A synagogue in the Anderlecht borough of Brussels was damaged by fire today, and police say the fire was deliberately set. Three people, including two children, suffered from mild smoke inhalation. There’s no word yet on whether cultural enrichment played a role in the fire.
In other news, a terror alarm was raised at Luton Airport north of London after two “Asian” men were seen watching the airplanes through a range finder. Dozens of police, along with sniffer dogs, were sent to search the area around the airport.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to BS, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, LS, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Cyprus: Four in 10 Businesses Have Cut Payrolls
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, SEPTEMBER 11 — Over the last six months, over four out of 10 businesses in the Republic of Cyprus have made cuts in their payroll, most of which were small businesses, a new survey has found as reported by Cyprus Mail online. The business survey, presented yesterday, was conducted by the CyproNetwork Consultancy Group and the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) under the auspices of the Finance ministry, which revealed tendencies and predictions concerning business performance.
The survey comprised 400 telephone interviews conducted between May 28 and June 17, on a Cyprus-wide basis, with businesses from the trade, services, industry and construction sectors. Seven out of 10 small businesses responded not employing part-time personnel during this time, while three out of 10 said they have not created any new jobs over the last six months.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Survey: Suicide Cases Are Dropping in 2014
The dip suggests that the trend has started to reverse
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 12 — The number of suicides recorded in Greece in the first eight months of this year was marginally down from the same period last year, according to two nongovernmental organizations which provide support to depressed and homeless citizens. A total of 209 people (173 men and 36 women) committed suicide from January through August, as daily Kathimerini online reports quoting data data made public by representatives of the Suicide Prevention Network and Klimaka.
This represents a drop of around 10% compared to the 229 people (193 men and 36 women) who killed themselves in the same period of 2013. According to Aris Violatzis, a counselor with Klimaka, the dip suggests that the increase in suicides that has been widely attributed to the country’s economic crisis has started to reverse. “The phenomenon has peaked and is probably dropping,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Low for Rate on Three-Year Italian Bonds
Treasury sells 2.457 bn euros worth at 0.52%
(ANSA) — Rome, September 11 — The average interest rate paid on three-year Italian State BTP bonds dropped to a new low of 0.52% at a Treasury auction on Thursday. The Treasury sold 2.457 billion euros’ worth of the bonds at a rate that was significantly lower than the 0.84% average of the last equivalent auction.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Survey: 1 Out of 3 Greeks Earns 300 Euros Per Month
A new study reveals how the bailout has affected wages
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 15 — About one in three employees in Greece earns just over 300 euros after taxes (440 euros gross) as daily Ta Nea reports today publishing a shocking study on the private sector in the country. According to the survey that was conducted by GSEE’s Labor Institute, such employees are typically in part time jobs, with reduced working hours and job rotation. INE-GSEE’s scientific director Savvas Rompolis estimated that about 500,000 in the private sector work in part time jobs. Furthermore, the INE-GSEE study shows how average wages have shrunk due to the flexible and cheap labor relations that have dominated the job market due to the bailout legislation. In 2014, the average annual wage in Greece has been estimated to be 21,930 euros, less than in Slovenia (24,472 euros) and Cyprus (22,740 euros. Higher up in the list are France (49,256 euros), Ireland (44,377 euros), Germany (38,964 euros) and Spain (34,584 euros).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish President Erdogan Warns Moody’s and Fitch
Accusing the agencies of political motives in their assessments
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, SEPTEMBER 16 — Turkish president Recep Erdogan has accused rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings of political motives in their assessments of the Turkish economy, and warned Ankara could cut its ties with them, daily Hurriyet online reports today. Both Moody’s and Fitch have in recent weeks warned of the potential impact of continued political uncertainty following former prime minister Erdogan’s victory on August 10 in the country’s first direct presidential election. Local media quoted Erdogan as telling reporters on his plane back from a visit to Qatar late yesterday that such statements were politically motivated rather than based on assessments of the economy. “We stopped our cooperation with Standard&Poor’s and if they continue on this path, I can tell the prime minister to stop cooperation with these two also,” the Hurriyet daily quoted Erdogan as saying, although he added: “We haven’t reached that point yet.” Fitch, which rates Turkey BBB- with a stable outlook, said last Thursday that the Central Bank may face growing political pressure to cut interest rates despite rising inflation in the run-up to a general election next June. Moody’s, which has a Baa3 rating on Turkey with a negative outlook, warned last month that Erdogan’s victory in the presidential election did not resolve the country’s credit challenges and that uncertainty would persist.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Feds: NY Store Owner Plotted to Send Jihadists to Syria, Kill U.S. Troops Himself
(CNN) — A man who owns an upstate New York food store funded ISIS, tried to send jihadists to Syria to fight with the terrorist group and plotted to do some killing himself — by gunning down U.S. troops who had served in Iraq — federal authorities alleged Tuesday.
Mufid A. Elfgeeh, 30, was arrested on May 31, though federal officials didn’t outline the case against him until Tuesday. According to an indictment, he faces three counts of trying “to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization” (namely, ISIS), one count of attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States, two counts of having an unregistered firearm silencer and one for possessing guns or silencers “in furtherance of a crime of violence.”
The public defender representing Elfgeeh, Mark Hosken, said Tuesday that he had seen the indictment and will enter a plea of not guilty when his client appears in court on Thursday morning.
The federal investigation into Elfgeeh began in early 2013 and a world away from the Middle East, where ISIS (also known as ISIL and the Islamic State) has waged a brutal campaign in recent years. Citing the terror group’s threat to the region and gruesome tactics — such as the recent beheadings of two American journalists — the U.S. government has struck ISIS targets from the air in Iraq and threatened to go after it in Syria as well.
A look at Twitter suggests that Elfgeeh didn’t stand with his adopted country in this fight, according to an affidavit in support of a search warrant in his case.
Al Qaeda branches urge terrorist unity He allegedly wrote in one tweet: “Al Qaeda said it loud and clear: we are fighting the American invasion and their hegemony over the earth and the people.” In another message, Elfgeeh purportedly stated ISIS “will one day rule the world with the will of Allah.”…
| [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Synagogue Set on Fire in ‘Criminal’ Attack
Amid a wave of anti-Semitism in Europe, and just four months since deadly Brussels shooting, attackers set fire to a synagogue.
A fire broke out in a synagogue in the Belgian capitals of Brussels Tuesday, in what appears to be a “criminal” act, according to reports.
Belgian daily La Dernière Heure said that several people broke into synagogue, which is located in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Anderlecht, and ignited several fires on the fourth floor of the building.
The wife and two children of the synagogue’s caretaker suffered slight smoke inhalation in the fire on the top floor of the building, where they lived, said Laurens Dumont, a spokesman for the city prosecutor. The caretaker was absent at the time.
Dumont said “it would seem that the fire was set deliberately” at the synagogue in the Brussels neighborhood near the main train station, but the investigation was in its early stages.
“All leads are open,” Dumont said.
The synagogue reportedly serves roughly 240 people in the area, whose once-large Jewish community has dwindled in size…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Jewish Synagogue Torched in Anderlecht
The Jewish synagogue in the Brussels borough of Anderlecht has been target of an arson attack. Fire-fighters called to the scene after fire broke out discovered that the fire had been lit in four different places.
Fire broke out a 5:40 am on the second floor of the building that houses this Jewish place of worship. The caretaker and her two children were present at the time and suffered smoke inhalation symptoms. They were led out of the building and received treatment elsewhere.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Elysée Fears Fatal Blow to Hollande
As president is facing a number of issues
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 4 — The publication of a book on Thursday could be a “fatal blow” to a “tragic” presidential five-year term. A French president has rarely faced so many issues. Francois Hollande has indeed become the most unpopular president of the French Fifth Republic amid political failures, faux pas, a terrible economy and now the revenge of a betrayed partner, Valérie Trierweiler. A number of French commentators have likened the head of State to a killed bull.
Well-informed sources say Trierweiler’s book, which hits French bookstores today, makes the Elysée palace “shiver” for its potentially “devastating” effect on the president. This has nothing to do with a time when Hollande at the helm of the Socialist party had to find a compromise with the old guard, so adamant to reach an accord. He was caught in the middle and had to work to strike a difficult balance. Today, that period must appear to the president like a piece of cake.
Over the past ten days — as France is celebrating the great national ritual of the “rentrée”, as French nationals describe going back to work and school after the summer holiday — Hollande is facing a very tough test, starting with the division of the gauche. The most left-wing ministers have criticized Premier Manuel Vall’s economic policies, sparking a cabinet crisis and a hasty reshuffle in which the most turbulent ministers lost their posts.
The first to lose his job was Arnaud Montebourg, a left-wing ‘indignado’, known for his speeches against EU policies and in favour of economic patriotism, who was replaced by the more moderate Emmanuel Macron. This was also the week during which Michel Sapin, Hollande’s faithful finance minister, as well as a friend who studied with the president, had to recognize that France would not be able to fulfil its budget cut targets, as forecast, for 2015. The reason, he explained, is the low level of inflation. “We cannot pursue the same objectives with an inflation which becomes weak”. The consequence is that a number of welfare policies, including pensions and family subsidies, is expected to produce less savings.
It is thus clear that, in spite of the repeated calls made by Brussels, Paris will be unable to bring down the deficit to GDP ratio within the 3% threshold. “Given the situation, adding more cuts doesn’t appear viable”, said Sapin.
Some have alleged that inflation was an excuse to justify the fact that France did not reach an objective it was unable to attain anyway.
Along with great issues connected to the crisis, unemployment and the budget, Hollande is also paying the price for the significant change in customs, on the domestic front, as portrayed by Le Monde: “The book by Valérie Trierweiler, which the Elysée fears so much, does not reveal any State secret, it is no bomb, nor a scandal. It is much more: it is an act of death” — the death of the “sacredness” of the figure of the French president. One of the great pillars of the Republique has been progressively tarnished over the past few years, also by new technologies, in a phenomenon where “everything is mixed up, public and private life, the intimate and politics, in which everything is connected”. Such a diagnosis outlined by Le Monde sounds familiar to Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ministry Cuts Judges’ Holidays to Thirty Days
Cites high number of pending cases, long waits as reasons
(ANSA) — Rome, September 12 — Italy’s justice ministry announced on Friday that judges will have only 30 days for holidays starting in 2015, instead of the current 45 days.
The ministry highlighted the number of pending cases, currently 5.2 million, and the average time for a first ruling in a civil case, 945 days, as factors in their decision to close courts from August 6-31 instead of August 1-September 15.
Italy takes more than three times longer to arrive at first rulings in civil cases compared to Germany’s 300-day average.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Election in November in Emilia-Romagna for New Governor
Vote called after Vasco Errani convicted of fraud
(ANSA) — Rome, September 11 — Italians living in the central Emilia-Romagna region will go to the polls on November 23 to vote for a new governor, officials said Thursday.
Elections were triggered by the resignation of former governor Vasco Errani after he was convicted of fraud in July and sentenced to a year in prison.
The court sentenced two co-defendants in the so-called Terremerse case, both of them regional officials, to 14 months behind bars.
Errani had first been acquitted in 2012 in a fast-track procedure on charges that he favored his brother in a business deal that made use of public funds.
Prosecutors alleged that in 2005 Errani helped his brother, Giovanni, obtain one million euros in regional funds used to pay for the building of a new winery in the Terremerse cooperative, in the town of Imola.
The investigation into the loan began in 2009, after Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale suggested there may have been irregularities in the issuing of the funds.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Montezemolo to Receive 27-Mn-Euro Ferrari Golden Handshake
Ex-chairman stepped down after 23 years at helm
(ANSA) — Rome, September 11 — Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is to get a 27-million-euro golden handshake from Ferrari after announcing his 23-year stint as chairman was over on Wednesday. Montezemolo announced he was stepping down in the wake of unusually sharp criticism from Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of parent company Fiat-Chrysler (FCA), as Ferrari endures the latest in a series of disappointing seasons in Formula One.
Marchionne is taking Montezemolo’s place as Ferrari chairman. “Mr. Montezemolo will receive the post-mandate indemnity which he was granted in 2003 and which is described in the Remuneration Report published by the company (equivalent to five times the fixed annual compensation of 2,742,000 euros, i.e. in total 13,710,000 euros, payable in 20 years),” read an FCA statement.
“In addition, in consideration also of his commitment not to engage in activities in competition with the Fiat Group during the period to March 2017, Mr. Montezemolo will receive the fixed and variable component of the compensation due until this time which is the end of his original mandate in Ferrari, amounting in total to 13,253,000 euros, to be paid by January 31, 2015”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Katainen Responds to Renzi’s ‘EU Lessons’ Jibe
Commissioner says EC is ‘interpreter, not teacher
(ANSA) — Milan, September 12 — European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Jyrki Katainen responded sharply on Friday after Premier Matteo Renzi said Italy did not need lessons from the EU on respecting budget rules. “We aren’t teachers but interpreters of how well the countries respect the commitments they have made and the promises they have made to the other countries,” Katainen told the website of Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Gouda Boy, 15, ‘Has Gone to Syria’
A 15-year-old boy from Gouda is said to have gone to Syria, leaving a farewell message for friends on his Facebook page, the AD reports.
The boy, who would have started his final year of pre-college education (Havo), is of Iraqi origin, the paper says. He is thought to be ‘seeking for something concrete’ in connection with his beliefs, according to the paper.
The head teacher of his school has confirmed the boy has not attended any lessons since the summer holiday.
Five other Gouda youngsters are already known to have gone to Syria, all of them women, the Telegraaf says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Jihadist Group Established in Denmark
Millatu Ibrahim, which is reported to have “strong connections” with the Islamic State, is now active in Denmark and has released its first video aimed at recruiting other Danish Muslims to its cause.
The jihadist organisation Millatu Ibrahim, which is banned in neighbouring Germany, has established itself in Denmark.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Muslim Politician to Run for Mayor in Oslo
Shoaib Sultan, a Green Party politician and the former head of Norway’s Islamic Council, is set to run for mayor of Oslo, it was announced on Tuesday.
Sultan wants to challenge Fabian Stang of the Conservative Party to become Oslo mayor.
The nomination committee of the Green Party chose Sultan as its candidate for Oslo’s top position, reported Aftenposten.
Sultan said: “I think it is an exciting challenge. Oslo is an exciting city with great challenges and also great opportunities.”
The politician believes Oslo needs a Muslim mayor and does not see his religion as a barrier to the position.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland’s Independence Question Divides Many Families
Two short words have divided Scotland: ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. The referendum on independence has been a subject of heated conversation in pubs and homes for two years.
Polls have shown the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns almost neck and neck, and 97 percent of the electorate has registered to vote — proving interest is keen, among all sorts of people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Democrats Could be Kingmakers in Many Local Councils
The Sweden Democrats could hold the balance of power in about half of the local councils in Sweden, Swedish Radio News reports.
The party’s success in the national election, where they got 13 per cent, is mirrored in local elections around the country.
In six out of ten councils, the traditional political blocs won’t reach a majority, while the Sweden Democrats have at least the potential to hold the balance of power, according to political scientist David Karlsson, at Gothenburg University.
It remains to be seen whether the party has enough councillors to fill all the seats.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Demonstrations Against Racism in Three Largest Cities
Thousands of protesters gathered in central Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö to protest against racism and xenophobia.
The protests come following the success of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in Sunday’s elections. The Sweden Democrats won just under 13 percent of the vote in the national vote.
The demonstration in Stockholm then marched on to the Swedish Parliament. Police say the demonstrations passed peacefully, news agency TT reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arutz-7 reports:
A fire broke out in a synagogue in the Belgian capitals of Brussels Tuesday, in what appears to be a “criminal” act, according to reports.
Belgian daily La Dernière Heure said that several people broke into synagogue, which is located in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Anderlecht, and ignited several fires on the fourth floor of the building.
The wife and two children of the synagogue’s caretaker suffered slight smoke inhalation in the fire on the top floor of the building, where they lived, said Laurens Dumont, a spokesman for the city prosecutor. The caretaker was absent at the time.
Dumont said “it would seem that the fire was set deliberately” at the synagogue in the Brussels neighborhood near the main train station, but the investigation was in its early stages..
| — Hat tip: BS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Terror Police Search Near Luton Airport After ‘Asian Men Watch Planes With Range-Finder’
ANTI-TERROR police searched a field close to Luton Airport yesterday after reports of two Asian men looking at planes with a range-finder.
Armed police and sniffer dog units descended on the rural outskirts of the town after a 999 call reporting “suspicious activity.”
The worried man who made the emergency call, who didn’t want to be named, said: “There were two Asian men using a range finder and they were watching the planes going past.
“It just didn’t feel right so I called the police.” The alarm was raised just days after a bomb scare at the airport, and after terror chiefs raised the UK alert to “severe.”
Dozens of officers were dispatched to a field in Slip End — three miles from the UK’s fifth largest airport, which has 12 million passengers per year.
The suspicious activity was reported late on Sunday night. Police with sniffer dogs were still searching the area last night…
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Suez Canal Mega Projects to Drive Economic Growth in Egypt: Minister
Egypt’s investment minister, Ashraf Salman, told the Euromoney Egypt conference on Tuesday that the two Suez Canal megaprojects are important drivers for the country’s economic growth.
The Suez Canal corridor project will attract $220 billion worth of investments over 15 years, while digging a new waterway along the canal will add at least $2-5 billion in three years, said Salman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Obama’s Self-Defeating Fight
The United States has a problem with Islamic State. Its problem is that it refuses to acknowledge why Islamic State is a problem.
The problem with Islamic State is not that it is brutal. Plenty of regimes are brutal.
Islamic State poses two challenges for the US. First, unlike the Saudis and even the Iranians, IS actively recruits Americans and other Westerners to join its lines.
This is a problem because these Americans and other Westerners have embraced an ideology that is viciously hostile to every aspect of Western civilization.
Last Friday, Buzz Feed published a compilation of social media posts by Western women who have left Chicago and London and other hometowns to join IS in Syria.
As these women’s social media posts demonstrate, the act of leaving the West and joining IS involves rejecting everything the West is and everything it represents and embracing a culture of violence, murder and degradation…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Cooperation: Turkey and Qatar Discuss Bilateral Ties
President Erdogan talks with Qatari emir in Doha
(ANSAmed) — DOHA, SEPTEMBER 16 — Turkish and Qatari officials had agreed to form a high level strategic cooperation council between Turkey and Qatar as Anadolu Agency reports quoting Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan as saying in remarks to reporters in Doha, adding that foreign ministers of the two countries will begin efforts in this regard. Erdogan discussed pressing regional issues with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday, during the third official visit of his term in office. Erdogan was accompanied by Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan. The Turkish president discussed bilateral ties, the threat of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and energy cooperation with Qatari officials. The two countries were also expected to sign an agreement for Qatar to supply Turkey with 1.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas. Turkey consumes around 45 billion cubic meters of gas every year, buying 4 bcm from Algeria and 1.2 bcm from Nigeria every year. Qatar, with an approximate reserve of 885 trillion bcm according to U.S. Energy Information Agency, is one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Official Briefs Syria’s Assad on Efforts Against Islamic State
(Reuters) — Iraq’s national security adviser briefed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on efforts to counter Islamic State on Tuesday, in the first such meeting since the United States launched air strikes on the radical group in Iraq.
The United States and other Western governments have dismissed the idea of cooperating with Syria in the fight against Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. Western governments see Assad as part of the problem and say he must leave power.
But the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad, together with Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, have been important allies for Assad since the uprising against his rule erupted in 2011. Shi’ite Iraqi militias have fought on Assad’s side against the insurgency spearheaded by Sunni Islamists.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Supporter Warns of Attacks Against U.S.
A supporter of Islamic State militants has warned of attacks on the United States and its allies if they continue to carry out military action against the group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, the SITE monitoring service said.
The message on a well-known militant Islamist online forum is one of the few responses from supporters of Islamic State to Washington’s announcement last week that it was prepared to extend airstrikes against the group into Syria.
The posting on the Minbar Jihadi Media website condemned “intervention in the affairs of other peoples” and said it would trigger an equal response, SITE said late on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State in Iraq: ‘They Know Exactly What They Are Doing’
Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi played an infamous role in spurring the 2003 American invasion of his country. In an interview, he tells SPIEGEL about the rise of Islamic State, why the West misjudged the jihadists and whether it is time to cooperate with Assad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
According to Arabic media, the Islamic State’s media wing just announced that it has created a new video game where players consist of jihadis battling Iraqi and American forces.
Among other things, the purpose of the game is to “raise the morale of the mujahedin and to train children and youth how to battle the West and to strike terror into the hearts of those who oppose the Islamic State”—a reference to the Koran (e.g., 3:151).
The media wing further confirmed that “the content includes all of the organization’s military tactics against its opponents.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Key Al Qaeda Units Urge Jihad Against US-Led Battle on IS
Two key branches of al Qaeda in Yemen and North Africa called Tuesday for jihadists in Iraq and Syria to unite against the common threat from a US-led coalition.
In an unprecedented joint statement, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) urged their “brothers” in Iraq and Syria to “stop killing each other and unite against the American campaign and its evil coalition that threatens us all.”
The al Qaeda leadership has disavowed the main target of the US-led campaign, the Islamic State group (IS) that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, and has its own branch fighting in Syria, the al Nusra Front.
But the joint statement, released on two jihadist Twitter accounts, called for differences to be set aside in the face of the growing coalition.
“Make the unity of the infidel nations against you a reason for your unity against them,” it said, accusing Washington of “leading a Crusader campaign against Islam and all Muslims.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Brotherhood Cleric Declares His Support for the Islamic State
Wagdy Ghoneim, just expelled from Qatar along with other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, used to live in the United States. He served as imam at the Islamic Institute of Orange County, California in the early 2000’s, and raised funds for Hamas-linked Muslim charity KindHearts. How many people are still in the United States today who learned about Islam from Wagdy Ghoneim?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey More Willing to Re-Engage With EU and NATO, Survey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 11 — This year’s Transatlantic Trends, a survey of public opinion in the United States, Russia, Turkey and 10 European Union member states, found that Turkish respondents, who have been less engaged in the transatlantic relationship over the past several years, appeared to be more willing to re-engage with the EU and NATO, indicating a significant shift in regard to Turkish public opinion. As Today’s Zaman online reports, the number of Turkish people who think EU membership would be a good thing for Turkey increased to 53%, an increase of 8 percentage points from last year. Those who think NATO is still essential for Turkey’s security increased to 49%, representing a 10 percentage point increase from last year and an increase of 19 percentage points from 2010. “More significantly… those Turks who don’t approve (of) the Turkish government’s foreign policy support for EU membership increased from 32% in 2013 to 50% in 2014,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the Ankara director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) which releases the annual survey. The Turkish public’s earlier distancing, then warming thoughts toward the EU and NATO can be explained by developments in the region and the world, he told Today’s Zaman, saying that it was before 2010, when the Arab uprisings started, that Turkish society was feeling distant toward the West, Europe, the United States and NATO; Turkey was feeling, for the first time in decades if not centuries, few direct security threats.
Moreover, he noted that the idea that Turkey can democratize without the EU’s guidance hit a wall with the way the Turkish government chose to deal with the Gezi protests and corruption claims.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Ankara Eyeing Investors for a Greek Ghost-Village
Levissi is located on the coast across the island of Rhodes
The abadoned Greek village of Levissi, on the Turkish coast opposite the island of Rhodes, today called Kayakoy
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 15 — The Turkish government is seeking an investor for a ghost-village once inhabited by Greek population, as GreekReporter website writes. Greek village Levissi, now called Kayakoy, located on the Turkish coast across the Greek island of Rhodes, will be auctioned by the Culture Ministry. Turkey seeks an investor who will be interested in restoring the village in order to exploit it for touristic reasons. Levissi has hundreds of abandoned houses and two churches. Tourists who visit the neighboring seaside resort of Fethiye, often use the deserted village as a parking lot.
Levissi was abandoned after its Greek inhabitants returned to Greece, according to the population exchange between the two countries in June 30, 1923. It is not the first time the Turkish state tries to sell the Greek village. During the first unsuccessful auction, activists launched a Facebook page called ‘Save Kayakoy,’ urging for any restorations to be carried out in coordination with Greece, and be suitable for the environment as well as the area’s history. The bidder will rent the village for 49 years and will be responsible for its restoration and touristic exploitation that includes the construction of facilities (rooms to rent, shops) and the restoration of the area’s archaeological site. According to estimates by Turkish officials, the cost of the project will reach 10.5 million euros while two companies have already expressed interest. However, many oppose to the village’s restoration as it would lose its authenticity and originality.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: 40,000 Forced to Attend Religious Schools, Media
Alevi minority denounces forced assimilation
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 16 — Some 40,000 students have been forcibly enrolled in Islamic religious schools against their families’ will, in Islamic religious schools, according to independent media reports Tuesday.
According to leading independent daily Taraf, the new school year has started amid controversy after thousands of families refused to send their children to religious schools and demanded their transfer.
So-called Imam-hatip religious schools have multiplied under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic AKP party, which has been in power since 2002. The opposition has accused Erdogan of seeking to ‘re-islamize’ the country’s institutions.
Many students from the Alavi minority, a liberal branch of Islam which does not identify itself with the Sunni majority in Turkey, have been enrolled in these schools.
Taraf reported that the Alevi community has denounced an attempt to be forcibly “assimilated” by the majority.
Education Minister Nabi Avci has also recently announced that all schools in the country will have prayer rooms, sparking a controversy. Avci however said praying will not be mandatory in schools.
The European Court of Human rights has recently condemned Turkey for introducing over the past few years mandatory courses on Sunni Islam in all schools.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Welcomes Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Forced to Leave Qatar
Turkish PM (sic) Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Ankara would welcome seven top Muslim Brotherhood (MB) figures who are being forced to leave Qatar after heavy pressure from Gulf countries.
In a press meeting with journalists after returning from an official trip to the Arab country, Erdogan said the Islamist leaders can come to Turkey like any other foreign visitor, if they wish to do so. Turkey’s ruling moderate Islamist AK Party backed the Muslim Brotherhood after Egypt’s army ousted president Mohamed Morsi from office in July 2013.
He added that none of the figures have yet contacted Turkish officials about a possible asylum application.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish President Considers Buffer Zone on Southern Border
(AGI) Ankara, Sept 16 — Turkey is considering the creation of a “buffer zone” on its border with Syria and Iraq to protect itself from Sunni Islamic State jihadists, the Hurriyet newspaper reported President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Tuesday. “The armed forces are working (on plans)” he said.
Erdogan added that it was a matter of being ready to implement the measure when he decides it necessary. The move comes in response to criticisms that Ankara has left the borders open for thousands of foreign fighters to enter Syria and Iraq to join up with ISIS.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UN: ISIS Deliberately Exposes Children to Violence
“Forced to watch executions and walk next to bodies”
(ANSAmed) — GENEVA — Terrorists with ISIS in Syria deliberately expose children to violence and seek to indoctrinate them, the UN Commission of inquiry on Syria said Tuesday.
Presenting the latest update on crimes committed in the conflict in Syria to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Commission President Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said “children are invited to watch executions and then walk amid crucified bodies in squares”. “The indoctrination of children is a priority for ISIS”, he added.
Pinheiro said he had “no more words” to describe the gravity of crimes committed in Syria. “While the number of victims continues to grow, their stories and their suffering appear increasingly stifled by the greatness of this tragedy”, he noted.
In the document, the Commission cited 12 reports on victims of violence and crimes from a total of 3,200 obtained by the Commission since 2011. Presented anonymously, reports include the story of a journalist tortured by government forces and subsequently by the Islamic State and that of a doctor who has treated barrel bomb victims.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Ground Troops a Possibility Says Dempsey
‘I would go to president’ if strategy fails says top general
(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — US ground forces could be deployed against Islamic State (ISIS) militants if the US-led strategy of air strikes and advising Iraqi forces fails, top US General Martin Dempsey said Tuesday.
President Barack Obama has repeatedly ruled out the use of ground troops while authorising air strikes to “degrade and destroy” the ISIS militants, who have seized swathes of Syria and Iraq and declared a “caliphate” there.
General Dempsey said he believed the international coalition against ISIS was currently the “appropriate way forward” but added: “if that fails to be true, and there are threats to the United States, then I of course would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of US military ground forces”.
Under the current plan, he confirmed that US military advisers would help the Iraqi army to plan attacks against ISIS.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Ebola virus is currently causing a devastating and unprecedented outbreak in West Africa, but could the virus create a doomsday scenario by turning airborne?
Although one infectious-disease expert has voiced concern that the Ebola virus could gain the ability to spread through the air, others say this scenario is extremely unlikely. What’s more, an “airborne Ebola” might actually be a less dangerous virus than the strain involved in the current outbreak, experts said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Number of Non-Western Immigrants Taking Early Retirement Exploding
The number of non-Western immigrants on early retirement benefits (førtidspension) has increased by 39 percent since 2008, according to an analysis by LG Insight.
The analysis showed that pension payments to immigrants have increased by nearly 2 billion kroner since 2010 as the number of non-Western immigrants in the country exploded during the financial crisis.
Last year, 100,000 immigrants were on full-time government benefits of some sort.
“The analysis shows an increasing predominance of immigrants from non-Western countries on public assistance since 2008,” LG consultant Lars Larsen told the newsletter Mandag Morgen.
Larsen said that people are no longer taking unemployment benefits while they look for work, opting instead to leave the workforce altogether.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Alfano Will Ask Government to Shut Down Mare Nostrum
Interior minister says Frontex Plus to replace rescue operation
(ANSA) — Rome, September 15 — Italy’s interior ministry will ask the government to discontinue the Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation when Frontex Plus begins in November, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Monday.
“Once Europe is there with ships, helicopters and all the necessary equipment, we’ll have achieved our objective of clarifying that that border is an European border, a Schengen border, not an Italian border,” Alfano said.
Frontex Plus is an expanded version of EU border agency Frontex, and is the result of Italy’s calls for the EU to step in to shoulder some of the burden from the influx of immigrants arriving by sea, most of whom make Italy their first stop.
Italy set up Mare Nostrum in October 2013 after 400 people perished in two migrant boat disasters off the coast of Sicily.
The operation costs nine million euros a month, taking up the bulk of the Navy’s budget.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 1,500 Immigrants Arrive at Italian Ports
‘A humanitarian crisis without precedent’ says United Nations
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Ships brought rescued immigrants to three Italian ports on Tuesday, marking a total of 1,513 new immigrant arrivals in one morning alone.
Of Tuesday’s arrivals, 837 immigrants disembarked at the port of Salerno, 507 in Vibo Valentia, and 169 in Catania.
At the weekend, over 800 immigrants died or went missing in boating disasters in the Mediterranean.
“This is a humanitarian crisis without precedent,” said the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
UNHCR estimates that 2,500 immigrants have died in Mediterranean waters since the beginning of the year, 2,200 of those in just the few months since the beginning of June. Last week off the coast of Malta, when 500 immigrants drowned or went missing after a boat sank, an official with the Libyan Navy said.
“There are so many dead bodies that they’re floating on the sea”.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) called that particular disaster “a mass homicide”, as it involved human traffickers.
UNCHR estimates that 130,000 immigrants have arrived in Europe since the beginning of 2014, which is already double the figure for all of 2013, when 60,000 immigrants were registered.
Of the 130,000 immigrants who have arrived on European shores since the start of the year, UNCHR estimates an overwhelming 118,000, or 90%, arrived in Italy, “most of whom were rescued by Italy’s Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Melilla Civil Guard Chief Investigated Over African Migrant Deportations
A court in the Spanish north African exclave of Melilla is investigating the local Civil Guard chief for allegedly carrying out on-the-spot handovers of illegal sub-Saharan migrants trying to jump the border back into Moroccan territory.
The events under investigation took place on June 18, when a group of 400 Africans attempted to jump the triple-layer security fence that separates Melilla from Morocco. Half of them got stuck in the spaces between the barriers, and were allegedly marched back to Morocco by the Civil Guard.
Under Spanish law, illegal immigrants who make it on to Spanish soil cannot be immediately deported, but must be taken to a temporary holding center to receive medical assistance and be identified. They should then be released until they are served with official deportation papers, a process that can take months. Some migrants are flown to internment centers on the Spanish mainland under court order, but can only be held for a maximum of 60 days, after which they are released again.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “Euthanasia Not for Solving Society’s Failings”
Dr Wim Distelmans, palliative care expert and one of the people who worked closely on the introduction of Belgium’s euthanasia law, has attacked the decision to allow a Belgian prisoner who has been in jail for three decades to undergo euthanasia.
Dr Distelmans says that carrying out euthanasia on this person would amount to getting euthanasia to solve society’s problems.
Prisoner Frank Van den Bleeken has been given permission to undergo euthanasia in hospital. The inmate requested the intervention claiming that his psychological suffering was insufferable after having been in prison for 30 years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The sciences can be a sanctuary for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, but biases may still discourage many from coming out.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Police Use Dating Sites to Hunt Down Gay People
Though homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, police have been using social media and smartphone applications to hunt down and arrest gays and lesbians. Two gay Egyptians, who hide their sexuality and live in fear of being arrested, tell us their story.
A week ago, seven men were arrested after they appeared in a video showing a marriage ceremony between two men. The footage showed a gay couple exchanging vows and rings under a traditional canopy on a boat on the Nile, in the presence of a small group of friends. The footage was shared across social media and was picked up by the local press, who condemned this ceremony.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
@Scotland’s Independence Question Divides Many Families
Not on the point that Westminster politics have failed, even to the extent that the Labour Leader is forced out of a working class strong hold and Labour councillors are being chased down the high streets of small towns, the progressivism of the Conservative Party was evicted from Scotland years ago.
The indyref has become a mass movement in the rejection and possibly ejection of the progressivism of the three major UK political parties. The Westminster political class were too busy fiddling the accounts while Scotland seethed, who knows if that was a deliberate negligence.
Another synagogue
What made the synagogue in Nigeria collapse only days ago?