Another migrant boat sank off the coast of Italy today, this time south of Sicily. At least ten would-be immigrants were drowned (or fourteen, or seventeen, depending on the report) while 200 others were rescued. The Italian interior minister complained to the EU that Brussels is not doing enough to help Italy with its refugee crisis. Meanwhile, the Libyan government threatened to “facilitate” the departure of further migrants if Italy does not do more to combat the problem.
In other immigration news, the Greek coast guard rescued forty migrants in a rubber dinghy off the coast of Lesbos.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, RR, Steen, 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.
Get Used to Slower Growth, Xi Jinping Says Amid Weakening China Trade Figures
China’s president has told the country to get used to slower growth, damping expectations of a new stimulus. President Xi Jinping’s weekend comments come amid weakening trade and manufacturing.
The ruling Communist Party is trying to steer the economy to self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption instead of trade and investment.
Other leaders have ruled out more stimulus, but unexpectedly weak demand for Chinese exports has forced Beijing to backtrack and launch mini-stimulus efforts last year and in March.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Troika Presses Greece for More Generic Drugs Prescriptions
Generic drugs must reach 60% of prescriptions, says Georgiadis
(ANSA) — ATHENS — Eu’s Troika is pressuring Greece to increase the prescription of cheaper, generic medicines, according to the local portal Kathimerini online reported, quoting the Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis. Speaking at a pharmaceutical conference in Athens, Georgiadis pointed out that Greece has to raise the prescription rate of non-brand name drugs from current 20% to around 60% as part of efforts to reduce public spending on medicines to less than 2 billion euros per year. “The measures we have adopted to increase the penetration of generic drugs have failed,” said Georgiadis. According to the European Generic Medicines Association, generic drugs account for 50% all medicines dispensed in the European Union, while amounting to only 18% of total pharmaceutical expenditure.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
1 Dead and 6 Injured in Sacramento’s Peregrine Park Shooting
Gunmen killed a man and wounded six people including a seven-year-old child when they opened fire on a toddler’s birthday party in California.
Officer Doug Morse said that attackers walked up and opened fire, then fled in a car.
A man in his 20s died at the scene. Police say he’s believed to be a gang member but his name hasn’t been released.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
2nd US Case of MERS Reported in Orlando
A person who traveled from Saudi Arabia to Orlando, Florida, has become the second patient in the United States reported to be sick with a relatively new and deadly virus known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today (May 12).
The patient, a health care worker who lives and works in Saudi Arabia, flew from Jeddah to London on May 1, the CDC said. From there, the patient flew to Boston and then to Atlanta, and finally to Orlando, where the patient was admitted to the emergency department on May 9.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Generally, most of the country is kind of German, but less so in the giant cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Or New Mexico.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Maher: ‘Islam is the Problem’ (Video)
Christian-hater Bill Maher turned his dim wit on Muslims in his latest show on HBO.
“Islam is the problem. … All religions are the problem, but especially this one,” said the famed atheist.
In a roundtable panel with liberals and religion expert Arianna Huffington, Maher let loose on the moral relativism embraced by the intelligentsia on the left.
But it took conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza to lay out to the gathered lefties exactly what’s going on: “There’s a civil war in the mind of the liberal.”
“On one hand you’re a defender of individual rights and if this were the Catholic Church… you’d be all on it. But on the other hand, you’re committed to multiculturalism and Islam is a victim and we don’t want to make Muslims feel bad. And so these two impulses have got to be brokered, one against the other, and that’s why there is a protection of Islam. The problem isn’t the Muslims; the problem is the multiculturists on campus who protect and defend them.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Catastrophic Collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet Begins
The catastrophic collapse of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet is underway, researchers said today (May 12).
The biggest glaciers in West Antarctica are hemorrhaging ice without any way to stem the loss, according to two independent studies. The unstoppable retreat is the likely start of a long-feared domino effect that could cause the entire ice sheet to melt, whether or not greenhouse gas emissions decline.
“These glaciers will keep retreating for decades and even centuries to come and we can’t stop it,” said lead study author Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “A large sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has passed the point of no return.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chimps and Humans Share Similar Personality Traits
Ever heard of a conscientious chimp? An extroverted ape? New research suggests that chimpanzees, man’s closest living relatives, have personality traits quite similar to their human cousins.
The study, conducted by researchers at Georgia State University, found that chimpanzees not only possess many of the same personality traits as humans — from agreeableness to extroversion — these traits are structured almost identically in both humans and chimps.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jim seemed staggered by my revelation of what Secretary of War Stimson had written, and he fell back to the standard position of retreat for those who ridicule conspiracy theories. He laughingly remarked: “The next thing you’re going to tell me is that after the Second World War, there were all these Communist sympathizers in our government. That’s just McCarthyism.”
“Look, Jim,” I replied, “you don’t have to take my word for any of this. About McCarthy and the Communists, would you take the word of Communists themselves? And would you trust the accuracy of former WASHINGTON POST reporter Carl Bernstein? Remembering that Bernstein along with Bob Woodard had cracked the “Watergate” case, Jim said he’d be willing to believe such sources. I then told him that in Bernstein’s book, LOYALTIES: A SON’S MEMOIR, his father (who along with Carl’s mother had been members of the of the Communist Party in America) told Carl: “You’re going to prove McCarthy right, because all he was saying was that the system was loaded with communists. And he was right. You’ve got to take a big hard look at what you’re doing. Because the whole fight against him was that people weren’t communists…I’m worried about the kind of book you’re going to write and about cleaning up McCarthy. The problem is that everybody said he was a liar; you’re saying he was right…I agree that the Party was a force in the country.”
I went on to tell Jim that during the 1950s at the same time the McCarthy controversy was growing, an organization called World Association of Parliamentarians for World Government actually prepared a map showing what foreign troops would police the various nations of the world when the World Government came into existence. Jim didn’t think this was very important until I informed him that according to this map, U.S. troops would be policing in Yugoslavia, and Russian troops would be policing in the southern and southeastern U.S. To Jim, this was somewhat alarming because he knew that in 1995 U.S. troops had been sent to Yugoslavia, and he knew that Russian troops had been at Fort Riley (KS) and Fort Polk (LA), and that a Russian policeman had helped arrest someone in western North Carolina. I told Jim also to keep in mind that this map was distributed at the 1959 United World Federalists convention, which had Mr.(later U. S. Senator) and Mrs. Alan Cranston as member sponsors.
Jim asked to see the map, and when I showed it to him, he noticed that when the world government comes into existence, American troops are also supposed to be policing Australia. He looked up from the map quickly and told me that just that morning he had received a fax from friends in Australia telling him that near the end of July 1996, a large number of U.S. Marines were permanently stationed in Australia, with 30,00 supposedly coming and going for training. He also indicated that his friends had sent him information regarding the increasing uneasiness in that nation concerning the possible disarming of citizens. One Australian newspaper editorialized that the pressure for this disarmament “must be from outside Australia.”
[Comment: Using foreign troops to quell dissidents is designed to bypass the troops natural revulsion to shooting their fellow countrymen.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Emails Reveal U.S. May Have Terrorist “Hands Off” List
The Obama administration appears to have a terrorist “hands off” list that permits individuals with extremist ties to enter the country, according to internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents obtained by a United States Senator.
It’s unimaginable that any government would do this, but it seems like the Obama administration is constantly breaking new ground. The disturbing details of this secret initiative were made public this week by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who has obtained DHS electronic mail discussing what could be a terrorist “hands off” list. The exchange includes a 2012 email chain between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asking whether to admit an individual with ties to various terrorist groups. The individual had scheduled an upcoming flight into the U.S., according to an announcement issued by the senator.
The person was believed to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close associate and supporter Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the mail exchange obtained by Grassley’s office. The terrorist suspect had also been in secondary inspection “several dozen times of the past several years,” the agency emails reveal, but had not undergone a secondary inspection since 2010. This seems to imply that the suspect has been on the U.S. government’s radar for some time.
It gets better. The DHS emails also reveal that this particular terrorism suspect has actually taken legal action against the U.S., presumably because authorities violated the hands off policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fed Up Documentary Claims it’s Sugar Causing Massive Rates of Obesity
Fed Up, which was released in America this week, says 95 per cent of adults will be overweight or obese in two decades because of so-called hidden sugars.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Friday Cable Ratings: CNN’s 9pm Hour Hits Second-Lowest Ratings in Nearly 15 Years
With Bill Weir hosting CNN Tonight on Friday, averaged its second-lowest ratings during the 9 p.m. hour in both the 25-54 demo and total viewers in nearly 15 years. The CNN show had 48K viewers in the demo and 226K total, according to Nielsen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Far We Have Shifted to the Left in 50 Years. A Reprint From the Congressional Record From 1963:
EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, January 10, 1963
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Obama-Land: What Happened to Freedom?
by Diana West
Big Brother can mine your thoughts as you are typing them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rise of the American Police State
With the enormous growth of government, federal and state, it should come as little surprise that we are experiencing a fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the state with freedom receding and control advancing. That shift is perhaps most evident when government agents bring to bear highly intrusive means or heavy handed tactics against individuals who have either done nothing unlawful or have violated laws that render illegal actions of no material consequence.
In her recent book Police State U.S.A., subtitled, “How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality,” Washington Times’ continuous news writer Cheryl K. Chumley provides a detailed yet highly readable litany of many federal and state abuses of power against specific individuals across the country. She explains that all manner of rights violations are on the rise, a marked increase over just a few decades ago.
The rise of the American police state includesa massive post-9/11 increase in use of warrantless searches; in reliance on property forfeitures before a trial on the merits; in home invasions; in massive data gathering and government storage of private information from smart phones and computers; in the militarization of state and local police; and in regulatory inspections and enforcement actions against people whose regulatory offenses harm no one. Chumley’s account is so compelling because she roots it in specific factual examples, dozens of them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The World According to Time Magazine
TIME Magazine echos Wall Street and Washington — so when it speaks, readers must listen in that context. Nothing shows the link between TIME’s biased, intentionally misleading propaganda and the agenda of the corporate-financier elite that rule America better than the fact that its last managing editor left in 2013 to join the US State Department.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Voter Fraud: An Existential Threat to America
It is difficult to describe the enormity of the crime being committed by the Obama administration and their Democratic allies. They flagrantly flout the law, while simultaneously turning it into a weapon against political opponents, use government agencies to target innocent Americans, attempt to create legal voters through amnesty, and undermine voter integrity measures to facilitate vote fraud, while denying it even exists. In short, they are corrupting the entire process.
Thus, it is fitting to begin this report by recounting a story of deliberate, blatant official voter fraud. This April 17, the Illinois House Executive Committee voted to authorize $100 million to construct President Obama’s future presidential library and museum in Chicago. AP reported that the Committee voted “unanimously,” 9-0 to support the plan. The report was false. Only four of the 11 Committee members were in attendance — all Democrats. They did not even have a quorum. Furthermore, this was supposed to be a “subject matter only” hearing, i.e., entailing no votes. No matter; the legislators simply made up the results — even counting absent Republicans as “yes” votes. Republican State Representative Ed Sullivan observed, “In this case they didn’t even care to change the rules; they just flat out broke them.”
Motor Voter
The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), also known as “motor voter,” promotes easy voter registration at motor vehicle, welfare and other state and local government offices. Voters can apply in person or by mail, and, until a recent court ruling, the federal application required no proof of citizenship. NVRA also dictates voter roll maintenance, but actually makes it more difficult by requiring an exhaustive procedure that takes a minimum of four, and sometimes more than eight years, before a deceased or otherwise ineligible voter can be removed.
As a result, nationwide, voter rolls are a shambles. According to a Pew report, approximately 24 million voter registrations nationally are either invalid or inaccurate, including about 1.8 million deceased individuals and 2.75 million multi-state duplicates.
The NVRA was authored by socialists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, and many believe it was deliberately constructed to pave the way for ACORN-style massive registration fraud. The pair is notorious for the Cloward/Piven Crisis Strategy — a plan to overwhelm government with demands for welfare spending, thereby leading to systemic crisis. Cloward and Piven helped launch ACORN to advance their strategy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
West Antarctic Glaciers in ‘Irreversible’ Thaw, Raising Seas: Study
Vast glaciers in West Antarctica seem to be locked in an irreversible thaw linked to global warming that may push up sea levels for centuries, scientists said on Monday.
Six glaciers, eaten away from below by a warming of sea waters around the frozen continent, were flowing fast into the Amundsen Sea, according to the report based partly on satellite radar measurements from 1992 to 2011.
Evidence shows “a large sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has gone into a state of irreversible retreat”, said lead author Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Immigrant Sweden Democrats Struggle to Rouse Voters for EU Polls
(Reuters) — The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are struggling to mobilise voters before EU parliamentary elections this month despite polls showing similar parties elsewhere heading for their best results ever…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Pays Less Than 8 Mn Euros in Taxes to Italy for 2013
Authorities dig for legal flaws in tax filings
Apple Italia and Apple Retail Italia in 2013 paid less than eight million euros in taxes to the Italian inland revenue agency, a company balance sheet seen by ANSA shows.
Two Apple managers are currently under investigation by magistrates in Milan for false tax declarations.
Investigators believe Apple’s sophisticated corporate-tax strategy reduced its contribution to Italy’s public coffers by more than a billion euros over two years, from 2010 and 2011.
Apple’s corporate structure for years has irritated Italian and other European tax authorities by concentrating European profits in Ireland, where the US computer giant has negotiated a tax rate of less than 2%. The California-based electronics maker in 2013 saw a turnover of nearly 38 billion euros in Europe, and garnered profits of 37 billion dollars worldwide.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
BSkyB Confirms Talks With Fox Over Assets in Italy
‘Potential to create world-class multinational pay TV group’
British broadcasting giant BSkyB confirmed Monday it was in preliminary talks with Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox over the “potential acquisition of its pay-TV assets in Italy and Germany”. Fox currently owns all of Sky Italia, 55% of Sky Deutschland and 39% of BSkyB. A deal would put Murdoch’s European satellite holdings in one group.
“BSkyB believes at the right value, this combination would have the potential to create a world-class multinational pay-TV group,” said a statement from Britain’s largest pay-TV provider.
Media reports last week said a deal worth about 10 billion euros was in the works.
Murdoch’s bid to take full ownership of BSkyB in 2010 was brought to a halt by a now-infmaous phone-hacking scandal. The latest deal would increase Murdoch’s influence in Italy’s media market dominated by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset, who’s pay-TV option is Sky Italia’s main competitor.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria, BiK ‘Only European Countries’ Threatened by Gas Crisis
Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina will be the only countries to be left with no gas supplies if deliveries via Ukraine come to a halt, the President of the Russian Gas Society argued.
Pavel Zavalny, who heads the non-profit, made the comment at a press conference preceding this week’s EU-Russia gas forum in Brussels.
Nothing prevents one from using the depositories on the EU’s territory to store gas if Kiev does not pay its debts to Gazprom and supplies via Ukraine come to a halt, ITAR-TASS reported Zavalny as saying.
Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina, however, will not be able to rely on the depots, as both have no gas interconnections with Europe.
Zavalny said that European repositories were only half-full and Gazprom could store some 40-50 bcm of gas there (with more than 160 bcm Russian-based deliveries in Europe every years).
He added the Nord Stream could still be used in case of disruption.
Apart from heading the Russian Gas Society, Pavel Zavalny is a lawmaker from the ruling United Russia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Lego Shareholder Earns a Billion Kroner a Month
Kirkbi, the investment company owned by Lego heir Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, which holds 75 percent of the toy company, has posted a pre-tax profit of 11.9 billion kroner — a significant increase on the 10.1 billion kroner profit earned in 2012.
“The result is highly satisfactory and primarily achieved due to continued growth and yet another record profit at the Lego Group,” Søren Throrup Sørensen, the managing director of Kirkbi, said in a press release.
Kirkbi also owns 29.9 percent of Merlin Entertainments, which is the world’s second largest operator in the family entertainment and leisure park industry, and owns the Lego theme parks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Arguing Linked to Premature Death
If you are the type of person who often argues with family, friends and others, then you might be in danger of dying at an early age, according to new research by the University of Copenhagen. The Centre for Healthy Ageing and the Institute of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen have looked into how conflicts, worrying and demands affect middle-aged mortality.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
End of Oil Boom Threatens Norway’s Welfare Model
(Reuters) — Norway’s energy boom is tailing off years ahead of expectations, exposing an economy unprepared for life after oil and threatening the long-term viability of the world’s most generous welfare model.
High spending within the sector has pushed up wages and other costs to unsustainable levels, not just for the oil and gas industry but for all sectors, and that is now acting as a drag on further energy investment. Norwegian firms outside oil have struggled to pick up the slack in what has been, for at least a decade, almost a single-track economy.
How Norway handles this “curse of oil” — huge wealth that bring unhealthy dependency in its train — may hold lessons across the North Sea in Scotland, which votes on independence from the United Kingdom later this year, relying at least in part on what it sees as its oil revenues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Guy Millière
More than 8,000,000 Muslims live in France, most of whom are French citizens, and the Muslim population in France continues to grow. France is now the main Muslim country in Europe. Successive French governments can decide to expel a Muslim preacher or a recruiter of jihadist fighters; they can deny visas, but they seem unable to do more.
The number of Jews leaving France is steadily increasing. French people who have the financial means also leave the country. Most others expect the worst. Polls show that the French are now the most pessimistic people in Europe. They also show that more than 70% of the French are afraid of the rise of Islam in France: they expect that France will become a country under submission to Islam.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: 100 Years on, WWI Explosives Still a Danger
At the foot of the Vosges mountain range in north-eastern France, a key battleground during World War I, a mine-clearance team is cautiously inspecting a cylinder of rusted metal nestled in a stone case covered with mould and barbed wire.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Operation of Longest Superconducting Cable Worldwide Started
(Phys.org) —Today, the longest superconducting energy cable in the world was integrated officially into the power grid of a German city. The cable of about 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) in length now connects two transformer stations in the city center of Essen. This marks the start of a landmark practical test for the future energy supply of inner cities by RWE, Nexans, and KIT. Compared to conventional cables, the highly efficient and space-saving superconducting cable technology transports five times more power with hardly any losses.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
With 8.5 million people in the heart of Europe, Austria is an oft-overlooked nexus of culture, cake and music.
The Local is excited to announce that it has just added another country to the family, with a new team in Vienna, Austria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Air Force to be Booted Out of Caserta Palace
Aviators to leave ‘soon’ says Franceschini
(ANSA) — Rome, May 12 — Ending a decades-long row on the condition of one of the jewels of southern Italy, Italy’s culture minister said Monday the Air Force would be kicked out of Caserta’s Royal Bourbon Palace to make sure recent episodes of damage and disrepair don’t recur.
Italy’s answer to Versailles and the largest palace built in Europe in the 18th century, the Reggia di Caserta “is finally going to be freed of its awkward Italian-aviator occupants”, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said.
“I have just reached a deal with Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti according to which the Air Force will soon leave the Reggia di Caserta,” Franceschini said.
The culture minister observed that, in the face of years of criticism of the “looming presence” of the military there, “only 20-25% of the Reggia is actually occupied by the Air Force”.
But he acknowledged that now “a single management team” would have to take over the running of the historic site near Naples, which has been plagued with upkeep problems in recent years.
On Thursday a large hole opened up in the roof of the 18th-century UNESCO-listed Bourbon Palace of Caserta, spurring a new round of complaints about the military presence there.
The palace that once hosted the kings of Naples and Sicily, one of the lesser-known splendours of southern Italy, has been dogged with upkeep woes, and its image was dented further last June when drug pushers were arrested just outside its magnificent grounds.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Northern League EP Candidate Blows Nose Into EU Flag
Buonanno calls union ‘disgusting’
(refiling corrected) (ANSA) — Rome, May 12 — An Italian MP and European Parliament candidate, who belongs to the regionalist, anti-immigrant Northern League, campaigned for the upcoming election by blowing his nose in the European Union flag live on television.
“A Europe commanded by banks, that doesn’t care about clandestine immigration and that has impoverished Italians with its criminal coin disgusts me,” Gianluca Buonanno told Italian TV.
“The EU flag is only useful for blowing one’s nose. As it is it is gross. We must go to Europe to change the rules. Enough with financial Nazism imposed by Angela Merkel,” said Buonanno, who grabbed an EU flag and blew his nose into it.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Brothers in Arms Return to Frontline
Kiwi veterans to visit for grim battle’s 70th anniversary
Eric de Lautour wouldn’t be here today had his brother Brian not “claimed” him off the front lines in North Africa during World War II. The army’s policy that siblings could choose to serve together saw Eric move out of the infantry and join older brother Brian in a signals unit.
The pair were posted to Italy, where they avoided the worst of the mayhem that raged around the strategic monastery town of Cassino between January and May 1944.
The brothers are among a group of 39 Kiwi veterans from the Italian campaign who today return to Italy to attend services marking the 70th anniversary of a series of battles that claimed hundreds of New Zealand lives…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Grillo Makes Nazi Jibe Against Schulz
Italian anti-establishment firebrand Beppe Grillo on Sunday likened European Commission presidency candidate Martin Schulz to a Nazi comic book character after Schulz compared him to Stalin and Hugo Chavez.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Shipyard to Start Work on New Viking Ship
The makeshift shipyard in Tønsberg harbour is to start work next week on a new Viking ship, a replica of the Klåstad ship, a cargo vessel found submerged in mud and clay in the early 1960s.
“There have only been four viking ships found in Norway, three of them are now on display in Oslo,” Arne Solhaug, one of the leading figures in the Oseberg Viking Ship foundation, told The Local. “We want to build this to have all four in the full size”
Sohaug and master shipbuilder Geir Røvik, launched their replica of the Oseberg ship, an ornate war vessel found in a burial mound outside the city, in 2012, two years after work began.
The Klåstad ship, the only Viking ship found in Norway outside a burial mound, is much simpler than the Oseberg ship and so could be finished within a year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Passenger ‘Threatens to Blow up Swiss Plane’
A passenger threatened to blow up a plane carrying 150 people from Zurich to Pristina on Sunday, according to a report from Kosovo cited by the Swiss press.
The Kosovar newspaper quoted the man as saying “Allah is great” before threatening to blow up the plane, 20 Minuti said. “We all go before God, do you want to go to heaven or hell,” the man is alleged to have said as the aircraft was travelling at an altitude of 10,000 metres. “God is first, then comes Mohammed.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Researcher Finds Lava, Not Water, Flowed on Mars
Instead of water, flows of lava may have formed the massive canyons and gorges visible on the Mars’ surface, a geoscientist from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) has found, concluding that life on the red planet is less likely than previously thought.
Researchers had so far believed that a network of deep gorges known as the Noctis Labyrinthus and Mars’s largest canyon, the 4,000-kilometre-long Valles Marineris, were shaped by massive flows of water.
However, Italian volcanologist Giovanni Leone at the ETHZ is challenging that theory, finding that there would never have been enough water on Mars to carve the gigantic valleys into the planet’s landscape and that the large canyons could only have been formed by lava.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Nine Women Report Prolonged Abuse by Iranian Man They Lived With in Marbella
Entrepreneur claims they were his workers, despite children having been born from the relationships
A Marbella court is investigating allegations of psychological abuse and threats made by an Iranian businessman against nine women who lived with him in a mansion in the southern Spanish city.
The women, who filed the complaint jointly, say that they all had relationships with Soha S., while he claims that they were his employees.
The plaintiffs, who have various European and Central Asian nationalities, come from wealthy families, and some were enrolled at a London school of design.
While the investigation is still in its early stages, legal sources say that they are ruling out religious motives, and that the Málaga Institute of Legal Medicine will now seek to determine whether there was really an intimate relationship between the entrepreneur and the alleged victims.
They were free to come and go, but he decided when they had to be back home”
The women all lived in one of the luxury homes inside the Iranian entrepreneur’s estate, located in an exclusive residential area of Marbella. Soha S. lived by himself in a small palace, legal sources said.
There were also several members of staff living there, as well as a 10th woman who refused to file a complaint against Soha S.
The women are aged between 20 and 30, according to Sonsoles Rosales, the lawyer for six of them. Rosales also said that five children have been born out of the relationships.
After the complaint was lodged on March 27, the entrepreneur was arrested and the case transferred to a specialized court dealing in cases of violence against women. Soha S. faces preliminary charges of prolonged psychological abuse and occasional physical abuse. His house was searched by police.
The women also suspect that Soha S. drugged them so that he could abuse them
But sources have confirmed that this is going to be a “complicated” case.
“They remained in this situation out of fear,” says the lawyer. “They were free to come and go, but needed his prior authorization, and he decided when they had to be back home, whether they could travel or not, and if so when they had to return.”
If the women expressed a desire to leave, Soha S. would tell them that “they would never see their families again,” says Rosales. All of the women lived in a state of terror, she added.
Another lawyer for one of the women said that the businessman forced his victims to go back home to see their families and “pretend that everything was going well,” the news agency Europa Press reported. The women also suspect that Soha S. drugged them to abuse them.
This situation is alleged to have gone on for around four years.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain to ‘Spy’ On 34 Million Bank Accounts
The Spanish Government plans to collect data on all of the country’s 34 million bank accounts in what it calls a bid to crack down on money laundering and terrorist activity. But the move has drawn plenty of fire.
Spain plans to set up a German-style archive of data on the financial activity of Spaniards and residents in Spain, national daily El País reported on Sunday.
The move will see banks having to supply details of all the personal and business current accounts, savings accounts and fixed-term accounts they hold to the Secretary of State for the Economy.
Groups including the Tax Office, the military, the General Council of the Judiciary and the secret services will then be able to access that information.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Newspaper Works With Far-Left Group to ‘Out’ Right-Wing Commenters
Journalists from one of Sweden’s biggest newspapers have used information fed to them by a far-left group to identify the email addresses and names of anonymous right-wing online commenters in a disturbing public “outing.”
People who were found to have made comments which the Swedish political class call “far right” were confronted by journalists from Expressen at their homes and workplaces, sometimes with television cameras rolling, and questioned about their opinions.
This form of “Spanish inquisition” of personal opinions was defended to Breitbart by Thomas Mattsson, editor of Expressen: “All the people who had written the comments, such as questioning the Holocaust, were given the opportunity to answer to our questions about this before we published.”
Reporters were dispatched across Sweden “to track down those who used hate sites.”
According to an article in the Swedish news website The Local, and forwarded to Breitbart News by Mattsson, the identification of the commenters was made by the Researchgruppen, an organisation with links to the far left, which traced 6,200 accounts through the forum platform Disqus.
The Researchgruppen forced a leading member of the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration, anti-EU party which is showing five percent support in the latest Eurowatch opinion poll for the European Parliament elections later this month, to resign last December after allegedly “insulting and xenophobic” online messages were traced to her.
Ten other members of the party were forced to resign as well…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: National Cow Fight Contest Runs Latest Ever
Feisty competitors kept spectators waiting until nightfall Sunday before a new “queen of queens” was crowned in the annual national cow-fighting championship in the canton of Valais.
Organizers declared a cow named Frégate the victor at 9.30pm after the latest ever final duel at the competition held in Aproz, the ATS new agency reported.
Around 12,000 spectators turned out on Sunday for the event, featuring specially bred black Hérens cows, who lock horns while carrying large bells around their necks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thieves Rob Dead Woman at French Funeral Home
Burglars yanked jewelry off a dead woman’s fingers and from around her neck as her body lay in a French funeral home. As if it could get any worse, burglars then struck a second time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Cocaine Use So Widespread it’s in Our Drinking Water
Cocaine use in the UK is now so common that traces of the drug can be found in drinking water, tests by the Drinking Water Inspectorate show.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 500,000 of us Are Secret Coeliacs: Only 24% of People Who Have Condition Are Diagnosed
Half a million people in Britain are living with coeliac disease without knowing it, according to new research.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The BBC was accused of ‘appalling’ double standards last night after forcing a veteran DJ to quit after he innocently played an old version of The Sun Has Got His Hat On which featured the ‘N’ word.
Mr Lowe lost his job after playing a 1932 version of the song, performed by Ambrose & His Orchestra, on his Sunday night golden oldies show on BBC Radio Devon.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Crusade Against British Muslims in Education
By Ibrahim Hewitt
Ibrahim Hewitt is Senior Editor of the Middle East Monitor.
The ‘Trojan Horse’ plot allegations in British media aim at discrediting the work of Muslim educationalists.
Many Muslims in Britain are convinced that there is a witch-hunt against them headed by government officials and the right-wing media; a non-Muslim friend of mine called it a “crusade”. Equally, right-wing “think-tanks” have weighed in with their comments to stir up an evil brew that threatens community relations…
[JP note: For more on Ibrahim Hewitt see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2608662/Private-school-chief-linked-Islam-Trojan-Horse-plot-says-Stone-adulterers-death.html ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Coalition has pledged that nobody will have to pay more than £72,000 for care — but a report by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has identified hidden charges which will hike the costs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Curry House Owner Who Scammed £41,000 in Benefits is Jailed
Mohammed Chowdhury, of Ipswich, Suffolk, claimed he only worked 16 hours a week as a waiter, but in fact owned a restaurant which made £400,000 a year
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: From Jail to Jihad? The Threat of Prison Radicalisation
The head of the prison and probation service says there is a small but “significant risk” of Muslim prisoners becoming radicalised. Panorama spoke to one convict who was met by Islamic extremists when he was released from prison.
Michael Coe went into prison as a gangster and left as Mikaeel Ibrahim, a convert to Islam. In 2006 he had been jailed for eight years after threatening police officers with a shotgun while on parole for a knifepoint carjacking…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: George Galloway: Do Not React to Far-Right Mosque Leaflet ‘Invasions’
Talks were being held with police in Bradford today about ways to stop a far-right group going into mosques to distribute leaflets Supporters of a group calling itself Britain First visited a number of mosques in the city on Saturday. They are believed to have walked in unannounced to hand out leaflets before being asked to leave.
Britain First, led by Paul Golding, who is a former British National Party councillor, claimed its activists were trying to speak to Imams, but described its actions as ‘invasions of mega mosques’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mystery Buyers Swoop in to Build Middle East-Style ‘Stockade’ In Surrey
Mystery buyers — thought to be Arabs with royal connections — were allowed to gazump prospective buyers of four houses in Kingswood Warren, Surrey — and started erecting fences and barbed wire.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Students Abused for Displaying UKIP Sign in Their House
Two students at the University of Birmingham have suffered abuse after displaying a sign on their door in the run up to the European Elections saying: “Only Conservative or UKIP leaflets welcome”.
The Tab reports that the students were abused by a postman, who branded them “rich, upper class *****”, while a student wearing a University of Birmingham hoodie said the sign was “offensive” and threatened the students with disciplinary action…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Swearing is Emotional and Creative Language Say Researchers Who Claim it is Good for You
The theory was presented this week to the British Psychological Society’s conference in Birmingham, where researchers said it could explain the profanity of characters like Malcolm Tucker (pictured).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Boy, 16, Held on Suspicion of Attempted Murder After Three People Are Shot in Woodland
16-year-old was today being held on suspicion of attempted murder after three people were shot in woodland close to family homes last night. The three men are being treated for gunshot wounds, while another two suffered unknown injuries.
Police were scrambled to the woodland after a volley of shots rang out in the trees behind houses in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. A father today told how his teenage son had been arrested over the shooting…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Random Muslim Scare Story Generator: Separating Fact From Fiction
By Nesrine Malik
Halal meat is on every menu; sharia law is taking over; the niqab is undermining the nation. Ever noticed how often the same old stories keep appearing about Muslims in Britain? Here’s the truth about these and other media myths…
[Reader comment by moretsu on 12 May 2014 at 7: 35pm.]
Nesrine, I sympathize to a degree, but the source of and responsibility for almost all of the so-called ‘Islamophobia’ out there must be laid at the feet of some of your fellow-Muslims and their utterly atrocious behaviour towards others.
Why on earth do you think that people are ready to believe the worst? Because of normal Muslims going about their business? Or something else?
I realize that the radicals and extremists are scary and a difficult force to be faced up to and rooted out, but your anger and indignation should be redirected towards them and not at non-Muslims who have had a bellyfull of it all.
Your anger is terribly misplaced.
[Reader comment by Tropicaldan on 12 May 2014 at 7:35pm.]
I think the real fear of Islam began on sept 11 2001, and has been added to by subsequent actions of terror ( Madrid, London, Bali etc ) combined with bursts of incomprehensible outraged global muslim intolerance ( Danish cartoons etc ) and then there is Boko Harams charming ideology just today…
These are not western media inventions, they are Islamic acts against the west.
The consequences should not surprise you
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Eric Ward, pictured before he died in 2010, became a skeletal figure during his stay at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, where staff allegedly gave him less than half the food he needed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Environment: UFM First Ministerial Meeting in Athens
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MAY 12 — A Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change will take place in Athens on May 13 with the aim to discuss the environmental and climate-related challenges facing the region and define the future action plan.
This will be the first UfM Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change since the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean. The Meeting will be co-chaired by Al Shakhshir, Minister of Environment of Jordan and Janez Potocnik, the European Commissioner of Environment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar-Based Cleric Calls for Egypt Vote Boycott
Influential Egypt-born cleric Yusef al-Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar, on Sunday urged Egyptians to boycott the upcoming presidential election, saying ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power “unfairly.”
The then head of the Egyptian military, Sisi toppled Islamist president Mohammad Morsi last July, and is widely expected to win this month’s presidential election.
“Sisi deposed the elected president and took power unfairly. How can we elect him?” the cleric told AFP.
Qaradawi is seen as a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood, the group Morsi hails from. He had issued a fatwa urging Egyptians to support the deposed head of state following his overthrow.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
49 Killed in Violence Across Iraq
BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhua) — A total of 49 people were killed and 69 others wounded on Monday in separate violent attacks across Iraq, including battles with insurgent groups in the western province of Anbar, security and medical sources said.
In Anbar province, fierce clashes erupted between Iraqi forces and gunmen believed to be linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq, on the eastern edge of the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving 19 militants killed and 20 others wounded, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Barak: US Could Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program in ‘Fraction of One Night’
Former PM says America “is perceived to have been weakened” over the last several years, but could still destroy Iran’s nuclear arsenal in operation he said would be easier than planned campaign against Syrian chemical weapons.
“The American administration changed its objective from no nuclear military Iran to no nuclear military Iran during the term of this administration,” Barak said, adding that the US “is perceived to have been weakened” over the last several years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Teen Kills Maid for Leaving Family House
KUWAIT: A teenager beat his family’s maid to death because she earlier left their house in Saad Al-Abdullah, according to police investigations. Police had apprehended the housemaid’s female employer after the Ethiopian woman arrived dead at Jahra Hospital on Friday. The woman was questioned after head injuries and beat marks were noticed on the victim’s body.
Investigations revealed yesterday that the perpetrator was the woman’s 15-year-old son. According to investigators, the boy brutally attacked the maid under the pretext that she left the family’s house without permission. The circumstances behind the maid’s escape and return to her employer’s house are still unknown. The teen’s mother is also expected to face charge for covering up the crime.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Jakhour ‘Gay’ Party Busted, 32 Arrested
Meanwhile, a security source said vice detectives raided a jakhour (animal pen) where homosexual parties for both genders were being organized. The source said that 32 men and women were arrested in the pen in Kabd. Liquor and women’s clothing were also confiscated.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Qaedists Cut Off Water Supply, Emergency in Aleppo
Desperate call from activists and civilians
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — Al Qaeda-linked militants have cut off water supplies for the past eight days to Aleppo, in northern Syria, leaving residents without water. Activists and civilians in the violence-torn city have denounced the risk of a humanitarian crisis. Sources interviewed by ANSA via Skype said that a week ago a number of militant groups including the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat an Nusra closed off water supply in the Suleiman al Halabi area. “Their aim was to prevent water from reaching eastern districts controlled by loyalist forces”, the sources said, adding however that “the partial closure damaged the entire distribution network, leaving most of the city without water”. Militants also prevented water employees from intervening. “Without experts, the water network risks serious damage which could cause a humanitarian disaster” said the Madani (Civil) organization which pursues the aim of “supporting civilian society towards democratic transition” in Aleppo and other Syrian areas. Eye witness reports in Aleppo cited long lines of civilians in front of wells and fountains to get clean water. “There are already symptoms of illnesses caused by the absence of water or contact with polluted water”, said a statement published by Madani. “With summer approaching, there is a risk of an epidemic of skin infections” also due to the few doctors and specialized clinics in the city, especially in the eastern area controlled by insurgents.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Sources: ISIS and Regime Against Rebels in Dayr Zor
Many Chechens and Kazaks amid al Qaeda-linked militants
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MAY 12 — Syrian loyalist forces and al-Qaeda-linked militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have launched a joint attack against anti-regime Islamic rebels near the eastern city of Dayr az Zor, according to activists and eye witnesses quoted by the pan-Arab press and interviewed by ANSA via Skype.
The sources said the ISIS militants, including many Chechens and Kazaks, gained control of the western access to Dayr az Zor, close to the area controlled by President Bahsar al Assad’s forces. ISIS has been advancing for days against the fragmented front of Syrian rebels including local al Qaeda-linked group Jabhat an Nusra, without the intervention of the regime’s air force.
Pan-Arab daily Hayat reported on Monday that intense fighting was taking place up until Sunday in the countryside east of Dayr az Zor and ISIS had succeeded in gaining control of five villages located in strategic areas.
Assad’s regime meanwhile controls the road connecting the oasis of Palmyra (Tadmor) with the eastern city.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a platform which has been monitoring violence in the country since 2007, some 230 militants linked to al Qaeda or other organizations have died in 72 hours of fighting reported since May 10 in the eastern region bordering with Iraq.
Over 100,000 civilians have fled Dayr az Zor and the area around it over escalating violence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Girls, sometimes as young as eight, are forced into marriages with men decades older. Anthea Ayache speaks to campaigners fighting for the introduction of minimum marriageable age.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
400 Blackwater Mercs Deployed in Ukraine Against Separatists, German Press Reports
In what is becoming a weekly ritual, the German press continues to demolish the US case of “idealistic humaniatrian” Ukraine intervention. Recall, that it was a week ago that German tabloid Bild am Sonntag, hardly the most reputable source but certainly one which reaches the broadest audience, reported that dozens of CIA and FBI agents were “advising the Ukraine government.” This conclusion is hardly a stretch and certainly based on facts considering the recent semi-secret jaunt by CIA head Brennan to Kiev. Fast forward one week when overnight the same Bild reported that about 400 elite mercenary commandos of the private US security firm, Academi, f/k/a Xe Services, f/k/a Blackwater “are involved in a punitive operation mounted by Ukraine’s new government” against east Ukraine separatists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caught on Tape: Ukrainian National Guardsmen Shooting at Crowd in East Ukraine Referendum Town
With the referendum vote largely concluded in most east Ukraine regions, it was virtually inevitable that the day would end without some provocation. And, as expected, moments ago CBS reported that “Ukrainian national guardsmen opened fire Sunday on a crowd outside a town hall in eastern Ukraine and an official for the region’s insurgents said there were fatalities.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CIA, FBI and Now Academi Mercenaries on the Ground in Ukraine
The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported on Sunday 400 U.S. mercenaries are working with the junta government in Ukraine to suppress opposition to the coup in the eastern part of the country. The newspaper said the for-profit mercenaries are actively participating in the effort to eliminate anti-coup activists in Slavyansk and possibly other areas in the Donetsk region.
On Thursday we covered a report stating the CIA and the FBI are involved in the effort to quell resistance to the junta. The CIA has been involved with nationalist and fascist Ukrainian groups since the late 1940s.
In March, we reported on the presence of Greystone mercenaries in Donetsk. The mercenaries were “soldiers of fortune proficient in combat operations,” a diplomatic source told Interfax, according to the Daily Mail. “Most of them had operated under private contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other states. Most of them come from the United States.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the mercenaries were contracted “to suppress civil protests and dissatisfaction.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Civil War in Ukraine at the Door, Leading Expert on Ukraine Says
The situation in Ukraine is very volatile right now and nobody can guarantee that it will not become a full-fledged civil war, a leading expert on Ukraine has said.
“We should consider both internal factors which include a provisional government which is not very capable of dealing with such a complex line of issues in Ukraine and also a lot of external players which have their own interests. Nobody can guarantee that it will not become a full fledge-civil war,” Dr. Sergei Konoplyov, a former officer of the Soviet Armed Forces and former member of the National Security Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, told daily Hürriyet in an interview on May 8.
The current director of the Harvard University Black Sea Security Program and the U.S.-Russia Security Program, Konoplyov is currently visiting Istanbul to attend a conference organized by the Karaköy Institute at Kadir Has University.
Risk of division for Ukraine
Konoplyov said there was also a potential for the risk of division in Ukraine. “There were already examples of several small states in Ukraine 100 years ago. They were based on the same division line as it looks today. If it happened 100 years ago, why can it not happen right now?” he added.
Two southeastern cities, Donetsk and Lugansk, are planning to hold referendums on their regions’ future as part of Ukraine on May 11…
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| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Proclaims Independence
Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) has proclaimed itself an independent state as a result of a referendum, Denis Pushilin, Chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic council, says.
“We, the people of Donetsk People’s Republic proclaim the independence of DNR following the results of the referendum held on May 11, and the manifest of the independence of DNR.
Following the will of the people of DNR, who wish to restore historical fairness, we ask the Russian Federation to let DNR integrate with Russia,” Pushilin told on Monday.
“Moscow respects the will of citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk areas and hopes that the further fulfillment of the results of the referendum will be held peacefully through a dialogue between the representatives of the Ukrainian government, Donetsk and Lugansk,” Russia’s press service says.
More than 96 percent of voters backed the region’s independence from Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Reluctant to Adopt Additional Sanctions Against Russia
Alexander Stubb (NCP), the Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, deems it unlikely that the EU will extend its sanctions regime to also encompass organisations.
European foreign ministers are on Monday poised to decide on the expansion of the list of names subjected to the admission and financial restrictions enforced by the European Union as a response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
In addition, the ministers are expected to revise the legal criteria of the sanctions to enable the EU to impose sanctions also against organisations that have benefited from the annexation of Crimea.
Reports in the media suggest that the EU is mulling over introducing sanctions against organisations, the ownership of which has been illegally transferred to entities that have benefited from the annexation.
On the other hand, no decisions on proper economic sanctions are expected on Monday.
Several member states of the EU, including Finland, have expressed their opposition to the mooted economic sanctions due to concerns over Russian retaliatory measures and the possible adverse effects on their economies.
“In my opinion, these sanctions function a bit like a nuclear deterrent,” viewed Alexander Stubb (NCP), the Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade. “It’s in no-one’s interest for us to launch the third phase of sanctions.”
Stubb on Thursday sat down with Karel De Gucht, the European Commissioner for Trade, to discuss the sanctions on Ukraine and Finland’s reservations with respect to them. “We seek to look after the special interests of Finland and especially [ensure] that the costs of the sanctions are distributed evenly among all EU countries,” Stubb revealed.
“We have to mark the areas, where we want absolutely no sanctions,” he stressed.
In addition, Stubb estimated that the EU is unlikely to adopt sanctions against organisations. “We are not positive toward the idea at least at this stage,” he commented on the stance of Finland.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul: What Does the US Government Want in Ukraine?
In several eastern Ukrainian towns over the past week, the military opened fire on its own citizens. Dozens may have been killed in the violence. Although the US government generally condemns a country’s use of military force against its own population, especially if they are unarmed protesters, this time the US administration blamed the victims. After as many as 20 unarmed protesters were killed on the May 9th holiday in Ukraine, the State Department spokesman said “we condemn the outbreak of violence caused by pro-Russia separatists.”
Why are people protesting in eastern Ukraine? Because they do not believe the government that came to power after the US-backed uprising in February is legitimate. They do not recognize the authority of an unelected president and prime minister. The US sees this as a Russian-sponsored destabilization effort, but is it so hard to understand that the people in Ukraine may be annoyed with the US and EU for their involvement in regime change in their country? Would we be so willing to accept an unelected government in Washington put in place with the backing of the Chinese and Iranians?
The US State Department provided much assistance earlier this year to those involved in the effort to overthrow the Ukrainian government. The US warned the Ukrainian government at the time not to take any action against those in the streets, even as they engaged in violence and occupied government buildings. But now that those former protesters have come to power, the US takes a different view of protest. Now they give full support to the bloody crackdown against protesters in the east.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Respects Results of Referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions
Moscow “respects” the results of the referendums in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine, reports the Russian wire service RIA Novosti, quoting Kremlin press office.
“Moscow treats with respect the will of the people in Donetsk and Luhansk region and urges that the practical implementation of results to be carried out in a civilized manner, within the framework of a dialogue among representatives of the authorities in Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” said the Kremlin press office. “In order to establish such dialogue, we welcome all attempts for mediation, including by the Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).”
The statement also says Moscow watched closely the referendums and was satisfied with the high voter turnout, in spite “the attempts to foil the voting” and “the use of heavy weapons against peaceful citizens on part of Kiev.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Threatens to Cut Gas to Ukraine
Medvedev urges prepayment
(ANSA) — Kiev, May 12- Russia will cut off gas supplies to Ukraine if the country doesn’t pay its $3.5 billion debt to Gazprom, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri told the Interfax news agency.
Supplies to Ukraine will be suspended as early as June 3, if Ukraine does not pay its outstanding bills, he was quoted as saying.
Medvedev has asked Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller to introduce “prepayment” for June gas exports as early as Wednesday, Interfax said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Scottish Officials Condemn West’s Support for Neo-Nazis in Ukraine
EDINBURGH, May 12 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst — Western leaders do not know what they are doing by backing neo-Nazis who overthrew the democratically elected president of Ukraine, Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader Colin Fox has told RIA Novosti.
“There is a history there, in that part of the world, where the Nazis invaded Ukraine and some people collaborated with them and other people, rather more nobly, resisted the Nazis,” Fox said.
“You are seeing the remnants and the explosion of that today, a deep seated hatred,” Fox told RIA Novosti.
“I think the so-called West has been backing neo-Nazis in Ukraine for some time and then they toppled the democratically elected president of Ukraine,” added Fox, who is also a board member of the pro-independence Yes Scotland campaign.
“Democracy is meant to be lauded all around the world,” Fox said.
“The West don’t know what they are doing. They are stoking dynamite in Ukraine.”
Fox was joined in his condemnation of US and EU intervention in Ukraine by Councillor Maggie Chapman, the co-leader of the Scottish Green Party.
“What is happening in Ukraine is very concerning,” Chapman told RIA Novosti.
Chapman blames the rise of the far-right — not just in Ukraine, but across Europe — on wealthy elites who, she says, are forcing through deeply unpopular austerity measures whilst their own personal fortunes are increasing.
“When we have the economic crisis that we have at the moment those sort of far-right solutions that target the vulnerable, the poor and the ordinary person are backed by the wealthy, because the structures and institutions of the state exist to serve the wealthy few,” Chapman told RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who is accountable to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, refused to condemn the right-wing coup leaders who seized power in Ukraine in February. Instead Davidson quoted Ukraine’s parliament-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in accusing Russia of “aggression.”
Davidson also sought to “highlight” Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond’s “complimentary comments about President Putin,” but pointedly refused to criticize the Ukrainian authorities.
Asked by RIA Novosti whether the Conservatives supported the anti-Semitic, pro-rape views expressed by some of the unelected officials in Kiev, a spokesman for Davidson said he had nothing further to add.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Air Pollution May be Bad, But India’s is Much Worse
Last week, the World Health Organization released new data on air pollution in 1,600 cities worldwide.
The most striking conclusion? China gets way more attention for its air pollution, but India has a much bigger problem on its hands. Put simply, if you live in a large Indian city, your lungs are taking in dangerous levels of air pollution on a daily basis.
In the new report, six of the top ten most polluted cities were in India, with Delhi leading the way.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Conflicts Leave 18 Dead in Afghanistan, Kabul Airport Attacked
KABUL, May 12 (Xinhua) — Militancy and conflicts have left 18 people dead and more than a dozen others injured in Afghanistan on Monday as Taliban launched their spring offensive.
In the anti-government massive offensive against security checkpoints in parts of Ghazni province with Ghazni city as its capital 125 km south of the country’s capital Kabul city which launched at 05:00 a.m. local time three people including a police and two civilians were killed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia Airlines Set to Seek Out-of-Court Deals on Claims, Say Lawyers
The lack of evidence indicating what caused flight MH370’s disappearance raises a legal conundrum that aviation law experts say is likely to force Malaysia Airlines into out-of-court settlements with angry next-of-kin.
More than two months since MH370 disappeared, no wreckage has been found to even confirm a crash, let alone apportion blame.
However, relatives of the 239 people on board, mostly Chinese, can still pursue Malaysia Airlines because under international aviation law it is an airline’s responsibility to prove it was not to blame for an accident.
“On the surface, (Malaysia Airlines) is responsible,” said Jeremy Joseph, a Malaysian lawyer specialising in transport cases. The “burden of proof” rested on the carrier to clear its name, he added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) China’s longstanding reputation as the world’s worst polluting country has once again been affirmed following the release of a new government report on the quality of the nation’s drinking water. The Ministry of Land and Resources reportedly notified state media that an overwhelming 60 percent of the groundwater in China is now too polluted to drink, up from 57.4 percent two years ago.
Water quality tests conducted in 203 cities throughout China revealed exceptionally high levels of contaminants, rendering the water either “relatively poor” or “very poor” on the safety scale. Water in the “relatively poor” category can be safely drunk as long as it undergoes pretreatment, while “very poor” water cannot be used for drinking water under any circumstances.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds Held in China Over Terrorism Videos
(AGI) Beijing, May 12 — Police have arrested 232 people on charges of promoting terrorism videos in the north-western autonomous Chinese region of Xinjiang. Videos advocating violence and Xinjiang separatism ran to 2,229 web pages on the internet, said the state-owned Global Times quoting the Legal Daily.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand: Mosque Ban Unfair on us, Sons Say
Imam says teaching allegations levelled against him are ‘scandalous rumours’
The sons of a Muslim imam who was barred from his own mosque for allegedly teaching extreme Islam have denied their father is an advocate for jihad, or holy war.
Abdulla Hamam, 22, and Abdelrahman Hamam, 16, were given trespass notices banning them and their father Abu Abdulla from entering any of the mosques run by the New Zealand Muslim Association (NZMA) in Avondale, Birkenhead, Ranui and Ponsonby for two years…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamic militant group Boko Haram have been paraded on video.
The terror group said all of them had been converted to Islam while being held and all were shown wearing headscarfs.
The group’s leader said that it will release them in exchange for militant prisoners being freed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Car Bomb Kills at Least 12 People in Somalia: Police
(Reuters) — A car bomb killed at least 12 people, including Somali soldiers and civilians, on Monday in a city that was once a stronghold of al Qaeda-linked rebels, police said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Boko Haram Leader Makes Demands in New Video
Islamist militants Boko Haram have released a video apparently showing about 130 girls kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria on 14 April.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau also appeared in the video and said the children would be held until all imprisoned militants had been freed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria’s Missing Girls: Father Warns Government Not to Make Deal With Boko Haram
‘My daughter is a Christian, she will never change. I would rather she died as a princess than convert to Islam’, father tells the Telegraph as new video emerges of girls dressed in hijabs
The father of one of Nigeria’s kidnapped school girls has said that he would rather let his child die than have them convert to Islam or exchanged for Boko Haram prisoners. The Islamist group released a new video earlier on Monday claiming to show the missing Nigerian girls, alleging the teenagers had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Suicide Car Bomb Attack in Somalia Kills 15
(AGI) Mogadishu, May 12 — At least 15 have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack at the Dahabshiil Bank in Baidoa, southern Somalia. The target is said to have been Somalia’s Interior and Security Minister Abdifatah Mohamed Ibraahim. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but the attack bears the hallmark of the Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab movement.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Boko Haram Girls May Already Have Been Mutilated
by Phyllis Chesler
The entire world is focused on the captured Nigerian girls, many scenarios have been envisioned—and yet there is at least one issue no one has raised: That it is entirely possible that these poor girls have also been genitally mutilated. If so, that means that their rapes will be doubly torturous and traumatizing.
And make no mistake: They will be raped by their captors on their “wedding” night and/or over and over again by strangers if they are trafficked into a brothel.
Nigeria is both an African and an increasingly Muslim country. Read the exquisite and excruciating Memoirs about being genitally mutilated by Soraya Mire (The Girl with Three Legs) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Infidel), both of whom write about their horrific experiences in Somalia.
Experts have warred over whether female genital mutilation (FGM) is primarily pre-Islamic and tribally African or whether there is a basis for it in Islam. Both points of view have merit…
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On May 8th, while Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roberta Jacobson was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela was arresting 240 student protestors. In fact, since the beginning of the dialogue, the government has arrested more than 500 protestors. Protests in Venezuela have been going on for the last four months due to shortage of basic goods, a spectacularly high crime rate, a 57% inflation rate and an increasing oppressive government. Since the protests began in February, both houses of Congress have sponsored bi-partisan legislation to promote human rights in Venezuela and to sanction specific individuals in the Venezuelan government responsible for repression and violation of human rights in Venezuela as well as the torture and murder of at least forty one protestors. The irony here is that while members of the Foreign Affairs Committees in both houses of the United States Congress see a need for sanctions Ms. Jacobson continues to advocate for a dialogue between the two sides (the government and the opposition). This puts the Obama Administration at odds with Democrats in both the House and the Senate who believe the time has come to pressure the Venezuelan government. Ms. Jacobson’s main argument is that imposition of sanctions would undermine the current dialogue “while it still offers a chance of progress”. Does Ms. Jacobson presume that the Venezuelan government will engage in dialogue with the opposition when so many of them are now incarcerated?
In addition to supporting dialogue over sanctions, Ms. Jacobson stated that members of the opposition who are part of this dialogue share her thinking. So, she concluded that this is not the right time to apply sanctions. She did acknowledge that not every member of the opposition shares her views…
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A visit to the dystopian Havana that tourists never see
Michael J. Totten
Tourists who visit Cuba and spend all their time inside the bubble for the “haves” could leave the country oblivious to the savage inequalities and squalor beyond the hotel zone, but this woman visits her husband’s family in the real Cuba and knows what it’s really like.
Baghdad, while ugly and dangerous, is vastly freer and more prosperous these days than Havana. Anyway, Iraq is precisely the kind of country with which Castro wants you to compare Cuba. It’s the wrong comparison. So are impoverished Third World countries like Guatemala and Haiti. Cuba isn’t a developing country; it’s a once-developed country destroyed by its own government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 10 Killed in Migrant Boat Wreckage South of Sicily
ROME, May 12 (Xinhua) — At least 10 migrants were killed during their crossing from North Africa to Italy in a wreckage occurred south of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, local reports said on Monday.
The packed ship, which was reportedly transporting around 400 people, capsized some 185 km off the coast of southern Italy, in Libyan waters…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: 30% More Illegal Immigrants Deported
The number of illegal immigrants being forcibly deported from Belgium increased by 30% last year. There were almost 3,200 forced repatriations in 2013. During the same period, the police at our ports and airports found 50% fewer passengers that were trying to enter Belgium illegally.
During 2013; 3,167 people that had been living in Belgium illegally were forcibly repatriated. A further 4,707 opted for voluntary repatriation.
The number of forced repatriations was up from 2,638 in 2012 and 2,420 in 2011. The Secretary of State responsible for asylum and migration Maggie De Block (Flemish liberal) says that the increase in forced repatriations has come about as a result of the various public service organisations that deal with migrants working more efficiently.
During 2013 the police at Belgium’s airports turned away 44% fewer passengers that were caught trying to enter the country illegally than they did in 2012. Ms De Block says that this is a result of her department’s campaigns to discourage migrants. “In addition to this the airline are now also cooperating with us”, Ms De Blocked added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Foreigners’ Legal Rights Threatened by Bad Translations
Unskilled interpreters offered to foreigners in legal matters are often so incompetent that they put the legal rights of the accused at risk, Politiken reports.
“I’ve found it indefensible almost every time there’s been a Danish-Turkish interpretation,” Erbil Kaya, a defence lawyer, told Politiken. “The judicial system has to take action.”
A shortage of professional interpreters of particularly Arabic, Turkish, Somali and Farsi means these languages are often being translated by uneducated interpreters who lack the necessary qualifications to handle legal affairs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Räsänen: Give Protection Only to Refugees Who Can Integrate Well
Interviewed on Yle’s Euro Election series on Friday night, the Interior Minister revealed that she has been looking at how well different immigrant groups have adapted to life in Finland, as a basis for proposed changes to the country’s asylum policy. The minister claimed that Vietnamese refugees have fitted in well, though she refused to divulge which groups she judges as having failed to integrate well enough.
Christian Democrats leader Päivi Räsänen ahead of Yle’s pre-election interview on Friday Image: Sanna Savikko / Yle
Finland should only provide protection to refugees who can assimilate well into Finnish life and society, Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen told Yle on Friday. The European election candidate singled out Vietnamese immigrants as an example of the type of asylum seekers Finland should accept, claiming they have adapted successfully.
Räsänen said she would not reveal which groups she did not judge to be well integrated.
Speaking on Yle’s series of interviews with MEP candidates in the runup to the European parliament elections on May 25, Räsänen defended her recent statement that Finland should be more stringent in choosing which refugees it gives protection to.
The leader of the Christian Democrats party insisted that she did not believe asylum seekers should be admitted on the grounds of their religion, despite having in the past called for preference to be given to persecuted Christians.
“It makes sense that refugees should have access to countries where they are able to integrate,” Räsänen said. “I’m not saying religion is a basis on which to accept someone, but yes, we have been looking at immigrant groups, and we are thinking about which groups have integrated well,” the Interior Minister said.
Stronger Mediterranean border presence
Also during the interview, Räsänen spoke about immigrants coming from North Africa, many of whom have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Räsänen said she would call for the EU to invest more in border guard marine rescue operations, to reduce the loss of life.
“The big problem here is that we’ve got crises and problems in North Africa that need to be solved in those countries,” she said.
On the subject of her party’s decision to approve spending cuts to the development budget, Räsänen insisted the circumstances meant there was no alternative but to accept the reductions…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Coast Guard Rescues 40 Migrants in Boat Off Lesvos
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MAY 12 — Forty migrants were rescued off the coast of Greek island of Lesvos on Monday after being spotted by a coast guard patrol boat as Kathimerini online reports. The immigrants were in a rubber dinghy. One of the forty fell into the water but was pulled to safety. The rescue comes a few days after 22 migrants drowned off Samos when their boat capsized. Another seven are still missing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Illegals Visit Capitol Hill, Demand Amnesty Through Executive Orders
(CNSNews.com) — To mark May Day last week, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) invited people who are in the country illegally to Capitol Hill where they released a list of executive orders they believe President Barack Obama should put in place, including stopping all deportations and bringing back deportees who have family here.
“We insist that the timing (of the executive orders) be immediate and the scope be as broad and bold as possible,” a summary of the commission’s findings states.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Minister of Interior Says Europe ‘Not Helping’
‘Italy cannot be refugee prison’ says Alfano
(ANSA) — Bologna, May 12 — Italian Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano said the European Union isn’t “helping” Italy sufficiently to cope with its migrant crisis.
Alfano’s comments come on the heels of Tuesday’s boat tragedy where a ship carrying 400 migrants capsized, leaving at least 14 dead off the coast of Sicily.
“Our ships were there to recover the dead and rescue survivors. Europe is not helping us. It lets usaccommodate the survivors”, said Alfano. He added that Italy risks becoming a “a prison for political refugees” if greater assistance is not guaranteed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Police Crack Human Smuggling Ring
Police in the northern Italian city of Trieste have dismantled a human trafficking ring that used Italy as a base to smuggle illegal migrants into northern Europe.
Ten suspects have been arrested and 14 raids were carried out across Lombardy, Campania and Fruili €enezia Giulia, La Stampa reported on Monday.
With its origins in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the gang allegedly smuggled people into Italy via Turkey, before transporting them to Germany and other northern European countries.
Hidden in vans, an estimated 100 undocumented Afghans and Pakistanis paid the smugglers between $5,000 (€3,631) and $10,000 (€7,263) to be taken to Europe, La Stampa reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Bemoans EU ‘Cooperation Deficit’ On Migrants
Rome awaits ‘strong signal’ after latest disaster
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, May 12 — Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando on Monday complained of a “cooperation deficit” at the European Union and international level after many people were killed in a migrant-boat disaster near Lampedusa. “We await a strong signal,” he added. “A leap forward is needed”. Rome has complained the EU is not doing enough to help Italy police a key part of its southern border, which thousands of migrants from North Africa head for every year. Some 400 migrants died in two boat disasters near Lampedusa in October.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: More Than Ten Dead as Migrant Boat Sinks
Italy’s coast guard said 200 people were rescued on Monday after a boat packed with migrants sank in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, with Italian media reporting that at least ten people also died.
The coast guard said the rescue was being carried out by two commercial ships that were scrambled to the area, some 100 nautical miles (185 kilometres) south of Lampedusa island, Italy’s southernmost point.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Threatens EU Over Illegal Immigrants
Libya’s interim interior minister said Saturday Tripoli could “facilitate” those people seeking to get to Europe illegally unless the European Union helps it combat the problem.
“I’m warning the world and Europe in particular — if they do not assume their responsibilities, Libya could facilitate the transit of this flood” of immigrants towards Europe, Salah Mazek told a news conference.
For years, Libya has been a springboard for hundreds of thousands of Africans seeking a better life in Europe. Many cram into makeshift boats to attempt the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Malta or the Italian island of Lampedusa off Sicily. Hundreds lose their lives each year.
More than 22,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year — 10 times more than the number during the same period in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Drown as Libya Boat Sinks
At least 17 people died when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants sank in waters between Libya and southern Italy, navy officials say.
Some 200 others were rescued from the boat, which went down south of the Italian island of Lampedusa. This comes a day after it emerged that 36 migrants drowned last week when their boat sank off the Libyan coast…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco Building Wall to Halt Tide of Illegal Immigration Into Europe
Morocco is to install a five-yard high wall topped with razor wire along the border of Spain’s north African enclave Melilla in a an effort to stop the wave of immigrants crossing into Europe.
Human rights organizations have denounced plans by the North African country, claiming work has already begun on the new barriers without any public consultation.
Reports suggest the wall will be five yards in height and topped with blades to discourage ascent by would-be migrants attempting to cross into the Spanish territory. There are also plans to include a trench containing razor wire at the foot of the wall.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Murderers, Rapists, Kidnappers: Over 36,000 Criminal Illegal Immigrants Released in 2013
Nearly 200 murderers, over 400 rapists, and 300 kidnappers in the U.S. illegally were released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while awaiting deportation proceedings, according to a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies.
A total of 36,007 criminal illegal immigrants that were being processed for deportation were freed in 2013. Together, they committed nearly 88,000 crimes, according to the report, published Monday.
“I was astonished at not only the huge number of convicted criminals who were freed from ICE custody last year — an average of almost 100 a day — but also at the large number of very serious crimes they had committed,” said Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Second Fatal Migrant Ship in Two Days Sinks South of Italy
Italian Red Cross calls for ‘humanitarian corridor’
(See related) (ANSA) — Rome, May 12 — A boat packed with migrants sank Monday about 100 miles off the coast of southern Italy, killing at least 14 while about 200 others were rescued, the Coast Guard said.
The wreck follows a similar sinking off the coast of Libya on Sunday, in which roughly 40 European-bound migrants died. The European Union said Monday it was shocked by the latest migrant deaths over two days south of Italian coast and urged member states to “show solidarity” in dealing with the crisis. Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the EU’s council of interior ministers would discuss the issue at its next meeting.
Monday’s sinking occurred about 100 miles off the coast of southern Italy near an offshore Libyan oil derrick after a nearby merchant ship was alerted to its unsafe conditions, officials said.
In a program called Mare Nostrum (Our Sea), Italy has ramped up search-and-rescue missions around its sea boarders since last October when two wrecks off the coast of Sicily killed roughly 400 migrants. Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca called for the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” which he said was “urgently” needed in response to the sinkings.
“This time we don’t want tears and declarations of intent,” said Rocca, who explained such a corridor would allow safe access for refugees from war and hunger to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. “There must be immediate intervention and without wasting time,” he said, adding that the Mare Nostrum operation should be a European mission rather than being primarily an Italian responsibility.
He called on greater support for rescue and resettlement efforts from the European Union.
Last week, as many as 1,000 migrants landed in Sicily, the latest arrivals adding to the total of about 30,000 rescued since the start of the Mare Nostrum operation, according to figures released last Wednesday by Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti.
Most of these are from sub-Saharan Africa including war-torn countries like South Sudan, while an increasing number are from Syria and the Palestinian Territories.
The interior ministry said earlier this month that 800,000 asylum seekers were “poised” to set off for Europe from North Africa.
Issues around migration, including the rescue and care of illegal migrants, is a hot-button issue in Italy where last week a row erupted between the anti-immigrant Northern League and the interior ministry.
Northern League leader Matteo Salvini called Interior Minister Angelino Alfano “inept” for not halting the “invasion” of Italy.
“Italy is suffering an unprecedented invasion and you’re not doing your job; resign for the sake of Italians,” Salvini said after visiting an overflowing migrant centre in Rome.
The League leader said Italy needed a referendum to make entering Italy illegally a criminal offense again, as it was until a League-led law was repealed last year.
Salvini also said the migrants were “getting food and accommodation that Italians don’t get”.
Alfano said that the Europe will have to do more to support Italy, which is on the front lines of the sea arrivals of migrants.
Mare Nostrum has a monthly budget of 9.3 million euros, of which seven million are earmarked to keep coast guard and Navy vessels, helicopters and other vehicles and equipment running, while the rest is allocated to personnel, Alfano said
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Asylum Seekers Not Given Health Checks
Nearly half of all asylum seekers in Sweden do not receive a medical check-up after arriving, reports Swedish Radio News.
All asylum seekers have the right to a health screening to determine whether they need medical care and to detect contagious diseases like tuberculosis. The check-up is also a chance to inform asylum seekers about how Sweden’s health and welfare systems work.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Immigration Judges Block Foreign Killer’s Deportation on ‘Human Rights’ Grounds
Somali man convicted of manslaughter defeats bid to remove him from Britain, despite being single man with no children
A foreign killer has won the right to stay in Britain indefinitely — and keep his identity secret — after claiming his human rights would be breached if he was separated from his extended family. The Somali man, who can only be identified by the initials MAI, was sent to prison for five years for manslaughter and has a string of other convictions, including acts of violence…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Transgender Model Nude in Life Ball Poster
American photographer David LaChapelle has designed a provocative poster for this year’s Life Ball in Vienna — depicting the transgender model Carmen Carrera, pictured nude, as both a man and a woman. Carrera appears under the slogan: “I am Adam — I am Eve — I am me”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
City’s New Fire Commissioner Vows a Push for More Minorities in the Department
The new commissioner of the New York Fire Department vowed on Friday to put an end to an era of lawsuits and court orders over the department’s persistent lack of diversity and to lead an effort to attract more minorities.
Flanked by diverse members of the newest class of recruits, Mr. Nigro, 65, described expanding diversity in the department, whose members are still about 87 percent white, as “a great challenge,” but one he would actively pursue. “We must no longer wait for a judge’s ruling to tell us what fairness means,” he said. “We must get out front. We must point the way to change.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Conchita: Poster Girl for a More Liberal Austria
No longer will Austria be known as the land of Mozart and the Alpine landscape alive with the Sound of Music — drag act Conchita Wurst has sung her way into Europe’s heart and shone a spotlight on a more modern, tolerant Austria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Drag Queen’s Eurovision Win Angers Anti-Gay Russia
Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst won Europe’s annual Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night — causing Russia to see red. Wurst’s victory in the singing event was nothing but “blatant propaganda of homosexuality and spiritual decay,” Russian legislator Vitaly Milonov fumed.
Loud boos echoed in some Russian cities where crowds had gathered to watch. Political observers viewed the Russian reaction as an example of the rift between progressive liberals in Western Europe and the conservative, traditional east.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Harvard’s Satanic Black Mass Reportedly Canceled After Outrage
A Harvard student group’s planned satanic “black mass” has reportedly been canceled after widespread condemnation from religious and educational leaders, who called the event an affront to the faithful.
MyFoxBoston.com reports that The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club announced Monday it would no longer hold the event because negotiations broke down between the group and the bar where it was scheduled to be held. The club was unable to find another location to hold the mass.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Taking the Country Back Starts With Taking the Children Back
Teach your children who the enemy is: Communism and its ugly step sisters of Marxism and Socialism are responsible for the indoctrination of children through programs like Common Core, really only the latest in a long line of Progressive policies.
Start by going back to May 1, 2014, when the open celebration of Communism in Moscow’s Red Square was the first since 1999.
Teach children the truth that even though Communism’s had a Mark Twain-type death that was celebrated worldwide, it went on to live in Marxism and Socialism in many countries of the so-called Free World.
Children of generations past related to the characters from Grimm Brothers’ Fairytales. Give them a real-life one with a parental guided peer into the Fabian window.
The monster, as outed by Canada Free Press columnist Kevin Stoos back in the summer of 2009, couldn’t be more real:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Racial Tensions Lurking Under the Surface of American Society
Even as they quickly condemn the likes of Donald Sterling, surveys reveal whites have serious misgivings about a more diverse nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U of Wisconsin to Offer a Post-Doc in ‘Feminist Biology’ Because Science is Sexist
The University of Wisconsin — Madison (UW) has announced it will offer a post-doctorate in “feminist biology” because biological science is rife with sexism and must be changed to reflect feminist thinking.
The focus of the program will be to “uncover and reverse gender bias in biology” and to “develop new theory and methods in biology that affect feminist approaches,” according to a news release posted by the college on April 17.
Hyde said such a program is necessary because sexism among male scientists’ sometimes makes them incapable of accurate research.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What if Race is More Than a Social Construct?
by Margaret Wente
Nicholas Wade, a leading science writer whose specialty is human evolution, likes to ask interesting questions. Here are some examples:
Why has the West been the most exploratory and innovative civilization in the world for the past 500 years?
Why are Jews of European descent so massively overrepresented among the top achievers in the arts and sciences?
Why has economic development been so slow in Africa?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lights Out: The Dark Future of Electric Power
Electrical blackouts that cause disruption to millions are a looming threat to society
Electricity fuels our existence. It powers our food, waste, water, transport and communication systems. Modern life is impossible without it.
Yet interruptions are inevitable. Electricity systems are complex, high-tech assemblages in which small failures can interact in unanticipated and often incomprehensible ways.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
People Missing Brain Wiring Form Unique Neural Connections
Severing the main connection between a person’s brain hemispheres usually makes communication from one side to the other impossible, yet people who are born without this neural bridge have found a way around the problem, a new study suggests.
People who are born without a corpus callosum — the bundle of white matter that connects the left and right sides of the brain — develop alternate connections, the research shows. These connections may be what allow these individuals to perform tasks requiring both hemispheres, scientists say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
” Meanwhile, the Libyan government threatened to “facilitate” the departure of further migrants if Italy does not do more to combat the problem.”
Libya does not know that Italy is occupied by EU and Italy cannot make any decisions. EU is occupied by Muslims and cannot make any decisions concerning immigrants. Decisions about immigration have been made in the 1970s by Arabs/mUslims. I don’t think Arabs/muslims will take a decision against themselves to stop invading Europe and establishing Caliphate. Are they stupid like Europeans?
isn’t a social construct* Also, the comments in that news article are despicable. Wasn’t surprised when I saw it was a Canadian news site.
Quote:
I think the real fear of Islam began on sept 11 2001, and has been added to by subsequent actions of terror
end
You are incorrect.
The real fear of Islam began in the initial invasions of the 8th century, at Otranto, in the Byzantine Empire, in Moorish Spain, and in medieval Sicily.
The refusal to recognize the force of history is a failure to see the present. In Islam, history is not what you analyze, it’s what you want to bring back with all the force of your being.
Your nation is being conquered.
Your culture is being repressed.
And you claim the roots of it all are in the present.
Do not ignorance be the vehicle of your self-deception.
The people for whom race is a social construct in American history were slave-owners.
If, however, you have no social designations based specifically on race, then race is not a social construct.
Ancestry and race are so linked that it is impossible to talk about one without invoking the other.
1. Ibrahim Hewitt? I’m sure someone likened him to Fiyaz Mughal though I can’t for the life of me think why.
2.All power to Paul Golding. I don’t agree with him on a lot of things but looking the enemy straight in the eye and telling him what you think of him deserves respect. As for George Galloway, he made more sense clean shaven and drunk though not much more.
3.Once more the BBC is shamefully hypocritical. This time for sacking aDJ for playing a 1932 version of “The sun has got his hat on.” My first wife who grew up to be a dancer won her first competition in 1949 at the age of three singing this version of the song.
4.1200 Muslims in UK prisons. Is this just the men or does it include both sexes? There are some pretty evil muslim women who commit crimes too.
5. So 30% more illegal immigrants have been deported from Belgiumthis year over the year before. As they say in Germany “Das glaubst du selber nicht!”
Belgium is deporting illegal immigrants. Belgium and EU are dying no matter what they do, because they can’t do the right thing: zero Muslim invader imports. Do you know how much money EU and the west pour over Palestinians, esp. on those who murder Jewish children, and EU pressures Israel to release Muslim prisoners whose hands are smeared with Jewish kid’s blood. Why? EU cites human rights. Every concept in EU has a newly manufactured meaning. Government by the people, is a myth, propagated by Reagan. But voters don’t make decisions. Nor congress. ONly one person decides. And he chooses people as ministers/ secretaries to achieve his agenda not the interest of the people/ voters.
@Scottish Officials Condemn West’s Support for Neo-Nazis in Ukraine
Colin Fox has been visible in Scottish grassroots politics for a long time, where did Danny Alexander and Ruth Davidson come from? What shadow hands wove the political parachutes that landed them in high office?