Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/6/2015

A Jordanian man on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Belgrade became agitated an hour into the trip and banged on the cockpit door, saying that he wanted to take everyone on the plane with him to Allah. According to Serbian media, a stewardess asked members of the Vojvodina handball club who just happened to be on the plane to subdue the unfortunate man and guard him for the rest of the flight.

In migration news, Italy rescued over 4,600 would-be migrants from the Mediterranean in the space of just three days.

In other news, after closing down a mosque in a Paris suburb, police discovered Kalashnikov ammunition there, along with propaganda videos for the Islamic State. Elsewhere in France, Marine Le Pen and her niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen led the Front National to a major win in the first round of regional elections.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, Apollon Zamp, C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, RL, Vlad Tepes, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Abengoa Struggle Casts Cloud on Jobs, Banks in Spain and Abroad
» Italy: Six Million Pensioners Get Less Than 1,000 Euros
» Mexico Bracing for Massive Default That Could Set Off Global Debt Bomb: “Perversely Ironic Twist”
 
USA
» Boom in Italian Processed Tomato Sales in the U. S.
» Clinton Says Term ‘Radical Islam’ An Injustice to Vast Majority of Muslims
» Cop Found Guilty of Using Police Database to Stalk, Kill & Eat Women, But Judge Set Him Free
» Exclusive: Miami Billionaire Spearheads Anti-Trump Newspaper Ads
» Here He Goes Again: Obama Says it’s “Insane” For Millions of Americans on Watchlists to Own Guns
» Hillary Clinton Wrong on Muslims, Wrong for America
» ‘ISIS in America’: New Study Looks at the US Jihad Problem
» Jimmy Carter Says His Cancer is Gone
» Liberty University President Encourages Students to Carry Guns on Campus
» Obama to Deliver Rare Oval Office Address Sunday on Terror Threat
» Obama is a Sleeper Cell… How the Destruction of America’s Culture, Economy and National Security Was Planned From the Start
» San Bernardino Terrorist’s Father: My Son Was “Obsessed’ With Israel
» San Bernardino Gunman Obsessed With ISIS and Israel, Dad Says
» Top Jeb Bush Political Donor in Miami: I’ll Vote for Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump
» Virginia: Authorities Say Guns and Drugs Found in Suspicious Vehicle Near Stewartsville Road
 
Europe and the EU
» Ammunition, IS Propaganda Found After France Mosque Closure
» Barclays Bank Offloads Italian Branches
» Britain Leaving EU Would be Like Fall of Berlin Wall, Says Marine Le Pen
» Census Depicts Changing Face of Italy
» Danish Eurosceptics Say ‘No Thanks’ To EU Justice Rules
» EU Opens Tax Probe Into McDonald’s
» Finmeccanica Launches Selex ES Technologies for NATO AGS
» France’s National Front on Course for Massive Gains in Regional Elections
» France’s Far-Right National Front Leads in 1st Round of Regional Elections
» France’s Far-Right National Front Tops First Round of Regional Vote
» France: National Front Tops Polls in Regional Elections
» France: ‘What to Do With Paris Attackers’ Bodies?’
» Germany: ‘Mein Kampf’ Reprinted, 3,500 Explanatory Notes
» Germany: ‘Saudi-Funded Mosques Breeding Extremism’
» Greece: Seven Arrested in Anti-US Protest in Downtown Athens
» Heavy Losses in Regional Elections Leave France’s Socialists With Tactical Dilemma
» Hungary: EU Commission: New Citizen Initiative is Legal
» ISIS Army of Scientists Set to Wage Chemical and Biological War on West: Experts Warn Weapons of Mass Destruction ‘Have Been Carried Undetected’ Into European Union
» Italy: VatiLeaks 2 Defendant Chaouqui Says Reporters to ‘Pay Dearly’
» Italy: Prosecco Drives Healthy Sparkling Wine Sales in US
» Italy: Police Probe 5,700 Hrs of Alleged Timecard Fraud in Sanremo
» Italy’s Universities ‘Hemorrhaging’ Students Says Minister
» Marine Le Pen and Her Niece Set to Lead Far-Right Into New Territory
» Marion Maréchal-Le Pen: The New Wonder-Girl of France’s Far-Right
» Paris Attacks Spotlight Turns on Britain
» Polish Conservatives Sow Alarm With Bid to Consolidate Power
» Polls Put Far Right National Front on Top in French Elections
» Pope Admits Corruption in Vatican Too
» Porsche Italia Offices Searched in Fraud Probe
» Shameful Truth About Hugo Boss’s Links to the Nazis Revealed: As Russell Brand is Thrown Out of a Party for Accusing Fashion Designer of Helping Hitler
» Swedish Girl Arrested on Way to Join ISIS
» UK: ‘Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe Should Never be Sent to Ordinary Jail’
» UK: London Police Treating Stabbing Attack as ‘Terror Incident’
» Vatican’s Climate Change Light Show, 21st Century Graffiti
» Why St. Nicholas Puts Candy in Boots and Stole Our Hearts
 
Balkans
» Jordanian Citizen Attempted to Break Into Cockpit of Lufthansa Plane
» Jordanian Man Screaming He “Wants to Join Allah” Tries to Open Lufthansa Airplane Cabin Door in Mid Flight
» Lufthansa Passenger Threatens to Bring Down Plane
» Serbia: Survey: 59% in Favour of Joining the EU
 
North Africa
» Libya: Italy Hopes to up Pressure on Militias
» Tunisian Moms Can Now Take Kids Abroad Without Father’s OK
 
Middle East
» America Should be Grateful to Russia — US Presidential Candidate
» Assad on Cameron’s ‘70,000 Moderate Fighters’: ‘Maybe Ten of Those’
» Dutch Are Coming Under More Pressure to Bomb Syria: Armed Forces Chief
» Governor of Yemen’s Aden Killed in Suicide Car Bombing, Says Official
» Iraq Threatens Turkey With UN Action Over Troop Deployment
» Iraqis Think the U.S. is in Cahoots With the Islamic State, And it is Hurting the War
» Is Germany Bowing to US Pressure by Joining Syria Campaign?
» Italy-Lebanon: Chouf Mountains Environmental Project
» Jordan Launch Multi-Billion Dollar Red-Dead Canal Project
» Marine Le Pen: ‘By Fighting Against Assad, We Strengthened ISIL Positions’
» Ready for Anti-Daesh Fight? Germany’s Air Force is Collapsing
» The Underground Revival in the Middle East That Might Take Down Islam
» Turkey Fury as Russian Seen Brandishing Rocket Launcher
» Unexpected Source of Charitable Organization in Italy Funded Daesh
» Yemen Conflict: Governor of Aden Killed in Islamic State Attack
 
Russia
» German Vice Chancellor: Period of ‘Frosty Relations’ With Russia Should End
 
South Asia
» For the Bishop of Jaipur, The Government Must Not Abandon Indians Working Abroad
» Italian Marine Girone to Spend Fourth Xmas in India
» Pentagon Wasted Millions of Dollars on Luxury Afghan Villas
» The Deadly Link Between San Bernardino and Pakistan
 
Latin America
» Argentina Arrests Syrians Traveling on False Greek Passports
» Colombia Says Treasure-Laden San Jose Galleon Found
» Fears Rise in Venezuela Over Maduro’s Reaction to Possible Electoral Defeat
» Socialist System Built by Chavez Put to the Test as Venezuelans Cast Ballots
» Spanish Galleon San Jose Discovered Laden With Treasure Off Colombia
 
Immigration
» 4,600 Migrants Rescued Off Libyan Coast in Three Days (2)
» 4,600 Migrants Rescued Off Libyan Coast in Three Days (1)
» American Jews Betrayed by Their Leaders. Again
» Finnish Authorities Deny Asylum to Group of Refugees From Russia
» Greece is a Nation Under Occupation
» Italy: Four in 10 Immigrants Earn Under 800 a Month
» Up to 50,000 Syrian Refugees Could be in Canada by End of 2016
» Why We Must Stop Syrian Refugee Invasion of Western Countries
 
Culture Wars
» Summit Fails to Ban Genetic Engineering of Human Embryos
» White Debt
 

Abengoa Struggle Casts Cloud on Jobs, Banks in Spain and Abroad

As Spain’s flagship renewable energy giant Abengoa teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, concerns are mounting over the fate of thousands of employees and its numerous projects around the world, just weeks ahead of crux general elections.

The group filed for protection from its creditors late last month, giving it four months to find a solution to its astronomical debt or go bankrupt and become Spain’s biggest-ever corporate failure.

Since then, creditors, unions and the government have been trying to get a clearer idea of the group’s financial situation, and a grouping of seven banks has appointed auditors KPMG to comb through the accounts of the company and its 600-plus subsidiaries, according to the Bloomberg financial news agency…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Six Million Pensioners Get Less Than 1,000 Euros

More than four out of ten

(ANSA) — Rome, December 3 — Six million pensioners get less than 1,000 euros ($1,100) a month, national statistics agency Istat said Thursday in dramatic new testimony of the stark gap between the poorer and richer beneficiaries of the Italian pension system.

The government has said it means to address some of this inequality, starting next year, with a possible reduction in the so-called ‘golden pensions’ enjoyed by a lucky few.

The main scope of its promised intervention, however, will be to allow people to retire earlier on less if they want, mitigating the harmful effects of a widely hated 2011 pension reform enacted by then-labour minister Elsa Fornero under former premier Mario Monti as part of their ‘save Italy’ moves.

More than four out of 10 Italian pensioners, or 40.3%, get less than 1,000 euros a month, Istat said Thursday, publishing 2014 figures. That is more than six and a half million people, it said.

Almost half of Italy’s women pensioners, or 49.2%, don’t reach 1,000 euros in their monthly cheques, Istat said Thursday on 2014 figures. That is more than 4.2 million women, it said. Of these, some 1.169 million get less than 500 euros.

At the other end of the scale, almost 240,000 Italian pensioners, or 1.4% of the total, get more than 5,000 euros a month, Istat said. Another 767,000, or 4.7% of Italy’s 16.25 million pensioners, can count on pensions between 3,000 and 5,000 euros a month, it said.

More than 13,000 Italians got pensions of more than 10,000 euros a month in 2014, Istat said — 0.1% of the total number of pensioners. Another 217,000 got pensions between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, making the number of pensioners with more than 5,000 euros a month some 230,000.

More than a quarter of Italian pensioners, or 25.4%, get two pension cheques each month, Istat said. That is more than four million people, it said. Some 7.8% get three or more pensions.

The number of pensioners in Italy fell by more than 400,000 between 2011 and 2014 — from 16,668,000 to 16,259,000 — due to a controversial pension reform enacted by the Monti government in 2011, Istat said. Spending on pensions was up 0.2% to 17.17% of GDP in 2014 compared to 2013. Spending totalled 277 billion euros, a cash rise of 1.6%, the statistics agency said. Some 23.2 million pensions were paid out.

Istat also said 47.7% of Italian pensions are paid out in the north of the country, amounting to 50.5% of spending and 48.2% of pensioners while 20.4% of pensions go to central regions (21.4% of spending), Istat said. The remaining 31.9% of pensions are paid out in the south, amounting to 28.1% of overall spending. Istat was publishing figures for 2014.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Mexico Bracing for Massive Default That Could Set Off Global Debt Bomb: “Perversely Ironic Twist”

The debt avalanches. Once it accumulates enough mass, and momentum is not sufficient to stop its collapse, it overwhelms its host, and will come crashing down on the rest of the system, too.

Across the planet, there are hundreds of governments — local, state and national — as well as business and households who are reaching a breaking point. Already drowning in debt, many are about to default on loan repayments, and thus set off a series of debt crises that will be met with market chaos and a tightening of easy credit for those who are most vulnerable to implosion.

With Puerto Rico also timed for a major default that will burden the United States, Mexico is ready to crash, and bracing for impact. Its biggest construction firm, which has been dependent upon government contracts that are now drying up, is facing default on a $31 million interest bill.

And so it begins…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Boom in Italian Processed Tomato Sales in the U. S.

(AGI) Rome, Dec 2 — Exports of Italian canned tomatoes increased by 20 percent in sales value in the U.S. in 2015, according to an analysis by farmers’ association Coldiretti.

The information was presented at a meeting of ANICAV, the Italian association of canned vegetable industries. The U.S. is the biggest non-EU destination for these Italian products.

Italian processed tomato sales worldwide grew by 6 percent in the first eight months of 2015 compared to the previous year.

“This is due to the impetus of the economic recovery, the favourable exchange rate and the propulsive effect of Expo” said President of Coldiretti Roberto Moncalvo recalling that U.S. first lady Michelle Obama on her visit to Italy said that you can make a delicious meal with a packet of pasta, tomatoes and basil in just 30 minutes. “The Italian tomato has all the qualities to grasp the new international trends in consumption which recognise the identity of Brand Italy and the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet of which it is a key component,” said Mr Moncalvo. “In order not to squander the heritage of credibility gained we need to work on legality and transparency with the extension to all derivatives, from concentrate to sauces, of the obligation to indicate the origin of the tomato, already in force in Italy for sieved tomatoes.

This requirement is in response to the 567 percent rise in the first eight months of imports of tomato paste from China, which has become the biggest supplier. This is also without forgetting the need to overcome the customs barriers still present in some major countries like the U.S., where competitiveness on canned Italian tomatoes is limited by the heavy duties that are even more unacceptable in the light of the opening of the free trade talks,” he concluded. According to Coldiretti’s analysis, processed tomatoes are among the leaders of the Italian food and agriculture industry, with a strong propensity to exports, given that around 60 percent of the derivatives go to international markets.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Clinton Says Term ‘Radical Islam’ An Injustice to Vast Majority of Muslims

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton declined Sunday to say that a “radical” form of Islam is behind terror attacks connected to the Islamic State and other such attacks committed by fringe members of the Muslim religion.

“I don’t want to do that because, No. 1, it doesn’t do justice to the vast numbers of Muslims in our own country and around the world who are peaceful people,” she told ABC’s “This Week.”

Clinton spoke four days after Muslim husband-wife couple Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik shot and killed 14 people and wounded dozens of others at an office complex in San Bernardino, Calif.

Her comments are among the latest in an intense debate on whether to call Muslims who commit terror strikes such as the recent ones in California, Paris attacks last month and on Sept. 11, 2001, “radical Islamists” or “Islamic extremists.”

President Obama, set to make an Oval Office address to the America public Sunday night about domestic terror, has also been criticized for not using either term. He has instead used the term “violent extremists,” using an argument similar to Clinton’s.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cop Found Guilty of Using Police Database to Stalk, Kill & Eat Women, But Judge Set Him Free

New York City, NY — Former NYPD officer Gilberto Valle has been in and out of court since 2012, when it was discovered that he was using a police database to stalk over 100 different women. To make matters even more disturbing, Valle spoke in graphic detail in online chats about how he planned to kidnap, kill and eat the women on his list.

He was originally convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and illegally accessing an NYPD database in 2013, but the conviction was overturned on the grounds that Valle’s plans were not real, but were part of a “fantasy roleplay.” Valle did not deny that he searched the women in the database, nor that he had spoken about killing and eating them, he just claimed that it was all a fantasy that he never planned on going through with. Surprisingly, even though a jury found him guilty, a judge accepted his excuse and overturned the verdict.

An appeal against the ruling was filed, led by prosecutor Justin Anderson who argued that the judge misused his authority by letting Valle off the hook.

“It was not Judge Gardephe’s role to see himself as a 13th juror in the trial and decide whether his view of the evidence was in line with the jury’s view of the evidence,” Anderson said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive: Miami Billionaire Spearheads Anti-Trump Newspaper Ads

A leaked memo by the National Republican Senatorial Committee argued earlier this week that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump should be emulated instead of condemned, but one billionaire donor isn’t taking that route.

Mike Fernandez, a Miami health care magnate and Jeb Bush donor, ran a full-page ad in McClatchy’s Miami Herald Sunday and will run the same ad on Dec. 14 in Des Moines and Las Vegas slamming Trump and calling on voters to “‘see the “hater’ for what he is — insecure, narcissistic BULLYionaire with a hunger to be adored.”

Fox News exclusively obtained the ad late Saturday in which Fernandez likens Trump to “despotic leaders” like Mussolini, Hitler and Peron.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Here He Goes Again: Obama Says it’s “Insane” For Millions of Americans on Watchlists to Own Guns

Back in 2011 we facetiously noted that innocent Americans were being added to terror watchlists and No-Fly lists at an alarming pace. So much so, we opined, that by 2020 every person in the United States would be deemed a terrorist and that the entire world would be on a government watchlist by 2025.

We were kind of joking… but only kind of, because as we highlighted last year, the President approved a substantial expansion of the lists wherein concrete facts are no longer necessary for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to flag pretty much anyone, for any reason as being suspected of terrorism. In fact, the new rules set forth by the administration make it possible for one to be added to a watchlist for being suspected of being a suspected terrorist. Yes, it is absolutely ridiculous on its face.

As we warned, the anti-gun left and especially the Obama administration is always looking for new and innovative ways to disarm American citizens. Whether it be high taxation of ammunition, identification requirements for purchasing ammo as in California (but no worries, because you can still vote without an I.D.), or outright bans on the importation of firearms and related accessories, there is an overt and sustained push to overhaul (i.e. eliminate) the rights protected by the Second Amendment.

In what can only be described as nothing short of a full-court Obama press against America’s gun owners, in his weekly Saturday address to the nation the President has now taken his disarmament agenda to the next level, suggesting that it is “insane” for anyone on a watch list to own a gun.

Keep in mind that, as Senator Rand Paul warned on the Senate floor, Someone Who Has Guns, Ammunition, 7 Days of Food can be considered a potential terrorist. Moreover, a recent report highlights scores of other reasons for why someone may qualify as a domestic terrorist:

So how does a person qualify as a potential domestic terrorist? Based on the training I have attended, here are characteristics that qualify:

  • Expressions of libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)
  • Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership, holding a CCW permit)
  • Survivalist literature (fictional books such as “Patriots” and “One Second After” are mentioned by name)
  • Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)
  • Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)
  • Religious views concerning the book of Revelation (apocalypse, anti-Christ)
  • Expressed fears of Big Brother or big government
  • Homeschooling
  • Declarations of Constitutional rights and civil liberties
  • Belief in a New World Order conspiracy

And once you’re on the list, there is pretty much no way to get off because the government, citing national security reasons, doesn’t have to release any details and the burden of proof falls on the individual who has been identified as a terrorist, potential terrorist, or someone suspected of being a suspected terrorist.

Obama’s latest proposal would mean that not only would those added to watch lists without cause or due process be restricted from flying or have a near impossible time getting a job, they would not be allowed to purchase firearms. The next step, of course, would be the disarmament of those who already own guns.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary Clinton Wrong on Muslims, Wrong for America

In the aftermath of the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, the leader of the political party that wishes to fundamentally change — or destroy — the United States made statements that reveal a presidential candidate hell-bent on continuing the slide down the slippery slope of a neo-Marxist agenda embraced by President Barack Hussein Obama and his minions.

Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton claims there is absolutely no connection between Islam and the Muslim terrorist networks, including Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who are seeking to replace what they believe are infidel governments with their own caliphates that promote strict adherence to the Koran.

The leftist political party’s front-runner said on Friday, “Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.” However, Mrs. Clinton, whose mendacity is well documented, failed to acknowledge the latest attack by Muslims on a Christian man in Great Britain this week. The victim was attacked on the streets of Bradford, England, by men using a pickaxe handle. Police believe the attack was jihadist in nature because the victim converted from Islam to Christianity more than 10 years ago.

The police said the victim survived that attack but suffered a broken kneecap, a fractured forearm and a concussion. Police claim they are investigating the incident as a religious hate crime, but privately law enforcement officers concede that they have been told to use “kid gloves” when dealing with Muslim suspects.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘ISIS in America’: New Study Looks at the US Jihad Problem

A US study published in early December attempts to profile Islamic State (IS) group sympathisers in America, from those who merely post messages of support on Twitter to those planning an actual terrorist attack.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Jimmy Carter Says His Cancer is Gone

Former US President Jimmy Carter has said that his cancer is gone, US media reported.

The 91-year-old made the announcement during a Sunday school class in Plains, Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) newspaper said.

Mr Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981 and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, announced his illness in August.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Liberty University President Encourages Students to Carry Guns on Campus

Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. urged students Friday to carry concealed weapons on campus to counter any possible armed attack, saying that “we could end those Muslims before they walk in.”

“Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here,” Falwell told students at the Christian school.

Falwell was met with rousing applause from students, but some said he went too far when he appeared to be referring specifically to Muslims, the Lynchburg News & Advance reported.

“I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in,” Falwell said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama to Deliver Rare Oval Office Address Sunday on Terror Threat

President Obama will discuss the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings and the broader threat of terrorism on Sunday night in a rare prime time address from the Oval Office.

The address at 8 p.m. will hit on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) and how the terror threat has “evolved, and how we will defeat it,” according to the White House.

“He will reiterate his firm conviction that ISIL will be destroyed and that the United States must draw upon our values — our unwavering commitment to justice, equality and freedom — to prevail over terrorist groups that use violence to advance a destructive ideology,” the White House said in a statement Saturday night.

He has made only two formal addresses from the Oval Office during his presidency, with the last one coming in 2010 to mark the end of combat troops in Iraq.

The speech will come less than a week after 14 people were killed and dozens injured during a shooting in San Bernardino, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism. It is also less than a month after the terrorist attacks in Paris, for which ISIS claimed responsibility.

Obama called the California shootings an act of terrorism earlier Saturday and said it is possible the two shooters were radicalized.

“It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror,” Obama said during his weekly address. “And if so, it would underscore a threat we’ve been focused on for years — the danger of people succumbing to violent extremist ideologies.”

During a briefing with national security aides, Obama was told there were no links yet uncovered to a broader terrorist cell. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has increasingly encouraged lone wolf attacks.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Obama is a Sleeper Cell… How the Destruction of America’s Culture, Economy and National Security Was Planned From the Start

(NaturalNews) As President Obama is about to make a televised speech this evening, it’s important that America realize who he really is. Obama is a sleeper cell who’s intent is the deliberate destruction of America’s culture, economy and national defense. When President Obama speaks, he’s speaking not as an American, but as a radical communist Muslim pretending to be an American.

The New York Times, meanwhile, has now chosen to side with ISIS by calling for the complete disarmament of law-abiding American citizens while refusing to call for disarming ISIS terrorists. Between the New York Times, the Washington Post and President Obama, America is now an occupied nation being run by communists and Islamists who continue their insidious push for open borders, race-baited culture wars, transplanting ISIS terrorists into U.S. cities across the nation and destroying the national economy via Obamacare and other punitive mandates that crush small businesses and destroy jobs.

To ultimate goal is the complete destruction of America, replacing democracy and Christianity with communism and radical Islam, where every citizen is a disarmed, propagandized, obedient slave to the state. This is the clear objective of Obama, the mainstream media and the radical left.

To clarify this in great detail, I’ve recorded a podcast discussing the larger points of why Obama is a sleeper cell:

  • Destruction of the U.S. economy and deliberate causing of mass unemployment.
  • Destruction of the national defense and the purging of the most capable U.S. military commanders and officers.
  • Handing Iran the capability to develop nuclear weapons which will be used for massive destruction in the Middle East (most likely against Israel).
  • Attempts by the Obama administration to demonize and criminalize real Americans… the patriots who are the last line of defense against tyranny.
  • The ongoing gun confiscation effort by Obama and the mainstream media, all of whom wish to see guns monopolized in the hands of government (and a disarmed, obedient citizenry).
  • Obama’s cultural destruction of America via the abandonment of morals and ethics and the forced insanity of “gender identity” such as high school boys who say they’re girls and thereby are granted access to girls’ locker rooms.

To hear my full report, listen to my podcast entitled “Obama is a sleeper cell” at HealthRangerReport.com. This was also broadcast on the Health Ranger Report at www.TalkNetwork.com

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

San Bernardino Terrorist’s Father: My Son Was “Obsessed’ With Israel

Syed Farook provided an interview to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, where he said:

My son said that he shared [IS leader Abu Bakr] Al Baghdadi’s ideology and supported the creation of the Islamic State. He was also obsessed with Israel.

I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore. Geopolitics is changing: Russia, China and America don’t want Jews there any more. They are going to bring the Jews back to Ukraine. What is the point of fighting? We have already done it and we lost. Israel is not to be fought with weapons, but with politics. But he did not listen to me, he was obsessed.”

Asked if he knew whether Syed Rizwan Farook had contacts with terrorist organizations, the father replied, “I do not know. But these days, who knows, with the internet and all that technology. ”

US correspondent Paolo Mastrolilli inquired whether Farook believes his son may have been radicalized by his 29-year-old wife, Tashfeen Malik. “Maybe, I do not know,” he replied…

           — Hat tip: Andy Bostom [Return to headlines]
 

San Bernardino Gunman Obsessed With ISIS and Israel, Dad Says

San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook shared ISIS’ ideology, wanted to see the establishment of an Islamic caliphate and was fixated with Israel, Farook’s father told an Italian newspaper during an interview in which he also offered his own unusual ideas about Israel.

“My son said that he shared [ISIS leader Abu Bakr] Al Baghdadi’s ideology and supported the creation of the Islamic State,” said Farook’s dad, also named Syed Farook, who lives in Corona, Calif., with another son who is a Navy veteran. “He was also obsessed with Israel.”

“I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore,” the elder Farook told La Stampa in an article published Sunday. The foreign language daily’s report was translated in part by The Times of Israel.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Top Jeb Bush Political Donor in Miami: I’ll Vote for Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump

By Patricia Mazzei

One of Florida’s biggest conservative Republican moneymen — and a billionaire backer of Jeb Bush — is so disgusted by Donald Trump’s candidacy that if he has to, he’ll do the unthinkable:

“If I have a choice — and you can put it in bold — if I have a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, I’m choosing Hillary,” Miami healthcare magnate Mike Fernandez told the Miami Herald on Friday. “She’s the lesser of two evils.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Virginia: Authorities Say Guns and Drugs Found in Suspicious Vehicle Near Stewartsville Road

BEDFORD COUNTY (WSLS 10) — Authorities said they found weapons and drugs in a vehicle that caused road closures in the area of Stewartsville Road and Jordan Town Road. The incident caused backups and delays on Saturday afternoon. According to authorities, Bedford County 911 dispatchers received a call on Saturday around 1:50pm to the Shop-In Convenience Store located at 7865 Jordantown Road. The caller reported there was a Nissan Pathfinder parked on the side parking lot of the store with a man in it who had been there for two hours and he, the lone occupant, seemed to be unresponsive.

Bedford County Sheriff’s deputies and Bedford County Fire/EMS units arrived at the scene and found a white male slumped over the steering wheel of the vehicle. After several attempts to get a response the deputy was able to get the man to respond. He was later identified as Tony M. Borden, age 32, of Salem. Borden was transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital by Bedford County EMS.

While securing the vehicle deputies said they observed a container they suspected to be a possible explosive device. At 2:10 p.m., it was decided to evacuate the store and set up a safety perimeter around the area. Vehicles were diverted around the area of the store. An Explosive K-9 from the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene. Agents from the ATF and Virginia State Police explosives investigators responded to the scene as well.

After an investigation, police say they determined the container was not an explosive device the safety perimeter was lifted and travel was restored to normal. During the search of the vehicle a loaded hand gun and an assault rifle with loaded magazines were found. Packages containing marijuana, crystal methamphetamines, cocaine and clonazepam were also located in the vehicle.

Saturday night, Bedford County Sheriff’s investigators obtained warrants on Tony Borden for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of schedule 1 & 2 narcotics (cocaine) with intent to distribute, possession of scheduled 1 & 2 narcotics (crystal meth.), and two counts of possessing of a firearm while possessing narcotics. He will be served with the warrants on his release from the hospital.

           — Hat tip: Apollon Zamp [Return to headlines]
 

Ammunition, IS Propaganda Found After France Mosque Closure

Kalashnikov ammunition and Islamic State propaganda videos were seized in raids following the closure of a mosque in the Paris suburbs, French authorities said Sunday.

The prayer hall in Lagny-sur-Marne, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of the capital, was shut down last Wednesday following a large-scale police operation.

Associated with the traditionalist Salafist branch of Islam, it is the third mosque in France to be closed after the coordinated jihadist attacks on Paris on November 13.

The prefect — the highest representative of the state — in the Seine-and-Marne department said Sunday “7.62mm ammunition for a Kalashnikov rifle and propaganda videos” for the Islamic State group had been found in raids linked to the closure of the prayer hall.

The locations of the raids were not given…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Barclays Bank Offloads Italian Branches

Troubled British bank Barclays said Thursday it will sell its Italian retail branch network at a loss to a division of Italy’s Mediobanca as part of its ongoing restructuring.

Barclays said in a statement that it would offload the 89 branches to Mediobanca division CheBanca! and expected to make a loss after tax of about £200 million ($300 million, 283 million euros). The deal is expected to be finalised in the second quarter of next year.

“This transaction is further evidence of the re-shaping of Barclays group to focus on our core businesses,” said chief executive Jes Staley…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Britain Leaving EU Would be Like Fall of Berlin Wall, Says Marine Le Pen

Leader of the far-right Front National tells the Telegraph that her support in France, which goes to the polls for regional elections on Sunday, is only growing

If the British public were to vote to leave the European Union it would be the modern equivalent of the toppling of the Berlin Wall and herald the beginning of the end for the bloc, says Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front.

In a week when Denmark rejected “more Europe” in their latest EU referendum, and David Cameron was rebuffed in Brussels over his demands to cut welfare benefits to newly arrived EU workers, the new, softer face of France’s far-Right is clearly dreaming big.

“Brexit would be marvelous — extraordinary — for all European peoples who long for freedom,” she told The Telegraph on Friday on a frantic last day of campaigning ahead of Sunday’s regional elections in France where the polls put her party on the cusp of a new electoral breakthrough…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Census Depicts Changing Face of Italy

Country struggling amid ‘collective lethargy’

(ANSA) — Rome, December 4 — Research firm Censis on Friday released the 49th edition of its annual study on the social situation in Italy, revealing the country’s changing face in areas including lifestyle, finances, media, technology, and healthcare.

The study said Italy is currently experiencing a “dangerous poverty in planning for the future” resulting in the prevalence of a “collective existential lethargy” leading to inertia and a “day-to-day” mentality that tends to value individual interests over those of the wider community.

However, it also revealed that this year’s “primacy of politics” with business-oriented reforms and an emphasis on collective involvement in financial recovery have contributed to an upsurge in the country’s economic and social dynamism.

The study said development is characterised by the capacity for inventiveness, citing examples of young people who go abroad for work or form start-ups, families who round out their income by renting out their properties as bed and breakfasts, and businesses that invest in the green economy and continued innovation.

One area where financial recovery was seen this year was in purchasing power, where the number of families whose purchasing power increased outnumbered those whose purchasing power has decreased, 25% to 21% respectively. This year’s purchasing power increase was the first since the start of the financial crisis, but the survey added that 20% of Italian families are unable to cover all of their expenses with their income.

The way Italians shop and consume is also changing with the times, with 15 million Italians who said they buy online and two million (4%) who said they participate in car sharing.

The mix of street-level shops in Italy’s urban centres trended towards prepared food, with a 37% increase in take-away food shops since 2009, and a more than 10% decrease in hardware shops, boutiques, bookshops and butcher shops.

Also on the rise over the past six years are restaurants (up 15.5%), coffee bars (+10%), and ice cream and pastry shops (+8%).

The research institute said the increases are due to low start-up costs, foreigners’ initiative, and the pervasiveness of food in daily life.

In terms of mass media, the survey said Pope Francis is the “media phenomenon of the year”, as 77.9% of Catholics in Rome called the pope’s charisma one of Catholicism’s strengths.

Censis also cited data from American fact tank Pew Research Center, showing that Pope Francis outranked both US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin in US media coverage.

In the school setting, 54.9% of school principals in Italy have dealt with cyber bullying cases.

On a scale of 1-10, school principals rated cyber bullying as the top online threat at 7, and 58.5% of them said their greatest challenge with cyber bullying was trying to convince parents of its seriousness.

The news wasn’t positive for views on public healthcare, as more than four in 10 Italians in the survey said they think healthcare is worsening, a figure that increases to six in 10 in Italy’s south.

Survey respondents said problems include rising costs and long wait times that often drive patients to pay out-of-pocket at private healthcare providers who offer competitive rates with shorter waits.

In children’s healthcare, four in 10 Italian parents of children between the ages 0-15 look for information online about whether or not to vaccinate their children, with nearly half of them reading information on social networks.

Despite the fact that 54.8% of parents said they were informed by their child’s physician about vaccinations, three in 10 of the parents in the survey said they would like to know more. Only 35.7% of parents surveyed said they are openly favorable to vaccinations, while 32.3% are only in favor of those vaccinations that are mandatory and free.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Eurosceptics Say ‘No Thanks’ To EU Justice Rules

Eurosceptic EU member Denmark voted in a referendum on Thursday to reject a government proposal to adopt the bloc’s justice rules, amid concerns over handing more power to Brussels.

The ‘No’ side received 53.1 percent of votes, while the ‘Yes’ camp garnered 46.9 percent, final results showed. Voter turnout stood at 72 percent.

“It is a clear no… I have full respect for the Danes’ decision,” Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said at a press conference.

The ‘No’ side was led by the eurosceptic, anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DPP), which argued that dropping the country’s exemptions on EU justice rules—which it negotiated with Brussels in 1993 as a condition for accepting the Maastricht Treaty—would hand too much power to Brussels and could result in more immigration…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

EU Opens Tax Probe Into McDonald’s

Favourable tax regime in Luxembourg

(ANSA) — Brussels, December 3 — The EU anti-trust agency on Thursday opened a probe into McDaonald’s for a favourable tax regime in Luxembourg. The agency believes the tax ruling enables the US fast-food giant to evade taxes on profits in Europe and the US.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Finmeccanica Launches Selex ES Technologies for NATO AGS

( AGI) Caselle (Torino), Dec 3 — The development phase for Finmeccanica’s Selex ES technologies has been completed. These systems have been selected by Nato for the surveillance and security of the coalition countries. The Alliance Ground Surveillance programme (AGS), initiated in 2012, is based on drones, sensors, ground systems and facilities supporting the mission, capable of acquiring and analysing data and information to ensure real-time surveillance in broad areas, under any environmental and weather condition. “This is a time of great momentum because the technology development phase has been completed,” said Selex ES CEO, Fabrizio Giulianini. “This programme is yet another demonstration of the capabilities that Finmeccanica has developed in pilotless systems and in ground and airborne gear.” Selex ES is one the major industrial partners of AGS Nato. It has supplied ground stations for operations facilities, two transportable systems, communication equipment for data and image transmission from drones, and the terrestrial kit supporting the mission. These activities, which are the core of Nato’s surveillance system, are carried out at the Torino Caselle installations, with its 350 staff. AGS Nato employs Global Hawk unmanned planes, sensors, ground stations and data transmission systems. It aims to ensure civilian and ground troop protection, as well as border control, and enhance crisis and humanitarian aid management during emergencies. This system will be operational in Italy in 2017, at the Sigonella base. Fifteen Nato member countries participate in the Nato AGS programme. America’s Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor, while Selex ES is responsible for Italian, Bulgarian and Romanian industrial participation. The capability of AGS consists of an airborne group made up of five Global Hawk Block 40 remote-controlled planes (supplied by Northrop Grumman), a ground element with its operations centre for data analysis and transmission based in Sigonella plus two transportable stations supplied by Finmeccanica Selex ES, and six mobile stations supplied by Airbus.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

France’s National Front on Course for Massive Gains in Regional Elections

National Front — an anti immigration, anti EU party — is expected to win at least one region in the elections after capitalising on the Paris attacks and Europe’s migrant crisis, pollsters said

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

France’s Far-Right National Front Leads in 1st Round of Regional Elections

France’s far-right National Front party is in the lead in the first round of the country’s regional elections, securing almost 30 percent of votes, local media reported, citing data from the French OpinionWay market research agency.

PARIS (Sputnik) — Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, eurosceptic National Front party gained support of 29.5 percent of voters, whereas former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative Les Republicains party was backed by 27 percent, BFMTV television broadcast.

French President Francois Hollande’s ruling Socialists came third with 23 percent, the polling results showed.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

France’s Far-Right National Front Tops First Round of Regional Vote

France’s far-right National Front (FN) party rode a wave of fear over immigration and terrorism to storm to a commanding position in the first round of voting in the country’s high-stakes regional elections on Sunday.

The anti-immigration party led by Marine Le Pen scored 30.6 percent of the vote nationally, an exit poll by Ifop-Fiducial showed, and now looks on course to take control of at least one French region for the first time in its history once the second round of voting takes place a week from now.

The party came ahead of both former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Les Républicains (formerly the UMP), which earned 27 percent, and President François Hollande’s Socialists, with 22.7 percent, according to the exit poll.

In the first national vote since Islamic State group terrorists killed 130 people in a wave of attacks across Paris on November 13, the FN looked set to come first in at least six out of 13 regions, according to exit polls…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

France: National Front Tops Polls in Regional Elections

As expected France’s far-right National Front party topped the polls in the first round of the regional elections on Sunday, picking up around 30 percent of the vote according to initial estimates.

FN leader Marine Le Pen and her 25-year-old niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen broke the 40-percent mark in their respective regions, shattering previous records for the party.

Speaking after the initial results, Marine Le Pen said: “It’s a magnificent result that we will welcome with humility.

“We are without question the first party of France,” she added. “We have the vocation to achieve the national unity that the country requires”.

The polls were held under tight security following the country’s worst-ever terror attacks, which have thrust the FN’s anti-immigration and often Islamophobic message to the fore.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: ‘What to Do With Paris Attackers’ Bodies?’

Bury them discreetly? Hand them back to their families? Knowing what to do with the remains of the assailants involved in last month’s Paris attacks is proving to be a conundrum for French officials.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: ‘Mein Kampf’ Reprinted, 3,500 Explanatory Notes

In January, 4.000 copies of Hitler’s book

(ANSA) — BERLIN — The Institute of Contemporary History (IFZ) in Munich has announced that 4,000 copies of book of Adolf Hitler’s book, ‘Mein Kampf’, ‘My Struggle’, will be reprinted next month, with 3,500 explanatory notes countering the myth sorrounding Hitler’s manifesto. The book will be officially re-released for the first time since the Second World War. On January 1, 2016, 70 years after the Fuehrer’s death, the copyright will run out. The Allies had handed it to Bavarian Authorities after the fall of the Nazi regime. The expiration of copyright has opened a discussion in Germany, on how to regulate an eventual publication of Hitler’s book.

After a heated debate, it was decided to prepare a limited edition, entrusting illustrious historians with the task of creating a number of notes to contextualize the topics upon which the Fuehrer’s rise to power was based. Jewish groups have harshly criticized the decision, saying that the text should never be printed again. “Mein Kampf” was published for the first time in 1925, eight years before Hitler’s seizure of power. During the Nazi regime, the text became a bestseller, an obligatory presence on every German bookshelf.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: ‘Saudi-Funded Mosques Breeding Extremism’

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on Sunday said Saudi Arabia must stop financing fundamentalist mosques abroad which are accused of breeding extremism.

“From Saudi Arabia, Wahhabi mosques are financed throughout the world,” said Gabriel.

“In Germany many extremists considered dangerous persons emerge from these communities,” he told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Gabriel, who is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy in a left-right coalition, warned against alienating Saudi Arabia, a crucial player in the bid to end the Syrian war, with too much criticism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Seven Arrested in Anti-US Protest in Downtown Athens

Seven people were arrested in the central Athens neighborhood of Exarchia early on Saturday after clashes with police. The trouble flared up at the end of a march to protest the visit to Athens of US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Police said that a group of around 100 people clashed with police just before midnight on Friday. The assailants threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at officers, authorities said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Heavy Losses in Regional Elections Leave France’s Socialists With Tactical Dilemma

French President François Hollande’s ruling Socialist party suffered a heavy defeat in the first round of the country’s regional elections Sunday, leaving them with tough tactical decisions after voters flocked to the far-right National Front (FN).

Hollande’s party must now decide whether or not to back former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Les Républicains (formerly known as the UMP) in the next round on December 13 in order to try to keep the FN out of power.

Sarkozy has already ruled out any possibility of his party withdrawing to prevent FN success in the next round…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary: EU Commission: New Citizen Initiative is Legal

It collects segnatures for breaches of the fondamental values

(ANSA) — BRUSSELS, DICEMBER 04 — The European Commission has registered a new European Citizens Initiative (ECI), inviting to propose to trigger Article 7 of the EU Treaty for alleged breaches of the EU’s fundamental values by Hungary. This registration starts a one-year process of collection of signatures in support of the proposed ECI by its organisers.

The Commission’s decision to register concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The College of the EU Commissioners has not analysed the substance of the initiative at this stage. Should the ECI receive one million statements of support within one year, from at least seven different Member States, the EU Commission will have to react within three months and can decide either to follow the request or not follow the request, in both instances would be required to explain its reasoning.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Army of Scientists Set to Wage Chemical and Biological War on West: Experts Warn Weapons of Mass Destruction ‘Have Been Carried Undetected’ Into European Union

ISIS has recruited experts with chemistry, physics and computer science degrees to wage war with weapons of mass destruction against the West, a shocking European Parliament report has claimed.

The terror organisation, according to the briefing document, ‘may be planning to try to use internationally banned weapons of mass destruction in future attacks’.

The document, which was compiled in the aftermath of the deadly attacks on Paris claimed that ISIS has already smuggled WMD material into Europe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: VatiLeaks 2 Defendant Chaouqui Says Reporters to ‘Pay Dearly’

Journalists face legal action outside Vatican, defendant says

(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Vatileaks 2 defendant Francesca Chaouqui Friday cautioned journalists covering her trial in the Vatican for allegedly leaking information that she plans to sue them in Italy for claiming she is a whistleblower.

Addressing “Vaticanists, journalists, lowly receivers of court documents that I, as a defendant, can’t see for more than 20 minutes,” she said in a Facebook post that subsequently was removed “I challenge you — prove before the judges that I am the source of the leaks.

“Publish the tapped conversations between me and Emiliano Fittipaldio where I send him a document. “Or between me and Gianluigi Nuzzi where I give him a page, a password. Just one. Or an exchange between me and any Italian or foreign journalist,” she said refering to the authors of the books at the centre of the case.

“Come on, show the world that I betrayed the pope,” she continued, “You have 52 hours before the trial to come up with the proof. Run to whoever gave you the material yesterday (for which you will compensate me dearly if it is true material, and for which you will reconstruct my career if false or manipulated).

Run like thieves to fence the private documents and publish one proof I am the source of the leaks.

“If you don’t succeed, as will surely happen, look in the mirror and start to count the moments that separate you from when a real court, with a real magistrate, in Italy will sentence you to compensate me for the damage of the martyrdom without proof that I am suffering from those who forget they are journalists rather than executors of orders from the dregs of a shamefully corrupt para-Vatican that denigrates and delegitimises me. I am here waiting”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Prosecco Drives Healthy Sparkling Wine Sales in US

Prosecco more popular than Champagne except at Christmas

(ANSA) — Rome, December 2 — An increase in Prosecco sales of more than a third in the US is driving healthy growth in the Italian sparkling wine market, experts have said.

Sales have gone up by 35 per cent in North America, while the average price of a bottle has risen by more than 36 per cent to around $12, wine expert Danny Brager said at the launch of Italian wine company Wine 2 Wine. The growth has lead to a six per cent increase in sales in the US of Italian sparkling wines, a category which makes up half of all Made In Italy exports.

Brager, US senior vice president of the alcoholic beverage department at Nielsen, a global information company, said “the demand for Prosecco is greater than for Champagne throughout the year, except for Christmas”.

“The growth in Prosecco has occurred without eroding the market share of other sparking wines,” he said. “It is winning over one in three people who have never tried Italian sparking wine.” Some 45 per cent of US consumers say they drink sparking wine only at home, while 12 per cent say they consume the alcoholic drink only in a restaurant. Sales of draught wine, on beaches and in less informal locations, are growing.

Brager said that in general US consumers tend to follow trends among their friends.

“Consumers in the United States love simple messages regarding wine; they are scared of anything complex and they drink what their friends drink,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Probe 5,700 Hrs of Alleged Timecard Fraud in Sanremo

Hours logged during 2014 elections cost city 80,000 euros

(ANSA) — Sanremo, December 2 — Prosecutors in Liguria are investigating suspected timecard fraud for 5,700 overtime hours logged during the 2014 elections by Sanremo city staff, local media sources said Wednesday.

The investigation is part of a larger operation that in October put 35 city employees under house arrest, with eight other city employees under police supervisory measures, over alleged absenteeism.

Investigations suggest that many civil servants working for the northern city council were absent even when they were registered at work as they had clocked in.

In one case a municipal policeman clocked in in his underpants, while another official went rowing during office hours.

The suspects now face various charges including fraud against the state, embezzlement and forgery of legal documents.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Universities ‘Hemorrhaging’ Students Says Minister

Giannini says 70,000 fewer students in five years

(ANSA) — Rome, December 3 — Italy’s universities are seeing a progressive decline in student numbers, Education Minister Stefania Giannini said Thursday, urging authorities to seek a solution to the growing problem.

“The system is hemorrhaging,” Giannini said at an inauguration ceremony for Roma Tre University’s academic year. “Enrollment has dropped by 70,000 students in five years, which is a worry,” she said.

“It’s a sign of difficult conditions, a growth in social unease, but also of a lack or decline in confidence in the value of higher education”. She reaffirmed the need for student bursaries to be managed by universities, rather than by regional authorities, noting cases when funds were delayed or lost.

“This is my position, which we will have to discuss in the government,” she said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Marine Le Pen and Her Niece Set to Lead Far-Right Into New Territory

The fiery leader of France’s far-right, Marine Le Pen, looks set to take a decisive step Sunday towards winning control of a region for the first time, while her niece is in a strong position to do the same elsewhere in the country.

Polls show that Le Pen’s National Front (FN) could take a commanding lead in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie in the first round of regional elections, feeding off discontent with the ruling Socialists and fear after the jihadist attacks in Paris.

Victory in the second round on December 13 would give the FN control of a region for the first time in its history.

Control of the economically depressed region — traditionally a bastion of the Socialists who rule at national level — would also provide Le Pen with a springboard for her bid to be president in 2017…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen: The New Wonder-Girl of France’s Far-Right

The niece of Marine Le Pen won her first election at the age of 22 and trounced a former prime minister, Alain Juppe, in a televised debate

She is the new girl wonder of the French far right, a glamorous 25-year-old poised to break down many mainstream conservatives’ qualms about casting their vote for the Front National.

Since she was elected the youngest MP in French parliamentary history, aged 22 three years ago, while a second year Sorbonne law student, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, niece of Front President Marine and grand-daughter of its obstreperous founder Jean-Marie, has had the fastest learning curve in French politics since Bonaparte’s.

On Sunday, buoyed by the shock of the Nov 13 Islamic shootings in Paris, the list she heads is widely expected to come in first in the Provence-Cote d’Azur region, with polls giving her some 40 per cent of the vote. Even if the third-ranking Socialists drop out of the race to favour her Gaullist opponent in next Sunday’s runoff, Marion, as she’s known, has the most chances to swing into office, giving the Front National a shot at ruling one of France’s most dynamic regions, and the second most populous after Paris.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Paris Attacks Spotlight Turns on Britain

The fallout from the devastating Paris attacks spread to Britain on Saturday, as media reported that at least one of the perpetrators had previously contacted extremists in London and Birmingham.

The alleged mastermind of the November 13 attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had links with “several” people based in Birmingham in central England’s West Midlands region, the Wall Street Journal said, citing anonymous Western officials.

Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, was killed in a police raid five days after the Paris attacks, along with a cousin and an unidentified third person, according to French authorities.

The WSJ also reported that “at least” one unnamed person connected to the series of attacks, which killed 130 people across the French capital, was thought to have travelled to Britain beforehand.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Polish Conservatives Sow Alarm With Bid to Consolidate Power

Poland’s conservatives have only been back in power for a few weeks but they are already sowing alarm in the EU member state by trying to take control of any organ that could keep them in check.

The governing Law and Justice (PiS) party that won the October general election after eight years in opposition wasted no time in replacing the heads of the country’s secret services.

The eurosceptic party, which is led by former premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski, also has plans to overhaul state media and at the moment has the Constitutional Court in its crosshairs.

PiS-backed President Andrzej Duda, who was elected in May, on Thursday ignored an order by the court to swear in three judges picked by the previous parliament when the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party was in power…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Polls Put Far Right National Front on Top in French Elections

Polling agency projections suggest the far right National Front took the lead in the first round of France’s regional elections on Sunday, in a new boost for Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration strategy and a new blow to President Francois Hollande’s Socialists.

The agencies Ifop, OpinionWay and Ipsos based their projections on actual vote count in select constituencies. They projected that the National Front won between 27 and 30 percent support nationwide, followed by former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Republicans party and the governing Socialists.

The elections Sunday took place in an unusually tense security climate just over three weeks after deadly attacks on Paris — a climate expected to favor conservative and far right candidates.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Admits Corruption in Vatican Too

Francis says graft is ‘everywhere’

(ANSA) — Nairobi, November 27 — Pope Francis on Friday admitted that the Holy See was not immune from the plague of graft. “Corruption is in all the institutions, corruption is everywhere, there’s corruption in the Vatican too,” the pope said in response to a question from a young person during a meeting at a stadium in Nairobi. The Argentine pontiff has repeatedly spoken against against corruption, including within the Church, since being elected the head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics in 2013.

The Vatican administration and its bank have been hit by several scandals in recent years.

This month it was hit by the so-called VatiLeaks 2 scandal and the related publication of two books using leaked Holy See papers documenting alleged waste, mismanagement and lavish spending by clergymen.

Among the cases to hit the headlines was the 2013 arrest of prelate Monsignor Nunzio Scarano.

Scarano, the former head of analytic accounts at the Holy See’s asset-management agency APSA, is suspected involvement in the laundering money through accounts at the Vatican Bank and of trying to illegally smuggle 20 million euros into Italy for rich friends.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Porsche Italia Offices Searched in Fraud Probe

‘Commercial fraud’ suspected

(ANSA) — Padua, December 2 — Italian police on Wednesday searched the offices of Porsche Italia in Padua in a probe in which eight people including board members are under investigation for suspected commercial fraud. The homes of some of the suspects were also searched.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Shameful Truth About Hugo Boss’s Links to the Nazis Revealed: As Russell Brand is Thrown Out of a Party for Accusing Fashion Designer of Helping Hitler

There’s nothing like the presence of some Nazis to ruin a perfectly good party.

On Tuesday night, the comedian Russell Brand was thrown out of GQ magazine’s Men of the Year Awards after-show for making jibes about the event’s sponsor, Hugo Boss, and the fashion company’s historic links to the Nazi party.

While on stage, Brand told the gathered celebrities and politicians, ‘If anyone knows a bit about history and fashion, you know it was Hugo Boss who made uniforms for the Nazis.’

He then added, with less than subtle irony, ‘But they looked f***ing fantastic, let’s face it, while they were killing people on the basis of their religion and sexuality.’

But it has emerged that Brand himself is not averse to a spot of the designer’s sharp tailoring — having apparently been snapped wearing a jacket by the German fashion firm in February…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Girl Arrested on Way to Join ISIS

A 17-year-old girl from Linköping in southern Sweden has been arrested in Austria. According to her family, she was heading to Syria to join the Isis extremist group.

The girl was reportedly arrested in Vienna, Austria on Saturday afternoon. This was due to her family having managed to track her phone, and then informing the Austrian police.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe Should Never be Sent to Ordinary Jail’

1981 report written by a senior psychiatrist warned that he could still be dangerous after 30 years in jail. This information could affect the decision to move him from Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: London Police Treating Stabbing Attack as ‘Terror Incident’

The stabbing attack at a London Underground station Saturday is being treated as a “terrorist incident,” the London police said.

The London police counterterror command said in a statement that it’s investigating the incident at Leytonstone Underground station in east London in which a man was threatening people with a knife around 7 p.m. Police quickly subdued the attacker with a stun gun and arrested him.

One person sustained serious injuries, but they were not considered to be life-threatening. Two other victims sustained minor wounds.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican’s Climate Change Light Show, 21st Century Graffiti

The Vatican world, or so it would seem, has gone blasphemous and pagan mad.

“The Vatican’s spokesperson for the event, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, called the event “unique…for its genre and for the fact that it is being displayed for the first time on such a significant backdrop. (LifeSiteNews)

“These illuminations will present images inspired of Mercy, of humanity, of the natural world, and of climate changes,” Fisichella said.

“Fisichella said that the light show on the Vatican is meant to link Pope Francis’ environment encyclical ‘Laudato si’ with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop21) currently underway in Paris. The Vatican has shown strong support for the conference. Having the show conclude the opening Year of Mercy celebrations also links the pope’s message about “mercy” to fighting “climate change.”

Wasn’t it only a week ago that the pontiff said that “Christmas is a charade?”

[Comment: A Liberation Theologist (aka Marxist) is the pontiff now. Expect him to promote the New World Socialist Order.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why St. Nicholas Puts Candy in Boots and Stole Our Hearts

Get your boots ready for St. Nicholas Day on December 6. DW’s Sertan Sanderson explores why the saint means so much to both secular and religious people all over the world.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jordanian Citizen Attempted to Break Into Cockpit of Lufthansa Plane

NOVI SAD — Vojvodina handball club members on board a Frankfurt-Belgrade flight helped prevent an incident when a passenger threatened he would open a door of the plane on Sunday.

HC Vojvodina President Milan Djukic, who was on the plane, told Tanjug that his impression was that the man was psychologically unstable and that what he had done was not an attempted act of terrorism.

“The situation was not that dramatic at all, but you don’t really feel comfortable when someone threatens to open the door of the plane,” said Djukic.

“The passenger behaved strangely ever since he entered the plane and switched between seats on several occasions, and even sat down beside me at one point.

“About an hour after takeoff, he got up, passed through the business class section and started banging on the cockpit door, saying that he was not feeling well, that he was fed up with everything and that he would open the door,” Djukic said.

“Assistant coach Mirkovic and a flight attendant reacted and told him to calm down and stop causing trouble, which he was doing since the start of the flight, and then the attendant asked our player Aleksey Rastvortsev to have the passenger seated between him and Mirkovic until the end of the flight,” Djukic said.

“And so it was, and he (the troublemaker) did not complain much,” Djukic said. He added that the majority of passengers on the plane had not even been aware of what was happening except the handball players and those in the immediate vicinity.

Belgrade-based media reported earlier today that a Jordanian citizen with U.S. passport had attempted to break into the cockpit of a Lufthansa plane en route from Frankfurt to Belgrade, but passengers managed to put him under control.

The drama started in the skies over Austria when the man threatened to open the plane’s door.

According to Blic, he was banging on the cockpit door, shouting that he would open the plane’s door.

Tabloid daily Kurir said the man complained that he had lost his mind and wanted to take them all together with him to Allah.

The passengers managed to subdue him, and the plane landed safely in Belgrade at 45 minutes past noon and the police took the problematic passenger to the Belgrade Police Department for questioning, Blic daily said.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Jordanian Man Screaming He “Wants to Join Allah” Tries to Open Lufthansa Airplane Cabin Door in Mid Flight

Last week, the US experienced what is now widely reported to be the worst terrorism-driven mass killing in the US since 9/11; yesterday terrorism allegedly spread to London which had so far been insulated from any Islamic State-related events; just one thing was missing to push the global panic envelope to the “September 11 flashback” redzone in a month that started with the mass murder of dozens of people in Paris and has gotten progressively worse since: airplane terrorism.

Moments ago we may have gotten just that after a report that a Lufthansa crew and passengers overpowered a Jordanian man with a US passport, who tried to open the cabin door on a Frankfurt-Belgrade flight on Sunday, while screaming that he wished to join Allah along with all the passengers, according to Serbian TV RTS.

However, as AFP adds, the man was promptly overpowered by crew and passengers with the German carrier insisting the safety of the plane had not been threatened. The airplane proceeded to land safely at 12:45pm local time.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lufthansa Passenger Threatens to Bring Down Plane

A man aboard a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Belgrade was arrested Sunday after threatening to open a plane door during the flight, Serbian authorities said.

Passengers quoted by Belgrade media said the man banged on a cockpit door threatening to bring down the plane while it was flying over Austria if he was not allowed inside.

Lufthansa said the cabin crew and passengers on Flight 1406 managed to restrain him for the rest of the journey, adding that the plane doors can’t be opened during a flight anyway.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Serbia: Survey: 59% in Favour of Joining the EU

(ANSA) — BELGRADE — Some 59% of Serbs are in favour of their country’s accession into the EU, whereas 36% are against.

According to the latests survey conducted by TNS Medium Gallup, 64% of respondents are against the recognition of Kosovo’s independence as a condition for EU membership. Some 70% of voters would take part in a potential referendum on accession; 53% said that they are expecting Serbia to enter the EU within ten years, whereas 14% think that membership will never happen.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: Italy Hopes to up Pressure on Militias

Italy hopes its international conference on war-torn Libya will up the pressure on rival militias and speed up the formation of a national unity government, its foreign minister said on Friday.

The December 13th conference in Rome aims to give “a decisive push for the conclusion of a deal for a national government in Libya”, where the Isis group is exploiting the chaos and taking root, Paolo Gentiloni told journalists.

“We want to speed up” the negotiations, because a political solution is the “only platform from which to counteract” Isis.

“We want an agreement between the Libyan parties, leading very quickly indeed to a national unity government and a UN Security Council resolution,” the minister said.

Experts have warned the so-called Islamic State has been shifting to Libya as the world focuses on its traditional power bases in Iraq and Syria, taking advantage of the chaos as rival militias and governments battle for power.

UN-brokered talks on the formation of a national unity government in Libya failed in the autumn and have yet to resume.

Former colonial power Italy wants its international summit on Libya to be along the same lines as a recent conference in Vienna aimed at ending the nearly five-year-old war in Syria.

The conference, convened by Rome and Washington, is expected to bring to the table Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, as well as Algeria, Egypt and Morocco.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign secretary Sergei Lavrov have both confirmed they will be present.

Rome has repeatedly stated its willingness to lead a peacekeeping force on the ground should it get the green light from a national unity government and get the UN to sign off.

Italy is also on the frontline of a migrant crisis fuelled by the chaos in Libya, which has become an unpoliced launchpad for people traffickers shipping desperate people across the Mediterranean, frequently with deadly consequences.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisian Moms Can Now Take Kids Abroad Without Father’s OK

To impact many ‘mixed’ families, including Italians

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 3 — Tunisian mothers will from now on be able to travel with their children even without authorization from the latter’s father. The Law 2012-46 of 23/11/15 published in the official gazette on 27/11/15 has revised Law 40 of 1975 on passports and authorization for foreign travel, which recognized only the child’s father as legal representative of those under 18. The new law gives both parents equal rights. The revolutionary impact of this law will affect especially the hundreds of cases between Tunisia and Italy on the issue of international child abduction, ANSAmed was told by Tunis-based lawyer Giorgio Bianco. He added that one of the largest obstacles for Italian and foreign mothers in general is that of taking their children abroad without authorization from their Tunisian fathers. The removal of this barrier is thus considered a significant advance for Tunisia.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

America Should be Grateful to Russia — US Presidential Candidate

A 2016 GOP US presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said that US should thank Russia for its actions in the Middle East.

The US should welcome Russia’s efforts in fighting the Daesh military group, also known as ISIL/Islamic state, he said. If Putin wants to get rid of Daesh, America shouldn’t hinder his endeavor.

“If Russia is willing to help us kill some of these savages, then I’m more than willing to at least recognize that on this issue…they are with us, not against us” Huckabee said.

As for the allegations that Turkey’s top political leadership, including President Tayyip Erdogan and his family are directly involved in Daesh’ illegal oil trade and personally benefit from it, the candidate said that he trusts Turkey less than he trusts Russia.

“Erdogan is one of those people that has said one thing publicly but done something else privately. If we find out that in fact he is helping to finance ISIS, then he’s got to go,” the candidate said. “We are not going to be partners with and be a part of helping to arm him to protect him if he in turn is loading barrels of guns pointed at us.”

Huckabee believes that Islamic Jihad is the primary threat for the US, and it is essential to focus on Daesh, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and domestic terrorism, putting differences with Russia on hold.

He added that if he were president of the US, he would increase air strikes on Daesh supply lines.

“You don’t go over and fly over and just wave,” Huckabee said, as cited by Breitbart News, arguing it is important to stop terrorist supplies from moving and to shut off their access to social media.

According to the politician, Bashar Assad’s presidency isn’t what America should be concerned about at the moment, for he is not the one who kidnaps and kills US citizens.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Assad on Cameron’s ‘70,000 Moderate Fighters’: ‘Maybe Ten of Those’

UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s claims that there are some 70,000 members of the so-called moderate armed opposition in Syria is a new round of “classical farce,” President Bashar Assad said.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Last month, Cameron alleged that there were around 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters who did not belong to any extremist group operating in the country.

“Let me be frank and blunt about this. This is a new episode in a long series of David Cameron’s classical farce, to be very frank. This is not acceptable. Where are they? Where are the 70 thousand moderates that he is talking about? That is what they always talk about: moderate groups in Syria. This is a farce based on offering the public factoids instead of facts,” Assad told The Sunday Times newspaper.

Assad reminded that since Moscow launched its counterterrorism campaign in September it had been asking for their locations from the US-led coalition, but did not receive a response.

“Actually, since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, there were no moderate militants in Syria. All of them were extremists… That is not accepted anywhere in this world; and there is no 70 thousand, there is no 7 thousand, he does not have, maybe now ten of those,” Assad stressed.

Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to Assad fighting against several opposition factions and numerous militant groups.

The West, not considering Assad to be the legitimate authority in Syria, has been supporting the opposition groups it believes to be moderate.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Are Coming Under More Pressure to Bomb Syria: Armed Forces Chief

The Netherlands is coming under increasing pressure to bomb strategic IS targets in Syria, armed forces chief Tom Middendorp told parliament on Thursday.

The international coalition against IS has made a ‘major appeal’ for help in crushing the jihadist movement, Middendorp is quoted as saying in the Volkskrant. On Wednesday, the British parliament voted by a large majority to carry out bombing missions in Syria and launched its first attack just an hour later.

The Netherlands has so far resisted calls to expand its current bombing mission in Iraq to Syria, saying there needs to be an international mandate.

The international coalition wants to ‘hit IS where it hurts’, Middendorp said. They want to ‘damage their military capacity, and that is mainly in Syria where the training camps and their commanders are’. It would be ‘militarily both logical and efficient to focus on where the need is greatest’, he said. ‘That is currently Syria.’

The Volkskrant said the military chief’s statement will only add to the pressure on the Dutch coalition. VVD defence minister Jeanine Hennis is known to be keen on a more active role in Syria but foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders, who represents the Labour party, is opposed.

He has said he first wants to see the establishment of a political agreement on the future of Syria before he would consider bombing.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Governor of Yemen’s Aden Killed in Suicide Car Bombing, Says Official

The governor of Yemen’s Aden province Jaafar Mohammed Saad was killed on Sunday when a suicide bomber rammed his car into the governor’s convoy, a local official said. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

They said at least six of his entourage also died in the attack, which occurred while the governor was heading to work. Several other people were also wounded in the bombing.

The sources had earlier said attackers had used rocket-propelled grenades to target Saad…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Threatens Turkey With UN Action Over Troop Deployment

Iraq has threatened to go to the UN if Turkey does not withdraw soldiers it sent to areas near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul within 48 hours.

Baghdad said the deployment was done without consultation and was a violation of national sovereignty.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu defended the move as routine troop rotation at a pre-established camp.

Mosul has been under the control of militants from the so-called Islamic State group since last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraqis Think the U.S. is in Cahoots With the Islamic State, And it is Hurting the War

On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion.

Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State for a variety of pernicious reasons that have to do with asserting U.S. control over Iraq, the wider Middle East and, perhaps, its oil.

The allegations of U.S. collusion with the Islamic State are aired regularly in parliament by Shiite politicians and promoted in postings on social media. They are persistent enough to suggest a deliberate campaign on the part of Iran’s allies in Iraq to erode American influence, U.S. officials say.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Is Germany Bowing to US Pressure by Joining Syria Campaign?

The German parliament (Bundestag) has approved launching a military campaign against the Daesh terrorist organization in Syria in a decision some analysts believe was made under strong pressure from Washington.

The German campaign against Daesh is initially planned through December 31, 2016, and will cost the Germans approximately 134 million euros and include up to 1,200 servicemen.

Germany plans to send up to six Tornado surveillance aircraft to Syria and a frigate to support the French Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier deployed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen warned that the operation would be “complicated and risky” and that Germany would not share Syrian flight plans with Russia.

Being a member of the US-led coalition against Daesh, Berlin has so far provided only logistical and technical assistance to the international alliance, refraining from participation in the coalition’s airstrikes.

Nikolai Dimlevich, a Moscow-based political analyst, told Sputnik Radio that the decision came under strong pressure from the US.

“Russia, together with Iraq, Iran and Syria, has built a coalition against Daesh and is fighting the terrorists fully in line with international law. Trying the win back the initiative, the Americans are actually forcing their Western European allies to join their coalition [which, unlike Russia, never received any official invitation by the Syrian government.]”

“This is a serious violation of international law and the UN Security Council should do something about it because this creates a very dangerous precedent for others to follow,” Dimlevich said, adding that the German participation was intended to serve as a smokescreen for America’s true intentions in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“This gives Washington a chance to tell the world that all leading European powers are taking part in the ‘US-led war on terror’ and that breaking international law is a normal thing,” the analyst told Sputnik Radio.

“America is thus assuming the role of a global policeman who feels free to change governments all across the Middle East,” Nikolai Dimlevich said in conclusion.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy-Lebanon: Chouf Mountains Environmental Project

About 80,000 people to benefit, directly or indirectly

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, DECEMBER 2 — A project to support Lebanese environmental protection efforts funded by the Italian government was presented on Wednesday by Lebanese environment minister Muhammad Machnouk and Italian ambassador Massimo Marotti. The 500,000-euro project will be implemented in collaboration with the Chouf Mountains nature reserve, an area southeast of Beirut known for its extensive cedar forests. The initiative aims to strengthen the management of the reserve at the technical and infrastructure levels, according to a statement released by the Italian embassy in Beirut. Over 20 locations of the Chouf and about 80,000 people will benefit either directly or indirectly from the project.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Jordan Launch Multi-Billion Dollar Red-Dead Canal Project

To save Dead sea and provide drinking water

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, 1 DEC — Jordan on Tuesday published a tender for a multi-billion dollar project to pump 300 million cubic meter of water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea every year.

In total, the Red-Dead project will look for transferring up to two billion cubic meter of water to raise level of water in the Dead sea and provide drinking water to many parts of the kingdom.

The canal would cut through the desert bordering Jordan and Israel in Wadi Araba, creating a natural borderline between the two countries, who share a peace treaty that was signed in 1994.

The flowing water would help generate electricity as water is drawn from the Red Sea, raised 170 metres above sea level and then released to the Dead Sea at 400 metres below sea level.

Authorities have held rounds of talks with Israeli and Palestinian parts in order to determine how to carry out the project and its environmental impact on the eco-system.

Environmentalists have warned that the project could spill disaster for local habitate along the pipeline, but authorities insist that a feasibility study discovered little if any harm to the eco-system.

A rapid decline in water levels of the Dead Sea has alarmed environmentalists in Jordan , Israel and the Palestinian areas who fear the biblical site might dry up within 50 years.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Marine Le Pen: ‘By Fighting Against Assad, We Strengthened ISIL Positions’

Bashar al-Assad is for now the only person who can rule Syria and save it from overall chaos, French politician and leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen said in an interview with Le Temps.

The stability of the Syrian state is the highest priority, whatever its leadership is, Le Pen said during the interview.

“The question comes to the choice: do you want there to be at least some state or an Islamic State [Daesh]?” Le Pen asked.

According to the politician, the political fate of Bashar al-Assad should be decided by the Syrian people in the course of future democratic elections. As for now, Assad is the only politician who is able to have the country under control and not let it fall apart.

“[…] Syrian rebels are now unable to keep the state from falling. We need to see the situation not how you want it to be, but how it really is,” the French politician said.

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, France has been one of the strongest opponents of the Assad government. Besides its participation in the military airstrikes against ISIL terrorists, France was also training non-Islamist rebels in the Middle East in order to strengthen the opposition and overthrow the “repressive” Syrian leader.

“Fighting against Bashar al-Assad for three years, we have strengthened ISIL positions, “ Le Pen said, implying that the chosen political strategy is absolutely counterproductive.

According to the politician, France should finally change its political course and cooperate with Assad to resolve the Syrian conflict.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Ready for Anti-Daesh Fight? Germany’s Air Force is Collapsing

Germany might be eager to take part in the anti-Daesh efforts but some of its military capabilities are quite limited.

“Germany’s Air Force is in bad shape. For years, its fighter planes have fallen into disrepair due to lack of spare parts, with the number of its flyable, operational warplanes now at one of its lowest points,” Robert Beckhusen wrote for the War is Boring website.

Berlin among other things plans to send six Panavia Tornado multirole fighters to conduct reconnaissance flights in Syria, which does not say much without a context.

Germany has a total of 93 Tornadoes, 66 of which are available for deployment but only 29 are actually combat ready, Der Spiegel detailed, citing a recent report of Germany’s Defense Ministry. Earlier this week, Germany’s defense chief Ursula von der Leyen told ARD that 30 Tornado aircraft were fully operational but differing numbers do not really change the fact that the situation is getting worse.

In 2014, a total of 38 Tornadoes, or 57 percent of Germany’s deployable multirole warplanes, were combat ready. A year later, less than half of them (44 percent) could actually fly missions.

The same dynamic is true with regard to the most advanced warplane in Germany’s arsenal.

“Take the Eurofighter Typhoon. The twin-engine, canard-delta wing fighter is Germany’s most modern warplane, of which it owns 109 in three different variants. Seventy-four were available but only 42 were deployable in 2014,” Beckhusen observed, citing a German air force report obtained by Der Spiegel.

This is a worrying trend in itself but the fact that Germany’s defense agency does not distinguish between full and limited operational capability makes it significantly worse. If this difference is taken into account, the number of combat ready Typhoons drops to eight aircraft, the expert explained.

Berlin has been trying to dismiss any concerns regarding the upcoming deployment in the context of its depleting fleet of warplanes as a nonissue. Indeed, deploying six out of 30 Tornadoes to Syria might not seem like much. “That gives us a wide margin,” as Von der Leyen put it. But the general trend speaks for itself.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Underground Revival in the Middle East That Might Take Down Islam

In the darkest corners of the Middle East there’s a revival beginning that’s unprecedented in the history of world missions. I’ve previously reflected on it here and here, but I wanted to take this amazing story further than before.

I hope that you’ll journey with me as I explore unbelievable developments in the expansion of Christianity in the Middle East.

Reliable reports suggest more Muslims have become followers of Jesus over the last two decades than in Islam’s combined 1,500-year history. Based on the accounts of several missiologists, it has been surmised that “more Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam.”[1] In spite of great difficulty and turmoil, Christianity is unquestionably expanding throughout Islamic world. God is up to something amazing in a region that many have thought was unreachable.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Fury as Russian Seen Brandishing Rocket Launcher

Turkey has expressed outrage at images showing a Russian serviceman apparently holding a rocket launcher as his ship passed through Turkish waters.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the incident a “provocation”.

The images, published in Turkish media, show the Russian resting the launcher on his shoulder while on deck.

Russia-Turkey relations have deteriorated badly since Ankara shot down a Russian fighter jet it said had violated its airspace.

A Russian pilot was killed, sparking angry accusations and economic sanctions from the Kremlin.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Unexpected Source of Charitable Organization in Italy Funded Daesh

The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering)(FATF) has found an unforeseen source of income for Daesh (Islamic State or ISIL). The source is a charitable organization in Italy, where thousands of people from all over Europe transferred money to help Syrian children. These funds were forwarded to Turkey falling into the hands of terrorists.

In Italy, organizing such a scam is easier than in other European countries, as the NGOs in the country are not required to account for the movement of funds in their bank accounts. FATF Executive Secretary David Lewis stated in an interview to RT that he feels the states are making insufficient efforts to block extremists’ access to the cash flows.

The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), also known by its French name, Groupe d’action financière (GAFI), is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.

“The information on this case was given to us by the Italian authorities, one of the first and most active members of the FATF. This data suggests that non-profit and charitable organizations intentionally or unintentionally might have participated in the financing of terrorism,” executive secretary David Lewis told RT during an interview.

Here’s how this scheme worked. Thousands of individuals and entities from all over Europe transferred funds to the account of a charity organization in the Italian bank thinking that the money will be donated to help Syrian children.

The money went to Turkey, and from there a recruiter for Daesh (ISIL) took the money and distributed it to terrorist groups.

The news that Daesh uses charity money to finance its activities is certainly shocking. However, this is not the main source of income for these terrorists, RT reported.

Daesh earns millions of dollars a day by smuggling oil and artifacts, as well as extortion and hostage-taking. All this makes it the richest terrorist organization in the world.

According to the FATF, not all countries are taking the necessary steps to block extremists’ access to these funds.

“Many countries ignore the necessary measures. They passed laws and created institutions and financial intelligence to fight terrorism and investigate, but do not engage in the effective implementation of the proposed measures,” Lewis said.

He further explained, “This is especially true of freezing assets. We found that two-thirds of the countries have not frozen terrorist funds included in the UN list. Those governments that implement these measures are moving too slow. For there to be a result, it is necessary to act in a matter of hours. But in most cases, it can be either two days or a month before the authorities take any sort of action. During this time, assets can disappear without a trace.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Yemen Conflict: Governor of Aden Killed in Islamic State Attack

Islamic State militants say they are responsible for a blast that killed the governor of Yemen’s port city of Aden.

Jaafar Mohammed Saad and several aides died when their convoy was hit. IS says it detonated a car laden with explosives as he drove by.

The group has established a presence in Yemen since its civil war broke out.

It is opposed to the government and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have seized much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Earlier this year, Aden was recaptured by government troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Vice Chancellor: Period of ‘Frosty Relations’ With Russia Should End

German Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister said that he supported the normalization of relations between the West and Russia.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — German Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday that he supported the normalization of relations between the West and Russia.

“I think the period of frosty relations with Russia should end,” the politician said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Gabriel added that the decision to exclude Russia from what was the G8 group of leading economies was not far-sighted.

“Of course, the Russian Federation must first adhere to the Minsk deal in resolving the Ukraine crisis. In the long term, it makes no sense to ask [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to resolve the conflict, and at the same time to exclude him from the G8,” the politician said.

Late November, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that Russia would be able to rejoin the G8 group of countries, which is now known as the G7, if it continued to cooperate with the West on Syria and if the Ukrainian conflict was resolved.

The G7 group is considered to be a club of the world’s largest economies. It was known as G8 before the seven industrial nations bowed out of the G8 summit in Russia’s resort city of Sochi at the height of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis and met in Brussels without Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s relations with the West, including the United States and the European Union, deteriorated dramatically following the reunification of Crimea with Russia in March 2014 and an escalation of the Ukrainian crisis later that year.

Washington, Brussels and their allies imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia, accusing Moscow of meddling in Ukrainian internal affairs. Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

For the Bishop of Jaipur, The Government Must Not Abandon Indians Working Abroad

Mgr Oswald Lewis heads the Office for Labour of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Together with the Justice and Peace Commission, the Office seeks to “ensure protection for all Indian workers.” In addition to issuing passports and checking contracts for irregularities, the authorities should monitor migrants, as well as collect information about employers and migrants’ places of destinations.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) — The Indian government has called on Saudi Arabia to provide justice to migrants victims of exploitation, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said this morning.

The minister referred to parliament that Prime Minister Modi spoke with Saudi King Salman Al Saud, demanding justice for the Indian woman who had her hand cut off by her Saudi employer because she had tried to escape from constant harassment.

When Kasturi Munirathinam’s story became front-page news, Indian public opinion was incensed.

Most of those “emigrate in search of work are skilled and well-trained people,” said Mgr Oswald Lewis, bishop of Jaipur and head of the Office for labour of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).

However, he told AsiaNews that “some extremely poor people are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by employers. Hence, the Catholic Church has called on the government to monitor them when they go abroad.”

The victim’s family filed a complaint against the employer, “and called on the Indian government to deal with the case,” Mgr Lewis noted. “The Catholic Church too asked the government to intervene. They said they would do everything possible to help the woman.”

“The majority of those who travel to foreign countries in search of employment, including in the Gulf States, are skilled workers, with regular contracts,” the bishop explained. “Many are doctors, nurses, engineers or health workers. These people live well and have no problems.”

However, “Sometimes cases of exploitation in the Indian Diaspora involve migrants who are poor, marginalised or uneducated, victims of domestic and other abuse. Some are beaten or cheated by promises of well-paying work. Others are prevented from returning to India because their passports are taken.”

The problem “is that the government does not pay attention to them”, the prelate lamented. When migrants go to foreign countries, “the government does not monitor what they do.” Instead, “It ought to check out migrants’ place of destination, place of origin workers, as well as the employer’s reputation.”

Unfortunately, “After issuing passports and checking contracts for any irregularities, it stops monitoring Indians abroad.” For this reason, “we want the government to care for everyone who leaves India.”

The prelate added that the CBCI’s Office of Labour is divided into several departments, like migrants or domestic workers, which work with the Justice and Peace Commission to ensure the protection of all Indian workers.

The Office also issues reports and petitions the authorities, as it has done in Kasturi’s case, “to protect Indians and ensure their living conditions abroad.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Marine Girone to Spend Fourth Xmas in India

Source says children tired of travelling to see their father

(ANSA) — New Delhi, December 2 — Italian marine Salvatore Girone is preparing to spend his fourth Christmas in India, and although his family will be with him, he said he’s tired of the “unacceptable routine” that forces his family to travel to see him and keeps him far from other loved ones and friends in Italy, a defence source told ANSA on Wednesday.

Girone is one of two Italian marines accused by India of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012.

The other marine, Massimiliano Latorre, was granted leave to return to Italy last year after suffering a stroke.

Girone is under provisional liberty which requires him to sign in weekly at the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri.

The defence source said Girone’s family situation is “deteriorating, because of the distance and the weight of household management that falls entirely on his wife”.

Girone will be joined in India by his children Michele, 14, and Martina, 9, along with his wife and his parents, and will spend Christmas in his small quarters inside the Italian embassy.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said, “Italy maintains that the continuing state of deprivation of personal freedom for riflemen Latorre and Girone affects the Italian right to exercise exclusive jurisdiction on the case and their functional immunity as in-service military”.

Italy has taken the case to international arbitration after a long series of delays.

In August, the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea stated that India has no jurisdiction over the case and put it up to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which in November set up an international tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration to handle it.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Pentagon Wasted Millions of Dollars on Luxury Afghan Villas

The Pentagon isn’t known for being frugal with its spending habits, and new reports have surfaced which show that US taxpayers footed the bill for nearly $150 million in luxury villa rentals and fine dining in Afghanistan.

When Pentagon personnel travel abroad, they’re typically placed in government housing, perfectly livable accommodations which save taxpayers millions. But according to a letter written by John Sopko, the chief of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a Defense Department agency spent an exorbitant sum to house government employees in “western-style accommodations.”

“If (task force) employees had instead lived at (Department of Defense) facilities in Afghanistan, where housing, security, and food service are routinely provided at little or no extra charge to DoD organizations, it appears the taxpayers would have saved tens of millions dollars,” Sopko wrote, according to USA Today.

To provide those employees of the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) with flat-screen TVs of at least 27 inches, private bodyguards, and food of at least “three star” quality, the total bill reached $150 million, 20% of the task force’s total budget.

That money was meant to go toward rebuilding Afghanistan’s infrastructure, but instead went to a military contractor known as Triple Canopy to provide the pricey accommodations. That company has earned approximately $2.2 billion in government contracts since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in 2003.

That price tag seems especially high given that it only covered “no more than five to 10” staffers, the letter said.

By comparison, housing staff in the US Embassy in Afghanistan would have cost, at maximum, $1.8 million. Housing those staffers on a military base would have little or nothing extra.

Sapko’s letter points the blame at Paul Brinkley, the task force chief allegedly responsible for approving expenditures. Sapko also claims that Brinkley has been uncooperative during SIGAR’s investigation.

“I have not been contacted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction regarding the questions raised in the letter to the Department of Defense since I departed government service almost five years ago, but would be happy to meet and discuss these topics,” Brinkley said in a statement.

This isn’t the first time that TFBSO has come under fire for inappropriate spending. The task force faced scrutiny last month for spending $43 million for an Afghan gas station that should have cost $500,000. Brinkley himself was the subject of a military investigation in 2007 for alleged financial mismanagement in Iraq.

“This letter raises troubling questions that have become all too familiar when we’re talking about how taxpayer money is spent on projects in Afghanistan,” Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said, according to USA Today.

McCaskill, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for greater transparency in Pentagon spending.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

The Deadly Link Between San Bernardino and Pakistan

The link between California shooters and Pakistan has once again highlighted the danger the country poses as a terror exporter. US-based Islamism expert Arif Jamal tells DW why Washington can no longer ignore the threat.

The most important reason behind the Muslims’ fascination with jihadism in the US and elsewhere is their victimhood syndrome. Jihadism teaches them that the failures of Muslims as individuals and as an ummah (community) are caused by the infidels, who must be fought against, as Islamic scriptures order them.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Argentina Arrests Syrians Traveling on False Greek Passports

Authorities in Argentina arrested six Syrians who flew into the South American country on false Greek passports, a spokesman for the federal police told Reuters on Saturday, adding that the bogus travel documents were probably obtained in Turkey.

The six, including one minor, were taken into custody at a downtown Buenos Aires hotel on Friday after landing at the city’s Ezeiza International Airport on Thursday, the spokesman said.

A spate of detentions in South and Central America over recent weeks show the region has become a route for Syrians fleeing war in their homeland.

Less than three weeks ago, five Syrian men who had paid smugglers $10,000 each to travel through Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica were detained in Honduras as they tried to head north to the United States.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Colombia Says Treasure-Laden San Jose Galleon Found

The wreck of a Spanish ship laden with treasure that was sunk by the British more than 300 years ago has been found off the Colombian coast, says President Juan Manuel Santos.

It has been described as the holy grail of shipwrecks, as the ship was carrying one of the largest amounts of valuables ever to have been lost at sea.

Mr Santos said the cargo was worth at least $1bn (£662m).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fears Rise in Venezuela Over Maduro’s Reaction to Possible Electoral Defeat

Venezuelans are becoming increasingly concerned about what may happen during and after Sunday’s parliamentary elections. Voter polls say the opposition will win, which would put the chavista regime in an unusual situation after 17 years in power. Critics say they cannot predict how the Nicolás Maduro administration will react, while the government has escalated its persecution of business leaders over the last few days of the campaign.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Socialist System Built by Chavez Put to the Test as Venezuelans Cast Ballots

The socialist system built by Hugo Chavez faced its gravest electoral test Sunday as Venezuelans cast ballots in what seems to have become a tightening race for control of the national legislature.

Until recently, the opposition was seen as coasting to its first major electoral victory since Chavez became president in 1998, with Venezuelans tired of rampant crime, routine shortages of basic goods and inflation pushing well into triple digits. The economic crisis has worsened with this year’s slump in oil revenue, which funds almost all public spending.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Galleon San Jose Discovered Laden With Treasure Off Colombia

Colombian authorities have discovered the wreck of a famed Spanish ship, the ‘San Jose.’ The galleon sank over 300 years ago with a large cargo of gold and jewels aboard.

The long-lost shipwreck of the ‘San Jose,’ a Spanish galleon, has been discovered, Colombia’s president Juan Manual Santos announced late on Friday. The ship, which sank over 300 years ago, is said to be laden gold, silver, and precious stones.

The ship was found near Colombia’s Rosario Islands, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the coast of the city of Cartagena. The ship, which belonged to the fleet of King Philip V as he battled English forces during the War of Spanish Succession, sank in 1708, likely killing the 600 people aboard and sending some 11 million gold coins to the bottom of the sea.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

4,600 Migrants Rescued Off Libyan Coast in Three Days (2)

More than 4,600 people have been plucked to safety from unseaworthy boats off the Libyan coast over the past three days, the Italian coastguard said Sunday, as migrants took advantage of calmer waters to attempt the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

On Saturday alone, the coastguard operations centre in Rome coordinated nine rescues, pulling 1,123 people to safety from two boats and seven inflatable dinghies.

According to the United Nations, the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe fell by more than a third last month, due to bad weather and a Turkish crackdown on traffickers in the Aegean on the route to Greece…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

4,600 Migrants Rescued Off Libyan Coast in Three Days (1)

More than 4,600 people have been plucked to safety from unseaworthy boats off the Libyan coast, the Italian coastguard said Sunday, as migrants took advantage of calmer waters to attempt the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

On Saturday alone, the coastguard operations centre in Rome coordinated nine rescues, pulling 1,123 people to safety from two boats and seven inflatable dinghies.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

American Jews Betrayed by Their Leaders. Again

Carol Greenwald,a fellow Columbia alum, has nailed it with this jeremiad railing against American Jewish leadership abetting the cause of admission of Syrian Refugees with dubious clearances by our DHS. Ask yourself have these same Jewish leaders sought to secure admission of hundreds of thousands of imperiled Iraqi and Syrian Christians, that our State Department has the chutzpah to say aren’t persecuted by ISIS facing virtual extinction? Read Greenwald’s accusations in her American Thinker article:

“According to data published by the Department of Homeland Security, the US has issued 680,000 green cards to migrants from Muslim-majority countries in the five years from FY2009 to FY2013. Migration from the Middle East is one of the fastest growing categories of migrants, with 1.5 million Muslims having entered since 9/11. This does not include the hundreds of thousands of Muslim students given student visas since 9/11. This influx may well explain the anti-Semitism now rife on many US campuses. The President’s refugee plan would substantially boost the annual number of migrants admitted from this region. These in turn would be able to petition for their relatives to migrate to the US in the future…

           — Hat tip: RL [Return to headlines]
 

Finnish Authorities Deny Asylum to Group of Refugees From Russia

Finnish border guards denied asylum to a group of refugees who arrived in northern Finland from Russia, local media reported Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The asylum seekers were sent back to Russia, where they have valid residence permits, the Finnish broadcaster Yle said.

Recently, Finland has been receiving an increased number of asylum seekers from Middle East and Northern Africa who arrive in the country through Russia’s northern Murmansk Region.

Europe has been beset by a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in Middle East to escape violence and poverty. EU border agency Frontex recorded over 1.2 million illegal border crossings into the European Union in the first 10 months of 2015.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Greece is a Nation Under Occupation

Perhaps the best way to show what a mess Europe is in is the €3 billion deal they made with Turkey head Erdogan, only to see him being unmasked by EU archenemy Vlad Putin as a major supporter, financial and who knows how else, of the very group everyone’s so eager to bomb the heebees out after Paris. It could hardly have been more fitting. That’s not egg on your face, that’s face on your egg.

But Brussels thinks it’s found a whipping boy for all its failures. Greece. It’s fast increasing its accusations against Athens’ handling of the 100s of 1000s of refugees flooding the country. Everything that goes wrong is the fault of Greece, not Brussels. The EU has so far given Greece €30 million in ‘assistance’ for the refugee crisis, while the country has spent over €1.5 billion in money it desperately needs for its own people. But somehow it’s still not done enough.

The justification given for this insane shortfall is that Greece doesn’t blindly follow all orders emanating from Europe’s ‘leaders’. Orders such as setting up a joint patrol of the Aegean seas with … yes, Erdogan’s Turkey. Where Greece gets next to nothing as the children keep drowning, Turkey gets €3 billion and a half-baked promise to join the Union sometime in the future.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Four in 10 Immigrants Earn Under 800 a Month

Mainly employed as low-skilled, manual labor

(ANSA) — Milan, December 3 — Four in 10 immigrants in Italy say they earn less than 800 euros a month, and only 0.6% declare more than 2,000 euros, a report by multicultural research institute ISMU showed Thursday.

About 42% of immigrants in Italy don’t have a university degree and most take up low-skilled jobs. Among immigrants with higher education, 23.2% said they were doing non-specialised manual labor. Immigrants now make up more than 10% of the workforce in Italy, according to the report.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Up to 50,000 Syrian Refugees Could be in Canada by End of 2016

Canada will accept between 35,000 and 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016, Immigration Minister John McCallum says.

McCallum huddled up with provincial ministers and community organizations in Toronto Thursday to talk about planning to settle refugees in the city. The Liberal government has promised to bring in 10,000 people by Dec. 31, and another 15,000 by the end of February.

Between the government sponsored 25,000 and another 10,000 privately sponsored refugees, Canada will be home to at least 35,000 Syrians by the end of 2016, McCallum said.

“I’m confident in the course of 2016, even now as we speak, there will be more privately sponsored refugees coming forward,” McCallum said, adding that those figures could go as high as 50,000.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why We Must Stop Syrian Refugee Invasion of Western Countries

Underneath Obama and Congress’ forcing Syrian refugees onto America soil—another facet of terrorism lurks for all Americans. We either stop it or become victims of this invasion of our country.

In this exclusive interview with Canadian journalist Tim Murray, you learn greater understandings of the long-term consequences of all forms of immigration to America, Canada and Europe.

Mr. Murray, why don’t Western leaders take into account the folly of endless immigration? Why do they attend the “climate change” summit, but fail to deal with the core reasons for carbon emissions? Why does the Pope make incredible statements about Earth’s suicide by humans, but won’t deal with his culpability?

“A few questions came to mind, not about the effects of climate change on Europe, but the effects of mass Muslim migration to Europe on climate change,” said Murray. “It is something that neither the newspapers nor leftist readers seem interested in. But then, that should not be surprising because for most “progressives”, population doesn’t matter — -and neither does Islam. What matters is that there are too many rich people eating meat and blaming the poor for their excesses.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Summit Fails to Ban Genetic Engineering of Human Embryos

Gene-editing with the four-year-old CRISPR technique is already so promising that a meeting of American, British and Chinese scientists was held in Washington this week to discuss how it should be regulated.

The most controversial item on the agenda was genetic editing of human embryos and germ cells. Unsurprisingly, the International Summit on Human Gene-Editing declared that it would be “irresponsible to proceed with any clinical use of germline editing” until the risks were better understood. But it failed to endorse even a moratorium on human germline gene-editing, let alone a blanket ban.

[Comment: germline means that the edited genes would propagate to the next generation.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

White Debt

Reckoning with what is owed — and what can never be repaid — for racial privilege.

For me, whiteness is not an identity but a moral problem. Becoming black is not the answer to the problem of whiteness, though I sympathize with the impulse, as does Noel. ‘‘Imagine the loneliness of those who, born to a group they regard as unjust and oppressive and not wanting to be part of that group, are left on their own to figure their way out,’’ Noel wrote recently in his own narrative, ‘‘Passing,’’ the story of how he left a lower-middle-class family and a college education to work in factories for the next 23 years.

I met Noel after he left the factories for Harvard, when he was the editor, with John Garvey, of a journal called Race Traitor.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

8 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/6/2015

    • I hope we get that “band together” bit going soon. With buddies like blood and oil slick Saudi Arabs fully invested in killing off humankind by any means money can buy it should be a great band of bros to behold.

  1. RE the incident on the Frankfurt-Belgrade flight. About a month ago, a passenger aboard a charter flight from Warsaw to Sharm-el-Sheikh, probably filled mostly with tourists, said to the stewardess that there was a bomb on board. The flight made an emergency landing in Bulgaria, even though the man, an over-60 Polish holidaymaker, who was said to be very drunk at the time, then said he was joking. He was then arrested, and proceeded to be charged with the costs of the emergency landing, as well as facing the possibility of up to 3 years’ prison. The cost was estimated to be over €30,000 – likely more than the value of any property he owned, meaning that for one moment of drunken stupidity, he is likely to become homeless as well as facing jailtime.

    Wondering if anything comparable risks happening to the Jordanian in this instance, or if it will once again be one law for the Muslims, and one law for the Kuffar?

    • hopefully, he will be punished to the full extend of serbian law.Our papers say that the guy is an american citizen- like the breed of San Bernardino,I guess- and tried to open a passenger door on the plane,which is physically impossible.And in the hands of a serbian team is not like something I would like to be .These guys are rough.

  2. Greece is a Nation Under Occupation

    It is worse than this.

    The Greeks are the Jews of 21st century and it is not Brussels,it is Germany.

    [anti-German invective redacted].

  3. Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948.

    Article 1

    The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.

    Article 2

    In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
    (a) Killing members of the group;
    (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
    (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
    (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
    (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

    (b),(c) and (d)

    These are in full force for the last six years and we know who is the villain.

  4. Kalashnikovs…in a mosque! Oh….! Well, that is really not a surprise.
    What would be surprising, however, would to find no kalashnikovs there.

    “…
    The mosques are our barracks

    The faithful our soldiers”
    Erdogan

    “There is no moderate islam
    Islam is islam”
    Erdogan

    • Erdogan means Muslims intend to decapitate the world in general and the European world in particular? (Check out the Quran or visit your local barracks community center.) The west responds by simply giving a high five “Show me the money Erdo!” Frau Merkelstein is good to go.

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