Al Qaeda fighters targeted the defense ministry in Yemen yesterday, detonating a suicide bomb outside the compound and staging a gun battle at the hospital inside. 52 people were killed and 162 wounded, with seven foreign doctors and nurses among the dead. In response, Germany warned its citizens to leave the country.
In other news, schoolchildren in Shanghai were ordered to stay indoors as the smog enveloping the city reached extremely dangerous levels.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Alarm Over Italian Spending Power, Pensions
Economic crisis means number of poor has risen since 2008
(By Sandra Cordon) (ANSA) — Rome, December 5 — Economists and politicians have predicted an end to the recession gripping Italy, yet pensioners and consumers are not rejoicing as statistics Thursday showed that spending power and pension income alike have been weakening while the risk of poverty rises.
Italy’s social security agency INPS revealed that nearly half of retirees receiving benefits obtained less than 1,000 euros per month in 2012.
The agency noted that 45.2% of INPS retirees, or 7.2 million Italians, received pension payments of less than 1,000 euros per month. Of those, 2.26 million — or 14.3% of all INPS pensioners — see less than 500 euros per month. At the opposite end of the income scale, just over 650,000 INPS retirees receive more than 3,000 euros per month. At the same time, Italian households have seen their purchasing power sink by 9.4% between 2008, when the global economic crisis began with force, and 2012, said INPS. The crisis became especially acute between 2011 and 2012 as the deepening recession squeezed Italians’ buying power by 4.9%.
Since 2008, disposable income fell an average of 1.8% per year, with a deeper drop of 2% from 2011 to 2012.
Meanwhile, almost 30% of the Italian population was at risk of slipping into poverty last year as a result of the economic crisis, said the European Union’s statistical agency.
According to Eurostat, 29.9% of Italians were at risk in 2012, an increase from the 28.2% at risk in 2011 and the 25.3% who were considered vulnerable in 2008, when the crisis that has shaken Europe began.
Further, the agency said that 14.5% of Italians were not merely at risk but were actually “severely materially deprived”.
That stood in sharp contrast with Sweden and Luxembourg, which reported only 1.3% of their populations in that same dire position, the best record in the European countries measured by Eurostat. Meanwhile, too many Italian workers are in ‘precarious’ short-term jobs, intermittent contracts and other types of employment with few social benefits and that threatens to exacerbate the current employment, pension and income trends, warned the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In a report on retirement and pensions, the Paris-based OECD said that these types of employment do not provide adequate opportunities to save for old age, including proper pension plans.
This means that retirement savings may be spotty among these types of workers, who are increasing in number as a result of Italy’s recession and the global economic downturn that has increased unemployment and under-employment.
“(In Italy) the adequacy of retirement income will be a problem (for future generations),” the agency warned.
Pensions are often closely linked to contributions by workers, but those who do not get much work are not able to pay much into the plan, limiting their future benefits, explained the report.
It called for better public pension plans and programs to encourage retirement planning and opportunities to save.
Continuing threats to incomes now and in the future were reflected in other reports Thursday that showed Italian consumer spending slipped by 2.1% in October compared with the same time last year, suggesting fearful shoppers are keeping their wallets closed, said Italy’s leading retailer organization Confcommercio.
This despite bold statements from Premier Enrico Letta who has said that he believes Italy has been gradually coming out of recession during the final three months of this year.
Furthermore, he and other government officials predict that in 2014, the Italian economy will emerge from recession.
Similarly, the OECD has predicted that Italy’s gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink 1.9% in 2013, but grow by 0.6% in 2014.
Still, Christmas will be a bleak affair for many Italians who have seen their incomes stuck at 1986 levels, Confcommercio has warned.
“It will be yet another Christmas of austerity,” predicted Carlo Sangalli, Confcommercio president.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bankruptcy Epidemic Slays Spain’s Businesses
Washing machines, fish fingers and football teams: not even household names are safe from a Spanish bankruptcy epidemic ravaging big and small businesses alike.
The number of companies filing for bankruptcy in Spain rose from 1,147 in 2007, the year before Spain’s real estate bubble disastrously burst, to nearly 6,200 in 2009, according to the National Statistics Institute.
It topped 9,000 in 2012 and “I think that in 2013 we are going to get close to 10,000,” said Carlos Sancho, a lawyer and expert in financial management at IESE Business School.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Crisis: Recession in Greece Until 2015, Says Citigroup
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, DECEMBER 6 — The recession in Greece will continue until 2015, while the Greek debt and the unemployment rate will increase, GreekReporter website writes quoting Citigroup’s new report. Citigroup mentions that only an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model can put Greece in a sustainable fiscal path. As reported, recession has recently subsided to -3% in the third quarter. However it will continue in 2014 and 2015, reaching 1.9% and 0.5% respectively. It is estimated that debt will reach 190% of GDP in 2014 and 199% of GDP in 2015.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EC Berates Italy on Debt Again After Letta Clash
Rehn’s office says supplementary budget adjustment needed
(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) — Rome, December 5 — The office of European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Thursday that Italy must do more to reduce its massive public debt, returning to an issue that has caused considerable tension between the European Commission and Rome in recent weeks.
Rehn’s spokesperson said a “supplementary” adjustment of 0.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the budget was needed to guarantee Italy makes progress on tackling its debt next year Italy was embroiled in the eurozone debt crisis and risked a Greek-style financial meltdown in 2011 largely because of its massive public debt, which now stands at over two trillion euros, around 133% of GDP. Rehn criticised Italy’s debt-cutting efforts this week, saying lack of progress made it ineligible to use a clause in EU regulations that allows for greater flexibility in how certain stimulative spending measures are counted in budget deficit calculations.
“Italy must respect a certain debt-reduction pace, and it’s not doing that,” Rehn said in an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica.
“Italy has no room to manoeuvre and can’t invoke the flexibility clause for investments”.
The comments sparked an irate reaction from Letta, who said the European Union should examine its conscience after imposing painful austerity policies on the countries at the centre of the eurozone crisis. 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.
“I say to the commissioner that our accounts are in order and only Italy and Germany have (a deficit) below 3% of GDP,” said Letta.
“Our commitment should be rewarded, not whipped”.
Last month Letta said that the EU had to resist never-ending demands for fiscal consolidation from pro-austerity “ayatollahs” as Europe risked “dying of too much rigour”.
Those remarks came after the European Commission said in a report that Italy risked breaking the EU’s Growth and Stability Pact due to its debt levels after analysing the government’s budget bill for 2014, which is being examined by parliament. Letta hit back, saying the package should be praised for cutting taxes while keeping the country on course to stay within the EU’s 3% deficit-to-GDP-ratio limit. The government added that the EC had failed to properly account for the government’s plans for a round of spending cuts and for divestments expected to raise 10 to 12 billion euros, with Letta accusing Rehn of excessive “skepticism”.
The premier has said Italy will use its duty presidency of the European Union in the second half of next year to ensure that the EU moves to a period of promoting growth and fighting unemployment after a long focus on fiscal consolidation.
But the Italian premier has also stressed that Rome will have more credibility in this bid thanks to its efforts to get its finances straight.
“Italy cannot start having deficits and debts again because Europe would not allow it and our children wouldn’t either,” Letta said in a video message for International Volunteer Day on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Economy Added 203,000 Jobs in November, as Unemployment Falls to 5-Year Low
The economy added 203,000 jobs in November, a bit better than expected, as the unemployment rate fell to 7 percent, the lowest in five years.
While the return of hundreds of thousands of federal employees following October’s government shutdown may have exaggerated the move in the unemployment rate for November, the continuing payroll gains suggest the economy has picked up at least a modicum of momentum very recently.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg before the Labor Department announcement had expected an increase of 185,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate falling by 0.1 percentage point to 7.2 percent.
| [Return to headlines] |
EU Financial Tax is Legal, Commission Lawyers Say
The EU’s financial transactions tax is legal and would not discriminate against countries outside its remit, according to lawyers working for the European Commission. A report by the commission’s legal team, seen by EUobserver, rubbished claims by governments that the financial transactions tax could break international law.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Denies Pressuring Spain on Bailout
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has “no memory” of allegedly pressuring Spain on taking a bailout in 2011, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday (6 December).
Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Rodriguez Zapatero last week published a book called “The Dilemma” about his last years in office, recalling how Merkel, as well as the heads of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approached him during 2010-2011 to ask his country to take a bailout.
He says he refused each time. On Merkel, he gave a detailed account of a 2011 meeting in Cannes, where France was hosting a “G20” meeting of the world’s richest countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Over 100,000 People Fled Italy in 2012
106,000 people left Italy in 2012 in search of work elsewhere, according to the latest figures from the Census Institute. In a report on Friday, Censis said the number of people leaving had jumped 115 percent since 2002, when 50,000 left the country.
The biggest increase was in 2012, when 28.8 percent more people left than the previous year. More than half of those leaving were under the age of 35, as they struggle to find work in Italy’s ongoing recession.
Youth unemployment in Italy hit a record high of 41.2 percent in October, while overall 12.5 percent of Italians are out of work, the national statistics agency Istat said last Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: 10% Rise in Prostitution, Prices Fall Sharply
Client age decreases; 37,000 on the streets, mostly foreigners
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 15 — Despite the ongoing economic crisis and high unemployment rates, prostitution is on the rise in Spain and both the average age of clients and prices are falling. Associations that help or work to rescue prostitutes have calculated an increase of between 5 and 10 percent for “streetwalkers”. Both the associations and the police say that there are at least 37,000 prostitutes in Spain (a figure that does not take into account escorts or women and students who sell sex on a non-regular basis). Of them, 12,000 have said that they had been forced to do it, while the others say that it was their own decision. Spaniards are a minority within the whole and account for only 12%. Most of the prostitutes are from Latin American (42%, mostly Brazilians), from Eastern Europe (28%), Africa (15%) and Asia (5%). The Asian figure is steadily rising and accounts for most of the youngest prostitutes. The crisis has had an effect on the prices. The associations say that sexual services performed for between 30 and 50 euros over the past few years are now regularly had for between 15 and 20 euros. There are over 1,200 prostitutes in the capital, and two years ago the Madrid city council brought in heavy fines for prostitutes trying to get clients. The measures has not had an effect, however, as it is difficult to catch them in the act.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spaniards Fight Financial Crisis With Flamenco
Fed up with feeling powerless against the economic crisis, a collective of activists in Spain has been staging flamenco flash mobs in banks — and struck a nerve in Spanish society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Activists Urge Obama to Go Rogue, Sidestep Congress
President Obama’s repeated use of presidential powers is causing a tough problem — his own supporters now expect him to use it to achieve everything they want.
From immigration to the minimum wage, congressional Democrats and liberal activists this week urged Mr. Obama to declare an end run around Capitol Hill, assert executive authority and make as much progress as he can on the expansive agenda he laid out for his second term.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Asian Americans’ Shopping Habits Make Retailers’ Eyes Light Up
Spending among so-called swayable shopaholics in the fast-growing demographic of Asian Americans outpaces other groups, even millennials, a consumer study finds.
In her Tory Burch flats and carrying the requisite Burberry bag, Linda Mar eyes the buttery leather designer purses, pausing to click off the labels: Phillip Lim. Chloe. Prada.
“I want the name brands,” the Taiwanese immigrant says, as she wanders the aisles of Saks Fifth Avenue at South Coast Plaza.
Mar is part of an emerging class of Asian Americans, identified as the “swayable shopaholics,” who now rank as the most prolific and impulsive buyers in the United States, according to a Nielsen report released Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Foundation School Student Serves as Page
Local student Sahran Shafaque was selected to serve as a Legislative Page at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. During their term of duty, Sahran served as a messenger on the floor of the Legislative Chamber, met key parliamentary figures and learned about Ontario’s parliamentary system of government. A page’s term of duty lasts three weeks. Sahran, 13, attends the Islamic Foundation School and is in Grade 8…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bob Dylan Falls Foul of Europe’s Neo-Blasphemy Laws
by Ed West
The French authorities are investigating Bob Dylan after some Croats were offended by something he said in an interview with Rolling Stone last year. The singer had said: ‘If you got a slave master or [Ku Klux] Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.’
Dylan is the latest victim of Europe’s neo-blasphemy laws, in which offending someone’s group identity is treated in the same way that offending God once was. When Christianity stops being sacred, everything becomes sacred; did GK Chesterton say that? Well it’s the sort of thing he might have said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Former Ku Klux Klan Chief Banned From Italy
David Duke, the former leader of the US xenophobic movement, the Ku Klux Klan, was told to leave Italy in early 2012 over fears he was planning “the extermination of black and Jewish races”. The news only came to light after his appeal to stay was rejected by a court in Veneto on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Deutsche Post Tests Delivery Drones
Just like Amazon, Germany’s Deutsche Post-DHL is also testing mini-drones as a way to deliver packages across the skies to your doorstep, the group said on Thursday.
Online retail giant Amazon sparked a marketing frenzy Monday in announcing a project to use flying objects more associated with warfare to deliver packages, maintaining it could be up and running within five years.
But Deutsche Post said on Thursday it too has a project that predates Amazon’s, though the scheme is in its early stages.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: New Evidence Emerges Against Golden Dawn
Three Golden Dawn MPs who had been due to defend themselves on Saturday on charges of belonging to a criminal organization were given additional time — until January 11 — after a wealth of new evidence was unearthed regarding the neofascist party’s activities, Kathimerini has learned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Another Democratic Party Rome Office Vandalized
‘They vomited on our flags, stole the TV’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 5 — Ruling Democratic Party (PD) offices in Rome’s historically left-wing, working-class San Lorenzo neighborhood were vandalized last night, PD sources said Thursday.
“They broke in and trashed everything”, said PD Rome President Tommaso Giuntella. “They vomited on our flags and stole a stereo and a TV that members had pooled their money to buy”. This follows an attack earlier this week by enraged unemployed Neapolitan workers, who forced their way into the party’s national headquarters, and an attack by anti-capitalists on another historic PD office near Campo de’ Fiori last month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Food Pirates Peddling Fake Olive Oil, Chinese Tomato Sauce
Govt seized 28,000 tons of counterfeit food in 2012
(ANSA) — Rome, December 5 — A report issued Thursday by Italian environmentalists and consumers shows the market in counterfeit Italian food is doing brisk business, peddling everything from watered-down olive oil to imitation cheese to Chinese tomato sauce repackaged with a Made in Italy label. Now in its 10th edition, the annual report by the Citizen’s Defense Movement and Legambiente environmentalist NGO documented 500,000 government inspections leading to the seizure of 28,000 tons of counterfeit or adulterated products worth half a billion euros in 2012 alone. The highest rate of seizures, 20 million euros’ worth of goods or 47%, occurred within what should be Italy’s pride and joy, the wine sector.
Authorities also seized 4.6 tons of tomatoes, another mainstay of Italian cuisine that also turned out to be fraudulently peddled as organic or falsely labeled as being of Protected Designation of Origin (DOP), which is an EU denomination for products whose claim to quality depends entirely on the territory in which they were produced. Tomato imports from outside the EU have risen by 187% since 2010, which is when the government began to take a closer look at the sector, according to the report.
“Consumers are still the unwitting victims of food fraud.
We need severe penalties to be a real deterrent”, said Citizens’ Defense Movement President Antonio Longo.
“Guaranteeing food safety is not just healthy, but also crucial to safeguarding our gastronomic heritage”, said Legambiente President Vittorio Cogliati Dezza.
The report came after thousands of Italian farmers protested close to the border with Austria on Wednesday as agriculture association Coldiretti said food piracy was causing businesses to close in droves here.
Coldiretti said unfair competition from foreign produce branded to look Italian has contributed to the demise of 136,351 farms and agricultural companies since the start of the global economic crisis in 2007.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Sentences Egyptian Ex-Cleric for Terror
An Italian court on Friday convicted on terror charges an Egyptian cleric who was kidnapped by the CIA in Milan in 2003 and said he was tortured in captivity. The court sentenced the ex-imam, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, better known as Abu Omar, to six years in prison for criminal association for international terror.
Prosecutors said Nasr collaborated with 13 militants between 2000 and 2003 “with the aim of carrying out acts of terrorist violence in Italy and abroad.” Nasr’s lawyer Carmelo Scambia said his client denied the charge and had only “adhered to a political-ideological course for his faith”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Crumbling Walls in Pompeii Prompt Outrage
A wall collapsed in the ruins of Pompeii this week, just the latest incident in a series of preservation woes for the ancient city, Reuters reported. Amid recent heavy rains and wind, a wall on one of the city’s major streets crumbled, as did plaster on Pompeii’s House of the Small Fountain, a building famous for its lavish frescoes.
Though the European Union has funded a 105 million euro ($140 million) restoration project at Pompeii, work at the site is only partially underway, with contract bids still being assessed, Reuters reported. Some archaeologists have pointed fingers at the Italian government for mismanaging the project.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More and More Italians Marrying Foreigners, New Study Shows
Italian-foreign weddings +15.3% in 2012
(ANSA) — Venice, December 5 — More and more Italians are marrying non-Italians, the Leone Moressa Foundation for immigration research made known Thursday.
Such weddings increased by 15.3% last year, with 20.764 couples or 10% of the total tying the knot.
An overwhelming majority of “mixed” couples, or 78.7%, involve Italian men marrying foreign-born women. The Italians appeared to favor Romanians (14.5%), followed by Ukrainians (8.6%) and Brazilians (6.2%).
The most marriages between citizens and non-citizens occurred where the highest concentrations of foreigners live, namely in the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, Lazio and Veneto, according to the study.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Åkesson Cake-Attacker to be Prosecuted
A woman who pied Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson is to be charged with molestation, according to tabloid Expressen. He is demanding SEK 5,000 in damages, and SEK 300 to pay for dry cleaning.
The 60-year-old attacked Åkesson while he was signing copies of his book in southern Stockholm, shouting “fascist bastard” when she threw the cake, Åkesson says. The case is due to reach a local court in March.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Woman Reports Doctor After Religious Row
A Muslim woman in southern Sweden has filed a complaint with the Equality Ombudsman when a doctor refused to treat her after she wouldn’t shake his hand for religious reasons.
The incident took place in Malmö last spring when the woman was referred to a specialist doctor by her own GP as she was suffering stomach pain.
According to the Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen — DO) the woman did not have any issue with being examined by a man. However, when the specialist reached out to shake her hand she refused the gesture, arguing it was against her religious beliefs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Plight of Europe’s ‘Euro Orphans’
Millions of Eastern European children are left behind when their parents leave to work in another country. They only see their parents occasionally, or stay in touch via Skype. New EU laws could improve their plight.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
This is Britain: A Crackdown on Islamic Extremism Will Not Cause Attacks on Muslims
by Douglas Murray
Hallelujah, vaguely. The Prime Minister’s extremism task force set up in the wake of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby has just reported and its findings, ‘Tackling Extremism in the UK’ include the following admission:
‘We have been too reticent about challenging extreme Islamist ideologies in the past, in part because of a misplaced concern that attacking Islamist extremism equates to an attack on Islam itself. This reticence, and the failure to confront extremists, has led to an environment conducive to radicalisation in some mosques and Islamic centres, universities and prisons.’
Who could possibly remain opposed to such prevailing common sense?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Turks to Get Visa Free Travel to Europe
The Turks have got their wish: 80-million Muslim Turks are going to get visa-free travel to Europe. For years Turkey has been blackmailing Europe by deliberately letting Muslim illegals from the Middle East and Africa travel through the country to Europe. The Turks said they wouldn’t do anything about this until the EU gave them visa-free travel. If our leaders had any spines, this disgraceful extortion racket would have meant an immediate end to Turkey’s application to join the EU. Instead, they gave in to Turkish blackmail.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Shaykh Boom Boom
This is the first in a series of blog pieces that dishes the dirt of a number of Muslim spokespersons that certain media organisations periodically wheel out. The aim of these pieces is to illustrate how many of these figures are bigoted, unrepresentative and self-promoting individuals who should not be presented as representative of British Muslims…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Sets Up Child Sex Abuse Committee
Pope Francis is setting up a special commission to advise the Catholic Church on how it can better protect children and help those who have suffered sexual abuse by priests, the Vatican announced on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Virtual Currency Bitcoin Gains Popularity in Sweden
Few currencies can boast an 8,000 percent increase in value in just a few years. But the digital currency Bitcoin is different. Economists have compared the introduction of bitcoin to the gold rush in the late 19th century. There are now bitcoin millionaires who have become very rich from investing and trading in the e-currency.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Battlegrounds Emerge at Egypt’s Universities
It was meant to be a place of scholar, Sunni Islam’s most prominent center of learning, but for the past weeks riot police have lined the entrance gates, as protests have engulfed Cairo’s Al-Azhar University.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Potato Battery Can Light Up a Room for Over a Month
As one of the most ubiquitous crops in the world, the potato is poised to feed the entire world. Along the way, scientists discovered that the popular staple of many people’s diets may also have potential to help power it as well.
A couple years ago, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem released their finding that a potato boiled for eight minutes can make for a battery that produces ten times the power of a raw one. Using small units comprised of a quarter-slice of potato sandwiched between a copper cathode and a zinc anode that’s connected by a wire, agricultural science professor Haim Rabinowitch and his team wanted to prove that a system that can be used to provide rooms with LED-powered lighting for as long as 40 days. At around one-tenth the cost of a typical AA battery, a potato could supply power for cell phone and other personal electronics in poor, underdeveloped and remote regions without access to a power grid.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Caroline Glick
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Wednesday to put additional pressure on Israel to make more concessions in land and political rights to the PLO in Judea and Samaria. To advance his current effort, Kerry brought along retired US Marine Gen. John Allen.
According to media reports, Allen presented a proposal to address Israel’s security concerns and so enabled the talks about Israeli land giveaways to proceed apace. The proposal involved, among other things, American security guarantees, a pledge to deploy US forces along the Jordan River and additional US military assistance to the IDF.
These Obama administration proposals are supposed to allay Israeli concerns that withdrawing Israeli forces from the Jordan Valley and the international border crossings with Jordan will invite foreign invasion and aggression, and increased Palestinian terrorism.
By controlling the Jordan Valley, (and the Samarian and Hebron mountain ranges), Israel is capable of defending the country from invasion from the east. It can also prevent penetration of irregular enemy forces, and on the other hand, maintain the stability of the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Without control over the areas, Israel can do none of these things.
Facing these undeniable facts, Kerry and his supporters have two main challenges. First they need to present themselves as credible actors. And second they have to give Israel reason to trust the Palestinians.. If Israel trusts the US, then it can consider allowing the US to defend it from foreign aggression. If the Palestinians are real peace partners, then Israel can surrender its ability to defend itself more easily, because it will face a benign neighbor along its indefensible border.
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda Strikes at Heart of Yemeni Politics
Doctors, nurses and patients. Though the terrorist attack hit civilians hardest, al Qaeda called the defense ministry a “legitimate target.” What it really showed was how weak Yemen’s centralized state has become.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus Lures Israelis, Lebanese to Tie Knot
Cyprus, dubbed the “Island of Love” as the birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite, is a magnet for Lebanese and Israeli couples from across the water to tie the knot in a civil wedding.
“We don’t have the same religion,” shrugged Yohana, resplendent in a white dress fresh out of her suitcase. The young Lebanese woman, a member of the Muslim Druze minority sect, arrived from Beirut with her Christian fiance — after a flight lasting less than half an hour.
Despite timid moves to legalize civil marriage back home, more and more couples from Israel and Lebanon are hopping over to Cyprus, which is mainly Greek Orthodox. Civil marriage has been legal ever since 1990 in the small EU island state, where a marriage license issued by town halls costs less than 300 euros.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Attacks Hit Yemen Defence Ministry in Sanaa
A series of attacks at Yemen’s defence ministry have left at least 52 dead and some 162 hurt, officials say.
A suicide car bomb blew up at the gates of the complex in Sanaa’s Bab al-Yaman district, at the entrance to the old city, and a gunbattle followed at a hospital inside. Seven foreign medical staff — doctors and nurses — are among the dead. Yemeni security forces are fighting regional rebels and al-Qaeda, while combating lawlessness and army splits…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Tells Citizens to Get Out of Yemen
Germany’s Foreign Ministry told its citizens to leave Yemen on Friday after a suicide bomb attack and gun battle killed at least 52 people, including two German doctors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merrill Lynch Refuses to Serve Turkish Firm Aselsan
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 5 — U.S.-based financial management and advisory company Merrill Lynch has refused Turkish defense firm Aselsan’s request for it to advise and underwrite Aselsan’s second public offering, citing the missile deal inked by Turkey with a Chinese company currently under U.S. sanctions. “If it is possible that you will work with the Chinese company CPMIEC, we would not work with you,” said Merrill Lynch in a letter sent to Aselsan as daily Hurriyet’s columnist Erdal Saglam reports today. Western reactions appear to be increasing after Turkey’s selection of the Chinese firm to co-produce a long-range air and missile defense system. The U.S.-based Merrill Lynch cited the decision as a reason in itself to deny Aselsan’s request to work with it in Aselsan’s second public offering. Questioned by Hurriyet, Merrill Lynch confirmed that it had refused Aselsan’s offer due to Turkey’s missile deal with China, but declined to give further details of the letter claimed to have been sent to Aselsan. CPMIEC is under U.S. sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act. Merrill Lynch reminded that CPMIEC was on the U.S.’s blacklist. Fifteen percent of Aselsan has so far been offered to the public, and the company has been talking with several international consultancy firms ahead of its second public offering, including Merrill Lynch. The details of the public offering of Aselsan, with a market cap of 4.2 billion Turkish Liras (1.51 billion euros), will be elaborated with an international advisory and underwriting firm, such as Merrill Lynch.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Fairmont Residences: Designs Are Inspired From Islamic Heritage
Makkah Clock Royal Tower, Fairmont Hotel, a “novel index” in Saudi Arabia’s hospitality industry, has launched Fairmont Residences, which is operating diligently to welcome pilgrims with a boutique of features exclusive hospitality services adhering to the highest standards…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Rebels Propose 1,000 Prisoner-12 Hostage Nuns Swap
But local activists deny Saudi pan-Arab newspaper report
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, DECEMBER 6 — Rebels from the Qalamoun region north-east of the Syrian capital of Damascus have proposed exchanging 12 kidnapped Orthodox nuns with 1,000 female Syrian political prisoners, pan-Arab Saudi newspaper ash Sharq al Awsat reported in its online edition on Friday.
The “Free Qalamoun” brigade claimed responsibility for the recent abduction of the Syrian and Lebanese nuns from the Saint Tecla Orthodox monastery in the predominantly Christian town of Maaloula, in the southern Qalamoun region.
“The nuns are in a safe place, and will only be freed in exchange for the liberation of 1,000 women prisoners from regime jails”, the daily quoted brigade spokesman Muhannad Abul Fida as saying.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Women’s Lives Devastated by Rape
As the Syrian conflict continues, the incidences of rape and violence against women are steadily rising. Activists are alarmed by the number of lives claimed and broken with impunity.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Turning Into ‘World War II Scenario’
The Syrian conflict has become the most brutal of the 21st century. Children are often the victims, as a new NGO report shows. Some activists say they are not just innocents caught in the crossfire, but Assad’s targets.
“It’s like a World War II scenario, with heavy bombardments at positions held by opposing forces. We have entire neighborhoods being shot up,” said Hamit Dardagan, co-author of a new report on Syrian casualties by the Oxford Research Group (ORG).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Daily Accused of Terrorism for Anti-Erdogan Papers
Reporter who wrote article risks up to 43 years in jail
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 6 — Istanbul’s state attorney’s office has opened an investigation into leading independent Turkish newspaper Taraf on terrorism and espionage charges after the daily published last week classified documents placing Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a difficult position, local reports said Friday.
Journalist Mehmet Baransu in charge of the report risks up to 43 years in jail, according to newspaper Hurryiet.
The Turkish government’s presidency, Mit secret services and national security council Mgk filed lawsuits against Taraf after the daily published secret documents dating back to 2004 on the decision taken back then by Mgk and signed by Erdogan to ‘eliminate’ the influential Islamic brotherhood of Fetullah Gulen.
The publication on November 28 of the classified documents — whose authenticity has not been denied — had further heated up an ongoing political controversy between the Gulem movement and the Turkish premier.
The movement, which in 2002 contributed to the rise to power of Erdogan’s Islamic Akp party, is now openly at war with Erdogan in a fight for power from the opposition. The Turkish press recently revealed that many journalists with Taraf, which criticizes Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been allegedly spied on by Mit from 2008 until 2009.
According to Cumhuriyet, the wire taps were approved by Erdogan who is considered close to Mit chief Hakan Fidan.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
1 Killed, 22 Injured in SW Pakistan’s Blasts
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) — At least one man was killed and 22 others were injured in two separate blasts that went off in Pakistan’s southwest Chaman district on Thursday night, local media reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Thai Monarchy — A Hindrance to Democracy?
In his birthday speech, Thailand’s deeply revered king called on his people to maintain unity after the recent anti-government protests. But the monarchy, too, has played a part in the current political unrest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: Bangkok Protest Leader Calls for More Followers; Vows Final Showdown
The leader of anti-government protests that have roiled the Thai capital acknowledged Friday that he did not have the numbers to overthrow the prime minister, and called for more followers to turn out for a massive Monday rally that he vowed would be the final showdown with authorities.
“We will only win if we have so many people that they can’t hurt us!” Suthep Thaugsuban said in a speech, sounding almost desperate as he signaled an end to a truce called in honor of the king’s birthday on Thursday. “Come out by the millions to overthrow the government!”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kids Ordered Indoors as Shanghai Smog Reaches Extremely Hazardous Levels
Shanghai authorities ordered schoolchildren indoors and halted all construction Friday as China’s financial hub suffered one of its worst bouts of air pollution, bringing visibility down to a few dozen meters, delaying flights and obscuring the city’s spectacular skyline.
The financial district was shrouded in a yellow haze, and noticeably fewer people walked the city’s streets.
“I feel like I’m living in clouds of smog,” said Zheng Qiaoyun, a local resident who kept her 6-month-old son at home. “I have a headache, I’m coughing, and it’s hard to breathe on my way to my office.”
Shanghai’s concentration of tiny, harmful PM 2.5 particles reached 602.5 micrograms per cubic meter Friday afternoon, an extremely hazardous level. That compares with the World Health Organization’s safety guideline of 25 micrograms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sharks Do Get Cancer: Tumor Found in Great White
Scientists have known for more than 150 years that sharks get cancer. And yet the belief persists that the animals don’t suffer from the disease.
That misconception is promoted in part by those who sell shark cartilage, who claim that the substance will help cure cancer, said David Shiffman, a shark researcher and doctoral student at the University of Miami. But no studies have shown that shark cartilage is an effective treatment.
Recently, researchers in Australia noticed a large tumor protruding from the mouth of a great white shark, as well as another mass on the head of a bronze whaler shark. The great white’s tumor measured 1 foot (30 centimeters) long and 1 foot wide, according to a study describing the tumors published online in November in the Journal of Fish Diseases.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cameroon Indecency Campaign Sparks Social Debate
Yaounde — Cameroon is launching a vigorous campaign against indecent dressing by young girls in educational establishments, on television and in public offices. The campaign has sparked a debate among citizens on the role of dress in society…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Car Bombing Kills 8 in Northern Somalia
Police in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region say a suicide car bomb attack has killed at least eight people and wounded 37 others.
The attack took place Thursday in the northern port city of Bosasso. Police say the bomber rammed a convoy of security vehicles. At least six soldiers are among those wounded. An eyewitness told VOA the death toll could be higher because some of the injured were in serious condition. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but the Puntland government blamed al-Shabab…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
I Will Use My Witchcraft for Great Things in Ghana
The Founder and leader of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Akua Donkor, the woman who never ceases to surprise Ghanaians, has revealed that she is a witch.
The controversial female politician made this shocking revelation at the 3rd edition of the annual Legends and Legacy Ball
She later told ‘News-One’ in an exclusive interview that she is a witch when it comes to politics in Ghana, and as the ‘Devil’ song says’ she wants to use her witchcraft in politics to do great things in this country rather than destroy it.
“Like our brother A. B. Crentsil said in his song, we have to use our talent or whatever gift we have to develop our country not to destroy it. When I manage to become president, I will use my witchcraft to make everything free,” Akua Donkor stated.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Boko Haram’s Evolving Terror
In September 2013 a 19-year-old woman escaped from the clutches of Boko Haram. They had held her captive for three months in Borno state’s Gwoza Hills, an extension of the Mandara Mountains in north-east Nigeria that borders Cameroon’s far north. Boko Haram, which controls some villages there, abducted the woman because she is a Christian. They spared her life only after she went through a forced conversion to Islam.
Boko Haram claims to be fighting for a religious cause: to create an Islamic state and society free of secular, non-Muslim influences. The late Muhammad Yusuf founded the movement in 2003 in the city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. He spent these early years recruiting and preaching in Maiduguri and other parts of northern Nigeria. The group began its armed struggle against the Nigerian state in 2009. Since then, its insurgency and the counter-insurgency of the Nigerian security forces have claimed many thousands of lives across northern Nigeria, with most of the fatalities in Borno and Yobe states…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
French Philosopher Finkielkraut: ‘There is a Clash of Civilizations’
French society is under threat, argues philosopher Alain Finkielkraut in a controversial new book. The conservative spoke to SPIEGEL about what he sees as the failure of multiculturalism and the need for better integration of Muslim immigrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany to Take 5,000 More Syrian Refugees
Germany is ready to accept 5,000 more refugees from war-ravaged Syria, the interior ministers of the country’s states and regions decided at a meeting, it was reported on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Northern Councils Fail to House Refugees
People granted refugee status are supposed to be housed by the local municipality, but in the northern county of Västerbotten only one council has lived up to its promise.
“It’s serious. Västerbotten must take its own responsibility, just like all other counties in Sweden, not least because we need people for this county, but also out of solidarity,” said Gabriella Strååt, head of integration development at the county council.
There are 1,400 refugees currently in Migration Board housing in Västerbotten. About a quarter of them should move out after being granted refugee status, to make way for new asylum seekers from places like Syria.
Only the municipality of Lycksele has managed to live up to, and exceed, its promise, housing 140 percent of its share. For the area of Sorsele that figure is just five percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Wins Perks for Taking Back Immigrants
The deal between Turkey and the European Union is nearly done and dusted: In return for taking back illegal immigrants to Europe, the EU is prepared to ease restrictions on granting visas to Turkish citizens.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
My husband arrived in Shanghai this morning for a two week business trip. He called to tell me he was there safely but also to say that the air is so polluted that he has to wear a mask when outside. He also said that the air inside the hotel stinks even though it is being filtered through an HVAC system and that there is a film on everything from the pollution.