After weeks of controversy over administrative mismanagement and the neglect and deaths of patients in VA hospitals, Eric Shinseki resigned as secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department. Mr. Shinseki had promised to personally ensure that the department would be completely reformed, but his assurances were not enough to save his job.
In other news, thirty-two people were killed in separate terrorist attacks across Iraq.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, IW, Jerry Gordon, JP, Nick, Papa Whiskey, Takuan Seiyo, 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.
Italy: Weak Inflation Reflects Family Hardship, Says Codacons
Consumer group says average Italians cannot afford to shop
(See related) (ANSA) — Rome, May 30 — The continued drop in inflation demonstrates how Italians are struggling financially, consumer group Codacons said Friday.
It was reacting to the latest statistics showing that inflation in May averaged just 0.5%, slightly lower than April’s rate of 0.6%, suggesting consumers are not spending money.
The figures are “anything but reassuring, because they confirm that Italians’ consumption is in sharp decline,” said Codacons.
Families have no cash left to spend and that is a driving force in lower prices, said Codacons president Carlo Rienzi.
The only rising prices are for energy, including gasoline and natural gas, he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bomb Scare Prompts Evacuation in Houston Elementary School
HOUSTON, May 29 (Xinhua) — A suspicious backpack prompted evacuation and drew a bomb squad to an elementary school Thursday Morning in the U.S. city of Houston, local media reported.
The Barbara Bush Elementary School, one of the best public schools in Houston, was evacuated Thursday morning after a suspicious red backpack was found on a campus, local TV ABC13 reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Google Wants to Put a Camera on Your Eyeball
We knew Google was experimenting with computerized contact lenses, and we knew Google’s been selling cameras that strap to your face. So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Google wants to place a camera on your eyeball. But we are anyway.
The tech giant filed a patent application (published last month) that describes a contact lens that can take photographs and transmit them to a smartphone or other device. Similar to Google Glass, which almost appears quaint compared to a freaking contact lens computer, this device would be controlled by blinking. The patent was discovered by the blog Patent Bolt, where you can read a lengthy report.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
[ … ]
For about the past year, I’ve noticed that — irrespective of make or model — new cars with factory installed GPS have this creepy little icon on the LCD display screen that reminds you (oh-so-helpfully) of the speed limit on whatever road you happen to be driving on at that particular moment. It’s white with black letters — just like the real (physical) signs. And it updates in real time, as you drive.
Think about that.
What do you suppose it portends?
I’ve long suspected that it’s like Lego. This — a helpful notification about the speed limit — is the first piece. A building block. Onto which the next block will be placed.
This week, I got to see the next block.
A brand-new (and all-new) 2014 Mazda3 sedan arrived for me to test drive. All the latest bells and whistles. Including an updated take on the oh-so-helpful speed limit “sign.” It now turns angry red in real time whenever and wherever you exceed the speed limit.
It shifts back to black on white once you reduce your speed to within legal parameters.
Now, kiddies, what do you suppose the next piece of electronic Lego will be?
[ … ]
Saaaaaaaafety uber alles.
To get back to the speed limit helper thing. Using GPS, the car knows when you’re “speeding” — every single time you “speed.” This is easily done by comparing your velocity at any given moment with the posted limit on that road, which info the car downloads continuously via the GPS. The data about your “speeding” can be recorded — and transmitted.
Add a dash of insurance mafia lust to rifle your pockets — and your legal inability to tell them to piss off. You cannot — by law — say “no” to insurance. You must buy it. And they will tell you how much you’ll pay.
[Seriously creepy. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
How the IRS Treated Z Street’s Lawsuit Donors
Yesterday, we posted on the Wall Street Journal news story concerning DC Federal Court Judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, an Obama appointee, who ruled granting discovery in a case Z Street v IRS. Z Street is a Zionist group and antidote to anti-Israel J Street. .Following publication of our post, we received, unsolicited, the following anecdote from an anonymous party who had contributed funds for Z Street’s lawsuit. It is indicative of how the IRS endeavors to abuse its authority to intimidate well meaning citizens who elect to support and defend free speech rights under the First Amendment. This is their story…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Insider Trading Inquiry Includes Mickelson and Icahn
Federal authorities are examining a series of well-timed trades belonging to the golfer Phil Mickelson and the gambler William T. Walters, people briefed on the investigation said, focusing on trading in two different stocks. The authorities are also questioning what role, if any, the investor Carl C. Icahn may have had in sharing information about one of the stocks: the consumer products company Clorox.
Mr. Mickelson, a three-time winner of the Masters golf tournament and one of the country’s highest-earning athletes, placed his Clorox trade in 2011, the people briefed on the investigation said. Mr. Walters, an owner of golf courses who is often considered the most successful sports bettor in the country, made a similar trade about that time, the people added.
Mr. Icahn, a 78-year-old billionaire and one of the best known investors in the world, was mounting a takeover bid for Clorox around the time that Mr. Mickelson and Mr. Walters placed their trades.
The F.B.I. and Securities and Exchange Commission, which are leading the inquiry along with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, are examining whether Mr. Icahn leaked details of his Clorox bid to Mr. Walters, the people briefed on the investigation said. One theory, the people said, is that Mr. Walters might have passed on that information to Mr. Mickelson.
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Jay Carney Resigns as White House Press Secretary; Josh Earnest Steps in
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, is leaving his post as the public face of the administration, stepping down after shifting from two decades of reporting to politics at the highest levels, President Obama said on Friday.
Mr. Obama, who announced Mr. Carney’s departure, said Mr. Carney will be replaced by Mr. Carney’s deputy, Josh Earnest.
Mr. Obama called Mr. Earnest a person of “sound judgment and great temperament.”
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Obama Accepts Resignation of Veteran Affairs Chief
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Xinhua) — President Barack Obama said Friday he has accepted resignation of Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki with “considerable regret.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Shinseki Resigns as Secretary of Veterans Affairs Department
Eric Shinseki resigned as secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department on Friday after meeting face-to-face with President Obama about mounting evidence of widespread misconduct and mismanagement at the agency’s vast network of medical facilities.
Mr. Shinseki, 71, had said for weeks that he wanted to stay to confront accusations that officials at the department’s hospitals had manipulated waiting lists to cover up long delays in scheduling appointments for thousands of veterans.
In a speech Friday morning to a veterans group, Mr. Shinseki apologized and described the V.A. he led as having “a systemic, totally unacceptable lack of integrity.” He vowed to fix what he called a “breach of integrity” and said he had already initiated the firing of top managers at the Phoenix medical center, where allegations of mismanagement first surfaced.
But his contrition and promises of action came too late to save his job.
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Taxi Driver Charged Over Boston Attacks FBI Probe
A 23-year-old taxi driver was charged Friday with obstructing FBI agents investigating the Boston Marathon attacks that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others last year.
Khairullozhon Matanov, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan working legally in the United States, was friends with the alleged bombers and shared their justification for violence, say US officials.
He is accused of lying to FBI agents about his friendship, contact and communication with the suspected bombers after the April 15, 2013 attacks, and about his beliefs about violence.
He was charged on one count of destroying and falsifying records by allegedly deleting videos and Internet searches from his computer, and three counts of making false statements.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
White Police Lieutenant Awarded $1.35 Million in Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — A Long Island police lieutenant has been awarded $1.35 million in his racial discrimination lawsuit against the village of Freeport.
Lt. Christopher Barrella, who is white, had accused the village of awarding the police chief’s job to a Hispanic officer with few qualifications and a lower test score.
Following the federal jury’s decision Wednesday, Barrella described the process as trying but said he always had faith in the jury system.
“It’s really a good feeling to be validated, and I am incredibly appreciative that the jury saw it my way,” Barrella told 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera.
The former mayor, Andrew Hardwick, was a defendant in the case but could not be reached for comment. He was the village’s first black mayor.
The current Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, who is white, said the jury got it wrong.
“I have the utmost confidence in Chief Bermudez, who’s probably one of the finest chiefs of Freeport village that we’ve ever had,” Kennedy told Rivera.
The jury award includes $200,000 in punitive damages.
“I think that this is a wake up call for all employers, everybody is protected under the U.S.’s anti-discrimination law,” Barrella’s attorney Amanda Fugazy told WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall.
The spokesperson for the village said there is no supporting evidence that the village discriminated against Barrella and they plan to appeal, Hall reported.
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Advisor to French President Held Hostage by Unionists
(AGI) Toulouse, May 30 — An advisor to the French President was held hostage by members of a farmers’ union for three hours.
After a visit by President Francois Hollande to the southern city of Rodez, agricultural affairs advisor Philippe Vincon was locked in a room. The ‘kidnappers’ demanded the release of two comrades who are in prison for their role in a demonstration against the construction of a livestock facility.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Basque Parliament Approves Declaration on Self-Determination
Regional Parliament in Spain’s Basque Country (Pais Vasco) approved a resolution proclaiming the province’s “right to self-determination”.
The symbolic text adopted Thursday was backed by 48 out of 75 Basque lawmakers.
“This right stems from the capacity of its citizens to freely and democratically decide on their political, economic, social and cultural status by acquiring its own political framework or sharing, fully or partially, its sovereignty with other peoples,” the document states as quoted by Spain’s daily El Mundo.
Even though the text does not imply any legal consequences, it might cause some worries in Madrid if it is followed by actions similar to those in Catalonia, where a referendum on independence is already scheduled for November 9 this year.
The Basque Parliament claims to represent “all citizens of Basque origin”.
Thursday’s declaration involves territories reaching beyond the borders of the Spanish province, as Euskal Herria (the name of the “Basque Country” used in the text) also includes Spain’s region of Navarra, situated to the east of Pais Vasco, and the south-west end of France.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Sustainable Beer Cooler Digging Up Success
Four Danes from the island of Mors in north Jutland have come up with an ingenious and sustainable way to keep their beer cool during the sweltering summer months. And with the World Cup approaching, their timing couldn’t be better.
Along with Ole Davidsen, Viggo Berg and Haagen Sørensen, Klaus Peter Bach has designed the eCool Can Cooler, a cylinder that is designed to be dug down into the garden or terrace and to be cooled by the earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish People’s Party Open to Working With SD
The Danish People’s Party now opens up for a closer co-operation with the Sweden Democrats in the European Parliament.
The Danish party’s foreign policy advisor Karsten Lorentzen tells Swedish Radio News that now that the Sweden Democrats have dropped the idea of co-operating with the anti-semitic French party Front National, there are no longer any obstacles to them co-operating in the European parliament.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Museum Selling Viking Ships to the Public
If you’ve ever dreamed of powering through the waves on a Viking longboat like Ragnar Lothbrok, axe at your side, ready to terrorise some unsuspecting Englishmen, then stow away your pillow and dream no further.
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde has made it possible to buy a handcrafted Viking longboat online through the Nordic museum’s webshop, although you will have to axe the violence and bloodshed displayed by the likes of Lothbrok and his menacing band.
“Vikings are popular like never before,” Anders Røge, the marketing director at Nordic Culture, said in a press release.
“That’s why we have no doubt that an authentic Viking ship online will fulfil a childhood dream for private persons and companies — whether it’s for a weekend cruise or a spectacular marketing statement”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Drugs, Prostitution Add GBP10 Billion to UK GDP
Drugs and prostitution will add billions of pounds to the U.K. economy under an overhaul of how annual gross domestic product is calculated, in a sign of how governments are trying to get a better handle on the role that illegal activity plays in their economies.
The U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Thursday that changes to the methods is uses to tot up GDP due to come into force in September will increase the size of the 2009 British economy by 2.3%, or some GBP33 billion pounds ($55 billion). The agency hasn’t yet made similar calculations for 2010 or more recent years.
The ONS estimated that GBP10 billion of the increase will come from illegal activities, specifically the import, production and sale of outlawed drugs, as well as prostitution.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France in €14bn Tax Shortfall as Forecasts Prove Wildly Off-Base
The French government is facing a €14 billion shortfall in its public finances after overestimating a projected increase in tax revenues for the last financial year by almost half.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: May 1814: Napoleon Arrives on Elba
By Adrian Tahourdin
Next June will see the bicentenary of a certain battle on a plain near Brussels. But in the year before that climactic event, Napoleon was dispatched by his enemies to the Mediterranean island of Elba, 20 km off the Tuscan coast. According to the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau drawn up by his Prussian, Russian and Austrian opponents (Britain refused to sign on the grounds that he was a usurper and it didn’t want to grant him legitimacy), Napoleon signed a letter of abdication on April 6, 1814. Alan Forrest writes in his Napoleon (2011) that he received “in return the right to retain his imperial title, sovereignty over the tiny island of Elba, . . . and an income of two million francs a year, to be paid to him by the French government”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Grillo Says Italian Press Lying About Farage
M5S leader tweets EFP statutes against xenophobia, anti-Semitism
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, May 30 — The head of Italy’s anti-establishment opposition Beppe Grillo defended his possible future ally of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from criticism in Italian media. “The Italian press is writing this and that about Nigel Farage,” said Beppe Grillo, the leader of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), in a tweet.
The comic turned politician then urges his followers to “spread the truth about Farage,” posting a link to a UKIP press release that outlines the statutes of the European Federalists Party (EFP) that UKIP belongs to in the European Parliament. Among the highlighted statutes are a vow to “oppose xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and any other form of discrimination”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Marines in Chamber Video Link From India on Monday
(AGI) Rome, May 30 — On Monday June 2, Italy’s Lower and Upper House defence and foreign affairs committees will hold a videoconference with the marines still being held in India over the suspected murder of two fishermen. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone will appear via video link on the Chamber of Deputies’ website (
http://www.agi.it/english-version/italy/elenco-notizie/201405301503-epp-rt10148-italian_marines_in_chamber_video_link_from_india_on_monday
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Farage ‘Not a Racist,’ Grillo Tells Daily Telegraph
‘Much common ground’ M5S leader says of UKIP chief
(ANSA) — Rome, May 30 — Italy’s anti-establishment leader Beppe Grillo on Friday defended his possible future ally Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from accusations that he is a racist. Grillo, a comic who leads the 5-Star Movement, told the British Daily Telegraph: “Nigel Farage is no racist”. The firebrand leader, who scored a disappointing 21% in the European elections, said he saw “much common ground” with the flamboyant Farage, whose party was the first outside Labour and the Tories to win an election in 100 years.
The flamboyant pair met for lunch in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss forming a Euroskeptic EP bloc, one that is not allied with Marine Le Pen’s French Front National and other far-right opponents to European integration. “If it works, it would be wonderful to see the ranks of citizens grow on our side,” said Farage in a UKIP press release at the time. “If we can reach an agreement, we could have fun causing a lot of trouble in Brussels”.
Grillo told the Telegraph that no formal agreement has been reached: “The meeting was just to get to know him”. Some of Grillo’s own MPs, who insist they are neither rightist nor leftist, have taken umbrage with a possible Farage alliance given his anti-immigrant views. “He is not the way he is described, just as I am not the fascist and Nazi the Italian papers describe me as,” Grillo told the Telegraph. “He wants to control flows of immigration in Europe like us. It is not true he is a racist,” added Grillo, pointing to Farage’s refusal to ally with Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League, which is trying to form its own European Parliament bloc with Le Pen. The comedian said the next step was for the M5S to vote online, as it often does regarding the direction of the Internet-based party, regarding whether it had any platforms in common with Farage. “We won’t change our program, we won’t change our ideas, but if we are talking about concepts like direct democracy then we have something in common,” he told the Telegraph.
Grillo added the movement was looking for partners at the European Parliament.
“With 17 MEPs, if you form an autonomous group, you are on the outside,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bank Warns Tasi Could Lead to 60% Tax Boost
Local governments free to set level of new property tax
(ANSA) — Rome, May 30 — If a new property tax dubbed the TASI is increased to a proposed rate of 2.5 per thousand in 2014, the levy on first homes would represent the equivalent of a 60% increase over a similar tax rate in 2013, the Bank of Italy said Friday.
The latest research on the tax suggests that if the rate remains at one per thousand, the increase over 2013 levels would be about 12%, said the central bank.
An increase to 2.5 per thousand would make the TASI’s income roughly equivalent to that of the hated IMU property tax put in place in 2012, said the bank, which analyzed rates in major Italian cities.
“If each capital (city) applied a rate equal to 2.5 per thousand, the total levy would increase by more than 60%,” said the bank in its research.
The TASI was developed last year as a response to outrage over the IMU and is designed to affect both primary and secondary homes as well as being tied to other local levies such as garbage taxes.
Then-premier Enrico Letta was forced by the ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s political party to eliminate the IMU on principal residences in 2013.
It was replaced by the TASI, with a rate to be set by local governments that are hungry for cash and can choose to add an additional 0.8 points to reach 3.3 per thousand. Last week, an official in the Italian municipalities organization said that the TASI was being deferred in cities that fail to establish local rates in time for payment in June.
Implementation of the TASI created a storm in January after consumer group Codacons claimed that it would cost families more than the contentious IMU.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rai Workers to Protest ‘Drastic’ Tax Cut
Strike at public broadcaster set for June 11
(ANSA) — Rome, May 30 — Italian broadcast unions on Friday said they are planning a mid-June strike to protest government proposals to cut 150 million euros from Italian public broadcaster RAI.
The strike set for June 11 is a response to a “drastic” funding cut, according to unions including SLC CGIL, CISL Fistel, Uilcom UIL, Ugl Telecommunications, Snater, Libersind Conf Sal and UsigRai.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Le Pen as President? France Thinks the Unthinkable
By Mark John and Nicholas Vinocur
PARIS (Reuters) — The victory of France’s far-right National Front in EU elections and the disarray of its two main parties has the French asking themselves an awkward question: could its leader Marine Le Pen be their next president?
The answer for now is: “Probably not”. But the mere fact that serious analysts are even entertaining the prospect of Le Pen entering the Elysee Palace after 2017 elections shows how much the political landscape has been shaken in the past week.
The anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic party notched up the first nationwide poll victory in its four-decade history on Sunday in a European Parliament election marked by voter disenchantment with Europe and the entire French political establishment.
Two days later, France’s body politic took another blow as the leadership of the conservative opposition UMP quit en masse after allegations of fraudulent funding of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s failed 2012 election campaign.
A new jobless high released on Wednesday underlined why Socialist President Francois Hollande’s popularity ratings remain stuck at record lows for a modern-day French leader. It added to the sense of deep desperation felt by many French.
“The way things are now, when Marine Le Pen speaks, people listen to her,” said Jean-Daniel Levy of pollster Harris Interactive. “Election after election, she just goes from strength to strength.
To be sure, the FN has been gradually building momentum for years. But its supporters, enemies and independent political analysts alike all agree that something new is emerging.
In 2002, when Le Pen’s firebrand father Jean-Marie shocked France by beating his Socialist rival out of the run-off to that year’s presidential election, an estimated 1.3 million people took to the streets in stunned protest.
In the decisive second round, left-wing voters famously took pictures of themselves clutching their noses as they voted for the conservative candidate Jacques Chirac — putting aside their contempt for him to ensure Le Pen was comprehensively beaten.
This time, there has been no such mass protest. Attempts to rally anti-FN demonstrators in Paris on Thursday’s Ascension Day public holiday mustered only about 4,200 people, mostly high-school and university students, according to police estimates.
“It (the FN’s poll win) shows that a certain racist sentiment has become commonplace in France,” said Marion Faucheux, a 28-year-old welfare worker at the rally…
| — Hat tip: IW | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Says Juncker Must Become EC President
German chancellor lobbying for former Luxembourg PM
(ANSA) — Berlin, May 30 — German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed Jean-Claude Juncker as next European Commission (EC) president, speaking on Friday in Regensburg, Germany.
“Jean-Claude Juncker has to become president of the European Commission”, said Merkel. “For this objective, I am conducting all meetings now.” Juncker, former longstanding Prime Minister of Luxembourg, is the European People’s Party candidate for EC president. The German Chancellor spoke on German Catholic Day 2014, an annual gathering to discuss contemporary political and social challenges for faith in the world.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Metal Thieves Pillage French Wind Turbines
A sophisticated network of metal thieves has targeted some 20 French wind turbines in a new looting trend, scaling the near 40-metre-high structures and stealing up to one tonne of metal from a single engine, Le Figaro reported Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Northern Ireland: Muslim Leaders ‘Accept Robinson Apology’
A delegation of Northern Ireland’s Muslim leaders has accepted an apology from Peter Robinson over comments he made about followers of the religion.
The first minister had told the Irish News on Wednesday he would not trust Muslims involved in violence or devotees of Sharia law. But he said he would “trust them to go to the shops” for him.
A meeting was called between Mr Robinson and members of Belfast’s Islamic Centre to discuss the fall out. Dr Raied Al-Wazzan said, a spokesman for the centre said: “We accepted the apology in private and for us that was a sincere apology and we accepted it.”
He added: “He is going to meet the wider Muslim community and some of them may be frank with him and tell him directly how they feel.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Police Break Up Jihadist Cell in Spanish Enclave of Melilla
MADRID, May 30 (Xinhua) — The Spanish Interior Ministry on Friday announced that Spanish civil guards have broken up an international network in the Spanish enclave of Melilla dedicated to recruiting jihadist fighters to fight in Mali and Libya.
The ministry said six people with presumed links to the ‘Movement for the Unity and Jihad in West Africa’ (MUJWA) were arrested in the operation, which took place in the Spanish enclave on the north coast of Morocco…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Arsonist Gets 18 Years for Murdering Pensioner
A 27-year old man who strangled and then stabbed a 90-year-old woman to death before setting her house on fire has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Police: Muslim Terrorists “A Huge Threat … We Haven’t Seen Anything Like This Before”
“We are talking about a couple of hundred people that are supporting or are willing and capable to carry out terrorist attacks in Sweden or planning a terrorist attack in Sweden against targets in neighboring countries or other places in the world,” Thornberg told Reuters. … “It’s a huge threat,” Thornberg said. “We have seen through the years before that a lot of people were traveling to Afghanistan, to Yemen, Somalia, other countries, learning how to do jihad.”
“But it was over a period over 10 years. Now in just two years we have seen more people than totally in the last 10 years,” he added. “We haven’t seen anything like this before.” …
The SAPO chief said “two or three” plots had been foiled in the past few years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Muslims Don’t Like Dogs… Don’t Walk Them Here’: Police Probe Sign in East London Park
Police were today investigating a sign telling pet owners to stay out of an east London park because “Muslims do not like dogs”.
The warning, in Bartlett Park, Poplar, said: “Do not walk your dog here! Muslims do not like dogs. This is an Islamic area now.” It was today branded “unacceptable” and “provocative” by an MP who called in police after being alerted to the sign by a concerned dog walker.
Labour’s Jim Fitzpatrick called on police to find out if it was put up by “religious zealots” or a far-right group such as the English Defence League (EDL). “The question is whether it was put up to be provocative or by religious zealots to be racist,” the Poplar and Limehouse MP told the Standard.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Civil War That Started in Labour Risks Spilling Onto the Streets
This is a guest post by Kazim Zaidi, Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s adviser who was Political Assistant to the Tower Hamlets Labour group when Lutfur ran the council as a member of the party between 2008-10. He lives in Bethnal Green.
*NOTE: Thursday, May 29, 4pm: Kazim Zaidi has asked me if he can clarify that while he continues to advise Lutfur Rahman on a voluntary basis, he has not been a paid adviser (in receipt of public funds) since March.
In 2010 it was the infamous “dodgy dossier” submitted by his 3rd placed rival that claimed Lutfur Rahman had been “brainwashed” by fundamentalists. These claims led to Rahman’s summary deselection as Labour’s candidate but have never been investigated…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Another Violent Criminal Leaves Open Prison
A violent robber has gone missing from an open prison. Simon Marcus Rhodes-Butler was jailed for seven years in September 2011 after he and accomplice Ilyas Ismail attacked and robbed a garage owner in London in March that year…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ed Miliband Doesn’t Read the UK News — He Gets His Aides to Fill Him in
ED Miliband’s attempts to prove he is in touch with ordinary Britons failed spectacularly yesterday when he admitted that he is more interested in American politics and baseball.
The Labour leader also said he rarely reads British newspapers or watches the news — and relies on his aides to tell him what is going on in the country. The revelations will add to the concern among Labour MPs that Mr Miliband is out of touch with voters…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: How Modern Liberals Created Nigel Farage
by David Goodhart
I have just read a book so good I want to read it again. But I also want to read (or write) a more complete version of it that is less solicitous of its subject and more concerned with the failures of modern liberalism — as evidenced by the recent success of UKIP and other populists across Europe. Edmund Fawcett’s Liberalism: The Life of an Idea (Princeton, £24.95) is an attempt to give form and shape to the elusive political idea that has dominated the Western world for almost two centuries…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: In Search of My Father, Agent of the Comitern
by John Torode
It’s official. My father was a Soviet agent. MI5 says so. Decades after his death, the spooks have finally released his security file to the National Archives. It contains a damning judgment: “There is not the slightest doubt that he is one of a very small group of senior and trusted couriers” working for the Comintern — the murderous agency which Stalin used to control world Communism. I had long since guessed as much…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nick Clegg Attacks Nigel Farage’s ‘Politics of Fear’ And Denies Weeping Over Lib Dem Results
Nick Clegg has defied questions over his future as leader of the Liberal Democrats as he took to the airwaves to answer questions about the party’s dismal election results.
He listened to one caller compare the local and Euro results to Godzilla stomping all over Tokyo — with the Lib Dems as the stricken city.
Meanwhile, another caller demanded Ukip leader Nigel Farage be given a knighthood “for services to politics”.
Clegg denied he had wept in the aftermath of polls which saw the Lib Dems lose 70% of councillors and 90% of MEPs. Ukip topped the EU election.
Clegg said on LBC radio: “Of course my party to put it mildly is going through a phase or soul searching and asking lots of difficult questions about what we should do between now and the general election.”
Clegg has faced calls to resign as party leader from former colleague Lord Oakeshott, amid rumours of a plot to oust him.
Farage has said he cannot see Clegg remaining leader of the Lib Dems next year. The deputy prime minister responded by saying the former banker did not live in the real world.
“I sometimes wish we lived in Nigel Farage’s world, where every problem under the sun can be solved by one leap: from traffic jams to bad weather — everything can be solved by pulling out of the European Union,” said Clegg…
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Poison Might be Drawn With More Scrupulous Regard to Truth
This is a guest post by John Ware, the BBC Panorama reporter who fronted the Mayor and Our Money programme on March 31. This is the first proper response by the Panorama team to some of the accusations and smears directed towards them from senior officers and politicians in the town hall, both before the programme and since.
The former leader of Tower Hamlets Professor Michael Keith observes that the Mayor’s “popularity…speaks more to the strengths of community networks, Sylheti ties and the mobilising forces of his political machine.”
It is striking just how much The Facts have become flattened in this process — and how tenuous has been the relationship to truth in some notable cases.
Having now observed the sectarian politics of Tower Hamlets at close quarters, it seems to me that some of the poison might be drawn if those in positions of responsibility had a more scrupulous regard for facts and truth…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Richard III Not ‘Bunch-Backed’
King Richard III was not a “bunch-backed toad” as portrayed by Shakespeare, according to results of scans of the monarch’s recently-discovered skeleton.
The Shakespearean depiction of notorious British King Richard III as a “bunch-backed toad” is a “complete fabrication”, according to results of scans of the monarch’s recently-discovered skeleton.
Scientists said on Friday the scans showed that Richard’s spine has a “well-balanced curve” that could have been hidden under clothes or armour…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: When Did We Become the Fat Man of Europe?
By Richard Littlejohn
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been out and about promoting my new book, Littlejohn’s Lost World. One topic which has featured in most of my radio interviews and live audience Q&A sessions is our modern obesity ‘epidemic’, a subject at the top of today’s news agenda.
We learned on Wednesday that the Government’s health watchdog wants taxpayers to foot the bill for the overweight to attend commercial slimming clubs…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP Councillor Refuses Council-Enforced ‘Equality’ Training After Free Market Dispute
In a ‘two-fingers up to the establishment’ gesture, UKIP councillor Donna Rachel Edmunds has shot back at her local authority’s insistence that she needs “equality training” following her claim that business owners should not be forced to serve anyone they don’t want to…
[Reader comment by A_Libertarian_Rebel on 29 May 2014.]
Well done, Donna! Not only for, quite properly, rejecting in its entirety the convening, process and conclusions of a kangaroo court held in flagrant disregard for every tenet of local government law and natural justice.
But also for refusing to kow-tow to the selectively-illiberal, politically-correct pieties of cultural-marxist state-enforced equality-authoritarianism.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Tourism to Norway Soars on ‘Frozen Effect’
The number of people travelling to Norway from the United States has increased by more than a third after Frozen, the Disney blockbuster largely based on the country, became a runaway hit.
According to the Norwegian trade promotion agency, Innovation Norway, the number of US visitors to Norway in the first three months of this year was up 37 percent on the same period last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Fatwa: Husbands Should Abandon Wives to Rapists in Self-Interest
By Raymond Ibrahim
Islam permits Muslim husbands to abandon their wives to rapists in order to save their own lives-so says Dr. Yassir al-Burhami, vice president of Egypt’s Salafi party, the nation’s premiere Islamist party since the Muslim Brotherhood was banned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Shimon Peres’ Legacy
On June 10, the Knesset will elect President Shimon Peres’s successor. As he departs the President’s Residence at the end of June, the media will provide saturation coverage of his final days and tell us over and over that Peres is the greatest statesman in Jewish history. His personal gravitas is Israel’s single most important asset in the world, they will say as they warn of our bleak future without him.
The upcoming Peres-is-a-Superhero festival will just be the latest of the narcissistic, tasteless celebrations of this man, always choreographed expertly by Peres and his retinue of media groupies.
Like his 80th and 85th birthdays, Peres’s 90th birthday celebration went on for a month. As the serving president, his last two monthlong benders cost the taxpayers millions of shekels and broke the budget of the President’s Residence.
All were replete with international celebrity guests like Nelson Mandela, Bono and Bill Clinton whom the press drooled over.
Hyperventilating reporters paused between drinks to mournfully note that after Peres leaves office, the parties will end and the A-listers will stop visiting.
And that’s the problem with Peres’s showboating. It’s always been all about him, never about us.
Peres’s popularity among the jet-setters never translates into international support for the State of Israel. Israel is but a prop for him — a means of securing the continued support of the beautiful people…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
32 Killed in Separate Violent Attacks Across Iraq
BAGHDAD, May 29 (Xinhua) — A total of 32 people were killed and ten others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq on Thursday, security and medical sources said.
In Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, Iraqi security forces carried out an offensive against militant groups near the city of Udheim, some 100 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing 14 gunmen believed to be linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq, General Abdul Amir al-Zaiydi, Commander of Dijla Operations Command, told reporters at a news conference…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
American Suicide Bomber in Syria is Identified
An American who blew himself up in a suicide attack in Syria on Sunday has been identified by law enforcement officials as Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a man who grew up in Florida and traveled to Syria late last year.
The officials said they believed that Mr. Abusalha, who joined a militant group and adopted the nom de guerre Abu Huraira al-Amriki, used a large truck in helping to carry out the bombing in the northern province of Idlib, where he had traveled after spending two months in a training camp of the militant group Al Nusra Front in Aleppo. The officials said they thought it was the first time an American had been involved in a suicide attack in Syria.
American law enforcement and intelligence agencies made the identification without examining any remains. The size of the blast, which was shown on a video clip posted online by Al Nusra, has led the authorities to believe that there is little, if anything, left of the body.
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Ancient Counting Game Sweeps Turkish Schools
By Tuncay Kayaoglu
ISTANBUL
‘Mangala,’ a long-forgotten counting game sees a revival in Turkish schools thanks to the effort of two brothers
Adem Yerlikaya, a 13-year-old student from Istanbul, has been playing ‘Mangala,’ a strategic counting game, for a year. His friend, Furkan Aslan, has been playing the game for almost seven months. The two friends participated in a two-day tournament in Istanbul, competing with two hundred rivals from other schools. The winner will play in Turkey’s ‘Mangala’ championship scheduled for next week. The winner will win a weeklong tour to Central Asia, the ancestral homeland of Turks, which some Turks believe is also the origin for the game of ‘Mangala.’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Jails 11 People for Planning to Bomb Western Embassies
AMMAN, May 28 (Xinhua) — Jordan’s state security court on Wednesday sentenced 11 people to prison terms ranging from four to 20 years for seeking to bomb Western embassies in the country, the official news agency Petra reported.
The court said that the 11 defendants, belonging to Takfiri groups who accuse other Muslims of apostasy, were charged with planning to conduct terrorist attacks as well as illegal possession of explosives and weapons…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim “Black Army” Trains in Syria, Has Easier Access to “Weapons and Explosives”
This weekend the gang member Ahmed Syria from the group Black Army crossed the border to Syria, probability because he again wants to take up arms in Syria. …
CTA (Center for Terror Analysis) estimates that returnees from Syria associated with militant Islamist groups in Denmark, who also have connections with criminal circles, have easier access to financing, weapons and explosives, and may pose a particular threat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Jihadi Reported Killed in Syria
Another Norwegian citizen has been killed fighting with jihadi groups in Syria, Norway’s Dagbladet newspaper has reported.
According to the newspaper, the man, who was born in Somalia but had lived in Norway for several years, was killed during the conflict over the last few days.
Martin Bernsen of the Norwegian Police Security Service refused to confirm Dagbladet’s information, which seems to have come out in response to the arrest yesterday of three men on suspicion of involvement in jihadi groups I’m Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria’s ISIS Crucifying Opponents, Justifying Horror With Quran Passages
by Jonathan Spyer and Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
Evidence is mounting that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is systematically committing atrocities in eastern and northern Syria, its areas of control.
While individual incidents of brutality have been well-documented, the near-impossibility of on-the-spot reporting in the area controlled by the organization has made it difficult to build a general description of the situation there. However, as more and more witnesses come forward, the picture is gradually becoming clearer.
Public executions are a regular weekly occurrence in Raqqa city, the provincial capital controlled by ISIS. In a number of verified cases, the bodies of executed people have been “crucified” — placed on crosses in public areas after execution by other means, supposedly to act as a deterrent to others. (Note: at least one crucifixion of a living victim by an Islamist group has occurred recently, in Yemen.Video here.)
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Ottoman-Style Circumcision Triggers Public Outcry
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, MAY 30 — A deputy governor in the western Turkish province of Bursa recently organized an Ottoman-style circumcision ceremony for his son near the tomb of a sultan, drawing public criticism and prompting officials to announce his retirement on May 30, as daily Hurriyet online reports today. Mehmet Ozcan, deputy governor of Bursa, chose the Hudavendigar Mosque in the Cekirge neighborhood, which houses the tomb of Ottoman Sultan Murad I, to celebrate his 6-year-old son’s circumcision, a ritual that many Muslims in Turkey regard as the first step to manhood. Dressed as an Ottoman prince, Ozcan’s son arrived in the mosque on horseback and sat down on a throne surrounded with imperial decorations. An Ottoman military band, janissary soldiers, fireplayers and women dressed as concubines accompanied the boy and his family. Several people who came to the mosque to pray or to sightsee filmed the lavish prayer ceremony, which was scheduled to be followed by a party at a Bursa hotel on May 30. The images shared on social media triggered public reactions, with some users saying the deputy governor should resign, while some others linked the ceremony with ‘Neo-Ottomanism.’ Amid the public outcry, sources in the Bursa Governor’s Office told daily Hurriyet that Ozcan has been retired from the civil service as of May 30. “Mr. Ozcan has been off-duty for a while. He took a leave of absence to organize the circumcision events. This was his last event. Gov. Munir Karaloglu was uninformed about this ceremony,” a source told Hurriyet. (ANSAmed).
To se the video:
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2014/05/30/turkey-ottoman-style-circumcision-triggers-public-outcry_526d6fa8-ca17-407d-a522-b0d15adda8e3.html
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Sentences Twitter User to Jail for Blasphemy
A Turkish court on Thursday handed a 15-month jail term to a teacher over Twitter posts deemed religiously offensive, local media reported on Thursday. The court in the eastern city of Mus ruled that the man, identified as Ertan P., insulted Islamic values with his Twitter handle (“Allah (c.c.)”, or @CenabiAllah) and a series of tweets he posted, Hurriyet newspaper reported on its website.
The defendant claimed his account had been hacked and appealed against the sentence, Hurriyet said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Crimea: FSB Arrests 4 Members of Right Sector
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested a four-member cell of the Right Sector nationalist movement, which was preparing terrorist acts in Crimea, the FSB said in a statement.
The members of the cell planned to set fire to offices of local pro-Russian organizations in Crimea’s capital, Simferopol, in mid-April and then to use IEDs to damage a World War II memorial and a Vladimir Lenin monument on the eve of Victory Day on May 9, the FSB stated.
The four activists will be charged with terrorism and illegal possession of firearms and explosives, the statement said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian Army Launches Mortar Attack on Slavyansk
(AGI) Moscow, May 30 — The Ukrainian army launched a mortar attack on the south-eastern city of Slavyansk, the pro-Russian militia stronghold, Russian news agency Ria-Novosti reported on Friday. “Mortar fire is targeting the town centre, where most militants are gathered,” the Russian news agency said.
According to the city’s residents, firing became heavier after a Ukrainian military helicopter was shot down by pro-Russians on Thursday, killing dozens of troops including a general.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
by Reza Jan
The president’s optimistic characterization of the al Qaeda threat in South Asia is increasingly outdated. The terrorist group is regenerating due to a pause in U.S. drone activity and the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. troops.
President Barack Obama told U.S. troops in Afghanistan on May 25, 2014 that the United States has “decimated the al Qaeda leadership in the tribal regions” of Pakistan.1 While conceding that the al Qaeda network elsewhere in the world poses an increasing threat to U.S. interests, the U.S. government frequently touts the progress it has made in neutering al Qaeda’s senior leadership in Pakistan — as it narrowly defines it…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Extremists Force Girls Out of School in Pakistan
Over the past few weeks, girls and their supporters have been holding protests in remote areas of Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province, where dozens of schools have been forced to close due to threats from extremists.
Threatening girls to stop them from going to school is nothing new in Pakistan — Malala Yousafzai’s case is just the most infamous example — but it now seems to be spreading to parts of the country that had previously been spared. Two weeks ago, all private schools in Balochistan’s districts of Panjgur and Turbat were forced to close after being threatened by a hitherto unknown group called “Tenzeem Islami Al-Furqan” (“the Organisation of Islam for the Koran”). These shadowy extremists, much like the Taliban or Boko Haram in Nigeria, say they are against “Western education” for girls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Girls Raped Then Hung in Uttar Pradesh, India, Force Focus on Rape Worldwide
by Phyllis Chesler
Early Thursday, two teenage Indian girls, aged 14 and 15, cousins, were found dead, hanging from a mango tree, in Uttar Pradesh, where their heartless gang-rapists had left them. Both are Dalits, formerly considered “untouchables.”
One (or possibly two) men are in custody; two or three more men are being sought. Three police officers have been removed from duty because they did not register the girls as missing when their families first reported it. One or possibly two police officers have, reportedly, been arrested for having sided with the criminals and delayed acting on a report of the missing girls. The superintendent of police said, “We now believe the girls were assaulted for their low caste.” A post mortem determined that, indeed, they had been gang-raped and then hung.
Despite the fact that India is a constitutional democracy and a modern country, caste still plagues the country. Hindu honor killings are perpetrated mainly for reasons of caste-violation. In general, Dalits may be viewed as even more justifiable prey than other women—even by other Dalit men. One police officer believes this was a Dalit-on-Dalit crime…
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Indonesia: Yogyakarta: Islamic Extremists Attack a Group of Catholics Gathered in Prayer
The raid targeted faithful of the parish of the Holy Family of Banteng, praying the rosary and practicing hymns for Sunday. The host and owner of a small publishing house in the area brutally beaten. Archbishop of Semarang calls for thorough investigations. Sources told AsiaNews: “In the past fundamentalist groups attacked Ahmadis in the area”.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — A group of Islamic extremists in the area of Besi have brutally and violently attacked faithful of the parish of the Holy Family of Banteng , in the area north of Yogyakarta (island of Java). Church sources in Semarang confirm the attack took place at 9 last night when Catholics held their weekly meeting to pray the Rosary and practice their Sunday hymns. Local witnesses report that, suddenly, a group of Islamic fundamentalists raided the private house owned by a local Catholic leader, throwing stones and rocks. The assailants brutally beat him and then fled in haste.
At the time the owner, Julius Felicianus, was not at home; informed of events, he left friends and colleagues and returned home to assess the situation in person.
However, as soon as he crossed the threshold of the house, the Islamic extremist group made a second and more violent attack: the Islamists stormed the apartment, assaulting Felicianus — Director of Galang Press, a small publishing house local — with stones and an iron bar. The group also hit him over the head with an earthenware vase causing a deep wound. What is striking is the fact that they wanted to target him and other members inside the house as well as some journalists, who arrived on the scene.
The reasons for the attack is unknown. It is also unclear whether they wished to target the publisher in particular, or the entire Catholic community. The incident has caused shock and fear among the faithful who fear new attacks.
Interviewed by AsiaNews, the Archbishop of Semarang Msgr. Johannes Pujasumarta reports that the reasons behind the attack should be investigated quickly and clearly; he hopes for thorough investigations, not only by the police, but also “the local Catholic community “ and the results will be handed over “to the authorities for further investigation”. Sources engaged in interreligious dialogue recall that the area is known for the presence of various Islamic organizations, moderate and extremist; the latter have become protagonists in the past of violent attacks against the Muslim Ahmadi minority.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Increasingly however, it has become the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance against minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or belong to other faiths. Aceh is the only Indonesian province where Sharia (Islamic law) is enforced, following a peace agreement between the central government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Yet, in many other areas of the country, a more radical and extreme vision of Islam is spreading among ordinary Indonesians. Certain rules such as the infamous building permit (Izin Mendirikan Bangunan or IMB in Indonesian) have been used to prevent the construction of Christian places of worship or stop construction already underway, as was the case for the Yasmin Church in West Java. In December last year, at least five Christian places of worship have had to close their doors due to pressure from Islamists.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Who Did India’s Muslims Vote for in General Election?
By Sanjay Kumar, Political scientist
The resounding victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India’s recently concluded general election is being interpreted by some as a religious vote in favour of the Hindu nationalist party.
It is true that the politically crucial states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — the two account for 120 of the 543 seats in the parliament — witnessed a decisive shift of votes of the upper castes, caste groups known as Other Backward Classes (OBC) and lower-caste Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) in favour of the BJP…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Lawfare or Warfare? Let Impartial Tribunals Cool Asia’s Maritime Disputes
Jerome A. Cohen discusses how international tribunals could help East Asia solve its Law of the Sea crisis.
Editor’s Note: The following is a May 28, 2014 draft of a speech Jerome A. Cohen will deliver on June 20, 2014 in Danang, Vietnam at an international workshop on the South China Sea co-organized by Pham Van Dong University and Danang University. The title of the speech is “Lawfare or Warfare? Let Impartial Tribunals Help Cool East Asia’s Law of the Sea Crisis.” The draft will be amended in light of subsequent events, but is released now with the consent of the conference’s organizers.
Dear Colleagues: No conference could be more timely nor more appropriately located than our discussion here today in Danang. I am grateful to our hosts for the opportunity to present a few of my ideas for facilitating resolution of some of the disputes that concern us…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vietnam Accuses Chinese Ships of Gun Threats
HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam on Thursday accused Chinese war ships of pointing their weapons at Vietnamese vessels during an escalating standoff near an oil rig in contested waters. The tense confrontation came as China moved its deep-sea rig to a new location earlier this week that Hanoi considers is still within its territory…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kiwi ‘Had Flight Booked’ To Fight in Syria
A New Zealand man charged with preparing to fight in the Syrian civil war has appeared in a Melbourne court. Mohamed Amin, 24, is charged with four counts of preparing to enter a foreign state to engage in armed hostilities…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Eastleigh Traders Face Uncertain Future After Security Crackdown
Nairobi — Business owners in Eastleigh say they fear imminent closure of their shops as customers and traders continue to avoid the commercial hub, wary of the Kenyan government’s security crackdown and terrorist threats.
Commercial activity in Eastleigh has dropped by 60% since the security crackdowns started in April, and more than 150,000 people who directly depended on businesses in the area to earn a living are now staring at an uncertain future, said Eastleigh Business Community Association chairman Hussein Mohammed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Aging Swiss Face Pension Funding Dilemma on Immigration Vote
Simon Biddle has been a precious metals broker in Switzerland for 17 years. For him, growing old in the Alpine nation was never in the cards.
“I’ve enjoyed living in Switzerland,” said Biddle, 46, who’s returning to work in his native U.K. this summer and never learned German during his time at Cosmorex AG in Thalwil on the outskirts of Zurich. He moved to Switzerland “basically looking for a job” after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. closed down its precious metals desk in London. “I definitely have no intention of retiring here.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal EU Migration Surges as Thousands Flock to Italy
There has been a significant rise in the numbers of migrants reaching Europe in recent months, the BBC has learned.
The number of people attempting the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Italy has risen sharply, says Frontex, the EU border agency. From January to April, 42,000 migrants were detected on these routes, with 25,650 of these crossing from Libya.
Combined with seven other less busy routes, the total figure for this year is probably now about 60,000…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigel Farage Has ‘Massive Problem’ With Romania
UKIP’s Nigel Farage has made Romanian and Bulgarian immigration into Britain one of the core issues of his European elections campaign. Photo by EPA/BGNES
UK Independence Party (UKIP)’s leader Nigel Farage has made fresh remarks referring to Southeastern Europe in an interview with a US TV channel.
“I haven’t got a problem with Romanians. I have a massive problem with Romania,” Farage told CNBC on Thursday.
In his view, “known criminal gangs” from Romania were heading to Britain, and EU rules on freedom of movement forced officials to allow them entry.
“Organized criminal gangs have got countries like Romania in their grip,” Farage also explained, adding that that some post-communist countries had not made the transition to full Western democracy.
The UKIP leader also reiterated he was confident that UKIP would win a “good number” of seats in next year’s general elections and that would enable it to start a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU. Earlier he said he believed that Britain could thrive on free trade after leaving the bloc.
Farage’s interview with CNBC came days after European elections saw the victory of Euroskeptics in a number of EU countries such as the UK, France, Denmark and Hungary.
In the case of UKIP, considered by many to be xenophobic, a huge part of its European elections campaign targeted immigrants from EU members Bulgaria and Romania, which joined in 2007, but which saw labor market restrictions lifted on January 1 this year.
Farage had repeatedly warned that once the market was opened, 29 million Bulgarians and Romanians (more than the two countries’ combined population) would flock to Britain seeking their way out of the two poverty-stricken member states.
No evidence of such trend has been observed so far.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Surge in Illegal Migration After Libya Threat to ‘Flood’ EU
The number of illegal migrants arriving in Europe is higher than during the Arab Spring, the EU border agency reports, following a threat by a Libyan minister to unleash a ‘flood’
The number of illegal migrants reaching Europe has risen eight-fold in the last year and is higher than during the Arab Spring, new figures from the European Union’s border agency show.
The majority of the migrants are crossing from Libya and comes after the country’s interim interior minister warned last month that his government would help migrants leave for Europe if the EU didn’t give his country financial aid to cope with the influx…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Ethics of Immigration Symposium: Right Arguments, Wrong Order
by Kieran Oberman
Why the case for open borders is crucial to defending the rights of resident migrants
Joseph Carens’s important, engaging and superbly written book aims to offer “a general account of how democrats should think about immigration” (p10) based on “fundamental democratic principles” that Carens believes most people in Europe and North America already hold (p5). This methodological stance dictates the structure of the book…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Illegal Immigrants Held After Raid at £200m Flagship Development
Nine illegal immigrants from India were arrested at the Stephenson Quarter — a project designed to boost the local economy and create local jobs
Illegal workers were arrested during a raid at a £200m flagship development designed to create local jobs, the Chronicle can reveal. Tyneside’s Stephenson Quarter was at the centre of an immigration operation last week during which nine Indian illegal workers were found on site.
It is an embarrassing blow to developers behind the huge 10-acre development, which is partially funded by the taxpayer in a bid to create as many as 2,200 jobs…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
From Brunei to Boko Haram: Merely Deflection
by Raheel Raza
Boko Haram’s members justify their acts in the name of Islam, and Muslim leaders are intimidated into silence. Add to this a hatred for the West and its values, and you have an explosive combination of violence and faith being pushed upon innocent civilians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hunt Intensifies for Aliens on Kepler’s Planets
Could ET be chatting with colleagues or robots on sister planets in its solar system? Maybe so, say scientists who last year launched a new type of Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, project to eavesdrop on aliens.
Using data collected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, a team of scientists spent 36 hours listening in when planets in targeted solar systems lined up, relative to Earth’s perspective, in hopes of detecting alien interplanetary radio signals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |