Unemployment has reached yet another record level in Italy. The overall rate climbed to 12.7% in November 2013, while youth unemployment reached 41.6%. Both numbers are the highest recorded since the current calculation method was adopted in 1977.
In other news, former Cuban President Fidel Castro has made his first public appearance in nine months, appearing at the opening of an art studio in Havana.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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If You Are Waiting for an “Economic Collapse”, Just Look at What is Happening to Europe
If you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the “economic collapse”, just open up your eyes and look at what is happening in Europe. The entire continent is a giant economic mess right now.
Unemployment and poverty levels are setting record highs, car sales are setting record lows, and there is an ocean of bad loans and red ink everywhere you look. Over the past several years, most of the attention has been on the economic struggles of Greece, Spain and Portugal and without a doubt things continue to get even worse in those nations. But in 2014 and 2015, Italy and France will start to take center stage. France has the 5th largest economy on the planet, and Italy has the 9th largest economy on the planet, and at this point both of those economies are rapidly falling to pieces. Expect both France and Italy to make major headlines throughout the rest of 2014. I have always maintained that the next major wave of the economic collapse would begin in Europe, and that is exactly what is happening. The following are just a few of the statistics that show that an “economic collapse” is happening in Europe right now…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Unemployment Hits New Record of 12.7%
41.6% of under-25s are out of work
(By Emily Backus) (ANSA) — Rome, January 8 — Unemployment in Italy touched new record highs in November, Italian statistical agency Istat said Wednesday in a report that unveiled mounting hardship for Italians even as the economy showed tentative signs of economic recovery after its longest recession in over two decades.
Overall unemployment reached 12.7% while youth unemployment hit 41.6%. Both figures are the highest on record since the current calculation method began in 1977.
The number of employed youths aged 15 to 24 fell 12.4% in one year to 924,000. Istat specified that the youth unemployment rate regards youths aged 15-24 who are considered to be on the job market as they are actively seeking work . The rate of young people in Italy not on the job market — including students — was 73.7%, while unemployment affects 11% of the entire youth population. The overall employment rate for Italy was 55.4%, while the general inactivity rate was 36.4%.
The ranks of the jobless reached 3.25 million people, up 12.1% compared to November 2012.
Since the onset of the global financial crisis, Italy has lost over a million jobs, Istat said. Between November 2007 and November 2013, 1.1 million jobs were lost, while the number of unemployed people has more than doubled from 1.53 million. Nearly twice as many men lost their jobs compared to women over the six year period and many of the jobs created has rewarded women. All told, men lost 1,165,000 jobs over the period, while women gained 65,000. Job loss continued to affect primarily men last year. The number of jobless men grew 17.2% from November 2012 to November 2013, compared to 6.1% for women.
Meanwhile, requests for unemployment benefits in Italy shot up 32.5% between January and November 2013, the social security agency INPS reported Wednesday. A total of 1,949,570 people sought jobless aid at the agency in the 11-month period. Seventy percent of employed Italians feel threatened that they might lose their jobs, a report conducted by pollster Ixe’ for the farmers association Coldiretti found. Job security topped the list of worries among Italians for 2014, Coldiretti said, and the vast majority were not optimistic about Italy’s future.
Fifty-one percent expect things to remain the same, while 35% believed they will worsen this year. Fully 53% of respondents said they worried they would not be able to earn enough to support their own families in the future.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jim Rogers: The Fed’s Days Are Numbered
Guru investor Jim Rogers says the outgoing US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has set the stage for the collapse of the US central bank within the next 10 yrs, and has turned the nation’s fiscal balance sheet into “garbage.”
In a recent interview Mr. Rogers said Mr. Bernanke and his fellow central bankers in other countries have brought the global economy to the brink of disaster.
Mr. Bernanke and the other central bank chiefs have been “pumping money into the markets and everybody’s singing hallelujah,” said Mr. Rogers, a contrarian investor and critic of Fed policy.
“Gold will become one of the only refuges around,” he predicted. “That’s not this quarter.”
Mr. Rogers predicted that history will remember Mr. Bernanke as “the guy who set the stage for the demise of the central bank in America.” “It’s not a possibility,” Mr. Roger said, “it’s a probability. People will realize that these guys have led us down a terrible path. The Fed balance sheet has increased by 500% in the last 5 years, and a lot of it’s garbage.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Housing Tax Sparks Storm in Italy
‘Middle class families to pay the most’ says Codacons
(ANSA) — Rome, January 9 — A new housing services tax known as TASI was raising a storm in Italy on Thursday after reports from consumer group Codacons said it would cost families more than a previous property tax abolished last year. “The math does not lie,” said the group in a scathing critique of Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni. “Those who will pay more will be families with several children who are less well-off”. The tax replaces the contentious IMU housing tax, which was abolished last year following an impassioned drive from three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi’s now defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party that threatened to topple the government. On Thursday the centrist Civic Choice party called on the government to change TASI or risk losing its support if the issue came up in a confidence vote. “We will vote no confidence with regard to any proposal (that includes TASI),” said Civic Choice Senator Stefania Giannini. “We must meet on the issue at once”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
500 Years of History Shows That Mass Spying is Always Aimed at Crushing Dissent
No matter which government conducts mass surveillance, they also do it to crush dissent, and then give a false rationale for why they’re doing it…
The New York Review of Books notes that the American government did not start to conduct mass surveillance against the American people until long after the Revolutionary War ended … but once started, the purpose was to crush dissent:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chilling Canadian Warning to US: Gun Registration Has Begun, Confiscation Not Far Behind
A Canadian news commentator has a warning for his American friends: Now that the United States has begun gun registration, get ready for gun confiscation.
Brian Lilley, the Sun News host of Byline, traded hyperbole for history to make his case. But he didn’t use Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia or Communist China as examples, as one would expect.
He used the more-recent history of freedom-loving Canada — his own country, where registration quickly led to confiscation.
He predicted the same for us, despite statistics showing that as gun ownership rises, gun violence drops.
“It’s not about the guns,” he said. “It’s about the control.”
Watch the commentary from Sun News.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christie Fires a Top Aide for Lying About Bridge Scandal
Gov. Chris Christie said that he has terminated the employment of his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, who wrote an email message to an official at the Port Authority last August, asking if the official, David Wildstein, could order lane closings on the George Washington Bridge. “I am sad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short,” Mr. Christie said.
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Christie Apologizes Over Lane Closures, Fires Top Aide
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie publicly apologized Thursday for controversial lane closures last year that were arranged by his associates as an apparent act of political revenge, and fired a top aide who was at the center of the scandal.
“I come out here to apologize to the people of New Jersey,” he said. “I am embarrassed and humiliated.” Te governor added: “I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here.”
The governor is trying to get a handle on the scandal, which could threaten the potential 2016 presidential candidate’s political aspirations. He’s also facing various legal inquiries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christie Faces Scandal Over Traffic Jam Created by Aides
Bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie’s White House hopes hit a massive roadblock after emails implicated a top aide in a punitive George Washington Bridge traffic nightmare.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” read the damning Aug. 13 email made public Wednesday — the political payback to the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., for his refusal to endorse the GOP incumbent last year.
“Got it,” shot back the Garden State governor’s high school buddy, David Wildstein, to the message from Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congresswoman Urges Welfare Name Change: “Transitional Living Fund”
The Texas Congresswoman who once urged a Congressional oversight panel to study how Christian militants and other radicals might bring down the country has some new progressive ideas she’d like House members to begin implementing.
In a brief speech on the House floor about safety nets that touches on all manner of government assistance, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee suggested that the term “welfare” is no longer politically correct, and like all masters of doublespeak, wants Congress to change its name to a “transitional living fund.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
First Look at the New Ms. Marvel, A 16-Year-Old Muslim Superhero
Late last year, Marvel Comics announced that it would reboot Ms. Marvel in February and put an all-new superheroine at the helm: Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Muslim girl who lives in New Jersey. Wired has the first look at Kamala from her Ms. Marvel debut, a preview that also will appear in the All-New Marvel NOW! Point One issue on sale in print and digital versions tomorrow…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ford Exec: ‘We Know Everyone Who Breaks the Law’ Thanks to Our GPS in Your Car
Ford’s Global VP/Marketing and Sales, Jim Farley, said something both sinister and obvious during a panel discussion about data privacy today at CES, the big electronics trade show in Las Vegas.
Because of the GPS units installed in Ford vehicles, Ford knows when its drivers are speeding, and where they are while they’re doing it.
Farley was trying to describe how much data Ford has on its customers, and illustrate the fact that the company uses very little of it in order to avoid raising privacy concerns: “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you’re doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you’re doing. By the way, we don’t supply that data to anyone,” he told attendees.
[Comment: To anyone? Sure. Anyhow, thanks for making that public. Now watch for politicians to propose automatic driver infraction tickets based on GPS tracking.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Indiana Guardsman Stopped for Speeding in Madison County Had 48 Bombs, Prosecutor Says
An Indiana National Guardsman was arrested outside Columbus on New Year’s Day after a state trooper found nearly 50 bombs and the blueprints for a Navy SEAL training facility inside his car, the Madison County prosecutor said yesterday.
Andrew Scott Boguslawski, 43, also had a remote-control device to detonate the bombs, Madison County Prosecutor Stephen Pronai said. Boguslawski’s civilian job is as a groundskeeper at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in south-central Indiana. Prosecutors could not say definitively yesterday whether the blueprints in his car were for the facility where he worked.
Boguslawski also had a bulletproof vest in his car, Pronai said.
“He said something to the trooper about making a bomb vest,” Pronai said.
Lt. Col. Cathy Van Bree, a spokeswoman for the Indiana National Guard, said Boguslawski is a specialist in the guard who does intelligence analysis and has top-secret clearance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
There is no question that the forces of globalism and socialism have pretty much had their way over the past few decades. And with very few exceptions, we don’t have a lot of allies in Washington, D.C., and in most State capitals. For that matter, we don’t have a lot of allies on Wall Street or in most classrooms. But that doesn’t mean that it’s over: not by a long shot.
Freedom didn’t have a majority in 1775 and 1776, either. I doubt that one could find any time in history when the proponents of liberty were ever in a majority. Sam Adams may have said it best when he said, “It does not take a majority to prevail…but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men.”
However, there is one thing that Colonial America had that modern America doesn’t have: a patriot pulpit. The pulpits of Colonial America were ablaze with the fire of liberty. Colonial clergymen of every Christian denomination explained, extolled, enlightened, expounded, and elucidated the Natural Biblical principles of liberty from their pulpits continuously. Remember that it was mostly the men of Pastor Jonas Clark’s congregation at the Church of Lexington that stood armed on Lexington Green against British troops in the wee morning hours of April 19, 1775, and fired the shot heard ‘round the world.
Publisher and historian Gerald Nordskog writes these words about Jonas Clark:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Learn to Encrypt Your Emails Against an Invasion of Privacy by NSA
Now that we have enough details about how the NSA’s Surveillance program, running for a long time against almost each country of this planet.
Hundreds of top-secret NSA documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden already exposed that Spying projects like PRISM and MUSCULAR are tapping directly into Google and Yahoo internal networks to access our Emails. NSA’s tactics are even capable to defeat the SSL encryption, so unsecured email can easily be monitored and even altered as it travels through the Internet.
One major point on which all of us are worrying is about the privacy of communication among each other and If you’re looking for a little personal privacy in your communications you will need to encrypt your messages.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Like Mormon Pants Day, Muslim Women Plan World Hijab Day
Hundreds of Mormon women wore trousers to their LDS services Dec. 15, in part, to show solidarity with members of the faith who feel they don’t fit in with the traditional dress- or skirt-wearer — or for any other reason. Now Muslim women have named Feb. 1 as World Hijab Day, inviting all women — in the faith or not — to join with them by wearing head covering for a day…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Murfreesboro Mosque Imam: ‘We Have a Cemetery’
BZA approves mosque request for burials on Veals Road property
MURFREESBORO — The Rutherford County Board of Zoning Appeals approved the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro cemetery request Wednesday night. “We have a cemetery,” ICM Imam Ossama Bahloul said after the 3-2 vote while many members of his congregation and supporters exchanged hugs. “Now we can die,” ICM board Chairman and founder Essam Fathy quipped following the BZA debating the public hearing issue for more than two hours…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
North America’s Big Freeze Seen From Space
Satellite images have captured the progress of the big freeze that has gripped the United States and Canada, plunging many states into unfamiliar freezing temperatures.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nurse Speaks Out on Mandatory Flu Shot Vaccines
I can get really heated over the issue of mandatory vaccines. And this issue is becoming a greater menace as nurses are being bullied into taking yearly flu shots! I left the profession a year ago before things became weird.
I declined the flu shot for most of my 22 years of nursing practice and what I’m learning about the newer disturbing practices against nurses that decline the vaccines is very troubling.
Before leaving nursing, I could sense how the atmosphere was turning against those that chose to not have the flu shot. I was mandated to sign a formal declination form and take what my hospital called “Flu School”. Flu School was a computer based module.
I mean, what are our rights of refusal? Being fired for declining these questionable vaccines is beyond reason and logic. There is no concrete proof that these vaccines do what they claim and the evidence stacking up against their safety is cause for pause to re-evaluate this issue instead of penalizing the dissenters.
It becomes very tiresome to tune into the news and get programmed with a bunch of scare tactics and all the propaganda campaigns in the hospitals to use fear to get people to agree to taking these vaccines. If they were so wonderful, why the push for them so hard?
I especially have a mistrust of vaccines because my beloved Grandmother lived with the effects of polio after taking the vaccine to prevent polio.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oklahoma Lawmaker Pushes Bill to Stop Ludicrous “Gun” Related Suspensions in Schools
An Oklahoma State representative introduced a bill this week that would see protections put into place to prevent schools from punishing students who bring with them small toy guns, or objects resembling or depicting guns.
A spate of incidents in the last year in schools across the country has led to children being suspended or expelled for such ludicrous things as biting food into the shape of a gun, or simply using their hands to make a gun gesture.
Representative Sally Kern hopes that her bill HB 2351, dubbed as the “Common Sense Zero Tolerance Act” will prevent such incidents from taking place in her State.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Robert Gates Confirms ‘Party of Defeat’ Narrative
In 2008, authors David Horowitz and Ben Johnson released their book, “Party of Defeat.” It chronicled the Democratic Party’s duplicitous efforts regarding its initial support for the Bush administration’s prosecution of the war in Iraq, followed by their attempts to undermine it — for nothing more than crass political considerations. In a his new book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” former defense secretary Robert M. Gates, who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations, delivers a devastating confirmation of Horowitz’s and Johnson’s arguments.
In one of the book’s most trenchant passages, Gates notes a “remarkable” exchange he witnessed between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in which both the current president and former secretary of state admitted their opposition to Iraq was all about gaining an edge in the 2008 presidential campaign. “Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary,” writes Gates. As for Obama, he also “conceded vaguely that [his] opposition to the Iraq surge had been political. To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying,” he adds.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Happy New Year. Just when you thought the NSA spying scandal couldn’t get any worse, it has.
Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote to Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Administration (NSA), and asked plainly whether the NSA has been or is now spying on members of Congress or other public officials. The senator’s letter was no doubt prompted by the revelations of Edward Snowden to the effect that the federal government’s lust for personal private data about all Americans and many foreigners knows no bounds, and its respect for the constitutionally protected and statutorily enforced right to privacy is nonexistent.
The senator’s benign and neutral letter came on the heels of a suggestion by his colleague Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to the effect that Alexander’s boss, Gen. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, perjured himself before a Senate subcommittee when he testified that the NSA is not gathering massive amounts of data from tens or hundreds of millions of Americans. Alexander himself is also on the hook for having testified in a highly misleading manner to a House committee when he was asked whether the NSA has the ability to read emails and listen to phone calls and he stated: “No, we don’t have that authority.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Fraud and Deceit of ObamaCare
Whether we look at the crimes of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder with his “Fast and Furious” gun-running to Mexico or to Obama’s incompetence in responding to the definite Islamic threat to Ambassador Stevens at the Benghazi consulate in Libya, or former Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s total incompetence and fraudulence in not enforcing America’s borders or immigration employment laws internally — American citizens see our country being dismantled by malfeasance, corruption and ineffectiveness.
Five years ago Obama swore on a Bible to uphold our U.S. Constitution, yet he usurps it at every juncture. He’s got eight, count them, eight (8) Islamic advisors in the White House consulting him to further their agenda and not America’s. Every advisor possesses one mission: to further Islam in America and around the world…
Nicholas Purpura, a top notch investigative journalist said, “Following the election of Scott Brown, the Democratic Party panicked! They knew the (un) Affordable Care Act was dead on arrival. Senator Brown would give the Republicans the required number of votes to Filibuster the “Act.”
“Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, being aware that the House of Representatives had no time to rewrite the Senate version of the Healthcare Act, (S1796) titled the “America’s Healthy Future Act” concocted an illegal and criminal scheme to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and make it appear as if the House of Representative wrote the Health-care bill which was about to be voted on.
“Every “Act” written by the House of Representatives is assigned a House Resolution Number. Since the House never wrote the Act, no House Resolution number existed for it. To illegally acquire a House Resolution Number, a conspiracy took place that is ripe for a criminal and civil RICO action.”
They proceeded with these illegal steps.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Very Green Keystone Pipeline Delay
Stopping the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from carrying Canadian oil, a major trading partner and ally of the United States, is just part of a much larger environmental agenda aimed at preventing access to this energy source, but it is larger in scope; stopping or slowing the development of America’s huge reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Just before 2013 came to an end, the Sierra Club sent out an email claiming that “2014 is shaping up to be a defining year for the environment” warning that “Superstorms, wildfires, and mass destruction from climate change threaten us all. Future generations and endangered species like wolves and bear are counting on us.” This is pure fear-mongering. In 2013, all the factors mentioned were in decline.
On the first Earth Day in 1970, here are just some of the predictions that were made:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Woman Who Tracked Down a CIA Mole
Sandra Grimes knew that one of her colleagues was a traitor — one of the biggest in US history, as it turned out. She helped put him in prison for the rest of his life. Her story is now told in a TV miniseries.
Aldrich Ames liked to explain things. Once he told Sandra Grimes how to catch a mole. “He gave this ‘counterintelligence 101’ talk,” she says. “Was I mad? Yes. But I didn’t want to show anything.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Incrementalism has always been the secret behind the success of the progressive’s agenda. Their strategy of coercion and manipulation has often been implemented over extended periods of time whereby the rights and freedoms of the people are slowly changed or taken away so that few notice and wake one morning in full acceptance of their new reality.
Once the people have been properly conditioned to their new way of life, the elite’s disguised agenda is then presented as the only resolution to their newly created problem. In the short term people are easily deceived and cajoled by government into accepting small changes, most of which are calculated and undetectable, but nonetheless part of a long term strategy to gain complete dominance and control over the populace.
Progressives have perfected the art of the incremental nudge, witnessed by Cass Sunstein, Obama’s former Regulatory Czar, who wrote a book called NUDGE based on human nature, psychology and manipulation, or creating ‘choice architecture’ to influence and control the way individuals and groups of individuals behave.
[Comment: A MUST READ article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Attorney in New Jersey to Open Inquiry Into Lane Closures
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is expected on Thursday to address the growing controversy over the decision by one of his top aides and close associates to deliberately snarl traffic for millions of commuters as an act of political vengeance, even as the United States attorney’s office is expected to open an inquiry into the matter.
After months of denying that anyone in his administration or campaign played any role in the lane closings, which resulted in a traffic nightmare last September on the George Washington Bridge, the governor is scheduled to hold a new conference at 11 a.m., one day after a release of emails and texts showing members of his administration and others were deeply involved. The scandal has presented the governor with the gravest political challenge of his career.
Federal prosecutors in New Jersey will begin a preliminary inquiry into the lane closures in Fort Lee, according to a law enforcement source.
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Utah Avalanche Was Largest in Modern History
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The avalanche near Salt Lake City last year that carried enough rock, dirt and debris to bury New York’s Central Park under 66 feet of rubble was North America’s largest such disaster in modern history, according to University of Utah scientists.
The April 2013 rockslide sent 165 million tons of debris into a nearly mile-deep pit where it cracked bedrock and triggered unprecedented earthquakes, the researchers said in a newly published study. “We don’t know of any case until now where landslides have been shown to trigger earthquakes,” said Jeff Moore, assistant professor of geology and geophysics.
There were no injuries or deaths as the slide temporarily shut down a copper mine, burying 14 giant haul trucks and leading to a series of layoffs and buyouts at Kennecott Utah Copper Corp.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Polar Vortex’ Puts a Freeze on Niagara Falls
The American side of Niagara Falls, as seen in Ontario on Jan. 8, has been left partially-frozen thanks to the frigid air and “polar vortex” that affected about 240 million people in the United States and southern Canada.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
All Norwegians Become Crown Millionaires, In Oil Saving Landmark
(Reuters) — Everyone in Norway became a theoretical crown millionaire on Wednesday in a milestone for the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund that has ballooned thanks to high oil and gas prices.
Set up in 1990, the fund owns around 1 percent of the world’s stocks, as well as bonds and real estate from London to Boston, making the Nordic nation an exception when others are struggling under a mountain of debts.
A preliminary counter on the website of the central bank, which manages the fund, rose to 5.11 trillion crowns ($828.66 billion), fractionally more than a million times Norway’s most recent official population estimate of 5,096,300.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Bossnapping’, a Criminal Offence Rarely Punished in France
Disgruntled workers at Goodyear France held two members of their senior management team captive for around 30 hours this week, in a bid to force the company to increase their redundancy pay.
The latest case of “bossnapping” has revived a debate about a potentially serious criminal offence which, though punishable with up to 30 years in jail, is rarely, if at all, sanctioned.
“In France, bossnappings occur from time to time when the workers can’t take any more”, said Jean-Claude Mailly, general secretary of the Force Ouvrière trade union.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dead Cow Carcasses Stun Beachgoers, Puzzle Police in Sweden, Denmark
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The carcasses of almost a dozen cows have washed ashore in Denmark and Sweden, puzzling police in the Scandinavian countries.
Since Dec. 29, eight dead cows have been found by people strolling on beaches in southern Sweden and three in Denmark. All the animals had parts of their ears cut off. Investigators suspect this was done to remove the identification tags used to trace the animals.
Danish and Swedish police said Thursday the cows were probably dumped from a ship in the Baltic Sea. They are trying to pinpoint which livestock transports have passed between the two countries in recent weeks. Dumping livestock like that is illegal in both countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dieudonné Hit With Last Ditch Ban by French Court
A dramatic day of court battles between controversial French comic Dieudonné and the French government ended with a last gasp victory for the state as the highest court in France upheld a ban on him performing in the city of Nantes on Thursday night.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Disaster Centennial: The Disturbing Relevance of World War I
It has now been 100 years since the outbreak of World War I, but the European catastrophe remains relevant today. As the Continent looks back this year, old wounds could once again be rubbed raw.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
England’s Children’s Commissioner Thinks Smacking (Spanking) Should be Banned!
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Maggie Atkinson, speaking to the left-wing Independent newspaper said that parents should be banned from smacking (AKA spanking across the pond) their children under any circumstances.
Atkinson states that both adults and pets are better protected under the law and says “It’s a moral issue! The morals are that, taken to its extreme, physical chastisement is actually physical abuse and I have never understood where you can draw the line between one and the other. Better that it were not permitted.”
However Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute responded by saying: “The link being made between smacking and physical abuse is ridiculous. Parents should have the right to discipline their children and the current law allows them to do so with the defence of ‘reasonable chastisement’. Banning smacking will only serve to criminalise innocent and responsible parents who are seeking to do what’s best for their children”.
Reasonable chastisement in England has been the standard for legal parental smacking since 2004 with the definition that it doesn’t cause bruising, swelling, cuts, grazes or scratches. The standard is similar in Scotland and Northern Ireland and violators can be jailed for five years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) It is a dessert favorite across much of Nordic Europe. But the kanelsnegle, or what is more commonly known in the States as a cinnamon roll, is the target of new European Union regulations that claim it is a threat to human health. No, not because of all the processed sugar, brominated white flour and other refined ingredients used in its production — European officials are worried about all natural cassia cinnamon, which they insist contains a compound that can damage the liver.
This compound is known as coumarin, and it is actually just a natural blood-thinning and appetite-suppressing agent found in all sorts of common plants and herbs. But because a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry found that the coumarin content in the most common variety of cinnamon, cassia, may increase the risk of liver damage, EU health authorities have been on a crusade to eradicate it from the food supply.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Report Reveals Massive Scope of Secret NSA Surveillance
The European Parliament has wrapped up its inquiry into mass surveillance. In a draft report, politicians are being hard on all sides — the US government, the NSA, but also on hesitant EU governments and companies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Teachers Fear for Language Skills Without Compulsory Swedish
Surveys show a majority of Finns would like to abolish the compulsory teaching of Swedish in Finnish schools. If that proposal comes to fruition, the time freed up could be used for learning other languages—but without compulsion, teachers fear Finns’ language skills would deteriorate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Frenchwoman Convicted for Resisting Police Crackdown on Her Banned Muslim Veil
PARIS — A French court has convicted a woman for insulting police who ticketed her for wearing a face-covering Muslim veil, banned by French law. The confrontation between Cassandra Belin, her husband and police triggered riots in the Paris suburb of Trappes last year…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
French Court Reinstates Ban on Performances of Controversial Anti-Semitic Comic Dieudonné
French Court of the State reimposed a ban on the performance of controversial comic Dieudonne’ within minutes of an administrative tribunal decision in Nantes lifting it. Dieudonné was in the midst of a tour of several major French cities, despite having over 9 convictions with penalties of $80,000 for violating French hate laws. These violations are regarding his comments about the Holocaust and Jewish personalities that some, including his former Jewish comic sidekick, consider Anti-Semitic. His performance in Nantes had been banned by a local French government official in furtherance public order issued by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, Tuesday. Valls said today:
“This is a political battle and not just a legal one. We must not let these intolerable statements go unanswered.” The Socialist politician said Dieudonné’s anti-Semitic and racist outbursts were “not an opinion, but a felony” and underlined that “the action I have undertaken has the advantage of mobilizing everyone, including the offices of the State.”
On Tuesday French President Hollande said:
I am calling on all representatives of the state, particularly its prefects, to be on alert and inflexible. No one should be able to use this show for provocation and to promote openly anti-Semitic ideas.
Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala is the son of a French mother and Cameroonian father. He has made a career engaging in anti-Semitic references about the Holocaust, international Jewish control and inventing a Nazi-like gesture, the quenelle, mimicked by his followers. He has courted both far-right and far-left groups, as well as African and Muslim émigré communities in France. Dieudonné had a Jewish partner, Eli Semour, on TV and live performances. Dieudonné would appear in a KKK white sheet costume, while Semour would be decked out in a Nazi SS uniform. That was years ago. Now Semour is appalled at the depths of his former partner’s anti-Semitic routines.
One example of Dieudonne’s attacks on Jewish personalities was the case of French radio personality Patrick Cohen. The Wall Street Journal in its coverage of the most recent Dieudonné contretemps reported:
The latest controversy began last month, when state television channel France 2 broadcast footage captured by a hidden camera and showing Dieudonné commenting about French-Jewish radio anchor Patrick Cohen during a private performance.
“Me, you see, when I hear Patrick Cohen speak, I think to myself: Gas chambers…too bad,” the comedian was shown saying on stage. Dieudonné’s lawyers don’t dispute the video’s veracity.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Establishment of a Restricted Zone in Hamburg
U.S. Embassy Berlin informs U.S. citizens that as a result of violent protests in December, the Hamburg police have established a 24/7 restricted zone covering a large area of the city of Hamburg, including the city’s nightlife area.
The restricted zone (“Gefahrengebiet”) gives police officers extra authority to stop, search, and ban people from the area. It includes the red light district of the Reeperbahn, the Old Town, St. Pauli, and Altona Nord, including the Sternschanzen area (Rote Flora district).
Police require that all persons in public areas carry their passport or “Ausweis.” If stopped without proper identification, persons may be detained by police without further justification.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Warm Weather Ruins Ice Wine Crop
The exceptionally mild winter weather has all but ruined this year’s crop of the German specialty ice wine. nown as Eiswein in German, the high-quality dessert wine requires grapes to freeze on the vine.
But highs of 15C mean that the grapes have not frozen this year, all but destroying the crop which needs temperatures of -7C.
A cold spell at the end of November 2013 was enough for a handful of vineyards to produce a small amount of the specialty, but the mild temperatures since then have been bad news for producers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Toilet Brush Becomes City Protest Symbol
A toilet brush has become the unlikely symbol of ongoing protests in Hamburg as the city was hit with another night of violence on Wednesday. It comes as the US embassy issued a travel warning to its citizens.
Police established a restricted zone, Gefahrengebiet, in the centre of Hamburg on Saturday morning, following protests before Christmas and a series of attacks on police officers.
It covers the city’s nightlife area, red light district and old town and gives police extra powers to stop, search and ban people from the area.
But so far it has done little to quell the violence between left-wing groups and the police.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Fears Return of Left-Wing Terrorism
Days after shots were fired on the German ambassador’s residence in Athens, a notorious left-wing terrorist has escaped from prison. Concerns are growing over terror, as Athens takes over the EU presidency.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Irish Language Centre Opens in East Belfast
A new Irish language centre has opened in east Belfast to cope with an increasing number of learners. The Turas centre, based in the Skainos building on the Newtownards Road, houses a classroom, offices and a library/social area.
The centre was opened by local man Sam Evans who was a founder member of the Progressive Unionist Party. Development officer Linda Ervine said a growing interest in the language had led to the need to expand.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Reindeer Get Reflectors to Stop Car Crashes
As many as 10,000 reindeer in northern Norway are to have their horns decorated with special biodegradable reflector cuffs to stop them being run over by motorists.
The reflectors, which are made of corn to avoid them littering the environment, have been shown to successful in trials run since 2010 and are now being rolled out across the country’s herds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Giant Khat Delivery Found Stashed in Banana Boxes
Norwegian customs officials have seized 392 kilgrams of the drug khat hidden in banana boxes, in the latest in a spate of smuggling incidents using containers intended for the tropical fruit.
The seizure is the second largest ever made in Norway of the chewable leaf, which, while illegal in Norway, is the favoured drug of many Yemeni and Somali immigrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Breivik’s Stepmother Reveals Custody Battle
The stepmother of Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Breivik has spoken out for the first time about her battle to win custody of the future killer, arguing that if she had succeeded his terrible acts could have been prevented.
“I can only speculate over whether it would have made any difference, but I think it would have,” Tove Øvermo, who worked for the Norwegian foreign office, said on the documentary “A Stepmother’s Story”, broadcast on TV2 on Thursday.
Øvermo met Breivik when he was four years old, the same year that psychologists concluded he should be removed from his mother Wenche Behring Breivik, who was suffering emotional and mental health problems.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scottish Cattle: The Perfect Piste Workers
An Austrian ski life operator has found the perfect way to prepare for an avalanche free winter tourism season — Scottish highland cattle.
By introducing a herd of 23 cattle to his popular Lech ski resort in the Western Austrian province of Vorarlberg he managed to revolutionise preparation for this years ski season creating an avalanche safe environment and cutting down massively on the costs of preparing the slopes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Super Subs: The German Defense Industry Discovers Asia
The German defense industry is increasingly looking to Asia as a growing market for its products. Conflicts in the Far East have led to a demand for the kind of giant — and expensive — submarines that come from shipyards in northern Germany.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Dems Slammed for ‘Muslim Rape’ Jab
A top Sweden Democrat defending a racism-accused colleague has claimed the Koran states that “rape is a Muslim form of punishment”. The prime minister quickly joined a choir of critics and said it illustrated the minority party’s us-versus-them rhetoric…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Parents See Red Over Angry Birds-Themed Playground
A growing Finnish export — Angry Birds-themed playgrounds — is causing parents in a west coast Swedish town to see red. The parents say that using the whimsical pigs and birds featured in the highly popular game in playground equipment constitutes product placement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘True Vikings’ Must Try Iceland’s ‘Whale Beer’
Iceland has a new drink that is being marketed for “true vikings” — whale beer.
While much of the international community will disapprove (there is a moratorium on hunting fin and minke whales) the Steðja Brewery has teamed up with the country’s whaling industry to create the product The Atlantic reported.
The product is 5.2 percent alcohol and is made in a process that uses the animals’ meat and oil.
Dagbjartur Ariliusson, the brewery’s owner, defended the product to reporters by saying that its creation is consistent with Iceland’s history. Icelanders have traditionally celebrated an annual mid-winter festival called Thorrablot with cured whale fat. He said that now his people will have a “healthy” whale beer to go with their food.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Sexiest MP’ Penny Mordaunt to Make a Splash! On TV Diving Show in Her Swimsuit
A woman Tory MP today made ripples by announcing she will appear in her swimsuit on the celebrity diving show Splash! Penny Mordaunt, 40 — who was once ranked the sexiest female Parliamentarian — will give her TV fee to a charity renovating a lido in her Portsmouth constituency.
But stunned Conservatives recalled the storm caused when MP Nadine Dorries went on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and lost the party whip as punishment. Mordaunt, a one-time magician’s assistant, entered Parliament at the 2010 general election and has trained as a Royal Navy reservist…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sheffield Boxing Gym Open in Mosque Grounds
A boxing gym aimed at combating anti-social behaviour in Sheffield has been set up in the grounds of a mosque. The gym at the One Nation community centre in the Jamia Masjid and Usmania Education Centre in Netheredge, is open to all. The boxing recruits at the unusual venue were treated to a visit from Paul Jones, Sheffield’s former world champion boxer.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman Makes His New Year Resolutions for the Borough
I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and wish you and your families the very best in 2014. Traditionally, many start the new year with optimism and I am sure that Tower Hamlets has a positive future in spite of great challenges ahead…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tower Hamlets Investigated Over Vote-Rigging
The London borough is one of 16 areas identified as being at greater risk of complaints of alleged vote-rigging being reported. The study is focusing on areas with large South Asian communities.
The other areas being investigated are: Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Bradford, Burnley, Calderdale, Coventry, Derby, Hyndburn, Kirklees, Oldham, Pendle, Peterborough, Slough, Tower Hamlets, Walsall, and Woking.
The Electoral Commission’s also recommending everyone should have to show proof of ID when they turn up to vote…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A grieving wife died ‘from a broken heart’ just three weeks after her beloved husband lost his battle with cancer.
Devoted Carol West, 54, was devastated when her husband of 30 years Michael was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the oesophagus 18 months ago.
She was inconsolable when he died aged 56 in December her health took a turn for the worse.
On Tuesday she was taken ill and passed away in hospital with the couple’s three children at her bedside.
The couple’s son Tony, 23, said yesterday he was convinced his mum died ‘from a broken heart’.
He said: ‘They couldn’t live without each other — it’s as simple as that.
‘My mum took my dad’s death very badly. She couldn’t stop crying and her health became very bad. ‘She’d had a stroke five years ago but we never expected her to pass away so soon after Dad died.’
He added: ‘To lose both parents is very hard and we are all a bit numb.
‘They both loved Christmas so not having him there this year was very hard for her.’
The couple, from Sudbury, Suffolk, fell in love at first sight when they were teenagers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Uranium Deal With Greenland Sealed by Year’s End
Greenland is gambling that mining will save its economy, but still needs Denmark’s help handling by-products
Denmark and Greenland will have an agreement about how to proceed with uranium mining in the Arctic country in place by the end of the year. At a press conference yesterday following a meeting with the Greenlandic premier Aleqa Hammond, Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (S) said that she was confident an agreement would be in place in the second half of 2014.
Greenland is a self governing territory in the Kingdom of Denmark that — after starting as a colony — has slowly assumed control of a wide range of responsibilities from the Danish government. Denmark is still responsible for Greenland’s security and defence, which has consequences if Greenland wants to permit foreign companies to mine for rare earth minerals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
We Want a United States of Europe Says Top EU Official
Voters must decide for or against a United States of Europe during EU elections this spring, says vice president of the European Commission
A campaign for the European Union to become a “United States of Europe” will be the “best weapon against the Eurosceptics”, one of Brussels’ most senior officials has said. Viviane Reding, vice president of the European Commission and the longest serving Brussels commissioner, has called for “a true political union” to be put on the agenda for EU elections this spring.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
West Flanders Prepares for WWI Commemoration
Belgium’s West Flanders region was one of the world’s most militarized zones during World War I. Now, with the centenary in 2014, the region is preparing to reap the benefits of a projected rise in tourist numbers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Whale Meat Used in Icelandic Beer as Brewery Teams Up With Whaling Company
An Icelandic brewery has reportedly teamed up with a whaling company to create… you guessed it, a beer containing extracts of whale.
The 5.2% concoction is borne from a collaboration between brewery Steðjar and fin-whaling firm Hvalur and is expected to be on shelves in time for Iceland’s mid-winter festival Þorrablót (Thorrablot) held in honour of the Norse god, Thor.
According to the Press Association, the brewery describes it as healthy because whale meal contains protein and is very low in fat, adding that those who drink it become “true Vikings”.
Dagbjartur Ariliusson, the brewery’s owner, confirmed it was making the beer, which will only be sold in Iceland from 24 January to 22 February, and is not being made for export.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Belly Dancer to Star in TV Programme Satirising the Muslim Brotherhood
Egyptian belly dancer Sama El Masry is to star in a TV programme aimed at satirising the Muslim Brotherhood, it’s reported.
The programme will feature on a new TV channel — currently running test broadcasts — and shows El Masry praising the army and making fun of the Brotherhood. She also mocks the Qatari royal family, who she accuses of backing the regime ousted in a military coup last summer.
El Masry told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that it will expose the group’s alleged “terrorist practices” — and adds to a wider government campaign against the movement…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Video Shows Muslim Brotherhood Leaders on ‘Hunger Strike’ Eating
Senior leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood who were said to be on hunger strike were captured in a video on Wednesday sharing food at the waiting room of a Cairo court. The video, published by el-Watan News website, showed deputy leader of the Freedom and Justice party Essam el-Erian, Muslim Brotherhood leader Alaa Hamza and Salafist activist Gamal Saber eating food and drinking following at the end of their trial session…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Cairo Courts Jail Morsi Supporters for Three Years
More than 80 supporters of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have been sentenced to three years for a range of offenses. It’s one of the biggest mass sentencings of Brotherhood followers since President Morsi was ousted.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Legislators Propose Amending Moroccan Law Allowing Rapist to Marry Victim to Escape Trial
RABAT, Morocco — The Justice and Human Rights Commission of Morocco’s parliament has proposed removing a paragraph from the penal code that allows a rapist to escape prosecution by marrying his underage victim.
Thursday’s move came a year after the Islamist-led government promised to amend Article 475 of the penal code and nearly two years after a young girl committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist. Her parents and a judge had pushed the marriage to protect the family’s honor.
The 2012 suicide of 16-year-old Amina al-Filali after seven months of marriage to the 23-year-old she said had raped her shocked the country and spurred calls to a legal change. Parliament must now vote on the commission’s call to remove that paragraph from the penal code.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Warns: Oil Tankers at Closed Ports “Will be Destroyed”
Armed groups, demanding autonomy for eastern Libya, have invited foreign companies to buy oil from ports they have seized in defiance of the central government in Tripoli.
As Reuters reports, “If a ship docks in one of the closed ports,” warned Libya’s defense ministry, “then we will destroy it,” but the group, led by tribal leader and 2011 civil war hero Ibrahim Jathran, shrugged off Tripoli’s warning, stating “we welcome global oil companies … The oil security guards will guarantee the safety of tankers.” The development adds to an air of chaos as the weak Tripoli government struggles to rein in the armed groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but which kept their guns and are now demanding political power and a bigger share of the country’s oil wealth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccans Mobilise Against Takfirists
Casablanca — Moroccan artists and rights activists have a plan to confront the takfirist tide in the kingdom. Dubbed “Damir” (conscience), a new group launched by former Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) spokesman Salah El-Ouadie and Amazigh rights activist Ahmed Assid aims to support democracy, combat repression, and stem radicalism.
“Damir” was the result of a long struggle, El-Ouadie told Magharebia at the group’s December 14th launch in Casablanca. “We started preparing for it more than two years ago, because we needed to deal with the problems facing us. The movement is against takfirist speech and the exploitation of religion in politics,” El-Ouadie said. “Damir brings together all those who care about this nation, so we can stand up together against those who promote radical ideologies that threaten Morocco’s democratic structure,” he added.
Actress Latifa Ahrar, who has faced criticism from the radical current over her stage performances, said: “My presence on the executive bureau of Damir confirms that artists have their own say, which isn’t restricted to the theatre. Society has to be vigilant against this obscurantist tide in forums, social networking websites and satellite TV channels,” Ahrar told Magharebia…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco Probes Salafist Cheikh
Casablanca — A salafist imam is under formal investigation in Morocco for accusing the opposition Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) of apostasy. Casablanca prosecutors on Monday (January 6th) announced an inquiry into Cheikh Abdelhamid Abounaim over his fatwa against the USFP and its historical leaders, sparking a broad controversy in the country.
In a YouTube video released on December 27th, Abounaim said that the “infidel” USFP has promoted kufr in all of its activities since the 1950s. He singled out current party chief Driss Lachgar along with former USFP figures such as Mehdi Ben Berka. Abounaim accused Lachgar of “apostasy” for calling on Morocco to ban polygamy and allow equal shares for men and women in inheritance…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutors in Egypt Renew Detention of Al-Jazeera English Journalists for 15 More Days
CAIRO — An Egyptian judiciary official says a team of journalists working for satellite news broadcaster Al-Jazeera English will be held for 15 more days pending investigation into allegations they are part of a terrorist group.
Prosecutors accuse them of setting up an illegal media center aimed at tarnishing Egypt’s image and spreading false news. Egypt’s interim-backed military government accuses the Qatar-based broadcaster of being biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood, which authorities have branded a terrorist organization. The broadcaster repeatedly has demanded the reporters be freed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar is Testing Egypt’s Patience
The recent statement made by the Qatar foreign affairs ministry holding the Egyptian government responsible for the increase of victims as a result of so called “peaceful protests” is the latest in a series of moves by Qatar to provoke Egypt.
It seems that Qatar’s provocation has trespassed all limits or that Egypt is about to run out of patience. The statement issued by Qatar’s rulers said: “Qatar (thinks) that the only solution in Egypt is holding dialogue among the political components of the society and state without eliminating or eradicating anyone.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
State Dept Won’t Say if Benghazi Attacker Had Ties to Al Qaeda
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was unable to tell reporters how the Obama administration determines which groups are official al Qaeda affiliates at a briefing on Wednesday.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that U.S. officials suspect former Guantanamo Bay detainee Abu Sufian bin Qumu, leader of the group Ansar al-Sharia in the Libyan city of Darnah, was involved in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. Psaki confirmed that Ansar al-Sharia’s two branches in Libya — which will be designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations in the coming days — were involved in past terrorist attacks and the one in Benghazi.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Takfirist Tunisian Politician Sparks Outrage
Tunis — Charges of apostasy levelled by one Tunisian lawmaker against another have ignited a firestorm. The controversy began when Unified Patriotic Democratic Party (PPDU) deputy Mongi Rahoui claimed he had received death threats after a fellow Constituent Assembly member called him an “enemy of Islam”.
But two days after apologising for the comments, Ennahda deputy Habib Ellouze again accused Rahoui of apostasy. During an interview on Al Watanyia TV on Tuesday (January 7th), Ellouze claimed that Rahoui had insulted the Qur’an by calling it the “book of terrorism”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
We May All Pay a Price for the Crushing of Democracy in Egypt
by Peter Oborne
The junta in Cairo is bent on repeating the mistakes of the past — as I saw this week
The earliest political decision made by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who has presided over such a dramatic resurgence of al-Qaeda since Osama Bin Laden’s death, was to join the Muslim Brotherhood. Even then, back in the mid-Sixties, the Brotherhood was proscribed. This meant that it was impossible for a young man like Zawahiri to get involved in mainstream politics. Instead, Egypt’s brutally repressive system of government forced him down the path that led to al-Qaeda and the Twin Towers…
[Reader comment by pelyas on 9 January 2014.]
This is one of the worst, most misinformed, biased articles I have read about Egypt. First, Egyptian police are not at all well versed in crowd control and the use of rubber bullets, which is why there are casualties in virtually every mass demonstration in Egypt, from 2011 to today, so to accuse the military of deliberately killing protestors is a little callous. Secondly, there are deep links between the Brotherhood and the Sinai-based militant organizations that carry out terrorist attacks against the government. Morsi prevented the military from attacking Sinai-based terrorists, MB leaders like el Beltagy vowed in July 2013 that only Morsi’s restoration to power would stop terrorism in the Sinai, and Sinai-based militants and the MB have been crowing the same tune about how violence is a justified reaction to the military government. Furthermore, the MB, far from condemning violence, has actively called for violent resistance against the military regime and has also instigated violence against Christians with the most odious sectarian rhetoric on its Arabic outlets (from blaming Sawiris’ militias or Pope Tawadros for the attacks on MB protestors to claiming that the Coptic Church runs the military regime). This is an organization that responded to a police attack by burning and looting dozens of defenseless and innocent Christian churches, schools, and orphanages around the country!! Maybe you should try reading Brotherhood rhetoric in Arabic instead of getting all your information from a few well-groomed, Anglophonic Brotherhood members? The Brotherhood is not just a terrorist organization — it is the mother of all terrorist organizations — and the military is right to seek its end. In government, it was not merely disastrously incompetent, but also fully committed to cementing its grip on power, undermining democracy (Morsi granted himself unchecked, supraconstitutional powers in November, the Islamist constitution was rammed through in an overnight session called without liberal committee members, no parliamentary elections were ever even scheduled during Morsi’s rule, critics were frequently prosecuted). You are a deluded apologist for this organization that nearly destroyed Egypt (and is now trying to finish the job with its violent demonstrations and refusal to reconcile) and you really are not qualified at all to be writing about the country.
[Reader comment by whatevernext on 8 January 2014.]
Oborne says “Everything seemed possible back then” — maybe so but many Telegraph readers realised what was probable was the resurgence of muslim extremism with the subjugation of women, harbouring of terrorists who would eventually threaten Europe, etc. Let’s be grateful the majority of Egyptians appear to have rejected this path and been supported by the army, unlike sadly in Libya where Camoron and his fellow loons have ****** it up well and truly. What’s your agenda Oborne or are you totally deluded?
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Emile Tyan (1901-1977) studied law at St. Joseph University in Beirut, and received a doctorate in 1926 from the Faculty of Law at Lyon for a treatise on Islamic law. He became a professor of law in Beirut, and a politician, serving as a Lebanese minister of justice. Tyan was a major scholar of the Caliphate system noted, for his monumental works Le califat en regime sultanien (1956), and Sultanat et califat (1956). He also wrote a pellucid, remarkably compendious and unapologetic analysis of jihad for the venerable Encyclopaedia of Islam.
Tyan on the establishment of Islam’s totalitarian Caliphate system by jihad, and the nature of the uniquely Islamic institution of jihad, itself:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Bergen: Al Qaeda Controls More Territory Than Ever in Middle East
From around Aleppo in western Syria to small areas of Falluja in central Iraq, al Qaeda now controls territory that stretches more than 400 miles across the heart of the Middle East, according to English and Arab language news accounts as well as accounts on jihadist websites.
Indeed, al Qaeda appears to control more territory in the Arab world than it has done at any time in its history.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar, The Muslim Brotherhood and Inevitable Failure
The summoning the Qatari ambassador to Egypt has important connotations whether for Egypt, Qatar or the Muslim Brotherhood
Anyone who wants to know the magnitude of transformation in Arab-Arab relations after upheavals and revolutions should consider how the Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned Qatar’s ambassador in Cairo to register its fervent rejection of any interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs. The move is unusual in inter-Arab relations, so when it happens it is a significant.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report 2013: Christian Persecution Driven by Islamic Extremism
Islamic extremism was one of the major driving forces behind Christian persecution in 2013, according to a new report. The World Watch List (WWL), an annual report published by Christian human rights group Open Doors, ranks the top 50 countries where Christian persecution is the worst in order from “sparse persecution” to “extreme persecution.”
Of the 14 countries labeled as “extreme persecution,” 11 of them are countries with a predominantly Muslim population, including several Middle Eastern countries such as Syria at number 3, Iraq at number 4, Saudi Arabia at number 6 and Iran at number 9. However, North Korea was the worst offender at number 1…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Suicide Bombing Kills at Least 21 at Iraq Army Recruitment Center
Violence continued in Iraq on Thursday as a suicide bomber attacked a military recruiting center in Baghdad, killing at least 21 people.
Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Adam Schreck of The Associated Press reported that the attack “likely meant to send a message to the government and would-be army volunteers over the Iraqi troops’ ongoing push to retake two cities overrun by al-Qaida militants.”
The suicide bombing followed an attack Wednesday night in the Diyala Province, where gunmen killed 12 soldiers at an army barracks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Rebels Capture ISIS Headquarters in Aleppo
Islamist rebels have captured the headquarters of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not clear what had happened to the jihadists who had been at the hospital in the Qadi Askar district. Inside, the rebels found dozens of prisoners and the bodies of several men who appeared to have been executed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Moderate Extremists and Extreme Extremists at Decapitating Daggers Drawn
New front in Syria’s multiplying war
By James Reynolds BBC News, Turkey-Syria border
Aleppo and other northern towns and cities have seen heavy rebel infighting in recent days…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Opposition Holds First ‘Unified’ Meeting
Disparate Syrian opposition groups, including several Islamist rebel representatives, met for the first time in the Spanish city of Cordoba to seek common ground ahead of peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad’s government later this month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Opposition Holds Unity Talks in Spain
Supporters of the Syrian opposition kicked off two days of talks in Spain on Thursday to try to narrow their differences ahead of a planned peace conference, the Spanish government said.
The talks in the southern city of Cordoba brought together “relevant voices of the opposition” against the civil war-torn country’s President Bashar al-Assad, the Spanish foreign ministry said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Graft Probe: 16 Police Chiefs Dismissed Overnight
Erdogan government’s massive purge continues
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — The massive purge of Turkey’s police department has reached the highest echelons as police chiefs of 15 provinces across Turkey, including Ankara and Izmir, and the deputy head of the national police department were dismissed overnight by the Interior Ministry as daily Hurriyet online reports today.
The dismissal of the Ankara police chief, Kadir Ay, comes only a day after 350 officers working in key operational units were relocated in one sweep. The head of the Izmir forces, Ali Bilkay, has also been relocated. Fresh graft raids were conducted in Izmir yesterday as part of fraud investigations launched by the city’s prosecutor, leading to the detention of senior officials at the harbor operated by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD).
Along with the dismissal of former Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin a few days after the graft probe raids started on December 17, the latest wave of purges means that the police chiefs of Turkey’s three biggest cities have now been replaced.
Police chiefs have also been removed in the provinces of Adana, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kocaeli, Malatya, Mersin, Sakarya, Samsun, and Trabzon. All are among the most populous and economically more significant provinces of the country. Police Department Deputy Head Muammer Bucak has also been replaced. The latest raids and subsequent police purges come as the government is engulfed in a vast scandal, with the sons of two ex-ministers and the chief executive of state-owned Halkbank still being held in custody.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Government Moves for More Control on Judiciary
The draft law to be discussed tomorrow
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — The ongoing battle between the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Islamic Hizmet movement of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen is continuing within the judicial theater as the government has submitted a draft law to increase its control over justice at the cost of EU ire. As daily Hurriyet reports today, the move to reshape the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) came only three years after the AKP government reformed the body in line with the EU’s advice. Signed by AKP lawmakers, the draft law proposes amendments to the structure of the 22-member HSYK, the key judicial body responsible for appointments and other personnel-related issues in the judiciary. It restructures three chambers of the HSYK, while making the justice minister the sole authority able to appoint a new board and set the council’s agenda. Likewise, it also resets criteria for being selected as a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Justice Academy as part of a government attempt to wrest full control over key judicial bodies. The government-initiated draft law will be discussed at a parliamentary subcommission tomorrow before being sent to the General Assembly. Responding to criticisms that the draft law violated the constitutional principle of judicial independence, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag argued the bill was in line with Article 159 of the Constitution that underlines the structure and duties of the HSYK. But the government’s draft drew strong reactions from opposition parties, EU officials and judicial bodies, which all criticized the move as a step to curb judicial independence. Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, said the proposals to curb the HSYK’s powers represented a serious setback for the independence of the judiciary in Turkey via Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Erdogan Cracks Down on Gulen Movement
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has accused leaders of the Gulen movement of plotting against him. As Erdogan tries to crack down on the alleged conspiracy, he teams up with his former foes in the military.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Failures in Iraq Seeded Al Qaeda Resurgence
The resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq was triggered by the government’s repression of Sunni opposition. But America’s speedy withdrawal and subsequent diplomatic failures helped feed the sectarian tension, say critics.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Women in Saudi Arabia Are Caught in a System of Gender Apartheid
No professional or vocational training, no visits to the doctor, no lawsuits without male approval: Yemeni-Swiss political scientist Elham Manea bemoans the plight of women in Saudi Arabia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Launches Counterterror Probe After Bodies, Explosives Found Near Sochi
Russian authorities are on high alert after six bodies and three explosive devices were found in and around abandoned cars near the site of next month’s Winter Olympics. Security forces have been deployed in a counterterror operation 186 miles east of Sochi in the Stavropol region, where the bodies and explosives were found Wednesday, according to the BBC.
Two of the three men being sought by police are suspected members of an Islamist militant group and are on a Russian federal wanted list for the murder of a hunter, the BBC reported, citing local media.
Investigators say the six victims appeared to have been shot to death and placed in four cars on the outskirts of the city of Pyatigorsk.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Police Hunt for Islamic Militants Weeks Before Sochi
A little under a month before the Sochi Winter Olympics begin, Russia has put its security officials on combat alert while police are hunting suspected Islamist militants after five people were found shot dead in cars, the the southern region of Stavropol. Two of the four vehicles in which the victims were found were booby-trapped. When police approached them, one mechanism exploded and another was deactivated by the police.
Russian police sources have named three suspects, two of which are allegedly Islamic militants, from the region of Kabardino Balkaria, also wanted for a murder committed in October 2013.
At the end of December, suicide bombers killed 34 people in two separate attack in Volvograd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Securing Sochi: Russia’s Elite Counter-Terrorism Fighters
As Russia reels from last week’s terror attack in Volgograd, President Putin is going to great lengths to make sure the Winter Olympics in Sochi remain secure. The elite Spetsnaz fighters are charged with holding off Islamist separatists from the volatile Caucasus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Security at All Costs in Sochi
With the Winter Olympics only a month away, security measures in the Black Sea resort of Sochi are being tightened while criticism of the security clampdown has waned following bomb attacks in Volgograd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Six Deaths, Car Blast Prompt Security Sweep Ahead of Games in Sochi
By Laura Smith-Spark and Nic Robertson
Moscow (CNN) — Russian authorities are investigating six suspicious deaths and at least one car explosion this week about 300 miles from the site of next month’s Winter Olympics, they said Thursday.
The deaths in southern Russia’s Stavropol territory, which borders the province where the Olympics will be held in Sochi, have prompted security forces to conduct an anti-terrorism sweep there, state-run RIA Novosti news agency said. It’s one of the latest moves to address security concerns before the games.
The bodies of three men and explosive material were found Thursday in a vehicle in Maryinskaya in Stavropol province, Russia’s Investigative Committee said on its website.
A day earlier, a vehicle containing a body exploded in Tambukan, in the same province, as police approached it, and two other bodies were found in other vehicles in Zolskaya Wednesday, the Investigative Committee said.
The latest alert comes amid heightened concern about security following twin bombings on public transit in the southern city of Volgograd at the end of last month.
No group has claimed responsibility for those attacks, but suspicion has fallen on Chechen separatist groups.
Three people also died last month in a car bombing in the city of Pyatigorsk, in Stavropol territory.
A special exclusion zone went into force in Sochi on Tuesday, under which access to the Black Sea resort town is heavily restricted.
About 400 Cossacks arrived Thursday in Sochi, where they will be deployed to assist the police during the games and provide security for visiting athletes and tourists, RIA Novosti said.
They will accompany police patrols in full traditional uniform, including fur hats and swords, the news agency said, in a move that carries echoes of Tsarist Russia. The Cossacks are known for their military prowess…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan Releasing 72 Prisoners Considered Security Threat by US
A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the country is going to release all but 16 of 88 prisoners considered a security threat by the United States.
In a statement Thursday, Karzai says that a review of the prisoners’ cases by Afghan intelligence and judicial officials turned up no evidence of wrongdoing for 45 of the detainees. Karzai says there was insufficient evidence on another 27 and that they must be released.
The statement gave no details on when the release will take place.
The U.S. is strongly opposed to their release because it says the prisoners have been involved in the wounding or killing of U.S. and coalition troops, Reuters reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Aitzaz Hasan: Tributes to Pakistan Teenager Killed When He Stopped a Bomber
Tributes have been pouring in for a Pakistani teenager who was killed on Monday when he tackled a suicide bomber targeting his school in the Hangu area. Aitzaz Hasan, 15, was with friends outside school when they spotted a man wearing a suicide vest. Despite the pleas of his fellow students, he decided to confront and capture the bomber who then detonated his vest, his cousin told the BBC.
Aitzaz is being hailed as a hero in an outpouring of praise on social media.
The incident took place on Monday in Ibrahimzai, a Shia-dominated region of Hangu, in north-western Pakistan. There were almost 2,000 students in attendance at the time of the attack, media reports say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gates: Obama ‘Lost Faith’ In Afghanistan Policy
WASHINGTON — A new book by former U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates harshly criticizes President Obama’s Afghanistan war policy, saying the president “eventually lost faith in the troop increase he ordered,” and that Obama was “skeptical, if not outright convinced it would fail.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India Congress Party Worker Builds Sonia Gandhi Temple
A temple with an idol of Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s ruling Congress party, is being built by a supporter in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. P Shankar Rao, a former minister, said the shrine with a 9ft (2.7m) idol of Ms Gandhi was his tribute to his leader.
The 67-year-old Italian-born Mrs Gandhi is one of the country’s most powerful politicians. She belongs to the influential Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, three of whose members have been Indian prime ministers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Teen Dies Stopping Suicide Bomber at School in Pakistan
(CNN) — A 14-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero in Pakistan for tackling a suicide bomber — dying at the main gate of his school and saving schoolmates gathered for their morning assembly.
Ninth-grader Aitazaz Hassan Bangash was on his way to the Ibrahimzai School on Monday in the Hangu district of northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the bomber, dressed in a school uniform, asked him where the school was, the teen’s cousin told CNN.
Hangu is a troubled district bordering Pakistan’s tribal areas. It is rife with sectarian violence, with attacks against Shia and Sunni Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
West Loses Out in Battle for ‘Hearts and Minds’
A new survey carried out in Afghanistan suggests NATO troops have a harder time winning over civilians than Taliban fighters. With withdrawal imminent, what lessons can the West learn from military intervention?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It was recently unveiled that U.S. Navy sailors aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan during the time of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster suffered severe radiation poisoning after being left out to sea for months without aid. And new reports indicate that the cause of this nightmarish situation for these unfortunate sailors — radioactive steam from the melted reactor cores at Fukushima — is still billowing from the stricken plant some three years later.
Navy sailor Lindsay Cooper, 24, recently shared the horrific events of that time with the New York Post (NYPost), which just before Christmas broke the story publicly. It was a brisk day in March, just days after Fukushima was stricken by a tsunami that resulted in three of its six reactor cores literally melting into the earth, when Cooper and her colleagues got their first taste of what happens as a result of radiation exposure.
“I was standing on the flight deck, and we felt this warm gust of air, and, suddenly, it was snowing,” recalled Cooper to the NYPost, explaining how at the time nobody knew what to make of the situation. “We joked about it: ‘Hey, it’s radioactive snow!’ I took pictures and video.”
But the jokes quickly stopped after Navy crew members quickly began to fall ill. As it turns out, the ship had been drifting in radioactive water for several days prior to being engulfed in what would later be identified as a cloud of radioactive steam from Fukushima. According to reports, the ship’s desalinization system had been quietly dispensing radioactive water through the faucets and showers, exposing everyone on board to what would soon become a type of hell on Earth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brand Expansion: China’s Race to Conquer World Markets
Chinese firms have embarked on a quest to conquer the world market. Several have already done so, with the help of Western know-how. Established rivals are making the mistake of underestimating them — until it’s too late.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Brand Expert Interview: ‘The Chinese Have the Necessary Vision’
Twenty years ago, China exported six cars. Last year it exported a million. Marketing expert Nirmalya Kumar speaks to SPIEGEL about the impending global ascent of brands from emerging economies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Demonizing WW2 Japan is Hypocritical
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 30-minute visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, Dec. 26 sparked widespread denunciations, including an admonition from the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. The visit, it was alleged, means Japan is reviving “militarism,” especially since, among the millions of souls the shrine honors, are those of a handful of “war criminals” like Hideki Tojo, Japan’s prime minister during much of World War II.
Perhaps it is time to dismantle misrepresentations of World War II Japan.
- As documented here, President Franklin D. Roosevelt not only provoked Japan to war through economic strangulation, but had full foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack via decoded intercepts and personal warnings — information he denied to our military commanders in Hawaii, whom he thereafter scapegoated for the attack.
- To get a feel for how Americans were being propagandized, watch on YouTube Our Enemy: the Japanese, in which narrator Joseph Grew (CFR) told the public the Japanese believe it is the “the right and duty of Japan’s emperors to rule the whole world … to destroy all peoples and nations which stand in the way of its fulfillment …. Their actual dream is to see Tokyo established as the capital of the world …world conquest is their national obsession.” Grew forgot to mention that Japan was a closed ISOLATIONIST country until Commodore Perry compelled them to sign a trade agreement under threat of naval bombardment.
- World War II depictions of Japan condemned “fascist aggression” while tolerating COMMUNIST aggression. For example, when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Yet when the Soviet Union invaded Poland that same month, the West … yawned. Indeed, when the war ended in 1945, Poland — whose national sovereignty was the alleged issue over which the horrific war began — lost her sovereignty anyway, to a Stalinist regime held in power by Soviet tanks, but the Allies’ media looked away.
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Fukushima Madness: Plant Decontamination System Shuts Down Amid Failure
A malfunction within the Fukushima plant has led to the complete shutdown of the plant’s decontamination system.
As the Fukushima nightmare continues under the wing of plant operator TEPCO, the blatant incompetence of the highly deceptive corporation is once again apparent following a complete shutdown of the plant’s decontamination system. The very same system responsible for handling the mass amounts of radioactive water around Fukushima that TEPCO originally promised would be entirely decontaminated by the end of 2014.
And instead of fulfilling their promise to decontaminate the plant’s radioactive water by the end of 2014, TEPCO now insists that it needs another entire year to finish the job — and this system shutdown certainly will not help in reducing that time. According to media sources and official TEPCO statements, the failure of the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) may ‘take a long time to restart’. What’s worse, however, is that this is not the first time the system has been shutdown due to failure.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Plans to Take Over Management of 280 Remote Islands
Japan is seeking to nationalize 280 remote islands in a move aimed at strengthening the country’s territorial boundaries. Japanese government officials say nationalizing the islands is intended to clarify the government’s protection of its territories and reinforce its management of marine resources and national security, The Japan News reported.
The move may heighten already strained tensions between Tokyo, China and South Korea, who are currently engaged in territorial disputes over ownership of unclaimed islands in the East China Sea, Reuters reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Agency Admits it Began Stockpiling Potassium Iodide Due to Fukushima
A federal bid notice reveals that a Pentagon agency began stockpiling potassium iodide in 2012 due to its concerns over the Fukushima nuclear crisis, shedding light on why the Dept. of Health and Human Services is now ordering 14 million doses of iodide.
The Defense Logistics Agency posted a solicitation on FedBizOpps in 2012 asking contractors for 75,000 packages of potassium iodide tablets because the “recent earthquake in Japan in March of 2011 and the resultant nuclear crisis has renewed interest in this item.”
“The U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency has submitted a MILSTRIP (Military Standard Requisitioning and Issue Procedures) for this item to ensure that critical operational forces are protected in the event of nuclear fallout,” the solicitation added.
Potassium iodide keeps radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland and therefore it is commonly taken in the event of a severe nuclear emergency, such as the current Fukushima crisis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The family of a 15-year-old Australian girl is seeking answers after their daughter developed a severe sleeping disorder following vaccination with Pandemrix, the infamous “swine flu” shot pushed during the 2009 “pandemic.” Australia’s News.com.au reports that Chloe Glasson now falls asleep suddenly and without warning as many as 30 times a day, regardless of what she is doing, the result of a narcoleptic condition that emerged almost immediately after she was jabbed.
One of at least 100 people to develop narcolepsy following vaccination with Pandemrix, young Chloe recently disappeared for several hours while on a short walk to her grandmother’s house. She reportedly went into a state of “dreamlike autopilot,” during which time she wandered around aimlessly before eventually arriving home safely. But this was not before her frightened parents contacted authorities about their missing child…
Data released by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) not long after the widespread distribution of Pandemrix, however, reveals the number of affected children to be far higher. As we reported earlier this year, an EMA report found that at least 800 children developed narcolepsy following vaccination with Pandemrix.
Similarly, data compiled by the Helsinki Sleep Clinic in Finland revealed that Pandemrix was associated with an astounding 1,700 percent increase in narcolepsy among children and teenagers under the age of 17. At 5.3 children per 100,000 affected by the vaccine, based on the figures, potentially thousands of children across Europe now have sleeping disorders as a result of being jabbed with Pandemrix…
As for Chloe and the hundreds of other children damaged by Pandemrix, the fact that narcolepsy is a nerve damage-related disease further illustrates the neurotoxic effects of vaccines — effects that, despite being denied by health authorities as even existing, are very real to those who end up suffering from them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Kill Three, Wound 12 in North Nigeria Mosque Attack
(Reuters) — Gunmen opened fire on worshippers at a mosque near northern Nigeria’s main city of Kano, killing three of them and wounding 12 as they prayed, witnesses and police said on Wednesday.
Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram is active in Kano, Nigeria’s second biggest city and relic of a medieval Islamic empire that thrived for centuries on trade routes crossing the Sahara to the Mediterranean coast…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Women Aim to End ‘Rampant’ Sex-for-Fish Trade
Women in Kenya are trying to end the practice of female traders having sex with local fishermen in order to secure a regular supply of fish, it’s been reported.
Sex-for-fish, known locally as “jaboya”, has been blamed for spreading HIV/Aids in western Kenya’s Lake Victoria region, but women’s groups have launched a campaign which aims to stamp it out, The Star newspaper reports…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Logistical Problems Mar Start of Single Visa Zone in East Africa
Three East African countries have a vision. Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda want to introduce a single visa, issued by and valid for all three countries. Tanzania and Burundi are reluctant to join, citing security concerns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Military: 38 Islamic Extremists Killed in Repelled Attack on Northeast Nigerian Village
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Nigeria’s military says it killed 38 suspected Islamic militants and lost a soldier when troops repulsed an attack on a northeastern farming village. Spokesman Col. Muhammed Dole said soldiers informed of the insurgents’ plan “to cause havoc and mayhem” were able to repel the attackers and inflict heavy casualties when extremists arrived at Damboa village in Borno state around 1 a.m. Thursday.
Dole made no mention of civilians who have suffered the biggest casualties in a 4-year-old Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria, where the government has imposed a state of emergency since May.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigerian Mosque Attacked in Kano Village of Kwankwaso
Gunmen have attacked a mosque in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, killing three worshippers and wounding 12 others, police say.
The attackers sprayed bullets into the mosque in the home village of Kano governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pregnant Girls Freed in Latest Nigeria ‘Baby Factory’ Raid
Nigeria’s police said Friday they had raided a home where 19 pregnant women were staying with plans to sell their newborns, in the latest discovery of a so-called baby factory. The owner of the property, suspected of being a broker in a child trafficking ring, is on the run, said Geoffrey Ogbonna, police spokesman in southeastern Abia state.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Parliament Elects Dr. Abdiweli Gaas as New Puntland President
The parliament in Somalia’s Puntland government has elected former Somali Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali (Gaas) as the new president of Puntland State of Somalia, Garowe Online reports. The 66-member Parliament opened at 9.30am local time with Speaker Said Hassan Shire opening the session and praying for a peaceful election.
Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali (Gaas), President-elect of Puntland State of Somalia
MP Saadiq Abshir Garaad, chairman of election committee, told the session about the voting procedure and warned MPs not to intermingle with anyone, adding: “All lobbying time is done. It is now voting time”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
South African President Zuma Reveals He Used to Practice Witchcraft Against White People
South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma has told how he used to practise witchcraft against white people. Speaking in his native Zulu language at a pre-election rally in the country’s rural north, he told a crowd of his voodoo past. ‘I used to practise witchcraft around here, bewitching the Boers during apartheid’, Zuma reportedly said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fidel Castro Has First Public Appearance in 9 Months
Former President Fidel Castro made his first public appearance in nine months, attending the opening of an art studio in the Cuban capital.
Castro, 87, led Cuba for 48 years before falling gravely ill in July 2006 and handing over power to his brother Raul, who formally became president in January 2008.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
16 House Republicans to Obama: Amnesty ‘Final Economic Blow’ For American Workers
Sixteen House Republicans led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) are demanding President Barack Obama get unemployed Americans back to work before granting amnesty to illegal aliens or bringing unprecedented levels of new immigrants to take jobs away from American workers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
African Migrants Protest in Jerusalem
Thousands of African migrants in Israel who demand recognition as refugees have converged on parliament in Jerusalem. Israel’s conservative government says a recently built fence will stop “illegal infiltrations.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chamber of Commerce Declares 2014 the ‘Year of Immigration Reform’
Thomas Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, declared 2014 the “year of immigration reform,” Wednesday, during his annual state of American business address.
“We’re determined to make 2014 the year that immigration reform is finally enacted,” Donohue said. “The chamber will pull out all the stops—through grassroots lobbying, communications, politics and partnerships with our friends in the union, and faith-based organizations, and law enforcement groups, and others to get this job done.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chamber of Commerce President Wants Tea Party to ‘Feel Some Heat’
On Wednesday, Tom Donohue, the President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, vowed to make the Tea Party “feel some heat” in 2014 in order to get amnesty legislation passed.
In his “State of American Business” address, Donohue, without directly naming it, said that the Tea Party would face a “significant response” from the Chamber in 2014. He said “early involvement in the primaries is all about where we are going” and emphasized the group will try to make an impact “right from the beginning” in at least ten primary contests.
As Breitbart News reported, the Chamber is planning to spend at least $50 million to crush the Tea Party, largely because of the movement’s opposition to amnesty legislation , which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of American workers and which the Chamber has been coveting.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: ‘Disastrous Impression’: Cities Say Immigration Debate Overheated
The Association of German cities this week played down depictions that an influx of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria is causing major problems for the country. The group’s president says troubles are concentrated in a handfull of cities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Foreign Drug Dealer Wins Human Rights Case
A Jamaican man who commuted to London every day to sell crack on a council estate has used human rights laws to stop a deportation order
A Jamaican crack dealer who was jailed and banned from an entire London borough because of his crimes has used human rights laws to overturn a Home Office bid to deport him. Keno Forbes, 35, who operated under the street name “Blood”, was convicted of 11 counts of supplying Class A drugs on a housing estate in Islington, north London, in 2011.
The judges’ decision means Forbes will be able to stay in this country indefinitely.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Thousands Protest Plans to Teach Gay Sex Ed
More than 65,000 parents and teachers in southern Germany have signed an online petition against plans to teach children about homosexuality in school.
The petition, which by Thursday had collected over 65,700 signatures, wants to lobby parliament to sink plans in the state of Baden-Württemberg to make teachers talk to pupils more frankly about homosexuality.
The initiative, by Baden-Württemberg’s ruling regional Green/SPD coalition, wants to include the aim “acceptance of sexual diversity” in the curriculum so that children are told about different lifestyles and relationships at a young age.
But it has met strong resistance from teachers and parents. Supporters say the curriculum change will promote tolerance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and intersexual people. Critics say it would “go beyond the aim of preventing discrimination” to actively promote “the ideology of the rainbow”.
According to the petition, which was launched by a teacher, the plans would see an “educational, moral and ideological re-education of the general school system.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Revolt in Rajoy’s Ranks Over Harsh Anti-Abortion Bill
PP congressional deputy speaker dissents, calls for secret vote
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID- The rift within the ruling conservative Popular Party (PP) over its controversial proposed abortion law reform greatly restricting the right to terminate pregnancy grew on Wednesday after a key figure in the group called for a free vote on the issue in Parliament.
“I represent many who dissent with the proposed reform”, Congressional Deputy Speaker Celia Villalobos, a liberal PP member who has voted in favor of same-sex marriage in the past, told the party’s national executive committee before calling for voting secrecy.
The bill by Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, which has been dubbed the ‘rights of the unborn and of pregnant women law’, would vacate legislation passed under the previous Socialist administration and return to 1985 legislation criminalizing abortion except in cases of threat to the mother’s life, as certified by three doctors, and rape.
The bill would also ban abortion in cases of severe fetal malformations, except when the malformation is “incompatible with life”, and force underage girls to obtain parental consent. Doctors who perform abortions anyway would be prosecuted, and women illegally terminating unwanted pregnancies would be fined.
A 2011 electoral promise made in an effort to win ultraconservative voters, the bill could easily pass in Parliament, where the conservative Mariano Rajoy administration holds an absolute majority. However, it not only sparked an outcry throughout Europe as well as from the Spanish opposition, doctors, and women’s rights organizations, but has also thrown the PP ranks into disarray.
The governors of Castilla y Leon, Estremadura, Galicia, and La Rioja reportedly all declared their opposition to the bill at today’s PP executive meeting, calling for further debate or even for a postponement until the Constitutional Court rules on a PP suit brought under the previous Zapatero government. “The debate has been fruitful”, PP Secretary-General Maria Dolores de Cospedal told reporters after the meeting. A secret vote on the bill, however, is “out of the question”, she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Do you tackle problems with colleagues, partners, and customers head-on? If so, chances are you’re from Western Europe or North America and, our research suggests, vulnerable to blind spots when working with people from other parts of the world. And if you’re from an East Asian culture, the subtle cues you rely on to signal your disagreement may be sailing right past Westerners.
In much of the West, it is considered maddeningly inefficient to talk around an issue, whereas East Asians tend to view direct confrontation as immature and unnecessary. That difference amounts to a frustrating cultural divide in how people solve problems at work.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea, Egypt, Syria, Among Worst Christian Persecutors
According to annual report by Portes Ouvertes NGO
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — Persecutions against Christians increased in 2013, with spikes in Africa and in Arab Spring countries, according to the Worldwide Index on Persecution released Wednesday by Portes Ouvertes (Open Doors), an evangelical Protestant NGO. The annual index ranks the world’s 50 most repressive countries towards Christians. North Korea tops the list, the sole country deserving the qualification of “total persecution”. It is followed by Somalia and Syria, where civil wars have given free rein to Islamic militias. The situation in the latter has deteriorated greatly, according to Portes Ouvertes.
“Christians have become extremely vulnerable due to the civil war and to the growing influence of jihadists among the opposition forces, and are subjected to pressures linked to their religious faith in every aspect of their lives”. Syria is first in the world in terms of Christians killed (1,213, followed by Nigeria with half that amount), fourth in terms of violent episodes of persecution (83), and third in terms of churches destroyed (78). The Syrian civil war is also “destabilizing neighboring countries, such as Iraq and Jordan”, and causing “the situation throughout the Middle East to become ever more polarized, with an ever more radicalized Islam”.
Another country of concern is Egypt, which has been in a constant state of upheaval since the 2011 ousting of former dictator Hosni Mubarak. In 2013, the land of pyramids was first in the world in terms of violent acts of persecution (167) and destruction or closure of churches (492). The situation on the ground is worse than it appears in the data, because of the way it is compiled: “The August 2013 attack on dozens of Christian churches and shops in Egypt is counted as a single act of persecution”, the NGO explained in its report.
A newcomer to the index is the Central African Republic, which ranked 16th due to the “terrible violence” unleashed after an alliance of mostly Muslim rebels seized power in the predominantly Christian country in a March 2013 coup. “As in Mali last year, the Central African Republic shows how a relatively stable country can rapidly slide into chaos, and how a Christian population can suddenly find itself facing violence on a genocidal scale”, the NGO wrote.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Re: Possible banning of cinnamon rolls in Denmark.
The EU had better not mess with McDonalds’ apple pie. With the possible exception of their breakfast menu (Egg McMuffin, hash browns) it’s the best thing they do.
(Always happy to address the serious issues!)
It was refresshing to see that someone else condemns the hypocrisy of the western so-called democracies in going to war with Germany for invading Poland but accepting the Soviet invasion. During the period between the occupation of Poland and the German pre-emptive attack on the Soviet Union, the death rate in the Soviet area was SIX times that in the German area.
A funny old world innit?
WW2 was a direct result of communist infiltration in to France and the UK, there were large protest marches organised by the UK communist party supporting Hitler causing Chaimberlain to bow to public pressure and accept appeasement (source, Churchills war diaries) and the French army was fullof communists and thats why large sections cut and ran, DeGauls brigade nearly cut off the german advance! also the communists had nationalised the french aircraft industry and rendered the most advanced plan manufacturers dispersed and useless, the whole thing is a can of worms, had Churchill been elected in 1945 he would have fought the russians before he let them have half of europe!
The Communists got orders from Stalin to stand down and stop opposing Hitler once the Non aggression pact between Germany and the USSR was signed.
The French had a communist president called Leon Blum who was himself antiHitler.
The reality with France is that they fought quite well. They sustained 400,000 dead during the German invasion.
I do think that they were ambivalent about resisting a nationalistic Germany, especially the righting nationalists. The Communists in their ranks, by all accounts were hardline resistors (according to General Edward Spears’s memoir). Conservative Generals were actually the least likely to resist. Weygand, Petain…They saw German occupation as a way to finally get rid of Communists in France.
You should check your sources.
Concurr, the most successful resistance groups were the communists and they almost took over the running of France in 1945.
Lena
http://theutteredword.blogspot.fr
This is a bit hard on the French. The Luftwaffe lost over 1,100 aircraft in combat in May- June 1940, and much as I’d like to take credit on behalf of the RAF, several hundred were down to the French, leaving fewer for the Battle of Britain a few weeks later.
Hijab Day, inviting all women — in the faith or not — to join with them by wearing head covering for a day
Ok I’ll join in if I can wear something that identifies me as being Christian.