A Jordanian policeman open fire at a police training facility in Amman, killing four people, including two Americans and a South African. A number of other people were wounded. The alleged shooter’s brother said that the supposed perp was sane and not an extremist.
In other news, 26 French policeman were injured in confrontations with “refugees” at a migrant camp near Calais. Meanwhile, anti-immigration conservatives won a plurality of parliamentary seats in the Croatian elections, but will have to form a coalition to be able to govern.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, DV, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JLH, LP, MC, Nick, RR, 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.
China Imports Fall in Sign of Battered Domestic Demand
China’s imports fell 16 percent in October from a year ago to 833.14 billion yuan ($131.2 billion), official data showed on Sunday, underlining battered domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy where downward pressures on economic growth persist.
A key driver of world growth and the planet’s biggest trader in goods, the slowdown in China’s economic expansion has sent jitters across global stock markets and taken a great toll on resource-rich countries for whom the Asian country is a crucial client.
Exports, too, continued their losing streak from July, dropping by 3.6 percent year-on-year in October to $1.23 trillion as foreign demand languished, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Eurozone to Deny Greece Bailout Cash
Eurozone finance ministers were set to withhold two billion euros from Greece’s huge bailout at a meeting on Monday, European sources said, as tensions resurfaced just months after Athens narrowly avoided a euro exit.
Athens has failed to meet strict reform commitments, with differences over foreclosure rules as the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insists on protections for low-income home-owners, officials said.
Creditors the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed an 86-billion-euro ($96 billion) debt rescue on July 13 but set tough conditions requiring Athens to cut spending, raise taxes and modernise the economy.
“There will be no deal on Monday on the two billion payment,” a senior European source told AFP, hours after senior eurozone officials failed to forge a compromise in preparation for the meeting of 19 eurozone finance ministers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Struggles to Meet Latest Bailout Demands
Eurogroup finance ministers are tackling the Greek Government Monday over the latest US$2 billion tranche of its bailout package, which is contingent on home loan foreclosures and unpaid taxes.
The Greek creditors — the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank, the European Stability Fund, and the EU — are at loggerheads over two issues: foreclosures and tax arrears.
In an effort to recapitalize the banks, people who cannot pay off their mortgages would have their property seized, to be sold off to the banks. However, there is disagreement over the protection of primary residences — with the Greek Government totally against the idea of mass foreclosures.
Meanwhile, the talks are struggling to get agreement over the 100-installment scheme, whereby Greeks can repay unpaid debts to the treasury in 100 installments over time. According to Greek authorities, individuals and businesses owe US$78 billion to the state and pension funds.
The creditors are demanding that anyone who defaults should be excluded from the scheme — with the whole amount then becoming due — but the Greeks are calling for a 25-day grace period. If Monday’s talks fail, the issue will move back to further talks Wednesday, stalling further the recapitalization program which is already running three weeks late.
Social Unrest
The major sticking point for the Greek Government is the social unrest that is likely to follow mass foreclosures or defaults on treasury repayments.
“We are committed to implementing the program fully and credibly,” a Greek government spokesman told reporters.
“But we need political stability. And the precondition for political stability is social cohesion. The program will not be viable if it doesn’t take into consideration the level of tolerance. We have to be careful not to go beyond common sense.”
The delay is likely to further frustrate talks as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras struggles to implement the harsh conditions of the bailout with his country’s creditors.
It is widely believed that he has agreed to the reforms of taxation and pensions, as well as deep cuts in public spending, in the quest of early debt relief — writing off a proportion of its debt — at the earliest opportunity.
Greece’s creditors has so far refused to consider debt relief for Greece, against the long-term advice from the IMF which said in July that the bailout terms and conditions made the country’s debt position “unsustainable”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Poverty Relief Could Come From Golden Pensions Says INPS
Social security institute presents bill to make system fairer
(ANSA) — Rome, November 5 — State social security institute INPS said Thursday the funds to relieve poverty among people aged over 55 and promote turnover could be sourced by cutting so-called golden pensions and annuities for elected officials.
“The potential losers include roughly 250,000 recipients of golden pensions and more than 4,000 recipients of annuities for elected office,” INPS said.
The proposals were set out in a bill to reorganise Italy’s struggling social security system and make it fairer.
“Limited costs are imposed on roughly 230,000 high-income families (belonging to the 10% of the population with the highest income),” INPS said.
Under the proposals, these families would see a “reduction in the welfare payments destined to them”.
The social security institute also suggested recalculating pensions for elected officials “according to contributions paid, as is now the case for all new workers”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
OECD Shaves Global Growth Forecast, Sounds Alarm on Trade
The OECD cut Monday its global growth forecasts, sounding the alarm on stagnating trade, which has in the past been the canary in the cage for a global recession.
Nevertheless, thanks to stimulus measures taken by China and other countries, the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation believes the impact shall be mitigated.
It trimmed its forecast for global growth this year by a tenth of a percentage point to 2.9 percent, while lowering its 2016 by three tenths of a percentage point to 3.3 percent.
“Global growth is projected to strengthen slowly over the course of 2016-2017, against a background of subdued inflationary pressure,” said the OECD, which sees a pick up to 3.6 percent growth in 2017…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Padoan Says Italy Not ‘Flash in Pan’, Demands Berlin Cut Trade Surplus
Berlin must act to cut trade surplus, says minister
(see related stories on OECD, Mattarella) (ANSA) — Berlin, November 9 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said the upswing in Italy’s economic performance is fueled by the government’s reforms, rather than a temporary effect of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme. “Our progress is not a flash in the pan lit by the ECB, but the result of our commitment to reforms,” Padoan told Die Welt. Padoan added in the interview published with the German daily that Berlin should take action to “reduce its excessive trade surplus”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
All US State Governments Plagued by Corruption, Secrecy — Report
Corruption and malfeasance are rampant in state governments throughout the United States, according to the latest edition of the State Integrity Index, a data-driven assessment by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity.
Journalists based in state capitals examined their respective states using 245 indicators; those indicators were then divided into 13 categories, including: public access to information, political financing, electoral oversight, executive accountability, legislative accountability, judicial accountability, state budget processes, state civil service management, procurement, internal auditing, lobbying disclosure, state pension fund management and ethics enforcement agencies.
Editors at Global Integrity and the Center for Public Integrity reviewed the journalists’ work, and experts in every state independently reviewed the data.
All 50 states were scored on a scale of 100, with 59 or below as a failing grade. No state got a grade higher than a C, while 11 failed outright and 36 received Ds.
Alaska scored a 76, giving it a C and the highest grade in the nation; no other state got a grade higher than a C-minus. Michigan was worst, failing with a score of 50.5.
The results are “disappointing but not surprising,” said Paula A. Franzese, an expert in state and local government ethics at Seton Hall University School of Law and former chairwoman of the New Jersey State Ethics Commission.
Franzese said that, with many states still struggling financially, ethics oversight in particular is among the last issues to receive funding.
Since the first edition of the study, in 2012, there has been little progress. At least 12 states have seen legislative leaders or cabinet-level officials charged, convicted or resign as a result of an ethics or corruption-related scandal, the study said.
But no state has outdone New York, the study said, citing a count by Citizens Union, a local advocacy group.
Fourteen state lawmakers have left office in New York since the beginning of 2012 due to ethical or criminal issues, it said, noting that the count does not even include former leaders of the New York State Assembly or Senate, both of whom remain in office despite criminal charges.
No state saw its score fall farther than New Jersey. In 2012, New Jersey earned a B+, the best score in the nation, thanks to tough ethics and anti-corruption laws that had been passed over the previous decade in response to a series of scandals, the study said.
New Jersey dropped to 19th place overall with a D grade as a result of Governor Chris Christie administration’s fighting and delaying potentially damaging public records requests and meddling in the affairs of the State Ethics Commission, the study said.
Another contributing factor is Bridgegate, the scandal over the George Washington Bridge that has led to the indictments of one of the governor’s aides and two of his appointees.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Houston, Texas, is anything if not “progressive.” After all, voters there have thrice elected a militant lesbian activist as that city’s chief executive. After Mayor Annise Parker’s misogynistic bathroom bill spiraled down the toilet bowl, she angrily proclaimed, “No one’s rights should be subject to a popular vote!”
On this we agree, Ms. Annise. No woman, teenager or little girl should ever have her absolute right to safety and privacy subject to a popular vote. How dare you place women and children in danger and force your constituents to reaffirm this self-evident truth.
If you have a trace of honor, you’ll resign.
Women have a right not to be confronted in the shower by a naked, mentally ill man in lipstick. To say that he’s the “discriminated against” party here, represents everything wrong with today’s America. While I’m proud that Parker, a public official, has blocked me, a private citizen, on Twitter, all the foot stomping and “equal rights” propaganda in the world couldn’t block the people of Houston from protecting themselves, their wives and their daughters.
But we shouldn’t be surprised at Parker’s rage. HERO was her own personal Rosemary’s baby—the bastard byproduct of corrupt political artificial insemination. She had already pulled out all the stops to ram it through. You may recall that just last year, in an effort to bully them, she illegally subpoenaed the sermons and privileged communications of a number of Christian pastors who vocally opposed the bathroom bill, as well as having her city attorney, David Feldman, subvert Houston’s citizen petition process by illegally tossing out nearly three-quarters of the already validated petition signatures needed to put her utterly insane “gender neutral” ordinance up for a vote by the very people whose privacy it would sexually assault.
It took the Texas Supreme Court and the voters of Houston to set Ms. Parker, um, straight.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christians’ Lack of Discernment is Costing us Our Nation and Freedom
In my last article, Why The GOP Establishment Hates Trump, I touched on the culpability of Club for Growth (CfG) in designing polls and attack ads which would give Dr. Ben Carson the lead over Donald Trump. CfG claimed Trump was all for “eminent domain,” and they gave examples which were totally false.
Leading up to the CNBC debate, there were countless media reports breathlessly reporting that conservative businessman Donald Trump was no longer the frontrunner. The liberal media loved it, as did the GOP globalists, and they were gleefully reporting Trump was losing steam to his competitor, Dr. Ben Carson. All false propaganda. The rise in Carson’s numbers were due to the people who believed the false rhetoric…mostly, the Christians!
According to the newly released Economist/YouGov national poll, Trump is leading the GOP field by 32%! This is 14 points ahead of Dr. Ben Carson. He was even leading in the GOP nationally prior to the MSNBC debate.
Where Trump goes to speak, the places are packed, standing room only, with many left outside unable to get in to hear him!
[…]
Unfortunately, many of today’s Christians are rarely using discernment. They fall prey to the words, never doing as God said, and being fruit inspectors. We simply must judge by actions, and not by words alone. Many today don’t read anything, they don’t research anything, and they listen, with their mouths agape, thinking they’re listening to the truth from candidates like the soft-spoken, Dr. Carson. They believe the attack ads and false polls, without one iota of research! Remember, it was Joseph Goebbels who said, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.” This is what CfG is doing, and the foolish Christians fall for it.
[Comment: Article lays out leftist ideology/connections of Club for Growth.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton vs Trump: Hillary Claims Veterans’ Healthcare Deaths Are a GOP Created Scandal
Following the release of GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s release of his written plan to stop the deaths of U.S. military veterans at the hands of President Barack Obama’s minions, the leading Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, has distorted the facts regarding a nationwide disgrace: the incompetence and dangerousness of the Veterans Affairs healthcare system, according to a number of former military officers and investigators.
During an interview with the arguably far-left cable news channel MSNBC, Clinton insisted that the so-called wait-list-scandal just an exaggeration by Republican lawmakers and conservative media: “It’s not been as widespread as it has been made out to be,” she claimed referring to the length of waiting time for veterans who needed medical attention.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Defense Secretary Suggests Putin Might Nuke America, Says US Will “Defend International Order”
Of course to be fair to Carter, Washington hasn’t exactly put him in a good position. After all, what the US is doing in Syria is deplorable and with the passing of MANPADS and anti-tank missiles to Sunni extremists near Aleppo, the whole “strategy” now borders on the bizarre, especially in light of what happened over the Sinai Peninsula last weekend and also taking into account Washington’s relationship with Siite militias battling ISIS in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the situation in the South China Sea is just downright silly, as Washington and Beijing risk starting World War III over 3,000 acres of sand that Beijing piled on top of reefs in the Spratlys.
Still, when you’re the face of The Pentagon, you’ve got to champion the narrative and that narrative now revolves around two things, i) a resurgent Russia, and ii) the rise of China.
Put simply (and colloquially), more than one US military strategist believes the US and NATO would be “annihilated” in a Balkan battle with the Russians and when it comes to China, well, getting into a maritime dispute in the South Pacific (which is the right way to analyze this by the way, because it’s not like Beijing is going to sail into San Francisco and invade the US mainland) might be a horrible idea:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fatal Rush-Hour Shooting Near Penn Station
One man was killed and two others critically wounded during a rush-hour shooting near Penn Station on Monday morning, authorities said.
The gunfire erupted at 6:14 a.m., just outside the turnstiles of the northeast entrance of the station at 35th Street and Eighth Avenue, police said.
The shooter, who fired off four 9mm rounds, has not been captured, and fled north on Eighth with two accomplices in a silver vehicle, law enforcement sources said.
Moments before the shooting, all three men were inside a McDonald’s at 490 Eighth Ave., when they were approached by a heavyset man in a black hooded sweatshirt, police said after reviewing surveillance footage.
The man then followed the trio into the subway station, where he shot them, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
The men were shot from behind and didn’t see their attacker coming, law enforcement sources said.
The dead man, who was shot in the head, was identified as 43-year-old Angel Quinones.
The two critically wounded men were taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, authorities said…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Four Months After Pluto Flyby, NASA’s New Horizons Yields Wealth of Discovery
From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, NASA’s New Horizons science team is discussing more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Maryland.
“The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It’s why we explore — to satisfy our innate curiosity and answer deeper questions about how we got here and what lies beyond the next horizon.”
For one such discovery, New Horizons geologists combined images of Pluto’s surface to make 3-D maps that indicate two of Pluto’s most distinctive mountains could be cryovolcanoes — ice volcanoes that may have been active in the recent geological past.
“It’s hard to imagine how rapidly our view of Pluto and its moons are evolving as new data stream in each week. As the discoveries pour in from those data, Pluto is becoming a star of the solar system,” said mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
From Protesting Vietnam to Demanding “Safe Spaces” — What Happened to America’s College Kids?
For all its failings, at least the 60’s protesters actually attempted to confront real issues, and sometimes even paid the highest price for doing so. Today’s college youth are not only not confronting any of the pressing issues of the day, but they aren’t risking anything at all, because they are the establishment.
For example, in almost all cases where coddled, thin-skinned students claim their feelings are hurt, school administrators bend over backwards to appease them, legality notwithstanding (see: Speechless — UCLA Engages in Absurd, Anti-Intellectual and Dangerous Attack on Campus Free Speech). In fact, if anyone is being discriminated against, it’s those rare and courageous professors who publicly stand up to this unconstitutional nonsense. Which brings me to today’s post about an ongoing incident at Yale.
As the always excellent Lenore Skenazy explains in her post: Mob of Yale Students Scream Profanities about Halloween Costume Insensitivity:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Get Out of My Class and Leave America
Author’s Note: The following column is comprised of excerpts taken from my first lectures on the first day of classes this semester at UNC-Wilmington. I reproduced these remarks with the hope that they would be useful to other professors teaching at public universities all across America. Feel free to use this material if you already have tenure.
Welcome back to class, students! I am Mike Adams your criminology professor here at UNC-Wilmington. Before we get started with the course I need to address an issue that is causing problems here at UNCW and in higher education all across the country. I am talking about the growing minority of students who believe they have a right to be free from being offended. If we don’t reverse this dangerous trend in our society there will soon be a majority of young people who will need to walk around in plastic bubble suits to protect them in the event that they come into contact with a dissenting viewpoint. That mentality is unworthy of an American. It’s hardly worthy of a Frenchman.
Let’s get something straight right now. You have no right to be unoffended. You have a right to be offended with regularity. It is the price you pay for living in a free society. If you don’t understand that you are confused and dangerously so. In part, I blame your high school teachers for failing to teach you basic civics before you got your diploma. Most of you went to the public high schools, which are a disaster. Don’t tell me that offended you. I went to a public high school…
| — Hat tip: JLH | [Return to headlines] |
Goal of Climate Change is to Destroy Capitalism
For years now so many of us have been stating all this Climate Change garbage was lies set up to make certain corporate and individual citizens very rich — but that there had to be something else going on.
Americans unquestioningly jumped on the Climate Change agenda without asking any questions and laying out their undying loyalty to the “money munchers’ as long as they themselves made money.
Recently, we had one of the world’s top supporters of Climate Change come out and state the true reason this was put in place.
Isn’t it interesting that no matter what the topic, when a progressive/liberal/socialist are so deeply embedded in their ego’s, they can’t help but blow the whistle sometimes just to bring attention to themselves.
Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), warned that the fight against climate change is a process and that the sought-after transformation of the world economy will not be decided at one conference or in one agreement.
For some reason she felt the need to tell the world the Global Climate lie was created to transform the world’s economy to “redistribute the wealth” by of all the wealthier nations to take care of the poor ones. One of Obama’s favorite phrases!
I thought that was what our money going to the crooked United Nations was supposed to be doing. You and I both know that has been a lie since its inception also.
But you see, a great many of us already knew this — but this woman had just admitted it!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Horizons: Pluto May Have Ice Volcanoes
Two possible ice volcanoes have been identified on the surface of Pluto.
They are seen in images returned from the New Horizons probe, which flew past the dwarf planet in July.
The mountains are several km high and tens of km across, and each has what appears to be a depression in the top.
Unlike volcanoes on Earth that spew molten rock, Pluto’s volcanoes — if that is what they are — would likely release an icy slush of substances such as water, nitrogen, or methane.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pluto Surprises With Ice Volcanoes and Alien Weather
They sure look like ice volcanoes. An avalanche of data and new interpretations just released from NASA’s New Horizons probe, which flew past Pluto on 14 July, are showing the dwarf planet has a textured geology shaped by alien weather.
“Pluto and its system of moons have really outsmarted us,” says team leader Alan Stern today at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Maryland. “It’s sort of a graduate course in planetary science.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The FCC Says it Can’t Force Google and Facebook to Stop Tracking Their Users
The Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it will not seek to impose a requirement on Google, Facebook and other Internet companies that would make it harder for them to track consumers’ online activities.
The announcement is a blow to privacy advocates who had petitioned the agency for stronger Internet privacy rules. But it’s a win for many Silicon Valley companies whose business models rely on monetizing Internet users’ personal data.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Did the U.S. Launch a Nuclear Missile That Would be Visible From L.A. Without Any Warning?
Today the Navy is trying to assure all of us that this was perfectly “normal”, but very few people are buying that explanation.
Clearly this was done at a time and in a location that would create a massive amount of attention.
So what kind of message was the government trying to send?
Was this a message to the American people?
Some are suggesting this, but I tend to agree with Mike Adams of Natural News that this was likely a message to our enemies…
Last night’s test launch of the Trident missile over Orange County was staged near a high population area for a tactical reason: To have as many witnesses (and videos) as possible, sending a very visible warning message to China that says, “We can destroy you if you don’t back off.”
The Trident missile, built by Lockheed Martin, is a thermonuclear missile system (Fleet Ballistic Missile) with a range of at least 4,000 nautical miles. See the Trident missile page on the U.S. Navy website. Just one Trident missile launched from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean could devastate China with a nuclear strike on Beijing.
I also find that it is an incredibly strange “coincidence” that it was a “Trident” nuclear missile that was fired considering the fact that the largest NATO military exercise in 13 years named “Trident Juncture” is also coming to an end right now…
The biggest military exercise NATO has held in 13 years, “Trident Juncture” will end tomorrow.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wood-Burning Stoves Banned in New Homes in San Francisco Area
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new emission limits on wood-burning stoves may not be an outright ban, but the regulations are restricting their use and making them more expensive.
And in the San Francisco Bay Area, not only will the regulations be enforced, but the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) has decided to go even further, banning all wood-burning heaters in new homes including even those certified by the EPA to be “low emission.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
77th Commemoration of Kristallnacht-’the Night of Broken Glass” When “Jews Were Stranded”
The 77th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass” that erupted across Nazi Germany and Austria during November 9-10, 1938 will be commemorated across the Western world and in Israel. Among a multitude of remembrances ecumenical prayer gatherings were held as well as concerts of liturgical Jewish music, testimonials by Holocaust survivors, and candles lit in memoriam.
Kristallnacht was Nazi retribution for the assassination an anti-Nazi German diplomat Ernest Vom Rath in the Paris by a young Polish Jew, Herschel Grynzspan on November 7th, 1938. That event was seized upon by Herr Hitler and his Nazi SA and SS thugs to unleash a torrent of ‘spontaneous’ violence. That violence was graphically set against the lurid flames of more than 1,000 synagogues torched, several hundred of them destroyed, thousands of Jewish businesses and homes broken into, destroyed and vandalized. 91 Jewish men were killed, thousands beaten and more than 30,000 dragged off to concentration camps. Many of the latter would never to return to their frightened families as they vanished into the dense darkness of the Holocaust. Kristallnacht was the prelude to Hitler’s Final Solution that saw the barbaric murder of six million European Jewish men, women and children…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Court Gives Facebook 48 Hours to Stop Tracking Users
A Belgian court on Monday gave Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking Internet users who do not have accounts with the US social media giant or risk fines of up to 250,000 euros ($269,000) a day, a statement said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Attacks EU at Northern League Rally
Italy’s billionaire former premier Silvio Berlusconi lashed out at the European Union on Sunday as he appealed to the populist right and called for “less Europe” at a Northern League party rally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Can Survive Outside EU, Says Cameron
Britain can survive outside the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday as he denied he was planning to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU regardless of the outcome of reform talks.
“The argument isn’t whether Britain could survive outside of Europe. Of course it could,” Cameron told the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the country’s main business lobby.
“The argument is how we could be best off,” he told the group, many of whose members are concerned about the economic consequences of a possible “Brexit”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catalan Parliament Starts Secession Debate in Showdown With Madrid
Catalonia’s regional parliament kicked off a hugely-anticipated debate Monday that will culminate with a vote on whether to launch a secession process, in its latest showdown with Madrid’s central government.
Lawmakers in the regional assembly are expected to approve a resolution that kicks off the 18-month process towards independence from Spain, in what will be yet another major headache for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ahead of general elections next month.
The resolution has the backing of Catalan president Artur Mas’ Together for Yes coalition and the smaller far-left separatist CUP party, which together have a majority in the regional assembly with 72 seats of the 135 seats…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Premier Says U.K. Exit From EU Would be ‘Killer’ For London
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned the U.K. against voting to leave the European Union, saying that life outside the world’s biggest trading bloc would harm Britain’s status as a global financial center and prove to be economically damaging.
Speaking in an interview at the Dutch ambassador’s residence in Tokyo on Monday, Rutte said that an exit from the EU would mean the U.K. becoming “a mid-sized economy in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in neither America nor Europe.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Editor Behind Denmark’s Mohammed Cartoons Steps Down
The Danish editor who commissioned the Mohammed cartoons that triggered deadly protests a decade ago said Monday he was leaving the Jyllands-Posten newspaper to focus on his career as an author and political commentator.
“I want to spend more time writing books and participating in the public debate in Denmark and abroad. The growing diversity in Europe has put freedom under pressure,” Flemming Rose told the paper.
“It is a crucial debate that will determine the future of Europe,” he added.
Rose was the culture editor of the right-wing Jyllands-Posten in 2005 when he commissioned 12 satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet, triggering deadly protests in some Muslim countries…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Estonian Air Bites Dust Under EU Ruling
Estonia’s flagship airline on Saturday announced its bankruptcy after the European Union ruled it would have to pay back 85 million euros plus interest of state aid pumped into the struggling business to keep it flying.
Authorities in Tallinn however moved to absorb the shock by immediately setting up a new carrier to take over key routes.
“Estonian Air will cease operations from November 8,” the company’s web page said Saturday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France Fights Sexual Harassment on Transport
France has vowed to put a “stop” to the scourge of sexual harassment on public transport by launching a new campaign. It comes not long after a survey on the subject revealed shocking responses from Parisian women.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France to Tighten Border Controls Before U.N. Climate Change Meeting, Official Says
France will impose tighter controls on its borders ahead of next month’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Friday.
France’s move to “close its borders for several weeks,” as Cazeneuve called it, does not mean that people cannot come into France from other European countries during this period. Rather they can enter the country after being subjected to stricter border control measures.
The interior minister explained the action in the “context of a terrorist threat or risk of disruption to public order.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Comic Dieudonne at Europe Rights Court Over Holocaust Denier
Controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala will appear at the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday to protest the fine he received in 2009 for inviting a Holocaust-denier on stage.
The judges will decide whether the 10,000-euro ($11,000) fine he was given by a French court for “racist insults” was an infringement on his freedom of speech.
The comedian and political activist has been repeatedly convicted in France on anti-Semitism charges, and openly campaigns against the “Zionist lobby” which he claims is controlling the world.
He popularised a hand gesture known as the “quenelle”, which was criticised for resembling a Nazi salute. It went viral in 2013 and was used by footballer Nicolas Anelka during a goal celebration…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s the Little-Known Legal Loophole That Permitted Mass Surveillance in the UK
Law from 1984 — yes, really — let GCHQ et al run amok
This article explains the extent to which the national security agencies have been collecting bulk communications data using powers which are being exercised in a way that were never subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
Such data collection is neither subject to the relevant code of practice covering communications data nor to scrutiny from the regulator who was specifically tasked by Parliament to supervise the use of communications data.
This is yet another lesson in the dangers of leaving wide-ranging powers on the statute book. It also provides the explanation why the collection of bulk communications data is believed by ministers to be lawful.
The draft Investigatory Powers Bill (“IP Bill”) published earlier this week refers to how bulk communications data have been collected by the national security agencies from telecommunications providers. It states:
b. Bulk Communications Data Acquisition — currently provided for under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, this is used to identify subjects of interest within the UK and overseas, and to understand relationships between suspects in a way that would not be possible using only targeted communications data powers. (page 20)
To set the scene with respect to technology, the Telecommunications Act was enacted in the same year as the Data Protection Act 1984. At that time, computers were not networked in any significant way, except in research labs, perhaps via Arpanet, etc.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Jubilee Pilgrims to Create 64 Tonnes of Rubbish a Day — Censis
Holy Year ‘dream team’ ‘needed as soon as possible’ — Esposito
(ANSA) — Rome, November 3 — Pilgrims to Rome for the upcoming Holy Jubilee of Mercy will generate an additional 64 tonnes of rubbish per day in the city, research institute Censis said on Tuesday.
In total, some 23,000 tonnes of rubbish will be generated by pilgrims during the holy year.
Further, the waste will be concentrated in just a small part of Rome and in certain periods of the year. The statistics came as Interior Minister Angelino Alfano met with police and security service chiefs, Rome prefect Franco Gabrielli and the city’s extraordinary commissioner Francesco Paolo Tronca to discuss law and order for the Jubilee.
As well, Premier Matteo Renzi was said to be at work with Gabrielli and Tronca to form the ‘dream team’ that will steer the city through Pope Francis’ holy year that opens on December 8. “If all goes well it should be announced by the end of the week, if not I think next week,” Democratic Party (PD) Senator and former Rome transport councillor Stefano Esposito said. “It is certainly necessary to have it as soon as possible,” he added. In regard to the possibility of double-ups or clashes of responsibility with the sub-commissioners to be appointed by Tronca for the city Esposito said it was “just a question of coordinating things”. Tronca was called in after ex-mayor Ignazio Marino was ousted last week following an expenses scandal.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: New Left Party ‘Ready to Support M5S’ Candidate
Italian Left (SI) founded over the weekend
(ANSA) — Rome, November 9 — Former Democratic Party (PD) MP Stefano Fassina said Monday his new leftwing party does not rule out supporting a 5-Star Movement (M5S) candidate for Rome mayor.
“I do not rule out the possibility…if the candidate’s program is more compatible with our idea of the development of a city,” said Fassina, a former economy minister who left the PD in disagreement with Premier Matteo Renzi and whose new Italian Left (SI) party took shape with new parliamentary caucuses in alliance with the small leftwing Left Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party over the weekend.
The anti-establishment M5S led by foul-mouthed ex-comedian Beppe Grillo has allied itself with Britain’s rightwing populist UKIP party in the European Parliament, and is currently Italy’s second-largest party after the ruling PD.
“The so-called Italian Left pronounces itself ready to support Grillo’s populist right-wing in Rome,” PD President Matteo Orfini tweeted in response.
“The PD calls us fascists, (ex-premier Silvio) Berlusconi calls us Hitlerian cretins, and the Italian Left is ready to vote for us!” M5S MP Michele Dell’Orco wrote on Facebook, “I’ve lost the plot, call three ambulances…they’re not well”.
Former PD MP Alfredo D’Attorre announced that Italian Left was forthcoming on Friday. He said the new formation will include just over 30 Lower House MPs and 10 Senators, and will officially turn itself into a party in 2016.
“This is the birth of a new, non-radical, pluralistic…
left, which will finally offer a home to the tens of thousands of voters who have found themselves homeless,” he said.
Renzi’s ruling center-left PD has long been fighting internal leftwing dissenters over its labor and welfare policies as well as its Italicum electoral reform bill.
Ex-premier and leading leftist PD dissenter Pier Luigi Bersani told La Repubblica paper in an interview Friday that he disagreed with the choice of leaving the party, because this will drive disaffected voters into the arms of the M5S.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
No ‘Soft Touch’ Migrants on British Soil: Cyprus Refugees to be Deported
Refugees washed ashore on a British military base on Cyprus are to be deported. Migrants camped on the Dhekelia base have been sent “intention to deport” documents with only a week to set out their case as to why they have not claimed asylum on the Mediterranean island.
The group of adults and children from refugee camps in Lebanon have been warned that they will be returned to Beirut because they have not chosen to claim asylum in Cyprus.
Five men and one woman have since claimed asylum and have been transferred to the Cypriot authorities — the remaining 109 are staying in an a camp surrounded by barbed wire which has been described by some refugees as being like “Guantanamo Bay” in Cuba.
But the message from the British government is clear. If they don’t claim asylum in Cyprus — they will be forcibly deported back to Lebanon, triggering the threat of a hunger strike among some migrants in the camp.
According to a government source, Britain was being “firm but fair”. Speaking to London newspaper The Times, the source said:
“We’ve been clear throughout that they can all claim asylum in Cyprus. But where some want to hold out for another European Union country, we have to resist that. Otherwise we are just building a bridge and encouraging others to risk their lives on a very dangerous journey.”
Spokeswoman for the base Connie Pierce told the Cyprus Mail: “We have been clear with the migrants on the options open to them and they have also had advice from the UNHCR.
“The UK government will not allow a new migrant route to open to the UK.”
Meanwhile, the asylum seekers have vowed to fight deportation. “We are going to fight this decision. We are not going to Lebanon. Let them do it by force”, Ibrahim Marouf told the Cyprus Mail.
“We thought England would see us as humans not as Muslims or Arabs.”
Marouf told the reporter that he boarded the boat in search of a better life in the hope to reach Belgium and join his siblings.
“If not [the] UK, at least Germany, Netherlands or Switzerland,” he says are countries that offer a “decent and peaceful life.” Marouf claims that if he is sent back to Lebanon he will be “slaughtered in the civil war no one knows about.”
Britain claims the refugees are under the care of the Cypriot authorities — but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Cypriot government officials says the agreement stipulates that they are the UK’s responsibility but granted access to services in Cyprus at the British government’s cost.
The remaining refugees on the island have been given a week to set out their case of choosing not to claim asylum there. “I will consider any representations made by you and will then decide whether to make a deportation order,” Philip Rushbrook, a senior official wrote in the “intention to deport” document.
The situation for the asylum seekers staying on what some of the group has described as “Britain’s Guantanamo” in Cyprus has allowed the British government the opportunity to spread their message that the UK will not be seen as being a “soft touch” on immigration amid the refugee crisis gripping Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Over Three Million Europeans Sign Anti-TTIP Petition
A Europe-wide initiative of citizens has collected over three million signatures against the TTIP trade agreement negotiated between the EU and the US. A spokesman for the organization called it a huge success.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scandal: Jews Not Invited to Swedish Kristallnacht Commemoration
The organizers of an anti-Nazi event in Sweden face controversy Monday, after declining to invite the Jewish community to the event.
“Umeå against Nazism” will run in the city of Umeå on Tuesday and Wednesday, commemorating Kirstallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” the massive 1938 pogrom against Austrian and German Jews which is seen as marking the start of the holocaust.
But, absurdly, Jews will not be invited.
The organizers claim that inviting the Jewish community presents a security risk, nt.se reports, citing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel protests present at past events.
“In previous years, we have had a lot of Palestinian flags at these rallies, and even one banner where the Israeli flag was equated with a swastika,” organizer and local Workers’ Party member Jan Hägglund told locals. “The Jewish community wasn’t invited because we assumed they might be uncomfortable around that sort of thing.”
Critics claim that Hägglund’s omission must be due to the crowd he invited to the event, implying that it could only be far-left or anti-Israel — thus creating the environment which justified the “security risk.” […]
[Nihilism Swedish style: if we had some ham, we could have some ham’n eggs; if we had some eggs]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
The European Commission is Preparing a Frontal Attack on the Hyperlink
The European Commission is preparing a frontal attack on the hyperlink, the basic building block of the Internet as we know it. This is based on an absurd idea that just won’t die: Making search engines and news portals pay media companies for promoting their freely accessible articles.
Earlier attempts at establishing this principle resulted in Germany’s and Spain’s ancillary copyright laws for press publishers. These attempts backfired — with tremendous collateral damage. In the European Parliament I was able to defeat repeated attempts by EPP MEPs to sneak into my copyright report text passages asking for an extension of these laws to the European level. But this newest attempt is the most dangerous yet.
[…]
Digital commissioner Günther Oettinger (CDU — EPP), afiirmed dozens of times over the last months that he is considering the introduction of an ‘instrument’ on the European level to compensate the publishing houses’ sinking income caused by lower sales and less income through advertisement:
Even Martin Schulz (SPD — S&D), President of the European Parliament, struck a similair tone this week at the ‘Publishers’ Summit’ when he confirmed that ‘we need to clarify the relation between press publishers and digital platforms in the matter of copyright.’
The publishers are clearly wielding so much influence through lobbying that there is nothing that can stop big-party politicians from trying to misapply copyright law in order to support obsolete business models:
[Comment: The real reason for this push is elite’s desire to halt the dissemination of truth and real news. If publishers printed truth instead of propaganda and lies their readership would not be going down.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trial of 14 Islamist Youth Recruiters Begins in Brussels
A trial of 14 Belgium citizens charged with recruiting young people to fight alongside Islamist militants in Syria began in Brussels on Monday.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Jean-Louis Denis is accused of heading a terrorist organization, according to the Belgian RTBF broadcaster. Denis and members of his group had been distributing free food near the Brussels-North railway station, and attempting to radicalize and recruit local Muslim youth.
If convicted the Belgians face between 3 and 10 years of imprisonment.
Belgium has the highest number per capita of any EU country of Islamists who have traveled to fight in Syria, according to the UK-based Aon plc insurance company. Some 440 Belgium citizens are estimated to be fighting on the side of militants in Syria.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK Government Previews British Bill of Rights Which Will Replace Human Rights Act
The UK government is seeking to replace the 1998 Labour party Human Rights Act, which imported Europe’s Convention of Human Rights into UK law, because it believes the act is open to abuse and has created a “courtroom compensation culture”.?
Senior government sources have told The Sunday Times that the “victim” culture, that has led to the creation of a vast “human rights industry”, will be tackled with plans to “reduce the amount of compensation” that can be won by those claiming their human rights have been infringed by public bodies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police Accused of Pocketing Millions From Speed Awareness Courses
The number of motorists attending speed awareness courses in the U.K. has almost tripled since 2010, prompting allegations that police forces are pocketing millions from motorists attending classes. Details of the profit-motivated industry doubling its profits from courses emerged after Bedfordshire Police & Crime Commissioner Olly Martin announced new revenue-generating proposals.
Under the zero tolerance approach, speeding motorists will be forced to pay a £100 fine and have points added to their license. They can also opt instead to attend a speed awareness course, which costs around £90 and does not add points to their record.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Driven to distraction by the sound of ‘screaming’ children in the garden next door, Michael Mitchell and his wife Kathryn hoped technology was the answer to their problem.
The couple installed a device outside their home which emits a high-pitched noise that is uncomfortable to listen to and was set to be heard only by young people.
The anti-loitering equipment had the desired effect and sent the four children, all aged under ten, scampering inside whenever it was switched on.
[…]
The couple said they were visited by police seven times for allegedly shouting at the children and swearing at Mrs Chappell before they were arrested for harassment last year.
They were fingerprinted, DNA tested and held in separate cells for six hours before they were charged. But they were acquitted by Ipswich magistrates in July last year.
[Comment: It’s ok for government and businesses to use this device but not the public?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Croatian Opposition Conservatives Win Election
Karamarko, won 59 seats in the 151-seat parliament
(ANSA-AP) — ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatia’s conservative opposition has won the Balkan country’s first parliamentary election since joining the European Union in 2013, but without enough votes to rule alone.
The state electoral commission said Monday that with 99 percent of the vote counted, the conservatives, led by former intelligence chief Tomislav Karamarko, won 59 seats in the 151-seat parliament. The ruling Social Democrats, led by incumbent Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, got 56 seats.
The result means both blocs have failed to win an outright majority and the forming of the new government will depend on several small parties that entered parliament. The kingmaker will be the third-placed party, Most, or Bridge, with 19 seats.
The election Sunday was held amid a huge migrant surge through Croatia and deep economic woes facing the country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Serbia Row Over Medieval Heritage Before UNESCO Vote
Sitting in the courtyard of the 700-year-old Gracanica monastery in Kosovo, ethnic Serb farmer Marija Krstic frets about the future of her beloved church, a world heritage site at the centre of a tug-of-war between Pristina and Belgrade.
“This is our sacred church. I was baptised in the monastery and grew up here,” said 62-year-old Krstic, as Japanese tourists photographed the towering red-brick monument, considered a jewel of medieval Serbian Orthodox architecture.
“This is our monastery and no one else’s. How can someone now say that Albanians can take care of it?” she said, while her friends sitting next to her on a wooden bench tried to stop her speaking to AFP.
The women belong to the minority ethnic Serb community in Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Muslim territory that broke away from Serbia in 2008. Its independence is recognised by more than 100 countries, but staunchly denied by Belgrade…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Brains Behind Attack on Italian Cairo Consulate Killed
ISIS leader killed while security forces tried to arrest him
(ANSA) — Cairo, November 9 — Ashraf Ali Hassanein el Gharabli, a lead member of ISIS’s cell in Sinai who is accused of being behind the July bomb attack on the Italian consulate in Cairo, has been killed by Egyptian security forces, the interior ministry said Monday. Officials said el Gharabli was killed in an area to the north-east of Cairo while the security forces were trying to arrest him.
The July the blast outside the consulate killed one person and injured many others.
There were no Italian casualties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Security Crackdown Looms as Bomb Blamed for Sinai Jet Crash
As tourists abandon the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, government and aviation officials warned that global airport security will need to be reviewed if suspicions are confirmed that a bomb brought down a Russian jetliner over Sinai.
While officials don’t have enough evidence yet to conclude the incident was the result of a blast, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the view of the British authorities was that the disaster was “more likely than not caused by an explosive device.” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the possibility of a terror attack “is being taken very seriously.”
“If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active,” Hammond told BBC Television’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday, using another acronym for the Islamic State group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Sensitive’ Intel Suggests ISIS May be Responsible for Downing Russian Jet, UK Official Says
The crash of the Russian airliner in Egypt was “more likely than not” caused by an explosive device smuggled on to the plane by “operatives” either inspired or related to the Islamic State extremist group, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Monday.
Hammond told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday that Britain has shared some information with its partners but cannot share some “sensitive intelligence.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: Europe — and Echoes From the Past
by Barry Shaw
As a million anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist migrants flood Europe they find a host continent in support of their anti-Israel passion.
As Jews commemorate Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when Nazi brown-shirts burnt Jewish books, burnt down synagogues with Jews inside, and led a boycott against Jewish businesses; European politicians are drafting a plan to stick another Yellow Star on Jewish products from Judea & Samaria.
They call it ‘labeling West Bank products’ but this takes no account of the fact that, as a result of any permanent peace agreement which is impossible given the anti-Semitic, rejectionist and violent character of the Palestinians, both the Barkan and Mishor Adumim industrial areas will remain as an integral part of Israel.
These factories give gainful employment to hundreds of Arabs who work alongside Israeli Jews.
Yet, the European Union seeks to brand Israel with a discrimination they fail to employ against any other country.
Why is it that they were so passionately against the notion that Berlin should be divided…and equally passionate about…dividing Jerusalem?They take no consideration of the fact that they were witnesses, in effect guarantors, of the Oslo Accords that gave Israel the authorized civil and military administration over what is known as Area C in the disputed territories.
When their double standard and delegitimization tactics are used exclusively against the Jewish state it can only been seen by fair-minded thinkers as a resurrection of European Kristallnacht.[…]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
4 Killed, Including 2 Americans, In Jordan Police Shooting
AMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian police officer opened fire Monday at a regional police training center in the Jordanian capital, killing two Americans, a South African and a Jordanian before being shot dead, the Jordanian government spokesman said.
Two Americans, four Jordanians and a Lebanese were wounded in the shooting, said the spokesman, Mohammed Momani,
He said authorities are investigating whether the motive for the shooting was personal or political.
The government did not release the identity of the attacker, but a former member of parliament said authorities told him the shooter was 29-year-old Anwar Abu Zaid. The ex-parliamentarian, Suleiman Saed, is a relative of Abu Zaid.
Abu Zaid’s brother, Fadi, told The Associated Press that Anwar was mentally stable and “not an extremist at all.”
He said his brother, a father of two, joined the security forces at age 18, had been working at the training center for several months and had left for work as normal on Monday morning. Fadi Abu Zaid said the family demands to know about the circumstances of Anwar’s death and will not accept his body until the authorities release more information.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said the attacker had been dressed in a military uniform.
“We take this very seriously and will be working closely with the Jordanians to determine exactly what happened,” Obama said during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Patriarch of Baghdad: Invokes International Court Against Law on Islamization of Children
Mar Sako leads Church’s battle against the controversial Iraqi norm on religious freedom. The patriarch appeals to President to send norm back to parliament for further discussion. A struggle for justice and equality “among all Iraqi citizens”.
Baghdad (AsiaNews) — “If this law is applies, we will make our voices heard” at a global level and we will bring the lower house before the “international tribunal” says Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael I Sako, referring to a controversial norm that would seriously undermine religious freedom . Under the law, children of couples where one of the parents converts to Islam would automatically be considered Muslim. In recent months an amendment allowing children to retain the religion of their birth up to 18 before personally deciding about their faith, he had been tabled . But at the end of October, the Iraqi Parliament rejected this proposal. Mar Sako says many Muslims and NGOs support the Church position of in the name of pluralism in Iraqi society and he urges parliamentarians to “concern themselves more with fostering good citizenship, and not meddle in religious affairs”. If the appeal to the President of the Republic and the House falls on deaf ears, the Iraqi Church leaders are ready to resort to the highest bodies of international justice. Here, below, the Mar Sako message has sent to AsiaNews:
The vote of the deputies of the Iraqis, which was held October 27, 2015, in favor of the National Charter has generated great resentment among Christians and other non-Muslim minorities. It obliges children under 18 to automatically embrace the Muslim religion, if even only one parent decides to convert to Islam (Art. 26.2).
Leaving aside the fact that a parent betrays his bond with his children, it is unacceptable that this implies that the second party is deprived of the opportunity to fulfill the promise made and keep their religious faith.
In addition, we have responded in a theological and scientific manner to one of the MPs who had indicated his opposition to our request. He was also highly disrespectful in his treatment towards us, completely lacking in courtesy.
This norm is one of the most discriminatory, because it shows a total disregard for the values of the civilization of Iraq and against those who are considered to be among the first citizens of this country. All this is a threat to the unity of the nation, as well as social balance, religious pluralism and the principle of acceptance of the other in their diversity, with their unique situation and common life goals.
The affirmative vote by MPs to such a law is contrary to what is written in the Koran itself, where it indicates that in more than one verse that there is no requirement to embrace a religion. This contrasts at the same time with the thought of the greatest Muslim theologians, among whom we fondly recall the great professor Mostafa Zalmi who wrote in his book: The Koran and the norm under which the child follows the religion better one parent (2Ã Edition, Erbil 2011). All of this also tramples over a provision of the Iraqi Constitution, as Article 3 provides that: “Iraq is a nation made up of different ethnic groups, religions and denominations “; and again, Article 37, paragraph 2: “The country guarantees the protection of the individual against any doctrinal, political or religious coercion”; Finally, Article 42: “Every individual has freedom of thought, conscience and ideology.” And as we are part of the international community, this law is contrary to human rights standards and international treaties.
We thank our Muslim brothers, NGOs and human rights delegations in Iraq, for their strong support as we go forward and protest against this discriminatory law and we want to renew our opposition to this homogeneous Charter. At the same time, we want to assert the principle that the child should keep their religious affiliation, so that he or she can freely decide their faith, according to belief, when they come of age. After all, religion is a matter which concerns only the relationship between God and man, and should not be bound by any obligations.
Parliamentarians would do well to worry about an individual become a good citizen, and not meddle in his or her religious faith. This is why we appeal to the President of the Republic of Iraq Fuad Masoum, that he return the bill to the Assembly of Deputies to be modified and at the same time, we urge Members to assume their responsibilities and really create conditions of justice and equality among all Iraqi citizens. And again, we want to state emphatically that, in case of application of this law, we will make our voice heard at the international level and we will ensure that the Assembly of Deputies must respond about this before the international tribunal.
* Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and president of the Episcopal Conference of Iraq
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: ‘Thousands of Christians Fleeing’ Syria
‘Village speaking Jesus’s language attacked’, Father Awad
ROME — Thousands of Syrian Christians are fleeing after fierce attacks by ISIS on the town of Sadad since October 31 and nearby Maheen, which has reportedly already fallen.
Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh of Homs told international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that “Aramaic, the language of Jesus” is still spoken in Sadad. Over 15,000 people have fled the Christian town and the nearby Al-Hafar, he added, saying that Sadad is still endangered despite the presence of Syrian government forces. “We are afraid that ISIS — which God will hopefully prevent — will conquer the town. We would lose the center of Christianity in our diocese,” Archbishop Selwanos said.
Father Luka Awad, head of humanitarian emergencies for the Syrian-Catholic diocese of Homs, said that Sadad is important to ISIS primarily for strategic and economic reasons, but that he jihadists also want to seize Sadad because it is a Christian town.
“When the IS fighters conquered Al-Qaryatayn, they made the threat: ‘We will kill all of the Christians in Sadad’,” he said. The town of Sadad, Father Luka explained, is an important Christian center and “the people there still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Moreover, we have important churches there.
It is really a center of our Christian heritage. Its loss doesn’t bear contemplating. We truly are fearing for our cultural heritage. We beg the international community to put an end to this war. My people already experienced a genocide one hundred years ago, in 1915. Now, in the 21st century, we don’t need another.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Indian Hindu Puja Celebrators Still Under Arrest
Eleven Indian nationals remain in detention after being arrested for celebrating a ‘puja’ (Hindu religious ceremony) without having a permit. Noise from the puja reportedly attracted the attention of several citizens who filed a complaint with police. The Indian Embassy in Kuwait has reached out to authorities regarding the men but so far has not been able to secure their release.
[I quite doubt “the noise of celebration” is the reason for their arrest. Otherwise thousands of imams screaming through the loudspeakers at 3.30 in the morning and terrorising each and every neighbourhood should long have gone to hard labour. — RR]
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait to Stop Public Healthcare for Expats
Kuwait is considering plans to stop all access to public health services for expatriates — though they pay KD 50 per year for health insurance. The idea is to reduce stress on the government budget, weakened by lower oil international prices.
Suggestions in this regard include doing away with ‘harmful subsidies’ which include healthcare for expats in public medical facilities, according to a report by the Supreme Council for Planning and Development.
The report calls for imitating an example followed in the 1990’s when the Kuwaiti government scrapped free education for expatriates in Kuwait, thus banning foreigners from studying at public and forcing them to enroll in private schools. The action led to a boom in the private sector and skyrocketing of private school tuition fees.
The scrapping of access to public health services would leave foreigners no option but to pay for private health insurance. Though it is unclear how the government will handle the KD 50 annual health insurance fee it currently charges each of the country’s 3 million expatriates…
[And these are the people who play victims when someone looks at their hijjabs for more than 1 second. — RR]
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the Rest of the Gang: The Other Jihadist Groups Fighting in Syria
Earlier this month, a video appeared showing the ‘Army of Islam’ rebel group using civilians as human shields, parading them around in cages in a suburb of Damascus in order to deter airstrikes; commenting the war crime, a French intelligence expert offers new details on some of the lesser-known radical Islamist groups operating in Syria.
Last week, Human Rights Watch confirmed that armed rebel groups in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb to the east of Damascus, had captured people loyal to the Syrian government, including army soldiers and Alawite women, and paraded them around in metal cages on trucks in order to deter the government from carrying out airstrikes in the area.
The rights group noted that the use of detained soldiers and civilians in this manner is a war crime, constituting hostage-taking and an outrage against the prisoners’ personal dignity. “Nothing can justify caging people and intentionally putting them in harm’s way, even if the purpose is to stop indiscriminate government attacks,” said HRW’s Middle East Director Nadim Houry, commenting on the loathsome spectacle.
This sordid PR campaign was allegedly conducted by elements of the Free Syrian Army and the Jaysh Al-Islam (‘Army of Islam’). The latter is one of the lesser-known opposition players in the Syrian war.
Commenting on the affair, French daily newspaper Le Figaro asked Alain Rodier, a terrorism expert and retired French intelligence officer about who these thugs are, and what they’re about.
Rodier, a senior fellow at the French Intelligence Research Center, explained that the Army of Islam “is a nationalist Salafi movement, which limits its fight to within Syria’s borders, and not an ‘internationalist’ group, in contrast to Al-Qaeda (Jabhat al-Nusra) or ISIL.” The group “is headed by Mohammad Zahran Allouche, a former member of the Free Syrian Army. This is the largest group of rebels in the suburbs of Damascus, particularly in Ghouta. The group is believed to have about 10,000 fighters, some of whom were released from Syrian prisons in 2011, when Bashar Assad was trying to show his openness to the opposition. The Army of Islam is supported by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”
According to Rodier, the group had “refused to join a new coalition of rebels formed in Damascus in October called the Jund al-Malahim (the ‘Soldiers of the Epics’). The latter group had absorbed the Jabhat al-Nusra Front (the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda), Ahrar al-Sham (the ‘Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant’) and the Ajnad al-Sham (the ‘Islamic Union of the Soldiers of the Levant’). Upon its formation, the Jund al-Malahim declared that the Ummah (community of believers) had been subjected to a ‘violent attack’ in the Levant and beyond, with ‘the Russians joining in, having gone along the footsteps of the apostates, the crusaders and their allies’.”
“The Army of Islam’s refusal to join this coalition,” the intelligence expert suggests, “may be connected with a desire to show themselves as a ‘moderate movement’ with no ties to Jabhat al-Nusra. At the same time, the Army of Islam belongs to the Islamic Front, which includes seven Salafist groups, including Ahrar al-Sham, which is part of the Jund al-Malahim, and which maintains ties with the Jabhat al-Nusra. Allouche is the Islamic Front’s military commander, and Hassan Aboud, the emir of the Ahrar al-Sham, its political leader.”
Hundreds of Islamist Groups Operating in Syria
Commenting on the connections between the various Islamist groups operating in Syria, and their common cause against Assad, Rodier noted that the reality is that there are literally “hundreds of groups, but in most cases they are very small, operating in a single village, quarter, or some other small area. Their goals are essentially local.”
“The situation is [further] complicated,” the expert explained, “by the fact that several groups can claim the same name simultaneously, and others are periodically renamed. Finally, their members can move from one organization to another, or may even be part of several at the same time. Therefore, determining their precise affiliation can actually be extremely difficult.”
“Put more simply,” the terrorism expert noted, “in addition to the special case of the Islamic State, there are several coalitions fighting on different fronts in Syria.”
These, in Rodier’s words, include the Jaish al-Fateh (the Army of Conquest) an umbrella organization which has 30,000 fighters, including Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and five other movements. “This coalition took Idlib [northwestern Syria] in the spring of 2015, and is a threat to Latakia to the southwest, to Aleppo in the northeast and to Hama in the south. The group threatened to destabilize the Syrian government, forcing Russia to start its intervention in September. It is worth noting that in Aleppo (also in the northwest), there exists another coalition, consisting of 13 groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. As we have already noted, a single group can often be found in several coalitions simultaneously. The Jaish al-Fateh has rear bases in Turkey, and enjoys the secret support of a number of Gulf States.”
In Homs (western Syria, northeast of Lebanon), Rodier noted that “the most active groups include Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, ISIL and several groups under the flag of the Free Syrian Army.”
As far as Damascus is concerned, the expert reiterated that its suburbs are populated primarily by the Army of Islam, adding that “ISIL has also sent its fighters to the area.”
In Daraa, in the country’s south, bordering Jordan, “the opposition has formed the ‘Southern Front’ coalition, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Majid al-Sayyid Ahmad. The fighters of the FSA have joined together with the Yarmuk brigade (one of over 50 groups in the coalition). Southern Front is supported by Jordan, the US and Saudi Arabia.”
The intelligence expert noted that generally, “all of these groups get along with one another, even though financial disputes may arise here and there, especially on the division of funding by patrons from the Persian Gulf.”
In addition to these groups, Rodier pointed to the special case of the Kurds, “who hold part of the Syrian-Turkish border. They have also formed a coalition — the ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’, out of the Kurdish self-defense groups, including the armed movement of the Democratic Union party (which maintains close links with the Kurdistan Workers Party) and various Arab and Syrian forces.”
“It is worth noting,” the expert recalled, “that these forces have never entered into a confrontation with Assad’s forces, who withdrew from the Kurdish areas in 2011-2012. When the US says that they want Raqqa [ISIL’s Syrian capital] to be taken by the opposition, they mean the Kurdish coalition. The only problem here is that the Kurds are interested not so much in a push to the south (to Raqqa) as they are in a push to the west, through the Euphrates, west from Kobani, to join up their territories in the Rojava [Syrian Kurdistan]. But the Turks do not see things that way, and the Turkish army has even fired a few warning shots in the direction of Kurdish forces.”
Radier noted that “the Kurds do not usually fight with other insurgent groups, except for a few clashes with Jabhat al-Nusra. At the same time, they are in an open war with ISIL, and will not tolerate those who swore their allegiance to ISIL’s Calipha al-Baghdadi.”
Smaller Jihadi Groups Have No Long-Term Strategy
According to the expert, apart from the big players, including ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra, none of the other anti-Assad rebel groups really have a clear long-term strategy, “seeming to have at best short-term plans. Above all, they seek to preserve their autonomy at the local level, or to slightly expand their territories.”
Fortunately, for the moment, Radier notes that “Al-Qaeda and ISIL can be said to oppose one another. More than anything this seems to be a war of their leaders. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calls into question the credibility of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and vice-versa. This is a case of a conflict of generations. However, radical Islamism is their common philosophy, and they even cooperate on Syrian territory (in the Aleppo region), because they have the same opponents. The threat exists that one day these groups may enter into a sacred union. Fortunately, al-Baghdadi’s ego does not allow him to do so, although al-Zawahiri is willing to accept him if he ‘repents’.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
On the Brink: Christianity Facing Middle East Purge Within Decade, Says Group
The dwindling Christian population of the Middle East could vanish completely within a decade unless the global community intervenes, say alarmed aid groups who say followers of the Bible are being killed, driven from their land or forced to renounce their faith at an unprecedented pace.
The world has largely stood by as a dangerous tide of intolerance has washed over the region, according to a new study by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The study includes disturbing data about the plunging numbers of Christians in the part of the world that gave birth to the faith, and makes a dire prediction of what could happen.
“It’s an answer that depends on the response of the world,” Edward Clancy, director of outreach for the United Kingdom-based Aid to the Church in Need, told FoxNews.com. “What response is there going to be toward us if we act?”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Execution Toll Highest in Two Decades: Amnesty
Rights group Amnesty International sounded alarm bells Monday over a spike in executions in Saudi Arabia, where at least 151 people have been put to death this year.
The latest execution was on Monday of a Saudi convicted of killing a policeman trying to arrest him for smuggling drugs, the interior ministry said.
“So far in 2015, on average, one person has been executed every other day,” said Amnesty…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sukhoi May Deliver SSJ-100 to Iran After Sanctions Lifted
Russian Aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) could deliver about 100 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) planes to Iran after sanctions imposed on the country are fully lifted, President of SCAC Ilya Tarasenko said Sunday.
DUBAI (Sputnik) — “There is a huge interest, we expect to deliver some 100 aircraft… We have discussed the deliveries with the potential airline companies from Iran and expect some 100 planes [to be delivered],” Tarasenko told journalists.
He added that Iran could be also involved in the process of SSJ100 production on its territory after examination of Iranian industrial capacities and necessary certification. According to Tarasenko, Tehran could produce details for SSJ100 airframes and aftersales service.
On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of Russia, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany signed a historic deal, in which Tehran agreed to guarantee the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tehran Convinced US-Led Coalition’s Air War Against ISIL Just ‘A Bluff’
A scandal is brewing between Washington and its Gulf allies over the latter’s decision to shift their forces away from the air campaign against ISIL to focus on bombing the Houthis in Yemen instead. Sputnik asked Iranian journalist Hassan Shemshadi to comment on Iran’s assessment of the effectiveness of the US-led anti-ISIL war up to this point.
On Saturday, The New York Times published a piece in which the author lamented that as Washington prepares to intensify its airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria, “the Arab allies who with great fanfare sent warplanes on the initial missions there a year ago have largely vanished from the campaign.”
Heralded by the Obama administration for their role, “flying side by side with American fighter jets in the campaign’s early days as an important show of solidarity against the Islamic State,” these allies, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan, have since “shifted most of their aircraft” to fight the fledgling Houthi government which took power in Yemen last September.
Speaking with Sputnik, Middle East expert and former special correspondent for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Hassan Shemshadi commented on the Arab states’ shifting priorities, and on Tehran’s assessment of the overall effectiveness of the US-led air war against ISIL. He explained that up to this point, Iran does not think very highly of the campaign’s effectiveness.
“A year-and-a-half has now passed since the formation of the so-called international coalition among Western and Arab countries to combat Islamic State terrorism, the expert noted. “From the very beginning, Iran had its doubts on the reliability and effectiveness of the coalition in its fight against ISIL militants. Since then, it has become abundantly clear that the coalition’s actions are only a bluff, and the evidence exists to prove it.”
“In the first place,” Shemshadi noted, “the forces of this coalition provided ISIL militants with various kinds of assistance, providing rations, weapons, and medical supplies. Every time, the coalition’s commanders claimed that these were just mistakes, and that the cargo was actually meant for the Iraqi army or the moderate Syrian opposition. There is an obvious discrepancy here between their statements and their actions.”
“There is also other evidence,” the journalist explained. “Ahead of the battle for Kobani, the coalition’s intelligence received information on the exact coordinates of the movements of ISIL tank columns. However, the airstrikes carried out against the terrorists never did end up taking this data into account. The diversionary bombing campaign ended up being carried out randomly and aimlessly in the desert. Then the coalition declared that it had struck ISIL positions.”
Shemshadi told Sputnik that “further proof can be found in a recent report of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. In this document, Ali Shamkhani, the former Air Force commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, reported that witness and military testimony had shown that the coalition had at its disposal complete visibility of the area, and could destroy a minimum of 120 ISIL military positions. However, only 12 bases were ultimately destroyed. The Iranian government even has reliable intelligence data showing that coalition aircraft flying over their targets have received orders not to hit ISIL positions.”
“All of this confirms,” according to the journalist, “that the mission of the Western-Arab anti-ISIL coalition has been and remains a bluff. Today, when the coalition’s Arab allies have announced their intention to reduce their military involvement in the airstrikes in Syria, this is evidence, first and foremost, of the effectiveness of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ efforts to eliminate the terrorists, after only a month-and-a-half of efforts.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Two Americans Among the Dead After Shooting at Police Training Center in Jordan
Two U.S. State Department contractors were killed after a Jordanian policeman opened fire Monday at a police training center, a U.S. official and a Jordanian government spokesman tell Fox News.
The shooter also killed two Jordanians and a South African, according to the Jordanian embassy in Washington. Police shot and killed the gunman, who was dressed in a military uniform.
Two additional U.S. trainers and at least two other Jordanians were reported hurt, and are receiving treatment in Amman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Americans and a South African Shot Dead at Jordan Security Training Facility
Two Americans were killed and a South African when a Jordanian police officer opened fire on them at a US-funded facility for training Iraqi security forces, officials said on Monday.
Two other Americans and four Jordanians were also wounded in incident at the Muaqar base on the eastern outskirts of the Jordanian capital, Amman, said Mohammed Momani, a government spokesman. He said that one of the wounded was in a critical condition.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Embassy Talking to Jordan Officials After Local Cop Kills Two Americans
According to the US embassy in Jordan Twitter, US government is working with Jordanian officials to investigate the death of two US citizens at hands of a Jordan law enforcement officer that took place in the country’s capital of Amman.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US government is working with Jordanian officials to investigate the death of two US citizens at hands of a Jordan law enforcement officer that took place in the country’s capital of Amman on Monday, the US embassy in Jordan said in a Twitter message.
“We are in contact with the appropriate Jordanian authorities, who have offered their full support,” the embassy said on Monday. “We will report more info when available.”
The incident took place at the Jordan International Police Training Center.
The Jordanian policeman died in the incident killing two instructors from the United States and one South African contractor. Two more Americans were wounded, according to media reports.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Utterly Horrifying: ISIS Militants Gun Down Hundreds of Children in Most Sickening Video
A sickening video has emerged appearing to show depraved Islamic State (ISIS) militants gunning down hundreds of Syrian children in a horrific new low for the twisted terror group.
The distressing footage shows around 200 bound children being forced to lie face down in a line as they await the mass execution.
The corrupt killers are then seen opening fire on the children with automatic rifles, ending the terrifying video.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
25,000 Russian Tourists Are Rushed Out of Sharm on Emergency Flights
The successful evacuation by Russia has angered Britons, some of whom have now been stranded for five days in filthy hotels after an operation to repatriate them on Friday descended into chaos.
Thousands of Russian holidaymakers flew out of Sharm el-Sheikh on board special rescue planes sent by Moscow as stranded Britons were left languishing in a cockroach-infested hotel.
More than 25,000 Russian tourists have now been evacuated from the Red Sea resort in the last three days — five times the number airlifted by Britain.
Their successful evacuation has angered Britons, some of whom have now been stranded for five days in filthy hotels after an operation to repatriate them on Friday descended into chaos.
They have also accused Russians of trying to push ahead at security gates and causing fights at the airport where there were long queues yesterday.
[Comment: Idiots. Getting angry at Russia for doing whatever it takes to protect their own citizens who are being targeted. What are your EU countries doing to protect you?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Belarus: Soviet-Themed Shopping Centre Opens in Minsk
The Belarusian capital, Minsk, has marked the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution by opening a Soviet-themed shopping centre.
The Leningrad Mall sells modern goods from foodstuffs to furniture, but in surroundings adorned with tongue-in-cheek Communist-style exhortations to “Give us Sales!”, local Capital TV reports. The opening saw the four-storey glass building decked out with Soviet flags and paraphernalia, while shoppers were greeted by an army cadet marching band and staff clad in 1970s uniforms, led by an actor dressed as Lenin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Made in Odessa: Big Brands Up in Arms Over Ukraine’s Fakes Factories
The representatives of several major clothing companies including Adidas, Nike and Dsquared have appealed to Ukrainian law enforcement, demanding that they look into the serious problem of counterfeit goods featuring their logos being churned out en masse in the port city of Odessa. On Sunday, police reported a break in the case.
On Sunday, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported that city police had discovered an entire underground factory making knockoffs of clothing and fragrances including Chanel, Adidas, Nike, Kenzo and Dsquared.
The underground sewing workshop, officially belonging to a 44-year-old Odessa woman, was searched by police, after which over a thousand pieces of merchandize, a dozen sewing machines sewing machines and over 50 devices for the application of brand markings were seized. “The equipment has been seized for further analysis by experts,” police explained.
A criminal case has now been opened against the underground factory under the article for the ‘illegal use of a trademark for the sale of goods and services,’ which carries with it a maximum of five years of prison time.
Odessa has long been considered a major source for counterfeit goods finding their way into Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, dating back to even before the Maidan revolution. The city’s underground factories have long been known for the production of knockoff watches, purses, handbags, jewelry, clothing and fragrances from major European and American brands. Illegal immigrants from Vietnam, often working in poor and hazardous conditions, are believed contribute to much of the production of the knockoff clothing items.
Late last month, city officials reported the discovery of a major factory staffed by over thirty people, churning out fakes of brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Lamborghini, among others. Eight similar underground factories have been discovered by authorities since July.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia and Iran Sign S-300 Air-Defense Missile Contract
The deal to supply advanced air-defense systems to Iran is “back in force,” Russian officials say. The Kremlin had suspended the controversial sale during the nuclear row with Tehran.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘State-Supported’ Doping: Investigators Accuse Russia of Sabotaging Olympics, Call for Bans
In a devastatingly critical report, a World Anti-Doping Agency panel accused Russia on Monday of complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups by track and field athletes during the 2012 London Olympics and other major events, and said they should all be banned from competition until the country cleans up its act.
WADA commission leader Dick Pound says Russia seems to have been running a “state-supported” doping program, adding, “I don’t think there’s any other possible conclusion.”
The commission’s report said the London Games were sabotaged because track’s governing body and Russia’s anti-doping authority didn’t take doping seriously enough and allowed runners to compete who should not have.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Diamonds Are Not Forever: India Sues British Queen for ‘Stolen’ Crown Jewel
Bollywood stars and businessmen in India are calling for a diamond, worn by Britain’s Queen Mother, first at the coronation of her husband King George VI and then at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, to be returned to India.
The group called “Mountain of Light” after the stone, have instructed British lawyers to begin legal proceedings in London’s High Court for the return of the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
They claim the 105-carat diamond mined in India around 800 years ago was stolen “under dubious circumstances” and are demanding the British government give it back.
The stone is “one of many artefacts taken from India under dubious circumstances,” said David de Souza from India’s leisure group Titos. Speaking to London’s Sunday Telegraph, de Souza added:
“Colonization did not only rob our people of wealth, it destroyed the country’s psyche itself. It brutalized society, traces of which linger on today in the form of mass poverty, lack of education and a host of other factors.”
The diamond was given to Queen Victoria by the last ruler of the Sikhs, Duleep Singh, following the British annexe of the Punjab in 1849. The Marquess of Dalhousie, the British governor-general, arranged for it to be presented to the reigning Queen and Duleep Singh traveled to Britain in 1850 with the stone, handing it to Queen Victoria.
The diamond is on public display at the Tower of London. According to legend, the stone can only be worn by God or a woman — if a man wears it, he will meet an unfortunate end.
In 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron defended the UK’s right to keep the jewel saying he did not believe in “returnism”.
The claim, according to lawyers, will be made under the common law doctrine of “trespass to goods” — and has been rejected by the British government.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
For Afghan Women: Driving a Car Brings Both Fear and Freedom
Since Rokhsar Azamee began driving the streets of Kabul last year, she has endured condescension, ridicule, and even threats to her life with some men deliberately causing “accidents” to harass her. But she will not be deterred.
The 23-year-old journalist learned to drive to avoid aggravation from men in the street as she waited each morning for a taxi with a driver who would not hassle her on the way to work.
But even the purchase of her own car has not shielded her from condemnation in the male-dominated, ultra-conservative society of Afghanistan.
“For many men,” she says, “it is a new thing to see a woman drive a car, they will harass you. One way to do so is by causing an accident.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia Drugs: Crocodiles ‘To Guard Death Row Prisons’
The head of Indonesia’s anti-drugs agency has proposed building a prison island guarded by crocodiles to house death-row drug convicts.
Budi Waseso said crocodiles often made better guards than humans — because they could not be bribed.
He said he would visit different parts of the Indonesian archipelago in order to find the fiercest reptiles.
Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and ended a four-year moratorium on executions in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ruling USDP in Myanmar Concedes Defeat to San Suu Kyi’s NDL
First openly contested national election in 25 years
(ANSA) — Rome, November 9 — Myanmar’s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) conceded defeat Monday to opposition party National League for Democracy (NDL), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in parliamentary elections held Sunday, said Chinese television CCTV in a tweet.
Party leader Htay Oo said he admitted to “collecting more defeats than victories”, in an interview with Thailand-based broadcasting company Democratic Voice of Burma.
Despite the fact that USDP garnered fewer votes than NDL, one-fourth of the two houses of parliament is reserved for the country’s army, which is aligned with USDP.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Ponders Future of Afghan Mission as Fatigue, Frustration Mount
NATO partners are considering ways of beefing up their training and assistance mission in Afghanistan as concern grows over the ability of local forces to fight an escalating insurgency by Taliban militants, according to officials in Brussels and Kabul.
Officials describe a sense of fatigue and doubt about the strategy of the coalition of NATO partners and allies following Washington’s announcement it would extend troop levels through most of 2016 due to worsening security.
“Nobody is pleased with the progress,” said one NATO diplomat in Brussels, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The alliance’s forces can’t keep helping forever … Right now we are helping them more than we’d like.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Lahore: Christians Build Churches Despite Death Threats
The ‘Hope for Light’ association has already built three churches and has begun on a new one in Sehari, near Lahore. The building will serve Christian peasants whose existing church is too small. Earlier this year, Muslim extremists tried to intimidate a local Christian leader. “We hope that things will improve with time,” he said. However, he does not plan to change course because local Muslims support their projects.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — After receiving death threats earlier this year, the “Hope for Light” Christian Association has begun building a new church in the rural village of Sehari, Kasur district (35 km south-east of Lahore).
The village is home to 36 Christian families, who currently meet in a mud building Church that is too small to accommodate everyone. In view of the situation, Mass has to be celebrated outside.
After visiting the village, Rev Sohail Farman, who heads ‘Hope for light, said that the association would fund the construction of a new place of worship.
“Sehari is a small village of 200 houses,” said Sohail Farman. At least 36 belong to Christians who earn a living from farming.” In October, ‘Hope for Light’ began to build a church for them.
“We hope that people will benefit from this new place of worship and seek God through new blessings. We are doing our best to ensure that we can celebrate Christmas in the new church. The Muslim community is supporting this project all the way. “
“We are committed to our mission and we will continue to help poor communities build churches,” said Javed David, leader of the construction team. “They have a right to have a place of worship. This is our fourth church.”
David himself told AsiaNews how earlier this, he received threats from Muslims, who warned him to stop building new churches. “This is a Muslim country and we cannot allow you to continue,” he was told. At that time, “Hope for Light” was active in Shekhupura District.
“We hope that things will improve with time,” said Malvin Mall, a team member. “We just shifted our focus from Shekhupura to Sehari, but for sure we shall continue our work in Shekhupura.”
“The change of focus is temporary,” added Ataurehman Saman, another member. “So far we have built three churches in Shekhupura and Jaranwala districts, Punjab.”
“In addition,” he said, “we run a school in a Church buildings open to Christians and Muslims who can learn to read and write together. We also provide a scholarship worth a thousand rupees a month (US$ 9.5) to three Christians and Muslims from Shekhupura.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rostec to Announce Tender for Construction of Pakistan Gas Pipeline in 2016
Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec plans put contractual work on the proposed North-South natural gas pipeline in Pakistan out to tender next year, the head of the company said Monday.
DUBAI (Sputnik) — RT Global Resources, a Rostec subsidiary won the contract to construct the new pipeline and is searching for construction partners, Sergei Chemezov said at the Dubai Airshow-2015.
“We will be announcing the contest… I think in the next year,” Chemezov added.
The estimated 683-mile Karachi-Lahore pipeline is expected take 42 months to complete and include liquefied natural gas terminals in addition to the pipeline itself. RT Global Resources is partnering with Pakistan’s Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) in the $2-billion project anticipated to have an annual capacity of up to 12.4 billion cubic meters of gas.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand Astrologer Accused of Defaming Royals Dies in Military Custody
A prominent fortune teller accused of insulting the monarchy has died in a military prison. 53-year-old Thai celebrity is second person to die in custody after being charged with ‘lese majeste.’
The Thai royal family is protected by one of the world’s toughest royal defamation laws and prosecutions under it have skyrocketed since a military coup in May 2014.
Thai journalists often must self-censor their reporting on the elite royals in order to avoid falling foul of the strict law that can carry sentences of up to 15 years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
As China Ends Its One-Child Policy, Korea Reaches for Cupid’s Arrow
While China’s decision to let couples have two kids grabbed headlines around the world, its neighbor South Korea has been doing some revolutionary thinking of its own on how to make more babies.
With a rapidly aging population and the third-lowest fertility rate in the world, officials in Seoul have come up with 200 pages of proposals that include a suggestion for local authorities to play Cupid by arranging matchmaking gatherings for singles.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dangerous Smog Blankets Northeastern China
Dangerous air pollution in two Chinese cities has been recorded at levels almost 50 times World Health Organization standards. Residents have complained of sore throats and burning lungs.
The pollution that has come alongside China’s economic growth is a source of popular discontent with the government. The pollution is caused by coal-fired heating of homes during the winter, factories and cars.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan: ‘My Number’ National ID Law Will Track Vaccination Records, Link to Bank Accounts From 2018
The Diet passed a bill Thursday to expand the use of a personal identification number to improve tax collection, despite ongoing concerns over the potential leak of private information and identity theft.
Under changes to the so-called My Number system, personal ID numbers can be linked to people’s bank account numbers from 2018. Although such links will be made initially on a voluntary basis, the government is considering making it mandatory from 2021.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Johannesburg Limits Water Use as Drought Worsens
Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and economic hub, on Monday imposed emergency water restrictions as supplies deteriorated due to a drought, the worst to ravage the country in three decades.
“We are pleading with our customers to take more precautionary measures on how to use the water,” the city’s environmental affairs spokesman Anda Mbikwana told AFP.
The decision was prompted by a warning from Rand Water, the country’s main water utility, early Monday that supplies were declining…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame Accuses Burundi Leaders of ‘Massacres’
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused Burundi’s leaders of carrying out “massacres” on their people in his most critical speech yet of the crisis in the troubled neighbouring state.
“People die every day, corpses litter the streets… How can the leaders allow their population to be massacred from morning to night?” Kagame said, speaking in Kinyarwanda on Friday, in a speech heard by AFP on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Strache Plans to Sue Ministers Over Refugees
The leader of Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, has said that he intends to bring a lawsuit against some members of the government for state-organized people smuggling.
He told the ORF state broadcaster that he believes the government has mismanaged the refugee crisis and that if possible a fence should be built along Austria’s borders where refugees and migrants are trying to cross.
He quashed objections by the Social Democrats (SPÖ) that a border fence would cost too much as ridiculous, saying that the Hungarian fence “only costs €170,000 per kilometre”. He said that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s approach had been “successful” and that it was about “protecting the population” during a time which called for “extraordinary measures”.
Strache said his lawsuit would be targeted at Chancellor Werner Faymann, Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Defence Secretary Gerald Klug and managers at Austrian Railways (ÖBB). He accused the government of having no idea how many refugees and migrants had entered Austria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais: 26 Police Hurt in Clashes With Refugees
Twenty-six police officers were injured on Sunday night in clashes with 200 refugees and migrants who had blocked UK-bound traffic in the northern French port of Calais.
Sunday night saw violent scenes near The New Jungle, a migrant camp in Calais that is home to an estimated 6,000 refugees.
The trouble began after 200 refugees blocked off the highways that leads into the Channel Tunnel at around 11pm.
When police arrived on the scene, the refugees began throwing rocks at them. In response, police fired 300 tear gas canisters at the migrants. Calm was restored to the area at around 1am.
Early reports suggested 16 officers were injured but police union leaders told The Local on Monday that in fact 26 officers were hurt by the missiles thrown by migrants, though none seriously.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Eyes Taking in Syrian Refugees From Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey
Canada will soon discuss with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey taking 25,000 Syrian refugees off their hands and resettling them in this country by year’s end, the immigration minister said Monday.
“The government is committed to welcoming 25,000 refugees by the end of the year,” Immigration Minister John McCallum told reporters, “But we are also determined to do the job well, which means proper consideration be given to security concerns and to health concerns.”
He said Ottawa is looking to use commercial airlines, passenger ships and military transports to move asylum seekers, and could house them at Canadian military bases or with Canadian families who sponsor them…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Close Quarters? Finland Houses Muslim Refugees in Former Pig Center
In a controversial move, a new refugee facility for mainly Muslim migrants has reportedly opened at the former swine breeding research center in the Finnish town of Hyvinkää.
The former pig breeding research center in the Finnish town of Hyvinkää currently serves as a new refugee facility for predominantly Muslim migrants, according to the Finnish newspaper Ultalehti; the center’s executive director was quoted as saying that the refugees being deployed to the center caused “no problems.”
According to Milja Saksi, of Luona oy, the joint stock company providing health and social services, about 100 asylum seekers, mainly Muslims, have already arrived in the center. Saksi added that the center can hold a total of 300 people.
The decision to accommodate refugees in the swine center raised many eyebrows given that Islam bans Muslim people from eating pork products, not least because swine are believed to be a dirty animal, in accordance with religious doctrine.
Commenting on whether Muslims would agree to live there, Saksi said that prior to the migrants’ arrival, representatives of Luona oy had a conversation with a Muslim theologian and Imam, who claimed that there would be no problems related to the Muslim refugees’ accommodation in the Hyvinkää center.
Saksi assured that the center was closed down more than two years ago, and that there was no pigsty inside the facility.
“I do not know whether the asylum seekers were briefed on the fact that that they will be living in a former swine research center; in any case, we are not going to hide it,” Saksi said.
According to the Finnish Interior Ministry’s estimates, the total number of refugees expected to arrive in the country this year will reach about 50,000 people.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus Migrants Told: There’s No Way to UK
MIGRANTS on UK territory in Cyprus are to be deported if they do not claim asylum on the isle.
Only 12 of the 115 who landed last month have taken up the offer.
UK officials gave them the ultimatum after authorities in Lebanon — where the migrants sailed from — agreed to take them back.
A senior Government insider told The Sun: “We have to be firm but fair. We’ve been clear — they can all claim asylum in Cyprus.
“But some want to hold out for another EU country. We have to resist that.
“Otherwise, we are just building a bridge and encouraging others to risk their lives on a very dangerous journey.”
The migrants landed in two boats close to an RAF base at Akrotiri on October 21 and were moved to a tent camp on Dhekelia, officially UK territory.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EC Assessing Italy Flexibility Request Says Padoan
‘Migrant issue being treated separately’
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 9 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Monday the European Commission is still assessing Italy’s request for budget flexibility to make up for the cost of shouldering the migrant and refugee crisis. “I explained our rationale for asking for flexibility on investments and reforms,” Padoan said. “Immigration will be treated separately because it affects more than one country”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU to ‘Intensify’ Migrant Hotspots, Relocations
Draft document outlines nomination of country liaison officers
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 9 — The EU plans to “intensify” the opening of new migrant hotspots in Italy and Greece to be operative by the end of November, according to a draft document for Monday’s meeting of EU interior ministers.
Hotspots are specifically-targeted “frontline” locations, currently in Italy and Greece, in which EU agencies work on the ground with local authorities to identify, register and fingerprint incoming migrants.
The intensification will also involve the migrant relocation process, specifically with the nomination of “liaison officers” in countries that express their willingness to accept migrant relocations, “preferably by November 16”, the draft said, adding that correspondingly, “Italy and Greece will speed up the preparatory steps for carrying out the relocations”.
The draft said that “member states, with the full support of the European Commission and Frontex, will increase the number of repatriations”.
Regarding the issue of possible non-cooperation by migrants, the document said that “in full respect of human rights and of the principal of non-refoulement” it would however retain the right to use all available “enforcement measures, including, as a last resort, the use of detention.” The document said it would “explore the concept” of the rather controversial issue of creating centres for organising migrant access to international protection or repatriation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Warns of Looming Refugee ‘Catastrophe’ In Balkans as Winter Approaches
The European Union warned on Monday of a looming humanitarian “catastrophe” with tens of thousands of people traveling through the Balkans to northern Europe as winter closes in.
More than 770,000 people have arrived in the EU by sea so far this year, overwhelming border authorities and reception facilities. Many have made the arduous land journey on foot through the Balkans in search of sanctuary or work in countries like Germany or Sweden.
The EU’s 28 member nations have pledged to provide experts and funds to help manage the emergency, and to share refugees among them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: 16 Police Injured in “Unprecedented Clashes” With Migrants in Calais Overnight
Sixteen police officers were injured overnight in “unprecedented” clashes with migrants in Calais taking increasingly desperate measures to reach Britain.
Around 200 migrants hurled “various objects” at police near the main camp outside the northern French town known as the “new jungle” that is now home to thousands of people from countries including Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Number of Police Officers Injured in Migrant Clashes at Calais Rises to 26
The number of police injuries in overnight clashes between law enforcement and undocumented migrants in the French port town of Calais rose to 26, a police union official said Monday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Initial reports said 16 officers were injured when migrants from the so-called Calais jungle camp pelted officials with stones late Sunday after attempts to disperse them using tear gas. The violence broke out after around 200 people created roadblocks across highways leading to the Channel Tunnel.
“This is the first time that it has been so violent and that we’ve had so many injured colleagues… They have 26 injured colleagues,” Gilles Debove, of the SGP Police-Force Ouvriere Unit union’s Calais branch, told The Local newspaper.
Debove observed that normally “pretty discreet” strains are becoming “very intense” in the encampment of some 6,000 people. The union representative attributed the rise in tensions in tightened security around the Channel Tunnel, frustrating attempts for migrants to cross it in hopes of reaching Britain.
At least 16 migrants have died while attempting to cross into the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in mid-October that he had ordered the deployment of 300 additional gendarmes and 160 riot police officers to reinforce the current forces stationed in the port city.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Unable to House 300,000 Refugees
Germany doesn’t have the capacity to house hundreds of thousands of the refugees set to arrive in the country over the remainder of the year, a study released on Monday claims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Town: Migrants Riot in Church, Steal From Stores, Defecate on Gardens
Residents in the German town of Ellwangen are reporting that thousands of migrants who recently arrived are defecating on people’s gardens, staging riots in church and stealing from local stores, while police in the area struggle to cope with the disorder.
Ellwangen, which has a population of around 23,500 and a strong Catholic community, was recently inundated with 4,500 asylum seekers who are staying in the old army barracks on the edge of town.
The original plan was to house just 500 immigrants, but this quickly ballooned to ten times that figure, at which point “serious mass brawls and conflicts” began, prompting the police to be called out routinely. The state government is set to fork out €5.1 million euros of taxpayer money to renovate and expand the barracks.
A friend of a local reports that store owners are struggling to do any business since people are afraid to go into town because of the migrants.
“I read about serious theft problems in stores where ‘refugees’ walk in, take what they want or need, and walk out again without paying,” writes the individual. “In the beginning, grocery stores called the police, but stopped doing so after they were told to write up the losses and contact someone at the local municipality to reimburse them. (I had a verbal confirmation from a wife of a German police officer).”
Women are also afraid to walk into town alone, with reports of a woman being raped and a 10-year-old girl being sexually harassed.
“The most disturbing news he informed me about, however, was that the so called refugees go into churches to disrupt service. They would simply walk in and start to riot. ‘These people want to destroy us’, is what he said, literally. He is a very well educated business man; not someone inciting hatred against refugees. Most of the people living in that town and neighboring villages are honest, hard working people, trying to do good and be good, and now are forced to watch how their town and livelihoods are destroyed by the decision of the government to take in people that are violently opposed and opposite to the German and Christian culture.”
[Comment: What’s the penalty for treason in Germany?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Government Was Warned in Spring About a Million Migrants in Libya
The German government received warning as early as spring from Frontex, the EU’s border agency, that record numbers of migrants and refugees were planning to cross the Mediterranean from Libya, as well as information about the travel plans of thousands of Kosovans.
The German government was warned in spring that up to one million people from Africa and the Middle East were preparing to travel from Libya to Europe, the German press reported on Sunday.
The German government has been criticized for not making necessary preparations for the migrant crisis faced by the European Union this year, which has led to Germany agreeing to take in a million or more asylum seekers this year.
Welt am Sonntag reports that the critics are on solid ground, since the German government was warned by Frontex, the agency which manages the EU’s borders, as far back as spring about the record numbers of refugees and migrants planning to come to Europe.
A source told the newspaper that in March, Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri warned that a record number of refugees and migrants were in North Africa, and planning to come to Europe.
“Our sources tell us that that between 500,000 and one million migrants are ready to leave Libya,” Leggeri is said to have told Germany’s federal government in March.
In June, Leggeri gave another warning, telling Bundestag deputies at an internal meeting about record numbers of illegal border crossings by migrants in the Balkans. The numbers involved were forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior, and the Federal Chancellery.
“Irregular border crossings from Turkey into Greece have risen by 550 percent in comparison with last year,” Welt am Sonntag reported Leggeri told the deputies.
As well as notice about the flow of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, a source also told the newspaper that the German government was also warned about migration from Kosovo.
Germany’s representatives in the region wrote to the German Foreign Office in February to warn that “800-1,000 (plus underreporting) Kosovars daily” were on their way to Germany, migrating via Serbia and Hungary.
The report warned that by the end of the year, the number of Kosovan migrants to Germany could reach “300,000 people, that is, one sixth of the population” of Kosovo.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Government in Hot Water Over Refugee Crisis
Less than a week after German Chancellor Angela Merkel brokered a deal over the refugee crisis in an effort to save he coalition government from splitting, there are further signs of growing dissent within her party and the country as a whole.
Merkel came in for criticism for wanting to set up transit zones on Germany’s borders, where asylum seekers would be kept until they had been processed, with genuine refugees fleeing warzones — mainly Syrians — would be accepted, but economic migrants and others sent back to where they came from.
Her policy was opposed by her coalition partner the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) led by Sigmar Gabriel, who said the transit camps would be like detention centers. Meanwhile, Merkel, who leads the CDU party, also attracted the wrath of Bavarian CSU leader Horst Seehofer — the sister-party to the CDU — who demanded more action from Berlin to deal with the tens of thousands of refugees swarming into the southern state from Austria.
In talks last week, Merkel backed down over transit camps and agreed to set up refugee centers and speed up the processing of refugees and the deportation of those refused asylum.
The compromise would mean that refugees will be processed within weeks, rather than months, although critics question how the status of an asylum seeker can be established so quickly.
Robert Habeck, a member of Germany’s opposition Green Party told the DPA news agency:
“In other countries, most people have to wait a year before they can even apply for asylum. In this context, it is a complete mystery how the Federal government intends to conclude the process at special registration centers within a few weeks.”
Left-Hand, Right-Hand
However, another rift appeared when Merkel’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere appeared to change the government’s policy towards Syrian refugees, telling German radio that they would receive a modified refugee status and be barred from having family members join them.
Ralf Stegner, deputy chairman of the SPD — which is in coalition with the CDU/CSU Union parties — criticized de Maiziere’s comments, saying the ban on family members joining male refugees would simply encourage more women and children to make the perilous journey from the Middle East to Europe.
“It’s off the table as far as the SPD is concerned,” Stegner told German radio. “This won’t wash with the SPD, and the CDU knows this perfectly well.”
A spokesperson for Merkel moved swiftly to say — despite what de Maiziere said — the refugee policy was unchanged. Asked if de Maiziere retained Merkel’s confidence, government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference: “Of course he does.”
Ulla Jelpke from the opposition Left Party told Reuters:
“In this government the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The interior minister is treating the chancellor and his coalition partner with disrespect.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Refugees Stuck in Bottleneck at Northern Border
As a bottleneck of refugees formed at Greece’s northern border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Monday, European Union Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos called on interior ministers meeting in Brussels to do more to relieve pressure from first-reception countries like Greece and Italy.
“It is now time for them [the member states] to accelerate the work to make… promises a reality on the ground,” he said in a statement addressed to the meeting, held ahead of a special EU-Africa refugee summit in Malta on Wednesday.
Avramopoulos called for more relocations, tighter border controls and more reception and processing centers along the more popular entry routes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Town Looks to Refugees for Revival
Across Italy, hundreds of towns are struggling to survive amid a dwindling population. But in Satriano, a town in Calabria, refugees are bringing in new life, as the Italian journalist Simone d’Antonio discovers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Luxembourg: ‘False Nationalism Can Lead to War’ In Europe
The migration crisis facing Europe could lead to the collapse of the European Union and even to war, the bloc’s longest-running foreign minister said in an interview published Monday (9 November).
Jean Asselborn, foreign minister of Luxembourg since 2004, told German press agency DPA that the core EU element of borderless travel, agreed in the Luxembourg city of Schengen in 1985, is under threat.
“We have maybe only several months time left [to save it],” he said.
“The European Union can break apart. That can happen incredibly fast, when isolation instead of solidarity, both inwards and outwards, becomes the rule.”
Asselborn is not the first European politician to warn of a break-up.
Slovenian prime minister Miro Cerar said last month he believed the EU would “fall apart” if no solution is found to slow down the influx of refugees and migrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants at British RAF Base on Cyprus Given Asylum Deadline
Britain has given dozens of Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese migrants camped at its military base on Cyprus seven days to claim asylum in the country or face deportation to Lebanon, a government spokesman said on Monday.
Two fishing boats carrying 115 people came ashore at a British Royal Air Force (RAF) base on Cyprus three weeks ago, the first time in the migrant crisis that refugees have landed directly on British sovereign soil.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minister ‘Attempts Putsch’ Over Refugees
Critics accused Germany’s interior minister of trying to overthrow the government at the weekend after he announced a U-turn on refugee policy without the knowledge of his seniors.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, a senior figure in the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), unexpectedly announced on Saturday that Syrians would no longer be awarded three years’ residency in Germany and that they could no longer bring their families with them at a later point.
But it quickly became clear that De Maizière’s comments did not have the backing of more senior figures in the government. On Sunday Peter Altmaier (CDU), Angela Merkel’s Chief of Staff, said that the asylum process for Syrian refugees would not be changed and confirmed that he had had no idea about De Maizière’s change of course.
Merkel publicly stripped De Maizière of overall control of the refugee crisis in October and handed it to Altmaier.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
No Place Like Home? EU Offers Africa $2 Bln to Take Back Migrants
The European Union is reportedly developing a “radical plan” to send some of the African refugees who have made their way to Europe back home.
About two billion dollars may be allocated for the implementation of the EU’s “radical plan” to return at least some of the 800,000 refugees from African countries who have fled to Europe. Talks revolving around the implementation of the idea are expected to dominate a meeting between EU and African leaders in Malta this week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The EU is considering the establishment of a special foundation to render financial assistance to Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, among other countries. This cash would be offered in exchange for promises to take back the unwelcome guests. This is a sore spot for many African governments, whose economies benefit from large-scale remittances from foreign workers.
In addition to the subsidies, the EU also reportedly plans to simplify visa requirements for students, doctors and entrepreneurs from African countries, as well as help them with education and employment in Europe.
Nigel Faraj, leader of the UK Independence Party, has meanwhile warned against clinching such an agreement, which he said will be tantamount to madness.
“The EU offers to stop illegal migration from Africa by means of its legalization. This is madness,” he said.
Although Britain remains outside the Schengen visa-free area which unites much of the continental EU, London fears that the “legalization” of refugees could once again inflame tensions as thousands of migrants seek entry to the UK near the French terminus of the Channel Tunnel to England.
Earlier this year, a large number of refugees repeatedly tried to move to the UK via the tunnel, costing the lives of some migrants and leading to train traffic disruptions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Our Country is a Nightmare: Swedes Descend on Lesbos to Dissuade Migrants
Swedish political groups have distributed leaflets at refugee camps on the Greek island of Lesbos, which aim to put them off trying to make a life in Sweden.
Swedish political and civic groups have traveled to the Greek island of Lesbos to inform the refugees and migrants there that Sweden is not the destination for them, the Swedish press reported on Saturday.
The Sweden Democrats Party, as well as the groups ‘Swedish Women,’ and ‘People of Sweden,’ have been giving out leaflets to people living in refugee camps which describe the negative aspects of life there for newcomers.
“One side of the leaflet says ‘welcome to Sweden,’ along with a picture of rows of mattresses, each with a roll of toilet paper and a toothbrush,” reported Sweden’s Sodermansland Nyheter newspaper.
“On the back is a text that says Sweden has become a violent country because of mass immigration, and that our previously safe country is not safe any more. It also says that Sweden has the second highest number of rapes in the world.,”
The text begins with the heading “no money, no jobs, no homes,” and warns the reader that Sweden’s accommodation of refugees is only temporary, consisting of tents and camp beds.
“You will eventually be sent back home,” the leaflet warns. It also claims that Sweden is preparing to ban halal meat, and wearing the hijab or burqa in public places.
Sodermansland Nyheter was informed about the leaflets by Swedish activists who are in Lesbos helping refugees.
“I like other Swedish citizens do not support this,” Mohammed Mouaid told the newspaper.
“We stood there and told them we were from Sweden. I was ashamed when I saw it,” said fellow refugee aid worker Caxton Hjuki.
Sweden’s Expressen newspaper asked Joakim Wallerstein, head of communications for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats Party, about the unusual PR campaign. The newspaper reported that the party currently has 30 representatives on 20 sites in six European countries, distributing the leaflets.
“Our view is that people are prepared to risk their lives to make it to Sweden, and believe there is some kind of luxurious life waiting for them there. But we would like to inform them that rather than that, camp beds are awaiting them,” he explained.
Wallerstein said that the response to the leaflets was better than the campaigners had been expecting, and had provoked conversation about Sweden, in which they believed they were able to deny some misconceptions held by those preparing to travel there.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Over Half of Poles Against Hosting Middle East, African Refugees
According to the poll, the Poles are mostly scared that refugees may not respect the Polish secular and religious traditions, behave aggressively toward Polish women and promote Islam in the country.
WARSAW (Sputnik) — Over a half of Polish residents answering a survey do not support the idea of their country hosting refugees from North Africa and the Middle East, a poll revealed Sunday.
Some 51 percent of the surveyed Poles oppose accepting migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, according to a poll conducted by the national Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS.)
The researchers also analyzed publications and online comments devoted to the refugee issue, and concluded that 81 percent of the commentators had a negative attitude toward refugees.
In late July, a poll revealed that almost three-quarters of Czech Republic residents answering a survey are not in favor of hosting Muslim refugees. Shortly before that, members of the Czech clergy offered to provide homes for Christian refugees as Czech President Milos Zeman said that refugees accepted by his country must be of a “similar cultural background.”
Europe has been beset by major migrant crisis as thousands of people have fled conflict-torn countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia, risking a sea journey. According to the EU border agency Frontex, over 710,000 migrants have already arrived in the bloc during the first nine months of 2015.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee and Eurozone Crises Lead to Calls for Two-Speed Europe
Major divisions over the refugee crisis as well as the dysfunctionality of the euro currency have led to accusations that the European Union is “not fit for purpose and is in need of fundamental reform.”
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has warned of the collapse of the European Union as a result of the reintroduction of border controls between EU Member States amid the growing refugee crisis. Speaking to news agency DPA, he said:
“The European Union could break apart.”
Asselborn said the sheer volume of asylum-seekers flooding through Europe had led to some countries — including Hungary, Germany and Austria — imposing border controls, which go contrary to the Schengen agreement on the freedom of movement of people — a central pillar of the EU.
“The risk is there very clearly. If we do not get European solution for this migration crisis, when more and more countries believe that they can go about this thing only nationally, then Schengen is dead.”
It would also bring about the fall of “the greatest achievement of the European Union” with serious consequences for the daily lives of EU citizens.
‘Chaotic Multi-Speed, Hotchpotch EU’
It follows similar comments by Guy Verhofstadt, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, who now heads the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament. He told The Independent newspaper in London:
“Many in continental Europe strongly agree with [UK Prime Minister] David Cameron that the European Union of today is not fit for purpose and is in need of fundamental reform.”
“Most accept that the direction of travel has shifted towards some form of ‘two-speed Europe’, broadly based around eurozone ‘ins’ and ‘outs’. And clarifying these two types of membership would surely be progress, compared with the chaotic multi-speed, hotchpotch EU of today,” he said.
Cameron will this week outline his demands for a renegotiation of Britain’s membership of the EU, ahead of an In/Out referendum which many believe he will call in June or July 2016.
Verhofstadt said: “There is growing acknowledgement that eurozone countries must integrate further, if the European economy is to recover and fulfill its potential. This is in the interests of Britain, too. Britain wants no part in further European integration, or certainly not for now.
“If ‘ever closer union’ is not right for the British people any longer, so be it, but the British Government must also appreciate that this means they can no longer block those EU members who wish to integrate further. There are many questions about how the notion of a two-speed Europe can be delivered in practice, but we do know that it will require a revision of the existing treaties.”
His comments come just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a more flexible European Union where countries can opt out of integration schemes. “The Europe of today is no longer a Europe of one speed,” she told a business conference in Berlin last week.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia to Tighten Border Control, Fears Unmanageable Migrant Wave
Slovenian government said Monday it would take urgent measures to strengthen control of its Schengen border with Croatia, fearing an expected new wave of migrants would be scarcely manageable.
“The government has prepared additional urgent measures to manage the migrants’ flow, including the necessary measures to safeguard the Schengen border,” the administration said in a statement issued late Monday.
Earlier in the day Slovenian foreign minister Karl Erjavec said that 20,000-30,000 migrants heading towards western Europe could flock on Slovenia’s border — the passport-free Schengen area’s external frontier — later this week, following the end of a Greek ferry crews’ strike that contained the flow for days…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Registers Record Number of 10,201 Weekly Asylum Claims
At least 10,201 refugees applied for asylum in Sweden last week, making it the highest number of migrants to apply for asylum in the Nordic nation in a seven-day period, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) reported Monday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Migrationsverket, this latest inflow of migrants includes 4,333 people from Afghanistan, 2,719 Syrians and 1,405 Iraqi refugees. The remaining 1,744 asylum seekers came from other states.
Unaccompanied minors accounted for over a quarter of the group — 2,827 — which is also a new weekly record figure. Over 80 percent of these children are from Afghanistan.
Earlier in November, Sweden’s Minister for Migration Morgan Johansson said that the number of asylum seekers was increasing faster than the number of accommodation places, meaning that there were no guarantees anymore that they would be able to accommodate everyone.
According to Migrationsverket, Sweden expects up to 190,000 refugees to arrive in the country by the end of 2015.
The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa for Europe.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 770,000 refugees from these regions have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of 2015.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Refugee Support Drops as Numbers Rise
A new poll suggests growing numbers of Swedes want their country to take in fewer migrants, as the nation continues to welcome an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tusk Urges Germany to Help Secure EU Borders
EU council chief Donald Tusk on Sunday urged Germany to do more to toughen up the EU’s external borders to help stem the flow of incoming migrants and asylum seekers, reports Die Welt am Sonntag. “Leadership responsibility also means securing Europe’s external borders together with other member states,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Federal Police and guards were set to storm Christmas Island detention centre after a riot broke out in response to the death of an Iranian-Kurdish asylum seeker.
Reinforcements from Sydney’s Villawood detention centre arrived overnight to restore order and limit damage to commonwealth property made by detainees, reported The Australian.
The inmates have been engaging in violent behaviour which has resulted in fires, property damage and theft.
‘Inmates set fire to the medical clinic inside the centre and trashed and looted the canteen, taking cigarettes and chocolates,’ reported The Australian.
Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young tweeted that she had received ‘reports from inside the Christmas Island detention centre that riot police were preparing to storm the camp,’ just before 9 pm on Monday night.
A number of people are involved in a ‘stand-off’ reported ABC, while Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said: ‘Negotiations were underway with those involved in the stand-off and it was hoped order would be restored in the coming hours.’…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Syrian Refugees: What You Can Do to Help
This week the Prime Minister announced that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees during this Parliament. Here’s how you can help.
Since the Syrian crisis began in 2011, the UK has granted asylum or other forms of leave to almost 5,000 Syrian nationals and their dependants. We also operate three resettlement routes, which bring people who have fled their home country to the UK. One of these, the Gateway programme, has run for 10 years and has resettled almost 6,400 people in that time, aiming to resettle around 750 people a year.
Britain can be proud that we’re one of the only major countries in the world to deliver our commitment to spend 0.7% of our GNI on aid. We’re already the second largest bilateral donor of aid in the world in response to the Syrian conflict. Our help has included providing over 18 million food rations and giving 1.6 million people access to clean water.
On 7 September the Prime Minister announced an expansion of our existing Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme. Through this expansion, we expect to resettle 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. This is in addition to those we resettle under our Gateway and Mandate programmes, and the thousands of people who receive protection in the UK under normal asylum procedures… We have received many generous offers of support from the general public, local authorities, businesses and other organisations. Below is some guidance on how you can help …
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Weekly Asylum Claims Top 10,000 in Sweden
Last week saw the highest number of refugees in history seeking asylum in Sweden in a seven day period according to the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket).
The new statistics were released days after Sweden’s Migration Minister Morgan Johansson announced that due to the huge recent influx of refugees, the Scandinavian country could no longer guarantee beds for all new arrivals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gay Lobby and Western Consuls Against the Bishop of Hong Kong
Gay Pride slams Card Tong for defending the family, as a union of a man and a woman. The aim is to enshrine gay “rights” and eliminate “discrimination” in the law, including the recognition of gay marriage. Criticised for not following the pope and the Synod, the bishop calls on Catholics to be vigilant. A workshop on lovemaking techniques involves sex workers showing how to use sex toys and perform massages. For the upcoming District Council elections, the bishop calls on the faithful to take into account candidates’ views on gay marriage.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — In the past few days, Card John Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong, and the Catholic Church have been accused of “discrimination” by LGBT groups and representatives of Western governments in the territory for defending the institution of the family based on the union of a man and a woman, and for warning the faithful against any official recognition of gay unions as equal to the traditional family.
The war of words reached a crescendo yesterday afternoon when some 10,000 people from the Pink Alliance and other similar associations led the city’s Gay Pride parade, calling on the Government of Hong Kong to ban all “ discrimination “against people based on their sexual orientation, including gay marriage.
The consuls of France, Britain, Germany, United States, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Finland, as well as representatives of the European Union and the British Council attended Hong Kong’s Seventh Gay Pride.
For York Chow Yat-ngok, who heads Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission, “our religion taught us [. . .] not to discriminate [against] people”. Caroline Wilson, Britain’s consul general, also talked about “discrimination”. The Pink Alliance ridiculed Cardinal John Tong Hon’s suggestion that gay marriage would trigger “social disorder”.
All the criticism stems from a statement the bishop released last Thursday. In it, the cardinal urged the faithful to play an active role — as the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” — in promoting the notion of the family as a union between a man and a woman, and in staying vigilant against groups who, in the name of “rights” and against discrimination, want to bring before the Hong Kong legislative council plans to give gay marriage the same recognition as the traditional marriage, including the right to adopt children.
In his message, the cardinal also noted that a so-called Christian students’ organisation recently held a ‘Workshop on lovemaking techniques’ at one of Hong Kong’s universities with the participation of sex workers showing how to use sex toys and perform erotic massage.
In view of this, the bishop of Hong Kong called on Catholics to cast their ballot in upcoming District Council elections taking into account candidates’ views on gay rights.
Reactions to Card Tong’s stance has tended to juxtapose his position to that of Pope Francis and the recently concluded Synod, emphasising the need to end discrimination against homosexuals and to highlight the pope’s greater “openness”.
Mgr Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong, said that the Church does not discriminate against homosexuals, but against their acts. Likewise, in his statement, the cardinal noted that the Synod on the Family reaffirmed the traditional notion of the family, as a union between a man and a woman.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cryptowall 4.0: Update Makes World’s Worst Ransomware Worse Still
Now you won’t even know what files are encrypted.
The fourth iteration of the world’s worst ransomware Cryptowall has surfaced with gnarlier encryption tactics and better evasion tricks that have fooled current antivirus platforms.
Ransomware has ripped through scores of businesses and end-user machines in sporadic and targeted attacks that have cost victims millions of dollars in ransom payments made to criminals who have illegally encrypted valuable files.
The worst offenders remain at large including a single group who may be behind Cryptowall 3.0 and have made some US$325 million this year according to the Cyber Threat Alliance, dwarfing FBI June figures which noted it extorted some US$18 million from US victims alone in about a year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Italian Town Looks to Refugees for Revival
Across Italy, hundreds of towns are struggling to survive amid a dwindling population. But in Satriano, a town in Calabria, refugees are bringing in new life, as the Italian journalist Simone d’Antonio discovers.”
-Why doesn’t he occupy his empty town with homeless Italians?
“Over a half of Polish residents answering a survey do not support the idea of their country hosting refugees from North Africa and the Middle East, a poll revealed Sunday.
Some 51 percent of the surveyed Poles oppose accepting migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, according to a poll conducted by the national Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS.)”
I am wondering where these pro-asyl supporters are? Maybe these vast numbers of people dont have an internet access or are not interested in commenting articles, because when I read comments in any german MSM newspaper 90% are critical against moslems and immigration.
So I only can conclude that these polls that half of the population are for mass immigration are a forged.