Retarded people are being increasingly exploited by Al Qaeda affiliates in Iraq. Terrorists coerce these unfortunates into carrying bombs, which are then detonated remotely in crowded places. At least seven such deadly attacks have been carried out in recent months.
In other news, former Field Marshal Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi won the Egyptian presidential election by a landslide.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, 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.
Czech Republic: Zeman: Islam is to Blame for Attack on Jewish Museum in Brussels
Czech president says he condemns any group that targets another based on religion
Prague, May 27 (ETK) — Islamic ideology rather than individual groups of religious fundamentalists is behind violent actions similar to the gun attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that killed four people, Czech President Milos Zeman said Monday at the Israeli Embassy in Prague…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Dan Diker: After Brussels: Assaulting the Anti-Semitism-Terror Nexus
Diker is currently is a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya and a Foreign Policy Fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He formerly was secretary general of the World Jewish Congress. We know Diker from his incisive commentary in the Jerusalem Post and other media, as well as his several stints on our periodic WEBYam1330 International Middle East Round Table programs. We had the pleasure of meeting him face to face in Santa Fe, New Mexico for breakfast at Bishop’s Lodge during a 2007 visit and speaking engagement. In this Jerusalem Post op-ed, Diker makes the connections between the Brussels Jewish Museum terrorist attack and rising nativist and Islamic anti-Semitism in Europe. That is reflected the recent ADL Global 100 Index and byy former JCPA Chairman, Manfred Gerstenfeld presented in his book, Demonizing Israel and The Jews. See our review, here.. Diker connects the dots with the BDS movement in both the EU and America, especially clashes on college and university campuses…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Essex Girl Who’s Lived in Britain for 25 Years Could be Deported Due to ‘Ludicrous’ Rule
AN Essex girl who has lived in England for a quarter of a century has been left stunned after hard-nosed officials warned her she could be deported. Christine North, 32, of Clacton, was born near an army base in Dortmund, Germany but has an English father and has lived in the UK since the age of seven.
The married mother-of-two — described as “Clacton through and through” — has her own National Insurance number and has voted at every election since she turned 18. But when she applied for a passport for a family holiday to France, her world was turned upside down by officials who refused the request and warned her she could be booted out of Britain…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Europe: Returning Syria Jihadists Cause Concern in the EU
EU citizens of Muslim confession who fought in Syria and then are returning home represent a cause for concern in many countries. The threat from self-radicalised, self-organised and self-financed individuals was underlined in 2013 through the disruption of terrorist plots in several EU Member States, including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. A limited number of those arrested appeared to be connected to terrorist groups outside the EU and several of them had criminal backgrounds.
Europol (European Police Office) has just released a report titled The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) 2014, produced by analysts and experts at Europol, drawing on contributions from EU Member States and external partners…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France: Marine Le Pen Optimistic on Forming Group in EP
BRUSSELS, May 28 (Xinhua) — Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front (NF) who made a political tsunami in France during the European Parliament (EP) election on Sunday, expressed confidence Wednesday on the formation of a group in the EP who will take office on July 1.
Addressing a press conference here in the EP, she announced an alliance between the NF and the Northern League (Italy), the Freedom Party (Netherlands), the Freedom Party of Austria and the Vlaams Belang (Belgium).
This xenophobic alliance now has 38 seats, 24 for NF which is the most important French political party in the 8th EP for the next five years, so beyond the required number of members to be able to form a parliamentary group (25), but has to fulfill another criterion — those elected are from at least seven countries.
For Le Pen, the “technocrat totalitarian” European Union (EU) “is out of date.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ISTAT Says Italian Employees Take Home 53.7% of Wage
Cost 31,049 euros per year, but net income 16,666 euros
(ANSA) — Rome, May 29 — The per capita cost of the average Italian employee in 2011 — including taxes and social-security contributions — was 31,049 euros per year, Italian statistics agency Istat said Thursday.
Average take-home pay amounted to 53.7% of the total, or 16,666 euros per employee. Per capita gross income for the self-employed, not including social-security contributions and taxes, was 24,644 euros for the same year. Average net income for the self-employed was 69.6% of the total, or 17,148 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Seeks 1.2 Billion Euros From Drug Makers
Health ministry claims damages over allegations of collusion
(ANSA) — Rome, May 28 — Italy’s health ministry said Wednesday it is seeking damages of 1.2 billion euros from three major pharmaceutical firms, including Switzerland’s Novartis and Roche.
The ministry said the request relates to the marketing of drugs Lucentis and Avastin, used in the treatment of eye diseases common among the elderly.
It is also seeking 14 million euros in damages from drug-maker Pfizer in connection with marketing of the drug Xalatan, which also treats eye ailments.
In March, Italy’s antitrust authority said it had fined Novartis and Roche a total of over 180 million euros for alleged collusion to manipulate the market in Italy.
At the time, the antitrust body said that the two companies “made an illegal agreement to hamper the spread of the use of a very cheap pharmaceutical, (Roche’s) Avastin, in the treatment of the most widespread eye pathology among the elderly and other serious eye diseases, to favour a much more expensive product, (Novartis’s) Lucentis”.
That cost the Italian national health service more than 45 million euros in 2012 alone and the additional costs in the future could potentially reach 600 million euros a year, the antitrust authority had said in a statement.
Novartis, which was fined 92 million euros, and Roche, which was handed a 90.5-million-euro penalty, have both said those accusations are groundless and that they would appeal to the administrative courts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Tells Farage ‘We’Re Rebels With a Cause’
‘Could be fun causing trouble in Europe’ says UKIP leader
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, May 28 — Beppe Grillo, the leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement told the leader of the Euroskeptic UKIP Nigel Farage “we are rebels with a cause” at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. “We fight with a smile,” added Grillo, according to a UKIP press release posted on Grillo’s blog. The meeting between the two flamboyant Eurosceptics was held in a restaurant in the centre of Brussels, and according to the release, the pair agreed to meet again in the coming weeks after the “animated and friendly lunch”. On Sunday Farage’s party won the most votes in Britain, while Grillo’s came in second in Italy, failing to outdo the ruling PD as he had predicted.
According to the release, both Grillo and Farage agreed to immediately begin discussions to form a new EP group. “If it works, it would be wonderful to see the ranks of citizens grow on our side,” said Farage.
“If we can reach an agreement, we could have fun causing a lot of trouble in Brussels”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Northern League Boss Calls Rome Jewish Leader a ‘Politician’
‘I have no problem joining Marine Le Pen’ says Salvini
(see related) (ANSA) — Brussels, May 28 — The head of Italy’s anti-immigrant party on Wednesday said the president of Rome’s Jewish community was just as much a politician as he was after warning him not to sit at the table with Marine Le Pen, the head of France’s far-right National Front. “Yesterday he said if I sat down with Le Pen it meant the Northern League was exiting democracy,” said Matteo Salvini at a press conference with Le Pen and other right-wing Euroskeptics aiming to forge a new bloc in the European Parliament. “I’ve sat down without any problems. I believe the fight against Islamic extremism is also in (the Jews’) interest. “(Riccardo Pacifici), just like many other people here, is a politician in addition to his other profession”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Wants Allies, But ‘Not With Everyone’
Comments suggest rapprochement with Alfano not on cards
(ANSA) — Rome, May 28 — Silvio Berlusconi told a Forza Italia (FI) meeting that his opposition centre-right party would be looking to find allies after coming third in Sunday’s European elections with under 17% of the vote, but not at all costs. “We have to construct a coalition, but not at once and not with everyone,” three-time premier Berlusconi said. “With the Northern League, yes”. The comments seem to suggest that a rapprochement with Berlusconi’s former heir apparent, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, is not coming in the near future.
Alfano led a group of centre-right moderates who split with Berlusconi last year and formed a splinter group, the New Centre Left (NCD), after disagreeing with the ex-premier’s attempt to bring down the coalition government of Enrico Letta.
The executive survived after Berlusconi’s centre-right FI party pulled its support thanks to the backing of the NCD, although in February Letta was unseated by Premier Matteo Renzi, his colleague in the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
Berlusconi’s party has been allied with the Northern League, which won 6% of the vote in the European elections, for most of last two decades.
But new League chief Matteo Salvini has been critical of Berlusconi and recently said he did not see the party linking up with FI at the moment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Soccer: Cagliari to be Sold to Americans, Says Cellino
Sardinian outfit to be Serie A’s third foreign-controlled club
(ANSA) — Rome, May 28 — Cagliari are set to be Serie A’s third foreign-controlled club after owner Massimo Cellino told ANSA Wednesday that he has agreed to sell the Sardinian outfit to an American consortium.
Cellino, who took over Cagliari in 1992, has been looking for a buyer for the club since taking over English Championship (second-tier) side Leeds United earlier this year.
“I’m really happy,” Cellino told ANSA. “God bless them (the new owners). Now they’ll be the ones fighting the bureaucracy”.
Cellino has had a series of disputes with the local authorities over development of Cagliari’s ground that caused the team to play a number of home games some 1,000 kilometres away from Sardinia in Trieste in recent years.
This season they played their home games at the dilapidated Sant’ Elia ground with a capacity of below 5,000 because parts of the stadium were declared unfit for use. However, part of the reason why Cagliari have attracted overseas investors is that the club have won preliminary clearance to build a new stadium in the city, which could be turned into a good source of revenue, as shown by the examples of Juventus and many foreign sides. Cellino will receive an initial payment of 10 million euros from the American consortium, according to media reports, followed by 67 million more on approval of the project to develop the stadium.
Italian businessman Luca Silvestrone, who is representing the American consortium, said Cellino had agreed that the deal will fall through if local red tape makes obstacles to building the ground “insurmountable”.
Silvestrone added that the people who are behind the consortium will be revealed shortly.
So far the only person known to be on board is American architect Dan Meis, who will design the new ground having creating the project for the stadium AS Roma are building in the Italian capital. Roma, Serie A runners-up in the campaign that has just ended, became the Italian top flight’s first foreign-controlled club when a Bostonian consortium took over in 2011.
Last year Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir took over three-time European champions and 18-time Serie A title winners Inter Milan.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prosecutors Probe “Conspiracy” of Berlusconi Fall
(AGI) Rome, May 27 — Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation after statements by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in his new book concerning the resignation of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2011.
Geithner wrote that during the G20 meeting in 2011, some “European officials” asked the U.S. to take part in a “conspiracy” to remove Berlusconi from office. Currently no offense has been committed and no one is being investigated.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Could Have Another Top EU Job, Says Monti
Speculation Letta could be next EC President
(ANSA) — Rome, May 29 — The fact that Italy’s Mario Draghi is the president of the European Central Bank does not mean it is impossible for another Italian to take a top European post, former premier and European commissioner Mario Monti said Thursday. There has been speculation that former premier Enrico Letta is a possibility to be the next European Commission president, but some have said this is unlikely as it would mean Italians taking up two top positions.
Letta’s name has been mentioned as European leaders may need to find a compromise figure to replace Josè Manuel Barroso.
This is because, while the European People’s Party (EPP) is the biggest group in the new European Parliament after Sunday’s elections, opposition is reportedly strong against the centre-right bloc’s candidate Jean-Claude Juncker.
Former Luxembourg prime minister Juncker was seen by many as a champion of the austerity during his time as the head of the Eurogroup and those policies that have been rejected by many European voters, especially those who helped Euroskeptic parties come first in Britain and France.
Indeed, British Prime Minister David Cameron is reportedly leading efforts to stop Juncker getting the job.
“If Italy wanted to throw its weight around in Europe to have a post, it would be politely told that you already have a very important position with Mario Draghi,” Monti told State broadcaster Rai. “It’s not out of the question that an Italian can have another important position, but it would have to be in the case in which Europe were having trouble finding alternative solutions and, therefore, it were Europe that asked for it”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Carige Ex-President in Police Custody
Berneschi’s house arrest revoked after breach
(ANSA) — Genoa, May 29 — The ex-president of mid-sized Italian bank Carige was moved to full custody after breaching conditions of his house arrest, authorities said Thursday.
Giovanni Berneschi, who is also vice-president of the Italian Banking Association (ABI), was put under house arrest one week earlier on suspicion of involvement in a massive fraud scam at Italian bank Carige.
But his house arrest was revoked after he contravened conditions that he was not to have contacts outside his home and family, authorities said.
Prosecutors were reportedly concerned that that could lead to a possible tampering with evidence. Berneschi, who was Carige’s president until last year, was arrested along with the former chief executive officer of the Carige Vita Nuova subsidiary, Fernando Menconi, and real-estate businessman Ernesto Cavallini.
Police said they believe Berneschi, 77, was the ringleader of a scam involving purchases made at inflated prices of stakes in companies headed by accomplices, which allegedly made it possible for 21 million euros to be taken out of Italy into Switzerland between 2006 and 2009.
They suspect that part of this money was used to buy properties in Switzerland in the name of senior figures at Carige, a mid-sized lender based in Genoa with about 1,000 branches and two million clients.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Northern Ireland: Muslim Rant Preacher: First Minister Peter Robinson Moves to Defuse Islam Row
Peter Robinson accused of breaking conduct rules as Islamic leader seeks meeting over comments
First Minister Peter Robinson this morning said he did not “want to insult or cause distress to local Muslims” when he defended a firebrand evangelical preacher who denounced Islam from the pulpit as “Satanic”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Names Radoslaw Sikorski to Replace Ashton at EU
(AGI) Warsaw, May 29 — Poland has proposed Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to replace Baroness Ashton as the European Union’s chief diplomat. In an article in Gazeta Wyborcz, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was “a natural choice” from the moment Warsaw achieved “important influence” in the EU’s foreign affairs. Sikorski, 51, and a graduate of Oxford University, has an important role managing the Ukrainian crisis as part of his work at the EU.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Commons Spends 1.7 Mln Euros on Booze in Two Years, Times
Figures raise further questions about Westminster drinking
(ANSA) — London, May 29 — British members of parliament continue to knock back the booze even as the government tries to convince the country to cut down its alcohol consumption, the Times reported Thursday.
The House of Commons alone spent 1.4 million pounds (1.7 million euros) in 2012 and 2013 supplying its several bars with alcoholic beverages for MPs and their assistants and guests, the newspaper said.
House of Commons Sauvignon alone accounted for nearly 50,000 bottles purchased, followed by House of Commons Merlot with over 26,000. For beer, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Becks and Guinness proved to be the most popular labels supplied over the course of the two years. Parliamentary authorities said the prices charged to MPs and Peers for their drinks were the same as in an ordinary pub, even though the in-house restaurant and bar services are subsidised to the tune of 5 million pounds (6.1 million euros) a year. The figures, revealed in a Freedom of Information request by the Times, could raise further questions about the alleged drinking culture at Westminster after former Labour whip Eric Joyce was forced to resign in 2012 after fighting Conservative MPs in a Commons bar.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Group’s 600-Mile Ride Set to Raise £100,000 for Charity and Spread a Message of Peace
A group of young Muslims are to embark on a 600-mile cycling challenge visiting 13 mosques from Glasgow to London, including an overnight stay in Bradford, to raise ?100,000 for charity. The 25 cyclists belong to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association which has organised the week-long Ride4Peace to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in the UK…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Education Secretary Michael Gove was accused yesterday of ‘sitting on’ four-year-old warnings that Muslim hardliners were attempting to take over Birmingham schools…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
An Islamic hate preacher was tonight being investigated by police after a video showed him praising the terrorists who kidnapped more than 300 Nigerian schoolgirls.
Mizanur Rahman, 31, of Palmers Green, north London, claimed in his recorded rant posted online that killing non-Muslims was ‘not necessarily a bad thing’ — and praised terror group Boko Haram.
He said in the video: ‘People want to make it out as though history began on the day these girls were taken from — sorry I should say these women — were taken from this high school in Nigeria…’
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour and Tories in “Grand Coalition” Talks for Thurrock Council
LABOUR and the Conservatives are considering joining forces in a bid to quash the Ukip surge. The Gazette understands that senior figures in both the local Labour and Tory groups are in talks about forming a “grand coalition”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mosque to Hold Open Day to Promote Peace
One of Crawley’s Muslim groups will be holding an open day and peace seminar to allow people to ask any questions they have about Islam.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association will hold the event at their newly inaugurated Noor Mosque in Langley Drive on Sunday (June 1) as part the Ahmadiyya Muslim UK centenary celebrations…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ministers Knew of Islamist School Plot Four Years Ago
A head teacher has claimed that he warned Britain’s Department for Education (DfE) four years ago about the ‘Trojan Horse’ plot by Islamists to take over schools.
Tim Boyes said he told the department in 2010 about a ‘bloodless coup’ at one school, with governors holding a ‘disproportionate impact’ wanting to replace a sitting head teacher with a Muslim. He spoke of ‘an alliance to destabilise the head’ at another school…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Support Tower Hamlets Mayor or Risk Riots, Says Advisor
Lutfur Rahman’s aide says there will be street violence unless people stop questioning the Tower Hamlets result
A senior adviser to Lutfur Rahman, the extremist-linked mayor of Tower Hamlets, has said there will be street violence unless people stop questioning the manner of his re-election.
The Electoral Commission is to hold an inquiry into polling in the east London borough after dozens of reports of voter intimidation and a chaotic count that took more than five days to declare a final result…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teacher at ‘Trojan Horse’ School Charged Over Extreme Porn
Nahiem Ajmal appeared before city magistrates in February where he pleaded not guilty to the offence
A religious studies teacher who works at a Birmingham school linked to the Trojan Horse controversy has appeared in court charged with possessing extreme pornography. Nahiem Ajmal, 35, was arrested by officers from West Midlands Police, who later detained four other teaching staff and a youth worker in connection with the inquiry…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Work on Serbian Part of South Stream to Begin in July
Gas pipeline will ‘directly and indirectly benefit economy’
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MAY 29 — Works are slated to begin on the Serbian section of the South Stream gas pipeline in July, Serbian media have quoted head of Gazprom’s international division Aleksandr Siromatin as saying on Thursday. In speaking at a conference on Serbia’s role in the Balkans energy market, Siromatin said that over the next two weeks a contract on a Gazprom loan to Srbijagas for the laying of the pipeline would be signed.
At about 2 billion euros, South Stream is one of the largest investments made in Serbia over the past few decades. It is expected to both directly and indirectly benefit the country’s economy by encouraging investment and job creation, it was underscored at the conference.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Election: Sisi Wins Election by Landslide
Abdulfattah el-Sisi has won over 90 per cent of votes in Egypt’s presidential election, in a poll marked by low turnout and disillusionment
Egypt was beginning a new era of rule by an ex-military strongman on Thursday after provisional results showed ex-Field Marshal Abdulfattah el-Sisi had romped to a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election.
Overnight figures from polling stations showed Mr Sisi had won well over 90 per cent of the vote. His single opponent, Hamdeen Sabbahy, who had been urged by supporters to pull out over the conduct of the ballot, was humiliated, his total outnumbered by that of spoiled ballots…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mentally Handicapped Exploited as Human Bombs in Iraq
Militants of al-Qaeda-linked group responsible, govt says
(ANSA) — Baghdad, May 29 — An Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaeda is using mentally handicapped people as unwitting “human bombs” to carry out attacks in Iraq, an Iraqi government source said Thursday.
The interior ministry source said there have been seven such attacks carried out in recent months by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). “They kidnap mentally ill people in the streets, make them wear explosive vests, then they make them detonate with remote control devices,” said General Saad Maan, spokesman for the interior minister.
The groups responsible for the victimization.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
14 Ukrainian Troops Killed After Rebels Shoot Down Helicopter
Ukraine’s president says 14 troops including a general killed when helicopter was downed
Separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine shot down a military helicopter Thursday, killing 14 troops including an army general, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov has said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Signs Eurasian Union Treaty
Economic zone to compete with EU, US and China
(ANSA) — MOSCOW — The Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and the presidents of Kazakhstan and Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev, have signed in Astana the treaty for the foundation of the Eurasian Union, which since January 1, 2015 will create a single economic space involving these three countries.
“The three states are committed to ensuring the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, to put in place a concerted policy in some key sectors of the economy: energy, industry, agriculture, transport”, the Kremlin informs.
According to Russian Presidency, the new Eurasian Union leads to “the creation of a common market in this important area of the CIS (Community of Independent States) that will become a powerful new driver of economic development”, with 170 million inhabitants and a GDP totalling 2.7 trillion dlr.
For Russia, the existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan represents the third most important market after Europe and China; in the past 3 years, trade increased by 50 % (+23 bn dlr ), for a total amount of 66.2 bln dlr. The Eurasian Union is the main Euro-asian geo- political project of Putin’s third presidential term, which aims to integrate the former USSR into a single economic zone that can cooperate and compete with the EU,the US and China.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Trade Between Italy and Russia 31 Bn Euros in 2013
Up by high single digits from 2012
(ANSA) — Milan, May 29 — Trade between Italy and Russia reached 31 billion euros in 2013, with strong growth in imports to and exports from Italy, said the Milan Chamber of Commerce Thursday.
Imports from Russia to Italy rose 9.5% from 2012 to 2013, while exports from Italy to Russia climbed 9.5%, according to the study presented Thursday at the Moscow-Milan Business Forum.
Imports to Italy from Russia were led by extraction products, like gas and oil.
Exports to Russia from Italy were dominated by manufactured products, such as machinery and textiles.
Milan came first among Italian cities for exports to Russia, with 1.2 billion euros’ worth — a 12.4% rise in 2013 over the previous year.
“Milan is fundamental for Moscow, and is our fourth economic partner with a significant trade volume,” said Sergey Cheremin, a Russian minister that oversees Moscow.
The Milan Chamber of Commerce study was based on 2012 and 2013 data from the Italian statistical agency Istat.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh Court Gives Gov’t One Month to Stop English in Advertisements, Nameplates
Bangladesh court gives gov’t one month to stop English in advertisements, nameplates
DHAKA, May 29 (Xinhua) — A High Court division bench in Bangladesh has given the government one month to stop the use of the English language in advertisements and nameplates. The High Court division bench of Justice Quzi-Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain Thursday passed the order, asking the secretary of the Ministry of Information to stop publishing advertisements of electronic and print media in English language.
It also asked the secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs to use Bangla language instead of English in nameplates and number plates of police vehicles and other signboards under its jurisdiction…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Marines’ Lawyer Named New Indian Attorney General
Mukul Rohatgi represented Italy in shooting dispute
(ANSA) — New Delhi, May 28 — Mukul Rohatgi, the lawyer who acted on behalf of Italy and the two Italian marines detained in India for allegedly shooting dead two Indian fishermen, has been named attorney general in India, Italian television reported Wednesday.
Rohatgi was appointed to the post by the newly elected government of Narendra Modi, said the reports. It was not immediately clear what impact the appointment would have on the plight of the two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, India watchers said.
The pair have been held in India for over two years without formal charges pressed against them.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
By Rod Liddle
Farzana Iqbal, aged 25, was stoned to death by members of her family in broad daylight on the steps of a courthouse in Lahore, Pakistan, because she had married a man with whom she was in love. This was an “honour killing” and perpetrators use sharia law to justify their murders…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Teenage Girls Gang-Raped and Hanged From Tree in India
Two policeman among three arrested for allegedly raping teenage cousins, who were found hanging from a tree in a northern Indian village
Authorities in northern India said Thursday that they have arrested three men, including two police officers, suspected of gang-raping and killing two teenage sisters before hanging their bodies from a mango tree, sparking renewed public outrage over sexual violence in the country…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Drug Syndicate Smashed After Perth Seizure, Police Say
Police in Perth believe they have smashed an organised crime syndicate following the seizure of four kilograms of methylamphetamine.
They said the seizure of two kilograms of drugs during a routine traffic stop in January led to a four-month operation which culminated in raids on six properties in Perth in April. Police seized methylamphetamine with a street value of $8 million, firearms and $380,000 in cash.
Two of those charged are Ziad and Rabih Jneid…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Community ‘Too Lax’ on Jihad Risk
THE Muslim community has failed to grasp the serious threat posed by young men travelling to the battlefields of Syria and has become “passive” in the face of a growing problem, one of Australia’s top police officers has warned.
The head of the NSW Counter Terrorism Squad, Assistant Commissioner Peter Dein, has issued a rare rebuke to senior members of the Sunni Muslim community, saying they have not done enough to discourage young Muslim men from joining the Syrian jihad…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Terror Suspects Nabbed on Their Way to Mandera
Two suspected terrorists have been arrested in Mandera county. Police said they believe Yunis Mohammed Osman, a Somali, and Mahabub Aden Adow, a Kenyan, are behind criminal activities in the region.
They were nabbed in Lafey town en route to Mandera town on Monday. Mandera county police commander Noah Mwivanda said the men, who “appeared suspicious”, were in a bus from Nairobi…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Phyllis Chesler: How the Media Distorts Radical Islam’s Record
We have all suffered the glaring omissions, false moral equivalencies, and unfair and unbalanced reporting in the formerly distinguished mainstream media venues. This media has absolutely refused to write about Islamic Jihad-terrorism in a truthful way.
The politically correct fearfulness that they will be condemned as unfashionable and Islamophobic—and perhaps sued and bombed by defenders of the “religion of peace,”— has turned them overly cautious and even cowardly.
Not all Muslims are terrorists; many are the first victims of Islamism. Many Muslims and ex-Muslims have risked their lives and limbs to protest Muslim-on-Muslim and Muslim-men-on-Muslim-women atrocities.
Nevertheless, while all Muslims are not terrorists, most terrorists today are Muslims who a) are practicing their own versions of 7th century Islam and have instituted Sharia as sovereign law in their nations; b) have “hijacked” what could, if reformed, become a modern and more tolerant religion; c) are totalitarian madmen who mean to terrify and subordinate large populations and indoctrinate impoverished male children and young men as well as women to take up arms and perform martyrdom operations in a Holy War against the Infidels in order to establish a global Caliphate; d) are radical fundamentalist extremists, no different than other fundamental extremists…
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“Retarded people are being increasingly exploited by Al Qaeda affiliates in Iraq.” Truly wicked.