Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/7/2016

An Iraqi man ran amok with a knife at the Laajakoski refugee reception center in Kotka, Finland, stabbing two of his fellow inmates before being subdued and detained. Finns were relieved to learn that the incident had nothing to do with Islam, but was caused by the perpetrator’s mental illness.

In other news, former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt opined that Donald Trump may be dangerous.

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

Thanks to Fjordman, JD, Nick, Reader from Chicago, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» Clinton, Trump Invited to Idaho Over Muslim Rape Crisis
» Computer Programmer Testifies Under Oath He Coded Computers to Rig Elections
» Cotton: Clinton Discussed Executed Iranian Scientist on Email
» Cotton Says Cash to Iran Sends ‘Dangerous’ Message to Bad Guys Worldwide
» Federal Court Says IRS May Still be Targeting Conservatives
» The American Psychiatric Association Issues a Warning: No Psychoanalyzing Donald Trump
» ‘Trump Could be Dangerous’: Former Swedish PM
» You Know Those New Chips in Your Credit Card? They’re Failing You Miserably
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria: Muslim Nursery Shut Down After Churning Out ISIS Jihadis Who Went to Fight in Syria
» Belgium Machete Attacker Was Algerian, Say Officials
» France: Two Killed in Marseille ‘Gangland’ Attack
» German Attackers Directed by ISIS Contacts in Saudi
» Interns Raise Their Voices Against Unpaid EU Positions
» ISIS Claims Belgian Machete Attack
» Malta: Watch: Cat Brought Back to Life With Mouth-to-Mouth
» The Basque Beret, From Peasant Cap to ‘Emblem of France’
» UK: Airlander 10: Aircraft Leaves Hangar for First Time
» UK: Parliament Will Move to Sharia-Owned Office Block in 2020
» UK: Treasury Looks at Quitting the Single Market as City Rejects Norway Option After Brexit
 
Balkans
» Macedonia Storm: Deadly Freak Floods Hit Skopje
 
North Africa
» ‘ISIS is Not the Problem, ‘ Says Christian Convert Tortured and Thrown to Dogs
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Revealed: The Training Base Built by an Islamist Terror Group Behind Suicide Bombings and Bankrolled by You
 
Middle East
» 19-y-o ‘Girl Who Beat ISIS’ Sex Slave Survivor Reveals Jihadists Ritualistic Prayers Before Brutal Rapes, Torture
» Austrian “Far-Right” Leader Likens Turkish Coup to Reichstag Fire; Senior Official Hurls Insults
» Turkey Arrests Dozens of Special Forces in Post-Coup Purge
» Turkey Death Penalty: Erdogan Backs Return at Istanbul Rally
 
South Asia
» British Soldiers Survived After Fighting Off 500 Taliban for 54 Days
» India Hindus: Modi Urges Action Against Cow Vigilantes
» ISIS Claims to Have Captured Trove of U.S. Military Gear
» Pakistani School Textbooks Are Teaching Children to Hate Christians, Report Finds
 
Far East
» China Billionaires Chasing Electric-Car Talent Power Salaries
» Pikachu Parade as Japan Goes Pokemon Crazy
 
Australia — Pacific
» Seven People Stabbed at Ryde House Party
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Chinese Furniture Fashion Ravages West Africa’s Savannas
 
Immigration
» Brussels Hungary Set to Reject Migrant Quotas in Huge Blow to EU Project
» Cuba Blames U.S. Open Door for Migrant Surge
» Exclusive — AfD’s Beatrix Von Storch: ‘The EU Should be a Fortress Against Illegal Migration’
» Finland: Red Cross: Knife-Wielding Man at Kotka Reception Centre Suffered Mental Health Issues
» Germany: Mob Rule Takes Over in Rostock
» Syrian Prof: Arabs Migrate for ‘Sluts’ And Welfare, Attack When They Don’t Get it
 
Culture Wars
» UK: Peter Hitchens: Silenced… by Our Boot-Faced Commissars of Thought Crime
 
General
» Crashing, Burning Planes Don’t Stop Passengers From Grabbing Their Luggage
» From the Berlin Torch Relay to the Queen’s Parachute: How the Opening Ceremony Reflects the Olympic Spirit
» Only Muslim Leaders Can Reach Those Who Kill in Name of Allah
 

Clinton, Trump Invited to Idaho Over Muslim Rape Crisis

Activists on Friday called for presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to come to Twin Falls, Idaho, in order to address a vile rape allegedly perpetrated by Middle Eastern Muslim refugees against a five-year-old, special-needs child, challenging them to “see how America is being changed by this new crisis” of Third World migrants.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Computer Programmer Testifies Under Oath He Coded Computers to Rig Elections

When campaign minions aren’t fudging the physical vote count, computers, tasked with tallying the vote, are susceptible to hacking.

In 2006, the documentary Hacking Democracy, exposed Diebold and their role in rigging elections with their electronic voting machines.

Clinton Eugene “Clint” Curtis is an American attorney, computer programmer and ex-employee of NASA and ExxonMobil, who also exposed election hacking.

He is notable chiefly for making a series of whistleblower allegations about his former employer and about Republican Congressman Tom Feeney, including an allegation that in 2000, Feeney and Yang Enterprises requested Curtis’s assistance in a scheme to steal votes by inserting fraudulent code into touch screen voting systems.

Curtis is seen in the video below testifying under oath in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Members in Ohio.

He tells the members how he was hired by Congressman Tom Feeney in 2000 to build a prototype software package that would secretly rig an election to sway the result 51/49 to a specified side.

After watching the video, you’ll know why true change is hard to come by.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cotton: Clinton Discussed Executed Iranian Scientist on Email

Hillary Clinton recklessly discussed, in emails hosted on her private server, an Iranian nuclear scientist who was executed by Iran for treason, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday.

“I’m not going to comment on what he may or may not have done for the United States government, but in the emails that were on Hillary Clinton’s private server, there were conversations among her senior advisors about this gentleman,” he said on “Face the Nation.” Cotton was speaking about Shahram Amiri, who gave information to the U.S. about Iran’s nuclear program.

The senator said this lapse proves she is not capable of keeping the country safe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cotton Says Cash to Iran Sends ‘Dangerous’ Message to Bad Guys Worldwide

Sen. Tom Cotton suggested Sunday that he’ll accept President Obama’s explanation that the roughly $400 million in cash to Iran amid the country holding several Americans captive was part of a decades-old settlement, but said the move sends a “dangerous” message to terrorists and others around the world.

“He said this payment was not a ransom,” the Arkansas Republican and major critic of Obama’s recent Iran nuclear deal, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“It doesn’t really matter though what President Obama says. It matters what the Iranians think and it matters what dictators and terrorists and gangsters all around the world think. And they clearly think that this was a ransom payment … That’s why it’s so dangerous.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Court Says IRS May Still be Targeting Conservatives

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals says the IRS has not demonstrated that it has stopped targeting conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status, harshly criticizing the agency for its “discriminatory” policies.

The appeals court reinstated two lawsuits by conservative organizations that were thrown out by a lower court.

Several conservative groups are still waiting for a ruling on their tax-exempt application, which led the court to the obvious conclusion: the IRS is still targeting conservative groups for unwarranted scrutiny.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The American Psychiatric Association Issues a Warning: No Psychoanalyzing Donald Trump

Donald Trump had a very bad week — so bad that some were asking whether something was wrong with him. Like, really wrong.

“We’re asking ourselves — I didn’t say this, but this is what everybody is saying: Is Donald Trump a sociopath?” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said.

Back in 1964, a whole bunch of psychiatrists decided they would like to psychoanalyze Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. The result was what’s known as the “Goldwater Rule.”

The short version: It’s okay to talk about psychiatric issues — but not okay to diagnose people you haven’t treated.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Trump Could be Dangerous’: Former Swedish PM

A Donald Trump triumph in the US presidential election could make the world more ‘dangerous,’ according to former Swedish prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Reinfeldt who, as leader of the Moderate Party, was the Swedish prime minister from 2006 to 2014, when his coalition government was defeated, is now a lecturer and advisor to organisations such as the Bank of America, and calls himself a ‘very interested observer’ in the November election.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

You Know Those New Chips in Your Credit Card? They’re Failing You Miserably

In spite of industry assurances that EMV guarantees more security, computer security experts at the payment technology company, NCR, unveiled a basic, albeit glaring, security flaw.

According to CNNMoney, which first reported the discovery, when a consumer swipes the magnetic stripe of a card with a chip in it, the magnetic reader is programmed to alert the payment machine. The machine then prompts the consumer to insert their card into the chip reader, instead. But according to NCR, hackers can rewrite the code of the magnetic stripe so the card appears to be chipless.

As CNNMoney noted, “This allows them to keep counterfeiting — just like they did before the nationwide switch to chip cards.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Muslim Nursery Shut Down After Churning Out ISIS Jihadis Who Went to Fight in Syria

A Muslim nursery which was part of a larger sect churning out Islamic State (ISIS) fighters has been shut down.

The nursery’s teachers, who were deemed to be badly trained and had poor language skills, were teaching babies and children up to the age of three the Koran.

Situated in the Floridsdorf District of Vienna, Austria, the nursery was part of a larger Islamic association which has built an education centre to cater for children up to the age of 18.

The facilities have been linked with two Austrian jihadis, Mohamed Mahmoud and Firas H. who both travelled to Syria join ISIS having attended the Vienna school.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium Machete Attacker Was Algerian, Say Officials

Belgian officials say a man who wounded two policewomen with a machete was a 33-year-old Algerian with a criminal record but no known terror links.

An inquiry for “attempted terrorist murder” has been launched into Saturday’s attack in Charleroi.

The man reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) during the assault outside a police station. He died after being shot by officers.

On Sunday the so-called Islamic State group called him one of its “soldiers”.

The statement was similar to those released after recent attacks in France and Germany.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Two Killed in Marseille ‘Gangland’ Attack

Two men were cut down by automatic rifles in broad daylight in Marseille Sunday, in what investigators said was the probably latest round in a bloody gangland war.

The two men were travelling in separate cars through central Marseille mid-morning when their way was blocked by a third vehicle, deputy prosecutor Andre Ribes said.

Four men armed with Kalashnikovs got out of the vehicle and opened fire, killing one man as he tried to run off and the other at the wheel of his car, Ribes said.

The two fatalities were young men in their 20s who have yet to be identified.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Attackers Directed by ISIS Contacts in Saudi

The two refugees who launched terror attacks in Germany last month were in contact with suspected members of the militant group Isis, including one with a Saudi phone number, according to reports in the German media on Saturday.

Records of internet communication now in the hands of German investigators show both men, the Afghan teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, and Mohammed Daleel, a 27-year-old Syrian, were advised and directed by Isis, which provided tips on ensuring the maximum number of casualties.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Interns Raise Their Voices Against Unpaid EU Positions

In Brussels, the unthinkable in our supposedly modern societies — unpaid labour — has become the new normal.

Brussels Intern NGO, B!NGO, estimates more than 8,000 young people undertake internships in Brussels’s so-called ‘EU bubble’ every year. Nearly half of these internships are unpaid, though much of the work done by interns is often worth more than the minimum wage.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Claims Belgian Machete Attack

The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a weekend machete attack that wounded two policewomen in the Belgian city of Charleroi, calling it an act of reprisal carried out by one of its “soldiers.”

Belgian prosecutors identified the machete-wielding assailant as a 33-year-old Algerian known to police for criminal offenses, but not for extremist acts.

The attack on Saturday afternoon is being treated as a terrorist incident, notably because the man shouted “Allahu akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great” — as he slashed at the officers outside Charleroi’s main police station, Prime Minister Charles Michel said.

The assailant, shot by a third officer, died later in a hospital. A statement by the IS-affiliated Aamaq News Agency, posted Sunday on an IS-linked Twitter account, said the attack on the policewomen was in response to the “Crusader coalition’s” military campaign against IS and its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Malta: Watch: Cat Brought Back to Life With Mouth-to-Mouth

A one-month old kitten, which was about to drown after falling in the water in a Sicilian harbour, was rescued and resuscitated by Italian coast guard.

After diving in to save it, the Italian coast guard gave the cat CPR, including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

And it was a happy ending with the port authorities adopting the kitten and naming it Charlie.

Members of the Italian coast guard are used to carrying out rescues in the Mediterranean, where scores of migrants get lost at sea.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

The Basque Beret, From Peasant Cap to ‘Emblem of France’

The beret has come a long way since its humble beginnings as the headgear of choice for pelota players in the Basque country, becoming a must-have accessory as far afield as China.

The jaunty topper preferred by Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso added a saucy touch to Monica Lewinsky’s look in a famous photo of her getting a hug from then president Bill Clinton at a 1996 White House event.

In Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France’s “Basque Beret Capital”, one company, the House of Laulhere, lays claim to being the oldest producer of the flat cap, turning them out for nearly 200 years.

The beret will never go out of fashion, says commercial director Mark Saunders.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Airlander 10: Aircraft Leaves Hangar for First Time

The world’s longest aircraft has been brought out of its hangar for the first time. The Airlander 10, a plane-airship hybrid, was piloted out of the UK’s biggest hangar at Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire, at 04:00 BST on Saturday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Parliament Will Move to Sharia-Owned Office Block in 2020

Richmond House in Whitehall, which houses the Department of Health, was transferred to finance an Islamic bond scheme in 2014. MPs will move there when the refurbishment begins in 2020.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Treasury Looks at Quitting the Single Market as City Rejects Norway Option After Brexit

The Government has begun considering leaving the single market for the first time, as the Treasury and the newly created Brexit department hold detailed talks with finance leaders over the best way to pull out of the EU.

A series of discussions have been held between the Chancellor Philip Hammond and top business lobby groups including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) and City of London Corporation to determine the value of the single market and whether so-called passporting rights are worth “fighting for”.

Officials say the talks have revealed a willingness among some top figures to scrap passporting despite early calls to stay in the single market from some quarters.

Passporting allows UK-based banks to set up branches in any part of the European Economic Area, which includes the EU, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, without having to be separately authorised by each nation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Macedonia Storm: Deadly Freak Floods Hit Skopje

At least 21 people have died in floods that hit the Macedonian capital, Skopje, following torrential rain.

The victims’ bodies were found on Sunday morning after the storm passed. Several people are still missing.

Some of the victims drowned in their cars. Parts of the city’s ring road were swept away in the floods, dragging cars into nearby fields.

Three-and-a-half inches (93mm) of rain fell in Skopje in the storm — more than the average for the whole of August.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘ISIS is Not the Problem, ‘ Says Christian Convert Tortured and Thrown to Dogs

A Christian convert who was jailed and horrendously tortured because of his faith in Christ says the radical extremist problem facing the world today is much bigger than just the Islamic State.

Although many in the world today might view IS (also known as ISIS or ISIL) as the largest threat facing the world, the leader of the international human rights group One Free World International, the Rev. Majed el-Shafie, told the British news site Express the day after two IS-affiliated radicals killed a French priest during a morning mass in Normandy that “ISIS is not the problem.”

In an interview, Shafie, who was the subject of the 2012 documentary “Freedom Fighter,” shared the story of how he was imprisoned, heinously tortured and sentenced to death by government actors in Egypt for converting from Islam to Christianity and helping build house churches in 1998.

“They shaved my head, they put my head in freezing cold water and then into boiling hot water,” Shafie was quoted as saying. “They burned their cigarettes on me, they electrocuted me.

“They cut me and put salt in my wounds,” he added. “I still wake with nightmares about it, even now 20 years on.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Revealed: The Training Base Built by an Islamist Terror Group Behind Suicide Bombings and Bankrolled by You

A training base built by an Islamist terrorist group behind suicide bombings and mass shootings was allegedly funded by British aid.

The compound in the north of the Gaza Strip is operated by the military wing of Hamas.

It is fitted with sophisticated communications equipment for surveillance and is an entry point to secret tunnels used to smuggle weapons and launch attacks on Israel.

There are also buildings used to train gunmen with the Qassam Brigades, which claims to have 10,000 members in Gaza and has been behind rocket attacks on Israel, the kidnap of Israeli soldiers and a series of bloody attacks.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

19-y-o ‘Girl Who Beat ISIS’ Sex Slave Survivor Reveals Jihadists Ritualistic Prayers Before Brutal Rapes, Torture

A 19-year-old girl who was captured, raped and tortured multiple times by ISIS jihadists in Iraq reveals her harrowing account in a new book that describes the religious rituals the men practiced before carrying out the brutal attacks on women and children.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Austrian “Far-Right” Leader Likens Turkish Coup to Reichstag Fire; Senior Official Hurls Insults

Turkey’s failed coup and President Tayyip Erdogan’s subsequent purges of state institutions are reminiscent of the Reichstag fire in Nazi Germany and its use by Hitler to amass greater power, the head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party said.

The blaze in the German parliament building in 1933 was portrayed by the Nazis as a Communist plot against the government, and they used it to justify curtailing civil liberties, consolidating Adolf Hitler’s grip on Germany.

Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO) leader Heinz-Christian Strache said he saw parallels in Erdogan’s use of the July 15 coup by a faction within the Turkish armed forces to crack down on his opponents in the army, civil service, academia and the media.

“One almost had the impression that it was a guided putsch aimed in the end at making a presidential dictatorship by Erdogan possible,” Strache told the daily Die Presse in an interview published on Saturday.

“Dramatically, we have experienced such mechanisms elsewhere before, such as with the Reichstag fire, in the wake of which total power was seized,” Strache said.

“And now, too, one has the impression that a bit of steering occurred,” he added.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Arrests Dozens of Special Forces in Post-Coup Purge

Dozens of special forces personnel were arrested in Turkey Saturday in the latest development in a sweeping crackdown following the failed coup in the country that killed over 270 people, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Nearly 90 staff members were arrested after being identified by a commission established by the Special Forces Command following the July 15 coup, the agency reported

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Death Penalty: Erdogan Backs Return at Istanbul Rally

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told a huge rally in Istanbul that he would approve the return of the death penalty if it was backed by parliament and the public.

He was speaking to hundreds of thousands of flag-waving supporters who had gathered in Turkey’s biggest city.

The rally followed last month’s failed coup.

Mr Erdogan also said the state would be cleansed of all supporters of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Religious figures and leaders of two of Turkey’s three opposition parties attended the rally. The Kurdish party was not invited.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

British Soldiers Survived After Fighting Off 500 Taliban for 54 Days

A mix of 88 soldiers from the Paratroopers and Royal Irish regiments held out against 500 Taliban soldiers for almost two months in the remote outpost of Musa Qala in Afghanistan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

India Hindus: Modi Urges Action Against Cow Vigilantes

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised vigilantes who portray themselves as protectors of cows — an animal considered sacred by Hindus.

Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist, said such people made him “angry”, and any such attacks must be investigated.

He had been criticised for saying nothing about a public flogging last month of low-caste men by vigilantes.

The self-styled cow defenders accused the four men from the Dalit caste of harming cattle.

The victims insisted they were taking a cow’s carcass for skinning, as was their tradition.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Claims to Have Captured Trove of U.S. Military Gear

ISIS fighters in Afghanistan claimed to have recently seized a trove of sensitive U.S. military equipment — including communications gear, a rocket launcher and the ID card of a U.S. soldier —but it remains unclear how the items came into the terror group’s possession.

There was no immediate information on when the pictures, posted to social media on Saturday, were taken, though the U.S. soldier’s ID expires in 2017, a possible sign the photos are relatively fresh. There was also no information on how the extremists captured the gear.

The American soldier whose identification was pictured, U.S. Army Specialist Ryan Jay Larson, was not captured by ISIS, Brigadier General Charlie Cleveland told Fox News on Sunday.

“Obviously, SPC Larson is not captured — he is accounted for and with his unit despite having lost his ID card and possibly some of his equipment during recent operations,” Cleveland said in an email. “Beyond that, there is a lot of equipment in those pictures.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistani School Textbooks Are Teaching Children to Hate Christians, Report Finds

The National Commission for Justice and Peace has found that Pakistani school textbooks are full of material that incite hatred and intolerance against non-Muslims, including Christians, which it said was a “red flag” for the country.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

China Billionaires Chasing Electric-Car Talent Power Salaries

More than 200 Chinese companies — with backers including Terry Gou, Ma Huateng, Jack Ma and Jia Yueting — are developing 4,000 models of new-energy vehicles and unveiling prototypes at motor shows and home-electronics expos. Traditional automakers and a bevy of startups see opportunity in the government’s commitment to boost yearly sales of NEVs by a factor of 10 in the next decade.

China surpassed the U.S. last year to become the world’s biggest market for new-energy vehicles, a fleet comprising electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell cars. Domestic automakers sold 331,092 units in 2015, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In a country with some of the worst urban air pollution on the planet and a rapidly urbanizing populace, the government has set a sales target of 3 million units a year by 2025. China also is accelerating construction of charging stations to serve 5 million electric vehicles by 2020.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pikachu Parade as Japan Goes Pokemon Crazy

Hundreds of Pokemon Go fans gathered in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, on Sunday to join an annual Pikachu parade as the global phenomenon soars in popularity.

Some 50 life-size Pikachu characters, the most famous from the Pokemon game, marched along the city’s waterfront street as visitors took mobile phone pictures and videos of them in scorching sunshine.

Some participants said they attended the event to search for rare characters of Pokemon — a word short for “pocket monster” — for the megahit smartphone app, which was launched last month globally.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Seven People Stabbed at Ryde House Party

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy has died in hospital and another teen and man have serious injuries after seven people were stabbed at a party in Sydney’s north west overnight.

Police were called to a home in Ryde just after midnight following a fight among young partygoers that left six males and a female with stab wounds.

The 16-year-old was rushed to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition but died this morning.

Police are treating the death as a homicide and are continuing investigations.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Furniture Fashion Ravages West Africa’s Savannas

Soaring Chinese demand for rosewood has spurred a largely illicit trade in West Africa worth at least $1.3 billion since inception, according to advocacy group Forest Trends. That’s decimating forests and heightening tension as governments find that export bans simply prompt dealers to divert truckloads of timber to ports in neighboring countries.

Seven of China’s biggest suppliers of rosewood logs by volume are in Africa, with Nigeria topping the list and Ghana ranking third. Gambia, even if it’s 86 times smaller than Nigeria, is fourth because it illegally ships rosewood from neighboring Senegal, according to activists and the Senegalese government — part of a cycle in which illicit trade moves opportunistically from country to country.

Rosewood is coveted in China, the world’s largest consumer of the wood, because it’s used to make antique-looking furniture with intricate carvings fashionable among middle-class consumers. Importers initially turned to nearby forests, but when southeast Asian stocks were almost depleted, traders in 2009 began eyeing West Africa, home to a more affordable variety.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brussels Hungary Set to Reject Migrant Quotas in Huge Blow to EU Project

The latest polls show that people in the central European country will turn out in large numbers and vote to block the planned influx of new asylum seekers.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has been a vocal critic of the EU’s migration policies and has openly encouraged voters to reject the diktat from Brussels.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Cuba Blames U.S. Open Door for Migrant Surge

Havana on Sunday blamed Washington for a surge of Cubans trying to reach the United States by land and sea, accusing the Obama administration of encouraging illegal and unsafe immigration.

Tens of thousands of Cubans over the last two years have flocked to the U.S.-Mexican border and taken to the sea in hopes of reaching Florida, fearing a growing detente between the Cold War foes will lead to a change in U.S. policy.

Under a 1960s law, the Cuban Adjustment Act, the Communist-run country’s citizens are treated as legal immigrants if they set foot on U.S. soil, while migrants from any other land are considered illegal.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive — AfD’s Beatrix Von Storch: ‘The EU Should be a Fortress Against Illegal Migration’

Several terror attacks in Germany, the UK, and elsewhere within the last weeks have shown that the critics were right. Migration and security are interconnected. Proponents of open borders, who would rather transform the EU into a free travel agency than change their policy, have long denied this. Moreover, they are still in denial. They reject the idea that the European Union (EU) must restrict the influx of migrants and refugees.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Red Cross: Knife-Wielding Man at Kotka Reception Centre Suffered Mental Health Issues

An Iraqi man stabbed two people and held a knife to a third person’s throat on Thursday evening at the Laajakoski reception centre in Kotka. Police say they used a stun gun to stop the young man, whose case is now being investigated as attempted manslaughter, aggravated assault and making unlawful threats.

Several police units were dispatched to the scene on Thursday night.

On Thursday evening an Iraqi asylum seeker in his late 20s stabbed two people and held a knife to a third person’s throat at the Red Cross’s Laajakoski reception centre in Kotka.

According to Arja Vainio, Executive Director of the Finnish Red Cross Southeastern Finland District, the Iraqi man, who was born in 1989, has previously suffered from psychological problems.

“He has appeared anxious and aggressive, which is why this didn’t come as a surprise. Some (asylum centre) residents are very traumatised and suffer from different psychological problems,” says Vainio. “In unusual and exceptional circumstances, it’s no surprise if some of those issues rise to the surface like in this situation,” she says…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Mob Rule Takes Over in Rostock

The north-eastern German city of Rostock has decided against setting up a refugee home in their city after mobs sent a clear message that they were not welcome. Is giving in to the demands of a mob the best way to protect refugees fleeing war?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Prof: Arabs Migrate for ‘Sluts’ And Welfare, Attack When They Don’t Get it

A Syrian professor has asserted that Arab migrants see “slut” German women as fair game for assault and warned that the country is set to see “big social conflicts” as a result of Angela Merkel and EU open border policies.

Prof. Bassam Tibi said that the mass sex attacks in Cologne were a result of the migrants’ “value system”: furious at not being given a luxury lifestyle, they intended to “humiliate” Germans.

The professor, who now lives in Germany, said that Arab men come expecting “great apartments, blonde women and the welfare state”.

The political scientist noted that tax payers are providing migrants with far more than they could expect even with wages in their homelands, but warned they find the hospitality “insufficient”.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Peter Hitchens: Silenced… by Our Boot-Faced Commissars of Thought Crime

As I strolled through the frozen winter streets of Moscow a few years ago, a worrying idea came to me. Were speech and thought now more free in Russia than in what we used to call the West? I rather think that they are.

Last week, Kevin Roberts resigned as executive chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi for publicly questioning ultra-feminist beliefs.

He is not the first. A similar wild frenzy of persecution burst around the head of the Nobel prize-winning scientist Sir Tim Hunt, shamefully driven from his position as an honorary professor at University College London.

It doesn’t matter whether you agree with these men’s opinions or not. Can it be right that they have been treated in this way for expressing them?

Of course, neither of them has been marched off to a gulag for his thought-crime. But so what? Isn’t loss of employment and position a very serious punishment?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Crashing, Burning Planes Don’t Stop Passengers From Grabbing Their Luggage

Ever considered taking your bags in an emergency despite those instructions to leave them behind? You’re not the only one.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

From the Berlin Torch Relay to the Queen’s Parachute: How the Opening Ceremony Reflects the Olympic Spirit

Hitler did not invent the torch relay and doped athletes should be mentioned, according to Ancient Greek tradition. Sport historian Manfred Lämmer clears up myths about the Olympic opening ceremony.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Only Muslim Leaders Can Reach Those Who Kill in Name of Allah

It has been a bad week for humanity and for Christianity at home and abroad. The butchering of the French priest Fr Jacques Hamel was horrible beyond words, and the graphic description of that poor man’s last words and actions were chilling and deeply disturbing… It is true that most people in today’s world are not murdering others because of the finer points of theology — but the militant Islamists are very clear that unless the “infidels” like you and me recant our Christianity we will be killed.

It is important to stress the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, but a small minority have turned themselves into vicious killers in the name of a warped version of their faith.

The harsh truth is that until the Muslim world and especially its teachers and other leaders win over the minds of those who resort to violence in the name of Allah, their religious war against Christians will continue. The peaceful Muslims need to condemn such actions loudly and clearly, and again and again.

There is no point in trying to ignore the Islamist elephant in the room.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

10 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/7/2016

  1. Is the Bank of America in trouble?
    The question is reasonable if they take advice from someone like Fredrik Reinfeldt who led Sweden for eight years, and look at how that’s turned out!

  2. Another curiosity

    Anyone knows what that relative girl from someone here who lives in Turkey and thought was all right about it thinks about Turkey now ? Did she change her mind?

  3. “If such men do not get what they expect, they are angry. In the culture I come from, you want to humiliate people who make a mad.”

    “In the Orient, to humiliate a man, one rapes his wife. My guess is that these young Muslim men wanted in Cologne to humiliate the women, and behind this humiliation is the humiliation of the German man. The woman is an instrument for it.”

  4. Londonistan 2016
    formerly London

    “MPs face six-year Sharia booze ban: Parliament to move to Islamic-owned Health department block in 2020 while Palace of Westminster is refurbished”

    “WHY ARE WHITEHALL BUILDINGS GOVERNED BY SHARIA LAW?
    In June 2014 George Osborne announced that Britain was launching the first Islamic bond scheme in the non-Muslim world.”

    And now, only muslims can buy the bonds, the sukuk.

  5. Suicide bombing at Quetta hospital, Pakistan

    Is there any indication that this was a hospital for Christians, or for people of other religions?

  6. It seems that the European top politicians connected to EU, all have agreed on spewing this same narrative on Trump. Actually, fear mongering, exactly what they are warning against when it comes to normal people expressing restistance to terror and sharia.

    • Yes, actually they should butt out, it’s none of their business who Americans elect as their President. Imagine the outrage in Europe if American politicians starting mouthing criticism of Hollande and Merkel. Those two and the policies of their parties have done more to make Europe unsafe.

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