Jeb Bush, the brother of George W., has been anointed by the media as the preferred Republican presidential candidate for 2016. His status was enhanced by his recent resignation from various business positions.
In other news, another merchant ship containing about 400 illegal migrants has been spotted in the Mediterranean, heading for Italy.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Takuan Seiyo, Vlad Tepes, YL, 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.
Greece: Syriza Suggests Holding Back on Debt Repayments
As the campaign for the January 25 elections gets under way, the government has accused SYRIZA of risking a Greek default after several opposition party officials suggested that a leftist administration might stop paying the country’s loan obligations if its lenders do not provide debt relief.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Bond Sentiment is Worst Since Disastrous ‘09
Get ready for a disastrous year for U.S. government bonds. That’s the message forecasters on Wall Street are sending.
With Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen poised to raise interest rates in 2015 for the first time in almost a decade, prognosticators are convinced Treasury yields have nowhere to go except up. Their calls for higher yields next year are the most aggressive since 2009, when U.S. debt securities suffered record losses, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Admits: All Those UFO Sightings in 1950s? ‘It Was Us’
As far as “best of 2014” lists go, the CIA has a pretty irresistible one: On Dec. 22 it started tweeting links to the 10 most popular articles of the year that it shared on Twitter, and the agency arrived at No. 1 yesterday, tweeting: “Reports of unusual activity in the skies in the ‘50s? It was us.” The accompanying link directs readers to The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974, a 272-page document from 1998 the CIA tweeted a link to in early July, reported KAKE at the time.
The upshot of the report is that the CIA was the culprit behind more than half of the UFO sightings logged in the 1950s and 1960s.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
De Blasio Reappoints Judge Who Freed Men Who Threatened Cops
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered another blow to New York’s Finest on Wednesday when he reappointed a Brooklyn judge who freed without bail two men who threatened cops just days after the Bed-Stuy double police assassination.
The stunning decision came even as one of the suspects — a gang member charged with posting police death threats online — skipped a court date and had a warrant out for his arrest, sources said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush ‘Scaling Back Business Interests’ For 2016
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has reportedly scaled back his business commitments as he thinks seriously about a White House run.
One of the Republican’s aides told the Washington Post he had ended his board memberships and resigned as a paid adviser to an education company.
Mr Bush, brother of former US President George W Bush, last month announced he was “exploring” running for president.
A 2016 bid could bring him up against the former first lady, Hillary Clinton.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush ‘Sheds Business Ties Ahead of Possible White House Run’
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has stepped down from all of his corporate and non-profit boards, US media reported Thursday, in another sign that he is gearing up for a White House run.
In an email Wednesday to the Washington Post, an aide said Bush, 61, also has ended his role as a paid adviser to a for-profit education company, Academic Partnerships, that sells online courses to public university students in exchange for a share of their tuition payments.
The aide told The Post Wednesday that resignations were made “effective today.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Liam Neeson: ‘Taken’ Has Put Americans Off Travelling to Europe
Liam Neeson’s particular set of skills don’t seem to extend to promoting Europe as a travel destination.
The Irish actor revealed he had received letters from Americans put off by the thought of traveling to Europe after watching the Taken franchise that has hostage taking as its core theme.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Neeson said: “Just the other day I got a letter from a school teacher in Texas who had tried to take 60 students to Europe and the families of 40 of them got the kids out of it because they had seen Taken 2.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Malik Shabazz to Black Panthers: 2015 Time to Build Army, Go to Gun Range
On this week’s episode of the official broadcast of the New Black Panthers Party’s “Black Power Radio,” the former national chairman of the New Black Panther Party and current national president of Black Lawyers for Justice, Malik Zulu Shabazz said 2015 is the time to “build up that army” and go “to the gun range.”
“And Mister Malcolm X, he consistently teaches us self defense,” Shabazz said. “The most honorable Elijah Muhammad continuously teaches us self defense. The honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey teaches us self defense, and we know, our leader and our teacher the honorable Khalid Abdul Muhammad teaches us self defense. What am I saying? Right now it’s time to build up that army. Right now it’s time for us to build up those corps, those troops. It’s time to get strong. It’s time for lifting weights and working out and going to the gun range and all of that.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Miami-based businessman and aviation enthusiast has become the first person to fly in a private three-room cabin that has been dubbed the world’s most exclusive — and expensive — airline seat.
After months of anticipation and fanfare, Etihad Airways’ Airbus A380 superjumbo jet made its inaugural commercial flight from London Heathrow Airport to Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Gino Bertuccio and a guest were seated comfortably in The Residence, a ‘penthouse in the sky’ that costs £14,000 for a one-way flight for one or two people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Violated Minnesota’s Equal-Pay Law, Judge
A federal judge in St. Paul ruled Wednesday that the Norwegian government violated Minnesota’s discrimination and equal-pay laws by paying a female former employee $30,000 less than a male employee, though their jobs were comparable.
U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson also ordered Norway to pay Ellen Ewald $170,594, which is double her lost wages, and $100,000 for emotional distress suffered after she unsuccessfully fought to get her salary raised.
Nelson also ruled that Norway must pay $1,000 to Minnesota’s general fund for violating the state’s Human Rights Act.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sorry: But North Korea Isn’t a State Sponsor of Terrorism
And the State Department’s old list of bad guys needs a makeover.
On Friday, Dec. 19, the FBI declared that it “has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible” for the purported hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Soon after, President Barack Obama warned, “We will respond proportionally, and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.” Given the relatively meager leverage that the United States — at least unilaterally — has over North Korea, there are precious few practical response options that would deter future comparable malicious actions. According to a senior administration officials, one option under consideration is placing North Korea back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, from where it was removed in 2008. Those included on the list are, “Countries determined by the Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.”
A small problem with such a designation is that North Korea simply is not a state-sponsor of terrorism. As the latest State Department Country Reports on Terrorism explicitly stated: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987.” The North Korean sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March 2010 was deemed a violation of the 1953 armistice agreement, but was also declared by a State Department spokesperson to have been “a provocative action but one taken by the military or the state against the military of another state. That, in our view, does not constitute an act of international terrorism.” Thus, by putting it back on the terrorism list, North Korea would be proportionally responded to by reclassifying its government for undertaking a behavior that the United States acknowledges it does not actually do.
Incidentally, as part of its efforts to improve U.S.-Cuba relations last week, the White House also decided to review Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism — a list Havana has resided on since 1982. Obama justified this review by noting: “At a time when we are focused on threats from al Qaeda to ISIL, a nation that meets our conditions and renounces the use of terrorism should not face this sanction.” Like North Korea, Cuba is not financing or supporting international terrorism in any way. Again, the latest Country Reports on Terrorism stated: “There was no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups.” (Another country that has inexplicably been on the list every year since 1993 is Sudan, which is remarkably described as “a generally cooperative counterterrorism partner.”)
The fact that both countries do not meet the specific criteria to be included on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list highlights the meaninglessness of this outdated policy tool. The list is increasingly irrelevant to the causes and conditions of international terrorism, which are more a matter of terror safe havens (think Pakistan, which is not on the list) that exist where the requisite political will — as well as intelligence and policing capacity — are sorely lacking. Or, the growing prevalence of international jihadist terrorists who become motivated and trained while participating in domestic civil wars — as has been the case for most internationally-focused terrorists over the past four decades. The list could be eliminated since the sanctions and arms export bans that it triggers are already covered by other legislation (notice how U.S.-North Korea relations did not change after 2008?). Or, it could be reformed in light of the changing nature of international terrorism, as Brooking’s Daniel Byman expertly explained in 2008.
Rather than misapplying this outdated punishment against countries that the United States has non-terrorism-related disagreements with, an entirely new designation is necessary. I propose the “Unacceptables List.” This category would cover all foreign governments whose actions U.S. officials routinely deride as “unacceptable,” but then do very little in response to prevent or deter those actions from reoccurring. And there’s a simple way to go about it: Rather than create an elaborate and costly interagency review for designating countries, once officials or spokespersons have described a particular country as engaging in unacceptable behavior a certain number of times in a certain period of time, it makes the Unacceptables List.
This would provide diplomatically interesting results. For example, using the State Department search engine, the top 10 countries for whom “unacceptable” was most often used in conjunction with since the start of the Obama administration: Syria (147), Iran (118), North Korea (115), Israel (87), Pakistan (83), Russia (78), Egypt (77), China (74), Afghanistan (66), and Iraq (63). The number of phrase-country pairings varied slightly over the past six years, so the Unacceptables List might need to be revamped at two-year increments. Any country that falls below the top 10 threshold level during the prior two years will be removed, only to be replaced by new wrongdoers…
| — Hat tip: YL | [Return to headlines] |
Vinyl Sales Rare Bright Spot for US Music Industry
Vinyl sales and music streaming both soared by more than 50 percent in 2014 in the United States, even as overall sales kept declining, a music industry monitor said.
With few blockbuster releases and streaming becoming more mainstream, consumers in the world’s largest music market bought 257 million albums last year, a drop of 11 percent from 2013, Nielsen SoundScan said in data released late Wednesday.
The music industry saw one bright spot in the strong growth of vinyl which in recent years has become the format of choice for audiophiles and collectors.
Vinyl sales jumped 52 percent to 9.2 million, the biggest year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991 when compact discs were becoming the dominant format. But vinyl still accounted for just six percent of overall physical album sales.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Seven People Shot at New Year’s Eve Party in Killarney; One Victim Has Died
Police: ‘We do not believe this to be a random incident’
Multiple people have been injured and one man has died in hospital following a shooting at a New Year’s Eve house party in the southwest Calgary community of Killarney.
EMS were called to a home in the 1900 block of 36 St. S.W. shortly after 5 a.m.
Police have confirmed seven people have been shot. Victims are both male and female and range in age from their early 20s to early 30s.
Two were initially listed in life threatening condition, but the condition of one victim has since improved.
The other, a man that has since been identified by a member of the Somali community as Abdullahi Ahmed, was kept on life support for several hours but has died.
This marks Calgary’s first homicide of the year.
Police have confirmed through interviews with several witnesses that many of the partygoers are members of “African communities.”
Police say more than fifty people were in the home at the time of the shooting.
“We do not believe it to be a random incident,” said Insp. Keith Cain…
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Alcohol Archaeology: I Recreate Beverages With Heritage
Resurrecting ancient beers and wines is a subtle alchemy, but Patrick McGovern knows all the tricks. Who’s for an Etruscan ale?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
At Least Four Danes Die in New Year’s Celebrations
Two firework malfunctions and two car accidents resulted in a total of four deaths on New Year’s Eve, all of them in northern Jutland.
New Year’s Eve celebrations turned tragic in northern Jutland as two fireworks accidents claimed the lives of three men, while traffic accidents killed one more and left others injured.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Excavation Uncovers Secret Underground Nazi WMD Factory
Suspiciously high radiation levels around the Austrian town of St. Georgen an der Gusen had long fueled theories that there was a buried bunker nearby where Nazis had tested nuclear weapons during WWII.
Those suspicions came one step closer to being confirmed last week after the opening of a 75-acre underground complex was dug out from below the earth and granite used to seal off the entrance, the Times of Israel reports.
The excavation team was led by Austrian filmmaker Andreas Sulzer, who says the site was “likely the biggest secret weapons production facility of the Third Reich”—a facility that probably relied on forced labor from the nearby Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and may have even been the testing location for a nuclear bomb, the Daily Mirror reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Censorship, “Mental Illness” Overrun France
by Guy Millière
France is a country where so-called “anti-racist” organizations, heavily subsidized by the government, fight for the most part only a single “racism”: “Islamophobia.”
It is now a country where the only people allowed to speak freely of Islam to large audiences are those who describe it as a religion of peace and unlimited love.
People prosecuted and fined for uttering critical remarks on Islam, such as Christine Tasin, say out loud what thousands think without daring to speak.
Polls show that French citizens in ever-increasing numbers are concerned about the rising proportion of unintegrated Muslims in the country, the endless expansion of no-go zones, the increasing number of Islamic converts, and the “replacement” of the French people.
“Mental patients,” screaming “Allahu Akbar,” are storming France.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ECB Warns Against Rise of Populism in Europe
The rise of populist parties across Europe should act as a wake-up call for governments to finally get their economies in order, a top European Central Bank official said Wednesday.
“The rise of populism should be a wake-up call,” the ECB’s chief economist Peter Praet told the financial daily Börsen-Zeitung in a wide-ranging interview.
“The governments have to give priority to difficult political decisions and follow through with the much-needed reforms.”
Praet’s comments came as Greece is preparing for snap elections with a far-left anti-austerity party Syriza leading opinion polls.
Syriza pledges to reverse Athens’ reform commitments and even eventually take Greece out of the eurozone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Sees Fall in New Year’s Eve Car-Burnings
The number of cars set alight in France on New Year’s Eve fell significantly this year, the government has said.
Some 12% fewer cars were set alight on Wednesday compared with 2013, in a measure of what has effectively become an annual event in French suburbs since riots in 2005 in Paris and elsewhere.
The number of vehicles torched fell from 1,067 a year ago to 940, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Security was high in France overnight following a series of street attacks.
While the car-burning can be easily traced back to 2005, some correspondents say the idea of burning cars as a form of protest in France dates back into the 1990s.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Economist Piketty Says No to France’s Top Honour
Thomas Piketty, author of the popular book “Capital in the 21st Century”, on Thursday refused to accept the country’s highest award, the Legion d’honneur, to criticise the Socialist government in power.
“I have just learned that I was nominated for the Legion of honour. I refuse this nomination because I do not think it is the government’s role to decide who is honourable,” Piketty told AFP.
“They would do better to concentrate on reviving (economic) growth in France and Europe,” added Piketty, who was once close to the Socialist Party but has distanced himself from the policies of President Francois Hollande.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cobblestones Not for Sale Says Rome Mayor
‘Coule be used to beautify suburbs’ says Marino
(ANSA) — Rome, December 31 — Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino on Wednesday denied a controversial plan to uproot some of the capital’s historic cobblestones will involve selling them off. “Absolutely not,” the mayor told Rainews24. “Pedestrian-only areas must not exist solely in the center, but also in the suburban areas,” Marino went on. “So why not fix them up with the beautiful cobblestones we will take off Via Nazionale, where they are a danger to traffic?” Newly appointed Rome alderman for public works, Maurizio Pucci, said Tuesday he wants to remove some of the Eternal City’s traditional cobblestones to provide smoother asphalt roads for automobiles and pedestrians.
The announcement caused an uproar after some sources implied the cobblestones would be sold off to the highest bidder.
Viviana Di Capua, president of the Association of Historic Centre Inhabitants (Aacs), was cautious on the proposal.
“The cobblestones have always been a trademark identifying the city, but in recent years they haven’t been maintained as they should,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Hazardous Costume Jewelry From China Seized by Police
Nearly 215,000 items found with high nickel content
(ANSA) — Venice, December 30 — Nearly 215,000 pieces of costume jewelry were seized by Italian finance police on Tuesday.
They said the items contained a dangerously high nickel content and lacked the minimum security requirements for commercial sale in Italy.
The unusually shiny items, imported from China and worth nearly 600,000 euros in all, had already been placed on store shelves and had been falsely marked “nickel free”.
Tests were being conducted on the merchandise to determine the origin of production.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mafia Costs Economy More Than Old Labour Laws, Says Bindi
Anti-mafia commission head says Renzi must fight crime
(ANSA) — Rome, December 30 — Mafia crime and corruption cost Italy more than old labour laws that were recently reformed by Premier Matteo Renzi, parliament’s anti-mafia commission president Rosy Bindi told ANSA on Tuesday. Therefore, Renzi should now put as much effort into fighting crime as he did to promoting his Jobs Act, said Bindi. That would also help the economy, as “the country won’t grow if we don’t decide to take up a relentless fight against the mafia and corruption,” said Bindi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Finmeccanica in 160-Helicopter Deal With Russia’s Rostec
AugustaWestland to assemble, sell choppers in Russia
(ANSA) — Rome, December 31 — Finmeccanica aerospace and defense giant has entered into a strategic partnership with Russia’s publicly-owned Rosneft oil company and Russian government corporation Rostec, Rosneft said Wednesday. Under the deal, wholly owned Finmeccanica firm AugustaWestland will manufacture and sell up to 160 AW189 civilian helicopters to Rosneft through 2025. The AW189 designed for offshore support will be assembled at Russia’s HeliVert plant, a joint venture between AgustaWestland and a Rostec subsidiary.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lithuania Joins Baltic Neighbours in Euro Club
The new year means a new currency for Lithuania — it is joining the euro, following its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Latvia into the currency bloc.
Some Lithuanians fear price rises, but opinion polls point to growing optimism towards the euro. With Lithuania’s entry the eurozone now has 19 members.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The last of the three Baltic states has joined the eurozone, hoping to boost investment and counter Russian influence. But only half of Lithuanians are in favor of the euro.
Polls show that half the population of three million are still not convinced dumping the litas is a good idea. Three-quarters of people expect price rises after adopting the euro and almost two-thirds fear Lithuania is losing part of its identity, a Eurobarometer poll found. The litas, which had been used before World War II, was re-introduced in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One in 8 Germans Would Join Anti-Muslim Marches: Poll
One German in eight would join an anti-Muslim march if a rapidly-growing protest movement organized one in their home towns, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday.
The survey highlighted growing support in Germany, as in other European Union countries including Britain and Sweden, for parties and movements tapping into voter fears that mainstream politicians are too soft on immigration.
Some members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc worry that they risk losing support to the euro-sceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has shifted its focus to immigration, and many of whose members back the PEGIDA protest movement — Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation
of the West.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Suspected Arson at Mosque in Uppsala
A mosque in Uppsala was attacked in the early hours of New Years Day. A witness saw a person throw a burning object onto the premises. The fire had gone out by the time the rescue services arrived.
This is the third attack against a mosque in Sweden in a matter of days. Police in Eslöv in southern Sweden, are investigating arson, after the mosque there was put on fire on the 29th of December. In Eskilstuna, west of Stockholm, a mosque started burning on christmas Day, as over 70 people, including children, were in the premises. Five people were taken to hospital.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: One Man Dead and Several Injured in Plymouth ‘Axe Attack’
A man has died and several were left injured in an alleged axe and knife attack in Plymouth, police said.
Officers were called to the Kings Arms pub on The Green, at Tamerton Foliot, at about 01:30 GMT.
A 27-year-old local man died at the scene and two others were treated at Derriford Hospital, a Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said.
He added weapons had been seized and a 20 and a 21-year-old man had been arrested.
Det Supt Jim Colwell said it was to early to say what the reason for the incident was.
He said: “We know there were two weapons involved, we have recovered an axe type weapon from near the scene. We are keen to recover the second weapon described as a blade or knife.
“I would ask residents living in the area to look in their gardens and tell us if they find anything meeting that description.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
White Wine May Not Really Exist
THAT Chardonnay you’re drinking is more of a red wine than it looks. It turns out that white grapes also contain the pigments that give red wine its colour — anthocyanins.
Most sources say that “what distinguishes red from white is that white wine grapes don’t have anthocyanins,” says Panagiotis Arapitsas of Italy’s Edmund Mach Foundation. His team used mass spectrometry to analyse the skins of grapes from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling grapes, which are used in the production of white wine. They found these white grapes did contain anthocyanins, although in concentrations several thousand times smaller than in red grape varieties such as Merlot.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Court Orders Retrial for Jailed Al Jazeera Journalists
An appeals court in Egypt has ordered a retrial in the case of three Al Jazeera journalists imprisoned there for more than a year. They were arrested in December 2013, accused of aiding the Muslim Brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel’s Netanyahu Reelected as Party Leader
The Israeli Prime Minister has triumphed in his party primary by a landslide. Netanyahu is seeking a third straight term in office in legislative elections in March.
Benjamin Netanyahu won another term as leader of the ruling right-wing Likud party on Thursday, easily defeating his single hard-right challenger, Danny Danon. Netanyahu’s reelection comes ahead of snap polls set for March.
Elections for the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, were moved up from 2017 after Likud’s shaky coalition with both the secular Yesh Atid party and Zionists the Jewish Home fell apart.
“With nearly 60 percent of the ballots counted, Benjamin Netanyahu took 80 percent of the vote and Danny Danon 20 percent,” Likud spokeswoman Noga Katz told news agency AFP, adding that the final results would be known later Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Death Toll of Yemen Anti-Huthi Bomb Blast Rises to 49
The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on a religious celebration by Shiite militia supporters in central Yemen has risen to 49, hospital sources said Thursday.
Medics told AFP that 49 people were killed and 70 wounded in Wednesday’s attack carried out by a bomber dressed as a woman in the mainly Sunni city of Ibb, held by the Huthi Shiite militia.
An initial toll gave at least 33 dead and dozens wounded…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Booklet Issues Guidelines to Mothers on How to Raise ‘Jihadi Babies’
Isis has reportedly released a guide for mothers in its self-proclaimed caliphate on how to raise a jihadi baby in preparation for war.
The publication, entitled “Sister’s Role in Jihad”, suggests that the “most important” way women can contribute to the so-called Islamic State is by indoctrinating children with the militant group’s values.
“Don’t wait until they are seven to start, for it may be too late by then!” the handbook reads.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Blamed for Almost 2,000 Executions in Less Than Six Months
Of those killed, 1,175 were civilians, including women and children. Almost half of the victims are members of the Sunni Shaitat tribe, which rebelled against the Islamic State domination. The group also executed 120 of its own members, who wanted to return to their home countries.
London (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Islamic State (IS) militant group has murdered nearly 2,000 people in Syria — half of them from an important Sunni tribe — since announcing its “caliphate” on 28 June, a monitoring group said yesterday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said that it has documented the execution by the Islamic State of 1,878 people in Syria.
Victims were shot dead, beheaded or stoned to death in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Hama, Homs, Hasakeh and Raqa.
Of those killed, 1,175 were civilians, including four children and eight women.
The dead include 930 members of the Shaitat tribe which rose up against IS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor in the summer.
IS also executed 502 Syrian soldiers and pro-regime militiamen, and 80 members of the rival al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.
The Observatory said that the jihadist group also killed around 120 of its own members, mostly for trying to flee to their home countries.
It warns that the number of people killed is almost certainly higher since many more people are still missing or unaccounted for.
IS often videotapes its killings and posts footage on the Internet to sow fear among civilians and rival groups, as well as attract new recruits.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Arrests Cleric for Advocating Jewish Temple Mount Prayer
A Jordanian Muslim cleric has been arrested for advocating Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, just a week after he issued a public statement retracting the comments following a hail of criticism.
In a video statement posted online on December 18, Salafi cleric Sheikh Yassin Al-Ajlouni said a place of worship for Jews should be established on the Temple Mount, noting its religious importance to Judaism — although he emphasized that the site should remain “under Hashemite (Jordanian) sovereignty and control,” as per existing arrangements.
“There should be a special place of worship for the Jews among the Israelis under Hashemite and Palestinian sovereignty, and in agreement with the Israeli regime,” Al-Ajlouni said
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Kidnapped Italian Women in Syria’ Appear in Video
Two women identifying themselves as Italian aid workers kidnapped in Syria have appeared in a video urging their government to seek their release.
The video, filmed in mid-December, appeared online Wednesday night and purportedly shows Vanessa Marzullo and Greta Ramelli, who were abducted by gunmen in northern Aleppo province in August.
The women, both in their twenties, are shown wearing black dresses and headscarves, seated before a blank wall.
One woman holds a piece of paper with the date December 17, though the video appeared to have been posted online on December 31.
The other, apparently reading from a script held off camera, urges the Italian government to bring them home before Christmas.
The 23-second video includes no details of which group is holding the women and no one else appears in the footage…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Man Arrested After Throwing Grenades, Firing on Turkish President Erdogan’s Istanbul Office
Turkish police say they subdued a man Thursday after he threw grenades and fired a weapon at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Istanbul office.
Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altinok told the state-run Anadolu Agency that officers destroyed two unexploded grenades. The man was also armed with a small weapon and an assault rifle. He was arrested after the incident in front of the offices at the Dolmabahce Palace in downtown Istanbul. The Ottoman palace was once the residence of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Police did not say if Erdogan was present at the time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Smog Alarm in Tehran as 400 Are Admitted to Hospital
(AGI) Tehran, Dec 30 — A total of 392 people have been admitted to hospital for breathing and heart problems due to Tehran’s very high level of air pollution. Another 1,434 people have been treated but then sent home because their symptoms were less severe. Twelve million people live in Tehran and there are more than four million cars are on the roads, most of which are not in line with stringent European standards. Also, although Iran is one of the largest oil producers it has poor quality fuel due to the lack of modern refineries because of international sanctions. The situation is worse in winter when a carcinogenic smog cloaks the city, a mix of harmful carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulates (mainly diesel residues). The city also tends to pollution because it is at an altitude of between 1,100 and 1,700 metres above sea level and this favours the formation of the phenomenon of thermal inversion where cooler air is trapped lower down and thus has little chance of exchange with the warmer air above. The latest complete figures on the impact of pollution from the Ministry of Health date back to 2012 when there were 4,500 deaths from pollution in Tehran alone and about 80,0000 in the whole country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Armenian Genocide as Jihad
by Richard L. Rubenstein
There is a 1919 silent film about the Armenian genocide, “Ravished Armenia,” originally produced in Hollywood using Turkish documentary footage. It was based on a book by a survivor, Aurora Mardiganian, who also starred in the production. The film originally consisted of nine reels, most of which have been lost. Recently, a twenty-minute clip was found that contains brief scenes of many of the incidents that took place during the genocide.
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Turkey Digs Trenches at Border Against ISIL
Turkish security authorities have begun to dig trenches at the country’s border with Syria as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants fleeing airstrikes took shelter in an energy facility on the Syrian side of the border.
The ISIL militants escaping airstrikes from Syrian regime forces, as well as the United States-led coalition in Aleppo, ran toward Syria’s border with Turkey, seeing the region as relatively safer in which to deploy.
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China Proposes Free Trade Agreement to Bangladesh
The goal is to improve road and rail connections, especially those through Myanmar. Dhaka relaunches with a proposal for improved connectivity through Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar-Myanmar-Kunming.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China has proposed the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh to promote trade between the two countries and reduce the trade gap. The offer was made yesterday during bilateral talks held by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, AH Mahmood Ali (Dhaka) and Wang Yi (Beijing). The Bangladeshi delegation consisted of 19 members, the Chinese one of 13.
During the talks the two delegations discussed a wide range of issues, including the expansion of bilateral trade and business issues, especially regarding road and railway links and greater cooperation in the energy and industrial sectors.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, M. Shahidul Haque, said that for the moment his government “is analyzing the proposal.” He added: “I think there will be a solid decision next year on the matter and I hope it will take off”.
Bangladesh has proposed a new road and railway line connecting Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar-Myanmar-Kunming. It would start from Chittagong (in the South of the country), it would run through Cox’s Bazar (in Bangladesh), cross Myanmar and arrive in Kunming. Beijing has reportedly reacted “positively” to the project.
China has reiterated its interest in the construction of a deep-sea port but Bangladesh is still “considering the project which is undergoing evaluation.”
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Families Seek Answers After 36 Die in Shanghai New Year’s Eve Stampede
SHANGHAI — People unable to contact friends and relatives streamed into hospitals Thursday, anxious for information after a stampede during New Year’s celebrations in Shanghai’s historic waterfront area killed 36 people in the worst disaster to hit one of China’s showcase cities in recent years.
The Shanghai government said 47 others received hospital treatment, including 13 who were seriously injured, after the chaos about a half-hour before midnight. Seven of the injured people had left hospitals by Thursday afternoon.
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FSC Says Unification Will Cost $500B
The South Korean government will need as much as $500 billion to help North Korea develop after reunification, according to a report by the Financial Services Commission.
According to the internal report based on opinions and predictions of various experts on the North Korean economy, helping the North raise its per capita GDP from the current $1,251 to $10,000 will require $500 billion.
The FSC has been studying the North Korean economy in preparation for a possible sudden collapse of its government or another kind of rapid and unexpected reunification.
According to the report, South Korea’s GDP is about 43 times larger than that of North Korea. In the case of German unification, West Germany’s GDP was about 10 times higher than the GDP in East Germany.
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North Korean Leader Open to Summit With South
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a New Year’s speech Thursday that he is open to more talks or even a summit with his South Korean counterpart, a statement welcomed by Seoul, which in turn urged the North to take concrete steps toward normalization of relations.
Kim’s call for improving inter-Korea relations comes as Pyongyang is facing heightened criticism over its human rights record and souring ties with Washington over allegations it was involved in the massive hacking attack on Sony Pictures linked to “The Interview,” a dark comedy that portrayed an assassination attempt on Kim.
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North Korean Leader Proposes Talks With South
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un proposed the “highest-level” talks with South Korea Thursday in a surprise overture delivered during the communist supremo’s traditional New Year message.
The sudden move comes with his pariah state battling to fend off international prosecution over its dismal human rights record, and would clear the path for the first inter-Korean summit since a 2007 meeting in Pyongyang.
“Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest-level talks,” Kim said, calling for a turnaround in strained relations between the two Koreas, which are technically at war.
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Denmark: Queen Bids Refugees Welcome in New Year’s Address
Queen Margrethe delivered a New Year’s Eve address that saw her gently wade in to the ongoing debate about Denmark’s response to a record number of refugees and asylum seekers.
In a speech that otherwise stuck to familiar themes, Queen Margrethe touched on two of the biggest political debates in 2014: the influx of refugees and the most comprehensive school reform in modern Danish history.
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German Church Leaders Slam PEGIDA, Call for Solidarity With Migrants
Religious leaders across Germany used their New Year’s speeches to voice opposition to xenophobia. The anti-Islamization movement PEGIDA has been gathering steam throughout the nation in recent weeks.
With an eye to the increasing number of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) demonstrations across Germany, church leaders have called for solidarity and community spirit in 2015.
Cologne’s Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki said in his New Year’s Eve sermon that “it is not us in wealthy Europe who have a refugee problem, but the poor neighboring countries of the crisis regions.”
“This is a truth we declare too little, too timidly, and too quietly,” he added, referring to the fact that of the 45 million displaced people in the world, 86 percent are sheltered in countries directly neighboring their homelands.
The Archbishop of Aachen echoed Woelki’s words, saying “we must show the refugees that we take their suffering seriously and that they are welcome among us.”
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Refugees Protest Rural Sweden Relocation
Some 40 asylum-seekers refused to leave the bus when they arrived at their destination in rural northern Sweden, demanding that they be taken back to Malmö or “some big city”.
When the transport arrived at a housing centre in Grytan south of Östersund the asylum-seekers didn’t like the look of what they saw.
“I am 75-years-old and come from the Middle East. Then I get sent to a place that looks like this,” said a man from Syria to the local Östersunds-Posten daily, pointing to the icy road.
“It is dangerous for me to be here,” he said.
The asylum-seekers, who originate from several countries, refused to leave the bus when it arrived at the small Swedish town. The police were called to assist at the scene but declined to help in escorting the group from the bus.
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Second Abandoned Migrant Ship Spotted Off Italian Coast
The Italian coast guard says a merchant ship with at least 400 migrants on board is heading for the Italian coast.
The Ezadeen, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, had no crew on board and was going towards Puglia in the south-east of Italy.
An Icelandic vessel confirmed to the BBC that it was assisting in efforts to board the ship.
Almost 1,000 migrants were rescued from another ship found abandoned without any crew earlier in the week.
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Sweden: Asylum Seekers Threaten Hunger Strike
A group of 30 asylum seekers spent the night in a cold bus outside a reception centre in the woods south Östersund in central Sweden. They do not want to move into the centre, but demand to be returned to Malmö.
The tabloid Aftonbladet reports that 32 asylum seekers have spent the night in the bus.
“It was very cold. The two doors of the bus are open and cannot be closed,” 35-year-old Moaweyh Ramliy told Aftonbladet. He is one of those who spent the night in the bus.
On Wednesday, Swedish Radio Jämtland spoke to some of the 40 or so asylum seekers, who had arrived on the bus earlier in the day. They said they had not been told where they were going. As they entered the bus in Malmö, in southern Sweden, they expected to be taken to Stockholm, or “max 40 minutes outside” the capital, one of the asylum seekers told the reporter. Instead they spent 15 hours on the bus, arriving to the dark and the cold in village 20 kilometres south of Östersund, where a former military barracks have been turned into a refugee reception centre.
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Amusing to hear about the asylum seekers in Sweden who cannot deal with clean air, water, peace, and quiet.
Algeria just returned 1400 illegal immigrants to Niger, and there was nary a peep in the media.
If the US or Europe tried such a stunt, the cries of, “RACISM!!!!” would shake the heavens.
Can anyone tell me about a person called Schuon? What is his role in the Islamization of Europe? I first knew about him by reading this article, but I couldn’t find more info:
http://www.olavodecarvalho.org/english/articles/080508jb_en.html
If this article is accurate, this information is too important to be kept in secret.
Yes, we covered Frithjof Schuon in 2010 here: Discreet Influences
I believe that may be the same article you cite.
Thanks!
Baron,
“George 111” ?
Kim Jung-Un open to talks with S Korea:
If the Northern “Gulag” ever opened up I don’t think SK would be able to absorb the refugees. SK is quite a bit different from Germany and NK refugees are quite a bit different from E Germans.
What are you going to do with the peasant farmers and prisoners of NK policy? They are physically stunted and mentally brainwashed.
Does anyone see a positive outcome?