Bombs exploded outside two churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least 14 people and wounding another 70. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. Due to the high number of casualties, hospitals in Lahore have called on local residents to donate blood to help the victims.
In other news, a man named Jeffrey Williams was arrested late last night for shooting two police officers outside police headquarters in Ferguson, Missouri. Mr. Williams acknowledged firing the shots, but said the police were not the intended victims. He said the shots were aimed at an acquaintance with whom he had had a dispute.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, Papa Whiskey, 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.
Former US Budget Office President Warns Economy is Nearing Final Stage of Collapse
(NaturalNews) The one-time director of the Office of Management and Budget under former President Ronald Reagan has a dire warning for the world’s citizens: The global economy has entered “the crack-up phase” that may lead to the evaporation of much of the West’s wealth.
According to David Stockman, who is also a former businessman and GOP representative from Michigan, the mismanagement of the global economy by the world’s richest nations is about to reach its zenith and will be preceded, he believes, by four events.
“We’re in the crack-up phase. I think there are four big characteristics of that which are going to shape the way the economy and the markets unfold as we go forward,” he said on Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity podcast.
Stockman has predicted that:
- There will be increasingly desperate moves by central banks;
- market volatility and losses will increase;
- deflation will hit industrial and commodity prices; and
- peak debt will cause decreasing consumer demand, further weakening economic activity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Deflation Drops to 0.1% in February
‘Trolley’ prices up 0.7%
(ANSA) — Rome, March 13 — Deflation in Italy fell in February, with the annual inflation rate moving to -0.1%, compared to -0.6 in January, national statistics agency Istat said. In its preliminary forecast, Istat had estimated that the annual inflation rate for February was -0.2%.
The slowdown in deflation was largely due to a “sharp recovery” in vegetable prices, which were up 10.8% compared to a 1.7% drop in January, Istat said.
Meanwhile Istat’s annual index for the prices of everyday goods such as food and household items, the so-called ‘trolley’, was 0.7% up in February, after being flat in January.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy, Spain to Follow if Greece Exits Eurozone, Says Greek Defense Minister
Greece’s Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has said his country’s exit from the eurozone could be followed by Italy, Spain and even Germany. Kammenos’ interview comes amid lack of progress in Greece’s bailout plan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia GDP to Fall 3.5-4% This Year
Economy suffering due to sanctions
(ANSA) — Rome, March 13 — Russia’s GDP will fall 3.5-4% this year, the central bank said Friday.
The Russian economy is suffering due to sanctions imposed for its role in the Ukraine conflict.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Unicredit Says No Need for Capital Increases
Ghizzoni says bank following Russian situation ‘very carefully’
(ANSA) — Cernobbio, March 13 — Federico Ghizzoni, chief executive officer of Unicredit SpA, said Friday that the Italian bank does not need any additional capital increases.
The bank, which has a large international presence, is also following the situation in Russia very closely, he added, speaking outside the Ambrosetti financial conference.
“We do not need capital increases,” Ghizzoni said, adding that relevant capital ratios were been boosted and were continuing to rise.
“We will continue the work of strengthening,” capital reserves, he added. UniCredit, one of Italy’s largest bank, easily passed stress tests in a major review by the European Central Bank late last year, in part because it maintains solid capital reserve bases. Meanwhile, Ghizzoni said the bank was watching the economic situation in Russia “very carefully” because of its investments there.
“Results have been very comforting in the first two months of the year,” but concerns remain, he said.
Russia has been hit especially hard by the plunging price of oil on world markets, as the energy sector is a major part of the Russian economy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Varoufakis Says ECB Will Protect Unity of Euro
(ANSA) — Cernobbio, Marhc 13 — Greece Economy Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Friday that the European Central Bank “will do everything possible to preserve the indivisibility of the euro”.
He spoke outside the Ambrosetti forum in Cernobbio, where key economic and financial leaders were gathering. There have been fears that Greece may leave the eurozone over its fiscal woes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth — How GMOs Took Over the Food Supply, Part 1 -Video
Genetically manipulated foods may be one of the most serious threats not only to our environment but to the health and very survival of future generations. Typically, the blame for the promulgation of genetic engineering of our food is placed on chemical companies.
But there’s actually a hidden back story to how genetically engineered foods were able to reach millions of dinner tables.
Steven Druker, who you may not be aware of, is the attorney who filed a lawsuit in the late ‘90s challenging the most important action the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken in this area: its presumption that genetically engineered (GE) foods are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) and can enter the market without a shred of safety testing.
However, the evidence clearly reveals that the FDA’s GRAS presumption was fraudulent when first announced in 1992 and that it remains fraudulent today. Nonetheless, it has played the central role in allowing inadequately tested GE foods to permeate the American market. There are many components to this story, and Steven is just the man to set the story straight.
He’s written a landmark and historic book Altered Genes, Twisted Truth, with the revealing subtitle: How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public.
If you have even the remotest interest in this topic, I would strongly encourage you to get a copy of this book. It is, without a doubt, the best book on the topic and provides a treasure trove of facts that will help you decimate anyone who believes that GMOs are safe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth — How GMOs Took Over the Food Supply, Part 2 Druker — Video
The GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is the legal basis used to allow biotechnology companies to get away with fraud.
To qualify for GRAS, there must be overwhelming consensus present within the scientific establishment, and that consensus cannot be based on hypotheses or speculation; it has to be based on solid evidence.
In the case of GE foods, there is no such evidence. FDA’s own files contain the admission that they didn’t have any evidence upon which to base the presumption that GE foods are GRAS.
On January 24, a statement signed by 300 scientists was published in a peer-reviewed journal, asserting that there is no scientific consensus on the safety of GMOs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Your precious black President doesn’t have one blessed thing in common with you. Nothing! He’s never known economic disadvantage. He grew up attending the most prestigious private school in Hawaii. He had enough disposable income to buy, sell and smoke enough marijuana and crack to open his own business.
Then, as he was about to start at Columbia University, he magically scraped up enough money to enjoy a lengthy trip to Indonesia, Pakistan then on to India. How many struggling college kids are able to do that?! He went on to attend the extremely prestigious and expensive Harvard Law School. Hmm. Want to know who paid for that?
It wasn’t his Daddy, that’s for sure. Actually, it’s been revealed that the parents of Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, were partially responsible for financing his college education. Know who else did? The government of Saudi Arabia. No kidding. That’s one reason he bowed to the Saudi king right after he was elected President, while on his world-wide ‘I-Hate-America’ tour.
I wonder how many of the black folks in that crowd in Selma, Alabama today grew up with those kind of advantages. Heck, how many Americans of any color do? I sure didn’t! Apparently being white ain’t everything. But let me continue to point out the differences between you and your so-called black President.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ferguson Police: Public Info Led to Arrest of Man in Shootings of Two Officers
(CNN) A 20-year-old man from the St. Louis area has been arrested in connection with the shooting of two police officers during last week’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri, a prosecutor said Sunday.
Jeffrey Williams was arrested late Saturday, and he has been charged with two counts of first-degree assault, a count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal activity, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said at a news conference in Clayton.
“The demonstrations were pretty much over (when the officers were shot). People were leaving, and that’s when this happened,” he said, describing Williams as a demonstrator who had taken part in protests on numerous occasions.
At the time of his arrest, Williams was on probation for receiving stolen property, and McCulloch said he believed Williams had an outstanding warrant after not reporting to his probation officer for several months.
The prosecutor repeatedly thanked the public for the information that led to the arrest. He also said that, because of the public’s assistance in the case, police were able to serve a search warrant on Williams’ residence where they seized a .40-caliber handgun, “which has been tied to the shell casings that were recovered” at the scene of the shooting.
[…]
One element of the case that authorities have yet to sort out is intent, McCulloch said, adding that Williams has acknowledged firing the shots but has said he wasn’t aiming at the police officers.
Investigators are not sure they “buy” Williams’ claim that he opened fire after a dispute with other individuals, McCulloch said, but he didn’t rule it out.
“It’s possible he was firing at someone else,” he said, urging any other witnesses with information to come forward.
[…]
Officers saw “muzzle flashes … about 125 yards away,” [Police Chief Jon] Belmar said.
[The suspect is undoubtedly telling the truth. It is certainly possible to hit a man-sized target at 125 yards, but it takes a master marksman, not some street thug. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Gun Industry’s Helping Hand Triggers a Surge in College Shooting Teams
By Michael S. Rosenwald
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In between completing problem sets, writing code, organizing hackathons, worrying about internships and building solar cars, a group of MIT students make their way to the athletic center, where they stand side-by-side, load their guns and fire away.
They are majoring in biological engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, aeronautics, mechanical engineering, computer science and nuclear science. Before arriving at MIT, nearly all of them had never touched a gun or even seen one that wasn’t on TV.
“Which is strange because I’m from Texas,” said Nick McCoy, wearing a T-shirt advertising his dorm and getting ready to shoot.
McCoy is one of the brainiacs on MIT’s pistol and rifle teams, which, like other college shooting teams, have benefited from the largesse of gun industry money and become so popular that they often turn students away. Teams are thriving at a diverse range of schools: Yale, Harvard, the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and even smaller schools such as Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and Connors State College in Oklahoma.
“We literally have way more students interested than we can handle,” said Steve Goldstein, one of MIT’s pistol coaches.
Although some collegiate teams date to the late 1800s, coaches and team captains say there is a surge of new interest from students, both male and female, finally away from their parents and curious to handle one of the country’s most divisive symbols. Once they fire a gun, students say they find shooting relaxing — at MIT, students call it “very Zen” — and that it teaches focusing skills that help in class.
Some also find their perceptions about guns changing.
“I had a poor view, a more negative view of people who like guns than I do now,” said Hope Lutwak, a freshman on MIT’s pistol team. “I didn’t understand why people enjoyed it. I just thought it was very violent.”
And that’s precisely what the gun industry hoped it would hear after spending the past few years pouring millions of dollars into collegiate shooting, targeting young adults just as they try out new activities and personal identities.
[This is excellent. Competition shooting is an upstanding activity that’s a vastly better influence on young people than video games, TV shows, and movies,with all their attendant slaughterfests. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Indelible Images, Searing Words in Boston
By Ann O’Neill, CNN
We’ve seen one haunting image after another: Bombs go off, the wounded bleed and crawl in the street. The suspect lurks in the crowd with a heavy backpack, and then runs away without it. A pool of blood, almost too brightly red, widens under the driver’s side seat of a police car. A frantic man jumps out of an SUV and runs for his life.
Fifty witnesses have told their stories at the Boston Marathon bombing trial [of Muslim Dzhokhar Tsarnaev]; each is difficult to hear and impossible to forget.
The images and voices, coming one right after another, can turn your stomach and break your heart.
[…]
“I remember being happy, I remember feeling sunlight on my face. I remember feeling free.” [Jessica Kansky] felt the explosion rather than seeing it or hearing it.
“I just felt like I was on a rocket.”
Kensky saw smoke and blood everywhere and felt like she was in war zone. She “went into nurse mode” and was so busy helping others, she didn’t realize that she was on fire herself.
She lost one of her legs within a day or two of the bombing. She fought hard to save the other for nearly two years because she couldn’t bear the thought of being a double amputee.
[…]
Dr. James Bath jumped into the chaos, too, quickly changing roles from marathon bystander to first responder. He left us with this indelible memory:
“Certainly, there were parts of limbs. There was a lot of burnt clothing and tissue. When I went into the Forum I noticed there was a young woman and a gentleman lying on the stairs. She was lying on top of him. Her foot had been sheared off. The gentleman she was with had the wherewithal to tourniquet off the leg. He kept saying he was saying he was sorry he brought her to the Marathon, and she was saying it’s alright.”
He remembers seeing two young Asian women, one beyond help. Lingzi Lu, whose leg was sliced from ankle to hip, pressed her hands to her face and bled out. Her friend, Danling Zhou, had no idea she was so badly hurt. She was preoccupied with holding her own internal organs inside her body.
[Matthew 7:20: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Robert David Steele — a 20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer, the second-ranking civilian in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence, and former CIA clandestine services case officer
Most terrorists are false flag terrorists or are created by our own security services.
In the United States, every single terrorist incident we have had has been a false flag, or has been an informant pushed on by the FBI.
In fact, we now have citizens taking out restraining orders against FBI informants that are trying to incite terrorism.
We’ve become a lunatic asylum.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Personal Info of Users Leaked Due to Google Error
A Google software problem accidentally leaked the names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers which people used for registration in websites, even after opting to keep the information private. The hidden data of nearly 280,000 users was leaked due to a bug in Google’s system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Arrest Missouri Man, 20, In Shooting of Two Officers in Ferguson
A 20-year-old Missouri man has been arrested in the shooting of two St. Louis County police officers Thursday, county officials announced Sunday.
Jeffrey Williams was arrested Saturday night and is charged with two counts of assault in the first degree, three counts of armed criminal action and firing a weapon from a vehicle, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said during the afternoon press conference.
Williams, who has attended several demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., told police that he fired shots at someone he had a dispute with, and hit the officers, who he alleges were not his intended target.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rage Against the Machines! Anti-AI Protest to Stop the Robots
Deep in the crowds of the South By Southwest Interactive Conference, Lee Anne McAdoo interviews Adam of stoptherobots.org in the midst of a raucous protest against the dehumanizing future of Artificial Intelligence.
He details his group’s mission and covers the reasons why we should be wary of blindly forging ahead into a future where we allow artificial intelligence to trump humanity.
Stoptherobots.org is issuing the clarion call to all futurists and developers to heed the warnings and ensure that humanity remains the beneficiary of new technology and does not become it’s slaves.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Takedown of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by American Congress
Was Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s invitation to address Congress a pre-arranged ‘Swan Song’ hidden under a hypocritical ‘bipartisan’ welcome by the U.S. Congress?
Was the celebrated address craftily arranged to galvanize the anti-Israel sentiment at work in today’s international politics?
Up until the March 3 address, Netanyahu was leading election polls . The day after the address, he began to tank in the polls.
Why are we only now hearing about a “powerful” U.S. Senate INVESTIGATORY committee launching an 11th-hour BIPARTISAN probe into an an American nonprofit’s funding of efforts to oust Netanyahu out of office as Israel’s courageous Prime Minister?
The Obama administration’s State Department’s recent, $350,000, taxpayer-funded grants were already at the disposal of the nonprofit in time for election meddling. The Israel general election is on Tuesday. The leftist zionists are ahead in the polls.
In other words, the horse is long gone out of the barn and no “bipartisan”, “investigatory” committee is ever going to bring it back.
If Netanyahu goes down on election night, it’s not just bad news for Israel, but for the Islamic terrorist challenged Free World.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) A critically important, heavily-researched article by Barbara Loe Fisher of the NVIC has been published today. Click here for the original, which we are reprinting below.
As this article exhaustively documents and reveals, the vaccine war taking place in America today is actually a “culture war” pursued by the most irrational and intellectually dishonest Big Pharma operatives, bloggers and journalists ever witnessed in recent memory. These people — the “vaccine pushers” — ignore real science and use wildly dishonest tactics of fear mongering, social shaming and blatant lying about scientific facts to demonize informed parents and attempt to criminalize those who pose intelligent, scientific questions about vaccine safety.
In this way, U.S. doctors, vaccine patent holders (such as Paul Offit), legislators and health regulators are marching America right down the path of medical crimes against humanity — the very same thing we once witnessed carried out by scientists operating under the Nazi regime in Germany.
I’ve just released a new video that explains these dark parallels between today’s vaccine culture war and the Nazi-era medical crimes against humanity. Both are predicated on the totalitarian belief that the government owns your body and can therefore tell you what to do with it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ENI to Cut Dividends, Investments, Assets
Italian energy company says production to increase
(ANSA) — London, March 13 — Italian energy firm Eni said Friday that it would cut its 2015 dividend, reduce investments, dispose of assets, but increase production.
In a presentation on its long-term plans, Eni said that this year’s dividend would be reduced to 0.80 euro per share, a significant drop from last year’s dividend of 1.12 euros per share.
As well, asset sales between 2015 and 2018 are expected to total eight billion euros while planned investments will be reduced over the same period by 17%.
At the same time, Eni projects production to increase by 3.5% per year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Hyper Cacher Kosher Supermarket Reopens After Paris Attacks
The Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris where four hostages were killed in January has reopened in Paris.
“There we are, we are open again,” the new manager, Laurent Mimoun, told local media, wearing a black kippa and visibly moved in the supermarket, completely refurbished and bearing no trace of the deadly attack.
“We are thinking about all the victims, this has been the driver behind reopening the shop,” he said.
The shop reopened with an entirely new staff since those present at the time were still recovering from the attack on sick leave, according to shop managers.
“It is important to pay respect to the memory of those who fell under the fire of barbarity,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said as he attended the reopening, which took place under heavy police surveillance.
France has both the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in Europe, leaving people to fear heightened tensions after the attacks and authorities to insist all would be protected.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: PEGIDA and Islamists Clash in Wuppertal
More than 1,000 police have been deployed across the western German city of Wuppertal as supporters of the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement, Salafists, and counter-demonstrators took to the streets simultaneously.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Internet Gaffe by US Government as UK Extremist’s Sharia Law Photo Used in Free Speech Ad
The US government has made a bizarre internet gaffe by posting a British Muslim extremist’s photograph of veiled women calling for sharia law, citing it as an inspirational example of free speech in the West.
The American State Department’s ‘Think Again Turn Away’ campaign is designed to dissuade Muslims from joining IS — also known as ISIS — and other extreme groups.
The campaign posted the picture on its Twitter account last week, adding: ‘In open societies, all faiths enjoy freedom of speech; under ISIS rule, no such thing as freedom of expression.’
The photograph shows Muslim women, all in black burkas, running a stall in Dalston, East London. They are standing behind a trestle table covered in leaflets and a banner reading: ‘Shariah law or man made law. Which is better for mankind?’
[Shari’a law is man-made law. It was made by the Muslim men who wrote the Qur’an and Sunnah, and who also wrote the proscriptions against bid’ah — that is, “innovation” of doctrines that would alter the Shari’a in a more humane and modern direction. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Develops Promising Vaccine Against ‘Superbacterium’
(ANSA) — Rome, March 9 — A new vaccine against the Staphylococcus aureus ‘superbacterium’ has been found to work in mice, the journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reported Monday.
S. aureus is a common cause of skin infections, respiratory disease, and food poisoning, and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant forms has become a worldwide problem in clinical medicine.
The research at a center run by Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis in the city of Siena is led by world-renowned scientist Rino Rappuoli, a pioneer in the field of vaccines and immunology.
Rappuoli and his team have developed a vaccine made up of five antigens, or antibody generators, which has proven effective in lab mice.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Study Finds HIV’s ‘Hiding Places’
Trieste team’s breakthrough could lead to new AIDS drugs
(ANSA) — Trieste, March 2 — A group of researchers at Trieste’s International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) has found the “dens” where HIV cells hide until they become “invisible”. The breakthrough, which could lead to the development of new AIDS drugs, was made possible after the team, led by Professor Mauro Giacca, photographed the structure of HIV lymphoid cell nuclei.
The study was published on Tuesday on the website of highly respected journal Nature.
The AIDS virus manages to insert its DNA into the cells that it infects to become part of their genetic makeup.
But up to now why the virus decides to combine with only some of the 20,000 human genes and how it manages to hide from medicines inside these genes had been a mystery.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Gave 2 Mn to ‘Bunga Bunga’ Girls
Aside from Ruby
(ANSA) — Milan, March 13 — Silvio Berlusconi gave more than two million euros from 2010 to early 2014 to girls who attended his parties, judicial sources said Friday in a probe into alleged perjury by so-called ‘bunga bunga’ witnesses. These sums did not include money given to former exotic dancer and alleged underaged prostitute Ruby the Heartstealer, whose real name is Karima El Mahroug.
Investigators have said Berlusconi is still paying Ruby and other alleged prostitutes for their silence about the real nature of his bunga bunga parties.
Berlusconi allegedly recently paid for a lavish birthday party for the baby daughter of Ruby, who prosecutors say worked as an underage prostitute while she attended the parties in 2010.
The 7,000-euro party paid for in cash to former nightclub dancer Ruby was just one of several big cash handouts the ex-premier made via various factotums, they said.
Another allegedly funded a nine-day Maldives holiday for two people with an estimated cost of 60-90,000 euros, while Ruby also spent large amounts on haute couture.
The handouts of 14-15,000 euros each were made by people acting for Berlusconi in Milan and at Ruby’s home in Genoa, investigators said.
Last month police searched the homes of Ruby and another 20 young women who attended the parties at Berlusconi’s villa outside Milan, in a probe into suspected bribes by the media magnate for them to keep mum about the real, sexual nature of the parties, prosecutors said.
All the women allegedly had a lifestyle out of all proportion with their declared income, investigators said.
Unlike Ruby, who was paid by various people, all the others were allegedly on the payroll of Berlusconi’s trusted ‘treasurer’, Giuseppe Spinelli.
Berlusconi was definitively cleared earlier this week last year of knowingly having sex with Ruby when she was 17, one year below the legal age to be a sex worker.
Judges upheld the three-time premier’s assertion he did not know she was underage.
Berlusconi was also acquitted of abusing his position as premier to spring Ruby from a Milan police station where she was being held on an unrelated theft claim, by claiming she was gthe niece of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Over 40 people are implicated in the new probe into suspected corruption in judicial proceedings and false testimony including Berlusconi, his historic lawyers Niccolo’ Ghedini and Piero Longo, Ruby, Giuliante and many of the young women who took part in the bunga bunga parties at the ex-premier’s private residence at Arcore.
Investigations began in January 2014 after Milan judges published their reasons for separate first-instance convictions of Berlusconi and of former TV anchor Emilio Fede, ex-talent scout Lele Mora and dental-hygienist-turned Lombardy councillor Nicole Minetti for pimping for the three-time premier.
Berlusconi was subsequently acquitted on appeal last July — a ruling upheld by the Cassation Court this week — on grounds there was no proof he knew Ruby was 17 at the time, while the conviction of Fede, Mora and Mienti was upheld on appeal in November.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Jihadi John’ Still Has Access to British Bank Account: ‘Incomprehensible’
“Jihadi John,” the Islamic State group terrorist involved in the execution of multiple Western prisoners, still has access to his British bank account.
The U.K. government’s independent investigator found that only six British jihadists have had their bank accounts frozen out of an estimated 600 fighting with the Islamic State group, The Telegraph reported Saturday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Romania Finance Minister Resigns Amid Investigation He Took $2.1 Million in Bribes When Mayor
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s finance minister has resigned amid an investigation into suspicions that he took 2 million euros ($2.1 million) in bribes when he was a mayor. Darius Valcov handed in his resignation Sunday evening, hours after President Klaus Iohannis urged the prime minister to fire him as criticism of the government grew.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sharon Bradley (pictured) is alleged to have sent the girl, a vulnerable in-patient at Skye House in Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital, a picture explaining how someone could take their own life.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Franc Too Strong, Railway Transportation of Goods in Difficulty
The increase in value, with respect to the euro, and the low cost of diesel make rail transportation less economical. “Transit activities just manage to cover the costs.”
After the decision by the Swiss National Bank, on 15 January, the euro’s loss of value, with respect to the Swiss franc, and the fall in the price of oil are putting goods traffic by rail across Switzerland, in difficulty. Transit activities just manage to cover the costs; in other words, the receipts in euros are lower than the costs paid in francs. This situation is similar to 2009, when the franc-euro exchange rate was 1.65, as a result of a 40% loss in value….
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism, Niqabs and 1930s Germany
What took place in Canada during the last week isn’t exactly Godwin’s Law but it is close. The law postulates that if an online discussion goes on long enough, eventually someone will compare something or someone to Hitler or the Nazis. A couple of federal MPs didn’t disappoint.
Last Monday, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau gave a speech on, of all things, liberty. The leader, as progressive always do, went on and on about diversity and inclusion which of course does not include Christians. Trudeau is the leader who announced last year, no candidate will be allowed to run for his party if they are pro-life. As is the trend these days, diversity and inclusion is generally restricted to Muslims.
Trudeau’s speech, which some are referring to as a manifesto, was of course aimed at Prime Minister Harper; specifically Harper’s view that Muslim women should not be granted Canadian citizenship if they are wearing a burqa or niqab during the citizenship ceremony. They must show their face in public while becoming citizens.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The former deputy prime minister (left) claimed people are turning to extremism because they see rockets fired at their country on TV. The comments were made at a fundraising event.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Soapy, Acidic’… Why Did Foreign Office Make the Queen Serve Shabby Chablis to Obama?
Officials in charge of the Government’s wine cellar, provided bottles of 2004 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos, despite the batch having been found wanting according to a hospitality stock report.
[Comment: Stop the presses. This is really serious.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Under-fire BBC chief Rona Fairhead personally blocked the release of redacted information about a long-delayed investigation into Jimmy Savile, prompting fresh cover-up accusations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Konstandinos Scurfield Who Was First Brit Killed Fighting Against ISIS is Returned to Family
The body of Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, 25, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, who was the first Briton to be killed while fighting against ISIS, has been returned to his family in a special ceremony in Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Group Accuses Government of Trying to ‘Criminalise’ Islam
A group of “Imams, sheikhs, advocates, activists, community leaders, community organisations and student bodies of the Muslim community” have issued a joint statement claiming the government is trying to “criminalise” Islam.
The 128 signatories to the letter claim that Muslims are being unfairly accused of being a threat to national security, in order to solicit votes at the General Election. The group make nine specific points on the website 5Pillars, they are printed below:
[…]
4) The expedient use of undefined and politically charged words like ‘radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ is unacceptable as it criminalises legitimate political discourse and criticism of the stance of successive governments towards Muslims domestically and abroad. We strongly oppose political proposals to further ‘tackle’ and ‘crack down’ on such dissenting voices in the Muslim community despite their disavowal of violence and never having supported terrorist acts.
5) Similarly, it is unacceptable to label as ‘extremist’ numerous normative Islamic opinions on a variety of issues, founded on the Quran and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), implying there is a link between them and violence, using such labels as an excuse to silence speakers.
[“Shut up!” they explained. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenager Who Survived Axe Attack on Family Set to Inherit Part of £10m
Henri van Breda suffered what police sources reportedly said was ‘self-inflicted’ wounds following the bloodbath at his family home in Stellenbosch — 50 kilometres east of Cape Town.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Pope: Christians Are Persecuted and the World Tries to Hide It
During the Angelus, Francis prayed for the victims of today’s church massacres in Pakistan. Before the Marian prayer, he said that God “loves us, really love us, and loves us very much! This is simplest expression that sums up the whole Gospel, faith, and theology. God loves us freely and boundlessly.” The pontiff also spoke about typhoon victims in Vanuatu. “I pray for the dead, the wounded and the homeless. I thank all those who reacted immediately to bring relief and aid.” The pope also made a plea on behalf of persecuted Christians. “May the persecution against Christians, which the world is trying to hide, come to an end, and may there be peace.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — Christians “are persecuted, and the world tries to hide it. I ask the Lord, implore the Lord for peace in Pakistan,” said Pope Francis after the midday Angelus. He had mentioned as much when he introduced the midday Angelus in which he stressed that God “loves us, really love us, and loves us very much! This is simplest expression that sums up the whole Gospel, faith, and theology. God loves us freely and boundlessly. This is how God loves us.”
Looking at the crucifix, Francis said, “We feel within us God’s love.” He went on to say that “God shows such love first with creation, as the liturgy proclaims, in the Eucharistic Prayer IV: ‘you, who alone are good, the source of life, have made all that is, so that you might fill your creatures with blessings and bring joy to many of them by the glory of your light.’ The Father’s freely given love is at the origin of the world. An early saint, Saint Irenaeus wrote, ‘In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not as if He stood in need of man, but that He might have [some one] upon whom to confer His benefits’ (Adversus haereses, IV, 14, 1). Thus is God’s love.
“The Eucharistic Prayer IV goes on to say: ‘And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death. For you came in mercy to the aid of all’. He came with His mercy. As in creation, God’s freely given love stands out in the subsequent stages in the history of salvation: the Lord chooses his people not because it deserves it, but because it is the smallest among all peoples. When ‘the fullness of time’ came, although men had repeatedly broken the covenant, God, instead of abandoning them, forged a new bond with them, in the blood of Jesus — the bond of the new and eternal covenant — a bond that nothing will ever break.”
“Saint Paul,” Francis said, “told us: ‘But God, who is rich in mercy (Don’t forget this, ever), because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ’ (Eph, 2:2-3). The Cross of Christ is the supreme test of God’s mercy and love for us. Jesus loved us ‘to the end’ “(Jn, 13:1), i.e. not only to the last moment of his earthly life, but to the extreme limit of love. If in creation, the Father gave us proof of his boundless love by giving us life, in the passion of his Son, he gave us proof of proofs: he came to suffer and die for us. [He did] This for love. God’s mercy is so great because he loves us, forgives us. With his mercy, God forgives all and God forgives always.”
Mary, Mother of Mercy, is the pope’s invocation before the Marian prayer. “May she place in our heart the certainty that we are loved by God. May she be close to us in times of trouble and give us her Son’s feelings, so that our Lenten journey be an experience of forgiveness, acceptance and love.”
Right after the Angelus, the pope gave an unscripted address to the crowd. “Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, “it is with sorrow, a lot of sorrow that I learnt of today’s terrorist attacks against two churches in the city of Lahore, in Pakistan, which have resulted in many dead and wounded.
“They are Christian churches. Christians are persecuted. Our brothers shed blood only because they are Christian. As I assure you of my prayers for the victims and their families, I call upon the Lord, I beseech the Lord, source of all good, [to deliver] the gift of peace, and harmony to that country. May the persecution against Christians, which the world is trying to hide, come to an end, and may there be peace.”
After greeting various pilgrims from around the world, the pope mentioned the Pacific islands recently hit by a typhoon. “I am close to the people of Vanuatu, in the Pacific Ocean, hit by a strong cyclone. I pray for the dead, the wounded and the homeless. I thank all those who moved immediately to bring relief and aid. I wish you all a good Sunday. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and goodbye!”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vilks in Denmark for First Post-Attack Appearance
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks returned to Copenhagen on Saturday in his first public appearance since surviving a terror attack last month.
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks was in Copenhagen on Saturday to complete an award ceremony that was interrupted by last month’s terror attacks.
The 68-year-old cartoonist, who whipped up an outcry across the Muslim world with his 2007 sketch of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, had lived in a secret location since the February 14 attempt on his life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fighting Erupts Between Militias and ISIS Branch in Libya
Violent clashes have erupted between Islamic State-affiliated militants and militias aligned with the Islamist self-declared government near Sirte in central Libya.
After surrounding the Islamic State-controlled city of Sirte for several weeks, the militias are now about 10 miles west of the center of the city. Other militias fighting their way into Sirte from the east are only 1.8 miles from the center.
The Tripoli government has previously denied the existence of the Islamic State affiliate. The clashes are among the first known instances of Libya’s Islamist-allied militias battling the Islamic State affiliate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Scandinavia’ Accused of Meddling in Israel Vote
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused ‘Scandinavian governments’ of spending millions of dollars on a campaign to remove him from power, as the Middle Eastern country prepares for elections next week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Can Anyone Stop the World Cup in Qatar?
Workers have died by the hundreds constructing the emirate’s soccer fantasy land, and still FIFA is intent on keeping the tournament there. Here’s a not-so-crazy alternative.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-ISIS Hostage Says ‘Jihadi John’ Played Lead Role in Mock Executions
LONDON — A former hostage held in Syria by Islamic State extremists for more than six months has described mock executions and other forms of psychological torture against him and other captives.
Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa wrote in The Sunday Times that militant Mohammed Emwazi played a lead role in the mock executions. Emwazi, a Londoner nicknamed “Jihadi John,” is believed to have played a central role in a series of beheading videos.
Espinosa, who works for El Mundo and was on assignment for the Spanish daily when he was abducted in September 2013, characterized Emwazi as a bloodthirsty psychopath who enjoyed threatening him and other Western hostages.
He said Emwazi “caressed” his neck with a long blade and described how he would behead Espinosa: “‘Feel it? Cold, isn’t it? Can you imagine the pain you’ll feel when it cuts? Unimaginable pain,”‘ he quoted Emwazi as saying.
Emwazi went on to describe precisely how the beheading would occur, the former hostage said, and explained where he would place Espinosa’s head once it had been done.
[Fifty Shades of Islam. These villainous vermin are awfully tough against helpless prisoners. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Executes Nine ‘Spies’ For ‘Betraying the Religion of Allah’ In Second Video
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Each of the nine hostages (pictured) look visibly frightened in the interviews they are forced to give before they are marched onto a bridge and shot dead.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Urban Infidel
Found via Twitter a large cache of DAESH videos through their links to secret pages and stored on drive.google.com. Embedded in each are links to active private message dumps, and many dozens of slick videos ranging in length from 9 minutes to an hour are new and old releases known and never before seen. Calls to jihad, admonishments, testimonials, threats and the usual fare of wholesale murder and massacre. There are ‘man on the street’ interviews in Mosul to show the soft side of ISIS, their ability to implement shariah as a functioning government and attempts to demonstrate how much better life is living under the most brutal and depraved subhumans.
Featured strongly among this insanity are many instances showing children being indoctrinated, and endless recruitment videos for in several languages trying to show off the ‘diversity’ of the terrorist devils.
Below are screen grabs from just a few of these videos, starting with young boys being brainwashed and coached to become the slaves of the most evil and detestable presence on earth today.
[These vids offer a good look into this Islamic dystopia. Very creepy. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Militants ‘Caught Cross-Dressing in Attempt to Flee Battlefield Unhindered’
Dozens of men have been caught trying to escape from northern Iraq in dresses and make-up, Iraqi forces have claimed. The photographs were posted on an Instagram account.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry Says ‘In the End’ US Must Negotiate With Assad to End Syria Conflict
The United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end the civil war now entering its fifth year, US Secretary of State John Kerry conceded in an interview that aired Sunday.
“Well, we have to negotiate in the end. We’ve always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process,” Kerry said in an interview carried out Saturday.
He stressed Washington was working hard to “re-ignite” efforts to find a political solution to end the war…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Agent ‘Worked as Courier to Deliver Money to IS’
An agent who helped three British schoolgirls cross into Syria to join the Islamic State group was also working as a courier to transfer money to jihadists, a Turkish newspaper reported on Sunday.
Turkey announced Thursday that it had arrested an intelligence agent working as a spy for an unidentified country in the US-led coalition and said he was a Syrian national.
Media reports in Turkey have said he was working for Canadian intelligence — a claim rejected by Ottawa…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria’s Conflict Enters Fifth Year Amid Growing Humanitarian Crisis
The bloody civil conflict in Syria is entering its fifth year amid a humanitarian emergency of huge dimensions. With no end to the fighting in sight, US’ John Kerry has said he is willing to negotiate with Assad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Three British Teens Caught in Istanbul ‘As They Tried to Join ISIS Militants in Syria’
Two 17-year-old boys from north-west London have been detained in Turkey along with a third male aged 19, the Met Police have said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US State Department Pledges $70m to Syrian Opposition to Mark Fourth Anniversary of Conflict
The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was working with Congress to provide about $70 million in non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition groups fighting the government of President Bashar Assad, at an event commemorating the fourth anniversary of the conflict. The aid will go toward community services, information security training, documentation of rights abuses by the regime, and supporting “vetted units of the armed opposition,” the State Department said, according to Reuters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Backs Force to Stop IS ‘Genocide’
The Vatican’s ambassador to the United Nations has endorsed military action against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria — an unusual move because the Vatican traditionally has opposed force in the region.
In an interview with the US Catholic website Crux, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said IS fighters were committing atrocities on a huge scale and the world needed to intervene.
“We have to stop this kind of genocide,” the Italian archbishop told Crux. “Otherwise we’ll be crying out in the future about why we didn’t do something, why we allowed such a terrible tragedy to happen.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
CNN is Beating the Drums of War
President George W. Bush’s national security advisor, Condi Rice, warned Americans that Saddam Hussein’s (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction could result in a mushroom cloud going up over an American city. No such threat existed. But today a very real threat exists over all American cities, and the national security advisor does not notice.
The threat issues from Washington and arises from the demonization of Russia and its leadership.
Wolf Blitzer (CNN, March 13) used the cover of a news program to broadcast a propaganda performance straight out of the Third Reich or perhaps from George Orwell’s 1984. The orchestration presented Russia as a massive, aggressive military threat. The screen was filled with missiles firing and an assortment of American General Strangeloves urging provocative measures to be deployed against the Russian Threat. Blitzer’s program is part of the orchestrated propaganda campaign whose purpose is to prepare Americans for conflict with Russia.
It was such irresponsible propaganda and so many blatant lies for a media organization to sponsor that it was obvious that CNN and Wolf Blitzer had no fear of being called on the carpet for spreading war fever. The so-called “mainstream media” has been transformed into a Ministry of Propaganda.
Similar propaganda is being spread in the UK where defense minister Michael Fallon declared Russia to be a “real and present danger” to Europe. US troops and tanks are being rushed to the Baltics on the pretext that Russia is going to attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia is Preparing for Something at the Kremlin While Putin’s Absence Baffles Everyone
Kremlin-controlled TV informed millions of Russians about a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev. Nothing unusual about that, right?
Wrong.
The meeting between the two leaders of the former Soviet republics isn’t due to take place until Monday. But that didn’t stop the newsreader on the Rossiya 24 channel reading out the following item — all in the past tense.
“The Kremlin also reports that Vladimir Putin met with Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev on Monday. They talked about cooperation in investment and humanitarian spheres, as well as the energy sector. They also discussed the possibility of Kyrgyzstan joining the Eurasian Economic Union.”
Before we get to Monday, as most of you are undoubtedly aware, we have to get past the weekend first. A spokesperson for Rossiya 24 quickly announced the news item had been a mistake. And, on a normal day, that would have been that.
But these are not normal times in Russia. Putin hasn’t been seen in public for over a week. This prolonged absence has sparked rumors that Russia’s long-serving national leader is ill. Or has been deposed in a coup. Or is dead. Or is visiting his alleged lover, the “extremely flexible gymnast,” Alina Kabaeva, who reportedly gave birth to a baby Putin in Switzerland today. Take your pick…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Sees No Need for EU to Expand Russia Sanctions
There is no ground for the EU to expand its sanctions against Russia over Ukraine as the latest Minsk truce holds, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said on Tuesday.
EU sanctions against Russia imposed over Moscow’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine have hit the Spanish economy hard, particularly the agriculture sector, the Spanish foreign minister said after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
Moscow has repeatedly dismissed Western accusations of providing military assistance to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
With Minsk ceasefire agreement being observed and heavy weapons withdrawn from the front line in eastern Ukraine, “I see no reasons for expanding sanctions, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said.
He went on to say that lifting sanctions depends on whether the EU-brokered peace deal between the government in Kiev and pro-Russian rebels is implemented in full.
Sergey Lavrov accused the Ukrainian authorities of dragging their feet on the fulfilment of a series of political reforms accompanying the ceasefire deal, particularly reaching an agreement to hold local elections in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
Commenting on the EU sanctions against Russia, Lavrov said Moscow wasn’t going to ask the EU to lift the restrictions.
“We are not going to persuade or ask our European friends about anything. Life will arrange everything back to order,” Lavrov said, as quoted by ITAR-TASS.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine: Odessa Court Refuses to Disclose Cause of Death of May 2 Tragedy Victims
A district administrative court in the Ukrainian city of Odessa has refused to publicly disclose the results of the forensic medical examination to determine the cause of death of 48 people during the tragic events of May 2, 2014.
The lawsuit has been filed by journalists of the May 2 Group which is conducting an independent investigation, TASS reports.
They believe that the Ukrainian authorities “have created an information vacuum around the investigation” and demand that the data kept in the archive of the forensic medical examination bureau be made public. The plaintiffs intend to appeal against the court decision.
A total of 48 people died and over 200 were injured in the tragic events that happened in May in Odessa. A sign-up campaign in support of a referendum turned into clashes between nationalist activists of the Right Sector and the Maidan self-defense groups on the one side and federalization supporters on the other side. The clashes resulted in the local House of Trade Unions being set on fire.
The investigation carried out by two parliamentary groups and law enforcers hasn’t identified the perpetrators to date.
The United Nations has classified as ‘inadequate’ the actions by the Ukrainian authorities to investigate last year’s murders in Kiev’s Independence Square and the House of Trade Unions in Odessa.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Blasts Hit Pakistani Churches
Bomb explosions outside two churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 55 during Sunday services, according to rescue workers, with police saying a mob lynched two suspects.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Pakistani Taliban splinter group, claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks.
The explosions occurred minutes apart during morning services at two churches in the city’s Youhanabad area, home to more than 100,000 Christians. The two neighbouring churches, one Catholic and one Protestant, are located about 500 metres apart…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How the CIA Gave Al-Qaeda $1 Million, And What That Money Was Used for
As the US and key stakeholders in the Middle East debate the best way to leverage the fight against ISIS in the service of a larger geopolitical agenda, a NY Times piece out today serves as a reminder (in case recent events haven’t made it clear enough) of just how pervasive examples of Western foreign policy blowback have become. As The Times reports, some $1 million in cash funneled to the Afghan government by the CIA ended up in the hands of al Qaeda who, after consulting with Bin Laden, promptly used the money to purchase weapons…
This appears to be further proof that in addition to funding insurgents on purpose when it suits Washington’s foreign policy agenda, the agency also funds such groups accidentally, even as they simultaneously spend billions in taxpayer dollars firing Hellfires from the stratosphere in a failed attempt to destroy the very same weapons they just inadvertently bought. As The Times notes, this kind of thing happens all the time:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Lahore: 14 Dead and More Than 70 Wounded in Taliban Attack Against Two Christian Churches
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militants carried out the twin attack against St John Catholic Church and Christ Church. Almost 2,000 people were in the two buildings at the time of the blasts. A mob lynched an attacker.
Lahore (AsiaNews/Agencies) — At least 14 people were killed and over 70 were wounded this morning in suicide attacks against two churches in Youhanabad, Lahore’s Christian quarter, in Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Punjab police reported that the two churches, which are 500 metres apart, were St John’s Catholic Church and Christ Church (Protestant).
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar (TTP-JA) claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Initial reports indicate that, at the time of the explosions, 800 people were present in one church and 1,100 people in the other
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blasts.
The death toll is constantly updated. Given the high number of wounded, the hospitals of Lahore called on residents to donate blood.
Christian schools in Karachi and Punjab announced that they will be closed tomorrow.
In Karachi, a demonstration got underway to protest against the attacks on the two churches.
The attackers decided to strike during Sunday services to achieve the most devastation.
According to eyewitnesses, two suicide bombers reached the gates of the two churches and tried to enter them. When they were stopped, they blew themselves up.
“We have carried out the attack,” TTP JA spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told The Express Tribune. “We have reached Lahore, the centre of Punjab province, which is a challenge and a warning to the rulers,” Ehsan said.
Immediately after the attacks, a crowd gathered to protest the lack of police protection. A young man, thought to have been involved in one of the attacks, was lynched and burned alive by an angry mob.
More than 100,000 Christians live in the Youhanabad area.
Lahore is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and richest province. The city is generally considered peaceful compared with many other areas of Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Explosions Near Lahore Churches Leave Six Worshippers Dead and 50 Wounded
Twin blasts went off minutes apart at the Saint John Catholic church and Christ Church in the city’s Youhanabad area. A Pakistani Taliban splinter group, has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Christians Unnerved by Lahore Church Attack
Suicide bombers attacked two churches in Pakistan’s Lahore, killing several people and sparking deadly riots. Christians in the country are now launching protests demanding more security for its minorities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Suicide Bombers Kill 15 People Outside Pakistani Churches
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers exploded themselves near two churches in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday as worshippers were gathered inside, killing 15 people, officials said, in the latest attack against religious minorities in the increasingly fractured country.
In the tense aftermath, angry mobs lashed out at people they suspected of involvement in the attacks — including one person who was burned to death — and Christian crowds set fire to cars in a show of defiance in the country’s second largest city and the prime minister’s seat of power.
Life in Pakistan is increasingly fraught with danger for religious minorities, especially Christians. They have been targeted by extremist Sunni Muslim militants who object to their faith.
They are also discriminated against in the wider society where they can often only get menial jobs like garbage collection, and are frequently targets of blasphemy accusations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Bomb Factory Discovered by Nigerian Troops During Assault Against Militants in Yobe State
A Boko Haram bomb-making factory was discovered by Nigerian troops in the northeastern state of Yobe, the military said Friday, according to media reports. The news of the discovery of the factory comes after the Islamic State group purportedly accepted Boko Haram’s alliance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Than a Million Hit Brazil Streets to Protest Rousseff
More than 1 million Brazilians, some of them calling for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, took to the nation’s streets Sunday to protest a government beset by scandal and the rising cost of living.
The largest protest occurred in Sao Paulo, with 1 million people as of 3:40 p.m. local time, according to its military police. Protests occurred in cites of 16 states and the federal capital, according to O Globo website. Its TV network reported 100,000 protesters in Porto Alegre and 45,000 in Brasilia, citing the military police of those cities. While no violence or vandalism was reported, Sao Paulo police apprehended firework rockets from a group of attendees.
Higher taxes and increased prices for government-regulated items like gasoline are rankling Brazilians as the biggest corruption scandal in the nation’s history ensnares elected and appointed officials. The approval rating of Rousseff’s government has plummeted since she won a close re-election last October.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Musician Kidnapped Playing at Northern Mexico Bar, Killed and Found With Signs of Torture
Authorities say a musician was kidnapped as he played for a crowd of about 400 people at a bar in northern Mexico, and his dead body was found shortly thereafter.
An official with the Nuevo Leon state attorney general’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk with the press, says the kidnapping occurred early Sunday at La Eternidad bar in Monterrey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A New Breed of Global Communism on Steroids
by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh
Creation of the progressive thought police, intolerance, labeling everyone with whom they disagree as bigots, racists, homophobes, Islamophobes, and domestic terrorists
The government is bringing in refugees from countries that hate our western culture, our legal system, and our way of life. They are bringing in thousands of refugees each month from Somalia and Syria to resettle them in the United States, knowing that these people are not interested in learning our language, accepting our culture, and becoming Americans. As soon as they arrive, they become wards of the state, and start making demands to install Shariah Law and to accommodate their needs for madrassas schools, for exercise of their Islamic religion, and to take down anything that is American and offensive to them: our flag, our National Anthem, our Pledge of Allegiance, and our Christian religious symbols.
The new standards of education called Common Core, adopted pretty much around the country, are indoctrinating our children into communism and proselytize for Islam. It’s no news that academia has been communist for years but lately the assault against anything American has picked up speed. Take the case of the Irvine, University of California ban on the American flag. It is not the work of misguided individual students; they are supported by their professors. These are not isolated incidents. They are happening around the country at every level of our educational system and of our government…
If you want to know what America will look like ten or twenty years from now, look at Sweden, Paris, London, Marseille, Belgium and other countries where senescent populations are replaced by fertile Middle Eastern and African populations. Europeans and now Americans are not having enough babies, instead are strolling dogs and cats. This fundamental change was brought by decades of progressive indoctrination in schools and universities that have destroyed the fabric of many societies with their preaching of communism, tolerance, diversity, multi-culturalism, and immorality.
[Comment: Highly recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
” He said the shots were aimed at an acquaintance with whom he had had a dispute.”
– I wonder where did he learn his excellent logic?
– From the Traitor Class.
I am sure he can name that deadly enemy of his.
Paul “Iesa” Galloway, founder and Executive Director of CAIR – Houston (2002-2006), is the new Director for Tennessee’s ACO. Galloway’s resume looks like a page out of the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum plan for North America which addresses what needs to be done so that “Islam is enabled within the souls, minds and the lives of the people of the country in which it moves.”
— Muslims enter the soul of the western people because they are so gullible and think they are so clever.
“Civilized world” interfered in Yugoslavia, Iran (’79), Iraq, Syria, Libya to protect the people of these countries from their own rulers. No less noble sentiments can you expect from the west.
I expect the west will do the same as a punishment to Pakistan for not protecting its own Christian people, plus they will halt the periodic jizya checks.