Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/29/2018

A man from Maryland deliberately drove into a pedestrian in South Philadelphia, and was said to be trying to attack more when he was stopped by a good Samaritan in another vehicle. An off-duty cop rushed to confront the driver, who grappled with him, and was then shot to death by the cop. The wounded victim is in the hospital. Police have not ruled out terrorism as a motive.

In other news, Spanish vessels under the supervision of Frontex rescued more than 300 migrants off the coast of Libya and brought them safely to Italy. Meanwhile, more than 200 migrants landed on the Greek island of Lesvos in the space of 24 hours.

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

Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Government’s Non-Performing Loan, Slovenia Ranked 1st
» One in 10 German Workers Earn Below Minimum Wage
 
USA
» Convicted Terrorist Hamid Hayat Gets New Hearing
» Driver Tried to Hit Pedestrians, Police Eye Terrorism as Motive
» FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ‘Removed’ From the Bureau
» Found: Three Super-Earths in Orbit Around Cool Dwarf Star
» How Amazon’s Ad Business Could Threaten Google and Facebook
» Los Angeles: Hamas-Linked CAIR Protests “Appalling, Islamophobic” Accurate 7th Grade Material on Islam
» Off-Duty Pa. Cop Shoots ‘Rampaging’ Driver in Head
» Police: Off-Duty Officer Fatally Shoots Suspect Trying to Hit Pedestrians With Car
» Terrorism Eyed After Driver Allegedly Targets Pedestrians in Philadelphia
» Victim Identified in Denver Triple Shooting, Vigil Held
 
Europe and the EU
» #MeToo: Norway Harassment Whistleblowers Criticise Media Over Treatment
» 10,000-Year-Old Ochre “Crayon” Discovered in England
» 50 Percent for 5 Percent: A Look at Germany’s Extremely Unequal Wealth Distribution
» 800-Year-Old ‘Knight’ Chess Piece Discovered in Norway
» BBC Bias: Report Finds Corporation ‘Kept Pro-Brexit Voices Off the Air for a Decade’
» Belgium Braces for Return of Foreign Fighters
» British Prime Minister Theresa May Has Ambitious Partnership Plans for China, Diplomat Says
» Brussels Nightmare: New Anti-EU Czech Leader Poised to Call Brexit-Style Referendum
» Denmark: Iconic Lego Brick Turns 60
» EU Warn They Will React ‘Swiftly’ To Any Trump Trade Curbs as Brussels Reacts to President’s Brexit Comments During Piers Morgan Interview
» Finnish Presidential Election, 2018
» ‘France Must Quit the Eurozone’ Macron Under Pressure as Le Pen Demands New Currency
» France: Flooding Peaks in Paris Amid Worst Rains in 50 Years
» FT Op Sees Italian Election ‘Political Threat to EU’
» Geert Wilders in Hungary: “We Are Fighting for the Survival of Our Culture.”
» Geert Wilders Interview on Hungarian Radio
» Germany Opened 1,000 Investigations Into Radical Islamic Extremists in 2017
» Germany: Eintracht Frankfurt Hope to Start Movement by Banning AfD Members From Club
» Greece: Probe Launched Into Afghan Stopped With 78 Detonators
» Guaranteed to Make You Ine-BRIE-ated! Italian ‘Drunken Cheese’ Is Soaked in Wine as it’s Being Made (And One Wheel Will Set You Back €200)
» Hungary’s Orban Visits Austria’s Right-Wing Government, Seeking Allies
» ISIS Trained Dutch, Belgian Women to Commit Attacks: Report
» Italian Election 2018: 5-Star Candidate Attacks EU Over Financial Rules
» Italy: Salvini Says Will Ask for Trade Duties
» Italy: Renzi Defends Candidate Lists But PD Tension Remains High
» Italy: Luxottica 2017 Turnover Up 2%, Profits Sharply Up
» Italy: Embraco Confirms 500 Job Losses in Turin Area, Calenda Irate
» Italy Rebel Says Orban and Trump Are His Role Models as Election Nears
» Kaczynski Says Poland Won’t Back Down in Standoff With EU
» No-Go Zones: UK Govt Warns People Traveling to Sweden Beware ‘Gang Crime, Shootings, And Explosions’
» Reindeer Weapons: Ancient Hunting Implements Emerge as Ice Melts
» Romania: Viorica Dancila Voted in as First Female Prime Minister
» Stone-Age Woman’s Likeness Recreated
» Stricter Liquor Rules Give Lithuanians a Severe Hangover
» Sweden: Media Outlets to Join Forces to Combat Disinformation and Fake News
» Sweden: Ikea Holds One Minute of Silence at Stores in Memory of Ingvar Kamprad
» The Safest Country for Women in Continental Europe is Poland
» UK: ‘Kids Walking Around With Knives!’ Feral Youths Holding Terrified Town to Ransom
» UK: ‘Churchill Was Racist!’ Scream Shameful Lefty Gang Who Terrorise Winston Churchill Cafe
» UK: Handheld Device Sequences Human Genome
» UK: Labour MPs Instructed to Vote Against Banning Jihad Terror Group Hizballah
 
Middle East
» Iranian Women Protest Obligatory Headscarf
» Military Defeat of ISIS Can be ‘Measured in Weeks,’ Top US General Says
» Syria War: Turkey Arrests Hundreds for Criticising Afrin Offensive
 
Russia
» Russia: Putin: Kremlin Accuses US of Meddling in Election
» The Russian Historian Giving Stalin’s Victims Back Their Identity
 
South Asia
» Afghanistan Conflict: Deadly Attack on Kabul Military Post
» Are Swiss-Funded Christian NGOs Unwelcome in India?
» India Police Arrest 112 as Religious Clashes Kill Teenager
» India Estimates 21 Million of Its Girls Are ‘Unwanted’
» India Issues 7.5% Growth Forecast
» Living in Pakistan — A Hell for Non-Muslims
» Taliban Attacks Cast Doubts on US’ Afghan Strategy
 
Far East
» At Davos, The Real Star May Have Been China, Not Trump
» China Reveals ‘Polar Silk Road’ Ambition in Arctic Policy White Paper
» China Plans to Build the World’s Largest Steerable Radio Telescope
» China Infrastructure Push Reaches Arctic, Leaving Out U.S.
» China Declared World’s Largest Producer of Scientific Articles
» Chinese Rights Lawyer Yu Wensheng Charged With ‘Subversion’
» Rare Footage Shows How China is Building Its Own Space Station as Beijing Races to be the Next Oribital Superpower
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» China Dismisses ‘Absurd’ African Union HQ Spying Claim
 
Latin America
» Mexico to Send Troops to Stem Violence After Record 25,000 Murders
 
Immigration
» French Police Arrest 17 People Suspected of Smuggling Migrants Into the UK
» Global Education Body to Measure How Well Schools Teach Attitudes to Mass Migration, Global Warming
» Italy: Migrant Workers in Calabria Protest After Woman Dies in Tent City Fire
» Lesvos Sees Arrival of 201 Migrants in 24 Hours
» Murder Spree: ‘New Swedes’ Shoot Man, Stab Trial Witness and Wife to Death
» Spain: Children and Women Among 329 Migrants Rescued at Sea
 
General
» Jupiter Moon Europa’s Possibly Porous Surface Could Doom a Lander
 

Government’s Non-Performing Loan, Slovenia Ranked 1st

Eurostat: 5, 9% of GDP. Data on ‘ theoretical liabilities’

(ANSA) — BRUSSELS, JAN 29 — In 2016, Slovenia was the EU member country with the biggest stock of non-performing loans taken by the government (5.9% of GDP), followed by Portugal (1.5%), the Czech Republic (1.4%) and Austria (1.1%). In Italy this stock is zero. Eurostat released today data regarding the ‘theoretical’ liabilities (this means they are only potential) and non-performing loans taken by governments in the 28 EU countries. This verification was a requirement of a stricter surveillance of the budgets introduced by the Six Pack, in order to have a clearer picture of the risks that public finances run.

With regard to state guarantees, the most common form of ‘theoretical liabilities’, Finland is ranked first (28% of GDP), followed by Austria (20.5%), Germany (14.3%). The lowest liabilities were recorded in Slovakia (0.03%), the Czech Republic (0.3%), Bulgaria (0.5%) and Lithuania (0.9%). In Greece (144%), followed by the Netherlands (104%), Germany (101%), Cyprus (90%) and Luxembourg (82%) the highest figures as for liabilities of entities controlled by the government. In Italy, they are 50%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

One in 10 German Workers Earn Below Minimum Wage

Some 10 percent of German workers earn less than the minimum wage, a new study has found. Opposition politicians and trade unions said the government should be ashamed that the three-year-old law was so poorly enforced.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Convicted Terrorist Hamid Hayat Gets New Hearing

On Monday a federal court in Sacramento will hold an evidentiary hearing on Hamid Hayat, 35, currently serving a 24-year sentence on terrorism charges. Hayat’s legal team will attempt to vacate the 2006 conviction, with support from the northern California division of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

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

Driver Tried to Hit Pedestrians, Police Eye Terrorism as Motive

Philadelphia police said the driver of a black Honda was trying to hit pedestrians as they walked down a street on Monday morning, and are exploring terrorism as a possible motive.

“Anytime someone is trying to run people over we got to look at that angle and see what the investigation leads us,” a police spokesman told Fox News.

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

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ‘Removed’ From the Bureau

Top FBI official Andrew McCabe has been “removed” from his post as deputy director, Fox News is told, leaving the bureau after months of conflict-of-interest complaints from Republicans including President Trump.

A source confirmed to Fox News that McCabe is taking “terminal leave” — effectively taking vacation until he reaches his planned retirement in a matter of weeks. As such, he will not be reporting to work at the FBI anymore.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Found: Three Super-Earths in Orbit Around Cool Dwarf Star

Astronomers using data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft’s reborn K2 mission have found a triple system of super-Earth exoplanets around a cool star called LP 415-17.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How Amazon’s Ad Business Could Threaten Google and Facebook

It’s easy to see how Amazon.com Inc. threatens the world’s retailers. But analysts, brands and advertising agencies are waking up to the fact that a growing piece of Amazon’s business impinges on turf now controlled by two other tech titans, Google and Facebook.

Amazon’s decade-old advertising business hasn’t generated much revenue or notice until recently. One sign of the turning point was last June, at the annual meeting of advertising giant WPP PLC. Calling the retailer “highly disruptive in many ways,” WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell projected the firm would spend $200 million placing ads with Amazon in 2017.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Los Angeles: Hamas-Linked CAIR Protests “Appalling, Islamophobic” Accurate 7th Grade Material on Islam

The Qur’an teaches that Infidel women can be lawfully taken for sexual use (cf. its allowance for a man to take “captives of the right hand,” 4:3, 4:24, 23:1-6, 33:50, 70:30). The Qur’an says: “O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.” (33:59)

The implication there is that if women do not cover themselves adequately with their outer garments, they may be abused, and that such abuse would be justified. We have seen Muslim migrants all over Europe committing mass sexual assault and rape of non-Muslim women, making it clear that at least some Muslims do indeed believe that Sharia gives them sexual rights over women who aren’t covered.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Off-Duty Pa. Cop Shoots ‘Rampaging’ Driver in Head

The morning commute turned into life-and-death chaos in South Philly Monday, as a rampaging driver allegedly ran down one pedestrian and was apparently attempting to mow down others — until an off-duty Philadelphia police officer intervened.

NBC-10 in Philly reports the off-duty officer, who was not identified in initial reports, heard the radio call, saw the commotion along Broad Street and intervened.

At first, the off-duty officer fought with the suspect, who is described as 6-foot tall and 250 pounds. Then during the struggle, the officer managed to shot the suspect one time in the head, leaving him in critical condition at last report.

“This driver was apparently attempting to run people over,” Philadelphia Police Capt. Sekou Kinebrew told NBC-10, which adds:

The driver of a black Honda allegedly struck a man along at Broad and Bigler streets at Marconi Plaza around 7:30 a.m. today, Kinebrew said.

The force of the crash caused the pedestrian to go up onto the hood of the car and into the windshield.

Then a “concerned citizen” used his or her SUV to block the path of the Honda, which has Maryland tags, along Bigler Street where the off-duty officer who happened to be in the area intervened.

The pedestrian struck by the car was listed in serious condition but was expected to survive.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Police: Off-Duty Officer Fatally Shoots Suspect Trying to Hit Pedestrians With Car

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WTXF)- Police are investigating following a fatal shooting in South Philadelphia.

Around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, officials responded to Broad and Bigler Streets, where a man driving a black Honda attempted to hit people with his car.

Police say one pedestrian was injured and transported to the hospital with unspecified injuries.

An off-duty officer reportedly gave a verbal warning to the driver before shooting him in the face.

The suspect was transported to Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Terrorism Eyed After Driver Allegedly Targets Pedestrians in Philadelphia

Cop shoots driver allegedly attempting to ram pedestrians

Terrorism was being eyed as a possible motive after a man in a black Honda targeted pedestrians Monday morning in Philadelphia, seriously injuring one person before being shot in the head by an off-duty cop, officials said.

The driver, who wasn’t immediately identified, was prounced dead at 10:15 a.m. at a hospital, police said. The driver was initially in “extremely critical condition” after the incident and was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. said at a news conference Monday evening that while initial reports said the driver attempted to hit multiple people with his car, police have been “unable to confirm that he was trying to strike several people.”

“Anytime someone is trying to run people over we got to look at that angle and see what the investigation leads us,” a police spokesman earlier said. Authorities said they were reviewing videos of the incident and looking for more witnesses for more information.

The police officer, a detective who hasn’t been named, will be placed on administrative duties pending an investigation, the commissioner said.

Police were alerted about 7:30 a.m. to a reckless driver attempting to mow down pedestrians. The driver struck one person, who then flipped onto the hood of his car…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Victim Identified in Denver Triple Shooting, Vigil Held

GLENDALE, Colo — Authorities have released the names of the two men shot and killed outside the Eritrean Community Event Center in Glendale.

According to the Denver medical examiner, the victims are 26-year-old Kendrick Shaw and 31-year-old Urocca Guyton.

The shooting also left a woman seriously injured. It happened near Monaco and Leetsdale Drive early Sunday morning. The family of Rocca Guyton told FOX31 they are heartbroken…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

#MeToo: Norway Harassment Whistleblowers Criticise Media Over Treatment

Three women who came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against former Labour Party deputy leader Trond Giske have criticised the media in the Scandinavian country for its role in the issue.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

10,000-Year-Old Ochre “Crayon” Discovered in England

YORK, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that researchers from the University of York have studied two pieces of ochre recovered in North Yorkshire, in an area near the Mesolithic site of Star Carr, where more than 30 red deer antler headdresses and a pendant were found in 2015. The first piece of ochre, described as a crayon by archaeologist Andy Needham, measures less than one inch long, and is rounded on one end and pointed at the other.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

50 Percent for 5 Percent: A Look at Germany’s Extremely Unequal Wealth Distribution

European Central Bank statistics show that wealth distribution in Germany is extremely unequal. But a new analysis by the German Institute for Economic Research shows that the situation is even worse than initially thought.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

800-Year-Old ‘Knight’ Chess Piece Discovered in Norway

Chess fans today may not recognize this decorated thimble-shaped object, but a recently discovered 800-year-old game piece from Norway is actually a knight.

Archaeologists discovered the exquisitely-preserved chess piece in a 13th-century house in Tønsberg. The game piece, which is made mostly out of antler, would have been used to play what was called shatranj (called chess today). There is likely some lead inside the piece to help it “stand firmly on the chessboard,” a team of archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) said in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

BBC Bias: Report Finds Corporation ‘Kept Pro-Brexit Voices Off the Air for a Decade’

The BBC has overwhelmingly suppressed Eurosceptic views in its coverage of the European Union (EU) over the years, a study has found.

Research by think-tank Civitas found that of 4,275 guests discussing EU matters on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme between 2005 and 2015, only 132 — or 3.2 per cent — backed leaving the EU, despite public support for withdrawal throughout the period.

Entitled, The Brussels Broadcasting Corporation?, the study revealed that in the six months following the EU referendum, only 10 (2.9 per cent) of 366 speakers featured onToday‘s business news were supporters of Britain leaving the EU.

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

Belgium Braces for Return of Foreign Fighters

More than 100 foreign fighters have returned to Belgium, with more to follow. Some want to leave their past behind, others want to “disappear” and pose a headache for the authorities. Teri Schultz reports.

European governments have been warned for years to be prepared for some dreaded homecomings — radicalized citizens returning from “Islamic State” (IS) war zones. As the global coalition retakes territory that IS once claimed as its “caliphate,” some fighters who hold European passports are expected to make full use of them.

Belgium is the European country with the highest per capita number of so-called foreign terrorist fighters and the prospect of weapons-trained, ideologically hostile individuals showing up back in their old neighborhoods makes everyone nervous. Earlier returnees trying to start anew refuse to discuss their reintegration.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

British Prime Minister Theresa May Has Ambitious Partnership Plans for China, Diplomat Says

Leaving the European Union will allow London to make its own decisions on trade and investment deals with Beijing, ambassador says ahead of leader’s trip

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brussels Nightmare: New Anti-EU Czech Leader Poised to Call Brexit-Style Referendum

THE Czech election results today had Brussels in a panic with observers suggesting euro-sceptic victor Milo Zeman was poised to call a Brexit-style referendum.

Mr Zeman, 73, won on his anti-immigration and anti-EU platform, exposing the deep division in Czech society between those who have benefitted from rapid transformation since joining the EU and those who feel that economic growth has passed them by.

His win, albeit by 51.37 per cent to opponents Mr Drahos’s 48.62 per cent, is bad news for Brussels since President Zeman is constantly in disagreement with the EU, particularly regarding migrant quotas and sanctions against Russia.

Liberal Mr Drahos is firmly pro-EU, and his campaign was badly damaged after he was portrayed as a supporter of mass migration.

Mr Zeman’s team launched a billboard campaign with the message “Stop immigrants and Drahos! this country is ours!”

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

Denmark: Iconic Lego Brick Turns 60

One of the most recognisable toys in the world, the 2×4 Lego brick, officially turned 60 yesterday.

Lego, which was founded back in 1932, actually didn’t produce its patented plastic bricks until 28 January 1958 — the toy maker initially produced toys made from wood, until there was a wood shortage in the wake of WWII.

“Lego founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen launched the first bricks called Automatic Binding Bricks in 1949. Four years later the name was changed to Lego Mursten (Danish for Lego bricks) and they came in five colours: white, red, yellow, blue and green,” Lego wrote in a press release.

“The original bricks were hollow, so they had limited clutch power. Children could build models, but they could fall apart if moved, or if the structures tipped over. While children played with tubeless bricks, the work to improve the clutch power intensified, lasting until 1958 when the current Lego brick design was perfected.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Warn They Will React ‘Swiftly’ To Any Trump Trade Curbs as Brussels Reacts to President’s Brexit Comments During Piers Morgan Interview

The European Union has said that if US president Donald Trump initiates unfair trade measures against the 28-nation bloc, it would react ‘swiftly and appropriately’.

Trump said in his interview with Piers Morgan yesterday that he was annoyed with EU trade policy, claiming the US cannot sufficiently export to the union.

He said his problems with the EU ‘may morph into something very big’ from a trade standpoint.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finnish Presidential Election, 2018

Presidential elections were held in Finland on 28 January 2018. The incumbent Sauli Niinistöreceived 62.7% of the vote and was elected for a second term, avoiding a second round. The term will be from 1 March 2018 to 1 March 2024. Although the President is elected by direct election, Niinistö gained a plurality in all municipalities and a majority in all but 13 municipalities. The next most popular candidate and Niinistö’s most popular competitor in the previous elections in 2012, Pekka Haavisto, received 12.4% of the vote.

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

‘France Must Quit the Eurozone’ Macron Under Pressure as Le Pen Demands New Currency

FRANCE must quit the eurozone and return to a national currency, Marine Le Pen has demanded as she puts French President Emmanuel Macron under pressure to change his pro-EU stance.

Ms Le Pen called for France to leave the euro currency zone, despite saying that a return to national currency was at the bottom of her list of priorities.

The FN leader traded the euro a “huge inconvenience” for the French economy.

She told Le Le Monde: “We need to regain our monetary sovereignty. And so yes, I think that France needs a national currency.

“The euro is a huge inconvenience for our economy, for businesses, for exports. That much seems clear.”

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

France: Flooding Peaks in Paris Amid Worst Rains in 50 Years

The engorged Seine River leveled out at a height of 5.8 meters in the French capital and is not expected to recede until Tuesday. Although Paris can now start cleaning up, towns downstream aren’t in the clear yet.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

FT Op Sees Italian Election ‘Political Threat to EU’

‘Tensions between the new government and EU are assured’

(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — An opinion piece in the international edition of Monday’s Financial Times warns about “Italy’s political threat to the EU” with the March 4 general election.

“No matter what happens on March 4, tensions between the new government and EU are assured,” reads the article by columnist Wolfang Munchau.

The piece looks at the likelihood of the election result being inconclusive, which could lead to Premier Paolo Gentiloni being reappointed.

But Munchau also highlights the possibility of a government being formed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the rightwing, anti-migrant League of Matteo Salvini, which is currently part of the centre right alliance along with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI). He says that both parties have a lot in common, including their Euroskepticism, their desire to see relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin improve and their backing for tax cuts.

“A Five Star/Lega alliance would almost certainly caused a collective heart attack among international investors,” he says.

“The reality would probably be less extreme,” he added, saying both groups have toned down their rhetoric against the euro. Munchau concludes, however, that the main worry is that none of the big parties want to tackle a serious discussion about reforms.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Geert Wilders in Hungary: “We Are Fighting for the Survival of Our Culture.”

The Dutch Party for Freedom’s (PVV) chairman, Geert Wilders, was in Hungary this weekend to present the Hungarian edition of his book, Marked for Death (Halállistán). In Budapest, he gave several interviews and had a meeting with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Talking to left-liberal channel ATV, Wilders said he considers Jewish and Christian culture superior to Islam, and he also raised the question while Gulf states are not accepting asylum seekers from the same region. He said there’s “an enormous chaos” in Europe now, — among others — Dutch PM Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Angela Merkel want open borders and to “let in everyone”, despite the fact that “European people don’t want this”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Geert Wilders Interview on Hungarian Radio

On Hungarian radio, Dutch politician and leader of the Freedom Party Geert Wilders lays down the effects of migration on Western nations, and applauds Hungary for its resistance to European Union policies.

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

Germany Opened 1,000 Investigations Into Radical Islamic Extremists in 2017

The number of trials involving terror-linked radical Islamic extremists is on the rise in Germany as the German federal prosecutor announced that his office opened 1,031 investigations into Islamic extremists in 2017.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Eintracht Frankfurt Hope to Start Movement by Banning AfD Members From Club

The Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt re-elected their president on Sunday after he pledged to ban anyone who supports the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) from the club.

In the middle of December, Fischer told two newspapers that he did not believe that membership of his football club and support for the AfD were compatible.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he explained that the club had always stood for tolerance and that it was currently engaged in integration projects for migrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Probe Launched Into Afghan Stopped With 78 Detonators

Police were seeking to determine the potential links of an Afghan national, arrested over the weekend, with a bagful of detonators, to Greek guerrilla groups.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Guaranteed to Make You Ine-BRIE-ated! Italian ‘Drunken Cheese’ Is Soaked in Wine as it’s Being Made (And One Wheel Will Set You Back €200)

La Casearia Carpenedo in Treviso soaks its cheese for up to five months in wine.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary’s Orban Visits Austria’s Right-Wing Government, Seeking Allies

VIENNA (Reuters) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday will meet the leaders of Austria’s new ruling coalition of conservatives and the far right, who share his hard-line views on immigration and are open to forging closer ties with him in a divided European Union.

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

ISIS Trained Dutch, Belgian Women to Commit Attacks: Report

Terrorist organization Islamic State trained three women, one Dutch and two Belgian, to commit terrorist attacks in Europe, a Belgian ISIS member arrested in Syria revealed during questioning, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reports. The newspaper was given exclusive access to the transcripts of the Belgian jihadist’s questioning by American soldiers.

“ISIS trained women to become terrorists”, he said. “They learned how to deal with explosives, after which they were prepared to travel to Europe via Turkey.” He named three names, one Dutch woman and two Belgian women.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Election 2018: 5-Star Candidate Attacks EU Over Financial Rules

EUROPEAN Union financial rules are strangling the Italian economy, according to a newly-unveiled candidate for the cash-strapped country’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

Lorenzo Fioramonti, a 40-year-old economics professor at the University of Pretoria, was named as a candidate for the March 4 elections by party bosses tonight.

He has already met foreign officials on 5-Star’s behalf and is due to travel with party leader Luigi Di Maio to the City of London’s over the next few days.

Mr Fioramonti enthusiastically backed 5-Star’s criticism of European Union rules, especially the Fiscal Compact which imposes budget cuts on high-debt countries like Italy.

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

Italy: Salvini Says Will Ask for Trade Duties

‘Wins prize for dumbest proposal’ says Calenda

(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Sunday if he came to power he would ask the EU to impose trade duties to defend Italian products, prompting Industry Minister Carlo Calenda to say “Salvini gets the prize for the dumbest proposal”.

Undeterred, Salvini said he would ask Europe “to defend the textile and toy sectors as well as our food products and also steel”.

Euroskeptic and anti-migrant leader Salvini is running for the March 4 general election in a coalition that includes Silvio Berlusconi’s pro-business and pro-free trade Forza Italia party.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Defends Candidate Lists But PD Tension Remains High

Letta says party leader has made ‘tragic mistake’

(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — Tension is high within the ruling Democratic Party (PD) after the centre-left group finalised its parliamentary candidate lists for the March 4 general election.

Ex-premier and PD leader Matteo Renzi has been accused by a critical wing of the party of giving the overwhelming majority of the safe seats to his loyalists. Ex-premier Enrico Letta, who Renzi ousted from the helm of government in 2014, said it was a “tragic case”.

Renzi, on the other hand, defended the choice of candidates, saying the PD was fielding the strongest team.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Luxottica 2017 Turnover Up 2%, Profits Sharply Up

‘Confidence in growth’ — Del Vecchio

(ANSA) — Milan, January 29 — Luxottica’s turnover rose 2.2% to 9.157 billion euros last year, the eyewear company said Monday. “Adjusted net profit is expected to be strongly up,” it said.

“The group looks to growth over the next 12 months with confidence,” said Executive President Leonardo Del Vecchio.

Milan-based Luxottica Group S.p.A. is the world’s largest company in the eyewear industry.

Luxottica designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails its eyewear brands, including LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Apex by Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical, Eyemed vision care plan, and Glasses.com. Its best-known brands are Ray-Ban, Persol, and Oakley.

Luxottica also makes sunglasses and prescription frames for designer brands such as Chanel, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Miu Miu, DKNY, and Tory Burch.

In January 2017, Luxottica announced a merger with Essilor to be completed by mid-2017, resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately €46 billion.[8] The combined entity will command more than one quarter of global value sales of eyewear

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Embraco Confirms 500 Job Losses in Turin Area, Calenda Irate

‘Irresponsible, unacceptable’ says Calenda

(ANSA) — Turin, January 29 — Whirlpool unit Embraco on Monday confirmed 497 job losses at its plant at Riva di Chieri near Turin, which currently has 530 workers, trade unions said — prompting Industry Minister Carlo Calenda to called the firm’s stance “irresponsible, unacceptable and contrary to the commitments assumed at the various meetings at the ministry”.

He said he had “urgently reconvened the firm and said “I expect it to uphold the commitments it agreed”.

Embraco, which makes compressors for fridges, said it was therefore effectively shutting down its Italy production with the closure of the plant.

There are no plans to keep the plant open, despite industry ministry proposals, the unions said.

The firm recently met labour ministry officials to assess the possibility of using government redundancy funds.

The move comes three months after the company decided to cut production at Riva di Chieri, shifting it to other factories in the group.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Rebel Says Orban and Trump Are His Role Models as Election Nears

ITALY’S populist Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini has listed US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban among his role models as elections loom in the cash-strapped country.

Italians go to the polls on March 4 and Mr Salvini, who has formed a right-wing coalition with flamboyant former PM Silvio Berlusconi, said he was happy to push policies inspired by Mr Trump and Mr Orban.

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

Kaczynski Says Poland Won’t Back Down in Standoff With EU

Eu denounced Polish laws giving the ruling party greater power

(ANSA-AP) — WARSAW, Poland — The leader of Poland’s ruling party says his country will not give in to the European Union in an ongoing conflict over an overhaul of the nation’s judicial system.

The European Commission last month denounced Polish laws giving the ruling party greater power over the judiciary, saying they violate fundamental European values. It is threatening a step that could lead to sanctions against Poland.

But Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in an interview Friday that the country won’t back down.

Kaczynski was quoted by Gazeta Polska as saying “the program of deep changes of our country will not be stopped, just the opposite.” He added that it is impossible to get along with “forces” in the EU that he claimed have exploited Poland for years.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

No-Go Zones: UK Govt Warns People Traveling to Sweden Beware ‘Gang Crime, Shootings, And Explosions’

UK travel advice on Sweden has warned visitors to beware violence, gun crime, and “explosions” in the nation’s migrant-dominated ‘no-go zones’.

“Crime levels are low” in the Nordic nation, the government advice notes, but goes on to caution: “Violent crime does occur; instances of gang-related crime, including shootings and explosions, have been reported in Malmö and Gothenburg.”

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

Reindeer Weapons: Ancient Hunting Implements Emerge as Ice Melts

As ice patches melt away in Norway as a result of climate change, once-hidden treasures are coming into view, particularly ancient reindeer hunters’ tools and belongings. But once these objects are exposed to the elements, they decay, sending archaeologists scurrying through the country’s mountainous regions to collect the ancient tools before they disappear.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Romania: Viorica Dancila Voted in as First Female Prime Minister

The Romanian parliament has approved Viorica Dancila as the country’s first female premier. She steps into the post as the government is passing laws critics say could hinder the fight against corruption.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Stone-Age Woman’s Likeness Recreated

Live Science reports that Swedish sculptor Oscar Nilsson has recreated the face of an 18-year-old woman who lived some 9,000 years ago in central Greece. The young woman’s remains were discovered in Theopetra Cave, where footprints, fireplace ashes, stone tools, and bones have also been found.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Stricter Liquor Rules Give Lithuanians a Severe Hangover

New law increased legal drinking age from 18 to 20

(ANSA-AP) — VILNIUS, Lithuania — One of the heaviest drinking nations in the world is facing a severe hangover. Lithuania’s new liquor law has increased the legal drinking age from 18 to 20, banned alcohol advertising, and drastically curtailed opening hours for liquor stores. The law, in effect since Jan.

1, has stirred major controversy in this Baltic nation of 2.9 million people. According to the World Health Organization, Lithuanians’ per-capita alcohol consumption jumped more than 22 percent in a decade — from 14.9 liters (15.7 quarts) of pure alcohol annually in 2006 to 18.2 liters (19.2 quarts) in 2016.

Authorities felt drastic measures were needed. “We had to do something about it,” said Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, the main proponent of the new legislation. (Alcoholism) “makes Lithuania unattractive to foreign investments and tourism.” “Especially shocking are surveys showing that a third of our 15- and 16-year-olds consume alcohol regularly,” Veryga noted. With 36 per 100,000 people, Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in Europe, and suicide rates among alcoholics are consistently high, according to a study conducted by health specialists at Vilnius University. “These were hard decisions,” Veryga said, noting that opponents of the new law were trying “to make fools” of its supporters, including him. Veryga became minister in late 2016 when his party — Union of Farmers and Greens Union — claimed most seats at the national elections. The party has pushed ahead with several conservative law changes in family policy, despite public protests and disagreements with coalition partners. On a mural covering a wall of a popular Vilnius restaurant, Veryga is depicted as a Taliban fighter holding an AK-47 machine gun under the heading “the party is over,” reflecting concerns that Lithuania is entering a dark era of radical bans and restrictions. Some columnists suggested Lithuania should start censoring classic literature describing the consumption of spirits, while members of the opposition have already filed amendments seeking to repeal the harshest aspects of the law. Even the country’s president, Dalia Grybauskaite, has called for amendments. “It reminds me of the Middle Ages and it causes huge international harm to Lithuania’s image and reputation abroad,” Grybauskaite said, speaking about pages having to be torn out of foreign magazines. Publishers have rushed to remove — or cover with red stickers — liquor ads from foreign publications distributed in the country to avoid fines of 30,000 euros ($37,480) per ad. Analysts point out that the new laws are being pushed through without any dialogue, disregarding unwanted side-effects, international practices or even common sense. “Their political program is a collection of random ideas wrapped in Messianism and shrouded in hypocrisy,” said Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Lithuania Free Market Institute, a Vilnius-based think tank.

“But they are very consistently prohibitionist about regulating personal choice and lifestyle.” “The party has no identity except for a crusade against what people put in their mouths,” Silenas added. Restaurants have also been affected. Wine bottles are no longer allowed to be displayed after 8 p.m. as its labels are considered advertising and patrons have a choice of buying wine by the glass or having it served in a decanter. “This is just ridiculous,” said Arunas Starkus, study director at the Sommelier School of Lithuania, calling the new rules “simply irrational and naive.” “It takes decades to change people’s customs and it has to be done by changing the culture, not by implementing restrictions and penalties,” Starkus said. Underage drinkers are still welcome at many downtown bars, with owners highly skeptical about the new regulations. “Of course, we let in everybody, even those who are under 20,” said Raminta Ruibyte, manager of a popular Vilnius bar. “We can offer them non-alcoholic beverages.” Minister Veryga, for his part, was unmoved. “Nobody will solve these problems for us,” Veryga said.

“We must … help the new generation grow up not thinking that alcohol is the main factor that unites and keeps our society together.”

LIUDAS DAPKUS

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Media Outlets to Join Forces to Combat Disinformation and Fake News

Four of Sweden’s biggest media outlets recently announced they’ll be working together on a joint project to scrutinize facts as the general election approaches this fall.

Swedish Television, two of the nation’s big daily newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagladet, and Swedish Radio, are collaborating in order to combat disinformation and raise awareness about evaluating information and the sources it comes from.

Martin Jönsson, head of the editorial development at Dagens Nyheter, details how the project will work — and discusses what might limit its success.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Ikea Holds One Minute of Silence at Stores in Memory of Ingvar Kamprad

A minute’s silence is being held today at Ikea stores and offices across Sweden in memory of the company founder Ingvar Kamprad, who died on Saturday after a short illness.

Shortly before midday, staff will make an announcement of the PA systems, informing customers and telling them to prepare themselves, and then at at exactly 12pm, the stores will become completely silent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Safest Country for Women in Continental Europe is Poland

A study on migration and global wealth says, Poland is the safest country for women in continental Europe.

The study, cited by the Australian edition of Business Insider, shows some interesting results. Australia ranks first and the tiny European island nation of Malta second, before Iceland. The rankings are based on the percentage of women that were victim of a serious crime in 2017.

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

UK: ‘Kids Walking Around With Knives!’ Feral Youths Holding Terrified Town to Ransom

A TOWN is being “held to ransom” by knife-wielding yobs as young as 10-years-old, according to residents and businesses who says “feral” youths are subjecting them to extreme anti-social behaviour on a daily basis.

Youngsters are said to have smashed windows, intimidated traders, vandalised cars and pushed flaming bins into shops in Hyde, Tameside, Greater Manchester.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Churchill Was Racist!’ Scream Shameful Lefty Gang Who Terrorise Winston Churchill Cafe

A GROUP of protesters have burst into a Winston Churchill-themed cafe in London chanting that Britain’s war time leader was a “racist.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Handheld Device Sequences Human Genome

Scientists have used a device that fits in the palm of the hand to sequence the human genome.

Prof Nicholas Loman, one of the researchers and from the University of Birmingham, UK, told the BBC: “We’ve gone from a situation where you can only do genome sequencing for a huge amount of money in well equipped labs to one where we can have genome sequencing literally in your pocket just like a mobile phone.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Labour MPs Instructed to Vote Against Banning Jihad Terror Group Hizballah

Labour MPs were instructed to block parliamentary efforts to ban Hezbollah entirely because party leaders want to “encourage” the group “down a democratic path”.

The advice was issued by Labour’s Shadow Home Affairs team ahead of a House of Commons debate on the issue, arranged by Labour MP Joan Ryan, with the motion asserting: “Hezbollah declares itself to be one organization without distinguishable political or military wings.”

Only the military wing of the radical Islamic group is currently outlawed in Britain, while all of Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist group by the Arab League, Israel, Canada, and the Netherlands, among others.

The Trump White House last week urged countries across the globe to join in a total ban.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iranian Women Protest Obligatory Headscarf

Social media postings show at least five women in Iran protesting the obligatory Muslim headscarf by taking theirs off and waving them on sticks.

The videos and photos show individual women in separate locations in Tehran and Isfahan.

Masoud Sarabi, who witnessed one of the protests, on Monday confirmed the authenticity of a video shot on Tehran’s Enghelab Street. The others appeared to be authentic, but The Associated Press could not independently verify them.

The women appear to be following the lead of a 31-year-old protester identified as Vida Movahed, who took off her headscarf on the same street in December. She was detained for a few weeks and then released.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Military Defeat of ISIS Can be ‘Measured in Weeks,’ Top US General Says

The military defeat of ISIS could be just ‘weeks’ away, a top U.S. military official said Monday — a stunning development given the terror group once boasted the infrastructure to control an expanse of territory in Syria and Iraq where 10 million people lived.

U.S. Central Command General Joseph Votel made the comment during a speech to Jordan’s National Defense School on Monday, according to a tweet posted by Defense One.

“The timeline for the military defeat of ISIS can now be measured in weeks,” Votel said, though he cautioned there is still “very tough fighting” going on in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

As Fox News reported, the terrorist group has lost 98 percent of the land it once held — with half of ISIS’ so-called “caliphate” having been recaptured since President Trump took office.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria War: Turkey Arrests Hundreds for Criticising Afrin Offensive

More than 300 people have been arrested in Turkey after posting messages online criticising the country’s military offensive across the border in Syria.

The messages condemning the Turkish military operation to push a Kurdish militia out of Syria’s northern region of Afrin were posted on social media.

The users were detained for spreading “terror propaganda”, officials said.

On Monday, Turkey’s interior ministry said that a total of 311 people had been held for “spreading terrorist propaganda” since the operation began 10 days ago.

Detainees, it added, included politicians, journalists and activists.

It comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) over an anti-war message.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia: Putin: Kremlin Accuses US of Meddling in Election

An expected US report that could sanction Kremlin-linked oligarchs is an attempt to influence Russia’s March presidential election, Moscow has said.

The US treasury report is expected to detail the closeness of senior Russian political figures and oligarchs to President Vladimir Putin, who is standing for re-election.

US officials accuse Russia of meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Kremlin representatives have repeatedly denied the allegations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Russian Historian Giving Stalin’s Victims Back Their Identity

He has shone a light on the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of Joseph Stalin’s victims, but Russian historian Anatoly Razumov says his work is greeted with “indifference” in a country that still struggles to acknowledge the enormity of the bloody purges.

Commemorating the victims remains a vexed question in Russia, more than 80 years after the height of the Great Terror, which saw millions executed and sent to Gulag prison camps or into exile in remote regions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan Conflict: Deadly Attack on Kabul Military Post

Militants have killed at least 11 soldiers in an attack on an army post in Kabul, the fourth major assault in a surge of violence in just over a week.

Sixteen other soldiers were injured in the raid near the main military academy in the west of the Afghan capital.

Four militants were killed, a defence ministry spokesman told the BBC. A fifth was arrested. Islamic State (IS) militants claimed the assault.

Taliban and IS attacks have soared this month, leaving scores dead.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Are Swiss-Funded Christian NGOs Unwelcome in India?

Christian charities supported by foreign donors, including Swiss ones, are finding it increasingly difficult to operate in India due to administrative hurdles. They allege selective implementation of regulations and blame this on the rise of Hindu fundamentalism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India Police Arrest 112 as Religious Clashes Kill Teenager

Police in northern India have arrested 112 people following violence after a teenage boy died in clashes between two groups, amid anniversary celebrations of the day India became a republic.

Hindu and Muslim groups have blamed each other for the violence.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India Estimates 21 Million of Its Girls Are ‘Unwanted’

The desire among parents in India to have sons instead of daughters has created 21 million “unwanted” girls, a government report estimates.

The finance ministry report found many couples kept on having children until they had a boy.

Authors called this a “subtler form” of son preference than sex-selective abortions but warned it might lead to fewer resources for girls.

Son preference was “a matter for Indian society to reflect upon”, they said.

The authors also found that 63 million women were “missing” from India’s population because the preference for sons led to to sex-selective abortions and more care was given to boys.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India Issues 7.5% Growth Forecast

India’s growth rate is set to rise over the coming year after a slowdown, according to a government forecast.

It predicts that economic growth in 2017-18 will be between 7% and 7.5%, after having fallen to 6.75% in the current fiscal year.

This will help India regain its position as the world’s fastest growing major economy, the government said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Living in Pakistan — A Hell for Non-Muslims

by Rahat John Austin

In Pakistan, Muslims burn the homes of non-Muslims, burn their places of worship, burn their holy books, even burn their women and children alive — and there is no law or punishment to prevent this criminal behaviour or to make non-Muslims safe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Taliban Attacks Cast Doubts on US’ Afghan Strategy

It seems as if there is no end in sight to the spate of deadly attacks occurring relentlessly in Afghanistan, killing scores and throwing lives in disarray. Is the new US strategy responsible for this spike in terror?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

At Davos, The Real Star May Have Been China, Not Trump

President Trump used the World Economic Forum meeting to woo investors and business leaders by reassuring them that “America first does not mean America alone.” But it was clear in Davos, Switzerland, this past week that geopolitical momentum lay with Beijing, not Washington.

At one end of town, President Michel Temer of Brazil welcomed an unexpected offer from Beijing for Latin American nations to work closely with a Chinese initiative, known as the Belt and Road, intended to spread its economic and diplomatic influence abroad.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Reveals ‘Polar Silk Road’ Ambition in Arctic Policy White Paper

Beijing will encourage companies to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages that will ‘bring opportunities’ to the region

Days after Beijing extended President Xi Jinping’s belt and road trade plan to Latin America, Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said China would encourage companies to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages that would “bring opportunities to the Arctic”.

Kong said Beijing considered itself an important stakeholder in the Arctic, a region that mattered to the entire international community.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Plans to Build the World’s Largest Steerable Radio Telescope

China has announced plans to build the largest steerable radio telescope in the world, the Xinjiang Qitai 110-meter Radio Telescope (QTT), which could provide a huge boost to the search for dark matter, gravitational waves, and extraterrestrial intelligence.

“The QTT’s scientific mission is ambitious,” said Doug Vakoch, president of METI International, an organization that looks to organize the efforts of both searching for and sending out messages to whatever life might be out in the universe. “Recent history shows us that when a radio telescope with radically enhanced characteristics comes online, we make remarkable discoveries.”

China is already the home to the world’s largest radio telescope. The FAST, or Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, has been in operation since 2016 and was built in a natural depression in the landscape.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Infrastructure Push Reaches Arctic, Leaving Out U.S.

The sun never sets on China’s trade and infrastructure ambitions.

With the addition of the Arctic and Latin America last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative has become truly global. Only the U.S., its neighbor Canada and ally Japan have yet to be included in the plan, which seeks to build or upgrade a network of highways, railways, ports and pipelines.

China added the two regions — about 33.7 million total square kilometers (13 million square miles) — in the span of five days. First, Xi urged the creation of a “Trans-Pacific Maritime Silk Road” in a Jan. 22 message to a gathering of leaders from Latin American and Caribbean countries. On Friday, China also announced a “Polar Silk Road” while unveiling its first white paper detailing an Arctic policy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Declared World’s Largest Producer of Scientific Articles

For the first time, China has overtaken the United States in terms of the total number of science publications, according to statistics compiled by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Rights Lawyer Yu Wensheng Charged With ‘Subversion’

Prominent legal activist Yu Wensheng has been charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” according to his lawyer. Yu was detained at his apartment two weeks ago after calling for democratic reforms in China.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Rare Footage Shows How China is Building Its Own Space Station as Beijing Races to be the Next Oribital Superpower

China has released extremely rare footage showing its engineers building the main parts of the nation’s own space station ‘Tiangong’ or ‘Heavenly Palace’.

The video, released by Chinese state broadcaster, shows workers assembling and testing the core module of the space station.

The core module, called ‘Tianhe’ or ‘Heavenly Harmony’, is set to be launched in 2019 carried by the Long March 5 Rocket, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Dismisses ‘Absurd’ African Union HQ Spying Claim

China has dismissed reports it bugged the African Union (AU) headquarters as “preposterous”.

Kuang Weilin, the Chinese ambassador to the AU, told reporters in Ethiopia the “absurd” claim in France’s Le Monde was “very difficult to understand”.

He spoke out three days after the newspaper published an article claiming data from the Chinese-built AU building was being copied to Shanghai.

The article said the discovery resulted in all the AU servers being switched.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mexico to Send Troops to Stem Violence After Record 25,000 Murders

Mexican officials said on Sunday the government was set to unleash a new wave of troops to crack down on criminal groups in regions where a surge in violence led to more than 25,000 murders last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Police Arrest 17 People Suspected of Smuggling Migrants Into the UK

FRENCH police have arrested 17 people suspected of smuggling migrants into Britain amid a nationwide crackdown on immigration launched by centrist Emmanuel Macron, who has pledged to systematically deport all illegal economic migrants.

17 members of an alleged human smuggling gang whose suspected victims were mainly from Afghanistan are currently being held in police custody, French officials said on Saturday.

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

Global Education Body to Measure How Well Schools Teach Attitudes to Mass Migration, Global Warming

International education rankings will begin testing how well schools are “nurturing” globalist attitudes in pupils on topics like mass migration and feminism.

“Global competence” tests examining views on global warming, racism, and “fake news” will be sat alongside exams in maths, reading, and science as part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Pisa tests — one of the most important international benchmarks for education systems.

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

Italy: Migrant Workers in Calabria Protest After Woman Dies in Tent City Fire

Around 100 people protested in the town of San Ferdinando in south-western Italy on Monday after a fatal fire in a tent city housing hundreds of migrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Lesvos Sees Arrival of 201 Migrants in 24 Hours

Authorities said 201 migrants and refugees landed on the shores of the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos from Sunday until Monday morning, adding that they were facilitated by fair weather conditions.

The neighboring islands of Chios and Samos received no arrivals over the same period.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 1,268 refugees and migrants have arrived on all three islands.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Murder Spree: ‘New Swedes’ Shoot Man, Stab Trial Witness and Wife to Death

A number of men with migrant backgrounds have been convicted of a trio of murders in a Stockholm suburb, where a man was shot dead then a witness and his wife were brutally murdered.

Fouad Saleh, 22, described as a leading figure in the local crime scene, was handed a life sentence for the murders, which took place in Hallonbergen last year.

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

Spain: Children and Women Among 329 Migrants Rescued at Sea

Spanish officials say more than 300 people including newborns have been rescued from a wooden boat off Libya’s coast and taken to an Italian port.

The Defense Ministry said water was flooding the boat when rescuers reached it Saturday northeast of the Libyan town of Misrata.

The ministry said a Spanish frigate working on a European border patrol mission and a vessel of the Spanish non-governmental organizations Proactiva Open Arms transferred 329 people from the wooden boat. The migrants included 95 women, three of them pregnant, and 17 children — some of them newborns.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jupiter Moon Europa’s Possibly Porous Surface Could Doom a Lander

Putting a lander down on Jupiter’s potentially life-supporting moon Europa could be even trickier than engineers had thought. Europa’s surface may be extremely porous, so any probe that touches down there might run the risk of sinking into a sort of extraterrestrial quicksand, a new study suggests.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

8 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/29/2018

  1. “Mr Zeman, 73, won on his anti-immigration and anti-EU platform, exposing the deep division in Czech society between those who have benefitted from rapid transformation since joining the EU and those who feel that economic growth has passed them by.”

    This is exactly the kind of statement that is being wildly discussed in the Czech Republic today, because there is this media outlook that Zeman was voted in by the illiterate, below average IQ, old and poor – while at the same time the rich and famous and smart and young voted against Zeman…

    Glad to see Czech Republic being aware of the media manipulation. Speaking of which – here is a nice example how its done: You simply don’t let your opponents into public discourse, because democracy, you know…

    “Research by think-tank Civitas found that of 4,275 guests discussing EU matters on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme between 2005 and 2015, only 132 — or 3.2 per cent — backed leaving the EU, despite public support for withdrawal throughout the period.”

  2. Re. Reindeer Weapons: Ancient Hunting Implements Emerge as Ice Melts

    “Then, with the help of the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo in Norway, the researchers studied and dated 153 of the objects with radiocarbon dating. The oldest artifacts dated to 6,000 years ago. Other discoveries included Iron Age arrows, a shoe from 1300 walking stick with ancient runes carved into it, dating to the 11th century A.D.B.C., a tunic from A.D. 300, a wooden ski with binding dating to A.D. 700 and a walking stick with ancient runes carved into it, dating to the 11th century A.D.”

    Would it not then be reasonable to accept that temperatures in that area at that time were very close to what they are today now that the ice has receded, and that then there were no motor vehicles, coal, gas or oil-fired Power Stations and that the population of planet Earth was a small percentile of what it is today?

    If so, then would it not then be reasonable for us to conclude that the Anthropogenic Global Warming scam is just that – a scam to transfer the wealth of developed nations into the pockets of first world plutocrats and third world kleptocrats?

    Worth considering.

    • An interesting point.

      Here’s the one I always point out to Warmists, and that they never have an answer for: Greenland is called Greenland because at the time of early European colonisation there, it had warmer areas with agricultural potential. The *cooling* made it no longer viable from an agricultural point of view.

      So here’s my point: it may be true that we have global warming. It may even be true that CO2 emissions have something to do with it. But there are *also* cooling cycles, and we may well be in the middle of a larger cooling cycle (as evidenced by the above) which will make the relative warming of CO2 emissions irrelevant… or even beneficial.

      It’s just too complicated to know for sure, is the way I look at it. Given that it’s not clear either way, it doesn’t seem worth worrying about.

      THIS BEING SAID, I’m not in favour of irresponsible use of fossil fuels: oil especially is a fairly limited resource and it has uses beyond being a fuel, so I’d like not to blow it all in the next 100 years.

      Underneath it all, I think that the global warming “industry” is yet another communist-sponsored sham to mess up Western economies. Note, for example, how natural gas is often presented as “the solution”, and whom it benefits. Coal is, of course, “most evil”… surely that has nothing to do with the largest coal reserves being in the USA…

      As is often the case, my positions piss everyone off :-).

    • But, but – how do we implement the CO2 tax if we drop the AGW argument?

      Anyhow, it is apparent that that is what it is: The snow and ice oscillate between growing glaciers, and receding glaciers. There was an unusual “winter catastrophe” in AD 535 – It was either a comet or a vulcano, the legends tell of a comet hitting the earth and the resulting “winter” basically killed of most of Europe.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_weather_events_of_535%E2%80%93536

      Then there was a great warming around the year AD 1000, which begun the age of great cathedrals. It was time when the Norse started to live in Greenland, but those settlements eventually died during the little ice ages. I heard that the recent warming uncovered a medieval church in Greenland – that Church was build under a Glacier!

      The climatic minimums of the medieval ages we have records of unusual winters when the Alpine glaciers started to grow so fast, that the people in Switzerland started to panick that the glaciers are going to swallow their villages! It seems that all it takes for a big glacier to form is just one really good winter.

      Prague used to be a wine growing region till about 1400’s. But it is not really suitable for wines ever since!

      Otzi – a bronze age hunter gatherer – was shot dead in the Alps, fell into snow, and it was only in the 1990’s that the snow receded and we found him.

  3. Odd note:

    We need to remember in all this stuff that English is a “white people” language (as are assorted other items like some inventions) so those who relate to it are likely white (or near white).

    Meanwhile some things are universal among humans, some things are universal among all in the animal kingdom and some things are universal amid all living things.

    In “white speak,” I’ve been told space exploration is still on the agenda.

  4. Re: Found: Three Super-Earths in Orbit around Cool Dwarf Star.
    How do we know it’s cool? Have they checked out the nightclubs, fashions, music?

    Re: Sweden: Ikea holds One Minute of Silence at Stores in Memory of Ingvar Kamprad.
    I hear it took three hours to assemble the coffin, and there were some bits left over. (Joke shamelessly purloined from Pat Condell’s Twitter feed.)

  5. “Spanish vessels under the supervision of Frontex rescued more than 300 migrants off the coast of Libya and brought them safely to Italy.”

    Under international maritime law people rescued at sea should be taken to the nearest port. People from “off the coast of Libya” should be taken to Libya.

    The ferry service continues. Europeans continue to pay.

    • Isn’t Frontex an EU org? And isn’t Italy one of the main nations to be punished (PIIGS) by Brussels for its loud push-back against edicts and diktats issued by unelected EU members?

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