The mosque attended by Martin Couture-Rouleau — the late Canadian convert to Islam who ran over and killed a soldier last month — was vandalized by an person or persons unknown, who threw a piece of concrete through the front window. There were three other acts of vandalism against mosques in the area.
In other news, in the wake of a US air strike against ISIS leaders, some reports say that Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. Others say that he is alive. It seems increasingly possible that he may in fact be Schrödinger’s Caliph.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Nick, Phyllis Chesler, Vlad Tepes, 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.
A FEW months ago investors were feeling more optimistic about the euro zone.
That has all changed. There are now serious worries that the euro zone will succumb to a “triple-dip” recession.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit Federal Court Returns Guilty Verdict in Palestinian Woman’s Naturalization Fraud Case
This morning, a Detroit federal district court jury returned a verdict of guilty in the naturalization fraud case of 67 year old Rasmieh Odeh, who failed to disclose on her citizenship application her involvement in a 1969 terrorist bombing in Jerusalem that killed two Hebrew University Students. Odeh could face a 10 year federal prison term before deportation. The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) which has followed the Odeh case reported the circumstances behind the verdict in the Eastern Michigan federal district court case, “Rasmieh Odeh Guilty of Naturalization Fraud”:
U.S. District Judge Gershwin A. Drain told jurors the “verdict is a fair and reasonable one based on the evidence that came in,” the Associated Press reports.
That means jurors were convinced she knowingly lied on her immigration applications, and did not accept defense arguments that she merely misunderstand questions she found ambiguous.
While she claims her Israeli conviction was unjust, the fraud case was focused on what Odeh told U.S. immigration officials when she first applied to come here on a visa obtained in 1995 and when she applied for naturalization in 2004.Odeh was arrested on October 22, 2013 under a Federal indictment for not disclosing her prior Israeli conviction, sentencing and incarceration for the PFLP terror bombing. Odeh defended her misrepresentations on her application for citizenship on the grounds that she had been tortured while incarcerated in Israel.
Given today’s Eastern Michigan federal court verdict, Odeh could face a 10 year sentence and deportation. The IPT report today noted who rallied to her defense:
Her prosecution sparked a campaign by colleagues and supporters aimed at pressuring the U.S. Attorney in Detroit to drop the case. Dozens of people traveled from Chicago, where Odeh now lives, to Detroit, to pack the courtroom during the trial and demonstrate in front of the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism tracked the campaign on Odeh’s behalf for months, including the support it attracted from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a group of 124 feminist academics…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Google’s Spending $1 Billion on an Old NASA Hangar, No One Knows Why
Planetary Ventures LLC, a Google shell company, just signed a very expensive lease on a very large building and airfield in Silicon Valley. The lease in question will cost the search giant $1.16 billion over the term of 60 years. The building and airfield in question is the Moffett Field, where Google’s founders have been landing their private jets for years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minneapolis Schools to Make Suspending Children of Color More Difficult
Minneapolis public school officials are making dramatic changes to their discipline practices by requiring the superintendent’s office to review all suspensions of students of color.
The change comes amid intensifying scrutiny of the way Minneapolis public schools treat minority students and in the wake of new data showing black students are 10 times more likely to be sent home than white students.
Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson said she wants to “disrupt that in any way that I can.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New York Doctor, Free of Ebola, Will Leave Hospital
Craig Spencer, the New York City doctor who became the first person in the city to test positive for Ebola, is being released from Bellevue Hospital Center on Tuesday morning, people familiar with his treatment said on Monday.
Dr. Spencer, 33, had been in Guinea treating Ebola patients with Doctors Without Borders. His infection set the city on edge and set off a race to find his contacts over the previous few days, when he went bowling, dined out and rode on the subway and in an Uber taxi.
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Obama Urges F.C.C. To Adopt Rules to Protect Net Neutrality
President Obama on Monday put the full weight of his administration behind an open and free Internet, calling for a strict policy of “net neutrality” and formally opposing deals in which content providers like Netflix would pay huge sums to broadband companies for faster access to their customers.
The president’s proposal is consistent with Mr. Obama’s longstanding support for rules that seek to prevent cable and telephone companies from providing special access to some content providers. But the statement posted online Monday, as Mr. Obama traveled to Asia, is the most direct effort by the president to influence the debate about the Internet’s future.
In the statement, and a video on the White House website, Mr. Obama urged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt the strictest set of neutrality rules possible and to treat consumer broadband service as a public utility, similar to telephone or power companies.
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Soldier-Killer’s Mosque Vandalized in Quebec
The mosque in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., that was frequented by the man who used his car as a weapon to kill a Canadian soldier last month was vandalized over the weekend, police say.
Police say a suspect or suspects smashed the front window with a piece of concrete between Sunday evening and early Monday morning.
“The place is not protected by an alarm system and there was no surveillance camera,” Sgt. Luc Tougas said.
Police don’t have any suspects or witnesses.
On Oct. 20, Martin Couture-Rouleau, 25, ran down Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53, in the parking lot outside a Canadian Forces recruitment office in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal. Another soldier was injured but survived the hit and run.
Cops shot Couture-Rouleau dead following a car chase.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Art Group Removes Berlin Wall Memorial in Border Protest
For the past 10 years, 14 white crosses in the heart of Berlin have marked the lives of those who died trying to cross from east to west. Over the weekend, they disappeared, replaced with empty black metal frames and a note: “There’s no thinking going on here.”
On Monday, the crosses resurfaced, not in Germany but on walls and fences that mark the very outer edges of Europe, in Greece, Bulgaria and Melilla, on the north African coast. A performance art group called the Centre for Political Beauty claimed to have organised the stunt.
In a video statement, the group criticised what it said was Europe’s hypocrisy in fortifying its borders in the south just as it celebrated the fall of an old border in the east.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia: 80.72% Voters Said Yes to Independence
More than 2mln voters, says Catalan vicepresident Ortega
A man dressed with the Barcelona FC t-shirt votes during the non binding ‘referendum’ for independance at a voting center in Barcelona, Spain
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 10 — 80.72 percent of the more than two million Catalans who participated in Catalonia’s symbolic independence referendum voted yes, Catalan vice president Joana Ortega said, referring to almost 90% of votes counted.
The poll posited two questions concerning the possibility of giving Catalonia status of the nation, and granting it independence.
In a press conference in Barcelona, Ortega said voters who responded Yes to the first question and No to the second question received 10.11% of the vote, double No received 4.55% and blank responses had 9.56%.
The consultation, organized by the pro-independence militants without independent monitors nor official lists of voters, has only symbolic value and Madrid considers it an exercise in futility.
The high percentage of yes is explained by the fact that voters mobilized to vote were almost exclusively separatists.
The voters accounted for about one-third of those eligible. The Recent polls give separatists and loyalists an even split of around 50% each.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Corruption Cost Italy 16 Billion Euros, Says CGIL Union
(AGI) Milan, Nov 7 — Italy has lost 16 billion euros due to corruption, much of it in the underground economy, said the leader of the CGIL trade union. The governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, said earlier that corruption had cost Italy 16 billion in foreign investments. Addressing a meeting of the association of Italian municipalities (ANCI), CGIL head Susanna Camusso also called for “transparency of rules and the certainty that those rules are applied”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Danes More Trusting Than Most Europeans
A newly-released study comparing opinions across 23 different countries shows that the Danes “are safe and secure people who by and large do not fear violence or other crime”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Counter Terrorism Unit to Support Jihadists’ Families
The Dutch counter terrorism organisation NCTV is setting up an independent support unit for the families of people who have become jihadists and have gone or are considering going to fight with Islamic State militias in Syria and Iraq. The justice ministry confirmed the move to website nu.nl on Monday following a news article in the Volkskrant. Families of people with jihadist sympathies have a very great need for help, the spokesman said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Foreign Submarine in Sweden Was ‘Likely’
A foreign vessel was ‘likely’ in Swedish waters last month, according to a source close to the Swedish military’s investigation. The incident has was ranked as one of the most high risk potential military encounters between Russia and the west in a report released on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Fillon in Alleged Plot Against Sarkozy, Le Monde Reveals
(AGI) Paris, Nov 9 — A fresh scandal threatens to rock France’s Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. The newspaper Le Monde has alleged that Fillon had told President Francois Hollande’s chief of staff, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, on June 24 to speed up legal cases involving Nicolas Sarkozy to prevent his political comeback. Mr Fillon was accompanied by a mutual friend to formalise his request.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Far-Right Leader Le Pen Twice as Popular as President Hollande, Says Poll
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s nationalist and socially conservative Le Front National, is twice as popular as president François Hollande among the French electorate, according to a recent poll.
Only 14% of people surveyed by Ifop, a leading market research company, said that they would vote for Hollande if the presidential elections were held this week, compared to 29% for Le Pen. 26% of respondents said they would vote for former president Nicolas Sarkozy if he were to be selected as the candidate for the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) party. Sarkozy announced his intention to challenge Hollande for the presidency in the 2017 election in September.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Hooligans Declare War on Islamic Radicals
by Soeren Kern
A group of nearly 5,000 football hooligans from across Germany gathered in the western city of Cologne on October 26 to protest the spread of radical Islam in the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Good Relations With Turkey More Important Than Suspect’s Release: Danish FM
“Good relations with Turkey are more important than the Hedegaard case,” Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard told Danish daily Berlingske, in reference to Lars Hedegaard, an outspoken critic of Islam whose suspected shooter was recently released in Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Drunkenness, theft, violent clashes with British troops and in-fighting between the Libyans themselves had become an almost daily occurrence. More disturbing, allegations of a male rape and sexual attacks on three local woman are now being investigated. Meanwhile, the lanes and cul-de-sacs in the vicinity of the barracks have been teeming with police dispatched in an attempt to allay local fears.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hardline groups, blamed for radicalising young British Muslims, have posted invitations on social media sites and at university campuses to public talks in an ‘unprecedented scale’, according to Sharia Watch UK.
The group, which monitors Islamic extremists, will publish its report highlighting the operations of 15 people it claims hold ‘extremist views’ who were allowed to give public talks or lectures at 20 institutions.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Judges Prepared to Strike Over Any Threat to Independence
(AGI) Rome, Nov 9 — At a National Association of Judges and Public Prosecutors (ANM) meeting on Sunday, it was decided to deliberate on the state of mobilisation, but not to exclude further forms of protest, strikes included, should public liability legislation put the autonomy and independence of the magistrature at risk. The association, which is also calling for an urgent meeting with the government, is currently working on public liability reform, which will be put to the Senate within the next few days.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Culture Ministry to Spend €500,000 to Train Jazz Musicians
(AGI) Rome, Nov 5 — The Cultural Heritage and Tourism Ministry has published a public financing advisory for the projects aimed at promoting Italian jazz. The amount made available for supporting initiatives organised by public or private non-profit organisations to promote education for talented young musicians and sharing local and group experiences is 500,000 euros.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Verdini: Cosentino Indicted Over Alleged P3 Cabal
Case against Dell’Utri dropped
(ANSA) — Rome, November 3 — Forza Italia Senator Denis Verdini, a close aide of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, and former economy ministry undersecretary Nicola Cosentino were sent to trial on Monday for alleged involvement in a secret cabal, the so-called P3, that sought to condition some State bodies. Verdini faces corruption charges.
Cosentino, who was arrested earlier this year in one of a series of cases against him, including suspicions of mafia links, is accused of defamation and “private violence”. He was allegedly involved in the publication of false reports on a blog about Campania’s current centre-right Governor Stefano Caldoro — an alleged attempt to discredit Caldoro before the 2010 regional elections.
Cosentino, a member of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party like Verdini and Caldoro, also alleged “carried out acts aimed at forcing” Caldoro to drop his governorship bid. The case against another former Berlusconi aide, Marcello Dell’Utri, was shelved by a Rome judge.
Former Senator Dell’Utri is in prison after a definitive seven-year sentence for Mafia links was upheld by the supreme court this year.
The case against Dell’Utri was dropped due to a technicality over the extradition procedure from Lebanon, where he had fled to before the supreme court’s decision, ANSA sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Prosecutors to Probe Renzi-Berlusconi Pact
M5S MP wants probe into whether reforms ‘steered illicitly’
(ANSA) — Rome, November 10 — Prosecutors ahve opened a probe into the so-called Nazareno pact between Premier Matteo Renzi and ex premier Silvio Berlusconi after a report by an MP from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) of Beppe Grillo. MP Andrea Colletti wants to know whether the pact “illicitly steered reforms and decided who should be the next president of the republic”.
The pact, which Democratic Party (PD) leader Renzi reached with Berlusconi in January, a month before be became premier, is for a new election law and an overhaul of Italy’s costly, slow-moving political machinery. “I have deposited a petition at the Rome prosecutors’ office to establish the existence and contents of the Nazareno pact,” said Colletti. Renzi and three-time premier Berlusconi have repeatedly dismissed speculation that the pact contains an agreement on who will replace President Giorgio Napolitano.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Emilia Romagna Councillors ‘Illicitly Spent 2mn Euros’
Democratic Party officials allegedly spent highest sum
(ANSA) — Bologna, November 10 — Bologna prosecutors said Monday that 41 regional councillors wrongfully spent 2.08 million euros of public funds between June 2010 and December 2011.
Prosecutors are investigating the so-called Emilia Romagna “crazy spending” probe into expense claims by the councillors at the Emilia-Romagna regional assembly, who allegedly claimed expenses for private birthday parties, gifts, and even a sex toy. Eighteen elected officials from the Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi allegedly spent the highest sum, or 940,000 euros.
Prosecutors informed 41 people the probe was completed, meaning they will probably be charged.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Delay Marks Debut of Rome’s Metro C
Passengers stuck four stations from final destination
(ANSA) — Rome, November 10 — The debut on Sunday of Rome’s third underground line, Metro C, was marred by a technical problem that caused its first passengers to disembark, wait about 11 minutes, and then board a different train, sources said Monday.
Metro C, unlike Rome’s A and B lines, is a driverless system whose first tract went into service Sunday, traveling from the eastern Rome neighborhood of Centocelle to the eastern station of Pantano, nearly 13 km away.
Rome’s executive councillor for public transport, Guido Improta, said a software error was responsible for the first train stopping four stations short of its final destination.
The train did reach Pantano after the delay,and trains ran smoothly for the rest of the day.
A university student among the first passengers said, “It’s fantastic. It seems like we’re in a European capital city”.
Not everyone was as enthusiastic, however.
Italian consumer group Codacons cited elevators and escalators that were out of service, uncomfortable seats with little legroom, and excessively high temperatures in the train carriages.
Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino rode the line on Sunday with Rome city councilmembers.
Metro C has been under construction for seven years and construction isn’t expected to be fully complete until 2020.
The inauguration was originally scheduled for October 11 but was delayed almost a month due to technical problems with the driverless software program.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Says Condemn Roma Camp Violence ‘Or I Stop’
Northern League leader’s car attacked, windows smashed
(ANSA) — Rome, November 10 — Northern League Secretary Matteo Salvini on Monday demanded that violence he faced at a Roma camp be condemned amid controversy over the absence of a police escort during his visit.
“No ifs, ands, or buts, condemn and reject every kind of violence or I stop,” Salvini said Monday.
Windows on a car carrying Salvini and other League officials were smashed when he visited a camp near Bologna on Saturday.
Salvini immediately posted about the experience on social media with photos of his smashed car.
Salvini had given notice of what some said were his “provocative” plans to visit the camp, but he complained on Monday that he had not been given adequate police protection.
Bologna police defended themselves, saying that special DIGOS security police were assigned to provide an escort for Salvini and had arranged with League officials to meet them.
However, due to miscommunications about Salvini’s plans and timetable, they did not connect with the League leader who went to the camp without that escort, police said.
Riot police were stationed at the camp after an incident earlier in the week when a League member, regional councillor Lucia Borgonzoni, was slapped across the face by a young woman during a visit to the Roma camp.
When Salvini arrived at the camp, he reportedly stopped the car just outside because the road was blocked by young residents of the car. It was then that some young men began kicking at the car, one even climbing onto the roof. Salvini and the officials then drove a short distance away and stopped to speak with reporters. Salvini later posted on Facebook: “The thugs have destroyed the car, but we’re fine, you bastards”.
Bologna police chief Vincenzo Stingone said in an interview with La Stampa newspaper that police contacted Borgonzoni, who was travelling with Salvini, at 11 a.m. Saturday asking her to tell police when they would arrive at the highway approach to Bologna so the escort could meet their car at that point.
Instead, he said, the escort squad reported that only at 11:50 a.m. did they hear that the League officials’ car had been attacked at the camp.
“At this point we moved, but two minutes later (Borgonzoni) had called back saying they had been attacked,” said Stingone.
On Sunday, Graziano Delrio, Secretary of the cabinet of Premier Matteo Renzi, said that violence “is always unacceptable” but also criticised Salvini. “I have always distanced myself from propaganda efforts,” said Delrio.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano shrugged off League calls for his resignation Sunday, saying he receives those every day.
Felice Romano, secretary general of police union Siulp, said that although police condemn violence, they felt they were being made a scapegoat for political gain.
“Just as firm (as condemnation of violence) is our condemnation of those who, for political exploitation for electoral purposes, try to download responsibility for what happened on those responsible for public order,” said Romano. A Democratic Party (PD) MP from Bologna on Friday berated city authorities’ decision to give Salvini permission to visit the Roma camp.
“Salvini’s move is a dangerous provocation…that will only foment hatred,” said MP Andrea De Maria.
“There is nothing worse than blowing on the fires of intolerance in times of economic crisis and social suffering,” he said.
Salvini’s party is allied in the European Parliament with far-right, anti-euro parties from three other countries including the National Front of Marine Le Pen.
Italy has been repeatedly criticized by human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International for ongoing discrimination against the Roma people’s rights to education, housing, health care and employment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ferrero Faces FIGC Racism Probe Over ‘Filipino’ Comment
FIGC opens disciplinary action against Sampdoria president
(ANSA) — Rome, November 10 — The Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) on Monday took disciplinary action against Sampdoria President Massimo Ferrero over an allegedly discriminatory comment referred to an Indonesian colleague.
During an interview aired on October 26, Ferrero said he had told former Inter President Massimo Moratti “to kick that Filipino out” in reference to current Inter President Erick Thohir, an Indonesian businessman.
UEFA last month banned FIGC chief Carlo Tavecchio for six months for racist comments he made during his election campaign.
The 71-year-old in July drew heavy criticism over remarks about “banana-eating” foreign players in Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Single Adults Banned From UK Theme Park
(AGI) London, Nov 10 — A theme park in the UK has banned men and women without children from visiting the attraction to protect children against possible paedophiles. Matthew Richards wanted to see a falconry display at Puxton Park, near Weston-super-Mare, but was unable to view the show because of the rule. The man told the Western Gazette that he is a father of three grown-up children, and has three grandchildren.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Loathsome Britain First Are Trying to Hijack the Poppy — Don’t Let Them
Britain First, the neo-fascist organisation, are using the Remembrance poppy to push their racist agenda on social media
You may not have heard of the pound-shop fascists of Britain First. They are, in many ways pathetic losers of the Oswald Mosely type — right down to having uniforms, flags, driving around in what they boast are “armoured land rovers” and even going on “invasions” of local mosques.
However, Britain First differ from your classic two-bit paramilitary hate group in one crucial way — they have developed a formidable social media presence and are using it to scoop up charitable donations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK to Sign Up to EU Arrest Warrant Despite Tory Rebellion
BRUSSELS — UK MPs are set to sign up to a package of 35 EU justice laws, including the controversial European Arrest Warrant (EAW), despite a rebellion among Conservative deputies.
The House of Commons will debate and vote on the package on Monday (10 November).
Although up to 100 MPs in David Cameron’s Conservative party are expected to defy the government, support from the opposition Labour party and the Liberal Democrats is likely ensure a sizeable majority.
The vote comes at a difficult time for David Cameron, whose party is likely to lose a second by-election to the UK independence party (Ukip) later this month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Motorist Chased and Stabbed After Crash
Police believe the driver hit a kerb and ran off but was chased by the occupants of another car who attacked him and drove away.
A motorist has been stabbed a number of times near a busy slip road in Greater Manchester.
The 23-year-old victim was attacked just before 3pm at the junction of Chester Road and Chorlton Road off the Mancunian Way, close to Manchester City centre.
He is in a stable condition in hospital where he is being treated for two stab wounds to his leg.
Police say he was driving a Vauxhall Astra and officers believe both he and the driver of another car were speeding along Chorlton Road before the Astra hit the kerb.
The driver got out and ran off but was chased by the occupants of the other car and then stabbed a number of times.
Officers are still searching for the attackers who drove away from the scene.
It is believed that four men, aged between 25 and 35, were involved. Three were Asian and one was black.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Renault Plant in Algeria Sign of Renewed Ties With France
Pen calls ministers at inauguration an ‘indecent provocation’
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 10 — The rapprochement between France and Algeria marked an important step on Monday with the inauguration of a Renault car plant in Oran.
The inauguration in the western city of Algeria was attended by Algerian prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal and the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, and economy minister, Emmanuel Macron. “These facilities embody an exemplary French-Algerian partnership and a combination of action, ambition and friendship,” Fabius said in his opening remarks, stressing that relations between Paris and Algiers would continue to grow stronger over the coming years, especially in the tourism and industry sectors. “We need to go forward,” noted Sellal, underscoring that renewed collaboration was advantageous for both countries. The presence of the two French ministers at the inauguration sparked criticism in Paris, especially from far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Le Pen called the visit “an indecent provocation” at a time when “our French factories are shutting down and delocalization is accelerating”. The production site, 51% held by the Algerian state and 49% by Renault as required by local laws, is the result of an agreement signed during Hollande’s visit to Algiers in December 2012. The plant will provide jobs for about 350 people and initial investment totaled 50 million euros which — according to Algerian sources quoted by the French media — will gradually rise to 800 million.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco Refuses to Host African Cup 2015
(AGI) Rome, Nov 10 — Morocco will not host the next African Cup. The Moroccan government announced to the African Soccer Federation (CAF) that the biennial continental competition will not be hosted in that country due to fears about the possible spread of Ebola. First held in 1957, the tournament brings together the 16 best teams in Africa, and its 2015 edition was scheduled to start in January 2015. Morocco had already invested millions of dollars to modernise its sports structures in preparation for this event and the December FIFA Club World Cup.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Abbas Says He Seeks to Move Arafat Shrine to Jerusalem
Speaking during a memorial marking ten years since Arafat’s death in Ramallah, Abbas said that Arafat should “remain immortal in the hearts of our people.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Abbas Calls for Arafat’s Remains to be Moved to Jerusalem
Palestinians divided; commemoration in Gaza cancelled
(by Aldo Baquis) (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV — Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has called for the remains of former leader Yasser Arafat to be transferred from Ramallah in the West Bank to Jerusalem at “the earliest possible opportunity” Abbas was speaking in honor of the tenth anniversary of Arafat’s death, which will be officially commemorated on Tuesday in the West Bank but not in Gaza.
The event was cancelled in Gaza due to security concerns after about 15 explosions hit houses and cars belonging to Fatah members in Gaza.
Preparations in the central Al-Katiba square for the commemoration ceremony were halted on Monday after Hamas announced it would not be able to ensure the security of participants. In Ramallah, a museum is being inaugurated in honor of Arafat’s memory and that of the Palestinians’ decades-long struggle for freedom. “Arafat,” said Abbas, who spent decades at the longstanding leader’s side at the upper levels of Fatah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), “will remain immortal in the hearts of our people.” Arafat himself — whose body is currently buried in a mausoleum near the Muqata, the PA headquarters — had often said that he hoped to one day be buried in the perimeter of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which is holy to Muslims. Israel is staunchly against the possibility, seeing Arafat as a instigator of terrorism, even though he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 alongside Israeli leaders Yitzak Rabin and Shimon Peres. For very different reasons, Hamas also dissociates itself from him. In 2007 — when Hamas took over Gaza by force — Islamic militants sacked his residence in the Rimal area and threw his belongings into the street to show their contempt for him. For years Hamas has prohibited commemorative ceremonies for the former PLO leader, and instead focused on the Islamic leader Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel 10 years ago. This year — given the national reconciliation government launched in June by Rami Hamdallah — Fatah supporters were hoping to finally be able to take to the streets in Arafat’s memory. However, after the explosions even PM Hamdallah decided to call off a trip to Gaza on Saturday. Longstanding grudges between Fatah and Hamas remain and the commemoration of Arafat shows once more the painful divides among the Palestinian population.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Man Stabs and Injures 2 Israelis in West Bank
Attack near Alon Shvut settlement, soldier stabbed in Tel Aviv
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 10 — Two Israelis were stabbed and injured on Monday near the Alon Shvut settlement in the West Bank, reported the Channel 2 television station. The attacker was shot and killed by security forces but no other details are presently known. A few hours before an Israeli soldier was also stabbed and injured in a Tel Aviv railway station. The attacker, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus, has been arrested. Tension is rising in the area after two other recent attacks on Israelis in Jerusalem as well as clashes in northern Israel, after police killed an Arab in Kfar Kana armed with a knife and suspected of having attacked security forces.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Aide to Islamic State’s Baghdadi Killed Near Falluja: Iraqi TV
(Reuters) — An aide to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air strike near the city of Falluja, Iraqi state television reported on Monday.
State television identified the man as Abu Huthaifa al-Yamani. It did not say when the strike took place or give further details. It was not immediately possible to confirm the death or whether Yamani was an aide to Baghdadi.
Iraqi security officials have not confirmed the death.
The Pentagon said on Monday it could not corroborate reports that Baghdadi had been either killed or wounded in Iraq, acknowledging conflicting media reports from the region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Tell Erdogan Jihadists Kill People
by Burak Bekdil
It was vintage Erdogan. There is no Islamic terror. ISIS is not an Islamic organization and its name is not even ISIS; it is “Daesh.” And foreign journalists are plotting treason against Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Leader Dead: Iraqi Minister Says Via Twitter
Iraq’s External Affairs Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Monday on Twitter that the head of militant group ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead after he was injured in an airstrike.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: Bahrain: Money Mainly From Middle Eastern Countries
Conference on terrorism calls for transparency on financing
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 10 — “Financing of Isis comes primarily from countries in the Middle East,” Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrein’s Foreign Minister said an international conference for the fight against terrorism in Manama, Baharain.
In an article in Middle East Online, the minister is cited as recommending transparency by publicly naming those contributing to financing and asked for charities to be protected from abuse at the hands of militant groups and their supporters.
The Gulf States have already initiated legal and administrative proceedings against persons and organizations that fund Islamic militants, in particular those fighting in Iraq and Syria.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Leader Wounded in Air Strikes, Iraqi Govt
Iraq’s Interior Ministry confirmed reports on Monday that Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was wounded and other ISIS chiefs were killed in US-led airstrikes on a convoy Friday in Mosul, in northern Iraq.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Kurds Issue Womens’ Rights Decree in Defiance of ISIS
by Phyllis Chesler
In a welcome challenge to the barbaric gender apartheid practiced by ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and all the Al-Qaeda offshoots, a group of Kurds in northeastern Syria have issued a women’s right decree which calls for “equality between men and women in all spheres of public and private life.”
The 30-point decree, issued by the leaders of the “self-ruling democracy of Jazira province,” calls for women to have the right to hold public office, as well as an equal right to wages and inheritance. This demand for equality in inheritance is in direct opposition to ISIS and Sharia law. (According to the Koran, two women are equal to one man in matters of contract law and inheritance. See Surah 2:282 and Surah 4:11).
Despite—or perhaps because of— the increase in forced child marriage and polygamy, which is so rampant among Jihadists and tribal Muslims, this decree clearly states that women “should not be married before the age of eighteen,” and is on the record as opposing polygamy, honor killings, and all honor-based violence against women. The Kurds are opting for equality before the law in a region that is notoriously lawless and now in profound chaos.
How the Kurds plan to implement this enlightened doctrine is, as yet, unknown. However, given the mass kidnapping, rape, and sex trafficking of girls and women in the region as well as the hastily arranged child marriages among female refugees in Jordan, Iraq, and Syria—often the best or only option for their survival—this decree opts for a distinctly “Western” or infidel or secular concept of women’s rights and human rights.
It is signaling a desire to be part of the modern world, not part of any 7th century “Caliphate” ruled by Sharia law. I hope that Western leaders note this and act accordingly. The battle for women’s freedom is an essential part of the battle for Western civilization against a new kind of totalitarianism, Islamist style.
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Three Swedish ISIS Fighters Killed in Syria
Three Swedish men in their twenties who were fighting for the extremist Islamic State (Isis) group have been killed in Syria.
Two of the Swedes, who came from Gothenburg and Stockholm, were killed in the town of Kobane during an American air strike on Sunday, reported the Expressen newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Agence France-Presse: Fears Grow of Return to All-Out Fighting in Ukraine
New unidentified columns loaded with heavy weapons rumbled toward the pro-Moscow rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine on Monday, Nov. 10 as fears grew of a return to all-out fighting in the war-torn region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian CF-18s Intercept Russian Jet Over Lithuania
TORONTO -Two RCAF CF-18 Hornet pilots on a routine training mission over Lithuania Saturday were redirected because the Russians were coming.
And soon, the Russians were right over top of them.
As Russian and Ukrainian leaders argue over ceasefire violations, Canadian fighter jets intercepted a Russian spy plane inside NATO air space, military sources said Saturday in nearby Lithuania.
The CF-18 Hornets were part conducting a routine training mission and were “re-tasked airborne in response to a non-NATO aircraft off the Baltic coast” early Saturday afternoon, said a Department of National Defence brief. “The CF-18s intercepted and visually identified a Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) Ilyushin Il-20 COOT A” Lithuanian airspace and over international waters.
They got photographic proof, too.
From there the RCAF jets “shadowed the Il-20 for approximately five minutes before being ordered to return to base by NATO controllers,” the brief said.
That type of plane is used by the Russian Air Force for electronic warfare and as a surveillance platform,” NATO said.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
India Establishes Ministry for Yoga
(AGI) New Delhi, Nov 10 — India has set up a ministry for yoga.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to promote meditation and traditional medicine, in particular Ayurveda, yoga, Unani, Siddha and homeopathic treatments. In a reshuffle he appointed four ministers and 17 deputies with the aim of boosting the economy. The prime minister, a vegetarian and very yoga-conscious, asked the United National General Assembly in September to establish an international day of yoga. He also put the idea to U.S. President Barak Obama. New appointments include the governor of the Stato of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, who becomes Defence Minister, with the task of modernising the army. His appointment cuts the burden on Arun Jaitley, who has been Defence and Finance Secretary since May, and will now focus on reforms to relaunch the economy. Another major department, the Rail Ministry, was assigned to Suresh Prabhu, leader of the Shiv Sena regional party, who joined Mr Modi’s party, the Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The Rail Ministry is the only one to have its own financial resources, separate from the national budget.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
APEC: China Offers Deals and Maritime Peace to Oust the US From Asia
On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing, Xi Jinping reaches out to Japan, scraps tariffs on South Korea trade and pledges peace and prosperity to Vietnam. Meanwhile Obama is on his way to promote a 12-nation deal that excludes China to bolster the US position in the region.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — After a reluctant handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a wide-ranging economic and diplomatic offensive at the APEC meeting currently underway in the Chinese capital.
The Communist leader has offered a truce with Japan, signed a commercial deal favourable to South Korea and reached out to Vietnam following recent territorial disputes.
For some analysts, this strategy is designed to elbow out the United States, or at least, curb its influence in the region.
President Xi Jinping’s first meeting was with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye this morning on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.
China and South Korea have completed talks on a bilateral free trade agreement that will remove tariffs on more than 90 per cent of goods over the next two decades.
The trade pact will give South Korean carmakers easier access to the vast Chinese market. It is also expected to boost Chinese agricultural products to South Korea.
China is South Korea’s largest trading partner. Bilateral trade between the two nations reached US$ 274 billion last year, and the two have vowed to increase it to US$ 300 billion by next year.
Indeed, Xi has offered trade deals to many of his guests. More importantly, China and Vietnam have agreed to handle maritime disputes through dialogue, Chinese state media reported, months after ties between the two countries hit a three-decade low.
Speaking about the issue, President Xi Jinping said the two Communist neighbours must respect each other and focus on long-term interests.
For his part, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang noted his country was ready to “properly deal with maritime issues through friendly consultation so that the issues will not affect its relations with China”.
In view of the existing high tensions in South-East Asia and Sino-Vietnamese relations, this is a genuine token of peace.
In recent years, Vietnam and the Philippines — which has taken its case to a UN court — have shown growing concern over China’s imperialism in the South and East China Seas.
The Chinese government claims most of the sea (almost 85 per cent), including sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands, in opposition to Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.
For the United States, which backs the claims of Southeast Asia nations, Beijing’s so-called ‘cow tongue’ line is both “illegal” and “irrational”.
Even Vietnam’s bishops recently urged China to “convert to the Virgin of Fatima” for peace “in Asia and the world.”
Still, China and the United States remains at odds over Asia’s “new order”. Beijing is trying to get a free trade agreement with all 21 APEC member countries (including the US), whilst Washington hopes to bolster its 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership proposal (which excludes China). In fact, US President Barack Obama arrived today in Beijing to try to counter Xi’s actions.
The two leaders can count on trade relations worth US$ 562 billion, but their different positions on foreign policy and especially the continuing US call on China to adhere to international trade agreements have cooled the bilateral relationship over the past two years.
However, as some Chinese observers have noted, for many in Asia, Obama’s political stature has also been considerably weakened since the Republican Party took control of the Senate in midterm elections this month.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
47 People Killed in Bombing Outside Nigerian School; Boko Haram Suspected
Kano, Nigeria (CNN) — At least 47 people were killed and 79 were wounded Monday by a suicide bombing outside a school in northern Nigeria, police said.
The attacker was disguised as a student when he set off the explosion in a government boarding school in the town of Potiskum, police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said.
“We suspect Boko Haram is behind the attack,” Ojukwu said.
The explosion took place at 7:50 a.m. local time outside the principal’s office, where students had gathered for a daily speech.
“We were waiting for our teachers to come and address us at the assembly ground when we heard a huge explosion,” student Adamu Ibrahim said.
It was not immediately clear how many of the casualties were students.
Although no one? has claimed responsibility for the attack, Boko Haram is the prime suspect.
The radical Islamic militant group has carried out deadly attacks on schools teaching Western curriculum.
| [Return to headlines] |
Growing Pains: Multicultural Explosion Rattles Residents
Northern Virginia: Ahead of the U.S. trend
Take a good look at the scope and breadth of the ethnic and racial diversity in Northern Virginia, where students from up to 200 countries populate local schools.
Your community — and your schools — will look a lot like this within the next three decades.
The three fast-growing Virginia counties nestled near the nation’s capital — Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William — are at the leading edge of a diversity explosion sweeping the USA. Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics and Asians have moved to the area since the 1990s and account for 32% of the 1.8 million people in the three counties, triple the number in 1990. Blacks account for another 12%, and multirace residents, 1%.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Immigrants in Italy Will Reverse Falling Birth Rate
(AGI) Vatican City, Nov 6 — The Italian Episcopal Conference, in its annual message for the Day for Life conference to be held on Feb. 1, 2015, with the slogan “Support for Life”, has emphasized the devastating effect of falling birth rates and how children born today will be the point of an inverse social pyramid, carrying the overwhelming burden of previous generations. Italian bishops also emphasized how immigrants are playing the greater role in terms of new citizens.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Boldrini ‘Seriously Worried’ About Mare Nostrum End
Lower House Speaker says EU must provide migrant alternatives
(ANSA) — Rome, November 10 — The end of Italy’s migrant rescue operation Mare Nostrum has created a troubling gap in services to those fleeing their home countries via the Mediterranean, Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini said Monday.
“Now that the operation has ended, how can one ignore the fact that deaths are increasing?” Boldrini asked during an address at a conference of the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
Boldrini said some 3,000 immigrants have died on the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2014. “Three thousand people dead sounds like a war,” Boldrini said.
She called on the 28 member states of the EU to furnish alternatives, such as formal resettlement programs, to immigrants.
On November 1, Mare Nostrum was replaced by the Triton operation of the EU’s Frontex border patrol agency.
Boldrini expressed “serious worry” because Triton is not designed as a substitute rescue program has a border control responsibility and less funding.
She said she was also concerned by public perceptions about migrants.
She said a poll by British newspaper The Guardian found that some Italians believe immigrants make up as much as 30% of their population, while the actual figure is only 7%.
“Media reports and political campaigns based on exclusion, discrimination and fear of the other are making headway in public opinion perception of immigrants,” she said.
“Politicians and the media have a fundamental role and enormous responsibility,” Boldrini said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The interactive diversity map recounting past and projecting future demographic trends in the USA Today article is truly shocking.
It is a stunning visualization of a “Camp des Saints” scenario right before one’s eyes.
“Schrödinger’s Caliph” absolutely brilliant and hilarious!!
Re: Hollande’s Unpopularity
With an approval rating of 14% – a Presidential record low – it is stunningly refreshing that a fellow from a think tank, Dr Emanuel Martin, opines thus as to the economic aspects of the cause:
“His governments have killed the economy by raising income taxes on high earners to the absurd rate of 75%, unemployment has risen to 3.3 million and government spending makes up 57% of GDP.”
Wonderful insights. But the premises underlying these conclusions/facts should have been well understood by the late 1970’s from the experience of the UK high income tax regime and share of GDP consumed by the public sector.
When are public policy makers going to understand that NOBODY, the successful and wealthy in particular, will pay 75% of their income in taxes. They just won’t do it. Enact all the high falutin’, egalitarian-minded tax laws you want: nobody will pay them. They will emigrate, as Gerard Depardieux and many other high income French individuals did as soon as Hollande enacted his 75% income tax regime, to the French-speaking parts of Belgium (as Depardieux did) or Switzerland, or elsewhere. If they remain in France they will indubitably resort to legal, semi-legal and/or illegal devices to reduce, avoid and evade taxes. As they do the world over.
The ludicrously fabled John Lennon spent many years through the 70’s trying to get US permanent residency for one reason and one reason only: to escape the UK’s punitive income tax regime. To protect his vast wealth. You’ve heard of John Lennon I’m sure: he wrote and performed a famous song “Imagine” where he heartfeltedly pined for a world where there was “no countries”, ie , a utopian one-state world. His odious money-grubbing widow – she refused to allow the impoverished mother of Lennon’s young teenaged son to accompany him to his father’s funeral in New York by refusing to pay for a coach-class airfare from London for her – was once questioned in the 90’s about the tax paid on the income from Lennon’s then half billion dollar property empire. Yoko Ono blithely replied: “We tithe”, explaining that she paid 10% of her, Lennon-inherited and derived, income in taxes or charitable gifts. But no more than 10%, as a matter of biblical principle. “Imagine” also idealized the absence of religion.
Government spending consuming 57% of GDP?! I recall in the early 90’s when I learned that Sweden had cracked the 50% mark in this regard. Such a high proportion portends disaster and Sweden has been on the highway to self-destruction for some decades now, not least by subscribing to the insane policy that importing millions of Third-Worlders would somehow swell rather than deplete government coffers. Ideally 33% per cent should be the upper limit if any nation wishes to maintain economic vitality. The USA, despite maintaining a military necessary for the sole global hyperpower and bestowing vast financial largesse on foreign countries and useless (at best) entities like the UN and UNWRA, used to hover around the 33% mark. I doubt it still does. BTW: Why America gives so much aid to foreign countries is a mystery to me: it doesn’t earn the USA any brownie points and no good deed goes unpunished.
Isn’t Islam just lovely?
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/malaysias-sharia-law-costs-non-muslims-kids-061705866.html#pnEZRsL
“Schrödinger’s Caliph.”
LOVE IT Ned, say Hi to D for me. AB