Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/27/2015

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini boarded a naval ship in the Mediterranean Sea today to display their “solidarity” with hundreds of dead migrants who perished while attempting to make the crossing from North Africa to Italy.

In other news, rescue workers in Nepal continue to search for survivors of last weekend’s major earthquake. It is feared that more than 10,000 people died in the quake.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, MC, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» A Global Deleveraging Crisis is at Our Doorstep
» Gold Flows East — China, India Import Massive Quantities of Gold From Switzerland
» Greece Faces Criticism, As ‘Plan B’ Speculation Mounts
» Is This a Blow-Off Top? Four Ways to Tell
» Italy: ECB’s QE Purchased 85bn in Bonds, ABS as of April 24
» Ron Paul: The Real War on the Middle Class
» ‘There is No Plan B for Greece’: Padoan
 
USA
» “Jibo the Family Robot” is the Creepiest Product of the Year (Video)
» Apple Earnings Surge on iPhone Sales; Co. Hikes Buybacks
» As Public Celebrates Vermont GMO Labeling, State Removes Vaccine Exemption
» Baltimore Police Arrest 34 in Violent Protests: Spokesman
» Baltimore Police Arrest 35, 6 Officers Injured in Protest
» Baltimore Protests Turn Violent; Police Officers Injured
» Chaos in Baltimore as Dozens Clash With Riot Police; Multiple Officers Injured
» Civil Unrest Has Begun in Baltimore and This is Only Just the Start of Something Much Bigger
» Freddie Gray: Gangs Make ‘Credible Threat’ To Police
» Imagine George Bush Yukking it Up at Dinner While Riots Escalated . . .
» Loretta Lynch Sworn in as New US Attorney General
» Loretta Lynch Sworn in as US’ First Black Female Attorney General
» New Video Shows Tennessee Cops & National Guard in Riot Control Exercise
» Opinion Poll in Germany and UK Gives Positive Opinion for US Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton
» Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo
» The American Spring Explodes in Baltimore
» The Fall of the House of Clinton
» ‘US National Guard’s Drills in Public Aimed at Dealing With Domestic ‘Dissidents’’
» Violent Clashes Between Baltimore Police and Protestors Turn City Into ‘Absolute War Zone’ Burning Cop Cars and Looting Stores After Thousands Mourn Freddie Gray in Open Casket Funeral
» Writers Boycott Charlie Hebdo Gala in New York
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria’s ‘Rebirth’ Honoured 70 Years on
» Caesar Did Not Suffer From Epilepsy: Scientists
» Danish Cops Overworked and Undermanned
» France’s Strasbourg to Keep EU Capital Status: Hollande
» Germany: Chancellor’s Office ‘Knew’ of US Economic Spying
» How France Shapes Up in the Global Wine Industry
» Jewish Man Beaten Near Synagogue in France
» Netherlands: Amsterdam’s Chief Rabbi Takes Step Back After Link to Brutal Divorce Squad
» Norway Study Links Mental Illness to Drugs
» Revealed: The Italians Who Worship Mussolini
» Strasbourg Will Remain EU Capital, France Vows
» Sweden Democrats Boot Seven in Extremism Row
» Swiss Post Set to Test Mail Delivery by Drone
» The Rumble in Riga: How the EU Lost Patience With Varoufakis
» UK: Lord Janner’s Thank You Note to Detective Who Was Forced to Drop Case by Bosses
» Wine: China Overtakes France But Spain Reigns
 
Balkans
» Bosnia Police Say Gunman Enters Police Station Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar, ‘ Killing 1, Wounding 2
 
North Africa
» Egypt: Christians Between Hope and Fear for Future
» Libya: 6 Beheaded TV Crew Members’ Bodies Found Near Bayda
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Op-Ed: San Remo: The Forgotten Milestone
» UN Criticizes Israel for Palestinian Deaths on UN Premises in 2014 Gaza Conflict
 
Middle East
» Assad’s Hold on Power Looks Shakier Than Ever as Rebels Advance in Syria
» First Saudi National Guards Reach Yemen Border Zone
» For Maronite Patriarch, Without Christians Moderate Muslims Will Also Disappear From the Middle East
» Hair is Pushing Boundaries in Iran
» IS Belgian Carries Out Suicide Bombing
» ISIS and Al Qaeda Battling for Influence Amid Yemen Chaos
» Saudi Arabia: Divorces Treble, Among Highest Rates Worldwide
» Swiss Business Team Seeks Iran Trade Deals
» The Islamic Genocide of Christians: Past and Present
 
Russia
» France Will Pay €1.1 Bn to Russia for Cancelled Mistral Ships — Report
» Poland Stops 10 ‘Patriotic’ Russian Bikers at Border
 
South Asia
» Climbers Face Agonising Wait on Everest: Mountain Rescue Hampered by Bad Weather as Food Supplies Begin to Run Out
» Desperate Rescue Mission to Save Dozens Stranded on Everest — as Terrifying Video Emerges of the Moment Giant Avalanche Engulfed Climbers
» From Jakarta to Hong Kong, Activists Seek Pardon for Filippino on Death Row: By Mathias Hariyadi
» Nepal Earthquake: Drone Footage Reveals Extent of Damage in Kathmandu
» Nepal Earthquake: ‘Nine Out of 10 Soldiers’ In Rescue Mission
» Nepal: Searching for Missing Loved Ones With Google
» Obama Approved ‘More Flexibility’ For Pakistan Drones, WSJ
» Race Against Death: Rescuers Struggle to Reach Remote Nepal Villages as Death Toll Rises
» Rescue Dogs Leave Oslo for Nepal Quake
» Sex, Lies and Sharia Law: The Secret Life of the Sultan of Brunei
» Thailand Seizes 511 Elephant Tusks From Kenya Hidden in Tea Leaf Bags
» Villages Near Nepal Earthquake’s Epicenter Are Desperate as Death Toll Tops 3,800
» Wiped Off the Map: Startling Images From Nepal Earthquake Epicenter Reveal Entire Hillside Villages Have Been Decimated
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia: Everyone Must Get Vaccinated, Except the Prime Minister’s Daughters
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» South Africa: Murdered Austrian Nun ‘May Have Been Raped’
 
Immigration
» Belgium: “Get Me Out of Here, I’m an Undocumented Person”
» Cash Payments, Wire Transfer, Extortion Fuel Million-Dollar Sahara-to-Sweden Smuggling Network
» Dutch Lawmaker Tells Migrants Not to Come to Netherlands
» Italy: Immigration Workers Protest Lack of Govt Funds, Paychecks
» Leaders Visit Mediterranean to Show ‘Solidarity’ With Migrants
» Priority is Saving Migrant Lives Ban Tells Renzi
» Refugees Hold Out in Sicily’s Catania
» Sicilian Court Convicts of Migrant-Trafficking 20 Somalis Who Had Political Asylum in Italy
» Switzerland: Foreigner Head Count Nears Two Million
» UN Chief, Italy PM, EU’s Mogherini in Symbolic Med Sea Trip
» UN Plan to Settle 1M Refugees an Invitation to Terror, Critics Warn
» ‘We Count on UN Support to Stop People Smugglers’, Says Renzi
» Yemen’s Refugees Pose a Threat to Somalia
» Yemen Crisis: This Exotic War Will Soon Become Europe’s Problem
 
Culture Wars
» Bakers Face $135,000 Fine for Refusing to Make Cake for Gay Wedding
» Hillary: Deep-Seated Religious Beliefs Have to Change so There Can be More Abortions
» UK: Lib Dem Love Triangle of Sex-Change Candidate and Lesbian Lovers
 
General
» Global Warming? The Pope is Wrong
» The Climate Change Industry and the Hoax of Global Warming
» There Will be Earthquakes: The Crust of the Earth Violently Roars to Life in Chile and Nepal
 

A Global Deleveraging Crisis is at Our Doorstep

The blogosphere is rife with talk of the “death of the US Dollar.”

The US Dollar will eventually die, as all fiat currencies do. But the fact remains that it is the reserve currency of the world. And everyone on the planet has been borrowing in US Dollars for decades, or leveraging up using Dollars.

When you borrow in US Dollars you are effectively shorting the US Dollar. So when leverage decreases through defaults or restructuring, the number of US Dollars outstanding diminishes.

And this strengthens the US Dollar.

With that in mind, it looks as though we are in the early stages of a massive, multi-year Dollar deleveraging cycle. Indeed, the greenback is now breaking out against EVERY major world currency.

Here’s the US Dollar/ Japanese Yen:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gold Flows East — China, India Import Massive Quantities of Gold From Switzerland

In what future generations will likely see as a major, potentially catastrophic blunder of monetary policy, the West and particularly the City of London continues to hemorrhage huge volumes of gold which is flowing Eastwards to Singapore, India and China from London via Switzerland.

“Gold exports to China from the refining hub of Switzerland almost doubled to 46.4 metric tons in March”, up from 23.6 tonnes in February” according to Bloomberg. India’s gold imports from Switzerland doubled to 72.5 tonnes in the same period.

The increasingly affluent masses in China and India continue to have a voracious appetite for gold as a store of value. Policy makers in China and Russia have also made gold a cornerstone of their monetary policy.

Bloomberg reported the following:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greece Faces Criticism, As ‘Plan B’ Speculation Mounts

The bitter fallout from Friday’s failed Eurogroup meeting continued over the weekend, with Greece looking increasingly isolated as it desperately seeks a debt deal that will allow it to avoid bankruptcy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Is This a Blow-Off Top? Four Ways to Tell

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Those who lived through the last two speculative blow-off tops know the impossibility of predicting the final top.

How can we tell if stocks are in the final blow-off stage of a bubble? There are four basic give-aways:

1. Parabolic rises in stocks and speculative debt.

2. The mainstream financial media claims the clearly visible bubbles are justified by fundamentals.

3. Conventional financial authorities insist this is not a blow-off top.

4. The expressions of regret of those who sat out the latest rally become ubiquitous.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ECB’s QE Purchased 85bn in Bonds, ABS as of April 24

QE program launched January 22

(ANSA) — Rome, April 27 — The European Central Bank (ECB) as of April 24 purchased 85 billion euros’ worth of public paper as part of its quantitative easing (QE) program to stimulate eurozone growth, the central bank made known Monday.

The purchasing program included 72.6 billion euros in covered bonds and 5.75 billion euros in asset-backed securities (ABS), the ECB said.

ECB President Mario Draghi’s massive bond-buying program — which is designed to push down interest rates and boost credit — was launched January 22 and involves monthly bond purchases from across the eurozone.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Ron Paul: The Real War on the Middle Class

One of the great ironies of American politics is that most politicians who talk about helping the middle class support policies that, by expanding the welfare-warfare state, are harmful to middle-class Americans. Eliminating the welfare-warfare state would benefit middle-class Americans by freeing them from exorbitant federal taxes, including the Federal Reserve’s inflation tax.

Politicians serious about helping middle-class Americans should allow individuals to opt out of Social Security and Medicare by not having to pay payroll taxes if they agree to never accept federal retirement or health care benefits. Individuals are quite capable of meeting their own unique retirement and health care needs if the government stops forcing them into one-size-fits-all plans. Middle-class families with college-age children would benefit if government got out of the student loan business. Government involvement in higher education is the main reason tuition is skyrocketing and so many Americans are graduating with huge student loan debts. College graduates entering the job market would certainly benefit if Congress stopped imposing destructive regulations and taxes on the economy.

Politicians who support an interventionist foreign policy are obviously not concerned with the harm inflicted on the middle-class populations of countries targeted for regime change. These politicians also disregard the harm US foreign policy inflicts on Americans. Middle- and working-class Americans, and their families, who join the military certainly suffer when they are maimed or killed fighting in unjust and unconstitutional wars. Our interventionist foreign policy also contributes to the high tax burden imposed on middle-class Americans.

Middle-class Americans also suffer from intrusions on their liberty and privacy, such as not being able to board an airplane unless they submit to invasive and humiliating searches. Even children and the physically disabled are not safe from the Transposition Security Administration. These assaults are justified by the threat of terrorism, a direct result of our interventionist foreign policy that fosters hatred and resentment of Americans.

Some “military Keynesians” claim that middle-class workers benefit from jobs in the military-industrial complex. Military Keynesians seem to think that the resources spent on militarism would disappear if the Pentagon’s budget were cut. The truth is, if we reduced spending on militarism, those currently employed by the military-industrial complex would be able to find new jobs producing goods desired by consumers. Even those currently employed as lobbyists for the military-industrial complex may be able to find useful work.

Few things would benefit the middle class more than ending the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies erode middle-class families’ standards of living while benefiting the financial and political elites. Middle-class Americans may gain some temporary benefits from Federal Reserve created booms, but they also suffer from the inevitable busts.

As I write this, the dollar still reigns as the world’s reserve currency. However, there are signs that other economies are moving away from using the dollar as the reserve currency, and this trend will accelerate as the Federal Reserve continues to pump more fiat currency into the economy and as resentment toward our foreign policy grows. Eventually, international investors will lose confidence in the US economy, the dollar will lose its reserve currency status, and the dollar bubble will burst.

These events will cause a major economic downturn that may even be worse than the Great Depression. The main victims of this crisis will be average Americans. The only way to avoid this calamity is for the American people to force Congress to free them from the burdens of the warfare state, the welfare state, taxation, and fiat currency.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘There is No Plan B for Greece’: Padoan

Italy’s Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Monday there is no “Plan B” being hatched in the event of Greece leaving the euro.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

“Jibo the Family Robot” is the Creepiest Product of the Year (Video)

In the cautionary tale that was 1984, telescreens were used by the ruling Party to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret conspiracies against it. Almost 70 years after the release of the novel, telescreens are a reality … and they are going much further than Orwell’s telescreens.

Enter Jibo. Before I go further, I will let you witness its mindbogglingly absurd video selling this product. The first time I watched it, I actually asked myself if it was some kind of spoof or parody. But no. I got confirmation that it was 100% real and that the product is about to ship worldwide. Then a dark, creeping feeling overwhelmed me as I realized the immense potential of this machine. Here’s the ad.

If you are anything like me, watching this video makes me angry : The sentimental, “life is so wonderful” music; The way the fake family talks to the robot as if it was an adopted son; The way it is presented as something “we’ve all dreamed about”. All the while, Jibo is being the family snitch, gathering data about everybody and sending it God knows where.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Apple Earnings Surge on iPhone Sales; Co. Hikes Buybacks

Apple continued its financial winning ways Monday, with a record second quarter.

Strong demand for Apple’s iPhones, particularly in China, powered earnings and sales past already lofty forecasts last quarter.

Another boon to investors: Apple boosted its capital return program. Shares hit a record in after-hour trading.

Just days after shipping the Apple Watch, the first new product since 2010’s iPad, the company said net income rose 33% to $13.6 billion, or $2.33 per share, in the three months ending in March.

Apple’s revenue rose 27%, to $58 billion.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

As Public Celebrates Vermont GMO Labeling, State Removes Vaccine Exemption

With the public focused on the lobbyist-driven California Senate Bill 277 (SB-277), the Vermont Senate quietly eliminated vaccine exemptions Thursday with an 18-11 vote. Missing the starting gun, communities across America are now facing the political push to remove the barrier between their bodies and a private company’s medical product. Attempting to squeeze every last drop of credibility from the “safe and effective” argument, senators across the U.S. appear to be ignoring the voices of their people in addition to over $3 billion of payouts in the U.S. alone from The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Police Arrest 34 in Violent Protests: Spokesman

Baltimore police arrested about 34 people and six officers were hurt when protests over the death in custody of a young black man turned violent, police in the US city said Sunday.

“A small contingent of yesterday’s protesters caused violent disruptions downtown and in west Baltimore last night and early this morning after what had been mostly peaceful protests throughout the day,” said Baltimore police spokesman Jeremy Silbert.

“Approximately 34 people were arrested and six officers suffered minor injuries.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Police Arrest 35, 6 Officers Injured in Protest

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and a coalition of two dozen interdenominational leaders issued a “call for peace” Sunday after 35 people were arrested and six police officers were injured in protests over the death of Freddie Gray.

The Police Department in the afternoon released a list of the names of the 31 adults arrested, omitting those of the four juveniles.

Rawings-Blake said “outside forces” took advantage of the community’s pain to incite violence. The out-of-towners’ presence was “reflected more than just in the arrest numbers but what we saw on the streets,” the mayor said.

“Many people who weren’t from our community were, in essence, trying to hijack the very raw emotions of some of those who live in Baltimore and were expressing anger over the death of Mr. Gray,” she said. “People from the outside were inciting some of the ‘shut this city down’ sort of messaging, and then just left.”

Multiple storefronts were vandalized and several police vehicles were damaged, police said. Other property damage was reported, but police did not immediately provide further information.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Protests Turn Violent; Police Officers Injured

(CNN) A riot erupted on the streets of Baltimore late Monday as protesters clashed with police, several of whom were injured.

“This afternoon, a group of outrageous criminals attacked our officers. Right now, we have seven officers that have serious injuries, including broken bones, and one officer who is unconscious,” Capt. Eric Kowalczyk told reporters.

He vowed to find the attackers and put them in jail.

Video showed police in riot gear taking cover behind an armored vehicle, as protesters pelted them with rocks.

At one point, it looked like officers used tear gas. The Baltimore Police Department said it had heard reports of protesters setting small items on fire, and footage showed a cruiser in flames.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chaos in Baltimore as Dozens Clash With Riot Police; Multiple Officers Injured

Dozens of people sparred with police in riot gear outside a mall in northwest Baltimore, where police reported multiple officers had been injured.

Some threw rocks and bricks at the officers, who were wearing helmets and face shields.

One man held his arms up as the police moved toward him, an action that has been repeated throughout the rallies for Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries while in police custody.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Civil Unrest Has Begun in Baltimore and This is Only Just the Start of Something Much Bigger

On Saturday night, the city of Baltimore resembled a warzone as protests over the death of Freddie Gray turned wildly violent. One eyewitness reported watching the streets around him and his friend “turn into madness” as they left a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. Car windows were smashed, stores were robbed, chairs were thrown and large numbers of random bystanders were attacked. One prominent Democrat claims that those committing the violence were “mainly from out of town”, but how would he know that? Today, there are approximately 2.7 million people living in the Baltimore metropolitan area. It is an area that has been known for poverty, crime and drugs for many years, and as racial tensions continue to increase in this country it is a powder keg that could erupt at literally any time. We got a preview of what can happen on Saturday night. If this is how people will act while economic conditions are still relatively stable in this country, what in the world is going to happen when things really start falling apart?

On Saturday, April 11th, I delivered a presentation down in Dallas, Texas in which I warned about the rioting and civil unrest that are soon coming to this nation. On slide number 145 of the presentation, I specifically named the city of Baltimore as one of the cities where this would happen. But I had no idea that the rioting in Baltimore would begin so quickly. And the violence that we saw on Saturday night was at a level that was quite shocking. The following is how the Daily Mail described some of the chaos that ensued…

Local news captured live footage of a man throwing a flaming trash can at the police line. A group of roughly 100 protesters broke out a window of a department store with a chair they got at a restaurant across the street at The Gallery, a downtown shopping mall.

The same group broke the windows of restaurants including a Subway sandwich shop near Camden Yards, tossing chairs and tables through the glass.

Protesters also engaged with a group of Orioles fans at Slider’s Bar and Grille and began fighting with patrons.

This kind of thing is not supposed to happen in America.

But it is happening. Ferguson set the precedent, and now this is going to spread all over the country.

You can see some excellent photographs of the chaos that happened in Baltimore right here, and in the video posted below several young thugs smash out the front window of a police cruiser as dozens of onlookers cheer them on…

[…]

I also want to share with you another video, but I need to warn you about it first. This YouTube video strings together a bunch of clips of some of the worst of the violence, but it also contains some very graphic language. So please don’t let any young children watch this. I felt that it was important to share this because we need to really understand what is happening to our cities. America is changing, and not for the better. This is what social decay looks like…

[…]

One of the things that is being ignored by many in the mainstream media is that fact that one of the key organizers of the Baltimore protests is a former national chairman of the New Black Panther Party named Malik Shabazz. These days, he is the president of an organization known as “Black Lawyers for Justice”, but he is definitely still up to his old tricks. The following is an excerpt from an article about the Baltimore riots in the New York Times…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Freddie Gray: Gangs Make ‘Credible Threat’ To Police

Baltimore police say they have received “credible information” that members of various — sometimes rival — gangs are partnering to “take-out” officers.

The information was released as people gathered to attend the funeral service for Freddie Gray.

Gray, 25, died 19 April after an encounter with police a week earlier during which he sustained serious and unexplained spinal injuries.

His death sparked daily protests about police force against African Americans.

On Saturday the protests turned violent, with some elements confronting police officers and smashing cars.

A statement released by police said that its Criminal Intelligence Unit learned “that members of various gangs including the Black Guerrilla Family, Bloods, and Crips have entered into a partnership” to target officers.

Some protesters had warned on Saturday that the gangs would come together in this way, says the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool.

One man told him: “We gonna unify, you got Bloods, Crips, Muslims… you got everybody out here, you ain’t never see it like this before. Everybody together just to go against these pigs (police).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Imagine George Bush Yukking it Up at Dinner While Riots Escalated . . .

How different things might have been if it were President George W. Bush yukking it up at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Loretta Lynch Sworn in as New US Attorney General

Loretta Lynch was sworn in Monday as the 83rd U.S. attorney general, becoming the first African-American woman to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

She said her confirmation as attorney general showed that “we can do anything” and pledged to deal with cyberattacks and other threats facing the country.

“We can restore trust and faith both in our laws and those who enforce them,” Lynch said, an apparent reference to ongoing efforts to repair relations between police departments and minority communities.

Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to Lynch at a Justice Department ceremony. Lynch replaces Eric Holder, who left the job Friday after six years as attorney general.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Loretta Lynch Sworn in as US’ First Black Female Attorney General

After a months-long delay, Loretta Lynch has been sworn in as the first black female Attorney General of the United States. Lynch is known for her work on high-profile anti-terror cases.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Video Shows Tennessee Cops & National Guard in Riot Control Exercise

Civil unrest training now taking place once a month.

New video footage has emerged of Tennessee Air National Guard troops training with the Knoxville Police Department to deal with civil unrest, just the latest of a spate of examples of authorities gearing up for domestic disorder.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Opinion Poll in Germany and UK Gives Positive Opinion for US Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton

Germans and Britons have a positive opinion of US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according to a recent poll. Most Germans did not recognize the names of Republican candidates.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo

The decision by PEN American Center to give its annual Freedom of Expression Courage award to the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has prompted six writers to withdraw as literary hosts at the group’s annual gala on May 5, adding a new twist to the continuing debate over the publication’s status as a martyr for free speech.

The novelists Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi have withdrawn from the gala, at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Gerard Biard, Charlie Hebdo’s editor in chief, and Jean-Baptiste Thoret, a Charlie Hebdo staff member who arrived late for work on Jan. 7 and missed the attack by Islamic extremists that killed 12 people, are scheduled to accept the award.

In an email to PEN’s leadership on Friday, Ms. Kushner said she was withdrawing out of discomfort with what she called the magazine’s “cultural intolerance” and promotion of “a kind of forced secular view,” opinions echoed by other writers who pulled out.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The American Spring Explodes in Baltimore

The whole scene morphed into a war zone. Metal barricades were thrown aside and at police. People were yelling at the police, “Why aren’t you doing anything? They’re hurting people! They’re hurting people! They’re violent!” But the police just watched as the crowd got their violence on.

Police helicopters started buzzing the skies around the stadium. As the game was coming to a close, an announcement came over the loudspeaker to the fans that the mayor of Baltimore, due to a public safety emergency outside, had “asked” everyone inside to stay in the stadium and not try to leave. That gentle request was enforced and they were locked behind the gates. At the very last minute, just after 10 pm, the ban was lifted by the mayor and everyone was allowed to leave. But it was a stark reminder of how fast things can change for the worse…

In a spectacle of utter stupidity and craven cowardice, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings thanks ISIS advocates (The Nation of Islam) for their support… No wonder everything is falling apart if this is who we have leading us.

The “Bloods” and “Crips” gangs were there as well, working together with the Nation of Islam. Note the Nation of Islam giving the extended forefinger salute representing allegiance with ISIS.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Fall of the House of Clinton

by Victor Davis Hanson

The utter moral collapse of the House of Clinton is, of course, a national disgrace. But the shame is not because the Clintons are what they are — grifters in ties and pantsuits. Rather, the liberal community’s neglect of three decades of their amorality reminds us what progressivism has become: a psychological squaring in which abstract caring allows privileged people to enjoy their material bounty without guilt over where it came from or how it is used.

Hillary Clinton was out of the stump the last few days blasting CEOs, hedge funds, and right-wing political and religious figures who might impinge on abortion on demand. In other words, she was contracting progressive penances and exemptions for her family’s ongoing greed and indulgence — and for all those who so willingly empower her.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘US National Guard’s Drills in Public Aimed at Dealing With Domestic ‘Dissidents’’

US Army field manuals admit that public drills are aimed at dealing with political dissidents that need to be “reeducated to gain a new appreciation of US policies,” Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars Editor at Large told RT’s In the Now.

RT: The police in the US are accused more than ever now of militarization. A video has appeared online showing armed national guardsmen conducting exercises near a children’s playground in Virginia. We contacted the infantry brigade — here’s what they told us: coordination was made with the Staunton Police Department, these are freshers who are training on basic military subjects like drill and ceremonies, basic first aid, military courtesies and the guns they carry are replicas. What is wrong with it?

Paul Joseph Watson: What is wrong with that is the fact that they are doing it not on base but in public. And we have to put this in the context of a spate of videoswhich have emerged in the recent weeks with not only National Guard but US Army troops in some cases working with police conducting these public drills which in some cases, not in this case but others, are based around crowd control and civil unrest. And the line they always give us that it’s designed for overseas combat, foreign operations. But if you then read the US Army’s actual manuals that they release, it’s clear that it’s for dual purpose, it’s for “dissidents” on US soil. So the media regurgitate this claim that all these drills are just foreign operations. Yet they are doing it in public, in plain sight, while privately in their own field manuals admitting that it’s to take on “dissidents within the continental US.” That’s why people are concerned about it and a lot of our audience is National Guard or former or current US military. They are concerned about these public drills. They didn’t enlist to police the US people which is a lot of this seems to be geared towards.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Violent Clashes Between Baltimore Police and Protestors Turn City Into ‘Absolute War Zone’ Burning Cop Cars and Looting Stores After Thousands Mourn Freddie Gray in Open Casket Funeral

Violent clashes have broken out across the streets of Baltimore following the funeral of Freddie Gray — turning the city into ‘an absolute war zone’.

More than 1,000 police officers are on their way to Baltimore and the Maryland National Guard is on standby as violence escalates in the city. Armored police vans are patrolling the streets as passers-by hurl rocks in their direction.

Rioters are looting gun stores, ripping off the doors and passing weapons to people on the streets. Others have stormed checking cash stores. Buildings, including a CVS pharmacy, are on fire.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Writers Boycott Charlie Hebdo Gala in New York

Six prominent novelists have withdrawn from a New York literary gala to protest against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo being honored with a freedom of expression award.

The New York Times named the writers pulling out of the May 5th annual PEN American Center gala as Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi.

Carey, a two-times Booker Prize winner, said the award stepped beyond the group’s traditional role of protecting freedom of expression against government oppression, the Times reported.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria’s ‘Rebirth’ Honoured 70 Years on

Official ceremonies are being held in Austria on Monday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Second Republic.

A state ceremony is being held in Vienna’s Hofburg palace in the morning, with German president Joachim Gauck attending.

In April 1945 Austrian statesman Karl Renner declared Austria separate from Germany and set up a government which included socialists, conservatives and communists.

A significant number of these were returning from exile or had been imprisoned by the Nazis, and thus had played no role in the Nazi government.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Caesar Did Not Suffer From Epilepsy: Scientists

Scientists from Imperial College London have released new research arguing that Roman general Julius Caesar suffered from mini-strokes, going against previous diagnoses of epilepsy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Cops Overworked and Undermanned

A decrease in the number of police officers on the force and an increase in the number of cops sent to Copenhagen have led to worn-out workers and neglected duties, officials warn.

Since the February 14-15 shootings in Copenhagen, Danish police officers have been focusing so much on anti-terror measures that other police work is being overlooked and officers face burnout, according to a report from Berlingske.

Officers from other police districts were sent to Copenhagen in the wake of the attacks and law enforcement officials warn that it is “naive” to believe that this won’t have an effect elsewhere.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France’s Strasbourg to Keep EU Capital Status: Hollande

France would never allow Strasbourg to be stripped of its status as a European capital, President Francois Hollande said Sunday, despite the huge cost of shuttling EU politicians there from Brussels each month.

“Never will France authorise any modification of any kind,” Hollande said as he signed new agreements providing close to a billion euros ($1.1 billion) to the city and the surrounding region of Alsace.

Members of the European Parliament are forced to decamp every month from Brussels to Strasbourg for voting sessions — a tradition enshrined in the earliest European Union treaties.

The “travelling circus”, as some call it, costs taxpayers an estimated 114 million euros ($125 million) a year, according to an assessment by the European Court of Auditors last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Chancellor’s Office ‘Knew’ of US Economic Spying

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office has known since 2008 of US economic espionage targeting European companies such as Airbus but did not react, Bild said Monday, citing intelligence agency documents.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How France Shapes Up in the Global Wine Industry

Although vineyards cover France from the Loire to Languedoc and from Burgundy to Bordeaux the country is not actually home to the largest area dedicated to wine production, not even the world’s second-largest area.

Spain leads the way on this front with 1.02 million hectares of earth given over to grapes. China now has the second-largest wine growing area with 799,000 hectares of vines compared to 792,000 hectares in France.

In fourth place comes Italy with 690,000 hectares and then Turkey with 502,000 hectares. The United States is back in sixth place with 425,000 hectares devoted to wine production.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jewish Man Beaten Near Synagogue in France

A Jewish man has described how he feared for his life after being beaten by a group of men armed with a knife as he left a synagogue near Paris. The latest anti-Semitic attack comes as France vows to tackle a rise in anti-Jewish incidents.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Amsterdam’s Chief Rabbi Takes Step Back After Link to Brutal Divorce Squad

Amsterdam’s chief rabbi has delegated most of his responsibilities to other rabbis and only remains technically head of the community, Trouw reported at the weekend. Aryeh Ralbag is said to have close ties with an orthodox group in the US which is alleged to use handcuffs and cattle prods to torture a number of men into granting divorces known as a ‘get’. Several rabbis were last week convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and face sentencing in July. Trouw has documents which show Ralbag acted as a rabbinical judge in at least one case in which a man was tied up until he agreed to divorce his wife. Ralbag is not considered a suspect but was called as a witness in the case, Trouw said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Study Links Mental Illness to Drugs

A new Norwegian study has shown that alcohol and drug abuse is much more common among patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression than in the population at large.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Revealed: The Italians Who Worship Mussolini

He muzzled the press, sent Jews to death camps and led Italy to defeat. So why do some Italians openly idolize Mussolini 70 years after his death, asks Angela Giuffrida.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Strasbourg Will Remain EU Capital, France Vows

France would never allow Strasbourg to be stripped of its status as a European capital, President Francois Hollande said on Sunday, despite the huge cost of shuttling EU politicians there from Brussels each month.

“Never will France authorize any modification of any kind,” Hollande said as he signed new agreements providing close to €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to the city and the surrounding region of Alsace.

Members of the European Parliament are forced to decamp every month from Brussels to Strasbourg for voting sessions — a tradition enshrined in the earliest European Union treaties.

The “travelling circus”, as some call it, costs taxpayers an estimated €114 million ($125 million) a year, according to an assessment by the European Court of Auditors last year.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 people, including around 800 members of parliament and their administrative staff and translators, make the journey for one week every month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Democrats Boot Seven in Extremism Row

Seven people have been expelled from the Sweden Democrats — including the two heads of the nationalist party’s youth wing — in a row over far-right extremism, the party announced on Monday afternoon.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Post Set to Test Mail Delivery by Drone

The rise of the drones has been swift and unstoppable: From sports events to sheep herding, these clever contraptions are being used in many different parts of our lives. Mail delivery could be next, after the Swiss postal service was given the go-ahead to test out a mail delivery drone service.

We know that Amazon is interested in developing the technology too, though it has run into regulatory problems with the FAA in the United States. The scheme that’s been greenlit in Switzerland could pave the way for future projects all across the world, and no doubt many other technology companies will be watching closely.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Rumble in Riga: How the EU Lost Patience With Varoufakis

“All the ministers told him: this can’t go on,” Spain’s Luis de Guindos said the following day. “The feeling among the 18 was exactly the same. There was no kind of divergence.” The others who provided an account of the meeting in interviews asked not to be named, citing the privacy of the talks.

Varoufakis’s isolation raises the stakes, which include a potential default and keeping the euro indivisible. After more than five years as a ward of the European Union, Greece is virtually out of cash. The aid pipeline is shut until Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected Jan. 25 promising to push back against budget cuts, bends to EU policy demands.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Lord Janner’s Thank You Note to Detective Who Was Forced to Drop Case by Bosses

Peer sent Christmas card after learning he would escape child sex abuse charges

Lord Janner sent a ‘thank you’ Christmas card to a detective after learning he would escape child sex abuse charges, it emerged yesterday.

The officer said he was appalled by the Labour peer’s note after his superiors forced him to drop his inquiries into Janner’s alleged sex abuse.

The note thanked him for how he had dealt with the issue, and even invited him and his wife to dinner at Parliament. The revelation of Janner’s apparent attempt to influence the police came amid fresh concerns about the Establishment cover-up of the Labour grandee’s alleged paedophilia.

Detectives have carried out four child sex inquiries into Janner since 1991, but attempts to bring him to justice were repeatedly blocked. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders announced earlier this month that he should been have charged on each occasion.

But she went on to rule that the 86-year-old peer should not face prosecution because of his dementia. The decision has caused outrage — with critics pointing out that he signed letters in the House of Lords as recently as this month, and had held numerous dinners and events in Parliament since being diagnosed in 2009.

It has also been revealed that Mrs Saunders was a pupil at the same legal chambers as Janner — although she claims she never met him.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Wine: China Overtakes France But Spain Reigns

China now has the second-largest wine-growing area in the world after Spain, pushing France into third place, according to figures released Monday by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bosnia Police Say Gunman Enters Police Station Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar, ‘ Killing 1, Wounding 2

Bosnian authorities say a man stormed into a police station in a northeastern town shouting “Allahu akbar,” killing a policeman and wounding two others.

Police spokeswoman Aleksandra Simojlovic told The Associated Press that the attack occurred Monday evening in Zvornik and that the attacker was killed.

Zvornik is a town in the Bosnian Serb part of the country and it is located at the border with Serbia. During the 1992-95 war, almost all Muslims were expelled from there or killed as part of a Serb campaign.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Christians Between Hope and Fear for Future

Egypt’s Christians harbor fear as well as hope for a better cohabitation with Muslims. Gone for good the rule of Mohammed Morsi — the former Egyptian president, member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was ousted in July 2013 and sentenced a few days ago to 20 years in jail — Christians now eye the present and short-term future with more confidence, but without ignoring alarming signs. One example is the two policemen killed in front of a church in January, along with other attacks and minor incidents.

ANSAmed has travelled to meet Christian communities in Egypt, starting from a well-off district of Cairo — Zamalek. The local upper middle class live here, along with diplomats and foreign correspondents who attend the church of Saint Joseph. Among foreigners, the concerns of middle-class Egyptians are far away.

“Freedom of religion? We have never felt in danger or directly threatened”, said parish priest Ghizlain Amoussou, a native of Benin.

But a different reality exists close by. At the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate, Father Francis Nouer — the pastoral vicar of the church of Saint Anthony, in downtown Cairo, and a spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church — admitted: “Relations between the Muslim population and Christians are quite good. But problems exist, especially in areas with a high concentration of Muslim Brothers and Salafites”.

These areas are located both inside and out of the capital.

An example he cited is the “neighborhood of al Azhar”, where the most prestigious university of the Muslim world is located.

“There are however also districts where 30% of the population is Christian and relations are human”, he explained, though in general churches are patrolled by security forces as they are considered sensitive targets.

“After June 30, 2013, many things have changed”, said Father Francis, referring to the end of the Morsi presidency.

“The years between 2011 and 2013 have been difficult. The Muslim Brothers were terrible, we were not welcome citizens as Christians”. And though the government is now “100% in favor of Christians”, the Muslim Brothers “are still strong enough to organize attacks here and there, mainly against policemen and the military”. Moreover today here are still in the south of the country abuses and “incidents” targeting Christians. In places like the southern governorate of Minja, the Coptic minority — which in Egypt includes 300,000 people out of a population of almost 90 million — lives in fear. Pope Tawadros, parish priest of the church of the Virgin Mary confirmed this from Cairo. “The Muslim Brothers with Morsi built in this governorate a center of fundamentalism and fanaticism”, he explained. “We must be clear: cities in the south are not well controlled by the government, they are unsafe”.

The situation has improved after al Sisi rose to power, added Tawadros, but problems remain in these areas. “The Muslim Brothers are everywhere: in all government offices, in police headquarters”. This translates, for example, in the huge “difficulty Copts face in obtaining building permits for churches or in robberies they endure without the intervention of authorities”, he said.

“In the governorate of Minja fundamentalists dominate the street and society”, said Father Lucas, from the Franciscan church of the Virgin Mary in Luxor.

In the area of Luxor, Christians are particularly numerous: some 30% of the local population. The parish priest assured that relations with Muslims here are “generally good” but admitted that there are discriminations. “It is very hard for Christians to get a job in the public sector. It is also hard for a Christian to get a key post in the army or police”. Father Lucas concluded saying that in Egypt the path for Christians “is still long”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: 6 Beheaded TV Crew Members’ Bodies Found Near Bayda

The decapitated bodies of six people have been found near the city of Bayda in eastern Libya, several media outlets reported on Monday. Al-Arabiya reported that the bodies were employees of the television channel ‘Barqa’, the Arabic name for the Libyan region Cyrenaica. It has been reported to ANSA that healthcare workers and those on the ground say the bodies were ‘‘employees of a satellite television station’’. Some meetings of the Tobruk-based parliament and government take place in Bayda, about 80 kilometers west of Derna, which is controlled by a local Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate. Bayda is also the seat of the assembly for the drafting of the constitution. Libyan sources say that the crew went missing eight months ago and that one of those beheaded was an Egyptian cameraman named Mohamed Galal.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Op-Ed: San Remo: The Forgotten Milestone

Salomon Benzimra, P. Eng.

While the Middle East peace process has been going on for over two decades, it is astonishing that San Remo and the ensuing Mandate for Palestine have hardly been mentioned. Is it deliberate? Is it a mere omission? How could there be peace and reconciliation without acknowledging fundamental historical and legal facts?

Middle-East diplomacy has often relied on “constructive ambiguity”, a concept earlier introduced by Henry Kissinger to keep the dialogue open and avoid discussing core issues deemed problematic. In the ongoing peace process, the ambiguity of language did not produce constructive results. On the contrary, layer upon layer of distortions and gross falsehoods piled up over the initial ambiguity of “land for peace.”

When the notion of “occupation” took root, it soon turned into “illegal occupation”, then “brutal oppression” and, finally, “apartheid” which is a crime against humanity in international law. Once corrupted language describes a distorted reality and the distortion spreads, thought becomes corrupt and any resulting action is bound to fail.[…]

In reality, the San Remo Resolution and the ensuing clauses of the Mandate for Palestine are akin to a treaty entered into and executed by each and every one of the 52 member states of the League of Nations, in addition to the United States which is bound by a separate treaty with Great Britain, ratified in 1925.

So next time you hear about the “occupation of the West Bank” and its supposedly “illegal settlements” — an almost daily occurrence in the discourse of the Palestinian Arabs and their supporters — you should remember that this territory, as the rest of Israel, was lawfully restored to the Jewish people in 1920 and its legal title has been internationally guaranteed and never revoked ever since. Any negotiation toward achieving a lasting peace should be based on this premise.

[Worth reading the whole article, — Unfortunately, someone very influential has a different agenda!]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

UN Criticizes Israel for Palestinian Deaths on UN Premises in 2014 Gaza Conflict

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel Monday for its role in the deaths of 44 Palestinians on U.N. premises being used as emergency shelters during the deadly 2014 conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza.

In a cover letter for an inquiry report into specific incidents during the clashes last summer, Ban said he deplored “Israeli actions” that lead to the deaths of 44 Palestinians and injuries of 227 more, who were using the U.N. buildings in Gaza as shelter from the fighting.

The report also blamed Palestinian militant groups for putting U.N. schools in Gaza in danger by hiding weapons in three locations that were not being used as shelters. Two cases were cited, when Palestinian militants “probably” fired from the schools.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Assad’s Hold on Power Looks Shakier Than Ever as Rebels Advance in Syria

A surge of rebel gains in Syria is overturning long-held assumptions about the durability of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which now appears in greater peril than at any time in the past three years.

The capture Saturday of the town of Jisr al-Shughour in northern Idlib province was just the latest in a string of battlefield victories by rebel forces, which have made significant advances in both the north and the south of the country.

The battlefield shifts come at a time when the Obama administration has set aside the crisis in Syria to focus on its chief priorities: defeating the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and concluding a nuclear deal with Iran.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

First Saudi National Guards Reach Yemen Border Zone

The first troops from Saudi Arabia’s National Guard have been deployed on the border with Yemen, official media said late on Sunday.

They will join members of the border guard and the army who have reinforced the frontier since March 26 when a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes against Shia Houthi rebels and their allies in Yemen.

The vanguard of National Guard troops “have arrived in Najran region to participate in the defence of the southern borders… so as to confront any possible threats,” the official Saudi Press Agency said.

King Salman announced on April 21 the National Guard’s mobilisation, just hours before the coalition declared an end to its air campaign dubbed “Operation Decisive Storm”.

Despite that declaration, the coalition has continued daily air strikes in Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels are allied with army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

For Maronite Patriarch, Without Christians Moderate Muslims Will Also Disappear From the Middle East

Card Bechara al Rahi pleads with those waiting for the dawn of peace in “the dead of night”. He points the finger at the international community for being “slow” in stopping the “death and destruction” caused by “killers without faith.” Peace between Israel and Palestine is a precondition for the preservation of the Christian presence. He inaugurated the new headquarters of the Maronite diocese of France.

Paris (AsiaNews) — “In the dead of night that covers us [. . .] I make a heartfelt plea to all those who wait for the dawn,” said Maronite Patriarch Card Bechara al Rahi. The “Christian exodus from their countries of origin [. . .] will also weaken the role of moderate Muslims,” he added in a speech delivered on behalf of the persecuted Churches and peoples of the Middle East at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The cardinal, who arrived in France on Saturday for a four-day visit whose centrepiece will be a meeting with French President Francois Hollande, came from Armenia, where he represented Eastern patriarchs in the ceremonies marking the centennial of the Armenian genocide.

On his first day, the patriarch spoke at UNESCO about ‘The Christian presence in the Middle East and its role in promoting the culture of peace’ in front of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, UNESCO Executive Board Chairman Mohammad Sameh Amr, and Ambassador Khalil Karam, Lebanon’s permanent delegate to the UN body.

For the head of the Maronite Church, “The international community has been slow in stopping the deadly work of assassins without faith and borders”.

Like a gifted historian, Patriarch Rahi sketched a brief history of “two thousand years of Christian presence in the Middle East,” and talked about the spaces for a culture of peace that this presence promotes and proposed ways to preserve them.

In his address, the patriarch said that the first condition for safeguarding the Christian presence in the region is “solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” That shows how insurmountable the challenge seems to be.

At the same time, the patriarch did not miss a chance to say that the decline of Arab Islamic civilisation went hand in hand with “the stifling of Christian society”. He warned that the “Christian exodus from their countries of origin [. . .] will also weaken the role of moderate Muslims who are by far the vast majority of Muslims in the Middle East.”

Finally, “I came to UNESCO to bring the voice of those who had it taken from them. I come here to vouch for the plight of millions of refugees, displaced people, children and seniors, women and men who lost loved ones, who had their country and property stolen, their future destroyed.”

“I came here to bear witness to the immense and indescribable pain of those who have been persecuted for their faith, those whose identity was insulted in the name of the God of mercy by ruthless murderers who dare use his name.”

“I came here to cry out for the cause of those who await the end of the night and expect their salvation from an international community that is late in stopping the deadly work by assassins without faith and without borders.”

“In the dead of night that covers us,” he added, “in the darkest of darks that surrounds us, I make a heartfelt plea to all those who wait for the dawn, in the East as in the West, in Europe, the Arab world as well as the world whole, within Christianity and Islam, to help us raise hope and comfort the neglected, helpless, hunted and persecuted communities, whose utmost wish is not to give in to their misfortune.”

Before inaugurating the See of the new Maronite Diocese in France on Sunday, the patriarch made two passionate pleas, calling on Lebanese leaders to elect without delay the new president of Lebanon, which has been without a head of state for 11 months (since 25 Mai 2014).

In the evening, he dedicated ‘Villa des Cèdres’ in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), amid crowd of faithful from France and Europe, as well as Lebanese and French dignitaries.

Inside the estate, Beit Maroun, an aptly named building, will serve as the residence of the Maronite bishop of France, whose current holder is Bishop Maroun Nasser-Gemayel.

It will also operate as the headquarters of the new diocese and of the French office of the Maronite foundation in the world, also renamed Meudon, and the French office of Maronite Foundation in the World, renamed ‘Fondation libanaise chrétienne’ (Christian Lebanese Foundation).

The foundation was created by decree in 2006 by then Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir together with Michel Eddé, a former Lebanese government minister.

Its purpose is to boost ties with the Lebanese living abroad by helping them, above all, preserve their descendants’ right to Lebanese nationality.

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

Hair is Pushing Boundaries in Iran

The boundaries of fashion are enforced, in the UK, by the mockery and ridicule of friends who let someone know when they’ve gone too far. It’s not like that in Iran, where the religious authorities and the police have taken a keen interest in everything, including the way people pluck their eyebrows.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

IS Belgian Carries Out Suicide Bombing

A Belgian jihadi has carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq. The Belgian carried out the attack together with a French national and an Iraqi. The Islamist terror group IS has claimed responsibility for the attack at a border crossing between Iraq and Jordan in Turaibil in the western Iraqi province of Al-Anbar.

The suicide bombers blew up their cars outside three border checkpoints.

The head of Al-Anbar provincial council Sabah Karhout told journalists that between 4 and 8 border guards had been killed in the attack. IS claimed responsibility in a press statement, in which the nationality of the suicide bombers was revealed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS and Al Qaeda Battling for Influence Amid Yemen Chaos

The conflict in Yemen between Saudi-supported government backers and Iran-supported Houthi rebels is bringing the region to the brink.

The Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS, sees an opening in the chaos and is looking to establish a new branch in Yemen, experts tell FoxNews.com.

“We’ve gotten warnings late last year. There were indicators ISIS was beginning to become expeditionary — they were moving forward in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and also in this area (Yemen) … where Al Qaeda has been, you can surely figure you’re going to see ISIS attempt to either undermine or take over the Al Qaeda elements,” said Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer (Ret.), a senior fellow with the London Center for Policy Research.

He added, “the more you see Al Qaeda grow because of the chaos there, the more you’ll see ISIS take advantage of that.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: Divorces Treble, Among Highest Rates Worldwide

80% of cases files by women. Marriage courses start

(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI, APRIL 27 — Saudi Arabia is the country with the strictest gender segregation, a kingdom where a special police unit is tasked with preventing vice and promoting virtue.

Nevertheless, the country has one of the highest divorce rates worldwide with one in five marriages ending in divorce, 80% before the first wedding anniversary.

The culprits for the end of a marriage in the oil monarchy are neither books nor betrayals but rather diversity of character and episodes so bizarre to be reported on local newspapers.

In one of the reported cases, a football match was to blame.

Sitting on a couch to watch the game on television as their team was playing, a husband and wife started insulting each other and tension was so high the couple ended up in court to split for good.

A few months ago, the case of a “divorce at first sight” was reported after a husband saw his bride without the veil on the night of the wedding, deciding on the spot he could not bear to share a life with her as she was too ugly.

According to judicial sources, almost 80% of irreconcilable differences for Saudi couples stem from the use of social media and family interference.

In 2014, out of a population of 21 million Saudis and nine million expats, 34,000 weddings were annulled in Saudi Arabia, three times more compared to the previous year, according to data released by the justice ministry.

The situation has reached such proportions that authorities have decided to intervene. The University King Abdul Aziz in Jeddah, the second most-important city in the oil kingdom after the capital Riyadh, has set up seminars for betrothed couples and newly married spouses.

The courses — for an overall 15 hours — focus on moral values, psychology, communication, healthcare and economic factors, suggesting strategies for a serene and long-lasting marriage.

The interesting factor, given the little freedom enjoyed by Saudi women, who can’t vote, drive nor move around or travel without permission from a man in the family, in 80% of cases it is the woman who files for divorce. In 63% of cases, the woman is employed.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Business Team Seeks Iran Trade Deals

A Swiss business delegation travelled to Iran over the weekend for the first such visit in ten years in a bid to expand trade ties, the federal department of finance says.

The team, comprising executives from the pharmaceutical, green energy and services sectors, was led by Livia Leu, who served as Swiss ambassador to Tehran between 2009 and 2013, the department said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Islamic Genocide of Christians: Past and Present

Last Friday, April 24, we remembered how exactly 100 years ago the last historic Muslim caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, tried to cleanse its empire of Christian minorities — Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks — even as we stand by watching as the new caliphate, the Islamic State, resumes the genocide.

And in both cases, the atrocities were and are being committed in the name of Islam.

In November, 1914, during WWI, the Ottoman caliphate issued a fatwa, or Islamic decree, proclaiming it a “sacred duty” for all Muslims to “massacre” infidels — specifically naming the “Christian men” of the Triple Entente, “the enemies of Islam” — with promises of great rewards in the afterlife.

The same Koran verses that the Islamic State and other jihadi outfits regularly quote permeated the Ottoman fatwa, including: “Slay the idolaters wherever you find them — seize them, besiege them, and be ready to ambush them” (9:5) and “O you who have believed! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are but friends of each other; and whoever among you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them” (5:51) — and several other verses that form the Islamic doctrine of Loyalty and Enmity.

Many Muslims still invoke this doctrine; it commands Muslims to befriend and aid fellow Muslims, while having enmity for all non-Muslims (one Islamic cleric even teaches that Muslim husbands must hate their non-Muslim wives, while enjoying them sexually).

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

France Will Pay €1.1 Bn to Russia for Cancelled Mistral Ships — Report

France plans to pay back costs for the Mistral helicopter carriers ordered by Russia if they are not delivered, returning €800 million and paying compensation for other expenses totaling €300 million, French media reports citing government sources.

Paris is expected to fund the compensation from €2 billion that Poland will pay to buy French helicopters, according to Le Journal du Dimanche.

The decision on compensating Russian costs for the Mistral ships hasn’t yet been legally formalized; however France and Russia will take another month to set the exact terms of the annulment of the contract for the Mistral war ships.

‘Good jokes are appropriate, but so is honoring contracts’ — Kremlin comments on Mistral prank

In addition, Russia will give France the right to resell the two helicopter carriers, the newspaper says adding that some NATO countries have already shown interest in buying them.

Earlier this week French President Francois Hollande agreed that the funds should be returned to Russia if it doesn’t receive the ships. However, he added that currently it’s impossible to deliver them to Russia because of the situation in Ukraine.

The contract for the delivery of the Mistral helicopter carriers was signed between the French company DCNS/STX and Russia’s arms distributor Rosoboronexport in 2011.

France was expected to handover the first ship in November 2014, but the delivery has been postponed indefinitely partly due to pressure on France by the US and the EU, which imposed a series of sanctions against Moscow over its accession of Crimea and alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

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

Poland Stops 10 ‘Patriotic’ Russian Bikers at Border

Planning to remember victims of Nazism

(ANSA) — Warsaw, April 27 — Poland on Monday stopped at its border with Russia 10 patriotic Russian bikers who wanted to pay homage to WWII victims of the Nazis on the 70th anniversary of their deaths.

The bikers did not have the right documents, officials said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Climbers Face Agonising Wait on Everest: Mountain Rescue Hampered by Bad Weather as Food Supplies Begin to Run Out

Video shows moment earthquake hit and triggered avalanche on Everest, killing up to 18 climbers and sherpas

Climbers are tonight hunkering down on Everest, their ordeal after being caught up in a massive quake-triggered avalanche not yet over.

The avalanche unleashed on Saturday by the 7.9 magnitude quake blew tents, people and gear at Base Camp hundreds of feet, killing at least 18 and injuring 61.

It also left an unknown number of climbers trapped at camps One and Two, just above Base Camp, their route down destroyed. While some were ferried to safety by helicopter, others are having to sit tight and wait, their food supplies dwindling.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Desperate Rescue Mission to Save Dozens Stranded on Everest — as Terrifying Video Emerges of the Moment Giant Avalanche Engulfed Climbers

James Grieve, 52, told a newspaper over a satellite phone from Camp One on the world’s highest peak that the rescue effort was being hampered by storms and supplies would last only a few more days.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

From Jakarta to Hong Kong, Activists Seek Pardon for Filippino on Death Row: By Mathias Hariyadi

Yesterday afternoon there was a rally in the Indonesian capital to ask president Jokowi to spare the life of a young innocent woman. Human rights groups and feminists have promoted similar demonstrations in Hong Kong. Her defense team files a last desperate appeal. The execution scheduled for tomorrow April 28th.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — From Manila to Jakarta, via Hong Kong, the protests and solidarity is mounting for Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, a 30 year-old Filipino mother on death row in Indonesia.

The mother of two young children was sentenced to death — although presumed innocent, because she was the victim of a scam — for international drug trafficking; according to some sources, the authorities say they are finalizing all the details before proceeding with her execution, scheduled for tomorrow, April 28th.

Meanwhile, the defense team filed a last desperate appeal claiming there is new evidence confirming the woman’s innocence.

Yesterday afternoon, a crowd gathered in the capital, calling on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to spare the young woman’s life who, in recent days, met with relatives in prison in the context of the last visit before her death. Simultaneously, also in Hong Kong a group of Indonesian migrant workers organized a peaceful demonstration to express solidarity with Mary Jane.

Speaking to AsiaNews Indonesian activist Sringatindari, committed to defending the rights of migrants in the governorate and Macao, said that “I have come to the event in Hong Kong to support the campaign, because many Indonesian migrant workers suffer the same ‘fate’ of Mary Jane : they are victims of cartels of international drug trafficking and exploited as couriers. “ For this, the activist adds, “I am firmly opposed to the death penalty.”

The rally held yesterday in Hong Kong gathered several groups in defense of human rights and activists fighting for the protection of women, especially those who migrate abroad in search of a job. Currently the 30 year old Filipina domestic worker- as the other nine sentenced to death for drug trafficking — is locked up in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison of Nusakambangan, the so-called Indonesian “Alcatraz”. The Indonesian authorities have only suspended the execution of Serge Atlaoui, a French citizen, because of strong diplomatic pressure from Paris on the government in Jakarta.

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, at age 25 moved to Malaysia to work as a domestic worker. A local boss, active in recruiting migrant workers and placing them among various families, entrusted her with an assignment: to carry a suitcase — the contents of which the young Filipino knew nothing- and deliver it to some people who would have met her at the Yogyakarta airport in Indonesia.

On reaching her destination, Mary Jane was checked by border police who discovered, 2.6 kg of heroin in the bag, worth a total of about 500 thousand dollars. That was in April 2010 and since then the woman’s judicial and personal ordeal began. During the trial she was not given adequate assistance, and only recently, thanks to the efforts of the priest, has her drama began circulating within the Catholic community first, and then public opinion.

There are about 10 million overseas Filipino workers, most of whom see migration as the only chance to escape poverty. In the past the government in Manila has warned citizens of the danger of being involved, even unconsciously, in the international drug trade. Worldwide there are at least 125 Filipinos on death row, many of them convicted because of crimes linked to drug trafficking. Last week the Indonesian Supreme Court rejected the request to reopen the case involving the young Mary Jane; Manila has filed a second appeal to the authorities in Jakarta, so far without any concrete results.

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

Nepal Earthquake: Drone Footage Reveals Extent of Damage in Kathmandu

As people in the capital Kathmandu search for lost loved ones and try to find shelter and food, drone footage has revealed the extend of the damage caused by Saturday’s quake.

The video was posted on Facebook by Kishor Rana, along with a message reading: “These are desperate times but we must all unite together in times like these.”

The footage shows many of Kathmandu’s historic and cultural sites which were destroyed during the earthquake.

“We not only lost many lives and homes but we lost many pieces of our cultural heritage, our history,” he added.

People in Kathmandu are short of shelter, fuel, food, medicine and powerm but the situation is likely to be even more dire in remote countryside areas which cannot easily be reached because of landslides.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal Earthquake: ‘Nine Out of 10 Soldiers’ In Rescue Mission

Nine out of 10 Nepalese troops are said to be involved in search and rescue operations, as the country pleads for more foreign aid to deal with a massive earthquake that killed 4,000 people.

Almost the entire army and police has joined the quake effort, officials say.

China, India, the UK and US are among those sending aid from abroad. Nepal says it needs everything from blankets and helicopters to doctors and drivers.

Some 200 climbers stranded by the quake on Mount Everest are being rescued.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal: Searching for Missing Loved Ones With Google

People all over the world are turning to social media to check on their loved ones after the earthquake in Nepal. Google and Facebook have activated their own tools to help search for missing people.

Social media giants have taken the hint and are following their users’ lead. Facebook has activated its “safety check” feature that contacts users in disaster areas. With one mouse click, the user can then mark whether they’re safe, or not in the affected area at all. They can also mark others as safe or check on friends in the area.

Google has activated its “person finder.” It first introduced the tool after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and has since made it available when disasters occur, such as the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Approved ‘More Flexibility’ For Pakistan Drones, WSJ

CIA had looser standards than in other countries, newspaper says

(ANSA) — New York, April 27 — US President Barack Obama approved a secret exemption to the 2013 regulations he placed on the use of drones, by not requiring Pakistan to adhere to the standard placed on other countries that must show an “imminent threat to the U.S.,” The Wall Street Journal said. In an article on Sunday, the US daily newspaper said the 2013 regulations were put into place to reduce the risk of civilian deaths, but the CIA wasn’t required to hold the same standards in Pakistan as in other countries.

The newspaper cited “current and former U.S. officials” who said Obama issued a waiver to allow “more flexibility in Pakistan than anywhere else to strike suspected militants”.

“If the exemption had not been in place for Pakistan, the CIA might have been required to gather more intelligence before that strike,” The Wall Street Journal said, referring to the U.S. government’s admission on April 23 that U.S. and Italian aid workers Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto were killed on January 15 by a U.S. drone strike.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Race Against Death: Rescuers Struggle to Reach Remote Nepal Villages as Death Toll Rises

Rescue workers raced Monday to reach remote rural mountain villages in Nepal as the death toll from a devastating earthquake rose past 4,000 and victims dug through the rubble of their villages, seeking shelter and food.

Nepal police said the country’s death toll, more than a quarter of which came in the capital of Kathmandu, could rise as rescuers make their way to remote villages on Mount Everest, and prepare for helicopter evacuations of climbers tapped in a camp 20,000 feet up the side of the world’s tallest peak. Tens of thousands of families slept outdoors for a second night, fearful of aftershocks that have not ceased. Camped in parks, open squares and a golf course, they cuddled children or pets against chilly Himalayan nighttime temperatures.

“It’s overwhelming. It’s too much to think about,” said 55-year-old Bijay Nakarmi, mourning his parents, whose bodies were recovered from the rubble of what once was a three-story building.

Eighteen people were confirmed dead in an avalanche that swept through the Mount Everest base camp in the wake of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Another 61 people were killed in neighboring India. China reported that 20 people had died in Tibet.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Rescue Dogs Leave Oslo for Nepal Quake

A 34-strong Norwegian rescue team — including six rescue dogs — is on the way to Kathmandu to help efforts to find those still trapped by Saturday’s devastating earthquake.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sex, Lies and Sharia Law: The Secret Life of the Sultan of Brunei

HE’S worth an estimated $25 billion (AUS), lives in a 1700-bed palace, indulges himself in western luxuries and has a reputation for enjoying beautiful women.

In a story on 60 Minutes, viewers saw how the Sultan of Brunei lives a very extravagant but somewhat moderate Muslim life.

But last year the Sultan introduced Sharia Law — where thieves would have their hands cut off and adulterers and homosexuals would be stoned to death. It applies to everyone living in Brunei except the Sultan and his Royal family.

While parts of the ancient Islamic law have been introduced in stages, Brunei is now on the verge of adopting public stoning.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thailand Seizes 511 Elephant Tusks From Kenya Hidden in Tea Leaf Bags

Thailand seized 3 tons of ivory hidden in tea leaf sacks from Kenya in the second-biggest bust in the country’s history, one week after the biggest seizure, customs officials said Monday.

The 511 elephant tusks worth $6 million, bound for Laos, were seized upon arrival Saturday at a major port in Chonburi province in eastern Thailand. The bust came after customs officials received a tip-off in Laos and Thailand and tracked the containers from Kenya, Customs Department Director-General Somchai Sujjapongse told reporters.

Somchai said that the tusks seized Saturday were “more beautiful and complete than the previous lot,” and that they would likely have been distributed to buyers in China, Vietnam and Thailand had the shipment reached Laos.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Villages Near Nepal Earthquake’s Epicenter Are Desperate as Death Toll Tops 3,800

Five hours by car from Katmandu, then by foot for several miles past the spot where the road is blocked by boulders and mud, people from the villages near the epicenter of Nepal’s powerful earthquake are burying their dead, despairing of help arriving anytime soon.

On Monday afternoon, Parbati Dhakal and several dozen of her neighbors walked two hours down a jungle path, carrying 11 bodies attached to bamboo poles. They stopped at a riverbank where they lowered the dead into holes.

One of the villagers pointed to the people gathered there and identified them, one by one: “Father just buried; mother just buried; sister just buried.”

Back in Saurpani, an ethnic Gurkha village at the epicenter of Saturday’s quake, Ms. Dhakal said, “we have no shelter, no food and all the bodies are scattered around.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Wiped Off the Map: Startling Images From Nepal Earthquake Epicenter Reveal Entire Hillside Villages Have Been Decimated

Dramatic aerial photographs taken just miles from the epicenter of Saturday’s Nepal earthquake in Gorkha reveal entire villages reduced to rubble and flattened by mudslides.

Already the number of dead reported in the western region has reached 47, but officials estimate the death toll will rise considerably, possibly hitting 10,000 as the nation picks up the pieces from the powerful quake.

Indeed, across the rubble-strewn country, survivors and rescue teams are battling to find the missing amid now-ruined and collapsed historic buildings, while the international community sends aid as fast as it can to the mountainous country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Australia: Everyone Must Get Vaccinated, Except the Prime Minister’s Daughters

Meet vaccine refuser, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

South Africa: Murdered Austrian Nun ‘May Have Been Raped’

Police in South Africa are investigating whether an 86-year-old Austrian nun found murdered in a convent had also been raped.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: “Get Me Out of Here, I’m an Undocumented Person”

Police in the Antwerp town of Hoogstraten received a rather peculiar telephone call this morning. A group of migrants stuck in a lorry called the 112 emergency number and alerted the police to their presence.

The migrants, who do not possess the right paperwork to be in the country, were stuck in the cargo space of the lorry and wanted the police to get them out.

The police found no fewer than 17 undocumented people in the lorry including a woman and two children. The vehicle was travelling along the E19 Antwerp Breda motorway towards the Netherlands. The lorry’s Polish driver said he had no knowledge of the stowaways.

Police warn against such travel say that it is particularly dangerous travelling in a cargo space that has been hermetically closed as oxygen supplies are not guaranteed and people can easily suffocate. After being freed the migrants were taken to Wilrijk police station in mini buses.

It’s thought the migrants, who are of Iranian, Iraqi, Vietnamese and Syrian nationality, climbed on board the lorry in Calais (France) thinking the vehicle was bound for the UK.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cash Payments, Wire Transfer, Extortion Fuel Million-Dollar Sahara-to-Sweden Smuggling Network

Fleeing war, persecution and poverty, migrants desperate to reach Europe are paying thousands of dollars apiece to become pawns in a multimillion-dollar trafficking network that stretches from the Sahara to Sweden.

By the thousands, they’re handing themselves over to abusive smugglers who hold them hostage in wretched conditions in Libya until their families cough up the cash to fund their trips, using companies like Western Union or more often the informal money transfer network known as hawala that is common in much of the Arabic world.

Those payments fund treacherous trips across the Mediterranean that have killed hundreds of people in recent weeks. And even if migrants survive the crossing, the exploitation doesn’t end there: Smugglers, acting more like illicit travel agents than criminal gangs, arrange passage to safe houses in Sicily, buy bus tickets for new arrivals and even accompany their charges to their final destinations north, for thousands of dollars apiece.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Lawmaker Tells Migrants Not to Come to Netherlands

Dutch anti-Islam opposition lawmaker Geert Wilders has copied part of Australia’s approach to stopping boat migrants by making a video telling would-be asylum seekers considering making the treacherous boat crossing from North Africa to Europe: “You will not make the Netherlands home.”

The video, posted on Wilders’ website, echoes a similar message recorded by the Australian government last year that warns immigrants: “Anyone who travels illegally by boat will not make Australia home.”

In Wilders’ video, which could be seen on his Freedom Party’s website on Wednesday, he says in English: “No way.”

Wilders, whose popularity in the Netherlands is based mainly on his tough anti-Islam, anti-immigration rhetoric, then switches to speaking in Dutch to call for European Union navy patrols to send back all migrants they intercept and not transport them to Europe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Immigration Workers Protest Lack of Govt Funds, Paychecks

Workers say they haven’t been paid for four months

(ANSA) — Taranto, April 27 — About 40 workers from the non-profit migrant NGO Salam staged a demonstration on Monday in front of the city’s government building, protesting that they are owed four months of back wages.

Salam works with the local prefecture, police, and the city government in the field of immigration and assistance to refugees, 267 more of whom arrived to the local port on an Italian Coast Guard ship Monday, after having been rescued about 40 km off the Libyan port of Zuwara.

Some immigrants were also present at the demonstration, and said that the lack of disbursement of State funds was forcing them to live in a situation of “great distress and deteriorating sanitary conditions”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Leaders Visit Mediterranean to Show ‘Solidarity’ With Migrants

UN, EU and Italian leaders will board a navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea to display “solidarity” after a series of migrant tragedies. More than 750 migrants died off the coast of Libya almost two weeks ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Priority is Saving Migrant Lives Ban Tells Renzi

UN chief confers with Renzi, Mogherini

(ANSA) — New York, April 27 — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Italian Premier Matteo Renzi that the priority in the Mediterranean migrant emergency was to save lives, the UN said Monday. After discussing his “concerns” on the crisis with Renzi and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Ban stressed that “the authorities must focus on saving lives,” a UN spokesperson said. The UN secretary-general met with Renzi and Mogherini aboard the San Giusto vessel of the Italian Navy, involved in search and rescue operations in the Strait of Sicily. “I want to physically show him what Italy is doing”, Renzi said before the meeting..

Italian vessels, together with those of Triton and private merchant ships, are dealing with the emergency caused by mass departures from Libya with over 25,000 people reported to have landed this year. Rome has obtained from the EU summit a three-fold increase of funding devoted to operations by European border agency Frontex and an exploratory mandate awarded to Mogherini for a European mission to identify and destroy boats before they are used by human traffickers. The latter is one of the most delicate issues at stake, on which the involvement of the UN is necessary. Italy, Renzi confirmed over the past few days, “has asked France, Great Britain and Spain for support in a UN resolution on Libya”. The resolution would be aimed at giving coverage to what has been defined not as military intervention but as an “international police operation” aimed at destroying vessels used by human traffickers.

Another key part of the Italian strategy is the involvement of countries of origin and transit of migration where centers to process would-be migrants to determine who has a right to be welcomed by Europe could be set up. In this case as well, the involvement of the UN through the UNHCR would be key.

Ban for his part, in a couple of interviews, has stressed his opposition to military intervention in Libya. He has noted that it is crucial for everybody to focus on saving lives, including in the Libyan area of search and rescue operations, and to ensure the asylum rights of the growing number of people fleeing war worldwide.

Ban has also noted that there are “no alternatives” to dialogue on Libya. Special UN representative Bernardino Leon and his team are continuing to work with the Libyan sides involved to help them reach together a spirit of compromise, he has added.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Refugees Hold Out in Sicily’s Catania

Refugees board boats in North Africa headed for Europe, and often end up shipwrecked. Last year, two-thirds of the migrants rescued by Italy were brought to Catania. Megan Williams reports from the Sicilian city.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sicilian Court Convicts of Migrant-Trafficking 20 Somalis Who Had Political Asylum in Italy

A court in Sicily has convicted 20 Somalis who had received political asylum in Italy of a role in a vast criminal organization focused on migrant-smuggling.

Prosecutors in Catania said Monday that the defendants were part of an international migrant-smuggling ring that demanded “large sums of money” from migrants from Kenya and Somalia to enter Italy. They then helped them continue their journey to destinations in northern Europe, especially Sweden.

Their convictions bring to 42 the number of people found guilty of involvement in the same smuggling ring, which was operating throughout Italy.

Italy, which has saved some 200,000 migrants at sea since the beginning of 2014, has sought to crack down on human traffickers to help deal with the huge influx of migrants reaching its shores.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Foreigner Head Count Nears Two Million

Immigration continues to boost the Swiss population, which grew to 8,236,600 at the end of 2014, an increase of 96,000 persons (up 1.2 percent) from a year earlier, according to new provisional figures released by the federal statistics office.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UN Chief, Italy PM, EU’s Mogherini in Symbolic Med Sea Trip

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will board a navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday to display “solidarity” after a series of boat migrant tragedies.

The event comes just over a week after more than 750 people drowned in the Mediterranean’s worst migrant tragedy.

Under pressure to deal with a spike in the number of migrants undertaking the perilous journey to European shores, EU leaders held emergency talks on Thursday and decided to triple funding for the bloc’s maritime search and rescue operation.

Brussels also wants United Nations approval for an EU military operation against the people smugglers who organise the hazardous crossings, often aboard overcrowded boats.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UN Plan to Settle 1M Refugees an Invitation to Terror, Critics Warn

The humanitarian disaster unfolding on the Mediterranean is likely already providing a “shield” for Islamist terrorists to infiltrate waves of migrants attempting the perilous crossing from North Africa to Europe, terrorism experts and other strategic observers are warning. And they say a UN plan to resettle 1 million refugees in Western nations would turn the situation into a full-blown security crisis.

The exodus now unfolding, as well as the UN call to take in refugees from war-torn Middle Eastern and African nations over the next five years, is providing a “shield for the passage of jihadists to Europe,” said one analyst. Once absorbed into the societies of Europe and other rich countries such as the United States, ISIS operatives would be set to eventually gain all the freedoms of other citizens of those countries — including the freedom to travel, often without having to go through the extra scrutiny involved in obtaining a passport visa.

“ISIS has threatened to (infiltrate the migrants) and German intelligence already said that this is a real threat,” Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders told FoxNews.com from The Netherlands. “An open door policy would — both for the USA and Europe — mean that the threat of Islamists and terrorists entering our countries would increase to a very dangerous level.”

Muslims among migrants trying to reach Italy by boat from Libya tossed 12 fellow passengers overboard this month because they were Christians, Italian police said. All 12 drowned, leading the Italian authorities to charge 15 Muslim men with murder fueled by religious hatred.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘We Count on UN Support to Stop People Smugglers’, Says Renzi

(ANSAmed) — ROME — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said after visiting the Navy’s San Giusto ship with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday that halting people smugglers is a top priority. “Stopping human traffickers in order to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe is an absolute priority, and we count on UN support for this,” the premier said. “Italy once faced the issue of migration in the Mediterranean alone, now the entire international community is aware that this is a global problem and not the problem of just one country”.

Italy has proven itself generous after the October 3, 2013 shipwreck off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa that took the lives of 366 African migrants, Renzi said.

“But we must raise our voices on the international level, in Europe and in the UN,” the premier added.

“This is our strategy. We have been alone in the past, now we see something is finally moving”.

The premier earlier met with Ban and EU High Foreign Representative Federica Mogherini on board the San Giusto, which has been deployed on search-and-rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yemen’s Refugees Pose a Threat to Somalia

As if Somalia wasn’t faced with enough challenges as of late, a new crisis is brewing on the horizon.

Some brief background: The fragile country of 10 million continues to be plagued by the terrorism of the Islamist group al-Shabab, is facing a serious threat to its financial lifeline due to banks shutting down the servicing of remittance flows from Somalis abroad, and is still facing endemic poverty — one in seven children die before their first birthday. Somalia, which suffered from civil strife and a total political collapse in the early 1990s, endured a catastrophic famine only a few years ago that killed 260,000 people.

But right now, according to Somali Foreign Minister Abdusalam Omer, “The biggest challenge is Yemen.”

Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes in March against Houthi rebels in Yemen have caused many civilians to start fleeing the country, with many traveling by sea to the breakaway region of Somaliland and the Puntland region. According to UNHCR, nearly a thousand people have arrived in Somalia from Yemen, including Yemenis. The agency is making contingency plans to to receive up to 100,000 refugees to Somalia in the next six months and 30,000 in Djibouti.

Since the political collapse in 1991, huge masses of Somalis have taken to the sea to seek refuge in Yemen. “We have 250,000 Somali refugees in Yemen who are under the care of UNHCR,” said Omer. “So now the situation is reversed, where we have to welcome (Yemenis). They welcomed us when we were in need; they accepted our people. So we will accept their people.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yemen Crisis: This Exotic War Will Soon Become Europe’s Problem

The main outcome of the Saudi air campaign will be terrorism and boatloads of desperate migrants

Yemeni politics is notoriously complicated and exotic, with shifting alliances in which former enemies embrace and old friends make strenuous efforts to kill each other. But this exoticism does not mean that the war in Yemen, where the Saudis started bombing on 26 March, is irrelevant to the rest of the world. Already the turmoil there is a breeding ground for al-Qaeda type attacks such as that on Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

The collapse of the country into a permanent state of warfare will send waves of boat-people towards Western Europe or anywhere else they can find refuge. It is absurd for European leaders to pretend that they are doing something about “terrorism” or the refugees drowning in the Mediterranean when they ignore the wars that are the root causes of these events.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bakers Face $135,000 Fine for Refusing to Make Cake for Gay Wedding

The owners of an Oregon bakery learned Friday that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith.

A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake.

As a result — Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own — including their home.

The Oregonian reports the recommended penalty is not final and could be raised or lowered by State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.

The controversy started in 2013 when Aaron Klein declined to provide a cake for a lesbian wedding. Later that year, the women filed a complaint against Klein and his wife, Melissa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary: Deep-Seated Religious Beliefs Have to Change so There Can be More Abortions

Do you oppose abortion because you believe God views all life — including that of the unborn — as sacred and deserving of protection? Well you’d better change that belief! Hillary Clinton thinks its a problem. We need to have more abortions, you see, and that’s not going to happen if you keep clinging to the same religious beliefs you’ve held up to now.

So give it up, suckers. The queen-in-waiting has spoken:

“Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will,” she explained. “And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

Yeah, she really said that, at the Women in the World Summit, whatever that is:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Lib Dem Love Triangle of Sex-Change Candidate and Lesbian Lovers

Zoe O’Connell, 37, is bidding to become Britain’s first transgender MP. She lives in a lesbian relationship with two canvassers, Sarah Brown and Sylvia Knight, who were a married couple.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Global Warming? The Pope is Wrong

Vatican conference incomprehensively would advocate policies whose only result would be the reduction of human life in order to “sustain” the Earth

I have devoted the better part of more than two and a half decades speaking out against the charlatans that have created and maintained the greatest hoax ever imposed on modern man. At the heart of this hoax has been the United Nations environmental program and at the heart of that program is an agenda to initiate a massive redistribution of wealth from industrialized, successful nations to those who have suffered, as often as not, from being ruled by despots of one description or another.

It is with profound sorrow and disappointment that I must now speak out against Pope Francis, the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics, whom observers have noted has “a green agenda.” He has become an outspoken advocate on environmental issues, saying that taking action is “essential to faith” and calling the destruction of nature a modern sin.

Before proceeding, let me note that I am not Catholic. My thoughts regarding the Pope are rooted in my knowledge of the long record of lies, false predictions, and claims by various environmentalists over the years.

When the Vatican announced it would hold a conference on April 28 called “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity: The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Development”, I wondered why the Vatican is not holding a conference to organize the protection of Christians — particularly in the Middle East — against the wholesale genocide that is occurring. The Pope is not alone in this. There appears to be little urgency in addressing a threat comparable to the Holocaust of the last century that consigned six million Jews to death for being Jews.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Climate Change Industry and the Hoax of Global Warming

It is convenient to the promoters of the climate change industry to purposefully confound weather events with climate. Having declared that the “science is settled,” the global warming scaremongering environmentalists are moving on to the next target of limiting our property rights and freedoms via carbon footprint and draconian, coal-industry destructive EPA regulations.

After all, the number one threat to our national security has been declared to be climate change. It is not the crushing out-of-control debt, it is not the planned and unchecked flood of immigrants into countries around the world, changing the demographics and eliminating sovereignty to the benefit of global elitist control, it is not ISIS beheading Christians and occupying the formerly liberated towns and provinces in Iraq, and it is not Iran with its nuclear bomb program, threatening to wipe Israel off the map, our ally and the only sane patch of reality in the Middle East.

The climate change industry has admitted through a Freudian slip that their agenda of climate change is “disrupting national economies, costing us dearly today and even more tomorrow.” Of course climate has been changing and we are in a cooling period now but truth cannot impede the liberal political advocates’ agenda of taxing rich countries more, spreading the wealth, and destroying our economy in the name of protecting the Earth.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

There Will be Earthquakes: The Crust of the Earth Violently Roars to Life in Chile and Nepal

Our planet appears to be getting more unstable.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/27/2015

  1. If they wanted ‘solidarity’ then the crew should have chucked them overboard if they refused to dive in of their own accord.

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