At least 27 people were killed and 12 more wounded when the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram attacked a village in northeastern Nigeria. The mujahideen also burned down more than 300 houses.
In other news, during the month of October Greece repatriated more than 1,000 illegal immigrants.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Bailout Inspectors Back in Greece Amid Growing Anger Over Austerity Reforms
Inspectors from Greece’s bailout creditors have restarted talks on spending reforms that the government is resisting, with one senior official bemoaning the negotiators’ “punitive approach.”
The officials from the “troika” of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund will, after preliminary talks Monday, start high-level meetings Tuesday. The sides are at odds over the size of a 2014 budget gap and whether a plan to cover it will require more austerity measures.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit Mayor’s Race: Racial Politics Out, Focus on Fixing the City In
The front-runner, Mike Duggan, took the Detroit Medical Center from near-insolvency and the threat of mass layoffs to reinvestment and profitability. If elected, he would be the city’s first white mayor in four decades.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Schulz: ‘Troika Made More Damage Than Good’
In article published by Athens daily To Vima
European Parliament President Martin Schulz
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS- The troika’s structure ‘proved inconclusive for the solution of problems and did more evil than good’, European Parliament President Martin Schulz wrote in an article published by Greek daily To Voma on Sunday.
Schulz is in Athens on Monday to take part in a conference on ‘South for development’ at which he will be the main speaker.
‘Every European country is confronting problems which Europe, the richest continent in the world, appeared to have overcome for good: difficulty in accessing healthcare in Greece, families being evicted from their homes after delaying payment of their loans in Spain, a whole generation of youths who are forced to live with their parents and have abandoned any dream of having a career and their own family’, wrote Schulz. ‘The price which European citizens have been asked to pay was and remains terrible. We were told we had no other choice, that austerity was the only way out and that economic recovery had a price everyone had to be ready to pay. Today, based on the report by the International Monetary Fund, economists have shown that the repercussions of austerity on the economy have not been calculated properly..’.
‘The IMF report shows, among other things, that the troika’s structure proved inconclusive in solving problems and did more evil than good. It produced more recession than the one forecast and did not succeed in re-conquering investors’ confidence. It slowed down economic recovery and undermined confidence in Europe’.
‘Asking for ‘forgiveness’ is not enough’, wrote Schulz.
‘Someone has to take responsibility for the faied attempts and the huge disappointment caused. Someone has to be held accountable The economic affairs committee of the European Parliament is conducting an investigation of the troika’s work in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus to understand why so many mistakes were made and why so many statements considered correct three years ago proved to be absolutely wrong.
Democratic control, after a three-year-long wait, can finally begin’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Unpaid Electric Bills Grow by 4 Mln Euros a Day
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, NOVEMBER 4 — The electricity market in Greece is in serious trouble as a source at the Public Power Corporation (PPC) told daily Kathimerini that unpaid bills are growing at a rate of 4 million euros per day. PPC officials speak of an unmanageable situation concerning the company’s cash flow, which is getting worse by the day and is set to reach its limit in December, which will mean trouble for the rest of the electricity market too.
The problem starts with consumers’ inability to pay their bills and is aggravated by recent regulations regarding the operation of the electricity market and the renewable energy sources sector which have burdened PPC with very high costs.
“The picture we now have is far worse than we had anticipated regarding the collection of bill payments. The situation has been deteriorating since August and in the last two months the gap between bills issued and payments collected has reached 4 million euros per day,” a PPC official told Kathimerini.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ISTAT Forecasts 12.4% Unemployment in Italy in 2014
Statistics agency says jobless rate should close 2013 at 12.1%
(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — National statistics agency Istat said Monday that it expects Italy’s overall unemployment rate for this year to be 12.1%.
The agency added that this level is forecast to rise to 12.4% in 2014, even though the country should return to growth next year after enduring its longest recession in over two decades.
Experts say there is a time lag between an economy recovering from recession and an upturn in employment.
The annual inflation rate is the average of the monthly rates registered during a year.
Last week Istat released provisional data that said unemployment peaked at a record high of 12.5% in September.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Households Cut Spending by 45 Billion Euros in 5 Yrs
Food spending slashed 2.5 billion euros per year
(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — Italian household consumption contracted by 45 billion euros between 2008 and 2012, said the farmers’ group Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori (CIA) on Monday, citing data from the Italian statistics agency Istat.
“Budgets for cars, transport and gasoline was reduced by 19% (22 billion euros), and (spending) for clothing and shoes fell 14% (9.5 billion euros),” the group said in a statement.
Food spending has been cut by 2.5 billion euros per year, CIA said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Forecast to Post Positive Growth of 0.7% in 2014
Istat confirms data presented to parliament last week
(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — National statistics agency Istat said Monday that it expected Italy to pull out of its longest recession in over two decades by the end of the year and post positive growth of 0.7% in 2014.
The agency forecast that Italy’s gross domestic product for 2013 will be 1.8% down on last year, confirming data it presented to parliament last week. The government’s latest GDP forecasts were for negative growth of 1.7% this year and positive growth of 1% in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
SAC Capital Agrees to Plead Guilty to Insider Trading
SAC Capital Advisors has agreed to plead guilty to insider trading violations and pay a record $1.2 billion penalty, becoming the first large Wall Street firm in a generation to confess to criminal conduct. The move caps a decade-long investigation that turned a once mighty hedge fund into a symbol of financial wrongdoing.
The guilty plea and fine paid by SAC, which is owned by the billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen, are part of a broader plea deal that federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced on Monday. It will also require SAC to wind down its business of managing money for outside investors, though the firm will probably continue to manage Mr. Cohen’s fortune.
SAC’s case could inspire other aggressive actions against Wall Street, as the Justice Department’s uneven crackdown on financial fraud has gained momentum in recent months. Coming just days before JPMorgan Chase is expected to finalize a $13 billion settlement with the government over the bank’s questionable mortgage practices, the SAC case could stem concerns that financial firms are too big to charge.
| [Return to headlines] |
Fake Planets Reveal Distance to Earth’s Nearest Twin
There is a planet like Earth just 12 light years away — close enough for its sun-like host star to be visible to the naked eye. That is the upshot of a model that uses fake planets to estimate the number of alien Earths that the now-defunct Kepler telescope failed to spot.
“When you step out at night and look at the stars, some of those stars that you’re seeing with the naked eye have Earth-sized planets with lukewarm temperatures,” says Erik Petigura of the University of California, Berkeley. “I think that’s profound.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Incredible Technology: How to Launch Superfast Trips to Mars
New propulsion technologies may blast astronauts through space at breakneck speeds in the coming decades, making manned Mars missions much faster and safer. Souped-up electric propulsion systems and rockets driven by nuclear fusion or fission could end up shortening travel times to the Red Planet dramatically, proponents say, potentially opening up a new era in manned space exploration.
“Using existing rocket fuels, it’s nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth,” John Slough of the University of Washington, leader of a team developing a fusion-driven rocket, said in a statement earlier this year. “We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Snoops Tech Companies’ Fibre-Optic Networks
Even though they cooperate with the US spy agency on court-ordered surveillance, firms like Google and Yahoo are subject to additional surveillance they never agreed to
The US National Security Agency has access to the internal networks of Google and Yahoo — and this time even company executives had no idea they had been tapped.
Thanks to documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, we know that tech giants including Google, Yahoo, Apple and Facebook cooperate with the NSA’s PRISM scheme, which lets the agency request user data through court orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Diane Orihel set her PhD aside to lead a massive protest when Canada tried to shut down its unique Experimental Lakes Area.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Air France-KLM Denies Demand Alitalia Cut 5,000 Jobs
Report says layoffs at Italian carrier linked to capital funds
(ANSA) — Paris, November 4 — Air France-KLM on Monday denied reports that it has linked further investments in Alitalia to massive job cuts at the troubled Italian carrier. In a statement, the Air France-KLM denied making such a request.
However, French-Dutch group has made clear that it must see major reorganization at Alitalia before it participates in a capital injection.
News article published on Sunday suggested that as a condition of its participation in the capital increase, the Air France-KLM group was demanding a debt restructuring and 5,000 job cuts.
Meanwhile, a former industry minister said he would “bet a coffee” that the group will continue to work with Alitalia.
But if it doesn’t, a replacement partner will be found, Corrado Passera told Radio 24. Last month Alitalia shareholders approved an emergency 300-million-euro capital hike to pull the airline from the brink of bankruptcy.
The State-owned post office, Poste Italiane, pledged to buy up to 75 million euros in any unsubscribed shares in the capital increase.
Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit also said they would take a stake worth up to 100 million euros.
The capital boost is part of a government-engineered 500-million-euro rescue package, which also includes 200 million euros in loans.
Last week Air France-KLM chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said his group has been “clear from the beginning” that it could still assist Alitalia — but only under “very strict conditions” including financial restructuring and changes to the airline’s medium- and long-haul networks.
“We have always said that we are a serious and loyal partner of Alitalia, which means that we will help Alitalia but (under) very strict conditions,” said de Juniac.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Case of Italian Marines Held in India ‘Moving’ Says Bonino
Napolitano says Italy working tirelessly for soldiers’ return
(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — The case of two Italian marines accused of murder in the deaths of two Indian fishermen “is moving” and may be changing for the better, Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said Monday.
“I think some things are moving in this sense and we are working on (this),” Bonino said of Italian efforts to have the marines transferred from India back to Italy.
“I hope to bring to a successful conclusion this dossier … (of) great complexity and contradictions,” said the minister, speaking on National Unity and Armed Forces Day.
Italy maintains that the two marines, Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre, do not need to remain in custody in India, where they are accused of shooting two fishermen in February 2012.
Bonino has said the Italian government’s objective is to see the pair returned home and on Monday added the government “speaks with one voice” and should be able to “unravel the tangle” of the complex diplomatic and political situation.
The marines allegedly mistook the fishermen for pirates while they were on anti-pirate duty. Staffan de Mistura, the government’s special envoy in the case, said the marines know “they will never be left alone” by Italy, even in periods where the case is not in the public eye.
“The work to bring home Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone is constant, determined, and pressing even when made with discretion and without noise,” he said.
Italy is working ceaselessly for the return of the marines, said President Giorgio Napolitano, who placed a wreath at Rome’s Altar of the Fatherland as part of Monday’s military commemoration.
“We do not cease to work tenaciously to bring them home,” said Napolitano after his speech on the military celebrations.
The case has triggered a drawn-out diplomatic row between India and Italy, with Rome contesting India’s right to jurisdiction, given that the shootings occurred in international waters.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Churchill Feared France Would Declare War on UK
A 1940 telegram sold at auction in London on Sunday revealed that British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill feared France was about declare war on Britain, after a naval skirmish off the coast of Algeria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Commission Seeks to Cut Plastic Bag Use
Nearly 100 billion plastic bags were used in the European Union in 2010. Over 8 billion were thrown away afterwards. Many of them end up in the sea posing a huge threat for marine life.
In an attempt to tackle the plastic waste produced across the continent and its impact on sealife, Brussels presented proposals on Monday to reduce the use of lightweight plastic bags. Under the new plan, member states will be encouraged to tax or even completely ban their use.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fake Webcam Girl Exposes More Than 1000 Online Paedophiles
More than 1000 paedophiles have been caught in an online sting set up by an Amsterdam-based campaign organisation.
Terre des Hommes set up a fake web chatroom using a digitally generated “Filipino” girl to lure potential abusers to their site. Volunteers then played the part of the girl to collect the details of those who contacted her, before passing them on to Interpol.
The group said it had reported more than 1000 people from 65 countries, including 20 from the Netherlands. It carried out the operation from a remote site in Amsterdam.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Smartphone App Targets Islamophobia
A leading French organization which combats anti-Muslim behaviour and speech launched a new smartphone and tablet app on Monday, allowing users to report incidents of Islamophobia by sending photos and videos to the group.
The Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France (the Collective against Islamophobia in France) on Monday launched a smartphone app to enable members of the French public to report anti-Muslim acts and speech.
“In the face of Islamophobia, let’s all be witnesses,” CCIF said in a statement on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Help Discover Most Earth-Like Planet
‘Extraordinary’ find says INAF chief
(ANSA) — Rome, October 30 — Italian researchers have helped find the most Earth-like planet in the universe.
Kepler-78b, which orbits the Kepler78 star about 700 light years from the Sun, is roughly the same size as the Earth with a similar density and mass but too hot to sustain life, an article in Nature magazine said.
“It’s an extraordinary result,” said the head of the Italian Astrophysics Institute (INAF), Giovanni Bignami.
INAF’s Galileo Telescope in the Canary Islands is helping the US Kepler satellite find planets like Earth.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Justice Minister ‘Ready to Resign if Called To’
But Cancellieri remains defiant before Senate grilling
(ANSA) — Strasbourg, November 4 — Italian Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said Monday she was ready to resign “if the country asks her to” but remained defiant following a furore for allegedly interfering in a fraud case.
“I’m only interested in the truth emerging. Then politics can take its course, but not by taking advantage of me,” she said at a press conference, a day before she is scheduled answer before the Senate. The case regards Giulia Ligresti, a member of a major Italian business dynasty who was arrested along with her sister Ionella in July for alleged involvement in cooking the books at the Fonsai insurance group.
Her father Salvatore Ligresti, the family patriarch and former honorary chairman of Fonsai, was put under house arrest along with two former executives from the insurance company.
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) has called on Cancellieri to quit after she admitted calling judicial authorities about the case before Giulia Ligresti was released from jail and put under house arrest in August.
Cancellieri, who is not aligned to a political party, said the call was merely a “humanitarian intervention” to make the authorities aware that Giulia Ligresti suffered from anorexia and depression.
The minister is also under pressure for reportedly calling Salvatore Ligresti’s partner, a long-standing friend, to offer support after the arrests.
The M5S alleged that this is a case of people with friends in high places receiving better treatment from the justice system than ordinary people.
Cancellieri’s son, Piergiorgio Peluso, is a former manager at the insurance group.
The Ligresti fraud case is set to start next month.
But Giulia Ligresti will not be on trial as she bargained a reduced sentence in September, and had been ordered to serve two years and eight months in custody, plus a 20,000-euro fine.
She may be able to arrange community service rather than actual jail time.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mafia Boss’ Daughter Turns Informant
Father serving life for Dalla Chiesa murder
(ANSA) — Palermo, November 1 — The daughter of a Mafia boss jailed for life for the 1982 Palermo murder of Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa has turned State’s evidence, police said Friday.
Police said Giovanna Galatolo, who does not have a criminal record, would be able to provide valuable information on her father Vincenzo’s control of Mob activities in the Sicilian capital’s port in the 1970s and 1980s.
The woman has been put in a secret location with round-the-clock police protection.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ILVA Allegedly Polluted Ground, Water, Sea for 18 Years
Three companies, 50 people being notified of investigation
(ANSA) — Taranto, October 31 — Prosecutors investigating the troubled ILVA steel plant in the Southern Italian city of Taranto, which has been at the centre of a long-standing judicial issue, contend the owners have been carrying out illicit waste-management practices since taking over the company from the State in 1995.
For the past 18 years, ILVA has allegedly disposed of dangerous and non-dangerous waste in the ground and the local water system, as well as the sea, according to those carrying out the probe.
The accusations are amongst the heaviest that are included in the preliminary investigation documentation that is being notified to some 50 people and three companies that are being evaluated for their involvement.
The company based in the Puglia port city has been at the centre of a long-running judicial and political tug-of-war as courts have moved to force the company to make expensive environmental upgrades to the plant, accused of polluting the area and creating health problems for more than a decade.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Merchant Kills Robber With His Truck in Turin
Two suspects flee after attempted theft from driver
(ANSA) — Turin, November 4 — A Chinese merchant ran down and killed an alleged bandit with his truck early Monday morning, police said.
The merchant was driving fresh fruits and vegetables to market in an industrial area of Turin when a trio of robbers stopped his truck, police said.
When the victim realized what was happening, he jumped into his truck to escape.
After he hit one with his truck the other two assailants fled, police said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Alfano Says Risk of Berlusconi’s Party Becoming ‘Extremist’
Deputy premier has clashed with hawks who wanted to sink govt
(see related story) (ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said there is a risk of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party becoming extremist.
Alfano is the leader of pro-government doves within the party who have clashed with Berlusconi and his loyalists over whether to bring down Premier Enrico Letta’s grand-coalition government.
The minister was recently stripped of his role as secretary of the People of Freedom (PdL) party after Berlusconi announced he was launching a new party under the PdL’s former name, Forza Italia.
“Our party has always been a big, prevalently moderate movement,” Alfano said in excerpts of an interview contained in a book by broadcast journalist Bruno Vespa that is set to be published this week.
“It’s not a good thing that it ends up in the hands of extremists. Berlusconi isn’t one, but there’s a risk of it taking that direction in the practical, day-to-day management of the communications”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Blind’ Benefit Cheats Nabbed in Puglia
Cited for defrauding State of 150,000 euros
(ANSA) — Bari, November 4 — Two Italian brothers who falsely claimed benefit for blindness for 20 years were arrested Monday.
The pair, both in their 50s and from Molfetta near Bari, were cited for defrauding the State of about 150,000 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
John Paul ‘Unaware’ of Maciel’s Sex Crimes, Says Secretary
Cardinal’s new book aims to absolve soon-to-be saint
(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — Pope John Paul II’s secretary has denied in a new book that the late pontiff was aware of the sex crimes of his friend Mexican priest Marcial Maciel Degollado, who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. “When he met him he knew absolutely nothing! For (John Paul) he was the founder of a great religious order and nothing else, no one told him anything! Not even of the rumors that were circulating,” writes Cardinal Stanislao Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow, in “I Lived with a Saint,” released in Italy Monday. John Paul allegedly ignored reports about the charismatic Maciel, who inflicted decades of sexual abuse on boys and fathered several children, two of whom he also abused. He was removed by John Paul’s successor Benedict XVI in 2006 and died two years later in disgrace. Some Vatican watchers have suggested John Paul’s canonisation, scheduled for the spring next year, may have been held up by his friendship with Maciel.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
No Requests for Data Protection in EU-US Trade Deal
The European Commission Monday said it has received “no official information” from any member state about including data protection in the planned EU-US free trade agreement, amid reports Berlin wants to put the issue on the table. A spokesperson noted the commission has no “remit” to negotiate on spying.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Reding Says EU Should Create Own Spy Agency
BRUSSELS — EU justice commissionner Viviane Reding has said the Union should create its own intelligence service by 2020. Speaking on Monday (4 November) to Greek daily Naftemporiki on the US snooping scandal, she said: “What we need is to strengthen Europe in this field, so we can level the playing field with our US partners.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Three Killed in Norway Bus Hi-Jack
A woman and two men were killed on Monday night when man hijacked an express bus in western Norway armed with a knife. The suspected hijacker, a 31-year-old man from South Sudan, was disarmed without a fight once the authorities arrived. He has been flown by helicopter to hospital in Bergen, where he is being treated for knife injuries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Tuareg and Berbers Protest at Oil Facilities
Demand minority rights; talks underway
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI — The Libyan oil crisis has received a further blow by protests staged by Tuareg and Amazigh (Berber) minorities at oil terminals and facilities across the country. The protestors are demanding recognition of minority rights. The Sharara oil extraction facilities, operated jointly with Spain’s Repsol in south-western Libya, was blocked a week ago in protest by armed Tuareg from the city of Ubari. Elsewhere about thirty former revolutionaries from the Amazigh community of Zuwara initiated a protest ten days ago in front of the Mellitah facilities, a joint venture between ENI and Libya’s state National Oil Corporation. The protestors have threatened to halt exports in the coming days unless the government and the General National Congress (GNC) give in to their demand for recognition of minority rights, ANSA was told by sources from Zuwara. The armed men answering to the Supreme Amazigh Congress began protesting at the Mellitah terminal on October 26, and after several talks with the GNC’s energy committee gave a week’s time for their demands to be met, saying that otherwise they would block the facilities. The GNC has not yet made any statements on the matter but the facilities located in the western part of the country are still operative, sources have told ANSA, and the talks with the protestors are being held without incident. A month ago the Amazigh had threatened to boycott local elections as well as those for the 60-member Constituent Assembly. The Berber community, which suffered marginalization even during Gaddafi’s time, were assigned only 2 seats in the Assembly, the same number allocated to the Tebu and Tuareg minorities. The Amazigh want a consensus of members, not just a majority, to decide on cultural issues and other issues, as well as recognition of cultural rights including the introduction of the Tamazight language alongside Arabic in the new constitution.
The Sharara and Mellitah protests have come on the heels of ones underway since late July by workers and security guards at the largest extraction and export sites in the eastern part of the country. The protests have brought the Libyan economy to its knees, dependent as it is on the oil sector, making for losses of over 130 million dollars per day, said Finance Minister Kilani recently. The blockage of the oil sector has led to the worst crisis since the 2011 conflict, reducing production to under 300,000 bpd compared with 1.6 million bpd prior to the revolution, reports Oil Minister Al Arusi. Those on strike accuse the government of corruption and call for more rights and higher wages.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: New Government of Cyrenaica Sworn in
Led by Ibrahiim Jadran, considered illegal by Tripoli
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI — After announcing the creation of an independent government last week, the 24 ministers of Cyrenaica were sworn in on Sunday in Ajdabiya, in eastern Libya.
The new cabinet of Barqa, the Arabic name for the country’s eastern region, has been slammed as illegal by Tripoli.
The president of the transitional council of Cyrenaica, Ahmad Al Zubair Al Sensussi, great-nephew of King Idris, who had proclaimed Cyrenaica a semi-autonomous region in March 2012, also denied any connection with the local government formed by a second entity, the political office of Barqa led by Ibrahiim Jadran.
Ever since the end of July, Jadran has backed strikes at several large export terminals and oilfields, bringing the oil industry and the country’s economy to a standstill.
The government of Barqa based in Bayda says it represents all cities and social groups in the region. Cyrenaica would also be divided into four districts: Benghazi, Green Mountain, Tobruk and Ajdabiya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Club Med Closes Hammamet Resort in 2014, Report
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 4 -The Club Med resort in Hammamet will not open in 2014, according to Business News.
The website published an article on Monday which cited the head of the Etudes et Promotion Touristique agency in Hammamet (SEPTH), which owns the Club Med resort in the Tunisian location, revealing that French hotel group Accor, which controls the resort chain, has decided to close it.
Talks are reportedly ongoing to verify whether the shutdown is temporary or not.
The shutdown would further damageTunisia’s image as a tourist destination after a significant drop registered after the ‘Jasmine revolution’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Time to Reassess Israel’s Strategic Assumptions
by Caroline Glick
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apparently believes the greatest threat the country now faces is an escalated European trade war. He’s wrong.
The greatest threat we are now facing is a national leadership that cannot get its arms around changing strategic realities.
Over the weekend, Yediot Aharonot reported that during Secretary of State John Kerry’s seven-hour meeting in Rome last week with Netanyahu, Kerry warned that the price for walking away from the talks with the PLO will be European economic strangulation of Israel.
According to the newspaper, “[T]he secretary of state told the prime minister that he heard from his European friends… that if the negotiations fail, Israel can forget about participating in the European research and development program ‘Horizon 2020.’ And that will only be the beginning. More and far weightier actions to boycott Israel will follow. They are already being prepared. This will cause incalculable damage to the Israeli economy.”…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
New Cases of Cannibalism in Syria
By Theodore Shoebat
An extinct disease called Kuru, has now been found in 8 to 20 people in Syria, and the only way it could have come about, doctors confirmed, is through cannibalism, as first reported by Arabian news source Zaman al-Wasal and substantiated by Orient News Television.
Two of the infected were sent from Syria to a hosptial in Ghazi Antab in Turkey for further examination to only be transferred to another hospital in Germany. One of the two already died, since Kuru is 100% fatal. Kuru is contagious and has symptoms of skin ulcers and worms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Interior Minister’s Call to Give Islamists a ‘Public Role’ Draws Criticism
Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi wants governors and local administrators to cooperate with FPI members. Activists and members of civil society groups slam him for ignoring the FPI’s deliberate acts of intolerance towards minorities. One lawmaker describes the minister as a “disoriented person”, defines the FPI an “obstacle” to the law.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Many Indonesians and civil society groups have reacted with astonishment and dismay to a recent appeal made by the Indonesian Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi who wants regional governors and local administrators to cooperate with the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
Many on social media have come out against Fauzi. For them, the minister is deliberately ignoring the Islamist group’s radicalism and the repeated acts of intolerance by its members against religious minorities, especially Protestants and Catholics.
By contrast, for the minister, “The FPI is [part of the] nation’s heritage”. Speaking at the end of a meeting in Jakarta with Vice President Boediono last week, he stated that the group “meets all the requirements [to work with the authorities] so we can start cooperation”.
Few Indonesians would agree with him, finding his remarks neither clever nor amusing. For them, Fauzi seems to ignore the FPI’s violent past, including its brutal attacks against minorities, especially Ahmadi Muslims, considered unIslamic because they do not recognise Muhammad as the final prophet.
According to activist Fajar Riza Ul Haq, from the Maarif Institute, civil society groups have tried to get the authorities to disband the group, without success. Yet, contrary to the minister’s call for regional governors to cooperate with it, “What people want is just the opposite,” he said.
For many Indonesians, the Islamist movement is nothing more than a faction with violence in its DNA, one that does not hesitate to use force to “solve” problems, whether prostitution, lap dancing clubs or blasphemy.
Eva Sundari, a leading minority rights advocate and a lawmaker elected with the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDIP), also criticised the minister for his remarks. Describing him as a “disoriented person”, she considers the FPI a “serious obstacle” to the application of the law in many parts of the country.
Although the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia has a constitution that recognises basic personal freedoms (including freedom of religion). However, in its recent past, it has seen a rising wave of violence and abuse against minorities, like Christians, Ahmadi Muslims and others.
In certain parts of the country, especially Aceh, the only province that enforces Islamic law, the lives of ordinary Indonesians have been negatively impacted by a more radicalised and intrusive form of Islam.
In this context, the FPI has played a leading role in a broad campaign of ‘Islamisation’. In a number of places, its members have used violence to impose Sharia-inspired rules and regulations, such as a ban on alcoholic beverages and the prohibition of certain sexual mores.
The group, which is opposed by most Indonesians, has also been accused of blocking church construction, using violence to achieve this goal.
Since 2000, it has also been blamed in connection with a series of terror attacks that targeted the US Embassy as well as bars, nightclubs, and private clubs, especially during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting and prayer.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Four Somalis Charged With Aiding Westgate Mall Attack That Killed 67 in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan authorities have charged four Somali nationals with offenses related to September’s terrorist attack on Westgate Mall that killed 67 people.
A court ordered the four men — Mohamed Ahmed Abdi, Liban Abdullah Omar, Hussein Hassan Mustafah, and Adan Dheq — imprisoned until a court hearing next week. All four pleaded not guilty in the court.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamists Kill 27, Burn Houses in Nigerian Village Attack
(AGI) Maiduguri, Nov 4 — At least 27 people were killed and 12 were injured when their village in northeast Nigeria was attacked by Boko Haram militants, local government sources have reported. At least 300 houses were burned. The gang arrived in trucks and motorcycles near Bama, which Boko Haram has attacked in the past.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Can Nairobi be the Next Silicon Valley?
The opening of IBM’s first lab in Africa is a pivotal moment, says chief scientist Uyi Stewart — and researchers of the African diaspora should be part of it
Why did IBM open a research lab in Africa?
Africa has an abundance of natural resources, a rising middle class, a deep penetration of mobile phones and, in another 20 years, it will have the largest concentration of young people on Earth. This continent is about to explode economically.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN, EU Pledge $8.25 Billion to Africa’s Sahel Region to Fight Poverty, Hunger, Instability
The World Bank and the European Union are pledging $8.25 billion to boost economic growth and fight poverty in Africa’s Sahel region. The announcement came Monday in a trip to the Sahel by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
The EU is donating $6.75 billion over seven years. The World Bank is contributing $1.5 billion over two years. The visit began in conflict-torn Mali and continues to Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Repatriated 1,052 Illegals in October
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, NOVEMBER 4 — More than 1,000 migrants were repatriated by Greece in October, authorities announced on Monday, as Kathimerini online reports. Of these, 696 were repatriated voluntarily through a European Union-funded program run by the Greek branch of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Aliens’ Bureau repatriated 356 migrants after they were found to have entered the country illegally.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Are You a Racist if You Own a Gun?
If you believe a new study, whites who own guns do so because they harbor racist feelings towards blacks. Indeed, in the study, four Australian and British psychologists also claim that racism is associated with opposition to gun control.
The lead paragraph on this study in Friday’s New York Daily News summed up the claim this way: “Racism and guns go together.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Barilla Pasta Maker Announces New Measures for Diversity
Follows furore over president’s anti-gay comments
(ANSA) — Parma, November 4 — Just a little over a month since the president of Barilla pasta maker sparked an international outcry by saying he would never make ads that portrayed gay families, the company on Monday announced it has created a Diversity & Inclusion board of advisers.
Made up of external independent experts, it will coach the world’s largest pasta maker on how to improve its corporate culture.
So far, internationally renowned Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights advocate David Mixner and Parlympics gold medalist Alex Zanardi have agreed to sit on the board. “Diversity, inclusion and equality have been part of the Barilla code of ethics for some time, as reflected in our employee benefits, which are extended without regard to age, disability, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation”, CEO Claudio Colzani said. “Also, we are committed to promoting diversity because we firmly believe it is the right thing to do”. President Guido Barilla, part of the pasta dynasty’s fourth generation since Pietro Barilla founded the company in 1877, sparked controversy with comments during a September 26 radio interview.
“I would never make a spot with a homosexual family. Not out of a lack of respect but because I don’t see it like they do. (My idea of) family is a classic family where the woman has a fundamental role”, he said.
Within hours, Italian activists and politicians launched a boycott of Barilla products, which has 20 brands of pasta, sauce, and various jarred foods.
Guido Barilla eventually apologized.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Newsreader Banned From Wearing Cross on Air
A newsreader for Norway’s state news channel has been banned from wearing a cross on air, after the programme received angry complaints from viewers.
Siv Kristin Sællmann, who reads NRK’s regional news for southern Norway, last month came on air several times wearing a discreet 1.4cm long gold cross, studded with tiny black diamonds.
Immediately, viewers began to call in with complaints, pushing Anders Sårheim, the regional editor, to instruct her not to wear the symbol in future.
“What I don’t like is that people out there can just call in and tell my boss what I should and I shouldn’t wear,” Sællmann told The Local.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Comet From the Oort Cloud Careens Toward the Sun
This month Comet ISON will fly by the sun in an encounter that could destroy the object, or elevate it to greatness
It’s make or break time for Comet c/2012 S1 (ISON), a ball of ice hurtling toward the inner solar system that will make its closest approach to the sun this month. Whether ISON will flare into a “great comet” or fizzle out is still an open question, but scientists say either way, ISON offers an unprecedented opportunity to understand the ingredients and history of the solar system.
Whether or not ISON becomes the “comet of the century,” as some have forecasted, it will almost certainly be useful scientifically. The Oort Cloud is made of the solar system’s leftover ingredients.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Habitable Earth-Size Planets Common Across the Universe, Study Suggests
Habitable alien planets similar to Earth may not be that rare in the universe, a new study suggests. About one in five sunlike stars observed by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has an Earth-size planet in the so-called habitable zone, where liquid water — and, potentially life — could exist, according to the new study. If these results apply elsewhere in the galaxy, the nearest such planet could be just 12 light-years away.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Spacecraft Finds Bounty of Alien Planets, Including 104 Potentially Habitable Worlds
The search for other Earth-like planets in the galaxy got a major boost today (Nov. 4) with the discovery of hundreds of newfound alien planets identified by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, a haul that includes 104 strange, new worlds that could potentially support life.
Scientists with NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission announced the discovery of 833 new planet candidates during a press conference today, bringing the total number of candidate worlds to 3,538. Of the 104 planets in the habitable zone, 10 of them are about the size of Earth, scientists say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
On those four Aussie and Brit psychologists whose ‘study’ has come up with anti-gun control believers being declared as ‘racist’.
Just how much more inane and illogical do these ‘experts’ have to become before real thinking people call their bluff and denounce their pseudo-science for what it is, ill founded quackery!
Until about a decade ago I believed that the mental health ‘professionals’ were just that, professional medical people, but the evidence of the last 50 years has proven to me that my acceptance of this newest form of medical science as being a panacea for those who suffer debilitating mental health conditions has been largely misplaced.
Most of them are now no better than the village witchdoctor!