Mujahideen for the Islamic State succeeded in overrunning the city of Ramadi in western Iraq, driving out the last of the Iraqi military forces. However, the Syrian army managed to push back ISIS forces from Palmyra, so that the UNESCO world heritage site is safe for the moment.
In other news, a few days after a fierce battle between police and KLA terrorists in the Macedonian town of Kumanovo, thousands of demonstrators marched in the capital, Skopje. The protesters were supporters of the opposition, and demanded the resignation of the current government.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diego, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, 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.
Algeria: Oil Prices Forcing Dinar Down
But IMF holds that currency is still overvalued
(by Diego Minuti) (ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 14 — Algeria seems to have grown accustomed to a steady depreciation of the dinar, which since January has lost 10.5% of its value against the dollar and is down to 87.7 dinars per greenback. In the first few weeks of 2014, instead, the dinar was about 78 to the dollar. The 20.4% depreciation marks a dangerous, steady decline of the currency. The uninterrupted devaluation is not a consequence of the dinar competing against benchmark currencies (dollar, euro, pound sterling); it is instead a result of the decisions made by the Algerian central bank. Valuations are adopted as part of a controlled oscillation mechanism based on parameters that have oil prices (in dollars) as the key element. Therefore, the issue is that of oil prices, which are now leveling off (between 60.50 dollars per barrel for WTI crude oil and 66.81 for the Brent) but are down on a year ago, after months of steep decline. International institutions nonetheless say that the dinar is still overvalued, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) putting the ratio with the euro at 1 to 120, while the current one is 1 to 111.7774. Analysts and authoritative representatives of the Algerian financial world (such as former Algerian central bank governor Abderrahmane Hadj Nacer, who spoke to the TSA site) say that the dinar is likely to continue falling. Algerian financial institutions are considered to have little they can do given a national economy conditioned by — or, some say, ‘held hostage by’ — what happens on world markets that set oil prices. And so, despite being a major exporter and having based its economy mostly on fossil fuels, Algeria is practically a mere spectator, while international speculation determines oil prices. Meanwhile, Algeria pays a very high price for imports to meet local requirements.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
This is What Keynesian “Success” Looks Like: Soaring Part-Time Jobs, Record Low Real Wages
Though we noted the plight of the Japanese worker in a previous post, a plight which arrived in the US some five years ago yet which the mainstream still refuses to acknowledge, the punchline may have been somewhat diluted. So here it is again, without much additional commentary.
When it comes to the consequences of Japan’s QE, now in its third year, the head of the BOJ has been very clear:…
In short: Keynesian policies (courtesy of the sage advice of none other than Paul Krugman), coupled with some $80 billion in monetarism monthly, have been a smashing success. At least that’s the propaganda. Now, here is Japan’s “full employment” truth:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trade Agency Says Increasing Foreign Capital in Italy
ICE says investment starting to recover
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — Italy is once again starting to attract foreign direct investment after a “substantial” drop in 2012 during a low economic point, the head of the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) said Thursday.
Riccardo Maria Monti said that inflows of capital rose to $17 billion in 2013 from a low of $0.09 billion in 2012.
Monti said that he expects that 2014 data will show a further rise to $20 billion for 2014 followed by a further “strong acceleration in 2015”.
“In the last 24 months Italy is back on the radar of foreign investors,” said Monti.
“Now it is crucial to continue to grow”.
Still, Italy is plagued by persistent low levels of attractiveness for foreign investors, he said.
The ratio of foreign investment to GDP was 19.5% in 2013, less than half of other States within the European Union which averages about 49.4%, he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Boston Marathon Bombing — It Had Nothing to Do With Islam
Head-in-the-sand approach to Islamic terror
After a federal jury in Boston sentenced Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death, the US Attorney on the case, Carmen Ortiz made a fairly lengthy statement to the media. As she went on and on and on, it was inevitable she would say something to the effect that the terrorist act committed by Tsarnaev and his late brother had absolutely nothing to do with Islam or Muslims. And she did not disappoint.
She said in part, as quoted by Breibart:
“Make no mistake, the defendant claimed to be acting on behalf of Muslims. This was not a religious crime. And it certainly does not reflect true Muslim beliefs. It was a political crime, designed to intimidate and coerce the United States. Although the defense claimed that the defendant himself was intimidated and coerced by an older brother, the evidence did not bear that out. The defendant was an adult, who came to believe in an ideology of hate. And he expressed those beliefs by killing, maiming and mutilating innocent Americans on Patriot’s Day.”
What complete and utter untrue nonsense!
What expertise or authority does Ortiz have to conclude what true Muslim beliefs are? If she has any, she certainly has never made that fact apparent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Obama CIA Chief: Foreign Governments Have Hillary’s Emails
A former acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Friday that he believes the private server then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used for emails was compromised by foreign governments.
Michael Morell, who served as the CIA’s deputy director and acting director from 2010 to 2013, told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt that there’s little chance that other governments didn’t intercept the emails in some way.
“I think that foreign intelligence services, the good ones, have everything on any unclassified network that the government uses, whether that’s a private server or a public one,” Morell said. “They’re that good.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
George Harrison Guitar From 1963 Brings $490,000 at Auction
A guitar George Harrison played at a time when Beatlemania was taking flight has sold for nearly half a million dollars at a New York auction.
Julien’s Auctions says the 1963 Mastersound electric guitar went for $490,000 Friday to an undisclosed bidder. Julien’s says Harrison borrowed it from a British music store and played it on stage several times in England and in Channel Islands in the summer of 1963.
It was offered during a two-day rock memorabilia auction.
A so-called “penguin” suit that Elvis Presley wore on stage in Las Vegas in 1975 sold for nearly $122,000. Presley’s marriage certificate from his 1967 wedding to Priscilla Presley sold for over $40,000.
A vest worn by Jimi Hendrix sold for over $59,000. A tank top Madonna wore sold for $25,000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paul: Benghazi Should ‘Forever Preclude’ Hillary From Presidency
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) charged hard after Hillary Clinton on Saturday, saying her responsibility for the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attacks shows she should never be president.
“I think that Hillary Clinton’s failure to defend our ambassador should forever preclude her from that office,” Paul said at the Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner on Saturday.
He accused Clinton, at the time the secretary of State, of failing to adequately protect U.S. Embassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans who died in the 2012 attacks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Belgian Jihadists Better Organised Than Initially Thought”
The head of the Belgian State Intelligence Service, Jaak Raes, says that “where IS is, there are Belgians involved”. Belgian Syria fighters are also more professional and better organised than initially thought, he added during a seminar for the German intelligence service. De Tijd managed to get hold of the tape containing his speech and brings the report today.
The seminar goes back to 4 May. Jaak Raes told his audience that it’s difficult for the state security department to keep track of all Belgian jihadists moving abroad. He confirmed this in an interview with the VRT’s morning radio show ‘De Ochtend’. “They use different routes, which have also been adapted on various occasions. We not only have to focus on Belgium, but also on airports abroad.”
Talking about the number of Belgians that have left for Syria so far, Raes puts forward a figure of at least 236. Belgium has one of the highest numbers of jihadists in Europe taking into account its relatively small population of 11 million.
This “record number” can be explained by the campaign organised by Sharia4Belgium to recruit fighters, Raes explains. “We think that this organisation was able to convince many people to make the journey and to join IS.”
56 have died, while 122 have already returned. Raes says that intelligence services suspect that 70 per cent of the Belgians that left for Syria, joined the terrorist movement IS. “They can be found on any location where IS is active.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Hypocritical Charlie Hebdo Suspends Journalist Who Criticized Islam
Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been accused of hypocrisy after it suspended a journalist who has received death threats for her articles attacking Islamic extremism.
Zineb El Rhazoui, 33, was called to a preliminary dismissal hearing to remind her of her ‘obligations’ towards the French weekly following ‘numerous incidents’.
The French-Moroccan columnist accused her employers of trying to ‘punish her’ for speaking out about the direction of the magazine four months after the jihadist attack which left 12 dead.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Thousands Protest Against PEGIDA March in Stuttgart
Several thousand people in Stuttgart have gathered to protest against the right-wing group PEGIDA’s planned rally. PEGIDA is a movement of people opposed to a perceived “Islamization” of western countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Northern League MEP Offers Services to Roma in Civil Case
Borghezio loses civil case on racial discrimination, defamation
(ANSA) — Milan, May 15 — A Northern League politician offered to pay compensation Friday and perform community service within the Roma community after he lost a civil case over comments about the community on a radio station.
Leaders of the Roma, sometimes known as gypsies, said they would consider the offer from Mario Borghezio, who represents the League in the European parliament.
Borghezio was found civilly liable for racial discrimination and aggravated defamation over comments made in April 2013 on ‘The Mosquito’ radio program.
He said that he was sorry, and would not “limit myself to a commitment of compensation but I am also available in my city to do volunteer work in the Roma camps,” he said.
His proposal is to be evaluated by three Roma associations that were all parties in the civil case, which the judge adjourned to late June.
Borghezio was recorded calling Roma people “scum” on the radio program while advocating destruction of their homes.
The comments came during an interview that followed a visit to the Lower House of the Italian Parliament by eight young Roma people who had been invited by Speaker Laura Boldrini to mark ‘International Day of Roma and Sinti’.
Borghezio during the radio program said that “a good percentage” of thieves “are Roma” and that their community was as suited to employment as “water with oil.” Friday, he said those comments were “satirical” and not criminal.
“In my life, when I’m wrong I always paid,” he said in court.
“Here I am ready to compensate the injured parties but I don’t think I should be punished criminally,” he added.
“My only fault is that, at times, I say out loud what some politicians try to hide through hypocrisy”.
Borghezio is no stranger to controversy.
At about the same time as the Roma incident, the Speaker of the European Parliament said Borghezio brought “shame” on the institution for his racial slurs against Italy’s first black cabinet minister, Cecile Kyenge.
Martin Schulz noted that a petition “signed by 130,000 people” had called for sanctions against Borghezio after he claimed Kyenge would seek to “impose her tribal traditions from the Congo”.
Kyenge, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has risen through the ranks of Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) since she came to Italy in 1983.
Later that year, Borghezio also denounced the “voodoo-type rituals” he said Kyenge likely believed in due to her country of origin.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Court Says ‘Super Tax’ On E-Cigarettes Unconstitutional
Cites lack of substances ‘seriously toxic for health’
(ANSA) — Rome, May 15 — Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that a ‘super tax’ on electronic cigarettes is unconstitutional.
In its ruling the Court said a law that went into effect on January 1, 2014 placing a 58.5% tax on electronic cigarettes is unconstitutional because it doesn’t meet the same parameters as the tax placed on regular cigarettes.
The Court said the tax on cigarettes is justified because cigarettes are recognized as “seriously toxic for health” while the “same supposition isn’t apparent with relation to the sale of products containing ‘other substances’“ different from nicotine.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Rape Gangs, Terrorists as ‘Pop-Idols, ‘ and the Trafficking of Children
A Month of Islam in Britain: April 2015
by Soeren Kern
“Mohammed was selling me for £250 to paedophiles from all over the country. They came in, sat down and started touching me… Sometimes, I would be passed from one pervert to another… Mohammed’s defense was laughable… His barrister, a woman, implied I was a racist because all the defendants were Muslim.” — Excerpts from Girl for Sale, by Lara McDonnell.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Pays Quarter Million Dollars to Alleged CIA’s Victims
No other nation involved has been held accountable
(ANSA/AP) — WARSAW — Poland is paying a quarter of a million dollars to two terror suspects allegedly tortured by the CIA in a secret facility in this country — prompting outrage among many here who feel they are being punished for American wrongdoing. Europe’s top human rights court imposed the penalty against Poland, setting a Saturday deadline. Poland is now the only country in the world to face legal repercussions for the secret rendition and detention program which the CIA operated under then-President George W. Bush in several countries across the world after the 9/11 attacks. No other nation involved, from Pakistan and Thailand to Romania and Lithuania, has been held accountable.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saipem Resumes Work on Black Sea Gas Pipeline
Saipem, the Italian oil services company, has resumed work on a gas pipeline project in the Black Sea after a suspension was lifted by Russia’s Gazprom.
The company was told to stop work last December when the South Stream pipeline project, which was due to supply gas to Europe, was shelved amid EU sanctions against Russia over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Russia then decided to re-route the pipeline to Turkey instead after agreeing with the country to start supplying gas from December 2016.
Saipem won a €2.4 billion contract for the project last year. The company said in a statement that the work, for the most part, follows the same route but will finish in Turkey instead of Bulgaria, in order “to satisfy Turkey’s growing demand for gas”.
Italy’s Eni, France’s EDF and BASF, a unit of Germany’s Wintershall, had been major investors in the South Stream project, together owning 50 percent of South Stream Transport, the company set up to build the pipeline, while Gazprom owned the remaining half.
Gazprom agreed to buy them out in December last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Democrat Support at Record High
A new poll from survey firm Sifo shows that more Swedes than ever back the Sweden Democrats. Support for the nationalist party has grown 2.2 percent since April, while backing for the Social Democrats continues to slide.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Anti-Islam Rally Only Attracts Handful
According to the police, counter-demonstrators dramatically outnumbered anti-Islam Pegida protesters at a rally in Uppsala in central Sweden on Saturday.
Two of those who spoke at the rally were was the gallery owner Henrik Rönnquist, the founder of the Swedish branch of Pegida, and street artist and provocateur Dan Park — both previously convicted of incitement to racial hatred,
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Details of the change emerged at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal — which is hearing a challenge to the legality of computer hacking by the country’s intelligence agencies, such as GCHQ.
The Government has surreptitiously rewritten anti-hacking laws so that GCHQ and other law enforcement agencies can avoid criminal prosecution, it has been claimed.
Details of the alteration emerged at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal — which is currently hearing a challenge to the legality of computer-hacking by the country’s intelligence agencies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MOD Knew Libyan Soldiers Jailed for Cambridge Sex Assaults Were Dangerous
The Army had fears about the behaviour of Libyan soldiers and put the barracks on lockdown when they arrived, it has emerged after five were jailed for a rampage of rape and sexual assaults.
Pressure is growing on Defence Secretary Michael Fallon to apologise after the cadets were able to leave the base without permission because the perimeter ‘leaked like a sieve’.
Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, were jailed yesterday for 12 years after they slipped through the net and raped a drunken man in a Cambridge Park.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Fury After Aldi Sells ‘Halal’ Pork Snacks
The product, made by Scottish company Punjab Pakora, contained traces of pork blood and skins — both forbidden in Islam. It was stocked on Aldi shelves and online with a ‘halal’ Health Code stamp.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Prince Harry: Joining the Army Kept Me Out of Trouble
Prince Harry has said joining the Army definitely kept him out of trouble, adding that he dreaded to think where he would be now had he not done so.
Speaking at the end of a week-long trip to New Zealand, Harry said the armed forces had done amazing things for him.
Harry even suggested a future in the forces for his nephew and niece Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
The prince is set to spend the summer working alongside conservation groups in Africa, having ended his Army days.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Macedonia Braced for Huge Anti-Government Protest
Thousands of protesters are due to take part in a rally in the Macedonian capital Skopje to demand the resignation of long-serving Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. The rally follows months of allegations that he has abused his power.
The political instability comes as the country wrestles with the aftermath of clashes last weekend between ethnic Albanians and police.
Fourteen ethnic Albanians and eight police officers were killed in fighting that followed a police raid on an ethnic Albanian neighbourhood in the northern town of Kumanovo.
Ethnic Albanians make up one quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands Rally in Macedonia Amid Unfolding Political Crisis (Drone Video)
Crowds of anti-government protesters have taken to the streets in the Balkan state of Macedonia, as unrest unfolds in the country over a wiretapping scandal, involving the country’s current leader, Nikola Gruevski.
Over 20,000 people took part in protests on Sunday in the country’s capital of Skopje, marching from the government building to the Macedonian parliament, AFP reported. The protesters demanded the resignation of PM Gruevski’s government, following opposition leader Zoran Zaev’s accusations against them and recent ethnic clashes in the ex-Yugoslav republic.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Islamists Warn of Backlash Over Mohamed Morsi Death Sentence
Egyptian Islamists have warned that the world should brace itself for a backlash after the country’s first freely elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, was given a provisional death sentence nearly two years after he was overthrown by the army following mass protests against his rule.
Morsi was among over 100 men sentenced to death on Saturday for allegedly escaping prison during the 2011 uprising that toppled Morsi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. Morsi and his colleagues were convicted of conspiring with Hamas, the Brotherhood’s Palestinian offshoot, whom judges decided had helped the prisoners leave jail in January 2011.
The sentence is provisional until the government’s most senior Islamic cleric gives his opinion. A final decision is due on 2 June. Even if the execution is upheld, analysts doubt that the Egyptian regime will follow through with such a provocative act.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Court Sentences President Mohamed Morsi to Death
Mohamed Morsi raised his fists in defiance as the judge read his verdict. The sentence will be passed on to the Grand Mufti, who will give his opinion on whether it should stand in June.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Special Report: The Middle-Class Islamists Behind Tunisia’s Museum Attack
One of the young men was a high school literature student who helped his father tend the family olive trees in their isolated farming community near the Algerian border.
The other lived in the capital Tunis, had a taste for fashion and worked as a travel agent.
Jabeur Khachnaoui and Yassine el-Abidi came from stable, middle-class families and were well educated.
On March 18, they came together to attack Tunisia’s Bardo Museum, shooting foreign tourists as they filed off buses outside the museum, and then taking more tourists hostage inside.
Over three hours they killed 22 people in all, including French, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish visitors. Security forces eventually stormed the building and shot and killed the hostage-takers.
To their families, the two young men seemed to lead normal lives. But according to Tunisia’s interior ministry, they both spent time in militant camps in Libya late last year before returning to Tunisia, their ideologies fine-tuned and basic military training completed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Nuns Canonised by Pope Become First Arabic-Speaking Catholic Saints
Two Palestinian nuns have been canonised as saints at the Vatican amid signs of warming relations between the Catholic Church and the Palestinian Authority under Pope Francis.
The pope conferred sainthood on Marie Alphonsine Ghattas and Mariam Baouardy Haddad, who were both born in Ottoman-ruled Palestine, in a mass at St Peter’s Square attended by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, and other leading Palestinian officials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Praises Mahmoud Abbas as He Canonises Two Palestinian Nuns
The Pope greeted the Palestinian leader with a warm hug as the two met following the canonisation service in Rome’s St Peter’s Square for Sisters Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Battles in Eastern Yemen Despite Truce Deal
At least 10 people were killed in overnight battles between Houthis and militiamen in the Yemeni city of Taiz, residents and medical sources said on Sunday.
The fighting in Taiz comes despite a five-day humanitarian truce which began on Tuesday to distribute aid to the millions deprived of food, fuel and medicine by weeks of fighting.
Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of Arab states backed by the West, has pounded Iranian-allied Houthi forces and fighters loyal to Yemen’s former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26, aiming to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In New Audio Speech, Islamic State (ISIS) Leader Al-Baghdadi Issues Call to Arms to All Muslims
On May 14, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) media company Al-Furqan released a new audio speech by its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, titled “March Forth Whether Light or Heavy.” In the speech Al-Baghdadi issued a general call to arms to all Muslims, urging them to emigrate to ISIS territories and to fight ISIS’s enemies, whom he called the enemies of all Muslims. Al-Baghdadi directly addressed several issues related to current events, primarily the campaign being waged in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi rebels.
Al-Baghdadi begins his speech with an introduction replete with Koranic quotes stressing the importance and obligation of fighting the enemies of Islam and dying as a martyr for it. Citing the example of the Prophet Muhammad, who, Al-Baghdadi says, waged jihad throughout his entire life, he stresses that jihad and fighting are obligatory for every Muslim. Al-Baghdadi adds that participation in battle and willingness to die for Allah are aimed at testing the believers and rewarding them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Official Says ‘Ramadi Has Fallen’ To Islamic State
The Islamic State group seized control of the city of Ramadi on Sunday, sending Iraqi forces racing out of the city in a major loss despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the extremists.
Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment purportedly speeding out of Ramadi, with some soldiers gripping onto their sides. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security forces not to abandon their posts across Anbar province, apparently fearing the extremists could capture the entirety of the vast Sunni province that saw intense fighting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Government Forces Retreat as ‘Islamic State’ Overruns Ramadi
Iraqi forces have retreated from Ramadi after the “Islamic State” launched a suicide bomb attacks to take control of the city. An adviser to the governor was concerned the city would soon be the site or “massacres.”
Iraqi government forces retreated on Sunday from their strategic military base in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s largest province.
Security personnel, including army, police, counter-terrorism units, and local tribal forces, had been pushed back into the city’s operations command center after the “Islamic State” militant group increased the frequency of their attacks on the government’s last stronghold in the Anbar province.
“Anbar operations command has been cleared,” Muhanned Haimour, spokesmen and adviser to the provincial governor, told the AFP news agency on Sunday.
The militant group’s fresh wave of attacks included suicide bomb attacks, which began on Friday and carried on through the weekend, leaving 15 police officers dead on Sunday alone. Despite retaliatory airstrikes conducted by the US-led coalition against the militants in the surrounding area, the terrorist group was able to overrun security forces.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Raymond Ibrahim
Although Western leaders as well as Muslims in the West have repeatedly said that the Islamic State is not Islamic, this is not the case.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Unemployment Soars in Areas With High Refugee Influx
The International Labor Organization says unemployment in areas of Jordan with high concentrations of Syrian refugees rose from 14.5 percent to 22.1 percent between 2011 and 2014.
An ILO study released Sunday looked at three districts that host three-fourths of the 628,000 refugees registered in Jordan.
The official national unemployment rate is 12.9 percent.
Close to 4 million Syrians have fled their country since the start of the conflict in 2011. Most live in neighboring countries.
Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees work in low-paying jobs in Jordan, the vast majority without permits.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmakers Praise Risky US Raid That Killed ISIS Leader Abu Sayyaf
Washington lawmakers from both parties on Sunday praised the U.S. raid that killed Abu Sayyaf, a key Islamic State leader in charge of the group’s oil and gas operations in eastern Syria.
“It’s good news,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Obviously, any time you can degrade or take away top leadership of an organization. It’s a positive step forward.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also commended the operation, saying U.S. “intelligence was good” but that the operation was risky.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
State Media: Jordan Interior Minister Resigns Over Failure of Security Agencies to Coordinate
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s state news agency Petra says the interior minister has submitted his resignation, citing a failure of security agencies to coordinate on issues concerning stability and the security of citizens.
The Petra agency says King Abdullah II on Sunday accepted the resignation of the minister, Hussein Majali.
The report did not say why specifically Majali resigned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Troops Push Islamic State Back From Palmyra Ruins
A Syrian official has said the situation in Palmyra is ‘fully under control’ as government troops have pushed Islamic State jihadists back from the world heritage site. Clashes between both groups are continuing.
Syria’s antiquities chief voiced cautious relief Sunday as government forces pushed Islamic State ‘IS’ jihadists back from the site of the ancient ruins.
“We have good news today, we feel much better, antiquities chief Mamoun Abdulkarim told news agency AFP.
“There was no damage to the ruins, but this does not mean we should not be afraid.”
IS, who have destroyed several ancient sites in neighbouring Iraq, came within one kilometer (less than a mile) of the UNESCO world heritage site on Saturday.
Authorities were worried about potential damage to historic monuments, colonnades and elaborate tombs that were located in Palmyra’s southwest.
Regional governor Talal Barazi said the “IS attack was foiled, and we ousted them from the northern parts of Tadmur,” referring to the other name given to the city of Palmyra.
Barazi added that “the army is still…combing the streets for bombs.”
Syrian government troops had recaptured two key areas from the militants late Saturday, adding army reinforcements had been sent to aid troops, Barazi added…
| — Hat tip: Diego | [Return to headlines] |
US Contests ‘Islamic State’ Claim of Full Control in Ramadi
‘Islamic State’ (IS) militants have claimed full control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi. The loss of the key military base in the city would represent the biggest defeat for the Iraqi government since last summer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wanted: Western Professionals to Join the Islamic State (ISIS)
By A. Agron
In his first public adress after being declared Caliph in late June 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi called on professionals to immigrate to the territories under his control in order to help build up the fledgling state. “We make a special call to the scholars, fuqahaa’ (Islamic jurisprudence experts), and preachers, especially the judges, as well as people with military, administrative, and service expertise, and medical doctors and engineers of all different specializations and fields.”
This statement stems from ISIS’s ambition to build itself as a viable project. In order for its project to last, ISIS knows that it needs to supply basic services to the population and to create revenue, and it knows that educated professionals are an integral part of forming a successful, operational society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Urges EU to Support Gas Pipeline Crossing Turkey
The US has been encouraging the Trans-Adriatic pipeline
(ANSA/AP) — BELGRADE — Russia’s foreign minister has urged the European Union to support the idea of a Moscow-backed pipeline that would bring natural gas across the Black Sea to Turkey and the rest of Europe. Sergei Lavrov said Friday the pipeline — which could include Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary — would bring “energy stability” to Europe.
Greece’s left-wing government has expressed interest in the project, dubbed Turkish Stream. The United States, however, has been encouraging the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take Azeri gas from the Caspian Sea to Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Maglev Exports Proving Tall Order for Japan
The Japanese government is pushing to export its maglev train system to the U.S. The path to a deal looks anything but smooth.
Development of the system was led by JR Tokai, the main railway operator in central Japan. The technology uses powerful magnets to levitate train cars and push them along a guideway at high speed. Japan’s government hopes to bring the system to the Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.
The ambitious plan has attracted interest from influential American politicians, including Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But a source close to the White House said President Barack Obama “is not so enthusiastic” about the project. One reason may be the exorbitant cost: A segment between Washington and Baltimore alone would reportedly require as much as 1 trillion yen ($8.28 billion).
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seems unfazed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea: Halal Food and Prayer Rooms, Korean Universities Adapt for Muslim Students
In 2014, third level institutions received about 100 thousand applications for registration by young people from Muslim countries. To “avoid discomfort” they are adapting to include separate kitchens and dormitories.
Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) — “Halal” food, Muslim prayer rooms and even kitchens and dorms. This is how Korean universities, among the best in Asia, are adapting to meet the needs of the growing presence of Muslim students who spend about four years in South Korea to achieve their qualification.
The phenomenon is due to the “Korean Wave”, which is the government policy that seeks to attract students from all over the world to its university system. That’s why, today, almost all major universities in the capital are doing “everything possible” to make Muslim students feel at ease.
Kookmin University has a room of 40 square meters for the 86 Muslim students studying there. The construction was financed by Saudi Arabia, and the room is called “The Saudi Club”. The Kyung Hee University has a similar building, while Sungkyunkwan University has decided to devote an entire dormitory, which now houses about 170 male students.
Even the Christian colleges have adapted. While they may not have opened a real “Islamic prayer room”, some areas have a “multi-faith prayer room”. The Ewha Womans University, run by a Protestant denomination, opened one in 2012; the Catholic Sogang University added one in 2013.
The Hanyang University has gone further, and in 2013 built a separate kitchen for Muslim students who want to prepare “halal” food according to the dictates of the Islamic religion. Among other things, says the 24 year old Jafar — from Pakistan — it makes business sense: “At first it was almost impossible to find halal food and it was expensive. In universities instead you can eat spending a lot less money. I’m happy “.
The indigenous Muslim community of South Korea does not exceed 40 thousand. In contrast, the number of students and tourists who come from Islamic countries is constantly growing: in 2014, there were 100 thousand admission applications from students who want to obtain a visa and who have indicated in the documents that they belong to Islam.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
NZ: Moment a Sikh Man Removes His Turban to Save Boys Life
A New Zealand student who broke strict religious protocol by taking off his turban to help save the life of a child hit by a car has been heralded as a hero.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron Urged to Ban Migrant Europeans Voting in EU Referendum
Eurosceptic Tory MPs called on the Prime Minister to guarantee that only UK voters are allowed to take part in the crucial vote — not other EU nationals living here.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Migrants’ Bodies Will be Left in the Sea After Mediterranean Shipwreck
Charities have criticised the “extraordinary” decision by Sicilian authorities to abandon up to 750 migrant victims of a Mediterranean shipwreck at the bottom of the sea.
The Italian navy has found the wreck of the smuggling boat that capsized and sank last month off the Libyan coast, causing the death of hundreds of migrants who had been locked inside the hold.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Makes a Fortune From Smuggling Migrants Says Report
Migrants pay thousands of dollars to armed groups in Africa and the Middle East on their journey to Europe
The movement of migrants across the Middle East and Africa towards Europe has generated up to $323 million for the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and other jihadist groups, a new report has revealed.
Many of the migrants embark from Libya on unseaworthy boats which have foundered with thousands drowning and thousands being rescued by European navies. At least 170,000 refugees made the sea journey last year, and that number looks likely to increase this year, according to the European Union’s border-surveillance organization Frontex.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Fighters Posing as Refugees Are Being Smuggled to Europe on Migrant Boats, Report Says
Isis militants are posing as refugees and being smuggled into Europe across the Mediterranean, it has been reported.
Islamic State fighters are taking advantage of the current migrant crisis in the Mediterranean by joining overfilled boats leaving northern Africa for Europe, according to government advisor Abdul Basit Haroun.
He told BBC 5 live Investigates that he had spoken to boat owners in areas controlled by Isis.
They told him that militants were profiting from the dangerous journey across the sea by demanding half of people smugglers’ incomes in exchange for allowing them to keep operating — and to take fighters with them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Militants ‘Smuggled to Europe’
Islamic State (IS) fighters are being smuggled into Europe by gangs in the Mediterranean, an adviser to the Libyan government has told the BBC.
Abdul Basit Haroun said smugglers were hiding IS militants on boats filled with migrants.
Officials in Italy and Egypt have previously warned that IS militants could reach Europe by migrant boat.
However, experts have cautioned that it is very difficult to verify or assess such claims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Hundreds More People Flock to Italy
As the European Union debates the contentious issue of immigration, Italy continues to accept daily waves of people from north Africa. Italian media reports a privately-funded search and rescue vessel has intercepted boats containing hundreds of people and carried them to safety in Sicily.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Salvini Traveling to Nigeria to Help Migrants Stay Home
Protests dog controversial Northern League leader
(ANSA) — Ascoli Piceno, May 14 — Northern League Leader Matteo Salvini said Thursday that he will travel to Nigeria next month to convince Africans to stop migrating to Europe.
“In June I will go to Nigeria, we will look at how to help these people in their home,” Salvini said during a visit to the Marche town of Ascoli Piceno.
“The government has already spent too much,” on rescuing migrants and resettling them, he said.
“First, our people, then them,” said Salvini, outlining his priorities.
Tens of thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty, many from Africa and the Middle East, have taken the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Thousands of them have died en route as their boats head for Italian shores, the southernmost points in Europe.
The International Organization for Migration has said that more than 1,800 people died while trying to cross the Mediterranean in the first four months of 2015 alone. But Salvini and his party are opposed to the rescue and resettlement efforts, saying smuggler boats must be destroyed and asylum seekers processed in Africa.
He repeated that message Thursday in San Benedetto del Tronto, near Ascoli Piceno, where protestors shouted insults and threw objects but were held back by police.
Officers searched backpacks and purses before allowing any one near the piazza where Salvini was speaking.
Protesters have often dogged Salvini’s political events, including a number near Palermo on Wednesday who threw tomatoes and eggs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia: Still No Obligation to Receive Migrants
Change of strategy should be approved by States and Eu Council
(ANSA) — LJUBLJANA — Every EU country should be left free to choose to accept or not migrants. This is the position of Slovenian prime minister Miro Cerar, after the European Commission made public the European Agenda on Migration.
According to Cerar, the issue of quotas should be still discussed in the coming weeks. If Brussels will insist on the obligatoriness to receive refugees, this change of strategy should be approved by every member State and by the Eu Council.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Erdogan Calls on Europe to Welcome More Migrants
EU should take in more refugees from Syria and Iraq
(ANSA/AP) — TIRANA — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Europe to take in more migrants and refugees from Syria and Iraq, saying his own country has borne the brunt of the refugee crisis and has been sheltering about 2 million people.
During a visit to Albania Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey has spent $5.6 billion to care for 1.7 million Syrians and 300,000 Iraqis in refugee camps or living in Turkish cities.
Speaking after meeting with his Albanian counterpart Bujar Nishani, Erdogan said developed countries should do their “duty” and offer solutions for the migration crisis. Hundreds of migrants have died so far this year in sea crossings trying to reach Europe.
Erdogan is visiting Albania to discuss increasing economic ties with the small Balkan nation, heading a delegation of about 100 businessmen.
Turkey is one of Albania’s main trading partners and investors. Erdogan, who last visited the country six years ago, was meeting Wednesday with his counterpart Bujar Nishani and Prime Minister Edi Rama.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The curious thing about those who most loudly preach tolerance is their own excessive intolerance. They will not tolerate anyone who disagrees with them on any issue that is important to them. Consider as just one example, the female who has decided she ought to inhabit the White House.
Clinton told attendees at the sixth annual Women in The World Summit that “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” for the sake of giving women access to “reproductive health care… Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care … and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper …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.” Now when Hillary says that “religious beliefs and structural biases have to change,” that is Orwellian double-speak saying that Biblical Christianity must be fundamentally altered to make way for her unrestricted murder of the unborn.
But what about that much vaunted tolerance? Why doesn’t she say that she will tolerate those who disagree with her on the issue of murdering babies? Why does she say we must change our religion, we must edit our Bible, we must reject 2000 years of Christian doctrine and accept whatever she claims is just? Why is her version of tolerance a one-way street?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Do We Protect Our Children, or Sexual Deviates?
Contrary to Ms. Coleman’s claim, PP does have sources of money other than the government dole. In fact, for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates reported receiving $308.2 million in “Private Contributions and Bequests.” It also made $404.9 million in “Health Center Income.” Though individual affiliates have recorded losses, PP overall reported an “excess of revenue over expenses” of $63.4 million in 2009.
With George Soros’ son Jonathan’s wife Jennifer Allan Soros sitting on the PP Board of Directors, Open Society has over the years given over $2.5M to PP.
Planned Parenthood fights reasonable laws to protect women and girls because such laws might undermine its ability to make money. Their big fight is to consistently stop legislation making the reporting of sexual abuse mandatory.
[…]
And the very latest Indoctrination by Planned Parenthood — GENDERBREAD PERSON!
Now we have the schools and Planned Parenthood giving our kids a sex education they aren’t ready for to include indoctrination and recruitment of high school children into the ranks of the LGBT movement. How dare they overstep their position into the personal lives of our children?
Who’s afraid of the Genderbread Person? If you care about children, especially if you are a parent, you had better be! Did anyone ask your permission for your child to be involved in this? I would advise you check with his or her school.
Gender identity is the theme of today’s sexual indoctrination and Planned Parenthood and your school system wants to make your child as confused as they can in the hopes they will begin to question who they really are. The point — since gays cannot reproduce PP is forced to recruit to expand their ranks. Failing that, they want all the heterosexual children to start having as much sex as possible because abortion operations are what pay the bills.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Court Quashes Another Part of Assisted-Fertility Law
Ban on screening for genetic diseases ruled illegitimate
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — The Constitutional Court has ruled that a ban on fertile couples who carry genetic pathologies from accessing medically-assisted fertility techniques to avoid passing the conditions on to their children is illegitimate, ANSA sources said Thursday. The ruling strikes down a part of the so-called Law 40 that bans screening embryos for pathologies before they are implanted in assisted fertility treatments. The 2003 law forbids the screening of embryos for abnormalities or genetic disorders, even for couples with a history of genetic disease, and denied women the right to refuse implantation once their eggs have been fertilised.
Last year the Constitutional Court ruled invalid another big part of Law 40 — a ban on the use of donor sperm and eggs for infertile couples.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Our Call to Boycott Mad Max Movie Spurs Avalanche of Mainstream Media Anger
On May 11 we published Why You Should Not Go See “Mad Max: Feminist Road” by Aaron Clarey. Since then, dozens of media outlets including CNN, Vice, The Guardian, and Huffington Post have attempted to denounce Clarey’s article with snark, feminist logic, and adolescent insults.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why You Should Not Go See “Mad Max: Feminist Road”
The truth is I’m angry about the extents Hollywood and the director of Fury Road went to trick me and other men into seeing this movie. Everything VISUALLY looks amazing. It looks like that action guy flick we’ve desperately been waiting for where it is one man with principles, standing against many with none.
But let us be clear. This is the vehicle by which they are guaranteed to force a lecture on feminism down your throat. This is the Trojan Horse feminists and Hollywood leftists will use to (vainly) insist on the trope women are equal to men in all things, including physique, strength, and logic. And this is the subterfuge they will use to blur the lines between masculinity and femininity, further ruining women for men, and men for women.
So do yourself and all men across the world a favor. Not only REFUSE to see the movie, but spread the word to as many men as possible. Not all of them have the keen eye we do here at ROK. And most will be taken in by fire tornadoes and explosions. Because if they sheepishly attend and Fury Road is a blockbuster, then you, me, and all the other men (and real women) in the world will never be able to see a real action movie ever again that doesn’t contain some damn political lecture or moray about feminism, SJW-ing, and socialism.
[Comment: Sounds like it better to watch the original Mad Max on video. Quite frankly, I’m fed up seeing toothpick girls in movies flatten 300lb guys with one punch. Nothing but feminizing men and masculinizing women. Movies are a massive psy-op of ideas. If you don’t use your brain to critically filter out the garbage social re-engineering concepts you will absorb the kool-aid.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hirsi Ali’s Call for an Islamic Reformation
by Conrad Black
I had the pleasure this week of meeting Ayaan Hirsi Ali at a most convivial social occasion, having just read her latest book, Heretic. Most readers will be aware that she fled an arranged marriage as a very young Somalian Muslim woman and abandoned her faith, going first to Germany and then to the Netherlands. She began her new life as a factory cleaning lady and rose to be a Dutch member of parliament and a prominent activist for the victims of militant Islam. She is now a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the wife of eminent Anglo-American historian Niall Ferguson, and is an elegant, charming and courageous woman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What is This Strange Sound From the Sky?
A mysterious noise from the sky is continuing to baffle people all over the world — as well as giving those who hear it sleepless nights.
Sounding like a trumpet or a collective from a brass section of an orchestra, a selection of videos shot from the Canada to Ukraine, via the U.S., Germany and Belarus show strange goings on above us
And the eerie sounds have been continuously heard at all different times and locations for almost a decade.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I think this is a better article about the strange sound phenomena: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/ominous-sounds-in-the-air-mystified-terrace-b-c-and-not-everyone-believes-the-official-explanation
It is not difficult to imagine that this is being caused by grader blade grinding. Remember there are scaling issues with physics where things on a larger scale don’t behave exactly the way you’d expect at the familiar smaller scale.
The protestors are Albanian muslims mostly from KOSOVO who want that GREATER ALBANIA that hitler promised them during WWII. That was to be their reward for forming a division of SS troops who then tried to rid Kosovo of it 2,000 Jews , all the Serbian Orthodox Christians and their Clergy, including the Patriarch who wound up in Dachau.
Serbs were over 80% of the population of Kosovo before WWII but after the events and murders of them, by Albanian muslim Nazis, they were about 60% . When Tito took over, he worked to destroy the Orthodox Church. Since Kosovo was the seat of the Patriarchy , it had to be depopulated of Christians. And THAT is why the Albanians were able to take the place over…oh that and the KLA’s NATO air force.
Now Macedonia is on the US chopping block. USA working to fulfill hitler’s promise to the Albanian muslims since 1999.
If that strange sound is religious in nature, well looks like time to get right with the maker.
Obama would be shaking in his boots and MOM jeans and hillary would be trying to lie her way out of it.
Nimrod. I’ve lived near railroad tracks for most of my life, and I think that SOME of the sounds in the videos could be railroad sounds. The first sounds on one of the first videos begins with ONE of the sounds that an American train sounds like the two long horn-like sounds, followed by a short burst, and then by a long sound which signifies that the train is approaching as a road crossing. On this and subsequent videos are VERY loud squeals which I’ve heard numerous times, which are usually caused by a train moving slowly while changing to another track. This may explain SOME of the noises. Not all of the noises can be explained by this.
Judenlieber