The Thai government has decided to repatriate more than 200 Rohingya refugees from Burma who arrived in Thailand by sea. According to the Thais, the refugees are Burma’s problem, and they will be put on boats and sent back.
In other news, the largest Salafist group in Egypt announced via Twitter that it has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who may or may not be dead.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, KGS, Nick, Phyllis Chesler, RL, RR, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, 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.
EC: Italy’s Reform, Spending Review Results Uncertain
Commission says high debt weighing down efforts to changes
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 11 — The European Commission said Tuesday in a report on Italy’s macroeconomic imbalances that the results of the government’s ongoing structural reforms and spending review were still uncertain. Italy’s drive to enact reforms has increased, but “progress is uneven”, with many measures “still waiting for full approval or enabling decrees and therefore the results remain uncertain,” the commission added in its report.
There were also “significant uncertainties” about the government’s review of public spending, said the commission. The progress Italy makes in the next few months on structural reforms will be “crucial” to the commission’s assessment of whether Rome is addressing the country’s macroeconomic imbalances, it said. The government of Premier Matteo Renzi must guard against “institutional bottlenecks” and “barriers” that may slow implementation of reforms, said the report.
Yet reform is essential to deal with the country’s massive public debt of more than two trillion euros that weighs down economic growth, it added.
“The very high debt is a big weight on the Italian economy, a source of vulnerability in the current situation of inflation and low growth,” the report said.
“It is a brake on growth due to the high taxes needed to service it”.
Delays in Italy’s plans to sell off stakes in State assets are not helpful, the report said.
“The Italian privatization plan is suffering delays in its implementation,” the EC said.
“Aside from the announcement of the plan (for asset sales) worth 0.7% of GDP in the 2014-17 period…limited information is available about the quantity of stakes (to be sold), what companies (they will be sold in), and under what timetable”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: House Prices ‘Stable’ In Third Quarter But Sales Drop
Number of mortgages also falls, Bank of Italy survey says
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — House prices in recession-hit Italy remained ‘stable’ in the July-September period with respect to the previous quarter, according to a Bank of Italy survey published Tuesday.
However the number of property agents registering at least one sale fell to 64.4% from 68.1% in the third quarter of 2014, the Bank of Italy said.
Likewise the number of property purchases financed through a mortgage also fell from 62.9% to 59.9% over the same period, reflecting the difficulty faced by many Italians in obtaining credit.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Securities Regulatory Board Bans Short Selling
(AGI) Milan, Nov 11 — The Italian securities and stock exchange regulatory board (Consob) has extended until January 27 the ban to take or increase short selling operations on Banca Mps and Banca Carige, issued on Oct.28. The Consob wrote a communique on Monday, the expiry date of the ban adopted in compliance with article 20 of EU regulations on short selling. The extension has been issued considering the market trend of the two securities, and applies also to derivative financial tools linked to Banca Mps and Banca Carige stocks, as well as to intraday transactions and over-the-counter operations carried out outside Italian markets.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
CDC Stockpiling Ebola Gear Even as National Press Goes Dark on Ebola News
(NaturalNews) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is ramping up its acquisition of protective gear for U.S. hospitals that may have to handle Ebola patients, following a “sudden increase” in demand on its current national stockpile.
The federal health agency said in a November 7 statement that it is ordering an additional $2.7 million in personal protective equipment that will eventually be fashioned into 50 kits that can be deployed rapidly to hospitals if or when needed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clear Connection Between Barack Obama and the Weathermen
If you happened to see the Fox News, Megan Kelly (The Kelly File) interview with Bill Ayres, you witnessed a master of propaganda and misdirection, as Ayers tried to slip past Kelly’s direct questions. According to Ayres, he’s just a concerned citizen taking part in our democratic debate. How patriotic! The truth is, Ayres, his wife Bernadine Dohrn and the rest of the Weather Underground were and are true domestic terrorists out to destroy American society. Not only do they still roam our streets, but, in fact, live quite well off the society they professed to hate and sought to destroy. And the Weatherman’s ultimate victory, 40 years later, may just be Barack Obama.
Just before the election of Barack Obama in 2008, it was quite shocking to see that a forty-year old, seemingly forgotten radical group called “Weatherman” was getting so much attention. Of course, Obama denied any connection to old Weathermen. Here’s a quick history of the “Weatherman” and why it’s relevant to a president whose entire campaign relied on a call for an undefined “change.” Now, six years later, the change is coming much clearer into view. And it seems we now know which way the wind blows.
You’ve heard the famous names: Bill Ayres, Mark Rudd, Bernadine Dohrn and Jeff Jones, among others. Today, Ayres describes himself as a professor; Dohrn is his wife and a clinical law professor, Jeff Jones, predictably is an environmentalist and political consultant, and Mark Rudd is now a teacher — just normal Americans, living their lives. Really?
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Depth of Biggest Sea on Saturn’s Moon Titan Measured by NASA Probe
Kraken Mare, the biggest hydrocarbon sea on Saturn’s huge moon Titan, is at least 115 feet (35 meters) deep and perhaps much deeper, a new study suggests.
Radar measurements made by NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini probe along a 25-mile-long (40 kilometers) stretch of Kraken Mare’s eastern shore reveal depths ranging from 66 to 115 feet (20 to 35 m), researchers said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Flu Shot Paralyzes Healthy Florida Girl
(NaturalNews) Sure, vaccines are safe — except when they randomly trigger extreme brain inflammation that leads to vision loss, paralysis and an inability to speak. This is what happened to now-10-year-old Marysue Grivna of Tampa, Florida, just four days after she received a flu vaccine, which left her completely debilitated with a serious brain disease known as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, or ADEM.
It all began on November 22, 2013, when young Marysue was taken in to get a seasonal flu vaccine. Just days later, the child began to get sick and quickly developed symptoms of paralysis. Worried, her parents took her in for an evaluation and it was determined that she had succumbed to an immune disorder caused by inflammation of the brain.
Similar to multiple sclerosis, ADEM manifests as an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks itself, in this case targeting the protective coverings surrounding nerve fibers. Known as myelin, these coverings are meant to protect nerves in the brain and spinal cord, for instance, from being harmed. In their absence, symptoms like loss of vision and paralysis can occur.
“Her father Steven and I are certain, due to all our research, that this was what caused Marysue’s condition,” stated the girl’s mother, Carla, during a recent interview with Fox & Friends. “The doctors won’t confirm it or deny it… [but] she was a happy, healthy, running, and playing nine-year-old. Then this happened.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
GOP Has 2 Years to Prove the Next President in 2016 Must be a Republican
The country-wide mesmerizing program of Obama, fostered by the United Nations and the Soros billions, on the minds of literally millions of normally patriotic, average American citizens had caused them to imagine that Obama, through his persuasive preachings on the “beauties of Islam” was indeed the promised return of the “messiah”, here and now; proving P. T Barnum’s saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
And oh, how they flocked hoping to be among the chosen few that he would lead to the “promised land.” A slick-tongued orator with theatrical mannerisms that added to his mysticism and air of superior “follow me” hokum. Obama was for a few years leading his sheep to a different place than what he proclaimed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Ben Bradlee Attacked Republicans for Fun and Profit
Ben Bradlee was a Democratic Party insider who commented during his paper’s coverage of the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra affair that “This is the most fun we’ve had since Watergate.” He saw the controversy as a way to bring down another Republican president. It worked with Watergate, which brought down Richard Nixon. It didn’t work in Reagan’s case.
Bradlee despised Accuracy in Media’s (AIM) founder and then-chairman Reed Irvine because he exposed how Bradlee used The Washington Post as a weapon of political war. No amount of praise for the late “legendary” Post executive editor will erase the facts behind Bradlee’s partisan and political legacy. He was an example of what’s wrong with journalism.
It’s fine to praise Bradlee as a good father and family man. But the idea that his leadership of the Post is something to be admired is crazy…
In 1980, in one of my first assignments for Reed Irvine at Accuracy in Media, I reported that Osnos had guest-lectured at the Marxist Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, D.C. during a Karen DeYoung class on “foreign reporting.” DeYoung was then a foreign reporter for the Post, and rose through the ranks of the paper.
The fact that Bradlee, executive editor from 1968 to 1991, would allow a reporter to “teach” a class at a Marxist institute said a lot about the left-wing atmosphere at the paper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is the Man in the White House Mentally Ill?
I am not asking this with my tongue in my cheek. I am as serious as a judge. As I sit here and write, I am listening to Mr. Obama’s press conference. Something is very wrong with this guy. He is either mentally ill or demon possessed. Either choice is a possibility. But something is definitely wrong with him. He seems somehow inhuman.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mid-Term Election Results: Brutal Reality
This is a column conservatives and independents won’t like. Don’t take away our hope. But, what if that hope is based on an illusion?
Last Tuesday history was made in many races. The shellacking given the Democratic/Communist Party USA was long over due; millions of Americans are ecstatic. But, ah, yes, there is always a “but” — those who expect certain cancers to be cured simply because the Outlaw Congress is now controlled by Republicans are going to be crushed when it doesn’t happen and it won’t based on the past actions of the incumbents now reelected and newly elected candidates who ran on the standard boiler plate smaller government, lower taxes, stop Obamacare. The same incumbents who will keep us in more undeclared wars, operations or occupations further bankrupting we the people.
Americans just reelected the very same people who have destroyed this country because it was time to punish the Democrats and “I would never vote for a Democrat”. The very same incumbents who have allowed a criminal impostor to usurp the office of president. The very same incumbents who refuse to refer rock solid evidence to a federal grand jury proving Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Obama, Barry Dunham, Barack Dunham presented a poorly forged birth certificate to verify his alleged birth place (which is not the issue — he was born with dual citizenship making him forever ineligible), is using a stolen social security number and submitted a poorly forged selective service card which is a federal felony barring that individual to every work for the U.S. government including the Executive Branch.
The very same incumbents who have destroyed YOUR God-given rights as defined in the Bill of Rights: the “Patriot” Act, the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, continued spying on us by the NSA and a lot more. The very same incumbents who have allowed the insane waste of YOUR tax dollars to be spent on thousands of projects that have zero constitutional authority to the tune of hundreds of billions of BORROWED dollars. The very same incumbents who continue to steal from we the people for unconstitutional expenditures like foreign aid and trillions of BORROWED dollars for social programs from unconstitutional cabinets like DHS (Dept of Health and Human Services). The list goes on. But, it really was all over with the primaries.
When Patrick Henry said “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience”, it is no different than today. And, as I have said ad nauseum so many times over the past two plus decades: If your incumbent didn’t get the job done in the 2, 4, 6, 10, 20 or 30 years they’ve been in the Outlaw Congress what makes you believe they will get it done this time around? Chuck Baldwin, in a recent column, summarized some of the failures and promises of the GOP in the past and correctly summed up the con job known as the ‘Contract With America’:…
Patrick Buchanan also wrote an accurate assessment of last Tuesday’s “big win”: The Kumbaya Temptation
“Did America vote for the GOP to go back to Washington and work with Obama? Or did America reward the GOP for promising to return and continue to oppose Obama’s policies? Is the answer not obvious? What Republicans are hearing now is the siren song of a Beltway elite that just got its clock cleaned, an elite that revels in Republican defeats, but is ever at hand to give guidance and counsel to Republicans when they win. And that counsel is always the same: Time to put the acrimony behind us. Time to reach out and take the extended hand of the defeated. Time come together to end gridlock and move forward. And invariably this means move in the same old direction, if a bit more slowly. Consider several areas where the kumbaya temptation is strongest.” Rest at link above and worthy of taking the time to read it.
How many incumbents included getting rid of the unconstitutional “Federal” Reserve as a priority? How many incumbents included getting rid of unconstitutional foreign aid, get us out of the UN, get us out of all those destructive “free” trade treaties that have killed more than 10 million secure, good paying jobs, stop the rape of the American people by stopping ALL payments to the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), World Bank, IMF (International Monetary Fund) and kill the rape of our labor with hundreds of billions to the USAID (United States Aid for International Development) under the State Department? Not one.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said that lack of transparency was a major part of getting ObamaCare passed, and that it was written in such a way as to take advantage of “the stupidity of the American voter.”
Gruber, the MIT professor who served as a technical consultant to the Obama administration during Obamacare’s design, also made clear during a panel quietly captured on video that the individual mandate, which was only upheld by the Supreme Court because it was a tax, was not actually a tax.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Politics Can Become a Mental Disorder
In Frank Gaffney’s little 2012 pamphlet, he writes about THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION. Five brave members of Congress requested an investigation whether individuals with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are using their access to the Obama Administration to influence its favorable policies toward the Brotherhood and the Islamist agenda.[1]
A recent study by the Center for Security Policy showed, for example, that Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, who grew up in Saudia Arabia, “has three family members — her late father, her mother and her brother- connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.” Huma Abedin is not only related to people connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and its galaxy of front groups but before becoming Hillary Clinton’s deputy, she was herself directly associated with a Brotherhood organization, the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs, an organization founded and funded by Abdullah Omar Naseef, a major Muslim Brotherhood figure also involved in the financing of al Qaeda. This pamphlet also documents others who have attained positions of power in the Obama administration and appear to have been allowed to use their influence there to advance the OBSESSED Brotherhood’s cause.
While this is not a goal shared by most American Muslims, who are loyal to this country and its secular society and regards their Islamic faith as a religious rather than ideological commitment, the rise of these Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers in elite American policy circles and the recent attacks and beheadings shows the success of the Brotherhood. (I Thes. 2:14-15) Neutralizing America — its foreign policy as well as its vibrant social and political culture — is their OBSESSIVE quest. On 10/23/2014 in a surprise weekend vote, the city council of Dearborn, Michigan voted 4-3 to become the first U.S. city to officially implement all aspects of Sharia Law — a system that advocates dream of an Islamist conquest of the West by infiltration from within and attack from without; by the word and the sword. [2]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medical School have identified a mysterious virus that literally makes people stupid, and it has so far been found in about 45% of the people tested.
The discovery of the “stupid” virus, normally found in algae, was revealed at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, entitled “Chlorovirus ATCV-1 is part of the human oropharyngeal virome and is associated with changes in cognitive functions in humans and mice” is found at this link on the PNAS.org website.
The rather shocking take away from the study is that the virus alters the gene expression of brain cells, literally making people perform more poorly on cognitive tests, visual processing and spatial awareness.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Robin Williams May Have Taken His Life Due to Hallucinations Caused by Lewy Body Dementia
Robin Williams may have taken his life after falling victim to hallucinations associated with dementia and Parkinson’s disease, his family are said to believe.
The TMZ website reported that it had obtained documents showing that the comedian, who commit suicide in August, was suffering from a form of dementia called Lewy Body Dementia (or LBD) when he died.
Discovered only in the 1990s, Lewy Body Dementia causes abnormal deposits of protein across the brain, leading to a diminishing of the chemical needed to process normal thinking and behaviour.
It often accompanies Parkinson’s Disease, the neurological condition which Williams had been suffering from for about three years before his death, and was said to be distressed about.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Earth is Not 100 Years Old
“Only the ignorant will buy into an irrational or fraudulent premise.” — Ron Ewart
Although there were some good sides to environmentalism, the truth is, environmentalism was created by the world elite to enslave a planet for the purposes of controlling the population with millions of environmental regulations and re-distributing the wealth from the rich countries to the poor countries. This is the dream of those who promote social justice, like Obama and the progressives, but social justice cannot be realized without imposing environmentalism on all the people. Environmentalism is imposed on the people through the policy known as the United Nations Agenda 21 accord, established at the Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. President George H. W. Bush signed that accord.
Here are some excerpts from the Agenda 21 Preamble. We have highlighted some of the more suspicious passages…
“Land…cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. Public control of land use is therefore indispensable…”
[Comment: A must read article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Comet Lander Powered Up After Electronics Glitch
DARMSTADT, Germany — Europe’s Philae lander — still latched inside its mothership — has been activated and should be ready for release Wednesday to begin a daring first-ever descent to a comet, the mission’s flight director said Tuesday. The power-up of Philae is the first of several key milestones planned in the days leading up to Wednesday’s landing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Unveils New Monument to Commemorate WWI
President François Hollande on Tuesday is presiding over a series of commemorations marking the end of World War One, culminating with the inauguration of a breathtaking new monument in northern France.
Tributes will be paid in France and around the world on Tuesday to the millions of servicemen who died in the Great War.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Rocket Bicycle Sets 207mph Speed Record
A cyclist has ridden a rocket-equipped push bicycle into the record books by attaining speeds of 207mph (333km/h) at a racetrack in France.
It took Francois Gissy 4.8 seconds to accelerate to his top speed at the Circuit Paul Ricard racetrack, near Marseille.
The Frenchman believes he can achieve 250mph on his next run on the vehicle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Politics Rocked by Claims of Anti-Sarkozy Plot
A former French PM is alleged to have instructed president Francois Hollande’s chief of staff to speed up investigations into Nicolas Sarkozy in a bid to thwart Sarkozy’s leadership ambitions.
Francois Fillon, a senior member of the centre-right UMP and possible contender for the next presidential elections, is at the centre of the conflict along with Hollande’s top aide, Jean-Pierre Jouyet.
Two Le Monde reporters cite Jean-Pierre Jouyet as saying Fillon wanted the judicial probes into alleged misuse of UMP party funds in Sarkozy’s 2012 presidential election campaign speeded up.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Families: Politicians Recall 1,000 Days of Marines’ Plight
‘They have never given up,’ Latorre’s partner says
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — The families of two Italian marines facing trial in India for allegedly murdering two fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012 on Tuesday recalled the servicemen’s plight 1,000 days after they were first detained.
“A thousand days have gone by since the start of this complicated affair and each day that passes weights more heavily on our lives,” wrote Vania Ardito, wife of Salvatore Girone who together with Massimiliano Latorre is still waiting to be formally charged by the Indian authorities in connection with the alleged crime, which Italy claims does not fall under India’s jurisdiction.
Girone is living at the Italian embassy in New Delhi pending a resolution to the case while Latorre is currently in Italy undergoing rehabilitative therapy after suffering a stroke-like attack in India in the summer. He is due to return to New Delhi at the end of the year. “Though they know they are victims of an injustice they have never given up,” wrote Latorre’s partner Paola Moschetti.
“And for 1,000 days they have gritted their teeth pending the reinstatement of their freedom. Just like true Italians,” she added. The women were echoed by politicians on the centre-right, who in a series of Twitter messages highlighted the “humiliation” for Italy represented by the case.
“1000 days of injustice for the marines and of weakness for the image of Italy in the world. Government, have our country respected: bring them home,” wrote Deborah Bergamini of the opposition party Forza Italia.
Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012.
Rome has protested the many delays in the case, which has caused major diplomatic friction between the countries.
It successfully fought to ensure New Delhi took the death penalty off the table and dropped the application of a severe anti-terrorism, anti-piracy law, which it said would have equated Italy with a terrorist state.
However last month an Indian lawyer reportedly presented a petition to the Supreme Court of India to have the law reinstated. Rome argues the case is not in India’s jurisdiction as the incident took place outside the country’s territorial waters.
It also says the marines should be exempt from prosecution in India, because they are servicemen who were working on an anti-piracy mission, and allowed to return home.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Centre-Right NCD to File No-Confidence Motion in Rome Mayor
Alleges mayor lied about his traffic fines
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — The New Center Right (NCD) party in the Rome city council said Tuesday the party it will file a no-confidence motion in Mayor Ignazio Marino after the center-left politician alleged someone doctored his computer data to make it look as though he hadn’t paid traffic fines.
“We will present our no-confidence motion Thursday,” NCD whip Roberto Cantiani said.
Rome prosecutors opened an investigation Monday after Marino charged someone “manipulated and falsified” his data in the city’s computerized list of permits to drive in the city center.
Eight 80-euro fines were slapped on Marino’s car after he allegedly forgot to renew the permit.
But the mayor says someone deleted from the system his authorization to drive his red Fiat Panda to work while his permit was being renewed.
The incident came to light after opposition New Centre Right (NCD) Senator Andrea Augelio accused authorities of “freezing” the fines as a favor to the center-left mayor, who has incensed many by extending pedestrian zones in Rome’s historic center. The city replied that it is normal practice for such fines to be suspended pending a self-defense motion by the citizen who got fined.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Unicredit Posts Net Profit of 1.8bn in First Nine Months
Third-quarter profits of 722mn, exceeding expectations
(ANSA) — Milan, November 11 — UniCredit exceeded expectations to post net profits of 1.8 billion euros in the first nine months of the year, the Italian bank said in a statement Tuesday.
The numbers are an 81% increase over the same period last year. Third-quarter net profit stood at 722 million euros, up 79%, the lender added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Seals Pact With Allies, Ready to Challenge Berlusconi
Nazareno pact on electoral reform hanging by a thread
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — Premier Matteo Renzi sealed a deal overnight with junior partners in his ruling coalition on the main elements of the government’s reform programme at a meeting late on Tuesday, ANSA sources said Wednesday.
Renzi, the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, won the backing of the smaller parties in his executive for his plans for a new election law, Constitutional reform, including the transformation of the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with minimal powers, and his signature Jobs Act labour reform bill, which the ruling coalition agreed to ratify by January 1.
The major concession Renzi gave the small government parties, above all the New Centre Right (NCD) party of Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, was to change the government’s election bill, lowering the threshold of votes needed for a party to have representatives in parliament to 3%, the sources said.
Such a low threshold cannot please ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi for it would free smaller parties from the grip of his opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, analysts said.
The government also got a written commitment from junior allies on a winner’s bonus for parties that get a minimum of 40% of the vote. The candidate heading a party list will be locked in, but voters will be able to give their preference to other candidates on the list, a certain number of which must be women.
The bill for a new election law that is currently before parliament, the so-called Italicum, sets entry thresholds of 4.5% for parties within a coalition and 8% for parties that run alone. The small parties risk having no lawmakers in parliament under this system. This version of the Italicum is the result of the so-called Nazareno pact Renzi struck with Berlusconi at the start of the year.
The fact that Renzi has now sealed a different deal within his own ruling majority increases the pressure on Berlusconi and sounds much like a challenge, analysts said.
The premier is essentially ready to go it alone, with or without Forza Italia’s backing, and aims to get the electoral reform bill before a Senate committee within the week so it can reach the floor of parliament by year’s end and get ratified by February.
Berlusconi must make up his mind on whether or not to support the electoral reform, after the two leaders failed to reach an agreement at a meeting last week in which Renzi reportedly set Berlusconi a deadline of just a few days to decide. The two are likely to meet again Wednesday to try to hammer out a deal, sources told ANSA Tuesday.
“We have the numbers in parliament to go it alone, but our ambition is to carry out the reforms with everyone,” PD Deputy Secretary Lorenzo Guerini said.
As well in the final document — which Renzi wrote himself after last night’s three-hour meeting with his coalition partners — the government renewed its commitment to rule through the end of its mandate in 2018.
“Early elections would be a mistake and an unacceptable defeat,” according to the document.
As well, the ruling coalition agreed to get a first reading of the Senate reform bill through the Lower House by January and the Upper House by March.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lupi Says TAV Rail Project Priority, EU Funding to be Sought
Suspension bridge over Straits of Messina ‘strategic’ plan
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — The controversial high-speed TAV rail project between Turin and Lyon is a government priority and Italy will join France in requesting co-financing from European authorities in February or March, Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said Tuesday.
In remarks to the Lower House, Lupi also said that a proposed bridge linking mainland Italy and Sicily may be a lower priority but it is still seen by him as a strategic project.
Lupi recently suggested that Italy may spend 2.9 billion euros on the TAV project, which has triggered large and sometimes violent demonstrations by opponents who say the project linking the two major European cities is too expensive and environmentally damaging.
“One of the priorities of the government is the Turin-Lyon line and I can confirm before Parliament….that France and Italy will ask for European co-financing,” said Lupi.
Supporters say TAV will cut down on automobile and truck pollution and make shipping and transit more efficient.
The Italian and French governments have insisted that the link will not only speed passenger and freight traffic but also boost both countries’ economies.
Meanwhile, Lupi said that other infrastructure projects, including several transportation plans, are being funded through the government’s Unblock Italy program.
Although the bridge across the Straits of Messina is important, at the moment improving other transportation links on Sicily as well as between northern and southern Italy are higher priorities, said Lupi. “The government has no resources” to resume the stalled suspension bridge project that would provide a “strategic link” between Reggio Calabria and Sicily, said Lupi. Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi pledged to build the bridge to end Sicily’s isolation but the massive project priced at 8.5 billion euros was scrapped by Mario Monti’s government in 2012.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Alfano Says Ready to Patch Things Up With Berlusconi
NCD leader says ex-premier must not exploit pact with Renzi
(see related story) (ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Tuesday that he was ready to patch things up with his former mentor, Silvio Berlusconi. Alfano used to be Berlusconi’s heir apparent to lead the centre right. But he split from Berlusconi’s party last year and formed a new group, the New Centre Right (NCD), after scuppering Berlusconi’s attempt to bring down ex-premier Enrico Letta’s coalition government. The NCD supports the executive of Premier Matteo Renzi, who replaced his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) colleague Letta in February, while Berlusconi’s Forza Italia is in the opposition. Alfano said a reconciliation would be dependant on Berlusconi not abusing the so-called Nazareno pact he has with Renzi for a new election law against small parties.
“If Berlusconi does not use the Nazareno pact as an blunt weapon against the allies, but has vision, wisdom, long-sightedness and lack of rancour, we are ready to rebuild the centre right,” Alfano said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Shares in MPS Bank Jump on BNP Paribas Buyout Rumours
Consob extends ban on short-selling in troubled banks
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — Shares in troubled Monti dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank rose by up to 5% in trading Tuesday morning amid reports that BNP Paribas is considering making an takeover offer.
BNP, a French multinational financial services firm headquartered in Paris, already operates in Italy through its subsidiary Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) and according to reports, could realize about three billion euros in savings by merging with MPS.
Meanwhile, Italian market regulator Consob announced Tuesday that it would extend until January 27, 2015 its ban on short-selling shares in both MPS and Banca Carige.
That ban was introduced at the end of October amid volatility in the share value of the two banks, which were identified as having serious capital shortfalls in extensive stress testing by the European Central Bank.
Since that report, both banks have announced plans to deal with the shortfalls that, in the case of MPS, amounts to about 2.1 billion euros.
However, the value of MPS shares have dropped dramatically since the ECB report.
MPS has been troubled for some time, twice receiving government bailouts.
It is still repaying the last government assistance received in early 2013 and raised about five billion euros in capital earlier this year to pay off its government debt and avoid nationalization.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lupi Says Positive Noises Coming From EU on Alitalia Deal
Airline hopes for approval of tie-up with Etihad this month
(ANSA) — Rome, November 11 — Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said Tuesday that he was optimistic the European Commission would approve a deal between Alitalia and Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad.
“We do not know anything yet…I am getting positive noises,” he told ANSA outside the Lower House.
“We will know on the 17th”.
The EC is expected to give its decision on November 17 as to whether it will allow the deal to go ahead.
Sources have said the Italian airline will hold shareholder meetings on November 20 and 26 to ratify the nominations of Luca Cordero de Montezemolo as the next president of the Italian carrier, and James Hogan, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Etihad as vice-president.
Earlier this year, Etihad invested 560-million euros for a 49% stake in Alitalia and has pledged to invest much more over coming years in the troubled Italian carrier.
In return, Etihad gains access to lucrative European routes through its Alitalia partnership.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Napolitano Addresses “Unfounded Criticism of EU”
(AGI) Rome, Nov. 11 — The President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, speaking after a meeting with the Austrian President Heinz Fisher, said that criticism addressed at Europe was “unfounded, but is received with inappropriate reactions in countries affected by the economic crisis”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Creates New Body to Streamline Child Abuse Cases
Francis also appeals to G20 to tackle financial crime
(ANSA) — Vatican City, November 11 — The Vatican said Tuesday that Pope Francis has created a new judicial body within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to focus on the most serious crimes, including child sex abuse, and streamline Church procedures in such cases. The new body dealing with appeals by clergymen accused of the most serious crimes (delicta graviora) will be made up of seven cardinals or bishops chosen by the pope. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said there is currently a backlog of cases with the Congregation and the pope’s plan “was well received and is considered a good solution” to the backlog.
Francis has shown he is serious about tackling the problem of sex abuse of minors by members of the clergy since taking the helm of the Catholic Church, whose image has been tarred by a series of scandals in various parts of the world.
He has defrocked several senior priests and in September he had a former archbishop, Pole Jozef Wesolowski, arrested in the Vatican on charges of allegedly abusing children.
The arrest was the first inside the Vatican for alleged paedophilia.
Sex-abuse cases, many of which emerged during the papacy of Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, have cost Catholic dioceses and religious orders around the world billions of dollars in legal fees and settlements.
Francis has apologised for the abuse several times.
He also stiffened the punishments in the Holy See’s law on paedophilia and set up a special commission to advise him on how the Catholic Church should protect children and help victims of sexual abuse by the clergy On Tuesday Pope Francis also urged leaders of the G20 nations meeting on the weekend in Brisbane to take measures to protect people from financial abuse of the sort that led to the global crisis that began in 2008. He criticised “speculation lacking political or juridical constraints and the mentality that maximization of profits is the final criterion of all economic activity — a mindset in which individuals are ultimately discarded will never achieve peace or justice”.
In a message to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, host of the summit, the pope also called on the G20 to press the United Nations to stop “the unjust aggression in the Middle East” that especially affects religious and ethnic minorities.
Francis visited the region earlier this year.
It was a busy day for the Argentine pontiff, who also returned to the theme of the importance of work in a new tweet on Tuesday. “Work is so important for human dignity, for building up a family, for peace!” wrote the pope in a message on his nine-language @Pontifex Twitter account.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rotherham Child Sex Abuse: Police ‘Ripped Up Files’
Police in Rotherham tore up paperwork relating to one child sex abuse victim and stopped another from being medically examined, the BBC has been told.
One woman claimed a policeman called her a liar after she reported being abused aged 15, and the other alleges police prevented her being examined after she was abused aged 13.
Both were speaking to BBC Inside Out.
South Yorkshire Police said both cases were now with the police watchdog.
A report in September by Prof Alexis Jay found 1,400 children had been abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 by men of mainly Pakistani heritage.
The abuse they suffered included beatings, rape and trafficking to various towns and cities in England.
Two women told BBC Inside Out Yorkshire that police not only ignored, but actively obstructed investigations into their abuse.
The two cases happened eight years apart. The women, given the pseudonyms Jenny and Carol, are part of a group of 32 preparing to sue South Yorkshire Police and Rotherham Council.
Their cases span nearly two decades from the 1990s until 2007.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Roundup Herbicide Damages Sperm Cells, Affects Reproductive System
(NaturalNews) Men exposed to even trace amounts of the Monsanto herbicide Roundup are at a serious risk of sperm damage and reproductive problems, according to a new study. Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini and his colleagues from the University of Caen in France found that short-term exposure to Roundup at levels frequently found in water after agricultural sprayings causes long-term fertility issues, including damage to hormonal systems.
Using 15 male rats, the team studied the effects of acute exposure to glyphosate, the most well known ingredient in Roundup, in mammals. The 60-day-old rats were given a water solution containing 0.5 percent Roundup, an amount similar to that found in the natural environment from typical use of the chemical on crops and lawns, for just eight days.
Following this period, the rats were evaluated at days 68 (two months), 87 (three months) and 112 (four months) to look for changes in sperm quality, volume and motility, as well as any alterations to normal gene expression in sperm cells. The team also looked at the rats’ hormone levels, as Roundup has previously been linked to endocrine disruption in mammals.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it was discovered that short-term exposure to common levels of Roundup led to alterations in sperm cell gene expression, resulting in an imbalance of the sex hormones androgen and estrogen. The most significant change was an increase in aromatase mRNA, the adrenal enzyme responsible for initiating the biosynthesis of estrogens inside the body.
Specifically, at the four-month mark, Prof. Seralini and his team observed an increase in the expression of GPER1, or G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1. GPER1 helps regulate how estrogen acts in both cells and tissues, effectively mediating hormonal balance. In other words, Roundup directly interferes with the body’s production and use of sex hormones, potentially leading to long-term and even permanent health consequences.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The final ceramic poppy has been planted at the Tower of London this morning, as the nation paid tribute to the millions of British servicemen who have died in conflict since the start of the First World War.
The 888,246th poppy — representing the life of the 888,246th soldier who died in the Great War — was planted by 13-year-old cadet Harry Hayes to mark the completion of Blood-Swept Lands And Seas of Red, the poignant memorial which has filled the Tower’s moat and attracted some five million visitors to the Tower of London.
This morning, thousands flocked to the Tower to pay their respects to the nation’s war dead, on an especially poignant Armistice Day, 100 years since the start of the First World War.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Rushdie Rules, 25 Years Later
by Daniel Pipes
Danish Free Press Society Conference, November 2, 2014
[N.B. Two transcripts follow, corresponding to the two videos. The first contains Mr. Pipes’ introductory remarks, slightly edited for style. The second contains the give-and-take between him and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands.]
Introductory Talk
Thank you so much; it’s a great pleasure to be here.
Let me start by remembering the 2nd of November 2004. It happened to be an election day in the United States, when George Bush beat John Kerry, it was a very exciting day. I was in California and I was awoken about six o’clock in the morning by a friend who announced to me this murder. I then went on to Al-Jazeera where I debated an Islamist who was justifying this action because of the provocation that Theo Van Gogh had engaged in. It was a very memorable and awful day.
What I would like to do is survey, not just the ten years since that horrible day, but the twenty five years years since Salman Rushdie published The Satanic Verses. There has been a pattern that began that year, that has repeated itself over and over again.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Top EU Court Rules Against ‘Welfare Tourism’
The EU’s top court ruled on Tuesday that member states do not have to provide social welfare payments to EU citizens moving to their country solely to claim benefits.
Charges that the European Union’s core freedom of movement principle has been abused by so-called “social welfare tourists” have helped drive recent gains for anti-EU parties who have campaigned for sharp immigration curbs.
The problem has become acute in Britain where Prime Minister David Cameron, fearing further inroads by the UK Independence Party to his right, has promised to limit immigration — only to be rebuffed by the powerful British business
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Detained After Italian Police Find ISIS Flag
Two people have been detained and an investigation has been launched after police found the flag of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) jihadist group and a map of Rome in an apartment.
The discovery comes less than a month after Isis published a photo of its flag superimposed on the obelisk in St Peter’s square on the front cover of its propaganda magazine, ‘Dabiq’.
The magazine contained an article about the fight against “Rome” and “the Romans”, terminology used to refer more widely to the West.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Backs EU Justice Laws Including Arrest Warrant
The UK opted in to 35 EU justice laws including the European Arrest Warrant following a parliament vote Monday. Despite 36 Conservative MPs voting against their government, lawmakers voted 464 — 38 in favour of signing up to the laws. The UK has an opt-out right from EU justice policy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Will Not Stay in EU at All Costs, Says Cameron
UK prime minister David Cameron has said “Britain’s future in Europe matters to our country”, but not at all costs. He said the attitude “I will stay in Europe, I will stick with whatever we have, come what may” will not work, according to Reuters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
An Army veteran was assaulted as he walked to a cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday by a gang of thugs who tore off his regimental beret and medals.
George Gill, 70, had been walking through a park on his way to the service in Keighley, West Yorkshire, when he was attacked by a gang of Asian youths he said had grabbed his beret ‘like a pack of dogs would a piece of meat’.
The gang then ran off laughing, leaving Mr Gill with cuts to his lip, but the courageous former soldier dusted himself off and continued to the cenotaph to pay his respects before reporting the mugging to police.
Mr Gill, who served as a sergeant with 1st Battalion Duke of Wellington Regiment, had been wearing his khaki beret, navy blue blazer, maroon and grey striped tie — all three of which bore the regimental badge and the motto ‘Victory Favours the Brave’, when he set off on Sunday morning.
He had a poppy pinned to his chest and proudly wore his United Nations Cyprus and Northern Ireland medals on his right lapel.
‘I was walking to the cenotaph in the centre of town for Remembrance Sunday, the same route I have taken every year for as long as I can recall,’ he said.
‘I’d had stopped in Lund Park to look at the embers of a fire which had been lit near a sign when out of nowhere I was grabbed or hit from behind.
‘My beret was knocked off my head and I stumbled to the ground. I tried to stay on my feet because I didn’t know what would happen if I went to ground.
‘I had not seen the gang of about six to eight Asian lads before this and I think they had been hiding in bushes.
‘I had not seen or heard them or done anything to intimidate them. They were laughing and joking and speaking in a foreign language, not in English, so I don’t know what they were saying.
‘I was shaken and couldn’t understand what was happening. They had taken my beret as a trophy and they were tearing it at like a pack of dogs with a piece of meat. They thought it was funny.
‘They ran off laughing and joking out of the park near the bowling green, and then I realised my medals were also missing, so they must have taken those as well. My poppy had been ragged at but they had not managed to steal that.’…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
One of hate preacher Anjem Choudary’s top henchmen was able to skip bail and flee to Syria because of police blunders.
Siddhartha Dhar, 31, disappeared less than 24 hours after being freed on police bail by Scotland Yard detectives investigating Choudary’s inner circle.
They asked him to surrender his passport under strict conditions designed to prevent him promoting al-Muhajiroun, the banned extremist group founded by the fanatic preacher.
But instead, the Islamic convert, known as Abu Rumaysah, took a coach from London to Paris and headed to the Islamic State war zone with his young family.
Last night outraged critics said it beggared belief that a high-profile terrorist suspect could slip through the grasp of police.
Dhar, a darling of TV interviewers repeatedly given a platform on the BBC to promote his radical views, had publicly stated that he wanted to live under the Islamic State…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Neil Harbisson: The Man Who Hears Colour
Neil Harbisson is an artist who was born completely colour blind. His life changed when he decided to have an antenna surgically implanted into his skull that enabled him to “hear” colour.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Schools on Alert Over “Breast Ironing” to Stop Onset of Puberty Discovered
The mutilation, a traditional practice in the west African republic of Cameroon, aims to deter unwanted male attention, pregnancy and rape by delaying the signs that a girl is becoming a woman.
Experts believe the custom is being practised among the several thousand Cameroonians living in Britain. Schools are training staff to look out for signs of the barbaric practice. The move follows heightened awareness of female genital mutilation.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
EBRD and French PROPARCO Loans Jordan 100 Million Dollars
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, NOVEMBER 11 — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the French Development Finance Institution PROPARCO approved a 100 million dollars loan to Jordan to fund the construction of solar energy plants south the kingdom, officials said today.
The new plants will deliver 40 MW of much-needed generating capacity from a clean, reliable domestic resource, thereby reducing the country’s dependence on hydrocarbons, according to a statement by EBRD.
Jordan imports over 97 per cent of the energy it consumes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis Pledges Allegiance to ISIS
Egypt’s main Islamist militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in a recording posted on its Twitter account on Monday.
The announcement is the most significant pledge of support for ISIS in the region outside of Iraq and Syria, suggesting the group’s influence over militant groups is overshadowing its once dominant al-Qaeda rivals.
“We announce our pledge of allegiance to the caliph Ibrahim Ibn Awad… to listen and obey,” the audio recording said, referring to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“We call on all Muslims everywhere to pledge allegiance to the caliph and support him,” the recording said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: Libya: Two Human Rights Activists Beheaded in Derna
Alleged supporters of ex-general Haftar
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — Two human rights activists aged 19 and 21 were beheaded in Derna, in eastern Libya, where jihadists have sworn allegiance to ISIS and imposed Sharia, or Islamic law, local media said Tuesday.
The two activists were reportedly supporters of renegade general Khalifa Gaftar who fights extremist groups alongside the army. The two victims are Mohammed Battu and Sirak Qath, who were abducted on November 6. Their bodies were found Tuesday by residents in Derna.
The city is controlled by the Islamic Youth Council, which has set up an Islamic tribunal and already carried out executions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Presidential Vote, Slim Rihahi Threatened
UPL leader a target of terrorists, according to official reports
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 11 — Tunisian businessman Slim Rihahi, president of the Free Patriotic Union (UPL), the country’s third-largest party with 16 seats in Parliament and a candidate running for president in upcoming elections, has been warned twice by authorities that he is a potential target of terror attacks.
A first detailed report by the president’s office concerned an attack scheduled to take place today in the city of Sfax. A second report issued by the interior ministry concerned an attack which was allegedly meant to take place yesterday near Tunis during visits scheduled as part of the presidential campaign, said UPL’s spokesperson Yosra Milli, adding that Rihahi’s agenda was changed, based on the warnings by security officials.
According to the reports by Tunisian authorities, the threats come from fugitive Seifallah Ben Hassine, known as Abou Iyadh, leader of the Ansar Charia group classified as a terror organization in Tunisia since August 2013, and a well-known Salafite extremist, Abou Bakr Al Hakim, previously detained in Syria and France. Al Hakim is believed to have returned to Tunisia in 2012 and is currently a fugitive. He is believed to be involved in incidents on Mount Chaambi, a terror stronghold, and Mnihla.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Resistance ‘Arafat’s Inheritance’, Jailed Fatah Chief
Letter to PA calls for end to security cooperation with Israel
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 11 — In a letter to the Palestinian Authority (PA) from the Israeli jail where he is serving a life sentence, Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said that the “armed resistance against the occupation is Yasser Arafat’s inheritance”.
He added that the PA “should cease the security cooperation with Israel because it strengthens the Israeli occupation”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Countries Mull Recognising Palestinian State: Report
An unnamed senior European official told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that some European countries may recognise Palestine as a state if the peace process fails. Last month, Sweden officially recognised the Palestinian state. “Other European countries are poised to follow Sweden,” said the source.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Song Calling for ‘Zionists to the Gallows’ Goes Viral
Upbeat, with lyrics inciting anti-Israeli sentiment
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 11 — A song made in Gaza with heavily anti-Israeli sentiment has gone viral due to its appearance on websites linked to Hamas, raising concern in Israel.
“Zionists wait, the day will come where we will hang you from the gallows” are some of the lyrics, a rhyme in Arabic that has become popular. “This is the destiny you already chose, do not blame anyone,” the song goes on to state, calling for people to “pull apart and uproot the Zionists”. The music video is accompanied by images of Israeli soldiers dancing gaily to the tune, alongside ones in which Hamas militants are engaged in raids. Several Israeli past and present units are listed in an ‘ironic’ tone. “If you stay, death will lie in ambush” the song tells Israelis in idiomatic Hebrew.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Plagued by Spreading Islamikaze Violence
Jonathan Schanzer has a timely article in Foreign Policy about the wave of violence pulsing through the Arab population of Jerusalem and now spreading among Israeli Arab Muslims, Argument :Jerusalem, on a Knife’s Edge. Israeli PM Netanyahu said:
These attacks are viral attacks. One person comes out and does an attack and then a whole lot of people come wanting to do the same. They ‘re not ordered. They are spontaneous.
Netanyahu had squarely put the blame of radical Islamists saying in a late October tweet by his staff:
[T]here are various radical Islamist forces at work here who are trying to burn down Israel’s capital.. We will not allow the reality of Jerusalem to become one of throwing stones and firebombs, and disturbances. This is not coincidental.
These perpetrators of violence are what retired Hebrew University Professor Raphael Israeli called in a book by the same name, Islamikaze. They are self motivated Muslims marinated in the doctrine of Salafist Jihad intent on murdering Jews and other unbelievers to make way for a Caliphate to replace Israel…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
The Price of Restraint is Death — The Only Way Terrorism Will End
By Daniel Greenfield
Yesterday afternoon a young woman stood by the side of a road holding up a sign. It read “Gush Etzion.” Those two words summon up spittle-flecked rants about Zionist settlements from the anti-Israel left.
But for Dalia, it was just home. And then it wasn’t.
Dalia caught a ride to a bus stop on the way home from her job as a children’s occupational therapist. Her next stop was a shift at Yad Sarah, a volunteer organization for the elderly and disabled. But before that could happen, a Muslim attacker did what songs, cartoons and posters distributed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas encouraging “Car Jihad” had been telling him to do.
He ran her over with a Mazda van.
With the 26-year-old woman on the ground, the courageous Islamic Jihadist stabbed her as she lay dying. Then shouting Allahu Akbar, he began slashing at an unarmed man who had stopped to help. When the unarmed man fighting him off with his bare hands proved too much for the knife-wielding Jihadist, the killer fled, was wounded and taken into custody.
Dalia’s father, a volunteer with Magen David Adom, Israel’s Red Cross, heard that there had been an attack. He did what countless Israeli fathers and mothers began doing right after they heard the news.
He called his daughter. There was no answer.
Despite being only in her twenties, Dalia knew what was coming. This wasn’t her killer’s first act of terrorism and it wasn’t her first time as a victim of Islamic terrorism.
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
21-Yr-Old Girl Becomes Turkish 1st Headscarved Referee
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, NOVEMBER 11 — Turkish new assistant referee Buhra Yurdakul, 21, has become the first referee in Turkey to officiate a soccer game wearing a headscarf, as the private Dogan news agency reported. Yurdakul got her referee’s license after completing a course in 2013 offered as part of the Turkish Football Federation’s (TFF) Football Refereeing for Everyone (HIF) program. She was one of two assistant referees at a U-15 League game at the weekend between Demirspor and Sandiklispor in the western province of Afyonkarahisar, Dogan said. A third-year finance student at Afyon Kocatepe University, Yurdakul said refereeing was a dream for her and that she was happy that this dream had finally come true. “People who have dreams should not give up on them. Mine have come true,” she told Dogan. Yurdakul wore a black headscarf to match her referee jersey and black leggings underneath her shorts. The other assistant referee in the game was also a woman. TFF’s HIF program offers referees who perform well the chance to become provincial referees in two years. Yurdakul successfully officiated the game as an assistant referee, according to Dogan.
The game ended with a 2-1 victory for Demirspor.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Austria’s Radical Islam Problem
By Benjamin Weinthal
The small Central European country of Austria has recently made headlines because of its jihadi teenagers who have gone to fight in Syria. But Austria’s radical Islam problem stretches beyond the Islamic State’s recruitment of young Austrian men and women. The Alpine state has become a hub of extremism that includes not only Islamic State terrorism but also Iranian nuclear proliferation activities as well as active support for Hamas.
“ISIS: Austria is terror hotspot,” ran the headline of an interview published in September by the Österreich newspaper’s online news outlet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Can Islamic State Survive Without Baghdadi?
by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
IS could find itself in disarray in the event of Baghdadi’s death if it cannot immediately achieve consensus on a successor who can live up to his legacy and command allegiance from the world’s Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Disinformation, Iran, And a Russian-Sponsored Nuclear Deal
This is a story about how politics makes strange bedfellows. Medea Benjamin of Code Pink is in bed with the Koch Brothers, in an emerging alliance designed to make it acceptable for Iran to develop nuclear weapons. The stakes are high for the U.S., but even more so for Israel.
First, some background.
President Obama on Wednesday was asked directly by the press if he intended to circumvent Congress on a nuclear deal with Iran. He said that while the Iranians “have negotiated seriously around providing assurances that they’re not developing a nuclear weapon for the first time,” there is no deal just yet. He said that Russia has “worked with us cooperatively in trying to find ways to make sure that we can verify and have confidence going forward that Iran doesn’t have the capacity to develop a nuclear weapon…”
One late report indicates that Obama will accept a deal whereby Russia will somehow safeguard some of the Iranian nuclear material and make sure it doesn’t get used for Iranian nuclear weapons development. Vladimir Putin must be considered reliable and trustworthy by the White House. A new report from The Wall Street Journal indicates Obama has even written Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei about a nuclear deal, in exchange for help against ISIS, in a development we predicted. This, too, has been engineered by Russia, to divert attention from Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and increasing nuclear threats toward NATO members.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Encircling Baghdad: The Country That Became a City-State
by Lawrence A. Franklin
The goal of the Islamic State might be to create enough chaos in the capital city of Baghdad to cause a mass exodus of its Shia population southward, thus ceding Baghdad to the Sunnis by default.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Burak Bekdil
Shortly after the Arab Spring rocked several capitals in the Middle East, the Turks devised a plan that would enable their country to emerge as the new Ottoman Empire.
In the entire Middle East, Turkey now has only two allies: Qatar, which looks more like a rich, family-owned gas station than a state; and Hamas, a terrorist organization. But Turkey has a rich menu of hostilities: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, (discreetly) Jordan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, (as always) Cyprus, (now) Tunisia, (also discreetly) Morocco and Algeria, and (most warring factions of) Libya.
Turkey looks rather dramatically isolated.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Inside the CIA’s Syrian Rebels Vetting Machine
Nothing has come in for more mockery during the Obama administration’s halting steps into the Syrian civil war than its employment of “moderate” to describe the kind of rebels it is willing to back.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Sex Slave Market is Modern Repeat of Barbary Pirate Slavery Trade
According to reports (see article below), ‘The Islamic State’ has set fixed prices in order to sell Yazidi and Christian women from Iraq and Syria — who’ve been abducted into slavery by members of the US, Turkey and GCC-backed paramilitary terrorist confab.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail and documents posted at the Iraqinews.com, Iraq and Syrian girls under nine years of age are fetching the highest prices, averaging around $170 USD. Older women between 40 and 50 years old are only $43, and no one can purchase more than three slaves, unless they are foreigners like Turks, Syrians and GCC/Gulf Arabs. But the document also says that the ISIS slavery market has hit a downturn recently.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jabhat Al-Nusra Deepens Its Foothold in Northwestern Syria
Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) seized large swaths of the Jabal al-Zawiya area of southern Idlib Province (in northwest Syria bordering Turkey) from Free Syrian Army (FSA)-affiliated groups beginning in late October 2014 (see fig. 1). JN, the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, began to carve out direct territorial control in Idlib Province beginning in July 2014, and its advance in southern Idlib has considerably extended its stronghold in the province. JN’s campaign in Idlib has largely targeted terrain held by the FSA-affiliated Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF), and is therefore an important indicator of JN’s strength in relation to Syria’s moderate opposition and its willingness to escalate against Western-backed groups in pursuit of its own core interests[…]
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Senior Saudi Salafi Cleric: The Islamic State is “A True Product of Salafism”
Salafism is a movement dedicated to adhering to what the earliest Muslims, the salaf (“ancestors”) did. Thus is a movement devoted to restoring Islamic purity and strict adherence to the Qur’an and Sunnah. Will Barack Obama send John Kerry over to Saudi Arabia to explain to Sheikh ‘Aadel Al-Kalbani how he is misunderstanding Islam?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Envoy Calls Meeting With Assad ‘Constructive’
Consultations to continue on ‘freeze zones’
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 11 — UN envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura had a series of “useful and constructive” meetings during a three-day visit to the country, including a lengthy talk with President Bashar Al-Assad, stated a UN press release on Tuesday.
De Mistura called for the creation of “freeze zones” o suspend fighting in some areas including the northern city of Aleppo.
The UN envoy also met with the Syrian foreign minister and his deputy who — as did Assad — agreed to continue consultations on the matter. His ‘action plan’ focuses on countering the threat posed by terrorism, a reduction in violence and assistance to the largest number of civilians possible.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Troops Arrive in Iraq as Egyptian Jihadists Pledge Allegiance to is
A group of US soldiers has arrived in Iraq’s western Anbar province to assess a site for operation. Their arrival comes at a time when “Islamic State” jihadist influence seems to be growing in the region.
Nearly 1,500 US soldiers are currently in Iraq, mainly in Baghdad and Erbil, to protect US assets and advise Iraqi forces. Last week, US President Barack Obama approved up to 1,500 additional troops to train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces to fight IS.
The US-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes on IS targets in Iraq and Syria for months, but the insurgents have nonetheless been able to push back Iraqi forces in Anbar province.
Meanwhile, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a radical Islamist al Qaeda-linked organization which has killed scores of Egyptian security forces, has vowed allegiance to IS, highlighting the latter’s growing influence in the Middle East, despite its militancy and reign of terror on anyone not complicit with their ultra conservative version of Islam.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Veterans and Families Sue Six Banks Accused of Transferring Funds to Finance Iran Terror Groups
Just prior to Veterans Day, November 10, 2014, a lawsuit was filed in the Eastern Federal District Court in Brooklyn, New York against six major international banks allegedly engaged in transfers of funds with a leading Iranian bank. The defendants in the action include HSBC Bank USA, Barclays, London’s Standard Chartered Bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, and London-based Iranian Bank Saderat. The suit is on behalf of more than 200 plaintiffs Veterans and families of US service personnel and a journalist killed or maimed in Iraq. Attacks that occurred over the period from 2004 to 2008 by terrorist groups affiliated with Iran’s Quds Force and its proxy Hezbollah. Over 80 wounded veterans are among the plaintiffs, many victims of Improvised Explosive Devices (I.E.D.). The suit by the plaintiffs is requesting a jury trial. The context of this latest US antiterrorism suit-Iran’s Quds Force involved with proxy Hezbollah fighting US forces in the Iraq War-comes at a time when the Administration has reached out to Iran’s Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Khamenei seeking the Islamic Regime’s assistance in fighting the Islamic State, ISIS. Already heavily engaged in Iraq advising the Iraqi national security forces on how to combat ISIS is none other than the head of the Quds Force, Qassem Suleymani, along with Hezbollah operatives.We hope that this federal lawsuit at least finds these major banks dealing with Iranian financial institutions complicit in the terror financing of Al Quds and Hezbollah who killed Americans and maimed US vets for life.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Why Gulf Women Join Jihadi Groups
By Shamlan Al-Essa
Gulf local papers publish every now and then news about Saudi and Kuwaiti women jihadists joining the Islamic State (Daesh) organization. Al-Watan published on Oct 30 a news item about Kuwaiti women fighting with Daesh.
The paper said that there are 200 women in Al- Khansa brigade of Daesh in the Syrian Raqqa province, which includes three Kuwaitis. The women’s job besides fighting is to provide logistic support and transferring arms and ammunition.
Why does the Gulf woman accept joining jihadi action and join her husband and does not think about her and her children’s lives, and exposing her country and society to danger?
There are many reasons that push women to jihadi action, most important of which is that all jihadi group members do not have a real wish for life to continue, and the reasons may be psychological, social or cultural, but they have a firm conviction that jihadi action, killing oneself and killing innocent people will lead them to heaven.
They are convinced that life on earth in transient and the immortal life is in heaven, and this applies for men and women alike.
Second: The Gulf woman in general, especially women involved in jihadist political Islam groups, do not have independent thinking away from the strict partisan orders forced upon them by their partisan leaderships, because the pyramidal partisan discipline requires execution without argument or discussion.
Third: The commitment of the Gulf woman to voluntary work, particularly Islamic charity, because the charity work instills the permanent view of the woman as a mother and a source of giving, warmth and care, and this means expanding her family role and expanding it to serve the society. So, charity work formed an accepted link between the field related to the woman and the general field without any threat to the dominant societal environment that instills the woman’s inferiority.
Fourth: The dominance of political Islam factions over most of the civil society establishments in the past years prepared the societal grounds for women to accept the dominance of these factions, because traditions do not separate between what is sacred and what is cultural, so it was easy for most society groups to respond to these groups, especially that these political Islam movements do not demand the change of the woman’s social status, and this helped in their alliance with governments and lack of woman’s awareness, and women’s acceptance of men’s dominance and wishes.
Finally, we believe that the Gulf governments neglected the improvement of woman’s status in general and allowed her to work in Islamic charity committees, which work for politicized movements under the charity cover.
The problem is that nobody knows where the money of these women societies go, and how it is spent, and in which field. Can the jihadi action for Gulf women or men be stopped?
The Arab Gulf states, along with the countries allied to internationally fight terrorism, concentrated on the security and military aspect, and neglected the cultural and education aspect in fighting terrorism in general. We will not make any achievement eradicating terrorism without civilized openness towards the world and instilling the principle of the civil state instead of insisting on appeasing political Islam factions in hopes of containing them.
The issue of liberating the woman and regaining her human dignity as a Gulf citizen is only the first step in fighting extremism and terrorism, because treatment of the woman as a citizen that has a role in society is the first step in getting away from extremism and terrorism.
—Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Watan
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
The elections in the two self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine on November 2 resulted in the victory of Aleksandr Zakharchenko in Donetsk and Igor Plotnitsky in Lugansk. The outcome was never in doubt, since the two leaders faced less prominent candidates whose programs were also based on the demand for complete independence from Kiev. In reality it was a plebiscite.
I was invited to Donbas by the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR) authorities a month ago to monitor the election as part of a team of 38 observers from 21 countries, and readily accepted the invitation. In my view it was highly desirable to have some elected authorities in place which could be Kiev’s negotiating partners, if and when the Ukrainian government realizes that a political problem demands a political rather than military solution.
Traveling through “Novorossiya” entails passing through numerous checkpoints, but life away from the ceasefire lines has the appearance of normalcy. Steel works have not ceased operating, and the theater in Donetsk advertises numerous winter season performances. The overall impression after visiting six polling stations is that the people were eager to vote. They were prepared to stand in long lines in order to do so, notably so in Novoazovsk, 80 miles south of Donetsk. The atmosphere was relaxed, even though the shaky ceasefire lines were only ten miles to the west. There were Cossack veterans; there was music, ranging from old Soviet estrada to a women’s choir in traditional dress performing Russian folk songs, to the delight of little girls and their grandmothers. In Telmanovo, 40 miles south of Donetsk, hundreds of people turned out to greet our team of foreign observers.
You cannot force people to act in this manner: the claim that this was a vote “under the barrel of the gun” is simply untrue, although there were armed guards at most precincts. These simple folks, mostly miners and farmers, are adamant that they have no future under the current Kiev authorities. They say that nobody here thought of secession until the “putchist” regime came to power last February — not even under the nationalist “Orange” government which came to power a decade ago. Months of indiscriminate shelling of the civilian areas by Ukraine’s armed forces, which is continuing on a daily basis, has hardened the sentiment beyond the point of no return…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
In Moscow, Russia and Iran Sign Nuclear Reactor Deal
Russia has signed a deal with Iran to build two new nuclear reactors at the Bushehr site, already home to a 1,000-megawatt reactor. This comes as Iran seeks an accord with world powers on its contentious nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran and Russia Sign Deal to Build Two Nuclear Reactors
(AGI) Moscow, Nov 11 — Russia and Iran have signed an agreement to build two more nuclear power reactors in the Iranian port city of Nushehr, according to Russian news agencies. Four other nuclear power plants will be built in other areas in Iran. The agreement was sign by Russian state corporation Rosatom and Iran’s NPPD.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Talks With Putin Three Times at APEC Summit
(AGI) Beijing, Nov 11 — Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met on three occasions during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Beijing, the White House confirmed. The U.S.
and Russian presidents “talked about Iran, Syria and Ukraine”, sources said. Mr Obama and Mr Putin talked for a total of 15 to 20 minutes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Doctor Used Infected Tools on Indian Women as 10 Dead
An Indian surgeon used infected instruments to sterilize 83 women in about six hours, according to a local medical official, leaving 10 of them dead and another 69 hospitalized in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The doctor breached guidelines that limit surgeons from performing more than 30 sterilizations a day, said the official, who asked not to be named because details of the investigation are private. He also failed to disinfect the instruments before using them again, the official said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens of Women Dead, Injured After Mass Sterilization Clinic Infection in India
by Phyllis Chesler
Eight women have just died and 68 other women have been hospitalized because an Indian surgeon used infected instruments in a mass government-sponsored sterilization “camp.” The official limit is 30 such sterilizations per day and scrupulous attention to hygiene.
Clearly, Dr. RK Gupta breached these guidelines. One unnamed official has been quoted as saying: “The doctor failed to disinfect the instruments before using them again.” Further, over 80 women were reportedly operated upon within a five to six hour period in the government-run Nemi Chand hospital in the Pendari area of Bilaspur.
According to Amar Singh Thakur, chief health officer for the Bilaspur district, “The deaths were due to septic shock.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised a “thorough investigation and action on this unfortunate tragedy.”
Why does India sterilize women (and men) in such large numbers? That is because the country is suffering from vast overpopulation. In 2011, the census had passed the one billion person mark which makes India second only to China in terms of population. By 2025, India is projected to be the world’s most populous country.
Here’s why. The birth rate remain higher than the death rate; the fertility rate is still very high due to early marriage and the universal practice of marriage. Add to that, poverty, illiteracy, (including illiteracy about or resistance to birth control), the cultural preference for boys—and as many boys as possible (to take care of their aged parents), as well as the illegal migration from Bangladesh and Nepal—and India has a major problem to solve. Overpopulation also taxes the economy and leads to unemployment as well as the overutilization of resources such as land areas, water, forests, etc.
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia’s Sharia Law Costs Non-Muslims Their Kids
IPOH, Malaysia (AP) — It was the last round of a recurring argument: M. Indira Gandhi’s husband wanted her to convert to Islam. A committed Hindu, she refused.
He threatened divorce. Both started shouting. Neighbors came looking. Suddenly, he snatched their 11-month-old daughter from the arms of an older child, tucked her under one arm and sped off on his motorbike.
That was more than five years ago. Gandhi hasn’t seen her child since, even though a Malaysian civil court awarded her custody.
Her husband — who converted to Islam shortly before taking his daughter away — won custody in an Islamic court. Because Gandhi is not a Muslim, she was not even called to appear. Police have been unwilling to enforce the civil court’s decision.
“I am pining to see my daughter. No mother should ever have to endure this pain,” said Gandhi, a kindergarten teacher, in her small rented home in Ipoh city in Perak state, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, the capital. “Give us a chance. We are all Malaysians. We should have equal rights.”
Gandhi’s case and others highlight perils of Malaysia’s divided legal system, where majority Muslims use Shariah courts for religious and family issues such as conversion, divorce and death. The other 40 percent of the country — mainly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus — use a secular legal system inherited from the Southeast Asian country’s British colonial rulers…
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Sinking Jakarta Starts Building Giant Wall as Sea Rises: Cities
If you worry that rising sea levels may one day flood your city, spare a thought for Michelle Darmawan. Her house in Jakarta is inundated several times a year — and it’s 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the coast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Alibaba Sees Singles Day Shopping Bonanza
China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has said it’s sold products worth billions of dollars in the first hours of Singles Day, the world’s biggest retail event. Shoppers have been able to enjoy huge discounts.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China: Drunk Power Plant Boss ‘Causes Blackout’
A drunk power station boss plunged a county into darkness after a bar brawl in eastern China, it’s reported.
Power was cut to thousands of homes and businesses for six hours in part of Henan province, after a group of power plant employees took issue with staff at a local karaoke joint, the South China Morning Post website reports. The group reportedly smashed up the bar after being refused a free round of drinks. During the melee, one of the officials threatened to “unleash the wrath of the electric tiger”, as the state electricity system is known, by cutting the bar’s power. The had already enjoyed crates of beer and “several bottles of expensive liquor” during their jaunt, the report says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Markets Celebrate Merger of Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — The announcement of the merger of the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges has boosted Chinese markets, which yesterday posted one of their best performances in recent years. The mainland market closed the session up 2.3%. The composite index gained 55.50 points to close at 2473.67 points, the highest level since November 2011, with a turnover of 245.2 billion yuan (just over EUR 32 billion). Hong Kong also closed positively, with an increase of 0.83%, the Hang Seng index gained 194.46 points to close at 23744.70 points, with a turnover of 91.98 billion Hong Kong dollars (EUR 9.52 billion).
The euphoria of investors is linked to the official announcement of the launch of a common trading platform. The initiative is considered one of the most important financial and economic moves since the last century, and will be able to offer foreign investors unprecedented access to China’s financial market. The project, called the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, has received all necessary approvals and will officially start operations on November 17th.
The Beijing government presented this project in April 2014, and sought to use it as a weapon to stop the democratic demonstrations taking place in Hong Kong. The merger has been postponed twice, and the government of mainland China even aired the possibility of “canceling the project due to political instability” in the former British colony. Despite the fact that the protests for a real universal suffrage are still in progress, the merger has eventually been given the go ahead.
Charles Li Xiaojia, chief executive of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said: “The launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect represents a significant step in the opening of China’s capital markets for both domestic and for international investors, as well as a milestone in the internationalization of the yuan”. China’s national currency was until now limited to trade on the National stock exchanges: union with the largest financial hubs in the world will make it possible to look beyond their borders and invest in foreign markets.
Hong Kong has long been the second most important exchange in Asia after that of Tokyo; on the other hand, in recent years, Shanghai has managed to carve out an increasingly important role thanks to the futures market. According to current data, their twinning will create a turnover capable of bypassing the Japanese stock exchange in terms of market capitalization. Tokyo is third in the world and first in Asia to 4.54317 trillion dollars.
Data is provided by the World Federation of Exchanges, which annually calculates the volume of global transactions. In 2013, based on market capitalization, the Federation placed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) in sixth place with 3.10078 trillion dollars. Shanghai, not yet open to foreign investors, is worth 2296.99. The data indicates that from Monday 17 there will be cross-border transactions for an amount up to US$ 3.8 billion every day.
Should the project be successful the plan provides for further enlargement to include, at a later date, even the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. This was revealed by a Chinese government official, who called it a target “to achieve by 2015”. The three cities combined could reach a market capitalization of about 7 trillion dollars.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Chews Gum During APEC Summit, Irks Chinese With Uncouth Behavior
President Obama at the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation summit in China raised some eyebrows Tuesday morning, at least among members of the attending press pool and an observant Chinese blogger — for chewing gum at inappropriate times.
Mentioned in the middle of the press pool report, right after the reference that Mr. Obama “took his seat” and chatted with Marvin Nicholson — who “made him smile” — was this line: “(He) leaned back in his chair for the opening remarks. He was chewing his Nicorette, it seemed, but mostly hiding it.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Hits on China’s First Lady, Censors Go Wild
Russia’s Don Juan-in-chief just got a little too friendly with Xi Jinping’s wife.
The first unspoken rule of diplomacy might be “Don’t hit on the president’s wife,” but Russia’s newly single president Vladimir Putin seems to have missed the memo.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korean Ferry Captain Sentenced to 36 Years in Prison
The captain of the South Korean ferry that sank last April, killing 304 people, most of them high school students on a field trip, was sentenced on Tuesday to 36 years in prison for deserting his ship and its passengers in a fatal crisis.
The 69-year-old captain, Lee Jun-seok, “abandoned his passengers, knowing that they were waiting for instructions from the crew and that if they were not evacuated, their lives would be at risk,” said the presiding judge, Lim Joung-youb.
But in his ruling, which capped the five-month trial of 15 crew members of the ferry Sewol, the judge rejected the murder charge against Mr. Lee and the death penalty that prosecutors had sought. Instead, he convicted the captain of failing to take the steps required to save passengers in an emergency.
| [Return to headlines] |
South Korea Ferry Disaster Captain Sentenced to 36 Years for Negligence
The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized killing more than 300 passengers has been found guilty of negligence and sentenced to 36 years in jail.
The Sewol ferry had 476 people onboard when it capsized in April. Most of those who died were school students.
Captain Lee Joon-seok was acquitted of homicide which prosecutors had wanted the death penalty for.
The ship’s chief engineer was found guilty of homicide for not helping two injured fellow crew members and sentenced to 30 years. The other 13 surviving crew members were all found guilty of various charges.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Things to Know About China’s Singles’ Day
November 11 is not only the largest online shopping day of the year in China, but also the largest in the world. Just after midnight on this day, millions of shoppers flock online to snag discounts of 50% or more on everything from shoes to computers.
Alibaba said Tuesday that the amount of online transactions on Singles’ Day—a term that describes the loosely defined holiday celebrated by young single Chinese because it falls on 11.11—hit $2 billion just over an hour after the event started at midnight. Last year, Alibaba’s Singles’ Day generated $5.8 billion in online transactions for the entire day, more than the U.S.’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. And China Reach Climate Deal After Secret Negotiations
China and the United States made common cause on Wednesday against the threat of climate change, staking out an ambitious joint plan to curb carbon emissions as a way to spur nations around the world to make their own cuts in greenhouse gases.
The landmark agreement, jointly announced in Beijing by President Obama and President Xi Jinping, includes new targets for carbon emissions reductions by the United States and a first-ever commitment by China to stop its emissions from growing by 2030.
Administration officials said the agreement, which was worked out secretly between the United States and China over nine months and included a letter from Mr. Obama to Mr. Xi proposing a joint approach, could galvanize efforts to negotiate a new global climate agreement by 2015.
| [Return to headlines] |
Has Ebola Already Mutated to Evade Detection?
(NaturalNews) Ebola news coverage has all but dried up in the mainstream media, and so has the stock of available viral samples for disease testing, say scientists. It is highly likely that Ebola has already mutated so much that it is no longer detectable using standard assessments, but without these samples there is no way to know for sure, they say.
U.S. scientists who have been tracking the outbreak say the situation is getting murkier as active monitoring dwindles. Transport companies that previously would have shipped the virus are now leery of doing so due to safety concerns, while doctors in the most affected countries in West Africa have suddenly stopped sharing disease samples with the U.S.
According to Charles Chiu, a microbiologist and infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, the best experts in the field don’t even know if Ebola has mutated beyond recognition because tracking has deteriorated. As it currently stands, samples of the virus are nowhere to be found, which poses a major public health threat.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Tetanus vaccines given to millions of young women in Kenya have been confirmed by laboratories to contain a sterilization chemical that causes miscarriages, reports the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, a pro-vaccine organization.
A whopping 2.3 million young girls and women are in the process of being given the vaccine, pushed by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.
“We sent six samples from around Kenya to laboratories in South Africa. They tested positive for the HCG antigen,” Dr. Muhame Ngare of the Mercy Medical Centre in Nairobi told LifeSiteNews. “They were all laced with HCG.”
HCG is a chemical developed by the World Health Organization for sterilization purposes. When injected into the body of a young woman, it causes a pregnancy to be destroyed by the body’s own antibody response to the HCG, resulting in a spontaneous abortion. Its effectiveness lasts for years, causing abortions in women up to three years after the injections.
Dr. Ngare explained “…this WHO campaign is not about eradicating neonatal tetanus but a well-coordinated forceful population control mass sterilization exercise using a proven fertility regulating vaccine.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
America and Western Countries: Becoming the World’s Refugee Camps, Part 8
Let’s make this fact crystal clear for anyone dreaming of a “nice” outcome to adding 100 million legal immigrants to America within the next 30 years. Fact: we face 100,000,000 (million) more immigrants added to America within 30 years with the current 1965 Immigration Reform Act. It added 100 million from 1965 to 2007. That same act, still operating via your two senators and congress members not whispering a word against it — definitely will add another 100,000,000 legal immigrants within three decades. (Sources: US Census Bureau, US Population Projections by Fogel/Martin, PEW Research Center)
Again, to sober you to your children’s future, that means doubling the population of our 35 most populated cities. That means we face the need to water, feed, house, transport, warm, work and educate 100 million people from 140 third world countries. It means we became a “Refugee Camp” for the burgeoning populations of the third world. It also means, as you witnessed in the two video tapes offered in each of these parts of the series — we won’t make a dent in saving the world’s people, but we face unsolvable problems with unsolvable consequences. In the end, we will join their misery in our own country.
Yet the citizens of America, like sheep, remain quiet. The leaders, bought off by mega-corporations, push their agenda as if they will remain immune to the consequences. They won’t!
But let’s look at the “Environmental Consequences” of adding 100 million immigrants to America. Mind you, I am only writing about the “legal” refugees landing on our shores. You can expect millions more “illegal” immigrants to impact us further.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bangkok Ready to Expel More Than 200 Rohingya Refugees Fleeing From Myanmar
Police sources confirm: “They will be put back on the boats and sent back to the sea, they are the Burmese government’s problem”. Human rights activists speak of “massive maritime exodus “ in recent weeks. Behind the escape, despair and fear for the future . Many women among the desperate fleeing on haphazard.
Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) — More than 200 Rohingya “boat people” fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar, held in the south of Thailand, will be removed and put back into the sea in the next few days on the orders of the Bangkok government.
Thai police sources confirmed the move regardless of the appeals of various activists and human rights groups, calling for the end of push backs, a policy that puts in danger the lives of refugees. Sanya Prakobphol, senior police officer and head of the district Kapoe (the southern province of Ranong), said that “they will be put back on the boats and sent back to Burma.” He adds that once they have crossed the maritime border and are in Burmese waters “it will be their problem.”
On 8 November, the Thai coast guard intercepted and arrested on charges of illegal immigration, about 259 members of the Muslim minority, which the Myanmar government does not recognize as their own citizens. The detained group is part of a “massive maritime exodus “ taking place in recent weeks, as denounced by activist movements, fueled by despair and fear for the future.
The refugees intercepted off the Thai coast were headed for Malaysia, a largely Muslim country in Southeast Asia, in search of work and a better life. The desperate refugees include several women who wanted to join their husbands who have already migrated.
Since June 2012, the western state of Rakhine has witnessed violent clashes between Burmese Buddhists and Rohingya causing at least 200 deaths and 250 thousand displaced people. According to United Nations estimates, there are still 800 thousand members of the Muslim minority in Myanmar, who the government considers illegal immigrants and who are therefore subject to abuse and persecution.
To date, there are still 140 thousand displaced persons confined in refugee centers which, as according to the Burmese government must accept the classification of Bengali — and obtain citizenship — or remain in the camps “for life”. Within these camps they are deprived of basic rights, such as health care, education or work. The Catholic Church in Burma has intervened on several occasions against the marginalization and neglect faced by the Muslim minority.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Plans to Cut Child Benefits in Morocco Are Pressuring Relationship: VK
The Dutch decision to slash child benefits and widows pensions for people living in Morocco is putting pressure on diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Volkskrant says on Tuesday.
The paper says the Moroccan government feels it has been insulted by this ‘unfriendly act’ and that ambassador Abdel Bellouki has warned it may stop people moving back to Morocco when they retire. Bellouki, the paper says, considers the Netherlands has given Morocco a ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatum. The proposals to cut benefits are extremely sensitive to Moroccan nationals because their ‘legitimate rights’ are being affected, the paper quotes him as saying.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Accused of Allowing American Children to be Killed by Illegal Alien “Dreamers”
A stinging report released on Tuesday by a renowned Inside the Beltway watchdog group accused President Barack Obama’s allegedly fabricated “humanitarian crisis” that allowed tens of thousands of illegal aliens minors — who unlawfully flooded the border into Texas and were dispersed throughout the United States — of spreading a deadly respiratory virus that’s attacking American children in a number of states throughout country.
It’s believed the virus actually killed as many as nine kids so far, according to the public-interest law firm that battles government corruption in the federal courts, Judicial Watch. In the group’s latest addition to its Corruption Chronicles, the nonprofit, nonpartisan investigators of government corruption and criminal activity describes a cynical and destructive immigration policy that led to at least nine American children dying from a highly contagious disease.
Judicial Watch claims that prior to the virtual tsunami of illegal aliens who were supposed to be youngsters, Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) was practically nonexistent within this nation’s borders, at least until the recent tidal wave of illegal alien minors entering the U.S. while the Border Patrol agents helplessly watched. “Thanks to the Obama administration, the agents had their hands tied by their Obama-appointed superiors at the Department of Homeland Security and were used as baby sitters and makeshift hotel bellboys for the illegal alien children, some of whom were 19-years-old,” said Kenneth Lorenzo, a former inner-city police detective.
The highly contagious, airborne EV-D68 is said to cause severe respiratory illness and also is said to come from Central American nations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “From mid-August to the end of October state public health laboratories have confirmed a total of 1,105 people in 47 states and the District of Columbia with respiratory illness caused by EV-D68.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Just as I predicted in this column last week, the GOP has captured the U.S. Senate, which means they now control both houses of Congress in Washington, D.C. But, if you recall, I also said that even if Republicans become the majority party in the Senate, it will not change impending amnesty for illegal aliens (or most anything else).
See my column: “There You Go Again”
Too many Republicans are as desirous of some sort of amnesty deal as are Democrats. Republicans like to call it “pathway to citizenship,” but the result is the same: millions of illegals will get an amnesty deal. Get used to the idea, folks; it is inevitable. The fact that the vast majority of the American people are AGAINST amnesty will not stop it from happening. (Anyone remember the giveaway of the Panama Canal?) Our “lords” and “masters” in Washington, D.C., (from both major parties) have determined that giving millions of illegals legal status is good for America. And, after all, our “masters” believe themselves to have God-like wisdom and power, so what you and I think about it doesn’t matter to a tinker’s dam. Besides, our politicians in Washington, D.C., don’t answer to We the People; they answer to a higher power — and, no, I’m not talking about the Almighty or the U.S. Constitution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: “Reducing Refugees Would Break the Law”
As the Sweden Democrats say they can save billions by sharply cutting immigration, legal expert Louise Dane says the only way to accept fewer refugees is to break international law.
“Seeking protection, and being granted protection, is a universal human right,” says Louise Dane to Radio Sweden.
Sweden is currently seeing more asylum seekers than at any time since the Second World War.
According to the Swedish Board of Migration, we can expect maybe around 100,000 new asylum seekers every year over the next few years, and there has been talk of the need for more housing, and for new arrivals to be spread more fairly across local areas.
“As long as people make it to Sweden and apply for asylum, as long as they’re entitled to it, we have to grant them it.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Toy Catalogues ‘Too White’ For Sweden
The Danish toy company Top Toy is under fire from a Swedish group that claims that two of the toy stores operated by the company have catalogues that are “too white”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Toy Firm Answers ‘Too White’ Criticism
After a Swedish advocacy group accuses Top-Toy’s catalogues of not being diverse enough, a company spokeswoman tells The Local that its customers should be able to identify with its catalogues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is God a Divine Being? Nope, Says Pope
In his continuing quest to win the favor of liberals and pagans around this fallen world, Pope Francis I last week said, “God is not a divine being.”
He made this astonishing remark during an informal speech defending something called “theistic evolution.” That’s a doctrine much favored by squishy Christians who want to be accepted by the world. Oh, sure, says the pope: God is still the Creator. But He doesn’t actually “make” things. He just sort of starts the ball rolling, and then sits back and watches. Although how He can do even that, without being a divine being, the pope did not explain.
Before dropping this clanger, Francis got his wings clipped by the assembled bishops recently when he exhorted them to ease up on homosexuality, shacking up, and divorce. The bishops weren’t buying it.
Does this man understand he’s the pope, and not the governor of California?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Transgender Rights Group Campaigns for Mixed School Toilets
Girls and boys at secondary school should share the same toilet facilities so that transgender children do not have to choose which to use, according to gay and transgender rights group COC. The COC and Transgender Netwerk Nederland are holding a one-day campaign on Tuesday to draw attention to the dilemma facing transgender children at school. Some children, the organisations say, avoid the rest rooms altogether because of the problem.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Some may not wish to call it conspiracy but the truth is often stranger than fiction. It is often more comfortable to believe in the lie than to admit that we are living our lives based on a lie, that we have been deceived and that we are letting others deceive our children.
Norman Dodd was the chief investigator for the Reece Committee in 1953. Dodd had worked in the elite banking institutions in his early professional life but he had made a moral decision to not play the game.
He was hired to investigate the un-American activities of large endowment foundations who most people could only imagine as institutions of charitable benevolence.
Dodd quoted Rowan Gunthor, the President of the Ford Foundation, who stated that they operated under directives to “use our grant making power so to alter life in the United States so it can be comfortably merged with the Soviet Union.”
Dr. Joseph Johnson at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace permitted Dodd to examine the fifty years of hand written minutes to their meetings. Dodd sent a well educated Lawyer by the name of Catherine Casey to examine the records.
Dodd realized that Johnson did not know what was in the records and he sent Catherine because she was skeptical of any wrong doing on the part of these multi million dollar tax exempt philanthropic organizations.
Her mind and her life was changed as she read the minutes of 1908 which discussed war as the best way to alter the lives and thinking of the American people. In 1909, it was discussed how to involve the U.S. in a war, deciding that control of the State Department was essential.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court, ‘Gay Marriage’ And the Easter Bunny
On Thursday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio…upheld natural marriage laws in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. This is huge. It has kneecapped the left’s propagandist “gay-marriage-is-inevitable” myth. It’s created a conflict between federal circuits, which means, almost certainly, that the U.S. Supreme Court will, once again, weigh in on extremist efforts to deconstruct marriage, nationwide, via lower court judicial fiat.
In the 6th Circuit’s decision, Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote, “Of all the ways to resolve this question, one option is not available: a poll of the three judges of this panel, or for that matter all federal judges, about whether gay marriage is a good idea. Our judicial commissions did not come with such a sweeping grant of authority, one that would allow just three of us — just two of us in truth — to make such a vital policy call for the thirty-two million citizens who live within the four states of the 6th Circuit.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Because of the very obvious demise of standards in the UK, it had also only been a matter of time before the ideals proudly presented by Prime Minister David Cameron on his view of British-ness, and the upholding of British values, would be exposed for the double speak and standards they were.
In the wake of the alleged Trojan Horse infiltration in British classrooms from Islamic extremists, to fighting on line pornography, and insisting Christians should speak up more about their faith; Mr Cameron’s uncompromising pledge on standing up for British-ness has sadly only resulted in a further avalanche, and consequent loss of freedoms. It is something many British citizens have just come to expect.
The values which Mr. Cameron speaks of appear to be founded more on political correctness and humanism; a system which is demolishing true freedom by criminalizing, bullying and labelling the simple principles of right and wrong which are found in ‘religion’ as a form of extremism. The tools of Islamist extremism and homosexuality are conveniently and persistently being ‘used’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“city council of Dearborn, Michigan voted 4-3 to become the first U.S. city to officially implement all aspects of Sharia Law”
My quick check seems to indicate this may be untrue?
http://www.heritagefl.com/story/2014/05/30/news/snopes-digs-up-the-truth-about-sharia-law-in-michigan/2763.html
“Is God a Divine Being? Nope, Says Pope”
Misquoted and/or taken out of context?
http://time.com/3545844/pope-francis-evolution-creationism/
for example.
Let me see if I have this right. A Muslim minority who have been mercilessly raping beheading and slaughtering the non Muslim indigenous majority population seek refuge in a neighbouring country where their fellow gang members are doing exactly the same thing? The EU, US and OZ are continuing to give refuge to millions of these creepy crawley creatures also. Am I missing something here?