Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/9/2014

A would-be “French” terrorist had targeted the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and other French landmarks in his plan for domestic jihad attacks. He was detained by the authorities en route to Algeria to visit an Al Qaeda camp for further training.

In other news, the Iraqi ambassador to the UN announced that terrorist groups, possibly including ISIS, have seized 88 pounds of uranium from research facilities at the University of Mosul.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, MC, 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.

USA
» C. Ray Nagin, Former New Orleans Mayor, Sentenced to 10 Years
» Chelsea Clinton Follows Parents’ Lead as a Paid Speaker
» Confirmed: Voyager 1 in Interstellar Space
» Where is Obama on Chicago’s Gun Violence?
 
Europe and the EU
» “Belgium Needs a Homeland Security Department”
» Belgian Terrorist Suspect Held in Luxembourg
» British Twin Teen Girls Who Snuck Out of Their Manchester Home to Travel to Syria to Become Jihadi Brides Were Top Students Who Had 28 Gcses Between Them
» Eiffel Tower and Louvre Top Terror Targets for Foiled French Jihadist
» EU’s United Front on Russia Falling Amid Gas Needs
» Foiled French Jihadist ‘Targeted Louvre and Eiffel Tower’
» France Imposes Unprecedented Measures to Fight Jihad
» In the Grip of a Moral Panic, Britain is Turning Into a Banana Republic
» Juncker Eyes Socialist for Top EU Economy Job
» ‘Make Beggars Choose Sweden’: Danish MP
» Middle Ages Art Stolen From Swedish Church
» Neo-Nazi Vikernes Guilty of Hate Crime in France
» Schulz: King of Parliament (And Backroom Deals)
» Spanish Police Conducting 368 Investigations Into Islamist Terrorism
» Spiraling Spying: Suspected Double Agent Further Strains German-US Ties
» Sweden: ‘Malmö Has Not Become Safer for Jews’: Rabbi
» Sweden: Stockholm ‘Bomber’ Charged for False Alarm
» UK: ‘Hopeless’ Warsi ‘Resisting’ David Cameron’s Fight Against Extremism
» UK: Butler-Sloss: I Won’t Quit as Head of Abuse Inquiry
» UK: Chris Patten to Take Up Media Adviser Role to Pope Francis
» UK: Downing Street Backs Baroness Butler-Sloss, Despite Brother’s Link to Spy Paedophile ‘Cover Up’
» UK: Ofsted: Tougher Inspections in Wake of ‘Trojan Horse’ Plot
» UK: The Home Office Acts Busy, Hoping to Avoid a ‘Tide of Public Anger’
» Wales: The Ancient, Sacred, Regenerative, Death-Defying Yew Tree
» Who is Jean-Claude Juncker?
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Abbas Says He’ll Turn to International Community Against Israel
» An American-Jewish Hero in Israel
» Caroline Glick: Fighting Enemies From Within and Without
» EU Help for More Than 50,000 Palestinian Poor Families
» Gaza Conflict: Why Israeli Invasion Would be Risky
» Hamas Fires Rockets Amid Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza
» Indictment Filed in Shelly Dadon Murder Case
» Israel ‘To Intensify Gaza Attacks’
» Israel Air Strikes on Gaza: Live
» Op-Ed: How to Answer a Three-Fingered Salute
 
Middle East
» Iraq: Security Forces Find 50 Bodies in Iraq’s Babil Province
» Militant Groups Kill 14 People in Syria’s Hama
» Revealed: The Islamic State ‘Cabinet’, From Finance Minister to Suicide Bomb Deployer
» ‘Terrorist Groups’ In Iraq Have Seized Nuclear Materials, Iraq’s UN Ambassador Said
 
Russia
» Snowden Applies to Extend Asylum in Russia — Lawyer
 
Caucasus
» Pro-Erdogan Group Hacks Armenian Weekly’s Website, Threatens Community With ‘Eradication’
 
South Asia
» Exit Poll Shows Jokowi Leading in Indonesia Race — Pollster
» Militants Attack Governor Office in S. Afghanistan
» Teen Selfie-Snappers Are Going Wild for the ‘Selfie Stick’
 
Far East
» China Warns Against Double Standards on Terrorism
» Halal Tourism Takes Off in Japan
» Meet 3PLA, China’s Version of the NSA
» North Korea Seeks Allies as China Accord Cools
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» China Sells South Sudan Arms as Its Government Talks Peace
» Nigeria: Whatever Happened to ‘Bring Back Our Girls’?
 
Latin America
» Argentina Beats the Netherlands on Penalties and Advances to Final
» Argentina on the Brink of Default, Again
» China May be Behind $40 Bln Nicaragua Canal Project
» Riot Police Move in Amid Violent Scenes on Copacabana Beach as Brazil Humiliated 7-1 by Germany
» World Cup 2014: Brazil V Germany the Most Tweeted About Sporting Event in History
 
Immigration
» Finland: Trafficking Victims Suffer Forced Labour
» Italy: Ecuadorian Ministerial Team Decries Placing Children in Care
» UK: The Lower Classes Have Serious — and Justifiable — Concerns About Mass Immigration
 
General
» Physicists Defend Big Bang Wave Announcement
 

C. Ray Nagin, Former New Orleans Mayor, Sentenced to 10 Years

C. Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans who was convicted in February on corruption charges, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday in federal court in New Orleans.

Mr. Nagin was found guilty in February on 20 counts, most relating to kickbacks from contractors looking for city work. Judge Ginger Berrigan of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana will determine the sentence, which could be lengthy even if she mostly hews to federal sentencing guidelines.

Mr. Nagin, a Democrat, was arrested in January 2013, nearly three years after he left office. He was charged with taking kickbacks in the form of cash, cross-country trips or help with the family-run granite countertop company; the bribes were handed out by men looking for city business ranging from software supplies to sidewalk repair. Many of the schemes, though not all, took place after Hurricane Katrina, when contractors crowded into the city for rebuilding work.

[Return to headlines]
 

Chelsea Clinton Follows Parents’ Lead as a Paid Speaker

There is a new Clinton paid to deliver speeches — Chelsea, the former first daughter — and she is commanding as much as $75,000 per appearance.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Confirmed: Voyager 1 in Interstellar Space

New data collected by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft have helped scientists confirm that the far-flung probe is indeed cruising through interstellar space, the researchers say.

Voyager 1 made headlines around the world last year when mission scientists announced that the probe had apparently left the heliosphere — the huge bubble of charged particles and magnetic fields surrounding the sun — in August 2012.

They came to this conclusion after analyzing measurements Voyager 1 made in the wake of a powerful solar eruption known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Where is Obama on Chicago’s Gun Violence?

John Feehery

Sixteen Americans were killed and more than 60 were wounded in three days of violence.

If this happened in Kabul, Afghanistan, it would spark a change in policy.

But it happened in my home town of Chicago—and inspired little more than a yawn in the national media.

Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. But it seems that the only folks there who don’t have guns are the people who have a propensity to follow the law.

This explosion of violence is happening on President Barack Obama’s watch in his old neighborhood. Why doesn’t he say anything about it? Why doesn’t he do anything?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

“Belgium Needs a Homeland Security Department”

Bart De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp and the leader of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA, has said that Belgium needs a Homeland Security Department. The leader of Belgium’s largest political party was speaking following a meeting of Flemish and Dutch mayors in Delft.

The mayors had an opportunity to share experiences with regard to nationals leaving and returning from the civil war in Syria. The Dutch anti-terrorism co-ordinator also attended the meeting.

Mayor of Mechelen Bart Somers: “We can learn much from each other. Many Dutch mayors are confronted with youngsters who go and fight in Syria and then return.”

“How can you prevent this and stop youngsters from doing something stupid? How can you ensure they do not pose a threat to security when they return? How do we deal with them when they return and monitor their activities?”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Terrorist Suspect Held in Luxembourg

A special intervention squad of the Luxembourg police have detained a Belgian national and Syria-fighter, who is suspected of having joined the Islamist terrorist group ISIS. The suspect is thought to have returned to Europe in 2012 with the intention of recruiting new members for the organisation that has now proclaimed an Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

The Belgian was held under an arrest warrant issued by the Spanish authorities. Spain says the Belgian is currently going under the name Abou Nouh. He is believed to belong to a group of jihadists operating from Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Morocco. He is also said to have ties to the Spanish wing of the terrorist organisation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

British Twin Teen Girls Who Snuck Out of Their Manchester Home to Travel to Syria to Become Jihadi Brides Were Top Students Who Had 28 Gcses Between Them

Twin British schoolgirls who ran away to Syria were star pupils, with 28 GCSEs between them. Salma and Zahra Halane were among the top 20 students at their girls’ school in Manchester but slipped out of their bedrooms and have fled abroad to become ‘jihadi brides’.

The 16-year-olds, who disappeared two weeks ago, have telephoned their parents to tell them they have reached the war-torn country and warned them ‘we’re not coming back’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Eiffel Tower and Louvre Top Terror Targets for Foiled French Jihadist

Leaked transcripts of internet conversations between a potential French jihadist and a “senior member” of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have revealed that French landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were top terror targets.

According to French daily Le Parisien, a 29-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent, known only as “Ali M”, sent the online messages via a “special encryption programme”.

The leaked report revealed that the pair were exchanging messages online for over a year with Ali M asked to send “suggestions on the future activity of jihad (in France)” to the senior terrorist.

Ali M began to reveal his plans for terror attacks in France. He suggested avoiding shopping areas so that France’s Muslim population will not be involved in any attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU’s United Front on Russia Falling Amid Gas Needs

A clutch of countries is breaking ranks with the EU’s efforts to put economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia over Ukraine and building a pipeline meant to carry huge amounts of Russian gas to their doorstep.

But their defiance of a European Union stop work order is more significant than just another missed chance for Europe to call out the Kremlin. Russian natural gas already accounts for around a third of the EU’s needs. The South Stream pipeline could increase Russian supplies to Europe by another 25 percent, potentially boosting Moscow’s leverage long after the Ukraine crisis fades.

Adding to the skein of Russian pipelines already ending in Europe, South Stream would go through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg and Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey in a second. The European Commission, the EU executive, has ordered a construction moratorium over concerns with Russia’s dual role as pipeline owner and gas supplier. It has also delayed some political talks on the pipeline amid the crisis in Ukraine.

“Developments in Ukraine and Russia have demonstrated that the EU’s priority is to diversify its energy sources,” says spokeswoman Sabine Berger of the EU Energy Commissioner’s office.

But Austria, Hungary, and Serbia — the first two EU members, the third a candidate to join — have said they will build their sections of the project and others may follow, to the displeasure of the EU and United States. In the wake of Austria’s decision last month, Washington urged it to “consider carefully” whether that contributed to “discouraging further Russian aggression.”

Moscow says such arguments by the U.S. are driven by business concerns. In Vienna recently to lobby for Austrian support for South Stream, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “our American friends … want to supply Europe with gas themselves.”

European reaction has been generally muted. Many countries in central and eastern Europe already get much of their gas from Russia, making them ill-placed to criticize South Stream. Those further west, like France, have seen their lucrative business relations with Russia untouched by sanctions against Moscow.

And while individual countries are taking steps to diversify their sources, officials seem to recognize there are few near-term options to Russian gas.

Renewable energy projects are not close to meeting demand. Environmental concerns are fomenting widespread opposition to fracking — the disputed extraction of oil and gas from shale formations that has resulted in a U.S. gas boom. And it will be at least a decade before the U.S. can make sea-borne shipments of liquefied natural gas, due to technical and bureaucratic hurdles.

“Europe’s energy dependence on Moscow seems to be in the cards for a long time to come,” says Michael Klare, author of “Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, the New Geopolitics of Energy.” “Moscow is not going to give up its dominant position easily.”

Such prospects are forcing Western powers to see the threat from Moscow in a new, post-Cold War light. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen last month accused Russian intelligence agencies of working directly with European environmental groups to fund anti-fracking campaigns.

Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine also has the potential of strengthening its energy dominance in Europe.

Moscow now has control over a large part of the eastern Black Sea, and with it potential natural gas deposits previously claimed by Ukraine that may be worth trillions of dollars. It can also reroute South Stream without having to skirt Ukrainian waters, making the project cheaper and simpler.

Some European criticism of the move to build the pipeline has come from countries that were formerly ruled by the Kremlin. Shortly after Austria agreed to build its section late last month, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of ex-Soviet republic Estonia chided Austrian President Heinz Fischer, telling him that Moscow can in no way be considered a “strategic partner.”

But most reaction is low-key. A statement to The Associated Press from the economics ministry of formerly Communist-ruled Poland said any decision to build the pipeline ultimately lies “in the hands of the interested stakeholders,” even if South Stream fails to diversify “routes, sources and suppliers.”

Such restraint could be explained by these countries’ own deals with Moscow. A direct Russian pipeline to Estonia meets 100 percent of its gas needs. Ditto for Latvia and Lithuania, both former Soviet republics. And Poland covers more than 60 percent of its requirements through Russia, even as it works to diversify its sources.

This allows those needing South Stream to dismiss criticism.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently challenged “those who say we shouldn’t build South Stream ….. (to) make an alternative proposal about how we could live without energy.” And Bulgarian Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev said the idea of some countries benefiting from direct Russian gas shipments while expecting his country to wait out the Ukraine crisis is “unacceptable.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Foiled French Jihadist ‘Targeted Louvre and Eiffel Tower’

French cultural monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were top terror targets of a foiled French jihadist, according to leaked transcripts published Wednesday of Internet conversations he had with an al-Qaeda-linked group.

The halal butcher and father of two from the Vaucluse region of southern France was on his way to train with AQIM in the southern Algerian desert when he was detained.

“The targets should be average French citizens from the poorer classes gathering in small places, such as bars and nightclubs,” he wrote. Wanting to avoid any attacks on France’s Muslim population, he suggested avoiding shopping areas.

He also detailed historical monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum in central Paris, and without naming the Avignon arts festival, the leaked message talks about “cultural events taking place in southern France during which Christians gather for a month”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France Imposes Unprecedented Measures to Fight Jihad

800 French in Syria, new recruits can be blocked from leaving

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 8 — An unprecedented package of laws in France aims to tighten the belt against the threat of internal terrorism, but especially block the phenomenon of French leaving for Syria to enroll in the jihad or “holy war”. The measure was initially focused on preventing the spread of terroristic projects on the Internet, but has become a sprawling plan to try to limit the movements and actions of suspicious individuals that have fallen into the crosshairs of intelligence services and deemed at risk. The norm being launched is very much at the constitutional limit: the crime of “individual terroristic association”.

Currently, magistrates cannot take restrictive or preventative measures against individuals who have not yet broken the law and are not in contact with organizations that support terrorism. With the new legislation, this will be possible if intelligence services suspect that a person has fallen under the influence of holy war extremists.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

In the Grip of a Moral Panic, Britain is Turning Into a Banana Republic

by Iain Martin

Two decades ago, Chris Morris launched Brass Eye, a spoof show for Channel 4 satirising TV news. The most difficult and disturbing episode was that on paedophile panic, which satirised the tabloid TV tendency to fuel the anger and violence of the mob…

[Reader comment by PRWR on 9 July 2014.]

Only in a banana republic would the sister of a key player in a potential historic cover up be chosen to find the “truth”

[Reader comment by Martin Adamson on 9 July 2014.]

“It may even distract the police from the real work at hand of investigating and gathering evidence of despicable crimes.”

Exactly. When will be getting a proper investigation into the organised culture of child abuse carried out by members of a particular religio-cultural affiliation in Rochdale, Oldham, Burnley, Ipswich, Derby, Carlisle and many other English towns? After all, this abuse went on for at least two decades, without the Police, Social Services, NHS professionals, Crown Prosecution Service, local Councillors, local MPs or local press ever taking any positive steps to put an end to it. Many of those who failed must still be in important positions of trust and responsibility, so it is an urgent matter that they be identified and their conduct examined.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Juncker Eyes Socialist for Top EU Economy Job

(BRUSSELS) — Jockeying for the EU’s top posts intensified Tuesday when Jean-Claude Juncker, the conservative nominee to helm the powerful European Commission, said a socialist might take on the prized economic portfolio.

Since the worst days of the debt crisis, the job of Economics Affairs Commissioner has become key, being empowered to keep a close eye on the finances of all 28 member states.

Speaking to the socialist group on Tuesday, Juncker said the economy post would “probably” go to someone from the left.

The move, if confirmed, will widely be interpreted as repayment by Juncker to Socialist-led France and Italy, whose backing was crucial for his nomination as Commission head in face of Britain’s opposition.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Make Beggars Choose Sweden’: Danish MP

Police in Copenhagen are focusing this summer on driving away beggars from the city’s parks and streets. And the goal is to send them to countries like Sweden, one politician said.

“We don’t want to make Denmark a hotel with a reputation across Europe for free food and board,” Trine Bramsen, spokesperson for the governing Social Democrat party of Denmark, told Swedish Radio on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Middle Ages Art Stolen From Swedish Church

Thieves broke into a church in central Sweden on Tuesday night, stealing several sculptures dating back to the Middle Ages.

“We have an old altar piece from the end of the 1400s, which contained 16 figures. They have taken 11 of them, and also taken three wooden figures from 1705. They also took a candle holder from the wall,” Kaj Nielsen, member of the church committee, told Swedish Radio.

There were also indications that the thieves had tried to set the church on fire. “We found a bottle of lighting fluid and two other plastic bottles full of what appeared to be lighting fluid on the wooden podium,” Nielsen said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Neo-Nazi Vikernes Guilty of Hate Crime in France

A French court hit notorious Norwegian heavy metal musician Kristian Vikernes with a fine and six-month suspended prison sentence for blog postings that allegedly glorified war crimes and promoted discrimination against Jews and Muslims.

A French court Tuesday slapped a six-month suspended sentence and an €8,000 ($10,000) fine on a Norwegian heavy metal musician accused of inciting racial hatred in his blogs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Schulz: King of Parliament (And Backroom Deals)

BRUSSELS — In April, Socialist Spitzenkandidat Martin Schulz could hardly have been clearer. “The days of the Commission president being nominated by a backroom deal are over,” he told his fellow candidates, and the media.

On Tuesday, the same Martin Schulz was re-elected for an unprecedented second term as the European Parliament’s president on the back of a deal cut in Berlin which, if not actually made in a “back-room”, was neither transparent nor terribly democratic.

If that seems like a contradiction, it would not be the first in his long career.

A book-seller by trade before he entered politics, the 58-year old Schulz has been an MEP for 20 years. His breakthrough into public awareness came in 2003, when Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi compared him to a Nazi commandant during a parliamentary debate.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Police Conducting 368 Investigations Into Islamist Terrorism

Right now there are 837 terrorism investigations underway in Spain, of which 368 involve Islamist groups, according to counter-terrorism sources.

The Interior Ministry considers that the risk of a new Islamist attack in Spain is “high,” and the government has activated a Level 2 alert because of the “probable risk of an attack.”

On March 11, 2004 Islamists blew up several commuter trains in Madrid, killing 192 people and injuring 1,858. Before that, in April 1985, another Islamist bomb attack killed 18 people at a Madrid restaurant.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spiraling Spying: Suspected Double Agent Further Strains German-US Ties

A year after revelations of the NSA’s widescale spying activities first emerged, the arrest of an employee at the German foreign intelligence service, suspected of being a double agent, is testing the limits of Berlin’s patience with Washington.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: ‘Malmö Has Not Become Safer for Jews’: Rabbi

Following the violent beating of a man flying an Israeli flag, Rabbi Shneur Kesselman tells The Local that his adopted city of Malmö remains a hotbed for anti-Semitism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Stockholm ‘Bomber’ Charged for False Alarm

The man who brought the capital to a standstill in June is set to face charges of aggravated criminal threats and false alarms for the incident. The trial date was announced on Tuesday.

He stated afterwards that he staged the incident in protest against Sweden’s asylum process, after his application for refugee status was declined.

It’s believed that the man arrived in Sweden in April and had his asylum application rejected. The man’s lawyer said he felt he was poorly treated.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Hopeless’ Warsi ‘Resisting’ David Cameron’s Fight Against Extremism

by Isabel Hardman

The government has failed to produce an adequate strategy to tackle non-violent extremism because the minister in charge of it is said to disagree with the Prime Minister’s approach, sources have told Coffee House.

Baroness Warsi is alleged by multiple sources in and out of government to have consistently resisted calls to develop a proper strategy on integration and tackling extremism at its roots, even though this is the Prime Minister’s policy and part of her job at the Communities and Local Government department…

Dominic Cummings, a former adviser to Michael Gove who has recently published research on public attitudes to the EU and the Human Rights Act, says:

First, the cross-Whitehall processes for dealing with extremism are a joke. Second, the interaction of the ECHR/Human Rights Act with judicial review, Whitehall processes, and Number 10’s operation makes it impossible for good officials to reverse this. Third, Warsi is hopeless.

Fourth, the embedding of lawyers in intelligence services’ operations because of Whitehall interpretations of the Human Rights Act is a disaster. Fifth, it’s a good rule of thumb that when you hear about a group of nutters, the first question to ask is which bit of the state is funding them.

The Government denies these criticisms…

[Reader comment by Rhoda Klapp8 on 8 July 2014.]

I’ll repeat this yet again. Extremism is not the threat, the threat to my way of life is an alien culture which can’t live with the native culture. It isn’t the extremists, the Islamists, it is the general population of moderate Muslims who don’t much like our culture but want to live here under their own rules. That’s the problem. We have Police, spies and laws to deal with extremism. Nobody is even trying to deal with the real problem.

(Yes, they might be lovely people, but they are a problem at some population level where they begin to be a ‘community’.)

[Reader comment by rogermurrayclark on 8 July 2014.]

“‘There has to be a conscious integration programme and it certainly needs to include young people who are Muslims, but not just young Muslims, it has to cover whole parts of our society. It has to be organised in a way which appeals to young people.”

How can you “integrate” huge and fast growing colonies like this?

“Bradford is a veritable human Crufts, with over three-quarters of the city’s ethnic Pakistanis marrying their first cousins, and this figure is not hugely above the national average of 50 per cent. Compare this to the percentage of British-Pakistanis who marry whites, 0.7 per cent, or British Hindus, just 0.1 per cent.”

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100051321/how-labours-immigration-policy-led-to-genetic-tragedy/

The notion of integration here is ridiculous, it is a complete and utter absurdity

[Reader comment by rogermurrayclark on 8 July 2014.]

Who wants to “integrate” into this anyway?

“THE ringleader of a gang who sexually abused a schoolgirl has been jailed for thirteen and a half years — and three other men have also been handed lengthy prison terms. Nazakat Mahmood was handed his sentence at Reading Crown Court on Friday after a jury had previously convicted him of seven counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.”

Mainstream Media Silence Again As Yet Another Muslim Grooming Gang Jailed

It’s reached epidemic proportions

Perhaps Baroness Neville Jones might care to advise

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Butler-Sloss: I Won’t Quit as Head of Abuse Inquiry

The retired judge appointed to chair a child abuse review has insisted she will not quit — as the PM claimed she was the right person for the job.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was chosen by the home secretary to head the inquiry into allegations of historical abuse. But Labour’s Simon Danczuk said her position was tainted because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was Attorney General in the 1980s…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Chris Patten to Take Up Media Adviser Role to Pope Francis

Former Conservative MP takes up new role only two months after dramatically quitting as chairman of BBC Trust due to heart problems

Former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten will head a committee to advise Pope Francis on how to revamp and modernise the Holy See’s media strategy, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Patten, 70, one of Britain’s most experienced politicians, will be president of an 11-member committee made up of six experts from around the world and five Vatican officials…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Downing Street Backs Baroness Butler-Sloss, Despite Brother’s Link to Spy Paedophile ‘Cover Up’

Downing Street says Baroness Butler-Sloss is right person to lead inquiry into establishment child abuse claims, despite late brother’s role in non-prosecution of paedophile spy

Downing Street has stood by the appointment of Baroness Butler-Sloss as the head of an inquiry into allegations of an establishment cover-up of child abuse, as it emerged her brother was accused of a “white-wash” over a paedophile diplomat…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Ofsted: Tougher Inspections in Wake of ‘Trojan Horse’ Plot

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, unveils plans to strengthen school inspections, including more routine visits for outstanding schools and close vetting of the curriculum

The Ofsted inspection system will be toughened up amid concerns over school standards in the wake of the alleged “Trojan Horse” takeover plot in Birmingham.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector, said around 20 schools had already been subjected to close scrutiny because of serious failings in the way they are run by governors — an issue at the heart of problems in the West Midlands…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: The Home Office Acts Busy, Hoping to Avoid a ‘Tide of Public Anger’

by Isabel Hardman

Theresa May updated the Cabinet this morning on the inquiry she has launched into how public bodies have dealt with allegations of child abuse…

[Reader comment by Martin Adamson on 8 July 2014.]

The Establishment is being very thoroughly hoist with its own petard. The original Operation Yewtree investigation — into Jimmy Saville et al — was only carried out as a desperate displacement activity. They needed to provide alternative tabloid headlines to those which would otherwise have been written about the ever-spiralling number of trials of members of the Religion of Peace (TM) on child abuse charges. It’s cosmic justice that this has now boomeranged on them.

But don’t lose sight of where the real contemporary scandal lies — in the ranks of the police forces, CPS, social services, NHS leaders, local counsellors, MPs and the cowardly local press in towns like Rochdale, Derby, Oxford, Ipswich and literally dozens of others. They are the ones who have let the grooming gangs grow and flourish over the last two decades. It’s this younger PC leftist establishment that needs to be held to account, because they are the ones who are still in a position to do damage over the next, not the last, twenty or thirty years.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Wales: The Ancient, Sacred, Regenerative, Death-Defying Yew Tree

A yew tree in the corner of a Welsh churchyard is said to be 5,000 years old. Our Neolithic ancestors were as fascinated by it as we are

Some years ago, I happened to phone the late Duke of Buccleuch, famous for his love of forestry — which he was in a good position to practise, owning several large estates in England and Scotland. He was about to make a pilgrimage, he said, to one of the oldest living organisms in Europe. It was to be found in the churchyard of Fortingall, a thatched Perthshire village rebuilt in the Arts and Crafts style at the beginning of the 20th century: the Fortingall Yew…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Who is Jean-Claude Juncker?

BRUSSELS — Britain’s tabloid The Sun portrayed him as “the most dangerous man in Europe”. Prime Minister David Cameron linked Britain’s EU membership to him, while other leaders and MEPs said that without him as Commission chief, democracy itself would be undermined.

All the buzz surrounding Britain’s opposition to his nomination has made him probably the first widely-known head of an EU institution. But The 59-year old Luxembourg politician was the EU’s longest serving prime minister until last year, when he lost his post due to an illegal wiretapping scandal.

Luxembourg’s intelligence service (SREL) last year was embroiled in a scandal when it emerged that it had carried out illegal wiretaps, kept secret files on people and run a fictional counterterror operation to cover for a Russian oligarch.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Abbas Says He’ll Turn to International Community Against Israel

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas demanded on Tuesday night that Israel “immediately stop” its aerial campaign in Gaza and threatened to turn to the international community on the issue.

“The Palestinian Authority will go to all international organizations to seek protection for the Palestinian people,” Abbas said in a televised statement late Tuesday night, according to AFP.

The statement came as the IDF continued Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, and as Hamas terrorists continued to fire rockets towards southern Israel. A total of 120 rockets were fired towards Israel on Tuesday.

[As if the international community is PRO Israel….duh. — MC]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

An American-Jewish Hero in Israel

An Interview with Activist and Entrepreneur Murray Greenfield

by Phyllis Chesler

I sit here savoring a treasure. It is a book about Jewish-American and Jewish-Palestinian heroism in the 1940s — a little known story and one I nearly didn’t read.

The title is The Jews’ Secret Fleet: The Untold Story of North American Volunteers who Smashed the British Blockade of Palestine. The author, Murray S. Greenfield, is the founder of Israel’s Gefen Publishing House and of much else. Joseph M. Hochstein wrote it with him.

Here’s how the book came into my possession. Someone named Murray kept calling me. He said he wanted “I should interview him,” like I’d interviewed fellow pre-state activist David Gutmann, a”h, in these pages (“Israel’s Rebirth ‘A Boring Story’ to U.S. Jews,” April 2, 2010).

He called at a particularly hard time and I could not meet with him — but then he sent a messenger bearing this book. It was then that I realized this was a living hero of the Jewish people who wanted to meet me. Duty called. We met the very next day.

The ingenuity, boldness, idealism, and bravery of these “illegal” volunteer sailors and their Palestinian officers in HaMossad L’Aliyah Bet was beyond belief. It was a real David and Goliath story because they took on the cruel and mighty British fleet — and, despite losses, hardship, and unimaginable danger, they won, as the illegal boats and ships brought so many of the European Jews who survived the Holocaust into Palestine — well, mainly into British prison camps in Cyprus, but close enough.

And they drew world attention and, ultimately, sympathy by publicizing British heartlessness, the tragic plight of the post-concentration camp refugees, and the extraordinary derring-do of the volunteer sailors…

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Caroline Glick: Fighting Enemies From Within and Without

Sixteen-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir was doing his own thing last Tuesday when he was abducted by Jewish terrorists, who slaughtered him. They killed him because he was an Arab, and they are racist murderers.

The police made solving Abu Khdeir’s murder a top priority. In less than a week, they had six suspects in custody. Three confessed to the murder.

There are dark forces at work in Israeli society. They need to be dealt with.

And they will be dealt with harshly.

They will be dealt with harshly because there is no significant sector in Israeli society that supports terrorism.

There is no Jewish tradition that condones or calls for the murder of innocents. In Jewish tradition, the line between protecting society from its enemies and committing murder is long, wide, unmistakable and unmoving…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

EU Help for More Than 50,000 Palestinian Poor Families

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JULY 09 — The European Union is contributing more than 10 million euros to the Palestinian Authority’s second payment of social allowances this year to poor and vulnerable families in the West Bank and Gaza. The EU’s contribution amounts to 10.22 million euros (out of a total of around 12.97 million euros — the remainder comes from Austria, Ireland and Spain). It will reach over 50,000 Palestinian families in need, more than half of which live in Gaza.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gaza Conflict: Why Israeli Invasion Would be Risky

While insisting that it does not want to be drawn into a ground operation in Gaza, all the signs are that Israel is making the necessary preparations to embark upon just such a move.

Everything depends upon what happens now. Maybe the signal sent by the mobilisation of reservists will encourage some second thoughts on the part of Hamas military commanders, encouraging them to constrain rocket fire into Israel…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Hamas Fires Rockets Amid Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza

Palestinian militants have fired more rockets at Israeli cities and Israel carried out dozens of air raids on Gaza overnight, as hostilities intensified.

Israel said four rockets hit southern Israel overnight and a number were shot down over Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The Israeli military said there were 160 strikes on Gaza overnight in response to the rocket attacks…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Indictment Filed in Shelly Dadon Murder Case

The prosecution filed an indictment against taxi driver Hussein Khalifa on Wednesday, the terrorist arrested in the murder of 20 year-old Shelly Dadon.

Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) arrested 34-year-old Hussein Yousef Khalifa, from the Arab village of Iblin in the Galilee, on suspicion that he carried out the murder for “nationalistic” reasons.

Khalifa subsequently confessed to the murder, and reenacted the crime for police. [….]

“Hussein Khalifa, 34, from Iblin, is a taxi driver who drove workers to and from factories in the Migdal Haemek industrial zone. On the morning of the day of the murder, after dropping off workers at one of the factories as he did daily, he continued toward the center of town (Migdal Haemek) where he picked up the deceased. She requested that he drive her to a job interview in the industrial zone. He drove her to an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of the industrial zone (not far from her requested destination) where he stabbed her to death and fled the scene in his cab.

“According to his version, after perpetrating the murder, Hussein Khalifa threw away the murder weapon and the deceased’s cellphone as he fled the scene, and later washed bloodstains from his cab. He also threw away the deceased’s wallet near the community of Beit Zarzir.

‘While Hussein Khalifa’s motives have yet to be fully clarified, the ISA assessment is that the murder was perpetrated for nationalistic reasons.”[…]

[This is the murder that kicked it all off, the authorities did not release details at the time for fear of further violence. — MC]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Israel ‘To Intensify Gaza Attacks’

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “further intensify attacks on Hamas” in the Gaza Strip after talks with his defence chiefs.

He said the Palestinian militants would “pay a heavy price” for their rocket attacks on Israel.

Israel’s military said Hamas had fired 72 rockets at Israeli cities on Wednesday, after dozens of overnight air strikes in Gaza…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Air Strikes on Gaza: Live

Israel hits 130 targets in Gaza on Wednesday, taking the Palestinian death toll to 43, as Hamas launches rocket attacks aimed at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

Latest

[…]

18.26 Inna Lazareva has been speaking to a father, Itamar, in Sderot, southern Israel, who is doing his best to stay calm for the sake of his young children:

“It’s important to keep as calm as possible for the children. If we’re stressed then they get stressed. So we act as if we are fine, but inside I feel my whole body is clenched up, and my heart jumps at every sound.”

18.14 Israel’s “Iron Dome” has shot down at least two rockets, according to several reports, including one near an Israeli nuclear facility in Dimona in Southern Israel. Doug Podolge tweets:

Twitter: Doug Pologe — First Iron Dome interception at Dimona, where Israel’s nuclear reactor is located. The Qassam Brigades claim they fired three M-75 rockets…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Op-Ed: How to Answer a Three-Fingered Salute

By Daniel Perez

“Restraint” seems to be the buzzword du jour in the international community right now. Specifically, that Israelis and Palestinians (but especially the Israelis) need to show “restraint” after the savage murder of three Jewish teens—high school kids whose only crime was existing in a part of the Holy Land that, in the eyes of those urging said restraint, ought to be completely Judenrein. And of course, in addressing the rocket fire on civilians from Hamas-run Gaza.

So often do I find myself railing against the hypocrisy of the American administration and the moral bankruptcy of the UN that it feels sometimes as if I’m talking to a wall…

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Security Forces Find 50 Bodies in Iraq’s Babil Province

BAGHDAD, July 9 (Xinhua) — Iraqi security forces on Wednesday found some 50 bodies in the south of the Babil province, a provincial police source said.

The bodies were found dumped at an orchard near the Shiite town of Hamza, just south of provincial capital Hilla, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The dead were blindfolded and handcuffed with bullet holes in their heads and chests, the source said, adding that the authorities have launched an investigation into the mass killing…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Militant Groups Kill 14 People in Syria’s Hama

DAMASCUS, July 9 (Xinhua) — Armed militant groups infiltrated a town in Syria’s central province of Hama, killing 14 civilians, including women and children, the official SANA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The group sneaked into the town of Khatab in the northwestern countryside of the Hama at dawn Wednesday, and committed a mass killing against the civilians there, said SANA, spelling no further details…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Revealed: The Islamic State ‘Cabinet’, From Finance Minister to Suicide Bomb Deployer

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, one of the world’s most wanted jihadists, is aided by a “cabinet” of deputies, who manage both the Islamic State’s military operations and its new, self declared, caliphate.

Documents seized from the house of a member of the Islamic State in a raid by the Iraqi military have revealed, for the first time and in remarkable detail, the leadership structure of this secretive organisation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Terrorist Groups’ In Iraq Have Seized Nuclear Materials, Iraq’s UN Ambassador Said

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, Iraq’s U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said insurgents in Iraq have taken nuclear material from Mosul University. Alhakim pleaded for help to “stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad.”

“Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state,” Alhakim wrote.

Mosul University was housing almost 88 pounds of uranium for scientific research. Alhakim claims it “can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.”

“These nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, can enable terrorist groups, with the availability of the required expertise, to use it separate or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts,” he added…

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Snowden Applies to Extend Asylum in Russia — Lawyer

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has filed an official petition to extend his asylum in Russia for another year. He has been living in the country since taking 1.7 million intelligence files from various US agencies.

This is according to Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena. Snowden’s current term of stay in Russia expires on July 31.

Nevertheless, Kucherena did not say if Snowden would seek his permit with a different status, i.e. Russian citizenship.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pro-Erdogan Group Hacks Armenian Weekly’s Website, Threatens Community With ‘Eradication’

The website of the weekly Armenian newspaper Agos was hacked in the late hours of July 8, posting a message and a photo of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with an Ottoman stamp in the background.

The hackers, calling themselves “Herakles Fearlesleon,” threatened to “eradicate” the community and accused it of “treason,” while also sending messages of support to Erdogan.

“We have seen a lot of traitors like you. We know what you did and what you will do in the future. But from now on the great Ottoman state will be reborn with the master Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” a first message read.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Exit Poll Shows Jokowi Leading in Indonesia Race — Pollster

(Reuters) — An exit poll of Indonesian voters showed Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ahead of ex-general Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election, according to pollster Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Militants Attack Governor Office in S. Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 9 (Xinhua) — Militants attacked the governor’s office in Afghan southern city of Kandahar on Wednesday, and gun shoots continued, a local official said.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Teen Selfie-Snappers Are Going Wild for the ‘Selfie Stick’

SINGAPORE — The selfie trend is already big. But Asian teens have found a way to make the actual pictures even bigger.

“It’s called a selfie stick,” explains Diana Hemas Sari, a 21-year-old entrepreneur from Indonesia. She’s holding an extendable metal wand that has a blue plastic handle at one end and her white Samsung smartphone clipped to the other.

Gone are the days of blurry, solo self-portraits caught by flip phones in bathroom mirrors. Selfies have become such a social network staple that teens and 20-somethings around southeast Asia, a region that boasts the world’s most active selfie-snappers, have invested in these metal wands to perfect their self-portraits, squeeze more people into the frame and be sure they never miss out on a Facebook-worthy moment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Warns Against Double Standards on Terrorism

BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) — Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Wednesday appealed for stronger China-U.S. collaboration in combating terrorism and warned against double standards.

“Terrorism is terrorism. Wherever it occurs, in whatever form out of whatever kind of reason, the international community should take a clear stance and work together to fight it,” Yang said at the China-U.S strategic and economic dialogue that kicked off in Beijing Wednesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Halal Tourism Takes Off in Japan

TOKYO, July 9 — Prayer rooms, hijabs made from local silk and even halal-certified whale meat are appearing in Japan as tourism bosses wake up to the demand from Muslim travellers.

For a largely homogeneous country with only around 100,000 practising Muslims, that means groping its way through unfamiliar customs as it looks to tap a growing market to help it double the number of overseas visitors by 2020.

“Muslim travellers still do not feel comfortable here,” Datuk Ibrahim Haji Ahmad Badawi, head of Malaysian food company Brahim’s told AFP at a recent seminar on halal tourism in Tokyo. “The government seems to have understood this.”

Last year, seminars like this one were held in 20 different regions in Japan, where hoteliers and restaurateurs were invited to learn how to cater to Muslims.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Meet 3PLA, China’s Version of the NSA

The Third Department of the People’s Liberation Army’s General Staff Department — also known as 3PLA, China’s equivalent to the U.S. National Security Administration — is crucial to the country’s military strategy, responsible for monitoring much of the world’s communications for threats and commercial opportunities. Using Chinese government websites, academic databases and foreign security expertise, The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Mozur and James T. Areddy assembled an overview of its secret operations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

North Korea Seeks Allies as China Accord Cools

A string of unexpected, even odd, overtures from North Korea to its neighbors in recent days is fueling speculation that the isolated nation and its mercurial leader could be seeking to broaden its diplomatic options elsewhere in the region to account for a cooling relationship with Pyongyang’s principal ally, China.

The communist nation announced Monday it would send 150 cheerleaders to the Asian Games, the continent’s largest sporting event, which will be held in Incheon, South Korea, in September. But the goodwill gesture — which appears insignificant, if not comical, on its face — comes days after North Korea called for reunification with South Korea through a federal formula that would allow for the two countries to maintain their separate ideologies and social systems.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Sells South Sudan Arms as Its Government Talks Peace

China is selling $38 million worth of missiles, grenade launchers, machine guns and ammunition to South Sudan’s government, even as it pledges to help end a civil war in the country now on the brink of famine.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria: Whatever Happened to ‘Bring Back Our Girls’?

by Douglas Murray

Whatever happened to ‘Bring Back Our Girls’? I only ask because it’s now three months since Twitter and all other social media, Michelle Obama, Christiane Amanpour, David Cameron etc. joined a hashtag group to ask Boko Haram to give back the hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls they had kidnapped. It almost filled the news cycle for a couple of weeks.

And yet nothing seems to have happened…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Argentina Beats the Netherlands on Penalties and Advances to Final

Argentina advanced to the World Cup final after winning a penalty kick shootout over the Netherlands on Wednesday in São Paulo.

Argentina converted its first four penalties, starting with its leadoff man, Lionel Messi. The Netherlands missed two, by Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder. The final is Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.

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Argentina on the Brink of Default, Again

Following an order from U.S. courts to service debt related to its default in 2001, Argentina is again on the brink of default. It is preparing to negotiate with creditor U.S. funds over the conditions for debt service, but the results are unpredictable. Despite the tension in the air over the nation’s imminent default, the nation’s stock market is peculiarly bullish as investment continues to flow in.

June 16 brought a turning point for Argentina in its court battle with U.S. funds demanding full repayment, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of creditors. On that day Argentina’s Merval stock market index plunged 10% against the previous business day at one point.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China May be Behind $40 Bln Nicaragua Canal Project

A Nicaraguan plan to build a canal that would link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans is slowly getting off the drawing board and into reality. Construction is set to begin as early as later this year, with a view to having the waterway begin operations in about 10 years.

A Hong Kong company believed to have ties to the Chinese government has landed the contract for the $40 billion project. The deal has made observers think that Beijing may be behind the undertaking, aiming to expand its presence in Central America by building a shipping channel that would rival the Panama Canal in the same area, which has long been under the influence of the U.S.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Riot Police Move in Amid Violent Scenes on Copacabana Beach as Brazil Humiliated 7-1 by Germany

Riot police descended on Copacabana beach amid reports of gunfire as Brazil were demolished 7-1 by Germany in the World Cup semi-final.

An armed gang carried out a ‘mass robbery’ on a bar in a fanpark where thousands were watching the match on a big screen, according to reports.

They ransacked the bar, firing shots into the air and stole bags and jewellery.

Terrified supporters fled the scene in panic as Brazilian riot police moved in.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

World Cup 2014: Brazil V Germany the Most Tweeted About Sporting Event in History

Brazil’s 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany was the most tweeted about sporting event in history.

The dismantling of the World Cup hosts, which is already being hailed as the most humiliating episode in the history of Brazilian football, garnered over 35.6 million tweets, easily surpassing the near 25 million tweets about the Superbowl final in February.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Trafficking Victims Suffer Forced Labour

Human trafficking victims usually face work-related exploitations, according to the Finnish Immigration Service and Joutseno Reception Centre.

The victims of work-related exploitation are usually tied to the job and cannot get out of the situation.

They are, for instance, not paid for their work and their families are threatened.

In spring, a lot of sexually abused people came to the nationwide administered system of victim assistance. Those people had been abused before arriving in the country.

In June, a total of 77 people were within the system of victim assistance. Most of the victims come from sub-Saharan Africa or Asia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ecuadorian Ministerial Team Decries Placing Children in Care

Scores of Ecuadorian youngsters separated from family in Italy

(ANSA) — Rome, July 8 — Ecuador said Tuesday it is concerned about Italian social services placing children of Ecuadorian immigrant workers in compulsory care due to a “too rigid interpretation of norms for the protection of minors”.

Ecuadorian deputy Justice Minister Nadia Ruiz appealed to the Italian Government to take the “greatest care” in keeping Ecuadorian children and adolescents with their parents even when they are on the poverty line.

“Our Constitution protects all Ecuadorian citizens, including those living abroad,” she said in a speech at the Italo-Latin American Institute (Iila) in Rome, adding that Ecuadorian President Correa is very attentive to the well-being of emigrants.

Ruiz arrived in Rome Monday together with Ecuadorian Deputy minister for mobile foreign affairs, Maria Landazuri De Mora.

They have had a series of meetings with Italian senior officials including Justice Minister Andrea Orlando from whom “we received maximum availability” Ruiz said. Ruiz also had a meeting with Ecuadorian mothers on the question, she added.

Official figures are not available but “the emergency involves around 30,000 families ina community that numbers some 200,000 Ecuadorian citizens from Genoa to Milan to Rome — often entrusted to social services or family Homes. We are very worried about these youngsters and for their families,” underlined Ruiz.

“Children have the right to live with their parents everywhere in the world”.

Ecuadorian Ambassador to Italy Juan Holguin for his part added that the Ecuadorian envoys’ aim is “to avoid that the remedy is worse than the illness.” As many as 100 young Ecuadorians have been taken from their families by Italian authorities, he added. Landazuri De Mora said the problem has only been encountered in Italy. “We are grateful for the welcome that Italy offers our immigrants, giving them opportunities, but we ask for transparency and a greater exchange of information with Italian authorities”.

In Spain, by contrast, “minors separated from their parents are entrusted to their relatives in Ecuador. Our hope is that this can also happen in Italy. If their mothers and fathers are not able to support them our first choice is for them being entrusted to their families in Ecuador rather than to Italian families that are strangers to them. The cultural factor is decisive,” she said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: The Lower Classes Have Serious — and Justifiable — Concerns About Mass Immigration

by Frank Field

The light is at last beginning to dawn on the immigration debate. Today’s Migration Advisory Committee report on the impact of low-skilled migration to this country sheds a small amount of light on what has been blindingly obvious for a long time to people at the bottom.

In total there were almost three quarters of a million Eastern Europeans working here last year. The number of citizens from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia living in this country grew from an estimated 167,000 in 2004 to just over one million in 2012…

Frank Field is the Labour MP for Birkenhead

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Physicists Defend Big Bang Wave Announcement

Cosmic swirls that were hailed earlier this year as evidence for primordial gravitational waves — ripples in spacetime dating back to the early universe — may turn out to have been caused by dust. But several top physicists are standing by the decision to announce the result back in March, before it had been peer-reviewed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/9/2014

  1. “In total there were almost three quarters of a million Eastern Europeans working here last year.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA- Frank Field is a comedian!!!!

    • Please explain your mirth, Bishop; I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of the figure. If you have evidence to the contrary, let’s see it please.

      • Mark, unless I have misread him, I suspect the bishop is casting doubt, not on the numbers that are in the UK, but on the number deemed to be in employment rather than consuming welfare benefits.

        • Thanks Peter. If this is what he meant, more detail is needed; I wouldn’t be surprised if the proportion of Romanians here and in work is rather less than with Poles.

          • I went home to the UK in October. I saw a lot of Polish deli’s etc in and around est London. I didn’t see any Romanian shops but I saw a lot of women in headacarves holding babies in one hand with their other hand stretched out palm upwards.

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