An Austrian offshoot of PEGIDA staged a rally in Vienna today. The demonstrators were far outnumbered by “anti-fascist” counter-demonstrators, and 1,200 police were on hand to make sure that no one got hurt.
In other news, a 14-year-old “Norwegian” boy has been discovered in Iraq, fighting against the Islamic State.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, DS, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, K, Papa Whiskey, Steen, 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.
Italy: Rates for Garbage, Transport Exceed Inflation — Study
Consumers group says Italians paying soaring service levies
(ANSA) — Rome, January 27 — While policy makers are fretting about flat inflation in Italy, the cost of services like water and garbage collection have soared, according to a report Tuesday by consumer association Federconsumatori.
It said that in the decade between 2004 and 2014, rates for water services jumped by 80.1%, while the cost of trash pickup rose by 70.3% — two examples of fees that show no sign of diminishing, said the group.
And they are hitting households hard at a time when many families have trouble making ends meet.
Over the previous decade, it said electricity costs rose by an average of 48.4%, rail transport by 46.2%, highway tolls jumped by 46.5% and gas climbed by 42.9%.
The only decrease in the cost of utilities came in telephone services, which fell by 15.7% likely due to the prevalence of cellphones.
In contrast, the annual rate of inflation in Italy over that period averaged around 2%, rising as high as 4% during 2008-2009.
Meanwhile, a second analysts by the Research Center of consumers group looked at the rising cost of services before and after the economic crisis that began in 2008 and found that hard times had no impact on rates.
“Despite the crisis and the simultaneous decline in the purchasing power of households, some rates (water, waste and transport) have increased in a manner much heavier than the pre-crisis,” said Federconsumatori.
It blamed ineffective efforts to bring competition into services, a lack of vigilance in prices levels, and pressure for high returns.
And with recently announced cuts by Premier Matteo Renzi’s government to local authorities, fees will continue to rise, said Federconsumatori.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bibigate — The Contretemps Over Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress on Iran’s Nuclear Program
Last Saturday night a retired US Navy officer said “I’ll bet you even money that Bibi will withdraw from the proposed speech before a joint session of Congress”. I joshed him and said “I wouldn’t count on it.”
Sunday, I received suggestions that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu should have a Plan B given the rising contretemps in the media over US House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to talk about Iran before a Joint Session of Congress. There was a welter of criticism from the White House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and mainstream media talking heads included David Brooks of the New York Times and Chris Wallace and Shepherd Smith of FoxNews. They were admonishing Speaker Boehner and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer with terms like “dicey, wicked more for photo op” and “partisan politics” and “unwise for Israel.” It was ostensibly about the lack of courtesy shown the President by not giving prior notice to the White House of the invitation extended to Netanyahu. There was pique by certain unnamed senior officials in the White House over what some might call Bibigate…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
By Jillian Kay Melchior
So far, every for-profit enterprise started by Al Sharpton and known to National Review Online has been shut down in at least one jurisdiction for failure to pay taxes, a review of public records in New York and Delaware reveals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU, US Seek to Revive Free Trade Deal
US and EU negotiators began their latest round of talks Monday seeking to push through the world’s biggest-ever free trade deal, which after nearly two years remain bogged down by public opposition.
The eighth set of talks on the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact, or TTIP, take place in the face of attacks by activists and mixed signals from key governments, including Europe’s biggest economy Germany.
The meeting is the first since the new European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker took office in November, with the outspoken Swede Cecilia Malmstroem charged with salvaging the talks as the new trade commissioner.
The EU’s chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero and his US counterpart Dan Mullaney shook hands for cameras on Monday without making comment, before beginning discussions that end on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Even With Romney Gone, GOP Has ‘Loaded Field’ of Potential 2016 Contenders
While no one has formally declared a bid, the list of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates seems to be growing daily — making the field every bit as fluid and crowded as in 2012, even as the Democratic side appears to be a list of one.
The latest name to take a step deeper into the GOP presidential pool is former New York Gov. George Pataki, who told Fox News on Monday he’s “seriously” exploring a 2016 bid.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hubble Space Telescope Could Survive Through 2020, Scientists Say
Scientists working with the long-lived Hubble Space Telescope say that the intrepid eye on the sky could continue functioning through 2020, and even beyond.
Hubble is currently in good shape. The instruments repaired during the last Hubble servicing mission in 2009 have operated longer since the repairs than they did with the original hardware, Kenneth Sembach of the Space Telescope Science Institute said during a news conference in January at the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Sends Congress $4T Budget Replete With New Spending, Taxes
President Obama on Monday opened his campaign for a $4 trillion budget despite it being given little chance of passing, as Republicans blast the fresh-off-the-presses proposal as a bundle of new spending, new taxes — and new borrowing.
The plan includes a half-trillion-dollar public works program and an array of tax increases meant to fund a host of other agenda items. The document hinges on what Obama calls “middle-class economics,” seeking tax breaks for many Americans while imposing increases on top earners, corporations and particularly the financial sector.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
This afternoon, the Refugee Women’s Alliance—one of the largest refugee and immigrant service providers in the region—closed early in anticipation of a protest against one of its head teachers, Deepa Bhandaru, for leading a discussion about free speech and religious pluralism in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
The evening after the massacre, Bhandaru printed out some of the Hebdo cartoons—tame ones, not the more inflammatory, sexualized images—and brought them to a current-events workshop she teaches for 10 to 18 year-olds. The class had a discussion about the events in Paris, balancing freedom of religion with freedom of speech, and, as Bhandaru put it, “how we as Muslims or allies of the Muslim communities counteract these stereotypes.”
The following week, some Somali parents—not the parents of her students—submitted a letter to ReWA, demanding Bhandaru’s resignation and claiming that she violated their religious freedom. Bhandaru apologized and explained herself in two letters: a 2,300-word one to her colleagues (in which she said the workshop itself went well, with students generally agreeing that “sometimes one person’s freedom might offend another person, but that’s the price we pay to be free”) and a 500-word letter to the Abu-Bakr Islamic Center. “I have reached out to all of the Muslim youth in my program and their parents, apologizing and guaranteeing them that I will never make this mistake again,” the second letter stated. “I am not the enemy here.”
[If it’s “apology” Muslims want, they can find it in the dictionary between “anthropoid” and “a$$hole” — and they should be told as much. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorist Use of U.S. Social Media is a National Security Threat
by Yigal Carmon and Steven Stalinsky
Mr. Carmon is president and founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute. Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of MEMRI.
American companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and other popular services, including YouTube, WhatsApp, Skype, Tumblr and Instagram, are facilitating global jihad.
This was one of the main subjects of a recent meeting between UK Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama focusing on cybersecurity and counterterrorism.
This follows Robert Hannigan, the U.K.’s Director of the Government Communications Headquarters describing “the largest U.S. technology companies” as “the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists” in The Financial Times last November. Mr. Hannigan said out loud what for too long too few have: For almost a decade, these companies have helped Al-Qaeda, and are now helping ISIS to fundraise, recruit, indoctrinate, and train new terrorists. Nearly every day brings more news of the arrest of young Westerners for terror activity, planning attacks, or attempting to travel to the Middle East to join a terror organization.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Declares ‘Chris Kyle Day, ‘ as Medal of Honor Petition Drive Launches
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is declaring Feb. 2 as “Chris Kyle Day” in his state, honoring the late sniper as a petition drive also gets underway to consider him for the Medal of Honor.
Kyle, considered to be the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, is the subject of the blockbuster film “American Sniper.”
Though the movie has been controversial, Abbott told Fox News he decided to honor Kyle because “he’s an American hero.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The military’s 20-year retirement plan, with benefits payable immediately after two decades of honorable service, may soon be a thing of the past.
A DoD panel which has been studying pay and compensation issues is expected to release its final report tomorrow. One of its major recommendations is a shift away from the current system to a new program, similar to civilian 401k retirement plans. If approved by Congress (and the President) the revamped military retirement plan would provide employer contributions from the start of a service member’s career. There would be a variety of investment options; the troops could contribute as well and those leaving the military before the 20-year point could take their retirement savings with them.
But for career service members, there is a big catch under the new proposal. Instead of collecting their first check upon retirement in their late 30s or early 40s, they would have to wait to age 60. In other words, thanks for all those years of long duty days, deployments, and separation from family; we’ll keep sending you account statements for another 20 years, until you finally become eligible to receive those retirement benefits.
Andrew Tilghman of Air Force Times has published a detailed summary of the plan, which has been under development for more than a year. Officially, Pentagon officials have expressed concern that the military’s “antiquated” retirement system is no longer competitive with the private sector, since most service members receive no benefits for their years of service. At the other end of the spectrum, the few who stay in for 20 years—or longer—receive very generous benefits, and collect a retirement check [for] decades after they retire from active duty.
But that flies in the face of simple logic: if the armed services’ retirement program is so outdated, why have the services been able to meet their recruiting quotas for more than 40 years, under the all-volunteer system?
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
Here we go again. Any time the mainstream media takes up the question of what causes Islamic jihad terrorism, or whether it has any derivation in Islamic texts and teachings, you can be sure that the “findings” will be that Islam is peaceful and jihad terror is all the West’s fault. Here the WaPo wheels out a Berkeley prof, M. Steven Fish, to explain it all for you.
These articles appear more and more grotesque as the body count rises. Comments interspersed below.
“Why is terror Islamist?,” by M. Steven Fish, Washington Post, January 27, 2015:…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
900 Beds Throughout Swedish Hospitals Closed
Staff shortages within the Swedish health care system have resulted in the closures of 900 beds, according to a report from Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.
Hospital emergency rooms throughout Sweden are short by a total of nearly 2,000 nurses.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: 1,200 Police for Vienna PEGIDA Spinoff Rally
The Vienna branch of the German anti-Islam movement Pegida is holding a demonstration in the Austrian capital on Monday afternoon, just three days after the city centre was shut down as thousands protested against a ball organised by far-right groups and politicians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Swastikas on Mosque as PEGIDA March Looms
Vandals sprayed several swastikas on a Vienna mosque, Austrian police said Monday ahead of the country’s first demonstration by the “anti-Islamisation” movement Pegida.
A police spokeswoman told AFP that the graffiti, found on Sunday morning, were being “investigated by the national security agency”.
It is the latest in a series of anti-Islamic — and anti-Semitic — acts of vandalism in EU member state Austria.
In December unknown culprits left a pig’s head and intestines in front of the door of another mosque in the capital. A street sign was changed to read “Sharia Street” in September.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “2nd- And 3rd-Generation Passport Punishment”
Deputy PM Didier Reynders (Francophone liberal) has confirmed that the federal government is considering the removal of Belgian nationality to punish those convicted of terrorism, even in the case of second- or third-generation Belgian citizens. Some are warning that this could be discriminating.
The Verviers house raids in which police managed to prevent a terrorist attack on police officers on duty, triggered a number of proposals within the government to punish those convicted of terrorist actions in court, or to tackle radicalisation. One of these was to take away Belgian nationality from those with a double passport, but Didier Reynders wants to go one step further. “We want to extend this measure”, the minister admits.
Those found guilty of terrorist acts in court could lose their Belgian nationality in the future, also when they became Belgians by birth, after their parents or grandparents immigrated and successfully applied for a Belgian passport.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: 32,000 Foreign Workers in the North Occupied Area
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, FEBRUARY 2 — There are around to 32,000 foreign workers who reside and have working permission in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus, as Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis reported. According to information by the self-styled ministry of Labour and Social Security, the workers of Turkish origin are 27,000 and there are also 4,500 workers from third countries. According to the “ministry”, the number of the foreign workers changes every day. Some foreign workers from Turkey, speaking to the paper, said that the majority of the employers prefer the “illegal workers”, who don’t have a working permission, because they accept to work with much less money and more hours. Most of these illegal workers are citizens from Pakistan, Nigeria, Vietnam and Turkmenistan and the employers prefer them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Eight Swedes Questioned Over Ferry ‘Gang Rape’
Police in Finland are questioning eight Swedish men arrested following claims a woman was gang raped on a Viking Line ferry in Finnish waters over the weekend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Should Take Action on PEGIDA Racism
Germany’s “anti-Islamisation” Pegida movement is a worrying phenomenon, which is quickly taking on a European dimension.
The discourse developed by Pegida is in clear breach of EU legislation prohibiting incitement to racism — the EU framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia.
When a group, no matter how popular, crosses this line, public authorities have a legal responsibility to take action.
National authorities must make sure that there are systematic prosecutions.
The European Commission also has a direct responsibility to check whether this is being done.
Sarah Isal is chair of the European Network Against Racism, an NGO umbrella group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Police: Dangerous Holes in School-Shooting Prevention Strategy
A handful of viable threats are intercepted each year, law enforcers say, but complain that agencies’ abilities to prevent school massacres are hampered by a lack of information-sharing and unclear lines of responsibility.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Feel Proud of Their Country After Attacks
The French have renewed reason to feel proud of their country in the wake of the terrorist attacks and the mass unity rallies around the country, a new survey has revealed.
Polls in recent years have been more likely to portray the French as pessimistic and suffering from a “collective depression”, given the state of the country’s economy, but since the attacks the public has had renewed reason to feel proud.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Knights Assemble to Do Battle in Bernau
Five-man teams of heavily-armoured knights gathered near Berlin on Saturday to compete for the European Medieval Combat title.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Hits Export Surplus Record in 2014
Economics think tank Ifo said on Monday that their projections show Germany’s exports exceeding imports by €220 billion in 2014, pushing the country to a new world record.
The current account surplus was a new record for Europe’s biggest economy and was the biggest surplus globally.
Second was China with €150 billion followed by Saudi Arabia with €100 billion, Ifo said.
In 2013, Germany exported €190 billion more in goods than were imported.
Economists said that the increase is due to cheaper oil imports at the end of 2014 thanks to falling prices.
The weakening euro also contributed as it makes German-manufactured goods cheaper in key markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: PEGIDA Offshoot Set to Demo Next Week
Former Pegida spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel has moved on from the anti-Islamization group and started a new conservative movement, it was reported on Monday.
Direct Democracy for Europe is supposed to be for citizens and conservative, “just right of the Christian Democratic Union”, to which Angela Merkel belongs, reported Zeit. The new group will not focus so closely on asylum-seekers, but rather call for more conservative politics in Germany.
Oertel along with former Pegida organiser Bernd-Volker Lincke are among those who have founded the new group after they left Pegida’s central core last week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Anti-Euro Party Agrees to Slim Down Leadership
(BERLIN) — A congress of Germany’s anti-euro AfD party ending Sunday moved to streamline its leadership structure in a bid to be more effective after weeks of dispute within the fledgling group.
Bernd Lucke, founder of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), won broad backing on Saturday from the around 1,700 party faithful gathered in the northwestern city of Bremen for his proposal that one leader head the party instead of three, which he called “amateurish”.
The former economics professor said the pared-down structure would help make things more professional, telling delegates the two-year-old party was “not a skittles club or rabbit breeding association, which one can lead part-time”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Tsipras Rules Out Turning to Russia for Aid
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, FEBRUARY 2 — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday said his left-wing government would make full use of a mandate for negotiations with European partners and ruled out seeking aid from Russia as Cyprus Mail online reported. “We are in substantial negotiations with our partners in Europe and those have lent us. We have obligations towards them,” Tsipras said at a news conference, when asked about whether Greece was open to aid from Russia. “Right now, there are no other thoughts on the table.” Speaking in Nicosia during his first foreign trip as prime minister, Tsipras said he discussed with President Nicos Anastasiades the need for a coordinated stance for a “bridge of peace and cooperation between Europe and Russia.” Tsipras also ruled out his country leaving the euro, saying anyone who believed small euro zone states like Greece and Cyprus were not essential in the bloc would be disproven. “The EU and eurozone would be both dismembered along their Southeastern flank without Greece and Cyprus,” Tsipras said. The Greek Prime Minister also called for the “troika” mechanism of European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF inspectors overseeing the finances of struggling countries to be replaced. “I believe that this would be a mature and necessary development for Europe,” Tsipras said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarians Rally Against Orban, Appeal to Merkel
Several thousand people have taken to the streets of Budapest, expressing dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Victor Orban’s right-wing government. Some appealed directly to Angela Merkel to “save Hungary” on her visit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarians Rally Against Orban Ahead of Merkel Visit
Thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest Sunday seeking support from Chancellor Angela Merkel against their Prime Minister Viktor Orban a day ahead of the German leader’s visit to the ex-communist nation.
The roughly 4,000 protestors, according to AFP estimates, gathered outside parliament to send a message that they oppose Orban’s right-wing policies and moves closer to Moscow and away from Brussels.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It is not perhaps what one would expect to find in a museum, but in Iceland the humble burger and chips is an endangered item.
The McDonald’s meal has spent the last year on display in Iceland’s national museum, after the final fast food outlet shut down in the country.
Now, the salty snack has gone one step further in becoming a historic item, going on display in a hostel — complete with a webcam so fans can document the food as it decays.
Iceland’s economic crash in late 2008 ultimately led the global fast food chain to close their doors in the country.
The last day that locals could pick up a McDonald’s burger was October 31, 2009.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland to Build First Temple to Norse Gods in 1,000 Years
Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age.
Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland.
“I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of ‘Asatruarfelagid’, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods.
“We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”
Membership in Asatruarfelagid has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Intolerance, Extremism on the Rise Across EU
A senior European Commissioner warned Monday about rising levels of extremism and intolerance across the 28-nation bloc, targeting Jews, Muslims, homosexuals and even women.
“There is rising anti-Semitism, there is rising Islamophobia, there is rising homophobia,” Frans Timmermans, deputy to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told parliamentarians from EU states meeting in Latvia’s capital Riga.
“If Jews in this Europe cannot feel at home, Europe is finished. If Jews believe their future is not in Europe, Europe has no future. And this applies to Muslims alike — and to other minorities. If gay people think they have to go back into the closet, we have no future for Europe,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian GPs Set to Strike Over Contract Stalemate
‘Urgent’ meeting with governors asked
(ANSA) — Rome, February 2 — Italy’s general practitioners are set to strike to protest a stalemate in talks over a new nationwide contract, the national federation of family doctors FIMMG said Monday. The national council of the GPs’ union has been called for March 28 and a strike is planned “in the following days” unless there is a breakthrough in the negotiations.
FIMMG Secretary General Giacomo Milillo demanded an urgent meeting with regional governors, saying that “the contract (talks) have been stuck since April and (the new contract) was supposed to have solved a whole series of issues including the management of emergency rooms”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Some 47 No-TAV Activists Given 140 Years in Prison
Charges against high-speed rail line date from clashes in 2011
(ANSA) — Turin, January 27 — Some 47 activists accused of clashing with police during protests against a high-speed rail line were given a total of 140 years in prison Tuesday.
The charges date from protests in the summer of 2011 against the high-speed rail line (TAV) being built in Piedmont’s pristine Susa Valley to connect Italy and France.
Prosecutors had requested a total of 193 years in prison on charges included bodily harm and battery of a public official in connection with clashes between protesters and police on June 27 and July 3, 2011.
Another six defendants were acquitted in the trial that took almost two years.
The sentences were greeted with shouts of “shame” from the public and defence lawyers said the sentences were excessive.
Gianluca Vitale, one of the defence lawyers, called the jail terms “absurd and ridiculous” and said there was “a total lack of evidence”.
Other No-TAV activists put up a makeshift roadblock on a street near the courthouse to show their opposition to the sentences.
The high-speed rail line, which will eventually connect Turin to Lyon, has sparked years of protest from locals and other activists who denounce its high cost and damage to the environment.
France and Italy argue it will save money and help the environment in the long run by cutting down on automobile traffic.
Anna Ronfani, lawyer for the Lyon-Turin railway company Ltf, said the convictions did not mean restrictions on free speech by the protestors.
“They were not convicted for their opinions but for the way they manifested their dissent, which exceeded the boundaries of what is permissible,” said Ronfani.
Meanwhile, in a civil trial related to the protests, the court ordered 150,000 euros in damages be paid by No-TAV activists to plaintiffs that include the ministries of interior, defence, and economy.
The judicial order awarded about half of the total to those ministries with the remainder divided among the plaintiffs including Ltf, police unions, and officers injured in the clashes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Has World’s Best Family Hotel, Trip Advisor Says
Traveller’s Choice Awards for 152 Italian establishments
(ANSA) Rome, January 21 — A hotel in the German-speaking Italian province of Bolzano has been named the world’s best family hotel by the Trip Advisor website while as many as 152 out of 8151 establishments receiving commendations also are Italian, Trip Advisor said Wednesday.
The winning family hotel is the Cavallino Bianco Family Spa Grand Hotel at Ortisei in the northern region of Trentino Alto Adige, described by guests as the world’s best hotel for people travelling with children.
Trentino Alto Adige received as many as 27 hotels winning a total of 37 awards from Trip Advisor while southern Campania was second with 24 hotels receiving 33 mentions followed by Tuscany with 20 hotels receiving 26 awards.
Italy also boasts seven hotels in Trip Advisor’s top European 25 hotels with the Hotel Belvedere at Riccione third placed on the continent followed close behind by the Hotel La Minerva near the famed Piazzetta at the island of Capri.
World’s best hotel in absolute was the Gilli Lankanfushi in the Maldives according to Trip Advisor.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ENI Launches 11-Year Fixed-Rate Bonds
(AGI) Rome, Jan 27 — Eni launched fixed-rate bonds with a nominal value of one billion euros on the Eurobond market on Tuesday. The 11-year bond offering will pay an annual rate of 1.5 percent and has a re-offer price of 99.268 percent. The issuance is aimed at maintaining a well-balanced financial structure for the company. The bonds will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and have been acquired by institutional investors largely in France, Germany and Italy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Record Container Traffic for Port of Genoa in 2014
(AGI) Genoa, Jan 28 — The port of Genoa enjoyed a record year for traffic in 2014. Containers totalled 2,172,944 TEUs (standard measure of volume in the transportation of containers), an increase of 9.3 percent over 2013, while total traffic was nearly 52 million tonnes (51,934,088) with growth of 4.8 percent, according to Port Authority figures. There were increases in almost all market segments, with a 12.7 percent rise for full containers and a 1.7 percent drop in empty ones.
Exports were up 9.4 percent. Containerised cargo volumes increased by 11.6 percent and while imports grew by 14.7 percent, shipments were 2.93 million tons higher than unloadings. There were also good results for rail and Ro-Ro (ferries allowing goods vehicles to drive on and off) which increased by 2.9 percent. Motorways of the Sea saw a 5.2 percent increase, while conventional cargo grew by 20.7 percent. General cargo grew by 3.9 percent. Dry bulk was up 3.4 per cent and other liquid bulk rose by 9.7 percent. In detail, bulk food increased by 20.8 percent. Commercial traffic grew by 5.9 percent, while the industrial bulk sector declined by 7.9 percent.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Five More Officials Arrested in Rome Corruption Probe
Part of wide investigation into bribes for permits
(ANSA) — Rome, February 22 — Five city of Rome officials were arrested on Monday in relation to an ongoing corruption prove in the capital.
The operation was part of an investigation into allegations that officials took bribes in exchange for the approval of construction permits, in some cases turning a blind eye to regulation breaches.
Last month 22 people were arrested in a separate operation.
Monday’s arrests concerned three officials from the city’s town-planning department and two health and safety inspectors.
Furthermore, six entrepreneurs under investigation have been ordered to regularly report to the judicial authorities.
Rome’s council has beefed up anti-corruption measures after a separate probe into allegations that a mafia organization muscled in on city contracts worth millions.
Former centre-right mayor Gianni Alemanno is under investigation in that probe.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Strauss-Kahn Pimping Trial Starts
Admits sex parties, says didn’t know women were sex workers
(ANSA) — Rome, February 2 — Former International Monetary Fund chief and one-time French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn went on trial on pimping charges in France Monday.
Strauss-Kahn, 65, is accused of helping to procure sex workers for an alleged prostitution ring based at a hotel in the northern French city of Lille. He has admitted attending sex parties there but says he did not know that some of the women were prostitutes.
The case is the latest sex-related allegation against Strauss-Kahn and is seen as a bellwether for gauging changing French attitudes to holding the private lives of the great and good up to the courts of judicial and public opinion.
In 2011, after being accused of attempted rape by a hotel maid in New York, the IMF leader left his job and was forced out of the French presidential race where he was seen as having a better chance than eventual winner Francois Hollande. The charges were eventually dropped Mr Strauss-Kahn reached a settlement with the maid, Nafissatou Diallo. Two other cases against him, concerning allegations of sexual assault and gang rape, have already been dropped.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A group of men who threw 40 kicks and punches at an American student during an ‘unprovoked’ attack which left him with post-traumatic stress disorder have been jailed for more than 15 years.
U.S. student Francesco Hounye, 23, had only been in Britain for three days when he was left permanently scarred after being attacked by the gang as he walked home following a night out in Shadwell, east London.
Mr Hounye suffered a fractured eye socket and was left needing 23 stitches after being kicked repeatedly in the head by the five men, who also grabbed a bottle of Jagermeister liquor from his hand and smashed it over his head.
According to police, Mr Hounye was assaulted simply because he was ‘obviously not local’.
Samad Uddin, 25, Shaleem Uddin, 21, Shadhat Hussain, 20, Kamrul Hussain, 23, and Masoom Rahman, 22, were today jailed at Snaresbrook Crown Court for the attack…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Magna Cartas United at British Library to Celebrate 800th Anniversary
The four surviving original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta have been brought together for the first time in London.
Magna Carta is one of the most important, well-known documents in history and this year marks its 800th anniversary.
More than 40,000 people entered a public ballot to see them, with 1,125 getting the chance to see all four at the British Library over three days.
The Magna Carta was authorised on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede.
The document was agreed by King John to appease rebel barons in the heart of battle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Man Prosecuted in Sweden for Syrian War Crimes
A Syrian man who fought in his native country is being prosecuted in Sweden for war crimes and aggravated assault, in what is being called the first case of its kind.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
PEGIDA and Counter-Demonstrations Come to Austria
Vienna’s first PEGIDA rally was met with more than ten time the number of people in a counter-protest. The marches come at a time of increasing religious tension in the Austrian capital.
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Will the victory of an anti-austerity party in Greece have a knock-on effect in other eurozone countries? It is beginning to look that way in Spain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rise of Hard-Left Party Shows Divided Spain
Less than a week after the victory of its hard-left ally Syriza in Greece, Spain’s Podemos party launched an election-heavy year by assembling more than 100,000 supporters for a rally in Madrid.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Call Centers and Butcher’s Shops Fund Jihad
At least 250 in country, intelligence sources tell El Pais
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — There is a network of at least 250 call centers, halal butcher’s shops and grocery stores in Spain funding jihadist operations in Syria and Iraq. To send donations to the Islamic State (ISIS) or the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra, the network uses the ‘hawala’ informal money transfer system. The system avoids inspection by the authorities and moves the savings of over 150,000 Muslims, estimated at 300 million euros per year, Spanish daily El Pais quoted intelligence services as saying. The hawala circuit is based on trust between a network of family members and those from the same country to send money to other parts of the world without leaving physical traces of it.
It is used by Syrian, Tunisian, Algerian and especially Pakistani immigrants. Investigators say that there are about 300 hawala terminals and clandestine ‘offices’ in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida, Bilbao, Santander, Valencia and Madrid used by the network to support the ‘jihadist cause’.
It is also the channel through which payments to jihadists of Spanish nationality get to Spain from camps in northern Syria. Intelligence services estimate that there are about 100 youth — mostly of Moroccan origins — that have joined ISIS, including about 15 that have been killed in suicide operations against the Syrian regime under Bashar Al-Assad. “With a single telephone call you can send 3,000 euros to Pakistan in only a few minutes. The so-called ‘hawaladares’ are men who keep their promise to send the remittances,” said Juan Carlos Galindo, expert in the prevention of money laundering and the funding of terrorism. “The mediators are tasked with getting money where it needs to go without leaving a trace. Trust is fundamental and, if anyone ends up being stopped by the police for illicit activities, they never reveal the client’s name,” he said. With ancient origins in China, the system has spread alongside international bank circuits across the planet. Experts say that there are between 200 and 300 intermediaries in Spain, mostly in the Pakistani community in Catalonia. At the global level, the hawala system moves over 200 billion dollars per year without undergoing any sort of checks.
The UN estimates that over 25% of bank transactions in the Middel East are not transparent. In Spain, Khalid Sheikh Mohamed (the man behind the 9/11 attacks) used several ‘hawaladares’ in Logroño and Barcelona, and two Pakistanis living in the Raval area of the same city — Ali Gujar and Mohammad Afzaal — were arrested for sending money to an Al-Qaeda cell that kidnapped and killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. Some 18 million euros were transferred through the same call center (owned by Mohammad Choundry) in only 15 months, intelligence sources told El Pais. Both recruitment and fund raising for the Islamic State take place in Spain, and have for quite some time. On October 4, 2004, a secret dispatch from the US embassy to Madrid informed Washington that Spain was an important financial center for jihadist activities in Afghanistan and Iraq.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected Gang Rape on Finnish Cruise Ship
Eight Swedish men have been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman onboard a cruise ship, according to several media reports.
The suspected gang rape took place Saturday night on the Viking Line-operated cruise ship Amorella as it travelled between Stockholm, Sweden and Åbo, Finland. The victim is apparently around 45 years old, while the alleged rapists are all in their twenties.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Car Blast Rocks Malmö After Violent Weekend
Malmö residents were awoken on Sunday night by a powerful blast as a car bomb exploded in the city centre, bringing to an end a violent weekend that left one person dead.
The blast took place on Stora Nygatan in the centre of the city. There were no reports of any injuries, but the blast did shatter several windows at the nearby Museum of Modern Art. Another car was also damaged.
Police said there were no indications the blast was linked to the shooting dead of a man believed to be a member of the Wolfpack Brotherhood criminal gang at a shopping centre over the weekend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Car Detonated Near Art Museum in Malmö
A car was blown up in central Malmö on Sunday evening, and the explosion damaged several other cars and also broke windows at the modern art museum nearby. Nobody was hurt.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s New Approach to Jihadis: Jobs!
by Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard
It soon appeared that Mona Sahlin seemed more concerned with the well-being of the jihadis than with that of the country’s peaceful majority.
“If you want to increase recruitment for the IS, it’s a fantastic idea. The message is that it’s okay to behave like his and when you come back, we’ll fix you up with jobs, housing and therapy.” — Magnus Norell, terrorism expert, Aftonbladet newspaper.
“In a few months, I’m back in Sweden after being deployed in Afghanistan… There is no permanent job waiting for me when I come home.” — Frederick Brandberg, Swedish soldier.
What will Sahlin think of next: Compensate terrorists for lost income?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Fighter Charged in Sweden Over War Crime
A 28-year-old Syrian man is facing war-crime charges over a vicious assault carried out in his then home country. It’s the first case of its kind in Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tsipras: Greece and Cyprus Have Made Unfair Sacrifices
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, FEBRUARY 2 — “In the past few years the people of Greece and Cyprus have made unfair sacrifices,” the new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said today noting that austerity policies have failed. Tsipras and his entourage arrived this afternoon at the House of Representatives where they were welcomed by House President Yiannakis Omirou as reported by Cyprus News Agency. In his statements, Tsipras also that “austerity policies have failed” and that “it is time for a different arrangement which will be valid for all European peoples.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK Muslim Leader: London Mayor’s Calling Jihadis “Losers” Was “Terrorism”
MAYOR Boris Johnson has been blasted for ‘inciting fear into the hearts of people’ after he branded religious extremists “w*****s” with a fixation on pornography.
General Secretary for the Muslim Women’s Network Mussurut Zia slammed the Conservative politician’s comments as “irresponsible” and “the definition of terrorism”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vikings Storm the Streets at Up Helly Aa, Europe’s Biggest Fire Festival (Photos)
Hundreds of local residents took to the streets, brandishing thousands of flaming torches, in an homage to Shetland’s Viking heritage
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Egypt Court Sentences 183 Muslim Brotherhood Supporters to Death
An Egyptian court sentenced 183 supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday on charges of killing police officers, part of a sustained crackdown by authorities on Islamists.
The men were convicted of playing a role in the killings of 16 policemen in the town of Kardasa in August, 2013 during the upheaval that followed the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi. Thirty-four were sentenced in absentia.
Egypt has mounted one of the biggest crackdowns in its modern history on the Brotherhood since the political demise of Mursi, the country’s first democratically-elected president.
Thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested and put on mass trials in a campaign which human rights groups say shows the government is systematically repressing opponents.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Mursi, describes the Brotherhood as a major security threat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: New Government Team With Islamists Ennhadha
The cabinet will include 22 ministers
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — Tunisia’s incoming Prime Minister Habib Essid has announced his new government after lengthy negotiations with political parties led him to revise a list of names already presented on January 23. Government members include the Afek Tounes party, Upl (Union patriotique libre) and the Islamic Ennhadha, the second-largest party in the country (to get the ministry of training).
The cabinet will include 22 ministers, two minister delegates and 15 secretaries of State, with a larger number of politicians compared to the previous one. The inclusion of Ennhadha in the government, at the center of discussions and criticism from voters of the two main parties in the country, represents a solution with a grand coalition slated to pass a vote of confidence in parliament in a plenary session on Wednesday, February 4.
Taieb Baccouche, already secretary general of the Tunisian union Ugtt, is the new foreign minister, independent Farhat Horchani, a law professor at the political science department of the university of Tunis, will be in charge of the defense portfolio. Nejem Gharsalli will be in charge of the interior ministry while Salah Ben Aissa will be justice minister.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas: ‘We Are Not Terrorists, We Defend Palestine’
Palestinian movement rejects decision by Egyptian special court
(by Remigio Benni) (ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 2 — “We are not terrorists, as we have been defined”, “our men act in defense of Palestine” and by dubbing them terrorists Egypt “only offers a present to Israeli occupation”, a Hamas spokesman said, commenting an Egyptian court ruling on Sunday which outlawed the armed wing of the organization, the Ezzedin al Qassam brigades. The decision, taken by the Special court in Cairo for urgent affairs, arrived just a few hours after heavy attacks against Egyptian security personnel in northern Sinai, which left 30 soldiers and police officers dead.
The al Qassam brigades are also allegedly accused of killing 33 security officers in attacks last October in Sinai. In a number of occasions the attacks and killings carried out in the peninsula, as well as in other areas of Egypt, have been claimed by members of Islamist group Ansar Beit el Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), which has recently pledged allegiance to ISIS (Daish in Arabic).
The decision by the Court for urgent affairs — according to which the objective of the Palestinian movement is to destabilize Egypt — is a turning point in relations between Egypt and Hamas, a Palestinian political group considered as an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, another organization banned in Egypt in December 2013 after widespread protests following the ouster by the president’s military of their president Mohamed Morsi.
Eased relations between the Egyptian government and the Palestinians had enabled Cairo to mediate and bring a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, signed on August 26, 2014, after 51 days of fighting. The Court’s ruling was followed by a statement according to which Hamas will refuse further mediation by Egypt in Palestinian domestic affairs, which was later retracted. The issue “will not compromise relations between Hamas and Egypt”, said a leading member of the movement, Sallah al Bardawil. “We make a distinction between the Egyptian people, who support us, and the political regime of Cairo, which can change”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
14-Yr-Old Norwegian Found Fighting in Iraq
A 14-year-old boy from Norway has been discovered fighting in Iraq against the militant Islamic group Isis, Norway’s TV2 reported on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Launches Holocaust Denial Cartoon Contest
An international cartoon contest has been launched in Iran around the theme of Holocaust denial, in response to French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
Holocaust denial is not uncommon in the Islamic Republic, an arch-foe of Israel, but the controversial competition is a response to the January 14 issue of Charlie Hebdo, whose cover featured a teary Prophet Mohammed holding a sign saying “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Medina-Mecca High-Speed Rail Slows Down
Planning errors and delays in the work are jeopardizing a high speed rail link between Mecca and Medina, the contract for which was awarded to a consortium of 12 Spanish companies for 6.7 billion euros. The initial planning problems have been aggravated by the complexity of building a 400-kilometer stretch in the desert.
Spanish media report that a harsh letter was sent in late December to the consortium by the new Saudi transport minister, Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Muqbel (engineer and former mayor of Riyadh), in which he criticized the work after making a surprise inspection of several parts of the rail line. The Saudi minister showed annoyance about the lack of progress made on the ‘pilgrims’ railway’ , calling for the Spanish consortium Al-Shoula to submit an emergency plan within two months to speed up the work or have its contract rescinded. The high speed link will enable the journey between Medina and Mecca to be made in 2 hours and 30 minutes and may be up and running in December 2016.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Lacks Strategy to Stop Islamic State Expansion
On the one-year anniversary of its initial thrust into western Iraq, the Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS, has claimed the creation of new cells in Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It also has boasted of new alliances, such as with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is determined to attack inside America.
The Islamic State, led by Iraqi cleric Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has the long-term goals of seizing more territory, as it did in Syria and Iraq, and planning attacks against the U.S. homeland.
At the same time, national security analysts say, the Obama administration has no grand strategy to combat, or contain, the Islamic State outside Iraq and Syria.
“ISIS has an expansive vision of itself,” said retired ArmyLt. Gen. James Dubik, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War who commanded troops in Iraq. “They’re not satisfied with the Islamic State in Iraq-Syria. They’re reaching out to other areas that might be ripe for further development. And right now it’s gathering fighters and establishing networks. And then the next phase is terrorist activities.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: ‘Negotiate With Assad, ISIS Real Threat’, UN Envoy
‘Find agreement between all parties involved’
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS — UN envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura on Monday discussed the situation in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation and his recommendations before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. After four years of conflict, an estimated at least 200,000 dead and 6.6 million displaced, “it is clear to all that there can be no military solution in Syria”, he said, and that the only way out of the current situation is to “find an inclusive agreement between all the parts involved — Alawites, Sunnis, Christians and Kurds” — and one which would include current president Bashar Al-Assad in the talks, since, his regime “still controls 50% of the country and the population”. The first aim, he added, in a situation “that could spread to Lebanon”, must be a “freeze on the conflict” in Aleppo, making it possible to isolate the Islamic State (ISIS) and the local Al-Qaeda affiliate fighting with opposition forces Jabhat Al-Nusra. On ISIS, De Mistura noted that its growth “can be an opportunity”, since it raised the level of alarm in other regional powers. He added that Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia must be part of the talks since “there isn’t enough critical mass without them to achieve a solution”. He underscored that the EU must be prepared to provide immediate aid to Aleppo if a freeze were to be implemented. “It would be a way to make all sides understand that there is an advantage to halting the bombing,” he said. He added that there are 18 parties to the conflict, and that ISIS is “20 kilometers from the city”.
If the government troops, which control two thirds of the city — according to De Mistura — were to stop bombing the opposition and the latter would stop launching rockets, this would enable humanitarian aid to get in and even Jabhat Al-Nusra would be forced to let people “breathe”. In stressing that the UN’s “worst mistake” would be to halt talks “like what happened in Srebrenica and Rwanda”, De Mistura vowed not to give up and said that although the talks in Cairo and Moscow were “not perfect”, they did at least constitute dialogue.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Dutch Journalist Risks 5 Years Jail for ‘Propaganda’
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 2 — A lawsuit has been opened against Frederike Geerdink, a Diyarbakir-based Dutch journalist, on charges of making propaganda on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with the prosecutor demanding between one and five years in prison as Anadolu Agency reports.
Geerdink was briefly detained on January 6 as a part of an operation launched by the Diyarbakir Prosecutor’s Office after three different complaints were made to the Ankara police. The 6th High Criminal Court has accepted an indictment in which the prosecutor’s office said it was determined that the journalist made PKK propaganda by sharing the organization’s flags and member’s activities on social media. In her testimony, Geerdink pled not guilty and refused that she shared posts either praising the PKK or against the state, the indictment also said.
Geerdink’s detention came hours after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had declared at a meeting of ambassadors in Ankara that “there is no freer press, in Europe or elsewhere in the world, than in Turkey.” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders was also attending the meeting when the journalist was detained. While Koenders raised his concerns during his meetings with Turkish colleagues, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, on January 6, the Turkish side defended the impartiality of the ongoing judicial process.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US-Backed Syrian Rebels Join Jihadist Coalition
A rebel group in Syria supported by the United States joined an alliance of largely jihadist groups that includes the Islamic Front, a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia.
The Hazzm movement joined the Jabhat al-Shamiyya, or Levant Front, after an increasing number of attacks against them by al-Qaeda’s al-Nusrah Front.
The Hazzm movement was considered a non-jihadist opposition group fighting to topple the Bashar al-Assad government. Its full name is Harakat Hazzm, which in Arabic means Movement of Steadfastness. It had been receiving what it described as small amounts of military aid from countries opposed to Assad, and some of that aid included anti-tank missiles made in the United States.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rebels Pound Ukrainian Troops After Peace Talks Fail
(Reuters) — Separatist rockets streaked across hills in eastern Ukraine on Monday as rebels pounded the positions of Ukrainian government troops holding a strategic rail town while both sides pressed ahead with mobilizing more forces for combat.
Kiev’s military said five more Ukrainian soldiers were killed in clashes while municipal authorities in the big rebel-controlled city of Donetsk said 15 civilians were killed at the weekend by shelling in a surge of violence following the collapse of a new peace effort on Saturday.
Talks between Ukraine, Russia and rebel officials in Minsk, Belarus, had raised hopes of a new ceasefire to stem the violence in a conflict which has claimed more than 5,000 lives. But they broke up without progress with Ukraine and the separatists accusing each other of sabotaging the meeting.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Separatists in Eastern Ukraine ‘To Mobilise 100,000 Men’
Pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine plan a “general mobilisation” under which thousands of men will be called up, one of their main leaders was quoted as saying on Monday.
Separatist news agency DAN reported that Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, had said that the call-up would mobilise as many as 100,000 men. It was unclear, however, how the recruitment would be handled.
Macau casinos suffer losing streak as anti-graft push bites
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand PM Steps Up Security After Bangkok Bombs
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered security to be tightened in Bangkok after two small bombs were detonated near a luxury shopping mall. The capital has been under martial law since a coup in May 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Secret Strategy Exposed: Beijing Plots to Surpass U.S. In Coming Decades
by Bill Gertz
China launched a secret 100-year modernization program that deceived successive U.S. administrations into unknowingly promoting Beijing’s strategy of replacing the U.S.-led world order with a Chinese communist-dominated economic and political system, according to a new book by a longtime Pentagon China specialist.
For more than four decades, Chinese leaders lulled presidents, cabinet secretaries, and other government analysts and policymakers into falsely assessing China as a benign power deserving of U.S. support, says Michael Pillsbury, the Mandarin-speaking analyst who has worked on China policy and intelligence issues for every U.S. administration since Richard Nixon.
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Official figures published by the former Portuguese colony showed that gaming revenues fell 17.4 percent year-on-year to 23.75 billion patacas ($2.97 billion) in January — cementing an eight month losing streak for the gambling hub.
Revenues plunged a record 30.5 percent in December and 2.6 percent overall in 2014 — the first annual decline since figures were first released in 2002.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tokyo Mourns Kenji Goto Jogo, The Journalist Killed by the Islamic State. New Push for Rearmament
The Christian journalist’s wife “devastated” by her husband’s death but is proud of his work as a journalist”. The Japanese prime minister: “We need military means to counter this threat.” The population holds government to blame. Jordan waits amid fear for fate of other hostage, Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) — The murder of the Japanese reporter kidnapped by the Islamic State has “devastated” his wife, who now feels a “immense pain. While feeling a great personal loss, I remain extremely proud of my husband, who reported the plight of people in conflict areas like Iraq, Somalia and Syria”, writes the wife of Kenji Goto Jogo, the Christian journalist beheaded by Islamic terrorists, after confirmation of the authenticity of the video that proves the man’s death.
Kenji loved his job, writes his wife identified only by the name of Rinko, “ It was his passion to highlight the effects on ordinary people, especially through the eyes of children, and to inform the rest of us of the tragedies of war. As you can imagine, this is an extremely difficult time for our family. I would ask that the media please respect our privacy and allow us time to come to terms with our loss”.
The death of the journalist shook the whole Japan, which, one day after the tragedy, is divided on the next steps to take. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that what happened “proves once more that our Constitution is obsolete. We must have appropriate tools to respond to threats against our citizens with weapons.” The reference is to Art. 9 of the Constitution, already amended by his government, which required the country to pursue a military program for self-defense purposes only.
On the contrary, some of the population believes that the death of the journalist is to be attributed to government ineptitude. Immediately after the publication of the video with the decapitation of the second hostage, a group of people went spontaneously to Abe’s residence with signs that read “All because of you” and “I’m not Shinzo Abe.”
Controversy also continues to rage in Jordan, home of the other hostage in the hands of the Islamic State. Air force Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh has been held hostage since Christmas 2014, when his jet crashed in the territory controlled by terrorists. The IS wants the liberation of the Iraqi terrorist Sajida al-Rishawi, and the government in Amman has sent mixed signals: on the one hand says it is ready to release her, on the other it argues that “it will not” bargain with the fundamentalists.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuelan Shop Owners Arrested Over Long Queues
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the owners of an unnamed chain of shops have been arrested for artificially creating long queues.
Mr Maduro said the owners had reduced the number of employees working on cash tills in order to create queues and “annoy the Venezuelan people”.
He has accused Venezuela’s business elite of boycotting his government.
The opposition blames the socialist policies of the past 16 years for the worsening economic crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Graphene’s Cousin Silicene Makes Transistor Debut
Seven years ago, silicene was little more than a theorist’s dream. Buoyed by a frenzy of interest in graphene — the famous material composed of a honeycomb of carbon just one atom thick — researchers speculated that silicon atoms might form similar sheets. And if they could be used to build electronic devices, these slivers of silicene could enable the semiconductor industry to achieve the ultimate in miniaturization.
This week, researchers took a significant step towards realizing that dream, by unveiling details of the first silicene transistor.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In the news “Eight Swedes Questioned Over Ferry ‘Gang Rape’”, the media conveniently calls them “swedes”. They are all, in fact, “new swedes”, from Somalia…