Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/6/2014

President Obama has decided to delay any executive action on immigration reform until after the November congressional elections. According to the most recent reports, Mr. Obama is concerned that any such action might endanger the re-election of Democrats in Congress. Hispanic groups have voiced their disappointment with the president’s decision.

In other news, the latest polls show that for the first time, more Scots want to secede from the UK than want to remain in the Union with England.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, LS, Papa Whiskey, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Italy: Codacons Considering Class Action Suit Against Government
 
USA
» 2 Arrested After Starting Bar Fight, Making Threats, Volusia Cops Say
» At Chautauqua Institution, The Truth About Qaradawi and Terrorism Will Out
» New Mosque Being Built in Lexington
» Slain Rochester Police Officer Mourned, Remembered as Outstanding Officer
 
Europe and the EU
» Army of Civil Servants Prepare for the Battle for Scotland
» E-Cigarette Criticism Alarmist Says British Team
» France: Ex-Hostage Says Museum Shooting Suspect Was Among Syria Captors
» Investigation Launched Into Possible Extremist Links at Cardiff Mosque Where Three British Jihadis Worshipped
» ISIS Recruitment Moves From Online Networks to British Mosques
» Islamists Patrol German City as Shariah Controlled Zone
» Italy: Cash Detection Dog ‘Bacon’ Sniffs Out 100,000 Euros
» Italy: Seven Neapolitans Arrested for Stealing Rolexes in Rome
» Italy: Puglia ‘Bollywood’ Wedding Fuels Anger Over Marines’ Plight
» Italy: ‘Vast Deposits of Gold’ In Monte Rosa, Says Scholar
» Italy: Altar Bathroom Shocks Tourists at Palermo’s Cathedral
» Italy: Judges Dismiss Investigation of Rai Journalists
» Italy: Fiat Offers 500 Million Euros in Bonds
» Man Who Allegedly Recruited Jihadis in Italy Arrested
» Norway: Killer Breivik Wants to Start Fascist Party
» One-Way Mars Colony Project Launches Suborbital Spaceflight Raffle
» Pauselli Third Italian Ever at Paris’s Crazy Horse
» Salafists Form ‘Sharia Police’ In Order to Enforce Sharia Law in Germany
» Spain: Barcelona Fights Uncivilized and Low-Cost Tourism
» Sweden: Cars Set Alight in Stockholm Suburb
» UK: ‘How Cool is This?’ Obama Visits Stonehenge
» UK: CAGE Events Feature Roster of Extremists
» UK: EDL in Discussions With Police Over Demo [Rotherham]
» UK: Man Appears in Court Charged With Beheading
» UK: Nick Salvadore, Suspect for Beheading of Palmira Silva, Is Would-be Cage-Fighter and Muslim Convert
» UK: Police Chief at Centre of Rotherham Child Sex Abuse Scandal Receives Death Threats After Refusing to Quit
» UK: Scouts Pull Out of Rotherham Show Over ‘Child Safety Fears’
» What the Scottish Independence Referendum Could Mean for Orkney
 
Balkans
» Bor: First Mosque in Eastern Serbia
 
North Africa
» Egypt Charges Ex-President Mursi With Leaking State Secrets to Qatar
 
Middle East
» Al-Qaeda Closes in on Syrian Christian Stronghold
» How Our Allies in Kuwait and Qatar Funded Islamic State
» Inside ISIS: From Border Bootcamp to Battle, Jihad is Run With Ruthless Skill
» Iran: Little Progress Made in Verifying Alleged Tehran’s Nuclear Research Program: IAEA
» Islamic State Says Executes Second Lebanese Soldier
» Khamenei ‘Backs Cooperation With US Against Islamic State’
» Nick Clegg: ‘Britain Should Play a Part to Combat Barbaric People in ISIL’
» Syrian Warplanes Hit Islamic State-Run Bakery, Training Camp: Monitor
» Syria: Talks to Free Captured Fiji Soldiers Collapse
» Syrian Troops Kill 16 Rebels Near Israel Amid Ongoing Battles Elsewhere
» Syrian Troops Recapture Military Base From Rebels Near Damascus
 
Russia
» Russia Says NATO Using Ukraine for Own Purposes
 
South Asia
» 9 Militants Killed in Afghan Blast, Airstrike
» Girl, 16, Raped, Killed After Defying India Tribunal
» India Asked to Send Italian Marine Home After Stroke
 
Far East
» High-Tech Chopsticks Developed to Combat Food Safety Issues in China
» Modi-Abe Meeting “Opens a New Phase for Asia and the World”
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Military Vows ‘Everything’ To Defend Nigeria Against Boko Haram
» Sierra Leone in Lockdown in Effort to Contain Ebola
» Sierra Leone Launches Nationwide ‘Lockdown’ To Halt Spread of Ebola
» Somali Jihadist ‘Godane’ Killed by USA, White House Confirms
» Somalia: Slain Al-Shabaab Chief: Militant, Ideologue, Poet
» Study Simulates Likelihood of Ebola Spread
» Zimbabwe: Go Back to England, Mugabe Tells Whites
 
Immigration
» France: Calais Migrants: We’ll ‘Never Give Up’ on UK Dream
» Italy: Detained Migrants Torch Mattresses in Ponte Galeria Protest
» Landing on a Hopeful Shore, Italy’s 100,000th Migrant
» Obama Delays Executive Action on Immigration, Officials Say
» Obama Delays Immigration Action Until After Elections
» UK: Major Disturbance at Immigration Centre After Detainee’s Death
 
Culture Wars
» Italy: Gay Adoptions ‘End of Civilization’ Says Northern League MEP
» Sweden Accepts Juncker’s Commission Despite Lack of Women
 

Italy: Codacons Considering Class Action Suit Against Government

Consumer group says civil servant purchasing power down 10.5%

(ANSA) — Rome, September 5 — Civil servant purchasing power has fallen 10.5% since 2010, with an additional 2% predicted for 2015, said consumer group Codacons on Friday.

The group attributed the drop to the government’s 2010 reform measure which put a salary freeze and block on contract bargaining for civil servants.

The group said that it is studying the feasibility of bringing a class action lawsuit against the government for its decision to continue the current contract block through 2015.

“The decision to extend the salary freeze into 2015 harms Italy and its civil servants, creating discrimination and unequal treatment with respect to other workers,” said Codacons president Carlo Rienzi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

2 Arrested After Starting Bar Fight, Making Threats, Volusia Cops Say

Man threaten to ‘kidnap an American, behead him,’ according to report

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — Two men are facing charges after Volusia County deputies said they started a fight at a bar Wednesday night.

Staff at the Jus’ Beachy Bar on Ocean Shore Boulevard claimed they refused to serve alcohol to 54-year-old Faisal Albagdadi and 30-year-old Ahmed Hindi after they walked into the bar already drunk.

“I need cops at Jus’ Beachy Pecker’s Pub immediately. I got a huge fight going. I mean they’re tearing (expletive) up,” the caller told 911 dispatchers. “We wouldn’t even serve him when he came in, he was so drunk.”

Deputies said that’s when the men got angry and attacked the customers.

“They’re using chairs and everything else,” the caller told dispatchers.

Deputies said the men smashed six bar stools, threw several glasses that cut one woman in the eye and beat up a couple of men. At one point, the fight got so out of control, the dispatcher couldn’t get a hold of the caller.

The men took off before deputies arrived, but the caller was able to get their tag number and the description of their car. Ormond Beach police then quickly tracked down the car and arrested the men.

The arrest report showed that not only did Hindi deny initiating the bar fight, deputies said Albagdadi was uncooperative and threatened to “kidnap an American and behead him, once he’s released from jail.”

Both men face criminal mischief and battery charges. The other customers were not seriously injured. However, the men allegedly caused more than $1,200 in damage.

Albagdadi was previously arrested on Aug. 23 for drunk driving charges.

           — Hat tip: LS [Return to headlines]
 

At Chautauqua Institution, The Truth About Qaradawi and Terrorism Will Out

By Rachel Lipsky

To fully appreciate the meaning of interfaith dialogues with so-called “moderate” Muslims and friends, consider the apt Sears Optical commercial. “Mama,” Kitty’s myopic owner, fails to see without her glasses. She opens the door to let Kitty in to “snuggle with mama” but instead, a raccoon?known to carry rabies?runs in and jumps in with ‘mama’ on her cozy bed.

Consider this an analogy for a distressing drama in progress at Chautauqua Institution, a strikingly beautiful summer retreat in Chautauqua, N.Y. While enveloped by pastoral landscape, Lake Chautauqua, beautiful houses and gardens, and enriched by music, visual arts, ballet, opera, symphony, chamber music and much more, Chautauqua is opening its doors to another sort of rabid beast.

After toying with the idea for many years, Chautauqua’s religion department this summer announced plans to add a Cordoba House to the Institution’s “Abrahamic family,” to be led by the infamous Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a move it describes as “highly supported by Chautauqua Faith leaders.”

What’s the rush? Why now, when bands of Islamic brigands roam much of the Middle East and Africa, and Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers worldwide endanger Western civilization? Why at this moment, as Islamic jihadists slaughter Christians throughout the entireMiddleEast as well as elsewhere. After all, Chautauqua Institution was founded by Protestant Christians.

Rather than outrage over endemic tyrannical Islamic abuses of Christians, associate religion department director Maureen Rovegno expresses what an objective individual could at best describe as naiveté:

[Return to headlines]
 

New Mosque Being Built in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A new mosque is being built in Lexington by a Muslim congregation that has worshipped in the city since the late 1970s.

The new $1.5 million, 8,000-square foot building next to the existing Masjid Bilal Ibn Rabah on Russell Cave Road…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Slain Rochester Police Officer Mourned, Remembered as Outstanding Officer

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Police Department has identified the officer shot and killed in the line of duty Wednesday night as Daryl Pierson.

Thomas Johnson III, 38, was arraigned Thursday evening on eight counts, including aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, three counts of assault, and three weapons counts, according to the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.

Police and emergency crews rushed to the area of Hudson Avenue and Warsaw Street shortly before 9:30 p.m., where according to Rochester Police Chief Michael Ciminelli, Johnson shot Pierson following a foot pursuit. Ciminelli said Pierson was fatally wounded and never had a chance to fire his weapon.

At a news conference Thursday, Ciminelli said Pierson leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 4 and 3-months-old. Pierson was 32 years old.

[Check the second sidebar to see what the race of the perp is. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Army of Civil Servants Prepare for the Battle for Scotland

LONDON, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — Six centuries ago Scotland’s battles for independence from the English were fought with swords, axes and bows and arrows. In less than two weeks the battle for independence will be won or lost, with a war of words as the weapon on both sides.

This verbal clash will continue until the dying seconds of the Scottish Independence Referendum, taking place on Sept. 18…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

E-Cigarette Criticism Alarmist Says British Team

‘Could save many lives’ say UCL researchers

(ANSA) — Rome, September 5 — Warnings over e-cigarettes are alarmist and increasing their use could save many lives, a team from University College London (UCL) says.

For every million smokers who switch to e-cigarettes, more than 6,000 lives a year could be saved, according to the researchers. Meanwhile another group of London-based experts has attacked criticism of e-cigarettes as “misleading”.

Last week the World Health Organization called for e-cigarette use to be banned in public places and workplaces.

The WHO said this was because they could increase the levels of some toxins and nicotine in the air.

Its report also warned about the risk of e-cigarettes acting as a gateway by which non-smokers might start smoking real cigarettes.

But the UCL team said the numbers of non-smokers using e-cigarettes amounted to less than 1% of the population, according to the Smoking Toolkit study, a monthly survey of smokers in England.

Prof Robert West added that even though some toxins were present in vapour from e-cigarettes the concentrations were very low.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France: Ex-Hostage Says Museum Shooting Suspect Was Among Syria Captors

A freed French hostage has said the suspected gunman behind the deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May was among his Islamic extremist captors in Syria.

Writing on the website of his former employer Le Point magazine, Nicolas Henin said Mehdi Nemmouche, who has been extradited to Belgium and held for questioning, was his jailer between July and December 2013…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Investigation Launched Into Possible Extremist Links at Cardiff Mosque Where Three British Jihadis Worshipped

A charity watchdog is examining possible extremist links at the Cardiff mosque where three British jihadis once worshipped, it has been revealed.

The Charity Commission launched the probe into the Al Manar centre in the Welsh capital amid ‘concerns’ that have been raised over the mosque.

The body says it is ‘engaged’ with the Al Manar Centre Trust on the ‘regulatory issues in question’ — but it declined to expand on what exactly it was looking into…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Recruitment Moves From Online Networks to British Mosques

Growing evidence that Britain is a specific target for jihadis looking to exploit fundamentalist Islam

Networks of radicals are re-emerging in British mosques and elsewhere to encourage and facilitate Muslims wanting to travel to Syria and Iraq to fight for Islamic State (Isis).

Until now most fighters from Britain who are known to have travelled to Syria have been persuaded and helped via online networks where extremists provide advice on crossing the Turkish border and linking up with Isis fighters.

But a combination of a Turkish border clampdown and a focus by counter-terrorist police on taking down online networks has led to recruitment on the ground becoming more important, sources say.

Communities of radicals recruiting young Brits are thought to include preachers, battle-hardened returning fighters and jihad sympathisers…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islamists Patrol German City as Shariah Controlled Zone

A group of radical Islamists have formed a vigilante squad, wearing homemade vests marked “shariah police” as they try to deter young Muslims from drinking and vice in a German industrial city.

German police said Friday they are seeking ways to stop the bearded young fundamentalists, who have been sighted on several recent occasions at night.

The radicals have distributed leaflets describing the sleazy nightlife area they monitor near the main railway station of Wuppertal — a city of 340,000 — as a “Shariah Controlled Zone.” They wore fluorescent orange traffic-safety vests marked “shariah police” in English on the back.

The Wuppertal radicals, who have won some converts among young ethnic Germans and have exasperated authorities with previous publicity gambits, are followers of Salafism, a puritanical stream of Islam…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Cash Detection Dog ‘Bacon’ Sniffs Out 100,000 Euros

Italian man was allegedly trying to take money to France

(ANSA) — Ventimiglia, September 1 — A young Labrador detection dog named Bacon, trained by the finance police in cash detection, discovered 100,000 non-declared euros on Monday in a car with Spanish plates.

The car was driven by an Italian man allegedly attempting to cross the money over illegally into France. The finance police sequestered 45,000 euros, equal to 50% of the amount as required by currency law.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Seven Neapolitans Arrested for Stealing Rolexes in Rome

‘Cruised upscale neighborhoods for victims’

(ANSA) — Naples, September 2 — Seven Neapolitans were arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing Rolexes in posh areas of Rome, judicial sources said.

The men, aged 27 to 56, allegedly held up victims at gun point after cruising on scooters through the upscale Salario, Parioli, Flaminio and Prati districts, police said.

The arrests took place in Naples’ grimily picturesque Quartieri Spagnoli area.

On August 25 a five-man Italian ‘Rolex Gang’ was arrested on Ibiza.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Puglia ‘Bollywood’ Wedding Fuels Anger Over Marines’ Plight

Mayor shrugs off grumbling over Indian mega wedding

(ANSA) Brindisi, September 3 — Hundreds of Italians have written to the mayor of the Puglian town of Fasano protesting the lavish wedding that was starting Wednesday of Indian iron magnate Pramod Agarwal’s daughter in the home region of the two Italian marines awaiting trial in India.

“Let them marry anywhere but not in Puglia,” the emails said, including one from Admiral Giuseppe Nardini, pointing out that marines Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre, who are locked in a long-running international dispute over charges they shot and killed an Indian fisherman, hail from the southern region.

The Bollywood-style, three-day extravaganza climaxing the marriage of Agarwal’s daughter Ritika and bridegroom Rohan Meta was beginning Wednesday evening and will feature at least two elephants and 800 guests “representing 20% of Indian GDP between them,” the mayor, Lello Di Bari, explained.

“These controversies are absurd,” Di Lello said, “a mayor can’t stop a wedding”. The mayor said he will wear a yellow ribbon to recall the plight of the marines languishing in the Italian Embassy in Delhi but he added “such wedding parties only bring positive publicity, they are good for our area”.

By Wednesday afternoon the bride and groom were ensconsed in one of two enormous structures that have been especially built, and local English-speaking girls have been hired to shower the bridal party with flower petals.

The couple was due to move later to the local district of Pettolecchia where the fairytale wedding ceremony was due to be held in a sprawling villa belonging to a Swiss banker.

Agarwal’s daughter Vineeta in 2011 tied the knot at the Venice San Clemente Palace Hotel during a 72-hour celebration that took six months of planning and a staff of 500 and featured 50 flower-entwined Murano glass chandeliers, two golden elephant statues, and a blimp.

Security has been beefed up for the latest wedding against possible protests, the town hall said, but the main threat to the extravaganza evidently was unseasonal bad weather.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ‘Vast Deposits of Gold’ In Monte Rosa, Says Scholar

Last gold mine in area closed in 1961

(ANSA) — Turin, September 3 — Vast deposits of gold “as large as those in South Africa” are to be found in the Monte Rosa mountain in Italy’s northern Verbania province, the scholar Rita Mabel Schiavo claimed Wednesday.

Schiavo said the last gold mine in the area was closed in 1961 following an accident in which four people died, adding that she will prospect for the gold in Monte Rosa during Italy’s “Planet Earth Week,” which is a series of “Geo-events” being held on the peninsula from October 12 to October 19.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Altar Bathroom Shocks Tourists at Palermo’s Cathedral

‘It’s been there for years’ says diocese

(ANSA) — Trento, September 4 — Tourists were shocked on Thursday after seeing bathroom direction signs prominently featured in an altar at Palermo’s landmark cathedral.

Two large signs reading “WC Toilette” with large arrows indicating where to go to find said bathroom were placed in front and in an altar, causing uproar from parish goers and tourists.

“I can’t believe it. How could they put a bathroom behind an altar?” one tourist said.

In a phone interview with Ansa, Parish priest Filippo Sarullo said that lack of space was reason for incorporating a bathroom into the non-Eucharist celebrating altar. “That is the only place in the entire cathedral where a bathroom could be placed. I am sorry about the complaints of the faithful, but we prefer to provide a service rather than not provide it. This is an altar where no one celebrates, the tabernacle does not preserve the Eucharist. That would indeed be serious”, Sarullo said.

According to the diocese of Palermo, the bathroom has been there for “years”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Judges Dismiss Investigation of Rai Journalists

Cite lack of proper accountability system at state broadcaster

(ANSA) — Rome, September 5 — Judges on Friday dismissed an investigation of forty-four journalists who were being looked at for allegedly filing fraudulent time sheets with state broadcaster RAI, ANSA sources said.

The judges said that the “deficient practice” in place at RAI to verify overtime and actual hours worked wasn’t sufficiently structured to provide accurate evidence of discrepancies and therefore couldn’t be automatically attributable to the employees in question.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Fiat Offers 500 Million Euros in Bonds

Sale comes weeks before new automaker to list on Wall Street

(ANSA) — Milan, September 5 — Fiat SpA confirmed Friday that it is reopening the sale of 500 million euros of bonds maturing in July 2022 at a fixed rate of 4.25%. The yield was reduced by 50 basis points from an offer earlier in summer.

Fiat said orders have exceeded more than one billion euros on bonds that have been rated B2 by Moody’s and BB- by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.

The bond sale comes only weeks before the debut of the new Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) listing on Wall Street, expected in mid-October.

One final step in the merger process came when Fiat announced that shareholders who did not approve of the deal had cashed out shares that totalled less than the 500 million-euro threshold set by the automaker.

Fiat said Thursday that shareholder had cashed out 463 million euros in equity.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Man Who Allegedly Recruited Jihadis in Italy Arrested

Arrest operation involved over 200 agents

(ANSA) — Venice, September 5 — Bilal Bosnic, a 41-year-old member of the ultraconservative Wahhabi religious sect, was arrested on Friday by local police in Bosnia for allegedly recruiting Bosnian jihadists in northern Italy, local media sources said.

Investigators allege Bosnic frequented Islamic centers in northern Italy in order to recruit jihadists, and he was allegedly responsible for recruiting Ismar Mesinovic, a Bosnian who was killed in a shooting in Syria in January.

More than 15 others were arrested and a large quantity of weapons seized in the operation, which involved more than 200 agents.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Killer Breivik Wants to Start Fascist Party

Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011, says he wants to establish a “fascist” party from prison, claiming this could prevent a repeat of his massacre.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One-Way Mars Colony Project Launches Suborbital Spaceflight Raffle

A private Mars colonization effort is asking for your help to make its bold plans a reality, and it’s dangling a pretty hefty prize as an incentive — a trip to suborbital space.

The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which aims to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2025, announced today (Sept. 4) that it’s raffling off a round-trip suborbital flight aboard XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx rocket plane.

To enter the drawing, people can buy Mars One gear or make a donation to the organization. The money raised through the effort, which is called “Ticket to Rise,” will help fund a mock Mars mission here on Earth in 2015 and a robotic demonstration mission to the Red Planet in 2018, Mars One representatives said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pauselli Third Italian Ever at Paris’s Crazy Horse

Dancer training six hours a day for Oct 7 debut

(ANSA) — Paris, August 29 — Giulia Pauselli has become the third Italian ever at the legendary Crazy Horse in the French capital. Prior to her, the only dancers from Italy to be granted a place were Rosa Fumetto in the 1970s and Gloria di Parma (stage name used by Deborah Lettieri) in 2012. “Getting into the Crazy Horse was my dream, and I had already auditioned for a place three years ago in Paris. In June I tried again, showing up for the casting call during the ‘Forever Crazy’ tour at Milan’s Teatro Nuovo, and was selected,” Pauselli, 23, told ANSA.

Born in Florence, she has in the past been a competitor on Maria De Filippi’s talent show ‘Amici’. For the past few weeks she has been in Paris, getting the training necessary to become a true ‘Crazy Girl’ in terms of posture, physical shape, and choreography. Pauselli’s debut is slated for October 7, when she will be given a stage name that befits her personality and origins and will be used for her entire career in the renowned Paris cabaret of nude, seductive dancing created by Alain Bernardin in 1951. “When I was a a little girl, every December 31 I always used to watch the Crazy Horse show on TV with my parents,” the she said, smiling, her hair worn in a black bob and with red lipstick, stiletto heels and a t-shirt on. “These topless dancers on their toes have always fascinated me. I have always aspired to their sensuality.” “This is the first time that I will be performing nude, but it doesn’t bother me,” she said. “We are very protected and it is not a striptease. The dancers are clothed in the projections of colored lights. The show is a celebration of women, never vulgar.” At age 14 Giulia moved to Milan to study at La Scala, dreaming of becoming a star ballet dancer at the famous opera house.

“But I am too curvy, and it would have been too difficult,” she said. “So I sought out another way to keep dancing with a smile on my face. The Amici school helped me a lot.” For the Crazy Horse, Pauselli — who recently appeared in the theater tour ‘Cinecittà’ with Christian De Sica — gave up a chance to take part in the new dance team of ‘Sogno o Son Desto’, a TV show with Massimo Ranieri that will go on air starting September 13 on state broadcaster RAI. “I put Crazy Horse in front of all else,” she said. “The Crazy Horse is a brand name, it marks you for life.” Her favorite choreography is called ‘Rougir de Desir’, a solo number. Though the rehearsals are tiring — requiring up to six hours a day of training — she is “happy”. “I try to separate my work from my life,” she said. “Inside I am a Crazy Horse dancer and outside I have my own identity. My place is here. I will never go back.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Salafists Form ‘Sharia Police’ In Order to Enforce Sharia Law in Germany

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti), Ekaterina Blinova — Eleven members of the self-proclaimed “Sharia Police,” which were allegedly trying to “influence and recruit” German youths, were stopped by local police on Wednesday, September 3, in Wuppertal, a city of 350,000…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Barcelona Fights Uncivilized and Low-Cost Tourism

With new rules on apartment rentals and more local police

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 3 — The mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias (CiU) has announced new rules concerning apartment rentals for tourists and more local police to check on uncivilized tourists after an uprising of residents from the Barceloneta distric, which spread to other neighbourhoods like Raval and Born. Over 2,000 people last Saturday demonstrated against mass tourism and widespread uncivil behaviour by tourists.

In statements quoted by local media, Trias assured that the new rules concerning apartment rentals — which will need to take place in specific buildings — will be approved in the fall.

Legislation will include limitations on rentals to tourists to fight “irregular practices” by owners and real estate dealers.

The mayor said the new legislation will not be popular with promoters and agencies who favour speculation.

Yesterday, the Association of touristic apartments in Barcelona (Apartur) asked in a statement “not to criminalize the whole sector” but instead called on authorities to pass sanctions against those violating the law. For his part, Trias noted that the city was vying to promote a new type of tourism connected to culture and congresses against disrespectful tourists and “intolerant and inadmissible behaviour” by low-cost visitors. He also said some 100 other local police officers will join the force for this purpose.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Cars Set Alight in Stockholm Suburb

Police say a gang of young people have set fire to around 20 cars on the south-west outskirts of Stockholm.

Fire fighters had a police escort, but did not come under attack or threat while putting out the fires.

In spring 2013 over a hundred cars were burned in the outlying areas of Stockholm that suffer from high poverty.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘How Cool is This?’ Obama Visits Stonehenge

The president was given a guided tour of the prehistoric landmark after getting his helicopter pilot to touch down unannounced

Barack Obama enjoyed a spot of sightseeing after the Nato summit with a surprise visit to Stonehenge, saying of the prehistoric landmark: “How cool is this?”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: CAGE Events Feature Roster of Extremists

The threat posed to the UK by British Muslims fighting in Syria and Iraq has seen increased activity by the government in recent months to challenge domestic extremism.

For the prisoner support group CAGE however this represents “an ideological attack” on the Muslim community — with activists ‘criminalised because they care’ — and it is holding a number of events to highlight this.

Featuring some of the UK’s most notorious hate preachers, these events have already been promoted to students, and will likely continue to be so in the coming weeks…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: EDL in Discussions With Police Over Demo [Rotherham]

An EDL camp has been in place outside Rotherham’s Main Street police station ever since the damning report into the extent of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham was published last week, revealing 1,400 children were abused over 16 years by largely Pakistani men…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Man Appears in Court Charged With Beheading

Nicholas Salvador, 25, was led into the glass-fronted dock with his hands cuffed behind his back

A 25 year-old man has appeared in court accused of beheading a grandmother with a machete in her back garden.

Nicholas Salvador, 25, was led into the glass-fronted dock with his hands cuffed behind his back, escorted by four uniformed police officers.

Salvador, who is unemployed, is accused of killing Palmira Silva, 82, in the garden of her home in Nightingale Road, Edmonton, on Thursday. He has also been charged with assaulting a police officer, Pc Bernie Hamilton…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Nick Salvadore, Suspect for Beheading of Palmira Silva, Is Would-be Cage-Fighter and Muslim Convert

Nick Salvadore, 25, has been charged with murder after spending a night in hospital being treated for injuries during struggle with officers

The man accused of beheading a great-grandmother in her back garden is a would-be cage fighter who converted to Islam five years ago, it has emerged.

Nicholas Salvadore, 25, was charged late on Friday with the murder of 82-year-old Palmira Silva, who was hacked to death in an apparently random attack on Thursday afternoon. Mr Salvadore was also charged with assaulting a police officer…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Police Chief at Centre of Rotherham Child Sex Abuse Scandal Receives Death Threats After Refusing to Quit

The police chief who has refused to step down from his £85,000-a-year post in the wake of the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal has started to receive death threats, the force has claimed…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Scouts Pull Out of Rotherham Show Over ‘Child Safety Fears’

A local scout group has pulled out of the Rotherham Show this weekend over fears for the safety of its children.

Rotherham District Scouts group has withdrawn its stand and will no longer give out programmes at the two-day show in Rotherham this weekend on Saturday and Sunday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

What the Scottish Independence Referendum Could Mean for Orkney

Sovereignty over Orkney, home to the First Stonehenge, has been debated for more than 5,000 years

Scotland and Britain aren’t the only options for Orkney. Norway retains a pull here. Donna Heddle, a professor and head of the Centre for Nordic Studies in Kirkwall, sees the Nordic countries as natural allies for Scotland and Orkney. “We have much more in common with Norway and Iceland than with England or Ireland.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bor: First Mosque in Eastern Serbia

BOR — With the blessing of the Serbian Mufti and Deputy reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community of Serbia, Muhamed Jusufpahic, the construction of the first mosque in the Timok region is in progress.

Mosque of Medina em Imam Sefkija, as believers mostly of the Roma population call it, is almost finished, and according to the announcement of the Islamic community, a permission to build a mosque in Zajecar is also being sought.

“Compared to last year, the Islamic Community of Serbia (IZS), has increased number of jamaats. Jamaats will be constructed in Sumadija, Kragujevac, Nis, Leskovac and Prokuplje.”

With the blessing of the Serbian Mufti Muhamed Jusufpahic and the Islamic Community of Serbia, currently works are being done on the construction of the roof and facade, but it is not known whether a minaret will also be built there.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt Charges Ex-President Mursi With Leaking State Secrets to Qatar

(Reuters) — Egypt charged ousted president Mohamed Mursi and nine others on Saturday with endangering national security by leaking state secrets and sensitive documents to Qatar, furthering a state crackdown on his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Relations between Qatar, a Gulf Arab state, and Egypt have been icy since July 2013, when Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled Mursi after protests against his rule…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Al-Qaeda Closes in on Syrian Christian Stronghold

Jabhat al-Nusra encircle historic town of Mhardeh — one of Syria’s remaining Christian strongholds

Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria is attacking one of the country’s remaining Christian strongholds, as it presses its offensive against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, who have pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, are encircling the historic Christian town of Mhardeh and bombarding it with artillery, residents have told The Telegraph.

“There is shelling night and day. We have no electricity. There is only one road out and it is dangerous to use it now,” said Josef, a civil engineer in Mhardeh, who spoke using a pseudonym for fear of reprisals if the jihadists enter the town.

For centuries Mhardeh was a safe haven for Syria’s Greek Orthodox Christians, recently housing a population of approximately 23,000.

The spires of five carefully maintained churches are dotted on the town’s horizon, and its population is proud of the city’s heritage as the birthplace of Ignatius IV Hazim, the late Patriarch of Antioch…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

How Our Allies in Kuwait and Qatar Funded Islamic State

by Andrew Gilligan

The Gulf states of Kuwait and Qatar have actively — and openly — helped terrorist money-raising efforts for Isil

In the great jihadi funding bazaar that is the Gulf state of Kuwait, there’s a terror finance option for every pocket, from the private foundations dealing in tens of millions to the more retail end of the market. Give enough for 50 sniper bullets (50 dinars, about £110), promises the al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked cleric tweeting under the name “jahd bmalk”, and you will earn “silver status”. Donate 100 dinars to buy eight badly needed mortar rounds, and he’ll make you a “gold status donor”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Inside ISIS: From Border Bootcamp to Battle, Jihad is Run With Ruthless Skill

by Martin Chulov

Charting the journey of foreign recruits who join the terror group and the juggernaut advance of its battle-hardened leadership

The last leg of the journey to jihad starts on goat trails near the Turkish-Syria border and ends through one of many holes in a barbed wire fence stretching several hundred miles.

Just beyond, in some cases no more than several kilometres away, new recruits are received by extremist leaders waiting in boot camps in towns, villages and abandoned Syrian regime buildings.

There the indoctrination begins. Most who make the journey to Syria are already committed to the hardline worldview. And after 30 days of Islamic study, weapons training and frugal living, they are locked in to a lifestyle that few ever rescind…

“The only thing like it in terms of spread and potency was the Nazi party in the late 30s,” a senior western diplomat said recently. “We are now dealing with a juggernaut.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iran: Little Progress Made in Verifying Alleged Tehran’s Nuclear Research Program: IAEA

VIENNA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — Little progress was made in verifying alleged Iran’s nuclear bomb research program by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to the agency’s latest confidential report obtained by Xinhua on Friday.

The report said Iran did not complete implementing two practical measures agreed with UN nuclear agency in clarification of the issues related to the so called possible military dimensions (PMDs) of Iran’s nuclear program by deadline…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Says Executes Second Lebanese Soldier

(Reuters) — Islamic State militants have beheaded a captive Lebanese soldier, images published on social media showed on Saturday, the second Lebanese soldier to be killed in captivity by the group since it raided a Lebanese border town last month…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Khamenei ‘Backs Cooperation With US Against Islamic State’

Iranian ayatollah shifts position amid Syria-Iraq conflict

(ANSAmed) — LONDON, SEPTEMBER 5 — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly approved possible cooperation with the US military to defeat Islamic State (IS) Sunni jihadists, reports the BBC website. Sources in Tehran told BBC Persian that Khamenei — one of the most highly respected figures in the Shia world — has authorized his top commander to co-ordinate military operations with the US, Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Nick Clegg: ‘Britain Should Play a Part to Combat Barbaric People in ISIL’

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says that Britain must work in coalition with other countries to combat the threat of ISIL

As world leaders met in Wales for the NATO summit, Nick Clegg took time out to discuss his views of a potential offensive against ISIL.

Mr Clegg believes that ‘Britain should play a part, a sensible part, a proportionate part, a part obviously in line with International law, to combat the scourge of these medieval, barbaric people in ISIL’.

He stressed that while no options should be “taken off the table at this stage”, Western countries should only work in coalition and in support of other countries in the Middle East region.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Warplanes Hit Islamic State-Run Bakery, Training Camp: Monitor

(Reuters) — Syrian warplanes bombed a bakery run by Islamic State in the city of Raqqa, killing 25 people, in air raids on Saturday that also hit a major training camp used by the insurgent group for a second day running, a group monitoring the war said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Talks to Free Captured Fiji Soldiers Collapse

Negotiations to free 45 Fijian soldiers captured by an Al Qaeda group in Syria collapsed today.

Fiji military head General Mosese Tikoitoga says the Syrian rebel group Al Nusra Front, who seized the Fijians nine days ago, had stopped talking with United Nation’s negotiators.

Separate reports say Al Nusra are now planning to put the soldiers on trial under sharia or “divine law”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Troops Kill 16 Rebels Near Israel Amid Ongoing Battles Elsewhere

DAMASCUS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — At least 16 rebel fighters were killed Friday morning as a result of the intense battles between the Syrian troops and the armed militants groups in the country’s southern province of al-Qunaitera, amid battles elsewhere in the war-torn country, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Battles between radical groups and the Syrian troops have kept raging since Friday morning in the central sector of al-Qunaitera, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, said the Observatory, adding that a Syrian gunship dropped a crude barrel bomb at the town of Majdolia in the countryside of al-Qunaitera with no information on causalities yet…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Troops Recapture Military Base From Rebels Near Damascus

DAMASCUS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — The Syrian troops recaptured a military position from the armed militants on Saturday in the eastern countryside of the capital Damascus, the pan-Arab al- Mayadeen TV reported.

The troops wrested back control over the Electronic Brigade, in northwest of the Htaitet al-Jarash town, in east of Damascus, the report said, adding that the recapture of the site came as part of the Syrian troops’ ongoing battle to recapture towns and areas in the eastern outskirts of Damascus…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Says NATO Using Ukraine for Own Purposes

Poroshenko ready with concessions on govt, language

(See related) (ANSA) — Moscow, September 5 — The Kremlin suspects NATO is using the crisis in Ukraine to further its own agenda in the region, a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministery said Friday.

The comments came during a NATO summit that focused on the crisis in Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have been fighting the government.

At the same time, a plan for a ceasefire in Ukraine was reached.

Authorities in Russia fear that NATO may be taking advantage of the situation to implement a longstanding plan for a greater presence in the region.

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko is prepared to offer “extraordinary” concessions on decentralizing some government powers as well as guaranteeing language and cultural protections to pro-Russian rebels, Russian news agencies said Friday.

Poroshenko said that as early as Saturday, political authority could be decentralized in the disputed areas of Donetsk and Lugansk along with promises of freedom “to use any language supported by cultural traditions,” he reportedly said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

9 Militants Killed in Afghan Blast, Airstrike

MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — Nine militants were killed and three others wounded in eastern Afghan province of Laghman on Saturday, authorities said.

In one incident, seven militants were killed when a NATO drone fired a missile on a compound in Alishing district at around midday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Girl, 16, Raped, Killed After Defying India Tribunal

Protested father’s conviction by West Bengal popular tribual

(ANSA) — New Delhi, September 3 — A 16-year-old girl was raped and killed in the northeastern Indian state of West Bengal for protesting a popular tribunal’s sentence against her father in a commercial dispute, the Times of India said Wednesday.

It was the latest in a seemingly unstoppable spate of rape/murder cases in the Asian country.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

India Asked to Send Italian Marine Home After Stroke

(AGI) Rome, Sept 6 — Lawyers of one of the Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen in India have asked the Indian Supreme Court of India to allow the man to return to Italy to recover from a condition similar to a mild stroke. The marine, Massimiliano Latorre, was taken to the neurology department of a hospital in New Delhi on Sept. 1. A hearing on the request has been scheduled on Monday.

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

High-Tech Chopsticks Developed to Combat Food Safety Issues in China

Could utensils be a way to keep consumers safe?

China has seen its fair share of food safety scandals lately. There was the meat scandal that affected fast food brands earlier this summer, preceded by numerous incidents including contaminated strawberries exported in 2012 and the baby food scandal in 2008 that made hundreds of thousands of infants sick. So it’s no surprise that people are developing inventive ways for people in China to keep themselves safe.

The latest technology? Smart chopsticks. Developed by search engine company Baidu, the chopsticks have advanced sensors that transmit data to a mobile app. They can look for contaminated cooking oil, among other things.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Modi-Abe Meeting “Opens a New Phase for Asia and the World”

The two leaders, both nationalist and hostile to China, sign strategic agreements in every sector, including defence and high-speed trains. Both praise the new, stronger bilateral relationship that could become the greatest ever.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) — With the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Emperor of Japan, scheduled for this afternoon, Japan “discovers a new, vital ally. Akihito’s blessing to the agreements signed yesterday with the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe opens a new and revolutionary phase for Asia and the world,” wrote the Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese paper in an editorial this morning, in a comment on the state visit by India’s new prime minister to Japan.

Modi arrived in the country on Saturday and is scheduled to leave tomorrow. It was the first visit made by the nationalist leader outside the Indian subcontinent.

The meeting between the two leaders, both elected after an election centred on nationalist themes, took place at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, the main accommodation for visiting state dignitaries.

After a morning of work, Modi and Abe held a press conference in which they spoke enthusiastically about bilateral relations.

“I have been always saying Japan-India relationship holds the greatest potential,” Abe said. “Hand in hand with Prime Minister Modi, I’d like to elevate our bilateral relationship to a special strategic and global partnership by enhancing relations fundamentally in every field.”

Modi said his visit to Japan this time highlighted a mutual trust and signified deeper relations between Japan and his country.

“Japan occupies an extremely high position in our foreign policy,” Modi explained. “The reason is Japan has played a very important role in the development and growth of India.”

In fact, the agreements signed by the two go beyond words. Abe and Modi agreed to work harder on a “two-plus-two” security consultative framework involving their foreign and defence ministers.

They also agreed to continue joint maritime exercises in addition to regular trilateral drills conducted with the United States.

On the economic front, Abe announced a target to double Japan’s investment.

The two prime ministers also agreed to strengthen cooperation on rare earth minerals, and vowed further cooperation on shinkansen technology for a high-speed railway project linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

In addition, Mr Abe pledged a total of 3.5 trillion yen (US$ 33 billion) in Japanese investment over the next five years.

According to several analysts, all of these agreements have an anti-Chinese orientation, starting of course from bilateral defence.

Both nations have territorial disputes with China, and consider a regular partnership with the United States as a means to maintain US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Abe and Modi agreed to strengthen cooperation on rare earth minerals. The move will likely allow Japan to reduce its reliance on China for the supply of such metals, which are necessary to manufacture high-tech products

Investments in the subcontinent was also discussed. China has promoted very generous bilateral relations with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan — the so-called “string of pearls” — but now, with India’s help, Japan will try to take its place.

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

Military Vows ‘Everything’ To Defend Nigeria Against Boko Haram

The Nigerian military has vowed to do everything possible to defend the country against Boko Haram in the face of rapid territorial gains by the sect in the last two weeks.

“In the light of the current challenges in the counter-terrorism efforts in the north east which has understandably elicited a sense of apprehension among citizens and even foreign allies, the DHQ wishes to reiterate … .that everything will be done to reverse the situation and defeat the rampaging terrorists,” said defence spokesperson, Chris Olukolade.

Boko Haram is reportedly in control of Gwosa, Borno State, and has fought to take over Bama, another strategic town in the state, displacing thousands of residents as soldiers also retreat from the area.

Under intense fighting more than a week ago, at least 480 Nigerian troops crossed the border into Cameroon. The military said the move was a “tactical manoeuvre”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Sierra Leone in Lockdown in Effort to Contain Ebola

Sierra Leone will impose a four-day, countrywide lockdown starting Sept. 18, as efforts to halt the spread of Ebola across the West African country escalate, a senior official in the president’s office said on Friday.

The move underscores the radical steps West African nations are being pushed to take, over six months into an outbreak that is the worst on record and shows no sign of easing having already killed over 2,100 people since March.

Citizens will not be allowed to leave their homes between Sept. 18-21 in a bid to prevent the disease from spreading further and allow health workers to identify cases in the early stages of the illness, said Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, a presidential adviser on the country’s Ebola task force.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sierra Leone Launches Nationwide ‘Lockdown’ To Halt Spread of Ebola

Citizens of the West African nation will be prohibited from leaving their homes for four days from September 18 as part of efforts to stop the Ebola virus spreading further

Sierra Leone has taken the unprecedented step of ordering the entire population to stay at home for three days as the authorities struggle to contain an Ebola outbreak. The government has told all 5.8 million Sierra Leoneans to stay indoors from September 19 to 21 inclusive…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Somali Jihadist ‘Godane’ Killed by USA, White House Confirms

Ahmed Abdi died in air raid on Monday, White House says

(ANSA) New York, September 5 — The United States killed Somali jihadist leader Ahmed “Godane” Abdi in an air raid in southern Somalia last week-end, the White House said Friday.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Somalia: Slain Al-Shabaab Chief: Militant, Ideologue, Poet

Ahmad Abdi Godane, the late leader of Somalian militant Islamist group al-Shabaab, was killed in a U.S. air strike, both the Pentagon and Somalia’s premier confirmed on Friday. The demise of the reclusive leader—of whom very few confirmed photos exist—was hailed by the White House as “a major symbolic and operational loss” for the al-Qaeda linked group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Study Simulates Likelihood of Ebola Spread

As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa continues to worsen at an alarming rate, health officials have issued increasingly dire warnings about the possibility of a global outbreak.

“Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it,” Doctors Without Borders International President Joanne Liu said to PBS.

“Every day this outbreak goes on, it increases the risk for another export to another country,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said to CNN:

Using WHO data, researchers simulated potential situations where Ebola could spread to other countries by studying air traffic patterns and mobility between infected and non-infected countries. They ran simulations on two dates, Sept. 1 and Sept. 22. Their predictions show a sharp increase in the probability of another country getting infected. At the beginning of the month, the U.S. had only a five percent chance of importing an outbreak. By the 22nd, the probability jumps up to 18 percent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Zimbabwe: Go Back to England, Mugabe Tells Whites

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said Friday that whites who are still in the country should go back to England as he vowed that those removed from land redistributed to black Zimbabweans would never be allowed to return.

Mugabe was speaking during the installation of a chief at Murombedzi Growth Point in his rural Zvimba home area. “The West prefers a weak leader who, they hope, would allow the whites to come back,” he said, speaking in Shona. “They think if they intimidate us we will be cowed and allow the whites to come back; that will never happen. Don’t they (whites) know where their ancestors came from? The British who are here should all go back to England. What is the problem? We now have aeroplanes which can take them back quicker than the ships used by their ancestors.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

France: Calais Migrants: We’ll ‘Never Give Up’ on UK Dream

On an overcast September afternoon in Calais, a few dozen migrants and activists gather near the town’s docks. Some unfurl banners with slogans such as “Stop police violence”, “We are not criminals” and, simply, “Help”.

Under the watchful eye of the police and international media, they have come to demand, among other things, better treatment by the authorities and respect of their human rights…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Detained Migrants Torch Mattresses in Ponte Galeria Protest

After other detainees sew mouths shut, go on hunger strikes

(ANSA) — Rome, September 5 — Some 20 immigrants being held at Rome’s Ponte Galeria Centre for Identification and Expulsion (CIE) on Friday set their mattresses on fire to protest living conditions there. The Ponte Galeria CIE is no stranger to controversy. In January, 26 people being held there went on hunger strike after 13 Moroccan nationals sewed their mouths shut with needle and thread in protest.

Similar protests were mounted in December after authorities emptied a controversial holding facility on the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, which was at the centre of an international furore when a video was broadcast showing naked migrants being sprayed with disinfectants outside in the cold of winter.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Landing on a Hopeful Shore, Italy’s 100,000th Migrant

A former cook for the Free Syrian Army, Iftikar al Daye is the 100,000th migrant who has arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, and a symbol of hope for fleeing refugees

Dressed in black with a white veil, Iftikar al Daye is sitting on a bench, waiting. She’s in a Red Cross tent in what used to be a shed for the Montecatini chemical company on Italy’s Sant’Apollinare jetty. A handwritten card is pinned on her chest with the number 580.

Daye, who is Syrian, lifts up the white mask she received as soon as she disembarked from the Scirocco, one of the vessels belonging to the Mare Nostrum military and humanitarian operation. She appears to be calm, serene almost, as if crossing the Mediterranean Sea didn’t exhaust her in the slightest. Thanks to interpreters from the immigration office at the Brindisi police station, she is able to talk with us.

Back home, she was a cook for the Free Syrian Army, “the rebels,” as she explains. “I left Damascus two years ago with my son, my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren,” she adds. “We’ve mostly been in Egypt since then, and we left on the boat from there.”

Proud of what she did, she says she and her family escaped their home country for “fear of reprisal.” Now, as her young granddaughter sits besides her, she doesn’t know what’s next. “I haven’t decided what to do. I’d really like to thank Italy for having saved us and hosting us now,” she adds.

But the family has another country in mind. “We want to go to Germany to treat my son, who suffers from diabetes,” she explains. Doesn’t Italy have good doctors too? “They’re better in Germany,” she replies.

Stretching resources

Daye doesn’t know it yet, but she’s a symbol. She is the 100,000th immigrant to land on the shores of Italy this year. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 14, a total of 100,688 citizens from non-European countries have fled their home countries and arrived here, government figures show. The Scirocco that rescued Daye saved 750 other migrants along the way.

“The figures are so big that we’ve had to start using other ports in the south, and all available facilities to accommodate the migrants,” says Mario Morcone, head of Italy’s Department of Immigration and Civil Rights. “We’ll have no choice but to use disused barracks if this flow doesn’t stop.”

Messina in Sicily, Civitavecchia in the Lazio region, Montichiari in Brescia and San Vito dei Normanni — these cities and towns are all helping to provide shelter for the migrants. Authorities are about to build an emergency “tent city” to deal with the situation, Morcone says.

Once Mare Nostrum’s Scirocco enters the harbor with 750 migrants aboard, Nicola Prete, prefect of southern Italy’s Brindisi province, is in charge of the welcoming machine. “Following medical examinations, 250 people will go to Lecce, 250 will stay here in Brindisi, 150 will go to Abruzzo, and 50 will go to Bari and Foggia,” he explains.

Being rescued by the Italian Navy is only the beginning for these migrants. Just as Daye experienced, the drama of this relentless exodus doesn’t stop with their arrival here.

Escaping death, looking for a future

Witnessing the scene of their exodus, it feels as if these thousands of young Syrians, Palestinians, Somalis, Egyptians and Sudanese would have had no conceivable future if they had stayed in their home countries. They were destined to die.

“We’re Palestinians, from Gaza,” a woman says as she sits with her four children at the Red Cross station on the Sant’Apollinare jetty. She can’t possibly have fled from the violence and bombs of Operation Protective Edge, a military offensive against Hamas that Israel started July 8 in the Palestinian enclave. The woman must have escaped long ago, as did Daye, whose journey to Italy ultimately took two years. It will be months before we see the first Iraqis fleeing ISIS — the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — arrive here.

Most of the migrants who emerge from Scirocco are young, no matter their ethnic origin. The Syrians (who declare themselves — some show an Egyptian entry stamp on their passports) sailed from Alexandria a week ago. Many others come from Libya. Back at the Red Cross, a Somali girl says that in her group, people want to reach Germany, Switzerland, Sweden or Norway.

“None of these hundred thousand migrants have committed any crimes,” Prete says. “We don’t lock them into the welcome centers, so if they want to leave tomorrow, why should they be stopped?”

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

Obama Delays Executive Action on Immigration, Officials Say

President Obama has bowed to the concerns of Senate Democrats up for election this fall and will delay until late this year executive action that would reshape the nation’s immigration system without congressional approval, White House officials said on Saturday.

The decision is a drastic reversal of Mr. Obama’s vow to take action on immigration soon after summer’s end. The president made that promise on June 30, standing in the Rose Garden, where he angrily denounced Republican obstruction and said he would use the power of his office to protect immigrant families from the threat of deportation.

[Return to headlines]
 

Obama Delays Immigration Action Until After Elections

President Obama will delay taking executive action on immigration reform until after November’s midterms, White House officials confirmed Saturday.

Obama is punting on the polarizing issue in an attempt to insulate Senate Democrats from GOP attacks and preserve control of the upper chamber.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Major Disturbance at Immigration Centre After Detainee’s Death

A major disturbance has broken out at the Morton Hall centre in Swinderby, Lincs, after the death of a detainee

A riot control team has been called in to stop a disturbance at an immigration centre after the death of a detainee.

The “Tornado” team of prison officers was said to have been sent to the Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre in Swinderby, Lincs, on Saturday afternoon as guards withdrew to a “place of safety”.

The disturbance followed the death of a detainee, which was confirmed by a Home Office minister. Around 30 detainees were thought to be involved in the incident, which was continuing on Saturday night…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Gay Adoptions ‘End of Civilization’ Says Northern League MEP

Salvini blasts Renzi on reforms, marines, and immigration

(ANSA) — Rome, September 3 — Letting courts rule on gay adoptions would signal “the end of civilization”, the secretary-general of the xenophobic, separatist Northern League party said Wednesday.

“Judges must not decide on such matters,” Matteo Salvini said.

“It would be the end of civilization,” the MEP stated. “As far as we are concerned, gays must never be allowed to adopt children”.

His remarks came after a Rome court on Friday approved the first adoption of a child by a lesbian couple. The girl is the biological child of one of the women.

Salvini went on to blast Premier Matteo Renzi’s 1,000-day reform and economic stimulus package, which was unveiled on Monday.

“Italy does not have 1,000 days,” the League leader said.

“Renzi is promising a lot and doing nothing”.

The League stands by its proposal of a flat tax capped at 20% and a federal regime that would “reward economically virtuous regions”, Salvini said. The anti-immigrant leader went on to say that while the government rescues thousands of African and Middle Eastern war refugees in the Mediterranean, it is apparently unable to bring home two Italian marines being detained in India after they shot two Indian fishermen to death.

“We should sanction India not Russia,” suggested Salvini, who reportedly once called for immigrants to travel in separate compartments.

Salvini made waves with a Corriere della Sera newspaper interview published Wednesday in which he praised North Korea, a pariah in the international community due its systematic human rights violations. The North Korea embargo is “idiotic”, Salvini said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Accepts Juncker’s Commission Despite Lack of Women

The Swedish Riksdag will accept Jean Claude Juncker’s proposed EU Commission, despite it failing to meet targets for gender balance.

The new Commission has only nine women, meaning the EU Parliament may not vote to pass it.

But the EU committee of the Sweden’s own parliament (the Riksdag) has voted yes. The centre-right Alliance parties mustered more votes than the opposition “red-greens”, with the unaligned Sweden Democrats not voting.

The EU Commission is made up of 28 people, one put forward from each member state. It alone has the power to propose new EU laws and is bound by the EU treaties to act in the interest of the whole EU.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/6/2014

  1. Dan Park – First political prisoner to Soviet Sweden

    [to avoid censorship – chose clicking NO]
    http://goo.gl/tfgZkq
    (undocumented migrants to SE (96%) are also called “paperless”)
    – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
    Something quite else:
    Obviously the POTUS is a gay person. And a “paperless” one too?
    http://youtu.be/gvuulZPbfBg

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