As a part of the “Mare Nostrum” operation, more than 3,500 illegal migrants were rescued by the Italian navy in the Straits of Sicily over the weekend. After the landing of 205 migrants at Pozzallo in Sicily, five culturally enriched human traffickers were arrested by the authorities.
In other news, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Republicans not to exploit the Benghazi scandal for political gain.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, ICLA, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Bank of Italy Says Govt 2015 Budget Short 14.3 Bn
Renzi’s ‘80 euro bonus’ endangers deficit target
(ANSA) — Rome, May 30 — The Bank of Italy on Friday said the Italian government must find an additional 14.3 billion euros in next year’s budget to cover Premier Matteo Renzi’s signature tax bonus — equal to 80 euros per month for low earners — if it wants to maintain deficit reduction targets.
The Bank of Italy’s calculations were based on the government’s estimated budget for 2015, which foresees up to 17 billion euros of savings through spending cuts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Co-Owner of Philadelphia Inquirer Among Plane Crash Victims in Massachusetts
A co-owner of Philadelphia’s two major newspapers was identified Sunday as one of seven people who died Saturday night when a private jet ran off a runway at an airfield northwest of Boston and burst into flames, killing everyone on board.
Bill Marimow, the editor of one of the papers, The Philadelphia Inquirer, confirmed that one of its owners, Lewis Katz, 72, had died in the crash at Hanscom Airfield in Bedford, Mass.
Mr. Katz, a former owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, and a business associate, Gerry Lenfest, had won a legal battle last Tuesday over the ownership of The Inquirer when they won an auction for the newspaper.
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E.P.A. To Seek 30 Percent Cut in Carbon Emissions by 2030
The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil a draft proposal on Monday to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan. The proposed rule amounts to the strongest action ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for trapping heat in the atmosphere and dangerously warming the planet.
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Hillary Clinton Warns Republicans Against Exploitation of Benghazi Tragedy
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Xinhua) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is offering in her new book a detailed account of the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya’s Benghazi, warning congressional Republicans against repeated exploitation of the tragedy.
The attack on Sept. 11, 2012, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed, is still haunting the Obama administration, as the House has formed a select committee to look into it…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Activists Walk in Dallas to Raise Awareness
More than a decade after the 9/11 attacks inspired widespread animosity toward the Islamic faith, many Muslims say they continue to experience bias, hate and misunderstanding.
On Saturday, a group of about 80 Muslim activists gathered at Reverchon Park in Dallas’ Oak Lawn area for a walk to raise awareness about the issue…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Please Don’t Smile While Making Selfie for the NSA
The National Security Agency is collecting millions of images of people through its international surveillance network to be implemented in a number of other facial recognition programs, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
Thanks to rapid advances being made in the field of facial recognition technology, the NSA is much better equipped to “exploit the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social media, video conferences and other communications,” according to an article in the New York Times, co-written by Laura Poitras, who, together with Glen Greenwald, are the only two journalists to have received the leaked NSA documents.
The NSA has the capacity to intercept “millions of images per day,” as well as some 55,000 “facial recognition quality images.” This latest milestone in US intelligence gathering, which goes a long way to putting the final touches on the much-feared Orwellian nightmare, gives the US spy agency “tremendous untapped potential,” according to the 2011 documents.
“It’s not just the traditional communications we’re after: It’s taking a full-arsenal approach that digitally exploits the clues a target leaves behind in their regular activities on the net to compile biographic and biometric information” that can help “implement precision targeting,” noted a document dated 2010.
The NSA is unique in its ability to match images with huge troves of private communications.
“We would not be doing our job if we didn’t seek ways to continuously improve the precision of signals intelligence activities — aiming to counteract the efforts of valid foreign intelligence targets to disguise themselves or conceal plans to harm the United States and its allies,” said Vanee M. Vines, the agency spokeswoman.
Moreover, the report claimed that one of the agency’s most intense efforts to acquire facial images is through a program dubbed Wellspring, which “strips out images from emails and other communications, and displays those that might contain passport images.”
“It intercepts video teleconferences to obtain facial imagery, gathers airline passenger data and collects photographs from national identity card databases created by foreign countries, the documents show,” the files revealed.
GCHQ records between 2008 and 2010 reveal a surveillance program, codenamed Optic Nerve, harvested still images of Yahoo webcam chats and stored them on databases, the Guardian reported.
“In one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery — including substantial quantities of sexually explicit communications — from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally,” the paper reported.
The power of facial recognition technology goes beyond the collection of faces, and includes geographic points photographed from satellites.
Human rights and civil liberty groups are expressing concern that the power of the technology, in the hands of government and corporate officials, could have a disastrous impact on privacy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
President Barack Obama’s National Security Flops Just Keep Coming
A strange obsession with setting out his national security agenda is backfiring for President Barack Obama
The US leader President Barack Obama tried again this week to hit the reset button on his reputation as America’s guardian of national security. While the issue plagues his poll ratings and his many speeches crowd out other more fruitful areas for a Democratic president, there he was again on Wednesday at West Point, outlining his foreign policy strategy.
The reception for the speech was dire…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rich Swier: Sgt. Bergdahl’s Father Tweeted “Free All Guantanamo Prisoners”
The other side of our Iconoclast post on the prisoner exchange is the somewhat bizarre behavior of the 28 year old Army Sgt’s father Bob Bergdahl. Our colleague, Dr. Rich Swier, dealt with that on a column he posted today on his eMagazine, Released U.S. Soldier’s Father wants to “Free All Guantanamo Prisoners”. Swier is a retired US Army Lt. Col., who served during the Nam era and thus has some considerable exposure to the military background of this exchange and its consequences. Has Bowe’s father Robert Bergdahl become pro-jihad in his heart. We celebrate his son Bowe’s release but will Bowe hear from his father what he heard from his captors?
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Former Army Cadets Location Becomes Mosque for the B’fords
Followers of Islam in the Battlefords and area will soon have a place of worship to call their own.
Monday, city council unanimously approved a discretionary use application to develop a mosque, public hall and residence for a full-time Imam and a caretaker at 1761-99th St…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Britain ‘Could Quit EU’ if Juncker Gets Top Job
The PM reportedly warns he may bring forward a UK referendum depending on who becomes the next European Commission chief.
David Cameron has reportedly said Britain could quit the EU if Jean-Claude Juncker is elected as president of the European Commission.
The Prime Minister has previously said he sees the former Luxembourg leader as a symbol of Europe’s past and argued other leaders are more capable of delivering change. He is now so worried Mr Juncker’s appointment would destabilise the UK Government he would bring forward an in-out referendum, according to German publication Der Spiegel…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
European Green Party Rules Out Alliance With M5S
(AGI) Rome, June 1 — The European Green Party has ruled out the possibility of an alliance with Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement (M5S). Co-spokesman for the Greens Reinhard Butikofer wrote on Grillo’s blog: “Grillo should stop making fun of people. I don’t know what the members of his party are thinking, because their leader does not allow them to express different opinions. If they do not agree with Grillo they should get rid of him, then we can talk.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Europe is Responsible for Ukraine Crisis — Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen , leader of France’s far-right National Front party, has argued that Europe is responsible for the events in Ukraine.
In an interview for Germany weekly Der Spiegel, she expresses support for the federalization of Ukraine, adding that the European Union exacerbated the difficult situation by offering partnership to a country which had half of its population looking eastward.
She insists that Europe is showing Russia in an unfavorable light to please the United States, stressing that Europeans must uphold their opinions.
Marine Le Pen, as cited by The Voice of Russia, claims that Americans are seeking to expand their sphere of influence on a global scale, most of all in Europe, thereby pursuing their own interests.
The leader of the French far-right party expresses “a certain admiration” for Russian President Vladimir Putin due to his refusal to let other countries impose their decisions on him.
She states that the Russian President’s first concern is Russia’s interests.
“In this respect I have the same respect for Putin as for Mrs Merkel ,” she declares.
She accuses Merkel of conducting a policy which is beneficial for Germany but injurious to all other countries.
Marine Le Pen claims that the German Chancellor has assumed that one can implement policies against the people, adding that this will cause the EU to explode.
She also urges Merkel to take a closer look at the damage caused by her austerity policies in Europe.
On May 25, France’s far-right National Front party won the European Parliament elections in the country with a share of nearly 25%.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: Suspect Arrested Over Brussels Shooting, Allegedly Linked to Syrian Jihadis
Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French citizen, arrested in Marseilles carrying a Kalashnikov rifle; suspect maintained right to silence during first 24 hours of interrogation.
French police have arrested a suspect over the shooting last week at the Brussels Jewish Museum who apparently has ties to jihadi elements in Syria, a local media reported on Sunday.
French citizen Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, was arrested Friday at a routine customs inspection at the Saint-Charles bus station in Marseilles, while he was on a bus from Amsterdam via Brussels…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
French Arrested Suspect in Brussels Jewish Centre Attack
Alleged killer arrested for conducting attack on Jewish centre in Brussels that killed three
A Frenchman with suspected ties to Islamic radicals in Syria has been arrested over last week’s fatal shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, investigation sources told AFP on Sunday.
The suspected gunman, 29-year-old Mehdi Nemmouche, was arrested Friday in the southern French city of Marseille in possession of a Kalashnikov rifle and a handgun similar to the ones used in the attack on May 24, the sources said.
Nemmouche has been detained on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, a judicial source said.
The office of the Belgian federal prosecutor confirmed that a suspect was being held.
“I can confirm the arrest of the suspect,” a spokeswoman told AFP. A press conference will take place in Brussels at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT).
The shooting by a lone gunman killed three people outright — an Israeli couple and a Frenchwoman, while the fourth victim, a 24-year-old Belgian man, was left clinically dead.
Authorities had released chilling security camera footage of the gunman, wearing a cap and sunglasses, walking into the museum, removing an automatic rifle from a bag and shooting through a door before making an exit.
Customs officials detained Nemmouche at Marseille’s coach station on board a bus arriving from Amsterdam via Brussels.
According to sources close to the investigation, he was carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and a gun with ammunition in his luggage, as well as a miniature video camera.
“These weapons were of the type used in Brussels,” said one source. Another source close to the investigation said that “many elements are consistent with the shooting in Brussels”.
Belgian media had reported that the assailant had used a camera to film the attack in the same way as Mohammed Merah, the Frenchman who shot dead several Jews in Toulouse two years ago.
The European Jewish Congress immediately drew a parallel between the events in Brussels and the shootings by Merah and called for greater security at Jewish institutions and tougher legislation for dealing with anti-Semitic crime.
Originally from Roubaix in northern France, Nemmouche is believed to have travelled to join Islamist fighters in Syria in 2013, and was known to the French domestic intelligence agency DGSI, the source said.
He is being questioned by the DGSI who can hold him for up to 96 hours, until Tuesday, or 144 hours, to Thursday, if investigators invoke an imminent terrorist threat.
Sources close to the investigation told AFP that during the first 24 hours of interrogation, Nemmouche remained silent.
The attack was the first such incident in more than 30 years in Belgium and has revived fears of a return of violent anti-Semitism to Europe.
Some 40,000 Jews live in Belgium, roughly half in Brussels and the remainder in the port city of Antwerp.
The profile of Nemmouche may revive a row in France over the monitoring of those who leave to country to fight in Syria.
France unveiled plans in April to try and stop the increasing numbers of young French Muslims joining to fight in the Syrian civil war and becoming radicalised before returning home.
According to the latest figures, some 780 people have left France to fight with jihadists in Syria.
| — Hat tip: ICLA | [Return to headlines] |
French Suspect Arrested Over Brussels Jewish Museum Shooting
A Frenchman with suspected ties to Islamic extremists in Syria has been arrested over last week’s shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that left four people dead, according to sources linked to the investigation.
The 29-year-old suspect was arrested Friday in the southern French city of Marseille, the sources told the AFP news agency.
He was detained by customs officials at the city’s coach station on board a bus arriving from Amsterdam via Brussels and was found carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and a gun with ammunition in his luggage, as well as a miniature video camera.
He has been detained on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, a judicial source said.
Originally from Roubaix in northern France, he is believed to have travelled to join Islamist fighters in Syria in 2013, and was known to the French domestic intelligence agency the DGSI, the source said.
He is being questioned by the DGSI who can hold him for up to 96 hours, until Tuesday, or 144 hours, to Thursday, if investigators invoke an imminent terrorist threat.
Last week, Belgian police released a video of the museum attack, in which the suspect can be seen entering the museum carrying two heavy black bags from which he then pulls a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and opens fire. The man’s face is not clear in the footage as his head is covered by a gray cap.
An Israeli couple, a French woman and a Belgian man died in the shooting…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Police Arrest Syria Veteran Over Brussels Jewish Museum Murders
Mehdi Nemmouche was carrying a rifle, handgun and a video camera when he was arrested stepping off a bus in Marseille
A French former jihadist volunteer in Syria has been arrested over last week’s deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Police found a Kalashnikov rifle and a handgun similar to the ones used in the attack in the bag of Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French citizen, when he stepped off a bus in Marseille on Friday after an overnight trip from Brussels…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Also Wants South Stream to Pass Via Its Territory
Greek officials said Thursday the country was interested in having the South Stream gas pipeline on its territory.
Yiannis Maniatis, the Greek Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister announced that a “ramification” of the gas pipeline, which is to pass through Bulgaria and Serbia on its way to Central Europe, would make the dynamic cooperation between Gazprom and Athens “even more successful”, as ITAR-TASS quoted him as saying.
Maniatis made the proposal at the 17th annual General Assembly of the European Business Congress (an international non-profit) in Athens.
The meeting was presided by Gazprom’s CEO Alexey Miller, who is also the current Chairman.
The Greek Minister described the Russian energy concern as a “long-term gas supplier for Greece and the whole of Europe” and pointed that dialogue between the EU and Russia is important for the bloc’s energy strategy.
Greece is not the first Balkan country to state interest in being included into the South Stream pipeline project, which is expected to increase Europe’s total Russian-based gas supplies by one-fifth, pumping 30 bcm yearly into the continent.
Macedonia has also insisted that a “derivation” of the pipelines be constructed to deliver gas to its territory.
In end-2000s, Greece expected to increase gas supplies from Russia after the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis gas pipeline, but had to renounce these expectations after former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s center-right cabinet announced in 2011 it was pulling out of the project.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Islamophobia and Racism in France
Shocking Indifference
Attacks on Muslim establishments are on the increase in France. Most recently, the Grand Mosquée in Paris was daubed with racist slogans. Islamophobia and xenophobia are also featuring more prominently in the public discourse.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Northern Ireland: Peter Robinson ‘Should Apologise Publicly’ Over Muslim Remarks
Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson should apologise publicly for comments he made about Muslims, an equality commissioner has said.
The first minister has been criticised for defending a pastor who described Islam as “satanic” and “heathen”. Mr Robinson later clarified his remarks and said he had been misinterpreted. But Jane Morrice, Deputy Commissioner of the Equality Commission, said the first minister did not champion equality when he supported the pastor…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Peter and the Twelve. The Dispute Over the Powers of the Synod
There are some who want it to be the supreme body of Church governance, a sort of “permanent council.” But Vatican II ruled this out. Cardinals Müller and Ruini explain why, in agreement with Ratzinger as cardinal and pope
by Sandro Magister
ROME, May 15, 2014 — The two synods that are scheduled for October of this year and next are rousing feverish anticipation not only because of the subjects that will be discussed there — the family, and in particular the “vexata quaestio” of communion for the divorced and remarried — but also in expectation of their functioning.
A few innovations with respect to previous synods have already been introduced:
A Synod As Francis Commands
But there is widespread expectation that even more substantial innovations could be on the way. In the wake of Francis’s intention of associating a more concrete episcopal collegiality with papal primacy in the governance of the Church…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenian President: EU Enlargement to Slow Down
BELGRADE — Slovenian President Borut Pahor stated on Friday that the results of the elections for the European Parliament might slow down the EU enlargement process, adding that Serbia will have Slovenia’s full support in the accession talks with Brussels.
Addressing students at the Belgrade University Rectorate on the topic of the future of the EU and its further enlargement, Pahor said that it is in the absolute interest of the EU to continue the enlargement process, adding that Serbia, which already has a candidate status, stands excellent chances.
Slovenia is a friendly country which understands the region, particularly Serbia as the regional power, and the importance of Serbia’s EU accession, and we will certainly be allies on the pathway, said Pahor, who is paying a two-day visit to Serbia.
Noting that right wing and anti-European parties won by landslide in the European elections in many countries last weekend, Pahor said that this big step backwards will reflect on the EU enlargement dynamics.
Asked about Serbia’s EU accession criteria, the Slovenian president said that the criteria are defined in 35 negotiating chapters, adding that he, as a friend of Serbia, would like to state openly that the success of the talks depends on Belgrade’s relations with Pristina and regional countries, Bosnia-Herzegovina in particular.
Pahor said that lately the Serbian government has been conducting a very good policy in this area, despite occasional problems primarily in relations with Pristina.
The EU has the right to request from Serbia to normalize relations with Pristina, but it would make a great mistake to put this condition before everything else.
He expressed hope that there will compromises which would be good for everyone so that the talks would end and Serbia became the next, maybe 29th, member of the EU.
Noting that outstanding political relations between Belgrade and Ljubljana have paved the way to the Slovenian president’s visit to Serbia for the first time after 1991, Pahor told students that they should not take freedom and peace for granted, but rather be aware that this is something that should be fought for on a daily basis.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Stolen Election’ In the Heart of London
Andrew Gilligan reports from Tower Hamlets, where the borough’s extremist-linked mayor Lutfur Rahman has been elected for a second term
As dawn broke over the Troxy, the converted cinema where they count the votes in Tower Hamlets, Sanu Miah, one of Labour’s candidates in the east-London borough, looked forward to becoming a councillor.
It had been a tense, chaotic wait. As the count dragged all through Friday May 23 and deep into the night, 2,000 supporters of the borough’s extremist-linked mayor, Lutfur Rahman, gathered outside, effectively barricading Mr Rahman’s Labour opponents in the building.
The shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, was told by police that he could not leave for his own safety.
By the middle of the next morning, almost 36 hours after voting closed, Mr Miah’s count had finished. He was top in his ward with 2,270 votes, 149 more than his nearest Rahman-supporting rival. But then things started to go wrong.
“The returning officer was about to announce the result,” said Mr Miah. “Then the mayor in person came down and said you must recount.”…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lloyds to Leave Rogers Building Over Design Faults
(AGI) London, June 1 — Lloyds of London, the oldest insurance company in the world, founded in 1688, is moving premises. The company is said to be leaving because of design faults in the iconic skyscraper built in 1986 by Richard Rogers (who collaborated with Renzo Piano on the Beaubourg in Paris) and is moving to an as-yet unbuilt tower inspired by Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan’s Neo-Gothic films, known as Gotham City.
Work on the new building in Leadenhall Street, near the company’s 1928 headquarters, will start in 2015 and is due for completion in 2019.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Parliament Plea for Muslim and Hindu Bank Holiday in UK Calendar
PARLIAMENT may have to consider introducing Muslim and Hindu bank holidays.
An online petition requesting a day off for Hindu festival Diwali and Muslim celebration Eid has attracted more than 119,000 signatures and has three months more to run. Under the rules of the e-petition scheme, introduced in 2011, once the 100,000 signature mark is passed it should be considered for a House of Commons debate.
The debate will stir controversy because these could become the first non-Christian religious holidays in Britain and could lead to calls from other faiths for similar treatment…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP May be Level With Tories in Newark Despite Polling, Claims Survey Expert
The Newark by-election, set to take place on Thursday of this coming week, may actually a ‘neck and neck’ race according to one polling expert.
Despite polls showing a Tory lead of around 8 points, Mike Smithson of the PoliticalBetting website says that pollsters have previously underestimated UKIP’s performances in by-elections, citing Eastleigh as an example…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Moore: Serbia Will Have to Complicate Relations With Russia
The United States are estimating the course of action of Serbia in the future, based on the commitment of the previous government in terms of normalization of relations of Kosovo, as well as European future of Serbia, said today the director of the Office for South and Central Europe at the U.S. State Department, Johnatan Moore.
Moore, in an interview for Voice of America, also warned that Belgrade, as it gets closer to the membership in the EU, will maybe have to take steps that would complicate its relations with Russia.
Asked to comment the attitude of Serbia regarding crisis in Ukraine and relations with Russia, and that Serbia will not join sanctions the EU introduced to Russia, Moore said that the U.S. respects Serbia’s position in this regard.
“Yes, Ivica Dacic, now, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke clearly on this issue. We respect his position and the position of Serbia in this regard. However, the issue Serbia will face soon, as it approaches to the European Union, is that Brussels and EU member states will expect Serbia to support the EU’s position on the issue,” said Moore.
“I believe that government in Belgrade will make correct decisions on these issues, especially when one has in mind the grave concern in the world regarding the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and other actions of Russia in Ukraine,” said Moore.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda Urges Libyans to Fight Former General
(AGI) Tripoli, June 1 — Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has urged Libyans to fight former general Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on Islamist militias in Benghazi in Cyrenaica in mid-May. In a statement posted on jihadist internet forums, AQIM called on Libyans to unite to “remove the symbol of treachery and apostasy, Khalifa Haftar, and the supporters of Moammar Gaddafi who are under his command. […] Thanks to the support of Al Sisi, American complicity and funding from Gulf countries, the traitor Haftar has launched a war against Islam on the pretext of fighting terrorism. […] We warn our Libyan brothers that the criminal Haftar is carrying out a crusader plan against sharia” (Islamic law).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Leftists vs. Islamists: Clashes Turn Fez University Into Battleground
In Fez, leftist students are adamant that violence was provoked by Islamists, describing armed ‘raid’ on campus.
Fez may be better known as Morocco’s historic centre of Islamic learning, but the modern-day university is a rare bastion of radical leftist students, where tensions are simmering after bloody clashes with Islamists…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
14 Killed in Separate Attacks Across Iraq
BAGHDAD, June 1 (Xinhua) — A total of 14 people were killed and 15 others wounded in separate bombings and shootings across Iraq on Sunday, police and medical sources said.
In Anbar province, two soldiers were killed and two others wounded in clashes erupted in southeastern the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
799 Killed in Violent Attacks Across Iraq in May: UN
BAGHDAD, June 1 (Xinhua) — A total of 799 Iraqis were killed and 1,409 others injured in violent attacks in May, most of whom civilians, according to a statement released on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Another Setback for Qatar in Holding 2022 World Cup
Secret payments of more than $5 million to key football officials won Qatar the needed numbers in the executive committee (Exco) of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to host the World Cup in 2022.
A special investigation by the Sunday Times Insight team — and also reported today by the BBC — reveals that “millions of documents” leaked by a FIFA insider to the newspaper “expose how Qatar’s astonishing victory in the race to secure the right to host the 2022 tournament was sealed by a covert campaign by Mohammad bin Hammam, the country’s top football official.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
British Muslim Unmasked as a Terrorist Fighting in Syria
London-born Ismail Jamar incited lone-wolf attacks styled on the Drummer Lee Rigby killing
A young Muslim from London has boasted of becoming the “British Bin Laden” after being unmasked as the leader of a fanatical terrorist group in Syria. Ismail Jabbar, 22, was yesterday revealed as a fighter with the extremist cell ‘Unit Bin Laden’ in Aleppo, where he brags about killing non-Muslims and incites other Briton’s to join his jihad…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Confirms 6th Death of MERS Virus Infection
AMMAN, June 1 (Xinhua) — Jordan confirms on Sunday a new death of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection which put the death toll to 6 in the country, since MERS has been spreading throughout the region, according the Health Ministry.
The ministry said it reported a new case of MERS. The infected person is a nurse who works at a private hospital. Eleven MERS cases have been detected in Jordan since 2012, of whom six have died…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Prisoners Released by U. S. To Stay in Qatar
(AGI) Doha, June 1 — The five Afghan Taliban detainees released from Guantanamo Bay in a prisoner swap with Taliban for U.S.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will stay in Qatar for at least a year, government sources in Doha stated. Sgt. Bergdahl, who was held captive in Afghanistan for five years, arrived in Germany on Sunday, and will undergo a reintegration process at the Landstuhl military centre in southern Germany. The prisoner swap was greeted as a step towards peace by a prominent member of the Afghan High Peace Council, but was heavily criticised by Republicans in the U.S..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Police Fire Teargas Against Protesters
Turkish police on Saturday used teargas in central Istanbul to disperse protesters seeking to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in decades.
Several hundred people gathered on streets leading to Taksim Square, shouting for the government’s resignation, when police fired teargas at the crowd, which quickly scattered.
Earlier in the day, authorities closed roads and public transportation to deny access to Taksim to prevent demonstrations. Efforts to save a park at Taksim from government development plans sparked last year’s unrest.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish PM Warns Against Taksim Anniversary Protests
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged young Turks to ignore calls to mark the first anniversary of Istanbul’s Taksim Square protests, Saturday.
Thousands of police officers and dozens of water cannon trucks are to be deployed to the square, according to media reports.
“One year later, people, including so-called artists, are calling for demonstrations, but you, Turkey’s youth, you will not respond to the call,” Erdogan told a crowd of a thousand young people in Istanbul.
“These terrorist organisations manipulated our morally and financially weak youth to attack our unity and put our economy under threat,” Erdogan said, as quoted by international media.
A number of people were killed with thousands more injured in heavy-handed police crackdown after protests against plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013 turned into mass anti-government rallies.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UN Says Iraq Violence Killed Nearly 800 in May
(AGI) Baghdad, June 1 — Violence has claimed the lives of 799 Iraqis in May, the UN said on Sunday. The civilian death toll was 603 and 1,409 people were injured, including 1,108 civilians. The worst-hit city was the capital Baghdad, with 315 people killed and 617 injured. Violence flared up in a climate of political instability following elections in April. “I urge the political leaders to work swiftly for the formation of an inclusive government,” a UN representative in Iraq said. .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Was the Nazi — Arab Jewish Pogrom in Baghdad on June 1, 1941 a Holocaust Event?
In our June 2014 New English Review interview with Dr. Harold Rhode, we discussed the Farhud, the Nazi influenced pogrom that occurred on the Jewish festival of Shavuot, June 1, 1941, The Future of the Babylonian Jewish Archives. On the occasion of the 73rd commemoration of the Farhud Ha’aretz published an article raising the question of whether it should be considered a Holocaust event, “Lawyers make case for giving Iraqi Jews Holocaust benefits”. There is ample evidence of Nazi involvement in the coup by Iraqi strongman Ali Rashid al-Gaylani, the Nazi Foreign ministry, and the German Ambassador to Iraq. Then there was the role of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini who was living in Baghdad after he was forced by British Palestinian Mandatory authorities to leave given his role in the Arab riots from 1936 to 1939. prior to the occurrence of the Farhud, for sanctuary in Berlin as Hitler’s house guest during WWII. Edwin Black chronicled the 1941 Baghdad pogrom and both Nazi and Hussein’s involvement in his 2010 book, The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust. …According to statistics at Yad Vashem, 179 Jews were killed, more than 2,000 wounded, and 50,000 were victims of theft during the Farhud (an ancient word meaning imposing brutal terror on the subjects of a regime). “Terrible acts of cruelty were carried out during the pogrom. Babies, elderly people and women were murdered and their limbs hacked to pieces. Women were raped. Synagogues were damaged and Torah scrolls desecrated,” according to a brief paper in Hebrew about the Farhud at Yad Vashem’s website….After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 the Iraqi government moved to deprive Jews of citizenship and passed national legislation expropriating property including personal possessions. The estimates cited by Basri of property stolen by the Iraqi government ranged from $150 to $200 million and with economic indexing may be in well excess of a billion. For the Israeli Finance Ministry’s Holocaust Survivors Rights Authority to suggest that the Farhud wasn’t a Holocaust event would appear too questionable in view of the evidence. The irony is that while Iraq’s Jews were not Zionists at the time of the Farhud, following their repatriation to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah in 1950 to 1951, they became highly productive and committed citizens of the Jewish nation. The repatriation, resettlement and absorption of Iraq’s Jews was paid for by the State of Israel with contributions from world Jewry. No UN or American government funding was involved…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Gazprom Criticises EU Over South Stream Gas Pipeline
By Christian Oliver in Brussels and Jack Farchy in Moscow
Gazprom has accused the EU of applying double standards to block its landmark gas pipeline into Europe in a case that looks increasingly likely to spiral into an acrimonious legal showdown.
The confrontation over the South Stream pipeline comes as Russian, Ukrainian and EU officials meet in Berlin on Friday to try to forge a compromise in a dispute over Kiev’s gas price and prevent supply disruptions to Europe.
Construction work on South Stream, a proposed pipeline running from the Black Sea to Austria, is expected to start next month but Russia is accusing the EU of trying to block the project because of the crisis in Ukraine. Last week, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, threatened to divert the pipeline and complained Brussels was “constantly throwing a spanner in the works”.
The EU is worried about whether the pipeline will abide with its competition rules that are intended to stop gas supplies being dominated by an export monopoly such as Gazprom.
The main battleground for an impending legal struggle is likely to be Bulgaria, where South Stream is due to enter the EU. Officials from the EU say their primary concern is whether Bulgaria’s parliament will amend the national energy law to rule that an offshore segment of South Stream lies outside EU competition directives.
This week, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, made an unusually direct threat of legal action against Bulgaria’s socialist government, one of the EU’s political parties with the closest ties to Moscow. “Some of the agreements that have been or are being negotiated on South Stream are in contradiction of European Union rules, so we will act,” he said.
But Gazprom has now responded by accusing the EU of hypocrisy over the case. It says that the pipeline running from Russia under the Black Sea to the Bulgarian port of Varna is an import pipeline and not part of the EU’s transmission grid, which would be subject to competition law.
The European Commission said it applies the same rules to all pipelines and added that any infrastructure in EU waters must abide by EU competition laws. These rules are intended to prevent one company dominating the supply chain by insisting on auctions for supplies along transit routes.
In a document explaining its legal position, Gazprom’s South Stream Transport company said the EU was applying rules to penalise Russian gas that it did not apply to the Greenstream, Maghreb, Transmed and Galsi pipelines that import North African gas into Spain and Italy.
“The South Stream offshore pipeline in this regard€‰.€‰.€‰.€‰does not fall under the scope of the third energy package,” the Gazprom document said.
Brussels is also probing other concerns in Bulgaria such as the way South Stream construction contracts were awarded to Russian and Bulgarian companies. The main construction company is set to be Russia’s Stroitransgaz, owned by businessman Gennady Timchenko, who is on a US sanctions list because of his links to Russia’s leadership. EU officials are also examining whether the transit fees are in line with regular commercial rates.
The legal disputes over Gazprom are likely to be coloured by whether a deal can be brokered in Berlin over a gas price for Ukraine. Moscow has softened its position in recent weeks, indicating it would be ready to lower prices for gas supplies to Ukraine from the level of $485 per thousand cubic metres that was announced by Gazprom in April.
However, it has maintained that Kiev should pay off at least some of its accrued debt as a precondition to negotiations, with a plan proposed by the European Commission for Ukraine to pay $2.5bn over the next week.
Without a deal, Gazprom is threatening that it could cut supplies to Ukraine from June 3.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia “Takes Under Control” Operation of 11 American GPS Sites
Russia has “taken under control” the operation of 11 American GPS sites and ensured they cannot be used for military purposes, as Washington and Moscow show no progress in negotiations on setting up Russian GLONASS stations on US territory.
May 31 was the last day when Russia and the US could have reached a deal on the issue.
“In compliance with the Russian government’s instruction, Roscosmos and the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations implemented measures on June 1, 2014, which excluded the use of information from global seismographic network stations working on signals from the GPS system and located on the territory of the Russian Federation for purposes not stipulated by the existing agreements, including for military purposes,” Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Sunday morning.
The statement referring to agreements between Russia and the US, which date back to 1993 and 2001, stirred up some confusion in the media with some outlets reporting GPS stations work has been suspended, while other said they continued to work. Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the official behind the move elaborated:
“We have worked out and implemented measures that exclude the use of these [GPS] stations for military purposes. Now they are under our full control,” Rogozin, who is in charge of space and defense industries, wrote in his Twitter micro blog.
The Differential GPS ground stations located on Russia’s soil will continue to operate under existing agreements to fulfill civil purposes. The so-called DGPS provides differential corrections to a GPS receiver in order to improve position accuracy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Man Climbs Minaret of Mosque Demanding Reunion With ‘Wife’
Varanasi: The story of this man resembles just like one of the Bollywood flicks where the hero climbs up a high altitude building in wish to get his demand fulfilled.
Sonu (26) the accused created high drama by climbing up minaret of a mosque in Aurangabad area under Sigra police station on Friday. He was demanding reunion with his ‘wife’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mullah Omar Calls Prisoner Swap With U.S. A Great Victory
(AGI/AFP) Kabul, June 1 — Mullah Omar, the supreme chief of the Taliban in Afghanistan, called the exchange of five Taliban fighters held in Guantanamo for a U.S. soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, a “great victory”. The exchange was mediated by Qatar and was widely criticised by the U.S. Republican Party.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Beijing Adds Police Dogs to Anti-Terrorism Campaign
BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) — Beijing is deploying more police dogs in the capital’s tightened anti-terrorism campaign, municipal public security authorities said Sunday.
Police are told to bring large-breed dogs, such as German Shepherds, during their routine patrols in densely populated areas such as urban centers and transport hubs, according to the municipal public security office.
Beijing police have now trained more than 650 dogs…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Military Ready to Make Further Contribution to Peace, Development: Army General
SINGAPORE, June 1 (Xinhua) — The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is ready to work with other militaries to make further contribution to regional and global peace and development, Wang Guanzhong, a senior PLA officer, said on Sunday.
“We will continue to work with regional countries to carry out in-depth bilateral and multilateral security dialogues and exchanges,” Wang, deputy chief of the general staff of the PLA, said in a speech at the 13th Shangri-La Dialogue…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Graffiti Vandals Sabotage Otford Train
A brazen gang of vandals stopped a train at Otford station on Saturday morning so they could spraypaint a mural on the side of one of the carriages. Police say the graffiti attack accorded in the early hours of Saturday.
At 12.39am a CityRail train from Sydney stopped at Otford station and, while it was waiting at the platform someone placed a milk crate and a piece of timber on the tracks so the train could not move…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Djibouti Mentions the Hometown of Suicide Bombers
Maki Abdikadir, who Is the National Treasurer for Djibouti reported to the media that they have investigated the two suicide bombers that killed themselves in an explosion almost 2 weeks ago.
Mr Abdikadir said that both of the bombers came from North Somalia and represent northern and Diri Dawe of Ethiopia. The female was said to be from Somaliland and the male from Diri Dawe.
Al-Shabaab recently claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at a popular restaurant in Djibouti.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Priests and Canadian Nun ‘Freed in Cameroon’
Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun seized by gunmen in Cameroon in April have been freed, officials say.
The ex-hostages are said to have boarded a plane to the capital, Yaounde, on Sunday. The three were kidnapped by gunmen from the building where they were staying in the northern district of Maroua in the early hours of 5 April. No group claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion has fallen on militant Nigerian group Boko Haram…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Boko Haram’s Relentless Killing Continues, Kills First Class Emir
The killing field in Borno continued unchallenged as the world’s deadliest terror group, Boko Haram struck again yesterday, killing the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Shehu Timta after ambushing him on the Biu-Garkida Road in Borno State…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The killing spree by gunmen, believed to be members of Boko Haram continued, yesterday, after an attack in Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area of Borno State which reportedly claimed about 42 lives.
Gamboru LGA was the scene of attack, three weeks ago, which left at least 300 people, including 16 policemen, dead.
The latest attack occurred in the villages of Kanari, Wazarde and Gula along Nigeria’s border with Cameroun.
It came on the heels of the ambush by gunmen, on Friday, on the convoy of some emirs in Borno State killing one and leaving two others seriously injured…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Former Colonies Battle For Slavery Reparations
The pressure to hold such a debate has been steadily building since last July — although from another perspective, it has been building for hundreds of years. Either way, Caribbean nations are now determined to seek reparations from western European governments for centuries of slave trading and brutalizing colonial rule. And they have made clear that they are in search of much more than dollars (although money is certainly part of the equation).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Navy Rescues 3,517 Migrants
(AGI) Rome, June 1 — A total of 3,517 migrants have been rescued so far this weekend in the Strait of Sicily, by Italian vessels involved in the “Mare Nostrum” operation. The navy summarised operations and landings on May 31 in a press release: the frigate Euro and the Peluso (CP 905) landed 838 people in Empedocle; patrol boat CP 306 landed 275 people in Lampedusa, three of whom, a pregnant woman and her husband and son, came from the ship Libra; two others were landed by helicopter.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Traffickers Arrested After 205 Migrants Land in Sicily
(AGI) Ragusa, June 1 — Ragusa police have arrested five people traffickers responsible for the landing of 205 migrants on Saturday in Pozzallo. Tunisian citizens Abdel Aziz Abaki, Aymen Shelling, Majdi Bel Gasem, Tawfik Beleid and Hafedh Hussein were taken into custody. Their position is aggravated by the fact that they procured illegal entry and stay in Italy of more than five people; by the crime having been committed by more than three persons in league with each other; by having procured the illegal entry and stay of people by exposing them to mortal danger and for having subjected them to inhuman treatment.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Anna Soubry: Some People With Immigration Concerns Are ‘Frankly Racist’
Anna Soubry, the Conservative defence minister, says that the overwhelming majority of immigrants come to Britain to work not to ‘scrounge’
A Tory minister has said that some of the people who raise concerns about immigration in her constituency are “frankly racist”. Anna Soubry, the defence minister who is tipped for promotion, said that immigrants come to Britain “overwhelmingly to work, they do not come here to scrounge”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
” In other news, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Republicans not to exploit the Benghazi scandal for political gain.”
No, No NOOOOOOOO don’t even mention it happened. Lives lost are nothing compared to what excellent system we have “DEMOOOOCRACYY” . Chinese and Russians brain cells are different: they can’t understand the magnificence of democracy.
Good to see at least one Western politician calling out the real issues in the Ukraine. Marine Le Pen is on the ball and good for her and her party and in the long run, for France. Vive le France et Front Nationale!
Anna Soubry? She needs a conducted tour of Tower Hamlets, Southall, Hayes and Mogadishu Mile (formerly known as Ealing Broadway). What planet is that bloody woman on? She is obviously chasing the PC/MC/immigrant vote.
All well and good then, as a Conservative Party member Ms Soubry thus should have no difficulty with a legal prohibition upon immigrants receiving any form of welfare benefits, but especially money and housing, for a minimum of five years after arriving.
I guarantee you that not only would Ms Soubry not support such a policy, she would call it “racist”.
If such a policy had been implemented thirty years ago would anyone disagree that the UK would have far far fewer immigrants from countries where there is no social welfare system?
The days of “Mare Nostrum”are long gone—send some legions to North Africa.
Soubry and her ilk just don’t get. It is not about money although it helps. It is about power and whose culture has it!
— Most recently, the Grand Mosquée in Paris was daubed with racist slogans. —
The horror!
I’ll shed a tear over that when churches can be built in the Arabia that belongs to the Saudi tribe in the thrall of the Wahhabi abomination, when churches are not attacked and Christians murdered in Egypt by Muslims, when churches in Kosovo are not destroyed by Muslims, when churches in Bethlehem are not used as military defensive position by Muslims who use the Bible as toilet paper , when Christians in Egypt don’t have their toenails pulled out by Muslims, and when Koranic passages calling for the killing and subjugation of infidels are rejected by Muslims.