A student at the University of Texas in Austin went on a murderous rampage with a knife, stabbing one person to death and wounding three others before being subdued by police. The assailant, identified as Kendrex J. White, is said to have had a history of mental problems.
In other news, supporters of British Prime Minister Theresa May accuse the German government of attempting to undermine the prime minister with its briefings on Brexit talks.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Fjordman, Reader from Chicago, RL, SS, 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.
Greece Latest: Fury Over New Bailout as Critics Slam EU and Tsipras Over Austerity
GREECE and its foreign creditors reached a deal this morning that is set to mark a new set of austerity measures across the already crippled country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
51% of Murders in the U.S. Come From Just 2% of the Counties
The Distribution of Murders
The United States can really be divided up into three types of places. Places where there are no murders, places where there are a few murders, and places where murders are very common.
In 2014, the most recent year that a county level breakdown is available, 54% of counties (with 11% of the population) have no murders. 69% of counties have no more than one murder, and about 20% of the population. These counties account for only 4% of all murders in the country.
The worst 1% of counties have 19% of the population and 37% of the murders. The worst 5% of counties contain 47% of the population and account for 68% of murders. As shown in figure 2, over half of murders occurred in only 2% of counties.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Artificial Intelligence Prevails at Predicting Supreme Court Decisions
“See you in the Supreme Court!” President Donald Trump tweeted last week, responding to lower court holds on his national security policies. But is taking cases all the way to the highest court in the land a good idea? Artificial intelligence may soon have the answer. A new study shows that computers can do a better job than legal scholars at predicting Supreme Court decisions, even with less information.
Several other studies have guessed at justices’ behavior with algorithms. A 2011 project, for example, used the votes of any eight justices from 1953 to 2004 to predict the vote of the ninth in those same cases, with 83% accuracy. A 2004 paper tried seeing into the future, by using decisions from the nine justices who’d been on the court since 1994 to predict the outcomes of cases in the 2002 term. That method had an accuracy of 75%.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Blames Comey, WikiLeaks for Election Loss to Trump
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said she took “absolute personal responsibility” for her losing presidential campaign — but went on to blame FBI Director James Comey and Russian interference for aiding Republican rival Donald Trump’s ascension to the presidency.
Clinton specifically cited a letter from Comey late in the campaign saying agents were looking into possible new information related to Clinton’s secret, homebrewed computer server. She was ultimately never charged with a crime, and Comey cleared Clinton on the Sunday before the election.
She also mentioned WikiLeaks, the antisecrecy website which some analysts believe to be connected to Russia and which posted the hacked emails of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Translator in Detroit Secretly Married ISIS Leader
An FBI translator working in Detroit secretly flew to Syria three years ago where she married an ISIS terrorist leader she was supposed to be investigating, according to federal court documents.
Daniela Greene, a linguist with top-secret security clearance, was working as a German translator in 2014 for the Detroit FBI office where she was helping investigate a German national who was an ISIS leader in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hawaii Preparation for North Korea Nuke Attack Far From Complete
Kailua, a beach community on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, has everything that residents and visitors could want from a tropical paradise: exquisite beaches, crystal clear water and modern amenities. No wonder it now boasts nearly 55,000 residents and thousands of yearly tourists, including the Obamas.
But one thing this paradise doesn’t have is an adequate number of fallout shelters — there are only three with enough room for 235 people — in case North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile or nuclear attack.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jared Kushner Didn’t Disclose Business With George Soros
Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner didn’t include his ownership in a real-estate finance company that makes him business partners with George Soros when filing financial disclosure forms, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
Last night I appeared at the University of Buffalo at the invitation of the courageous students of Young Americans for Freedom, who have to put up with this Left-fascist thuggery on a daily basis, while I left Buffalo this morning. I say I “appeared,” because to say “I spoke” would be exaggerating a bit. Rather, I started a few sentences, made a couple of points, in between being screamed at by Leftist and Islamic supremacist fascists who think they’re opposing fascism.
The Spectrum article below is not that bad a report from the campus newspaper, showing the Left-fascist opposition to the freedom of speech, with a few exceptions: I am not a “self-proclaimed expert on radical Islam,” as I have never proclaimed myself an expert on anything, and my work stands or falls on the basis of the evidence from the Qur’an and Sunnah, history and current events. Nor do I ever speak about “radical Islam,” which is a Western construct that does not exist in the Islamic world. And I didn’t call the fascists “uninformed fascists”; although they are indeed uninformed and think they know a great deal more than they actually do, I didn’t use that word. Finally, the reporters Ashley Inkumsah and Sarah Crowley wrote that I was “unphased” by the screaming fascists, when I was actually “unfazed.”…
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota ISIS Defendant Returns to Custody After Watching CNN Documentary
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota man guilty of plotting to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is in custody again after violating his probation by watching a CNN documentary about ISIS at his halfway house.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Motive Unclear for UT Stabbings, Police Say
AUSTIN, Texas — Police still aren’t sure what prompted a University of Texas student to go on a stabbing rampage on the Austin campus, killing one person and seriously wounding three others.
The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Kendrex J. White, surrendered to police.
University police Chief David Carter said it would be “premature” to discuss the suspect’s motive and “what was going through his mind.”
He said the stabbings occurred within a one-block area as the attacker “calmly walked around the plaza.” It was just a short walk from the administration building and the landmark clock tower that was the scene of a mass shooting in 1966.
University President Greg Fenves expressed condolences to the victims, saying it “breaks my heart that any of our students are touched by tragedy.”
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Collected Americans’ Phone Records Despite Law Change: Report
The U.S. National Security Agency collected more than 151 million records of Americans’ phone calls last year, even after Congress limited its ability to collect bulk phone records, according to an annual report issued on Tuesday by the top U.S. intelligence officer.
The report from the office of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was the first measure of the effects of the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which limited the NSA to collecting phone records and contacts of people U.S. and allied intelligence agencies suspect may have ties to terrorism.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Starbucks Takes a Hit From Trump Boycott
A 9% decline in sales at Starbucks in Mexico has been attributed by one analyst to a reaction against Donald Trump’s election as United States president.
There were calls on social media for a boycott of Starbucks and other U.S. brands, including Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Costco, after Trump took office in January.
The #AdiósStarbucks hashtag trended on Twitter, triggering a response by multi-brand restaurant operator Alsea, which said in a statement that the Starbucks brand in Mexico is its own property and that the company itself is 100% Mexican-owned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Eagles Sue Hotel California
The Eagles have filed a lawsuit accusing the owners of a Mexico hotel of using the name “Hotel California,” arguably the band’s most famous song, without permission.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Taliban-Like Attack on New Orleans’s History
Totalitarians always seek to erase history.
The sad preamble to the horror of 9/11 was in the Taliban’s brazen destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, a magnificent old relief sculpture that stood as testimony to Afghanistan’s rich and many-layered history as a crossroads of civilization. To know of that history was anathema to the Taliban, which wanted absolute power over the lives of the Afghanis they terrorized. Allowing the Buddhas to stand could only allow Afghanis to take strength from their past.
The same dynamic was also seen in 1917, when the Bolshevik atheists destroyed most of Russia’s abundant churches and synagogues, literally grinding their relics into the mud and leaving hollowed out dead shells to spiritually devastate the devout public. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote at length about this effort to deracinate Russia from its past to create a spiritual “exhaustion” or wasteland.
We see the same dynamic now with the left’s movement to wholesale destruction of Confederate monuments in New Orleans.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Defends $1 Trillion Budget Bill in Face of Conservative Fury
President Trump on Tuesday defended the controversial $1 trillion-plus budget deal heading for a vote — as he and congressional Republicans face conservative anger at what critics see as a cave to Democrats on everything from sanctuary cities to funding for Planned Parenthood.
“The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there!” Trump tweeted, adding that the solution is to elect more Republican senators in 2018 “or change the rules” of the Senate filibuster.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
University of Texas Stabbing Suspect Had Mental Health Issues, Police Say
The suspect in a stabbing rampage that killed one person and injured three others on the campus of the University of Texas on Monday wasn’t motivated by a cause but instead was going through mental health issues, University of Texas Police Chief David Carter said in a news conference on Tuesday.
“This was not a conspiracy. This was not a person who had a vendetta,” Carter said of 21-year-old Kendrex J. White. Carter said that White was recently involuntarily committed in another city and was “obviously suffering from some type of particular issue.”
“We have booked Mr. White into jail with a charge of murder right now,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said. Other charges, including aggravated assault could be coming, according to Manley…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Will the Second Civil War Turn Violent?
by Dennis Prager
In a recent column, I made the case that Americans are fighting the Second Civil War. The deep chasm that has opened up between the left — not liberals, the left — and the rest of the country is so wide and so unbridgeable that there is no other way to describe what is happening. But I noted that at least thus far, unlike the First Civil War, this war is not violent.
Unfortunately, there is now reason to believe that violence is coming. In fact, it’s already here. But as of now, it’s only coming from one direction.
Left-wing thugs engage in violence and threats of violence with utter impunity. They shut down speakers at colleges; block highways, bridges and airport terminals; take over college buildings and offices; occupy state capitals; and terrorize individuals at their homes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
World’s Biggest Space Telescope Heads West on Path to Launchpad
With its testing at Goddard Space Flight Center completed, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope embarks for further testing in Texas before its 2018 launch
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Alitalia Asks to be Put Into Administration
Shareholders in Alitalia voted unanimously Tuesday to place the company into “extraordinary administration” as efforts continue to find a buyer and stave off liquidation for the troubled airline.
Alitalia has been loss-making for years and has been squeezed hard recently by the emergence of leaner, low-cost rivals on domestic and European routes, particularly Ryanair, which is now the market leader in Italy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Bans Six Hate Preachers, Including Five Muslims
Denmark on Tuesday published a blacklist of six foreign preachers accused of spreading hatred, including five Muslims and an American Evangelical pastor, banning them for at least two years.
The list includes two Saudis, a Canadian, a Syrian, and two Americans, including pastor Terry Jones who burned copies of the Koran in 2011.
The blacklist “sends a clear signal that travelling fanatical religious preachers who try to undermine our democracy and fundamental values of freedom and human rights are not welcome in Denmark,” the immigration and integration ministry said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Anti-Terror Police Seize Heavy Weapons and Arrest Five in Raids: Reports
Police carried out three separate raids on Tuesday morning, arresting five people and seizing heavy weapons.
Police made the arrests on Tuesday morning in Roanne in central France, and also in Rouen and Villeneuve-d’Ascq in the north (marked on the map below as 2, 1 and 3 respectively).
It’s understood that officers seized heavy firearms at the raid in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, reported Le Parisien newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Elections: Emmanuel Macron, A Disaster
by Guy Millière
Emmanuel Macron promised to facilitate the construction of mosques in France. He declared that “French culture does not exist” and that he has “never seen” French art. The risk is high that Macron will disappoint the French even faster than Hollande did.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Election Latest News: Marine Le Pen Says Macron is a ‘Radical EU Extremist’
MARINE Le Pen has described her French presidential rival Emmanuel Macron as a “radical EU extremist” in a campaign rally in Paris just days before the final election vote.
Speaking at her final campaign speech in Villepinte, Paris, yesterday, Ms Le Pen continued to make calls to have an EU referendum.
Ms Le Pen said Mr Macon would be the candidate to “make France submit to the will of the German chancellor”.
She said: “There cannot be equality for all French people in Macron’s movement because his philosophy is forward or die.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Questions Swiss Ambassador in Spying Case
Germany’s Foreign Ministry says the Swiss ambassador has been called in for talks following the arrest last week of a Swiss national on spying charges.
The Foreign Ministry said the ambassador was asked Tuesday for more details about the spying suspect, a 54-year-old identified only as Daniel M., “in the interests of the German-Swiss friendship.”
After his arrest in Frankfurt on Friday, prosecutors said M. was suspected of espionage activity in Germany since 2012.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Defence Minister ‘Outrages’ Soldiers With Strong Criticism of Army
The Armed Forces Association (Bundeswehrverband) and political opponents have closed ranks on Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen after she claimed the army had an “attitude problem”.
After an officer in the Bundeswehr (German army) was arrested last week on charges he had planned a terror attack with far-right motives, von der Leyen has lashed out at the German military.
Speaking on Sunday to broadcaster ZDF, the Defence Minister said that “the Bundeswehr has an attitude problem, and it clearly has a weakness of leadership on several levels.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany ‘Interfering in General Election in Attempt to Undermine Theresa May’
Germany has been accused by allies of Theresa May of trying to influence the General Election by undermining the Prime Minister over Brexit talks.
Allies of Mrs May believe Germany, in tandem with the EU, is embarking on a new “project fear” by repeatedly briefing against her.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gingerism: Exhibition Opens to Tackle Abuse Towards France’s Redheads
Gingerism or abuse of red-heads might not be an issue you would associate with France but a French photographer is holding an exhibition to highlight the prejudice the country’s ginger-haired people face.
Jokes about red heads might just seem all fun and games, but it’s no laughing matter for one French photographer whose exhibition is aiming to tackle the prejudice known as Gingerism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Outraged After Macron Comments on Le Pen and Putin
Poland protested on Tuesday after French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron named its most powerful politician alongside Russia’s Vladimir Putin as the leaders of ‘regimes’ allied with his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen.
The perceived slur against Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS), follows comments from Macron last week that, if elected, he would urge the European Union to impose sanctions on Poland for violating democratic norms.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists Charge Ahead With Sodium and Magnesium Batteries
Researchers in Switzerland have produced electrolytes that could be used in next-generation rechargeable sodium and magnesium batteries. They were looking for alternatives for lithium-ion batteries, where problems exist regarding the safety and availability of raw materials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Strange Mantle Plume Under Iceland Helps Keep Scotland Afloat
The plume of hot rock that sits beneath Iceland has long-reaching fingers — two of which stretch all the way to Scotland and Norway. This perhaps explains why the breathtaking scenery of areas such as the Scottish Highlands isn’t submerged beneath the waves.
Mantle plumes are like chimneys that transport hot, buoyant rock from deep inside Earth. When they break through to the surface, the volcanic activity they generate can fuel the formation of islands, such as the Hawaiian archipelago.
Iceland also owes its existence to a mantle plume — and seismic maps of Earth’s interior suggest that this plume doesn’t have the typical circular outline. “It’s far more irregular,” says Nicky White at the University of Cambridge.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden to End ID Checks on Trains From Denmark
Sweden is to end ID checks on buses, trains and ferries travelling between the country and Denmark, the Swedish government has announced.
Commuters in the busy Øresund region, where many travel between Malmø and Copenhagen for work, have complained about the ID checks causing disruption.
The checks followed on from the introduction of Swedish border controls in November 2015, which gave police the right to carry out checks on people wishing to enter Sweden from other Schengen Area states.
In contrast to the removal of ID checks, the border controls will be intensified.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian professor Kristian Birkeland (1867—1917) was the very first scientist in the world to realize that the northern lights had something to do with the electromagnetic storms from the sun. He was also the man behind the fantastic invention that enabled the making of fertilizer by harvesting nitrogen from the air. The discovery was the basis for the foundation of Norsk Hydro and the industrial bonanza at Notodden and Rjukan. Last, but not least: Birkeland was responsible for 60 new patents for everything from margarine and caviar to an elctromagnetic cannon. But most important from our perspective today is perhaps that he laid the foundation for much of the modern research conducted in the field of space and solar physics.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: ‘Cufflink Terrorist’ Samata Ullah Jailed for Eight Years
A man who used a James Bond-style USB cufflink to store extremist data has been jailed for eight years.
Samata Ullah, 34, of Cardiff, admitted being a member of so-called Islamic State, as well as terrorist training, preparing terrorist acts and possessing articles for terrorist purposes.
The Old Bailey in London was told Ullah was “a new and dangerous breed of terrorist” and a cyber-terrorist.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Seeks to Impose Religious Rules in Egypt’s North Sinai
As the militant group steps up attacks on Coptic Christians, it is also trying to assert hardline religious authority in the remote area near Egypt’s border with Gaza.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-FBI Translator Marries ISIS Fighter She Was Ordered to Investigate, Court Documents Show
A former FBI translator with top-secret security clearance traveled to Syria in 2014 to marry an ISIS leader she was ordered to investigate, court documents obtained by Fox News on Tuesday revealed.
Daniela Greene served two years in prison for lying to FBI officials and sneaking into Syria to marry the top ISIS recruiter, identified as Denis Cuspert, in June 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Istanbul Cancels Invite for Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales After Ban
Istanbul authorities have withdrawn an invitation sent to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to attend a major conference in the city. The reversal comes after Turkey blocked the website, citing objections to its content.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Powerful Saudi Prince Says No Space for Dialogue With Iran
Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince says there is no space for dialogue with rival Iran due to its Shiite ambitions “to control the Islamic world.”
In a rare television interview aired Tuesday on multiple Saudi TV channels, Mohammed bin Salman offered a glimpse into how he views the kingdom’s top rival.
Framing the tensions in sectarian terms, he said it is Iran’s goal “to control the Islamic world and that their logic is to pave the way for the arrival of al-Mahdi.”
Shiite Muslims believe Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam, who disappeared in the 9th century, will one day reappear to bring justice to earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey to Hold ‘Brexit-Like’ Vote, Erdogan Says
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeated his threat to hold a referendum on breaking off EU accession talks. He issued the threat amid a series of anti-EU jibes while visiting India and Pakistan in a show of his ambition to make Turkey a leading power in the Islamic world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gypsy (Roma) Culture: Customs, Traditions & Beliefs
About 11 million people worldwide, according to the New York Times, and about a million in the United States, according to Time, belong to an ethnic group known as the Roma or Romani. They are more commonly called Gypsies or travelers.
The term Gypsy, considered to be mildly derogative, according to the Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption organization (FRUA), is a holdover from when it was thought these people came from Egypt. However, a study published in 2012 concluded that Romani populations have a high frequency of a particular Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA that are only found in populations from South Asia. It is now thought that the Roma people migrated to Europe from India about 1,500 years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ivan the Terrible Statue Goes Missing After One Hour
A statue of Ivan the Terrible has disappeared from a Russian city within an hour of it being installed on its pedestal.
Ivan IV — known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Formidable — lived in Alexandrov for several months in the 16th Century, and despite his fearsome reputation, he played a key role in forming the Russian state. However, he remains a controversial figure among Russians. In October last year, an artist responded to the installation of a statue to Ivan in the city of Orel with a bloodied stake to remind people that “it’s not so long ago that people were killed just for sport”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Anger Over Soldiers’ Bodies ‘Mutilated by Pakistan’
Indians have taken to social media to demand revenge after the army accused Pakistani troops of killing two Indian security personnel in disputed Kashmir.
The army accused Pakistan of mutilating the bodies in Monday’s clash on the Line of Control — claims the Pakistani army denied.
But Indians, including the mourning families of the soldiers, feel Pakistan “should be taught a lesson”.
Indian PM Narendra Modi has also been criticised for “not taking any action”.
Monika, the daughter of head constable Prem Sagar, said she wanted Indian forces to kill at least 10 Pakistani troops to avenge her father.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indians Reject ‘Divisive’ Erdogan’s Lecture on Kashmir
While diplomatic relations are friendly on the surface, there are many potential sources of tension between Turkey and India, as recent Kashmir comments by Erdogan indicate. Murali Krishnan reports from New Delhi.
In a recent television interview, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocated a “multilateral” solution to the Kashmir dispute — and this is only one of his positions that may cause diplomatic tension with India.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s History Problem: How it’s Censoring the Past and Denying Academics Access to Archives
British history professor and author Robert Bickers laments China’s redacting of historical documents, and says he’s proud to be labelled a ‘historical nihilist’ by Beijing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China to Launch Wikipedia Rival in 2018
China is to launch an online version of its national encyclopaedia next year, to compete with Wikipedia.
Officials said more than 20,000 people had been hired to work on the project, which will feature 300,000 entries at about 1,000 words each.
Unlike Wikipedia, it will be created by selected scholars from state-run universities rather than being openly editable by volunteers.
Wikipedia is available in China, but some of its content it blocked.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Demands Immediate Halt to THAAD Missile System Now ‘Operational’ In South Korea
China demanded on Tuesday an immediate halt to a controversial US missile shield hours after Washington announced that the defence system was now operational in South Korea.
Washington and Seoul agreed to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery deployment in July in the wake of a string of North Korean missile tests.
But its deployment has infuriated China, which fears it will weaken its own ballistic missile capabilities and says it upsets the regional security balance.
“We oppose the deployment of the THAAD system in [South Korea] and urge relevant sides to immediately stop the deployment. We will firmly take necessary measures to uphold our interests,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.
Earlier, North Korea accused the United States of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war after a pair of strategic US bombers flew over the area in a training drill with the South Korean air force.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Updates Internet Regulations to Tighten Control Over Online News
China’s internet regulator has updated its rules on internet and social media news, requiring all online news broadcasters to obtain government licences. It is the first comprehensive revision of the regulations in 12 years.
It incorporates a collection of piecemeal documents and groups them together to provide a clearer scope of the restrictions.
It also provides clearer definitions of which media would require licences for distributing news. They include “websites, applications, forums, blogs, microblogs, public accounts, instant messaging tools and internet broadcasts”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Groom Arrested Over Fake Wedding Guests
A man in northern China has been arrested on his wedding day after his wife’s family realised that the 200 guests he invited from his side as family and friends were paid actors.
According to local media in Shaanxi province, the family of the wife, surnamed Liu, became suspicious during the conversations they were having with people from the groom’s side who said they were “just friends” and not making clear how they knew him. When the ceremony started without any trace of the groom’s parents, the game appeared to be up.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea: US Bomber Flight Pushes Two Countries on Brink of Nuclear War
North Korea on Tuesday said the United States’ decision to fly two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers in the area in a training drill is a provocation and puts the two countries on the brink of a nuclear war.
“The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
North Korea conducted another missile test on Saturday, its third launch in April alone, which reportedly failed soon after launch, and its Foreign Ministry said Monday the country will speed up measures to bolster its nuclear program “at the maximum pace.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Secrets of Tea Plant Revealed by Science
Botanists have unlocked the genetic secrets of the plant prized for producing tea.
A team in China has decoded the genetic building blocks of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, whose leaves are used for all types of tea, including black, green and oolong.
The research gives an insight into the chemicals that give tea its flavour.
Until now, little has been known about the genetics of the plant, despite its huge economic and cultural importance.
“There are many diverse flavours, but the mystery is what determines or what is the genetic basis of tea flavours?” said plant geneticist Lizhi Gao of Kunming Institute of Botany, China, who led the research.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“May Allah Curse You, You Pig, You Dog, “ Says Muslim to Imam Who Opposes Jihad Terror
An Islamic sheikh who speaks out against radicalisation and sharia law has been cursed and spat at while walking down the street in the Muslim heartland of Sydney.
Shia imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi was mobbed with abuse only moments after strolling along Haldon Street in Lakemba, which is home to Australia’s largest mosque.
A man shouted in Arabic as he ventured past shops with 7News reporter Bryan Seymour shortly before noon on Monday.
Asked by what the insult meant, Sheikh Tawhidi said: ‘It means, ‘May God curse you, you pig, you dog.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Labor leader Mark Latham could be setting up a new political party in time for the next federal election due in 2019. A movement called ‘Outsiders in Australia’ aims to start a party.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Rare ‘Sprites’ Photographed Beside Southern Lights
An Australian photographer has captured images of rare sprites, a meteor shower and the Southern Lights — all in a single night.
Sprites — flashes of electricity — can reach the Earth’s upper atmosphere, often displaying as a brilliant light.
“It’s an intense electrical discharge out of the very top of a thunderstorm,” photographer David Finlay told the BBC.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens of supporters of the three men accused of aiding 15-year-old Farhad Jabar in his shooting of a police worker have arrived at a Sydney court on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorists Are Using Gift Cards to Fund Attacks
Terrorists are using prepaid gift and travel cards to shuffle money throughout Australia, travel to Middle East conflict zones and bankroll international attacks.
More than 10 million “stored value cards” are active in Australia — worth upwards of $1.5 billion — and are highly vulnerable to criminal exploitation, a report has found.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UNICEF: 1.4 Million Children in Somalia at Risk of Acute Malnutrition in 2017
The projected number of children expected to suffer has skyrocketed, doubling since January of this year. The country’s combination of drought, dislocation, and disease is proving fatal for children.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
White-Bashing Cancer Destroys SA From Within, Says Zille
The storm over her tweets about the legacy of colonialism is a symptom of a new racist trend that evades the real issues by turning whites into scapegoats, writes Helen Zille.
Over the past few years, a tectonic shift has occurred in South African politics. The Mandela era has come to an end. Emerging, from the epicentre of our universities, is a new set of ideas rooted in Frantz Fanon’s writings and codified in “critical race theory” that regards “whiteness” and “whites” as the key obstacle to the progress of black people in South Africa.
The virus of anti-whiteness (rooted in the negative legacy of colonialism) has spread rapidly through South Africa’s born-free generation, especially the young, educated elite.
It is an attractive philosophy, partly because it romanticises revolution, and partly because it turns “whites” into an easy target, a scapegoat to avoid facing the real issues that prevent progress and economic inclusion in South Africa.
Sicilian prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro claimed to have “evidence that there are direct contacts between certain NGOs and people traffickers in Libya”.
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EU Orders Member States to Drop Migrant Crisis Border Checks
In an announcement tonight eurocrats said there was no justification for keeping police checkpoints at frontiers within the bloc and said they must be removed by the end of the year.
The diktat means that Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway will all have to swiftly find alternative ways to police irregular movements of people across their borders.
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For African Migrants, ‘Extreme Vetting’ From U.S. To Europe Slams the Door Shut
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was only the beginning for Africans struggling to flee war and famine. New restrictions within Africa and opaque deals between European countries and African regimes could have a much more dramatic effect soon, Geoffrey York explains.
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Germany Must Lift Border Controls, EU Executive Says
Germany, Austria, Denmark and Norway should lift border controls within six months, the European Commission said on Tuesday, hours after Sweden said it was also planning to end frontier checks.
Part of the European Union’s response to a surge of refugees and migrants in 2015, the bloc allowed controls in its passport-free area, despite concerns about the impact on trade, but EU home affairs commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said they should now end.
“The time has come to take the last concrete steps to gradually return to a normal functioning of the Schengen area,” he said of the passport-free area named after a town in Luxembourg and meant to be a symbol of free movement in the bloc.
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Germany: Migrant Crime Spiked in 2016
by Soeren Kern
Although non-Germans make up approximately 10% of the overall German population, they accounted for 30.5% of all crime suspects in the country in 2016.
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Inside Calais: The Industrial Town Crippled by EU Trade Rules Boosted Marine Le Pen Votes
RAVAGED by globalisation and in turn crippled by growing unemployment, voters in Calais have turned to anti-migration candidate Marine Le Pen.
It may be notoriously known for its sprawling Jungle migrant camp, but the town on the edge of the English Channel was also once known as the lacemaker capital of France.
Calais used to boast three factories, employing 30,000 people whose livelihood depended on the design and creation of lace.
However, only 300 textile workers stand after a Chinese investor took over Desseilles, one of the three factories, which has forced citizens to tap into Marine Le Pen’s promise to make “forgotten” France great again.
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Italy Bolsters Scheme to Send Migrants Back Home
ITALY has fiercely bolstered its programme to send the growing number of economic migrants arriving in the EU state back to their country of origin, it has been confirmed.
The country’s reinforced programme comes after the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean has increased by 40 per cent this year, to 37,000, the United Nations Refugee Agency reports.
Marco Minniti, the Italian interior minister said 6,242 migrants had been put on flights home by the middle of April 2017, mostly to North African countries, including Tunisia — a 24 per cent increase from the same period last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants ‘100 Per Cent Being Smuggled Into Europe by NGOs’, Italian Minister Agrees
The unprecedented migrant crisis in the Mediterranean has sparked the invention of several NGOs, who have launched their own rescue ships. Yet critics in Italy have denounced their invention as a racket that must be stopped.
Sicilian prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro claimed to have “evidence that there are direct contacts between certain NGOs and people traffickers in Libya”.
Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano contradicted Orlando, and said that he “agreed 100 per cent” with the allegations Zuccaro made.
The United Nations Refugee Agency reported more than 37,000 people have been rescued making the crossing between Africa and Italy this year alone, which constitutes a 40 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2016.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Museum of Migration Opens in London
The ambitious museum brings new perspective to a city shaped by immigrants
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Norway Migrant Integration Goes Into Reverse After 5- To 10-Year Stay — Study Author to RT
Although refugees who come to Norway rapidly integrate into the labor market, the gap between their and locals’ employment will increase again after just five to10 years, a study says. RT spoke to one of its authors to discuss the surprising results.
The study was carried out in February by researchers from Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research amid Europe’s growing refugee crisis. It showed that refugees and immigrants from “low income source countries” are seeing their integration reversed with “widening immigrant-native employment differentials” and concluded that immigrants are going to become more and more dependent on social insurance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Coming Muslim Baby Boom Could Radically Change Our World
A baby boom on the horizon could radically change our world. Here’s another connection between family and faith explained.
It’s been said that demography is destiny. If true, and if current trends continue, then the future will look very Muslim indeed. According to the respected Pew Research Center, as reported by Christianity Today, between the years 2030 and 2035, for the first time in history, the total number of babies born to Christian mothers will be fewer than those born to Muslim mothers. While the difference may seem relatively small—225 million births for Muslims to 224 million for Christians, it reflects a demographic pivot that, in just 20 years, could change the world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘mental’ case student was what racial group?
And the victim (s) were which racial group?
I know your just reporting it as written by the wires, but B/W violence is getting out of hand here in the States.
GoV mostly fake news….complete bull…and they push it for money rewards..l
How stupud are you people that follow to contribute..,
So why do you bother?
Because he, she or it, is “stupud”.
How’s the rest of your day going down in Mom’s basement? Did she leave you some Kool-Aid and Twinkies to snack on? Because obviously you don’t have the mental capacity to acquire them yourself.
BTW, what exactly are you anti? Antilock? Antidote? Antibiotic? Antimatter? Antifreeze? Antiseptic? Antiquated? Antigen? Antique? Antimony? Antipasto?
You have great future ahead of you hiding behind anonymity. Mom will be so proud.
I vote for Aunty Rose. It’s probably really her basement.
Regardless of whatever this normal is?
The TX stabber is said to be an Antifa member. So yeah, I guess he has mental problems.
No, No. It’s the members of the VRWC who have mental problems. And low IQs. Just ask those in the ranks of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy – they did the studies ‘proving’ that the Right is dum, dum, dum…