Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/20/2015

The Islamic State released a new video featuring a masked jihadi accompanied by two Japanese hostages in orange jumpsuits. The mujahid tells the camera that Japan must pay $200 million to win the freedom of its citizens, the same amount it supposedly contributed to the US-led air campaign against ISIS. The Japanese government has vowed that it will free the two hostages.

In other news, 1,700 wealthy famous people flew their private jets to Switzerland this week to discuss the global warming crisis at a conference in Davos.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Egghead, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Nick, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, RL, Takuan Seiyo, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Central Bank Prophet Fears QE Warfare Pushing World Financial System Out of Control
» EC Says Italy Must Not Abuse New Budget Flexibility
» Macro Digest: Endgame for Central Bankers
» More University Grads Unemployed in Italy Than OECD Average
» Sweden: Minister: State Has Even Less Money Than We Thought
 
USA
» Bill O’Reilly: Killing the Truth About Muhammad and the Global Jihad
» Construction Worker Killed, Driver Injured When Cincinnati Overpass Collapses
» Google ‘To Invest in $1bn SpaceX Internet Satellite Programme’
» Jane Fonda: Vietnam Photo Was a ‘Huge, Huge Mistake’
» Jeb Bush Lays Out Plans for 60 Fundraisers for 2016 Bid
» NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Releases New Images of Dwarf Planet Ceres
» OK Glass? Wearables March on Despite Google’s Setback
» Paris to Sue Fox News After Claims of Shariah ‘No-Go Zones’
» Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 Republicans Hope Romney Runs
» Psychologists Seek Roots of Terror
» Stand With Prophet Event in Texas Draws Thousands
» Thousands Protest Muslim Conference in Garland
 
Canada
» Montreal: Concerns About Controversial Material at Mosque Connected to Local School
 
Europe and the EU
» 1,700 Private Jets Fly to Davos to Discuss Global Warming
» A Retrospective Study of the Unfolding of the Muhammad Cartoons Crisis and Its Implications
» Anti-Islam Group Loses Support in Norway
» Charlie Hebdo: “Je Suis White People”
» Cheese Diet Helps Oldest Frenchman Live to 110
» Cosmopolitan UK Mock-Up Cover Depicts Suffocating Victim of Honor Killing
» Danish Neo-Nazi Jailed in Austria for Islam Insults
» Denmark: Support for Mohammed Drawings at Record Levels
» Denmark: Bang & Olufsen Continues to Lose Money
» EU Proposes Counterterrorism Intelligence Alliance With Islamist Turkey and Arab Nations
» European ‘No-Go’ Zones: Fact or Fiction?
» Extra Copies of Charlie Hebdo to Hit Germany
» First Atomic Blast Proposed as Start of Anthropocene
» France: Valls Denounces Territorial, Ethnic, Social Apartheid
» France Sees 116 Anti-Muslim Incidents
» French Police Detain Five Chechens Suspected of Plotting Attack
» Futuristic Cargo Vessel Looks to Revolutionize Shipping
» Germany: Breeders Say Pope’s ‘Rabbits’ Comment ‘Unfair’
» German Police Seize Items in Anti-Terror Raids in Berlin
» Greek and Turkish Fighter Jets Engage in Aegean Dogfights
» How ‘Je Suis Charlie’ Makes Matters Worse
» Israeli PM Netanyahu Warns of ‘Wave of Islamisation’ Sweeping Across Europe
» Italy: Irate Clam Fishermen Blockade Venice Harbourmaster’s Office
» Italy: Gotor Says 29 PD Senators Ready to Rebel on Election Law
» Italy: Berlusconi Meets Renzi at Premier’s Office
» Le Pen Says French Govt Afraid to Use Word ‘Islamist’
» Munich Trial Begins for German Alleged to Have Fought With Jihadists in Syria
» Neandertals and Humans: Different Yet Alike
» Netherlands: Police Raid Utrecht Home of Jihadi Suspect With Links to Verviers Cell
» Norway Awards New Oil Licences, Seeks Further Push North
» Several Poles Fighting With Jihadists?
» ‘Social and Ethnic Apartheid’ Plagues France — Prime Minister
» Spanish Town Eyes Limit on Kebab Shops
» Sweden: The Somali Bandy Team — the Movie
» Sweden: Copies of New Charlie Hebdo Sell Out Within Ten Minutes
» Sweden: Beggars Offered Jobs Instead of Charity
» Sweden: Prime Minister Survives Vote of No Confidence
» Sweden’s Ikea Rebuilds Relations in Russia
» To Call This Threat by Its Name
» UK: Ex-MI6 Boss Warns West Not to Insult Islam
» UK: Former MI6 Chief Says West Shouldn’t Insult Islam
» UK: London’s Cereal Thrillers
» UK: Muslim Leaders Demand Apology for Letter Urging Them to Do More to Root Out “Extremists” And Stop “Radicalization”
» ‘Vergine Giurata’ Only Italian Competing in Berlin
» Why ‘Je Suis Charlie’ Should Give Christians Pause
 
Balkans
» Kosovo: Trepca Dispute, Pristina Backtracks
 
North Africa
» Egypt: Sisi: So Far 208 Terrorists Killed
» Misrata: The City Battling for Libya
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» General Strike Against Police in Arab Centres
» Hamas Arrests Salafis in Gaza Anti-France Protest
 
Middle East
» Bahrain Sentences Shiite Activist to Jail Over Tweets
» Freed Yazidis Tell of Girls and Women Being Raped and Sold Into Sexual Slavery by ISIS Fighters
» Iraq: Canadian Special Forces Calling in Airstrikes and Shooting ISIL Gunmen
» IS Executing ‘Educated Women’ In New Wave of Horror Says UN
» ISIS Execute 13 Boys for Watching Iraq-Jordan Soccer Match
» ISIS Threatens Japanese Hostages Unless Ransom is Paid
» Islamic State Threatens to Kill Japanese Hostages in New Video
» Syria: Iran Threatens Israel, Reaction to be ‘Devastating’
» Task Force Seeks Reform at Muslim-World Universities
» Terrorism’s Roots Lie in Literal Islam
» The Islamic State Plans TV Channel, According to Reports
» Turkish PM, Ministers May Get Right to Block Internet With New Bill
 
Russia
» Activists Arrested After Dousing Lenin’s Tomb With Holy Water
» Russian Artists in Holy Water Attack on Lenin Mausoleum
» Soviet Union Fall Helped Drug-Resistant TB to Take Off
» Ukraine is Left Struggling as Health Workers Flee
» Ukraine Accuses Russian Troops of Attacking Its Forces
 
South Asia
» Bangladesh: Dhaka: Islamic State Extremists Arrested. Authorities on High Alert
 
Far East
» Hundreds of Chinese Seeking ‘Jihad Training’ Are Caught on Vietnam Border in One Year: Beijing
» Japan Demands Immediate Release of Islamic State Hostages
» Japan PM Shinzo Abe in Islamic State ‘Hostages’ Vow
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Boko Haram is Now a Mini-Islamic State, With Its Own Territory
» Millions in UN Somalia Aid Diverted; Hints That Some Went to Terrorists
» Tanzania Bans Witchdoctors After Albino Murders
 
Latin America
» Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s Death Sparks Protests
» Luis Fleischman: U.S. And Western Countries Must Isolate and Sanction Argentinean Leaders
» New Telescope in Chile Now Searching for Alien Planets
» No Gunshot Residue Found on Dead Argentinean Prosecutor’s Hands
 
Immigration
» Italy: Turkish Student at Pisa’s Normale Expelled
» Migrants Describe Police Brutality in French City of Calais
» Paris Supermarket ‘Hero’ To Receive French Nationality
» State Gives Illegal Aliens $35 Mil in Healthcare, Meds, Physical Therapy
 
Culture Wars
» ‘Designer Babies’ Debate Should Start, Scientists Say
 
General
» The DNA Photofit: Amazing Breakthrough Means Police Can Tell Suspect’s Colour, Height and Even Age — From a Tiny Speck of Blood
» Tuberculosis Genomes Track Human History
 

Central Bank Prophet Fears QE Warfare Pushing World Financial System Out of Control

The economic prophet who foresaw the Lehman crisis with uncanny accuracy is even more worried about the world’s financial system going into 2015.

Beggar-thy-neighbour devaluations are spreading to every region. All the major central banks are stoking asset bubbles deliberately to put off the day of reckoning. This time emerging markets have been drawn into the quagmire as well, corrupted by the leakage from quantitative easing (QE) in the West.

“We are in a world that is dangerously unanchored,” said William White, the Swiss-based chairman of the OECD’s Review Committee. “We’re seeing true currency wars and everybody is doing it, and I have no idea where this is going to end.”

He said the global elastic has been stretched even further than it was in 2008 on the eve of the Great Recession. The excesses have reached almost every corner of the globe, and combined public/private debt is 20pc of GDP higher today. “We are holding a tiger by the tail,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EC Says Italy Must Not Abuse New Budget Flexibility

Moscovici warns Renzi govt to continue structural reforms

(ANSA) — Rome, January 19 — The European Commission’s March assessment of Italy’s 2015 budget will reflect parameters with “new flexibility” but the government of Premier Matteo Renzi must continue to meet its commitments on deficit reduction and structural reforms, a senior EC official said Monday.

Economic and Financial Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that includes meeting the targeted 0.25% reduction in the structural deficit.

Still, new flexibility in the commission’s interpretation of Europe’s budget stability regulations is opening more room for countries like Italy which have struggled with lingering recession and poor economic prospects.

Italy has argued for more flexibility from the EC in assessing spending on infrastructure and other measures aimed at stimulating the sluggish economy.

Last week, the Bank of Italy reduced its outlook for Italy’s gross domestic product (GDP) to just 0.4% in 2015 from an earlier prediction of 1.3%.

In a quarterly outlook, the central bank estimated that the economy in 2014 lost 0.4% compared to one year earlier, and suggested matters could have been worse if not for Italian budget measures that included stimulative programs which helped the country to “avoid a prolonged recession”.

The EC wants to see “key data on the budget, reforms and (planned) efforts (at fiscal consolidation) by the end of the week,” he said.

The Commission also wants Italy to outline its forecasts and targets as part of “ongoing technical exchanges” to be followed a “second technical mission” to Rome before the end of February, added Moscovici.

The new regulations permitting more flexibility in calculating deficit levels should be helpful for Italy, lowering the necessary reduction to 0.25% from previous expectations of 0.50%, he said.

Ultimately, if Italy fails to make the necessary reforms, Brussels has the final option of imposing sanctions but to do that would be a sort of “defeat,” for the EC, he said.

“The purpose of the Commission is not to punish but to convince, we want to have a constructive dialogue (with the Italian government,)” he said.

Meanwhile, as the Bank of Italy report last week forecast continued economic sluggish sluggishness throughout this year, it added that deflation will be a persistent problem — something that is also an issue across the eurozone.

Last month, inflation actually fell below zero in both the eurozone and in Italy, where annual average GDP has remained below zero in both 2012 and 2013.

The European Central Bank is said to be close to introducing a controversial program of massive sovereign bond buying to stimulate inflation and raise it closer to the ECB’s target of 2%.

Such a program, known as quantitative easing, could be outlined by the ECB as early as its next regular meeting on Thursday, officials have hinted.

The ECB is studying experiences in the United States and Britain with quantitative easing (QE).

The central bank is concerned about persistently low inflation in parts of the eurozone, which is a sign of a sluggish economy.

QE is one method of stimulating expansion that ECB President Mario Draghi has frequently discussed, but it has been opposed by Germany.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has argued that such measures as QE are not needed.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Macro Digest: Endgame for Central Bankers

Steen Jakobsen
Chief Economist & CIO / Saxo Bank
Denmark

The Swiss National Bank’s removal of the franc’s peg to the euro last week had far-reaching consequences because we were all taken by surprise. The fact that it would (and should) happen eventually was not lost on the market, but the SNB was as late as last week end talking tough and telling the market that the floor was an integral part of Swiss monetary policy — until it suddenly wasn’t any more.

I fully understand the rationale for the move (Jakobsen: SNB move is rationality itself) but like most of the market I’m extremely disappointed in the SNB’s communication and handling of the issue, but that’s the bigger lesson: Why is it most people trust or bother to listen to central banks?

Major central banks claim to be independent, but they are totally under the control of politicians. Many developed countries have tried to anchor an independent central bank to offset pressure from politicians and that’s all well and good in principle until the economy spins out of control — at zero-bound growth and rates central banks and politicians becomes one in a survival mode where rules are broken and bent to fit an agenda of buying more time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

More University Grads Unemployed in Italy Than OECD Average

OECD average unemployment for degree holders 5.3%, in Italy 16%

(ANSA) — Rome, January 19 — Getting a university degree in Italy is less likely to lead to a job when compared to many other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the OECD’s Education at a Glance 2014 report released on Monday.

The average unemployment rate in the 34 OECD countries for those with a university degree is 5.3%, while in Italy that number jumps to 16%.

Italy also figured in a group of five countries with the most low-qualified adults aged 25-34, defined as those without a high school diploma or otherwise below upper secondary education.

Italy did the best in that group, however, where less than 30% of those aged 25-34 lacked a high-school diploma.

In Portugal and Spain, the rate of those with below upper secondary education was more than 30%, and in Mexico and Turkey it was higher than 50%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Minister: State Has Even Less Money Than We Thought

The Social Democrat Finance Minister, Magdalena Andersson, says her new study shows there is even less money in the state coffers than she thought.

When taking up her post after September’s election Andersson said “the barn is empty”. Now she says things are likely to be even worse, blaming the previous government for using money that was not there for reforms such as tax cuts. To illustrate her point, she quoted a newspaper that had said now “the barn is bleeding”.

The red-green government will now try to deliver higher sick and unemployment pay, as long as they can raise money via taxes or fees.

Since the givernment failed to get its own budget passed by parliament it is not allowed to raise income tax, but can decide to, for example, raise the fees that companies pay per employee.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bill O’Reilly: Killing the Truth About Muhammad and the Global Jihad

by Andrew Bostom

About mid-way through a desultory conversation with two Muslim apologists for jihad, Bill O’Reilly opined (beginning at 3:34), emphatically:

“I don’t believe the prophet Muhammad wanted a world war to impose Islam on everybody. I don’t believe that.”

This Islamophilic sentiment was endorsed by the two apologetic mediocrities O’Reilly hosted, and the thoroughly unenlightening January 16, 2015 discussion soon drew to a merciful end.

But O’Reilly’s entirely counterfactual statement about Islam’s prophet and prototype jihadist—no matter how self-assuredly believed—demands a corrective if there is any hope of restoring rationality and clarity to the public airwaves’ discourse about the impetus for the murderous contemporary global scourge of jihad (i.e., nearly 25,000 jihadist attacks since 9/11/2001, and counting).

Pace O’Reilly’s glib, bowdlerized conception of Muhammad, the frank understandings of two learned, contemporary Muslim theologians—one Shiite, the other Sunni—merit review

           — Hat tip: Andy Bostom [Return to headlines]
 

Construction Worker Killed, Driver Injured When Cincinnati Overpass Collapses

An overpass undergoing demolition collapsed on Interstate 75 in Cincinnati late Monday, killing a construction worker and injuring a semi tractor-trailer driver, emergency officials said.

The collapse occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, and sent several hundred tons of concrete tumbling to the road below. Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell told Fox19 that he expects the southbound side of Interstate 75 to be closed for about 48 hours.

Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black described the collapse as “in essence, an industrial accident … Something went wrong, and a tragedy has occurred as a result.” Black said that authorities did not believe that there were any further casualties…

[Return to headlines]
 

Google ‘To Invest in $1bn SpaceX Internet Satellite Programme’

Google is reportedly on the cusp of announcing a major investment in SpaceX, the rocket company owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, to help revive its $1bn internet satellite project.

Both The Information and The Wall Street Journal report that the search giant is finalising a $1 billion investment, which would see SpaceX valued at $10 billion or more.

Google’s money could help SpaceX — which has so far concentrated on making spacecraft and launch rockets — to branch out into making the satellites it would need to build its network, the WSJ said.

Mr Musk revealed his plans for a space internet project earlier this week, at the opening of new offices in Seattle for SpaceX. He claimed that the project will provide faster, cheaper access around the globe.

The $15 billion plan will use hundreds of satellites placed 750 miles above the Earth — far lower than existing communications satellites.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jane Fonda: Vietnam Photo Was a ‘Huge, Huge Mistake’

Forty years after she posed with the Vietnamese military in a photograph that branded her a traitor, Jane Fonda is calling the gesture a “huge, huge mistake.”

On Saturday, a group of 50 veterans protested outside a local theater in Frederick, Md., where the 77-year-old was scheduled to speak, reports NBC Washington. Some carried copies of the 1972 photo (which gave the actress the nickname “Hanoi Jane”), while others held signs that read “Forgive? Maybe. Forget? Never.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jeb Bush Lays Out Plans for 60 Fundraisers for 2016 Bid

Jeb Bush on Tuesday met with Republican lobbyists in Washington to provide an update on his expected run for president and let supporters know how they could boost his budding campaign.

Bush operatives who joined the former Florida governor at the afternoon event announced that 60 events in cities across the country have been scheduled to raise money for his federal leadership political action committee, which can accept money only in limited amounts, and his super PAC, which can accept checks in unlimited amounts.

According to one attendee, Bush talked about how the expected campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state under President Obama, would “be a campaign of the past dating back to what happened in the 1990s” and that his “will be candidacy of future” focusing on positive immigration reform, among other issues.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Releases New Images of Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is approaching the dwarf planet Ceres and new images released Monday show a closer view of the planet’s surface.

“We know so much about the solar system and yet so little about dwarf planet Ceres. Now, Dawn is ready to change that,” said Marc Rayman, Dawn’s chief engineer and mission director, according to a news release from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The NASA spacecraft is scheduled to conduct a 16-month study of Ceres and will send increasingly better and better images as it gets closer to the planet. It is the first time a spacecraft has ever visited a dwarf planet.

“Already, the [latest] images hint at first surface structures such as craters,” said Andreas Nathues, lead investigator for the framing camera team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany.

The images, taken by Dawn 238,000 miles from Ceres on January 13, are at about 80 percent the resolution of Hubble Space Telescope images taken in 2003 and 2004. The next set of images to be released by Dawn — at the end of January — will be the clearest yet, NASA says.

Ceres, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, has an average diameter of 590 miles and is the largest body in the main asteroid belt. It is believed to contain a large amount of ice and scientists say the surface of the planet could be concealing an ocean…

[Return to headlines]
 

OK Glass? Wearables March on Despite Google’s Setback

Google’s wearable computer Glass may not have won many fans, but it was a vital step in the integration of human and machine

Google Glass is gone… at least for now. The US tech giant’s controversial computing eyewear shut up shop last week. Google put out a positive statement, saying the Glass project was “graduating” from the company’s secretive X lab in Mountain View, California, to its headquarters, where new versions will be developed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Paris to Sue Fox News After Claims of Shariah ‘No-Go Zones’

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tuesday she plans to sue Fox News after the network erroneously reported on supposed “no-go zones” in the city for non-Muslims.

“When we’re insulted, and when we’ve had an image, then I think we’ll have to sue, I think we’ll have to go to court, in order to have these words removed,” Ms. Hidalgo told CNN. “The image of Paris has been prejudiced, and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 Republicans Hope Romney Runs

By a two-to-one margin, respondents who participated in a recent CBS News poll overwhelming say Mitt Romney should answer the call one last time and run for president:

Fifty-nine percent of Republicans would like to see Romney jump into the 2016 race, while only 26 percent believe he should stay out, according to the CBS News poll.

Fifty percent of Republicans would like to see former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on the campaign trail as well, while 27 percent disagree. If both Romney and Bush run, analysts expect them to wage a competitive battle for the allegiance of the Republican establishment.

On the other hand, voters are way less enthused about the more right-leaning candidates taking the plunge:

A trio of Republican senators who have stoked the enthusiasm of the grassroots have mixed numbers. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans would like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul to mount a bid, but 34 percent disagree. Twenty-six percent would like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to run, while 19 percent would not. Twenty-one percent want Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to run, while 25 percent want him to not run.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Psychologists Seek Roots of Terror

Studies raise prospect of intervention in the radicalization process.

Anthropologist Scott Atran studies terrorists, seeking to understand what drives people to join groups such as the Islamist terrorist organization ISIS. The answers are sometimes surprising. One French Muslim extremist who sought to blow up an embassy traced his radicalization to a childhood incident: his sister bumped into a man on a Paris street and the man spat on the ground and called her a “dirty Arab”. “That’s when I knew what I was going to become,” the terrorist told Atran, a researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Stand With Prophet Event in Texas Draws Thousands

Thousands of protesters reportedly demonstrated outside of a Muslim conference in Texas Saturday night where an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was scheduled to speak.

The “Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect” conference, hosted at the Curtis Culwell Center, in Garland, billed itself as a fundraiser to build a center dedicated to training Muslims in media and teaching them how to combat Islamophobia.

Holding signs saying “You are not Americans. Don’t fly our flag,” protesters complained about the Garland Independent School District allowing the group to use the facility.

           — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands Protest Muslim Conference in Garland

Thousands of protesters and counter-protesters held American flags and signs outside of a Muslim conference in Garland, Texas, on Saturday night.

“We’re here to stand up for the American way of life from a faction of people who are trying to destroy us,” a man protesting the conference said.

The demonstrations began hours before the start of the program at the Curtis Culwell Center, which is operated by the Garland Independent School District.

The conference is titled, “Stand With the Prophet Against Terror and Hate” and bills itself as a fundraiser to build a center dedicated to teaching Muslims how to combat negative depictions of their faith.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Montreal: Concerns About Controversial Material at Mosque Connected to Local School

The education minister is concerned about claims a mosque connected to an elementary school in Montreal’s west end has been distributing literature that some say promotes a radical view of Islam.

Yves Bolduc said he is extremely concerned, and wants to know if the writings are influencing the school’s curriculum.

The Ecole Musulmane de Montreal at 7445 Chester Ave. receives a subsidy from the Quebec government.

A side entrance to the school connects to a small mosque called the Muslim Centre of Quebec.

Inside, they give out several leaflets on Islam, including one called ‘Controversial Questions about Islam and Comments.’

One passage suggests a person might use violence to defend property and the innocent if they’re motivated by divine teachings; the booklet calls that type of jihad “courageous.”

Another passage explains why in Islamic countries, the law permits the cutting off of a thief’s hand, while another discusses how a man can marry four wives, provided he is fair to them.

At the mosque, a man named Romiz Uddin said he could not answer questions about the pamphlet, saying he doesn’t speak for the mosque, but does work there.

He did, however, denounced terrorism.

“Yes. Terrorism — Christian terrorism, Jewish terrorism, Islamic terrorism — all terrorism is bad,” he said…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

1,700 Private Jets Fly to Davos to Discuss Global Warming

A squadron of 1,700 private jets are rumbling into Davos, Switzerland, this week to discuss global warming and other issues as the annual World Economic Forum gets underway.

The influx of private jets is so great, the Swiss Armed Forces has been forced to open up a military air base for the first time ever to absorb all the super rich flying their private jets into the event, reports Newsweek.

“Decision-makers meeting in Davos must focus on ways to reduce climate risk while building more efficient, cleaner, and lower-carbon economies,” former Mexican president Felipe Calderon told USA Today.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

A Retrospective Study of the Unfolding of the Muhammad Cartoons Crisis and Its Implications

On September 30, 2005, Denmark’s biggest daily newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published a series of 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. One, which was perceived as highly offensive, showed the Prophet with a bomb on top of his turban. Several months later, mass demonstrations were held in the streets of the Muslim world to protest against the perceived insult to the Prophet; some of the demonstrations turned violent and dozens were killed. Arab countries recalled their ambassadors; Danish and Norwegian diplomatic representations in Damascus, Beirut, and Tehran were attacked and set on fire; churches were attacked; Scandinavian representatives in the Middle East received death threats and demands that they leave their posts; fatwas permitting the murder of the cartoonists were issued by several Muslim clerics; Muslim fundamentalist organizations threatened terror attacks in Denmark; and an unprecedented boycott of Danish products was implemented by Muslim countries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-Islam Group Loses Support in Norway

Just 70 people showed up to take part in an anti-Islam Pegida march in Oslo on Monday, with the group far outnumbered by counter-demonstrators.

Pegida organizer Max Hermansen had to fight to make himself heard as he addressed supporters outside City Hall.

Some 200 counter-demonstrators lined up nearbycarrying anti-Islamophobia banners and shouting: “No support for Breivik’s prayers” and “No racists on our streets”.

“I’m here to show that nobody can be judged on the basis of their skin colour or religion,” said Linda, 23, who did not want to give her surname.

Demonstrators from the Norwegian Centre against Racism and far-left groups Blitz and Rødt marched from Youngstorget to the Parliament, while Nye SOS Rasisme’s followers walked from the National Theatre to City Hall.

Pegida’s Hermansen spoke of death threats made by Islamists against organizers in the movement’s home city Dresden.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Charlie Hebdo: “Je Suis White People”

Don’t kill white people. After all is said and done, the Charlie Hebdo outrage, the hashtags, and the million person marches amount to that simple but very powerful dictum. In the eyes of the governments that do most of the killing on the planet and the corporate media who act as their scribes, there is nothing worse than targeting even a handful of white people for death.

France was a party to every atrocity and genocide committed by Europeans in history.

There is enough horror in the world to cause outrage but the level of outrage seems to depend on who is being treated horribly and who is carrying out the atrocity. The worst acts of terror are committed by heads of state who don’t kill seventeen people as these attackers did in Paris. They kill in the thousands yet are still treated with respect.

It doesn’t say much for the state of human advancement that killings committed by individuals still create so much more concern than those committed by governments. They get away with mass murder because the same corporate media which saturated coverage of Charlie Hebdo say little or nothing about Gaza or Libya or Somalia or Syria or Iraq or Haiti. Instead of pointing out that Barack Obama is a killer too, the pundits criticize him for not being among the sanctimonious liars who gathered in Paris. The group photo should have been a perp walk to the Hague instead of a photo opportunity for the seriously blood thirsty.

           — Hat tip: Egghead [Return to headlines]
 

Cheese Diet Helps Oldest Frenchman Live to 110

The oldest man in France has died at the age of 110, it was announced on Tuesday. Philippe Vocanson put his longevity down to a healthy diet of cheese and chocolate.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cosmopolitan UK Mock-Up Cover Depicts Suffocating Victim of Honor Killing

by Phyllis Chesler

The cover is shocking, gruesome, and bold. It features the face of a woman encased in plastic, being smothered to death. A video shows the plastic wrapping being ripped open, “signifying the release of women from violence.”

Cosmopolitan magazine in the UK has released a mock-up cover of their February issue online, designed by artist Leo Burnett as part of a campaign to raise awareness about honor killings. The cover is that of a 17-year-old British-Pakistani girl, Shafilea Ahmed, who was suffocated to death by her parents in 2003 for the crime of refusing an arranged marriage.

Cosmo has joined Karma Nirvana and the Henry Jackson Society in organizing an “inaugural Day of Memory for Britain’s Lost Women, which will take place July 14—the day of Shafilea Ahmed’s birthday.”

Will mainstreaming a critique of honor killing reach those most likely to perpetrate so dishonorable a crime? Are this cover and the planned campaign proof that some Europeans are ready to relinquish the failed doctrine of multi-cultural relativism, appeasement, and the “soft” double standard of racism? Is the British legal system finally ready to do whatever it takes to abolish barbaric cultural practices?…

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Neo-Nazi Jailed in Austria for Islam Insults

A 32-year-old Danish student was convicted in Austria for Nazi-driven incitement and denigration of religious teachings on Monday, and was sentenced to two years in custody.

A Danish man living in Vienna is said to have made Facebook postings which compared the prophet Muhammad to a pig, as well as calling for glorification of Nazi ideas. The 32-yer-old is a student of chemistry and history who has been living in Austria since 2010, according to a report from the Austrian Press Agency (APA).

Judge George Olschak decided that the insult to Islam was deeply offensive, as well as illegal religious incitement, and merited the two year sentence. State prosecutor Stefanie Schön said that the partly-suspended sentence was too lenient, and said that she would register an appeal calling for a longer prison term.

The trial of the Danish student was the result of investigations by anti-Fascist Uwe Seiler, who has been combating far-right propaganda and neo-Nazi rhetoric on the Internet for several years.

In his defense, the Dane said that it was “an absurd accusation and a violation of (my) human rights.” He pointed out that he had written most of the postings in his own language, saying “If I had wanted to speak to an Austrian audience, I would have written it in Turkish. Of course, in the past I would have used German.”

He further protested that the court process was unrealistic, adding that “it makes no sense to give half answers to questions (from the prosecutor) without preparation.” To properly assess his views was “a matter for historians, and not for the court.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Support for Mohammed Drawings at Record Levels

Danish attitudes towards Jyllands-Posten’s publishing of the controversial drawings of Mohammed in 2005 have changed significantly since the attacks in Paris.

According to a Gallup poll commissioned by Berlingske, support for the drawings has never been greater.

Fully 65 percent of those polled last week — following the attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and at other locations in Paris — believe that Jyllands-Posten made the right decision when they published the 12 drawings.

In 2006, only 43 percent of those asked believed the newspaper had made the right decision. The number of those saying the cartoons should not have been published fell from 49 percent to 17 percent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Bang & Olufsen Continues to Lose Money

The 90-year-old company Bang & Olufsen A/S (B&O) ended last year in the red. The Danish maker of luxury stereos and television sets blamed the loss on production failures and weak markets.

The company posted a pre-tax loss of 224 million kroner. Revenue during the period came in at 759 million kroner compared to 822 million kroner last year — a decrease of 8 percent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Proposes Counterterrorism Intelligence Alliance With Islamist Turkey and Arab Nations

Yesterday, the EU Foreign ministers met in Brussels and announced a counterterrorism alliance to essentially exchange intelligence information with Islamist Turkey and Arab league members to thwart domestic Jihadi threats. Prior to the EU ministerial meeting there had been a shootout between counterterrorism units and Islamic state veterans in Verviers, Belgium in which two were killed and one wounded perpetrator captured. Following the Belgian counterterrorism action, ISIS sympathizers with ties to the leader of the Belgian terror cell were arrested and investigated in Greece. Following the Charley Hebdo and Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket attacks in Paris, France detained several suspects. That may have led to the arrest last week of a Belgian an arms dealer who may have supplied weapons used by Amedy Coulibaly in the deadly Paris kosher market attack.

The formation of this counterterrorism alliance also illustrates the EU’s porous open borders created under the Shengen Agreement of 1995 that enables virtually open transit from Turkey to Norway without any border clearances. Add to that the bar against tracking passenger information on flights that might provide the basis of no-fly lists for suspected persons of interest. The US has that provision under the Patriot Act provisions following enactment after 9/11.

The Daily Sabah in Turkey reported on the announcement by EU Foreign Relations Commissioner Mogherini:…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

European ‘No-Go’ Zones: Fact or Fiction?

by Soeren Kern

The jihadist attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine known for lampooning Islam, has cast a spotlight on so-called no-go zones in France and other European countries.

In July 2012, the French government announced a plan to reassert state control over 15 of the most notorious no-go zones. The crime-infested districts, which the French Interior Ministry has designated as Priority Security Zones (Zones de Sécurité Prioritaires, or ZSP), include heavily Muslim parts of Amiens, Aubervilliers, Avignon, Béziers, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseilles, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Perpignan, Strasbourg, Toulouse and many others. The number of ZSPs now stands at 64; a complete list of ZSPs can be found here.

Meanwhile, a 13-minute Hungarian television documentary (with English subtitles) about no-go zones in Paris can be viewed here. The presenter interviews a French crime reporter named Laurent Obertone, who is the author of a bestselling new book entitled, “La France Orange Méchanique” (France: A Clockwork Orange).

In his book, Obertone writes that France is descending into a state of savagery and that the true magnitude of crime and violence across the country is being deliberately under-reported by politically correct media, government and police.

In the documentary, Obertone states: “The French elite became outraged when (former French President Nicolas) Sarkozy referred to (Muslim) immigrants attacking police as ‘mobs’.”

The Hungarian presenter then asks: “What if we went to the suburbs?” Obertone replies: “I do not recommend this. Not even we French dare go there anymore. But nobody talks about this in public, of course. Nor do those who claim, ‘long live multiculturalism,’ and ‘Paris is wonderful!’ dare enter the suburbs.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Extra Copies of Charlie Hebdo to Hit Germany

Germany will get more copies of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a spokeswoman for distribution company Deutsche Pressevertrieb (DPV) said on Tuesday.

The magazine’s special edition, produced immediately after the attack by Islamist gunmen on January 6th, sold out in minutes last weekend after only 5,000 copies were delivered to shops in Germany.

But DPV says a further 30,000 will be available in kiosks from Saturday — a far cry from the seven million printed in France.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

First Atomic Blast Proposed as Start of Anthropocene

For historians, the first atomic bomb blast in 1945 ushered in the nuclear age. But for a group of geologists, the 16 July test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, marks the start of a new unit of geological time, the Anthropocene epoch.

The term Anthropocene was coined 15 years ago to refer to the age of widespread human influence over the planet. Ever since, geologists have debated when people first left a clear mark in the rock record, and whether to enshrine that moment as the start of a formal geological unit. Some researchers have proposed setting the beginning of the Anthropocene — and the end of the current epoch, the Holocene — at the start of the Industrial Revolution, or even further back, at the dawn of agriculture. Others look to the vast expansion in human activity in the second half of the twentieth century.

Now an international group of scientists has thrown its weight behind the latter possibility, and suggested using the first nuclear blast as a starting point. “It’s a well defined spot in time — it’s a big historical event,” says Jan Zalasiewicz, a stratigrapher at the University of Leicester, UK, and lead author of the paper published this week.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Valls Denounces Territorial, Ethnic, Social Apartheid

Premier, “social misery” and “discrimination” in the suburbs

(ANSAmed) — PARIS — “A territorial, social and ethnic apartheid” exists in France, said premier Manuel Valls during a cerimony in which he greeted the press, in the aftermath of the jihadi attacks waged by the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly.

“It’s not about justifying anything, but we must also face realities in our countries” noted Valls, while stressing that “tensions have been simmering for far too long”. Valls referred to the “banlieu (suburb) revolt of 2005” whose “wounds are still very evident”. A “territorial, social and ethnic apartheid, has gained ground in our Country” said the French minister pointing to the “social misery” and “discrimination” of the suburbs, where “skin colour” or “surnames” are reasons for bias an prejudice.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France Sees 116 Anti-Muslim Incidents

There have been well over 100 anti-Muslim incidents reported in France since the Paris terror attack two weeks ago, the Central Council of Muslims in France has revealed.

The council, which monitors Islamophobic attacks in France, reported on Monday that the number of possible reprisal attacks on the country’s Muslim community marks an increase of 110 percent compared to the entire month of January in 2014.

And that’s in a period of just 12 days. The incidents include 28 attacks on places of worship and 88 threats.

“This is unacceptable. We ask the government to move beyond making reassuring speeches and to take action to end this scourge,” Abdallah Zekri, the president of the council, said in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Police Detain Five Chechens Suspected of Plotting Attack

French police have detained five Chechens in southern France on suspicion of preparing an attack on French soil, police and prosecutors said Tuesday.

Police said four of the suspects had been detained in the city of Montpellier on Monday, while the fifth had been arrested in the nearby town of Beziers.

The prosecutor said certain “products” had been recovered during their searches, but declined to give further details. According to the regional Midi Libre newspaper, police had uncovered a cache of explosives.

France is on high alert following three days of attacks by jihadists earlier this month in Paris that left 17 dead…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Futuristic Cargo Vessel Looks to Revolutionize Shipping

Norwegian ship designer Lade AS has unveiled a futuristic new design for cargo vessels, which uses the ships’ hulls as a sail.

Inspired by sailboats and aerospace, the ‘Vindskip,’ with its hull shaped like a symmetrical air foil, is designed to use the wind for propulsion. Lade AS says that the ship’s hull will generate aerodynamic lift, giving a pull in the ship’s direction.

The hybrid merchant vessel will also use a Liquid Natural Gas electric propulsion system, which takes the ship to the necessary speed to generate aerodynamic lift on its hull. Additionally, the Vindskip will employ a specialized computer program to analyze meteorological data and calculate the best sailing route based on available wind energy.

Terje Lade, manager of Lade AS, told FoxNews.com that the Vindskip concept is being tested using wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics. Testing of a model in a water tank is scheduled to begin in April, he explained in an email.

The Alesund-based company has already been awarded two patents for the hull’s ability to generate aerodynamic lift, which it describes as its Wind Power System.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Breeders Say Pope’s ‘Rabbits’ Comment ‘Unfair’

The Association of German Rabbit Breeders (ZDRK) said on Tuesday that Pope Francis’ injunction to Catholics not to breed “like rabbits” was inaccurate.

“He should really think harder about giving up expressions like that and allow people to use contraception instead,” ZDRK president Erwin Leowsky said.

“I think it would be much more appropriate than saying such stupid things”.

Leowsky added that not all rabbits had a high level of sexual activity, and that the stereotype mostly applied to rabbits living in the wild.

Most rabbits bred in captivity have a well-regulated reproductive rate, he said.

Pope Francis made his remarks on the way home from a visit to the Philippines, a stronghold of the Catholic Church in Asia which last year passed a family planning law in defiance of the Vatican’s 1968-vintage ban on contraception.

“God gave us the means to be responsible”, he told journalists on the flight home.

“Some think, and excuse the term, that to be good Catholics, they must breed like rabbits”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Police Seize Items in Anti-Terror Raids in Berlin

Police have conducted searches at a number of premises in Berlin as part of an investigation into an alleged Islamist logistics cell. The flats belong to alleged associates of two suspects arrested last Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greek and Turkish Fighter Jets Engage in Aegean Dogfights

Greek and Turkish fighter jets were involved in a mock dogfight over the Aegean on Tuesday in the first such incident during the last month.

Two Greek F-16s were scrambled to intercept a formation of six Turkish Air Force planes that flew into Greek air space without permission 35 miles southeast of Kastelorizo.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How ‘Je Suis Charlie’ Makes Matters Worse

It is clear, then, that in France some satirical hate speech is intolerable and will be vigorously prosecuted, while other satirical hate speech, directed against different racial or ethnic targets — in particular France’s Muslim minority — is not only permissible but has now become the centerpiece of a celebration of supposedly Western values.

This is particularly problematic because, looming behind the whole Charlie affair, there is a colonial and post-colonial conflict that has been for far too long articulated along exactly the same “us”/”them” binary lines: “We” in the West are rational, good, modern and free (just don’t bring up the sordid legacy of colonialism, slavery, religious wars, etc.), while “they” are backward, bad, irrational and violent. This binary structure has been used since the late 18th century to justify the use of large-scale violence against Muslims, from Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and the French occupation of Algeria to the current French bombardments of North Africa and Iraq, all of which at least partly set the stage for the recent violent outburst.

Charlie Hebdo has had many satirical targets, but it also has insinuated itself firmly into this structure, with its long-running series of derogatory cartoons directed against Muslims. This strays far from the original function of satire. The great satirists, including Swift, Byron and Molière, didn’t direct their barbs at reviled and vulnerable minorities. On the contrary, they used satire to expose the vices and the flaws of the self-confident and the powerful. Charlie Hebdo’s satire, in contrast, descended into mere racist taunting and baiting.

[Egghead: So sayeth the Muslim, ‘Poor poor pitiful me.”]

           — Hat tip: Egghead [Return to headlines]
 

Israeli PM Netanyahu Warns of ‘Wave of Islamisation’ Sweeping Across Europe

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of a “wave of Islamisation” across Europe.

Mr Netanyahu’s comments come amid increasing tension in Europe following the Paris massacres, which killed 17 — including four in a Jewish grocery store, and as Britain’s former chief Rabbi warned Britain’s Jews were scared to go to their local shops.

The Israeli leader welcomed Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to the country today, disclosing plans to expand trade with the Far East because of the perceived hostility against Jews in Europe.

“We definitely want to reduce our dependence on certain markets in western Europe,” Mr Netanyahu told a weekly cabinet meeting ahead of the trade delegation visit.

“Western Europe is undergoing a wave of Islamisation, of anti-Semitism, and of anti-Zionism. It is awash in such waves, and we want to ensure that for years to come the state of Israel will have diverse markets all over the world,” he is reported as having said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Irate Clam Fishermen Blockade Venice Harbourmaster’s Office

‘Vongolari’ demonstrate against new EU rules on clam fishing

(ANSA) Venice, January 19 — Scores of fishermen anchored in front of the offices of the lagoon city’s harbourmaster Monday as a national protest mushroomed over tough EU rules restricting the fishing of clams, port officials said.

The ‘vongolari’ in particular are outraged over the Brussels norms imposing zero tolerance and criminal charges on the size of the fisherfolk’s catches, meaning that anyone fishing clams under the minimum permitted size will lose their license after three infractions.

“All you need is for one clam in a million to be found measuring below 2.5 millimetres to incur a fine of 4,000 euros,” said Marco Boscolo, one of the protesters, “we are waiting for the minister’s answer to restore the percentage of under-sized vongole allowed, provide for sanctions to be civil not criminal and take the limit down to at least 2.3 millimetres seeing as already at 2 millimetres the clam is adult and therefore can reproduce”.

“This is all the more so given that clams of 1.7 millimetres are being imported from Turkey. Lastly we ask that the limit of 0.3 miles from the coast be abolished since the clams live and proliferate especially in the shallows”.

Boscolo’s requests were echoed by the self-employed fishermen’s union Coldiretti impresapesca, which warned that the EU norms threaten to damage severely a fishing industry sector that is among the most environmentally eco-compatible. Farm Minister Maurizio Martina agreed to hear the fishermen’s grievances on January 27.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Gotor Says 29 PD Senators Ready to Rebel on Election Law

Guerini plays down prospect of rebellion in Renzi’s party

(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — Miguel Gotor, a senator for Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said Tuesday that he was among 29 PD lawmakers ready to vote against a key aspect of the government’s bill to introduce a new election system — the so-called Italicum. “There are no negotiations at this point,” Gotor said, with voting on the Italicum expected to start on the floor of the Senate later on Tuesday. “At this point the discussion is only with Berlusconi,” he added, referring to a meeting between Renzi and the Forza Italia leader earlier in the day. Gotor, who is considered close to former PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani, said the 29 PD Senators were poised to rebel over the part of the Italicum that gives parties the power to say who will be the first person voted into parliament in 100 constituencies for the Lower House. Many lawmakers argue all the candidates on any given party list should be elected in the order of the preferences voters express.

The fact that the old electoral system, which contributed to the inconclusive outcome to the 2013 general election and was subsequently declared unconstitutional, had so-called blocked lists of candidates appointed by the parties with no room for voter preferences, has been blamed for distancing the public from the political class.

PD deputy leader Lorenzo Guerini, however, said he was confident that the centre-left group will find “its agreement” over the Italicum at a meeting of party Senators before the start of voting.

He added that he was confident PD lawmakers with reservations about the bill will not join forces with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) to scupper it. Earlier on Tuesday a senior M5S MP, Danilo Toninelli, tweeted an appeal to lawmakers from other groups to unite in voting against this part of the Italicum.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Berlusconi Meets Renzi at Premier’s Office

Crunch meeting before election law, presidential votes

(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, met Premier Matteo Renzi at his office for talks that lasted about an hour on Tuesday. The talks took place hours before the start of voting on the floor of the Senate on a bill for a new election system and nine days before the start of voting for a new president to replace Giorgio Napolitano, who resigned last week.

Berlusconi, who is backing Renzi’s bill for a new election system, the so-called Italicum, was accompanied by his close aides Denis Verdini and Gianni Letta. Renzi has said he will try to reach as broad a consensus as possible on the new head of state, whom he argues should be a good, independent arbiter of Italian politics for his seven-year term and not a standard bearer for the centre-left.

However, Renzi may also have to contend with a minority within his own centre-left Democratic Party (PD), who are unhappy about the premier doing more deals with Berlusconi, after those struck with the three-time premier on the Italicum and on an overhaul of the country’s political machinery. On Monday Berlusconi met with his former anointed heir, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who split from Berlusconi’s group in 2013 to form the splinter New Centre Right (NCD) party — now a junior partner in Renzi’s governing alliance.

Berlusconi and Alfano reportedly agreed to push for the new president to be a centrist and not a PD member.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Le Pen Says French Govt Afraid to Use Word ‘Islamist’

The debate in France over how to refer to terrorists who kill others in the name of Islam is heating up after the country’s leading far-right figure took the government to task for shying away from the word “Islamist”.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front (FN) party, has accused the French government of failing to tackle Islamic fundamentalists, in part by its reluctance to call them just that. The controversy over using of the word “Islamist” in tandem with “extremists” or “militants” is not new, but it has moved to the front burner in the wake of France’s recent terrorist attacks — its deadliest in over 50 years.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Le Pen specifically targeted Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, but blamed the entire political establishment for allegedly not “looking the enemy in the eye” and for its lack of vigilance…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Munich Trial Begins for German Alleged to Have Fought With Jihadists in Syria

The case of a young German man charged with joining a terror group in Syria has opened in a Munich courtroom under heighted security. Europe is on alert for home-grown fighters returning from conflict regions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Neandertals and Humans: Different Yet Alike

With heavy brows and stockier physiques than today’s humans, Neandertals, who inhabited Eurasia between 350,000 and 39,000 years ago, nonetheless left intriguing clues that showed them to be far from the brutish simpletons of pop culture. Although they have long been thought to be mentally inferior to modern humans, they demonstrated the impressive ability to make skillful use of tools, to value aesthetically pleasing body ornaments such as feathers, to engrave caves with symbols.

What, then, truly distinguishes us? And how did humans continue when Neandertals went extinct? In search of answers, researchers are studying skulls and other evidence for clues about the brain features from which emerged the Neandertal mind. Their quest may yield some profound insights into our own heritage as well.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Police Raid Utrecht Home of Jihadi Suspect With Links to Verviers Cell

Police in Utrecht have raided the family home of an 18-year-old jihadi suspect and confiscated laptops and telephones, officials said on Tuesday. The teenager is suspected of being involved in a Belgium-based terror cell busted by police in the town of Verviers last week. According to the Dutch public prosecution department, the suspect’s passport was found in Verviers during the anti-terrorist action. Broadcaster Nos said earlier that sources had named Zaid K as the Dutch national involved in the cell. K has been missing for ‘some time’ and according to Spanish media, he and another man may have fled to Spain, Nos said. The Verviers group had been under police observation for several weeks before last week’s raids. Two suspects were shot dead and another was injured. The Belgian authorities have not issued any information about their identities.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Awards New Oil Licences, Seeks Further Push North

Jan 20 (Reuters) — Norway’s energy ministry launched an Arctic-focused oil and gas licencing round on Tuesday and also awarded 54 new exploration blocks in a mature area licencing round, oil minister Tord Lien said on Tuesday.

Norway will offer 57 new blocks in the licencing round, including 54 in the Arctic Barents Sea while another 54 blocks, mostly in the North Sea have been awarded to energy companies.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Several Poles Fighting With Jihadists?

Fewer than ten Polish nationals may be involved in fighting with Islamist militants, Polish authorities say.

These people could be conducting armed conflict in the Middle East, said Marek Biernacki, the head of a Sejm commission following a meeting with the deputy head of Poland’s Internal Security Agency, Jacek Gawryszewski.

The closed-door meeting covered “potential terrorist threat associated with the return of citizens of European countries (in particular the Schengen area) (as well as) participants of the armed conflict in the Middle East.”

Biernacki explained that national authorities are doing everything to make Poles feel safe. “Polish services are monitoring the situation and the threat of terrorism from Islamic countries,” he added.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Social and Ethnic Apartheid’ Plagues France — Prime Minister

The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, stressed the need to address the “territorial, social and ethnic apartheid” as well as “tensions that have been going on for years,” in a strongly worded indictment of inequality in French society.

The devastating terrorist attacks carried out by French-born radical Islamists that claimed 17 lives earlier this month, have brought internal divisions within the country to the forefront of a national debate.

“These last few days have underscored a lot of evil that is gnawing at our country and challenges we must be equal to,” Valls told reporters in an address on Tuesday.

Valls emphasized France must prioritize fighting racism and discrimination in order to effectively combat the spread of extremism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Town Eyes Limit on Kebab Shops

The opposition Popular Party in the Catalan city of Tarragona wants to introduce measures to “protect traditional businesses”, claiming the growing number of kebab, phone and pound shops risks turning whole areas into “ghettos”.

On Monday, the party in the city of 135,000 people introduced a number of proposals aiming to “protect traditional businesses”, according to Catalan daily La Vanguardia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: The Somali Bandy Team — the Movie

In May 2013, entrepreneur Patrik Andersson sent out a press release, announcing the formation of the world’s first Somali bandy team, which had been formed in Swedish Borlänge. Bandy is a bit like football on ice, or ice hockey with a ball instead of a puck. Most of the guys in the team had not even tried on a pair of skates before the project started. But in the press release, Patrik Andersson wrote that they would be playing at the world cup, 6 months later.

The whole journey, from the first stumblings on the ice, to the world cup has now been captured in a documentary. The driving force behind it are the chat show hosts Fredrik Wikingsson and Filip Hammar, who for a decade has served the Swedish public with energetic and often whacky programmes on TV and radio. This is, however, their first endeavour into making a full length film, to be shown in the cinema.

The film is called “Trevligt folk” (‘Nice People’) which is also the slogan that the town of Borlänge use to try to promote itself to the outside world.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Copies of New Charlie Hebdo Sell Out Within Ten Minutes

All the copies of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo sold out within ten minutes when they went on sale in Sweden this morning, newspaper Dagens Industri reports.

They were sold online by the national chain of newsagents, Pressbyrån, who had been given 295 copies by the French publishers, but they sold out almost straight away. The huge interest caused the Pressbyrå website to crash for a short time.

Charlie Hebdo was the target of an islamist terrorist attack in Paris earlier this month. 12 people were killed in the attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Beggars Offered Jobs Instead of Charity

In southern Sweden a temperance society is trying to get beggars into paid work.

The beggars will be selling badges for SEK 20 and will be allowed to keep half. The campaign is called “Not a beggar” (Ej tiggare) and was launched by a group in Ronneby run by the IOGT temperance federation.

This street-selling job is intended to be a first step towards a real job, reports SVT local TV in the county of Blekinge.

The beggars are so-called “EU migrants”, usually people from poverty stricken areas of Eastern Europe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Prime Minister Survives Vote of No Confidence

A no-confidence motion against Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, led by the nationalist Sweden Democrat party was rejected by parliament on Tuesday.

Only 45 members voted in favor of the no-confidence motion, a far cry from the minimum of 175 votes that were required to get it passed.

That the motion would be rejected in parliament was highly expected, with all parties already announcing that they did not intend to support the Sweden Democrat-led (SD) idea. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats became Sweden’s third largest party after scoring almost 13 percent of the vote in the country’s September 2014 elections.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden’s Ikea Rebuilds Relations in Russia

Swedish furniture giant Ikea said on Tuesday that it was standing by its expansion plans in crisis-ridden Russia, saying it was focussing on the long term, but also monitoring the current situation in the country closely.

The company briefly suspended kitchen furniture and appliance sales in Russia as the ruble tumbled late last year, unleashing a spending spree as consumers snapped up products before prices on imported goods soared.

Sanctions and the collapse of the price of oil are now expected to push Russia’s economy into a sharp contraction this year with a timid recovery in 2016, but Ikea said its plans to invest two billion euros ($2.3 billion) in the country by 2020 were unchanged.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

To Call This Threat by Its Name

Marine Le Pen: France Was Attacked by Islamic Fundamentalism

Let us call things by their rightful names, since the French government seems reluctant to do so. France, land of human rights and freedoms, was attacked on its own soil by a totalitarian ideology: Islamic fundamentalism. It is only by refusing to be in denial, by looking the enemy in the eye, that one can avoid conflating issues. Muslims themselves need to hear this message. They need the distinction between Islamist terrorism and their faith to be made clearly.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Ex-MI6 Boss Warns West Not to Insult Islam

The former chief of MI6 has warned that anyone insulting Islam can expect to provoke a reaction and that “there will be another terrorist attack in this country.”

Sir John Sawers was delivering his first speech since leaving office. He stepped down as ‘C’ in November 2014 after five years at the helm of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sir John picked up on comments made by the Pope in reference to the provocative cartoons published in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, where 12 were killed in a terror attack. Al Qaeda said the attacks were revenge for the depiction of Mohammed.

Pope Francis told crowds in The Philippines that a friend who had cursed his mother could “expect a punch” in return.

Sir John said: “There is a requirement for restraint from those of us in the West…”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Former MI6 Chief Says West Shouldn’t Insult Islam

The former head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency has said that he “agrees with the Pope” that people should avoid drawing pictures of Mohammed, and that if they do they can expect to provoke a terror attack.

Speaking for the first time since stepping down as head of MI6, Sir John Sawers told an audience in the Philippines that “There is a requirement for restraint from those of us in the West,” according to Sky News.

“I rather agree with the Pope that, of course, the attacks in Paris were completely unacceptable and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever, but I think respect for other people’s religion is also an important part of this,” he continued.

“If you show disrespect for others’ core values then you are going to provoke an angry response. That doesn’t justify anything, but I think we just need to bear it in mind.”

Sawer’s remarks were relating to a controversial speech by Pope Francis last week, in which he appeared to sympathize with — if not outright justify — the motives of the terrorists who murdered 12 people at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: London’s Cereal Thrillers

A bowl of cereal with milk that comes with some childhood memories. That is what twin brothers Alan and Gary Keener have on offer in their new ‘Cereal Killer Café’ in London. The small place has more than 120 varieties of breakfast cereals from around the world on the menu, and it’s already a roaring success.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Muslim Leaders Demand Apology for Letter Urging Them to Do More to Root Out “Extremists” And Stop “Radicalization”

Two thousand Muslims from Britain have joined the Islamic State to wage jihad, but Mohammed Rafiq Sehgal, president of the Bradford Council for Mosques, is outraged, outraged, that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has dared to ask Muslim communities to do more to stop young Muslims from becoming “radicalized.” It’s to “pick on Muslims and blame them for the activities of terrorists

Given the abject state of Subjugated Britannia, he will probably get one. But in any case, notice the deflection: instead of complying with the request and working freely and willingly with law enforcement to root jihadis out of Muslim communities in Britain, Mohammed Rafiq Sehgal is acting as if the very request is offensive. And what will happen if he gets his apology? He will have set the precedent that the government cannot and must not ask Muslims in the country to do anything serious about jihad terrorism. And so the jihad will continue to advance. That seems to be the larger goal.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Vergine Giurata’ Only Italian Competing in Berlin

Story of Albanian sworn virgin stars Rohrwacher

(Refiling to correct typo in slug). (ANSA) — Rome, January 19 — ‘Vergine Giurata’ (Sworn Virgin), a debut feature by Laura Bispuri starring Alba Rohrwacher, is the only Italian film in competition at the 65th Berlin Film Festival.

The Italo-French-Swiss-Albanian co-production is the story of an Albanian girl who, according to a local custom, takes on a man’s garb to gain freedom and autonomy.

Bispuri also wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed drama, along with Francesca Manieri.

The film, mostly shot in Italy’s mountainous northern Alto Adige region, is an adaptation of the bestselling book by Elvira Dones, which was recently translated into English.

Albanian sworn virgins (Albanian: burrnesha or virgjinesha) are women who take a vow of chastity and wear male clothing in order to live as men in the patriarchal northern Albanian society. To a lesser extent, the practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Why ‘Je Suis Charlie’ Should Give Christians Pause

This week, I asked John Stonestreet of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview whether it was right for a Christian to proclaim Je suis Charlie?

“I’m not going to post that on Facebook. I’m not going to claim that,” Stonestreet said. “I want to march against Islamic terror, but not for the sort of thing that we see out of Charlie Hebdo.”

           — Hat tip: Egghead [Return to headlines]
 

Kosovo: Trepca Dispute, Pristina Backtracks

Tension with Belgrade over control of mines

(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA/BELGRADE, JANUARY 19 — The government of Kosovo has decided to “freeze” so far the announced intention of gaining control of the large Trepca mining complex, in the Serbian-majority North. The decision was reached after Belgrade’s harsh reaction as it has managed the plant of Trepca since the old Yugoslavia years, and possibly following international pressure on Pristina. Kosovan Premier Isa Mustafa said the point concerning Trepca was excluded from the general measure on the reorganization of public companies and will not be examined by Parliament today, as originally scheduled.

According to observers, the issue concerning control over the important mining and industrial complex of Trepca will be discussed as part of Belgrade-Pristina talks. The next session of the EU-mediated talks has been scheduled in Brussels on February 9.

This morning, faced with the prospect of losing control of the complex, the Serbian government reacted harshly, warning that a vote in such a direction by Kosovo’s Parliament would have devastating effects on ongoing dialogue and the whole difficult process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

The industrial complex of Trepca has been a major centre since ex-Yugoslavia, composed of coal, lead, zinc, silver mines and metallurgic and chemical plants currently employing 3,500 workers from the 23,000 in the Yugoslav era. Most are Kosovan ethnic Serbians while Albanians are a minority.

Over the past few days, the government in Pristina has announced the intention of gaining control of 100% of the Trepca complex. A move that follows the announcement by the government of Belgrade to sell, probably to an American group, 49% of the plant’s value.

“The attempt to change the property structure of Trepca is simply crazy, and it is susceptible to cause a serious destabilization in relations between Pristina and Belgrade, influencing ongoing dialogue”, said Marko Djuric, head of the Serbian government office in charge of Kosovo’s issues.

Similar concern was expressed by other members of Belgrade’s government. This morning, Serbian workers in Trepca staged a protest and a strike, blocking some roads in northern Kosovo.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Sisi: So Far 208 Terrorists Killed

President does not specify time-frame. Sources, “post Morsi”

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JAN 20 — Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi announced that 208 “militants” had been killed after they attacked the army and the police without specifying the period of time during which the attacks and the killings took place, wrote the website of Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reporting on an address by the president in the course of the National Police Day. According to sources close to the presidency, Sisi was probably referring to the post-Morsi era and therefore to killings that occured after the former president’s ousting in July 2013. The so-called “anti-terrorism war” began in Egypt a year and a half ago and it has been marked by frequent announcements regarding the killing of terrorists and Islamic militants, sources stress. Al-Ahram also reported that Sisi added that 955 people accused of attacking the police and the army have been arrested but half of them have subsequently been released for lack of evidence in order to abide to the rule of law.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Misrata: The City Battling for Libya

Fighting is intensifying in a nation now divided in two, each with its own authority and army

More than 1,000 kilometers separate the political capitals of the two sides, which are also fighting for control of the oil fields in the deserts of the south of the country. There, in no man’s land, the presence of jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State has spread alarm throughout the EU. In the face of the terrorist threat, the international community has opted for Al Thani and his supporters in Tobruk, believing them to be more trustworthy. But the Supreme Court, based in Tripoli, has ruled that the Tobruk parliament has no authority, effectively legitimating the government in Tripoli.

The United Nations has pushed both sides to begin talks to try to reach some kind of national unity agreement. The conversations are continuing this week in Geneva. They are the only sign of hope in a steadily worsening situation.

Amid the political and legal chaos that has swept Libya since the revolution of 2011 and the fall of Gaddafi, Misrata is the only city in the country that maintains a surprising normality.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

General Strike Against Police in Arab Centres

In the aftermath of the death of two bedouins in Rahat

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JAN 20- All major Arab centres in Israel have been paralysed by a general strike called by the Arab minority leadership protesting against the death of two bedouins killed during the course of police operations in Rahat in the Neghev. All public offices, schools, banks and shops will remain shut today in Nazareth (Galilee), Um el-Fahem and Rahat. Early on Tuesday morning the roads appeared deserted, but gatherings and demonstrations are set to take place later during the day. Incidents in Rahat began last Wednesday after young Sami al-Jaher was shot by policemen during a life-threatening anti-narcotics operation (according to the official version of the events). The young man’s funeral which took place two days ago degenerated in fresh violence and another bedouin died after inhaling excessive quantites of tear gas. Rahat’s police station was attacked by demonstrators chanting “Israeli government, terrorist government” last night.

The incidents are taking place two months before general elections in which the main Arab parties could file a unified list hoping to gain at least one tenth of the 120 seats in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Hamas Arrests Salafis in Gaza Anti-France Protest

Had carried ISIS flags

(ANSAmed) — GAZA, JANUARY 20 — Hamas officials on Monday evening arrested several Salafis after they took part in a protest march at the French cultural institute waving Islamic State (ISIS) flags. The demonstration was held to express rage after the publication in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of vignettes they deemed insulting to the Muslim prophet Mohammed. During the night, unknown individuals in Gaza blew up a jeep owned by a Hamas police officer. Whether there is a connection between the two incidents is unknown.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bahrain Sentences Shiite Activist to Jail Over Tweets

Prominent Shiite activist Nabeel Rajab was Tuesday sentenced to six months in prison after a Bahraini court found him guilty of insulting public institutions in his tweets, a judicial source said.

But Rajab, who was released from custody one month after his arrest in October 1, could stay out of prison on bail if he pays 200 dinars (530 dollars), the source told AFP, citing the court ruling.

The prosecution, in a statement, said the ruling is subject to appeal…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Freed Yazidis Tell of Girls and Women Being Raped and Sold Into Sexual Slavery by ISIS Fighters

Many girls from the Yazidi community in Iraq are committing suicide after being raped and sold into sexual slavery by Isis fighters who captured them last August. And some 200 Yazidis, held prisoner for five months before being freed at the weekend because they were sick or old, report continuing mistreatment of those still captive.

“They are very bad people,” said Gawre Semo, 69, who reached the Kurdish-held town of Altun Kupri. “They took our children and they took our women.”

A surprise Isis offensive in August led 50,000 Yazidis to flee into territory held by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). But an unknown number, amounting to many thousands, were massacred or detained while many women were raped or sold as slaves. Isis claims that such treatment of the Yazidis, whose ancient religion is drawn from Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism and who Isis call apostates, is permissible under Sharia law.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Canadian Special Forces Calling in Airstrikes and Shooting ISIL Gunmen

Canadian special forces have been on the front lines in Iraq, targeting extremist Islamist gunmen with bombs and sniper fire, despite assurances from the Conservative government that the country’s troops would not be involved in combat.

But Canadian military leaders insist what they are doing is not a combat mission and have likened it to United Nations peacekeeping operations of the 1990s.

Canadian special forces have directed 13 airstrikes against forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the first starting some time in November, the military confirmed Monday. In the last week, Canadian special forces snipers also “neutralized” ISIL mortar and machine-gun positions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

IS Executing ‘Educated Women’ In New Wave of Horror Says UN

The UN on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by the Islamic State group, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.

The jihadist group is showing a “monstrous disregard for human life” in the areas it controls in Iraq, the UN human rights office said.

The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in neighbouring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the “crucifixions” of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Execute 13 Boys for Watching Iraq-Jordan Soccer Match

Execution came after militants threw ‘gay’ men from Mosul tower

(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — Islamic State (ISIS) militants gunned down 13 Iraqi boys for watching their national team play Jordan in the Asian Cup soccer tournament on January 12, international media reported Monday. The public execution took place in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which was overrun by ISIS jihadists last year.

The extremist militants said the boys had watched the Iraq-Jordan match in violation of strict Islamic law.

Their parents were unable to retrieve the bodies for fear of being killed themselves. The execution came just a few days after ISIS posted a video showing two men being pushed to their death from a tower in Mosul for allegedly “engaging in homosexual activities”, a ‘crime’ punishable by death under Sharia law.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Threatens Japanese Hostages Unless Ransom is Paid

Prisoners’ lives ‘first priority’, Premier Abe says

(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — Islamic State (ISIS) on Tuesday threatened to kill two Japanese hostages if a $200-million ransom is not paid within 72 hours. The threats against Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa were made in a video posted on websites close to the jihadist terrorist organisation. Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe expressed his “deep resentment” at the “unforgivable” threat, adding that the lives of the hostages were his “first priority”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Threatens to Kill Japanese Hostages in New Video

Knife-brandishing jihadist with British accent demands $200 million from the Japanese government in the next 72 hours, urging the Japanese public to pressure their government to stop its ‘foolish’ support for the US-led coalition.

DUBAI — The Islamic State armed group which holds swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria issued a video online on Tuesday purporting to show two Japanese hostages and demanding $200 million from the Japanese government in the next 72 hours to save their lives.

The video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, mirrored other hostage threats it has made. The militant in it also directly addresses Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, now on a six-day visit to the Middle East with more than 100 government officials and presidents of Japanese companies.

“To the prime minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,000 and 500 kilometers (5,280 miles) from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade,” says the knife-brandishing militant in the video, standing in a desert area along with two kneeling men wearing orange clothing. “You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims.”…

[Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Iran Threatens Israel, Reaction to be ‘Devastating’

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (‘Pasdaran’), General Mohammad Ali Jafari, warned on Tuesday that ‘‘the Zionists should expect devastating strikes’’. The threat came after a high-ranking Pasdaran commander was killed in the Syrian city of Quneitra by an Israeli air attack. ‘‘We fight to put an end to the Zionist regime,’’ Jafari was quoted by Iranian media as saying. The Pasdaran ‘‘will continue and will bolster their support to Muslim fighters in the region until this devil’s incarnation is removed from regional geopolitics,’’ Jafari continued, referring to Israel.

After the ‘‘assassination’’ of General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, ‘‘ we must not distance ourselves from jihad’’, he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Task Force Seeks Reform at Muslim-World Universities

A task force of 11 experts on science research in Muslim nations is seeking to jump-start a discussion on how to reform science education in universities throughout the Muslim world.

The Task Force on Science at Universities in the Muslim World met for the first time on 16 December in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

At the meeting, task force chair Zakri Abdul Hamid, science advisor to Malaysia’s prime minister, said that science and technology in the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has generally lagged behind other parts of the world.

“We are being left behind in the mastery of science, technology, engineering, mathematics — and reforming science education is the way to alleviate the situation,” he said.

Zakri underlined the low investment in science and technology in OIC states, which rarely reaches 1% of annual government spending.

The Muslim world is also short on scientists, with only 649 researchers for every million people — far below the world average of 2,532 per million people, according to UN figures. According to Muslim-Science.com, an online journal that convened the task force, just five OIC countries — Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey — produce 70% of scientific papers published in member countries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Terrorism’s Roots Lie in Literal Islam

Only a root canal of Islam’s ideas can move the Arab and Muslim world toward modernity.

By Salman Masalha

One of the fundamental problems with Islam is the view that its doctrines — exactly as written, exactly as they were developed and forged in the Arabian desert in the 7th century — “are good for all times and all places.” The religious ideology that all Islamic scholars of all Islamic sects uphold rests on the Koranic text and the canonical traditions attributed to the Prophet Mohammed.

According to Islam, the world is divided into two: the camp of the faithful, comprised of those who believe in the religion of Islam, and the camp of the infidels, which comprises the rest of the world, including Christians and Jews. “The infidels are divided into three categories: people of the book — the Jews and Christians … those who have a sort of book — the Zoroastrians … and those with no book — those who worship idols or the stars,” the Shi’ite scholar Al-Tusi wrote in the 10th century.

And Islam’s attitude toward unbelievers nowadays is made very clear in the words of religious arbiter Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, the former grand mufti of Saudi Arabia: “The Koran, the laws of the prophet and the general agreement among Muslims all teach us that Muslims have an obligation to be the enemies of the infidels — the Jews, the Christians and the rest of the idol worshippers.”…

           — Hat tip: RL [Return to headlines]
 

The Islamic State Plans TV Channel, According to Reports

According to reports in both Israeli and international media this week, the Islamic State has a 24-hour television channel in the works.

The station, which if launched will take Isis’ well-polished propaganda machine to an entirely new level, will feature round-the-clock news and commentary that supports its jihadist ideology.

The terror organization has waged a shockingly bloody campaign in recent months to seize large swaths of Iraq and Syria, and it has utilized both Twitter and YouTube, as well as Iraqi radio bandwidth, to spread its message and galvanize support among terrorist sympathizers. It has its own English-language magazine, Daqib, as well as a video series, on both YouTube and other content-sharing sites, dubbed “The Flames of War.”

Earlier this week, Isis posted two Arabic-language short teasers purportedly for the upcoming station, a channel that will be called the Islamic Caliphate Broadcast. Both featured sharply edited still images and promise in-depth video to come. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, one of the programs will offer guidance and support on how to recruit Muslim sympathizers into Isis’ ranks.

[Charlie Hebdo? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish PM, Ministers May Get Right to Block Internet With New Bill

Turkey’s prime minister or any of his ministers will have the right to block any website without a court ruling for broad reasons such as “protection of public order,” according to a new omnibus bill.

The Prime Ministry and related ministries will be able to demand that the Telecommunications Directorate’s (TIB) authority to close websites within four hours on the basis of national security, protecting public order or preventing crime, according to a last-minute article submitted to parliament as part of an omnibus bill about foundations and associations.

The TIB will be able to decide to block websites or remove related content from the Internet in a very short period of time, according to the bill submitted by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Konya deputy Kerim Özkul. A demand by the Prime Ministry or any ministry will be sufficient for the TIB to take urgent decision to block access or remove Internet content in the name of “protecting the right to life, protecting people’s life and property, national security, public order, preventing crime, or protecting general health.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Activists Arrested After Dousing Lenin’s Tomb With Holy Water

Two Russian performance artists were jailed for 10 days on Tuesday after throwing holy water at the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square and shouting, “Rise up and leave!”

The men were sentenced to 10 days in police cells for petty hooliganism after the protest a day earlier, an Orthodox holiday, a member of their art group, Irina Dumitskaya, told AFP.

“Ten days for basically just pouring water,” she said. “When it rains, it pours on the mausoleum too.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Artists in Holy Water Attack on Lenin Mausoleum

Two Russian artists have been arrested after throwing holy water and shouting “rise up and leave” at the mausoleum containing Vladimir Lenin’s tomb.

A video of Monday’s incident shows the men breaching a barrier to access the building in Moscow’s Red Square before dowsing one of its walls with water.

Seconds later, police officers intervene and lead the two men to a nearby police vehicle.

They could be held for up to 15 days for disorderly conduct, reports say.

The men, identified as Oleg Basov and Yevgeny Avilov, are members of an art group called Blue Rider.

The group dubbed the performance as: “The Exorcist. Desecration of the mausoleum.”

The men told the grani.ru news website (in Russian) that the act was an attempt to rid Russia of its Soviet past, which they said was beginning to assert itself in the present.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Soviet Union Fall Helped Drug-Resistant TB to Take Off

It happened more than 20 years ago, but we’re still feeling some unexpected consequences today. The political collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s seems to have spurred on the killer strain of tuberculosis that is now spreading around the world.

A genetic analysis of the TB bacterium’s family tree has linked its global expansion to major historical events over the past few hundred years.

TB spreads from person to person in droplets released when you talk or cough. Strains that resist standard treatments are a major health problem in countries such as Russia, China and South Africa. In Western countries, multidrug-resistant (MDR) cases are less common, but still very contagious and hard to treat — extreme caution is taken with patients, including air-tight hospital rooms.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine is Left Struggling as Health Workers Flee

Many of Ukraine’s healthcare workers have died or fled, leaving the country struggling with TB and at risk of polio and measles infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

The WHO says that between 30 and 70 per cent of the country’s health workers in the region affected by the sepratist unrest have gone and at least $23 million is needed to provide better healthcare for the 5 million inhabitants of eastern Ukraine. An estimated 1.4 million people are thought to be particularly vulnerable in part because of pre-existing medical conditions or because they have had to move from their homes.

“The humanitarian health crisis in Ukraine is severe,” said Dorit Nitzan, the WHO representative to Ukraine, in a note published on 16 January. “Insecurity, displacement and cold weather, combined with the poor state of the country’s health system, means that basic health care is out of the reach of many people,” she said.

According to the WHO, vaccination coverage in Ukraine is well below 50 per cent, placing the population at risk of preventable infectious diseases like polio and measles.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Accuses Russian Troops of Attacking Its Forces

The Ukrainian military has accused Russia of attacking its forces as fighting in eastern Ukraine spreads towards the Russian border.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said regular Russian units had attacked in the Luhansk region, much of which is under pro-Russian rebel control.

Heavy fighting was under way near the town of Slovyanoserbsk, he said.

Russia denies sending troops into Ukraine but acknowledges “volunteers” are fighting for the rebels.

More than 4,800 people have been killed since the rebels took control of parts of Luhansk and Donetsk in April.

More than one million civilians have fled the conflict, many of them to neighbouring Russia.

Fighting flared up again last week as the rebels fought the Ukrainian government for control of the ruined airport at Donetsk.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bangladesh: Dhaka: Islamic State Extremists Arrested. Authorities on High Alert

Four members of the terrorist group arrested, including the alleged “IS coordinator” in the country. Tension and concern over the “very concrete” possibility of an attack “to expand the influence of transnational movement.”

Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Police in Bangladesh have announced the arrest of four terrorists belonging to the Islamic state (IS), a terrorist organization that has taken control of a part of Syria and Iraq. Police have released the names of those arrested: Sakhawatul Kabir, the alleged coordinator of the Bangladeshi cell of the terrorist group; Anwar Hossain, already involved in an attack in the past years; Rabiul Islam, an IT specialist; Nazrul Alam, in charge of finances. Kabir is reported to have confessed to being the leader of the group.

During the raid, police seized “a massive load” of extremist leaflets; three laptops, now being studied by investigators; two desktop computers; eight mobile phones; a passport and a form to apply for a visa in Pakistan. Kabir said that his team “was working” to gather money and weapons in view of a massive attack “against symbolic personalities and places in Bangladesh.” Their purpose “is to establish an Islamic State in the country”.

The coordinator of the terrorist group, say the investigators, “has been in Pakistan a long time. Here he received military training and operated under the mantle of al Qaeda along with three Bangladeshis killed in a gunfight with police in Karachi on 9 January 2015”. The country’s authorities announced that they had ordered put police and security on “high alert”, while the tension and fear is mounting. According to members of national intelligence the possibility of an attack “is very concrete, given that the Islamic State is seeking to broaden its range of transnational influence”.

An AsiaNews source, anonymous for security reasons, confirms this climate: “All movement has to be limited to the minimum necessary and people are being advised against going to unknown destinations”. Abul Hossain, a young Muslim, says: “People are scared, and want the government to intervene to avoid any form of armed militancy in Bangladesh. Religion must be used for love, not for bloody violence like the Islamic State “.

In Bangladesh, Islam is the state religion, practiced by more than 89.5% of the population. Catholics are only 0.1%. The Constitution does not recognize Shari’a (Islamic law) and guarantees full religious freedom, but conversions to a different religion are often opposed.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Hundreds of Chinese Seeking ‘Jihad Training’ Are Caught on Vietnam Border in One Year: Beijing

More than 800 people have been stopped trying to illegally cross from China into Vietnam in just one year, with the majority attempting to get to jihad training camps, Beijing revealed last night.

The news came as an ethnic Uygur fugitive, who went on the run after two accomplices were shot dead by police at the border, was captured by police in a mountainous area of Pingxiang, the Guangxi Daily reported.

The trio had been trying to cross into Vietnam, which the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday was a popular route from China for those seeking to join terror training camps in other countries.

Police said most of the cases were spurred on by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is spreading extremist religious views and provoking people to leave the country and participate in jihad, Xinhua reported.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Japan Demands Immediate Release of Islamic State Hostages

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned Islamic State for taking two men hostage. The militants are threatening to kill the pair unless they receive a $200 million (172,764 euros) ransom in the next 72 hours.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Japan PM Shinzo Abe in Islamic State ‘Hostages’ Vow

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned an apparent threat by the Islamic State group to kill two Japanese hostages.

Mr Abe said the threat was unacceptable and vowed to save the hostages.

He added that their lives were his “top priority” and that Japan would not give in to terrorism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Boko Haram is Now a Mini-Islamic State, With Its Own Territory

Today, Boko Haram controls about 20,000 square miles of territory — an area the size of Belgium.

Within this domain, the black flag of jihad flies over scores of towns and villages scattered across the neighbouring states of Borno and Yobe.

The latest conquest was the fishing town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad, which fell to the Islamists last Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Millions in UN Somalia Aid Diverted; Hints That Some Went to Terrorists

Three organizations claiming to do vital relief work on behalf of the United Nations in ravaged Somalia diverted millions of dollars intended for food, water, medicine, and other relief services for thousands of the most desperately suffering people in the world, according to confidential U.N. reports obtained by Fox News. Some of the money may have gone to terrorists.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tanzania Bans Witchdoctors After Albino Murders

Tanzania has announced a ban on witchdoctors who have been targeting the country’s large albino population in the mistaken belief their body parts can bring wealth, luck and power.

The country’s home affairs minister called for communities to tip-off investigators in a new taskforce set up to tackle the problem, which has resulted in at least 74 murders since 2000 and 58 brutal attacks in which people have lost limbs and been left permanently scarred.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s Death Sparks Protests

Thousands of Argentines took to the streets in protest on Monday following the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

Mr Nisman was found shot dead in his apartment in Buenos Aires on Sunday.

He had been investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died.

Officials said there was no evidence that anyone else was involved in his death, but demonstrators shouted “No more lies!” and demanded a thorough investigation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Luis Fleischman: U.S. And Western Countries Must Isolate and Sanction Argentinean Leaders

Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor in the case of the 1994 terrorist attack on the Jewish headquarters in Buenos Aires, was found dead during the weekend in his home; apparently murdered.

The murder took place shortly before the congressional hearings where prosecutor Nisman was supposed to present evidence denouncing the involvement of President Cristina Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman, as well as others in a conspiracy aimed at absolving Iran from responsibility for the bombing.

According to Nisman, the idea of absolving Iran was motivated by the desire to solve the Argentinean energy problem by cutting a deal with Iran involving “oil for grains”. Without absolving Iran such a deal could not have taken place.

Nisman found this evidence by listening to legally approved intercepted conversations…

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New Telescope in Chile Now Searching for Alien Planets

A new alien-planet—hunting telescope has just come online in Chile, and it could help scientists peer into the atmospheres of relatively small planets circling nearby stars.

The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS for short) — located at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal Observatory — is designed to seek out planets two to eight times the diameter of Earth as they pass in front of their stars. Such a planet will cause the light of the star to dip ever so slightly when passing in front of it, allowing the telescope to detect the planet during its transit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

No Gunshot Residue Found on Dead Argentinean Prosecutor’s Hands

Argentinean authorities on Tuesday said they had found no traces of gunshot residue on the hands of federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in his apartment days after accusing President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and other government officials of conspiring to cover up the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center.

Viviana Fein, who is investigating Nisman’s death, said officials have still not ruled out that the 51-year-old may have committed suicide.

“Because it is a small firearm and not a war weapon, it usually means that the results of the electronic testing do not always come back positive,” she said, adding that DNA testing was also being conducted on the pistol.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Turkish Student at Pisa’s Normale Expelled

Posted anti-West messages on Islamist websites

(ANSA) — Pisa, January 20 — A Turkish student at Pisa’s prestigious Scuola Normale university was expelled from Italy after voicing Islamist views on websites, intelligence sources said Tuesday. He was expelled at the end of December, they said.

Police tracked the suspect down after he posted anti-Western messages on Islamist blogs and websites that were under surveillance. The student was arrested, taken to an immigrant reception center (CIE) and then repatriated. Authorities then informed the school he would no longer be attending.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants Describe Police Brutality in French City of Calais

UK-bound migrants and asylum seekers in the northern French port city of Calais have told a prominent rights group that they are routinely beaten and pepper-sprayed by police, allegations law enforcement officials in France categorically deny.

Migrants, many of whom have travelled from as far as Ethiopia and Afghanistan with the dream of reaching British shores, said police beat them with truncheons when they were caught trying to board UK-bound trucks, but also while walking in the streets of Calais, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Paris Supermarket ‘Hero’ To Receive French Nationality

Malian immigrant hid customers in cold room

(fixes typo in slug). (ANSA) — Paris, January 20 — A Malian Muslim supermarket employee who helped save the lives of several customers at the Kosher supermarket besieged by a gunman in Paris on January 9 by hiding them in a cold room is to be awarded French nationality at a special ceremony on Tuesday.

Lassana Bathily, 24, was in the underground stockroom at the Hyper Casher supermarket in eastern Paris when Amédy Coulibaly — a French national also of Malian origin — stormed the premises, killing four Jewish customers on his way in. “When he entered the store, people came rushing down saying there was an armed madman,” Bathily told FRANCE 24. “I thought the only option was to hide in the freezer, so I switched it off and got everyone inside.” Bathily was widely hailed as a ‘hero’ as France struggled to come to terms with the supermarket siege and the separate attack by Islamist militants on the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo two days previously in which 12 people were killed.

Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attack were all eventually shot down by French special forces. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is to preside over the naturalisation ceremony Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

State Gives Illegal Aliens $35 Mil in Healthcare, Meds, Physical Therapy

Though it violates both state and federal law, Massachusetts spent tens of millions of dollars to give illegal immigrants medical care—including prescription drugs, physical therapy and dental services—through its taxpayer-funded healthcare program for low-income individuals.

Tax-paying residents of the Bay State should be outraged, to say the least. The information comes straight out of a scathing report that contains the findings of an investigation conducted by Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump. It reveals that questionable or prohibited medical claims totaling $35,137,347 were reimbursed by the state’s Medicaid agency known as MassHealth. A chunk of it went to non-emergency services for illegal immigrants, according to the audit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Designer Babies’ Debate Should Start, Scientists Say

Rapid progress in genetics is making “designer babies” more likely and society needs to be prepared, leading scientists have told the BBC.

Dr Tony Perry, a pioneer in cloning, has announced precise DNA editing at the moment of conception in mice.

He said huge advances in the past two years meant “designer babies” were no longer HG Wells territory.

Other leading scientists and bioethicists argue it is time for a serious public debate on the issue.

Designer babies — genetically modified for beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease — have long been a topic of science fiction.

Dr Perry, who was part of the teams to clone the first mice and pigs, said the prospect was still fiction, but science was rapidly catching up to make elements of it possible.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The DNA Photofit: Amazing Breakthrough Means Police Can Tell Suspect’s Colour, Height and Even Age — From a Tiny Speck of Blood

Police are now able to build up a detailed picture of a suspect from the smallest speck of blood left at a crime scene thanks to an extraordinary DNA breakthrough.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tuberculosis Genomes Track Human History

From the dawn of agriculture to the fall of the Soviet Union, major events in human history have left marks in the DNA of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB). A study of nearly 5,000 samples of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from around the world shows how a lineage of the bacterium that emerged thousands of years ago in Asia has since become a global killer that is widely resistant to antibiotic drugs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/20/2015

  1. “We ask Mr Pickles to publicly apologise to the Muslim community for bringing this peaceful section of the British society into disrepute. “

    So says Bradford muslim leader Dr mohammed iqubal. According to David Cameron, anyone objecting to the reasonable letter written by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles “has a problem.” From the subsequent reaction to this letter, thousands of muslims in the UK have the same problem. Is Cameron getting it after all this time? Is he finally going to tell all these undesirables to go to hell, go directly to hell, not to pass go and not to take any further money from the UK taxpayer?

    He will be in a lot of difficulty if he caves in to islamic abuse now but it has been done before (taken out of context….blah…grovel….religion of peace…..blah……

    • “We ask Mr Pickles to publicly apologise to the Muslim community for bringing this peaceful section of the British society into disrepute. “
      So says Bradford muslim leader Dr mohammed iqubal.

      Muslims have started to speak with two languages: Now the way he says it, corresponds to the way western politicians speak. Muslims are beating us with our games. That type of language they learned from Blair, Bush, Cameron, Hollande, and some other mindless devils.

      And when need be they speak rough and are violent.
      Now that’s a clever way of fooling and overpowering your enemy.
      We ourselves brought hell on ourselves.
      Muslims have been doing this for the last 1435 years.
      They never lie about intentions.
      Wolves tear their prey to pieces.

  2. People should check out how the Burmese are handling the Rohingya.

    Those guys seem to understand there is no room to screw around when trying to beat back the march of Dar al-Islam.

    • I admit, I had to look up the Rohingya, and what the Burmese did to them.

      Among various pieces of info, I found a CNN videos on “The apartheid you’ve never heard of”, and several articles about the recent Buddhist “mobs” who attacked/expelled these Muslims.
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/25/rohingya-fled-myanmar_n_6046444.html

      Naturally, none of these recent articles mention the fact that the Rohingya conducted Jihad against the Buddhists repeatedly over the past century. In Thailand, there is also a Jihad problem in the South.

      So we see the same pattern all over again – Muslim do what they do best (malicious acts of murder/rape/theft against non-muslims), then the West conveniently forgets/whitewashes it, and then the people who fight back are demonized, criminalized, relentlessly denounced as fascists.

      Makes you wonder whether anything at all can be done to fight back
      Dar al-Islam.

  3. The Rohingya brought their troubles on themselves and provoked it when five of their number gang raped a young Burmese Buddhist girl.

    Now THEY are the victims?

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