Now that Britain and France have tightened up security against the migrant influx at the Channel Tunnel near Calais, people smugglers have turned to other routes in an attempt to get immigrants into Britain. Newcastle and Hull are among the targeted entry points, and points of departure include Dutch ports and Gothenburg in Sweden.
In other news, in the wake of the Chinese devaluation, the collapse of commodity prices pushed the stock market into a steep decline, with the Dow losing more than 3% on Friday.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, MC, Nick, RL, Seneca III, 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.
Economic Collapse: Don’t be Fooled by Our Current Price Stability
The yearly rate of growth of the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index adjusted for food and energy stood at 1.3 percent in June — the same figure as in May.
Note that on average since the beginning of this year the yearly rate of growth stood at 1.3 percent. Many economists have expressed satisfaction that the yearly rate of growth has been stable so far notwithstanding that it stood below the Fed’s target of 2 percent.
Meanwhile, the yearly rate of growth of the overall personal consumption expenditure price deflator stood at minus 0.01 percent in June, versus minus 0.1 percent in May, and 1.4 percent in June last year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Global Markets Tumble as Commodity Prices Fall Into ‘Death Spiral’
The FTSE 100 fell into official correction territory on Thursday, one point shy of January’s year-low hit, after an eighth consecutive day of losses.
Fraught with concerns about slowing growth in China and the after-effects of last week’s devaluation of the yuan, investors fled to the side lines, bringing this week’s losses to 2.5pc. The FTSE 100 closed 35.56 lower at 6,367.89.
Britain’s benchmark index has now fallen by 10.4pc since a high in April of 7,104 to officially tumble into correction. The rally earlier this year was driven by quantitative easing in Europe. However, the index has since been plagued by political instability in Greece and the slowdown in China.
US stocks also tumbled on Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell below the psychologically important 17,000 level, finishing down 2pc at 16,990.69, while the broader S&P 500 suffered its biggest fall since February 2014, closing down 2.1pc, at 2,035.73…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Rebels Announce New Party Ahead of Snap Polls
(ATHENS) — Rebels from Greece’s Syriza party said Friday they will form a new parliamentary group, a day after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned and triggered snap elections.
The move confirmed a rift at the heart of the radical-left party, which soared to power in January by vowing to end austerity and erase the bulk of Greece’s massive public debt mountain.
At least 25 Syriza rebels will join the new party, named Popular Unity, as Greece launched into a bout of political horse-trading ahead of elections likely be held in a month’s time.
Syriza was deeply divided over Athens’ acceptance of the mammoth 86-billion-euro ($96-billion) bailout package finally agreed with international creditors last month, the third for Greece in five years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is the Oil Crash a Result of Excess Supply or Plunging Demand: The Unpleasant Answer in One Chart
Courtesy of the following chart by BofA, we have the answer: while for the most part of 2015, the move in the price of oil was a combination of both supply and demand, the most recent plunge has been entirely a function of what now appears to be a global economic recession, one which will get far worse if the Fed indeed hikes rates as it has repeatedly threatened as it begins to undo 7 years of ultra easy monetary policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
S.Africa’s Rand Hits 14-Year Low Against Dollar
The South African rand dropped Thursday to a 14-year low against the dollar, hammered by lower commodity prices and slow growth in China, the country’s largest trading partner.
The currency of Africa’s most advanced economy broke through the 13 rand resistance level against the dollar before midday, extending its loss in value this year to 11 percent. It later recovered slightly to 12.96 rand to the dollar.
The devaluation of China’s yuan last week also had a negative impact.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sharp China Factory Slowdown in August Raises Global Growth Fears
Worries of a deepening China economic slowdown intensified on Friday after a private survey showed the factory sector shrank at its fastest rate in almost 6-1/2-years in August, hammering global stocks and commodity prices.
The gloomy figure sent investors fleeing for cover in gold and bonds, fearing China’s sagging economy would translate into slower global growth and muddy the outlook for the timing of the first U.S. interest rate hike in nearly a decade.
World markets had already been on edge after China’s surprise devaluation of the yuan last week and a near-collapse in its stock markets in early summer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Strong Franc Gloom Deepens for Exporters
With the sky-high franc showing no signs of returning to earth, task forces at export-oriented Swiss companies are busily working out ways to tighten belts and stay competitive in the face of the currency crisis.
Baumann Springs is one such small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Unless it makes changes, the firm calculates it will lose around 10% of its turnover this year while its Swiss operations, based in Ermenswil in canton St Gallen, will run at an operating loss.
Baumann is not alone among exporters of all sizes that are facing the pinch. Swissmem, the umbrella lobby group for the electrical engineering, metalworking, machine building and precision tools industries, said turnover had fallen 7.1% for its 1,000-plus members in the first half of the year.
Margins and profits have also declined since the Swiss National Bank (SNB) abandoned its defence of the franc on January 15, and orders are drying up at the most alarming rate since the industry low point of 2009.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Manufacturing PMI Tumbles to 22 Month Low: “Lack of Growth” And Deflation Blamed
The report also notes that the latest rise in production volumes was the weakest since the weather-related slowdown recorded in January 2014 — perhaps someone can blame it on the record hot July. Some survey respondents cited a cyclical slowdown in new business growth, as well as heightened uncertainty regarding the demand outlook in August.
But wait, the financial comedy TV said China can not possibly affect the US. Just chalk it up to the latest thing the economists were wrong about.
Most notably, now that even highly subjective survey data can no longer be rigged to boost confidence, there is only one recourse: beg and plead for the Fed to not hike rates or better yet, as Bank of America did overnight, just hint that QE4 is just around the corner if the market crashes enough. To wit, commenting on the flash PMI data, Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit said:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We Have Already Witnessed the First 1300 Points of the Stock Market Crash of 2015
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 358 points. It was the largest single day decline in a year and a half, and investors are starting to panic.
Overall, the Dow is now down more than 1300 points from the peak of the market. Just yesterday, I wrote about all of the experts that are warning about a stock market crash in 2015, and after today I am sure that a lot more people will start jumping on the bandwagon. In particular, tech stocks are getting absolutely hammered lately. The Nasdaq has fallen close to 3.5% over the past two days alone, and it has dropped below its 200-day moving average. The Russell 2000 (a small-cap stock market index) is also now trading below its 200-day moving average. What all of this means is that the stock market crash of 2015 has already begun. The only question left to answer at this point is how bad it will ultimately turn out to be.
When stocks were booming, tech stocks were leading the way up.
But now that the market has turned, tech stocks are starting to lead the way down…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
When $8.5 Trillion is Chump Change
Three cheers for Reuters pointing out that the Pentagon can’t explain what it did with $8.5 trillion that taxpayers gave it between 1996 and 2013.
Three trillion cheers for a blogger who is pointing out that this fact renders many other concerns ludicrous, and recommending that people bring it up at every opportunity:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“We the People” or the Political Elite
The federal government is most certainly rouge and is now a clear and present danger to the very continuation of our republic turned mob ruled democracy. Not only is the federal government, but increasingly, state and local government are working diligently to obstruct the ability of sovereign citizens to live free from tyranny and to be the best that God would have them to be.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ashley Madison Hack Leads to Divorce After Woman’s Husband is Outed by Impact Team
One divorce lawyer has said it is ‘Christmas in September’ for the industry after the names and sexual fantasies of 37million Ashley Madison members were revealed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Buzz Grows Amid New Polling, ‘Draft’ Movement Picks Up Key Adviser
The Biden 2016 buzz keeps building — and the vice president is doing little to tamp down the speculation — as the leading group trying to coax the veep into the presidential race touts new poll numbers they say put him in prime position to run.
The Vice President Biden chatter kicked up again this week on two fronts, as Hillary Clinton continued to see her numbers suffer in the face of mounting revelations in her personal email controversy.
First, the pro-Biden group Draft Biden 2016 signed up longtime Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who helped President Obama win Florida in 2008 and 2012.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cassini’s Final Breathtaking Close Views of Dione
A pockmarked, icy landscape looms beneath NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in new images of Saturn’s moon Dione taken during the mission’s last close approach to the small, icy world. Two of the new images show the surface of Dione at the best resolution ever.
Cassini passed 295 miles (474 kilometers) above Dione’s surface at 11:33 a.m. PDT (2:33 p.m. EDT) on Aug. 17. This was the fifth close encounter with Dione during Cassini’s long tour at Saturn. The mission’s closest-ever flyby of Dione was in Dec. 2011, at a distance of 60 miles (100 kilometers).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Facing Fresh Worries in Congress Over Emails
Hillary Rodham Clinton is facing fresh worries among congressional Democrats about her use of a private email account while serving as secretary of state, as new polls signal that the inquiry is taking a toll on her presidential campaign.
The Democratic front-runner’s campaign has taken steps to defend her against allegations she may have put classified information at risk by using a private email account and server, arguing she never sent or received material considered classified at the time.
But Democratic lawmakers said Clinton’s campaign has not adequately explained the complicated nature of the email review and panned some of her attempts to use humor to talk about the probe. Clinton joked at a Democratic dinner in Iowa last week that she liked the social media platform Snapchat because the messages disappear by themselves. And she shrugged off questions about her server being wiped clean, asking facetiously in Nevada, “Like a cloth or something?”
“I don’t think the campaign has handled it very well,” Florida Sen. Bill Nelson told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I think the advice to her of making a joke out of it — I think that was not good advice.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Elite Hiding in Bunkers to Escape War With China: “Intended Survivors Are Moving Underground”
The elite have siphoning off black budget money in order to build their new getaways.
Lessons Learned from Fukushima
Fukushima is often spoken of by many, as a possible extinction level event because of the radiation threat. Fukushima continues to wreak havoc upon the world and in the United States as we are being bathed in deadly radiation from this event.
Because of Fukushima, fish are becoming inedible and the ocean currents as well as the prevailing ocean winds are carrying deadly radiation. Undoubtedly, by this time, the radioactivity has made its way into the transpiration cycle which means that crops are being dowsed with deadly radiation. The radiation has undoubtedly made its way into the water table in many areas and impacts every aspect of the food supply. The health costs to human beings is incalculable. However, this article is not about the devastation at Fukushima, instead, this article focuses on the fact that North America could have a total of 124 Fukushima events if the necessary conditions were present and the culprit behind this threat are the Chinese.
Tianjin
What happened at Tiajin? The range of possibilities are very narrow. Some have suggested that the event at Tiahin is no more than an unfortunate accident. This suggestion is completely laughable given the dramatic change in current state of military activity inside of China. As I have previously reported, some have suggested that the American attack upon Tiajin was in response to the Chinese currency devaluation. I think it is much more than that. Regardless, America just poked China in the ribs and anyone who understands the Chinese military temperament could easily predict that China will retaliate with a dramatic response of its own…
Further, did you know that when the infamous Grid Ex II drills, which were designed to simulate an attack upon our power grid using EMP weapons in November of 2013, that President Obama allowed the Russians and the Chinese a front row seat at the event. Stupidity or treason? Did Obama show the Chinese how to take down our grid? It is water under the bridge and the damage to national security has already been done.
Chinese retaliation for Tianjin will only take two forms, a conventional military response or an attack upon the American grid. I think the evidence suggests that our grid is in dire danger. Regardless of the scenario, [Comment: Perhaps the Pentagon’s missing black budget $8.5 trillion went to building hideaways for all the elites.?]
— Hat tip: JD
[Return to headlines]
Epic Rant Goes Viral: “Police Brutality? How About Black Brutality?”
Illinois woman in monumental smackdown of #BlackLivesMatter hypocrisy.
An African-American woman’s rant about the hypocrisy which plagues the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has gone viral.
Peggy Hubbard, who lives just across the river from St. Louis in Belleville, Illinois, slams BLM for tearing up communities in response to a thug being shot dead by police while ignoring the issue of black on black violence that led to the death of a 9-year-old girl in Ferguson.
Hubbard began by talking about the aftermath of the police shooting of 18-year-old Mansur Ball-Bey, who reportedly pointed a handgun at officers while he was fleeing a crack house in north St. Louis on Wednesday.
Locals and ‘Black Lives Matter’ activists responded by torching buildings and cars. The unrest continued for a second night, with protesters chanting “we’re ready for war” as they blocked traffic, bashed out car lights, and reportedly jumped one young couple, with a man being severely beaten.
“They went to execute a warrant for an arrest for a very very bad guy, when they came to get him, instead of going peacefully, having his day in court, he decides to pull out another stolen gun, shoot at the police, police shot back, and he was killed,” explains Hubbard.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ghostly Particles From Outer Space Detected in Antarctica
Buried deep in the Antarctic ice, an observatory has spotted ghostly, nearly massless particles coming from inside our galaxy and points beyond the Milky Way.
Finding these cosmic neutrinos not only confirms their existence but also sheds light on the origins of cosmic rays, the researchers said.
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is made up of 86 shafts dug 8,000 feet into the ice near the South Pole. The shafts are equipped with detectors that look for the telltale light from high-energy particles plowing through the surrounding ice.
The IceCube project found neutrinos from outside our galaxy in 2013, but to confirm that detection the researchers, led by a team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had to make sure these neutrinos weren’t coming from sources within our own galaxy (such as from the sun).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Violated Government Policy Over Emails, Says Judge
Hillary Clinton violated government policy in her use of a personal email server, a federal judge said on Thursday.
“We wouldn’t be here today if the employee had followed government policy,” judge Emmet Sullivan said.
Hearing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department, seeking access to the records of Clinton’s staff, Sullivan said that the former secretary of state had hindered State’s ability to provide records.
Sullivan ordered the department to ask the FBI for any emails relating to the lawsuit that have been recovered from Clinton’s server but are not in the department’s possession.
When a Justice Department lawyer raised concerns about the government’s right to search the private email of an official, Sullivan said: “There was a violation of government policy.”
“We’re not talking about a search of anyone’s random email,” he said, after Justice Department lawyers argued with the plaintiffs over how far the government could reach in records requests.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
MIT Creates a 3D Printer for Glass
Mediated Matters, MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and MIT’s Glass Lab have teamed up to create something quite cool, even if it runs at 1,900°F. Using the foundations of 3D printing and applying them to the ancient art of glass production, the team at MIT has created a glass printing machine called G3DP.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NASA’s Europa Mission Team Joins Forces for the First Time
They’re united by a lofty goal — to investigate whether Jupiter’s moon Europa could harbor primitive life under its icy shell. Last week, a team of scientists and engineers for NASA’s planned mission to Europa met for the first time at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to begin turning that goal into reality.
After years of planning and hoping, the premier gathering was the final page of the team’s origin story and the beginning of a new chapter that could last as long as two decades.
“We have a rare and wonderful opportunity with this mission to investigate whether Europa could be an abode for life,” said Curt Niebur, Europa mission program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, at the meeting’s opening. “We’re in the service of our colleagues, our scientific community, our country and our fellow human beings. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously.”
The mission plan calls for a spacecraft to be launched to Jupiter in the 2020s, arriving in the distant planet’s orbit after a journey of several years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Packing Heat in Detroit: Motown Residents Answer Police Chief’s Call to Arms
In a city plagued by chronic unemployment and crime and guarded by a dwindling police force, residents of Detroit are increasingly taking protection of themselves, their families and property into their own hands. Those who do so responsibly have the blessing and backing of Detroit Police Chief James Craig.
“When you look at the city of Detroit, we’re kind of leading the way in terms of urban areas with law-abiding citizens carrying guns,” Craig said recently.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Only 31% of African-Americans Identify With #BlackLivesMatter
Survey suggests support for controversial movement is much weaker than thought.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Boeing 747 is Heading for Retirement
The 747 was America at its proud and uncontaminated best. ‘There’s no substitute for cubic inches,’ American race drivers used to say and the 747 expresses that truth in the air. There is still residual rivalry with the upstart European Airbus. Some Americans, referring to untested new technologies, call it Scarebus. There’s an old saying: ‘If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going.’
But now the 747 is a flying antique: people are astonished when they see the analogue instruments. And the flight controls are all defiantly dependent on old-fashioned mechanical linkages. A 747 captain once explained to me that, if hydraulic assistance on the control yoke is lost, you can still put your feet on the instrument panel, give a big tug and wrench the plane about the sky. You cannot do that on a solid-state Airbus.
The 747 belongs to the past for other reasons too. It was the product of extraordinary enterprise and risk, requiring extreme commitment, not to say foolhardy bravery, from the management of a public company. At one point in its development during the late 60s, costs were racking up at $5m a day. The first airline customers suffered confidence-sapping delays because of problems with delivery of the (in any case unreliable) Pratt & Whitney engines. There are archive photos showing completed, but engineless, 747s lined-up to the horizon in customer livery at Everett, which were cumulatively worth more than the company itself. A record of $1.2 billion bank debt was established.
But even as Boeing’s William M Allen said, ‘It was really too large a project for us,’ a gung-ho and can-do spirit dominated the company. Its chief test pilot was Alvin ‘Tex’ Johnson, one of the original barnstormers in cowboy boots and Stetson. In June 1955, demonstrating the prototype 707 to potential customers, Johnson did an astonishing 360 degree barrel roll over Lake Washington. Twenty-five years later, another 747 captain, after cocktails at a party in Aspen, confided in me that you can loop-the-loop in a 747. That’s a sign of pilot confidence and structural integrity, but most of the 747 aerobatics were performed by Boeing’s designers and engineers, not to mention the managers whose accounting methods defied gravity, and gave us all one of the greatest machines of all time. Just over 1,500 examples have been made as production winds down.
[Comment: Interesting article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Change: Voters Rate His Chances
Our latest national telephone survey finds that 57% of Likely Republican Voters now think Trump is likely to be the Republican presidential nominee next year, with 25% who say it’s Very Likely. That compares to 27% who felt a Trump nomination was likely two months ago when he formally announced his presidential bid, a finding that included just nine percent (9%) who said it was Very Likely.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two More Women Accuse Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault
Two more women went public Thursday with accusations that comedian Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them during the 1970s.
Charlotte Fox and a woman who only identified herself as “Elizabeth” revealed details of the alleged assaults while standing alongside attorney Gloria Allred at a New York news conference. As has been the case with many of Cosby’s accusers, Allred admitted that the statute of limitations had expired for both alleged victims to pursue legal action.
“They are speaking out now because they want the world to know what they allege they were forced to suffer because they had the misfortune to meet a man that they admired and thought that they could trust, Bill Cosby,” Allred said at the news conference. “It is not too late for them to become empowered women.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) As Natural News readers are well aware, Americans who dare to oppose mandatory vaccination for any reason, including that they don’t believe that all vaccines are safe, are often ridiculed, marginalized and minimized by Big Pharma vaccine pushers and the mainstream medical community. One of the things that they most often insist on is that “vaccines are safe” and that there is no reason to fear being vaccinated.
And yet, when vaccine injuries occur — which is often enough that the federal government maintains a vaccine injury fund — they are brushed under the rug by the mainstream media as “rare” and “unusual,” if such incidents are covered at all.
But one man who was recently injured by vaccines has as compelling a case to make against mandatory vaccination as anyone: Ironically, he once worked for California Sen. Richard Pan — the pediatrician/lawmaker behind SB277, the state’s recently enacted mandatory vaccination law. He explains in a new video what he believes is motivating his former boss.
The man, John Berchielli, says he “was a perfectly healthy person” before he received “a vaccination recommended by my doctor.”
‘He lacks moral character of any kind’
The “disease or syndrome” that he has since contracted has left him bedridden, wheelchair-bound and partially paralyzed, he said.
And now that he is stricken, he says slowly, “it’s hard not to think of the decisions of… Gov. [Jerry] Brown [of California] and [Democratic] Sen. Richard Pan on the mandatory bill they signed into law requiring children to be vaccinated in order to get a public education.”
“From looking on the Internet and from the Mayo Clinic’s website,” he continued, “20,000 people a year are afflicted by this… syndrome that I have. Our lawmakers recently passed a law that allows vaccines to be mandated, yet the manufacturers have complete immunity of the side effects and damages caused by their vaccines.”
You can learn more about the destruction caused by the vaccines being forced on the American People by visiting VaccineDamage.news, powered by FETCH.news.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Quantum Computer Firm D-Wave Claims Massive Performance Boost
D-Wave Systems in British Columbia, Canada, is the only company in the world selling quantum computers, and it counts Google and NASA among its customers.
But after four years on the market there is still no clear evidence its machines can solve problems faster than ordinary computers.
Now the firm has announced the D-Wave 2X, and claims it is up to 15 times faster than regular PCs. However, outside experts contacted by New Scientist say the test is not a fair comparison.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan ‘Terrorist’ Is Free to Roam Britain as Interpreters Abandoned to Taliban
A suspected Afghan terrorist is living freely in London as former British Army translators are abandoned to face Taliban hitmen, it emerged last night.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Intelligence Files Reveal Identity of Soviet Spy During World War II
Newly declassified British intelligence files have revealed the identity of a spy who passed military secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II.
The files, which were released on Friday by the British internal security service MI5, reveal that author and journalist Cedric Belfrage passed highly sensitive information to Russian operatives during World War II, when he was employed as a New York-based assistant to William Stephenson, the most senior British intelligence agent operating in the Western Hemisphere.
According to the files, among the documents Belfrage handed over to the Soviets were summaries of briefings with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Christopher Andrew, the former official historian of MI5, told the Financial Times that between 1942 and 1943, Soviet intelligence valued Belfrage more highly than his more famous counterpart, Kim Philby.
Belfrage attended Cambridge University, preceding the members of the so-called “Cambridge Five” spy ring (Phily, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross) by almost a decade. After dropping out of university, he moved to America, and briefly joined the Communist Party in 1937.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Referendum on EU Opt-Outs to Stir Hornets’ Nest
Date of vote to be announced by government Friday on ending national opt-outs from EU justice and home affairs policies. The referendum comes amid growing euroscpetic and anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as EU plans to relocate thousands of asylum seekers and refugees from the Middle East to the Nordic country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Set for ‘New World Record for Tourism’
Visitors are flocking to France like never before, with the number of tourists expected to surpass 85 million this year, France’s Foreign Minister said on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: ‘It’s Dirty to Kill Your Daddy’: Le Pen Senior
A day after being kicked out of the National Front party he co-founded, French far-right firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen on Friday accused his daughter of “dirty” tactics and vowed to “reconquer” the movement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Train Shooting: Three Hurt and Man Arrested
An armed man has injured three people on a train between Amsterdam and Paris before being overpowered by two American passengers, officials say.
The incident happened on the high-speed Thalys service near Arras, and the assailant was arrested at its station.
Two of the victims, said to be an American and a Briton, were seriously injured — one had a gunshot wound, the other a knife wound, reports said.
Initial reports said the man arrested was a 26-year-old Moroccan.
One of his weapons was said to be a Kalashnikov.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French National Front Founder Le Pen to Fight Party Expulsion
National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen is to keep up his legal fight to stay in the French far-right party despite being excluded for a second time, keeping alive a family feud that has dogged his daughter’s campaign to become president of France.
The party’s executive committee voted on Thursday to exclude the 87-year-old over anti-Semitic remarks after discussions with him that lasted several hours.
The move was its latest attempt to sideline him and bolster his daughter Marine Le Pen’s election prospects in the 2017 presidential election.
But the founder of the party is not ready to leave quietly.
“I haven’t received notification of the decision yet. When I do, I will contest it, as I have already contested it,” Le Pen said on RTL Radio on Friday.
“I am the National Front,” he declared.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany-Denmark Tunnel Faces More Delays
Construction on a planned tunnel under the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland could be delayed by up to a year because of changes to the plans, authorities in north Germany said on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Increase in State Expenditures Means Tax Hikes for Swedes
As the government’s budget negotiations kick off Friday, prognoses show that state expenditures within health care, employment and migration are growing rapidly.
Minister For Finance Magdalena Andersson has vowed that the government will come through on its election promises, but it will require a tax hike of between SEK 20 and 30 billion, newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports.
“For the Migration Agency, caring for unaccompanied migrant children poses a great challenge for the budget,” said Migration Agency head Anders Danielsson, who added that costs for asylum seeker reception in general will increase in the short-term but will gradually decrease as fewer refugees are expected to arrive by 2019.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Beer Booms on Expo Boost, Exports Up 27%
Real ale production no longer just a niche market
(ANSA) — Milan, August 20 — Italy may be a traditional wine-growing country but Italian beer is booming on the back of the Expo Milano universal exposition, with exports of the frothy beverage brewed in the peninsula up by 27 % over the past five months, the Catholic University of Milan said Thursday.
Producers of real ale in Italy have increased turnover with more than 60% of producers notching up profits of between 100,000 and 800,000 euros, according to the report for the Union of beer brewers.
More than 51% of Italian brewers employ full-time staff as what started as a niche market is conquering an ever wider market with production increasing by 18.3% alone in 2011, according to the report presented at Expo as part of the Italy Beer Report for 2015.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Wild Boar Deaths Provoke Calls for Cull
The deaths of two Italians killed in separate highway collisions with wild boars in Tuscany and Abruzzo this week have provoked fresh calls for a cull to bring the number of the animals under control.
Domenico Fedele, a 39-year-old, died on Thursday when a wild boar violently collided with his Ford Fiesta as it was crossing the highway close to Castellina Marittima, near the city of Pisa in Tuscany.
Police said the wild boar weighed up to 100kgs and struck the vehicle at high speed. The driver was thrown out of the vehicle and killed instantly.
In a separate accident in the region of Abruzzo, Cristian Carosi was killed in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday when his car was struck by a wild boar near Cansatessa. He died after the car overturned several times and struck a tree.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Carriage and Horses: Row Over Godfather-Style Funeral for Rome Boss
‘Never again’ says Orfini
(ANSA) — Rome, August 20 — A politiical row was sparked Thursday when a Rome mafia boss was given a send-off to remember on Thursday as rose petals were thrown from a helicopter and an orchestra played the theme tune of the celebrated mobster film The Godfather. Vittorio Casamonica, 65, was a prominent member of the Casamonica clan (
His lavish funeral sparked widespread criticism with the chairman of the ruling Democratic Party (PD), Matteo Orfini, who is also PD Rome commissioner, tweeting “Never again. Rome cannot be defaced by those who would like to turn it into a Godfather set”.
Several other PD members, as well as those from other parties, demanded to know who authorised the funeral. The local Catholic Church authority, the Vicariate of Rome, voiced “embarassment” ove the case.
The funeral was held Thursday morning in Don Bosco church, on the outskirts of the capital. The coffin arrived in a black carriage with gilded bas-reliefs, drawn by six black horses. To welcome him, an orchestra played the theme song of the famous Francis Ford Coppola film.
An image of Padre Pio adorned his coffin while posters with slogans such as “You have conquered Rome, now conquer heaven” and “Vittorio Casamonica king of Rome” appeared in front of the parish church.
They portrayed Casamonica with a crown on his head and with the Colosseum and the dome of St Peter’s in the background. A large crowd of people turned up to bid him farewell. “He was a good person,” mourners said as they gathered at the end of the mass.
After the service, the coffin was taken from the church in a Rolls-Royce and the band played the soundtrack of another famous film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2015/08/20/carriage-and-horsesgodfather-style-funeral-for-rome-boss-2_f03c0d9a-5d7e-4e1a-8822-6e54ffad7d85.html
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Acid Attacker ‘Has Paternal Rights’ Says Paternity Institute
Criminals ‘can be good parents’
(ANSA) — Rome, August 19 — A man sentenced to 14 years for throwing acid at an ex-boyfriend of his girlfriend still has rights as a father of a baby born to the couple and being allowed to act as a parent could encourage redemption, Italy’s Institute for paternity studies said Wednesday.
“In this affair the paternal aspect is totally neglected,” said the Isp, “but the lad has a father, who has asked for recognition as such”.
The institute weighed into discussion after Alexander Boettcher was quoted as saying in a formal request deposited with a Milan court by his defense lawyer that he wanted to see his son.
Earlier his girlfriend Martina Levato had an “emotional embrace” with her newborn son in the Mangiagalli clinic after a juvenile court allowed them to meet for a limited time every day.
Levato’s baby with co-assailant Boettcher was taken away from her after it was born at the weekend.
“The recognition of a child is a right guaranteed by the Constitution (article 30), that can be excluded only in the name of the interests of the minor and in precise cases,” the institute added.
“Many scholars recommend keeping parental duties separate from social behaviour. They hold that one can be a criminal and still be good parents.” “In the case of mothers who are prostitutes, not a crime but certainly reproachable, for example, court sentences have recognised the maternal suitability to bring up their children”.
“The ‘transition to parenthood’ usually has a profound impact on new parents. It is difficult to predict if it could have a positive outcome in a couple responsible for a grave attack on somebody. And it is difficult for an expert examination to be certain in this regard”.
Levato, formerly a student at Milan’s private Bocconi University, was convicted in June along with co-defendant Boettcher, a 30-year-old real-estate broker, of throwing acid at Pietro Barbini, 22, on Dec. 28.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘I’d Redo’ Godfather-Style Funeral Says Priest
Even clan member ‘inside the Church’ says Father Manieri
(ANSA) — Rome, August 21 — A priest criticised for officiating at a Godfather-style funeral in Rome said Friday he would do it again if asked because even a clan boss deserves Christian charity. “Would I red Vittorio Casamonica’s funeral? Probably yes, I do my job,” Father Giancarlo Manieri told Sky TV. “It wasn’t up to me to block the funeral…an exponent of a clan is in any case inside the Church”, he said. Casamonica’s lavish funeral with a helicopter dropping rose petals onto a horse-drawn cortege as the Godfather theme played has raised a firestorm of criticism.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Suggests Priest ‘Wants Casamonica’s 8×1,000’
Maybe tax devolution ‘whet his appetite’ says League chief
(see related)(ANSA) — Rome, August 21 — The leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party suggested Friday a Rome priest agreed to officiate at the funeral of a known mafia boss because he wanted to encourage the clan to donate money to the Catholic Church.
“Lavish funeral for a Rome clan boss, the parish priest says ‘I’d do it again’,” Matteo Salvini wrote on Facebook.
“Why? Maybe the boss’s 0.08% whet his appetite,” he wrote in reference to Italy’s 0.08% personal income tax devolution to organized religions.
Taxpayers can decide which organized religion, if any, to donate their quota to.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Metamaterial Wormhole Teleports Magnetic Fields Across Space
It’s a new magician’s trick, sawing a magnetic field in half — and all you need is a wormhole. Magnetic fields entering it emerge at the other end as if teleported through space. The feat has practical applications too, such as improving MRI scans.
Despite its evocative name, the wormhole is no portal in space-time, but it does allow a magnetic field to disappear in one region and then re-emerge unchanged elsewhere. Alvaro Sanchez at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues were inspired to create one by a theoretical design originally proposed in 2007.
“They modified our earlier mathematical constructions in a very clever way so that an artificial wormhole could be built using present engineering techniques,” says Matti Lassas at the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland, who co-authored the earlier paper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Oslo Schools Introduce Terror Alarms
All schools in Oslo are will soon have ‘terror alarms’ to warn pupils and teachers in the event of a serious terrorist attack or school shooting, the city’s Education Department has announced.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Oslo Schools Fitted With Terror Alarms
Schools in the Norwegian capital Oslo are installing alarms to warn pupils and teaching staff in case of terrorist attacks, it’s reported.
Classrooms are fitted with flashing lights on walls, and there are also loudspeakers which will tell pupils whether to stay put, move to another part of the building or evacuate. Through the speakers, the head teacher’s message will reach all classrooms, the school grounds and even the toilets, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reports. The system can also put the school in lock-down mode to prevent unauthorised access.
The first terror alarms are being rolled out at 70 schools across Oslo this year, and by 2017 all 180 of the city’s primary schools will have them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Santa Goes Bust Over Finnish Tax Bill
Finland’s Santa Claus Office has been declared bankrupt over unpaid taxes after a sharp drop in visits from recession-hit Russians, once the center’s best customers.
But Managing Director Jarmo Kariniemi said he believed the company, which employs around 20 people, could yet avoid closure over its 200,000 euro ($223,980) tax bill.
The Santa Claus Office, one of several Santa-themed businesses in Lapland, had some 300,000 visitors last year and revenues of about 2 million euros.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Files Reveal British Concern Over Spanish Civil War Brigades
Declassified British files on high-profile Britons fighting in the Spanish Civil War, released on Friday, reveal that radicals returning from foreign wars have long been a cause for concern for security services.
An estimated 4,000 Britons went to Spain during the Civil War, according to a detailed MI5 census. Many of them such as the writer George Orwell were monitored long after the conflict ended.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Two Brothers Charged With Triple Murder
The brothers accused of shooting two men and one woman in the western Swedish town of Uddevalla in March were charged today.
The triple murder on March 7th shocked residents in the small town of Uddevalla.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Bear Hunting Season Kicks Off Amid Controversy
The bear hunting season starts today and up to 300 animals can be shot in Sweden until the end of the season on October 15th, but the hunt is stirring controversy, as bears were included this year in the red list for threatened species, public broadcaster SVT reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Säpo Launches Clamp-Down on Weapons of Mass Destruction
A new campaign run by the Swedish intelligence service and Sweden’s weapons inspectorate aims to prevent Swedish companies from spreading products that could be used for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.
The Swedish intelligence service, Säpo, wants to step up efforts to halt weapons proliferation.
“Our aim is to ensure that none of the products used within mass destruction campaigns will be labelled ‘made in Sweden’,” Karl Sundström, Säpo’s head of non-proliferation, told Swedish Radio News.
Many Swedish companies are unaware of just how easily their products can be turned into weapons, including companies that produce ventilators, vacuum and steal products, Sundström explained.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Family Accused of Locking Up Teenage Girl
A teenage girl claims she was raped by a father and son while a family allegedly kept her locked up in Jönköping and Gothenburg for six months, a prosecutor said on Friday.
A man in his 40s is accused of brutally raping the young woman, who is not a Swedish citizen. His son, aged just under 20, also faces allegations of rape and assault.
“We arrested four family members at the start of the week. I now request that two of them — father and son — be remanded in custody,” prosecutor Anna Mårtensson told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tax Cuts Pitched for Baby-Making Italians
Italy’s Interior Minister, Angelino Alfano, has proposed a package of family tax cuts in a bid to boost the country’s dismal birth rate and reward people “who make babies”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tommy Robinson Arrested Again Upon Return From Family Holiday
Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, has been arrested again, this time moments after returning from a holiday with his family.
Robinson was only last released from prison on 25 July 2015, after being recalled two weeks prior.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Girl Removed From Home After Parents Tried to ‘Radicalize’ Her With ISIS Propaganda
A family court judge in London has ordered a teenage girl removed from her parents’ home after discovering they deceived authorities and apparently tried to radicalize their daughter with Islamic State propaganda.
The unidentified 16-year-old was regularly exposed to propaganda promoting the Muslim extremist group, including photos of beheadings.
Justice Hayden said the east London girl suffered psychological and emotional trauma, and compared the radicalization to sex abuse cases, Sky News reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Photographer Edith Tudor-Hart Who Played Key Role in Recruiting Kim Philby
In 1952, seeking to prove Philby was a Russian spy, intelligence officers decided to question Tudor-Hart, a known communist whom they suspected of worked for Soviet intelligence in the 1930s.
They hoped she might blow Philby’s cover by trying to warn him that he was under suspicion.
However, despite bugging her flat, opening her post and assigning eight people to follow her for nearly a month, MI5 found nothing more incriminating than her skipping a bus fare.
It would be another decade before officers were able to prove Philby’s treachery, and only after that would they discover the depth of Tudor-Hart’s involvement.
[Comment: She learned her KGB training well.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A group of unarmed US Marines on board a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris foiled a terrorist attack after a gunman opened fire with an assault rifle, wounding three people.
The 26-year-old Moroccan national, who was known to security services, came out of the toilet brandishing the gun and opened fire. Fortunately, two US Marines were nearby and overpowered him before he could massacre passengers.
The suspected terrorist had at least nine full magazines of ammunition holding almost 200 rounds. He was also carrying a knife.
Unfortunately, one of the Marines was shot and is believed to be in a critical condition.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Late last year the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC) announced that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has been studying in detail since August 2014, was singing in space. Now, in a paper published in the European Geosciences Union’s open access journal Annales Geophysicae, the RPC team reveals more details about 67P/C-G’s song, including why the comet was singing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does Comet 67p Sing? Scientists Think They Know
The source of a strange “song” that was belted out by a comet as it hurtled through space may have finally been found.
The sound waves picked up by Rosetta are moving through the comet’s magnetic field. Scientists with the mission now say the vibrations are set off by a stream of charged particles ejected from the surface of the space rock, according to a statement from ESA.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: Vukovar Scraps Cyrillic in Public Places
Decision causes irritation and protest from Belgrade
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — The city council of Vukovar, in Croatia, has approved a new statute which scraps the requirement of bilingualism in the city, preventing the use in public building of the Cyrillic alphabet by the Serb minority, which accounts for about 35% of the population in the area.
The Serbian Foreign Ministry officially protested against the decision, talking about a move that “violates the human rights of Serbs” living in Vukovar and demanding to Zagreb an urgent response.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Salafi Party Calls on Government to Uphold Islam’s Apostasy Law
By Raymond Ibrahim
The Salafi party in Egypt, the Islamic party that most tries to follow the literal example of Muhammad and his first companions, wants the Egyptian government to uphold Islam’s apostasy law and penalties—punishing any born Muslim from abandoning Islam or even criticizing it (which is tantamount to breaking from Islam in Salafi eyes).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Israeli Defense Minister Says 3 Plans to Hit Iran Were Scrapped in Recent Years
JERUSALEM — Israel’s former defense minister, Ehud Barak, says three separate plans on Israel striking Iranian nuclear facilities were blocked in recent years, first by Israel’s military chief and later by two ministers.
Israel’s Channel 2 TV aired a recording of Barak’s remarks on Friday. The TV says the former minister tried to prevent the broadcast but that Israel’s military censor allowed it.
The report comes amid Israel’s lobbying against the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that would see Tehran’s nuclear program rolled back in return for sanctions’ relief.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinians Flock to Islamic State
by Khaled Abu Toameh
The terror group Islamic State has become extremely popular among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Four recent public opinion polls show that at least one million Palestinians support the Islamic State.
The polls found that 24% of the Palestinians hold positive views about the Islamic State. Given that there are 1.8 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and another 2.7 million in the West Bank, this means that there are more than one million Palestinians who support Islamic State.
Commenting on the results of the polls, Christian activist Sam Butrous noted that the widespread support for the Islamic State among Palestinians is a sign of increased extremism and a denial of Christians’ rights in the Holy Land. “Apparently, 20% of the Palestinians have no problem with expelling their Christian brothers and destroying their churches and turning them into mosques,” he wrote. “This is what the Islamic State terror group is already doing in areas under its control.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Power of Jewish Indignation
by Caroline Glick
Perhaps we should thank Spain’s Rotodom Sunsplash reggae festival organizers. They just provided us with a textbook case both of the nature of today’s anti-Semitism and of how to defeat it.
Last weekend, the festival organizers canceled their invitation to Matisyahu, the American-Jewish reggae artist, because he refused to bow to the organizers’ demand that he publicly support “Palestine.”
Matisyahu was the only known Jew in the festival line-up and the only performer asked to produce such a statement…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Was the Rocket Attack From Syria on Northern Israel Ordered by Iran?
Yesterday, four rockets fired from the Syrian side of the Golan frontier hit near Kfar Sold in Northern Israel causing fires in the area. In response the IAF dispatched aircraft and attacked 14 positions inside Syria, while the IDF on the Golan opened up artillery fire on suspected targets. According to a Times of Israel (TOI) report six civilians were killed, seven wounded in an IAF attack on a vehicle 10 kilometers from the Syrian Israel frontier in the Quneitra region of Southern Syria. That Israeli attack may have targeted members of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell. However, Daud Shihab a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad continued claiming no responsibility for the attack. Nevertheless, he suggested that they knew were to attack saying:
We’ll know when to respond to an Israeli attack — and that will be where the Iron Dome was installed yesterday,” he said, referring to Israeli missile defense systems deployed the southern cities of Ashdod and Beersheba on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London suggested five of the casualties may have been members of the National Defense Force. Early Friday morning, August 21, 2015, the Syrian military fired a missile at an Israeli aircraft.
An IDF senior officer contend that the group behind these attacks the Palestinian Islamic Jihad based in Gaza, with headquarters in Damascus, was ordered by Iran to execute the attacks. The TOI cited an Israel source who said:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic Monastery in Syria ‘Destroyed by ISIL Bulldozers’
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) militants have destroyed a historic monastery seized in their latest advance across central Syria.
Photographs appeared online of fighters from Isil with bulldozers at the Mar Elian monastery in Al-Qaryatain, in Homs province.
The monitoring group Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said the Catholic monastery was then destroyed “on the pretext that it was used for worshipping others than God”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IS ‘Deputy’ Killed in Air Strike — US
A deputy leader of Islamic State, Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, has been killed in a US military strike in northern Iraq, the White House says.
Hayali, also known as Hajji Mutazz, is described by US officials as the second in command of the group.
They said he was killed in an attack on his car in Mosul earlier this week.
A number of IS leaders have been taken out by strikes in recent months, including a senior leader who was killed by a drone last month in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Destroyed Ancient Monastery in Syria, Says Priest
The Islamic State has demolished an ancient monastery in central Syria, according to a priest and activists.
The extremist group posted photos on social media showing bulldozers destroying the Saint Eliane monastery near the town of Qaryatain, which Isis captured this month.
A Christian clergyman, who spoke on Friday on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said Isis militants also wrecked a an Assyrian Catholic church inside the monastery that dates to the first Christian centuries.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State in Syria Demolishes Al-Qaryatain Monastery
Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria have demolished a Christian monastery in al-Qaryatain town in Homs province.
The militants had also moved Christians taken captive in the town to their stronghold of Raqqa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group.
IS captured Qaryatain from government forces earlier in August.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State’s Next Stop is Lebanon
Hezbollah has so far been unable to stop Islamic State from closing in on its strongholds and tens of thousands of missiles.
Up until this week, Lebanon was the only country whose border crossings were still in Assad’s hands.
That ended when advance forces of Islamic State infiltrated westward to the area south of Homs this week, surrounded al-Qusayr and overran Hezbollah positions guarding the Jussiah crossing that joins Homs with northern Lebanon. Hezbollah lost tens of fighters in the short battle that took place in an area where it did not expect to be attacked.
Islamic State chalked up several gains: it isolated Damascus, cutting it off from the Allawite coastal area, surrounded the cities of al-Qusayr and Homs, gained control of an important border crossing and surprised the Hezbollah in what it sees as a strategic victory, as Hezbollah will now have to transfer fighters from Syria back to Lebanon in order to protect the country and its Shiites.
Surrounding al-Qusayr and Homs is a ringing slap in the face to Hezbollah which lost two hundred of its fighters to free these cities, and now is forced to see all that effort obliterated, since that is not able to stop the determined IS forces on their westward route to Lebanon. For the past three years, Hassan Nasrallah has been claiming that Hezbollah fought in Syria in order to survive in Lebanon, but it looks as though its involvement in Syria has not brought about the hoped-for results. The opposite is true, it increased the Sunni rebels’ motivation — Islamic State and Jebhat al-Nusra — to take revenge on Hezbollah in its own strongholds, that is, in Lebanon…
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
Middle East Conflict Drastically ‘Improves Air Quality’
Political disturbance and armed conflict in the Middle East since 2010 have had the unintended consequence of making the air cleaner.
Researchers say that in countries like Syria and Iraq, levels of air pollutants have fallen dramatically.
The amount of nitrogen dioxide in the air over Damascus has fallen by up to 50% since start of the civil war.
The authors believe their work has important lessons for projections of global emissions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: The Dreyfus Affair 2015
By David Friedman
The Iran deal is opposed by many more Gentiles than Jews. Jews comprise less than 5% of the American population but more than 60% of Americans, including almost all of the U.S. military, oppose the deal. So how has our great uniting President responded? In the same manner as his spiritual leader, Jeremiah Wright — by appealing to the vilest anti-Semitic biases of the population. This is the worst type of Chicago-style politics and no other president in my lifetime has descended to such despicable behavior.
Some 115 years ago, as ugly anti-Semitic rhetoric filled the streets of Paris, a young secular Jewish journalist came to the realization that only an independent Jewish state could protect his people from a vile scourge for which there appeared to be no cure. That undeniable fact remains true today and it is a lesson that we continue to learn the hard way…
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Snap Election Called After Coalition Talks Fail
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that Turkey will hold snap elections, expected on 1 November.
Voters will go to the polls again after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu abandoned efforts to form a coalition government.
Mr Davutoglu’s AK Party lost its 12-year majority rule in Turkey in elections in June largely because of the success of the pro-Kurdish HDP.
Coalition talks with the nationalist MHP and main opposition CHP failed.
The political uncertainty comes amid rising violence in Turkey and neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
President Erdogan will ask Prime Minister Davutoglu early next week to form a temporary power-sharing government, senior officials said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: 777 Members of PKK Killed in One Month
In the country’s southeast and in raids in Iraq
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, AUGUST 21 — Seven hundred seventy-seven members of Kurdish rebel group PKK have been killed and 750 wounded in the past month in operations in southeastern Turkey and in air raids in northern Iraq, said state press agency Anadolu on Friday, citing military sources.
Four hundred thirty Kurdish militants were killed in air raids in the mountains of northern Iraq, where PKK has several strongholds, and about 450 were wounded. Eighteen were killed in the latest air attacks overnight Wednesday, in Karacali on the Turkey-Iraq border.
Bombings on PKK began July 24, immediately after the start of Turkish air operations against ISIS positions in Syria. The operations came following the jihadist suicide bombing in Suruc, in which 33 Turkish activists headed to Kobane were killed.
Since then, dozens of raids have been launched across the Turkish border, mainly against PKK and only three officially against ISIS.
Another 260 PKK members were killed and 300 wounded in ground operations in southeast Turkey. Fifty members of Ankara’s security forces were killed in clashes or PKK attacks.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
White House: ISIS No. 2 Killed by US Strike
Hajji Mutazz, the Islamic State’s second in command, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq, the White House confirmed Friday.
Mutazz was killed in the Aug. 18 strike while traveling in a vehicle near Mosul, Iraq, the White House said. Also killed was an ISIS media operative known as Abu Abdullah.
Mutazz, also known as Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, was senior deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and a primary coordinator for moving weapons, vehicles and explosives between Iraq and Syria. Mutazz was instrumental in a number of military operations, including the ISIS offensive in Mosul in June 2014.
“Al-Hayali’s death will adversely impact ISIL’s operations given that his influence spanned ISIL’s finance, media, operations, and logistics,” the White House statement said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The swirl of controversy in the wake of Wednesday’s AP exclusive story deepened yesterday with contradictory statements from IAEA director General Yukia Amano. Amano released a statement saying the report was “misleading,” that he was satisfied with the access his people will receive under the deal. Referring to the AP report Amano said “Such statements misrepresent the way in which we will undertake this important verification work.” The AP story cited drafts of a separate inspection protocol about Iran being granted control over inspections of the disputed Parchin test site allegedly involved with tests of nuclear triggers a decade ago.
The IAEA is charged with developing a so-called Road Map of prior military developments upon hinges release of over $100 billion in sanctioned funds to the Islamic Republic of Iran in December 2015. A few weeks ago , when IAEA chief Amano briefed Senators on Capitol Hill, many came away less than impressed by his presentation of the inspection regime that Administration negotiators, Secretary of State Kerry, Undersecretary Sherman and Energy Secretary Dr. Earnest Moniz said were” intrusive and robust verification” of Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA provisions. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) weren’t satisfied and conducted their own due diligence at IAEA headquarters in Vienna. In an August 2, 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed they argued that the so-called secret side deals should be released in compliance with the requirements of the Iran Nuclear Review Agreement Act. They commented:
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen’s President Proposes 15-Day Cease-Fire to Coincide With Withdrawal of Rebel Militias
Yemen’s president is proposing a 15-day cease-fire that would coincide with the withdrawal of Shiite rebel militias from all government institutions and military installations and all cities and provinces.
President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s proposal, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, calls for the Houthi rebels and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to immediately implement a U.N. Security Council resolution which demands an end to violence and a swift return to U.N.-led peace talks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kremlin TV Backing “Bolshevik Bernie” For President
Thom Hartmann, a paid agent of the Russian government’s main propaganda channel, Russia Today (RT) television, is strongly supporting career politician and socialist Bernie Sanders for U.S. president. “Bernie Sanders could be the next FDR,” he says. But it might be more accurate to say that Sanders could be another Alger Hiss, the Russian agent who served FDR as his top aide and helped create the United Nations.
Before examining the curious history of “Bolshevik Bernie,” as analyst Trevor Loudon calls him, Hartmann’s service to the Kremlin is worth a look. Hartmann praises Sanders for trying “to get money out of the political process,” while Hartmann is paid by Moscow and uses a Kremlin TV channel to influence Americans on behalf of the socialist senator from Vermont.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Orthodox Church Lends Weight to Putin Patriotism
A raid by Russian Orthodox vigilantes on “blasphemous” artworks in central Moscow has highlighted the influence of traditional, ultra-conservative values in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The Orthodox Church has long had close links to the Kremlin. And during Russia’s stand-off with the West over Ukraine that relationship has only grown stronger.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangkok Bombing That Murdered 20 People at Hindu Shrine Was an Islamic Jihad Attack
By Robert Spencer
The mass murder has been identified as a Muslim named Mohamad Museyin. “The motive behind the attack remains unclear,” says the Herald Sun, but in reality the motive is only unclear to those who refuse to admit that there is a global jihad. The motive of a Muslim who leaves a backpack with a bomb in it at a Hindu shrine that is frequented by Buddhists in a country that has been battling jihad violence for years now is unclear only to those who are willfully ignorant.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesian Bishops: Still Too Much Corruption and Too Little Democracy
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of independence, the Bishops’ Conference launches a warning about the current political situation. Many of the programs promised during the election campaign are unfinished and the political class lacks proper moral values. There are still open wounds: unemployment, underdevelopment, corruption and nepotism.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — The Catholic Church in Indonesia “is very concerned about the political situation of the country, which still sees the domination of the majority on the minority groups”. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of independence from Dutch rule in Indonesia — August 17, 1945 — the country’s Bishops Conference (KWI) is warning the political elite and government that many programs promised during the election campaign have not been carried through. Widespread poverty, social gaps, lack of work, vast underdeveloped areas and violence are some of the scourges of modern Indonesia.
Msgr. Ignatius Suharyo, Archbishop of Jakarta and President of Kwi, held a press conference together with Fr. Edy Purwanto, secretary general of the Bishops’ Conference: “On many occasions and in certain areas of the country — said the archbishop — the presence of the state is not perceived by the Indonesians, because public facilities are still unattainable for many.”
The bishops perceive that the government inefficiency is due to a lack of moral protagonists of national politics, who have little dedication in service to citizens and are complicit in massive corruption, nepotism and preferential acts aimed at procuring the interests of certain groups or persons. Policies, says Msgr. Suharyo, “are manipulated to obtain power”.
Marking the 70th anniversary, the Archipelago’s bishops published a message. They claim that “democracy is lacking and impartiality is little practiced, in the domain of the politics of Parliament and among government officials. Many laws and regulations are poorly prepared and approved only to achieve personal goals in the medium term and common interests between factions. “
In this situation, the Indonesian Church calls for honesty and moral integrity among all politicians, based on loyalty to the national philosophy of Pancasila [the five pillars of the Constitution ed]: “We firmly believe — reads the message — that if the Political leaders have a strong moral commitment to develop the country, the situation will greatly improve”.
After the declaration of independence in 1945, obtained with the help of Japan, the Netherlands continued to consider the country one of its colonies. After four years of war and negotiations, the independence leader Sukarno became the first president of Indonesia. Since 1950 the country has been a member of the UN.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysian Police Arrest 10 Suspected of is Links
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Ten Malaysians have been arrested for fostering suspected links with the Islamic State group and planning attacks in the country, police said.
Malaysia’s national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said late Thursday that the 10 individuals were allegedly “planning to obtain weapons to launch attacks in the country and arrange logistics for Malaysians to join the IS in Syria”.
He did not elaborate on details of the alleged attack plots.
The eight men and two women, aged between 24 and 42, were arrested on Wednesday in various parts of the Muslim-majority country, according to an official statement.
Among the 10 were a kindergarten teacher, a former interior designer and two civil servants. The remaining six suspects were members of state security forces, police said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bilderberg China: Communist Secret Meet to Plot World Domination
Have you ever wondered how China’s stone-faced, dead-eyed leaders set their policies? How much debate takes place, who is involved, and whether it ever gets heated? Do the nation’s economic, scientific, and creative experts get to bend their ears, at least to some degree?
These are questions that have plagued Sinophiles and China-watchers for decades. The decision-making and operational mechanics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are a black box, but it is known that the CCP has its summer retreats at Beidaihe, a seaside locale in Hebei Province that is 180 miles from the nation’s capital. There, at the beach, they set policy goals each year.
Shrouded in the strictest secrecy, there’s no way of knowing what exactly is on the agenda at the Beidaihe meetings. Think of them as China’s Bilderberg meetings, where people of power meet regularly but nobody can say why.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea Approves ‘Final Attack’ On South Korea as Tensions Increase in Region
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared his front-line troops were in a “quasi-state of war” Friday and ordered them to prepare for battle, a day after the most serious confrontation with South Korea in years.
A North Korean military official says a meeting of senior party and defense officials led by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Thursday night and “reviewed and approved the final attack operation.”
He gave no details on what kind of military retaliation North Korea would see as appropriate punishment for South Korea’s shelling of its territory Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon: China’s Man-Made Islands Growing, Now Thousands of Acres
China has built up and reclaimed even more land in the South China Sea than previously thought — with an archipelago of man-made islands now spanning 2,900 acres, according to a new Pentagon report released Friday.
The size of China’s artificial island territory in the disputed waters represents a 50 percent jump over the most recent estimate of 2,000 acres.
Since Chinese land reclamation efforts began in December 2013, the country has reclaimed land at seven of its eight Spratly Island outposts and, as of June 2015, had reclaimed more than 2,900 acres of land, according to the Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Strategy report released Friday.
The Defense Department warns the outposts can be used for surveillance systems, harbors and logistical support. A report earlier this year described how China has “excavated deep channels and built new berthing areas to allow access for larger ships to the outposts.”
U.S. officials fear the islands could be used for military purposes and may pose a threat to one of the world’s biggest commercial shipping routes as China claims land in what other countries see as international waters, according to The Wall Street Journal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tianjin Explosions: New Fires Burn at Site
Four new fires are burning at the site in the Chinese city of Tianjin where blasts killed at least 116 people, the state-run Xinhua news agency says.
One of the fires started at an automobile distribution site not far from the epicentre of the blasts.
Three other fires were burning within the core blast site, and rescue crews have been dispatched to the scene.
Sixty people are still missing after the 12 August blasts, which also injured at least 700.
Thousands of people saw their homes destroyed or made too unsafe to return to. Authorities have promised to compensate residents.
The blasts happened at a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals in Tianjin’s port. What caused them is still unclear and a massive clean-up is continuing, with thousands of police and soldiers deployed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tianjin Explosion: Soldiers Clean Up Chemicals After Blasts in China, In Pictures
New fires have broken out among the devastation left by giant explosions in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, state media reported, as clean-up efforts continued. One fresh blaze was in the depot where at least 3,000 cars were torched, and suspected to be caused by fuel in vehicle tanks. There were fires at three other locations in the “central blast zone”, it added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tianjin, China, Cyber Attacks and ‘Computationally Amplified Warfare’
Health Ranger warns of China’s plan to destroy America from 7000 miles away
Based on what I’ve learned from multiple sources, the Chinese game plan for America consists of a triple-layered simultaneous surprise attack — an “electronic Pearl Harbor” — as described below. For the record, this information is gleaned from a combination of things I’ve been told, things I’ve read and the exercising of “connect the dots” logic that anticipates likely tactical moves targeting the United States.
Here’s the triple-layer assault America may soon face:
Layer #1) An attack on the dollar and U.S. debt instruments.
Layer #2) A massive cyber warfare attack on the U.S. infrastructure.
Layer #3) An attack on U.S. military satellites to maximize the disruption of military communications, banking transactions, emergency services and other systems that depend on satellite communications.
I discuss each of these in more detail below:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mauritania Accused of ‘Parody of Justice’ As Jailing of Anti-Slavery Activists Upheld
Former presidential candidate Biram Ould Abeid vows to continue slavery fight from his cell after Mauritanian court ratifies sentence against trio of activists
A Mauritanian court has upheld a two-year prison sentence against three anti-slavery activists who were arrested during a protest against bondage in the west African nation.
Biram Ould Abeid, runner-up in the 2014 presidential elections and head of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), was jailed in January alongside two other activists.
In an open letter published after the ruling, he vowed to continue his fight against slavery and appealed for the US and EU to put pressure on Mauritania to act against the practice, including stopping financial aid.
“From my dark cell I urge them to mobilise all legal and diplomatic means, including the suspension of all financial aid, to push the government to take real action to eradicate slavery as well as the racism and exclusion underlying it,” wrote Ould Abeid.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nelson Mandela Grandson Charged With Raping Girl of 15
One of Nelson Mandela’s grandsons has been charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in South Africa.
The 24-year-old, who cannot be named until he enters his plea, is accused of raping the teenager in the toilets of a restaurant in Johannesburg.
Earlier in the week, the family of the alleged victim said that Mr Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had sent her bodyguard to dissuade them from pressing charges.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tens of Thousands Displaced by Boko Haram in Two Weeks in Chad
Around 40,000 people have fled their homes in Chad in the past two weeks following attacks by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, according to an aid agency, as the insurgency stokes an escalating humanitarian crisis in the region around Lake Chad.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said many of the displaced people have gathered in makeshift camps where its staff were treating patients with diarrhea, malaria and respiratory infections, as well as malnourished children.
“Some pregnant women have walked several kilometers in searing heat to seek medical attention,” said Federica Alberti, MSF’s head of mission in Chad. “People are living without proper shelter, and do not have access to food or clean drinking water.”
The Lake Chad region has become increasingly unstable since 2013, with Boko Haram violence triggering a growing crisis. At least 1,300 people have died in fighting so far this year in the region, MSF said.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Leader of Brazil’s Lower House Denies Corruption Charges Linking Him to Petrobras Scandal
The speaker of Brazil’s lower house of congress on Friday strongly denied newly filed charges of corruption and said he won’t resign from office.
Attorney General Rodrigo Janot filed the charges Thursday against Chamber of Deputies speaker Eduardo Cunha and former President Fernando Collor, who is now a senator. Janot said the two men took part in the sprawling corruption scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras in which billions in bribes were allegedly paid.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Aid Workers Struggle With Migrant Chaos in Macedonia
Every day, thousands of migrants arrive in Macedonia. Authorities have just closed the border with Greece, where they are largely left to their own devices.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Albanian Immigrants Try to Reach Britain Via Sweden
Albanian immigrants are trying to travel to Britain hidden in container ships leaving from the port of Gothenburg, news agency TT reports.
“They are taking big risks. We’re afraid that someone might die,” says Thomas Fransson, security head at the port.
Gothenburg’s port is the largest in the Nordic region and its workers are used to finding people who try to enter the country illegally hiding in ships. But this trend is decreasing and immigrants seem to be traveling in the opposite direction now.
“It’s a huge problem. We’re not prepared for this,” Fransson says.
Around ten ships leave Gothenburg’s port for Britain every week, but the authorities do not know how many stowaways make it to their final destination. Many of those who manage to hide on the ship are later found upon their arrival.
“These people are desperate. They’re looking for a future and a better life, and they’re ready to take big risks. We’ve had cases where people got injured,” Fransson adds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arranged Marriages Italians-Foreigners Probed for Terror Connections
(ANSAmed) — Rome, August 21 — Anti-terror police sources are probing arranged marriages between destitute Italians and foreign nationals for possible terrorist infiltration. An exclusive report by ANSA triggered the probe.
The Italian spouses are being recruited in squats and soup kitchens in the Italian capital by what police said is a clandestine network that hooks them up with would-be immigrants awaiting them in Egypt, police said.
The prospective immigrants allegedly pay thousands of euros for such arranged marriages.
The weddings take place in Egypt with Coptic Christian or Catholic rites, after which the foreign national applies for residency in Italy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Faces New Border Threat as Newcastle and Hull Targeted by People Smuggling Gangs
The three British ports — two in the north east and one in Essex — have direct ferry links to towns on the continent now being targeted by desperate migrants.
With security beefed up in Calais, Home Secretary Theresa May fears criminal gangs will switch to Dunkirk, Zeebrugge, Ostende, IJmuiden and Hook of Holland as launching pads to smuggle people into Britain.
As the pressure begins to ease on Dover in Kent, towns and cities along the east and south coasts of England face a growing threat from traffickers looking for new ways to smuggle people into the country.
Porstmouth, Bournemouth, Plymouth and Weymouth — all of which connect to French port towns including Le Havre, Caen, Cherbourg and St Malo — are also bracing for an onslaught from immigrants currently holed up in the ‘Jungle’ encampment.
Mrs May delivered the warning on the day she saw a ring of steel thrown around the Eurotunnel terminal in response to the deepening crisis.
She said: “We are very well aware of the possibility of displacement and have already had discussions with the Dutch and Belgian authorities to look at ports there and the work that needs to be done and, of course, we are looking at other ports like Dunkirk.”…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Migrant Smugglers Double Their Prices to Make a Quick Buck Off Police Crackdown
Francois Guennoc, a humanitarian worker in Calais, explained how “getting into a lorry” now costs migrants between £570 and £640 — while just a few months ago it was £350.
He said that smugglers had hiked their prices “because there are so many more police and sniffer dogs” due to a surge in attempts to get across the Channel over the summer.
Increasing security has prompted smugglers — many of whom are British — to turn their attention to other French ports.
French Police’s Anne-Laure Arassus said most illegal couriers are laundering huge profits through British businesses.
In recent months strains between British and French authorities have intensified over the responsibility for thousands of immigrants holed up in Calais who are desperately trying to breach the Channel Tunnel and get to the UK.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Capitalizing on Crisis: Swedish Companies Profiting From Migrant Influx
“A number of Swedish companies that lease out apartments to refugees made considerabe profits thanks to taxpayers.
“A company called Steget Vidare/Klivet Vidare AB, based in Mölndal, earned 72,441 kronor (about $8,441 USD) per day, courtesy of the Swedish taxpayers.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Ministers to Hold Migrant Talks: France
Europe’s interior and foreign ministers will meet in mid-October to discuss how to respond to the huge influx of migrants and refugees arriving at EU borders, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU States Favouring Christian Migrants From Middle East
EU member states with a strong Roman Catholic heritage are showing a preference for taking in Christian migrants, despite their obligations under EU law. The Slovakian government was the latest to issue a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Hold Emergency Migrant Talks
French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said in Berlin on Thursday EU interior and foreign ministers will meet in mid-October ahead of a migrant summit with EU and African leaders in Malta in November. The emergency EU talks come amid record-breaking arrivals in Greece and Germany.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Rights Chief Accuses Slovakia of ‘Discrimination’
Thorbjorn Jagland, the head of the Council of Europe, a human rights body in Strasbourg, said Thursday Slovakia’s intention to take Christian asylum seekers and refugees, but not Muslims, would be “blatant discrimination”. “There must be no place for xenophobia” in Europe’s handling of the “unprecedented refugee crisis”, he added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FYROM Deploys Army as Southern Europe’s Migrant Crisis Deepens
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia deployed its army to prevent thousands of migrants from crossing the border with Greece, its Interior Ministry said, a day after the Balkan country declared a state of emergency due to Europe’s immigration crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Seventeen Hurt in Asylum Home ‘Riot’ Over Koran
Seventeen people were injured in a riot at a refugee shelter in central Germany over a torn Koran, police said on Thursday, in fresh tensions as the country braces to host 800,000 asylum seekers this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Refugees Head for the North Despite Border Crackdown
Around 2,500 refugees who arrived at the port of Piraeus on Thursday by ferry from the eastern Aegean islands of Lesvos, Kos and Leros continued their journeys toward Western and Northern Europe, with most said to be heading for Greece’s northern borders.
KTEL intercity bus services linking the capital to the northern port of Thessaloniki were inadequate so additional vehicles were added to the route. Instead of the 11 usual daily connections linking Athens and Thessaloniki, there are now 42, with a bus leaving the capital for the northern port city every half-hour.
Train services were also boosted to deal with increased demand. An estimated 450 migrants crowded the capital’s Larissis railway station early Thursday, virtually all of whom were seeking a ticket to Thessaloniki, Kathimerini understands, but most of the seats were taken. After an emergency meeting, railway officials arranged for additional services.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
If You Really Want to Help Refugees, Look Beyond the Mediterranean
There are ten million people displaced from Syria. We have a duty to help more than just the ones who try to cross the sea illegally
by Paul Collier
Currently, if a refugee can get a foot on a European beach, or be fished out of the sea by a European rescue vessel, they get privileged access to asylum. That is why they take the risk.
This legal structure is not just foolish, it is deeply immoral. Europe has a duty to fish refugees out of the sea because it is morally responsible for tempting them on to the sea. So whatever else Europe does, it must stop this policy of temptation. Paying a crook thousands of dollars for a place on a boat should not entitle a Syrian refugee to a more privileged entry to Europe. It is profoundly unfair to the other suffering refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Probes Terrorism Link to Marriages
Anti-terror police are investigating arranged marriages between Italians and foreign nationals for potential terrorist infiltration.
Sources cited by Ansa said police fear Italian spouses are being recruited in squats and soup kitchens in Rome by a clandestine network that links them with would-be immigrants awaiting them in Egypt.
The prospective immigrants allegedly pay thousands of euros for these arranged marriages, according to the Ansa report.
The weddings take place in Egypt with Coptic Christian or Catholic rites, after which the foreign national applies for residency in Italy.
Meanwhile, Italian police have arrested Algerian human rights activist and lawyer Rachid Mesli at the Swiss-Italy border after an international warrant was issued by Algeria.
Mesli, who lives in Geneva, is wanted in Algeria on terrorism charges.
He was arrested on Wednesday at the Great St. Bernard Pass connecting Switzerland to the northern Aosta region while driving into Italy with his wife and child.
Mesli, who has defended Islamist torture victims, has been living as a refugee in Switzerland since 2000.
He was arrested in his home country on charges of “abetting terrorism”, according to Amnesty International.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Macedonia Fires Tear Gas at EU-Bound Migrants
The EU candidate country’s police has fired tear gas at migrants trying to cross Greek border to Macedonia, en route to other EU states, the BBC reports. The operation comes after Skopje declared a state of emergency in two border regions, which enables it to also call in the army.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Macedonia Police Use Tear Gas Against Migrants
Macedonian police have fired tear gas to disperse thousands of migrants trying to enter from Greece.
It comes a day after Macedonia declared a state of emergency in two border regions to cope with an influx of migrants, many from the Middle East.
Large numbers spent the night stuck on Macedonia’s southern frontier, and tried to charge police in the morning.
The Balkan nation has become a major transit point for migrants trying to reach northern EU members.
Some 44,000 people have reportedly travelled through Macedonia in the past two months.
At least five people were injured in the clashes at the border with Greece.
An 18-year-old Syrian man told Reuters he was able to cross overnight into Macedonia, but others were caught and driven back.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Trying to Reach UK From Gothenburg
Sweden’s largest port is becoming a gateway for migrants who are hoping to reach the UK as stowaways by making risky journeys on cargo ships.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Schengen Free Movement ‘May be in Danger’, Says German Minister
Germany’s interior minister says he cannot rule out suspending participation in the agreement allowing passport-free travel between most European states.
Thomas de Maiziere told the BBC he supported the Schengen Agreement, but that it could be “in danger”.
He also called on Britain to accept more migrants.
Germany expects to receive 800,000 asylum applications this year alone, far more than other EU states.
“Of course Britain has a special role — it is not part of Schengen,” Mr de Maiziere said. “But all EU countries must become more aware of their responsibilities.”
The Schengen area is made up of 26 European countries, mostly in the EU, which have abolished border controls and established common rules on asylum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Slovakia to Grant Asylum to Only 200 Christian Syrians
(BRATISLAVA) — Slovakia’s interior ministry said Thursday the EU member would grant asylum to only 200 Christian Syrians, as the European Union struggles to cope with a huge influx of refugees and migrants.
This would be a two-year process, ministry spokeswoman Michaela Paulenova told AFP, adding that it had decided to accept only Christians because they “have a great potential to seamlessly integrate into our society.”
She said Slovakia has few Muslims and no mosques.
“We have nothing against religion, nor is it discrimination. It is just an effort on Slovakia’s part to make this integration successful,” she said.
“If these people come to Slovakia and subsequently leave our country, then our solidarity would be false and insincere.”
However, a UN official called for “an inclusive approach”.
“We urge countries not to discriminate,” Babar Baloch, the Central European spokesman for the UN refugee agency told AFP.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Starts Talks With Holland, Belgium on Migrant Problem
The British government has opened talks with the Netherlands and Belgium to head off potential new migrant routes via ports such as the Hook of Holland, the justice ministry confirmed to the AD on Friday. The British are assessing other northern ports such as Zeebrugge in Belgium and the Hook of Holland amid fears smugglers could shift their efforts elsewhere now security has been strengthened at Calais. However, the number of migrants trying to travel to the UK from Hoek van Holland has virtually dried up since police stepped up checks at the beginning of the summer, the NRC reports. Belgian ports have also reported no increase in the number of migrants arriving at their Channel ports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Urged to Probe Baby Body Parts Scandal at Planned Parenthood
As proponents of abortion at Planned Parenthood take the offensive with the help of Hillary Clinton, her Democratic Party machine, and a major portion of the news media, GOP lawmakers are continuing to pressure the Obama administration’s minions at the Justice Department to provide information from its claimed investigation of late-term abortions and the harvesting of body parts for profit.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Most Catholics Support Gay Marriage: Study
A survey of Catholics in Germany has revealed that most don’t stick to traditional religious teachings when it comes to views on marriage and sexuality.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Thermostat in Your Office May be Sexist
If you’re constantly bundling up against your office building’s air conditioning, blame Povl Ole Fanger. In the 1960s, this Danish scientist developed a model, still used in many office buildings around the world, which predicts comfortable indoor temperatures for the average worker. The problem? The average office worker in the 1960s was a 40-year-old man sporting a three-piece suit. But fear not, those for whom the “work sweater” has become a mandatory addition to office attire: Researchers say they have built a better model.
The biggest problem with Fanger’s approach—which assumes a 21°C (70° Fahrenheit) office would be the most comfortable—is that it doesn’t take women into account. Men typically have faster metabolisms than women, and thus generate more heat. In addition, women tend to have much stronger vasoconstrictive reactions than men—when they get cold, their blood vessels close faster, and their sensitivity to temperature increases. Cue the work sweater.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Baby Fights for Its Life at Organ Harvesting Facility
[WARNING: * Disturbing content. *]
Update: This is a repost after the original article went viral yesterday thanks to Infowars readers, listeners and pro-life supporters. While the footage is no doubt difficult to view, it’s important to see and acknowledge what’s going on behind closed doors at abortion facilities across America.
Original story below.
A fully intact human fetus is seen moving its arms and legs outside of the womb, in the latest damning Planned Parenthood video released by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress.
WARNING: VIDEO FEATURES GRAPHIC CONTENT. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty Senior Leader Under Fire for Muslim Brotherhood Ties
Media is reporting that Amnesty International’s Director of Faith and Human Rights Yasmin Hussein is facing public scrutiny for close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Giant Galaxies May be Better Cradles for Habitable Planets
Galaxies like the Milky Way may not be the best cradles of life in the universe — giant galaxies devoid of newborn stars and at least twice as massive as the Milky Way could host 10,000 times more habitable planets, researchers say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Please consider doing a serious investigative journalism on Carly Fiorina, one of the U.S. GOP candidates for the 2016 presidential race. I have seen articles swirling around the Internet about her Islamic speech and attitudes, as well as her Muslim business ties. It is so important to get this information out in an accurate, comprehensive piece. The US cannot afford to make another mistake. I fear she will end up in a GOP Administration without the proper vetting. PLEASE HELP. Also, my husband knows someone who worked for Fiorina for a long time. Her comment: She’s a great speaker, but the rest……..meh…….wouldn’t vote for her.
“He also called on Britain to accept more migrants.”
Doesn’t he get it yet? We don’t want any more welfare consuming, dole scrounging, violent, illiterate, unemployable,thieving, islam mongering immigrants. The UK has enough already. There are cities in Britain that look like the Northwest Frontier Province. If anyone wants any more, I suggest they kick out a few thousand lefties to make room for them
No more Ali Gs in England.
“Ali G”s? This fictional character (courtesy of Sacha Baron Cohen) wasn’t intended as a Muslim stereotype.
“Now that Britain and France have tightened up security against the migrant influx at the Channel Tunnel near Calais, people smugglers”
Smugglers and invaders will find other methods to complete their invasion. It took 30 years until some action was taken at Calais. That’s how long failed, clumsy, confused, immoral, directionless, muslim-worshipper countries like France and Britain — takes to half wake up. European countries have lost their will and independence. Nothing of them is left except the empty name.
Just look at Iran deal. The deal: Iran will inspect itself. So the world be at ease. By happy.
Notice the mainstreaming of islam here in America. Even the so-called conservatives like Ted Cruz are giving it legitimacy by mentioning it alongside Christianity and Judaism when discussing our history of religious tolerance. Begin listening @ the 3:35 mark.
https://youtu.be/Iu1lsw3_Kfo
Cruz is a Cuban refugee from Canada. His family happily oppressed Cuban peasants until Castro ran them off with their tails between their legs. Only an idiot would listen to him. He would do to us what his family did to Cuba.
Big Bill! You took the words right out of my mouth.
No immigrant from Cuba or their descendants should be in control of the presidency of the United States. Cruz should run on a Demorat ticket only. Cruz is way to not over him being a Cuban immigrant to even run a simple hamburger joint.
Anyone who loves the States should know better than to run for president with Cruzes crudentials.. Cruz is just another egoistic son of a Cuban…
“Some 115 years ago, as ugly anti-Semitic rhetoric filled the streets of Paris, a young secular Jewish journalist came to the realization that only an independent Jewish state could protect his people from a vile scourge for which there appeared to be no cure. That undeniable fact remains true today and it is a lesson that we continue to learn the hard way…”
I don’t get it. Since, as he states, white Gentiles are ever and eternally Evil Demons infected with “the 4000 year old disease”, why is he still hanging around in the USA?
Why hasn’t he made aliyah? Is it “aliyah for thee but not for me”?
Surely Friedman knows that us infected Evil White Gentiles are going to react violently long before their Open Borders process is complete and we are overwhelmed by the Mexican, Muslim, and African nations and we are reduced to a small, easily controllable minority.
Why is he sticking around? Just to get in a few more shots at us before he returns to his homeland?
31% support for BlackLivesMatter is exactly what I had been assuming. There was a pew poll a few years ago that showed that about 30% of black Americans blame all problems in the black population on “racism”. Another approximately 30% believed that black problems were due to factors within the black population and the remaining 30% believed it was a combination of the two. The support for BlackLivesMatter lines up exactly with the “blame everyone else” faction.
“Blame everyone else….” Not only the creed of blacks, but also the followers of a certain paedophile ‘prophet’, hmmmm.
Excuse me for asking. This Ted Cruz guy.. He’s not born in America. How come he thinks he is in the race? Did this Kenian boy from Kenia sat the example? Or did i mis a major change in legislation?