Envelopes containing an unidentified white powder were delivered to at least two federal ministers in Quebec, causing their offices to be evacuated. Quebec police are investigating the incident. One person who came into contact with the mysterious powder was transported to the hospital.
In other news, ten migrants drowned off the coast of Sicily when their boat capsized. Hundreds of others were rescued by the Italian coast guard.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
A month ago we asked if, perchance, the BLS had simply forgotten to add any of the job losses in the energy sector in January, when it reported a drop of just 1900 jobs in the entire Oil and Gas Extraction space, compared to 18K actual announcements, and 21,300 job cuts in the sector as reported by Challenger. Moments ago, the latest Challenger data is out, and we really hope the BLS finally reads it because things in the energy sector are getting worse by the day, if only for its well-paid workers.
According to Challenger, the February total planned job cut were over 50,000 for the second month in a row, or a total of 103,620 in the first two months of 2015, up 19% from the same period last year, with a 38% of the total, or 39,621 of these job cuts, due to plunging oil prices and about to take place in the highest paid oil extraction space.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Has Announced Plans for a ‘World Currency’
The Chinese do not plan to live in a world dominated by the U.S. dollar for much longer. Chinese leaders have been calling for the U.S. dollar to be replaced as the primary global reserve currency for a long time, but up until now they have never been very specific about what they would put in place of it. Many have assumed that the Chinese simply wanted some new international currency to be created. But what if that is not what the Chinese had in mind? What if they have always wanted their own currency to become the single most dominant currency on the entire planet? What you are about to see is rather startling, but it shouldn’t be a surprise. When it comes to economics and finance, the Chinese have always been playing chess while the western world has been playing checkers. Sadly, we have gotten to the point where checkmate is on the horizon.
On Wednesday, I came across an excellent article by Simon Black. What he had to say in that article just about floored me…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Padoan Says Simplification, Liberalizing Will Save Billions
Economy minister says spending review documents to be published
(ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — The government’s reforms aimed at simplifying processes and liberalizing the economy could save billions of euros, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan estimated Wednesday.
He told the Lower House that savings should be worth one point of gross domestic production by 2020 and as much as three points of GDP in the longer term.
One percentage point of GDP is worth about 20 billion euros.
Those are “conservative estimates,” added Padoan.
He also pledged to publish documents related to the government’s spending review conducted by former commissioner Carlo Cottarelli.
He returned to his former work at the International Monetary Fund after analyzing Italy’s budget to find savings in spending.
Padoan said the spending review documents will be published on the government’s website www.revisionedellaspesa.gov.it as public information.
There has been increased skepticism of the spending review process as Cottarelli clashed at times with Premier Matteo Renzi and not much information about the review has been made public.
The economy minister said plans to cut about 17 billion euros in public spending this year are in place.
Meanwhile, Padoan said the economy ministry is considering whether it should join as a plaintiff in a civil trial led by prosecutors in the southern city of Trani against international bond rating agencies.
Prosecutors allege financial market manipulation by several analysts and managers at ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
The two agencies have also been indicted in the lawsuit stemming from 2011-2012 reports questioning Italy’s creditworthiness and lowering its debt rating.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mark Cuban Warns: This Bubble is Far Worse Than the Tech Bubble of 2000
Just over a year ago, we warned that while the world of speculative capital is focused intently on the Twitter and Facebook #Ref/0 fundamental valuations in the publicly-traded equity markets, the real dot-com 2.0 bubble is occurring in the private markets. Few paid attention, prefering the head in the sand “well the music is still playing” meme; but one (or two) billionaires noticed, and with all eyes intently focused on Nasdaq 5,000 (as some indicator that we made it back to Nirvana), Mark Cuban unleashes uncontestible exposition why is this bubble far worse than the tech bubble of 2000.
It is different this time… and, as Mark Cuban explains, far worse…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One Last Look at the Real Economy Before it Implodes — Part 1
We are only two months into 2015, and it has already proven to be the most volatile year for the economic environment since 2008-2009. We have seen oil markets collapsing by about 50 percent in the span of a few months (just as the Federal Reserve announced the end of QE3, indicating fiat money was used to hide falling demand), the Baltic Dry Index losing 30 percent since the beginning of the year, the Swiss currency surprise, the Greeks threatening EU exit (and now Greek citizens threatening violent protests with the new four-month can-kicking deal), and the effects of the nine-month-long West Coast port strike not yet quantified. This is not just a fleeting expression of a negative first quarter; it is a sign of things to come.
Stock markets are, of course, once again at all-time highs after a shaky start, despite nearly every single fundamental indicator flashing red. But as Zero Hedge recently pointed out in its article on artificial juicing of equities by corporations using massive stock buybacks, this is not going to last much longer, simply because the debt companies are generating is outpacing their ability to prop up the markets.
This conundrum is also visible in central bank stimulus measures. As I have related in past articles, the ability of central banks to goose the global financial system is faltering, as bailouts and low-interest-rate capital infusions now have little to no effect on overall economic performance. The fiat fuel is no longer enough; and when this becomes apparent in the mainstream, all hell will indeed break loose.
The argument that banks can prop up the system forever is now being debunked. In this series of articles, I will cover the core reasons why this is happening, starting with the basis of all economics: supply and demand…
The Baltic Dry Index has been a steadfast indicator of the REAL economy for many years. While most other indexes and measures of fiscal health are subject to direct or indirect manipulation, the BDI has no money flowing through it and, thus, offers a more honest reflection of the world around us. In the past two months, the index measuring shipping rates and international demand for raw goods has hit all-time historical lows, plummeting 57 percent over the course of the past 12 months and 30 percent for the year to date.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Understanding True Credit and False Credit
There are two kinds of credit: that which would be offered in a market economy with sound money and banking (true credit), and that which is made possible only through a system of central banking, artificially low interest rates, and fractional reserves (false credit).
Banks cannot expand true credit as such. All that they can do in reality is to facilitate the transfer of a given pool of savings from savers (i.e., those lending to the bank) to borrowers…
Trouble emerges when instead of lending fully backed money, a bank engages in issuing empty money (fractional reserve banking) that is backed by nothing.
When unbacked money is created, it masquerades as genuine money that is supposedly supported by real stuff. In reality however, nothing has been saved.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Warren: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch Received $6 Trillion Backdoor Bailout From Fed
Yesterday, the Senate Banking Committee held the first of its hearings on widespread demands to reform the Federal Reserve to make it more transparent and accountable.
Senator Elizabeth Warren put her finger on the pulse of the growing public outrage over how the Federal Reserve conducts much of its operations in secret and appears to frequently succumb to the desires of Wall Street to the detriment of the public interest. Warren addressed the secret loans that the Fed made to Wall Street during the financial crisis as follows:
“During the financial crisis, Congress bailed out the big banks with hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money; and that’s a lot of money. But the biggest money for the biggest banks was never voted on by Congress. Instead, between 2007 and 2009, the Fed provided over $13 trillion in emergency lending to just a handful of large financial institutions. That’s nearly 20 times the amount authorized in the TARP bailout.
“Now, let’s be clear, those Fed loans were a bailout too. Nearly all the money went to too-big-to-fail institutions. For example, in one emergency lending program, the Fed put out $9 trillion and over two-thirds of the money went to just three institutions: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.
“Those loans were made available at rock bottom interest rates — in many cases under 1 percent. And the loans could be continuously rolled over so they were effectively available for an average of about two years.”
One of the key reasons that the Fed wanted to keep this information buried from the public is that Citigroup was insolvent during the period it was receiving loans from the Fed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FDA Lets Corporations Add Harmful Chemicals to Food Despite Bans in Europe
(NaturalNews) There are a number of harmful chemicals allowed in American food by the Food and Drug Administration, even though they are banned for use in Europe and elsewhere.As noted by the Today show, in a post on the program’s website, some of the substances are called BVOs…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germ-Killing Molecules Identified in Alligator Blood
Thick armour and jaws packed full of teeth aren’t the only defences that alligators and crocodiles have. They also have formidable immune systems and some of the protective molecules that enable this have now been identified. Their discovery in the blood of the American alligator might even pave the way for a new generation of antibiotics.
Crocodilians have existed on Earth for at least 37 million years. Over the course of their evolution, they have developed a very strong defence against infection. “They inflict wounds on each other from which they frequently recover without complications from infection despite the fact that the environments in which they live are less than sterile,” says Barney Bishop of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, co-author of the new study.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Frank Marshall Davis Transformed America
by Cliff Kincaid
[WARNING: Distrbing Content.]
When Rudolph Giuliani mentioned that President Barack Obama, as a young man, was under the influence of Communist Party member and suspected Soviet espionage agent Frank Marshall Davis, Giuliani struck a nerve. In contrast to his claim that Obama didn’t love America, his remarks about the Davis-Obama relationship were not opinion, but fact. That is why a Washington Post fact-checker has been assigned to investigate Giuliani’s claim. We shall see whether the Post, at this late date, covers a story that could have been Pulitzer Prize-winning material more than seven years ago.
As the former New York City mayor noted, Obama’s grandfather turned him over to Davis for mentoring. His black father had taken off and his mother was mostly spending her time elsewhere. But the question remains: what kind of influence are we talking about? Paul Kengor’s book, The Communist: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor, explains Davis’s influence on Obama’s economic views. Rusty Weiss and I quoted Kengor in a piece we did on how Davis’s anti-white racism also influenced Obama.
Less well-known is how Obama adopted Davis’s outlook on sexual matters.
Davis, who died in 1987, was a heavy drinker and marijuana user who wrote a pornographic novel, Sex Rebel, disclosing that he had sex with children, including a 13-year-old girl.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An Egyptian-born imam who in 2007 said that Somali-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali should receive the death penalty for her criticism of Islam is now a Department of Justice contractor hired to teach classes to Muslims who are in federal prison.
According to federal spending records, Fouad ElBayly, the imam at Islamic Center of Johnstown in Pennsylvania, was contracted by the DOJ’s Bureau of Prisons beginning last year to teach the classes to Muslim inmates at Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Md.
The records show that ElBayly has two contracts worth $12,900 to teach the classes and to provide the inmates “leadership and guidance.” One of the contracts is dated Feb. 20, 2014, and the other is dated Dec. 8, 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jyllands-Posten Plotter Found Guilty in New York
Abid Naseer faces life in American prison for plotting attacks against Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and targets in the UK and US.
A Pakistani man faces life in prison after being convicted in New York of involvement in an Al Qaeda plot to carry out terror attacks in Denmark, Britain, and the United States, US authorities said Wednesday.
Abid Naseer, 28, is to be sentenced at a later date after being found guilty by a federal jury in New York following his extradition to the United States from Britain, a statement said.
Prosecutors said Naseer and other Al-Qaeda operatives had planned to attack the Copenhagen offices of Jyllands-Posten newspaper, a busy shopping mall in Manchester, England and the New York subway.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Most Americans Want to Keep Income Redistribution ObamaCare Subsidies
In December, 2013, Ethics & Public Policy Center senior fellow James Capretta told Fox News Obamacare is a wealth redistribution program.
“You’re right about income redistribution,” Capretta said. “It’s $250 billion a year in Medicaid expansion and the subsidy structure that’s basically being paid for by people on Medicare through Medicare cuts and a lot of tax increases. If you want to know what the bill is really about, people in their most honest and candid moments will admit that it’s basically taking $250 billion a year out of taxes and Medicare, and moving it into the Medicaid expansion and subsidy structures… It is a massive, massive income redistribution.“
If the Kaiser poll can be believed, most Americans are in favor of this scheme, primarily because so many of them qualify for subsidies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
My Tribute to the Defenders of the Alamo
by Chuck Baldwin
Tomorrow, March 6, marks the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo outside of San Antonio, Texas, back in 1836. For more than 13 days, 186 brave and determined patriots withstood Santa Anna’s seasoned army of over 4,000 troops. To a man, the defenders of that mission fort knew they would never leave those ramparts alive. They had several opportunities to leave and live. Yet, they chose to fight and die. How foolish they must look to this generation of spoiled Americans.
It is difficult to recall that stouthearted men such as Davy Crockett (a nationally-known frontiersman and former congressman), Will Travis (only 26 years old with a little baby at home), and Jim Bowie (a wealthy landowner with properties on both sides of the Rio Grande) really existed. These were real men with real dreams and real desires. Real blood flowed through their veins. They loved their families and enjoyed life as much as any of us do. However, there was something different about them. They possessed a commitment to liberty that transcended personal safety and comfort.
Liberty is an easy word to say, but it is a hard word to live up to. Freedom involves much more than financial gain or personal pleasure. Accompanying Freedom is her constant and unattractive companion, Responsibility. Neither is she an only child. Courage and Honesty are her sisters. They are inseparable: destroy one and all will die…
As you read those words, remember that Travis and the others did not have the National Education Association (NEA) telling them how intolerant and narrow-minded their notions of honor and patriotism were. They didn’t have the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) telling them they were a hate group. A hostile media did not constantly castigate them as a bunch of wild-eyed extremists. As schoolchildren, they were not taught that their forefathers were nothing more than racist jerks. The TSA didn’t have them on a terrorist watch list. Neither did they have 501c3 pastors constantly filling their hearts and minds with this imbecilic “Obey-the-government-no-matter-what” misinterpretation of Romans chapter 13. (Please look at the P.S. to this column.)
The brave men at the Alamo labored under the belief that America (and Texas) really was “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” They believed in God and that their cause was just. They also believed that the freedom of future generations depended on their courage and resolve. They further believed their posterity would remember their sacrifice as an act of love and devotion. It all looks pale now.
Please try to remember the heroes of the Alamo as you watch our spineless political, corporate, and religious leaders surrender to globalism, corporatism, socialism, and political correctness. Try to remember the heroes of the Alamo as you watch the Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., create a more draconian Police State than Santa Anna would have ever dared to create. Try to recall the time in this country when ordinary men and women had the courage of their convictions and were willing to sacrifice their lives for freedom and independence HERE AT HOME.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Research Suggests Mars Once Had More Water Than Earth’s Arctic Ocean
A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth’s Arctic Ocean, according to NASA scientists who, using ground-based observatories, measured water signatures in the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
Perhaps about 4.3 billion years ago, Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 450 feet (137 meters) deep. More likely, the water would have formed an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’ northern hemisphere, in some regions reaching depths greater than a mile (1.6 kilometers).
The new estimate is based on detailed observations made at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, and the W.M. Keck Observatory and NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NJ Cops Bust Teenagers Shoveling Snow Without a Permit
What we are seeing today is the opposite of free markets. Children who start lemonade stands are now targeted by government enforcers who force the children to shut down the lemonade stand or face permit fines.
The human spirit seeks to provide and share, to do work that matters, to serve and be independent. The government is now a vehicle that takes from these endeavors, forcing individuals to submit, comply, and become docile and dependent.
Teenagers face $450 permit fee for wanting to shovel the snow off neighbor’s driveway.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pelosi “Nearly Crying” While America “Nearly Dying”
Pelosi, one of the loudest braying donkeys critical of House Speaker John Boehner’s invite to Netanyahu, did not throw in with the large group of Democrats who boycotted the address. That’s mainly because she had to be inside the chamber so she could do a walk-out before Netanyahu left and perform her “nearly cried” Hollywood routine.
All Obama really wants to do is to give Iran the bomb, and all Pelosi really wants to do is make sure Obama gets it to give.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Diana West
One of those questions that is supposed to elicit a profound answer is, What one book influenced you more than any other? Or (worse), What book changed your life? As the daughter of an author, as a life-long lover of books, I felt there must be such a book, there should be such a book, and that maybe there was something lacking in me since, for most of my life, I groped for the answer.
Then in 2007 I picked up Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Sen. Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies by M. Stanton Evans.
Who was M. Stanton Evans? I didn’t really know, but suspected I should. Who was Joe McCarthy? I didn’t know too much more. Indeed, all I “knew” — part of the air we breathe — was that McCarthy was, without peer, the worst man in American history. Always chasing mythical Communists for no particular reason, and ruining everything, including anti-Communism.
But there was McCarthy in the black and white photo that makes up the handsome book jacket, seated on a stone bench not far from the Capitol. He looks clean-cut, nicely dressed, prematurely balding but powerful-looking and with plenty of black hair, his dark brows furrowed as he reads quite intently from a sheaf of papers.
In other words, this arresting picture, circa 1950, of an American senator in his forties, projects an image nothing like the dark and fuzzy quasi-mug shots we are regularly treated to — or, should I say, have regularly inflicted on us…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists Hack Into a Cockroach’s Nervous System and Control Its Movements
Cyborg cockroaches (yes, totally a real thing) have received an upgrade: Scientists can now tap directly into their central nervous system and control their bodily functions, which is in no way unsettling. It’s something you could (almost) make at home.
Using a cheap microcontroller, a Texas A&M group tapped into the pro-ganglion area of the roach’s nervous system, which gave them access to motor function. While previous research to take control of the bug threw off the roach’s senses to make it “remote controlled” by creating fake obstacles, this system leaves the user nearly entirely in control of the cockroach.
Like almost every biologically inspired robot these days, the roach, scientists say, could have applications in search and rescue efforts since they’re small and can fit into tight places. Which means that a cyborg cockroach could someday save your life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists Find Mysterious DNA From Unknown Creatures Lurking in NYC Subways
(NaturalNews) The bizarre sights, pungent smells and largely invisible but ever-present germs that mark the unique New York City subway-riding experience are among the many details cataloged in a new bacterial study that, perhaps not shockingly, made some unsettling discoveries about the types of critters that lurk in the depths of NYC’s 232 miles of subway transit.
Dr. Christopher E. Mason, a geneticist at Weill Cornell Medical College, along with his colleagues, took DNA samples from turnstiles, handrails, poles, seats and other surfaces in the NYC subway system and tested them for bacterial and human DNA. Over the course of a year-and-a-half, the team performed 1,500 swabs at unique locations throughout the city’s five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.
Later analyses of these DNA samples revealed that almost half of them came from organisms that aren’t even cataloged, meaning nobody knows what they are. And a mere 0.2 percent matched the human genome, suggesting that the vast majority of NYC subway germs originate from non-human or otherwise unidentified sources.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Smithsonian Museum Group Bans Selfie Stick
They’re becoming a must-have for tourists but the selfie stick will not be welcome at Washington’s top museums.
The Smithsonian, the largest research and museum group in the world, has banned the fashionable photography aid.
“This is a preventive measure to protect visitors and objects, especially during crowded conditions,” it said in a statement.
The selfie stick allows you a longer reach when using a smartphone or camera to take a picture of yourself.
It first gained popularity in Asia but has lately been condemned by some as annoying when brandished in public.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The CIA is Investing in 3D Printers That Can Build Electronics
The 3D printing industry is still very much in its infancy. But that could change if the CIA has its way. The intelligence agency’s venture capital firm just invested in Voxel8, the company behind the first multi-material, 3D electronics printer.
What does the CIA want with 3D printing? We can only guess at this point, but we may hear stories one day of how some futuristic James Bond 3D-printed his own gadgets in the field. What’s the potential impact for consumers? The move might just jumpstart a field that has so far been struggling to find its footing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Great, Amazing, Incomparable Stan Evans is Dead
“If and when Congress votes on a new immigration bill — whatever the “triggers,” timetables or other provisos — the real issue to be decided will be the same as it has been from the beginning. That issue is whether the Republican Party, dazed from a daily pounding by the Washington press corps, will agree to commit political suicide by enfranchising 11 plus million illegal aliens on U.S. soil, the vast majority of whom will soon be casting Democratic ballots.”
So wrote the great M. Stanton Evans, who passed away on Tuesday. Having been at the forefront of the movement to draft Ronald Reagan and defeat the Evil Empire, Evans had recently turned to the next greatest danger for America: immigration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Those crazy anti-vaxxers, always listening to Jenny McCarthy, Google, “random anti-vaccine web commenters and . the U.S. government? That’s right, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a section on its National Vaccine Injury Compensation (NVIC) Program website entitled “Vaccine Injury Table” that openly lists all the severe injuries and conditions that can occur from vaccinations, including things like brain damage, paralytic polio and death!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Envelopes With White Powder Found at Offices of Federal Ministers in Quebec
MONTREAL — Police in Quebec are investigating after envelopes containing white powder were sent to the riding offices of at least two federal ministers.
They say a third suspicious envelope has also been found in the riding office of another cabinet minister, Maxime Bernier.
The office of Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel in Roberval, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City, was evacuated this morning after an employee found white powder in an envelope.
Two employees who came into contact with the powder are still quarantined in the riding office as firefighters analyze the scene.
Another envelope containing white powder was found in the riding office of International Development Minister Christian Paradis in Thetford Mines, south of Quebec City.
A police spokeswoman says the person who came into contact with the substance has been transported to hospital.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Flu Vaccine Paradox Spreading Globally as More Vaccinated People Catch the Flu
(NaturalNews) The conventional medical system is literally grasping at straws trying to maintain the illusion that vaccines work, with new reports now admitting that flu vaccines are an utter failure while still pushing people to get them. The latest nonsensical narrative, at least from the Canadian government, attributes all the inconsistencies between what authorities have long claimed about the alleged efficacy of the flu shot and its actual dismal success rate to a mysterious “paradox” where previous vaccinations somehow interfere with current ones.
Since health authorities no longer have a leg to stand on — it is now widespread knowledge that the flu shot is minimally effective at best — they are resorting to more confusing pseudoscience that, oddly enough, actually affirms what flu shot skeptics have surmised for many years. Vaccines in general, they now reluctantly admit, affect every person differently. And depending on what previous vaccinations a person has had, flu shots may or may not provide any protection at all — and in some cases, they will make a person more prone to illness.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chemical Corporations Buried Report on Endocrine Disruptors to Trade Health for Profit
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals to a myriad of health effects was reportedly blocked from being published by European Union (EU) officials, according to new investigation by The Guardian.
Endocrine disruptors are foreign substances found in many products, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, plasticizers and cosmetics, that interfere with the human endocrine system. Disrupting the human endocrine system may result in developmental, reproductive, neurological and immunological complications.
The unpublished paper, seen by the British national daily newspaper, recommends ways of identifying and categorizing endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that scientists have linked to “a rise in foetal abnormalities, genital mutations, infertility, and adverse health effects ranging from cancer to IQ loss.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dad Killed by Al-Qaeda ‘Was Swedish Spy’
A man who claimed in an al-Qaeda execution video last year that he had been recruited by Swedish security police to spy on the terror group on behalf of the American CIA has been identified as a father-of-two leading a double life in Sweden, according to newspaper Aftonbladet.
The man, first identified by the Swedish tabloid on Thursday as ‘Amen’, 39, was crucified by al-Qaeda in Yemen a year ago. In a video published in March 2014 he confessed to having spied on the terror network on behalf of the United States.
“I was recruited in Sweden by Swedish security services,” he said in the video filmed before his execution.
But before that, he was a divorced father-of-two leading a double life in Sweden, according to Aftonbladet, which has mapped out his life.
‘Amen’ was captured by al-Qaeda in 2013 after he was accused of being responsible for the death of seven al-Qaeda members in American air attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Parents Looking to Shrink Their ‘Tall’ Daughters
More and more parents are contacting their doctors in an effort to stop their daughters growing too tall. They want assistance to stunt their daughters’ growth via hormonal treatment or an operation.
“Hillerød Hospital and Rigshospitalet both experience at least a couple of inquiries every month from parents looking to ‘shorten’ their girls.
“We see an increasing tendency among parents to try to normalise their children, but we have become more reserved when treating height, because it is cosmetic,” Malene Boas, a doctor from Rigshospitalet, told Metroxpress newspaper.
“As doctors, we are aware of the girls who are tall due to an illness, but the vast majority are tall because they have tall parents.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Nightclub Ruffles Feathers With Ebola Party
Blood-red drinks, bartenders in white coats and surgical masks, and hostesses made up to look like Ebola victims — that’s the latest gimmick dreamed up by the marketing team at an Aarhus nightclub, and the good news is that it’s all for a good cause and they’re getting plenty of publicity.
Hornsleth Bar, which also has a location in Copenhagen, has come under fire after revealing its plans to hold an ‘Ebola Horror Party’ on Friday March 13 in order to raise funds to support Red Cross’s fundraising campaign against Ebola in Africa.
“I think that it’s bad taste that they pretend they are ill — even though it aims to help. Ebola isn’t a game, it’s deadly serious.” Stig Fog, a PR fundraising and communications expert, told Metroxpress newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Disturbing Questions Lurk Behind Dutch ‘Jihad Galas’
It’s hard enough choosing the right gown for the Oscars, the prettiest frock for Junior Prom. But how do you select the burqa that best befits a jihadi gala?
Two such soirees, ostensibly being staged to raise money for humanitarian aid to Syria, Palestine, and elsewhere in the Middle East and Asia, have raised controversy in the Netherlands in recent weeks. Nicknamed “jihad galas” by local media, both events have been forced to revamp their programs and venues after the government raised concerns about several of their invited speakers.
In the process, heightened focus on the two organizations has helped unveil a web of secrecy and deceit behind many such endeavors and the people who support them.
The first event, tentatively scheduled to take place in Utrecht on March 1, aims to raise funds for World Wide Relief (WWR), a Dutch-based organization that supports children in Syria, among others. The other, originally set for March 8 in Rijswijk and now planned as a live-stream event to be broadcast from an undisclosed location, will benefit Holland’s Rohamaa Foundation, a self-described “Islamic-inspired” charity that aids communities in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Southern Turkey.
But according to a number of reports, the two groups, which claim to have each raised hundreds of thousands of euros from Dutch Muslims, have links to Salafist preachers and supporters of ISIS and al-Qaida. Several of those preachers were invited to speak at the galas, including some from the Middle East who received visas from the Dutch government to do so. Immediately, concerned Parliament members, armed with information provided by the National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism (NCTV), protested, successfully demanding that the visas be rescinded in light of the imams’ anti-Western, Salafist profiles. The uproar has led to changes in plans for both galas, though Rohamaa has hinted that its invited speakers will still be heard via the live-stream broadcast…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Blazes Trail Against Climate Change
AS CHAOS from climate change ramps up in the coming decades, making floods, droughts and heatwaves commonplace, Europe will be ready. So says the European Environment Agency, which launched its five-year assessment of the state of Europe’s environment in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week.
A key message is that we must prepare now for the catastrophes that will become more frequent if the world warms up as predicted. “Many of the decisions we make today will determine how we are going to live in 2050,” said Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the agency, at the launch of The European Environment State and Outlook 2015.
Unlike other rich nations such as the US and Australia, Europe has embraced the reality of climate change and is blazing a trail in preparation for what is to come. The European Union has agreed to spend 20 per cent of its budget of €960 billion for 2014 to 2020 on mitigating climate change and adapting to its effects. The money is expected to boost efforts to climate-proof Europe. “Countries must decide what to use it on, and make sure it’s used properly,” says Stéphane Isoard, the agency’s specialist on adaptation to climate change.
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‘Exceptional Tomb of Celtic Prince’ Found in France
An “exceptional” tomb from the 5th Century BC likely to be that of a Celtic prince has been unearthed on the outskirts of Lavau in France’s Champagne region.
The grave containing Greek and possibly Etruscan artefacts was discovered in a business zone, the National Archaeological Research Institute (Inrap) said.
Researchers believe it could shed light on Iron Age European trade.
Finds include a bronze wine cauldron.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France to Remain on High Terror Alert ‘For Months’
France will remain on high terror alert for months, it emerged on Wednesday, despite the huge cost of the heightened security. It’s not all bad news however, with the increased presence of the police and army prompting a drop in the number of burglaries and thefts.
France has been on edge ever since the terror attacks in January when 17 people were killed by Islamist gunmen in Paris. And things are not about to return to normal any time soon.
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France to Double Number of Islamic University Courses
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday announced that the state would finance double the number of university courses on Islam in a bid to stop the influence of foreign funding of training of French imams.
In a speech in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, Valls said that improving home-grown Islamic education was essential to defeating the ignorance that makes “Islamist extremism and the far right feed off each other”.
The Socialist government is also worried about the increasing popularity of the anti-immigration and anti-Europe National Front party, which is coming top of the polls ahead of regional elections due to take place later this month.
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French Baker Accused of Selling ‘Racist’ Cakes
A cake maker in the south of France has been threatened with legal action for inciting racial hatred unless he stops selling cakes deemed “obscene” by an anti-racism group in France. The baker told The Local he’s a victim of “intellectual terrorism”.
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Greece Referred to EU Over Sewage Pollution
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MARCH 4 — Greece may be faced with a major fine by the European Union, over the dramatic sewage situation in the east of Attica, where an estimated 150,000 cesspool tanks have been constructed and are polluting streams, as daily To Vima online reports. A fine was imposed on Greece eight years for the insufficient waste management facilities in 23 settlements in Greece (each with a population in excess of 15,000 residents), however since then the situation has not been managed in five of those settlements in Attica. In 2013 the Hellenic State was referred to the European Courts over the situation in these five settlements — Artemida, Rafina, Markopoulo, Koropi and Nea Makri. The referral suggested a 11.5 million euro lump sum fin and a further 47,462 euros per day, until the Greek government complies with EU legislation.
Since then construction work has slowed down. The issue gained publicity after Greece was referred for the lack of proper waste management in five settlements in the north of Greece and in Thebes. The situation with the settlements in Attica has reached a standstill, as the proposed measures are considered “uneconomical” by public water company EYDAP. The plans required the construction of 28 pumps, however any damage to them may cause surrounding areas to be flooded with sewage.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
How Islamic College Plan Has Split Italian Town
Plans to build an Islamic university for 5,000 students in a small town in Italy’s heel will help change attitudes towards Muslims, organizers say. But many locals are afraid that it will change the character of Lecce — and are asking who’s paying for it.
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Italy: Near Six Million Seized From Ex-Pompeii Commissioner
Case regards contracts for 2010 show
(ANSA) — Naples, March 4 — Naples finance police on Wednesday seized 5.77 million euros in assets linked to Marcello Fiori, the former extraordinary commissioner of the Pompeii archaeological site, ANSA sources said. The operation was conducted at the end of a probe in which nine officials from the culture ministry and region of Campania are also implicated. The probe concerns works for a show at Pompeii’s Large Theatre in 2010. Investigators suspect that the contracts were awarded without a public competition and were beyond the remit of emergency powers granted to commissioner to safeguard the site.
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Italy: Vendola Eyes New Govt Majority After Grillo Opening
SEL leader sees PD, SEL, M5S coalition as possible
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — Nichi Vendola, the leader of the Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party, on Wednesday called for the establishment of a new government coalition after 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Beppe Grillo said he was ready to talk to the executive about RAI reform and proposals for a basic income. “Do we want the RAI to belong to the citizens and not to the parties or the government?,” Vendola said via Twitter. “Do we want a minimum income, like in the rest of Europe, as a response to poverty? In parliament a (different) majority is possible. Let’s form it. Now”. SEL and the M5S are currently opposed to Premier Matteo Renzi’s executive, which is supported by a coalition led by the premier’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and backed by several centrist groups.
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Italy: Grillo Opens Up to Possible Dialogue With Renzi’s PD
M5S leader says ready for talks on RAI, basic income
(ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Beppe Grillo has suggested his uncompromising refusal to cut deals with Italy’s traditional parties may be coming to an end.
In an interview published in Wednesday’s Corriere della Sera, the comedian-turned-politician said he was ready to negotiate with Premier Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) over reform of State broadcaster RAI and proposals for a “citizens’ income”, featuring benefits to ensure all families have enough money to be able to pay for basic necessities. “We are ready for dialogue with everyone, including the PD, on the citizens income and reform of the RAI,” Grillo said, referring to the State broadcaster, which has long been affected by interference from political parties.
“But there must he intellectual honesty…
“Poverty should be tackled like an illness, not like a crime”. Roberto Speranza, the Lower House whip for the PD, said that the centre-left group was ready to respond to the overture.
“If today’s interview is a real change of course and the 5-Star Movement leader’s words are not just propaganda, then I think the PD should be ready to debate the merits of the issues, without prejudice,” Speranza said.
The M5S, which grew from Grillo’s popular blog in 2009, had always spurned the prospect of cutting deals with the traditional parties, saying it wanted to destroy a party system that has generated corruption and economic decline.
The movement abruptly returned to sender an invitation from former PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani for it to join the centre-left group in government after the inconclusive 2013 general election. But the PD’s strong showing in last year’s European elections, when it won over 40% of the vote, and at other local votes since seem to have prompted Grillo to rethink his strategy.
Nichi Vendola, the leader of the Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party, said he hoped that Grillo’s comments could pave the way for a new government coalition. “Do we want the RAI to belong to the citizens and not to the parties or the government?,” Vendola said via Twitter. “Do we want a minimum income, like in the rest of Europe, as a response to poverty? In parliament a (different) majority is possible. Let’s form it. Now”. SEL and the M5S are currently opposed to Renzi’s executive, which is backed by several centrist groups. In the interview with Corriere della Sera, Grillo added that he made have been wrong to impose strict limitations on M5S lawmakers giving interviews to broadcast media.
“I’ve always been against talk shows, but everyone is free to choose what to do,” Grillo said.
“I don’t believe so much in TV, because our movement was born on the web. But I understand that a slice of the electorate get their information from traditional channels.
“Maybe I was the one who got it wrong”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Battisti Victim: Politicians Hail Possible Expulsion
Son of man murdered by ex terrorist urges extradition
(ANSA) — Rome, March 3 — The son of one of four people murdered by former terrorist Cesare Battisti on Tuesday welcomed Brazil’s reportedly imminent expulsion of the leftist.
“This could be a chance to reopen the extradition case,” said Alberto Torregiani, who was crippled by the attack that killed his father Pierluigi in 1979. This will hinge on the reasons for the expulsion and what country Battisti ends up in, Torregiani told ANSA.
Politicians from mainstream left-wing parties welcomed news of the reportedly imminent expulsion. “A long chain of protection has been broken,” said Democratic Party MP Paolo Bolognesi.
“Brazil’s decision not to shield unpunished terrorists is important”.
Socialist party secretary Riccardo Nencini said “let’s hope that the decision…puts an end to a murderer’s unfair and golden life on the run”. Battisti, 60, has been sentenced to life in prison in Italy for the murder of four people in the 1970s when he was part of an extremist left-wing group during the so-called Years of Lead of political violence.
Battisti then lived in France for 15 years, becoming a successful crime novelist.
He fled to Brazil when France put an end to the so-called Mitterrand doctrine giving sanctuary to fugitive leftist guerrillas.
He was arrested there in April 2007.
In January 2009, the Brazilian justice ministry granted Battisti political asylum on the grounds that he would face “political persecution” in Italy.
In one of his last acts in office, outgoing Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva declined Rome’s request to extradite Battisti in December 2010, sparking outrage in Italy.
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Italy: Gentiloni Says Dialogue With Dictators ‘Inevitable’
Necessary to construct ‘multipolar equilibrium’
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 5 — Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday that dialogue with dictators was an inevitable part of efforts to stem the tide of migrants from North Africa. On Wednesday European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said it would be necessary for the EU to talk to dictators about migrant issues. “This clearly reflects the fact that it’s a matter of constructing multipolar equilibriums that involve different regimes…. dictators,” Gentiloni told a parliamentary committee.
The minister added that Rome expects much more help from the European Union in dealing with the growing flows of migrants landing in Italy from North Africa. “Italy is duty-bound to ask for more,” Gentiloni said.
“Europe is duty-bound to work harder on the Mediterranean emergency, which cannot fall on the shoulders of just one country”.
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Italy: ‘Very Deep Split in League’ Says Tosi
Dissident League member after meeting with Salvini
(ANSA) — Rome, March 5 — Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi said Thursday the jury is still out on whether “a very deep split” within the Northern League party of which he is a dissident member can be repaired.
“We tried to understand whether there is a margin to mend a very deep fracture,” he told RAI public radio after meeting with Northern League leader Matteo Salvini. Tosi has clashed with Salvini over the League’s decision to back Veneto Governor Luca Zaia to run again in upcoming regional elections. Tosi has accused Salvini of trying to destroy the autonomy of the Veneto branch of the movement, the Liga Veneta, and threatened to run as an independent in the Veneto regional campaign.
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Norway: Why Has the Nobel Peace Prize Chairman Been Demoted?
For the first time in its more than 100-year history, the committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize has demoted its chairman.
But what made Thorbjoern Jagland step down?
His six years at the helm have certainly seen some controversies.
Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, less than a year into his presidency.
The European Union was recognised three years later, when the eurozone crisis threatened to rip it apart.
But it was the award given in 2010 to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo that has prompted speculation about Mr Jagland’s removal as chairman.
China was outraged at the decision. It froze top-level diplomatic relations with Norway, imposed visa restrictions and banned salmon imports, a valuable industry for the Scandinavian nation.
So is his demotion a peace offering to China?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Orlando Says Italy Ready to Seek Terrorist Custody
Justice minister says officials waiting for Brazil to conclude
(ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said Wednesday that his department is ready to request custody of convicted terrorist Cesare Battisti as soon as he is expelled from Brazil.
“The (justice) ministry has activated all diplomatic channels,” Orlando said in an interview with television program Porta a Porta.
“We will evaluate the final judgment of the Brazilian authorities,” added Orlando.
On Tuesday, Brazilian media reported Battisti was to be expelled but it was not clear to where he would be sent.
A former Italian left-wing terrorist who had been given asylum in Brazil, Battisti 60, had been sentenced to life in prison in Italy for the murder of four people in the 1970s.
At that time, he was part of an extremist left-wing group during the so-called Years of Lead of political violence.
He has denied the murder charges.
“We’ve been informed of the decision but there isn’t a date yet,” Battisti’s lawyer, Igor Sant’Anna Tamasauskas, was quoted as saying by the Estadao website on Tuesday.
Battisti was arrested in Brazil in April 2007, some five years after he had fled to that country with the help of false documents to avoid extradition to Italy from France after the end of the Mitterrand doctrine which gave sanctuary to fugitive leftist guerrillas.
He had lived in France for 15 years and become a successful writer of crime novels.
In January 2009 the Brazilian justice ministry granted Battisti political asylum on the grounds that he would face “political persecution” in Italy.
Then in one of his last acts in office, outgoing Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva declined Rome’s request to extradite Battisti in December 2010, sparking outrage in Italy.
Battisti’s time in Brazil looks set to end now though, as Brasilia Federal Judge Adverci Rates Mendes de Abreu has reportedly withdrawn his residence permit, while at the same time not overruling Lula’s decision to reject Italy’s extradition petition.
Indeed, the former terrorist may be sent to Mexico or France, sources said. “It’s the case of a foreign citizen whose situation is not legal who, as a convict for crimes in his country of origin, does not have the right to remain in Brazil,” ruled Rates Mendes de Abreu.
“Therefore, I cancel the act granting Cesare Battisti the right to reside in Brazil and request that the expulsion procedure be applied”. Tamasauskas said Battisti will appeal. “We don’t understand how the sentence can seek to modify a decision by the Constitutional Court and by the president,” said Tamasauskas.
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Soldiers on Brink of Exhaustion Spark Terror Fears in France
Thousands of French soldiers deployed across the country in a vast anti-terrorism operation are on the brink of exhaustion, meaning they could be unable to ensure the public’s safety in the event of an attack, union bosses have warned.
Machine gun-wielding soldiers and police have become a common sight in Paris and other towns and cities across France in the wake of January’s terror attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket that left 17 people dead.
Some 10,500 soldiers were deployed to guard 830 “sensitive” sites around the clock as the government’s anti-terror alert system, known as Vigipirate, was raised to the highest “attack” level.
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Swedish Police Quiz Man Over Apartment Blast
A 30-year-old man is being quizzed by police after two men died when a bomb exploded in an apartment in the Swedish town of Nyköping, it has emerged.
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The Spineless Kingdom of Sweden.
By Anna Berg
I’m angry. Steaming. Infuriated. Crazy mad. It’s going downhill so fast. The merciless avalanche is growing bigger and stronger, and dragging everyone down with it. Downhill and into the depths of the abyss of fear. This small group has so much power. They have Sweden under a tight grip and the spirit of “Je Suis Charlie” is nowhere to be found. One whisper, one breath and everyone fall on their knees.
Don’t say one good word about Israel. Don’t you dare! If you do, you will hear battle cries from the voices of “Palestinagrupperna”: a small, extreme, active and very loud pro-Palestinian organisation. They will intimidate you, terrorise you, and lecture you about THEIR truth: that the evil Jews stole the ancient land of Palestine from the ancient people the Palestinians, and occupied the Palestinian eternal capital of Jerusalem. Then they will silence you. Quick, easy, like a silent blitzkrieg.
The examples are many and it’s disgusting to watch how spineless Sweden is. No honor. No integrity. Not wanting to take sides, but still do. Just like World War 2. Sweden officially stayed neutral, but still let the Germans and their trains filled with iron go through the north of the country. Iron that helped the Nazi war machine to get stronger.”We are neutral! We are not injecting the drugs but JUST supplying the needles!”
The Swedish company Oatly has stopped buying Vitamin D from their Israeli supplier after pressure from this extremist group. Still they continue to buy products from countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Ethiopia — countries who definitely don’t have a good track record when it comes to human rights.
The Swedish TV 4 has decided to permanently remove an episode of a popular cooking show featuring celebrity chef Tina Nordström, where she travels around Israel. Why? Because she innocently says”Jerusalem is the heart of Israel”.
Shame on you Sweden. I have no respect for you anymore. I agree completely with Margaret Thatcher’s words about our so called neutrality in the war: “Yes, we are better than you. We stood up for what we believed in. Did your people fight against Hitler? No, you didn’t. I say we were better at standing up against tyranny!” Words that are still true today.
I don’t know who you are anymore Sweden, but you’re no longer a country of mine. You have crushed the pride I once felt for being Swedish. You are cowards. You are now on the losing side, the side of evil, and it will take a small miracle for you to climb out of that dark hole you dug for yourself.
Until you do, you can take your pretend democracy, your pretend neutrality and shove it up your stiff Nordic behinds. And I mean that literally.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Chemistry Teacher Jamshed Javeed Jailed for Syria Jihad Plan
A chemistry teacher who wanted to travel to Syria to fight with the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), despite his family’s desperate plea not to, was jailed for six years on Thursday.
Jamshed Javeed, from Manchester, was “determined to fight jihad” despite pleas from his family not to, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Javeed, 30, admitted he intended to travel to Syria to join rebels fighting against the government, but said he only wanted to support ordinary Syrians, not to join the militant IS group. He was planning to travel in late 2013, after he helped his younger brother make the trip to Syria.
UK-born Javeed, of Pakistani heritage, taught at Sharples School in Bolton.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: CPS Accused of ‘Risking Lives’ After Freeing Al Qaeda Ringleader
The Crown Prosecution Service was today accused of ‘risking lives’ after it freed a student later convicted of orchestrating the biggest terror plot since 9/11.
Pakistani-born Abid Naseer, 28, was yesterday found guilty in the United States of planning to send suicide bombers into a Manchester shopping centre and the New York subway.
But the CPS let him go in 2009 claiming there was ‘very little’ evidence to prove in court he was one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jihadi John ‘Kidnapped Two Schoolboys in Revenge for Gang Attack on His Brother’
Mohammed Emwazi and his younger brother Omar were living on the Mozart estate in west London at the time of the incident, which was then known for its postcode gang ‘the Mozart Bloods’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pregnant Woman Attacked by Gang While She Was Giving Birth in Basildon, Essex
A pregnant woman, 22, suffered a haemorrhage after a gang of five masked men broke into her home in Basildon, Essex, and beat her with crowbars and baseball bats while she was in labour.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Woman Bit Chunk Out of Fellow Worshipper’s Head at Shepherd’s Bush Mosque
Somali-born Suad Awad, 41, lunged at extended relative Amina Essa at Shepherd’s Bush Mosque in west London and bit a chunk out of her face before spitting the skin on the floor.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Must Stay Vigilant Against New Forms of Intolerance’
Following a two-day visit to Germany (2-3 March), Milena Santerini (Italy, SOC) has called for greater vigilance regarding movements such as Pegida and Legida, which spread the belief that people of different cultures and religions cannot live together in our countries. In particular, Ms Santerini closely observed a Legida demonstration in Leipzig. “Even though these movements only attract a limited number of participants, they should still not be underestimated,” she said.
“These manifestations of neo-racism are, above all, the expression of public unease: international instability has led to a significant increase in numbers of migrants, who end up being scapegoats.
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Wow! Watch a Drone Fly Through the World’s Largest Atom Smasher
It’s safe to say the world’s largest atom smasher is big. Very big.
A new video shot by a drone flying over and through the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) provides unique views of the immense particle detector, which is located underground near Geneva in Switzerland. First, satellite images help viewers grapple with the sheer size of the ring-shaped facility, before a drone flies around the particle accelerator and zooms through its innards.
The LHC’s ring is 16 miles (27 kilometers) long. The collider uses roughly 9,600 huge, heavy magnets to circulate streams of protons and accelerate them to near the speed of light. These particles are then smashed together to spew out even smaller constituents that can provide glimpses of the building blocks of matter.
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ISIS Getting Stronger in Libya, Leon Says
Islamic State (ISIS) is playing on political divisions in Libya to become stronger there, United Nations special envoy Bernardino Leon told the UN Security Council Wednesday. The Islamist militia is “strengthening its presence on the ground,” he said. Leon said talks on boosting security in Libya were “an enormous challenge”.
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ISIS Threat to Libya ‘Real and Imminent’ Warns UN Envoy
The threat to Libya from Islamic State militants is “real and imminent” said the UN special envoy to the country, who urged that a request for international assistance be taken seriously.
Special envoy Bernardino Leon told the UN Security Council that as a rebel militia alliance battled the UN backed government for control of the country, Isis would take advantage of the chaos to seize more territory and consolidate its power.
“I have no doubt that terrorists groups, such as Islamic State, will stop at nothing in their bid to play on existing political divisions…to consolidate their own presence and influence in Libya,” Leon told the 15-member council on Wednesday.
In February, militants claiming allegiance to Islamic State attacked Mabruk, killing 12 people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Leon Warns Libya Faces Disintegration if Political Crisis is Not Resolved
The UN special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon has given a stark warning to the UN Security Council that Libya could break apart if the present political and security crisis is not dealt with quickly. He warned too that the Islamic State (IS) would “stop at nothing” to consolidate its presence and influence in Libya and were doing so at present because of the existing mistrust between the two sides.
“The overall situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly,” he told the Security Council yesterday in a video conference. “Unless Libya’s leaders act quickly and decisively, the risks to their country’s national unity and territorial integrity are real and imminent.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minister: Egypt Sees Suez Canal Zone Making Up 30-35 Pct of Economy
Egypt expects a planned economic zone near the Suez Canal to eventually make up about a third of Egypt’s economy, the country’s investment minister said on Thursday.
Egypt plans to build an international industrial and logistics hub near the canal to attract foreign investment, alongside a separate scheme in which the army is digging a second canal to facilitate two-way traffic of larger ships.
Investment Minister Ashraf Salman said the planned hub would be the centrepiece of a key economic conference planned for the end of next week, which Egypt hopes will draw investors back after four years of economic and political turmoil.
The 145-year-old waterway is the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia. It is one of Egypt’s main sources of hard currency, bringing in about $3 billion a year. Egypt’s GDP was $232.86 billion in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters data.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi ‘Hopes for Putin’s Help on Libya’
(ANSAmed) — Moscow, March 5 — Premier Matteo Renzi told TASS Russian news agency Thursday he hopes President Vladimir Putin will help solve the Libya crisis. “Russia’s role in the Libya question could be very important in light of the historic ties between Russia and Egypt,” Renzi said. The Libya situation is “a priority”, Renzi added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Begins Deliveries of Antey-2500 Missiles to Egypt
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 5 — Russia has started deliveries of the Antey-2500 air defense missile systems to Egypt, Interfax reported.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Why Libya is Ringing Alarm Bells in Italy
As Rome rings alarm bells over the deteriorating situation in Libya, The Local investigates the ramifications of a conflict across the Mediterranean.
The influx of arrivals has put further financial strain on Italy, fuelling anti-immigrant sentiment and boosting support for far-right political parties.
Fears that Islamic militants could travel to Italy by sea posing as migrants — a theory for which the Italian government has found no evidence — have been heightened by Isis making direct threats against Rome.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan’s Statements Cause the Turkish Lira to Plummet
Turkey’s central banker Erdem Basçi, in the last few months has expressed fears about the rising inflation and has announced small and cautious reductions in interest rates.
Turkish president however has a different opinion from Basci and has repeatedly requested the increase of interest rates to boost economic activity. In various speeches in the past, Erdogan had accused Basci’s policy.
But last week, Erdogan went even further and claimed that the president of the Central Bank may not work for the country’s interests but for other, foreign interests!
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In Saudi Arabia, Young Man Sentenced to Death for Insulting Allah and Prophet Muhammad
On February 22, 2015, a Saudi court handed down a sentence of death by beheading for a Saudi man in his 20s, for renouncing Islam. The man, whose name has not been published, had been arrested a year previously on charges of insulting Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, desecrating the Koran, and posting a video of him doing all these on the Keek social network.
According to the Saudi government daily Al-Sharq, the judges had stated that anyone insulting the principles of the religion would be killed, explaining their verdict with quotes from the Koran and the Hadith.
The condemned man has appealed the verdict and his appeal is expected to be considered by a higher court. His lawyer said he is addicted to drugs and requires rehabilitation.
It should be noted that a severe punishment for offences of this sort is not unusual in the Arab and Islamic countries, where those convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad are often sentenced to prison and even to death.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Serkan Engin
Through a collective struggle, I firmly believe that Armenian and Turkish youth can together destroy hatred. I am working to raise awareness through my writing, especially within the Turkish youth, of the Armenian Genocide as well as the Assyrian, Nestorian, Chaldean, and Greek genocides, which were all perpetrated by our Turkish ancestors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Torches Oil Field Near Tikrit
Islamic State militants have set fire to oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit to obstruct an assault by Shi’ite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers trying to drive them from the Sunni Muslim city and surrounding towns, a witness said.
The witness and a military source said Islamic State fighters ignited the fire at the Ajil oil field to shield themselves from attack by Iraqi military helicopters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi FM: Iran is Taking Over Iraq
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Thursday of Iran’s ‘destabilizing’ policies in the region and stressed on ensuring Tehran doesn’t acquire nuclear weapons.
In a strongly worded statement, al-Faisal told reporters during a joint conference with Kerry in Riyadh that “Iran is taking over Iraq.”
Kerry said the United States was keeping an eye on Iran’s ‘destabilizing’ acts even as the two nations try to reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Kingdom Calls for More Efforts to Address Religious Defamation
The President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission and head of the Saudi delegation in Geneva, Dr. Bandar bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, addressed the 28th session of the Human Rights Council meeting in that city. During his speech, Al-Aiban called for redoubling efforts to address the growing phenomenon of defamation of religions and religious symbols.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Diabetes Raises Limb Amputation Rate to Over 400% in 8 Years
The rate of limb amputations resulting from diabetes has increased by 404 percent over an eight-year period, whereas the amputation rates resulting from traffic accidents dropped by 39.8 percent, according to data released by the Ministry of Health. Madinah topped the rate of amputation cases as a result of diabetic gangrene among other issues by 25 percent, while Tabuk topped amputations as a result of traffic accidents by 32 percent, the report said.
Dr. Naji Al-Juhani, member of the Saudi Diabetes Association, said the increasing rate of amputations as a result of gangrene associated with diabetes is due to the stark increase of diabetic patients in the Kingdom.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Shariah Rule ‘Sovereign Saudi Right’
It is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign right to implement Shariah law, said Bandar Al-Aiban, president of the Human Rights Commission.
Al-Aiban said under the Kingdom’s judicial system, capital punishment is awarded to “only those who commit heinous crimes that threaten security.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Saudi King Gave a Prize to an Islamic Scholar Who Says 9/11 Was an ‘Inside Job’
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman awarded a prestigious prize to Zakir Naik, a televangelist and religious scholar from India, heralding him as “one of the most renowned non-Arabic-speaking promulgators of Islam.” Naik, a trained doctor, founded the Peace TV channel, which supposedly reaches an audience of 100 million English-speaking Muslims.
The preacher is not short of controversy. His orthodox, Wahhabist views — affiliated closely with the Saudi state — are polarizing in India, which is home to a diverse set of Muslim traditions and sects. His conservatism has led him to make statements endorsing the use of female sex slaves and allegedly expressing sympathy for terrorists.
In a 2008 video, he claimed President George W. Bush was behind the Sept. 11 attacks. “Even a fool will know that this was an inside job,” Naik said. Years before, he appeared to offer tacit backing to terrorist masterminds such as Osama bin Laden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Video Shows ISIS Fighter Seeming to Speak Italian
Globalist says it shows former Italian residents now jihadists
(ANSA) — Rome, March 5 — A new Islamic State video that apparently shows a jihadist fighter speaking in Italian surfaced Thursday. A voice is heard saying “slowly, slowly” using Italian words, as well as nonsense words, while preparing a car for a suicide bombing against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The video was found and published by Globalist.it. Italian intelligence confirmed the authenticity of the video, said Globalist director Gianni Cipriani. He added it suggests foreign fighters who once lived in Italy are now in Syria and Iraq.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Boots on the Ground: US Military Instructors Arrive in Ukraine
The US previously announced that they were planning on sending at least 300 military personnel to train Ukrainian soldiers. The American personnel will be stationed at the Yavoriv International Peacekeeping and Security Center (IPSC).
The 300 US Army military personnel deployed to Ukraine to conduct a joint training mission with the Ukrainian army at a peacekeeping center near Lviv from March 5 until October 21 have already arrived, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative Aleksandr Lukashevich announced on Thursday.
“American servicemen have already been transferred to Lviv region to train Ukrainian soldiers.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Kremlin Activists Claim Boris Nemtsov Killed by ‘American Curators’
US intelligence agencies killed opposition leader Boris Nemtsov to orchestrate a regime change in Russia, pro-Kremlin activists that include a senator and the leader of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorite biker gang said at a press conference in Moscow.
Referring to the pro-Western Euromaidan protests in Kiev that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, the leaders of Russia’s “Anti-Maidan” movement said Nemtsov had become the “first victim of Maidan in Russia” when he was killed by four bullets to the back in view of the Kremlin on Friday night. Pundits in state media have often argued the Kiev protests were a US-organized “coup” that brought a “fascist junta” to power.
A former prime minister, Nemtsov had written several reports on state corruption and was reportedly working on one about Russian military support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. But nationalist author Nikolai Starikov argued at the press conference that the opposition leader had actually been an asset of US intelligence who had worked against Russia’s interests throughout his career.
“To me it’s obvious that the instigators of Nemtsov’s murder were his American curators, who always use the same methods. As soon as a revolutionary becomes ineffective, as soon as his death will bring more use than his activities, they kill him, then create a big furor around it to give his death more significance,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Accuses United States of Plot to Oust President Vladimir Putin Via Opposition Aid
Moscow — Russia’s Security Council accused the United States of plotting to oust President Vladimir Putin by financing the opposition and encouraging mass demonstrations, less than a week after a protest leader was murdered near the Kremlin.
The US is funding Russian political groups under the guise of promoting civil society, just as in the “colour revolutions” in the former Soviet Union and the Arab world, council chief Nikolai Patrushev said on Wednesday. At the same time, the US is using the sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine as a “pretext” to inflict economic pain and stoke discontent, he said.
Even while the U.S. military is shrinking, the Russian military is getting larger. The following infographic was published by TASS, and it shows some of the new equipment that the Russian military will be receiving by the end of this year…
In addition, the Moscow Times is reporting that the Russian navy will be getting 50 new vessels in 2015.
So why are the Russians conducting such a massive military buildup?
Certainly the civil war in Ukraine is on their minds. If there was a civil war up in Canada, the U.S. government would definitely be freaking out. So it is understandable that the Russians are deeply concerned about what is happening to their neighbor.
But this military buildup by the Russians suggests that there is something more going on.
And I think that we can get a clue by looking at how the Russian military has been behaving.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘US Anti-Russian Rhetoric — Preparation to Deliver Lethal Arms to Ukraine’
The US perceives the Ukrainian crisis as an opportunity to damage Russia and bring Ukraine into NATO, says Srdja Trifkovic, Foreign Affairs Editor of Chronicles Magazine. He says a decision to ship lethal weapons to the Kiev regime has already been made.
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
While Obama Guts the U.S. Military, Russia Prepares for War
The Russian military and the U.S. military are going in two very different directions. Military spending in Russia is increasing by a whopping 33 percent this year alone, and the Russians are feverishly preparing as if a major war with the United States is inevitable. But despite the fact that the conflict in Ukraine has raised tensions with Russia to Cold War levels, the Obama administration is still acting as if we were living in a “post-Cold War” era. Even while the Russians are arming themselves to the teeth, the U.S. military is being gutted. In fact, the U.S. Army is in the process of being cut down to the smallest size that we have seen since the end of World War II, and the U.S. Navy is already the smallest that it has been since World War I. There is very little political debate about this gutting of our military at the moment, but someday we may look back and bitterly regret not being more prepared.
No matter what your view of U.S. foreign policy is, we should all be able to agree that the U.S. Constitution mandates that it is the job of the federal government to protect this nation. Sadly, according to one recent report the cutbacks that are happening right now have left the U.S. military only “marginally able” to defend this country…
The US military has become so depleted by cuts that it has been left only ‘marginally able’ to defend the nation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germans Sentenced to Prison, Caning in Singapore for Graffiti
Two Germans from the north-eastern city of Leipzig are to be caned and sent to prison for nine months in Singapore for vandalism. The two men had spray-painted a metro train.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India Threatens BBC Over Rapist Interview
India’s home minister has threatened action against the BBC, after it aired a film in the UK featuring an interview with an Indian rapist on death row.
The BBC Storyville film features an interview with a man facing the death penalty over the 2012 rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi.
Mukesh Singh is one of four men sentenced to death for the incident, which caused shock and revulsion around the world.
In the interview he appears to show no remorse, and instead suggests the victim might have survived if she had not fought back.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Space Plans Could Include Destroying U.S. Communication Satellites
The rising military tensions between China and the United States aren’t limited to the sea, the air, and the internet. A new Bloomberg report says that China might be working on blocking U.S. military communication from space.
The story draws from a report from the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. The institute warns of all kinds of crazy future warfare, including that the U.S. (and the rest of the world) needs to prepare for a potential game-changing space war with China that could affect internet access and communication everywhere.
Part of China’s strategy would be to shoot satellites out of orbit, something it tested last year in a show of force as it aims to become the world’s leading off-planet power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong’s Communist Leader Tells Citizens to Act Like Sheep for Their Own Good
(NaturalNews) Tyrants throughout history have all wanted two things from those they mean to rule: blind loyalty and absolute obedience.
That is no different today, as evidenced by recent comments from Hong Kong’s unpopular communist chief executive. In a recent speech, he had some advice for residents of the Asian metropolis: Be more “like sheep” — advice that did not sit well with the city’s pro-democracy reformers.
In a brief video address commemorating the beginning of the “Year of the Sheep,” part of the Chinese new year, CY Leung that sheep-like behavior from the population was necessary following the disruption caused by street protests last year.
“Last year was no easy ride for Hong Kong. Our society was rife with differences and conflicts,” said Leung, chief executive of the former British colony, as reported by Britain’s Telegraph newspaper.
Calmer and more compliant
“In the coming year, I hope that all people in Hong Kong will take inspiration from the sheep’s character and pull together in an accommodating manner to work for Hong Kong’s future.“
To ensure that his meaning was fully understood, Leung continued by noting that the 12 animals that make up the Chinese zodiac have individual “character types,” adding: “Sheep are widely seen to be mild and gentle animals living peacefully in groups.”
As you can imagine, pro-democracy reformers were livid, and their reaction was swift and predictable…
Leung’s remarks are similar to those of many leaders in the United States, including President Obama. In fact, he has said in the past that being president of authoritarian China, where no political opposition is permitted, would be “easier.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Ambassador to South Korea Stable After Knife Attack
The US ambassador to South Korea is recovering in the hospital after being attacked by a knife-wielding man in Seoul. The assailant apparently shouted pro-reunification slogans.
The US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, underwent treatment for two and a half hours by plastic and orthopedic surgeons in Seoul on Thursday, with his condition described as stable.
Lippert was attacked earlier in the day by a man, identified as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, at a breakfast function in the South Korean capital. Witnesses say Kim, wearing traditional Korean dress, lunged at Lippert across a table with a 25-centimeter (10 inch) long paring knife, slashing his face and hand.
News agency Yonhap TV showed men in suits wrestle Kim to the ground, while 42-year-old Lippert was rushed to hospital in a police car waiting outside the building.
Video footage shows the US envoy leaving the conference holding one hand to his right cheek, his clothes covered in blood.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
MH370: Australian PM Abbott Hints at Scaled Back Search
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has hinted that the search for missing flight MH370 may be scaled back.
But, speaking to MPs and passengers’ relatives ahead of the anniversary of the disappearance, Mr Abbott said he hoped the plane would be found.
The Malaysia Airlines plane vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board.
Mr Abbott’s remarks echo Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, who said earlier this week: “We clearly cannot keep searching forever.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Massacres 68 Civilians, Including Many Children
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Boko Haram militants attacked the village of Njaba in northeastern Nigeria at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, massacring scores of civilians.
Boko Haram fighters killed 68 civilians, including many children on Thursday in the village of Njaba in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, about 100 kilometers south of the state capital, Maiduguri.
“The attack was not immediately known because the village is very remote and our men couldn’t access the area,” a military source told Reuters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Boko Haram Kills Dozens in North-East Nigeria — Report
BBC online reports, quoting witnesses
(ANSA) — Rome, March 5 — Dozens of people, at least 45, have died in an attack carried out by suspected Boko Haram militants in a village in Borno State, north-east Nigeria, the BBC reported on Thursday, quoting local witnesses.
The BBC reported that gunmen stormed the village, shooting into the houses and then setting them on fire.
Boko Haram killed a reported 10,000 people in 2014 in its drive to set up an Islamic state.
The Islamic extremists almost a year ago kidnapped over 200 Nigerian school girls, who are still missing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Xenophobic Attacks Erupt in South Africa’s Limpopo Province
Xenophobic attacks in South Africa have moved to the north-eastern province of Limpopo. Foreigners on the outskirts of the provincial capital Polokwane in Limpopo have abandoned their shops after protesting villagers threatened to burn them alive and then looted them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Agents Continue to Arrest Sexual Predators Attempting to Enter U.S.
U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Rio Grande Valley Sector arrested a man whose criminal history revealed he had a previous arrest for the crime of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
The apprehension occurred Tuesday, when Border Patrol agents assigned to the McAllen Border Patrol Station apprehended a Mexican national near the Rio Grande. Record checks revealed the man was previously arrested in Dallas on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The subject was processed accordingly and referred to the Rio Grande Valley Sector Office of Prosecution for disposition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CPAC 2015’s Conservative View of Immigration Focused on “Consensus”
If illegals who refuse to assimilate do not come to the United States for welfare, why have so many received over $4.1 billion in earned income tax credit
Among the glitz and conservative rhetoric of CPAC 2015, one important panel discussion was barely attended by 40-50 people — “Immigration: Can Conservatives Reach a Consensus?” It is in my estimation an issue that is going to fundamentally alter the makeup of our society forever…
In light of the hurried Social Security cards which were issued to the five million amnestied by executive fiat, these people will vote illegally for those who brought them into our country. Contrary to what Aguilar said, “Latinos are not natural-born Democrats,” they do come from third world nations whose citizens look up to big government for their salvation and well-being even though they may be conservative with their families and with religious views. They look up to the Pope with reverence, a political figure, who has criticized capitalism in favor of Marxism and has interjected himself in the issue of global warming and population control.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EC Says Don’t Pass Buck on Migrants to EU
Avramopoulos says clear idea needed of what bloc can do
(see related) (ANSA) — Brussels, March 4 — European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Wednesday said it was no good passing the buck to the European Union after the latest migrant disaster in the southern Mediterranean. The death of 10 refugees has reignited debate about the effectiveness of the Triton programme, which is coordinated by EU agency Frontex and replaced Italy’s better-funded Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation last year. “Enough already of the politics of passing the buck,” Avramopoulos said. “Let’s have a clear, realistic attitude about what the EU can do and what it cannot do.
“Frontex is not the EU’s border guard. If we want a system of border guards, we have to create it.
“If we want Frontex to do more, we have to give it more resources”. EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans echoed those sentiments, saying the EU member states must be ready to take responsibility for sharing the burden of the migrant crisis.
“Migration is a problem that concerns all the member states,” Timmermans said. “It’s no longer Mare Nostrum (Our Sea), but Europa Nostra (Our Europe)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy “Rescues” Another Thousand Invading Boat People From Libya
By A.W. Morgan
Italy has rescued 1,000 migrants from death in their own “Last Chance Flotilla.” The real-life version of “Camp of the Saints” continues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Says Renzi, Alfano Hands Soiled With Blood
League leader says rescues are encouraging traffickers
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that the hands of Premier Matteo Renzi and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano were soiled with blood after 10 people were killed in the latest migrant-boat disaster in the southern Mediterranean. Salvini argues that, by rescuing migrants, the Italian authorities are encouraging human traffickers and making the situation worse.
“Another 10 deaths and 900 illegal immigrants ready to land,” Salvini said.
“Pockets are full and hands are dirty with blood in Rome and Brussels. “Stop the departures, stop the deaths, stop the invasion.
Renzi and Alfano are dangerous for the Italians and for the immigrants”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Noam Chomsky: Jihadi John, Charlie Hebdo Killers Were ‘Oppressed’ Immigrants
Noam Chomsky tacitly defended ISIS member ‘Jihadi John’ and the Charlie Hebdo killers during an appearance on Democracy Now when he justified their actions by pointing to ‘oppression’ suffered by the terrorists at the hands of the French and British governments.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Calls Illegals ‘Americans-in-Waiting’ While Threatening Ice Agents
President Obama warned workers at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: implement executive amnesty, or else. He made the comments in a town hall event on immigration on MSNBC.
According to the White House pool report, President Obama was asked for reassurance that people wouldn’t be deported as the legal battle over the executive amnesty plays out in the courts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Amnesty Plan: Legalize Foreigners, “Take Over the Host, “ Push “Citizens Into the Shadows”
It was supposed to be a phone call for Obama administration ears only. But hear it the radio host did, she says. And what she heard should make your blood run cold—and perhaps your rage hot. Obama’s amnesty plan is to use illegal aliens as “seedlings,” said the federal officials. They will “navigate, not assimilate,” as they “take over the host,” create a “country within a country” and start “pushing the citizens into the shadows.”
Welcome to the “fundamental transformation” of America.
The above was alleged by WCBM radio co-host Sue Payne in an interview with talk giant Mark Levin last Thursday. Payne says that while at an immigration rally, she became privy to three conference calls in which 16 Obama administration officials—including Cecilia Munoz, director of Obama’s White House Domestic Policy Council—discussed plans for what could only be called the final destruction of traditional America and the cementing of leftist hegemony. Munoz, by the way, is perfectly suited to this task; she was once a senior vice president for the anti-American Hispanic lobbying organization the National Council of La Raza.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ten Dead After Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Sicily
A boat transporting migrants has capsized off Sicily, killing at least ten people, while hundreds have been rescued in various incidents over the past day, the Italian coast guard said on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NBA Launches Feminist Campaign to Lecture Men; ‘Not Doing Enough Housework’
The NBA is backing a huge feminist public relations campaign headed up by Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg to lecture men about how they are not doing enough housework or child care.
NBA players like LeBron James and Stephen Curry, “will deliver the message in public service announcements aired during NBA games on major TV networks over the next few months,” reports the Associated Press, adding, “Google will be promoting the cause Thursday on the main page of its heavily trafficked search engine.”
The campaign will lecture men to “take more responsibility for housework and child care,” ordering them to do their “fair share of daily chores” by taking care of “dishes in the sink or laundry piling up”…
As with all modern feminist social engineering programs, the campaign, spearheaded by Sandberg’s Lean In organization, is not grass roots — it is being supported by some of the largest corporations and banks on the planet, including Bank of America, Brown Brothers Harriman, Citibank, DuPont, GE, Goldman Sachs, GlaxoSmithKline, Morgan Stanley and Time Warner.
[…]
However, while men are ordered to “take more responsibility for housework and child care” (while simultaneously working longer hours than women), there are no suggestions on how women can make life and in turn the relationship easier for men. Because this isn’t about fostering better understanding and kinship between the sexes — it’s about division and misandry.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The following announcement appeared on CNBC.com via Globe Newswire. It is extremely well cited and it shatters the lies and propaganda of the vaccine industry — an industry that’s losing the P.R. on every front due to their verbal abuse of vaccine-damaged children, strong-arm intimidation tactics and attempted government coercion to demand vaccine obedience.
Public Health Officials Know: Recently Vaccinated Individuals Spread Disease
Physicians and public health officials know that recently vaccinated individuals can spread disease and that contact with the immunocompromised can be especially dangerous. For example, the Johns Hopkins Patient Guide warns the immunocompromised to “Avoid contact with children who are recently vaccinated,” and to “Tell friends and family who are sick, or have recently had a live vaccine (such as chicken pox, measles, rubella, intranasal influenza, polio or smallpox) not to visit.”(1)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supernova ‘Kaleidoscope’ Seen for First Time
Rare cosmic alignment produces images that could help to measure the expansion of the Universe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ultracold-Resistant Chemical on Titan Could Allow it to Harbor Life
Computer simulations reveal that a compound found on Saturn’s largest moon may be able to form a freeze-resistant, flexible membrane that could encapsulate cells or organelles.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finally a political leader is honest about how they want people to act: like sheep.
When speaking of a fait accompli, it’s not an admission, it’s gloating Nimrod.
People like those who live in the slums around Paris or, in this case, a relatively privileged man under harsh, pretty harsh repression in England, they also know about that,” said Chomsky.
Noam Chomsky is probably the original looney leftie. I worked in the area inhabited by so-called Jihadi John for the last 12 years of my career. It is a highly prosperous part of London – the sort of place to which the average hard working tax paying Londoner can never aspire. I understand the various units of accommodation his family was given was based on the size of the family (muslims don’t practice birth control) and the amount of Local authority housing benefit paid to that family was staggering.
Oppression? What planet is Chomsky on?
Chomsky is one those grand intellectual and moral frauds that haunt academia today. Truth and accuracy aren’t his forte, they are his enemies.
He has a narrative to promote and will not stand for anything to get in it’s way, even if it’s the truth.
Personally I believe people such as Chomsky should be expelled from the country, they’re poison.
On China announces plans for a world currency….yes it seems to be all going as planned.
On ‘scientists’ hacking into cockroaches nervous system and controlling it ….. some things should never be ventured by Man as the Bible warns about the Tree of Knowledge and the access to it by Man.
On envelopes containing white powder in Canada to Federal Ministers……..unless the body actually inhales in some quantity whatever the white powder is, let’s say for the exercise it is Anthrax, there is no danger if the white powder can be washed off immediately. This kind of hysterical reaction to a white unidentified powdery substance is what hobbles Western security from going about its task with the efficiency it requires to combat such attacks. So who opens envelopes with their nose?
Coke addicts? (sorry!)
LOL!
Re: “Culture wars: Men not doing enough housework”.
A survey in the UK a few months ago, concluded that men who undertook more traditionally “feminine” roles around the house got less sex than those who didn’t. I won’t get into the labyrinth of possible explanations, but maybe we mere males ain’t so stupid?
You could have a point – I am retired but my wife still works. I do the cooking, washing up and vacuuming, as well as ground and house maintenance. We both have minor disabilities i.e. arthritic joints etc that generally preclude any kind of gymnastics in the boudoir, but such is life.
Murky goings on in Ukraine, the jihad connection
In Midst of War, Ukraine Becomes Gateway for Jihad
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/26/midst-war-ukraine-becomes-gateway-europe-jihad/