A brawl broke out today among “refugees” at an asylum center in the northern German town of Itzehoe. The trouble began when an Arab insulted a group of Kurds, and escalated to involve at least fifty people. The combatants threw furniture and beat each other with table legs. At least six people were injured.
Meanwhile, Germany has decided to make the asylum process more orderly by restricting the inflow of migrants to only five locations along its border with Austria.
In other news, a Russian passenger jet crashed in the Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for shooting it down, but experts consider it very unlikely that ISIS could have shot down a plane traveling at that altitude.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Gaia, Insubria, LP, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Greek Banks Face 14.4-Bn-Euro Capital Shortfall, Says ECB
The European Central Bank on Saturday said four major Greek banks would have a capital shortfall of up to 14.4 billion euros ($15.8 billion) if the economy took a turn for the worse.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
S&P Downgrades Saudi on Oil Price Slide
Standard and Poor’s lowered its long-term credit rating for Saudi Arabia one notch to A+ after the kingdom’s deficit rose sharply because of low oil prices.
The ratings agency maintained its negative outlook on Saudi Arabia, a key member of OPEC, saying in a statement that the decision reflected the challenges of reversing the “marked deterioration” in the Saudi fiscal balance.
S&P said it could further lower the ratings within the next two years if Riyadh fails to achieve a “sizable and sustained reduction in the general government deficit”.
It said Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s leading oil producers, had seen its deficit climb to 16 percent of GDP in 2015 compared with 1.5 percent in 2014, because of the plunge in the price of crude oil, Riyadh’s main source of revenues…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
4 Dead, Including Suspect, In Colorado Springs
(CNN)Three people were killed in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Saturday morning before city police officers shot and killed a suspect, said the sheriff’s office of El Paso County.
CNN affiliate KRDO reported that a heavily armed man shot and killed a bicyclist and two women. Witnesses said the man set the second floor of a residence on fire, KDRO reported.
Police received a report of a shooting about 8:45 a.m. along with a description of a suspect, the sheriff’s office said.
Police encountered the suspect at Platte Avenue and Wasatch Street. The suspect fired multiple shots, and police returned fire and killed the suspect, the sheriff’s office said.
Aaron Nicks told CNN affiliate KKTV that police shot the man “a good 20 times.”
“What I saw was he kind of, like, spun around and [police] yelled, ‘Drop it,’ and he kind of [gestures as though he’s holding a gun] went to aim and that’s when they shot him down.”
A pedestrian told KRDO that he was almost caught in the crossfire.
“The cop pulled up and said, ‘Drop your gun,’ and as soon as I heard that I got on my stomach in the median and they started shooting at each other and the bullets went over me,” Ross Trottier said.
No identities or details were given concerning the people killed or the suspect. “We do not believe there is any further threat to the community,” the department said in a news release.
About 10 downtown blocks were shut down while the incident is investigated, Jacqueline Kirby of the sheriff’s office told CNN…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Interrupted by ‘Black Lives Matter’ Protesters
US Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton was interrupted Friday by protesters from the “Black Lives Matter” movement while speaking about the criminal justice system at a historically black university.
The former secretary of state was heckled by chants of “black lives matter” reportedly coming from around a dozen people, not long after launching into her speech in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Yes they do,” Clinton responded, rolling with the interruption. “And I’m going to talk a lot about that in a minute.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Three Dead in Horrific Halloween Crash in Bronx
Three people — including a 9-year-old girl — were killed when a car plowed into a group of trick-or-treaters in the Bronx Saturday, officials said.
The horrific Halloween scene unfolded just before 5 p.m. when a 57-year-old motorist behind the wheel of a dark four-door Dodge careened onto the sidewalk on Morris Park Ave. near Bogart Ave. in Morris Park — straight into the path of a group of children looking for some holiday treats.
The car plowed through the group and smashed into a chain-link fence, officials said.
All of the children were in Halloween costumes, witnesses said.
[…]
As ambulances arrived, a 65-year-old man lay dead on the sidewalk, officials said.
A 9-year-old girl and a 24-year-old woman were rushed to Jacobi Hospital, but doctors were unable to save them, officials said.
A 3-year-old girl whisked away from the scene was also at Jacobi in critical condition. The driver, a second 9-year-old girl and a 21-year-old woman were also hospitalized, but were expected to survive.
The victims’ names weren’t immediately disclosed.
Police sources say the motorist may have been involved in a road rage incident with a Toyota right before the crash. The Toyota fled the scene, witnesses said.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
US Spends $35bln on Aid Programs, But Can You Guess Where the Money Goes?
An infographic by HowMuch.net puts into perspective just where US priorities lie in the provision of economic aid. Hint: the largest recipient isn’t exactly the most destitute country in the world.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. HowMuch.net author Raul Amoros proves that the same is apparently true about some some infographics as well.
With the US providing approximately $35 billion in economic aid to 142 countries around the world in 2014, Amoros explains that his map is meant to show “the relative size of each country…proportionate to the aid received from the United States,” with the color of each country indicating GDP per capita, from dark red ($866-$4,999) to blue ($30,000 or more).
As the figures brought to life by the map show, Israel is the only country to receive aid with a GDP of more than $30,000. And it gets a lot — $3.1 billion worth. Poland, Kazakhstan, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are the only other relatively wealthy countries (with GDP per capita of between $20,000-30,000) to receive US economic assistance, getting more modest sums, ranging from $500,000 (Argentina and Uruguay) to $16 million (Poland).
Along with Israel, which received roughly 9% of total US economic aid in 2014, other countries to make the top five include Egypt ($1.5 billion), Afghanistan ($1.1 billion), Jordan ($1 billion), and Pakistan ($933 million).
Amoros also discovered, looking at the US State Department report explaining the US’s 2013-2015 foreign aid program, that the entirety of Israel’s $3.1 billion in funding was used for military purposes. In Egypt, similarly, a whopping $1.3 of the $1.5 billion total was also used for military-related activities.
In fact, according to the State Department, a full 17%, or $5.9 billion of all US government aid was used to finance foreign military spending, with 24% ($8.4 billion) used toward global health programs, $4.6 billion (13%) for economic assistance, and $2.5 billion (7%) for development assistance.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Cannot Claim Right to Self-Determination: UN Chief
The United Nations does not view Spain’s separatist-ruled Catalonia region as having the right to self-determination, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in an interview published Saturday.
“Spain is an independent and sovereign country that includes the Catalan region,” Ban told four Spanish newspapers, El Pais, El Mundo, ABC and La Vanguardia.
“It is in this way that it was admitted to the United Nations and acts within the international community,” he said, according to a Spanish translation of his comments published by El Pais.
Pro-independence parties in the wealthy northeast Spanish region are seeking to pass a resolution in the Catalan parliament in early November announcing the formal start of secession from Spain and the formation of a new republican state within 18 months…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Investigation Blows Wide Open Huge Scale of NSA European Spy-Ops
A special investigation into the extent of mass surveillance carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA) within Germany has unveiled a huge list of targets wanted by the US agency, including many European governments and companies.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under enormous pressure to reveal how much she knew about the country’s co-operation with the US National Security Agency in spying on industrial and diplomatic targets.
In an effort to distance herself from the spying scandal after it was alleged she knew about her own government’s co-operation with the NSA, despite publicly criticizing it, she called for an independent inquiry under leading judge Kurt Graulich who was called on to scrutinize a list of targets handed to the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) by the US.
The first report from Graulich raises serious allegations against the United States, suggesting that the intelligence-sharing agreements between the NSA and BND have been broken and that the extent of the NSA program was much broader than the German Government would allow. Many of the targets, he found, were against the interests of Germany and its European partners.
According to Der Spiegel newspaper, Graulich investigated 39,000 keywords used by the NSA in a period from 2005 to March 2015. These included search terms — known as selectors — with which the NSA crawled international communication.
The reports says that the German intelligence agency was given the selectors by the NSA and ran searches which were not covered by German law, which is very strong on data privacy.
US Spied on Allies
Nearly 70 percent of the screened selectors concerned the authorities of EU countries, says the report.
“Whole staffs of European governments were the target of American spying. Nearly 16 percent of the selectors were related to telecommunications subscribers in Germany, which are protected by the Basic Law against spying through their own intelligence services,” the paper reported.
Graulich said he had asked the NSA for an explanation into what appeared to be illegal surveillance but had not received a response. Cooperation between the NSA and BND was “neither transparent nor controllable for the German side,” he concluded.
The spying affair dates back to 2013 when it was alleged that the NSA had even bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.
This prompted her spokesman Steffen Seibert to say she had phoned US President Barack Obama saying she expected the Americans “to supply information over the possible scale of such eavesdropping practices against Germany and reply to questions that the federal government asked months ago.”
Obama promised her the US was “not monitoring and will not monitor” her communications but German diplomatic sources said they were still not satisfied with the White House’s explanation.
It emerged later, however, from sources including former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, that the US embassy in Berlin, overlooking the Reichstag, was being used as a base for a special unit of the CIA and NSA to monitor a large part of cell phone communications in the government district.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ikea Billionaire Pays First Swedish Income Taxes Since 1973
The billionaire founder of flatpack furniture chain Ikea has paid Swedish income tax for the first time since he left the country in 1973, a report said Friday.
Ingvar Kamprad declared income of 17.7 million Swedish kronor (1.9 million euros, $2 million), with 1.2 million kronor coming from work, according to the Dagens Nyheter daily.
The 89-year-old paid around six million kronor in taxes, the newspaper said.
The Kamprad family reportedly holds around 40 billion euros ($44 billion) in assets, with the Ikea founder himself sitting on a fortune of an estimated three to four billion euros…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pansa: Bassolino Cleared in Campania Trash Case
Acquittal linked to handling of waste build-up in 2008
(ANSA) — Naples, October 27 — Former national police chief Alessandro Pansa and former Campania governor Antonio Bassolino were acquitted by a Naples court on Tuesday of charges of neglect of duty in relation to a trash crisis in the southern Italian region.
Pansa was indicted in his role as special commissioner for the rubbish emergency between 2007 and 2008.
Both men were on trial in connection with their alleged failure to issue written orders to stem the crisis. Several Campania mayors were also acquitted. “This is yet another acquittal on merits for Bassolino in relation to the Naples rubbish affair,” his defence lawyer Giuseppe Fusco said. “Bassolino has always defended himself before the courts demonstrating and declaring his faith in the judges”.
Campania has suffered repeated trash crises in recent years after running out of places to put its waste.
In January 2008, the region suffered a collapse in the rubbish-collection system.
Despite drafting in the army to clear the streets, reopening old dumps and moving containers of waste out of Campania by ship and train, an estimated 40,000 tonnes of rubbish continued to line the region’s streets at one point.
Residents in towns where some of the sites are located, worried about repercussions on their health, staged protests, often clashing violently with the police.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Navy Officers Arrested for Graft
Suspects ‘extorted kickbacks from Navy suppliers’
(ANSA) — Taranto, October 29ì8 — Two Navy officers were placed under house arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of graft.
Captains Alessandro Dore and Giovanni Caso are suspected of extorting kickbacks from civilian goods and services suppliers in exchange for military contracts.
Police searched their homes and those of another eight suspects in the case — six officers, one junior officer, and a civilian Navy employee — and seized assets worth 500,000 euros.
The investigation that started last year led to the arrest in 2014 of Captain Roberto La Gioia, and in January this year of officers Attilio Vecchi, Riccardo Di Donna, Marco Boccadamo, Giovanni Cusmano, Giuseppe Coroneo, Antonio Summa, and civilian Leandro De Benedectis. Prosecutors say Caso, 48, “continued to demand and obtain kickbacks even after his colleague La Gioia was caught red-handed” last year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Expulsion Would Put Touil in Danger Say Prosecutors
Milan court rejected extradition to Tunisia this week
(ANSA) — Turin, October 30 — Turin prosecutors on Friday said that Abdel Mayid Touil, a Moroccan national suspected by Tunis of involvement in the Bardo Museum massacre, would face “serious personal risks” if he is expelled from Italy. The prosecutors told a court hearing that they backed a defence petition for an expulsion order to be dropped. On Wednesday a Milan court rejected a request for Touil to be extradited to Tunisia, where may have faced the death penalty.
The Tunisian authorities believe he participated in the March 18 attack on the museum in the Tunis that claimed the lives of 21 tourists, including four Italians, and one Tunisian police officer.
Milan prosecutors asked for the investigation against him to be dropped on grounds there is no evidence to support the charges against him.
Several witnesses have testified that Touil was in Italy on the day of the attack.
But the 22-year-old could still face expulsion from Italy on grounds he is in the country without a permit to stay.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: RFI Rail Company Chief Arrested in Kickbacks Probe
Lo Bosco allegedlyu accepted 58,000-euro bribe
(ANSA) — Palermo, October 28 — Dario Lo Bosco, president of the Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) rail network company, was arrested on Thursday over allegations he pocketed a kickback of 58,650 euros linked to a contract for equipment, ANSA sources said. Three public officials are said to be implicated in the corruption probe. The bribe Lo Bosco allegedly accepted concerns a contract for sensors to monitor train runs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Marino Withdraws Resignation Amid Stand-Off With PD
Reprieve to be short as majority found to sink defiant official
(ANSA) — Rome, October 29 — Amid high drama for the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD), outgoing Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino on Thursday withdrew his recent resignation over an expenses scandal and said he wanted to press on.
But the self-awarded reprieve, ahead of Monday’s deadline for making the resignation effective or not, looked set to be very short as the PD turned to allies and the opposition to swell the ranks of its councillors and give the majority needed to scotch the defiant first citizen’s bid to cling to his post.
Along with the 19 PD councillors, two more from within the ruling coalition plus four from the opposition said they would quit with them by Friday night.
That would make a majority of 25 on the 48-strong city council, effectively ending Marino’s chances of sticking it out.
The mayor, however, made it plain he was not going to go silently.
He said he wanted a council debate “in the sacred place of democracy…with my majority to illustrate what has been done: the positive things, the mistakes and the vision for the future”. Marino insisted that he wanted “an open, frank and transparent discussion in the Julius Caesar Room,” where the city council convenes.
The mayor went into what could well be his last executive council meeting Thursday night with three councillors missing.
He appeared likely try to dig in until a cherished project, completing the transformation of the Roman Forum into a pedestrian zone, was approved by the council — although his wishes could be thwarted.
The PD councillors agreed their mass resignations earlier in the day in a meeting with Rome PD commissioner Matteo Orfini, who has the full confidence of PD leader and Premier Matteo Renzi in handling the affair. Despite losing thr support of Renzi and the PD, Marino had vowed “not to disappoint” supporters, quoting Che Guevara’s saying “We are realists, we want the impossible” and also likening himself to Chilean leftist leader Salvador Allende.
The PD said the expenses row was just the last in a long series of furores that mean the mayor could not regain its trust.
The PD pulled the plug after months of sometimes grudging support through woes including the ‘Capital Mafia’ case, an illegally parked car, the glitzy funeral of a mafia boss and Pope Francis’s public disowning of Marino after he claimed to have been invited to an event in Philadelphia.
The city of Rome is standing as civil plaintiff in the Capital Mafia trial, starting November 5, involving allegations that an organised crime group muscled in on council contracts worth millions including work with migrants and Roma.
Most of the Capital Mafia cases began under Marino’s rightwing predecessor Gianni Alemanno.
Marino has claimed credit for unearthing much of the graft.
But aside from the rows that have undermined his position, Marino’s record on trying to solve Rome’s many woes, from potholes to traffic to graffiti and general urban neglect that has won international attention, has been spotty at best — and he has happened to be on holiday or otherwise absent while many of the controversies were peaking.
However, his supporters saw him as a clean politician who has tried to tackle problems linked to powerful vested interests, and even his opponents have recognised the basic honesty of the former liver transplant surgeon.
But the end of Marino’s bid to stay afloat was overshadowed by comments from Italian anti-corruption czar Raffaele Cantone, who said Wednesday that Milan was Italy’s capital of morality and that Rome does not have graft antibodies. Marino countered by saying “Rome has antibodies and they are working”.
He also denied reports he was holding out in order to win a demonstration of gratitude or another important position from the PD.
“Here the issue is not Ignazio Marino but Rome,” he said. “Ignazio Marino does not have anything to ask or negotiate for with anyone”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Church of Scientology Set to Open New Centre in Milan
Will be organisation’s biggest centre in Italy
(ANSA) — Milan, October 29 — The Church of Scientology is set to open its new Milan headquarters on Saturday in a former office of technology company Philips, which will be its biggest centre in Italy.
Several senior figures linked to the controversial American organisation are expected to attend the private inauguration ceremony.
Work on the new centre was carried out discreetly in just a few months and residents nearby only found out about what it was going to be a few days ago when the “Church of Scientology” sign appeared on the building.
The organisation promotes a set of beliefs created by L.
Ron Hubbard. Its teachings focus around the idea of humans as immortal alien spiritual beings temporarily trapped on Earth in their physical bodies.
It has courted controversy due to its status in between a religion and a commercial enterprise, and it has also been described as a cult. Furthermore, accusations of harassment techniques against critics have also drawn attention.
“We intended to make an official announcement after the inauguration,” the organisation said. “We also had no plans to invite the press.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Senator long at odds with Renzi
(ANSA) — Rome, October 28 — Senator Corradino Mineo on Wednesday quit the Democratic Party (PD) and joined the mixed caucus.
Mineo, a leftist former State broadcaster RAI journalist, has long been at odds with PD leader and Premier Matteo Renzi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Abruzzo High School Bans Stiletto Heels as Safety Risk
In seismic zone, makes evacuation problematic
(ANSA) — Avezzano, October 26 — A high school in the seismic area of the province of L’Aquila has decided to ban high heels for students and staff because of the security risk they pose in the event of having to escape due to an earthquake.
Data related to injuries in the school environment stemming from footwear such as high heels, clogs, and flip-flops led school administrators to make the decision to ban heels higher than four centimetres.
“The directive isn’t the result of a puritanical fantasy,” said school principal Anna Amanzi.
“It’s a serious requirement, that is, to teach students prevention and education, above all in a high-risk seismic zone like the Marsica,” Amanzi said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 40% of Schools Don’t Have Cafeteria — Save the Children
Prices vary widely
(ANSA) — Rome, October 28 — Some 40% of Italian schools don’t have a cafeteria, Save the Children said Tuesday.
The percentage rises to 53% in Puglia, 51% in Campania and 49% in Campania, it said, while a third of northern schools don’t have a cafeteria.
Prices varied widely between various cities — from 7.7 euros for a meal in Ferrara to 0.35 euros a day in Salerno.
If families don’t pay a child is barred from the cafeteria in Brescia, Foggia, Modena, Novara, Palermo, Sassari, Salerno and Taranto.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: First Kosher Parmigiano Reggiano Presented at Expo
About 5,000 wheels to be produced annually
(ANSA) — Milan, October 27 — The first wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese certified as “kosher” or in line with Jewish dietary law, has been presented at Milan’s Expo world fair.
The cheese, presented in Israel’s pavilion at the fair, is produced in strict accordance with the rules governing Jewish food and diet.
The project to make a “kosher” parmesan started a year ago in the Bertinelli farming company in Parma. The wheel opened at Expo was one of the first to reach the right level of maturation.
It has been certified by the “OK Kosher Certification” agency, based in New York.
The company is planning to produce about 5,000 wheels of the kosher parmesan annually.
“We are on the verge of a new and important reality for Parmigiano Reggiano,” said the President of the cheese’s consortium Giuseppe Alai.
“New sales and consumption areas are opening, among observant Jews but also among millions of people who choose kosher food due to its recognised high value in terms of healthiness,” he said.
Kosher food makes up almost 30 percent of all food sold in U.S. supermarkets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lufthansa to Stop Flying Over Sinai After Russia Plane Crash: Report
Lufthansa will stop flying over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula “as a security measure” after a Russian plane crashed in the area on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board, a spokeswoman for the German airline told a newspaper.
The flagship carrier made the decision to avoid the Sinai area so long as the reason for the crash of the Airbus A321 remains unknown, the spokeswoman told German daily Die Welt.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Some 1,000 Sicilians Stage Anti-NATO Military Drills Rally
Chiara Paladino, one of the protest organizers, said around 1,000 people demonstrated in Marsala, south of the Vincenzo Florio Airport used as a NATO forward operating base.
ROME (Sputnik) — Protesters in the Italian island of Sicily demonstrated against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Trident Juncture-2015 exercises on Saturday less than 10 miles from a NATO base.
The military alliance’s largest exercises in over a decade involving over 36,000 troops from 30 NATO members and partner countries, Trident Juncture moved into an active phase across southwestern Europe in mid-October.
“We are against NATO, against war, against the enormous costs that go to the upkeep of military bases,” Chiara Paladino, one of the protest organizers, told RIA Novosti.
Paladino said around 1,000 people demonstrated in Marsala, south of the Vincenzo Florio Airport used as a NATO forward operating base. Anti-NATO protesters gathered from across the province of Trapani, including large Sicilian cities of Palermo, Catania, Messina and Ragusa, she said.
The rally is scheduled to wrap up at 17:00 GMT.
A similar anti-Trident Juncture and anti-NATO rally took place in the major Sicilian city of Palermo late on Friday.
The first phase of the Trident Juncture drills began October 3, running for two weeks in Canada, Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The second phase, which ends on November 6, is taking place in southern Europe — Spain, Italy, and Portugal — as well as in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Spanish and Portuguese demonstrators staged protests against NATO this month.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Leading People’s Party Set to Win December Elections
Spain’s ruling People’s Party is expected to win December’s parliamentary elections with 27 percent of the vote, according to the poll.
MADRID (Sputnik) — Spain’s ruling People’s Party is expected to win December’s parliamentary elections, a DYM poll revealed Friday.
According to the poll, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is expected to come third behind the party Citizens.
According to the pollster, People’s Party will attract 27 percent of the vote, Citizens will obtain 20.3 percent, while the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party is expected to take just 18.2 percent.
The poll was conducted among 1,002 people by means of telephone interviews between October 15 and 26.
Spain’s general elections are scheduled to be held on December 20.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands in Paris Anti-Racism Rally Mark 2005 Riots
Condemning racism and police heavy-handedness, thousands of people attended a “march of dignity” rally in Paris on Saturday to mark a decade since the deaths of two youths sparked nationwide riots.
The pair were electrocuted at a power substation on October 27, 2005 as police investigated a reported break-in at a building site in the northern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, which has a sizeable immigrant population.
Their deaths were the trigger for three weeks of riots across France as tensions already simmering over high youth unemployment and police harassment of youths from poorer housing estates boiled over…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Alleged Assault Victim Asked: ‘Do You Think You Were Dressed Appropriately?’
Thousands of Egyptians are turning on the TV host who said a victim of alleged sexual assault wore “revealing clothes” — and the programme at the centre of the case has now been temporarily suspended.
The story began when a violent confrontation was captured on closed-circuit television. A man and a woman walk into the frame and seem to be arguing in the middle of the shopping mall when suddenly the man reaches out and slaps the woman, before he’s restrained by mall security and onlookers. The woman in the footage complained to the police that the man was sexually harassing her.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
These are the first images of the mangled wreckage of the Russian passenger jet that crashed this morning, killing all 224 people on board.
The harrowing photos were released by the office of Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail, who visited the crash site in the Sinai Peninsula.
They show the destroyed interior of the Irish-owned aircraft, which split apart upon impact, killing 200 adults, 17 children and seven crew members.
It comes as Egypt has recovered the aircraft’s black box, which is now being examined by experts in a bid to determine the cause of the disaster.
The Islamic State group affiliate in Egypt has claimed it downed the aircraft, but has not said how it might have done so.
Egypt and Moscow, however, have denied any possible terrorism link in the incident, one of the deadliest Airbus crashes in the past decade.
This evening, the prime minister’s office said: ‘The black box was recovered from the tail of the plane and has been sent to be analysed by experts.’
It added that more than 45 ambulances have been dispatched to the crash site, with rescuers having recovered 129 victims’ bodies so far…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Ice Cream Makers Set Sights on Saudi Arabia
Sace insures 560,000-euro ice cream producing machinery
(ANSA) — Rome, October 26 — Italian ice cream producers are turning their sights on the lucrative market in Saudi Arabia.
The Sace agency has insured for some 560,000 euros the supply in Saudi Arabia of a plant for the production of ice cream to be carried out by the Italian company Technogel, a firm from Grassobbio in Bergamo province that is a world leader in ice cream producing machinery, the company said.
Thanks to this scheme Technogel obtains a foothold in Saudi Arabia, one of the countries with the most potential for Italian exports.
Sace predicts an increase of 4.3% annually on average of exports in the mechanical instruments sector.
Technogel has been in business since as long ago as 1955 in more than 60 countries, exporting innovative solutions to the needs of small artisanal producers and medium or large scale industrial producers.
In six years of partnership with Sace, the company has exported its machinery to Perù, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico and Brasil in business together worth more than 3 million euros.
“Sace has been a good partner that allowed us to propose financial solutions to our customers at competitive costs, reducing credit risks,” said Roberto Rossi, managing director of Technogel.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US to Allocate Additional $100mln to Support Syrian Opposition
US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States will provide an additional $100 million in assistance in support of the Syrian opposition — bringing total support for their efforts to $500 million.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will allocate additional $100 million to provide assistance to the so-called Syrian moderate opposition, thus amount of US support since 2012 will total $500 million, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Saturday.
“This morning, I am pleased to announce that the United States will provide an additional $100 million in assistance in support of the Syrian opposition — bringing our total support for their efforts to $500 million,” a statement said.
Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, as Syrian government forces fight opposition factions and extremist groups, including Islamic State (ISIL) and the Nusra Front insurgent groups.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the United States and its allies have supported opposition factions they consider to be “moderate,” and have called for President Bashar Assad to resign.
Russia considers Assad the legitimate authority in the country and has promoted a peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Police Find Half a Ton of Caviar in Speeding Hearse
In country’s far east
(ANSA) — Rome, October 27 — Police in Russia’s far east said Tuesday they stopped a hearse speeding on a highway only to find half a ton of caviar stashed inside, the Associated Press reported.
The interior ministry’s department in the Khabarovsk region said the hearse was caught speeding on the road connecting Khabarovsk, not far the Chinese border, to a city further north.
When police officers asked the driver to open the car they saw plastic containers with caviar hidden under the wreaths lying next to a casket. More caviar was found inside the casket, which did not contain a body.
Caviar production in Russia is strictly regulated, with wild caviar production often being suspended amid fears for the extinction of sturgeon populations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Leader’s Wealth Grows Despite War, Economic Woes
The value of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s assets soared despite economic crisis and conflict while those of other tycoons shrank in an annual wealth list published Friday.
The 50-year-old Western-backed president’s business empire ranges from chocolates to media holdings that still remain under his control.
Friday’s independent Novoye Vremya weekly showed the Ukrainian leader — often criticised for failing to curb the political powers of fellow tycoons — ranked as the country’s sixth-richest man…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Scientist Bhargava Returns Award: Modi Wants to Create “Hindu Religious Autocracy”
The scientist is one of the highest authorities in India in the study of molecular biology. He denounces the climate of religious intolerance unleashed by Hindu fundamentalists. “The Indian Constitution demands that we possess scientific temper and a commitment to reason.” But the extremists who support the Hindutva kill secular writers, Muslims and those who disagree with their view of “Hindu nation”.
Hyderabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Dr. Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, a leading Indian scientists, has decided to return the Padma Bhushan award in protest against the climate of “religious intolerance” that has spread in the country.
The award is one of the most important honors awarded by the President of India to those who stand out “in the high service to the nation.”
While returning the prize, Bhargava stated: “This award was very dear to me, I’ve received over 100 awards but this is the only one I received from the government, but I’m giving it away without any hesitation because at this moment the climate is such that we have many concerns. “
Dr. Bhargava, founder and director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, was also awarded the French Legion of Honour. He is the latest in a long list of intellectuals who in recent weeks have been returning prestigious lifetime awards to protest against intolerance and violence unleashed by Hindu fundamentalists in India.
Only a week ago about 100 writers took to the streets in the capital of the demonstrating against the killing of secular writer MM Kalburgi, murdered in late August for his ideas on worship of Hindu deities and sacred rituals. Also they denounced the numerous incidents of violence against religious minorities in the country, of which the case of the Muslim man lynched in Dadri (Uttar Pradeshfor eating beef, is only the most striking.
Critics of the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, the Hindu nationalist party) Narendra Modi complain that he can not doing enough to counter the extremism of Hindu fanatics and protect freedom of expression.
The scientist added: “ The government is moving away from the path of democracy and moving on a path of religion and making the country into a Hindu religious autocracy “. “Our constitution — he concludes — demands that we possess scientific temper and a commitment to reason”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Spends Millions for Afghan Hospitals, But Doesn’t Know Where They Are
Almost two dozen hospitals that the US has funded in western Afghanistan, costing over a quarter of a billion dollars, are in locations that the United States Agency for International Development cannot pinpoint.
Being unable to locate the hospitals leaves them at risk of a deadly attack similar to the one that the US was responsible for on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz.
Federal watchdogs with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction at 23 of the 63 of the hospitals in the province of Herat, but only 12 were located within a kilometer of where USAID sent them.
Seven of the hospitals were more than five kilometers away from where they were sent.
Out of the remaining 40 sites, the watchdogs could only even confirm the existence of 19 of them.
“For the remaining 21 facilities, USAID provided old or unclear photographs which did not demonstrate the physical location or existence of the purported facility,” the report stated.
The reported pointed out that not only is this incorrect data troublesome for oversight purposes, but given the bombing in Kunduz it could prove to be catastrophically dangerous.
“The recent destruction dramatizes the importance of having accurate GPS coordinates for healthcare facilities,” the report asserts.
Following the report being made public, USAID issued a statement to Yahoo News claiming that they have found the remaining hospitals. The statement read:
“GPS coordinates are important and one of the tools we use — along with site visits, inventory inspections, and community feedback — to monitor our projects in Afghanistan. As we and the rest of the donor community work to improve the accuracy of the coordinates, we have mobilized local Afghan staff and independent monitors familiar with the areas to visit, observe and evaluate the clinics. Using similar methods, SIGAR was able to locate and confirm the operation of the 23 clinics they inspected in Herat.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Airbus Helicopters Signs 750 Mn Euro Deal With China
Airbus Helicopters said Friday has signed a letter of intent for the sale of 100 H135 helicopters to China and the construction of an assembly plant there.
The 750 million euro ($800 million) deal for the versatile twin engine machines often deployed in emergency medical services came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the Asian giant.
European manufacturer Airbus Helicopters has a 40 percent market share of a Chinese market, and believes the country has a 20-year demand of up to 5,000 copters…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Survivors’ Stories: Documenting the Human Cost of Boko Haram
Ibrahim fled his home in Gwoza, northeast Nigeria, in August last year, when invading Boko Haram fighters took over the town as part of the Islamist group’s self-declared caliphate.
The businessman lost his home, cars, money and his brother, who was shot dead as they fled the carnage, spending 14 days on the road and barely eating.
He now lives with his two wives and 13 children in a camp for displaced people 130 kilometres (80 miles) away in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
The family relies on handouts for food and his children cannot go to school because they can’t afford the fees…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Restricts Migrant Entry to Five Points on Austrian Border
Germany said Friday that asylum seekers would only be able to enter the country at five points along its border with Austria to better control a mass influx.
“We would like to have a more orderly procedure,” a spokeswoman for the interior ministry told AFP, saying Germany had reached agreement on the new policy with the Austrian government.
“The rule will go into effect immediately,” she added…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Punch-Up at German Asylum Centre Leaves 6 Injured
Some 50 people at a German shelter for asylum seekers engaged in a violent brawl overnight, hurling chairs and beating each other with table legs, leaving six people injured, police said Saturday.
The punch-up, which took place in the northern town of Itzehoe, was the latest illustration of the rising tensions between refugees at the country’s overstretched reception centres.
The dispute broke out during the evening meal on Friday when an Arabic-speaking refugee insulted a group of Kurds, a police statement said. The confrontation quickly escalated, drawing in around 50 people who threw tables, chairs and benches and beat each other with table legs…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Bishops Back Gay Marriage
Church of Norway bishops said Friday that they were unanimously in favour of allowing gay couples to marry in religious ceremonies, a hot-button issue to be decided on next year.
After a meeting lasting several days, the 12 bishops called for the synod — the church’s governing body — to adopt new rules allowing the same rights to apply to both heterosexual and homosexual couples when it comes to marriage in the church.
Last year’s synod rejected a proposal allowing religious marriages to gay couples. But next year’s April synod could bring change as the last church elections ushered in more liberal leadership…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Czech TV debate with both sides: opening talk by Deputy Minister Andrej Babiš:
Kind Of TV Discussion About Immigration You Will NEVER See On Western MSM … (eng sub)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GDKbVwbX-k
Punch-up at German asylum centre. Merkel will find that controlling the Muslims is like herding cats.
For german/ french speakers, another article on
” when will I get my house & car?” ask refugees in Germany
http://www.medias-presse.info/immigration-quand-vais-je-recevoir-ma-maison-et-ma-voiture-demandent-les-refugies-en-allemagne/42314