Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/13/2014

According to the latest reports from refugees, the forces of the Islamic State are fighting inside Kobani again, and have beheaded hundreds of civilians. Turkey has denied reports that it agreed to allow the United States to use its Turkish bases to mount attacks against ISIS. Meanwhile, other reports suggests that ISIS has almost completely surrounded Baghdad.

In other news, in a move that is sure to disappoint zoophiles all over the world, Denmark has finally outlawed sex with animals.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Phyllis Chesler, 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
» EU May Not Allow Italy to Deviate Says Bank of Italy
» Finland’s ‘Golden Period’ Over, Says PM
» Italy: Interest Up at 3-Yr Bond Auction
 
USA
» A Beheading in Oklahoma: Was it Terrorism or Workplace Violence?
 
Europe and the EU
» Belgian Health Minister Targeted for Being Overweight
» Cyprus: ENI’s Drilling Going on Despite Turkey’s Provocation
» Denmark Issues Bill Banning Sex With Animals
» Ebola Disease Will be in Britain by Christmas, Warns Jeremy Hunt
» Italy: Fiat Plaque Removed From Historic Lingotto Headquarters
» Italy: Prosecutor Asks Prison Terms for College Medicine Entry Scam
» Italy: Renzi Promises 18 Bn Euros in Tax Cuts in Budget
» Jean Tirole Wins Nobel Prize in Economics
» New Website Tracks MEPs’ Extra Cash
» Only 100 Cybercrime Brains Worldwide Says Europol Boss
» Spain’s Appeal to Muslim Tourists
» Today in History: The Battle of Tours
» UKIP Backs M5S Euro Referendum Request
» ‘Unblock Italy’ Funds to Go to Genoa After Floods
 
Balkans
» Bosnia Elections Bode Ill for National Unity
» Nationalist Candidates Win Bosnia Presidential Elections
 
Mediterranean Union
» EU-Jordan: A New Partnership to Better Manage Mobility and Migration
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Hefty Donations Pledged for Gaza Reconstruction
» Netanyahu Slams UN for Returning Rockets to Hamas
» Op-Ed: Body and Soul: The State of the Jewish Nation
 
Middle East
» Iran’s Khamenei: U.S., ‘Wicked’ Britain Created Islamic State
» ISIS Magazine Shows Its Flag Flying Over Vatican
» ISIS Says Sexual Enslavement of Women is Permitted by Sharia
» Syria: Five Christians Detained by Jihadists Released
» Turkey Denies Allowing US to Use Bases for Anti-IS Strikes
» Turks Renege on Air Base, ISIS Beheads Hundreds in Kobani While Surrounding Baghdad
 
Russia
» China and Russia to Sign 40 Accords During State Visit
» Putin Deals China Winning Hand as Sanctions Power Rival
» Russia Spending $6 Billion Not Enough to Stop Ruble Rout on Oil
» Russia: Sanctions Hit Food Supply to Space Station
 
Far East
» Angry Hong Kong Mob Leads Assault Against Pro-Democracy Protesters
» Hong Kong Police Remove Protesters’ Barricades
» North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un Makes First Public Appearance in 40 Days, State Media Reports
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Italy: Seven ‘Witches’ Burned Alive in Tanzania
 
Latin America
» Bolivia’s Morales Claims Third Presidential Victory
» Italy: 21 South American Junta Members Indicted in Rome
 
Immigration
» Calais Police to Strike in Protest at Influx of Migrants Heading for Britain Who Are ‘Threatening Public Safety’
» Hispanics Want ObamaCare for Illegal Immigrant ‘Dreamers’
» Over 100,000 Migrants Crossed Italy to France — Report
 
Culture Wars
» The Straight, White, Middle-Class Man Needs to be Dethroned
» Vatican Signals More Lenient Stance on Gays and Divorce
 
General
» Lunar Volcanoes Suggest the Moon May Still be Warm
» The US vs. Spain — How Each Country Has Handled the Ebola Crisis So Far
 

EU May Not Allow Italy to Deviate Says Bank of Italy

‘Govt economic blueprint may have to be revised downwards’

(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — European Union bodies may not allow Italy to deviate from EU-mandated budgetary limits, the Bank of Italy said Monday. “Admissibility of deviation (from EU fiscal limits) is not a done deal” and it will be up to the EP, the European Commission, and the European Council to interpret the rules, the central bank said in a statement. Italy recently said it would balance its budget in structural terms by 2017 and not 2016 as stated earlier, thus violating its EU budget commitments.

“There are margins for flexibility that can be exploited with some care, but there must not be steps back” in balancing the public budget, Bank of Italy Vice Chairman Luigi Signorini told the Lower House.

“Slowing down the balancing process can help avert a recessive spiral, but can only be justified if budget margins are used to restart growth”.

Italy should reduce taxes and cut public spending to restore investor and family confidence, Signorini added. “It is (also) necessary to proceed with structural interventions, reduce waste and make reforms a perceptible reality,” he said.

However, the government should be vigilant because it may not have the money to cover social welfare measures contained in its Jobs Act labor reform bill, he added.

As well, the Bank of Italy said updated projections in the government’s economic blueprint might have to be revised downwards. “National GDP may have dropped further in Q3,” the Bank of Italy said. “Investments may not pick up in the short term, and business confidence continues to point to persistent weakness,” the bank said. The government should keep in mind that unfavorable international developments and “lasting weakness in the real estate and labor markets” could also slow down Italy’s economic recovery, according to the Bank of Italy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Finland’s ‘Golden Period’ Over, Says PM

Finnish PM Stubb told YLE Radio Suomi Sunday the country will have to reinvent itself after its credit rating downgrade. “I hope all of us Finns understand that the golden period, the amazing past we had from 2000 to 2008, is over and we need to build a new Finland.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Interest Up at 3-Yr Bond Auction

Treasury sells 3.5 billion worth of BTPs

(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — The Treasury offloaded all 3.5 billion euros of the three-year BTP bonds that it put up for auction on Monday, but the average interest rate rose to 0.70% from 0.52% at an equivalent sale last month. The Treasury also sold two billion euros’ worth of seven-year bonds at 1.71% and 1.25 billion euros’ worth of 30-year bonds at 3.66%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

A Beheading in Oklahoma: Was it Terrorism or Workplace Violence?

“He didn’t like white people,” Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said at a press conference last week, declining to elaborate further on their altercation. While Nolen told police he had deliberately gone after Johnson and planned to attack two other people, Hufford had not been a specific target, Mashburn said. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Health Minister Targeted for Being Overweight

(AGI) Brussels, Oct 12 — Belgium’s new health minister, Maggie De Block, has been targeted by the Belgian media accusing her of lacking credibility due to her size. “Belgium now has an obese health minister, with what credibility?”, said Tom van Weghe on the VRT network.

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

Cyprus: ENI’s Drilling Going on Despite Turkey’s Provocation

(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, OCTOBER 13 — ENI’s scheduled drilling in Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will continue despite Turkey’s provocations, Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has said, calling at the same time on the political parties “to collectively and in a spirit of unity tackle the current serious Turkish provocation.” The Minister, as Cyprus News Agency reported, said that the conclusion drawn from the public reactions on behalf of the Permanent Members of the Security Council and the EU is that everyone recognizes the sovereign right of the Republic of Cyprus to exploit mineral reserves in its EEZ and calls for avoiding provocations.

“The international disapproval has been recorded. Diplomatic efforts will continue. Is this enough to stop Turkey? Maybe yes, maybe not,” he said, adding that “even the President of the United States had to apologize to Turkey for the truths he told in Harvard because of the present circumstances.” Kasoulides made it clear that ENI’s planned drilling will continue despite the challenges. He reiterated that the revenues from natural gas, which are not expected before the end of the decade, belong proportionately to all Cypriots. He also noted that current provocative actions by Turkey send the message that it does not want or does not believe that the Cyprus problem will be resolved by then.” On Monday the minister will be travelling to Athens where he will have consultations with the Greek vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Evangelos Venizelos “to coordinate actions and activities to counter the Turkish threat.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark Issues Bill Banning Sex With Animals

(AGI) Copenhagen, Oct 12 — Denmark was ‘more rotten’ than what Shakespeare expected in Othello, as the government has decided to issue a bill on Monday banning sex with animals, with no exceptions. The aim is to prevent Denmark from becoming a paradise for zoophiles, which was a genuine concern as currently sex with animals is legal in Denmark, except when there is evidence that the animal suffered during intercourse.

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

Ebola Disease Will be in Britain by Christmas, Warns Jeremy Hunt

Ebola screening will begin at London’s Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, confirmed today as he warned that the disease will arrive in Britain by Christmas.

Passengers from at-risk countries will have their temperature taken, complete a risk questionnaire and have contact details recorded. Screening at Gatwick and Eurostar terminals will start next week and there are contingency plans to expand the screening to Birmingham and Manchester if the threat increases.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Fiat Plaque Removed From Historic Lingotto Headquarters

FCA flag raised on debut of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

(ANSA) — Turin, October 13 — The Fiat plaque was taken down Monday from the historic Lingotto headquarters of the Italy’s flagship automaker.

A white flag was raised with the blue logo of the company Fiat S.p.A. was merged into on Sunday — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).

The legal seat of the officially formed multinational group is in the Netherlands, while its tax residence is in London.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Prosecutor Asks Prison Terms for College Medicine Entry Scam

Bari university asks for 1 mn euros civil damages

(ANSA) Bari, October 13 — A prosecutor asked Monday for 65 university professors and students to receive prison terms from three years to six months on charges of rigging entrance exams to the medicine faculties of Bari and Ancona universities.

Bari public prosecutor Ettore Cardinali demanded the heaviest prison terms of 3 years and a fine of 400 euros for gynaecologist Giuseppe Varcaccio and Prof. Maurizio Procaccini, director of the dental faculty in Ancona.

The prosecutor asked the court to sentence a computer technician, Francesco Avellis,and Emanuele Valenziano, one of the candidates in the exams, to prison terms of 2 years and 4 months and 2 years and 6 months respectively for having set up a system sending answers by text message to the exams held Sept. 4 and 5, 2007.

The prosecutor also asked sentences of 2 years and 4 months for as many as 51 defendants, students and parents, for fraud.

A further 30 defendants had potential sentences of 4 months imprisonment converted to fines of 5,000 euros after they pleaded guilty to taking part in the mass cheating scam.

The university of Bari asked for civil damages of nearly 1 million euro as compensation for damage to its image through the affair while the University of the Marche asked for 100,000 euros damages.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Promises 18 Bn Euros in Tax Cuts in Budget

Contribution breaks for new hires with permanent contracts

(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday that this week’s budget will include some 30 billion euros in new measures and adjustments, including 18 billion in tax cuts.

He made the pledge in comments to the Confindustria group of large industrial employers in Bergamo, where he also promised that employers who hire new staff next year on permanent contracts will be given a break on some tax contributions for a three-year period.

He also said he would cut 6.5 billion euros from the IRAP regional business tax. “We will abolish the labor component of IRAP as of 2015,” the premier said.

He also urged listeners to “set ideological and cultural divisions aside and give not us but Italians a hand”.

Renzi was met with jeers from a delegation of workers in factories organized by unions, particularly the Fiom.

Trade union federations have organized demonstrations for October 25, to be followed by a general strike, to protest Renzi’s reforms to labour laws in Italy.

They are especially opposed to measures that would reduce job protections currently set out in Article 18 of the 1970 Workers’ Statute.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Jean Tirole Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

Jean Tirole, a French economist known for his work on regulating competition among businesses, won the 2014 Nobel Prize in economics on Monday.

Mr. Tirole, 61, a professor at the Toulouse School of Economics, has provided insight into “taming powerful firms,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in announcing the award.

[Return to headlines]
 

New Website Tracks MEPs’ Extra Cash

Ever felt the urge to find out how much your MEP earns from activities outside the European Parliament?

Fear not, for help is at hand. The pressure group Transparency International has collated information made available by the parliament, and put it all together on a user-friendly website.

A few headlines. Nearly half of all MEPs have declared no outside financial interests at all. But 398 MEPs cumulatively earn up to 18.3m euros (£14m; $23m) per year. And a select few — 12 MEPs in all — each earn more than 10,000 euros per month, above and beyond their generous parliamentary salaries and allowances.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Only 100 Cybercrime Brains Worldwide Says Europol Boss

There are only “around 100” cybercriminal kingpins behind global cybercrime, according to the head of Europol’s Cybercrime Centre.

Speaking to the BBC’s Tech Tent radio show, Troels Oerting said that law enforcers needed to target the “rather limited group of good programmers”.

“We roughly know who they are. If we can take them out of the equation then the rest will fall down,” he said.

Although, he added, fighting cybercrime remained an uphill battle.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain’s Appeal to Muslim Tourists

“People think that Islamic tourism is half traveling, half praying, but they’re wrong. Muslims want to see the things that interest them, but without sacrificing their religious practices,” says Fazal Barhadeen, who runs Crescent Rating, which ranks hotels and restaurants according to their adherence to Islam. Such has been the interest from Muslims that an Islamic version of Trip Advisor is in the pipeline.

Spain has tremendous potential as a destination for Muslim travelers, but it also has a long way to go, according to the experts who met recently in Granada at the first Halal World Tourism Congress. Unlike many of its competitors, Spain has very few restaurants or hotels that are certified halal. Even so, the number of Muslim visitors to Spain is growing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Today in History: The Battle of Tours

By Raymond Ibrahim

Precisely 100 years after the death of Islam’s prophet Muhammad in 632, his Arab followers, after having conquered thousands of miles of lands from Arabia to Spain, found themselves in Gaul, modern day France, facing a hitherto little known people, the Christian Franks.

There, around October 10-11, in the year 732, one of history’s most decisive battles took place, demarcating the extent of Islam’s western conquests and ensuring the survival of the West.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UKIP Backs M5S Euro Referendum Request

‘Euro a disaster’ says Farage

(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage on Monday threw his weight behind a request for a referendum on leaving the euro made by his European Parliament ally, Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S).

“I’m happy that Beppe Grillo and his activists have asked for a public consultation on this issue of vital importance,” said Farage.

“The euro has been an economic and social disaster for Italians.

“Let the people have their say, let them have the right to defend their future”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

‘Unblock Italy’ Funds to Go to Genoa After Floods

Amendment coming, says rapporteur Braga

(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — Funds released by the government’s so-called Unblock Italy decree will be used to accelerate flood security operations in Genoa, Chiara Braga, the rapporteur of the legislation, said Monday. “An amendment is coming to immediately assign (funding to) the mayor, urgent works to combat hydrogeological instability,” Braga said. The decree aims to free up billions of euros in funding for infrastructure projects, including new highways, railways, and major airport renovations, and help the recession-hit economy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bosnia Elections Bode Ill for National Unity

Preliminary results indicate that Bosnian voters have elected three nationalists — Bakir Izetbegovic (Bosniaks), Dragan Covic (Bosnian-Croats) and Zeljka Cvijanovic (Republika Srpska) — to take over the federation’s presidential triumvirate, which controls foreign policy. Cvijanovic denies the factuality of the Srebrenica massacre and wants Republika Srpska to gain independence.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nationalist Candidates Win Bosnia Presidential Elections

Izetbegovic (Muslim) and Cocic (Croat) win, no Serb winner yet

(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, OCTOBER 13 — The vote for the Bosnia-Herzegovina state presidency, in which Serbs, Croats and Muslims (Bosniaks) share power, has been won by rival nationalist party candidates. Bakir Izetbegovic (SDA) was the victor for a second term as the Muslim member of the presidency, while Dragan Coviv (HDZ) will be his Croat counterpart. The results were still uncertain — after 90.24% of the votes had been counted — for the Serb seat, but opposition candidate Mladen Ivanic was a thousand votes ahead of Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic.

Izetbegovic got 226,860 votes, followed at a distance by Fahrudin Radoncic (SBB) with 187,005. The announcement was made on Monday afternoon by the election committee after 92.61% of the ballots had been counted. The Croat member of the presidency, which is elected in the BH Federation (Muslim-Croat majority body) on the same ballot as that for the Muslim representative, will be Dragan Covic (HDZ) after getting 117,537 votes. In second place was Martin Raguz (HDZ 1990) with 86,306.

The Serb member of the Bosnian presidency, elected in Republika Srpska (RS, Serb-majority body), was still unclear after 90.24% of the votes had been counted. Opposition candidate Mladen Ivanic, with 279,822 votes, was only about a thousand votes ahead of RS prime minister Zeljka Cvijanovic (SNSD), who had received 278,845.

SNSD leader Milorad Dodik has indirectly admitted Cvijanovic’s defeat by saying that he couldn’t manage to believe that “Serbs voted for Ivanic, who enjoys the support of Muslims and the international community”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU-Jordan: A New Partnership to Better Manage Mobility and Migration

“This is a significant step towards greater cooperation between the EU, its Member States and Jordan and our Partnership aims to bring European and Jordanian citizens closer,” said Commissioner Malmström in the margins of the Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg. “The EU and Jordan will step up efforts to better prevent human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants while at the same time paving the way for the start of negotiations on an agreement to facilitate the procedures for the issuing of Schengen visas to citizens of Jordan. The Partnership will also support Jordan’s remarkable efforts in providing stability and refuge in the region.”

Through this partnership, the EU and Jordan agree to ensure that the movement of persons is managed as effectively as possible, allowing for concrete actions to further improve the situation in the way migration, asylum and borders are dealt with. Strengthening efforts to derive all the potential benefits from migration and linking them to development is a key feature of the Partnership.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hefty Donations Pledged for Gaza Reconstruction

5.4 bln dollars promised in Cairo. Mogherini, talks to restart

(by Claudio Accogli) (ANSAmed) — CAIRO — Dollars will be pouring over Gaza after the bloody war with Israel. International donors have pledged 5.4 billion dollars at a conference in Cairo attended by 50 including foreign ministers and representatives of international organizations. The latest war this summer claimed the lives of over 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and ravaged the Palestinian economy, from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.

Four billion dollars are necessary for reconstruction efforts: the international community has pledged 5.4 billion, including Qatar — which has promised to give one billion — along with other Arab countries, the European Union and the US, among largest donors.

Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini warned from the Egyptian capital that “it is necessary to also send out a political message” because the status quo of a decade-long conflict is not acceptable anymore. “We are risking a new war, even in the coming months”, she warned, stressing that the international community must have a leading role in the peace process and not just through donations.

The minister had several bilateral meetings with, among others, Palestinian President Abu Mazen, the representative of the Quartet for the Middle East, Tony Blair, the secretary-general of the Arab League Nabil Arabi and the Egyptian and Swedish foreign ministers.

Italy’s role is reportedly highly appreciated at an international level — Mogherini co-chaired the Conference — and Rome is considered a capital which is more aware of the situation than others.

Leading officials in Cairo, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, agreed on the need for Palestinians and Israelis to resume talks, starting from the ceasefire accord forged on August 26. Other key issues include pre-accords on the opening crossings, circulation of means and people and infrastructural work.

“The Gaza Strip has known three wars, has suffered huge destruction and paid a high price in blood”, said Abu Mazen.

Israel’s violence “cannot be tolerated anymore”, he warned, calling for the “end of Palestine’s occupation”.

The issue was also discussed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi who asked Israel in the morning to “end the conflict with the Palestinian people”.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Gaza is still a “powder keg”, recalling not just the destruction suffered by Israel but also the indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel. The peace process, he explained, must include an international investigation on possible war crimes committed by the two sides in the conflict.

Ban is scheduled to travel to Jerusalem on Monday and to the Strip on Tuesday.

The UN secretary general must now convince the most recalcitrant Israeli sectors. Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stressed that the absence of his country at the conference “does not contribute to a serious discussion”. But Premier Benyamin Netanyahu, according to Haaretz, does not agree and has accepted the Egyptian request for Israel not to be in Cairo. In this context, the possibility that the PNA will ask to postpone till January discussion on a motion at the UN Security Council on the end of occupation cannot be ruled out. This could happen both because it does not currently have the votes needed for its approval and because new scenarios for a possible peace have opened up in Cairo.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Netanyahu Slams UN for Returning Rockets to Hamas

Tells UN chief that Israel ‘does not threaten Muslim holy sites’

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, OCTOBER 13 — Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was quoted by Israeli media as telling UN chief Ban Ki-Moon on Monday that the UN’s actions had assisted Hamas during the conflict in Gaza last summer. “When they found rockets in UN schools, UN officials returned them to Hamas, the same Hamas that fired the same rockets on Israeli cities and Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu reportedly told Ban, who was in Jerusalem on an official visit.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with the UN chief, Netanyahu said that Gaza terrorists had violated the neutrality of the UN by using their schools and other facilities to launch and store rockets.

“The real reason for the rocket fire from Hamas is their refusal to recognize Israel’s existence. Hamas doesn’t care about 1967 lines. For them, Israel doesn’t have a right to exist, under any borders(…)just read their manifest because it is written clearly there,” Netanyahu told Ban.

The Israeli PM added that what was happening was that Palestinian extremists were “inciting violence” by claiming that Israel is threatening Muslim holy sites.

Ban also visited Ramallah on Monday and said that he was very concerned about repeated “provocations” in holy sites in Jerusalem. Netanyahu replied that he and Israel were working to “keep the status quo exactly as it has been for decades. Israel ensures the protection of holy sites and the right of all faiths to pray in their holy places. And it will continue to do so.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Op-Ed: Body and Soul: The State of the Jewish Nation

by Phyllis Chesler

Gloria Z. Greenfield’s third film, Body and Soul: The State of the Jewish Nation, is a cinematic and educational triumph. In only 65 minutes, the viewer comes to understand who the Jews are to the land of Israel and what the land of Israel is to the Jews, to Judaism, and to history.

This film is not propaganda. There is no doctored footage. This is the truth made visible, visual. It is also, potentially, truth’s weapon against falsehood and against a lethal Arab (and now universal) narrative that is, at its core, genocidal.

Please understand: While the film is pedagogic, it is also easy to understand and entertaining. It is both profound and bracing…

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

Iran’s Khamenei: U.S., ‘Wicked’ Britain Created Islamic State

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s most powerful man, blamed Monday the United States, Zionism and the “wicked” British government for creating the Islamic State group.

“America, Zionism, and especially the veteran expert of spreading divisions — the wicked government of Britain — have sharply increased their efforts of creating divisions between the Sunnis and Shi’ites,” he said, according to his website, in a speech marking a Shi’ite Muslim religious holiday, Reuters reported.

“They created Al Qaeda and Da’esh in order to create divisions and to fight against the Islamic Republic, but today, they have turned on (the Islamic State),” Mr. Khamenei said.

Da’esh refers to the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Magazine Shows Its Flag Flying Over Vatican

Militant’s press calls for war against Rome, Catholic Church

(ANSA) — Vatican City, October 13 — The black flag of Islamic militant group ISIS is shown flying above St. Peter’s Square on the cover of the group’s magazine Dabiq, which called in its latest issue for a war against the Catholic Church.

With the headline The Failed Crusade, the photo-shopped cover of Dabiq caps new threats against Rome and the Vatican as well as forces led by the United States in a bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria against ISIS militants.

It threatens to “conquer” Rome and “break your crosses,” referring to the symbol of Christianity.

The group has previously suggested that the fight is about religion and western forces are attacking the Islamic faith rather than the militants — a modern version of the medieval Crusades that pitted the Roman Catholic Christians of the day against Islam. The article in Dabiq — named for a town in northern Syria — also urged faithful Muslims to attack and kill “every Crusader possible” and added that “it is lawful to kidnap the women of the infidels and use them as sex slaves”.

Last month, security officials said that they had stepped up security at the Vatican following threats by ISIS, which wants to establish an Islamic Caliphate. This marked the fourth issue of Dabiq, which is published in English.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Says Sexual Enslavement of Women is Permitted by Sharia

Online magazine provides rationale for taking ‘pagan concubines’

OCTOBER 13 — In the fourth monthly issue of its online magazine, the Islamic State (ISIS) justifies its the sexual enslavement of ‘infidel’ women through an interpretation of Islamic law rejected by the vast majority of Muslims. The officialization of what has become an ongoing practice for the group, reports the CNN website, is contained in the latest issue of the magazine Dabiq.

“One should remember that enslaving the families of the kuffar — the infidels — and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah, or Islamic law,” the group says in the issue ‘The Failed Crusade’ published Sunday. The headline of the article, ‘The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour’, makes reference to Judgement Day. The text states that women from the Yezidi community, a Kurdish minority living mostly in Iraq, may legitimately be captured and forcibly made concubines or sexual slaves, reports CNN.

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released on Sunday and based on interviews with displaced Yezidis that had been detained by the jihadist group but had managed to escape states that ISIS jihadists have hundreds of Yezidi prisoners and are forcing young women and adolescents to ‘wed’ their fighters.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Five Christians Detained by Jihadists Released

Father Jaklouf will be tried for ‘collaborationism’

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 13 — Five Syrian Christians have been released in the Orontes valley. They were detained at the order of an Islamic court in Darkush after being abducted by a jihadist militant brigade together with the parish priest of Knayeh, Father Hanna JAkllouf, and other parishioners in the night between Sunday, October 5 and October 6, local sources told Catholic news agency Fides on Monday.

The Islamic tribunal, Fides recalled, has ruled that Father Hanna must be tried on charges of collaborating with the Syrian regime. No details have so far been provided on the timing of such a judicial procedure.

Some 300 Christians still live in Knayeh and Father Hanna is continuing to serve as their priest, although his freedom is limited.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Denies Allowing US to Use Bases for Anti-IS Strikes

Turkey on Monday denied statements by US officials that it had allowed the United States access to its air bases for operations against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.

“There is no new agreement with the United States about Incirlik,” a government official told AFP, referring to an air base in southern Turkey that the US wants to to use to launch air strikes. “Negotiations are continuing” based on conditions Turkey had previously laid out, the official added.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turks Renege on Air Base, ISIS Beheads Hundreds in Kobani While Surrounding Baghdad

Yesterday, National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice went on NBC’s “Meet the Press “and glibly announced that Turkey had given permission for use of the Incirlik air base by the US-led coalition assaulting ISIS from the air. She triumphantly commented , “That’s a new commitment and one that we very much welcome”. Today, The Washington Post reported a senior Turkish official denied such a claim, saying that talks were still underway, perhaps awaiting a Pentagon military planning team this week in Ankara. Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Erdogan has made it abundantly clear that he wants his priority demand opening up a front against the Assad Regime. Erdogan’s negotiations tactics lend credence that he is tacitly supporting ISIS’ destruction of the Kurdish YPG fighters in Kobani. It looks like the same stall tactics his AKP government used back in 2003, when the US Army First Infantry Division was prevented from off loading in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun to transit of Turkey and enter Northern Iraq. What is the expression, dog bites man first time, dog’s fault; dog bites man second time, man’s fault. Following in the wake of Ms. Rice’s gaffe on Benghazi on Meet the Press October 15, 2012 and now with this episode, she has lost credibility. But then the Obama policies in the region have failed. Whether it is red lines in Syria, supporting a One Iraq policy in the face of disintegration of the Baghdad central government , and his ISIS strategy with a US air assault but no boots on the ground. 00 mile round trip sorties making it virtually impossible to engage in round the clock air operations. We offer the following suggestions about what to do with a recalcitrant Erdogan in Turkey,. One suggested by Jonathan Schanzer of the Washington, DC-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, is that Turkey be temporarily suspended from the NATO alliance until it agrees to lend meaningful support to the US-led coalition. The Administration might impose an embargo on sales of US military equipment and spare parts to Turkey, akin to what was done following Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, lifted in 1978. The State Department might delist the Turkish Workers Party (PKK) from its designated terrorist list. There is the precedent of the delisting of the Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). That act outraged the Iranian Islamic regime. A similar action by the US State Department might cause a diplomatic furor between Washington and Ankara further emboldening Kurdish protests in Turkey and elsewhere..We have grisly reports from The Daily Mail, today, that hundreds of trapped Kurds in Kobani have been beheaded by ISIS jihadists to the cries of “Allahu Akbar”. Rumor has it that a contingent of 200 Kurdish fighters with more modern weapons may be on their way to Kobani. But that may be too little too late to save the encircled YPG fighters in Kobani.

Meanwhile a large column of 10,000 ISIS troops ,equipped with stolen US tanks, artillery and Humvees, have virtually taken all of Anbar province encircling Baghdad and threatening the International airport. The UN reported today that more than 30,000 families, 180,000 persons fled after the town of Hit was taken.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

China and Russia to Sign 40 Accords During State Visit

Chinese premier visit to Moscow includes $400-bn gas deal

(ANSA) — Moscow, October 13 — China and Russia are signing 40 “important” agreements to reinforce trade and economic relations between the two countries, Russian Premier Dmitri Medvedev said Monday.

The ink will dry during a current visit to Moscow by Chinese Premier Li Kegiang — his first — and includes a 400-billion-dollar, intergovernmental deal for providing Russian gas to China. The gas agreement will increase cooperation between Gazprom, Rosneft and the Chinese energy group CNPC.

Medvedev called the bilateral plans a “highly ambitious agenda” before an encounter with Li Kegiang, who is also expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trade between the two countries has more than doubled in six years, from 40 to 90 billion dollars.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Deals China Winning Hand as Sanctions Power Rival

Defying his former enemies in the U.S. and Europe may force Vladimir Putin to aid the ascent of his biggest rival in the east.

Isolated over Ukraine, Russia is relying on China for the investment it needs to avert a recession, three people involved in policy planning said, asking not to be identified discussing internal matters. This means caving in to pressure to grant China privileged access to the two things it wants most: raw materials and advanced weapons, two of the people said.

Russia’s growing dependence on China, with which it spent decades battling for control over global communism, may end up strengthening its neighbor’s position in the Pacific while hastening its own economic decline. With the ruble near a record low and foreign investment disappearing, luring Chinese cash may deepen Russia’s reliance on natural resources and derail government efforts to diversify the economy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Spending $6 Billion Not Enough to Stop Ruble Rout on Oil

The ruble extended its longest losing streak in more than a year as $6 billion of Russian currency interventions failed to stem the depreciation amid tumbling oil prices.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia: Sanctions Hit Food Supply to Space Station

Food for astronauts has fallen foul of sanctions and counter-sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, it appears.

Citing officials from the European Space Agency, The Moscow Times says that a Russian ban on imports of food from Europe means that some supplies being sent to astronauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) are banned from entering Russia. This means that “extras” — such as sweets and dried fruit — sent by families to supplement the otherwise routine fare served on the ISS, won’t get through to the ESA astronauts on the space station.

Since food for some supply flights to the ISS comes through Russia on the way to the Moscow-controlled launch centre in Kazakhstan, they are subject to the same ban that is keeping popular French cheeses off the shelves in Russian supermarkets.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Angry Hong Kong Mob Leads Assault Against Pro-Democracy Protesters

HONG KONG — A mob of masked men opposed to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrators led an apparently coordinated assault on the protest zone in the heart of the city’s financial district Monday, tearing down barricades and clashing with police.

The chaotic scenes came after police carried out a dawn operation to reopen some key roads blocked by protesters for more than 15 days. Police said they will continue to chip away at the occupied zone to relieve traffic, and warned that anyone who challenges them could be arrested.

It was not immediately clear who organized the anti-protest crowd, but some blamed triads, or organized crime gangs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hong Kong Police Remove Protesters’ Barricades

Two weeks into demonstration, students caught by surprise

(ANSA) — Hong Kong, October 13 — Hong Kong police on Monday began removing barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters more than two weeks ago.

The police action caught demonstrating students by surprise. Barricades were first taken down in the Admiralty district, an eastern extension of the business district and the location of ministry buildings. Dismantlement also took place in the former Mong Kok district, the neighbourhood with highest population density in Hong Kong.

Protesters have been demanding from Beijing unhindered democracy for the former British colony.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un Makes First Public Appearance in 40 Days, State Media Reports

North Korea’s official news agency said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance in 40 days.

Kim “gave field guidance” at the newly built Wisong Scientists Residential District, KCNA reported. The agency also says that earlier in the day, Kim “visited the newly built Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences.”

Kim’s prolonged absence from public view had fueled speculation about his health and his control over the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Seven ‘Witches’ Burned Alive in Tanzania

23 village arrests in west of country

(ANSA) — Rome, October 10 — Villagers in western Tanzania have burned alive seven people accused of practising witchcraft, police said Friday.

Twnty-three people have been arrested.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bolivia’s Morales Claims Third Presidential Victory

Argentina, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Venezuela congratulate him

(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday claimed victory and a third term in office after Sunday’s presidential elections.

The presidents of Argentina, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela expressed their good wishes to Morales.

Exit polls showed him on 60%, well ahead of his closest rival’s 25% of the vote.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: 21 South American Junta Members Indicted in Rome

Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay officers to trial for 23 deaths

(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — Twenty-one members of military juntas and secret services serving in Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Uruguay in the 1970s and ‘80s were indicted in Rome Monday over the deaths of 23 citizens of Italian origin. The victims were allegedly among the ‘desaparecidos’ who ‘disappeared’ during so-called dirty wars against leftist opponents to juntas.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Calais Police to Strike in Protest at Influx of Migrants Heading for Britain Who Are ‘Threatening Public Safety’

Police will go on strike in Calais tomorrow in protest at the vast influx of migrants ‘threatening public safety’ as they prepare to enter Britain.

In unprecedented scenes, members of France’s SGP-FO police and general workers’ union will call for more resources to cope with the growing number of foreigners.

‘The police can no longer provide for their own safety, let alone that of Calais,’ said Gilles Debove, spokesman for the union.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hispanics Want ObamaCare for Illegal Immigrant ‘Dreamers’

Top Hispanic leaders asked President Obama last week to grant some illegal immigrants access to Obamacare, saying the “dreamers” to whom the White House has given tentative work permits are already paying taxes, so they deserve government benefits.

The request is yet another complication stemming from the legal limbo Mr. Obama created for the dreamers, hundreds of thousands of young adults to whom the president gave a tentative legal status in 2012, but who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as minors and thus remain illegal immigrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Over 100,000 Migrants Crossed Italy to France — Report

Coastal route between Ventimiglia and Menton causes alarm

(ANSA) — Paris, October 13 — More than 100,000 undocumented migrants have breached the border-crossing between Ventimiglia and Menton in a year, sneaking from Italy to France, French newspaper Le Figaro reported Monday, citing a classified police report. The paper said the figure regarding the coastal route represents a “dossier that has become particularly sensitive for the interior ministry, in the absence of sufficient means…to manage the explosion of migrant flows”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Straight, White, Middle-Class Man Needs to be Dethroned

They are, of course, white, middle-class, heterosexual men, usually middle-aged. And every component of that description has historically played a part in making this tribe a group that punches far, far above its weight.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Signals More Lenient Stance on Gays and Divorce

An important meeting of bishops at the Vatican used remarkably conciliatory language on Monday toward gay and divorced Catholics, signaling a possible easing of the church’s rigid attitudes on homosexuality and the sanctity of marriage.

The gathering of bishops from around the world called on pastors to recognize, among other things, the “positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation.”

The meeting, or synod, was called by Pope Francis to discuss issues related to the family in contemporary society. A report was given on Monday of the main considerations under debate in the first week of the two-week gathering.

[Return to headlines]
 

Lunar Volcanoes Suggest the Moon May Still be Warm

The man in the moon may still have some fire in his belly. A new study argues that magma erupted onto the lunar surface less than 100 million years ago — nearly a billion years later than previously thought. If confirmed, the finding suggests that radioactive elements may be keeping the moon’s innards toasty even today.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The US vs. Spain — How Each Country Has Handled the Ebola Crisis So Far

News of a second Ebola case in the United States, representing the second transmission outside Africa after a Spanish nursing assistant contracted the virus, has quickly prompted comparisons between the way Spain and the US have dealt with the situation.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who on Friday visited the hospital where Teresa Romero is being treated, has defended his government’s management of the health crisis, pointing out that mistakes have been made in the US as well.

The fact that the Spanish nurse was the first person to contract Ebola outside Africa, and the conclusions to be drawn from that case, may also have influenced the subsequent application of health protocols in the US, where a nurse in Texas has become ill after treating a man who caught Ebola in Liberia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

3 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/13/2014

  1. Baron: Today there have been news reports of shootings and bombings in Malmo, Sweden, a highly enriched locale. I think it would be useful to create a timeline of shootings and bombings in Malmo covering the last couple of years, I have a feeling this has become a rather common occurrence. Maybe even with a comparison with Belfast during the NI troubles?

  2. (AGI) Copenhagen, Oct 12 — Denmark was ‘more rotten’ than what Shakespeare expected in Othello, as the government has decided to issue a bill on Monday banning sex with animals, with no exceptions. The aim is to prevent Denmark from becoming a paradise for zoophiles, which was a genuine concern as currently sex with animals is legal in Denmark, except when there is evidence that the animal suffered during intercourse.

    I am surprised that there was no opposition from the islamic lobby. When I was in Pakistan there were numerous reports of local men being caught molesting animals. Sheep were the beasts of choice although there were a few cases where donkeys were involved.

    I was glad I was a vegetarian at the time.

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