The critically ill infant granddaughter of Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Hamas, was rushed to a hospital in Israel yesterday for treatment. However, the condition of the unfortunate child was determined to be incurable, so the doctors sent her home to be with her family.
In other news, the Australian government has told the United Nations that will reject any further climate-change taxes, describing them as “socialism masquerading as environmentalism”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, CSP, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, KGS, RR, Vlad Tepes, 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.
Almost Half of Young Italians Ready to Go Abroad
Study finds 46.5% wind up in different field than studied
(ANSA)- Milan, November 18 — Nearly half of young Italians want to work abroad, and nearly the same amount end up working in a field different from what they studied, a report said Monday. According to the survey by the Toniolo Institute and the Cariplo Foundation, 48% of young Italians say they are ready to go abroad to look for work. Some 46.5% wind up in a field that does not reflect their diploma. And 47% say their paychecks are too low. Italy is fighting its way out of its worst recession in two decades. Youth unemployment is over 40%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt Poised to Unveil Privatization Plans, Says Letta
Italy will reduce debt next year, adds premier
(see related story on Letta) (ANSA) — Rome, November 18 — Premier Enrico Letta said Monday that his administration will present plans for a round of privatizations this week.
The government is looking to reduce Italy’s massive public debt, which stands at over two trillion euros, around 130% of gross domestic product, via privatization of state assets, including real estate.
Last week the European Commission said that Rome risked breaking the EU’s growth and stability pact next year because of debt levels after it analysed the government’s budget package for 2014.
“This week there will be an important event, we’ll present the privatization plan that is being discussed at the economy ministry today,” Letta said at a conference organised by the Financial Times.
“I’m sure that the budget bill is right and that the privatization plan will enable us to reduce our debt next year for the first time in five years”.
The Italian government is considering selling a 4% stake in the international oil and gas company ENI. At the current state of play, the sale of a 4% stake would generate around 2.6 billion euros. Letta said 2013, which saw his fragile left-right government replace Mario Monti’s emergency technocrat administration in April, has been a year of “political and economic transition” and that 2014 will be “decisive for Italy”.
The premier hopes Italy will enjoy a full year of growth next year as he is banking on the country pulling out of its longest recession in over two decades by the end of 2013.
“In this quarter we expect to resolve the problem of growth,” Letta said.
He added that youth unemployment, which has risen to above 40% in the recession while the level for the overall population is over 12%, was Italy’s “nightmare”. Letta’s government has been criticised for not doing enough to combat the recession and its 2014 budget law has been lambasted for being too timid with tax cuts.
But the premier stressed that his administration, which can rely on a more slender majority in parliament after a split within the centre right, has to take a pragmatic approach.
“It is not possible to think about staging a revolution to get out of the crisis, in part because of the political problems, you have to take one step at a time,” he said. He added that 2014 would also be a crucial year for institutional reforms for Italy.
When he was sworn in, Letta set himself an 18-month deadline to introduce a new election law and usher in changes to Italy’s Constitutional set-up to make the country easier to govern. Changes to the Constitution should include stripping the Senate of law-making powers and turning it into a regional assembly.
At present the Senate has the same powers as the Lower House, and legislation has to be approved in the same form in both houses, making lawmaking a drawn-out affair.
The current electoral law has been widely criticised because it does not let voters pick their MPs and tends to produce different majorities in the two houses, as happened in February’s general election which led to two months of deadlock.
“2014 will be the key year for the introduction of reforms and for change of the country’s political-institutional system,” he said. “The vote on the institutional reforms is expected by the summer”.
He added that his government’s plans to phase out public funding of parties will boost public confidence in the political class, which has been hit by a long series of corruption scandals.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt Aims to Start Rolling Back Debt in 2014
Privatizations in store, plus billions in savings
(By Christopher Livesay) (ANSA) — Rome, November 18 — Premier Enrico Letta said Monday that his administration will present plans for a round of privatizations this week, while a special commissioner overseeing a review of public spending announced billions in additional savings over the next three years. The government is looking to reduce Italy’s massive public debt, which stands at over two trillion euros, around 130% of gross domestic product, via privatization of State assets, including real estate.
Last week the European Commission said that Rome risked breaking the EU’s growth and stability pact next year because of debt levels after it analysed the government’s budget package for 2014. “This week there will be an important event, we’ll present the privatization plan that is being discussed at the economy ministry today,” Letta said at a conference organised by the Financial Times. “I’m sure that the budget bill is right and that the privatization plan will enable us to reduce our debt next year for the first time in five years”. The Italian government is considering selling a 4% stake in the international oil and gas company ENI. At the current state of play, the sale of a 4% stake would generate around 2.6 billion euros.
Later in the day, special commissioner Carlo Cottarelli submitted a report announcing additional savings of over 11 billion euros were being sought as part of Italy’s review of public spending. Those savings would amount to 3.6 billion euros by 2015, 8.3 billion euros by 2016, and 11.3 billion euros by 2017, according to the report.
Speaking at a roundtable gathering of ministers at the premier’s office, Cottarelli, the former International Monetary Fund’s head of fiscal affairs, said the goal of the budget package was to save in three-year spending the equivalent of roughly 2% of Italy’s gross domestic product in 2013.
Letta said this year, which saw his fragile left-right government replace Mario Monti’s emergency technocrat administration in April, has been one of “political and economic transition” and that 2014 will be “decisive for Italy”. The premier hopes Italy will enjoy a full year of growth next year as he is banking on the country pulling out of its longest recession in over two decades by the end of 2013. “In this quarter we expect to resolve the problem of growth,” Letta said. He added that youth unemployment, which has risen to above 40% in the recession while the level for the overall population is over 12%, was Italy’s “nightmare”. Letta’s government has been criticised for not doing enough to combat the recession and its 2014 budget law has been lambasted for being too timid with tax cuts. But the premier stressed that his administration, which can rely on a more slender majority in parliament after a split within the centre right, has to take a pragmatic approach. “It is not possible to think about staging a revolution to get out of the crisis, in part because of the political problems, you have to take one step at a time,” he said. He added that 2014 would also be a crucial year for institutional reforms for Italy. When he was sworn in, Letta set himself an 18-month deadline to introduce a new election law and usher in changes to Italy’s Constitutional set-up to make the country easier to govern. Changes to the Constitution should include stripping the Senate of law-making powers and turning it into a regional assembly. At present the Senate has the same powers as the Lower House, and legislation has to be approved in the same form in both houses, making lawmaking a drawn-out affair. The current electoral law has been widely criticised because it does not let voters pick their MPs and tends to produce different majorities in the two houses, as happened in February’s general election which led to two months of deadlock.
“2014 will be the key year for the introduction of reforms and for change of the country’s political-institutional system,” he said. “The vote on the institutional reforms is expected by the summer”. He added that his government’s plans to phase out public funding of parties will boost public confidence in the political class, which has been hit by a long series of corruption scandals.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Unemployment Rises, Far From Government Targets
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, NOVEMBER 18 — Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in August with a 1% rise year-on-year, Anadolu Agency reported quoting official figures, but the government aims to reduce it to around 5%. Both government officials and the analysts say the seasonal factors will continue to affect the unemployment figures. The number of those unemployed increased by 361,000 persons in August and totaled to 2.8 million persons in the country, the figures revealed by the state-run statistic body TUIK last Friday showed. The unemployment rate reached 9.8% in August with a 1% increase from the same month a year earlier. The non-agricultural unemployment rate rose to 12.3% with a 1% increase as the youth unemployment rate rose to 18.7% with a 1.5% increase. Turkey’s growth rate target is likely to be below forecasts, preventing the creation of employment that could reduce unemployment rates.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
By Paula Dwyer
In my previous post, I summarized Judge Jed Rakoff’s objections to all the reasons federal prosecutors have given for failing to charge top financial executives with criminal wrongdoing. So, what explains the hesitance to bring to justice those who contributed to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? In his speech before New York securities lawyers last week, Rakoff, the outspoken federal judge, laid out a few theories.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Al Jazeera Paid $500 Million to Reach 13,000 Viewers
By Daniel Greenfield
It’s funny. It’s as if for some reason Americans don’t seem eager to tune in to a news channel most famous for its beheading videos.
In the deal of the century, Al Jazeera paid $500 Million dollars for a liberal cable channel no one watched and then lost half its viewers. How much did that half a billion bucks, plus whatever Qatar paid Time Warner to carry it, buy?
13,000 viewers a day.
Qatar could probably get better ratings by turning Al Jazeera America into an Aquarium Fireplace channel and just showing a fish tank or a burning log and then occasionally interrupting it to scream, “AMERICA SUCKS”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Frank Gaffney, Jr.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt should have described November 16, 1933 as a day that will live in infamy. As syndicated columnist Diana West notes in her splendid new book, American Betrayal, that date marked the beginning of a sustained and odious practice of our government lying to us about the Russians. It appears that the Obama administration is determined to perpetrate a reprise of this practice. Call it American Betrayal 2.0.
According to Ms. West, the betrayal syndrome began when FDR normalized relations with the Soviet Union on the basis of a written promise from the Kremlin not to subvert the United States. Of course, the Soviets lied. But, for years thereafter, so did our own government — with horrific effects — by insisting the Soviets were reliable friends, and even wartime allies.
Sound familiar? Today, Team Obama is engaging in its own, serial and disastrous betrayals — from promising you can keep your health care to a deal that will allow Iran to keep its nuclear weapons program. But two others regarding the Russians warrant special attention.
First, the New York Times reported on the eightieth anniversary of the infamous normalization deal (without, of course, noting the irony) that the U.S. Department of State was beavering away at a new arrangement that would allow half-a-dozen Russian facilities to be installed across the United States. Ostensibly, these sites would be used to help the Kremlin build-out and operate its so-called Glonass satellite system, a counterpart to and competitor with America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).
There are several things wrong with this picture…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Atheist ‘Mega-Churches’ Take Root Across US, World
It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Several hundred people, including families with small children, packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational talk and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God. Nearly three dozen gatherings dubbed “atheist mega-churches” by supporters and detractors have sprung up around the U.S. and Australia — with more to come — after finding success in Great Britain earlier this year. The movement fueled by social media and spearheaded by two prominent British comedians is no joke. On Sunday, the inaugural Sunday Assembly in Los Angeles attracted several hundred people bound by their belief in non-belief. Similar gatherings in San Diego, Nashville, New York and other U.S. cities have drawn hundreds of atheists seeking the camaraderie of a congregation without religion or ritual.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Beaver Butt Used as ‘Natural Flavoring’ In Your Food
Millions of people across the globe are eating “beaver butt” and don’t even know that they’re consuming such a substance.
It’s called “castoreum,” and it’s emitted from the castor sacs within the animal’s anus. For a beaver, this slimy brown substance is used to mark its territory, but for us humans, it’s used as an additive that is often labeled as “natural flavoring” in the foods we eat — vanilla, strawberry and raspberry probably being the most common.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dairy Industry Pushing to Hide Aspartame in New Definition of ‘Milk’
(NaturalNews) In an effort to get more children to drink processed milk, the conventional dairy industry is pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change the very definition of milk to allow for the discreet addition of toxic artificial sweeteners like aspartame. According to a petition filed in the Federal Register earlier this year, the dairy industry’s goal is to change the “standard of identity” for milk so that it can be further modified and sweetened to attract more young consumers.
Whether it is due to increasing allergies or a simple distaste for its processed flavor, conventional milk sales have dropped some 25 percent in the U.S. since 1975, and consumption patterns are continuing to dwindle all across the country. So the National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association are petitioning to simply redefine the word “milk” to include other things like artificially flavored and sweetened chocolate and strawberry milk beverages.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dem Senator: ‘We All Knew’ Obama Was Lying
On Sunday, appearing on ABC’s This Week with fill-in host Martha Raddatz, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) admitted that Democrats knew full well that Americans would be booted from their health insurance plans as an effect of Obamacare implementation.
When asked whether Democrats were misled by President Obama about whether Americans would be able to keep their plans in the individual insurance market, Gillibrand answered: “He should’ve just been specific. No, we all knew.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Edward Snowden’s Father to VG: Much More is Coming
ALLANTOWN, USA (VG) Lonnie Snowden, father of Edward Snowden, speaks about how he is proud of what his son has done. He claims that many more classified details about mass surveillance activities soon will be disclosed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
George Zimmerman Charged With Felony After Allegedly Pointing Gun at Girlfriend
(CNN) — George Zimmerman was charged Monday with felony aggravated assault after allegedly pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend, according to Dennis Lemma, chief deputy with the Seminole County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office.
Zimmerman, who was acquitted earlier this year of murdering teenager Trayvon Martin, was arrested after the incident at the home of Samantha Schiebe, Lemma said. He also was charged with two misdemeanors — domestic violence battery and criminal mischief — in connection with the same incident, Lemma said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Google and Microsoft Agree Measures to Block Abuse Images
Leading search engine companies Google and Microsoft have agreed measures to make it harder to find child abuse images online. As many as 100,000 search terms will now return no results that find illegal material, and will trigger warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
GOP “Keep Your Health Plan Act” To the Left of Bill Clinton’s Stance
The House of Representatives passed the “Keep Your Health Plan Act” by a 261-157 vote November 15. The legislation would allow millions of Americans whose healthcare plans were cancelled under ObamaCare to renew their plans for one year. But the Republican-backed bill is actually to the left of the position held by former President Bill Clinton, who has called for a permanent repeal of this part of ObamaCare.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
GOP Eyes Pope as “Divine” Leader
For his party to survive, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich believes the GOP needs to broaden its appeal beyond “the infamous 47 percent.” Conservative activist Ralph Reed would rebrand the Republican Party as a force of compassion — feed the poor and clothe the naked. Republican strategist John Feehery says the GOP craves a populist leader — “a happy warrior.” Their model: Pope Francis. “What Francis is doing,” Reed said, “is rebalancing the Catholic Church’s message to stress the pastoral mission of good works and service to people before getting to ideology. What he’s not doing is jettisoning the Catholic doctrine. What about that is not a model for the Republican Party?” For top Republicans, Catholics in particular, the pontiff’s headline-seizing efforts to reverse negative stereotypes of one of the world’s oldest and most ossified institutions — almost exclusively through symbolic gestures — stands as an example for the GOP.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Law Enforcement Ankle Bracelets Have Built in Phone to Transmit Audio
When defense lawyer Fermín L. Arraiza-Navas sat down with a prospective client in San Juan, Puerto Rico last April, he casually asked the man about the Global Positioning System (GPS) ankle bracelet that he was wearing as a condition for his bail.
The reply was just as casual. “They speak to me through that thing,” the man said.
It wasn’t the first time the lawyer encountered GPS bracelets with apparently extraordinary powers. He told the Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Reporting (CPIPR) that a previous defendant’s GPS ankle bracelet started to vibrate during a meeting with him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
List of Americans That Want Obama Gone Growing Exponentially
The bikers massed in Washington. So did truckers. Then there were the groups representing the military and its families. And don’t forget what the veterans themselves did when President Obama strategically shut off access to the World War II veteran’s memorial during the government’s partial shutdown. Now a mass demonstration has been announced for Washington to combine all the frustration Americans have over the Obama scandals — Benghazi, Navy SEALs, Fast and Furious, the IRS, the NSA, Obamacare, amnesty for illegal aliens and others — and press for action. “We must have the means to literally camp in Washington, D.C., and not leave until we get results,” explains the website’s agenda for the event.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nancy [Pelosi] Hits a New, Incoherent, Low (Video)
Watch a stammering, babbling, Pelosi try to weasel her way out of her own ‘like it, keep it’ lies
Sunday morning, she appeared on Meet the Press and David Gregory brought it up. Her rambling reply is a beautifully marbled slab of USDA Prime baloney. We’re not even sure that she’s trying to make salient points anymore. She just babbles and hopes her answer is so confusing that no one will notice how completely, utterly, ridiculous it is.
Since I would have no idea how to transcribe the stilted insanity of what she says here, I’m just going to drop the video below. It’s reminiscent of Obama’s atrocious press conference and, like that appearance, it’s pure comedy gold.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare: The Final Nail in the Coffin for the Middle Class
If there were any shreds of hope left that the stunning decline of the middle class could be turned around, Obamacare has absolutely destroyed them. Over the past decade or so, the middle class in the United States has been absolutely eviscerated.
The number of working age Americans without a job has increased by 27 million since the year 2000, median household income in the U.S. has fallen for five years in a row, and the poverty numbers in this country are spiraling out of control. And now here comes Obamacare. As you will see below, Obamacare is causing millions of Americans to lose their current health insurance policies, it is causing health insurance premiums to explode to absolutely ridiculous levels, and it is systematically killing jobs even though the employer mandate has been delayed for a while. All of this is creating a tremendous amount of stress for millions of middle class families that are already stretched extremely thin financially…
And according to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, Obama not only knew that this would happen, he actually wrote the regulation that caused this to happen…
“I’m still learning about it. It’s 20,000 pages of regulations. The Bill was 2,000 pages and I didn’t realize this until this week, the whole idea of you losing or getting your insurance cancelled wasn’t in the original Obamacare. It was a regulation WRITTEN BY PRESIDENT OBAMA, three months later. So we had a vote, this is before I got up there. The Republicans had a vote to try to cancel that regulation so you COULDN’T BE CANCELLED, to grandfather everybody in. You know what the vote was? Straight party line. EVERY DEMOCRAT VOTED TO KEEP THE RULE THAT CANCELS YOUR INSURANCE.“…
Overall, Forbes is projecting that an astounding 93 million Americans will eventually lose their current health insurance policies due to Obamacare.
[Comment: Democare rather than Obamacare more accurately associates all Democrats with ACA.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oprah: Racists Have to Die for Racism to End
By Noel Sheppard
Oprah Winfrey, one of the wealthiest people in the world, is throwing the race card again. During an interview with the BBC Friday, she not only said that President Obama is treated with disrespect because he’s black, but also that entire generations of racists are going to have to die for racism to end (video follows with transcript and commentary).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Potentially Fatal ‘Knockout’ Game Targeting Strangers May be Spreading
by Chris Lingebach
WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — A terrifying new ‘game’ that’s already caused deaths in Syracuse, St. Louis and New Jersey is sweeping the nation, and it preys upon unsuspecting people walking the streets, anywhere.
A recent report from New York-based CBS 2 shed light on the growing trend, displaying unsettling footage of teens participating in this game — which goes by the name ‘Knockout’ — and involves randomly targeting passersby, with the ultimate goal being to knock them out with one punch as they walk by.
And what’s the point?
“For the fun of it,” one teen said in the video.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Selection of Hillary Clinton
Contrary to what the American sheeple have been brainwashed to believe, since the beginning of the past century Americans don’t elect their presidents. Presidential elections are nothing but a grandiose “mise en scene” to fool them into believing they have elected one of the candidates of the two factions of the Repucratic party. Actually, however, the president has been selected way in advance by the globalist conspirators of the Invisible Government of the United States.
The fact that we Americans don’t elect our presidents is so obvious that even Louis Farrakhan mentioned it once. During a Conference in Chicago on March 10, 2010, Minister Farrakhan cryptically mentioned that Obama had been selected before being elected. Later he added, “President Obama does not run the country.”[1]
Everything indicates that, finally, Hillary Clinton has been selected by the Invisible Government to hammer the final nail in this nation’s coffin. Just recently, she was awarded in London this year’s Chatham House Prize in recognition of her significant and impressive contribution to international diplomacy as US Secretary of State and her work on behalf of gender equality and opportunities for women and girls.[2]
If you don’t know what the Chatham House is, you are not alone. Like the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the U.S., the Chatham House, formerly known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), makes an effort to be out of the public’s eye. Only recently, thanks to the Internet and its non-controlled sources of information, people are beginning to know what these institutions do and what are their ultimate goals. And both of them were twins separated at birth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
TSA Rolls Out ‘Detention Pods’ At Airport Terminal Exits
The TSA is funding the rollout of exit pods at major airport terminals across the country that temporarily detain passengers before they are allowed to leave, another example critics say of how the federal agency’s policies treat travelers as prisoners.
Travelers are forced to be bottlenecked through the pods as they leave the airport terminal. A robotic voice gives instructions to wait inside the pod until a green light is shown and the door opens.
The pods have already been installed at Syracuse International Airport as part of a $60 million dollar renovation and are likely to make their way into other major airports soon. Once travelers exit the pods, they are unable to re-enter the terminal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Obama and I Learned at Columbia: How to Destroy America From Within
Everyone needs to hear my story because what Obama and I learned at Columbia explains EXACTLY what Obama is doing to America today. What Obama and I Learned at Columbia: How to Destroy America From Within The economy in deep decline; the disappearance of jobs; the annihilation of the middle class; the demonization of business owners; the destruction of small business with onerous regulations and taxes; the overwhelming debt and spending of out-of-control government; the millions of Americans losing their health insurance; and the unimaginable increase in dependency through welfare, food stamps, unemployment, disability, and now free health care.
It’s all easily explained when you hear what Obama and I learned at Columbia.
America’s decline under Obama isn’t due to mistake, ignorance, or incompetence at the hands of a community organizer. It’s a purposeful, brilliant plan hatched at Columbia University to destroy capitalism, American exceptionalism, Judeo-Christian values, and the American Dream.
[…]
In 1981 when a student burst through the doors to our political science class and screamed “The President has been shot. They’ve assassinated Reagan”… my classmates yelled, hugged, high-fived, and jumped up and down cheering the death of a Republican. Today most of my classmates are either in government with Obama, or controlling the mainstream media.
[Comment: A MUST READ article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
World’s ‘Most Dangerous Islamist’ — Alive, Well . . . And Living in Pennsylvania
The most dangerous Islamist in the world is neither Afghani nor Arab. He comes from neither Sudan nor Somalia. And he resides in neither the mountains of Pakistan nor the deserts of the Palestinian territories. This individual has toppled the secular government of Turkey and established madrassahs throughout the world. His schools indoctrinate children in the tenets of radical Islam and prepare adolescents for the Islamization of the world. More than 90 of these madrassahs have been established as charter schools throughout the United States. They are funded by American taxpayers.
One of these charter schools — Tarek ibn Zayed Academy (TiZA) in Minnesota — is so radically Islamic and subversive in nature that the Minnesota Department of Education issued two citations against it and the American Civil Liberties Union is suing it. Dozens of his universities, including the Faith University in Istanbul, train young men to become lawyers, accountants, and political leaders so that they can take an active part in the restoration of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamization of the Western World.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why They Really Hate Toronto Mayor Rob Ford
The media is full of revelation after revelation of the latest “evil-doing” of embattled Toronto mayor Rob Ford. But there are no doubt dozens of mayors and other local officials in the US and Canada who are awash in corruption and bad personal habits. Why no wall-to-wall coverage of their foibles? Why do the media and the elites really hate Rob Ford so much?
One clue is buried in yet another article otherwise filled with salacious details of his latest brouhaha:
[…]
“Upon winning his first election, Rob Ford immediately garnered a reputation for keeping taxes and city expenses down. In 2001, he advocated cutting limousines as a city perk and slashing each councilor’s $200,000 budget, used for travel and club memberships. “If we wiped out the perks for council members, we’d save $100 million easy,” he said, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christmas Swastikas, Those ‘WAYCIST’ Finns
Sweden in a lather!
The Finnish Tabloid paper Iltalehti takes it in stride, a reader sends in the following picture to cash in on the Swedish hysteria sweeping the nation. Yeah, this will be the next to go after the Dutch Christmas character, ‘Black Peter’. Meanwhile, in Left-wing nirvana Sweden, Jews are being driven out by the Leftist-Islamic alliance.. Priorities.
According to Swedish Radio the traditional star shaped Christmas pastries look very similar to swastikas. An Iltalehti reader found an even greater resemblance of one in the library of the university of Rovaniemi.
In the university Library, the reading cubicles are separated by means of screens’, and in particular a view from the top view the area meant for four students gives a new kind of meaning.
– If Christmas are swastikas, so why wouldn’t the University of Lapland reading cubicles, the reader queries.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
EU Competition Watchdog Approves Takeover of Loro Piana
Italian luxury cashmere producer sold to France’s LVMH
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 18 — European competition authorities on Monday approved the takeover of Italian high-end cashmere producer Loro Piana by the French luxury group LVMH.
Regulatory authorities said they saw no issues concerning competition raised by the two-billion-euro deal. The company was started in the early 19th century by a family of wool merchants and in its present form, was founded in 1924 by Pietro Loro Piana.
In July 2013, LVMH purchased 80% of Loro Piana for two billion euros. According to LVMH, the company that was formed by the 1987 merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with champagne producer Moet Hennessy, Loro Piana is the largest Western manufacturer of cashmere.
At the time of the purchase, the Loro Piana family said that jobs will be protected at the Italian operation, known for tailoring some of the world’s finest suits and other fine garments.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘If You Have Nothing to Say, At Least Say it Well’
Charles Moore reviews The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth (Icon Books)
An alternative title for this sparkling book, which would fit with its occasionally over-jocular tone, would be Locution. Locution. Locution. Such a title is an example of epizeuxis, I can now, thanks to this slim volume, inform you. All of us use rhetoric, but few of us understand what it is we are doing, and therefore we don’t do it well. The only famous person in modern British public life who grasps what are called “the figures of rhetoric” is the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. He knows their mainly Greek terms, and he knows how to deploy them. There is a strong argument for saying that it is his mastery of the subject that has got him to the top.
The author, Mark Forsyth, starts with the assertion that rhetoric can be learnt by almost anybody. But our culture is afflicted by the false concept of “genius” and by the Romantic movement’s idea that truth resides in nature: “They [the Romantics] wanted to be natural, and the figures of rhetoric are not natural.” He denies that Shakespeare was a genius: he was just a hard-working fellow who learnt Latin composition, and the figures of rhetoric, at his grammar school. (That is why grammar schools were so called, one should add, and why they were so good.) This taught him how to write. When he started to write plays, he was not all that brilliant at first, but he stuck at it, until practice made him almost literally perfect.
Another person who was jolly good at it was St Paul. His epistles contains a classic epistrophe: “When I was a child … I thought as a child.” The same passage also contains a tricolon (“faith, hope and charity, these three”). Forsyth argues that the figures of rhetoric are like recipes for a cook. No one would cook blindfold, yet that is how most of us write and speak, throwing in the ingredients without knowing what they are and what they can do. So this is a “how to” book. Indeed, its subtitle is “How to Turn the Perfect Phrase”. This is, as the meerkats and the author say, “simples” (which is an example of enallage, a deliberate grammatical mistake). Study these 39 short chapters, 38 of which are named after different figures of rhetoric, and you can be up there with the all-time greats, Forsyth claims.
Even if this is a false promise, the book offers many pleasures. Sometimes I laughed out loud at the examples chosen. “Transferred epithets” are so common that we hardly think about them: “disabled toilet”, for instance — though one does all too often meet a public lavatory which is, itself, disabled. And only PG Wodehouse could have taken the epithet “astonished” and transferred it to the word “toast”.
Rosamond Lehmann said of Ian Fleming: “The trouble with Ian is that he gets off with women because he can’t get on with them.” That is a syllepsis. I also learnt from this book that bdelygmia, which sounds like some fell venereal disease, is the correct rhetorical term for a heap of insults.
Other devices are seriously deep and beautiful. Take paradox. God’s remark that “Before Abraham was, I am” is the ultimate paradox, a clash not only of apparent sense but of tenses.
It is interesting that some figures come more readily to human speech than others. All of us, particularly politicians, love anaphora, which means starting each sentence with the same words. Once you get going, you find it difficult to stop, especially if you are at the podium or the dispatch box: “We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds.” Churchill did 11 of these in a row.
Zeugma, on the other hand, is tricky. It is when the verb governs more than one thing in the sentence e.g. “Dick likes whisky, Dick vodka, Harry crack cocaine.” In English, the device does not come naturally. Congreve originally wrote: “Heav’n has no rage, like love to hatred turned, / Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned.” That is a zeugma. But because it is unnatural to say, the phrase is altered in common memory to: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’
Behind all these rules, and the light-hearted way they are set out, lies the author’s belief that rhetoric is little more than fun. He ends his last chapter — which, with rhetorical correctness, he calls his peroration — with the following: “For though we have nothing to say, we can at least say it well.”
If he is serious in saying this, he is mistaken. Actually, I suspect he is not serious, and this is just another figure of rhetoric (whose Greek name he does not disclose) designed to win us over.
I have real difficulty with Alexander Pope’s famous lines “True wit is nature to advantage dress’d,/ What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.” What, exactly, is a thought without the words? How is the expression to be distinguished absolutely from the content? Please give me an example. The analogy with nature being dressed to advantage does not work, because here we are talking about language, which has no “natural” state.
Still, we are entering into philosophical realms here, and Mark Forsyth is wise to steer clear of them. It would spoil the cheerful cynicism of his tone. His essential message is “Ask not what you can do for your language, but what your language can do for you.” (Which is an example of chiasmus.)
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Authorities Seeking ‘Rapid, Fair Trial’ For Marines Says Envoy
Rome, 13 Nov. (AKI) — Italy wants a “rapid, fair” trial for the two marines facing trial in India for murder and remains strongly committed to bringing them home, the government’s envoy in the case said on Wednesday.
“I don’t have any dramatic news,” Staffan De Mistura told a briefing of the Italian parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committees.
He declined to give a time-frame for the trial of Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone for the killing of two Indian fishermen off the southern Indian coast in February last year.
But the envoy said that Italian authorities were seeking “a rapid and fair trial” for the marines and that there was “a strong and constant determination” to return the men to Italy.
“There is also a desire on the Indian side to bring this matter to a close in the fastest way possible,” De Mistura stated.
There were “inconsistencies” between the bullets lodged in the two Indian fishermen’s bodies and Latorre and Girone’s rifles, De Mistura said.
In order to complete their probe, Indian investigators had needed to question the four other marines aboard the oil tanker Latorre and Girone were guarding at the time of the incident, he said.
The Indian investigators interviewed the four witnesses at the Indian embassy in Rome on Monday by video-link after they refused to travel to India to testify before a court.
Latorre and Girone, who were guarding the Italy-flagged oil tanker Enrica Lexie, claim they believed the two fishermen were pirates. Italy alleges the incident took place in international waters and that India does not have jurisdiction in the case.
The case sparked a major diplomatic row between India and Italy earlier this year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Piedmont Regional President Denies Allegations of Fraud
Senior Northern League official says he has respected laws
(ANSA) — Turin, November 18 — Roberto Cota, governor of the Piedmont region of northern Italy, said Monday that he is not guilty of allegations of financial misconduct in expense claims.
Cota, a leading member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, was responding to reports that prosecutors in Turin are seeking his indictment on charges of financial crimes in expense claims.
“I can only say that I have always respected the law (working) in the interest of the Piedmont region and of individual citizens,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Justice Minister May Quit Before Confidence Motion — Report
Cancellieri under fire over calls in corruption case
(ANSA) — Rome, November 18 — Under-fire Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri may quit before parliament votes on a motion of no confidence on her on Wednesday, government sources were reported as saying by the Financial Times Monday.
Cancellieri is at the centre of a storm after admitting she called the judicial authorities in the case of a relative of a family friend who had been jailed in relation to a corruption probe and was subsequently granted house arrest. Cancellieri reported to parliament earlier this month over the case of Giulia Ligresti, a member of a major Italian business dynasty who was arrested in July for alleged involvement in cooking the books at the Fonsai insurance group, and she won the backing of Premier Enrico Letta.
But there are increasingly vocal calls from within Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) for it to join the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in calling for Cancellieri to be removed after new reports of phone conversations with the Ligresti family emerged.
On Friday, Italian daily La Repubblica cited leaked police reports which showed Cancellieri and her husband maintained telephone contact with Giulia Ligresti’s uncle Antonino.
Antonino’s brother is Giulia’s father Salvatore Ligresti, the family patriarch and former honorary chairman of Fonsai, who is also under house arrest along with two former executives from the insurance company. The minister’s son, Piergiorgio Peluso, is a former manager at the insurance group and received a whopping five-million-euro severance payoff after a short spell there.
Cancellieri’s critics says it is a case of people with friends in high places receiving better treatment from the Italian justice system than ordinary people.
The minister said she did not intervene to have Giulia Ligresti released but only to inform the authorities that she suffered from anorexia and depression.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prosecutor Asks for One Month Sentence for Santanché
(AGI) Milan, Nov 18 — The public prosecutor has requested a one month sentence and 100 euro fine for Daniela Santanché charged with organising an anti-burqa protest in Milan in September 2009 coinciding with ceremonies marking the end of Ramadan. The prosecution has requested a 2,000 euro fine instead for the Egyptian Ahmed El Badry, charged with causing bodily harm when attacking her on this same occasion.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cancellieri-Ligresti Issue Forwarded to Rome
(AGI) Turin, Nov 18 — Turin’s public prosecutor, Giancarlo Caselli has said in a statement that there are no investigations into the Cancellieri-Ligresti issue. The statement also said that a “Form K file has been created for documents concerning events currently not considered crimes, but that require further analysis.” The statement went on to say that the file will be sent to prosecutors in Rome, which has jurisdiction.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Letta Sees Admin Strengthened by Centre-Right Split
Situation now ‘clearer’ says premier
(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) — Rome, November 18 — Premier Enrico Letta said Monday that his coalition government is more stable after the centre right split at the weekend between a new group that continues to support it and Silvio Berlusconi’s revamped Forza Italia (FI), which looks set to move to the opposition. “I’m sure that what happened in the centre right will help Italy’s stability,” Letta said at a conference organised by the Financial Times. Pro-government doves led by Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano on Saturday refused to leave Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party to join Forza Italia.
The split came after Berlusconi made it clear that the new group will withdraw its support from the executive if the three-time premier is stripped of his Senate seat after the supreme court upheld a tax-fraud conviction against him.
Berlusconi is furious that Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) is backing a move to have him ejected from parliament, saying it wants to commit “political homicide”, with a vote in the Upper House set to take place next week.
Letta’s government should be able to stay afloat without FI’s support in parliament, thanks to around 30 centre-right Senators and over 20 members of the Lower House who are signing up for Alfano’s group, the New Centre Right (NCD).
The NCD officially came to life on Monday.
Alfano led a PdL rebellion last month that forced Berlusconi to make an embarrassing U-turn and back down on a bid to sink the left-right government, which was cobbled together in April to end a long deadlock after February’s inconclusive general election, and provoke a snap vote. The administration had had problems on focusing on hauling Italy out of its longest recession in over two decades, amid frequent furores and threats over Berlusconi’s legal problems and policy differences between the PdL and PD.
“We started our work with great turbulence,” said Letta.
“Now let’s hope that we can work in a more stable, clearer situation.
“Now the situation is clear and people can take their responsibilities. I consider what happened to be the practical application of the decision taken on October 2,” he added, referring to the date of crunch confidence vote that his government won after Berlusconi’s U-turn. Letta is likely to get a taste of how strong his new majority is soon, with the government’s 2014 budget law, which has been blasted for not doing enough to boost growth, facing votes in parliament this month. Alfano has been called a traitor by several Berlusconi loyalists.
But minister and the ex-premier have both made an effort to play down any talk of bitterness and said they saw each other as potential allies in future elections.
Alfano stressed that the NCD would vote against the move for Berlusconi to be ejected from parliament. He agrees with Berlusconi’s assertion that he is the victim of a campaign of persecution by left-wing judges who are trying to wipe him off the political scene.
The tax-fraud verdict was the three-time premier’s first definitive conviction after two decades of legal battles.
The 77-year-old media magnate is appealing against convictions for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and for involvement in the illegal publication of a wiretap and has been indicted for allegedly bribing a Senator to change political sides.
But Alfano and his supporters do not think the government should be hit by Berlusconi’s legal problems, as this would generate instability just as Italy looks close to emerging from a recession that has caused unemployment to rise to record levels of over 12%, and over 40% among young people.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prosecutor Asks for One-Month Jail Term for Santanché
Berlusconi MP got into altercation with Muslims in 2009
(ANSA) — Milan, November 18 — A Milan prosecutor on Monday asked a court to give center-right MP Daniela Santanché a one-month jail term and a 100-euro fine for holding a demonstration without a permit in Milan on September 20, 2009.
About 10-20 people showed up at the rally Santanché, a staunch loyalist of convicted ex premier Silvio Berlusconi, organized on the last day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan to protest against the burqa worn by observant Muslim women, which she called “a portable prison”. The prosecutor also asked the court to fine Ahmed El Badry, who punched Santanché in the chest that day, 2,000 euros. Santanché told the court she attended an end-of-Ramadan prayer meeting that day to “verify with my own eyes whether or not Muslim women were respecting Italian law, which says you can’t walk around in public with your face covered”.
Since several women were wearing burqas that day, Santanché got into an altercation with members of the Muslim community, which ended with her getting punched in the chest and having to go to hospital.
She personally called the city police commissioner on her cell phone to tell him she was attending the prayer meeting along with her bodyguards. The court responded that she did not respect procedure.
“I was just trying to have a dialogue with them”, Santanché told the court. She is due in court on December 2 for sentencing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) More than 5,000 jars of organic wild blueberry jam made in Italy have been intercepted and recalled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in Japan after multiple batches of the fruit spread tested positive for unacceptable levels of radioactive cesium-137. According to the Japanese news source Shukan Asahi, the blueberries used in the Fiordifrutta brand jam, which originated in Bulgaria, were affected by radiation not from a recent nuclear event like Fukushima but rather from the infamous Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.
This shocking revelation came as officials began tracing the source of the contaminated fruit, which tested as high as 164 becquerels (Bq) per kilogram (kg) of cesium-137, according to the paper. Located some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away, the fields where the tainted blueberries were grown somehow came into contact with residual radiation from an accident that took place nearly 30 years ago, illustrating the harrowing long-term effects of nuclear disasters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oslo Mayor Calls for Ban on Sex Workers
The mayor of Oslo has called on the Norway’s new government to look at making prostitution illegal, after women were reported selling sex outside the parliament building.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Shootings: Manhunt After Newspaper Attack
A manhunt is under way in Paris after two separate shootings, including one at a newspaper that left a man fighting for his life.
A photographer’s assistant was seriously injured at the offices of the Liberation newspaper before another shooting about two hours later outside the headquarters of Societe Generale bank.
In a third incident, a man was taken hostage close to the bank and forced to drive to the Champs-Elysees before being released.
Police said descriptions of the car-jacker matched that of the gunman. Shotgun cartridges found after both attacks also match up.
There are unconfirmed reports that the lone suspect may be carrying grenades.
Officers are guarding media offices across Paris and are investigating a link with an incident on Friday when a man with a shotgun threatened journalists at a French news channel.
Police said that CCTV images of the shooter suggested he was the same man who had stormed into the headquarters of BFMTV on Friday.
In that attack the man brandishing a shotgun warned a senior editor: “Next time, I will not miss you.”
The victim at the Liberation newspaper was shot in the chest and arm, according to police union spokesman Christophe Crepin.
The shooter reportedly entered the lobby of the building wearing a bulletproof vest just before 10.15am, fired several shots with a pump-action shotgun and then fled.
Liberation said the 27-year-old victim is in a critical condition at the city’s Pitie-Salpetriere hospital.
Liberation journalist Anastasia Vecrin said she saw a man “lying on the ground, holding his stomach and with blood everywhere” as she arrived at work.
“I met two of the reception staff who were completely white and who told me: ‘We’ve just been shot at’,” she said.
No one was injured at the bank shooting, according to a Societe Generale spokesperson.
Police confirmed three shots were fired outside the building, located in La Defense district, which is about six miles (10km) from the newspaper’s office.
Francisco Alvarez, who witnessed the shooting at La Defense, said: “I saw this guy with a cap and a shotgun, a pump-action shotgun, in his hand.
“I don’t think he was necessarily targeting anyone, he shot in the air then into a window. The first shot shocked everyone into silence and then the second caused a general panic. Then he ran away down the steps to the street.”
Freelance journalist Peter Allen, who is on the Champs-Elysees, said there is an “eerie silence on the streets” and that people in the area have been told to stay inside.
“The hunt is on for this man,” said Allen. “He has been described as between 40 and 45 years old, stout, shaven headed, wearing a cap and jeans.
“Rather disturbing reports say he is actually brandishing hand grenades as well as a shotgun.
“No one has seen him for a while and there are reports that he disappeared down into the Metro system — specifically line one — a hugely popular line full of tourists at all times of the day.”
French President Francois Hollande said in a statement he had ordered authorities to “mobilise all means to clarify the circumstances of these acts and arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators”.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Document Reveals Pope Francis About to Make Major Vatican Changes
The Rise of Petrus Romanus
For more than 800 years, scholars have pointed to a prophecy regarding “the last pope,” and of a “great apostasy” and even the destruction of Rome. Taken from St. Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” it includes a list of verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic popes from Pope Celestine II to the final pope, “Peter the Roman,” whose reign would end in the destruction of Rome.
Enter Francis. More than any other Pope now living, Pope Francis is a change agent who people say is the last pope the Catholic Church will ever see. Only in office a very short time and already he has discussed letting priests marry, atheists going to Heaven, a proposed alliance with Islam, and a broad unification off all the earth’s religions. I don’t know about you, but that’s a pope with an overflowing agenda and one who is looking to get something done as quickly as possible.
Could he be the last pope? It’s quite possible.
Vatican City (AFP) — The Vatican on Tuesday launched an unprecedented worldwide consultation on modern families including same-sex couples as part of Pope Francis’s drive to reform the Catholic Church.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Vandals Throw Pigs Feet Inside Fittja Mosque
Vandals threw the pigs trotters inside a mosque south of Stockholm, Swedish Radio News reports.
Staff at the mosque in the southern Stockholm suburb of Fittja told police they discovered a broken window at the building’s entrance when they arrived about 11 a.m. Monday. The pigs feet were found laying inside the building.
Muslims consider pigs to be unclean and are forbidden from eating pork.
Police are classifying the damage as vandalism and a hate crime.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Åkesson Not Invited to Nobel Ball
The leader of the xenophobic Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, has once again not been invited to attend the Nobel Prize festivities in Stockholm next month, newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reports.
This is the fourth year in a row he has been left off the invitations list. He is the only parliamentary party leader not to have been invited to the celebrations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Airbus Secures More Than £30bn in Airshow Orders
The plane manufacturer Airbus has secured deals for aircraft potentially worth over £30bn on the first day of the Dubai airshow.
The Dubai airline Emirates wants 50 more Airbus A380 superjumbos, in deal said to be worth £14.2bn. Airbus says that order will protect 2,500 jobs at its UK bases in Flintshire and Bristol. United Arab Emirates flag carrier Etihad could spend up to £16.7bn on nearly 120 planes, including 50 A350s.
Etihad has placed firm orders for 87 aircraft, with options for another 30. Doha-based Qatar Airways has also agreed a £600m deal for five A330 freighters, with an option to take a further eight, bringing the potential order total to £1.7bn. Wings for all the planes are made the Airbus factory at Broughton in Flintshire, which employs over 6,000…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Islamic Converts Joined Muslim Patrol to Impose Sharia Law in London
A pair of Islamic converts joined a ‘Muslim Patrol’ in east London to impose Sharia Law, threatening to stab people they believed to be anti-Islamic and confiscating their alcohol.
Ricardo McFarlane, 26, and a 23-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons, joined convert Jordan Horner (pictured), 19, of Walthamstow, east London, roaming the streets in the early hours of the morning last December and this January.
The group confronted members of the public whom they suspected were non-Muslims berating them for their alleged anti-Islamic behavior.
They threatened to ‘kill non believers’ and ‘shank’ — stab — them and uploaded videos to Youtube criticizing non-Muslims for being inappropriately dressed.
The campaign against Western culture culminated when Horner assaulted two men in Tower Hamlets when the ‘patrol’ confronted them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lee Rigby Woolwich Murder Trial Postponed Until Thursday
THE trial of two men accused of murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich has been postponed, the Old Bailey has heard. The trial was due to start today, but will now start on Thursday (November 21). Michael Adebolajo, aged 28, and Michael Adebowale, aged 22, are charged with murdering the Fusilier as he walked back to Woolwich Barracks on May 22.
They are also each accused of attempting to murder a police officer on the same day, and conspiracy to murder a police officer on or before that day.
Father-of-one Fusilier Rigby, 25, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, died of multiple cut and stab wounds when he was attacked as he returned to the barracks after spending the day at the Tower of London.
Adebolajo, from Romford in Essex, has asked to be known as Mujaahid Abu Hamza in court, while Adebowale, of Thames Street, Greenwich, has asked to be called Ismail Ibn Abdullah…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Taxi Driver With Samurai Sword Arrested Trying to Kill UK Prime Minister
by Daniel Greenfield
Apparently UK gun control was effective enough so that Irfaq Naz had a 950,000-volt stun gun, hammers, kitchen knives, a machete and a samurai sword. But maybe he just liked the idea of manually beheading the Prime Minister, who once claimed that the UK needs to integrate with Islam rather than the other way around…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim in London Stopped En Route to Murdering Prime Minister
A cache of weapons including a 950,000 volt stun gun was discovered in the car of a taxi driver who said he was on his way to kill the Prime Minister, a court has heard.
Police also found hammers, kitchen knives, a machete, an unsheathed Samurai sword and masking tape in Irfaq Naz’s Vauxhall Astra, when he was stopped after going the wrong way down a north London street.
Officers later searched the 34-year-old’s home in Middlesbrough and found the Downing Street postcode and the names of other prominent political figures.
The taxi driver was detained under the Mental Health Act, and last month admitted possessing a prohibited weapon, three counts of possessing an offensive weapon, seven counts of having a bladed article and dangerous driving.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Shadowy Turkish Group ‘Mentora Academies Trust’ To Receive Millions of Pounds to Run UK Schools
by Ismet Inonu
A Turkish group called ‘Mentora Academies Trust’ which has no website and whose Chairman speaks no English, has declared it will receive £6-7 million pounds from the British government to run three schools in Oxfordshire on 500 acres of land. Enver Yucel, Chairman of the Turkey-based group, has claimed the schools will have 1500 pupils and he will receive £6000 per pupil. He also claimed he will run the English schools‘better than the English’ and pupils from Turkey will be able to attend these schools to gain English Diplomas. According to Mr Yucel, the British government has approved his group’s proposals…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tory Blow as Tycoon Paul Sykes Gives UKIP Millions
Self-made businessman promises to do “whatever it takes” to help Ukip top the polls in May
The UK Independence Party will receive a multi-million pound boost before next year’s European elections after winning support from one of Britain’s wealthiest businessmen. Paul Sykes, a self-made tycoon and veteran of the campaign to keep the pound 15 years ago, has promised to do “whatever it takes” to help Ukip top the polls in May. His move deals a big blow to the Conservatives as they fight to contain Nigel Farage’s party.
Mr Sykes supported the Tories under Margaret Thatcher and Michael Howard, but has backed Ukip in the past, giving the party £1.5€‰million in 2004. His latest investment in the party is expected to run into several millions. He told the Telegraph that he wanted to finance Ukip’s efforts to pull Britain out of the EU…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Two Muslim Converts Due in Court Over Lee Rigby’s Killing
(Reuters) — Two Muslim converts accused of hacking to death a British soldier in broad daylight on a London street go on trial this week in a case that has shocked many in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron described the killing at the time as a betrayal of Islam and an attack on the British way of life. Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, a veteran of the Afghan war, was killed on May 22 not far from an army barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, a murder that provoked disgust and fears of an anti-Muslim backlash…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Albania: ‘Chemical Weapons With Sarin. 0.05 Mg Kills in Two Minutes’
Gazeta Shqiptare, 12 November 2013
Concern is mounting in Albania after a US suggestion that Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal could be stored and destroyed there. Albania, a NATO member country, was the first state to entirely destroy its chemical weapons in 2007.
Scientists consulted by Gazeta Shquiptare voiced warnings about the duration of the process, the danger posed by some of the items to be destroyed, and the waste produced by the neutralisation of chemical weapons —
“The destruction of 16 tonnes in 2007 took 16 months,” said the experts. The destruction of 1,000 tonnes of Syrian weapons could take more than eight years. […] Once the process is completed, pollution will have to be monitored, because it lasts for years.
In the meantime, adds the newspaper —
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Albania: Giant Cross Angers Muslims
A decision to allow the construction of a 33-metre-tall (100ft) Christian cross in the Macedonian capital has attracted negative reactions from the Albanian Muslim minority.
The plan to build the tall cross in the Aerodrome municipality of the Macedonian capital which, according to the project’s initiator, will be visible in the Albanian, predominantly Muslim parts of Skopje, was criticized by locals.
“There are enough churches and mosques. There is no need for such monuments,” Adem Ahmet, an elderly ethnic Albanian resident of Skopje’s Albanian-dominated Cair municipality told BIRN.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: President Mansour Calls on Russian President to Visit Egypt
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed his country’s full support for Egypt and the transitional government following the June 30 Revolution. In a telephone conversation with interim president Adly Mansour, Putin said he received a report from his foreign and defense ministers who have just visited Egypt. Putin stressed keenness on boosting bilateral relations with Cairo, particularly in the economic and military fields, a statement by the presidency said on Saturday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Calm Descends Over Tripoli Following Violent Protests
(AGI) Tripoli, Nov. 16 — After violent anti-militia protests in Tripoli, Libya’s capital on Saturday prepared to bury the dead.
The death toll from Friday’s clashes was 32, with 391 injured and counting, said the local authorities. Several injured people who were taken to Abou Salim hospital were in critical condition. An appeal was launched on Saturday morning for blood donations and appealing to medical staff to rally round. The government called for a ceasefire while Saturday saw relative calm returning to the capital. Meanwhile, the Misrata militia involved in the clashes took back their Gharbhur headquarters.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Militia Ordered Out of Tripoli After 43 Die in Clashes
(AGI) Tripoli, Nov 18 — Militia groups from the Libyan port city of Misrata have been ordered to leave the capital, Tripoli, within 72 hours after 43 people died in clashes. One of the Misrata militiamen opened fire on demonstrators trying to evict them from their headquarters on Friday. Misrata’s local council and commanders of the former rebels said in a joint statement that all militia groups from the city must leave.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Meat Mummies’ Kept Egyptian Royalty Well-Fed After Death
Care for some ribs? The royal mummies of ancient Egypt apparently did, as a new study finds that “meat mummies” left in Egyptian tombs as sustenance for the afterlife were treated with elaborate balms to preserve them.
Mummified cuts of meat are common finds in ancient Egyptian burials, with the oldest dating back to at least 3300 B.C. The tradition extended into the latest periods of mummification in the fourth century A.D. The famous pharaoh King Tutankhamun went to his final resting place accompanied by 48 cases of beef and poultry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas PM’s Granddaughter Admitted for Treatment in Israel
One-year-old Aamal Haniyeh admitted to Petah Tikva hospital, returned to Gaza after condition deemed incurable
The granddaughter of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was evacuated to an Israeli hospital in critical condition Sunday afternoon, but was returned to her family in Gaza Monday after her condition was deemed incurable, an Israeli military spokesman said Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Reassures Israel, We Will Not Give in on Iran Nuke
French president meets Abu Mazen in Ramallah
(by Massimo Lomonaco) (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV — France has reassured Israel it will not give in on the Iranian nuclear programme.
Welcomed as a precious ally after Paris led the latest talks on Iran in Geneva to halt, right after arriving in Israel President Francois Hollande immediately launched a message ahead of the new meeting scheduled on November 20: he will not backtrack on ‘nuclear proliferation’. ‘Until France will not be completely sure that Iran has given up on nuclear weapons, we will continue to maintain our position’, the French president stressed alongside Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu and Presdient Shimon Peres. A nuclear Iran, he said, ‘is a threat for Israel, the region and the world’.
‘We cannot allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, this would not only damage Israel but also France, Europe and the whole world’, the Israeli premier echoed satisfied, acknowledging that Hollande ‘showed a staunch position against Syria and Iran and its attempt to have atomic’ weapons.
Netanyahu thus obtained France’s support during a week which will be very important from a diplomatic standpoint: on Friday, as announced by the premier himself, US Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in Israel for a new round of talks after the last one in the past few years had a stormy ending with Kerry leaving for Geneva.
Netanyahu will then leave for Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, another fundamental element of the ‘5+1’, in the complex strategy in Geneva to clear Iran’s nuclear programme.
On Sunday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the head of the delegation, admitted talks with major powers were ‘difficult’. Meanwhile Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif warned that ‘Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is non-negotiable’ and is ‘a red line which must not be crossed’.
In spite of this, he said he was optimistic: ‘the sides have drawn closer, it is possible to reach a written agreement’ also because so far no country in the ‘5+1’ has asked Tehran ‘to completely suspend uranium enrichment’.
Hollande, much to Israel’s relief, stressed France will keep a keen eye on any agreement. International control on the nuclear programme, the reduction of uranium storage and halting the construction of the Arak reactor are three non-negotiable issues set by Paris for a temporary agreement, said the head of the Elysee. During his visit the French President, who travelled with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, also spoke with Israeli officials about peace talks with the Palestinians. France, said Hollande who is travelling to Ramallah on Monday, is expecting ‘signs’ from Israel on the settlements after it started ‘releasing (Palestinian) prisoners’.
He also stressed it was necessary to “create the conditions for peace” although he would be asking for the same ‘gestures’ to the other side.
Netanyahu had previously denied in an interview to CNN that the peace process had halted but he told the network that Palestinians must make concessions such as the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state in order to hope an agreement will be reached.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu Invites Abbas to Address Knesset
And recognize Israel as a Jewish State
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 18 — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to speak at the Knesset and recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State, reports Haaretz. He made these remarks while speaking at the Israeli parliament in a session attended by French president Francois Hollande. Netnayhu went on to urge Abbas to “put an end to the deadlock”, saying he was prepared to go to Ramallah to speak in front of Palestinians.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Embassy Wants Italy to Boycott Settlement Goods
National Palestinian Day in Rome; ‘Israel an obstacle to peace’
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 18 — Palestinian Ambassador Mai Al-Kaila has called on Italy to boycott products made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The request was made in responding to journalists’ questions as part of celebrations for the 25th National Palestinian Day, which marks the PLO declaration of Palestinian independence in 1988.
“Italy is a sovereign nation and it is clearly free to do what it wants, but we ask that — in compliance with international law — it refrain from purchasing products made in (Israeli) settlements” in the Palestinian Territories. The celebrations were held at Palazzo Ferrajoli in the Italian capital, with Senate speaker Piero Grasso attending. The Palestinian ambassador said the Israeli government “is to blame for the failure of the peace processes and for impeding any agreement through the planning of new settlements”. She then went on to speak about the recently released results of forensic testing on the body of former Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat. “Arafat was poisoned with polonium, and Palestine accuses Israel of being behind it. We ask that an international commission be set up” to conduct an inquiry into the case, Mai Al-Kaila said. In addressing Italy, the ambassador concluded by reiterating “the Palestinian population’s gratitude for the support from the Italian government and people” for the peace process.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Airbus to Boeing Cash in on Desert Outpost Made Field of Dreams
An hour’s drive from Dubai on a sand-swept road lined with waste-disposal facilities and aluminum smelters, the fate of global aviation is being decided.
The two manufacturers rely increasingly on the repeat buying sprees of Emirates, Qatar Airways Ltd. and Etihad Airways PJSC to keep factories humming along. Boeing now has 86 percent of the backlog for its new 777X wide-body with Persian Gulf carriers, and Emirates makes up more than half of total bookings of the A380, tipping the balance in global aviation toward the Middle East at the expense of Western carriers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty Criticizes ‘Exploitation’ of World Cup Laborers in Qatar
Amnesty International has documented “alarming” human rights abuses against World Cup laborers in Qatar. Migrant laborers face dangerous work conditions and live in squalid quarters, according to Amnesty.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
An Epidemic of Journalist Kidnappings in Syria
Reporters are being abducted at an unprecedented rate—and their captors aren’t even making demands anymore.
by David Rohde
Thirty journalists—half of them foreign reporters, half of them Syrian—have been kidnapped or gone missing in Syria, the Associated Press reported last week. The number is unprecedented. Syria today is the scene of the single largest wave of kidnappings in modern journalism, more than in Iraq during the 2000s or Lebanon during the 1980s. A combination of criminality, jihadism and chaos is bringing on-the-ground coverage of the war to a halt.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ashura: Shi’ism, …And Yet Another “Jewish Conspiracy Against Islam”
by Andrew Bostom
Last week, marked the gruesome and bloody spectacle which punctuates the annual Shiite Muslim celebration of Ashura (the 10th day of the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar). This date serves as a memorial for slain Shiite leader Hussein bin Ali, executed by order of Sunni Caliph Yazid bin Muawiyah in 680 C.E. Following his decapitation, Hussein’s head was brought to Damascus, the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate of Yazid and displayed for a month, culminating (temporarily) a furious period of internecine strife in early Islamic history, whose sanguinary and brutal sectarian legacy is still manifest today, most notably in Syria, and Iraq.
While such narrative accounts of Sunni-Shiite sectarian strife are routinely shared by non-Muslim pundits, these experts never reveal its dark theological underpinning: Islam’s most bitter and lasting internecine struggle is yet another “Jewish conspiracy.” As put forth in seminal early Muslim historiography (for example, by Tabari, d. 923), Abd Allah b. Saba, an alleged renegade Yemenite Jew is claimed to be the founder of the heterodox Shiite sect. He is held responsible—identified as a Jew—for promoting the Shiite heresy and fomenting the rebellion and internal strife associated with this primary breach in Islam’s “political innocence,” culminating in the assassination of the third Rightly Guided Caliph Uthman, and the bitter, lasting legacy of Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian strife. Here are key extracts from Tabari’s account:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Attack on Islamic School Kills 8 in Yemen
Houthis in northen Yemen have attack a religious school, killing 8 and injuring 18.
An armed attack on a center of Islamic studies in the north of Yemen killed eight and injured 18 on Sunday, acording to sources. The Damaj town in the northern province of Saada has been mired in sectarian clashes between SunniSalafis and Shiite Houthis. Surur al-Wadi, the spokesman for the “Dar al-Hadith” Religious School in Damaj, said on Sunday that the conflict has exacerbated over the last three weeks…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Finmeccanica: ATR: 12 Planes Ordered at Air Show Dubai
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, NOVEMBER 18 — Atr and GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) on Monday signed an agreement for the acquisition of ten planes ATR-72-600s for a total value of 241 million dollars. The agreement, signed by Filippo Bagnato, CEO of Atr — a joint venture between Alenia Aermacchi and Eads — includes an order for five carriers and an option for another five.
‘This new order by Gecas highlights the constant confidence in Atr products, and in particular the modern and efficient ATR 72-600’, said Bagnato when the agreement was signed on the second day of the Dubai Air Show, the most important aviation event in the region known for the record orders placed by Gulf air carriers.
Today’s contract follows another signed Sunday by Atr with Saudi private operator Alpha Star Aviation Services. The terms of the agreement provided for the sale of two planes of the same model plus one as an option, both designed to carry 66 passengers. The Saudi orders will be delivered in 2014 while delivery of Gecas’ orders will begin in 2015.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Finmeccanica: AgustaWestland Consolidates Gulf Presence
Contracts for 15 AW189 helicopters in Qatar
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, NOVEMBER 18 — AgustaWestland and Qatar’s Gulf Helicopters have rendered a pre-existing agreement to sell 15 AW189 helicopters official through the signing of a contract at the Dubai Air Show, the most important event of its kind in the Middle East.
“We are pleased that the partnership with Gulf Helicopters, already one of the main regional operators of the AW139, is being consolidated through the purchase of 15 AW189s,” said AgustaWestland Managing Director Daniele Romiti. The AW189 “is the perfect size to gain the upper hand on a niche market not well served by other types of helicopters,” said Gulf Helicopters CEO Mohammad Al Mohannadi.
The AW189 is part of AgustaWestland’s family of new generation helicopters, which already includes the AW139 and AW169 models, both endowed with highly advanced flight and safety features. AugustaWestland will deliver the first two aircraft in 2014, while the rest of the fleet will be operative by 2017.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Fethullah Gulen movement, which seeks to restore the Ottoman Empire, has found a friend and benefactor in Bill Gates of Microsoft fame. Mr. Gates is ranked the third wealthiest person on planet earth. In 2007, through the Texas High School Project, the Gates Foundation shelled out $10,550,000 to the Cosmos Foundation, a Gulen enterprise that operates 25 publicly funded charter schools in Texas. The Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for Cosmos shows that the Cosmos Foundation received $41,570,721 from taxpayers. At present, there are 85 Gulan madrassahs (Islamic schools) in the United States, and all operate with public funding. At the Gulen schools, students are indoctrinated in Turkish culture, language, and religion so that they may be of service in making Fethullah Gulan’s dream of a universal caliphate a reality.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Soccer Player Converts to Islam, Quits Soccer, Is Killed Waging Jihad in Syria
Yet another convert to Islam misunderstands his new, peaceful religion and gets the crazy idea that it has something to do with waging jihad against Infidels. Yet no mosque in Germany or anywhere else has a program to teach converts to reject this understanding of Islam that they supposedly abhor and oppose.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Unveils Missile Attack Drone
(AGI) Tehran, Nov 18 — Iran unveiled a missile-equipped drone with a range of 2,000 kilometres on Monday. “The Fotros drone … can fly at an altitude of 25,000 feet, with a flight time of 16 to 30 hours,” Defence Minister Mohammad Dehgan said. The aircraft was successfully tested and “shows that sanctions imposed by the enemies are not an obstacle to the progress of the defence industry,” he said at the unveiling ceremony.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: 6 Killed in Baghdad Bomb Attacks
BAGHDAD, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) — At least six people were killed and 27 wounded in three bomb attacks at sunset Sunday in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said. A car bomb detonated in al-Ghadier district in eastern Baghdad and killed two people and wounded nine others, the source told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, another car bomb went off at a commercial street in Sadr City district in eastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding 11 others, the source said. In addition, a roadside bomb ripped through Baghdad’s southwestern suburb of Radhwaniyah and killed three people and wounded seven others, the source added. Earlier in the day, the police said that nine people were killed and 21 wounded in shootings and bombings, including two suicide attacks, across the country…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Imports Rise by 6.3% in 9 Months
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, NOVEMBER 18: Imports of Jordan have risen by 6.3 percent during the first 9 months of the year in a total value of $2.2 billion, official figures showed today.
The increase in volume of imports represents rise in trade deficit with foreign countries by 10.7 percent, according to figures released by the government-run department of statistics.
Exports mounted to JD 4.18 billion ($6.3 billion) during the first nine month, a drop of up to 1 percent, said the department.
Imports from Italy significantly increased during the first months of the year, said the department.
Imports of textile, pharmaceutical products increased while exports of potassium, vegetables, and fertilizers dropped.
Imports of machinery and electronic items as well as steel products and crud oil increased, according to the figures.
On the bilateral trade, exports to neighboring Arab countries increased including Iraq and Egypt while exports to Asian countries such as India dropped.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait Monitors Extremists to Prevent Travel to Syria
KUWAIT: Kuwait is monitoring a number of local extremists in order to prevent potential activity that includes traveling to Syria and fighting with Jihadists against Syrian regime, a local daily reported yesterday quoting government sources. Speaking to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity, the sources said that the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs handed lists to the Interior Ministry containing names of extremists who were previously arrested and subjected to rehabilitation programs funded by the government to fight Jihadist ideologies.
The source who the paper says works in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs further admitted that the number of Kuwaiti fighters in Syria have ‘doubled’ in the past months, and currently rank highest among fighters of Gulf nationalities.
The news come one day after Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah said that “Kuwait acts in a transparent manner with regards to charity, which is organized by laws and regulations”, and that in response to a New York Times report which identified Kuwait as “the biggest regional problem for the US in terms of funding Islamist fighters in Syria” according to the US Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David Cohen.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Man Gets Five Years Prison for Insulting Muhammad
KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Twitter users in two Gulf Arab countries received prison terms Monday, rights activist said, in the latest sign of widening crackdowns in the region on social media for posts considered offensive or against state security.
The court decisions in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are likely to bring renewed protests from international rights groups accusing Gulf authorities of using codes against dissent to try to muzzle open expression on the Internet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Rejection of Israel is About to Have Nuclear Results
Netanyahu argued then — and in his UN speech two months ago — that Israel would have to act to protect itself before Iran achieved nuclear weapons. Just last month, Iran reached the “break out” point, its stockpile of enriched uranium sufficient that it could produce nuclear weapons within weeks. Netanyahu, last year, said that this was a “red line” across which Iran could not be allowed. (NB: The difference between Netanyahu’s “red line” and Obama’s regarding Syria is that the former is meant to be enforced.) Now we are there, and President Obama is doing precisely nothing to stop Iran from breaking out and actu
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Rebels: Key Aleppo Uprising Leader Dies
Commander Tawhid brigade, distanced from SNC
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — A leading rebel in Aleppo died of wounds reported during a recent regime air raid, a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army in the northern Syrian city told ANSA on Monday. Abdel Qader Saleh, a commander of the Tawhid brigade, had been wounded in the air raid a few days ago, the spokesperson said.
Saleh, a native of the rural region of Aleppo, had gathered in the summer of 2012 several rebel groups under the Tawhid (unification) brigade, which had conquered the northern city in July the same year. A retailer before the uprising began in 2011, Saleh had taken part in peaceful demonstrations from the spring until fall 2011 but had then decided to take up armed revolt.
A Sunni Muslim, he was a charismatic military leader who backed Islamist ideals but was opposed to Salafites and the increasing number of jihadists and al-Qaeda militants among anti-regime rebels.
Last September, Tawhid was among the brigades that signed a document in which they distanced themselves from the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in exile and asked for rebels in Syria to be more represented at a political level.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Offensive Triggers Refugee Exodus Into Lebanon
Thousands of Syrian refugees have crossed into Lebanon, fleeing a major government offensive in the Qalamoun mountains. Meanwhile, Syrian rebels have blown up a government building, killing dozens of soldiers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The French-Israeli-Saudi Front Against Iran?
By Joseph Klein
Israel and Saudi Arabia are proving the old adage correct that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The Iranian regime is their common enemy. Israel sees a nuclear armed Iran as an existential threat. Sunni Saudi Arabia worries that Shiite Iran with nuclear arms will be emboldened to threaten other Sunni Gulf governments and ultimately try to force its will on Saudi Arabia itself.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Shia Didn’t Like “Renegade Yemenite Jew” Abdullah Ibn Saba, Either!
At Pajamas Media I blogged about the mainstream Sunni doctrine which insists Abd Allah b. Saba, an alleged renegade Yemenite Jew was the founder of the heterodox Shiite sect. He is held responsible—identified as a Jew—for promoting the Shiite heresy and fomenting the rebellion and internal strife associated with this primary breach in Islam’s “political innocence”—a brutal and sanguinary historical legacy still very evident in the ongoing carnage within both Syria and Iraq.
But what is the Shiite position on Abd Allah b. Saba? Is this literature “silent” on the subject, for example, conceding the discussion to Sunni polemicists? In fact authoritative Shiite authors claimed he was guilty of perverting and warping the message of Caliph Ali’s true (Shiite) followers. Mainstream Shiites thus declared Abd Allah b. Saba an archetypal avatar of extreme, heretical beliefs, notably, the profession of Ali’s divinity. This profession was an egregious heresy for which Caliph Ali purportedly had Ibn Saba burned alive, as described in a Shiite hadith (tradition):…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Deputy PM Hopes to Convert Hagia Sophia to Mosque
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, NOVEMBER 18 — Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has expressed his hope to see Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum be used as a mosque, while already calling it the “Hagia Sophia Mosque” while speaking to reporters. “We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque… we are looking at a sad Hagia Sophia, but hopefully we will see it smiling again soon,” Dogan News Agency quoted Arinc as saying in a speech during the opening ceremony of a new Carpet Museum, located adjacent to the ancient Hagia Sophia complex. He cited two other complexes with the same name in Turkey that have recently been converted into mosques.
The status of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with a number of campaigns to open it for Muslim prayers being initiated, despite suggestions that this would be disrespectful to the building’s past as a church. The Hagia Sophia Museum was first dedicated as an Orthodox patriarchal basilica in 360. Until 1453 it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople. Following the city’s conquest by the Ottoman Empire, the building was turned into a mosque in 1453 and remained so until 1931, when it was closed to the public for four years. It was reopened by the republican authorities in 1935 as a museum.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Deputy PM Expresses ‘Hope’ To See Hagia Sophia as Mosque
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nc has expressed his hope to see Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum be used as a mosque, while already calling it the “Hagia Sophia Mosque” while speaking to reporters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Welcome to Appeasement in Geneva
A remarkable scene unfolded Sunday in Jerusalem. It was the eagerly awaiting arrival of French President Francoise Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Israel PM Benyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman greeted the French delegation.. This is a busy week for Netanyahu as he flies off to Moscow after the French State visit to confer with Russian President Putin amidst renewed P5+1 negotations on Wednesday , November 20th. He is endeavoring to convince Putin of the folly of concluding unverifiable agreements with Iran on the verge of a possible nuclear breakthrough. Friday, US Secretary of State Kerry returns from Geneva to confer with Netanyahu in Jerusalem. French President Hollande and Foreign Minister Fabius can forthrightly say that they have Israel’s back in the looming Geneva discussions. We wonder what Secretary of State Kerry will say on Friday when he returns to confer with Netanyahu in Jerusalem following the Geneva P5+1 meeting. Meanwhile Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Zarif came up with a new suggestion Sunday prior to the November 20th meeting, that there was “no need for the world to acknowledge Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment”. Perhaps as Prof. Horvitz intimated in his WSJ letter the US and the rest of the P5+1 are fooling themselves and the world to our peril…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
India’s Strained Romance Revolution
Now more than ever, young people in India expect to choose whom they love and marry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Apparent Calm in Rawalpindi After Violence Between Sunnis and Shiites. Curfew Lifted
The clashes at the Muaharram left at least 80 dead and over a hundred injured, even if official toll speaks of ten dead. The army remains in a state of alert. Bishop of Islamabad : “Prayers for peace in the country.” Member of Parliament accuses Pakistani government: security only guaranteed by army . Shiite leader: “genocide” being waged against us.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — In Rawalpindi schools and commercial buildings have reopened in the aftermath of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites that left at least 80 dead and about 125 injured including 50 children at a Koranic school. Official estimates provided so far speak of a dozen victims, but the number — according to hospital sources — is substantially higher, the authorities fear a spiral of violence and therefore have lowered the toll. The police have removed road blocks and lifted the curfew , but the prohibition of meeting and gathering in public still remains in force, based on art . 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code . According to reports from the district coordinator ( DCO ) Sajid Zafar Dall, the police remain on high alert and are ready to intervene at any time. To prevent further tensions, no Masses were or Sunday services celebrated yesterday in churches located in “sensitive” areas, where clashes took place between Sunnis and Shiites.
Apparent calm now reigns in Rawalpindi, Punjab, theater on 15 November of sectarian clashes that broke out during a procession . In these days, in fact , the Shia community celebrates Muharram , the Muslim holy month , in memory of the martyrdom of Ali, the son of Mohammed, according to their own tradition . In the past, the first month of the Islamic calendar has sparked sectarian strife in Pakistan.
Since the death of Taliban leader Meshud the Islamabad government has strengthened security across the country , even if the measures put in place so far are not sufficient to prevent outbreaks of violence. The most serious occurred Nov. 15 , when a group of Shiite pilgrims in procession sparked a confrontation with the Sunni faithful intent on following the sermon of the imam in the mosque.
The words of the Sunni religious leader offended Shiite pilgrims, who responded verbally ( at first ), but then the dispute has degenerated into a bloodbath. The fighting involved some students of a nearby Islamic school . The two sides fired on each other and the entire Raja Bazar market in the city center was set on fire. A Sunni mosque / madrassa, was also set on fire along with a hundred shops .
The rumor that a group of Shiites had set fire to a Sunni mosque soon spread, triggering the reaction of the majority of residents ( about 80% in Paksitan is Sunni Muslim ) , who began to attack the Shiites in prayer for Muharram . Only the intervention of the army — as well as a cut to all communications and the imposition of curfew — brought the situation back under control and prevented further carnage.
According to witnesses , a group of Shiites stormed the mosque and butchered students inside. Further fueling the tension, images of slaughtered children have been circulating over the Internet, together with an appeal invoking the vengeance of the Sunnis. Islamabad has ordered the creation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the incidents.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Msgr . Rufin Anthony , bishop of Islamabad / Rawalpindi , asks for prayers for peace. “It’s a terrible story — he says — and it matters little who was the first to begin. I appeal to everyone to sit down and pray for peace in the country. Violence never solved anything , indeed, it has always left wounds that are difficult to cure “. The parliamentarian Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed spares no criticism of the government : “I live in the area — he said — and every year there are clashes. Security must be stepped up […] , there is a noticeable lack of security. For the first time a curfew has been imposed in Rawalpindi . Only the military intervention restored calm and legality”. A representative of the Shiite community charges: “There has long been a conspiracy against us Shiites. We are branded as a minority in Pakistan. In several areas of the country there have been attacks against Shiites, there are several elements involved in what we might call the genocide of Shiites in Pakistan. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russians Want to Know Why American Taxpayers Are Funding Terrorists to Kill Their Own U.S. Soldiers
US taxpayers could be paying for the murder of their own fellow Americans. The ABC news network has revealed a new report claiming that the country has paid over $150 million to Afghan companies that may have helped finance terrorist attacks on US soldiers in Afghanistan. The information came from John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Sopko listed 43 companies; one of them is believed to be partly owned by a leader of the Haqqani network that was responsible for the 2011 attack on the US embassy in Kabul. In an interview with ABC News, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committee, likened the US actions to subsidizing the Taliban, and al-Qaeda.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced it is delaying the relocation of fuel rods from its crippled plant reactors. Work was originally scheduled to begin today due to the fact that fuel rods remain highly vulnerable in the damaged storage pools. Right now, Fukushima is just one earthquake or tidal wave away from structural collapse, causing a catastrophic release of radioactive fuel directly into the atmosphere.
Moving the fuel rods a wildly risky proposition, as the fuel rods must be extricated from their operating matrix containing coolant water and control rods that “smother” runaway nuclear reactions. Absent these safeguards, the removal and transport of fuel rods is inherently hazardous.
“New video footage from a robot has revealed new leaks within the damaged reactors meaning the rods now can’t be taken out as planned,” reports Euronews. “One of the fuel assemblies was damaged as far back as 1982 when it was mishandled during a transfer and is bent out of shape.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saving Kenya’s Elephants With Drones
Demand for illicit ivory in developing economies, including China and Thailand, has doubled since 2007, and elephant ivory sells for as much as $455 a pound in Hong Kong, according to UNEP. At least 232 of the almost 40,000 elephants in Kenya were killed during the first nine months of the year, and 384 were killed in 2012.
The country has only 2,800 park rangers, so Goss and others are turning to Google Earth and drone aircraft to track and protect the elephants. “Drones are basically the future of conservation,” says James Hardy, the manager of the Mara North Conservancy, a 74,000-acre private wilderness tract where Goss heads the Mara Elephant Project. “A drone can do what 50 rangers can do.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Villagers Mob U.S. Aid Choppers as Philippine Relief Effort Spreads
Mobbed by hungry villagers, U.S. military helicopters dropped desperately needed aid into remote areas of the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines, as survivors of the disaster flocked to ruined churches on Sunday to pray for their uncertain future.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australia to UN: No More ‘Socialism Masquerading as Environmentalism’
Australia’s cabinet has decided it will reject new contributions or taxes related to climate change at this week’s annual United Nations global summit on climate change in Warsaw, calling the measures “socialism masquerading as environmentalism.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia Recalls Ambassador to Australia Over Spying Allegations
Indonesia has recalled its ambassador from Australia following reports that an Australian spy agency attempted to listen in on the Indonesian president. The recall comes amid an already tense diplomatic relationship.
Jakarta said Monday it was reviewing bilateral cooperation with Canberra after recalling its ambassador to Australia. The decision comes in response to documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor and fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, which were obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Guardian newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Slaughter 38,000 Elephants in Just One Year
British troops have been deployed to save Kenya’s elephants being slaughtered by Muslims for their valuable tusks. A l Shabaab, a group linked to Al Qaeda, is said to be funding their training and attacks by selling elephant and rhino horns on the Somalian black market — a trade worth £12billion (USD19 BN) a year. In the past year, 60 wardens and 38,000 elephants have been killed by illegal poachers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: 20 Boko Haram Members, Soldier Killed in Borno
Authorities at the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army in Borno State yesterday said that at least 20 Boko Haram terrorists and a soldier were killed during a gun battle between soldiers and the insurgents on Friday night in Gwoza local government area of the state. This was coming barely 24 hours after a similar encounter led to the death of six Boko Haram terrorists, while a soldier was reported to have sustained injury…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Nigeria Islamist Group Seizing Christian Women as Slaves
Boko Haram systemically kidnaps Christian women as slaves, child brides, amid fears of Christian-Muslim civil war.
Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has been kidnapping Christian women from rural areas and forcing them to convert under threats of death, Mail & Guardian reports. The women are then kept as slaves and child brides — and forced to help the terrorists kill innocent Nigerians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Uganda: UK Donates Sh4 Billion to Send a Cow
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has availed £1m (about Shs 4bn) for improvement of food security and incomes of 1,600 farmers in northern and eastern Uganda. The project will be implemented over three years, by Send A Cow Uganda (Sacu), a local non-governmental organization with 25 years of experience in livelihoods improvement…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina: Car Mechanic Dreams Up a Tool to Ease Births
The idea came to Jorge Odón as he slept. Somehow, he said, his unconscious made the leap from a YouTube video he had just seen on extracting a lost cork from a wine bottle to the realization that the same parlor trick could save a baby stuck in the birth canal.
Mr. Odón, 59, an Argentine car mechanic, built his first prototype in his kitchen, using a glass jar for a womb, his daughter’s doll for the trapped baby, and a fabric bag and sleeve sewn by his wife as his lifesaving device.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bonino Warns of Al-Qaeda Infiltration Among Migrants
(AGI) Brussels, Nov 18 — The Italian Foreign minister Emma Bonino warned about the possible infiltration of jihadist or al Qaeda elements among the illegal migrants reaching Italy from across the Mediterranean. “We suspect that among the migrants there are jihadist elements”, stated the minister at a press conference in Brussels, while talking about a “security threat”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Sign Agreement With Tunisia
Talks completed; partnership to foster worker mobility
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 18 — A partnership agreement on mobility will soon be signed between the EU and Tunisia, according to the conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
The 28 EU ministers for foreign affairs wrote that the European Union and Tunisia had pledged to bolster their cooperation in migration and asylum issues and that talks for a partnership for mobility between the two had been completed.
Internal procedures are underway for it to be officially signed soon.
The statement went on to say that the EU would be dealing with the challenges concerning the Lampedusa tragedy, in part through the European Commission-led task force for the Mediterranean. In June, the EU drew up an agreement of this type with Morocco as part of a plan to open up more legal immigration channels for countries where large numbers of migrants come from and transit through, while at the same time agreeing to work together against criminal networks and to establish clear regulations concerning repatriation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadists Possibly Entering Europe From Libya, Warns Bonino
‘Threat to security’, says Italian FM
(ANSAmed)- BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 18 — Italian foreign minister Emma Bonino said Monday that there are suspicions that among those making their way from Libya to Europe, a number are individuals with links to Al Qaeda or other jihadist groups.
When asked whether they might be involved in terrorism, she replied “I don’t know. But it’s a security threat”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Remittances to Latin America Rebound — Except in Mexico
The amount of money U.S. immigrants send to their families in Latin America has more than doubled since 2000, and the cash flow home — except to Mexico — has recovered from a considerable drop during the Great Recession, a 13-year survey of remittance trends shows.
For years, remittances have far outpaced foreign aid in helping lift people out of poverty in Latin America, the study released Friday by Pew Research Center notes.
In 2011, remittances totaled $53.1 billion, more than eight times the amount of official aid, the report says.
More than half of those immigrating from Spanish-speaking countries — 54% — send part of their U.S. earnings home, and 17% of U.S.-born Latinos also maintain financial lifelines to relatives abroad, the Pew research shows.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ticking Bombs at Swedish Refugee Homes
by Fredrik Nilsson
Last Tuesday police was forced to shoot a Somali man who had threatened people at the refugee home in Hagfors with a knife. In Sweden almost 50,000 asylum seekers live in similar accommodations. 90 pct. of them have arrived without any documents and not even half of them accept the health check they are offered. How many ticking bombs are we up against?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two former Labour Home Secretaries are being congratulated on their belated candour about immigration. Jack Straw now says letting so many people settle in Britain was a ‘spectacular mistake’.
David Blunkett has gone further, warning of civil unrest in his home city of Sheffield because the behaviour of recently arrived Roma gypsies is ‘aggravating’ the locals.
Joy there is said to be in Heaven over every repentant sinner. But before the angels start cracking open the Bollinger, it is worth pausing to consider the part played by both men in creating the mess we find ourselves in today. Straw and Blunkett were two of the most senior figures of the Blair/Brown era. They were fully signed up to the New Labour ‘project’.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What America Will Look Like in 2050?
In the past week, our U.S. Congress tabled the egregious mistake of amnesty bill S744 projected to render a free pass for 20 million illegal migrants and their families. It also raises legal immigration from 1.0 million annually to 2.0 million. For the moment, the American people stand a chance of not allowing an unending flood of humanity into the United States to drive our population to over 100 million added immigrants within four decades.
However, at the current rate of mass legal immigration of 1.0 million annually, we remain on course to add 100 million immigrants, their children and chain-migrated relatives by 2050 — a scant 37 years from now.
That’s enough people to duplicate the populations of our top 20 cities within the United States. We would have to water, house, warm, transport, feed, work, educate and medicate 100 million more people. That fact alone should sober the most optimistic individuals in America. It should cause every single one of our 535 Congressional critters to stand back to “see” the enormous tragedy their actions portend for all Americans of every race, creed or color.
The “Gang of Eight” U.S. Senators who created the amnesty bill S744 will prove some of the dumbest, most unintelligent nincompoops ever to walk the halls of Congress for their sheer stupidity in formulating that bill.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Accused ‘Neo-Nazi’ Parent Calls for East Pennsboro Area Middle School Teacher’s Dismissal
Josh Barry recently was accused of possibly being a neo-Nazi by an East Pennsboro Area Middle School teacher after he questioned the political slant of his daughter’s homework assignment on the government shutdown, which he felt had a political left-leaning bias…
“There is something that must be clearly illustrated here,” Barry said in his comments to the school board. “This was an attempt by a teacher inside the school district and union president to stop me and smear my name simply because I questioned the bias of a school assignment.”
The assignment, which included a New York Times article on the government shutdown and an associated worksheet, was intended to help students work on nonfiction-reading skills.
Barry said other topics could have been used in the classroom to teach the same lesson. “The problem with public schools being used as left-leaning indoctrination centers is reaching near epidemic level,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amtrak Recruiting LGBT Passengers
(CNSNews.com) — Amtrak has announced the launch of three microsites targeting specific segments of the population: MyBlackJourney.com, AmtrackRideWithPride.com and DescrubeNotreAmerica.com.
In an Amtrak news release, the government-funded intercity train service company says the new websites launched last week, “provide connections to Hispanic, African and LGBT travelers.”
“AmtrakRideWithPride.com speaks to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) traveler. The site is loaded with photos, testimonials and blog posts from Amtrak’s LGBT editor Mark Mastro,” the release says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Parents fed up with their kids’ declining math grades under newly adopted Common Core standards took an unorthodox step to remedy the problem: They pulled their children out of school for an hour a day to teach them at home.
Nine parents took their seventh- and eighth-graders from math class at Evergreen Middle School in Hillsboro, Ore., reported KATU-TV in Portland, citing a sudden drop in grades and performance.
Seventh-grader Amy Craig had always been an “A” student in math until this year when she brought home a “D,” her mother Julie Craig told KATU. Another mom said her daughter, previously a sold “B” math student, is now failing the subject…
But asked whether the standards were the best thing considering nine families pulled their kids from math class over stress and struggles, a Hillsboro School District spokeswoman present for the KATU interview stopped Petrick before he could answer.
“You don’t have to answer that, Rian,” she interjected. ‘That’s an aggressive question.”
[…]
Separately, Oregon state Rep. Lew Frederick noted a “searing critique” of Common Core by Catholic scholars on his Facebook page, KATU added. The statement issued last month reads in part: “Promoters of Common Core say that it is designed to make America’s children ‘college and career ready.’ We instead judge Common Core to be a recipe for standardized workforce preparation.”
The critique also states, “Common Core adopts a bottom-line, pragmatic approach to education. The heart of its philosophy, as far as we can see, is that it is a waste of resources to ‘over-educate’ people.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Coalition Talks Yield Boardroom Quota for Women
Angela Merkel’s conservatives have agreed with the Social Democrats on a quota for female company executives. The two sides also laid out a plan that lets parents return to work and still receive childcare assistance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
High School: Girls Should Avoid Restroom if They’re Bothered by Transgender Boy in the Stalls
New details have emerged in the case of a ‘transgender’ boy accused of sexually harassing girls in the women’s restroom of a Colorado high school. While school officials initially denied any harassment took place, new details reported by the Pueblo Chieftain indicate that there may be more truth to the girls’ claims than administrators are willing to admit. Florence High School was plunged into controversy in October after a male student who says he is “transgender” was permitted to use the girls’ restroom facilities. The boy was subsequently accused of harassment — a claim that has been denied by the school.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Push to Force Sex-Ed on Christian Schools
An activist group in Scotland that promotes secularism is arguing that all schools — including church-sponsored classes — must subject children to a secularist’s view of sex education. “We believe that Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education should be mandatory across all state schools, with set curricular content modeled on the successful Dutch model,” said Caroline Lynch, head of the Scottish Secular Society, in a statement about the developing dispute over what will be included in sex education for Scottish schools. The Scottish government recently released a draft of its plans for sex education, which includes allowances for parents and students to opt out because of their faith. But the Scottish Secular Society blasted the allowance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Internet Engineers Plan a Fully Encrypted Internet
Responding to reports of mass surveillance, engineers say they’ll make encryption standard in all Web traffic.
By David Talbot
Major revelations from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden show how vulnerable we are to mass Internet surveillance.
In response to the public outcry over mass Internet surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA), the engineers who develop the protocols that underpin the Internet are deep into an effort to encrypt all Web traffic, and expect to have a revamped system ready to roll out by the end of next year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mars Probe to Sniff Atmosphere and Scout Safer Landings
After decades of robots scouring the surface, a Mars explorer is about to get its head in the clouds. NASA’s next mission to the Red Planet will be the first to extensively explore Mars’s upper atmosphere. The orbiter will search for clues to when and why the planet went from a warm, wet world to the cold, dry desert we see today.
The probe could also fill a looming break in our ability to communicate with rovers on the planet’s surface, and it could provide valuable data for future missions hoping to land humans on Mars.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Neanderthal Virus DNA Spotted Hiding in Modern Humans
The DNA of ancient viruses first spotted in the Neanderthal genome have now been identified in modern humans — although whether they cause disease is not yet clear.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Seething Volcano Buried Under Antarctica’s Ice
It’s a land of ice and fire. For the first time, an active volcano has been spotted rumbling away under the ice sheet of west Antarctica. It’s further evidence that the frozen continent is anything but still. The heat from the volcano could speed up the demise of Antarctica’s fragile ice sheet.
There are plenty of volcanoes jutting up from the Antarctic ice, most famously Mount Erebus. But while it was clear that there were also subglacial volcanoes, none of them were known to be active, says Amanda Lough of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. “For the first time, we’re seeing evidence of activity right now.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |