In the wake of the Socialists’ disastrous showing in the French municipal elections, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault felt compelled to resign. President François Hollande has appointed Interior Minister Manuel Valls as Mr. Ayrault’s successor.
Meanwhile, after his party’s victory in Turkish local elections, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that the “traitors” who defamed him during the election campaign would pay.
In other news, North and South Korea fired artillery shells into each other’s territorial waters in a disputed area of the Yellow Sea near several South Korean islands.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Nick, 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.
Bailouts: A Slap in the Face to the Honest and Productive
While I am familiar with bankruptcy, insolvency and corporate overreach, I am completely unfamiliar with the concept of a “bailout.” In the real world, where cash flow and debt are irrevocable entries in an accounting ledger, there is no miracle “bailout” waiting in the wings, and there are no angelic figures or agencies waiting to step in to help out the incompetents. In the world in which I live and work, people who make forecasting or accounting errors are ruthlessly punished by the market. Those of us who can forecast accurately, satisfy customers, and manage cash flows survive and possibly even prosper, if we work hard enough. Those who cannot are relegated to bankruptcy or some non-ownership position in a company that shields them from risk and responsibility. There is no third alternative.
I am thus seriously perplexed and enraged to read about government “bailouts” occurring on a regular basis all over the modern world. The Ukrainian junta is apparently going to be “bailed out” with money stolen from men like me, because the previous Ukrainian government racked up enough debts to render the entire society insolvent. Goldman Sachs, GM, and AIG were all effectively “bailed out” because their previous executives were so outstandingly incompetent and corrupt that they rendered their institutions insolvent by orders of magnitude. The morons at the U.S. Postal Service were once again “bailed out” by the federal government because they are so completely clueless and worthless that they cannot profitably move folded pieces of paper around. The same holds true for Social Security and Medicare, which are both being rewarded for their insolvency by being “bailed out” with tax money from the U.S. government’s general fund. The list is almost endless: Citi, Chrysler, Long Term Capital Management, Mexico, Fannie and Freddie, the ECB, Greece, Spain, China’s shadow banks…
What the hell is a “bailout,” other than a reward for incompetence or criminality and a slap in the face (and the wallet!) to honest and responsible people all over the world?
[Comment: Ukraine bailout money will go straight to the banksters, pausing for a few micro-seconds in Ukrainian hands.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Deflation Causes Europe to Run Out of Other People’s Money
Margaret Thatcher famously commented on the European welfare state spending, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money” to spend.
European elites are panicking over a report in the Financial Times of London titled “Data Deepen Eurozone Deflation Fears.” With government spending at 50% of the gross domestic product, the 28 countries of the European Union have pursued economic policies that generate inflation to spike tax collections by pushing their citizens into higher progressive tax brackets. Having stifled economic growth and used inflation to tax away prosperity, European elites should panic.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Public Debt Climbs Above Estimates
The French government racked up more debt in 2013 than it had initially estimated, which is yet more bad new for embattled President François Hollande. France’s economic health is closely watched in the Euro zone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Sits on Record Mountain of Public Debt
France has admitted to having mounting problems to meet public deficit targets as weak tax revenue has spoilt plans to reduce debt levels. Fresh figures come as a blow to the president after disastrous local elections.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Houses: The Greatest Investment Delusion Known to Man
It is easy to persuade people that property is a one-way bet and for speculative behaviour to take hold
Recent days have seen a flurry of warnings about the UK housing market. Are the bears right to worry about another bubble?
The case against a bubble is clear enough. If you track so-called mortgage affordability, that is to say, the percentage of a buyer’s income taken up with mortgage payments, this is below its long term historical average. There is nothing sacrosanct about averages, of course, but on the face of it, houses are slightly more than averagely affordable.
Mind you, try telling that to the thousands of young people in London and the South East who cannot begin to stretch to any sort of ownership. Yet London is a special case. Drawing in people and with a large number of high earners, it is always going to be difficult for anyone except the extremely well-heeled to find London house prices comfortable. Elsewhere, on average, mortgages look affordable.
Then there are the bare facts about recent market performance. Prices have been rising but, outside top-end central London, not by a huge amount. And they are still below their previous peak. What’s more, although mortgage lending is increasing rapidly, it is still low compared to the past. To top it all, the economy is recovering, employment is rising and the squeeze on real earnings is about to end. So why worry?…
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
“I’ve Never Seen So Many Cops in One Place” *Video*
Hundreds of people protesting the murder of 38-year-old homeless man James Boyd gathered in Albuquerque Sunday. They marched to APD headquarters, then to the Civic Plaza. Then the crowd marched east on Central, blocking both lanes of traffic. Police in riot gear were confronted by protesters near the university. Protesters continued to walk back and forth on Central until late in the night.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
12 Signs That Something Big is Happening to the Earth’s Crust Under North and South America
Why are fault lines and volcanoes all over North and South America suddenly waking up? Are we moving into a time when major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will become much more common? For the past several decades, we have been extremely fortunate to have experienced a period of extremely low seismic activity along the west coast of the United States. You see, the west coast lies right along the infamous Ring of Fire.
Approximately 75 percent of all the volcanoes in the world are on the Ring of Fire, and approximately 90 percent of all global earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. Scientists tell us that it is inevitable that “the Big One” will hit California someday, but people have gotten very apathetic about this because things have been so quiet out there for so many years. Well, now it appears that things are changing in a big way — and not just along the California coast. The following are 12 signs that something big is happening to the earth’s crust under North and South America…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
California ObamaCare Sends Out Voter Registration Cards Premarked Democrat
Covered California, the Golden State’s Obamacare subsidiary described as the “new, easy-to-use marketplace where you and your family may get financial assistance to make coverage more affordable,” is sending out voter registration cards premarked Democrat.
A couple from La Mesa called a local news station after they received mail from their insurance provider with a letter discussing voter registration. The mail included a voter registration card premarked Democrat.
The unidentified couple told KGTV they have always voted Republican. They want to know why the state-run agency that implements Obamacare sent the mail with a premarked voter registration card.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prof. Quigley also related that the power elite “expected that they would be able to control both political parties equally. Indeed, some of them intended to contribute to both and allow an alternation of the two parties in public office in order to conceal their own influence, inhibit any exhibition of independence by politicians, and allow the electorate to believe that they were exercising their own free choice.” This is similar to what FDR’s son-in-law, Curtis Dall (a member of the New York Stock Exchange), wrote in F.D.R.: MY EXPLOITED FATHER-IN-LAW, as he revealed that “carefully screened leading ‘actors’ are picked well in advance of election day by a small group, picked for both major parties…For a long time I felt that FDR had developed many thoughts and ideas that were his own to benefit this country, the U.S.A. But he didn’t. Most of his thoughts, his political ‘ammunition,’ as it were, was carefully manufactured for him in advance by the CFR-One-World Money group.” Dall went on to explain that the October 1927 Stock Market crash “was the calculated ‘shearing’ of the public by the World-Money powers, triggered by the planned sudden shortage of the supply of call money in the New York money market. He was supported in this contention by Congressman Louis McFadden, chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, who had at least two assassination attempts made upon his life. In Congress in 1934, McFadden said that the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 “was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence…The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so they might emerge as rulers of us all.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cops to Inspect Homes Without Notice for Illegal Rentals
Zero tolerance program slammed as attack on property rights
Authorities in Long Island have launched a crackdown on homeowners who rent their house out to tenants who have not been registered under a “zero tolerance” program that will see police conduct home inspections without notice…
Although the crackdown was launched after complaints by residents, its primary purpose appears to be a way to target landlords and homeowners who rent out rooms in order to help pay the cost of exorbitant property taxes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit Police Stand With Citizens Who Are Using Guns for Self-Defense
According to The Detroit News, “justified” self-defense shootings in Detroit are hovering around 10 since January 1st.
This is up considerably from 2013, in which “there were 15 justifiable [self-defense shootings] in the city” during the entire year.
And far from criticizing the fact that more and more homeowners are standing up for their lives and property, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said he views this rebirth of self-defense as proof that”more and more Detroiters are becoming empowered.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Diet Soda, Aspartame Linked to Premature Deaths in Women
(NaturalNews) A decade-long study of 60,000 women has confirmed that drinking diet soda sweetened with aspartame is linked with a 30 percent increase in heart attack risk and a 50 percent increase in death risk.
The findings, presented at the American College of Cardiology(1), have already been partially swept under the rug with the false explanation that diet drinks don’t necessarily cause these risks but are instead merely correlated with them. “Women who toss back too many diet sodas may be trying to make up for unhealthy habits,” claims an article on CNBC,(2) while citing no evidence whatsoever to support the claim. Keep in mind that any time a synthetic vitamin is correlated with increased mortality, the entire scientific community immediately describes those synthetic vitamins as “causing” death. Correlation is causation only when industry-funded scientists say it is.
What scientists refuse to explore — even when the data clearly show a strong death risk association — is that aspartame is a neurotoxin. The reason why women who drink diet soda have a 50 percent increased death risk is, of course, far more likely to be caused by what’s in the diet soda rather than some lifestyle choice.
Aspartame, after all, is made from the feces of genetically engineered bacteria. It is not a natural sugar but rather a chemical compound created in an industrial lab. Used in diet sodas, it breaks down into a number of chemical compounds including formaldehyde and methanol. During digestion, the formaldehyde is oxidized into formic acid, a chemical known to cause toxicity in mammalian biology. Formic acid is also secreted by ants as part of their “chemical weapons” arsenal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush Team Awaits 2016 Decision: ‘We Are Keeping Our Powder Dry’
A powerful network of Jeb Bush loyalists, from previous high-ranking campaign staffers to top donors, increasingly have been communicating and coalescing as they await a decision from the former Florida Republican governor on whether he will run for president in 2016.
“We are keeping our powder dry,” said Justin Sayfie, Bush’s former communications director and chief speechwriter.
Publicly, Bush consistently has said he is still weighing a potential bid for president in 2016 but has yet to make up his mind. “I will make a decision later in the year,” Bush told reporters after speaking in Davie, Fla., a week ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Marxism and Redistribution Are High Treason
[Forward: You must learn why Marxists and their Fellow Travelers have No Standing in our Constitutional Republic- Social Justice and Redistribution are Treason- Citizens are Guaranteed Freedom and Prosperity-Return of Manufacturing with Tariffs-No Income Taxes-Largest Energy Reserves- No Amnesty- Deport Illegals- Land of Fruit and Nuts-High Command as Perfumed Princes-Generals in CFR-Nuremberg- No Balls At All- An Abomination- Obamacare Choices- Abolish Six Unconstitutional Federal Departments-Murder, Pillage, Rape, Starvation, Cannibalism for Cities-Tyrants Shoot First, et al.]
The Mainstream Media is owned by the Marxist Establishment and will mostly report only self serving propaganda contrary to the dictates of our Constitution.
The Constitution is emphatic; there can be no Compromise with Marxists or any similar group of Traitors, such as Establishment Republicans or Democrat Officials and Judges who ignore the Constitution for power and profit or for any reason at the expense of the very lives and sustenance of our people. Our Constitution Demands “Equal Justice” which made our country great. Marxists practice Unconstitutional “Social Justice” which means using their make believe “Faux Government” to take by force from those who produce and give to those who do nothing, while also allowing the looting and killing of our people by thugs and illegal invaders for their own corrupt benefit. Social Justice, related social programs, Crony Capitalism, or any kind of Redistribution, especially at the barrel of a gun are not allowed by our Constitution. This is pure Treason by our Marxist Officials, Judges, and Fellow Travelers usurping our Constitution, they are Dirty Rotten Traitors to our Republic deserving of no understanding, quarter, or pity. These Traitors are allowing murder, rape, pillage and theft of citizens for their own personal power and profit in direct conflict with our Constitution, and that is Treason by any definition. Marxist Traitors have no legal justification, none, for their actions and must expect to suffer severe consequences. Also, Don’t support those who are trying to destroy the Constitution another way by promoting a Constitutional Convention for their own purposes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Fraudulent Science From EPA
The Obama Environmental Protection Agency recently slashed the maximum allowable sulfur content in gasoline from 30 parts per million to 10 ppm. The agency claims its new “Tier 3” rule will bring $7 billion to $19 billion in annual health benefits by 2030.
“These standards are a win for public health, a win for our environment and a win for our pocketbooks,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy insists.
It’s all hokum. Like almost everything else emanating from EPA these days, the gasoline regulations are a case study in how America’s economy, jobs, living standards, health and welfare are being pummeled by secretive, deceptive, and indeed fraudulent and corrupt government practices.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Monsanto Non-GMO Strains of Produce Are a Ploy to Confuse Public Between Hybrid and GMO
(NaturalNews) The term hybrid, which you’ll often see in seed catalogs, refers to a plant variety developed through specific, controlled cross-breeding between two parent plants. Usually, these are naturally compatible within the same species. This is the kind of hybridization that takes place naturally in the wild. All plant breeders who respect Mother Nature simply “steer the process” to control the outcome. This not a GMO; in other words, this normal hybrid would not be the result of genetic “engineering,” or modification, of organisms for agricultural profits at the risk of human health.
Open-pollination varieties use classic breeding methods, and this has been done since the beginning of agriculture. It takes about half a dozen generations to cultivate these new plant varieties, and most heirloom varieties are open-pollinated. Now, modern science is finding ways to create hybrids under controlled conditions in just one generation. But what happens when they “cull” the bad traits (separate them from the parents) and stack the good traits? Are we talking about weed resistance here? — Because that may result in plants producing pesticides or nutritional “deficiencies.” It could open up a Pandora’s box and confuse consumers even more than they’re already confused.
The scariest part of hybrid GM (genetically modified) seeds is that they don’t produce uniform offspring, so gardeners must buy new seeds each year.
[…]
The goal of GMO is to kill bugs and weeds, so “killer” bacteria are inserted into your food, essentially. Think about this long and hard. Nobody knows how these “toxic” seedlings play out in nature. Will those bacteria that keep bugs from reproducing keep the humans from reproducing? Monsanto has patents and won’t even allow scientists to study this phenomena — – — talk about scary!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare Real Enrollment: Just 1.7% of Uninsured Covered
Obamacare, the plan purportedly created to provide health coverage for the uninsured, has enrolled just 1.7% of America’s 48.6 million uninsured.
News of the disastrous numbers comes as nervous Democrats and President Barack Obama, ahead of the November midterm elections, did their best on Monday’s enrollment deadline to put a positive spin on the deeply unpopular Obamacare program. The latest Associated Press poll finds that Obamacare has now hit an all-time low approval rating of just 26 percent.
The White House now claims an Obamacare enrollment figure of six million people. However, according to The New York Times, at least 20% of those never paid their premiums to activate coverage, leaving them uninsured. That drops the number down to 4.8 million.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One Percenter Convicted of Raping Infant Child Dodges Jail Because He ‘Will Not Fare Well’
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A Delaware man convicted of raping his three-year-old daughter only faced probation after a state Superior Court judge ruled he “will not fare well” in prison.
In her decision, Judge Jan Jurden suggested Robert H. Richards IV would benefit more from treatment. Richards, who was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009, is an unemployed heir living off his trust fund. The light sentence has only became public as the result of a subsequent lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, which charges that he penetrated his daughter with his fingers while masturbating, and subsequently assaulted his son as well.
Richards is the great grandson of du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont, a chemical baron.
According to the lawsuit filed by Richards’ ex-wife, he admitted to assaulting his infant son in addition to his daughter between 2005 and 2007. Richards was initially indicted on two counts of second-degree child rape, felonies that translate to a 10-year mandatory jail sentence per count. He was released on $60,000 bail while awaiting his charges.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rule From the Shadows: The Psychology of Power
The pursuit for dominance is the primary propellant of history, always has been, always will be. Those who don’t identify this assumption are not excused in the grand chess game, but instead are displaced and exploited by forces they do not comprehend.
– — From the aspect of those who rule the board it is unmistakably desirable to have a populace of unaware pawns than it is to have a bunch of adversaries who can escalate an effective battle. To that end it has always been preferable for the rulers to build up illusions which conceal the true nature of the game.
Walter Lippmann explained the “manufacture of consent” as an innovation in the usage of democracy. Basically it’s a method of domination, and he said this was beneficial and essential because the prevailing interests, the accepted concerns of the population elude the public. Lippmann wasn’t theorizing, nor was he explaining anomaly that he had observed from far away, he was part of that particular class and he directly affected the evolution of this new method of control.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tyranny in Tucson: Cop in Riot Gear Brutally Attacks Innocent Girl [Video]
In a YouTube video uncovered by the Arizona Daily Independent, Tucson police can be seen brutally pummeling a female student who was walking innocuously just off the campus of the University of Arizona.
The video was taken on Saturday. Tucson police had deployed in full, terrifying pseudo-military riot gear in case students and fans damaged any property after the Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team lost an overtime thriller to the Wisconsin Badgers.
The scene of the police brutality was a vibrant area of bars and restaurants.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hate preacher Abu Hamza has been dubbed a ‘terrorist leader of global reach’ by the US government who claim he sent ‘lieutenants’ to terror camps worldwide.
A decade after he was first arrested in Britain on a US warrant for terrorism charges sparking an extraordinary extradition battle costing British taxpayers over £2million, the hook-handed cleric is finally due to go on trial next month in New York facing allegations that he controlled a global network of jihadists…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vote Multiple Times for Obama; Get a Pass From DOJ
Eric Holder’s Justice Department wastes no time suing states over their voter ID laws — to protect the franchise, he says. But a fraudster who repeatedly voted for President Obama? Why, she gets a pass.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
RCMP Foster Muslim Ties to Thwart Attacks
Program that quietly started two years ago has support, skeptics
When RCMP Sgt. Derek McDonald walked into the downtown Toronto mosque, he was friendly and warm, smiling and shaking hands enthusiastically. It’s a style he’s deployed more than 50 times in similar visits across Canada…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘Airport Security Yanked My Headscarf’: Swede
A Swedish woman wearing a Muslim headscarf claims security staff at a small northern airport tugged on her hijab in public rather than take up her offer to take it off away from prying eyes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Amazon Hit by Fresh German Strikes
Further strikes hit online retailer Amazon on Monday morning in Germany, as a long-standing dispute over pay rumbled on.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bilderberg 2014 Uncovered: Secretive Elite to Meet in Denmark
Power brokers return to Europe for annual confab
The 2014 meeting of the Bilderberg Group — a secretive organization of global power brokers — will take place in Denmark at the end of May.
The announcement was made today on the official ‘Bilderberg Meetings’ website, which states simply, “The 62nd Bilderberg meeting will take place at the end of May 2014 in Denmark.”…
While the mainstream media habitually fails to afford Bilderberg the press coverage it demands — characterizing the group as a mere “talking shop” — innumerable examples of the organization having a direct impact on global policy have been documented in recent years, leading to charges that the group is fundamentally undemocratic in nature.
In 2010, former NATO Secretary-General and Bilderberg member Willy Claes’ admitted that Bilderberg attendees are mandated to implement policy decisions that are formulated during the meeting.
There are innumerable other examples of how Bilderberg has influenced major global events ahead of time, picking Presidents and Prime Ministers on a regular basis with total contempt for the democratic process.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan in Germany: Cherished and Controversial
Gezi Park protests, corruption allegations, YouTube censorship: Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s image in Germany has been tarnished by several scandals. But German-Turks may still be important to him this summer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European Elections a Turning Point for Europe?
by Peter Martino
In Britain as in France, voters have evidently become disillusioned with a political establishment responsible for open-borders policies, Islamization and the transfer of national sovereignty to supranational organizations such as the European Union. Soon these voices will be heard in national parliaments, too.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Floating Houses to Fight Climate Change in Holland
Rising sea levels caused by climate change are threatening coastal areas worldwide, today’s IPCC report shows. Low-lying Netherlands is already getting prepared by building floating homes and redirecting rivers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Town Hall Peacock Drives Couple Into Therapy
A French couple driven into psychotherapy and insomnia by the screeches and squawks of city-owned peacock have won a €4,000 settlement from the city of Marseille.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Eiffel Tower Turns 125: Facts You Need to Know
The grand old Iron Lady of Paris celebrates its 125th birthday on Monday. To celebrate the Eiffel Tower’s big day here are 12 facts about the famous monument that you might not know, as well as a look at some famous replicas around the world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Elections: Centre-Right Triumphs, Left Crumbles
The left loses 155 cities; FN does well but no landslide
(By Tullio Giannotti) (ANSAmed) — PARIS — The wave of the National Front (FN) but even more the tsunami of the centre-right Union for Popular Movement (UMP) crashed on Francois Hollande’s socialist majority, which endured a historic humiliation with the loss of 155 cities. The left is on the carpet two years after its return to the Elysee Palace and on the eve of European elections which promise to be forbidding for the government. The right is asking for an immediate change of course.
Today already there is to be a government reshuffling and the announced return of Segolene Royal. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault admitted, “It is a defeat for the government”. Despite clear victory for Anne Hidalgo, the first woman mayor of Paris as of last night — at the expense of her UMP adversary Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet — as well as confirmation in Lyon, Strasbourg, Lille (Martine Aubry), Nantes and Dijon, the historic dimension of the defeat for the Socialist Party (PS) and its allies can not be erased. In an election marked by record abstentionism that touched 40%, the left suffered a rout, and must abandon historic ramparts like Roubaix, Angers, La Roche-sur-Yon, Nevers, Quimper, Bastia, and even Limoges, where mayors from the left dominated for more than a century, since 1912. The FN was the winner of the first round vote last Sunday, and its major rise was confirmed with another 14-15 cities secured after winning Henin-Beaumont last Sunday. But the face of Marine Le Pen in television studios betrayed some disappointment. The FN did not penetrate Avignon, where the cultural world was unburdened of the prospect of an FN victory.
The FN did not manage even to take Forbach, in Moselle, where the media-savvy FN vice president Florian Philippot was in the running, nor Perpignan, in the south, where its hopes were placed on Louis Aliot, Le Pen’s partner and another FN vice president. “As of today, we are the third great party of the country,” Le Pen said. “At the European elections the FN will come out in the lead. This will cause new, serious disappointment for the UMP” and the government of the left, she predicted.
“The National Front has risen from 60 city councillors in 2008. Tonight there have been 1200 or 1300 of them elected.
There are 10-15 cities that will allow the FN to show what we are able to do,” said Le Pen.
The true winner of the administrative elections though was the UMP, the centre-right opposition that had seemed in disarray, with a president without charisma like Jean-Francois Copé, a fierce eternal adversary like ex-premier Francois Fillon, and the looming but retrenched Nicolas Sarkozy. The UMP ripped dozens and dozens from the left and redrew the map of the country’s municipalities. Cope’ now lays claim to being “the leading party of France, by the number of votes and by the number of candidates elected”. The effect of this “blue wave” flooding across rose-coloured France is that Hollande must “absolutely change his politics”, added Cope’.
“He must change plan for taxes, the fight against unemployment and marginal employment, criminal justice reform and scholastic rhythms”.
Asking to change practically everything, the UMP is now at the window, watching what happens next.
“If there isn’t a reshuffling after this blow, it would be a fantastic counter-signal,” observed the UMP’s Alain Juppe’, who was re-elected mayor of Bordeaux already in the first round vote. Not a single socialist has had difficulty admitting the electoral drubbing. No one doubts that the vote amounts to a rejection of the policy pursued thus far by Francois Hollande, who will announce a long-awaited cabinet shuffle today, according to his minister Benoit Hamon.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault does not want to leave office, let alone hand it over to his sworn enemy Manuel Valls, the current Interior Minister, who has been profiled as his likely successor.
Ayrault, the Greens and the Socialist Party (PS) say Valls did not follow the party, nor does he represent its right, liberal wing — the opposite of the desired turn to the left.
“We have not explained well enough that the action of the 2012 revival was essential for our country,” the visibly downcast premier tried to explain.
The party line has in any case dictated the return of Segolene Royal, who appeared last night in top form and ready to reenter the government, various sources said. The ex-partner and mother of Francois Hollande’s four children, the big personality who was poorly tolerated by ex-first lady Valerie Trierweiler, may be destined for a top level post in the government.
Speculation giving her prime minister slot, however, are for the moment political fantasy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French President Hollande Names Valls as New PM
President Francois Hollande has named Interior Minister Manuel Valls as France’s next prime minister. Mr Hollande, whose popularity has slumped, said Mr Valls would head a “fighting government”.
The ruling Socialists have been badly bruised in local elections which saw big gains for conservatives and the far-right National Front (FN). Mr Valls, 51, has replaced PM Jean-Marc Ayrault, whose office confirmed his resignation on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French PM Ayrault Resigns After Election Debacle
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has resigned after a poor showing by ruling Socialists in local elections. The country’s interior minister has been touted as a likely successor.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Government Resigns After Economic Woes Cause Political Reshuffle
France’s government has resigned ahead of a reshuffle that comes 24 hours after President Francois Hollande’s Socialists suffered losses in nationwide municipal elections seen as a referendum on his leadership.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Anti-Euro Party Turns Anti-Feminist
The youth wing of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has launched a campaign on its Facebook page targeting feminism as a “left-wing” ideology and encouraging people to post reasons to reject it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Police Arrest Three Over Radical Syrian Links
German authorities arrested three people with alleged ties to a Syrian radical group on Monday in police raids across the country, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Authorities Arrest Three People for Alleged Ties to Syrian Radical Group
German police have arrested three people with alleged ties to a Syrian radical group, according to the federal prosecutor’s office. Authorities conducted simultaneous raids in three cities across the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Lufthansa Cancels 3,800 Flights Due to Strike
Lufthansa, Germany’s biggest airline, said on Monday it will be forced to cancel most of its flights later this week, grounding as many as 425,000 passengers, due to a pilots’ strike.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Good-Bye Sweden — You Won’t Get Me for Insanity
by Ingrid Carlqvist
Prosecutor Magnus Pettersson in Malmö simply cannot understand how the artist Dan Park thinks. Park has been hauled into court for denigration of “folkgrupp” (specially protected groups of people) but is unwilling to learn — he publishes his pictures again! The prosecutor has an explanation: He must be clinically insane.
I have been wavering back and forth — stay in Sweden and fight the insanity or flee in order to observe it at a distance? Now I have made up my mind. Farewell Sweden — I’m leaving. One cannot live in a country where dissidents are treated like psychiatric patients and where the authorities wish to lock up social critics in mental institutions.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that I will continue to scrutinize the Swedish madness — but from the other side of the Sound.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Top Investor Sells 6.5% of Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena
Fintech takes 4.5% stake, BTG Pactual Europe buys 2%
(ANSA) — Rome, March 31 — The biggest stakeholder in Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) said Monday that it has sold 6.5% of the troubled Italian bank.
The MPS Foundation said it had sold 4.5% of the bank to Fintech, a United States-based investment fund owned by Mexican businessman David Martinez.
BTG Pactual Europe, a subsidiary of an Brazilian investment bank, bought 2%.
The MPS Foundation said it now has a 5.5% stake. MPS President Alessandro Profumo said last week that the bank will proceed with a capital increase to raise three billion euros in May.
The planned share issue has been tied to repaying part of the 4.1-billion euros in State aid that MPS received from the Italian government as part of a plan to turn the lender around.
Analysts have said the bank may risk nationalization if it fails to generate enough capital to repay State aid.
Italy’s third-largest bank was thrown into crisis in January 2013 when it emerged that a shady series of derivative and structured-finance deals produced losses of 720 million euros.
Siena prosecutors have been pursuing charges of alleged bribery, corruption, tax evasion and other allegedly illicit operations at MPS, which were either related to the bank’s nine-billion-euro acquisition of rival Antonveneta in 2008 or the period following the takeover.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Merged Fiat Could Produce 6 Million Auto Annually Says CEO
Automaker meetings soon moving to Netherlands from Turin
(See related) (ANSA) — Turin, March 31 — Fiat’s new production plans will see a combined output of up to six million autos per year by 2018, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said Monday.
“With the initiatives we will announce in May, six million is achievable”, he told a shareholder’s meeting in the northern industrial city of Turin.
Fiat and Chrysler, which delivered a combined total of 4.4 million cars last year, will unveil a new multiyear business plan in May.
He also said that Fiat will hold just one more major meeting in the company’s traditional headquarters in Turin. After that, it will move important meetings to the merged automaker’s new registered headquarters in The Netherlands, he said.
Iconic automaker Fiat announced in early January that it had gained full control of the American automaker Chrysler after years of planning. The $4.35 billion deal will allow the new Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to become the world’s seventh-larged automaker.
However, the new FCA — as the merged entity is now known — will have its tax base in the UK, most likely London, while its registered office is in The Netherlands.
Fiat was born more than 100 years ago in the northern industrial city of Fiat and its current management has assured Italian politicians, unions and its employees that the corporate changes will not affect operations in Italy.
The newly merged automaker will be making use of Chrysler’s strong earnings in its home market of the United States, but the company has also pledged to pay more attention to its luxury brands, such as Maserati. “We have some good news this year,” Fiat Chairman John Elkann told the annual general meeting.
“2013 has been full of success for Fiat,” he said.
“The losses in Europe were reduced and premium brand development is giving positive results,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: MPS Stock Gains 7% After Stake Sale
Almost 8% of capital changes hands
(ANSA) — Rome, March 31 — Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s share price gained 7%, climbing to 0.27 euro, after its biggest stakeholder, Fondazione MPS, announced the sale of 6.5% to two separate entities on Monday. Almost 8% of the troubled bank’s share capital changed hands after the announcement. “This is more than a sale because we have given a future and solid foundations to the organisation,” said Fondazione MPS President Antonella Mansi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Complains That Renzi’s Plans ‘Unconstitutional’
M5S leader suggests premier’s cuts should begin with his own job
(ANSA) — Rome, March 31 — Changing the Senate to reduce its powers is unconstitutional, Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) party said Monday even as Premier Matteo Renzi working to win support to amend the Constitution to permit such changes.
If Renzi wants to streamline government and make cuts, he should start with his own position, added Grillo.
But the premier “is the first person to live for politics,” shown by his long history in political affairs, including as mayor of Florence and before that, serving in regional government, Grillo said on his blog, his favourite way of communicating with the public.
Renzi, the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), was set on Monday to get his cabinet to approve a bill to change the Constitution to reform the Senate, stripping it of its lawmaking powers and turning it into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives.
The bill will also change Article V of the Constitution to make it possible to scrap Italy’s provincial administrations and take back some powers from the country’s regional governments, many of which are guilty of overspending.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Mayor Secures Saudi Art Restoration Funds
Marino and Prince Sultan in deal to save Rome monuments
(ANSA) — Rome, March 31 — Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino has secured a long-term deal with the Saudi monarchy to fund restoration projects in the cash-strapped Italian capital, the mayor’s office said Monday.
Marino traveled to Riyadh at the weekend on the invitation of Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a Saudi prince with a passion for art who reportedly first met the mayor at a Rome exhibition in October.
Rome’s mayor reportedly flew to meet Prince Sultan, a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot and astronaut who is the current Saudi tourism minister, with a dossier of nine multi-million-euro restoration projects to choose from. These range from a 1.3-million-euro restoration of the facades of the 19th-century Palazzo delle Esposizioni exhibition centre, to a six-million-euro effort to return the Seven Halls, an ancient Roman cistern that once supplied the Baths of Trajan, to their former glory.
While terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, the Saudi monarchy has reportedly agreed to set up a Rome historical monument restoration fund along with other private donors.
Rome has agreed to loan artwork to Saudi museums in return.
This is not the first time Rome mayors have sought alternative funding to keep the city’s landmark monuments on their feet.
Last week, luxury jeweller Bulgari signed a deal to pay for the restoration of Rome’s Spanish Steps, while the owner of Italian shoe label Tod’s has ploughed millions of euros into the Colosseum. As well, Fendi fashion house has agreed to renovate the Trevi Fountain, while Japanese patron Yuzo Yagi in 2012 paid to restore the Pyramid of Cestius.
In October, the Hall of the Philosophers at Rome’s Capitoline Museum reopened after a six-month, 100,000-euro renovation courtesy of the country of Azerbaijan.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Klaus Bernpaintner: A Swedish Lesson in Conformity & Control (Audio)
Klaus Bernpaintner is a Senior Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Sweden, an entrepreneur and a former financial analyst. He earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, USA, and an MSc from the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. He joins us to discuss modern problems created by government. He shares how true economics is the strongest proof against government. We’ll focus on Swedish politics, economics and collectivist “solutions” as the Nordic model is being praised and promoted to the United States. Klaus dismantles the common misbelief that Swedish citizens get “free stuff.” Since Sweden has the most centralized government in the world with the 2nd highest tax rate burden in the world, we investigate into the supposed claim that Sweden is the “happiest country in the world” and look into the results of socialist ideology. We also discuss fake privatization of businesses and how government regulation creates corruption, yet the people wrongfully blame free market capitalism. In the second hour, we discuss what creates the narrow bandwidth of perspective in a society like Sweden. We discuss how centralized government operates to shape and control behavior of the masses. Klaus explains how “family policy” is being used to control the choices families make. In a collectivist society, the inhabitants cannot see the value of taking charge of one’s own destiny. Klaus returns to economic fascism to expose how government creates disastrous effects. He explains why entrepreneurs are leaving Sweden. Later, we critique not only Sweden’s healthcare system but Obamacare. We can predict just how this will end. Although global politics seems to be closing in around us and although we may be in for a bumpy ride, Klaus leaves a positive message about the long term.
[Comment: 1st hour of radio program is free to listen.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 40% of Italians Want to Quit Euro
A new poll has found that more than 40 percent of Italians would like the country to leave the European single currency.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NATO’s Putin Conundrum: Berlin Considers Its Alliance Options
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has demanded a stronger NATO presence in Eastern Europe. But that makes some in Chancellor Merkel’s government uncomfortable. As the alliance moves to reassure eastern allies, Berlin considers its options.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Geert Wilders Once Again Endures a Firestorm of Criticism
by Jerry Gordon
Wilders’ opinion poll standing may have temporarily been dented by the outbursts of his left liberal opponents in the Hague Parliament. However, the cogency of his warnings about Islamization of Holland through the Dar al Hijrah stealth Jihad strategy of mass Muslim immigration and the enormous cost to the nation still resonate.
It is left to Bat Ye’or who gave this closing comment in an email about this hatemongering episode targeting Wilders. In reply to this comment, “It would appear that the world has gone topsy turvy, morally.” she said, “Exactly, and this is called dhimmitude.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Daring Divers Bring Up Bodies From Plura Caves
A team of intrepid Finnish divers have defied a ban on plumbing the depths of Norway’s Plura caves and successfully retrieved the bodies of two of their countrymen who died there in February.
The two Finnish divers died on 6 February as they attempted to swim through the Plura caves, Europe’s longest water-filled cave system. Three other divers were hospitalised for compression sickness.
According to the survivors, one of the divers got stuck at a depth of close to 130 metres under water. The other ran out of air while trying to rescue him.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Accused MSN Child Abuser ‘A Psychopath’
Court psychiatrists in Norway believe that Ammaz Omer Qureshi, the British man accused of ordering his Norwegian girlfriend to abuse her daughter live online, is a psychopath with narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders.
Qureshi, 35, and Yasmin Chaudhry, 28, are on trial for drowning Chaudhry’s two-year-old daughter from another relationship by plunging her head into a bucket of water in October 2010.
Qureshi has British and Chaudhry Norwegian citizenship, but both are of Pakistani origin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Crowds Swamp Church After ‘Holy Grail’ Claim
Curators were forced to remove a precious cup from display in a church in Spain when crowds swarmed there after historians claimed it was the Holy Grail, staff said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Lovemaking Lands Woman at Bottom of Well
Firefighters in a city in central Spain were called to rescue a half-naked, 21-year-old woman on Friday who was suffering from shock and hypothermia after falling into a 15-metre deep waterwheel well shaft while having sex.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Kidnapped Journalists Reunited With Families
Two Spanish journalists taken hostage in Syria by an Al-Qaeda-linked group walked free after six months in captivity and were reunited with their friends and family in Spain on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Catalans Join Forces With EU Separatists
Several thousand European separatists, overwhelmingly Flemish but also Catalans, Scots and South Tyroleans, demonstrated in Brussels on Sunday for the right to self-determination.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Prosecutor Takes a Page From the Soviet Manual
by Lars Hedegaard
Even before he has been sentenced, Swedish street artist Dan Park has already been jailed for repeating an offense he may not have committed and the prosecutor wants him declared insane.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Probe ‘Theft’ of $50-Million Diamond
Geneva authorities are investigating the disappearance of a pink diamond estimated to be worth around $50 million from a reputable storage firm for gems, according to a news report on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Launches Investigation Into Top Global Banks for Currency Manipulation
Swiss anti-trust regulators are formally investigating eight global banks for allegedly manipulating foreign currency exchange rates. The banks’ currency traders are suspected of colluding to rig the rates.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Veronique de Rugy
While commentators remain captivated by the bleak saga of such Eurozone basket cases as Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, another European Union member is quietly slipping into economic despair. After years of fiscal mismanagement, France is in a bad, bad place.
France spends more of its GDP on government-57 percent-than any other country in the Eurozone. The country’s unemployment rate is at a 16-year high of 11 percent, and a startling number of richer and younger French people are leaving for more hospitable economic environments abroad.
It has gotten so bad that France’s crisis-wracked neighbors might be catching up: A November 2013 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report warned that Paris is “falling behind southern European countries that have cut labor costs and become leaner and meaner.”
The data is even more striking when compared to Germany. With an unemployment rate of 5 percent and a private savings rate of 12.1 percent, Germany has been growing at 1 percent annually while France sputters along at 0 percent.
It is tempting to blame this on the 2007 recession, but the reality is that France hasn’t been doing well in years. Since the creation of the Eurozone in 1999, France has only managed a 0.8 percent annual growth rate. Germany, by contrast, has grown three times faster over those 15 years.
Across all available indexes of national economic freedom, France scores very poorly for a developed nation. The 2013 Economic Freedom of the World Index, published by the Fraser Institute and Cato Institute, aggregates and weighs national data on five broad categories-size of government, rule of law and property rights protection, sound money, freedom of international trade, and regulation. How does France rank? An unimpressive 40th, down from 25th in 1980.
This effect is echoed in a similar but more qualitative survey from The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation. Their Index of Economic Freedom for 2013 ranks France 62nd in the world, right between Thailand and Rwanda. And the trendlines in both studies are similar: The country’s good or average scores in the areas of rule of law, regulation, and free trade are dragged down by bloated government and high taxes. Economic freedom is a good indicator of prosperity, and France’s is sorely lacking.
Unfortunately, the French government’s response to anemic growth and higher unemployment has been to tack toward less economic freedom, not more. Loyal to his promises on the campaign trail, President Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party has refused to trim France’s social-welfare spending-the highest of all developed economies-and has chosen instead to chip away at the country’s huge deficit by raising taxes.
Hollande’s more right-wing predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, was only slightly better on taxes…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Sympathy Problem: Is Germany a Country of Russia Apologists?
Should the West chart a course of confrontation with Russia following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea? Many prominent Germans aren’t so sure. Sympathy for Russia is alive and well in the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Whistle-Blower’ Leaks BBC Panorama Sources to Mayor Lutfur Rahman
A secret list of BBC sources was leaked to the mayor of Tower Hamlets by a junior staffer working on a Panorama investigation into his time in office. The list was leaked by a female Bangladeshi journalism student working as a researcher on the programme, who passed it on to the mayor’s office.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman branded the Panorama episode — which airs tonight — “racist and Islamophobic” after seeing the leaked information, which the BBC said includes details of its confidential sources…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
By trialbyjeory
Having been partly involved in the making of tomorrow night’s Panorama documentary on Mayor Lutfur Rahman and Tower Hamlets, it’s more difficult to judge what its impact will be (it’s a 30 minute programme and lots has been left on the cutting room floor).
From what I know, I think it’s a very measured, balanced and fair investigation and I suspect Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will take some action as a result. The programme exposes serious inadequacies in the checks and balances of a directly elected mayoral system, particularly when there’s a context of dysfunctional party politics…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
It is one of the great old names on the British High Street with a history spanning more than 160 years.
But department store House of Fraser could be set to fall in to Chinese hands, with a conglomerate from the Far Eastern superpower yesterday said to have tabled a £450million bid for the chain.
Nanjing-based Sanpower is in advanced talks over a surprise swoop for the UK high street chain, which has 60 branches.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Father of the ‘Gaia Hypothesis’ James Lovelock: Environmentalism Has Become a Religion
– From the Guardian, where I find it surprising they actually printed it:
Scientist behind the Gaia hypothesis says environment movement does not pay enough attention to facts and he was too certain in the past about rising temperatures
The 94 year-old scientist, famous for his Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a self-regulating, single organism, also said that he had been too certain about the rate of global warming in his past book, that “it’s just as silly to be a [climate] denier as it is to be a believer” and that fracking and nuclear power should power the UK, not renewable sources such as wind farms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gang ‘Exploited Teenage Girls’
A gang targeted vulnerable teenage girls through social networking sites before sexually exploiting and gang-raping them, prosecutors have told a court. Five men are standing trial at Cambridge Crown Court accused of trafficking and raping eight girls who were aged between 13 and 16 at the time of the allegations, which date between 2008 and 2013.
Opening the case against the defendants, four of whom are Pakistani, she added: “This case involves the deliberate sexual exploitation of young vulnerable white girls by a group of older Asian men. These defendants singled out these girls because of their vulnerability. Contact started and continued through Facebook, Blackberry messaging, text messaging and mobile phones.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lutfur Rahman Accuses BBC of Racism Amid Panorama Storm
London mayor under fire after programme claimed he increased taxpayer funding to Bangladeshi and Somali groups
A London mayor who was accused by the Panorama programme of diverting £2m in public grants allegedly to shore up his vote has complained of racism and Islamophobia by the BBC…
[JP note: Programme can be seen here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04044km/Panorama_31_03_2014/ ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Prisoner Tried to Start Islamic Uprising in Prison After Jihad Murder of Lee Rigby
by Robert Spencer
They’re in prison, but nothing is being done there to disabuse them of their jihadist sentiments. To take any action of that kind would be “Islamophobic,” and would be denounced by Britain’s “moderate” Muslim leaders. Consequently, these men are waging jihad in prison and they will wage jihad after they’re released from prison — all while British authorities concentrate on shutting down foes of jihad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Married Bank Worker Stole £2m Then Spent the Lot on Call Girls: £1m Went on One Thai Escort
A married bank worker who stole more than £2million from Barclays and squandered it on prostitutes has been jailed for seven years.
John Skermer, 45, set up fake bank accounts with overdrafts of £1million, then siphoned the money into his personal account.
He spent almost all the cash on call girls, lavishing £1million on one escort alone. The computer geek spent months wining and dining the Thai woman, known as Kookai, travelling to London from his Cheshire home and taking her to expensive hotels and restaurants.
All the while Skermer’s wife of ten years, Tracy, 33, with whom he has two young sons, was in the dark about his infidelity.
He explained nights away from the family in Widnes by saying he was ‘working with the police’ investigating fraud.
Skermer’s position as head of an IT security team allowed him to steal more than £2.1million from the bank undetected over five years.
But the fraud was eventually discovered when a routine security update at the bank logged the fake accounts.
Bosses asked Skermer to investigate, but he confessed and police were called in.
Chester Crown Court heard that Skermer, who pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud, also spent some money on luxury golfing days, tickets to see Manchester United and a £35,000 Audi 4×4.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nigel Farage: I am Proud to Have Taken a Third of the BNP’s Support
The Ukip leader says his party actively targeted BNP voters who were ‘frustrated’ and ‘upset’ by their changing communities
Nigel Farage is “proud” that Ukip have attracted a third of all British National Party voters. The leader of the UK Inpedence Party said his party had been directly targetting people who had previously voted BNP for years and had successfully convinced many to vote Ukip…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Two Murderers Found Guilty of Threatening to Kill Prison Warden in ‘Jailhouse Jihad’
Two killers were convicted at the Old Bailey of threatening a warden at one of Britain’s highest security prisons in an attempted jailhouse jihad. Islamic extremists Feroz Khan, 26, and Fuad Awale, 26, tried to take over HMP Full Sutton, near York, after an Iman dared to offer his condolences to the family of murdered soldier Lee Rigby. Two days after storming out of the prayer service, Khan went to visit every Muslim prisoner in a bid to start an Islamic uprising…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
World Halal Food Council Sees Italy as Potential Halal Hub
(ANSAmed) — BARI, MARCH 31 — “Islamic finance and capital are ready to pull Europe out of crisis” and “Italy in particular” as long as the countries follow Halal food standards (“conformance” in Arabic) in “production, logistics and commercialization” consistent with the precepts of Sharia, the laws that establish what is licit or prohibited for a Muslim. This is the message of the World Halal Food Council (WHFC), which was held in Rome March 26-30.
The event organized by the Italian section of the Halal International Authority (HIA), the only organism recognized for the quality certification for products according to Islamic standards, gathered together representatives of the 57 Islamic states of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for the first time in Italy. “We are willing to invest in Italy, which we want to see become the hub of the Halal market in the Mediterranean,” explained the Saudi sheik Fahah Alared, a member of the Committee for Islamization of Banks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU and EBRD Boost Support for Small Businesses in Tunisia
The Small Business Support team of the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) has officially launched its activities in Tunisia. The EU has allocated €1.1 million to these activities through the Neighbourhood Investment Facility, in addition to funding from the EBRD’s SEMED Multi-Donor Account and the SEMED cooperation funds account. Since the beginning of its operations in the country in 2012, the EBRD has helped more than 70 SMEs access high quality business and technical assistance services, and it has invested €114 million in ten projects throughout the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Continues to Support Med Neighbours, Challenges Change
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — The European Union continues to spend money and energy on its relations with southern Mediterranean countries despite the current shift in attention eastwards, as the annual report on the EU’s neighborhood policy shows. From Tunisia and Morocco — engaged as they are in difficult reforms — to Lebanon and Jordan as they deal with a heavy influx of Syrian refugees, to the political void and clashes in Libya: many challenges for bilateral relations have emerged in recent years, each a unique case onto itself. Diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton has said that the EU’s commitments to its neighbors is a top priority.
In looking towards the future, the European Union has decided to continue providing technical and financial aid to its neighbors, both those south of it and those to the east. The EU expects to spend some 15.4 billion euros in neighborhood policy aid for sixteen neighboring nations over the 2014-20 period.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Research EU Project Holds Training Events in South Med
Horizon 2020 to be launched soon in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — A series of awareness and training events on information and communication technology cooperation in the framework of the Horizon 2020 research programme is being held in several countries of the Southern Mediterranean in the framework of the Med-Dialogue project, funded under the EU’s seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) to help enhance policy dialogue and collaborative research in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with the Mediterranean partner countries.
After Lebanon in March, according to the Enpi website (www.enpi-info.eu), the H2020 Awareness and Training Events will take place in the following countries: Algiers (Algeria) 01-02 April; Tunis (Tunisia) 03-04 April; Fes (Morocco) 08-09 April; Cairo (Egypt) 14-15 May; Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) 20-21 May.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Prime Minister Olmert Convicted in Israeli Bribery Case
Israeli media have reported that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was found guilty of two counts of bribery, dating back to his time as mayor of Jerusalem. The case was tied to a major real estate development project.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Vows Pursuit of ‘Traitors’ After Turkey Election Win
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a win in local elections hands him a mandate to chase the “traitors” within the state who are behind months of graft allegations.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party or AKP won 46 percent of the vote yesterday, according to unofficial results reported by NTV television with 98 percent of ballot boxes counted. That’s up from 39 percent in the 2009 vote. The AKP was set to retain control of Istanbul and was running neck-and-neck in the capital, Ankara, with the main opposition Republican People’s Party, which won 28 percent nationwide. The lira jumped more than 1 percent to the highest level in two months.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Homegrown Jihadists Fight ‘Holy War’ In Syria
Last week, French security officials announced they had foiled what they called an “imminent” terrorist plot on the French Riviera. The main suspect was a 23-year-old French citizen, a radical Islamist who had just returned from Syria. There, he had fought in the so-called jihad, or holy war, against both President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and rival rebel factions. The worry is that these seasoned fighters will return to France to carry out terrorist attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Google Says Turkey Highjacking Its Servers
Google says that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Turkey have set up servers masquerading as Google services to direct people away from Google sites. Google is the world’s most popular search engine and owns the video-sharing network Youtube which the Turkish government banned last week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is Pakistan Aiding Syrian Rebels?
Pakistan denies claims it is arming Syrian rebels at Saudi Arabia’s behest. Experts, however, say Islamabad is not only providing military equipment to anti-Assad groups, it’s also helping jihadists to go fight in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi King Appoints New Crown Prince
(ANSAmed) — MARCH 27 — King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia designated his stepbrother Muqrin bin Abdulaziz as crown prince and heir apparent on Thursday, reports Al Arabiya. In an announcement on state television, Abdullah underscored that Muqrin would become king if the post became vacant. The decision excludes from succession the royal family member who it had widely been assumed would succeed the king, Salman bin Abdulaziz.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Rocket Slams Into Mosque in Turkish Border Town, Injuring 60-Year-Old Refugee
Officials say Turkish artillery units have fired into Syrian territory in retaliation for a rocket that hit a mosque in a Turkish border town, injuring a 60-year old Syrian woman refugee.
The governor’s office for Turkey’s Hatay province said Monday three mortar rounds fired during fighting between the Syrian regime and opposition forces also landed on Turkish territory, but did not hurt anyone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Erdogan Rejoices in Election Win, ‘Traitors to Pay’
Erdogan’s AKP keeps Istanbul and Ankara in mayoral elections
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — Islamic Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan last night proclaimed himself winner of key mayoral elections and warned that those who had “betrayed” the nation would pay. “There are those who will try to escape tomorrow,” he said to thousands of supporters in front of the headquarters of his Islamic, centre-right Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara.
“But they will pay for what they did,” Erdogan vowed. Erdogan’s AKP won the mayoral races in Istanbul and Ankara, keeping the two main cities of the country, according to the definitive results released this morning on the private TV station NTV. In Istanbul, incumbent mayor and AKP candidate Kadir Topbas took 48.1% against 40.1% for Mustafa Sarigul of the social democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP). In Ankara, the AKP’s Melih Kokcek took 44.8%, while the CHP’s Mansur Yavas came in at 43.9%. After counting 98% of the ballots, national data gave 45.6% of the vote to the AKP, 28% to the CHP, 15.3% to the MHP and 5.9% to the BDP.
Late last night, Erdogan appeared at the balcony of the AKP headquarters accompanied by his family and flanked by his son Bilal, who featured with the premier in a now famous wiretapped telephone conversation in which they talk about how to make millions of euros kept in the house “disappear”. “Today the people have unmasked the immoral plans and traps,” the Turkish premier said. “They have given an Ottoman slap to the opposition”.
“The politics of recordings and cassettes was defeated today” and “immoral politicians have lost,” he added.
Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu during the election campaign accused Erdogan of being “Prime Thief” and a “dictator”, and played compromising recordings leaked on Twitter and Youtube at rallies before the social networks were blocked. Erdogan also said that “Turkey needs a new opposition” and added that “a new Turkey has been born today. This is the wedding day with the new Turkey”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: the Erdogan Phenomenon and a Desperate Opposition
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s position has been strengthened after Sunday’s local elections. His critics failed because of their repetitive arguments and strategies, says DW’s Baha Güngör.
Erdogan’s conservative AKP party once again triumphed in nationwide local elections in Turkey on Sunday. Meanwhile, his political opponents and critics are desperately trying to recover from the shocking result, which was even more clearly in favor of the AKP than expected.
The opposition parties’ main failure was an absence of convincing arguments, strategies and manifestos. Their attempt in some regions to unite and stand up to the AKP never got off the ground.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Premier Says Rivals Will Pay as He Wins Elections
(AGI) Ankara, March 31 — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in local elections and attacked his rivals. His pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party, the AKP, polled 45 percent against 28.5 percent for the opposition social-democratic Republican People’s Party, the CHP, with 95 percent of ballots counted. Mr Erdogan told his rivals that they will “pay a high price” for what he called an attempt to overturn him with a defamatory campaign before the polls.
Results for the municipality of Ankara are still not certain.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Islam the Opera: Curtain up on Clusters of Light About Life of Prophet Muhammad
Musical production telling the story of Islam’s main prophet has premiered in Sharjah, the small emirate adjoining Dubai
It was quite a challenge, even for the crack team of theatrical experts summoned from around the world: less than six months to produce a hi-tech musical extravaganza about one of the most renowned figures in human history. Oh yes, and the title character can’t appear on stage…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Aid to Ukraine is a Bad Deal for All
by Ron Paul
Last week Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill approving a billion dollars in aid to Ukraine and more sanctions on Russia. The bill will likely receive the president’s signature within days. If you think this is the last time US citizens will have their money sent to Ukraine, you should think again. This is only the beginning.
This $1 billion for Ukraine is a rip-off for the America taxpayer, but it is also a bad deal for Ukrainians. Not a single needy Ukrainian will see a penny of this money, as it will be used to bail out international banks who hold Ukrainian government debt. According to the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-designed plan for Ukraine, life is about to get much more difficult for average Ukrainians. The government will freeze some wage increases, significantly raise taxes, and increase energy prices by a considerable margin.
But the bankers will get paid and the IMF will get control over the Ukrainian economy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dashed Ikea Dreams Show Decades Lost to Bribery in Ukraine
Almost half of Ukrainians say they desire Ikea products more than any other global brand, yet the largest home-furnishings retailer hasn’t been able to crack the market in a decade of trying. The reason: it won’t pay a bribe.
Stuck between the European Union and its former imperial master Russia, Ukraine has emerged as the most corrupt country on the continent, according to Transparency International. That and “incompetent” leadership are the reason a nation endowed with most of the ingredients needed to create a vibrant economy fell so far behind its peers, according to analysts including Erik Nielsen, chief global economist at UniCredit SpA (UCG) in London.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fighting Words: Schäuble Says Putin’s Crimea Plans Reminiscent of Hitler
He’s not the first to do it, but he’s a big enough player that it could worsen tensions. On Monday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said he saw parallels between Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and Adolf Hitler’s land grab of Sudetenland.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Putin Adviser Warns His Ex-Boss Has Desires on Finland
A former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the West is failing to understand Putin’s world view and that the ambitions of Russia’s head of state extend far beyond Crimea.
Andrey Illarionov, a Russian economist who served as a senior economic adviser to Putin between 2000 and 2005, interviewed by Sweden’s Dagbladet, said unless steps were taken to stop Putin in Ukraine, Putin would seek to re-establish Russia’s extent as it stood in Tsarist days by regaining Finland, Belarus and the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Free-Fall: IMF to Accelerate Ukraine’s Economic Collapse?
Will Maidan optimism be extinguished as the citizens of Ukraine realize their economic plight means considerable imminent hardship?
Ukraine is bankrupt. It has wavered on the cusp for some time. However, it is about to suffer the cruelest indignity: discovering that Western politicians who promised prosperity have been encouraging the IMF to deliver a leveraged poisoned chalice.
Maidan dreams are turning abruptly into a nightmare as coup gives way to penury. Siren voices from the West have lured the Ukrainian economic ship on to the rocks with the IMF about to launch a lifeboat — replete with economic subjugation as bondholders get paid and citizens suffer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Siemens Says Committed to Russian Partners
The chief executive of Germany’s Siemens said his firm supported a “trusting relationship” with Russian companies after meeting President Vladimir Putin at his residence outside Moscow on Wednesday.
The United States has levied sanctions against several Russian individuals — including Russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin — over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
Engineering conglomerate Siemens has a partnership with Russian Railways, the state railway monopoly, under which it provides high-speed trains for rail lines between St Petersburg, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, according to the Siemens website.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Informs Merkel of Russia’s Partial Troop Withdrawal on Ukraine Border
Russia has partially withdrawn troops from the border with Ukraine. In a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel President Vladimir Putin discussed the move and how the West can “restore stability in the region.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Soviet Cult and Pragmatism in Transnistria
Experts worry that the next “Crimea” could be the breakaway region of Transnistria. Many locals there don’t share that fear, and if the last referendum holds, a large majority would welcome a Russian annexation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Braces for Crimean Refugees After Russia Annexes Peninsula
Thousands of refugees from the newly-annexed Crimea have begun pouring into mainland Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the peninsula last month, headed for hastily-assembled shelters and the homes of countrymen.
So far, most appear to be ethnic Tatars, who account for about 12 percent of the peninsula’s 2 million residents. But several thousand Ukrainian soldiers, their families and other residents of the peninsula who do not want to live under Russian occupation are also expected to leave.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Descending Into ‘Gestapo Times, ‘ Russian Politician Says
The Ukrainian parliament reportedly is considering a bill that would allow security forces to arrest and detain local citizens for up to 30 days without formal charges or court approval, a Russian politician claimed Monday, citing the measure as just one indication that the political upheaval in Ukraine is descending into Nazi-era “Gestapo times.”
“The entire country is populated by armed militants in balaclavas,” said Sergei Zheleznyak, the vice speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, in a teleconference Monday from Moscow. “Their names are unknown … they’re outlaws and they don’t comply with the laws.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
With Sochi Olympics Over, Russia Diverts Resources to Crimea
Following Russia’s lightning-fast incorporation of Crimea, authorities are throwing vast amounts of financial and human resources into efforts to create a model region and win more support from the already jubilant population.
On Monday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev added weight to Russia’s claim to own the peninsula by bringing half of the Cabinet to Crimea’s administrative center of Simferopol to discuss the economic and social development in the region.
“No resident of Crimea or Sevastopol should feel any drawbacks from joining Russia, only gains,” Medvedev said, according to an official transcript on the government’s website.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
British Sniper in Afghanistan Kills Six Taliban With One Bullet
Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards hit trigger switch of suicide bomber whose device then exploded, Telegraph learns
A British sniper in Afghanistan killed six insurgents with a single bullet after hitting the trigger switch of a suicide bomber whose device then exploded, The Telegraph has learnt. The 20-year-old marksman, a Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards, hit his target from 930 yards (850 metres) away, killing the suicide bomber and five others around him caught in the blast…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India: Special Court Suspends Start of Marines Trial to July
Supreme Court set to rule on Italian petition
(ANSA) — New Delhi, March 31 — A special New Delhi court tasked with handling the case of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012 on Monday suspended the start of the trial to July 31, pending a Supreme Court ruling.
India’s top court on Friday agreed to consider an Italian appeal against NIA anti-terrorism prosectors taking the case and said it would look at the petition in a hearing in four weeks.
In the appeal, Italy also requested that marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone be allowed to return home and that the whole case be dropped.
Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and reportedly opening fire on their fishing trawler.
The incident occurred while the marines were guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala in February 2012.
The two marines have been living and working at the Italian embassy in India pending charges.
Rome has protested a long series of delays in the case, which has caused a deep diplomatic schism between the countries.
It successfully fought to ensure New Delhi take the death penalty off the table and drop the application of a severe anti-terrorism, anti-piracy law, which it said would have equated Italy with a terrorist state.
Rome is seeking international arbitration in the case, which it argues is not India’s jurisdiction as the incident took place outside the country’s territorial waters.
It also says the marines should be exempt from prosecution in India because they are servicemen who were working on an anti-piracy mission.
Premier Matteo Renzi on his appointment last month called the case “absurd and shocking”.
He said on Thursday that he had called on United States President Barack Obama to support Italy over the marines during a meeting between the leaders in Rome.
The Italian government’s special envoy on the case Staffan de Mistura has argued that if the marines must face trial, it should be in Italy.
De Mistura said last week that if a trial starts in India, Italy will snub the proceedings.
Italy has won the backing of the European Union, which has said the case endangers international anti-piracy operations.
Rome is also trying to get the United Nations involved.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Court Indicts Musharraf for Treason
A court in Pakistan has indicted former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on treason charges relating to his imposition of emergency rule in 2007. Musharraf has pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first time in Pakistan that any acting or former army chief has been charged with treason; it is considered a blow to the country’s powerful military.
Musharraf and his lawyers claim that the charges are politically motivated, coming after the re-election of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf deposed upon seizing power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Karachi : One Injured in Blast Near Mosque in Gulshan-e-Hadeed
KARACHI: A low intensity blast near Khalid Bin Waleed mosque located in Gulshan-e-Hadeed Phase -2, late Monday night injured one person. The blast was so powerful that it was heard across the area. The glass-panes of the masjid were smashed and walls of the holy place were said to be partially damaged…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sea Trash Misleads Searchers Looking for Debris From Missing Malaysia Air Jet
A cluster of orange objects spotted by a search plane was just fishing equipment and not related to the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, officials said Monday, in the latest disappointment in the three-week hunt that Australia’s prime minister said will continue indefinitely.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman Jesse Platts said an analysis confirmed the objects “have nothing to do with the missing flight.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gold Sales by Japanese Retailer Jump Before Tax Change
Gold sales by Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry K.K., Japan’s biggest bullion retailer, increased fivefold in March as investors accelerated purchases before the nation’s consumption tax rises tomorrow.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan: Airports Eager to Cater to Muslims’ Needs
For the most devout followers of Islam, traveling to Japan has often spelled trouble.
Some may recall entering clothing shops in a desperate search for fitting rooms where they could perform one of their five daily prayers. Others may cringe at the times they had to prostrate themselves in the corner of an airport lounge, only to invite suspicious glances from other travelers. And finding a halal-certified restaurant has always been a laborious task.
But the days are gone when such inconveniences had to be considered one of the inescapable quirks of visiting Japan…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
North, South Korea Exchange Fire Across Disputed Western Sea Border
North and South Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into each other’s waters Monday in a flare-up of animosity that forced residents of five front-line South Korean islands to evacuate to shelters for several hours, South Korean officials said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
5 Killed in Blast in Somali Neighborhood in Kenyan Capital, Officials Say
NAIROBI, Kenya — Officials in Kenya say that an explosion in downtown Nairobi has killed at least five people. The National Disaster Operation Center said on Twitter that explosions had occurred Monday evening in a neighborhood known for its large Somali population. Sometimes called Kenya’s “Little Mogadishu,” Eastleigh has seen several grenade attacks over the last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Angry Muslim Youths Set on Fire Catholic Church in Northern Nigeria; Dispute Over Prophet
Witnesses and an official say angry Muslim youths set ablaze a Catholic church and tried to destroy an attached school in northern Nigeria over an alleged insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Witness Tukur Musa says soldiers on Monday stopped the mob from setting ablaze the school in Funtua town in Katsina state, but they arrived too late to save St. Rita Catholic Church.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Balancing Profits Against Public Health in the Search for Innovative Vaccines
There is no cure and no vaccine for the Ebola virus, which has killed about 70 people in Guinea. Vaccine expert Professor Adrian Hill tells DW why some vaccines take time. It’s got to do with profit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ebola Outbreak in Guinea ‘Unprecedented’ — MSF
The Ebola outbreak that has killed 78 people in Guinea is “unprecedented”, a medical charity has said. n official with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the spread of the disease across the country made it very difficult to control.
“We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases,” Mariano Lugli, a co-ordinator in Guinea for the aid group said. “This geographical spread is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the epidemic,” Mr Lugli added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Guinea Faces ‘Unprecedented’ Ebola Epidemic, Says MSF
The aid organization Doctors Without Borders has warned that a deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea is dangerously widespread. Neighboring Liberia has also confirmed two cases of the disease.
Guinea is confronting an Ebola epidemic that is unprecedented in terms of its geographical spread, medical charity Doctors Without Borders — also known under its French acronym MSF — said on Monday.
“We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country: Gueckedou, Macenta, Kissidougou, Nzerekore, and now Conakry,” Mariano Lugli, the organization’s coordinator in the Guinean capital, Conakry, said.
Lugli said the fact that the disease has broken out in several locations that are sometimes hundreds of kilometers apart will make it harder to control the epidemic.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds Gather in Timbuktu for Meetings to Promote Peace and Reconciliation in Mali
Hundreds of Malians are gathering in the northern desert town of Timbuktu this week in an attempt to reconcile wounds in this country, which was divided in two for nearly a year by Islamic extremists who amputated the hands of suspected thieves and whipped women for going out in public without veils.
After the militants were chased from the cities by French troops, Malian soldiers killed civilians suspected of having links to the jihadists on the mere basis of their ethnicity, prompting a mass exodus of Arab and Tuareg residents who fled for their lives. More than a year later, some 200,000 have yet to return from refugee camps in neighboring Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is West Africa About to Experience Another Famine?
Poor harvests, high prices for food. The UN warns that West Africa could be facing the prospect of another famine. But it’s not all bad news, experts say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Police: 2 Men Arrested With Car Bomb Linked to Plotters of Westgate Mall Terror Attack
A Kenyan police official says two men arrested with a car bomb on Kenya’s coast were in contact with the plotters of the September terrorist attack on an upscale mall in Nairobi that killed at least 67 people.
The official said the two arrested men spoke on the phone with militants in Somalia connected to the Westgate Mall attack.
Kenya has experienced dozens of small bomb and gunfire attacks since al-Qaida-linked Somali militants from al-Shabab vowed to attack Kenya in retaliation for sending troops to Somalia in October 2011.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Outbreak: Borders on Lock Down as Ebola Spreads: “We Will Lose Many People”
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
One of the world’s most terrifying viruses is multiplying. Thus far at least 70 people have died from the Ebola virus in Guinea in recent weeks and though officials have taken steps to shut down the country’s border it may already be too late. The deadly strain of hemorrhagic fever has reportedly already spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The virus is normally acquired as a result of the butchering of or consumption of meat from bats or monkeys, which has prompted Guinea’s government to issue a ban on, among other things, the sale and preparation of bat soup. But because the virus can be spread from human-to-human via feces, blood, saliva, or sweat, it’s possible that the virus is now spreading through the general population.
Frighteningly, while the virus has historically be contained in rural areas of Africa, the latest outbreak has spread to Conakry, Guinea’s capital city of two million people.
As noted by Underground Medic, the strain of virus detected in those that have already died has been confirmed as the Zaire strain of Ebola, which has a fatality rate of 90%.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brazilian Police Backed by Troops Occupy Slum by Rio Airport
Brazilian police backed by troops occupied a massive slum next to Rio de Janeiro’s international airport without firing a shot on Sunday to secure one of the city’s most violent neighborhoods long run by drug dealers.
Wresting control of the area from drug lords was a security priority for authorities because it surrounds the expressway to Galeao airport where tens of thousands of foreigners will land in June for the soccer World Cup.
Marines in armored cars reinforced the operation that took barely 20 minutes to re-establish police control over the Maré slum complex where 130,000 people live in poverty on the north side of Rio.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Don’t Deserve to be Raped’ Say Women in Brazil
There’s been a huge backlash on social media in Brazil, after a new survey suggested 65% of Brazilians think women who dress in a revealing way “deserve to be attacked”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Inmates in Mexico Hold the Government Hostage From Their Prison Cells
The Mexican government has not been able to come up with any hard-hitting strategies to eradicate the rampant crime that exists throughout the nation’s penitentiary system. Mexico’s jails have become “call centers” for crimes, where inmates routinely order extortion and murder, and control bands of delinquents on the outside from their own cells.
Even though there are strict rules about the use of cellphones inside jails and prisons, and in spite of a network of signal jammers put in place, corruption prevails. Phones can be obtained quite easily by inmates, and many times the jammers are mysteriously switched off.
Authorities have found it difficult to control prisoners in their custody, including those who are put in solitary confinement. And no one has come up with a solution to this problem, which has been growing for years. Extortion and kidnappings have been on the rise over the past few months.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Document: 68,000 Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Convictions Released in 2013
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials last year released 68,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions, undercutting Democratic claims that President Obama has strictly enforced immigration laws.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Italy Should be More Ethical With Migrants’, Says Boldrini
Contrast with luxury tourism and migrant reception ‘intolerable’
(ANSA) — Rome, March 31 — Italy must do more for the migrants who land on its shores, many in dire straits, Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini told MPs on Monday.
A country so rich in culture and attractive to paying visitors must also remember the less fortunate, she said.
Speaking at the presentation of a 2014 report on the future of Italy’s tourist industry, Boldrini added that “offering luxury services to affluent tourists, only to treat migrants from less-fortunate parts of the world in sometimes unacceptable ways, is an intolerable contradiction”.
The report by Italiadecide (Italy Decides) public policy think-tank focuses on ways to leverage Italy’s cultural and artistic treasures to attract more tourists.
“We must set a concrete example of how to be a receptive culture, and of how to hold this receptiveness as an all-around, integral value”, Boldrini said.
“We must measure up to the challenge of globalization, which brings with it greater circulation of people and not just trade goods, capital, and information”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Anti-Immigrant Northern League Redesigns Its Logo
Party includes slogan ‘Basta euro’ ahead of May EP elections
(ANSA) — Milan, March 31 — The regionalist, anti-immigrant Northern League party has redesigned its logo ahead of European Parliament elections to be held May 25, party sources made known Monday.
The new symbol will have the slogans “Basta euro” (Enough of the euro) and the word “Autonomie” (Autonomies), party secretary Matteo Salvini said.
The new, improved League logo will also include the initial “F” for Die Freiheitlichen (The Libertarians), a right-wing populist and separatist party active in the German-speaking Italian province of South Tyrol, and it will no longer include the name of the current party secretary.
Salvini last week called on allies across Europe to join the fight against “mass immigration” in the lead-up to the EP elections.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jobless Spaniards to be Kicked Out of Germany
With Germany following in the footsteps of Belgium and Switzerland after announcing new measures that could limit EU job migrant numbers, roughly 10,000 Spaniards on German jobseekers allowance now face expulsion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Cambridge transgender woman, outraged that convicted wife killer Michelle Kosilek could receive a free gender reassignment operation that health insurers refuse to cover for law-abiding citizens, has filed suit demanding the same right to tax-funded surgery — a move critics say could mark the beginning of a dramatic, costly shift in entitlements under the controversial federal court ruling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gender Equality: School Forced to Tear Down New Bleachers
A new set of seating is being torn down outside the Plymouth Wildcats varsity boys’ baseball field, not long before the season begins, because the fields for boys’ and girls’ athletics must be equal.
A group of parents raised money for a raised seating deck by the field, as it was hard to see the games through a chain-link fence. The parents even did the installation themselves, and also paid for a new scoreboard.
But, after a complaint, the U.S Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights investigated the new addition and says it must be torn down. It says the facility was no longer equal to the girls’ softball field next door, which has old bleachers and an old scoreboard.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In “Noah”, the Fallen Angels Are the Good Guys
In “Noah”, the fallen angels are “good guys” that were kicked out of heaven because of their compassion for humanity, they help Noah build the ark, and they ascend to heaven when they die helping defend the ark against a band of marauding evil humans.
Director Darren Aronofsky stated that he attempted to make “the least biblical biblical film ever made”, and he may have achieved that. In “Noah”, almost everything is the opposite of what it should be. Instead of villains, the fallen angels are heroes. Instead of a preacher of righteousness, Noah is depicted as a psychopathic maniac that hates humanity and wants to kill his unborn grandchild if it is a girl. The movie somehow finds a way to avoid using the word “God” the entire time, and during a scene where Noah explains to his family how the world was “created”, the film displays visuals depicting Darwinian evolution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Impacts ‘Overwhelming’ — UN
The impacts of global warming are likely to be “severe, pervasive and irreversible”, a major report by the UN has warned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Economist Warns This is the Age of Civil Unrest
All governments had better open their eyes for we are on the brink of a major convergence between both the Cycle of Civil Unrest, Civil War & Revolution and International War. Both of these models converge and as I pointed out at the Cycles of War Conference, this is the first time we have seen this convergence since the 1700s.
This is no plain modern event with civil unrest erupting because of an interconnected world. These are grassroots uprisings cross-fertilized perhaps from a world contagion yet they often have similarities — corrupt governments. Turkey, Ukraine, Thailand, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina are all middle-income democracies with elected leaders besieged by people angry at misgovernment, corruption and economic sclerosis. These days it is no longer just dictators who have something to fear from the crowd. This is the promise of Marxism that centralized planning and false promises are coming home and governments are too corrupt and incompetent to deliver what they have claimed for decades.
Communism is dead. The socialistic agendas that have lined the pockets of government and filled the coffers of banks is over. The national debts are on average composed of 70% interest payments not programs to help the poor as marketed. The debts that keep growing with no intent upon paying anyone back are draining the national productivity and turning the people into economic slaves. The standard of living has declined and it now takes two incomes to survive where one use to be just fine. Women won the right to work and lost the right to stay home.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Electronic Skin’ Equipped With Memory
Researchers have created a wearable device that is as thin as a temporary tattoo and can store and transmit data about a person’s movements, receive diagnostic information and release drugs into skin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Global Conflict Could Threaten Geostationary Satellites
China, Russia and the U.S. have the ability to destroy one another’s eyes in the sky.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal Fascist Calls for Global Warming Skeptics to be Arrested
The thinly-veiled totalitarian bent of the unhinged left has reared its ugly head once again with a demented rant by Gawker’s Adam Weinstein which calls for thought criminals who question man-made global warming to be arrested and thrown in prison.
“We have laws on the books to punish anyone whose lies contribute to people’s deaths. It’s time to punish the climate-change liars,” blathers Weinstein, before claiming that man-made climate change kills 150,000 people a year.
Weinstein cites the example of six Italian seismologists who were convicted of manslaughter in 2009 after they failed to connect a series of tremors the week before to a subsequent earthquake that killed 309 people, arguing that public figures who openly express the thought crime of questioning the scientific establishment should face similar punishment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Multiverse Controversy Heats Up Over Gravitational Waves
The multiverse is one of the most divisive topics in physics, and it just became more so. The major announcement last week of evidence for primordial ripples in spacetime has bolstered a cosmological theory called inflation, and with it, some say, the idea that our universe is one of many universes floating like bubbles in a glass of champagne. Critics of the multiverse hypothesis claim that the idea is untestable—barely even science. But with evidence for inflation theory building up, the multiverse debate is coming to a head.
“I think the multiverse is a natural consequence of inflation ideas,” says theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, also at MIT. “If you can start one universe form a very small seed, then other universes could also grow from small seeds. There doesn’t seem to be anything unique about the event we call the big bang. It is a reproducible event that could and would happen again, and again, and again.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
I am amazed at the absence of reasoning found in the responses of many lawyers, law professors, political philosophers, and media opiners on the topic of political secession. As with political discussions generally, debate on this issue originates from either an individualistic or collectivist perspective. Those whose basic premises are aligned with institutional interests, and who regard such entities as ends in themselves, superior to the interests of individuals, tend to reject the rightful authority of men and women to alter or dismantle these institutions. If individuals are looked upon as being subservient to the interests of the state, those who share this opinion find it easy to treat secession as an illegal undertaking.
The Achilles heel in this line of thinking is found in its contradiction with the modern theoretical foundations of political systems. For centuries, the state acquired its “legitimacy” from a mythical “social contract” by which the governed consent to live in accordance with rules created by their alleged “agents.” That no evidence exists for any state having been brought into being by a contract among those to be ruled, has not diminished the use of the fiction. Political systems have been created and sustained by violence; by the conquest — not the consent — of the governed.
While I do not recognize a “social contract” as the origins of the state, I am quite willing to use the statists’ fabrication of such a transaction against them. By their nature, contracts are agreements voluntarily entered into by two or more persons to exchange claims to the ownership of property interests. Courts often refer to this voluntary nature as “mutual assent.” When one is forced, through threat of violence, to part with some property interest — as occurs when a street-mugger takes money from another at gun-point — a crime, not a contract, has taken place.
For purposes of addressing the statists’ arguments re secession, I will assume what has never in fact occurred, namely, that a state system has come into existence by every adult male and female freely agreeing, in advance of its creation, to be bound by a contract to subject themselves to prescribed rules and procedures. But if such an arrangement can be generated by voluntary agreement — by contract — why may it not also be modified or terminated by a subsequent agreement? If we can voluntarily create such a system, why may we not also voluntarily end it?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why ‘Moderate Islam’ Is an Oxymoron
by Raymond Ibrahim
It’s time to acknowledge that dichotomized notions like “moderate” and “extreme” are culturally induced and loaded standards of the modern, secular West—hardly applicable to the teachings of Islam—and not universal absolutes recognized by all mankind.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vienna: Muslim vandalizes four churches after listening to Islamic chants
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