The European Commission reports that its investigations have revealed that corruption costs the EU at least €120 billion a year. European officials are shocked — shocked! — to discover such an enormous amount of corruption. The EC reports that Italy alone is responsible for half that annual amount.
In other news, according to a recent survey, 87% of women in Bangladesh say they have been abused by their husbands.
Meanwhile, 120 Salafist prisoners in a Jordanian prison are on a hunger strike to protest the conditions under which they are being held. Their leader says that if they don’t get any redress, they will “escalate” the situation within the next few days.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Michael Laudahn, RR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
2014: High Noon and the Rise and Fall of America
America is in a rapid state of decline and that decline is not due to one political party or another. Nor is it due to any one President or administration. The decline of America has been coming like a railroad train traveling down its track for over a century, blowing its whistle loudly to announce its arrival at the station. Like in the old black and white Western movie classic High Noon, a train full of outlaws is coming down the track to a town called America. However, unlike the movie, there appears to be no hero or heroes to protect the town.
2014 could be the most important year in our nation’s history because there is both a convergence and acceleration of forces that could change America and the world as we know it forever. First, there is the very real prospect of a major economic crisis. The initial acceleration of this crisis began with the Republican administration of George Bush, Sr. where self-proclaimed conservatives like Newt Gingrich launched economic policies like the World Trade Organization (WTO), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and GATT. These economic policies allowed for American corporations to begin outsourcing American jobs, manufacturing, and businesses to Mexico, China, and other nations. With the loss of manufacturing jobs like the auto industry, building appliances, and retail manufacturing countless high-paying union jobs were moved out of the U.S. The result is that today Detroit looks like something from the movie Robocop because all the high paying unionized auto manufacturing jobs left the country, causing massive unemployment. High paying manufacturing jobs in almost every sector have been sent overseas, and despite all the empty rhetoric about training people for new jobs, the only jobs available are minimum wage and part time.
It was the Republicans and not the Democrats who gutted American middle class jobs through things like Newt Gingrich’s adoption of author Alvin Toffler’s “Third Way” economics, which is clever term for the synthesis of Capitalism and Communism. China may soon become the world’s most powerful economy, and this did not happen by accident.
“NAFTA is a major stepping stone to the New World Order.” Henry Kissinger, 1993
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nervous financial markets, ineffectual interest rate increases, emerging market currencies under massive pressure: All because the US Federal Reserve reversed its monetary policy — or is that really the explanation?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Adjust to the New Normal
The sequester is dead, long live the semiquester. Now that the US 2014 budget deal is law, a pattern has emerged, one that will probably be the new normal regardless of the party in power, writes Garett Jones.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Crisis-Hit Italians Survive on Out of Date Food
Italians may be well-known for their healthy diet, but more are eating food well past its use-by date as the effects of the financial crisis continue to bite, according to new figures from Coldiretti, the Italian farmers association.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Think-Tank: More People Live in Poverty
Think-tank Kraka concerned with rise in the number of people living below national poverty line
Fewer Danes can afford a hot dinner on the table each evening, according to the latest analysis by think-tank Kraka. The analysis showed a doubling of people living under the national poverty line over the course of nine years. According to Kraka, the number of poor people went from 23,500 in 2002 to 46,600 in 2011.
Almost every fifth Dane whose income is below the national poverty line lives in the public housing sector and a 75 percent majority of the poor people in that sector are foreigners from non-Western countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Disposable Incomes Down Across Italy
Almost 2% less spending money across the country in 2012
(ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Disposable incomes were down across Italy by as much as 2% in 2012, the national statistics agency reported Monday. According to Istat, those losses in the southern regions amounted to 1.6% on the previous year. In the northeast, disposable incomes were down 1.8%, and in the northwest and center they were down 2%. The national average was down 1.9%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland’s Most-Wanted Bankers Go on Trial
Six years after Ireland’s financial crash, three former executives at the collapsed Anglo Irish Bank are due in the dock on February 5. The trial is the result of the first of many probes into the events that brought the Irish economy to its knees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jack Lew: US Could Default on Debt by ‘End of Month’
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned the US may default on its debt by the end of the month if Congress does not raise its borrowing limit. Mr Lew said he could rely on emergency measures to pay US debts after the limit is reinstated on 7 February. But he anticipated the treasury’s reserves would quickly be exhausted as it issues annual income tax refunds.
Congress suspended the debt limit in October as part of a deal to reopen the federal government after a shutdown. The $16.7tn (£10.2tn) cap will be reinstated on Friday.
“Without borrowing authority, at some point very soon, it would not be possible to meet all of the obligations of the federal government,” Mr Lew said at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington on Monday.
The treasury secretary said the US treasury department could resort to accounting mechanisms to avoid breaching the limit until the end of February. But soon after, the US will only be able to pay its debt and other obligations with cash on hand.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow Unfazed by Ruble Depreciation
The Russian ruble is in free-fall dragged down by a capital outflow in the wake of tighter US monetary policy. But unlike other emerging economies, Moscow fails to stem the capital flight, raising ire among investors.
Russia’s ruble currency has been on a downward slide for weeks, hitting an all-time low to the euro of 48.5 rubles at the end of January. About a month ago, Russians had to pay 45 rubles to acquire the single European currency, while the exchange rate was still 40 rubles to the euro at the beginning of 2013.
The decline by 20 percent over the year in the Russian currency is partly a result of tighter monetary policy in the United States, which has led to an outflow of capital from emerging markets to the US in the hope for higher returns on investment there.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Third Greek Bailout to be Worth €10-20bn
Greece’s third bailout is in the making, with a German finance ministry paper leaked to Der Spiegel putting the price tag at €10-20 billion.
In a separate interview with Wirtschaftswoche magazine out on Monday (3 February), German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also said there will be a new Greek package, but noted it will be “far smaller” than the two previous ones, which totalled €240 billion in loans.
Talk about a third bailout resumed last week at a finance ministers’ meeting, after the troika of international lenders (the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) identified a shortfall of €15 billion in Greece’s funding once the current bailout ends this year.
But, according to the leaked German paper, Athens will have to speed up its reforms, as fewer than half of the agreed measures have been implemented so far.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Another Off-Grider Shutdown: Mountain Man Targeted by Government Officials
After 26 years of living off the land, and teaching scores of people about the American Heritage way of getting back to nature, Eustace Conway, who was featured on featured on The History Channel’s “Mountain Men”, has been forced to close his nature school. Eustace ConwayEustace, who purchased a large amount of land outside Boone, N.C., has been using his land to teach people how to live closer to nature. But now, thanks to government officials who don’t agree with his lifestyle, Eustace is being forced to fight for his way of life, and to keep his school open. Like many of the stories we’ve covered over the last couple of years, Eustace is another in a long string of people who are being “zoned” out of existence. From the heartbreaking story of Andrew Wordes, who took his life after code enforcement teams seized his home, to the Off-Griders in California who are being illegally forced back on to the grid, what’s happening to Eustace seems to be a calculated attack on anyone who dares live a self-sufficient lifestyle.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Black Thugs Beat Up White Hippies
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
In Austin, Texas over the weekend a video was taken of a group of black thugs attacking three basically defenseless white hippies. The attack occurred yards from the Austin Police station. The police, of course, did not intervene. But, as we know from experience, the police are not here to protect us from vicious street thugs. They keep telling us as much.
Following a number of “knockout game” incidents across America — primarily involving gangs of black youths indiscriminately attacking white victims — the Justice Department decided to focus in on a young Houston man who sucker-punched a 79-year-old man.
So far, this is the only case that has caught the attention of the government. And for good reason — it fits the politically correct race-baiting conquer-and-divide agenda of the Obama administration: the attacker was white and the victim black. The Houston man will be charged with a “hate crime” for attacking his black victim.
Meanwhile, in dozens of other incidents where the perpetrators are black and the victims white, the Justice Department under Eric Holder has remained silent. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, two “civl rights” charlatans who have built high-profile and lucrative careers spotlighting violence against blacks while ignoring the same against whites, are also conspicuously silent on the “knockout game” targeting white Americans.
Oprah Winfrey recently said that racism will not disappear until older white Americans die. But what she did not mention is the inescapable fact that racism is alive and well in the minds of many black Americans.
So predominate is this hatred many blacks are convinced other blacks are racist. In a recent Rasmussen poll, 31% think most blacks are racist, while 24% consider most whites racist and 15% view most Hispanics that way. Liberals contested the poll results while a columnist at the Chicago Tribune disagreed with the world “racist” when applied to the black community (he preferred “prejudicial,” a far less politically charged word).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat Chrysler US Sales Up 8%, Best Jan Since 2008
46th straight monthly gain
(ANSA) — New York, February 3 — Chrysler’s December sales in the United States in January were up 8% on the same month in 2013, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) said Monday.
It was the best January since 2008 and the 46th straight monthly gain, FCA said.
The figures came a week after Fiat unveiled FCA after completing its takeover of Chrysler, announcing a Dutch HQ, a UK tax base and upcoming floats in New York and Milan.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A new semiconductor is coming to Silicon Valley. Researchers at IBM’s laboratories announced their newest integrated circuit in a paper published in Nature Communications, and the device is among the first to employ graphene, a single layer of carbon molecules, in place of silicon, the industry favorite.
Although the graphene circuit performed rather modestly—as a proof of concept, scientists used it to send a single text message containing the letters I.B.M.—the researchers suspect that the carbon-based tech may eventually challenge silicon circuits for industry supremacy.
“We were able to make the most sophisticated graphene integrated circuit built so far,” says Supratik Guha, director of physical sciences at IBM. “It rivals the performance of silicon-based circuits.”
Graphene is foremost among the so-called “two-dimensional” nanomaterials. These sheets are only one molecule thick, which allows electrons to travel down the compound with ease. For electronic devices like smartphones, high electron mobility often translates into consumers getting more bang for their buck.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Monsanto’s Roundup: New Deadly Scam Exposed
A study to be published this month indicts Roundup and, in fact, the general class of insecticides and herbicides. On what grounds? When they’re tested for safety, only the so-called “active ingredients” are examined.
The untested ingredients are called “adjuvants,” and they are said to be inert and irrelevant. But the new study concludes this is far from true. The adjuvants are actually there to INCREASE the killing power of the active ingredient in the herbicide or insecticide.
Safety tests don’t take this into account. “Active ingredients” are already toxic, but the adjuvants ramp up their poisonous nature even higher.
And the worst offender is Roundup.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama & Dems Plan to ‘Fast Track’ Job-Killing, Sovereignty-Threatening NWO
The TPP is the first part of a two-ocean globalist plan the Obama administration is working quietly to put into place. The aim is to follow up the passage of the TPP with the finalization of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the European Union. As WND reported, Obama announced in his 2013 State of the Union address the plan to add the trans-Pacific free-trade agreement to the trans-Atlantic agreement already in place. “Fast-track” authority would allow the Obama administration to ram the TPP through Congress with a simple majority vote. The rules would limit debate so that no amendments could be introduced to modify the language of the agreement the Obama administration has negotiated behind closed doors.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Republican House Member Shows Support for Impeaching Obama
Georgia Republican Rep. Paul Broun indicated Saturday he would support impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama, when asked about it at a forum on Saturday.
Broun, who is running for Senate, appeared at a candidate forum hosted by the Gilmer County GOP and Gilmer County Tea Party on Saturday morning. According to a video obtained by The Daily Caller, a woman asked the candidates present whether or not they would support impeachment.
“Clinton was impeached for perjury. Obama has perjured himself on multiple occasions. Would you support impeachment if presented for a vote?” she asked.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Source: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Death Being Treated as an Accident
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s sudden death this weekend is being treated as an accidental overdose, a source close to the investigation tells FOX411. The source said Hoffman injected himself, but it is not believed he committed suicide. A rep for the medical examiner would not confirm the ruling, but said the 46-year-year-old actor’s autopsy is being performed today.
Police sources also tell Fox News they found considerable evidence of drug use in Hoffman’s apartment, including 50 glassines — small plastic bags — some of which were empty, and many of which still contained drugs, used and unused hypodermic needles, and multiple prescription drugs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Students Sign Petition to Have Gun Owners Executed in Concentration Camps (Video)
Californians want to round up, intern and kill Second Amendment advocates
Media analyst Mark Dice has once again documented how many young Americans are completely disconnected from reality, capturing California college students signing a fake petition to imprison all legal gun owners in concentration camps and even to have them executed.
“We just want to make sure we disarm the citizens. We can trust the government to be the only ones with guns.” Dice said to students on campus in San Diego, while they unquestioningly signed the petition to “repeal the Second Amendment.”
“These peasants don’t need guns,” Dice stated, adding “We want to put all registered gun owners in prison,” prompting one student to replay “Yes, it’s too dangerous.” for people to own guns.
“It’s just a simple repeal of the Second Amendment and we’ll be terminating and executing all of the gun owners.” Dice told another signatory who replied “OK, thank you.” and walked off.
“We are going to ban all guns except for the military and police.” Dice told another student, who signed the petition. “We’ll do door to door confiscations, we have lists of all the registered weapons, so the military will just go and take those away from people.” Dice added. “Ok.” the student replied.
Another male student signed the petition even though Dice suggested confiscating gun owners’ weapons and shooting them with them. “If they like their guns so much, let’s just feed the gun owners some of their own lead.” Dice ludicrously said.
“I didn’t think I could get any more ridiculous.” Dice stated after the student thanked him and went about his day.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Government “Threat List” Names 8 Million Americans Who Will be Detained in Martial Law
The government has been compiling a list of names since the 1980s called “Main Core”. It contains the names of people who it considers to be ‘threats’ and would be the victims of having their constitutional rights ‘suspended’ in the event of an emergency or if martial law is declared. They would be the first to be tracked, detained, questioned, and basically targeted for detention due to being labeled a threat of some sort. The criteria for being placed on the list is rather loose, as is the criteria for a “national emergency”, however government sources have said that if you’re on the list that you can plan on being detained should martial law be declared. A senior government official, who’s served with 5 administrations, said that “There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Recover Deleted Files With the NSA Backup!
Ever accidentally delete an e-mail or file? Don’t worry! With the NSA Backup, all your data is just a phone call away, and you don’t even need to give your name because the NSA already knows who you are!
And the best part? You’ve already paid for it!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afrophobic Hate Crimes on the Rise in Sweden
Hate crimes directed against Sweden’s black population have increased in recent years, according to a report published on Monday, prompting grave concern from Sweden’s integration minister.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Almost All Italians Think Corruption is Rife
Almost all Italians believe that corruption is widespread in their country, according to the European Commission’s anti-corruption report released on Monday. While some progress has been made, the EU’s executive body highlighted a number of areas in need of urgent action.
Ninety-seven percent of Italians think that corruption is rife, second only to Greece with 99 percent and well above the European average of 76 percent, the European Commission report found. Bribery and connections are the easiest ways to get certain public services, 88 percent of Italians believe, compared to 73 percent of Europeans.
People in Italy, however, are more optimistic than those in Greece, where 93 percent of the population believe bribery is the easiest way to get what you want, compared to 92 percent in Cyprus and 89 percent in Slovakia and Croatia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Breathtaking’ EU Corruption Costs 120 Bn Euros a Year
Among the other member states, the report named Denmark and Finland as top performers, while in France it said that “corruption-related risks in the public procurement sector and in international business transactions have not been addressed.”
Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, “is amongst the best countries of the EU. However, more can be done,” it said, suggesting it “would benefit from the introduction of strict penalties for corruption of elected officials.”
Picking up on an issue attracting a lot of domestic attention, it also suggested Germany should develop a policy to deal with the “revolving door” phenomenon, where officials leave office to work for companies they may have recently helped.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corruption is a problem for almost half the companies doing business in Europe, a survey by the European Commission said on Monday, and an increasing number of European Union citizens think it is getting worse.
The report places the EU, often portrayed as one of the globe’s cleanest regions, in an unflattering light. Among businesses, belief is widespread that the only way to succeed is through political connections.
Experiences of corruption vary across the 28-country bloc. Almost all companies in Greece, Spain and Italy believe it is widespread, according to the report, the first by the Commission. Corruption is considered rare in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Codex Gigas (The Devil’s Bible) Largest Manuscript in World
Codex Gigas, otherwise known as ‘the Devil’s Bible’ is the largest and probably one of the strangest manuscripts in the world. It is so large that it is said to have taken more than 160 animal skins to make it and takes at least two people to lift it. It measures approximately 1 metre in length. According to legend, the medieval manuscript was made out of a pact with the ‘devil’, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the Devil’s Bible. It was written in Latin during the 13th century AD, and although the origin of the manuscript is unknown, a note in the manuscript states that it was pawned in the monastery at Sedlec in 1295. The story behind the making of Codex Gigas (“the giant codex”) is that it was the work of one monk who was sentenced to death by being walled up alive. Indeed, an analysis on the text does suggest that it was written by just one scribe due to the level of uniformity throughout. The legend says that the monk produced the manuscript in just one night… with the devil’s help…
Stories and legends say that the Codex Gigas brought disaster or illness on whoever possessed it during its history. Fortunately, the National Library in Stockholm, where it is currently housed, appears immune to the curse of the codex!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Controversial French Comedian Dieudonné Banned From UK
French comedian Dieudonné has been banned from entering Britain, the interior ministry said Monday. Dieudonné reportedly planned a trip to support footballer Nicolas Anelka, who is under fire for using the comic’s trademark salute at a match.
“We can confirm that Mr Dieudonné is subject to an exclusion order. The home secretary will seek to exclude an individual from the UK if she considers that there are public policy or public security reasons to do so,” a Home Office spokeswoman said.
Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, whose trademarked “quenelle” gesture has been likened to a downward Nazi salute, has come under fire in France for anti-Semitic comments that he has used as part of his comedy act. He has been banned from performing in several French cities on the grounds of maintaining public order as authorities probe whether he should face charges for breaking French laws against “inciting racial hatred”. French President François Hollande has publicly backed the ban on his performances.
Dieudonné, whose father is from Cameroon and whose mother is French Caucasian, says the quenelle gesture is merely an anti-establishment salute.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corruption ‘Costs EU 120 Bn Euros a Year’
Corruption across the EU’s 28 countries costs some 120 billion euros ($162 billion) per year, the European Commission said Monday, urging member states to do more to stamp out the problem.
The EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said the actual figure could be even higher, despite amounting to the EU’s entire annual budget or a little less than one percent of the bloc’s total economic output. “This is an estimation,” Malmstroem said as she presented the report, the bloc’s first, “so probably it is much higher.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corruption Worth 60bn Euros in Italy, Half of EU Total
‘Mafia-linked politics, low integrity to blame’ says EC report
(see related) (ANSA) — Brussels, February 3 — Corruption in Italy is worth 60 billion euros, half of the 120-billion-euro total in all the European Union, according to a European Commission report issued Monday.
A key factor in Italy’s high rate of corruption is the link between politics and organized crime, said the report. Another is “the low level of integrity of elected representatives”. Both examples, it said, “are among the most worrying aspects, as evidenced by the high number of corruption investigations (in Italy)”. It also criticizes a new Italian anti-corruption law for “leaving unresolved” various problems by “not modifying the statute of limitations nor rules against false accounting and money laundering, and it does not make trading votes a felony”. The report also says Italy has much to do to fight conflicts of interest in the government. It goes on to make a series of suggestions to the worst offender in Europe. First among them is for Italy to “block the adoption of ad personam laws,” which “on several occasions have impeded attempts” to guarantee swift trials.
“Corruption undermines citizens’ faith in their institutions and damages the economy, depriving countries of tax revenues that are particularly necessary in this moment of crisis,” said European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom in presenting the report.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Government Roulette Continues
SF’s withdrawal from the government in the wake of the partial sale of DONG Energy to US investment bank Goldman Sachs has once again led to a shake-up in PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s (S) government. Along with new ministers taking over the spots left vacant by SF’s retreat, other ministers shifted spots.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dieudonné Barred From Britain by Home Office
Controversial French comic Dieudonné is now not just an enemy of the state in France. On Monday the UK also made him a persona non-grata when the government confirmed it had banned him from entering the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DNA From Ancient Plague Points to Modern Peril
Paris — “In some cases death came immediately; in others, after many days,” the historian Procopius wrote as a terrifying disease scythed through Constantinople in 542 AD.
“With some, the body broke out with black pustules about as large as a lentil and these did not survive even one day, but all succumbed immediately. Vomiting of blood ensued in many, without visible cause, and immediately brought death.”
What Procopius observed first hand was the Plague of Justinian, named after the Eastern Roman emperor he served and who contracted the disease but survived.
The first of three plague pandemics to have ravaged humanity, it killed between 25 and 100 million people across Asia, North Africa and Europe.
After an initial two-year rampage, it returned in waves before mysteriously disappearing in the middle of the eighth century.
Using DNA teased from 1,500-year-old teeth of plague victims buried in Germany, scientists have reconstructed the genetic profile of the killer and say its ability to mutate is a warning for people today.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: Orange: Hackers Nab Data From 800,000 Clients
Telecom giant Orange revealed on Monday that the names, addresses and phone numbers of hundreds of thousands of French customers have been pilfered in a mammoth data breach. Find out how the hackers could cause headaches for those affected.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Hackers File Complaint Against Government
Hacking group, the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), has filed a criminal complaint against the entire German government, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, over the spying scandal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Arms Exports: Berlin Backs Large Defense Deal With Saudi Arabia
Berlin has often been criticized in recent years for selling weapons to questionable regimes. Now, the German government is backing a billion-euro deal for 100 patrol boats.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Industry Boss: ‘Too Many Students Harm Economy’
One of Germany’s top commerce experts warned on Monday that there were so many young people at university, and so few in traineeships, that the country’s economy would suffer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Ministries Hit in 16 Million Email Theft
Each German government ministry and 17 of its members of parliament were targeted by the huge data theft in which 16 million online identities were stolen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Steinmeier Urges UK to Stay in EU, Voices Doubt on Treaty Change
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has appealed to the UK to remain in the European Union, regardless of progress on the EU treaty change sought by Britain’s Conservative-led government.
EU executive says corruption still widespread in the bloc
The European Commission’s first ever report on corruption in the 28-member bloc has found that graft is widespread in many nations. The report warned not enough was being done to rein in underlying conflicts of interest.
http://www.dw.de/eu-executive-says-corruption-still-widespread-in-the-bloc/a-17405286
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Cyprus Accuses Turkey of ‘Harassment’ In Energy Search
Greek Cyprus said on Feb. 3 it would not accept Turkey’s “provocations” after claims a Norwegian ship was ‘harassed’ while surveying for offshore oil and gas reserves. Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said the vessel was undertaking seismic research for French oil giant Total near Blocks 10 and 11 off the south coast when a radio communication ordered it to “abandon position.”
He said the incident came at a time when the United Nations was trying to find a formula for long-stalled Cyprus peace talks to begin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hackers File Complaint Against German Government Over NSA Scandal
German hackers and activists have filed a criminal complaint against their government for allegedly breaking the law by aiding foreign spies. They point to documents released by the NSA leaker Edward Snowden as evidence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarians Protest Russia-Backed Nuclear Plans
Hungarians on Sunday protested against government plans for Russia to expand a state nuclear power plant, reports The Wall Street Journal. The plan is for Russia to add two 1,000-megawatt reactors to Hungary’s existing 2,000-MW state-owned nuclear power plant. The agreement, signed in January, comes with a Russian loan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rat Fur Found in Chinese-Made Cashmere Coats
Over 1 mn fake clothing items seized
(ANSA) — Livorno, February 3 — Italian police have found rat fur in fake cashmere coats made by Chinese textile workers.
Police from Livorno and Rome seized more than a million counterfeit clothing items made by five Chinese-run firms in Rome and distributed by a wholesaler near Florence over the last few days, judicial sources said Monday. The allegedly cashmere items were found to be a mixture of acrylic, viscose and fur from rats and other animals, police said.
Police, who also found bogus merino lamb, silk and pashmina apparel after a year-long probe, cautioned 14 Chinese-born people for fraud.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lupi Accuses Lufthansa of Being ‘Afraid of Competition’
German airline moves to block Alitalia-Etihad deal
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Italian Transportation Minister Maurizio Lupi on Monday accused Lufthansa of being “afraid of competition” after the German carrier called on the European Commission to halt the planned investment of Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways in troubled Italian airline Alitalia.
Lupi defended negotiations between Alitalia and Etihad in a statement, saying they were “between private parties”.
He also shot back at Lufthansa’s allegation that the deal would use State aid in disguise to break competition rules.
“State aid? Circumvention (of competition rules)? It seems rather that it is Lufthansa that fears the competition,” Lupi said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Body Found in Venice Canal, Stuffed in Suitcase
Iranian costume designer strangled, Indian flatmates in custody
(ANSA) — Venice, February 3 — Two suspects were in custody Monday after police said they confessed to the murder of an Iranian woman found stuffed in a suitcase in a Venetian canal. The suspects are an Indian couple who shared a Milan apartment with the victim, 29-year-old Mahfab Ahadsavoji, whose body was uncovered last Tuesday off the island of Lido.
The pair, Rajeshwar Singh and Gagandeep Kaur, allegedly strangled the woman to death after she refused a sexual advance.
They then stuffed her body inside luggage with rollers and took it by train to the northern city of Lecco with the intention of tossing it into Lake Como, police said. After determining there were too many witnesses in the area, the pair opted to take the body to Venice instead, again by train, police said. A Venice taxi driver told police they paid him 500 euros for the return trip to Milan. Police said the pair initially denied involvement, but their movements with the suitcase were allegedly captured by security cameras at the Venice train station, prompting a confession.
The victim’s nude body was identified by fingerprints. A known costume designer in Iran, Ahadsavoji was in Milan for a two-month course at the renowned Academy of Fine Arts of Brera.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Welcomes Back Casini Into Centre Right
UDC leader broke off alliance with ex-premier in 2006
(ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Silvio Berlusconi on Monday welcomed the announcement by Pier Ferdinando Casini that he intends to ally his small centrist UDC party with the ex-premier’s Forza Italia at the next Italian election.
Former House Speaker Casini was allied with Berlusconi from when the billionaire media magnate embarked on a political career two decades ago until the end of the second and longest-lasting of Berlusconi’s three governments, in 2006.
Casini, a former member of the Christian Democrat party that dominated Italian politics after World War II until it collapsed amid corruption scandals in the early 1990s, has frequently been highly critical of Berlusconi since.
But the breakdown of the UDC’s alliance with the centrist Civil Choice party of ex-premier Mario Monti after a poor showing at last year’s general election and the likely arrival of a new election law has forced Casini back into the centre-right fold.
The new election law plan threatens to see the UDC excluded from parliament if it does not join an alliance, as the entry threshold will be 8% for parties that run alone, compared to 4.5% for those in a coalition.
Matteo Renzi, the new leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) who framed the new election law plan with Berlusconi, had been cool about the idea of being allied with the UDC when Italy returns to the polls.
Casini’s announcement that he was returning to the centre right was met with stiff criticism from some members of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party.
But Berlusconi said Monday he did not share these judgements.
“I’ve always wanted him to return to the area of the moderates and I can only be happy about it, as I believe his movement can offer a real contribution to the centre right’s victory,” Berlusconi said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker Emerges as Centre-Right’s Top Candidate
Former Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker is emerging as the top candidate for the centre-right European People’s Party in the upcoming EU elections, amid positive signals from Berlin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lufthansa Hits Out at Etihad’s Alitalia Plans
German airline Lufthansa hit out on Monday at plans by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways to buy debt-laden Alitalia, saying it amounted to covert state aid.
“We reject repeated subsidies and partial nationalization of European airlines, regardless of whether they are bought by European countries or state-run firms outside of Europe,” Lufthansa said in a statement. “We call upon the EU Commission to ban such side-stepping tactics,” the statement said in a reference to European anti-trust and fair competition regulations.
Etihad is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates and is expanding rapidly. It has bought minority stakes in several smaller carriers around the world as it competes with larger Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways. Etihad owns 29 percent of Air Berlin, 40 percent of Air Seychelles, 19.9 percent of Virgin Australia and three percent of Aer Lingus.
Lufthansa said that outside Europe “there are highly integrated, national air traffic systems comprising airports, airlines and other service suppliers. These are expanding aggressively.” Europe would be able to compete with these only “if policymakers ensure that there is fair competition worldwide,” Lufthansa argued.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Makes U-Turn, Backs Juncker for Commission Job
In a surprise U-turn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly indicated she supports Luxembourg’s former prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, as lead candidate for the European People’s Party (EPP), EurActiv Germany reports.
“All the signs are green for him to be the candidate for the EPP”, an official close to Juncker told the Financial Times (FT) regarding the former Luxembourg prime minister’s position on the top of the party’s candidate list in the upcoming EU elections.
As one of the highest-ranking conservative politicians in the EU, Merkel’s support is crucial for the appointment of any EPP frontrunner.
Already in early January, Luxembourg’s former prime minister and long-time head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, expressed his willingness to accept the position of top candidate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Patients Grit Teeth as French Dentists Strike
Monday might not be the best day to suffer from a painful toothache in France. Dentists across the country have been called to close their practices in a protest aimed at pressuring the government into increasing their pay.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Queen Elizabeth to Visit France for D-Day Service
The Elysée Palace confirmed on Monday that Queen Elizabeth II plans to join world leaders in France in June to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rain Continues to Inundate Italy
Six killed in the south over the weekend
(ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Rain and snow continued to pelt Italy Monday after more than a week-long onslaught that claimed six lives in southern Italy over the weekend.
Three young women died in a head-on collision under a downpour in the province of Bari, while two women and a six-year-old girl were drowned in Sicily. Two women and a girl were among seven aboard an automobile when the driver attempted to ford a rain-swollen stream early Sunday morning. Italy’s Civil Protection agency declared a “critical red” alert Monday for much of northern Italy: Friuli, and the plain of Emilia and central Veneto.
Military pumps have been working since Sunday night to protect Rome’s Fiumicino airport from flooding.
Heavy snow blocked roads in the mountains near the ski resort town Cortina, while heavy rain caused temporary blackouts in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Since January 30, 2,288 volunteers and 40 technicians have pitched battles against damage wrought by weather.
On Friday, Romans took to the rooftops, while Venice was plunged under its deepest water this year and a town near Pisa was evacuated as rainstorms wreaked havoc and snow forced the closure of schools across Italy.
More heavy snow is expected in the central-eastern Alps, and rain across Italy is expected to continue for at least another week.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Royal Navy Saves Lives of Six French Fishermen
French and British seamen have shown little love for each other over the years but at the weekend the British Royal Navy showed differences can be put aside when it saved the lives of six Breton sailors, who were trapped in a sinking trawler in stormy seas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Vows Not to Thwart Scotland’s Independence
Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Margallo has said Spain will not interfere in Scotland’s quest for independence and potential entry to the EU, arguing that the cases of the British territory and that of Catalonia are “fundamentally different”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Cops Seize 900kg of Cocaine in Floating Bags
Spanish police seized 900 kilograms (nearly 2,000 pounds) of cocaine in rucksacks found floating in the sea and fitted with tracking devices, officials said Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Mystery Blast Rocks Malmö Courthouse
An explosion rocked a courthouse in Malmö in southern Sweden in the early hours of Monday morning, damaging the facade and blowing out several windows.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Malmö Court Evacuated in New Bomb Scare
The court of appeal in Malmö was evacuated on Monday morning due to the discovery of a suspicious package. Earlier on Monday, the city’s district court was hit by an explosion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Melodifestivalen Review: Glamrock and Hairy Armpits in Malmö
Melodifestivalen 2014 kicked off on Saturday night with a the usual schlager, one victorious cross-dresser, and a hostess with hairy armpits. Yawn, says contributor David Jørgensen, who’s hoping for more next week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Prosecutor Pressed to Speed Up Assange Case
The Swedish prosecutor handling the Julian Assange case lashed out on Monday to calls urging him to push on with efforts to interrogate the whistle blower over sex crimes allegations stemming from a 2010 visit to Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Gangs in Oslo to Burgle Houses: Police
Gangs of criminal youths from disadvantaged suburbs of Stockholm and Gothenburg have started travelling to Norway to commit burglaries, police in Oslo have reported.
Geir Ellefsen, police superintendent at Oslo’s Majorstua Police Station said: “We have seen a development in recent years where more and more criminals are arriving in Norway from Sweden, and it looks like the trend will continue this year as well.”
The statement came as a gang of four Swedish citizens were arrested on Monday, charged with carrying out four burglaries in Oslo in just one week.
Three of the four Swedes arrested are of Somali descent, while the fourth is Iraqi. Oslo police believe the group committed at lease five of the total 30 burglaries reported in the city in January.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Vietnamese Diplomat Seeks Asylum in Geneva
A Vietnamese diplomat who was posted at the country’s consulate in Geneva said he has sought political asylum in Switzerland.
Dang Xuong Hung, who served at the consulate from 2008 to 2012, when he formally withdrew from the Vietnamese Communist Party, told local Geneva TV station Leman Bleu on Sunday that he had applied for Swiss asylum last October.
“The Berlin wall fell 25 years ago, but Vietnam is still under a communist regime,” he said. “The Vietnamese Communist Party persists with its aim to continue the dictatorship, to continue with a one-party regime.”
Dang, who said he had been working for the Vietnamese foreign ministry since 1983, blamed the one-party system for “the total crisis” Vietnam was experiencing in all areas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The WWI Photo Album of a German Soldier
The photos of a German soldier who took his camera to the front in World War One have been published for the first time, giving the rarest of glimpses into military life 100 years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Millions of pounds were claimed by benefits cheats living abroad last year for family members who had died, it has been revealed.
Benefit fraud committed abroad cost the taxpayer an estimated £84million in 2012/13 — a rise of 90 per cent in the last two years, new figures suggest.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions, ‘abroad fraud’ is now the third largest type of fraud with investigators looking into 7, 296 cases of suspected abroad fraud in 2013.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
They were a hardworking couple from the wartime generation that never dreamt of claiming anything from the state.
But, despite paying taxes all their lives, when William Bullock’s wife Barbara, 82, suffered a severe stroke that left her needing round-the-clock care, no help was forthcoming.
In a sickening example of authorities’ reluctance to pay care home bills — even when legally obliged to do so — health officials ruled that the former church organist’s nursing fees had to come out of the couple’s savings.
It was only once they had paid more than £80,000 for Mrs Bullock’s care — including selling their house — that it emerged she was entitled to state support for the £1,500-a-month fees.
After a five-year legal battle, her family have won back £80,000 made up of repaid fees and interest payments, but tragically Mr and Mrs Bullock both died before the claim was resolved.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Attacks Al-Jezeera TV on Charges of Aiding ‘Enemy’
The state prosecutor’s office last week said 20 or the channel’s journalists would be tried, 16 of them on charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation, and four foreigners on charges of creating a false impression of a civil war in Egypt. Al-Jazeera denies the charges.
Egypt accuses Al-Jazeera of carrying out Qatari policies to support the banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, the repression of which over seven months has seen more than one thousand people killed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Leader of Algeria’s Main Party Calls for Powerful Intelligence Chief to Quit
The head of Algeria’s largest political party on Monday questioned the leadership of the powerful chief of the nation’s intelligence service and urged him to resign. The comment by Amar Saadani of the National Liberation Front in an interview with the online news site Tout Sur L’Algerie hints at a major power struggle in the country ahead of April’s presidential elections.
Mohammed “Tewfik” Mediene has headed the Department of Research and Security, as the intelligence service is known, since 1990 and is considered one of the main powerbrokers in this oil rich nation. Algeria’s incumbent president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a rival of Mediene’s, is expected to run for a fourth term in office, despite being 76 and suffering from a stroke last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Muammar Gaddafi’s Secrets Finally Revealed
Since Muammar Gaddafi’s ignominious death at the hands of a rebel mob in October 2011 much has been written and said about him. But now a new film, with unprecedented access to those close to Gaddafi, provides a comprehensive study of Libya’s brutal and contradictory long-time leader.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Theatre a Symbol of Tangiers’ Rich Past
A century after it was built, the Cervantes theatre in Tangiers, once a symbol of the famed Moroccan city’s cultural vibrancy, is derelict and risks disappearing altogether, eclipsed by flashy new developments.
The 1,400-seat playhouse, just a short distance from the old port, is a masterpiece of early 20th-century Spanish architecture in the once-international city that in its heyday hosted a wealth of colourful characters and communities. But today the blue and yellow plasterwork and magnificent frescoes on the ceiling are crumbling, the dust-covered seats unoccupied since 1974, the year the curtains fell for the last time.
“You have to imagine how Tangiers was at the time. A census in 1919 registered a population of 40,000, including 26,000 Muslims, 5,000 Jews and 6-7,000 Spaniards,” says Bernabe Lopez Garcia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel ‘Knows How to Deal With Boycotts’, Says Lieberman
FM brushes off Kerry’s warnings
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 3 — Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that Israel had no reason to fear a recent warning by US Secretary of State John Kerry over more boycotts of the country’s goods, noting that it had already been exposed to them several times throughout its history.
“There was a boycott in 1921 by the Arabs,” he said, “and then a French embargo”, noting that the country had dealt successfully with them in the past and would continue to do so. In speaking to local media, Lieberman took issue with an anonymous official from his ministry quoted by newspapers as saying that there was no way to stop boycotts against Israel and that political leaders were not up to dealing with the situation. The official, he said, had been identified and isolated several days ago. “The Foreign Ministry,” he continued, “has drawn up a clear, detailed plan of how to deal with it”, and there is “full coordination between ministries”. “We should not downplay the issue,” he said, “but neither should we fall prey to hysteria. Everyone will see our approach within the next month.” Kerry had warned Israel on Saturday in Munich that if peace talks with Palestinians were to fall through, there might be more boycotts against the country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry’s Peace Plan: Divide Jerusalem, Recognize Jewish State
Jerusalem would be divided, and the eastern half recognized as the capital of “Palestine.” Speaking of recognition, Israel would be explicitly acknowledged as the nation state of the Jewish people.
The proposal does not allow for the mass entry of so-called “Palestinian refugees” into Israel.
For those familiar with the conflict, as Friedman purports to be, the proposal and his eager approach to it are baffling.
How many times does Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have to reject the notions of recognizing a Jewish state or relinquishing a Palestinian “right of return” before America will take him at his word?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ya’alon: Palestinians See Destruction of Jews as Realistic Possibility
Speaking at an event to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the defense minister lashed out at the Palestinian Authority for claiming to seek peace on one hand yet encouraging “efforts to boycott Israel.”
“In the Palestinian Authority, whose leadership presents itself as one that is striving to reach an agreement with us, the brutal, insufferable incitement against the State of Israel and the Jewish people continues,” Ya’alon said.
“This incitement is manifest in the education system and the media, where the hatred and poison ought to be an affront to any human,” he said. “It is creating another generation of Palestinian children who are taught to look at the expulsion and destruction of the Jews as a realistic possibility instead of educating them toward a culture of peace and co-existence alongside Israel.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda Distances Itself From Syria’s Rebel Infighting
Al Qaeda broke ties with one of its main allied militant groups in Syria and tried to distance itself from the rebel infighting that has complicated the country’s civil war, according to a statement on Monday.
The announcement appeared to be an attempt by al Qaeda to reassert its influence among the rival Islamist groups that have turned against one another in Syria even while they share the goal of unseating President Bashar al-Assad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda: We Don’t Support Isil in Syria, Iraq
Al Qaeda has claimed no link to the militant Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Syria’s civil war. The fight remains deadlocked, with secular rebels defending themselves against regime forces and “allied” Islamists.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Child Soldier: Shocking Video Surfaces of Purported 4-Year-Old Jihadist in Syria
[WARNING: disturbing content.]
Al Qaeda fighters in Syria may have sunk to a new low with a video that appears to show a four-year-old boy squeezing off rounds from an AK-47 as jihadists exhort him on with cries of “Alahu Akhbar.”
The little tyke, whose father stands proudly behind him, is dwarfed by the heavy automatic weapon, and props the barrel up on a street barricade in the stomach-turning clip. The gun’s recoil knocks him back, and his father helps him hold it, offering encouragement in Arabic. International experts say the use of child soldiers is a disturbing trend previously seen in the bloody Syrian civil war, but the use of such a young boy is a new depth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Mulling Islamic Museum in Venice, Says Letta
‘Would be on Grand Canal’ adds premier in Doha
(ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Italy has “committed to explore the possibility of building an Islamic museum in Venice on the Grand Canal,” Premier Enrico Letta said Monday in Doha. “I discussed this opportunity, we have to deeply evaluate this project,” he added at a press conference on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: 120 Islamist Prisoners in Hunger Strike
To protest against abuse and improper imprisonment conditions
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, FEBRUARY 3 — Around 120 Islamist political prisoners started hunger strike to protest against abuse by security guards and improper imprisonment conditions, activists and officials on Monday.
Islamist prisoners, mainly salaifis say guards abuse them and deprive them from basic rights including rights to see their lawyers and meet family and keep them in solitary from other inmates.
Salafi leaders, Abu Sayaf has warned the government to improve prisoners conditions or face consequences.
“Prisoners will escalate the situation in two days if the government does not meet their demands. They need to be treated equally to other prisoners,” he said.
He said the prisoners and their families would expose practices of the government to international organizations, and if there is no breakthrough, more escalation to take place,” he added, warning that other measures would be adopted if authorities do not meet prisoners demands.
Human rights activists said they have been denied access to the prisons, despite repeated requests to meet the inmates in order to convey their message to concerned authorities.
Jordanian authorities have been repeatedly criticized by international human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for abusing prisoners, physically and mentally.
Last year, hundreds of prisoners in a facility near Amman rioted to protest abuse, leading to the death of many inmates.
Most prisoners are Islamist activists, held behind bars following trials at the military run state security court.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Ploy to Cover Up Alcohol Disappearance?
While investigations are making progress in a case involving the disappearance of thousands of liquor bottles prepared to be destroyed, a report yesterday suggested that officers involved might be working on finding a ‘way out’ of the problem. Al-Rai daily had reported on Thursday that ministry staff discovered while supervising the process of destroying 60,000 liquor bottles seized in operations since 2010 that at least 10,000 bottles were missing, and later raised the number to 17,000. The bottles were stored in one of five containers that was found to be empty, according to sources quoted in the report.
Yesterday, the same daily quoted ‘high ranking security sources’ who indicated that senior officials questioned over the missing bottles are trying to fabricate a story based on the assumption that the bottles were damaged during storage rather than being stolen. “Around 35,000 corks were collected during a wide operation at the bottle destruction site,” said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
They explained that the stoppers were taken back to the ministry’s warehouses “to be used as the basis for a formal response to the public prosecution’s skepticisms by claiming that the missing bottles were damaged due to improper storage”. The sources claimed that the same ploy was successfully used to cover up a previous case involving the disappearance of nearly 950 bottles.
News about the case prompted Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah to launch an immediate probe amid suspicions that police officers might have stolen, facilitated the theft of or failed to properly guard the missing bottles.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Mortar Fire Lands Near French Embassy in Yemen
A mortar shell was fired overnight in the direction of the French embassy in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, while a car bomb exploded just metres away from the city’s diplomatic quarter, a police source said on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report: More Than 75,000 Foreign Nationals Fight in Syria
Disturbing statistics have surfaced from Syria Sunday: over 75,000 foreign nationals have been fighting in the Syrian Civil War, according to a local website.
The majority are from majority-Muslim countries or regions — where foreign nationals have been stirred to join by government forces, national-cultural ideologies, and religious fervor. According to the site, 14,000 hail from Chechnya; 12,000 from Saudi Arabia; 11,000 from Iraq; 5,600 from Turkey; 4,400 from Libya; 4,000 from Tunisia; 1,900 from Pakistan; 1,600 from Yemen; and 1,200 from Afghanistan.
Statistics show that Israel may be caught up in the effect the foreign nationals — who are being trained to bring terror home with them — could have on the Middle East. Among Israel’s neighbors, 9,000 Lebanese, 2,600 Egyptians, and 2,400 Jordanians have joined the war; as have at least 5,000 Palestinian Arabs.
Among Europeans, 750 Russian nationals, 660 Germans, and 450 French citizens have reportedly joined the fight.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Lays Down Tough Penalities for ‘Terror’ Offences
King Abdullah Monday decreed jail terms of up to 20 years for belonging to “terrorist groups” and fighting abroad, as it struggles to deter Islamist Saudis from becoming jihadists.
“Taking part in combat outside the kingdom, in any form” will be punished by jail terms of between three and 20 years, said the decree published by state news agency SPA. Similar sentences will be passed on those belonging to “extremist religious and ideological groups, or those classified as terrorist organisations, domestically, regionally and internationally,” it said.
Supporting such groups, adopting their ideology or promoting them “through speech or writing” would also incur prison terms, the decree added.
Saudi Arabia set up specialised terrorism courts in 2011 to try dozens of nationals and foreigners accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda or being involved in a wave of bloody attacks that swept the country from 2003. Scores of Saudis are believed to have joined Islamist extremists fighting in Syria, where Riyadh is a strong backer of the nearly three-year rebellion against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Begins the Multi Million-Euro Return of Funds to Iran
Under the terms of an interim nuclear deal, the USA has allowed the transfer of $550 million — almost €407 million — in Iran’s frozen oil revenues to the country. The US Treasury Department announced the transaction a day after Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, met with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Ukrainian Federation — Or a Russian Plot?
The ruling Party of Regions has mooted a federation as a possible way out of crisis for Ukraine. But far from defusing tensions, the opposition believes giving more power to the regions would cause the state to collapse.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU, US Mull Economic Aid Package for Restless Ukraine
European Union sources have said the bloc, along with the US and the IMF, is considering a financial aid package for Ukraine. Such a deal would, however, be tied to a solution to the political unrest in Kyiv.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Olympics: Italy PM to Attend Sochi Opening Ceremony
(AGI) Rome, Feb 3 — Prime Minister Enrico Letta has clarified the reasons for his participation in the opening ceremony at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. “I took this decision after consultation with the President of the Republic, the Sports Minister and the President of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI),” he said during a press conference in Doha. “We believe that my presence is useful above all to draw attention to Rome’s candidacy for the 2024 Olympics, in which we really believe. We need to be in Sochi to get this candidacy going,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
During the 1980s, the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, promoted the concepts of Glasnost and Perestroika exhibiting a spirit of openness and cooperation. The United States seemed naively to buy this new Soviet approach by entering into the Soviet-American Exchange Agreement in 1985, whereby Soviet educators would help to write some curricula for American schools, among other education initiatives. This appeared to be a mistake born of incompetence, because in 1931 Soviet theoretician Dimitri Manuilsky, addressing the Comintern in Moscow, revealed: “One day we shall start to spread the most theatrical peace movement the world has ever seen. The capitalist countries, stupid and decadent…will fall into the trap offered by the possibility of making new friends…Our day will come in 30 to 40 years or so…The bourgeoisie must be lulled into a feeling of security.”
However, this wasn’t really incompetence, but rather part of the Power Elite’s (PE’s) plan for a synthesis of capitalism and communism into a world socialist government. Relevant to this, Ford Foundation president H. Rowan Gaither in 1952 told Congressional Reece Committee research director Norman Dodd that “Of course, you know that we at the executive level here were, at one time or another, active in either the OSS, the State Department, or the European Economic Administration. During those times, and without exception, we operated under directives issued by the White House. We are continuing to be guided by just such directives…The substance (of these directives) was to the effect that we should make every effort to so alter life in the United States as to make possible a comfortable merger with the Soviet Union.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sochi Officials Order Stray Dogs Killed Ahead of Olympics
Thousands of stray dogs have been living amid the mud and rubble of Olympic construction sites, roaming the streets and snowy mountainsides, and begging for scraps of food. But as the games drew near, authorities have turned to a company to catch and kill the animals so they don’t bother Sochi’s new visitors — or even wander into an Olympic event.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Energy Shortages Force Pakistanis to Scavenge for Wood, Threatening Tree Canopy
Islamabad, Pakistan — Ramesh Iqbal lives in one of the Pakistani capital’s middle-class neighborhoods and attends college. But on a recent day, he and two friends emerged from a wooded area, their arms full of the logs and branches they had to gathered to warm their homes. “We never thought we would face such a situation,” said Iqbal, 24, wearing a sweater over a collared shirt. “But due to winter, and cold, we are facing problems.”
In a country where about 20 percent of residents lack basic utilities, generations of poor and rural Pakistanis have relied on timber to make it through the winter. But severe energy shortages are turning even wealthier families into wood scavengers.
They snap branches, uproot saplings and hack trees, and they carry their bounty any way they can — by truck, motorcycle and even bicycle. And with each trip, Pakistan loses another piece of its tree canopy, an alarming trend for one of the world’s least forested countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In Bangladesh: 87 Per Cent of Women Victims of Domestic Violence
This finding is included in a survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund. Only 8 per cent of women said they were never abused at home. About 77 per cent of respondents said they were abused in the previous year, and one in three victims did not seek hospital treatment for their injuries.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — About 87 per cent of Bangladeshi married women are abused by their husband, this according to a nation-wide study conducted by the government that involved a sample of 12,600 women. Only 8 per cent of respondents said that they were never abused by their partner.
Titled Violence against Women Survey 2011, the research was conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund. The picture it paints is alarming.
The survey found that domestic violence is present in most Bangladeshi households. Last year, 77 per cent of respondents admitted that they had been abused. Of these, 50 per cent had sustained serious injuries, but one in three women refused to go to hospital for fear of retaliation by the husband. Although not as prevalent, the problem also affects Catholic women.
Lata Gomes (not her real name for security reasons) told AsiaNews that “husbands consider us weak, and therefore believe that they have the right to dominate us, even beating us. I am a university graduate and I take care of our two children. But my husband does not listen to me, and if I do not do what he says, he beats me.”
Overall though, violence is correlated to illiteracy and low levels of education among women, she explained.
According to human rights organisation Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP), 5,616 cases of violence against women were recorded in 2012, mostly rapes (904), followed by murders (900), stalking and death as a result of stalking (662); dowry-related murders (558), and suicide (435).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Letta Chides India Over Latest Marines Trial Delay
‘It’s time to put your cards on the table’ says premier
(see related) (ANSA) — Doha, February 3 — Premier Enrico Letta on Monday chided India for continuing to postpone a ruling on two Italian marines who possibly face the death penalty for an alleged murder two years ago. “This can’t go on any longer. We’ve been waiting for two years. There’s no more time for further delays. India needs to put its cards on the table this week,” said Letta. “For us this is a very serious affair”. On Monday a court in India delayed a long-awaited ruling for another week. The ruling regards whether to apply a harsh anti-terrorism law that carries the death penalty against the pair for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in international waters.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters in Bangkok Vow to Press on to Remove Thai PM Yingluck After Vote
Thai protesters have vowed to nullify the results of the weekend’s elections. On Sunday, demonstrators forced polling booths to close in Bangkok and southern Thailand, angering registered voters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese on North Korea Border Unaware of Conditions in Secretive Dictatorship
They enter China by crossing the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge or by swimming across the Yalu River below, some to work in Dandong’s kitchens, others on its construction sites and still more to live in the hills, always afraid of being captured and sent home to be imprisoned or executed.
The appearance of these North Korean laborers, who work in China with the blessing of the North Korean government, provides ordinary Chinese with little indication of how desperately poor the vast majority of people in the neighboring country truly are, however. In fact, most people in Dandong are seemingly unaware that far more common than the contract workers who come to China legally are those thousands of North Koreans who sneak across the border each year in search of something resembling a normal life — not one dominated by hunger and fear.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Issues Complaint After Whaling Vessel Collides With Dutch Protest Boat
Japan has asked the Netherlands to take “practical measures” against a Dutch-registered anti-whaling vessel. The boat collided with a Japanese whaling ship off Antarctica over the weekend. Both sides have traded blame.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea Escapee Fights for Fellow Inmates
Born an inmate in a North Korean prison camp, Shin Dong Hyuk had no chance of ever being released. But since his escape at the age of 24, he has been telling the world of the plight of tens of thousands of prisoners.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mandela’s Estate Estimated to be Worth 3 Million Euros
(AGI) Johannesburg, Feb 3 — Nelson Mandela’s estate is estimated to be worth about 46 million rand, or more than 3 million euros, said the Vice President of South Africa’s Constitutional Court Dikgang Moseneke. Temporary executors drew up the inventory of the former president, who died on Dec. 5 aged 95. A quarrel broke out over the inheritance even before the death of the hero of the anti-apartheid struggle.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nelson Mandela’s Millions to be Shared by Family, Schools and the ANC
A towering political figure of our time, Nelson Mandela wound up his personal affairs in a 40-page will. The reading of his will to his divided family was an emotionally charged event.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina Bust Lures Investors After 200 Years of Defaults
Kyle Bass says there’s still money to be made lending to Argentina, a deadbeat country with few peers in history. The hedge-fund manager is the latest example of international investors pursuing riches where crises over 200 years ruined most of its citizens.
The South American nation has stiffed creditors seven times since independence from Spain in 1816, and following the latest default, in 2001, Argentina has yet to work out a settlement with all its financiers. Nevertheless, Bass said he bought Argentine bonds at 55 cents on the dollar last year and has no plans to sell even as global investors say there’s an 86 percent chance Argentina will quit paying in the next five years.
“There’s huge opportunity in these bonds,” said Bass, who manages about $2 billion for Dallas-based Hayman Capital Management LP. “I know you can’t see that today, but today’s the time to be thinking about it.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
THIS is what awaits asylum-seekers trying to get to Australia on dodgy wooden smuggling boats — the gift of an air-conditioned, 90-seat lifeboat, and an armed escort back to Indonesia.
This is the first close-up look at one of the 11 lifeboats that the Abbott Government has sourced out of Singapore in its uncompromising fight to stop the boats — a fight that it appears to be winning.
The fully enclosed and submersible 8.5m x 3.2m survival capsule, fitted with safety belts, navigational equipment, life jackets, food, water and an inboard diesel motor, came ashore in remote Cikepuh, in West Java, on the afternoon of January 15.
Naval officer Edi Sukendi, based in Ujung Genteng, the closest point between Indonesia and Australia, got word from a forest ranger that an unusual vessel had crash-landed and disgorged an estimated 60 asylum-seekers, who immediately scattered into the jungle.
Sukendi, a naval operational with no boat of his own, asked a local fishermen to take him up the coast to Cikepuh to investigate. They found the orange capsule jammed on a coral reef within wading distance of shore and approached it cautiously.
“When we first saw it, we were very surprised,” Sukendi said. “We were worried it might have explosives.” He said they found discarded food and water bottles with Malaysian markings, and first assumed it had come from there.
Twenty men heaved the boat to the beach. It was not leaking but they were unable to start it because the keys were missing.
The boat was towed to the port of Pelabuhan Ratu and has been impounded by the navy.
Prime Minister Abbott’s turn-back policy — along with the phone-tapping scandal — has caused intense heat at the highest diplomatic levels between Indonesia and Australia.
But there is no question the policy has sent a shock through smuggler and asylum networks, already reeling from Kevin Rudd’s declaration of July last year that no one who arrived by boat would ever settle in Australia…
| — Hat tip: Michael Laudahn | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Reach Out to Your Immigrant Classmates, Boldrini Says
‘Integration means getting to know a different history’
(ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Italian House Speaker Laura Boldrini on Monday called on students at a Rome high school to reach out to their immigrant peers instead of rejecting them.
“You have the possibility to either isolate or include a foreign schoolmate,” Boldrini told students at the capital’s historic Mamiani high school, which dates back to 1885.
“You must be curious to find out about personal histories that are different from your own. You could have a lot to teach adults in this way,” the House Speaker said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Coca-Cola Super Bowl Ad Stirs Controversy With Multilingual Singing of ‘America the Beautiful’
ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta/AP) — Each year, several Super Bowl commercials become the subject of controversy and scrutiny, usually for their sexually charged content.
This year, a Coca-Cola ad landed in the proverbial hot seat, but not for being lewd — it showed Americans of different races and ethnicities singing “America, the Beautiful” in a variety of different languages. After it aired, many took to various social networking sites to express their outrage at the song being performed in any language other than English.
The company’s official Facebook page was inundated with comments after the spot appeared during Super Bowl XLVIII. Though some showed support for the diversity shown in the ad, many others expressed displeasure.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Says Boys Claiming Girlhood May Use Girls’ Restroom
America’s “firsts” aren’t what they used to be. Where they once included putting a man on the moon and heavier-than-air flight, now they’re trillion-dollar deficits, a trillion pieces of metadata NSA-processed, and six-trillion-dollar foreign military adventures. And coming to you straight from Maine is another fantastic first. Writes Yahoo News:
School officials violated state anti-discrimination law when they would not allow a transgender fifth-grader to use the girls’ bathroom, according to a ruling by the highest court in Maine that’s believed to be the first of its kind.
The family of student Nicole Maines and the Maine Human Rights Commission sued in 2009 after school officials required her [him] to use a staff, not student, restroom…
The point is that there is no physical test to determine that “gender dysphoria” has some kind of inborn basis and isn’t purely psychological — none. Zilch. Zero. Nada.
This brings us to the rest of “Nicole” Maines’ story. He is actually an identical twin; his brother is named Jonas (the two are shown above). Now, this means that the two boys’ genetic makeup is identical (in fact, police cannot differentiate between such twins based on DNA evidence). It means they spent nine months side-by-side in the same womb. It means they were born at almost the same time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Panelist at Podesta Think Tank on Common Core: ‘The Children Belong to All of Us’ (Video)
In addressing criticism of the Common Core national education standards, a panelist at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, said critics were a “tiny minority” who opposed standards altogether, which was unfair because “the children belong to all of us.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Bare-Breasted Feminists Besiege Pro-Life Bishop
Bare-breasted feminists belonging to the exhibitionist protest group FEMEN hurled knickers at the archbishop of Madrid as he arrived at church on Sunday in protest against his support for Spain’s stringent new abortion law.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wesley Smith Says the Actual Cloning of Humans is Secret Agenda Behind Stem Cell Cures
Deeper in the story, the ultimate agenda surfaces. These cells — unlike embryonic and IPS cells made with viruses — can be turned into placental cells. So? That could make cloning dramatically easier, says Wakayama. Currently, cloning requires extraction of unfertilized eggs, transfer of a donor nucleus into the egg, in vitro cultivation of an embryo and then transfer of the embryo to a surrogate That’s somatic cell nuclear transfer, the process that led to Dolly, and has now successfully created embryos in humans: If STAP cells can create their own placenta, they could be transferred directly to the surrogate. Wakayama is cautious, however, saying that the idea is currently at “dream stage”. Revealing that for all the discussion of cures and testing — which scientists certainly seek — I believe human cloning remains the ultimate goal of the sector. Why? That’s when the real genetic tinkering, transhuman religious recreationism, and other Brave New World fun could begin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
George B. Stauffer
The Agnus Dei is one of Bach’s last creations, derived from music he had used twice before, in 1725 and 1735, with different texts. He was clearly pleased with the highly effective aria, and in 1749 he refined it a final time for insertion into the concluding portion of the B-Minor Mass. Time was running out. The cataracts that had plagued his eyesight for some time were rapidly advancing, and the Agnus Dei was one of the last pieces he completed before submitting to the eye operations that led to his death.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It seems to me that they fail to mention who commit those hate-crimes!
It was a comment to :
Afrophobic Hate Crimes on the Rise in Sweden
Quote:
ConwayEustace, who purchased a large amount of land outside Boone, N.C., has been using his land to teach people how to live closer to nature. But now, thanks to government officials who don’t agree with his lifestyle, Eustace is being forced to fight for his way of life, and to keep his school open.
end
A breach
1. of ownership of property
2. of the 1st Amendment
I hope he does fight for his way of life.
And I hope the government is humiliated beyond all respect as a result of their actions.
I am puzzled, so an extreme right Jobbok leader gets in, (because it is the EU, you cant stop someone situation) and now we have got this… UK gov = Logic failure
Controversial French Comedian Dieudonné Banned From UK
French comedian Dieudonné has been banned from entering Britain, the interior ministry said Monday. Dieudonné reportedly planned a trip to support footballer Nicolas Anelka, who is under fire for using the comic’s trademark salute at a match.
Re: J S Bach’s “Agnus Dei”- for those interested, try to find the 1951 BBC studio recording of the Mass in B Minor, conducted by George Enescu, issued on a BBC Legends CD in 1998, with a touching memoir of Enescu by his pupil Yehudi Menuhin. Eliot Gardiner would doubtless find it inauthentic- it’s slow, deeply felt, and the soloist in the Agnus Dei is- shock horror!- a female contralto, Kathleen Ferrier.
Susan McClary’s ridiculous portrayal of Beethoven’s Ninth as a “rape fantasy” shows how little she knows of Ludwig van: he had the gift, rare then, and not as common as it should be today, of forming deep, non-passionate friendships with women.
Some newsworthy stuff:
Gerard Batten, Ukip’s immigration spokesman, proposed ban on new European mosques and says Qur’an needs updating
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/ukip-mep-gerard-batten-muslims-sign-charter-rejecting-violence
the most common comment entails the phrase Foxtrot Oscar.. So much for the rationale of the commenters.