection, management style and other factors in news organizations both in and out of the FCC’s traditional purview,” writes Tim Cavanaugh. “The airwaves regulator would also subject news producers in all media to invasive questioning about their work and content,” a move on a collision course with the First Amendment.
A document prepared by Social Solutions International enumerates the highly intrusive nature of the proposed questioning, including grilling station owners on their political philosophies and asking reporters if proposed stories were rejected by management.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Inside the Messy But Moneyed Republican Plan to Neutralize the Tea Party
The business-friendly GOP establishment is putting its cash to work in skirmishes across the country that might reshape the 2014 elections.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
L.A. Fights Plague of Garbage in Central City Neighborhoods
Focusing on Westlake and Pico-Union, a $1-million effort tries to clean up the wrappers, fliers and discarded furniture littering the streets — and the attitudes of people who dump.
Fernandez, a Guatemalan immigrant, said there is more to worry about than trash piles. There was the time someone set fire to the abandoned furniture outside his window and the flames almost reached his apartment. And not too long ago there was a bedbug infestation in his building. Many residents had to toss their furniture. It ended up, as usual, on the curb.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Last Remaining Lead Smelter in the USA Closing After 120 Years
Suddenly the US Army’s obsession with lead-free ammunition makes perfect sense, it was about security not the environment. A reader writes …
The last remaining lead smelter, in Herculaneum MO, is closing down. This will undoubtedly affect the price of lead, since the lead that is mined in Viburnum MO will now be sent out of the US for smelting.
Missouri’s Lead Belt has been the primary source of lead for the US since 1700.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Infiltrates Links to Yahoo, Google Data Centers Worldwide, Snowden Documents Say
The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.
By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from among hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. The NSA does not keep everything it collects, but it keeps a lot.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare Contains Racial Preferences and Discrimination
Obamacare contains many racial preferences. But that fact has drawn remarkably little attention, even though the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concluded back in 2009 that the healthcare bill was racially discriminatory, in two ways.
First, Obamacare is filled with “sections that factor in race when awarding billions in contracts, scholarships and grants” and give “preferential treatment to minority students for scholarships.”
Second, as an African-American member of the Commission noted, it “creates separate and unequal operating standards for long-term care facilities that serve racial and ethnic minorities.”
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare Could be Ruled Illegal in 36 States, Federal Judge Allows Lawsuit to Move Forward
(NaturalNews) Supporters of Obamacare, including the president himself, say that once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law’s individual mandate wasn’t a mandate at all, but a tax, and therefore lawful under the Constitution, that was the end of it.
The Affordable Care Act indeed survived its legal challenge, despite Chief Justice John Robert’s bit of creative writing to make the law “constitutional.” But that doesn’t mean it is a matter of settled law.
At least, that’s the way one federal judge sees it. As reported by Britain’s Daily Mail:
The Affordable Care Act forbids the federal government from enforcing the law in any state that opted out of setting up its own health care exchange, according to a group of small businesses whose lawsuit got a key hearing Monday in federal court.
The Obama administration, according to their lawsuit, has ignored that language in the law, enforcing all of its provisions even in states where the federal government is operating the insurance marketplaces on the error-plagued Healthcare.gov website.
Oops! Guess Obama and his minions didn’t quite think of everything
Though a number of states went ahead and set up state-run insurance exchanges under the law, 36 did not. And as such, under the letter of Obamacare, the law’s provisions don’t apply there. At least, that’s what the group of small businesses — and a federal court — are saying.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse May be Visible From Eastern US Sunday
The moon will blot out the sun Sunday (Nov. 3) in an eclipse that will be visible from eastern North America to the Middle East. Sunday’s celestial event is a relatively rare occurrence known as a hybrid solar eclipse. It will begin as an annular or “ring of fire” eclipse along the path of totality, then shift to a total eclipse as the moon’s shadow sweeps across our planet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Riot Control: DHS Spends $500,000 on Fully Automatic Pepper Spray Launchers
Homeland Security to purchase “riot expansion kits” & 240,000 pepper spray projectiles as agency prepares for domestic unrest
The Department of Homeland Security is increasing its preparations for domestic unrest by spending half a million dollars on fully automatic pepper spray launchers and projectiles that are designed to be used during riot control situations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sebelius: ObamaCare to Bring ‘Western Civilization to Its Knees’
Failing to get a straight answer, Stewart pointed out that businesses are basing hiring decisions now based on ObamaCare’s expensive regulatory straightjacket. He noted that businesses are cutting worker hours to exploit a loophole in the law, but Sebelius denied it.
Then in a moment of intended sarcasm that was really one of unintentional honesty, the U.S. secretary of health and human services said, “As you know, we’re facing the end of the Western Civilization by having a market-based strategy. We are bringing Western Civilization to its knees by selling private insurance plans on a website where people can pick and choose.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shoppers Submit to Naked Body Scans to Enter Candy Store
A prank set up by a comedian and a film crew in which shoppers were told that they would have to undergo a full body scan in order to enter a candy store shockingly illustrates how a majority of Americans will willingly submit to draconian invasions of their privacy with barely a thought for the consequences.
The prank, which took place in San Luis Obispo, California, utilized a real mobile body scanner as well as a model who acted as a plant by being scanned repeatedly. A man with a hand wand played the authority figure who assured shoppers that the body scan was necessary for their “security” and to detect weapons.
While the video shows numerous passers-by objecting to the idea of body scanning to enter a candy store, the makers of the short film made it clear that the majority of people stood in line and were perfectly happy to be scanned.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We Told You it Wasn’t Free: “I Was All for ObamaCare Until I Found Out I Was Paying for it”
It seems that more and more democrats and supporters of President Barack Obama are coming out of the woodwork about their confusion.
Originally sold to a desperate American public as free health care for everyone who wanted it, the Affordable Care Act has now been revealed for what it really is: a government mandated tax on every single working American in the country.
And this has left many who thought universal health care would be the solution to their problems completely bewildered.
Apparently, they weren’t listening when tens of millions of opponents of Obamacare were warning them that it would, in fact, not be free at all.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White House Orders Insurance Companies Not to Criticize ObamaCare
Executives fear “retribution” if they speak out
The White House is ordering insurance companies not to criticize Obamacare and threatening “retribution” against executives who speak out, according to CNN reporter Drew Griffin.
During a segment on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 last night, Griffin revealed that insurance companies had been told to “keep quiet” about the fact that millions of Americans are being told that they cannot keep their existing policies, contradicting Barack Obama’s promise that, “If…you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan.”
“Basically, if you speak out, if you are quoted, you’re going to get a call from the White House, pressure to be quiet. Several sources tell me and my colleague Chris Frates that insurance executives are being told to keep quiet,” said Griffin, adding, “Sources (are) telling us they fear White House retribution.”
The fact that the White House is threatening private companies with undisclosed forms of “retribution” if they criticize government policy is a shocking display of authoritarianism that wouldn’t look out of place in countries like Communist China or Stalinist North Korea.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Air France-KLM Won’t Join Alitalia Rescue, Says Newspaper
Help for Italian carrier could come if liquidity crisis in 2014
(ANSA) — Paris, October 30 — The likelihood of Air France-KLM contributing to a 300-million-euro capital injection for troubled Alitalia is “almost nil,” according to reports in a French newspaper Wednesday.
Such an investment is not seen by the Air France-KLM group as being in its best interests, French business newspaper La Tribune said on its website, citing sources.
However, if the Italian carrier runs into another liquidity crisis next February or March, the Air France-KLM group could consider offering assistance, according to reports.
Air France-KLM now owns a 25% stake in Alitalia, but if it does not take part in the 300-million-euro capital increase, its stake in the Italian carrier will be diluted.
Earlier this month Alitalia shareholders approved an emergency 300-million-euro capital hike to pull the airline from the brink of bankruptcy.
The State-owned post office, Poste Italiane, pledged to buy up to 75 million euros in any unsubscribed shares in the capital increase. Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit also said they would take a stake worth up to 100 million euros.
The capital boost is part of a government-engineered 500-million-euro rescue package, which also includes 200 million euros in loans.
The package has prompted International Airlines Group, parent company of British Airways, to urge the European Commission to intervene to suspend what it said was “flagrant State aid” — a charge the Italian government has denied.
The EC has asked for more information about the Alitalia aid package — particularly the involvement of Italy’s post office.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Amsterdam Says Dutch Santa’s Helper ‘Black Pete’ — Seen as Racist by Some — Can Visit the City
“Black Pete” is welcome in Amsterdam, despite opponents who say the helper of the Dutch version of Santa Claus is a racist caricature. Amsterdam municipality said Wednesday the traditional arrival of Sinterklaas and his helper Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, can go ahead Nov. 17, despite official complaints filed by 21 citizens alleging the event is racist.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Conspiracy Theorists Are the Greatest Challenge to Democracy … According to … Here’s Who …
British establishment mouthpiece BBC leads the way again. This time it is about the biggest threat to democracy today. No, it is not terrorists. No, it is not Islamism. And, no, it is not the Western-Installed Dictator Regimes around the world. No, no, no, no, no. The new enemy is the conspiracy theorists. It is those who question their governments. It is those who find facts and confront the mainstream lies and liars such as BBC. Basically, it is you … and me.
Allow me to wade through all the fillers and present you with a few telling excerpts from this BBC report:
“Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?”…
What are they really talking about? What are they really presenting? A few things.
1- Challenging official stories, no matter how the record and history proves them to be false or exaggerated, lowers trust in government and government officials. This is a threat to the establishment and their operations through states. Thus, this is a threat to democracy. That is, if you believe that the state, the government, represents democracy. It means government equals democracy, thus, you are challenging democracy every time you challenge your government and what your government is telling you.
2- These guys, these credible Cambridge professors, claim that openness, the internet, and greater information accessibility creates more conspiracies and conspiracy theorists.
3- Now, if you add item 2 to item 1, you get this: Openness and greater information accessibility leads to more conspiracies and increases the number of conspiracy theorists, and that my friend presents the greatest threat to our democracy today.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Islam Critic Refuses to Back Down Despite Rock-Throwing Incident
Ahmed Akkari is going to carry on with his speaking tour despite police arresting fifteen people and confiscating 209 maroons at his latest meeting in Aarhus yesterday
Islam critic and former imam Ahmed Akkari was escorted home by the police after a meeting in Gellerup Parken housing estate in Aarhus last night. Martin Kjær Jensen, a reporter for the tabloid BT, arrived with Akkari and said people began throwing rocks at them upon their arrival.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Pope’s Calls ‘Traced’ By NSA — Italian Weekly
Vatican communication was monitored, says Panorama
(ANSA) — Rome, October 30 — Benedict XVI’s calls may have been among those traced by US intelligence agency NSA, according to a report in Italian weekly Panorama. It said calls to and from the Vatican were among 46 million traced in Italy between December 10, 2012 and January 8, 2013. It said monitoring may have continued up to the conclave that elected Pope Francis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Denies Paying Ransom as Sahel Hostages Return
(Reuters) — Four Frenchmen held hostage in the Sahara desert by al Qaeda-linked gunmen for three years flew home and were reunited with their families on Wednesday, with Paris dismissing media reports it had paid a ransom for their release.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Liguria Assembly Speaker Quits in Graft Probe
‘Not one euro missing’ says Rosario Monteleone
(ANSA) — Genoa, October 29 — The speaker of the regional assembly of the northwestern Italian region of Liguria resigned Tuesday over allegations of embezzlement.
“I have been stabbed in the back. I am resigning to spare my family”, said Rosario Monteleone from the centrist UDC party.
“I have been pilloried in the press for days over two invoices, which I paid back with interest. There is not a single euro missing. I am sure this is all a huge misunderstanding”.
Elected in May 2010, Monteleone has been under the spotlight in the so-called “spese pazze” or “crazy spending” probe into alleged embezzlement of public party funds.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Seven Regions Exceed Recycling Goals, Says Report
Sardinia, Piedmont, Lombardy among leaders in reuse of waste
(ANSA) — Rome, October 30 — Seven Italian regions, most in the country’s north, exceeded recycling goals last year, in many cases confirming a trend that began in 2011, authorities said Wednesday.
The 50% differentiated trash goal was exceeded in Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Lombardy, Trentino and Veneto, continuing a pattern that began in 2011, according to the report by the Italian association of municipalities (ANCI) and recycling firm CONAI.
As well, the island of Sardinia and the region of Friuli in Italy’s northeast also exceeded the 50% standard.
On a national level, more than 25% of communities participated in collection of recyclable material, the report said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Whistleblowing Civil Servant Sacked Over Mosque Boarding House Leaks
A Rotterdam civil servant who leaked confidential information about fire safety at mosque-run boarding houses for children in the city has been sacked and faces legal action, the NRC reports on Wednesday.
The civil servant also secretly recorded conversations about the situation and sent them to various media, along with council documents, the city council claims.
The man has been sacked for ‘seriously failing in his duties’ and breaking the civil service code of conduct.
Job
The case has now come to light because the whistleblower refused to accept being sacked and given one year’s unemployment benefit. He wants to keep his job and says he will take the case to court, RTV Rijnmond reported.
Fire safety in mosque boarding houses hit the headlines last year when it emerged many broke the law on safety standards. In one case, dozens of girls were illegally living in an attic. It later emerged this was known to the authorities but nothing had been done.
Some parents send their children to mosque-run boarding houses because they are unable to care for them themselves or think their children will have a better start in life.
The government has since introduced tougher standards for mosque boarding houses and charged local councils with making sure they do not break the rules.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Norway World’s Most Prosperous Country
Norway has been ranked the world’s most prosperous country for the fifth year in a row by the Legatum Prosperity Index, increasing its lead on Switzerland in the number two position.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Moose Hunter Accidentally Shoots Man Sitting on Toilet
A moose hunter in Norway accidentally shot a man who was using the toilet. According to News.Sky.com, the rifleman was aiming for a moose, but his bullet pierced a wooden wall of a vacation home behind the animal and struck the man. The man, in his 70s, was rushed to the hospital by helicopter and his injury was not thought to be life-threatening.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Town Beams in Sun With Giant Mirrors
A town in Norway on Wednesday began to get winter sun for the first time in its 100-year history after it started beaming down the sun from giant mirrors erected on hills to its north.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Viking Graves Yield Grisly Find: Sacrificed Slaves
Viking graves in Norway contain a grisly tribute: slaves who were beheaded and buried along with their masters, new research suggests.
“We propose that the people buried in double and triple burials might have come from very different strata of society, and that slaves could have been offered as grave gifts in these burials,” study co-author Elise Naumann, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo in Norway, wrote in an email.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nuclear Divergence: UK’s New Reactor Spurs Debate in Germany
The UK’s decision to build a new nuclear power plant has thrown Germany’s vow to shut down its own nuclear plants into relief. Critics argue Germany’s decision was emotional, not practical — others disagree.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Exhibit on Light in Islamic Culture and Science
At Seville’s Hospital de los Venerables, until 9/2
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 29 — The Focus-Abengoa Foundation is holding the exhibition ‘Nur: Light in Art and Science from the Islamic World’ in its headquarters at Seville’s Hospital de los Venerables until February 9th. The exhibition spans more than ten centuries and including ancient artworks and objects from throughout the Islamic world, from which the name — ‘nur’, Arabic for both physical and metaphysical light — derives. Held in collaboration with the Dallas Museum of Art — where it will move afterwards, from March 30 to June 29 — the exhibition features 150 objects from public and private collections in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the United States, including London’s British Museum. The works are from between the IX century and the early XX century, encompassing manuscripts, jewels, surgical instruments, furniture, ceramics, gold inlaid metalwork, solar clocks, and astrolabes, all of which illustrative of the Islamic world’s influence on the Renaissance and scientific thought. The selection was made by curator Sabiha Al-Khemir, an international expert on Islamic art and former director of the Doha Museum (Qatar), as well as consultant to New York’s Metropolitan Museum and the Dallas Museum of Art.
“It is not a religious exhibition,” Al-Khemir told ANSAmed at the Tuesday presentation of the exhibition in Madrid. “Some 90% of the objects are non-religious in nature and involve daily life and couldn’t be shown in a mosque, despite the fact that they have a profound relationship with Islamic culture.” “The eleven centuries and 14 countries represented in ‘Nur’ illustrate not only the tradition of talent and artisanal work so abundant in the Islamic world, but also pure beauty resulting from Islamic culture and the contribution this civilisation made to the culture of all humanity,” added the exhibition’s scientific director. The exhibition helps to showcase Spain’s role as a bridge between the Islamic world and Europe, enabling access to Islamic discoveries in such fields as medicine, geometry and astronomy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Institute for Research Into Superdiversity (IRiS)
“The Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) works to advance and promote the University’s expertise in the emerging field of superdiversity. We are the first institute in the UK and one of the first globally, to focus on superdiversity.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Students Protest After Muslim Brotherhood Leader Arrested
Egyptian police fired tear gas at students protesting the Wednesday morning arrest of a key Muslim Brotherhood figure, who had been on the run since the July coup that ousted the country’s Islamist president. Students at al-Azhar university have been demonstrating for weeks in support of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted by the army in July after mass protests against his rule, Reuters reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Suicide Bomber Attacks Tourist Resort
(AGI) Tunis, Oct 30 — A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a hotel in Sousa, northwestern Tunisia, the third largest city in the country and a well-known tourist resort. The suicide bomber appeared to be a young man and no victims have been reported, said Al Jazeera TV.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
A Pax Sinica in the Middle East?
by David P. Goldman
“America’s interest in the Middle East diminishes day by day” as it heads towards energy self-sufficiency, wrote Zand, adding:
China’s interest in a peaceful Middle East is enormous, by contrast. Beijing is not only the biggest customer of precisely those oil powers who presently are fanning the flames of conflict in Syria; as a VIP customer, Beijing has growing political influence, which it should use openly. The word of the Chinese foreign minister has just as much weight in Tehran and Riyadh as that of his American counterpart.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: ‘Assad Enlists 15 North Korean Chopper Pilots’
Damascus, 29 Oct. (AKI) — Fifteen North Korean helicopter pilots have arrived in Syria amid fears that national airforce pilots could desert, acording to rebel sources cited by Arabic news website al-Durar.
The government of embattled authoritarian president Bashar al-Assad failed to confirm earlier reports that Syrian fighter jet pilots were deserting in neighbouring Jordan with their planes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Worst Part of the Arab Spring.the Arabs Themselves!
Old forms of government were much better, despite their corruption because they provided security and control from the Islamists, militants and gangs that trade in all vices.
On the popular side, it appeared that people misunderstand freedom and consider it just as an excuse to do whatever they wish without fear of the law or any repercussion. Many now carried weapons illegally, quarrels and murders increased, theft, sexual harassment ascended to unprecedented levels. Drug smuggling and kidnapping increased dramatically. Everyone took advantage of the weakness of the security situation adding to this was the fear of the police themselves to stand and face the people who became like a raging mob.
The result? A decline in economy, closure of many factories and tourism facilities. Prices increased rapidly with no control on the markets due to the greed of traders and producers. Unemployment rose significantly — worse than ever before.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: 35 ‘Potential’ Protestors Arrested in Izmir
In line with regulations introduced after Gezi Park uprising
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, OCTOBER 30 — In application of regulations brought in after massive anti-government protests in June, Turkish police arrested 35 youths Wednesday on suspicion of intending to protest during an economics congress attended by both President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports Hurriyet Online. The regulations introduced by the Erdogan government in July allow police to arrest and detain those considered potential protestors for 24 hours without requiring approval from a judge.
The 35 are members of the Young Turks Union (TGB), a ‘Kemalist’ organisation with links to the CHP, the main opposition party. They were arrested a few hundred metres from the hotel in which the Fifth Izmir Economics Congress is being held, shortly before the arrival of President Gul.
The new regulations have sparked protest from opposition parties, which call them typical of a “police state”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Forbes Says Putin More Powerful Than Barack Obama
Business bible says Russian leader frequently shows strength
(ANSA) — New York, October 30 — Russian President Vladimir Putin is more powerful than United States President Barack Obama, according to Forbes magazine.
In its 2013 list of the World’s Most Powerful People released Wednesday, Forbes said that it put Putin at the top of the list because “he so frequently shows his strength at home and on the global stage”.
Pope Francis was fourth on the list, after China’s Xi Jinping, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel was fifth and Italian Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, ranked ninth on the list of 72.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Oversees Massive Exercise of Russian Nuclear Forces
President Vladimir Putin oversaw a massive exercise of Russia’s nuclear forces Wednesday that involved multiple test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, a formidable demonstration of Russia’s resurgent military power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Explosion Rocks Daghestan Capital
(AGI) — Makhachkala (Russia), Oct 30 — An explosion has rocked Daghestan’s capital Makhachkala as reported by local police who specified that the cause of the blast was not yet known.
Government sources had previously reported that a bomb had been placed near the entrance to a shop selling alcoholics and wounded at least ten people.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
2 Czech Tourists Abducted by Gunmen in Pakistan in March Shown on Video to be Alive
A video of two Czech tourists who were abducted by gunmen as they were traveling on a bus through southwest Pakistan shows them both speaking and alive. The two women were on the road from Iran to Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province, when they were seized in March.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Troops Hand Farah Base to Afghans
‘Mission accomplished’ say military sources
(ANSA) — Rome, October 29 — Italian soldiers on Tuesday handed over a key base in the western Afghan Farah province to local troops.
Italian military sources said Rome’s mission there had been “accomplished”.
Some 800 soldiers are coming home as part of a drawdown agreed with NATO allies.
Italy put 4,100 troops in Afghanistan when it joined the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in 2004 and now has around 3,000 there.
It has lost 53 men, mostly to Taliban attacks.
Italy plans to leave 1,800 troops in Afghanistan by the first quarter of next year.
Rome will maintain a presence in Afghanistan after 2014 through a support mission, involving 59 countries, where it will assist with business training and other forms of support excluding law enforcement.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia: Distribution of Catholic Weekly in Sabah Stopped to See if it Used Banned Word ‘Allah’
Held up at Kota Kinabalu Airport, the Herald’s 2,000 copies are eventually released after the intervention of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and a Catholic politician. In doing this, the Home Ministry prevented the weekly from being distributed for Sunday Mass. Activists criticise the decision as a violation of religious freedom.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/EDA) — A controversial ruling by the Court of Appeal is now being felt. In view of the court’s decision banning the use of ‘Allah’ as the word for the Christian God, Malaysia’s Home Ministry seized, 2,000 copies of the Herald, at Kota Kinabalu Airport, Sabah State. The Catholic weekly is published by the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.
Ministry officials said that the court’s ruling meant that they have to verify pre-emptively whether the weekly complied with its order or used “unlawfully the word Allah”.
In an official statement on its Facebook page announcing the action, the Home Ministry noted that “the inspection found no unlawful use” of the word “in the publication.” For this reason, it released the copies for distribution on “27 October 2013”.
Asked about the situation, the Herald’s editor Fr Lawrence Andrew said that the Home Ministry did not give him any official explanation. What is more, however swiftly they carried out checks at Kota Kinabalu Airport, the seizure effectively “prevented the weekly’s distribution” in time for last Sunday’s Mass among Catholic parishes in Sabah.
Indeed, the decision to release the paper came only after Mgr Murphy Pakiam, archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, and Wilfred Madius Tangau, a lawmaker with the ruling party (Barisan Nasional), personally intervened in the matter.
It should be noted that Sabah (where the distribution of the weekly was stopped) is on the island of Borneo along with Sarawak. The two states are home to two thirds of Malaysia’ Christians, and are very different from mainland Malaysia.
In this part of the country, the use of Allah has never been controversial. Christians have used it without any problems, living in relative harmony and closeness with members of other religions, often within the same family. For the past 14 years, the Catholic weekly has done the same.
In view of the controversy, Jagir Singh, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHS), slammed the Home Ministry for claiming the right to “regulate fundamental liberties, including freedom of religion”. Similarly, the Malaysian Council of Churches calls the decision “a violation of Churches’ rights”.
The issue of whether Christians have the right to use the word Allah for the Christian God in media and the Bible broke out in 2008 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald’s licence to publish. The weekly is Malaysia’s main Catholic print publication.
In their response, Church leaders took the government to court for violating rights enshrined in the constitution.
In 2009, the High Court ruled in favour of the Catholic paper, granting Catholics the right to use the word Allah, a decision that shocked and angered many Muslims who claim the word for Islam’s exclusive use. In turn, this unleashed a wave of violence in many parts of the country, with attacks and bombings against churches and other Christian places of worship.
In order to restrain and placate extremist Islamist groups, the Malaysian government appealed the court’s decision.
Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia and has a population of more than 28 million people. A majority (60 per cent) are Muslim, followed by Buddhists. Christians constitute the third largest group numbering around 2.6 million.
A few years ago, a 400-year-old Latin-Malay dictionary was re-issued. It shows that Allah was used in the Bible as the word for God in the local language.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Karachi: Christian Family Faced With Blasphemy and Forced Conversion Threats
In September, the head of the family, Boota Masih, a 58-yeaer-old goldsmith, was killed, falsely accused of blasphemy. In fact, a business rival was behind the murder, and he is still free and unpunished. Meanwhile, armed men have threatened the victim’s family, telling them to convert to Islam or face death. Police however have arrested these men.
Karachi ( AsiaNews) — A Pakistani court has indicted three people for proffering death threats against the family of Boota Masih, 58, a Christian man killed in mid-September in an incident involving accusations of blasphemy. Siding with the dead man’s family, activists with Life for All and the Masihi Foundation, along with Church and civil society leaders, have called on the authorities to arrest the murderer and do something to stop the persecution of the Masihs’ who are only guilty of being Christian. Unfortunately, they are up against the usual reticence (if not the connivance) of police and prosecutors in such cases.
Everything began for the Masih family on 16 September when Muhammad Asif killed their main breadwinner after accusing him of blasphemy. The Muslim businessman attacked his victim at the Liaqatabad Gold Market in Karachi in broad daylight. Using a knife, he cut his throat, finishing him off with a dozen stabs, all this in the plain view of other workers and some police officers, who did not intervene and left the murderer all the time he needed to escape unmolested.
The next day, a member of the Liaqatabad Jewellers Association belatedly came to the dead man’s defence, saying that he “had never seen or heard him speaking against anyone, ever.” The victim had worked at the market for 30 years.
For his family, the accusation of blasphemy was but an excuse to kill him, a way to remove a business rival. When they reported the murder, police initially refused to start an investigation.
The story took a turn for the worse when, on 24 October, a group of armed men broke into the Masih home, threatening to kill its members if they did not withdraw their complaint and convert to Islam.
Instead of complying with the threats, the Masihs went to police the next day to file another complaint. Last Sunday, law enforcement authorities took into custody Muhammad Nadeem and two accomplices, for carrying out the punitive raid against the bereaved family. Yesterday, their case went before a judge. Still, the murderer Muhammad Asif is still a fugitive.
Fr Arshad Gill, a priest in Karachi, spoke to AsiaNews about this “sad story” in which the victim is “an innocent man” and his family is told to convert to Islam or die. For him, the case epitomises the situation of Pakistan’s minorities, forced to live “in conditions of profound insecurity” in which events such as this one tend to exacerbate the situation.
This is all due to the “black law”. For years, Pakistan’s Catholic and Protestant Churches have called for its repeal because, among other things, it is increasingly used in personal vendettas.
Found in Article 295, B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code, the “law” punishes with death or life in prison anyone who desecrates the Qur’an or defames the name of the Prophet Muhammad.
However, no political party or government has had the courage to change it. Those who have proposed amendments — Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, a Muslim, and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic — have been murdered.
According to data collected by the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace of Pakistan (NCJP), at least 964 people have been charged under the law from 1986 to August 2009. They include 479 Muslims, 119 Christians, 340 Ahmadis, 14 Hindus and 10 of unknown religion.
Since the law was adopted, more than 40 extra-judicial killings have been carried out in individual attacks or by mobs, against innocent people, all in its name.
Last year for example, a person suffering from mental disorders was burnt to death on false charges, with his killers going scot-free.
Another case involves Rimsha Masih, a Christian teenager who was saved from false charges after an international campaign led to her release from prison.
Even entire groups have not been spared. In fact, one community was attacked in Lahore in March 2013 with another suffering the same fate in Gojra in the summer of 2009.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Police Call Tiananmen Square Incident Terrorist Attack, Detain 5
China police said five people have been arrested in connection with this week’s suicide car crash in China’s capital, calling it a terrorist attack and identifying the attackers as members of a Muslim minority.
Police said the five suspects were detained the same day as the Monday noon attack at the Forbidden City gate across from Tiananmen Square, in the culturally and politically sensitive section of Beijing where China’s Communist Party leaders live and work.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat Could Produce Jeep Cherokee SUV in China, Say Reports
Deal between Turin-based automaker and Guangzhou nearly complete
(ANSA) — New York, October 29 — Turin-based Fiat is finalizing a deal with China’s Guangzhou Automobile Group to produce the Chrysler Group’s Jeep Cherokee in China, news agency Bloomberg said Tuesday.
Under the deal, the Jeep brand SUV would be produced in Fiat-owned plants in China and could roll into dealerships in 2015, the agency said, citing sources.
This would mark the third attempt in 15 years by Fiat to gain a foothold in China.
Fiat is considering assembling the Jeep Cherokee in its own plant in China.
Chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne has been working towards merging Fiat with Michigan-based Chrysler, which the Italian automaker took control of in 2009 in a deal that rescued the ailing American automaker from bankruptcy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Britney Spears Songs Used to Scare Off ‘Western Culture-Hating’ Pirates in Somalia
Navy ships are using Britney Spears to scare off Somali pirates.
Captains are playing the popstar’s hits at full volume to deter ‘western culture-hating’ pirates and stop them boarding the ships, merchant navy officer Rachel Owens revealed to the Metro.
Classic hits Baby One More Time and Oops! I Did It Again are being used and have proved effective at stopping kidnap attempts from bandits.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UNHCR Appeals for Open Borders for Nigerians Fleeing Islamic Uprising, Military Crackdown
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is appealing to Nigeria’s neighbors to keep their borders open for Nigerians fleeing an Islamic uprising after 15 people were killed when Cameroon attempted to forcibly repatriate them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Wants EU Support for Anti-Trafficking
Bonino and Mauro write to Ashton, joint security policy intervention
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — Italy has requested that “all possible options be explored for a joint security and defense operation conducted by the EU against human trafficking in the Mediterranean to discourage criminal organisations” that facilitate clandestine immigration.
These were the words used by Foreign Minister Emma Bonino and Defense Minister Mario Mauro in a letter to EU diplomatic chief Catherine Ashton, of which ANSA has a copy. The operation should be a joint security policy intervention and “complementary” to what the EU is already doing in Libya, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
The EU maritime mission that Italy suggests, concentrated as it is on the struggle against human trafficking in the Mediterranean, “can be highly effective and operative,” wrote Bonino and Mauro, “thanks to the practices developed during the first — and highly successful — EU operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta” against piracy.
With the aim of bringing those involved in human trafficking to justice, the EU mission should work “in collaboration” with Mediterranean coastal states and with international organizations active in helping victims (especially women and children), “extending the humanitarian dimension” of EU common defense and security policies by “increasing civilian-military integration and cooperation with the instruments” foreseen by EU justice and home affairs policies. The possible options for an EU mission of this type, say the two Italian ministers “could become a discussion point” at the next EU Foreign Affairs and Defence Council meeting in November.
Another request made by Italy is to “relaunch dialogue” with African nations involved in human trafficking, asking for “stronger commitment for more effective border monitoring” as part of a tradeoff with the EU in exchange for greater collaboration on these issues.
The matter could raised, say Bonino and Mauro, at the next EU-Africa summit scheduled for the spring.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Housed in Gym in Sicilian Town Due to Crowding
Prefecture in Ragusa considering a tent city for migrants
(ANSA) — Pozzallo (Ragusa), October 29 — A boat carrying 243 migrants landed Tuesday in the port of Pozzallo on the southern coast of Sicily after being assisted at sea by a patrol ship.
Four migrants were taken to hospital while the others were sent to stay in a gymnasium at a nearby sports field as the main reception centre in Pozzallo was already overcrowded with 480 newcomers to Italy.
The prefecture in the province of Ragusa, which includes the town of Pozzallo, is considering erecting a tent city to house the arriving migrants.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
More Foreign Workers Than Italians Out of a Job
18% of foreigners unemployed against 11% of Italians
(ANSA) — Rome, October 29 — Foreign workers suffer from higher unemployment than Italians do, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policies Maria Cecilia Guerra said Tuesday.
“In Italy we have a strong foreign workforce supply but not enough demand”, she said, adding that 18% of foreigners are unemployed against 11% of Italians.
In the second quarter of the year, 150,000 more foreign workers were out of a job than in the same period in 2012.
“There is no longer as much demand for workers from abroad, and seasonal work is now being done by the resident workforce”, Guerra explained.
While immigrants did not compete with Italians because they used to take less qualified and less attractive positions, unemployment has now hit the industrial and construction sectors, where there is competition, she added.
“More foreigners are now accessing our welfare system and jobless benefits. We have begun to deal with the situation, for example by lengthening residency permits for foreigners who have lost their jobs. These measures can be strengthened”, Guerra concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Have Churches Become Agents of the State?
Then-Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson devised what has proven to be a brilliant strategy in which to silence and neuter America’s churches. His bill, which created the 501c3 tax-exempt corporation status for churches back in 1954, has, over the decades, effectively muted America’s pulpits. The vast majority of churches today are thoroughly and completely intimidated by the threat of losing their tax-exempt status under the 501c3 section of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). As a result, the vast majority of pastors are unwilling to address virtually any issue from the pulpit that could be deemed as political.
Add to the fear of losing tax-exempt status the egregiously slavish interpretation of Romans 13 — that Christians and churches must submit to civil government no matter what — and a very legitimate argument can be made that Mr. Johnson not only silenced and neutered America’s churches, but that he has, in effect, turned them into agents of the state. More and more, the federal government is using pastors and churches to promote its big-government agenda.
Most readers are familiar with how FEMA created a program called “Clergy Response Teams” several years ago. Under this program, tens of thousands of pastors were instructed on how to assist the federal government in the event of a “national emergency.” Pastors were encouraged to teach Bible lessons from Romans 13 in which church members were told that God instructs them to always submit to civil authority unconditionally…
According to TheBlaze.com, “Community organizers are joining pastors across the country to educate and help parishioners sign up for Obamacare. The coordinated initiative, called ‘Health Care from the Pulpit,’ is being implemented by Enroll America, a non-profit with the goal of maximizing ‘the number of uninsured Americans who enroll in health coverage made available by the Affordable Care Act.’…
In the same manner that the Nazi government co-opted the churches of Germany, the federal government in Washington, D.C., is co-opting the churches of America today. During the rise of the Third Reich, Germany’s pastors and churches were taught the same misinterpretation of Romans 13 that pastors and churches in America are now being taught. And in the same way that Hitler used Germany’s pastors and churches to promote his big-government socialist agenda, America’s pastors and churches today are being used to promote the big-government socialist agenda emanating from Washington, D.C. Mr. Bush used the churches to promote the FEMA Clergy Response Teams, and now Mr. Obama is using the churches to promote the federal government’s socialized health care system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a third-term congressman and a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. On the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights page on his House website, Ellison notes that he is ‘proud to be vice-chair of the Congressional Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus.’“ — ThinkProgress
This last week, the radical Muslim congressman, Keith Ellison, was again proud to be named the vice-chairman of the Congressional LGBT Caucus.
Hmmm.
Outside of the fact that Rep. Ellison, the first radial Muslim in the U.S. House (who swore into office with his hand upon the Quran) feels safe enough to take shots at me on a one-sided national platform (to the Daily Beast Keith stated to the American people that they “may not know how extreme this guy [Bradlee Dean] is”), what is interesting here is the fact that we cannot get Keith on LIVE radio to confront my “extremism” on an open platform. Keith likes straining at the gnat while he swallows the camel! So Keith, let’s go to the extreme and show America how extreme YOU really are! Now it is my turn…
This president not only entertains Muslims in the White House, but also advocates Shariah Law through his support of the Muslim Brotherhood, America’s sworn enemies.
And remember that another Muslim Brotherhood supporter was recently promoted within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trail Life USA, New Alternative to Boy Scouts Will Also Admit Gays
Earlier this year, the Boy Scouts of America decided to lower their standards and Christian values due to the relentless pressure of gay activists. They voted to allow gay scouts into what started out as a Christian organization for boys.
Not long after, a group of men, some of which had spent years with the Boy Scouts, announced that they were forming a new scout-like organization for boys that would be Bible-based and Christ centered. This new organization recently held a convention in Nashville to officially launch their group — Trail Life USA…
…Earlier this summer when it was announced that the organization was forming, one of the men involved, John Stemberger, Founder of OnMYHonor.Net, said that they will not question a boys’ sexuality nor will they refuse to admit gays.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Evil Twin Planet Makes Other Earths Likely
Earth now has a twin — but it’s evil. There’s a planet the same size as Earth in a distant solar system, and it shares our planet’s mass and composition. However, the rocky exoplanet is so close to its star that it orbits it once every 8 hours, making it hellishly hot, with almost no prospect of hosting life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Strange ‘Lava World’ Is Most Earthlike Alien Planet Yet
A puzzling alien planet is the closest thing to an Earth twin in size and composition known beyond our solar system, though it’s far too hot to support life, scientists say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s mine: to the tune of the Red Flag – an international anthem for patriots:
http://300wordtheses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/an-international-anthem-for-those-who.html
“Betrayed: Democrats Now Admit They Knew All Along That Millions Would Lose Their Existing Health Plans”
But no one is going to go out onto the street to protest. They know this government will video them, use a digital face profile, look into their financial and employment status, and keep a record on them. The freedom to be anonymous in public soon beyond the reach of anyone. With that power, any government can serve out its tenancy unimpeded.