In the new British cabinet under Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris “BoJo” Johnson, the hirsute former mayor of London, has become Foreign Secretary, replacing Philip Hammond, who becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer. The only top Tory without a chair when the music stopped seems to be George Osborne, the former chancellor, who is now out of the government.
In other news, Brussels police say the explosions and fire that destroyed several cars tonight have nothing to do with terrorism.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, DV, ESW, Fjordman, 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.
Japan Cuts Forecasts as Abe Advisers Urge Coordinated Stimulus
Japan cut its forecasts for growth and inflation as two key advisers to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged coordinated stimulus from the government and the central bank to support the ailing economy.
Current thinking in the government is for a fiscal package of about 10 trillion yen ($96 billion), according to people familiar with the discussions. Koichi Hamada and Etsuro Honda, who helped the prime minister shape his Abenomics policies, said in separate interviews on Wednesday that any fiscal injection should be done in concert with a boost in monetary policy from the Bank of Japan, which meets later this month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gary Byrne, Mike Norris
What really went on during the Clinton’s first occupation of the Oval Office? Today on Trunews, Rick Wiles is joined by former Secret Service Officer Gary Byrne to discuss the real Hillary and Bill, chronicled in his tell-all exposé “Crisis of Character”. In part 2, Amerigeddon’s Director Mike Norris joins Rick to share the latest on his mysterious poisoning and the publics reception of the EMP threat.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Death Robots: Where Next After Dallas?
The use of a robot to deliver an explosive device and kill the Dallas shooting suspect has intensified the debate over a future of “killer robots”. While robots and unmanned systems have been used by the military before, this is the first time the police within the US have used such a technique with lethal intent
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Gives Up Investigation Into Mysterious DB Cooper Skyjacking
Forty five years ago, a man known as DB Cooper jumped out of a hijacked airplane with a parachute and ransom money. The FBI is finally giving up trying to solve the mysterious case.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jennifer Lopez Faces Backlash for Using ‘All Lives Matter’ Phrase on Twitter
‘Seeing Jennifer Lopez tweet All Lives Matter is extremely disappointing’
The phrase “All Lives Matter” has come under heavy criticism from much of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. They argue that the counter-term misunderstands the phrase “Black Lives Matter” and interprets it as meaning “black lives matter more than any other lives” when in actual fact it is an attempt to highlight the fact that black people’s lives are relatively undervalued in the US and they are more likely to be the victims of police brutality.
Television host Bill Maher has expressed support of the “Black Lives Matter” phrase, saying that “‘All Lives Matter’ implies that all lives are equally at risk, and they’re not”.
Lopez has received widespread criticism for the usage of the term on both Twitter and Instagram.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Man Fires 17 Shots Into Officer’s Patrol Car and Home, Screams He Hates Police
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — March Eugene Ratney, according to Department of Correction records, wasn’t due to be released from prison until this past June 6 after serving half of a 12-year sentence following his conviction as a serious violent felon with a weapon. Ten days later, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers were called to an east side address where Ratney’s sister said he had pulled a gun and threatened to kill her.
Investigators now report, and neighbors confirmed, Ratney, on parole, was the man clad in a Black Lives Matter t-shirt and screaming profanities at police, who shot up an IMPD officer’s house not far from his own home early this morning.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Black Panther Party Plans to Bring Guns to GOP Convention, If Law Allows
Members of the controversial “black power” group the New Black Panther Party plan to pack legal heat when they hold rallies in Cleveland in conjunction with next week’s Republican convention, the group’s chairman said.
Leaders of the organization, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as a hate group, told Reuters that if Ohio’s open-carry gun laws allow, its members will bring guns for self-defense. Cleveland police are preparing for mass demonstrations, and word that the New Black Panthers may be armed could complicate preparations.
“If it is an open state to carry, we will exercise our Second Amendment rights because there are other groups threatening to be there that are threatening to do harm to us,” Hashim Nzinga, chairman of the New Black Panther Party, told Reuters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Babu Omowale, the so-called national minister of defense for the People’s New Black Panther Party, says his group and allied organizations have their sights set on establishing “our own government in a nation within a nation.”
Omowale was speaking in an interview set to air Sunday night on this reporter’s talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and News Talk 990 AM in Philadelphia.
Omowale used the interview to claim five states as belonging to the “Black Nation”: Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia.
The revolutionary stated: “We just need to start migrating back to those states and taking control of the economics in those states. If black people move in, most definitely white people will move out. So it’s not a hard process for us to have our own country within a country.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters Shut Down Interstate 35 in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters have been marching on Interstate 35W Bridge in Minneapolis early Wednesday morning.
Groups are protesting the fatal shooting of Philando Castile , reports CBS Minnesota .
Castile was shot and killed last week by St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, in an incident that was caught on video and helped spur the recent spate of nationwide protests against police violence .
Many protest groups have taken to shutting down major highways . In Minnesota, Black Lives Matter protesters upset over the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark employed the same tactic, shutting down Interstate 94 for a while , a move that led to dozens of arrests…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Sanders Supporters Lash Out Following Clinton Endorsement
Some of Bernie Sanders’ most loyal backers have turned into his biggest bashers on the heels of his Hillary Clinton endorsement. The Vermont senator, who slammed Clinton repeatedly during the presidential primary campaign, offered his unwavering support to the presumptive Democratic nominee at a rally in New Hampshire Tuesday.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, jumped in on the action. He tweeted, “Bernie Sanders endorsing Crooked Hillary Clinton is like Occupy Wall Street endorsing Goldman Sachs. “
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Surprising New Evidence Shows Bias in Police Use of Force But Not in Shootings
A new study confirms that black men and women are treated differently in the hands of law enforcement. They are more likely to be touched, handcuffed, pushed to the ground or pepper-sprayed by a police officer, even after accounting for how, where and when they encounter the police.
But when it comes to the most lethal form of force — police shootings — the study finds no racial bias.
“It is the most surprising result of my career,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., the author of the study and a professor of economics at Harvard. The study examined more than 1,000 shootings in 10 major police departments, in Texas, Florida and California.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Mormon Church Wants to Show You the Magic Stone Their Religion is Based on
The Mormon church’s push toward transparency about its roots and beliefs took another step forward Tuesday with the first published pictures of a small sacred stone it believes founder Joseph Smith used to help translate a story that became the basis of the religion.
The pictures of the smooth, brown, egg-sized rock are part of a new book that also contains photos of the first printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon. Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled the photos at a news conference in Salt Lake City.
The religion’s drive in recent years to open its vaults and clarify sensitive beliefs is aimed at filling a void on the Internet for accurate information as curiosity and scrutiny increased as church membership tripled over the last three decades, Mormon scholars said.
Church historian Steven E. Snow acknowledged that dynamic, saying: “The Internet brings both challenge and opportunities. We’re grateful for the opportunity to share much of collection through the use of the Internet.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
WND-TV: Cleveland Police Union Leader: ‘Obama Has Blood on His Hands — That He Can’t Wash Off’
[Short televised interview: 1 minute 11 seconds]
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Yale Dishwasher Canned After Breaking ‘Racist’ Stained-Glass Window
An African-American dishwasher who last month smashed a stained-glass window at Yale University because it depicted what he considered a racist scene is out of a job, but the offending pane and others like it are gone for good.
Corey Menafee admitted he took a broom handle to the glass panel, which was in the Ivy League school’s Calhoun residential college dining hall, because it depicted slaves carrying bales of cotton. Menafee, who now faces a felony criminal mischief charge, told the New Haven Independent he was angered by the “racist, very degrading” image.
“I took a broomstick, and it was kind of high, and I climbed up and reached up and broke it,” he told the newspaper. “It’s 2016, I shouldn’t have to come to work and see things like that.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario Facing ‘Epidemic of Islamophobia’ Survey Finds
While Canada rides a wave of global praise for welcoming Syrian refugees, a new poll suggests we’re also facing a wave of something sinister — Islamophobia.
The survey by polling firm MARU/VCR&C measured public perceptions of ethnicity and immigration in Ontario in the wake of the recent influx of thousands of Syrian refugees — almost 12,000 to this province alone.
“There is an epidemic of Islamophobia in Ontario. Only a third of Ontarians have a positive impression of the religion and more than half feel its mainstream doctrines promote violence (an anomaly compared to other religions),” said the 51-page survey to be released this week by the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants and advocacy group Mass Minority. “These sentiments are echoed with Syrian refugees in Ontario where acceptance often coincides with acceptance of Islam.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Airbus A380 Cut May Mark Beginning of End for Superjumbo
Airbus Group SE announced a drastic cut in production of its flagship A380 superjumbo, acknowledging that demand has fallen far short of original projections and raising the prospect of the world’s biggest passenger plane being prematurely axed.
The build rate for the double-decker will be slashed by more than half to one plane a month by 2018, Airbus revealed Tuesday. Contrasting with the success of the rest of the Airbus line, the company delivered the surprise damper just hours after pulling in several massive orders for its popular A320-type single-aisle jet at the Farnborough Air Show in the U.K.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-European Commission Head Barroso Under Fire Over Goldman Sachs Job
France has called on the former head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, not to take up a job advising US bank Goldman Sachs on Brexit.
French Europe Minister Harlem Desir called the move “scandalous” and said it raised questions about the EU’s conflict of interest rules.
Ex-commissioners are free to take up a new role 18 months after leaving.
Despite accepting the job after 20 months, Mr Barroso has come under fire for ignoring the spirit of the rules.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: What Does the End of the State of Emergency Mean?
The French government confirmed on Wednesday that the state of emergency that has been in place since the night of November 13th will end on July 26th. But what will happen in reality?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Intelligence Chief Fears Car Bombs and Explosives
Car bombs and other explosives could be part of the next stage in Isis’s strategy, according to France’s top security chief.
Patrick Calvar, head of the French General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) has said he is “convinced” that Isis will change its tactics in France and see an “increase in power”.
In particular, he fears a move towards car bombs and explosive devices, allowing terrorists to attack without risking their own lives.
The predictions were made on May 24th at a private hearing on France’s fight against terrorism, the transcript of which was made public on Tuesday.
“We know very well that they will use these procedures; they have seen the effects of a massive operation. This happened in Belgium due to the fact that, having been caught, they could not engage in multiple attacks,” Calvar is quoted by French media as saying.
“But once they have planted pyrotechnics in our country, they can avoid sacrificing their fighters while creating maximum damage. “
Use of this kind of explosive could mean that the group would be able to plot even deadlier attacks than those which took place at the Bataclan concert hall and restaurant terraces across Paris in November last year. Then, the attackers used a combination of machine guns and suicide belts, killing 130 people and leaving hundreds more injured.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Senior PEGIDA Figure to be Investigated by Police for ‘Migrant Hunting’ Trip
Ex-PEGIDA spokeswoman Tatjana Festerling is to be investigated by German authorities after a trip she made to the frontiers of Europe at the Bulgarian border to help locals track down illegal migrants was reported to police by an anonymous Twitter user.
Ms. Festerling made the trip to Bulgaria in June with the aim of helping local citizens who have taken it upon themselves to track down illegal migrants flooding into the country through Greece and Turkey…
The issue for German police is the fact that Ms. Festerling wore what could be considered a uniform on her day trip to the area. Under German law, Section 109h of the penal code, it is stated that “a German who enlists in favour of a foreign power for military service in a military or quasi-military means or supplying or advertising the military service of such a body, shall be punished with imprisonment from three months to five years.”
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Germany: Police Raid 60 Homes for ‘Xenophobic’ Facebook Posts
German Police raided the homes of 60 people suspected of writing ‘hate’ speech on social media in Germany. Coordinated by the Federal Criminal Police (BKA), the operation saw officers from 25 departments search across 14 states.
The police raids took place as part of the government’s fight against “verbal radicalisation”, which it said has increased in the wake of Europe’s migrant crisis. BKA President Holger Münch said attacks on migrant shelters were the result of “radicalisation” on social media.
Forty of the defendants whose homes were raided were wanted in connection with a secret Facebook group focused on Kempten, in Bavaria. The search took place across 13 provinces. Bild reported that xenophobic and Nazi material was distributed on the group’s Facebook page between July and November last year.
Attorney Bernhard Menzel, from the prosecutor’s office in Kempten, said that during the raids, police seized storage devices such as laptops and mobile phones.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Police Raid Homes Over ‘Verbal Radicalism’ On Facebook
German police conducted, for the first time ever, a series of raids across the country Wednesday targeting people who posted “hate speech” on Facebook.
Some 25 German police departments raided 60 homes in 14 counties in a move to combat what is seen as a growing problem with hate speech permeating the country, The Verge reported Wednesday. Germany’s federal police agency, Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), said they found the
“glorification of Nazism and the exchange of xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other right-wing extremism,” on social media, according to a Wednesday press release.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Please Stop Playing Pokemon at Germany’s Holocaust Sites’
German Holocaust memorials and research centres are concerned about how players are able to catch Pokemon right at sites meant to honour those murdered by the Nazis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia Enforcer Theresa May to be New UK Prime Minister
The woman responsible for banning me from the UK will succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister of the UK. Theresa May banned Robert Spencer and me when a handful of Islamic supremacists demanded it of her. Weak, silly and compromised, this hardly bodes well for a post-Brexit UK (May opposed it). And May’s Muslim immigration positions are incomprehensible. Theresa May has stated of the UK’s misogynist sharia courts, “Many British people of different faiths follow religious codes and practices, and benefit a great deal from the guidance they offer.”
It was crushing to hear that Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the UK Leadership election. Leadsom, someone who could fill the shoes of a Margaret Thatcher, was a longtime advocate of Brexit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trouble in Paradise: Tourism in the Age of Terrorism
Terrorism is making life difficult for many vacation destinations, with European travelers choosing holidays closer to home. The travel industry is fundamentally changing as a result and many once popular places are facing ruin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boris Johnson Made Foreign Secretary by Theresa May
New Prime Minister Theresa May has made Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who led the Brexit campaign, foreign secretary in her new government.
He replaces Philip Hammond, who becomes chancellor. Ex-Energy Secretary Amber Rudd is home secretary and Eurosceptic David Davis is the Brexit secretary.
Ex-chancellor George Osborne was fired, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said.
On arriving at Downing Street, Mrs May vowed to lead a government that works for all, not just the “privileged few”.
Mrs May also paid tribute to her predecessor, David Cameron, saying he had been “a great modern prime minister”.
Mr Cameron earlier gave his final speech as prime minister, saying it had been “the greatest honour” of his life and that the UK was “much stronger” than when he took over.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Theresa May Forced to Defend Views on Sharia Law as She Prepares to Enter No 10
Incoming Prime Minister Theresa May has defended her position on Sharia Law on the eve of taking over as the leader of the Conservative party.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Top ‘Brexit’ Supporter Boris Johnson Named Foreign Secretary by New Prime Minister
New British Prime Minister Theresa May named former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a prominent supporter of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, as Foreign Secretary Wednesday as part of a Cabinet shakeup.
Johnson had hoped to become Prime Minister himself in the aftermath of the so-called “Brexit” vote, but saw his ambitions dashed amid Conservative Party plotting.
Despite his prominent diplomatic position, Johnson will not lead negotations for Britain’s departure from the bloc. That job will fall to David Davis, who was appointed to a special “minister for Brexit” post.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vehicles Ablaze in Brussels ‘Do Not Appear to be Related to Terrorism’: Police
Police say explosions which were heard in Brussels do not appear to be related to terrorism.
Local media and video shared from residents showed several cars ablaze in the Brussels business district of St Gilles.
British news agency reports said that two explosions were heard that may have been caused by the burning cars.
The fires have been doused and there are no reports of casualties…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
France Closes Missions in Turkey Over Security Threats
France has taken the step of closing its missions in Turkey on the eve of the July 14th Bastille Day celebrations, after receiving intelligence of a “serious” threat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
HRW: Vicious Torture Part of Daily Life Under Islamic State
An international human rights group says that under the rule of Islamic State terrorists, brutal torture is an everyday occurrence and escape attempts will elicit, in many cases, a swift execution.
A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) outlines some of the ways Islamic State attempts to control civilians in the areas it has taken over and details the extent to which the group will go to keep people from fleeing.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
IS Says Senior Commander Al-Shishani Killed in Iraq
An Islamic State-run media outlet says Omar al-Shishani, one of the group’s top military commanders, has been killed in fighting near the Iraqi city of Mosul.
U.S. and Iraqi officials, as well as Syrian activists, said in March that al-Shishani, who was in his 30s, had died of wounds sustained in a U.S. airstrike in Syria.
But the IS-run Aamaq news agency reported Wednesday that al-Shishani was “martyred” in the town of al-Shirqat, near Mosul, while helping to “halt the military campaign” against the IS-held city. IS supporters published eulogies to al-Shishani on social media and messaging networks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia: Imam at Moscow Mosque Arrested for Abetting Terrorist Activities
Mahmoud Velitov is the imam at the Yardyam mosque. His alleged offence dates back to 2013. He is said to have partly admitted to the charges.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — Mahmoud Velitov, the imam of Moscow’s Yardyam Mosque, has been placed under house arrest until 27 August after he was charged with inciting terrorism, his lawyer Dagir Khasavov told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
Under his restraining order, the clergyman cannot use internet or mobile and landline phones. He can however contact medical staff because he is legally disabled and has a medical history that includes a stroke and a heart attack. His lawyers have said that they will appeal against the court decision.
According to investigators, Velitov expressed support at the Yardyam mosque for the actions of a member of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist organisation on 23 September 2013.
When his house was searched, police seized literature deemed extremist under Russian law.
The imam has partly admitted to the charges, which carry a prison sentence of between two and five years.
In recent years, Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown against terrorists and those inciting and justifying terrorism
Recently, Russia amended its anti-terrorism legislation (Yarovaya Law) to include restrictions on religious activity and increase the number of crimes with which minors can be charged. (N.A.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Burmese Clergy Disowns Anti-Muslim Buddhist Group
BURMA’S highest ranking monks have severed ties with a hardline Buddhist movement known as the Ma Ba Tha, which is largely responsible for anti-Muslim sentiments that spurred a spate of violence against the minorities in the country.
In a statement on Tuesday, The Sangha Maha Nayara Committee said it has never endorsed the ultra-nationalist Ma Ba Tha, a group which prides itself as being at the frontline of anti-Muslim protests in the predominantly Buddhist country, the AFP reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Punjab: Manhunt for Christian Accused of Blasphemy
James Nadeem, a resident in the Father Colony Gujrat district. The man accused of writing insults against Islam on social networks. Then he fled to save his life. His sisters arrested to induce him to surrender.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Punjab police are searching for a Christian man accused of writing insults against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on social media. The man, a resident of the Father Colony in the city of Sraey Alamgir (Gujrat district), has fled for fear of being killed by Muslims.
James Nadeem, a Christian, wrote the offensive remarks about the Prophet and sent them to a friend via the WhatsApp messaging service. Fearing for his life, he disappeared without trace.
According to the Pakistan Christian Post, the local police arrested and abused the sisters of James, to push the man to surrender to authorities. The newspaper also reports that Islamic clerics in the mosques are instigating believers to burn the houses of the Christians of the Father Colony, in the event that the accused is not caught.
The religious leaders’ call is reminiscent of other episodes of violence perpetrated against Christians in Gujrat district. Last year the whole community took to the streets to demonstrate in defense of four faithful locked up in prison on charges of blasphemy. According to experts, in Pakistan suspicion of violating the “black law” it is often misused to target religious minorities and for personal vendettas.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan School Attack Mastermind Killed by US Airstrike, Pentagon Says
A U.S. airstrike near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan killed the mastermind of a 2014 attack on a Pakistani school that killed some 150 people, mainly children, American and Pakistani officials said Wednesday.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the airstrike Saturday killed “known terrorist leader” Umar Khalifa, who was known by several other names including Khalifa Umar Mansoor. Cook said he was killed along with four other “enemy combatants” in an airstrike targeting members of an Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate known as Khorasan Province.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China to Ignore International Court Ruling Over South China Sea Rights
China will ignore a ruling from an international court that it has no historical rights to islands in the South China Sea. Beijing made no secret of its intention to carry on building up forces in the disputed region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Steel Mills Start to Close Following Government Orders
Steel giant Baosteel is set to cut overcapacity by more than 9 million tonnes in the next two years. It might merge with Wuhan Iron & Steel as part of industry’s “restructuring”. China wants drastic cuts to coal-powered heavy industry to boost new activities and limit export losses.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — Following China’s decision to cut overcapacity, Baosteel Group, China’s second-largest steelmaker, announced plans to cut 9.2 million tonnes of crude steel capacity.
Last month, both Baosteel and the Wuhan Steel Group had announced that they would restructure, which many observers saw as prelude to a merger.
China’ record exports, often below cost, stem from a probably irreversible crisis. The latter depends not only on a domestic slowdown — which lowered consumption — but also and especially on its steel industry’s abnormal development.
After years of ignoring their own warnings, now Chinese authorities want to reshape the industry. Plans to curb production capacity are increasingly detailed, with clear timetables and plans for redundant labour.
The State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission on Friday said that China’s government-run steel and coal firms (like Baosteel and Wuhan) would cut capacity by about 10 per cent in the next two years, and by 15 per cent by 2020.
The authorities also ordered cutbacks at Tangshan steel plants (Hebei) for environmental reasons.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ILO: Robots Threaten Millions of Jobs in Southeast Asia
The International Labor Organization has warned of the severe consequences presented by automation and disruptive technologies in the ASEAN bloc.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Emperor Intends to Abdicate ‘In a Few Years’: NHK
Japanese Emperor Akihito, who has spent much of his time on the throne trying to heal the wounds of World War Two, intends to abdicate in a few years, public broadcaster NHK and other domestic media said on Wednesday, a step that would be unprecedented in modern Japan.
The 82-year-old monarch, who has had heart surgery and been treated for prostate cancer in recent years, expressed his intention to the Imperial Household Agency, NHK said.
It did not cite a reason and officials at the agency could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kyodo news agency, quoting a government source, said Akihito had been expressing his intention to abdicate to people around him for about a year, although in a separate report Kyodo quoted a senior Imperial Household Agency official as denying that the reports were correct.
Akihito has been cutting back on his official duties, handing over some of the burden to his heir, Crown Prince Naruhito, 56.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Agreement With the FARC Should Reflect a Victorious Colombian State, Not Equal Partnership
by Nancy Menges & Luis Fleischman
Recently, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos announced an historical agreement with the narco-terrorist guerrilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that he hopes will be signed in the coming weeks.
The Colombian government as well as that of the United States views this agreement as an important step towards ending violence and war in a country that has fought tenaciously in the last few decades to secure law and order.
Thanks largely to the policies of the previous president, Álvaro Uribe, coupled with the U.S. backed, Plan Colombia, the country has evolved from being a country dominated by anarchy and drug trafficking into a country of laws. The drug traffickers, who gave it their own artistic and cultural flavor, controlled major cities like Medellin. They were the city’s largest employer and introduced a culture of prostitution and frivolity and an admiration for the worst kinds of vices.
By the end of Uribe’s presidency, the number of FARC guerrillas had been reduced by half and the para-militaries had disarmed in exchange for amnesty. Colombia’s metamorphosis returned the country to a state of normalcy and the rule of law.
The FARC has been a huge part of the problem that made Colombian citizens’ life into a living hell. Although originally a guerrilla group inspired by the 1960’s euphoria created by the Cuban Revolution (and supported by Cuba as well), it turned into a drug cartel mixing revolutionary violence with greedy profits. Extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and other forms of criminal activity served as a source of income, making the FARC into one of the richest guerrilla groups in the world.
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Europeans Say Terrorism and Mass Migration Go Hand-in-Hand
Nearly 60 percent of Europeans believe the threat of terrorism increases as more refugees arrive in their countries, a PEW survey has found. Half of respondents also see them as an economic “burden” because “they take our jobs and social benefits.”
A Pew Research Center survey, published on Monday, showed that the majority of people polled in 10 European countries, which accounts for 80 percent of the EU population, seems to mistrust refugees.
In Germany, which took in over 1 million refugees last year and has seen a surge in support for right-wing parties, 61 percent of those polled connects an increase in the “likelihood of terrorism” to the refugee crisis, while in France, which has been in a state of emergency since the deadly November terror attacks, 46 percent of people see parallels between the two.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Four Dead, Including Two Children, After Migrant Boat Overturns Off Lesvos
Authorities recovered the bodies of four people, including two children, and rescued six people after a boat carrying migrants overturned off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos Wednesday.
The coast guard said the bodies of one girl, one boy, a man and a woman had been retrieved from the sea while six survivors had been rescued.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In Views of Diversity, Many Europeans Are Less Positive Than Americans
The surge of refugees to Europe has helped make it a region of increasing cultural diversity and foreign-born populations, just as immigration to the United States has pushed its foreign-born share to near record levels. But a new Pew Research Center survey paints a picture of a Europe that is far less positive about what greater diversity means for many of its countries. The most common view among the 10 European countries surveyed is that cultural diversity is neither a plus nor a minus in terms of quality of life. In no nation does a majority say increasing diversity is a positive for their country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Give Me a Drink, Hal: Artificial Intelligence Helps Design New Beer
IntelligenceX uses AI to guide its brewmaster’s tweaks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hate Speech Laws: Ratifying the Assassin’s Veto
Executive Summary
Recently criticisms of religion have been met by violence and threats of violence, the most infamous being the murder in Paris of several editors of the satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo . The phenomenon of killing or threatening to kill those who insult you or your way of life has come to be known as the assassin’s veto. These events raise anew a basic question for liberal societies: how much expression must a free society tolerate?
The United States Supreme Court has generally restricted government limits on speech. Some speech, however, does not receive protection, including expressions closely tied to violence. In the past, “fighting words” were judged unprotected by the First Amendment; the development of Court doctrine has largely eliminated this exception. American jurisprudence is based on the assumption that protections for freedom of expression will not long endure if they can be abandoned when the message is particularly repellant or its target especially sympathetic.
European law also protects freedom of expression, although in a less robust way than does U.S. law. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights subjects freedom of speech to important limitations understood generally as “hate speech.” In contrast to the United States, officials may apply criminal or civil sanctions to prohibited political advocacy.
The United States faces a choice. Should it defend the right to offend, or opt instead to champion a right not to be offended? We have learned from hard experience in the United States that free expression cannot long survive without protecting outrageous and offensive speech…
| — Hat tip: ESW | [Return to headlines] |
The Osborne boys haven’t been doing too well lately, LOL
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/144549/George-Osborne-s-brother-converts-to-Islam
http://metro.co.uk/2016/02/14/patient-says-george-osbornes-brother-used-me-as-a-sex-toy-5681147/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12152301/George-Osbornes-psychiatrist-brother-struck-off-for-profoundly-unacceptable-affair-with-vulnerable-patient.html
If you see George Osborne selling “the Big Issue” next week please buy one as he has lost his ministerial pay and has only his trust fund, family firm dividends and MP’s salary to fall back on!
His former friend David Hameron is in a similar position with a large family to support ( bacon sarnies are just a distant memory for them all)
Seriously though isn’t hubris a wondrous thing!
a “Caligula” Chancellor and a parsimonious, patronising, porcine PM cut down to size in the same week!
Happy Days indeed.
http://thojuh.se/oland16/images/udden.jpg
Not a f***in muslim as far as the eye can see.
http://thojuh.se/oland16/oland16.htm
I am sure the fires in Brussels are just routine car-burnings. NTDWI.
We in America do not have the right “not to be offended” in my opinion. I could be offended daily by some of the things going on or being said. But free speech is free speech. Either we have it or we don’t. I’d like to see the Supreme Court move on to more important cases and leave free speech alone. I pity the Europeans. They have never had free speech and are unlikely to ever have it, since they are more focused on avoiding insults to muslims than protecting their citizens from muslims. Just my (free) opinion.
In the Charlie Hebdo case, I was far more shocked at the response to their publication wherein some people thought they should be killed for their free expression. That is truly telling of the fact that there is no free speech, at least not in France.
So for America I vote for the right to offend. There is really no right to “not be offended” since that is opening a can of worms we really don’t want to see. People are offended by all kinds of things — are we going to pander to that? I say NO! If you don’t like it, look away.
Promenade des Anglais
Truck drives into crowd in Nice on Bastille Day, today
Killing 30 plus
Truck driver jumps out of truck and fires shots
Hostage taken
bfmtv
Update
At least, 40 dead
In front of Hotel Negresco
Update
73 dead (Le Figaro)