Jozias van Aartsen, the mayor of The Hague, has criticized the Dutch government’s proposed ban on Salafist groups in the Netherlands. He says it is not the job of the state to determine which groups might espouse violent ideologies, and besides, the Dutch constitution guarantees both freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
In other news, Michael McFeat, the Scotsman who was arrested in Kyrgyzstan for insulting the national dish (a horsemeat sausage) by likening it to the generative organ of a stallion, has been expelled from the country.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, DV, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, 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.
Biggest Economies Face $7 Trillion Debt Refinancing Tab in 2016
The amount of debt that the governments of the world’s leading economies will need to refinance in 2016 will be little changed from last year as nations make strides in cutting budget deficits to a third of the highs seen during the financial crisis.
The value of bills, notes and bonds coming due for the Group-of-Seven nations plus Brazil, China, India and Russia will total $7.1 trillion, compared with $7 trillion in 2015 and down from $7.6 trillion in 2012. Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada will all see redemptions fall, while the U.S., China and the U.K. face increases, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil Heads for Worst Recession Since 1901, Economists Forecast
Brazil’s economy will contract more than previously forecast and is heading for the deepest recession since at least 1901 as economic activity and confidence sink amid a political crisis, a survey of analysts showed.
Latin America’s largest economy will shrink 2.95 percent this year, according to the weekly central bank poll of about 100 economists, versus a prior estimate of a 2.81 percent contraction. Analysts lowered their 2016 growth forecast for 13 straight weeks and estimate the economy contracted 3.71 percent last year.
Brazil’s policy makers are struggling to control the fastest inflation in 12 years without further hamstringing a weak economy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Defiant on Pension Cuts Ahead of Key Talks With Creditors
Greece’s prime minister on Sunday said his government will not give in to “unreasonable” demands as the debt-ridden country braces for critical negotiations with international creditors on the thorny issue of pension reform.
The warning came just days after Athens got one billion euros under the terms of its third bailout programme.
The creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the ESM — finalised a third Greek debt rescue programme in August worth 86 billion euros ($94 billion) after Greece looked to be on the brink of crashing out of the eurozone…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: PSBR Down 15 Bn to 60 Bn in 2015
‘In line with deficit reduction’
(ANSA) — Rome, January 4 — The public-sector borrowing requirement ended 2015 on some 60 billion euros, 15 billion down on the end of 2015, the Treasury said Monday. The 15-billion-euro improvement in the PSBR “appears in line with the the reduction in the deficit between 2014 and 2015” indicated in an update to the government’s economic blueprint, the Economic and Financial Document (DEF), the economy ministry said. December alone showed a surplus of 2.5 billion, it said. The fall in the PSBR from 2014 to 2015 “is linked to bigger tax revenue and lower interest on the public debt, despite bigger payments due to the effects of the Constitutional Court’s ruling on pension indexation as well as bigger tax reimbursements,” the ministry said.
The PSBR is one of the major factors in Italy’s large public debt, the second highest in the eurozone after Greece’s.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Cosby Wife to Testify in Defamation Case
Bill Cosby’s wife has been ordered to give evidence in a defamation case filed by seven women accusing the comedian of sexual assault.
A judge rejected Camille Cosby’s attempts to avoid testifying, after she claimed she was protected by a marital disqualification law.
The women claim Mr Cosby portrayed them as liars after they went public with their allegations against him.
He filed a countersuit alleging their claims were only for financial gain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump’s First TV Ad Touts Muslim Ban
Donald Trump is taking to the television airwaves, and his first advert prominently features his controversial call for temporarily halting the entry of all Muslim into the US and a border wall “paid for by Mexico”.
The 30-second spot is narrated by a stern-sounding male voice and features grainy images of Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The advert also includes photos of the San Bernardino attackers, so-called Islamic State militants, a US warship firing cruise missiles, exploding buildings and undated footage of migrants purportedly crossing the US-Mexican border.
The commercial concludes with Mr Trump offering his trademark call to “make America great again”, delivered before a cheering crowd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Founder Zuckerberg Wants to Build Artificially Intelligent Butler
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants to build an artificially intelligent assistant to help run his home and assist him at work.
Zuckerberg, who commits to a new personal challenge every year, revealed his plan in a Facebook post.
“You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man,” he wrote, referring to the artificially intelligent butler who appears in the Marvel comic books and films.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hammonds Targeted Because Government Wants to Steal Their Land
Feds want control of Harney County’s natural resources.
Here’s the story the corporate media will not tell you.
Dwight Hammond, 73 and son Steven Hamond, 46, were prosecuted and convicted as part of an effort to remove the Hammond family from their ranch land…
As part of a deal to fend off an effort by the federal government to designate Steens Mountain as a federal monument, ranchers traded their BLM permits and private property for land on the valley floor. This allowed Congress to create a 170,000 acre wilderness in 2000.
“The last holdouts on that cow-free wilderness are the Hammonds,” said Maupin.
“It’s become more and more obvious over the years that the BLM and the wildlife refuge want that ranch. It would tie in with what they have,” Rusty Inglis, an area rancher and retired US Forest Service employee, told the trade publication.
The BLM prevented the Hammonds from watering their cattle by draining a water hole. Government scientists and resource managers supported the use of the water hole, but they were defeated by high level bureaucrats backed special interest anti-grazing groups. The Oregon Natural Desert Association worked with the government to deny the family a lease on a parcel of land that bordered the refuge “in order to expand the cow-free wilderness,” according to Maupin.
In addition, the BLM refused to renew a permit that allowed the ranchers to use a large amount of intermingled private land.
“We have done everything according to their rules and regulations and there is no reason that they should not give us back our permit. We don’t understand how a federal land management agency can ‘take’ personal private property (checkerboarded with BLM land) in this manner,” said Susan Hammond, Dwight’s wife…
After the Hammonds are gone the federal government will be free to fully exploit natural resources on federal and “monument” land in Harney County.
A US Geological Survey Bulletin (1740-B) indicates there is a high potential for silver, gold, copper, mercury, uranium and molybdenum (a refractory metallic element used principally as an alloying agent in steel) and other resources in the area. There is also a moderate estimate for natural gas and oil.
The feds want to drive ranchers and private property owners off the land because on patented land (an exclusive private property land grant), which has passed into private ownership, a mining interest does not need to lease land or file a plan or notice with the federal government.
In regard to oil, the BLM “does not tell you that its share of total oil production has dropped dramatically due to substantial increases in oil production on private and state lands that are not subject to the onerous regulations and permitting delays of the federal government,” notes the Institute for Energy Research.
The Hammonds and other private property owners stand in the way of total federal monopolization of natural resources and that is why in part we are witnessing an unprecedented land grab in the West.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islam v. Free Speech: Twitter Surrenders
by Andrew C. McCarthy
My weekend column profiled Bosch Fawstin, the intrepid cartoonist who won last spring’s “Draw Muhammad” contest that was attacked by two ISIS-inspired jihadists in Garland, Texas. (The terrorists were killed in a shootout with police.) Fawstin compellingly argues that the best way to fight a repulsive conquest ideology such as Islamic supremacism is to expose it. That means an unstinting reliance on our constitutional right to free expression. Apparently, Twitter has opted to join the campaign to crack down on free expression. And one is left to wonder whether the big Saudi bucks that have come its way are a factor in Twitter’s decision-making.
As I recount in the column, the top agenda item of Islamic supremacists has long been the imposition of sharia blasphemy standards on the West. This campaign is not waged exclusively or even primarily by violent jihadists. Instead, its leading proponents are the Muslim Brotherhood’s network of Islamist activist groups in the West and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (a 57-government bloc of, mainly, majority-Muslim countries).
The West should be fighting these anti-Western Islamic supremacists in defense of our core principles. Instead, the Obama administration — particularly the president and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton — has colluded with them. So have other left-leaning governments and institutions that are naturally hostile to free speech and open debate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Katherine Prudhomme O’Brien: American Heroine
by Diana West
Hang around long enough and you see everything — twice.
Seen at a town hall in New Hampshire 1999: Katherine Prudhomme asking the projected Democratic nominee for president a question about the credible story Juanita Broaddrick tells about being raped by Bill “Better Put Some Ice on That” Clinton.
Seen at a town hall in New Hampshire 2016: Katherine Prudhomme O’Brien, now a New Hampshire State Representative, trying to ask the projected Democratic nominee for president a question about the credible story Juanita Broaddrick tells about being raped by Bill “Better Put Some Ice on That” Clinton.
“You are very rude,” said Madame Clinton. “I’m not ever gonna call on you.”
Let’s just hope Hillary doesn’t sic the IRS on KPO’B this time — which is what happened to the New Hampshire woman after she challenged Al Gore in 2000 (successfully fended off by Judicial Watch).
So, to recap: Bill Clinton rapes Juanita Broadrrick, Hillary Clinton sends him to New Hampshire to campaign on her behalf, and it is Kathering Prudhomme O’Brien who is “very rude”? No, she’s an American heroine, speaking truth to power — which No One in the “free” press or political complex has dared or cared to do (except The Donald).
Here at Free Republic is a 2007 account by Prudhomme about what happened when she did get to ask Hillary Clinton about Juanita Broadrrick in 2007 — “I don’t know what your talking about,” said Hillary. (Prudhomme’s account of 8 Secret Service and Nashua police escorting her off the premises is equally disturbing.)
Finally, here is a column I wrote about Prudhomme and Al Gore in 2000, which I am reposting — thanks to a tweet from “Ralph Kramden.”…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
“If the Hammond family were of Muslim faith, the entire mainstream media would be screaming about how ridiculous this terrorism charge is,” he said. “But solely because they are white people living a rural lifestyle, they are condemned by the media and largely ignored even as they face the extreme tyranny of an unjust federal government gone bad.”
In fact, as evidenced by the live stream supplied by Santilli and Jordan, the only “mainstream media” seen in hours of coverage monitored by Natural News was a news team from KOIN 6, which filed this story.
There is real terrorism — but burning some grass isn’t
As the protect and resultant march by patriots and supporters proceeded through the streets of Burn, there were no calls for violence, no rioting or looting, no threats or intimidation — and, noted at one point by Jordan — no massive police presence. In fact, she said she hadn’t seen one officer the entire time.
And yet, the Hammonds have been portrayed, literally, as “terrorists” because of accidentally burning some federal land — using a technique that the BLM itself has utilized and which has damaged private property though no one was ever charged or held responsible.
Can you imagine a Muslim family being charged thusly for a fire that, say, got out of hand at a campsite on federal land? Those happen all the time.
This may sound like apples and oranges, but really the point of this piece is to point out the hypocrisy of the politically correct Left-wing mainstream media, which has gone out of its way to protect Muslims in an age where adherents to the Islamic faith have used it as an excuse to kill Americans (you know — real terrorism).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Montel Williams: ‘Shoot to Kill’ Oregon Protesters
Montel Williams, a 1990s-era TV talk-show host who’s since turned to infomercials and political activism as a means of making a living, said in several Twitter messages he’s quite OK with authorities using deadly force to take out the Oregon protesters who’ve taken over a federal building — that they’ re “buffoons” with “terrorist” tendencies and unworthy of constitutional protections,.
In a tweet, he wrote, the Blaze reported: “It appears #OregonUnderAttack by a bunch of undereducated terrorist buffoons who follow #ClivenBundy shall we send them to meet #ISIS.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama to Force Through Gun Control Measures
President Barack Obama is poised to unveil a raft of executive actions to tackle US gun violence, kicking-off his last year in the White House with a show of political power.
Frustrated at the unbending political opposition to gun control, despite the American scourge of mass shootings, Obama is now looking to bypass Congress with executive steps that aides say will focus on regulating gun sales and curbing illegal purchases.
The proposals — being presented to Obama by Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the White House Monday — could tighten rules on gun dealers and crack down on “straw purchases” in which potentially suspect individuals buy guns through an intermediary…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Claims ‘Legal Authority’ For Exec Action on Guns, Despite Hill Backlash
President Obama vowed Monday to press ahead with new executive actions on gun control after meeting with top law enforcement officials, claiming he has the “legal authority” to act — and defying congressional critics who say he’s pursuing a “dangerous” overreach.
The president, without giving any specifics, said he’ll be “rolling out these initiatives” over the next several days. He spoke after meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top officials to review their proposals and finalize his plans.
Obama said their recommendations are “well within my legal authority” and would be supported by “the overwhelming majority of the American people including gun owners.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Quentin Tarantino: The Confederate Flag is America’s Swastika
Quentin Tarantino believes the Confederate flag is America’s version of the swastika. During an interview with the Telegraph about his latest film “The Hateful Eight,” the director said it was “about damn time” people began questioning the Confederate flag.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Launches 1st TV Ad, As 2016 Candidates Barnstorm Iowa, NH
The Republican presidential candidates kicked off the 2016 election year on Monday with a burst of new attacks and advertising — including Donald Trump’s first TV ad of the season — as they entered the final sprint to Iowa and New Hampshire.
As Trump rolled out his TV spot in both early-voting states, Ben Carson released a new tax plan, just days after shaking up his struggling campaign. Ted Cruz was launching an aggressive 36-county tour across Iowa, while Marco Rubio used a security speech Monday in New Hampshire to slam those who voted to rein in America’s intelligence efforts.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Sues VW Over Emissions-Cheating Software in Diesel Cars
The Justice Department sued Volkswagen on Monday over emissions-cheating software found in nearly 600,000 vehicles sold in the United States.
The civil complaint against the German automaker, filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges the company illegally installed software designed to make its diesel engines pass federal emissions standards while undergoing laboratory testing. The vehicles then switched off those measures to boost performance in real-world driving conditions, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions up to 40 times greater than federal environmental standards.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin: Europe’s Passport-Free Area in Danger
After Denmark’s decision to step up controls
(ANSA-AP) — COPENHAGEN — Germany says Europe’s system of passport-free travel across borders is in danger following Denmark’s decision to step up controls on its southern frontier with Germany.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer says freedom of movement across most European Union countries is “perhaps one of the greatest achievements in the last 60 years.” Schaefer told reporters in Berlin on Monday that the Schengen system “is very important, but it’s in danger due to the flow of refugees.” He echoed other German officials’ calls for a pan-European agreement on how to control the movement of migrants across borders.
Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth said of the Danish movement that “it will have to be watched very carefully whether and how this affects migration northward from Germany.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch City Plans to Pay Citizens a ‘Basic Income’ Whether They Work or Not
It’s an idea whose adherents over the centuries have ranged from socialists to libertarians to far-right mavericks. It was first proposed by Thomas Paine in his 1797 pamphlet, Agrarian Justice, as a system in which at the “age of majority” everyone would receive an equal capital grant, a “basic income” handed over by the state to each and all, no questions asked, to do with what they wanted.
It might be thought that, in these austere times, no idea could be more politically toxic: literally, a policy of the state handing over something for nothing. But in Utrecht, one of the largest cities in the Netherlands, and 19 other Dutch municipalities, a tentative step towards realising the dream of many a marginal and disappointed political theorist is being made.
The politicians, well aware of a possible backlash, are rather shy of admitting it. “We had to delete mention of basic income from all the documents to get the policy signed off by the council,” confided Lisa Westerveld, a Green councillor for the city of Nijmegen, near the Dutch-German border.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Etihad Files to Protect Airberlin Partnership
‘We will fight to protect investment’ says Hogan
(ANSA) — Berlin, January 4 — Alitalia’s partner Etihad Airways on Monday filed an injunction against a German court’s ruling that suspended its codesharing agreement for 29 flights with Airberlin.
“We will fight to the end to protect our investment, our partnership with Airberlin and the possibility of choice in the air sector in Germany,” said President and CEO James Hogan.
Hogan is also vice president of Alitalia, which was saved by its 2014 tie-up with Etihad.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French Religious Heads Angry Over Charlie Hebdo
French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has riled religious leaders in France after its special anniversary edition blamed religion for terror attacks.
Charlie Hebdo is set to mark one year since 12 people were killed in its headquarters in terror attacks in Paris, and will be releasing a million copies of its newest edition on Wednesday.
And as many times before, the newspaper’s choice of front cover has ruffled feathers among religious leaders.
It shows a bearded man representing God, with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder and accompanied by the text: “One year on: The assassin is still out there”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Cover-Up Claim Over NYE Mass Sexual Assaults
Men of ‘Arab background’ were likely responsible for sexual assaults on dozens of women in central Cologne over the New Year, police said on Monday — as a social media storm accused police and media of a cover-up.
Around 60 complaints have been made to the police in Cologne after a group of around 1,000 men attacked revellers in the city centre in a brutal and “completely unheard of” way, Wolfgang Albers, Chief of Police in the Rhineland city said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
Around a third of the complaints were of sexual assault, regional paper Express reported.
“There was a very large number of sexual assaults there — and in a massive way. Women were grabbed and attacked,” said Albers, adding that in one case the alleged crime fitted the legal definition of rape.
“The crimes were committed by a group of people who from appearance were largely from the north African or Arab world,” the police chief added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Cologne Police Chief Condemns Sex Assaults on New Year’s Eve
German police has described a series of sexual assaults against women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve as “a completely new dimension of crime.”
Officers received numerous complaints from women who said they had been assaulted around Cologne’s main train station next to the western German city’s famous cathedral on the night from Thursday to Friday.
Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers says witnesses described the assaults as coming from a group of up to 1,000 men whose appearance indicated they were of “Arab or North African origin.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: String of New Year’s Eve Sexual Assaults Outrages Cologne
Some 1,000 men are alleged to have carried out dozens of sexual crimes on New Year’s Eve in the city of Cologne. That these crimes occured in the city’s most famous square has left local authorities reeling.
Police in the western German city of Cologne responded on Monday to outrage over a string of sexual crimes over New Year’s Eve. According to police, the series of assaults in one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares represented a “completely new dimension of crime.”
Some 60 criminal complaints, including one allegation of rape, have been brought to the Cologne police department after women said they were molested by a crowd of men who had gathered in the city’s famous square between its central train station and towering Gothic cathedral. Authorities expect more victims to come forward in the next few days.
City police chief Wolfgang Albers said the crowd was composed of up to 1,000 heavily intoxicated men who gave the appearance of being “Arab or North African” in background.
The police chief told German news agency dpa that the incidents represented “an intolerable situation” for Cologne. His department has already assembled a task force to deal with the matter.
Mayor calls crisis summit
Mayor Henriette Reker, who made international headlines in October when she was stabbed on the campaign trail, has called a crisis meeting, which will include local and federal police, for Tuesday to address the crimes.
Reker told the local press she found the men’s actions “monstrous.”
“We cannot tolerate this development of lawlessness,” Reker told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” newspaper…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Brandolese is Sole Administrator of ATAC Public Transport
(ANSA) — Rome, December 18 — Armando Brandolese, a professor emeritus at Milan’s Polytechnic University, was appointed sole administrator of Rome’s ATAC public transport operator Friday.
He will take the post for a year unpaid. It is the first time ATAC will be managed by a sole administrator. Rome Commissioner Francesco Paolo Tronca said the appointment “is designed to continue and complete the process of modernisation, development and efficiency” at Rome’s accident-prone, financially troubled public transport system.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Finmeccanica to Start New Year as Single Company
Ansaldo STS board approves Hitachi buy offer
(ANSA) — Rome, December 31 — Finmeccanica aerospace and defense giant is set to begin the new year as a single firm rather than as a holding company with many subsidiaries, CEO Mauro Moretti said Thursday.
“This represents a fundamental step in Finmeccanica’s evolution,” said Moretti, who announced he wanted to make Finmeccanica into a single operating company as soon as he became CEO, in May 2014.
The new, streamlined Finmeccanica will have four sectors and seven divisions. It will be more competitive, more efficient and better managed, he said. Finmeccanica will “leverage its technological and product primacy in aerospace, defence, and security,” said Moretti, under whose leadership the firm’s shares have risen 66.5% in the past 12 months to close the year at 12.90 euros a share.
Also on Thursday, the board of one of Finmeccanica’s soon-to-be former holdings approved a buy offer from a Japanese company.
Finmeccanica said in October it had successfully completed pre-sale talks for the sale of its 40% stake in Ansaldo STS and AnsaldoBreda to Japanese multinational Hitachi.
AnsaldoBreda is a rail transport engineering company and Ansaldo STS designs and manufactures railway signaling systems.
The Ansaldo STS board approved the buy offer from Hitachi, but could not agree on whether to accept the offer of 9.5 euros a share.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Terror Suspicions on Brothers Arrested in Genoa Dec 31
That belong to international terror cell
(ANSA) — Genoa, January 4 — There are “well-founded suspicions” that two brothers arrested at Genoa airport on December 31 belong to an international terror cell, a preliminary hearings judge said Monday. The suspicions are based on the large sums of money they were carrying — 1,000 euros each — and the ease with which they got fake papers, the judge said.
Karim and Shahad El Kunani were heading for London with false Belgian papers. They also had photos of weapons and scenes of war on their cellphones. The brothers pose a flight risk and must stay in jail, the judge ruled.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Disturbed’ Man Strips in St Peter’s
Taken to hospital for tests
(ANSA) — Rome, January 4 — A man said to be suffering from psychiatric problems stripped to his gym shoes in St Peter’s Basilica Monday, the Vatican said.
Vatican gendarmes detained him and Italian police took him to the psychiatric ward of the nearby Santo Spirito Hospital for tests.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Boosts Anti-Terror Security Ahead of Sales
Extra security forces will be deployed to patrol shops and malls in Rome ahead of the winter sales, which usually get underway on the national holiday of January 6th.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
We are delighted to announce today that Liberty GB Chairman, Paul Weston, has been appointed as the new UK leader of the PEGIDA movement.
At a press conference held earlier this afternoon, Paul Weston was accompanied by veteran anti-Islamic campaigner Tommy Robinson and Director of Sharia Watch, Anne Marie Waters. Paul’s appointment as leader of PEGIDA UK was duly confirmed, along with the appointment of Anne Marie Walters as PEGIDA UK Deputy Leader.
PEGIDA, the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, was launched in October 2014 in Dresden, Germany and the movement has since expanded across Europe and reached a global presence as far away as America and Australia.
Paul and Anne Marie join PEGIDA at an exciting time, just a month ahead of PEGIDA’s international silent walk on 6th February, the UK manifestation of which will be held in Birmingham.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Poland’s FM Disturbed by EU Steps Toward Poland
‘Comments were made without proper knowledge of the situation’
(ANSA-AP) — WARSAW — Poland’s foreign minister says he is disturbed by comments by various European Union commissioners concerning the changes taking place in Poland under the new government.
Witold Waszczykowski said Monday the comments were made without proper knowledge of the situation.
He was reacting in particular to EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger’s call for Poland to be put under a monitoring mechanism, due to recent changes in the media law that give the government control of state broadcasters. Next week, the European Commission is to discuss the rule of law in Poland.
Waszczykowski said: “I want to say that I am disturbed by the comments of this or that EU commissioner who expresses his concern without properly knowing the situation or the documents.
This is not the way to do politics.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Olive Farmers Fight Thieves Targeting Their ‘Liquid Gold’
It is the “liquid gold” that sustains the countless families who depend on the Extremaduran olive groves of central Spain, but this year after a wave of night-time raids by mafia-backed thieves, the small-time farmers have mobilised to fight for their livelihoods.
“We’ve always had some thieving here, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Looting has become the order of the day,” said Antonio Masa Cañada, who spent most of last Christmas not with his family, but out on a night-time patrol.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Hague’s Mayor Criticises Proposed Ban on Salafism
The Hague’s mayor Jozias van Aartsen has criticised moves by parliament to ban Salafist organisations in the Netherlands, saying it would be both undesirable and against the Dutch constitution. Parliament in December passed a motion calling on the cabinet to look into banning Salafist organisations because they are, according to the security services, a breeding ground for jihadism.
Salafism is an ultra-conservative movement within Sunni Islam, and a small proportion of its followers — known as jihadi Salafists — believe in violence. Freedom of religion However, Van Aartsen, a member of the ruling VVD Liberal party, told the NRC it is not the government’s job to try to stop fundamentalist religious organisations. ‘In the Netherlands, we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion,’ he told the paper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Little Car You Can Drive in France Without a Licence
If you are planning on driving in France, beware — one could be heading straight for you at the next roundabout. Carolyn Brown, who lives part of the year in Brittany, has a cautionary tale about a very small car.
Losing one’s driving licence in the UK is a serious matter — expensive and, to say the least, very inconvenient.
But in France, no licence? No problem. You can simply go shopping for a VSP a voiture sans permis — a small two-seater car that anyone aged 14 or over can take out on the road with as little as four hours’ experience behind the wheel, sometimes not even that.
It’s impossible to say how many there are as no official figures exist. It is what the French call a chiffre noir — an unknown quantity.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Man Who Can Only Say Yes and No
It’s common to have communication problems after a severe stroke. But Graham Pawley is an unusual case in that he can understand everything but say virtually nothing back. He has to get by with “yes” and “no”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police to Pursue Online Trolls and Receive Hidden Browser History From Internet Providers
The Investigatory Powers Bill is a piece of legislation that will give police new surveillance power allowing them to pursue anonymous and known Internet bullies, according to the UK Times.
Cyberbullying is using information and communication technologies to deliberately and repeatedly behave in a manner intended to harass, threaten, humiliate or harm others.
So based on one’s opinion of what you say, you may just be identified as an Internet bully.
The measure will force Internet Service Providers to retain all “web browsing information” which will help police to “hunt down and identify the most serious cyberbullies and trolls,” Theresa May of Britain’s home security said.
The Investigatory Powers Bill will give Internet Service Providers a pseudo-police role allowing them to “override encryption if needed.”
The new regulation will persuade all cell phone and web companies to retain records of every citizen for at least a year, providing a data pool which police and security services can access.
[Comment: This will be used to roll-up dissidents and other enemies of the glorious state.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why 80% of Spanish Youngsters Are Still Living With Their Parents
There are some questions posed by parents that provoke an uncomfortable feeling of a lack of freedom among the under-30s. “Where are you going?” is one such question that Vanesa Martín, a 28-year-old Madrileña, prefers to avoid when she heads out of her family home, where she still lives. Just 21.5% of the under-30s in Spain, it seems, manage to become independent and move out from under the wing of their parents.
Spaniards leave home before their Italian, Greek or Croatian counterparts, but later than the European average of 26.1 years, and far from Sweden, where young people become independent at the age of just 19.6 years on average.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Oil Guards Clash With Islamic State Near Biggest Terminal
Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guard clashed with militants of the Islamic State near Es Sider, the country’s biggest oil port which has been closed for more than a year, according to the guards’ spokesman Ali al-Hasy. Four Islamic State militants and two petroleum guards were killed in the ongoing armed confrontations near Es Sider, al-Hasy said by phone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia to Support Egypt With $3 Billion of Loans, Grants
Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Egypt with more than $3 billion in loans and grants to help its dollar-starved economy.
The kingdom will loan $1.5 billion to develop the Sinai peninsula and $1.2 billion to finance Egypt’s oil purchases, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr told Bloomberg News from the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Egypt will also receive a $500 million grant for buying Saudi exports and products, she said, without providing further details. The loans are on favorable terms and will be formally signed on Tuesday, she said.
The fresh aid suggests that Saudi Arabia is still committed to supporting Egypt even as the oil-rich kingdom cuts subsidies to shore up its finances, though it is significantly smaller than the tens of billions which Saudi Arabia along with Kuwait and the U.A.E poured into Egypt after the 2013 military-led ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Egypt has offered tourism and housing projects to Saudi funds, an Egyptian government official said last week.
Last month, Saudi Arabia promised to invest 30 billion riyals ($8 billion) in Egypt through its public and sovereign funds. It also said it will help Egypt meet its oil needs for five years on favorable terms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany ‘May Review’ Arms Exports to Saudis
Germany’s Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel warned Saudi Arabia on Monday Berlin could review military exports to the oil-rich nation in light of Riyadh’s mass executions of prisoners two days earlier.
Berlin also urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations after 47 people were executed, including a Shiite cleric, which sparked attacks on the Saudi embassy in mainly Shiite Iran followed by a severing of official ties between the regional powers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq’s Kurds to Continue Exporting Crude Independently in 2016
Authorities in Iraq’s cash-strapped Kurdish region will withhold delivery of oil to the central government and export crude independently in 2016 to ensure revenue amid a global price slump, according to a senior lawmaker in the territory’s parliament.
The central government in Baghdad wasn’t committed last year to paying the self-ruled Kurdistan Regional Government its 17 percent share of the federal budget, and this lack of commitment persists in 2016, said Izzat Sabir Ismael, chairman of the Kurdish parliament’s finance and economic affairs committee.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia’s Allies Bahrain, Sudan and UAE Act Against Iran
A number of Saudi Arabia’s allies have joined diplomatic action against Iran after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked amid a row over the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric.
Bahrain and Sudan have both severed relations with Iran, and the UAE has downgraded its diplomatic team.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday severed ties and gave Iran’s diplomats two days to go.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said trade links with Iran would be cut and air traffic links stopped.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are respectively the key Sunni and Shia powers in the region and back opposing sides in Syria and Yemen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sunni vs. Shia: A Rivalry as Old as Islam
Nimr al-Nimr was just one of 47 people Saudi Arabia executed on Saturday, but his death laid bare the volatile divide that has cleaved Islam for nearly 1,400 years and now threatens to re-ignite a Middle East war between Muslims.
Worldwide, Sunnis make up about 85 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. Sunnis, who believe the true lineage of Prophet Mohammad lies with those who most closely followed his teachings, control powerful Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. In addition, most Muslims in Africa are Sunnis.
Shias are a relatively small minority of Muslims, concentrated in Iran and Iraq. They believe bloodlines, not devotion, dictate the prophet’s line of successors. Throughout history, Shias have rejected the authority of Muslim leaders elected by the people, instead following a line of clerics they consider to have been appointed by Mohammad or Allah.
The divide goes back to the period following Mohammad’s death in 632, when his close confidante Abu Bakr became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Shias believed the rightful heir was Mohammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Under Pressure to Assure Mideast Allies Amid Iran-Saudi Dispute
The deepening rift between Sunni nations and Iran is putting growing pressure on the Obama administration to reassure Middle East allies who feel “abandoned” over Washington’s diplomatic outreach to Tehran.
The split widened Monday as Bahrain and the UAE joined Saudi Arabia in either cutting off or downgrading ties with Tehran. The diplomatic crisis erupted after Saudi Arabia went forward with a mass execution which included the killing of a prominent Shia cleric, and Iranians retaliated by storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Saudi Arabia’s response, though, reflected not only its outrage at Iran but an undercurrent of frustration with the United States’ reluctance to hold Iran accountable for alleged aggressions. One Saudi official was quoted complaining that the U.S. “backs off” every time Tehran crosses a line.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chechnya Struggles to Stop Wave of Recruits Joining IS
Religious leaders in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya have a new message to preach these days, about the dangers of so-called Islamic State (IS).
They teach that IS has nothing to do with true Islam, labelling it the “devil’s army”.
But IS is actively recruiting across the North Caucasus.
It is estimated that as many as 500 people have now joined its ranks from Chechnya alone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kyrgyzstan Detains Briton Over ‘Horse Penis’ Slur
A Briton working at a foreign-owned gold mine in Kyrgyzstan has been detained and faces up to five years in jail for comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis, authorities said Sunday.
An interior ministry spokesman told AFP that Michael Mcfeat, an employee of Toronto-based Centerra Gold, was detained by police after posting the comment on Facebook, which caused a temporary strike at the mine.
Mcfeat wrote that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queueing for their “special delicacy, the horse’s penis” during holiday celebrations, referring to a traditional horse sausage known as “chuchuk.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kyrgyzstan Expels Briton After ‘Horse Penis’ Facebook Comment
A Briton working at a Canadian-owned gold mine in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has been expelled after comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis in a Facebook post, an interior ministry spokesman confirmed Monday.
A city court in the eastern town of Karakol issued a decision to deport Michael Mcfeat, who was working for Toronto-listed Centerra Gold on the basis of his staying in the country illegally, the spokesman said.
The decision, which the spokesman said was owing to a lack of documents, spared Mcfeat from a more serious charge of inciting inter-ethnic hatred, which under Kyrgyz law is punishable by three to five years in prison.
Mcfeat has to leave the country within 24 hours of the decision.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mapped: The Taliban Surged in 2015, But ISIS is Moving in on Its Turf
With the Islamic State dominating headlines in 2015, Afghanistan went back to being America’s forgotten war. That made it easier to ignore the fact that the Taliban now control more territory than at any time since 2001.
With U.S. and NATO troops ending their combat mission in the country, the Taliban are attacking Afghanistan’s security personnel on multiple fronts. And while the U.S.-trained Afghan troops are in many areas fighting harder than in Iraq, the result has nevertheless been a string of defeats and steady militant gains.
To make matters worse, the Islamic State has also steadily expanded its presence in Afghanistan, battling it out with the Taliban in the country’s east while importing some of the brutal tactics it honed in Iraq and Syria.
The past year hasn’t been kind to the Afghan security forces, who have suffered record casualties after taking the lead in the fighting. The Taliban also quickly rushed in to take advantage of the space created by NATO closing hundreds of combat outposts across the country, clawing back hard-won ground in the country’s south, north, and east, highlighted on the map below.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Manufacturing Picks Up But Activity Still Shrinking: Data
A gauge of Chinese factory activity ticked up slightly in December but continued to indicate contraction for a fifth straight month, official data showed Friday, underlining weakness in the world’s second-largest economy.
China is a key driver of global growth and investors closely watch the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) — which tracks activity in the factories and workshops sector — as a barometer of the country’s economic health.
The mild improvement follows a string of stimulus measures from Beijing, including six interest rate cuts in the year up to November as well as reductions in the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve, both intended to boost lending…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Five strategic zones replace seven military commands. State-owned enterprises are set to hire 300,000 laid off soldiers, but the economic crisis will make that hard to achieve. Resistance to Xi’s reforms is developing within the PLA. Politburo must obey Xi Jinping.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) begun a major restructuring yesterday as ordered by President Xi Jinping.
Five “strategic zones” — North, South, East, West and Central — will replace the PLA’s existing seven military commands.
Four of the five new commanders have already been selected but their names have not yet been released, this according to the South China Morning Post.
Plans include scrapping three of the four army headquarters — the General Political department, General Logistics and General Armaments — and retain the General Staff department.
In his farewell letter to staff on Wednesday last week, Gen Liu said he would be “the last political commissar of Logistics” and that he would “absolutely obey the reforms” introduced by President Xi.
Indeed, obedience is especially key to the restructuring process following scandals last year involving two major generals, Xu Caihou, who died of cancer last March, and Guo Boxiong, both accused of corruption and nepotism.
Last Wednesday, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported strong resistance against reforms within the ranks. However, the PLA Daily said that restructuring should boost the control by the Central Military Commission, which Xi chairs, as well as improve the quality of combat personnel and weaponry.
On 3 September, President Xi Jinping announced troop levels cuts by 300,000 as China marked Victory Day and the end to World War Two. Reduced personnel should include non-combat staff.
Savings will go into buying upgraded military procurement and hardware.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will be required to reserve 5 per cent of their vacancies for the 300,000 soldiers leaving the PLA. However, not everyone is convinced that they will be able to absorb that many people.
In fact, with the economy slowing and their well- known inefficiency, many SOEs have suspended recruitment.
Cheng Xiaonong, a visiting professor at Princeton University, told the Voice of America that most laid off soldiers will not find appropriate jobs. Since the measure is temporary, SOEs will only provide auxiliary positions. This might cause further dissatisfaction and uncertainty across the country.
Besides the military reforms, Xi Jinping also talked about corruption among high-ranking party officials Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong and Ling Jihua.
Xi ordered that Politburo members be “in accord with the party central” and “strictly educate and manage their children, relatives and close staff” to stay away from the corruption that entangled the aforementioned leaders.
It is the first time that Politburo members are ordered Politburo members to “stay in line with the Central Committee”.
Perhaps, “staying in line” means that all 85 million members of China’s Communist Party must toe the line set by the Politburo’s seven-member Standing Committee, or just Xi Jinping himself.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In Pictures: Preparations for Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival 2016
The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival takes place in China’s north-eastern province of Heilongjiang and is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people to see the sculptures.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Missing Hong Kong Booksellers ‘Working on Book on Xi’s Love Life’
A Hong Kong lawmaker said Sunday he believes Chinese security officers kidnapped five publishing company employees who have gone missing in the city, possibly because of a planned book about the former love life of President Xi Jinping.
“Hong Kong people are very shocked and appalled,” Democratic legislator Albert Ho told a press conference.
The five work for a publishing house known for producing books critical of the Chinese government.
The disappearances add to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are being eroded…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Opposes China’s Runway Test on Artificial Island
The United States said Monday that China’s recent test of a newly completed runway on one of seven islands Beijing has constructed in the disputed South China Sea raises tensions and threatens regional stability.
State Department spokesman John Kirby reiterated a U.S. call for a halt to land reclamation and militarization of outposts in those waters, where China and five other Asian governments have competing territorial claims.
China’s landing of an aircraft at Fiery Cross Reef has already drawn criticism from its neighbors. Vietnam protested last week, saying China’s move violated Hanoi’s sovereignty. It demanded that China stop such actions, but Beijing rejected Hanoi’s protest. The Philippines, a U.S. ally, said Monday it was also considering a formal protest.
Tensions have risen in the last two years after China transformed disputed reefs in the Spratly Island chain into islands that rival claimants fear Beijing could use to project its military might far from the Chinese mainland and threaten their territories.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia Housing Boom as Mogadishu Emerges From Ashes of War
Somalia’s elegant colonial villas were left in ruins by two decades of street fighting among warlords, and the seaside capital Mogadishu was dubbed the most dangerous city in the world.
But now new housing estates are being built amid an economic boom as diaspora Somalis return and newly wealthy businessmen capitalise on the relative peace in the city.
Some seven kilometres (four miles) outside Mogadishu in a formerly largely rural area, new homes are springing up, with almost 50 houses now ready on an estate, builders say.
Mohamed Abdullahi Ali, from Salaam Somali Bank, said it was a “great honour” to back the estimated $20 million (18 million euro) project…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
At Least Three Migrants Reported Dead During Clashes at Ceuta Border
At least three people have reportedly drowned as a group of 200 people attempted to cross into Spain’s enclave of Ceuta from Morocco.
The deaths, which have been reported by NGOs working with migrants at the border, occurred on the Moroccan side of the border as some 200 people attempted to cross into Spain.
Witnesses said that they had seen at least three corpses floating in the water as Moroccan police attempted to prevent a group of around 200 people scaling the fences to reach Spain’s north African enclave.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bavaria Knocked Back on 200,000 Refugee Cap
Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer’s call for Germany to take a maximum of 200,000 refugees per year stirred anger on Sunday, with other leaders clear they would never back the move.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Czech President: Egypt Group to Blame for Migrant Crisis
Zeman, information from United Arab Emirates and Morocco
(ANSA-AP) — COPENHAGEN — Czech President Milos Zeman, who is known for his anti-Islam rhetoric, says Egyptian fundamentalist group Muslim Brotherhood is likely to blame for the Europe migrant crisis.
Egypt’s government has branded the group a terrorist organization and outlawed it in 2013 after the military overthrew elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Zeman previously called the influx of the migrants who are fleeing war and poverty an “organized invasion” and in a Monday interview with Czech public radio he said: “I think that this invasion is organized by the Muslim Brotherhood.” Zeman says information he has received from the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Morocco that Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella organization for Islamic militants and that it wants to rule “the entire world” contributed to his conclusion.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Announces Temporary Border Control
Denmark began random ID checks at the Germany border on Monday in direct response to Sweden’s new border controls.
The German Foreign Ministry warned after Denmark and Sweden’s moves that the passport-free Schengen zone was “in danger”.
“Freedom of movement is an important principle — one of the biggest achievements [in the European Union] in recent years,” foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Should Limit Migrants to 200,000 Annually: Bavaria
Germany only has capacity for a maximum 200,000 asylum seekers a year, about a fifth of the number it received in 2015, Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer said Sunday.
“In Germany, the arrival of 100,000 to a maximum 200,000 asylum seekers and war refugees a year would pose no problem,” Seehofer, who heads the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), told Bild newspaper.
The CSU, which has been up in arms over Merkel’s welcoming refugee policy, is calling for Germany to cap the number of asylum seekers it takes in…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Governor Calls for Cap of 200,000 Refugees a Year
Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected idea
(ANSA) — BERLIN (AP) — The governor of Bavaria in Germany wants to limit the number of refugees the country takes in each year to 200,000 and says the United States is partly to blame for the crisis.
Horst Seehofer told German weekly Bild am Sonntag that the country can only integrate 100,000 to 200,000 refugees a year.
Bavaria was the first point of entry for most of the 1 million asylum seekers who came to Germany last year. Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected a cap on refugees.
Seehofer said in the interview published Sunday that other European Union members, Arab countries and the U.S. should shoulder more responsibility for the refugees.
He was quoted as saying that “we have the latter to thank for many of the problems that are causing people to flee.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Migrants to be Housed With Milan Families
Salvini says scheme ‘racist’ towards struggling Italians
(ANSA) — Milan, January 4 — Migrants who have earned the right to humanitarian protection are to be housed with families in the Milan area, the city’s social-policy councillor said Monday.
Families will get 350 euros a month under a scheme agreed between the government and the national association of municipalities (ANCI), said Pierfrancesco Majorino.
According to Majorino, the scheme is “absolutely advantageous compared to others as far as cost is concerned.” He said the anti-immigrant Northern League and the rest of the political right “are obviously crying scandal, but we are proud of it and we won’t stop”. League leader Matteo Salvini on Monday slammed the scheme. “Milan’s Democratic Party-led city council will pay 400 euros a month to anyone willing to put up an immigrant…this is madness,” he said on Facebook.
“A disgrace, this is RACISM towards Italians in difficulty,” Salvini said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Man Who Walked to UK From France Gets Asylum
A Sudanese man accused of walking almost the entire length of the undersea Channel Tunnel from France to Britain has been granted asylum, his representative said on Monday.
Abdul Rahman Haroun, 40, was arrested in Kent, southeast England, in August on suspicion of passing through the 31-mile (50 km) tunnel.
Shortly after his arrest Haroun applied for asylum, which was granted on December 24th, though he only got the news Monday in Canterbury Crown Court.
“I can confirm, as was stated in open court today, that Mr Haroun has been granted asylum,” caseworker Sadie Castle of law firm Kent Defence told AFP.
Haroun was charged under an 1861 law on malicious damage with causing an obstruction to an engine or carriage using the railway, but the case has now been adjourned for two weeks so prosecutors can decide whether to proceed with it, Castle added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Bridge Over Europe’s Troubled Waters
It is a gritty police thriller centred around the Oresund Bridge that links the Danish capital Copenhagen and Sweden’s third city, Malmo.
But on Monday Sweden imposed ID checks on those crossing from Denmark, especially on those coming by train bus, or ferry.
The Oresund Bridge was completed 15 years ago and has greatly increased the flow of trade and people between the two sides.
The Oresund Bridge is Europe’s longest road and rail link. A such it has been touted as a poster boy of EU unity and of passport-free travel through peaceful post-war Europe (amongst the member countries of the borderless Schengen agreement).
No longer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Facebook Censors Little Mermaid Photo for Nakedness and Sexual Suggestiveness
The Little Mermaid statue shows “too much bare skin or sexual undertones” to be shown on Facebook, Mette Gjerskov, a Socialdemokraterne politician, found out when she tried to post to the social network a link to her blog that featured a photo of the famous Danish statue.
“Didn’t see that coming, that our national treasure is categorised in line with child pornography and that kind of abomination,” Gjerskov wrote on Twitter after receiving the notification from Facebook that her post had been rejected.
According to Facebook, users are not allowed to post “images of people in positions showing or suggesting sex or images of nakedness and cleavage. Not even if it has artistic or educational purposes”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chemistry: Four Elements Added to Periodic Table
Four chemical elements have been formally added to the periodic table, completing the scheme’s seventh row.
They are the first to be included in the table since 2011, when elements 114 and 116 were added.
The first true iteration of the table was produced in 1869 by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev.
The new additions were formally verified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on 30 December 2015.
The body announced that a team of Russian and American researchers had provided sufficient evidence to claim the discovery of elements 115, 117 and 118. IUPAC awarded credit for the discovery of element 113 to a Japanese team at the Riken Institute.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In the Netherlands there is freedom of speech unless your name is Geert Wilders.
The take down of the EU has begun full force. Germany, France Norway, Sweden do nothing to stop these attacks, other countries will fall soon, then the rise of jihad in full swing with mass killing, while the European males stand by like stupid cowards, as women and girls are raped and harassed. Europeans will be pushed out of their houses and many killed. Caliphate and shira law around the corner probably by later on this year. The news media in the U.S. will remain silent. Mass destruction ahead.
do not underestimate the wrath of the European male when they have enough..like they say: Der Krug geht zum Brunnen bis er bricht [Machine translation: “The pitcher goes to the well until it breaks”]
Jozias van Aartsen, the mayor of The Hague, has criticized the Dutch government’s proposed ban on Salafist groups in the Netherlands. He says it is not the job of the state to determine which groups might espouse violent ideologies, and besides, the Dutch constitution guarantees both freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
It is settled law that one has the right to practice one’s religion – up to the point where one breaks the law. See Khan vs. The United Kingdom …