According to various media reports, forces fighting for the Islamic State have attacked the oil terminal of Ras Lanuf in Libya. Photos published with the reports show a huge column of black smoke rising above the terminal.
In other news, decades after diphtheria was eradicated from Denmark, the highly contagious disease has reentered the country along with recently arrived “refugees”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Insubria, JD, JLH, LP, MC, Nick, 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.
Italy: Milan Regains Ground, Draghi Sees Rates Low Long Term
Renzi says banking system solid, turbulence is opportunity
(ANSA) — Milan, January 21 — The Milan bourse on Thursday regained a lot of the ground it lost earlier this week as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi left interest rates unchanged and said he saw them staying low in the long term.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi dismissed the speculative pressure that has hit Italian banking stocks this week, saying turbulence was an opportunity rather than a cause for concern.
The Milan stock exchange’s FTSE Mib index closed 4.2% up at 18,723 points after Draghi said interest rates were set to remain steady for “a long period of time”. On Thursday the ECB left its main refinancing rate unchanged at a record low of 0.05%. It also left its deposit rate unchanged at -0.30%. The share price of troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) soared back up, taking its capital valuation above the two-billion-euro threshold it had fallen below after coming under extreme pressure in recent days, at 2.14 billion. The MPS share price closed 43.15% up after being suspending several times for excessive volatility — this time of the upward variety, after three days of punishing losses made its accumulated losses this month over 50% despite a recent ban on short selling.
Other banks recouped a lot of lost ground too: Carige (+28.843%), Popolare (+10.31%), Unicredit (+7.93%), whose repurchase of 1.8 billion euros was hailed by the stock market, Bper (+11.04%), Ubi (+5.69%) and Bpm (+4.37%). The banking sector’s recovery tugged the rest of the list in its wake: Mediaset (+6.14%), FCA (+6.37%), Exor (+4.4%), Telecom (+5.38%) and Ferrari (+3.59%). Only two blue chips fell: Ferragamo (-0.4%) and Saipem, which dropped 5.87% amid uncertainty over a 3.5-billion-euro rights issue whose details will only become clear on Monday. In other remarks Thursday, Draghi said the ECB was ready to do whatever it takes to hit inflation targets.
He said there were “no limits” to the ECB’s scope of action, within the terms of its mandate.
The ECB is doing what it takes to deal with current trends, Draghi said. “We’re adapting our instruments to changing conditions,” he said. “We’re doing what is necessary to fulfill our mandate and we are not giving up in the face of these new factors”. The ECB governing council voted unanimously to review monetary policy in March, he added. Draghi also said Italian banks were well capitalised and “we know it takes time to fix bad loans”.
The relatively high ratio of Non Preforming Loans (NPLs) has been cited as one of the main reasons behind this week’s apparent attacks on Italian banking stock.
Premier Renzi was unfazed by the recent bourse woes.
He said that Italy’s banking system was solid on the whole, adding that the turmoil that has hit the share price of several lenders could be a blessing in disguise. “The Italian banking system is solid,” Renzi told a press conference. “Some banks are being targeted not the banks in general…
Significant changes are needed so that, in the end, there will be fewer bankers, fewer executive posts and more resources for credit and more transparency. “That’s why I say that the turbulence of the last few hours can be an opportunity”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
War on Cash Escalates: China Readies Digital Currency, IMF Says “Extremely Beneficial”
Remember when Bitcoin and its digital currency cohorts were slammed by authorities and written off by the elite as worthless? Well now, as the war on cash escalates, officials from The IMF to China are seeing the opportunity to control the world’s money through virtual (cash-less) currencies. Just as we warned most recently here, state wealth control is the goal and, as Bloomberg reports, The PBOC is targeting an early rollout of China’s own digital currency to “boost control of money” and none other than The IMF’s Christine Lagarde added that “virtual currencies are extremely beneficial.”
By way of background, as we explained previously, What exactly does a “war on cash” mean?
It means governments are limiting the use of cash and a variety of official-mouthpiece economists are calling for the outright abolition of cash. Authorities are both restricting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks, and limiting what can be purchased with cash.
These limits are broadly called “capital controls.” Why Now?
Why are governments suddenly so keen to ban physical cash?
The answer appears to be that the banks and government authorities are anticipating bail-ins, steeply negative interest rates and hefty fees on cash, and they want to close any opening regular depositors might have to escape these forms of officially sanctioned theft. The escape mechanism from bail-ins and fees on cash deposits is physical cash, and hence the sudden flurry of calls to eliminate cash as a relic of a bygone age — that is, an age when commoners had some way to safeguard their money from bail-ins and bankers’ control.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New York’s Murder Rate in Past Two Years Lowest Since 1958
The murder rate in New York City increased by the end of 2015, but it is the lowest in nearly six decades, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton wrote in an op-ed in the New York Daily News on Wednesday.
NEW YORK, January 20 (Sputnik) — However, New York City closed the year with 184 fewer murders and 335 fewer shootings than there were in 2010.
“At year’s end, murder was up 6 percent in New York City to 352 murders,” Bratton said.
The statistics make 2015 and 2014 two of the three lowest years since 1958 for murder.
Overall crime in New York City also declined by 5.9 percent over the past two years during which Mayor Bill de Blasio has been in office.
Bratton credited the revamped police training and new Neighborhood Policing Plan for the overall decrease in crime.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Senior Homeland Security Apparatchik: Outlaw Internet Anonymity
Proposes a “license plate” for internet users.
Erik Barnett, an assistant deputy director at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and attache to the European Union at the Department of Homeland Security, has written an article titled “Whose Privacy Are We Protecting? Balancing Rights to Anonymity with Rights to Public Safety,” published in FIC Observatory, a French publication covering cybersecurity.
Due to terrorism and child sexual exploitation, Barnett argues, the state has an overriding interest in reviewing the private data on individuals on the internet.
As the “use of technology by human beings grows and we look at ethical and philosophical questions surrounding ownership of data and privacy interests, we must start to ask how much of the user’s data is fair game for law enforcement to protect children from sexual abuse?” Barnett writes.
He then suggests a license for internet users…
As the Electronic Frontier Foundation has noted, anonymous communications “have an important place in our political and social discourse. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the right to anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment.”
The 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission states: “Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Student Says ‘ISIS’ In Pledge, Gets Pulled From High School
ANSONIA, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut high school student has been pulled out of classes and reported to police for substituting “ISIS” for the “United States of America” during the Pledge of Allegiance.
“ISIS” is a term commonly used for the Islamic State group.
Lt. Andrew Cota says the 15-year-old student at Ansonia High School wasn’t charged, but the case was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Police say there is no danger to the community. Federal officials declined to comment.
The boy, who wasn’t identified, now attends classes in a Board of Education annex building.
An attorney representing the school and Board of Education says the boy’s dismissal was “out of an abundance of caution.”
The boy’s mother said at a board meeting that removing her son from school was an irrational decision.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Healthcare System Really Does Kidnap Teens — Victim Speaks Out
(NaturalNews) A Missouri mother has been accused of medical child abuse after requesting a second opinion regarding her 17-year old son’s medical care. Isaiah Rider, who suffers from neurofibromatosis, a rare condition causing tumors on the nerves, was told he could no longer see his mother following a surgery at Luries Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
“One day I woke up, and I was surrounded by a bunch of doctors, and they told me that I wasn’t allowed to see my mother anymore,” said Rider in a YouTube video he made after being placed in foster care following his release. “I was shocked. I was shocked.”
Their story began when he and his mother, Michelle, traveled to Chicago from their home in Missouri to visit specialists recommended by his Kansas City doctors. Rider underwent surgery at Luries hospital but his condition did not improve. He remained in severe pain, suffering from hours-long tremors in what was left of his amputated leg, prompting his mother to request he be transferred to another facility for a second opinion. This resulted in the intervention of Child Protective Services (CPS) in Chicago, which immediately seized custody of Rider, leaving no time for goodbyes…
When Rider was fit to be released, Luries hospital placed him in a foster home in a rough part of Chicago, where the teenager says he feared for his life and had a gun pulled on him twice.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Whiteness History Month is a Great Idea. Here Are 7 Ways to Observe It
There are few words in the American lexicon that can bring a conversation to a quicker and more unproductive end than “whiteness.” Invoke it negatively and you’ll be accused of reverse racism, attempting to impugn your fellow citizens as a way to build up members of other racial and ethnic groups. Bring up whiteness with a spritely air of positivity and you risk associating yourself with a long and ugly history of a violent obsession with racial purity.
These conversational conventions are extremely convenient if your goal is to keep anyone from talking about the fact that white people haven’t always been around forever, and they haven’t always looked the way they’re assumed to today. But these conventions are fundamentally dishonest, and frankly, more than a little immature. And these rules went into predictable motion this week when conservative publications pounced on Portland Community College for a piece of student programming called Whiteness History Month…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Beware the Coming Infrastructure Rip-Off!
Working Canadians has launched a new campaign to publicize the costly and unfair policies of governments that favour unionized companies over their non-unionized counterparts in the granting of contracts to participate in government infrastructure contracts. This closed bidding process means that taxpayers end up paying significantly more for infrastructure than necessary, and that many legitimate, capable, taxpaying businesses are excluded from bidding on government projects that their tax dollars pay for. “In these difficult times when governments are already deep in debt and taxpayer dollars are scarce, it is disgraceful that governments continue to pursue these costly and unfair policies,” said Catherine Swift, President of Working Canadians.
Research has shown that these closed and biased bidding processes can increase the cost of infrastructure projects by as much as 40%. Swift added “When we know that tens of billions of dollars are going to be spent by governments at all levels over the next number of years, adhering to these foolish and costly procurement policies means that taxpayers will be paying billions more than necessary for infrastructure.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto: Police Get Rifles as “Crime” Surges
An upsurge in nonwhite violent crime and gang violence in the now minority-white city of Toronto, Canada, has seen the increasingly outgunned police force acquire military-style assault rifles for their frontline officers…
Seeing as Canada admits at least 250,000 “immigrants and refugees” every year (equivalent to over one million in five years)—and that the vast majority of these are from the Third World—it is highly unlikely that the 2010 statistics are in any way accurate. Whites are most certainly therefore, an absolute minority in the city.
As a result, the “multicultural face of Toronto” is represented in its crime structure makeup. The city has Asian triad gangs, South American cartels, Tamil organized crime groups, and gangs such as the Sri Lankan “VVT” and “AK Kannan.”
Black gangs from America have also grown along with the local African population, with the result that there are now several Bloods and Crips gangs present.
Most recently, the increasing number of Central and South American “migrants” have seen the establishment of the Mara Salvatrucha gang and other drug-related criminal enterprises.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
BDS Lies, Intimidation, Violence, British Academia 2016
The dogma of unreasoned hate pervades the atmosphere in seats of higher learning and research as campaigners for an end to Israel make dangerous inroads into the once hallowed hallways of British academia.
The beginning of 2016 saw the nadir of freedom of speech at King College London, a once proud bastion of open debate and intellectual honesty.
When Ami Ayalon, former director of Israel’s Shin Bet and currently a left-wing pro-peace activist, began his talk in a small room on the UK campus on January 20, protesters set off fire alarms, broke a window, threw chairs and physically assaulted a female attending the talk as they screamed abuse.
They interrupted an event organized by the Kings College Israel Society designed to find a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem with chants of “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” clearly indicating that their cause is not peace but an end to Israel.
Amazingly, although a heavy police force was required to put down the violence no arrests were made.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan on the EU Referendum and Brussels’ Bullying
Just as our referendum on leaving the EU gets under way, Eurocrats in Brussels have issued a blackmail threat against the UK, writes Conservative MEP DANIEL HANNAN.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Opens Probe Into ILVA for State Aid
But will give guarantees for environmental clean-up
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 20 — The European Commission on Wednesday opened an in-depth probe to establish whether financial support given by the Italian State to troubled steelmaker ILVA complies with norms banning State aid to industry. The Commission said it would “assess in particular whether the eased access to financing awarded to ILVA to modernise its works at Taranto has given it an advantage over competitors.” It said that “given the urgency of decontaminating the site, the Commission also foresees guarantees that will allow Italy to immediately carry out the environmental clean-up”. ILVA’s highly polluting plant in the Puglia port city, linked to high cancer rates in the area, has been the subject of several government moves to save jobs while cleaning up the site.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s “Islamic State” Terrorist Nils D. Appears Before Düsseldorf Court
Düsseldorf’s regional court has begun hearing the case of Nils D., a German Islamist who has confessed to being a member of the “Islamic State.” The 25-year-old is accused of joining an ‘IS’ special terror cell in Syria.
Nils D. admitted to going to Syria and joining the “Islamic State” (IS) on Wednesday, the first day of the trial in Düsseldorf. Speaking to the court, Nils D. said he met friends from his home town Dinslaken in Syria. He also identified one of his friends in a picture, standing arm in arm with one of the terrorists in the Paris attacks.
As a member of the “Storm troops,” Nils D. caught deserters and spies and used violence to take them to the ‘IS’ prisons. He also admitted to witnessing torture that the special cell used on victims. He however denied participating in any such activities. He said he wanted to be part of the “struggle for Muslims in the whole world.”
His life changed after a cousin of his introduced him to Islam, he told the court. He began reading the Quran and listening to the speeches of German salafist Pierre Vogel on the internet, before finally becoming a Muslim in August 2011, the Islamist said.
[So being a Muslim and reading the Quran is a necessary condition of becoming an ‘Islamist’. How interesting.]
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Goldman Sachs Funded Campaign to Keep Britain in EU: Source
Goldman Sachs provided funds to the campaign to convince British voters to stay in the European Union, a source familiar with the issue told AFP Wednesday.
The source confirmed a Sky News story that said the Wall Street investment banking power donated “a substantial six-figure sum” in pounds to the anti-Brexit — “British exit” campaign.
Sky News said the money went to the Britain Stronger in Europe group, which is fighting to convince people to vote in an upcoming referendum in favor of maintaining current ties with the EU…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Important That Marines Should Wait in Italy Says Gentiloni
Time of arbitration expected says FM
(ANSA) — Tirana, January 20 — Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Wednesday the fact that two marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012 should both await an arbitration verdict in Italy was more important than the long time needed for the verdict, which a court in The Hague said earlier in the day would not come before August 2018. “Whether it is long or short, it’s the usual time of arbitration,” he said. “We hope that this period may see (Massimiliano) Latorre and (Salvatore) Girone in Italy.” He said “there will be a first response on this from the arbitration court in March, on the request that Girone can spend the arbitration period in Italy”. On Wednesday, the court also confirmed a March 30-31 hearing on Italy’s December request to get Girone back from India for the duration of the arbitration regarding him and fellow anti-piracy marine Latorre.
The arbitration court also said Italy must file a written statement of its version of events by September 16 this year and India must do the same by March 31, 2017.
The court also set further deadlines for both sides to respond to one another’s initial statements, of July 28, 2017, for Italy and December 1, 2017, for India.
If the latter has raised objections over jurisdiction or admissibility at the point, Italy will have one last chance to rebut by February 2, 2018.
After that, the arbitration court will have six months to come to a verdict. It reserves the right to extend that time, however.
The long-running affair has caused friction between India and Italy, which has asked for international arbitration since India failed to charge either of the servicemen, while detaining them for years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘IS’ Secret Police — The Trial of Nils D.
Court cases against ‘IS’ returnees are now common. Yet the case against Nils D. is different: A member of the notorious ‘Lohberg Brigade,’ D. is talking, giving authorities a glimpse of the world of German jihadists.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Says ‘Deal With it’ As Tension With EU Continues
Italian premier putting EU credibility at risk says Weber
(ANSA) — Rome, January 19 — As tensions with the European Union continued, Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday Italy’s regained stature as a major European player meant its critics and partners would simply have to “deal with it”.
And as Italy was set to tap a new envoy to Brussels to help address charges that the EU felt it was lacking a clear interlocutor, a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European People’s Party (EPP) caucus leader Manfred Weber, fed the row by saying Renzi was undermining the EU’s credibility.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with whom Renzi traded barbs over migrants, economic flexibility, banks and State aid Friday, meanwhile denied accusations the EC had been slacking, saying that 11 of its new projects involved Italy.
Amid the flap, the Milan bourse suffered again as banking stocks plunged but the head of bourse regulator CONSOB, Giuseppe Vegas, denied the notion that Italy was coming under specific speculative attack.
As the controversy continued, government sources said Deputy Industry Minister Carlo Calenda will on Wednesday be tapped as Italy’s new ambassador to the European Union, replacing Stefano Sannino. Calenda’s appointment will be formalised at a cabinet meeting Wednesday night, they said. Calenda is the first career politician to be named as envoy to Brussels after a string of career diplomats.
Renzi said on Facebook that Italy has regained its leadership role and that those who do not like it must “deal with it”. The premier made the comments in the wake of heated exchanges Friday between Rome and Juncker, who has blasted Renzi for allegedly offending the EU executive.
“Italy is increasingly open and attractive for international investment,” Renzi said, “with major global companies that have decided to bank on our country, like Cisco, whose chiefs I met this morning. “(This is) the best answer to those who… would prefer to have us be weak and marginal, as often happened in the past, unfortunately. “They should deal with it. Italy is back, (and it’s) more solid and more ambitious”.
Weber, ignoring Renzi’s demand, ramped up the pressure after Juncker’s unsually outspoken attack Friday.
The EPP caucus leader said “Renzi is jeopardizing the credibility of Europe to the benefit of populism”. Weber told the European Parliament “when we see that Italy is not willing to help Turkey unless there is a trade-off, all that hurts Europe, its strength and credibility”. Italy is resisting a three-billion-euro package to help Turkey cope with Syrian migrants over concerns that national governments, and not the EU’s common fund, may foot too much of the bill.
Juncker, for his part, said governments that are critical of the EU executive should take a look at themselves first.
“Without common action, a European policy on migration, Schengen will not survive,” said Juncker, who on Friday blasted Renzi for allegedly offending the EU executive at “every opportunity”.
“Some governments are quick to attack Brussels, but they should look in the mirror, they are Brussels too”, said the EC chief.
Juncker told the European Parliament it was “not true” that the EC “has not been sufficiently active”. He said “the investment plan is already in action, 40 billion euros have already been mobilised”. Juncker stressed that “11 of the projects are in Italy”. He added: “To those who ask me to resign for failing on the migrant crisis, I say I don’t agree and one shouldn’t lose heart but work together, united”.
Amid the fall-out from the Italy-EU row on the Milan bourse, where Monte dei Paschi di Siena hit a new low amid another widespread collapse of banking stock, CONSOB chief Vegas said that the recent strong declines in Italian bank shares were due to general market volatility rather than any concrete new developments.
Banks that have come under the lens of the European Central Bank (ECB) for their bad loans portfolios continued to tumble on Tuesday.
“It does not even make sense to concentrate on these banks, because the situation is general,” Vegas said.
He also ruled out a “specific” bourse attack on Italy.
Meanwhile one of the points of contention between the EU and Italy, State aid to steelmaker ILVA, will be made the target of a probe on Wednesday, EU sources said.
The probe will concern aid for production and not an environmental clean-up, they said.
The undersecretary for European affairs, Sandro Gozi, said the government was having to fight growing disappointment in and indifference to the EU.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Says Govt ‘Illegitimate, ‘ Magistrates ‘Cancer’
Ex-premier says staying in front line
(ANSA) — Rome, January 20 — Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday described Premier Matteo Renzi’s government as an “illegitimate regime”. The three-time premier and leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party also said he intends to continue in front-line politics even though he is 79. “We are in a country that is slave to an illegitimate regime,” Berlusconi said at a book presentation. “Renzi is there against the will of the voters”. Former Florence mayor Renzi came to power in February 2014 after ousting his predecessor, fellow Democratic Party (PD) member Enrico Letta. “Renzi puts his men everywhere, as seen with the finance police,” added Berlusconi. “It’s a real regime”. Berlusconi also said he felt obliged to keep campaigning. “My sense of responsibility forces me to stay on the field out of love for Italy, without any personal ambitions,” he said.
“If I’m not there, we (the centre right) will become the third pole behind the PD and the (anti-establishment) 5-Star Movement”. Berlusconi on Wednesday also said that the “worst cancer of our democracy is the Italian judiciary”. The ex-premier has had a long series of legal problems and has frequently accused magistrates of attacking him for political reasons.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
No Fallout From ‘Lively’ Italy-EU Exchange Says Juncker
EC chief blasted Renzi for offending Commission
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 20 — There will be no negative fallout from a “lively exchange” between Italy and the European Commission, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters Wednesday. “Relations between the Commission and the Italian government, between commissioners, and between myself and my Italian colleagues and the premier (Matteo Renzi) are good,” he said. “There was a lively exchange, but this is normal in times of democracy and will have no consequences,” Juncker said.
Last week Juncker blasted Renzi for offending the EU executive at “every opportunity”. There has been tension between Rome and Brussels in recent months over several issues, including the refugee crisis, budget flexibility and bank rescues. Renzi said on Facebook Tuesday that Italy has regained its leadership role and that those who do not like it must “deal with it”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: British Academia 2016: Anti-Israel Lies, Intimidation and Violence
By Barry Shaw
The dogma of unreasoned hate pervades the atmosphere in seats of higher learning and research as campaigners for an end to Israel make dangerous inroads into the once hallowed hallways of British academia.
The beginning of 2016 saw the nadir of freedom of speech at King College London, a once proud bastion of open debate and intellectual honesty.
When Ami Ayalon, former director of Israel’s Shin Bet and currently a left-wing pro-peace activist, began his talk in a small room on the UK campus on January 20, protesters set off fire alarms, broke a window, threw chairs and physically assaulted a female attending the talk as they screamed abuse.
They interrupted an event organized by the Kings College Israel Society designed to find a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem with chants of “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” clearly indicating that their cause is not peace but an end to Israel.
Amazingly, although a heavy police force was required to put down the violence, no arrests were made.[…]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Opinion: New Year’s Eve in Cologne — A Déjà Vu for Muslim Women
[…] This contempt for women in Islamic society stands in opposition to the gender equality that is proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the German constitution. In such societies, women must obey their fathers, then their husbands and finally bow to the expectations of society for the entirety of their lives.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Jimmy Savile Sexually ‘Abused Victims at BBC Buildings in Glasgow’
Jimmy Savile sexually abused victims at BBC properties in Glasgow, a leaked report has revealed.
The draft report produced during an official review of Savile’s time at the BBC by retired judge Dame Janet Smith, criticises the corporation for having managers who were “above the law”.
The report, published on Thursday, warns that it was possible another “predatory child abuser could be lurking undiscovered in the BBC even today”.
Rapes, indecent assaults on both boys and girls, and incidents of “inappropriate sexual conduct” with teenagers over 16 were all “in some way associated with the BBC”, the draft report published by news site Exaro, states.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Chef Who Stabbed Ex-Partner 21 Times in ‘Savage’ Murder is Jailed
A chef who stabbed his former partner 21 times then tried to cover up his crime by repeatedly knifing himself has been jailed.
Mohammed Ali Abboud, 57, killed Polish teacher Agnieszka Szefler at his home in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, in a frenzied attack in which he also repeatedly bit her.
After killing her, he moved the 27-year-old’s body so it looked to police like she fallen on the kitchen knife.
However, the stabbing on January 23 last year, was witnessed by a neighbour who told the High Court in Edinburgh that she saw a man standing over the body of a woman in his garden and motioning a knife towards her stomach despite the victim’s pleas for help.
Sentencing Abboud to spend a minimum of 20 years in jail, Lord Uist described the attack as a “savage and brutal murder of a 27-year-old woman.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Edinburgh University Bans Certain Costumes After Blackface Scandals
The crackdown has been imposed by student union leaders at Edinburgh University following a ‘blackface’ scandal which saw some students dress up as Somali pirates (pictured).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘BBC Could Still be Hiding a Paedophile’: Official Jimmy Savile Report Warns
Jimmy Savile’s ‘depravity’ was common knowledge at the Corporation yet he freely abused 45 boys and girls as young as nine in ‘virtually every BBC building’, Dame Janet Smith’s leaked report says.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Muslim School Fails Ofsted Inspection Due to Books Promoting Stoning
The watchdog’s inspectors said they discovered three texts promoting inequality of women and illegal punishment during a ‘brief visit’ to Jamiatul Ummah School in Tower Hamlets, East London.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Shadiya Omar Who Stabbed Man With Christian Louboutin Heel Mocks Him on Facebook
A student who stabbed a man in the eye with her shoe’s stiletto heel has been accused of mocking him after posting a Facebook picture apparently challenging him to ‘look inna mi eyeee’.
Shadiya Omar, 22, of Whalley Range, Manchester attacked Justin Lloyd, also 22, after he began arguing with her friend as they both waited for a taxi home after a night out in the city’s centre.
She was spared an immediate prison sentence yesterday, but it has since emerged she had posted a photograph of herself on her Facebook page, which builder Mr Lloyd said was ‘a dig’ at him.
The message, posted two days after a criminal trial concluded early, because Omar changed her plea to guilty for unlawful wounding accompanied a photograph of Omar and read: ‘Come over baby look inna mi eyeee.’
‘I think she is taking the mick to be honest,’ said Mr Lloyd. ‘I don’t think she was expecting me to be on her Facebook.
‘It is like a dig to be honest. Maybe she did it when she found out she would get away with a suspended sentence.
‘It is annoying — I think it is not showing any remorse.’
[…]
After the incident he spent 30 hours in hospital as his eye was stitched up, fearing he would lose his sight.
Mr Lloyd said: ‘I felt something in my eye, I felt the stiletto in my eye. I was worried I would lose my sight, at the time I couldn’t tell I could just see blood coming out of my eye. It was blurred and even now it is not 100 per cent. It went pitch black.
‘It was weird when I felt it in my eye, I was just in shock.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Uniformed Civilians Will be Able to Detain Suspects for 30 Minutes
Under plans being unveiled today by Theresa May, police chiefs are set to put civilian volunteers in uniforms and hand them powers to investigate crimes and issue on-the-spot fines in Britain.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Media: ISIS Attacks Oil Terminal
Oil pipeline targeted, two tanks burning in Ras Lanuf
– CAIRO — ISIS has carried out a new attack against the Libyan oil terminal of Ras Lanuf, a number of international media outlets reported Thursday, including Conflict News.
According to Conflict News, ISIS has attacked an oil pipeline close to Ras Lanuf and two tanks are in flames. Photos were published, showing a huge column of dark smoke.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tragic Kinross Woman Julie Pearson “Feared for Her Life” In Israel
A Kinross woman who died a day after she was allegedly attacked by her Palestinian lover told pals she feared for her life.
Julie Pearson, 38, fell ill and collapsed hours after the suspected beating by Amjab Hatib, 31, in the port town of Eilat in Israel last month.
It is alleged Julie was punched and kicked several times in front of others. The next day she felt ill and later collapsed and died.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK Government Urged to Act Over Scot ‘Raped and Killed’ In Israel
The UK Government has been asked to intervene in the case of a Scottish woman who was allegedly raped and beaten to death in Israel.
Julie Pearson, 38, originally from Kinross-shire, died on November 28 in Eilat after reportedly being attacked by her Palestinian partner.
The matter was raised at Prime Ministers Questions by MP Hannah Bardell.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Xi Opens Refinery With Saudi King Salman
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi King Salman on Wednesday attended a ceremony to mark the opening of a joint-venture refinery, a symbol of Beijing’s deepening involvement in the Middle East.
The event took place in the Saudi capital Riyadh on the second day of Xi’s first visit to the region. He was to depart later in the day for Egypt and will also travel to Saudi Arabia’s rival Iran.
The YASREF refinery, in Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea, is 62.5-percent held by Saudi oil giant Aramco, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) holds the balance.
“YASREF represents both companies’ focus on driving downstream growth,” the refinery said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Warns Turkey Academics They Will Pay Price Over Petition
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on academics who criticised his policies in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, warning they would pay a price after falling into a “pit of treachery”.
Prosecutors have launched a major investigation against more than 1,200 Turkish academics who signed a petition denouncing the military operations against Kurdish rebels in the southeast.
At least 18 were then detained as part of the probe. The European Union and United States denounced the investigation in unusually strong statements…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Moldova: New Government Sworn in, At Night and in Secret
The ceremony was held at the residence of Head of State
(ANSA) — MOSCOW — The new Moldovan government sworn in, at the presence of president Nicolae Timofti, Interfax reported.
This happened at midnight and in secret: media and public were not aware of what was going on. “The ceremony was held at the residence of Head of State”, the head of the president’s office, Ion Paduraru, confirmed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
$300 Million Failure: US Failed to Build Major Power Plant in Afghanistan
As a Senate subcommittee met on Wednesday to look into waste from the Pentagon’s USAID task force, some are calling for them to review why the Kajaki Dam, a $300 million project, is sitting in Afghanistan unfinished for the last eight years.
Since 2008, the Kajaki Dam, an expensive plan to provide electricity to southern Afghanistan, has become a “monument for all that has gone wrong,” Megan McCloskey wrote for ProPublica.
The project began three years after the invasion, in 2004. USAID went in and restored two turbines that were neglected and nearly inoperable, which lead to the dam beginning to produce some power. The success of the operation, however, depending on the installation of a third turbine — one that was scheduled to be completed a decade ago.
Much of this failure is being blamed on the fact that the dam sits in Taliban country, making the efforts extremely dangerous, and that when the project began, the outlook for America’s involvement in the region looked more promising than it turned out to be.
In 2012, USAID finally admitted they were discussing ending the project, but instead gave a national Afghan utility $75 million and control of getting the turbine completed. USAID remained on the project in an advisory position.
Unfortunately, due to missing a time period in 2011 when US Marines had cleared the insurgent heavy area leading to the dam, they have been unable to deliver the 700 tons of concrete needed to finish the project.
A new goal date of fall of 2016 has been set for the project, but turmoil in the area surrounding it does not bode well for meeting the deadline.
“I would say that Kajaki Dam is a sign of the American people’s resilience and persistence of support of the Afghan population,” Larry Sampler, a senior USAID official who has worked on Afghanistan since 2002 told ProPublica.
An Army general who also spoke to the outlet explained that the inability to complete the project has had a “more demoralizing effect than corruption. What the Afghans don’t understand is how a country can land people on the moon but can’t get the power running.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Orissa: Process Opens for Canonization Kandhamal Martyrs
The process will be led by Msgr. John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar. He has the task of forming a group of experts and gather information about the martyrs. In August 2008, Hindu radicals killed about 100 Christians. The violence forced 56 thousand people to flee their homes; 10 thousand of them still have not returned. Over 6,500 houses destroyed and 395 churches desecrated.
Cuttack-Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews / Prashant) — The Catholic Church in India has decided to initiate the cause of canonization of about 100 Christian martyrs killed by radical Hindus during anti-Christian pogroms in 2008. This was decided in recent days Card. Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Bishops ‘Conference of India (CBCI) and the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC). The cardinal has appointed Msgr. John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, to head the process for “martyrs of Kandhamal”.
Msgr. Barwa said: “The opening of the cause is a source of pride for the relatives of the victims and for the whole Church. Our men, women and children, who became martyrs because of their faith, are not forgotten. “ “Even if they were killed in a horrible way, their death has brought a new life and a new faith. This makes relatives of the victims proud”.
In August 2008, the Hindu radicals have killed about 100 Christians, blamed the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda guru, leader of the Hindu nationalist Vishna Hindu Parishad. Although the Maoist guerrillas have repeatedly claimed responsibility for the assassination of the gurus, Hindu fundamentalists in Kandhamal district unleashed the most violent persecution against the Christian minority ever seen in India.
Christian faithful were killed for refusing to convert to Hinduism. In addition more than 56 thousand people fled their homes and took refuge in the forest, where they suffered from hunger and poverty. The radicals have destroyed about 6,500 homes and 395 churches. To date, nearly 10 thousand people have not yet returned to their homes.
The survivors of the pogroms of 2008 have told stories of atrocious violence, including acts of torture and forced conversions. Card. Gracias decided to give impetus to the process of canonization after meeting one of them last November. The president of the CBCI has already informed Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who announced that he will “speak in person to Pope Francis of violence in Kandhamal and its martyrs.”
Archbishop Barwa will have the task of forming a group of experts and gathering information on the victims. He has also decided to erect a monument in their memory. In conclusion, he said: “The official launch of the process is ‘a big thing’ for Christians in India, especially for the challenges that the minority faces every day. It will serve to strengthen and revitalize the Christian community, affected by the attacks of 2008 “.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Am I Not Multicultural Enough? Germany May Deport Ukrainian Refugees
Thousands of Ukrainian asylum seekers are facing deportation from Germany in the near future, according to the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.
German authorities may deport thousands of Ukrainian asylum seekers in the immediate future if Berlin recognizes Ukraine as a “safe country of origin”, the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reported.
The newspaper recalled that earlier, more than 7,000 Ukrainians had applied for asylum in Germany due to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“In recent weeks, many of them received notifications of refusal. They entered Germany using Schengen visas, which, in turn, are subject to the Dublin agreement. Their applications should be considered by those EU countries which issued the visas,” the newspaper said.
According to Frankfurter Rundschau, a positive decision on asylum was made with respect to only 5.3 percent of the requests, with every refusal accompanied by a requirement to leave the country.
The newspaper also recalled that politicians from Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU) demanded last week that Berlin should recognize Ukraine as a “safe country of origin”.
“Already now, Ukrainian asylum seekers are very seldom being recognized as refugees on German territory,” Frankfurter Rundschau said.
German laws currently allow for migrants to be sent back to their countries of origin if they have been convicted of a crime that carries a prison sentence of three or more years, and only when the situation in their country of origin is deemed safe for them to go back.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said last week that the government wanted to ease deportation barriers in cases where asylum seekers are jailed for violent crimes like bodily harm, homicide, rape, and sexual assault. The German government came under pressure over its open-door policy toward refugees after a series of sex attacks on women by mostly Middle Eastern asylum seekers hit German cities on New Year’s Eve.
According to the German news network Deutsche Welle, in 2014, the number of asylum applications filed by Ukrainians stood at 2,703; in 2015, the figure increased to about 4,440. However, this number is relatively minuscule: according to International Business Times, a total of 1.1 million people were registered as asylum-seekers in Germany in 2015, most of them from war-torn countries such as Syria, Libya and Iraq.
While German officials often claim that the Ukrainian conflict is limited to a small portion of the country and that refugees can seek asylum elsewhere within Ukraine, a different set of standards is applied to Syria, despite the fact that over 6.5 million displaced Syrians are living in refugee facilities in areas controlled by the government of Bashar Assad, according to the website of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Many young Syrian men have travelled abroad simply to avoid being drafted into the army; this is part of the reason Europeans have often characterized the refugees as being primarily young adult men.
According to The Guardian, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have successfully sought refuge in Russia since the Donbass conflict erupted following the overthrow of former president Viktor Yanukovych in February, 2014.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Mass Migration Party Barred From TV Debates Ahead of German Elections
The anti-mass immigration Eurosceptic ‘Alternative for Deutschland’ (AfD) party is being banned from televised debates ahead of Germany’s local elections in March.
Peter Boudgoust, director of TV station SWR, said his company had taken the decision to exclude the party “through gritted teeth” after the top candidates for the establishment parties had threatened to boycott any debate involving AfD.
Instead, only the top candidates of parties already represented in the local parliaments will be allowed to take part, according to Der Spiegel.
Three German states, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt, are holding elections to their parliaments in March, with AfD expected to make inroads as the backlash against the migrant influx continues.
The party’s co-chairman and leading candidate for Baden-Württemberg, Jörg Meuthen, called the exclusion an “attempt at blackmail” by the state’s governing parties, saying they have a “strange understanding of democracy”.
However, Mr Boudgoust said the main parties left his TV channel with no choice. “Blackmail is only possible if you have several options, but we did not,” he said.
The controversy comes amid falling support for Angela Merkel and Germany’s traditional parties, with one poll even indicating that Angela Merkel’s party has lost nearly half its support since the start of the migrant crisis…
| — Hat tip: JLH | [Return to headlines] |
At Davos: IMF to Urge EU Nations to Open Job Markets to Refugees
In a new study to be presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, the International Monetary Fund said that governments making strong efforts to bring refugees into the workforce can lessen the chance that they will become a burden on the state budget.
“Quick labor market integration can unlock the potential economic benefits of the refugee inflow,” said the IMF study, “The Refugee Surge in Europe: Economic Challenges.”
ADVERTISING”It would also minimize the risk of social exclusion for the newcomers and maximize their net contribution to the public finances in the longer term.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Announces Refugees Have Brought Diphtheria Into the Country
Refugees have brought the potentially fatal and highly-contagious bacterial infection diphtheria into Denmark and authorities are warning hospitals there could be an outbreak.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Doctor Banned for Refusing to Treat Migrants ‘In Case They’re Killers’
A DOCTOR has been stripped of his licence after refusing to treat migrants because he says they might be MURDERERS.
Austrian Dr Thomas Unden put a sign up in his practice explaining that he would refuse to serve asylum seekers because he had no way of knowing “where they are from”.
The 57-year-old said: “I don’t want to end up treating people where I don’t even know what their names are or where they are from, and they don’t understand me.
“I could have a mass murderer sitting opposite me. I’ve already experienced an asylum seeker attacking one of my Austrian patients, and I had to throw him out.“
Although controverisal, his remarks resulted in many praising him as a hero, as Austria brought in the army to stop migrants crossing its borders.
And, unabashed, he has now announced he will run for president.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Emma Watson Invited to Calais Jungle
An Australian activist has started a petition letter asking liberal actress Emma Watson to spend a week in the nonwhite invader “Calais Jungle” camp to demonstrate how safe she would be.
The activist, identified as “Oscar Izard” from Melbourne, Victoria, started the letter after Watson tweeted a “refugees welcome” hashtag.
The petition letter, posted on Change.org and titled “Spend one week in a Calais migrant camp for feminism (with no bodyguards)” says in its motivation that:
“In order to show how safe current migration is to Europe, particularly regarding the cause of feminism (I reject wholeheartedly the notion that North African and Middle Eastern migrants are unsafe, and rapists), Emma Watson should spend a week’s holiday in a Calais migrant camp, without guards of course, to show how safe, and how pro feminism these migrants are.”
Watson, best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, has also recently declared herself to be a devoted follower of Jewish feminist leader Gloria Steinem, in a number of tweets suggesting people read books written by the longtime activist.
The petition letter therefore cleverly combines all her political positions, and challenges her to have the strength of her convictions to go one week among the criminal hordes in Calais.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Has Set up Third ‘Hotspot’, at Pozzallo
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 20 — Italy’s third hotspot for migrant registration became operative in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo Tuesday, European Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud said Wednesday. In all, Italy has promised to set up six hotspots. European Immigration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos recently said the hotspots in Italy and Greece must be opened within the next four weeks. Bertaud said a review of progress on the ground would be made at an EU summit in February.
The flow of asylum seekers into Europe could be an immediate driver of economic growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday.
“Rapid job market integration of immigrants has significant economic, budgetary and social benefits,” the IMF said in a report on refugees in Europe. “The effect of the new workers on existing ones is limited,” the report said, citing studies showing that migration flows do not affect the unemployment rate or the average wages of native workers.
Growth will be stronger in refugee and migrant destination countries, said the IMF.
Overall, it forecast 0.1% European GDP growth in 2017 due to the new arrivals.
Short-term costs for European host countries will be an estimated 0.05% of GDP in 2015 and 0.1% in the current year. For Italy, those costs were 0.17% of GDP in 2014, 0.2% in 2015 and an estimated 0.24% in 2016.
The ongoing refugee and migrant crisis points to the inadequacy of the European Union’s asylum policy, the IMF said.
The EU needs to come up with a common asylum and border management system, the IMF said.
The priority for everyone is to address the humanitarian emergency in conflict zones and in neighboring countries, as well as in the countries lying on the refugee route and their countries of destination, the IMF said.
“The increase in refugees is a global challenge requiring global collaboration,” said IMF Director Christine Lagarde.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Begins Controversial Deportation of Refugees to Russia
Norwegian authorities have begun a controversial new practice of using busses to transport asylum seekers back to Russia. The move has sparked a hunger strike among some migrants opposed to leaving Norway.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Over 200 Refugees From Syria, Eritrea Sue German Migrant Service
The refugees are demanding that the Germany’s migration authorities process their asylum applications faster so that they can work and study, according to local media.
BERLIN (Sputnik) — Over 200 refugees, mostly from Syria and Eritrea, have started legal proceedings in seven courts in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany against the country’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, local media reported Wednesday.
According to the Rheinische Post newspaper, the refugees are demanding that the migration authorities process their asylum applications faster so that they can work and study. Some of the applications are said to have been under review for over a year.
The publication noted that nearly 250,000 unprocessed applications for asylum in Germany were pending at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in the summer, while currently the number amounted to 360,000.
Germany has been the main destination for thousands of refugees coming to Europe from the Middle East and North Africa since the start of 2015. According to the country’s Interior Ministry, over 1.1 million refugees arrived in Germany in 2015.
Recent attacks in German cities, especially in Cologne, where hundreds of women were robbed, threatened and sexually assaulted by small groups of aggressive men, allegedly mostly of Arab and North African origin, fueled the internal debate on German policy in relation to migrants.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee Influx if EU Fails to Abide by Accord, Turkish FM
‘Work permits and visa restrictions show Ankara is serious’
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Wednesday that if the EU did not help refugees in Turkey and cooperate with his country, “these people will come to you”. Concerned and irritated by the obstacles put down by Brussels for the 3 billion euros in funding for an agreement on migrants and refugees, Turkey stressed that it had already spent 8 billion euros to manage 2.5 million Syrians who had crossed its border. “The method that they will use is an internal issue for the EU,” said Minister for European Affairs Volkan Bozkir on a visit to Strasbourg. He urged Brussels to resolve its internal problems and maintain the promises it made in late November, since Turkey has done its part as much as possible so far.
Ankara has for the first time granted work permits to refugees and tightened visa requirements for Syrians, which it holds will substantially limit the influx to Europe. The work permit regulation, authorized on Friday, foresees that those who have been in the country for at least six months can request a permit in the province in which they are registered as refugees, giving them access to services and better protection against exploitation. This will serve as an incentive not to attempt the often-fatal Aegean crossing to Greece. The other measure is the restoring of a visa requirement for Syrians arriving by sea of air, which came into force on January 8 after six years of unrestricted circulation. The bureaucratic obstacle aims to curb the exodus of refugees currently staying in Lebanon and Jordan, who leave for Turkey due to the difficult conditions in those countries and the possibility to attempt the crossing to Europe. It is also a way for curb arrivals from Egypt and Libya, among whom Ankara holds there are many jihadists.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees Will Make Europe Grow Says IMF
‘Significant economic benefits’ from new arrivals
(ANSA) — New York, January 20 — The flow of asylum seekers into Europe could be an immediate driver of economic growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday.
“Rapid job market integration of immigrants has significant economic, budgetary and social benefits,” the IMF said in a report on refugees in Europe. “The effect of the new workers on existing ones is limited,” the report said, citing studies showing that migration flows do not affect the unemployment rate or the average wages of native workers.
Growth will be stronger in refugee and migrant destination countries, said the IMF.
Overall, it forecast 0.1% European GDP growth in 2017 due to the new arrivals.
Short-term costs for European host countries will be an estimated 0.05% of GDP in 2015 and 0.1% in the current year. For Italy, those costs were 0.17% of GDP in 2014, 0.2% in 2015 and an estimated 0.24% in 2016.
The ongoing refugee and migrant crisis points to the inadequacy of the European Union’s asylum policy, the IMF said.
The EU needs to come up with a common asylum and border management system, the IMF said.
The priority for everyone is to address the humanitarian emergency in conflict zones and in neighboring countries, as well as in the countries lying on the refugee route and their countries of destination, the IMF said.
“The increase in refugees is a global challenge requiring global collaboration,” said IMF Director Christine Lagarde.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Repeat of Germany’s Assault Incidents in Cologne ‘Unlikely’ In Canada
Canada is unlikely to see a chain of sexual assaults similar to the attacks allegedly committed by refugees in the German city of Cologne on New Year ‘s Eve, Canadian Immigration Minister John McCallum said on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “We are obviously monitoring very closely what is happening in Germany and elsewhere,” McCallum stated. “We don’t take anything for granted, but we think it is unlikely that there would be a repeat of that German situation.”
On New Year’s Eve, hundreds of women in Cologne were robbed and sexually assaulted by groups of aggressive men, believed to be mostly of Arab and North African origin.
McCallum explained that Germany has millions of people crossing its border, while all the asylum seekers resettled to Canada have been vetted and arrived to the country with their families.
In late November 2015, Canada’s Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee on Refugees Chair Jane Philpott announced that the country would welcome 25,000 refugees by the end of February, 2016.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Police Classify Info About Immigrant Violence
All reports about violence, arsons and other crimes involving migrants are being held under wraps and deliberately under-reported by police in order not to encourage anti-immigrant sentiment, a Swedish newspaper wrote on Wednesday.
“Each report where the victim or suspect is a migrant must be marked with a special code,” Dagens Nyheter wrote, citing a directive issued for law enforcement public relations officials.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Under Fire: Denmark Stands Firm on Migrant Bill
Spurning scathing international criticism, Danish lawmakers will on Thursday give a final nod to drastic reforms curbing asylum rights as legal and human rights experts castigate Copenhagen for turning its back on its international commitments.
Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s minority right-wing government, supported in parliament by an anti-immigration far-right party that has for 15 years dictated increasingly restrictive immigration policies, already has enough support for its bill to win a January 26 parliamentary vote.
The new law would delay family reunifications, confiscate migrants’ valuables and make already stringent permanent residency requirements even tougher…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Davos 2016: Paranoid Elites Cower in Fear of Revolution
The meeting to terminate the American middle class is underway atop a mountain in the Alps.
The invitation only annual globalist event of 2,500 attendees includes 40 Heads of State, a few celebrities and 14 Nobel Laureates. The average ticket to the male dominated assemblage costs $27,000 to attend.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Overuse of Electronics is Causing Worldwide Epidemic of Nearsightedness in Children
(NaturalNews) Myopia, or nearsightedness, has been increasing over the past few decades among adults and is showing up more in very young children, even preschool-age kids. It is the inability to focus on objects far away or even just not nearby. Some optometrists and ophthalmologists (eye doctors) think this rising epidemic of myopia can be attributed to electronic displays.
Computers, iPads, cellphones and video games occupy a lot of our time, more now than a few decades ago before nearsightedness escalated. People who are nearsighted tend to have eyeballs that are more egg-shaped than spherical. This characteristic has been associated with a higher risk for other more serious eye diseases such as cataracts, retinal detachment and glaucoma.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“In other news, decades after diphtheria was eradicated from Denmark, the highly contagious disease has reentered the country along with recently arrived “refugees”.”
Only a matter of time before Polio arrives. Endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Wouldn’t want to use medicine developed by the Kuffar, would we? Particularly the Jewish Kuffar…
Time for those who regularly come into contact with 3rd world refugees to get their booster shots.
Our son developed whooping cough a year or two ago and is *still* dealing with the sequelae from that.
Since he lives in an area where dwell many refusenik hippie folk, he’s convinced he picked it up from one of the unvaccinated children.
Dr. Dymphna, to the contrary, believes that his bout with Swine Flu (back during *that* crisis he lived in a grad school environment) weakened his lungs, and one of his subsequent trips to the Big City to visit college friends brought him into contact with 3rd world diseases. Good thing he eats well, doesn’t smoke, etc., because he’s now having to see a pulmonologist more often than he’d like.
In the course of researching this I found out that Big Pharma is doing vaccines on the cheap. I don’t understand the dynamics of it (aside from the money angle) but the vaccines given now aren’t of the same quality they used to be…iow, you need to check into getting “boosters”, depending on your age, environment, and susceptibility.
If you click on the “Whiteness History Month” item and follow through, there’s a still from “Gone with the Wind” with Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel, whose expression is priceless.
Hattie was in many films, including the 1936 “Show Boat” with Paul Robeson. Asked what it was like always playing poor black women, she sad it was better than being one.
“Refugees will make Europe grow says IMF
‘Significant economic benefits’ from new arrivals”
If you read the IMF report a little more closely you quickly realize the report is nothing more than an attempt to put a happy face on the fact that Europeans are becoming poorer per capita and worse off economically thanks to the refugee influx. From 2015 to 2017 the report estimates the European population will increase by 0.15 percent per year, while the level of GDP is lifted by about 0.05, 0.09, and 0.13 percent for 2015, 2016, and 2017. Given that his is well below the level of population increase it means Europeans are getting poorer on average rather than better off.
Furthermore, just about all of the increase comes from additional government expenditures which means more debt for future Europeans and lower growth farther down the line. If Europe wanted to increase their GDP through government stimulus they would do a lot better spending it on increased border enforcement. That way they would get the same boost from more government spending and have fewer people to spread the increase in GDP among. The simple fact is that the IMF, the EU, and the German government can’t lie their way out of a catastrophe. The influx of refugees is bad not only from a cultural and security standpoint, but a bad deal economically as the report itself clearly points out, if you actually read it.
Yet they want it all to happen anyway. One must assume they have their reasons.
I just think they really believe their own BS, even is they are wrong they’ll just shrug their shoulders and just clean the streets of all the dead corpses..
They can’t lie their way out of it, but history has shown that they will keep trying to anyway.