Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/10/2016

A pair of culture-enriching rascals forced their way into a nightclub in Calgary and started shooting. Thanks to the action of two alert bouncers, who struggled with the miscreants and subdued them, no one was killed. One patron was wounded, and is in the hospital, while the alleged perpetrators are in police custody. The incident had a Mohammed Coefficient of 100%.

In other news, 55,000 civil servants employed by the European Union will get a 2.4% pay raise this year, which will translate into a cost of about €100 million.

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

Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, EH, ESW, Insubria, JD, Nick, RR, 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
» Lessons for 2016: China Can Destroy the World
 
USA
» EPA, FDA Stocking up on Body Armor During President Obama’s Watch
» Idaho Militia Group Arrive to ‘Secure Perimeter, Prevent Waco-Style Situation’ At Oregon Refuge
» Obama Plotting to Replace Ban Ki Moon?
» Scott Walker Eyes Lawsuit Over Obama’s Gun-Control Actions
» Ted Cruz Eligibility — Something Extraordinary Happening
» The Case Against Political Correctness
» Violent Leftists Threaten to Shoot Up BBQ Joint Owned by Black Man Because He Supports Texas Open-Carry Laws
 
Canada
» Calgary: Shooting at Ten Nightclub on Sunday Described by Witness
 
Europe and the EU
» A Revolution Brewing in Europe
» At Least 231 Boys Abused at German Catholic Choir School: Lawyer
» Cologne New Year Assault Reports More Than Double in Number
» EU’s Staff Get 2.4% Pay Rise
» Exposing Major PC Cover-Up in Sweden — Leading Daily Dagens Nyheter Refused to Write About Cologne-Like Sex Crimes in Central Stockholm
» God Save the Queen Could be Dropped as the National Anthem From England’s Sporting Events
» Hamburg Police Record 133 Cases of New Year Violence
» Italy: Tax Revenue Up 9.2% in First 11 Mths 2015
» Italy: Four More Convicted in Capital Mafia Case
» New Year Violence Cases Up to 516: Cologne Police
» New-Look Poland Edges Closer to Hardline Hungary
» UK: National Fraud Intelligence Bureau Figures Show Foreign Crime Gangs Have Stolen £10m
 
Balkans
» US Wants Serbia to Give Up on Neutrality
 
North Africa
» Algeria Orders 12 Su-34 ‘Fullback’ Fighter-Bombers From Russia
» Egypt Gunmen Waving ISIS Flag Shot Dead Before They Could Detonate Suicide Vest
 
Middle East
» Kuwait: Extremist Imams Blocked
» Turkey Wraps Up ‘Security Op’ With More Kurds Being Killed Every Day
 
South Asia
» More and More Women Forced Into Nepal’s Sex Trade
 
Far East
» Hong Kong Protesters Call for Release of Missing Booksellers
 
Immigration
» A Real Conspiracy Theory
» German Government Predicts Another Million Migrants in 2016
» In Norway, Migrants Get Courses on Respecting Women
» Italy: League Slams Plan to Decriminalize Illegal Immigration
» Merkel Forced to Change Tack as Migrants Linked to Cologne Violence
» Syrian Refugee Invited to Obama’s State of Union Address
» Why Are Feminists Refusing to Discuss the Cologne Sex Attacks?
 

Lessons for 2016: China Can Destroy the World

China’s stock market collapse and imposition of currency controls threaten to further destabilize the world markets, as analysts predict an end to China’s perpetual growth.

The market collapse over the first week of 2016 showed that China’s roughly 10 percent collapse in the Shanghai Composite Index can reverberate around the world.

The collapse in China ended after the country suspended its trading system “circuit breaker” and its central bank stopped cutting the yuan’s reference rate. The decline did continue in the United States, despite what should be considered a positive jobs report, resulting in a 6.19 percent drop for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 index also fell by 5.28 percent.

While US markets’ continuing collapse has been tied to the dollar rate and Fed worries, the collapse has been largely linked to China, which initially saw a collapse after the implementation of the circuit breaker, which halted trading following significant collapses, but was then repealed.

China is also worried about capital outflows, which have battered the yuan, as the country’s central bank has had to sell off its foreign reserves in order to maintain the fledgling rate.

Increased demand by households has led China to limit the amount households can buy to just $50,000 per year outside of state-approved use, such as trade or foreign direct investment, Financial Times reported. In addition to that China has tackled international banks to prevent financing the shorting of its currency.

“They are basically trying to make sure that banks are not helping speculators with leverage. If your client needs three months’ trade finance but borrows one or two years’ worth of forex, is that legitimate hedging?” a Beijing-based finance executive told the Financial Times.

Although the prospects of a Chinese collapse seem far off, scenarios by investment firms have made predictions showing how a Chinese market collapse can cause a global recession.

A Fitch Ratings tentative scenario sees Chinese growth fall to 2.3 percent per year with a decline in foreign investment, the Wall Street Journal noted in an overview. The scenarios are done on their own, and do not affect current outlooks, however.

“The scenario varies greatly from Fitch Ratings’ current expectations,” the Fitch report said.

However, if the threats do materialize, it may be that the collapse in China’s markets would trigger a collapse in oil and manufacturing around the world.

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

EPA, FDA Stocking up on Body Armor During President Obama’s Watch

Good that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration are stocking up on armor. What are they expecting to face?

It seems a pretty clear indication of a government which has overstepped its bounds when the environmental guys and the food regulators think they are going to face gunfire of the sort that they need body armor. This indicates a flaw, a severe flaw, in our government system. The stakes should not be this high in a free society. Do the bureaucrats want to defend their ill gotten turf with bullets now?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Idaho Militia Group Arrive to ‘Secure Perimeter, Prevent Waco-Style Situation’ At Oregon Refuge

Mr. Bundy said if the Idaho group hadn’t showed up, “I’d worry” about a Waco-style siege by federal officers

Members of an Idaho militia group arrived at an Oregon refuge on Friday as armed occupiers refused to leave the federal building outside Burns.

The “3% of Idaho” group’s members will “secure a perimeter” around the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which has been occupied by an armed militia led by Ammon Bundy for seven days.

“They just keep an eye on everything that is going on” to make sure “nothing stupid happens,” Mr. Bundy said Friday, The Oregonian reported.

Mr. Bundy said if the Idaho group hadn’t showed up, “I’d worry” about a Waco-style siege by federal officers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Plotting to Replace Ban Ki Moon?

Rick opens the program with the stunning Kuwaiti news report that Barack Obama is plotting to replace Ban Ki Moon as U.N. Secretary General in late 2016. In Part 2, Middle East analyst Dr. Theodore Karasik tells Rick he expects Islamic terror attacks in 2016 to increase in frequency, magnitude, and destructive power.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Scott Walker Eyes Lawsuit Over Obama’s Gun-Control Actions

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is preparing to go to court to challenge President Barack Obama’s “illegal” executive actions to restrict gun ownership.

“President Obama is again disregarding the constitutional principles of separation of powers and exceeding his authority as chief executive,” Walker, a Republican, said Wednesday in a prepared statement:

The Obama administration issued guidance creating uncertainty and fear of prosecution for law-abiding citizens who wish to exercise their right to sell firearms lawfully. Forthcoming federal rules could also deprive millions of Americans of their Second Amendment rights without any indication of imminent danger.

I have asked the [Wisconsin] attorney general to review this proposed rule language as soon as it is made available and, if issued as reported, to take any and all legal measures available to challenge this illegal act.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ted Cruz Eligibility — Something Extraordinary Happening

Mark Levin knows not a single lawsuit was decided on merits of the argument regarding what constitutes a natural born citizen. Not one single court allowed a true legal discussion of what constitutes natural born.

Cruz, naturally has come out saying it’s ‘settled law’. Yes, it is and you, Ted Cruz are ineligible. Cruz knew this was going to become an issue which is why he began legal proceedings to give up his dual citizenship finalized in 2014. If he didn’t think his dual citizenship would be a problem, why go to all the trouble to renounce his Canadian citizenship?

“News” media giants, including FOX led the charge to discredit anyone questioning Barry’s eligibility. Haaavard grad and telly clown, Bill O’Reilly, has proclaimed over the years that a birth announcement in a Hawaii newspaper was proof positive Barry was a natural born citizen. And, so all these years, Barry Obama has gotten away with usurping the office of president aided and abetted by the left and the right. And now they’re deliberately doing it all over again using the same talking points from 2008 & 2012 to protect Ted Cruz.

[…]

Going back to JB Williams column regarding Ted Cruz being ineligible to run for the senate, he provides copies of critical legal documents:

“The above Canadian document is proof of Canadian Citizenship at birth for Senator Ted Cruz. The next piece of authenticated evidence released by Ted Cruz is a Canadian document proving that he remained a legal citizen of Canada until renouncing that citizenship in May of 2014, which means, he was still a legal citizen of Canada in 2012 when he ran for, was elected and took the oath of office for the US Senate.

“Again, the above authenticated evidence proves that Ted Cruz was born Canadian in 1970 and remained a legal citizen of Canada until renouncing his Canadian citizenship in May of 2014. These official documents also prove that Ted Cruz was a legal citizen of Canada in 2012, when he sought and claimed a seat in the U.S. Senate as a legal US citizen…

“Ted’s parents were at no time serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, employed by the U.S. Government or by any of the certain international organizations, during their eight years in Canada, between 1966 and 1974. Further, Ted’s father Rafael, was at no time a legal citizen of the United States prior to naturalizing in 2005, from Canada. Rafael’s known legal citizenship status as of 1970 was Cuban, not American.

“This is an EXAMPLE of a US CRBA Form (Consular Report of Birth Abroad)

“Unfortunately, there is no evidence to suggest that the parent or parents of Ted Cruz ever filed a CRBA form with the U.S. Government in or around 1970, which is why Ted Cruz released a copy of his Canadian citizenship records and not any U.S. citizenship records. At present, all FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests filed in search of any U.S. citizenship documents to confirm the true official U.S. citizenship status of Ted Cruz have been denied access. All citizenship records for Ted Cruz are sealed unless and until Ted Cruz agrees to allow any such records to be released by either U.S. or Canadian agencies.

“As a result, there remains no authentic evidence to support the claims that Ted Cruz is either a “natural born” or “naturalized” citizen of the United States.

Shall we look at that Haaavard Law Review? A Response to Neil Katyal and Paul Clement on the Meaning of a Natural Born Citizen By Mario Apuzzo, Esq. Take the time to read Mario’s response because he quite succinctly proves the authors of the aforementioned ‘law review’ piece are wrong…

There was a reason the ‘natural born citizen’ clause was grandfathered into the Constitution: To keep any president that might have foreign interests he would use to betray this country. Think Barack Hussein Obama. I don’t doubt Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio love this country, but in the future do we want another Barry Obama? Since 2008, there have been a lot of articles by individuals, mostly foreign born, who want to get rid of the natural born citizen clause in the Constitution to suit their own agenda, but we can not let that happen…

Why this screeching from all of the above to protect Cruz’s candidacy? Because the top four GOP candidates are Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Carson. If you knock out Cruz and Rubio that leaves Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson — unless one figures Paul, Fiorina, Bush and the rest of the single digit candidates can be resurrected from the dead. Democrats and their lackeys in the media don’t want Trump. The GOP establishment and their lackeys in the media don’t want Trump. Can the jury make the inference that both sides are working feverishly to keep Cruz and Rubio in the contest hoping Donald Trump will flame out or lose the early primaries? I submit to you that’s exactly what’s going on.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Case Against Political Correctness

Today a devout muslim attacked a Philadelphia police officer as he was driving his car. It was done almost execution style. The officer is in critical condition. The idiot that is the mayor DEMOCRAT Jim Kenny made a complete fool out of himself defending the barbaric Islamic faith. He began by expressing his well-wishes for the officer who the muslim man attempted to execute, but then spent the latter part of his statement distancing Islam from the shooter, who claimed he was carrying out the shooting for Islam. “In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you’ve seen on the screen,” said Mayor Kenney. “That is abhorrent. It’s just terrible and it does not represent this religion [Islam] in any way shape or form or any of its teachings,” he added. “This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers. It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.”[1] Here are a few quotes from the Quran: Quran 8:12: “Instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers;”; Quran 2:191: “… kill the disbelievers wherever we find them …” ; Quran 8:59: “The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them. They are your enemy and Allah’s enemy.” Only a fool would make that statement about the most barbaric ideology in the world. Right after he spoke Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross stated: “the suspect said he had committed the attempted execution in the name of the Islamic State, the jihadi terrorist insurgent group that controls territory in the Middle East. “According to him [the shooter], police bend laws that are contrary to the teachings of the Quran,” said Commissioner Ross.”[2]

This man was a refugee, just like the Boston bombers and one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino killings. Obama is allowing tens of thousands of these people into America because denying them entrance is “not who we are’. What we should be about is protecting the citizens of America! Obama is more concerned about muslims than Americans. We have to be prepared for the eventuality of muslim attacks in America. Judge Jeanine Pirro has a short video that is well worth watching concerning our right to protect ourselves from the vermin that Obama is allowing to come into our nation unvetted.[3] Please don’t call me racist. Being against a political ideology that wants to kill me and destroy our culture and way of life isn’t racist, it’s patriotism, something our politicians would do good to learn.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Violent Leftists Threaten to Shoot Up BBQ Joint Owned by Black Man Because He Supports Texas Open-Carry Laws

(NaturalNews) When it comes to the use of force and violence to make a political statement, nobody holds a candle to Left-wing “progressives.” Though they love to portray conservatives as “right-wing, gun-toting, violent racist bigots,” political Lefties are the true purveyors of hate, mayhem and destruction. Oh, and they’re pretty hypocritical too.

As reported by the Houston Chronicle, Trent Brooks, the owner of Brook’s Place, a restaurant specializing in barbecued cuisine, is an outspoken supporter of Texas’ open-carry law. So much so, in fact, that he even gives customers who walk in either openly carrying a firearm or carrying a gun concealed a discount.

Since he made his announcement, the local media has reported on his business, so he’s gotten quite a bit of free publicity. And as you might imagine, his stance has also garnered quite a bit of attention and commentary on social media.

But in recent days, it all turned ugly, when a staunch opponent of the open-carry law threatened to attack his business with a gun, according to a post on Brooks’ Facebook page.

“I’ll shoot up the place on Saturday. Let’s see how your gun-toting patrons will stop me,” the threatening post said.

Like any responsible citizen Brooks, who is African American, contacted the authorities. On the day mentioned in the threat — Saturday, Jan. 9 — Brooks said police officers would be on the scene to help out if necessary.

“We’ll be open on Saturday,” Brooks said, “but we are not taking [the threat] lightly. Not with all the crazy stuff that is going on in the world today.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Calgary: Shooting at Ten Nightclub on Sunday Described by Witness

Early on Sunday morning, a man got out of a car in front of Ten Nightclub, walked to the front door with a gun and starting shooting into the bar.

Police have charged two men in relation to the incident on 10th Avenue S.W. which sent a 38-year-old man to hospital with serious injuries to his torso.

Spencer Wallace is a bouncer at the bar and was standing mere feet away from the gunman.

“Out of nowhere, we had a little bit of a break in people coming in and I’m standing right by the front door. If I’d been standing two feet in front of where I was standing, I could have been shot, I could have been killed today,” said Wallace.

“I turned and I see the guy catch it right in the chest. He drops.”

According to Wallace, one shot entered the bar and the shooter squeezed off two more while wrestling with front door staff, but police say several shots were fired into the club.

“Two bouncers that work out front, I’m not going to name them, but they grabbed this guy immediately,” he said. “They pounced on him. Those guys are heroes and they deserve nothing but praise, they stopped this from being so much worse.”

Quick police response

Police from the gang suppression unit happened to be across the street from the bar at the time of the shooting and were quickly on scene, taking the shooter and an accomplice into custody.

“A passenger in the vehicle attempted to assist the shooter and was able to leave the scene before police arrived. His identity and whereabouts are unknown,” according to police.

A third person in the car was arrested along with the shooter and has been charged.

Mohamed Elmi, 31, and Mohamed Salad, 29, both of Calgary, each face the following charges:…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

A Revolution Brewing in Europe

Germany’s police, media and politicians have deceived the German public about crime caused by migrants pouring into the country. The lie was exposed in the most dramatic way possible on New Year’s Eve in Cologne. A 1,000-member mob raped and groped women with impunity. No one was arrested, and the head of the local police union believes no one will be punished. By trying to cover up this kind of migrant crime, German authorities are destroying the faith of the German people in their government, media and police. The parallels with 1930s Europe are unnerving. Meanwhile, the global economic crisis of 2008 is causing Europeans to completely rethink the American dominated economic system. A revolution is brewing in Europe that will see nations look to new politicians and a create a new way of running their economies.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

At Least 231 Boys Abused at German Catholic Choir School: Lawyer

At least 231 children at a famous boys’ choir school in Germany were victims of physical abuse, a lawyer tasked by the Catholic institution to probe allegations said Friday, giving a far higher figure than thought for the scandal, which dates back decades.

The Domspatzen, a 1,000-year-old choir in Regensburg, Bavaria, was dragged into the massive sexual abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church in 2010, when allegations of assaults that took place several decades ago went public.

The choir was run by Pope Benedict’s elder brother, Georg Ratzinger, from 1964 to 1994 when most of the claimed abuses took place…

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

Cologne New Year Assault Reports More Than Double in Number

Cologne police have said the number of women coming forward with complaints that they were assaulted on New Year’s Eve has risen to 379. A large minority of the reported crimes were said to be of a sexual nature.

Police said on Saturday that the number of cases reported to them had reached 379, about 40 percent of which involved allegations of sexual offences.

“Those in focus of criminal police investigations are mostly people from North African countries. The majority of them are asylum seekers and people who are in Germany illegally,” police said.

“The investigation into if, and how widely, these people were involved in concrete criminal activity on New Year’s Eve is ongoing.”

Cologne’s police chief Wolfgang Albers was suspended on Friday amid mounting criticism of his force’s handling of the incidents, and for being slow to release information…

           — Hat tip: EH [Return to headlines]
 

EU’s Staff Get 2.4% Pay Rise

About 55,000 EU civil servants will receive a pay rise of 2.4% this year that will translate into spending of some EUR 100 M from the bloc’s budget, the state-run Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on Tuesday.

The pay hike comes after a two-year freeze demanded by national governments that led to strikes among the EU employees in 2012 and 2013. A deal reached in 2014 between the EU and its staff resulted in the introduction of a new pay system.

The aim was to put an end of the open political bargaining by introducing a formula to be applied automatically. The formula includes the cost of living in Belgium and Luxembourg, where most EU employees reside, and a basket of salaries paid to civil servants in 11 EU member states.

The 2.4% pay rise will apply retroactively from July 2015 and will be valid for all of 2016.

The salaries of EU’s civil servants have increased by 0.5% a year on average since 2010, or below inflation rate, according to EU Commission deputy chief spokesman Alexander Winterstein. At the same time, national civil servants have received an average pay rise of about 6% over the 2010-2015 period.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU President Donald Tusk will receive a pay rise of almost EUR 700, bringing their monthly salaries to an overall EUR 31,272, DPA reported on Tuesday citing an article in German daily newspaper Bild.

According to Bild, the seven vice presidents of the EU’s executive body are receiving a monthly pay of EUR 27,953, which is an increase of EUR 633.

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

Exposing Major PC Cover-Up in Sweden — Leading Daily Dagens Nyheter Refused to Write About Cologne-Like Sex Crimes in Central Stockholm

STOCKHOLM The Cologne sex assault on New Year’s Eve, where groups of Arab and North African men groped more than a hundred German women, has shocked Europe this last week. But a very similar incident, with a large number of perpetrators and victims, took place in the Swedish capital last summer. That incident however was silenced by large Swedish newspapers and media companies, despite repeated attempts from police officers to contact journalists. This is how leading Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter tried to cover up a politically inconvenient sex assault story.

Nyheter Idag is now able to disclose in detail how major Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter deliberately covered up stories about widespread sexual abuse in central Stockholm in connection with a concert in the Kungsträdgården public square this August. “The mere suspicion that the abuse has been considered as difficult to describe involves a betrayal of the victims”,the newspaper writes about the event, almost six months later…

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

God Save the Queen Could be Dropped as the National Anthem From England’s Sporting Events

A group of MPs — have backed calls to drop the national anthem God Save the Queen from England’s sporting events. Reports suggest that the Queen (pictured) has not supported the move.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hamburg Police Record 133 Cases of New Year Violence

Police in the northern German city of Hamburg said Sunday they have recorded 133 cases of offences including sexual assaults allegedly committed against women during New Year’s celebrations.

Investigators have not identified any suspects for the assaults that allegedly took place at the port city’s party avenue Reeperbahn.

But victims have described the perpetrators as having “African, Arab, or south European appearance”, a police spokesman told AFP…

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

Italy: Tax Revenue Up 9.2% in First 11 Mths 2015

To 388 bin euros

(ANSA) — Rome, January 8 — Tax revenue in Italy rose 9.2% to 387,837 million euros in the first 11 months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, the economy ministry said Friday. The improvement was largely due to earlier deadlines for the IRES business tax and the IRPEF personal income tax, it said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Four More Convicted in Capital Mafia Case

Ex cooperative managers convicted of graft

(see previous). (ANSA) — Rome, January 7 — Four former managers of the Rome-based Catholic-inspired cooperative La Cascina were convicted of corruption after plea-bargaining in the Capital Mafia case Thursday.

Preliminary hearings judge Alessandra Boffi rubber-stamped terms ranging from two years and eight months to two years and six months for Francesco Ferrara, Domenico Cammisa, Salvatore Menolascina and Carmelo Parabita. The four had been accused of corruption involving one of the kingpins of the vast graft scandal, Luca Odevaine, former member of the national panel of coordination for receiving refugees and asylum-seekers.

The case involved bloated contracts at a huge migrant centre (CARA) at Mineo in Sicily.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

New Year Violence Cases Up to 516: Cologne Police

Police said Sunday the number of cases filed over violence during New Year’s festivities in Cologne had reached 516, including 40 percent relating to sexual assault.

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

New-Look Poland Edges Closer to Hardline Hungary

Poland’s conservatives have been cosying up to populist Hungary since returning to power in October, following Budapest’s lead in tightening government control over the judiciary and media in moves that have riled the European Union.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has been singing Hungary’s praises since ousting the centrist Civic Platform (PO) at the polls after eight years in opposition.

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s endorsement of the policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — whom critics accuse of trampling human rights and democratic processes — has alarmed critics at home and abroad…

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

UK: National Fraud Intelligence Bureau Figures Show Foreign Crime Gangs Have Stolen £10m

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau recorded 91 victims of fraud last year, including Sarah and Ritchie Tough, who lost £45,000 for a home in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US Wants Serbia to Give Up on Neutrality

BELGRADE — By delivering M270 ballistic missiles to Croatia, the US wants to pressure Serbia into deciding in favour of joining broader Euro-Atlantic integration and giving up on the policy of neutrality, says Marko Custic, editor-in-chief of Croatia’s military magazine Defender.

“That is the only reason why Croatia will get the M270 ballistic rockets from the US”, Custic said in a statement to Tanjug.

He said that he understands the reactions from Serbia, which have been very negative.

“I do not think that it is a rocket that Croatia would use against Serbia. However, the system is creating an imbalance in power,” he explained.

Custic’s magazine also reported on Friday that Croatia is in talks with Norway about purchasing a NASAMS missile system for its armed forces.

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

Algeria Orders 12 Su-34 ‘Fullback’ Fighter-Bombers From Russia

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — The Algerian Air Force has ordered 12 Sukhoi (Su-34) “Fullback” fighter bombers from Russian aircraft manufacturer Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association to replace an aged fleet of Soviet-era MiG-25s, which are long over-due for retirement from service, as part of an ongoing force modernization program.

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

Egypt Gunmen Waving ISIS Flag Shot Dead Before They Could Detonate Suicide Vest

The incident happened at the Bella Vista Resort in the city of Hurghada, by the Red Sea. The gunmen arrived at the hotel by sea and began shooting at the tourists.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Kuwait: Extremist Imams Blocked

The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has blocked the entrance of imams and preachers accused of terrorism and sectarianism to participate in events to be held in Kuwait. This comes after the ministry released a directive requiring its approval before religious or charity organizations can bring clerics to participate in local spring camps.

The list includes imams from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, as well as imams who live in Europe. They are accused of spreading extremist ideologies through TV programs, Al-Jarida reported yesterday quoting ministry sources. “These regulations come as part of the government’s efforts to fight extremism or any practice that can damage national unity or spread sectarianism in society,” the sources explained. — Al-Jarida

           — Hat tip: ESW [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Wraps Up ‘Security Op’ With More Kurds Being Killed Every Day

Human rights activists are concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in besieged Kurdish towns of southeastern Turkey. Ankara is to face a trial in Strasbourg over its security forces’ operation which is due to be over by the end of January.

Schools remain closed in areas under curfews, civilian death toll along with the number of displaced people rises as bloody clashes between government forces and local youth resistance continue across major Kurdish towns in Turkey’s southeast, according to multiple reports.

Ozturk Turkdogan, a prominent Turkish human rights activist expressed grave concern about the current situation, in which civilians, including women and children, are being killed every day, he claimed, while the government is preventing human rights activists from visiting the areas under blockade.

“Several times we formed committees to go to Silopi and Cizre to see the situation at close range, but the government deterred us from attempting to visit there,” Turkdogan told Rudaw news outlet.

Meanwhile, Turkey has been reportedly called to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg to provide defense for allegedly provoking a humanitarian crisis.

“Like all countries, Turkey has the obligation, responsibility and right to provide security and comfort to its citizens … In such a situation, the EU has no word to say. And until now, there were no serious criticism … directed at us by the EU,” Volkan Bozkir, Turkey’s minister for relations with the EU, told journalists.

According to reports, government forces have deployed tanks and begun demolishing houses in the Sur city district in the town of Diyarbakir to make advance in rebel-held area that has been under curfew for 40 days, ANF News wrote on Saturday.

Approximately 60 bodies of Kurdish residents and fighters remain unburied in areas where curfews are imposed, a number of families have launched hunger strikes to get the bodies, Al-Monitor reported.

Mayor of Adana, a large city in southern Turkey, Huseyin Sozlu, who belongs to the ruling AK party, made a comparison of the fate of modern Kurds with the Armenian genocide of 1915.

“What happened to the Armenians can happen to our Kurdish brothers,” Sozlu said, according to Adana paper Ekspres.

Armenians alongside Assyrians were massacred in Adana in 1909, the rest deported to Syria later. During WWI, 1.5 million Armenians were killed across the Ottoman Empire.

Ankara’s current operation against the Kurdish resistance is due to be finished by the end of January, Prime-Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced, according to Hurriyet daily.

Some 200 people have been killed during the blockade and skirmishes between Turkish government forces and local youth resistance YDG-H. Over 100,000 people have reportedly been displaced in ongoing military actions in Turkey’s majority-Kurdish southeast.

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

More and More Women Forced Into Nepal’s Sex Trade

Since last year’s quake, the government has failed to distribute promptly foreign aid. “There are no official data on displaced persons, deaths or victims of human trafficking,” one activist laments. “I preferred prostitution to suicide,” said one young woman. As AsiaNews shows, she is not alone.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Many young women who lost everything in the April 2015 earthquake are now being forced into prostitution by the failure of Nepali authorities to distribute foreign government and non-government aid.

Corruption and the country’s political divisions have hampered the distribution of the aid that poured into the country after last year’s quake, which killed 8,700 people and forced thousands of people to live in makeshift shelters.

This has forced many women to sell their bodies to survive. Rupa, a young woman from Gorka District, is one of them. At present, she works as an exotic dancer in a disco bar in Kathmandu, where her employer has forced her to have sex with customers or she would not be paid.

Speaking to AsiaNews, she remembers the quake. She had gone in the jungle to find food for her animals. When she felt the earth shake, she ran home, “but nothing was left. My house had become a burial ground.”

Her whole family — father, mother and brother — were under the rubble. Even the buffaloes she tended died when the building collapsed. “Everything is still there,” she said. “We were unable to pull out anyone.”

For a few weeks, the young woman waited for government aid. “When we saw that nothing was coming, I and some friends decided to try our luck in the capital.”

A resto-bar manager hired her as a dancer. When she went to see him to be paid, “he told me he had no money and that if I wanted to earn some money, I had to prostitute myself with the customers. I had no alternative; I did not know how to pay the rent on my room. I preferred prostitution to suicide.”

Like Rupa, Samita ended up the same. Orphaned and without education, she decided to work in a diner in Kathmandu. After a month, her employer forced her to have sex with customers.

Several associations, Christian and non-Christian, operate in the country to help women and improve their status.

Menuka Thapa heads Rakshya Nepal, an NGO that tries to rescue women from the sex trade. “My organisation is in contact with 55 girls,” she explained. “Five of them are working in eateries. The other 50 are in public places in the capital, usually by the roadside. They survive only thanks to the money they earn from prostitution. All are earthquake victims.”

For Sapana Pradhan Malla, a lawyer and activist for women’s rights, “The government must take action now and help earthquake survivors.” Unfortunately, “There are no official data on displaced persons, deaths or victims of human trafficking.”

“The non-governmental sector is doing everything it can, but that is not enough,” said Rupa Rai, an activist and a member of Caritas Nepal. “Resources are limited, and the authorities need to adopt new policies and take tangible steps to solve the problem.”

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

Hong Kong Protesters Call for Release of Missing Booksellers

Thousands of protesters marched through central Hong Kong Sunday, demanding the release of five missing booksellers who are feared to have been detained by authorities in mainland China.

The five are from Hong Kong’s Mighty Current publishing house known for books critical of Beijing.

ADVERTISINGTheir disappearance has fuelled fears that freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are being eroded. The US State Department and European Union have expressed concern…

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

A Real Conspiracy Theory

by Badrya Darwish

The most bizarre news I heard recently was reports about organized attacks targeting women during New Year festivities in various cities in Germany. Honestly, when I heard the news, my first thought was, “Oh God, I hope they don’t pin it on the poor refugees”. It took only half a second before the news confirmed my fear.

What happened was that gangs of hundreds of young men — described as North African or Arab in appearance — surrounded women near the places where yearend celebrations were taking place and harassed, robbed and in at least two cases, raped them. Now there are big demonstrations demanding the expulsion of the recent influx of Syrian refugees. The police have noted that the attacks were clearly organized and even repeated across Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart — all big cities.

How come three cities so far away from each other experienced the same type of attacks, same behavior, same pattern, same modus operandi…as if someone masterminded this and is trying to pin it on the refugees. I doubt that they were refugees with the way it happened — so well organized and orchestrated. I’m not saying that all refugees are saints. But I very much doubt that a Syrian fleeing his country with his family and waiting in camps in Germany to be resettled would come up with such horrendous actions.

It’s impossible. Someone is benefitting from these attacks with the intention of spoiling the reputation of refugees — especially Arab and Muslim ones. Now when any murder takes place anywhere on earth, someone will witness that he heard the assailant say Allahu Akbar!…

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

German Government Predicts Another Million Migrants in 2016

At an EU meeting Germany’s Interior Ministry predicted that one million migrants will pass through Turkey to Europe in 2016, reported Der Spiegel.

The German government has predicted that one million more migrants and refugees will try to pass through Turkey to reach Europe in 2016, and just one fifth of those will end up remaining in Turkey, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

“The Federal Interior Ministry believes it possible that one million refugees will try to pass through Turkey on their way to Europe. Turkey will be able to stop and accommodate 200,000 of them at best,” reported Spiegel on Saturday.

“These figures were presented by the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Interior Ministry Ole Schroder at a meeting in Brussels with colleagues from Sweden and Denmark, as well as the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos.”

Schroder also roundly criticized the EU Commission for its handling of the crisis, according to Spiegel.

“The measures aren’t working, the numbers haven’t fallen, currently 4,000 people are coming daily from Turkey to Greece,” the politician, a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, told the meeting.

Spiegel reported that Commission officials stressed the importance of drastically reducing the number of migrants and refugees entering Europe by the middle of this year. Though the number of people arriving in Greece has according to some reports recently fallen, officials attributed this to bad weather rather than the beginning of a longer-term tendency.

On Wednesday German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the country’s migration figures for the last year. In 2015, 1.1 million migrants and refugees registered in Germany, the largest influx of people since the country began keeping records of registration in 1950. Of those arrivals, 476,649 have so far made formal applications for asylum in Germany

Around 40 percent of the newcomers, 428,500, were from Syria. Around 11 percent, 150,000 were from Afghanistan. Another 11 percent were from Iraq, and the fourth and fifth largest groups of migrants into Germany were Albanians and Kosovans respectively.

De Maiziere also drew attention to a new development in December, when the number of migrants from the Balkans fell dramatically, but the number of migrants from Algeria and Morocco rose sharply, and were the fourth and fifth largest migrant groups.

“This is a particular cause for concern,” and the authorities have to find the reason for the increased migration from North Africa, said De Maiziere.

On Friday Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Ilse Aigner warned about the problems of integrating the vast numbers of migrants who have arrived in Germany. Aigner is a member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, which forms the Union faction in the Bundestag with the Christian Democrats.

“I was one of the first to warn about false euphoria, that only well-trained professionals would come to us,” Aigner told the Rheinischer Post.

“Meanwhile, we know that 90 percent of the refugees don’t bring with them sufficient qualifications to be directly integrated into the German labor market. Integration is only possible through work.”

Aigner also called for better protection for the EU’s external borders, echoing criticism made on Friday by Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP) European Parliament group. Weber called the results of the EU’s 3 billion euro ($3.28 billion) deal with Turkey to encourage it to control its borders “disappointing.”

“If we don’t see anything happen from the Turkish side in the next few weeks and the number of refugees does not reduce significantly, Europe must put the agreement to the test,” said Weber.

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

In Norway, Migrants Get Courses on Respecting Women

Sexual advances or just friendly gestures? In a bid to prevent violence against women, Norway is offering asylum seekers courses in how to interpret mores in a country that may seem astonishingly liberal to them.

A debate on integration has flared in Germany after New Year’s Eve attacks in Cologne, where more than 100 women reported being sexually assaulted or robbed by men described as being of Arab or North African origin.

Questions are also being raised about how to integrate men from patriarchal societies into Europe, where emancipated women dress skimpily, go out, and drink and party…

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

Italy: League Slams Plan to Decriminalize Illegal Immigration

Alfano says ‘would send wrong message’

(ANSA) — Rome, January 8 — A decree depenalising illegal immigration is expected to go before cabinet on January 15, government sources said Friday. Being an undocumented immigrant became a crime in 2009 under Silvio Berlusconi, and talk of abolishing that law sparked an outcry from his erstwhile governing coalition partner — the rightwing anti-immigrant Northern League. League Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni tweeted to “prepare for an invasion” while League chief Matteo Salvini wrote on his Facebook page that his party would launch a referendum “against this shameful thing”.

The vast majority of asylum seekers fleeing war in Africa and the Middle East are trafficked in, and do not have proper visas when they arrive — usually in Greece and Italy, whose outlying islands are the first landfall for the unsafe migrant boats sailing from Libya and Turkey.

National antimafia prosecutor Franco Roberti said the current law making illegal immigration a crime “hinders investigations” and prevents the speedy identification of human traffickers. “The data shows (the law) hasn’t had a dissuasive effect thus far,” he said. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said new arrivals fleeing war and Islamist fundamentalist persecution in their homelands should receive European-wide asylum — not asylum specific to the EU country they first enter, as stipulated by the Dublin Regulation. “We risk sacrificing Schengen on the altar of Dublin,” said Gentiloni, referring to the common visa policy among 26 European countries that abolished passport checks at their internal borders. “The European Union is like an apartment building where everyone fights with their neighbors, except for when they all fight together against the one who watches over the entrance, in this case Greece,” Gentiloni said. The foreign minister also said that “for those who don’t have the requisites to be taken in, repatriation should also be a European task”.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said depenalising illegal immigration would send the wrong message at a time of heightened public concern over security in the wake of the bloody Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris in November. It would send “a negative message for the perception of security at a very particular time for Italy and Europe,” he said. “The crime of clandestine immigration is not a single-party issue,” said Alfano, who was justice minister in the Berlusconi administration that criminalized illegal immigration in 2009.

MP Roberto Speranza from the ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD) tweeted Friday that there should be “no step back on abolishing the crime of being illegal. Politics cannot let itself be guided by fear. Especially today”. Speranza is from a dissenting leftwing minority within the PD.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Merkel Forced to Change Tack as Migrants Linked to Cologne Violence

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to change tack on her liberal stance towards refugees, after a spate of assaults during New Year’s Eve celebrations blamed on asylum seekers.

Turning away from her mantra of “we will manage this” over the record influx of asylum seekers that reached 1.1 million last year, Merkel has now backed changes to the law to ease the process of expulsion for those convicted of crimes.

“If the law does not suffice, then the law must be changed,” she said on Saturday, warning that any refugee handed a jail term — even if it was a suspended sentence — should be kicked out of the country…

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

Syrian Refugee Invited to Obama’s State of Union Address

A newly arrived Syrian refugee with a harrowing story and a Muslim former US soldier will be among the White House invitees at President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address on Tuesday.

The White House on Sunday announced the names of the guests invited to join Michelle Obama in the gallery of the House of Representatives when legislators, Supreme Court justices and other dignitaries assemble to hear the president lay out his chief goals for the year.

ADVERTISINGA first lady’s choice of guests to the closely watched address often underlines the president’s priorities, and this year is no different.

One of the guests, Refaai Hamo, arrived in Detroit only on December 18 with his surviving children — three daughters and a son — after spending two years in Turkey…

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

Why Are Feminists Refusing to Discuss the Cologne Sex Attacks?

In the wake of the wave of organised sexual assaults perpetrated against German women on New Year’s Eve, many commentators have been patiently waiting for the feminist reaction to this grotesque display of male violence. Well, it seems to have arrived, but not in the way you might imagine.

“No one is talking about the fact that this is happening to women every day,” claimed Tanja, an activist who organised a protest outside the “Multi Kulti’ centre in the Colonel neighbourhood of Mülheim, just a few kilometres from the station where the attacks occurred.

“People are insisting on making this a political story, trying to shift the focus on pro or anti refugees. But in fact, no one is listening to what we have to say — the women — who suffered from this violence in the streets on a daily basis long before refugees even came here,” the activist told DW yesterday…

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

8 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/10/2016

  1. IS manual
    – Pretend to be a Christian to blend in

    “The booklet, called Safety and Security Guidelines for Lone Wolf Mujahideen, offers a chilling insight into the levels of preparation expected of those wishing to cause carnage in Europe.”

    ““It is permissible for you to wear a necklace showing a Christian cross.

    “As you know, Christians – or even atheist Westerners with Christian background – wear crosses on their necklaces.”

    The 58 page booklet translated into English, even tells the lone wolf mujahedin carrying out attacks, to shave their beard and splash on some eau de Cologne in efforts to blend in and divert from their intentions.

  2. … struggled with the miscreants …
    A good expression. “Miscreant” originally meant “unbeliever”, from the French word, “créir”, to believe.

  3. Seems to me that “sacrificing” Schengen might be a GOOD idea and no loss at all. Illegal immigration to any country in the EU should be treated as illegal immigration to all of them, yes? Unless the countries of first landing (e.g., Italy, Greece) would like to turn the boats/dinghies back…?
    Illegal immigrants do not get the free iPhone, free housing and the other goodies; right? They wait in a camp until transportation can be arranged to send them home? Or is this a fantasy I’ve arranged in my own mind? thx

    • Well Cynthia, Schengen has (had?) its good points. In 2013, I travelled from the UK by train through Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Spain, returning via France- the only time my passport was checked other than by railway staff was by UK border officials at Gare du Nord in Paris. Schengen was a fine idea, but Merkel totally sabotaged it.

      • My (Norwegian) wife says Schengen was/is a terrible idea, and her reasoning is pretty sound; Norway borders on Sweden, which is rapidly running out of money and fast becoming Islamic.
        When the money stops, where do you think the muslims will head for?

  4. I’ll bet Nyheter Idag isn’t the only news source to have squelched reporting of these mass rape/grope attacks against young Western women by Muslim men acting in well-coordinated groups. Maybe someone in Norway? The stone was finally overturned in Britain (Rotherham, et al.) and the worms are crawling out from under it. Maybe some Austrian coverage has heretofore been suppressed? Any in France, Belgium, or Germany? Italy or Greece?

    Might be helpful to cast a big, wide net. Hints might be found on Facebook, but of course they need to be subtle; Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to believe that Muslims *can* do evil things or, at least, that lesser beings like us in the West aren’t entitled to call them out on their evil doings. This has got to cover more ground than just one night in several cities. We know now about one more night in Stockholm last summer….

  5. only 2.4 % for the great service they are doing for EU natives. Shouldn’t they get 5% of every oil barrel for the service they do for arabia and islam. ?

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