At least seven people were killed by tornadoes as violent weather struck the Dallas area. Five of those killed in Garland were thought to have been blown off the interstate in their vehicle. Meanwhile, wildfires are ravaging California and Australia, with more than 100 homes destroyed along the coastline in Victoria.
In other news, Afghan, Eritrean, and Syrian migrants housed in a hotel above the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland are unhappy with the extremely cold weather and the lack of sunlight. In those latitudes the sun disappeared six weeks ago and will not return until February.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Fjordman, Jerry Gordon, Seneca III, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Top Iron Ore Shipper Cuts 2016 Forecast by 19% as Glut Grows
The world’s biggest iron ore exporter cut its price forecast for next year by 19 percent as supply continues to swell and slowing growth in China hurts demand in the biggest user.
Iron ore will remain under $40 for the next three years as China’s slowdown forces the global industry into a long period of hibernation, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report last week. The bank expects mine closures to accelerate next year as the health of China’s steel industry deteriorates.
Demand in China is weakening as policy makers seek to steer the world’s second-largest economy away from investment-led growth to one driven by consumer demand and services. Crude steel production will shrink to 800 million tons in 2016 from an estimated 808 million tons this year, according to the Australian government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Held in Iran During 444-Day Hostage Crisis Finally Get Compensation
Compensation for American Embassy personnel held hostage for 444 days in Iran more than three decades ago was hailed on Thursday by the former captives and the lawyers who for years fought Tehran and Washington to get a measure of vindication.
A provision buried in a spending bill signed by President Obama last week will give up to $4.4 million to each of the 37 surviving hostages or the estates of 16 others who died in the years since their release. The sum works out to $10,000 for each day of their captivity and will come, in part, from a $9 billion penalty paid by the French bank BNP Paribas for violating sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan.
“Iran is not paying the money, but it’s as close as you can get,” said Thomas Lankford, an attorney who represented the former hostages and their families in a lengthy battle that continued even after the courts and the U.S. government repeatedly denied their requests for restitution. Lankford called the restitution “gratifying after a long, long time.”
The financial settlement also provides potential benefits for victims of other terrorist attacks, including the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa and for first responders to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Arson Suspected Fire at Bill Clinton’s Childhood Home
A fire at former US President Bill Clinton’s childhood home in Arkansas is believed to have been caused by arson, officials say.
They say the blaze in the city of Hope slightly damaged one interior room before it was extinguished.
Arson is suspected because accelerant was detected at the scene. Graffiti is also being examined.
Mr Clinton spent his first years in the house, which was designated a National Historic Site in 2011.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Iran Hostages Will Receive Up to $4.4m Each in Compensation, Report Says
American hostages who were held in Iran for 444 days between 1979 and 1981 are finally receiving compensation from the government for their time in captivity.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that a provision in the omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama last week provided for up to $4.4 million to be paid to each of the 37 surviving hostages or the estates of 16 others who have died since their release. The Post reported that the law authorizes payments of up to $600,000 for each spouse or child of a hostage.
According to the Post, money for the compensation will come in part from a $9 billion penalty paid by the French bank BNP Paribas for violating sanctions prohibiting conducting business with Iran, Cuba, and Sudan. The fund will remain open for 10 years so that it can be replenished by future fines.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Confirmed Dead in Storms in Garland and Copeville, 50,000 Without Power Across North Texas
Five people were killed in Garland and two others were killed in Copeville as high winds and storms passing through North Texas, police said.
The five Garland deaths are believed to have possibly been blown off Interstate 30. Two were reported dead at a gas station on Texas 78 in Copeville, which is in northern Collin County.
It appears that the five people killed in Garland were driving on westbound I30 and were blown off the highway by high winds onto the Texas 190 service road below, said Garland police spokesman Mike Hatfield. Officers are still sorting through the wreckage to figure out exactly what happened.
“We’re dealing with darkness out here,” Hatfield said. “All of the street lights and highway lights are out.”
It is unclear exactly how many people were injured in the wreckage on I30, he said. Injuries were also reported at a Garland apartment complex. Hatfield said all the residents are outside their apartments with their pets and other belongings. It is unclear whether anyone was killed or seriously injured there.
A Garland house was badly damaged after a tornado was reported in the area Saturday night. (Holly Rusak/Staff)
Reports of damages and injuries are pouring in after at least two to three tornadoes have been reported Saturday in North Texas, including one suspected of touching ground near Garland. There have been reports of as many as four tornadoes.
National Weather Service officials won’t know for certain how many twisters touched ground until they are able to go out and survey damage, said weather service meteorologist Lamont Bain.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
The United States and Islam: What is Going on?
by Amir Taheri
The irony is that no major power in recent history has gone out of its way as has the United States to help, respect, please and, yes, appease Islam. And, yet, no other nation has been a victim of vilification, demonization, and violence on the part of the Islamists as has the U.S.
More prevalent than Islamophobia is Islamophilia, as leftists treat Muslims as children whose feathers should not be ruffled. The Islamophilia crowd invites Americans and Europeans to sacrifice part of their own freedom in atonement of largely imaginary sins against Muslims in the colonial and imperialist era.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tornadoes, Flooding Batter Alabama, Damaging Homes
Extremely warm temperatures and an unstable weather pattern brought Christmas Day tornadoes and flooding to Alabama, damaging homes and leaving hundreds without electricity. The storms that ravaged the state were the latest in a wave of severe weather that’s hammered the South during Christmas week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Quietly Maneuvers to Cut UN Dues
The U.S. is locked once again in a back-room struggle with developing nations over how much of the United Nations tab Washington will pick up over the next three years, especially the bill for peacekeeping activities.
There is cautious hope among diplomats that the U.S. can chip away at least marginally at the U.N.’s “scale of assessments” — a dues system loaded in favor of many poor and not-so-poor countries that pay less than their fair share, and saddle the small number of rich countries — especially the U.S. — with the difference.
In broad terms, the bottom line will remain the same: the U.S. will continue to pay billions more than everyone else.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A fraction of referrals to a key Government anti-terror scheme are being made from within the Muslim community, leading to widespread distrust and threats of a national boycott, according to reports.
Less than 10 per cent of referrals to the Prevent programme, a central plank of the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, come from within the Muslim community.
The collapse in referrals means the bulk of tip-offs are originating from public services, such as schools or doctors, breeding distrust and disillusionment among some Muslim communities, it is claimed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corsica Protesters Trash Muslim Prayer Room
Demonstrators ransacked a Muslim prayer hall and set fire to copies of the Koran on the French island of Corsica on Friday, police said, in an attack condemned by the government.
The violence came on Christmas day amid heightened security measures for the holiday, and nationwide fears after the November 13 attacks in Paris by jihadists that killed 130 people.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls wrote on Twitter that the break-in in the city of Ajaccio was “an unacceptable desecration”.
Tensions had mounted in Ajaccio Friday after two firefighters and a police officer were injured overnight in a low-income neighbourhood of the city when they were “ambushed” by “several hooded youths”, authorities said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe in Review 2015: Terrorism Shakes Europe
From the Charlie Hebdo killing in January to the Friday the 13th attacks in November, France and its capital Paris have become the epicentre of a growing terrorist threat in Europe.
The tremors could be felt in Copenhagen, Brussels and even the meeting rooms of EU institutions where the fundamental European principle of free movement has come under pressure.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Fear Should Not Control Our Lives, ‘ Dutch King Says in Christmas Message
King Willem-Alexander used his traditional Christmas message to urge the people of the Netherlands not to allow themselves to live in fear.
‘We do not have to hide or deny our fears,’ he said. ‘But we do not need to allow those fears to take over and run our society… When it comes to major challenges, we have to show what we stand for: our democracy and the rule of law.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Boules Lovers Push for Recognition
Fans of the gentle French pastime of boules are on a roll. Not only has an agreement been signed to allow their sport to be played in French schools, but now they are also seeking Olympic recognition.
Generations of holidaymakers have fond memories of hours spent playing boules, while sipping pastis (aniseed liqueur) under plane trees.
But boules players say their game is a bona fide sport and should be taken as seriously as football or tennis.
And there is a sense in France of a concerted push for petanque, which is the most common version of boules in France.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In Sweden, A Cash-Free Future Nears
STOCKHOLM — Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote “Money, Money, Money,” considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins.
Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic.
This tech-savvy country, home to the music streaming service Spotify and the maker of the Candy Crush mobile games, has been lured by the innovations that make digital payments easier. It is also a practical matter, as many of the country’s banks no longer accept or dispense cash.
At the Abba Museum, “we don’t want to be behind the times by taking cash while cash is dying out,” said Bjorn Ulvaeus, a former Abba member who has leveraged the band’s legacy into a sprawling business empire, including the museum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Up to 600 French protesters desecrated a Muslim prayer hall in Corsica in a revenge attack prompted by the wounding of two firefighters and a police officer.
The furious mob smashed the prayer hall’s glass door, ransacked the interior and left around 50 partially-burned Korans littering the street overnight.
Chanting ‘Arabs get out!’ and ‘This is our home’, protesters marched through the streets of the French Mediterranean island’s capital, Ajaccio.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls described the attack on Twitter as ‘an unacceptable desecration’, and branded the violence towards the firefighters as an ‘intolerable attack’.
The violence began on the night of December 24, when two firefighters were ‘ambushed’ by ‘several hooded youths’ in the low-income neighbourhood of Jardins de L’Empereur.
It escalated when several hundred people gathered in front of police headquarters in the capital city, before marching through the streets to the housing estate where the attack on the firefighters took place.
They then launched the violent assault on the local prayer room.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazaneuve insisted the perpetrators of both incidents would be tracked down and arrested, adding that there was no place for ‘racism and xenophobia’ in France…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Prayer Room Vandalised in Corsica After Attack on Firefighters
A crowd vandalised a Muslim prayer room in Corsica a day after an ambush injured two firefighters responding to an emergency in a housing project, the state prefect on the French island has said.
Prefect Christophe Mirmand said police reinforcements from mainland France were being called into the Corsican capital of Ajaccio, and prayer rooms and mosques were being guarded.
Tensions were high on the Mediterranean island. The violence began on Thursday night, when firefighters responding to an emergency call were ambushed in a housing project in the hills of Ajaccio. It was not clear what prompted that violence.
On Friday, a gathering of about 600 people that started as a show of support for the injured emergency officials led to more violence when several dozen people broke away and headed to the prayer room. There, they threw objects and tried to burn Qur’ans and prayer books, officials said. They also vandalised a kebab shop.
France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, called for respect for French law after “the intolerable aggression toward firefighters and unacceptable profanation of a Muslim place of prayer”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Oslo’s “Citizen of the Year”: “Death to Israel, “ “Long Live the Sharia”
The Muslim Mohsan Raja was elected Citizen of the Year in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The election was mainly based on his volunteer work in Nattevaktene (helping people who have gotten lost, etc.) and with Refugees Welcome to Norway. Raja was chosen by the readers of Oslo’s largest newspaper — but only after the election, the newspaper disclosed certain details about Raja…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Imams Banned From Islamic Conference in Eindhoven
Eindhoven mayor Rob van Gijzel has banned seven foreign imams from speaking at an Islamic conference in the city this week, local paper Eindhovens Dagblad said on Tuesday. The imams were due to talk at a four day conference at the Al Fourqaan mosque. Van Gijzel decided to ban the preachers after consulting the counter terrorism watchdog NCTV, the paper said. The NCTV screened the men on the basis of earlier speeches and found they had been preaching anti-semitism, anti-gay rights, anti-women’s rights and hatred against unbelievers as well as praising violent jihad and martyrdom.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Floods: Homes Evacuated Amid Heavy Rain
Heavy rain has caused more flooding in northern England, with homes evacuated in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and rivers overflowing in Manchester and Leeds.
Damage has included the destruction of a former pub in Greater Manchester, and a large hole has appeared in the M62.
Met Office warnings of further rainfall are in place for northern England, Scotland and Wales.
Hundreds of flood alerts and warnings have been issued — more than 30 of them severe, meaning danger to life.
Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “My thoughts are with people whose homes have been flooded. I’ll chair a COBRA [emergency committee] call tomorrow to ensure everything is being done to help.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boxing Day ‘Machete’ Panic at Bromley Shopping Centre
A machete has been recovered after a suspected knife fight broke out at a shopping centre on Boxing Day.
Officers were called to reports of an altercation at the Intu Bromley Shopping Centre at 15:45 GMT.
Video filmed by a member of the public appears to show shoppers fleeing in panic, while a photo shows a police officer holding what appears to be a large knife.
A man in his 20s, who suffered a minor head injury, was arrested.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia Says Arrests Foiled Extremist Attack in Sarajevo
A Bosnian anti-terrorism prosecutor has said the recent arrests of 11 suspected extremists prevented an attack that purportedly would have killed around 100 holiday revelers in Sarajevo, state television said Saturday.
On Friday, a Sarajevo court ordered eight of the suspects to be held for 30 days, Bosnian television reported.
It quoted prosecutor Dubravko Campara as telling an investigating magistrate that the group were planning “a terrorist act during end-of-year celebrations.”
“They were threatening to carry out an explosives attack in which 100 people would be killed,” RTRS television quoted Campara as saying.
The suspects’ lawyers dismissed the allegations as a “simple farce” and said their clients were merely “practicing their religion”.
After the arrests, prosecutors gave reporters a photograph taken at the site showing a printout of the Islamic State group flag on the wall.
Around 40 percent of Bosnia’s population of 3.8 million are Muslim, most of whom follow a moderate form of Islam. Orthodox and Catholic Christians make up most of the rest of the population.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Year of Terror Drives French Jews to Israel
They cited “physical insecurity and financial uncertainty” as the main driving forces.
Around 8,000 French Jews were expected to have arrived over the course of the year, a spokesman for Israel’s immigration ministry told AFP, noting it would be an “all-time record”. Final data for 2015 was not available yet.
France’s Jewish community is estimated at between 500,000 and 600,000 people, the largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world.
In January, after four Jews were murdered in an attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an invitation to French and European Jews to emigrate.
French immigration to Israel this year rose by 10 percent compared with 2014, according to the Jewish Agency, a semi-official organisation that oversees Jewish immigration to the country.
“That growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future,” Jewish Agency spokesman Avi Mayer said. “A growing sense of physical insecurity and financial uncertainty” were the main reasons behind French Jewish emigration, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French See Their Children Add to ISIS Ranks in Syria
Valérie Aubry-Dumont got the news in a WhatsApp message from deep inside Islamic State territory. “Mom, you’re going to be a grandmother,” wrote her teenage daughter, Cléa.
In France, the West’s biggest supplier of foreign fighters in Syria, the loss of sons, daughters and grandchildren to Islamic State has been a slow-motion tragedy. For some French families, the Paris attacks, while deepening the wedge between militants and the West, were a painful reminder of their ties to the enemy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Holiday Price War as Big Firms Cut Package Deals by More Than £800
Terror attacks hit bookings in Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey
Holiday giants are offering savings of more than £800 on sunshine breaks in a fierce new price war.
The post-Christmas period is crucial for sales and firms including Thomson and Thomas Cook are battling to win early bookings.
They have already been badly hit as British families turned away from countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey in the wake of terror attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Forces Close in on Final Islamic State Post in Ramadi
Iraq’s military said it was closing in Friday on a former government compound in Ramadi that remains the only area of the city still under Islamic State control.
Iraqi forces were less than a mile from the compound where about 100 militants are holding out, the government said. Though Iraqi troops greatly outnumber the Islamic State fighters, they have struggled to advance in a landscape dotted with land mines and improvised explosive devices.
Iraqi forces backed by U.S-led airstrikes started a new push earlier this week to retake Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar about 60 miles west of the capital Baghdad.
Though Kurdish fighters and Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militias have led most victories against Islamic State in the country, most of the fighting in Ramadi has been done by Iraqi forces recently retrained and re-equipped by the U.S.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Documentary on Syrian Kurdish Resistance Reveals ISIS Barbarism and Turkish Complicity
I am not emblematic of the hoary joke about how Jews celebrate Christmas, eat Chinese food and watch a movie. As was my wont I posted some feel good stories on Israeli Christian IDF soldiers and the award of compensation for the 53 US Hostage survivors and their estates 36 years after the 1979 Tehran Embassy takeover by Iranian Islamic Revolutionaries. There was another story in this vein that I posted on my Facebook page, the push into Aleppo Province in Syria by the largely Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces seeking to oust ISIS from control of a strategic dam on the Euphrates River. My daughter who lives in the mid-Hudson Valley liked that one, because it featured a photo of Syrian YPG fighters with a woman in the lead of the column flouting the Kurdistan flag.
So, I goggled for more stories like this and chanced upon something that I had missed; an engrossing, gripping Israeli documentary shown last December on the Israeli equivalent of CBS’ 60 Minutes, “Uvda” meaning “Facts.” The 2014 documentary on Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish fighters was produced by two intrepid Israeli journalists, Eddie Arnold and Itai Anghel, who have the cover as dual citizens with South American and US passports to gain entry into Middle East countries. When shown on Israeli TV, the documentary garnered a 12 percent viewer share, according to an April 2015 McClatchy news report, “Israeli documentary details Kurds’ battle against Islamic State.” Read this February 2015 Jewish Journal article and interview with Anghel.
Watch the Israeli Uvda documentary You Tube video…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Kidnapped by IS, Saved by the Taliban
A young Afghan man freed nearly nine months after being kidnapped by Islamic State fighters in Zabul province has been talking about his ordeal. He was part of a group of hostages who were eventually freed by the Taliban and his story offers a rare glimpse inside the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Civilians Stuck in Urban War Zone in Southeast
Tens of thousands of civilians in southeast Turkey have been caught in the middle as government forces and Kurdish militants battle it out in urban areas — violence that has shattered hopes of reviving peace talks.
Turkish security forces launched a large-scale operation last week hoping to rout militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, and say more than 180 of them have been killed. Thousands of troops and tanks have been sent to crush pockets of resistance across mainly Kurdish districts, where PKK fighters and youth have set up trenches to keep them at bay. Flashpoints have been under a 24-hour curfew since mid-December.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Says Armed Chinese Coast Guard Ship Violates Its Waters Off Disputed Islands
Japanese authorities say an armed Chinese coast guard vessel has for the first time entered its territorial waters off islands claimed by both countries.
Japan’s coast guard says the ship, armed with what appeared to be four gun turrets, was one of three Chinese coast guard vessels spotted Saturday inside Japanese waters in the East China Sea. It was the only one that was armed.
Chinese vessels regularly sail around the disputed islands, known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese. But Japan’s coast guard said it was the first time an armed Chinese vessel had been sighted in Japanese waters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 100 Homes Destroyed in Australia Wildfire
More than 100 houses were destroyed by a Christmas Day wildfire that tore through a stretch of coastline popular with tourists in southern Australia, forcing thousands to flee their homes, officials said Saturday.
Cooler weather and light rain on Saturday eased the immediate threat from the blaze along Victoria state’s scenic Great Ocean Road, but officials warned that it could continue burning for weeks.
No one was killed or injured in the fire, said Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa: Fw De Klerk Criticises Rhodes Statue Removal Campaign
Former South African President FW De Klerk has criticised a campaign to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University’s Oriel College.
Mr De Klerk said South Africa’s white Afrikaner population had many reasons to dislike Rhodes but “never thought of removing his name from our history”.
Campaigners say the statue venerates the 19th Century colonialist and the values he stood for.
Former Australian PM Tony Abbott has also said the statue should stay.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Floods Force Nearly 140,000 People to Leave Their Homes in 4 South American Countries
Widespread floods have forced nearly 140,000 people from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil following days of torrential rains that drenched a region where the countries border each other. Paraguay is the hardest hit with at least 100,000 evacuating according to the National Emergency Department.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A New Surge of Central Americans Explain Why They Risked Everything to Come North
The recent spike in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border brought U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske to the Rio Grande Valley sector this month.
“Historically the numbers would not be at the levels we see right now,” Kerlikowske said, while standing in a warehouse where about 20 migrant children rested on large green mattresses, wrapped in reflective plastic blankets. “The concerning part is, are we seeing the new normal?”
A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months in 2014, federal statistics show. The number of family members crossing together, meanwhile, has nearly tripled, to 12,505. And though the influx began in July, the numbers were slightly higher this fall, a time when colder weather usually drives down the number of migrants crossing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
An Island Between Tragedy and Hope on the Refugee Trail
Syrians, Afghans and others find respite but also new difficulties on Samos, their first stop in the European Union on a gruelling journey in search of a better life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Refugee Group Calls for More Realistic Debate
Refugee organisation Vluchtelingenwerk says government rhetoric about refugees is partly to blame for the anti-asylum seeker sentiment in the Netherlands. The organisation was responding to the decision by Geldermalsen council to scrap plans to build a refugee centre for 1,500 people following riots earlier this month, which led police to fire warning shots into the air.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germans Pessimistic About Economic Upside of Refugee Influx
A new survey has revealed that most Germans believe the influx of refugees will not provide an economic boost. So far in 2015, Germany has taken in more than twice as many refugees as last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Migrants Storm Spanish Border With Morocco
Two migrants have been killed after around 400 attempted to cross in to Spain on Christmas Day
Two migrants drowned and 12 others were injured on Friday when they tried to enter into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa by swimming from Morocco or scaling a barbed-wire fence, officials in both nations said.
Just before 4:00 am (0300 GMT) a group of over 300 migrants tried to get into the Spanish city which borders Morocco and is located across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain, the Spanish government authority in Ceuta said in a statement.
Moroccan forces intercepted over 120 migrants but 182 others managed to get into Ceuta by climbing over the fence or swimming into the territory, it said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Inside the Arctic Circle, Migrants Struggle With Zero Daylight and Biting Cold
Several hundred migrants, mostly Afghans, Syrians and Eritreans, are being temporarily housed in a Swedish hotel in Arctic Lapland, where the challenges of living without sunlight are beginning to be felt.
“The last time we saw the sun was a month and a half ago,” complains Hakim Akbary, 31, who worked as a translator for international aid agencies before he fled Kabul.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Risk Injury and Drowning to Reach Spanish Enclave
A dawn rush by 300 migrants on Spain’s barb-wired Africa enclave of Ceuta ended with two people drowned and 12 others badly hurt. The Red Cross said 185 individuals made it onto Spanish territory.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Riot in Spanish Beach Town After African Stabbed
“Garbage bins are being burned, cars have been burned, windows have been shattered,” said city councillor Manolo Garcia.
Manolo Garcia, a city councillor in Roquetas del Mar in the province of Almeria, said the killing of the 41-year-old man in the city led to protests which descended into violence in the working class neighbourhood of Cortijos de Marin.
“Garbage bins are being burned, cars have been burned, windows have been shattered,” he told radio news station Cadena Ser.
Local online newspaper Ideal published a photo of a garbage container engulfed in flames in the middle of a street near a pharmacy as well as a video of man pushing a garbage container onto a burning car.
Police found the body of the man from Guinea-Bissau on a street in Roquetas del Mar in the early hours of Friday. Police suspect the man was stabbed following a dispute over a traffic accident, local media reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report: One Million Migrants and Refugees Reach Europe in 2015
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that more than one million migrants and refugees have crossed into Europe this year. European leaders are continuing to grapple with their redistribution.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad: “All the Fault of the West!”
by Lars Hedegaard
As long as we in the West are not prepared to take Muslims at their word when they claim to be waging bloody jihad because it is their religious obligation, we have no chance of repelling the current onslaught on the West.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dark and cold in Sweden
Life as a “refugee” – A struggle
And, besides, there are “Swedish” foreigners…
““Things are getting pretty bad right now,” he says. “There’s a security guard, a Swedish citizen who is originally from Iraq, who’s interfering with everything, he’s taking away people’s LMA cards [the Swedish asylum seeker ID].”
‘If I had known this I wouldn’t have wanted to go to Sweden’.
Instead of trying to stop global warming, Frau Merkel needs to speed it up, so those poor,downtrodden, culturally rich refugees can be happy and comfortable in Lapland.
Does get awful dark ‘n’ chilly in Blondieland.
Can I migrate PLEASE????
I like cold weather mostly as long as I am indoors and watching from a window in a warm room.
I could gets lots of sewing and embroidery done by the candles and fire light of the fireplace. Sounds cozy and since getting out of doors is often a problem with the walker, being indoors while it’s dark and snowy outside sounds NICE to me. : )
Then, in the Spring would be even better to appreciate the “warmer” weather. Arts and crafts shows and cultural festivals are quite the thing in the Baltics… so I could sell my handmade items to tourists all Spring and Summer. LOVELY!
Now, where do I, a D.A.R. and U.D.C. member , white Georgia cracker, Confederate and REV WAR descendant from Georgia and points North and South, sign up as refugee from RACE WAR torn USA???
OH, yeah… race wars at the local malls are going on these dayzzz!
I noticed on FB that many Blacks and some whites too, are waving the “YOU BE A CRACKER” banner if you think the riots in the mall are a BAD THING.
I was shocked at that. REALLY. One Black who filmed the commotion at one Mall was laughing about “ALL the WHITE FOLK ” running for the exits.
I noticed on the ISRAEL Today site an article says thousands of Jews are also fleeing UKRAINE to Israel.
Amazing huh? The “great” NEW US Allie and democracy run by the descendants of Ukraine NAZIS is losing its Jewish population.