A truck bomb exploded at a vegetable market north of Baghdad, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens more. The attack was the latest in a recent wave of vehicle bombings in Iraq.
In other news, Sweden has opened its first LGBT old folks’ home. The facility is designed to meet the needs of Sweden’s differently-gendered geezers.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AJ, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, RR, 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.
China Announces That it is Going to Stop Stockpiling U.S. Dollars
China just dropped an absolute bombshell, but it was almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media in the United States. The central bank of China has decided that it is “no longer in China’s favor to accumulate foreign-exchange reserves”. During the third quarter of 2013, China’s foreign-exchange reserves were valued at approximately $3.66 trillion.
And of course the biggest chunk of that was made up of U.S. dollars. For years, China has been accumulating dollars and working hard to keep the value of the dollar up and the value of the yuan down. One of the goals has been to make Chinese products less expensive in the international marketplace. But now China has announced that the time has come for it to stop stockpiling U.S. dollars. And if that does indeed turn out to be the case, than many U.S. analysts are suggesting that China could also soon stop buying any more U.S. debt. Needless to say, all of this would be very bad for the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greek PM Heads to Berlin for Meeting With Merkel
Samaras to highlight progress, warn against more austerity
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, NOVEMBER 22 — Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday and is expected to underline Greece’s progress in implementing economic reforms while also stressing his government’s inability to impose further painful austerity measures in an increasingly tense political climate.
Merkel sought to emphasize her support for Greece’s efforts on Thursday, as the government submitted a budget for next year foreseeing a slow return to growth, remarking that Greece has achieved “very noteworthy reforms.” According to sources, as daily Kathimerini reports, officials at the Maximos Mansion were buoyed by Merkel’s encouraging words ahead of Samaras’s visit. They were irked, however, by comments in a very different tone by Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup, which appeared in Ta Nea daily. Dijsselbloem was quoted as urging Greece to reach an agreement with the troika soon, on the size of a fiscal gap for next year and on measures Athens must enforce to clinch further rescue funding, as “many eurozone finance ministers have started to lose patience.” Samaras is also expected to use his talks with Merkel as an opportunity to gain insight into the intentions of officials in Berlin, where a new government has yet to be formed following inconclusive elections in September, as regards the prospects for a lightening of Greece’s huge debt burden.
Before leaving for Berlin on Thursday, Samaras held talks in Athens with US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who expressed Washington’s support for Greece’s ongoing reform effort and said she saw “many opportunities” for closer bilateral business cooperation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Billion Euros in Home Financing Earmarked
CDP to also buy 3 bn euros of mortgage-backed bonds
(ANSA) — Rome, November 21 — The Italian State savings and finance arm, the Cassa dei Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), and the national banking association ABI signed a deal Thursday that will allow home buyers to tap into some two billion euros of financing being set aside for real-estate purchases and for renovation works. The CDP also launched a program that will see purchases of some three billion euros of bank bonds that guarantee residential mortgages.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Letta Says Europe Has Fiscal-Discipline ‘Ayatollahs’
Warns EU will die if austerity taken too far
(ANSA) — Rome, November 22 — Italian Premier Enrico Letta said Friday that the European Union had to resist never-ending demands for fiscal consolidation from pro-austerity “ayatollahs”. “On the European front, for some ayatollahs of rigour, this is never enough,” Letta said. “But Europe will end up dying of too much rigour, our companies will end up dying”. Letta has been pushing for the union to focus more on promoting growth and job creation, after EU-mandated austerity in many countries hit by the eurozone debt crisis caused a great deal of economic pain.
In Italy, for example, unemployment has reached record levels of over 12%, with over four in 10 under-25s jobless, after moves to put the country’s financial house in order deepened its longest recession in over two decades. Letta added, however, that many people in Italy were at the other extreme, as they wanted to fix the recession by running budget deficits and adding to the country’s huge public debt, the main reason the nation was exposed to the eurozone crisis in the first place.
Italy’s national debt is over two trillion euros, or around 130% of gross domestic product.
“On the home front, too many people think you can have deficits and debt,” Letta said. “We are in the middle (of the two positions).”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare is Going to be the Biggest Expansion of the Welfare State in U.S. History
Can the U.S. government afford to pay for the health care of 38 million more people? As you will see below, Obamacare is going to be the biggest expansion of the welfare state in U.S. history. It is being projected that a decade from now 17 million Americans will be receiving Obamacare subsidies and an additional 21 million Americans will have been added to the Medicaid rolls. At a time when we are already running trillion dollar deficits, is this really something that the government should be taking on?
In addition, it is being projected that bringing millions upon millions of new people into the Medicaid program will also cause enrollment in many other federal welfare programs such as food stamps to surge. Right now, the percentage of Americans that are financially dependent on the U.S. government is already at an all-time high, and Obamacare is going to cause the level of government dependence to go much, much higher. But how much weight can the “safety net” actually carry before it breaks entirely?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenian Banks Post Nine-Month 567 Mln-Euro Loss
Struggling under weight of 7.9 bln in bad loans
(ANSAmed) — LJUBLJANA, NOVEMBER 21 — The Slovenian banking sector posted 567.3 million euros in losses in the first nine months of 2013. In the month of September, losses totalled 191 million euros, compared with 115.2 million euros in the same period of the previous year. The largest ones were suffered by banks in which the state holds a stake. The main cause for the rise is the drop in bank finances.
Some 880.6 million euros in bad loans were recorded from January to September, compared with 733.9 million euros in 2012. At the end of September, bad loans totalled an estimated 7.966 billion euros, 179 million more than in August.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cruznoia: The Fear One Man Has Instilled in Jackasses Before the 2014 Elections.
In typical paranoid fashion, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has hatched a new campaign idea to save the donkeys from the wrath of the voters over ObamaCare. It seems Sen. Ted Cruz has infected these poor little jackasses with that most dastardly of diseases known as Cruznoia by simply announcing he will unveil his own health care plan. Whatever shall we do they bray?
According to the title of Greg Sargent’s article in the Washington Post’s Plum Line, “Dems try going on offense: It’s Obamacare versus ‘Cruz Care’. Mr. Sargent states, “I’m told the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is set to launch a new campaign designed to refocus the debate on the Republican position on health care, which Dems will widely label as “Cruz Care.”
How clever they are to use a knock-off version of ObamaCare. How many of them did it take to devise this brilliant scheme, or did the clever little Harry Reid come up with it all by himself? Senator Cruz must be shaking in his boots.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Daniel Pipes: The JFK Assassination’s Continued Importance
In three main ways, the JFK murder still has repercussions for Americans and the world. It also has a unique place in my life.
First, had the assassination attempt not succeeded, arguably neither the Vietnam War nor the Great Society expansion of government would have afflicted the United States as they did. The Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived project concludes that “JFK would have continued to resist a US war in Vietnam. Even though the Saigon government, weak and corrupt, was destined for the dustbin of history, he would have resisted those calling on him to send US combat troops to Vietnam. He might have ended all military involvement.”
As for government expansion, American historian Don Keko writes that Kennedy “lacked Lyndon Johnson’s legislative abilities which would have doomed much of what became known as the Great Society. … Without the Great Society, the nation does not experience massive budget deficits and the economy would have been stronger.”
Second, Kennedy’s assassination profoundly impaired American liberalism. James Piereson’s 2007 book Camelot and the Cultural Revolution (Encounter) establishes how liberals could not cope with the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald, a communist, murdered Kennedy to protect Fidel Castro’s control of Cuba. Kennedy died for his anti-communism; but this wildly contradicted the liberals’ narrative, so they denied this fact and insisted on presenting Kennedy as a victim of the radical Right, reading Oswald out of the picture.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How the NSA’s Domestic Spying Program Works
The NSA’s domestic spying program, known in official government documents as the “President’s Surveillance Program,” (“The Program”) was implemented by President George W. Bush shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001. The US Government still considers the Program officially classified, but a tremendous amount of information has been exposed by various whistleblowers, admitted to by government officials during Congressional hearings and with public statements, and reported on in investigations by major newspaper across the country.
Our NSA Domestic Spying Timeline has a full list of important dates, events, and reports, but we also want to explain — to the extent we understand it — the full scope of the Program and how the government has implemented it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Knockout Game Finally Getting Media Attention
NEW YORK — In New York, a 78-year-old woman strolling in her neighborhood was punched in the head by a stranger and tumbled to the ground. In Washington, a 32-year-old woman was swarmed by teenagers on bikes, and one clocked her in the face. In Jersey City, a 46-year-old man died after someone sucker-punched him and he struck his head on an iron fence.
In each case, police are investigating whether the attacks are part of a violent game called “knockout,” where the object is to target unsuspecting pedestrians with the intention of knocking them out cold with one punch. Authorities and psychologists say the concept has been around for decades — or longer — and it’s played mostly by impulsive teenage boys looking to impress their friends.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare is Completely Illegal and UN — Constitutional
I have screamed this for the last several months on my national radio show and called Government officials over and over on this. In my article on this October 4th I exposed that Harry Reid and the Senate had completely gutted the House proposed version of the Affordable Care act and illegally passed it as law.
There is a bold lawsuit being brought by Pacific Legal Foundation, which confronts this huge violation. Thankfully 40 Representatives have signed onto this.
This week Bob Unruh wrote about the danger the Pacific Legal Foundation lawsuit poses to Obamacare. I am so glad that someone else is finally noticing what I have been writing and screaming about for months. It is about time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
PBS Whitewashes Oswald’s KGB Connections
In its nearly two-hour documentary on the Kennedy assassination, “Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?,” public television actually interviewed three former Soviet KGB officers who acknowledged contact with the assassin Oswald. But these communist intelligence operatives insisted they did not encourage Oswald’s plot to kill the American president.
Russian President Vladmir Putin, a former KGB officer, must have been pleased with their performance.
In this case, the taxpayer-supported Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and its Frontline series failed to provide the “definitive investigation of the mysterious life and character of Lee Harvey Oswald.”
It may have been a mystery at one time, but not 50 years later.
The fingerprints of the Soviet intelligence service and its Cuban affiliate are all over Oswald.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Assault Protestors and Journalists in Dallas
WASHINGTON, November 22, 2013 — A fast-moving wall of law enforcement officers assaulted a group of protesters and journalists led by Alex Jones of Infowars inside the fist perimeter of Dealey Plaza in Dallas shortly after the city’s official memorial of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination.
The mêlée began around 1:45pm CST shortly after Jones, with the assistance of a bullhorn, spoke out against the mainstream media and the government’s official story about the assassination of JFK.
“It was definitely the Feds” leading the Dallas County sheriffs, said Jones after the chaos subsided, “We’re going to get lawyers, we are going to sue them.”
Jones said he was punched in the stomach during the police assault.
Initial witness accounts suggest that the Dallas County Sherriff’s Department, and not the Dallas Police Department, was the agency directly involved in the scuffle. Jones maintains that Dallas Police allowed the group to move into the area.
Some officers pushed and shoved the protesters and journalists, while other officers behind them brought in movable metal barricades.
Infowars and Storyleak correspondent Anthony Gucciardi stated during the continuing internet livestream of the event that the sheriff’s department deputies came from the direction of homeland security fusion center command vehicle.
| — Hat tip: AJ | [Return to headlines] |
On Thursday, 225 years of Senate tradition was cast aside by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) when he invoked the so-called “nuclear option” and eliminated filibusters against most presidential nominations. “The American people believe Congress is broken. The American people believe the Senate is broken. And I believe they are right,” Reid said Thursday on the Senate floor. “The need for change is so very, very obvious.” What’s just as obvious is the primary motive behind this effort: to tilt an evenly-divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decidedly to the left.
The historic rule change was passed by a vote of 52-48, with three Democrats, Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AK), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Carl Levin (D-MI), opposing the alteration. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was incensed, not only by the change itself, but the fact that a simple majority of 51 votes was used to change the rule itself, rather than a supermajority of 60 votes that normally applies to Senate rule changes. After accusing Democrats of a power grab, McConnell suggested they will regret their decision when Republicans regain control of the chamber. “We’re not interested in having a gun put to our head any longer,” McConnell said addressing his colleagues form the Senate floor. “Some of us have been around here long enough to know that the shoe is sometimes on the other foot.” Addressing Democrats directly he predicted that they will regret their decision “a lot sooner than you think.”
As of now, the change does not apply to Supreme Court nominations. But on Wednesday, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned Democrats that if they insisted on changing the rules, the GOP will up the ante when they attain majority status, leaving Democrats no opportunity to filibuster appointments to the nation’s highest court.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Textbook Tells Fourth Graders ‘White Voters’ Were Unlikely to Support Black President
Fourth grade students in Dupo, Illinois assigned to reading a Common Core approved biography of President Barack Obama are being told that all white voters were unlikely to vote for a black president due to racism.
Children at Bluffview Elementary who have been assigned to read the book entitled “Barack Obama,” published by Lerner Publications and a part of Scholastic’s “Reading Counts” program, were informed on page 40 that despite Obama being a “nice fellow,” many allegedly believed that no white American would likely vote for him in 2008 based solely on the color of his skin…
The book’s comments were brought to the attention of the “Moms Against Duncan” Facebook page, a group of parents and education activists opposed to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who recently claimed that “white suburban moms” only opposed Common Core because it showed that their children weren’t as smart as they thought, attempting to paint the nation-wide backlash against the curriculum as a race based issue.
“Would it have been possible for him to be elected (twice) without the support of vast numbers of white Americans?” one member stated.
The book appears to follow the viewpoint that all opposition to the president is based purely on race, which has reached near-comedic levels in its absurdity. Some are now even claiming that opposition to Obamacare is pure racism, despite 55 percent of the public being opposed to its disastrous roll out as millions get dropped from their current providers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Kennedy Assassination (November 22, 1963) 50 Years Later
November 22, 2013, is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The true story of JFK’s murder has never been officially admitted, although the conclusion that JFK was murdered by a plot involving the Secret Service, the CIA, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been well established by years of research, such as that provided by James W. Douglass in his book, JFK And The Unspeakable, published by Simon & Schuster in 2008. Ignore Douglass’ interest in the Trappist monk Thomas Merton and Merton’s prediction and focus on the heavily documented research that Douglass provides.
Or just turn to the contemporary films, taken by tourists watching JFK’s motorcade that are available on YouTube, which show clearly the Secret Service pulled from President Kennedy’s limo just prior to his assassination, and the Zapruder film that shows the killing shot to have come from President Kennedy’s right front, blowing off the back of his head, not from the rear as postulated in the Warren Commission Report, which would have pushed his head forward, not rearward.
I am not going to write about the assassination to the extent that the massive information permits. Those who want to know already know. Those who cannot face the music will never be able to confront the facts regardless of what I or anyone else writes or reveals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Video That Proves a Conspiracy to Kill JFK?
While many are familiar with the Zapruder film, the footage below is less well known. It shows the Secret Service agent nearest to JFK apparently being told to stand down moments before Kennedy’s assassination in Dealey Plaza 50 years ago today.
As the narrator describes, the clip appears to show Secret Service agent Emory Roberts standing up and ordering Donald Lawton and Clint Hill, the two Secret Service bodyguards on either side of the presidential vehicle, to stand down, therefore preventing them from doing their job as human shields to the president.
The instruction appears to cause confusion inside the follow up car and most noticeably with Lawton himself, who seems perplexed that he has been called off the vehicle.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ministers have today called for an end to the ‘depressing merry-go round of reoffending’ after new figures revealed that the number of career criminals has surged in ten years.
Over the last decade, the number of prolific offenders has risen by more than 30,000, according to the latest Criminal Justice Statistics for England and Wales.
The Ministry of Justice admitted that persistent offending is a ‘challenge’ to the criminal justice system.
These serial offenders now account for more than a third of all convicted criminals, the data show.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Carlsen: Norway’s Chess Superstar
As a prodigal genius and fashion model, newly-crowned world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has already lit up the game and has now added the world crown to his list of achievements.
The Norwegian world number one earned his maiden world title on Friday when he defeated reigning champion Viswanathan Anand of India in the 12-game challenge match in Chennai.
Carlsen, who turns 23 on November 30, missed out on becoming the youngest world champion by a few weeks, a record set by his one-time coach and Russian legend Garry Kasparov in 1985.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Mayor Position Traded for Meatballs and Christmas Trees
Dansk Folkeparti won the local election in Hvidovre, but due to a lack of support it will settle for a deputy mayor and the promise of traditional Danish food and a Christmas tree
“We got the deputy mayor position and three other committee postings,” Dencker told Politiken newspaper. “And we also pushed through one of our key issues: that traditional Danish food is served in institutions in Hvidovre.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Editorial: Swedish Media Don’t Want Debate
by Ingrid Carlqvist
A new round in the current Swedish-Norwegian war that was started by immigrants in Sweden is now in full swing. The Norwegian daily Aftenposten thinks that the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter does a bad job of servicing its readers by refusing to publish a rebuttal to a Swedish attack on Norway. This reminds me of how I was prevented from answering an attack in Helsingborgs Dagblad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moderate Muslims’ Peace Conference in Oslo. Speaks Volumes. (Videos)
“When you see this video and you thought that moderate muslims are those who are against violence. you will be surprised. Stoning to death is so “late centuries” and do not sit well in modern western society ( and not anywhere as its against human rights ). this is what we think but it seems that even moderate muslims feels its ok… after all. Lying to infidels is ok. we should remember that.”
“In Norway there have been a rape wave and according to local muslims “ every girl or a woman who doesnt wear hijab is a whore “ this has led to some Norwegian girls to dye their hair to black and never walk alone. Once again there is a goverment who seems to be powerless against crimes which have arrived with immigration and loose immigration laws.”
[Comments to the video make for interesting reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Lost Wallet Test Shows Oslo’s Falling Honesty
Oslo’s residents are a little less honest than they were back in the 90s, a replay of the famous “lost wallet” experiment mounted this month by Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper has suggested.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen Wins World Chess Title
Defeats Indian champion Viswanathan Anand with Game 10 draw
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen is the new world chess champion, dethroning Indian titleholder Viswanathan Anand with a draw in the 10th game of their scheduled 12-game match in Chennai, India, Friday.
Mr. Carlsen, 22, who has long been the world’s highest-rated player, becomes the first Norwegian to hold the crown and the second youngest undisputed champion ever behind Russian Garry Kasparov.
Mr. Anand, 43, has held the chess crown since 2007 and is a sporting hero in his country. He had successfully defended the title in three previous matches, but proved no match for his implacable younger rival in the match’s critical moments.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Mosque Bid Reaction to Leader’s Comments
COMMENTS from East Renfrewshire council leader Jim Fletcher in last week’s Extra have prompted a backlash accross the community.
Regarding opposition to plans for a mosque within Eastwood high school grounds, the councillor compared the muslim community’s struggle to what “the catholic community experienced 30 years ago”. However, furious campaigners insist the issue has nothing to do with religion, instead objectng to the proposed location within Eastwood high school grounds. Stephen Graham from Newton Mearns, a member of the Crookfur Residents’ Group, told The Extra: “Lets get one thing straight — this is nothing to do with colour or creed. I attended the community council meetings and the recent public meeting, and we are all happy for them to get a mosque. However the appropriate place is not on school grounds.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Christians Flee Persecution as Patriarch Urges Them to Stay in War-Torn Country
As some 450,000 Christians have fled Syria since a civil war erupted two years ago, the Syrian Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic church has called on Christians to stay in Syria and survive a “difficult” future.
Editor’s note: Christians face increasing persecution around the world. The situation is especially terrible in certain parts of the world, as it is in countries like Syria, Egypt, Iran, certain parts of Africa, India and North Korea.
“I say to my children, stay in your country, the future will be difficult, but it will be better, God willing,” Syrian Patriarch Gregory Laham told AFP in an interview.
On the eve of a trip to the Vatican for meetings with Pope Francis, Laham urged European countries to not “encourage Syrian Christians to emigrate.”
“I say to the European countries that want to help, help people in difficulty, humanitarian cases but don’t encourage people to emigrate,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Further Delays to Lee Rigby Woolwich Murder Trial
From the local SE London paper the News Shopper
THE trial of two men accused of murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich has been delayed further, the Old Bailey has heard. The trial had been due to start on Monday (November 21), and was then delayed until today. There will be a mention hearing tomorrow morning, but it is not yet known when the trial will now start.
If the delay is because the two men are considering changing their pleas to guilty (which is to murder of Fusilier Rigby, attempted murder of a police officer, and lesser charges) then delay will be worthwhile. If they are prevaricating with changing lawyers and refusing to recognise the court and a few other delaying tactics that have been used in the past then the Judge needs to take a firm and robust line. Men were outside court again today (I was not) and an effort wil continue to be made. Shifts will be juggled, holiday entitlement taken, and other responsibilities re-arranged.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hainault and Chigwell Muslim Association Deny Using a Community Centre as a Mosque
An investigation has been launched into a community centre which has been accused as secretly running as a mosque. On September 1, Hainault and Chigwell Muslim Association took over the running of Hainault Community Centre for the purpose of “improving education”. However, people living nearby claim that this simply is not the case. A fortnight ago a petition signed by 57 neighbouring residents was handed into Redbridge Council requesting that action is taken against the ‘illegal mosque’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Some Gender Segregation in Islamic Talks May Meet ‘Balance of Interests’
Universities UK warns rights of religious speakers could be “curtailed unlawfully” if institutions insist on mixed seating
Over the past year universities have been confronted by a number of events run by Islamic groups on their premises where attendees have allegedly been segregated by gender. Now new guidance issued by Universities UK has suggested that a “balance of interests is most likely to be achieved” if such events offer both segregated and non-segregated seating.
External speakers in higher education institutions, released today, seeks to guide institutions through the multiple laws and obligations surrounding freedom of speech on campus. The issue of segregation flared up in the spring after the University of Leicester launched an investigation in April into whether an Islamic society had forced men and women to sit separately at a debate about the existence of God. University College London banned a group, the Islamic Education and Research Academy, after it organised a supposedly segregated event the month before.
The UUK guidance runs through the issues in a case study where a speaker representing an “ultra-orthodox religious group” has demanded his audience be segregated by gender. The event could fall foul of equalities legislation if one gender has to sit at the back of the room, it says. This issue “could be overcome” if there is segregation from left to right, it adds, because “there does not appear to be any discrimination on gender grounds merely by imposing segregated seating”. Yet it is “arguable” that this arrangement could discriminate against feminists who objected to segregation, unless non-segregated seating was also provided.
But the guidance continues that an area of unsegregated seating could contravene the “genuinely held religious beliefs” of the group hosting the event or the speaker, whose freedom of speech should not be “curtailed unlawfully”. “In practice, a balance of interests is most likely to be achieved if it is possible to offer attendees both segregated and non-segregated seating areas,” it says. “Although if the speak is unwilling to accept this, the institution will need to consider the speaker’s reasons under equalities legislation.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Lawmakers Push for German Entrance to Five Eyes Spy Alliance
The United States and four allies cooperate on surveillance issues and reportedly don’t spy on each other. Some representatives in the US want to extend that deal to Germany, making it a sixth eye in the Five Eyes club.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Public Prosecutor Investigates Five Salafist Imams
For allegedly taking over five mosques in Nabeul Governorate
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 22 — The Tunisian Ministry of Religious Affairs has reported five Salafists it says illegally took over five mosques in the north-eastern Nabeul governorate.
The move is seen as a signal that the ministry is taking on Salafism, a militant, extremist form of Sunni Islam, analysts said. The five men allegedly proclaimed themselves imams of Ettawfik, Itha, Ibn Abi Kaab, and Errahma mosques as well as the Great Mosque after the 2011 revolution. They are currently under investigation by the attorney general.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Over 103,000 Palestinians Work in Israel
20,000 in settlements; unemployment high in West Bank and Gaza
(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH, NOVEMBER 21 — Over 100,000 Palestinians work in Israel and about 20,000 in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These figures were released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) as part of a study on labor in the Occupied Territories and the Gaza Strip. Data shows that over 103,000 were working in Israel between July and September 2013. Some 60% were employed in construction and about a third of them did not have a work permit. Of the others, 51,100 had received Israeli authorization and 17,600 had an Israeli ID card or a foreign passport. The report shows 44.9% of the West Bank population is employed and 41.4% of that in the Gaza Strip. There is a large gap between male and female participation, with 69.5% of men employed but only 17.1% of women. The Gaza Strip suffers from 32.5% unemployment, compared with 19.1% in the West Bank. Youth unemployment is at 43% for those between ages 20 and 24. Child labor is problematic, with an average of 4% of those between the ages of 10 and 17 holding down jobs: 5.7% in the West Bank and 1.3% in the Gaza Strip. The report shows that average monthly wages are around 1,000 shekels (about 200 euros) in the West Bank and about 800 shekels (about 160 euros) in Gaza.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
By Caroline B. Glick
A week and a half ago, Syria’s Kurds announced they are setting up an autonomous region in northeastern Syria.
The announcement came after the Kurds wrested control over a chain of towns from al-Qaida in the ever metastasizing Syrian civil war.
The Kurds’ announcement enraged their nominal Sunni allies — including the al-Qaida forces they have been combating — in the opposition to the Assad regime. It also rendered irrelevant US efforts to reach a peace deal between the Syrian regime and the rebel forces at a peace conference in Geneva.
But more important than what the Kurds’ action means for the viability of the Obama administration’s Syria policy, it shows just how radically the strategic landscape has changed and continues to change, not just in Syria but throughout the Arab world.
The revolutionary groundswell that has beset the Arab world for the past three years has brought dynamism and uncertainty to a region that has known mainly stasis and status quo for the past 500 years.
For 400 years, the Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. Anticipating the breakup of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the British and the French quickly carved up the Ottoman possessions, dividing them between themselves. What emerged from their actions were the national borders of the Arab states — and Israel — that have remained largely intact since 1922…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: At Least 32 Killed as Truck Explodes at Iraqi Market
BAGHDAD — Explosives hidden under fruit and vegetables aboard a delivery truck detonated in a crowded market selling fresh produce north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 32 people and wounding dozens a day after a wave of car bombings convulsed the capital, according to medical and police officials…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Islamists Unite to Form Largest Syrian Rebel Alliance
Islamist groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and replace it with an Islamic state joined forces on Friday to form Syria’s largest rebel alliance, the new Islamic Front announced in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A number of worshippers coming out of an Andalus mosque were appalled when a police captain who was praying with them insulted a construction worker doing some maintenance to parts of the mosque and pointed a gun at him, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the worker had closed one of the mosque’s gates to do his work and left another open for worshippers to use. On his way out, the captain got angry on finding one gate closed and pointed his gun at the worker accusing him of trying to prevent people from praying. When other worshippers tried to calm him down, he also pointed his gun at them threatening to shoot whoever interferes. To their surprise, the worshippers who went to Andalus police station to file a complaint were ignored by the officer in charge while the captain spent his time drinking coffee and walking around as if at home. However, they managed to file a complaint the following day.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Six Mortar Shells Hit Eastern Border of Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — Six mortar shells of unknown source hit an area on Saudi Arabia’s eastern border with Iraq and Kuwait, causing no damage, Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday, quoting a military spokesman. Saudi authorities are contacting their two neighbors to inquire the source of the shells to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, General Mohammed al-Ghamdi, the spokesman, said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Al-Qaeda Insurgents Seize Atma Village on Turkish Border
OPCW seeks private-sector to destroy Syria chemical arsenal
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — Insurgents from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have seized the village of Atma in north-eastern Idlib province, where one of the largest informal refugee camps has risen at the Turkish border, local activists reported Friday.
The fundamentalist militia chopped down a centuries-old tree because it was symbolic to the local inhabitants, the activists charged. “The ISIS militias cut down the tree, saying it was an idol”, said the activists, who also published photos documenting the jihadist presence in Atma.
Also on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in St. Petersburg to discuss bilateral cooperation, Syria, Iran, and the Middle East peace process.
The issue of how to dispose of Syria’s chemical weapons is still on the table after the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) approved a plan for most of the arsenal to be destroyed outside the country.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning watchdog agency issued a call on Wednesday for private-sector companies to help destroy two-thirds of that arsenal. “The (OPCW) seeks to identify commercial companies interested in participating in a tendering process for the treatment and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous organic and inorganic chemicals, and related packaging materials and containers/drums associated with the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons”, the agency website said. The New York Times reported that destruction at sea or aboard a special barge in the Mediterranean are among the options being considered after Albania and Norway last week turned down requests to help destroy Syria’s chemical weapons on their soil.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The U.S. Helps Reconstruct the Ottoman Empire
by Lars Hedegaard
American historian explores a disturbing pattern of Western intervention
One of the mysteries of our time is why the German government keeps insisting on a “speciel relationship” for Turkey in the EU — if not outright membership — and why American administrations, whether Republican or Democrat, have consistently tried to pressure the European Union to follow a more benevolent policy towards the country.
Perhaps there is a deeper explanation for Western rapproachment with Turkey beyond mere political correctness and perceived economic advantages.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Anti-Erdogan Activist Arrested at Italian Airport
On international arrest warrant, on his way to a conference
(ANSAmed) — BERGAMO, NOVEMBER 22 — Italian anti-terrorist police yesterday arrested Turkish activist Bahar Kimyongur in the northern city of Bergamo. He was taken into custody on an international arrest warrant issued by Turkey at the city airport while on his way to attend conferences on the Middle East in the Italian cities of Monza and Padova. A member of the Prisoners’ Families Solidarity Association (TAYAD), Kimyongur collaborates with a network of left-wing journalists led by Belgian writer Michel Collon.
In Belgium, he has been arrested and then acquitted on charges of belonging to the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP/C), which has carried out a number of assassinations and suicide bombings and is considered a terrorist group by Turkey. He was also arrested in Spain in June on an extradition request from Turkey, and was subsequently released on bail.
Kimyongur is an outspoken opponent of intervention in Syria, including Turkey’s activities there.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Is Putin a Better World Leader Than Obama?
Cairo, Egypt — Seems that all roads go through Russia now, after the United States began abandoning Egypt all because the new government refuses to submit to the wishes of the White House and the further empowerment of extremists in Egypt. Egyptian-Russian relations witnessed major developments as a delegation of Egyptians visited Russia to invite President Vladimir Putin to join Egypt as a partner and strategic ally.
Russia and Egypt just announced that Russia will provide about $2 billion worth of advanced weapons to Egypt including defense systems, helicopters, Kornet anti-tank missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, MiG- 29 fighters as part of a $4 billion total aid package.
Russian’s policies toward Egypt, Syria, and Iran, have opened the door to speculation about what Putin plans and objectives are in the Middle East — especially since it is all goes contrary to American policies. These new Russian activities came after a long period of silence when many people nearly forgot that there was another super power in the world other than the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Burma: Buddhists Destroy Arakan’s Last Mosque
A group of Buddhist mobs have attacked the last standing mosque in Arakan’s Kyauk Phyu city, damaging the worshipping house severely and destroying its minaret.
Last Friday, about 5,000 Buddhists staged a demonstration against OIC visit in Arakan’s capital Sittwe. OIC delegation to Burma included members from Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Djibouti and Bangladesh.
During the visit Ihsanoglu received guarantees from the government to resolve the dilemma of citizenship of more than 800,000 Rohingya Muslims. In October 2012, OIC tried to open an office in Burma to help Muslims there, but the move was blocked by President Thein Sein following massive protests by Buddhist monks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Doctor Who Helped CIA Find Bin Laden Charged With Murder
A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been charged with murder in a case related to a teenage boy who died after the doctor performed surgery on him for appendicitis in 2006, his lawyer said Friday.
The new case raises further doubt about whether Shakil Afridi, who is being held in prison pending retrial on a separate charge, will ever be freed as U.S. officials have demanded. The case has caused friction between Pakistan and the U.S., complicating a relationship that Washington views as vital for fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida, as well as negotiating an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hero Pakistani Doc Who Helped Get Bin Laden Hit With Dubious Murder Charge
Shakil Afridi, the hero Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA pinpoint Osama bin Laden’s compound ahead of the Navy SEAL raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader, has been charged with murder — for trying to save a little boy stricken with appendicitis six years ago, according to his attorney.
The bizarre charge comes as international pressure mounts on Pakistan to free Afridi, who was sentenced last year to 33 years in prison for “conspiring against the state,” a sanction western observers believe was a pretext to punish him for helping the U.S. Afridi executed a vaccination ruse that helped establish Bin Laden’s presence in an Abbottabad compound, a development seen as embarrassing for Pakistan, which claimed not to know the world’s most wanted man was living openly a stone’s throw away from a military complex.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Donates $3 Million to Help WWF Double Nepal’s Tiger Population
On the third anniversary of the historic Global Tiger Summit the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to WWF for a bold initiative to help Nepal double its wild tiger numbers by 2022 — the next Chinese Year of the Tiger.
“Time is running out for the world’s remaining 3,200 tigers, largely the result of habitat destruction and escalating illegal poaching,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, a WWF Board Member.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wife of Man Detained in North Korea Issues Concerned Statement
The woman married to the Palo Alto Korean War veteran currently being held without explanation in North Korean issued her first statement Friday, asking that the government settle the issue and return the 85-year-old man to “his anxious, concerned family.”
The statement issued by Lee Newman Friday morning talks about her husband of 56 years Merrill E. Newman finishing up his 10-day tour of North Korea on October 26.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Penshurst Mosque Minaret: Much Ado About Nothing
Given the ugly buildings that local government councils allow to be built all over the place, one would think that a minaret attached to a mosque would be the least of everyone’s worries.
Not so at Penshurst, southern Sydney.
A development application submitted to Hurstville Council to upgrade an existing mosque and add a 30-metre minaret has brought the bigots out of suburbia…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
As the United States forges ahead with its unpredictable negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina is doing her best to let the Iranians off the hook for the bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Argentina in 1994.
Even though this was described as the worst act of terrorism to have occurred on the South American continent resulting in the death of 83 individuals, and in spite of overwhelming evidence as to Iran’s complicity, the case has remained unsolved for almost twenty years.
However, earlier this year the Argentinean Government signed an agreement with Iran to establish a “Truth Commission” whose objectives were to find out the truth about the perpetrators of this heinous act. A few days ago, Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor of the case of the bombing of the Jewish headquarters in Buenos Aires (AMIA) requested from the Argentinean judge in charge of the case to declare the Argentina-Iran memorandum of understanding “unconstitutional”…
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Britain’s population is soaring by more than any other country in the European Union and a third of the increase is caused by immigration. The latest figures from Eurostat show that the number of people in the UK rose by almost three times the EU average in 2012 with 392,000 more than the year before — putting the total population at 63.888million.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Poet’s Vollsmose Event Going Forward Despite Police Concerns
Odense Council reverses course and decides to move ahead with Yahya Hassan’s poetry reading and discussion despite threats of violence and chaos
Poet Yahya Hassan will be speaking Tuesday in the troubled Odense suburb of Vollsmose after all. The 18-year-old, whose collection of poems has set off a nationwide debate about immigration and Islam, had expressed his disappointment that the sold-out event was cancelled after police said they could not guarantee public order.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Phony Math Behind GOP Amnesty Push
Because the real math does not support anything in the current national agenda, they had to invent new numbers or the American people would never support that agenda.
The huge success of a mission designed to fail, ObamaCare, has resulted in a massive crisis in America. In less than thirty days of operation, ObamaCare has cost over 5 million Americans their existing health coverage, caused over 400,000 senior citizens to lose their eligibility for Medicare, placed an addition 400,000 on “free” (taxpayer-funded) Medicaid, cost thousands of jobs and millions of work hours for those lucky enough to still have a job, and private sector premiums to skyrocket…
The real numbers just aren’t working… So, with a little help from the so-called “conservative think tanks,” Obama plans to solve the crisis they created by ramming another bill through congress that the people will have to wait until it passes to see what’s in it… Amnesty for millions of illegal invaders.
According to the “experts” making up numbers for the RNC on immigration, “Immigration reform is a secret weapon that can help unleash the full power of the U.S. economy.” In other words, they think that amnesty can fund ObamaCare.
Sounds great, right? Can I say, “I told you so!” — It’s the ole Cloward-Piven “hurt and rescue” strategy. First, you cause a crisis (ObamaCare), and then you provide the fix (amnesty for illegals). Simple…
All they need to sell it is the right set of numbers, right?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Opens First Retirement Home for Gays
Sweden’s first retirement home for elderly members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities opened in Stockholm on Friday, capping a four-year effort that may spark a new trend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Gets First LGBT Senior Housing
Sweden has opened its first senior housing facility for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people in central Stockholm. In order to get an apartment in the eight-storey Rainbow senior housing complex, a tenant must be 55 years old, or older.
Torgny Engström came from Luleå and moved into the Rainbow apartments last week. He says that there are several reasons why he moved to senior housing he says.
“Because it is located in central Stockholm, and also because I’m living with like-minded people. I’m almost 70 years old and I don’t need to run out to the art galleries or the malls. I’d like to stay at home and here — one finds friends,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nick Boles Evidently Needs Your Help
by Rod Liddle
Another interesting contribution to the great debate from Nicholas Boles, the MP for Grantham and Stamford and someone who is considered ‘influential’.
Nick has explained away the Conservative Party’s unpopularity in the polls, and its likely defeat at the next General Election, on a failure to proclaim loudly enough on liberal issues. The party should be ‘shouting from the rooftops’ about such issues as gay marriage, he said. I assume he means being in favour of gay marriage. I wonder if the rest of the country sees it that way. Have you ever heard, anywhere — outside North London — anyone express dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party because it is insufficiently liberal on the issue of, say, gay marriage? ‘Oh, I was thinking of voting Tory, but I think they’re too nasty to the gays.’? Answers on a postcard to Nick, and the man whose ear he bends, Big DC.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: School Children as Young as 8 Told They Would be Labelled ‘Racist’ For Missing School Trip
Parents have criticised the school’s “ludicrous” threats and accused it of trying to blackmail them
Parents have criticised a school after children as young as eight were told they would be punished for racism if they did not attend a religious workshop about Islam. Angry mums and dads were sent a letter by Littleton Green Community School, in Huntingdon, Staffordshire, warning their children would be considered racist if they did not go on the school trip.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Neutrino Detector Finds Elusive Extraterrestrial Particles in ‘Major Breakthrough’
For decades, scientists have been searching for ghostly neutrino particles from outer space, and now they have finally found them.
Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, researchers found the first evidence of neutrinos from outside the solar system since 1987. The findings open the door for a new era of astronomy that could reveal secrets of the strangest phenomena in the universe, scientists say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |