An Al Qaeda affiliate in Gaza has claimed responsibility for the downing of an Egyptian army helicopter with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile. All five crew members onboard the helicopter were killed. The Egyptian government, however, reported the incident as an accident.
In other news, a Muslim leader in Borneo has urged her co-religionists to practice moderation so that they may have better relations with other faith groups in their communities.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, Papa Whiskey, 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.
First HSBC Halts Large Withdrawals, Now Lloyds ATMs Stop Working
First HSBC bungles up an attempt at pseudo-capital controls by explaining that large cash withdrawals need a justification, and are limited in order “to protect our customers” (from what — their money?), which will likely result in even faster deposit withdrawals, and now another major UK bank — Lloyds/TSB — has admitted it are experiencing cash separation anxiety manifesting itself in ATMs failing to work and a difficult in paying using debit cards. Sky reports that customers of Lloyds and TSB, as well as those with Halifax, have reported difficulties paying for goods in shops and getting money out of ATMs.
All three banks are under the Lloyds Banking Group which said: “We are aware that some customers are unable to use their debit cards either to make purchases or to withdraw money from ATMs. “We are working hard to resolve this as swiftly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Bankers Embroiled in Corruption Scandal
The former chairman of the Hellenic Postbank stands accused of issuing dubious loans to befriended business partners under preferential terms. The bad deals are said to have cost the Greek people some 400 million euros.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
James Turk: We’re Living Within a Money Bubble of Epic Proportion
James Turk believes the time we live in now will be studied by future historians for generations to come. Just as we today marvel at the collective madness that resulted in the South Sea and Dutch tulip manias, our age will be known as the era when society lost sight of what money really is.
And as result, the wrong kinds of wealth — today, that’s mostly financial assets — are valued and pursued. And just like those bubbles from centuries ago, when the current asset boom goes bust, the value of paper wealth will vaporize.
In contrast, those holding tangible productive assets or real money will fare much better on a relative basis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Free Speech 101 for Sulky Teenagers”
by Mark Steyn
The IRS is corrupt, the EPA is corrupt, the Department of Justice is corrupt. They use their powers selectively to chastise their political enemies. In a hyper-regulatory state, there are laws against everything, and everyone is guilty of being in breach of at least 300 of them at any hour of the day. I have no use for Dinesh D’Souza, for example, but it seems obvious that he’s been set up as this season’s Benghazi video maker. There are gazillions of $20,000 campaign-finance infractions across America, but the only guy that’s been singled out is the fellow who made a hit anti-Obama movie.
D’Souza’s enemies are gloating. As is the habit in the American system, he will most likely be prevailed upon to cop a plea in return for a reduced sentence. And everyone else will get the message: If you make a film or write a book attacking Obama, make sure it’s a flop — or anyway not so big a hit it catches the regime’s eye.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Whatever Obama has to say about “climate change” should be taken as just one more example of five years of lies to advance policies that have nothing to do with the welfare of Americans.
It’s not as if those in the Northeast have not experienced bone-chilling cold or that it is predicted to extend from the Midwest down into our southern States. There may possibly be a snow storm that will require the National Football League to reschedule the Sunday, February 2nd Superbowl at the MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Crews spent 18 hours working to remove the snow from last week’s storm.
A visit to IceAgeNow.info yielded headlines of news stories last week that included “Record Cold — Millions of Americans hit by Propane Shortage”, “Ice and Snow Closed Texas highways This Morning”, “Ice-cover Shuts Down Work on New Hudson River Bridge”, and so you understand this is a global phenomenon, “Kashmir — Heaviest January Snowfall in a Decade”, “Heavy Snowfall Sweeps Eastern Turkey”, “Romania — Heavy Snowfall and Blizzard”. And “Bangkok Suffers Coldest Night in Three Decades — Death Roll Mounts.”
Meteorologist Joe D’Aleo of WeatherBell Analytics and editor of http://www.icecap.us says that, as the President addresses the nation on Tuesday, every State will have freezing temperatures and parts or all of 27 States will be below zero.
All this is occurring as President Barack Obama is anticipated to talk about “climate change”, a warming Earth, during his Tuesday State of the Union speech. He will be speaking to the idiots who still think the Earth is warming because they are too stupid or lazy to ask why it is so cold.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama Daddy Warbucks for UN Common Core
The only way to take countries back is starting at the grassroots level which the UN uses as a convenient back door for Agenda 21 and its ugly step sister Common Core.
Like a comic book Daddy Warbucks come to life from the cartoon world, Obama met with town and city mayors last week offering them millions of dollars to boost the spread of Common Core through the nation’s public schools.
“Did all the mayors who met with Obama last week to receive millions for Common Core buckle under like Nashville Mayor Karl Dean did?” asks a CFP reader in a letter to the editor.
“Mayor Karl Dean has committed $6 million in Metro funds for new school technology, making Nashville’s public school district “tech-ready” for testing connected to new Common Core academic standards and ending a disagreement with the school district on the issue.” (The Tennessean, Jan. 17, 2014)
[…]
The United Nations built Agenda 21 through bought-off town and city hall governments, more than a thousand caving in from the get-go to sell off the sovereignty of entire populations.
ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) is the driving force of Agenda 21 implementation. “ICLEI members comprise a powerful movement of more than 1,000 cities and local governments around the globe, including 12 mega-cities, 100 super-cities and urban regions, 450 large cities as well as 450 small and medium-sized cities and towns in 84 countries.”
“In the United States, 450 member cities and counties include small rural towns and bustling metropolises in 46 states.”
In Canada, some 28 cities, towns and regions are now under Agenda 21 control and the list, like it is everywhere else, is growing.
ICLEI brazenly lists its ownership over towns, cities and regions as “Our Powerful Network”.
You may be able to find your city on the ICLEI list at the bottom of this article.
Most village, town and city dwellers do not even know they are living lives under UN control. CFP columnist Dr. Ileana Johnson, who describes in detail the depressing stranglehold the UN has over citizen life in yesterday’s column, tells all in her book, UN Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy.
While Agenda 21 works to corral civil society into Communist-patterned stack-and-pack apartment units and puts drivers into plastic and tin hybrid cars, President Barack Obama is now leading the UN takeover of public education through Common Core.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cannabis and Canapes for Denver’s High Achievers
Colorado, the first US state to legalise cannabis, holds its first party aimed at a more sophisticated clientele. Nick Allen hears why they were there
Relaxing on a plush black leather sofa while waiters supply canapes of Camembert stuffed with fig butter, Candy Nuss, 59, and her sister CynDee Williams, 62, a grandmother-of-four, are giggling like schoolgirls. “I brought some marijuana with me tonight,” Candy says as she opens a silver case revealing two carefully rolled joints. “It’s called sour diesel. It’s a great strain that’s really tasty. It’s beautiful. A really good high!”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
CBS Caught Censoring Cruz’s Comments on Obama’s Abuse of Power
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday morning and was met with a barrage of questions from host Bob Schieffer about his involvement in the government shutdown. Apart from being the victim of Schieffer’s accusations that the Tea Party senator was to blame for the shutdown, it also appears that Mr. Cruz was the victim of editing by CBS.
Based on video from Senator Cruz’s YouTube page and what aired on today’s Face the Nation broadcast, the senator’s comments surrounding President Obama’s “abuse of power” were edited from the program. Instead what aired was a segment that ignored many of the senator’s complaints directed at President Obama. [See the aired and unaired videos below.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Conservative Author and Pundit Dinesh D’Souza Charged in Campaign Finance Case
Conservative author Dinesh D’Souza was indicted Thursday on federal charges of violating campaign finance laws by using straw donors to funnel money to a U.S. Senate candidate.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the grand jury charges in a statement Thursday. D’Souza is expected to be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
[…]
“This office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
[Oh they do, do they? Then where’s the indictment of the IRS officials who targeted Tea Party groups for intensive scrutiny in the 2012 election cycle while ignoring leftist ones? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Drone With Legs Can Perch, Watch and Walk Like a Bird
Is that a bird or a drone watching you from the telephone wire? A drone with legs can perch just like a bird — or land and walk on flat surfaces. Bhargav Gajjar of Vishwa Robotics in Brighton, Massachusetts, designed the legs as an add-on for small US air force drones.
Small drones generally lack landing gear. Many rely on a controlled crash-landing, a somewhat crude approach compared with the elegant precision landing of a perching bird. Gajjar studied dozens of bird species and recorded their landings using a high-speed camera. His drone’s legs are based on those of the American kestrel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Genetic Engineering Actually Increases Pesticide Use
DECREASES Crop Yield, And May Be Dangerous to Your Health
Washington State University Charles Benbrook — former Executive Director of the Board on Agriculture at the National Academy of Sciences and, before that, Executive Director of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture, U.S. House of Representatives — published a study showing:
Contrary to often-repeated claims that today’s genetically-engineered crops have, and are reducing pesticide use, the spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds in herbicide-resistant weed management systems has brought about substantial increases in the number and volume of herbicides applied. If new genetically engineered forms of corn and soybeans tolerant of 2,4-D are approved, the volume of 2,4-D sprayed [background] could drive herbicide usage upward by another approximate 50%…
Largely because of the spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds, HR crop technology has led to a 239 million kg (527 million pound) increase in herbicide use across the three major GE-HR crops, compared to what herbicide use would likely have been in the absence of HR crops…
GE food manufacturers also promised an increase in crop productivity. Indeed, that was a giant selling point for GE foods.
That claim has been debunked as well …
The new study confirms earlier research at the University of Nebraska, which found that another Monsanto GM soya produced 6 per cent less than its closest conventional relative, and 11 per cent less than the best non-GM soya available…
A similar situation seems to have happened with GM cotton in the US, where the total US crop declined even as GM technology took over…
Last week the biggest study of its kind ever conducted — the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development — concluded that GM was not the answer to world hunger.
Professor Bob Watson, the director of the study and chief scientist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when asked if GM could solve world hunger, said: “The simple answer is no.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Government to Let Tech Firms Disclose More on Surveillance Requests
The Obama administration will allow Internet companies to talk more specifically about when they’re forced to turn over customer data to government agents, the Justice Department said Monday.
The new rules resolve legal fights with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook before the nation’s secret surveillance court. But while under the terms of the new arrangement, customers will have a somewhat better idea of how often the government demands information, they still won’t know what’s being collected, or how much.
The dispute began last year after a former government contractor, Edward J. Snowden, revealed that F.B.I. and National Security Agency surveillance programs rely heavily on data from U.S. email providers, video-chat services and social-networking companies.
| [Return to headlines] |
Man Arrested After Nun Hospitalized Following Assault and Rape
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Andrew Bullock, of Orchard Street, faces at least 10 charges in the Friday morning attack.
The nun serves at St. Titus Church on Franklin Avenue.
She was walking in a parking lot behind the church when she was approached by a man who choked her, punched her, then threw her to the ground where she was assaulted and raped.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 3,000 US Prisoners Locked Up for Life Without Parole for Non-Violent Crimes
At about 12.40pm on 2 January 1996, Timothy Jackson took a jacket from the Maison Blanche department store in New Orleans, draped it over his arm, and walked out of the store without paying for it. When he was accosted by a security guard, Jackson said: “I just needed another jacket, man.”
A few months later Jackson was convicted of shoplifting and sent to Angola prison in Louisiana. That was 16 years ago. Today he is still incarcerated in Angola, and will stay there for the rest of his natural life having been condemned to die in jail. All for the theft of a jacket, worth $159.
Jackson, 53, is one of 3,281 prisoners in America serving life sentences with no chance of parole for non-violent crimes. Some, like him, were given the most extreme punishment short of execution for shoplifting; one was condemned to die in prison for siphoning petrol from a truck; another for stealing tools from a tool shed; yet another for attempting to cash a stolen cheque.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
N.Y.’s Data Collection Program Tracks Students From Preschool to Career
Program will allow state and federal agencies to access student records
New York’s new, multi-agency surveillance program will collect data on public school students, starting from preschool to their entry into the workforce and potentially throughout their entire lives.
Developed by the New York State Education Department, funded by the federal government and promoted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the P-20 data collection program allows government entities to share and access records for every student in the state with the overall goal of monitoring individuals from childhood to death…
The real reason behind the program is to integrate personal records held by various government departments into a centralized database which can then be shared and accessed by a multitude of state and federal agencies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Newark Imam’s Son Was Target of Shooting That Left 2 Dead, Sources Say
A Newark imam’s son was the likely target of a gunman who opened fire on five people in a vehicle parked on a city street Tuesday, killing the man and a woman and wounding three others, law enforcement sources told The Star-Ledger today…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists Create Peanut Butter Jellyfish
It’s a lunchroom staple and now an aquarium oddity. For some reason, scientists have created the first-ever peanut butter jellyfish.
By blending all-natural creamy peanut butter with saltwater and adding it to the tanks of moon jellies, aquarists at the Dallas Zoo and Children’s Aquarium created an “unholy amalgamation of America’s favorite lunchtime treat and live cnidarians.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Audit of Baltimore’s Speed Cams Reveals Up to 70,000 Tickets Were Issued in Error in 2012
God bless the drivers of Maryland, whose government officials have been experimenting on them for years by placing their driving records and insurance rates in the hands of unreliable private contractors for years. We’ve already covered one major traffic camera firm (ATS — American Traffic Solutions) in the Maryland-DC area whose response to questionable photos captured by its cameras was to crop out anything that might make the ticket challengeable, like calibration lines or other vehicles.
Now, it appears another major contractor, Xerox State and Local Solutions, has been caught operating faulty cameras — and issuing tens of thousands of questionable citations. (via Reason)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spy Agencies Scour Mobile Phone Apps for Personal Data, Documents Say
When a smartphone user opens Angry Birds, the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spy agencies have plotted how to lurk in the background to snatch data revealing the player’s location, age, sex and other personal information, according to secret British intelligence documents.
In their globe-spanning surveillance for terrorism suspects and other targets, the National Security Agency and its British counterpart have been trying to exploit a basic byproduct of modern telecommunications: With each new generation of mobile phone technology, ever greater amounts of personal data pour onto networks where spies can pick it up.
According to dozens of previously undisclosed classified documents, among the most valuable of those unintended intelligence tools are so-called leaky apps that spew everything from users’ smartphone identification codes to where they have been that day.
The N.S.A. and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters were working together on how to collect and store data from dozens of smartphone apps by 2007, according to the documents, provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor. Since then, the agencies have traded recipes for grabbing location and planning data when a target uses Google Maps, and for vacuuming up address books, buddy lists, phone logs and the geographic data embedded in photos when someone sends a post to the mobile versions of Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services.
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Criminals may not have a chance in 2025, when the cop of the future will be an imposing crime-fighting machine, able to see around corners in urban environments, identify suspects at a glance, safely pursue stolen cars and effortlessly bring unruly crowds under control.
Police departments around the country are already testing technologies like Google Glass, lapel cameras and tracking devices that allow safer pursuit of fleeing suspects. But this is merely a glimpse of what’s to come, according to experts contacted by FoxNews.com. They said increasing reliance on data mining, predictive analysis and all manner of gadgets will make getting away with crime harder than ever.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Saved the World’: WWI and America’s Rise as a Superpower
America’s rise to superpower status began with its 1917 entry into World War I. President Woodrow Wilson had grand visions for the peace that followed, but failed. The battle he started in the US between idealists and realists continues to this day.
Wilson, who had always supported liberal causes in domestic policy, took a ruthless approach to dissidents. Some 1,500 Americans were convicted of holding views that diverged from the government’s war policy, including Eugene Debs, the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party. Wilson, the son of a minister, was extremely adept at hating. As David Lloyd George, Britain’s wartime prime minister, would later say: “Wilson loved mankind but didn’t like people.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Women Hold Many Misconceptions About Baby-Making
Many U.S. women hold misconceptions about the basics of baby-making, a new study reveals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Semitic Protests in Paris on Eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day
68 Years ago a Nobel Laureate, the late Primo Levi was present at the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau when contingents of the Russian First Army of the Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshall Konev burst through the gates of the Kingdom of Hell in Southern Poland. Besides Levi there were 7,000 survivors of more than 1.5 million Jews and others murdered in the gas chambers. Their remains were extinguished in the funeral pyres of four crematoria with their towering chimneys. The odors of burning flesh permeated the death complex and were not forgotten by Levi who survived to bear witness to this kingdom of hell in his book published in 1947 in Italian If This is a Man , in English , Survival in Auschwitz. This was perpetrated by the Nazi SS as Hitler’s Final Solution that extinguished Six Million European Jewish men, women and children. Less than ten days earlier on the final appell -roll call , more than 60,000 survivors chose to go on death marches from which less than 15,000 would survive. In commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz- Birkenau, the United Nations declared January 27th as annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Somber ceremonies took place at the UN Headquarters in Manhattan, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and at the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of German in Berlin. Watch the US Holocaust Memorial film, The Pathway to Genocide:
As if none of this mattered, yesterday in Paris there was a massive violent anti-Semitic protest rally with an estimated 17,000 . Dubbed “A Day of Anger” it was punctuated by hate filled anti-Semitic screed with repeated calls of “Jews, France is not for you”. Michel Gurfinkiel in a forthcoming NER interview discusses the rise of anti-Semitism in France, much of which has been propounded by the Muslim Émigré community. This has motivated young French Jews and others seeking immigration to Israel and other safe havens.
Reports from the French JSS and AFP published in The Algemeiner reflect the menacing threats of these hate filled anti-Semitic protesters shouting, “Jews, France is not for you”…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Antibiotic Abyss: The Extreme Quest for New Medicines
As antibiotic resistance increases, audacious expeditions are taking the quest for new medicines to the ocean depths, and not a moment too soon
This year, Marcel Jaspars, a chemist at the University of Aberdeen in the UK, is leading an international raid on the unexplored recesses of the oceans. The exotic organisms that thrive there could be pressed into service against some of our worst enemies, from cancer to drug-resistant bacteria. There’s not much time to lose. Without them, some say we may be heading for an antibiotics apocalypse.
Antibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea, tuberculosis and MRSA are on the rise. Such bacteria have evolved resistance mechanisms even against the antibiotics of last resort. Within a decade or two, they will have become resistant to all major antibiotics, and simple infections will become fatal. But no new organisms have been found on which to base better drugs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corporation Carte Blanche: Will US-EU Trade Become Too Free?
Opposition to the planned new trans-Atlantic free trade agreement is growing. So far, criticism has focused on the fact that the deal seems directed exclusively at economic interests. Now fears are growing that corporations will be given too much power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Fiat to List on NYSE, With British Tax Home’
Marchionne basing move on CNH Industrial, says WSJ
(ANSA) — New York, January 27 — Fiat’s CEO is set this week to propose to the board listing on the New York Stock Exchange the new group being created by the Italian automaker’s takeover of American carmaker Chrysler, and giving it a British tax home, according to the Wall Street Journal. Citing people familiar with the plans, the financial daily said Sergio Marchionne’s proposal on the tax home would mirror the direction taken last year by Fiat’s sister company, CNH Industrial, which he chairs. The Journal said the move would help him avoid making the politically difficult choice between Italy and the US as the headquarters for the new group, and could allow the company to pay less tax on dividends. Marchionne is also expected to propose New York as the primary market for listing the group’s stock. He strongly suggested in a press conference earlier this month that Fiat-Chrysler would seek a US stock listing, giving it greater access to capital than in Milan, where Fiat’s stock is currently listed. The Turin-based group finalized the deal to take full possession of Michigan-based Chrysler on January 21. The transaction, worth $4.35 billion, came after more than a year of negotiations between Fiat and the United Autoworkers (UAW) healthcare trust VEBA.
Fiat was determined to acquire the 41.46% share of Chrysler that VEBA received as part of a plan in 2009 that rescued the ailing American automaker from bankruptcy and gave Fiat majority ownership.
Under the new deal, Fiat and Chrysler will together pay out $3.65 billion in cash to VEBA, while Chrysler has agreed to pay the trust an additional $700 million over the next three years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian President Calls on Media to Mark Auschwitz-Birkenau Liberation Anniversary
BUDAPEST, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) — Hungarian President Janos Ader issued a statement on Sunday, the eve of the liberation anniversary by Soviet forces of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, where nearly half a million Hungarian Jews were murdered by Nazis during World War II.
He called on Hungarian radio and television broadcasters to observe 70 seconds of silence at exactly 7 p.m. on Monday, in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, marking the United Nations’ International Holocaust Remembrance Day…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Stocks Watchdog Bans Vincent Bolloré
Fined three million euros for Premafin transactions
(ANSA) — Milan, January 27 — French industrialist Vincent Bolloré on Monday was banned for 18 months from positions at companies listed on the Italian stock market by Italian bourse watchdog Consob, for alleged illegal share transactions of Premafin, the holding company founded by former insurance magnate Salvatore Ligresti. The chairman and CEO of investment group Bolloré was also fined three million euros. According to a Consob statement, the charge is related to securities transactions in 2010.
Ligresti faces trial for alleged involvement in cooking the books at the Fonsai insurance group and acquiring illegal dividends of 200 million euros.
In 2012, Premafin came under the control of Italian financial services company Unipol Gruppo Finanziario.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Social Security Agency Director Under Fraud Investigation
Labor union demands resignation
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — Italy’s largest union CGIL on Monday called for the head of Italy’s social security agency INPS to resign after he was placed under investigation for involvement in allegedly rigging medical records and inflating invoices to the tune of 85 million euros. “INPS President Antonio Mastrapasqua should take a step back and tender his resignation for these acts he’s involved in,” said Carla Cantone, head of pensions at CGIL. “Being president at INPS is a role of fundamental importance, and he who holds it should be above any suspicion”. According to Italian media, Mastrapasqua is involved in a probe into 14 million euros in unjustified refunds requested from the Lazio region around Rome, and another 71 million euros in money gained thanks to an “unfair advantage” from the Israelitico Hospital in Rome, where he was general manager from 2011 to 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: De Girolamo Resigns, Premier Expected to Comment
‘Stepping down for sake of my dignity’ says outgoing minister
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — Italian Premier Enrico Letta was expected to comment Monday on the late-night resignation of Agriculture Minister Nunzia De Girolamo. The embattled cabinet member from the center right said late Sunday she was stepping down and accused the left-right government of not defending her amid allegations that she improperly interfered in appointments in a region of the south.
“I (resign) for the sake of my dignity,” she said in a statement. “It was offended by those who know I didn’t do anything and who should have explained as much because it was his moral and political duty”. Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said Monday she was “surprised” by the resignation and “didn’t see it coming”. De Girolamo’s resignation has fueled speculation of an upcoming government reshuffle, one that may put supporters of the center-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi in the cabinet in order to reflect his overwhelming win at a primary last month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Milan Prosecutors Deny Report Ruby Was Not Underage
Moroccan minister quoted as saying she was already 18
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — The Milan prosecutors department on Monday rebutted reported claims from a Moroccan minister that Karima ‘Ruby’ El Mahroug was not under-age when ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi paid to have sex with her.
Three-time premier Berlusconi is appealing against a seven-year prison sentence he was handed last year for paying for sex with Ruby, before she was 18, between February and May 2010 and for abusing his office to try to cover up the affair.
Earlier on Monday a Moroccan Civil Service Minister Mohamed Moubdii was quoted by Arabic website Akhbarona as saying El Mahroug was legally an adult in February 2010.
“Ruby was of age,” said Mohamed Moubdii, Morocco’s civil service, in an interview excerpted on Akhbarona.
“Mohammed Moubdii asserts that it was he himself who signed the birth certificate of Karima El Mahroug, known as Ruby, in 1992, when he was the president of the Al Fakih Bensalih district,” read the website, which cited newspaper Al Akhbar as the source of the interview.
Sources at Milan’s prosecutors office said there was no doubt that El Mahroug was underage at the time because they have evidence from her passport and from wiretapped conversations in which she talks about her 18th birthday, on November 1, 2010. Berlusconi and two of his lawyers, Niccolo’ Ghedini and Piero Longo, have been put under investigation over suspicions they corrupted witnesses during a trial related to the allegations, Milan prosecutors said Thursday.
El Mahroug is under investigation for allegedly taking bribes to give favourable testimony for the ex-premier, prosecutors said.
Many other women who denied in court that Berlusconi hosted sex parties at his home near Milan are among 45 people probed too.
The 77-year-old billionaire vowed to keep fighting and stay in politics on Thursday after his multiple legal troubles worsened with the announcement of the new probe.
“I’m here and I’m staying here,” said the centre-right leader, who remains at the helm of his Forza Italia party despite being ejected from parliament last year after the supreme court upheld a separate tax-fraud conviction, making it definitive.
Berlusconi says he is the victim of a campaign of persecution by left-wing elements in the judiciary who are trying to wipe him from the political arena.
The tax-fraud conviction was the first definitive one Berlusconi received in two decades of legal battles.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Alitalia Employees Fret Over Late Paycheques
Cash-strapped airline slow to pay monthly salaries to workers
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — Employees at Alitalia said Monday they were growing worried because they had not received their monthly salaries usually paid out on the 27th of each month.
The concerns come amid difficulties at the cash-strapped Italian carrier, which last week warned that it intends to eliminate 1,900 jobs.
Alitalia promised the unions that there would be no involuntary redundancies, with the laid-off staff being put on special benefits, probably in view of early retirement.
The company began talks on Wednesday with unions over Alitalia’s business plans, including a possible partnership with Dubai-based Etihad Airways.
Alitalia CEO Gabriele Del Torchio said last week that he was upbeat about a possible deal with Etihad Airways.
Etihad in December confirmed it was in talks to buy a 49% stake in Italy’s national carrier, equal to a much-needed capital injection of 350 million euros.
The Italian carrier received a 75-million-euro capital injection from State-owned post office Poste Italiane in December as part of a government-engineered 500-million-euro rescue package.
Alitalia could need another capital increase to keep running if its business plan does not bring rapid results and Etihad opts out of the deal, sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Arab Communities Call for Day Against Religious Racism
COMAI makes an appeal to Italian government
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 27 — The Association of Arab Communities in Italy (COMAI) and the Uniti per Unire movement have submitted a joint appeal to the Italian government to establish a Day Against Religious Racism. “This is a struggle for all religions, not only the Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Coptic, etc. ones…this is why our struggle must be united — everyone together for all religions, in order to prevent anyone from suffering alone,” said Foad Aodi, the head of COMAI and Uniti per Unire. As part of Remembrance Day, Aodi reiterated the Arab communities’ support for the Jewish people after recent acts of provocation towards the community in Rome.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Animal Protection Group Asks Pope to Stop Releasing Doves
Vicious attack on Vatican birds of peace raises concerns
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — An animal welfare group on Monday urged Pope Francis to refrain from releasing helpless doves in future, after two of the birds freed from the Apostolic Palace during the pope’s weekly Angelus prayer were attacked in mid-air.
The snowy white doves, set free Sunday by children with the pope during the service, were immediately set upon in mid-flight — one by a brazen crow and the other by a vicious seagull.
Before an audience of thousands visiting the Vatican, including children, the papal birds were attacked and vanished.
Some observers say this has happened during similar Vatican ceremonies in the past and the Italian animal protection agency ENPA — Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali — warned that the pope is sending the birds to their deaths.
“Do not use more animals and sacrifice their lives to outmoded traditions,” the group said in a statement.
It noted that seagulls and crows “are predators” to doves, birds representing peace in Christian tradition.
As well, the doves used in these ceremonies are born in captivity and can’t cope with predators in the same way as more wild creatures, said ENPA.
“They cannot even use camouflage: their white color (is) very eye-catching in nature”.
The group said it was aware that this pope, who took his name from St. Francis of Assisi, a noted lover of animals who once preached to the wild birds, is sensitive to issues of protecting nature and its creatures.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Technique Could Demystify Ancient Human DNA
The DNA of a Neanderthal found in a Siberian cave has been sequenced, thanks to a new technique that weeded out contamination from modern humans.
The method, described today (Jan. 27) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, seems to work on very contaminated samples, as well as on incredibly ancient remains. These benefits could help scientists finally analyze some of the most intriguing archaic human fossils, which have thus far been inaccessible because of contamination from modern DNA, said study co-author Pontus Skoglund, a paleogenomics researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden.
So if DNA could be extracted from the fossils, the technique could be used on bones of Homo erectus or of “the Hobbit,” Homo floresiensis, neither of which have ever been sequenced, Skoglund said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Researchers Discover Swine Flu Vaccine Causes Narcolepsy
(NaturalNews) A team of Swedish clinicians have clinically linked a 2009 swine flu vaccine to increased risk of narcolepsy in young adults, and a group of Danish researchers now understand how and why…
The adjuvants in vaccines are designed to accelerate the human immune system. This causes immune cells to attack specific nerve cells in the brain that are responsible for regulating healthy sleep patterns.
Birgitte Rahbek Kornum, senior researcher from the Department of Diagnostics at Glostrup Hospital in Denmark says, “It has long been suspected that narcolepsy is caused by the immune system attacking some specific nerve cells in the brain, thus destroying the brain’s ability to regulate the sleep pattern. Our study confirms this suspicion, as we have figured out which cells in the immune system are responsible for the attack.”
He continues, “The immune system can become confused when two molecules are very similar. Our studies show that parts of H1N1 are similar to hypocretin, the neuropeptide in the brain that regulates sleep.”
“If a person’s immune system contains the cells that we have identified as the culprits behind narcolepsy and comes into contact with either H1N1 or the vaccine against H1N1, the immune system’s response can become activated and the disorder can develop.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Soccer: Anelka Says ‘No Thanks’ To Lazio
French striker at centre of anti-Semitism storm
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — French striker Nicolas Anelka, currently at the centre of an anti-Semitism storm, on Monday thanked Rome side Lazio for trying to sign him but said he was staying at English Premier League outfit West Bromwich Albion.
Anelka faces charges at a Football Association tribunal next month for performing the so-called ‘quenelle’ arm gesture, which some believe is anti-Semitic, while playing for West Brom during a 3-3 draw at West Ham United in December.
“Thanks to Lazio & all the other clubs who wanted to sign me this last days,” the 34-year-old, whose contract with West Brom expires at the end of the season, said via his Twitter account, @anelkaofficiel.
“See you this summer if I decide to continue…
“The question is why should I leave my club & England? I’m happy here & I did nothing wrong…
“So now it’s time to stay focus on my football with my club& I will try my best on the pitch like I always do!,” said the former France international, whose old clubs include Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea and Juventus.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Left’s Jihad on Western Culture: People Must be “Educated” To Embrace “Arab” Culture
The government of President Hollande forces a radical change in integration policy, stating that France should accept its “Oriental-Arab heritage.” This is met with harsh criticism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Arrests Made as Terror Police Search for Chemicals at Two London Homes
Experts in chemical and biological threats were searching houses in London today after two people were held under anti-terror laws…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Far-right protesters were forced to abandon their preferred location for a political rally in central London after being blocked from leaving a Tube station by anti-fascists. Dozens of people gathered outside Holborn Tube station to oppose a demonstration by supporters of the Jobbik Party, which is accused of holding anti-semitic views…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: And Now the Weather for Bongo Bongo Land: Nigel Farage Gives the Forecast According to UKIP
He has endured a few political storms in his time. So Nigel Farage relished the opportunity to predict the weather himself, as he took a light-hearted view of UKIP’s recent gaffes in a spoof forecast. The Eurosceptic party leader also pulled no punches pointing out the more unsavoury elements of his Westminster rivals in a mock sequence on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show.…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Embroiled in Scandal as Executive ‘Filmed Dutch Child Abuse Movies’
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
He is said to have owned a three-storey property near the city centre in the Eighties. Boys from British care homes were allegedly ferried there to take part in sex films.
Police have been told that the BBC employee was involved in the abuse and played a key role in distributing the films.
The news comes as Dutch police prepare to re-open an investigation into child sex, which may be broadened to include British paedophiles operating in the Netherlands.
A whistleblower tipped off the BBC Investigations Unit two weeks ago about the man, who has since retired from the Corporation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Helena Bonham Carter to Sit on David Cameron’s Holocaust Commission
Hollywood actress Helena Bonham Carter, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and senior politicans Michael Gove and Ed Balls will sit on the new Holocaust Commission announced by David Cameron…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
by SarahAB
Today Hope not Hate has expressed their disappointment over Theresa May’s decision not to ban Gábor Vona from the UK
[…]
Deciding where to set the threshold is a difficult question — but it does seem that Theresa May’s decision is not fully consistent with last year’s ban on Robert Spencer entering the UK…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: My Sweet Sister the Serial Killer
One of these girls would grow up a murderer — here, her sister describes hauntingly how drugs sparked a descent into savagery
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Cuddling close, two smiling sisters, one blonde, one dark, pose for a primary school photograph. Joanna, six, curls a protective arm around her four-year-old baby sister Maria. Taken 25 years ago, it is an enchanting image of two little girls united in innocence; the sort of portrait that graces the mantelpieces of homes all across the land.
But today the contrast between the sisters’ lives could not be more marked. Blonde Maria joined the Army and proudly fought for her country in Afghanistan. Joanna chose a sordid life of drugs and violence which culminated in her killing for kicks, becoming one of Britain’s few women serial killers.
When a grinning Joanna Dennehy, 31, boasted in the dock at the Old Bailey last November of fatally stabbing three men and attempting to kill two more, the courtroom — and the country — were repulsed and deeply confused. Both sisters had been brought up by loving Home Counties parents who lavished care and affection on them. Yet Joanna brutally knifed her landlord Kevin Lee, 48, Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, and her housemate John Chapman, 56, then callously dumped their bodies in stinking, water-filled ditches.
The killings last March occurred after Mr Lee served an eviction notice on Joanna. She is said to have enjoyed the experience of killing so much she went on a violent spree, randomly selecting and repeatedly stabbing two strangers, Robin Bereza and John Rogers, as they walked their dogs in Hereford. They survived the attack. As the trial draws to an end for Joanna’s alleged accomplices Gary ‘Stretch’ Richards and Leslie Layton, who deny helping to dispose of the bodies, Maria, 29, has given a disturbing insight into the demons she believes destroyed her talented sister.
Joanna, who described her killing spree as ‘fun’ and posed for photographs clutching a large serrated knife, claimed she had been physically abused at home and indicated her parents were less than caring. Her sister insists this is far from the truth.
In fact, Maria is convinced it was excessive cannabis and skunk use in Joanna’s early teens that led to her rage and ultimately her murderous rampage. ‘I don’t know what else could have caused such a radical change in her personality from age 14,’ she says.
Maria says that although Joanna had always been strong-minded and hated following rules, it was only after she started mixing with a gang of older drug-smoking boys that she became surly and distant.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Taking Offence and Freedom of Speech
by Isabel Hardman
The row about Lib Dem candidate Maajid Nawaz continues, with some confusion over whether or not one of his critics has a meeting with the party leadership to discuss the matter. While that unravels a little more, it’s worth thinking very briefly about the implications of this row…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Journalists Call to Develop Nuclear Capabilities
Syria talks break down over future role of Bashar al-Assad
Opposition says the ‘time has come to start talking about the transition to democracy’
Syrian peace talks in Geneva saw their first, long-expected breakdown Monday when the two sides clashed over the possibility of “political transition” and the role of President Bashar al-Assad. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy, ended talks in the morning after they became acrimonious.
Delegates from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad had presented a five-point plan which made no mention of Mr Assad leaving or of the “transitional governing body” proposed by the so-called Geneva 1 Communique, which forms the basis of the negotiations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Air Force Helicopter ‘Downing’ A Major Escalation
The reported shooting down of an Egyptian Air Force helicopter by Islamic militants with a portable surface-to-air missile marks a serious escalation in the challenge facing the Egyptian military. It is fighting what amounts to an Islamist insurgency fused with wider lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian forces have relied heavily on US Apache gunships and various Russian helicopters in their battle with the militants. But the apparent use of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles by insurgents dramatically raises the stakes in this increasingly bloody struggle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s El-Sissi Promoted to Top Rank, Mulls Presidency Bid
Egypt’s military leaders have endorsed a presidential bid from the army chief, Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi. It comes hours after he was elevated to the rank of field marshal, the highest in Egypt’s armed forces.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadist Group Claims Downing of Egypt Army Helicopter
An al-Qaeda inspired group has claimed it shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai peninsula, in what the army said was an accident that killed five soldiers. The Ansar Beit al-Madqis group, which has taken responsibility for a series of deadly attacks across the country, said its fighters brought down the helicopter on Saturday with a missile.
The military issued a statement saying five soldiers were killed in a helicopter “accident” as they pursued militants in the restive peninsula.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis said the helicopter was shot down near the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuwayed with a “surface-to-air missile, killing all its crew.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The New “Sisiphobia” For the U.S. Administration or Why Obama is So Afraid of Gen. Sisi
‘Sisiphobia’ has a detectable pattern. While Gen. Sisi defends Christians from the brutality of the Muslim Brotherood, Obama ignores Christians but caters to radical Islam.
Over the last few days, numerous Egyptian, Arabic, and even American newspapers and websites, Including the National, Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, blogger Walid Shoebat and many others, published statements by highly placed political sources in Egypt, outlining the steps carried out by the U.S. administration and President Obama to prevent the candidacy of Gen. Sisi. This resistance to Gen. Sisi is also articulated by some Arab Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Senior Egyptian sources say that the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, made several contacts with senior Egyptian armed forces members, about the pressing need to convince Sisi not to run in the presidential elections. Hagel said that Washington is not ‘comfortable’ with Sisi’s presidential candidacy and that the military must forthwith disengage from the ongoing political struggle in Egypt.
Looks like to the Obama administration Republican enemies extend all the way to the Land of the Pharaohs.
Sources confirm that top Egyptian officials expressed their anger at the U.S. election intervention, stressing that this is an internal affair, and America or any other nation are not welcome to interfere.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
300,000-Year-Old Caveman ‘Campfire’ Found
A newly discovered hearth full of ash and charred bone in a cave in modern-day Israel hints that early humans sat around fires as early as 300,000 years ago — before Homo sapiens arose in Africa. In and around the hearth, archaeologists say they also found bits of stone tools that were likely used for butchering and cutting animals.
The finds could shed light on a turning point in the development of culture “in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point — a sort of campfire — for social gatherings,” said archaeologist Ruth Shahack-Gross of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Anthropologists have debated what constitutes the earliest evidence of controlled fire use — and which hominin species was responsible for it. Ash and burnt bone in Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa suggests human ancestors used fire at least 1 million years age. Some researchers, meanwhile, have speculated that the teeth of Homo erectus suggest this early human was adapted to eat food cooked over a fire by 1.9 million years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Message Decoded, Again: 3,000-Year-Old Text May Prove Biblical Tale of King Solomon
A few characters scratched into the side of an ancient earthenware jug have archaeologists scrambling for their dictionaries — and wondering if it corroborates the Bible’s stories of King Solomon.
The Ophel inscription — 3,000-year-old characters found in Israel in July — is the earliest alphabetical written text ever found in Jerusalem. It proves the real basis behind the parables and stories in the world’s most famous book, said Gershon Galil, a professor of ancient history and biblical studies at the University of Haifa.
“We are dealing here with real kings, and the kingdom of David and Solomon was a real fact,” Galil told FoxNews.com, in a phone call from Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinians See Threats in Israeli Minister’s Remarks
RAMALLAH, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) — The Palestinian leadership considered remarks by chief Israeli negotiator against President Mahmoud Abbas as a “personal threat.” “These threats must be taken seriously,” said Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad al-Maliki. “We are studying these Israeli threats, which contradict with peace efforts,” Maliki told Voice of Palestine Radio on Sunday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
CFR Calls on Obama to ‘Befriend ‘ Al-Qaeda Terrorist Group
Elite think tank wants alliance with faction whose leader helped plan 9/11
The Council on Foreign Relations, a highly influential Washington DC think tank, has called on the Obama administration to ‘befriend’ a terrorist group in Syria which has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and whose leader helped plan the 9/11 attacks.
In an article entitled, The Good and Bad of Ahrar al-Sham: An al Qaeda — Linked Group Worth Befriending, the CFR’s Michael Doran, William McCants, and Clint Watts argue that supporting the terrorist faction would help the United States “contain Iran and Syria” as part of Obama’s “larger strategy.”
The authors even admit that the leader of Ahrar al-Sham, Abu Khalid al-Suri, recently “published a statement praising bin Laden and al Qaeda’s current chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri,” underscoring the fact that, “Al Qaeda and Ahrar al-Sham are joined at the hip.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Equips 20 Farms in Jordan With Efficient Irrigation
ENSIAP saves water and provides energy with solar panels
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JANUARY 27 — A Mediterranean cross-border cooperation project funded by the EU with 2 million euros has equipped 20 farms in Jordan with innovative irrigation systems that allow farmers to make significant savings in water.
The project, “Improving of Environmental Sustainability of Irrigated Agricultural Production in Lebanon and Jordan” (ENSIAP), funded in the framework of the Cross Border Cooperation Programme in the Mediterranean Basin (CBCMed) has concluded its first phase of implementation. According to the Enpi website (www.enpi-info.eu), the irrigation system allows for water savings thanks to the introduction of drip irrigation, as well as agricultural efficiency and soil conservation based on a fertilization process directly through the irrigation water (known as “fertigation”). A simple photovoltaic solution, which consists of a solar panel, will complete the system deployed by the project, by providing the required energy for irrigation water pumping purposes.
Since September 2013, some field trials on selected crops (onion, okra, tomato and cucumber) are underway in order to assess the benefits of the innovative mechanism developed by ENSIAP, compared to traditional irrigation with regard to use of irrigation water, pesticide, fertilizer and energy.
The project also devotes attention to institutional capacity and training of farmers. The ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2007/2013 is a multilateral cross-border cooperation programme funded by the European Union under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Essential for Muslims to Remember Nazi’s Atrocities
by Adnan Oktar
Muslims must be pioneers in the fight against hatred because true believers see other people as beings God created, and make no distinctions between them on grounds of race, nation, skin color or language.
It is now a universally acknowledged fact that the Twentieth Century represented one of the darkest and bloodiest centuries in the history of humanity. The idea of ‘Social Darwinism’, the basics of which were put forth in the 19th Century, was the main reason that dragged the 20th Century into an array of turbulence, dissension, war and conflict. Hence, it is crucial to grasp the importance of the impact Social Darwinism had on the world of thought. Employing the concept of Social Darwinism (which lacks any scientific foundation), many people who did not live according to the morality of religion started to regard cruelty, violence and persecution as natural. The repercussions of that falsified ideology can still be seen in our world today. The persecutors, in their own minds, claimed that their cruelty had a scientific foundation; that wrongful mindset made the 20th Century rife with killings perpetrated by totalitarian regimes and organizations that oppressed and slaughtered innocent people for the sake of their own ideological obsessions…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Bare Breasts and Naked Politics at the UN
by Richard Spencer
You might not believe this, but there is a shocking amount of nudity at the United Nations in Geneva. Living in the Middle East, with its generally more modest approach to life, the first thing that struck me about the corridors of the Palais des Nations — apart from their sheer length — is the number of bare breasts on display. They serve as a reminder of how much politics is intertwined with culture, and how fashions in both change.
Take the tapestry above, that hangs outside the grandly named Hall C3 — or, more mundanely, the place where the UN and Arab League envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has been giving his daily press conferences on the peace talks. In the 1920s, it must have been at the cutting edge of political correctness. The destruction of Imperial Victorian pomposity and hidebound thinking — the very values that led to war in the first place, according to fashionable Bloomsbury opinion — required the depiction in this monument to peace of not only breasts, but breasts of many different colours…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Bishop: ‘Christians Are Being Targeted’
As the Syrian civil war presses on, the minority Christian community in the country is seeing an increase in attacks targeted specifically at them, according to leading clergy officials in Syria.
Fox News National Security Analyst KT McFarland spoke to Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour and H.E. Bishop Dionysius Jean Kawak. Jarjour is a Presbyterian clergyman from Homs, Syria, which has beared the brunt of attacks between the Assad regime and opposition forces. Kawak is a metropolitan, or high-ranking bishop, for the Syrian Orthodox Church.
Christians make up roughly 10 percent of Syria’s population, according to the C.I.A. factbook. Kawak says his religious community has come under increasing attack: “At the beginning of the Syrian crisis we didn’t have a real problem against Christians, but nowadays because of the growing radical groups, Christians are being targeted.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Talks in Deadlock Over Transitional Government
Syria’s opposing delegations have reached a deadlock over establishing a transitional government. Meanwhile, the opposition has accused the Assad regime of preventing aid from reaching the besieged city of Homs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Opposition Spokesman Killed in Gun Attack in Istanbul
ISTANBUL, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — A spokesman for a Turkish opposition party was killed and seven others were wounded in an attack outside the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) office in Istanbul on Sunday night, according to a local media report on Monday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Internet Activists Warn the Government ‘Cannot Stop Us’
Net activists in Turkey say a proposed law to tighten censorship online won’t stop them. The move to block websites comes as the government faces high legal corruption allegations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yemeni Tribal, Sectarian Clashes Kill at Least 21 After Truce Falls Apart
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni security officials and a tribal leader say sectarian clashes between northern rebels and ultraconservative Salafis have killed at least 21 people and injured dozens in a northern Yemeni city after a truce fell apart.
Officials say the fierce clashes took place in the early hours of Monday in villages in the northern Arhab mountains, nearly two weeks after ultraconservative Salafis and Hawthi rebels reached a cease-fire after weeks of fighting that killed hundreds. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Arhab tribesmen accused Hawthis, who follow a branch of Shite Islam, of waging a “terrorist invasion” and attempting to drive the tribesmen out of their areas. Meanwhile Hawthi movement spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam accused the government of backing the Salafis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nationalist Western Ukraine is an Engine Supporting the Anti-Government Protests in Kiev
Brimming with determination and enthusiasm, young Ukrainian designers stayed up very late one night to work on a pet project — not a chic gallery opening but making battle armor for protesters.
Marianna Kvyatkovska and others used hunks of plastic drainage pipes to craft shin and elbow pads to protect protesters against police truncheons in the capital, Kiev, where their friends have been camped out in anti-government demonstrations for nearly two months. The rallies had been largely peaceful but violent clashes with police broke out last week in which at least three protesters died.
While Kiev is the epicenter of the demonstrations calling for President Viktor Yanukovych to step down, Lviv is a buzzing entrepreneurial engine of support for the protesters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Soros Activists Take Over Ukrainian Government Buildings
Spilna Sprava has direct connections to George Soros, the EU and the IMF.
Early Monday members of Spilna Sprava took over the Justice Ministry in Kiev and demanded President Viktor Yanukovych resign. They smashed windows and erected barricades. In response, the government has threatened to impose a state of emergency…
Spilna Sprava, translated as “The Right Deed,” is an Open Society Institute supported and funded group. George Soros’ Open Society Institute, now known as Open Society Foundations (OSF), doles out grants to activist NGOs in central Europe attempting to undermine the Russian Federation. It builds upon and continues the work of the Ford Foundation. Since the early 1950s, the CIA has used the Ford Foundation as a funding cover.
Spilna Sprava is mentioned in the 2009 annual report of the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), an organization described as “an integral part of the Open Society Institute network (established by American philanthropist George Soros) that incorporates national and regional foundations in more than thirty countries around the world, including Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.” IRF cooperates with the International Monetary Fund and European banksters interested in “economic reforms” and “integration processes and trends” in Ukraine and Moldova.
The IRF report describes Spilna Sprava as “[s]haring best practices, facilitating cooperation between Ukrainian, Polish and German NGOs through creation of a network of support for migrants and refugees.” It is partnered with a Polish NGO, the Euro-Concret Association, that conforms to the “the standards of the EU countries” and works closely with Arbeiterwohlfahrt Kreisverband Bremerhaven, a German NGO funded with support from the European Commission…
The destabilization of the Ukrainian government is part of an ongoing geostrategic move by the globalists to undermine any challenge to their hegemonic designs:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian Militants Vacate Ministry, Maintain Blockade
Anti-government protesters have ended a 16-hour occupation inside Ukraine’s justice ministry but still surround government buildings in Kyiv. A government emergency rule threat remains on hold.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian Activists Fear Kidnapping, Beatings and Death
Ukrainian protesters may be risking their lives, as cases mount in which activists are kidnapped and beaten. One of them was found dead, and others have gone missing. Some experts suspect death squads behind the crimes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
7 Indian Policemen Injured in Landmine Blast in Central India
NEW DELHI, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — Seven Indian policemen were injured Monday in a landmine blast staged by suspected extreme left-wing rebels in the central Indian state of Jharkhand, said local TV channel Times Now.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Death Penalty in India Would be ‘An Attack on Italy’
Politician says international incident if marines face execution
(See related) (ANSA) — New Delhi, January 27 — If two Italian marines on trial in India ultimately face the death penalty, it will be seen as “an attack on Italy”, Fabrizio Cicchitto, chairman of the Lower House foreign affairs committee, said Monday.
He was part of a delegation of Italian politicians in Italy to support marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone who face accusations of murder in the shooting deaths of two Indian fishermen. Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki were shot after they were after allegedly mistaken for pirates by the Italians who were guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012.
Italy has appealed to the Indian Supreme Court amid fears that India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) intends to prosecute the pair under a harsh anti-terrorism law that bears the death penalty, despite previous reassurances from the Indian foreign ministry that the marines would not face capital punishment.
The Indian government is expected to make a decision on the law by February 3.
It would create a major international incident if the harsh law is applied, said Cicchitto.
In fact, the European Union has threatened India with economic consequences if the death penalty is not taken off the table.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Thai Election Body Recommends Delay to National Elections
Thailand’s Election Commission has said that a poll planned for next week should not go ahead after another weekend of bloodshed. Voting officials said the controversial election should be delayed by at least one month.
The commission said on Monday it would meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to press for a delay after further violence at the weekend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Borneo: Practise Moderation, Muslims Advised
MIRI: Muslims in the state are urged to adopt a moderate attitude so that they can mingle with other communities around them. This advice came from Semariang assemblywoman Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who also said it was equally important for other communities to have the same attitude…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China Moon Rover Hits Snag in Big Lunar Science Mission
China’s Jade Rabbit moon rover may have stubbed its lucky foot. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday that China’s Yutu moon rover(the name means Jade Rabbit) “has experienced a mechanical control abnormality, and scientists are organizing repairs.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Jade Rabbit Rover May be Victim of Moon Dust
A plucky bunny on the moon may have just met an untimely end. Reports from Chinese state media suggest the country’s Yutu — or Jade Rabbit — lunar rover has stopped working just six weeks into its three-month mission.
China’s Chang’e-3 lander touched down on the moon on 14 December and released the Yutu rover about 7 hours later. Both machines successfully entered hibernation mode during their first lunar night. On the moon, night lasts for half of each Earthly month and plunges surface temperatures from daytime highs of about 90ºC to below -180ºC.
The second lunar night rolled around on Saturday, and while the lander is once again successfully sleeping, Yutu appears to have failed. The Xinhua news agency reports that the rover has experienced a mechanical control fault due to the “complicated lunar surface environment”. No further details were given by China’s State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Rebels Killed in Clashes With Philippine Gov’t Troops: Military
MANILA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — At least 17 members of the Muslim rebel group of Bangamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have been reportedly killed in the clashes with government troops in Southern Philippines since Sunday, Colonel Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said on Monday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Park Pushes the Dream of Korean Reunification
South Korean president describes a single Korea as a jackpot for the whole of northeast Asia. Polls suggest the majority of South Koreans support the concept, but there are deep concerns over the cost of reunification.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Police and park rangers are looking for a 12-year-old boy taken by a crocodile while he was swimming with his friends in northern Australia.
Officers said the boy was swimming with other youngsters in the Mudginberri billabong in Kakadu National Park when the crocodile moved in on them.
Another boy, also aged 12, was bitten on the arm and had to receive treatment at a medical centre in his remote community, but the second boy disappeared.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
AUC Chairperson’s E-Mail From the Future
Written to a hypothetical Kwame in the year 2063, the full email is attached below:
Date: 24 January 2063
To: Kwame@iamafrican.com
From: Nkosazana@cas.gov
Subject: African Unity
My dear friend Kwame,
Greetings to the family and friends, and good health and best wishes for 2063.
I write to you from the beautiful Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar, located on Lake Tana, as we finalize preparations for the Centenary celebrations of the Organisation of African Unity, which became the African Union in 2002 and laid the foundations for what is now our Confederation of African States (CAS)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Puntland Pledges Amnesty to Al Shabab Fighters in Galgala Mountains
The new president of Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas has said that his administration is ready to give full amnesty to anyone from Al Shabab’s fighters in Galgala Mountains of Bari region…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Forces Launch Missile Strike Against Al Shabaab Leader in Somalia
The US strike took place just a day after Al Shabaab, which are linked to Al-Qaeda, called for attacks against foreign forces
The US military has launched a missile strike in Somalia targeting a suspected Al Shabaab militant leader. One of the officials said an unmanned drone launched the missile in the late evening hours, but declined to confirm the suspect’s identity or whether the strike was successful…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘Little Rolls’ Swing Through Brazilian Malls
Young, black Brazilians — largely from poor neighborhoods — are taking a new approach to receiving second-class treatment in shopping malls. The appeal of their protests has triggered a public debate: Is Brazil racist?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arizona Sheriffs Say Border Not Secure as Immigration Reform Looms
As Congress prepares to take up immigration reform, two high-profile Arizona sheriffs tell Newsmax the federal government’s effort to secure the border has been a dismal failure.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said bluntly: “The border is not secure.” “I’m telling you that as somebody on the ground, as someone who experiences it every day. This is a lie that is being peddled by those who must convince the American people that it is secure and everything is just fine,” Babeu told Newsmax. “We have the most active drug and smuggling corridor in the country,” he added, saying that the intersection of major interstates, as well as rural and side roads and vast terrain, make it the perfect area for illegal immigrants coming to this country.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio echoes that view: “Drugs are still coming, illegal aliens are still coming into the U.S.,” he told Newsmax.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: No More Muslims, Say DF Leaders
Calls to stop Muslims at the border lead rivals to compare DF members to Nazis
Senior members of Dansk Folkeparti espoused the opinion that there are enough Muslims in Denmark and border controls should be established to stop more from entering the country. DF’s defence spokesperson Marie Krarup said that the time has come to completely halt Muslim immigration. “We should limit the size of the Muslim minority in Denmark,” Krarup wrote in a blog for Berlingske newspaper…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration to Italy Slowing, Says ISTAT
More African refugees, but fewer Europeans, South Americans
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — The number of new migrants to come to Italy dropped by 9.1%, or 35,000 people, in 2012 over the previous year, national statistics agency Istat said Monday.
New arrivals two years ago totaled 351,000 people.
Romanians topped the list at 82,000 new immigrants, followed by the Chinese (20,000), Moroccans (20,000), and Albanians (14,000).
Immigration dropped from Moldavia ( down 41%), Ukraine (36%), Peru (35%), and Ecuador (-27%). The number of African citizens grew by 1.2% over 2011, along with Asians, in part due to people fleeing war zones in the Ivory Coast, Mali, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
There was also a drop in registrations by Italian citizens living abroad, from 31,000 in 2011 to 29,000 the following year, according to Istat.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Bloomberg: Pass Amnesty, Stop the ‘National Suicide’
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and one of the founders of a national group to curb Second Amendment rights, now says America needs to pass immediate amnesty else face a dire fate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Republican Establishment Sinking of the U.S.S. America
Let us face facts. The Republican Establishment is hell bent on proposing some form of immigration reform. Their desire comes not from the goodness of the heart or continuation of the sentiment of Emma Lazarus’s poem,”The New Colossus” which is stamped on the base of the Statue of Liberty.
No, the truth of the matter is that the Republican Establishment is doing the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce and its big business friends. They also have misguided hopes that the Latino population, both legal and voting illegal, will find them saviors with nothing but good intentions and will become a reliable voting block for years to come. They recent revelation that only 3% of Americans feel this issue is the most pressing issue facing America today only proves the nefarious reasoning behind the Republican Establishment race to pander to Latino voters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron Appeals to Tory MPs Over Immigration Curbs
David Cameron has urged Tory MPs not to endanger his plans to curb immigration, saying he shares their “frustration” over calls for tougher controls. The prime minister said the immigration bill contained “sensible” measures aimed at lowering annual net migration. More than 70 MPs want the bill to be amended to extend UK work controls on Bulgaria and Romania until 2018…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: My Night With Godfrey Bloom
by Douglas Murray
On Thursday night I spoke at the Oxford Union on the motion ‘This House believes post-war immigration into Britain has been too high.’
In many ways this is an easy debate to explain and win, notwithstanding the fact that Lord Singh, Nadhim Zahawi MP and Monica Ali were lined up in opposition. The Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has said immigration has been too high and that he wants to bring it down. The Labour Leader Ed Miliband has said the same. As have all major, mainstream British politicians…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tory Rebels Are Right to be Frustrated at Migration, Says Cameron
David Cameron says migration to Britain is “too high” but shies away from repeating pledge to bring numbers coming to Britain down to “tens of thousands”
David Cameron shares the frustrations of Tory rebels who want tougher rules on EU immigration but says he can do nothing about it. The Prime Minister said he believes migration to Britain is “too high” and he wants fresh controls put in place if any new states join the European Union. But he shied away from repeating his pledge to bring numbers coming to Britain down to the “tens of thousands”, instead saying he would like to see a “responsible” level of immigration…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Singer Walks Out on Grammys After ‘Satanic’ Performances
Katy Perry conducts bizarre witchcraft ceremony during event
Popular Christian gospel singer Natalie Grant walked out of the Grammys after witnessing a series of performances that even the mainstream entertainment media admitted were occult in nature.
(1 of 2) We left the Grammy’s early. I’ve many thoughts,
most of which are probably better left inside my head. But I’ll
say this:
— Natalie Grant (@NatalieGrant) January
27, 2014
I’ve never been more honored to sing about Jesus and for Jesus. And I’ve never been more sure of the path I’ve chosen.
— Natalie Grant (@NatalieGrant) January 27, 2014
Grant, who was nominated for two Grammys last night, tweeted her excitement upon arriving at the event but soon made it clear that she left early because what she witnessed conflicted with her Christian beliefs, stating, “We left the Grammy’s early. I’ve many thoughts, most of which are probably better left inside my head. But I’ll say this: I’ve never been more honored to sing about Jesus and for Jesus. And I’ve never been more sure of the path I’ve chosen.”
Although she remained coy on the exact circumstances, Grant was probably referring to Katy Perry, who was surrounded by demons as she danced around an upside down broomstick before being encircled by fire during a performance of her song “Dark Horse”. Perry wore clothing bearing an illuminated Knights Templar cross…
Watch analysis of how the Grammys were yet another ceremony to the entertainment industry’s occult leanings below via Mark Dice. Katy Perry’s best efforts at summoning Beelzebub appear at the end.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One-Parent Families: US Social Mobility’s Main Barrier?
What is the most important factor blocking social mobility in the US? It could be single parents, not economic inequality
Of all the factors most predictive of economic mobility in America, one factor clearly stands out in their study: family structure. By their reckoning, when it comes to mobility, “the strongest and most robust predictor is the fraction of children with single parents”. They find that children raised in communities with high percentages of single mothers are significantly less likely to experience absolute and relative mobility. Moreover, “children of married parents also have higher rates of upward mobility if they live in communities with fewer single parents”. In other words it looks like a married village is more likely to raise the economic prospects of a poor child.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/courtandpolice/Right-winger-defamed-as-Breivik-mentor-gets-5-000-20140128
Right-winger defamed as ‘Breivik mentor’, awarded €5,000 in damagesBritish blogger who was in touch with mass murderer Anders Breivik is fined €5,000 for defaming a UK national as mentor to the Norwegian
Bizarre story from Serbia. Norwegian gets killed by Serb police officer.
http://inserbia.info/news/2014/01/norway-citizen-killed-in-presevo-after-he-attacked-a-member-of-gendarmerie/