The Finnish Foreign Ministry has launched a Facebook campaign in an attempt to discourage more asylum seekers from immigrating to Finland. The initiative, which is in Arabic, targets Iraqis and Turks. Meanwhile, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker says he is concerned about rising xenophobia in Germany.
In other migration news, bad weather did not deter an undetermined number of additional “refugees” from landing on the Greek island of Lesbos.
In other news, bombs were detonated at a Shi’ite celebration in Bangladesh, killing at least one person and wounding dozens more. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, LP, 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.
Italy: Govt Tax Cuts Might Hit Patients in the Pocket
Draft budget bill slated to go to president for signature
(ANSA) — Rome, October 22 — Regional officials said Thursday that what government takes away in tax and other cuts will have to be made up for on the local level — perhaps with an increase in health co-payments. However, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said that there will be no need for local authorities to raise taxes due to the abolition of property tax IMU and local-services tax TASI. “We are axing TASI on primary residences, except for stately homes and castles, and we will reimburse the money to the local councils. The councils won’t raise taxes,” he said.
The minister also defended the budget from criticism that it is not progressive and stressed that the government is committed to “permanent” tax cuts. “The budget is orientated to those with low incomes,” he said. “Taxes remain for those with more than one property, which shows that the budget is progressive”. Premier Matteo Renzi also weighed in, saying “to those who say that other taxes will rise, I say that in 2016 no municipality or region will be able to raise them compared to 2015, by law”. He wrote on his website Thursday that “the soul of the budget bill lies not in taxes but in social welfare investments”. However, the regional budget councillors coordinator appeared to disagree when he said it is up to regions to decide whether or not to raise co-payments to offset government cuts to the national health service budget. “The law calls for automatic increases to IRPEF and IRAP tax surcharges, but governors and regional councils can also choose to act on co-payments,” said Massimo Garavaglia. Eight Italian regions — Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Molise, Piedmont, Puglia and Sicily — are already increasing patients’ co-payments as well as taxes in a bid to cut health spending and balance their budgets, he said. A government report tracking the budgets of 108 Italian hospitals in 2014, found that 31 were in the red and 24 were at risk of restructuring. In other measures, the latest draft of the government’s budget bill would slash civil service turnover in 2016-2018 to 25% of the amount spent on pensions for retired civil servants.
That is down significantly from figures in the previous draft, which called for 60% in 2016, 80% in 2017 and 100% in 2018. As well, the 2016 draft budget sets new ceilings on executive pay at companies owned or partly owned by central and local government. A decree to be issued by April 30 will split the companies into three categories with “qualitative and quantitative” parameters for each and a top limit of 240,000 euros a year.
Also on Thursday, Renzi said his government would cut gambling outlets to 15,000 in the 2016 budget, denying reports that they would be increased by 22,000. In particular, he said, bars with slot machines would be cut from 6,000 to “1,000 at the most”. He said “we are combating gambling…anyone saying the contrary is lying”. Renzi had come under criticism from groups that help gambling addicts after reports the budget would boost the number of gambling shops, slot machines and video poker outlets. The budget bill must be submitted officially to President Sergio Mattarella for his signature — which Padoan said will happen on Thursday night. After that, it is sent to parliament for debate. The government’s draft of the budget bill will likely be made public on Friday, ANSA sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Facts: Why This Feels Like a Depression for Most People
Everyone has seen the pictures of the unemployed waiting in soup lines during the Great Depression. When you try to tell a propaganda believing, willfully ignorant, mainstream media watching, math challenged consumer we are in the midst of a Greater Depression, they act as if you’ve lost your mind. They will immediately bluster about the 5.1% unemployment rate, record corporate profits, and stock market near all-time highs. The cognitive dissonance of these people is only exceeded by their inability to understand basic mathematical concepts.
The reason you don’t see huge lines of people waiting in soup lines during this Greater Depression is because the government has figured out how to disguise suffering through modern technology. During the height of the Great Depression in 1933, there were 12.8 million Americans unemployed. These were the men pictured in the soup lines. Today, there are 46 million Americans in an electronic soup kitchen line, as their food is distributed through EBT cards (with that angel of mercy JP Morgan reaping billions in profits by processing the transactions).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
$240,000 Jury Award to Muslim Truck Drivers Who Were Fired for Refusing to Transport Alcohol
One more data point on the “When does your religion legally excuse you from doing part of your job?” question — like it or not, under American law, employers sometimes do have to excuse employees from tasks that the employees find religiously objectionable. Tuesday, two Muslim truck drivers who were fired for refusing to deliver shipments containing alcohol were awarded $40,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages by the jury in their discrimination claim.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought suit on their behalf (EEOC v. Star Transport Co., Inc. (N.D. Ill.)), arguing that the employer had failed to provide “reasonable accommodations” to the employees — i.e., accommodations (including an exemption from job duties) that could be provided without “undue hardship” to the employer or others. The court noted that Star Transport had indeed often “swap[ped]’ loads between drivers,” and Star Transport conceded that it could have easily accommodated this request, too, but argued (unsuccessfully) that it shouldn’t be liable for punitive damages.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“I Knew Exactly What We Were Doing in Benghazi”
This is the admission from Hillary Clinton to Rep. Martha Roby in her testimony to the House Select Committee on Benghazi October 22, 2015. Amid her expert dancing around substantive answers, what emerged was culpability in the lack of action to either secure or extract the embassy team from Benghazi. Revealed facts include the 600 requests for additional security in less than a year, beginning with the previous ambassador, Gene Cretz, who was afterward posted to Ghana. The newly confirmed ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, had more than 20 urgent requests included in that total (83 from May to September) and, although Secretary of State Clinton acknowledged that she “knew exactly” what was transpiring in Benghazi, she did not allocate resources to the embassage protection. Instead, Clinton delegated the whole issue to “security professionals,” evidently in order to wipe her hands of the situation. Plausible deniability is the accepted term among the political class avoiding responsibility.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
2.6 Billion Pounds of Monsanto’s Roundup Sprayed on America’s Farmland
(NaturalNews) A shocking statistic was found in a report from the U.S. Geological Survey, a study of pesticide and herbicide use from 1992 to 2012. During the two decades, an estimated 2.6 billion pounds of Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide was used on America’s agricultural land. It’s been the primary herbicide used with genetically engineered crops since mid-1990s when Monsanto introduced their “Roundup Ready” corn and soybeans.
A time-lapse video with a map of United States, used in the Environmental Working Group (EWG) article “2.6 Billion Pounds of Monsanto’s Glyphosate Sprayed on U.S. Farmland in Past Two Decades,” shows the dramatic spread of the use of Roundup.
This is very troubling considering the mounting evidence of serious health risks associated with exposure to glyphosate. A Huffington Post article from April 2013 covered a study that showed a wide range of health risks possibly linked to Roundup. The list included various cancers, Parkinson’s and infertility.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
3 Killed at OSU Homecoming Parade When Cars Slams Into Crowd
At least three people were killed and more that two dozen were injured at Oklahoma State University’s homecoming parade Saturday morning when a car slammed into a crowd watching the celebration, officials and witnesses said.
The vehicle — a sedan that was not a part of the parade’s motorcade — crashed into the spectators near the end of the route near the Stillwater campus, witnesses told News on 6.
“People were flying 30 feet into the air like rag dolls,” OSU alum Konda Walker told the Stillwater New Press.
The female driver was taken into custody after the 10:30 a.m. crash, officials said.
A fleet of eight medical helicopters responded to the wreck, which killed three people and wounded another 27, Stillwater Mayor John Bartley told local media. Two of the wounded are in critical condition, he said.
Witnesses said the speeding driver first hit a motorcyclist before mowing into the packed crowd.
“I think the car was going between 45 and 50 mph, and it just barreled into everybody that was there,” witness Megan Lantz, 32, told The Oklahoman. “We were facing the parade and heard tires squealing and then started to hear the car hitting things and people and there was screaming and people running away.”
It’s not clear what caused the crash…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
An Analysis of the Final Intellectual Property TPP Chapter Leak
There’s been a development in the ongoing TPP debate. The Intellectual Property Chapter of the trade agreement has leaked. What’s significant about this leak is that it’s the final consolidated text. We offer in-depth analysis of the chapter.
Earlier, Wikileaks published one of the controversial chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). We here at Freezenet have been following the TPP debate carefully and offered very detailed coverage of the text of this agreement. Earlier, we analyzed the August 2015 draft. Before that, we offered an in-depth analysis of the 2011 leaked draft. Today, we are continuing our coverage by examining the final draft leak of this chapter…
Consumer and digital rights organizations have called this final draft everything that they have feared coming to fruition. The EFF states that the leaked copy we just analyzed “confirms our worst fears about the agreement, and dashes the few hopes that we held out that its most onerous provisions wouldn’t survive to the end of the negotiations.”
From a consumer rights perspective, the EFF is correct on that assessment. If you support digital rights, this agreement represents a direct assault. It strips away many protections consumers have been given and implements laws that are extremely anti-consumer. Moreover, it’s extremely difficult to see how this is a trade agreement because there’s very little about this chapter that has to do with international trade. Instead, it seems to be more of a method to import undesirable laws from an international body, circumventing the standard methods of lawmaking (namely governmental representatives of the people writing the laws). At this point, making the argument that the TPP is simply about international trade after all of this is a position that is so difficult to maintain, it borders on extreme delusion. This agreement is about lawmaking. Everything above is either mostly about lawmaking, or is exclusively about lawmaking. The laws being proposed here is about serving corporate interests behind closed doors — a departure of what democracy is all about.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fire Rages at Historic Poile Zedek Synagogue in New Brunswick
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — An extra-alarm fire gutted a historic synagogue in New Brunswick, New Jersey Friday afternoon.
The fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. at Congregation Poile Zedek, an Orthodox Ashkenazic synagogue at 145 Neilson St., near Bayard Street, in New Brunswick, officials told CBS2. The blaze was later raised to extra alarms, and surrounding buildings had to be evacuated, Joe Biermann reported from Chopper 2.
As CBS2’s Jessica Schneider reported, blocks around the synagogue were still filled with fire trucks at 9 p.m. The fire was out by then, but the pain was just beginning for members of this synagogue — who said all but one of their sacred Torah scrolls went up in flames along with the building itself.
It was the caretaker of the historic synagogue who sent out the call for help. He was the only one inside the Poile Zedek synagogue when he heard a banging, and then the building filled with smoke.
“We didn’t see any fire until we ventilated second and third floor windows, and then we had heavy fire blowing out of the windows and through the roof,” said New Brunswick Fire Department Director Robert Rawls.
Within minutes, the whole structure was devoured by flames. Eight departments responded just before the roof collapsed.
The intensity of the flames forced an exterior attack on the fire with tower ladders, in an effort to “surround and drown” the blaze, Biermann reported. Firefighters also shot hose streams through the charred front doors of the synagogue…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Defends Black Lives Matter Movement
Defending the Black Lives Matter movement, President Barack Obama said Thursday the protests are giving voice to a problem happening only in African-American communities, adding, “We, as a society, particularly given our history, have to take this seriously.”
Obama said the movement, which sprung up after the deaths of unarmed black men in Florida, Missouri and elsewhere, quickly came to be viewed as being opposed to police and suggesting that other people’s lives don’t matter. Opponents have countered that “all lives matter.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Police Destroy 90-Year-Old Woman’s Home in Drug Raid, Find Nothing
(NaturalNews) Another example of overzealous police trampling on the rights of ordinary citizens has surfaced, this time involving a 90-year-old Florida woman whose home was ransacked in a drug raid that turned up nothing.
In December 2014, officers from the Riviera Beach Police Department conducted a raid on the elderly woman’s home based on the mistaken belief that drugs were being sold there.
According to the woman, who asked not to be identified, the police targeted the wrong home. “I don’t know how the cops got in here,” she recalls. “The noise woke me up when something said, ‘Boom!’ Like a bomb or something.”…
There was another case of a woman being victimized by the police — even more shocking than the aforementioned one — which occurred in 2006. Then, an innocent 92-year-old Georgia woman was shot to death in yet another botched raid.
In that instance, Atlanta resident Kathryn Johnston died after being shot five times during a “no-knock” raid which also furnished no evidence of wrongdoing. However, in that case, police attempted to cover up their mistake by planting marijuana in her house after the fact.
Fortunately, the police officers involved were caught, tried, convicted and subsequently put in jail. They were also ordered to split her funeral costs and will be supervised after their prison release. Still, that is a small consolation in light of the fact that an innocent woman was shot dead by corrupt cops.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Teach for America Pledges to Recruit More Latino Teachers
The national teacher corps has pledged to recruit 2,400 Latino undergraduates and young professionals to teach in low-income public schools nationwide over the next three years. It wants at least 30 percent of them to have a background in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).
Teach for America corps members agree to teach for two years in low-income communities across the country. After the program a majority choose to stay in teaching and are hired in schools around the country.
Across the U.S., about 25 percent of kindergarten to 12th grade students identify as Latino, compared to only 8 percent of teachers, according to Teach For America.
The pledge by Teach For America to recruit more Latinos is in response to the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics’ 25th anniversary call to action.
It also comes as Teach For America faces criticism for recruiting predominately white students from prestigious colleges who don’t reflect and aren’t able to relate to the populations it serves: students who live in low-income neighborhoods with large populations of Latinos and African Americans.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
This Bill Could Keep You in the Dark About What You’re Eating
The DARK Act is a last ditch effort to silence opposition through use of legislative force.
The federal government could soon make it illegal for states to enact mandatory GMO labeling laws, with the ‘Safe And Accurate Food Labeling Act’ (also known as the ‘DARK Act’) now facing a vote in the Senate. The bill expands federal powers in order to limit the ability of states to mandate the labeling of genetically modified ingredients in food, and was passed through the House last July.
I’ve been warning you about this secretive bill (officially titled the ‘Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act’) since its inception, which I believe could go down in history as one of the largest attacks on the food supply in recent history. After all, the only reason that Monsanto-backed lobbying groups are so excited about this bill is because it’s their last hope. They know that they’re losing the ideological battle when it comes to the public’s opposition to GMOs and Monsanto’s cancer-linked herbicides.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trailing in Iowa, Trump Now Battling Like a True Outsider
New polls show Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is trailing in first-voting state Iowa but his strategy so far appears unchanged — touting his outsider status and attacking rivals like a scrappy up-and-comer.
Trump on Friday attacked primary rival Ben Carson, whom he described as “super low energy” but who leads him in Iowa, according to the polls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Completes Royal Mail Privatisation
Britain on Tuesday completed the privatisation of the Royal Mail, offloading its final stake in a sale whose proceeds will be used to cut the national debt.
The government sold a 13-percent stake to institutional investors at a price of 455 pence per share, raising £591 million ($907 million, 800 million euros), the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said in a statement.
Another 1.0-percent stake will be gifted to eligible Royal Mail employees in Britain, taking their total holding in the company to 12 percent…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus to Block Restart of Turkey-EU Talks
Cyprus said on Monday (19 October) that it will continue to oppose restarting Turkey’s stalled accession negotiations to join the European Union because Ankara has not done enough to reunite the divided island.
Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades said the obstacles still remain that were there in the first place, and there is nothing to compel Cyprus to agree to reopen membership negotiations on chapters that deal with justice and security, as well as wit the judiciary and fundamental rights, AP reports.
German chancellor Angela Merkel on a visit to Turkey on Sunday said her government is backing to restart entry talks with Turkey on the economy and monetary policy chapters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fukushima Says Never Treated Francis
Japanese neurosurgeon decries media ‘falsehoods’
(ANSA) — Tokyo, October 23 — Neurosurgeon Takanori Fukushima told ANSA on Friday that, contrary to recent media reports, he has never treated Pope Francis. “So many falsehoods have been written,” he said from his home in Raleigh, NC. “I only met him once and I doubt he remembers me”. The leading Japanese surgeon added he was stunned at the “unexpected media overexposure” after a report by Quotidiano Nazionale (QN) daily that the Japanese specialist diagnosed Pope Francis as having a small, treatable brain tumour.
The Vatican has denied the report.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Hopelessness’ Ten Years After French Riots
Ten years on from the riots that shook France’s suburbs, many residents say almost nothing in their lives has changed, and they feel excluded from the country’s narrative and abandoned by politicians.
President Francois Hollande paid a rare visit to one of the infamous “banlieues” this week — Courneuve, north of Paris — where he vowed that under the egalitarian principles of the French Republic, “no areas are left behind.”
But the whistles of disapproval that accompanied his speech underlined the disillusionment of locals, even though many of them voted for him in 2012.
“This could explode once again, because the social injustices are still there and there is a deep hopelessness among the young,” warned Mehdi Bigaderne, the 32-year-old deputy mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois, the Paris suburb where the 2005 riots began and then spread to other parts of the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: League MEP Waves Gun Around on TV
Says it wasn’t loaded
(ANSA) — Rome, October 23 — An MEP from the rightwing anti-immigrant Northern League party sparked an outcry Friday when he brandished a gun during a TV interview.
Gianluca Buonanno said he did it to show support for a pensioner who may face homicide charges after he shot an alleged intruder dead.
The interviewer on TG24 news asked him to put the gun away but he waved it around again, saying it didn’t have a magazine, as other journalists and MPs called for the EP to discipline him.
“I don’t have a gun permit and I don’t like them,” he told ANSA later. “It was just a carcass of a weapon…I don’t understand these protests,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Railways: Santoro (FVG): European Plan for Villach-Trieste
Promoted by CEI, lead partner
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Regional mobility councillor of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Mariagrazia Santoro, submitted today to the Council of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region a resolution concerning the region’s membership as an associate partner in the European project CONNECT2CE — Improved rail connections and smart mobility in Central Europe, by using the funds of the 2014-20 Central Europe Programme — Axis 4 (Transport).
This plan, which is sponsored by the Central European Initiative (lead partner), is worth 4.2 million euros and includes 14 partners from Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic. The objective is to improve rail links and cross-border and regional transport through the study of cross-border rail service contracts, integrated fares, “info-mobility” systems and e-ticketing.
By means of this plan, the FVG Region will support Ferrovie Udine-Cividale (Udine-Cividale Railway), which takes part in it with a 648,318 euro budget. FUC will be responsible for two pilot initiatives, which are aimed, respectively, to assess the possible extension, to Trieste, of the experimental Micotra train between Villach (Austria) and Udine, and to integrate the Micotra train ticket with the bike-sharing system of the city of Udine.
Among these experiments are: the preparation of the first transnational Service Contract between Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, the arrangement of rail services and regional feeder transports for the Koszeg-Szombathely line (Hungary), the harmonization of timetables in border areas across Hungary, Slovenia and Austria, and between Hungary and Austria, the integration of multimodal cross-border services and the development of cross-border and regional info-mobility systems.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Investigated Magistrate Insults Borsellino Children on Tape
Silvana Saguto probed for corruption
(ANSA) — Palermo, October 21 — A magistrate who is being investigated for alleged wrongdoing in connection with seized Mafia assets has insulted the grown children of assassinated anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino, according to wiretapped conversations published Wednesday in La Repubblica daily.
“Manfredi Borsellino is a nut job (and sister) Lucia Borsellino is a right cretin,” Judge Silvana Saguto said in a wiretapped conversation with a friend on July 19, the anniversary of the 1992 car bombing that killed Borsellino and five policemen who were assigned to protect him.
Saguto reportedly went on to denigrate Borsellino’s son for being emotional at an event commemorating his father that was attended by President Sergio Mattarella.
“Why the f**k would a 43-year-old man cry over a father who died 23 years ago?” Saguto said.
“My sister Lucia and I are speechless,” said Manfredi Borsellino, a senior police officer in the town of Cefalù.
“We won’t comment on words that should be filed under the category wickedness. Just by talking about it, we risk giving importance to the person who uttered those words”.
Prosecutors from Caltanissetta launched a corruption and abuse of office investigation against Saguto, who is suspected of committing the alleged offences in collusion with judicial administrative staff and family members.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Woman Discharged From Hospital Died of Coronary Dissection
Results of prosecutor-ordered autopsy
(ANSA) — Turin, October 19 — A 37-year-old woman who was discharged twice from hospital in Rivoli, where she presented a week ago with abdominal and middle-back pain, died of a coronary dissection, authorities said Monday according to results of an autopsy ordered by the Turin prosecutor’s office.
An investigation is underway, currently against unknown suspects, to determine whether or not the pathology could have somehow been detected by the health care workers.
A coronary dissection is a rare condition with symptoms similar to a heart attack in which a coronary artery develops a tear.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fendi to Unveil New HQ in Iconic Fascist Building
Fashion label to relocate to Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana
(ANSA) — Rome, October 15 — Italian luxury fashion house Fendi is set to unveil its new headquarters at Rome’s Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, sources said Thursday.
The inauguration ceremony on October 22 will feature an exhibition on the history of the building, an emblem of Italian Fascist architecture inspired by the Colosseum.
The exhibition, which the public can visit from October 23 until March 7, is part of the fashion label’s efforts to support and promote the Italian capital’s historic and cultural heritage.
The fashion house has recently funded the restoration of Rome’s Trevi fountain.
The Palazzo della Civiltà (Palace of Civilization), also known as the Square Colosseum, was completed in 1943 and forms part of the EUR district of the city, which Benito Mussolini planned as the site of a world’s fair to celebrate 20 years of Fascism. The fair, scheduled for 1942, never took place due to the outbreak of World War Two.
Fendi’s exhibition, entitled A New Rome: the EUR and the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana will be held in a part of the building that the company has designated as a showroom for public exhibitions and shows.
Drawings and sketches of the major architects of the 20th century will illustrate developments in the new era of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, accompanied by pictures by prominent photographers of the time including Franco Fontana and Karl Lagerfield.
Extracts from films by seminal Italian filmmakers Bernardo Bertolucci, Vittorio De Sica and Federico Fellini will also be screened.
New permanent nighttime lighting of the building designed by artist Mario Nanni will be unveiled at the inauguration ceremony. Light will illuminate the building with growing intensity to symbolise its new lease on life.
In July 2013, Fendi announced a 15-year deal to rent Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana from Eur S.p.A. The deal included plans to move the fashion label’s headquarters to the site and to create a large exhibition area.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Polls Predict Solid Conservative Victory in Poland
Poland’s conservative opposition is poised to win Sunday’s general election, according to final polls which suggest that its welfare promises and anti-refugee rhetoric have helped clinch a hefty lead over the governing centrists.
Analysts however also insist the departure last year of centrist leader Donald Tusk to the post of EU council president left his struggling Civic Platform (PO) in the lurch, paving the way for a Law and Justice (PiS) party victory after eight years in opposition.
The PiS scored between 32-40 percent support among voters in surveys released Friday, well ahead of the 24-28 percent for Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz’s PO…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal’s President Inflames Left With Return of Centre-Right PM
Portugal’s president put coalition leader Pedro Passos Coelho back as prime minister on Thursday, igniting protests from leftist parties that could quickly challenge a new centre-right government in parliament where they have majority control.
Passos Coelho’s coalition won the most votes in an Oct. 4 general election but fell short of a majority in parliament, leading the Socialist opposition to try to form an alternative leftist government.
A protracted political stand-off could blight Portugal’s nascent economic recovery just a year after it emerged from an international financial bailout…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Protests as Air France Confirms 1,000 Job Cuts Next Year
Thousands protested across France on Thursday as Air France confirmed it would axe 1,000 workers next year, in its first meeting since unveiling a restructing plan which sparked violence that left two managers shirtless.
Air France CEO Frederic Gagey said 1,000 posts would be cut in 2016 through “voluntary departures” at a meeting of managers and union representatives in central Paris.
He did not say which services would be targeted…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Romania: Migrantes Foundation for Roma Integration
Also to to decrease the influx of immigrants into Italy
(ANSA) — BUCHAREST — Some Roma families living in Mercina, a village in Caras Severin, a region in Banat, eastern Romania, have been helped to move from subsistence to commercial farming, by developing a small business, as part of a project coordinated by Italy’s Fondazione Migrantes, in collaboration with Romanian and Italian authorities. The project aims to integrate the Roma living in Romania, to decrease the influx of immigrants into Italy and will be implemented in some other provinces.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European leaders talk about two things these days; preserving European values by taking in Muslim migrants and integrating Muslim migrants into Europe by getting them to adopt European values. It does not occur to them that their plan to save European values depends on killing European values. The same European values that require Sweden, a country of less than 10 million, to take in 180,000 Muslim migrants in one year also expects the new “Swedes” to celebrate tolerance, feminism and gay marriage. Instead European values have filled the cities of Europe with Shariah patrols, unemployed angry men waving ISIS flags and the occasional public act of terror.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Use Tear Gas Against Anti-Government Rally in Montenegro
Police used tear gas against the protesters in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica.
PODGORICA (Sputnik) — Police used tear gas against the protesters participating in an anti-government meeting in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Saturday.
Earlier on the day, protesters took to the streets of Podgorica to call for the resignation of the country’s government.
The correspondent reported that after using the tear gas, police continued pursuing the protesters running away from the rally, as well as journalists covering the event.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tear Gas Released Twice in One Day in Kosovo Parliament by Opposition Politicians
Kosovo’s parliament suspended its session twice on Friday as tear gas was released into the chamber. Opposition lawmakers were protesting the government’s agreements with Serbia and Montenegro.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jew Hating and Jew Denial: Israel Fighting Palestinian Terror and the Western Media
When I put pen to paper to expose the Jew hatred at the core of the Palestinian cause in my book “Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism” I did so to expose the facts and anecdotal evidence that this perception was dangerously flawed and the real burning rage behind a violence that has been going on for a hundred years was primeval anti-Semitism.
Though many were in denial, preferring to reference Israeli policies not in line with conventional left-wing Western thinking, the overwhelming weight of in excess of three hundred pages of undeniable incidents, together with the eruption of anti-Jewish tirades during the numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations and such expressions by some European politicians during and after the 2014 Gaza conflict, made the thrust of my book resoundingly relevant.
If further evidence of what lies at the heart of Palestinian thinking and planning was needed the outpouring if Palestinian anti-Jewish rhetoric, incitement, and the deliberate hunting and targeting of Jews for knife, gun and rock wielding Palestinian attacks should leave nobody in any further doubt about what is at play here.
Despite the stark reality that the Palestinian cause was never about creating a new and peaceful state that would instantly solve all the problems of the Middle East but rather about killing Jews and destroying the “abomination” of a Jewish state,” a tiny island of progress in the midst of a radical and bloodthirsty Islamic region, many leading politicians and a media in denial still hold to the mistaken notion that only by granting a volatile Palestine statehood will the area calm down.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Leaders Must Lead’: Kerry Works to Calm Israeli-Palestinian Violence
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that Israel and Jordan have agreed on steps aimed at reducing tensions at a holy site in Jerusalem that have fanned Israeli-Palestinian violence.
“All the violence and the incitement to violence must stop. Leaders must lead,” Kerry told reporters in the Jordanian capital after meeting with King Abdullah II and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The top U.S. diplomat said the steps include round-the-clock video monitoring and Israel’s reaffirming of Jordan’s special and historic role as custodian of the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif.
The king suggested that monitoring, according to Kerry, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arabic to be Offered as Second Language in Turkish Elementary Schools
The officials said foreign language courses have been taught to elementary school students from second through eighth grade according to the Primary Education Weekly Course Schedule, which has been in force since the 2013-2014 school year.
Currently English, French and German are being offered to elementary school students. These languages were decided upon by a ministerial cabinet’s decision, while the curriculum of these courses took effect after being approved by the Turkish Education Board.
In this aspect, the Arabic curriculum has also been prepared within the concept of the foreign languages offered to students as part of the Primary Education Weekly Course Schedule.
If chosen by students, Arabic will gradually be offered at schools as of the 2016-2017 school year…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Offers Russia to Cooperate on Transport, Construction Projects
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Russian companies are interested in participating in projects that will be implemented in Iran, including projects related to the development of railway infrastructure, ports; related to the supply of marine and automotive equipment, special-purpose machinery.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iran has offered Russia to take part in transport and construction projects worth over 25 billion euro, or nearly $28 billion, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Iran’s Minister of Ministry of Transportation and Housing Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, Novak stated that Akhoundi had handed over “21 projects worth more than 25 billion euros, which will be implemented in Iran.”
“Russian companies are interested in participating in projects that will be implemented in Iran, including projects related to the development of railway infrastructure, ports; related to the supply of marine and automotive equipment, special-purpose machinery,” Novak added.
According to the Russian minister, the two countries have already agreed to sign binding documents by year-end on the electrification of Iranian railways.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Military Uses Syria as Proving Ground, And West Takes Notice
WASHINGTON — Two weeks of air and missile strikes in Syria have given Western intelligence and military officials a deeper appreciation of the transformation that Russia’s military has undergone under President Vladimir V. Putin, showcasing its ability to conduct operations beyond its borders and providing a public demonstration of new weaponry, tactics and strategy.
The strikes have involved aircraft never before tested in combat, including the Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighter, which NATO calls the Fullback, and a ship-based cruise missile fired more than 900 miles from the Caspian Sea, which, according to some analysts, surpasses the American equivalent in technological capability.
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‘Syrian People’ Must Decide Assad’s Fate: Russia’s Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday insisted it was for the Syrian people to decide on the fate of Bashar al-Assad, following key talks with his US, Saudi and Turkish counterparts.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen Officials Say Talks With Al-Qaida Fail, As Militants Parade Weapons in Aden
Yemeni security officials in government-controlled Aden and tribal mediators say talks to persuade al-Qaida militants to give up their weapons or move out of the southern port city have failed.
Tribal and public figures accepted by both sides, who have been involved in mediation talks, tell The Associated Press the discussions began about three months ago, after government forces pushed Houthi Shiite rebels out of Aden.
Officials in Aden say al-Qaida held large armed parades in Aden in the past two days.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ban Due on Direct Flights Between Russia and Ukraine
Direct flights between Ukraine and Russia will stop on Sunday, as new sanctions initiated by Kiev come into effect.
Moscow first called Kiev’s ban on Russian airlines “madness”, then announced that it would mirror the move.
Ukraine now says flights will end at midnight on Saturday, after last-minute crisis talks failed.
Up to 70,000 passengers a month will be affected.
The sanctions are intended to punish Russia for annexing Crimea and supporting armed rebels in eastern Ukraine. The fact that they have been introduced now, when a ceasefire is finally holding on the ground, shows how bitter relations remain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pesto Sauce a ‘Threat to Russia’s Pine Forests’
(AGI) London, Oct 22 — The taste for pesto, an iconic Italian pasta sauce, is threatening Russia’s pine forests, ecologists say. Global demand for pine nuts, one of the main ingredients, is causing hundreds of hectares of Korean pine trees in south-eastern Russia to be razed to the ground.
Environmentalists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature have pointed the finger at the thousands of pine nut pickers who sell the nuts to Chinese traders who then export them all over the world. European pine nuts are traditionally used, along with basil, to make the sauce, but demand has caused prices to soar, leading in turn to a market shift towards less expensive Asian varieties, of which Korean pine nuts are the most important. Jonathan Slaght of the Russian programme of the Wildlife Conservation Society, has said: “The global demand is making this harvest unsustainable. The entire Korean pine ecosystem could collapse if it continues.” The news was reported in the British Daily Mail newspaper.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Set to Federalize Whether Poroshenko Wants it or Not
Analyzing the chaotic situation around Sunday’s upcoming local elections in Ukraine’s regions, political analyst Alexander Vasilyev suggests that with local political forces presenting an ever-growing challenge to national parties, federalization in one form or another will become a reality whether President Poroshenko agrees to it or not.
In his analysis, published Saturday by Lenta.ru, Vasilyev, a former member of Ukraine’s parliament from the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, noted that as attempts by the president to use national parties to consolidate support in the regions fail, local forces, including regional political heavyweights, anti-Kiev regionalists and candidates belonging to local oligarchs are set to win seats in cities and in regional legislatures.
As a result, Sunday’s elections will demonstrate just how far centrifugal forces have advanced since parliamentary elections last fall, creating a situation where instead of the traditionally expected west-center-east divide, Ukraine could turn into a quilt-like patchwork of conflicting power groups, many of them resistant to Kiev’s control. This, in Vasilyev’s view, will ultimately lead either to Kiev acceding to federalization, or to the country’s further destabilization and breakup.
Despite Poroshenko’s attempt to pass himself off as a unifier, looking for support from all the country’s regions in equal measure, Vasilyev suggests that in fact, his party, “the Poroshenko Bloc, is turning into a typical regional project, with support concentrated in central Ukraine, and having little chance for victory anywhere else.”
The analyst notes that “this is well illustrated, for example, in the mayoral campaign. Candidates from the Poroshenko Bloc are considered the unconditional favorites to win only in Chernihiv [north-central Ukraine] and Kiev…The president’s candidates have a chance to reach the second round of voting in some other cities, but there are territories where even the government’s staunchest supporters are putting pressure on the Poroshenko Bloc.”
Furthermore, Vasilyev explains that things look even worse for pro-presidential forces in western Ukraine and the country’s southeast. “For example, in the local elections taking place in Lviv and Chernivtsi, representatives from Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front are looking to compete with the Poroshenko Bloc, despite promises to abandon the race. This works only to disorient the pro-government electorate.”
As for Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine’s second and third largest cities, respectively, the analyst points out that “the Poroshenko Bloc is giving them up entirely, without any struggle. The only exception in the country’s southeast is Odessa. There presidential protégé Mikheil Saakashvili is on the case, managing to force several local political heavyweights to drop out of local races. But even these measures may only work to give pro-presidential forces access to the second round.” With that said, it’s even possible that the unyielding mayor of Odessa, former Party of Regions politician Gennady Truhanov, may still win in the first round.
National Opposition Parties Not Doing Much Better
Despite the political advantage of a deteriorating socio-economic situation, which can easily be blamed on corruption and government incompetence, Vasilyev notes that none of Poroshenko’s major national opposition party opponents seem to be doing much better against local political forces.
This includes Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party, which seems to have little chance of making political inroads in any of the country’s major races for city council or regional assembly. It also includes Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland Party. “Fatherland’s supporters will try and hold on to the mayoral seats in Sumy and Zhytomyr, and to form small fractions in city councils in Kiev and in her native Dnipropetrovsk, but that’s about it,” the analyst notes.
As for the Opposition Bloc, consisting of representatives from the disbanded Yanukovych-aligned Party of Regions, Vasilyev explains that despite being expected to make a strong showing in the country’s southeast, “up to this point, they have made little tangible progress. Among the large cities, only in the industrial center of Mariupol and Krivoy Rog are candidates from the Opposition Bloc clearly in the lead, and only owing to oligarch Rinat Akhmetov’s support. Squeezed out of his fiefdom in Donetsk by a popular uprising, he is now attempting to maintain political influence in the areas home to his assets. Meanwhile, key southeastern centers including Odessa and Kharkiv do not even have candidates from the Opposition Bloc.”
Dnipropetrovsk oligarch Igor Kolomoysky has also created several regional movements, buying up an eclectic mix of politicians, including former Party of Regions officials (forming the Rebirth Party), and the Ukrainian Association of Patriots (UKROP), a collection of radicals and outright neo-Nazis including Dmytro Yarosh and Andriy Biletsky. Kolomoysky’s top priority, according to Vasilyev, is to win in his home base of Dnipropetrovsk.
Regionalist Candidates Lead the Pack
With virtually all the large national parties expected to make a poor showing, Vasilyev suggests that ‘regionalist’ elites have taken advantage of the weakening center, creating a series of local projects aimed at broadening their autonomy.
The analyst explains that “although regional parties are not provided for under Ukrainian law, in reality more and more emerge every year. The law can be gotten around rather easily: local oligarchs purchase the founding documents of one of the previously registered political parties (and there are over 200 of them) and provide it with the necessary political and economic assets only in their home bases. In the rest of the country, such parties exist only on paper.”
The analyst points out that today, “politicians from a variety of purely local projects are leading or seriously competing with national parliamentary parties across virtually the entire country.”
Vasilyev recalls that division along regional lines “is not something new for Ukraine, with the country divided in its recent history into the canonical west, center and southwest. However, now the situation has changed, and the country is dividing even further (for now, only in the electoral sense) into individual pieces controlled by local interests -in the best case, by region, in the worst -by individual city.”
Hence, the analyst concludes that “if the trend toward regional independence from the central government continues, the country will face a real federalization…with the prerequisites for the emergence of regional separatism emerging in places, together with attempts to throw off Kiev’s control.”
Vasilyev notes that “if before these elections, Kiev controlled the situation in the regions, at least in the legal sense, now, in the case of victory by purely local forces following the elections, some regions may attempt to demonstrate their power before the central authorities, for example, by trying to redistribute tax revenues in the aim of hanging on to funds for the local budget.”
“Such an attempt has been made in the past, with members of the Zaporizhia city council asking Poroshenko for special status. At that time, the president refused the regional leaders, stressing that there would be no federalization. But on Sunday the situation may change…with the local component in the system of regional power increasing dramatically, allowing regional deputies and mayors to ignore the orders of the president outright. And then Kiev will either have to adapt to the status quo (i.e. to change the status of regions under the constitution) or prepare for the loss of a unitary Ukraine.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Why Do So Many Russians Turn to Psychics?
Large numbers of Russians are consulting mystics and psychics — up to a fifth of the population has done so at least once, according to one polling organisation. And there are signs that this tendency is increasing amid economic crisis and conflict in Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh’s Christians Threatened With More Land Grabs
Last week a mob of about 100 Muslims seized a Christian-owned home in Dhaka. Now they want to do the same to neighbouring properties. Local Christian community leaders want a solution, but the Muslim land grabbers refuse. “We have lived here for 300 years. We want to live in peace where we were born,” said displaced Christian.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — After a Muslim mob seized a Christian home last week in the capital of Bangladesh, local Christians fear they might suffer a similar fate.
The same people who forced Tapon Cruze to abandon his three-room house on pain of death are now threatening his neighbours. Their action is not an isolated incident. For years, Bangladeshi Christians have been the victims of land grabs.
“I phoned the occupiers and tried to get them to talk the issue over,” Fr Albert Rozario, parish priest at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, told AsiaNews. “However, they are unwilling to find an agreed solution. They seized with force land that belongs to Catholics and now want to do the same to neighbouring properties.”
Last week, about 100 Muslims broke into Tapon Cruze’s home, not far from the Church of the Holy Rosary, and forced him and his family to flee.
“After losing our home, we are living with relatives,” he told AsiaNews. “We got a lawyer to sue those who grabbed our land. Please, pray for us.”
Local Catholics have been trying to obtain justice, but the Muslim land grabbers are very powerful.
“The criminals are acting unlawfully and unfairly. This is very painful,” said Fr Rozario, who is also secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace.
Before getting Cruze to sell his home under duress, his neighbours are getting threats that their land might be taken away as well.
For Cruze, life is now full of fear. “The land grabbers can come at any time and take away our property. We have lived here for 300 years. We want to live in peace where we were born.”
“All charges against us are false,” Azijulla, the Muslim who led the group that attacked the house. “I have all the legal documents for the land I took.”
Bangladesh has a population of 152 million people, mostly Muslim (89.8 per cent). Hindus and Christians represent respectively 9.1 and 0.2 per cent of the population. In recent years, they have been attacked, their lands seized.
For experts, the main motivation is primarily economic, not religious.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Msgr. Barwa Writes to the Government: Cemeteries, Aid and Justice for Christians in Orissa
The Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, sends an open letter to Prime Minister of the State scene of the 2008 pogroms. The Christian minority “still waiting for justice for the persecution, in a climate of impunity created by political protectionism.” But not only , the community also wants to bury its dead and new appointments in educational institutions for minorities.
Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) — Land to bury the dead in a dignified manner, appointments and government support for numerous schools run by minorities, justice for the pogroms of 2008, which caused casualties and devastation. These are the requests that the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Msgr. John Barwa, has forwarded to the prime minister of the Indian state of Orissa in an open letter.
In the seven point text, the bishop raises some urgent problems for the Christian community and other religious minorities. He begins with a fact: “Christians are the second largest religious community in Bhubaneswar: there are 20 thousand followers of Jesus. And yet we only have one Christian cemetery. In hospitals of the area there are many Christians by the Member of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh: if they die and have no family, we have to bury them here”.
Nevertheless, the government does not give enough space: “In some cases we are forced to bury even four people in the same lot, and that’s unethical. We ask you to provide us the land we need to bury our dead”.
The second point is the issue of teachers for many schools managed by minorities in Orissa, but the government does not appoint new ones when seniors are retiring. Funding is also needed for the maintenance and renovation of facilities. “They are also used real commissions that support underrepresented communities and their members: They are an urgent requirement to help the most needy”.
The last points are dedicated to the pogroms in August 2008 that devastated the area. Kandhamal district, on the basis of false accusations, Hindu extremists unleashed the most violent persecution against the Christian minority in Indiaian history.
These pogroms, writes the bishop, “forced 56 thousand faithful to flee and caused the looting and the burning of 5,600 houses in 415 villages. According to government figures 38 people were confirmed dead, while in fact the dead are at least 90 “.
Furthermore, Msgr. Barwa notes “those found guilty for this tragedy are still at large. Of 3,232 complaints lodged with the police only 825 cases have been opened, including 302 arbitrarily closed for ‘lack of evidence’. Out of 35 murder cases, 33 have been shelved. The rape of a nun led to the conviction of one man”.
This climate of impunity, he writes, “comes from fundamentalists groups who are supported by political parties that orchestrate, manage, instigate and carry out actions against the Christian minority. Therefore the culprits enjoy a political patronage whose real role has not yet been understood. We ask you, sir, for a thorough investigation: today the administration is affected to the detriment of poor Christian victims”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Islamic State’ Claims Responsibility for Bangladesh Bombings: Monitor
The “Islamic State” terrorist group has said it was responsible for the attack at an annual Shiite celebration, a monitoring group reported. At least one person died and dozens more were injured in the bomb blasts.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Maldives Vice-President Adeeb Arrested Over ‘Bomb Plot’
The vice-president of the Maldives has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate the president, say police and officials.
Ahmed Adeeb was in detention and being charged with high treason, Home Minister Umar Naseer said on Twitter.
President Abdulla Yameen narrowly escaped injury when a blast struck the boat he was using to return home from the airport late last month.
In recent years, the Maldives has been rocked by political infighting.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Series of Bomb Blasts in Bangladesh Injure 90 People at Shia Procession
A series of bomb blasts in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, injured at least 90 people on Saturday morning, killing one person, IBN Live TV channel reports.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to police, the blasts occurred at a Shia mosque as worshippers were preparing for a procession in celebration of the Shia religious holiday of Ashura, IBN Live said.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities have been able to establish that the bombs used were hand-made and were thrown at the Shia gathering.
Two other incidents of sectarian violence occurred on Friday in Pakistan amid Ashura celebrations.
A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people at a procession of worshippers in the city of Jacobabad, in Pakistan’s Sindh province. In a separate attack, a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people at a Shia mosque in the southwest of Baluchistan province.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkmenistan President Makes Poetic Debut
The leader of isolated Turkmenistan has grabbed the headlines in the ex-Soviet state by publishing his first poem, a brief ode singing the praises of his energy-rich homeland.
The four-verse poem titled “Forward, only forward, my dear country Turkmenistan” was published on the front page of every state newspaper, along with a large smiling portrait of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
This is the first venture into poetry by the 58-year-old president, a former dentist, who has previously written 15 books on race horses, medicine and Turkmen art.
His books are sold in all the country’s bookstores and have been translated into foreign languages…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Deutsche Telekom, Huawei in Cloud Link to Rival Amazon
German telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom said Friday it is to partner with China’s Huawei to offer public cloud computing services in a bid to rival US behemoth Amazon.
T-Systems, Telekom’s IT division, will run the network and manage cloud storage data in project “Open Telekom Cloud”, using Huawei servers and solutions expertise.
The Chinese firm will not have access to the data, Telekom said in a statement following the inking of a cooperation agreement with its partner Thursday night. The German firm is seeking to consolidate its leading position in the European cloud — or online — services market…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Japan’s Hidden Caste of Untouchables
Japan has a reputation of being a homogeneous, mostly harmonious society. There are few foreigners, linguistic differences are rare and on the surface class distinctions are largely absent. But, as Mike Sunda discovered, there is one, often hidden, exception: Japan’s untouchables.
In the corner of a pristine room tucked away in Tokyo’s Shibaura meat market is a table topped with a stack of crudely composed hate mail — evidence of a prejudice that dates back to medieval times.
Slaughtermen, undertakers, those working with leather and in other “unclean” professions such as sanitation have long been marginalised in Japan. That prejudice continues to this day and especially for those working in the Shibaura abattoir.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sucking up to Muslims and Wasteful Spending
Dick Smith stores of Australia received some rather harsh communications from the Islamic council of Australia. The conspired to bully Dick Smith store into gaining halal certification. Otherwise they were to be proscribed and banned from customary Muslim acceptance. The good folks at had a rather uncustomary response for the Muslim bullies. “We at Dick Smiths have received a number of letters from people asking if we will be putting the Muslim halal logo on our food.” The Australian food seller went on to point out that basically, they would be paying high prices for Muslim inspectors who will simply make sure they comply with certain Muslim conditions of halal certification.
In addition, halal certification does not reflect upon or improve the quality of food. So far, major food producers such as Kraft and Cadbury have already cow towed to the Muslim extortionist bullies and pay huge halal fees which are passed on to customers through higher food prices. The halal demands are not even religious based, but rather commercial in nature only. Another reason, Dick Smith foods decided against caving in to the Muslim extortionists because the money that would be wasted to try and please Muslim bullies is being better utilized in the aid of worthy charities that help those in need.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Embassy Helps Pretoria Students’ Charity
AGI) Cape Town, Oct 22 — The Italian Embassy in Pretoria has set up a project to help disadvantaged students. “Bo’nna — dal mio punto di vista”, organised by the embassy, the Italian Cultural Institute of Pretoria, Oxfam Italia, the United Nations and the town of Tswane and supported by the Italian National Olympic Committee, focuses on education and creativity. Francesco Balletti, a member of the Italian diplomatic mission, said the project would promote the ethical values of friendly competitiveness in sport and life, to help overcome prejudice and violence in Italy and South Africa. The pilot project has introduced photography to 30 disadvantaged students at the elementary school of Rivoningo in Pretoria. The aim is to stimulate them to describe their everyday life through the eyes of others. Mr Balletti said: “We believe that it is important for students, especially those living in less advantaged areas, to strengthen their sense of identity.
Photography is a fantastic tool and it will help them to express themselves in different ways.” The Open Window Institute set up a course fro them on the basics of using a camera and natural light. Two pictures taken by each student will be selected and published in a catalogue. They will be evaluated next month and the best divided into three categories: “Who am I?”, “My heritage” and “Succeeding in sports”. The winner will receive a camera. “But it is not a matter of just prizes. By promoting and encouraging competiton among children we hope to inspire them to follow education to achieve their dreams,” said Mr Balletti.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
S. Africa Scraps University Fee Hikes in Face of Protests
South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday abandoned proposed hikes to university fees after student protests culminated in police firing stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas outside government headquarters.
Some demonstrators tried to force their way towards the Union Buildings in the capital Pretoria, tearing down a security fence, setting fire to portable toilets and hurling bricks at police lines in chaotic scenes.
Zuma had been due to address the volatile crowd after meeting with student leaders and university officials inside the buildings, but instead he read a short statement at a televised press briefing.
“We agreed that there will be a zero increase of university fees in 2016,” he said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina Flips Over Barbie and Ken as Saints
Behold Barbie and Ken: she is all lovely and smiling, and he is a trim, tanned stud if ever there was one. They are the cult doll duo of the last half-century.
But how about dressing them up as figures of actual worship — Catholic saints or Hindu deities? That’s what a pair of artists in Argentina have done, infuriating Catholics in the country, the homeland of Pope Francis.
Their exhibit featuring the dolls dressed as various gods and saints — “Barbie, the Plastic Religion” — opens this week to the public.
“If there is a babysitter Barbie, and a lion tamer and even an astronaut, why can’t there be Virgin Mary Barbie?” asked Marianela Perelli, one of the artists, in her studio in Rosario, 300 kilometers (180 miles) north of Buenos Aires…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Don’t Come’: Finland Launches Facebook Campaign to Grapple With Migration
The Finnish Foreign Ministry has reportedly rolled out a social media campaign in Iraq and Turkey to warn potential migrants against traveling to Finland.
A Facebook campaign has been launched by the Finnish Foreign Ministry to advise potential Iraqi and Turkish asylum seekers against entering Finland, the country’s broadcaster Yle reported.
The goal of the Don’t Come campaign is to try to make young people in Iraq and Turkey believe that the trip to Finland is not worth the risk and costs potential migrants will face on their way to the destination.
According to Finnish Foreign Ministry, the campaign, which was rolled out in Arabic, has already received about 80,000 views.
Sampo Terho, chairman of the Finns Party in the country’s parliament, said, for his part, that the campaign is aimed at containing the so-far “uncontrolled” influx of migrants, according to Yle.
“This realistic message about the possibility of receiving asylum status in Finland is in the best interests of the country as well as those who are planning the journey here,” Terho said.
In a clear reference to possible Turkish and Iraqi migrants, he warned against wasting money on a pointless trip.
“If it’s practically a sure bet that you will be repatriated, why then would you waste up to 10,000 euros on the trip,” Terho said.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Finland has become the third most popular EU country among asylum seekers. Germany and Sweden reportedly take first and second place, respectively, in terms of the number of asylum applications.
In late September, Finnish media reported that the country has received more than 15,000 refugees since the beginning of 2015. The Finnish government expects up to 50,000 thousand refugees to enter the country by the end of 2015. According to a government website, Statistics Finland, 57,232 babies were born in the country in 2014.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Fatal Stabbing Attack at Swedish School Highlights Racial Tensions in Migrant-Friendly Nation
The southern industrial city of Trollhattan has become a focal point for Sweden’s underlying racial tensions, which contrast with the nation’s generous attitudes to migrants.
On Thursday, a 21-year-old local man rampaged through a school in the city, stabbing two people to death and seriously wounding two others before being fatally shot by police. Authorities called it a racist hate crime, saying he methodically selected dark-skinned victims at Trollhattan’s Kronan school, where most students are foreign-born.
Many in this nation of 10 million were horrified by the violence but not surprised at its eruption, since the surge of refugees into Europe has increased anti-immigrant attitudes. Swedish immigration officials estimate some 190,000 asylum-seekers will arrive this year, second only to Germany in Western Europe.
A teacher at a school near Kronan, Jo-Anne Frampton, told The Associated Press that the school attack in Trollhattan was “just a matter of time.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary’s PM Suggests Multiculturalism ‘Endangers European Values’
In an interview for Spanish television channel Intereconomia TV on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested that the policy of multiculturalism endangers European values, creating ‘parallel societies’ which threaten the values of freedom of speech, religion, equal rights, and gender equality.
The prime minister, known for his outspoken and often controversial commentary on the migrant crisis, suggested that if large numbers of migrants come to Europe and “retain their own communities based on different values,” co-existence will mean forcing Europeans to accept these values as well, a summary of the interview published on the president’s official website explained.
Saying that the rise of such “parallel societies” may threaten many of the “pillars of the European way of life” — the rights and freedoms that Europeans take for granted, Orban suggested that the only way to prevent this from occurring is not to let migrants in, “not to allow them to create parallel societies.”
The prime minister, well known for his defense of European civilization and its Christian roots, reiterated in his interview that the continent’s future prosperity and greatness will depend on nations taking their “traditions and Christian roots seriously.” Moreover, the leader lamented what he said was a grave mistake: “that an affirmation of Europe’s Christian roots [was] not laid down in the European Union’s fundamental documents.”
Commenting on the refugee crisis plaguing many European nations, including Hungary, which recently closed its borders to neighboring states, Orban suggested that immigrants coming to Europe must make their intentions clear: “If someone wants to live together with us, they must first reveal who they actually are and what their intentions are, and all these issues must be clarified.”
The prime minister stressed that this is something which is not happening at the moment. “We do not know who these people are, what their plans are, how they wish to maintain their own ideals, and we do not know if they will respect our culture and laws. This is an unregulated, uncontrolled process, the definition of which is invasion.”
Orban also stressed the necessity to separate genuine refugees from economic migrants.
Finally, the PM stressed that in addition to the problem of ‘parallel societies’, the refugee crisis has brought out other problems which seem inherent to the European project, namely -that people have not been able to vote on what is happening. Orban also noted that the refugee crisis has led to a crisis of the Schengen zone, suggesting that in order for Europeans to be able to move about in the continent freely, Europe must do more to protect its external borders.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker Shares Concerns Over Xenophobia as Germany’s Asylum Policy Kicks in
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has expressed concern about xenophobia in Germany. Juncker addressed the issue as the country’s amended asylum seekers policy came into effect.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Keep Coming Despite Bad Weather
More than 2,500 refugees arrived in Athens on Saturday from Lesvos as authorities on the eastern Aegean island stepped up efforts to deal with an influx of migrants from neighboring Turkey.
A total of 2,528 refugees landed in Piraeus aboard two ferries on Saturday before making their way to Athens. Despite an initiative by municipal authorities to host the migrants in temporary centers most new arrivals prefer to camp out at the capital’s squares before continuing their journey.
Bad weather at the end of last week did not deter smuggling boats from bringing scores of migrants to Lesvos and other islands from neighboring Turkey, fuelling fears of a new wave of drownings.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Face Grief and Illness on Greek Island of Samos
The coastguard headquarters in the port of Samos is crowded with UN aid workers, Red Cross staff and an Arabic translator.
Three Greek patrol boats operate nightly around the shores of Samos. In recent weeks there has been a surge in arrivals. More migrants have fled here from Turkey than to any other island except Lesbos.
Thunderstorms, continuous rain and flooding are now lashing the island, but there is no sign of a let-up in terms of numbers.
In September, around 8,000 migrants crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands per day. That figure has risen to 9,000, according to the UN.
Around 1,500 a day reach Samos.
Samos and four other Greek islands are due to open more permanent reception centres by the end of November. But officials here are worried about how their tiny island will be affected when vast numbers of migrants are no longer just passing through.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Not a Basic Right for All’: Hungarian PM Defends Anti-Immigration Approach
Hungary’s anti-immigration prime minister has hit out at critics of his hard-line stance towards the refugee crisis. Viktor Orban has accused the media of misrepresenting the demographic of refugees and migrants by choosing to broadcast images of predominantly women and children and said they instead resembled an army.
In an address to the conservative members of the European People’s Party congress in Madrid, Orban said:
“Does it comply with the freedom of information and speech that media usually show women and children while 70 percent of the migrants are young men and they look like an army?”
“This is an uncontrolled and unregulated process.”
“Right to human dignity and security are basic rights. But neither the German nor the Hungarian way of life is a basic right of all the people on the earth.”
The Eastern European country’s attitude towards the refugee crisis is well known, and well-documented. Footage has continuously emerged online and in print, showing police dressed in riot gear firing tear gas at refugees or throwing food to them in a pen.
The most obvious sign of Hungary’s determination to keep migrants out is the razor wire fence, blocking its borders with Serbia and Croatia. Hungarian laws have also been changed so that if any person succeeds in crossing the metal fence — they are instantly arrested for illegally entering the country.
And the message that refugees are not welcome has also been sent further afield to camps in Lebanon, where the Hungarian government paid for advertising in local newspapers and posters on billboards, telling refugees that they were not welcome.
Orban’s actions have received wide condemnation, mainly from other EU leaders. During the meeting of conservative parties from all acrosss Europe,Orban defended his position. However, other EU leaders have welcomed the draconian measures taken by Hungary — Slovenia hasn’t ruled out building a fence on its border with Croatia.
Criticizing the response from the European Commission to impose mandatory migrant quotas on EU countries and Germany for opening its arms to over a million predicted refugees this year, Orban warned that it wasn’t just resettling refugees that was the problem.
“What we have been facing is not a refugee crisis. This is a migratory movement composed of economic migrants, refugees and also foreign fighters.”
The infiltration of Islamic State militants on refugee boats has been revealed by WikiLeaks. Classified document showed that EU leaders were aware of the potential risk that terrorist networks were infiltrating smugglers boats from Libya and arriving on EU shores.
Another outspoken critic of the administration in Brussels, Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party claimed half a million Islamic extremists could cross the Mediterranean and reach Britain as a result EU policies.
“The clear demand for the rapid implementation of a common EU migration and asylum policy, to be confirmed in a vote in the European parliament, would be wholly unacceptable to a United Kingdom that already has levels of immigration that are too high, and as ISIL have previously threatened, could lead to half a million Islamic extremists coming to our countries and posing a direct threat to our civilization,” Farage told a meeting in Strasbourg.
While the world’s media remains focused on the treatment of refugees by individual countries — the intelligence services are focusing on the potential for refugees to be radicalized by Islamic State militants.
Meanwhile, Hungary, along with many other Eastern European countries, remains keen on building its own economy, whilst approaching the refugee crisis in isolation — despite calls for solidarity from Western European countries.
Six hundred thousand people have arrived in Europe so far this year — the majority heading West, looking for a new life in Germany or Sweden.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Police Clear Last Migrant Camp
More than 1,300 migrants were moved out of a disused Paris school on Friday, the last major camp in the French capital and where they had spent months in increasingly rough conditions.
Police transported the group from the school in a fleet of buses early in the morning, according to AFP journalists at the scene, taking them to hostels and special accommodation around Paris.
“I don’t know where we’re going, but it has to be better than here: we can have a shower, food. Here, there were too many fights,” said a Moroccan man, carrying two stuffed suitcases.
Paris city authorities said a total of 1,308 people left the delapidated building, including 40 women…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees Flood Into Slovenia Ahead of European Crisis Summit; EU Plan Slammed as ‘Impossible’
A day ahead of a European summit on the migrant crisis, Slovenian officials staggered to cope and tempers flared Saturday at an overcrowded refugee center as thousands more asylum-seekers poured into the tiny Alpine nation.
European nations have been criticized for being slow to react as hundreds of thousands of people seeking safety pour in through Greece and Italy. But a draft plan submitted to countries coming to the Brussels summit by European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker was already drawing strong opposition.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said the EU plan urges countries not to “wave” asylum-seekers across their borders without consulting with their neighbors.
“That is impossible, whoever wrote this does not understand how things work and must have just woken up from a months-long sleep,” he said Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Police Need More Resources: Commissioner
Swedish National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson says the country’s police forces will need more money and better recruitment if they are going to manage what they’re tasked with, especially given the influx of refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: More Fires at Buildings Planned for Refugees
Two more buildings connected to refugee housing were hit by suspicious fires on Friday night. One of the structures burned for the second time in less than a week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Watch This Angry Foreigner: Here’s What Happened in Sweden
Editor’s Warning: In certain countries and on some internet platforms the following videos are considered politically incorrect, hateful, and racist. Under some legal systems those responsible for the production of this content could be imprisoned or put to death.
Just about every developed nation in the world is willing to take in immigrants and especially refugees seeking asylum from war torn or politically tyrannical regions. In the West especially, the native populations have contributed time and treasure to give those who are less fortunate a better opportunity in life.
But what happens when foreign migrants start to take advantage of their new found homes? What happens when those refugees refuse to speak the native language, follow the laws of the land or assimilate in any way to the new culture?
It appears that all over the world, most notably in present-day Western Europe, immigrants from countries with completely different world views and legal perceptions are moving in and pushing their agendas on the natives, often with full support from their elected representatives and their media mouthpieces.
In an incredibly insightful opinion piece from an Angry Foreigner living in Sweden, we learn that it’s not just Americans who are fed up with the political correctness being forced upon the people by politicians, feminists, cultural groups, and immigrants themselves.
As you watch the video you’ll no doubt notice some key parallels between Europe and the United States. For all intents and purposes you could swap out the word “Swedes” for “Americans” and the points being made still ring true.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Carly Fiorina, Common Core, Planned Parenthood & Destroyed Hard Drives
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions. -THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 19, 1785
Carly Fiorina is now the flavor of the month with the MSM and talk show hosts, none of whom have done any research into the woman’s background and beliefs. Strong debate performances and conservative sound bites don’t tell the full story. If you haven’t read Part 1 of my article on Carly, please do, as you will learn of her destruction of Lucent Technology and Hewlett Packard.
There is a reason Fiorina shows up on lists of the “Worst CEOs Of All Time,” (See here, here, here, here, and here among others) and it’s not because the whole business world is engaged in some kind of conspiracy to portray her as an incompetent. Was HP better off after Carly left than when she arrived? The answer is no. [Link] Despite the spin she tries to put on it, Carly Fiorina was a disaster for Hewlett Packard, and they’re still suffering from her so-called leadership. [Link] Fiorina left HP with one of the largest golden parachutes, really unheard of! [Link]
Don’t forget about her trading with Iran in violation of U.S. trade sanctions by using a foreign entity. [Link] According to a column by Josh Rogin: “Under Fiorina’s leadership, Hewlett-Packard sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of products to Iran through a foreign subsidiary, despite strict U.S. export sanctions.” [Link]
When Carly was forced out of HP, the very next day, HP stock jumped over 10%. [Link]
Remember too, Carly openly stated in a speech that she uses the Marxist Hegelian Dialectic every day. Check out this amazing article on Carly and Hegel.
Don’t forget Carly’s love of the Islamists, and her speeches extolling Islamic history only nine days after 9/11.
[Comment: Read it all.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How to Stamp Out Cultural Marxism in a Single Generation
There are many intelligent commentators on the Web who have consistently demolished the PC mob with reason and logic, and I leave that battle to them. In this article I would like to continue my examination but with the goal of presenting some real and tangible solutions. And like most solutions to most problems, it is the individual who is required to draw the line in the sand and change the way he approaches the realm of cultural Marxism. It is not up to groups, organizations or governments.
First, let’s be clear, cultural Marxism has already done most of the damage it can possibly do to our way of life. And by damage, I mean the end of long-standing foundational pillars of society that provide stability and prosperity, including traditional marriage (not government-licensed marriage), family, gender “roles,” etc. (which cultural Marxists openly boast about tearing down).
In Western nations male suicide rates are way up. Women’s proclaimed levels of happiness and contentment are way down, despite the fact that they have had wage equality for decades (yes, the wage gap is a perpetually pontificated Lochness monster-sized myth that was debunked years ago by economists like Thomas Sowell), despite the fact that they have surpassed men in educational participation and despite the fact that they have total control over family planning.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Bishop Defrocks Gay Priest Who Sparked Vatican Fury
A Polish bishop on Wednesday defrocked a high-ranking Catholic priest fired by a furious Vatican earlier this month after he came out as gay on the eve of a key synod on the family.
Bishop Ryszard Kasyna has decided that Krzystof Charamsa should no longer be able to celebrate mass, administer sacraments like communion and baptism or wear a cassock, according to a statement on the website of their northern Pelplin diocese.
Charamsa had held a senior position working for the Vatican office for protecting Catholic dogma, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The 43-year-old priest sparked outrage at the Vatican on October 3 by publicly declaring his homosexuality — and presenting his Catalan boyfriend Eduardo — on the eve of a bishops’ synod set to touch on the divisive issue of the Catholic Church’s relationship to gay believers…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mother Forced to Hand Baby to Gay Father Wins Right to Tell Her Story
A mother whose baby was removed on the orders of a judge has won the right to tell her story. High Court judge Justice James Holman (pictured) overturned the decision to gag the mother.
A mother whose baby was removed on the orders of a judge and given to a gay couple has won the right to tell her story in a victory for free speech.
The woman was left devastated by the judge’s decision earlier this year — and was then banned from giving her side of the story by a draconian court order.
Justice Alison Russell ruled in April that the mother should not be allowed to keep her 15-month-old child after an alleged surrogacy deal she had struck with two gay men — one of whom is the biological father — broke down.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |