Eighty people have been executed in public in North Korea, at least some of them by firing squad in a stadium. Among their crimes were watching South Korean films and possessing Bibles.
In other news, the naked protester who nailed his testicles to a cobblestone in Red Square to draw attention to the Russian “police state” may face two weeks in jail for hooliganism.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Kitman, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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‘A Last Warning Shot’ For Southern Europe
The decision by the European Central Bank to lower interest rates on Thursday is proof that the debt crisis still plagues the euro zone. The move is controversial in Germany, where editorialists warn it could affect savings and pensions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit’s Bankruptcy Brings Up More Than Finances
The issue of race has hovered persistently around the trial, with some black residents likening the loss of local control and the sale of assets to slavery and neocolonial plundering.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
12 Years a Slave: Film Forcing US to Face Bitter Truths
It has been hailed as a Schindler’s List for slavery, a long-overdue unflinching confrontation by Hollywood of the “original sin” on which the United States was founded, writes Jon Swaine
Resentment often runs high. As a Sunday Telegraph writer watched 12 Years A Slave at a cinema in a predominantly black neighbourhood in Brooklyn last week, an African-American teenage girl in the row behind leaned in and whispered to her friend: “Doesn’t it make you hate white people?”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ACLU Fights for Boston Jihad Mass Murderer Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be “Cut Some Slack”
The American Civil Liberties Union has been shut out of weighing in on accused Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s claims of hardship behind bars at a hearing tomorrow to address whether the alleged terrorist deserves to be cut some slack while he awaits trial.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
This Drone Can Fly, Swim, Drive, And Hop Its Way Through a Mission
The future of military drones isn’t surveillance and dropping bombs. It’s transformation: a single unmanned vehicle that can fly, swim, drive, and even hop like a frog across a variety of terrains and obstacles.
Conceived by the Intelligent Systems, Robotics and Cybernetics unit at Sandia National Laboratory, the “Multi-Modal Vehicle Concept” would travel land, sea, and air by transforming itself to accommodate different terrains.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
And their consequences—for his era and ours
On November 30, 1774, a 37-year-old Englishman—an ex-privateer, ex—corset stay maker, ex—tax collector (fired twice for dereliction of duty), and ex-husband (also twice over)—arrived in Philadelphia with a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin in his pocket. The old philosopher’s praise was understandably restrained. This “ingenious worthy young man,” Franklin wrote, would make a useful “clerk, or assistant tutor in a school, or assistant surveyor.” Four months later, however, the shots that rang out at Lexington and Concord galvanized the newcomer’s hitherto aimless life into focus and purpose.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Wife Tried to Kill Husband in Sleep
A woman is accused of trying to suffocate her husband to death as he slept in their bed at their home in Waizenkirchen in Grieskirchen, Austria.
The 43-year-old woman soaked a towel in spirits before putting it over her husband’s face as he slept. As the towel was pressed over his mouth and nose the 49-year-old woke up and tried to free himself.
Their 17-year-old who heard the struggle came through and helped his father. The man then called police.
The woman admitted her actions and said they had been having marital problems for years and their continuous fights were the reason for her actions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Charles Darwin to Receive Apology From the Church of England for Rejecting Evolution
The Church of England is to apologise to Charles Darwin for its initial rejection of his theories, nearly 150 years after he published his most famous work.
The Church of England will concede in a statement that it was over-defensive and over-emotional in dismissing Darwin’s ideas. It will call “anti-evolutionary fervour” an “indictment” on the Church”.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Blasphemy Law Should be Revoked, Says Church Minister
The blasphemy law makes it an offense to mock religious beliefs, but there have been no successful convictions since 1946
Denmark’s blasphemy law is outdated and should be abolished, the church minister, Manu Sareen (R), argued in an op-ed for Politiken newspaper over the weekend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French President Booed, 70 Arrests in Champs-Elysees Scuffle
Valls blames far-right
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — French president Francois Hollande was jeered by the crowd Monday morning and scuffles broke out on the Champs-Elysees during the commemoration ceremony for the 1918 armistice. Booing rung out as the president’s motorcade drove up the Champs-Elysees boulevard to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, beneath the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris, to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in WWI. Dozens of people then jumped the barricades and ran into the center of the street, blocking it. Some were wearing the red berets typical of anti-tax protestors from the western region of Brittany, while others yelled out (most likely in reference to same-sex marriages) “Resign, Hollande: we don’t want your law!”. Some were stopped by police, who arrested 70 people according to a statement released by the prefect’s office. The presidential motorcade left the area as the booing continued. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that the protestors were connected with far-right circles. To some journalists in front of the ministry, Valls said that the protest had been staged by “a few dozen people connected with far-right groups” and that “candidates and figures from the National Front” had been seen on the Champs-Elysees. The minister also placed blame on members of the ‘Printemps Francais’ groups against same-sex marriages and the right-wing Renouveau Français ultra-nationalists. In Chateaurenard (a municipality in the Marseilles region in southern France), the ceremony to commemorate the armistice was disrupted by a mentally unstable individual who attacked and stabbed the right-wing UMP mayor and two people standing beside him. The attacker was arrested, while those hurt — including Mayor Bernard Reynes — did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian MEPs Ask EC to Pay 600 Mn for Toxic Waste Clean Up
MEP Mazzoni calls poisoned land near Pescara potential ‘Ilva’
(ANSA) Brussels, November 11 — MEP Erminia Mazzoni on Monday called on the European Commission to allocate 600 million euros to clean up an illegal chemical dumping ground near the city of Pescara on the Adriatic coast.
“After Ilva, in the area near the chemical production district of Pescara, in Bussi sul Tirino, poses the risk of delegating the duties of politics and representative institutions to the judiciary,” said Mazzoni, who belongs to Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party.
Ilva is a massive steel plant in southern Italy at the centre of probes over an alleged health and environmental disaster generated by the plant’s emissions over a period of years.
Last week Mazzoni presented to the EC a petition signed by twenty Italian representatives of every political stripe asking to fund remediation of Bussi sul Tirino before a freeze on European European Structural Funds for the 2014-2020 period, which are EU funds aimed at creating development parity among member states.
Bussi sul Tirino is located between two national parks and about 40 km from Pescara.
“The area…today is under court-seizure and on November 27 the trial will begin at the Corte d’Assise di Chieti (middle appeals court) against the ex-managers of Montedison, who are accused of poisoning more than 7.5 hectares of land”. Montedison was an Italian major cap industrial chemical group from the 1960s through the 1980s. “For years, 500,000 citizens would drink polluted water and breathe polluted air,” said Mazzoni.
“It has been since at least 2007 that Italian authorities have known about the illegal dump at Bussi Tirino, around which three smaller toxic waste disposals were also found, without reaching a solution for a remediation plan,” said Mazzoni.
“The issue calls the European Union into question in that the resources necessary, estimated at 600 million euros…are covered by the Structural Funds programme,” she said.
“Unfortunately the lack of respect for European environmental law opens the path to the umpeenth infraction procedure against Italy,” she continued.
“The petition attempts to preempt the European Commission’s moves, asking that it reorient funds on the agenda for 2014-2020 before they are fixed, toward a correct management respecting the health of citizens and care of the environment”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Crewman Says Concordia Captain Schettino Wasn’t Last to Jump Off Ship Onto Lifeboat
A witness in the Costa Concordia shipwreck trial has described how the captain jumped aboard a lifeboat, testifying how the commander wasn’t the last to abandon the rapidly capsizing luxury cruise ship.
Francesco Schettino, the captain, is being tried in Tuscany for alleged manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing the shipwreck near the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012. Thirty-two people died in the capsizing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Nationalists Attack Russian Embassy During Independence Day March
Police had to use rubber bullets and pepper spray to disperse a crowd of violent Polish nationalist demonstrators during an Independence Day march in Warsaw. Besieged Russian embassy officials say the building was pelted with firecrackers and bottles.
Officers in riot gear formed a cordon around the building, as young shaven-headed demonstrators waving red-and-white flags tried to push through. The crowd shouted slogans directed against Russia, Poland’s eastern neighbor, which the demonstrators blamed for World War II atrocities and occupation during the Soviet era.
Several thousand marchers chanted “God, honor, fatherland!” as the group initially proceeded without a hitch through the central streets of the city.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
President Jeered at France’s Armistice Day Ceremony
(AGI) Paris, Nov 11 — French President Francois Hollande was jeered at the commemoration of the 1918 armistice and the dead of the First World War at the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. The ceremony was marred by clashes between protesters and police on the Champs Elysees, with 70 arrests. Protestors included Breton activists opposed to the eco-tax that the socialist government intends to use to offset the environmental impact of road transport, groups opposed to same-sex marriages and activists and opponents of the Front National.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia in Germany: 100 Camels Are the Price of a Dead Person in Berlin
In German Muslim-dominated immigrant neighborhoods, a parallel judicial system has developed in the tradition of Sharia. The state seems to capitulate to the power of the Arab clans.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Separatism: Boycott of Catalan Bubbly Wine Feared
Sales of Cava fall by 5.5 million bottles in 2012
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 11 — Wine producers fear a boycott in Spain of the Catalan Cava bubbly due to the separatist challenge launched by nationalist parties CiU and Erc leading the Generalitat.
The Freixenet group alone, which has an annual turnover of 500 million euros, saw sales plunge by one million bottles in Spain last year while overall sales went down by 5.5 million bottles, according to estimates by the Consortium regulating Cava.
In the first two years of the government CiU-Esquerra Repubblicana, the Catalan group lost 13.8 million bottles in national sales in favour of Cava bubbly wines produced in regions like Rioja, Estremadura or Valencia.
Jose’ Luis Bonet, president of Freixenet and the agency representing Spain’s top wines, admitted recently a ‘boycott’ in the country of Cava wine produced by his company, but stressed that the Spanish market only concerns 20% of production and said he was more concerned by the crisis in consumption than the boycott.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Culture Min. Wants to Protect Archaeological Sites
Against illegal excavations. Training of specialized personnel
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI — Libyan Culture Minister Al Habini Al Amin called for the protection of archaeological sites in the country in a press conference in Tripoli in Monday.
In the past few months, illegal excavations in Cyrene and the theft of prized artwork in other sites has raised concern.
In 2011 the treasure of Benghazi disappeared with over 700 pieces unearthed following decades of excavation work in Cyrenaica from the Greek-Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras which were stolen and are now being sold illegally.
Al Amin said hundreds of personnel will be trained to safeguard the country’s archaeological heritage. Meanwhile the ministry has started a programme with Unesco to train tourism, customs and border police, an initiative which kicked off in Sabratha in September.
The minister also stressed the need to support artists and cultural activities long neglected under the Gaddafi regime.
Libya, explained Al Amin, suffered enough wars and terror, now it is necessary to focus on the country’s development. The ministry has already announced it will start 18 cultural projects including four new theatres, 11 new cultural centres and three libraries in several regions in the country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Premier Zeidan in Benghazi for Security Reasons
After warning of foreign intervention if chaos persists
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI — Libyan Premier Ali Zeidan arrived on Monday morning in Benghazi to discuss security with special forces chief Wanis Bu Khamada.
The eastern Cyrenaica region, mostly Benghazi, has been at the centre of daily violence for months with clashes, attacks and politically-motivated homicides in which several members of the security forces, activists, judges and journalists have died.
On Sunday Zeidan warned Libyans that foreign occupation forces might intervene if anarchy continues to reign in Libya.
‘The international community cannot tolerate a Mediterranean state which is a source of violence and terrorism’, said Zeidan. He cited the Iraqi example and warned against foreign intervention.
The Libyan premier stressed the situation in the country is being monitored by the international community and that a United Nations resolution — Chapter VII adopted in March 2011 — authorizes the international community to take the necessary measures to protect civilians.
Clashes like the one last Thursday in Tripoli among militants in which two people died and another 30 were wounded give ‘a bad image of the country’ abroad, continued Zeidan, calling on Libyans to rebel against armed militias which are ‘holding the country hostage’ and ‘take to the streets and support the construction of an army and police’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Separatists Set Up Cyrenaica Oil Company
At Hariga terminal beset by strikes; federalists in control
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, NOVEMBER 11 — After the formation of an autonomous government two weeks ago, the Cyrenaica political bureau has announced the creation of a regional oil company. The announcement was made by Abd Rabbo Al-Barassi, the PM of the newly established government of Barqa — the Arabic name for the eastern region of Libya — Sunday at a press conference. The new oil company is headquartered in Tobruk, where the Hariga terminal is located. The Hariga terminal has been blockaded for months, along with other ports and major extraction sites in the eastern part of the country, by strikes staged by security guards and workers who accuse the government of corruption in oil sales. They are also demanding a pay rise. Authorities instead say that the strikes are being orchestrated by federalists calling for greater independence of the eastern region. The protests are led by a former revolutionary and current head of the security guards of the largest oil terminals in the eastern section of the country, Ibrahim Jadran, who was recently named head of the Cyrenaica Political Bureau. The authorities have repeatedly but unsuccessfully sought a negotiated solution. Both Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and Oil Minister Abdel Bari Al-Arousi have visited the eastern terminals and oil fields to negotiate reopening the sites but in vain.
Zeidan has also announced a 67% pay rise for oil sector workers.
On Sunday, the government set down an ultimatum, saying that those on strike have 10 days to reopen the ports. Should they fail to do so, all ‘necessary measures’ will be taken: what sort of intervention is planned has not been disclosed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda Teaches on Twitter How to ‘Kindly’ Cut Off Human Head
An article in Lebanese daily As-Safir has taken a look into al-Qaeda’s increasing use of social media networks and media technology in spreading its ideology and even teaching people how to kill with kindness.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mortar Kills 5 Children at Syrian Christian School
(AGI) Damascus, Nov 11 — Five children were killed and 27 people were injured by a mortar round which hit at school in Qassaa, a Christian majority neighbourhood in Damascus.
According to Syrian state TV, the bomb hit St John’s School.
The official press agency Sana also reported that a rocket hit a school bus in Bab Touma, another Christian suburb of the capital, wounding five more children.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Polio Outbreak in Syria Threatens All Middle East
Several thousand newborns have not been immunized against the polio virus because of the war in Syria, therefore polio is rampant there. The World Health Organization has already confirmed ten cases. Neighboring countries are now fearing the spread of the disease by way of refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Migrants Surrender But Country Wonders
After crackdown on illegal migrants, companies and stores closed
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI — Garbage collectors in Riyadh and Jeddah have returned to work after a two-day-long strike against a government crackdown on illegal immigrants.
During the walkout, clashes were reported across the capital.
Two people, including a Saudi, died and another 68 were injured in the violence. Over 560 people were arrested and more than 100 cars burned.
The whole incident has left Saudi Arabia wondering about the causes of what is happening and its economic impact.
The violent protests which kicked off Saturday in Manfouah, a neighbourhood in the capital with a numerous Ethiopian community, were sparked on November 4 by the government’s decision to take measures against workers whose papers did not respect labour laws in the oil kingdom.
Hundreds of inspections were carried out across the country in stores and industrial sites to discover thousands of illegal workers. Local press reports said almost 20,000 people have been arrested in the operation.
Hundreds are in a centre in Riyadh ready to be repatriated while about one million people — from Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Yemen — who were working illegally in the country have taken advantage of an amnesty seven months ago to return to their home countries.
While the majority of Saudi opinion makers have openly sided with the government, saying that inspections must continue because there is a ‘red line’ on security which was crossed at the weekend, the entrepreneurial world has grounded to a halt.
About 50% of construction firms registered with the Saudi chamber of commerce have stopped working, an estimated 100,000 according to the newspaper Arab News. Many stores employing illegal staff decided to close. Given the insufficient number of regular workers, there is no bread, water nor a number of services in some areas.
Garbage cleaners went on strike because the employment company that took them to the country never provided them with legal documents, as occurred to thousands of other workers.
In a country which has very strict laws regulating access, also as far as tourists are concerned, many migrants have used the pilgrimage to the Makkah, a duty for every Muslim to get into the country and stay.
The chaos registered in the country is not due to illegal immigration per se, according to the Saudi Gazette, but to the companies and individuals who exploited migrants, letting them live in a grey area, and to institutions unable to regulate and stop human trafficking and speculation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UN Calls on Qatar to Improve Migrant Labor Conditions
Worker housing ‘slum’, children detained with ‘adulterous’ moms
(ANSAmed) — DOHA- A senior UN envoy has urged Qatar to bring in laws to protect the rights of workers and allow trade unions to be formed. The UN special rapporteur on human rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau, made this statement after completing an eight-day visit to the emirate to look into the migrant labor conditions. Crepeau called on Qatar to eliminate the ‘kafala’ system currently in force, which allows foreign workers to leave the country or change jobs only after authorization from their employer. The news was reported by local Qatari press and the emirate’s broadcaster Al Jazeera. Even though the visit by the UN special envoy had been arranged through Qatari authorities, Crepeau said he had visited some housing units for foreign workers unaccompanied by government officials. He compared the housing to ‘slums’ and called it ‘unacceptable’, noting that there was little access to water and that the rooms were overcrowded. During the eight-day visit to Qatar, the UN special envoy met with immigrants, government representatives and Qatar’s National Committee for Human Rights. He also visited detention centers, especially ones in which unmarried women who have given birth are held. The crime of ‘adultery’ carries a prison sentence of up to a year in jail in the emirate. He described the situation as a clear violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Qatar is a party, calling on the authorities to deal with the situation in an alternative manner and enable those wishing to return to their home countries with their children to do so. The UN envoy drew up 14 recommendations for Qatari authorities, including the introduction of a minimum wage and trade unions. A more detailed report on his mission will be published in June 2014 and submitted to the UN Human Rights Council.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow’s Naked Demonstrator Risks Two Weeks Jail
(AGI) Moscow, Nov 11 — The St Petersburg artist who nailed his scrotum to Moscow’s Red Square on Sunday faces up to 15 days in jail. In staging the protest, the 29-year-old Pyotr Pavlensky said Russia has turned into a “police state”. The protest was held in conjunction with police celebrations. Pavlensky was arrested during the performance and released the following day, but faces criminal charges.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Protester Nails Testicles to Red Square Pavement
Pyotr Pavlensky chose a rather painful and unique way to protest on Sunday in Moscow’s famous Red Square. The St. Petersburg performance artist hammered a nail through his testicles and into the cobblestones of the square near to Lenin’s Mausoleum.
“A naked artist, looking at his balls nailed to the Kremlin pavement, is a metaphor for the apathy, political indifference, and fatalism of contemporary Russian society”‘ Pavlensky wrote in a statement according to the Moscow Times.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesian Ulema Again Demand Catholic Schools Teach Islam
In Klanten, Central Java, the MUI reignites the controversy over the fact that Islam is not taught in Catholic schools, a serious violation for the local head of the Islamist organisation. Last year, the same dispute broke out in Blitar and Tegal, subsiding eventually after Muslim parents defended the schools their children attended because of the quality of their teaching.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has once again stirred up controversy over the fact that Islam is not taught in the country’s Catholic schools. The latest case involves a Catholic school of Klanten in Central Java. Last year, the same thing was front-page news for weeks in Blitar (East Java Regency) and Tegal until Muslim parents came out in defence of the Catholic schools where their children study, emphasising their high level of education.
Hartoyo, the MUI leader in Klanten, urged all private schools, including Catholic ones, to hire qualified staff to teach the Islamic religion to Muslim students. In his view, the absence of Islamic religious teachers is a grave violation of the law because every student should be able to receive lessons in his or her religion.
The local association of private schools (BMPS) agrees. Slamming the lack of Muslim teachers, it demanded that a solution be found and the problem solved “in the best possible way.”
In reality, following a decades-old practice, Indonesia’s private Christian schools, including Catholic ones, are not required to offer courses on Islamic religion or time off to read the Quran, as is the case in state schools. They do however provide seminars and lectures on the Christian religion and catechism.
Muslim students who go to Catholic schools take instead Islamic religious courses sponsored by their own Islamic community.
It should also be noted that school administrators go out of their way to reassure Muslim parents that Catholic schools do not try to “convert” students and that Christian proselytising is banned.
For decades, the issue was never a problem, until last year that is, when MUI leaders stirred up a storm by demanding Islam be taught, something extensively covered by local media. However, for most people, the whole thing is political and not spiritual in nature.
In recent years, Indonesian authorities have repeatedly caved in to MUI pressures, an association that purports to monitors behaviour and morals, a practice that is commonplace in Aceh, a province ruled by Islamic radicals, where women cannot wear tight pants or skirts.
In March 2011, the MUI lashed at flag raising “because Muhammad never did it”. Before that, it attacked the popular social networking service Facebook for being “amoral” as well as yoga, smoking, and the right to vote, particularly for women.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Lahore: Life of Christian Pastor Accused of Blasphemy in Danger
An outlawed extremist organisation, Jamat-ul-Dawa, issues a fatwa against Adnan Masih. As a result of a misunderstanding, the Christian man has been accused of insulting Muhammad and Islam. As police investigates, the clergyman and his family are under their protection. A local priest notes that this is “the third case of persecution against Christians based on the blasphemy law in just two months.”
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Adnan Masih, a Christian clergyman in Lahore, has been accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. After charges were laid against him, an Islamic extremist group began making death threats. The prosecutor in charge of the case ordered police to launch a thorough investigation, as well as protect the accused and his family until the matter is cleared up. A radical organisation, Jamat-ul-Dawa, said however that it could kill the man “even if he is in custody.”
The story began on 7 October with a misunderstanding. Adnan Masih was replacing his brother at an eyeglass store, the Diamond Glass, where the latter worked. Whilst there, the Christian clergyman saw a book on a shelf by a Muslim leader who heads an outlawed extremist organisation, the Jamat-ul-Dawa. He noted errors in the book about the Bible and penned corrections in it. He then left the store.
The next day Abid Mehmood, a colleague of his brother, filed a complaint against Masih at a police station, accusing him of blasphemy (under Article 295, sections A, B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code). When he heard about the complaint against him, the Christian man denied the accusations.
However, he became the subject of death threats from Jamat-ul-Dawa and eventually a fatwa. Fearing for himself and his loved ones, on 8 November, he turned himself in to local police, asking for protection.
“We’re scared,” family members said. “Adnan has not written anything against Islam. He only corrected some things about Jesus Christ.”
“This is the third case of persecution against Christians based on the blasphemy law in just two months,” Fr Arshed John, from the Diocese of Lahore, told AsiaNews. “I hope the police is able to protect him. I call on everyone, without distinction of religion, to pray for this man and his family. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea Executes 80 for Possession of Bibles
(AGI) Seoul, Nov 11 — A number of North Koreans have been executed for possession of the Bible, said the South Korean newspaper, JoongAng. Eighty people were executed in public in seven North Korean cities on Sunday, the newspaper reported.
Their ‘crimes’ included watching a South Korean film, distributing pornographic material and possessing Bibles. Eight executions took place in Wonsan in the local stadium. The victims’ heads were covered with white bags and they were executed by a firing squad.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Tax, Aid and Fees Off Table as Cabinet Toughens Stance
The cabinet has ruled that Australia will not sign up to any new contributions, taxes or charges at this week’s global summit on climate change, in a significant toughening of its stance as it plans to move within days to repeal the carbon tax.
Cabinet ministers have decided to reject any measures of “socialism masquerading as environmentalism” after meeting last week to consider a submission on the position the government would take to the Warsaw conference.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Alfano Blames Immigrants for Black Market Trade in Italy
Deputy prime minister says ‘we can not accomodate everyone’
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — Italian Deputy Prime Minister Angelino Alfano on Monday blamed immigrants for black market trade practices in Italy and undermining the future of young people.
“We are a welcoming people, but we can not accommodate everyone. We can not assure a future to our enterprises, to our young people or even to those immigrants who are thinking to come to Italy violating our laws,” Alfano told merchants gathered at an anti-black market event organized by the Italian business trade association Confcommercio.
“They can come, but they have to submit to our laws like all of our Italian merchants,” said the senior member of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party and governing partner with Premier Enrico Letta of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Must Change Policy So Med Not ‘Sea of Death, ‘ Says Letta
Union must change approach to Africa, Mid East, says premier
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — Premier Enrico Letta said Monday that the European Union must change approach to stop migrant disasters like those that claimed around 400 lives near the Sicilian island of Lampedusa last month. “The Mediterranean can no longer be a sea of death, it must be a sea of life and trade,” Letta said at a joint press conference with Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat in Valletta. “We cannot limit ourselves to words. A new EU policy for Africa and the Middle East is needed”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ghanaian Pickaxe Murderer to Get Fast-Track Trial
Will only serve two-thirds of sentence if convicted
(ANSA) — Milan, November 11 — A Milan judge on Monday ruled a Ghanaian immigrant who killed three people in a pickaxe rampage in Milan in May will undergo a fast-track trial, which under Italian law means the defendant will only serve two-thirds of his sentence if convicted.
In his May 11 spree, Mada ‘Adam’ Kabobo, 31, murdered a 64-year-old pensioner walking his dog; an unemployed 40-year-old standing outside a cafe; and a 21-year-old helping his father stack newspapers at their kiosk.
Two other people were injured in Kabobo’s string of attacks, which lasted an hour before he was stopped by police.
He was judged fit to stand trial in early October despite telling psychiatrists voices from Africa told him to do it.
Psychiatrists told judges that while he suffers from “schizophrenic psychosis”, Kabobo’s ability to control his actions was “greatly diminished but not totally absent”.
He was sufficiently “able to understand” what he was doing to face murder charges.
Kabobo, who had not sought treatment for mental problems, told police “I never sleep”.
The Ghanaian, who has a criminal record, came to Italy illegally in 2011 and was later served an expulsion order.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The surprise winner of a Texas election has been criticized for misleading the mainly black constituents into believing he was African American.
Dave Wilson, a white Republican and anti-gay activist, beat Houston’s 24-year incumbent Bruce Austin in what has been described as a ‘racially tinged campaign’.
Mr Wilson won with a margin of 26 after he campaigned using flyers featuring African Americans and the message ‘Vote for our neighbor Dave Wilson’.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Caveman Cuisine: Scientists Question Rise of the ‘Paleo Diet’
The “paleo diet” — which supposedly mimics what our caveman ancestors ate — has become a new health craze. But many scientists doubt that this hunter-gatherer cuisine of meat, veggies and fruit is as healthy as advertised, or even historically correct.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Incredible Technology: How Future Space Missions May Hunt for Alien Planets
NASA’s Kepler space telescope revolutionized the study of alien worlds after launching in 2009, and a number of other missions now stand poised to carry the burgeoning field into the future.
Over the next decade, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) aim to launch a handful of spacecraft that should discover thousands of additional exoplanets and characterize some of the most promising — the most apparently Earthlike — new finds in detail.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Keep a Lid on it: The Controversy Over Earth’s Oldest Rocks
New evidence is shedding light on the processes that formed Earth’s oldest rock and mineral record — processes that influenced the early evolution of life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Meteor Impact Trapped Ancient Swamp Plants in Glass
Remnants of an ancient swamp have been found preserved inside glass created during a meteorite strike. The discovery marks the first time that traces of life have been found to survive the heat and pressure of an impact, adding weight to arguments that microbes travelling on space rocks could have seeded the solar system.
Astrobiologists have long suggested that simple life forms could have hitched a ride to Earth inside meteors, or that impacts on early Earth could have sent terrestrial microbes to other worlds on ejected pieces of our planet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Political Colour is Half Genetic
New study provides definitive evidence that heritability plays a significant role in the formation of political ideology, regardless of how ideology is measured, the time period or population sampled.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sunspots, Which Can Harm Electronics on Earth, Are Half the Number Expected
Something is up with the sun. Scientists say that solar activity is stranger than in a century or more, with the sun producing barely half the number of sunspots as expected and its magnetic poles oddly out of sync.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fears of growing civil unrest as ‘angry’ locals take action against new arrivals
‘In addition, the local Pakistani community association is running ‘official’ warden patrols between 8pm and 10pm every weekday with the intention of ‘educating’ the Roma population about ‘how to behave in England’.
The rehabilitation of British racism or ethnic cleansing for dummies and enrichers – set up the indigenous underclass, Slavs and Roma for distraction targeting.