Belgian police raided a residence in Verviers in an attempt to thwart a planned terror attack of massive proportions. The suspected terrorists shot at police, and two were killed in the firefight. A third was reportedly detained. The incident had nothing to do with Islam.
In other news, in a surprise move the Swiss National Bank decoupled the value of the franc from the value of the euro. The decision caused sudden turmoil in stock markets, and the value of the franc immediately increased relative to the dollar and the euro.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, K, Nick, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, Vlad Tepes, 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.
Italy: Consumers Spending More But No Return of Confidence — Report
Confcommercio says small gains in restaurant meals, goods
(ANSA) — Rome, January 13 — Consumers were spending a bit more on goods and restaurant meals in November, compared with the previous month, but that did not reflect a return in confidence, business group Confcommercio said in a report Tuesday.
In its monthly survey, Confcommercio said it recorded a rise of 0.2% in consumption in November over the previous month when consumption fell.
But it warned that it was too early to suggest a positive trend had developed.
“(The figure) while indicating the continuation of a phase of moderate recovery…does not seem to support, in the coming months, more sustained (consumer) demand,” the group said. In terms of confidence “we do not see, in fact, positive signs from households and firms”. Confcommercio said that it recorded an increase of 1.5% in November over October in spending on hotels and meals outside the home and a rise of 0.4% in spending on recreation.
However, there was no change in spending on personal care items, clothing and footwear.
The only annualized increase recorded in November was in vehicle purchases, where spending rose by 3.4% compared with November 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Banks Face Biggest Hit in Emerging Europe From Swiss Franc Surge
Jan 15 (Reuters) — Polish lenders may take the biggest hit in central Europe from the Swiss National Bank’s sudden move to scrap its cap on the franc on Thursday, after Hungary forced lenders late last year to convert their mortgages in francs into forints.
Poland’s stock of Swiss franc-denominated mortgages stood at about $36 billion at the end of last November — almost 8 percent of gross domestic product in central Europe’s biggest economy, according to analysts at Citi.
Several banking sources in Warsaw said the government may come under pressure to introduce a relief scheme for borrowers of Swiss franc mortgages, after the franc jumped to 4.2 zlotys from 3.6 a day earlier in the wake of the SNB’s move.
“That’s bad news for growth and the banking sector, as the (non-performing loan) ratio of franc-denominated mortgages is likely to increase,” Michal Dybula, an economist at BNP Paribas in Warsaw, said in a research note.
“It will make servicing Swiss franc loans more expensive, reducing disposable income and hurting consumption,” he said…
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Swiss Franc Soars as Switzerland Abandons Euro Cap
The Swiss franc soared as much as 30% in chaotic trade after the central bank abandoned the cap on the currency’s value against the euro.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) said the cap, introduced in September 2011, was no longer justified.
It also cut a key interest rate from -0.25% to -0.75%, raising the amount investors pay to hold Swiss deposits.
The International Monetary Fund’s head, Christine Lagarde, called the move “a bit of a surprise”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Central-Bank Shocker: It’s a ‘Tsunami’; it’s a ‘Bombshell’
LONDON (MarketWatch) — The Swiss National Bank took financial markets by surprise on Thursday, when it scrapped its euro exchange cap and lowered interest rates.
The move sent shock waves through the currency and stock markets, with the Swiss franc rallying more than 30% against the dollar and euro at one point.
All but one of the companies in the Swiss Market Index closed in the red, as the stock benchmark suffered its worst day since 1989.
UBS’s chief investment officer, Mark Haefele, said the move had “come as a complete surprise.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Scraps Franc’s Cap Against Euro
Zurich stocks drop 11%, franc rises 30%
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — Switzerland on Thursday scrapped its franc’s cap against the euro, sending markets into a tailspin.
The Swiss franc soared some 30% in chaotic trade and the Zurich stock market plummeted more than 11%.
The Swiss National Bank said the cap, introduced in September 2011, was no longer justified. The central bank also reduced a key interest rate from -0.25% to -0.75%, increasing the amount investors have to pay to hold Swiss deposits.
The Swiss franc went from 1.20 to the euro to 0.8052 following the SNB move. Stock markets around Europe plunged with investors buying ‘safe haven’ assets such as gold and German bonds.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Duke University’s Decision to Sound Muslim Call to Prayer Riles Some
CNN — The Muslim call to prayer will sound from a bell tower at North Carolina’s Duke University — but not everyone is considering the chant music to the ear.
Starting Friday, the Duke Muslim Students Association will chant the call, or adhan, from the Duke Chapel bell tower. The adhan signals the beginning of the weekly prayer service. It’s ubiquitous in Muslim countries the world over; not so in the Carolina piedmont.
The call will last three minutes and will be only “moderately amplified,” the school said.
Duke, which got its start in the late 19th century with help from the Methodist church, says the move “represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke’s mission.”
“It connects the university to national trends in religious accommodation,” said Christy Lohr Sapp, the chapel’s associate dean for religious life.
[The “national trend” to which this connects Duke University is called “dhimmitude.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk Says He’s Building a Hyperloop Test Track
Elon Musk just tweeted that he’ll be building a 5-mile Hyperloop test track in Texas.
Looks like the designers and engineers he entrusted his 57-page white sheet to are taking too damn long.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘In Dog We Trust’ Misprint on US Sheriff’s Office Rug
A rug has been removed from a sheriff’s office in Florida after it was noticed that it read “in dog we trust” instead of “in God we trust”.
The $500 (£329) mat lay at the entrance to the office in Pinellas County for two months before someone noticed, a spokeswoman said.
The error was made by the rug’s manufacturer and it is being replaced.
Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said they were looking at auctioning it for charity, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
There have been several offers to buy the misprinted rug .
“I’d buy or donate to a charity to get one,” wrote one user on the office’s Facebook page.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IRS Social Engineering Experiment is Failing
By Alan Kornman
The Government of the United States of America is not in the business of generating its own wealth to run day to day operations. Without our hard earned federal tax dollars going into the Treasury, our government would not be able to function.
The US Tax Code has become such a complex and convoluted mess of social engineering the IRS is having problems doing its most basic function — collecting taxes.
The Problem
Our legislators have learned they can control people and corporations behavior by way of the tax code. The Corporations have learned they can lobby legislators to make favorable changes in the tax code for their personal benefit. Legislators can be bought off for pennies on the dollar to make favorable tax code changes no one will ever report on. After all — taxes and accounting theory do not sell newspapers or burn up the blogosphere.
On the people side of the equation, our legislators can control large voting blocks of people by giving tax credits, exemptions, and in some cases unearned tax refunds assuring a large segment of the voting public will vote for one party or the other.
Our Legislators get rich by forcing Corporations to make all the right political donations in order to get the tax code provisions needed to stay competitive.
Our Legislators use the tax code to pay off segments the population to vote for or against a (D) or and (R) helping ensure a long and profitable career for our elected officials…
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LAPD Officer Struck by Vehicle in Granada Hills; Search Continuing for Driver
A Los Angeles police officer was struck by a vehicle in Granada Hills Thursday and was taken to a hospital in an ambulance amid a search for the driver who fled on foot, authorities said.
The collision occurred in the 10900 block of Haskell Avenue (map) around noon, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
A narcotics officer was reported down, and there was an active search in the area for a “suspect,” LAPD Officer Jane Kim initially said. She later confirmed that the officer was struck by a vehicle.
Aerial video showed the officer being treated by paramedics on a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood, and a maroon Chevrolet Tahoe SUV crashed into a hedge a few feet away. A white pickup truck was parked nearby.
The officer had a major compound fracture, Kim said. She believed the injury was in the hip or femur area.
He was lifted onto a gurney and wheeled into a Fire Department ambulance just before 12:30 p.m. At least seven LAPD patrol cars were on scene.
Police were expected to provide an update near a command post that had been set up in the area around 2:45 p.m.
The man sought was described by LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado as a “chubby-looking” black man, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing between 180 and 200 pounds, and with a short Afro haircut. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a maroon sweatshirt, she said…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Oklahoma Police Chief Shot During Bomb Threat Investigation; Alleged Shooter Posted About ISIS
An Oklahoma police chief survived being shot several times because he was handed a bulletproof vest just moments before entering the home of the suspect who posted statements about ISIS on social media.
NewsOK.com reported that the Sentinel Police Chief Louis Ross was responding to the home linked to an earlier bomb threat. While police cleared out the house, they were confronted in one of the bedrooms and shots were fired.
Ross was hit several times in the chest and arm. A man and his wife were arrested.
Authorities described the shooting suspect as a man in his 30s who posted statements on social media about ISIS. Authorities, however, told the paper that there is no evidence that ties the alleged shooter to the terror group.
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Op-Ed: Everything Has Been Turned on Its Head
by Phyllis Chesler
Last night, I lectured at a synagogue in Westchester. Afterwards, a man came up “to shake my hand.” He had asked me this exact question about Western survival and I had answered him partly based on the Arutz Sheva article I recently wrote on the question. Then he told me:
“Our son was supposed to be at the finish line at the Boston Marathon. Luckily, something prevented him from going but we spent the weeks afterwards calling up many of his Boston-area friends to see how they were. What will it take for Americans to wake up and to take Jihad seriously? If 9/11 and Ft Hood and the Boston Marathon Bombing did not do it, I am afraid to think of what will.”
A young college student said: “If I say any of the things you have just said, my friends would call me crazy.”
Said I: “So what? If you opt for popularity and conformity you will never develop the strength to stand up to evil or to tell the truth. Remember: Evil always prevails when the good people are afraid to stop it, lest they not only become pariahs—they may also lose their livelihoods and their lives.”
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
3 Jihadists Reportedly Killed in Counter-Terrorism Raid in Belgium
At least 3 people were killed in an anti-terror raid in Belgium Thursday that one official confirmed was “jihadist related,” and a man suspected of selling guns used in last week’s terror attacks in France was being detained in another part of the country, according to multiple reports.
The deadly raid was in Verviers, in eastern Belgium, according to the Telegraph. Belgian public television channel RTBF reported that the public prosecutor’s office confirmed the deaths of two suspects and arrests of “several” more. The station said there were no casualties among the security forces involved and that several people had been arrested. Federal prosecutors were quoted as saying there had been a police operation near the center of the city of 55,000, some 70 miles from Brussels.
Sky News reported three jihadists who had recently returned from Syria were killed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Charlie Hebdo Sells Like Hot Cakes
A day later than in France, the French satirical magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’ is on sale at newsagents across Belgium. Newspaper shops and kiosks that sold ‘Charlie Hebdo’ before last week’s terrorist attack have been given priority when it came to supplies of this week’s issue of the magazine that has been given a print run of 5 million instead of the usual 50,000. Such is the demand for the magazine that only those that have reserved a copy or have a subscription are likely to stand a chance of obtaining a copy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Police Kill Two in Raid on Suspected Islamists
Belgian police killed two men who opened fire on them during one of about a dozen raids on Thursday against an Islamist group that federal prosecutors said was about to launch “terrorist attacks on a grand scale”.
Coming a week after Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in Paris, the incident fueled fears across Europe of young Muslims returning radicalised from Syria. But the Belgian probe had been under way before the Jan. 7 attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and officials saw no obvious link between the two.
A third man was detained in the eastern city of Verviers, where police commandos ran into a hail of gunfire after trying to gain entry to an apartment above a town center bakery. All three were citizens of Belgium, which has one of the biggest concentrations of European Islamists fighting in Syria.
Other raids on the homes of men returned from the civil war there were conducted across the country, prosecutors said, adding that they were suspected of planning attacks on Belgian police stations. Security had been tightened at such sites.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Operation Thwarted ‘Major Terrorist Attacks’
(CNN) A suspected terror cell on the brink of carrying out an attack was the target of a raid Thursday that left two people dead, Belgian authorities said.
A third suspect was injured and taken into custody in the operation at a building in the eastern city of Verviers, prosecutor’s spokesman Thierry Werts told reporters.
A senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN that the alleged terror cell is believed to have received instructions from ISIS.
Some members of the cell had traveled to Syria and met with ISIS, which plotted the attacks as retaliation for U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, the Belgian source said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Casualties in Belgium Police Anti-Terror Raid in Verviers
Three people have been killed during a terrorism-related police operation against suspected jihadists in Belgium, a federal prosecutor said.
Local residents in Verviers, in the east of the country, heard a fusillade of machine gun shots and explosions.
Reports indicate that the gunfight followed a foiled jihadist attack on a local police station.
“A second Paris has been avoided,” a ministry of justice source told Nieuwsblad newspaper.
A local resident said: “I heard two explosions and saw two young men run away. They were between 25 and 30 years of Arab origin.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Danish PEGIDA Organizer: No Racists Allowed
The Pegida movement in Germany has been branded as xenophobic and racist by many, but the organizer of the first Pegida event in Denmark tells The Local that the Danish version will be a cozy affair free of “racists, Nazis and militants”.
The event is being organized by Nicolai Sennels, who told The Local on Wednesday that while his group has no official connections with Pegida in Germany, he has been closely watching the protests there.
“We followed the movement for some time (in Germany) to see what sort of movement it is. We read the reports from Germany and German opinion polls and they all came out showing that this was a positive and popular movement with all layers of society coming out,” Sennels said.
“This is simply a popular movement speaking out on behalf of a lot of worried Europeans against this violent type of Islam,” he told The Local.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Deaths Reported in Police Anti-Terror Raid in Belgium
Belgian police launched an anti-terrorism operation in the eastern town of Verviers on Thursday, with reports saying there were three deaths.
“An operation is under way,” a source in the mayor’s office told AFP without giving further details, while another official said separately that it was “jihadist-related”.
Belgium’s public broadcaster RTBF reported three deaths but there was no immediate confirmation…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Turku Comics Shop Stunned by Demand for Charlie Hebdo
Shopkeeper Petteri Oja says that originally the first copies of the irreverent French magazine were to have arrived on Friday, but that he now believes they won’t come until next week.
A small comics shop in Turku, south-west Finland, is apparently the only store in Finland to sell this week’s issue of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
In Finland, the phone was ringing off the hook at Turun Sarjakuvakauppa, which is taking orders for the publication. There was a constant stream of customers asking about the magazine.
Shopkeeper Petteri Oja says he has been completely surprised by the heavy demand for the historic issue. As of Wednesday morning there already more than 100 names on the list of orders. “We originally ordered 50 copies. Through a French acquaintance, I just reached the wholesaler that is distributing the magazine. We ordered 1,000 more copies. But I can’t say when they’ll arrive,” says Oja.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Driver Deliberately Injures Police Officer Outside Paris Presidential Residence
A motorist deliberately drove at and injured a policewoman outside the French president, François Hollande’s residence in central Paris on Wednesday night, French media reported.
A reporter on BFM TV said the car had been driving the wrong way along a one-way system and that two people had been arrested.
The incident comes with France on high security alert after a week of violence in the capital in which 17 people were killed in attacks by three Islamist militants. The reports said it was not clear whether the incident was connected to those attacks.
Police officials could not be reached immediately for comment.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
France: Hollande: Mainstream Muslims Victimized by Fundamentalism, Intolerance
French President Francois Hollande said mainstream Muslims are the primary victims of radical Islamism as the nation deals with the fallout of last week’s attacks by Islamist extremists.
Hollande spoke at the Arab World Institute, which seeks to build closer ties between France and Arab cultures.
He said a crisis like last week’s shooting at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine can serve to undermine confidence, or awaken people to, in his words, “shout their message all the louder.” But he added that the whole country was “united in the face of terrorism.”
“Radical Islam fed itself with all the contradictions, influences, poverty, inequalities, conflicts, unresolved for a long time,” Hollande said. “And it is the Muslims who are the first victims of fanaticism, fundamentalism and intolerance.
“We must also remember — and every time I did it everywhere in the Arab world where I went — that Islam is compatible with democracy, that we must reject lumping things together and confusing them,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Websites Hit With 19,000 Cyberattacks Since Paris Shootings, Official Says
In what France’s cyberdefense chief calls an unprecedented surge, about 19,000 French websites have suffered cyberattacks since a rampage by Islamic extremists left 20 dead in Paris last week.
Adm. Arnaud Coustilliere told reporters Thursday that many of the cyberattacks were carried out by “more or less structured” groups, including some well-known Islamic hacker groups.
“That’s never been seen before. It’s the first time that a country has been faced with such a large wave,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Palestinians Admit Attack on Wuppertal Synagogue
Three Palestianian men admitted on Wednesday that they carried out an arson attack on a synagogue in North Rhine-Westphalia in June 2014.
One 24-year-old man told a court in Wuppertal that the group had carried out the attack in despair at violence in their homeland between the Israeli armed forces and Palestinians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Police Investigate Jihadi Cell in Wolfsburg
State prosecutors are investigating at least one man, a veteran of fighting with Isis in western Iraq, for planning attacks in Germany as part of a 50-strong cell of jihadist sympathisers.
Bild reported on Thursday that five members of the cell in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, are currently fighting in Iraq, while two have already returned from trips to fight with Isis forces.
While one of them has been arrested, the other is “Ayoub B.”, the target of the present investigation over plans for a “seditious violent attack”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Hooligans Join Cologne PEGIDA Demo
Around 150 people marched through Cologne on Wednesday in the name of anti-Islam movement Pegida, including hooligans and members of far-right party Pro NRW, significantly fewer than last week’s 500.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Reassures Muslims, Islamists Hack French Websites
The dispute over Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures of Prophet Mohammad escalated in Turkey where a judicial investigation was launched against the daily Cumhuriyet for publishing excerpts of the cartoons from the French weekly.
In France, the military’s cyber defence specialist reported a surge of hacking against some 19,000 French websites in the past four days, with Islamist messages appearing on some and denials of service blocking others.
Cyber defence expert Vice Admiral Arnaud Coustilliere told journalists that “Islamist hackers” were behind the unprecedented wave of computer attacks on French websites.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Danish Demand for New Charlie Hebdo Issue
So many people in Denmark have asked about the new edition of Charlie Hebdo that the magazine distribution company is trying to massively increase its order to meet demand.
Magazine distribution company Bladkompagniet originally ordered 300 copies of the first edition of the French weekly since its staff were murderously attacked by Islamist gunmen last week. But overwhelming demand among Danish customers has the company requesting ten times that amount.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist Hackers Attack 19,000 French Websites
‘In the past four days alone’, says cyber defense chief
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JANUARY 15 — Some 19,000 French internet sites have been attacked by Islamist hackers in the past four days alone, reported IT security magazine ZatazMag on Thursday. The number was provided by Rear-Admiral Arnaud Coustillière, head of cyber-defence for the French general staff.
“This is the first time that the country has ever dealt with a cyber attack of this sort,” he said, noting that the attacks were “of a low level” , bringing down the website homepage but not sending viruses or other malware. The cyber defense chief called the attacks “opportunistic”, as they target systems lacking protection and software that has not been updated. The attacks do not require a great deal of technical skills and can be conducted by “any ‘geek’ “ or IT buff.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Blitzkrieg: Germany Tracking 50-Member Terror Cell
German authorities are tracking an Islamic State terror cell suspected of having 50 members. Prosecutors told the German newspaper Bild that they are focused on finding a 26-year-old, German-Tunisian man known as “Ayoub B” who traveled to Iraq and Syria with six others.
German authorities are concentrating their investigation on the northern city of Wolfsburg, the newspaper reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Woman Among ISIS Fighters
A woman is among the four Italians to have joined the ranks of the Isis militant group, according to Italian media reports.
Maria Giulia Sergio, a 27-year-old who now goes by the name of Fatima Az Zahra, is thought to have left Italy for Syria last September with her Albanian husband, Corriere reported.
Her husband reportedly had ties to Bilal Bosnic, the Salafi movement leader in Bosnia Herzegovina who was last year arrested for funding terrorist activities as well as recruiting and fighting for Isis, the newspaper said.
Sergio is the only woman among the four Italian citizens to have joined the extremists.
Another was Genoese Delnevo, a 23-year-old from Genoa who died in Syria in June 2013.
A further 49 people have transited through Italy on the way to joining Islamic extremists, Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said last week.
Born in Torre del Greco, near Naples, Sergio later moved with her family to Inzago, a town near Milan.
She converted to Islam after her first marriage to a Moroccan citizen. After meeting her second husband, she moved to Grosseto, in Tuscany, where at the end of 2012 she underwent the rituals of Islamic radicalization, Il Tempo reported.
There she “changed her name to Fatima Az Zahra, visited mosques and wore a niqab”, the website said.
Sergio also reportedly used her Facebook page to defend Islamic traditions and ask for “victory” over “infidels”.
Her parents and sister, who still live in Inzago, also converted to Islam, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported.
Her mother, Assunta Bonfiglio, was on Tuesday quoted by La Repubblica as saying that she hasn’t had any contact with her daughter and doesn’t know where she is but that “Allah is protecting her”.
“She is not a terrorist hiding behind a veil,” she added.
“My daughter Fatima is good, and those who know her can attest to that.”
The couple are thought to have flown from Rome to Istanbul in September, before making their way over the Turkish border into Syria.
Hundreds of women have joined the ranks of Isis.
About 60 British women are thought to have joined, while others are known to have travelled from Sweden, France, Belgium, Canada and the US.
In December, Spanish police arrested four women and three men in Spain and Morocco who were part of a network recruiting women to send over to Isis.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, Alfano said fresh legislation would target “foreign fighters” seeking to travel from or through Italy en route to joining Islamic militants.
The intention is to “restrict their ability to go into the field”, he said, with the new law enabling the Italian government to take away suspects’ passports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims ‘First Victims of Fanaticism’ Says Hollande
Military confirms 19,000 cyberattacks, Kerry on the way
(ANSA) — Paris, January 15 — Muslims are the first victims of Islamist violence and any such offense must be punished severely, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday in a speech to the Arab World Institute in the nation’s capital.
“Muslims are the first victims of fanaticism, fundamentalism and intolerance,” Hollande said.
“Acts against Muslims, like anti-Semitism, must be not only reported but also severely punished,” the president went on.
France, he said, will “defend all its citizens”.
Also on Thursday, Vice Admiral Arnaud Coustillière confirmed Islamist hackers have attacked 19,000 French websites in the past four days.
“They were low-level attacks that don’t require extensive technical abilities and could have been carried out by any geek,” said Coustillière, who is in charge of French military cyber-defense.
The hackers did not send viruses, but simply targeted sites with scarce firewalls or outdated software and erased their home pages.
Meanwhile French leaders awaited the arrival later on Thursday of United States Secretary of State John Kerry, who is presently in Bulgaria where he told reporters he plans “to share a big hug with Paris and express the affection of the American people for France and for our friends there who have been through a terrible time”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Leaders Appeal for Calm as Charlie Hebdo Special Hits the Streets
Muslims have reacted warily to Charlie Hebdo’s defiant cover depicting the prophet Muhammad.
The French satirical weekly was accused of deliberately mocking the Islamic faith and warned that it could fuel further sectarian unrest.
French Muslim leaders appealed for calm after the cover of the magazine’s special edition, which was an instant sellout on Wednesday with long queues forming at newsstands across France, was leaked ahead of publication.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Arnhem Jihadi Suspects Face Two Years in Jail
Two men from Arnhem who are accused of attempting to join Islamic militants in Syria should be jailed for two years, the public prosecution department said on Thursday. Mohamed el A (27) and Hakim B (22) were picked up in Germany in July 2013. Their respective brothers Abdelkarim el A and Khalid B are already known to be fighting in Syria, news agency ANP reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
PEGIDA: The New German Revolution
by Peter Martino
Pegida’s worries about the Islamization of Germany concern the seeming intolerance and religious fanaticism that have grown hand-in-hand with the arrival of the Muslim populations unwilling to adapt to Western values.
The terror attacks in France Had “nothing to do with Islam.” — German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière.
By decrying Pegida’s views as “xenophobic,” narrow minded” and even “inhuman,” Germany’s ruling establishment shows how deeply out of touch it is with the worries of a large segment of the population.
Perhaps the people in the East just want to avoid the situation that the Western part of the country is in. Having gone through decades of Communist dictatorship, perhaps they are less inclined to trust that their political leaders have the people’s best interests in mind with their policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope on Charlie Hebdo: There Are Limits to Freedom of Expression When Faith is Insulted
Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of expression, especially when it insults or ridicules someone’s faith.
Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks while en route to the Philippines, defending free speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one’s mind for the sake of the common good.
But he said there were limits.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Bans ‘Female Genital Mutilation Trips’
Parents in Spain will be asked to sign a declaration promising their daughters will not undergo female genital mutilation when they visit nations where the practice is common, under a new government protocol approved on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: New Police Protocol Targets ‘Arab People’
Spanish people have been told to pay special attention to people of Arab origin carrying large amounts of cash or video cameras outside of tourist areas as part of new anti-terror measures.
The recommendations were issued to police officers after the recent terror attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, according to Spanish free daily 20 minutos.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Was Planning Row Behind Arson Attacks in Oxfordshire?
Police are investigating theory that a grudge over a planning application could be behind three arson attacks in Oxfordshire, which destroyed a council office, a cottage and a funeral parlour
Detectives are investigating the theory that an arson attack which devastated a council headquarters in Oxfordshire was carried out in revenge for a row over a planning application.
The offices of South Oxfordshire District Council were gutted after witnesses reported a car being driven into the foyer which was believed to be loaded with gas canisters.
A thatched cottage nearby was set on fire minutes earlier, as well as a funeral parlour next door to the council office, which may have been targeted by mistake, police believe. Gas canisters were found at all three sites.
A source involved in the investigation said that one line of inquiry being pursued was that an individual who had been refused planning application by the council was carrying out a revenge attack.
The source said: “We believe they started a fire with some accelerant in the doorway of a building alongside the council offices which serves as a funeral parlour, but it looks likely that they mistook the building for the local authorities’ offices.
“They then moved on to the civic headquarters.”…
| [Return to headlines] |
Charlie Hebdo: Hollande: Against Fanaticism Real Union in Med
Civil society is growing in Arab world. Punish anti-islamic acts
French president Francois Hollande (R) and president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab institute), Jack Lang (L) walk past the Arab Institute building bearing the message ‘We are Charlie’, in Paris
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — In order to fight against fanaticism France and Europe should “facilitate the formation of an exacting civil society in the Arab world”, “solve conflicts and make sure we can create a union between the two shores of the Mediterranean that does not solely rest on hearts and minds but also on culture and economics”, said French president François Hollande during an address at the Insitute of the Arab World in Paris on Thursday. “The Mediterraean must not be a sea of pain but of prosperity,” Hollande added. Islamic fundamentalism “is fed by the contradictions of poverty and by long unresolved conflicts, Muslims are its first victims”, he said. French President invited everyone to “steer away from the confusion” between violent extremists and moderate Muslims.
“Anti-muslims acts, as well as antisemitism, must not only be denounced but severely punished”, Hollande maintained, stressing that France is committed “to the protection of all its citizens” independently of their faith. “We have a commitment to solidarity towards the Arab world” underscored the president, who spoke about Syria where “after the conflict was neglected for far too long, force has become the driving wheel”.
“The Arab world is transforming even though all of its Springs did not prosper”, remarked Hollande, according to whom “these changes need time”. In this context “security is necessary to the Arab people in order to grant them the necessary time for change”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
El-Sisi’s Jihad Against Freedom of Conscience
Andrew Bostom
A recent PJ Media blog chastises mainstream (essentially Left) media for largely ignoring Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s 1/1/15 speech, an address much ballyhooed by conservatives (see for example, here, here, and here). This criticism of the Left-dominated media is warranted.
But conservative champions of Sisi’s address, and his subsequent unique, if brief appearance at Coptic Christmas mass held in the St. Mark’s Church (Abbasiya) Cathedral last Tuesday (1/6/15), are also guilty of what Ogden Nash referred to as “equally bad in the eyes of all right-thinking people,/ from Billy Sunday to Buddha, /And it consists of not having done something you shudda”—i.e., their own “sin of omission.”…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: Algerian Army Finds French Hostage’s Body
Gourdel beheaded in September in Kabylie area
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 15 — The body of the French hostage killed by the jihadist group Jund Al-Khalifa in September, Hervé Gourdel, has been found by Algerian armed force in the Kabylie city of Tizi Ouzou, according to media reports.
A magistrate and the prosecutor went to the location in the Takhlijit forest, a source told the TSA website, noting that the body would be examined to verify whether it was actually that of the French mountaineering guide. Jund Al-Khalifa, initially a faction of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) shortly before the beheading of the Frenchman.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Will a ‘Remove the Hijab’ Campaign Turn Heads in Egypt?
The headscarf, or “hijab,” has always been a controversial issue in Egypt, with most clerics saying it is obligatory in Islam, while intellectuals call it a tradition rather than a religious rule.
The controversy intensified with a campaign called “The International Day for Taking Off the Headscarf,” launched in Sept. 2013 by Bahaa Anwar, head of the Secular Party of Egypt and a prominent Egyptian Shiite.
The campaign never took off, but the debate has continued into 2015.
“The headscarf is not obligatory in Islam and it is used by clerics to control women. A piece of cloth cannot possibly determine how religious a woman is,” said Anwar, adding that his party planned to provide counseling for women who are forced to wear the headscarf or want to take it off.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yesterday, Al Arabiya in an article, cited Egyptian Oil Minister’s comments in the midst of the country’s worst energy crisis, suggesting that “Egypt is open to importing gas from Israel … another sign that it may lean on its neighbor to help tackle its energy troubles.”
Al Arabiya noted:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
World Must Help Gaza Rebuild: Spain
Spain’s foreign minister called for more international help for Gaza as he met on Tuesday with families who lost their homes in last summer’s war with Israel.
“The international community must act rapidly to rebuild Gaza,” foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo told reporters at a UN-run school in Gaza City, one of a number of places hosting some 17,000 Gazans who were displaced during the war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Borsa Istanbul Partners With London on Futures
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JANUARY 13 — Borsa Istanbul on Tuesday signed a deal allowing the London Stock Exchange to list futures and options based on the BIST 30 Index and on leading Turkish stocks, the Istanbul exchange said in a statement on Tuesday as Anadolu Agency reports. The Borsa’s flagship BIST 30 Index futures currently trade, on average, more than 170,000 contracts per day on Borsa Istanbul. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, the statement said. “London trading in the products is expected to be available in the second half of 2015,” according to the statement. Turkey merged the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Gold Exchange and Derivatives Exchange into Borsa Istanbul in 2013 as it seeks to create an international financial center in Istanbul. Borsa Istanbul will be ready to list with London in early 2016, according to its officials.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Leader Orders Failed Fighters Executed, Says Report
Some 56 members of ISIS learned their so-called “caliph” doesn’t tolerate losing in battle, according to reports which said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had them executed after they survived a rout by Kurdish fighters.
Saed Mimousini, media spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Party, told Alsumaria news agency that Al-Baghdadi’s harsh decision came following their defeat at the hands of Peshmerga fighters in Kobar, south of the Kurdish capital Erbil.
“ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi executed 56 of his men after their defeat at the hands of the Peshmerga forces in the Cowir area south of Erbilm,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State ‘Beheads Guerrilla’ In Eastern Syria
Islamic State (IS) is reported to have beheaded a man who they accused of setting up a guerrilla cell in eastern Syria that attacked its fighters.
His decapitated body was crucified in the town of Mayadin, in Deir al-Zour province, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
IS claimed the man had set off an explosion at a restaurant and booby-trapped vehicles used by the group.
Another four men were reportedly killed by IS in the city of Deir al-Zour.
They were accused of having links with the Syrian government, according to the Syrian Observatory.
“One was arrested for smoking a cigarette,” its director, Rami Abdul-Rahman, told the Reuters news agency. “Only later did Islamic State accuse him of being an informer for the regime.”
Syria’s state news agency, Sana, said IS had killed three civilians and displayed their bodies in Mayadin.
IS ‘police’ targeted
This is not the first time that there have been reports of resistance to IS in Mayadin.
The group’s religious police force — known as the Hisbah — has been targeted recently by armed men.
Earlier this month, the Syrian Observatory said the force’s Egyptian deputy commander in the area had been abducted, tortured and beheaded. Days later, several other members of the Hisbah were seized.
And on Saturday, three pro-IS activists were reportedly killed in and around the town of al-Bulil, not far from Mayadin…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Police Raid Turkish Daily Publishing Charlie Hebdo
Police raided the printing press of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet on Jan. 14, as it prepared to distribute a four-page selection of Charlie Hebdo’s post-attack issue in an act of solidarity with the French satirical weekly.
The police also took extreme security measures ahead of the scheduled publication of the supplement.
Police cars were sent to the printer of the daily in Istanbul early on Jan. 14 and halted trucks to prevent the distribution of the Jan. 14 edition. The distribution was eventually allowed after the prosecution made sure that cartoons representing the Prophet Muhammad were not included in the selection…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison in the wake of the Paris Charlie Hebdo killings, and the world has watched on in horror.
He was convicted for insulting Islam
The 31-year-old Saudi Arabian writer and creator of secularist website Free Saudi Liberals was originally arrested for insulting Islam and showing disobedience in 2012, and was brought to court for several charges including apostasy. Badawi avoided the death penalty as a high court threw out the apostasy charge in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani Muslims today called for the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists to be hanged for drawing the Prophet Mohammed on its latest front cover.
As worldwide protests continued for a second day, nearly 300 people from a religious group rallied in the eastern city of Lahore, carrying placards saying ‘Down with Charlie Hebdo’.
One banner read: ‘Making blasphemy cartoon of the Prophet is the worst act of terrorism. The sketch-makers must be hanged immediately.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Teen Muslim Girls Face Arrest in Malaysia for Hugging K-Pop Boy Band
by Phyllis Chesler
Young teenage Muslim girls in Malaysia, wearing hijab, were so excited by popular Korean “boy” band B1A4 that they jumped onstage to hug and kiss (!) some musicians.
They are now being asked to turn themselves in or face arrest. The girls are being accused of having shamed Islam, their race, and their religion with such a display of affection in public. They are viewed as having violated Sharia law by touching members of the opposite sex who are also infidels. Their “crime” was caught on video.
The K-pop band is claiming that it was a staged drama, a “romance parody.”
Nevertheless, JAWI (The Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department) will “apply for arrest warrants should the girls fail to cooperate in the investigation.” JAWI is “investigating the girls for public indecency and outraging Muslims.”
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Destroys at Least 16 Villages in NE Nigeria: Officials
Heavy casualties were feared in the attacks on Wednesday in the remote north of Borno state, according to local sources, but there was no independent corroboration of the figures cited.
Musa Bukar, head of the Kukawa local government area, said: “They (Boko Haram) burnt to the ground all the 16 towns and villages, including Baga, Doron-Baga, Mile 4, Mile 3, Kauyen Kuros and Bunduram.”
Abubakar Gamandi, head of Borno’s fish traders union and a Baga native, also confirmed the attacks, adding that hundreds of people who fled were trapped on islands on Lake Chad.
News of the latest attacks came as Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been criticised for his inability to end the insurgency, formally launched his re-election campaign.
Nigeria’s military — West Africa’s largest — has come under scrutiny for its inability to fight the militants after reports of a lack of adequate weaponry and even bullets.
Boko Haram, in contrast, has been seen with advanced weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and even a tank.
Jonathan’s opponent at next month’s elections, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, has blamed government corruption for the lack of firepower.
But the head of state appeared to blame his predecessors for not investing enough in defence in a speech at a rally in Lagos on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Attacks Checkpoint in Nigeria
(AGI) Lagos, Jan 14 — Boko Haram on Wednesday attacked yet another military checkpoint in Nigeria’s northern state of Borno, where many villages are now under the extremist group’s control. This is causing concern for the upcoming elections on February 14, given that many citizens in the country’s north are unlikely to go vote out of fear for their safety. The latest checkpoint to be attacked was in Borno’s region of Biu.
Local witnesses said the militants arrived from the Garkida-Yimirshika-Biu road and tried to get past the army barricades, resulting in a gunfight. The number of victims is as of yet unknown. The situation with Boko Haram is splitting voters between the 57-year-old exiting president, Goodluck Jonathan, and Nigeria’s former dictator, 72-year-old Muhammadu Buhari, who is running for the fourth time. Security is the key topic of both campaigns in light of Boko Haram’s increased attacks. The Islamist group killed over 2000 people in Baga on January 3. The elections will be heavily affected by the lack of votes in the areas seized by Boko Haram, and Buhari’s opposition party has already promised it will contest the results in light of the missing numbers.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nigerian Killed in Childbirth During Boko Haram Attack
(AGI) Lagos, Jan 15 — Boko Haram Islamist militants killed a woman in labour during the massacre in Baga, their bloodiest offensive in more than six years of uprising in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State, reported Amnesty International. The human rights group said one witness to the assault, on the shores of Lake Chad on Jan. 3, told them the woman was shot by indiscriminate fire that also cut down small children. “Half of the baby boy (was) out and she died like this,” she said.
Amnesty said that hundreds of people may have been killed in the attack, which is thought to have targeted civilian vigilantes helping the military. “They killed so many people. I saw maybe around 100 killed at that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they were shooting and killing,” a man in his fifties was quoted as saying. Another woman added: “I don’t know how many but there were bodies everywhere we looked.” One man who escaped from Baga after hiding for three days said he was “stepping on bodies” for five kilometres as he fled through the bush. Amnesty on Thursday also published satellite images of Baga and Doron Baga, 2.5 kilometres away, showing the scale of the attack. The shots of the two towns were taken the day before the Islamists moved in and four days later, after they had razed homes and entire villages.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Immigrants to EU More Than Double in 2014
Twenty-three illegal immigrants, all sub-Saharan, arrived at the port of Almeria, Spain, after being rescued at sea by the Spanish Maritime Rescue Services, 12 January 2015. Their boat was intercepted 40 miles off the coast of Spain. Photo EPA/BGNES
The number of illegal immigrants entering the European Union more than doubled last year with 75% of them having arrived through the Mediterranean Sea, the EU migration commissioner has said.
More than 276,000 migrants arrived in the EU last year, representing an increase of 138% compared to 2013, according the bloc’s Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Speaking in the European Parliament on Tuesday, Avramopoulos said that 207,000 of the migrants entered Europe through the Mediterranean with people smugglers increasingly employing a new method, packing illegal migrants into cargo ships and then abandoning them at sea close to the coasts of Greece and Italy. Previously, the smugglers used mainly small boats or dinghies.
The latest incidents occurred earlier this month when two cargo ships carrying about 1,200 illegal immigrants were intercepted by Italian coast guard vessels operating within the EU’s border surveillance mission Triton.
“Smugglers are finding new routes to Europe and are employing new methods in order to exploit desperate people who are trying to escape conflict and war,” Avramopoulos told members of the European Parliament.
More than a dozen of cargo ships carrying illegal immigrants have arrived in Europe since September 2014, mainly in Italy. Most of the illegal immigrants were fleeing war-torn Syria, other countries in the Middle East or Africa, according to the EU’s border management agency, Frontex.
According to Avramopoulos, the EU agencies and member states should improve their cooperation and build a more comprehensive approach “to address the roots of the current flows of irregular migrants and of smuggling”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Orban Calls for Tighter Grip on Economic Migration in the EU
Ppremier: migrants seeking a job are a problem, not an advantage
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Economic immigration? It is not a ‘useful phenomenon’. Quite the contrary, it should be considered a “danger” in Europe. Hungarian Conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed this opinion in front of the Hungarian public tv M1 cameras immediately after participating in the great march against terrorism in Paris. According to reports of the Hungarian news agency MTI, Orban stressed that for the EU is time to speak openly of immigration and of all the issues related to it, as well as to introduce tougher measures at the European level, in order to cope with this ‘problem’.
According to Orban “economic migration is a negative factor in Europe, and it should not be considered as a ‘useful phenomenon’, since it only involves risks and problems for the peoples of Europe”. Hence his desire to reduce the flow of foreigners into the EU, searching for a job and better living conditions. This type of “immigration must be stopped, and this is Hungary’s opinion”, Orban underlined, adding, however, that the doors must remain open for those who flee war and persecution, and are therefore eligible for political asylum.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mexico to Issue Birth Certificates for Citizens at US Consulates
The Mexican government will issue birth certificates to its citizens at consulates in the United States to make it easier for them to apply for a U.S. work permit, driver’s license and protection from deportation.
Previously, Mexico required citizens to get birth certificates at government offices in Mexico. Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. can ask friends and relatives back home to retrieve them, but it delays their applications for immigration or other programs.
Mexico is trying to help millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. apply for programs that would allow them to remain temporarily in the country and continue sending money to relatives across the border, despite Republicans in Congress trying to quash President Obama’s immigration reform plan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Chief Accuses India of Intolerance With Gay Sex Ban
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has accused India of fomenting intolerance with its ban on gay sex amid uproar over a ruling party minister’s plans to make homosexuals “normal”.
Speaking on a visit to the capital New Delhi, Ban said he “staunchly opposed the criminalisation of homosexuality” referring to India’s colonial-era law that prohibits gay sex.
“I am proud to stand for the equality of all people — including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender,” the UN secretary general said in a statement late Monday.
“I speak out because laws criminalising consensual, adult same-sex relationships violate basic rights to privacy and to freedom from discrimination. Even if they are not enforced, these laws breed intolerance.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Islam’s War on Christians: Worst Yet to Come?
From the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa, Christians are enduring attacks for their faith like never before.
“The persecution of Christians is real, it is horrifically violent often, and it is spreading at unprecedented rate in modern times,” said Dr. David Curry, president of Open Doors, a group that monitors religious freedom worldwide.
Curry said Christians faced the most persecution for their faith in 2014 than any other year in recent history.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
On the de-coupling of the Swiss Franc from the Euro – another GFC is on its way.
GFC? Great Financial Crisis?
Global, more likely.
Yes, but much worse than the last because all western countries are in financial straits. I’d call it a re-run of 1930 but worse.
It warms my heart to see the EU and Merkel take a baseball bat to their collective guts. Did they think that big money wasn’t looking for a safe haven after watching that Potemkin currency called the EU lurch and heave about? It did find a home in the Swiss Franc.
And Europe takes another in that “Countless homeowners outside of Switzerland have been sold mortgages in Swiss francs. They will now see their monthly repayments skyrocket by 30% thanks to the Swiss abandoning the peg.”
This according to investment analyst Martin Armstrong:
http://armstrongeconomics.com/armstrong_economics_blog/
Now that’s gonna be painful.
Somewhere in Berlin Merkel is very sad if not scared outright, she’s getting hammered politically by PEGIDA and economically by Zurich and is worried sick that Greece might bolt from the EU and do a sovereign default to get out of the EU debt they have. It’s doubtful the EU could survive that.
This year looks to be very interesting.
Sweden – Now Junta
Bankruptcy next?
He will have an encounter of the third kind…