The Swedish government has responded to the violent crisis in Malmö by assigning hundreds of additional police officers to the beleaguered city, which has recently experienced an unprecedented wave of gun violence and grenade explosions. Meanwhile, Sweden is setting up a hotline to counsel the families of “Swedish” jihadis who have traveled overseas to fight for the Islamic State.
In other news, Greece has sent riot police and a cruise ship to the island of Kos to help it cope with the massive influx of migrants from Syria and Asia Minor.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, JD, Jerry Gordon, Nidra Poller, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
A Death Cross, Wild Market Swings and a Currency War — and We Haven’t Even Gotten to September Yet
Things continue to line up in textbook fashion for a major financial crisis by the end of 2015. This week, Wall Street has been buzzing about the first “ death cross” that we have seen for the Dow since 2011. When the 50-day moving average moves below the 200-day moving average, that is a very important psychological moment for the market. And just like during the run up to the stock market crash of 2008, we are starting to witness lots of wild swings up and down. The Dow was up more than 200 points on Monday, the Dow was down more than 200 points on Tuesday, and it took a nearly 700 point roundtrip on Wednesday. This is exactly the type of behavior that we would expect to see during the weeks or months leading up to a crash. As any good sailor will tell you, when the waters start getting very choppy that is not a good sign. Of course what China is doing is certainly not helping matters. On Wednesday, the Chinese devalued the yuan for a second day in a row, and many believe that a new “ currency war” has now begun.
So what does all of this mean?
Does this mean that the time of financial “ shaking” has now arrived?
Let’ s start with what is happening to the Dow. When the 50-day moving average crosses over the 200-day moving average, it is a very powerful signal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Another Bailout Won’t Keep Greece in the Eurozone
The breakup of the euro was once unthinkable. Is it now inevitable?
By Lena Komileva
This fatigue raises the possibility that a third unsuccessful EU bailout program for Greece will turn into a road map to the euro’s breakup. It is clear now that the political contract behind the euro is no longer ironclad. After previously defending the irrevocability of the common currency, eurozone leaders — notably including the ECB — are now more open to the possibility of a country exiting the euro. Given the very slim chances of economic success in Greece, this option will stay on the table.
Moreover, despite ECB chief Mario Draghi’s famous promise to do “whatever it takes” to safeguard the euro, the ECB will not always act as a lender of last resort to backstop member states’ banking systems. In essence, the political conditionality attached to EU bailouts gives the ECB a mechanism that can force insolvent countries to drop the euro. Greece’s experience thus demonstrates that national illiquidity and a banking crisis are synonymous with rising risk of a euro breakup. Without much hope that a third bailout will restore Greece’s solvency, it is only a matter of time before the country finds itself back at the euro exit door.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fractures Form Inside Russia’s Central Bank as Recession Deepens
Russia’s economy contracted 4.6 percent in the second quarter, its weakest performance since 2009, and the Economy Ministry has said it might cut full-year forecasts. A renewed slide in oil prices has dragged the ruble to a six-month low against the dollar, further limiting the central bank’s room for maneuver and raising the stakes for Tulin’s policy debate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How China Devalued the Yuan for the First Time in Two Decades, And Why it Matters
China’s shock currency adjustment caught many in the financial markets off-guard. It decided to devalue the yuan for the first time since 1994.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Better Than Expected Inflation Eases Pressure on Central Bank
Unexpectedly positive inflation figures published on Thursday gave Sweden’s Central Bank some relief, as the institution has repeatedly cut rates to counter deflation risk.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Which States Will Suffer the Most From China’s Devaluation?
In case you missed it, China has devalued their currency for three consecutive days. The devaluation has been just under 5% and it has caused markets around the world to implode. This is just the beginning. They plan on devaluing their currency by 10% in a desperate attempt to revive their floundering economy. What they are really doing is crushing the economies of the US, Europe and Japan as their companies have a harder time competing in world markets.
Those who don’t think the US is heavily dependent on China as a market are delusional. Check out this chart.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As Hillary’s Poll Numbers Drop, Candidate Clinton Plays Dirty
By Karl Rove
Hillary Clinton has foolishly begun mimicking Mr. Obama’s practice of impugning the motives of political opponents, as her lead in the polls shrinks and perceptions that she is untrustworthy and out of touch with ordinary people grow.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Did the EPA Intentionally Pollute Animas River?
Before the EPA polluted the Animas River, a retired geologist revealed the agency was likely looking for an excuse to build a multi-million dollar water treatment plant in nearby Silverton, Colo.
The geologist, Dave Taylor, wrote a July 30 editorial that predicted the EPA’s plugging plan, which ultimately led to the Aug. 6 spill, would fail and the agency would likely use the failure to seek “superfunding.”…
“The letter detailed verbatim, how EPA officials would foul up the Animas River on purpose in order to secure superfund money,” the Gateway Pundit reported. “If the [nearby] Gold King mine was declared a superfund site it would essentially kill future development for the mining industry in the area.”
“The Obama EPA is vehemently opposed to mining and development.“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Do Christians and Conservatives Really Desire a Police State?
A Nazi-like, Stalin-like, Mao-like Police State is being constructed in earnest in America. It started with the Patriot Act in 2001. And it has only gotten worse every year since. And, in reality, this burgeoning Police State has no serious opposition — with the exception of 75 million + gun owners.
Democrats and Republicans alike are actively facilitating the American Police State. About the only time one party or the other opposes Police-State-type legislation is when their party is in the minority; and this is only done in an attempt to make the other party look bad. But as soon as the minority party becomes the majority party, it immediately supports the same Police-State-type legislation that it had previously opposed. A classic example is the Patriot Act itself.
I remember standing with former congressman and former Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr against the Patriot Act at a rally in Florida. I clearly recall Bob noting that when Bill Clinton was President, Democrats tried to pass the Patriot Act (under another name), but it was rejected by a Republican Congress. But when George W. Bush proposed the same bill under the name of The USA Patriot Act (which Congressman Barr said was almost word-for-word the same bill that the GOP had defeated just a few years before), a Republican Congress quickly passed it.
That’s the way things work in Washington, D.C. Neither party cares a flip about the Bill of Rights or the Constitution. All they care about is power. Face it, folks: both parties are working in tandem to turn the United States into a giant Police State. Furthermore, the national news media (including FOX News) is in total lockstep with this proliferating Police State.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Invades Home to Steal Confederate Flag, Attacks Owner, According to Police
A Racine, Wis., man invaded a woman’s home to steal her Confederate flag and assaulted her in the process, according to police.
Although the suspect, 37-year-old Tajaun Boatner, faces multiple charges, including criminal trespassing and misdemeanor battery, the presiding judge set his bail at $100 over the recent incident spurred by a Confederate flag hanging in a window.
Boatner reportedly asked the woman to remove the flag after spotting it in her kitchen window and started calling her names even though she agreed to move the flag to a less visible bathroom window.
“[The woman] told him to leave her alone, but he walked up on to her porch, opened the doorway to her home, and pushed her down on to the floor of her kitchen,” the Racine Co. Eye reported. “He then went into the home, walked into the bathroom and took the flag out of the window.” The police said that when they arrested Boatner, he refused to cooperate and they had to “forcefully push him into the wagon to transport him to jail and he kicked his feet against the door to prevent it from closing.”
The $100 cash bond set for Boatner seems unusually low for a suspect accused of assault during a home invasion, not to mention resisting arrest.
This incident highlights how the current war against the Confederate flag is really just a war against individuals and property rights which has cost at least one man his life.
[Comment: Reprogramming of society proceeding…more and more people operating solely on emotion. Logic and the brain is just along for the ride. This makes banksters mass manipulation of such people much easier.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Octopus Genome Holds Clues to Uncanny Intelligence
DNA sequence expanded in areas otherwise reserved for vertebrates.
With its eight prehensile arms lined with suckers, camera-like eyes, elaborate repertoire of camouflage tricks and spooky intelligence, the octopus is like no other creature on Earth.
Added to those distinctions is an unusually large genome, described in Nature1 on 12 August, that helps to explain how a mere mollusc evolved into an otherworldly being.
“It’s the first sequenced genome from something like an alien,” jokes neurobiologist Clifton Ragsdale of the University of Chicago in Illinois, who co-led the genetic analysis of the California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides).
Surprisingly, the octopus genome turned out to be almost as large as a human’s and to contain a greater number of protein-coding genes — some 33,000, compared with fewer than 25,000 in Homo sapiens.
This excess results mostly from the expansion of a few specific gene families, Ragsdale says. One of the most remarkable gene groups is the protocadherins, which regulate the development of neurons and the short-range interactions between them. The octopus has 168 of these genes — more than twice as many as mammals. This resonates with the creature’s unusually large brain and the organ’s even-stranger anatomy. Of the octopus’s half a billion neurons — six times the number in a mouse — two-thirds spill out from its head through its arms, without the involvement of long-range fibres such as those in vertebrate spinal cords. The independent computing power of the arms, which can execute cognitive tasks even when dismembered, have made octopuses an object of study for neurobiologists such as Hochner and for roboticists who are collaborating on the development of soft, flexible robots.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sea of Black Plastic Balls Helps California Conserve Water
What do you get when you tip 96 million black plastic balls into a reservoir? A money-saving system that maintains water quality, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
On Monday, the utility company released 20,000 of these balls — each about the size of a grapefruit — into a reservoir in Sylmar, California. It was the final release required to cover the surface of the 12-billion-litre reservoir.
The role of the spheres, nicknamed shade balls, is to block sunlight. Their addition should prevent the loss of about 1.1 billion litres of water that would normally evaporate from the reservoir.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Hillary Email Server Scandal Runs Deeper at State Dept.
Most important to readers here is the fact that the communications of the two emails in question that originated from the CIA were transmitted via a controlled pathway to the State Department, from there, someone(s) at State had to find a unclassified printer and computer to create hard copies, re-format them into electronic form and then email them to Hillary meaning that others at State are surely going to be investigated and caught up in the web or dragnet of culpability.
A 7 page email document chain is found here where the classified material is simply chilling.
On August 11, the Intelligence Community Inspector General briefed several members of the Senate as well as James Clapper, the Director of the Office of National Intelligence on the exact classifications of at least 2 newly discovered emails, which at the time of transmission were given the classification rating of TS/SI/TK/NF. This classification is the top confidential rating designation. Of particular note is the ‘TK’ rating which means Talent Keyhole, stemming from signals intelligence/geo-spatial via the CIA. These communications are only done on highly controlled systems and within a SCIF system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Spy Satellite Secrets in Hillary’s Emails
These weren’t just ordinary secrets found in Clinton’s private server, but some of the most classified material the U.S. government has.
Most seriously, the Inspector General assessed that Clinton’s emails included information that was highly classified—yet mislabeled as unclassified. Worse, the information in question should have been classified up to the level of “TOP SECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN,” according to the Inspector General’s report. You may have seen acronym lists like these on declassified documents before—and glazed over them. This is the arcane language of the cleared cognoscenti so let me explain what this means:
• TOP SECRET, as the name implies, is the highest official classification level in the U.S. government, defined as information whose unauthorized release “could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security or foreign relations.”
• SI refers to Special Intelligence, meaning it is information derived from intercepted communications, which is the business of the National Security Agency, America’s single biggest source of intelligence. They’re the guys who eavesdrop on phone calls, map who’s calling who, and comb through emails. SI is a subset of what the intelligence community calls Sensitive Compartmented Information or SCI. And these materials always require special handling and protection. They are to be kept in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility or SCIF, which is a special hardened room that is safe from both physical and electronic intrusion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Cop Repeatedly Smashes Student With Baton for ‘Refusing to Comply’
Officer lied on police report, now arrested and fired.
A police officer in Georgia has been arrested and fired after video emerged of him hitting a non-threatening, unarmed student repeatedly, including in the head, with a baton because he refused to comply with demands.
Athens-Clarke County police fired officer Jonathan Fraser, and arrested him, after body cam footage revealed he used excessive force for no good reason against 19-year-old University of Georgia student Michael Roquet.
The body cam footage shows that Roquet was drunk, but posed no threat to Fraser, nor did he resist arrest.
Fraser had claimed in his report that Roquet “struck [him] with his left elbow in [his] chest,” and then “hit [him] again with his elbow.] The cop claimed that he responded by “striking [the man with a baton] in the leg and upper body” and then handcuffed him.
The video shows, however, that Fraser struck the student nine times, including once in the head and twice in the back while he was on the ground.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Do Spaniards Understand the Real Don Quixote?
As the fourth centenary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes approaches, sceptics are asking how many Spaniards can actually read the original opus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First Victim of Spain’s ‘Gag Law’ Fined for Criticising ‘Lazy’ Police
Eduardo Díaz described his local police force as “slackers” on Facebook and a few hours later, they turned up on his doorstep and fined him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: Tel Aviv Beach Opens in Paris Amid Tight Security
Some 500 police officers will patrol Thursday’s fiercely opposed ‘Tel Aviv on Seine’ event which was supposed to celebrate the culture of the Israeli coastal city but will take place amid high security and protests.
Paris was to deploy some 500 police along the River Seine on Thursday, at the start of a controversial beach attraction dedicated to Tel Aviv.
The city authorities’ decision to devote one of its hugely popular “Paris plages” (Paris beaches) days to celebrate Tel Aviv has sparked uproar among some left-wing politicians and pro-Palestinian groups.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Video: Eiffel Tower Sellers Attack Paris Cops
A video has been posted online showing a group of Eiffel Tower sellers punching and kicking police officers in Paris during an attempted arrest. It comes as new figures reveal an increase in violence against officers in the French capital.
The incident may not be an isolated one as police union Alliance spoke of their growing concern around illegal sellers, known as “vendeurs à la sauvette”, “who don’t hesitate to physically attack police officers.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘ It looks like there’ s more trouble in Vaccineland, as UK-based jab giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been exposed for peddling a swine flu vaccine that caused brain damage in potentially thousands of children. But rather than be held responsible, GSK is actually billing the UK government the equivalent of about $92 million to pay for damages, which means taxpayers are footing the bill.
Reports indicate that dozens of Pandemrix victims from the UK will be awarded about $1.5 million each in British pounds for permanent health damage caused by GSK’ s Pandemrix vaccine. One in 16,000 people who took the vaccine, it turns out, are said to have developed narcolepsy and/or cataplexy, two neurological diseases that disrupt normal sleep patterns and muscle function.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man, 36, Admits Double Stabbing at Swedish Ikea
A 36-year-old man has admitted to stabbing a mother and a son to death at an Ikea store in Västerås. But a 23-year-old suspect who was also arrested has been released from custody.
The older man had been in hospital since Monday but regained consciousness and was able to participate in his court hearing via telephone link, where he confessed to the double murder.
Monday’s attack saw a mother and her adult son stabbed to death at a store in the central town of Västerås, with police arresting the two suspects, who are both Eritrean asylum seekers, soon afterwards.
Swedish media reports said on Wednesday that the 36-year-old suspect had been handed a deportation order which would have returned him to Italy.
The day before the attack he had met with immigration officials in Västerås to discuss his case, the reports said.
Sweden hosts a community of some 18,000 Eritrean nationals but that number is expected to rise significantly in the coming years.
Last year, some 11,500 Eritreans requested asylum in Sweden, and in the first seven months of 2015, another 4,200 have made an application making them the second largest group seeking refugee status after Syrians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rosetta Sees Sparks as Comet 67P Reaches Closest Approach to Sun
It’s a day for cometary celebration. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has been orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko for a little over a year now, and today it accompanies the comet as it makes its closest approach to the sun, known as perihelion.
“It’s really a fantastic milestone that’s been achieved by our Rosetta today,” said ESA project scientist Nicolas Altobelli in a Google hangout to mark the occasion.
It’s the first time a spacecraft has monitored a comet up close as it moves from its dormant phase to heated activity.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Ikea Suspect ‘Conscious’ Ahead of Court Hearing
A 36-year-old suspect linked to the double stabbings at an Ikea store in Västerås has regained consciousness, with Swedish prosecutors calling for him and a younger suspect, 23, to remain in custody.
On Wednesday Swedish media reported that the older suspect, who police had previously said was aged 35, had recently been told that he was set to be expelled from Sweden and tried to kill himself after the attack.
Monday’s attack saw a mother and her adult son stabbed to death at a store in the central town of Västerås, with police arresting two Eritrean asylum seekers.
The 36-year-old was found at the scene with serious knife injuries while the second, aged 23, was waiting at a bus stop outside Ikea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Drops Assange Sex Assault Investigation
Swedish prosecutors have dropped a sexual assault probe against Julian Assange because the time limit on the case has expired. But he will continue to face rape allegations.
Some of the claims made against the WikiLeaks founder — who has been holed up at Ecuador’s London embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition — have reached their statute of limitations after five years.
“Now that the statute of limitations has expired on certain offences, I am obliged to drop part of the investigation,” prosecutor Marianne Ny said, adding she still wanted to question the Australian on a more serious rape claim.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: More Officers for Malmö in Bid to Tackle Violence
Sweden’s police chief Dan Eliasson has announced plans to bolster officer numbers in Malmö amid a summer of violence in Sweden’s third largest city.
Hundreds of new officers are set to be appointed in a move to boost Malmö’s police force, following a series of numerous shootings and explosions in the southern Swedish city in recent months, the national police chief revealed on a visit to the city.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: New Hotline Will Help Jihadists’ Relatives
Sweden’s government will set up a support hotline where relatives of jihadists can get help and advice.
National coordinator against violent extremism Mona Sahlin is behind this initiative. She tells daily Dagens Nyheter that the need for a support hotline is big and that her office has already received several calls asking for help during the summer.
The hotline, which will be run by a charity, is expected to start working in the next weeks or months, Sahlin says.
A similar service already exists in Austria, where it is also run by an NGO.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: New Pool Named ‘Pearl Harbor’ Creates Splash
A decision to call a new swimming pool in Gothenburg “Pöl Harbour” has made a splash on social media, with many users critical of the name which sounds like the US naval base “Pearl Harbor” where more than 2,000 people died in 1941.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tel Aviv on the Seine Flushes Out the Slithery Creatures, Part 1
by Nidra Poller
It’s the 14th edition of Paris Plages, a charming operation that transforms the banks of the Seine, from the Quai du Louvre all the way to rue de Crimée, into a summer playground. From mid-July to mid-August the quais are dressed up as sandy “beaches” with deck chairs, picnic tables, fun & games, rental bikes for kids, restaurants, cafe’s, ice cream stands, a lending library, and—for want of a dip in the river—a stretch of cool-off mist. It’s all done in nice French taste with a pretty blue & white striped and bright yellow color scheme, t-shirted monitors, and an international crowd.
One day each summer a guest country is invited to bring an exotic accent to the Paris Plages river beach….
| — Hat tip: Nidra Poller | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Armed Police Storm Street With Guns and Tasers Over Wheelie Bin Complaint
Officers were scrambled after George Clifton (pictured) dialled 999 to complain that neighbour Russell Shurmer, from Cheltenham, had placed his ‘stinking’ bin too close to his living room window.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Four Out of Five Burglaries Are Never Solved Because Police Give Up
Last year, forces in England and Wales shut down 80.2 per cent of investigations into break-ins without identifying a suspect, official figures revealed today.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour Council Spent £188m on Library But Now Can’t Afford to Buy Any Books
Notices have been posted in Birmingham libraries pleading with locals to handover any old books published in the last 12 months just two years after city’s new £188million library (pictured) opened.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mother Who Drove 8ft is Being Prosecuted for Drink-Driving
Angela Myers, 48, Hunmanby, near Filey in North Yorkshire, was worried the bin collectors would not be able to get her bin down the drive with her red Vauxhall Frontera in the way.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Why Are We Wasting Millions on Julian Assange? Asks Stephen Glover
Where is the politician decisive enough to bring the Julian Assange farce to an end? It is costing the British taxpayer £10,000 a day — more than £3.5 million a year, writes STEPHEN GLOVER.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Approves Leviathan Offshore Gas Deal New English Review
Reuters reported that Israel has reached a deal to develop the important Leviathan offshore gas field after difficult negotiations with development partners, Houston-based Noble Energy, Inc.and Israeli Partenr, Delek Group:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda’s Zawahiri Pledges Loyalty to New Taliban Chief
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has pledged allegiance to the new Afghan Taliban chief in an audio message posted online.
The pledge to Mullah Akhtar Mansour was issued by al-Qaeda’s media arm al-Sahab and was Zawahiri’s first message since September last year.
There had been speculation about whether Zawahiri was himself dead since the death of former Taliban head Mullah Omar was confirmed last month.
Zawahiri offered his condolences.
Al-Qaeda and Zawahiri considered Mullah Omar to be the leader of the global jihadist movement.
This was however contested by al-Qaeda’s rival, the Islamic State (IS) militant group, which announced the establishment of a caliphate last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europeans Rush to Profit From Iran Deal
by Soeren Kern
Middle East expert Ilan Berman points out that for Iran, trading with Europe is actually the perfect self-defense, a virtual guarantee that it will not face military attack if it cheats on its obligations under the nuclear deal.
Sanctions will also be lifted on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s $95 billion business empire, as well as on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which operates a vast network of companies and industries. No wonder European media outlets are referring to Iran as the “new El Dorado,” the “chance of a century,” and the “last untapped market.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Army Reports Chemical Attack in Iraq
A confidential military report from German soldiers training Kurdish fighters in Iraq suggests that a chemical weapon attack took place in the north of the country on Wednesday night.
The report, seen by Bild, was sent to high-ranking military officers and Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Christians Mark One Year in Jordan After Fleeing Their Homes
Iraqi Christians who were forced to leave their country marked a year in Jordan away from their homes in an ecumenical prayer on Saturday.
“Life is hard on us. It has been like that ever since we were forcefully asked to leave our homeland, but we are thankful for Jordan’s kind hospitality,” said Firyal Bulous, a 48-year-old Iraqi said at the ceremony, which was organised by Caritas Jordan at the Latin Church in Fuheis.
Father Imad Alamat, a Latin Church priest, told The Jordan Times, that the ceremony is meant to bring all Christians of Jordan together and help make Iraqi Christians feel safe and at home “far away from home”.
The Christians fled Iraq after the Daesh terror group took over their towns in Mosul, making them choose between converting to Islam, paying a special tax, or death.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan and Lebanon Ink Accords to Boost Economies
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, AUGUST 13 — Jordan and Lebanon have signed several agreements to boost cooperation in trade, energy, media and other fields as they looked to overcome repercussions of the Syrian crisis on their countries, officials said today.
Agreements signed included deals between ministries of Industry, Trade and Supply.
They included accords on energy planning and renewable energy, social development. The two countries also hope to boost ties in tourism, one of the fields that has suffered deeply in the aftermath of the Syrian crisis. The two countries signed an executive programme on tourism cooperation that extends between 2015 and 2020.
Both sides also agreed to cooperate in the youth, radio and television fields.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland is First to Lift Iran Sanctions After Accord
Switzerland is lifting sanctions against Iran after the Gulf state sealed a historic accord with world powers to curb its nuclear program.
The action on Wednesday made it the first nation to remove sanctions since the July 14 deal, which calls for lifting the economic restrictions in return for limits on Iran’s nuclear work.
The decision removes a ban on precious metals transactions with Iranian state bodies and the requirement to report trade in Iranian petrochemical products, according to a government statement on Wednesday. It also eliminates an obligation to report the transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products and rules on insurance and reinsurance policies linked to such transactions. The measures already had been suspended since January 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Muslims Stonewalling Reform of Instant Divorce Law
Muslim men in India have been divorcing their wives over text message, phone call or even social media websites, due to an ancient Islamic law. A new report shows that Muslim women are fed up.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Explosions: Dozens Killed in Tianjin Port Blasts
The massive explosions in China’s northern city of Tianjin are now known to have killed at least 50 people.
More than 700 have been injured and hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of casualties.
The blasts, at a warehouse storing toxic chemicals, destroyed tower blocks and burned out thousands of cars. The fireball could be seen from space.
Twelve firefighters are among those who lost their lives; 36 of their colleagues are still missing.
Tianjin is one of China’s most important industrial centres, and one of the busiest ports in the world.
President Xi Jinping has promised a thorough investigation into what happened and “transparent information disclosure to the public,” Xinhua news agency reports.
Buildings within a 2km radius (1.5 miles) had windows blown out and office blocks were destroyed.
The impact of the blasts could be felt several kilometres away, and was detected by a US Geological Survey monitoring unit in Beijing 160km (100 miles) away.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese rescue workers were still digging through rubble Thursday in a desperate hunt for survivors following a series of explosions the day before at a hazardous chemicals warehouse in the port city of Tianjin that killed at least 50 and injured more than 700.
The municipal government in Tianjin, a key city about 75 miles east of Beijing, said 701 people were injured, including 71 in serious condition. It gave no figure for the missing
More than 1,000 firefighters had been sent to the city to battle fires that had been set off by the blasts, which began late Wednesday at the warehouse and caused huge, fiery blasts that knocked doors off buildings in the area, shattering windows several miles away and turned nearby buildings into skeletal shells.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking Aftermath of Blasts in Busy Chinese Port of Tianjin (Photos, Video)
The aftermath of two blasts that rocked China’s port city of Tianjin looks like a scene from a movie about a zombie apocalypse, nuclear war or even alien attack. Photos captured rows of burned-out cars, totally destroyed properties and injured people.
At least 44 people have been killed and up to 520 injured, 60 of them seriously, after two explosions took place in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin late Wednesday, state media reported.
[Comment: Delivery of “flammable goods” “somehow” detonated, coincidentaly just after yuan devaluation.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Slams Ecuador for ‘Abuse’ In Assange Case
Britain is to make a “formal protest” to Ecuador over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who denies sex crimes in Sweden, the UK foreign ministry said on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Pledges Cruise Liner, Extra Police to Kos Amid Refugee Woes
Riot police reinforcements and a cruise ship are being sent to the Greek island of Kos, where authorities are struggling with an influx of refugees. The measures come a day after clashes between refugees and police.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Plans Anti-Migration Campaign in Greece, Other Transit Countries
Hungary’s government says it plans to extend its anti-migration campaign to countries like Greece, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Serbia, transit points used by the more than 120,000 migrants who have entered Hungary this year.
Minister Janos Lazar said Thursday that the government wants to “convince migrants that it is not worth entering Hungary” because it is building a fence on the border with Serbia, and has imposed tougher migration rules since Aug. 1. Most of the migrants who enter Hungary are their way to richer EU destinations, such as Germany or Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kos Bears Brunt as People-Smugglers Take Turkish Route
KOS — Michel Allatuain waited beneath the 14th century fortress at the port of this Greek island on Thursday, desperate for a ferry ticket to the European mainland and a better life.
The 30-year-old pharmaceutical firm employee from Aleppo, Syria, has been sleeping rough in Kos since he paid 2,000 euros to cross from the Turkish coastal city of Bodrum last week. He is among thousands escaping Syria through Turkey and sailing in crowded dinghies to Greece’s Mediterranean islands.
The Turkey-Greece route has resurfaced these summer months as a thriving business for smugglers profiting from the stream of people fleeing war and poverty. One example: traffickers in
Turkey are getting help shepherding growing numbers of Syrians to Greece, thanks to Syrian accomplices, migrants say.
The influx — 140,000 this year including 50,000 in July alone according to the International Rescue Committee, mainly from Syria — is overwhelming a nation in economic crisis.
In Kos, within sight of Turkish shores, officials estimate there are 7,000 migrants out of a population, excluding tourists, of around 30,000.
Scuffles broke out earlier this week in the Kos sports stadium, where police have forced many of the migrants to camp out while they wait to be officially registered with Greek authorities. The crowds, including many infants, waited with little food and water under a scorching sun.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Migrants Arrive on Greek Island of Kos
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, AUGUST 13 — Greek media report that another 200 migrants arrived Thursday on the eastern Aegean island of Kos, the closest to Turkey. Most of the migrants were Syrian Kurds from the city of Kobane, destroyed by the ongoing war, arriving on six rubber dinghies. Another group of refugees was rescued at sea by a coast guard vessel. Meanwhile, in the city of Kos, about a dozen police officers handling the registration of migrants and the issuance of temporary travel documents handed about 1,000 permits on Wednesday, thereby reducing substantially the number of refugees waiting in wretched conditions to leave for other destinations. The makeshift registration center set up in the Kos stadium was almost empty on Thursday morning but a large number of refugees were still camped outside the sports stadium waiting to be registered.
A cruise ship with a 2,000-passenger capacity has left from the Piraeus port to evacuate the refugees who have received temporary travel papers. At least 260 police have been stationed on Kos and other eastern Aegean islands to provide assistance to the local authorities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway to Deport or Jail Rioting Asylum Children
Norway is threatening to imprison or even deport a group of teenaged asylum seekers after they mounted a rebellion at a reception centre 50km north of Oslo.
The 20 youths last week barricaded themselves inside the gym at the Lunner Reception Center, throwing stones at police in protest at the decision to move one of the youths — who police believed had lied about his age, and was in fact over 18.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Case Dropped Against Police Who Beat Migrant
A human rights group vowed Wednesday to appeal after a Spanish court dismissed a case against eight police who beat a migrant trying to illegally enter Spain’s north African territory of Melilla.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: “Nothing for us Here”
Around 70,000 Syrian refugees are gathered in the port city of Izmir in Turkey, which has become a hub for human smuggling.
Many are hoping to move on into the rest of Europe.
Families are forced to live on the streets and say they have no other option but to resort to the sea route.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Home Office Pays 1000s of Pounds to Accommodate Asylum Seekers at Hotels
About 20 asylum seekers — some from war-torn Syria — stayed at a Travelodge in Sidcup, south-east London, while dozens more are being put up at a hotel in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How the Apostate Church Defends Abortion
Now that the whole world has seen the videos of Planned Parenthood honchos selling off the parts of slaughtered babies, the defense of abortion has shifted into high gear. Blame the whistle-blower, get a Democrat judge to stop the release of any more videos. Call names. Anyone who displays any opposition to abortion must be a misogynist, a devotee of fetus worship, and a “forced-birth advocate.” Planned Parenthood has even recruited a “clergy advocacy committee” to proclaim to the public that the abortion giant is “doing God’s work”. As if God’s work were to kill babies in the womb and auction their organs. Can you say “blasphemy”?
But this is to take God’s name in vain. Not just blurting out something when you hit your thumb with a hammer. No—this is to try to use God as a false witness against His own written word, the Bible. And it’s done every day by persons who are supposed to know better.
Here’s where the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice comes in. “Reproductive choice” means abortion.
This is a bunch of renegade clergy and ministerettes first organized some forty years ago, because they thought abortion worth defending. They’re all about “Reproductive Justice,” which means abortion. Note: whenever libs or progs use the word “justice,” they’re up to no good.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swedes Reject Amnesty in Protest of Sex Vote
A Swedish member of Amnesty has told The Local why she chose to join hundreds of others in quitting the organization after it voted to endorse the decriminalization of sex work.
Amnesty International’s Sweden wing tried to stop the human rights organization from voting through a resolution to lobby governments to decriminalize sex work earlier this week, but was outvoted by delegates from many of Amnesty’s 69 other branches.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Study: Pesticides a “Major Cause” Of Infertility, Male Erectile Dysfunction
Male fertility is declining, and for years researchers have been trying to figure out why. The numbers may seem shocking, but between 60-80 million couples around the world are having a difficult time conceiving, and there is a likely culprit, especially considering evidence arising from the latest studypublished at Science Direct. Titled, “Potential pathways of pesticide action on erectile function — A contributory factor in male infertility,” the study shows that along with heavy metals, radioactivity, and poisonous fumes of organic chemicals, pesticides are largely contributing to erectile dysfunction and the downfall of male fertility. Of course there are numerous “psychological, physiological, pathological, social, environmental, and nutritional factors (plus others), at play.
It is estimated in some studies that as much as 52% of men over 40 are suffering from erectile dysfunction. How is this possible when in times past such a phenomenon was rare? The numbers of birth defects we are observing as a planet are also on the rise. Is this any surprise, though, when Syngenta covers up how their pesticide, Atrazine, was causing frogs to change genders and have serious fertility issues? Or when Monsanto lies about the true effects of their herbicide, glyphosate, on fertility?
To whit, in the April 16 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran deal:
http://www.hoover.org/research/obamas-disastrous-iran-deal
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8662.htm (Arab source)
It seems as though everyone in the press is assuming this Tianjin explosion is an accident even though there doesn’t seem to be enough evidence at this point to say whether or not it was an accident.
If it were not an accident, who would be the most likely perpetrator? Does this port have anything to do with the construction in the South China Sea?