The Islamic State has closed down all the mobile phone networks in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which it currently occupies. Representatives of ISIS announced their decision after determining that some residents were using their cell phones to tip off coalition forces about the location of ISIS troops.
In other news, the PVV has called for the closure of all Dutch mosques in order to de-Islamize the Netherlands.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to DS, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, MW, Nick, RR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
French October Unemployment Surges 0.8% in October
Over half a million jobs lost since Hollande election
(ANSA) — Paris, November 27 — Unemployment in France rose by 0.8% in October compared to September and by 5.5% year-on-year, the French labour ministry said Thursday.
This means 3.46 million French are out of a job in what is the worst figure since World War II, the ministry said.
Le Figaro newspaper called the figures “catastrophic”. French President Francois Hollande, a Socialist, succeeded in reducing unemployment for just three months during his two and a half years in office.
Since his election a further 537,000 people in France have signed on to the dole. Hollande has said he will not stand for re-election in 2017 unless he can turn the unemployment figures around.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Treasury Sells 7 Bn in Bonds at Record-Low Interest Rates
Five-year, 10-year paper auctioned
(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — The Italian Treasury sold all seven billion euros in Italian bonds offered at auction Thursday morning, at record-low interest rates.
The five-year and 10-year bonds were sold at average rates of 0.94% for the five-year bond and 2.08% for the 10-year bond.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NASA’s New Mega-Rocket for Deep Space Will be Launch Ready by 2018
NASA new mega-rocket, a towering booster designed for deep space missions, will be ready for its first test flight no later than November 2018, space agency officials announced Wednesday (Aug. 27).
It’s possible that the Space Launch System rocket test flight could launch as early as December 2017, but NASA officials have committed to having the rocket ready for flight be the end of 2018 to be safe. That extra wiggle room should let the space agency cope with scheduling and funding issues as they crop up in the future, NASA officials said in a teleconference with reporters.
The SLS will be the largest rocket ever constructed and it is designed to send humans deeper into space than ever before. The huge launcher — which will stand at 400-feet-tall (122 meters) in its final configuration — could deliver NASA astronauts to an asteroid and even Mars sometime in the future.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
OPEC Policy Ensures U.S. Shale Crash, Russian Tycoon Says
OPEC policy on crude production will ensure a crash in the U.S. shale industry, a Russian oil tycoon said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept output targets unchanged at a meeting in Vienna today even after this year’s slump in the oil price caused by surging supply from U.S shale fields.
American producers risk becoming victims of their own success. At today’s prices of just over $70 a barrel, drilling is close to becoming unprofitable for some explorers, Leonid Fedun, vice president and board member at OAO Lukoil (LKOD), said in an interview in London.
“In 2016, when OPEC completes this objective of cleaning up the American marginal market, the oil price will start growing again,” said Fedun, who’s made a fortune of more than $4 billion in the oil business, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The shale boom is on a par with the dot-com boom. The strong players will remain, the weak ones will vanish.”
Oil futures in New York plunged as much as 3.8 percent to $70.87 a barrel today, the lowest since August 2010.
At the moment, some U.S. producers are surviving because they managed to hedge the prices they get for their oil at about $90 a barrel, Fedun said. When those arrangements expire, life will become much more difficult, he said.
| [Return to headlines] |
Plans for UCLA Visit Give Rare Glimpse Into Hillary Clinton’s Paid Speaking Career
When officials at the University of California at Los Angeles began negotiating a $300,000 speech appearance by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the school had one request: Could we get a reduced rate for public universities?
The answer from Clinton’s representatives: $300,000 is the “special university rate.”
The documents show that Clinton’s representatives at the Harry Walker Agency exerted considerable control over her appearance and managed even the smallest details — from requesting lemon wedges and water on stage to a computer, scanner, and a spread of hummus and crudité in the green room backstage.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
OPEC declines to cut output
(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — The price of North American crude oil fell to under $70 a barrel on the London market Thursday after the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) chose not to take action to ease supply on a glutted market, according to analysts. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) tumbled to $69.91 a barrel after the decision by the oil producers cartel, Bloomberg news agency reported.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Canadians Still Waiting 18.2 Weeks for Surgery; No Improvement Since 2013
VANCOUVER—The median wait time for Canadians seeking medically necessary surgery or other therapeutic treatment remains stalled at 18.2 weeks, same as 2013, finds the 24th annual wait times report by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
In 1993, the wait time was just 9.3 weeks.
“Despite high levels of health care spending, Canadians continue to endure unacceptably long wait times for treatment,” said Bacchus Barua, senior economist at the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Health Policy Studies and lead author of Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2014 Report.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EDL Founder Tommy Robinson Speaks at the Oxford Union
English Defence League (EDL) founder Tommy Robinson has given a talk to an audience of 250 at the Oxford Union as demonstrators gathered outside.
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) criticised the union for allowing him the platform, saying he had not renounced the views of the EDL since leaving.
Mr Robinson, 31, said: “I have a difference of opinion to them and they’re the ones acting fascist.”
The union said it was founded to promote the freedom of speech.
It was the third attempt to get Mr Robinson, real name Stephen Lennon, to talk at the union — the first having been cancelled amid security concerns and the second because he was sent back to prison.
Protesters from the Socialist Workers Party, Unite, Unison, and UAF gathered outside.
‘Huge honour’
Speaking to the BBC afterwards, Mr Robinson said: “It was a good reaction. A lot of people said I was not what they expected and what the media had portrayed, and that they were happy to hear what I had to say from my own mouth.
“Some people would demonstrate over the rain in that UAF organisation.
“If you’re not going to allow people to talk about these serious issues that need talking about in places like the Oxford Union, don’t moan about them on street corners.
“I was completely honoured and privileged and I don’t think many people get to have that opportunity, especially from a working class town and community like Luton.
“To know that William Gladstone spoke there, to know that Winston Churchill spoke there, for me, is a huge honour.”
Speaking for two hours, Mr Robinson criticised politicians, the media and police for failing to tackle certain criminal activities because of the fear of being labelled Islamaphobic.
“No-one wants to rock the multi-cultural boat,” he said.
Mr Robinson has now left the EDL but more than 200 people signed an open letter protesting at the decision to allow him to speak.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Aims for ‘Historic Accord’ at Paris Conference 2015
French president intends to ‘leave his mark’
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 27 — President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that he intends to achieve a “historic agreement” at the World Climate Conference next year in the French capital. In a speech at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France’s least popular president in the history of the Fifth Republic said that “at a certain point, there is the need to leave one’s mark. And the mark that we will leave together is a historic agreement on climate”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: CGIL Says it May Take Renzi’s Jobs Act to EU Court
Camusso considering complaint under workers’ rights charter
(ANSA) — Rome, November 26 — Susanna Camusso, leader of the CGIL trade union federation, said Wednesday that her group is considering an appeal to an EU-level court against the Jobs Act approved one day earlier in Italy’s Lower House. Camusso said “all paths” are being evaluated, including a formal complaint that the act contravenes the EU’s charter of workers’ rights.
The CGIL, Italy’s largest trade union, is planning a general strike with other organizations on December 12 to protest changes to job protections included in the act.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: No Point Being Captain Without a Team Says Salvini
Northern League chief politely nixes Berlusconi offer
(ANSA) — Rome, November 26 — Silvio Berlusconi may want to be captain, but he lacks a team and a game plan, separatist anti-immigrant Northern League chief Matteo Salvini told ANSA in an interview Wednesday.
The ex-premier on Tuesday suggested he could be “captain” with Salvini as striker after the League raked in an unexpectedly high number of vote in regional elections Sunday.
“I have no political ambitions…but I can be the captain behind Salvini who is a goal scorer,” said Berlusconi, whose leadership of his center-right Forza Italia (FI) party has come under fire from his former confidant Raffaele Fitto and other FI officials after the party’s poor showing in Sunday’s regional vote. “I appreciate Berlusconi’s kind words,” Salvini said. “But even if you have Maradona you’re not going anywhere unless you have a team and a game plan”. Also on Wednesday, New Center Right (NCD) leader Angelino Alfano, who is the current interior minister and whose party is a splinter from Berlusconi’s now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL), jumped in to the fray by saying any team with Salvini as striker is destined to fail.
“We want to lead the reformist center-right…but any team with Salvini as striker is a losing team,” Alfano said, pointing out that Salvini’s party wants to leave the euro and “return to pre-World War II borders”. “Center-right voters don’t want a winning League in a losing center-right,” Alfano concluded.
The League is an erstwhile government coalition partner of Berlusconi’s FI in its previous incarnation, which also included Alfano’s NCD.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Blackrock Buys 5% of RAI Way, Says Consob
Shares offered in network subsidiary
(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — International investment management firm BlackRock has purchased 5.02% of RAI Way, a subsidiary of the national broadcaster, Italian market regulator Consob said Thursday.
Trading in RAI Way equity began on November 19.
RAI Way owns the signal transmission and broadcasting network of RAI, and employs about 600 people.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Vendola Moots Anti-Renzi Leftwing Federation
Calls the disenchanted to SEL’s Human Factor convention
(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) party leader Nichi Vendola on Thursday called for a new leftwing alliance to challenge center-left Premier Matteo Renzi.
“We propose…creating a leftwing federation to beat Renzi and his drift to the right,” Vendola, who is also the governor of the southern Puglia region, said while presenting a SEL convention called Human Factor to be held in Milan January 23-25.
Vendola hopes to attract leftist dissenters from within the PD who have staged opposition to the premier’s Jobs Act labour reform bill. Forty PD MPs walked out of the Lower House rather than vote the measure, which opponents say scales back workers’ rights rather than creating jobs.
The Lower House approved the bill on Tuesday in what was a hard-won victory for the Italian premier over external but also internal opposition..
Another disenchanted potential ally for Vendola’s new political entity is Italy’s biggest and most leftwing union federation, the CGIL, which has traditional ties with the PD but which has all but broken off with Renzi, calling a general strike December 12 along with UIL and UGL federations.
A potential figure on the Vendola bandwagon is Maurizio Landini, the staunch and vocal leader of FIOM metalworkers union, a CGIL affiliate.
“Landini is an asset, not only for the Italian left but also for democracy,” Vendola said.
“SEL talks to him, to the CGIL, to the left wing of the PD, and to students,” the openly gay governor and LGBT activist said.
“We call on young people to come to us in order to find a way of doing politics that is untainted by cynicism”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Plea Bargains Accepted Over Milan Expo Corruption
Former general manager Paris gets two years, six months
(ANSA) — Milan, November 27 — A Milan judge on Thursday accepted plea bargains between the prosecution and six defendants in the case of a big bid-rigging ring related to contracts for Milan Expo 2015. When news of the investigation that led to Thursday’s convictions broke in May it caused a huge scandal, with calls from some quarters for Expo, which runs from May to October next year, to be called off.
Central government beefed up anti-graft measures following the probe and national anti-corruption czar Raffaele Cantone was given new powers to oversee Expo.
Among the defendants whose plea bargains were accepted was former Expo procurement and planning manager Angelo Paris, who was handed a prison sentence of two years, six months and 20 days and ordered to pay the World Fair 100,000 euros in damages.
The judge agreed to a settlement for businessman Enrico Maltauro to receive a two year, 10 month sentence.
The judge also accepted settlements regarding number of former politicians.
Gianstefano Frigerio, a former figure for the once-dominant but now defunct Christian Democracy party, got three years, four months; Primo Greganti, a ex-member of the Italian Communist Party, got three years; Luigi Grillo, a former Senator for Silvio Berlusconi’s now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party, got two years, eight months; Sergio Catozzo, a former Ligurian political for the centrist UDC, was handed three years two months. The plea bargains did not regard the case of Antonio Acerbo, the Expo commissioner in charge of the Waterways project who was put under investigation in September for alleged corruption and involvement in bid rigging.
Prosecutors said Acerbo steered a 100-million-euro contract for the project to a consortium led by Maltauro in exchange for consultancy contracts for his son.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Projects to Redevelop Athens’ Old Airport Hit Roadblock
Eight-billion euro to transform Hellinikon in urban park
(ANSA) — ATHENS — An eight-billion-euro project to develop Hellenikon, Athens’ former airport complex, into a metropolitan park seems to have hit a wall, according to Greek media reports, with the Attica Prefecture appealing the Greek state privatization fund Taiped decision to ink a deal with holding company Lamda Development. According to Realnews, as Greek Travel Pages (GTP) website reports, deputy Attica prefect Christos Kapantais said that the Attica prefecture would not allow the contract to go through in efforts to “prevent the sellout of the area”. “It is not in the public’s best interest and ensures high profits only for the operator at a very low risk,” he said. In related news, the European Commission has expressed its objection to works along the Faliro coastal front and along central Athens Panepistimiou Avenue, citing that plans are “ornamental”, “touristy” and “redundant”. According to To Vima newspaper, the Commission is calling on the Greek government to re-examine the projects up for completion through the NSRF (National Strategic Reference Framework) grants, particularly at a time of limited resources. The Commission says it cannot fund “ornamental” works when other priority projects are still incomplete. According to reports, the EU Commission said funds should be allocated to priority works such as Line 4 of the Athens Metro and the completion of the country’s highways. According to To Vima, the Onassis Foundation, which funded studies for the overhaul of central Athens as part of the Rethink Athens project, expressed concern and disappointment over the recent developments.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
PVV Calls for Closure of All Dutch Mosques to ‘De-Islam’ The Netherlands
The anti-Islam PVV on Wednesday night called for the closure of all mosques in the Netherlands. ‘We want to de-Islam the Netherlands,’ MP Machiel de Graaf said during a debate on integration. Until now the PVV has only called for a freeze in mosque building programmes and the closure of mosques funded from abroad or which support violence.
De Graaf said schools are being hit by a landslide of children called Mohammed. ‘We will experience that a majority of school pupils are Islamic…. Dutch unity, identity and culture are being wrecked by immigration and via wombs,’ he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thirteen Somali men have been convicted of running an inner city sex ring in Bristol that targeted vulnerable British teenage girls, it can be reported for the first time today.
Victims as young as 13 were preyed upon, sexually abused and passed around the men’s friends for money, with several being groomed to the extent that they believed they were participating in loving relationships.
Some were persuaded to have sex with their ‘boyfriends’’ friends as it was Somali “culture and tradition” and “men always have sex with each other’s girlfriends”.
The victims, described as “vulnerable” due to their age and circumstances, were paid as little as £30 or given drugs, alcohol and gifts to perform sex acts on older men.
One 13-year-old girl was raped four times by three different men in a single night, having been trafficked across the city to a Premier Inn by one of her abusers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Dutch Racism Row Simmers on, MPs Demand a Statement
The row over accusations of racism levied by Turkey against the Netherlands continued to simmer on Thursday, with MPs calling for a clear explanation of who said what and about whom. A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in The Hague told the Volkskrant that the dispute is based on a misunderstanding.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Former EDL Leader Tommy Robinson Sparks Protests at Oxford Union
PROTESTERS gathered outside the Oxford Union last night as co-founder of the English Defence League (EDL) Tommy Robinson gave a talk.
Oxford Union has been criticised for their decision to host the former spokesman and leader of the EDL in a protest letter signed by 200 people, including the film director Ken Loach.
Outside the Oxford Union there were twenty protesters from the Socialist Workers Party, Unite, Unison and Unite against Fascism.
This is the third time that Oxford Union has tried to host a talk by Mr Robinson, the first was cancelled due to security reasons and the second was postponed because Mr Robinson was sent to prison for trying to obtain a mortgage by misrepresentation.
Mr Robinson claimed that he could not give the talk he had initially planned because probation officers had listed topics he couldn’t speak about, under threat of being recalled to prison.
Mr Robinson said: “I regain my freedom of speech on July 22, 2015 [when his licence period ends]. I would be happy to come back and speak to you freely then.”
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: John Cleese Says You Can’t Make Jokes About Muslims — Because ‘They’ll Kill You’
John Cleese has argued that political correctness is ‘condescending’ as it only allows jokes to be made about certain groups while implying others need to be protected.
Speaking to Bill Maher on HBO, the legendary comedian said he used to make race jokes about nationalities such as the French and Australians — but if he mentioned Mexicans it was deemed unacceptable.
‘It’s so awful isn’t it? he said. ‘It starts out as a halfway decent idea, and then it goes completely wrong.
‘Make jokes about Swedes and Germans and French and English and Canadians and Americans, why can’t we make jokes about Mexicans? Is it because they are so feeble that they can’t look after themselves?
‘It’s very very condescending there.’
The British comedian then goes on to say suggest that the reason you can’t make jokes about Muslims is because ‘they’ll kill you’.
‘Who are the people you can’t make jokes about?’ he asks Maher who instantly responds: ‘Muslims’
‘Try that,’ he adds. ‘See what your Twitter feed says.’
A laughing Cleese responds: ‘That’s not saying that you can’t, it just means that they’ll kill you. Theoretically you could.’…
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Move of Muslim Prayer Room Creates Rift at Western
London’s Muslim community is reaching to diffuse mounting tension at Western University over an issue of prayer space at the school.
The move is meant to blunt “negativity” between the university’s chaplains and administration after a multi-faith prayer space at Western gave way to an expanded Muslim prayer room, said Imam Abd Alfatah Twakkal, spiritual leader of the Muslim London Mosque.
The loss of the prayer room triggered the abrupt resignation of Rev. Michael Bechard, Western’s Roman Catholic chaplain, and four other chaplains from the UWO Chaplains’ Association in protest.
“It’s unfortunate. What is important really is that all faiths are accommodated, in such a setting, to a reasonable degree,” Twakkal said.
He reached out to Bechard Wednesday night in an effort to find a solution, but will not discuss their talks, he said.
“I don’t want this to get out of hand where it creates feeling between faith communities.”
Bechard said in an email he wouldn’t comment on the issue Wednesday…
| — Hat tip: MW | [Return to headlines] |
UK: PD James, Crime Novelist, Dies Aged 94
Crime novelist PD James, who penned more than 20 books, has died aged 94.
Her agent said she died “peacefully at her home in Oxford” on Thursday morning.
The author’s books, many featuring sleuth Adam Dalgliesh, sold millions of books around the world, with various adaptations for television and film.
Her best known novels include The Children of Men, The Murder Room and Pride and Prejudice spin-off Death Comes to Pemberley.
The author told the BBC last year she was working on another detective story and it was “important to write one more”.
“With old age, it becomes very difficult. It takes longer for the inspiration to come, but the thing about being a writer is that you need to write,” she said.
“I hope I would know myself whether a book was worth publishing. I think while I am alive, I shall write. There will be a time to stop writing but that will probably be when I come to a stop, too.”
In a statement, James’s publishers Faber and Faber said: “This is a very sad day for us at Faber.
“It is difficult to express our profound sadness at losing PD James, one of the world’s great writers and a Faber author since her first publication in 1962.
“She was so very remarkable in every aspect of her life, an inspiration and great friend to us all. It is a privilege to publish her extraordinary books. Working with her was always the best of times, full of joy. We will miss her hugely.”
Fellow authors paid tribute to James, including Ruth Rendell, who was a close friend and fellow life peer.
“She was wonderfully accurate in her police work; she really took great pains about it. She took great care and she got it right. She did not make mistakes, she saw to it that she didn’t,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme.
“She knew very well what she thought a perfect universe would be and she wanted her books to come close to that, to show what it should be.
“She held up people who were bad — who acted wrongly — as examples of the kind of people she didn’t like and didn’t want others to be affected by,” Rendell told John Wilson on Thursday’s show.
Ian Rankin who tweeted: “So sad about PD James. Every event I did with her was a joy. Sharp intellect, ready wit.”
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UK: Vinyl Record Sales Hit 18-Year High
More than one million vinyl records have been sold in the UK so far this year — the first time the milestone has been achieved since 1996.
The figures mark a largely unexpected resurgence in an industry now considered to be dominated by digital.
Earlier this month, Pink Floyd’s The Endless River became the fastest-selling vinyl release since 1997.
The Official Chart Company told the BBC it will soon launch a weekly vinyl chart.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cross Border Cooperation in the Med, The New Challenges
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 27 — The Cross Border Cooperation programme in the Mediterranean Basin (CBCMed) is organising a conference to mark the passage to the new phase under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) which will run during 2014-2020. The ‘NextMed’ Conference will take place on December 12, 2014 in Rome, under the sponsorship of the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and aims to showcase the achievements of Cross-Border Cooperation in the Mediterranean region and highlight coming challenges under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI).
The new ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2014-2020 follows the ENPI (European Neighbourhood Instrument and Partnership) CBC Med 2007-2013. Funded by the European Union and managed by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy), the Programme will offer cooperation opportunities between partners from the Mediterranean area in fields of intervention such as economic development, education and research, social inclusion and environmental protection.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
35 Arrests in the Sinai, 12,000 Soldiers to Protect Suez
Security clampdown in Egypt in view of demonstrations Friday
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 27 — Egyptian security forces arrested roughly 35 people, including eight students, in the northern Sinai for activities linked to Islamic fundamentalism.
The arrests took place in Sheikh Zweid and Rafah as part of operations to secure the region ahead of Islamist demonstrations planned Friday in various locations in Egypt, security forces said.
Egyptian armed forces have evacuated and taken control of all public buildings and schools, and defused three explosive devices. In addition, 12,000 soldiers were deployed between Suez, Port Said and Ismailia along the Suez Canal to protect facilities and ships. Twenty rapid intervention boats, bomb squads, and four helicopters have also been mobilized. Security forces are also being mobilized in the south of Egypt to protect the Aswan dam and its reservoir against acts of sabotage, announced the minister of water resources, Hossam Moghazi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Friday Protest for ‘Islamic Identity and Sharia’
Salafists back in the streets; gov’t warns of ‘zero tolerance’
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — Egypt is bracing for another Friday of tension as Islamists and a pro-Morsi coalition prepare to take to the streets, calling for the nation’s “Islamic identity and sharia” to be restored. Quran in hand, they will be protesting against President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s government.
Tight security has been deployed on the eve and the interior minister has warned that there will be “no tolerance for those who endanger state institutions. Every attempt at violence will be met with live bullets”. Egyptian media quote secret services as saying that protestors “will raise the flags of the Islamic State” and that protestors will be armed with “pistols, grenades and Molotov cocktails to attack the police” in seeking to reach and occupy the symbolic Tahrir and Rabaa squares, where in the summer of 2013 gatherings of the supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi were violently dispersed.
The jihadist group Ajnad Misr, which has claimed responsibility for recent attacks against security forces at the University of Cairo, has threatened in a video that it will attack police “with explosives”. “The message is that we will not stop until the State is based on the principles set down by God and Prophet Mohamed,” states a text accompanying the video. It is not yet clear who will be taking part in the protest, which was called by the Salafist Front and then backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, which since December 2013 has officially been an outlawed organization in the country.
The coalition supporting ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), has said that Friday will only be the first day of a week of protests and has called on Egyptians to “dance and sing” in the streets, saying that “the people’s rage” will have to be dealt with if former president Hosni Mubarak is acquitted on Saturday on charges of killing protestors in the ‘Egyptian Spring’ in 2011. The Al-Nour Salafist party has instead said that it will not take part in the protest, though “Islamic youths” may decide to act on their own initiative.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Mitiga Airport Reopens After Air Raids
The Mitiga military airport — the only one still in use in Tripoli — reopened this morning and resumed activities with the takeoff of two flights to Istanbul and Amman, after air raids by Libyan forces against pro-Islamic militias who control the capital, local media reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
World Should Not Accept Libya Perpetually at War, Italian FM
Islamists attack military base and special forces in Tripoli
(ANSAmed) — ROME — Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday at a press conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond that the world should not resign itself to a Libya that is perpetually “divided and at war”. The foreign ministers agreed that there would not be a military solution to the conflict and that the focus must be on the UN-led initiative for dialogue. Gentiloni added that only the success of this initiative would enable a future peacekeeping mission, and that Libya would be the focus of the next NATO summit.
Local media on Thursday reported that Islamist Libya Dawn militias had attacked a military base in Zuwara, west of Tripoli. Military sources say that the base is under constant bombardment with heavy weaponry from three sides, and that the militias are on the verge of taking control of it. At least one person was killed and four injured in the fighting. A corridor has reportedly been opened for civilians to leave the area and seek refuge in Jabal Al-Gharbi (the ‘Western Mountains’).
The latter sources added that special forces now control several areas of Tripoli after airstrikes in recent days against the Islamist militias, who control large sections of it. The sources said that nine Libya soldiers had died in the morning’s fighting against armed groups in Derna and Benghazi, in eastern Libya.
The speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives (the parliament meeting in Tobruk), Ageela Salah Issa, arrived in Cairo on Thursday to begin a four-day visit during which he will be received by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, report airport sources. The talks will revolve around armed groups and control of the Libyan-Egyptian border to prevent infiltration, as well as how to initiate dialogue between the factions in conflict.
The sources noted that UN special envoy for Libya Bernardino Leon had also been in Cairo for the past two days.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel ‘Foils Hamas Cell Planning Jerusalem Attacks’
Israel’s internal security service says it has uncovered a Hamas cell in the West Bank that was planning to carry out a series of attacks in Jerusalem.
Shin Bet said it had arrested more than 30 militants who were trained abroad, and recovered weapons and explosives.
They planned to kidnap Israelis and their targets for attack included a football stadium in Jerusalem and the city’s light rail system, it alleged.
The arrests come at a time of rising Israeli-Palestinians tension.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
West Bank: Turkey to Build Tax-Free Industrial Zone in Jenin
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, NOVEMBER 27 — Turkey is going to establish an organized industrial zone in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the West Bank, as Anadolu Agency reports quoting a memorandum of understanding co-signed on Wednesday by Turkey’s Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik, and Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister and National Economy Minister, Mohammed Mostafa. “This will not only be an organized industrial zone, but a free zone as well, offering unique and massive advantages to all investors, whether they are Turkish, Palestinian or other,” Ahmet Sekeroglu, Board Chairman of TOBB-BIS Inc., said. The zone is going to be constructed by TOBB-BIS Inc., an affiliate of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). “Investors will not pay any taxes. Moreover, they will be getting significant support from Turkey, Germany and the U.S.,” Sekeroglu said. The goods produced in the zone will be able to be exported to world markets including Germany, France, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. without any duties or quotas, he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Danes Fighting for ISIS in Syria on Welfare Benefits
More than two dozen jihadists have collected unemployment benefits while fighting in Syria alongside terror organization Isis, the domestic intelligence agency PET revealed.
Denmark paid unemployment benefits to 28 people while they were waging war for the Isis terrorist group in Syria, the Danish intelligence service was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Out of the 28 Danish people identified by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) as having received benefits, 15 had been ordered to pay the money back, eight people were still being investigated, and five cases had been dropped due to insufficient evidence, tabloid BT reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens of Syrian Rebels Killed in Ambush Near Damascus
Clashes continue near Aleppo
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 27 — Dozens of “terrorists” were killed on Thursday when the Syrian regime ambushed them east of Damascus, reports state-run news agency SANA. The regime uses the term “terrorist” for rebels of any affiliation. “An army unit laid an ambush for 50 terrorists as they were trying to escape from the city of Mayda, in eastern Ghouta, towards Al-Dmayer,” the agency reported, adding that other regime units “have engaged in clashes with the terrorists in farms in Al-Ryhan, northeast of Douma, killing or injuring many of them.” Douma, about 15 kilometers northeast of the capital, is one of the strongholds of rebel groups near Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) noted that an ambush had occurred “near Al-Eteba, in eastern Ghouta”, and that 30 men had been killed. It did not specify what groups they belonged to or whether they were civilians.
The SOHR said that the Lebanese Shia militias of Hezbollah had taken part in the operation alongside President Bashar Al-Assad’s troops. Clashes continued on Thursday near Aleppo, northern Syria, between regime forces and rebels flanked by Al-Qaeda militants.
The SOHR reports that the clashes were concentrated north of the city in the Handarat suburb and to the west, near the two Shia-majority towns of Zahra and Nubbol. Zahra, considered a stronghold of regime supporters and the the Lebanese Hezbollah, has for several days been under fire from Islamist and Al-Qaeda fighters and has been under siege from armed opposition forces since 2012. Fighting has meanwhile been underway since September in Handarat for control of a strategic artery connecting Aleppo with the Turkish border to the north. Regime forces — backed by Lebanese, Palestinian, Iranian and Afghan militants, according to SOHR — are trying to cut off the last supply line for rebels who since the summer of 2012 have had the eastern part of the city under their control.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Foreigners Don’t Like Muslims, Only Their Money: Turkish President Erdogan
“Only we can solve our problems. I speak openly; foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world. They like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us,” said Erdogan during an address to the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul.
“They look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die. How long will we stand that fact?” he added.
He also savaged critics of his remarks that Muslim explorers traveled to the Americas before Columbus as suffering from an “ego complex,” reaffirming his belief their purported feat was an historical fact.
“I have been the target of heavy criticism by the Western media. Just because I repeated a fact based on scientific research, I have been targeted by the Western media, as well as the foreigners within who suffer from an ego complex,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Death Sentence Upheld for Man Who Insulted Muhammad on Facebook
Iranian opposition websites are reporting that an appeal court in Iran has confirmed the death sentence for an Internet activist who allegedly insulted Prophet Muhammad.
Soheil Arabi was reportedly arrested last year by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps over his posts on Facebook, where he is said to have been active under different names.
Arabi’s wife, Nastaran Naeimi, has said that printouts of Arabi’s alleged Facebook posts are the only proof that authorities have provided against him.
She said her husband, a photographer by profession, had not personally written some of the posts which served as basis for his conviction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Speaker Meets Pope Francis: ‘Islam is Religion of Peace’
VATICAN CITY: Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem met in Vatican City yesterday with Pope Francis and Vatican Prime Minister Pietro Parolin.
Following the meeting, Ghanem stressed the significance of his visit to the Vatican, also as head of the Arab Inter- Parliamentary Union (AIPU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) parliaments.
The visit acquires importance as it comes amid fears of terrorism “and reports by foreign media seeking to link terrorism to our true Islam,” Ghanem told KUNA, and Kuwait TV.
The meeting was attended by MPs Faisal Al-Shaya and Youssef Al-Zalzalah. “We have emphasized in our meeting today that Islam is a religion of peace and that terrorism is an intercontinental industry, not linked to a certain religion, race, ethnicity, people or region,” he said. Kuwait’s Chief Parliamentarian urged the world’s political leaders to denounce all forms of terrorism and to call for an interfaith dialogue. “The meeting with Pope Francis was fruitful and we as Kuwaitis are proud of living in a country and a society where toleration is dominant,” Ghanem added, noting religious tolerance in Kuwait is a strong reality, enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people from several nationalities and faiths.
Ghanem said that the Israeli aggressions on Muslims and Christians in Palestine and the massacres targeting innocent people have always been a root of terrorism.
He said that the Zionist state hostilities have fueled extremism and terrorism, making it easy for terrorist groups to attract young people and subject them to brainwash. He lauded the role by Kuwait’s ambassador to the Vatican Bader Saleh Al-Taneeb, facilitating the delegation’s mission and arranging meetings.
For his part, MP Youssef Al-Zalzalah said that during the meeting with Pope Francis and Prime Minister Parolin, the delegation was briefed of the Vatican view over the Palestinian cause and the tragedies in Arab countries suffering from terrorism, especially Iraq and Syria. —KUNA
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Mosul Residents: ISIS Cuts Phone Lines in Iraq City
Militants from the Islamic State group blocked all mobile phone networks in the largest Iraqi city they control, Mosul, accusing informants in the city of tipping off coalition forces to their whereabouts, residents told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Residents described a scene of “chaos” and “paralysis” in the city Thursday, a day after the militants announced their decision on their Mosul-based radio network. Businesses were at a standstill as residents tried to understand what was happening, they said. Some are still able to access the Internet, which operates under a different network.
All residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Visit: Turkey’s Christians Face Tense Times
When Pope Francis arrives here this week, he will visit a country whose population has fallen from 20% Christian 100 years ago to around 0.2% today.
“No country in the region — including Iran — is as homogenous in terms of Islam as Turkey,” says writer Cengiz Aktar. “It’s a mono-colour country — it’s a Muslim country.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
With Incentives and Brute Force, Islamic State Subduing Tribes in Syria, Iraq
The Islamic State group is employing multiple tactics to subdue the Sunni Muslim tribes in Syria and Iraq under its rule, wooing some with gifts — everything from cars to feed for their animals — while brutally suppressing those that resist with mass killings.
The result is that the extremists face little immediate threat of an uprising by the tribes, which are traditionally the most powerful social institution in the large areas of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq controlled by the group. Any U.S. drive to try to turn tribesmen against the militants, as the Americans did with Sunnis during the Iraq war, faces an uphill battle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Four Crimean Museums to Go to Court for Return of Treasures in Amsterdam Society
Four museums in Crimea are taking legal action to force a Dutch museum to hand back treasures loaned before Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory.
The items came from five museums in Ukraine, four of which are now under the control of Russia. Ukraine has also demanded the return of the works. The Netherlands does not recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Veena Malik has expressed her anger and disbelief after she was handed a 26-year jail term by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court for ‘malicious acts’ of blasphemy.
Her crime? Appearing in a pretend wedding scene, staged on a daytime show broadcast by Geo TV and based on the marriage of the Prophet Mohamed’s daughter.
The programme sparked a wave of controversy in the Islamic country when it aired in May, despite the fact similar scenes had been aired in the past to little or no such public outrage.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Zimbabwe Ruling Party to Give Mugabe More Powers, Making Him All But King
ZIMBABWE ruling party will amend its constitution to allow President Robert Mugabe to personally appoint his deputies, state media reported Thursday, in a move that would consolidate the veteran ruler’s iron-grip on power.
Citing party sources, The Herald newspaper said ZANU-PF had “agreed on proposed amendments that will pave the way for President Mugabe to appoint all politburo members”.
These include the party’s vice presidents and its national chairman, thereby preventing “the creation of multiple centres of power”, the paper quoted an anonymous source as saying.
This concentration of power is unprecedented, and would all but give Mugabe the powers of an absolute monarch.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
21 Inmates Die of Drug Poisoning in Venezuela Prison Protest
145 prisoners suffering from intoxication after hunger strike
(ANSA) — Caracas, November 27 — At least 21 prisoners have died in Venezuela after ingesting drugs in protest over their conditions of confinement, a Caracas-based non-governmental organisation said Thursday.
A further 145 inmates were reportedly suffering from intoxication after taking a cocktail of medicines which the authorities said contained antibiotics, alcohol and anti-hypertensive and anti-epileptic medication. The protest began on Monday when prisoners at Uribana jail in the city of Barquisimeto went on hunger strike over inhumane treatment and human rights violations at the penitentiary. The prison authorities subsequently abandoned the jail, giving inmates free access to the pharmacy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
700 Migrants Disembark on Crete After Perilous Boat Journey
More than 700 migrants aboard a stricken smuggling ship attempting to reach Europe have begun disembarking on the Greek island of Crete. It is one of the largest refugee boats to make the crossing in recent months.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria to Expel 3,000 Nigerien Women and Children
Undocumented and without means to survive
(ANSAmed) — ROME, NOVEMBER 27 — About 3,000 Nigerien women and children lacking official permits and jobs will be expelled from Algeria. Niger’s prime minister, Brigi Rafini, told the Niamey parliament that 76% of those issued deportation orders were children and that 24% were women who — as the Algerian prime minister has admitted — beg to survive and live in extreme poverty. Algeria has said it will pay to accompany those deported to Niger’s northern border with it, where Niamey authorities will take charge of them. Niger is one of the poorest nations in the world and suffers from the highest infant mortality rate. To escape from poverty, many Nigeriens migrate clandestinely to North African countries but then find it difficult to secure work. Journeys from Niger northwards often end in tragedy, such as recently when about 90 migrants — mostly women and children — died of hardship and thirst in the Algerian desert.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Excess Migrant Hospitality Fuels Racism’, Alfano Says
New anti-terror law, urban security ‘priorities’ for 2015
(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano on Thursday warned of the risk to Italy of taking in too many migrants, saying this would fuel xenophobic sentiment.
“Italy is a country that is hospitable but tired,” Alfano told Radio Anch’io. “Excessive hospitality fuels racism. If we don’t want a xenophobic Italy that votes (Northern) League, we can’t take them all,” he said.
Italian immigration policy has been in the spotlight in recent weeks with the termination of the government’s humanitarian migrant sea search and rescue programme Mare Nostrum and the launch of a border control mission headed by the EU border agency Frontex. The end of Mare Nostrum was applauded by political groups including the anti-immigration Northern League, but has raised questions about the rights and welfare of migrants who attempt the perilous sea crossing from north Africa to Italy in search of a better life in Europe. Alfano, who is also leader of the New Centre Right (NCD), a minor partner in the left-right government of Premier Matteo Renzi, set out his priorities for the coming year including a new law to combat terrorism.
“I will soon present the cabinet with a new anti-terrorism law containing measures against those wanting to go and fight voluntarily in war zones and for police checks on would-be terrorists, along the lines of those that already exist for mobsters,” Alfano said.
Other priorities he said will include ensuring the certainty of legal punishment and security and decorum in urban areas. “According to our figures the crime rate has fallen by 9% in 2014,” the minister added. Alfano re-confirmed the government’s commitment to protect Palermo prosecutor Nino Di Matteo, who has been threatened from jail by former Cosa Nostra Mafia “boss of bosses” Toto Riina.
That includes bombs.
“The State is fine-tuning all the devices needed to protect him from … remote control systems of explosive devices, but without damaging electronic equipment that might happen to be in his path,” Alfano said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ship With 700 Migrants Safely Towed to Greek Coast
Officials say a broken-down smuggling ship carrying 700 men, women and children trying to emigrate to Europe has been safely towed to just off the southern Greek island of Crete.
Authorities there are preparing to provide the migrants with temporary shelter.
Its passengers include refugees from war-riven Syria and Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish Parliament to Vote on “Gay Marriage” This Friday, Nov. 28.
MassResistance materials being used nationwide to fight back.
Pro-family religious coalition fighting hard. Close vote predicted.
This Friday, Nov. 28, the Finnish Parliament will vote on “gay marriage” after two years of fighting back in Parliamentary committees by pro-family religious forces. This week, the pro-family religious coalition has been broadcasting more material from MassResistance across the country.
The battle for marriage is in Finland this week, and the pro-family religious coalition is fighting fiercely.
As we reported back in July, the Finnish Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted 10-6 to reject the “gay marriage” bill. The vote followed lobbying by coalition members and the distribution of MassResistance materials to members of Parliament. In addition, the MassResistance video “What ‘gay marriage’ did to Massachusetts” was broadcast on national TV in May, with Finnish subtitles.
But the lobbying by the homosexual groups has also been strong. Parliament recently re-convened and because the bill was filed as a “citizens’ initiative” they will take it up for a full vote. The date was set for Nov. 28…
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
With 100 billion neurons and 37 trillion cells, the human body is simply too complex to be artificially designed by modern computers.
But in the quest to create artificial life, what if we started a lot smaller? That’s what team of scientists has done, creating a replica of the simplest form of life we know.
The worm Caenorhabditis elegans has just 300 neurons and around 1,000 cells — and now a robot has been created that mimics the actions of this simple organism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First Digital Animal Will be Perfect Copy of Real Worm
Next year the world’s first digital animal will be born inside a computer. Could its descendants be conscious?
THE Lego robot trundles forward, encounters a wall, stops, reverses. You might think there is nothing clever about that, except that this one has not been programmed to tell it when to stop and when to turn. Instead, it has an artificial brain precisely modelled on that of a nematode worm. WormBot is part of an effort to build the world’s first digital animal.
The quest to create such a creature is more than just a technical challenge. It will also pose some uncomfortable questions: if a digital model is an exact replica of a living animal, is it then alive?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
glabal stupidity
http://youtu.be/qCj6YNIpqmA
“Only we can solve our problems. I speak openly; foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world. They like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us,” said Erdoğan during an address to the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul. ”
Erdogen is a complete fantasist like most of his kind. However, speaking personally, he is right on one point. I do NOT like muslims. You only have to read the appropriate websites to understand why. I am not much into gold or diamonds but I have no problem with muslims killing each other so long as they leave everyone else alone.
My complaint against this statement is “cheap labour.” From my experience, any form of labour from a muslim would be a bonus, never mind cheap. They are without doubt the biggest bunch of grievance mongers, trouble makers, pan handlers, scroungers and benefit junkies on the planet with a sense of entitlement to match. It is significant that he was talking to the OIC when Erdogen made this ludicrous statement.
Muslims are out of sight below zero on the living and giving scale. Period. Sooner or later Errordog in his Islamist delusion will convince himself that he can take on what he sees perhaps as what is left of the west. Cyprus was a breeze for his predecessor. Shades of Saddam and Muamar.