More than a thousand illegal migrants were rescued off the south coast of Italy and brought ashore by the Italian navy. Another two hundred or so were rescued off Sicily. Meanwhile, according to the Grauniad, an additional 600,000 are lined up in North Africa waiting to make the crossing.
In other news, forty-six people were killed and more than 160 wounded in various attacks, including suicide bombings, across Iraq.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Henrietta, 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.
Extreme Checklist to Look for Odd Life on Other Worlds
When deciding which planets beyond Earth could host life, astronomers usually follow the water. Exoplanets with rocky surfaces are declared habitable if they orbit far enough from their star to be warm, while potentially supporting oceans and seas.
But as our planetary collection grows, and our telescopes for studying them improve, some astrobiologists say it is time to narrow the search. Taking what we know about the extremes that life can endure, Christopher McKay at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California has come up with an expanded checklist for habitability.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FBI: Muslims Leaving Minnesota to Wage Jihad in Syria
by Robert Spencer
“While the FBI works to determine how the recruits are being courted, sources tell Fox 9 News many of the recruits had no money and no job — and several of them did attend the same mosque.” The implication of that sentence is that poverty causes terrorism (which has been debunked again and again), and so these jihadis must have been enticed by financial rewards to go to Syria. Note also that the story blandly reports that “several of them did attend the same mosque.” Is anyone investigating what is being taught in that mosque, and what people are doing there? Or would that be “Islamophobic”?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Defends High-Dollar Speaking Fees
Hillary Clinton defended the millions of dollars she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have earned giving paid speeches since leaving public office in an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer ahead of Tuesday’s release of her new memoir, “Hard Choices.”
“We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt,” Clinton told Sawyer, referring to the hefty legal fees incurred during their White House years. “We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea’s education. You know, it was not easy.”
Hillary Clinton’s individual speaking fees reportedly average $200,000 per appearance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Koch Brothers Give $25 Million to United Negro College Fund
In a move that is sure to confound — and enrage — the left, the Koch brothers have donated $25 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the foremost source of financial support to African-American students.
The Koch brothers, Charles and David, are the Democrats’ favored targets in campaigns against Republicans in general, particularly on themes of climate change and campaign finance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Married Las Vegas Street Performers Kill Two Police in Bid to ‘Start Revolution’
PICTURES: Murderous white supremacist couple drape officers’ bodies in swastika and American Revolutionary War flags associated with the Tea Party
A married couple vowed to “start a revolution” as they murdered two police officers on Sunday in a Las Vegas pizza restaurant before covering their bodies in American Revolutionary War flags associated with the Tea Party movement and a swastika.
Jerad Miller, 31, and his wife Amanda, then went across the road to a supermarket where they killed a shopper, were pinned down by police fire, and turned their guns on themselves in a suicide pact…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Selects Minority University Teams for 2014 Microgravity Research Flights
NASA has selected 13 undergraduate teams from minority-serving institutions across the United States to test their science experiments in microgravity conditions. The teams will travel on a Reduced Gravity Education Flight (RGEF) with NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) the week of July 7.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Issues International Arrest Warrant for Men Who Shot Islam Critic Effigies
Denmark has issued an international arrest warrant for the four men who were filmed shooting at effigies of prominent Danes.
In the video, which appears to have been recorded outside a Syrian village, the men fired their guns at effigies of former PET secret agent Morten Storm, free speech advocate Lars Hedegaard, former MP Naser Khader, the imam Ahmed Akkari, former PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen and cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Legal spokesman Jakob Buch-Jepsen explained to AP that the shootings are illegal under Danish anti-terror laws, but conceded that some of the men may already be dead.
In the video, at least two of the men, who cannot be named due to a court order, appear to be Danish speakers.
It is unknown when the video was made. Media reports detailing it first surfaced in August 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Jewish Teens Say They Escaped Axe Attack Near Paris
Hatchet-wielding man, three others reportedly attack youths during Shavuot holiday
Two Jewish teenagers told police they narrowly escaped an attack near Paris by a hatchet-wielding man and three others.
The attack occurred late at night on June 4 in Romainville, a northeastern suburb of the French capital, according to a report by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA.
The teens, aged 14 and 15, said they were walking to the Lilac Synagogue with their grandfather to attend Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a custom in which Jews study scripture all night. While crossing the town’s Market Square, the two boys and their grandfather, all wearing kippahs, said they were followed by a tall man in his 20s wearing a long beard. They described the man as having an athletic figure and an Arab appearance.
Producing a hatchet, the man began to chase the two boys, according to the BNVCA report, then whistled to three other men who joined the chase. The boys and their grandfather filed complaints with police, BNVCA President Sammy Ghozlan wrote.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
France: Fury Over Jean-Marie Le Pen’s ‘Anti-Semitic’ Remark
Comment about Jewish singer Patrick Bruel by Front National founder draws general condemnation, even from the far-right party itself
An alleged anti-semitic outburst by Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right Front National, sparked widespread outrage on Sunday, even among leaders of his own party…
Ms Le Pen added that one positive result of the row was that it gave her an opportunity “to remind people that the Front National condemns any form of anti-semitism in the strongest terms.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
How the Tea Kippers Hijacked UKIP and Turned it Into a Toxic Brand
by Dan Hodges
[…]
[Reader comment by gorgon on 9 June 2014.]
Whenever I’m reading one of Hodges political fables, I find myself looking anxiously for the unattributed high ranking quotes, the contorted sophistry and the egregious reasoning; but worst of all for a frank expression of that contempt he feels for his readers and which he strains to conceal. It breaks out occasionally in the sly needling and half sneers of course, but this is not enough for me!
I am agog to see him come out. Bare his naked soul to the proles! Flaunt his xeno-homophiliac credentials in our faces and dare us to complain. One of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch updated. MetroMan! A twenty-first century Thus Sprach Zarathustra for multiculturalism.
Fifty years ago someone like Hodges; unemployed, rich, famous parent etc. would have exorcised their personal demons by going to Lambarene and helping Dr Schweitzer with his ego; nowadays they feel compelled to take up the cross of Political Correctness.
It can be excruciating to have personal experience of someone carrying this piece of furniture, since on close acquaintance the whole process is so obviously an exercise in self-inflation. “Look at me.” They are saying. “You have made these people outcasts. But I am going to save them! Look how wonderful I am! A higher, nobler being!” That the sufferings of these no-hopers are largely self-inflicted or imaginary is of no consequence. Our hero does his stuff and then strolls off to his mansion leaving us to clean up the garbage.
This would not be so bad were it not carried over into politics where it leads to delusions of moral grandeur and requires a degree of arrogance that only independent means can allow.
That arrogance is always there, just as it was seventy years ago!
“Pah! UKIP-Untermensch! We don’t need the Wehrmacht we have the EU and its laws! You knuckle draggers will be swept away by the tides of ethnic and social change. A new golden age will soon dawn!”
O wonder!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t.
Ah!! Would that it were so! The road to hell is paved with the gravestones of failed utopias and a look in the rear view mirror would show Militant Islam in hot pursuit; fully determined to bring this self-indulgent joy ride to a close within a generation!
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Air Travel on the Wane, Aviation Authority Says
Ryanair, Easyjet continue to snag Alitalia passengers
(ANSA) — Rome, June 9 — Air travel in Italy was once again on the wane in 2013, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) said Monday, warning of a “crisis” in the airline sector as low-cost alternatives make significant gains. Last year overall air travel in Italy saw 1.7% fewer passengers than in 2012, prompting carriers to reduce the number of flights by 5.6%. Troubled flag carrier Alitalia is still the king of Italian skies with 23.9 million passengers, but that number was down from 2012’s 25.3 million. Getting a bigger slice of the pie were discount carriers such as Ryanair and Easyjet, which in 2013 counted 22.7 million and 11.5 million passengers respectively, both up significantly on the previous year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Premier’s Center Left Loses Historic Strongholds in Runoffs
But PD takes seven municipalities away from center right
(ANSA) — Perugia, June 9 — The city of Perugia will be governed by the center right for the first time since World War II, according to the latest polls Monday after municipal runoff elections in select cities across the country revealed surprising losses for the center left that roared to victory weeks ago in European elections. In the central city of Perugia, 35-year-old Andrea Romizi of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party beat out Wladimiro Boccali of the Democratic Party (PD), headed by Premier Matteo Renzi, to sit as mayor. On May 25, the PD came away with more than 40% at European Parliament elections, seen as a mandate for Renzi’s premiership which began not through a popular vote but a party coup that ousted his PD colleague Enrico Letta in February. At municipal elections over the weekend, the PD also lost the historic strongholds of Livorno, Padua, and Potenza.
But it managed to flip seven other cities in its favor: Vercelli, Verbania, Cremona, Biella, Pescara, Foggia and Bergamo.
Out of the 139 municipalities who went to the polls, roughly one third went to the center right and two thirds went to the center left. Turnout was just under 50%, over 20% less than the first round of voting last month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Writer and Anti-HST Campaigner to be Tried for Incitement
(AGI) Turin, June 9 — Turin prosecutors have charged the writer Erri De Luca with incitement to commit a crime following a number of statements to the media saying that the new Turin-Lyon high-speed railway line should be sabotaged. “We thought he should not be prosecuted and will now try to show that he should not be convicted,” said one of the writer’s lawyers, Gian Luca Vitale.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Organised Campaign’ To Impose Islam in UK
The findings of investigations into claims of an Islamist plot to take over the leadership of state-funded schools have been aired in the House of Commons
Conservative Muslim school leaders in Britain’s second city, Birmingham, conducted an “organised campaign” to impose faith-based ideology on their pupils, Education Secretary Michael Gove says.
Clashes between Muslim governors and non-Muslim senior staff had led to a “culture of fear and intimidation” in which some headteachers felt forced to leave their jobs, leaving those remaining free to impose a narrow curriculum, the minister said on Monday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cameron Must Do to Britain’s Islamists What Thatcher Did to the Trade Union Barons
By Paul Goodman
Where does religious conservatism end and Islamist extremism begin? Are faith schools more vulnerable to the latter? Are academies and free schools more at risk than schools in which local authorities have more control? Findings by Ofsted from schools in Birmingham trailed in this morning’s papers make these questions inevitable: these will be released later today. What happened in some schools in the city has already contributed to a falling-out between two of the Government’s most senior Ministers, a public apology by one of them, the resignation of one of the Home Secretary’s special advisers and the stepping-in of the Prime Minister himself. The fracas is ruffling political, educational and cultural nerves, and re-opening another question across government: how should counter-extremism policy work?…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Culture of Fear and Intimidation in Birmingham Schools, Says Ofsted Chief
Sir Michael Wilshaw says governors exerting inappropriate influence on schools, some of which now in special measures
Ofsted’s chief inspector says “a culture of fear and intimidation” has rapidly developed within a group of schools in Birmingham which are under investigation over allegations of a city-wide takeover plot by Islamist extremists.
Sir Michael Wilshaw said Ofsted inspectors found that school governors had “recently exerted inappropriate influence on policy and the day-to-day running” of several schools in Birmingham, and castigated the city council for not providing adequate support to staff who tried to resist…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cabinet Minister Spoke Urdu Throughout Residents Meeting, English Speakers Complain
Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet Minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, has come under fire for exclusively speaking in Urdu during a local meeting that was supposed to encourage people to become part of the political process…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Live: D-Day for Birmingham’s ‘Trojan Horse’ Schools
All the latest news and reactions as Ofsted reports are released into schools at centre of alleged takeover plot by hardline Muslims
Five Birmingham schools have been declared failing following inspections as a result of the “Trojan Horse” allegations.
The schools trust at the heart of the alleged Trojan Horse Muslim takeover plot has “many weaknesses” and restricted its curriculum to a “conservative Islamic perspective”, inspectors found…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
by James Delingpole
How long do you think a white teacher would last in a British primary school if he were to tell his class of seven-year olds that all non-Christians were “filthy heathens”? Or if he referred to black people using the “n-word”? Or he accused all Muslims of being frustrated terrorists?…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A Sikh grandfather who blinded his daughter-in-law in front of her children because he thought she was having an affair with a Muslim has been jailed for nearly 11 years.
Manjit Singh Mirgind, 51, dragged Jageer Mirgind into her own kitchen where he slashed at her wrists and stabbed at her eyes screaming ‘I am going to kill you’.
Mrs Mirgind’s children, just three and six years old, watched the horrific attack at their mother’s home in Kensington Gardens, Ilford, East London, and pleaded with their grandfather to stop…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Trojan Horse: Ofsted Says Schools Were Targeted
“A culture of fear and intimidation has taken grip” in Birmingham schools caught up in the Trojan Horse claims, says Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw.
Head teachers have been “marginalised or forced out of their jobs”, said Sir Michael, as he delivered his findings on claims of hardline Muslim takeovers…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Trojan Horse Ofsted Report: Live
Ofsted report into alleged Trojan Horse plot at Birmingham schools finds “culture of fear and intimidation has developed” in schools after David Cameron wades in over Michael Gove and Theresa May row
Latest
3:50pm The Education Secretary adds in his statement to the House:
“The conclusions of the reports today are clear. Things that shouldn’t have happened in our schools were allowed to happen. Our children were exposed to things they shouldn’t have been exposed to. As education secretary, I am taking action to make sure that those children are protected.”
3:45pm Mr Gove tells the House:
Ofsted’s findings “demand a robust, but also a considered, response”
Nobody should allow the findings to act as a pretext for “criticism of Islam itself”
The vast majority of Muslims in Britain support education that “open doors, rather than close minds”
3:40pm He tells MPs that everyone must acknowledge that there has been a failure in the past to do everything possible to tackle “non-violent extremism”
3:38pm Mr Gove praises Theresa May by saying no government and no home secretary has done more to tackle extremism than “this government and this home secretary”
3:37pm The Education Secretary says “action” must be taken immediately
3:36pm Mr Gove sets out some shocking findings:
- The term “white prostitutes” was used by staff at a school
- A school trip to Saudi Arabia was open only to Muslim pupils
- A call to prayer was broadcast over a playground on a loudspeaker
- In a biology lesson the class was told “evolution is not what we believe”
- A radical preacher was invited to speak at a school…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Education secretary Michael Gove said that in the future all of England’s 20,000 primary and secondary schools will taught about what British values of tolerance and fairness.
Hundreds of thousands of school children will be taught British values in the wake of the Trojan horse scandal from September. Michael Gove, the Education secretary, said that in the future all of England’s 20,000 primary and secondary schools will have to promote British values of tolerance and fairness…
[Reader comment by shipponlass on 9 June 2014.]
Watched Jo Snow interview with two ladies outside one of the schools in Birmingham this evening. He asked them how they could justify the school, not the parents, spending £47,000 of taxpayers money, yes taxpayers money, to take children from the school on a trip to Saudi Arabia. I was stunned. This cannot be right.
Jon Snow then asked one of the ladies, more than once, to explain what she believed the ‘British values’ that should be taught in the school should be. The lady in question evaded the answer, stating there were other values other than British that could be taught in the school.
What has our country come to. The majority of the population are being led around, by the nose, by an absolute minority, religiously dogmatic clique.
The politicians need to act firmly and ensure that the law, British secular law, is applied properly and equally, and that ethnic immigrant groups are not allowed to import from non-secular countries, introduce and apply selective laws and segregationist codes of behaviour of a religious nature into institutions they have influence over within the United Kingdom.
This is an absolutely disgraceful situation. I just wonder how long the authorities, local and central government, have known about this behaviour by schools such as that the interview was conducted at.
Now I comprehend why there was such strong words between The Home Secretary and The Education Secretary.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Plans to Push Czech Republic, Slovakia to Closer Cooperation With NATO
US authorities plan to push the Czech Republic and Slovakia towards closer cooperation as part of NATO despite their refusal to host foreign troops on the territory, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Last week, during his visit to Warsaw, US President Barack Obama confirmed that Washington will increase its military presence in Eastern Europe and will support the defenses of allies which are not NATO members. The US was ready to spend $1 billion to bolster the US presence in the region.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced however he was against stationing NATO troops on the country’s territory.
“I can’t imagine that on our territory would be foreign soldiers, that here would be some anti-missile installation that would be maintained by foreign soldiers,” Fico said, comparing the presence of NATO troops with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia along with troops from four other Warsaw Pact countries in 1968.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said Prague “is not and will not call’ for foreign troops to be stationed on the Czech territory.”
“The correct solution to the Ukrainian crisis isn’t a return to the Cold War and creating a new Iron Curtain between the European Union and Russia,” he said Saturday.
Sobotka added that strengthening the military presence of NATO on the EU’s eastern flank was not a good long-term solution, according to the report.
US officials said in a statement issued by the US Embassy in Prague: “NATO is based on shared responsibility for shared security. Especially now, it is important for Allies to remain united and to fulfill their responsibilities.”
“Any and all steps will be done by mutual agreement with Allies and in line with NATO and other international obligations,” the US statement said.
NATO states are obliged to provide for a collective defense of all member states and future exercises and joint training in Central and Eastern Europe are a part of that responsibility.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military-political union of European countries, the United States and Canada, created in 1949. In February 1990, during the negotiations on the reunification of Germany, the West promised the USSR that NATO would not expand eastward. However, the obligations have been violated. The most significant eastward expansion of NATO happened after the end of the so-called Cold War. Ten countries joined NATO during two rounds of expansion: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic ‘ in 1999; Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia ‘ in 2004. Croatia and Albania entered the alliance in 2009. Now NATO includes 28 states. Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are also candidates to join the alliance.
Moscow opposes NATO expansion.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thaqi Wins Kosovo General Elections
PRISTINA, June 9 (Xinhua) — The coalition of the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of incumbent government leader Hashim Thaqi won Sunday’s early general elections, local media reported Monday.
With 97 percent of the vote counted by the Central Election Commission (CEC), the coalition of PDK and four other minor parties got 31 percent of the total vote. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) finished second with 26 percent…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘We’ll Get You’: An Albanian Boy’s Life Ruined by Blood Feuds
Blood feuds still exist in Albania and those involved have to live a life in hiding. They include people like Leonard Qukaj, who has left his home only rarely in the last four years for fear of being murdered by a rival clan — or by his own uncle.
Albania was given the green light by the European Commission as an EU accession candidate. On the other hand, it is a country where corruption, human trafficking and organized crime are all present. It is a country where blood feuds are still prevalent — of the kind that could soon cost Leonard his life. “Spilled blood must be met with spilled blood”: Such is the edict of the Kanun, a set of traditional Albanian laws that stems from the 15th century. It is a parallel system of justice focusing on honor, guilt and vengeance, and remains in effect in rural regions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Police Arrest Seven Men for Sexual Assault on Tahrir Square Under New Anti-Harrassment Law
Seven Egyptian men arrested for assault on 19-year-old female student at Sissi inauguration celebrations days after sexual harrassment declared a crime punishable by five years in prison
Egyptian police on Monday arrested seven men for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old student during celebrations marking the inauguration of the country’s new president in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square the day before, security officials said.
The student has been admitted to hospital after she was attacked on Sunday, said the officials, who gave no details on her condition…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad reiterated their commitment to terror over the weekend, stating that a “unity” pact with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the new government’s public pledge to renounce terror does not change their views.
Hamas leader and former political figure Ismail Haniyeh stated in a public address Saturday — in honor of the opening session of terror training “summer camps” in Gaza — that “Hamas’s strategy has not changed and will not change.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yahya Hassan Attacked in Palestine
The Danish-Palestinian poet Yahya Hassan was forced to flee from a group of knife-wielding men in the Palestinian city of Ramallah during his visit this week.
The attack occurred as the young poet was heading back to his quarters after spending time at a grill party with some Palestinian friends. He was asked by a group of four or five men if he was “Yahya from Denmark”. After Hassan’s confirmation, a man punched him and Yahya fled down the street.
“Fortunately I am a bit younger and a bit faster than them,” Hassan told Berlingske newspaper.
“When I looked back I could see that the man was chasing me with a knife. The man who hit me called me an infidel and cursed, so it was religious.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Battle to Establish Islamic State Across Iraq and Syria
Islamic fundamentalists have opened new fronts in their battle to establish an Islamic state across Iraq and Syria as they launch attacks in cities which were previously under the control of the Baghdad government…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bloody Attacks Kill 46 People Across Iraq
BAGHDAD, June 9 (Xinhua) — A total of 46 people were killed and 166 others wounded on Monday in violent attacks, including suicide bombings, across Iraq, police and medical sources said.
The deadliest attack occurred in Salahudin province when a twin suicide bombings targeted a Kurdish party office and a parking lot in the ethnically mixed Iraqi city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 90 km east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, leaving 25 people killed and 145 others wounded…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Kidnap Foreign Oil Expert in Yemen
SANAA, June 8 (Xinhua) — Armed Yemeni tribesman kidnapped a foreign expert working for a U.S. oil company in the country’s central province of Marib on Sunday, an official of the interior ministry told Xinhua…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
How Qatar Supplied US Stingers to the Taliban
Yesterday, on The Lisa Benson Show , that I hosted, we heard from two guests, about the extraordinary influence that tiny energy rich Gulf Emirate of Qatar has in the Obama Administration . That was reflected in their role facilitating the transfer of the five top Taliban Commanders to Qatar from Guantanamo in a swap for freeing Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. A swap fraught with real dangers to American forces still in Afghanistan according to comments from Maj. Gen Paul Vallely, renowned Fox News senior military analyst and Dr. David Weinberg, senior fellow in the Washington, DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. President Obama’s hoped for euphoria with the announcement of Bergdahl’s release with his parents in the White House Rose Garden on Saturday, May 31, 2014 were dashed in the firestorm of adverse Congressional and public criticism. Yesterday, veteran investigative journalist and author Kenneth Timmerman brought into serious question the duplicity of the Qataris in excerpt published in the New York Post of a forthcoming new book by him, Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi” (Broadside Books), How the Taliban got their hands on modern US missiles. This adds one more clear demonstration of the myopia by the Obama West Wing demonstrating the blowback from Qatar where we have invested over a half billion to build the Al Uedid Combat Air Command and Central Command logistical supply complex to support our troops in Afghanistan. It is no wonder that Dr. Weinberg’s colleague at FDD, Dr. Jonathan Schanzer has called in the Qatari, in a Politco article both a “Frenemy” and an “ATM for the Muslim Brotherhood” in the Middle East and North Africa. With the Timmerman excerpt on how US stingers supplied the Qataris found their way to Afghanistan for the Taliban to shoot down a Chinook CH-47 helicopter in 2012, we have further evidence of why the release of those five top Taliban commanders and war criminals, by President Obama may further embolden Congressional investigative oversight of these dangerous Administration national security policies.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Interview With UN Peace Envoy Brahimi: ‘Syria Will Become Another Somalia’
For almost two years, Lakhdar Brahimi sought to bring peace to Syria. But in May, the United Nations special envoy stepped down. He speaks with SPIEGEL about the stubbornness of Syrian President Assad, the mistakes of the West and the dangers presented by Islamic radicals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Fighters Shell Rebel-Controlled City of Fallujah
(AGI) Baghdad, June 9 — Fighters of the Iraqi Air Force shelled the city of Fallujah overnight. The city, in the Sunni-majority province of Anbar, is controlled by the rebel Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Sporadic clashes also took place between the army and the militants. A search is underway for ISIS members hiding around the northern city of Mosul, reported Al-Jazeera TV.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: 25 Shia Pilgrims Killed in Blasts
At least 25 Shia pilgrims, including 10 women, were killed when suicide bombers attacked their buses in Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province as they were returning from Iran, officials said today.
The attack took place yesterday when 10 buses carrying the Shia pilgrims stopped at a hotel in Taftan near the Iranian border…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rouhani in Turkey to Boost Business and Untie the “Syrian Knot “
This is the first time since 1996 that an Iranian president has been on a state visit to Ankara. The two nations seek to boost bilateral economic relations and to find a common position on the Syrian conflict. Tehran calls for “direct dialogue” with the U.S. on nuclear issues.
Ankara (AsiaNews) — For the first time since 1996, an Iranian president has landed in Turkey for official talks with the government in Ankara. Hassan Rouhani, considered a moderate seeking to end Iran’s isolation, arrived this morning in Ankara. The purpose of the trip is to double trade deals with Turkey, to $ 30 billion a year by 2015, and to find a common position on Syria. Until now, Tehran has positioned itself on the side of President Assad, while Ankara has supported rebel groups seeking to overthrow it.
Rouhani was received with pomp and fanfare: turkish ceremonial cavalry — carrying Iranian and Turkish flags — escorted Rouhani’s limousine to the presidential palace in Ankara. His visit is also seen as a thank you to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in January 2014 visited Iran.
The two must find a way to circumvent international sanctions against Iran — which the Turkish minister Development has called “unfair” — to improve bilateral trade relations. Iran is seeking a greater share of the Turkish energy market, while Ankara wants greater access to Iranian exports. Until 2012, the relationship had been worth 22 billion dollars a year. But that was before sanctions imposed by the United States because of Iran’s nuclear program, dropping that figure to less than 15 billion.
The visit to Ankara confirms Rouhani’s new “reformist” course international relations. In the context of the resumption of diplomatic “forgotten” ties and the atmosphere of dialogue diffused by the new president, in fact, today, and tomorrow Iran is having discussions with the United States in Geneva; and on June 11 and 12 will have them with Russia in Rome.
These bilateral talks are ahead of the next meeting with the 5 +1 in Vienna for a global agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. This appointment is crucial to Tehran, which hopes that the economic sanctions that are prostrating the country will be lifted.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tens of Thousands Demand Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia be Turned Into a Mosque
by John Rossomando
Tens of thousands of Turkish Islamists held a triumphalist gathering outside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum on Saturday. Originally built as a cathedral in 537 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, it was converted into a mosque by the Ottomans following the fall of Constantinople in 1453.The former religious site was re-opened as a museum in 1935. The Islamists who prayed at the site on Saturday did so with the hope that it would be converted back into a mosque by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The protest also coincided with the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople on May 29, 1453, an event for which Erdogan has encouraged the celebration.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic, converted the massive structure into a museum in 1935.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Officials: The US Struck Upon South Stream
Russian officials reacted to the order of Bulgaria’s PM Oresharski to temporarily suspend the construction of the South Stream pipeline in Bulgaria until it complies with EU law.
According to the Russian daily Kommersant, quoted by the BTA wire agency, Bulgaria changed its position on the project under US pressure. The decision, the newspaper wrote, is a threat of a permanent freeze of the Gazprom project to supply natural gas to Europe without middlemen.
The Russian news wire ITAR-TASS quoted the first deputy chairman of the international relations committee of the Russian Duma Leonid Kalashnikov who said “this was a true energy blackmail”.
“This European pressure on Russia is certainly connected to Ukraine,” he said. According to him, however, this was to be expected and Russia should develop closer cooperation with China and south east Asia instead.
The chairman of the energy committee in the Russian Duma Ivan Grachov said that the suspension of the project “is not the end of the project”, because Europe had a vested interest in it.
“I think this is not the end of South Stream, because, objectively speaking, Europe is interested in it,” Grachov said. “We could try to negotiate with Bulgaria and Romania on parliamentary level.” Grachov suggested that if Russia showed to Europe that it does not plan to stop the gas through the pipeline in Ukraine, this could take off the pressure from South Stream. “Or we can turn straight to the European business, because we know that many EU decision are politically based.”
The first deputy chairperson of the natural resources committee in the Russian Duma Valerii Yazev said the decision to suspend the work on South Stream was purely political and “it makes no common sense and is no economically sound”.
According to Yazev, this decision was bringing benefits only to the US — they want to leave Europe without access to cheap gas and to force it to use liquefied gas, preferably American, and to weaken the competitiveness of the EU economy.
Plamen Oresharski ordered the suspension after a meeting with the US senators Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) and John McCain (R-Arizona) on Sunday in Sofia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Steps Up Security at Nuclear Bases After Karachi Airport Attack
Taliban warns of further assaults to come as government says militants planned ‘spectacular’ attack to shut down country’s aviation industry
Pakistan stepped up security around nuclear facilities, military bases and government offices on Monday, as more details emerged of how 10 militants brought chaos to the country’s busiest airport…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected Abu Sayyaf Member Nabbed in S. Philippines
MANILA, June 9 (Xinhua) — Government security forces arrested on Monday morning a suspected member of terrorist group Abu Sayyaf who is believed to be involved in several atrocities in southern Philippines, a police official said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
East Africa: At Least 62 Dead in Deadliest Boat Tragedy in Red Sea This Year — UN Refugee Agency
The United Nations refugee agency said today that 62 people are confirmed to have died when their boat foundered while trying to cross the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, making it the deadliest sinking this year…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Military Foils Attack by Female Suicide Bomber — Spokesperson
The Nigerian military said troops foiled an attack by a female suicide bomber on its base Sunday in Gombe State.
The concealed bomb went off and killed the assailant as she was searched by a soldier at the entrance to the barracks, defence spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, said in a statement.
The explosion killed the soldier who carried out the search, and wounded another, Mr. Olukolade, a Major General, said.
The claim could not be independently verified…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil Police Use Tear Gas to Disperse World Cup Protests
Sao Paulo metro workers on strike since Thursday
(ANSA) — Rome, June 9 — Brazilian riot police on Monday used tear gas against protesters in Sao Paulo three days before the World Cup’s opening game in the main stadium there.
The protest was called by Sao Paulo metro workers who are striking in support of a 12.2% salary increase.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said she will not let violent demonstrations mar the World Cup.
Sao Paulo metro workers have been on strike since Thursday, creating traffic chaos in one of the world’s most congested cities.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil: São Paulo Police Fire Stun Grenades at Protesters Three Days Before World Cup Opener
Police try to disperse strike as metro workers’ union threatens to hold government to ransom by causing travel chaos at Thursday’s World Cup opening in São Paulo
A metro workers’ union has threatened to hold the government to ransom by causing travel chaos at Thursday’s World Cup opening in São Paulo, as conflict flared on the fifth day of strikes.
Police clashed with strikers after staff walked out again on Monday, just three days before the first World Cup game between Brazil and Croatia is due to take place in the city at the Corinthians Arena…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Eye of Sauron Star Spotted by Planet-Hunting Camera
This Eye of Sauron is the magnificent ringed star HR 4796A, in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It is one of the first images produced by SPHERE, the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research instrument, installed last month on the ESO’s Very Large Telescope atop Cerro Paranal in Chile.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A white Brazilian man with blonde hair and blue eyes has taken the extraordinary step of undergoing surgery to look like an Asian.
Xiahn, 25, has a love for ‘K-pop’ and Korean dramas and became obsessed with looking like the locals during his time as an exchange student in the country.
A year at Dongseo University in South Korea gave him the desire to have ‘slanted eyes’ and dark hair.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ariz. Rushes Supplies to Site Holding Migrant Kids
Arizona officials say they are rushing federal supplies to a makeshift holding center in the southern part of the state that’s housing hundreds of migrant children and is running low on the basics.
Gov. Jan Brewer’s spokesman, Andrew Wilder, said Friday that conditions at the holding center are so dire that federal officials have asked the state to immediately ship medical supplies to the center in Nogales.
Homeland Security started flying immigrants to Arizona from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas last month after the number of immigrants, including more than 48,000 children traveling on their own, overwhelmed the Border Patrol there.
The immigrant children were flown from Texas, released in Arizona, and told to report to an ICE office near where they were traveling within 15 days.
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A Homeland Security Department official told The Associated Press that about 700 children were sleeping on plastic cots Friday and about 2,000 mattresses have been ordered, and portable toilets and showers have been brought to the holding center — a warehouse that has not been used for detention in years.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to discuss the matter publicly, said the Nogales holding center opened for children because the Department of Health and Human Services had nowhere to turn.
“They became so overwhelmed and haven’t kept up with planning,” the official said.
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has said the immigrants were mostly families from Central America fleeing extreme poverty and violence.
The Homeland Security official said the number of children at the warehouse was expected to double to around 1,400. The warehouse has a capacity of about 1,500…
| — Hat tip: Henrietta | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Over 1,000 Migrants Rescued Off Taranto
Men, women, children from Syria, Sudan
(ANSA) — Taranto, June 9 — Roughly 1,300 migrants were ushered to safety at the merchant port of Taranto on Monday after being rescued at sea off the southern coast of Italy on Sunday. Authorities said most of the men, women and children on board were refugees from Syria and Sudan. It was the largest of two migrant landings off Italy’s southern coast on Monday, as warmer weather and calmer seas tend to see an increase in migrant traffic to Italy. In southeastern Sicily, some 211 migrants of unknown origin were recovered at the port of Pozzallo, where the night before some 102 migrants were recovered along with the bodies of three people who drowned after their raft collided with a merchant ship. Two people were still missing. Also on Monday, some 529 migrants recovered in various operations over the past few days were being transferred to Palermo.
On Friday, the Italian Navy said it had saved over 2,500 migrants at sea in 24 hours.
In each rescue, migrants were saved as part of the the Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) Rescue Operation that Italy launched after around 400 people were killed on two migrant-boat disasters in October.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Integration Minister Celebrates National Day in Mosque
As National Day celebrations continued on Friday, the government’s Intergration Minister, Erik Ullenhag, was at a Malmö mosque to spread his message that the day was for all members of society.
Before travelling back to Stockholm to visit Rinkeby, another largely immigrant suburb, Erik Ullenhag of the Liberal Party gave a speech at a mosque in the Rosengård area of Malmö. “For me, National Day is both a day for the old and the new. It is both meatballs and houmous, and the Islamic Centre is part of a new Sweden,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: 400-Kilometer March to Promote Humane Asylum Politics
To promote a more humane asylum policy in Sweden, some hundred people are walking the 400 kilometers from Malmö to Almedalen on the island of Gotland.
Asylstafetten, or the “asylum relay race”, is a yearly event highlighting asylum policy in Sweden. Last year it took the participants 34 days to reach Stockholm. This year’s march started on Saturday in Malmö and will include many stops on the way through the regions of Skåne and Småland, finally finishing in Almedalen.
20-year-old Massieh Sadigi, originally from Afghanistan, has lived in Sweden for three years. He hopes for a chance to speak to both politicians and regular people along the way. “We will tell them about our situation, about refugees, about undocumented migrants and why people come to Sweden,” he told news agency TT.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Migrants Cross Mediterranean in Effort to Reach Europe
European authorities warn of impending humanitarian crisis as up to 600,000 people wait in Libya to make treacherous crossing
Thousands of migrants have crossed the Mediterranean in the past few days, taking advantage of good weather conditions to launch dozens of boats from Libya in a desperate effort to reach Europe.
Up to 600,000 people are estimated to be waiting in Libya for an opportunity to make the treacherous sea crossing, prompting warnings by European authorities of an impending humanitarian crisis.
About 4,500 migrants have been picked up by the Italian navy since Thursday. The largest contingent of 1,300 — including hundreds of women and dozens of babies —was rescued on Sunday and taken to the southern Italian city of Taranto.
Another group of 998, including 214 women and 157 minors, was picked up on Friday in a rescue operation that involved merchant ships flying Hong Kong, Italian, Moldovan and Panamanian colours as well as the Italian navy…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UN Says Italy Must Not be Left Alone on Migrants
Spokesman calls for ‘international response’
(ANSA) — New York, June 9 — A United Nations spokesperson said Monday that Italy must be given more help to cope with the huge of waves of migrants arriving on its shores from North Africa. “The question of migrants in the Mediterranean is not a problem that Italy can face on its own,” the spokesperson said.
“Italy is supporting a very heavy weight, but it’s only an entry point.
“There cannot just be a national response, an international response is needed”. Italy is having trouble managing after a massive increase this year in the already big flow of migrants who attempt the hazardous crossing from North Africa to Italy.
Minister Angelino Alfano said almost 40,000 migrants landed on Italy’s shores in the first five months of this year — almost as many as the total for all of last year.
Many thousands more have arrived so far in June after being rescued by Italian authorities as part of the Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) Operation launched after around 400 people were killed on two migrant-boat disasters in October.
Premier Matteo Renzi accused the European Union of looking the other way and not doing enough to help Italy after dozens of people were killed in two new migrant disasters in May.
“Europe explains everything about how to catch swordfish, but it turns its head when we go to rescue people in trouble,” he said.
The government has come under fire over the Mare Nostrum Operation, which some opposition parties say is encouraging people traffickers to increase illegal crossings.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |