An 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck earlier this evening off the coast of Chile. Two fatalities have been reported so far, and landslides and building damage occurred in several cities. Coastal areas of Chile and parts of Peru have been evacuated in anticipation of a tsunami.
In other news, violence between police and university students continued in four different Egyptian cities. The student are supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, KP, Papa Whiskey, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Eurozone Finance Ministers OK Fresh Bailout Loans to Greece
Eurozone finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, have agreed on a timetable for disbursing the next bailout funds for Greece. At a meeting in Athens, they found Greece was making sufficient progress on reforms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Must Stick to Budget Conditions, Eurogroup Chief Says
Dijsselbloem urges Renzi government to enact reform
(ANSA) — Athens, April 1 — Italy should adhere to its budget commitments and pursue reforms, Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Tuesday.
“It is too early,” to evaluate the reforms announced by the government of Premier Matteo Renzi, said Dijsselbloem ahead of an informal meeting of finance ministers of eurozone countries in Athens.
However, the Eurogroup president urged Italy “to stick to the agreements and procedures and to enact reforms so that we might all become more competitive”. Italy’s budget commitments are set out under a European Stability and Growth Pact requiring member states to maintain budget deficit-to-GDP ratios of 3% or less.
However, these conditions have forced government to raise taxes and cut spending, arguably choking off economic growth as the country struggles to emerge from its deepest recession since the Second World War.
Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, played up economic recovery in the European Union, which he said was “gaining ground”.
However, he also expressed concern about low inflation across the eurozone.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tajani Says Italy Still Not Paying Bills to Business
Average of 200 days for government to send in its payments
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — Despite promises to repay billions of euros in outstanding government debt to business, Italy is still not making much progress, European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani said Tuesday. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said in late February that repaying as much as 68 billion euros in the government’s longstanding debt to firms to help revive the economy was a top priority for his new administration, and said payments should be made by July.
However, not enough has been done as yet, Tajani said in an interview with Radio Uno.
“Unfortunately, the situation is not improving,” he said.
“(Monday) I met with a delegation of entrepreneurs, who gave me documentation which clearly shows how, throughout Italy, the phenomenon of delay in payment of public administration debts is widespread and worrying,” added Tajani.
He recently warned that the European Union could open two infraction procedures against Italy over its repayment of government debt to firms.
Tajani said the Italian government had been unclear on whether it was implementing EU directives correctly in a letter sent to Brussels on March 10 after the European Commission had asked for information over its delay in paying off public administration debts.
The Italian government is one of the slowest in Europe to pay businesses for debt incurred, with an average of 200 days for payments and in some cases, stretching to 1,300 days, or more than three years, said Tajani.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Federal Reserve Has No Integrity
As we documented in previous articles, the gold price is driven down in the paper futures market by naked short selling by the Fed’s dependent bullion banks. Some people have a hard time accepting this fact even though it is known that the big banks have manipulated the LIBOR (London Interbank Overnight Rate — London’s equivalent of the Fed Funds rate) interest rate and the twice-daily London gold price fix.
Almost every week it is possible to illustrate the appearance of a large number of contracts shorting gold at times of day when trading is thin. The short-selling triggers stop-loss orders and margin calls and hammers down the gold price.
The Fed has resorted to this practice in order to protect the value of the US dollar from Quantitative Easing.
In order for the Fed to effectively support the reserve status of the U.S. dollar by pushing it higher when it starts to drop, the Fed has also to prevent the price of gold from rising. Intervention in the gold market has been occurring for a long time. However, in the last several years the intervention has become blatant and desperate, as rising concerns about the dollar are causing countries such as China and Russia to accumulate fewer dollars and more gold.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Where Does the Real Problem Reside? Two Charts Showing the 0.01% vs. The 1%
While I always supported the overall message and energy that encompassed the Occupy Wall Street movement, I never backed the slogan of the 1% vs. the 99%. — From my own personal experience, it is entirely clear that the actual problem is a far smaller group within the 1%, the 0.1% or the 0.01% (although I recognize “We Are the 99.9%” isn’t catchy)…
An amazing chart from economist Amir Sufi, based on the work of Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, shows that when you look inside the 1 percent, you see clearly that most of them aren’t growing their share of wealth at all. In fact, the gain in wealth share is all about the top 0.1 percent of the country. While nine-tenths of the top percentile hasn’t seen much change at all since 1960, the 0.01 percent has essentially quadrupled its share of the country’s wealth in half a century.
It turns out that wealth inequality isn’t about the 1 percent v. the 99 percent at all. It’s about the 0.1 percent v. the 99.9 percent (or, really, the 0.01 percent vs. the 99.99 percent, if you like). Long-story-short is that this group, comprised mostly of bankers and CEOs, is riding the stock market to pick up extraordinary investment income. And it’s this investment income, rather than ordinary earned income, that’s creating this extraordinary wealth gap.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
90% of Those Infected With Measles in New York Outbreak Are Vaccinated
According to the NY State Department of Health a whopping TWO out of 20 people infected during a measles outbreak were children whose parents had opted not to vaccinate. This, of course, means that 18 of the 20 people infected WERE vaccinated.
The mainstream media still somehow blames the outbreak on a decline in vaccinations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Abundant Energy Supply Strangled by Environmentally Driven Regulations
Billions are spent on climate change prevention but electrical grid is a sitting duck to potential attacks, energy production is being reduced significantly by overly stringent EPA regulations
Energy experts believe that the Obama administration slows or prevents drilling on federal lands by delaying and denying permits. Consequently, production on federal lands fell 23 percent since 2007. According to the Institute for Policy Innovation, the federal government owns 28 percent of U.S. land, 62 percent in Alaska and 47 percent in 11 western states.
The current administration chooses instead to concentrate on very expensive and insufficient wind and solar energy generation, particularly solar. In addition to the 34 failed green companies funded with taxpayer dollars, of which Solyndra was the poster child of a $535 million colossal failure, the Aqua Caliente Solar Project in Yuma, Arizona takes the top spot with $967 million in federal loans. Yuma has an unemployment rate of 26.1 percent. So far, the Yuma project created 10 permanent jobs. When completed at the end of this year, the solar facility will have 16 permanent employees. It will only cost taxpayers $60.4 million per job creation.
Fracking on the other hand, creates real jobs and helps towns like Midland, Texas to increase per capita income three times the national average and to reduce unemployment to a low 2.9 percent, while extracting oil which is needed to produce energy and to run our large economy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Beer Brewers Push Back Against Proposed FDA Rule Restricting Use of Old Grains
Beer brewers are objecting to a proposed federal rule that would make it harder for breweries to sell leftover grains as animal feed instead of throwing them away.
The Food and Drug Administration rule change would mean brewers would have to meet the same standards as livestock and pet-food manufacturers, imposing new sanitary handling procedures, record keeping and other food safety processes on brewers.
Beer makers complain that the new rules, if adopted, would force them to dump millions of tons of “spent grains,” which are left over after barley, wheat and other grains are steeped in hot water.
Bear Republic brewmaster Rich Norgrove says the rules would be costly and force brewers to dump the grains, instead of the more sustainable practice of feeding them to livestock.
The Northern California brewery sells its spent grain to local ranches, which use it as an affordable food source for about 300 head of cattle, according to The Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
“Now the government wants to get involved,” Cheryl LaFranchi, a Knight’s Valley rancher, said. “What are they going to do with it? Put it in a landfill?”
The FDA says the rules stem from a new, broad modernization of the food safety system.
“This proposed regulation would help prevent foodborne illness in both animals and people,” the agency said in the statement.
The FDA is collecting comment through Monday, and two of the beer industry’s major trade groups have mobilized against the idea…
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CAIR Attacks ‘Honor Diaries’ Film as Anti-Muslim
The film about “Honor Violence” — not the practice — has been attacked by certain Muslim civil rights groups, especially the organization known as CAIR — the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The film “Honor Diaries” provides women the opportunity to tell their stories about the misogynistic practice known as “honor violence” in their native culture. The film — not the practice — has been attacked by certain Muslim civil rights groups, especially the organization known as CAIR — the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The film follows nine women whose lives have been affected by what is known as the “honor culture” in certain Islamic cultures. Practices such as female genital mutilation, honor violence, honor killings and forced marriage at young ages make up the panoply of horrors these women or their family members experienced first hand.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Code Pink Photograph: Obama Admin Considers Texting Fat People to Remind Them They Are Overweight
Excerpt: The Washington Free Beacon’s Elizabeth Harrington reported last week that NIH had spent nearly $3,000,000 in recent years to fund studies looking into the possibility of using text messages and web tools to treat obesity. That sort of Big Government intrusion into your mobile phone might strike you as outrageous. But that’s not even the half of it.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Extremism in the Con-Con Article V Movement Cannot be Ignored
The currently ongoing Constitutional Convention — Article V movements have been an area of concern lately, as associations with the radical Left have been brought to light. These associations were attempted to be explained away by the head of the Convention of States, Michael Farris, as just good politics. Those questioning him were labeled “conspiracy theorists.” Despite the labels he threw out, many would continue to question his judgment on this and ask how he came to be chosen to head this movement in the first place. Do we also need to be concerned about extremists from places other than the radical Left as we consider this movement?
It has been reported that the Convention of States concept originated with Ned and Drew Ryun of American Majority. Ned and Drew are the sons of former U.S. Representative Jim Ryun, who is currently with The Madison Project, a fundraising effort for conservative candidates. American Majority was funded “above 75 percent” by the Sam Adams Alliance, Eric O’Keefe’s (no longer active) conservative think tank. Eric O’Keefe (former director of the National Libertarian Party) and Leo Linbeck III also happen to be partners in both the formation of Citizens for Self Governance and their own super PAC, Campaign for Primary Accountability. Citizens for Self Governance is the source of the Convention of States effort.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI, Military Hunt Ex-Army Recruit Suspected of Plotting ‘Ft. Hood-Inspired Jihad’
The FBI is searching for a recent Army recruit believed to be planning a “Fort Hood-inspired jihad against U.S. soldiers,” FoxNews.com has learned.
The alert, whose legitimacy was confirmed by military and law enforcement officials, stated that a man identified as Booker had told friends of his “intention to commit jihad.” Booker, who is also known as Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, was recruited by the U.S. Army in Kansas City, Mo., in February 2014 and was scheduled to report for basic training on April 7. But he was discharged last week, apparently after law enforcement authorities learned of his alleged plan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Syracuse Catholic Church to Become Islamic Mosque
Syracuse’s Holy Trinity has a new owner, and some major changes are coming for the former Roman Catholic church.
As we first reported on Monday, the church, rectory and its old school, currently used for refugee and immigration programs, have been sold to the North Side Learning Center, a North McBride Street-based all-volunteer organization founded in 2009.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is American Democracy Headed to Extinction?
Stein Ringen is an emeritus professor at Oxford University and the author of “Nation of Devils: Democratic Leadership and the Problem of Obedience.”
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Julianne Ortman, The Solution to America’s Franken Problem
Not only is Franken responsible for causing pain and suffering to millions of Americans by providing the 60th vote which enacted Obamacare, but Franken also threw Minnesotans under the Obama bus in the process.
Unique to Minnesota, they already had a program (MinnesotaCare) which provided affordable and accessible healthcare — on a sliding-scale-premium basis, without mandates for anyone else. As a result of Min-Care, Minnesota had the third-highest insurance coverages in the nation, accomplishing a great thing on a state level. Thus, no federal intervention/program was needed.
Franken sold-out Minnesotans to implement Obama’s unprecedented tyrannical power-grab, further proving himself to be a loyal servant of Obama rather than a representative of his constituents. Franken repeated and promoted Obama’s lie: “If you like your health care plan you can keep it.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Refugees Take Over Catholic Church in Syracuse, New York
With the drop in church attendance in Europe amidst mass Muslim immigration we have witnessed conversions of empty churches into Mosques. Historically, we saw the ancient Greek Orthodox patriarchic basilica of Hagia Sophia converted into an imperial Mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) in the 15th Century and then into a Museum in the 20th Century. Perhaps given the rise of a neo-Ottoman Caliphate under Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, the Museum might be reconverted to a Mosque.
In Spain, the Mezquita Cathedral in Cordoba, once the site of a pagan temple under the Visigoths, was converted by the Umayyad Dynasty into the fabled Great Mosque. Then following the Reconquista in the 13th Century by Ferdinand 1st the Mezquita became a Cathedral once again. Since 2004, The Islamic Society of Spain has petitioned both Spain and the Vatican to permit Muslims to once again roll out their prayer rugs in the Mezquita and pray in a venue they once held in Al Andaluz. Those requests have been rejected. In March 2010 118 Austrian Muslims staged a dramatic event at the Mezquita Cathedral. Unrolling their prayer rugs, praying loudly, they attacked security guards when told by them to stop injuring two. In March 2013, Spanish Court acquitted eight of the Muslim assailants.
In the US we have witnessed churches and even synagogues sharing worship space with Muslim communities. However, we have also witnessed a dramatic rise in mega-Mosque construction projects roiling many communities across the US from lower Manhattan to the Buckle of the Bible Belt in Tennessee and Orange County in California. Notwithstanding that groundbreaking trend, some abandoned churches have been purchased by Muslim communities and converted into Mosques.
There is an abundant supply of closed or excess former churches. The Barna Group estimates that upwards of 4,000 Protestant churches are closed annually. While the US Catholic population has grown by more than half to 69 million according to Catholic World News, nevertheless 1,800 parishes have closed over the past 20 years.
One of those parish churches that closed is Holy Trinity in Syracuse, New York, that held its last Mass in February 2010. Now, it is being purchased and converted into a Mosque by the burgeoning refugee population in Central New York…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Some Obama Supporters Still Think it’s “Racist” To Oppose ObamaCare
Criticism has nothing to do with Affordable Health Act being a train wreck
While HealthCare.gov labored under the weight of a rush of people attempting to get health insurance coverage before the midnight deadline, some Obama supporters took to Twitter to lambaste opponents of Obamacare as racist.
No, this is not an April fools joke — many Obama supporters are still floating the talking point that it is racist to criticize Obamacare — as you can see from the tweets below posted over the last 24 hours.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In order to fight misconceptions about the Muslim faith and educate people about specific aspects of Islam, the Notre Dame Muslim Students Association (MSA-ND) is hosting its first Islam Awareness Week from Tuesday to Friday of this week…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Study’s Low Marks on Youth Well-Being Stir States
A new report on child well-being, measured by state and race, has turned an unflattering spotlight on some places not used to being at the bottom of such lists, including Wisconsin, with a worst-in-the-nation ranking for its black children, and South Dakota, with abysmal results for its American Indian youth.
The report, released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, detailed nationwide racial disparities that put Asian and white children in a far more advantageous position than black, Latino and American Indian children. For some advocates for children, the state-specific results were stinging.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Chinese Are Acquiring Large Chunks of Land in Communities All Over America
Has the United States ever experienced a time when a foreign nation has attempted to buy up so much of our land all at once? As you will read about in this article, the Chinese are on a real estate buying spree all over America.
In fact, in some cases large chunks of land are actually being given to them. Yes, you read that correctly. China is on the way to becoming the dominant land owner in the entire country, and that is starting to alarm a lot of people. Do we really want a foreign superpower to physically own so much of our territory?
There are some that are playing down this threat by making a distinction between the Chinese government and Chinese corporations, but things work differently over in China than they do here. In China, the government is involved in everything. In fact, 43 percent of all corporate profits in China are produced by companies that the Chinese government controls. And all of the rest of the companies are very careful to follow the lead and direction of the Chinese government.
That is why what is going on in places such as Thomasville, Alabama is so alarming. Small communities such as Thomasville are so starved for jobs that they are willing to give land away for free to Chinese companies in order to entice them to build factories…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Listen. Do you hear that? In the corridors of power, the placid drone of the New England WASP—a soft and snooty echo for sure—has all but gone silent.
In a collapse slower but no less dramatic than that of the North American honey bee, the New England WASP has all but disappeared from its natural habitats—gone, almost, from the region’s 12 Senate seats, vanished from its six governors’ mansions. It’s part extinction, part retreat from invasive species, part departure for greener pastures (there have been sightings as far afield as the Council on Foreign Relations and Southern Florida).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tribute to an American Hero: Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton, R.I.P.
America has lost one of its greatest native sons, Rear Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton (USN, ret.) who epitomized all that is good and great in the American patriotic character as a warrior, statesman and humanitarian. He was an extraordinary American patriot who lived his life in service to God and Country…
That the communists were in fact torturing American POW’s in violation of the Geneva Accords was first definitively exposed and confirmed by POW Jeremiah Denton in a now famous act that almost cost him his life. In May, 1966, when the communists attempted to use him for propaganda purposes through a Japanese television documentary intended to show communist benevolence to the POW’s, Denton blinked repeatedly as if the bright light bothered his eyes. In fact, he was blinking “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” in Morse Code. After the broadcast, when the communists realized that Denton had duped them, he was tortured so horrendously that he was near death — and actually wished to die to end it.
He powerfully exposed war crime torture by the communists in the now classic book he authored: When Hell Was In Session. It is a book which ought to be read in every American schoolroom, and every American home. (A new edition, with an epilogue containing Adm. Denton’s thoughts on the current American condition, has been published by WND Books.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Student Kwasi Enin is First to Successfully Apply for Places at All Eight Ivy League Universities
He has an academic test score that puts him in the top one per cent of students, competes as a shot putter for his school athletics team and even plays the viola in the orchestra, so it likely came as little surprise to his teachers and family that Kwasi Enin would be accepted by an Ivy League college. What might have shocked them, however, is that he got into all eight.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Water on Earth and Moon May Have Common Origin
The traces of water in ancient moon rocks may share a common source with water on Earth, scientists say.
If confirmed, the potential moon-Earth water link would add more support to the theory that the moon’s material came from the proto-Earth, and that water in this material survived the aftermath of the giant impact thought to have formed Earth’s large natural satellite, researchers explained earlier this month at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What Would an Eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano Look Like?
On Sunday, the worst earthquake in about 30 years rattled the Yellowstone supervolcano. Overall, there have been at least 25 significant earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park since Thursday, but it is the 4.8 earthquake that has many observers extremely worried.
Could such a large earthquake be a sign that the Yellowstone supervolcano is starting to roar to life after all this time? And if it does erupt, what would that mean for the rest of the country? As you will see below, a full-blown eruption at Yellowstone would be absolutely catastrophic. It is estimated that such an eruption could dump a 10 foot deep layer of volcanic ash up to 1,000 miles away and render much of the nation uninhabitable for years to come. In essence, it would instantly bring the United States to its knees…
And there have been reports of strange animal behavior around Yellowstone as well. For example, the following YouTube video of numerous bison literally running away from Yellowstone has gone viral…
[…]
This is something that I have written about before, but since then scientists have discovered that the Yellowstone supervolcano is actually two and a half times larger than they previously believed it to be…
“Late last year a new study into the enormous super volcano found the underground magma chamber to be 2.5 times larger than previously thought — a cavern spanning some 90km by 30km and capable of holding 300 billion cubic kilometres of molten rock.”
If the sleeping giant were to wake, the outflow of lava, ash and smoke would devastate the United States and affect the entire world.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White House: We Reached 7 Million ObamaCare Enrollees
The White House said Tuesday that more than 7 million people had signed up for private health insurance through Obamacare by Monday’s deadline, a near-term victory for the administration that will be tempered by lingering questions about who has paid for their coverage.
Press secretary Jay Carney said they reached the milestone — a target set by government auditors, although the administration in recent months had downplayed its significance — with an adequate mix of young enrollees to keep premiums in check going forward.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Cardinal Shocked at Church Vandalism
An attack on four churches in Vienna over the weekend that left a trail of destruction has been described by the Archbishop of Vienna as “so far the worst act of vandalism in my time as Archbishop”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bilderberg Found: 2014 Confab to Take Place at Marriott Hotel, Copenhagen
5 star hotel fully booked for end of May
The 2014 Bilderberg Group meeting of secretive global power brokers will almost certainly take place at the 5 star Marriott Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark from May 29 to June 1.
After Denmark was confimed yesterday as the site of the organization’s 62nd conference, inquiries to the Marriott show no rooms available for those dates, indicating that Bilderberg has booked out the entire hotel for its annual confab.
Although the group has been known to throw out red herrings and double book different hotels to throw reporters off the scent, the Marriott will very likely be the site of the conference.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cameron Supports Renzi’s ‘Ambitious Measures’
British PM says EU needs reform too
(ANSA) — London, April 1 — British Prime Minister David Cameron said he supported Italian Premier Matteo Renzi’s “ambitious measures” for economic and political reform after a meeting on London Tuesday. “Europe is behind Asia,” Cameron added. “There must be reforms in Brussels too”. The British leader added that he backed the direction Renzi wanted to push the Europe towards during Italy’s duty presidency of the EU in the second half of this year.
“The Italian presidency is extremely important,” Cameron said.
“Matteo wants to make growth and jobs the central issues and we agree”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Has Become Place of ‘Absolute Bureaucracy’ — Renzi
Europe has lost ‘dream-like quality’, says premier
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday that the European Union had lost its direction and become a hotbed of bureaucracy after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron in London. “Recently Europe has lost its dream-like quality and become only the place of absolute bureaucracy,” he said.
“The first challenge to tackle is the vision of Europe that the next generation will have. This is only possible if it has a different idea about economic growth”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany, France, Poland Call for New EU Approach to Eastern Neighbors
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland say eastern neighbors of the EU should not have to choose between Moscow and Brussels. The call is a response to the crisis in Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Police Grill Krekar in Oslo Court
Norway-based Islamic militant Mullah Krekar was questioned by German police on Monday over his role in forming an international terrorist network, Norway’s TV2 channel has reported.
According to the channel, Krekar was grilled in a special ‘terrorist court’ built in the Oslo district court for the trial of far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik.
German police have already charged ten people in the case, which centres around an extremist off-shoot of Krekar’s Ansar al-Islam group, whose internet chats were intercepted, the channel reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Bruce Bawer
Excerpt: The most important single element of stealth Islamization is the effort to convert Western schools from centers of secular education into hubs of Islamic indoctrination. Fortunately, there are plenty of dhimmi teachers and school administrators eager to help out, convinced that they’re serving the interests of multicultural peace and harmony. These days, for some reason, this form of dhimmitude seems to be most prevalent — and to take its acutest form — in England.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt to Weigh Scaroni’s Future ‘Independent’ of Enel Ruling
Eni chief awaits new public mandate amid legal entanglements
(ANSA) — Rovigo, April 1 — The Italian government will make its decision on the future of Paolo Scaroni, the current CEO of state-controlled energy giant Eni, “independently” of a court’s guilty ruling over illegal emissions at his old company, Italian electric utility Enel, Premier Matteo Renzi has said. Scaroni was waiting to find out if he would receive a renewed three-year contract from the government when a court in Rovigo on Monday sentenced him and another former Enel chief executive, Franco Tato’, to three years in prison.
The pair was also banned from holding public office for five years for causing an “environmental disaster” at a northern Italy powerplant by failing to install equipment that would reduce the plant’s pollution impact, and linked this to an increase in respiratory diseases among children in the area.
The government is pushing for new corporate bylaws at Eni and other state-controlled firms that would force board members accused of financial crimes to step down in the early phases of the multi-tiered judicial process. But attorneys say Scaroni’s crime, which he denies, would not fall under that category. Scaroni also denies separate allegations that have put him under investigation for suspected involvement in bribes linked to Algerian contracts won by Saipem, an Eni subsidiary.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Methane, LPG to be Available at ‘Traditional’ Service Points
Motorists can access self-service refuelling under new rules
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — Motorists will soon be able to fill up with methane or liquid petroleum gas (Lpg) at the same service points used for traditional motor fuel, the industry and interior ministries announced Tuesday. Drivers will also have access to self-service refuelling for natural gas and Lpg under decrees signed by the Interior Minister Angelino Alfano and the Industry Minister Federica Guidi.
The provisions — made possible by the development of a new multidispenser for petrol, diesel, Lpg and natural gas — follow a revision of fire prevention regulations at methane and Lpg refuelling points.
“The new norms will allow methane and Lpg to be more widely used as motor fuel and so Italy to consolidate its position as a European leader in the use of these fuels,” said Guidi.
This will have “clear” advantages for pollution reduction and the development of the ‘green’ automobile industry, the minister added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Senators, Cabinet Undersecretary in Fraud Probe
Police investigate embezzlement allegations in southern Italy
(ANSA) — Naples, April 1 — Police in southern Italy said Tuesday they are investigating major fraud, including allegations of embezzlement, involving two senators and a cabinet undersecretary as well as regional politicians from different political parties in Campania. Prosecutors are concerned with more than 50 officials and have asked that 13 regional counselors be dismissed over alleged irregularities in their reimbursements over a period stretching from 2010 to 2012.
Investigators say they are interviewing officials including Senator Domenico De Siano, a regional coordinator for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party, Senator Eva Longo, also an FI official, as well as Transport Undersecretary Umberto Del Basso de Caro, of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Garbage Scandal Trial to be Fast-Tracked
Former governor, landfill owner ‘conspired to traffic waste’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — Magistrates said Tuesday they will fast-track a trial of seven suspects, including a former official from the Lazio region, charged in an alleged waste-disposal scandal around Rome.
The owner of the Malagrotta landfill outside the Eternal City, Manlio Cerroni, and the former governor of the Lazio region, Bruno Landi, are among those to face trial June 5 for alleged conspiracy to traffic waste.
Several other local businessmen and regional officials were arrested in the investigation and about 18 million euros in assets seized as part of the probe.
Serious problems in the handling of waste in the Lazio region led the European Union to announce last year that it was taking Italy before the European Court of Justice for failing to resolve the trash situation.
The correct rubbish treatment procedures were not implemented in landfills including Malagrotta and elsewhere in Lazio, according to the EU.
In 2012, rubbish started piling up in Rome’s streets in a crisis reminiscent of the problems Naples has had in recent years due to lack of landfill areas around the southern city.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Sees Common Ground Holding Up With Berlusconi’s FI
Premier faces backlash to Senate reform from center right
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday said his majority Democratic Party (PD) and the opposition Forza Italia (FI) party of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi were still largely on common ground with regard to reforms despite recent disputes. “It seems to me that the deal between the majority and FI is holding up,” said Renzi. “We’ll see who the true reformers are when it’s time to vote”. Renzi’s relationship with Berlusconi has been key since his rise to premier earlier this year. Even before his party voted to oust his predecessor, Enrico Letta, Renzi was reaching across the aisle to negotiate with the center-right media magnate on election reforms — a move that distanced him from PD stalwarts, but ultimately cemented his reputation as a quick-acting reformer, often referred to as “demolition man”, a moniker he relishes. But many wondered if the common ground had run its course this week after Renzi’s government passed a decree Monday that will largely strip the Senate of its lawmaking powers, reduce the number of lawmakers, and scrap Italy’s provincial governments in an effort meant to streamline governance and cut public expenses.
On Tuesday, the FI House whip likened Renzi to a “South American” dictator for the alleged heavy-handedness of the decree, and accused the center-left premier of using the law to defang the body in which his Democratic Party (PD) does not currently hold a majority. Brunetta formally outlined his opposition in a letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, asking him to back FI’s request to open the “unconstitutional” law to amendments before it is enacted. Renzi, however, has been adamantly opposed to changing the law whatsoever, presenting it as a decree as opposed to a bill that would have needed approval in parliament before going into effect.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: FI Calls Renzi ‘South American’ Dictator Over Senate Reform
Brunetta appeals to president, wants decree open to amendments
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — The House whip for three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party likened Premier Matteo Renzi to a “South American” dictator on Tuesday for his alleged heavy-handed decree to reform the Senate. On Monday his cabinet unanimously approved a law that will largely strip the Senate of its lawmaking powers, reduce the number of lawmakers, and scrap Italy’s provincial governments in an effort meant to streamline governance and cut public expenses. House Whip Renato Brunetta accused the center-left premier of using the law to defang the body in which his Democratic Party (PD) does not currently hold a majority. Brunetta formally outlined his opposition in a letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, asking him to back FI’s request to open the “unconstitutional” law to amendments before it is enacted.
Renzi, however, has been adamantly opposed to changing the law whatsoever, presenting it as a decree as opposed to a bill that would have needed approval in parliament before going into effect.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NATO to Beef Up Defenses in Eastern Europe
Deployment of ‘all means necessary’ by land, air and sea
(see related) (ANSA) — Brussels, April 1 — NATO has given its senior military commander in Europe a mandate to beef up self-defense plans in Eastern European countries after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region last month, Alliance sources said Tuesday.
The mandate includes deployment of air, naval and land forces, increasing response readiness levels, bolstering military exercises, and possible deployment in the Baltic and Black seas, which border on Russia.
The mandate for “all necessary means, for the necessary length of time” was issued at the start of a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the 28-member NATO bloc, which is convening for the first time since the Crimea takeover.
Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, the US, and the UK have said they will contribute to this effort.
NATO’s current Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is General Philip M. Breedlove from the United States Air Force.
In a meeting with acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, the NATO ministers also pledged to “enact immediate and long-term measures to bolster Ukraine’s self-defense capabilities”.
NATO ministers in their concluding statement said they do not recognize “Russia’s illegal and illegitimate attempt to annex Crimea”.
They urged Moscow to immediately act to return to respect for international law.
Russia acted against the principles and commitments of its partnership with NATO, violating the trust on which that partnership was founded, the ministers said.
The NATO allies also approved a packet of measures to strengthen ties with their east European partners, adding they will review their Russia partnership at the next summit to be held in June.
Meanwhile, the NATO-Russia channel remains open to “political dialogue” at ambassador level and beyond, the alliance said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
St Peter’s Protester Spends Night in Vatican Cells
Restaurant owner Marcello Di Finizio has climbed dome four times
(ANSA) — Vatican City, April 1 — Vatican police on Monday detained a Trieste restaurant owner who spent two nights perched precariously on the dome of St. Peter’s in protest, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told ANSA on Tuesday.
He will be investigated by Vatican prosecutors, Lombardi added.
Marcello Di Finizio climbed the 138-meter-high dome that looks down on Vatican City on May 29 to protest against European Union policies that he says could lead to the closure of his sea-front restaurant.
MPs from the anti-euro, anti-establishment 5-Star Movement eventually managed to convince Di Finizio, who has three times before climbed the dome in protest, to come down and talk to them about his reasons for discontent.
He was arrested soon after.
Di Finzio staged similar demonstrations on May 20 last year, and on July 30 and October 2, 2012, to protest the austerity measures of ex-premier Mario Monti’s government as well as EU policies.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Jails ‘Nice Lady’ For Åkesson Cake Attack
A Swedish woman who admitted shoving a cream cake in the face of “neo-fascist” politician Jimmie Åkesson was sentenced to two months in jail on Tuesday.
The woman faced charges of harassment at Stockholm District Court for attacking the Sweden Democrat leader at a book signing in Stockholm last November. She was found guilty, fined, and in conjunction with other outstanding crimes sentenced to spend two months behind bars.
She did not deny the attack, but downplayed its significance. “A bit of cream doesn’t really cause a lot of damage,” she told the court.
Åkesson disagreed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Tumbles Again in Pisa School Rankings
A new Pisa education report about children’s problem solving abilities has seen Sweden drop below the OECD average again. Swedish kids scored the poorest marks among children in the Nordic countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Banning the Muslim Brotherhood Would be a Welcome Step in the War on Militant Islam
by Con Coughlin
Reports today that David Cameron is planning to ban the Muslim Brotherhood from operating in Britain is a welcome signal that the Government is finally waking up to the mounting threat that Islamist militants pose to national security…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron Orders Review of Muslim Brotherhood
Prime Minister David Cameron has commissioned a review of the Muslim Brotherhood’s UK activity, No 10 says.
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist movement which has been declared a terrorist group by Egypt’s government. Recent press reports have suggested members have moved to London to escape a crackdown in Cairo, where the group backs ousted president Mohammed Morsi…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Former Sunday School Teacher Cleared of Racially Abusing Travellers
A pensioner has questioned the justice system after she won an 11-month battle to clear her name following a conviction for racially abusing a family of travellers
A 78-year-old former Sunday school teacher convicted of racially abusing a family of travellers has won her battle to clear her name after 11 months of “hell”.
Widow Josie Hampson, who was renowned for her work in the community, found herself summoned to court last year after four members of the same family accused her of verbally abusing them when she scraped her car on a gate post…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ofcom Cannot Stop Islamic Preacher’s ‘Conflict’ Messages From Bucks Mosque
A watchdog has said it is powerless to stop a controversial Islamic preacher from broadcasting from a south Bucks village
Sheikh Yasser al-Habib spent £2million buying a former evangelical church in Fulmer and turning it into a mosque which is also the base for his satellite TV channel Fardak TV. Now Ofcom has revealed it cannot stop the cleric’s broadcasts, which have been said to stir up conflict between al-Habib’s Shia sect and rival Sunni Muslims. Fardak TV is registered with Ofcom but its broadcasts cannot be controlled by it because they are shown abroad.
Al-Bahib’s broadcasts have celebrated the death of one of the Sunni Islam’s revered figures, and two years ago Ofcom investigated the preacher after it was revealed he suggested prophet Muhammad’s successor was gay. He also referred to Muhammad’s wife Aisha as an ‘enemy of God’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
At London’s Grosvenor House Monday, Prime Minister, David Cameron, joined some 800 people to celebrate the Twelfth The Muslim News Awards for Excellence — Britain’s longest standing Muslim awards event. The coveted award ceremony recognises the very best of Muslim contribution to British society.
The Guest of Honour, Prime Minister, David Cameron, presenting the Enterprise award to Shabir Randeree, Executive Chair of DCD Group, said, “I’m delighted to have taken part in this year’s Muslim News Awards for Excellence, where we were able to champion and celebrate the huge contribution British Muslims make to our country.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Parking Worries Put Nelson Mosque Bid in Doubt
PLANS to turn an historic building in Nelson into a mosque are set to be turned down by councillors.
Bosses at the Al-Hira Mosque, in Seldon Street, want to use the Masonic Hall, in Bradshaw Street, as an extra mosque and education facility because of increased demand. But council planners have recommended the scheme be refused because of concerns over the lack of parking…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Such Negative Portrayals of Muslims Take a Heavy Toll
ISLAMOPHOBIA: not an ideal term to describe anti-Muslim sentiment but, for the time being, it’ll do. First of all, there are two types. One is the overt, racist type — hate-filled, abusive, violent, criminal. Easily recognised.
The second is a less visible, more cancerous, form of Islamophobia, founded in a ‘genuine’ fear of Islam and Muslims, fed by the constant diet of derogatory word associations with, and crude generalisations of, the terms ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslims’ in our national media…
[Reader comment by PCorrect on 1 April 2014.]
April fools? I suspect this anonymous article was in fact written by a white non-muslim liberal lefty white hating B.P. Journalist looking for a reaction.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A man decapitated his teenage girlfriend while she was still alive then stabbed himself in the chest, a court heard today. Aras Hussein, 21, had allegedly blackmailed 18-year-old Reema Ramzan by taking sexual photographs of her and threatening to share them with her family if she broke up with him.
Sheffield Crown Court was told that on June 4 last year, he killed her by cutting off her head with a knife before inflicting stab wounds on himself. Prosecutor Graham Reeds QC outlined the case against Iraqi-born Hussein, who denies murder and actual bodily harm.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP’s Nigel Farage: An Anti-Politics Anti-Hero Who Confounds the Westminster Consensus
By Tim Stanley
Excerpt: Which brings us to Putingate, the latest Nigel-fluff that the Westminster elite is convinced will sink him. Right to the bottom of the ocean. Farage’s sin was to say that he admires Putin as a political leader, although not as a human being. Why this is controversial, I have literally no idea. Farage made it abundantly clear that he regards the Russian leader as a despot (“How many journalists in jail now?”); he simply thinks that he outwitted Obama on Syria. I think that; you think that; even Obama probably thinks that. Perhaps there is more to challenge in Farage’s view that the Ukrainian crisis was caused by the EU’s attempt to expand eastwards — but even on this point he has a point. Ukraine found itself in the middle of a bidding war between the EU and Russia, and Russia — through means fair and foul — won.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Sends Security Team to Egypt’s Tourist Resorts to Assess Terror Threat
A team of experts visit Sharm el-Sheikh to ensure safety for thousands of British tourists
Britain has sent a security services team to assess the vulnerability of the major Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to an increasing terrorism threat, the Telegraph has learned. As thousands of holiday makers prepare to fly out to the southern Sinai region for Easter holidays, the government has also put its travel advice to the resorts in the area under close review…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Clashes Continue at Several Egyptian Universities
Clashes between students and security forces continued across several Egyptian governorates on Tuesday, leaving tens injured, including a police officer.
Egyptian universities have been the site of numerous protests since Morsi’s ouster, with clashes often breaking out between security forces and students loyal to the Islamist president. Dozens have been arrested and several killed in the unrest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Clashes Between Islamist Students and Police in Four Cities
There have been violent clashes in Cairo and three other Egyptian cities between police and university students loyal to the ousted Islamist president.
In the capital pitched battles went on for hours as the students from Ein Shams university pelted police with rocks. The security forces used tear gas to try to disperse the protesters.
Elsewhere, 200 kilometres south of Cairo at Assiut, some 45 people including 15 schoolgirls were injured in the violence. Clashes also broke out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and in Mansoura, north of Cairo.
Trouble has erupted on a near daily basis between Islamist students and police ever since Mohamed Mursi was ousted by the military last July. On Sunday a student was killed in clashes in Cairo
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
As Hamas Declines and Islamic Jihad Strengthens, Chaos Could Ensue in Gaza
The decline of Hamas and increasing strength of Islamic Jihad may result in a new wave of chaos in the Gaza Strip, The Economist magazine writes in its latest issue.
One sign of the change was the most recent round of mutual shelling two weeks ago, which was conducted, on the Palestinian side, by Islamic Jihad. When Egypt wanted to bring an end to the firing, it bypassed Hamas and went straight to Islamic Jihad — and, “within minutes, calm was restored.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Lawmakers Visit Judea and Samaria
Anke Vandermeersch judea samaria anti-Israel boycott campaigns Belgian lawmakers judea samaria Belgium Israel relations European Parliament Israel Gershon Mesika israel pro-Israel diplomacy belgium Senator Anke Vandermeersch israel Shomron Regional Council Vandermeersch miss universe. The Jewish community of Beit El in Judea and Samaria. Credit: Yaakov via Wikimedia Commons. JNS.org — A delegation of Belgian parliamentarians visited Judea and Samaria on Thursday as guests of the Shomron Regional Council. The visit was coordinated by the council’s foreign relations committee. During the visit, delegation head Senator Anke Vandermeersch noted that she was “surprised to see how different the reality here is compared to what we are shown by the European media,” Israel Hayom reported. Vandermeersch, a 1992 Miss Universe finalist, agreed to head pro-Israel public diplomacy efforts in Belgium and in the European Parliament, in an effort to counter anti-Israel boycott campaigns. “This is another important step for the settlement enterprise and for the State of Israel,” Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika said.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Deputy Minister Welcomes Far-Right MPs, Drawing Criticism
Likud MK Ofir Akunis says he did not know of lawmakers’ extremist views when he met with them
By Yifa Yaakov
An Israeli deputy minister recently met with lawmakers from a far-right Belgian party that has been accused of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial and is boycotted by Europe’s Jews.
Ofir Akunis, a Likud member and deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, met with parliamentarians from the Vlaams Belang party while they were visiting Israel. He defended the meeting Sunday, saying he did not know of the parliament members’ extremist backgrounds when he sat down with them on March 25. The visit by the lawmakers of Vlaams Belang came amid fears by Jewish groups in Europe that a far-right bloc may triumph in upcoming European Parliament elections. Vlaams Belang is part of the bloc. “This morning, I met with a delegation of parliamentarians from Belgium, some of whom are members of the European Parliament. I told them that this land is our historical homeland: there is no nation in the world that would give up its homeland,” Akunis wrote on his official Facebook page Tuesday.
Vlaams Belang, or “Flemish Interest,” advocates Flemish nationalism and independence. Along with the other parties in the right-wing anti-euro bloc, it has vowed to eschew anti-Semitism, and has distanced itself from extremist parties such as Greece’s Golden Dawn and Hungary’s Jobbik.
However, the party is boycotted by Israeli diplomats in Brussels and the European Jewish community, as well as local lawmakers, who see its stances as racist, according to Haaretz. A senior Israeli diplomat told the paper the meeting between Akunis and Vlaams Belang was “an act of blindness, ignorance and first-rate irresponsibility.” “This is a harsh and disgraceful blow to Jewish communities and Belgium and Europe, who are fighting the phenomenon of xenophobia and nationalist neo-fascism,” the official is quoted saying. “The fact that the party is looking for a seal of approval from Jews does not mean we can accept their statements that pretend to be pro-Israel.” Akunis said he told the Vlaams Belang politicians that Israel “wants peace” with its Palestinian neighbors, but questions the Palestinians’ commitment to the same cause in light of “their behavior in the last 100 years.” The meeting between the Likud MK and the delegation was organized by the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Gershon Mesika, and his deputy Yossi Dagan, the Haaretz daily reported. The paper said Mesika and Dagan depicted the Flemish delegation as a group of Belgian parliamentarians who support West Bank settlements and oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In the past, the two cooperated with Austria’s far-right Freedom Party in the same way, bringing its leader to Israel. On Sunday, Akunis reacted with surprise to Haaretz’s report on the meeting, telling Israel Radio that he was not aware of the lawmakers’ extremist background when he met with them. Akunis explained that he devotes “a considerable amount” of his time to speaking on Israel’s behalf and defending it in the international arena. “Israel is in a very difficult and complicated situation in the international arena,” Akunis said. “We should explain our standpoint to anyone who is willing to listen.” The deputy minister said any “racist remarks” or “expressions of support for anti-Semitic bodies” on the Belgian parliamentarians’ part were “not brought to his attention” prior to the meeting. If they did express such sentiments in the past, he said, their remarks should be condemned. “I expressed my views, and the members of the delegation supported them,” Akunis said of the meeting. “None of the matters that came to light in the [Haaretz] report today were brought to my attention.” In 2001, one of the leaders of the party, Roeland Raes, doubted the scale of the Holocaust on national Dutch TV. “I think that what we’ve been given to believe on certain points has been very exaggerated,” Roes said of the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis. “The persecution and the deportation of the Jews did take place in a systematic way. But whether it was planned that everyone was going to die — well, that’s another question.” A media furor erupted over Raes’s interview, and he stepped down as senator and party vice president after being accused of Nazi sympathies. He was charged with Holocaust denial, but the charges were dropped. In 2008, following an appeal by Jewish organizations, Raes was given a suspended four-month prison sentence and made to pay damages. In 2010, the Brussels court of appeal decided not to sentence him. In February, Reuters reported that an anti-euro bloc marketing itself as “simply populist” was rousing concern in the European Jewish community, amid forecasts saying the bloc could gain as many as 20 percent of seats in May’s European Parliament elections. The group, consisting of the Austrian and Dutch Freedom parties, the French National Front, the Italian Northern League, the Swedish Democrats, the Slovakian National Party and the Flemish-Belgian Vlamms Belang. Though the bloc eschews anti-Semitic views, Jews in Europe fear their rejections of extremism conceal a less benign agenda. European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor told Reuters last month that he did not believe the parties truly rejected anti-Semitism, and that he believed they were more dangerous than elements that openly expressed extremist views. “Make order in your own home if you are not racist or anti-Semitic. Demonstrate this in fact and behavior but not in promises,” Kantor said.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry Cancels West Bank Trip as Peace Talks Hit Hurdles
US Secretary of State John Kerry has called off a trip to the West Bank. The decision came immediately after announcements by both the Israelis and the Palestinians that cast fresh doubt on peace talks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Reports: Pollard Deal ‘Nearly Sealed’
In a possible breakthrough in the Middle East peace talks, Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Tuesday to most of the details of a deal that would include the U.S. release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in return for Israeli concessions with the Palestinians, according Haaretz, the Israeli publication.
An official close to the discussions said the deal would also extend talks into 2015. The release of Pollard, who has spent more than 25 years in an American jail, would be released before Passover in exchange for the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners.
The United States is working to get approval from the Palestinians, and a source told The Jerusalem Post that Kerry wanted Netanyahu to call a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to sign off on the proposed deal.
[As Seymour Hersh reported in The New Yorker in 1999, the Israelis swapped some of Pollard’s take to the Soviet Union in exchange for the emigration of Soviet Jewish nuclear scientists. If the Israelis want him back so badly, let them tell us just what was blown to the Sovs. Otherwise, Pollard should be left to rot. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Picks American Embassy Hostage Taker for UN Ambassador
Excerpt: Weakness begets contempt, and you can’t blame the rest of the world for assuming that only a profoundly weak, sickly country would put the likes of Barack Obama and John Kerry in charge of foreign policy. As Obama and Kerry pave the way to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the mullahs repay us with a gob of saliva in America’s face: ‘Iran has named a member of the militant group that held 52 Americans hostage in Tehran for 444 days to be its next ambassador to the United Nations.’
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
By Mark Steyn
Excerpt: Two weeks ago ABC announced a new series: “Alice in Arabia” is a high-stakes drama series about a rebellious American teenage girl who, after tragedy befalls her parents, is unknowingly kidnapped by her extended family, who are Saudi Arabian. Alice finds herself a stranger in a new world but is intrigued by its offerings and people, whom she finds surprisingly diverse in their views on the world and her situation. Now a virtual prisoner in her grandfather’s royal compound, Alice must count on her independent spirit and wit to find a way to return home while surviving life behind the veil. Sounds interesting — and not untrue to life: more than a few children of western-Arab marriages have wound up shanghaied back to Saudi. But then the professional grievance mongers got wind of it:
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Troops Kill 22 Rebels in Aleppo
DAMASCUS, April 1 (Xinhua) — A total of 22 armed rebels were killed Tuesday by a Syrian military offensive against rebels’ positions in the country’s northwestern province of Aleppo, the official SANA news agency reported.
“The armed forces have targeted gatherings of terrorist groups in Dar Ezzah area in Aleppo, killing 22 and injuring 10 others,” SANA said, adding that all of the targeted “terrorists” were not Syrians…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Riot Police Break Up Post-Election Protest in Ankara
Turkish riot police have fired water cannon at opposition protesters demonstrating against local election results. The weekend vote was dominated by the ruling AKP party of Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Sunday’s local elections were conducted to determine provincial assembly members and city mayors, and were seen as a litmus test for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP, despite him not being on the ballot. It comes amid corruption claims against Erdogan’s inner circle and a crackdown on internet access.
The elections were mostly peaceful although at least eight people died in clashes in rural areas.
Unofficial results show that, nationwide, the AKP party received about 45 per cent of the votes, compared to about 28 per cent for the CHP. In Ankara, the AKP appears to have only narrowly won over the CHP, but by a wide margin in Istanbul.
There have been claims of election fraud on social media, including a photo purportedly showing ballots in a garbage heap.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Islamic Human Slaughterhouses for Christians
Excerpt: This week’s Glazov Gang episode was joined by Walid Shoebat, a former Muslim Brotherhood terrorist who turned to love and Christianity. He is the author of his most recent book The Case for Islamophobia and heads the organization RescueChristians.org.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Freezes Cooperation With Russia Over Ukraine
A meeting of NATO foreign ministers has agreed to halt all cooperation with Russia and to consider further deployments of troops to eastern Europe. The decision was made in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Orders Militant Groups to Disarm
The parliament of Ukraine has passed a law that orders armed groups in the country to give up their arms. Militants that Russia sees as a threat have been a sticking point between Moscow and Kyiv.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Crisis: Poland Asks NATO to Station 10,000 Troops on Its Territory
Poland asked Nato to station 10,000 troops on its territory on Tuesday as a visible demonstration of the Alliance’s resolve to defend all its members after Russia’s seizure of Crimea. Nato foreign ministers met in Brussels to consider requests for soldiers to be deployed in Poland and the Baltic States, all of which share borders with Russia.
Nato generals and admirals have been ordered to devise ways to better protect alliance members that feel threatened by Russia, and “all practical civilian and military cooperation” with Russia.
President Vladimir Putin has massed about 40,000 troops near Ukraine’s eastern frontier, giving himself the option of seizing more of his neighbour’s territory.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Flight 370 Passenger Philip Wood Allegedly Sends Message From U.S. Military Base in Indian Ocean
There are rumblings that the passengers of Malaysian Flight 370 may be alive and incarcerated at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. If this proves to be true then a likely scenario is that this was a false flag pulled off by the U.S. Government.
Please keep in mind that there are those out there who create conspiracy theories and accompanying evidence as a hobby. With modern technology it is getting easier and easier to do. This may or may not be one of those times.
The story is that missing Flight 370 passenger Philip Wood, an IBM employee and Texas native, was able to send a picture and message to an internet message board. Below is an excerpt from jimstonefreelance.com:
This image, which appears black was posted as taken in a dark cell by IBM engineer Philip Wood. SAVE IT TO YOUR DESKTOP. RIGHT CLICK IT. SELECT PROPERTIES. CLICK DETAILS, THAT REVEALS THE EXIF. Shills are saying I did not post the Exif. Shills pray for people to be stupid. NOTHING PROVES IT BETTER THAN THE ACTUAL IMAGE. THAT IS WHY I POSTED THE ACTUAL IMAGE. The picture is black because the cell was too dark, but a critical piece of information was embedded in the Exif data, the coordinates to Diego Garcia, where the picture was taken. And it’s real, this is NOT a hoax. The coordinates in the picture indicate that the photo was taken within 3 miles of what Google officially gives for Diego Garcia. It is NOT EXACTLY what comes up on Google. It is off a couple miles, so NO ONE GOOGLED THIS, thus helping to confirm it’s authenticity. I don’t know how big the island is, but if it has a runway, that certainly fits.
The picture posted with the following text: “I have been held hostage by unknown military personal after my flight was hijacked (blindfolded). I work for IBM and I have managed to hide my cellphone in my ass during the hijack. I have been separated from the rest of the passengers and I am in a cell. My name is Philip Wood. I think I have been drugged as well and cannot think clearly.”
Image Exif data: THE SMOKING GUN
The Exif is intact. Exif data gets embedded in every image by every camera and includes the circumstances under which the photo was taken. It can be viewed by saving the image to your desktop, and then right clicking it and selecting image properties. Hit the details tab. You can see that the image was taken on March 18 with an Iphone 5, with the ISO at 3200 and a shutter of 1/15. The coordinates are included in the exif data because the Iphone knows where it is, and the coordinates are for Diego Garcia. THE FIRST TIME A BLANK PHOTO SAID IT ALL.
Exif can’t be rewritten with common software, it can only be added to in fields such as image credits with some advanced applications applications. It can be erased as well but NOT CHANGED. Photos with the exif intact will hold up in court. If the Exif is hacked and this is not real, the CIA or a really good hacker did this, which I doubt, I’d say it’s probably real. Another smoking gun is that the voice recognition software put the word personal instead of personnel. This is completely consistent with a blind software assisted dial out.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kashagan Oil Field ‘$30 Bn Over Budget, Way Behind Schedule’
WSJ calls Eni joint venture ‘elephant in big oil’s room’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — The massive Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan, in which Italian energy giant Eni owns a 16.81% stake, is years behind schedule and has gone over budget by $30 billion, The Wall Street Journal has reported. “The Caspian Sea-based project isn’t working,” despite $50 billion in investments from some of the world’s biggest energy providers, reports the WSJ, calling the project “the elephant in big oil’s room”. Kashagan is one of the largest oil fields discovered over the past 40 years, with estimated reserves of about 35 billion barrels of oil in place.
Discovered in 2000 and originally scheduled to be active by 2008, the project’s original operator was Eni’s Agip KCO, but the project suffered a series of delays, forced cost increases and friction with local authorities.
In October 2008, the Kazakh government came to an agreement with consortium companies to form the North Caspian Oil Company (NCOC), which took over the operator role from Agip KCO.
The co-venturers in the original consortium were made shareholders in NCOC, each holding the same participating interest held in the preceding project agreement.
However, Royal Dutch Shell took control of second-phase development planning from Eni at the start of 2009, according to a 2010 article on Energy-pedia News.
Shell radically simplified second-phase design, slashing $18 billion from the estimated cost, reducing it from $68 billion to $50 billion, the energy giant’s website said.
Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and KazMunaiGas each have a 16.81% stake in the project.
Inpex owns 7.56%, while ConocoPhillips held a 8.4% stake until last year, when the Kazakh government exercised preemptive rights to acquire it.
The Chinese CNPC then bought a 8.33% stake from the government in a deal valued at about five billion euros, according to press reports.
The WSJ reports that the project is “stalled indefinitely” at the moment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia: Bumi Rights for Muslim Converts Would Commodify Islam Say Pakatan MPs
KUALA LUMPUR: A former judge’s proposal to extend Bumiputera privileges to Muslim converts would reduce Islam to a commodity, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs said today when denouncing the call.
Khalid Samad, a federal lawmaker from Islamist opposition party PAS, said the proposal would then be motivated to convert to Islam for financial gain, instead of embracing the faith out of personal convictions…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
New Premature Blast Kills 16 Afghan Militants
KABUL, April 1 (Xinhua) — Up to 16 Taliban militants were killed while nine others wounded in another premature blast in Afghanistan on Tuesday, police said.
“Several Taliban leaders were instructing a group of militants of building suicide jackets and targeting security forces in a house in Gelan district of eastern Ghazni province at midday. One suicide vest went off accidentally, killing 16 Taliban militants and injuring nine others,” provincial police chief Zrawar Zahid told Xinhua.
Earlier on Tuesday, seven Taliban were killed in a similar incident in the neighboring Logar province…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Anger in China at Brutality in Chemical Plant Protests
(Reuters) — Protests against a proposed chemical plant in southern China spread to the provincial capital of Guangzhou on Tuesday, even as authorities signaled they may back down on their construction plans in attempt to head off more unrest.
Public anger has grown after graphic photos surfaced on Chinese social networks early this week, showing demonstrators in the nearby city of Maoming — the location of the proposed plant — lying bloodied on the streets as rows of paramilitary police marched in formation.
On Sunday, hundreds of Maoming residents poured into the streets protesting against the plant producing paraxylene, a petrochemical used in making fabric and plastic bottles, and environmental degradation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan May Only be Able to Restart One-Third of Its Nuclear Reactors
Three years after the Fukushima disaster prompted the closure of all Japan’s nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to revive nuclear power as a core part of the energy mix, but many of those idled reactors will never come back online.
Fewer than a third, and at most about two-thirds, of the reactors will pass today’s more stringent safety checks and clear the other seismological, economic, logistical and political hurdles needed to restart, a Reuters analysis shows.
This means Japan is likely to remain heavily reliant on imported fuel to power the world’s third-largest economy, straining a trade balance that has been in the red for nearly two years. Electric utilities will face huge liabilities to decommission reactors and pay for fossil fuels.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Late Witness Statement Delays VCAT Ruling on Bid for Coolaroo Muslim Mosque
A DECISION whether to build a Muslim mosque next to an Assyrian church in Coolaroo has again been delayed at VCAT.
An application to build a mosque next door to St Mary’s Ancient Church in Kyabram St first went to the tribunal on February 17, with a verdict expected to be reached today. But VCAT deputy president Mark Dwyer unexpectedly adjourned the matter until early June, after the late submission of a witness statement…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Robert Mugabe Demands Pay Rise After Daughter’s Expensive Wedding
After blowing about £3 million on his daughter’s wedding earlier this month, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe says he wants a pay rise.
President Robert Mugabe, 90, who most Zimbabweans believe will die in office, told public service workers that he is holding out for a pay increase next month.
Zimbabwe is bankrupt and several economists privately say they expect the government will not be able to pay civil servants on time, if at all, later this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Luis Fleischman: Russia in Latin America: The Problem We Have Chosen to Ignore
As Russian control of Crimea consolidates and the fear of a potential invasion of continental Ukraine increases, Russian activities closer to home in the Western Hemisphere have been largely overlooked or perhaps just disregarded. There have been reports of increasing Russian military cooperation with countries in Latin America that are hostile to the United States, mainly Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. This includes agreements between Russia and the above named countries that would enable Russia to place their naval logistic facilities in Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan territory. According to Russia’s Secretary of Defense, those facilities could serve long-range aircraft. The motive, according to Russia expert, Stephen Blank is that Russia seeks access to ports and air bases for refueling purposes as well as great power influence.
The Russian invasion of Crimea raises the question of whether or not the old cold war logic remains relevant.
Russia may have given up communism but it did not give up the pride of being an empire with a broad sphere of influence they, namely Vladimir Putin considers belonging to them and to them alone. It seems this was the reasoning behind Russia’s 2008 aggressive attempt to prevent Georgia from joining NATO. This was followed up by Russia’s military invasion which successfully detached South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, making them politically independent but subjected to Russian authority. The same logic applies to the current crisis in the Ukraine…
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Massive 8.0 Quake Off Chile Coast Sparks Tsunami
A major earthquake of magnitude 8.0 struck off the coast of Chile on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami that hit the northern part of the country and a tsunami warning for all of South and Central America’s Pacific coast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
400,000 Migrants on Taxpayer-Funded Benefits…no Wonder They Flock to Britain
THE growing popularity of Britain as a haven for economic migrants has been exposed in figures showing the lives of almost 400,000 foreign-born residents are funded by the taxpayer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: MP Expelled for Waving Fish During Immigration Debate
‘Thought decriminalization was an April Fool’s prank’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — An MP from the anti-immigrant Northern League was expelled from the Lower House for waving a fresh fish around during debate on immigration reform.
Gianluca Buonanno produced the fish, a sea bass, to protest decriminalizing undocumented immigration. His party co-sponsored the law making illegal immigration a crime during the previous administration of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.
“When I heard the debate I thought it was an April Fool’s prank, but no. Let’s give the sea bass to our poor, our pensioners,” he said. He was called to order and ultimately expelled by Deputy House Speaker Luigi Di Maio, who is from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
In Italy, France, Belgium, and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, the April 1 tradition is often known as “April fish”. Pranks include trying to attach a paper fish to the victim’s back without being noticed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Obama Administration Released 68,000 Convicted Criminal Aliens Last Year
The Obama administration is threatening public safety by deliberately hampering immigration law and releasing aliens with criminal records, according to a new review of internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement data.
A Center for Immigration Studies report to be released Monday and obtained in advance by The Daily Caller, found that last year ICE reported nearly 722,000 encounters with illegal or criminal immigrants. But ICE officers filed immigration charges against less than 195,000 aliens.
In 2013 some 68,000 criminal aliens were released — or 35 percent of all criminal aliens ICE reported encountering, according to the report. ICE field offices with the highest rates of criminal releases were San Antonio (79 percent), New York City (71 percent), Washington, D.C. area (64 percent), and Newark, N.J. (60 percent).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australia’s Top Court Recognises ‘Gender Neutral’ Sex Category
Sydney (AFP) — Australia’s highest court on Wednesday ruled that a person can be legally recognised as gender neutral, or non-specific, as opposed to male or female.
“The High Court… recognises that a person may be neither male nor female, and so permits the registration of a person’s sex as ‘non-specific’,” it said in a unanimous judgement that dismissed a New South Wales state appeal to recognise only men or women.
The case centred on a person called Norrie, who does not identify as either male or female, who launched a legal bid to introduce a new gender-neutral category. Norrie, who uses only a single name, was born as a male and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1989 to become a woman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Teacher ‘White Privilege Conference’: Whites Are Never Cured of Racism
More details are emerging about what was presented at the “White Privilege Conference” held in Madison, Wisconsin, where tax money was spent to train teachers how to annihilate “white privilege” and “white supremacy” in American schools. One session insisted that whites can never be cured of their permanent racist attitudes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catching Cancer: The Riveting Quest for a Killer Virus
About 95 per cent of us are infected with the Epstein-Barr virus. Cancer Virus is the compelling, thriller-like tale of its discovery
FEW words have the power to induce terror: cancer is one, virus another. Imagine, then, the awful potency of something that merges the two.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Five a Day is Not Enough Fruit and Veg for Best Health
Forget five a day — you should be aiming for seven or more portions of fruit and veg. So say the authors of a large study, which found that people who ate seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day had a lower risk of dying during the seven-year study period than those who ate just five.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Global Warming Will Cause War, Pestilence, Famine and Death Says New IPCC Report Inevitably
By James Delingpole
Excerpt: The real take-home story of the new report we already learned last week: that the latest estimates of the economic costs of “climate change” are considerably lower than previous projections; so much lower, in fact, that the costs could be offset by just a month’s global economic growth.
It’s to obscure this inconvenient truth that the Big Green Propaganda Machine will now be cranking into overdrive. Over the next few days — watch and listen: they’ll be all over the MSM like a suppurating pox rash — “expert” after “expert” will be dragged out of the woodwork to testify that, no, this time it’s serious and as a measure of the serious seriousness of it all it’s really about time we silenced those Big-Oil-funded climate deniers for good. Throw them in jail, at any rate.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Glyphosate Found to Accumulate in Animals and Humans, Leading to Chronic Illness
(NaturalNews) Yet another scientific study has debunked the myth that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) pose no threat whatsoever to animals or humans. A team of researchers from both Germany and Egypt, publishing their findings in the Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology, discovered that animals fed GM feed had much higher levels of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, in their urine and organs than animals fed non-GM or organic feed.
This translated into higher levels of the toxic chemical in humans as well, according to the study, proving once again the inherent abnormalities of GMOs and their assimilation in mammals. Contrary to claims made by Monsanto that glyphosate is “safe” for humans, this new study shows that it most definitely accumulates in humans and animals, and is likely causing long-term health effects.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
IPCC’s Doom-and-Gloom Global Warming Apocalypse is Political Theater, Not Real Science
(NaturalNews) The IPCC has just released its latest “Apocalypse Now” report, threatening all humankind with imminent self-destruction if industrial output of CO2 is not immediately and drastically curbed. The UN global government report concludes that global warming is “severe, pervasive and irreversible,” a position which seems to be little more than a foregone death sentence for the human race, even if drastic changes are made right now.
As head of a research laboratory myself — I was the first scientist to discover industrial tungsten contamination in superfoods — I share the overall concern about humankind’s impact on the global ecosystem. Yet an intelligent look at the IPCC’s report reveals it to be based on selective, cherry-picked science, the wild exaggeration of Earth’s historical cycles, a bizarre ignorance of plant physiology and how CO2 helps restore deserts to farmlands, and the willful ignoring of far greater threats to humankind such as GMO pollution, heavy metals contamination and the resource extraction model driving our entire global economy.
The IPCC’s doom-and-gloom report, in other words, looks like theater, not science. As part of that theater, the National Science Foundation actually awarded $700,000 for the production of what’s being called “Climate Change: The Musical!”
And it’s theater being put on for a specific purpose: to frighten the world’s populations and national leaders into surrendering to global dictatorial control over national economies. If nations can be swept into a system where all forms of economic activity are tightly controlled by global dictators — including transportation, industry, agriculture and even cow ranching — then all power has been usurped by the globalists.
Remember: the IPCC is not saying, “we should all act locally to reduce CO2 emissions” as responsible citizens and communities. No, the IPCC is functioning as a propaganda branch of the UN, which is saying something far more sinister: “Put us in control of your national economies, where we decide how much CO2 you are ALLOWED to emit” (and pay us taxes, to boot!).
That’s a very different proposition, and it smacks of a dictatorial power grab using junk science as a weapon of extreme fear to bring the population in line.
[…]
When carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere, plant life explodes to tap into that CO2 and convert it into oxygen and other byproducts of plant metabolism. This is why higher CO2 levels will result in massive global reforestation of former deserts and arid areas. There will be a global explosion of crop yields and an abundance of food for everyone.
Want proof? CO2 generators are routinely installed in greenhouses to accelerate plant growth and increase food production. The higher the CO2 in the greenhouse air, the more rapidly the plants grow and produce food. This is a scientific fact that even the IPCC can’t make go away.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Now World’s Top Energy Producer — China Now Top Energy Consumer
Not long ago the United States was labeled as being the world’s greatest energy hog and the accompanying criticism from our world neighbors was we weren’t producing enough for our own needs let alone any production for export to other energy needy countries.
As Newsmax.com reports online on March 30, 2014, the U. S. “Thanks to fracking technology and horizontal drilling techniques, the United States has gone from a large-scale energy importer to the world’s top producer.” And the report states that it comes “with far-reaching consequences. “
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Regarding China buying up US property – Did you know that the realtor’s lobby was able to exempt home purchases from money laundering regulations? Did you know that in Nov and Dec of 2013, almost 40% of all home purchases were all-cash deals? We are welcoming latin drug lords and chinese corrupt-o-crats as our neighbors.
Russian Duma has adopted in the first reading amendments to the nationality law, simplifying process of acquiring citizenship. Main beneficiaries of the changed law are supposed to be ethnic Russians living in the former Soviet republics, although
it is more than probable that first of all it will attract masses of Central-Asian Muslims, already looking for a better life in the former metropolis.
and Russians are said to pursue their own self-interest!? Hmmm …
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/726039